CelesTea

by Zeitless

IV

The streets had calmed down when Celestia was released from the police station. Although she lived in the capitol of Equestria itself inbefore, she was not used to such busy crowds and masses moving on and about.
Back there while still busy, the ponies weren’t bound to work as much. Living in the upper classes definitely was more relaxed with a café at every corner and a beautiful view on colorful flowers and nicely trimmed trees along the streets.

However Manehatten was different. While it wasn’t as crowded as when she left her store, it still was rather difficult to navigate when bumping into other ponies all the time - and being so tall didn’t help it either.

But Celestia had a destination. One that had already crossed her mental deadline and that actually wasn’t too far away. Finding her way to the town hall and finally filing all the required papers to legally run her store.

Still it took quite some effort to stay in line with the other ponies. Of course Celestia could also spread her wings and soar above, but given that no other pegasus was flying around and given how strict the city proved to be earlier on, she did not want to risk ending up in the police station again. So she settled for fighting through the masses and coordinating across the crowds.

Seeing all the trouble already occuring from walking around for herself, Celestia began to realise how all the other ponies must have felt when passing CelesTea without sparing a glance. She made a mental note to later on work on a solution.

On the bright side there were icecream vendors in every other street. And statues and fountains decorated the marketplaces. Nontheless the whole atmosphere was oh so different to her home for thousand years.

Finally Celestia came to a hold. Before her wide stairs lead atop a platform providing basis for a large and old building. A blackboard in front showed the letters “Manehatten Town Hall” and contents of recent and upcoming events.

To the right of the entrance a pony shouted out the window of the newspaper-kiosk: “Princess Twilights plans for our foals' new education! Coffee & Co opens first store outside of Manehatten! Stock Values predicted to rise by at least 12%!” He emphasized every single word more than the last, advertising as if those news were the most important thing in the world.

To be fair Celestia already had a feeling Twilight would put a focus on making education in schools and universities more fun and efficient and she had no doubt her former pupil would make great work in doing so.

However seeing how quickly she figured things out and started taking initiative Celestia was positively surprised. On the other hoof given how organised her former student was and how quick of a grasp Twilight always has had for paperwork it would’ve been silly to have assumed anything else.

Still after defeating the masses and emerging from the chaos successfully Celestia did not feel like waiting in line to buy a paper. Instead she trotted through the open door of the building in front and thus finally finishing her road trip.

---

Inside the air was calm. Outside noise was muffled out and Celestia could find a moment to take a breath.

Large marble walls with big windows gave footing to the arched roof. A long desk stretched along the wall opposite to the entrance. Behind it a number of officials did their best to hear out all the concerns and wills of the ponies in front and assist them with their numerous requests.

This was going to take a while.

Celestia found she had no choice but to get in one of the lines and wait until it was her turn.

Slowly but surely they progressed and one by one the ponies left the building. It quickly became appearent to her that for every one pony leaving at least two new ponies found their way in. And the hall was only getting more crowded while she stood there and waited.

Eventually her sight cleared up after the last pony in front of her finally departed.

“Hello, welcome to the Town Hall of Manehatten. I'm Golden Feather, how can I h-help you?” machinelike this monotonous voice of a young stallion with a silver coat hidden beneath his suit and brown mane resting on top of it greeted Celestia. He stuttered towards the end, only then noticing who stood in front of him.

He bowed slightly, then continued: “It’s an honor to meet you, princess. But I must apologize for the long waiting time - we did not get word of you visiting us. The mayor is currently out of town for personal matters and it’s so stressful that neither me nor any of my colleagues noticed you waiting.” Golden Feather's tone had turned more professional and respectful after his unsuiting greeting.

For a second Celestia's cheeks turned red: “Oh! Don’t worry about anything like that.” She chuckled. “I retired a few weeks ago and Princess Twilight took my place, as you probably know. I am here because I want to register my own business and open up a tea store here in Manehatten. As a normal pony that is, no government, diplomatic image or publicity involved. And I heard this would be just the right place to begin.” Celestia's voice grew as excited as always when she discussed this topic.

Letting go of the breath he unknowingly had held Golden Feather was relieved. In his favor she wanted assistance in a field where he could help out. After all, in this busy city of suits and ties there were many ponies every week with a similar concern on their mind.

"I'm happy to hear that. Best of luck! I can assure you, after my work is done you will be ready to start without any legal problems." He mirrored her and smiled confidently. "The process is actually quite simple. You only need to know a few regulations regarding taxation and fill out a form to further define what variety goods you provide. Once that's finished I or one of my colleagues can come by to approve of the store." He broke eye contact and started shuffling through the files on the desk.

Celestia took this opportunity to respond: "Indeed, this sounds to be quite simple. Filling out the forms will not be a problem for me. When can I expect you to come by the store?" Her eyebrows narrowed in visible concern. "I mean, it's not like I would be anywhere else anyway," Celestia chuckled, "but how long does this process usually take?"

Golden Feather returned his attention to the mare in front of him and handed her a few sheets of paper. "Once you filled out these forms we usually go through them towards the end of the day when the doors are closed. And tomorrow either I or one of my colleagues could usually come by." He smiled again.

Then he lowered his head and dropped his ears. "But with the current situation things may be delayed by a few more days. Frankly I cannot promise you with good conscience, that we would have time before next week." Looking back up to the Alicorn he awaited a response.

Celestia frowned: "Oh. I understand. And this is all because the mayor is not around to organise the numerous requests from all the ponies coming in?"

"Yes, it's a little awkward to admit it but without him all this can quickly get out of hoof. If only anypony was around to substitute for his skills - then perhaps I would have already been able to approve of your store today. But I suppose nopony could keep up with his experience anyway. Unless..." He let his voice fade out.

Celestia easily took the hint and understood what he wanted. And although she wasn't sure how to feel about it, she knew she couldn't bear to wait for an entire week either. Thus she decided to not show her dismay and instead chuckled playfully: "You leave me no choice. I suppose a small step back to all this organising won't hurt."

---

Three Hours Later.

"Have a nice day and thank you for spreading awareness about all the stray animals without shelter." Golden Feather said goodbye to the last visitor.

Finally the Town Hall was empty and quiet. After a whole week of permanent stress and tension now he could let go of it, take time to breath and get ahead of schedule for once. Not only have they been able to deal with all the ponies at hoof, but also have they done so with two more hours left on the clock. More than enough time to wrap up the left-over paperwork and return home early.

Neglecting their exhaustion for one last time the whole staff of officials cheered and thanked Celestia for her tremendous help.

Celestia thanked everyone individually for their effort before raising her voice, adressing them all together: "Thank you all for your work and for being open to my suggestions. Without your execution this would not have been possible."

"You're too modest, princess. Without your leadership and structure we would have been stuck with this mess for at least another week. Thank you for your help." Golden Feather returned the gratefulness.

She couldn't hide her wide smile. "Thank you. I have to admit, helping out was quite some fun." She chuckled lightly, then turned to face Golden Feather specifically.

"So, now that all this has been dealt with, I hope you also hold up your part of the deal."

"Of course, Celestia. While you walked around thanking everypony I already approved of your papers. We can walk to your store right now if you want to." He signaled towards the exit.

Celestia brightened up and gladly trotted after him.

Author's Note:

Hello and thank you everyone for reading on!
Feel free to share your thoughts and leave a nice comment with your feedback
What do you think will happen back at the store?

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Is this story based off of Tearek?

[ShiningBeacon]

A good story! You’re paragraphs are inconsistent, but other then that I really like it!

[Zeitless]

10640259
Haven't heard of this one, and I hope it's not stealing anything.

10640447
Thank you! I'll make sure to pay more attention to the structure for the next one (and will edit this and previous chapters accordingly of course )

[Pete100]

This is probably the most amount of action celestia has seen in years.

[Zeitless]

10643961
This insult hit Celestia where it hurt: "Hey! Back in Canterlot there also was a lot to do! I did not only sit around to eat cake and drink tea all day!"

Before she could go on Luna chuckled, paused the Console and lifted off her headset: "I suppose you're right, sister. Pancakes were on your menu as well."

[Pete100]

10644190
Ok, now that’s funny.