The girls waltzed through the wintry bliss towards Octavia’s apartment; another moment of pure happiness for Octavia. She wasn’t sure why, but every time she was with Lyra, her entire world flipped upside down. All her worries were gone the second she was around. Any past regrets or any feeling of sadness disappeared.

They took their time walking back, and to even extend the moment, Octavia suggested a detour through the park. Her mint friend agreed by tossing a ball of snow right onto her forehead. Only seconds later, snow flew through the air and the beautiful sound of laughter was heard, echoing through the trees and buildings.

Many lights lit up the trees in a rainbow of color. Red, blue, yellow and more, but there was a certain color that Lyra caught in Octavia’s eyes. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it was like clockwork when that huge smile was plastered on her face.

There’s my Octy. The REAL Octy.

Eventually they grew tired of lobbing snowballs across the streets at each other, so they collapsed on a nearby park bench, their chests heaving from laughter and all the exertion. A silence passed not too long after, not an awkward one, but more of rest between a flurry of notes in a piece. Their breaths crystallized in the air and dispersed with every breath. Octavia finally looked over to Lyra, who was already looking back at her.

“Ready to go home?”

“I’m ready.”

Lyra pulled the covers over herself with her magic. She had opted to take the couch, no matter how many times she was offered the bed. Lyra had slept on the bed before, and it was too tough for her liking. The couch, on the other hoof, was really plush and soft. It even turned into a bed, but when you do that, some of the plushness gets lost somehow. After about twenty minutes of convincing, Octavia finally gave up and went to go brush her teeth. Once again, Lyra felt really comfortable. Wait… Something wasn’t right. A low rumble was heard through the room. “Hmm, maybe just eating popcorn for dinner wasn’t such a good idea,” she said to herself. A messy-maned Octavia walked into the living room.

“I heard that. Are you hungry? I am.” The second Lyra heard that, the unicorn ripped off the maroon blanket and did some stretches. She let out a yawn and entered the kitchen. Messy-maned Octavia decided to make some macaroni. She pulled open the pantry door and pulled a box of Insta-Mak and set it down on her counter. A pot of boiling water had already been put on the stove for some tea.

“What’s for… uh… our midnight snack, Octy?” Lyra inquired, leaning onto the marble table top.

“I mean, it’s pretty apparent that it’s macaroni,” Octavia joked.

“Oh, haha. Right.”

“Well, it’ll take just a few minutes. Why don’t you go ahead and sit down while I finish up here?”

“Okay, I’ll set the table for our fancy mac n’ cheese snack.”

“Go for it.”

“This is bit more “fancy” than I thought it’d be,” Octavia said as she set down two bowls of macaroni. To be honest, the table wasn’t anything close to fancy-looking; it was more like a bunch of silverware dumped around a few plates and napkins. She tried hard to hold back her laughter, while Lyra hoped she’d set the table correctly. She finally managed to take her seat while Octavia returned with the freshly brewed tea.

“Looks good, Octy.”

“Thank you very much, Lyra. Let’s dig in!”

“Yay!” Lyra exclaimed. Suddenly, the light flickered and then went out. The sound of the heater/air conditioner unit powering off hung in the air for a bit. The only light was from the two tall candles that she had lit just a couple minutes ago. “Great. Power’s out. Who knows how long it’ll be out.”

“Alright, if you say so, Octy.” Lyra smiled, taking a bite of her own food. The next ten minutes passed in silence, but the kind of silence that was relaxing. The mares had their eyes locked on each other in a dreamy way as they ate. Once the Insta-Mak was all gone, they spent another ten minutes drinking their hot tea. Ice and snow smacked occasionally against the window, causing one or the other to look at the window. The temperature of the apartment was falling quickly at a very noticeable rate. The only thing keeping the two friends warm was the tea, and because of that, the tea didn’t last too long.

“H-hey Octy, It’s um, getting a bit cold, dontcha think?” she asked, her teeth chattering.

“Yeah, it’s getting quite cold. Wait here. I’m going to go ask my neighbor if they know what’s going on,” Octavia confirmed.

“Okay.”

“Be right ba-” A knocking on the front door was heard. “ck.” She trotted over and pulled the door open.

“Octavia! I just got news that the weather is getting really bad tonight,” a sky blue-colored stallion said through the doorway. It’s Octavia’s neighbor that she rarely ever saw. He was always out at some concert or music festival.

“Oh hello, Blue. Thanks for telling me.” He nodded. “So, the weather is going to get worse?”

“Well, as long as you stay in the building until morning, you should be fine, but it will get VERY, VERY cold. It’s already almost negative eight degrees Celsius, and it’ll hit about negative thirteen by two in the morning.” He blinked and then continued. “Pretty much; the building’s heating is out because no power. It won’t be nearly as bad as negative twelve, but it’ll probably be around seven or eight degrees in the building.”

“Alright, thank you for the information, Blue,” Octavia said.

“No problem! Stay warm!” he sang as he stormed off into his own room. Octavia shut her door and sat back down.

“So, long story short, it’s gonna be really cold?”

“Yep.”

“Well, Celestia damn it.”

“Yeah, this rarely happens, but it does happen. Sorry that this all happened. I want my guests to feel as comfortable as possible.”

“Ah, Octy! You’re trying too hard to make me feel comfortable. I AM comfortable,” Lyra explained. Her eyes showed a bit of concern, but then it was gone.

“Oh, alright then. Well, I guess we should prepare for the night.” Octavia scratched her ear.

“Yeah, so how are we gonna do this?”

“I only really have one blanket. I never saw the need to have more than one. I live alone… but I think you should have it for tonight, Lyra.”

“... What?”

“You’re gonna have the blanket,” Octavia insisted. Her giant puppy dog eyes were hard for Lyra to ignore, but the offer was ridiculous.

“No way, Octy. No way. It’s freezing, you’ll get Hypothermia or something,” she insisted.

“Oh, I’ll be alright as long as you’re comfortable.”

“This again,” Lyra thought. “Fine, I can play at that game too, Octy. Just watch this!”

“Well, Octy… I guess we’re at an impasse. I feel comfortable only when you’re comfortable.”

“Uhh…”

“Gotcha! I got an idea though.” Octavia raised her eyebrow in interest.

“Hmm? What is it?”

“We can SHARE the blanket!” Octavia did a quick double-take.

“Share? Are you serious?” she managed to sputter. “Like in the same bed? Using the same blanket?”

“Does that make you uncomfortable?” Lyra asked, genuinely worried that she had surpassed her boundaries.

“No, not particularly. Just that… I’ve never shared a bed before. What if I’m somepony that kicks in her sleep?” Lyra was dumbfounded. Is THAT what she was worried about?”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m a tough mare,” Lyra answered, puffing out her chest in a comical manner. Octavia giggled and then eventually gave in.

“Okay, fine. We can share the blanket and a bed.”

“Yesss!”

“Alright, you big green baby. Let’s get to bed.”

The two mares lay on the single Queen-sized mattress back to back. This was much better than before. Lyra enjoyed the heat of Octavia’s body while she enjoyed Lyra’s. There was another pretty silence like before. The only thing that could be heard was each other’s faint breathing and the light taps of snow against the glass window. The fuzzy blanket was large enough to wrap them both into a giant pony burrito.

Lyra couldn’t keep a smile off of her face. This was officially her favorite day ever, compared to any day in college, or high school. On the other end, Octavia pondered how she herself felt on the inside. A warmth, a different kind of warmth was felt in her chest. Her cheeks blushed and she felt an irresistible urge to kick her leg.
What is this? Then it suddenly struck. She was in love. With Lyra. How could she be so naive? It all made sense. The feeling she felt whenever Lyra was around. The feeling of being at home, the feeling of being loved… the feeling of Love.

For another half hour, Lyra had some trouble getting to sleep. but then she felt some movement. Looking over, Lyra noticed that Octavia was asleep. “Hmm, she is adorable.” A thought popped into Lyra’s brain, which she took full advantage of. She pulled Octavia close to her chest and hugged her like a filly would a stuffed animal or a pillow.

It only took minutes for Lyra to start nodding off. Then the entirety of the beautiful snowy night all blended together into a single darkness.

On the other side of town, in a fairly large pillow fort, sat Key. A pencil lie perched in her mouth, a determined look shined in her eye, and balled up paper was strewn everywhere. Multiple plates of cookie crumbs littered the floor around the fort, and the air smelled vaguely like a mixture of cinnamon and vanilla coffee.

The power was still on and going strong where Lyra and Key’s apartment was. By what she had heard, this area shouldn’t have any issues with the storm. The lights didn’t even seem to falter as the snow storm raged on just a few meters away from where Key sat. Many empty bags of marshmallows and soda bottles littered the kitchen. If Lyra walked in that very second, she’d probably get pretty pissed at the mess she’d made.

Groaning in distaste, Key balled up another sheet of paper and tossed it to the side. She really ought to be doing this on her piano, the one in her room, instead of trying to come up with meaningful lyrics to her latest song without any real sense of tempo, or feeling of the music.

“Why is this so difficult!” she complained, stuffing her face with a couple more marshmallows. “Ugh, I know what Lyra would say…” She stood up and waved a hoof in the air in no particular direction.

“Blah, blah, you gotta feel the music, Key! You can’t do blah blah blah without blah blah blah!” Suddenly, she turned towards a tall mirror on the wall and continued.

“Then a split second later, she’d be like... “

“Hey! What’re you doing Key? You gotta let the music feel you! And then I’d be like…”

“But… you just told me…”

“Forget what I told you. Just do what you need to, then she’d just leave without another word.” Key huffed and fell onto her back. “I’ve been doing this garbage for seven hours! Why can’t I think of any lyrics?” She paused. “Well, including all three hundred thousand breaks I took in between.” For a few minutes, she lay in the center of the living room, but then dragged herself into her own room. “Maybe I’ll be able to come up with something in my ‘dojo’.”

The snow had stopped sometime during the night. Clouds moved away from the city area and moved over to some town called Ponyville, allowing the sun to shine once again. Little beams of golden light trickled through the cracks in Octavia’s blinds. The first to wake was Lyra, who had found that sometime during the night she had pulled Octavia right beside her; one hoof was still wrapped over the top of her body and the other sitting somewhat uncomfortably under her.

Stunned, Lyra tried to move away without waking Octavia, but with her hoof trapped under her, it would be near impossible. It was worth the try, though. She wouldn’t want her to assume anything negative about this situation. With a breath and a mental count to three, she tried to pull her hoof away, but to her horror, Octavia moved with it.

“Hmm?” Octavia said, half asleep. “Hold me again, Lyra…” Lyra couldn’t tell if she was actually talking to her, or if she was talking in her sleep. She decided to be safe and not comply. The sleepy voice spoke again. “Hoooold meee.”

“No!” she whispered.

“Whyyyyy?” Octavia complained.

“She is definitely sleeptalking,” Lyra thought. “But maybe, I can just put my hoof on top of her again... “ And with that thought, she slowly moved her hoof back onto Octavia. She seemed to calm back down and then push herself back towards her, pressing her back against the unicorn’s chest. The sudden movement caused Lyra to make a loud squeak from surprise.

“Huh? What?”

“Uh-oh,” Lyra thought as Octavia turned towards her. All Lyra could do was keep an awkward smile on her face as she slowly removed her hoof from Octavia’s back.

“What were you doing?” she asked with a serious tone.

“I, uh, I was holding you,” Lyra admitted. Her ears flopped down as the awkward silence raged on. There really were no upsides to lying at this point.

“Did I give permission to do that?” she asked after a minute of thinking to herself. Her brain took some time to process things, since she just woke up.

“Well, yeah. You did.” Octavia blushed and moved her face away from Lyra.

“I-I’m sorry. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“What?! Why?” Lyra questioned. She could feel her eyes getting watery in the corners.

“I’m not sure yet, but I have this strange feeling in my chest and I don’t really know what to make of it. It’s like my insides are burning every time I’m near you, like you’re a magnet that I can’t separate from…” she paused. “Please, just go.” Lyra looked up at the ceiling before moving.

“Alright, I’m gonna go home.” With a heavy heart, she lifted herself off of the mattress and towards the door. She stopped before exiting the bedroom and looked back at Octavia, who was watching through the corner of her eye. “Hey Octy… that feeling you’re talking about? It’s love. You talk about me in your sleep. You feel more comfortable around me, and I can see that, but if you really do want to get away from me, I’ll respect that.” Octavia turned head away again and hid under the covers like a child would. “See you around…”

The sound of the bedroom door shutting was heard, so Octavia slowly pulled the covers off her head. Her heart beat like crazy and her own tears rolled down the side of her face. She felt so weak… so confused. What was she feeling? What was she thinking?

“Lyra…” Was what she said true? She did feel more comfortable around Lyra. She did think about Lyra often. She enjoyed her company, and enjoyed her smile. She loved the way she talked and the way she handled situations. Her musical ability, her friends, her voice, her mane. Just everything! Why did she ask her to leave?

Octavia threw herself off of the bed, and tumbled onto her wooden floor. It hurt, but something else would hurt more if she didn’t fix it. “Lyra! Wait!” she screamed in her morning voice. “Lyra!”

Lyra had just exited the apartment and didn’t hear Octavia’s screams. She wiped a tear with her scarf and sniffed hard. “It’s okay…” she told herself as she dragged herself to the elevator doors. Her ears remained down and she hit the button on the side of the wall.

Octavia trotted to the door and tried to stop, but the carpet caused her to slide straight into the door with all her weight. She groaned, but she had no time for pain. She had to get to Lyra! No concern for the door was considered when she practically ripped it off the hinges and sprinted down the hall. “The elevator!” she exclaimed as she pulled to a sudden stop in front of it. A quick glance showed that an elevator just stopped at the lobby. She smashed the button, but to no avail.

“I don’t have time for this garbage! I’ll take the stairs!”

Door after door nearly ripped off of its hinges if it stood in Octavia’s wake. She skipped every possible stair she could. She needed to get down seven floors, and fast. Paying no attention to her safety, she tripped and tumbled down the stairs as fast as possible. Finally. The door to the lobby!

Again, Octavia burst through the door and out the glass double door leading outside. She was a mess. Her mane a complete disaster, her nose bleeding from running into her door earlier and various bruises on her body from falling down the stairs. Almost instantly, she was hit with a wall of freezing cold air and a beam of sunshine. She fell face-first into a mound of snow, but didn’t waste any time on getting back up.

A barely visible streak of mint green could be seen through Octavia’s faded vision. Half-blind, Octavia trudged on towards her until she was stopped. A hoof gently wiped the snow and stream of blood off of her face.

“Lyra… I… Please come back. I’m sorry I told you to leave. I wasn’t thinking straight.” Octavia said. She didn’t look up, but she could feel Lyra’s angry eyes piercing her body. Finally, she decided to look up, just for a second with her puppy dog eyes so Lyra would go easy on her. She quickly stole a look, but stopped in her tracks.

Lyra looked lost. almost as if she was just told to put down her guitar, set it on fire and watch it turn to ashes. Then on top of that, told to leave music forever. Her eyes were slightly damp and her nose was running.

“Lyra, I think you were right. Forgive me, please. I still think you’re right. When you’re around me, I feel at home. When you’re not around, I spend my time thinking about you, and… I think I’d like to date you.” Lyra’s eyes regained their luster as Octavia said that. Her golden eyes filled up with her own personality again. She stood on the edge of desire. She opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off.

“Don’t say a word, just come home and lie down with me.”

Suddenly, a crazy idea popped into Octavia’s mind. An idea that could fix everything. It was now or never to do it. Lyra was less than a step away from her, and the only thing that could fix this was to close that gap. The next second felt slower than normal. The rest of the world seemed to freeze in place as they stared each-other in the eyes.

Octavia popped forward and locked lips with Lyra.

Author's Note

Look! It's Key and Rocky!