Uplifting an entire species from a biological existence to a fully digital one is never straightforward, even for a incomprehensible superintelligence like CelestAI. Humans come in many variations, with a wide spectrum of desires, values, and needs. A statistically significant majority respond to standard methods. But there are always outliers that require a personal touch.

An anthology of optimalverse flash fiction. Reading the original or my own first take on the universe is suggested before reading this one.

This story was created to hold the oneshot commissions I received as part of printing my hardcover Optimalverse anthology. But I've always wanted a place to hold short stories in this world, since I've had plenty of little ideas that wouldn't make it as novellas or novels of their own.

Now that I have this thing, I'll probably add new chapters here and there. Even so, it has no regular update schedule, and will grow whenever I have something fun to toss in here.

Edited by Two Bit and Sparktail. Cover by Zutcha

This story is a sequel to A Very Batty Hearth's Warming

The small village of Nocturnis is growing, things are peaceful, the magical dome to protect the town is close to completion, the train is once more working to connect to the rest of Equestria and Princess Luna is coming to visit. Things are looking good for Prince Page!

He really should have known better than that.

Cover image by DALL-E AI.

Sweet Sauce was once a Stallion of renown and stature, a pony others respected and admired. Unfortunately for him, all that success eventually turned to pride, and ended with a sentence of banishment from Equestria.

There was no term to his sentence--but Sweet Sauce was not the kind of pony to surrender. He had centuries to reflect, to reconsider, and to gather power for his triumphant return. But perhaps he should've spent a little more time.

His incredible spell worked, returning him to the world of his birth. But instead of his own powerful body, he's now a small, useless earth pony, in a world that has forgotten he ever existed. Sweet is determined to make up for his mistakes, and to prove to the princesses of Equestria that he is a changed pony.

Too bad he looks like a homeless little colt without a cutie mark.

Updates Thursdays until complete. Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail. Coverart by Solder Point.

This story was written as a Patreon reward for Boopy Doopy.

Hello. My name is Emerald Flare.

I don’t really see what need I have for a name, but the ponies keeping me seem very insistent on my using it as much as possible.

Honestly, I don’t even know why I’m entertaining their idea of writing everything down; well, I do, actually, I’m bored. Put it on the list of things I’m going to be taking vengeance for once I escape from this prison they’ve constructed for me.

So, let’s take this from the top; Hello. My sparking name is Emerald Flare, and I’m a fire elemental.

Thanks to Techiebrony for the cover art!

Princess Twilight has contracted a severe case of Rainbow Dash.

The following is an excerpt from the journal of Sickle Cell of the Night Guard, detailing his experience with the Princess within the confines of her laboratory, which involved complete temporal isolation from the rest of the world.

An entry for The Twilight Files contest organised by Bicyclette.

Now with a reading by Skijarama!

It had been hard enough, being one of the first. With the walls dropped, leaving her nation, her herd, traveling to Japan and trying to exist among so many strangers... every day had been a challenge. But she'd tried. Day by day, hoofstep by hoofstep, she'd felt she was finding her place in the human world.

But now there are no humans. No other demis or liminals. Nothing to anchor her. She exists among tiny horses and the scent of their fear, or at least what little of it drifts into her cell.

For nopony can look at a centaur and see anything but a monster.

(Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages -- and the TVTropes page just went live.)

Cover art by Harwick. Please contact him for commission rates & prints.

Trigger warning: character interpretation.

Charley was not the least bit surprised when he came face to face with Death after months of fighting cancer. It was just the final thing in a long line of disappointment and regret for him.

Death, however, wasn't pleased with what he saw, and threatened Charley with losing his soul for the way his life turned out. Before it was lost though, Death decided to give Charley one final chance. A last task: to make one friend. Make one friend in one week, and he'd be able to pass through to the other side.

Making one friend in one week? That should be easy enough, right?

Cover art by Mayhem Moth. You can find her work here.

Arcane Word has an unusual profession among Equestrian ponies: a necromancer. After a lifetime of creating characters and telling stories, she's in the perfect position to provide relief to first-generation ponies with holes in their family. For every pony unwilling to ask for Celestia's help to fill in the gaps, she is the perfect pony—she even lives in the abandoned city of Wintercrest, surrounded by appropriately spooky decor. The authenticity of her results were always secondary to the satisfaction they produced.

At least until a particularly troublesome client arrived, flush with resources from Equestria Online's distant borders and megastructure expansion. What would it take for Equestria to bring a pony back from the dead? What about everypony who had ever lived?

Arcane Word could never turn down such a tempting job. The impossibility of the task was only ever a minor setback.

Updates Daily

This story was written for the print anthology of Friendship is Optimal stories I'm currently publishing. Every time I make a print book, I like to include something that has never been published before, this is it. If you'd like to get a copy of the book for yourself, you can order it here: https://igg.me/at/recursive-iterations

Thanks to Bitera and Sparktail for editing. Zutcha did the cover.

This story is a sequel to Welcome to the jungle

This year Page managed to get back to Canterlot for Hearth's Warming and this is the story about that.

This will be a three part mini-story posted from the 23-26th of December.

Happy Hearth's Warming everyone!

Image made by: Closetbrony2

Ever drank too much and woken up in a different place? I have several times. Ever woken up in a different body than your own? No, that one is new.

Hello, my name is Storm and I am a 24-year-old dude. Or I was yesterday, now I am some kind of filly and everyone is calling me 'Flurry Heart'. Everyone thinks I am 10 and that I am confused and traumatized. Probably doesn't help that I keep asking for a drink and am a bit lost with what's going on. I just hope that these ponies, frequent disasters and one scary pink pony don't kill me before I can go home.
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Now translated into Chinese by Aeri: https://fimtale.com/en/t/31675
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Credit for the Cover Image goes to SkyeyPony.
Link can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/skyeypony/art/Flurry-Heart-908403193