Twilight’s dinner with Meng Yu had gone well. They followed it up with some conversations, laughs, and a train ride, ultimately finding themselves at the doors to the Friendship Castle in Ponyville. After entering and finding a room for Meng Yu, Twilight began to rummage around the castle for information about Meng’s continent.
"Seresia... Seresia, that ambassador said it was in the east, and across the ocean? But I remember that ocean being dangerous, so how did they do that? I need to find something about the eastern world... Spike!!!" Twilight sifted though book after book, note after note, trying to look for clues in Equestria's encyclopedia, but it was futile. Muttering to herself frustratingly, she continued her search through books when she noticed Spike lying on magical barrier on the box, gazing at the two preserved vases inside.
"I'd really like to taste them, how did they make clay into crystal??"
"Spike! Stop thinking about eating those vases and get over here help me find something on Seresia!"
"Okay, okay, don't yell so loud! What do I need to find?"
"Anything about Seresia."
"Wouldn't it be better to just ask the Princesses? Princess Celestia and Princess Luna might know about this Seresia continent or something. After all, the ambassador also said that she's here to re-establish diplomatic relations, so she must have had at least some connections with the princesses." Spike commented, watching as Twilight flew from shelf to shelf making a mess.
"Right! Why didn't I think of that! I can always count on you Spike!"
"That's for sure! Wait a minute– What are you doing?! Ahhhhhhhhhh!"
The world swirled around Spike as the walls morphed and twisted into a brand new scene. In a flash it was over, and he found himself looking upon swirling sea water lazily swooping down the beach leaving white waves in its wake. In the distance Celestia and Luna were using magic to gracefully lower the sun and raise the moon simultaneously. The surrounding pony folk watched, wide-eyed and astonished. After the two princesses finished their performance, the ponies erupted into enthusiastic applause before scrambling to get their picture taken with the princesses.
The gentle ocean breeze brushed against their faces as spike settled into the sand. They both listened and enjoyed hearing the pony folk as the performance concluded. But before Spike could relax, he found himself in a flash of purple again, and a piercing sound Twilight and Spike suddenly appeared in the pony herd. The entrance sent ponies staggering back and causing a few yelps from the crowd. "Twilight?" Celestia and Luna called in unison, gathering back the attention of all eyes in the room.
"Can you at least tell me before you’re about to teleport us somewhere?" Spike stumbled his words before plunging headlong into the slim beach. With great effort, he began to pull himself out of the sand.
"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, I need to talk to you." Twilight said with grace, ignoring Spike's complaints and walking directly to the two princesses.
"Dear ponies, will you give us some private space? We have some things to talk about with Princess Twilight. Please go ahead and get a juice from the beach juice stand next door, on me"
"Yeah!"
"Long live Princess Celestia!" The ponies left the scene together amidst the cheers, leaving the grounds to the three princesses.
"What happened?" Celestia magically conjured two blankets and placed them next to them.
"An ambassador from Seresia, named Meng Yu, came for an audience this afternoon. She proposed to resume relations with Equestria and requested that a temporary market be constructed in Equestria for the trading of goods, as well as giving me a gift."
"Isn't that nice? Twilight? What’s the problem?" Luna commented, approaching the two while using her magic to deliver the juice to each foal, then sipping the one in her hoof.
"Seresia. I've never heard of this place before and I can’t find anything in my texts. You must have heard about it before though, Celestia?" Twilight explained, taking the juice that Luna floated towards her and shifted to make herself more comfortable on the blanket.
"Seresia, ah... Let's see, it sounds familiar."
"Weren’t they given us a tea set? Do you remember that sis?" Luna asked to Celestia, shuffling to a comfortable position lying on her side on the recliner, "A white tea set with a very intricate blue pattern on it." Seeing Celestia shaking her head, Luna continued, "We were still very young at the time, and we even snuck the tea set out and used it in a playhouse. As a result, you and I broke a teacup when we inevitably fought over it, don’t you remember? Starswirl was furious when she saw the shards on the ground."
"Oh, I remember. And then Starswirl put away all the vases and tea sets, and he would only bring them out on important occasions. That was such a long time ago."
"Twilight you just said that the ambassador gave you a gift too? Was it a tea set as well?" Luna asked looking over at Twilight with a smile.
"Well... No, it was a pair of Treasured Glazed Vases– at least that's what the Ambassador called them."
"Oh? Could you show us?" Celestia and Luna leaned closer, intrigued by the name.
"Unfortunately, I don't have them with me, I left them safe at my castle in Ponyville with a layer of magical protection." Twilight paused, squinting at Spike. "I have to protect it because someone always gets bad ideas."
"There's no harm in tasting it! Besides, why else would they give us two of them? One of them has to be for tasting!"
"No, it's a great symbol which took countless hours to create, if I lose it or break it, what will I tell the ambassador?"
"Whatever you say." Spike crossed his paws over his chest to express his dissatisfaction. Twilight continued, looking up to the princesses to continue her question, "And how much do you know about this continent of Seresia, Princess Celestia?".
"We haven't traveled with the continent of Seresia for many years, it’s been so long I couldn’t even tell you when. But there's one thing I've never been able to forget."
"What is it?" Twilight pursued.
"The monarch of the continent of Seresia wanted to take Luna as his wife, and he paid tribute to us with countless gifts and piles of treasures that nearly filled the warehouse. But then it turned out..." Celestia paused and pulled Luna's hooves closer, "On the surface, he wanted to get married, but behind the scenes he wanted to research and then extract the immortality of Luna, keeping it for himself and discarding Luna once it was all over."
"I didn't know any of this at the time, only that ‘Tia tried desperately to prevent it from happening, and the two of us had a huge fight about it.", Luna said quietly, "Looking back now, I realize that ‘Tia just wanted what was best for me" Luna smiled, laughing a bit and resting of her hooves Celestia's forehoof, rubbing it slowly.
"I'm sorry I didn't make it clear to you in the first place Luna, causing so much pointless suffering and disagreement."
"Hmm, so to make it up to me. You'll be responsible for all the expenses for tomorrow's event."
"Great Luna, I can't believe you actually pulled this stunt!" Celestia remarked jovially. Twilight and Spike glanced at each other as they continued watched the two great princesses tease and fight.
"Sorry to interrupt– but what exactly should I do?" Twilight scratched her head, still intent on asking for their opinions.
"Do what you always do, Twilight. Make some new friends." Luna said as she dodged a hoof from Celestia.
"But I don't know anything about Seresia." Twilight responded. She knew that re-establishing diplomacy was an important step in fostering communication and friendship and that she needed to know something about this continent if it were to go smoothly. She had no idea what kind of customs they had or formalities that would aid in her diplomacy.
"There's a first time for everything, Twilight. We believe you have the strength. Ah, hahahahahahaha don't!" Celestia said, turning and looking at Twilight, only to be tickled by a playful Luna sneaking up behind her.
"Well, so much for my serious conversation" Twilight remarked.
"By the way! You mentioned they were building a market, can you let us know when it's done? I miss that white pastry I used to eat, ‘Tia do you remember what it was called?" Luna jumped back in to the conversation after calming down and regaining her posture.
"White pastry? Is it a cupcake?" Twilight asked suspiciously while Celestia shook her head.
"I can't remember what that kind of pastry is called, it looks like but it's not a cupcake, there's one with filling inside and one without. It's made differently, the texture is like a soft bread and the taste is immaculate." Luna licked her lips and rubbed her hooves as if she was enjoying those treats right now.
"And those foods that are skewered on small sticks and roasted over a fire"
"Ohhh! yeah, yeah! And those, I even tried to find some sticks to skewer the food myself to make them later on, but nothing I did could come close to what they could do. All the ones that came out of the grill were either mushy or burnt."
"Eh... The market has already been arranged by me on the outskirts of Ponyville, I’ll make sure your Highness are the first to know once it's done. I don’t think I should leave the my guests for too long, so I won't stay any longer. Have fun you two princesses, and thank you."
"Do you best, Twilight."