Having successfully averted the destruction of Ponyville, Frosty was glad to see that, apparently, nopony noticed that they had nearly died last night. Seriously, if either Applebloom or worse, Applejack, had gotten word of that, he would’ve probably wished that he actually had died.

Sadly though, even though she didn’t know about Frosty being the one who chased off the Ursa (yet), she did know that he came home late yesterday. Thus, he found himself spending the next morning tending to the garden and the animals.

‘Meh, could’ve been worse’ he thought to himself and Applebloom didn’t seem to mind either. Quite the opposite, she had actually volunteered to help him and even seemed so motivated about it that ‘eager’ didn’t even cut it anymore.

Naturally, Frosty knew the cause for this: the spell, he had apparently put on them when he touched them. He couldn’t be quite sure yet, if it was the actual effect or just a side-effect, but apparently, all three of the crusaders had fallen in love with him shortly after… or, no… it wasn’t until they laid eyes on him that the spell apparently took effect…

‘I definitely have to put some research into that as soon as there’s a day that’s not all-too exciting…’ He thought, already noting that that likely meant ‘never’, going by Ponyville’s track record.

In the meantime, though, he could work on and with what he already had, namely the crusaders. The problem with that would only be: should he be the one to make the first move or should he wait for them to come out first? It could be that they weren’t ready yet and were just waiting and trying to determine their own feelings, after all… or they were waiting for him to make a move and he was currently risking losing their affection… in any case, he would need to—

“WATCH OUT DOWN THERE!!!” Suddenly called a voice from above, that somehow sounded familiar.

Applebloom immediately dove out of the way as soon as she heard the call. Frosty, however, made the mistake of turning around and looking first and the only thing he came to see was a blue and rainbow blur, before he found himself rolling across the ground.

When the tumbling stopped, he found himself laying splayed out on the ground underneath somepony, with something soft and fleshy pressing against his muzzle.

“Frosty, are you okay?” he heard Applebloom ask from his side, to which he could only give a muffled answer.

“Hmmf hmmf hmm” (I’m o-kay)

His mumblings were showing an immediate effect, as they caused whoever was lying atop him to… moan (?!) in surprise and shoot up into a hover in front of him. That’s when he identified her as Rainbow Dash… who was sporting a fierce blush and was holding her forelegs between her hind ones, all while staring at Frosty with her eyes as wide as dinner plates. And now, Frosty also knew what it was that he was feeling against his muzzle.

‘Oh… OH!!!’ He thought, slowly growing just as red as Rainbow.

Meanwhile, Applebloom stood off to the side, looking back and forth between the two. “What’s going on? Did I miss something?” She asked, looking at Rainbow, who immediately crossed her forehooves before her chest and looked away to hide her blush.

“No, nothing, nothing at all.” She claimed.

Meanwhile, Frosty was having a problem of his own. ‘No, bad bloodstream, BAD BLOODSTREAM!! Quick, think something unerotic! Euh… euh… that time, when we had to clean the cowshed! Yeah, how we first argued about who would get to clean upstairs and Scootaloo came out on top… how the whole floor was full with… whatever that was… the way Sweetie looked, when Scootaloo kicked over a bucket of milk and… …Oh, bollocks.’

Frosty was close to panicking, as he tried and failed to tame his masculinity that was now threatening to leave the confines of its sheath. ‘Oh no! Quick, a distraction!’ He thought to himself.

“Ain’t lookin’ like nothin’.” Applebloom stated. “What were ya even doin’ out ‘ere?”

Quicker than Frosty would have ever imagined possible, he saw Rainbow’s demeanor change from flustered and/or utterly embarrassed to an over-excitement that almost rivalled Pinkie’s.

“The best young flyers competition is coming around next month! Didn’t you know that?! Oh, wait… yeah, forget I asked. Anyways, I’m definitely going to take first place!”

“Oh, the best young flyers! Heh, I bet Scootaloo would love to see you partake!” Frosty said, already coming up with a way to use the event to his advantage. “Heck, I bet, she’d even love to be here now and watch you train.”

“Heh, yeah, she’d probably like that. Too bad her wings won’t carry her all the way up there…” Rainbow mused. “Well, anyways, I better get back to it. Can’t let these muscles cool down too much.”

“Well, ya ain’t seemin’ so cold the way yer hind legs‘re sweatin’.” Applebloom noted innocently.

“Sweating? What are you…” She looked back down and immediately went pale, as she saw what Applebloom actually meant. “Eh… heh, no, that’s… euh, anyways, gottagetbacktotraining, BYE!” She stammered, before quickly zooming off with her face glowing red as lava.

“Did ah say something weird?” Applebloom asked after a moment.

“Nope, not at all, Applebloom. Not at all.” Frosty assured with a light chuckle, before getting back to his chores.

When the sun was done with its ascend, so was Frosty with his chores. Who could’ve known that simple garden work could take half a day? Simple: those who were actively delaying their progress. After all, simple tasks are a good way to keep your body busy, while your brain is occupied with something else, that something in this case being forming a sound plan for the best young flyers competition.

Frosty knew that he could definitely take advantage of the things that were (hopefully) still bound to happen there. Of course, it was a risk to rely on things just going well, but it was a risk he had to take.

As he was thinking, he was making his way down toward Twilight’s Library, where he hoped to at least verify if Rainbow’s friends were going to cheer for her. That and he needed a spell or two, which he hoped Twilight could teach him.

On his way into town, he passed the destroyed school building, which was now being worked on and smirked a little at the sight. It wasn’t at all his plan to have the Ursa flee through the school yard, but he wouldn’t really say that he didn’t like the result either. He knew that it was a bad thing for the other foals, but he was glad that he was finally free of this useless rewind of his schooltime… At least until they’ve fixed the giant hole in the middle there.

A bit of wandering later, Frosty reached the town, which seemed to be bustling with activity today. No wonder, seeing as it was market day. Luckily for him, his small form was perfect for navigating crowds, as it allowed him to simply weave through the other ponies’s legs and even risk a glance past some of the mare’s tails.

‘God damn, why do I keep getting these urges all of a sudden? Was it because of Rainbow this morning? Oh, please don’t tell me that I have to go through puberty again! Spontaneously popping a boner in the middle of the market would be the last thing I’d want. Especially since there are no pants covering my privates, this time around!”

He forced himself to look downward, away from anything that may trigger an unwanted response, as he continued his journey through the marketplace. He breathed a sigh of relief, as he finally cleared the crowd and quickly continued his trek, lest he be tempted to look back.

He reached the Library without any further incidents, although he can’t deny that he took up the pace a little, when it finally got in sight. However, when he was knocking on the door, he did not expect to be greeted by a former showmare.

“Grrreatings! And welcome to TRRRRRRRRRRIXIE’s Library!” She greeted, as she yanked the door open, looking around to see who knocked. She was just about to go back inside, thinking she misheard, when she noticed Frosty lying off to the side with a big, red mark on the side of his head.

“Ooooh…” Trixie winced when she saw the young colt lying in the dirt, before turning around and sheepishly calling out: “Ehm, Twilight? Trixie thinks it happened again…”

“So, you’re working as an assistant now?” Frosty asked, as he sat in Twilight’s Living area, together with her and Trixie and a cup of hot chocolate.

“No. TRRRRIXIE… is only here for a part-time job, until her wagon is fixed and I can start travelling again.” The showmare answered. “Which reminds Trixie: How did you scare it away? Trixie had tried, but even I couldn’t do it!”

Frosty set down his cup and smirked at the mare. “To this question, I will give an answer that you’re likely already familiar with.”

“Oh, let me guess: Lots of practice? ‘Cause that’s what Twilight said when Trixie asked…”

“Well, actually I was going to say ‘A magician never tells his secrets’, but that works too, I guess? Although, I’d like to know, how Mrs. Twilight would know.” He said, looking over at Twilight, who just waved her hoof.

“What she meant is that she had asked me about how I keep so many spells running all at once, to which I then replied ‘Lots of practice’.”

“Ah… well, speaking of practice: I had a little run-in with Mrs. Dash this morning. She said that she was practicing for the upcoming `Best Young Flyers Competition’, which is why I am here. You wouldn’t happen to know a spell which would allow me to take Scootaloo up to Cloudsdale? I’m sure she’d love to see her idol fly.”

“Oh, if you want to come, you can just come with us! The girls and I were going to cheer for her anyways.” Twilight offered.

“That would be nice, yes. Thank you very much, Mrs. Twilight.” Frosty thanked. “Actually, on that note, I wanted to ask if you could teach me some kind of a parachute spell or something like that? Not that I don’t trust your magical abilities, but I seem to have made it a habit to get into trouble lately and I would like to avoid said trouble being me falling out of Cloudsdale.”

“Awww, is the little colt afraid of heights?” Trixie taunted.

“Better safe than sorry, Trixie. You’ve learned that first hoof, remember?” Twilight cut in. “And yes, of course I have a spell for that. I’ll go get it and we can start the first lesson right away!”

She beamed with enthusiasm, as she got up and quickly went over to the stairs leading down into the library before Frosty stopped her.

“Oh, I’m very sorry, Mrs. Twilight, but I didn’t mean right now.” He told her, earning him a somewhat displeased look from the unicorn. “It’s not that I don’t want to learn right now. It’s just that there’s a crusader meeting scheduled in a few minutes, so I have to go now.”

“Oh. Okay then, but one thing before you go: Don’t tell Rainbow just yet. It’s supposed to be a surprise.” She told him with a wink.

“Got it. See you tomorrow, Mrs. Twilight!” He called, as he exited the Library.

“You want me to what?” Frosty asked in disbelief, when he heard the crusader’s request.

“I want you to take control of me like you did with that Manticore in the Everfree!” Scootaloo said confidently.

“Well… I wanted to test if I can control ponies like that anyways, but… why do you want me to test it on you?”

“Scootaloo said that maybe seein’ somepony use their talent can help us find ours. Ah dunno how that would work, but ah guess it’s worth a try…” Applebloom said.

“O… kay?” Frosty acknowledged. He turned to Scootaloo again and looked her in the eyes. “And you are definitely sure that you want that?” He asked her again.

“Yes! Come on now! Try flapping my wings!” Scootaloo commanded.

Slightly confused by the sudden specific request, he decided to do as he was asked. Closing his eyes, in order to avoid them seeing his Necromancer-eyes, he concentrated on Scootaloo’s wings and killed only the muscles inside, taking control over them shortly after. As soon as he did this, he noticed that... he could suddenly see, even though his eyes were closed! He looked around and noticed that he could see himself! Through Scootaloo’s eyes! He tried flexing the muscles in her body and found that he, sadly, only had power over her wings, which he tried flapping. After a while of pointless buzzing, he pulled back, allowing her body to retake the converted muscle mass.

As soon as he left her body, Scootaloo broke down, crying in pain. “AAAH, IT HURTS!” She screamed, while her wings were buzzing furiously and her eyes were dripping with tears.

Her friends, including Frosty, were quickly by her side, trying to help her somehow. Unfortunately, they could do nothing other than wait until the pain wore off.

When it eventually did, Frosty stepped before her and bowed down. “I’m sorry, Scootaloo.” He apologized. “I didn’t know it would be painful.”

Scootaloo was panting, worn out by the earlier experience. “It’s… It’s okay, Frosty. I wanted to try that.” She looked back at her wings and gave a light buzz with them, her expression growing saddened as she saw them uselessly flapping against the air. “And I had hoped that you could somehow get me to fly…”

“So… you actually just wanted to try if I could make you fly?” Frosty repeated.

“Yeah. You know, the Best Young Flyers Competition is coming up and Dash is participating. I thought that maybe I could watch her, but for that, I would first need to fly there…” Scootaloo let her head hang, a few tears escaping her eyes, as she was starting to sob again.

“Actually, I`ve got great news for you. I kinda knew that you would want to watch, so I asked Twilight, if they could take us with them. What do you say, do you want to come?” Frosty asked, already knowing the answer he would get.

Scootaloo quickly perked up when she heard this. “Are you kidding?! Of course I want to come!”

“Hey, me too!” Applebloom protested.

“Me three!” Sweetie Belle chimed in.

Frosty quickly found himself cornered by three excited fillies, looking at him expectantly. “Well, I doubt that we would weigh the balloon down too much, so-”

Before he even finished the sentence, he was cut off by a loud, simultaneous ‘YAY!’ from all three fillies, followed by a rib-crushing group hug. Well… All in all not that bad of a predicament to end a day in, right?

Author's Note

When proofreading this, me and my editor had to really pull ourselves together because some passages in this chapter are so unintentionally suggestive. XD