With a stuffed spider under my arm, we left the fairgrounds. Sunset was minutes away, and the whole city seemed to be out walking the streets. I wouldn’t really call it a party atmosphere though. More like a crowded tourist trap. There was a certain air of waiting about the crowd.

Resting a hand on Winter, so I wouldn’t lose her, I took advantage of my height to look around. Ponies were gathering on the grassy hills, all with an eye towards the setting sun. They were definitely waiting for something.

“What happens at sunset?” I asked. “Fireworks?”

“No, fireworks are at midnight. The candle balloons are sent up at sunset. Do you need one?”

“Hmm...” Cultural outsider time again. Looking closer at one of the nearby vendors, I watched them selling colorful little paper lanterns. The patrons would step aside with their purchase, and scribble on it with a provided quill, before scurrying off to their waiting spot. They were pretty obviously sky lantern, but the writing was a mystery.

“What are they writing on the lanterns?”

Winter jumped at the question. I could tell she had forgotten what an outsider I was. “Sorry. We send lanterns to the dead tonight. You write the names of your passed loved ones on the lantern, and send it up as the sun sets.”

“That’s... really nice. I would like one actually. I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll find a place to sit,” Winter said walking over to a nearby fountain.

Mulling through the crowd was awkward. It’s hard to restrain myself from stepping over top them in a normal crowd. It was worse here, with half of them laying down in wait for sunset. They really hate that though, so I behaved myself, and shuffled around the crowd, till I was in line at one of the lantern carts. I watched the ponies in front of me lay a single bit on the cart, and name a color. It was an organized affair, with ponies moving to the side as soon as the folded paper was in their hooves.

“Red,” I told the stallion as I clicked a bit on the counter. Stepping out of the way, I took the folded lantern from him, and waited my turn for the calligraphy brush. I was a little self conscious of my hand writing when I got the brush. There’s really no excuse for me to have sloppier writing than a pony.

When I sat back next to Winter, she scrunched her face trying to read what I’d written on the balloon. Funny thing about the babblefish spell, it’s on me, so I can read their writing, but not the other way around.

“Who is it?” she asked.

“My mother. I was twelve when she died,” I said, as I fiddled with the lantern. “How do you light these?”

“There’s a string in there, you pull that. Can I ask what happened?”

“She hit her head, falling off a horse,” I said out of habit. This was a conversation I had had so many times, it had become automatic.

“She what?”

Well now I had an awkward explanation on my hands. “In my world, we have animals that look very much like earth ponies, except about the size of Celestia. We keep them as pets, and ride on their backs to travel long distances.” I learned that simple explanations were best. No sense in getting into carriages, or even the fact that cars had made horses nothing more than a hobby.

“So you could ride Celestia?”

I’m not sure what I choked on, but I found myself coughing rather hard. Winter patted me on my back till I had regained my breath.

“Sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t implying...”

“No, no. It’s okay. It’s just that she could turn me inside out, so I’m not even entertaining the idea of touching her, let alone throwing a saddle on her.”

This time it was Winter that coughed. She had a bit of a blush too, but I wasn’t going to ask. The shadows were starting to move fast across the ground, so I put an arm around her and watched the sun set. I never really got the romance about sunsets back home, but here they really are something. Getting to sit down with the entire city to watch one was an experience unto itself as well.

As soon as the moon had jumped to its spot in the sky, ponies began lighting their lanterns. It was an eerily quiet scene; hundreds of ponies in solemn silence, lit by colorful candlelight. I lit my balloon too, holding it just right, so that it would fill with hot air. The first lanterns lifted above the crowd before mine had even began to feel light, but soon enough my lantern joined the growing number of glowing balloons in the night sky.

You couldn’t see anything but the lanterns for a while, they were everywhere. Then slowly, they began to ascend. Leaning against Winter, we watched the balloons drift into the sky.

“Tell me about your homeworld, Shane,” Winter asked.

“You’d think it was terribly boring. There’s no magic, and mine is the only sapient species.”

I spent about an hour telling Winter about the earth I have come from. It was kinda nice actually. I try to avoid the topic with most ponies. By then the street party had gone into full swing. A band near by had prompted a few dozen ponies to turn a crosswalk into a dance floor.

“Care to dance?” I asked, pointing towards the crowd.

Winter smiled, and all but jumped to her hooves. “Sure!”

Walking towards the crowd dancing to the slow music, I pondered how I was going to make this work. Ponies were funny to watch dance. Some were good, other’s weren’t. On a whole though, they movements lacked a certain grace that I expect on the dance floor. They were after all quadrupeds.

Occasionally though, I would see one move on just their hind legs. It was a bit of a balancing act, but some could do it for quite a while. I expect it a bit like being able to do a handstand. Still, It gave me an idea.

“Care to learn a dance from my world?”

“That would be neat,” she said squaring up to me with a smile.

“Okay, rear up on your hind legs, and put your left hoof here,” I said patting my right shoulder. As soon as she did, I took her other hoof in my right hand, and rested the other on her waist.

Winter fidgeted, trying to find her proper balance against me. “This is kinda awkward...”

“Yea, but you’ll pick it up fast. Now watch my feet, and mirror them.”

The box step is the first dance I ever learned. It’s as simple or complicated as you want to make it. “Back, side, together, forward, side, together,” I chanted as I took her through the moves. To her credit, she learned it faster than I had back in the third grade.

A moment later, and we began to move in time with the music.

“That was fun!” Winter said, as we strolled back into the streets. “You want to find some food now?”

“Sure. What sounds good to you?” After a bit of me teaching her to dance my way, she talked me into trying to learn one of theirs. I know I had to of looked ridiculous, but it was still fun. It was also exhausting, and I was not starving.

Winter gave me a mischievous smile. “I know a secret restaurant, follow me.”

Well this was different. I hope all mares are this take charge about picking a place to eat. I followed her through the streets, we stopped occasionally to admire the decorations, or a random street performer, but soon I found myself back near the castle. We stopped at a rather bland looking door in the shadow of the castle. It was on the side that had been mostly taken over by businesses catering to the guards.

“We’re friends of Luna,” Winter said to the door after giving it a heavy knock.

The door opened, revealing a rather sceptical looking nocturne. “Can I help you?”

“We’re hoping there's two bare seats open,” Winter said.

The nocturne looked behind him, checking something I could not see. “Come on in,” he said, moving out of our way.

I could only call this place a honky-tonk; just minus the country music. Instead there was a delicate looking nocturne mare playing a stringed instrument of some kind. Passing the tables, we collected our fair share of strange looks.

Finding a few open spots at the bar, we sat down. Winter tapped the shoulder of the nocturne stallion next to her, as soon as she took her seat.

“Hey Brother.”

It was only then that I recognized Strawberry. “What are you two doing here?” he asked giving us a shocked look.

“Thought I’d treat Shane to some rice”

Strawberry looked around awkwardly for a second. “Does he...”

“Yea,” Winter said, giving him a slap on the shoulder. “Key Peg told me he took him to that griffon place.”

“Umm... what are you two talking about?” I asked.

“Sorry,” Winter said, giving me a sweet smile. “Strawberry introduced me to rice a while back, I thought you might like it too.”

I was pretty sure the translation was breaking down, but I was always up for trying new food. “Sure, Order me something, I’ll give it a try.”

Saddling up to the bar, I made casual conversation with Winter and Strawberry. I ordered a hard cider to nurse on while the food was being prepared. We talked about the date. It was a bit of a breakdown that broke the spell of the evening, but Winter insisted that she had enjoyed the date so far. Apparently I focus the conversation on her too much. A good stallion has interesting stories to tell apparently. Which oddly, is easy enough for me, I just have to break the mindset of focusing on the girl.

A few minutes later, and a nocturne stallion sat a plate in front of each of us. I had to blink a few times.

“I’ll be damned, you do eat raw meat,” I mumbled. Strawberry wilted at the comment, but no one else seemed to hear me.

“I know it looks strange, but try it,” Winter said.

I gave my place a toothy grin. “Oh I will. I thought I’d never get to eat this again.” Reaching down, I picked up one of the sushi, and popped it in my mouth. It was wonderfully fresh. There was a bit of seasoning I didn’t recognize, but all in all, it was very familiar. “I love this stuff,” I said once my mouth was no longer full.

“You’ve had that before?” Strawberry asked. He was giving me a confused look, while Winter was smiling.

“Yea, it’s a delicacy in my world.”

“You probably shouldn’t mention that to most ponies,” Winter said, taking up a piece from her own plate.