The village of Brightly, British Columbia, Canada, has a deep and storied history as a coal mining town which slowly faded as ships stopped using coal for their boilers. Nowadays it is a quiet, isolated community nestled within the forests of the Pacific coast. It's the kind of town where everyone knows everyone, and folks look out for each other. Those bonds of friendship and community are tested when some of the inhabitants begin to turn into colourful ponies with strange powers and abilities...

Created with the assistance of my editors: Sandstorm94, Coyotethetrickster, Rejara and other foolishbrave souls.

Welcome to my very first commissioned story. Thanks to the kind support of my patron through Patreon I am able to try my hand at a kind of story I've never written before. This story will be updated monthly for as long as my patron wishes to pursue it.

Cover Art by Gab0o0
https://www.deviantart.com/gab0o0

A story from The Canary Files

This story is a sequel to Memory Pending

The story of Moon Mender continues after his dream of an ending ceases. He continues his struggle to belong in a world so far divorced from the only other experience he can remember, but as an outsider of truly alien mindset, will he ever be able to find a place in Equestria? More importantly, will the life he left behind give up on its death grip so easily? The most important thing to remember is that things are rarely as they seem and sometimes, some things are better off forgotten.

This story is a direct sequel to Memory Pending. Without having read that, this story might be a little strange to most, which is frightening considering how strange it is already. It can be read as a standalone story of course, but you won't get the most out of it.

Further, I’m fully aware that not everypony enjoys more mature themes, so any scenes containing things of an M rated nature shall only be released in a separate story when the time comes. This story deals with more mature themes on a whole, as a warning. This version will do its best to censor the really sensual or graphic content out, of course.

Last but not least, this story has reached this final format through combined efforts of not just myself, but many a helpful pony along the way! Here’s an abbreviated list of those involved and the rolls they played:
Kiroberos – Author (Obviously)
Julia – Editor (Corrections, Grammar, and Flow)
Azu – Beta Reader (Corrections, Flow) (Until Chapter 35)
ExplosiveBrohoof – Beta Reader (Grammar) (Until Chapter 22)
Muffinking – Beta Reader (Corrections, Grammar) (Until Chapter 22)
All of my readers for being amazing, supportive, and best of all, enjoying the world we read and write about.

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.

Elias Bright is a survivor. He has survived the end of the world. He has survived the deaths of his family. He has survived the death of all that he has built. On the run from a past that haunts him to his core, he finds himself in Equestria, a land of tranquility and peace. Elias now has a choice. Does he give up the only life he has known, that of a survivor, and settle with the ponies of Equestria, or will his past deeds come to drag him back into the dark past he has tried to bury?