Summer awoke with wide eyes, heaving chest and twitching ears.

Winter stirred from what had been a perfectly pleasant sleep. He did not seem angry, instead watching her quietly.

Summer set a hoof on his shoulders. "Ah..."

Winter pulled her closer as he shuffled in, soon holding her warmly, as if to assure her that no words were needed. A bad dream? He would help by just being himself, and caring about her.

"Yer the best." She smooched his cheek, but also pushed him back a little. "But this... This may be... really important." She rubbed at her cheek, where she had been kissed. "Fer both of us. Ah... Ah had a name dream."

Winter looked at her placidly. That sure sounded important, but...

"Do ya not know what that is?" He shook his head. "Every mare has one before a little foal comes to them. It's why ponies tend to have right good names. I saw a little colt. He was..." A tear ran down her face. "He was precious..." She twisted suddenly to look at her own midsection. "And he's inside there?"

It seemed to be dawning on her even as she worked through it. "Ya done put a foal in me!"

Winter started to work through that from his side. It wasn't as if the male part of that equation was without thought and feelings. He would become a father? He squeaked.

Summer's ears twitched. "Did you just make a sound?" Compared to his usual silence... "Was that... like a shout?"

Winter was blushing badly, as if embarrassed at his incredibly soft outburst. He reached for her.

She reached back, the two soon meeting in a warm hug. "We... have done things that make foals, suppose... we aught not be that surprised." He was pawing at her snout. "What?" But it clicked. "Oh! The name! Right! Morning Fire."

Winter pointed at himself emphatically.

"What?" She frowned with thought as he kept pointing. "Ya silly kirin, it's not... Oh... Oh! Oh..." She looked back at her belly, still nice and trim and not showing at all. "Ya done put a kirin in that oven, didn't ya?!"

And in he came, nosing at her belly. He could imagine the little smiling kirin colt. Already he felt love. He would do his best, as a father, and... He sat up and pointed at himself, then Summer. A series of wedding bells appeared over his head, donging melodically.

It was a shame ponies didn't have the same strong tradition of wedding bells. "Not catchin' yer meanin' there... Ah mean, yeah, we're gonna be..." She swallowed with a suddenly thick tongue. "Parents..."

A knock came from the front door. "Who is it?!" snapped Summer, only to blush right after. "Sorry."

"Somethin' happen?" Maple had her nose in the door, not even in sight of their bed. "That didn't sound like the usual mornin' Summer."

Nopony told her not to, so she came further inside, the door kicked shut behind her. "Y'all alright?"

Winter hopped down from the bed, shaking himself out before advancing to run into her.

What he did not expect was her to gasp and back up so quickly she thumped her rump on the door she had just come in through. "Yer showin'," she warned, pointing a hoof at the problem.

Winter looked down at an angle and, yep, there it was, just dangling there, mostly rigid. The news of impending parenthood had, apparently, stirred something in him and given him quite the flagpole to show off to the world. Embarrassment threatened to creep up, but he fought it off. He was a kirin, calm and collected. Maple was a friend, a good one. Surprised, but not appalled. He waved her forward.

"Ya... sure?"

"What's all the fuss--Oh!" Summer emerged to see the twitching source of the issue. "Be careful with that." She pointed at it. "It's loaded. Already got me."

"Already..." One could almost see the gears turning in her head. "Ya don't mean?!"

"Ah do. Had a namin' dream."

Maple began to dance in place, her eyes wide. "Congratulations! Oh wow! We gotta... We..." She hurried forward, forgetting Winter's state to give Summer a great big hug. "Ah'm here for ya!"

Winter's nose danced softly. Something... Something smelled good. He followed that scent right to Maple's bottom.

She squealed, swatting Winter on the nose, a brush of her soft hair. "Ya goin' fer two? Cut that out."

Chastised, he backed away and sat down.

Summer rubbed at her cheek, looking more thoughtful. "Ah... Ah'm gonna make breakfast." And she wandered off, looking perhaps a bit fuzzy in her thoughts.

Maple looked ready to follow her, but almost ran into Winter, sitting there, looking... well, lewd. "Are ya that..." She meant to point at it, but in her hurry, she ended up touching the thing, and it twitched in reply, as if pleased by her presence. Her cheeks went bright red. "Sorry! Put that away!"

But putting it away was still a trick he was... fair to middlin' at. He just watched her calmly.

"Now I understand." She nodded at him. "Miss Jubilee don't seem so odd all of a sudden..." Her nose flared, nostrils puffing as she took in his scent. For all his female-like appearance, his musk was powerfully male, especially with that tool just wafting in the breeze. "Summer?"

"Yeah?" came her voice, unseen from the kitchen. "Breakfast'll be ready in not too long."

"Ah think... Winter really wants to... play... But this is yer house."

"Play?" Her head poked free of the kitchen. From her vantage point, she could only see his seated back, and Maple's face. "Ain't gonna stop ya from havin' fun." She waved it off on her way back to cooking.

With permission given, Winter plucked up Maple in his magic and casually carried her into the bedroom he had never made it far from that day.

Maple barely got out a squeak. It was happening. She was being overwhelmed by Winter, just as she said would happen. Just as she had warned! Just as... she had wanted. Her tail twitched as she looked around. Summer's room was not a place she visited often, but there were more immediate things to think about, vying for her attention.

Winter was upon her, nipping at her ears one by one, his cloven hooves brushing at her sides. Her tail lifted, excitement growing. He was on her, nuzzling into the back of her neck with slow nips through her fur, tugging lightly as he got into position. He could feel her fluttering nethers, winking, ready.

She was being dominated, swept away, but it was exactly what she had wanted. Did he remember? She couldn't tell. He was not a stallion of many words, and, in that moment, she was alright with that. She felt him moving over her, his weight pressing down even as that pillar began to slide into her, brushing against parts of her that did not often get that kind of attention.

Maple shuddered, arching her back and fluttering around the intruder. "Ya brute," she murmured, no fangs in the statement. But it stopped. Did he believe her? "Ya thoughtful thing." She nuzzled at his right leg, brushing her nose against the warm fur.

But he wasn't moving.

"Yer gonna make me say it." He did not respond. She danced under him, partially impaled, but denied the satisfaction of completion. "Do it! Make me a mare!"

His ears pricked. He was her first? He wrapped an arm around her, cradling her as his horn glowed, adjusting things with little movements before he pressed forward. The movement began, but it was no wild rutting as she imagined. Instead he was smoothly pistoning against her, in to the hit, rubbing, then withdrawing to about halfway, pausing, then right back in.

It was... good. But... "Ya can go faster." She tickled his belly with her thrashing tail. "Go on. Ah ain't made ah paper or nothin'."

He angled forward and bit her, his teeth capturing the ruff of her neck firmly, even if it meant getting a mouth full of mane in the process. Her encouragements faded, only to return in less articulate but all the more impassioned grunts and whickers. He was no longer pausing, working against her like a well tuned machine.

"Breakfast's ready!" came a call.

She shoved back against him, clearly willing to wait on breakfast. He pressed back against her, and it was over, twitching and pulsing as he filled her with his vital essence. Winter released her mane, replacing teeth with gently licking tongue and soft nuzzles.

Maple burst into soft giggles. "Ya done did it, claimed me." She wriggled her backside under him. "Guess ah'm yers now."

"Fellas?" Summer's hooves could be heard approaching.

Winter drew free of Maple, already softened and withdrawing. Despite that, he was still on top of her, hugging her. He wouldn't just breed and bail on her. A fact Maple seemed entirely alright with, enjoying the company and snuggles. "We're in here," she called, realizing the position she was in only after the fact. She made to leap away, but Winter had her securely.

He was being cuddly and delightful and Summer was coming. Winter folded her ears back and braced herself.

Summer poked her nose in just as she came around the corner. "What's ta..." She trailed that off as she absorbed what she was seeing. "Winter!"

That got him to release Maple, looking to Summer placidly.

"What're you doin'?"

"Ah can explain!" Maple scrambled to her hooves. Summer was just raising a brow at her, daring her. "Mebbe... Alright, look... He... An' I... Are we--" She gestured at herself, Summer, then Winter. "Are we a thin'? Or... did I jus' mess up super bad?"

Summer stepped up to bop Maple on the snout. "That is a question ta ask before ah find ya in the state yer in right now." She twisted to look at Winter. "That goes fer you too! Yer expectin' a foal, consarnit! Ya want two? This is how ya get two. Bet ya don't even know how to deal wit' one!"

Winter stepped up to Summer, leaning forward to press his nose to hers. But she wasn't having it, dancing away. "Don't you think you can play the 'Love me because ah'm cute!' routine on me. Now, look... We didn't set no real good boundaries. I'll take some blame for that." She turned back to Maple, heaving a slow sigh. "Look, even if we were a thin', this is just bad plannin'! Ah got one in here. If we're lucky, or unlucky, you may too. I should not be the only one this bothers!"

Maple's ears were folded back against her head tightly. "Ah'm really sorry. Ah'll do mah best, promise. If ah have to miss days to help ya, ah will!"

Summer poked Maple in the chest. "And if you have the same problem?"

"Then we'll get fat, together-like." She pointed at Winter. "And ah'm gonna guess he'll love on us all the while."

Summer applied a hoof to her face. "Bet he would. Ideal-like, you'd be takin' care of me and he'd go to work and earn some bits to keep this... going... This is just terrible herd management!"

Maple smiled so wide her cheeks squeaked with the effort. "We're a herd?"

Summer scowled at Maple. "We're either a stupid herd, or ah'm a mare that done just got cheated on. That's the choice ah got. Ah'd rather not... Look, breakfast's ready." She pointed the way and began moving. "If ya two can stop messin' around long enough to enjoy what I made for ya."

The two followed Summer to the kitchen. Winter didn't go for his chair, instead hanging near Summer, sitting as her side on the kitchen floor.

"Ah know ya don't want me to feel bad." She set a hoof on his head. "Let this be a lesson for... this." She waggled a hoof over all three of them. "We gotta set rules. But first, breakfast. Eat."

There would be time to discuss, afterwards.

Author's Note

Things escalate, in and out of the bedroom. Say hello to Morning Fire! Still a work in progress.

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