This is Ranchtown

There sat Ember Wing in his chair near the table. His birthday had come around for the seventh time and he sat across from a room full of his friends and family. Almost all of them had showed up by the time they pulled out a fairly sized cake and put it down in front of him as they all terribly sang happy birthday. Ember wasn’t the biggest fan of sitting at the table as they approached, but he decided to play along. He blew out the candles as soon as they finished and there was a small cheer from all of them. By this time, singing the song was growing rather awkward.

“Did you make a wish?” Letty asked Ember as he was already starting to carefully pick the slightly melted candles out of the cake and putting them on a tiny plate off to his side.

“Yes, but I’m not telling anyone.” He said as he watched Jasmine start to cut the cake, while the smaller kitten sat at the table and waited for a plate to come to her. “Mila, where is she?”

“I don’t know. I’m not her babysitter.” Mila said as a cake plate headed toward her, but was picked up by Pearl. “Hey!” She gave a sneer off toward the pink pony as she jokingly held it out of her reach, but eventually handed it to the kitten, who thanked her.

“Is she still skating at the pond? She said she wanted to go skiing tonight too.” Prisma said as she also sat at the table next to three young bat ponies. All of them watched as Grem reached for the next batch behind them.

“Does Blue Raspberry want one too?” Grem asked as the smaller filly at the end of the table bounced up and down on her seat, squealing at the hope for cake.The small, light blue filly with a white mane smiled and thanked the gray bat pony.
“What is with her and skating?” Ember asked as he dug into his piece of cake.

“Yeah, I can’t imagine where she got that.” Winter said as he headed into the dining room with the lot of them. He looked over toward Twin’s mother, who stood near the entrance of the kitchen with most of the adults who looked inside the kid’s table room. She stuck her tongue out at him as Spark walked up behind her. There were two large tables set up just for the kids. All of them sat around the pieces of blue, white and red cake with a bit of eccentric enthusiasm.

“So, Ember, if I gave you, say, a video game,” Electric Spark said as he leaned against the entrance. “Which was the one you actually wanted?”

“Frost Armor on the original Gauntlet system?” Fable interrupted Ember before he could answer, much to his annoyance. The fact that Frost Armor on its original system was notoriously hard to find and even harder to find at anything of a good price. He had it ported to three other systems but there was just something about the original.

“Hahaha--no! Dad!” Ember scowled at his father as he finished another piece of cake. The red pony scratched the back of his head. Letty giggled a little bit as she zoomed in on his adorable angry face.

“Happy Kitty Time!” The smaller kitten said.

“No! That game is dumb!” Blue Raspberry said. The small pegasus said as she started playing with the cat’s whiskers on the side of her face as Mila batted it away.

“Honey,” Spark said as he looked at Blue and she blushed as she faced forward. “Let’s be nice.”

“Okay, Daddy.” Blue said as she got bashful with her hands on her lap and her wings drawn in.

“It’s Gravestone Valley III for the Neptune.” Dusk, the bat pony of the triplets grinned over at Ember. The orange birthday pegasus grinned at him with a fistbump. Then it hit him that he was not only being watched by his mother but she was also recording the whole thing. He gave a nervous grin and chortle. Letty furrowed her brow at her son.

“No, Dusk! Of course not, I’m far too young to get Gravestone! I’ve wanted Armored Berserkers! That’s far more kid friendl-”

“You got him Gravestone, didn’t you?” Letty shouted at Spark as she pointed her camera toward him, making his eyes widen and his lips purse. His face was confessing enough and she scowled even harder at him. “I will get your daughter clown horror!”

“What? He said he wanted Gravestone Valley 3!” Spark looked to Winter, then Fable who both shrugged. Then he looked at Grem, who held up a game sized present in her hand.

“Aw, man, you too?” Grem frowned with great disappointment. “We should have coordinated.”

This was quickly laughed off as the party went on and Ember accepted his gifts with appreciation. He played a few games with the other kids and they ate pizza while they sat on the couch and the floor of the living room. While four of them played, the others watched. As Ember handed off the controller to Vera, the blonde bat pony took it with a grin. She began to play and Ember looked around the room to notice an absence he’d felt since the party began.

It took the party a little while to realize that Ember had left. To them, he had just disappeared from his seat. He was already in his cold gear: a yellow scarf with a brown coat and a red beanie. He didn’t really care about matching at that point. What he cared about was his destination, and the ice cold wind blasting against his cheek as he tread the snow with his hands in his pockets. He’d lost one of his gloves and hadn’t gotten a new pair yet.

He walked down four blocks, eventually coming to the park that was housed around a frozen pond. When she wasn’t skiing the hills, she was doing her skating on the pond. The place was absolutely glistening with freshly fallen snow. Tiny flurries passed him and crusted his winter wardrobe along his beanie, his outer arms and his shoulders. He entered the perimeter around the pond and was instantly greeted with a familiar girl unicorn sitting along the edge of the ice.

Twin was sweating, her legs splayed open as she gasped for breath. She’d made around eighteen laps around the pond without even knowing it. She gazed at the brightly snow-layered bed of ice. She had just unlaced her skates but they stayed around her ankles for the moment.

“You push yourself too hard.” Ember said as he stepped onto the snow-covered terrain that had grass across it. He had a tiny smile on his face, but she was panting with a frown on her face.

“I’m sorry, Emby.” She said as she stretched her legs. Her knees popped along with her ankles as the laces loosened. “I didn’t mean to be out on the ice that long.” She spoke in a very high pitched, prepubescent voice. The six year old Twin finally pulled off her skates as she reached down and slid them down her hooves.

“I figured that was the reasoning. We went ahead and opened presents. I got your gift. Thanks for the gift card.”

It was no secret that Twin was not very good at getting gifts. Ember always loved the thought, but she kept getting him games he already had or getting them for the wrong system because she just didn’t understand gaming all that well. The only time she ever gamed was with Ember and while she was a sufficiently decent gamer, she could never beat him. He carried their team in co-op games and she normally ran shotgun with an actual game shotgun.

“I’ll buy a 2-player game for us.” Ember said. She was learning, though. The gift card she got him was for a site he used quite a bit for indie games. Indie games were cornering the market with their state-of-the-art VR games that were in gaining immense popularity.

“No, I should’ve been there, Ember.” Twin got her snowshoes on as she stood back up and faced him. She wore her padded jumpsuit. It was a bright red which popped along with her ice blue fur. Her brown and blue streaked hair was in a ponytail. She didn’t wear any winter headgear, yet she was sweating in snow flurries. “Can I make it up to you?” The young unicorn said and he shook his head. The smile he had was comforting, but that didn’t help her state of mind.

“No, I’m not mad, Twin. I just wanted you to be there for the cake.” Ember said as he turned toward the snow covered sidewalk. “You coming?” He turned his head toward her and was surprised to see she was already onto him. She wrapped her arms around him as she dropped her ice skates into the snow. His eyes went round as she hugged him tight and leaned her muzzle onto his shoulder.

“No, I need to make it up to you, Ember. You were there for all of my birthdays. Why won’t you let me make it up to you?” Twin’s arms held him closer as he could smell her sweat and feel herself shake a little bit as it was being frozen by the wind. He blinked as he looked at her and she gazed back.

“How did you want to make it up to me?” Ember asked. The thought of kissing her came to mind, but he began to blush at just the thought of it. Still, she wasn’t going to give up until she’d given him something. Her eyes narrowed and looked off to the side. The pretty blue unicorn filly huffed a bit and pouted as she strained her brain. “You know, you could marry me.”

Her eyes widened and she looked at him incredulously. Her eyes blinked at a mile a minute before she finally took in all of this.

“I’m sorry, what?” Twin asked him as she squinted at him, trying to gage whether he was kidding or not. His lips were pursed and his eyebrows were raised as he tried to think of something else to say, but was suddenly drawing a blank. “No! I’m too young to get married.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest and turned around in another huff.

“Well, I--” Ember started to say before Twin turned back around and pointed at him. The tip of her finger pressed against his snout.

“You shouldn’t go around playing with a girl’s heart like that! You’ll hurt someone someday, Emby!” She said this, but both of them knew she didn’t know what it actually meant. “I could never marry you without my mom and dad saying it’s okay.”

His eyebrow raised at this sudden change in the conditions. Ember started to say something, but saw that she turned back away from him, blushing as her hands went to her cheeks. The cute little smile was tight on her lips as she started giggling uncontrollably.

“You can’t ask me to marry you!” Her face was now beet red and he swore he could see hearts floating above her head. “You’ll make me so angry!” Her giggling only got louder as her face brightened more red. Ember blinked as her hips swayed back and forth and her eyes couldn’t even turn toward him as they were shut tight.

“Is that right?” Ember asked with as much sarcasm as he could muster as she turned back, opened one eye toward him only to turn back and keep giggling. This went on for a good minute before she felt a warm cheek press up against hers, which were still chilled from skating in the gusting wind.

She froze for a moment as she felt his arms close around her torso. Twin’s breath became harsh as the orange pegasus colt held her close to him. Her mind was going a mile a minute and she couldn’t help but feel a distinct sense of warmth that she’d never felt prior. After a moment, she found herself wrapping her arms around him as well.

“Well, I guess we can play pretend, can’t we?” Twin said as she gave him a sweet smile up close to his face. He nodded and gave a little snicker as he nodded. Her blush never left her cheeks as she ran two fingers from her brown, white and blue streaked hair. There was a long pause before Twin gave him two little slaps on the shoulder. “Stop staring, you’re not supposed to see the bride before the wedding!” She said in mock anger, making them both laugh.

“Sorry?” Ember said as they both began to calm down. They stood in that wintery pond on the shore of the ice and watched as the snow fell around them. The unicorn filly stood beside her handsome pretend groom as they gazed into its majesty and Twin leaned her head onto Ember’s shoulder.

They sighed as they stood at the imaginary altar. For a moment, life was within their minds’ eyes and their future looked so bright.

They stood at the altar: Golden Goal, Winter Solstice, Fable Prose and Quick Bullet, facing the Justice of the Peace who smiled as he stood in front of the wedding party. The groomsmen stood on Fable and Letty’s side while the bridesmaids stood by Golden and Winter’s side.

There was just a bit of reflection on all of their parts. How they came to be here and what got them here. From when Fable gave Winter the support he needed to date Golden Goal to the time both mares got with both stallions at the same time. Yes, it’d been a minute. Fable remembered when he met Letty at the comic book convention and the two of them never looked back. Then there was when both Fable and Winter attended one of Golden Goal’s hockey games and she lost her temper, beating another player to a pulp. Such wonderful memories between the four of them, it was almost fitting that they all get married together.

Spark stood with Patch Note, who was making eyes at Jasmine from across the altar. The orange unicorn stallion tried his very best not to gaze at his sister, who was staring sidelong at the two couples. Every so often, she glanced at her brother, but never enough for him to notice. Grem stood by Voltage, basking in all of the beauty of the ceremony as she stood in her bridesmaids dress. They went with a purple theme, while the groomsmen stood in black tuxedos with red dress shirts under their jackets.

Sun Storm, in a ridiculous act of love for his son, sat beside Stargazer, who didn’t seem to mind his presence for once. The real sensation came when not only Sun Fire made it to the wedding, but so did academy award winning actress, Red Carpet. Frozen Pop sat on the other side of the pews with Vodka and Citrus. Behind her was Score Keeper and Hat Trick, watching their pregnant daughter standing beside her blushing groom. Much the same as Strongheart and Vivid Landscape, only Strongheart was more focused on the fact that he was going to have to be nice to that red winged stallion who finally worked his way into their family.

Beyond all of these folks in the wedding party, one couple decided they could live without being bridesmaids. The two of them thought that what they were doing in the background was worth losing the titles. The white earth pony sat beside the pink pony, the two were beaming with love for each other. However, now they decided to share their love with yet another. Pearl Necklace held a little bundle of joy in the form of a baby unicorn. In her arms was a two month old Prisma Silver. They had just finalized the adoption papers the day before. The rainbow haired unicorn slept soundly as the Justice of the Peace spoke to the four who stood in front of him.

“I do.” The four of them said with smiles on their faces.

“Then, by the power vested in me. I now pronounce you, husbands and wives. You may kiss the brides.” He proclaimed with a smile. As both Winter and Fable turned to their new wives, they held their mares close and kissed them with the passion of a freshly cindled love.

Jasmine, alongside the other bridesmaids, was the first to start clapping, prompting the rest of the wedding crowd to applaud as well. There were hoots and hollers among the clapping and even a bit of a standing ovation for the two newly wed couples. Winter blushed a little bit as he turned and waved to his family and the others.

It wasn’t until Fable turned around to acknowledge the large crowd in attendance that Winter turned to his pegasus friend and grabbed him by the shoulder opposite of himself. Fable cocked an eyebrow at his unicorn friend before Winter pulled him in for a full on kiss to the lips. This brought a loud gasp from the crowd, but they kept clapping louder.

Both StarGazer and Sun Storm gave each other a flabbergasted look. Then both of them looked across the aisle toward Frozen Pop, who was smiling with the greatest pride. Behind her, Strongheart could only look on through his tinted glasses with a stone faced gaze.

Fable could only give Winter a slightly annoyed look as he released him from the kiss. Then Jet came up beside the two of them from her place alongside the bridesmaids with her cellphone to show them both the perfect picture she took of their lips meeting.

“Good one, honey.” Golden said to Winter with a slightly amused tone. He chuckled and gave her another kiss.

The reception was wonderful and it was wonderful to see all of their friends and family in one place. However, now it was time for rest. The honeymoon was clearly what they were waiting for and they couldn’t get on that train to Canterlot fast enough. Immediately as they got to the hotel room, Letty pinned Fable to the bed as she slid his cock within her.

“We have one week without the baby and I want to make the most of it.” She said up to his face as her face leaned in close to his and they got a nice, open-mouth kiss in as she started bouncing up and down on him.

“We--nmm--never seem to have much of a problem finding time for this.” Fable grasped both of her bouncing breasts. Her juices coated his shaft as she sat on him, making him go as deep as he could go inside of her.

“Yeah,” Letty slapped his abs gently, “The point is we don’t have to find the time right now, you dork!” With this, she started romping on top of him so that his very long, thick cock stretched her vaginal tube as she cried out. The feeling of his hands caressing her tits and pinching her tender nipples helped her along to a building orgasm.

“Soooo… ummmm.” Both of them stopped cold as they looked over at the other full size bed in the hotel room. There, Golden was on all fours, her pregnant belly hanging beneath her as Winter was behind her, his blue dick sank deep inside of her. “Were we still going to do the wife swap?” This caused Golden to look back at him with a cross expression.

“Oh, come on, I knew we should’ve gotten two rooms.” Fable laid flat on his back as Letty started to giggle. “Dude, we literally just got in the room and you’re already talking about wife swapping?”

“Yeah, but mostly just to stop you before you got ahead of me. I wanted Golden to finish first.” Winter chuckled hard.

“Real cute, honey.” Golden said with a very jagged tone on “honey.”

“Oh, come on! This is just the beginning. I’ve got a whole week’s worth of pranks I’ve been dying to pull!” Winter said as he grasped Golden’s ass cheeks with both hands.

“What if I don’t want you to pump Letty full of cum, you jerk?” Golden asked as Winter started to hump. She sighed with relief as she felt his hard cock poke against her cervix.

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Fable said, stopping Letty from bouncing for the moment, much to her disappointment. “Let’s lighten up a little on putting semen into my wife. Unlike Golden, she doesn’t have a bun in the oven.”

“Oh,” Letty said as her eyes went round and she chuckled. Fable passed her a sharp look and it was Winter’s turn to stop cold as both of them gazed over at the yellow pegasus. “About that…”