Summer's Dream

The sun was shining brightly in Ponyville as the cream colored pegasus mare entered the town, her espresso man pulled back into a tail. Ponies would absently wave hello, just further emphasizing the friendliness. Which made sense, after all Ponyville is home to Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship.

That’s what brought Summer Breeze here. She was so tired of the ponies back home, in a small cloud village, who were always looking at her sideways. Now, the four princesses had decreed that there was nothing wrong with mares being mares, or stallions with stallions, yet there were still those that felt it wasn’t natural. Her hometown was one of those that still believed mares should only be with stallions. Nothing sinister was every done to those couples. Nothing physical that is. A couple of bits more for a bushel of carrots, maybe. Or being snubbed in favor of a mare and stallion couple to get a table at a dining house, perhaps. Nothing physical at all. All four of the princesses had decreed that hate crimes against same sex couples, or the rare trans mare or stallion, were to be met with the most severe of punishments. And if somepony  were to die, well, Princess Luna had made it clear, there was a special place in Tartarus for the pony, or ponies, that were the cause. No pony wanted to chance that punishment. No pony at all.

Summer glanced around the market, noting the various ponies coming and going. She really wasn’t sure where to begin her search. She had purchased a home here, from the sale of her modest cloud house. All her belongings, not that many truth be told, were already here, somewhere.

*I really should have asked the movers for better directions,* she thought. As she turned to look for the town hall, she came face to face with merry blue eyes set in a smiling pink face. “Gah!” she exclaimed, jumping back slightly, her wings snapping open and causing her to hover above the ground, her forelegs across her chest.

The pink mare smiled at her. “Hi!” she said with extreme cheer. “You’re new here, because I know everypony here, and I hadn’t seen you before. Oh! I know, you must be the one who bought the cottage on the other side of town! I’m Pinkie Pie, and I know we’re going to be the best of friends!” This came out in such a rush that Summer wasn’t sure if she understood everything. She thought she caught the mare’s name, yet she wasn’t sure about the rest. She thought she caught her mentioning a cottage.

“Uhm, hello,” Summer said uncertainly. “Yes, this is the first time I’ve been to Ponyville… I’m sorry, Pinkie Pie was it? But, did you mention something about a cottage?”

“Indeedily do, I did!” Pinkie grinned. Then her grin faltered slightly, “Oh, did I do it again? I’m sorry, I get so excited about meeting new ponies. And Twilight said I should tone it down a little, especially with new ponies that just moved here.” Her expressive blue eyes showing a hint of sadness.

Summer was taken aback. Here was this perfect stranger, that surprised the hay out of her by popping up out of nowhere. And now she was honestly sad that she been slightly overbearing in her introduction. And she knew the princess! Summer smiled hesitantly. “It’s okay, Pinkie Pie,” she said.

At that Pinkie grew more cheerful, and Summer could have sworn the mare’s pink mane had actually gotten puffier. “Oh, you can just call me Pinkie!” she said with much more cheer.

“Ok, Pinkie, I’m Summer Breeze. But I go by Summer most of the time. It’s usually easier to yell out,” she said the last with a slight sigh.

Pinkie cocked her head to the side slightly. “Why would I yell your name? Oh, wait, I know! You’re accident prone, and strange things almost bonk you on the head? No, you don’t look like that happens to you… Oh, oh, I know! It’s so I can get your attention when you're on the other side of the market!”

Summer landed back on the ground, having just realized that she was still hovering. With a heavy sigh, she said, “No, it's to tell me to stop staring at some mare’s flank.” Summer’s eyes went wide as she realized what she just said. She stared in horror at Pinkie, dreading what the mare would say. She was completely surprised when Pinkie smiled even more, and her eyes lit up with glee. And it wasn't that malicious glee that Summer was used to seeing. It was foal-in-a-candy-store glee.

“Silly filly! I’d never say anything like that… Well, unless you were staring at Lyra, or Bon Bon, or Vinyl, or Octavia, or Rarity, or Fluttershy, or Rainbow Dash, or Twilight’s flank. Because they’re all happy couples! Well, Lyra and Bon Bon are, and Vinyl and Tavi,” Pinkie paused. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Summer’s jaw had progressively dropped as Pinkie spoke. *No way!* she thought, *there is no way they are that open here! Can they be?* Shaking her head, she looked at Pinkie. “You’re telling me that filly foolers are that open here?” she asked incredulously.

Pinkie vigorously nodded her head so much she began to bounce in place. “Sure are!” she exclaimed. Then leaned in closely and whispered, “But we don’t call them filly foolers. Twilight doesn't like that term, since she and Dashie adopted Scootaloo.” Here Pinkie got very serious, “She says it makes them sound like they’re doing bad things to little fillies.” Pinkie nodded her head, then broke into that cheerful grin again. “Everypony just calls them marefriends.”

Summer glanced around, then looked Pinkie dead in the eyes. Pinkie noticed that her green eyes were getting watery. “Are you ok, Summer?” she asked. Summer could tell by Pinkie’s voice that she was genuinely concerned. All Summer could do was nod slightly, as she closed her eyes. A single tear slid down her cheek. Summer’s eye sprung open in shock a moment later, as she was engulfed in a warm hug. “Hey, there, no crying,” Pinkie said quietly. Summer gingerly returned the hug. She was rather shocked. She knew that they were more open here. She just wasn’t expecting them to be this open. And now she was in the middle of the market getting hugged by another mare she has just met. Her eyes darted around wildly. She pulled back slightly from Pinkie when she spied a cream mare with blue and pink mane cautiously walking toward them. Pinkie released her hold on Summer, then turned her head spying the other mare. “Hi, Bon Bon!” she exclaimed. At this hearty greeting, Bon Bon walked up faster.

“Hey, Pinkie. Everything ok?” the last directed to Pinkie, while Bon Bon focused on Summer.

“I don’t know,” Pinkie replied. “Summer Breeze is new here, and I think I over did it again. I was just explaining that marefriends were open here, and she just got sad looking and started crying. Please don’t tell Twilight! I’m trying to be helpful!” Pinkie grew more and more agitated, until Bon Bon placed her hoof on her shoulder, getting her attention.

“Hey, Pinks, it okay,” Bon Bon said. “I don’t think Summer is sad, just a little overwhelmed.” Turning to Summer directly. “Let me guess, small town? Pretty much everypony there thinks you should settle down with a nice stallion?”

Summer nodded. “Yes,” she replied, “How’d you know?”

Bon Bon smirked slightly. “Been there, done that. Until I moved here with Lyra, after hearing that Octavia and Vinyl live here when they’re not touring in their individual music professions.”

“I’m sorry, but that name keeps coming up. Vinyl who?” Summer said.

Pinkie Pie started giggling, while Bon Bon smiled. “Vinyl Scratch, also known as DJ Pon3. She’s the best DJ that’s come up in a long time. Moved out here when Octavia got tired of Manehattan. I swear, Vinyl will do anything to make sure Octavia is happy.”

“Wait! DJ Pon3 lives here?! I knew Octavia had a marefriend, but I didn’t know it was Pon3.” Summer said.

“Eeyup!” exclaimed Pinkie, “she does all the music at my parties now. Oh, and you’re not sad anymore!”

Summer chuckled, “I wasn’t really sad. Just slightly overwhelmed, like Bon Bon said. Marefriends out in the open, everypony in town knows. And it doesn’t bother anypony. It’s like a dream come true.”

Bon Bon chuckled, “Yes, it really is like a dream come true. And it doesn’t hurt our reigning princess here also has a marefriend of her own. Plus they adopted a little filly! So it just makes it that much better. Well, I hate to cut this short, but I’ve got to get the groceries home. Celestia knows what Lyra got into for lunch. I swear, she’s like a foal sometimes, eating anything she can get her hooves on, regardless of whether it’s good for her or not. I’ll talk to you later Pinkie Pie. It was a pleasure meeting you, Summer Breeze.”

“Please, just Summer is fine. And it was a pleasure meeting you, Bon Bon,” she said smiling. Bon Bon smiled and nodded before trotting off to get her saddle bags she left at one of the market stalls. Summer turned toward Pinkie, fully intent on asking the mare directions to her cottage. Now that she got her emotions under control, she really did want to get to her new home, start unpacking before wondering the town.

As she started to ask Pinkie where the cottage was, Pinkie turned to her with a huge grin. “Hey! Looks like you get to make some more new friends!” she said as she pointed to the sky. Summer looked up and her heart stopped. There, gently gliding in, was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane, an orange filly perched on her back grinning ear to ear. That wasn’t Summer’s cause for concern. It was the lavender alicorn flying next to the cyan mare. None other than Princess Twilight Sparkle was fast approaching.