Winter brushed his forehooves together, looking mildly self-pleased. The kitchen was clean, his chores complete. It was a simple thing. A soft pang reminded him that it would have been a great time to check his email. Maybe try a raid? There were webcomics to catch up on.

He wouldn't be doing any of those. Whether he was the original human that had those habits or not, Equestria had none of those things. His good mood dimmed, his face returned to neutrality as he emerged from the kitchen, glancing left and right. A soft knock from the front door decided things for him and he veered towards it.

He peeked out the window and saw the side of Maple, looking nervous. A faint smile appeared as his magic opened the door easily.

"Heya," greeted Maple, entering the opening door. "Ah ain't botherin', am I?"

He shook his head, willing the door closed behind her and locking it securely. He began trotting towards the living room without a word, not that he usually had many words to share.

She fell in to the side and behind him. "Doin' alright, today? Ahm... sorry fer causin' such trouble."

He suddenly stopped and clopped his forehooves together. He turned to her and made a square shape in the air with his hooves, magic making the shape glow softly for her to see.

"A... box?" She tilted her head with confusion.

He inclined his head. Well, it was kind of a box, but... He trailed a hoof out, drawing a line from the box to where he then drew a crude little vertical rectactangle, a plug, he knew.

She was looking not as certain, tapping her chin. "Is... Wait. Um, let's start with is this somethin' ya want me to do? Somethin' ya want to see? Somethin' we are?" She waved a hoof at the glowing image. "Ah appreciate the pictures."

He gave her hat-covered head a pat with his magic, causing her to reach up and adjust it. He pointed to himself, then glanced around. He trotted over to a bookcase, his image fading. He grabbed a random book with his magic, drawn into his hooves for him to cradle against his chest.

"Somethin' ya want. Alright." She smiled a little, looking increasingly proud of herself. "Got it." Her ears danced through the holes in her hat. "Ah'm gettin' the hang of it!"

He smiled faintly. A step... He traced the box and pointed at it.

"A box you... wire... Oh!" Her eyes widened. "One of them fancy things with the pictures!"

He bobbed his head almost violently before he remembered to relax, the motion ebbing off to stillness. He pointed to her and nodded once more.

"Ah forget what those're called, but ah never saw one fer myself." She put a hoof behind her head. "Ah hear they're popular in the cities, but this ain't a city."

"Oh..."

It wasn't that he had actually said that, but he slumped and she could see the disappointment. She stepped in closer and gently touched her nose to his chest. "Don't be sad. Ah'll check how many bits that'll set a pony back. Maybe it ain't so bad."

She sat up tall, looking better than than she had first come in. "Maybe Summer and I could put our bits together, fer ya. Reckon we both want you to be happy."

A little smile appeared on his face and he touched his nose to hers in a little boop before he turned in place.

That let her see his back end. Right there nestled between his mare-like cheeks was his very un-mare like parts. "Winter, why do you... do that?"

He looked over his shoulder at her silently.

"Hang? We ain't... doin' that, not with Summer not here. So why are you... out?"

He blinked softly at that and turned towards her.

"Is... it different with Kirin?" She furrowed her brows softly. "Mah brother weren't no subtle pony. He was perfectly happy to explain it ta me when we were little foals." She snorted softly into a fetlock, her cheeks warming.

Worrying images flitted through Winter's mind as he regarded Maple with skewed ears. He pointed one cloven hook back towards his rump.

Maple circled him and came up just behind him. "Keep lookin' forward. Now, we ain't... doin' nothin' funny. This is all edumucational and what not." She raised a hoof, touching a large equine ball. "This. This shouldn't be here. A stallion shows this when he's ready to use it. And ya ain't usin' it wit' me. Ah don't want Summer bein' angry, an' ah think you don't neither."

His ears danced as a big question mark appeared in the air without him even bothering to trace it.

"I'll just... Feel this." She pressed up delicately, trying to encourage his impressive tools back into his body without forcing anything.

The stranger part was that it was working. He could feel some kind of muscle he didn't know he had being flexed in inhuman ways. It all fluttered, strange and new. Without trying, he drew himself up suddenly. He was not a stallion anymore. He was smooth as silk along his underside, as if he just didn't have genitals, all hidden beneath soft fur.

"Wow..." Maple sat down softly. "Ya really look like a mare now... But that's better." She inclined her head faintly. "If it makes ya feel better, mares do that too." She lifted her tail, and there was nothing to see, all concealed by fur. "What kinda creature... are ya that ya can do that but don't know it?"

How did he explain that? For once, his silence felt like a real benefit. He didn't have to explain it, and he didn't. He trotted past her, lighter on his hooves. It was like a weight had been taken off his shoulders, or from between his legs. He lead her off to spend the day.

Summer sat down in front of her door, taking a slow breath. "They ain't doin' nothing..." And even if they were, she figured silently, that was... Well, no, she had made both promise not to. They would be...

She let out a slow sigh. "They ain't doin' nothin'..." They both adored her. They were good ponies, er, creatures, and they would not turn right around the very next day! "It'll be fine." She reached for the knob and casually opened the door to her home. "Ah'm home," she called. "There one or two of ya?"

Winter came trotting from the living room, looking pleased to see her, but also off.

Summer tilted her head, trying to place what had changed. There was Maple, emerging after him. Neither stank of unseemly things. She let out a worried breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Good to see ya both. Gettin' along?"

"You betcha." Maple slipped past Winter to press her nose to Summer's cheek. "Welcome home. I, uh... ran into Miss Jubilee today."

Summer's ears went erect and still before flopping against her head. "A happy meetin', ah hope?"

Winter glanced between the two mares, imagining Cherry Jubilee in his head. He knew of her, from the show, but beyond that...

Maple quickly bobbed her head. "Oh, yeah, yeah... She knows ya have a boyfriend though."

Summer's cheeks rapidly darkened as a choked laugh escaped her. "Oh, good... wait..." She suddenly poked Maple in the chest. "That means she wants to see him."

"I hadn't even said that part yet!"

"Ya didn't have to." Summer tossed her hat aside to hang on a hook. "That's just the way she is. She's like our mom, and nopony gets to get a special somepony without introducin' 'em to her."

"Ain't never worked for nopony that interested in what ah did..."

"It has its ups and downs." She smooched Winter on the nose suddenly before walking past, just to stop dead and turn in place. "There it is!" There it wasn't would have been a better call. She noticed what had changed. Winter was hiding all his male parts. "You are looking sleek and sexy, ain't afraid ta say it."

Winter's cheeks colored faintly, but faded almost as quickly, the emotion coming and going. Summer was laughing on the way to the bathroom to freshen up. He looked to Maple and nodded before leaving himself, vanishing into the kitchen.

That left Maple there in the entry hallway. "Hey... Ya makin' dinner?" She quickly trotted to join Winter. "Let me help."

By the time Summer emerged, freshened from her day's work, she found them both working to make dinner. She smiled gently, watching them silently for a time there at the doorway to the kitchen. "Now this... ain't so bad." Coming home to two lovely friends doing something nice and sweet together, that was just fine...

Winter floated over a morsel to her and she snapped it out of the air, chewing softly. "Mmm, not bad, but needs another minute or three." She went over to the table and hopped up into her chair. "You two have a nice day?"

"Plenty nice. Oh!" Maple dusted her hooves on an apron she was borrowing. "Winter wants one of them tellivisions." She dashed off and returned with a magazine, slapping it down, open to a picture of a family gathered around a television set, a picture of a smiling pony on it. "Like this one here."

"You're starting to understand him?" Summer reached out with her hooves, drawing the magazine closer. "Huh, heard of those... Never had one mahself. This true, Winter?"

Winter inclined an ear back towards her as he nodded, his eyes on the food he was preparing.

"Well, if you want it..." Her eyes drifted to where a price was written boldly and her breath caught. "Oh... wow."

Maple hopped up into the next chair over. "I am ready to help. We may be a suspect herd, but... we're friends if nothing else. If he wants one, Ah'll toss some bits into the pot." She made a tossing motion with a hoof in an soft lobbing move of a hoof. "'Sides, if ya get one, ah'll probably end up enjoyin' it too, right?"

"Is this a thing now?" Summer wrapped her arms across her chest. "Get one kirin, get a Maple at no additional cost."

"No refunds." Maple stuck out her tongue at Summer. "You were stuck with me before he went an' showed up."

Summer blinked slowly. "Maple, watch the words that come out of your mouth."

"Huh?"

Summer reached out a hoof, booping Maple on her nose. "Are you admitting ya have the hots fer me?"

Maple's cheeks began to darken swiftly. "W-what! I mean..." She glanced away. "Maybe? Ah..." She suddenly thunked onto the table, her face pressed against the wood. "Ugh. Alright! Alright! Ah used to have the biggest filly crush ever! When we were, ya know, fillies. It was stupid and ah never had the bravery to say a thing."

Summer inclined her head faintly. "That's... cute, but ah thought you were hot fer--"

Maple suddenly sat up. "That was a lie!"

"But ya got him sweets..."

"To throw off the tail." Maple clopped a hoof down on the table. Suddenly a plate lowered into her vision and she drew the hoof back to make room for dinner. "Oh, food time."

Winter nodded softly as he set another before Summer, then hopped up with the last one settling in front of himself. He gestured across the table.

"He says dinner's on. Thank you, Winter. It smells delightful." Her nose danced, taking in the pleasing aroma of the food. "Now, let's eat. We can talk about yer raging lady stiffen afterwards."

With horribly blushing cheeks, Maple buried herself in the food, as if gobbling it down fast enough could somehow shield her from the shame of the moment.

Author's Note

This chapter came smoothly to me. Very slice of lifey, but it felt... right? Hints of future things to handle emerge.

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

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