Prose Night

by Brass Polish

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Random, Lightning Dust, Applejack, Original Character, Apple Bloom, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery, Comedy
Length: 4851

Applejack is sent by the Cutie Map to Loch Azure on Ponyville’s Winter Wrap-Up day, and must help save the town’s preparations for their own local tradition’s celebration.

Applejack is sent by the Cutie Map to Loch Azure on Ponyville’s Winter Wrap-Up day, and must help save the town’s preparations for their own local tradition’s celebration.

Published 2016-02-21 09:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-02-21 09:30:02 UTC

1 Tundra

It was the morning of Ponyville’s Winter Wrap-Up day. The whole town woke up early (but not before sunrise), and preparations were being made. Colour coded vests were ready to be worn, and the team captains were due to meet with Twilight to go over the schedule. They were hoping to break last year’s record this time around. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were flying to Sweet Apple Acres to collect Applejack.

“Almost done breakfast, y’all,” she told the two pegasi.

“If you’d just had a big dinner last night like me, you wouldn’t have had to bother with breakfast,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Well, not everypony can fuel up with just coffee,” said Applejack.

“Huh. I haven’t even had one yet,” Rainbow Dash couldn’t stop smiling.

“You’re looking forward to seeing Tank again, aren’t you?” asked Fluttershy.

“Of course I am! I hate having to leave him every winter.”

“Well, you took it a lot better this winter,” said Apple Bloom.

“Eeeyup,” nodded Big Mac. “It’s nice that you can enjoy the season without him.”

“It’s just one of those things you gotta deal with sometimes,” sighed Rainbow Dash.

Applejack swallowed her last hoofful of cereal. “Alright! Let’s go see Twilight and get the details!”

And the three team captains raced away.

Twilight saw them coming towards her front door.

“Right on time! Well done. Now, where do we begin?”

“There,” Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy pointed to Applejack, whose cutie mark was glowing and buzzing.

“A friendship mission!” cried Twilight. “Come on!”

She turned around and quickly entered the castle, flanked by Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. When they arrived at the throne room, Applejack’s cutie mark started circling above the map at once.

“Looks like it’s another solo mission,” said Twilight.

“Now where am I goin?” wondered Applejack.

The three red apples settled down and orbited above a large lake.

“Loch Azure!” exclaimed Twilight. “You get to go to Loch Azure today, Applejack! That’s wonderful!”

“You weren’t this excited when I told you I was going there to supervise their weather team’s tornado,” frowned Rainbow Dash.

“That was just an ordinary day,” said Twilight. “But today is really special.”

“Yeah. Winter Wrap…”

“Not there. It’s one of the eight northern towns that doesn’t wrap up winter until a day after the rest of Equestria does. They have another special day the day before their Winter Wrap-Up day,” Twilight explained. “Today, they’re celebrating Prose Night.”

As Rainbow was dreading, Twilight had a book about Loch Azure’s Prose Night, which she quickly fetched and showed Applejack.

“It’s held on the late great poet Flourish Prose’s birthday. He was one of the most talented writers of his time, and he lived in Loch Azure all his life. He was inspired by the legends of Azurey and the lake he called his home,” Twilight smiled fondly. “And the favourite tradition for the Loch Azure ponies is partaking in Flourish Prose’s favourite food. Garlic cheese toast garnished with diced green onions.”

“Sounds dandy,” said Applejack. “I guess they must be having trouble with their celebrations if I gotta go there and solve a friendship problem.”

“And it’s still early,” said Rainbow Dash. “Somepony must have sabotaged the preparations last night.”

“Maybe, but we shouldn’t prejudge the issue,” said Twilight.

Fluttershy rolled her eyes.

“It’s all up to Applejack to find the problem and help resolve it,” Twilight went on. “I guess we’ll have to get another pony to lead the planting team.”

“Already taken care of,” Applejack told her. “My cutie mark started glowin as soon as I left the barn. Big Mac saw me and told me he had me covered.”

“Sounds like he takes your place a lot when you go on a map mission,” chuckled Rainbow Dash, remembering Orchard Blossom.

At that moment, another reminder of the previous Sisterhooves Social presented itself.

“Big Mac said you gotta go away!” Apple Bloom stomped into the throne room.

“That’s right, I do,” said Applejack, bracing herself for an earful.

“I wanna come with you,” insisted Apple Bloom. “I’m getting sick of that map taking you away from me on special occasions. You hear me, map?! You’re not stealing my big sister from me this time!”

“Apple Bloom,” Twilight began, “this isn’t…”

“Rarity took Sweetie Belle with her on her last mission,” interrupted Apple Bloom. “And she was a big help to her. I could be a big help to you, Applejack.”

“Oh, alright. You can come along,” sighed Applejack.

“Are you sure about this?” asked Twilight as Apple Bloom leapt for joy.

“I ain’t got time to argue,” Applejack put on her saddlebags. “I have work to do.”

“Sorry you’ll miss out on our Winter Wrap-Up,” said Fluttershy. “You too, Apple Bloom.”

“It’ll be worth it if I can help my big sister solve a friendship problem,” beamed Apple Bloom.

One train ride later, Applejack and Apple Bloom could tell just by looking out of their coach window that all was not well in Loch Azure.

“Is that a hole in the lake?” asked Apple Bloom.

“What’s that ruckus?” Applejack perked up her ears towards the front of the train.

There was a great deal of noise on the station platform as the train arrived. Two voices stood out in particular.

“If you don’t like it, you can’t be here!”

“You can’t make me leave just because I refuse to go along with this town’s ridiculous tradition!”

“You want to leave! We all know you want to leave! Otherwise, you’d be using your magic to stop us!”

Once the train came to a stop, Applejack and Apple Bloom attempted to leave their seats and exit the coach. But they were obstructed as a unicorn was shoved aboard the train.

“Yeah, you’re right! I do want to leave!” she barked.

“You shoulda just done it and left us out of it!” shouted the frontrunner of the angry mob.

“I proved my point! I’m done here!” the unicorn growled.

Before Applejack could ask what was happening, the unicorn’s horn lit up. Next second, a suitcase materialised next to her.

“So long, Tundra!” was the last thing she and the Apple sisters heard before she magiced the door shut.

“Excuse me,” said Applejack. “What’s goin on? Are you bein thrown outta town?”

“Sorta,” frowned Tundra. “But it’s not like I like it here. This town’s gotta weird fixation on stupid traditions and superstitions. There’s that stupid Loch Azure Monster, let’s get that outta the way…”

Apple Bloom attempted to point out that the monster turned out to be real, but Applejack cut her off… with her leg.

“Then when that windbag Lactic tries to stop those gullible jokers from diving down and trying to find that monster, he casts the Basiliscus spell on the surface and keeps it on there just because everypony likes walking on water,” Tundra went on complaining. “And the worst of it is that every year, I have to listen to non-stop worship of that talentless hack Flourish Prose!”

“Huh. I heard he was one of the greatest poets of his time,” said Applejack.

“Well his time is long gone. His work is well and truly out-dated,” chuckled Tundra. “And yet everypony in this twisted town treats him like a genius even though by now, so few of the ponies that grew up in this town have even read or been told any of his poems. I just opened their eyes for them, and now they’re chucking me out. I’m not gonna miss em, I can tell you that.”

“What do ya mean you opened their eyes?” asked Applejack. “What’d you do?”

“Go out and have a look,” Tundra waved her hoof at the coach door. “I’m really quite proud of it.”

So Applejack and Apple Bloom opened the door and stepped off the train. As they were in Loch Azure, neither of them were surprised to see that the frontrunner of the angry mob was Lightning Dust.

“Hey, you’re Applejack and Apple Bloom,” her eyes went wide, and then she scowled. “Oh, you’re not gonna try and figure out Tundra’s maze, are you? We already had one outta-towner try it and she ended up just like the rest of them. Why should you be any different?”

Applejack explained to Lightning Dust that she was in town on official business, and so the irate pegasus led her and her sister away from the station.

“Turns out our good friend Tundra has been laughing at us behind our backs for celebrating a beloved public figure,” frowned Lightning Dust.

Applejack looked back at the sound of the locomotive’s whistle blowing. She wondered if she should attempt to keep the train from leaving, but it looked like somepony was going to beat her to it.

“Don’t kick her out, you jerks!” cried a pegasus as she zoomed over Applejack’s head and towards the departing train.

“Forget it, Updraft! She’s history!” Lightning Dust looked back with a look of contempt.

Applejack looked back as well. Lightning Dust was far from the only one in town who wanted to do away with Tundra. The crowd on the platform was cheering. Updraft was flying alongside the carriages shouting, being drowned out by the happy crowd.

“My friend Updraft is Tundra’s stepsister,” groaned Lightning Dust. “She’s not gonna be happy with me. Come on, Apples. Let’s get to the lake quickly.”

Applejack and Apple Bloom couldn’t keep up with the former Wonderbolt Academy cadet, but Updraft overtook them and managed to catch Lightning Dust… by shoving her onto the ground.

“You of all ponies have the nerve to kick her out?!” she growled. “You are such a hypocrite!”

Lightning Dust got back to her hooves. “I guess there’s always a good reason ponies get kicked outta places, Updraft. And if this doesn’t call for exile, then…”

“You endangered lives! Tundra wouldn’t do that!”

“She might if we’re not careful,” Lightning Dust wasn’t yelling. She wasn’t looking at Updraft’s enraged face either.

Applejack and Apple Bloom listened intently as they approached.

“Did the map know this was gonna happen?” Apple Bloom wondered.

“No, no. It sent us… I mean, me here because of something Tundra did,” said Applejack. “And I’m still sure it’s something to do with that weird whirlpool in the lake there.”

No sooner had she said that when two ponies emerged from the hole in the lake and walked glumly along the jinxed lake surface towards the shore.

“Any luck?” Updraft asked them.

“Of course not!” scoffed Lightning Dust. “I’ve gotten the farthest. Nopony’s gonna…”

“You may like to push your boundaries,” interrupted Updraft, “but you’re to poetry what Professor Lactic is to relaxation.”

Lightning Dust smirked. “Thanks to Tundra, he’s gonna be doing a lot of that late…”

“Tundra would never do something like that to the professor!” snapped Updraft. “I’m sure she just used his illness as an opportunity. They’re the two most magically talented ponies in town. Without them, there’s no one to take the spell off the lake.”

“She’d never,” Lightning Dust shook her head. “We’ll need outside help.”

She glanced at Applejack and Apple Bloom.

“Though Princess Twilight’s map thing sent us a pair of earth ponies for some reason,” she sneered. “What can they do?”

“Well, we ain’t gonna do nothin until we know what this whirlpool thing is. So spit it out, Lightning,” demanded Applejack.

Lightning Dust took off.

“Hey!” Applejack barked.

“She refuses to say what was down there,” sighed Updraft. “And she’s not the only one.”

The two ponies the Apples had seen emerge from the whirlpool hadn’t stuck around to make their report.

“Every pony who tries to beat Tundra’s game ends up coming out barely ten minutes after they start,” said Updraft glumly.

“OK, so what’s Tundra’s game?” asked Applejack.

Author's Note

Just so you know, Burns Night isn't the only holiday I based this story on. There are others linked with poetry that I drew inspiration from. Robert Burns was certainly a talented writer.

2 Poetry Course

Updraft pointed to a sign post close to the whirlpool, and the Apple sisters read it.

“Welcome to the Poetry Course! Test your knowledge of Flourish Prose’s greatest works, and be rewarded with everything you need for the traditional Prose Night supper. If you can guess the final word of all five Prose poems at all five of the course’s doors in less than twenty minutes, you win.”

Applejack and Apple Bloom looked back at Updraft.

“Tundra stole the entire town’s supply of garlic cheese toast fixings and stashed it in an air pocket she made on the bottom of the lake,” said Updraft glumly. “And even with all his hoof washing and house scrubbing, Professor Lactic’s caught a bug. He’s totally withdrawn. Migraine and all. He can’t do anything to undo Tundra’s spell.”

Applejack scratched her head. “So you can’t celebrate Prose Night without garlic cheese toast, and the only way to get it back is…”

“It’s not garlic cheese toast I need to celebrate Prose Night!” interrupted Updraft. “It’s my family! And without my stepsister, what’s the point?”

Murmurs erupted from around them. Applejack observed that some of the listening Loch Azure residents who were returning home from the station were nodding approvingly at Updraft’s statement, and others were sniffing.

One small crowd caught Apple Bloom’s eye. They were a trio of foals who didn’t have cutie marks. The opportunity to start a new division of the Cutie Mark Crusaders was too great to pass up. Apple Bloom sauntered away while Applejack and Updraft were talking. But before she could approach the foals, she was sprinkled by snow.

“Sorry,” said Lightning Dust from above. “This one’s not quite empty. Thought I’d check all the clouds before I gotta shove them all away tomorrow.”

Apple Bloom didn’t understand at first as she looked up and watched Lightning Dust crossly moving snow clouds around the sky, but then she remembered something.

“The ponies in this town use magic to wrap up winter, don’t they?” she asked.

“Not this time,” sighed Lightning. “With Tundra given the boot and Lactic sick as a dog, I’m gonna have to get the weather team together and…”

“Wrap it up manually?”

“Pretty much.”

“That’s how we do it in Ponyville,” grinned Apple Bloom.

Lightning Dust descended down to join Apple Bloom on the ground, wearing a puzzled expression. The crowd around them thinned out as ponies returned to their homes.

“But you’ve got lots of talented unicorns in Ponyville, don’t you?” Lightning asked. “Are yours all sick too?”

“No, no. It’s just our tradition. Ponyville was founded by my granny and her family years ago,” Apple Bloom explained. “And all my family are earth ponies. So they wrapped up winter without magic every year, even when the population went up and unicorns moved in.”

Lightning Dust scratched her chin. “Every year, huh? And it works every time? Right on time and all?”

“Uh… well, we-we beat our record last year,” stammered Apple Bloom.

“I’m starting to like the sound of this whole magicless Winter Wrap-Up thing,” grinned Lightning Dust.

“And I kinda like the sound of the traditional Prose Night supper,” said Apple Bloom.

Lightning Dust’s smile vanished. “I think I’ll give it a miss this year. And it looks like I’m not the only one.”

“Apple Bloom!”

“Oh, I better go. See ya, Lightning.”

“K. Bye.”

Apple Bloom rejoined her big sister as Lightning Dust went airborne again.

“I decided that if I’m gonna figure out why the map sent me here, I should try out this here Poetry Course,” said Applejack. “But I ain’t much of a hoof with poetry. So can you come with me and keep track of time?”

“No problem,” nodded Apple Bloom. “Just twenty minutes, right?”

“That’s what Tundra’s sign says,” replied Applejack.

“Where’s Updraft?” asked Apple Bloom.

“She said she’s gonna spend the rest of the day with her parents,” said Applejack. “I think it’s great that she’s so devoted to her family and all, but without their traditional Prose Night stuff, what are they gonna do?”

“We did OK without our traditional Hearth’s Warming stuff at the Pie family’s rock farm. Remember?”

“That’s true. But we had their traditions to try out,” said Applejack. “And they did get to try some of ours. But here, these ponies have nothing. It might as well be any ordinary day without something to celebrate the occasion with. And even if goin into the whirlpool and getting their fixins back ain’t the answer, it’s a place to start, ain’t it?”

“I guess so,” Apple Bloom agreed.

The two sisters entered the hole in the surface of Loch Azure.

“I don’t like our chances of gettin too far,” admitted Applejack. “If that try-hard Lightning Dust didn’t make it all the way to the end…”

“What’s that?” asked Apple Bloom, pointing ahead.

Applejack looked ahead and saw words floating in the distance.

“Could it be a poem?” asked Applejack, picking up the pace.

She was partly right. The words made up an incomplete poem.

‘THE FINEST LAKE I SHALL EVER SEE. AS BLUE AND GLITTERY AS THE…’

Beyond the floating words was a wall of lake water.

“You’re counting the time right?” asked Applejack.

Apple Bloom nodded.

“Good girl. Now let’s see.”

Applejack barely even had a thought when the final word appeared at the end of the sentence.

“SEA? Did I…?”

The wall of water parted, and the deep blue hallway extended for Applejack and Apple Bloom to proceed.

“OK, so we just gotta say what we think the last word of the poem is,” smiled Applejack.

She stepped forward, followed by a very unimpressed Apple Bloom.

See and Sea are practically the same word. Is that the best Flourish Prose could do? she thought.

Applejack was thinking along the same lines, and figured that maybe this was just an easy one to get the challenge started.

“They’ll be gettin harder the further in we go,” she said as the next set of floating letters appeared.

‘AS THE PEGASI’S NIGHTTIME WIND BLEW, I GAZED OUT AT THE LAKE OF…’

Applejack was tempted to say Blue, but thought that would be too obvious. So she tried other rhyming words.

“Dew? Huh, that’d sure be a lot of it. Goo? Nah, this water’s too clean.”

If Apple Bloom hadn’t been counting the seconds, she might’ve been able to point out the obvious. Soon, Applejack decided to blurt out the word Blue on the off chance that it was right. And sure enough, the second poem disappeared and the third section of the whirlpool opened.

“Really? Well, I’ll be a barn cat’s mamma,” chuckled Applejack.

As they ventured on, Apple Bloom lost her concentration. So far, these poems by the late great Flourish Prose were a disappointment. She’d been thinking of presenting what she’d learned down in that lake for Show And Tell in class when she got back to Ponyville, as Cheerilee had never covered poetry by Flourish Prose. Now though, it looked like it wouldn’t be worth bringing up to all her classmates.

Applejack took her time on the third poem as well. The answer to this one also seemed too obvious.

‘EVER SINCE I WAS ONLY FOUR, I WONDERED WHAT ALL THE WORRY WAS…’

Applejack went through the entire alphabet, wondering if this was something Zecora went through every time she opened her mouth.

Apple Bloom lost patience. “For!”

Gone was the third Prose original, and clear was the path ahead.

“So that’s the problem,” sighed Applejack. “This is why nopony’s made it to the end. The ponies in this town are so fiercely proud of the famous poet who lived here, they’re taking finding out his stuff was real predictable real hard.”

“And now they don’t think it’s worth going the whole way and getting all their garlic and green onions and stuff,” put in Apple Bloom. “If we can get it for em, problem solved.”

“I dunno about that,” said Applejack. “Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash didn’t solve that problem in Griffonstone by getting that idol thingy for em.”

“But everypony here is miserable that they can’t have their Prose supper,” said Apple Bloom. “Lightning Dust said she’s not gonna bother. I’ll bet other ponies are doing the same.”

“OK, we’ll keep going and get their stuff,” Applejack decided. “Then we’ll see how they react before we make our next move.”

‘UNDER SUN, SNOW, FOG, AND RAIN, THIS TOWN IS UNDER THE MONSTER’S…’

“Reign.”

The fourth poem made both Applejack and Apple Bloom cringe.

“I wonder if Twilight knows how talentless Flourish Prose was,” said Apple Bloom as she and Applejack ventured on to the fifth and final poem.

“She did say he was liked in his own time. Probably don’t mean a thing to her that standards have gone up since then,” shrugged Applejack.

The sisters dragged their hooves as they approached the final poem. Their feeling that the final poem would be particularly disappointing proved quite justified.

‘FOR FEAR OF RAMPAGE IN THE NIGHT, I’D LOVE TO BE GUARDED BY A…’

“Please, be anything else,” groaned Apple Bloom. “A kite, maybe?”

“Don’t be silly, Apple Bloom. Whoever heard of a kite fightin off a big ol’ monster? Knight!”

Both sisters shook their heads as the path cleared up and revealed the final watery corridor. They walked a distance and soon spotted several crates and drums.

“Boy, this stuff’ll tide a whole Apple Family Reunion over,” gasped Applejack.

Apple Bloom sniffed, then recoiled. “That garlic’s pretty powerful.”

“How long do you think it’ll take to lug it all back to town?” asked Applejack.

“I don’t… uh oh! I lost track of time!”

“Oh, fritters! Come on! The corridor’ll stay there if we touch the…!”

The watery walls were falling apart.

“Hurry, Apple Bloom!”

They made it to the garlic cheese bread supplies just before the pathway behind them disappeared. The air pocket keeping the foodstuffs from getting waterlogged held up, but didn’t provide much space for Applejack and Apple Bloom. They both had to stand with parts of their bodies making contact with the freezing lake water. They knew they wouldn’t manage to swim to the surface. They were trapped.

“If I wasn’t gonna have a Prose dinner by myself tonight, what makes you think I’ll have one with you, Updraft?” demanded Lightning Dust.

“Why not?”

“Without garlic cheese toast and red onion, it might as well just be another normal…”

“Red onion?” Updraft interrupted. “It’s green onion.”

“Oh. Right. My family garnish our cheese toast with red onion,” said Lightning Dust.

“Why?” asked Updraft.

“That was all we had one year. None of us noticed much of a difference, so we kept doing it,” explained Lightning Dust.

Updraft chuckled. “Nice. You know, my family has a slightly different Prose Night tradition too. We each get a loaf rather than slices.”

“Cool,” said Lightning Dust. “But loaves or slices, we won’t have either of them. It won’t be any different than last night. And today’s supposed to be a special day. It’s not now. Not even AJ and her sister could…”

“Hey, where are AJ and her sister?” asked Updraft.

“Uh, Applejack called Apple Bloom over for something while she was telling me about Winter Wrap-Up,” Lightning Dust told her. “I don’t know what she wanted.”

“Hey, I’ve heard of that. Ponyville doesn’t clean away their snow with magic,” said Updraft. “The story is that when Princess Twilight came to town, she didn’t think she had anything to contribute until she discovered that she could organise it better than Amethyst Star.”

Lightning Dust smiled. “Imagine what Applejack and Apple Bloom could bring to Prose Night’s traditions.”

“Do you suppose they tried to beat Tundra’s challenge?” asked Updraft.

“Sounds like something they’d do. They must have given up by now. I don’t think anyone could make it all the way. The cringe is all too real,” Lightning Dust shuddered.

“Then where would they go from here?”

They sat and thought for a minute.

“They wouldn’t leave would they?” asked Updraft. “Could those poems have driven them outta town?”

“Rainbow Dash told me no one on the Royal Taskforce leaves the place the Cutie Map sends them to until they achieve their mission,” insisted Lightning Dust. “And she never left Equestria after her last mission, so I’m sure she wasn’t lying.”

“In that case, they didn’t manage before the time ran out. And they’re stuck down there,” concluded Updraft.

“Then we gotta get em out!” said Lightning Dust. “I don’t wanna go into Winter Wrap-Up tomorrow blind.”

“You’re really on board with that idea, aren’t you?” smiled Updraft.

“Sorry, big sis,” sighed Apple Bloom. “I wasn’t any help to ya at all.”

“Well, at least I ain’t stuck down here alone,” said Applejack. “And we won’t starve.”

Apple Bloom’s face twitched a bit.

“‘Sides, I didn’t think to tell anypony we were goin down here,” Applejack went on. “No pony wants to have to deal with all them crummy poems, so…”

The air pocket expanded.

“And that’s a record!” they heard Lightning Dust call.

“They came for us!” cried the Apple sisters.

The horizontal whirlpool appeared before them, and in came Lightning Dust, who gave Apple Bloom a hug, and Updraft, who hugged Applejack.

“Thanks, y’all,” smiled Applejack.

Words appeared in the exit threshold.

‘CONGRATULATIONS. SO WHAT HAVE YOU DISCOVERED FOR YOURSELF?’

“That’s an easy one,” smirked Lightning Dust.

Applejack and Apple Bloom thought they could smell a rant against Tundra coming, but Updraft’s smile put them off.

“I’ve learned that you need both ponies and things to make up a holiday celebration,” said Lightning Dust.

“Neither is more important than the other,” nodded Updraft in agreement. “The traditional food you eat are what make the holiday what it is.”

“And friends and family make each of the celebrations unique,” said Lightning Dust.

The Apple sisters faces lit up. They knew this to their cost.

“And we owe it all to you two,” said Updraft warmly.

Each of the four ponies carried some cheese toast supplies back through the whirlpool towards the shore.

“There are three teams. The planting team, the weather team, and the animal team,” Apple Bloom was explaining Winter Wrap-Up to Lightning Dust and Updraft. “The weather team clears the snow and moves the clouds. The planting team gets the seeds planted. And the animal team wakes up all the hibernating animals.”

Applejack beamed. “You ain’t never taken part in Winter Wrap-Up, but you got it down.”

“Yeah. Too bad I had to miss it,” sighed Apple Bloom.

“You’ll get your chance tomorrow,” Lightning Dust nudged her. “I don’t think anyone’ll hate the idea once we give it to em.”

“You may not need to,” said Applejack, “but if ya like the idea, you’re totally welcome to try it.”

“Well, we do need to,” sighed Updraft. “My stepsister…”

“Is there!”

The first thing the party saw when they exited the Poetry Course was Tundra. She didn’t appear sore about her challenge being beaten. She looked rather pleased.

“I never wanted to leave,” she said. “I’m…”

“Didn’t want to miss out on garlic cheese loaves, huh?” frowned Lightning Dust.

“How did you…?”

Lightning Dust couldn’t keep a straight face. “I’m game.”

Word spread that there was nothing to stop the traditional Prose supper from happening that night. As Applejack and Apple Bloom discovered, some residents of Loch Azure have taken to picnicking out on the lake on Prose Night recently. The only pony in town who missed out was Prof Lactic, but a few ponies dropped a care package of fresh garlic cheese toast off at his house. Applejack and Apple Bloom had a lovely evening out on the lake despite the cold, Lightning Dust thought having a whole loaf of garlic cheese toast was a treat, and Updraft, Tundra, and their parents had no complaints about the diced red onion garnish. And the supper was concluded by Applejack’s cutie mark glowing and buzzing.

“Guess we’re done with our mission,” she said, pulling Apple Bloom into a hug.

“Sorry you’ve got to go,” said Tundra.

“Hey, I said we’re done with our mission. Not that we’re done in this town,” said Applejack.

“Yeah, they’ve gotta stick around for Winter Wrap-Up tomorrow,” said Lightning Dust. “I want them to see us beat Ponyville’s record.”

“Oh, you think you can break our record on your first Winter Wrap-Up without magic?” smirked Applejack. “I’ll take that bet.”

Author's Note

Anicdote: A few weeks ago at work, I realised it was January 25th, and said out loud that Burns Night was that night. The guy next to me heard and asked what that was. So I attempted to explain, but I was half awake. I said it was a Scottish celebration dedicated to George Burns. My co-worker chuckled and said he liked that old dude with the glasses. I thought to myself Something about what I said doesn't feel right. But I didn't figure it out until hours later. I am not a morning person.