My name is Comet Tail, and I have died many times.

Queen Chrysalis, against her better judgement, accepted Starlight's offer of redemption after her hive, and her plans, exploded around her. Now, the next day, she wants nothing more than to go on with her miserable life. Her children have other plans.

This takes place in the same universe as my alicorn Starlight story The Tiniest Changes, but can be read on its own perfectly comprehensibly.

I'm marking this as incomplete, because I suspect I will revisit it when I'm in the mood to write Chrysalis, but the first chapter was written, and functions, as a standalone story.

“For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe, a messenger lost. For want of a messenger, the message was lost. For want of a message, the battle was lost. For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.”

“All for want of a horseshoe’s nail."

Like many other timelines, the Sonic Rainboom fails to occur. But, Harmony is tenacious. Even without what seems to be a key event, it will have it's bearers. Just perhaps taking a long, winding shortcut around to reach them.

An alternate timeline story inspired by A Minor Variation by notMurphy where the Mane 6 have their elements shuffled. Different events lead to different ponies, so OC tag is here because of how wildly different these Mane 6 ended up.

Cover made by Me.

Starlight had prevented the rainboom once again. To make matters worse, she also followed through on her threat to destroy the time travel spell. Now with no way to reset things back to the way they were, Twilight and Spike will have to seek out each of their friends in order to help them earn their cutie marks. However, manually putting history back on track is a lot messier than it first seems.

Edited by: Nebbie

Additional Editing/Proofreading by:
-Knight of the Raven and Berry Delight (Chapters 1-3)
-IAmADeliciousPotato (Chapter 7)

Cover Art by: Me (and Frown Factory for the Spike vector)

This story is a sequel to Entrenchment

The 38th Company brought many strange and novel things to Equestria.
Technology beyond Canterlot's wildest fantasies. Horrors beyond its bloodiest nightmares.
War, strife, blight, and the dominion of monstrous gods long hidden from the eyes of Equestria's innocent populace.

But the planet known as Centaur III knew the touch of dark magics and evil cults long before the Iron Warriors took their first step upon its soil and constructed their blasphemous idols.
The plot to plunge the world into darkness left many wounds and ancient grudges to fester.
The story of the thestrals, the bat-winged soldiers of the Lunar Guard, is one of misery, bitterness, and betrayal. Their history is little more than desperate quests for power and anticlimactic failures, all mere footnotes now as the survivors quietly return to service under their humbled, purified Princess.

Alas, some scars do not heal.
You reap what you sow.

(Dark humor warning; limited grimdark themes)
(Cover art by MagicStarFriends)

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 The Guard of a Different Stripe

Despite the world around her changing constantly, Applejack has remained firm in her simple, country life. The world may change around her, but as long as she's got her family, her friends, and her farm, the old-fashioned apple bucker of Ponyville has no reason to change herself.

However, when a mysterious Equestrian Collie emerges one night from the Everfree Forest, her stable farming life takes a turn for the stranger when the pompous pup needs more than just her affection.

Takes place after The Guard of a Different Stripe, but can be read alone.
Edited by: TheAncientPolitzanian
Proofread by: Alchemik
Preread by: King (AKA Kingsredarmy)
Cover Found Here: Sweet Apple Acres by ZIG-WORD
Special Thanks to Bicyclette for helping with the Short and Long Descriptions.

Accessing Files... Accessing...
File Found.

Name: Anton Ilario
Troop Number: #35863756-878
Location of Birth: Elysia Secundus, Elysia Prime
Date of Birth: 2.456.922.M41
Unit: 158th Elysian Drop Troopers
Rank: Trooper (Field Chirurgeon)
Previous Campaign: N/A
Current Campaign: Second Offensive against House Lysimicus forces on Veyland Sinestre.
Status: MIA (Believed KIA)

Leaving File...
Imperial Thought of the Day: Suffer Not the Alien to Live.

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.)

It has been several years since Chrysalis’ defeat during the Canterlot invasion. Since then, the fortunes of her changelings and kingdom have rapidly declined. With mass starvation, ponies capturing more of her spies and love collectors every day, and her own powers diminished to the point of being a complete non-threat to her enemies, she fears that it may soon be over for both herself and her entire race.

As Chrysalis reminisces about past failures, a pony named Time Keeper crashes a large metal box into her bedchambers. He claims to not only be a time traveller but also to have accidentally killed Twilight Sparkle on the day she was supposed to go to Ponyville to defeat Nightmare Moon.

In an effort to avoid the prospect of the universe tearing itself apart at the seams from the ensuing paradox, Chrysalis agrees to go back in time and live out a facsimile of Twilight’s life herself, and if time allows, she'll work on her own little project: shaping the future more to her own liking.