[12/14/2014] Revisions to Chapter 4 and onwards. More info here: http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/416547/fixing-i-think-i-can-remember

Celestia is settling into being a princess. It’s a lot of work, but luckily Star Swirl is a big help, even if Luna isn’t.

Then she wakes up and over a thousand years have passed. Her sister was banished to the moon and came back, Star Swirl is long gone, and Celestia apparently has a small purple alicorn student.

What’s going on?

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.

Because sometimes even a villain should get the chance to have a happy Christmas with her family.

Twilight Sparkle is a happy pony. With the help of her friends she defeated Tirek. She has a shiny new castle, the kingdom is safe, and she knows the reason behind her ascension. What more could a young princess want?

She is happy, she tells herself as she digs through the ruins of her home. She is so happy she can barely smell the ashes any more.

But in those ashes she finds something unexpected: a small porcelain vase, and with it a decade's worth of unspoken questions. A mystery hiding beneath her hooves, waiting to be put to rest.

Winner of the November Writeoff event.

This story is a sequel to Letters From a Friend at the End of the World

Her travels having brought her and her friends to the far-north city of Frostvale, Trixie finds herself caught up in a looming war and a dangerous plot. Still just trying to recover, she decides to lay low for a bit and wait for an opening to continue her journey.

Meanwhile, Twilight and friends continue following the trail Trixie left behind on her way north. By a combination of her letters, and the ponies they meet, they follow in her hoofsteps, discovering a number of surprising secrets along the way.

Thanks to both Belligerent Sock and Themaskedferret for pre-reading and editing.

Alone, a young timberwolf must try to survive in the wilderness. Survival above all else. That was what his mother taught him. But when he encounters 'monsters' that could apparently 'gobble him up in mere seconds', he begins to doubt everything he knows about the world.

Sometimes, dreams are all we have. Sometimes, that's enough.

Hidden deep within a maze, well away from prying eyes, there is a statue. The last great work of an artist long forgotten, her time-worn visage watches the raising and setting of the sun and the moon as though enraptured.
Who created such a marvel, this sculpture of copper and brass, of crystal and cog, and why, is unknown, lost to the mists of time... until now.

This is the tale of a painter and a clockmaker, and the love they shared.
This is the tale of a dreamer, who knew only her dream.

Now with reading by Illya Leonov: Listen to it here.

Okay, it goes like this.

I was supposed to get married today, but fate had different plans. Those plans included me inexplicably appearing on an alien world of sapient horses who speak an entirely different language. Not only am I totally screwed with my wedding, but these sparkling horses are apparently hostile.

Yeah, I know it sounds stupid, but I'm not the kind of guy who can make up something like this.

Name's Ulysses. Courier. I've done much as I've walked my road, seen many lands, crossed roads with many people, traded both bullet and philosophy alike with many more. I have followed many symbols. I've carried messages, I have learned the meaning of many more. All of this, this road I've walked, to find a nation, a history and a symbol, I could believe in. Roads have taken me far, but I always thought that you could walk no further than the end of your road. History taught me otherwise. Message in that; never underestimate the Old World, and the gifts -and curses- the land can hide. Found a new road now...not quite as lonely as the last...

Imprisoned in Tartarus once more, Tirek tries to rationalise what he did.

Part of the Borderworld.

Now with audio reading by Iron Scribe.