As facts go, Celestia can always remember 'Why don't we let first-year Gifted School students have a project fair?' is a horrible idea. Everypony else usually needs about eighty years to forget that.
Applejack and Pinkie have barely seen each other since Applejack's parents died. Pinkie is willing to do anything to get some time where she can help her only friend... and that friend will do anything to never leave the Acres again.
Rarity's mark has told her who she's meant to be, and she's spent too long postponing her chance to become that pony. However, it's never given her any hints on just how she's supposed to do it. Maybe her first trade show will help -- in some way.
Rarity's first moons back in Ponyville after leaving school have her still trying to catch up on the events she missed -- like the arrival of a certain apprentice baker. And until now, neither knew the other existed.
For nearly every citizen of Equestria, it's a holiday: a chance to get together with friends, gather a few treats, and laugh in defiance of the darkness. For Celestia, Nightmare Night is something else entirely.
Long before Nightmare and Elements, primary school students Rarity & Applejack were forced to cooperate in order to defeat the most fearsome foe ever imagined: a teenager.
All Shining Armor has to do in order to make his mother's medical tests go smoothly is to make sure she doesn't eat or drink anything. It should be a simple task for a colt who's on his game. (Unfortunately, it's a night game.)