This story is a followup to Friendship is Optimal, set not long after the initial commercial release of Equestria Online. We follow an non-brony emeritus professor living in a retirement community.

Beta-read by LordBucket. Many thanks, man.

This story is set in the Friendship is Optimal setting

Equestria Online. Arguably the most powerful game ever developed, built and operated by the most powerful computer ever made. A technological wonder that can peer into the mind of any human player and draw out their inner most desire.

Any 'Individual' human player. How well CelestAI will handle satisfying the values of a single pony guided by over one hundred thousand Twitch.TV viewers is anyones guess.

This story is a sequel to The Application of Unified Harmony Magics

  After the incredibly awkward reunion last night, Sunset is less than eager about her promise to introduce Twilight Sparkle to Princess Celestia. Maybe it would help if Twilight could go more than five minutes without a panic-driven ramble.
  Despite her doubts, Sunset decides to do her best. But between a bowl of ice water, Philomena’s antics and Celestia’s sly smile, Sunset knows this isn’t going to be easy.
  Still, Twilight probably could have handled it better.

Featured as a Sequel on Equestria Daily on October 8, 2016!
Appeared in the FimFiction Featured Box on September 27, 2016!

Historian’s Note: Set in the Wavelengths timeline where the Sonic Rainboom didn’t happen, the events of Princess Celestia: A Brief History occur the day after the story The Applications of Unified Harmony Magics.

Cast: Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Minuette & Philomena

Stories set in the Wavelengths Timeline in chronological order:

Origins Arc
The Alchemy of Chemistry
Bards of the Badlands
Grading on a Bell Curve
Habits of the Equestrian Phoenix
How Not To Use Your Royal Prerogative

Applications Arc
The Application of Unified Harmony Magics
Princess Celestia: A Brief History
The Cloudsdale Report

Dreamers Arc
Tactics of Snowbound Unicorns
A Study in Chaos Theory
Teahouses of Saddle Arabia
As the Raven Flies

Cover Credits
Cover Design by Amber Spark using Pixelmator
Princess Celestia Vector by Wrathx79
Princess Celestia's Room by tamalesyatole
Sunset Shimmer Cutie Mark by MillennialDan
MLP Book Vector by SnowedEarth
MLP Magic Aura Vector by AimeeLovesU

Beta Reader Credits
Ebon Quill - Worldbuilding Writer on The Manehattan Project
Little Tinker - Master of Systems at Ponyville Live & Scripting Engineer on The Manehattan Project

Special Thanks
Fahrenheit - For wonderful advice on creating an epic and entertaining synopsis!

Ten years ago, Twilight made the ultimate sacrifice in order to defeat Tirek. Equestria has been in a state of civil war ever since.

Canterlot has at last fallen, and the six heroes of the rebellion now go to face the ultimate challenge: defeating the godlike Twilight Sparkle. What they expect to be a brutal, hard won quest for glory and Equestria's salvation turns into something entirely different... and now they face a choice.

This story is a reaction piece against the Tyrant Sparkle trope.

Special thanks to Absolution for pre-reading and Danger Beans for proofreading.

Cover art credit: BluestreakFUS

Now with a Chinese Translation courtesy of Hellagur.

Twilight ventures out into the mountains to see a once-in-a-lifetime event. Disappointed by her friends not coming with her, Twilight crosses paths with a kindred spirit.

Filly Cadence turns her first heart. Part of the "Cadance of Cloudsdale" cycle; familiarity with the previous work is not required. Thanks to G.M. Berrow for the inspiration.

There are 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, and humanity is determined to explore every one. We send probes, probes with the blueprints to reproduce human explorers upon arrival. Uninhabited worlds the galaxy over can be colonized and populated, until after many years they too can join the vast throng of interstellar civilization. But if a probe is very, very lucky, it will land on a populated world instead. Equestria is one such world.

Even so, it's far from perfect for colonization, not with an environment lethal to human life. But each probe is resourceful and armed with the greatest machine intelligence mankind has devised. If placing a human mind into a newly manufactured human body won't work, it will just have to get a little more creative.

This book has a Hardcover! If you want to pick it up, you can grab it here: https://starscribe.net/

This story was written at the behest of Canary In The Coal Mine, who is sponsoring it on my Patreon. As usual, cover by Zutcha. Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail.

Fantastic prereading help from: Chyre, Danger Noodle, Doctor Disco, and Doggyshakespeare (who also did the Esperanto translation). Thank you all for helping to make this story more readable and more consistent for everyone.

The last believer in an ancient prophecy leaves all she knows behind to fulfill her people’s role, even if they have all long forgotten the promise they had made.

All to save the soul of someone who many believe will herald the doom of us all.

Original version winner of the "Most Controversial" Award for the March 2017 WriteOff!

Cover Art by OverlordNeon
Cover Text by Novel Idea
Zecora Glyph Mark by BlackGryph0n

Beta Reader & Editor Credits
Ebon Quill: Audio Director & Quest Designer on The Manehattan Project
Captain Croissandwich: Honorary Zebra Weaver
Corejo: Professional Nitpicker
Little Tinker: Master of Systems at Poniverse & Scripting Engineer on The Manehattan Project
Beltorn: Commenter-at-Large on FimFiction
Cursori: Reader of Many a Pony Word

Word Count: 14,000
Version: 4.6

This story is a sequel to Past Sins

When pursuing Starlight, Twilight and Spike experienced variances of Equestria, and saw how the river of time could have been different. Now, Starlight has moved in with Twilight, Nyx, and Spike and has begun her studies in friendship. To thank those who have helped her embrace friendship once more, Starlight has created an enchantment that allows the castle’s map table to let anyone glimpse other variances of reality.

The power to ask “what if,” can be a source of great amusement… but for some, the hypotheticals are haunting reminders of what could have been.

Mood Wings - Observations on Pegasus Body Language.

When Twilight Sparkle finds this book, she discovers an entirely new field of research. The secrets of pegasus wings lie before her, and she insists on making her own observations on the matter.

How?

Field research, of course.