The morning sun greeted her like a furious bagel—albeit one without a hole in the middle, rather like a filled doughnut. Golden rows of wheat glittered proudly as far as the eye could see across the ground below as Rainbow Dash glided towards the fiery horizon.

Yawning, Rainbow blinked her eyes blearily and looked down. Just as the cool breeze rippled through her tail, an unsteady motion carried itself through the wheat in uneven lines, bending back the seed as it went on its way. Grinning, the mare angled her wings downward and let herself slowly descend. She could feel herself picking up speed as she neared the ground, the tangled mess of her rainbow mane tickling the back of her neck. And, once she was close enough, she could nearly feel the tips of the wheat as they brushed by her face. Letting out a breath, Rainbow Dash extended out her forelegs.

The wheat parted easily, like water, and soon all four of the cerulean mare’s hooves had touched down onto the earth. She glanced down a moment, watching how her hooves had caused the wheat to bend back, marring its pristine surface and even breaking several of the stems… but she merely snorted and looked back up. Biting her lip, she took her first step on the ground. Then another. And, eyes scanning the golden rows in front of her, Rainbow trotted through the field.

Her eyes were so focused on the stretch in front of her that she could barely notice the chaff against her coat—until one of her hooves came across the edge of a rock, and tripped her up. Rainbow was able to steady herself in time to keep from falling on her face—but almost immediately her concentration was broken, just like bread on traditional Equestrian holidays. She started trotting again, but this time could feel every grain of wheat, poking up from the soil, scratching against her skin…

Frustrated, Rainbow sped up to a light canter. Then, a gallop. Like a living, breathing Fruit by the Foot, a rainbow blur stretched out across the landscape, a speeding baguette pushing past row after row of wheat that bent back in its wake. Rainbow’s eyes closed, allowing her to focus only on her hooves pounding on the ground below, the soft beat of her wings helping her along, and the pounding, kneading in her chest.

And then, once she had pumped herself to the limit, feeling like she could run no more… she came to a wheat-grinding halt. Her eyes snapped open… and for the first time in a long time, Rainbow Dash smiled.

Before her was a clearing—not a stop to the wheat fields, but a hollowed out cavity like the centre of a pita bread. Rainbow gave the empty ground an experimental prod with a hoof; it was like hardtack, startlingly rigid compared to the soft brush of the multiple grains. Humming, she stepped forward, angling her neck so she could see over the small mound in the centre. Although she couldn’t quite make out the details, she could definitely tell there was something inscribed into the crust.

Extending her wings, Rainbow caught an updraft and used it to rise smoothly towards the engraving. As it came closer into view, she could see that its lines were unnaturally straight—almost as if they had been scored there with a knife. On the left, the upside-down shape of a hoof curved downward like the letter U; on the right, intersecting, was a round symbol with three horizontal tally marks. Rainbow’s hooves landed with a soft plop immediately before the symbol, giving her a chance to inspect it up close.

“Could it be?” she murmured. She traced the lines with her hoof, nodding slowly. “Alright… here goes nothing, then.” Rainbow reached into her breadbox and after a moment of digging around, she pulled out a small oblong seed. Her ruby eyes glanced from the seed to the symbol, and then she placed the small object on the ground, right at the intersection point of the hoof and the circle.

“Okay, let’s see.” Rainbow tapped her chin. “So, if this is the First Seed… here’s hoping Luna was right.” She looked down to the cherry red gem that hung on a golden-brown necklace around her neck. Taking a deep breath, she rubbed the surface of the object, letting her hoof run all the way from heel to heel.

As soon as her hoof made it to the end, the gemstone glowed a blinding rhubarb, the kind suitable for tarts. Rainbow could feel the familiar warmth, smell the familiar breadiness… and she took grasp of the object, pulling it from the depths of the gem. As the light cleared, she could see all twenty-five inches of that delicious breadstick she held in her hoof. Nodding, she looked down and tapped the seed with the end of the breadstick.

Immediately, the ground began to shake. The bristling wind of the sky swirled around overhead, pushing the clouds into a giant grey mass. The golden rows of wheat seemed to have dulled to a faded bronze or even copper—and if Rainbow didn’t know better, she’d think they were about to wither away. She was suddenly pulled away from this train of thought, though, by the loud humming that seemed to swell up from nowhere. Before her, the seed glowed with a bright white light.

Rainbow closed her eyes, and the image of the glowing seed was burned into her eyelids. She felt the hum touch at the edges of her skin before running through her veins, filling her with a strange energy. She shivered—like she had taken a bite of pumpernickel thinking it was rye—as it coarsed through her body and then left through her hooftips, leaving her feeling… refreshed?

The hum dissipated. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. And she gasped.

When before there had merely been fields of wheat, there were now rows and rows of ginormous, ballooning breads as far as the eye could see on all sides. The sky was filled with the delicious smell of yeast and butter, and Rainbow could feel her mouth begin to water. But then she turned her head back to the mound on the hardtack, and she gasped once more.

The seed was gone, as was the symbol. In its place, there was a trap door with a flaky rope handle—pretzel, she realized. Shaking herself out of her stupor, Rainbow pulled on the handle and lowered herself inside, moving carefully on the ladder as it swayed beneath her. For a few minutes, all she could see besides the charcoal blackness of the passage was the faint light from above, oddly reminiscent of a heating lamp. Minutes later, her hooves hit solid rock below, echoing out into the dark.

“Um… hello?” she called out. There was no reply. Shrugging, Rainbow reached up and rubbed her necklace, casting the light in its blood-red glow.

And that’s when she saw it. At the far end of the small cavern, sitting in all its hot, buttery perfection atop a small china plate.

“The Michetta Roll!” she exclaimed. Barely able to contain herself, Rainbow Dash rushed forward—though she stopped just short of the plate, careful not to damage it in any way. As she neared the small roll, beautiful bready bumps forming its distinct shape, she couldn’t help but think of how far she had gone just to get there. How many bakeries and towns she’d passed, how many monsters she’d had to fight, how many loaves she’d had to lose.

“But it’s all gonna be worth it,” Rainbow murmured to herself as she reached the plate’s edge. “I’m going to activate all the seeds, and each Bagel Bite… the Bagelworld will be able to come back together.”

So, without further hesitation, Rainbow reached down with a foreleg and scooped up the small michetta roll. It was even more scrumptious-looking up close; she could see every detail, every wrinkle in the bread and the way the yeast had expanded while it was baked. She closed her eyes, taking in the nuances of its scent, how it still smelled so fresh and delicious after having lain in the earthy cavern for so long.

And then Rainbow took a bite.

And it was leavenly.