Applejack and Rainbow Dash have been marefriends for a year now and they couldn't be happier. So why does Applejack seem worried one evening after the two have shared a wonderful picnic?

Written for the 2013 AppleDash contest.

Twilight Sparkle is really really bored. She tries to find a way to not be so bored. Gross rationalization of injustice ensues.

Rainbow Dash is acting strange. No, unusually strange, that is. She's acting like at once she has something to hide and wants nothing more than to scream about it. And she wants to scream at Applejack.

Roseluck: arguably the smartest, bravest, and most outgoing of the three, though that isn't saying much, given the competition.

Lily: a paranoid nutcase with both a severe desire for attention and, unfortunately, an equally severe case of social anxiety.

Daisy: the bland, sensible one who runs things in the background, pretending she isn't as terrified as the rest of them.

Together, they are the Flower Trio, as craven a bunch of marginals as one could hope to find. At least they have each other. But the business slump and their own trigger-happy neuroses combine into a swarm of pests, devouring the flowers of their friendship, slowly but surely destroying something beautiful and precious.

Just when they're hoping it won't get any worse, Daisy falls into a deep sleep at the counter of the florist's. She doesn't wake up.

Now it's up to her friends, Lily, Roseluck, and Doc – the most scientifically gifted pony in Ponyville who isn't Twilight Sparkle – to find out what's going on in her mind… and whether or not they can even bring her back. Or at least bring back the Daisy they know and love.

“Why do we get gifts every year?” said Dinky. “For Hearth’s Warming, I mean.”

This seems an easy enough question, but Ruby Pinch never had it easy. Trying to find out the real reason for all this gift-giving, she confronts the odd bond between the energetic Dinky and the reserved Amethyst, the simple-minded approach of her hapless cousin Piña Colada, and, on top of that, her beloved "Auntie" Berry, who's a confusing trial all on her own.

And then there's Ruby herself. For, sensible young mare as she thinks she is, she has her own growing mistrust of the answers she seems to be getting. Especially when it comes time to find her own gift.

Proofreading provided by Sunset_Sparkles of The Proofreader Group.

Inspired by, but not involved in, The Obselescence Memorial Jinglemas Twinglemas Secret Santa Sendoff: Part 2 Edition!

Twinkleshine had barely started kindergarten when she first met the universe. Like most first meetings, it had been awkward, not under the best of circumstances, and a single instant that ignited a lifelong passion, which would inevitably end with late nights and concerned parents.

Magic and music have so much in common. Both come seemingly from nowhere in the material world. Both leave their subjects enchanted. And both can change lives forever.

In Trixie's case, not necessarily for the better.

With her popularity and prosperity waning, Trixie ends up in a backwater country village called Fall Bridge, and ends up insulting the locals almost instantly, as she is wont to do.

Down on her luck, she seeks solace at the Mermaid Tavern in the selfsame village…

And who should she bump into there but the lovely Countess Coloratura? Yes, Equestria’s onetime most beloved superstar – now known as “Rara” – is also having difficulties. The tastes of music are somewhat less stable than the tastes of magic.

However, the Great and Powerful Trixie has heard her sing. She's been captured by a new kind of magic.

A plan occurs to her: a bold and ambitious plan, one that'll get the once-disgraced magician back on top. For young and trusting Rara is her golden ticket to a classy comeback…

She noticed the pony for the first time when she was young, not long after she'd received her cutie mark. He became her oldest friend.

Note: comments contain spoilers; please don't read them first!

Cover art by DaisyAzuras • Featured in the Royal Canterlot Library

Reading by Neighrator Pony • Spanish translation by Spaniard Kiwi

Lyra just returned home from the Grand Galloping Gala, completely exhausted from the experience. Bonbon listens to her tale and admits that she wouldn't have been very good company, seeing as she can not dance. The green unicorn was never one to take such a challenge lying down and offers to teach her the basics over a bottle of wine.

It was a casual get together with Rose and a few other Ponyville residents. The night went well for all of them, for the most part. Rose spends most of her time with a beautiful mare. The mare.

Later on, Rose finds herself in her room; alone and completely ashamed of herself.