When the pegasi lose their feathers, they also lose the ability to walk on clouds. The answer to 'why' is lost to time. The real question is... what happens to Cloudsdale?

Edited by Crystal Wishes and Alex_

Accolades:
Third Place in Cynewulf's Worldbuilding Competition
Featured by The Royal Canterlot Library
Featured by Equestria Daily
Narration by TheDizzyDan!!
Narration by Zachmoviefan
Spanish Translation by Spaniard Kiwi

This story is contained in my book "Dash Tries to Win Your Heart and Other Short Pony Stories"

If you have interest in purchasing this non-profit book, check out my online store at this link: https://www.lulu.com/search?adult_audience_rating=00&q=flutterpriest

Featured on Equestria Daily!

What Readers Are Saying...

"You make the waterworks happen," -Stardust_Scratch

"It has been like watching a gruesome car crash. You cannot look away from it, and it tears you apart, you are sure you are gonna have nightmares about it, but you just keep reading." -llDenkerll

"Have any of you ever accidentally’ed your way into a horror story, that was way darker than you thought it was going to be? ...I’m going to go scrub my brain down with a few hours of mindless pony fluff... I am enjoying the story I swear," -fargo11

"The ending of the last chapter left me with hope, with expectations, while the end of this chapter leaves me with sorrow, with emptiness, with hopelessness. I need more," -Anshlun

"I lack any words to describe how fucked this whole situation is. It hurts so much. Good job," -Hermaeus xerxes

"This story has some painful feels to it... I need time to think now," -Destiny Chaser

"Every time I read the witches' dialogue I feel genuinely scared... I don't have a clue of what's going to happen," -TheFaceofMercy

Starlight Glimmer had always been a difficult pony.

She's getting better, though! Really! Three years of living with the Princess of Friendship, one of the most beloved ponies in Equestria, is bound to rub off on a mare. Though Starlight continues to grapple with her insecurities and past mistakes, she never would have presumed she'd be free of the guilt - as it should be.

Yet over the years, she's come into her own as a devoted, passionate, and empathetic friend (despite a few bumps here and there).

But one day, like any other, a strange illness befalls Princess Twilight Sparkle. Starlight is driven to a foal's storybook for answers. Armed with her magic and faith, the ex-student follows a crumb trail leading to one reclusive group dwelling in the heart of an otherworldly bog. If there was any salvation for the pony who'd saved Starlight, it lay solely with them. Except when the time comes for payment to be collected, what's left behind is picked up by Twilight and her friends.

And Starlight doesn't want them to. For how can something so broken be put back together? She'd much rather save them all the trouble...

^{Canon divergence one year after 'The Movie,' post-season seven}

Rated-T for some disturbing imagery and heavy themes concerning depression

Artwork of the Witches by Hermaeus Xerxes: https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/9/22/2150483.png

Starlight's Theme: Above and Beyond by Paul Dinletir
Twilight's Theme: Homecoming by Jeff Marsh
The Broken Bond Theme: The Birth of a Soul by Fran Soto

Pre-reader/Editor: JD McGregor
Cover Artist: Calenita

A note written in an unknown language. An escaped Nightmare bearing gifts. A young colt afraid of the dark. A pegasus in search of a predator.

It's that season. A collection of short stories celebrating that weird, creepy, beautiful holiday we call Halloween Nightmare Night.

Includes Marginalia, winner of the spookest October Writeoff in Writeoff history.

Principal Celestia always has wings in her dreams.

They got her into trouble, once. She let herself believe that they meant she was an angel. Then she grew up, and learned some hard lessons about what being an angel really required.

Now six magical girls have just fought a demon in front of her school. And her phantom wings are itching.

Her life is turning upside down ... and she hasn't even heard about Equestria yet.

Rated Highly Recommended (Top 15 Stories Sitewide) by Present Perfect! "It's f**king flawless, you guys. … The first [6]00-word chapter by itself is a masterpiece."

"Literally the single best EqG story on the site." —Professor Plum
"[One] of the best stories on the site, period." —Pearple Prose
"One of my all-time favorite pieces of fanfiction." –brokenimage321
"My favorite EQG fic of absolute all." -Skywriter

Rated Why Haven't You Read This Yet? by PaulAsaran! "I might have been skeptical going in, but horizon knocked it out of the park."

Rated 5/5 by csquared08! "The opening chapter here was truly something else. ... Then I hit the end of chapter 3. holy crap."

Rated ★★★★ by Louder Yay! "A lesser writer might have made a horrible, cliché-ridden mess of this story, but fortunately horizon is not a lesser writer. For a start, it's by some distance the best portrayal of the human world's Celestia I've read."

Third place in the "Under the Sun" June 2017 Writeoff!  (That first draft has been revised and expanded for FIMFiction.) Praise for the Writeoff version:

"Holy cow ... That's how you write an EqG fanfic! You captured the heart and SOUL of this/your version of Principal Celestia, wrapped it up in bi-universal consistency, and sold me on an idea of redemption I didn't even know I needed." —Xepher

"This is gorgeous. A thorough, exhaustive, incredibly moving portrait of a character who I don't think I've ever seen get quite this much development or attention." —Posh

"This is actually, after all these years, an original take on a story on Luna's banishment. If that's not something to be celebrated I don't know what is." —Quill Scratch, Radio Writeoff

MORE REVIEWER PRAISE: Rated "Definitely Read" by Super Trampoline! Reviewed by City of Doors! Reviewed by Titanium Dragon! Featured on Equestria Daily!

Rated T for brief cursing and alcohol use. Cover art by Seniloko, used under Creative Commons license.

Translations:

中文 - 行政天使

The problem with chasing dreams is that they rarely survive the catching.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash have each followed their dreams to the end. Rainbow doesn't know how to keep going.

A slice of life for a very particular kind of person.

The nightmares started… Twilight can’t remember just when. But they’ve gotten worse and worse, and why won’t Luna help? Now they’ve even stopped bothering her! That scares her more than any nightmare ever did, but that strange voice in her head helps. It makes sense of the dreams, explains to her how the magic can do anything.

If Luna did start all this… she’ll soon regret it.

Cover art by Ruirik

Thanks to GaPJaxie, Corejo, and PresentPerfect, who read over various portions and incarnations of previous drafts. And to Vimbert the Unimpressive, a big reason I wrote this story.

Pinkie Pie preemptively apologizes to Twilight: she's going to ruin their friendship.

Twilight agrees.

Pinkie suits her better as a girlfriend anyway.

On one day each year, Celestia and Luna turn control of the sun and moon over to a group of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria. Twilight is finally old enough to take part.

But she can't.

*****

Winner of the Princesses Not Included Writeoff event. Thank you to all of the participants for both your support and your help in bringing this to its current form.

Cover art courtesy of the wonderfully talented CosmicUnicorn.

Now available in Spanish, courtesy of SPANIARD KIWI.

After Luna's banishment, a guilt filled Celestia searches for answers. Trying to gain a new understanding of what caused her sister's misery, she visits the valley that once housed Starswirl the Bearded as well as Luna and herself many years ago. It is here that she believed everything started.

She finds so much more than she asked for.

This story now has a review by PresentPerfect that's filled with spoilers. You can find it here! Now featured by Equestria Daily! There's an SA review now too. It has spoilers, but you can check it out here. Partially inspired by, but has no relation to The Last Dreams of Pony Island by horizon. Former cover art source. Current art by flamevulture17. Now with spiritual successors: Bathophobia and Atelophobia. Rated 'Pretty Good' by PaulAsaran in an in-depth and spoiler-filled review. A multi-part audio reading by Lotus Moon is available, click to listen to part one and part two here! Contribute to the TVTropes page!

Diplomacy, foreign relations, cultural exchange, all important duties that Twilight needs to learn as a princess. Fortunately, this foray in to the unknown is made much easier when she meets a lovely foreign pony from the French Equestrian Kingdom who's willing to be friends with her.

Now, if only they could actually understand each other.

Series of oneshots set in a RariTwi AU based on the prompt, "Rarity and Twilight are princesses from different countries, smitten with each other despite being unable to communicate".

Beautiful cover art by foldawaywings !