Tea & Crumpets
Splendid. Marvelous. Amazing. Spiffing.
These we're all words that could perfectly describe the day the ponies of Buckingham were having. For the past few days it had been raining, and thundering hard, so today was an extra-special treat for many who we're cooped up inside their small cobblestone houses. But for Nettle Tea it was extra-special.
Nettle Tea was a gray-maned, chocolatey-brown unicorn, with a cutie mark of a tea kettle, and nettles. And on this fine Thursday he was going to get his most prized possession back: his ornate-gold watch.
A day before the thunderstorms swept into Buckingham, Nettle had dropped off his best watch at the local clocksmith. But due to the sudden rain and lightning it made it too dangerous for Nettle to make the six-block run to the clock store to retrieve his watch. But since today the sky was clear he could not only retrieve his watch, but do a little grocery shopping as well. He had been out of tea for two days, and it was giving him jitters.
Currently Nettle was at the marketplace; it was like a beehive of activity. Ponies dodged every which way, going from vendor to vendor to finish their shopping. Normally the marketplace was busy, but since the thunderstorm had drained food supplies, lots of ponies we're restocking. For some reason it reminded him of Buckingham Castle.
Buckingham Castle was a very old, and very large castle on the banks of a large ocean, about twenty-five miles from Baltimare. Nettle had once been their whilst touring the northern-most part of Buckingham. It was a very beautiful sight. The outsides of the building had been made from sandy-gray bricks. Two large banners we're draped along many sides of the castle, carrying the symbol of Buckingham. The inside of the building was just as amazing.
Most of the walls were made of the same sandy-gray bricks that decorated the outside, save for the dining room which was made of polished oak wood. Lots of the walls we're decorated with tapestries, and paintings, statues also lined the hallways. There we're also plenty of ornate chandeliers, and rugs we're draped over the stairs. It was a castle fit for a queen.
Nettle was suddenly snapped out of his daydream by a call from nearby.
"Oi Nettle! Can you spare a moment of your time?"
Nettle smiled. Only one pony had that voice, and that was Buttered Biscuit, one of Nettles closest friends since they we're just little foals. Nettle put his shopping list away, and trotted over to the yellow pegasus.
"Fancy seeing you here Buttered," said Nettle. "What do you need?"
"Well you see the weather's been keeping me inside for awhile, so I haven't been able to deliver me bills to the post office," explained Buttered. "If I'm not at the post office before the mailpony leaves at noon, then I'm getting evicted."
"That's terrible! But...Why can't you do it yourself?" asked Nettle.
"Erm...Well...Its complicated..." said Buttered looking from side to side as if he was being followed.
"..."
"Anyway I need you to deliver these 'ere bills to the post office before noon." said Buttered as he grabbed a small stack of letters out of his saddlebag, and handed them to Nettle who reluctantly took them. And with that Buttered took off
Nettle sighed. Now he had one more thing to worry about. If he wasn't fast he'd be late for for lunch. Before heading towards the grocery store he looked over at the clock and noticed it was ten thirty-five. Maybe he could still pull this off.
~*~*~
"What do you mean this is going to cost me?"
"I'm sorry sir, but if you are dropping off letters for a friend, you need to pay five bits to compensate for the fact your friend cannot deliver the letters himself."
"B-but that makes no sense!"
"It doesn't make sense to me either sir, but that's what I'm supposed to do."
"Bah, fine. Here." grunted Nettle digging into his saddlebags and producing five bits on the counter.
"Oh there's no reason to be like that sir," said the obviously too happy clerk. "Just look outside! Its a beautiful day!"
"I'm quite aware." said Nettle staring at the pony behind the counter, before starting towards the door.
"Well, have a nice day!" said the clerk as Nettle walked over to the door.
"You too." replied Nettle as he walked out the door into the streets.
What luck. Nettle had managed to go shopping, and deliver the letters to the post office, all in under one hour. He would have plenty of time to retrieve his watch, and head home for 'tea time' as it was called by some.
The streets of Buckingham we're almost as busy as the marketplace. Hundreds if not thousands of ponies lined the sides of the cobblestone street. Every pony was dressed a different way. There were ponies with top hats, ponies with monocles, ponies smoking pipes, rich ponies, poor ponies, ponies wearing checkered berets, ponies in the street, ponies on the sidewalk, ponies sitting on benches, ponies reading the newspaper. Some put it as 'organized chaos'.
There were also carriages pulled by muscle-ponies, carrying either passengers or cargo. As Nettle started heading to the clock store, a cart full of vegetables passed him.
Despite their hardly being legroom on mane street, there was a bouquet of smells, and sounds. Nettle could smell a ton of cheeses from a nearby cheese shop. Roses blew their perfume at ponies passing by a flower shop. And of course the sound of carriage wheels, and chattering ponies added atmosphere to the area.
Ah, here we are. Thought Nettle as his hooves stopped him in front of the clock store. The sign was interestingly placed on the front of the door saying in large letters:
Ben's Clock Shop
We buy, sell, and repair.
Mon-Fri: 7:00 AM-8:00 PM
Sat-Sun: 1:00 PM-8:30 PM
The bell above the door jingled happily as Nettle Tea entered the store. Almost immediately he was greeted with the chiming of hundreds of clocks. Lining the walls and shelves was the biggest collection of clocks anypony had ever laid eyes on; there were grandfather clocks, wall clocks, cuckoo clocks, alarm clocks, small clocks, big clocks. Everywhere was clocks. As he trotted up to the counter Nettle found it ironic that he could see a circle wall clock hanging in the back room. After waiting a few seconds with no reply, he gently rang the bell and immediately a gray pony looked around the corner from the back room.
The owner of the shop - who was obviously named Ben - was a old dark gray-maned, gray earth pony with a - you guessed it - grey beard. Besides his mane and coat color he always wore his red checkered beret, with white lines in between the red squares. Amongst other things he wore a thing set of reading glasses and commonly smoked a pipe.
"'Ello there Nettle," said Ben in his old gruff voice. "I presume your here to pick up your watch?"
"Indeed," replied Nettle. "Oh and my grandfather clock mysteriously stopped working. Can you stop by on Saturday and check it out?"
"Sure I can," said Ben. "Now...For your watch."
Nettle calmly sat and watched as Ben walked into the back room. Moments later Ben came back holding a very delicate and ornate gold watch. He set it down on the counter, and began explaining what he had fixed.
"Other then the fact that it had broken a gear, I also gave it a fresh coat of gold paint and repaired a chip in the back."
"Okay. How much will this cost me?" asked Nettle.
"Usually it'd be twenty bits, but because your my best customer I'm lowering it to seventeen." said the old gray pony, smiling.
Nettle fumbled whilst digging in his saddlebags, and ended up accidentally dropping a few bits. He picked them back up and grinned sheepishly while setting them on the counter. Ben took the bits, and Nettle grabbed his watch. He put his watch back on as he trotted over to the door. The bells jingled again on the way out.
~*~*~
Nettle was in no hurry to get back home, and decided to make a few unscheduled stops along the way. Nettle had been born, and raised in Buckingham, but the intricate architectural designs never ceased to amaze him.
It seemed coincidental that the clock struck noon as Nettle opened the door to his house. Nettle was no rich pony, but his house was bigger then seventy-five percent of all other houses in Buckingham. In fact he even decided to hire a butler. Butlers we're usually rare amongst the middle and low-class, but it was not impossible to see one serving the common pony.
After hanging up his top hat, Nettle went straight for the dining room where a large banquet awaited him. The most notable part of the dining room was that the walls we're made of pine tree wood, which provided not only a decorative look, but a nice piney smell. On one side of the room was a large window. There was a large potted plant in the corner near the window, and his recently-broken grandfather clock in the other. But what really interested Nettle was the food on the table.
Even just one pony in a house always ate a large breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And Nettle's lunch was nothing short; there we're peeled oranges, a tossed salad, daisy sandwich's, dandelions, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, a bowl of apples, mashed potatoes with gravy, and in the center: A roast pig with an apple in its mouth.
Ponies were usually vegetarians, but the ponies of Buckingham we're the first - and only - ponies to start eating meat, after a freak accident happened when a farmer accidentally dropped a lit torch next to his pig barn. The smell had attracted ponies far and wide, and soon half the population of Buckingham was eating pork. Of course Buckingham's pig population drastically dropped after this event, but eventually a solution was found in which ponies could enjoy a whole roast pig, whilst their was still enough pigs to cook.
But for Nettle the only food he was interested in was on a silver platter in front of his chair: A good old fashioned plate of tea and crumpets.