Was it just Apple, or was Pippin even heavier than usual? The distance across the street from the bar up to the apartment seemed an almost unbridgeable gap; a vicious snowy wasteland. Even with Sunny’s help it still took them a good ten minutes to cross the distance. It was almost as if Pippin was still slightly conscious; his back hooves trying to return to the bar. But, try as he might, he could not resist the two stallions who had him on their shoulders, dragging him up the small steps and past the door until they finally reached the apartment.

It took their combined effort to get Pippin into his bed, but to get him to stay put was a different matter entirely. Apple resorted to forcefully feeding him some sleeping pills. That ought to keep him knocked out for a few hours.

Sunny and Apple sat down on the couch. Checking the clock, Apple saw that it was only 11 PM. Really? He thought it would have been a lot later than that. He looked to his side and saw Sunny rubbing his hoof against his throat. At least Apple knew what to do here.

“Can I offer you something?” he asked politely.

“Oh yeah, sure. Just tap water will do, thanks” Sunny replied.

Apple went to the kitchen and held two glasses under the tap and then returned to the living room. He almost dropped the glasses he was levitating when he saw Sunny browsing through Pippin’s extensive porn collection on the bookshelf behind the couch. It always annoyed him how the porn was on eye level while Apple’s literature was restricted to the top three rows.

“Oh no, those are my brother’s. I can assure you I have never, and I would never-” he said before getting interrupted by Sunny.

“Hey, it’s fine. You don’t seem like the type who would be into that stuff anyway. And even if you did ‘accidentally’ watch it sometimes, then I’d just like to remind you that we’ve all been there. Heck, I myself sometimes find myself at home watching TV ‘after hours’… doing stuff” Sunny explained.

“It’s just so disgusting sometimes. Most of this stuff would never happen in real life!” he said while levitating a random porn movie out of the shelf. “Like this one. This has two mares; one is asleep while the other puts a vibrator in her…” Apple hesitated as he perused the rest of the synopsis. “and...stuff, you know. And then they probably both get off. That makes no sense, like, could you imagine Blue and Ember doing something like this? I certainly can’t! Especially Blue, she really doesn’t seem like that kind of mare…” Apple shuddered slightly as he put the disgusting movie back into its place on the shelf.

“Well, I can imagine Ember doing it. After all, griffins like it that way from what I’ve heard. As for Blue, I understand you’d feel that way, but she actually seems pretty dirty to me” Sunny said. Apple suddenly felt worried.

“What do you mean ‘you understand why I would feel that way’?” Apple finally put down the glasses and sat down next to Sunny. “What the hay are you getting at?”

“Oh don’t think I hadn’t noticed” Sunny said with a hint of a smirk. Apple was clueless.

'What the hell is this guy talking about?' Apple's inner voice questioned. “I don’t know what he’s talking about…” Apple instinctively replied to the voice.

“What?” Sunny inquired.

“Oh, heh, nothing. What did you notice? Because I’m pretty sure there was nothing to be noticed whatsoever” Apple said, ever so slightly going on the defensive against this assault.

“Oh, you know…” Sunny hinted.

“No, I really, really have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Sunny sighed. “Oh don’t think I didn’t catch you looking at Blue from the side. You were checking her out and you know it. Every time you looked up from whatever inner thoughts you had you would look at her first.”

Apple burst out into a laugh, though it didn’t sound very sincere even to himself. “What? Ohho.. No… the only mare I’d let into my heart is the mare who will bring us harmony one day.” He gestured to the framed picture of Starlight Glimmer on the wall, hoping Sunny would get the hint. Apple saw him look at the picture of the purple-maned freer of the cutie marks. Hopefully he would get it.

“She looks pretty damn fine-” Sunny said, stroking his chin. Apple nearly facehoofed. “-but let's face it, she’s an outlaw and she’s probably going to be imprisoned pretty soon.”

Apple felt the need to punch Sunny in the face, but being the passive type he was, he kept his emotions in check. “Let’s just watch some TV and finish these drinks, then you can head home” he said, hoping to change the subject. He levitated the remote and turned on the TV. They fell into the middle of a terrible documentary about dreams; a convoluted tale written and told by Princess Luna herself. Eventually they shared some laughs over the awful writing of it and they got their camaraderie going again. It was getting pretty late.

“Listen, I gotta head home. I know we had a rough patch there, but can we still hang out sometime soon?” Sunny asked.

Apple smiled. “Sure!”

“Ok, great! I’ll give you a call when I’m available” Sunny said as he scribbled his number down on a scratch piece of paper on the table.

Apple stood up to let Sunny out. “It’s been good. See you later!” he said.

“Bye!” Sunny said, after putting on his coat and walking out.

Apple closed the door of the apartment and went back to the couch.

'Oh my Celestia… we did it!' the inner voice squeed.

“I can’t believe it either…”

'Did we just make friends?'

“...I think we did.”

'I guess that means you won’t be needing me anymore.'

“It’s ok. Maybe we will meet again someday.”

'So long!'

Apple was ecstatic. The first step into his new life had gone almost without a hitch! He didn’t know how he did it, but he had.

And just like that, life seemed a lot more cheerful; more reasons to smile. The dinner he made himself that night tasted more delicious than ever, the view from the panoramic window was more stunning, and his sleep that night was more satisfying.

Apple woke up the following morning and found himself humming a tune as he started making some breakfast for Pippin and himself, his brother waking up soon after Apple did. Pippin held a hoof to his head as he went to the bathroom to grab some aspirin for his hangover after last night’s… escapade at the bar. He then came back into the kitchen and heard Apple humming the tune.

“What are you so fucking happy for?” The venom was palpable.

Apple stopped humming for a second. “Oh, good morning Pip! I’m just making some breakfast for us.” He continued to hum.

“Yeah, well, can you keep it down? I’m dealing with a bastard of a headache right now and I can’t have you making it any worse for me” Pippin said, going back to the living room and sitting down at the folding dinner table and covering his head with his forehooves.

“Alright Pippin!” Apple replied cheerfully, barely stopping his humming. He wouldn’t let Pippin’s attitude get him down again, it was all part of the new plan. He grabbed some bowls and filled them with his homemade cereal recipe that he was quite proud of and took them to the living room.

“Alright, eat up!” he said, putting a bowl in front of Pippin and smiling at him.

Pippin didn’t start eating yet. “Alright you fuck. Why are you so happy right now? What, you finally got laid last night or something?”

Apple looked up from his seat across the table. “What? Oh, no no no. Way better.”

Pippin raised an eyebrow. “Well? What then?”

“Oh you’d just bring my mood down like you usually do, so I’m not going to tell you.” He smiled at Pippin again, nearly driving him mad.

“Come on, tell me! We’re brothers, right Elstar? We can talk about things, right?” Pippin tried, but Apple wasn’t planning on giving him any leeway.

“Not a chance!” Apple said, continuing to eat.

“Gah, fine. I’ll find out though, just you wait!” Pippin mumbled angrily as he started eating his cereal while Apple watched with a hint of a grin.

Apple decided to continue the game. “So how was last night? That lifestyle of yours working out for ya?” He struck gold when he saw Pippin’s face turning slightly red.

“Oh, great, great, no problem at all. Things were crazy last night, I’m sure. I can’t remember exactly what happened, but it was fucking quality, that I can guarantee you” Pippin said. Apple had to control a chuckle and a smile.

“What? Fucking what is it this time?!” Pippin shouted.

“Oh…” Apple almost laughed out loud. “Nothing, nothing at all!”

“You really piss me off sometimes, you know that right?”

“Oh trust me, I know” Apple said. He really enjoyed toying with Pippin for once, but he felt he should probably tell him now. “Actually Pippin, for the the first time in what seems like forever, I had a normal conversation with some other ponies. I actually… I made friends, Pip.”

Pippin put his spoon down. “So that’s what this whole deal is about? Really? That’s it? Sometimes you are pathetic…” Pippin mumbled. Apple could only smile at Pippin. “What. What? Why are you doing that?” said Pippin.

Apple hummed part of the tune he was humming earlier. “It’s the little things in life.”

“Yeah, right” Pippin chuckled as he continued eating. “But I still think we should get you laid” he said with his mouth still full. “It’ll do wonders for your self-confidence.”

Apple rolled his eyes. “We’ve been over this a million times before, Pippin. I’m not interested in relationships. And especially not the way you handle them.”

“Bullshit. Elstar, listen to me for a sec. There is no stallion in the known world who would not enjoy a good banging” Pippin began.

Apple rolled his eyes at Pippin’s bluntness. “I’m pretty sure there are some not interested in stuff like that, and you don’t immediately have to get vulg-”

“But let me tell you Elstar, there is nothing quite like that feeling of pure bliss-”

“Please don’t Pippin, please…” Apple was not feeling good about any of this. Why did most conversations with Pippin always end up on this subject?

Pippin continued “-when you finally feel the retraction, that long awaited squeeze, that final push-.”

“Please stop!” Apple really didn’t want this to go any further than it already had. He desperately looked around for something to cover his ears with.

“-it’s better than any feeling known to you or me. Better than just masturbating in your bed, that’s for sure. Even you should know about that” Pippin chuckled with a smirk.

Apple was now blushing bright red, brought on by arousal, shame, and most of all, fury. He needed to leave, now. He just barely regained his composure.

“Well, I think it’s time for me to leave now” Apple said, standing up from the table, his face losing some of its redness.

“Where are you going?” said Pippin. “I wasn’t even halfway through my lecture!”

“No… thank you. I’ll be fine without its wise knowledge” Apple said sarcastically as he put on his scarf. “I’ll see you tonight Pippin” he said as he closed the door behind him.

The snow had continued falling through the entire night, or at least that seemed to be case, judging from the rather sudden pack of thick snow that had been deposited. Way in the distance, the floating city of Cloudsdale and its famed Weather Factory were hard at work maintaining the weather conditions, the rainbows coming from the city’s fountains falling down gently, evaporating halfway. It was a magnificent sight; one of the many reasons Apple enjoyed winter as much as he did. The floating city, above the white rooftops of Ponyville and next to the coated mountain ranges seemed almost fairytale-like. Like something unreal; otherworldly.

Sometimes, Apple envied the pegasi, being able to live in such a world; so carefree and unbound by the landscape. But flying around all the time like they did meant that they also missed out on walking around in the snow while it silently creaked beneath every hoofstep, the snowball fights -or turf wars as they were explained to him by a perky young pegasus- held by the local filly population, the delicious, warm smells coming from the shops and stalls around town that were even more delightful in the cold surroundings…

Filled with joy, Apple went into town, eager to see what Ponyville’s residents had conjured up on this first snow day. Walking around town and asking some of the ponies walking around yielded little results of interest however. There was the usual ‘Happy First Snow Day!’ party hosted by Pinkie Pie, which he wasn’t too keen on going to. He was never very excited for social gatherings, especially those hosted by the erratic pink pony.

There was a… ‘Wubfest For Winter’ or something, as it was advertised on a card he got from a shady pony in an alleyway. Apple assumed it was commemorating the first snowfall, or at least he thought so since it wasn’t exactly clear.

He got another flyer with some conflicting details. At the same address as the previous event, and strangely enough at the same time (both of which Apple either attributed to bad planning or a mistake on the printer's part), there was a small orchestra performing various symphonies created by famous musicians over the centuries, all in the theme of winter, while hosting a soiree in which an ‘environment would be created where matters of intellectual values could be discussed’. This one seemed to be the most interesting so far so he decided to hold on to it.

The talk on the street, however, was about a large snowball that had hit the town just earlier, covering the entirety of Ponyville and its surroundings in a blanket of snow. It was rather strange how it was calmly snowing the previous night (the pegasus ponies testing their technology, he assumed), and suddenly there being a thick packet of snow the following day. He heard various conflicting reports from ponies claiming to be ‘eyewitnesses’. Some claimed it was a monster attack on the Weather Factory, several blamed it on Changeling infiltrators and saboteurs, while others said it was just a machine malfunction. Regardless, the culprit remained a mystery.

Apple imagined that whoever did it was probably protected by some small inner circle of ponies like the mafia or something, just like in those mystery novels and movies he loved so much. The point was, the citizens of Ponyville had been very proactive in the planning of the parties. The party he was most interested in however, the soiree night with all that classical music, was not until next week. He frowned. Maybe he could ask some of his new friends to come with him?