Winter Flame ran a hoof over his scales, though they already were shining with his efforts to be clean and presentable. There was little more for him to do. He wasn't wearing a uniform, none had yet been provided. He was a kirin, a girly guy kirin, who would help with cherries! With a soft nod, he headed for the door. Summer was there, waiting patiently for him.

He touched his nose to her cheek and they left together. His magic produced a loud click as he locked the door behind them. "Huh." He looked at her noise. "It's a right pain to lock it from the outside, so ah don't even bother half the time. When you were in there, you locked it, that was good." She inclined her head a little. "But now yer lockin' it from the outside."

A softer, but clearly audible, click announced that he had unlocked the door. She thumped him from the side. "That weren't no complaint. But most ponies in this town know each other. Who're we even keepin' out? Maple?"

Winter could remember locking one's door being... just... It was just a thing? And yet, Summer's words made sense too. Their town was small and most of the ponies there knew all the other ponies. He was the odd one, and if he wanted to get in... Well, he could. So that lock wasn't doing much.

"If she wants in, ah wouldn't even be mad. So long as she didn't make a mess." Summer rolled her eyes and trotted forward towards work. "Let's go and show you off to the town. Maybe you'll even make some new friends?"

His ears perked, but his expression neutral, he hurried to catch up with her before matching her pace, trotting along.

They were not alone in their journey. A goodly portion of the town worked for Miss Jubilee, which meant a lot of them went in to work at the same time. Ponies nodded and shouted brief words of well wishes along the way. "Mornin'.", "Howdy.", and other such statements as they spotted coworkers they knew.

"Who's that?" A stallion walking in the same direction as Summer was looking aside at Summer and her companion.

Summer put on her brightest smile. "This here's Winter Flame." She waggled a hoof briefly as she trotted along. "He's a kirin, and..." Should she hide it? She shook her head firmly. "He's mah boyfriend."

The stallion colored, ears dipping a moment. Though Summer seemed unaware of it, Winter noticed placidly. Did that stallion have feelings for Summer? Feelings that were officially crushed by news of her getting a boyfriend.

"O-oh... Never... saw... them before." It clicked. "You said 'he'?"

"Boyfriends tend to be hes," dryly noted Summer with a smile. "And he is one of those. Now say hi and be nice. He's joinin' us at the factory."

"Howdy?" He offered a hoof as he came in close to the kirin.

Winter raised a hoof to meet with the stallions.

"He don't say much, do he?" The stallion inclined his head as he separated back out to the other side of Summer.

"He don't," she agreed with a laugh. "He talks in other ways, and he'll work hard. He messes up, jus' tell 'em nice and calm and he'll get better."

Winter suddenly accelerated. "Uh, see you later!" Summer hurried to catch up with her kirin, finding what had made him advance. There was Jubilee in front of the factory.

Jubilee saw them right about then. "One of my new children." She nodded at Winter softly. "Been thinkin' of where to put ya. Now, ah'll spare ya the story, but sorting's strictly off limits to new faces since... the incident." That group of five knew what they did! "How are you at pickin'?" She pointed up at his curved horn. "Ya got that right fancy horn there. Bet you could pick cherries real good with a little practice."

When he nodded, she clapped him on the shoulder. "Perfect. Welcome to Cherry Hill Ranch. Yer allowed one cherry a shift, but the rest is fer the customers." She inclined her head. "Ah give breaks and lunch, so ya can go get somethin' proper to eat." Her eyes darted to Summer, standing there next to Winter. "Summer, you know the ins and outs of cherry harvestin'. Why not show your beau the ropes?"

"With pleasure, ma'am." She grabbed him by the shoulder, nipping him as she pulled him in a new direction. "This way." She got to trotting away from her boss. "The biggest trick of it is learnin' how to tell when they're ripe, and that changes with the kind of cherry." He inclined his head. "Ah'll teach you about the different kinds, but we'll start with the basics."

Jubilee watched as they trotted off together with a pleased smile before she returned to welcoming her workers to a new day of cherry production. A fine day for bringing cherries to the ponies of Equestria!

A soft horn blew out from the direction of the factory, but Winter wasn't there. He was off in the fields, willing cherries to come free of their trees with his glowing horn. But what that horn meant, he didn't know. Looking around, he didn't see Summer. She had wandered off to other trees in equal need of plucking.

Nothing for it but to look for her, so he set the last of his harvested cherries into the container, closed it, hefted it up into the air and trotted along with it floating alongside him.

It was a pity when it thumped into him and cherries were sent flying. That was rude. But he wasn't angry. Anger was not a proper response for a kirin. He was calm. He was steady.

"Ya think ya can just storm on in here and take our mares?!" Oh, it was the stallion from before. Winter inclined his head faintly as his glowing horn began to grab up the spilled cherries. Each one floated briefly before Winter's eye, placing the ones that avoided bruising back in his basket, the others remained on the ground, wasted.

"Don't got nothin' to say?!" He took a firm step closer, glaring at Winter.

Winter did not get angry. Anger was not a kirin thing. He watched the stallion placidly.

"Ah was gonna ask her!" He thumped a hoof to the ground. "She was gonna be mine!" Down came the other hoof. "And you jus' come in outta nowhere, like that?!" He was dancing in place, a tantrum of emotions. "We been workmates fer years!"

That stallion was clearly having a lot of emotions. If only he was a kirin. It'd be so much calmer. Winter nodded slowly, then pointed at the factory.

"What?" The stallion's eyes fell to the re-sorted basket. "You think that's more important than me?!"

"'Cause it is." Summer had arrived, standing a short distance behind the stallion. "Why are you botherin' Winter? He's tryin' to work, unlike some ponies around here."

The stallion twirled on her. "There you are! You never gave me a chance!"

"Slip Knot, we've known each other, what, a dozen years now?" She raised a brow at him. Half an eye was on Winter, walking away silently. She relaxed, knowing he had removed himself from the conflict. "And how many times in all them years didja even ask to spend Hearts and Hooves day togetha?"

Slip took an angry step forward, dust kicking up. "Ah was waiting fer the right moment!"

"Slip... Ya wait long enough, and the right moment done passed." Summer glanced away and back. "If ya care about me, ah'm real happy. Go find another mare ya fancy, and tell her about it."

"But he!" He pointed where there was no kirin. "What?" Baffled, he crashed to his haunches. "Bright Blossoms." That was a name she hadn't heard in a while. "Yer a big part of mah life."

"Slip, we're coworkers," she noted, perhaps coldly. "We hung out maybe at company functions an' whatnot. Ya never made it seem like ya even wanted more than that."

"Ah..."

"You were thinkin' it, but never acted on it. Don't get me wrong." She half turned away. "Ah get it... Feel sorry, but ah been snatched up while you were thinkin' 'bout it."

Slip sank in building misery. "They ain't even a pony!"

Summer's caring look turned to a sharp frown almost instantly. "Yeah?"

"He's some other creature!" He bounced upright, hooves dancing a bit in a scuffle. "Don't you want a normal pony?"

"Winter is a darling creature. He's my creature, and ah'm his pony. So ah'll thank you not to be badmouthin' him when he ain't done not a thin' wrong!"

Slip shrank back a step before he advanced instead, anger building visibly. "Is he forcing you?!"

That was when the laughter began, long and unstoppable. She crashed to her haunches, the laughter rolling free without end.

"What? What! Is that a yes?!" He inclined his head at the hysterical mare. "I'll save you!"

"If anypony forced anypony else," she finally got out, laboring to control her breath. "Ah done forced him. But he forgave me, and ah owe him so much ah can't even put it t'words right. Did he force me? Winter's been dancing my song since we met, and now I feel horrible. Thanks." She stood up on shaky legs. "But that ain't here or there. We..." She wobbled a hoof between herself and Slip Knot. "We got nothin'. We're friends, but yer workin' on losin' even that. We gonna be friends or is this where I just say g'bye?"

A little whimper escaped him as he shrank back and away. "I'm... sorry..."

"Then show it by goin' back to that stallion ah like workin' with." Summer snorted softly. "And don't pick on my boyfriend! He ain't hurt a fly, and he'd feel bad if he did it on accident."

"Something going on?" It could only go so long before Jubilee detected the disharmony in her orchard. Her eyes looked between the two, taking measure. "Is this company business?"

"No, ma'am!" barked Slip, saluting their boss. "I was just checkin' if I could help train the new stallion."

Jubilee smiled broadly. "Now that's the family spirit!" Her eyes flicked to Summer. "Ah know you're keeping your boy nice and tight. If you want to, let a family member lend a hoof. It'll be good fer him to learn to work with more ponies anywho."

Summer flicked her ears back. "Ah'll... consider it. Slip here's a classic stallion, no offense. My boy's a bit... soft. Ah think maybe that's a bad match?"

"Not many mares admit their stallion's soft," noted Jubilee, sounding amused. "Still, ya got a point. Right passive creature he is; needs a soft touch." She nodded with growing understanding. "Any objection to Lambert?"

Her ears pricked right up. "Lambert's a sweet little stallion. That's perfect." Summer clopped her hooves together once, a smile on her face. "If he don't mind none that is. Ah ain't trying to impose and ah know he's tryin' to work too."

"If ah tell him to do it, then it's work." Jubilee waved the concern away. "Besides, he's a sweet pony, don't reckon he'll have any objections to it."

Slip Knot took a slow shaky step back. "Ah... better get back to work."

"Good idea." Jubilee watched him until he was out of sight, then turned to face Summer. "Might glad he stopped that before I had to bring a hoof down."

Summer's cheeks lit up. "You heard?!"

"Honey, knowing what's going on out here is my job." Jubilee buffed her chest proudly. "If he talks to anypony else like that ever again..."

"Don't punish him!" She blushed at her outburst. "Ah mean, he's just hurtin', you know? He'll get over it, but don't hold it against him. He ain't done nothin', in the end."

"I'll take that under advisement. But, daughter mine, this here's my orchard. I decide who gets their bottom tanned." Jubilee tossed her mane with a triumphant turn, striding off to tend to other business.

Author's Note

Jubilee is quite the mother bee. Stay on her good side and she will give all the love. On the other hoof...

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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