Rainbow Dash’s ear twitched as her alarm clock sounded, alerting her to the start of a new day. Sitting up on her bed, she gave a loud yawn, stretching her forelegs and giving her eyes a moment to readjust to the light before perking herself up.
“Today’s the day. The day of the Winter Wrap Up,” she said to herself, punching the air with her hoof.
She'd never been this excited for the Wrap Up in her life. And, truthfully, it wasn't the Wrap Up that excited her. While, yes, she did enjoy flying to the other end of Equestria to bring home the southern birds, the fly had become routine and somehow, Ditzy had always managed to screw up somehow. No, it was the idea that Rainbow would finally reunited with her pet tortoise Tank that had excited her so.
Moving over to her shelves, she picked two things from the top: Tank's signature custom 'helipack', as Twilight had called it, that had allowed Tank to fly alongside Rainbow—created so that Rainbow did not have to feel constantly grounded by her pet tortoise—and a small wrapped box with a ribbon on the top. A grin fell onto her face as she strapped the box to her back with the helipack.
As Rainbow was about to leave, she heard a knocking at her door. Looking out of the peephole, she saw a bright pink pegasus mare with a purple mane stuck up at the fringe was standing alongside a dark turquoise pegasus stallion with a similar mane to the mares, except that his was slightly darker. The door creaked as she opened it.
"Heya, Clear. Heya, Open. You good?" Rainbow asked, trying—and failing—to hide the enthusiasm in her voice.
"Heya, Dash.” Clear Skies, the mare, answered with a wave. “You sound happy. Oh, and you're actually awake this time. Something good happen last night?"
A wide smile crossed her face. "Nope! Just really, really, really excited for today, you know?"
"Uh, no. Rainbow, you've been doing this since you've moved to Ponyville. Why are you so much more excited for it today then you were last year? Or the year before that?" Open Skies, the stallion, replied, an eyebrow raised.
"Because I get to see Tank again! He's a tortoise, and tortoises sleep through the winter."
Clear Skies blinked. "Wait, a tortoise? I'd never expect such a slow animal as a pet of the speed-demon known as Rainbow Dash. Why'd you choose one of those instead of, say, a hawk or an eagle?"
"He sorta kinda saved my life once. He's a really cute guy once you get past the creepiness of his smiles. Plus—" she pointed to the helipack that was strapped to her back, "—he uses this to fly around with me, so I'm not truly grounded. Anyway, what'd you need?"
"Oh, we just wanted to make sure you were ready. You are ready, right?"
She nodded. "I'm going to be meeting up with Fluttershy before I head off, though. Tell Sunshower I promise I'll catch up, and if she gives you any flak for not getting me up on time, tell her she can take it up with me. Okay?"
The pair of pegasi began digging their hooves into the cloud. "Well, you know how Sunshower is..." Open Skies said, his voice having gone quiet.
Her ears pinned back and she gave them a pleading look. "Come on, man. For me, please? This means a lot, and I mean a lot, to me. I'll make it up to you later, I swear."
The two sighed in unison. "Fine."
Rainbow Dash touched down by a tree, her hooves making a satisfying scrunch as she landed on the soft snow. The items on her back bogged her down slightly, but not enough to significantly impact on her speed. Looking down at the small watch on her right foreleg, she took the time: 7:15am
Fluttershy should be here any moment now, Rainbow thought to herself, before her eyes drifted back to the tree.
In front of the tree was a small signpost. Etched into the wood of the signpost read the words Here sleeps Tank the Tortoise. Disturb him from his hibernation, and Rainbow Dash will know about it. Rainbow cringed a little. Nailed onto the tree, a framed picture of a crudely drawn blue pegasus with a rainbow mane was flying along side a helicopter-driven tortoise. Rainbow gave a small smile and put her hoof to her heart as she sat next to the tree.
Soon, we'll be able to fly together again, little buddy.
Not long after, Fluttershy swooped in gracefully, a small bell clenched between her teeth. Taking the bell into her hoof, she spoke.
"Hello, Rainbow Dash. Are you ready to see Tank again?"
"Yes! It's been so long, and I've missed the little guy. This is gonna be so awesome!" Rainbow practically yelled, making no effort to hide the level of happiness in her voice.
Fluttershy glared daggers at her. "Rainbow, the animals are still sleeping. Do you want to wake them up?"
"Uh, yeah. That's kinda why I'm here."
Fluttershy smacked her face with her hoof and dragged it down. "That's... never mind. Just, be quieter, please? We want the animals to wake up calmly so that they don't stampede the whole town."
Rainbow waved her hoof in the air in an impatient circular motion. "Eh, it'll be fine. I think. We can just stop them, right?" Seeing Fluttershy still glaring at her, she shook her head. "Never mind. So... we doing this, or what?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Do you need a demonstration, or are you fine? I can show you how to do this first, if you'd like."
"Nah, it's fine. I'm awesome!” Her eyes widened and she sat back down. “Wait, on second thought, maybe a quick one would help me out."
Fluttershy smiled sweetly. "That's what I thought."
Fluttershy began eyeing her surroundings, eventually fixating on a small clump of misplaced snow in a hill. She slowly approached it, pushing aside the snow to reveal a small burrow in the side of the mound. Taking the bell back between her teeth, she began to sway her head from side to side, the bell ringing with every shake.
"Come on, little bunnies! Spring is here!" she softly said, her teeth gritted due to the bell.
A colony of small brown and white bunnies hopped out of the small coven in the hill, bouncing around Fluttershy's legs, a few even cuddling up to her legs. Fluttershy smiled again before handing moving back over to Rainbow and placing the bell in her hoof. "See? It's easy. You've just got to be gentle."
Rainbow Dash nodded, and moved closer to the tree. She repeated Fluttershy's action of clearing the small mountain of snow, revealing a mound of dirt. She removed it in the same way, which in turn revealed the green tortoise shell that belonged to Tank.
If Rainbow had been excited to see Tank before, she was absolutely ecstatic now. Her mouth had now curved into the largest smile it had ever created before, and her heart was beating faster than it had ever done before after a race. Showtime, Dash. Showtime.
She gripped the bell in her mouth, and gave it a shake.
The tortoise poked its head out of its shell and blinked. Rainbow's smile, somehow, grew even wider, now wider than even one of Pinkie's smiles. She lifted Tank in her hooves, and crushed him in a tight hug.
"I've missed you so much," she said softly, a few small tears gathering around her eyes. "So very much."
Tank replicated his best friend's smile. “And I missed you too, Rainbow,” Rainbow imagined him saying in a slow, deep voice.
Rainbow brought tank closer to her face, nuzzling him. “We’re going to have such a killer time together, Tank. We’re gonna go to the beach, go to the pony-pet playdates, have races with each other and with Twilight… this is going to be so awesome!”
Tank blinked slowly. “I’m sure it will, Rainbow. Everything is awesome when it’s done with you.”
Rainbow placed Tank back onto the snow for a moment, feeling a slight pang of regret when he began shivering. Rainbow then began unstrapping the helipack off of her back. When she had gotten it off, she tied it back onto Tank's back, strapping it tightly before spinning the chopper, sending Tank into the air.
Rainbow lifted the small wrapped box from her back next. "Tank, this is for you. Since we were apart for Hearth's Warming, I figured I would keep this by my side until I could finally wake you up. Would you like me to open it for you?" Taking Tank's slow blinking for a 'yes', she slowly unwrapped the box, revealing another box. Opening said box, she pulled out a set of four slippers, each of them having a pattern similar to a tortoise shell. "I realised while you were gone it was kinda creepy I had you wear me on your feet, so I contacted Rarity. She agreed, and offered to make these for you. You like?"
They're wonderful, Rainbow Dash. Thank you very much, Tank would have replied with.
Fluttershy walked over to the two of them, a smile wide on her face. "It's always been my favourite part of Winter Wrap Up to watch ponies reunite with their hibernating pets. I've not once seen a pony who was less than excited about seeing them again." She placed a hoof on Rainbow's side. "I'm glad to see you so happy again, Rainbow. It was heart-wrenching to see you go through having to let him go."
A sudden realisation hit Rainbow, and she frowned slightly. "I know I just got him back, but... I've gotta go now, I'm afraid. Gotta bring home the southern birds. Could you maybe look after him, make sure he's okay, until I get back? Err—" she scratched the back of her neck with her hoof, "—if I get back, that is. Sunshower's probably gonna be mad that I ditched for so long."
"I'm sure Sunshower will be fine if you explain to her what you were doing and you’ll catch up to her quickly enough. And, yes, I can take care of Tank for you. I usually do it for the other pets, anyway, so their owners can focus on doing their jobs. Good luck with the birds, Rainbow."
She gave Fluttershy a warm hug before giving one to Tank as well. Giving Tank an apologetic smile, she said, “Sorry, Tank, but I’ve got to go now. I won’t be gone long, I promise.”
Without another word, Rainbow took off into the sky, happy to finally have her pet back. While she flew, her mind began conjuring up all the ideas she could think of about how she could spend the next nine months with Tank before he had to go back into hibernation.
No doubt about it; this was going to be the most. Awesome. Nine months. Ever.
