"You're going to Canterlot? Can I come? Can the Crusaders come? Pleeeeeeease? We'll be good, I promise!" Sweetie Belle was bouncing excitedly around her older sister upon discovering that Rarity was going to Canterlot to work on the plans for her upcoming boutique.
Rarity hummed for a moment and then easily came to a decision. "You all can come if you like, I can't promise that the nobles in Canterlot will like your crusading, but the chance to earn your cutie mark is probably far more important than a little dislike from the nobles. Do you plan to do anything in particular tomorrow?"
Sweetie paused her bouncing for a moment, "Nope, just crusading. We'll decide what we want to do when we get there." She resumed her bouncing, lightly jingling the windows with the force of her jumping.
"Fair enough," Rarity laughed, "Now make sure to get your things ready and tell your friends so we can leave first up tomorrow."
"Yes!" Sweetie bolted out to get prepared and tell her friends the good news.
It was morning in the Carousel Boutique. Rarity was quietly sipping her tea at the dining table as she waited for her sister Sweetie Belle to round up her little friends. Rarity's thoughts drifted back to the early morning. She had woken up to recall the request of her younger sister, who had wanted to invite the Cutie Mark Crusaders to come with them so they could crusade in the streets of Canterlot. Rarity imagined that the crusading probably wouldn't be viewed well by the nobles, but the nobles probably deserved that and Rarity wasn't going to discourage the Crusaders from trying.
The sound of several sets of hooves running across the kitchen lino reached Rarity's ears. She put finished her tea and set the cup down on the table, expectantly standing up so she could dodge whatever possible chaos that followed the fillies' entry.
"We're ready!" Scootaloo gasped.
Apple Bloom jumped a little with anticipation, "Ah can't believe that we get to go crusading in Canterlot! There's so many new opportunities!"
"I know, right? This is gonna be so much fun!" Scootaloo grinned, and then looked back to check on Sweetie Belle, who was just arriving.
Sweetie Belle huffed for a moment after stopping, having run in with her friends. Why she couldn't have waited for her friends to arrive instead of running to get them was beyond Rarity. "Can we go yet, Rarity?"
A slight smile began to form on Rarity's face as she realized that the CMCs had been on her property for a few minutes, and so far nothing had been damaged. "Yes dear, we can go. Have you got all your things?"
"Way ahead of you," Sweetie Belle turned slightly to show off her saddlebags packed, "I have my notepad and snacks for everyone, we can spend all day crusading if we need to."
She turned and made for the door, stopping once the other CMCs had caught up to her. "To the train station!"
"Cutie Mark Crusaders mission in Canterlot!" Apple Bloom reared up to high hoof her friends.
"Yeah!"
Rarity herded the three fillies out of the train, and they began to run off into the crisp Canterlot morning. As they rounded the corner, Scootaloo spied a bored looking Royal Guard hanging a banner on a nearby wall. The banner read:
Royal Tea Day Contest!
Make your own tea blend and present it to the princess! The winner has their tea blend served by the castle kitchen!
Scootaloo waved her friends over and pointed at the banner. "Look everypony, I've found today's mission!"
Apple Bloom tilted her head. "Tea makin'? Ah'm not sure if Ah would be any good at that."
"Come on!" Sweetie Belle protested. "It would be just like making potions with Zecora! Besides, we'd get to present our tea to the Princess! How bad could it be? You might get your cutie mark in tea making!"
"Okay, Ah'm in," Apple Bloom replied, "But how do we make tea?"
Scootaloo looked thoughtful. "Have you seen tea bags before? They have little bits in them, like dry leaf things. We just need to put some cool little bits in a tiny bag and then tie a string on, it'll be the best tea ever! And we can put things that taste good in it instead of little brown smashed leaves."
"I actually expected Sweetie to know more about tea than you," Apple Bloom said, shooting an odd look at Scootaloo before turning to Sweetie, "What do you think makes tea?"
"It's dried tea leaves, I think. The leaves grow on a special plant, but I'm not sure where they grow," Sweetie shook her head for a moment, "We could probably just buy some in a store and then add things to make the tea taste better. Scootaloo is right about the smashed bit."
Scootaloo puffed up with pride. "I knew that tea tasted bad! Luckily, I already have some ideas on how to make it taste way cooler!"
"I have a plan," Apple Bloom spoke up, "What if we come up with ideas and go and get the things we need? Sweetie can get the tea leaves, and I can find a mortar and pestle to smash everything with. Scootaloo, you can... uh.. find a sieve! Because Princess Celestia will probably want to drink the tea water stuff and not the actual tea blend. If everypony brings one thing that they think will make this tea taste awesome, then once we put it all together our tea will be three times as awesome."
"I can get behind that," Scootaloo glanced up at the poster one more time before putting her hoof in for the second hoof bump of the day, "Soon the Princess will have the best tea ever!"
Sweetie Belle eagerly slapped her hoof onto Scootaloo's. "For the Princess and our future cutie marks! Are we meeting here, or at the competition grounds in the castle?"
"Let's meet at the castle, that way we can get right to crushing and making," Scootaloo put in, before focusing on the action at hoof.
Scootaloo and Sweetie looked to Apple Bloom just as she stepped up and put her hoof on the top of the other two. "Cutie Mark Crusader Tea Makers!"
"Yeah!"
Author's Note
I did a bit of research about tea and it's actually a lot more complicated than I originally thought.
Scootaloo stepped away from the poster. Her part of the mission was to find a small sieve to filter tea leaves, and an ingredient which would make the tea more awesome! She knew just where to find a sieve: the grocery store! They sold various pots and pans, so it makes sense that they would have a tea sieve as well. She quickly waved to her friends and then trotted off to find a grocery store.
After searching for a while, Scootaloo had still not found a grocery store. Honestly, she thought, surely there would be a grocery store here!
Maybe it would be a good idea if she asked somepony. She looked around, seeing a variety of snobby Canterlot ponies which she could ask. Scootaloo spied a tall, elegant mare with a light coat and a flowing pink mane. She looked slightly less snobby than all the rest.
Approaching quietly, Scootaloo suddenly felt shy. Why did she have to ask a question like this? Oh well, best to get it over and done with.
"Excuse me, can I please ask a question?" Scootaloo meekly asked, far from her usual daredevil self.
The mare looked down to Scootaloo and smiled a little. "Of course, young one, how can I help you?"
"Do you know where I can find a grocery store?"
"A grocery store?" The mare gave a little laugh, "We don't have grocery stores in Canterlot. We do have a market just a little way away from here that sells almost everything though."
Scootaloo gave a little sigh of relief at finding some useful information. "Okay, thank you!"
She carefully walked away from the mare before realizing that she hadn't asked where the market was. Duh.
Oh well, she would find it! Scootaloo looked around. Where would a market be? She idly wandered down the road and blinked at the expansive grassy field full of tents before her. The market! Her eyes regained their daredevil fire as she boldly ran to the field and began searching among the tents.
"Come one, come all! See the latest Tea Day merchandise! Just this way!" A yellow unicorn stallion with a red and white mane and red mustache was leading a small crowd through the market grounds. "Tea Day equipment, tea sets, tea blends, tea leaves, come this way!"
That's convenient, Scootaloo thought, joining the crowd and making sure to shove her way to the front. They approached a big tent with a larger crowd around it. After some more pushing and shoving she emerged at the front of the crowd just as the tent doors opened.
Quickly scurrying in to avoid being trampled by the surge of ponies, she looked around, and sure enough, there were some sieves! Or what looked like sieves. They were made of bird netting taped to old bangles, and would be useless for filtering tea leaves.
Scootaloo looked down at her hooves, disappointed at failing her mission, as the crowd around her gave general murmurs of discontentment. An old mare drew near to her, looking similarly annoyed, but on seeing Scootaloo her face filled with anger and she turned to the two yellow unicorns who seemed to be running the 'stall'.
"How dare you try to exploit a little filly! Or anypony!" The old mare cried at the unicorns, "You should be ashamed! In my day no one took advantage of a simple competition to sell rubbishy wares to ponies!"
She turned her back on the protests of the two unicorns and addressed Scootaloo, "So, you're looking for a sieve? Are you participating in the tea competition?"
"Yes, I-" Scootaloo began, but was interrupted by the old mare.
"It's such a pleasure to see youngsters interested in worthy things," The mare commented, digging around in her bag, "Here you go, you can have my spare sieve."
Scootaloo smiled at the act of generosity. "Thank you! I can't wait to get back to my friends once I finish shopping around here... at other stalls of course."
"Like I said, it's a pleasure. Off you go and finish your shopping," The mare hustled Scootaloo off towards the exit, "I'm going to give these stallions the telling off of a lifetime. Selling wares like that? That's not selling, its scamming!"
Scootaloo exited the tent, giggling at the mare's anger at the scammers. They were going to get quite the talking to. She examined the sign which explained the parts of the market and headed to the spices section. Chili flakes would definitely make the tea awesome!
Sweetie Belle knew what she wanted to get. Those edible sugar pearls! They would be amazing in tea! And Canterlot was a fancy place, there would definitely be a tea shop and a baking shop. Posh ponies making posh things was huge here.
Of course, she had to get the tea leaves too. Nothing fancy, just her favorite afternoon tea.
Making her way to the tea shop she had previously visited with her sister, Sweetie pulled a few bits out of her hidden bitpurse. Opening the door with a pleasant jingling, she made her way to the counter.
"Why good morning, Sweetie Belle," the brown mare behind the counter chirped cheerfully, "What can I do to help you? It's not often you're here by yourself."
"Hi-" Sweetie glanced at the name tag "-Cinnamon, can I get a small box of Afternoon Tea leaves?"
"Leaves? Are you making a blend for the Tea Day?"
"Yeah," Sweetie grinned with excitement, "My friends and I are being Cutie Mark Crusader Tea Makers!"
"That's nice," Cinnamon leaned over the counter a little, "I'm meeting my competition before I even step into the castle! I'm entering my secret cinnamon blend. Best of luck to you now!"
Cinnamon picked up a box and set it on the counter, taking the offered bits. "Would you like a receipt for that?"
"No thanks" Sweetie replied, levitating the tea box into her bag. "Good luck to you too!"
Sweetie left the tea store and pranced a little in satisfaction, celebrating her success before making her way to a store her parents had taken her to once.
Or she would have made her way there, had she not tripped on a loose cobblestone.
"Gah!" Sweetie momentarily slid down the gentle incline, letting out an audible 'oof' as she fell to the ground, the offending stone bouncing out before her once again.
"Clumsy children these days," a passing golden earth pony muttered.
"Hey!" Sweetie scrambled up and scurried in front of the mare, "I'm not clums-AAH!"
Sweetie just managed to get out of the way as the gold mare tripped over the same stone with a mortified shriek.
"You horrible pony! You're a harbinger of bad luck!" The golden mare yelled, more out of shock than actual anger, "I should report you for kicking up the cobbles on the street!"
A nearby royal guard, alerted by all the noise (and looking rather amused at the mare's antics), came over and helped the mare up. "Miss Golden Touch, you know well that the cobbles here are due for repair. The filly was not at fault."
Sweetie, having seen that she was not going to get into trouble over a loose cobblestone, hastily trotted away from the awkward situation. She knew it wasn't nice to laugh at the misfortune of others, but she did feel a small satisfaction from having seen the mare suffer the same 'clumsy' fate as her.
Sweetie trotted off to the shop to purchase her pearls.
Apple Bloom sauntered with purpose through the streets of Canterlot. Normally one would have no idea where to find a mortar and pestle in Canterlot, but she knew. Her zebra friend, Zecora, had opened a small store in the city to market natural medicines to the nobles, and the money raised from it would go to supporting the Ponyville Disaster Repair Fund. Zecora, not being big on travelling, had employed a withdrawn stallion named Ace Chaser to run the store, and offered school foals holiday employment if they wanted to earn a few bits.
Apple Bloom figured that she could borrow one of the several mortar and pestle sets from the store. And while she was there she could figure out what she wanted to add to their unique blend.
She opened the door to the store, stepped in.
"Hi Apple Bloom, it's nice to see someone sane today," Ace greeted, "Are you by any chance participating in the tea contest?"
"Ah am actually," Apple Bloom said, "Ah was wondering if Ah could borrow a mortar and pestle."
"Of course, come this way," Ace made his way through the ornate looking store to the back room, "Can you believe that some ponies want to spike their teas with addictive substances so they win the competition?"
"Seriously? How is that supposed to work if the Princess only actually takes one sip of each tea?" Apple Bloom curiously inquired.
Ace grunted, "I have no idea. Here, a mortar and pestle. Are you going to be putting any secret ingredients in your tea?"
"Yeah, but not anything addictive I hope," Apple Bloom tucked the mortar and pestle into her saddle bag, "Do you have any suggestions?"
"How about your namesake? Apple blossom?" Ace reached out to a shelf and retrieved a small plastic bag of petals, offering them to Apple Bloom. "On the house, because you're the first sane pony I've seen in a while."
"Sounds good enough," Apple Bloom picked up the bag and stashed it away as well, "I've gotta run, and get back to my friends, see ya Ace."
She stepped out of the door and began to make her way back to the agreed meeting spot.
Rarity had finished her work for the time being and had decided to do something with her time in Canterlot. She had heard of this charming little contest about making tea which had sounded so relaxing to watch. But now watching from behind the partition that kept spectators out from the competitors, she was sure she could pluck the tension in the air like a string. The hall was deathly silent, apart from the scraping of tea leaves and other ingredients being crushed.
Rarity scanned the competitors to see who was there. Cinnamon, the counter mare at a tea shop she had been to, stood out. As did a unicorn mare with a running braid in her mane and a terrible scar on her chest. And there was also an old mare with a faded pink coat and three fillies who looked like- no, were- the crusaders. They wore grim expressions on their faces and appeared to be missing a tea set on their table.
Carefully, Rarity made her way through the spectators and to the gate that opened to the competitors area. The guards looked at her inquiringly.
"Can I go and see my friend?" Rarity asked, hoping for an affirmative reply.
One of the guards shifted to open the gate and Rarity trotted through, making a beeline for the crusaders' table.
"Rarity!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, "Can you help us? Please?"
"If I am allowed to, and where is the tea set? Like, the tea cup and tea pot?" Rarity looked at the table with little more than a mortar and pestle and a sieve. In the mortar, there was a crushed substance, likely the tea.
"That's just the thing! We forgot to get a tea set," Apple Bloom said, running her hooves together and looking at the table from where she was sitting, "We can ask someone to get us some things, as long as they don't actually make or touch the tea."
"Then of course, I will be right back with a tea set," Rarity hurried out of the hall to the market.
About an hour later, tea set crisis averted, tea presentation time came. Princess Celestia was in the presentation hall trying the first ponies' teas, others' teas had been brewed and was being kept warm, tea cups were at the ready.
Rarity, having been recruited into the crusaders' team in the past hour, stood with the three fillies, sometimes watching and sometimes not. The tea that they had made was very peculiar smelling, almost like it had spices and sweets in it. She suspected it wouldn't taste very nice, but she wasn't going to hijack the attempt. The crusaders were the only fillies in the contest, so it wouldn't be expected of them to be perfect.
The Princess came up to them and Scootaloo poured the tea, the rest of the team remaining in strict tense silence as all the other competitors before them had.
Princess Celestia sipped the tea. There was a slight redness in her cheeks, but she kept her bearing remarkable well. She smiled as she noted something on the clipboard her assistant was holding, and then moved on to the next competitor.
It was a few hours later, time for the announcing of the winner. Princess Celestia was at the front of the room. She gave a deep breath, and began to speak.
"My little ponies, it has been an honor to hold this Tea Day contest and see all the talent for tea making in Equestria. I have enjoyed this day very much, and would like to announce Tea Day as an annual national day and holiday!"
After excited hoof stomping, she continued.
"The winner of this contest is Cinnamon, for her delicious and healthy cinnamon tea. Her tea is being taken on in the castle kitchens and will be served on request to myself, my sister and guests of the castle. But before this contest is over, I have an honorable mention to announce."
"The most exciting tea of the day was made by the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"
There was a whispering in the crowd as ponies turned to the crusaders and wondered what was so exciting about their tea.
"Their tea was bold and unexpected, and while not the finest or most perfect it was the spirit of the attempt that I wanted to encourage in the Tea Day contest. Congratulation to everyone who competed, and be sure to enjoy this day again next year."
The crusaders hopped up and down with happiness. Even though they didn't get their cutie marks, this had been fun.
