August 15th, 993 Domina Solaria

“~Summer Wrap Up, Summer Wrap Up~!”

Doug sits with his back to the eastern edge of Sweet Apple Acres with scrawled notes spread around him. His attention turns from watching the pegasi cobble together tomorrow’s monster of a storm to the pink pony pronking along from Ponyville and singing along with the other ponies. She’s not quite making a beeline to him, instead a circuitous route around the schoolhouse that he predicts will end up involving him. A white earth pony mare with a wispy green mane and piercing black eyes silently follows behind Pinkie Pie, seemingly fascinated by everything going on around her.

Except, Doug notes, himself; her eyes pass right over him. It’s not a reaction he’s used to. In fact, some sort of reaction is usually a good indicator that the pony isn’t a native to Ponyville, though generally it isn’t anything more than curious gaping. Not many earth ponies have a such a distinctly pure white coat, that being more of a unicorn trend as they emulate Princess Celestia, and she’s not one he recognizes from the town. Maybe she heard about him before? He shrugs to himself and goes back to his notes.

“Is this the end of the tour?” the white pony asks with exaggerated disappointment as the two approach. She immediately perks back up. “It’s a lovely town! Is every day as cheerful as this?!”

“This is it!” Pinkie Pie happily sweeps a foreleg at the orchards. “Sweet Apple Acres! They grow some of the best apples in Equestria!”

“Some?” Doug interjects, half expecting Applejack to pop out from behind a tree and echo the same sentiment.

The white mare interrupts her constant scan like the sound came from nowhere. She takes a guarded step backwards, her tongue flicking out of her mouth while her ears sweep back and forth.

“Hi, Doug!” Pinkie Pie greets chipperly. “I only say some because I haven’t tasted all of the apples in Equestria!” She pensively stares at the apple trees heavily laden, as they always seem to be, with fruit.

Doug grins, curious how many apples Applejack has tasted from other farms. His grin fades as the white mare’s unfocused eyes flash green while staring at a spot past him. Disgust flashes across her face as she seemingly spots him, so vehement she looks like she would rather step in a pile of manure than take a step closer to him. And just as quickly the look is gone, cheerfully smiling as if it never happened.

“Hi, Doug!” she repeats in the exact tone Pinkie Pie used.

“Hello,” Doug says after a slight pause, hand automatically waving.

“This is Jay Squeak,” Pinkie Pie introduces with a hearty shake of her leg.

“I love it here in Ponyville!” Jay gushes, beaming a smile not quite at Doug and more the apple tree behind him. “It’s so much lovelier than Trottingham!”

“I like to think my parties help make Ponyville the happiest place in Equestria!” Pinkie Pie pronks in place, beaming a smile at Jay.

“It is! And they do!” Jay takes a deep breath, standing on the tips of her hooves, pure elation radiating from her. If she had wings they would be buzzing feverishly. But, alas, she doesn’t, and sinks back into the earth. “Was there anything else you wanted to show me?”

“That was it! Unless you want to test more pies?” Pinkie Pie grins eagerly. “Chiffon Swirl probably has more done by now!”

“N-no, I’m absolutely stuffed,” Jay says with a tap of her belly. She doesn’t look particularly full, but Doug is more used to the six month bulge of his mares. A mischievous smile crosses her muzzle. “Though Filthy Rich looks like the kind of stallion who could use a few more stuffed mares, am I right?”

Pinkie Pie chortles, jokingly dismissing Jay with a downwards wave of her hoof. “I know, right?” She rolls her eyes. “Apparently I’m not his type, though.” She blows a raspberry as she pouts. “Maybe you’ll have more luck?”

“Beginner’s luck! That’s what it’s called, right?” Jay asks. The cheerful stretch of her muzzle makes it hard to tell if her question is rhetorical or not. She pauses for a moment then waves goodbye, her gait initially pronking that gradually becomes more of a trot.

“Goodbye!” Pinkie Pie waves, then collapses next to Doug in a puddle of pink pony.

“She seems nice,” Doug says, a hand rubbing at the pile of mane. He watches as Jay stops and turns to look at him, a hoof quickly sketching something on a piece of paper.

“Yeah…” Pinkie Pie says as she oozes herself back together. Her tongue lolls out of her muzzle as she snuggles next to him, dopey smile spreading wide. “She seems nice.”

“Must be exhausting with two of you running around,” Doug comments wryly, turning to the papers around him. He frowns as he notices he’s missing a piece of paper, though it was a blank one, and his pencil. He scowls as he looks up, but the earth pony is gone.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Pinkie Pie says with a wide yawn. “Her coat was white! Though I am pretty tired. Showing her around took a lot out of me!” She tries to perk up at the end. It’s hard to tell if her failure is intentional or not as she slumps back against Doug and happily hums to herself.

“Good thing there’s not much for earth ponies to do during Summer Wrap Up,” Doug says, returning to the rest of his notes with a bit of a frown. “Or humans, for that matter.”

“Or unicorns.” Pinkie Pie smacks her lips a few times as she wraps her forelegs around Doug’s leg, using his thigh as a pillow.

“So which is your favorite Wrap Up?” Doug asks. He finds the subdued Pinkie Pie far more to his liking. Maybe there’s only a certain amount of Pinjutsu to go around? Unless she’s trying to lull him into a false sense of security! With her clinging to his leg and acting like Rarity after a less-than-spectacular reception of one of her dress lines to a visiting fashion guru, and he needs to fill up her love tank with compliments and snuggles and return visits to Sugarcube Corner for more ice cream.

“Definitely winter,” Pinkie Pie moans into his leg, her head on his knee. Her hind legs try to wrap around his back but the tree is in the way, so she tries shoving them and the rest of her barrel between the two. It’s surprisingly effective at getting him to scooch forward.

“That’s the hardest one, though,” Doug comments, grunting as he finds himself shifting. At least Pinkie Pie’s plush posterior is pleasant to push against. He lays back, head on the tree and back to pie-filled belly. He idly wonders what a Pie-filled belly would feel like. “Spring was downright easy; like, you go from growing up to growing out.”

“That’s true,” Pinkie Pie says, tickling the hairs of his head as she nods along. “But doing something easy isn’t as rewarding as doing something difficult. Plus, I love ice skating!”

“...You do,” Doug says, looking at Pinkie Pie’s hooves. If anypony could ice skate, it would be her. He can’t see any of the lakes that dot Sweet Apple Acres, but if they do ice over, then maybe he could join her? Or see if any of the other mares are interested, but who knows what they’ll be going through at that point. In fact, Rainbow Dash’s last day of work before she effectively takes maternity leave is Fall Wrap Up. Still on call in case of emergency - which sounds backwards, putting her at risk only when it’s the most risk - but out of control blizzards are not something they take trivially.

“If I had to,” Pinkie Pie says with a bit of a twirl of her hoof, “I’d probably put Autumn as my least favorite.” She sighs heavily. “Kinda depressing, putting away all the fun parts of sun and rain for snow. Spring is next, and summer, just because there’s not much to do. But Winter! You’ve gone through all the fun holidays and it’s time for even more fun!”

“That and all the new foals,” Doug adds, gazing up at the clouds. He shudders at the thought of the three mares going through that simultaneously.

“You’re going to be so lucky,” Pinkie Pie says with subdued glee, snuggling against him. Her belly rubs against his back, her forelegs squeezing him tenderly. “Three little bundles of joy. Think of all the things you’ll go through!”

“Diapers?” Doug deadpans.

“Soooo many diapers,” Pinkie Pie agrees with a chuckle.

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