Twilight Sparkle coughed abruptly and woke up in a world that she did not recognise. The last vestiges of sleep fled away from her eyes as she looked over a barren plain. She coughed once more, raising her head from the warm, dusty ground on which she lay. Eyes wide, the shocked pony scrambled to her feet. Dust. Dust as far as the eye could see. What happened? Where was she? Where was the Library? Why was she outside? Questions ran through the panicked mares mind and she ran, obeying an ancient herd instinct as she searched for more of her kind, calling out the names of her friends as she did so. Dust flew into the air as her hooves churned up the earth beneath her feet. Finally, she fell to the ground and wept, her tears making tracks through the dirt on her face as she gave in to exhaustion and panic. She cried for a time, not a long time but long enough to calm herself down. Twilight had always had a strong character, stronger, at times, than even she realised.
Getting up, she bowed her head to wipe her eyes and took stock of her situation. It did not look good. Alone, stranded in the middle of a desolate wilderness, no food, no water and a thirst from running that she was already desperate to parch. At least the sun was going down, or her thirst would become a problem even more quickly. Or was the sun coming up? Curious, Twilight glanced up at the heavens and almost fell into panic once more. The sun was not going down, nor was it coming up. Instead, it just hung there in the sky while at the opposite horizon, the moon did the same, bathing the land in twilight, or, to be more accurate, the light of dusk.
Using a quick magnification spell, Twilight Sparkle gazed intently at the moon. What were the Princesses thinking? Why were they fighting over the heavens rather than working together in harmony? Frowning, she prepared to deactivate her spell when something caught her eye. A trail of smoke rose into the air far off in the distance. A relieved smile spread itself across her face. Smoke meant fire and fire meant civilisation, or dragons, but hopefully that was not going to be the case here. Twilight bit her lip at the thought. Where was Spike? Where were the rest of her friends? The young magic user shook her head, ridding herself of those thoughts, for now. She could not afford to fall into despair, not now. Those thoughts were for a later time, preferably after she had a drink of water. Marking her destination, Twilight focused her magic to her horn and teleported into the distance, the bright purple flash illuminating the air around her. For half a second, no longer hidden in the shadow of a nearby dune, the scaly lengths of a huge desert cobra revealed itself. Angrily, the snake flicked it’s tongue out of it’s cart sized head, tasting the scent of the meal that had escaped it.
Each teleport brought Twilight closer to the small column of smoke that rose into the air. It took six separate teleports to get Twilight to a distance where she could see the house where the smoke was coming from. The house created a stark contrast to the land around it. Whereas all the land she had seen since she woke up had been a barren dustbowl, here there was green and growing things. The smoke that she had seen from so far away rose from the boiler of a large tractor being driven by an orange earth pony with a yellow mane. For a moment, Twilight’s heart leapt, only to fall once more as she realised that, despite the familiar colouring, this was not Applejack. Behind the tractor was a large trailer, in which three more earth ponies and two Pegasus were throwing armfuls of leaves that they collected from the plants that surrounded them. No unicorns, but that was not altogether odd. Shrugging her shoulders, Twilight walked closer and raised voice to hail them.
“Ahoy over there!”
Tea Leaves started when she heard the unfamiliar voice call to them. Immediately, she stopped the tractor and eased her hoof down to the butt of the crossbow she kept next to her seat. If they had been found, then she was going to make sure she did not go to Tartarus alone. Behind her, the other workers stopped what they were doing and readied themselves for an attack. Good lads, all of them. Pasting a smile on her face, Tea Leaves focused on the intruder. A unicorn, her smile slipped slightly. Not good, they did not have any magic users at the farm and unicorns could be difficult to handle, especially if this one was not alone.
“Hullo there, dearie. Lan’ sakes, what’re you doing here all by yerself?” she called out cheerfully, ready to put a crossbow bolt in her skull if it was shown to be necessary.
“I’m not sure,” Twilight answered, kicking bashfully at the dust. “I think I must have done a teleport spell in my sleep, because I woke up in the middle of nowhere. I saw smoke in the distance so I made my way here and here I am.” She finished with a bashful grin.
Tea Leaves calmed down and smiled once more, a gleam entering her eye. “You poor dear, it must have been such a shock for you!”
Twilight nodded, relieved to have found other ponies. It was silly looking back on it, but she had for a moment thought that she was the only pony left in the land.
“Tell you what, dear. Why don’t you come inside and have a bite to eat, maybe something to drink? Hospitality isn’t dead yet, or my name ain’t Tea Leaves, which it is.”
Twilight trotted slowly down the path towards them. “That would be wonderful, thank you. My name is Twilight Sparkle, Tea Leaves.” She smiled expectantly at the others.
“Oh, don’t mind the boys,” Tea Leaves said hurriedly. “They’re not used to pretty mares dropping by. Come on, come inside, come inside!”
Gesturing with a hoof, Tea Leaves guided Twilight to the house. “What’s she doing? You know unicorns are nothing but trouble!” one of the pegasi hissed to his companion.
His confidante shrugged his wings. “Leaves knows what she’s doing besides…” here he gave a wink. “We’d be poor hosts if we didn’t even give her a cup of tea, now wouldn’t we?”
Understanding dawned in the other pony’s eyes and he smiled slowly. It was not a very nice smile. “Oh, well…we can’t have that now can we?”
Tea Leaves opened the front door with a grunt of effort. With good reason too, the front door was made of hoofbeaten steel, with a great iron wheel on the inside that, when turned, would seal up the entryway tighter than Applejack’s purse.
“Now dear,” Tea Leaves said with a smile, “what can I get you? Something to eat? A cup of tea?”
“Some water would be nice,” Twilight said, hopefully.
“Then water you shall have!” Tea Leaves exclaimed, gesturing to one of her fellow earth ponies to comply with their guest’s request. “After which I insist you try a cup of tea. It’s not often that I get to see a unicorn such as yourself enjoy my speciality.”
Twilight smiled softly. “That would be lovely.”
Tea Leaves began searching in her cupboards as Twilight gratefully drank the cup of water that was given to her. “Sorry to bother you, Miss Sparkle, but could I trouble you for a bit of a light?” Tea Leaves asked, pointing at her wood stove. “I can’t seem to find my matches.”
Twilight grinned, happy to help. “I can do you one better,” she said proudly, her horn lighting up as a small log became engulfed in the same purple glow. A brief look of concentration crossed her face before the log burst into violet flames. Warmth seemed to wash over them all as the fire crackled merrily. “Celestia’s Fyre, unless you pour water over it, this fire will never go out, nor will it burn fuel,” her voice took on a slight lecturing tone as she informed the ponies around her of her sorcerous creation.
“That…sounds complicated.” An earth pony commented.
Twilight nodded as Tea Leaves put the kettle on to boil. “Oh, it is. Not many unicorns know this trick. Even then, out of the ones that do, not many can do it well as most of the time you need to have an affinity for fire to pull it off. The real tricky part is completing the circle.”
“Circle?”
Twilight nodded enthusiastically as she continued speaking of her favourite subject. “It’s what keeps the flame burning. Instead of the magic dissipating once the spell is cast, the cynosure must be on the vita vitae of the aliquatenus in order to cajole it to travel in redivivus instead of simply maintaining a straight link,” she finished her explanation excitedly, gazing around at the ponies around her who, by now, must understand the true brilliance behind this seemingly simple spell.
“Whut?”
The purple unicorn flushed embarrassedly. “Um, the magic keeps travelling through the framework of the spell in a circle, maintaining itself, instead of constantly drawing energy from its caster in a straight link.”
“Fascinating, dearie. How in Equestria did you learn all of that?”
Twilight smiled. “I was taught by the one who created the spell,” she said, proudly.
Tea Leaves froze in the act of bringing over a jumbo sized pot of tea to the table. Her eyes flickered momentarily, connections running through her mind as she kept an outwardly calm appearance while pouring a hot beverage for everyone.
“Is that so? Well, I’ve heard that Princess Celestia also enjoys the occasional cup of tea,” she said with a grin, sliding the steaming drink over to Twilight.
Twilight nickered softly, “that she does almost too much, at times.” Bringing the mug to her lips with her magic, Twilight flinched slightly, drawing it away to see a large chip in the lip of the mug, creating an uncomfortably sharp edge.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Tea Leaves exclaimed, seeing her pause. “You got the chipped one, how could I be so careless, please forgive me!”
“No, no, it’s fine,” Twilight said, trying to reassure her host, hurriedly twirling the sharp edge away from her lips and taking a large sip of her tea to prove her point. Her eyes widened as the infused blend rolled around in her mouth. The wonderfully heady flavour seemed to soothe every part of her body as a subtle earthy taste created just enough contrast to make a difference without being too potent. It was, simply put the best cup of tea she had every had the pleasure of drinking.
“Oh, that’s good. What type of tea is this, anyway? I’ve never had it before, believe me, I would know.”
“Yes, yes you would. Well, I see no harm in telling you. This particular blend of tea is the result of some very careful cross-pollination. For myself, I think that it’s best enjoyed with small spoonful of honey, pity we don’t get much around here. The freshly picked leaves are allowed to oxidize, which is how it develops its deep flavour and aroma.” Here, she took a deep whiff of her own cup of tea before drinking a third of her cup. “Forkroot tea has several marvellous properties as well. It focuses the mind and sharpens the eyesight. It promotes muscle growth and can act as a powerful painkiller.” Tea Leaves sighed sadly. “If only it were not so devilishly addictive.” A thump sounded in the room followed immediately by the sound of smashing porcelain. “Personally though, I think that the fact that a potent brew can render a unicorn both unconscious and unable to use magic for several hours is its most useful feature, don’t you?” she asked, silkily.
Laughter rang out through the room the occupants gazed at Twilight’s helpless form. By now, the other ponies had all finished their drink, none of them taking the time to savour their addiction. “Clean up that mess, boys,” Tea Leaves commanded, imperiously.
“You’re slipping, Tea, why’d you go and give her the chipped mug?”
The mare rolled her eyes. “Keep to what you’re good at, Manual Labour. She was a polite young thing that would be horrified at the thought of offending her hosts, so she would have tried the tea even if she had been suspicious just to reassure us. Not to mention I wasn’t going to waste a good piece of porcelain when she keeled over.”
Manual snorted, before walking slowly over to Twilight and easily lifting her onto his back before walking off in the direction of a closed door.
“Where are you going?” Tea Leaves asked, sharply.
Manual turned slowly and raised one eyebrow. “She’s a pretty young thing…you want to join in?” his teeth bared in a lewd smile.
“Are you daft?” Tea Leaves raged. “Did you not listen to what she said? She was once Princess Celestia’s student!”
“Not possible, she’s too young.”
“Even so, she will be delivered to the Sanguin alive, and unspoilt.”
Manual and a number of the other males glared at her.
“Fine. Drink Driver, get the steam car.”
Twilight woke up hours later to find herself bound in chains to a wall. A beast stood almost nose to nose with her, its fetid breath filling her nostrils as the stench of rotting meat made her gag. He smiled, revealing a mouth full of teeth made for ripping and tearing into flesh.
“Yes, you’ll do nicely.”
Twilight screamed.