Long, long ago, the Age of Dragons ended in fire and ruin. The greatest of the dragons challenged the races of Equestria to prove themselves worthy to rule the next age.

The fast, the strong, and the clever all journeyed to answer his call … but sometimes true wisdom is found in the most unlikely of places.

★★★★★ rating from Louder Yay! "To create such a rich and evocative setting in barely a thousand words is deeply impressive. ... Clever, enjoyable and very well written."

Very Highly Recommended by MLPmatthewl419! "horizon accomplished the impossible to get this much world-building, feeling, and such wonderful characters with only 1k words … a deep and evocative story."

Highly Recommended by PresentPerfect! "With a great story and solid classic fable-style execution, this is a must-read."

Reviewed by PaulAsaran!

Third place in the Writeoff Association's "Just Over The Horizon" minific competition! Now revised and expanded for FIMFiction.

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.

There are stories which define us. Stories that inspire us. And there are stories that damn us.

These are the Old Stories, tales from before the dawn of Equestria.

Spanish translation

The original EqD link is here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/08/story-old-stories.html

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?

On a normal day, Twilight is curious to try a charm from an old scroll. What unfolds is a story of confusion. Just what did that charm do? Will Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Rarity find out?

A short story and a silly mystery; can you catch what's off? Good luck!

Philomena is reborn after she dies. Ponies are reborn before they die. But always changed.

It's hard for a bird to understand.

Fluttershy takes in a mouse who has recently lost his home, but becomes perturbed by her inability to understand what he says.

Later, Twilight looks in on Fluttershy and the author delivers a terrible lexicographical joke about prolonged exposure to Scottish dialects.

Based on an entry from July's "Best Laid Plans" Writeoff, a poem by Robert Burns, and an author's idle thought about the neverending parade of "Fluttershy Asks Twilight a Question" stories on Fimfiction.

Long ago, at the top of the world, Love ruled a magnificent frozen empire. Then the sun rose, and darkness fell.

* Now with an audio reading by Illya Leonov! *

* * *

Featured by Seattle's Angels:
"Horizon, taking almost wholesale the structure of T. S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, has done something really incredible here. He’s managed to not only write some beautiful poetry about Sombra, Celestia, and the dichotomy of ice and fire, but tell a coherent story of longing and loss." – alexmagnet
"Melt is perhaps, by what I’ve seen, the best [poetry] this fandom has to offer." – RazgrizS57

"Highly Recommended" by Present Perfect

"This is one of the finest examples of literature produced by the fandom, a beautiful homage to T.S. Eliot." – Illya Leonov

A collection of poems about Luna's growing discontent, her fall, and her eventual return and redemption. This is by no means meant to offer a narrative take on these events, though the poems are arranged in what may be considered a chronological order. Instead, they are meant to reflect on the emotional experience of the sisters during these events. The framing device should hopefully offer a little more insight into the idea behind these.

Thanks to Ponyphonic with the wonderful songs The Moon Rises and Lullaby for a Princess for inspiring this in the first place, and to Defoloce with his Six Deeds of Harmony for inspiring me to actually go through with this crazy idea.
Many thanks to Eustatian Wings on Ponychan for the invaluable feedback he provided on my first draft.

EDIT (12th April 2014):
- completely rewritten introduction
- rearranged poems to place the first framing poem at the beginning, rather than second to last
- major revisions to Sonnets 2, 7, 12
- moderate revisions to Sonnets 3, 6, 8, 11, 14
- minor revisions to all others

Maud Pie has written thousands of poems.

Here are some of her poems.

They're about rocks.

Featured by the Royal Canterlot Library and the Royal Guard.