Sunset Shimmer has never needed anyone or anything - she had her magic, she had her ambition, and she had intellect. Others just stood in her way or held her down. So what do you do when your plans for world domination fall through?

Now she's about to discover that the only thing harder than hitting rock bottom is climbing your way out of that crater. Good thing she has some new friends to help her along, but its tough to seek forgiveness from others when you can't forgive yourself...

Special thanks to KiltedKey (Chapters 1/2) and SolidFire for their editing work.

No one alive today can say where she came from; simply that she has always been there.

And yet, few ponies have had a greater impact on Princess Celestia's life than Raven, her most faithful aide.

Inspired by and based off of a headcanon put forth by Heir-of-Rick, though perhaps a bit less insidious than what he had in mind. He very kindly provided an alternate version of his image for me to use as my cover image! Text added by me.

All comments and criticism very welcome!

Featured in the Royal Canterlot Library! Go there to read the interview for some behind-the-scenes info on this story!

Translations: Chinese, Spanish!

This story is a sequel to The Mare In Gold

When a Royal Guard of the Crystal Empire finds an abandoned changeling foal, she takes in the infant and raises it as her own daughter. It’s love at first sight, and the bond that forms between them gets the guard in a lot more trouble than she bargained for.

Up Next: Black Gold

Magic is supposed to be controlled, released when the caster wants it to be and in the form dictated by the spell. To Twilight's glee, she succeeds in creating a spell to see a short distance into the future after many hours of research. The test doesn't exactly go as planned, but it works just in time to save a stallion's life. As she tries to reach out to a pony who she finds has nearly given up on life, she finds to her surprise, wonder, and concern that not all facets of magic are explainable, nor the workings of the heart - especially one that has been broken.

First story in my series. Currently undergoing a massive edit, as there were a lot of errors. Chapters 1-16 completed on the edit thus far. The endings are slightly un-canon, and that will be fixed by the edit, but until I get that up, take comfort in the fact that the shift has no bearing on the rest in the series, which currently follows the alternate path. Chapters 21-24 will likely be edited the most, as they were, admittedly, kind of rushed.

Oh, on a side note, I wrote this whole thing releasing a chapter a day as a personal challenge. Not my best piece, but the one that started them all. Ending one is blatant gary stu, I'll say it now. Art by askheroichamburger of DeviantArt

When a royal guard in the prime of his life gets assigned to guard Princess Twilight's castle, he figures it'll just be another post to stand at. However, when he gets to Ponyville, he realizes that this job may be more tricky than he first anticipated... especially with all of this "friend-making" business.

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Just a little something I whipped up. I really enjoyed writing it, and I hope you enjoy reading it.

Rated Teen for a fairly momentarily but still rather graphic gore scene. It lasts a little, but everything else is tame.

EDIT: apparently, this story is featured by twilight's library. Thanks a bunch, seriously.

I always wanted to go to Equestria. When I got the chance, I took the deal without reading the fine print. To my surprise, I didn't arrive there as a pony, or even as a human. It seems I get to view this world from a different perspective than what I've imagined.

My name is Echo. I am a Diamond Dog.

-Edited by the one, the only, Nathan Traveler!
-(Cover by Jovial_Shake of fimfiction.net)
-Now featured on Equestriadaily.com!

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.

She can swim far and wide across the waters of Equestria, but it's not enough. There are places above those waters, places she plans to reach. Where biology failed her, her mind would succeed. Equestria better be ready, because she plans to visit!

Twilight and her five friends are transported during a botched spell, across dimensions to... Ponyville, Equestria? But not the same one that they knew. Sitting on a bench is Harpsy and Babar. The Doctoress avoids apples from an aspiring Applebuck. And in a library across town, six stallions join their forces as they try to decipher the appearance of filly look-alikes of themselves around Ponyville!

Dark Flame is a young unicorn stallion who works as the local blacksmith and has protected his home village of Stonewall from constant dragon raids, earning him the title, Dragon Slayer. But when a dragon thought to be a myth attacks, Dark is left the lone survivor and loses consciousness during the fight against the mythical dragon. When he awakens, he finds himself in a hospital with a part of his memory missing, a few bodily changes, and six mares who have questions for him.

Now trying to rebuild his life, Dark will learn about his new body, try to regain his lost memories, and attempt to live a new life of peace apart from his old life of near constant fighting and survival. Though if only it were that easy. New friends will be made, secrets revealed, enemies both new, old, and supposedly dead will rise, a love will blossom, and a ghost from Dark's past will threaten to destroy what little left he holds dear to him.

This is my first fic, and any constructive criticism or advice would be appreciated in helping improve my writing, and in turn, the story itself.

Featured: 6/24/16
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