Passover in Ponyville

by Spirit Guide

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.
Also, if this isn't your thing, don't feel the need to hang around. Not every fic is for everypony

Comments

[Tinted Dawn]

Moar, I want moar . I love the idea of Equuish. Definately a favorite story that i will be re-reading over and over. Now if you will excuse me, I must go clean my room for passover.

[HB_DS2013]

Ancient Equuish is Hebrew? Interesting. I also forgot how Modern Equuish is English.

[StarsWillAidInHerEscape]

This is wonderful! The perfect thing to read on the first night of Passover!