Summer was relaxing, as best she could. She kept glancing over at Maple before looking away, trying to pretend the other mare wasn't there as she was cleaned by the magic efforts of her boyfriend. "It ain't like that," she muttered.

Winter dutifully worked on the cleaning, but his mind was elsewhere, thinking. He hadn't thought of it the way Maple had said it, but was the way Maple put it wrong? He couldn't think of how. Summer had wanted a partner, a mate, and paid to have one created. There he was, a human, or a copy of a human, he was still not 100% on that, made into the form of that partner.

On some level, perhaps he should be more upset than he was? Why was he not even a little mad?

Because kirin do not get mad. Kirin are serene creatures of grace and silence. He was a good kirin and his mind would know no troubled waters. He casually turned maple over in his magic, flopping her onto her back in the tub and starting to wash her belly with sudsy magic grips.

Maple squeaked, her cheeks brightening as she looked up at him, hooves dangling in the air. "Yer... good at this. Is this what it's like takin' a bath as a unicorn?"

Summer quirked an ear towards Maple. "Ah... reckon it is, come t'think. But then again, likely ain't. A unicorn can feel their magic right? So they can feel themselves, like a hoof, cleaning thin's. Winter's not us, so we don't feel the magic touchin' us, so it's another creature cleanin' us... it's different. Like, uh... ticklin' yerself."

"Ticklin' yerself?" Maple pedaled her hooves, still upside down on her back. "Well he's a little ticklish!" Her voice turned to a squeak as his cleaning hit a sensitive point on her lower belly. She wriggled as he cleaned what could become teats some day, if she had need of them. "Yeah yeah.... not the same as doin' it yerself..."

Summer turned to glare at Winter. "No need to stay in that one spot."

He nodded softly, but didn't stop his cleaning, instead reaching out one of his soapy reachers for Summer, getting her at precisely the same spot. He would cleanse both of their pony breasts at the same time. Maple was clearly enjoying herself, panting and lolling her tongue, looking at him adoringly.

Summer was not as fast to warm to it, wriggling in place, but her glare remained. "Yer doin' this on purpose now... Ah don't want mah stallion washin' other mare's private places!" The fight brimmed within her a moment before she sagged. "Ugh... Look... Winter... Ah don't own you."

Winter perked an ear softly before leaning in, touching his nose to Summer's.

"Yeah yeah, you like being mah boyfriend, but ya seem to like bein' her... somethin'. An'..." Emotions warred in her. "On one hoof." She raised one in demonstration. "I don't own ya." The other hoof raised. "On the other, ah thought we were a couple, and I'd kick any other stallion right out if he was tryin' ta cheat on me."

Winter sat up, the soap splashing into the tub, his magic no longer there. Was he cheating? He raised a hoof to his chin in quiet consideration. If he was cheating, that was bad. He was a good kirin. That just wouldn't do. He didn't feel upset, not really. He just had to correct his behavior. His magic wrapped around Maple and rolled her back upright and he nodded at each of them.

"T-thanks." Summer put a hoof behind her head, looking awkward. "Look... yer not a bad pony, er, creature, whateva. I know you're tryin' so hard." She put her hooves on the edge of the tub, pulling herself up. "We just need to settle this."

He brought over a towel in his magic even as he turned the water off. She slipped from the tub to half-fall into his waiting towel as he cocooned her in soft dry towel and got to drying her vigorously from all directions at once.

"Ok! That feels... odd..." She went still, feeling the towel run over her furry body from angles she would normally have not managed on her own. "If we were alone..."

Maple flopped up against the edge, smiling broadly. "Don't let me be in the way. Ah'm just a beta mare, so you just pretend ah ain't even here."

"Why are you even remotely alright with that!" suddenly shouted Summer. "Do you know what yer even sayin'? 'Cause I ain't no expert on how horses behave none, but you know who gets to do 'things' with the alpha male?" She thrust a hoof at Winter firmly, a few drops sent trailing from the sudden motion.

"Uh..."

"The alpha mare." She turned the same hoof to point at herself. "But those are... now ya got me confused." She shook her head, walking away from the both of them, mostly dry.

Winter set the sopping towel aside and grabbed another to wrap Maple up and draw her from the tub, drying her as he had with Summer. At least until he was prodded in the side. Summer was back. He tilted his head at her quizzically.

"She can dry herself. We need to talk... now. Ah'll be in the livin' room." She strode away at a purposeful trot.

Maple turned herself, raising one leg and another in turn to let the towel get her everywhere. "Ah think ah'm not doin' so good... Ah really don't want to, you know, push her out. This is her house." She suddenly turned to Winter. "Yer hers. Ah mean... she's yours, whatever. Either way, you two were... before me, ah know that..."

Winter inclined his head even as he floated the second towel to hang with the first. With a toss of his head, he started towards the living room without hesitation. "Wait up!" Maple came dashing to catch up, her tail not as swishy as it had been. "She's mah friend... a good one. Ah ain't tryin' to ruin everythin'."

He glanced aside at her, but had no answers to give, simply walking out into the living room where Summer sat with a book between her legs, propped up by her hooves as her eyes swept over them.

"Look, my great-great ganddam was in one of those," she spoke without looking up, one ear lifted towards them. "They didn't work like no wild animals none. There was no 'alpha pair'. It were...." She flipped to the next page of the aged book. "Just a bunch of ponies that done decided they would be a big family together. She... said it was hard. Ponies got jealous. Ponies got neglected. It's real easy to do that wit' just two ponies, now ya wanna add more?" She looked up from the book at them. "Do ya really think ya have it in ya to take care of two ponies like they were all yer life when ya ain't even used to takin' care of one?"

Maple stumbled, catching herself and teetering to the side. "Lan'sake! Ya... have a book on that?!"

Winter put a hoof to his chest, then pointed at Summer. He began to wave his hooves in the air, slowly drawing a picture of a pony with many other pony forms atop it in a spreading upside-down pyramid. He pointed at Summer again, then at the lowest pony, then at the book.

Maple blinked softly, trying to put it together. "Ah... don't quite get it..."

"He's..." She rubbed her glowing cheek. "He understands I have a history, with mah family, and ah respect them. They're the top part of the pyramid, restin' on me. When ah get confused, I turn to 'em." She lifted her shoulder with a soft huff. "So, as I was--"

"--You sure you ain't under his spell? That sure seemed like magic to me." She huffed softly, peering at the glowing image that somehow had meant all that. "Enchant me already!"

Summer rolled her eyes softly. "You are adorably naive at times, Maple. Now sit." Maple crashed to her haunches. "You too." Winter settled down far more sedately. "Good, so, as ah was sayin', this is a big responsibility. There are more ways fer all of us to mess it up, then we'll have a whole house full of bad feelins."

Maple wriggled in place, rocking left and right as she did it. "What ya said was that we'd all be... on the same level?"

"The same level," repeated Summer firmly.

"Even though he's a magic dragon-pony that has us under his spell and could make us do whatever he wants whenever he wants it?" she said it all as if it were as obvious as the snout on her face. "Reckon that'd make him the one in charge at least, even if he's relaxed about it. Ah guess I--"

He set a hoof on her nose and she went silent. He could feel her breath, softly sniffing at him. Had she developed a hoof fetish? He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that, but the warm nose there didn't feel bad, its twitches not bothering him.

"Thank you, Winter." Summer smiled gently with a firm nod. "Now, as ah done said, he's a kirin, that's a specific thing, not a dragon pony. He ain't no dragon and he ain't no pony. He's all kirin."

"Kirin," she sighed out around the hoof still resting on her nose. "Didn't one of those visit?"

"Ah did mention that..." Summer's cheeks began to burn softly. "Just the one, and hardly fer a moment... Never even got their name."

Winter's ears danced as he turned his head towards Summer.

"What? curious about them?" When he nodded, she smiled. "Maybe one day they'll come back and you can meet 'em, but ah don't know nothin' 'bout them... Sorry."

Maple gasped suddenly. "What if that other kirin's a mare? I didn't get to talk to 'em, seein' as ah was busy that day. We kin hardly settle with three. I don't think we want more."

Summer scowled, leaning forward. "I shouldn't even be this far, and yet here I am." She snapped the book shut, bringing her hooves together to close it, then set it aside gently. "But fine... we'll give Maple a chance, but that's it. Whether she works or not, there will be no others. None. Am I bein' clear 'nough, Mister? You will not adopt anymore creatures of any kind!" She thumped a hoof against the couch with a muffled sound. "Nod."

He did just that, nodding softly at Summer before crossing his heart with a hoof, drawing an X across it dramatically with his magic.

"Good... now Maple, do--"

"Yes!" she blurted, sitting upright.

"I didn't finish." With a cocked brow, she rolled a hoof. "Do you understand that if this don't work out, yer the one gettin' the boot out the door? Yer mah friend, an' ah do hope we can keep that, but ah ain't playin' around on this. Say you understand and repeat it in yer own words."

Maple swallowed heavily, her tongue suddenly dry as she looked between the strange dra--kirin and the mare that owned and was owned by him. "Ah... get it... This is yer house, so if ya decide yer done wit' me, ah'll be the one kissing the dirt outside, not noone else. So... if we're all equal now, does that mean ah own both of y'all too then?"

Summer suddenly broke into laughter. "You'll have to work your way up to that." She hopped down, trotting towards Maple. "Today you get to not be kicked out. That's somethin', right?"

"It is," she allowed, looking not entirely certain. "Ah should... get mah thin's." She pointed where her own house resided.

Winter shook his head and his magic wrapped around Maple, gently floating her towards the door.

"He has the right of it," noted Summer as she followed the floating mare. "Until we move to that next step, you sleep in yer own house. Come on back tomorrow."

Author's Note

In this episode, ponies act like ponies, handling complicated dramatic situations with far more cuteness than most humans manage.

Written early for patreons who got this ahead of everyone else. Want to get early chapters, or even your own story written? atreon!

Join my discord to chat!