//------------------------------//
// Over a Cup of Tea 
// Story: A War 
// by Comma Typer 
//------------------------------//

Weeks later


For one thing, the trees were even more barren.
In the final hour of the day with the sun's sharp orange light cutting through the sky, streetsweepers cleaned the streets of leaves and leaves and more leaves, bunching them up into large piles dotted across the sidewalks in front of houses and the occasional shop. A carriage on a looping route pulled several hooked and empty wagons, stopping by each pile for the unicorn driver to levitate the leafy mass into the first wagon available before galloping to the next one.
One by one, ponies turned on their lights inside their homes, turning their community into a bright one as they prepared for the incoming night.
The next one to turn on her lights did so and the windows in her bungalow showed it so. Then, she walked out of the door and on to the frontyard.
A large piece of paper was nailed to one of the few tables laid out on the dying grass, shouting in written form: "Garage Sale! Prices are negotiable!"
On the tables and the boxes resting beside them was a potpourri of items and objects: Used shirts and hats creased and folded, old comic books in plastic, empty glass jars polished to a shine, broken clocks with their mechanisms on display, pads of paper and their respective quills and inkwells, brand new window curtains scrubbed clean, half-empty cans of stinky paint, and picked flowers in ordinary vases.
These did not include the rest that were hiding in lumps and jumbles on the tables and in the boxes.
Two mares perused the things on sale, exchanging some words before moving to the next one on the list.
"Sorry for leaving you out there cold," said the pegasus holding the garage sale, leaping to another table there. "Mind if you catch me up on what you found?"
Jasmine Leaf rubbed her chin as she held up a shirt.
It had a picture of Rainbow Dash's scarred face on it, looking dim and gloomy.
"I don't know about this one," Jasmine said, hoofing it to her.
Yard Tag grabbed it with her green wing. "Oh, my cousin gave this to me. He's currently training in the Wonderbolts. I also got shirts of the other big Wonderbolts if you like."
Jasmine shook her head. "No, thank you. Merely curious."
She turned to the Crystal mare at her side who was staring at the garage sale sign on the table.
"Uh, what are you doing?" Yard Tag asked, eyeing her with suspicion. "The sign's not for sale."
Jasmine glared at the pegasus.
"Oops!" she whispered, grinning at the tea pony. "Sorry!"
Arctic Lily touched the sign. "But, you don't have a garage. Do you own a carriage of your own?"
Yard Tag cleared her throat and approached her. "It's called a 'garage sale' because we used to sell our excess stuff in garages. Nowadays, the name stuck and it stands for whenever we wanna sell things from our homes."
Lily shyed away, covering a part of her face with a hoof. "I'm sorry, ma'am. It's just...it's my first time seeing a garage sale." She went back to poring over the clothes there.
The pegasus opened her mouth and widened her eyes at that, looking at Jasmine for an answer.	
She shrugged. "Who could blame her? It's not her fault she hasn't seen one yet."
Yard Tag slowly nodded, scratching her head while putting on a shamed face. "Come on, I didn't know! Do you expect me to know every single thing she doesn't know?"
"Not so loud!" Jasmine snarled, following that up with a shush. "We're supposed to be making her feel comfortable here, not alienated."
"But, a garage sale—"
"Give her time, Yard Tag. Give her time."
Yard Tag stood there, thinking. "Whatever you say, Jasmine."
The tea pony walked back to Lily who was now wearing a fancy top hat and looking at herself on the mirror provided on the table.
"I could pass for a noble," she commented, tipping the hat to the side.
Yard Tag wore a smile and flew to her. "Do you like that hat? I think it looks nice on you."
Arctic Lily gave her a smile back. "Yeah. I think so, too."
Then, everything became darker.
Those mares looked up at the sky.
The sun descended beneath the distant hills, the yellow and orange sky becoming bluer and bluer.
Darker until it was a dark purple blue.
Stars twinkled in and the moon rose up, glowing.
They stood there, looking at the sky.
Admiring it.
"It's half off," Yard Tag quipped, nudging Lily. "You should take it."



Arctic Lily slouched on the chair, stirring the spoon around in her cup full of hot tea.
She and Jasmine Leaf sat at another table in her house, this one surrounded by teacups on desks, little blurbs of histories nearby under the yellow electric lights hanging above.
The both of them smelled that dynamic aroma permeated across the whole room, perhaps the entire house.
Jasmine sipped her tea, cupping it with her forehooves. "Apologies if my question doesn't sound appropriate, but I think you've been here long enough for me to ask."
Lily sipped her tea.
Gulped it down rough.
"What could it be?"
Jasmine placed the cup down on its saucer. "What's it like? Knowing you're so old, that you don't really belong anywhere in this time?"
Lily smirked for a second. "Not hard. It's not like I had to live out those centuries myself to get here. It's...it's not so different."
A pause, a sigh, another sip.
"My Mom...she liked talking about the future. She imagined ponies one day constructing buildings that would soar high as far as a peagsus could possibly go, vehicles and modes of transportation that would not require the strength and the endurance of Earth ponies...then, she would talk about the rest of the future. Ponies spreading out, making their own cities and cultures and lives wherever they went. She went on, speaking of huge cities here and there where hundreds of thousands if not millions of ponies could live together and work and have fun without moving ten miles."
A slight laugh.
"Who knew she would end up being right? They might say it's common sense because, of course, we would try to build taller buildings. But, common sense or not...it's surreal to see it in your lifetime." Another pause. "It's also weird to be talking to...well, anyone who's not a Crystal because you—" pointed at Jasmine across, cupping her tea again and about to drink "—weren't born when I was around. I might be your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother." Glanced away. "No. I need more 'great's'."
"'Ancestor'?" Jasmine suggested, then drank.
Lily laughed again. "Thanks."
Jasmine pushed the teapot a little closer to the Crystal mare.
Lily's smile went away, replaced by a frown.
"Is there something wrong?" Jasmine asked, putting down her cup.
Lily looked straight at her eyes. "Do you mind if I ask you something, too?"
Jasmine clasped her forehooves above her hot tea. "Why not?"
Lily sighed again. "I don't know why you want to help me. I don't want to assume you have a secret motive behind it, but I know of other ponies who professed to be looking for my good...and then, some way or other, they threw away my trust and shoved me out of their towns. Most of you Equestrians are nice and really are genuinely good, but the bad ponies...I couldn't tell because they smile a lot like you."
Jasmine shook her head and shut her eyes. "Take my word for it. I don't gain anything out of lying to you. If I do, I wouldn't be a good friend—I would lose you as a friend. What would others say of me if they found out? I would be ousted out of this town, if not literally, then socially. Nopony would want to be my friend for a long time."
Lily took a quick sip of her tea. "Are you sure?"
Jasmine half-closed her eyes and gave her a serious look. "I'm sure. I promise. Stay as long as you want. Maybe I could petition the mayor to build a little home for you if you really like Willow Bales."
Lily downed the whole cup of tea in seconds.
Put it down on the saucer with a loud clink.
"You don't have to do that," Lily said. "That's too much."
"Nothing is too much if you have the good of others in mind," Jasmine said, giving her an encouraging smile.
Lily pouted, pouring more tea into her cup. "I wouldn't say that if I were you."
"Huh?"
Lily chuckled a subtle chuckle. "I'm the only Crystal pony in this town. While your village of Willow Bales is fine for me, I'm afraid I must move out of here sooner or later. Say, when winter rolls in."
Jasmine lowered an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Like I said, I'm the only Crystal here. No matter how friendly everyone here is to me, it...doesn't feel the same. Being the only pony in the family not brainwashed, I already got a sticky situation on my plate. The next best thing would have to trot to a group of other Crystals to turn to. At least we'd have a common cause to fight for."
"Don't you see our cause as common with yours, too?"
Lily shook her head solemenly, closing her eyes. "You are fighting for a homeland that is already free. We are fighting for a homeland that isn't so."
Jasmine groaned. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but we're fighting for both homelands. We're in this together, whether we're Equestrian or Crystal."
Winced again. Extended a hoof over the table.
"Well, it's sad you'll leave soon, but...what about we show some unity while we're still here?"
Lily opened her mouth, shivering.
Raised her unsteady foreleg.
Grasped.
Shook hooves.
Sniffed.
"Thank you, miss." Shut her eyes. "It would be hard for you to be disguising yourself all this time if you are this sincere, Jasmine."
"That's because I'm not wearing a disguise at all," Jasmine replied.
The two let go of each other's grip.
"I'm just a pony who wants to help."
Lily then slouched at the chair, looking at her cup of tea.
Noticing that smell again, and the yellow lights, too.



The Crystal pony sat on the sidewalk, the dawn of the next day taking over the whole sky as the sun rose, turning it pink and blue again and lighting up the whole town and everything else in its shine.
Feeling that gentle warmth once more.
Heard wing flaps above.
Arctic Lily looked up.
Several pegasi flying united in formation, holding buttons.
Pressed.
Bundles of newspapers fell from their saddle bags, each falling at about the same speed to their respective targets.
One of which was Jasmine Leaf's front yard.
It fell right on Lily's hooves.
"Eek!"
She jumped away from the sudden newspaper.
A few seconds of silence between her and the newspaper.
She trotted to it and picked it up, untying the ribbon that wrapped it up.
Unfolded it.
On the front page of the "Willow Bales Daily", what garnished today's edition was a picture of armored Equestrian soldiers marching their way to the front in the middle of grass fields. The headline, in bold letters, was: "Crystal War Slows Down Due to Mud!"
Lily grumbled. "I hate it when the word 'Crystal' gets used like that."
She leered at one of the other ponies there who was also reading his newspaper. He looked up from his daily, saw the Crystal pony across the street, and hastened to cover his face with the news again.
"Ugh. That's not helping."
Her eyes went back to her daily.
"Let's see what else is going on other than war, war, war."
Her hoof tore through the words and other front page news.
It landed on a small article by the corner.
Its headline was: "Ponyville's Running of the Leaves Scheduled for Next Monday; Princess Cadance to Attend".
Arctic Lily knitted her brows. "Interesting..."