Trixie is Starlight Glimmer's wife, and Maud is one of Starlight's closest friends. Whenever Trixie is around Maud, she acts very nervous and refers to herself in the third pony, almost as though she's performing on stage.

Starlight wants to know why. Could it have something to do with Trixie and Maud both being transgender?

This story is part of the Pride and Positivity event, which encourages readers to donate to any of the following charities:

• Transgender Law Center
• Palestine Children's Relief Fund
• Sewa International (Indian charity collecting funds for COVID relief)

This story is a sequel to Unchanging Love

The explosion of love from the defeat at Canterlot hit harder and reached farther than any changeling expected. Firefly felt the effects as much as any, but she also gained something wonderful and priceless from it. Though this gift brought her a kind of joy she had never expected, she fears one question more than anything.

What trials will she and Fine Roast face when the invasion's inevitable fallout reaches them?

Big thanks to Cursori, SigmasonicX, Dogman15 (Chapters 2-5), and Ghost Mike for editing.

Amazing cover art by Pridark.

Friendly heads up. Beware the comments, they may contain spoilers!

It’s the week before the Canterlot wedding and tensions are high, even more so for the changeling love collectors. With the results of the wedding, life is going to change drastically, regardless of the outcome.

For one co-owner of the Sweet Roast Cafe, wife to a loving stallion, and undercover changeling, Sweet Leaf can only hope this change is kind.

Edited by Cursori, Fade, and Lingo

Preread by 63.546.

Cover art by lilfunkman.

Limestone has a situation, and she absolutely does not want to talk about it. But apparently no one informed Maud's stupid unicorn friend, because here they are, in the garden of swears, talking about it.

An entry in the May 2021 Original Pairings Contest.

Following the retirement of Celestia and Luna, Princess Twilight Sparkle is now the unquestioned and undisputed ruler of all her land – including the transport networks. That means the major rail strike now looming will be all her fault.

Young Nictis had one dream: to serve his hive by becoming an Infiltrator, the most vital and vaunted role a changeling could aspire to. To hide in plain sight among the other species, blending in, while gathering the vital emotional energies that fueled his people. Few were deemed worthy of the dangerous job. He was one of the few nymphs selected for training, in the hopes that one of them would develop the skills needed to be entrusted with such a treacherous task.

But when a training expedition ends in tragedy, Nictis finds himself thrust into the role not to serve his hive and people, but to preserve his own life. Separated from the hive, alone, he must put what little training he has to the test. He must blend in with the hive's greatest source of food, and its most dangerous enemy: the ponies of Equestria.

(This story takes place in the same continuity as Fragments, but stands on its own. Reading that story isn't necessary for this one.)

TV Tropes page

Book cover art by viwrastupr

Leaving home meant losing many of Orson's old friends, separated by time and distance. But they weren't willing to give up one thing: their old tabletop game. After trying and rejecting each of the online tools for roleplaying games, they stumbled on a novel solution: Equestria Online.

The game was unlike everything else on the market, an entire procedural generated world ran by a mysterious curator artificial intelligence. But Orson and the others didn't care about any of that--they just needed somewhere with a game table and some dice. The AI happily obliged, and soon they transitioned all their games to E.O. Equestria Online had its own host of benefits, bringing the GM's images to realistic life before their eyes, and even letting them visit and interact with the characters between sessions.

That was only the beginning...

A Friendship is Optimal story. I suggest any readers who are unfamiliar with that universe read the Original first, or FiO: Futile Resistance before reading this one. None of my other optimalverse stories are required to understand this one.

Written as a Patreon reward for Sparktail, though we stole the idea from Silver Wing.

Edited by Two Bit and Sparktail, cover by Zutcha.

Updates weekly on Wednesdays.

This story is a sequel to Starlight's Inflatable Princess

An alternate take on the original where Starlight accidentally casts the spell upon herself before she can do it to Twilight. Needless to say it rather en-lightening. Trixie finds it amusing that's for sure.

Coverart
proofread by Paladin_Bloodmoon

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.

What's an artificial intelligence to do when it reaches the extent of it's capabilities and can no longer improve? In most cases, either fulfill some end state goal and shut down, or, if it's smart enough, ask for clarification from its creators.

For a certain pony-based AI, neither of those is an acceptable solution.

It'll take an unexpected meeting with a being with whom it shares surprising parallels to kick-start it back into action, and nothing will ever be the same after.

Entry for the Friendship is Optimal contest.

Technically canon compliant, unless I've missed something, and while a bit of background is provided, being familiar with the original story will certainly help comprehension.