Idol Hooves holds a special place in Equestria. He's probably the only exiled changeling to serve in the Royal Guard, or at least, that's what he expects, as exiles don't really broadcast that fact. However, it's well known that Princess Celestia loves all of her little ponies, and her guards perhaps more so, and that makes it one of the best ways for a changeling to discreetly feed.

But how does a changeling even get there, let alone get exiled in the first place? For that matter, why would it ever go to Canterlot? Set a number of years before the series proper, before Luna’s redemption, Idol details how he was exiled, the ponies he’s met, and the series of misadventures that led him to joining the Royal Guard, and should continue a good ways into the series, as something of an alternate perspective.

Soon, he’ll have to deal with a boisterous new princess to serve and a royal wedding in the works bringing a third to power. Will his old instincts bring this new life crashing down around him? What precipitates Chrysalis’s ill-fated assault on Canterlot? Is it really so wrong for a changeling to enjoy good craftsmanship to an obsessive degree?

New cover art provided by the fantastic Carnifex

And a TVTropes page here.

And an Ask Blog of questionable canonity!
Out of Idol Curiosity

Fanart by Norad2! Major thanks! Short For a Royal Guard

Art by Egophiliac of Idol and his Daring Duckie Please don't tell him what that brush is meant for.

Rating updated to (T), it's a bit darker than (E)
Comedy Tag added as well
And changed the character tags a bit.

(This story is sci-fi, and somewhat different to regular FIM stories.)
Aneki's world was small. It was spherical, and it only took a day to gallop from one side to the other. She had been taught nothing existed outside the sphere, but she wasn't so sure about that. Perhaps her world was a bottle, a container in which ponies had fled to live. A time would come when she gained the opportunity to investigate these things first hoof, if she lived that long.

Curious about Five Score? Come check out the story that inspired dozens of side fics and been enjoyed by bronies for years!

Original Synopsis Even though MLP:FiM ended a few years ago, my friends and I still loved the show. Stories, merch, fan art, I loved it all. Things started to get a weird though when I found myself with a cutie mark appearing on my leg. Humans aren't supposed to get cutie marks, so where the heck did this come from? And what's going on with my hair?

More Detailed Synopsis: Five Score is an action/adventure story of the human-to-pony transformation genre. It’s unique from most transformation stories because the transformation itself is not really the point of the story. It’s the inciting incident that raises countless challenges that must be resolved. They are on earth, as a pony, and need to fix this before things get worse. Think about yourself in their hooves for a moment. How are you supposed to change back or even figure out what caused it in the first place? How are you supposed to get food or do anything on Earth without being spotted by humans? If you are spotted or captured, how would you escape? How does one even open a door with hooves!? Did anyone else on Earth get changed as well? How could you get the word out to the other ponies who are themselves hiding? Is it worth risking travel across the country to reach the others? Which of your friends would you trust to help you deal with this? And why did you turn into this particular pony? Surely it wasn’t random chance, right?

These challenges are the tip of the iceberg in this full length adventure novel There’s a lot of humor, many tense scenes, and hell maybe even a war.

But don’t just take it from me, Look what random people on the internet are saying about Five Score, Divided by Four

One of the best things to come out of this fandom.
-IrraticDrop

This made me change how I think about fictional worlds, imagination, and creativity
-relgukxilef

The only story on FimFiction to have me literally shaking with excitement.
-jeramiahsental

SWEET FILLY LUNA I AM FLIPPING MY SHIT RIGHT NOW
-Shadow Reaper

Five Score master editor:
Scrub

Five Score proofreaders:
Comrade Sparkle
Rustle my Jimmies

The earth had belonged to the People since time immemorial, until the ponies came to push them out. For centuries, they have hidden in the forest and the hills, slowly losing ground to their enemies.

But now the gods have chosen two young warriors.

(New readers, unsure where to start? The Education of Clover the Clever is best.)

The stars can see the future, and they don't like what they see.
Beset by signs of a great evil approaching on the horizon, Princess Luna and a young unicorn who speaks to the stars set out to uncover and prevent an unknown disaster.

Star Swirl the Bearded: the greatest wizard nopony has ever heard of. Why is that? What did he do? Why do so few now remember that he existed at all, and why do those who do remember him say he was one of the most important unicorns of all time?
A mythical retelling of Equestrian history.

23.02.2014 Featured on Equestria Daily!
Prequel to a more popular and completed sequel, The Education of Clover the Clever. Feel free to read either one first.

Cover art by VSabbath, used with permission.

This story is a sequel to Reddux the Tyrant

A threat is forming in the underbelly of Equestria, a threat whose true nature remains disturbingly elusive to Equestria's Night Princess.

With her millennium-old confidants long dead and gone, the newly-returned Princess Luna calls upon a dangerous but loyal ally to gather the ponies she needs from her sister's unfamiliar Equestria. Together, they seek out the underdogs and the overshadowed, the second-place and the unappreciated, those who's virtues are not so readily visible in the light of day. Ponies among whom she has much in common.

They are not like the Element Bearers.

They are no heroes.

A big thanks to Eosphorite for the commissioned cover art!

The No Heroes Series
Chronological from Top to Bottom:
Shadow Pony
Reddux the Tyrant
No Heroes Part I – The Roster
No Heroes Part II - The Journey Home
Lightning's Bolt
No Heroes Part III - For Dreams
No Heroes Part IV - The Crystal Empress
No Heroes: Beyond the Everfree
No Heroes: Life of Pie
No Heroes: Hot Chocolate at the Isekai
To My Uncle

The Fleur-Verse
Chronologically from Top to Bottom:
Shadow Pony
Reddux the Tyrant
No Heroes Part I - The Roster
No Heroes Part II - The Journey Home
Lightning's Bolt
The Weed
The Challenge of Fleur
Ordinary World
A Challenge for Fleur
Sweet to Eat: Tales of Nightmare Night

Swirling Line, your average pegasus mare, lives in Manehattan, working an ordinary day job until she finally reaches her dream of getting a career in the world of art. However, when finds a building on fire with a foal trapped inside, she saves the child.

At the cost of her own life.

Met by a strange spirit calling himself Nevermore, who takes the form of a raven, she makes deal that brings her back to life - though not quite as she expected. Now gifted with extraordinary powers, she will fight to defend the ponies of Manehattan, facing whatever threats may come her way.

Her name is Swirling Line. She is the Raven.

[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/bMT7h0M9faMPNMzE7MpBkS1_5v8xiMRPtijVH1WKajM17qsE5fIr6kL13MVDhgbwat8YOH8urHvNFFC8y2vkdqI2Su6f27aDjpm0VNgsWy7r8E1Qw6p6gmst2kg0s8bkNb8ik838xQ=w1342-h547[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/GizVyc0.png[/img]

Co-written by Zodiacspear and DarknessRising

Cover art by Swirling Line

In case it wasn't obvious enough, the OC Swirling Line belongs to the artist Swirling Line. Now she can't sue me.

This story is a sequel to Shadow Pony

After centuries of peace, the unthinkable has happened: the dragons have invaded Equestria. Celestia knows that her country could never survive a war against these terrible beasts, and so journeys south in hopes of bringing a quick peace. She is not the only one seeking answers: the young assassin Fine Crime has been dispatched by the Archons to determine exactly what has stirred the dragons into action, Fancy Pants has found himself on the front lines with no idea if he'll make any difference, and Fleur Purpurnyj has more enemies than dragons to worry about.

Nothing could prepare any of them for the sheer brutality of the Burning Lands' most fearsome inhabitant: the dreaded Reddux the Tyrant.

A prequel to No Heroes set roughly 7 years before the beginning of the show. Sex tag is for thematic elements only.

Pre-read by Majora. Edited by Danger Beans.

Cover art commissioned from viwrastupr.

Now with a review by Cerulean Voice!

The No Heroes Series
Chronological from Top to Bottom:
Shadow Pony
Reddux the Tyrant
No Heroes Part I - The Roster
No Heroes Part II - The Journey Home
Lightning's Bolt
No Heroes Part III - For Dreams
No Heroes Part IV - The Crystal Empress
No Heroes: Beyond the Everfree
No Heroes: Life of Pie
No Heroes: Hot Chocolate at the Isekai
To My Uncle

The Fleur-Verse
Chronologically from Top to Bottom:
Shadow Pony
Reddux the Tyrant
No Heroes Part I - The Roster
No Heroes Part II - The Journey Home
Lightning's Bolt
The Weed
The Challenge of Fleur
Ordinary World
A Challenge for Fleur
Sweet to Eat: Tales of Nightmare Night