This story is a sequel to The Last Dreams of Pony Island

If somehow you're reading this without having read The Last Dreams Of Pony Island, stop now and read that first. Otherwise, this will make no sense and thoroughly spoil that story!

The Last Dreams Of Pony Island told a tale of an Equestrian colony's last days and a hated merchant's disappearance by the docks. Back in 2015 I held a contest for entrants to piece together Myinnkyun's mysteries and provide the best explanation for what happened to Peridot (and the town). These are the collected submissions; I'm publishing it now because unpublished stories are no longer accessible.

Each chapter is a separate entry by a different author, narrating one proposed epilogue for Pony Island from the point of view of the individual who they decided was the one peering into the other residents' dreams. They were originally presented here anonymously and in a random order, for purposes of contest judging; after the competition was over I added each author's username to their chapter title.

A list of entrants, and more details, can be found at this blogpost here. The contest is long since over, though; this post has the winners.

Troubled. Disturbed. Stabbed. Entombed.

Sometimes, when you're playing a word game with a magical princess from another world, the words you choose aren't just words.

Dramatic reading by Scribbler and Neighrator Pony!

Now has an authorized sequel, written by Cynewulf!

This is a brief "Humanized Pony Visits Earth" tale, based on a minific I wrote for (but was unable to submit to) the July 2017 "TBD" Writeoff.

Rated "Recommended" by Titanium Dragon! "While the Pony On Earth thing might put some people off, here I felt like it made excellent use of the idea … This is a short and punchy piece, and I think a lot of folks will find it worth their while."

Reviewed by Chris! "It's refreshing to read a story with a clear, explicit moral that nevertheless doesn't beat you over the head."

Reviewed by Present Perfect! "Peering into the darkness of one's own heart is difficult and painful. But this is also about the nature of goodness ... plus, it'll teach you a really unique driving game."

Thanks to Morning Sun for prereading/copy-editing changes, and to Titanium Dragon for the story description.

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

When Spike starts exhibiting symptoms of drug use, it's time for Twilight Sparkle (and her M.A.R.E. pamphlets) to stage an intervention.

If only Spike's drug use was Twilight's biggest problem.

A silly little stoner-holiday dramedy. Happy 420, yo.

Written for the "Rising From The Ashes" Writeoff based on this picture. (dude spoilers lol) "Praise" from fellow participants:

"competently executed" - Posh
"kind of funny" - Titanium Dragon [reviewed here]
"Mid-tier" - Fenton

Recommended by Present Perfect! "Trust horizon to turn a drug comedy into something that connected with me in an unexpected way. ... well written and has a great running gag." no pp what r u doin ur sposed to hate it D:

Dobbin's been sneaking bites from the National Strategic Wheatgrass Reserve again ... and it finally occurs to his parole officer to wonder why Equestria has one. She asks Princess Celestia for the story.

It turns out there are some things ponies weren't meant to know.

A bunch of Writeoff Association authors got bored while waiting for the October 2015 prompt, and did a silly collaborative story jam on the Writeoff thread. This was the result. This story was co-written by myself, Georg, Not_A_Hat, CoffeeMinion, and Morning Sun, based on an unintentional prompt by Monokeras. (You can see who wrote what at the source thread.)

* * *

Reviewed by City of Doors! (what)

Featured by Equestria Daily! (what)

Recommended by Present Perfect! "I'm with Parade Rest: What."

There's a lot of things about Cadance and Shining Armor that never quite made sense: their sudden appearance before the Royal Wedding; their suspiciously convenient suitability as rulers of the Crystal Empire; their oddly abbreviated pregnancy; and even their quick change of heart after Spike asked them to forgive Thorax.

Twilight Sparkle knows exactly how deep that conspiracy goes — she was there in the beginning, when her hive's queen created Shining. And she wasn't happy about it.

Finalist in the "Things Left Unsaid" December 2015 Writeoff! Rewritten and greatly expanded to fill in more backstory and to account for Season 6 canon.

Rated 'Worth Reading' by Titanium Dragon! "If [you like] the idea of a story which hints at a greater conspiracy behind the scenes which explains some of the plot holes we see in the series, you’ll likely enjoy this."
Reviewed by Matthewl419!

Cover art by Lo-23, using Twilight from "Deception is Magic" by Heilos.

There once was a story about the beautiful dark alicorn who moved the moon. In the tranquil countryside, a young boy listened to the story, looked at the stars, and imagined. He grew up and fell in love with the ruler of the night … and she loved him, too.

It was perfect, except for one nagging doubt in the back of the quiet boy's head: she was a character from a children's story.

Winner of the Writeoff Association's "Written In The Stars" competition! ** Featured on Equestria Daily ** Featured by The Royal Guard (twice! )

Rated ★★★★★ by Louder Yay! "This is, perhaps, a Lucky Dreams story for grown-ups. ... Plenty of magic and friendship here, but also sadness and loss ... a clear classic."

Highly Recommended by Present Perfect! "An excellently written story about an emotional encounter between the titular characters … yet a good bit more than that. If you like reading, you will like reading this."

Recommended by Titanium Dragon! "This story had an excellent style to it, a sort of fairy-tale-like quality … really, this is a work of original fiction which pokes at MLP in only the barest of ways. But that doesn't mean it isn't relevant to your interests."

Art: Assembled by me. Luna vector by azur-wing.

Why would you think this is an Adventure Clyde story? That would be silly! This is a Friendship Is Magic fanfic site!

What this IS, is a story about Twilight Sparkle and the young dragon she has an ill-defined pseudomaternal relationship with. He happens to write stories. Some of those stories might happen to be about the Alicorn of Adventure, but be that as it may, this is a character drama in which our protagonist Twilight Sparkle must struggle with Spike's first exposure to the complex legal and ethical minefields of consensuality in adult relationships.

Okay, maybe this is also a literary deconstruction and reconstruction of "Adventure Clyde" (incl. tumblr and associated reviews and written works), reconciling his existence with My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic canon, while staying faithful to the My Little Pony universe and offering subtle and profound observations into the nature of scientific rationality, Freudian psychological analysis, and oranges. But we all like literary deconstruction, right?

Right?

*crickets*

Now with a dramatic reading by Present Perfect and ShadowOfCygnus!

REVIEWERS AND ELLIPSES WARN YOU AWAY:

"This story is egregious serial nonsense. (…) I think I … hated it. (…) It isn’t great literature. (…) Recommended." — Titanium Dragon

"My god (...) No." — Present Perfect (Highly Recommended)

"(...) a terrible mess (...)" — Bad Horse (Recommended)

OTHER ACTUAL WORDS SPOKEN BY PEOPLE WHO HAVE ACTUALLY READ IT:

"Oh man. (...) bad (...)" —Protopony350
"(...) by god (...)" —Skeeter the Lurker
"(...) weeping (...)" —Orbiting Kettle
"I have no idea what the hell (...) I fear for my well-being (...)" —Skywriter

THE PRAISE FOR "THIS IS NOT AN ADVENTURE CLYDE ADVENTURE" WHICH GOT THE STORY REJECTED BY FIMFIC MODERATION UNTIL I CENSORED DUBS:

[6:19:06 PM] horizon: Hey guys! Can I get a blurb for my upcoming story?
[6:20:08 PM] Zaponator: "Literally the best thing I've ever read. A true piece of art that puts to shame any written work before it, and will likely stand as a great unconquered titan for any work after it. 7/10 —IGN.com"
[6:20:41 PM] Dubs_Rewatcher: HOLY S**T
[6:21:03 PM] Haze: and this is how Displaced became canon

Adventure Clyde™ is a registered service mark of Protopony350 Industries, Ltd.

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.")

Twilight Sparkle has important friendship problems to solve. However, that's hard to do with a "reformed" villain following you around all day.

(Context for later readers: This is based on the old Season 5 buzz when Starlight Glimmer — who got beaten in the Season 5 opener but escaped — canonically showed up in the background of the café in "Amending Fences". It was a big deal at the time.)

Audio versions:
Livereading by mindlessgonzo and friend!
Reading by Pony&Wolf Productions!

Finalist in the July 2015 Writeoff! Now revised and expanded for FIMFiction!

"Highly Recommended" by MLPmatthewl419! * Other reviews: Present Perfect, Titanium Dragon, PaulAsaran, Ghost Mike