This story is a sequel to To Serve and Protect

Twilight Sparkle finds herself dealing with the aftermath of Tirek’s attack on Equestria. Among the problems before her is the broken artifact: Shadow’s Armor. Damaged in a battle with Tirek, Twilight is given the opportunity to help repair the ancestral armor, but when she suggests possibly making improvements she finds that not everypony agrees with the idea. For many ponies have very different ideas on what should be done with Shadow’s Armor, and it will be Twilight’s job to find a successful compromise between them.

[An idea I had based on Breaking Out to Avoid Being Broken In, written by Justice3442 (story and author are clickable).]

It's breakfast time for Twilight Sparkle, and she finds an unexpected guest at the table.

An infiltration attempt goes from ‘wildly successful’ to 'weird and confusing' in record time.

Thanks to Tired Old Man for edits, suggestions, and helping with the title. Also thanks to Nova Quill for her edits and suggestions.

Far to the north, in the Crystal Empire, Princess Cadance has a ceremony known as the blindfold wedding, and ponies come from all over with the hopes of finding a mate. Somehow, Princess Cadance has her ways and means, and her blindfold weddings have a curiously high success rate, given what they are: two strangers who have never met getting hitched with one another.

Furious Funnel, a tornado wrangler by trade, decides that it is time to do something else with his life. After saying goodbye to his bosom companion Braeburn, he heads north with the hopes of finding a bride. He might not get what he wants, or even expects, but he’ll get exactly what he needs.

An entry in the Weedverse.

Stink Sentry.

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.

Ponies at school say that there's a cave full of treasure close by.

All you have to do is go in and get it.

And make sure the Bug Queen doesn't catch you while inside.

A semi-sequel to "Don't Let The Bed Bug Bite".

Artwork by MnstrMthd.

When King Thorax released his reformed changelings into Equestria, Mister Lonely Heart set up shop in Ponyville as a "Grievance Counselor". He mimics ponies that his clients have ugly history with. Twilight Sparkle asks him to do a special job that reveals how deeply troubled her personal life really is.

Featured on 6/15/17! First time ever! Yowzah!🎃
TheDizzyDan did a great Youtube reading!IN THIS LINK!

There's a bug under my bed. Or at least I think it's a bug.

It says it needs to stay under there to hide.

I just hope it leaves soon. And doesn't eat me before then.

Artwork by sweetsing.

Necromancy gets a bad rep.

Oh, sure, some ponies like the whole cliche of the evil zombie master, pulling his puppet strings to make corpses dance and kill for their amusement. And yeah, you kinda do have to work with dead bodies a lot, and most ponies find that a bit creepy. Oh, and you learn a lot of spells to kill things and gain power from it.

But, come on, that doesn't mean all necromancers are bad... right?

Feature on Equestria Daily

Twilight knows that Rarity is a hopeless romantic, experienced through countless romance novels.
Twilight knows that Rarity has had some bad experiences with romance and courtship.
Twilight knows that Rarity still dreams of somepony to properly sweep her off her hooves.
Twilight has no idea how Rarity keeps missing the hints she keeps dropping.

Written for Monochromatic's Raritwi contest.

Cover art generously offered to all contestants and provided by the skilled Multiversecruise.

Top of the Feature Box on 05/05/17 and then for 72 hours straight: A huge thanks to everyone who liked or commented on this story.