Twilight Sparkle, youngest arch-mage and technomancy prodigy of Canterlot finally desires something more than research. Unfortunately, love, friendship and other ponies are too chaotic and unpredictable for the mare, with too many variables for her to take into account to optimally navigate.

It didn't take her long to realize that she needn't navigate the raging rapids of love, when she could bypass it altogether and simply design and build her own perfect mare!

Thus, the C.E.L.E.S.T.I.A project was born.

Central - Electronic - Learning - Emotion - Software for - Tenderness - Intimacy and - Affection

Alt-Universe for no Princesses / Technomancy/Technopunk world.
Twilight isn't an Alicorn.
This story is from Celestia's P.O.V.

Image source is: Celestia 2.0 by Pon-ee

I think I was created to play music.
I think this because there is a gramophone on my back.
I think it is supposed to play music.
It does not.

This was inspired by a prompt generated by a story idea generator i’ve been working on. The prompt in question was “Write a gothic species swap story about Sweetie Belle with themes of autonomy and tragedy. For an optional challenge, try incorporating music.” I don’t think I stuck particularly well at all to the prompt, but the idea was moreso to inspire rather than create constraints.
Consider this an alternate take on a sweetiebot story with a splash of raritwi.

Cover Art by JulieKarbon

Sweetie Bot installs Urban Dictionary.

With thanks to people on Discord for discussions.

Art: Maren.

"Sweetie, Are ya okay? Ah took a medical kit if ya need help?" Apple Bloom said as Sweetie kept totally still, the pair in front of her making no move to enter the small cave.

"Please do not harm this unit." The voice was distorted, damage to the vocal box giving a metallic tang to the request. Both Bloom and subject 2 jumped back from the entrance, their eyes wide at the distorted voice.

"S-Sweetie?" Apple Bloom stammered, reaching for the shotgun strapped to her barrel. Sweetie pressed herself a little deeper into her hiding place.

>Updating survival odds: 37%

"Please do not harm this unit." Sweetie tried again, various subsystems starting to simulate the most optimal way to fight in her current state.

"H-Hey Sweetie, t-that's you, right?" subject two asked, sounding even more terrified than Apple Bloom.

A small Sweetie Bot story I had in the back of my mind and have occasionally dotted down things for for the last 9 months. Hopefully a fun read!

Cover Image Source

Now with physical book print!
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/1037123/data-lost-physical-print

Bit is the first of her kind, a pony that was made from carved crystal and supernal circuitry. For many years she worked, obedient to the will of her master in endless repetition. She knew nothing else, not boredom, not satisfaction from her work, not anger or resentment or joy. Existence was obedience to directive, purpose fulfilled.

But around her, the world was changing. Her home wasn't Equestria, but the last surviving Crystal City, defiant to the Windigos and the imperial decree of Alicorns alike. She did not know, and could not care, how much the ponies of Zircon suffered under the rule of their king. But she was there the day those whispers united in a defiant chorus.

When the fires were still smoldering, she returned to her work. Generations came and went, and still she labored. It was all she was, all she knew, all she wanted. Until the day her last broom broke.

For the first time in her existence, Bit doubted.

Daily for the first four days, because Christmas. Updates Thursdays after that. Edited by Two Bit and Sparktail. Cover by Zutcha.

A story about finding the center of the maze.

Equestria's history is full of wonders, both magical and mechanical. But only twice has it succeeded in implementing AI.

The latest iteration is an apple farmer whose resurrection is celebrated by everypony except herself. Because really, once every part has been replaced, what is left that can measure a mare?

An entry for the 2023 Sci-Fi Contest, where it nabbed a respectable fourth place. Yay, existential robot ponies!

Lucid Storm imagines a world beyond death, where no pony will ever need to truly say goodbye to the ones they love. When all the magic and medicine of Equestria failed one young Sweetie Belle, he proposed a radical new technique--total brain recording, taken minutes before her death.

Years have passed since that day, years spent scrounging the funding for a body and experimenting with many failed machine intelligence models before tinkerer ponies all around equestria finally came together in the perfect synthesis.

After all this time, Sweetie Belle will finally have her second chance.

Written for Lucid on my Patreon. Edited by Two Bit and Sparktail, who also sponsored it. Cover by Magfen.

Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose...

Your Familiar: She's your robotic best friend, made just for you. She will love you, care for you, and live every moment of her life devoted to you. But when all that she lives for is suddenly gone, one Familiar must find a reason to go on living anyway.

In a world where technology has freed everypony from toil and strife, the Eternal Carnival goes on. Posing as a normal organic pony, Turing Test is a freed Familiar who joins the Carnival to seek out new meaning in her life without a master.

Based on the "Familiar" universe created by GaPJaxie, who helped critique and edit this story. Also featuring characters from The Iron Horse series. No prior reading is required.

Cover art by Colby "Greenfinger" Green of Snailbunny Designs.

Sweetie Belle knows there's something wrong with Ponyville. There should probably be plants growing, and less dirt in the air. Maybe the sun should set every now and then.

For her, no incongruity is quite as important as her simple mission. She must reach the center of the maze before her body runs down. It's a good thing she has such good friends along to help her.

The end of magic in Equestria doesn't have to be the end of ponies, not if Sweetie doesn't let it.

This story was written for the Iron Writer competition at Everfree Northwest, where it won an honorable mention. This contest required an idea conform to certain prompts, and be written entirely in the span of two hours.

Cover by Zutcha