30 Minute Prompt One-Shots

by Trish Hankins

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Trixie, Rarity, Princess Celestia, Pinkie Pie, Main 6
Length: 3621

I have 30 minutes to write a story based on that prompt.

So, there's this tumblr called Thirty Minute Pony Stories, full of fun prompts where you read one, and then have 30 minutes to write it. So I did a bunch of random ones. And here they are! Below are the actual synopsis and tags for each story.

#41: Memories of the Sun
Tags: I have no idea.
Synopsis: Celestia remembers.

#52: The Show's About to Start
Tags: Tragedy(?)
Synopsis: Trixie becomes great and powerful.

#74: A Special Engagement
Tags: Romance
Synopsis: Pinkie Pie's peculiar proposal

#191: A Cry for Help
Tags: Comedy
Synopsis: Dear Elements of Harmony...

#550: Itty-Bitty Living Space
Tags: College AU
Synopsis: Two or more of the Mane Six move in together.

#522: Reign Names
Tags: My Current Canon Kinda, Exposition Stuff
Synopsis: Celestia and Luna have not always been called the same names in every place and in every age.

Published 2013-11-10 13:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2014-07-20 06:31:42 UTC

The Show's About to Start

The lock on the door was easier than Trixie had expected. Trixie had thought that a purvieror of ancient and mystical artifacts would have employed tighter security measures. It was of no importance. His loss was Trixie’s gain.

Trixie sneaked as best Trixie could into the store, and succeeded flawlessly, as expected. Of course, the vase Trixie had knocked over had made an awful din. And that cat Trixie had stepped on refused to be quiet. No shouts of, “Thief, there’s a great and powerful thief breaking into my store!” rang out. Just as Trixie planned, of course.

The Answer was just where Trixie knew it would be. After finding a reference to it in a musty tome from the Canterlot Archives, Trixie searched night and day for the key to Trixie’s success. For years ponies had laughed at Trixie, obviously jealous of Trixie’s blinding brilliance and bounding bounty. Trixie had used a name once, but it had become obvious the title was a falsehood. The answer had been obvious. Now Trixie stood, tired and huffing from the perfect execution of Trixie’s skills, before the Answer.

Trixie had never expected the Answer to be a mask. It was of impressive craft, vibrant in every color Trixie could imagine. An impressive mask for an impressive mare. Trixie took the artifact from its place, and felt the power brimming within. Yes, Trixie thought, YES! Trixie gingerly place the mask on Trixie’s face, and felt something.

She found herself shaking with naked fear. This wasn’t what she thought it was. It was…deeper. It had been around for far longer than ponykind had, and it knew them well. She didn’t understand, the books said it would help her, make her into what she wanted to b-

No. This was right. The books were right. She had been weak. And now, now Trixie wasn’t a good name. No. A small smile twisted her lip as she exited the shop. The time for the Great and Powerful Trixie was here. And none would deny her. The show, would go on.

Author's Note

This is the one I'm the least happy with, so far. The tone is too inconsistent, and my attempts to play around with formatting didn't work out as well as I'd hoped.

A Special Engagement

Rarity arrived at her home, carrying in a large cake, and was surprised to find the room empty. “Pinkie? Pinkie, darling?” She called out into the room. Rarity sighed. “Really, where could she have gone to? I only left for five minutes…” Then again, when one is dating Pinkie Pie, one rarely gets what they expect. They had been having a splendid chat about their day, when Rarity’s marefriend discovered it was her birthday. Of course, it typical Pinkie fashion, her reaction was anything but restrained. She has demanded that Rarity run to Sugar Cube Corner and fetch a cake to celebrate.

Now, the mention of the day’s significance had been a slip-up. Rarity had kept her birthday a closely guarded secret, with only her family knowing the date. Despite her extravagant persona, Rarity didn’t want everypony fussing about her birthday. It really had no meaning, and if somepony were to throw her a party or give her a gift, it should be because of what she’s done or who she is, not because of some calendar.

Still, while Pinkie’s reaction had been just as manic as she’d expected, there was something else at work. She had picked up a deeper meaning to the mad energy that drove Pinkie, at that moment. And now her suspicions were confirmed, as she searched her house for the pink pony.

They had been dating for three years now, and the news had come as a surprise to most. She didn’t quite understand what was so shocking. They both loved the make others happy, they both were more, ahem, ‘dramatic’ then most. Pinkie had been a compassionate partner, and was far better at listening to others than she let on. The relationship had done wonders to releasing some of Rarity’s stress, as well.

Rarity finally discovered what she assumed was a clue: a note on the dinner table. It was scrawled in Pinkie’s usual sketchy scribbling and simply read, “Bedroom.”

Perplexed, Rarity walked into their shared sleep quarters, carrying the boxed cake with telekinesis as she went. When she opened the door to find an enormous box lying on their bed, Rarity couldn’t find it in herself to be surprised. She had expected something this ridiculous, though how she managed to wrap herself into a present on such short notice was intriguing. She unwrapped the white bow, and lightly pulled away the purple wrapping paper. A large brown box stared back at her.

She grabbed the lid with her magic, and curiously opened the present. Another box lay inside. Really? Okay, two could play at this game, Rarity decided. Inside the box was a smaller box, and inside that was another, tinier one. This continued, box after box, until she found another wrapped present. It was the size of her hoof, and it's colors were inverted from the original’s.

Rarity opened the present with the same care as the first, and found the last thing she could’ve imagined inside: a small diamond ring, to be worn on the horn. Before she could comprehend exactly what she was seeing, Rarity was surprised to see Pinkie jump out from under the bed. She was blushing, and it seemed like their might be fear peeking out from her eyes. Pinkie’s mane was frizzier than usual from hiding for so long, and she said, “Rarity, you’re the most important pony in my life, and I want to spend the rest of it with you. I love you more than parties or cake or my parents or breathing! Will you marry me?” Rarity was stunned, and in the pause as she processed what was going on, she could see the terror magnify in Pinkie’s eyes. Rarity laughed, and wiped a tear from her eye.

“Yes.”

Author's Note

Not sure how I feel about this one, especially because it's the first Shipping story I've ever written.

A Cry For Help

“Dear Elements of Harmony,

Thank you all for coming to our quaint little village to deal with the ostrich attack. We have a few problems with how you conducted yourselves while here, however.

• The town confectioner claims the pink one ate his entire stock, and the spectacle caused by her consumption of said sweets have caused him enough mental anguish that his wife was forced to hire a psychologist to provide him with the help he now requires. The bill is attached below.

• Your attack on the ostriches, while successful, destroyed our town’s windmill, bridge, civic center, water supply, and dreams. The bill is attached below.

• Princess Twilight Sparkle took time for a visit to our library with her assistant. After said visit, every book from the library unexpectedly vanished, leaving only a faint burning smell. The bill is attached below.

• Your magical rainbow attack seems to have changed the pigment of the park’s flowers into, surprise, rainbow stripes. It also left them emitting an odor that causes happiness and ‘friendliness’ to all who smell it. They have been classified as a dangerously addictive narcotic, and the park has been burned to the ground in order to mitigate the health hazard. The bill is attached below.

We would appreciate you send the required funds within the month; otherwise we will have our lawyer sue the pants off of you. Please stay out of our lives.

As the white one called us,
The Quaint Village of Cruddy Coltington”

As promised, following the signatures of each and every citizen of the town was several expensive bills. The five ponies assembled stared at the parchment for several tense moments, before turning to their hopeful gazes to their royal friend. Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes, before writing a short reply to the town.

“Dear Coltington,

I can send you to the moon. To the moon.

Signed,
Princess Twilight Sparkle

P.S. To the moon.”

The group never heard from the town again.

Author's Note

I really like this one, easily my favorite of the first four.

Itty-Bitty Living Space

The day was moving from afternoon into evening as she walked down the corridor, mumbling to herself. “Let’s see…three-oh-two, three-oh-four…there it is! 306!” Tomorrow morning was Twilight Sparkle’s first day at the Royal Canterlot Academy’s University for Gifted Young Ponies, or RCAUGYP for short. (Anypony who had not attended was always astounded at the ability of alumni to actually pronounce the school’s nickname, to the point that to many Communication majors it is considered the most useful skill they learned while in college.)

Twilight had just been given a tour of the campus, and was looking forward to falling onto her bed and going to sleep. While the walk around the university had been fairly illuminating, Ms. Sparkle had never been the most outdoorsy of ponies, and her hooves were crying out for an end to their torment. As she approached the door, she heard music from inside. “Oh, great, I forgot I had been assigned a dorm mate.” Compared to her quiet distaste for physical activity, her genuine loathing for socialization was well-known by her family. Still, she couldn’t exactly afford her own apartment, so this would have to do, for now at least.

As she opened the door, the faint music she had heard outside became a truly deafening roar of bass and beats. She turned to complain to the pony who was apparently the one she’d be spending the next semester living with, but found that the other mare was already turning the music down. “Oh, sorry about that!” she said in a bubbly voice. Then the pink mare literally bounced across the room and figuratively started shaking Twilight’s hoof with the speed of a jackhammer. “Hi! My name’s Pinkie Pie, and you’re my new roommate! Isn’t that amazing! We can talk all the time, and hang out every day, and we never ever have to be alone, ever!”

Twilight tried her best to avoid grinding her teeth together before replying, “Uh, okay. My name’s Twilight Sparkle. I’m going to go to bed now.” She walked over to the bed, hoping that Pinkie Pie would take the hint and leave her be. Twilight flopped onto the bottom bunk, and closed her eyes. At that moment, she couldn’t really recall a single time she had felt this at piece.

“Oh, is it bedtime already? That’s great, I love being top bunk!” With that, Pinkie jumped onto the higher of the two beds. (Yes, that is a vertical jump several times Pinkie’s own height. Despite the apparent contradiction between this event and basic physics, Twilight long ago chose not to bother studying it. She doubted her roommate would enjoy the experiments that would involve.)

Twilight sighed as loud as she could manage; throwing all the bile and frustration she could with the vocalization. “Listen, Ms. Pie, I get that you like to party and probably see college as a great way to spend a few years before doing whatever later, but I’m here to learn. If we’re going to be living together for the foreseeable future, you need to understand something: I am an introvert. I don’t enjoy spending my free time ‘hanging out’ with other ponies. So please, if you could manage it, would you leave me alone so I can get some sleep?”

There was a small pause, during which Twilight feared she might have hurt Pinkie’s feelings. She’d only meant to set the record with her, not be mean. But sometimes the fatigue and frustration of a day can affect stuff like that. “Oh, I understand that,” Pinkie said, a little slower than before. “I’m…not exactly a social butterfly either. I spent most of my childhood alone, and not by my own choice. When I got accepted to come here, I had hoped that I could finally make some friends; I wanted to start with you. But if you don’t want to talk, that’s fine. I’ve gotten used to silence. It’s been there most of my life.”

Twilight really didn’t know how to respond to that. She’d expected her new roommate to be an annoying, vapid party girl. Instead, she was…interesting. “Pinkie, what’s your major?”

Pinkie Pie seemed to regain some of her perk with that. “Oh, it’s a funny story really. My parents both wanted me to go into geology because of our family business, but I was never really into that kinda stuff. I’m actually a lot fonder of Engineering. What are you studying?”

“I’m double majoring into Magical Studies and Physics. I’m can’t believe we’re both studying the same subject! Well, I mean, it’s almost the same subject. Why did you family want you to do Geology?”

And that’s how the conversation started. Twilight can’t really recall how late they stayed up that night, their talk jumping from subject to subject as they came up, but in the end it didn’t really matter. Who needs sleep when you have a friend?

Author's Note

I'm really proud of this one. This is probably my favorite one so far. Glad to be doing these again!

Dedicated to Samuel Gronseth, the Twilight Sparkle to my Pinkie Pie.

Reign Names

Twilight knocked on the door, and after a moment a reply came, “Come in.” She pushed open the door with her right wing, the sensation still a little odd to her. She wasn’t used to being a Princess, the wings much more than the duties. Her teacher and fellow royalty, Princess Celestia, looked down at her. “Yes, Princess Twilight? What is it?” Twilight cleared her throat a little before speaking. It still felt odd talking to the ruler of Equestria, even if they were now technically the same rank.

“I was wondering, Princess, if you could answer a question for me?” Twilight asked. Celestia arched her eyebrow, a gesture that seemed to say it was okay to speak, but that technically she had already asked a question. Twilight scolded herself mentally at that, her teacher had always taught her to be wary of how she phrased her speech, a lesson that would be much more useful now that her words carried more weight. “Well, it’s just that I’ve been thinking. I wasn’t born a princess. Hay, my family is barely even considered nobles. But through the Elements of Harmony, I became one. An alicorn, I mean. So…” She left the sentence hanging, not quite daring to finish her thought aloud.

It was, of course, unnecessary. Celestia was several millennia old, and could see where her former student was going before she had finished speaking. “What I’m about to tell you is very important, but it’s something you’ll need to know, for your position. I won’t tell you not to tell anypony under any circumstances, because I know that the future is unpredictable, and not even I can guess what dangers you’ll face later on. Instead, I merely ask that you use your best judgment when it comes to telling any of your friends. Is that understood?” She nodded, but that was merely a formality. Celestia knew her student well enough that the speech alone would convey the gravity of this information.

“Good. It all starts a long, long time ago. A think it was…2004? 2005 years ago? I don’t really remember anymore. I was an orphan, as were my sisters. Oh, don’t look too shocked, Twilight. Did you really think Blueblood was related to me by Luna? Yes, there were three of us then. Back then, I was called Brilliant Light, and I was a pegusi. Luna was the youngest and named Darkened Daydream, an Earth Pony. She was but a foal at the time, and can barely remember a time when she didn’t have her wings or horn. Though she has always had that Earth Pony practicality. Our other sister was the middle child, Evening Star. She was a unicorn, and…” Celestia broke off for a moment, and for a second Twilight thought her eyes might fill with tears.

“I…don’t really like talking about her. Outliving the ones you love, it never really heals. Not truly.” Celestia took a breath to calm herself before she continued. “From even before we were born, a tyrant ruled Equestria. He was an alicorn, a pony consumed completely by the power of Order. Us and our friends tried to stop him, and in the end we did, by using Discord. It worked for a while, before he finally went mad as well. We were desperate, and we needed something to help us, to give us the power to stop him. We knew we couldn’t take up the mantle of Order, we’d seen how that power could corrupt a pony. So instead we broke it in two, and both Luna and I took one half for ourselves. We had wanted to share it with Evening, but she refused it. She was pregnant, and we didn’t know what effect it could have.

“Our idea was that each of us would be a counter to the other, only half as strong as we could be, strong enough to stop the other should she turn down the dark path. But even together, we couldn’t defeat Discord, which is when we found the Elements of Harmony. You’ve already seen how that turned out. After that, the people thought we should rule. We had our mentor Starswirl the Bearded advise us, and our friendly doctor would pop up now and again to liven us up, remind us of our youth.”

“Wait, doctor? Like, The Doctor?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. That’s one of the reasons I’m glad you brought this up, actually. Since we still haven’t quite found a duty for you yet, I have a princessly assignment for you.” Celestia looked down at Twilight, her eyes full of a sad determination. “It won’t be an easy task, and it’s won’t be safe.”

“…” Twilight didn’t say anything at first. After a long pause, she finally said, “Is it important?”

Celestia looked gravely at her student. “Honestly, it might be the most important task I’ve ever given you, my faithful student.” Twilight nodded. “Okay then. The Doctor…is alone right now. He lost those dearest to him recently, his assistants. I want you to accompany him, keep him in check.”

“You want me to fly around time and space in a blue box with an insufferable pony who I barely know?” Celestia nodded. Twilight took a deep breath. “I’ll do it, Princess.”

Author's Note

This one is kinda sorta not really canon in my current ongoing canon. It's basically a prototype of a scene I want to do with that stuff that perfectly fit the prompt. I understand if you don't like it, I'm not exactly super fond of it myself, but I'm happy I at least got it down on paper.

Memories of the Sun

Celestia remembers. Very few ponies think about that. They focus on her size, her strength, her authority, her title. It doesn't even occur to her average citizen how long she has lived.

Celestia remembers ponies, though whether thousands or millions of them she doesn't know. The number probably is closer to billions. She has seen them all, following the same cycle. They’re born, they live, and they all die.

Celestia remembers speaking to idealistic young creatures eons ago, seeing them forging countries, and talking with them of world peace.

Celestia remembers walking through the ruined capital of what was once a great nation. She can still feel the dust on her hooves.

Celestia remembers the wars, when the predators had a small Equestria surrounded, and her citizens lived in perpetual fear.

Celestia remembers the summit last week when she had met the ancestors of those aggressors who had once made her quake in terror, and scolded them for petty warmongering. They tried not to show their fear to her as they acquiesced, and failed utterly.

Celestia remembers her nephew’s face, as it was when he was a newborn; the look of unfettered affection in his eyes as he followed her as a child; the scowl on his muzzle as he scorned his fellow ponies as an adult.

Celestia remembers his father, his father’s father, and so on, back into antiquity. Some of them were philanthropists, and used their status and wealth to help society as a whole. Others were tyrants, oppressing any who didn't fit their insane and narrow worldview. All of them, the great and the terrible, slept together in a catacomb deep underneath Canterlot. And she loved and cared for them all.

Celestia remembers her sister, asking meekly for a story before bed. They’d been poor then, scared and unknown.

Celestia remembers the scowl on her sister’s face as she announced that she was annulling all titles she held, and rebelling against the state.

Celestia remembers the young unicorn who had somehow become her apprentice. The small thing seemed to soak up anything Celestia said like a sponge, and loved her as a second mother.

Celestia remembers as her faithful student faced everything the world had to throw at her, and succeeded beyond her wildest imaginings.

Celestia remembers when she was young, and hornless.

Celestia remembers choosing a better world.

Celestia remembers living.

Author's Note

I'm pretty "Meh" on this one. I like the concept, and maybe someday I'll flesh it out into a full one-shot. Feedback is appreciated.