Cadance and Shining's world comes to a screeching halt when they are visited by a specter from their past.

My entry for the Dialogue Only Contest.

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 Do As I Say...

Anon has become much more than just a friend to Celestia in the short two years he has been in Equestria. A complicated relationship will blossom and bloom through the many hardships of combining two lives so differently lived.

I hope this lives up to the expectations. It probably won't but I tried. I highly suggest reading the prequel to this if you have not, without doing so the beginning of this will make very little sense.

For those of you who care, this was really hard. Going from a work of whimsy to an actual story is difficult. I promise to finish this even if it takes a while between updates.

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 beginning, The Great Weaver brought together the world, from the mountains to the forests. Stitching it together, the Great Tapestry connects all living and nonliving things.

The Changelings found themselves especially connected to this Tapestry. Legend says that the first Changelings fell through the world as it was woven together, only to be caught on the First Weave beneath it all.

But what happens when something else is caught in the Weave?

Prince Phasmatodea, son of Queen Chrysalis, remembers what it was like before he hatched. He remembers being a human. He remembers dying. And he fully intends on avoiding another death.

But being gifted a new life does not matter when one failure, one false step, will lead to your untimely demise in the Changeling hive, for Prince Phasma must survive his toughest adversary from the start: Mother Dearest.

Cover art as of 1/18/21 by Nixworld

Jesse thought he hit the jackpot... a job offering him a month of work and living arrangements? Being between cities and in need of the income, he pounced at the opportunity.

However, shortly after arriving at the listed address and going in courtesy of the key waiting there... he finds himself part of a deal he never really signed.

The San Francisco Police Department never called Adrian Monk for the easy cases. And this was one of the weirdest.

A top scientist had been found dead...at least, the part they found. He had been found lying with half of his body inside what appeared to be some sort of portal...and the other half? No one knew. Foul play was not suspected until it was revealed that his assistant was also missing, along with a device that could have dire implications for the Multiverse...

Cover art by the talented IrradiatedPirateBooty! I highly recommend their work!

If you ever met Sunstone when he was but a young colt, you would’ve seen a large grin, two purple eyes full of determination, and an earth pony who could take on the world.

But something happened over the years. As Sunstone grew older, more and more did his cheerful smile morph into an ugly scowl. His enthusiastic attitude gradually capsized, leaving in its stead a disgruntled husk of his former self.

Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle: Two gifted unicorns that would quickly undermine everything Sunstone has been hoping to achieve, unintentionally turning him into the underdog he never wished to be. Resentment overtaking his better judgement, feeling doomed to be living forever in the shadow of his immensely successful brother and sister, Sunstone has had a lifetime of feeling thoroughly unremarkable.

Unable to bear his inability to stand out amongst his younger siblings, Sunstone vowed to never see his family again. It’s been five years since he departed on a journey to finally understand his true place in Equestria.

Not once has he looked back at the life he left behind.

Have you ever woken up to an eldritch horror telling you that you're its new employee and that you have to do work for it? No?

Well, I have.

Now, I have to deal with problems old and new, and hopefully do something with myself.

This is my story in Equestria.

not a self insert, i think some stuff might be cliche but I am not sure and you can tell me (along with criticism or hate or love or rambling) in the comments.

Cover art by me

[TW] [TRIGGER WARNING] bad words(slurs) dropped ocassionally(not every chapter) but since I'm smart(read: lazy) I'm putting the warning here