Are We There Yet?

“Oh man, my hooves hurt!”

It was late in the morning when two new ponies walked into Ponyville. Both were latched to a decent-sized caravan as they pulled it together and kept up similar strides as they looked about. Both were fairly tall, but the lime green mare was the shorter of the two, and looked a bit tuckered out in the process.

Stopping, she lifted a front hoof and pouted, “We’ve been traveling for days and I’m just plum tired, Iron.”

A smirk crept up on the male pegasus’ muzzle, “Luckily for you…we’re here.”

She shook her head in disbelief before taking a second gander at the splendor that was Ponyville. Her eyes lit up like fireworks as she soaked in all of the visual wonderment that would be their future home, “I can’t believe it! We’re finally here!”

Suddenly it was as if she hadn’t traveled for days on end. Bolting forward, and unexpectedly dragging her elder brother along with her, Teacup trotted merrily around the village as she familiarized herself with everything the place had to offer! Iron Kettle did his best to keep up with his sister’s enthusiasm, but he was just as tired as she was. Mostly because he was used to flying, but with all the stuff they had procured, he needed his sister’s help to pull it. Unfortunately for him, she lacked the ability to fly. So walk, they did!

“Oh this area will be PERFECT! Just PERFECT, Iron!” Her excitement was about to transform into sheer bouts of babbling, “We could procure the most ideal spot to start our business, and then establish a solid foundation of quality products and services! With my business-savvy and your travel sense, Ponyville will be the ideal place for the beginning of our new venture, wouldn’t you say?”

Iron had to rub his temples for a bit before digesting half of the information his sister was spouting in order to come up with a reasonable reply, “That’s all well and good, sis. But I think the first step should be finding a place to stay until such a time that we can get your dream better established. Wouldn’t you think?”

For a second she looked at her brother with a glare that could strike lightening at a pony. He waited a moment, knowing that the wheels in her head just needed time to process the whole situation. Eventually she relinquished with a sigh as her tired hooves came back into her thoughts again and she nodded with a smile, “You’re right, Iron. We need a place to stay…” This sentence was shortly interrupted with a growling of her stomach, “…and some food.”

Iron Kettle took this as a sign to take the lead, as he could see Teacup was fading fast without a little lunch. Looking around, he saw a lot of ponies passing them by and figured the best method of finding a great place to eat would be to ask the locals. As one pony passed by, he cleared his throat and said in a gentle, deep voice, “Pardon me, we’re new to Ponyville. You wouldn’t happen to know a good place to eat, would you? Preferably some place that makes some great carrot cake as well?”

Most would nod their colorful heads and merely point, however they had stumbled across one who was abnormally friendly. Stormy turned with a huge grin on his face as he looked at them. His eyes had this strange twinkle to them. Like somehow he had caught stars in them.

"There are few places I must say have grown on me." He said somehow with a grin being at the end of his words and beginning. His face to seem unable to have anything else on it.

The street was busy with a few ponies and few shook their head. There Stormy goes again being really friendly. Stormy rarely had time to make lasting friendships, so he would sort of throw himself out there and hope for the best.

"But for a place with the greatest carrot cake I have had sense I got one from colt named Caring Carrot." He grinned at his own joke, though most would argue it wasn't really one.

Stormy saw they were clearly new to town and he himself was in a way a stranger as well. As a fellow traveler he felt it his mild duty to aid the two in their quest. Besides he really wanted that cake. "Before I go on, my name is Stormy Hugeheart. It's a pleasure to meet you both." He shook the colt's hoof and did a silly bow to the filly.

After that he extended his hoof to a building that looked like it was made of cake. "This establishment right here has the best carrot cake I have had in a while, though they refused to tell me where they got the carrots. I was hoping to buy some."

Stormy stopped talking as he pondered that. Why wouldn't they tell him? Hrm, perhaps one day he would need to find out. He shakes his head as he gestures with his hoof.

"Off we go then." He said as he turns and leads the way to the shop.

Iron kicked back his head a little when the very friendly Stormy got a little close and personal when introducing himself. But it was all well and good he supposed. The Pegasus looked over at his sister to see that she was quite…enamored…despite the fact that she was still wearing and weary look on her face from hunger. It appeared that this guy would be just the pony to help them out for the time being, and he wasn’t about to overlook this act of kindness.

Nodding, he replied back to the introduction, “I’m Iron Kettle, and this worn out little mare is my younger sister, Teacup.”

“Pleasure,” she replied with an exhausted smile before the sound of her tummy growled again. Teacup couldn’t help but watch and observe as the overly-friendly Stormy shook her brother’s hoof and gave her a silly little bow in return. She giggled slightly and gave him a coy smile back before paying attention to what was being said in regards to finding a place to eat.

Both of the siblings nodded as they looked over to where Stormy was pointing and then gave each other a reaffirming nod in approval. When it came to the commentary about not selling the pony some carrots, Teacup pondered the idea before piping in with her business-sense, “Perhaps they grow the carrots themselves and there’s only enough to supply the shop. I know that a few of my teas are made with home grown ingredients and I’d probably not sell those items since I only keep enough in stock to make what I require. I’m sure it’s nothing personal.”

Iron Kettle nodded in agreement before eventually following Stormy onward to the cake-styled shop. Iron had to heave a little harder since Teacup was losing steam carting the caravan around. When they finally made it to their destination, they’d unlatch themselves from the harnesses before stretching out and continuing their conversation with their newly found friend.

“So how long have you lived here, Stormy?” Teacup inquired.

Iron Kettle held the door open for the both of them, “Lunch is on us by the way, Stormy.”

Stormy juggled the idea of the carrots as they walked to caked out shop. He thought that reasobale theory, but something else she had said made him turn his head back as h opened te door for them both. "AHhahaaaAHahahaha. So I'd take bet that you sell tea then? I would only imagine you would good at it, sense your name has a /tea/ bit related! AHAHhhahahaha. " His laugh was jolly and filled the room.

He spares no time as he raises his hooves. "A carrot cake please." The cake makers nods and got to it. They were professionals and ready to serve. He sticks a leg out and pushes out the chairs for you both. "Firstly I must thank you offering to pay, I certainly could use the break on my wallet. Also to be honest, I don't live here. I'm a traveling Storyteller passing through." He explains as he caught a soda in his hoof that the colt behind the counter threw to him.

He fished from his bag three Dr.Pony and set them on the table as he cracked the one closest to him and drank deeply. "Ah." Sighed with delighted feeling washed over him.He always felt better after soda. Some could claim he was addicted to it. "So kettle where are you both coming from?" he asked him as he met eyes with you. He felt he had been overlooking you and wanted to change that.

Teacup lit up when Stormy laughed at the irony of her name. A smug smirk crossed her face as she held her head up high to the odd compliment, “Teas and herbal remedies is my specialty. In fact, that’s the kind of business my brother and I plan on starting here in Ponyville. I heard that it’s the best central hub since it’s economical to build in these parts, and a lot of ponies travel through here. Makes a great place to get noticed from all around, don’t you think?”

Both ponies followed Stormy’s example and put in their orders afterwards. Iron Kettle situated himself with a carrot cake and carrot juice while Teacup settled for a mixed greens salad and mineral water. Teacup smiled at Stormy’s gesture to pull the seat so that she could get comfortable, “Thank you, dear. I appreciate it.”

When he mentioned the thanks for paying, both of the siblings nodded before listening to the fact that he was a storyteller.

“That’s fascinating,” Teacup replied, “You must meet a great deal of interesting people along the way.” It pained her a little to watch Stormy enjoy the soda so much. She wasn’t much of a soda drinker, but to each pony’s own she supposed. Her brother had already had multiple lengthy conversations with her in previous years about how she shouldn’t judge others just because they prefer other types of drinks. It took a while, but eventually the information sunk in.

Iron Kettle was in the middle of chewing when Stormy directed his attention to him. For a moment he froze a little as he tried to figure out what to do first. Teacup nudged him playfully before mentioning to Stormy, “You’ll have to excuse him a bit, he’s a pony of few words sometimes. Not much of a conversationalist.”

Waiting patiently for him to finish, he wiped his mouth before answering back, “It’s kind of hard to say, really. I was born in Cloudsdale while Teacup here was originally born in Shanghoof, but we never really lived there long enough to really say that we’re from there. Our parents are medical specialists and they travel a lot in order to see all sorts of ponies with different ailments.”

At this point Teacup added in, “For a while we continued to help our pony folks out since we had learned quite a bit from them ourselves. But all the traveling hasn’t left either of us with many friends over the years, and really no place to call home.”

“So we saved up our bits and decided to come to Ponyville to rectify that issue.”

Both siblings nodded at Stormy with confidence. It appeared that the two had really thought this all through from start to finish. The only step left was to actually implement it.

“Now it’s just a matter of finding the right place,” Teacup continued to tell Stormy, “We want to find a two-story place in the central hub of the market area so that we can live on the top floor and tend to our business on the lower level. Iron Kettle does all the supply work, so it’ll just be me running the place for a good chunk of the time. Running back and forth between two separate places isn’t ideal for me.”

At this point Iron Kettle realized they had been talking about themselves more than letting Stormy get a word in edge-wise. Finishing up the last bite of his carrot cake, he covered his mouth to prevent him from spraying his food while he asked the other pony, "What brings you to Ponyville this time of the year then if you're a traveler as well?"

"My quite the amount for words for one that is said to say so few. AHahhaahahahaa" He half shouted with a jolly laugh as he finished his drink. The colt daily tears through about liter a day, but often skips a few days here and there. Even one who loves soda gets tried of it. He also drinks about ten glasses of water a day.

"Also this tea business sounds like it will do very well in Ponyville. This is a booming place in Equestria. Big things going on around here."

He said as the large orange cake was set in front of them. The thing was perfect, so much Stormy felt a tad bad that it more then likely would be eaten completely and utterly by the time this delightful chat was over. He lifted his hoof to salute the cake and it's brave sacrifice, but stopped himself. No need to act too strange on the first meeting.

He looked up with his everlasting grin. "Ponyville is so close to Canterlot and Cloudsdale. It's ideal chose to establish yourself here. Also many ponies here seem to enjoy drinks of all kinds, so I'm sure you'll do wonderfully."

He lifted up a knife and started cutting the cake in slices then dividing them to plates. He slid two big slices to you both before himself. He took a bite of the cake and he smiled big and wide as he chewed. They had made this thing from scratch, he could taste the tang of carrots, but it was in cake form. No chunks of carrot getting in his way of chewing or enjoying.

"Mmmmm." He stated before swallowing and drinking half the glass of water the colt had set down moments after the cake. "As to what I'm doing in Ponyville..." He reached into his bag and set down a Foal's Storybook. "In this book is a collection of stories told to little foals. Most Stories have two reasons why they came into being. They either were made to teach you something, like a virtue. Don't steal or be good to others are examples. Or they are a romanticized version of history." He explained before taking another bite.

He couldn't believe they made cake like this. So much better then the stuff he had in Falabella, which they had boosted some pretty good sweets. "As I said before I'm a Storyteller, but I sort of like the idea of catching the stories that one day would be legend. So I travel place to place collecting stories of all for a book I plan to write. Well two technically, one will be a original story and the other book to tell your foals at night before they go to bed. But." He grinned as he flipped the page to picture where a mare looked out to the sea. "I'm in Ponyville, because I have reason to think that there is a little more fact in some of the fictions in this book."

Stormy discovered in his college days. That stories that had been based on history always had undertones that ran the same paths. He discovered that some copies of the same books did not. Someone had edited the books, which means either someone knew all of history and rewrote it, making ever storyteller for the last couple hundred years lairs, or they intention was to hid the fact that there was much more to the foal's tales then met the eyes. "So in short I'm in Ponyville to find out if old stories are true and record the new one's come into being." He grinned once more as he took another bite.

"Also I heard they is fire bug dance at Lope Lake in three days. It's quite beautiful hear." He let his hoof sail in the air in swinging fashion. "I hear the fire bugs come out of there sleep of the winter and burn brightly as they dance over the lake, reflecting the flames off the glassy waters to make a wonder for the eyes to behold." His eyes had that twinkle in them as he imagined the the scene in his mind.