A Cold Wind Blows

Chapter 3
The Difficulties of Buying a Typewriter

The following day came and Glacier found himself sitting at his typewriter like he usually did; writing out more of his latest novel, whilst he drank his morning tea. It was a ritual the stallion had grown accustomed to over the past few years. Wake up, shower, eat breakfast, and then drink tea. But as he peered over to the front door for what felt like the thirtieth time this morning, he hoped that this morning would be a little different, even though he really did want to get more work done on his story.

With another ding of the bell on his old Corona typewriter, Glacier pulled the parchment from the roller with a swish. He looked the paper over and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. And, eventually giving in, the stallion smiled. He liked what he had written.

Tossing the paper into the pile of inky-word covered pages on his right, Glacier slid himself off of his chair and walked over to the kitchen. Entering, he made his way for the refrigerator before pulling the door open with a wing. He examined the innards of the appliance, scanning over the shelves with a half-lidded expression. He was looking for a quick snack but couldn’t really seem to find anything in particular that he felt like snacking on in that moment. So he stood there, in deep thought, before a rather pleasant idea struck him.

“Hey,” he started, monolog-ing out loud to himself (as he found himself doing on occasion now), “I could go into town and get something to eat.” His stomach growled and he looked down to it before holding it with a hoof, rubbing it like an expectant mother. “Sounds like you agree too. Guess I didn’t really know how hungry I really was.”

Closing the fridge’s door with a slight thwack, Glacier turned about face and started on his way to the front door, grabbing his saddlebag and his rather light bag of bits from his desk in the hallway. He then pulled his key from his bag, opened the door with a wing, and stepped outside in seemingly one quick motion. He then locked the door and began his walk to the market of Ponyville. Because if there was one place that a pony could get a really good and nutritious snack, it was the Ponyville marketplace.

2…

Walking up and into the marketplace, Glacier took in the sights and the sounds of the bustling gathering spot. He sniffed the air and he could smell the crispness and sweetness of today’s freshly picked apples, and he could smell the glorious array of flowers that were on display in a stall to his immediate right. The pony there, Rose Luck he knew her by, was a rather kind pony. She sold her arrangements to both ponies looking to give them to loved ones, and those looking to…eat some. Because you wouldn’t think by looking at them, but flowers taste pretty darn good; even with all the other choices that the market had to offer in the way of food. But not only did the stalls of the market offer a quick meal for ponies, but they also offered various things for them to spend their hard-earned bits on. And one of those stalls just so happened to be catching Glacier’s eye now.

The stallion was looking over to a relatively new looking vendor here; a unicorn mare with a mane as red as a sparkling ruby, and as soft looking as the finest Equestrian silk. Her fur looked even softer than her mane—it was the colour of snow. She was certainly a standout in the crowd. But Glacier only noticed the booth for what the mare was selling there. Typewriters.

He walked up to the stall and began to peruse the selection of Corona, Royal-Barlock, New Moon, and Penncrest machines that they had there. They all looked fine and dandy to him, the sole New Moon typewriter catching his eye the most. Mainly due to its clear connection with Princess Luna herself. Her cutie mark was even on full display on the front of the machine, with the companies name printed proudly underneath it. The stallion continued to look this particular machine over, examining it to see if it would be a good purchase to make in the interest of his writing.

“Fine looking machine, is it not?” the sound of a smooth, illustrious voice came. It was the mare of the stall. Her voice sounded as smooth as her fur looked.

“It is,” Glacier beamed, continuing to look the machine over, pressing all the keys down with his wings and seeing how they smacked the roller at the back. He continued to do this, the mare eyeing him down with an almost curious look in her eyes.

“So, Mister…” the mare trailed off, looking to Glacier’s cutie mark to try and place a name, but Glacier beat her to the punch.

“Wind,” Glacier said with his smile still very much prevalent on his features. “Glacier Wind.” He continued to look over the typewriter on the countertop.

The mare sat there for a moment, rolling the name around in her head a little, trying to see if she knew this stallion already. He did look pretty familiar to her—it was his face that did it. The way he looked over the machine in wonderment and awe only seemed to exemplify the feelings. It drove the mare so crazy that she just up and asked the stallion.

“You look rather familiar to me, darling,” the unicorn mare started, using her magic to move some of the stray strands of hair that had fallen into her vision out.

“Hmm?” the stallion hummed, looking up from the typewriter and now to the mare. He looked her in the eyes, watching her, waiting for her to speak again. But when she didn’t, the stallion took it upon himself to answer back in due cause. “I didn’t quite catch that,” he said, grinning to the snow-white mare. “Could you say that again?”

The mare smiled back at Glacier and walked around the stall and sat down next to him. “You look familiar, honey. Do I know you from somewhere?” Glacier cocked his brow, looking to the mare with a look of indifference. He hadn’t been called honey by anyone since—

Shaking the bad thought that tried to creep its way into the stallion’s mind, Glacier frowned slightly before responding. “Where do you think you know me from?” The stallion already had a pretty good idea as to where this mare probably more than likely knew him from and he was readying himself internally. He had been recognised by various passersby for his stories a few times before, but it was so rare an event that the stallion still had not figured out how to cope with the excitement they project. And he never really got it all that much, anyways; why they got so excited, that is. He wasn’t very popular and his stories weren’t really all that great either. At least that’s what his father had always told him. Although Glacier’s father had told him some various displeasing things about himself in his lifetime, so he could never tell if it was truth or all lies.

The mare tried to curl her tail around Glacier’s own, but he pulled his away when he realized just what she was doing. “My dear, I believe I recognise you from your book ‘A Lover’s curse’. At least, I recognise you from the photograph on the back of the book.” She attempted to wrap her tail around Glacier’s once again, and Glacier stood up if almost out of reflex and looked down on the mare with a scowl growing on his features. He had never been treated like this before, by any one fan. It was…strange.

“I am interested in purchasing that New Moon typewriter today,” Glacier said with the extension of a hoof in the machines general direction. His scowl only grew as the mare stood alongside him and began running her tail along his barrel and his chest as if to elicit a response from him. And it was working. Though it wasn’t the response she was hoping for, that was for certain. “Please, may I buy the typewriter and be gone?”

It was the stall mare’s turn for her expression to turn sour. “Well, Mister Wind, if you are so keen on just buying the goods and not really being able to sample all that I have to offer, then so be it—“

“Is there something the matter here?” a voice called out from behind Glacier. It sounded like another stallion. So help him if somepony thought that he was trying to force himself upon this mare…

“Yes,” Glacier began, spinning about face of the nameless mare. “As a matter-of-fact there—“He stopped and blank-faced when he seen who had asked him that very question. It was the stallion that Glacier had met at the record store yesterday. The handsome cashier stallion.

“Hey, I know you!” the stallion said with a slight chuckle. “You and your friend were in The Beat Goes On yesterday. You bought her all those albums but only bought yourself that one.” He smiled brightly, ignoring the now scowling mare from behind the stall counter. “Did you give it a listen yet?”

“Um, no,” Glacier said sheepishly, blushing under his icy-blue coat. It was very noticeable. “I haven’t gotten around to it just yet,” he finished.

The stallion chuckled again, clearly noticing the sheepish blush. “Well, maybe you would like to go for coffee sometime after you listen to it and we can talk about what you thought of it.” He cocked his head to the side and smiled brightly. “Would you like to? It would be really fun. I’d like to know what you thought of it.”

His eyes shot open, and Glacier was finding it hard to not jump up and down on the spot like Ice Stream. His mouth felt dry, it becoming rather difficult to speak or even gauge a response of some sort at all. He just stood there, mouth agape, eyes wide, gawking at the poor stallion before him.

The chocolate brown unicorn giggled as he noticed Glacier lost in thought and tried to pull him back to reality. “Anyways,” the stallion began, pointing to the mare and the stall of typewriters behind Glacier, “were you planning on buy a typewriter today?”

He quirked an eyebrow as Glacier’s muzzle flew shut and he nodded his head up and down rapidly with a signifying and emphatic ‘yes’. He then looked back over his shoulder and to the mare that seemed to still be fuming not only from how he had acted with her, but from how he was acting with this stallion as well. Realizing this, the stallion smiled a wicked smile at the mare and looked back to the record store pony. He motioned for the stallion to join his side and he did, sitting down next to Glacier as they surveyed the table again; Glacier pointing out the typewriter he was interested in buying from the stall-mare.

“This is the one I was interested in buying,” he said with a continuous smile on his muzzle. “It really caught my eye because of the name and the logo the company picked to resemble and speak for their products.”

The unicorn looked the machine over himself and smiled a goofy yet somehow sexy smile at the pegasus and Glacier could feel the tips of his ears going red and his face growing hot once more. It was a repeat offence of the incident in the Beat Goes On, except this time they were very much in the public eye out here—exposed as they were to any passersby. Glacier, however, was paying it no mind at all. He was sure that the unicorn stallion wasn’t either, considering he had asked him to go for a coffee with him in public as well. All that Glacier had to do was accept. But there was still a thought that was tugging at the back of his mind regardless of how the stallion conducted himself around him. Was this supposed to be a date or just a casual cup of coffee?

“It certainly looks like a nice machine,” the unicorn stallion said, giggling all the while. “I haven’t used one of these much, you know, due to my horn and all.” He tapped the appendage with a hoof rather absentmindedly before returning his attention to the typewriter before them. “But for an earth pony and a pegasus like yourself, I can see how it would be really beneficial to you guys. Writing with your mouth cannot be the most pleasant thing in all of Equestria to do.”

Glacier giggled out rather femininely before extending a wing and nudging the unicorn stallion lightly in a confirmative manner. “You wouldn’t be wrong. Especially for long writing sessions where I would be sitting down, hunched over a desk, writing out on parchment for four to five hours straight.”

“Goddesses, why would you need to be all hunched over for that long?” the stallion asked, shocked.

Not wanting to come off as self-righteous, Glacier rubbed the back of his head and answered him humbly. “Well, I tend to write silly, little stories. Nothing all too impressive, but using a typewriter makes all the difference.” The stallion perked back up and, without really realizing it, pointed out into the direction of his home. “And my typewriter back home is getting really old. It might just be time to retire the old boy. I won’t throw him out. I’m just going to put him away for now.”

The stallions eyes lit up, the smile on his muzzle only getting bigger at the mention of Glacier’s writing. “You write stories!” he beamed, trying really hard to not jitter up and down where he was planted. “I love reading!” He threw a foreleg out and wrapped it around Glacier’s back before pulling him in close. He whispered into his ear, “You have to let me read them sometime. I would love to read them.”

Glacier giggled but stifled it with a wing, muffling it. He blushed more. “Y-yeah,” he said, stuttering and tripping over his words. “T-that would be r-really good. I-I would love that.”

The stallion laughed and pulled Glacier close to him, their cheeks touching now. “Yay! I’m so happy I could scream.” The closeness didn’t last all too long however, because when the record store pony noticed he was holding Glacier a little too closely, he released him. Glacier almost fell to the ground but regained his balance and looked over to the chocolate brown unicorn with a skewed expression. He then laughed in return, smacking the unicorn in the side again with his wing.

“I’m glad you are so excited. That’s refreshing.” Far more refreshing than the way his father used to act about the whole thing.

“Of course I am really excited. It’s not every day that you meet somepony who writes stories.” He giggled and began to bounce a little where he sat. “Ponies think I’m weird because I love to read, but stories are some of the most interesting ways to express your emotions. Plus, I love me a really riveting story with adventure or romance in it. I love me some romance.”

Glacier looked away briefly, smirking, thinking about all the romance-type stories he had written before. He then looked back to the bouncing stallion next to him. “Yes…” Glacier said bluntly.

The stallion stopped bouncing and looked to Glacier with a curious look, cocking his head to the side with just as much curiosity. “Yes…? Yes to what?”

Glacier’s face burned brighter, his ear tips becoming noticeably red with embarrassment. “I would like to go for that coffee with you once I listen to that album.”

The stallion’s face seemed to get brighter as his bouncing stopped. He then stood and got really close to Glacier. Almost uncomfortably close, but Glacier didn’t mind it one bit. It actually made him feel even more comfortable with the stallion. Made him feel as if they were really indeed close to one another on a level far more complex than the physical.

“Oh my goodness, you will?!” The stallion gasped next, catching himself and he lowered his voice as to not sound as excited as he appeared to be.

“Yes. But on one condition…” Glacier smirked to himself again as the stallion’s face got ever more so excited once again.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Simple,” Glacier started, draping a wing over the unicorn’s withers. “You have to tell me what your name is.” The stallion look to Glacier a little confused but smiled all the same. He was probably wondering why telling him his name would be the condition. It seemed a little odd that something simple like that would be the condition. But, little did the stallion know, that that was the point all along. It was more to throw him off than anything else.

“Well,” the stallion began with a smile, “that certainly is an interesting and rather easy condition to meet.” He nudged the other stallion with a hoof and giggled in a huff of air. “Turn-Style,” he said

“Pardon?” Glacier said with the quirk of his brow.

“My name is Turn-Style,” the unicorn said

“Oh, that’s a really nice name—“

“Yes!” screamed the mare still fuming behind the stall counter. “It’s such a terrific name. Now, are you going to buy the typewriter, Mister Wind?”

“Oh,” stopped Glacier, looking away from the stallion and to the mare holding the machine in front of him with her pinkish magic. He gawked at the machine before pulling out his bag of bits. “How much is it?”

The mare looked to him with a scowl that read ‘she couldn’t really care any less’, but proceeded to read him out the price anyway. “It’s one-hundred fifty bits.” She sighed a rather prolonged sigh of displeasure before eyeing the stallion down again for his money.

Glacier counted out the bits he had in his wing and when he had counted out the appropriate number that pleased the fiery, redheaded mare behind the counter, she took hold of them in her magic and ripped them from his wings. She then placed the typewriter down on the ground in front of him and thanked him for his business.

“Doesn’t he get something to carry that in?” Turn-Style asked, surprised with the mare’s behaviour just now.

“Not in the slightest,” she stated matter-of-factly, her nose turned to the air. “And I think Mr. Wind knows exactly why he doesn’t. Mr. ‘Too Good for a Mare’ is just going to have to hold it on his back or in his saddlebags.”

Turn-Style looked Glacier’s saddlebag over well at that comment. “It looks like his bag will rip if he has to carry it in there. Can he please—“

“Absolutely not!” the mare bellowed. “He will just have to carry—“

“The least you can do is give him something to carry it in considering he just paid you good money for—“

“If you know what is good for you and your friend here, Mr. Glacier Colt-cuddling Wind,” she sneered in Glacier’s direction now, “I suggest you carry the typewriter in either your saddlebag or in your wings.”

Turn-Style was completely appalled with the mare’s actions now and he took to levitating the machine off of the ground and looked Glacier in the eyes. The stallion looked as if he were going to say something but couldn’t. The words were caught there in the back of his throat, and he was struggling to even move. His body was almost shutting down, causing him to become some sort of lifeless husk in the thrall of this mare. This volatile, disrespectful excuse for a mare.

“C’mon Glacier,” the stallion said, holding the typewriter firmly in his white magical influence. He leaned in and whispered to the stallion. This caused him to gasp and jump as he was pulled from staring at the livid mare behind the wooden counter. “You don’t need to deal with this behaviour.”

The stallion nodded and rose to his hooves before looking to Turn-Style with a frown on his face. “I know…”

He and the stallion than began their leave, walking around and past the typewriter booth and more towards the edge of the marketplace as a whole. The stallions then stopped on the ridge and Turn-Style apologised to Glacier. He told him that he didn’t mean for the mare to speak to him the way she did just because of what he asked him. But Glacier told him that it was alright, and that he would be just fine. All he needed to do was get home and do some writing and he would be just fine.

“If that’s the best thing for you right now, than I understand.” The stallion smiled a reassuring smile and pulled Glacier into another hug. It was certainly different to Glacier, being the one on the receiving end of a hug. Well, a hug that felt as intimate as this one did. He hadn’t been on the receiving end of one of those in years. About 8 years to be exact. And the hug hadn’t been from whom you would have suspected either.

“It is,” Glacier said, looking back into the marketplace from where they stood. “I just need to get my mind off of all this.” He then looked back to the stallion holding him closely. “Not you, of course. I would really like to have that coffee with you.”

“I’m happy to hear.” The stallion pulled him in closer, humming as he held him. “So your name is Glacier Wind, hmm?” Turn-Style questioned, remembering what the mare had called him.

“Yes.”

“That’s a very nice name too, Glacier.” He then pulled off of Glacier and looked down to him with a wavy, wry smile. “Now why don’t we get you home so you can do that writing you wanted to do?” He waggled the new typewriter in front of them both. “And you can use your new little boy right here,” he said in a sing-song tone.

Glacier ducked his head and blushed again at the stallion’s comment. It was quite perverse, but Glacier would have been lying if he said he didn’t like it in the slightest. He loved it actual. It caused a stirring in his—

“I would like that,” Glacier said as they both stood and started on their way down the pathway back to his home.

3…

Both stallions reached Glacier’s home promptly. Glacier reached for his key in his saddle bag while Turn-Style took in the scenery around Glacier’s home. To say the least the stallion was quite impressed with the way it all came together. Sure, he had seen homes on the edge of the Everfree before, but this one really blended in and looked to be part of the forestry itself. And it wasn’t too big either, so the vines that covered a vast majority of the front of the home didn’t look all that out of place either. It fit in just right.

“Your home is rather impressive,” Turn-Style said in a chipper tone.

Glacier looked to him with a look of questioning and a cocky yet goofy grin. “Yeah. Because a house on the edge of the Everfree Forest, inhabited by only one pony, and that pony happening to be some kind of weird story writing stallion doesn’t scream ‘hermit’ or anything like that. It screams ‘coolie mcdoolie stallion that everyone wants to be friends with’.” He giggled as he finally turned the tumbler in the door and pushed it open before walking in. He motioned Turn-Style to follow him inside and the stallion did, nervously so.

“A-are you sure I’m not imposing,” Turn-Style asked, following Glacier into his home. He stood on the mat at the front door and surveyed the area around him, taking in the state of Glacier’s living space. And it was surprising clean to him. He just figured a pony that spent so much of his time indoors writing stories would have a much messier home. That’s all.

“Oh, think nothing of it,” Glacier said, walking back over to Turn-Style once his desk was clean and his saddlebag away, hanging on the coatrack. “Now,” he extended his wings in a cradling position in front of himself, “I can take that heavy piece of metal off of you now.”

“Oh no,” Turn-Style said, pulling the typewriter higher into the air and away from Glacier completely. “I brought it here, I’m going to put it down where you want it to go. I offered the help after all. It’s only right I do this too.” He looked to Glacier’s awestricken face and giggled before sticking out his tongue in further resistance. “I mean it, too. So where do you want it?”

Glacier turned and pointed to his desk midway down his home. “There, just on the desk.” He then walked away and let the stallion go about placing the typewriter on his desk for him. Entering the kitchen, Tur-Style called out to Glacier and asked just what he was doing. This caused Glacier to giggle out loud, however the stallion it would have been directed at could not hear it.

“Do you like tea, Turn-Style?”

Walking up to the kitchen himself and peeking inside, Turn-Style stuck out his tongue again at Glacier. “No need to be so formal Glacier,” he said with a chuckle. “Just call me Style.”

“Okie dokie,” Glacier said with a sheepish chuckle of his own. “So do you like tea, Style?”

“As a matter-of-fact, I do.”

Walking into the kitchen completely now, Glacier offered Style to sit down at the dinning-room table. The stallion accepted, turning the chair around so that he may continue to speak to Glacier as he readied a kettle of water for the stove. They talked all the while Glacier got everything prepared, Style never taking his eyes off of the stallion before him. He even watched Glacier intently as the pegasus hovered to grab two teacups and saucers. But his gazing had to stop once Glacier turned around and the stallion jumped off of the chair to turn it back around with his magic so he could sit at the table proper.

Both of the stallions sat there, talking over various stories that Glacier had written and which ones had been selected for publication. One of them Style even recognised, saying that he had read it once before, but he had never seen any of Glacier’s stories afterwards. He then apologised for making it sound like the stallion’s work wasn’t very popular, but Glacier had to agree with a chuckle and a scratch of his mane. His work really wasn’t all that popular. He was surprised ponies even turned up to the few book signings he did.

Come to think of it, it’s been over a year since his last. That might be a sign as well…

“Do not worry about it,” Glacier said, raising a hoof to stop Style’s apologies. “My work isn’t really all that notable anyways, so it definitely doesn’t upset me.” He placed his hoof down on the table and circled the wood for a moment before sighing. “Like, I wish it was. I’m just not talented enough to get the notoriety that some of my favourite authors get, is all.”

“Hey!” Style interrupted with a slight elevation in voice. “Don’t say that about your work. If I’m remembering correctly the story I read was written three years ago, correct?” Glacier nodded slowly. “Then that means that you would have only gotten better since then. And that story was already really good to begin with. I mean, the mare in that story seemed like she would never find her perfect match, and then she met him on the Canterlot Bridge… Where she was going to jump off… That is some heavy stuff to read. But it was written so well. And the mare was saved from a horrible fate by the love of a very special stallion. It was also very beautiful.”

“I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the story was beautiful,” Glacier protested, blushing again. Albeit this time it was impossible to see due to the lighting of his home and the fact that his ears were completely splayed back.

“Oh, but I would. I loved that story. And it…helped me with a little trouble I was going through myself.” The stallion looked sad, but perked back up as he seen Glacier begin to reach his hoof out across the table in support. He pulled his own away however and apologised for getting so sentimental about something that shouldn’t have been brought up in the first place. That it all meant nothing now.

Glacier, being the semi-smart stallion that he is, opted to leave it alone. He felt that prying would only make it worse. And that if Style actually did want to talk to him about what had happened, that he would tell him of his own volition.

“It’s alright, Style. Don’t worry about it. You don’t need to mention it if you don’t want to.”

“Thanks Glacier…” The stallion looked up to him with a forced smile.

“No problem Style.”

After about twenty or so more minutes of conversation and after the teacups had been emptied of their tea, Style thanked Glacier for being so kind as to let him in his home and haring with him the delicious tea they just had. Glacier just looked at him with the same smile he had before, when he first talked to him in the record store, and walked him to the door.

Style collected himself on the way, knowing a lot more about Glacier than he did previously, and it was only making him even more excited for the time they would spend together at the Fresh Brew Café in the next few days to come. It was giving him something really sweet to look forward to.

“I have to thank you again for what you did back there in the marketplace, Style.”

The stallion stopped as Glacier opened the door, and he looked over to him with a smile just as bright as Glacier’s own. “Think nothing of it. It was the right thing for me to do. What that mare did was disrespectful and despicable. I should hope that nopony gives her anymore business with behaviour like that.” He then stuck out a hoof for Glacier to bump before he finally parted ways for now.

“And I agree with that completely.” Glacier returned the gesture, bumping hooves with Style.

Style nodded in a silent response to Glacier’s agreement and walked outside. He made his way down the steps and onto the twisty pathway, before turning around and waving to Glacier. “I’ll see you soon, Glacier!”

“See you soon Style!”

Glacier smiled brighter than he has ever before in the past eight years of his life and closed the door.