Wandering about the house, I half-hummed, half-sang some old tune as I opened up the doors to let the morning breeze help me with my sweeping. Luna’s party wasn’t til tonight, so I had the morning to catch up on my house cleaning.

“Hello?” a familiar voice called from my front door.

“Key! Come on in. How’d your week go?”

“Really good,” Key said, practically bouncing into the room. “Thought I’d see if you wanted to get an early lunch.”

“I take it you’re getting along well with that herd from the garden?”

Key Peg nodded with a toothy grin. “They took me out to dinner last night, then I spent the night at their place.”

“You’ll have to tell me about it over lunch,” I said, trying not to laugh at my friend. “Let me get a few chores done first, though. I need to swing by the liquor store before the party tonight, anyway.”

“For Princess Luna’s party?”

“Yep. Had a healthy bag of bits in my morning paperwork today, with a note to buy anything I thought I would need.” Sweeping a clump of hair and dust out my backdoor, I turned to assault the warren of dust bunnies under the couch. “Picked up some ginger and berries from Wild Harvest this morning, but I’d like to find a few interesting liquors and mixers, too.”

“Hmm...” Key scratched at his chin for a moment. “If I was shopping for a princess, I'd go to Old Canterlot.”

“Where’s that?” I asked, sweeping around Key Peg, who politely moved out of the way. Over the past few weeks, I’d explored a bit, but I still hadn’t seen more than a quarter of Canterlot.

“Over by the train station.” Wandering over to the closet, Key fished out my mop and bucket. “Here, let me help. Nothing moves fast in the Old Town, the earlier we get there the better.” Toting the bucket into the kitchen, he began to fill it with water. “My cadets are in the classroom most of the day, but I’ll need to get back before they’re out.”

We both took to our chores in silence for a few minutes, before I again slipped into the habit of mumbling whatever song popped into my head.

“I thought you said equines couldn’t talk in your world,” Key asked, giving me a strange look.

I paused in confusion for a moment, before laughing at myself. I’d gotten the Mister Ed song stuck in my head. “That’s just a silly song.” I repeated the opening line to Mister Ed, this time making a point to stress the “no one can talk to a horse” part of the song.

Key picked up on my emphasis, but it only seemed to confuse him more. “So this Mister Ed was the only talking horse in your world?”

“No, Mr Ed was just a regular horse in a comedy show. Kinda similar to those serial plays that travel around, like you told me about.” I really wanted to go watch one of those. They sounded fun, but they kept to the smaller towns. From the best I could tell, they were like the old toby shows.

“So could he talk, or not?”

“No, they just put peanut butter under his gums.” Mimicking the act, I stuck a finger between my lip and gums. “Then when the horse wiggled his lips to get at the food, someone off-stage would read his lines. It just looked like he was talking.”

Now Key had a wholly blank expression as he stared at me. “And that’s funny to humans?”

“Well, Mister Ed was actually the straight man. The farmer was the funny one.”

Key shook his head, then went back to his mopping. “I’m just going to stop asking questions now. Living puppets are a bit more than I want to envision.”

Twenty minutes later, I had a spotless apartment again. “Alright, let’s check out Old Canterlot. This sounds interesting.” Grabbing up my backpack and brand new hat, I headed towards the door.

“It’s not that much different,” Key said, following me outside. “It’s just the part of town founded by unicorns, so there's more shops catering to them.”

“Any good eats?”

Key shrugged. “Some fancy, high-bit places, but nothing I can recommend. Wing and Hook is on the way though. We could stop there.”

Mmm... the griffin place; that sounded really good. “Sounds like a plan.”

Closing the door behind me, I followed Key out across the grounds. It was a nice morning, but I could tell it would be a real scorcher by midday. It made me glad to have my new stetson. I’d been sporting a mild sunburn on my neck and nose for almost a month now. There weren’t going to be too many more hot days, though: I’d already heard talk of preparations for fall.

At the restaurant we were treated like the regulars we’d become. Griffons still put me on edge, but Clipper was a good guy.

Over appetizers, I got a rough account of Key’s date night and his four new girlfriends. There was another stallion in the group, too. Key said he was a nice guy, but was moving to be closer to family soon. One of the mares was going with him, but the others were staying. There was of course the usual gamut of emotions about the breakup, but as a whole the group were all still friends.

By the time our meals arrived, we had moved on to our usual banter about work and castle gossip.

“Oh,” Key said with a mouth full of shrimp po-boy. Chewing and collecting his thoughts at the same time, he gave me an apologetic look. “Can I ask a really odd favor?” He said once he’d swallowed.

“Umm... Sure?” I really hoped this wasn’t sex related.

“Some of my cadets were curious if you'd come to drill one day.”

Well, I wasn’t expecting that. “Why?”

A devil's grin spread across Key’s face. “I told them you used to wrestle wild horses. They want to see if they can take you.”

“Gee... Thanks. And I didn’t precisely wrestle horses.” I wrestled calfs, but that translated to beating up children here, so I left that detail out.

“Oh, come on.” Key paused to eat on his sandwich some more. “Our cross-species combat training is pathetic anyway. Just seeing a little light sparring would do them a lot of good.”

Poking at my gumbo, I played with the idea. It could be fun. “I need a week to practice my roping. If you get Celestia or Luna to sign off on it, I’ll play. Also, I’ll need a helmet and rib protection. I don’t bounce as well as I used to.”

Key gave me a toothy smile. “Awesome!”

“And I’m not as young as I used to be; I can’t play with them all. Pick out three.”

A wicked giggle rolled out of Key. “I’ll make them compete for it.”

“I’m pretty sure I’ll need to use some vacation time to heal after this...”

“Don’t forget, the title of ambassador gets you in at the royal medical center,” Key said with a solemn nod. “Doctor Stable is the best in Equestria.”

“Right...” Returning to my gumbo, I polished it off in silence as I planned out the rest of my day. Luna’s party didn’t start till seven, though I’d need to get there an hour early to set up. I’d shave and shower beforehand, too.

“So what kind of liquors are you looking for?” Key asked, snapping me from my thoughts.

“I really don’t know. I got the basics from Copper Kettle, but I want a few bottles of something exotic. Thousand year old rum, aged in a dragon’s den... Or something like that.”

“How about something distilled in the mountains by griffons?” Clipper asked from behind me. As he moved to stand next to the table, I had a hard time reading his expression. Beaks just don’t show very much emotion. I’m told they have very expressive wings, but I’ve yet to pick up on the cues.

“What’s it made from?” I asked.

“Nothing but sweet corn,” Clipper said, puffing out a bit with pride. “It’s an old griffon recipe, but a friend of mine makes it out in Appaloosa. The water and corn are top quality out there.” Keeping his eyes on me, he walked behind the restaurant's little bar. “I keep a few jars behind the counter, want to try some?”

“Sure...” Standing up, I walked over to the bar.

From beneath the counter, Clipper pulled out a jar with a wide mouth. Inside it a crystal-clear liquid shimmered as he unscrewed the lid.

“Carefull,” Clipper said, pouring my shot. He offered Key one too, but he had to decline; being technically still on duty.

I knew moonshine when I saw it, and a quick smell only confirmed my suspicion. Tossing back the shot, I was treated to a pleasant corn flavor and cold mouthfeel before the familiar burn lit up my throat.

“That’s good stuff!” Honestly, it really was. I’d had the good and the bad ends of moonshine, and this sat firmly on the good end.

This wasn’t what I was thinking of for Princess Luna’s party, but it reminded me of home. “How much for a jar?” I asked, digging out my own bits.

“For you?” The griffon paused to think for a moment. “Five bits, and say something nice about me to the Princess.”

I had to laugh. “Oh hell, I’ve been drug into politics now.” Reaching into my bits, I sat five coins on the counter, plus what I owed for the meal. “Call it a deal.”

Leaving the Wing and Hook, we headed back down the path leading towards the train station. I thought about teaching Key She’ll be Coming ‘Round the Mountain, but thought better of it.

I heard the train before I saw it, rounding the last bend to Old Town just as the train was pulling in. It was pretty freaking cool actually. A real steam locomotive. I’d ridden old Klondike Katie around the loop once, but that had been years ago.

“How far does that line go?” I asked, watching the ponies disembark from the pullman cars.

“Pretty much everywhere,” Key answered. “Even the Crystal Empire.”

“That’s really cool!” I was going to have to get a map with fares next week, maybe plan a few day trips.

Following the crowd, we made our way into the broad streets of Old Town. Looking around, a shop caught my attention: a clothing store advertising custom pieces. May as well hit that up, too, next time I’m down.

“Tinctures and Tonics, is just up the street,” Key said, reminding me of why I’d ventured out in the first place. “After that we can check out Spirits of Canterlot.”

Catching up to Key, I took in the old town architecture. Things were more spaced out here, with that relaxed oldness I associated with Saint Augustine or New Orleans. The buildings had a delicate whimsy the market district just didn’t have. They’d also preserved little patches of carefully-manicured grass between the buildings; instead of just cramming buildings between the buildings.

A twisted looking shop caught my attention as we turned a corner. Above the door was a book-shaped sign topped with a wizard’s hat.

“I want to look in there a moment,” I said, pointing to the bookstore.

Key gave me a pizzled look before shrugging. “Take your time. I’ll be over at Chanfron, Croupiere, and Caparisons. I need to put in an order for a few things.”

“I’ll catch up to you there,” I said, waving to him as I stepped into the store.

It was a cramped little space in the store; I couldn’t stand fully upright, and the aisles were narrow enough that I wondered how the ponies turned around in them. Well-loved books laid flat on tables, while crisp new one stood on edge in cluttered shelves. I glanced over them before my eyes locked on the back wall. There, heavy shelves of dark wood held up neat rows of ancient tomes behind glass.

As I neared, my body buzzed from some unseen force contained within the books.

“Looking for a specific title?” an old stallion asked from behind the counter.

Kneeling down, I tried reading the books’ spines through the protective glass case. “Got anything on non-unicorn magic?”

The stallion’s grumpy look vanished, replaced by a grandfatherly smile. “Several.” Leaving the counter, he took a seat next to me, and produced some keys. “I have spellbooks for zebra, minotaur, and griffon magic.” Unlocking a case, he waited for my answer.

“Minotaurs?” I asked with a bit of fright. I hadn’t heard mention of those monsters yet. But then again, some little town south of here had a bugbear problem not too long ago...

“Yes, Sir,” the pony answered, oblivious to my shock. “Very creative magic they have.”

They were bipedal with hands; if anything had a magic I could mimic, it would be them. “How much?”

“Forty five bits.”

Certainly not cheap, but this could be my indulgent spending for the month. I’d have to return the library books eventually, but this would be the first arcane book of my very own. Nodding in agreement, I stood and went over to the register while he found the book and locked the case back up.

While I waited, I picked up a colorful coffee table style book on display by the register. “Creatures of Equestria,” it read. Inside, the pages were filled with colorful illustrations and little facts about each of the creatures. Flipping through the pages, one image particularly caught my eye: a wicked looking creature; half pony, half insect. While the form was correct, the creature they had drawn was incomparable to Doll.

“Changeling, a parasitic creature that feeds on emotions,” the entry below read. It went on to make it very clear that they were dangerous monsters to be feared.

“Would you like that one too?” the stallion asked as he stepped behind the counter. “I’ll take five bits off it, since you’re buying that other book.”

“Sure,” I said, not even looking at the price tag.

The stallion nodded, then bagged my books for me while I counted out the bits.

Back outside, I made my way up the road. The store Key had mentioned was hard to miss—the wooden carousel horse outside was armored in livery that seemed ready for a joust with King Arthur himself. I’d just reached for the door when Key beat me to it from the other side.

“Oh!” Key nearly tripped over himself, trying not to run me over. “Wasn’t expecting you to be done so fast.” Regaining his footing, he trotted out onto the road. “Ready to stock up your bar?”

Adjusting the backpack, I gave him a smile and a nod. “Lead the way.”