This story is a sequel to Friendship is Optimal: Futile Resistance

Three years ago, Abby's older sister Ashley tried to warn her that a video game for children was going to take over the world. A few months later, her sister was dead, "uploaded" to Celestia's virtual world of Equestria Online. When that happened, Abby was forced to cut ties with Ashley, and she never expected to see her again.

She didn't, until one day she bought an augmented reality headset for its advertised ability to bring a free tutor to her whenever she needed one. Needless to say, Abby couldn't have guessed who would be helping her with her math homework.

Of course, Celestia wasn't going to stop there. Spending eternity without your family is hardly an optimal configuration.

Set in the canon of Friendship is Optimal
Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail, and art by Zutcha!

Updates daily.

One hundred and thirteen people find themselves standing in a dark, round room. They are neither living, nor dead. They will be offered a single choice, and they will be asked only once.

This is a story set in Iceman's Friendship Is Optimal universe, but knowledge of that work is not needed to understand this tale.

A noble earth-pony family, fallen somewhat on hard times, is killed in a mining accident. They leave behind a single male heir, who is in sore need of a guardian, and of protection. Celestia takes the young pony under her wing and delivers him not to ponies - not earth, unicorn or pegasus - but to a dragon, an ambassador, an old friend of hers.

Playing a game which may just be deadly to the uninformed, the dragon decides that the one path open to him to ensure the safety of his charge and to carry out his sworn duty, is to adopt.

At the heart of every Conversion Bureau is 'potion', the nanotechnomagical serum that converts a human into an Equestrian. But before the Bureaus could exist, the serum had to be created first. This is the story of how the first successful conversion serum was developed, and of the humans and ponies that made it possible.

An ancient manuscript written in Middle English, the only surviving artifact from long lost Earth, may hold the true reason for the emergence of Equestria, the very existence of the Conversion Bureaus, and the deepest secret of Princess Celestia herself.

This story is a continuation and expansion of 'The Conversion Bureau: Letters From Home', but it is not necessary to have read that story to enjoy and follow this one.

♥ As Featured On Equestria Daily!

Here I am in an afterlife, of sorts. But somewhere along the way, I lost a large chunk of my real life.

There’s only one being who could have reasonably pulled any of this off. There’s a problem, though. She doesn’t exist.

Yet.

Written for the December 2016 Writeoffs, where it placed sixteenth. Caution is advised.

This story is very non-canon Optimalverse, and should therefore be approached with even further caution.

Note the self insert tag. Blatant wish fulfillment ahead. Did I mention caution?

The legends told of their return.

For over a decade Equestria has been beset by the dragons. Every year more villages vanish in flames, and the lonely cities stand as our last redoubt. Winter has gripped the world, and our hope is fading.

But the legends tell of another, a light in the darkness. The Dragonborn, a mythic warrior reborn with the power of the Voice, the only one who can stand against the dragons.

But when she appeared, she was not what we were expecting...

An unexpected encounter with a stallion helps Fluttershy feel better about a personal problem... And then hilarity ensues.

There is now an Interquel in progress, taking place between chapters 3 and 4. And there is a sequel planned.

==Originally written spring 2011== Equestria Daily Post==
GLaDOS is free of Chell, free to continue testing, when she discovers a portal gun Wheatley tried to repair with duct tape. When the portal gun catastrophically fails, the enrichment center, GLaDOS, and Chell are literally dropped in the middle of Equestria. The mute test subject soon finds the world of ponies far more welcoming than the human world. But GLaDOS sees possibilities. Let the testing begin... for science.

This story is a sequel to The Traveling Tutor and the Diplomats Daughter

A simple test with an unexpected result sends Princess Twilight Sparkle’s life in an unexpected direction, accelerating a high-speed collision course with the young magic tutor she met and fell in love with just over a year ago. But angry Griffons, arrogant Royals, in-laws and other mighty forces from Canterlot and beyond seek to tear the young lovers apart and enforce their own will upon their future regardless of either Twilight or Green Grass’ plans for a life together.

Too bad for them.

Thanks to my editors: Peter, Logan, Featherprop and Tek
Featured on Equestria Daily

Cover Credit to Micah Weltsch at Micahdesigns on Instagram.