"Time to rise and shine," half-sang Summer as she wrenched the curtains open wide with a swipe of her hooves in either direction.

Light flooding the room, Winter snorted awake, blinking as he sat up. The light implied it not only time to wake up, but perhaps late for doing so. He pointed to that closed window.

"Yer not late." Summer turned towards him with a clop of her hooves on the wood floor. "It's a day off, best day." She butted her head against him on her way past. "Breakfast is already prepped, let you get some extra Zs."

He scrambled to his hooves, his usual pattern, destroyed! Winter emerged from the room to quickly walk, not quite a trot, to the kitchen and peek inside. Yep, several oat cakes still steaming and a few hay bacon strips across them and a serving of eggs. It smelled good.

Not quite what he was used to that combination being. He frowned a bit, digging back for that, yeah. The eggs were the same, but the bacon and the oat and hay were off. Were ponies herbivores? Putting that thought aside, he accelerated to a proper trot to hop up onto his seat. With a glowing horn, he began to eat, and his complaints died as silently as they had lived. It was a good breakfast.

"The factory's closed," explained Summer as she bustled past to do something in the house. "We're all off. Means there'll be plenty of us worker ponies about the town, doin' things. Shoppin', chores, or jus' havin' fun. Ah'm hopin' we can do that last one." Her head poked back in. "Now that yer a known thin', there's no reason to hide you no more."

He considered that as a hay bacon strip slowly vanished into his face one nibble at a time. He didn't even have to hold it in his magic, drawing it in with his teeth and lips, chomping along its length until it was gone. Perfectly crisp, just not made of pig. A bright sparkling question mark appeared over his head.

"That's a surprise." Summer cantered in place with a grin. "Gonna show you off now that ah can, and we'll have a good time, together."

Winter slid down to his hooves with a nod. He brushed against her on his way past, ready to trust her to make the day interesting. "That's the spirit!" She charged ahead, grabbing the door knob in her teeth and with a twist, she had it open.

They emerged from their home, though Winter was glancing back at the house with a little faint frown.

But not too faint for Summer to notice. "What?" But Winter just shook his head. "Well forget it. Time to hit the town, paint it red or what not." She nodded firmly as she proceeded towards the main thoroughfare of the town.

Winter caught up easily. As promised, there were plenty of ponies about. A day off at Jubilee's put a lot of ponies out and about, enjoying that leisure time. There were other ponies working even harder than usual. Barbers were snipping beards and manes. Eateries were wide open for business. The town was alive with activity.

"You keep out of trouble." Oh, the sheriff, giving Winter a pointed look.

Winter circled wide around the angry stallion to return to Summer's side. "Don't mind him none," she assured as they went. "Heard he got yelled at by Miss Jubilee, put anypony on edge that. Now, fer our first stop..." She turned slowly in place.

While she was doing that, Winter felt a tugging. Looking off, then down, he spotted it. Foals were fascinated with him, clearly. There stood a filly with a big wide brim hat and an even larger grin. "Hey there!" She bounced around him in a circle. "Yer funny lookin'. That thing work?" She pointed at his horn.

Every child, much the same questions. Still, he couldn't bring himself to be mad at the little excited girl. He nodded and wrapped the magic around her, giving the gentlest tug. "Are ya gonna pick me up?" She bounced all the higher, hooves pedaling. "I wanna see that!"

That was permission. He turned the tug into a gentle draw, pulling her free from the ground in the field of his magic. She squealed and cheered as he swooped her around like an energetic aircraft. He could see her father, he assume it was her father. A stallion was watching with a mixture of concern and amusement. Still, good. A foal shouldn't be wandering off willy nilly.

Still, with them there, Winter kept his play gentler than he might have been tempted to otherwise. He set her to the ground and patted her hatted head. "Thanks miss!" She scurried away.

"Ya ain't that girly," huffed Summer defensively. "Good on you. That went way better than last time." She planted a smooch on his closer cheek. "Keep that up and everypony'll get used to ya real quick."

"Summer! Winter!" There was Maple, galloping down the street towards them. "Come see!" And she looped right back around, trusting in them to follow.

Fortunately for her, that is exactly what they did. They went up the street a short distance before turning off the main path towards a smaller orchard. There were no cherries, or any fruits in sight. "Behold," sang out Maple with a sweep of her left hoof. "This here's mah orchard, where ah make the magic happen."

Summer snorted softly. "I done seen it before, Maple."

"But he hasn't." She pointed the same hoof at Winter. "Everythin's new to him."

Winter had seen a maple before, he could remember. He used to have to rake them, when he was a kid... Boy, raking them would be a lot easier with his horn, just...

"Ya alright?" Maple was watching Winter's thoughts drift away.

Winter bobbed his head at her and closed, touching his nose to her cheek.

That got a grin out of Maple. "That's more like it. Missed you too." She touched nose to nose, then turned rapidly, pointing at a spigot over a bucket. "See right there? Ah'm gettin' some tasty sap." She tapped at that bucket. "Go on, grab a little with that fancy magic ah yers."

Winter considered this challenge before he gathered his power into a little scoop, a magical spoon to get a little portion of the thick syrup. As it floated into the air, Maple began to giggle. "Now, raw syrup's fine right on its own. Ya can do thin's with it, make it into sugar, or taffy, filter it to try and get all the sediment out, all kindsa things, but even just as it is, maple syrup is great! Try it."

And into his mouth it went, snapping his jaws and lips down to seal it before he released the magic. Which allowed the syrup to suddenly explode in his mouth, landing right on his tongue and spreading about with no effort on his part, which meant he was getting a mouth full of maple! Overwhelming sweetness had him go still a moment, blinking as he worked through it.

"Now ah gotta work." Maple inclined her head at her trees. "But ah just had to wave ya down and say howdy."

"Right nice to see ya." Summer threw a leg over Maple in a gentle hug. "Stop by fer dinner?"

"Love to." Maple's eyes were on Winter. "Ya alright?"

With a few swallows, the flavor ebbed to a more easily tolerated level. He nodded at Maple gently. "Good!" She slipped free of Summer. "Now, go on. Have fun." She waved them away, apparently done with them.

"Yer somethin' else." Summer led Winter back towards the main road. "Still, good ta see her."

Winter nodded in simple agreement. The pun came to his mind; Maple was sweet. It was, perhaps, for the best that he would not speak it aloud. Only he would know of his sin.

"Ya ever have a carrot dog?" Summer pointed at a stand where several such dogs were slowly turning over an open flame. "Ah'm sure ya had a carrot before, but that ain't nothing on this."

Winter was soon holding a carrot, roasted, in a bun with all the toppings one might put on a hotdog and a few extras he wasn't even sure what they were. Still, Summer was devouring hers, so he decided to give it a go. With a big chomp, flavors familiar and new swirled about. It was a day of tastes, but it was a good taste. "Knew you'd like it." She was watching him make the carrot dog vanish. "Ya know what's perfect after a dog?"

Apparently, it was dancing. Winter led him towards a loud source of music. There were ponies skipping and jumping and shuffling about. Some were in pairs, twirling and capering with one another. Which is exactly what Summer aimed to do with Winter. She hooked an arm around one of his, drawing him upright and starting to move with the music. "If yer new to this, jus' follow me. Ah'll be gentle."

Winter did not have many memories of dancing, but not none. Move with the music, move with your partner... yes, he was getting into the pattern with her as they danced, at first on two legs. "Yer real good at this." She fell back to fours. "Lesee how ya do down here." The dance proceeded on all fours, forward one two, hoof out, hoof in, turn around and back a step.

He was following not only her but the ponies around them, all moving with the music with hoots and cheers. He did not join in those noises, of course, but he was moving with them, the faintest smile on his face. Dancing was fun. Who he was dancing with made it even better.

As ponies began to rise, he advanced on her. Instead of letting her stand up on her own, he scooped her up, his magic assisting as they both rose, her in his affectional grip. "Oh!" She was blushing, but not objecting as they danced the next part close together, pressing.

Whistles came from the crowd, some noticing the dancing that was closer than required by a few steps. Some of the other partners were egged on by the display to come in closer. The music slowed to accommodate things, turning into more of a romantic slow beat for couples, just like them.

The dancing floor thinned a little, with just the romantic duos taking up the space. Eyes were upon them, cheers and whistles encouraging their dances. Well, except that one mare. She was dancing alone, but she didn't seem to care or mind, just rocking out to the music in complete obliviousness to the changed mood of things.

Summer rested her chin on Winter's shoulder, holding him with her folded arms with the gentle clops of her hooves against the firm packed ground beneath them. They were a thing, and they were announcing it pretty loudly to the town. She nipped his ear, making it flicker just a little, but the calls grew in intensity. A signal. She was making it very obvious who her special somepony was, even if they weren't a pony.

Winter wrapped her in his magic like a warm blanket, supporting her as he began a twirl that had her bending over backwards, then around to his other arm in a feat that would have required quite a bit more dancing practice if not for cheating.

Summer burst into merry laughter. "Warn a girl before you do that." She brushed her nose against his, clearly not that upset about the whole thing. "Smooth mover..."

The song was reaching a climax. Winter could see some of the other couples were going in. He took the cue, leaning forwards. He bumped against her faster than he expected. She had taken the cue too. They met, lips colliding, breath shared as they forgot everything but each other for a moment.

It was a good day off.

Author's Note

In this episode, adorableness. Who said there'd be so much innocent romantics in this clopfic? Sheesh...

Written for a loyal patron. Want to get early chapters, or even your own story written? atreon!

Join my discord to chat!