Frosty walked down the same alley he came from, away from the nightclub he had originally been heading to. Actually, he was even there, but doing so during daytime has not yielded any significant results. Rather, it brought up another problem.

The ‘Frilly Filly’ nightclub had a rather strict dresscode for some reason and likely also a bouncer – which club doesn`t? The bouncer was the bigger problem, since it was unlikely that he would let a wanted criminal get past without raising a fuss, so other methods would need to be employed. A disguise for example.

Frosty headed back to the forest on hoof, since the train station was on complete lockdown since his arrival. Luckily that meant that they had taken a few guards off the gates, so he could easily slip through.

Getting out of Canterlot was the easy part though, as without the train, he had to walk back to their hideout in the Everfree, which took him one and a half days, making his one-day-trip suddenly become a two-and-a-half-day trip.

“FROSTY!!!” The three girls screamed happily, as they saw Frosty finally return.

“Welcome back, my master. I hope you had a pleasant trip?” Pharynx greeted.

“If you ignore that I had to walk back here because I got spotted and couldn’t use the trains, then yes, I actually had a very nice trip.” Frosty answered.

“You made us worry a lot, though.” Sweetie said. “I mean, you said you just wanted to have a look at the things in Canterlot and then, you were suddenly gone for three days! We thought… we thought… that maybe you died…”

“I tried to calm them down and told them that I could still clearly feel your presence, however they wouldn’t listen. They kept insisting that I might be feeling it wrong or something – a surprisingly pessimistical standpoint for three normally cheerful young fillies.” Pharynx stated.

“Is that so? You three found my death really more likely than my survival? Heh, well thanks for your trust.” Frosty said ironically.

“S-sorry, Frosty. It’s jus’ that… we feel helpless ‘n all. Like, we can’t help ya at all with whatever yer doin’ and when you were gone, we knew we couldn’t do anythin’ but wait and… and… and…”

Tears were forming on the edge of Applebloom’s eyes as she stuttered, so Frosty quickly swooped in and hugged her tightly.

“There there, Applebloom. There’s no need to be afraid anymore. I’m here, okay? You know I’d never allow myself to leave you three alone.” He said soothingly. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had also joined in the hug and were now shedding a few tears themselves.

“Although I have to admit that this was rather inconvenient, but sadly I had no other choice. The train station was completely locked down and I could only barely slip out on hoof.”

“So they found a way to counter your Soul Magic?” Pharynx asked.

“Not that I know. I created another servant in there, so no, I don’t think so.”

“Oh, so there was another reason why you didn’t just teleport to me?” Pharynx asked further.

“… come again?” Frosty responded.

“Master, excuse me if I may sound disrespectful, but do you know that you can freely teleport between your pawns without expending any soul energy?” Pharynx asked carefully.

“… Well, that’s good to know. Would’ve been better if I had known that a bit earlier though.” Frosty said.

“I am very sorry, my master. I should’ve expected you to not know since you have no connection to the expanse.” Pharynx apologized, giving Frosty a bow so deep that his muzzle was digging into the ground.

“Ah, doesn’t matter. Not that we can change the past. You can tell me how to do that teleport-thing, though.”

“As far as I can gather from the expanse, you would only need to concentrate on the pawn you wish to get to and activate a little bit of soul magic.” Pharynx explained.

“But didn’t you say I wouldn’t expend any energy?” Frosty pointed out.

“Oh, you won’t. The soul energy is just needed to form a connection, it isn’t expended.” Pharynx corrected.

“Ah. Well then, I suppose I just have to do it like th—“ Frosty started, before he suddenly popped up beside Pharynx. “—is?”

“Exactly, my lord. It seems you learn rather quickly.” Pharynx commented.

“Indeed. This ability will be very useful for my next trip to Canterlot.” Frosty said.

“No.” Sweetie Belle said firmly.

“No? I don’t know how you would know that, but why do you think so?” Frosty asked.

“I mean no, you aren’t going on another trip to Canterlot.” Sweetie Belle clarified.

Frosty was slightly taken aback by Sweetie’s sternness. “What? Why not?”

“Because we are afraid for you, Frosty!” Scootaloo said. “What if you really don’t come back this time? We just… we just feel so alone without you.”

“But Scoots, you know I have to go if I ever want us to be completely safe.” Frosty said back.

“I know but… at least let us come with you!” Scootaloo blurted out.

“What? No, I can`t do that.”

“Why? Is it because we would only be a hindrance? Is it that? Well sorry that we are so useless to you, we just want to help, you know?” Scoot says dejectedly.

“No, Scoots, it’s not that you’re a hindrance, it’s just that—“ Frosty said, but was cut off.

“Then there would be no reason to leave us here! Please Frosty, just this once!” Sweetie whined, before all three of them gave Frosty a taste of their all mighty puppy eyes.

Frosty tried to withstand their power, but ultimately, he was overwhelmed and gave in.

“Okay okay, I get it. I’ll take you with me on my next trip.”

The three fillies cheered together and wrapped Frosty in a hug yet again.

“Well, at least I won’t be all that suspicious looking, with you three in tow, I hope. That still leaves me with the problem that I need a disguise though.” Frosty thought out loud.

“How about the dresses that sis made?” Sweetie offered.

“Yeah, she made one for each of us and don’t ya think ah dun’ know ‘bout yer suit, Frosty. Ya look mighty fine in it.” Applebloom beamed up at him.

“… Okay, that’s good to know. Well, it would seem I’m going back to Ponyville tonight…”

Applejack sat alone at the kitchen table and drew circles with her hoof. Lately, she had been eating dinner alone, as Granny Smith and Big Mac usually went to bed far earlier than her, now that Applebloom and Frosty were gone. That wasn’t because of the additional workload though – she just couldn’t bear walking past their rooms while her brain was still working properly, so she worked herself almost unconscious every day before eating and going to bed.

This time, however, things were different. Even though she did her best to expend as much energy as she could, much to her dismay her body seemed to adjust itself to the workload and became more enduring, so now there was nothing else left for her than to wait until she became sleepy from the boredom.

Sadly, when the mind is left unoccupied it tends to wander through the few things that are currently worrying you the most and with Applejack, that was her little sister. She wasn’t mad at her for running away, nor was she mad at her friends for taking her with them. She even felt gratitude towards Frosty because she knew that he would never allow them to be harmed.

Frosty… she felt guilty for what happened to him. If she had just opened her muzzle when she had to! She could have prevented this from happening! She could have prevented Rainbow and Rarity from crashing so badly! But now…. Now they wouldn’t even look at her or anypony else. They just go about their business every day with the same monotone voice and the same empty expression. Applejack couldn’t blame either of them - she would’ve probably become the same if she didn’t already have some involuntary training in coping with losses through her deceased parents.

Suddenly, she was ripped out of her melancholy by some noise upstairs. At first, she didn’t think much about it, but when it didn`t stop, she shouted up: “Mac, what’cha doin’ up there? It sounds like y’all’re tryin t’ catch a piglet with yer tail!”

“What’cha shouin’ for, sis? Ah’m right here.” Big Mac suddenly said from the front door and Applejack remembered that he was out late tonight.

“Then… what’s makin’ that noise?” She asked. They both stared at each other for a moment, before they sprinted upstairs and stopped in front of Frosty’s old room. The noise had quieted down by now, only barely audible through the door.

Applejack slowly and carefully opened the door and looked through the room. At first, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, but as she slowly opened the door further, she spotted something rummaging through Frosty’s closet. She was just about to shout at the intruder, when he leaned back and held up a black suit in his magic.

“Frosty?!” Applejack gasped, revealing her presence to the young colt.

He slammed the closet shut, which revealed three small dresses lying by his side on the ground, which he then took up in his magic together with his suit, while backing up towards the window.

“Frosty, please wait, Ah don’t wanna harm ya!” Applejack pleaded.

“I know.” Frosty said flatly. “My ‘alive’ bounty is probably a lot higher, isn`t it?”

“Bounty? W-wait, what do ya mean? Ah ain’t no bounty hunter or anythin’, Ah just want t’ talk!”

“Oh yeah? Well, I don’t. What use would it be? In the end, you would just try to capture me and have Celestia execute me.” Frosty accused.

“What?! No! Ya know that ain’t true!” Applejack argued, making a few steps towards her adopted son. “Please, Frosty! Ah just wanna help ya! Maybe we can—“

She was interrupted, when Frosty suddenly kicked her into the face with an impossible amount of force for such a young colt. She got knocked back a few meters and slammed into her brother, who was luckily sturdy enough to stop her flight without getting injured himself.

Applejack shook her head, which made her snout shift in a way that didn’t feel natural and she could feel and taste blood that was running from her nose down onto her lips. Yet, her only thoughts were that she wanted to apologize to Frosty and moreso, wanted Frosty to forgive her, so when she saw him climb out of the window, she panicked and darted up again, just as he jumped down.

“Frosty! Frosty, please wait!” She pleaded, but when she reached the window herself, Frosty was no longer to be seen.

“Frosty! Frosty please! Ah just… Ah’m sorry Frosty! Please… please, Frosty, ah’m sorry…” She shouted out of the window, but her shouting soon became crying, as she noticed the hopelessness of her tries and so, when Big Mac came to her side to soothe her, she buried her bleeding muzzle in his chest and cried miserably.

As soon as he hit the ground, Frosty darted across the yard and into some nearby bushes, where his pure white coat couldn’t reflect as much of the moon’s light.

“Frosty! Frosty please! Ah just… Ah’m sorry Frosty! Please… please, Frosty, ah’m sorry…” He heard Applejack cry and now that he could drop his act, he showed some remorse himself. His ears drooped back and a few tears welled up in his eyes.

“I’m sorry as well, Applejack. Really, I am and I want to forgive you, I just can’t… not yet at least. If I were to forgive you now, I’m certain that you would just be pushed to my side of the problem… and I’m not certain if you would survive that.”

He wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled bravely towards the window he just jumped through.

“But don’t worry, Applejack. As long as I live, I will not allow any harm to come to either of my girls, that`s a promise. So, this is farewell… mom.”

He said, the last part spoken more as an honorary title than out of love, but still a sign of his goodwill towards the mare. With a last look over his shoulder, Frosty summoned some Soul Energy into his horn and vanished together with the clothes he had taken with him.

Author's Note

You've all been waiting for it and now it's almost there! The chapter, where Frosty went into a bar! (Reference to joke completely intended). Let's see how that will go! but only in the next chapter, see ya then!