We exited the castle with little difficulty. When you’re being followed by the Princess of the Day, a lot of ponies tend to let you go where you want.

“So, Celestia, do you plan on ‘tail’-gating me the entire trip, or do I have to hold your wing?”

Celestia huffed and trotted up to follow beside me.

“I don’t know why you must make fun of me; I was simply letting you take the lead… And your joke was unfunny.”

I flicked my zippo lighter open and spun it around my fingers as we walked. It helped me calm and it always seemed to capture the attention of nearby ponies. Probably because they don’t have fingers.

“All of my jokes are funny, you just lack the maturity to understand them.”

“Ah, yes: I, the borderline immortal goddess of the sun, am too immature to understand.”

I patted her on the back, “Now you’re learning, but we’ve got work to do. Wanna help?”

She bowed her head in acceptance, “I know I said I would help you, but would you please not torture me? I still have afternoon court.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it, now come on! We’ve got shopping to do!”

-=- -=- -=-

“So, what are you planning on buying, Clean?”

“Well, we have two fillies. Ones a unicorn, while the other’s a pegasus.”

“Yes, I already know this. You do realize I’ve seen them before, don’t you?”

I flicked Celestia across the nose. “Of course I know that, this is just a refresher course. So the pegasus has a love for flying. What’d you say we get her an airbag?”

“An airbag?”

“Yeah, and airbag! It's a bag pegasi use when they fly. It's got some kinda magic that lets the pegasi fly without causing any drag. Lets them carry some stuff and still fly easily.”

“Oh, I had not heard of these things, would she really like it?”

“Yeah, Tia: you probably haven’t heard of it cus you don’t fly!” I pinched her rump for emphasis. “See that? It’s like a bowl of jell-o!”

Celestia let out a whinny and reared onto her back legs. With a loud ‘clop’ she dropped back down and blushed furiously, glancing back and forth to see if anypony saw. Unfortunately for her, we were in the middle of the road, so quite a few ponies did.

“You gotta problem, ponies? Yeah, your princess is weird, so what? Now scatter!”

With a couple mumbles and second glances the ponies dispersed. Celestia thanked me by smacking me with her wing.

“Ow! What the hell was that for!”

“For calling me fat, and for pinching me, you know I don’t like that.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure thing, Stay Puft. Let’s just go then; there's a good store nearby that has some pretty good bags.”

We walked down the street until we stood in front of a two-story, brick storefront. Grass and moss grew from the cracks between the sidewalk and the bricks. The building had an aged feel to it, like it had been there longer than Canterlot. That was silly of course, but the feeling alone made me excited.

I loved old buildings; it's a guilty pleasure of mine. I used to love going through dilapidated homes, businesses, and factories.

I opened the door and invited Celestia to move first, “After you m’highness.”

“Ah, so you do have some manners; good to see there is a man under that shell of smoke and alcohol.”

“Ooooh, damn Celestia. Pulling out all your zingers today, aren’t you? Whatever, just get inside before I kick you inside.”

Once we were both in the building I tried to take a good look at everything. Littering the walls were countless finished bags, all of varying colors, sizes, and shapes. There was a small glass counter in the back of the room with a wall of fabrics behind it. Inside the counter were multiple gems. Some were dark blue, while others were a deep red. I already had an idea about what I was going to buy, so I rang the bell that sat upon the desk.

From the back of the store, Celestia and I heard the sound of something getting up with a loud grunt, then the sound of hooves clopping slowly across a wood floor. Coming from a door that I somehow missed, was a clearly very old unicorn mare. She had a dark gray coat and a graying-white mane. Her cutie mark was a needle, thread, and a small bag with a gem on it. She was good at making magical bags.

When she saw Celestia she started to bow with creaking joints and bones. Before she could bow all the way, she saw me and brightened up. With a speed that a mare her age shouldn’t have, she scooped me into a hug.

“Clean! Oh, it's so good to see you again little one! How long has it been since you came to visit my store? I had begun to think you had forgotten about me.”

“First off, you’re younger and shorter than me. So you’re the little one. Second, I just visited you last week.”

“Oh, dearie, you know when you get to my age you forget; now give Granny Sew a hug.”

I picked up the gray mare and hugged her tightly. I might have hugged her a bit hard, because when I grabbed her there was a series of loud pops and cracks, but she didn’t even flinch.

I set her down, and turned to Celestia, “So, I’m sure you’re wondering what exactly is going on. This is Marrie Sew, but everyone calls her Granny Sew.”

“Pleased to meet you, Granny Sew.”

Granny Sew bowed to Celestia, “No, princess, the pleasure is all mine. Now, what did you two come in for today? Does the princess wish for one of my special, hoof-made bags?”

I stepped in before Celestia could say anything, “Actually, I was wanting to get a bag for my granddaughter. She’s a pegasus and I feel she would love it if I got her something special.”

“Oh dearie, are you getting old? Her birthday isn’t for another few months. It's not like you to just forget like that.”

“Yeah, but they’re coming to visit, so I wanted to get them something special.”

“Ohhh, thats so nice of you! Come, come. Let’s make her something nice to keep.”

And with that we started to browse.

“So, Granny Sew, how did you come to meet Clean?”

“What a great story that is, Princess! A story full of adventure, love, romance, and saucy fun… ”

“I ran into her while trying finding a place that sells scarves and beanies.”

Celestia looked at me with a face of bewilderment. After trying multiple times to form a sentence, she was able to utter out, “Since when do you use scarves, let alone beanies? You always wear that one piece and a hat.”

Taking my hat off and looping it around my belt, I pulled out a large blue beanie and put it on my head.

“Well, Celestia, I actually used to love beanies and scarves back home. I just don’t wear them very often.”

Celestia looked at my beanie, poking it slightly to see if it was real.

“Yup, Celestia, it is real. Now, would you mind not putting stories in Celestia’s head, Granny? She’s prone to being gullible.”

“C’mon, Clean. You’re no fun.” Pouted the gray mare.

“Clean, I am not gullible; it's just that when it comes to you, I don’t know what to believe…”

“Alright, fun story time’s over. Granny, I just thought of a better idea. I’m gonna want two bags custom made. I got the gold, you got the skills.”

“Of course, dearie, but you know you don’t need gold with me. You can always pay in other ways… ”

I flicked her on the nose and wagged my finger. “No. That’s a bad granny. You know better than to flirt with the customers. Now look at these fabrics.”

We started to go through the fabrics and designs. I chose a dark gray for the pegasus and a dark blue for the unicorn. Celestia just stood back and looked around the store, not bothering, or just not sure how to help.

“Alright, Granny; we got the fabrics, now let's talk magic. I want both to have a holding spell, allowing them to hold a lot more than they should. But the gray one should also have a wind spell so that she doesn’t have any air resistance while wearing it.”

Granny looked over the cloths and it was clear she was formulating a plan. “And what kind of gems would you like?”

I pointed to two different gems inside the glass desk. “I would like a yellow one to go with the gray one. It matches her color scheme, and I would like a light blue one for the dark blue bag.”

“An astute choice, Clean. And what kind of designs would you be interested in?”

“Well, I want the pegasus to get a messenger bag, but I’m not sure about the unicorn. Hey, Celestia, can you come help up for a moment?”

Celestia woke up out of her trance and trotted over. “What could I help you with, Clean?”

“Alright, so check this out: I need an idea on how to design this bag. Its for the unicorn filly, and I would like some input on it.”

“What did you choose for the pegasus?”

“A simple messenger bag design,” I said holding up the paper that had our designs drawn on it.

“Then why don’t you just make another messenger bag?”

“Because then it would feel like I put no effort in choosing, and I want them both to feel special.”

“Thats so sweet, Clean; I’d love to help. How about a nice pair of saddle bags?”

“Saddle… bags?” I looked at the piece of paper and drew a simple design for a saddle bag. “Why didn’t I think of that..? ”

“See, Clean, this is exactly why you need me around.”

“Sure, sure, Celestia. Now, Granny, I want these two bags with the gems, how much should I expect to pay?”

“Hmmmm…” Granny hummed, looking over the designs, fabrics, and gems. “For these two, I’d say 600 Gold.”

“600? You’re bleeding my wallet, Granny. Hows about we strike a deal? I’ll pay 450, and I’ll bring the fillies in to visit.”

“Deal!” Granny said without a moment of hesitation. “Now give me an hour or two and I’ll have these done. Go eat or something, come back later.”

“Alright granny, I’ll go do exactly that. C’mon Celestia, let’s go eat. I know a good griffon place that sells meat.”

Celestia grimaced, but complied. “Alright, Clean. Let's go eat and get this done.”

Author's Note

Didn't expect another chapter this late, huh?

Sorry about the long update, *generic excuse*.
In all seriousness, I've just been busy, gonna start working on chapters again like I used to.