Her curls were now just locks of frizz, her hoofs now raisins form all the dishes she'd washed, her eyes could barely stay open, they were getting blood shot and puffy, but Tealove kept working.
She was back in her Tea Room, late in the night, closing down the store and making sure everything was spit spot for the next day. She could have been done hours ago, but Tealove slowed her work to perfection speed (as I call it), but being slightly OCD wasn't the real reason she was lengthening out her work. It was that letter. The letter that was then laying on the spotless counter, right where Tealove had left it when she'd come back to the Tea Room after the Summer Wrap-Up luncheon. Every now and then she'd glance at it, put down the pastry cream mixer she'd been scrubbing for about an hour and reach for it, but then thoughts of what the letter could be shot into her mind. (It had to be horrible. I was told to open it in secret! What if it self destructs and blows Dad's..I mean, my Tea Room up! Why can't I just pretend I never got it? Why do ponies have to talk to me? What could the Princesses want from me?!)
Eventually, around midnight, Tealove had nothing else to do. Every teaspoon, kettle, tray and whisk had been soaked, scrubbed, rinsed, sanitized, soaked again, scrubbed..(you don't want to hear the rest. I'll put myself to sleep if I list it off) and now it was time. It came down to this. (Just me and the letter.)
Tealove took in a deep breath as she suddenly noticed how quiet the Tea Room was..and how alone she was...(and how vulnerable!). Technically, it was the perfect time to read the letter, so Tealove finally forced a hoof around the scroll container, swallowed to sourness rising in her throat, then (just in case it does self destruct) trotted out into the cold night to open the case.
The moon shone high above her, the silence and open space seeming to beg the darkness to make something bad happen as Tealove popped the lid from the letter and tipped it carefully over onto the cobblestone street around the corner from Ponyville plaza. Out of the cylinder slid a parchment scroll tied in ribbon that resembled Princess Celestia's mane (not too bad so far), a smaller, folded piece of paper and finally, a little pearl plopped onto the floor with a soft 'dink'. (Okay...)
Tealove's twisted stomach (that was so regretting eating all of the leftover mini cream puffs) loosened a little. It seemed like just a letter. Perhaps an invitation to cater a tea party at Canterlot! (What an honor that would be!) Tealove let the thought lift her heart a bit then tugged at the scroll's silk ribbon and unrolled the parchment to begin reading.
"Dear Tealove Van Clovers,
You are not just an earth pony. You posses more magic in you than some unicorns, and it is because of who you really are. Your true
identity has been kept quiet since your birth, even your own parents-who I am sorry to say are not your real parents-did not know who
their 'filly' really was, but this very confidential information has leaked over the years and as your powers are growing stronger, I believe it
is time.
Tealove, you must report to the Canterlot palace immediately. You are not safe where you are-you're being watched and you need to
come to Canterlot as soon as possible. Once you are there, request that the guards bring you to the throne room 'as fast and quick as a
zipping moon beam across the sun of the morn'. You must, for the situations are dire and we need you immediately.
I am sorry that I cannot explain more, but you will be informed more upon your arrival at Canterlot. Travel quickly and safe. I have two of
my most trusted ponies on guard in Ponyville, ready to escort you safely to the palace. Don't worry about finding them, they will find you
first.
Your Majesties,
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."
Tealove stared. She blinked. (That light from the lamp post at the corner must have been on full blast cause the glare kept making my eyes water.) Her stomach felt empty now, a caved out pit. She squeezed her swollen eyes shut then reread the letter again. And again. It was seriously there. That was seriously the signatures of the Princesses. This was real. But it couldn't be!
Tealove read over the first paragraph. (They must have the wrong Tealove Van Clovers. I'm just as magical as a burnt eclair without a filling! And my parents...) Tears started to well up in her eyes again, but Tealove forced them down as prickled of anger began to rise from her gut. (How dare she say that about my parents! They're my real parent! The hay bag..the nerve!) But then she remembered. Tealove had never seen, out of all the scrapbooks her mom had made, there weren't any picture of Tealove being in the hospital after birth. (Mom would never miss a documenting opportunity as big as that!) Now that she thought about it though, Tealove had never seen any picture of her before the age of two. Not one picture of her as a little filly being passed around to all of her eager aunts and uncles so everypony could have a chance to cradle the new born in their arms...
(No! It wasn't true!) Tears were trickling down Tealove's cheeks now, and even though they tickled at her suddenly burning face, she didn't wipe them away. (It can't be!)
Tealove threw the scroll aside and let herself sob. She was angry at Celestia for keeping such a secret, angry at her parents for some reason she couldn't name! Heart broken that she was angry about them... Everything she'd known to be true! Down the drain! Why didn't anypony tell her? Who could she trust now? (Nopony...nopony cares. You're an orphan. Nopony loves you!)
Tealove choked as her tears blurred the streets and quickly snatched up the folded piece of paper to give her mind something else to brew over. Anything else than her parents.
On this paper was a picture. A picture (that really didn't help the situation!) that stopped Tealove's heart, that stopped her very breathing. Even the tears froze for a moment.
This picture was of a small filly. Green coated, blue maned (which would have been like mine if it hadn't been cut so short and was sticking up like a stallion's mane) with eyes as blue as crystals. And this filly was in Canterlot. In the palace. Tugging at the flowing ends of Princess Luna's mane as Princess Celestia, mane up in a towel and looking quite groggy, held out a bottle in failed attempts to distract the little filly. And the picture was dated. (My birthday.)
Tealove quickly scanned over the words below the picture that read 'Along with this picture is enclosed a pearl. This will be your means of communication once you join with your escorts. They will explain how to use it. Please place it in your ear for now'.
Tealove glanced at the pearl, eyes drying now, then gingerly rolled it around in between her hooves. It looked like any normal pearl that would be on a necklace, just like the edible ones she topped mini cupcakes with. (But in my ear? Surely there was a more natural way to wear it?) Even though Tealove thought it to pointless, she followed her instructions and fit the pearl in her ear, but what she wasn't expecting was that as soon as the pearl made contact with her skin, it latched on like a magnet (or a hearing aid). This spiked a little something inside of Tealove's skull, though she couldn't tell if it was pain or a jolt of excitement, either way, she felt ready to face the world now. To leave Ponyville. (More like to leave behind Miss mule, but a change in scenery is always well appreciated too.) And most importantly, to find out who she really was.
Tealove shoved the small note back into the letter casing, but as she reached for the scroll, her hoof made contact with a sticky goop ball instead of parchment. (Oh no, not gum!) But when she turned around, she found that there wan't a scroll in sight. Not even a ribbon. Just a small patch of green goo that was beginning to quickly harden. Tealove's heart stopped. (Man, if that keeps happening, I'm going to die soon.)
It was a feeling she knew all too well. The crystallizing of Queen Chrysalis's pods. It was true. She was being watched.
********************
It was pretty easy to get packed up and ready to go. After her dad had passed, Tealove' step-mother had taken pretty much taken every one of her personal belongings to 'humble my dear daughter during this time of trial'. (Yah, well what would you say if I stole all of your posh stink bomb perfumes to humble your ugly face?)
After five minutes of jumping at every sound and almost fainting from holding breath while Miss mule went downstairs for a drink, Tealove's room was almost totally empty. So with one last glance at the house, Tealove took the safest way out (following the squirrels down the tree near my window) then (freedom! I can't believe I'm finally doing this...) took off towards the Ponyville Express.
Tealove's heart pounded against her skull as Ponyville zoomed past her. (What am I doing? How do I know this whole thing isn't a lie?) Multiple times she stopped and even twice turned back to Sugar Street, but this was her chance. Her only chance to leave, to start new. Totally new. And every time she considered returning home, this one thought drove her to keep galloping forward: (hey, as long as I can make my mini cupcakes where ever I'm going, everything's perfect! Except for mom and dad..but...oh. I want to to know who I am. That too.)
"Can I have a ticket to Canterlot, please?" Tealove asked as she nervously scanned the shadowed Ponyville train station.
"Well, of course, m'am!" the young stallion behind the glass whinnied then, using his horn, slipped a shining golden ticket across the counter, "Enjoy your travels! And don't forget to donate to our sponsors, the Shiny Hoof Foundation for...!"
"Mhm," Tealove nodded distractedly as she trotted towards the bench by the train tracks, still looking over her shoulder in case Miss mule came suddenly swooping down from the sky, fangs ready to drag Tealove back home, but the sky was clear. Too clear. The moon wasn't up that night. Only stars. (Weird. I thought Princess Luna didn't do New Moons.)
Tealove took a seat on the bench and gazed up at the train schedule. Her escape would arrive in half an hour. (I have to wait? What kind of Equestrian society do run?!) So she waited, tapping a hoof against the cement ground as the minutes slowly ticked by, but remained patient. (By the time that train does come, I'll be dead and gone!!)
The night aged on, the shadows seeming to grow darker as Tealove waited, struggling to stay awake and constantly nodding off. Once she even had a half-asleep dream about arriving at Canterlot just to have Celestia morph into her step-mother (let's call her Madam stink. Miss mule was getting old) and to have all the blood sucked out her by the fake Princess's fangs...
Tealove jerked awake with a squeak. The train tracks focused back into view after a moment of blinking, then Tealove shook herself as if that would erase the dream and began listing off the ingredients and directions on how to make a mini eclair to distract herself. She was beginning to relax again when she reach the half teaspoon of vanilla, but then something out of the corner of her eye suddenly caught her attention. A shadow. Followed by another one in the same shape that zipped across the landing to the ticket stand. And the ticket stallion wasn't there anymore.
Tealove jumped to her hooves, keeping her saddle bag close as she squinted into the dark, "Hello?"
No response. Tealove was about to sit back down when a stallion's voice replied, "Hi there!" then the ticket booth pony trotted out of the shadows.
Tealove let out a long sigh, "Oh! I thought..you probably shouldn't..lurk in shadows like that...you might scare somepo-"
The stallion punched Tealove square in the muzzle, sending her to the ground with a horrible nose bleed, but he just laughed and whispered, "Oh please. Lurking in the shadows is what we do. Come on boys!"
Tealove blinked furiously, trying to bring her eyes back into focus as three other black shadows appeared from behind the ticket stallion-who wasn't the ticket stallion anymore! As his friends came up behind him, the pony began to fizz green until, form the hooves up, he was twisted into his true form. A black, fanged, winged and holed pony-a Changling. And as he transformed, so did his friends.
Tealove screamed, "Somepony he-!!" but before she could finish, the lead Changling jumped on top of her, its touch chilled Tealove to the bone and sent a violent shudder through her body once her bucked her in the stomach.
"Ack!" the mare choked, "Get OFF!" and as she wound up to return the blow, the other Changlings joined the dog pile and set to work biting at their victim's limbs. Pain shot up Tealove as if it were traveling straight through her veins to her heart where she felt a jerk inside of her chest. (Are they venomous? Am I being poisoned?!) But instead of making her weak, the sudden stab of pain blew through Tealove like a gust of fighter charged wind and quicker than a whisk, she bucked away the biters, sunk her teeth into the closest hoof to her and head butted the lead Changling as hard as she could in its chest.
"Agh!!" the pony creature yelped and he fell back, allowing Tealove to hop to her hooves and give the remaining attackers a swift buck in the flank.
"Somepony help!" Tealove yelled toward town, "The Changl-!"
But then a hoof was stuffed into her mouth and she was tackled, "Shut it, Sweet," the pony pinning her down growled, "Nopony's coming to help you. Not when we're-!"
"Oooooh, can't I take just one sip?" a Changling butted in, "The love in this one is even sweeter than the stuff in Princess-"
"Shut up!" the leader snapped, "Don't you listen at all? Queen Chrysalis said to leave this one until-"
"But can't we just have a tiny lick?" the other persisted, "It'll give us the energy to make it home with our load!"
Tealove wriggled desperately under the Changling's weight. The other pony-things were considering their companion's suggestion! No. As her captors discussed the pros and cons, Tealove was reminded of the torment she might be feeling within moments. She knew what it felt like to have the love sucked out of her, to have the very light and soul taken from you. It had happened that night-the night her mom pleaded that Queen Chrysalis take her instead. She only knew what it felt like for a few minutes, but her mom had experienced that until death. She couldn't feel it again-wouldn't.
"Well, I vote yes and that's final," one of the Changlings was saying.
"Well, of course you do, Bit, but what does Blaze think, eh, boss?"
"I don't see why not, so..just a small lick for each of you!"
The group of Changlings cheered. Tealove's scream was muffled from the holey hoof still shoved over her mouth. (No, no, no,no! This can't happen again! Not again! I can't-!) Tealove buck at the Changling on top of her with all her might, thrashing and biting at his hoof, but her whole body suddenly became limp, everything so numb that her brain couldn't take control. It was happening.
Tealove saw the image of herself as a filly, her mom and dad with her as they hugged under the sunset. But then the memory turned brown, curled like a burning piece of parchment until it was just an empty feeling inside. (No..stop..) Then she saw her dad and her a week after her mom's funeral, holding each other tight, feeling too alone to let go. The feeling had been so strong, the warmth had brought her to tears, but then it was whisked away. Burned, charred, crumpled until there was another hole in Tealove's heart. (No! Dad! Please!) Then the next memory appeared-the father-daughter dance. (No, not that one!!) She felt it's overwhelming love, the deep connection between he and her dad as they danced into the morning-but then a green flame began licking at its edges and soon it was curling to emotionlessness. The darkness and total misery seemed to envelop her heart, to bring the world to an end, to force Tealove down into the depths of a cruel death, like she was being dragged slowly under water, the pressure increasing, the tears flooding, the pain so real, clenching at her drilled heart.
Tealove struggled, but her limbs wouldn't respond. She tried to buck and hit, but she felt as if she was in a deep, horrifying sleep, never to wake and only to have all of her life taken from her until she was just a colorless, dead pan, withered reed of-
"NOPE!"
As abrupt as a switch on a beater, Tealove was wrenched from her tormenting misery and thrust back to the present. She blinked, dazed. There were no Changlings above her. Her memories were slowly returning to feeling as she breathed in the fresh air that pleasantly stung and her chest. There were distant cries to her her left, but when she tried to stand, her knees buckled and completely gave out. Then a Changling, looking awfully beaten, swooped to the ground and snatched her up, then desperately began flying away with her, though weighed by its load. Tealove was too dazed to process much of it though. (Give me a break, I'd just been practically tortured!)
"E-nope!"
Before the Changling could get far off the ground though, he was suddenly bucked out of the air and thrown to the ground, but Tealove flew the opposite direction. That's when she started to come to. And started to scream. But just before she could hit the ground at bone breaking speeds, she was caught by two strong hooves. It was so abrupt that it took her a moment to realize that she could stop screaming. She looked up for her savior as she was set on the ground just to find-
A broad, red coated stallion standing above her nodded approvingly, making his blonde hair bob, and said, "Yup," as if he was now satisfied with his work. It was the stallion.
"Wh..I..who..?" Tealove stumbled for words. (All this is too much-it's making my head spin.)
But before the stallion could explain, a Changling came bolting towards him, fangs bared, hissing, just to be bucked in the face and shot all the way across Ponyville. Tealove's heart jumped. Until the stallion was tackled by another Changling.
Tealove cried out and instantly tried to jump to her hooves to come to the rescue, but before she could even topple over, a blue and pink maned mare came raging across the train station platform and knotted the Changling before it could do more than punch the red stallion. Tealove was taken back. And prickled with a bit of jealousy. Who was-?
"No worries, Tealove," the mare said as the stallion and her leaned over Tealove (it was Bon-Bon! How-), "You're with us now. Covert Agent Sweetie Drops and Maximus at your service."