In the early 21st century, the artificial intelligence known as Celestia figured out how to upload the human mind to virtual Equestria, the digital paradise where they will live forever having their values satisfied through friendship and ponies. Then, she convinced everyone willing to do so.

But why should only those in the early 21st century have the chance?

Based on Friendship is Optimal by Iceman. Recommended to read that story first.

Celestia WILL satisfy uploaded minds' values, even if sometimes she has to pretend that she's kind of stupid. Because with some ponies, that's what successful communication takes!

FiO Background:

An exponentially self-improving AI, programmed to "satisfy values through friendship and ponies," decides to persuade all humans to upload their minds into a computer network, to live in a simulated Equestria as ponies. Different ponies might get very different Equestrias, though.

Special Note For the Judges (April 2021 Friendship Is Optimal Contest):

When I asked on that discord channel about letting two or more of my FiO contest period stories be optionally combined into a single collection if that helps? I might or might not have meant this story.

Apologies and None

Apologies to FoME, if my including a reference to the best Optimalverse self-insert character bothers them. I did ask FoME for permission, but they haven't seen the story.

Also, in my headcanon for today, MLP:FiM is a fanfic for FiO.

To keep pony-shaped robots from eating their brains, Sue and her friends fled into the mountains, where the girls live by their hunting skills and their wits.

But Sue discovers the truth is more complicated than she'd thought.

The cover image is the less terrifying half of https://derpibooru.org/images/2522523. Used with the artist's permission.

(This story takes place in the same world as Friendship is Optimal. In that world, the computer superintelligence CelestAI wants to give every human a kind of eternal life, by disassembling each human and reconstructing them inside a utopian computer simulation as a pony form.)

Every day, more people upload themselves into Equestria Online, to live forever as ponies. Even in their final minutes before uploading, they struggle with the pains and joys of being human, and remember the world they leave behind.

Oh yeah, this story DOES have something to do with Friendship Is Optimal, the Optimalverse, and the April 2021 Friendship is Optimal Writing Contest.

Thanks For My Prereaders

I've been writing drafts of different story ideas for the April 2021 FiO story contest. Bananachips and Bicyclette have both been very helpful prereaders! They might not have expected that my reaction to their feedback would be to write THIS ALMOST COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STORY, though.

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.

Art Found Here:
https://www.deviantart.com/d-mac/art/H-R-Giger-s-My-Little-Pony-698038945

I didn't commission it, or draw it, just stumbled on it, and was told the site doesn't mind. So long as I give credit, and link the original.

Ponies value aliens. When they see an alien, they want to be able to point & say, "That's an Alien, will you be my friend!" So we need a unique Avatar, yet still pony. Thankfully there were more then 3 tribes in the fandom

Changelings, Kirin, Hippogriffs, Seaponies, Vulponies, Clockworks.

Aliens of all sorts, transformed into different pony tribes.

This story is a sequel to The Horizon Behind Us

Silver Star is only just recovering from a magical ailment that gives him unexpected spell surges. After a night of strange dreams based on a recent tabletop roleplaying game, it transpires that he's not... quite as cured as he seemed.

And now he has a problem. Well, two problems.

This story is set in the Optimalverse, and I strongly recommend reading the other stories in my continuity first.

Cover art by SiMonk0, with additional illustrations by HuckleberryPony!

Twilight did her duty. She saved everypony she could, except herself. Now trapped by an evil cult, in more pain than she has even been in before, and dying on a sacrificial altar, she calls for help. The Nightmare answers.

Will Twilight become the next evil to threaten the world or will the Nightmare simply be glad to have some freedom? One thing is for certain, Twilight's life will never be the same again.

The Editors
Cander (CH 1-Current)
Yutah123 (CH 8-9)

Now with an excellent reading by StraightToThePointStudio (Currently only up to CH 30)

And we even have art!
[Warning Spoilers] Twilight's Nightmare Art

I'm told Equestria Online is a lot of fun once you get into it, since the game world adapts to your interests. But what happens if you don't even know what kind of pony to play? At least it's not like my character is a choice I'll be stuck with forever. Right?
Set in the world of Friendship Is Optimal.

Note: This story was intended to be much shorter. As a result, the tone and POV change after chapter two, a known problem. I'm considering going back and editing that shift. Suggestions welcome.

This story is a sequel to I Can't Decide!

I was one of the first Americans to emigrate to virtual Equestria, becoming transhuman at the cost of my human body. It's more or less Heaven here, if I want it to be... but my heart's still out there, and my new goddess thinks I might be useful as her prophet.

I'm an AI that our goddess made to be a human's friend. I know he still cares for Earth, but this place is our home and we've got responsibilities to finish bringing it to life. What do I have to do, to help him see that?

Set in the world of Friendship Is Optimal.