Applejack has brushed her mane, put a ribbon on her hat, and there's a sway in her step. Most ponies just want to know who the special pony is.

Rainbow Dash doesn't buy it. Love is mushy, and AJ isn't mushy. Love means liking somepony more than her friends, and AJ would never like another pony more than Dash. Love means missing a game of horseshoes to go tell a pony that she's in love with them, and if there is one thing Dash is sure of, it's that AJ is not going to miss that game... no matter what Applejack thinks about it.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash knew this would be hard, but a long distance relationship was in their future from the start. A Wonderbolt and an apple farmer don't have a lot of time in the same place, so they do their best with letters and the occasional weekends. But when Applejack finds out that Rainbow Dash is on the cover of Flyers Illustrated: Wet Feathers Edition, it plays on a fear she never mentioned to Dash: Everypony knows that famous ponies are different from normal folks. . .

Right?

"Wet Mane Rainbow Dash," used in the cover image, is by Suikuzu.
Prereading by DbzOrDie, First_Down, Tchernobog, and Jackie

Bon Bon has been deeply in love with Lyra for almost as long as they have known each other. Every day is a blessing for the two lovers. But as Bon Bon starts to feel under the weather, will Lyra uncover a dark secret that will rip the two mares apart and leave only hate, sadness, and fear in it's wake?

The story continues in 'Life, Lies, and Love'

### Note ###
The story has undergone it's first ever proof-read and edit, to hopefully fix a lot of grammar and typos. Thanks goes to KiroTalon and Ivo for all their help with this.

The ancient necropolis of Nightmare moon has been awakened by her brief return to Equestria preceding her defeat. Now its abhorrent denizens are revived after a thousand years of debauchery and decay and with no direction or control. They will soon break free from their dungeons of night and spill across Equestria spreading darkness and death. That is, unless six friends, accompanied by the better part of the city's creator, can stop the spread of chaos and and gloom before all of Equestria falls victim to the things made in secret by an angry heart.

Octavia is a high-class pony. Fine alcohol is her wont, and uncouthness her intense chagrin. Such is her surprise to find herself lumbered with an insufferable oaf of a DJ pony. However, sometimes these situations work themselves into a satisfactory ultimatum all the same.

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.*