Tirek has, undoubtably, thoroughly, completely, won.

He has all six former bearers of the Elements tied to his (formerly Celestia's) throne.

He has the other three alicorns trapped in Tartarus.

He's absorbed every scrap of magic from every pony in Equestria.

And nopony will ever get a cutie mark, ever again.

Three certain fillies are going to do something about that. And if they can somehow rescue their sisters in the process, all the better...

For another take on the same idea, see Crusade at Midnight Castle by Carabas; or, for a story that takes the idea in a completely different direction, see Der Unter-gang by Monokeras.

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.

The story of "Twilight's Kingdom" from Discord's point of view. Written as a prequel to "No Escape From Yourself."

Cover art from PonyChaos13's "7th Element Project", which predated "Twilight's Kingdom" but was shockingly prescient.

Discord's the only creature in Equestria who can recognize the human for what he is -- not the long-lost Seventh Element that never actually existed and couldn't have existed before the human arrived, but a meta-reality warper, an entity far more powerful than Discord with the power to warp the minds of all around him and the very rules of magic to make sure that he's always the Big Hero. And the role the human's assigned to Discord is the Villain to beat down or kill.

Pre-reform Discord's fine with being the villain. But on his own terms. Not dancing on some alien interloper's puppet strings.

Without friendship, or even allies, Discord's going to have to find a way to defeat a creature who can alter fate itself and who can even mind-control him. Or he may just end up worse than dead.

Art by Tenchi-Outsuno. Progress Bar at my writing journal.

Trigger warnings: Mind control (magically induced love, magically induced friendship, magically induced stupidity, Discord being Discord), noncon/dubcon (magically induced love, other forms of highly dubious consent), rape (female on male), violence/gore (mostly against Discord), literally everything in chapters 19-21, humans not being presented as unilaterally wonderful and superior to ponies and/or draconequui.

Twilight Sparkle has been through quite a lot during the course of her young life. With her friends she has re-discovered an ancient magic, saved the world from Nightmare Moon, and imprisoned the embodiment of Chaos in stone.
However, she cannot help but feel in over her head when she wakes up aboard an alien space station, where strange creatures are running dangerous experiments on her and others in an effort to make living weapons.
That's just the beginning however. She soon finds herself and her people caught up in the middle of an interstellar war over one of the most basic principals of sapient life.
The right to think for yourself.
Just an idea I had, and I'm not even really sure where it's going to go. But I liked it and I thought that it would make a great story. comments would be appreciated, especially those geared towards making me a better writer.

Cover Art by Mario94 on deviantART URL: http://mario94.deviantart.com/

Preread by Doomotter

Also, mad props to my new editor Eddiehowell! He's great!

Additional characters and tags will be added as the story dictates.
MLP is owned by Hasbro and Faust.
All other characters and worlds in this story are made by me.
This story is 100% approved by Twilights Library!
Also, if you don't like my story, that's fine. Just tell me what I'm doing wrong before you click that downvote button. How can I improve unless I know what I'm doing wrong?
WOOT! FEATURED 11/24/14!! I NEVER THOUGHT IT WOULD HAPPEN!

This is the first book of The Humanity Within Trilogy. Its sequel is What I've Done.

I wasn't always like this, a monster, running through the woods on an alien planet. I was once a man. I had dreams, a girlfriend, and a great job.
Then They came. In the middle of the night, They scooped me from my home, and... changed me.

Now I'm a beast, a demon the like of which the world I've become stranded on has never seen before, scraping by on the fringes of society, hiding from the natives, and doing my best to avoid notice.

After all, who could ever be friends with a monster?

Cover Image done by the very talented PaintSplotch! You can find his FimFic account here.
And here is his DeviantArt Account!
Now 100% approved by Twilight's Library!
Mad props to my prereaders:
ThatPonyWithASword.
Admiral Applejack.
JXWheeler

Upon Nightmare Moon's return, the leaders of other nations gather to discuss the situation.

They're not especially happy about it.

Cover art from the gallery of WingFlyte.

Spanish translation, by SPANIARD-KIWI. Russian translation, by Dark Room Collaboration.

Long, long ago, the Age of Dragons ended in fire and ruin. The greatest of the dragons challenged the races of Equestria to prove themselves worthy to rule the next age.

The fast, the strong, and the clever all journeyed to answer his call … but sometimes true wisdom is found in the most unlikely of places.

★★★★★ rating from Louder Yay! "To create such a rich and evocative setting in barely a thousand words is deeply impressive. ... Clever, enjoyable and very well written."

Very Highly Recommended by MLPmatthewl419! "horizon accomplished the impossible to get this much world-building, feeling, and such wonderful characters with only 1k words … a deep and evocative story."

Highly Recommended by PresentPerfect! "With a great story and solid classic fable-style execution, this is a must-read."

Reviewed by PaulAsaran!

Third place in the Writeoff Association's "Just Over The Horizon" minific competition! Now revised and expanded for FIMFiction.

She was a unicorn on the run. Being hunted, her only option was to hide where they wouldn't think to look. Once over the border she'd hide in the most quiet, boring, unassuming town she could find in Equestria. Her information was out of date but how much could Ponyville have changed?

Once there all she'd have to do is keep her head down and not draw attention to herself. Certainly stay away from any adventure or authority figures, top of which being the Princesses. She'd shuddered to think what would happen if they found out who she really was. Still, what were the chances that she'd be dragged into an adventure or meeting any princesses while in Ponyville.

Thank you to 'Greynoise' and 'Starlight Nova' for editing and pre-reading respectively.

Having re-read the FAQ rules, now rated for Teenage-Gore.

100% Approved by Twilight's Library!

***WARNING*** Spoilers in comments

No idea who did cover art, let me know and I'll credit you.

In the wake of her coronation, Twilight Sparkle worries that the tides of life and responsibility are pulling her away from her friends.

All in all, it's not the ideal time for a mysterious force to suck all the colors from Ponyville.