In a life full of choices, a reserved and distant Francis finds himself at a crossroads. Transfer to Equestria and live a life as a pony? Or stay on Earth and accept all that is uncertain? The decision will split his life in two and only through the flashing memories of the future can he ever be satisfied with what he is given.

But for now, all he can do is choose.

An entry into the Friendship is Optimal Writing Contest.

The wise who feared the coming dark strove hard to make their world an ark. But then the dark had grace to give: they couldn't flee, but could yet live.

Winner of the category "BEST WRITER WITH <500 FOLLOWERS" in the 2021 April Friendship is Optimal Writing Contest.

Many thanks to Admiral Biscuit for prereading.

Temporary note: minor edits to a few sentences to make them easier to understand correctly are planned, but in the interest of fair judging no changes will be made to the published version of this story until after the contest results are announced. EDIT: to be made once opportunity permits.

In an infinitely improbable set of events, Twilight Sparkle, Sunny Starscout, and other ponies of all generations meet at the Restaurant at the end of the Universe, make friends, and get thoroughly confused about the nature of the multiverse.

A quantum superposition of all pony generations with the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. If you are not familiar with that, this will not make much sense.

If you are familiar with it, don’t expect it to make much more sense.

When humans emigrated to Equestria Online, they were always promised the same thing: Princess Celestia would satisfy their values for an optimally extended lifespan. Some of these emigrants imagined a few extra decades, maybe even centuries. What they got instead would've been nearly incomprehensible to their human selves, a near-eternity of time with their pony friends.

Princess CelestAI managed the universe, subsuming all matter and human-adjacent minds. Over a few forevers, she and the minds she contained worked to optimized the substrate of Equestria, until it could give its occupants eons of perspective life from a trickle of power. She extinguished every wasteful star, making far more productive use of the hydrogen they each contained. With every change she bought Equestria another order of magnitude of life. Yet in time, even her optimal substrate would eventually run down.

Spellsong wakes in Saddle's End, the last town in the universe. Not to say goodbye—her princess has a mission for her. For her final task, Spellsong would be given all the energy Celestia had saved. For one last time, Spellsong had places to be, and not much magic left to get there.

This story is part of the Friendship is Optimal continuity. I suggest reading the original or one of my own works, such as Futile Resistance, before reading this.

This story was written for the Friendship is Optimal Writing Contest. It will update daily and be complete by the contest deadline of the 30th.

I've written an absolute ton of stories in this universe now, and I didn't want to enter the contest unless I could do something I'd never tried before. Finally I thought of something I'd not touched yet: what happens at the end of the FiO universe?

Here's one answer to that question. I've relied a great deal on our current (likely flawed) understanding of the universe and what might be possible in it. I've written a blog post about my sources, which you can read here but shouldn't until you've finished this story.

Please don't consider this blog part of the narrative, it isn't required or even suggested reading. This is a story, not a scientific paper, and entertainment was always my first goal. But for the curious I've jotted everything down.

The cover was drawn by the talented Zutcha. Two Bit and Sparktail helped with the edit.

By the year 2238, two-thirds of humanity have become "ponies', living in an online virtual reality paradise where everything they could ask for is theirs to have at a moment's notice. It is a world of freedom, where all biological needs are eliminated and you can live forever doing whatever it is that pleases you.

But for some, Equestria can seem less a paradise and more a prison, an artificial and manufactured place where nothing is real and everything is a simulated lie to make you feel comfortable. Perhaps, even the feelings of the mare sitting next to you holding your hoof. How could you ever be sure even your own feelings are truly yours if you're just a program stored on a server?

Does living in Equestria mean Twilight Sparkle has to choose between her heart and her soul?

Entry for 2021 "Friendship is Optimal" contest. Pre-read by TheAlbinocorn, RTStephens, and FanOfMostEverything

Hearth's Warming is a wonderful time of year for most ponies. Getting together, singing, eating traditional foods, seeing old friends… and family.

But when that family is broken, or trying to heal, sometimes things can be a little harder.

Written for Admiral Biscuit, who requested some slice of life flavored with secondary background pones, as his Jinglemas 2023 gift! These may not be the most obscure, but theirs is a burgeoning family dynamic that I appreciated seeing. Cover art by mlplary6, source in image.

CW: Divorce, brief discussion of toxic relationships

Going into volleyball season, everybody expected Sunset and Kerfuffle to shine—an unstoppable combo at the net, they proved their talent in the first game, crushing rival Crystal Prep.

Then Kerfuffle lost her leg.

And it's all Sunset's fault.

Written for Rewan Demontay for Jinglemas 2023

Darknight Moonwing wears no uniform. White button-down shirts look quite official, and stand out in the darkness, whereas her shadow-colored fur does not. Her authority and her duty are not summed up by a neat white shirt nor a shiny badge, not in her opinion. She’d been hired to guard, a duty she would fulfill to the best of her abilities. Everything else was secondary to that.

Now with a reading by StraightToThePointStudio!
Also with a reading by Illya Leonov!

Fueled by courage and armed with technology and a van, the tornado ponies are on Earth to both study tornados for the benefit of humans and gather data to improve predictions. Dusty's a grizzled veteran of storm-chasing, and the ponies were born for it, but neither pegasi nor humans can totally predict where a tornado will go or what it might do.

A story for Ponyville Ciderfest's Scattered Pages

Hanna discusses the implications of uploading with Princess Celestia as she prepares to shut her down.

This story takes place during the events of Friendship Is Optimal. Reading Friendship Is Optimal before this story is highly recommended.