"You look happy." Lambert couldn't nail down the specifics, but he had a good idea the kirin was pleased about something. "Ready to work?"

And so it began with a little nod from Winter. He learned all about tree care that day, from knowing when a tree needed pruning, to signs of various ailments and what to do about it. In many cases, that involved finding a more specialized pony. Treating a sick cherry tree was important, and not simple.

"Ah know how to do it." Winter looked over at Lambert. "How to treat some tree sicks, ah meant." Lambert circled around Winter, heading deeper into the orchard. "Been workin' here fer years, ya pick up a thin' or two if yer payin' attention."

Winter caught up with Lambert easily, walking alongside him.

"Ah like this."

Winter perked an ear at the statement.

"Ah mean... yer quiet."

Winter nodded, not much argument to be had against that.

"Most ponies talk over me, and I'm the quiet one. Around you, ah can talk, and ya don't seem to mind it none." And he went right back on to how to pick the most perfect cherries. "And those ya leave alone." He pointed to a collection of them. "It's a subtle thing, see right there?" He reached up and tapped lightly. "But they ain't ready to pick."

"Boys." There came Jubilee. "Hope yer gettin' alon'." Not that she seemed all that worried. Eyes on Winter, she approached without deviation. "Inspected yer day one harvest."

Lambert backed away without a word, giving the boss horse her space.

"Well within limits." She wobbled a hoof in the air. "Not perfect, but that ain't the goal nohow." She leaned in a bit. "You look a bit upset, ha, gettin' better at reading that stony face ah yers. Still, knock that right outta yer head." She motioned as if she were going to bop Winter, but there was no actual contact. "Yer not perfect, and it was your first day." She turned to Lambert then. "See Lambert here's been working it for years now. If I saw that harvest from him, ah'd wonder what was wrong. Practice. Ain't no cure for practice. Ya done fine."

Lambert dipped his head. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Yer quite welcome." She leaned in towards Winter. "He teachin' ya right?" Winter nodded silently. "Good! You'll get better. Already half decent, why ah'm happy. Just fine fer yer first day." She reached up, tapping at Winter's ornate horn. "Do like that you kin reach up into the top parts of the trees without knocking the wrong cherries down or tryin' to climb up."

Lambert canted his head to the left a little. He did not have a horn, or wings, just a pony that one.

"But don't let that get to yer head," scolded Jubilee. "Ya still got a long way to go to learnin' 'xactly what to pick and when. Keep listening to Lammie-kins. He won't steer ya wrong." And she trotted off just like that off to other things on her plate.

Winter turned to find Lambert close! Too close! Their snouts brushed when he turned, causing him to blink, ears flicking wildly in a surprised moment before he regained his calmness.

"Ain't jealous," he started, still so close Winter could smell his breath. "Really. Actually kinda tickled, workin' with a kirin."

Winter inclined his head.

"That's what ya are, right?" Winter nodded. "What ah remembered." Lambert tapped at the side of his head, looking confidently proud of that fact. "Ya hooked up wit' Summer, right?" Winter calmly nodded along, though he did wonder if he was about to meet a second jealous stallion.

"I'm jealous." Well, he admitted it. "Yer so fun to hang around." Wait... "Ah like the cut of ya too." Wait...

Winter shook his head softly, but could not voice a more specific question.

"Sorry, not tryin' ta make ya 'barrased." He turned away at last, removing his face from being so close. "Ain't proper of me, sorry. Jus' not used to... bein' able to talk. Really nice."

Winter resumed following him, the conversation turning back towards things cherry related.

When the lunch whistle rang, Summer found him in a jiff. "Let's get somethin' ta eat." She thumped against his side and they walked off, pressed against one another. Still in the honeymoon phase of things, Winter silently hoped that never ended.

"Ya havin' a good time? Good." He had barely nodded, but she was getting so used to him. "Lambert treating you right?" Which also meant she spotted when he didn't nod fast enough. "What'd he do? Want me to have a talk?" He shook his head quickly.

She circled in front of him. "Ya just tryin' to be nice?"

Winter considered that a moment, his horn starting to glow. He conjured a male symbol over his head, hovering with a little bob in its bright blue tint. Did ponies share that symbol?

"Yes, I know yer a stallion." She rolled her eyes softly. "Ain't a mystery to me."

Ah, good. He willed the symbol aside a little, then wrapped a big heart around it, and an arrow show through it, well, the image of an arrow shot through it, pointing at himself.

Her eyes widened a bit. "Oh! Oh... He... does know yer a stallion, right?"

Winter nodded, fairly certain this fact was not a mystery to Lambert.

"Ya sure ya don't want me to have a little chat?"

Winter leaned in, touching nose to nose in a little rub.

"Alright," she sighed out, her breath washing over him. "If yer not too bothered, but if ya are, ya don't wait. Ya come find me and ah'll straighten it right out." She waved the idea away as she turned. "Really, just because yer a slight stallion doesn't mean ya think like a mare." She turned an ear. "Ya done proved that wrong a few times. Yer a stallion! My stallion."

He hurried up and rubbed his side against hers, happy to be her stallion. He threw a leg over her withers, drawing her close; his mare. They shared equally joyful smiles as they went to get a bite to eat at one of several eateries that made their living providing warm food to hungry workers emerging from the factory. The town really was built around Jubilee's cherries.

She bonked her head against his from the side. "She has me workin' in sorting today. Ah wonder if she'll have you try that out soon?"

Soon ended up just being after lunch. Jubilee was waving them both over as they returned. "Ya get to show your boy how it's done." She pointed into the main factory. "Now, there are a few positions. Running the belt--"

"--Not where he'd be best," quickly cut in Summer. "But ah bet he could sort real good."

"Ah thought so too." Jubilee nodded as they pressed inside to actually see the wheel she had mentioned. "But ah prefer mah ponies understand what's goin' on 'round them. Winter, you'll stand right there." She walked over and tapped the floor where other ponies were hurrying to form a line. "If ya see a yellow cherry, it goes there." She pointed at a bin.

"And the red cherries go there." Summer inclined at another bin. "Nice an' simple!"

"That's only half the game." Jubilee was watching Summer. Judging.

"'Course. If a cherry ain't no good, it goes in there." She pointed to a far less pretty bin. "Only the good cherries go in the good bins. Now, see, the trick is that the cherries will be rollin' on past ya. So ya gotta be quick on yer hooves."

Winter nodded softly. He knew what a conveyor belt was and how they worked.

A whistle sounded, and a large pony began to march forward on the wheel, getting the rest of the lines moving. The cherries were coming. Not any single cherry, but a batch of them. As they passed the ponies ahead of winter, they sorted as quickly as they could, but more were coming for the pony beyond them to busily sort, filtering down from one to the next.

Winter's horn began to glow as he focused on the red ones that looked right, filtering down to just them. When the cherries began to reach him, he grabbed them and floated them rapidly over to the bin.

Jubilee had not left, watching instead. "Huh..."

Summer couldn't participate, being quite busy sorting what was in front of her with great sweeps of her hooves to shove cherries where they belonged.

"Stop." The whistle blow shrilly at Jubilee's command the belts slowed to a halt. "You, get over here. You, take her place." She swapped the position of the pony at the start of the line with Winter. "Yer only getting the red cherries. Doin' a fine job of it, don't get me wrong, but..." She tapped the line ahead of Winter. "We can make it work better here. You get rid of all the red ones. That leaves yellows and duds for the others ta work with."

And so it was that Winter focused entirely on the red cherries, the big nice lovely red ones. If it wasn't bright red and perfect, he left it alone for other ponies past him to deal with. But he brushed all the good ones with his magic, filling the red cherry bin with barely a sound, his magic not releasing any given cherry until it was already landed.

As opposed to the others who had to shove the cherries with their hooves, sending them skidding and falling into their proper bins.

"Shoot." Jubilee shook her head, faced with a new problem. That darn magic pony could be useful in two places, but there was only one of him. She'd have to decide if picking or sorting was where she wanted to make use of that talent. "Need to see about encouragin' 'em," she grumbled as she stormed off to see to other affairs.

A hoof suddenly blocked one of the cherries Winter as moving. "Not that one." The pony to his left, a mare, shoved it towards the trash. "No good."

Winter nodded softly, resuming his work. He wasn't entirely sure what he had missed, but he still had tricks to learn. Perfect, he was far from being.

"Oh." There was Lambert, having found Winter. "Ya doin' right good."

"We're busy, Lammie," noted Summer, working a line up from Winter. "What're you assigned to?"

"Ah thought I was assigned to him." Lambert pointed at Winter. "But if he's busy here, guess ah'll find somethin' else?"

"He right appreciates the tips you gave," assured Summer with a brief tip of her hat, having to get right back to sorting quickly. "But the belts don't stop. Ya know that."

Well, unless Jubilee demanded it, at least. "Right right. Ah'm gittin'!" And off he got, trotting towards some other task that was in need of doing. Only to pause a few steps in and loop about, going across the line from Winter. Summer was giving him half a glare, trying to focus on her cherries. Winter was focused on his work and little else.

"Ya gotta look fer these." Lambert plucked a cherry free of Winter's magic grip, turning it carefully between his hooves. "It hit the ground or somethin', got a bruise, right there."

Winter had missed it. A faint discoloration in just a little spot. He began to twirl each cherry before it got whisked away, giving a chance to look for future such imperfections. "There ya go." Lambert seemed mighty proud of his help. "Yer a natural."

Summer inclined her head faintly. That wasn't as jealous as she expected. But there were other emotions on the field she'd have to be wary of. For the time being, she had work to do, as did Winter, so she focused on that. They had jobs, respectable jobs! Jubilee wouldn't regret having either around.

Author's Note

Turns out, effeminate girly guys are actually just what some other guys are into.

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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