As Sprout walked next to Izzy deeper into Bridlewood, he found himself absolutely mesmerized at the enchanting nature of the thick forests of the unicorns' home. It almost felt like something out a fairy tale.

If all of Maretime Bay's fairy tales containing unicorns and pegasi weren't more on the scarier side, that is.

What he found the most beautiful was how the sun's rays cut through the thick canopy and shined down not only on the ground, grass, and houses, but on the beautiful crystals dotting the sides of the pathway. Blue, magenta, white, ruby... The facets of all of these created a multitude of spectrums to pass through as they made their way deeper into the forest.

He felt another pang of guilt when it came to his mind that he had aimed to drive his vehicle through here on a path of conquest. Thank goodness he hadn't gotten even a sliver of the distance before he was stopped.

"And here we are!" Izzy announced, motioning a hoof to a large hill, in which a dwelling had been built.

"The Crystal Tea Room?" Sprout asked as they approached the double doors.

"One of the most popular spots to get a bite to eat in Bridlewood," the unicorn replied.

Izzy pushed the doors open, and the duo was greeted to a rustic atmosphere of tables, chairs, and a small stage area.

Light chatter was happening with patrons, and about half of the tables had filled up with ponies here for lunch. Sprout saw a couple of earth ponies and a pegasi, but the vast majority of customers eating and waiting to eat were unicorns.

Sprout followed Izzy back towards a second dining area, where a large white unicorn stallion was serving tea. He recognized him from what was widely becoming known as 'Reunification Day'.

At least until his eyes caught sight of a dancing game in the next dining area.

"Whoa..." he commented, and this was immediately noticed by the unicorn stallion.

"Go on a give her a try if you like. Just had her upgraded from armadillo wheel power thanks to Canterlogic," Alphabittle told him as Izzy came up to the bar.

That was precisely what Sprout did as Izzy took a seat.

"Two carrot dog and hay fry platters please, Alphabittle," Izzy told him with a smile.

"Comin' right up, Izzy. How's Maretime Bay? Thought you'd be gone for a bit, said you had some foalsitting gig over there," the Tea Room's proprietor commented.

"Yup. Still do, actually. The foalsitting part came along," Izzy replied, nodding over to the stallion who was just getting started with his selected song.

Alphabittle raised an eyebrow curiously as he finished jotting down Izzy's order and levitated it back to the kitchen.

"A bit old for that, isn't he?" Alphabittle asked as the kitchen staff began preparing their order.

"Long story, don't need to get into details. But I was wondering, if I could get some of your... Specialty," Izzy answered, lowering her voice to a whisper.

"My specialty?"

"Yeah, you know, your... Special tea."

Author's Note

Nice and short for now. Going to try and get four stories updated this week.

I'm also getting a rough picture of where this story may end, but I'm not entirely confident in it yet.

As always, thank you for reading!