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.

From birth, Luna was a gifted unicorn.

So gifted, in fact, that Princess Sunset, the Solar Diarch, personally took notice of her abilities when she applied to attend Princess Sunset's school for the Gifted and Talented. When her pegasus sister, Celestia, hatches a phoenix egg, their entire life is changed.

Now, as Princess Sunset's personal students, the two sisters must figure out why sources of knowledge are disappearing, being stolen, or forcibly taken by dark shadows. Could the weird behaviours of the changelings explain the reason?

The one thing they do know is that something dark and powerful is plotting something in the shadows. And only they can stop this evil.

And why does Princess Sunset insist that the situation is nothing to worry about?

Cowritten by Meowofy and iAmSiNnEr

The story is a roleswap AU, we hope you enjoy!

Cover art commissioned, drawn by Cyonix, link to his Deviantart here.

For clarification: Luna and Celestia are not princesses in this story, even if tagged as such. There is just simply no non-princess Luna and Celestia to be tagged.

Preread by Jes
Helped and Edited by Sleepless!

Starlight does a slightly better job at attempting to reform Chrysalis after freeing her friends and reforming the rest of the hive, and finds herself quite unexpectedly the new Princess of Empathy. Whether things go uphill or downhill from here will depend on who you ask. Twilight is thrilled, Chrysalis is miserable, Trixie is gay, and Starlight is just trying to cope with becoming royalty scarcely a year after being Equestria's most dangerous supervillain.

I've always thought Starlight more than earned her wings in the show, but, given that I also love Chrysalis, I decided to grant them in a way that ends with my two favorite characters not trying to kill each other.

This will be a series of mostly one-shots dealing with various aspects of Starlight's life after ascending, with a variety of tones; while it's marked as incomplete, the majority of chapters form complete stories. Obviously, there are an enormous amount of things to be done with such a premise, and, if you have anything you'd like to see explored—and also enjoy the story enough to comment—please feel free to request topics for future chapters!

Note: Chapters are usually, but not always, in chronological order. Where they aren’t, it will be made clear.

The year is 1019, and the scars of the Great War are finally starting to fade from Equus. Queen Chrysalis of the Changeling Hegemony was defeated by a last, desperate alliance of free creatures from across the continent. The All-Ponies Front pushed into the heart of her empire in Vesalipolis after years of daring tank maneuvers beyond muddy trenches while planes dueled above. The Stalliongrad Soviet fought beside the Principality of Equestria it once shunned. The Crystal Empire modernized and stood with the Yaks across the northern mountains. The penguins and bears of the north resisted in the bitter cold. The deer of Olenia rose up under their rightful queen. The Republic of Nova Griffonia mostly made money selling guns to all the little ponies.

The war, and what came afterward, was a time of great upheaval and change. Princess Celestia and Luna abdicated their titles to Twilight Sparkle; the Princess of Friendship rules beside Prime Minister Sunset Shimmer and the Council of Friendship. The Crystal Empire, being a time displaced feudal state, did not change that much. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor rule as a universally beloved sovereign and a war hero. As the world changes around it, the eternal Crystal City stands still.

Princess Flurry Heart, currently going through "a phase," would like to change this.

By summoning the Ghost of Communism Past as her new political science tutor while her mother is away.

It is up to Shining Armor to avert the dictatorship of the poneletariat and the downfall of the bourneighsie.

May Harmony help them all.

Equestria and the Crystal Empire have fallen to the Changeling Hegemony, led by the brutal Queen Chrysalis at the head of a mechanized horde of guns and tanks. Princess Cadance stayed in the Crystal Empire; Princess Twilight stayed in Equestria. Chrysalis rules the continent, only defied by Nova Griffonia, the poor Griffon colony in the north.

Across the ocean, the Griffonian Reich pledges to reclaim its lost territory, sundered by revolution a generation ago. While the Alicorn Sisters retreat to New Mareland, Princess Flurry Heart and Shining Armor turn to Aquileia, the Republic born out of the ashes of the Griffonian Reich. The Kaiser of the Reich is only a child, subject to a regent bent on war and conquest.

Flurry knows the Reich and Chrysalis have worked together.

She knows that war is coming to Aquileia.

She knows that Celestia and Luna abandoned her mother and Twilight Sparkle.

She knows that the world is on fire, and she is the last true Princess of Ponies.

She knows she will go home.

Cover Art by Opal Radiance, commissioned by Sunstreaker.
https://www.deviantart.com/opalradiance

Twilight Sparkle is one of the most powerful Unicorns in Equestrian history. But how would the events of the show change if Twilight, the Element of Magic, was never a Unicorn? Would she still be able to wield the element? Would she still make the same friends? Would she even be Celestia's student at all?

A small story. Don't expect a super long story out of this. Inconsistent updates is my specialty. Especially due to college. Have fun reading this cutesy story!

Sunset Shimmer wants to become an alicorn more than anything - it's the entire reason why she's Princess Celestia's student. But she's run out of ways to research it and Princess Celestia has blocked her at every turn.

Fortunately for her, there's a new Princess on the block - Cadance. One who's already ascended. One who knows personally and intimately how she did it.

To get her to talk, Sunset will do anything. Even if it means pretending to like - really like - the Pink Pony Of Passion.

Cover art by daOtterGuy.

Featured 8/28/2021-08/30/2021! (And basically every update date after that.)

Now with a TVTropes page thanks to ZanarNaryon!

This story is a sequel to Strange Day at the Recruitment Office

There was one thing Gallus always wanted to be growing up in Griffonstone, a military officer. There was one slight problem though, he made several friends at a school in Ponyville, all of whom he values greatly but they also plan to stay in Equestria. So now sets his sights on being an officer in the E.U.P. Guard, by making his way into and through Canterlot's Royal Guard Academy.

Problem solved... except he'll be training at one of the toughest academies in Equestria, trying to keep in touch with his friends in Ponyville, while trying to make new friends in Canterlot, and oh yeah, he's a griffon amongst an institution full of ponies.

Cover art by Mix-Up.
Editing (starting from Winter in Ponyville) by Javarod.