She is as beautiful and graceful as the moon, and just as hard to reach. He is a young artist with much to learn about the world. When he accepts her challenge to create an artistic masterpiece, will he win her heart, or learn a terrible lesson in the nature of beauty and love?

Rainbow Dash was beautiful, the most beautiful pony to be born in a century — and so her fate was sealed. Beauty must be sacrificed, and so Rainbow Dash must die.

Winner of the 2023 EFNW Iron Author Contest. I think I beat out about 40 other writers, and it was hugely exciting to win. Hope you enjoy the read!

Prompts were: vibrant vestigial, vexing volcano, verdant vegetable. Pretty insane for prompts, but Xepher had to pronounce all the Aztec words in my story so I think we're even.

Following the accidental demise of an aging Lightning Dust, her lifelong photographer Photo Finish opens a new show in her memory. You wander the gallery walls examining each image carefully. As they flow together, slowly, a story begins to emerge. Is it the right one? Who gets to tell it? Who was Lightning Dust, really?

A meditation on memory, art, and time.

An entry for the May Pairings Contest 2023. Check out the other entries here!

The colony of Myinnkyun had enough problems without Peridot vanishing — trade ships were disappearing, and the island's native minotaurs had launched an attack on the city walls.

But now there's talk that she was murdered, and the city is about to tear itself apart before its enemies have the chance.

One part Spoon River Anthology and one part Rashomon, this story invites you to piece together the story of Myinnkyun's last days — and Peridot's final night — from the dreams of its inhabitants. "Dreams cannot lie," the Nightmares say, but everybody has a different understanding of the truth ...

Now with an official epilogue, thanks to the contest!

* Audiobook Version by Dubs Rewatcher *

Highly Recommended by Present Perfect! "Once again, horizon attempts something ambitious and in doing so effortlessly shows us how to write a story."

Rated ★★★★★ by Louder Yay! "If you're in the market for something truly original and are willing to work for your reward, drop everything and read this."

Praised by Cold in Gardez: "Dreams is the best story I've read in a long time. It deserved to win the last Writeoff, and if it had been a prose story instead of a poem, it probably would have ... but it wouldn't have been the work of art that it is."

Recommended by Titanium Dragon: "Really, you don’t need to be a connoisseur of poetry to appreciate this – the form of the poetry didn’t matter so much as the mystique it lent the piece."

Praised by Skywriter: "This story is destroying me right now. I mean, I'm just sitting here at my desk crying because of it. I don't know what else to do."

Rated Why Haven’t You Read These Yet? by PaulAsaran: "Poetry isn't my medium … [yet that] does nothing to dissuade my satisfaction with an ambitious concept and a fascinating delivery."

Reviewed by Chris: "The more you put into it, the more you're going to get out ... if you're looking for something opaque, surprising, and even poignant—and especially if you enjoy piecing together stories for yourself—consider this highly recommended."

Featured on Equestria Daily! Winner of the "Most Controversial" award in the August 2015 "Distant Shores" Writeoff!

(Also, first place in my own list of my top stories! "Everything that people appreciate about my writing is at a full-throated howl here.")

North of Canterlot, in the far marches of Equestria near the border with the Griffon tribes, there is a mountain that flies.

West of Canterlot, beyond the Galloping Mountains and a desert painted in the pastel hues of a faded rainbow, a tower sits at the edge of the world.

South of Canterlot, past the Everfree forest and the desolate badlands, a city of gardens waits to be born.

The Lost Cities Challenge! Awesome authors who have taken it upon themselves to explore other abandoned places:

- The Land of Glass and Stone, by RazgrizS57
- The City that Breathes, by Pearple Prose
- Aletheia, by Foehn
- Far Kobresia, by Baal Bunny
- Keskiyönnon, by Bradel
- Unknown Architecture, by Not_A_Hat
- The Gentle People, by Bad Horse
- The Seal of Wax and Glass, by DuncanR

Dramatic Reading by Illya Leonov: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4.

Royal Canterlot Library interview for Lost Cities.

History records that Celestia smote the Heartspire and the wicked unicorns living within. These are their final stories.

At the end, Celestia kills everyone.

Based on of The Dream Palace of the Highborn by Cold in Gardez.

In a flash of green light, five college students from Earth are transported to Equestria and transformed into changelings. Will they be able to find a way home?

My loving alternate take on Don't Bug Me, by Starscribe.

Cloudy Quartz discovers a giant, beating heart of stone underground. Equestria is alive, and it knows she's there.

A cutesy story about marriage.

An entry to FanOfMostEverything's Ancestral Tribute Contest.

Edited by Mousse and Antsan. Cover art by me! Heh heh heh.

Sunburst lives in a perfectly synchronized society, where every second of his life is dictated by his Guide, Flurry Heart. But one day Flurry Heart goes awry.

_{Entry for the Science Fiction Contest. Based on the short film Kodemus, but watching it is not required to read this story.}

Being somepony's friend can require accepting the... quirkier parts of their personality: something Rarity is all too aware of, especially when it comes to the work involved in accepting hers. So discovering that Fluttershy possesses -- shall we say, a 'special interest' -- simply means that the designer needs to accompany her to the convention. Just to make sure the pegasus isn't going to get hurt.

But a mare of dignity and taste does not casually wander into a 'special interest' gathering and emerge unaffected. And as it happens, neither does Rarity.

Rated C for Conifer Crackfic.

(Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.)