Deep in the heart of Canterlot Castle, there is a magnificent oven. When it was first turned on, chefs across Equestria were said to have wept. The confections baked in its vast maw have calmed implacable enemies, have awed nobility, and have been presented to museums as works of art. Those honoured few to have used the Royal Oven are said to absorb some of its magic and even their bones in the earth remain warm.

Celestia swatted Luna's hoof which was reaching for the handle.

"But sister!"

"They have a few minutes yet, Luna."

"Yea, however the crusts are the proscribed umber and flaking!"

Celestia stepped over and peered in and frowned slightly. "Curious." She glanced at the temperature gauge, then back through the screen. "Curious..."

"Now dost thou believe me? They must be extracted at once!"

Celestia huffed. "If they are to be in error,then it shall be my error." She patted an indignant Luna with a wing before returning to the Royal Sinks to finish cleaning her mixing utensils.

"Be as thou say'st, sister..."

Celestia gave her a beatific smile. "Fret not, Luna. I will be certain to help you with your --" she stifled a giggle, "-- licorice-lightning marzipan souffle cookies."

Luna's wings splayed defensively. "Neigh, thou wilt not! 'Twill be grand!"

Celestia stuck out her tongue. "Love you too, Lu-lu."

The prompt: Things worth doing together.

This is a thirty-minute prompt. You have as long as you like to plan or procrastinate, but once the first word is down the timer is running! Reply to this post and I read and reply with feedback -- don't hesitate to ask for what kind of feedback you want, technicial, critique, or unbridled praise.

Oh, and Merry Christmas | Happy Holidays | Merry Jinglemas | Yay Festivus | Hearth's Warming | &c. EVERYPONY!

4944319

This week's been busy and strange with all the holidays and all. I'm going to say that's why there's no responses after you've been putting in so many stories yourself lately.

This didn't quite turn out how I wanted, but then again my stories never do lately. Still postable though!

"But I don't wanna! I got other things to do, Applejack!"

Applejack sighed quietly as she set up another barrel of apples for shipping out tomorrow. "Sugar, it's just dinner. You'll be out with your friends in an hour or so."

Apple Bloom stamped a hoof. "But it ain't fair! Sweetie Belle doesn't have to eat dinner at home every day! And Scootaloo about never does!"

"That's 'cause Rarity left home soon as she was able, an' pegasus ponies are weird about this an' that." Applejack tried to keep her voice nice and neutral as she closed up the wagon, and then sat down.

Apple Bloom plopped her rear down on the floor of the barn and rolled her eyes. When her big sister started sounding like that, she knew darn well she wasn't getting out of it.

"What's got you so worked up, Sugar? You used to love eatin' dinner with your family."

Apple Bloom scuffed one hoof against the floor. "It ain't that, Applejack. I got Crusader business! There's a new colt at school who doesn't have his cutie mark yet, and we're supposed to be meetin' up to think of a way to help him."

"And that colt'll still be blank tomorrow, probably. Besides, it's not going to be all night, Sugar. Just a little bit of time for us, that's all."

Yep, definitely not getting out of it. Apple Bloom slumped to the floor, with her forelegs splayed out in front of her. "It ain't fair. I can eat dinner with y'all any time I want. I'll do it tomorrow."

Applejack nodded, and looked over the barrels of apples sitting all around the barn, most of which needed proper storage and shipping out to all over Equestria. "Apple Bloom, I get it, I do. I got a lot of work left too, an' even an hour or two more would help out a ton."

Apple Bloom waited for the other horseshoe to drop.

"And you're right, you can eat dinner with us any day. If you want to run off to your Crusaders meetin', you can. But listen, when I was uh... a little younger than you, I thought the same way. Didn't want to come back home to some borin' apple orchard. I even told Granny before, same thing you just said."

Apple Bloom looked up at Applejack, but her big sister was looking aside at the moment.

"Then, uh... one day..." Applejack trailed off a moment, and then turned to look at Apple Bloom again. "Listen, Sugar. Right now you can eat with all of us any time you like. But one day, you won't be able to anymore. An' that day, you're gonna wish you'd taken the chance when you could."

"Come on, Applejack. I know what you're sayin', but Granny isn't that old. She's always sayin' she's going to be around for a good long while still! It's just one day!"

Applejack nodded. "It ain't always age that does it, Sugar. But you go on ahead, I'll see you when you get back."

Apple Bloom stood up and hugged her sister, before galloping off and out of the barn.

Something stuck in her head though, as she galloped along the trail toward the front gate. She knew exactly what her sister was talking about. Ma and Pa had died all of a sudden, and Applejack felt guilty or something. But it wasn't the same and she ought to know it!

Besides, Applejack missed plenty of dinners when she was off running around and saving Equestria.

It was always kind of weird without her there. Granny and Mac always seemed worried that she might not come back. Apple Bloom knew better than that, nothing could beat her big sister, after all. But sometimes Applejack was off for a week or more, and then even Apple Bloom would start to get worried.

She slowed to a stop, at the gate that marked the edge of Sweet Apple Acres.

Who knows when her sister's cutie mark might call her into some adventure again? Maybe tomorrow morning, and maybe... maybe she wouldn't...

That was silly. Applejack wouldn't go missing or anything. She'd be here tomorrow, and every day, like always. So would Granny, and Big Mac.

It was silly, but Apple Bloom stopped at the gate, and then turned around.

The Crusaders would be there after dinner. They knew she always ate with her family, after all, and they'd still have plenty of time to have their meeting. Right now, she had something more important to do.

4944319
TMPL67 Untitled by KwirkyJ

Princess Celestia crunched the ice with a pestle. If any of the chunks were too large, it would only be herself to blame, and she was okay with that. She upturned the bowl, dumping the granules into the glass, and then added in the liquid. A smile was permitted as the slush rose just slightly over the brim, spilling down the frosted sides.

She took a ship, and it was good.

Thankfully, she had managed to allocate a time for quiet on this particular evening, where she would be undisturbed for several hours. Only a crisis threatening the very foundations of Equestria would trouble her.

There were some muffled pops from beyond her chambers. The fireworks from the revelers did not qualify as trouble.

Her beverage refilled, she lay herself down once again upon the cushion and took in the Go board upon the table. It had been a gift, three hundred years ago, from a Quilinese ambassador, thanking her for a deed she could not even remember now. The black and white beads were all intricately carved with entire mosaics fit on a surface smaller than a single Equestrian Bit.

Her opponent was crafty, seeming to have thought of everything. Celestia considered her strategy carefully, taking all the time she needed. She listened, and sipped, and thought. There were the occasional soft pops and cheers from outside which perked her ears.

Her ponies loved and trusted her, she knew. As much as she did love and trust them, she thought. Some years, however, it was simply difficult to express it properly to one another. But this year…

Foregoing magic, Celestia reached out and placed a white dot on the board.

She looked at it, nodded, and took another long sip from her drink.

She rose and stretched her spine and wings. She trod to the balcony, looking out at the many lights in Canterlot night below.

Then, she turned back and settled down on the opposite cushion. She examined the board, sipped from her drink, and thought.

Author's Note:
Inversion of prompt: check.

4952328
This was a nice, honest piece. One of those truisms that is easily overlooked, too frequently one doesn't appreciate what is there until it's gone. I can see how Applejack's experiences with their parents might leave an impression that Apple Bloom just doesn't share, at least not yet. Not much to say with respect to the execution that you can't see for yourself, I think, but I'll comment if you ask.

As someone with a relative in a similar situation to Granny, this hit a little closer to home.

4955238
Since it's your prompt, I'm responding instead!

I like this. I started going through ponies she might be playing some long-term, one-move-a-day kind of game with. Maybe Luna, since their schedules would seem to be mis-matched? Maybe a game Twilight and Celestia had going before Twilight moved? Who knows!

But then of course she's just playing herself, who else could really be an equal anyway? And it does work as a subversion of the prompt as well. It was a nice read with a quiet, comfortable feel to it. Very well done.

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Author’s Note: Took too long to come up with the idea, and once I did, had trouble paring it down enough in size. This went well over the time limit, and actually over the wordcount before I managed to trim some out. If it gets disqualified, please let me know, and I will remove it.

Legacy Prompt 67: We must kidnap Twilight Sparkle

“So, that’s three pounds of the caramel cremes, five dozen peppermints, one dozen cinnamon peppermints and starlights, and,” Bon Bon paused, peering down at the sheet Pinkie had handed her. “And twenty pounds of both dark chocolate and regular chocolate, if I’m reading this right.”
Pinkie smiled. “Yepperoonie! So, can you have it ready by tonight?”
Bon Bon looked up, glancing over her shelves. “I think I can provide it for you, although I’m not sure.” She turned toward the back room of the shop and yelled. “Hey, Lyra! Check how much dark chocolate we have back there, and see if there are any starlights still on the shelf!”
A few minutes later, Lyra poked her head out. “You’ve still got about four bags of the starlights, and you’ve got plenty of chocolate. I think you might be a bit shy on the caramel cremes, though.”
“By how-” Bon Bon’s next words were forever lost. Her head snapped up, her eyes glazing and taking on a silver tint. For several minutes, she simply stood there, motionless before snapping her head sharply. “I understand, my queen,” she said in a low monotone, just before her eyes cleared.
Pinkie simply stared, and Lyra stepped out, closer to her roommate. “Is something wrong, Bonnie?”
Bon Bon looked up, straight into Lyra’s eyes. “I must kidnap Twilight Sparkle,” she said.
At those words, Lyra’s eyes grew wide with alarm. “Hey,” she said, “there’s no-”
Bon Bon held up a hoof, silencing Lyra, and spoke again. “I must kidnap Twilight Sparkle.” A brief flame flared around her forehead, and she used her newly-minted horn to snag a metal headband from underneath the counter. Said headband had been a gift of sorts from Twilight, the fruits of her first study of changeling magic and telepathy; the pony wearing it would be able to ‘hear’ in the same telepathic manner as a changeling. She levitated it toward Lyra. “I must kidnap Twilight Sparkle,” Bon Bon said, one last time, as she slipped the band over Lyra’s head, the unicorn mare not resisting in her shock.
Lyra’s eyes glazed as the enchantment in the band took effect. For several seconds, she too was silent, unseeing, and then her eyes returned to normal, a grin coming to her face. “We must kidnap Twilight Sparkle,” she said.
“We must kidnap Twilight Sparkle,” Bon Bon agreed. The two then turned to Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie, for her part, had pulled a similar headband out of her own saddlebags, this one marked with a pair of intertwined yellow and blue crystalline party balloons. She slipped it on her own head, and as with Lyra, went still for a second. When she returned to normal, she looked up. “We must kidnap Twilight Sparkle,” she said, giggling.
“We must kidnap Twilight Sparkle,” the other two said in reply. Then, acting on some unheard instructions, the three began gathering candies off of the shelves and into carrying sacks. Within a few minutes, each had a pair of sacks slung across their backs, and Lyra was opening the door.

“Just a moment more, Miss Fluttershy.” Aloe said, gently kneading at the muscles in the pegasus mare’s back. “I’m almost finished with your massage.”
“Oh, that’s fine,” came the reply. “Please, take all the time you need.”
“That shouldn’t be much longer,” Aloe said. True to her word, after two more deep rubs, she pulled her hooves back and settled to the ground. “Now, on to-”
Fluttershy looked up as Aloe’s voice cut off. “Is something the matter?” she asked, a worried look on her face.
Aloe snapped to herself, shaking her head. “Nothing is wrong,” she said. “I must kidnap Twilight Sparkle.”
“Kidnap?” Fluttershy’s eyes went wide at the word, and lifted herself up off of the massage table. “Um, excuse me, but… I really don’t think I can allow you to do that,” she said.
“I must kidnap Twilight Sparkle,” Aloe said again. She turned, pulling open a drawer along the counter. Inside were something like a dozen metal headbands, each bearing a lotus flower composed of gems but otherwise identical to that used by Bon Bon. “I must kidnap Twilight Sparkle,” she said again as she pulled one out, followed by “you will help me.”
Fluttershy hopped off the table, backing away as she reached the floor. “Um, I’d rather not, actually. I realize you’re not, um, not exactly yourself at the moment, but Twilight is a friend of mine, and I don’t think she’d like it if I…” Fluttershy trailed off as Aloe shook her head.
For a brief instant, Aloe’s expression changed, becoming more gentle, more normal, and she shook her head again. “Please, Miss Fluttershy,” she said, holding out the headband. “It will be all right.”
After a fearful moment staring at the headband, Fluttershy looked Aloe straight in the eyes. “You’re not going to hurt Twilight?” At the changeling doe’s headshake, Fluttershy took a deep breath, then reached out for the headband and put it on herself. Her eyes glazed. Then, when it was finished, she closed her mouth with a soft ‘oh’ and looked up. “Yes,” she said at last, “we must kidnap Twilight Sparkle.”
Aloe grinned, then took two more of the enchanted headbands, passing one of them to Fluttershy. “Lotus will help us,” she said, the grin never leaving her face. “Rarity will help us.”
“Yes,” Fluttershy said, a small smile beginning to break out on her face. “They will help us kidnap Twilight Sparkle.” The two turned as one, heading into the room where Rarity was having a mud bath.

“Waitaminute. You want to do what?”
Applejack turned to look at Amethyst Star. The two stared into each other’s eyes for a second before turning back to Rainbow Dash. “We must kidnap Twilight Sparkle,” the two said in unison. “You must help us.”
“Nothing doing!” Rainbow looped up about five feet, trying to pull herself out of reach of the two mares below her. “AJ, snap out of it! She’s got you brainwashed or something!”
Applejack simply shook her head. “We must kidnap Twilight Sparkle,” she said.
Amethyst Star nodded in agreement. “You will help us,” she said.
“Nuh-uh!” Rainbow shook her head vehemently. “There’s no way I’m gonna let you hurt my friends!” She dove for the ground, snapping her wings at the last second and brewing up a miniature dust storm. As both of her opponents started to cough and blink, Rainbow darted forward, snatching Applejack’s hat and pulling it, and the new hatband with its apple-shaped citrine jewel, off. “I knew these things were a bad idea! AJ, snap out of it!”
Applejack blinked, several times, before staring upwards. “Doggone it, Dash, gimme my hat back!”
“No way! Changeling mare over there used it to turn you into a zombie! I’m not letting her do that to you again!”
Applejack raised her hoof to her face. “‘Tain’t what it looks like, Rainbow. Everything’s fine! Now gimme back mah hat!”
“No! I’m not going to let the changelings take control of you again!” Rainbow turned toward Amethyst. “I’m onto you, you monster! You won’t take AJ back without a fight!”
Amethyst smiled. “As you wish,” she said, her horn igniting into a light purple glow.
In response, the hat in Rainbow’s hooves lit with the same light, and it darted out of Rainbow’s hooves. As she flailed to recapture it, the hat darted back, stopping and snapping down over Rainbow’s own head. Her eyes glazed and her wings slowed, and she finally lowered herself to the ground. “I understand,” she said, slowly. “We must kidnap Twilight Sparkle.”

Time Limit

Amethyst Star stepped closer, but there was no sign of any reaction from Rainbow. Neither was there any resistance as she slipped a jeweled headband from her saddlebags and slipped it onto Rainbow’s head. As the band slipped on, Rainbow nodded, then pulled Applejack’s hat off. “Here, AJ,” she said. “Sorry about that.”
“Mmph,” Applejack grunted as she repositioned her hat into its accustomed spot. “Jest don’t go causin’ any more trouble, alright?” At Rainbow’s nod, Applejack gave one of her own. “Good. Now, ya know what comes next.”
There was a brief pause, and then all three mares smiled and spoke at once. “We must kidnap Twilight Sparkle.”

“Twi, don’t you think you should take a break?”
Twilight didn’t bother looking up as Spike spoke. “I’ll take one in a little while, Spike. It’s imperative I get this paperwork finished.”
“Yeah, but you’ve been doing nothing else for the past four days!” Spike’s voice took on a pleading tone. “You need to at least take a break and eat something!”
“I’ll grab lunch as soon as I’m finished with this next bill,” she said.
Spike groaned. “That’s the same thing you said yesterday, and you didn’t eat until almost midnight!” He shook his head. “Seriously, Twi, you’re falling back into those same bad habits you had back in Canterlot.”
“Habits I managed to break,” she said, not looking up, “and I’ll quit them again as soon as I’m done with this paperwork.”
Spike shook his head, admitting temporary defeat. “Fine,” he said, “be that way. But I’m finding some way to knock some sense into you.” He turned and headed out the library door; Twilight, once more deeply in her paperwork, didn’t bother to see which way he’d gone.

Several hours later, Twilight called out. “Spike! Can you bring me volume five of the Equestrian Tax Code?” As minutes passed with no response, she looked up. “Spike?”
Not gathering any response, Twilight got up from her desk, wandering over to the shelf with the book she wanted. “I need to talk to him about checking back in,” she said.
That was the last thing Twilight thought before she heard the knock at the door. She never had time to answer it; a few seconds later, the knob twisted and the door flew wide, and ponies started to step inside. Twilight recognized them all, of course: her friends were foremost among them, and the rest were the members of Ponyville’s resident changeling nest, both changeling and pony alike. “Can I help you?” Twilight asked, looking around the group in confusion.
In response, Applejack stepped forward. “We must kidnap Twilight Sparkle,” she said.
Twilight blinked. “Kidnap me? AJ, if this is some kind of a joke, it’s not a very funny one.”
Rainbow Dash stepped forward. “The queen commands. We must kidnap Twilight Sparkle.”
“Not you too, Dash.” Twilight took a step backwards, then another as her friends began to step forward. “Please, fight it!”
“There is nothing to fight,” Rarity said as she moved in, something glowing in her magic. “We must kidnap Twilight Sparkle.” She dropped the glowing item - Twilight’s own crown - on Twilight’s head, and Twilight’s eyes went blank as the telepathy enchantment she’d embedded in it took effect.

‘Hello, Miss Sparkle. I trust my little invitation made it to you?’
‘Invitation?’ Twilight allowed her own fear and anger to propagate along the connection she was caught in. ‘Queen Snow, this is almost an act of war!’
‘No, it’s us tryin’ ta make ya see reason,’ came Applejack’s ‘voice’. ‘Her majesty told us all Spike’d asked for some way ta getcha ta stop buryin’ yerself in all that paper, an’ she suggested this.’
‘Yeah,’ broke in Pinkie Pie. ‘It’s the last night of the year, Twilight! Can’t you just join us for the Yeartide party? I’ve been trying to plan it all week!’ One by one, each of the others added their sentiments to the mix.
Twilight’s gaze returned to the here and now, and she turned, staring at her desk. She turned again, gazing into the eyes of her friends, then back to the desk. Finally, she turned back to the small crowd, sighed, and smiled. “We must kidnap Twilight Sparkle,” she said, drawing cheers from her friends. “Now, let us go.”
On those words, they walked out into the night.

4955896
Thank you for posting a thing! Now, instead of asking you to remove it, I will be far more cruel and (gasp!) provide critique.

It appears to me that you were fixated on discussing these headbands, far beyond the requirements of telling the story. While dedicating extensive time to them would make sense in a longer work, the microfic (the inevitable result of thirty minutes) demands an economy of words—give us just enough information to understand that which is necessary.

Similarly, the two middle scenes offer little that is new to the story: ponies are seemingly being coerced against their will to kidnap Twilight by changeling devices. They could have been pared down significantly, if not removed outright, for the sake of focusing on the story being told. For the story itself, some better framing of 'why' seems to be in order… for all the obfuscation of 'we must kidnap Twilight' without explanation being at the heart of the joke, having the reader completely in the blue made it somewhat less than engaging, particularly since the characters themselves weren't given opportunity to show or establish rapport.

That being said, I like the heart of this one: Twilight being distracted with a task and needing, hem, coercion to socialize. With the help of considering the prompt, I may have guessed why she would be 'kidnapped' a bit early, but it was interesting to see. Of course, Snow being a changeling, it's easier just to take than it is to have reasonable discussion about things. Keep it up!

EDIT: typos