This story is a sequel to A War of Words - The Opening of the Guard

For centuries, the stallions of the Royal Guard have protected Equestria from every danger imaginable.
Now they face a new threat to their position that will not be so easy to defeat.

Mares.

The story of four mares who answer the call to guard Princess Luna, and the troubles they go through to gain acceptance and respect in their new jobs. Or it could be considered to be the story of four interlopers into a traditionally male role and the underhanded tricks used to secure their position despite their obvious unsuitability for the job. Pick one.

Cover photo credit to the fantastic MuffinExplosion at DeviantArt.

Thanks to my editors: Peter, MSPiper, Featherprop, Seether00, GameKnut and Tek

Author's notes on the development of the story and characters may be found here.
This is a sequel to A War of Words - The Opening of the Guard which is featured on Equestria Daily

Ahuizotl threatens to sue A. K. Yearling for libel unless she stops writing the Daring Do books. She makes him a counter-offer.

Based on the November 2014 prompt from The Writeoff Association, "Title Drop," the original version of this story won second place in that month's contest.

Every couple months or so, Gumption visits Ponyville to sell off a few gems. His secret to finding them are three Diamond Dogs he raised as pups. The only reason anyone knows about this is the Royal Guard spotted his home and the three during a routine patrol. Their orders were to observe but not engage unless necessary.

Can the mane six discover calculus fast enough to win a flying competition, counter a deadly parasite, and destroy a tornado?

Welcome to the only MLP fanfiction which doubles as a calculus tutorial.

Once this fic is complete, it will serve as a complete walkthrough for calculus. I want to teach the intuitive side of math: tell you why things work, and make you feel like you could have discovered them yourself.

Petition your teacher to make this your school's standard textbook.

It was supposed to just be a simple prank. She never meant for anyone to get hurt. Now she must face her crime. At least Diamond Tiara has her journal and best friend to help her handle lowering herself like this.

Preread by ThatOneWriter.

Spoilers in the comments.

Accepted into Nonpareil Fiction!

After long years of being a slave in Zebrica (it's been a few months since they last played pirates), Captain Dinky has escaped her bonds (is free this weekend), and has returned to the sea with her loyal crew (Scootaloo, Twist, Featherweight, and Snails). But she does not come empty-hooved: she has part of the legendary map that leads to the fabled Lost Treasure of the pirate Espada Noche (which is apparently somewhere in town)! Now, Dinky and her band must battle rival pirates (Pipsqueak, Applebloom, Rumble, Snips, and Bee Bop), and the Royal Equestrian Navy (Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Alula, Sweetie Bell, and Firelock) in order to follow the map to the ultimate treasure!

Two thousand bits.

That's the prize for the pony who best pranks Princess Celestia on her upcoming visit.

A lot of ponies want that money.

"Dear Princess Celestia, as your (former) most faithful student, I feel I have to warn you that this is probably a trap. Chrysalis cannot possibly be serious about this. Why would anyone, much less her, want to shoot a documentary on us?"

Chrysalis, queen of all the changeling hives and infinitely cunning architect of their plans to conquer Equestria, has a problem: She knows diddly-squat about ponies. But Chrysalis is cleverer than most—or all—changelings, and she's already devised a brilliant solution to this trifling issue: Make a movie about them.

Tenth place winner in Equestria Daily's Outside Insight contest.

Sweetie Belle hasn't found the courage to tell Scootaloo how she feels about her, sometimes she can't find the time or the words for the confession to flow thoroughly. When Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo travel to Manehattan on a one day trip together, the time and place for everything could come to light.

Proofread by HMXTaylorLee.

From the diary of Zecora of how she met Apple Bloom and raised her for a day, written from Zecora's perspective.

Story art: nabesiki