Life can really throw you a curveball.

It was an incredibly cold day. The entire window was covered under a heap of mist and snow and my hooves were frozen, as were my mane, tail and body.

I felt incredibly cold… period. I can tell you that much.

I can’t really find any fault in the weather for how I felt: I’ve faced worst winters before. Heard from my coworkers that this winter’s the worst in Neigh York history.

Well… they used to be.

Don’t seem unfair to say that, really: In all the ten odd years I lived in this apartment, I’ve never experienced winters any worst than this.

Hay, and all the scientists were talking about, what? That Equestria was set to get hotter by several degrees Fahrenheit at best by the next ten, twenty years? Bullshit.

And I cursed and swore how it had to come in right around when I was laid off, too.

It wasn’t the best job to get in such a big city, sure… but I got on well in it. A stallion like me wouldn’t be able to find any good jobs in this economy unless a degree went and hit me on the head, so I’d made do.

Did it for ten years, too, until the company… ‘tanked’ like that. Said that they’d only be able to afford the young ones and put me on a one month severance pay.

That was a month after that then. Managed to save more than I usually did, but it would still only last me the next month.

I went and checked that everything was in order, had my resume tucked in my bag, made sure nothing could burn the place down, all windows were closed and that the place was relatively clean. Had a few magazines laying around, but otherwise, I was good to go.

I trotted over to the door, wore my boots and stepped out into the corridor.

I only looked at the elevator briefly before shaking my head, turning and trotting to the stairway we had built into the building back before the elevator was installed. Began climbing the thing down, too, considering I was still able and I needed the heat. Hummed to myself a soft tune as I did so. I kept shivering due to the cold, so I just went and trotted down faster.

I wouldn’t call it problem, but… it wasn’t early mornin’.

It was the af’ternoon. And I’d left my scarf at a friend’s place.

Guess I figured the warming thing wasn’t as crazy an idea as I thought it was.

Down two floors later, having gone past nothing but drywall and empty steps, something unusual happened: I saw somepony trotting down at the same time as me. Everypony seems to like using those new elevators all the time now.

I just don’t see what the fuss is all about.

The jury’s still out on how I feel about it, but did I ever feel grateful for somepony else being there.

… then again, my initial reply was… poorly… poor.

“Hello there.” A chirpy voice appeared from behind me.

I yelled, but not quite. Placed a hoof over my mouth before I could yell even more.

I began a dash to the next floor, trying to ignore the strange pony trailing behind me, who bore some sort of frown at me before reverting to a face more to his tone then.

“I’m sorry that I startled you, I just thought it would be nice to say hi once in awhile to your neighbours.” He huffed the words out, though his smile remained. I didn’t care to look, really, but he told me that he was being sincere about his gesture afterwards, even if his voice didn’t show it.

“No, it’s fine. Just the shit weather we’ve had today.”

“Oh yeah. It’s… shit? I love this kind of weather.” He grinned at me. I didn’t even ask later: I just knew.

“I figured you would.” I rolled my eyes, saying the words in jest. “Many Neigh Yorkers seem not to mind the cold, really.”

“No kidding.” He rolled his eyes back at me and I chuckled. As we reached Floor 8, I seemed to slow down in my trotting as I turned to face this pony, briefly glancing at his blue eyes and glossy light blue mane. He just seemed to smile more as I did that and I couldn’t help but smile along with him now that I saw him.

“Name’s Dryweight. The rudeness was uncalled for.”

“It’s alright, Dryweight.” The other pony giggled and I frowned.

“Dryweight…”

“What’s so funny?”

“It just feels weird to call you that, Dry… weight. Erm, can I call you Dry?” He smiled shyly, rubbing the back of his neck, which started to make me feel all funny…

I just shrugged. “Alright.”

“Coolio.” His grin returned in full force and he held his hoof out to me. I took it in stride.

“My name is Alabaster. Nice to meet you.”

“Alabaster?” He seemed to laugh at the question.

“It means ‘white’.”

“Oh?” I couldn’t help but laugh. “Erm… why is that?”

“Well, both my parents thought it would be a good idea to call me some fancy name relating to that colour; they were told that I was going to be a white-coated pony. Then, I came along into their world with my glorious blue-everything-” He struck a pose and I held back my laughter. “but they decided the name was fine, so it stuck.”

Nevertheless, I blinked at him. Probably more than I ever have.

“Oh, I… see then.” I let my smile shrink. “May I call you Ala?”

I rubbed the back of my neck and laughed softly, inciting a nicker from him. The smile came back again as he nodded slowly, leaning towards me now.

“Okay. But you’ve got to keep what I’ve told you a secret, so shh.” He said, pressing his hoof against my muzzle.

I rolled my eyes and nodded, zipping my mouth with a hoof in exaggeration. He giggled and smiled at me. It became quite a bit of an expectation at this point.

“Now, tell me about how you got your name.” I let out a chuckle at the question and shook my head.

“Well, my name’s boring, because see: I am grey.”

“Yeah.”

“And I was born from two ponies who were construction workers. Well, Dad was the construction worker, but Mum worked for a catering company serving construction workers.”

“So they named you Dryweight because your coat colour was grey.”

“Yeah, exactly!”

“And not because they figured your cutie mark would be a dryweight?” He smirked outright and we both shared a good laugh as we reached the fifth floor.

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard someponies say that. Seems like a number of ponies around here seem to have that themselves. Never really took it to heart for a second.”

“Me neither. It sounds kinda dumb.”

“Mmmhmm…”

That ended the train of conversation that we had going, but I didn’t mind and he didn’t either.

We both trotted along in silence, never really needing to pay any attention to the other at this point. Seems like we hit it off rather quickly and I only felt that when I was working at my old job.

“This pony is doing things to me, I swear…“

Thankfully, he didn’t hear my mumbling. I don’t think I could have handled him breaking down in the middle of the stairway like that.

My old job, though… I think it made me sigh sigh or had a tear in my eye, I don’t know what, but Ala took notice.

“Is something wrong?”

I sighed again, wiped my eyes dry and laughed it off.

“I’m fine. I’ve just been having a rough patch.”

He only seemed to stare off at space as I said that. “Well… maybe you could tell me what’s wrong.” I waved my hoof at him and shook my head.

“Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll be fine.” I tried to replicate his smile, but it didn’t stick as well as it did before. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice then, though he is more than aware of my worries now…

I guess he didn’t want to push any further when I had told him not to. I’ve always liked him because of that.

“... well, alright then.” He nodded and caught up to me, slowing down to my speed as we stepped on the third floor.

It made me wonder at that point why I had been craning my head over to glance at the signs of our approach to the first floor.

“Oh, well, have you read the newspaper today?”

“Hmm?” I’m illiterate to the city’s ongoings. I had got better things to do than bother about who is the new pony in power.

That’s now less true in one way.

“I’ll take that as a no.” He laughed weakly and gave another shy smile. Again, a funny feeling overcame me as he did so, possibly moreso than before.

“Well?”

And it felt like…

“...what?”

…worry, maybe?

“Well, what was it?”

What did I have to worry about? He was just a friend.

“Oh, you do want to know?”

I noticed something wrong as his face bore a more… stale expression. The smile I came to be used to on his face was gone now… and so was mine now.

He cleared his throat and spoke dryly. “A new survey showed that most Neigh Yorkers didn’t approve of same-sex couples being together in public.”

…those words mean more to me now, but then…

“I don’t understand.”

“Most ponies don’t like gays or lesbians…”

… it all felt… fuzzy to me.

Didn’t know if it was the chest or the head.

“I don’t follow.” I scratched my head. “You mean… like fags?”

I really was just saying what I remembered my peers said, I honestly didn’t mean to have just spewed that out of my stupid hole and have hurt him so severely…

The way his face fell broke me. Just utterly shattered me.

I think at some point now, I realised that that wasn’t the face I wanted him to wear.

He just shook it off then, shaking his head and smiling again as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “...it’s fine. Let’s just go.”

But… well, he just seemed so…

So… heartbroken.

At that time, I figured what was wrong and what I had to do.

Neigh… what I could and wanted to do.

So… whatever it had been that I was feeling inside…

I went and tried to materialise it by nuzzling him.

My muzzle was burning hot at this point and I had no clue why.

In retrospect, his muzzle was in the same state too. He was probably staring at me with eyes as big as saucers.

I was absolutely clueless about what I had to do at that point, because… Well, nopony really bothered about anypony before in my circles, so I reciprocated the feeling. I mean, don’t get me wrong: I was very close with many of my former coworkers, but we always struck out on our own with our feelings, so I always did just that.

But not here.

He cared enough to talk to me and ask me what was wrong, so I’ll care for him back.

And, well… I wanted to do that.

I felt like I needed to, too, after what I had let slip from my tongue.

Shock was the only word I could think of to describe his face then.

In the same position, I would be as well, but not for the reasons I felt that he was then, at least, not there and then.

All I could do then was to silently prompt him to follow me down to the ground floor.

He followed along, his muzzle now bearing an unsure smile.

I copied it to a tee, another blush now on my face.

---

As we approached the door to the building’s staircase, I began to shiver and shake, cursing how I had left my scarf at a former coworker’s house.

“Do you need anything?” Ala looked at me and smiled with the same earnest that I had seen before and I smiled, shaking my head.

“Not really, I’m fine with-”

I then noticed that Ala brought his muzzle close to my neck, returning what I had done for him. I felt my entire body jolt and I stared down at him in awe, both of our faces likely really red at that point.

He then brought his muzzle to his scarf, delicately bringing the fabric around my neck as quickly as he pulled it off from his own.

Smiling warmly in the closeness of the winter weather, he pressed his lips against my own gently and gave a wink, which brushed out a single tear from his eye.

My guilt briefly doubled. I’ve got to stop being so blunt…

“... that’s what gays do.”

All I could do was nod slowly and laughed, shaking my head as butterflies filled my stomach.

“... so it’s like… love stories… but with two stallions?”

Ala simply nodded. “Yeah…”

If that was the thing that gays did… then… well, I am gay.

“Then… a fag is…?”

He cringed at the word and I sighed, looking away from him.

Irregardless, Ala looked straight at me.

“It’s a bad word.”

He smiled weakly at me, placing his hoof on my chest as a warm feeling overcame me again, even as he said what he had said. “That’s all you need to know right now.”

I’ve never felt anything like this for anypony before… except at that moment. I still haven’t, really.

I don’t think I understood then why that was a bad thing. And I still don’t understand it now.

I looked up at the stairway worriedly and all he did was giggle, tapping my shoulder gently.

“Don’t worry: I’ve been up and down here for a year now, during the same time. Everypony seems to either use the elevator or be out of work right now.”

I chuckled, shaking my head. “I used to be one of those ponies.”

All he could do was stare at me, all bug eyed as he seemed to figure it out himself why I had… done whatever it was I did that got his attention.

“...you were retrenched.”

I sighed and shrugged. “The fancy term: I was laid off.”

“Same difference, silly.” He sighed softly, wrapping a hoof around my neck as he pulled me close to his body, pressing his cheek against mine.

I couldn’t really see anything clearly at this point, though the only thing I remembered for certain was the feeling of warmth, both in my cheeks and in my chest, as he comforted me in silence, saying nothing as he brought his hoof through my mane.

“It’s… it’s alright…” I mumbled, pulling away slowly as I gave a warm smile at him, patting his shoulder as gently as I could. “I’ll be fine. But thanks anyways.”

Ala let out a hearty laugh and nodded, pulling away from me with a bashful smile.

Slowly, I pulled his scarf over my muzzle and turned to him, my smile fading away as I saw him shivering like I did back then.

I pulled the scarf off of my neck and laid it over his neck, feeling his shallow breathing on my chest briefly, sending another jolt down my back. I composed myself and pulled away, looking down at Ala with a gentle grin.

“You’re smaller than me, you need this more than I do. I’ve been out in colder conditions numerous times.”

Ala smiled coyly and nodded. “If you insist.”

The two of us trotted out of the stairway and pulled away. My smile was shortly gone as we were greeted with a few ponies, all trotting about as they stared at us for a short while before they went and did their own things.

Ala kept his warm smile regardless and turned to me. “I live in the first unit to the right of the corridor. You can come in after six.”

He looked around quickly before giving me a peck on the cheek, running off as he waved to me.

“Goodbye, Dry!”

The last of his laughter lingered in my ears as I stood up, shivering ever so slightly as I left the building’s lobby into the unforgiving cold.

But, then again… the cold didn’t seem so bad anymore.

Even in spite of what other ponies might think of it.

Then and now, all of it felt… balmy?

That would be a good word for it. Yeah, balmy, calm and contented with somepony to call my own and for him to do the same…

It probably was a happier day than I could express properly.

So, instead, with a grin plastered on my face, I trotted down briskly towards my first job opening, turning back briefly to glance at the doors that hid away this chance encounter we had… as well as the many more times we shared together as one.

Away from everypony’s eyes.

And away from the unrelenting nightmare of a winter.

‘... I probably don’t need the scarf all that much now.’

With those thoughts, I hurried on my way to the train station, the smile lingering on my face as the thought of facing my friends slowly ate away at me.

For I knew that, at the end of the day, we were still together.

As one.

In the safety of our home.