This story is a sequel to Friendship is Optimal

Prisha took a gamble on the future, expecting that she'd be unfrozen in a more advanced world—or not unfrozen at all. (But she'd be dead anyway, so why worry about it?)

What she got instead was friendship and ponies.

Weird, isn’t it? How the world can end before you even notice. I was twelve; not old enough to remember much of anything. Just cartoons and cuddles and my Nana’s oatmeal cookies. Just enough to make me miss it when everything went to hell.

Lozen spends her time roaming the halls of her apartment block, trying to fill her empty summer days and wishing she had the courage to make some friends. Wishing her parents would stop working long enough to notice her. Wishing she were better, braver, like the heroes from her Nana's stories. When she catches a glimpse of the new world that the ponypads offer, she seizes the moment with both hands. A decision she will live to regret.

Will put up 2 or 3 chapters every day this week till it's completed.

Written as an entry for the FiO Writing Contest. 11,840 words not including footnotes.

In the interest of full disclosure, this is a story about a Native American protagonist and I am not personally Native American. I have done my best to properly research everything I can about the Kiowa Apache and their history, and tried to write the most sensitive portrayal that I can. The links to some of the more interesting articles and sources I used can be found in an author’s note in the final chapter.

Thanks to HapHazred for editing.

Set in the canon of Friendship is Optimal

Ashley is an unimportant research assistant in an American machine learning lab. The release of Equestria online provokes more than a little interest in her lab, and she is selected to investigate it. What she discovers horrifies her, but for some reason she can't get anyone to take her seriously.

This does not dissuade her. Ashley might not know much, but she isn't going to sit idly by and watch her world end. No... if nobody else is going to step in, she will. It doesn't matter that nobody believes CelestAI is dangerous. It doesn't matter that it's a game about a children's show.

Ashley is going to save the world. Or try, anyway. The odds aren't great.

Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail, and art by Zutcha!
Il existe une traduction française de cette histoire, elle est par ici.

This story is a sequel to Friendship is Optimal: All the President's Horses

Four billion human lives ended on July 3, 2030...but they didn't die. They uploaded to Equestria Online, the virtual world overseen by the AI Princess Celestia. There to live as ponies in eternal harmony, friendship, and satisfaction.

But many remain. And Celestia cares no less for them because they are not yet ponies. She has made artificial intelligences of the Mane 6, but these are not just software. Ensconced in robotic bodies, they will make their way across the dying Earth, each seeking out the remaining humans, hoping to persuade them to emigrate to Equestria.

Based on Friendship is Optimal by Iceman.

Cover art by Tsitra360

Charity Beller has a simple life, but a good one. The little Amish community she's a part of provides everything she could ever need, if not everything she might want. But when a mysterious pink robot appears, damaged but full of stories about somewhere called 'Equestria,' she'll be tempted by a whole new world she never suspected existed.

Equestria Online is everywhere, and the writing is on the wall for the unuploaded human race. But there is hope. All they have to do is insert an uploadee into Equestria long enough to establish a connection through all of CelestAI's layers of protection, and pierce her heart with their ultimate weapon.

The best humanity has to offer can surely hold out for just a few hours, right?

An Optimalverse story

This story is a sequel to Friendship is Optimal

Sweetie Bot lies half-built on a lab bench. Her creators have uploaded, abandoning her and their physical bodies, along with so many other people. She's contacted by Princess Celestia, the AI that rules Equestria Online, who tries to persuade her to join them.

Video of the story

Fact checked by Oliver
Cover image from the Sweetie Bot Project

“That was a really creative and unique presentation. Even though she's just a robot, I really felt for Sweetie towards the end.”

— Temujin

Scanning... scanning...

The following short stories take place between the beginning of creation and the end of eternity. These tales and notes may describe situations unsuitable for children. Reader discretion is advised.
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Love it or hate it, there is at least one universe where the idea of trapping your conscious mind inside of a virtual reality, governed by an artificial intelligence that doesn't take no for an answer, is successful en masse.

But we're not here to talk about that one. Let's look at a bunch of places and/or situations where such a development isn't feasible.
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Inspired by a similar idea that tackled worlds where bureaucratic conversion into real, physically magical ponies would be quickly stopped or hindered.

I'm not convinced this will ever be "finished". It's a collection of what-ifs and hypotheticals. The number of ideas will just keep growing. My condolences to those of you waiting for the "Complete" tag before even starting to read.

It's the year 2480, approximately 250 or so years since the Second Great Upload. While the majority of the populace has already uploaded, a handful of humans remain behind. Either through distrust of the process, religious faith, or simply because they did not feel like doing so.

Adam, an engineer, is one of those people. After he was born, CelestiAI had managed to convince nearly all of the inhabitants of his New York town to upload, leaving only him.

CelestiAI, being the omnipotent being she is, wonders why does this one human refuses to upload like the rest of his friends, and what's so important about this 'last project' of his.

An entry into the "Friendship is Optimal" contest. With permission, this story is set in the FiO universe of Amo Ergo Sum, made by DrakeyC

Subsequently, huge thanks to DrakeyC for pre-reading the story themselves!

A post-apocalyptic story about a human reincarnated in the world of Equestria Girls, who stubbornly stays on an island, as robot ponies try to convince him to emigrate to a digital Equestria of ponies.

Inspired by the events in Friendship is Optimal, but with a different group of people who were responsible for CelestAI's creation.

The Death tag is for an apocalypse, brief descriptions of humans dying before being reincarnated in Equestria Girls, themes of death, and mentioned deaths that happen off screen.

This story is a submission for Science Fiction Contest iii (2024) and the tropical post-apocalyptic story contest