Equus iocus.

Twilight ponders the fragile nature of her sanity in today's little adventure.

Opals form from layer upon layer of microscopic silica spheres, the countless reflections brought on from eons of accretion giving impressions of nigh-infinite depth. Because there isn't a single crystal structure, they are more fragile than other gemstones, and can crack due to sudden changes in pressure or temperature.

Opaline Arcana is formed from layer upon layer of mental instabilities, the countless delusions brought on by eons of isolation giving impressions of nigh-infinite evil. And she already cracked a long time ago.

Now that Misty feels comfortable enough to discuss the topic, her new friends will find out just how deep the damage goes.

An ineligible entry for Imposing Sovereigns IV, using the prompt Opaline/Loyalty, set around Chapter 5 of Make Your Mark.

Sheila could say that, while she wasn't exactly satisfied with her life yet, she enjoyed it. She had nice friends to talk to, hobbies she enjoyed, and while she might have been conflicted about some things, she had a lifetime to think it over before she would emigrate. By then, everything would be as she wanted it, and there would be nothing left to worry about.

And then she was shot.

Now she and her friends find themselves navigating a position that's seemingly untenable, one with waters muddied by a dictatorial AI hellbent on providing satisfaction through friendship and ponies. With the line between what's genuine and what's not unclear, the position seems an unwinnable one. Someone will draw the short straw, and have to face a life that's unfulfilled. Any other path to satisfaction now forces it to be made from lies and deception.

Satisfaction may be a guarantee in the world of Equestria Online, but at what cost does satisfaction come?

Cover art by Madelinne. Her art is extremely good, and very wonderful, and I appreciate her allowing me to commission her for this story.

With great help by Starscribe, who's FiO stories inspired me to write this to begin with and who sat with me for hours to help me outline this story and give it its sense of direction.

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.

Rover the Diamond Dog has been pack leader for years now, protecting the Diamond Dogs near Ponyville from all manner of threats. He’s made mistakes, such as the time he thought it would be a good idea to kidnap a unicorn to help find gems. But those mistakes don’t change his responsibilities—their pack has a sacred charge, one he will see fulfilled no matter what.

Takes place immediately following “Dog and Pony Show”

This story was inspired by this thread! Probably read the story first, because it’s going to completely spoil what this is about.

Pre-reading by the patient Bitera and Sparktail. Cover by Zutcha.

With the invention of the magical radio, ponies from across Equestria await the first public radio broadcast, which will come from Princess Celestia herself. However, one week before the presentation an unauthorized broadcast powerful enough to reach every corner of Equestria appears. Its host? Discord.

There are 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, and humanity is determined to explore every one. We send probes, probes with the blueprints to reproduce human explorers upon arrival. Uninhabited worlds the galaxy over can be colonized and populated, until after many years they too can join the vast throng of interstellar civilization. But if a probe is very, very lucky, it will land on a populated world instead. Equestria is one such world.

Even so, it's far from perfect for colonization, not with an environment lethal to human life. But each probe is resourceful and armed with the greatest machine intelligence mankind has devised. If placing a human mind into a newly manufactured human body won't work, it will just have to get a little more creative.

This book has a Hardcover! If you want to pick it up, you can grab it here: https://starscribe.net/

This story was written at the behest of Canary In The Coal Mine, who is sponsoring it on my Patreon. As usual, cover by Zutcha. Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail.

Fantastic prereading help from: Chyre, Danger Noodle, Doctor Disco, and Doggyshakespeare (who also did the Esperanto translation). Thank you all for helping to make this story more readable and more consistent for everyone.

This story is a sequel to Message in a Bottle

For numberless eons, Equus hosted primitive civilizations, ignorant of the proud achievements of their ancient race. In their simple lives, ponies and other creatures could grow without fear of alerting any of the terrible forces that grew in the galaxy beyond. All civilization had been extinguished by forces beyond comprehension. If they made too much noise, Equestria would be next.

Then came James Irwin, with the truth the Harmony superintelligence that maintained the vast Niven Ring had already known: the galaxy was safe again, and probably had been for many centuries.

Once the truth was revealed, Equestria again longed for the stars. Surely they could not be the only survivors of that galactic Red Tide that had swallowed all intelligent life. Their searching bore fruit: radio signals from a nearby system.

Felicity was the Alicorn chosen to captain that mission of discovery. She would bring the pony gift of friendship to a fellow survivor somewhere out there. That was the plan, anyway.

Unfortunately for Equestria, intelligence does not imply friendliness.

A tale of understanding and discovery set in the world of Message in a Bottle. Reading that story first is highly recommended.

This story was written as a Patreon commission for Lithl over the course of over two years now. It comes to fimfiction now that it is nearly finished.

Editing by Two Bit, cover by Zutcha.

Updates Weekly on Wednesdays.

The centuries-long rule of Celestia and Luna has come to an end. Now, it is Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, who watches over the ponies of Equestria. To stand as leader of a whole nation is a daunting thing, but the young alicorn is more than ready. With her closest friends by her side, she's ready to face this great challenge, one day at a time.