It is not a fun week to be Rarity. She has an important photo-shoot to prepare for. She needs to scramble to put together a dress before a big deadline. And for some reason all her friends seem to think she is romantically involved with the local librarian.

Oh, yes, and she has gone blind.

Now Rarity learns just how many mud puddles one can step in around Ponyville, just how pointy her needles are, and just how many things there are around her place that exist solely to bang her fetlocks on. ...And presumably something about the strength of friendship, and the perserverance of the pony spirit, and what not, but come on, invisible mud puddles!

Big thanks as always to my pre-reader LovingTolerance.

A collection of short stories and vignettes written for Thirty Minute Ponies.

They aren't all in the same continuity, but they all feature everypony's favorite fashionista.

Part of the Thirty Minute Series. Find Rainbow Dash here, Pinkie Pie here, Fluttershy here, Applejack here and Twilight here.

...Darling.

When Rarity has Twilight over for tea, she learns her friend has a big confession to make. But what is really going on here?

Derpy Hooves is secretly a changeling.

Nopony particularly notices, or cares.

(New 9/15/19: Spanish translation by Spaniard Kiwi! Thank you!)

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 is not the story of how the Dragon Empire fell. This is the story of why it happened.

Part of the Borderworld.

Pinkie Pie, Ponyville's Party Prodigy.

Before Twilight, Pinkie came to Ponyville and changed the lives of all the residents, hopefully for the better.

What, exactly, did happen during those arduous first days?

Leaving the farm with no plans, no money and, worst of all, no baked goods, how does Pinky 'settle' into her new life of love, laughter and the eternal search for the perfect pastry?

To my dearest friends in all the world,

I’m not certain that this letter will ever reach you. Even if it does, I doubt that any of you will believe a word it says. It all sounds quite impossible, but do bear with me. It is the tale of a time traveler, a monster, and the mare caught up in their struggle.

It is the tale of how I met The Doctor.

A Doctor Who Crossover, in case you were wondering.

Rarity works at Hayburger. Not necessarily by choice, mind you. It's just temporary. Very, very temporary. But not the least bit temporary enough.

Pinkie Pie is searching for something. She stops at Ponyville on a whim, or maybe that's the tingly feeling in her tail talking. She decides to meet some ponies. What better place to begin her quest than at Hayburger?

Tall Tales didn't intend to be in Ponyville for long. It was supposed to be a brief stop on the way to the storytellers' gathering in Connemara, and nothing more. How was he to know he'd be offered the opportunity to show southerners real storytelling? More to the point, how was he supposed to refuse? And just what does this pink pony want with him, anyway?
Now he's shanghaied himself into performing, and must use all his skill to stay on stage, on target, and within the bounds of sanity. So gather round, pull up a bollard, and listen to some proper Equestrian folk tales.
Or watch one stallion go slowly mad in public. Either way, you're in for a treat.