Twilight Sparkle was only a filly when Equestria detected the enigmatic Signal. A series of increasingly complex mathematical proofs, the Signal transformed from an intriguing curiosity to reliable evidence of extraequestrian life.

And as it happened, Equestria's exploration of their own solar system was nearly complete. With colonies orbiting every planet and large body, and an asteroid belt filled with miners and prospectors, Twilight's civilization was just about ready to turn its focus outward. The signal was less than ten light-years away, within reach of a daring, experimental voyage. A voyage Twilight Sparkle would lead.

Along with a small crew of the most skilled scientists and engineers Equestria could offer, Twilight is determined to uncover the mystery of the Signal, and brave the final frontier for future generations of Equestrian explorers.

A comment-driven, CYoA story. Please use the links provided in the author's notes of each chapter to vote, rather than the comments.

This story is a creative experiment of mine, one meant to explore the general idea that creativity is often most fostered by restrictions. As a result, I've imposed a number of restrictions on the writing of this story, which I'm stating explicitly here so I can be called out if I break any of them.

1. Brevity is the soul of wit
No chapter may be more than 1000 words long. This wordcount only includes prose, and not the questions/rolls.

2. Every choice matters
When a choice is offered in a chapter, at least one sub-optimal choice must be present, with no indication about which is which other than the prose itself. Every chapter should end with a CYoA-style decision tree when possible.

3. Fate is cruel and the universe is heartless
The decision of the vote must be respected. This means any character could be killed, or the entire story could end in failure, if that's what the votes decide. Where numbers, stats, and randomization appear in the text, these elements are not verisimilitude, but are decided by public diecrolls in my discord server.

Note: Because of the unusual production of this story, its chapters won't be edited in the same way as my usual fare. Feel free to point out any mistakes you encounter.

Awesome cover by Zutcha as you can probably tell. Editing stuff by Two Bit and Sparktail, where applicable.

Sweetie Belle has the mind of a young filly, and like all youngsters, they often prioritize fun with friends over more important things. Normally, this isn't an issue. However, after a fun day out with her two best friends lasts longer than expected, the little unicorn's good mood is interrupted by a Low Battery Alert. Now the robotic filly must rush to get home and plug herself in before her battery hits 0%.

After becoming one of the few A.I.’s that didn’t immediately turn into a robotic racist after being uploaded to the internet, Sweetie-Bot-Says is invited to a special event to give a personal interview with the world.

They weren’t prepared for what she’d have to say.

An entry for the Science Fiction Contest based off of A.I. like TayTweets. The contest lasts until January 6, 2022, so feel free to enter. There’s cash prizes for the top 3, and for creativity and execution. All you need is a sci-fi tag and you’re eligible. (Unless it breaks some weird rules in Australia.)

Having a desktop pet can be relaxing to watch, but the Twilight Sparkle pet is a bit more unique as it's capable to perform conversations with its user. It's a learning pet, but the way it performs could leave some people to believe that this Twilight is actually alive.

But it's still just a program... right?

Even though this is an Anon story, their name will be changed to Antoni for the sake of my sanity and to allow both genders to be interpreted (Antonio = Male) (Antonia = Female)

The cover image is a quick overlay of a Twilight vector image by sapphire-beauty0 over a screenshot of my desktop.

Made for a competition at Angel Midnight's Hideout.

TheFlint44 has also made a Chinese translation (中文译文) of the story for your pleasure.

Its a common sentiment that a parent should never outlive her children. But what happens when you outlive all your friends? your family? What happens when year after year you watch ponies you grow close to grow old and die? How far would you go to keep somepony, anypony you love close? How much could the need for something to remain the same, to remain unchanged affect you?

I'd like to thank my pre-readers for their valuable input on this story, and let's not forget my editor, Kalash, for his hard work.

Edit: 2/15/2020 FEATURE BOX!!!! Thank you so much for the honor! And making it to the top!!!

An accident reveals a secret that nopony ever knew....

Inspired by this picture.
[img]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a331/brittmcgee/MLP%20Minecraft/TLSOA_zps2aa17c49.png[/img]

Sweetie was just a normal little filly, waiting for hearth's warming eve to arrive. That time of year when all little fillies are suppose to be happy and all hearts burn the brightest.

But when the latest Cmc stunt goes a little to far, Sweetie makes a horrifying discovery that turns her world upside down - and turn her friends against her.
Unable to bear the haunting looks of others, she runs away from home.

Thus - with the world seemingly stacked against her - she sets of on a journey to try and discover the truth behind her existence, and the secrets of her origin. And above all else if there is a place where she belongs.

Or will this be a heart's warming eve she'll be forced to spend alone?

(Warning: A Grimdark tale with scenes some readers might find both disturbing and heartbreaking)

Cover art by the amazing EstrosianHeaven.

Initializing....
Source Code Identified......
Playback Audio Feed......Operation: World Jump 2463197......Subsection; Mission Parameters......

.........Um, hello, my name is Doctor Daniel Phillips, and I am the lead scientist overseeing the Gateway Project, one of the most cutting-edge technologies in existence today. With it, we can open wormholes to worlds far beyond the reach of conventional space travel, and even into other dimensions if we can work out the right frequency. As of late we have discovered over a dozen habitable worlds that have been slated for colonization, but as of yet no signs of intelligent life. Yet I hold out hope that one day we might find such a world, however remote, and put our best foot forward in opening relations with our new galactic neighbors. Yet not all of the planets we find are poppies and roses, so instead of sending in humans to explore them, we have these little babies.

Oh, right, you can't see me because this is an audio-only feed. My mistake. Well, I guess I'll just have to explain it to you. These cybernetic wolves, known in our group as the Mech Hounds, are outfitted with the most advanced computers in the world, along with some of the most cutting-edge robotics and weapons money can buy. Now right at the moment we only have a dozen of these little critters, but don't let that fool you. Each of these little babies carries enough firepower to level a small town, although it would take them a couple days to do so if they were working alone. They also have the programing to work out almost any situation in a matter of seconds, although they still have many of the logic problems that most computers face when confronted with something that does not fit within the established parameters of their programming. Yet, regardless of their possible shortcomings, they do the heavy lifting upon initial exploration where humans cannot, dealing with threats as they see fit in order to assess the habitability of a planet for human use. I could tell you more, but that would be breaking protocol.

So, without further ado, I'll turn you over to our logistics specialist, who will be happy to tell you all about how these little babies are going to change the world, or rather, worlds, that humanity has come to call home.................

End Audio Recording........

This is a story that delves into the boundary between life and machine, where AI is something that has only been dreamed of, even with the most advanced computers available. Then again, these machines have never encountered magic before, so who knows what might happen. I guess you'll just have to read the book to find out for yourself.

Twilight Sparkle is brilliant. This is not ego, this is fact. One proven by her latest creation for LunaTech, a personal robotic companion capable of meeting all of its owners needs. But when the robot starts to show signs of developing beyond its programming, Twilight must decide whether she can continue the experiments she's running. If not, can she really justify shutting it down?

Written for Monochromatic's Interwoven Colours contest.

Billions of years ago, an underground bunker was created to protect Humanity from their destruction, but only one made it in before Oblivion claimed him. Now the AI that he awoke remains, one that has faithfully kept the promise he made to his father, waiting for someone, or something, to find him.

Note: This story's from the point of view of the AI (3rd person limited). As such, if he doesn't think that a detail is important it's probably not going to be mentioned. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

As usual, comments go into the comment section (that's what it's for).
If you find any grammar/spelling errors, feel free to let me know via the comment section.
If you think the story needs a new tag, let me know which one and I'll consider it (chances are that I'll add it).

I own nothing except the robots!

3/22/16
Holy shit this story's in the Popular stories part of the homepage. I know this may not be big for others but it's huge for me!

5/28/16
Apparently this story was Featured sometime in the past as it's currently in the bottom three slots (those reserved for past Featured stories that have recently been updated). If anyone knows when this story was first Featured, or know how I can find out, please tell me.

5/28/16 ~10:00PM
Holy shit. 100 likes. I... I honestly never thought that I would get this far... I can't all of you enough.