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 Pregnant Noses Know

Princess Celestia and Baked Bean, after a nearly year-long wait, are now the proud parents of a healthy unicorn colt. Naturally, little Apollo Bean will receive nothing but the finest as he begins his own princely journey, but babies always have their own set of unique issues, and Celestia will find another new life waiting for her as she integrates motherhood into her already busy schedule.

Elsewhere, the Kingdom of Equestria moves on as well. Chrysalis continues to be Chrysalis—much to Sergeant Hokey Pokey's chagrin—Trixie continues in her new role as Baked Bean's secretary while Miss Wysteria and Sergeant Quillpoint take time to work on their relationship and to take care of their brand-new twins, Twilight Sparkle begins teaching Starlight Glimmer about the magic of friendship after several world-ending events, and even Prince Blueblood finds much to accomplish upon returning from Yakyakistan.

But while forgotten friends and new adventures await, Baked Bean and Celestia know that, come what may, they will enjoy all of the ups and downs together...

As a family.

Edited by Georg, Double R Forrest, Tek, and Sipioc

TTS Reading of the entire fiction: Courtesy of the FanFiction Reader on Youtube.

Character List: Courtesy of TruthHut (A work in progress)

Handy is not a happy man at the best of times.

He was even less happy to find himself in an alien world that offended the very laws of physics and got injured for his own stubborn refusal to accept the obvious path fate had apparently laid out for him.

For his trouble he is now on a journey, with the long term goal of finding his way back home, only to find himself involved in plots and machinations so far above his head and cares that he quickly becomes a pawn in a game played by powers who care not for his well-being.

Quite like his life back on Earth if you think about it.

Needless to say, Handy does not care for any of it. He is much more preoccupied with the more immediate and pressing mundane concerns of day to day life a human needs to worry about while in Equestria.

Obtaining a new pair of shoes for example.

All this and one almighty hangover, what's the worst that could happen?

Rated teen for harsh language and minor violence

Proofread by JBL, Jude and Usurper

3/14/24 Still Alive Edition

There's only one pony in Ponyville that the Mane Six have never met. Pinkie Pie has never thrown him a party, Applejack has never sold him a mug of cider, and Twilight has never seen him check out any books. And as far as that unicorn, Lapis Print, is concerned, that's exactly how it should be.

Lapis can't risk them knowing where he lives, what he does for a living, or even what his name is - if he gets his way, the Mane Six won't even know he exists, and nopony in Ponyville will miss him once he's gone.

It should be a piece of cake - after all, it's not like the biggest magical power in Equestria is about making sure everypony looks out for each other, right?

(Rated Teen for language - mental cursing mostly.)

When Equestria accidentally opened a portal to another world, they discovered a new species: humans. Their arrival changed the world. For the Equestrian Ponies, it heralded a great cultural and technological jump needed from their stagnating way of life. For the Gryphons, however, they represented something baser: an opportunity to increase food stock and finally have a 'friendlier' predator species to ally themselves with.

For Gilda, one of the the humans was Ancestor-sent, a soul she would protect for bringing much joy to her life. And when a chain of events force her to accompany her human to Equestria, she recalls the circumstances of their meeting, the trials they pass through, the friendship forged through fire, and love born out of understanding under the harsh skies of the Kingdom.

This is her story.

"You are mine!"

~ Grizelda Behertz

Story set in The Gentlemanverse.

The Equestrian Critics Society gave this story the initial score of 8.5/10. (Full Review)

A one-shot story of the history of the Gryphon Kingdom can be found here.

OtterMatt's WRITE Review. Score:

Added to Canterlot's Finest

This story is a sequel to Like Clockwork

It has been approximately three years since Cozy Glow passed into the tender loving care of Paul the human and she has, in spite of these dire circumstances, done quite well for herself. Indeed, it may be fair to say she has thrived, becoming if not a wholly normal teenager then at least a more well-rounded and settled one. She is happy.

By contrast Paul has, if anything, regressed. The man who felt his life had not amounted to much and what little remained would amount to even less has instead thrown himself - in his own way - wholeheartedly into trying to set up Cozy for her own life, with very little thought given to what is left of his own. While she moves forward, he has slipped backwards, and the gulf widens or so Cozy fears.

The situation is untenable, both sides have the best of intentions, and mistakes are made.

Pretty hilariously stupid mistakes.

(Also the only story of mine ever to have been pre-read (in places) beforehand by someone else. How exotic!)

Spanner Wrench is a quiet sort. Everypony in town knows his name and where he lives, but none of them have ever been inside his home. He lives alone, as far as they can tell, and doesn't seem to have any friends. They all know, though, that if they need something fixed he's the stallion to see.

For Spanner Wrench, this is a cage of his own design. A waking nightmare he secretly longs to desperately escape. At a loss as to what he should do, he pays a visit to the local orphanage, Small Steps Home for Orphaned Ponies. There, he hopes to find the young pony who will save him from himself.

A story set in the Who We Become universe, which is the creative property of Krickis. Self-described by her as a "horse soap opera", WWB is a long-running series focused around realistic depictions of the drama of everyday life. It is not necessary to read any WWB stories to understand this one, but there will be references to events and characters from WWB, most notably the story Acts of Love.

Created 5/16/2021. Finished 6/11/2021. Cover art is courtesy of the talented ApplejackOfAllTrades on Twitter.

Lazy Pines is a small town in the high country of Colorado, easily overshadowed by the bigger sights to see along Colorado State 9. When influenza strikes the town hard, it is little more than a statistical blip in a typical flu season. No one thinks any more of it as the initial wave of infection passes ... until the other symptoms begin to manifest.

Meanwhile, during what should have been a routine trip to Canterlot, Twilight Sparkle stumbles upon a strange anomaly which turns into an all-consuming mystery. As she discovers the complex web of magic stubbornly maintaining this mystery's secrets, she grows worried what it could mean for herself and her family.

And as the residents of Lazy Pines struggle to understand -- or even believe -- what is happening to them, two worlds have irrevocably been set on a direct collision course.

Updates every other weekend.

Cover art by Mix-up. Please check out more artwork by this talented artist.

Now has its own TV Tropes page thanks to redandready45.

This is the core story of the Camaraderie-verse.
Reading order:
Camaraderie is Sorcery, Season 1 (Ch. 0:0 - 1:27.4)
Lady of Love
Camaraderie is Sorcery, Season 2 (Ch. 2:0 - 2:27.3)
King in the North
Camaraderie is Sorcery, Season 3 (Ch. 3:0-3:14.3)
The Other Side of the Mirror: Vol. 1
Camaraderie is Sorcery, Season 4 (Ch. 4:0- )

Maps of Equestria
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4

What if Equestria wasn't all sunshine and rainbows? What if the lands were wild, untamed, and ruled by powerful (and corrupt) nobles in the names of distant kings and queens? What if magic belonged not to every unicorn, but only to the privileged (and persecuted) few?

Camaraderie is Sorcery is a dark fantasy retelling of the story of Friendship is Magic. In this Equestria, the land is divided into kingdoms hungrily eyeing each others' lands and resources. This is a world where peasants are born, work, suffer, and die without their overseers shedding a tear. It is a world where bandits and monsters occupy both the wild places and the civilized ones (but in different forms). This is the world where Twilight Sparkle lives. Cant'r Laht, a shining city perched on the edge of a mountain with more nobles and mages than it knows what to do with, has been Twilight's home her whole life. Now, as the one thousandth summer solstice of the Fourth Age approaches, she will leave Cant'r Laht and depart for the tiny hamlet of Ponieville, where five companions await her. These Brave Companions, as the ballads will come to commemorate them, are already bound by destiny, though they do not know it yet. For who would ever imagine that a sorceress, a farmer, a Hunter, a blacksmith, a druidess, and a baker would ever become comrades with the strength to stop the end of the world?

Author's Note: I drew inspiration from several dark or realistic fantasy sources for the world of Camaraderie is Sorcery, but the most influential was the world of Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher novels and CD Projekt RED's video game series of the same name.