Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo walk out of the schoolhouse one afternoon and look on as their classmate Featherweight shows off his new cutie mark. While the girls despair about not having their own, Apple Bloom appears and claims that the school newspaper, the Foal Free Press, will solve their problems, though Granny Smith calls her away before she can explain further. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle proceed to try out various activities related to using newspapers but find no success. They relay their results to Apple Bloom, who clarifies that they should try writing for the school newspaper as journalists.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders attend an afterschool meeting to join the newspaper staff. Cheerilee opens by announcing that Diamond Tiara is the new editor-in-chief before handing her the reigns and leaving the room. As soon as the door closes, Diamond declares her intention to reform the newspaper with more compelling material and orders Featherweight to start documenting everything in his role as staff photographer. Scootaloo suggests that the Crusaders try a different way to get their cutie mark, though Sweetie Belle convinces her to stick it out.

The Crusaders prepare a set of inoffensive stories for publication, though Diamond Tiara flatly rejects them and demands juicier material. Outside the newspaper's schoolhouse headquarters, Sweetie Belle overhears Snips and Snails shouting nearby and walks around the corner to find them struggling to extricate themselves from a glob of chewing gum. Under the pseudonym "Gabby Gums", the girls write about the incident in a story that gains widespread popularity among the school ponies. Diamond Tiara congratulates them on their success and tells them to continue producing similar stories, though the Crusaders quickly find themselves out of things to write about.