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 a sequel to Changing Expectations

When ages are segmented and divided in the annals of history, it is done so with great events as breakpoints. The Second Age of Heroes was unanimously declared to have started with the return of Princess Luna and the changeling Invasion of Canterlot.

For thousands of years, the changelings survived beneath The Great Tapestry, that which connects all living and nonliving things. Hundreds of generations worked endlessly to keep their existence a secret. With one command from Queen Chrysalis, the Masquerade was broken.

In a single night, the changelings waged war against Equestria and took the Kingdom by storm. Months later, the war between changelings and ponies has ended. A new tapestry, a new story, must be woven between the two species. Equestria and the Fifth Hive have gone through a dark chapter and have emerged stronger for it.

One war ends and another begins.

As The Sword of Damocles hangs above the heads of the formerly-human King Phasma and his Equestrian counterparts, the forces of light must work on an ever-shortening window before war once again brings Hell to Equus. Dark powers grow in the places that the light does not reach, and they bring one irrefutable truth.

Epitaph is coming.

Cover art by Nixworld.

Special thanks to my pre-readers!

In the shadow of political turmoil, riots, and inter-tribal conflict, Equestria cannot afford another crisis. When a legal snarl over a funeral explodes into a scandal, there may be a chance to set things right.

Now, armed with total faith in the power of friendship and harmony, Twilight Sparkle arrives in Cloudsdale to talk down a fringe movement of radical young Pegasi.
It would be a lot easier if their leader hadn't been petrified for fifty years.

Takes place between The Last Problem and MLP: A New Generation.

Winner of Imposing Sovereigns IV, with the prompt Twilight Sparkle/Persistence

Kuno, a young changeling, is left weak, bloodied, and bruised after the events of the Canterlot wedding. She is soon discovered by Warden, a Royal Guard. But for some reason, Warden shows her mercy. Instead of taking her into the custody of the Royal Guard, he becomes both her captor and her savior. But over time, Kuno will come to ask herself the hardest question she has ever pondered: Can a changeling feel love?

This story is a sequel to An Affliction of the Heart

Kuno and Warden are happily together now, but events are transpiring to force them from their happy life.

The reappearance of the Crystal Empire causes Kuno and Warden to give up their new-found home. And Kuno, ignoring the fact that they're two different species and completely incompatible, decides that she wants a baby.

This story is a sequel to Off The Edge Of The Map

When Twilight is sent with Luna on a diplomatic mission to Draconia, they quickly find themselves somewhere that doesn't appear on any map, and Luna is lost in more than one way...

Thanks to RBDash47 of Pony Fiction Archive for formatting it for submission.
Title image by Valcron

Tremendous thanks to Illya Leonov and Scribbler for the Audiobook version.
Now with a Spanssh translation by SPANIARD KIWI: https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Apoteosis-2-3-857110089

Anon likes his life to be simple. He wakes up, goes to work and sometimes gets himself a good book to read while he is home. It's a routine that he likes to follow, it makes him feel like he has a bit of normality with his life in Equestria. The fact that having Celestia come crashing into his home as part of his routine should prove that his life is anything but normal.

(Thanks to PeerImagination for editing!)

Tracy Maxwell is in a desperate situation: find somewhere to live, or lose the internship he needs to survive. After exhausting every property in the city, one last option appears the day before his deadline. Sure the agent selling the place is a little weird, and more than a little overeager to get the property signed off. At the worst, maybe there's a little mold in the bathroom somewhere, and he has to make do until the lease is up.

But then he steps inside and discovers things can be much worse. The property is in another universe, and while he's there he'll have to play by its rules. He's free to continue working his dream job, so long as he keeps to the contract. Even worse, he's got a roommate who has no intention of leaving him alone.

If he ever wants to escape, he'll have to read the Fine Print.

This story now has a hardcover! If you'd like one of your own, you can grab it here: https://starscribe.net/

This story is a commission by _Kenzu_!

This is a story about Rarity's hips.

(All good stories are.)

An entry for the Appledash Contest #5: Second Chances. Edited by MrNumbers.

After dying in a train crash, Twilight finds herself offered a deal by the Reaper: a game of chess for her soul. Twilight accepts, but there's something off about the game. Something she can't put her hoof on.

But the answer to that question is just perfect for who she is.

Cover art is from the Poets of the Fall album Clearview.