Applejack receives a request to deliver pies for someone whose home is far away, but while the journey may be dangerous, she'll have some partners by her side. Unfortunately, they're far from the easiest ponies to work alongside.

Sassy Saddles and Coco Pommel have a week to prepare extravagant dresses for an upcoming festival. Within a couple of minutes, everything goes wrong, and no one knows how to approach their task.

Starlight Glimmer and Trixie have learned much about friendship and each other ever since they met, but their latest challenge proves to be the toughest yet. As Princess Twilight and her close friends visit a faraway town to solve a friendship problem, Starlight is tasked with taking care of the Castle of Friendship and resolving any related problems, and Trixie agrees to help out.

Unfortunately, that's the easiest part of the day, and it doesn't take long for them to regret helping out.

Thanks to -TGM- for editing.

Chrysalis never anticipated that she would live a nomadic lifestyle. Nevertheless, scavenging for berries, water, and maybe the occasional drops of love were her only options in an unpredictable world. Everything feels rather lonely during her travels, but she refuses to imagine a world where she forgave Starlight Glimmer, Twilight Sparkle, and their friends. She's more focused on siphoning love, not finding pathways toward what some call redemption.

During her travels, Chrysalis discovers an suspicious town nestled between a forest and a desert. The populace is nothing like she anticipated, and despite the lack of camaraderie between the villagers, snacking on their love seems like a viable option. Of course, that depends on whether she could get love from a village where shady business and treachery are the norms.

Thanks to FerociousCreation for editing.

Rarity has always prided herself as being a generous mare, but ever since the debacle with the Friendship Journal's publication, she has felt the need to send gifts or help to ponies she wronged in the past. The degree to which she acts generously may be excessive, but Rarity knows that it'll be for the greater good. Maybe she can rebuild her damaged reputation, but like most situations, generosity comes first.

When she tasks herself with helping the Wonderbolts, Rarity has no other choice but to perform one of her least favorite activities. It's the worst possible thing, but it's also the best opportunity to show the world how much she truly cares for other ponies, even if that means subjecting herself to something genuinely awful in the process.

It just won't be a clean process.

An entry for the Barcast's Make Rarity Not Garbage contest.

Being among the few to make it out of trials week and into Wonderbolts Academy, Vapor Trail and Sky Stinger know their next challenges will be among their toughest. However, they may have underestimated how difficult these exercises can be.

Luckily, one of their fellow trainees suggests an easier alternative to conquering the academy's infamous obstacle course. However, this suggestion is exponentially more dangerous than the usual method, risks angering Spitfire, and puts Vapor and Sky's relationship and their futures as potential Wonderbolts to the test once more.

Octavia has always been an oddity among her fellow musicians. Whether it is because she lives in Ponyville as opposed to Canterlot or prefers to find inspiration in her own way, fitting in with the band hasn't been exactly simple, and feeling isolated has started taking its toll on her.

However, when Octavia visits a local pub after practicing with the band, she spots Vinyl Scratch waiting for her there, almost as if she knew Octavia would show up. Vinyl has an idea of what has been bothering Octavia lately and wants to have a chat with her.

Friendship may be the most powerful magic in all of Equestria, but the concept itself is anything but easy for some ponies. Fleetfoot is one such pony who wishes to understand more about how friendship works, feeling concerned that she's making poor first impressions.

Refusing to let the problem persist, Fleetfoot assumes a disguise and heads over to Ponyville, hoping to receive an unbiased explanation of friendship from ponies who know much more about it than she does. However, friendship may not be the only thing Fleetfoot discovers.

After her first foray into making friends with Trixie, Starlight Glimmer has been more open to the idea of making new friends. Not all meetings work out as expected, but for the most part, things have been going smoothly for her. But within the castle's library, she meets a visitor named Sunset Shimmer, the mare's presence surprising her. And even though Starlight finds Sunset to be unlike anypony she's ever met before, there are some things she'd rather keep secret. As it turns out, Sunset has some secrets of her own.

Even for ponies such as Twilight Sparkle, magic is something that's both easily understood, yet full of unknowns at the same time. Wondering about the mysteries surrounding magic and its relationship with Equestria as a whole after an innocent question, Twilight tries to research whatever she can about the subject.

However, there is something ominous brewing in a distant land that may relate to Twilight's questions about magic, but solving some of those mysteries will require more than just research. She'll have to overcome her most dangerous challenge yet in order to uncover the truth.