“Mint Tea”
“There.” I said, putting one last piece of tape to hold the wrapping down. Merry May would love the starry wrapping paper I had used. I had gotten it at an Astronomer’s Convention, so all the constellations were accurate. Maybe I could go to the next one with her?
I placed the gift in my saddlebag and walked to my front porch, then took flight. It was a five minute flight into Ponyville; I lived quite far out of town because the stars were so much better away from the street and building lights. It was nice, quiet, and dark.
Once I reached Sunflower Street, I started searching for number 23. I found it, but there wasn’t a front door or anything, just two windows and a little brass “23” in between them. I flew down to the bottom apartment, but it had a little brass “24” on it. This one did have a front door, but when I peered through one of the windows, it looked abandoned; I couldn’t see a stick of furniture, and everywhere was covered in dust.
So, Merry May’s must be the top one. I flew across the length of the wall, looking for a door in vain. After about the fifth time flying across it, I decided to look into one of the windows. Inside I saw a cozy little kitchen, a living room, and through a glass door I saw a cute little porch with a table and two chairs on it. There were a couple of hanging plants and some planters attached to the railings, all overflowing with beautiful flowers.
That’s it! A porch! I flew around the back and what I saw took my breath away.
Her garden was beautiful. There was a little gravel path winding through a sea of incredible flowers. Almost every single one was in bloom, and the riot of color was absolutely incredible. At the end of the path, there was a little patch of lush looking grass, and small little tree with pretty fresh-looking leaves. The flowers smelled wonderful, and I knew that coming to meet her hadn’t been a mistake. This was going even better than I’d imagined.
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I flew home from work, barely able to contain my joy. Parasol and I hadn’t told anyone about my star maps, not yet at least. We both thought it was a good idea to wait until I had Star Hunter’s opinion on them. I landed on my porch, giggling slightly as I wondered when he’d stop by.
Then I saw him. He was sitting in one of my chairs and looked surprised to see me.
“Merry May. I… I just thought I’d come early so I could find your house, and I guess I came too early. I’m sorry,” he stuttered, climbing out of the chair.
“Oh, it’s fine. You just startled me, that’s all,” I answered, trotting over to the door and unlocking it. “Come in.”
He shook his head. “Ladies first,” he insisted, a smile on his face.
I smiled back and duly trotted into my apartment. He followed me, pulling the door shut. “Take any seat.” I offered, putting my saddlebags onto a table and trotting into the kitchen. “You like mint tea, right?” I called.
“Yes, I love mint tea!” he exclaimed happily, sinking into one of my armchairs.
I filled a tea kettle up with water and left it on the stove to heat up. Opening up my cabinets I took out a container of dried mint leaves and shook out a goodly-sized portion into my pestle to crush them up. I mixed a few other herbs in as well, then separated them into two piles. The kettle started to ‘sing’, so I took it off the stove and poured the hot water into two teacups. I stirred the herbal mixture in and let it steep for a moment while I grabbed some cookies out of my cookie jar and put them on a plate. I put the cookie plate and the two teacups on a tray and, balancing it on my wings, walked back into my living room, placing the tea tray on the coffee table.
I picked up a cup of tea and settled myself back happily on the couch. Star Hunter took his own cup and added a cookie. “So, Merry May,” Star Hunter said, taking a sip of his tea. “Have you thought any more on what I said about your star maps?”
“Yes,” I answered, nibbling on a cookie. “And I want to do it.”
“Really?” he whinnied happily, shock and delight spreading across his face. “I had a whole speech planned!”
“Well, I asked my best friend Parasol if she thought it was a good idea. She loved it! She thinks it’s really cool that I make star maps, and that really boosted my confidence. So yeah, I’d love to try this and see if it works,” I answered, taking another sip of my tea.
“Okay. I’ll talk to my publisher; I’m sure I can get him to publish your maps. I just need some to show him,” he responded.
“I’ll go get them from my bedroom,” I replied, putting my tea on the coffee table. I fluttered off the couch and cantered over to my bedroom. Opening the door, I trotted over to my desk and gently grabbed my star maps in my teeth.
Trotting back into the living room, I said, “Here they are. Do you want my journal too?”
“Oh, that reminds me! I got you something,” he said, opening up his saddlebag and pulling out a flattish gift wrapped in starry paper.
“You didn’t have to,” I whinnied, blushing madly. He got me a present! I took the gift from him and carefully unwrapped the starry paper. Where had he gotten it from anyway? All the constellations were accurate.
I peeled the last bit of paper away to see…
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