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Esle Ynopemos
Group Admin

Angst.

Angst angst, angst-angst angst angst. Angst angst angst angst angst!

“Angst angst angst angst-angst,” Angst angst.

Angst angst angst, “Angst.”

Angstity angst-angst, angsty angst angst angst. Angst angst angsty angsty angst (angst angst angstitudinal angst). Angstium angst angstoppable angst angst, Aangst angst angst Aengst.

Angstopolis angst-angst angst; angst Angstorean angst. Angstrom angsty angst angst angst angstizontal and angstagonal angst. Angst angst angstinean angst-angst, angst angstonomical angstpocalypse. Angst!

Angst McAngst-angst angst angst angst. Angsty angsty angst. With an angst-angst here and an angst-angst there, here an angst, there an angst, everywhere an angst-angst.

A-N-G-S and T, find out what it means to me.

Angst! Uh! What is it good for?

Aaaaaaaaaaaangssssssssst!

The prompt: Sunshine, happiness, and rainbows.


This is a thirty minute writing prompt, meaning you have thirty minutes to finish your story from the time you start writing. You may take as much time as you wish to think, plan, or outline before you begin, but once the first word is on the page, the timer begins. When you are finished, post your story to this thread, and, in the tradition of the TMP mods of yore, I will read and give it a comment when I can.

Traditionally, TMP prompts would have a six to eight-hour window in which to submit, but for these legacy prompts, there will be no limit after the prompt is up. Go ahead and post something a year from now, if you like. Just bear in mind that I'm less likely to respond with feedback to anything submitted more than a week or so after the prompt. Good luck!

3976089

The prompt: Sunshine, happiness, and rainbows.

First thing that pops into mind is Celestia/Pinkie/Dash shipping.

But that's not the intent, right?

...Right?

Esle Ynopemos
Group Admin

3976568 :pinkiehappy: :rainbowderp: :trollestia:

The beautiful thing about prompts like this is that the intent doesn't really matter.

3976089
Must. Not. Subvert. Prompt.
Must. Write. Happy. Ponies.


Legacy Prompt #18: Happy? Happy.

Twilight Sparkle trotted down the streets of Ponyville. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and over at Carousel Boutique, she could hear Rarity wailing about how the fabric she had ordered was the wrong shade of blue. Satisfied that everything was not perfectly fine (Twilight had learned the lesson of tempting fate too many times, and nice days in Ponyville had a habit of going wrong), Twilight headed for Sweet Apple Acres.

Both Applejack and Big Macintosh had asked Twilight to go over their financial books as a favour, to confirm Big Mac’s numbers, as tax time was coming up. Twilight had wanted to do tedious math for a while anyway, as a way to get her mind off her new station as Princess of Friendship.

As Twilight crossed into Apple farmland, the scent of fresh apple pie drifted on the wind, mixed with the undeniable smell of hard work. Twilight wasn’t sure that hard work had a smell, but it certainly seemed to fit. As Twilight approached the Apple’s home, she ran across Applejack hauling several carts of apple to the barn.

“Well, howdy there Twilight!” said Applejack, “What brings y’all out here today?”

“I finished your books. Just came to return them,” said Twilight, levitating the hefty tomes that detailed the finances of Sweet Apple Acres out of her saddlebags.

“Mighty fine of you, Twilight. I was just gonna pick ‘em up the next time I dropped by.”

“Oh, don’t worry. It was the least I could do, and I was going out anyway,” smiled Twilight.

“Well, thanks for checkin’ them anyway. Find anything in them?”asked Applejack, as she unhooked herself from the carts.

“Nothing major. A few minor errors, but your brother’s bang on with his numbers.”

“Heh,” smiled Applejack, “Big Macintosh has always been the better of the two of us with numbers and fancy mathematics. Maybe you’d like him to be ‘bang on’ you, sometime? ‘Cause I got no problem if he don’t. All ya gotta do is say the word, Twi.”

Twilight groaned, and buried her face in her hooves, and then added her wings to the mix.

“Stop trying to set me up with your brother, Applejack,” she said.

“I’m just messin’ with you, sugarcube. I’ll stop if it bothers you that much.” Said Applejack, rubbing Twilight’s back.

“No, no, it’s alright. Just tone it down for a while.”

“Alright,” said Applejack, “I can lay off for a while.”

Twilight uncovered her face, and smiled up at Applejack. Clambering back onto her hooves, Twilight passed the books to Applejack, bade her farewells, and then headed back towards Ponyville. She couldn’t be happier, aside from the whole Princess of Friendship deal. She lived in a great place, had wonderful friends, and she was learning more and more about magic everyday. Really, what more could a mare ask for?

Quickly, Twilight checked the sky, but aside from a few scattered clouds and the tell-tale signs of Rainbow Dash practicing, nothing ominous was happening, like, for instance, the moon falling on Equestria. Twilight let out a sigh of relief.

Truly, Ponyville had taught her well.

******

Queen Chrysalis smiled as she approached the pod in which Twilight Sparkle lay, trapped and helpless, the illusion that the pod contained keeping her happy. Chrysalis couldn’t care less about what the pod was showing her. All she knew was that the illusion would adjust, latch onto the things that Twilight found the happiest, and tailor itself to keep Twilight in a state of perpetual bliss.

For all Chrysalis knew, she could be surrounded by puppies, or with a loved one, and Chrysalis didn’t really care. All Chrysalis cared about was that she was happy, and could thus feed her hive. Soon, she’d have enough love to take Canterlot. Taking Ponyville had been a smart move – with the entire town trapped in pods, and her swarms gorging themselves on the love the cocooned ponies produced, while pretending that nothing was wrong, she’d soon be able to take Equestria for herself.

And that thought brought a wickedly happy smile to Chrysalis’s mouth.

3976089

Legacy Prompt #18: Basically, TMP

Fluff.

Fluff Fluff, Fluff-Fluff Fluff Fluff. Fluff Fluff Fluff Fluff Fluff!

“Fluff Fluff Fluff Fluff-Fluff,” Fluff Fluff.

Fluff Fluff Fluff, “Angst.”

Angstity angst-angst, angsty angst angst angst. Angst angst angsty angsty angst (angst angst angstitudinal angst). Angstium angst angstoppable angst angst, Aangst angst angst Aengst.

Fluffopolis Fluff-Fluff Fluff; Fluff Flufforean Fluff. Fluffrom Fluffy Fluff Fluff Fluff Fluffizontal and Fluffagonal Fluff. Fluff Fluff Fluffinean Fluff-Fluff, Fluff Fluffonomical Fluffpocalypse. Fluff!

Fluff McFluff-Fluff Fluff Fluff Fluff. Fluffy Fluffy Fluff. With a Fluff-Fluff here and a Fluff-Fluff there, here a Fluff, there a Fluff, everywhere a Fluff-angst.

A-N-G-S and T, find out what it means to me.

Angst! Uh! What is it good for?

Fluuuuuuuuuffffff! Annnnngssssssssst!

And then, all the makeouts happened.

(A/N: I am not sorry. Not at all. I will not apologise for accurately representing the entirety of TMP.)

3976089
Legacy Prompt No.18, Grounded by KwirkyJ



"– saying is that that's how it feels to me!" Twilight's magic seized upon the cup before her, and she proceeded to fervently gulp a mouthful. That chore completed, she wiped her mouth with her cannon, returned the cup far more gently to the table, and deflated, much more relaxed. "What do you think?"

Applejack started, blinking. "Huh? Whuzzat?"

Twilight watched her carefully. "Applejack, I've spent the last ten minutes talking about the craziness I'm putting up with for the new library in the castle. Weren't you listening?"

Applejack folded her ears back and her shoulders slumped. "Gosh, I'm sorry Twilight. My mind was just wandering, I guess." Her eyes slid from her friend to the scenery.

"I suppose it is quite a nice day," Twilight said, pensively. "I know, I know, I'm just getting too tangled up in things. I need to relax more, take my mind off the stress and pay attention to the pleasant things. Like you, Applejack!"

"Oh? How's that?"

"You always put your mind in the right place. Like now: you're here for me, and you listened to the parts that were important. Once I started going off on the troublesome tangents, you stayed where you should have. You brought me back!"

"Well, shucks, when you put it like that –"

"So what are you thinking about?"

Twilight was leaning forward quite sharply, eyes bright.

"Huh?"

"What are you thinking about, Applejack? I want to know how you think. If I'm going to keep myself grounded through this whole thing, I can't think of a better pony to model from than you! So what's on your mind?"

Applejack's eyes were directed towards her friend, but she had stopped seeing her. Her mind had shifted completely. She could say that she was worried sick about Granny, that she's getting on in years and, though Granny would never admit it, she was getting more 'off' every day. The spring doctor's-visit was coming up in a few weeks, and Applejack was most concerned what the news might be.

There was also the planting to concern her. The crop rotation had been thrown the past season when the plow broke and couldn't get it mended before the onset of winter. She was scrambling to adjust to the land that they could work between the orchards, weighing what the cows and pigs needed and what they could allocate for pasture.

"Gee, Twi, I..."

There was also the pruning to be done, already getting late as the trees leaved and set to blossom. So many trees and only so many hours in a day. Unless everything went flawlessly, she's have a triage situation come summer when the apples began to develop fully, and she'd have to hope she guessed correctly which limbs were set to snap. Snapped branches means less fruit next year, and the very understated threat of canker and other diseases the trees might catch if it didn't heal in time.

Macintosh was also spending quality time with Ms. Cheerilee -- a grand thing in her book, make no mistake -- which took a significant amount of labor off of the farm with the hour here and there being devoted elsewhere. Applebloom was off doing her own thing, and, though the chores were important and being tended to, couldn't pick up the same slack. That meant more and more things were falling to Applejack to get done right and on time.

And what of herself? Somewhere among those pristine white clouds was a certain pegasus she wished she could spend more time with, herself. Someday, maybe. Maybe, once there was more time. Time to treat her right. Time to give herself – Applejack – some happiness of her own.

"Yes?" Twilight prodded.

Applejack's eyes slid back down from the sky over the acres to fall again on Twilight. A pang of guilt welled inside her. With learning to fly, Rainbow and Twilight has been spending more time than usual together. Applejack didn't know if she would miss her chance. Or how she might feel if she did or didn't. That was the sorry truth, she simply didn't know. And that terrified her.

"I guess I'm not thinking much about anything, Twilight." Applejack put on her best smile. "Just enjoyin' the fine weather and the company of a friend."

Twilight smiled as well, nodding. "Now that's the kind of advise I can use."

Author's Note:
Well, here's some angst/ennui in my traditional(?) Applejack flavor. Mind the pun. This was good to write. And by 'good' I mean 'heinous, why would you have these characters lie to each other (and themselves??) like that!'

3976089

Legacy Prompt 18: Service

Lyra was practically skipping as they headed away from the library. “The Summer Sun Celebration! Here, in Ponyville! This’ll be great!”

Bon Bon stepped forward at a bit slower pace. “I’m glad you like it,” she said.

“Hey, I love it! I remember getting to see the Celebration in Canterlot as a filly, and it was amazing each time!” Then, as a thought struck her, she turned. “Did you ever get the chance to go to the Celebration, Bonnie?”

“Well…”

“Hey Mom! Dad! I’m headed out!”

Bright Day’s mother looked up to where she’d called out. “Have fun with your school friends at the Celebration, dear! Your father and I will join you in a few hours!”

Bright herself grinned back. “Sure thing, Mom. See you then!” She then turned and headed out the door.

Outside, the young pegasus took to the skies, her light gray hide taking a reddish tone from the setting sun. She pumped her wings hard, heading toward the Cantersville Fairground, where preparations for the night’s festivities and the morning’s big event were already underway.

About twenty minutes later, Bright touched down at the edge of the fairgrounds. She’d spotted some of the other members of the Happy Hearts club from school, and they’d clearly spotted her as well, given that they were heading her direction. Along with them was their club sponsor, Cinnamon Drop, who had an annoyed look on her face. “Well, that’s the last of you to arrive. Good.”

A second, gentler response to Bright’s lateness came on a different level. ‘We had expected you to join us an hour ago, Sweetie Drops. Is everything all right?’

The mare who technically was not Bright Day gave a short nod of her head, barely visible. ‘My apologies, Majesty. My cover’s family does the whole “bond over a meal” thing every night. I felt it would have been suspicious to skip that, even for the Summer Sun Celebration.’ Then, where passers-by could hear her, “Sorry, Mrs. C. I won’t let it happen again.”

‘That’s fine, dear. I respect your judgement.’ The queen flooded Sweetie Drops with her pleasure and trust, but for public consumption snorted out, “See to it that you don’t.” She then pulled a thin patch of orange cloth, a woven foreleg band, out of her saddlebags. “You’ll be working the Orange Ring, Bright, along with the young daredevil here.” She pointed to one of the others in the group, a buck named Sidestep who was currently masquerading as Snap Kick, one of the school’s star hoofball players. He held up his own leg, an identical logo-emblazoned orange band already on it. Others in the group bore similar bands in red, green, blue, yellow, and purple; ‘Mrs. C’ had one that looked to have been dyed in liquid rainbow. “Remember,” Mrs. C said to the group, “we’re trying to make this evening as enjoyable as possible for everypony. Go out of your way to be kind, polite, and helpful.” She nodded at each team in turn, then turned away. “I suspect most of you will probably be joining your parents, but I’ll try to reserve some seats at the sun-raising for anyone who wants to join me there. Now, let’s get to work.”

The rest of the evening went by fairly easily for the most part. The most common assistance Sweetie and Sidestep had to give was when visitors asked which way to various attractions - with Mrs. C looking over the fairground map, and broadcasting the image of it to every changeling in the Happy Hearts, it was a simple task to direct others around, earning (and stockpiling) their gratitude. About midnight, though, the two of them heard a wailing sound and went off to investigate.

Beside the cotton candy booth, a little bluish-green colt was plopped on the ground, crying his eyes out. ‘You want to take this one, ‘Step, or should I?’

Sidestep briefly shook his head. ‘I’ll take it; you stand by.’ He then stepped over to the colt. “Hey, kiddo, what’s wrong?”

The colt briefly stopped in shock, looking up at the apparent stallion towering above him. “I, I, I can’t find my mommy,” he sniffled.

Sidestep bent down. “Easy, there, little guy. We’ll help get her back to you.” He motioned for Sweetie Drops to come join him, which she did. “I’m Snap Kick,” Sidestep said gently, “and this is my friend Bright. What’s your name?”

“S, S, Seaspray.”

Sweetie nodded. ‘I’ll pass the word.’ She then bent down. “Hello, Seaspray. What does your mommy look like?”

“She, she’s a big pink unicorn, an’, an’ her mane’s the same color as mine.”

Sweetie glanced down, then ruffled Seaspray’s grayish-white mane. “Okay. Seaspray, you stay with Snap here, all right? I’ll go ask some friends to help me find your mommy, and we’ll get the two of you back together.” She glanced up at Sidestep. “Take him to the stage; it’s a good convenient location anyone can send her to when we find her.”

“Sure thing, Bright.” Sidestep then knelt down, getting his back as low as he could. “Hop on, little guy.”

Sweetie Drops didn’t stay to watch; she was already airborne. ‘Missing Colt Alert, everyone. Mother is a white-maned pink unicorn, and from how loud the colt was crying, she’s probably starting to get frantic. Anyone see anything?’

Most of the responses were negative, but one did finally come back positive. ‘This is Cloud Dancer, Green Ring. I saw a mare like that a couple of minutes ago, and she did appear to be looking for something. I couldn’t reach her at the time due to the crowd.’

Sweetie nodded to herself. ‘Understandable. Give me a visual on the area, and I’ll do an overhead sweep.’

‘Got it.’ A second later, a memory shoved itself into Sweetie’s mind; the perspective Cloud Dancer had been holding at the time. Sweetie quickly compared it to the map Mrs. C was still holding up, identified the area, and swooped on over.

Sure enough, a pink unicorn mare was there, standing in a crowd, and as Sweetie got closer, she could hear what the mare was saying. “Excuse me, has anyone seen a little blue colt? I was sure he was behind me, but I can’t find him now!”

Sweetie bulled her way through the crowd, garnering a few dark looks. She ignored their disapproval, forcing her way in until she could tap the unicorn mare on her flank. “Ma’am? Is your son’s name Seaspray?”

The mare spun. “Yes! Have you seen him?”

Sweetie nodded. “One of my friends found your son a few minutes ago. I’ll be happy to take you to him.”

“Mommy!”

Sweetie smiled at the sight as the little colt jumped off of Sidestep’s back and sprinted toward his mother. She, in turn, swept him up in her magic, dumping him on her back as she turned to face him. “Don’t wander off like that, Seaspray! I was so worried about you!”

“I’m sorry, Mommy,” the colt blubbed. “But this nice stallion found me and the pretty mare told me she’d find you.”

“Yes,” the mare said. She turned toward Sweetie, who was sliding over to stand beside Sidestep. “Thank you, both of you. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t helped us out.”

Sidestep nodded, and Sweetie smiled. “We’re just happy you’re happy,” she said. Both of them, however, basked in the tearful gratitude the mare was radiating, and carefully stored as much of it as they could draw in.

Time Limit

As the mare headed off, someone stepped up behind Sweetie and laid a hoof on her withers, causing her to jump. As she reoriented herself, she saw who it was and gave an annoyed snort. “Don’t startle me like that, dad!”

Bright Day’s father smiled back. “Sorry, hon. I didn’t mean to.” He joined her in the air, pulling her into a deep hug. “I saw what you just did, Bright, and I’m proud of you. Thinking of how much trouble you got up to last year… you’d never have done that then. This club of yours has been good for you.”

“Da~ad, you’re embarrassing me!” Slowly (very slowly, she was enjoying his love as he lavished it on her), Sweetie managed to pull away from her cover identity’s father, the two slowly lowering themselves to the ground. “And I need to get back to work; the night’s only half over.”

“Sure thing, hon. Your mother and I’ll see you come sunrise.”

Sweetie smiled. “I’ll be there.”

“Hello, Ponyville to Bonnie, can you hear me?”

Bon Bon snapped herself into focus. “I’m sorry, Lyra, what were you saying?”

“I asked if you ever got the chance to go to the Summer Sun Celebration before, and you sorta zoned out on me.”

“Sorry.” She took a few seconds to reorient her thoughts. “Once, Lyra. Back when they held it in Baltimare, years ago. That’s all.”

“So you’ve got a little idea what’s in store.” Lyra nodded, then spun her head, her horn pointing back to the library. “Let’s just hope that grumpy purple unicorn doesn’t spoil it for everypony.”

Bon Bon smiled. “I’ll second that,” she said.

3976089

No Celestia/Pinkie/Dash shipping here!

Panem et Circenses

"So that's how it is, Clover. We're gonna have enough food for the winter, but only if we scrimp and save."

Clover the Clever's eyes darted left to right as she scanned through the numbers on the sheet. Smart Cookie would have dismissed any other pony as simply taking her word for it and making a pretense of looking it over. But she knew that this pony was bright enough that she was probably actually double checking all the math in her head. As the unicorn read through the production figures and estimates, Smart Cookie heard a fluttering of wings outside. She trotted lightly over to the door and opened it, smiling at the pegasus she saw. "Heya, Private. Come on in, we got the place to ourselves for this little meeting."

Private Pansy smiled at her, but then lowered her head slightly, as though she were afraid she might offend by what she was saying. "Um, actually it's 'Corporal' now. But just Pansy is fine."

Smart Cookie chuckled warmly and shut the door behind the mare. "'Cookie' then. How you doing, Pansy? Pegasopolis is looking bigger up there in the sky every day."

Both of them knew how their unicorn friend was when it came to work, so neither of them bothered her for the moment. Their conversation stayed almost forcedly light, drifting across Pansy's recent promotion to Cookie's new apple-farming coltfriend, and then back to the changes in Pegasopolis and round again to the new construction in Everfree. It wasn't until Clover clacked the sheets of paper against the desk to straighten them, that the two mares looked to their friend again.

Clover set the papers down again with a slight blush on her muzzle, and then sighed. "Hi, Corporal Pansy, and sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I'm done cross-checking and running through your numbers, Smart Cookie. It almost doesn't make sense. We have more ponies, and more food than last year, but the work is going slower."

Smart Cookie nodded, the lighthearted tone from her conversation with Pansy gone in a flash. "Sure is. I've been trying to keep everpony working, but... well, let's see how I want to say it. I reckon what I'm thinking is that back home, before the windigoes I mean, we had to work. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't just laying around all day. But we had good roads, and we had well-kept fields, and everypony had a solid, stone home to live in. Out here everything's still rustic. We have to turn up stumps when we're plowing, and clear forest to plant anything new, and even Puddinghead's house has more drafts than an empty field. I know the pegasus ponies are going all over heck and high water trying to find clouds to use, and just about every unicorn I see is black-coated with mine dust."

Corporal Pansy nodded her agreement, but didn't speak.

Clover's horn glowed as she shuffled the papers around, and nodded after a moment. "I know it's difficult. But look, the work on construction, meaning all three tribes, is going very well. Only by working together will the work get done! The schedules I've developed, along with the hot-bunking and rationing, will have everything completely finished in five years. Though the slowdown isn't even just linear, and inside of a year or two... hm."

The unicorn's voice trailed off to an unstated end. Smart Cookie waited a moment, and then spoke for herself. "In a year or two, we're going to have more ponies than we can feed, and that's even assuming we last that long. Last year we didn't even manage half the harvest before rot started setting in. This year's looking worse, even though it's only the start of harvest season. I can't keep pushing everypony so hard. Russet comes home hardly able to stand most nights, and I just can't bring myself to push harder."

Corporal Pansy looked at each pony as they spoke, while her wings rustlign in worry.

"What do you want then, Smart Cookie? We can't just stop working! The unicorns need the gems for the magic to raise the sun, and the pegasus ponies have to have clouds to make it rain. Not to mention the food, which is the most important part of all! We can't just let ponies slow down! I know they're tired, we're all tired... exhausted. But we have to work, or we'll all be even worse off next year."

"Don't act like I don't know it. Clover, we've got fillies and colts out working the fields, and they're hardly weaned. Don't look at me like that, I know unicorns ain't doing any better. I'm not saying it's about what kind of pony I am. I'm just saying we can't keep on working like this, unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony."

"I don't see what else--"

The sudden clang of a mailed hoof on the floor of the house stopped the argument cold. Corporal Pansy maintained her furrowed brow for all of two or three seconds before wilting again, but she still held her friends' attention when she spoke. "Listen to yourselves! Um... this isn't how friends should treat one another."

A few seconds of silence passed, followed by muttered apologies from all three ponies. After that, however, the silence just hung in the room, growing heavier by the second.

When Smart Cookie finally broke it, her voice made the other two mares jump, despite her quiet tone. "I was thinking... Heh, sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I was thinking, one thing I miss from back home is the Running of the Leaves."

Pansy tilted her head slightly. "The Running of the Leaves?"

Clover spoke as though reciting verbatim from a book. "The Running of the Leaves is an earth pony tradition, found in many of the tribes, of having long ground races in the late fall. Its primary purpose is to shake down the leaves from the trees and prepare for winter."

"It ain't just-" Smart Cookie stopped herself, and started again with a calmer tone. "It's not just about the trees. The Running of the Leaves was a day everypony took off from work, just to watch the runners, or laugh and gallop through the forest. Ponies worked hard going up to it, so they'd have time to take the day off, and after that they felt a whole heap better. Competition brought folks together, and a day where nopony was expected to work is better than a week of shirking duties."

"That um... that sounds like the military parades we had in our old cloud cities. Work would stop, and everypony would watch the military ponies as we walked through town. It um... well, it made everypony feel better, seeing how strong and numerous our soldiers were."

Clover nodded slowly, looking through her gathered notes as she did so. "What was the last holiday we had? Oh, Founder's Day, the anniversary of when we started Equestria. That was over six months ago. You know, you ponies might be on to something! Everypony likes a party, and feasting and celebration both draws a community together and provides time for recovery."

Pansy smiled again, re-folding her wings and looking much relieved at the more relaxed atmosphere. "So, you're suggesting a holiday?"

Clover set the papers down, and closed her eyes for a moment, before smiling as she opened them again. "Actually, I'm suggesting lots of holidays. If we have a harvest feast soon, marking the start of the harvest season, then all the earth ponies will be that much stronger for the next few weeks. Those are the most critical times for the harvest, right Cookie?"

Smart Cookie nodded, still looking just a bit skeptical.

Clover continued unabated. "Even if we eat a quarter of our stores, and I don't think it will actually be that much, we'll more than double the harvest over last year. Probably, anyway. At the end of autumn, we can do the Running, to prepare for the work of preserving all the rest of the food over winter. Founder's day is during the winter months, and then afterwords we can... hm. Maybe we can do something with the cleanup to make way for spring."

Smart Cookie smiled slightly, looking a bit more confident. "Singing a song makes lighter work. I'll talk to some folks, we can come up with something."

Pansy looked down at her hooves, clad in clinking mail. "Um, maybe the miltary could avoid full armor in peacetime. We could change the name of the Weather Legion to something more... friendly. The weather team? Or... patrol? We could also work on making the rain stay on the fields, while leaving the town streets full of sunshine."

Clover smiled at the pegasus, and nodded again. "I think we're on to something. I was looking at this all wrong, with duty schedules and staring at numbers. We started Equestria, the three of us, by being friends. We started it with singing, and laughing. If we focus on that, and hold on to a sense of happiness, community, and levity, then all the work will seem easier for it."

The three friends smiled, and clopped their hooves together in agreement. They would make Equestria a land of parties, happiness, sunshine, and friendship. Hopefully, they would also make it a land of plenty.

Esle Ynopemos
Group Admin

3977951 No subversions here. Nope. Everypony is happy, Chrysalis and the changelings are happy, everyone wins. It's all sunshine and rainbows forever. Yep.

I like how the slice-of-lifey inconsequentiality of the scene feeds into the fact that it's just an illusion. It's a neat flavor of foreshadowing.

Esle Ynopemos
Group Admin

3978005 Fluff? Angst. Flangst!

Esle Ynopemos
Group Admin

3978352 This is a nice bit of insight into Applejack's mind. I like the contrast between how Twilight perceives her and what Applejack is actually thinking of. And her little white lie at the end just ties it all up so nicely. Good job.

Esle Ynopemos
Group Admin

3982169 Apparently, changeling telepathy works like walkie-talkies.

I would caution you, more for all your changeling-verse stories than this one in particular, not to let their suite of powers get too bloated. It can start to deflate the tension in a story if the characters in it have too many, too practical abilities.

Esle Ynopemos
Group Admin

3984124 Lovely world-building take on the prompt. I like this idea of how Equestria came to be the colorful, cheerful place we see in the show. They need it to be like that, or else they could never get through the work it takes for them to survive. We see the roots of several familiar holidays, which is neat, and also maybe the beginning of Equestria's habit of suddenly breaking out into song.

Bread and circuses, indeed.

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