There are many rules to a good horror film. Most ponies learn them with time and experience.

Twilight never did. Now, trapped in a desolate inn at the end of a long driveway, far from help, she will learn of them. Or, at least, one of them. The one Rarity, her only surviving friend, insists is keeping Twilight alive.

To everyponies misfortune, Twilight has questions, and fleeing in terror like she should will not get her the answers.

It’s going to be a bad night for the killer.

Edited by the Illustrious and Maleficent Crowscrowcrow...crow...crow...crow

Cover image made by vanillaghosties.

Twilight Sparkle has disappeared. Not just from the face of Equestria but possibly from the face of her universe itself. She must now learn how to survive in a place unlike anything which she has experienced thus far. Luckily she has a friend out in the Wasteland. Join Twilight and The Lone Wanderer as they try and discover a way to send Twilight back to Equestria. Of course this is the Wasteland and things are never as simple as they appear...

Now has a Tumblr

Celestia travels to a far corner of her kingdom to investigate a rumor about a colt with strange, illicit cutie marks. She meets Radish Root, a boy whose marks make him an anomaly in the fabric of Equestria, a mystery to himself, and an outcast among society.
When Radish joins the Royal Guard just prior to the return of Nightmare Moon, he finds his life being complicated by all the changes coming to Equestria. His marks will lead him into adventure, intrigue, and trouble... but will they ever lead him to answers?

Proofreader: Slavenger Karl
Cover Art Gallery
Table of original characters
A reader is translating this story into Spanish. Check it out here.

King Sombra is a lot of things if not patient, but even he has a point where things go from bitterly trapped to unbearably boring. Torture would be nice! If she had the guts to entertain him in the old fashion way. No such joy for him...just bored, alone and still dead set on his vengeance, even if it is unanswered for. Just endless waiting. Endless nothing. No freedom to even pace his confines. Just an endless, tormenting nothing...

And yet...

For the first time in over fifty years...

He heard a knock on the door...

(Mind blowing art by futuristicspacetiger )

The story takes place in a setting continuing from season 3.

Thanks to the /fimfic/ Anons for writing advice, pre-reading and feedback.

The fic was loosely inspired by the song Solastalgia by Francis Vace and Luck Rock, so thanks to them, too!

I got dragged to Equestria by pure accident due to an experiment gone 'wrong', roughly forty years before Nightmare Moons' arrival.
No matter what I do, as a pony-changeling hybrid, something will change with Equestria. I just hope I don't doom the country before Nightmare Moon even arrives... Or worse.

This is the first story I ever tried to write professionally, so there WILL be errors, for that, I apologize in advance.
I'm editing and proofreading it on my own because I literally suck when it comes to using this site competently.
Lastly, I am a slow writer due to IRL getting in the way but I will try my hardest to settle the story down whether it's popular or not.

Fair warning, there may be spoilers in the comments.

Thank you to Little Tigress for the fantastic cover art.

A suit of armour wakes up in the woods from a very long nap and has some issues. These involve some less than stable quadrupeds called ponies and one very specific one which we shall refer to as Luna.

Cover art from: https://www.artstation.com/andrewdoma

Featured basically whenever there's an update. Not sure as to why.

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.