Summer danced from hoof to hoof. There was a pony in her house she was very not used to having there! "Nice to see you, Miss Jubilee."

"This ain't the time t' be treatin' me special." Jubilee gestured at herself and shook her head. "Mistakes were made, at least partly mah own fault. An' ah ain't gonna accept just sittin' on it none. Yer family, Summer. Mine, if you don't mind my claiming it."

Summer flipped one ear back with growing uncertainty as Winter came in between them, facing Jubilee with the stoicism that defined his strength.

"You're lookin' better." Jubilee nodded in appreciation at the effimate stallion. "Much better. Now, ah've been told that weren't no intentional thing, what happened back there." She threw a hoof over her shoulder. "But ah done assumed it was, and ya know what happens when ya go assumin' things."

Summer bit down lightly on her closed lips a moment. "Yer just... takin' responsibility then?"

"Ah am." Jubilee inclined her head. "And you sound a mite surprised. Reckon that ain't unusual, but the way ah figure, it's the right thing to do, and we end up in a better place if ah do it. Didn't get where ah am for bein' no silly mare." She waved the thought away. "'Sides, he was right injured. Even if he was doin' what ah thought he was doin', shoulda thought it through. Ain't many times it becomes right to make a move on a claimed stallion like that." She fluttered her lashes at Summer. "And ah don't want to lose you."

Summer suddenly rose to full height, stepping around Winter towards Jubilee. "Miss Jubilee." The company owner did not flinch or back away. "Thank you for rescuing Winter."

"Yer most welcome." She glanced towards the stallion. "Just keep a better eye on 'em."

"I'll do that." Summer cracked a little smile, the tension breaking in the room. "Actually... since yer here..."

"Go 'head and ask it." Cherry nodded her head as she half-turned away. "Ah do owe ya one."

"Well this should be a small one." Summer brought up two hooves close together. "Ah think... now that ponies done saw 'em, Winter would be happier... outside..." She pointed towards the door. "Ah was wonderin', could he--"

"--join the family?" finished Jubilee with a big smile. "Now that ain't hardly a favor. Is he a good worker?"

Summer waved a hoof around expansively. "He cleans my house, makes mah food, everythin'! I don't have to do nothin' when ah get home but relax."

Jubilee closed on Winter with new eyes. "This place does look clean as it can get. But showing is strictly against the rules." She poked Winter right above his eyes on his armor plating. "You save that fer yer mare." She twirled in place towards Summer. "Speakin' ah that, Maple ran off without explainin' it rightly, but are ya formin' a herd?" Summer began to go a deep red. "Ah just want to know the situation, avoid future mistakes."

Summer's coloring returned with a vengeance. "We're still talkin' 'bout that."

"None of my business." Cherry leaned in. "But if ya do, kindly pass on the word. That'd make her part of the family."

Summer suddenly coughed, breathing out of sync. "You're alright with it?"

"None of my business." She shrugged lightly, starting for the door at a relaxed stroll. "Yer adults, ya get to make yer decisions."

Summer watched as her boss left, the door shutting behind her. "Have a nice day," she got out, long after Jubilee was too far to hear it. She turned stiffly to Winter. "Did you get that?"

Winter touched his nose to her cheek with a faint smile.

It was infectious, the smile spreading to her face. "Maybe ah am overthinking this a touch... So... I didn't ask you or nothin'. Do you want to work, with me?" She pointed at herself and then out the same door that had just been used. "We'll be together."

He nodded in placid acceptance. Being with Summer sounded fun. Being outside sounded more fun than laying about the house. But... His horn began to glow along its bands as he took hold of a plate of leftovers from breakfast and he brought it over towards Summer.

"Yer not wrong." She understood him. She had grown good at doing that. "Won't be no dinner waitin' fer us when we get home." She poked him suddenly in the side. "Ya know, that's just how it was before ya got here! We'll survive, take turns makin' food. Ya get to enjoy mah cookin' more often." She buffed her chest with the flat of a hoof. "Ya make it seem like ah can't cook none."

He shook his head quickly at that. Insulting her cooking abilities had been so far from his intention. "Don't worry 'bout it." Her hoof was on his mouth. "I was jokin'. We'll take care of it, together." She put out her arms and he reciprocated without delay, the two coming together in a warm hug before his glowing horn pushed her away a few inches. "Mmm?"

He pointed at himself, then the door. He inclined his head faintly then straightened it.

"Not sure ah get what yer sayin' there." Summer rubbed at her chin thoughtfully, but then it came. "Oh! Are... ya askin' if ahm mad?" He nodded quickly. "Yes!" She thumped into him from the side. "Ya better not do that again! But... also no... Ah'm glad yer back, and I... Ah'm glad yer here, alright?"

"Did I see Miss--" Maple slowed to a stop, seeing the two were exchanging a warm kiss of forgiveness. "Oh! Sorry." She turned right around. "Ah know when ah done became the third wheel." But she got nowhere. Her hooves slid against the wood floor, then it withdrew from her. She was floating in Winter's strong magic. "Um, hi?"

Summer grinned at the mare caught in her stallion's grip. "Well lookie there, one of our friends done came a knockin', though they forgot to knock." She gestured for Maple to be closer and Winter obliged, drawing her in his magic. "Jubilee apologized for the mess she made."

"That's good." Maple's hooves cycled a little, helpless there in the air. "You two alright? Ah can go..."

Summer circled around her captured friend. "That sounds too easy there. Seems to me we got you right where we want to have ya right now." Winter nodded silently. "Now, ah got some bad news for ya."

Maple's ears sagged down. "Ya kickin' me out?"

Summer reached up to swat her friend on the side. "You put that right out of yer head. But ya can't come by while I'm at work nomore."

Maple's confusion grew visibly. "How is that much different?"

Summer sat on her haunches with a smirk. "'Cause it ain't cause ah don't want ya around. Yer our friend, Maple, a dear friend. We both like ya." Winter nodded in agreement. "But ah'm draggin' Winter with me to work. We're gonna earn some bits together."

Maple blinked, the missing pieces coming together. "Oh! Oh! You're a cruel one, Summer." Even as Summer giggled, Maple was allowed to hit the ground on her hooves, where she could swat at Summer in mild buffets of her hooves. "Ah can visit after ya work, like ah used to, before... things changed."

Winter pointed at himself. "Like you, yes." Maple nodded as she approached the kirin. "What are ya gonna do, wash the cherries, sort 'em, pick 'em? Ah never had much to do with 'em." Maple frowned a little. "It's almost maple season, gonna be busy there anywho, just as well."

"We'll see where he fits in best." Summer nodded with confidence. "He's a worker, and he's a good pony most of the time." She stuck out her tongue mildly at the kirin that had caused quite an upheaval of late. "But he'll earn his keep like the rest of us. Bet he'll feel better fer it."

But he was walking away, back into the kitchen. He began to clean and tidy things, preparing to start dinner. The idea of working for his share sounded actually kinda nice. He remembered... working before. Every day? No, most days though. He wouldn't be lazy. He'd pull his part of things. It was fair, right? He dipped a dish into soapy water and got to scrubbing vigorously.

A shame he'd have to not cook. He kinda liked cooking.

Maple peeked in at the diligently working kirin and turned back to Summer. "Yer gonna have to get back to helpin' out around here. He can't work and be yer house stallion at the same time."

"I will miss that, but it's fer the best." She nodded firmly. "And... since we've come this far... it's time for everypony to get their eyes on him, get used to 'em! He's a friend, mah friend."

"Yer boyfriend," emphasized Maple with waggling brows. "Ponies aughta know who that is."

Summer colored at that. "I wasn't plannin' on introducin' him like that!"

"And why not?" Maple inclined her head to the right. "That's what he is. Even with... me... he is that, no doubt about it. He loves ya to pieces..."

"Not so loud." Summer threw a leg over Maple's withers, drawing her away from the archway into the kitchen, deeper into the living room. "Ah know that, Ah know..."

"But yer not actin' it." Maple frowned a little before her smile returned. "There ain't nothin' wrong with lovin' somepony."

"But..." Summer took a deep breath, her sides swelling a moment. "Look, ah didn't get him the normal way."

Maple tilted her head the other way.

"I didn't find him somewhere and have a nice chat." Summer tapped at her cheek, dancing on her other hooves. "I paid fer 'em."

"Yer gonna have to explain that." Maple shook her head with obvious confusion. "But that's fer later. He still loves ya... Yer not... foalnappin' him, are ya?"

"No! No..." Summer shook her head violently. "He could leave anytime he wanted..." But they had conditioned him to never want that... "Ah just have to sort through thin's. Ah'm glad we're movin' forward, gettin' him out inta the world. Foal steps." She drew her hooves together, not quite touching. "Wish me luck?"

"I'll do more than that." Maple touched her nose to Summer's cheek. "Yer stuck with me for dinner."

"Oh no," dramatically cried Summer in the midst of a giggle. "However will we survive. Winter!" She looked towards the kitchen. "Make sure to put out three plates." No response came, nor was one required. "This'll be a goodbye dinner."

"Not hardly." Maple turned towards the kitchen. "This is a hello party, to a new start. Ah hope Winter does super well." She inclined an ear. "But if a pony picks fun of 'em, you lemme know."

"Before or after I tear them in half?" Summer moved to stand next to Maple.

"Ah'd hope before. We can tag team 'em." She met, hoof to hoof in a clop of solidarity. They would protect their kirin.

It would be the start of a new chapter of things.

Author's Note

Welcome back! I was sad when this story suddenly ended, but that mistake is now being remedied! Oh the shenanigans we'll get up to. Jubilee played the Responsible Adult card, it was very effective!

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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