Chapters Spring is here, Passover is coming
It was the final day of winter. The last of the snow was being shaken of the trees and shoveled off the rooftops. The frozen lakes were strategically skated on to ensure its proper melting. All the hibernating animals were assisted in gathering their food and cleaning out their sleeping dens. The birds that had flown south for the winter were being led back to ready-made nests in the trees. The fields were cleared and plowed and the seeds were planted in the ground, starting the growth cycle of food and flowers.
All this and more was overseen by Twilight Sparkle.
Since her first Winter Wrap Up, Twilight had been the All Team Organizer for the town’s ‘spring-cleaning’ tradition come the end of winter. Her incredible planning skills had guided the citizens of Ponyville through Winter Wrap Up ever since, making the town’s annual event successful.
Twilight left the hilltop she was standing on and went to meet up with her friends. As she walked through the clean streets she saw ponies chatting merrily about something. What could possibly have gotten them all so excited? Twilight wondered. I mean sure, the completion of Winter Wrap Up is something to be happy about, but there’s something else going on.
Eager for answers, Twilight picked up the pace and galloped to her library home. Inside, her friends were gathered around the fireplace, drinking mugs of hot chocolate. Rainbow Dash sat on a pillow in the corner, a Daring Do book open in front of her. Rarity had found a spot next to Spike, complimenting the cocoa he had made for them all. Fluttershy was curled up by the fire, her pet bunny Angel munching on a carrot s’more at her side. Applejack was lightly smacking her hat on Fang, a green dragon, after hearing one of his jokes. Pinkie Pie had served herself Spike’s cocoa in a bowl rather than a mug and had proceeded to plunge it full of marshmallows.
When Twilight walked in, the ponies and the dragons all waved and greeted her. “Hi, Twilight!”
“Hello, everyone,” Twilight replied. She levitated one of two remaining mugs and poured herself some hot chocolate. “It’s been a great Winter Wrap Up this year, hasn’t it?”
“Yep,” Spike agreed, Rarity leaning her head against his.
“Everythin’ got done, Twi?” Applejack asked.
Twilight pulled out her Winter Wrap Up list. “As planned.”
“You know, it’s funny,” Fang spoke up, stirring his cocoa with his long dragon tongue.
“What’s funny, Fang?” Pinkie asked him.
“Winter Wrap Up, a traditional cleaning job, coming right before the spring for which we need to start cleaning up anyway.”
“Huh?” Twilight said, tilting her head to one side.
“Duh, don’t you remember?” Rainbow inquired. “Passover is coming.”
“Passover?” Twilight repeated.
“Passover,” a voice announced from the staircase. Everyone turned their heads as Spirit Guide, a dark-blue unicorn stallion, walked down to the library’s main floor. He held a pile of books in a magic levitation field, which he put on an empty, sparkling clean shelf. He then picked up the last mug and filled it with hot chocolate.
“I’m sorry, Spirit,” Twilight apologized, the two unicorns sitting down and joining the circle of friends. “All the extra work for wrapping up winter's left me distracted. Refresh my memory.”
Spirit took a sip from his mug and nodded. “In a few weeks time, we celebrate the redemption of a herd of ponies, who were freed from slavery after over two hundred years of servitude.”
“Ooooh,” Pinkie said in awe.
“It’s really quite the holiday,” Rarity stated. “We must clean out our homes thoroughly, not leaving a single crumb of bread.”
“Aaaaah,” Pinkie gasped.
“On the first night of Passover, we go through a series of symbolic rituals to remind us of the things that happened to the herd before they were freed,” Rainbow Dash informed, earning a clap on the back from Fang. “Then there’s a whole week of holiday fun.”
“Woohoo!” Pinkie cheered.
“And to top it off,” Applejack added, “we can’t eat most of the baked goods we normally have during the year.”
“WHAT?!”
Pinkie’s shout caught everyone’s attention. The pink pony stood stock still, bowl of cocoa in one hoof, looking horrified. “You mean,” she said shakily, “no cakes, cookies, pies or other sugary goodies for a whole week?”
Applejack thought for a minute. “Pretty much, yeah.”
“NOOOOOOOOO!”
Rainbow Dash dropped her mug at Fang’s feet and leapt into the air to catch the flying bowl. Pinkie flung herself down onto the floor in the middle of the circle, waving her hooves and gasping for air. Spirit shook his head sympathetically. “Did Ah say something wrong?” Applejack asked.
“Not wrong, just a bit misinformed.”
Fang pulled Pinkie upright. “Don’t get all choked up, Pinkie. It’s really not that bad.”
“Oh, but it is!” she cried out, shaking the green dragon. “I get a lot of my Pinkie energy from eating all kinds of tasty goodies. I don’t think I could manage without any sugary yummies for a week!”
“Couldn’t she just eat sugar by itself?” Rainbow wondered, earning a scolding look from Rarity and humored ones from Spike, Applejack and Fang.
“Listen Pinkie,” Spirit said, gently dragging the earth pony to his side. “The main rule for food on Passover is that leavened bread and foods aren't allowed. This is anything using flour which takes more than eighteen minutes from the time the ingredients are mixed to the time they’re through baking. This is to remind us of the bread the herd made when they left the land in which they were slaves. Bread which had no time to rise.”
Pinkie nodded, but she wasn’t really paying attention. “Okay, that’s okay, I’m okay,” she muttered over and over. “Be right back!”
She dashed out of the library, much to everyone’s surprise, and returned with a mammoth pile of baked goods, which she started wolfing down violently.
“Whoa Pinkie, slow it down there!” Fang yelped.
“Can’t stop, no time!” Pinkie shouted through a mouthful of frosting. “I have to eat as many of these as I can before Passover gets here. It’s the only way I’ll be able to make it.” And she went back to her feast.
“Pinkie,” Spirit said calmly, pulling her away from the food, “it’s true that you won’t be able to eat your usual cupcakes and goodies during Passover, but there’s something you should know.”
“Mmmph?” Pinkie asked, still munching on a plate-sized cookie.
“What some ponies do for Passover is grind up the unleavened bread we make for the holiday and use that for flour. That way, you could still bake all the foods you like and there would be no problem.”
“That sounds a bit weird,” Rainbow Dash commented. “I mean, using bread crumbs as flour ?”
“You wait till you actually eat the bread,” Fang snickered. “That’s gonna be fun.”
Fluttershy looked confused. “Fun to eat bread?”
The green dragon merely smiled. “You’ll see.”
But Pinkie had been listening. “So I could make cupcakes but instead of mixing in flour, I take the special bread for Passover, grind it up and mix it in with the batter. Hmm….”
Eight friends were silent as the resident party pony contemplated this in her head. Then-
“Let’s try it!”
The ponies and the dragons all relaxed when Pinkie cheered and started passing around her remaining goodies. Twilight took the reins of the conversation. “So we don’t eat leavened bread during the week of Passover.”
“The process is longer and more complicated than that, Twilight,” Fang said. “First there’s the cleaning of the house, then the official checking where we purposely hide pieces of bread and follow the head of the house around finding them. Foals love that part.”
“We can do the official checking together in the library,” Spirit informed. “I’ll be holding classes to teach ponies about the laws and regulations concerning Passover. Fang will be baking matzah, the flat unleavened bread we eat during Passover, and he’s going to need a lot of ponies to help him out.”
“Why’s that?” Spike asked.
“If the matzah isn’t out of the ovens by the time eighteen minutes are up from the time the water’s mixed in, it’s no good. Well, no good for Passover anyway. It’ll taste just fine.”
“More than fine,” Applejack said. “It’ll be crunchy like a ripe apple.”
Spirit checked the time. “It’s a good thing Winter Wrap Up went smoothly this year. Not only will spring be here on time, but everypony will have extra time to work on preparations for Passover. We all did amazingly in cleaning up the cold season, but now we have to push ourselves into a higher gear for a more intense, more meticulous clean-up job.”
“Emptying our homes of chametz !” Rainbow Dash declared.
Fang looked up at the brash Pegasus, almost in disbelief. Twilight did too. Then they exchanged looks. “Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said slowly, “I had no idea you knew Ancient Equuish.”
Rainbow looked as though she let slip something embarrassing. Which it probably was. “Oh um, e he he. Funny story there, I was um…. I kinda sorta….” She landed and clopped her hooves nervously.
“It’s okay, Dashie,” Fang comforted her with a gentle mane-brushing. “We already know your tendency to read other books. Knowing some Ancient Equuish won’t kill you.”
Rainbow Dash looked around at her friend, all of whom were nodding in agreement to Fang’s statement. “I guess you’re right.”
“Great. And now that that’s out of the way…“ Fang pulled out a bullhorn and shouted into it. “ALL RIGHT, YOU LAZY LIVESTOCK! WE GOT ONLY A FEW WEEKS TO GET READY FOR PASSOVER, SO MAKE LIKE A DUMPED BANANA AND SPLIT UP!”
Five ponies jumped up, thanked Spike for the cocoa, said goodbye to the dragons and the unicorn scholars and left the library for their homes. Fang lowered his bullhorn. “Well that was quick.”
“Let’s get both Celestia and Luna to give you a command in the Royal Canterlot Voice and we’ll see how long you sit around,” Spike snickered.
“No point ignoring our own advice,” Fang said, swapping his bullhorn for a feather duster. “Let’s get cleaning.”
*
The rest of the afternoon was devoted to cleaning out the library. All the cooking utensils and dishes were taken out and dunked in a pot of boiling water to remove any leavened remains. Every surface was scrubbed until it gleamed. The bedsheets were washed and the floors were mopped and swept. The cupboards, drawers and closets were cleaned out and reorganized. For Twilight, cleaning for Passover was just one big Re-Shelving Day.
“This is a lot of work,” she said, leafing through ‘A Comprehensive Guide to the History of Cleanliness’ . “We’ll be cleaning for at least a few days.”
“Most likely,” Spirit called back, throwing ‘Dungeons and Dragons: Equestria G4’ onto the Gameplay shelf. “Good thing we’ve got plenty of time, otherwise we’d never finish organizing all the books.”
“Or washing out the inkpots,” Spike said, walking in waving a dirty cloth. He had taken on the duty of emptying all the ink into a large container and wiping the inkwells, inside and out. Spike had ink stains on his face and spines.
The two unicorns grinned and nodded. “I wonder how everypony else is doing,” Twilight said.
Their friends were doing just fine, each one cleaning their home with their own personalized methods. Fluttershy’s animal friends combed her cottage, emptying out nests, dens and cupboards while eating anything the yellow pegasus allowed them to. Rarity was a predator; thoroughly scrubbing every spot till it sparkled like a gem, sometimes getting her sister Sweetie Belle to assist with more persistent locations throughout Carousel Boutique. Rainbow Dash invited Scootaloo and the two pegasi used clouds to charge parts of the cyan mare’s house with electric currents that zapped the crumbs to manageable ashes. Pinkie helped the Cakes clean out Sugarcube Corner, a daunting task even with the leftover baked goods they gave to the fillies and colts who were on a break from cleaning their rooms. Applejack and her family had both their home and the farmhouse to clean out, as well as preparing Passover-approved feed for all their animals.
Like the residents of the Golden Oak Library, the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony were in for a long spring cleaning, as were all the citizens of Ponyville.
Author's Note
A bit rushed, but I hope the opening's good. I'm hoping to get more done within the week.
Spirit started giving lectures later that week. Cheerilee had given him permission to use the Ponyville Schoolhouse and he didn’t waste a minute. They needed extra chairs to accommodate the amount of ponies who came to his first lecture.
When everypony was seated, Spirit trotted to the front of the classroom. “Hello everypony,” he greeted. “Thank you all for coming today. Now, I know most of you are probably expecting me to speak for an hour and a half, prattling on about every minuscule detail concerning Passover.”
He stopped speaking for a moment to listen to the class’s reactions. Some of the older ponies in the room were nodding in agreement, while the younger attendees were looking bored at the thought of a dragged out lesson-slash-speech.
“But that’s not what’s gonna happen today because-“ Spirit levitated some chalk and let it scrawl across the board, “-you will be asking questions and I’ll be answering them!”
The crowd sighed as though a huge weight had been lifted from their shoulders, some ponies even applauding. Thunderlane, Bon Bon, Time Turner and several others leaned on the edge of their seats in anticipation. Twilight bounced up and down in her chair, parchment and quill at the ready for taking notes. Lyra Heartstrings jabbed her hoof into the air, much like a school filly would, clearly eager for what was to come.
“Yes, Lyra?” Spirit addressed the unicorn.
“Spirit, why did the ancient pony sages make the Seder so long?” she asked
“All the stages of the Seder have great significance, Lyra.” As Spirit spoke, the chalk held in his magic aura spun across the chalkboard, writing the names of the fourteen Seder stages. “Each one has its own significance towards our liberation from slavery. For example.” The chalk drew four goblets on the board. “Starting from the very first stage of the Seder, we begin to drink four cups of wine, each one at a different part of the Seder. These four cups symbolize the four expressions the Architect used, promising our freedom: I will bring you out, I will deliver you from their bondage, I will redeem you and I will take you to Me for a herd .”
Happy with the answer, Lyra sat back. Time Turner was next. “What about the Counting of the Omare?” he asked with a raised hoof. “The one that goes on for forty-nine days?”
“Ah, the Omare.” Spirit picked up the eraser and wiped off the four cups, instead drawing a path-like trail leading up to a mountain surrounded by lightning and topped with two tablets. “The forty-nine days between our salvation from slavery and the giving of our oral pony traditions from the Grand Architect of Equestria herself. We count each night, numbering the weeks and days as we go along, until we reach Shavuoat. If you forget to count at night, you can do it again the following morning.”
“Ooh ooh, I’ve got one!”
“Yes, Twist?” Spirit said.
“I always wondered,” the filly began, “why do we celebrate the 33rd day of the Omare with bonfires?”
Spirit’s expression became serious and somber. “That is an important but sad tale. You see Twist, during the period that we count the Omare, two thousand and four hundred of Starswirl the Bearded’s students died, leaving the great unicorn with only five students, one of them being Clover the Clever, who you all know from the Hearth’s Warming story. It was on the 33rd day that Starswirl’s students stopped dying. It was also on this day that Clover the Clever passed away, so we celebrate her memory by lighting bonfires and visiting her burial site in the town of Mareone.”
“Could we go to Mareone this year?” Twist asked hopefully.
The dark-blue unicorn tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Your idea has merit. We should ask Cheerliee.”
“Yay!”
“I’ve got a question,” Colgate said.
"Let's hear it then.”
“It’s about the Seder. We have three matzahs for the Seder, right? Why do we split the middle one in half and hide the bigger piece?”
Spirit leaned on the front desk and rubbed his hooves together. “Oh ho ho, now things are getting interesting.” With another wave of his horn, the board was erased and the chalk drew three round matzahs, one with an uneven line down the middle. “In the fourth stage of the Seder, Yachatz , the pony leading the Seder breaks the middle matzah in half. The bigger half is the afikomen and it represents the Passover Lamb, a blessed young sheep that was present during ancient Seders. A common custom is to hide the afikomen for the foals to find, but getting it back tends to become... problematic. This custom was started as a means to keep them awake ‘til the end of the Seder. See, the Seder can’t be concluded without the afikomen. It’s vital, and the foals know this, so they refuse to relinquish the afikomen until compromises are made.”
The class ponies started to mutter among themselves. The younger ponies were wearing youthful smug faces while some of the adults were looking concerned. “But I haven’t heard of a Seder where the afikomen wasn’t given back,” Spirit declared, “and I don’t think I’ll hear it happening this year either. Just make sure you know the foals well and are prepared to be generous. ”
“That’s not a bad thing, though,” Pipsqueak pointed out, although some of the other foals were still grinning.
“No,” Spirit admitted. “At the appropriate time anyway.”
Time Turner got up from his seat. “Well, I dunno about the rest of you, but me and Derpy still have stuff to clean, so if you’ll excuse me…”
“Same here,” Lyra said as the brown stallion left the schoolhouse. “Bon Bon’s gone to bake matzah and I’ve still got to scrub the kitchen.”
“That’s all right everypony,” Spirit said sincerely. “It was almost time to finish anyway. I myself have to get some things for the Seder. Class dismissed.”
All the ponies got up and left, some groaning about all the cleaning they had left to do while others pranced off happily to get the holiday necessities.
*
Fang paced before the line of ponies standing behind Sugarcube Corner. They had all come ready to join the dragon in matzah baking. At least, they hoped they were ready. Fang walked back and forth, his hands behind his back, a helmet pulled low over his eyes.
“All right maggots, listen up!” he bellowed. “You’ve all baked stuff before, and even those of you who haven’t know the gist of it. But all that’s going to be useless here!”
Apple Bloom and Rarity exchanged nervous looks. The dragon continued his briefing. “When you bake, you take your time, adding and mixing at your leisure. But if we want our matzah to be worth anything, they gotta be out of the oven in under eighteen minutes !”
Bon Bon gulped. Pinkie Pie was shaking with excitement, paying attention but ignoring Fang’s menacing tone. “Matzah is straightforward enough,” Fang declared. “You mix flour and water, knead and pound the dough, roll it flat, poke it full of holes, slide it into a fiery oven and BAM – all done.
“BUT,” Fang barked suddenly, cutting short the relived sighs of theCutie Mark Crusaders, “that’s not to say it’ll be simple. Matzah baking is done in stages, all of which have to be done at breakwing speed, so we’ll be assigning all of you to the different stages and then we’ll get to work.”
Fang walked over to a number of tables that were set up. The first one had a sack of flour from the bakery. The second had a large tank of water set up beside it. “One pony will be in charge of measuring out the flour, and another will be responsible for the water. The two ingredients will be put in a bowl, and then a third pony will mix them together. Who wants to do that?”
“I’ll do the mixing!” Pinkie cried out, rushing to the table.
“I’ll do the water,” Bon Bon offered.
“Wheeee!” somepony laughed, and the sack of flour flew into the air in a light cerulean aura.
Several ponies gasped, but Pinkie chuckled. “Not now, Pumpkin,” she chided gently. “We need that flour for making matzah.”
“Aaah,” the baby unicorn gurgled, holding the flour out of Pinkie’s reach.
“Woo!” her twin brother Pumpkin Cake cheered as he bumped the water tank, causing it to spill its contents. The sack burst and the two ingredients combined inevitably in the air and fell towards the matzah bakers. Everypony shrieked as the doughy mass dropped but Fang calmly looked up, took a deep breath and exhaled a plume of dragonfire. The descending dough burned and blackened, deteriorating in the wind. Fang flapped his wings and the smoldering ashes blew down the road.
Everypony stared in awe at the green dragon. Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake, both powdered with flour from being too close to the sack when it exploded, galloped around the crowd, giggling childishly. Fang pulled his helmet down further over his eyes. “Pinks,” he addressed the party pony.
Pinkie giggled. “Yes?”
“Take the foals back to the kitchen. Ask Carrot Cake if he’s got some chametz to keep them occupied. Also, see if you can’t get another sack of flour as the twins have-“ He looked over at the two flour-dusted foals. “-helped themselves to our first bag.”
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie waved Pound and Pumpkin over to the back door and the twins followed her inside.
Fang nodded. “Great.” Then he swung around and faced the other ponies, who were just beginning to calm down from their panic when-
“BACK TO YOUR STATIONS!”
With a number of frightened yelps, Bon Bon rushed back to the water tank and everypony else lined up again. “Neon Light,” the dragon said, pointing at the DJ. “You’ll take the flour. Do it your way, but do it right and do it fast.”
Neon grinned and pulled his glasses down. “You got it.” He stepped over to the flour table just as Pinkie came back with a new sack. Neon poured the flour into a sieve and spun it around like a vinyl record, effectively sifting the flour.
Fang turned towards the other ponies. “That’s our first three chosen. Now we’re going to need somepony to knead the dough with this.” He waved to the third table, where a large metal rod was built over the tabletop. “Only a strong pony will be able to use this device quickly and efficiently. Who’s it gonna be?”
“I’LL DO IT!” Bulk Biceps yelled. He walked over to the third table, where he stood dutifully beside the metal contraption.
“Can’t think of anypony more suitable for the job,” Fang approved.
“YEAH!” Bulk flexed his muscles. “P IS FOR PASSOVER !”
“Sure is.” Fang walked to the fourth table, which held several rolling pins. “We’re going to need a few ponies to work here, where they’ll receive pieces of dough which they will then roll out flat. Remember: the flatter the matzah is, the faster it’ll bake. But don’t make it too thin or they’ll fall apart. Now who wants to roll out the dough?”
“Me!”
“Ah’ll do it!”
“Me too!”
Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo zipped over to stand by the table. Each one grabbed a rolling pin and raised it high. “Cutie Mark Crusader Matzah Bakers! YAY!”
Fang rubbed his ears. “I’ll say.” He looked at the lined-up ponies. “Anypony else?”
The ponies looked at the rolling pins, some thinking whether or not they wanted that particular job. Fluttershy inched back, but Angel gave her a persistent shove and the pegasus tumbled forward. Fang looked down at the shy pony by his feet. He glared at Angel, gave him the ‘I’ve got my eye on you’ gesture, then returned his attention to Fluttershy. “If you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to.”
“No no, it’s fine,” Fluttershy said, accepting Fang’s claw and standing up. “I don’t mind trying new things, even if they’re really fast.”
Fang gave Angel another dirty look, then smirked evilly. The bunny blanched and bounded off. Fang nodded and turned back to the remaining ponies. “Now that we’ve got our rollers, we’re going to need some riddlers.”
“Shouldn’t you be asking Discord if you want riddles?” asked a grey colt, scratching his black-and-green mane.
“Not that kind of riddling, Cyberspace. Riddling as in puncturing.” Fang gestured to the next table, upon which rested several strange tools. They looked like small rolling pins mounted on forks, but covered with small blunt spikes like a pointy steamroller.
“Those are used to poke holes in the matzah, to allow faster baking. It might not seem important, but it speeds things up plenty. You want a go at it, Cyberspace?”
The techy pony grinned confidently. “Certainly.” He took his position by the perforating table.
“Okay, now we need one more.” Fang looked up and down the line of remaining ponies. Some of them were exchanging glances, but none seemed too interested in holing the matzah. Fang was about to ask again when a small earth pony stepped out of the line.
“I-I’ll do the riddling,” she said in a small voice.
Fang bent down on one knee to look the filly in the eye. “What’s your name?”
SMACK
"You dummy, Fang. It's me!"
The dragon rubbed his head under his helmet, right where the little pony had whacked him. "Sorry, Aspear. It was too easy."
The rest of the ponies all chuckled as Fang led Spirit's daughter to the riddling table. “Glad to have you participating, Aspear.”
Aspear gave the dragon a smile and stood opposite Cyberspace, the two ponies sharing a hoof-bump. Fang looked back at the ponies standing at the side, some watching the chosen workers somewhat sadly.
“Don’t worry, everypony,” Fang told the crowd as he walked towards the oven. “You’ll all get a turn to do everything if you want.” He picked up a long wooden pole on the table next to the oven. “What I do need right now is ponies who will sand the poles after I’ve finished using them, to remove any leavened dough left from the previous round. So gather round and prepare yourselves.”
The ponies cheered and each grabbed a piece of sandpaper, dutifully awaiting their chance to do their part. Fang turned to the oven and blew a gout of flame into it, igniting the interior. He slowly walked around the tables, carefully making sure everypony was ready for the next eighteen minutes. He stopped in front of the mixing table, eyeing the three ponies around it. Fang raised a claw and Neon came forward with a cup of flour, which he poured into Pinkie’s bowl. Bon Bon carefully lifted the tank nozzle and watched for the dragon’s signal. For a moment it was silent, everypony waiting with bated breath, then-
“BEGIN!”
Bon Bon switched on the faucet and water gushed into the bowl. Pinkie went to work immediately, mixing the two ingredients together at top speeds. When the dough had collected into a single piece, Fang scooped it up and plopped it down on Bulk Biceps’ table.
“Go, Bulk!”
At the dragon’s words, Bulk Biceps lifted the metal rod up and brought it down on the dough with a hard thunk . The white pegasus repeated this process, Fang collecting the dough into a ball every now and then. Finally, Fang told Bulk to stop and carried the dough to the rolling table.
“You all get a piece,” Fang said, ripping chunks of the dough off and passing them to Fluttershy and the Crusaders. “Now roll ‘em flat!”
The four ponies got right down to it, beating at their pieces with their rolling pins. Apple Bloom had some practice, quickly and efficiently rolling out her dough until it was flat, from the inside outwards. Sweetie Belle was doing her best to keep the piece as even and round as possible. Scootaloo was mashing her dough mercilessly until it was so flat it started to tear. And Flutttershy…
“How do you do that?” Fang asked, deadpanning at the pegasus’s work. Her matzah had come out perfectly round, thinned out to perfection.
Fluttershy looked up unsurely. “What’s wrong?”
Fang gestured with his arms and stuttered. “Nothing. It’s great.” He looked over at the three fillies’ dough. It had taken all of them at least two tries, but their matzah was ready to be riddled. “Okay, take your matzah to the next table, then take another piece and make another. Chop chop!”
Fluttershy and the Crusaders did as they were bid, passing their flattened dough over to Cyberspace and Aspear. The two little ponies picked up their perforators and started poking holes in the matzah. Cyberspace used his magic to do two at once, while Aspear painstakingly did her best not to rip the dough apart while making the holes.
“Here’s one!” Cyberspace called, levitating an unbaked matzah.
Fang picked up a pole and held it out to the unicorn. “Put it on.”
Cyberspace hung the matzah on the end of the pole. Fang pulled it back, slid it into the oven and dropped the matzah onto the burning brick floor.
“Here, somepony sand this,” Fang requested, dropping the pole on one of the two tables near the oven, where it was quickly taken by Carrot Top.
“I’ve got one too!” Aspear said happily, holding up Fluttershy’s circular matzah, now resembling a flat colander. Fang took it on another stick and slotted it into the oven alongside the first matzah.
The seconds ticked by, Fluttershy and the Crusaders rolling out more matzah, Aspear and Cyberspace poking them full of holes, and Fang dropping them into the oven to bake. When the first two matzah were crisp and light brown, Fang stuck a shovel-like polearm into the oven, pulled out the flat bread and plopped them onto the last table. The smell was intoxicating.
“Fresh baked matzah is best baked matzah,” Fang stated. Then he swung around, having heard the sudden silence brought on by everypony stopping what they were doing to goggle at the finished product.
“BACK TO WORK!” the dragon roared, the oven belching out a baked matzah in agreement. “We’ve got five minutes left, do what you can!”
Everypony turned back to their tables, the rollers and the perforators working the hardest to get as much done as they could. Sweetie’s hooves started to hurt from the repeated motions. “Uuuh, are we almost done?” she groaned, stumbling forward with another rolled-out piece.
“I think we’re almost finished,” Cyberspace said comfortingly, patting the filly. “Just going to get this last-“
“STOP! DROP EVERYTHING!”
Fang slammed a table and everypony stopped what they were doing. When he was sure they were all paying attention, Fang continued. “That was very good. Everypony did nicely. We managed to get a lot done.” He waved over to the last table, where a pile of baked matzah stood, crisp and warm.
“Now we’re going to finish whatever dough we have left and put them aside. Those you’ll be allowed to eat when we’re done. Anypony who isn’t a roller or a riddler, please go wash the tools and wipe down the tables for the next round, which will begin shortly after completing the leftovers.”
Some of the sanders went to help Pinkie and the others clean up the utensils and work areas. Apple Bloom looked at the last piece of dough in front of her. “This is kinda fun, ain’t it?” she said, first flattening the ball of dough with her hooves.
“I was starting to feel a little sore near the end,” Fluttershy admitted. “Maybe I’ll go help Fang with the baking part.” She trotted off to the oven, where the green dragon was blowing fire on a perforating utensil to burn the leftover dough off.
“Hey, does that mean I can have a turn rolling dough?” Aspear called over hopefully, dropping another holed matzah onto a stick.
“We’ll put more ponies on both tables next round,” Fang promised. “That way, we may be able to finish the dough before time is up.”
The four foals beamed. “So you’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Aspear said in awe. “The ponies who won the contest in the school for carrying the Ponyville flag in the Equestria Games.”
“Yep, that’s us,” Apple Bloom confirmed.
“So you really get together to come up with ideas on how to get your cutie mark?” Aspear asked, somewhat shyly.
“Yeah, but we haven’t gotten them yet,” Sweetie replied. “Sometimes I think we’ll never get them.”
“Hey, chin up!” Scootaloo insisted. “Rainbow Dash told me that Passover is the holiday of freedom, a time to embrace our true selves. Maybe we’ll be able to get our cutie marks during Passover.”
Apple Bloom perked up. “A cutie mark in house cleaning?”
“Or maybe reciting history?“ Kirby offered.
“Consuming bitter and spicy herbs,” Sweetie mused.
“Or how about getting ready for more matzah baking?”
Fang popped up at the head of the rolling table and the fillies all jumped. “Don’t worry, fuzzballs,” the dragon said, wrapping his arms around them and pulling the four ponies in for a hug. “You’ll get plenty of opportunities to figure out your special talents soon. But right now…” He put them down and popped on his helmet. “IT’S TIME TO BAKE!”
“YEAH!” Bulk shouted in response from beside the metal rod.
“OKAY PONIES, TO YOUR STATIONS!” Fang flew over the site and ponies rushed to and fro, Neon and Bon Bon taking a place by the sanding table, Carrot and Dinky dashing for the first table, Pinkie zipping off to her room, and everypony else to their preferred table.
Fang looked down at the assembly. “All of you who are still on the sanding table, don’t worry. I intend to be baking matzah for a few more hours today and for the next few days too, so you can all have a chance to do everything . And now-“ He flung his helmet onto a tall pole out of the range of the oven’s heat, hooking it perfectly. “-LET’S BAKE SOME MATZAH!”
Author's Note
Cyberspace is the OC of my friend Sycron
“Thanks for the grape juice, Berry. These should last us all week.”
Berry Punch nodded and started refilling the counter with bottles. “Glad to hear it,” she said. “The minute Passover comes around, business booms for me.”
“That’s what you get for being the only pony in town with a vineyard and winepress,” Twilight chuckled.
“Yes, that certainly would do it.” Spirit carefully floated the last bottles into a crate. “Well, we’d best be off now. Fang will be finishing the afternoon’s matzah baking any minute and tonight is when we check the houses for any remaining bread.”
“I’d better not slow you down then. Bye guys.”
“Have a good Passover, Berry!” the two unicorns wished her. Spirit levitated the crate and he and Twilight turned to leave the vineyard.
“Having a local winepress sure is helpful,” Spirit commented. “Then we don’t have to order any high-price stuff from Canterlot.”
“I’m really happy for Berry,” Twilight admitted. “She works so hard on her vines and not nearly enough ponies buy her products. Well, aside from the grapes.”
“Not everypony sees the status grape wine holds. And foals like to stick to their apple juice.”
“They sure do.”
Spirit and Twilight walked into the marketplace, where ponies were stocking up on all the things they’d need for the holiday. The smell of matzah had spread from outside of Sugarcube Corner and wafted lazily all over town, giving ponies everywhere an idea of what to look forward to later in the week.
“Do we need any more horseradish?” Spirit wondered, looking at the vegetable and herb stall.
“Pretty sure we overstocked the last time we got them. We should be fine.”
“How about eggs? We’re going to need one for the Seder plate anyway.”
Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “Maybe later. We’ve already got fragile things right now and we shouldn’t overload on breakable items. Although I must admit Fang’s last Pancake Surprise really depleted our egg drawer.”
“We could always come back later to-“
“Twilight! Spirit!”
The two unicorns turned their heads to see Rarity running toward them. Rarity never ran unless it was a fashion emergency or a friendship problem. What could possibly have happened to kick the classy unicorn into high gear?
“Hey, Rarity,” Twilight greeted. “What’s up?”
Rarity stopped before them and tried to speak in between breaths. “Just heard…. came as fast as I could… she’s coming for…. the holiday...”
“Who, what, where?” Spirit asked.
“Train station, five minutes,” Rarity gasped, electing to answer only two of the questions. She took a deep breath and added loudly, “And I’m not dressed!” With that, the white unicorn dashed off toward Carousel Boutique.
Spirit and Twilight exchanged glances. “What was she going on about?” Spirit asked.
“No idea,” Twilight replied, “but perhaps we should go check it out.”
“With the crate of grape juice?”
“We’ll be careful.”
Twilight activated her magic and wrapped the crate in a light-purple aura. The two unicorns trotted at a quick but focused pace in the direction of the train station, rushing past other ponies busy with Passover preparations.
When they arrived at the train station, Spirit gently let down the crate of juice bottles and he and Twilight looked about. The station was mostly empty aside from the railway staff. In fact, nothing out of the ordinary was happening there.
“Was Rarity overreacting?” Spirit wondered, swinging his head back and forth. “Is some super cute stallion visiting Ponyville and she can’t hold it in?”
“She seemed pretty sincere,” Twilight remarked. A loud whistle caught their attention. “Here comes the train now. We may soon see what Rarity was so excited about.”
The two unicorns watched as the brightly colored steam engine chugged into the station, pulling its cars behind it. It stopped with a sharp screech of brakes. The doors opened and ponies began to get off, some bearing luggage and other belongings. But nopony particularly interesting.
“I don’t see anything special,” Spirit said dryly, a bit disappointed.
Twilight nodded. “Me neither.”
Then, from out of the crowd of departing passengers, a pony stepped out: a unicorn mare with an amber coat, a curled mane of red and yellow with a tail to match, cyan eyes and a cutie mark consisting of a two-toned blazing sun.
“SUNSET SHIMMER!”
With a cry of joy, Twilight leapt at the pale-golden unicorn, knocking aside her suitcase as she embraced her. When Sunset saw who had jumped on her, she too beamed with joy. “Twilight! You came!”
Spirit came over and the two mares got up and dusted themselves off. “Welcome to Ponyville, Sunset,” Spirit greeted in his formal voice.
“Thanks, Spirit. It’s good to be back.”
“What are you doing here anyway?” Twilight asked, barely able to contain herself.
Sunset picked up her suitcase with her magic. “Why don’t we start walking and I’ll explain on the way?”
The other unicorns nodded in agreement and the three of them left the station. On the way, Sunset told them about her studies and everything that happened during her trip around Equestria, of griffon encounters, hydra chases, dragon sightings, visits to ancient sites and knowledge in abundance.
"Then I remembered Passover was coming, so I decided to come here and spend the holiday with you guys," Sunset finished as the trio walked towards Sugarcube Corner, the smell of baked matzah assailing their noses.
"Your trip sounds amazing," Spirit said in wonderment. "I'll admit, I'm a little jealous."
"Me too," Twilight agreed. "All those things you saw, all the ponies you've met. Sure, I've read about them in books, but it's just not the same as seeing them in person."
"I'm actually looking forward to Passover a lot more than I did my trip," Sunset admitted. "The history, the customs, the food.”
“'The food' is right,” Twilight agreed, the wine crate wavering in her magic. “We’ve stocked up on thrice the normal amount of food for the first night’s feast.”
“We should be glad we’re not hosting the Seder in Town Hall,” Spirit commented, nudging Twilight’s crate upright. “They had to order extra food all the way from Baltimare before they’d reached the supplies they’d need.”
“Well, it is a big deal,” Sunset declared. “After all, it’s not every week we celebrate one of the oldest events in pony history. Passover happened even before the founding of Equestria.”
Twilight nodded, taking pleasure in hearing the history. “Still, it’s an awful lot of strange food we’re asked to eat.” A new scent caught her attention suddenly and she sniffed the air. Spirit and Sunset noticed it as well and took a whiff. “And unless I’m much mistaken,” Twilight continued, “that’s some of the food being baked right now.”
Spirit leapt to the front of the group. “What do you say, girls? Shall we detour?”
The mares exchanged big smiles and answered unanimously. “Absolutely.”
So the three unicorns turned off from the street leading to the library, instead crossing through town with the baking smell as their guide. In no time at all they reached Sugarcube Corner and followed the smell around the back of the bakery, where Fang was shouting commands at a group of ponies.
“Only one minute left, guys!” he hollered, which was really unnecessary. “ONE MINUTE!”
Spirit, Sunset and Twilight drew closer to inspect. Situated around one table were Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, all furiously rolling spiked pins over flat pieces of dough at top speeds. As they finished poking holes in the dough, they would pass the pieces onto wooden poles which Fang would then transfer into the brick oven at the end. At another table opposite the oven, Aspear was dutifully sanding the poles as Fang handed them over.
The unicorns watched the spectacle with great interest, the way scholars liked them preferred to watch. Finally, as Fang slipped another baked masterpiece out of the oven, he cried out, “CHAMETZ!”
At once, the four schoolponies stopped what they were doing and fell onto their backs, gasping for air. While they lay there, Fang ambled around the tables, taking what dough was still there, baking them and dropping them on a table behind the oven.
“Well done, my little ponies,” he said to the fillies. “You’ve stayed dutifully until the very end of today’s baking session. Thanks to you, our Seder will have more than enough matzah and should last us the whole holiday.”
“Yeehaw,” Apple Bloom cheered weakly.
“Whoop whoop,” Scootaloo grunted.
“Yay,” Sweetie Belle moaned.
Aspear, who had regained a sufficient amount of oxygen, twisted himself around and glanced at his lower body. Her face fell as she beheld her still-bare flank. “Still no cutie mark.”
Spirit trotted over to the filly. “Don’t worry, Aspear dear,” he said encouragingly, helping his daughter up. “You’ll get your cutie mark soon.”
“How soon?”
The stallion’s eyes glinted as he looked back at her friends. “Soon.”
Sunset walked over to the table upon which Fang had placed the matzah that had been made before the eighteen minutes were up. There sure was a lot of it. “So this is the matzah,” she said in a small voice.
“Yep,” Fang assured. “Ha lachma anya. Poor pony’s bread, as it’s called in Aramareic. We’ll be reciting a whole set of couplets like that on Seder night.”
“Sounds fun.”
“I’ve actually read the whole Hagadah, the Seder guide, back to front, Sunset,” Twilight informed, standing by the riddling table with the Crusaders. “It’s going to be a like a great big history lesson.”
“Ugh,” the schoolponies groaned at the mentioning of lessons. They quickly brightened when Fang slid them each a leavened piece of matzah, which they quickly started munching on.
“Welcome back, Sunset,” Fang said to the amber unicorn. “Looks like we’re going to be having a big crowd this Passover Seder.”
“I’m only one pony, Fang,” Sunset reminded him.
“Yes, but we’re also having over Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. It’ll be a nice tight squeeze into the house, but Spirit’s fairly sure we can pull it off."
Spirit nodded in agreement. “It’ll be nice having some new blood at the dinner table. There’s nothing like guests to add some spice to a meal, especially the meal of the holiday of freedom."
“Holiday of freedom, indeed,” Sunset exclaimed. “All of us, taking a break from our normal schedules. One of the whole reasons for celebrating Passover is the herd’s being freed from slavery, and what better way to celebrate in our own way, by freeing ourselves from the slavery of a stale beaten track.”
"I like the stale beaten track,” Twilight said quietly, pouting.
Fang came over, wheeling a huge wagon of matzah. “Well, no sense waiting for the holiday to come to us. Anyone who’d like to help, I’ve got to deliver matzah to all the ponies who ordered, as well as to Town Hall.”
The Crusaders, now including Aspear, quickly rushed over and followed Fang away from Sugarcube Corner, leaving Twilight, Spirit, and Sunset standing behind the bakery. For a moment, they all stood in silence, taking in the heavenly aroma coming from both the bakery and the disappearing unleavened bread.
“It’s time we got these bottles off our hooves,” Twilight declared. “Sunset, you ought to come with me to drop your stuff off at the library.”
“That sounds great,” the fiery-maned unicorn said with a smile.
The three unicorns smiled together as they schlepped away from Sugarcube Corner to their home destination.
*
The night before Passover. Ponies gathered in their homes, waiting for the heads of the family to return. The Golden Oak Library was no exception. Twilight, Sunset and all their friends sat around chatting and drinking as the clock ticked on. The Crusaders were barely able to sit still they were so excited: the leavened search was soon.
A custom as old as Equestria itself, after the house was cleansed of all crumbs, a number of bread pieces are purposely hidden and are then sought out in the dark with candles and a feather. It was like a treasure hunt, without the treasure.
“Oh man, what’s taking them so long?” Scootaloo whined, checking the clock for the 27th time.
“Who,” Owlowicious hooted.
“Spirit and Fang, duh,” the pegasus replied obviously.
“Who,” the owl repeated naturally.
“I just told you.”
“Cut it out, Scoots,” Rainbow Dash advised, pulling the filly over. “You know what conversations are like with Owlowicious.”
Scootaloo sighed. “Yeah.”
“Who.”
“But it’s been almost half an hour. Shouldn’t they be done by now?”
“We can’t rush evening service,” Twilight told her. “Though they should be home any minute.”
“Ooh, here they come!” Pinkie called from the window.
A moment later, the door opened and the stallions and the drake walked in. “Good evening, everyone,” Spirit said, Fang shutting the door behind them.
Sunset was quick to react and leapt at Spirit, embracing him upon contact. Aspear was just as forceful with her dad and Fang pinned Pinkie in a flying tackle. “I take it you’re all ready for the search.”
“Mm hmm!” the assembly of friends and family replied.
“Then let’s begin.”
Apple Bloom gave Spirit a feather and a bag for the bread. Sunset passed around lit candles for everyone, then Fang turned out the lights. In the glow of the candles, Spirit explained, “Foals first, keep an eye out for the bread. They can be hidden absolutely anywhere.” At this, Spirit glanced at Twilight and Owlowicious. The mare winked and the nocturnal bird spun his head 180 degrees and back.
“We’d best get searching, then.”
As a group they began to walk around the library, carefully examining the cracks in the floor and the highest of shelves. It was a good few minutes before Sweetie Belle cried out, “I found some!”
Everyone quickly moved aside as Spirit joined Sweetie Belle by the fireplace. Two ends of a bread loaf sat nestled in a pile of ashes just behind the grate. Spirit brushed his feather over the bread ends and swept them into the bag. “Wonderful. Great work, Sweetie Belle,” he said, patting the filly.
They continued the search. Apple Bloom uncovered one of last week’s pancakes hidden behind the kitchen sink, Scootaloo slipped half a donut out from between two bookshelves and Aspear found a crust of pizza under Owlowicious’ perch.
“All right, everypony,” Twilight said as Aspear and Spirit scooped up the pizza. “We’re moving upstairs.
Sunset and Fang led the way to the second floor of the library, where they all fanned out. Soon the bag of leavened foods was bulging, now containing half a daisy sandwich from the porch, an apple pie crust hidden inside the telescope and two mashed cupcakes jammed down Twilight’s Winter Wrap Up boots.
“That seems to be everything,” Twilight declared, smiling nervously as Fang licked the last of the icing out of her boots.
“Who.”
“What is it, Owlowicious?” Fluttershy asked.
“Who.” The owl flew off of Twilight’s bedpost and landed on Fang’s head, where he picked at the dragon’s spines. A hunk of dried pasta dropped out from behind Fang’s frills.
Fang gave the owl a humored look. “You dirty birdy,” he said, stepping aside to allow Spirit access to the pasta.
Owlowicious closed his eyes in a smile. “Who.”
Twilight led Spirit, Sunset, the Element Bearers, the dragons and the Crusaders back downstairs. “Well done, everyone,” Spirit told them. He put the bread bag down beside the door. “Tomorrow morning, we’ll burn the bread items we found tonight and, by lunchtime, we’ll renounce our consumption of leavened food for the week of Passover.”
“YAY!” the Crusaders cheered.
Rainbow Dash yawned and stretched. “I dunno about the rest of you, but I’m exhausted. Come on, Scoots, I’ll take you home.”
“Ah’m plum tuckered out myself,” Applejack said, lifting a yawning Apple Bloom onto her back. “We’d best be off too.”
The others began to leave as well, wishing everyone a good evening. Soon, only Twilight, Spike, Sunset, Spirit, Aspear and Fang remained in the library.
“We’ll be off now,” Spirit said to the two mares. “Sunset, I hope your stay in the library will be a pleasant one.”
The amber unicorn pulled Twilight in for a hug. “I’m sure it will be, Spirit.”
Fang and Spike fist-bumped. “Looks like you’re in good hooves and claws.” The green dragon crossed over to the door. “Come, Spirit.”
“Coming.” Spirit leaned in and kissed Sunset on the cheek. “See you tomorrow.”
The door closed behind Spirit, Aspear and Fang. Sunset was till for a moment, then she went over to the window and watched the two friends cross the street to their house. She turned to Twilight. “Is he always like this? I remember him being a lot more…. secluded .”
“It’s probably the spirit of Passover, Sunset,” Twilight guessed. “You know how well he connects to the old events in pony history. Freedom is practically flowing through him.”
“Yeah. I guess.”
“I’m off to bed,” Spike announced, mounting the stairs. “I have to sleep off all that leavened matzah Spirit gave me.”
Twilight and Sunset chuckled. “At least your appetite was useful this time,” Twilight joked, she and Sunset joining Spike on the way upstairs.
The following morning, the Cutie Mark Crusaders gathered in their clubhouse. Aspear paced around, admiring the work the three fillies had put into making the CMC headquarters a good place for planning special talent ventures.
“You’ve been at this cutie mark crusading business for quite some time, huh,” she said, checking out their map of Ponyville.
“Yep, ever since Diamond Tiara’s cute-ceañera,” Scootaloo explained.
Sweetie Belle turned from the window. “Come to think of it, if it hadn’t been for Diamond Tiara and her cute-ceañera, the three of us would never have met to begin with.”
“I don’t know,” Aspear confessed. “I mean, you might have met up elsewhere, right? You live in the same town. It could’ve happened eventually.”
The fillies exchanged impressed looks. “You’re real good at thinking things up, Aspy,” Apple Bloom complimented.
“Heh, thanks.”
“No offense, but maybe we should get to the whole point of this meeting,” Scootaloo put in. “Passover’s coming and we need a plan.”
“Yeah.” Sweetie climbed onto the pedestal. “Okay, Crusaders. As Scootaloo pointed out, Passover is coming. This is a holiday all about freedom, and we’re going to use that freedom to find our special talents!”
“That’s not exactly how it works,” Aspear started, but the others’ excitement was already built.
“The cleaning’s all done, but maybe we could get our marks in reciting the Seder couplets!”
“Getting through the story super fast!”
“Eating the most matzah!”
“Staying awake until the end of the Seder!”
“Finding the afikomen!”
“Oh man, the afikomen,” Scootaloo chuckled.
“The pony to find that is sure to get their cutie mark!” Sweetie squealed.
Apple Bloom nodded. “Without a doubt.”
Aspear, who had been looking back and forth between the fillies like some three-way beach hoofball match, found this intriguing. “You really think so?” she inquired. “Do you think a pony who finds the afikomen would get their cutie mark?”
“I should think so; the afikomen is an integral part of the Seder. Spirit’s bound to hide it and hide it good. Anypony who could find something that he hides must have a knack for finding stuff,” Sweetie exposited.
The others started at her. “When did you get so deep?” Scootaloo questioned.
Sweetie thought, then shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just Spirit rubbing off on me.”
“That pony rubs off on everypony !” Apple Bloom declared. “He’s just so good at what he does.”
“Girls, focus,” Aspear said, tapping a hoof against the pedestal. “Passover is tonight and we should get a head start Crusading.”
That got them all focused. “All right then. What do we do first?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I got one!” Scootaloo said excitedly, her wings buzzing. “Let’s go to Fang and Spike. They’re overseeing the burning of all the leavened stuff at the edge of Ponyville. We could try getting our cutie marks in firing.”
“Sounds dangerous,” Aspear muttered.
“If it’s Fang we’re talking about, it’s definitely dangerous,” Sweetie warned.
Apple Bloom nodded in agreement. “Yep. Let’s go!”
Scootaloo grabbed her scooter from the wall, cantered down the ramp and hooked it up to the wagon. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle climbed in and donned helmets. Aspear followed unsurely, not quite knowing what to do until Sweetie levitated a helmet toward her.
“Come on, Aspear,” she said sweetly.
“Are you sure, Sweetie? It doesn’t look like there’s much room there.”
Scootaloo swung around. “If Pinkie Pie can fit on the end, you should be fine.”
Aspear took the helmet and climbed into the back of the Crusader’s wagon. At once, Scootaloo’s wings buzzed into action and the four foals left the orchard. They zoomed through the streets of Ponyville, Scootaloo weaving them around corners and ponies until they exited the town on the other side.
What an incredible sight met their young eyes. Smoke rose from the edge of the river, where numerous fires were set up. Ponies milled about them, poking at the burning piles with long sticks. Spike was busy stoking the flames of one pony’s fire. Fang stood atop a hill overlooking the site, keeping a careful look out for any sign of unwanted fire-spreading.
The Crusaders hurried over to the fire site. When Fang caught sight of them approaching, he turned with a smile. “Welcome to the last step in Passover cleaning, Crusaders. Glad you could make it.”
“Uh, thanks?” Scootaloo replied, wondering why the dragon spoke as though they were expected to show up.
“So Fang,” Apple Bloom said, spreading her hooves toward the fires, “what’s this all about, all them fires down there?”
“Quite simple, Apple Bloom. All the bread items that ponies found in their homes last night are being brought here to be burned in the fires, thus eliminating all leavened foods from the household.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Aspear remarked.
“Don’t you mean pretty hot ?” Sweetie asked with a grin.
The Crusaders and Fang all stared at the white filly. “Sweetie Belle,” the dragon said in his most serious voice. “Be a designer. Be a singer. Be a politician, even. But please, never be a comedian.”
Scootaloo chuckled at Fang’s tone. Apple Bloom and Aspear sniggered at his statement. Even Sweetie found the humor in his insistent wish and joined her friends in mirth. Fang just stood around while the Crusaders burst into peals of laughter around him.
“Wonderful.”
Once they’d calmed down, Apple Bloom asked, “So is there somethin’ we can do to help with the fires?”
“Not really. The last of the chametz is being put into the fires now. But—“ He pulled out a brown paper bag full of old cupcakes and donuts “—I’m sure we can find something for you to add in yourselves.”
The Crusaders took the bag excitedly and, after dutifully listening to Fang for the Fire Safety rules, rushed down the hill and gathered around one of the fires.
“What a stroke of luck,” Sweetie said, feeding a donut to the fire. The pastry was licked black in moments. “Fang having all these on him.”
“Ah dunno,” Apple Bloom commented. “There was somethin’ in the way he said it all that got me thinkin’ he’d planned for us to have it all along.”
Scootaloo sniffed a cupcake, gagged and threw it into the flames. “Honestly, sometimes I think Fang is Pinkie Pie’s super-distant cousin.”
“Super-duper-distant cousin.”
“One-too-many times removed.”
Aspear smiled at the others’ words and nodded. “However much were enjoying burning donuts and cupcakes for the holiday, I don’t think we’re going to get our cutie marks in this.”
“Not sure I’d want burning food on my flank anyway,” Sweetie added.
“Well, what else is there to do?” Scootaloo asked. “Passover is tonight and there’s nothing left to do ‘til then.”
Apple Bloom prodded the donuts in the fire with a stick. “Applejack and Big Mac were asked to mix something up for the Seder. Not sure what it is, but ah think it has somethin’ to do with apples.”
“That would make sense. Nopony knows apples like your family, AB,” Scootaloo commented.
Spike came over to the Crusaders’ fire. “Hey, guys,” he greeted cheerfully. “How’s it going?”
“We’re okay,” Aspear replied, “though we’re out of ideas for pre-Passover Crusading. Got anything to suggest?”
“Hmm.” The dragon blew a gout of dragonfire into the leavened blaze. “Spirit, Twilight and Sunset were pulling out the boxes with all the Passover stuff when I left: the Seder guides, the Seder plate and a whole lot of cushions.”
“Cushions?” Apple Bloom replied. “Why do we need cushions for Passover?”
Spike shrugged. “I don’t remember. These things slip my mind. Though sometimes I wish they got rooted like they are for Spirit.”
“Everything historic is rooted for Spirit,” Sweetie Belle said. “That’s his special talent, after all.”
“What would it be like, to be rooted in history?” Kirby wondered aloud. He gestured at his friends. “Ever wondered what it would be like to understand history so well, to be able to draw lessons from a simple written sentence or grasp the reasons for a tradition? To be an embodiment of learning and an inspiration to those around you?”
The Crusaders stared at their newest member, impressed by the way he spoke of Spirit’s talent. “Do you?” Apple Bloom asked.
The pegasus colt sighed. “Never before, really. It just seems so…. Amazing. Awe-inspiring, even.”
“I’d rather have a cutie mark in something a little cooler than that,” Scootaloo declared. “Like in-line skating or parkour, something athletic.”
“I’d be fine trying something other than watching bread burn,” Sweetie Belle said, waving a hoof at the flames.
None of the others replied to this. The four little ponies sat around the fire, watching as the flames ever-so slowly devoured the pastries, leaving black charred husks on the coals. Even as the other ponies around them got up to leave and Spike and Fang went around putting out the fires, the Crusaders didn’t budge until a bucket of water hissed onto the fire, the steam whistling in their faces.
“All right there, Crusaders?” Fang asked, putting down his bucket.
“We’re just bored, Fang,” Apple Bloom complained. “There’s nothin’ for us to try before Passover.”
“Take a break, then.”
Each and every Crusader’s eyes widened as they looked up at the winged dragon. “Yeah. You’ve done so much to help for the holidays; you deserve a break from all these worries. Remember, Passover is the holiday of freedom. Who knows? Maybe this week, you’ll be freed from the trials of attempting to learn who you are and finally discover the truth about yourself.”
“After all,” he added with a scaly wink, “strange things have been happening these last few holidays. Maybe’s it’s Equestria itself, trying to teach us something.”
This idea seemed so outlandish, Kirby and the fillies stopped to exchange a great deal of awkward glances at each other. But even so, Fang gathered up the four of them as though they were little more than a stack of scrolls and carried the Crusaders over to their wagon.
“Come on, Crusaders,” he insisted. “Take it from me and get some rest. You don’t want to fall asleep during the Seder, do you? You may miss the afikomen search.”
That got the Crusaders’ attention. With a few hurried 'Thank you' s, they buzzed away from the riverside and rode back to Ponyville in a cloud of dust.
Spike walked over and waved his claw around. “Did you mean what you said, Fang? About Equestria telling us stuff.”
The green dragon put his hand on the purple’s shoulder and looked up at the sun making its round across the sky. “That is a question, like many others, to be answered another time. Come, Spike, let’s go finish incendiarizing stuff.”
*
Passover night. Inside Spirit’s house, the table had been enlarged to include everypony expected. After the service, Twilight, Spike and Sunset walked through the door, Sunset wearing the fez-of-all-evening wear. Kirby and his parents came in a short while later, joined by Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie were next, followed by Fluttershy and the Apples. Soon, everybody was present and seated around the table.
And what a table it was! Fine ceramic plates, polished goblets and intricately designed cutlery were placed in front of each seat. A huge silver platter sat at one end, upon which rested a hardboiled egg, a piece of celery, two curious-looking dips and a blood-red ruby. Each chair was piled with cushions so they felt extremely plush and comfortable.
The Crusaders were beyond excited. It was Passover at last! The four friends quickly took adjacent seats, with Spirit sitting beside Kirby and Fang next to Sweetie Belle, and everyone else sat down as well.
“Welcome, everyone,” Spirit announced. The guests all hushed up, giving the unicorn stallion their full attention. “Welcome to the Passover Seder. Tonight, we remind ourselves how our ancestors were once enslaved and, by the Architect’s hoof, became a free herd. By the end of tonight, I hope we all find something to come away with, something with which we can enrich our lives.”
Twilight and Sunset began to applaud, the others swiftly joining in. Spirit levitated a stack of books around the table, making sure everybody had one. “The Hagaddah is your guide tonight. It will tell you what to say and what to do, as tradition asks of us. May it serve you well this Seder.”
The Crusaders opened their books. On the first page, they found a list:
Kadesh - Grape WineUrchatz - Washing without RecitingKarpas - VegetableYachatz – SplittingMaggid – The StoryRachtzah – Washing with RecitingMotzee Matzah – MatzahMaror – Bitter HerbKorech – SandwichingShulchan Orech – Festive MealTzafun – AfikomenBarech – End BlessingHallel – HymnNirtzah – Finish
“This is different,” Sweetie Belle remarked.
“Are you kidding?” Scootaloo shook her Haggadah upside down, as if there were something hidden inside. “I can’t understand a single word.”
“Ah think the ones on the left are Haybrew,” Apple Bloom guessed.
Kirby looked the list up and down. As he read the strange-sounding words a warm feeling washed over him, like stepping out of a house and into the sunlight. “Let’s not give up just yet, Crusaders. We’ve barely started the Seder.”
“I’m not so sure I want to even start that now,” Scootaloo sighed disappointedly. Her expression changed from boredom to delight as a bottle of grape juice floated over and filled her goblet.
“Don’t give up just yet, Scootaloo,” Sunset said, topping off the pegaus’ cup and moving the bottle to fill Apple Bloom’s. All around the table, everyone was getting their own goblets filled with grape juice or wine. “The first stage of the Seder is beginning right now.”
Fang poured juice into Sweetie Belle’s cup. “Also, remember that tonight we’re free ponies, like royalty really, so let somepony else serve you and, when drinking, you should recline comfortably.”
“You mean like this?” Pinkie asked, throwing herself into Rarity’s and Feather Duster’s laps, much to the two mares’ surprise.
“Maybe a little less comfortably than that, Pinkie,” the dragon decided, pushing the party pony’s full cup towards her.
Spirit put down the bottle and raised his goblet. “Friends, during the first night of Passover, we drink four cups of wine to remember the four expressions used by the Architect in promising the freedom of our ancestors. Please rise.”
Everypony stood up and lifted their goblets. Kirby, Spike, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie stood on their chairs. Spirit recited a blessing aloud, to which they all replied. As one, the ponies and dragons sat down, leaned to one side and drained their goblets.
Rainbow Dash slammed her empty goblet onto the tabletop. “More please.”
“Now, Rainbow, it’s not time for the next cup," Fluttershy chided. She looked up the table. “Isn’t that right, Twilight?”
“Right as rain,” the unicorn replied. “Now it’s time to wash our hooves.”
“Wash ‘em?” Applejack held up her own front ones. “Didn’t we all?”
“This is a traditional washing, Applejack,” Sunset replied. She raised a bowl of water and large cup in her magic and levitated it over to the farmpony. “That’s the next stage, Urchatz . It prepares us for the stage that follows.”
Spirit nodded. “That it does. Please pass the water down.”
So they went around the table, everyone getting their front hooves thoroughly wet before drying them. Fang popped out of his seat and into the kitchen, returning moments later with an immense platter of celery, lettuce and potatoes.
“Here we are.” The dragon slipped the platter into the middle of the table, the action causing pieces of vegetable to fly off of it and onto everyone’s plate. “Karpas . Basically vegetables. Just dip it into the salt water next to you and get it down!”
Kirby stared at the lettuce leaf on his plate and flicked the edge. “Why do we dip the vegetables into salt water?”
“The salt water symbolizes the tears shed by the herd ponies during their harsh slavery,” Sunset explained, dunking her celery in the bowl. “It’ll be a recurring theme, eating foods symbolizing the various parts of their experience those two hundred and ten years.”
“Wowie! That’s a long time,” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “That’s as long as….. as, eh…. um…”
“About one-fifth of Celestia’s rule,” Sweetie Belle finished for her.
Scootaloo stared. “How’d you do that so fast?”
“It’s only math.”
“I hate math,” Fang stated. “But enough of that; it’s Passover, time for freedom. All together now.”
The assembly all bit into their salted vegetables, with the youngsters gagging a bit at the unfortunate taste. Some of the adults had to agree.
“That was most unpleasant,” Rarity bemoaned.
“Gimmie a nice juicy apple any day,” Applejack grunted.
“It’ll only get worse from here-on-out,” Fang teased. “Now let’s get to the next step.”
At the head of the table, Spirit brought out a bag and, from there, extracted three large matzos. “I’m now going to break the middle matzah in two. One half will remain in between the other matzos and the other is going away.”
So it was said, so it was done. Spirit pulled out the middle matzah and snapped it in half. He returned one half and slipped the other one into a white decorated bag. With a flash from his horn, the bagged matzah half vanished.
“What was that all about?” Apple Bloom challenged.
“The half Spirit put back represents the 'poor pony’s bread’ or ‘bread of affliction’ ,” Sunset explained. ”The hidden piece of matzah is the afikomen. It’ll play a part later in the Seder.”
Fang leaned back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. “If you foals can find it, that is. Spirit’s got a history of ‘spiriting’ the afikomen away; he does it so well, he has to get it himself when it’s called for.”
The Crusaders beamed; they'd expected this, their minds registering Fang's description as a traditional treasure hunt. It was the kind of challenge little ponies could not refuse. “I’ll bet I’ll find it before you guys,” Scootaloo declared.
“Nope, it’ll be me,” Kirby retorted.
“No, me!”
“No—“
“Me. Yes, we all get that,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Now can we please get on with the Seder? It’s getting just a bit boring.”
“Well, fasten your monotony belts, cause history is about to hit the books. It’s time for…. Maggid .”
A collective groan but humored groan rang out from all the adults, followed by a unified giggling fit. The Crusaders looked on in confusion. “What’s so funny?” Sweetie Belle inquired, flipping through her Hagaddah . “I knew I should have studied this thing thoroughly.”
“What’s that mean?” Scootaloo asked.
“It means that we’ve reached the longest part of the Seder. In Maggid , we retell the Passover story as we try and put ourselves in the position of the herd as they were during the Exodus." Spirit lit up his horn. Tendrils of magic billowed throughout the room, transparent images appearing in their wake: scenes of desert sands and ponies both walking and running for whatever their reasons were under the sun. "The story of Passover is one of the oldest in Equestrian history, and an interesting one to boot. In fact, one of the reasons we retell the story is to try and live it out ourselves, in our time."
"Sounds like a load o' hogwash to me," Applejack commented. "How can we possibly live as the herd did in Anugypt all them years ago?"
"By retelling the story and reading into it, we attempt to put ourselves in a position much like the herd, as we try to learn about, understand and relive the hardships they faced while being enslaved," Twilight explained, her eyes trained on Spirit's magical flowing pictures. The others were getting distracted by the fantastical enchanted scenes on the walls too.
Sunset tapped Spirit's shoulder. "No spoilering, Spirit. We haven't even started Maggid yet."
"You're right, Sunset." Spirit's magic aura faded, as did the pictures. Rarity, Fluttershy and several of the other guests sighed. "Fear not, friends. Soon, the real story of the Passover Exodus shall begin, and it will be more powerful and grabbing than any illusion I can conjure up."
The blue unicorn's words filled everyone present with yearning. As one, they all flipped to the first page of Maggid , ready to proceed with the Seder. "So what's the first part of the story?" Spike asked, eager to get on with things.
"It's a little bit more complicated than that, Spike," Fang told the smaller dragon. "During Maggid , we recite verses and sing songs of praise that raise questions and remind us of the many experiences the herd faced throughout the Exodus. It's not going to be a straightforward story, which is why some find it dreary."
"Uuuuugh," the Crusaders groaned in unison.
"Well, no sense in wasting another second," Clean Sweep proposed. "Maggid starts with a recitation about the 'poor pony's bread'. Let's get to it."
The hosts and guests nodded and, in a collection of voices, read the text aloud:
"Ha lachma anya di achalu avahatana b'ara d'Anutzrayim. Kal dichfin yeitei v'yeichul. Kal ditzrich yeitei v'yifsach. Hashata hacha, l'shanah haba'ah b'ara d'Equestria. Hashata avdei. L'shana haba'ah b'nei chorin."
The Crusaders managed to join in the recitation only halfway through it, but they didn't understand a word. "What does all that even mean?" Kirby inquired.
"It's in Aramareic," Sunset explained. "It's basically saying how we, the herd, ate the same unleavened bread as they were freed from their bondage, and that all who are hungry should join us and eat from it. Some scholars propose that the bread, which is made so simply that slaves eat it, become 'bread of freedom' from the willingness to share it with others."
"This Seder isn't just bland; it's hard," Scootaloo declared. The other Crusaders nodded in consent.
"Maybe the next part will appeal to you more," Twilight proposed, giving Sunset a pat on the back. "After the recitation of the bread, we need the youngest of the members to ask some questions relating to things we do during the Seder.
"But before that,” Spirit interrupted, “it’s time for the second cup.”
“Yesssssss!” Pinkie Pie reached for the juice bottle, before she remembered to play the princess and gave the bottle to Rarity so she could serve.
“It’s not easy being royalty,” Twilight commented, holding out her cup for Feather Duster to fill. “How do the princesses manage?”
“With dignity. Thousand years of practice. And don’t get all parched for it yet, ponies,” Fang advised, noticing several of the guests staring hungrily at their brimming goblets, “cause this cup of grape is going to remain untouched for all of Maggid .”
"Awwww!"
"So the quicker you ask the questions, the quicker you'll get to the next part of Maggid , the quicker you'll get to drink," the older dragon informed the crowd. "Spike, if you would—"
Apple Bloom leaned towards the other Crusaders. "This is tirin', gang. Ah don' know how Ah'm gonna make it to the end."
"I know what you mean," Sweetie groaned. "We've barely started the Seder and I'm already exhausted."
"But we have to... get through this thing," Scootaloo insisted, blinking over the course of five seconds. "That afikomen could get us our cutie marks."
Kirby pulled the fillies into a huddle. "Listen, girls. The afikomen won't be needed until later in the Seder, during the Tzafun stage. There's no point trying to look for it before then; I'd wager Spirit made it magically undetectable until a certain point. I say we grin and bear it; just keep yourselves alert, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Don't let yourselves fall to Luna's call. Stay awake."
"Yeah, but ho-o-o-ow do we do it?" Apple Bloom yawned. "Ah'm already losing."
"What I do is sit up straight against a high-backed chair and think of all sorts of loud and wild things," the colt suggested. "Hopefully, it'll keep us all awake through the sleep-inducing parts of the Seder."
"Okay. Let's give it a try."
"Yes!"
"Let's."
"HEY, GUYS!"
The four young ponies jumped in their seats, having not noticed Fang bearing down on them with his glimmering grin until he spoke. "You just missed the Four Questions. Spike had to do them all on his own."
"Which works out, considering he is the youngest of us all," Twilight said. "Traditionally, it's the youngest who's supposed to ask the questions."
The Crusaders quickly straightened in their seats, giving out apologies like candy baskets. "It won't happen again," Kirby assured them.
"Hope not. It'd be a shame to fall asleep during the Seder, especially with all that grape juice left to drink comfortably. Speaking of which, I'd better fluff up those pillows of yours." Fang immediately set about punching the cushioning on everyone's seats, including the stiff-sitting Crusaders. "There! Now you're properly free."
Free to fall asleep, Scootaloo thought helplessly as Fang returned to his own chair. The plushness of the seats was already soporific, but the dragon's meddling had made it almost impossible to heed the call of the dreamscape. But Scootaloo was determined, as were her friends, and they were going to make it through the Seder to the end!
"So what's next?" Spike asked, enthusiastic from his Four Questions.
"'We were slaves' ," Sunset answered. "All together, everyone."
The assembly looked into their Haggadahs and read aloud. The Crusaders did the same, though Scootaloo could already feel herself drifting off. No, no no nonono no.... Come on, Scoots.... 'We were slaves..... we were slaves to.... in Anugypt...' Try as she might, the little pegasus couldn't kepe her eyes opened, her back bending into the shape of the cushions.
Maybe just a minute, a power nap, and then I'll consult the others on a new plan.
So while the others read on, Scootaloo allowed herself to nod off, the collection of voices helping her out. Out of the corner of her closing eye, she noticed Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Kirby being of a similar mindset and doing likewise. Guess Fang fluffed up their pillows good, was all Scootaloo could think of as her brain put down the rest of her senses.
Scootaloo woke to a strange tingling sensation on her back, which she attributed to an attention-grabbing back-rub from Fang. She opened her eyes and quickly squinted, the light beaming down harshly on her. Why's it so bright in here?
Attempting to rejoin the Seder properly, Scootaloo reached for her Hagaddah only for her hoof to bump into something hard. Focusing her gaze, she found a huge block of stone sitting in front of her on the sand. Wait, sand? But before she could think up another thought, a sharp voice bellowed into her ear.
"Get back to work!"
Author's Note
Funnily enough, I finished this the night after Seder night of 2016