When your life is as dull a gray as the world that surrounds you, the mundanities can make it all seem meaningless. Sometimes all we need is a little color -- or six -- to reintroduce us to what truly makes life worth living.

*6-16-2017 Edit, added Rainbow Dash tag because it triggered knighty.*

Ruling over the Crystal Empire has required Cadance to do many things, but one day she discovers a matter that needs her more immediate attention. One of their guards has decided to retire, and when she asks him why, she comes to understand something important. Something she'd always suspected, but that nopony until today has said to her.

Princess Twilight Sparkle gives her student Sweetie Belle an assignment to write a letter to her friend, Scootaloo.

Tied for second place in the Everfree NorthWest 2019 Iron Author competition with Aquaman's The Sum of Our Parts. Set several years after the series end, as per the prompt.

Choices. We all make choices in life. Most of these are simple: what to wear, what to eat, when to sleep. Rainbow Dash was given a choice, and she chose….

That choice has haunted her every day. Finally, she’s decided to try and make amends, to say she’s sorry. She does this not because she expects forgiveness, but because every fiber in her body needs her to. For how can one move on without first apologizing to those they’ve wronged?

Something bad has happened to Sweetie Belle, so why won’t anypony tell Apple Bloom what? At least she can keep her friend company, and Sweetie Belle can hear her talking. Everypony says so. She can hear.

If friendship really is magic, she sure could use some now.

An entry in the write-off event “There’s Magic in Everything.”

Princess Luna arrived to me one night in my worst.

No matter what I told her, she would not leave.

Inspired by a hallucination.

Coverart used without permission from Loxotictoxic.

Rainbow Dash is trapped in a room, and she can't get out until she writes a letter.

Russian translation by Repitter.

Russian audio reading, also by Repitter.

Proofread by MrNumbers and Octavia Harmony.

As the title implies, this is a modern, more cohesive version of Honorary Apple.

Link to the original (old) story - https://www.fimfiction.net/story/339446/honorary-apple

With Celestia and Luna having finally retired and passed on the throne to Twilight, the weight of Equestria has fallen on Twilight's back, and without her friends there by her side, doubts and fears haunt her, leaving her restless and anxious.

But maybe all she needs is a friend to be there with her and tell her it will be alright.