The stallion stepped outside his apartment and immediately cringed as a blast of cold air blew over him, chilling him to the bone.
He pulled his jacket and scarf tighter to him and set off into the frigid, winter morning, hoping that the snow would not impede his journey to work too much.
It was several degrees under freezing, as it had been all week, the coldest couple of days in years, and certainly the coldest day he had ever experienced, and he had to walk to work in a veritable blizzard.
The weather pegasi had apologized profusely for the inconvenience, but assured the public that the entire region was overdue for a snowstorm, and the stallion, though not entirely sure why that was the case or was particularly happy about it, decided to leave it up to the professionals and just accept it.
And so, he reluctantly trudged to work in piles of ice and snow that came up to his knees, tightly wrapped in three layers of clothes, more angry that his boss had not canceled work than he was at the weather itself.
He did, however, take solace in the fact that many other ponies were also working, as evidenced by the fact that the city streets were still as crowded as they ever were.
By now, after several minutes of walking, the stallion was thoroughly cold, even despite his clothes, and wanted nothing more to make it to his job, where it was warm and not snowing.
Turning the corner, he was hit by another gust of cold air, sending his whole body into violent shivers.
He clenched his eyes shut for a moment and turned his head away from the violent wind, frozen to the spot, unable to move due to how unbelievably cold he felt.
After a moment, he took a step forward, and then another, and then continued on, practically galloping down the sidewalk, desperately wanting to make it to his destination, which was only just up ahead.
The stallion paused briefly a few seconds later to readjust his hat and earmuffs, which had almost slid off, before walking the last three blocks at a much more respectable pace.
Soon enough, though not fast enough for him, he finally arrived at the building.
He wrenched open the door as fast as he could and stumbled into the lobby, relieved to have made it, reveling in the warm air inside.
And the stallion made the decision right then, that, even if there was still work the next day, he certainly was not going to show up.