Summer's Dream

“Back wing, Twi, back wing!” Rainbow Dash called out, as the alicorn rushed past her. Twilight’s face contorted in concentration as she attempted to do as Rainbow said. Concentration turned to panic as she realized she wasn’t back winging correctly and the ground was approaching rapidly.

Summer watched as Twilight flew in, her eyes wide in shock. Movement from the corner of her eye drew her attention. She turned her head to stare at Pinkie Pie who now had a box of popcorn in her hoof watching Twilight, with a grin on her face. “Oh, Twilight is getting so much better at flying! You might want to take two steps to your left there, Summer.”

Summer did as Pinkie suggested, not even sure why she did so. She looked back up just in time to see Twilight land hard. Her forward momentum enough that she continued forward to stumble and finally stop, right where Summer had been standing. *How the hay did she know that’s where she was going to stop?!* she thought.

Pinkie clapped her hooves together. “Yay! You did so much better this time, Twilight!” she happily cheered, as confetti showered around Twilight.

“Hehe, thanks Pinkie,” she said. Twilight smiled as she brushed the confetti from her mane, fluffing her wings to shake the rest loose. She turned around just in time to see Rainbow touch down with one rear hoof, then dropping the other three at once. Her trademark smirk on her lips, her eyes twinkling with suppressed laughter.

“Hit a little hard there, Twi. I thought for sure you were going to be practicing to help AJ plow the fields,” Rainbow said.

“Very funny, Rainbow. Keep it up and I know a mare that’s sleeping alone tonight,” Twi said with a smirk.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? If I’m sleeping alone, then you will be too.”

Twilight walked up to Rainbow, a slight sway in her step. Rainbow licked her lips, anticipating a make up kiss. Twilight always acted seductive when she was going to give in to Rainbow, and she loved it.

“Not necessarily,” Twilight said as her horn lit up, one eyebrow cocked up.

“Hey! Leave me out of it guys!” a voice squeaked from behind Rainbow’s head, as Scootaloo was levitated off her back, laughing.

Twilight floated Scootaloo over to her side, setting her down carefully. She laid a wing across Scootaloo’s back, looking at Rainbow. “Scootaloo can always sleep with me,” she quipped, giggling at the shocked look on Rainbow’s face.

Scootaloo leaned into Twilight’s side, loving it when Twilight or Rainbow would give her wing hugs. She looked at Rainbow then Twilight, before coming to a decision. “Hey, mom,” she said, nudging Twilight, “I thought you said it wasn’t nice to tease other ponies.”

Twilight glanced down at her pensively. With a smile, she nodded. “You’re right, Scootaloo. And I’m sorry Rainbow, I shouldn’t have teased you.”

Rainbow winked at Scootaloo, before turning to Twilight fully. “Aw, that’s ok, Twi. I really shouldn’t have teased you either. So, I’m sorry too.” She sat down on her haunches, ducking her head slightly to hide that she was desperately fighting the smirk from showing up.

Twilight squeezed Scootaloo with her wing before folding it back to her side. She walked up to Rainbow, leaned in and gently raised her head up. When she could look into Rainbow’s eyes, all she could see was love and laughter, and a smirk playing at her lips. With a chuckle Twilight laid a chaste kiss on Rainbow’s lips. “You get to come to bed tonight,” she said with a wink.

Rainbow blushed, because she knew exactly what was in store tonight. With a grin she turned to Pinkie, who was sitting off to the side, still eating her popcorn with a grin on her face.

“D’aww! That was so sweet!” Pinkie said, before hopping up and bouncing in place for a moment. “Oh, oh, oh! You guys! This is Summer Breeze! She’s new to Ponyville, she bought the cottage on the other side of town, and right now she’s trying to sneak away because she’s shy and thinks she’ll embarrass herself in front of Twilight!”

Summer stopped in her tracks, for she truly was trying to sneak away before the princess noticed she had not only made a not so graceful landing, but showed affection in public in front of a complete stranger. She hunched her shoulders as she turned around, fully expecting to see the princess frowning, or worse, angry. What she saw when she faced them was another story. Twilight had sat down next to Rainbow, a smile on her face, with Scootaloo tucked in between them. Rainbow’s left wing was draped over the little filly, while Twilight’s right covered them both.

“So,” Rainbow began, “you bought that little cottage over by the castle?”

Summer let out a squeak, her eye’s going wide. *By the castle? No, no, no, this is bad!* she thought panicking. She couldn’t live that close to the princess. She was so afraid now that she was giving a bad impression. She started breathing rapidly, and her wings trembling.

A delicate cough pulled her attention. Twilight lowered her left wing from her muzzle. A small smile on her face. “I’m afraid we haven’t been properly introduced. This is my marefriend, Rainbow Dash, and our daughter, Scootaloo.” Rainbow nodded her head, and Scootaloo smiled while ducking her head, a blush making her cheeks rosy. Twilight continued, “And I’m Twilight Sparkle. And judging by how you're to the point of hyperventilating and your wings are trembling, you think you’re making a poor first impression. Am I right?” She kept a small smile, not too big to make one think she thought it was funny, and not too small that one would think it was fake.

Summer slowly nodded her head. Somehow Twilight was calming her with just words. Words, and action. Summer really looked at the family, and quickly realized that is exactly what they were. *They’re just a happy family,* she thought, *Out enjoying… What? Flying lessons! Rainbow was teaching Twilight how to fly better! Pinkie had said Twilight was getting better. Oh, my gosh! They just want to be treated like everypony else!* Her breathing slowed down slightly, as her wings stopped trembling as noticeably. She smiled shyly as she spoke, “Yes, your highness.”

Rainbow chuckled as Twilight blushed. “Just Twilight is fine, Summer Breeze. I really don’t care to be called that, even when I’ll performing my royal duties,” she chuckled nervously. “I was just a unicorn before all this happened. And if it wasn’t for my friends I wouldn’t even be an alicorn.”

“Thank you, your…” Rainbow snickered, “I mean, Twilight,” Summer stammered slightly. *I am never going to get used to that, best try to stay out of their way,* she thought. *Yeah, right. New house is by the castle, I’ll probably be running into them on a daily basis.* “So, uhm… Pinkie!” She looked around baffled for the pink mare, who had disappeared. “Where did she go?”

Rainbow started laughing so hard that she fell on her side. Scootaloo snickered behind her hooves at Rainbow, while Twilight looked down at the cyan mare. With a shake of her head she looked over to Summer. “Pinkie does that, just shows up and leaves without you knowing how she does it. I’ve tried to figure out how she does, yet I can’t put my hoof on it. It’s just Pinkie. Was there something you needed?”

“Well, to be honest,” Summer hesitated, then continued with Twilight’s encouraging nod. “I really don’t know where the house is. You see I bought it without coming out. I saw pictures of it, and the price was right. So, I just went ahead and packed everything I had, sold the old place and used the bits to hire a local moving company. And that was my mistake, I guess. They knew exactly where the house was and picked everything up and brought it here. I got directions, but nothing real good… and I’m rambling, I am so sorry!” She covered her mouth with her hooves, her eyes going wide that she had just started rambling.

Rainbow Dash had finally gotten her laughing fit under control and looked over at Summer, still laying on the ground. “Local movers, huh? One of them a grey mare, blond mane?” she asked. Summer nodded. “Heh, that was Derpy. Nice mare, real sweet, has a great little filly. But, she’s not all together sometimes. And since you’re way over here in the market, and the castle is way back there, she probably got her north and south mixed up, again. She means well, she really does.”

Summer looked behind the trio and finally saw the castle. *How the buck did I miss that! Great, made a fool of myself rambling, now I’m clear over the other side of town. Meh, I’ll live, just have to sight see tomorrow I guess,* she thought. “Thank you, Rainbow. I never did catch her name, but yeah, she was really sweet.”

Twilight nodded her head, catching Summer’s attention. “I’m sure you’d like to get home then, now that you know where it is. I’m really sorry we took up your time,” Summer tried to interrupt, yet Twilight wouldn’t hear of it. “No, really. Here I am almost running into you on landing. I saw you step over just before I hit the ground, no doubt thanks to Pinkie suggesting you move,” Summer nodded. “And here we were making a little spectacle of ourselves, or at least I was. And you were so kind to stand here and listen to us.” Twilight finished with a giggle.

“Yeah, thanks for that,” Rainbow chipped in. “Twi doesn’t get to meet new ponies that treat her like everypony else.” She held her hoof out to Summer, who nodded and bumped her own against it. “Come on squirt, let’s go find dinner,” Rainbow nudged Scootaloo. The two started to walk off towards one of the restaurants on the other side of the market. “You coming, Twilly?”

“Yeah, be right there,” Twilight answered. Turning to Summer she said, “Just go down the road there, keep the castle in front and you’ll see your house on the left. It was the only one up for sale recently, and Ponyville might be a large town, everypony knows what’s going on around here. It’s uncanny sometimes. Oh! And there’s a little cafe that sells coffee, teas, and some of Sugar Cube Corner’s pastries on the way. I stop by there sometimes, especially when Rainbow starts telling me I’ve been in the castle too long. It was very nice meeting you, Summer Breeze, and I hope you love living here!” Twilight trotted off with a wave.

Summer waved back, slightly bemused. *The princess just informed me of the cafe she goes to. When her marefriend nags her to get out of the castle,* she mused. With a chuckle, she turned around and began following the road, keeping the castle in front of her. *And if she recommends this cafe, then it’s got to have something decent. I mean, the princess of friendship drinks there.*