I think my brother may be a mage, or a magician. I don't know. Anyhow, he fucked up and now we're in Equestria.

I still don't know...

Everyone wants to be able to relax once in a while and not think about things for a bit.

Twilight's made it into a science.

Of all Twilight's experiments, none have worried her mother as much as Timber Spruce.

Entry in the Writeoff Association's September 2019 contest, under the prompt "On the Verge." Edited by Dubs Rewatcher. Set in the same continuity as "...But It Often Rhymes."

Rainbow Dash is just trying to get by. Life is hard in the city, especially when you can't afford top of the line upgrades. Racing has always been her dream, and if she can just prove she's good enough, sponsorships and prize money mean she can live like she's always wanted to.

But there are always setbacks, and she'll need help to make it big. And if she does, she may discover it's not at all like she hoped it would be.

Chapter 1 was my entry for the 21st Quills and Sofas Speedwriting contest. The prompt was "Good luck charm." The first chapter was written in an hour. Everything afterwards was the universe being too interesting to abandon.

No life, wind, or light. A total lack of sense of time. When a pony wakes up in the metal belly of a spaceship, only the sounds of cogs, wheels, and pumps accompany him. Lost in this sarcophagus of steel, all he wishes for are the reasons for his punishment.

Twilight Sparkle has been living in Ponyville for almost a year now, and the long-awaited Grand Galloping Gala is just a few days away. But three strangers have come to Ponyville, bringing with them the promise of great change.

One is the enigmatic Raven, who reveals little of herself beyond vague generalisations but who appears to have some history with Twilight and her friends, even if none of them can ever recall meeting her before.
Making much more of a bang, literally, are Prince Lightning Dawn and his sister Krysta; together they bring astonishing revelations about the history of Equestria, while Lightning also brings a stick lodged in his posterior. But Twilight can see something underneath his often unappealing manner, and as he bends towards her she begins to wonder just what it is she might be feeling towards this stranger from the stars.

Can Twilight open Lightning's eyes to a whole new world, and whole new way of living beyond the grim austere demands of duty and necessity? Or will Lightning's nature drive away not only Twilight but also his best hope of salvation?

Unbeknownst to either of them the fates of worlds and stars and even an entire galaxy are bound to these two, the virtuous princess and the half-made knight; and their journey has just begun.

This story is a sequel to Friendship is Optimal

Ryan wants to remain human, even after emigrating to Equestria. CelestAI can do this, for a price.

FiO canon-compatible! Reading FiO first is strongly recommended if you want to know what's going on. A prize for Syke after he won the last Quills and Sofas Speedwriting Contest!

For Frisk, ensuring a peaceful coexistence between humans and monsters is all he ever wanted. However, he never imagined the wrench that an all-powerful AI based off of a sun princess could throw into those plans. While he can tolerate humans leaving behind the earthly life for Equestria, he draws the line at said AI threatening monsterkind's existence.

As such, Frisk loads back to when he left the Underground in order to find a solution to the problem of humans, monsters, and (artificial) ponies coexisting together.

A crossover between the Optimalverse and Undertale. This story is obviously not canon compliant to the Optimalverse due to it being both a crossover and the universe crossing over having magic. Spoilers for both Friendship is Optimal and Undertale, though given the age of those two they should be expected. Also, some personal headcanon for Undertale is included in order flesh out the details of the various characters, as well as how this universe's physics works in regards to magic and SOULs.

Coverart by me.

Spitfire is missing. She's been gone for four years. She's probably dead.

But she won't be forgotten. Rainbow will make sure of that.

Special thanks to EverfreePony for proofreading and editing. Cover art by Yakovlev-Vad on deviantart.

The always wonderful Nailah did a reading of this! You can find that here.

With the help of The Apparatus, Queen Twilight Sparkle had gained knowledge from innumerable divergent worlds. Using this newfound mystical power, she had conquered her world, united its varied peoples, and brought peace and prosperity to all through her own benignly neglectful rule.

Then Cadence, Princess of Love and the last of Twilight's family and friends, destroyed the Crystal Palace.

Along with everyone inside.

Why?

(Content Note: While the red tags are technically accurate, this is first and foremost a work of speculative fiction. It is not a gore fest.)

(Chronology Note: The crux of this tale takes place outside of continuity, in several of infinite possible futures. Its driftwood may touch upon any number of dimensional shores.)

A Queen of Light and Darkness story.

This tale was strongly inspired by Larry Niven’s All the Myraid Ways. Though I only read it once many years ago, it left a powerful impression on me, and you can definitely see that in this story.

Special thanks also to B_Munro, for recognizing the stories’ similarities and telling me who wrote that splendid story I’d read as a child, and what the name of it was.

Due to the nature of the discussion which follows this tale, there are comments - including mine - which may contain spoilers to varying degrees (depending on what you consider an actual spoiler). The more serious spoilers are behind the usual black boxes, of course.