The Seasons

by Scootareader

Summer - Part 1

"And make sure you get plenty of rest!"

A turquoise-colored pegasus was quickly being sent to the door of Ponyville Hospital in a rickety-looking old wheelchair. He glanced nervously at the doctor trotting beside him, having just received an earful of lectures about proper exercise and healing. His right wing was folded up next to his body; his left was coated in a cast that restricted all hope of movement.

As it rolled to the edge of the walkway, the nurse-powered chair's wheels hit a small lip, bringing the speedy throne to a sudden, jarring halt. The pegasus lurched forward in his seat, then glanced at the nurse in irritation.

The doctor drew himself up closer to the pegasus. "Um... Sea Spray? This is where you get off."

Sea Spray hoisted himself out of the wheelchair. "Yeah, yeah. I was just about to." He landed on all four hooves, stalking menacingly away from the hospital, shooting several venomous glances back at the ponies waving him off.

It was just his luck. He was on holiday, having come from Manehattan, and a very prestigious member of the city's weather team, too. Keeping the skies clean of all that pollution was very laborious—and dangerous—work. Some silly mare wasn't looking where she was going and had crashed into his side with her cart, and it busted up his wing. He was grounded for a few more days.

The pegasus sighed dejectedly and wandered through the town. It would probably pay to find somewhere to stay tonight. There was... something big happening this weekend... some thing about a Ponyville Day, with fireworks and a big fair. As such, the town was more packed than usual.

The packed inns and potels reflected this as he walked down Mane Street. He looked at one of the inns, noticing a large glowing sign that declared, "NO VACANCY." He glanced at another sign, seeing similar red wording. Seeing another such sign with the first word dimmed, he decided he would go in and see about inquiring a room.

Upon entering the lobby, the pegasus was stunned at the line of six or seven ponies waiting to book rooms, two or three of them tapping their hooves impatiently. The clerk at the front desk was apologizing profusely to a posh stallion wearing a fancy vest and demanding that he be boarded in this potel for the evening or she'd be hearing from her manager.

As Sea Spray watched this diatribe, another clerk trotted past him, unlocking a small box next to the vacancy sign with a key he held by magic, then flipping a small switch contained within. Nothing happened for a few moments, until the clerk rammed his hoof into the sign. The "NO" that had just previously been off now flickered to life.

With a groan, Sea Spray cantered back out of the potel, wandering down the street in no general direction. He'd probably end up sleeping on a bench tonight, something he hadn't had to do in years. If only he could have stayed in that hospital a few more days....

As he trotted past a cherry red house, a mare with a half-blue and half-pink mane opened the front door. There was something about her, something in the air, that compelled Sea Spray to ask her something.

"Excuse me, Miss...?"

The eggshell-colored earth pony smiled encouragingly. "Bon Bon."

"Ah, yes, Miss Bon Bon. You, um, wouldn't happen to know anywhere to stay, would you?"

Bon Bon glanced at Sea Spray's right side, having noticed his cast. "Oh, you poor dear! Let me go get Lyra."

The pegasus stallion stood awkwardly while he waited for his hopeful savior to get back with this "Lyra."

After a minute or two, Bon Bon re-appeared in the doorway with a minty green unicorn. She took one look at Sea Spray, then looked back at her friend. "Yep, he's staying here."

Sea Spray was very quickly whisked through the doorway and into the home of at least one of these mares. Perhaps they lived together? That seemed a little bit odd.

"What do you like to eat? Candy? We've got plenty of that." Bon Bon looked into Sea Spray's face eagerly.

Lyra pushed her friend out of the way. "I think we should give him a tour first, Bon Bon." Lyra proceeded to guide Sea Spray through the house. She pointed out the dining room, the kitchen, and their lounging area, then headed upstairs. The green mare gestured into one of their two guest rooms, stating that Sea Spray would be sleeping in there, then pointed to a door at the end of the hallway,saying that she and Bon Bon slept in there.

All right, so they lived here. Together. In the same room. Sea Spray let out an inward sigh. This definitely wasn't his ideal vacation.

After completing the tour, the two of them sauntered back to the dining room, where Bon Bon was preparing a meal. She swayed her flank to and fro as she hummed a tune to herself. Lyra smiled abashedly for her marefriend, walking up and halting the movement of the earth pony's hips, whispering something that Sea Spray couldn't quite make out, but that he knew was concerning him. Bon Bon smiled and looked at the pegasus standing awkwardly in her kitchen. “Go ahead and take a seat in the dining room. Food'll be right up.”

Sea Spray breathed a sigh of relief, cantering to the table and hopping onto a chair. He heard a hushed conversation between the two ponies responsible for making his food. Knowing his luck, they were plotting what poison they should put in there to knock him out so they could tie him up and... do Celestia-knows-what.

Several moments later, Bon Bon served up a big steaming plate of asparagus. Sea Spray's nose wrinkled as his small rumbling of hunger disappeared altogether. He knew he was supposed to be a good guest, so he obediently bent his head over the plate and slowly, tenderly took a small bite from one of the offending spears. He stuck it in the side of his mouth, feeling the disgusting juice seep onto his tongue, before he threw caution to the wind and swallowed his bite whole. For a few moments, his airway was blocked as the large piece of nasty vegetable became lodged in his throat. Through sheer force of willpower, he managed to gulp the entire piece of asparagus down, chasing it quickly with some water.

Bon Bon stared into his face expectantly. Sea Spray stuttered, “Oh, um, it's uh... it's, uh, it's good!”

The enthusiastic mare practically vaulted into the air. “Oh, he likes it! I'll go fix some more!”

She's trying to kill you! came a voice in Sea Spray's head. For pony's sake, stop her! The brown-maned pegasus kicked himself off of his chair and onto the ground, knocking the chair over in the process. For a few moments, nothing in the room moved, the two mares simply staring at him.

Sea Spray looked down, embarrassed. “I'm, uh, actually not hungry at all.”

Bon Bon's infectious smile once again adorned her face. “Oh, not a problem! We'll just have an extra big breakfast in the morning to make up for it! But that means... oh, I need to get everything ready!” The earth pony dove back through the entryway into the kitchen to concoct whatever diabolical scheme she could to further jeopardize the fortitude of Sea Spray's stomach.

A few moments after Bon Bon left, Lyra tapped Sea Spray on his shoulder and smiled apologetically. “It's all right; even if you liked asparagus, Bon Bon is a terrible cook.”

He looked skeptically at the friendly unicorn. “How do you put up with it?”

She smiled and winked knowingly. “Lots of ketchup drowns out whatever she puts in it, usually. It'll still take a few days to get used to, though. Just try not to interfere with my bathroom time.”

Sea Spray decided to end the conversation, hoping instead for something better to come around the corner with Bon Bon. Against his better hopes, however, it was just the simple earth pony, covered from head to toe in... flour? Cinnamon? Brown sugar? He wasn't sure with her coat color.

The sugary mare—he decided it was some kind of sugar, guessing from her cutie mark of a piece of candy—skipped by Lyra, saying, “Guessss what I'm covered in!”

The minty unicorn seemed familiar with this game. “Hmm... sugar!” Her cheery friend shook her head. “Um... brown sugar!”

The earth pony nodded profusely, saying, “Give it a try!”

The unicorn obliged, taking a long lick off of Bon Bon's flank.

Sea Spray made an audible gasp. The two mares looked at him, as if not having realized he was still standing there, before the both of them blushed profusely. Bon Bon quickly trotted upstairs to shower herself off while Lyra led Sea Spray to their lounging area to unwind.

What followed was an evening that, to Sea Spray, wasn't altogether unpleasant, but that he wasn't quite comfortable with, either. His upbringing in Manehattan say he see things one way, but the way these mares were treating him—it was something very different than what he had expected from anypony. Several games of Pin the Tail On the Pony and several more games of Ponies to Ponies later, Sea Spray let out a mighty yawn. He'd had a long day.

As he sought his room, the two convincingly crazy mares whom he'd somehow gotten dragged into staying with trotted softly behind him. Yet, despite all their shortcomings and crazy quirks, they held a sort of magic, the likes of which Sea Spray had never encountered before.

Sea Spray shut the door behind him, sauntering next to, then collapsing on, his surprisingly comfortable bed. He was surprised such simple ponies could afford such nice beds. He sighed and gave in to sleep.

---

What couldn't have been ten minutes later, his sleep was interrupted. He was already a light sleeper, and he expected to be woken up by the slightest noise. He dismissed whatever it was that had awoken him; it was probably just somepony moving around. He rolled over and tried to get back to sleep.

With how silent the house was, however, his ears began to pick up on something. He was hearing muffled voices through the wall. The mares were talking.

About a minute later, he heard one of the mares let out a loud moan. Confused, he sat up in bed, almost leaving to go check on them, before the loud moan was heard again.

Sea Spray froze, listening intently. Slowly, dramatically, another moan sounded.

Just then, he put two and two and two together.

Slowly, over the next hour, he heard the two mares eliciting moans through the wall, his face burning with embarrassment at hearing these two ponies enjoying one another's company so highly. He tried burying his head under his pillow; he tried turning on the fan as white noise; at one point, he even shouted, “I can hear you!” but the two mares were too caught up in their current task to notice.

Finally, he heard one of them give a particularly loud moan, and the house once again went silent.

What have I gotten myself into?

Author's Note:

Ignoring sleep, planning, eating, and other similar duties to bring another chapter for your reading pleasure! That's Scootareader's stand. Are you in good hands? (It's 3:41AM here, guys.)
--Scootareader

Comments

[Scootaloser]

Another good chapter, I actually liked it better than the last one. Had some pretty good humor to it. I don't really have any criticisms to point out. Everything seemed in order. (still a bit fast paced, but it's not as big of a problem here.)

Also, how many story arcs are there and when does the second part of each get released? I must know what becomes of poor Sea Spray.

And one more thing:

The unicorn obliged, taking a long lick off of Bon Bon's flank.

What. The. Buck.

[Scootareader]

2274098

It'll be a round robin style, so part 1 of Autumn, then part 1 of Winter, then part 2 of Spring. That's just how I'm writing it

[Carnation83]