Changeling Twilight Sparkle and her number-one assistant, Sunset Shimmer, try to study magic without learning any wholesome lessons of friendship. They fail.

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.

When a mishap occurs with Celestia's bathroom scale, an ancient protocol that may just doom Equestria is set into motion. With the entire palace staff now conspiring against her, the sun goddess must not only contend mountains of paper work, dancing celery sticks, and steroid pumped stallions, but a sister who will take this chance to torture Celestia any way she can as payback for her banishment. Lock the cupboards and barricade the fridge! It's the Royal Diet!

Now with TVTropes page! :http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/ASliceOfLife

This story is a sequel to Winds of Change

Lyra and Bonbon are two normal happily married mares, except one isn't a mare but a shapeshifting hermaphroditic erovore whose mother just invaded Canterlot and the other is a highly unstable mare in heat with an absolutely brilliant plan.

...well, they're happily married, anyway.

Join Lyra and Bonbon as they navigate the wonders of interspecies pregnancy*. Or don't! It's not everyone's cup of tea, and there's a super hero movie in theatre five!

*Including random ponies touching their belly, well meaning bedroom advice from bakers, odd food cravings, morning sickness, cultural misunderstandings, morning sickness, big dramatic fights, random cravings for cardboard, gaining weight, lynch mobs, morning sickness, awkward godmothers who try too hard, patching up feelings, cravings that are downright disturbing, morning sickness in the afternoon, morning sickness, moodswings, pulled medication, bricks thrown through windows, lawsuits, surprisingly intense bedroom activities, dress up, shopping, royal visitations, morning sickness on princesses, kicking foals, more moodswings, mothers who move in to help out alongside their BDSM masters, random periods of glowing, even more moodswings, depression, hyperventilation, dramatic break-ups, internal bleeding, trying to outrun trains, robbing a convenience store, being thrown in prison, having odd cravings for prison food, false labor alarms, morning sickness at night, morning sickness in dreams, dramatic make-ups, numerous hospital visits, and a pair of guards named Lace and Arsenic.

(Cover Art provided by Conicer)

Gentle Strokes is a cynical drunk from Dodge Junction. Stormy is the proud black sheep of a wealthy Manehattan family. Together they're two shining examples of the student body at Camden — Equestria's most prestigious liberal arts college. Navigating their way through one night stands, flirty professors, "End Of The World" parties, junkie roommates, family melodrama, sex, drugs and Rock 'N' Roll as they try their hooves at a college relationship.

Cover art provided by the wonderful: Kill Joy.

On the outskirts of a village by the sea, just north of Halterfax, there is a house.

In the house lives a maid, tasked with caring for it in the absence of its masters, who have not visited in some time. Every autumn she dutifully seals the windows, locks the doors, and prepares as the fog rolls in.

In the fog are ghost stories waiting to happen. Beasts and specters blown in from the sea to haunt and roam the coast. This is how it has always been in the village, and the maid, like the villagers, has become very good at avoiding the fog.

This autumn, however, the house has received a new master.

A series of short stories regarding a Bat Pony, the supernatural, and when it is appropriate to be sensible.

A long time ago, in the magical land of Equestria, there was a country called Neighpon. It was a land of conflict and war, but also one of honour and chivalry. And there was a shy vagabond who roamed looking for people in need of help. This a tale about her adventures and exploits and how a fortuitous encounter changed her life.

Twilight Sparkle has been disowned, sent off to the Princess' Academy without so much as a goodbye from her life-long mentor.

Octavia's creativity pays off one day during a concert, where a special piece she adds as a finale brings out a new fan. But the fan appears out of nowhere, and no one seems to notice her but Octavia.

And all she does is dance.
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Featured on Equestria Daily November 15th, 2012.

This story is a sequel to Why Ancient Rituals Don't Always Work

It's been almost eleven months since the event at the Ancient Mareyan Sun Temple. Ahuizota and Derring Do are settling into the life of a family, ready to raise their kid. There's still much for the young couple to learn, and it can only be taught with time.

They just cross fingers and feathers and hope they don't screw it up.

*****
A/N:
Title name by The Shade