Even before the first rays of the sun dared crossing the horizon and come into view the morning after, one could already hear hoofsteps coming from inside the Apple Family Homestead. Though, it wasn’t Applejack or Big Mac getting ready for farmwork, as even they were still asleep.

Frosty had gotten up especially early that Saturday morning. School was not in session (duh), which meant that he had all the time he needed for continuing his experiments. Before he could start with that, however, he first had to fix an issue that had come up the day before.

He went into the Everfree, specifically the place where he had left the two Manticore corpses. Frosty wasn’t actually surprised that they were still there. After all, they probably smelled like death from top to bottom, which would likely deter any predator in the Everfree.

“Well, guess I’ll have to find a way to get rid of them… maybe there’s something necromancy can do about that?” He asked himself, before trying his luck.

“Eat!”

Nothing.

“Feast!”

Nothing.

“Consume!”

Nothing yet again.

“Devour!”

And even more nothing. Frosty was growing frustrated.

“Oh come on! I’m too small to just carry them away and I can’t just wait for them to rot away, can I?”

Suddenly, one of the corpses began to rapidly deteriorate. Its skin and flesh peeled off its bones and fell to the ground, before, as one, everything crumbled into a pile of dirt and a small amount of residue lifeforce made its way into Frosty’s stock.

He blinked in surprise as he watched the whole process unfold. He then looked over to the remaining body and tried again.

“Rot!”

Immediately, the process repeated, leaving a second pile of dirt on the ground and a second bit of lifeforce to join Frosty’s growing stock. He remained there for a while, standing and looking back and forth between the two former manticores.

“Wow… that was easy.” He remarked to himself. “Well… I guess that means I can return to Ponyville and get on with my experiments, huh? Though… it feels like I’m forgetting something…”

The sun had fully risen by the time he returned to Ponyville, which was perfect, as that meant that there were likely a few background-ponies out and about that he could experiment on.

Specifically, he wanted to try to repeat whatever he did to the CMC. After all, he couldn’t be sure, yet, what exactly he had done and he also didn’t know, how the effects would show if the pony he tried it on was older. He also didn’t know, what would happen if he tried the same thing on someone, who wasn’t a pony… but that had to wait for later, ‘cause right now, there was a different problem.

The streets of Ponyville were empty. And not even the ‘empty’ one would experience during a holiday or a Sunday, where all the shops were closed and only a few joggers and the likes were out. No, the streets were empty. Not a single soul could be seen outside. Not even the CMC trying some stuff or something.

“Where is everpony?” Suddenly somepony asked from behind him.

He turned around and saw Twilight with Spike sitting on her back and at that moment, he knew exactly what was going on.

“Ooooooh, the Zecora-episode! But… weren’t the CMC founded only after that whole thing? Huh… Well, it doesn’t really matter. This universe can’t be 1:1 the same thing as the show anyways, now can it?”

“Hey, miss Twilight!” He greeted, gaining her attention.

“Oh, hello! Finally, at least somepony who’s out today… aren’t you the young colt that came to the Library yesterday?”

“Indeed. Hello again.” Frosty greeted with a friendly smile. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to know, why there’s nopony out today?”

“Aaactually I wanted to ask the same thing. So, I take it you don’t know what’s going on either?”

Frosty shook his head and looked around. “Not really, no. I thought it was some kind of an event, maybe?”

Twilight tilted her head and lifted an eyebrow at that. “What kind of event would that be?”

“Uh… I don’t know… Deep-sleep day, maybe?”

In response to that suggestion, Twilight just deadpanned at him.

“Yeah, no need to say it out loud, I know that it’s stupid… In any case, we should probably find out what’s going on, don’t you agree?”

“Yeah, that would likely be for the best, lest we really miss an important event that we didn’t know about.” Twilight said, continuing her way towards the central plaza, with Frosty joining her side.

As they closed in on the town center, the atmosphere around them seemed to become more unsettling by the second. They could hear ponies going about inside the buildings, but apart from the odd pony slamming a door shut, they didn’t come across anypony on the streets.

“What’s going on with everypony?” Spike asked from Twilight’s back. “Does my breath smell bad?”

He breathed a small flame into the air and sniffed at the residue smoke.

“Not more than usual.” Twilight quipped.

“It seems more like they are afraid of something than being deterred by your breath.” Frosty remarked, as he gave a short look around.

“Yeah, but afraid of what?” Twilight asked.

“M-m-m-maybe it’s z-z-z zzzzoombie-ponies?!” He shuddered.

“Highly unlikely.” Frosty answered.

“Unlikely… but not IMPOSSIBLE!”

Twilight just rolled her eyes at Spike’s antics and continued onwards towards her library, with Frosty following her. However, as they passed Sugarcube Corner, they were suddenly called upon by a hushed voice.

“Twilight! Spike! Come here!” Pinkie whisper-called from the door of the confectionery.

“Pinkie?” Twilight went closer to the door, where Pinkie was sporadically hopping up to look out.

“Hurry! Before she gets you!”

Pinkie opened the door and Twilight and Frosty quickly sprinted inside, before the door was slammed shut again.

Suddenly, they were assaulted by a flashlight shining directly into their faces.

“Who?! The Zombie-Pony?!” Spike shivered, clamping down on Twilight, who was still rubbing her eyes.

“Zooombieee Poooonyyy?!” Pinkie asked dramatically, holding the flashlight into her own face.

As a reaction, Spike clamped down even harder on Twilight, making her yelp in surprise and give a scolding look at him.

“Spike! There are no Zombie-Ponies. Pinkie? What are you doing here Alone in the Dark™?” Twilight asked her.

“I’m not alone in the dark!” Pinkie answered, before pulling the curtains open a bit and illuminating the room, revealing the rest of the mane six, as well as Applebloom standing directly behind them.

“Hi, Frosty!” Applebloom greeted.

“Hi, Applebloom!” Frosty greeted back.

Suddenly, Frosty found all the attention lying on him.

“So you’re that new colt that Squirt has been talking about, huh?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously, hovering around and mustering him.

“Yeah, lemme introduce: That’s Fro-“ Applebloom started.

“Frosty.” Applejack interrupted.

“Oh, so Frosty is his actual name? I thought it was just a nickname or something.” Spike remarked.

“It is a nickname. His actual name is-“

“Not important.” Applejack interrupted again.

“Hi, Not Important! I’m Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie greeted, earning her a facehoof from Applejack.

“Ugh, no, Pinkie! Ah didn’t mean that it’s his name, but that you don’t need to know!”

“Awww… but why?”

“Yeah, why can’t ah tell ‘em his name?” Applebloom demanded.

“Because Ah’m sayin’ it!”

For a moment, Applebloom just stood there, flabbergasted. “WHAT?! That’s th’reason?! Y’all can’t be serious!” She protested, leading her and her sister into only one of many arguments.

And while the two sisters argued, Frosty found himself now not only being checked out, but also prodded and poked by Rainbow Dash.

“Are you a paedophile?” He asked her with a hint of annoyance.

“Heh, don’t get your hopes up, kid.” She quipped back at him, while hovering in front of him and putting a hoof to her chin. “Hmm, you’re pretty slim, but you’ve got potential. Your hips are quite strong though, but sadly you don’t have wings… Eh, overall I’d say it’s a ‘maybe’.”

“Hmm… Your mane style is a bit simple, but it’s fashionable. I think a fedora would look quite good on you…” Rarity joined in. “Plus, Sweetie said that you’re quite the gentlecolt and that you are very good at school, so… I’d agree with Rainbow’s ‘maybe’, although with a tendency to ‘Okay’.”

“An ‘Okay’ for what?” Frosty asked demandingly, to which Rarity gave a short chuckle, before answering him.

“Oh, darling, you don’t need to hide it. Three fillies and a colt being just ‘friends’ and that with your age? Everypony knows that there’s always something more and as a big sister, I have to gauge your fitness as a coltfriend.”

“Aaaaalright, can we PLEASE get back on topic?” Twilight suddenly interrupted. “We have been sitting here for, what, five minutes? And we still don’t know what you’re all doing here!”

“We’re hiding!” Pinkie suddenly squeaked from behind Twilight.

“Yeah, that much was obvious, but why?” Frosty pressed.

“We’re hidin’ from her!” Applejack pointed out, while opening the curtains fully, revealing a hooded equine standing in the street and looking around.

Everypony in the room gathered at the window, with Applebloom standing directly beside Frosty. It was then that these weird feelings came back again. She looked at him and she suddenly felt pulled to him – literally. She scooted closer, hoping that he wouldn’t notice, until her side was pressed against his and she came to realize, just how good it felt for her, to just lean against him like this and feel his warmth radiating into her.

Frosty noticed this, of course, but he didn’t mind it one bit. Why would he? After all, this all meant that his plan was actually coming along… that and he was still a man after all and what kind of man doesn’t like the feeling of a woman leaning against him? Still, he tried not to focus on it too much, instead focusing on what stood outside.

The moment he looked out again, the hooded figure dropped her hood, revealing the zebra mare that stood underneath. In response, everypony except Applebloom, Twilight and him flinched away and took cover behind the curtains.

“Looks like a zebra to me.” Frosty said blandly.

“A WHAT?!” Pinkie shrieked dramatically.

“A Zebra. You know, the inhabitants of Saddle Arabia and southern Equestria?” Twilight explained, earning her only a wide array of confused stares.

“Oh come on, you can’t tell me you’ve never heard of Zebras before, if even a young colt like Frosty knows them!” She complained.

“There ain’t no need knowing ‘em if they’re all like that there Zecora!” Applejack protested.

“So her name is Zecora, huh? Well, what did this Zecora do that you’re so wary of her?” Twilight asked.

“Well, every once in a while, she comes into town…” Applejack started

“Yeah?”

“She goes from shop to shop and looks into the windows…” Rarity continued.

“Oh bother…” Frosty cut in sarcastically.

“And then she stands in the street…” Pinkie went on.

“Oh no, really?” Twilight sarcastically remarked.

“And she digs around with her hoof!” Rainbow finished.

“…… That was it?” Frosty asked after nopony continued the story.

“Euh, yeah, pretty much.” Applebloom confirmed.

To that, Frosty looked over to Twilight with a deadpan look. “I don’t know about you, but to me this all sounds like a major case of xenophobia…”

“I think so too… really girls, what’s come over you?”

“What’s come over US?! That there varmint’s cursin’ you if y’all jus’ come close to her!”

“Has that been tested?” Frosty demanded.

“What?” Applejack asked, looking slightly taken aback.

“Has anypony actually been cursed?” Twilight rephrased.

Nopony said anything for a while, instead suddenly fining interest in various objects around the room.

“Thought so… Well, it doesn’t seem like we’re getting anywhere, so I’m going to do it myself.”

Frosty walked over to the door, but just as he wants to open it, Applejack called out to him.

“Frosty, where do y’all think you’re goin’?”

He turned around and faced the rest of the room, his face already contorted in annoyance. “The cure to xenophobia is usually a first contact. However, since none of you are going to take that step, I am going to do that myself.”

He turned back and opened the door. However, just as he passed the doorframe, Applejack lunged forwards and tried to grab him by his tail.

“Oh no, ya won’t!”

… Only to be stopped by a purple aura forming around herself. She glared over to Twilight, but quickly noticed that her horn was inactive and that she was looking at Frosty with wide eyes. Applejack followed her gaze and saw that Frosty’s horn was the one that was active. He was standing just a few inches past the doorframe and looked directly at her, his gaze penetrating her very soul and making her momentarily forget her fear about Zecora. At that moment, she felt like her life was actually in danger, just by being looked at in that very way, his gaze projecting a kid of anger that can only be founded on years and years filled with bad experiences.

“I will be completely honest with you, Applejack.” Frosty suddenly spoke. “I can tolerate simply being afraid of the unknown. I can also fully understand when one is reluctant to indulge too much in other cultures, but what you are doing here is plain and outright xenophobia. Worst of all, none of you even seems tempted to change anything about it, which is just outright disgusting.”

Applejack was suddenly freed of the magical grip holding her in place, making her fall flat onto the ground. Frosty continued his way to Zecora, establishing a first friendly contact between the town and the Zebra mare.

This once, he neither had to lie, nor feign his emotion…

Author's Note

Took me a bit longer to write this one, but in the end, I got it done. Yay. Oh, and just so you know: this is last week's chapter, so there will (hopefully) be another this week.