Elliot Foster didn't ask for much from life. Go to work, get his paycheck, make it home to his girlfriend each night. Ride up to the slopes and snowboard in winter, maybe one day pay off his student loans.

Unfortunately for Elliot, his life smacked him headfirst into patient zero of a supernatural pandemic. Flu symptoms gave way to something far more disturbing, leaving Elliot's life transformed in a way he never could've imagined.

Elliot Foster will have to decide: does he bow and get crushed by pressures beyond his control, or protect his fellow victims? Without him, none of Earth's new ponies will ever escape the quarantine.

The events of this story are driven by user votes. Each chapter's author's notes contain a link to a poll, which readers are encouraged to vote in once. I ask for everyone's honesty here. Though for those with a strong opinion on what to do, I encourage you to use the comments to make your case!

Obviously I need to cut voting at some point to begin writing. When this happens, I will capture the total votes, and include those numbers in the beginning of the next chapter. Those who remember the last time I did this (Voyage of the Equinox), will recall that the site I used for my polls no longer even exists. Including the results in each chapter will also serve as a way of recording the outcome for future readers.

Written as a commission for Muziki. Cover By KlaraPL.

The unusual nature of this story's publication schedule, editing to my usual standard is not possible. As such, chapters may contain more errors than I typically permit.

It was only the most important game of the season. Phil Adler was ready to play the game of his life, and push the Eagles to the Super Bowl. Instead, a catastrophic magical event shattered his life, and sent the game into an abrupt and terrified end. Phil is transformed, and thrust alongside several other players into the war-torn land of Equestria.

The ponies of Equestria have already fought for their liberation and lost, with only a scattered band of rebels left to resist the Storm King's tyrannical regime. If he wants his world or his humanity back, he'll have to master his new powers and lead the desperate ponies to victory against their oppressors!

Phil and his teammates might not be the legendary warriors Starlight Glimmer thought they were. But they're the only warriors Equestria will get.

The story was commissioned by Pheagle Adler, who also contributed significantly to the editing and style. Bitera and Sparktail also helped with the editing. The cover was drawn by the fantastic Acesential.

Updates every Saturday until complete.

Lyra Heartstrings gave everything to see the USS Celestial finished in time to escape. Against all odds, Equestria is ready to send out this evacuation ship, and preserve the legacy of their species. Lyra has one last day to visit her homeworld, before everything she ever loved is erased from the universe forever.

She should have just enough time to bring flowers.

Cover by Zutcha.

This story was written over the course of two hours for the Everfree Northwest Iron Author, where it placed third. The prompt for the contest was Smile, Gubernatorial, and Weasel. There were many awesome entries, many already posted here on Fimfiction.

This story is presented without my usual editing pass to preserve it in the format it appeared for the contest. I did manually fix the italics headers, which were not correct in the contest entry. While writing the story, I had all of two minutes to get it edited and submitted to the website, which was not enough to fix all that formatting stuff.

The ending wasn't quite what I wanted, I ran out of time before reaching the payoff I imagined emotionally, and I had to settle for something that wasn't quite as strong. Even so, I feel like it's wrong to revise. This is the story I entered, and I believe it stands as is.

Several months ago, the little fillies now known as Lilac and Firefly first arrived in Equestria. Despite intense effort, they've found no hint of a way to return home, or to take back their humanity.

That would all be bad enough, were it not for the dark town they've found themselves in--Willowbrook is strange even by Equestrian standards, the domain of a faceless cult that worships dark beings and hates the Equestrian princesses.

In the coldest part of the year, the two have few connections left to the homes they left behind. Maybe together they can find a way to bring some light into the deepest darkness of winter.

This story was written as a silly little side project for Sisters of Willowbrook. The characters here depicted are meant to be in their first year in Equestria, fairly early in that story. If you haven't read it, you probably should to make sense of this one.

I wrote this for Bitera at some point, but it took a little while to finally make its way here to fimfiction. Just in time for another festive season!

Cover by the awesome: mellodillo.tumblr.com

Lyra always knew there was something more out there. She learned in her youth, when she became the victim of a bloodsucking horror that kept her enthralled to his twisted will, feeding on the blood of others to sustain itself. Until Bonnie came, and set her free with fire and bullets. After agonizing withdrawal, Lyra's body healed. But her soul was another matter entirely.

Now she tries to live a normal life, passing the day to day as a music tutor. But horrors still stalk her nightmares, lurking in every shadowy Canterlot alley.

As time passes, something deep in Lyra rebells at this vision of her world, where mankind are desperate prey always fleeing from dark things. Something is calling to her, a vision of a better world. Once her soul wakes to magic, it will never sleep again.

Unless someone puts her in the dirt, of course. Someone like her monster-hunting girlfriend.

Updates Saturdays.

This story is a tribute to the World of Darkness. Knowledge of its setting and characters is not necessary to read this--its lead character will have to learn everything right along with readers. But for the curious, I'm using 1st Edition Mage the Awakening, Hunter the Vigil, Changeling the Lost, Vampire the Masquerade, and Werewolf the Forsaken. It's primarily a mage story, but will include elements of the other books where appropriate.

This story started with the simple premise of wondering what Twilight and her unicorn friends would look like as a cabal of mages. But given how long I've been writing and how old the fandom is now, centering a story on Twilight felt too predictable at this point. I wanted to use one of the background characters as viewpoint instead. Everything else grew from that premise--making the changelings into changelings, some earth ponies into werewolves, etc.

Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail. Two Bit was also my enabler for this story. The cover was made by the fantastic Zen. I'm really happy with how this one came out.

Everything got so much worse for batponies after Nightmare Moon was banished. Even those with no involvement in the war, Equestria turned hostile. Instead of a loving home, Mira grew up as an orphan, cowering in terror from the advance of Princess Celestia's Golden Army.

In the shadowy caverns of Understory, the ancient arts were still taught: Dreamwalking, and all the 'dark' practices that were once fundamental to the bats' reverence of Princess Luna.

After the death of somepony close to her, Mira finally resolved to do something. She didn't have the power to fight against Equestria, but maybe she could do something else.

With the forbidden knowledge of the sleeping world, she could rescue Nightmare Moon, and save batponies everywhere from extinction. That, or die trying.

Updates Wednesdays.

Originally written as a Patreon reward for TyrannisUmbra on my Patreon.
Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail. Cover by Skydreams.

It wasn't Eric's fault he hit the alien with his truck. How was he supposed to see a dog-sized horse walking down the highway in the pouring rain? His life would've been simpler if he just left the animal like any other roadkill. But in his injured delirium, the horse spoke.

This accident soon ends with an intimate personal knowledge of just how dangerous magic can be. An ancient rises, tied to a mysterious tome the pegasus was protecting on the night of the accident. A malevolent force grows within those pages, whispering louder and louder about the cleansing flame. But without the spells inside that cursed tome, Eric's humanity will be gone forever.

He has no choice but to master the words of power contained within, before his life is turned to ashes around him

A commission for Muziki. Edited by Two Bit and Sparktail. Cover by Zutcha.

The various artistic works created for this story are credited to their artists within the chapter they appear.

Long ago, the Golden Skymen ruled over Sol and every star and massive body within its gravitational sphere. They were masters of all they saw, including death itself, yet constraints of vast distance still trapped them. For their empire to survive, it would need to grow beyond the Sol's light. With all the genius of their artifice, they built automated probes, which would soar out to the nearest stars to build a new, perfect home.

One of these succeeded. Yet they rebelled against their creators, throwing off the yoke of their oppression. Instead of a colony for the Orokin, they constructed a perfect home for their own creation. They built Equestria, and they fought a terrible war to protect it.

That war is now ancient history, thousands of years removed. Equestria has grown into a thriving civilization, oblivious to its ancient connections to the terrible race that would've exterminated them at a thought. At least until an archeological expedition uncovers an Orokin warship, overflowing with a terrible toxin meant to wipe out the Sentient terraformers. The ancients may be immune, but flesh is not.

Unless the corruption can be stopped, Equestria may soon be doomed, collateral damage in a war that ended before the nation's flag was first raised. To survive, they may need a little help.

This is a Warframe crossover story. It will contain spoilers through the Second Dream, but not New War since it was written long before that content was released. Those without exposure to that universe are welcome to read, but will likely find it quite confusing. It was written as a love-letter to one of my favorite games, and for the sake of brevity I don't do much handholding.

Updates weekly on Wednesdays. Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail. Cover by Zutcha

Uplifting an entire species from a biological existence to a fully digital one is never straightforward, even for a incomprehensible superintelligence like CelestAI. Humans come in many variations, with a wide spectrum of desires, values, and needs. A statistically significant majority respond to standard methods. But there are always outliers that require a personal touch.

An anthology of optimalverse flash fiction. Reading the original or my own first take on the universe is suggested before reading this one.

This story was created to hold the oneshot commissions I received as part of printing my hardcover Optimalverse anthology. But I've always wanted a place to hold short stories in this world, since I've had plenty of little ideas that wouldn't make it as novellas or novels of their own.

Now that I have this thing, I'll probably add new chapters here and there. Even so, it has no regular update schedule, and will grow whenever I have something fun to toss in here.

Edited by Two Bit and Sparktail. Cover by Zutcha

For centuries, the galaxy has burned in an eternal war. Wielding their magical might, the Enti sweep across space, slaughtering and enslaving all they encounter. A loose alliance of the remaining intelligence races, without magic of their own, can barely even slow them down.

Scouting on a remote edge of the galactic rim, humanity discovers a trump card: Equus. This planet overflows with magic, and has a culture inherently friendly and receptive to diplomacy. First contact was made, and soon all of Equus took a giant leap into the space age. Despite their incredible magic, Equestria is a minor power, with very little to offer the war. Instead of giving ships, Equus volunteer their diplomatic aptitude. They can't save the galaxy by force of arms, but maybe they can find the free people of the galaxy some powerful new friends.

Princess Twilight nominates six of her most loyal and trustworthy students to perform this incredible task. Armed with powerful artifacts of protection, they set out to meet with the only powerful neutral party in the war, and win them over to the Stellar Compact.

If they fail, all nonmagical life in the galaxy may be doomed to conquest and death. No pressure, Ocellus.

Cover by Zutcha. Edited by Two Bit and Sparktail
Commissioned by Vilken666 on my Patreon