It has been several months since the disappearance of Twilight Sparkle..

One night, after watching her sister raise the Moon and set the heavens alight, Princess Celestia begins to bed down for the night, only to be interrupted by portal forming in her room. From out of the portal comes none other than Twilight Sparkle, garbed in strange armor.

Princess Celestia, along with Luna, Cadence, and Shining Armor, are overjoyed by the Element of Magic's return, but are justifiably curious as to where she had been and what she had been doing. And so, Twilight begins her tale. A tale of survival against impossible odds. A tale of a people fighting for the most basic right of all sentient beings. The right to exist.

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 morning, an A-10C Thunderbolt II stationed at Osan Air Base in South Korea was vandalized. The pilot of the aircraft, one Captain Lawrence J. Robinson, has been declared M.I.A. The aircraft itself has not been found and a search and recovery effort is currently underway.

Lawrence Robinson, a Hog pilot in the United States Air Force, was on a standard training exercise and it seemed to be going well. Then he was in a land of colorful ponies. He must have missed looking in that one spot under the fuselage during the preflight.

Celestia wants Twilight and her friends to loosen up a little bit around her. Luna just wants to try the hard cider. During a surprise visit to Sweet Apple Acres at the tail end of cider season, Princess Luna has just a bit too much to drink, and when she makes a rather inappropriate joke, Twilight comes to the very uncomfortable realization that she has never seen Celestia excuse herself to use the restroom.

Ever since Twilight has had a computer, The wonder of the Internet and it’s Research potential has kept her contempt. But now , When the days drag on and she feels lonely, she hears of online games she can play with her friends, MMO’s. This is the story of one specific MMO that has something for the whole main cast, however ironic it happens to be.

Special thanks to L. Pondera for proofing chapter 3 and onwards

Octavia, going on a rather extended tour with her orchestra, has charged Vinyl Scratch with the care of a human that she's been caring for: Anonymous. At his size, the ponies and their world is amazonian to him. Not only is the human smaller than Vinyl, but she must care for him until Octavia returns. Normally, something that wouldn't be a problem for a unicorn, but an accident from years past adds a strange twist to her endeavors.

I don't know, I suck at descriptions.

Edited by Shadow Blades, iakovl, FlutterSky1979, and operaticphantom to whom I am grateful! Other editors will show on the chapters in which they lent their time and efforts.

Cover art by spier17. Go check out his stuff!

Michael Spriggs is invited to Equestria so he may visit his daughter, the budding changeling Chrysalis in the midst of her teen years. He's missed her terribly in the month since she left, but Luna visited him and offered him the opportunity to traverse worlds and see his little pumpkin.

He is shocked to discover the ponies have been watching Earth for a long time and are preparing to make first contact with Earth. However, his concerns lay fully on the purpose of his visit to this strange world. Fully intending to return home, Michael will follow his daughter in her choice to go out and seek other changeling hives to learn about herself.

Join them, a sorceress, an overweight changeling, and the Sun and the Moon as they venture deep into the greatest lair of the changelings and meet the mysterious Empress of the Changelings. There are secrets, personal quests, discoveries, and the simple desire to survive the odd things this world has in store for a simple human.

Not all is as it seems as changeling eyes are upon father and daughter; watching, waiting...

Rated T for language, violence, sensuality and gore.
MLP:FiM is owned by Hasbro.
MLP:FiM was created by Lauren Faust.
OCs are mine unless specified.

This will be updated as changes occur.

Featured 7/6/2014, 9/12/14. You guys are awesome. Thank you!

This story is a sequel to How many have you forgiven today?

For Anon, so much has changed in a little amount of time. He can't really complain about it either. Things are getting better and he knows that the sisters are happy too. However, there's been a change in Celestia, it's small but it still has him questioning the reason. Did he do something wrong or could it be something else?

A special thanks to the following people:
PeerImagination, Dedicated and always ready to proofread any story I make. (c1-13)
SirReal, Countless hours of editing and refining my story. (c1-8)
Proofreading (c1-6) by Ra1nbowCrasH and Anonimous
I appreciate all the time you've invested in my stories.

The cycle of destruction is broken and the galaxy is safe. But its hero, its savior, will never return. Although they won't forget him, they have also seen him for the last time. It's not easy being a hero because just when they think they can be at peace, they are called to action again. The hero thinks that he can rest, that his death is upon him, but death will not come so easily to those who are needed. As fate would have it, he is needed again, in a world that could not be more unlike his own. He is, or perhaps will be, needed in the world of Equestria.

How much of our identity is defined by nature, and how much by nurture?
After the disastrous resolution of the second changeling invasion leaves deep wounds on both sides, Chrysalis attempts to send the swarm between worlds in a desperate bid to escape the wrath of an angered demigod. A slight miscalculation in the complex spell throws off the transition, trapping most of the swarm between and chaotically altering those that made it through. In the Nevada desert, a human comes across a mysterious egg and becomes involved in the arduous task of raising the infant 'alien' while keeping its existence a secret. As the two slowly bond, what role will they play in the swarm's destiny?