The Heart's Shell

Chapters

First Day of Winter
Invitations
The Hearth's Warming Party
Second Chance
Finding Clues
Hurtful Past
The Price
Saying Goodbye
Pain
Expedition
Failure and Loss
The Last Three Gems
Fluttershy's Guilt
Truth in the Streak
Cutie Mark Trouble-Makers
Tenebris' Plan
Sacrifice
Epilogue
Prologue
Nine Months Earlier

First Day of Winter

It was the first of December, and every pony was again having a blast having fun in the snow. But some ponies had been oblivious to their work because of this. For example, Rarity realized that she had to make her line of winter clothes that she thought wasn’t due for another day. Fluttershy had to take care of her animals and protect some of them from the snow. And Applejack with the rest of her family had to double check on their orchard; they had been getting rid of all of their apples for the past couple of days to store for winter.

“That should be the last of them” Applejack said, wiping sweat off her forehead even though it was cold. “I’m gonna check on my friends, I’ll be right back” she happily trotted off to the center of Ponyville where it was busiest. She noticed a whole bunch of ponies were lining up at Rarity’s boutique. She decided to line up with them to check on her. Rarity checked through her window and happily saw the orange earth pony at the back of the line.

“Applejack, come in darling!” she said through the door. Applejack was a bit unsure of it at first with all of the ponies already lining up, and the amount of times she apologized whilst pushing through the line was unbelievable.

“Thank you so much for helping me in my time of need” Rarity replied as Applejack squeezed through the last of the ponies.

“No problem, it seems you have your hooves full with your winter sale by yourself” Applejack replied. “Besides, I’ve already finished my work at the orchard and I don’t have anything else to do today”

“Splendid” Rarity replied as she looked around and pointed at a group of ponies. “You can help that half of the line, and I’ll help this half of the line”

“Um, ok” Applejack hesitated, she soon realized that some of them might be asking for specific material, and she didn’t know types off the top of her head. But if she did need help, she could always ask Rarity for assistance.

About 2 hours later, the mad rush in the boutique was already over. Applejack had never felt so exhausted in a long time.

“Thanks so much, darling. I don’t think there will be a large crowd for a while now, I can manage” Rarity said as she was sorting her unsold clothes in boxes.

“It was a privilege to help” Applejack replied. “I guess I’ll go check on everypony else now”

“Are you sure?” Rarity asked “I’m sure everypony is fine, nothing that you need to worry about”

“Not everypony” Applejack replied. Rarity stood there wide eyed.

“Any pony in particular you are talking about?”

“No, not really. Just in general, there might be some pony who isn’t feeling the holiday spirit yet”

“Applejack, you confuse me sometimes” Rarity replied. “Well good luck on your mission not being bored”

“I will Rarity” Applejack replied not trying to get angry, she wasn’t doing it because she was bored; she was doing it because she felt like it anyway.

She headed through the market area of Ponyville and saw that there was a grey cloud above the broccoli stand. She went to check what the grey cloud was even doing when she noticed there was a Pegasus on it.

“Um, hello. Why are you creating a grey cloud above one of the food stands?” Applejack asked. The Pegasus looked below her to see who it was. The Pegasus in question was Rainbow Dash. It had been one day since she said goodbye to Tank and she wasn’t her usual bubbly self.

“Hi Applejack. What are you doing? Aren’t you supposed to be at the orchard with your family?” Rainbow asked.

“No, I’ve already finished that. But tell me, you’re not usually down in the dumps like this. I know you had to say goodbye to Tank, but I thought you would’ve gotten over it by now”

“What are you talking about, of course I wouldn’t have! It was yesterday I said goodbye to him!”

Applejack looked sadly at the grey cloud that had her iron pony buddy on top. She couldn’t bear to see her sad. But then she remembered something the day before. How she and Tank just happened to be travelling on a giant snowball straight from Cloudsdale to Ponyville. Even though Applejack didn’t hear it, she could hear Rainbow’s shrieks. No pony else took much notice of it though.

“You know, Rainbow. Cloudsdale was acting weird yesterday. Mind telling me about it, if you know what happened?” Rainbow Dash flinched when she heard what Applejack said.

“You saw that happen?” Rainbow asked.

“Everypony saw that happen, but only I noticed it was you” Rainbow looked stressed for a second, but then she relaxed and flopped down to the ground.

“Fine, you want to know what happened?”

“Yeah, actually. I just want to know if it wasn’t anything too serious that’s all” Applejack put her hoof around Rainbow’s shoulder, and she was actually cool with it.

“Well, as you probably know, I didn’t take Tank hibernating very well. I tried asking opinions from everypony I went to, I even compared him to Spike. Anyway, I was so upset of Tank hibernating that I lashed out at my own friends. Then I decided something, to stop winter from coming. If I could do that, then Tank wouldn’t have to hibernate. I guess I wasn’t thinking straight. I guess what I was doing was wrong, but in my heart I knew it was right. I had no luck trying to stop winter in Ponyville, so I went up to Cloudsdale instead. Well, things didn’t go the way I thought it would and the factory was close to exploding. Then, Tank and I got sucked into a giant machine that made us into a giant snowball, and that’s why winter came earlier than anticipated” Rainbow spoke. Applejack sat there with her mouth wide open.

“You tried to stop winter from coming?” she asked “I always thought you loved winter. And what you did to the weather factory, shouldn’t that be considered as industrial sabotage?”

“I know what I did was wrong, alright!” Rainbow angrily shouted. She took a deep breath and calmed down. “I just didn’t want to lose him”

“You weren’t going to lose him. You just weren’t going to see him for a couple of months”

“I know, but a couple of months go for a long time. And this was going to be my first winter with him. And it was soon going to be my first Hearth’s Warming with him too. I was going to give him some presents, we were going to go to my parents’ house and celebrate Hearth’s Warming there. And-and, we were going to have lots of fun in the snow!” Rainbow sniffed as she started crying again.

Applejack felt really sorry for her. She had all this stuff planned only to find out that she wasn’t doing any of it.

“There, there sugarcube. I understand what you’re going through. I’ve been in the same position myself a long time ago” Applejack replied as she handed a handkerchief to her friend.

“Really? What could be worse than your pet going into hibernation?”

“Your pet dying” Rainbow fell silent for a second.

“That’s harsh, AJ!” Rainbow sobbed.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that” Applejack panicked. “Oh Rainbow, stop crying!”

Rainbow did settle down afterwards.

“Did that happen to you? Did you have a pet that passed away?”

“Not exactly”

“Then what happened?” Applejack hesitated.

“I don’t want to talk about it”

“What happened, AJ?”

“Look, you’re in enough pain as it is. I don’t think it’s fair if I tell you”

“Ok fine”

“I’m sorry”

“That’s ok. It’s not your fault. It’s mine for acting the way I did”

“What you’re feeling is normal. I don’t actually blame you”

“You don’t?”

“Not at all” Rainbow wiped the rest of her tears away and hugged Applejack tightly.

“Thank you!” Applejack put her hoof on her friend’s mane.

“You’re quite welcome. I hope you get better soon”

“Yeah, me too”

Applejack waved goodbye to Rainbow Dash who flew back to her house. But little did Applejack know that she wouldn’t see Rainbow again for a while.

“Fluttershy, I know you’re in there!”

Pinkie Pie was vigorously knocking on Fluttershy’s door. Though she did have fun ice skating the time before, she felt ashamed when she discovered that Fluttershy was a better ice skater than her. Fluttershy timidly answered the door.

“Yes, Pinkie Pie?”

“You know the drill; you were a better ice skater than me! Therefore this means war!”

Fluttershy was confused and Pinkie Pie was comically angry.

“War? That I was a better ice skater than you? That’s not true! That’s just something that Rarity said that’s all, and nothing else”

“We’ll just put that to the test then”

“What? Pinkie, you’re not making any sense right now”

“Oh, but I will”

Pinkie Pie happily dragged Fluttershy to the ice skating rink that the rest of the mane 6 were the day before. Fluttershy was of course still confused.

“Pinkie, I don’t think this is necessary”

“It is though”

“It really isn’t”

“CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE! WHO WANTS TO WATCH A COMPETITION BETWEEN ME AND FLUTTERSHY WHEN WE GO ONE ON ONE ICE SKATING?!”

Yelling got the ponies’ attention.

“Pinkie, there’s no need to shout. Your voice is loud enough”

Suddenly, ice skating gear appeared on Fluttershy, like magic.

“How did you do that?” Fluttershy asked.

“A Pinkician never reveals her secrets”

“You said that yesterday about the shoes, but this is really making no sense”

“What’s going on here?”

Twilight Sparkle and Rarity walked up to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, equally confused.

“Twilight, please help me!” Fluttershy begged.

“Help you with what? What’s with the getup?”

“Pinkie Pie is still jealous of what happened yesterday, how I was apparently a better ice skater than her. Now she’s forcing me into a competition to prove herself once again. You have to help me convince her that I’m not a great ice skater!”

Twilight just rolled her eyes and walked over to Pinkie Pie.

“That’s not true! None of it! Fluttershy’s a great ice skater! She’s just doubting herself!” Pinkie replied.

“Pinkie, we all know that you’re a really good ice skater. But is taking revenge on Fluttershy really the best way to keep your pride? You even said you weren’t worried about your pride being destroyed” Twilight responded.

“How, did you know that?”

“I could hear you when I was walking over to you guys”

“So you were eavesdropping, were you?”

“No. I just happened to hear your conversation is all”

“Honestly Pinkie Pie, do you really think you can feel threatened with just a compliment that I gave Fluttershy? That’s ridiculous, she was even being modest about it” Rarity mentioned.

“That does not change my mind. Twilight, you will be on my side, and Rarity can be on Fluttershy’s team. And we can have Applejack and Rainbow Dash as the judges” Pinkie replied. “After all, I was the judge of their competition, a staring competition with bees no less!”

Pinkie was just smiling at the others. Twilight began to look concerned.

“Well, I haven’t seen Applejack or Rainbow Dash around lately” Twilight replied.

“I have, Applejack happily helped me with my round at Carousel Boutique. Now I can finally relax for another hour or so before things start to get chaotic again. Ever since winter came early, I really had to step up my game with my winter lines. It was crazy” Rarity responded.

“And what about Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked.

“Well, let’s just say I haven’t seen her around lately. Maybe it was just because I was busy with the store and all, but I feel like she’s been isolating herself since, you know”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Hasn’t she gotten past it? She had fully accepted hadn’t she? She was happy, wasn’t she?” Pinkie Pie replied.

“I told you yesterday, I really doubt it. No pony can get over something so easily. Whether it’s saying goodbye to some pony or something else that had hurt them in the past, she will never truly get over it, not really”

“Ok, enough with the sad stuff! Time for me to compete against Fluttershy has the position for best ice skater!”

Twilight face palmed.

“After everything we told you, you still want to go with this competition? I mean look at Fluttershy, she’s really not comfortable with this whole thing” Rarity pointed out. Fluttershy was stressing out, not from the fear of losing, but rather that Pinkie was acting more competitive than usual, like Rainbow Dash almost.

“Yep! The competition will still continue. Whether you like it or not!” Pinkie replied.

Now both Rarity and Twilight felt the cringe.

The competition had begun. One after another, Fluttershy and Pinkie showed off their skills to their friends. Since Applejack and Rainbow Dash still hadn’t joined them, Twilight and Rarity were being forced to judge instead.

When the contest was over, the ponies were both exhausted from all of the ice skating. They were flat on the ground. Fluttershy made an effort to get back onto her hooves, but Pinkie struggled. In the end, she was trying too hard. Twilight walked up to her in concern.

“Are you satisfied yet?” she asked as she helped Pinkie up.

“Well no. She was clearly a better skater than me!” she responded through her breaths.

“Is that a bad thing?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes! I thought I was the best ice skater!”

“Pinkie, your talent is planning parties and making other ponies smile and laugh. You can’t get competitive over a sport you do on Winter Wrap Up” Twilight said.

“Competitive? Sport?” Pinkie gasped. “Am I turning into Rainbow Dash?”

The other ponies flinched.

“Pinkie, why would you think that? Yes we haven’t seen her since yesterday. But it doesn’t mean that you take the role of the athletic competitive type just like that” Fluttershy replied. “Besides, I was even being modest about this. I don’t know why you were making a big deal about it anyway. It’s just ice skating”

“What in tarnation is goin’ on here?” Applejack asked as she ran towards the others.

“Applejack! There you are! You were going to judge the competition along with Rainbow Dash, but because you weren’t here you were replaced by Twilight and Rarity instead!” Pinkie replied.

“Competition? Twilight what exactly happened?”

“Pinkie was jealous of Fluttershy’s skating for some reason. So she held a stupid contest to prove she was better” Twilight replied.

“And you weren’t here to judge!” Pinkie complained.

Applejack burst into laughter, Pinkie Pie was not amused.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“You seriously want me to believe that you set a contest to see who was a better ice skater, you or Fluttershy? That sounds like something that Rainbow Dash would do!” Applejack giggled.

“You’re right! I am turning into Rainbow Dash! Is that bad?”

“No of course not. You’re just filling in the void”

“What void?”

“Speaking of which, darling. Have you seen Rainbow Dash?” Rarity asked.

Applejack paused. She did see her and talk to her. But she didn’t want to tell the others what really happened the day before. She felt it wasn’t right to do so.

“Yeah, I did talk to Rainbow Dash. She’s doin’ fine, I think. But one thing I do know is that she’s not going to be the same Rainbow Dash we know and love anymore. That time she had with Tank definitely brought a side of her I didn’t think I’d see; a sensitive side. A side that taught her to be extra careful and cautious about her actions. She has definitely become a better pony because of that influence. Not that she wasn’t great before, but honestly, she has shown to be more caring too”

“Wow. That was very touchy” Pinkie replied.

“All I’m saying is that Tank was a good influence on her. And we can all thank Fluttershy for that”

Fluttershy blushed a little.

“I guess you are right about that” she replied. “Rainbow has been more sensitive lately, and maybe Tank has had something to do with it”

“If we do see ‘er again, we’ll be sure to let her know of that” Applejack replied back.

In her words, she knew Rainbow might not emerge for quite some time, but she still wanted to remember those things that their friends had discussed. But little did they know that they may not see Rainbow Dash in a few days or weeks. They didn’t know how long the void was going to last.

Invitations

About 23 days past since Rainbow Dash said goodbye to her tortoise. It was already Hearth’s Warming Eve. The snow was falling and every pony was out buying last minute gifts for their friends and family. Fluttershy was busy in her cottage setting up for Hearth’s Warming, collecting appropriate plants to represent mistletoe. She was busy singing to herself until she heard a knocking at the door.

“Hello?” Fluttershy timidly answered the door.

“Yay you’re home! You’re not doing anything urgent are you?” an excited Pinkie Pie asked.

“Well, no. Just decorating my house for Hearth’s Warming”

“Great! Because we have a big favor to ask of you”

“We?” Fluttershy asked.

“Me and Pinkie Pie” Applejack replied as she came into vision.

“What have you come to tell me?” Fluttershy asked.

“Pinkie Pie and I have plans for Hearth’s Warming”

“Very exciting plans for Hearth’s Warming too!” Pinkie Pie yelled, jumping up and down in excitement.

“Is Applejack helping you to prepare for the party tonight?” Fluttershy asked.

“Um about that…” Applejack started.

“Me and Applejack are heading over to the rock farm for Hearth’s Warming. So that my family can meet Applejack’s family, y’know since we’re supposedly cousins and all” Pinkie Pie replied.

Fluttershy stood there stunned.

“Wait, if both of you are going to the rock farm this Hearth’s Warming, then who is going to hold the Hearth’s Warming party?” Fluttershy asked.

“We thought you might” Applejack replied, walking towards Fluttershy and putting her hoof on her shoulder.

“w-what? Me?” Fluttershy asked in shock moving backwards into her cottage. “Oh no-no-no-no-no. Why me? Of all of the ponies in Ponyville, why am I the one to host this year’s Hearth’s Warming party?” Fluttershy was breathing frantically. The other two mares just shrugged.

“Because, silly, we picked you fair and square by having all of the ponies names in Ponyville and drawing out one. It just so happened that you were the lucky pony to be replacing your aunty Pinkie Pie in hosting this year’s Hearth’s warming party!” Pinkie pie replied, having her arm across Fluttershy with a wide grin on her face. However Fluttershy was not amused by Pinkie’s hyperactive mood.

“First of all, I am a year older than you Pinkie Pie. I think I had mentioned that a couple of times” Fluttershy removed Pinkie’s arm from her back “And secondly, I have no idea how to plan a party”

“Don’t worry about it sugarcube” Applejack replied “We figured that since you will be hosting the party, you can do it ‘Fluttershy Style’”

“Fluttershy style?”

“Yeah, like, um. Something to do with animals!” Pinkie Pie suggested bouncing up and down.

“Animals?” Fluttershy asked again.

“Animals, or music. Somethin’ that interests ya at least” Applejack responded. Fluttershy’s eyes widened.

“I’ve got it! I know exactly what to do for this year’s Hearth’s Warming party!” Fluttershy responded. “I will have a critter party!”

“That’s a mighty fine idea there!” Applejack replied “We were goin’ to give our critters to you anyway when we left Ponyville”

The two mares gave Winona and Gummy to Fluttershy.

“I’ll be happy to look after them while you’re away” she said.

Suddenly, the bell chimed noon on the clock nearby.

“Guess we’d better be heading off soon, after we say goodbye to Rarity and Twilight of course” Applejack said.

“Wait, before you go, what time does the Hearth’s Warming party start?” Fluttershy asked.

“I usually start the party at 7:00pm. But since this is your party, you can make it any time you like” Pinkie Pie replied.

“No, 7:00pm is fine” Fluttershy reassured.

After Fluttershy bid her friends goodbye, she went on to writing invitations for Rarity, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. Her first stop was at Rarity’s Boutique where she was busy making winter clothes. Ever since Rainbow Dash gave winter early, she had to rush through her winter line. Her boutique was decorated with various fabrics hanging across the curtains and windows.

Fluttershy walked towards Rarity’s Boutique with a basket of invites on her head. ‘I might as well do one think the Pinkie Pie way’ she thought. She timidly knocked on her door and the white unicorn answered it.

“Oh, hello Fluttershy, darling” Rarity welcomed in a gleeful manner. “What can I do for you?”

“Well, as you know, Pinkie Pie and Applejack are heading off this Hearth’s Warming. So they have asked me to host it instead” Fluttershy replied.

Rarity used her magic to pick up the invite that said Rarity and began reading.

Dear Rarity:

You are invited to this year’s Hearth’s Warming party held at Fluttershy’s cottage. There will be lots of things to do there like singing and games. It starts at 7 o’Clock pm.

PS. This is an animal party so you are also welcome to bring your cat with you.

See you there!

Fluttershy

“An animal party; that sounds absolutely wonderful” Rarity mentioned after reading the invite “Glad to hear that they are asking you to do it your way”

“No problem”

“I will see you there at 7 o’clock”

“Happy to be of service” Fluttershy turned to leave until Rarity interrupted.

“Who else is coming to the party?”

“Oh, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash of course”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive”

Fluttershy just happily skipped to her next destination, Twilight’s castle. Twilight gleefully answered the door, her castle beaming with Hearth’s Warming decorations like wreathes, streamers and holly.

“Hi Fluttershy! What’s with that basket on your head?” Twilight asked. Fluttershy looked up at the basket and giggled.

“Didn’t Applejack and Pinkie Pie tell you I’d be hosting the Hearth’s Warming party?”

“Actually they didn’t. They just said goodbye to me and that’s it”

“Oh, well here is the invite!” Fluttershy responded as she handed the invite to Twilight. She carefully read through it.

“I would love to come! I would never miss a Hearth’s Warming party. Even though this would only be the second one in Ponyville I’ve attended” Twilight replied.

“Can’t wait, see you there!” Fluttershy trotted off again. Twilight noticed that there was one more invite in her basket.

“Fluttershy, are you going to invite Rarity now?”

“No, I’ve already done that. I’m going to invite Rainbow Dash” Twilight’s eyes widened.

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked.

“Rainbow wouldn’t miss it for the world”

“Ok then”. Fluttershy continued on her trek to find the last pony on her invite list. Twilight frowned and closed the door behind her. Spike rushed over to her. He had heard the whole conversation.

“Are we going to the Hearth’s Warming party?” Spike asked.

“We are, I’m just a bit worried about Fluttershy’s optimism”

“Why are you worried about that?”

“She told me she is inviting Rainbow Dash to the party. That’s why I’m worried. She might say no. Rainbow hasn’t shown up for weeks and she said it was an animal party”

“And?”

“Tank” Twilight whispered.

“Oh, right”

Twilight just looked at Fluttershy through one of her windows. I was fogged up so she wiped it a bit to get a better view.

“Good luck to Fluttershy if she does succeed in inviting Rainbow, but I really doubt it”

The clock read 12:30 pm. Rainbow Dash was busy napping in her bed, nice and warm, away from the cold snow outside. She suddenly woke up because of an alarm she set. She yawned and climbed out of her bed. Rainbow Dash checked the calendar to see that it read the 24th of December. Her eyes widened in shock.

“It’s Hearth’s Warming Eve!” she gasped. She frantically was flying all around her room, panicking “And I haven’t bothered to get any of my friends presents!” She put on her winter clothes and headed outside of her house. This was the first time she had gone out in quite some time and she needed the exercise.

She searched all around Ponyville to search for random gifts for all of her friends. But luckily, she found a Hearth’s Warming store that had just about anything.

“OK, I’ll get this for Twilight, this for Applejack, this for Pinkie Pie, this for Rarity and this for Fluttershy”

“Good morning Rainbow Dash” a quiet timid voice startled Rainbow. It was her friend Fluttershy.

“Jeez, flutters! Can’t you see I’m busy getting all of my friends their presents!?” Rainbow yelled whilst stuffing gifts into her bag hurriedly.

“I’m sorry Rainbow. I just came to ask you something” Fluttershy replied. “You see, I’m having a Hearth’s Warming Eve party at my cottage. It’s with me and my animal friends. I’ve asked Twilight and Rarity to come and bring their pets and they happily obliged. Pinkie and Applejack though are having Hearth’s Warming at the rock farm so I’m looking after Winona and Gummy whilst they’re gone.”

“An animal party huh?” Rainbow looked deeply intrigued and concerned.

“You are invited too. You can bring Tank along with you” Fluttershy said with glee.

Rainbow’s eyes widened when she heard that word “Tank”. She quivered and tears welled up in her eyes yet again. It took Fluttershy a second to figure out she said something wrong.

“Oh goodness. Tank! I completely forgot. He’s still hibernating” Fluttershy gasped in shock. Rainbow just looked mad at her filly friend. Fluttershy backed up a little.

“How could you forget such a thing!!?” Rainbow shouted at Fluttershy. “You were the one who told me he was going to hibernate in the first place! Of all the ponies in Ponyville, you forget that Tank isn’t here right now!!?”

The rest of the town went silent as they stared at Rainbow and Fluttershy. But the two mares didn’t seem to care that there was silence around them. It seemed like a battle between two friends was happening. But they were also worried because it was Hearth’s Warming eve, and fighting had brought the windigos a thousand years before.

“I didn’t mean to make you mad, Rainbow” Fluttershy apologised. “I just thought...”

“Just leave me alone!!” Rainbow yelled as she flew back up to her house in tears. Fluttershy just stood there. She didn’t do anything. She just sighed and walked slowly back to her cottage. Thinking about whatever she said to Rainbow Dash made her get upset. She tried to get the images from a few minutes ago out of her head.

Even though she expected Rainbow to be mindful of Tank, she didn’t expect her to still hang on to the past, like it was only yesterday she said those harsh words to her: “your winter is going to be pet less”. Keeping in mind it was also Hearth’s Warming Eve, what if Rainbow had prepared a present for Tank too? Fluttershy thought. It then hurt inside her as well to think about it and she quickly resorted back to her own cottage in guilt.

“How could I be so stupid?” Fluttershy argued to herself whilst running. “I’m such a terrible friend!” Her eyes were watering as those words came out of her mouth, or rather, she was crying now. Fluttershy can be sensitive about her friends, even when it did come to being stern with Rainbow, she still felt the tiniest percentage of guilt of hurting her but she didn’t even care at the time.

Fluttershy the animal carer had been through this pain before. She lost animals all the time just like that, though they were in far worse circumstances than Tank was. She knew what it was like to have a pet disappear and never see it again. She hurried back and locked herself in her cottage as her animals comforted her. She finally let her tears run loose in her light pink mane.

“Rainbow is right, though” Fluttershy sighed “How could I forget Tank was hibernating. Poor Rainbow has already gone through so much already in the past month, I feel terrible!” One of the squirrels handed her an acorn to cheer her up.

“Thank you” Fluttershy sniffed. “Pity Rainbow doesn’t have Tank to listen to her problems and worries like I have you. It really does help” Fluttershy wiped the rest of her tears away and started to prepare for the party. She knew it wasn’t for another seven hours but she still wanted to be prepared just in case Twilight and Rarity just so happened to arrive earlier.

Meanwhile, Rainbow was still sulking in anger about what Fluttershy said. She didn’t have any pony to talk to except her fire place. She had just finished wrapping up her presents to give to her friends, but she wondered if she was actually going to give them their gifts.

She stared at the fire place. She noticed how the flames were dancing. She saw her and Fluttershy dancing in the flames too. It was Fluttershy’s fifteenth birthday; Rainbow Dash was still thirteen years old.

She mentioned to Rainbow that she was already planning to move to Ponyville since she was already a full grown mare now and had found comfort on the ground. She was also taking over from one of her relatives according to a will. Rainbow was still smaller than Fluttershy but she couldn’t wait to find a home of her own when she got older. Six years later, Rainbow felt her friendship with Fluttershy had ended.

“What a way to spend Hearth’s Warming Eve, huh. Staying in my cloud house again talking to myself”. She began to get more and more concerned both for herself and Fluttershy. Herself because she felt she had no pony to talk to but herself and Fluttershy because she said those things to her.

“Should I still take the presents down to them, what if Fluttershy never forgives me?” Rainbow decided she didn’t want to go. Not just because of what she said to Fluttershy, but because it might be a bit awkward if she went without Tank.

Rainbow just lied there in front of her fire place, slowly counting the hours until she would change her mind. But that never seemed to happen. Eventually, she closed her eyes. With nothing to do but lie there, Rainbow felt she just gave up right in front of her fire place.

“I wish there was a way to spend Hearth’s Warming with Tank, and do all the fun I wanted with him” she said as she yawned and finally drifted off to sleep.

Little did she know that the Fire place she was sleeping in front of was acting strangely. A Black shadowy figure came out of it and transported itself under Rainbow’s empty tree. The shadow transformed into a little gift. But Rainbow was still oblivious to what was going on in front of her that this shadowy figure was the answer to her long needed wish...

The Hearth's Warming Party

“It was absolutely darling of Fluttershy to invite us to her cottage” Rarity said to Twilight Sparkle. “And I must admit, Opal was just dying for some exercise, weren’t you Opal?” The cat on top of Rarity just meowed and continued to look bored.

“I’ve already spent some time with Spike, so I think it’s fair to spend some time with my friends as well” Twilight replied “Even if Pinkie Pie and Applejack can’t make it”.

“But what about Rainbow Dash?” Rarity asked “Did Fluttershy remember to tell her to come, you know, despite Tank not being able to?”

“Even if Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rainbow Dash can’t make it” Twilight sighed.

The two mares just laughed and trotted over to Fluttershy’s cottage. Twilight knocked on the door as Fluttershy quickly answered it.

“Oh goodness. Hello Rarity! Hello Twilight!” Fluttershy smiled. “I’m glad you two could make it”.

“We’re glad we could also, Darling” Rarity replied.

Fluttershy just nodded her head and sighed, heading towards her dining area with her head drooped.

“We already assumed that Rainbow Dash would not be here” Twilight said trying to comfort Fluttershy. “You know, with Tank hibernating and all”

“I know, I just feel so bad for her” Fluttershy replied. “She has suffered through a lot in the past 3 weeks. She can’t even spend Hearth’s Warming with her pet”. She sat down on her couch and sighed again, trying not to cry again. She still remembered what she had said to Rainbow, and it wasn’t something she was going to forget.

“Oh well, some things can’t always go the way we want to” Rarity said. “We can still have a Hearth’s Warming party even without Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash”.

Fluttershy agreed and started setting out food for the mares. There was fruit, punch, cookies and cakes. Rarity and Twilight dug right in. Opal and Owlowiscious walked up to Gummy, Winona and Angel. They just stared at each other in silence. Even though they were animals, they also felt the void of Tank not being there.

Like the mane 6, they had formed a close friendship, and they had stereotypes of their own. For example; Angel was the evil, devious one. Owlowiscious was the voice of reason. Gummy was the psychic who had deep thoughts all the time. Winona was the cheerful one of the group. Opal was the grump. And Tank was the loyal one. Fluttershy was right about one thing, they couldn’t really have a Hearth’s warming party without all of their friends.

“Oh cheer up, fellow critters! I have made special party hats for all of you” Fluttershy broke the silence as she gave the pets their hats. All of them except Opal were enjoying them. The cat just sighed and wore a look of boredom. Most likely she was woken up from her nap before they left.

Fluttershy dug into the food with the others after she put on some music suggested by Pinkie Pie.

“This is a pretty good food” Twilight commented, finishing one of the cookies. “How did you have enough time to prepare all of this food?”

“Well you could say that I had some help from my animals” Fluttershy replied.

Twilight and Rarity stopped chewing their food for a second.

“Um darling, did you just say your animals helped you make the food?” Rarity asked.

“Well yes. But you don’t have to worry. They all remembered to clean themselves first. I made sure of that” Fluttershy responded. “But how do you think I did?”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“I mean with the party. I mean I followed some tips from Pinkie Pie as well as come up with other ideas of my own”

“I think this is lovely” Twilight complimented, looking around at the decorations “And the good thing is, it’s not as loud as last year’s party. It was all fun and all, but I could hardly hear myself think”

“Well, it’s definitely a nice and quiet environment here” Fluttershy replied, the pets though again were being disruptive. Opal and Angel were having a bit of an argument. “I count the animal ambience as being quiet”

“Opal, stop it. You might hurt him!” Rarity complained, getting out of her seat and picking Opal from the ground. “I’m so sorry Fluttershy. I don’t know why my cat is behaving this way. She’s been acting weird lately, a bit short tempered if you will”

“I’m not too worried about it. Angel is pretty tough. You’ll be amazed what he could get through. Though, I’d prefer not to talk about it”

“That’s ok, you don’t have to”

Rarity went back to her seat as Fluttershy put the karaoke record on. This made the other mares jump for a second.

“Who’s ready for some karaoke?” Fluttershy asked.

“We are!” Rarity and Twilight said in unison. Opal, Gummy, Winona, Angel and Owlowiscious ran over to the couch to watch their owners sing.

First up was Twilight Sparkle.

‘We wish you a happy Hearth’s Warming

We wish you a happy Hearth’s Warming

And a happy new year!

Good tidings we bring

to you and your kin

We wish you a happy Hearth’s Warming

and a happy new year!

Now bring us some apple cider

To fill us with cheer!

We won’t go until we’ve got some

So bring some out here!’

Rarity and Fluttershy applauded happily.

“Thank you, I do have a talent for getting around tongue twisters and fast passages” Twilight replied.

“Ok, who’s next?” Fluttershy asked.

“I will go next” Rarity replied as she snatched the microphone from Twilight. The next song started playing.

‘Deck the halls with boughs of Holly

Tralalalala tralalala

‘Tis the season to be jolly

Tralalalala tralalala

lalalalalalalalalalalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaa’

As she was singing, she was unintentionally decorating Fluttershy’s house with streamers, but not just the house.

“Um, Rarity” Fluttershy interrupted. Rarity stopped singing and looked behind her. Fluttershy and Twilight were completely covered in streamers.

“Oh, my apologies” Rarity replied whilst holding back laughter.

“I guess it’s my turn now” Fluttershy responded, getting the last of the streamers off her.

‘Silent night

Holy night

All is calm

All is bright

Round yon virgin

Mother and child

Holy infant so

Tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace…’

“Twilight!!” Spike called out as he raced towards the house. Twilight let him in. He was trying to catch his breath.

“What’s wrong Spike?” Twilight asked.

“I thought we were going to spend Hearth’s Warming together!” Spike replied.

“I did” Twilight replied. “But Fluttershy invited us to her party, remember. You could have come too if you weren’t asleep by the time I was leaving”

“Oh, that” Spike sounded disappointed. “Now I feel stupid! I completely forgot about it! I went all around Ponyville asking every pony where you were. I even asked Rainbow Dash who was busy sulking by her fireplace”. The three mares gasped in shock.

“You asked Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah, but I think at the time, she was busy having a nap” Spike replied.

“Spike. Don’t you remember that Rainbow is going through a hard time right now?” Twilight asked. “Tank is hibernating. I thought we already talked about it.”

“Oh yeah” Spike replied. “I guess that’s why I left quickly; I guess she wanted to be left alone.” The little dragon just sighed and sat on Fluttershy’s couch.

“Spike, you are welcome to have some food” Rarity said breaking the silence. “Although, I’m afraid there are no gems”

“That’s ok” Spike replied. He climbed up to the table the mares were sitting at and had a go at eating some of the other food Fluttershy had provided. It was all going well until he accidentally sneezed setting the whole table cloth and food on fire. Fluttershy quickly got some water to get rid of the flames before any more of the house got burnt.

“Spike, are you ok?” Twilight asked.

“Sorry. I guess I’ve just caught a cold trying to search for you” Spike replied, looking at the table, how black it was. “Well, at least that wasn’t the scariest thing that happened to me today! There was a huge shadowy figure that came from Rainbow Dash’s fireplace earlier!”

“What!!??” the three mares gasped in unison.

“You told us that all you did was tried to talk to Rainbow” Twilight said, concerned. “You didn’t tell us anything about a shadowy figure before”.

“Yeah, it was so scary! It didn’t even startle Rainbow, but that’s why I ran away” Spike replied.

“But Rainbow lives in a cloud house, how did you even get up there?” Rarity asked.

“One of the pegasi flew me up there, duh” Spike replied. Every pony just looked at each other, confused. All of them then raced out of the cottage. “Where are we going?”

“To save Rainbow Dash” Twilight replied. “That shadowy figure you described can’t be good”. The three mares and the dragon soon pursued to Rainbow Dash’s house in order to save her from whatever this shadowy figure was.

Second Chance

“Rainbow! Are you ok?”

Twilight and the rest of the mares rushed into Rainbow’s house. Rainbow jumped from her sleeping spot by the fireplace and slowly walked to her door where her friends lay waiting. She looked pretty annoyed.

“Why are you guys here?” Rainbow asked, rubbing her eyes.

“We heard from Spike that there was a black shadowy figure in your house” Twilight replied. “We came to see if you were ok”

“Yeah, I’m fine” Rainbow replied, still yawning. “Except you just woke me up from a nap!”

“Oh, sorry” Twilight apologized. Rarity and Fluttershy just looked at Rainbow in concern.

“So, there’s no shadowy figure?” Fluttershy asked.

“Shadowy figure?” Rainbow replied, looking around her house. “What shadowy figure?”

“Spike” Twilight stared down at her dragon companion, angrily. “Was it all just a false alarm?”

“No! There was a shadowy figure I swear! That came out of Rainbow’s fireplace! I’m not joking!” Spike panicked.

“Guys keep it down” Rainbow interrupted. “Now, since you are here, why don’t I give you your Hearth’s Warming presents” The frowns turned to smiles from the other mares and Spike. Rainbow seemed to be keeping calm in all of this. She suddenly stopped and hung her head.

“What’s wrong, Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked. Rainbow just sighed.

“Look Fluttershy, I, I’m sorry about what I had said earlier” Rainbow said. Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “I know you were only trying to help me. Can you forgive me?” Fluttershy nodded.

“Yes. But it’s not your fault” Fluttershy replied. “I was so insensitive in completely forgetting about Tank. Can you forgive me?”

“Yes” Rainbow replied. They gave each other a hug. “Now the presents!” Rainbow flew to her stash of presents that she had remembered to wrap up before she had fallen asleep. Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight opened them up.

Twilight got a book, Fluttershy got some flowers and Rarity got some gems. Knowing how Rainbow managed to get these objects at the same store was just purely coincidence. She then moved to the presents that her friends had given her; a new Daring Do book from Twilight, a new scarf from Rarity and tickets to a Wonderbolts exhibition from Fluttershy.

“Wow! These presents are awesome!” Rainbow said with glee. “Fluttershy How did you get these tickets?”

“During the weeks you had been cooped up in your house, I was invited to Cloudsdale to look after one of the member’s pets. She gave me free tickets in return!” Fluttershy replied.

“Applejack and Pinkie Pie will send their presents to you in a few days” Twilight said.

“Or maybe they already have…” Rarity said, looking under the tree. There was still one present left; a small one. It had blue wrapping paper and was covered by a red bow.

“I don’t think that’s from Applejack or Pinkie Pie” Twilight replied.

“Then who is it from?” Fluttershy asked.

“I don’t know” Rainbow replied, getting closer and closer to the present itself. “This is the first time I’ve seen it as well”. She picked the present up in her hooves. She noticed there was a note on top. It read:

Dear Rainbow Dash

This is a gift sent by your truest desire. The moment you have been waiting for. A chance you never had. You get the picture. Use this object well, and you will get what you truly want.

From …

Rainbow and the others were very confused. Not because of the content, but that they had no idea who had sent it because no name was mentioned after the “from”; just three dots at the end.

“A gift sent by your truest desire?” Rarity read. She looked at Rainbow cheekily and patted her on the head “Is it true? Do you have a coltfriend?!”

“What!? No!” Rainbow objected, pushing Rarity off of her, she started to blush slightly. “If it was from a coltfriend, I think there would have been a name written at the bottom”

“Oh Rainbow, you don’t know anything” Rarity replied. “This was probably sent by a shy stallion that has never confessed his love and wants to remain anonymous”

“You don’t know anything” Rainbow objected again. “The notice sounded more sinister than nervous. I doubt any stallion is trying to confess his love to me. Besides, the letter said there was an object for me to use as well”

“Will you two stop arguing?” Twilight interrupted. “Now, Rainbow. Why don’t you open your present?” Rainbow did so. She unwrapped the paper and discovered a red box. Inside the red box was a small watch. But it was a very unique looking watch. Something that Twilight kept eyeing at. She picked the watch up with her magic and looked at it a bit more closely.

“Uh, Twilight. Are you ok?” Rainbow asked Twilight.

“Yes, I am” Twilight replied. “There’s just something interesting about this watch is all. Mind if I take it to my lab for some tests?”

“Twilight!” Fluttershy shouted. “Sure we don’t know who gave her the gift. But that doesn’t mean it’s an evil object! Besides, Rainbow has needed a new watch for a while after always drawing one on her wrist!”

“I agree with Fluttershy” Rarity said. “This is Rainbow’s present and you shouldn’t experiment on it just because you find it eerie”

“Sure, you can experiment on it” Rainbow said. Rarity’s mouth was wide open. Fluttershy was hoping for a ‘but’ afterwards. “If you do think it might be dangerous, fine. Do your egghead stuff on it, but bring it back afterwards ok”.

“I’m sorry Rainbow” Twilight replied. “I just feel an eerie sense to this object. But I will bring it back when I’m done”.

And so the others waited until Twilight got back. When she did, she was calm but looked annoyed at the same time.

“So” Rarity stated “is the watch enchanted like you thought it was?” Twilight just sighed and hung her head.

“No” Twilight replied as she walked over to Rainbow and gave the watch back to her. “I guess I was wrong. I scanned the watch for any dangerous magical forces and there wasn’t any. It’s just an ordinary watch”. Rainbow seemed pleased and relieved about the situation. She trotted over to Twilight and patted her mane.

“Seriously Twi, I don’t know what you were so worried about” Rainbow laughed. “It’s just a watch! You and your egghead stuff”. Twilight just rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Sorry Rainbow” Twilight groaned. Rainbow just giggled some more.

“We’d best be heading off, darling” Rarity responded.

“Are you going to join us?” Fluttershy asked. Rainbow’s smile vanished.

“I can’t go without him” Rainbow replied.

“We understand. You’re still down. And attending a house full of critters is not going to help is it?” Twilight asked.

“I’m sorry you guys. I mean, you were having the best time of your lives having fun and eating lots of great food. Hearth’s Warming is supposed to be a happy time for every pony. I’m just bumming you out with how sad I’ve been lately. Not that all of the presents you gave me were bad or anything but, it’s been 24 days. It’s only just the start of winter. It’s going to take me more than that to get me to properly smile again. I just can’t wait for winter to be over. Just so I could see him again”

The ponies looked at Rainbow with concern.

“That can’t be helped. But you take as much time as you need, then you can join us when you feel like it” Fluttershy responded.

The others bid Rainbow goodbye.

Rainbow just looked at her new watch. Now that she thought about it, it didn’t have a time on it at all, analogue or digital. It did have two hands on it, but it looked more like a compass than a watch, like a compass-watch. There were only four letters; a W, 2 Ss and an A. It was a season watch/compass. W meant winter; the two Ss were spring and summer and A meant autumn or fall. But Rainbow still had no clue what this could actually do until she read another note inside the box.

This watch can bring your pet tortoise back from hibernation. Just follow the instructions below and you’ll get what you truly desire.

Step 1: lay this watch were your tortoise lies.

Step 2: say that you wish for Tank to come back.

There are really only two steps, and then everything else you create yourself.

“You’re joking right?”

Rainbow just kept laughing and laughing about the whole situation. “You’re telling me that this watch can bring Tank back? Well I don’t even need him; I’m fine on my own”

“That is a lie” a voice echoed though the watch “I’ve witnessed you. You love your tortoise. You never wanted to say goodbye to him!”

Rainbow’s mouth was wide open; the watch just spoke to her. She couldn’t believe it herself.

“W-who are you?” Rainbow asked, confused.

“I am the answer to your wish” the watch replied. “Just follow the instructions and then you’ll understand”

“Ok then” Rainbow replied. She took a deep breath then let it out. “If you can grant me what I want, then it won’t hurt to at least try, but it would have to wait till the morning. It’s quite dark”.

“Fine, do what you must” the watch said.

The next day, Rainbow got her winter gear on and walked to where Tank had buried himself. She laid the watch on top of the snow pile and asked for Tank to come out of hibernation.

Rainbow was expecting something to happen, yet nothing had happened.

“Well” Rainbow said confidently. “I guess you were wrong. I’ll just have to wait till spring to see him”

Suddenly, a huge laser of light beamed from the area where Tank had buried himself. It pushed Rainbow back almost crashing into a tree. Rainbow was close to shrieking. She had no idea what was going on. When the light disappeared, there was fog and mist. Rainbow came through the fog and mist to search for her tortoise. She looked inside the hole where he had buried himself, but Tank was no-where to be seen. Rainbow ran backwards from the hole for a second, in shock.

“Tank?” she cried out. “Where are you?” Rainbow started to get worried. Sweat was pouring down her brow and her heart was beating fast. Then, a reassuring scaly foot stroked alongside Rainbow’s hind leg. Rainbow reacted quickly and looked behind her, Tank was there, awake. Rainbow’s eyes widened and began to tear up again. She picked up her tortoise and gave him a tight hug.

“I’m so glad you’re back!” she said, smiling. “I thought I would really have to wait 2 months until you returned!” she put Tank down and wiped her tears away. This is the first time Rainbow had really smiled in a while. A huge grin on her face, something that Pinkie Pie would definitely like.

“I can’t believe it actually worked!” Rainbow grinned as she picked up the watch from the pile of snow. “And it’s all thanks to this watch. I don’t know how it did it, but it has! I can finally do all those things with you I couldn’t before!” Rainbow just skipped alongside Tank who had harnessed his flying gear again.

She walked over to the sled stand and asked for 2 wooden ones. She then flew all the way up to the highest hill in Ponyville and looked down. The wind was blowing freely in her mane. She then looked down at Tank.

“You ready?” she asked confidently. Tank gave no response.

“This just in, brave Rainbow Danger Dash and her trusty tortoise Tank the Fearless are about to go down the fastest, steepest and most daringly huge mount in all of Ponyville!”

Rainbow bent down and licked her lips, determined to beat her pet down the slope.

“Ready, set, go!” both of them went as quick as lightning as they slid down the slope, making sure not to crash into any trees.

Nearby, Twilight Sparkle and Rarity were close to the trees of the slope, estimating the amounts of snow that had fallen in the past few weeks.

“Twilight Darling, I don’t see how measuring snow fall is relevant to your research” Rarity explained.

“Oh but it is” Twilight replied. “Ever since that giant snowball hit Ponyville, I’ve been very intrigued to record effects” Rarity looked concerned.

“Twilight. That giant snowball crashed in Ponyville a month ago. Why are you doing research now?”

“I checked results a month ago too. But I’m checking every month for effects”

“And I’m out here because...”

“Because you were helping me with recording, remember”

“Right, I stupidly volunteered” Rarity murmured.

“What was that?”

“Nothing” Rarity quickly replied. Then something came to her, a thought. “I wonder who could have sent that watch” Twilight dropped the snow she picked up back on the ground when she heard that. She sighed and looked at her friend.

“I don’t know. But even when I didn’t find any magical sources, I still feel suspicious about it. I mean, I’m even more worried that something bad might happen to her”

“Who, Rainbow Dash?”

“Yes. Some pony might hurt her. And she’s just come out of her shell” Rarity glared at her when the word 'shell' was used. “That didn’t help, I know”

“That’s alright darling. Besides, if Rainbow was in danger, she would be able to handle it. She’s pretty tough”

“Not recently. She’s not been completely herself lately. She’s fighting a battle in her mind that she might not win” Rarity looked sadly at Twilight.

“Don’t say that, darling. You know how much Rainbow loves to win things, especially battles”

“I know. I know. Just, what I’d give for Rainbow to be sledding in the snow right about now”

Then, Rainbow Dash went speeding past them, getting snow all over Twilight and Rarity. They both shook the snow off and noticed Rainbow smiling as she was going down the slope.

“What’s Rainbow Dash doing out here?” Twilight asked.

“Looks like you’ve got your wish, darling” Rarity replied.

“That’s odd though. When we last saw her, she wasn’t herself but now she’s back to normal”

“So?”

“So, between the times we visited her and now, she has changed”

“Well she did get presents from us remember? She was happy then”

Twilight twitched her eye.

“I already know that. She was happy for a brief moment. But then when we mentioned the Hearth’s Warming party, she went back to being gloomy. I as well as the next pony want Rainbow to return to normal as soon as possible, but these things take time”

“Well apparently not if we saw her speeding on a sled”

“You’re right; there must be something else that has changed her”

“And?”

“And, something doesn’t seem right about that. I think that watch might have something to do with it”

From where she was standing, Twilight couldn’t see tank sledding beside Rainbow. However, she did feel a little suspicious about what was going on.

Tank had gone ahead of Rainbow now. She was shocked and confident at the same time.

‘No way is the fastest pony in all of Ponyville losing a race to one of the slowest animals in Ponyville!’ she thought. She picked up her speed and managed to go ahead of Tank by a long shot.

Fluttershy was caring for some of animals. She was about to give Angel his lunch until a huge snow pile fell on top of both of them.

Rainbow had made a perfect landing to the race, then she looked at Fluttershy who was now covered in snow. Rainbow Dash burst out in laughter.

“Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked, confused. “What are you doing out here?”

“Just sledding with my best friend in the world!” Rainbow replied.

“Who?”

“Fluttershy, I have some exciting news to tell you!” Rainbow Dash squealed “Tank is back!” She pointed at her tortoise who had just arrived at the finish line and was looking livelier than ever. She went over to tank and nuzzled him.

“I don’t believe it” Fluttershy gasped. “This isn’t possible. Tank should be hibernating. It’s still winter!”

“I know” Rainbow Dash replied. “But what made a difference was this watch I got for Hearth’s Warming!” She held her watch up to show Fluttershy.

“Like magic?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah, like magic” Rainbow replied. “I’m just so happy I have my pet tortoise again!”

“I’m not too sure about this, Rainbow” Fluttershy said, concerned. “Hibernating is healthy for him, what you are doing could hurt him biologically”

“Nah, he looks perfectly fine” Rainbow argued. “Don’t worry about him, whatever the watch did, I think it covered the health consequences too”. She picked up Tank and said goodbye to her yellow Pegasus friend. Fluttershy turned to Angel in concern.

“I’m really worried about Rainbow Dash” Fluttershy said to him. “If that watch did really bring back Tank, I just hope nothing bad happens to him”

Rainbow and Tank had lots of runs down the slope. Then they went to play horse hockey, have snowball fights and have hot cider by their fire.

It was night now, and Rainbow and Tank were both exhausted from all of the fun they had together. Rainbow was preparing to go to sleep.

“That was so much fun!” Rainbow Dash said “I never had this much fun for a long time”. Tank nodded. He smiled at Rainbow. They both gave each other a hug. Rainbow yawned.

“Well, it is getting late. We should probably catch some Zs” Rainbow said “A big day of fun tomorrow”. She got into her bed and laid Tank in his bed too. She slowly drifted off to sleep.

Tank was getting cold again. He walked over to Rainbow Dash and started to sleep next to her. This woke Rainbow for a couple of seconds when she had noticed him. She just grinned and nuzzled her pet.

She finally got the chance to sing him the lullaby after eight months of missing it. Why she hadn't sung it in that long was because she discovered Daring Do. Tank also took a liking to the series so she would read him the books too. But at this stage, she was too tired to even do that, so she went with singing the lullaby.

'Little Tanky please do not cry now

I will always be by your side now

even if the weather gets too cold now

I never will leave you alone'

“Goodnight Tank” Rainbow finished as she finally drifted off to sleep. She knew something big had started for the both of them. That nothing could keep them apart again. But she still had to learn that all good things must come to an end eventually. And eventually may come sooner then she expects…

Finding Clues

Twilight and Rarity headed back to the castle and were both equally confused on what had just happened. They had just seen their recently depressed friend Rainbow Dash have the time of her life, and Twilight had a slight suspicion that she knew what was causing it. When they got to the castle, Twilight spent her time searching through books even though she had read all of them at least once.

"Twilight, what are you doing?" Rarity asked.

"Searching through my books but I can't find anything!"

"Why are you making such a big deal about this anyway? Rainbow is happy now isn't she?"

"That's what I'm worried about. Maybe the watch put a spell on her"

"That's ridiculous. Why would a watch do that?"

"Well why else would she be so happy all of a sudden?"

"Maybe, I don't know"

"I rest my case" Twilight replied, stacking her books back onto the shelves "That's why I've decided to take the watch from Rainbow Dash myself"

"Why? For more experiments that weren't successful?"

"No, to protect our friend"

"So you're actually going to permanently confiscate it from her?"

"Yep"

"I don't know if this is going to work, darling. Are you sure you want this? For Rainbow to be sad again?"

"No, but I want her to be safe"

Rarity sighed.

"So what is your plan? You won't be able to get it from her when she's awake"

"That's why we'll sneak in at night and take it"

"But that's considered as trespassing"

"It won't matter. As long as Rainbow is back to normal the non-magic way that's all I care about"

"Fine. But I still don't think this is a good idea"

"Goodnight Tank" Rainbow said as she finally drifted off to sleep. Twilight and Rarity were nearby, and they had their best ninja outfits on. By now, they were directly below the cloud house.

"Are you sure about this?" Rarity asked.

"I'm positive. There's no turning back"

"No, I mean about these ninja outfits. I personally they need a little more glamour in them"

"Rarity, we're in disguise. We're not supposed to be seen"

"Right, you make a valid point. But I can't help you"

"Why not?" Rarity turned around to her side and pointed on her back.

"I don't have wings. And flying is the only way to get up there" Twilight looked behind her, then looked at her horn.

"You're right. I'm the only one to perform this task. I'll fly up to her bedroom window, then use my magic to safely transport the watch down to the ground"

"And what am I doing?" Twilight thought for a moment.

"You keep guard. Make sure no pony comes this way"

"I think no pony will, darling. It's the middle of the night and almost every pony has gone to bed. It's not like Canterlot where everywhere is constantly guarded" Twilight blinked.

"Did you say Canterlot?"

"Yes"

"Change of plan"

"Oh, what is it?" Rarity asked, annoyed.

"Instead of confiscating it, let's find out where it came from"

"In Canterlot?"

"That's one of the best cities to find strange magical artifacts"

"Or we could just ask Rainbow where it came from?"

"But she doesn't know either"

"This plan makes no sense!" Twilight put her hoof on Rarity's mouth.

"We're supposed to be quiet" Twilight whispered.

"Right"

Twilight started to fly up to Rainbow's house and to her open window. Rainbow was tucked in her quilts to keep warm. Twilight used her magic to try and levitate the watch to her. So far it was successful, until an electrical surge disrupted her levitation magic. Twilight was startled by this and fell. Rarity also noticed this and came to her rescue.

"Twilight, what happened?" Rarity asked as she was trying her best to stand up.

"I don't know what happened, but I was successful in transporting it for a while, but then there was this magical surge that stopped me from taking it" Twilight replied.

"A magical surge?"

"Yes" Twilight looked back. "And I think we may have woken Rainbow Dash up"

"We'd better get out of here"

Twilight transported herself and Rarity out of sight. Then, a sleepy, Rainbow Dash stared out of her window. She had no idea what woke her up until she saw the watch acting strangely. She walked towards it cautiously. As soon as she touched it, it stopped the magical surges.

'What could've happened?' she thought. But she had no time to figure it out, she just drifted back off to sleep.

Rarity and Twilight were safely transported back to the castle where they finally had a chance to catch their breath.

"That was a close one!" Rarity explained.

"Yeah. But we were unsuccessful. We didn't get the watch" Twilight replied.

"Cheer up Darling. I'm sure it wasn't too serious" Rarity responded, patting her alicorn friend on the back. Twilight's eyes widened. "Oh don't tell me you have another idea?"

"No. But I remembered something. When I was testing the watch for magical effects yesterday, I took some footage of it. Whilst I was doing that, there were no magical surges stopping me from handling it" Twilight got out her camera where lots of pictures of the watch were present. "But not just that, I also drew hundreds of diagrams!"

Suddenly Twilight threw a whole pile of papers onto Rarity using her magic. The unicorn was not amused. She shook the rest of the papers off of her.

"You did all of this in 7 minutes?"

"only 7 minutes?"

"well that's how long you were gone for. So how do all of these diagrams help us find out who sent the watch?"

"The store owner of the antique store, Mr Alious knows everything about every single piece of ancient artifact sent to him"

"But the watch isn't really ancient, darling"

"No, but it does have magical powers. He is an expert at that sort of thing" Twilight was on her way to leave but Rarity grabbed her hind leg before she did.

"We're not leaving to Canterlot now, it is too late at night to do so. Maybe tomorrow?" Twilight looked at her friend.

"You don't have to come with me, Rarity. I lived in Canterlot, I think I can do this by myself"

"Don't be ridiculous. I must come with you. For I also have magical powers up my metaphorical sleeve. Besides, it's Canterlot! I'd like to visit again, since I'm planning to open a new boutique there"

"Really? Rarity, that's amazing! You're really planning to broaden your designs to other areas of Equestria?"

"Yes darling. It's about time I share my clothing patterns with other ponies. And I will not fail to do so!"

"I know exactly what failing feels like"

"I didn't say I was going to fail"

"Oh, sorry"

"Let's meet at the station at 8:00 AM"

"Good idea. That's when the earliest train to Canterlot leaves"

Rarity made it safely back to her house and took off the ninja outfit. It was not likely that a fabulous mare such as herself was going to need a disguise again. She was used to other ponies noticing her and whatever outfits she wore. She knew she was going to Canterlot so she needed to pick something sophisticated for the occasion.

Twilight was waiting at the train station and staring at the clock. It was 7:55 AM. She was actually starting to get stressed about her friend arriving on time. Rarity did arrive shortly after she checked the clock and she was wearing her best winter outfit for the occasion.

"Rarity, you spent this time searching for an outfit to wear?"

"Yes, darling. Because we are going to Canterlot after all. I need to look magnificent"

"We're going to an antique store in Canterlot. We're not going to a performance or a social gathering"

"You may not care for fashion, but I must look magnificent whether we are visiting an Antique store or not!"

"Fine, let's just get on the train"

With Twilight's sudden tone of annoyance, Rarity quickly changed out of her formal wear. She didn't want to annoy her anymore on this trip.

The two mares arrived in Canterlot. All of the ponies were looking very sophisticated. But Twilight didn't really care for it. She got out her diagrams of the watch and started looking at them whilst she was moving.

"Twilight, are you sure you know where you're going?" Rarity asked. "Maybe you should have something more useful in front of your eyes like a map"

"I told you. I lived in Canterlot most of my life. I know exactly where I'm going. I don't even need a map"

"If you say so" Rarity sighed. The mares arrived at the building. It was an old looking building with lots of rusty objects inside. They went inside but they couldn't see Mr Alious anywhere. It was almost empty but the sign on the front of the door said it was open.

"Hello, anypony here?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, maybe we shouldn't be here, no pony else is around"

"Don't be ridiculous, the sign said it was open, so he must be around here somewhere"

The mares kept looking through the store trying to find where he might be. Then Twilight saw another room. The room was covered with rugs, drapes and photographs. Inside was a middle aged earth pony who was looking inside a crystal ball. She had piercings all over.

"Um excuse me, do you know where Mr. Alious is?" Twilight asked, making her way into the room.

"He is on a three-month vacation; he is currently on his first month searching for ancient artifacts in lost realms" a voice said behind them. It was the mare from before. Twilight and Rarity shrieked at the sudden teleportation. They turned around but she wasn't there, she was back where she was before. In her room.

"Who are you?" Twilight asked.

"I am Mr. Alious' Aunt; Madam Cleos. I'm looking after the store whilst he's on vacation" the mare replied.

"Are you a fortune teller?" Rarity asked.

"Well, no. I'm actually a psychic, miss Rarity and princess Twilight Sparkle" Rarity and Twilight had their mouths wide open.

"How do you know our names?" Twilight asked.

"Miss Twilight. You are a princess, of course I know who you are. And Rarity, you have come here before too. To Canterlot I mean. You met up with a sophisticated gentlecolt called Fancy Pants" Cleos replied.

"T-that was a year ago. How did you know that?" Rarity asked, eyes widened.

"I am a psychic. And I can also tell that you two are under distress. There is a mysterious watch object that you need my help to tell you where it came from"

"Yes, yes we do" Twilight replied. She grabbed the diagrams and photos from her bag and lay them on the table before her. Cleos examined the diagrams closely. Twilight was getting impatient.

"So, do you know what this object is?" she asked.

"It's a watch" Cleos replied.

"I already knew that. What I mean is..."

"But not just any watch" Cleos put her hoof on the pictures and diagrams in front of her. "This is a magical watch that a Rainbow maned Pegasus called Rainbow Dash owns"

"You can tell all of that by the pictures?" Rarity asked.

"Yes, I have the power to see the origins of anything I touch. For photographs, I am able to tell you about the object inside the photographs and their origin. But I can only tell you whilst I have magical source connected to me"

"So you can tell us who sent the watch?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. I think I might be able to" Cleos replied, putting the photograph onto her forehead.

"What do you see?" The mares both asked.

"I see that the watch has some form of magical being inside. The watch was transported via a fireplace in a vision of smoke"

Twilight and Rarity looked at each other in shock.

"Twilight, you know what this means?" Rarity asked.

"Yes. It means that Spike was telling the truth. There was a black shadowy figure that came out of her fire place. And that explains who sent the watch. It wasn't a pony at all!"

"Anything else?" Rarity asked Cleos.

"Let's see. This watch is magical because it can grant wishes to whoever it was sent to. I also see that it had been disturbed by a magical force, some kind of levitation"

"That was me. I tried to get the watch away from Rainbow Dash but something interfered with it. But that didn't happen when I took it to experiment on. That's when I took the pictures and diagrams"

Cleos was trying to get more information. Then she got something else.

"A wish had recently been made from the watch. When you took these pictures, the wish hadn't been made. But when you tried to take it using your magic, it had already happened"

"That makes more sense now!" Twilight smiled. "Now we still need to figure out who or what still sent the watch and what wish Rainbow had on it"

Cleos looked for more information, but then her concentrated look disappeared to one of worry.

"It's gone" Cleos said.

"What do you mean it's gone?" Twilight asked.

"I mean when I tried to look up the answers to those last two things you told me, the source disappeared"

The two mares wore a look of confusion and worry.

"Disappeared?" Rarity asked "How?"

"I believe if a source disappears, it no longer exists" Cleos responded.

"Kind of like a scent that a dog picks up. Though I do know that a scent of a corpse is filthy and disturbing. And I will know not to go to that part of the Everfree Forest again!" Rarity complained.

Twilight worried that they were getting off topic.

"Do you still remember the last thing you read?" Twilight asked.

"No. As I mentioned before, with this sort of thing, I only remember what I say, not what I see"

"That's annoying. Is there any way to get that source back?"

Cleos tried to find the source of the images again.

"Nothing. I'm sorry but the source is dead. It can't be brought back"

"Thanks anyway" Rarity replied.

"I hope I helped you"

"You did. Thank you so much" Twilight said. The two mares exited the store, slightly unsatisfied. They found out that it wasn't a pony who sent the watch, but they still didn't know who sent it. They found out that the watch had wishing powers, but they didn't know what wish the watch granted.

Hurtful Past

“I can’t wait to see the rest of my friends again!” Pinkie happily squealed.

Pinkie Pie and Applejack with the rest of the Apple family were heading back to the train station to hop on the next train to Ponyville.

“Neither can I. I bet they’ve missed us for the few days we’ve been gone” Applejack replied.

“I wonder if anything interesting has happened since we’ve been gone”

“Who cares, I want to find out what Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo did for Hearth’s Warming. I did manage to get presents for them” Applebloom interrupted. She showed the presents to her sister.

“Why, Applebloom. That’s mighty fine artwork you have there” Applejack commented.

“What are they exactly?” Pinkie asked.

“They’re different ideas of cutie marks engraved in stone. I’m sure the others would love them!” Applebloom replied.

Pinkie and Applejack were confused.

“But don’t you guys already have your cutie marks?” Pinkie asked again. “I mean, I threw an entire Cute-ceañera for you two months ago!”

“Well yeah, I know. But these are different options for other colts and fillies that still need to get their cutie marks. Because after all, our special talents are helping other colts and fillies get their cutie marks. I had it especially engraved in stone because that was the only option I could find because face it. We were surrounded by rocks for 2 days” Applebloom replied. Pinkie Pie gasped.

“Presents! I completely forgot!” she squealed.

“Forgot about what?” Applejack asked.

“We promised the others to get presents too, but we didn’t have time to do that! Now we’re going into Ponyville with no presents for them!”

“Whoa, Pinkie. Calm down. Before we come and visit them, maybe we can stop in one of the Ponyville shops and get them something quickly”

“That sounds like a good idea”

The ponies jumped aboard the train. Applebloom, Granny Smith and Big Mac were sitting in spot, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie were sitting in another spot on the opposite side of the carriage. Pinkie was thinking. Something that she didn’t do often. She was looking at the rest of Applejack’s family with concern.

“Is anything the matter Pinkie?” Applejack asked.

“Applejack can I talk to you about something, in an empty carriage?”

“Uh, ok”

Applejack was confused as Pinkie pushed her into the next carriage along so they wouldn’t be heard. No pony else was in this one which was good for them.

“So, Pinkie. What do you want to chat to me about?” Applejack asked. Pinkie sighed.

“You know. Ever since I’ve known you, something has always been bugging me”

“Oh, and what might that be?”

“You know that in your family you have your granny, your big brother and your little sister right?”

“Yeah?”

“And in my family, I have my three sisters and my parents”

“Yeah?”

Pinkie sighed again.

“What’s bugging me is that I have never seen your parents before. I mean, where were they?”

Applejack froze. Her heart was beating rapidly.

“Oh, that’s what you wanted to talk about?” Applejack asked, forcing a smile.

“I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but, I really want to meet them at some point. You never talk about them at all, but if it’s a touchy subject then I can withdraw my question”

“No. It’s ok Pinkie. It’s not too touchy at all. In fact, that’s a pretty good question”

“It is, phew”

“You see, my parents travelled a lot. My father, Blue Core, was a blue stallion with a light blue mane. He was Granny Smith’s son. He got his talent with eating apples so quickly he could spit out the core in a second. He met my mother, Pink lady, which coincidently was another name for an apple. She had a purple coat with a light pink mane. She was good at advertising. Together, they started having a business together. Ponies were so impressed with their success that they got offered a full payin’ job. Then my mother fell pregnant with Big Mac, but she kept going with my father. Then they had me, and I hardly saw them.

‘Then, after I got my cutie mark, they were offered this huge job offer to sell apples all across Equestria. That’s when I never saw them again. Even to this day, they’re still selling apples in distant lands. They do write me letters and send me postcards every so often. And they take photos of their travels. But other than that, I haven’t heard what they sound like in a long time. They did say that they were sorry they couldn’t make it, and promised to do so next year. If they can finally take a break that is. But the truth is, I don’t know when I’m going to see my parents again”

Pinkie Pie looked sadly at the floor.

“I’m sorry about your parents. I mean having a job so busy they can’t even see you. I feel so sorry for them and you”

“That’s ok. But does that answer your question?”

“I guess. They must have really loved you, no matter what you did right?”

“Of course they did. I was an apple, and they were very proud of that. Why do you ask?”

Pinkie sighed again and stared out of the window.

“You see. I never really felt like I belonged in the pie family. We were a family that harvested rocks of course, but for some reason, I didn’t like it at all. The rest of my family didn’t feel the same way though. Every single day I was working at the rock farm I hated it. I didn’t know what the point was, harvesting rocks. I didn’t want that to be my destiny. But when Rainbow Dash performed her sonic rainboom, then I realised what I was supposed to do. What was my destiny; to make other ponies smile and laugh with me. But even after I threw that party for my family, they knew that they were destined to still harvest rocks. I thought deep down that they didn’t think that I would be good enough. That I got a cutie mark that wasn’t to do with rocks, it broke me inside. Were they going to treat me any differently because of that? Would they be disappointed in me? Lucky for you Applejack, your talent still has to do with apples. But, after I kept doubting myself, I ran away”

“You did what?”

“I ran away from my own family and found a place that would be worthy of my talent; Ponyville. But I had nowhere to stay. I was just a filly and I had run away from my own family. But then the Cakes took me in and looked after me to this day. They would be what you would refer to as an ‘adoptive’ family. But every single day, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go and visit my family. I was worried that they would be ashamed of me if I came across them again. It did take some courage until I finally stood up to them. And to make matters worse, the day I ran away was Hearth’s Warming Eve. I abandoned them just like that because I had so much doubt in myself”

“Pinkie Pie! Your family wouldn’t think any different of you if you were just being yourself. I bet they would have missed you when you ran away. After you brought laughter and smiles to your own home, you leave them just like that? Didn’t you think that they would miss you?”

“I know now that I regret running away, but at the time, I was scared. My family was really strict. I felt like I didn’t really belong”

Applejack walked over to Pinkie Pie and put her hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder.

“You should really appreciate your family. Because, like me, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone”

“I guess you’re right”

Suddenly, the train stopped in Canterlot. Pinkie perked back up to her cheery self again.

“Hey, Applejack, this is our chance!”

“Our chance for what?”

“Duh. Our chance to get presents for our friends! It’s not likely that they’ll be in Canterlot”

“Probably not”

“What do you suppose we do now?” Rarity asked Twilight. They had just walked out of the store that Madam Cleos was looking after. They had to find out who sent the watch, but they had no luck finding out in the end.

“I don’t know. It’s still bugging me that we don’t know who sent the watch or what wish Rainbow wished for” Twilight replied.

“I don’t think it matters that much, darling”

“But it does. Whatever Rainbow wished for must have made her happy. I just want to know what that is”

“We really shouldn’t be digging into our friend’s privacy”

“We aren’t; I just care about her safety. I’m worried about that magical force. I’m worried about everything”

“How could you be worried about everything?” a familiar pink earth pony said. It was Pinkie Pie and Applejack. Twilight and Rarity were both startled by their sudden appearance.

“Pinkie Pie, Applejack. What are you two doing here?” Twilight asked, surprised.

“Applejack and I were doing some last minute shopping in Canterlot for you guys. Then we were going to go on the next train back to Ponyville” Pinkie replied. “And what are you and Rarity doing here?”

“Oh, nothing really. We were just visiting” Twilight replied.

“That’s nice to ‘ear” Applejack responded. “The train to Ponyville doesn’t leave for another 2 hours. Maybe it would be nice if we hung out a bit”

“Sorry. But we’re in a bit of a…”

“We’d love to” Rarity interrupted. “I’d love to hear about your time at the rock farm and how the Apples and Pies got along”

“Sweet! Let’s go to a café and talk there!” Pinkie Pie replied pushing the other mares in the general direction of where the cafes were.

“I really think we needed to continue our research” Twilight whispered.

“Not really. We haven’t seen our friends in a couple of days. The research can wait” Rarity whispered back.

“I was really sad when the Apples were leaving, but then they came back because of a special surprise I left for them on the train. Then with their strength, they were able to help us carry Houlders boulder all the way up the hill! Then we decided next time we do that, we should deliberately toss it down then push it back up again! We’ll make an Apple/Pie tradition!” Pinkie Pie explained. Twilight and Rarity were stoked. They realized that the Apples and the Pies had to overcome their differences to fully enjoy themselves.

“That was a touching story, darlings” Rarity replied. “I’m so glad that things were ok in the end”

“Now that we’ve talked about what happened to us, why don’t you two tell us what happened whilst we were away?”

Twilight flinched when she heard that sentence. Suddenly Rarity and Twilight felt a bit uneasy.

“Oh no!” Pinkie responded. “Was there a Zompony apocalypse whilst we’ve been gone?” The other mares blinked.

“Not exactly, it’s not as extreme as that either” Twilight replied.

“What happened, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“Well you see. We had the Hearth’s Warming party at Fluttershy’s cottage. Then we heard from Spike that there was a black shadowy figure coming out of Rainbow Dash’s fireplace. We went to check up on her, but she didn’t notice anything. But then something appeared out of nowhere. A watch. The next day, Rarity and I saw Rainbow Dash happy but we couldn’t figure out why. Then I came to the conclusion that the watch was to blame. So we went off to Canterlot to find more information about the watch. Madam Cleos told us that the watch has magical wishing powers and it wasn’t a pony who sent it. But we don’t know what Rainbow wished for or who sent the watch. And that’s why we were here” Twilight replied.

“So let me get this straight. Rainbow got a watch for Hearth's Warming, and you two were in Canterlot trying to find out who it was sent by and what wish she made from it?” Applejack asked. Twilight and Rarity nodded their heads in agreement.

“And you said what she wished for made her happy again?” Pinkie asked.

“That’s correct” Twilight replied.

“I think I might have a slight idea of what she wished for” Applejack responded.

“You do?” Rarity asked.

“Remember why she was sad in the first place? I’m thinking that that same thing has made her happy” Applejack replied.

“That makes no sense” Rarity responded. “How can something that had made her sad make her happy again?”

“Not the actual pony, but the circumstance. And being in that same position myself, I know what that feels like. But unlike Rainbow, I can never have the happiness she has”

“Stop talking in riddles, Applejack!” Twilight interrupted. “What exactly do you mean by that? The circumstance? Do you know what Rainbow could’ve wished for?” Applejack thought about it for a second.

“Well, ya see Twilight” Applejack started, but hesitated. She suddenly heard screaming in her mind. It was the voices of a stallion and a mare, falling to their deaths. Quickly, she put her hooves to her ears to block out the internal noise.

“Applejack? Are you ok, darling” Rarity asked. Applejack couldn’t hear anything else now, just those screams, and only she could hear them. Then Applejack shuddered and gently put her head on top of her arms.

“Applejack? What’s gotten into you?” Twilight asked, trying to comfort the shaking mare.

“Mum…. Dad…. I’m…. Sorry” Applejack eventually uttered. Twilight and Pinkie were confused, but Rarity knew exactly what was going on.

“Applejack, what do your parents have to do with Rainbow Dash?” Rarity asked, but she was not successful in getting a response.

“She must still be sad about her parents and how they never see her because they’ve been travelling a lot because of their job and they still are” Pinkie responded.

“What?”

Then Applejack lifted her head, tears were coming out.

“Y’all don’t understand!” Applejack shouted, she put her head back into her arms “you’ll never understand what I’m going through. Therefore, you’ll never know what Rainbow Dash is going through”

Rarity, Pinkie and Twilight looked at Applejack with concern.

“Come on, Applejack” Twilight finally said. “Maybe we should head back to Ponyville now”

Applejack wiped the rest of her tears away.

“Yeah. Let’s do that” she sniffed.

“Enough crying Applejack, we want Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to see you smile when you get to Ponyville” Pinkie Pie replied.

“That’s right. I don’t know what came over me” Applejack replied back.

The four mares happily made their way to the train station. Their train to Ponyville wasn’t leaving for another 15 minutes, but they noticed that another train had just entered Canterlot from Ponyville. Two mares came off the train. It was Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and they looked worried. Rainbow had Tank in her bag. They looked like they were in a rush. The others noticed this too and ran directly towards them.

“Fluttershy, what are you doing here?” she asked. Fluttershy hung her head trying to catch her breath.

“I have some bad news” she said. The ponies’ smiles disappeared. They knew whatever she was going to say couldn’t be good. They noticed that Tank was with Rainbow Dash when he was supposed to be hibernating. Of course that would cause suspicion for Twilight. But whatever Fluttershy had to say had to have been about Tank and why he wasn’t hibernating.

Maybe, Twilight would finally uncover what happened to Tank and if he was the reason Rainbow Dash was so happy. But whatever that watch did, Twilight thought, now it has backfired. Something has gone wrong…

The Price

“Good Morning Tank!”

Morning arose over Ponyville and Rainbow Dash woke up refreshed. She had a nice sleep despite it being cold, and waking up half way because of the watch’s strange behaviors. She still couldn’t figure out why it was acting the way it did. But all it did was grant her wish, she didn’t really care about anything else besides that. She looked at Tank. He didn’t look like he slept at all. In fact, he looked really unwell.

“Tank, are you ok?” Rainbow asked him. “You don’t look so good”. Tank was sweating and breathing heavily. Rainbow put her hoof to his head; she reacted quickly when she discovered that he had a fever.

“I don’t understand; you were fine last night” Rainbow said concerned. “How could you have gotten sick this quickly?” Tank could barely stand up now as he fell over. Rainbow didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what to do if an animal got sick. As far as she was aware, this was the first time Tank was sick since she first took care of him in spring.

“Come on, we should go to Fluttershy’s cottage” Rainbow said. “She might have an idea of what is going on, she is an expert on animals”.

Rainbow Dash raced over to her cottage. She knocked on her door with anxiousness. Fluttershy calmly opened it and saw her distressed friend by her doorstep.

“What’s wrong Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked “Are you ok?”

“No, I’m not” Rainbow replied. “There’s something seriously wrong with Tank this time. He has a high fever and he’s struggling to breathe”.

“Calm Down, Rainbow Dash. I can help you. Whenever pets are sick, I know how to take care of them”

Fluttershy took Tank from Rainbow’s bag and lay him on a special pillow. She tried all the different methods to cool his fever down, even grabbing some snow from outside and putting it in a bag. She didn’t have any ice bags so this was close enough. But it seemed it wasn’t successful. The bag of snow just melted on his head. Tank was panting with sweat.

“Oh goodness. His fever is worse than I thought” she responded.

“His bag of ice melted just like that! How is that even possible?” Rainbow asked.

“Why didn’t you come to me sooner?”

“Because I only discovered he was sick when I got up this morning”

“I see. That makes sense actually. So you don’t know what could’ve caused his illness?”

“No”

Fluttershy grabbed one of the medications from her bag.

“If ice packs didn’t work, good old medication should do the trick”

She tried to feed Tank the medication, but instead, he choked on it. Rainbow Dash was getting worried. This had never happened before. She never had to deal with something this serious since a month ago. She hoped that Fluttershy might cure him. But every single attempt she made, only got worse from there.

“I just don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything that would usually cure a fever” Fluttershy replied.

“Maybe it isn’t a fever”

“But it has to be. We have all of the signs; the rising temperatures, dehydration. I don’t know what else it could be”

“But, Tank can’t get sick. We were going to have fun in the snow together. Just like yesterday. We promised! He can’t get out of it because he’s not feeling 100%. There has to be something you can do to help him. Anything!”

Fluttershy pondered to herself in concern, wondering what the problem could be. Then she remembered what she had said to Rainbow the day before:

‘Hibernating is healthy for him, what you are doing could hurt him biologically’

“I think I know why Tank is ill” Fluttershy then responded. Rainbow looked amazed.

“You do? Have you found a way to cure him too?” she asked excitedly.

Fluttershy just sighed.

“Rainbow Dash”

“Yes?”

“This may have been caused because he is not hibernating”

Rainbow’s ears perked up in surprise. She started giggling.

“Are you serious? My pet getting sick because he hasn’t been hibernating? That’s just ridiculous!”

“I am serious. He may have gotten sick because he hasn’t been hibernating”

“Why would that have been?” Rainbow asked. “He was perfectly fine yesterday”

“Tortoises are cold blooded creatures, they have to stay warm” Fluttershy explained.

“So?” Rainbow asked “He was warm, in my bed last night”

“No Rainbow” Fluttershy interrupted “It’s not that. He has caught a high fever because he hasn’t been hibernating for that reason”. Rainbow looked more concerned than ever. This was caused because she was too selfish and caring about being lonely than actually helping her tortoise.

“No, y-you’re lying! Aren’t you Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, hoping for a positive response.

“I’m sorry Rainbow, but it is your fault that Tank is like this!” Fluttershy said sternly “Because of how selfish you were, Tank is really ill and needs your help more than ever. If his condition gets worse, there…there might be no hope for him” Fluttershy stuttered in her words.

“You can’t say that!” Rainbow interrupted as she flew over to Tank. “How can you say mean things about him? He hasn’t done anything wrong!”

“But you have” Fluttershy replied, trying her best not to raise her voice. She walked up to Rainbow Dash and held her head up with her yellow hoof. “I know this is hard to understand, but it just has to be said. Sometimes the truth can hurt and it feels like the pain never leaves your sight. But knowing this now before it’s too late could save his life. If you don’t then…then…”

Fluttershy turned away from Rainbow Dash. She didn’t want to finish her sentence.

“No” Rainbow Dash was shaking and slowly moving back “are you saying that if Tank doesn’t continue hibernating, he might…die?”

“That could happen” Fluttershy sighed “unless you get Tank to hibernate again. It could be the only way to save him if that’s the case”

“I can’t do that!” Rainbow argued.

“Why not? Even if it could save his life?” Fluttershy tried to reason with her. However, Rainbow still kept her anger.

“This watch granted me a miracle and I’m not going to waste it! And how do you know that he is going to die, animal expert?” she yelled.

Fluttershy just stood there, cold, silent, and unable to react. This time, Rainbow didn’t regret what she said to Fluttershy. Maybe she was purposely trying to hurt her after the things said to Rainbow a month ago. But Fluttershy didn’t cry or anything, not even fighting back even though her talent was insulted. She just closed her eyes and sighed.

“You win” Fluttershy said. Rainbow’s eyes widened again, in shock.

“What?” Rainbow was confused.

“I said you win”

“Why though? That doesn’t make any sense. What I said should have hurt you, like you hurt me. I was cruel. Why do I win?”

Fluttershy put her hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “I can’t make you take Tank back. I’m just giving you the choice. You have to decide for yourself. Either Tank goes back into hibernation, his life can be saved and you won’t see him for another two months, or he doesn’t and his condition will get worse and worse and you can never see him again”

This was a harsh decision for Rainbow. She didn’t like either of the choices, but she could see in her friend’s eyes that she had had enough of this. Everything that had happened, she just had enough.

“Fine” Rainbow said “I’ll get him to hibernate, happy?” she was equally as annoyed with Fluttershy as Fluttershy was with Rainbow Dash. Rainbow just stormed out of her cottage. She felt like the relationship with her as a best friend could be breaking.

But she had finally come to her senses and had cared more about keeping her pet healthy than spending time with him but not caring for him. She had located the area where Tank had buried himself a month ago.

“Go on Tank” Rainbow ordered. “You need to hibernate, it’s for your own good” she waited anxiously for her tortoise to walk over to his hibernation spot peacefully. He was actually very reluctant to leave Rainbow’s side. Rainbow even gave him a push into his destination, but he just walked back over to Rainbow Dash. He didn’t want to hibernate.

“What’s going on?” Rainbow asked. “Why aren’t you going to your hibernation spot?” she grew more and more concerned as time and time again she pushed him into the hole, Tank just came back after all of those times. Rainbow had just given up and lashed out in anger.

“Why aren’t you hibernating?” Rainbow was frustrated.

“Because it was all a part of your wish” the voice from the watch replied suddenly. It came out of Rainbow’s bag and presented itself in front of Rainbow. She was getting madder and more anxious than ever.

“What did you do to tank?” Rainbow yelled.

“You wished for Tank to spend some time with you at Hearth’s Warming, so I simply cast a spell on him to make sure he never hibernates again” the watch replied. “That way you will never have to wait months to see him again. But according to your wish, it would mean that he would only be fine *at** Hearth’s Warming. Then, the effects of winter will take over!”*

Rainbow just gazed at the watch that had deceived her. She had never felt so angry since she lashed out at her friends for Tank’s hibernation in this spot.

“But if Tank doesn’t hibernate, he might die!” Rainbow replied “He’s really sick!”

“Does it look like I care?” the watch replied. “This was your wish. A wish that can’t be reversed. You deal with it yourself. I just gave you a much needed lesson. Care about others before yourself”

“YOU MONSTER!!” Rainbow yelled at the top of her lungs “I can’t believe I trusted you! You’re lucky he can still sleep!”

“He can’t” the watch replied. “That was also part of the spell. Your fault. And bonus: he only has three more days until he succumbs to his disease! But however there is a riddle for you that might break the spell”

“What?!” Rainbow stood there in shock “There is a way to cure him?”

“Here is the riddle:

‘In order to save your pet,

You must sing a song after you met.

Not shortened, but sung in whole.

Only then, will you cure his soul’”

“What does that mean?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“That’s for you to figure out yourself. Adios!”

And just like that, another laser of light beamed from the watch, then a large boom, shatter. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes only to find that watch had shattered into a million pieces. It had a self-destruct button.

“No, no, no!” Rainbow gasped in shock as she ran over to the watch and tried to fix it. It was no use. Only a unicorn would be able to collect the tiny pieces without getting injured, which Rainbow did whilst trying to fix it. Afterwards, the pieces of the watch sunk to the ground.

Rainbow just stared into the ground, still not believing what was going to happen to Tank. Nothing could save him now. When he was hibernating, at least he would be perfectly fine. But now, Tank had no chance of being saved or surviving without finding a song to help him. The only choice she had was to go to her friends for help, go to Twilight for help, wonder why her machine didn’t pick up any magic signals the day before. Rainbow Dash had to find this out, before it was too late.

Rainbow Dash hurriedly ran back to Fluttershy’s house in panic. She madly knocked on the door and Fluttershy patiently answered it.

“What are you doing back here with Tank?” she asked. “I told you that he needed to hibernate, remember”

“I know, but I couldn’t do it” Rainbow replied.

“What do you mean you couldn’t do it?”

“I mean no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get him to hibernate. The watch put a spell on him or something. That was part of the wish, but he couldn’t sleep either. I tried to reverse the spell myself, but then the watch shattered in front of me and now I’m really worried!”

Rainbow fell on the ground, shaking. Fluttershy’s anger loosened as she saw her filly friend in distress. She came up to Rainbow Dash and patted her mane.

“I’m sorry. I was just so worried about Tank that I forgot about your feelings for him. If it is true that you physically can’t get him to hibernate, then I don’t blame you anymore. But now, there really might be no hope for him”

“That’s not true” Rainbow argued. She got up quickly, accidently bumping Fluttershy. “What if Twilight knows something that could help us? She knows a lot about this sort of stuff”

“You’re right. Maybe we should go to Twilight for help” Fluttershy replied.

“Then let’s go! We really need to hurry”

“Why?”

“I forgot to mention. Before the watch shattered, it told me that Tank only had 3 days left to live”

“What!”

“But the watch also said there was a way to cure Tank before the three days are up. It was a riddle:

‘In order to save your pet,

You must sing a song after you met.

Not shortened, but sung in whole.

Only then, will you cure his soul’

“That seems like a really complicated riddle” Fluttershy responded.

“Yeah, well it’s the only way to help Tank right now”

“I have no idea what that riddle could mean, but maybe you’re right. It wouldn’t hurt to ask Twilight for help”

“No time to waste let’s go!” Rainbow replied as she was pushing Fluttershy towards Twilight’s castle, only to find it empty. But that didn’t stop Rainbow barging into the castle.

“Hello? Twilight? Are you here?” Rainbow’s voice echoed through the castle.

“Maybe she’s not here” Fluttershy pointed out.

“Why wouldn’t she be?”

“Because she has gone out” the baby dragon spike replied.

“Where is she?”

“I don’t know exactly where she went, but she left this note in case you just so happened to visit” Spike handed Rainbow Dash the note and she read through it.

Dear Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy

Rarity and I have left for Canterlot for important research matters. We should be back later today. But if you’re reading this, it means it has taken longer than expected. Make sure to greet Applejack and Pinkie Pie if we are not back by then.

Twilight Sparkle

“They left for Canterlot?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I guess. I didn’t know anything about it” Spike replied.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go on the next train to Canterlot”

“But you don’t even know when the next train leaves” Fluttershy replied.

“Wait, I’ll be able to help you!” Spike got a train schedule from behind him and read it carefully. “Oh no”

“What is it?” the mares synced.

“It says that the next train leaves in 8 minutes” Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash looked at each other in horror.

“Then we’d really better get going!” Rainbow Dash responded pulling Fluttershy with her.

Saying Goodbye

Rainbow and Fluttershy raced to the train station and they were lucky to catch that particular train that Spike was talking about earlier. When they arrived in Canterlot, they quickly got off the train and noticed Twilight with Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack. They had walked out of the café after their chat but they didn’t notice the worried look in Applejack’s eyes. Fluttershy just looked happy to see them without having to look for them first.

“What a coincidence that they are all here” Fluttershy said.

“Come on!” Rainbow pushed Fluttershy until she was in front. Twilight noticed them and ran towards them till they were able to catch their breaths.

“Fluttershy, what are you doing here?” Twilight asked. Fluttershy hung her head trying to catch her breath.

“I have some bad news” she said when the ponies’ smiles disappeared. “Tank is ill!” The other mares were shocked by this news.

“How did this happen?” Twilight asked again.

“It was the watch I got for Hearth’s Warming. I wished for Tank to come back from hibernation and then he got sick” Rainbow replied. Twilight walked up to Tank who was in Rainbow’s bag. He was sweating and his face was red.

“He really doesn’t look well. Does he have a fever?”

“Yes. But a really high one. Not even Fluttershy could help me cure him”

“So that’s what you wished for” Rarity responded. “We were trying to figure that out all morning”

Rainbow Dash wore a confused expression on her face.

“Wait, you two knew that it had wishing powers?” she asked.

“We kind of figured that out when you shot past us on a sled yesterday” Twilight replied.

“You two saw me?”

“Yep. But we didn’t see Tank, we just saw you”

“That makes more sense now, darlings. Before Applejack said that something that had made Rainbow sad has made her happy again. That thing is Tank” Rarity responded.

“Not anymore. Not if Tank is sick” Applejack replied.

“It gets worse. The watch was the one that cursed Tank after I made my wish. And it also told me that Tank only had 3 days to live before he succumbs. Then it shattered right before me and I couldn’t fix it” Rainbow Dash said. Twilight’s eyes got smaller. She remembered something, something important.

“That was the source!” she said excitedly.

“The what now?”

“Rarity and I went to this fortune teller to find out where that watch came from. It turns out the watch was sent by a magical being, not a pony. And when we were trying to find the last pieces of the puzzle; who is was sent by and what you wished for, then she said that the source died. I bet when the watch shattered in front of you, that’s when the source couldn’t be found again”

“Hold on a second” Pinkie Pie interrupted. “Did you say Tanky only has 3 days left to live?” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“That’s terrible!” Rarity responded.

“But there is a way to cure him. Before the watch shattered, it told me this riddle” Rainbow Dash replied. She spoke the riddle to the rest of the mane 6, waiting for an answer.

“Well Twilight. Do you know anything?” she asked.

“I’m sorry but no. But I know somepony who might” Twilight replied.

“Who?”

“Princess Celestia and Luna”

“Oh”

“But as you said, we’d better hurry”

The rest of the mane 6 forgot about the next train to Ponyville and headed straight for the castle where they would warn Princess Celestia and Luna about the crisis at hand. About the watch that had magical properties and could curse a tortoise to become sick just like that.

“Why did the chicken cross the road?” Luna asked her sister “To get to the other side!” she just burst out laughing, Celestia just sighed.

“Luna, I don’t really get that joke” was her reply.

“Oh come on! It’s a classic! Stick to the times!”

“Celestia and Luna!” Twilight called out as she and her friends came rushing in.

“What is it Twilight?” Celestia asked. She took a minute to catch her breath and then she spoke.

“Well, Celestia. Rainbow Dash’s pet is in a very sickly condition. There was a watch that could grant her any wish she wanted. She wished to spend Hearth’s Warming with him. However, now, he is sick. The watch said that the only way to cure Tank is with a riddle”

As Twilight repeated the riddle to the Princess. She gasped in shock. Something told them that she knew something.

“What does that riddle mean?” Rainbow asked.

“It means you have to find a song at the time when you first met Tank that you sang to him” Celestia replied.

“When I first met him?” Rainbow mentioned.

“Oh. That song that we sung when we were searching for the perfect pet, remember” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Flutters, we made that up on the spot, there’s no way I’m going to remember it” Rainbow responded. But that didn’t stop Fluttershy from singing the first bit until Rainbow put her hoof on her mouth.

“Fluttershy, I don’t think it’s that song. Besides, I wasn’t just meeting Tank; I was also meeting other animals that might’ve been my pets too”

“Oh, you have a point” Fluttershy replied.

“And there is only one being that could have sent you that watch; your demon foal” Celestia replied. The other mares just gasped in shock.

“What’s a demon foal?” Rainbow asked.

“A demon foal is a being that comes from a pony who experiences grief for the first time. Once that foal is created, it feeds off your grief of that certain subject. The more you do to stop the inevitable, the more powerful it becomes. It is also more powerful the more recent it’s created” Celestia replied.

“That’s right. I guess the first time I did experience grief was last month…No, what about the time when I was five and…” Rainbow mentioned.

“Demon foals are only created after the filly earns her cutie mark. That incident probably happened before you got yours” Luna replied.

“Oh, that makes more sense” Rainbow responded.

“The watch also said that Tank only had three days left to live” Fluttershy said in a concerned tone.

“Then we haven’t much time” Luna responded. “At this moment, Rainbow’s demon foal could be feeding off her grief for Tank. We must get moving straight away”

“Since we only have three days, here is what is going to happen; Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. You five search for the cure to Tank’s illness” Celestia responded.

“Wait, Princess, why are we all except Rainbow going to get the song? Won’t it be dangerous?” Twilight asked.

“I’m sorry Twilight. But Rainbow must face her demon foal by herself in order to destroy it. It would be better if you girls sing the cure after the foal is destroyed” Luna replied.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You’re joking right?” Rainbow interrupted “I have to go by myself!?”

“There is no other choice. The demon foal can only be destroyed by the pony that creates it. Anypony who helps will have no effect on the foal but are in greater risk” Luna replied.

“Please Luna; we can’t abandon our friend like this!” Twilight interrupted putting her wing in front of Rainbow Dash “There must be another way, right Celestia?”

“I’m afraid my sister is right” Celestia replied “This is something that Rainbow must do alone. The fate of Equestria might depend on it, depending on how powerful it is. But as I said before, your demon foal was created recently, so it might be very powerful”

“And if that’s true, there might be a chance you don’t come back” Luna replied.

Rainbow’s ears dropped and her eyes were glancing over the room. She was starting to move back.

“No, why me?” Rainbow asked, holding back tears. “I don’t deserve this!”

“We will come with you Rainbow” Celestia said, comforting Rainbow “We know the way there of course”

“Now let’s get moving” Luna interrupted “we have little time to waste”

“Wait, can I say goodbye to my friends first. You know, if it is true I might not see them again?” Rainbow asked.

“Of course” Celestia replied.

Rainbow Dash walked sadly over to her friends.

“I’m sorry it has to be this way” Rainbow said, hanging her head. Twilight walked towards her.

“We’re sorry too” Twilight replied, she wrapped her hooves around Rainbow Dash. “You’re very brave to be going out there”

“I’m not. I’m scared” Rainbow replied “like, what if I never come back? What if I never see you guys again?”

“If that does happen, we will always remember you”

“Thanks” a small smile was shown on Rainbow’s face. Applejack walked towards her in place of Twilight.

“Hey, remember when we had all of those competitions like the ‘Iron Pony’ and the ‘Most Daring Pony’ competition?” Applejack asked as she took off her hat “Well, I forfeit for daring pony”

“What? But why?” Rainbow asked astounded.

“You are risking everything to save your pet; even I wouldn’t be brave enough to do that”. Rainbow started tearing up along with Applejack.

“Thanks AJ” Rainbow sniffed.

“You’re quite welcome, RD” Applejack replied. The two mares spat on their hooves and bumped them together.

“I can’t bear to see you cry” Rarity announced. Mascara was already running down her face as she was sobbing intensively. She rushed over to Rainbow and gave her a huge hug.

“I’m going to miss you darling!” Rarity wailed as tears went down Rainbow’s mane.

“Me too. But, you are getting water all over my mane”

“Oh, sorry” Rarity replied.

“Rainbow Dash” the stern voiced Fluttershy walked towards Rainbow Dash. “I just wanted to let you know, if anything does happen to you, I want to say I’m sorry”

“What for?” Rainbow asked.

“I told you that Tank needed to hibernate, then I forced you to cry to accept his hibernation, then I completely forgot about it. I really am a terrible friend and I didn’t mean any of those things” Fluttershy hung her head. Rainbow’s eyes filled with tears again.

“That’s not true” Rainbow replied. “You’re a wonderful friend, Fluttershy. You were only trying to help me”

Fluttershy let her tears run through as she ran to give her childhood friend a hug. She quietly sobbed into her mane.

“Please be careful” Fluttershy said between sobs.

“I will” Rainbow replied.

“RAINBOW DASH!!!” Pinkie Pie yelled as she leaped on top of Rainbow. She was the saddest of them all as she was wailing. Rainbow couldn’t hold it in anymore. Before she knew it, she was sobbing too.

“I’m never going to forget all the pranks we pulled and the parties we went to!” Pinkie said. Rainbow hugged Pinkie tighter as she cried even harder.

“Pinkie Pie?”

“What?”

“You’re always there with your hyper antics cheering me up when I need it. I feel like I’m going to be missing something when I go into that dark, cruel world. I’m going to miss you most of all Pinkie!” Rainbow sobbed. The both of them wailed together, knowing that they wouldn’t be pranking buddies anymore. The rest of the mares cried silent tears before coming over to Rainbow Dash for one last group hug.

The mares loosened and wiped the rest of their tears away. Rainbow tried to smile.

“I’ll never forget you guys” she sniffed as she turned her back on them and headed towards Princess Celestia and Luna.

“Are you ready to go?” Celestia asked.

“Yes. Let’s save Equestria” Rainbow replied.

Every pony knew that Rainbow was going into dark territory. No pony knew however if she was going to return. But time was running out. The other mares headed out of the castle, hoping that there might be a way to save Rainbow Dash. But their main priority was to find the song that might cure Tank. And whether they would find out what it was before it was too late was a mystery…

Pain

“I can’t believe we did that!” Pinkie sobbed. “We’re never going to see Dashie again!”

The girls were sadly walking back to the train station, without Rainbow Dash. They had been told by Princess Celestia that she had to fight her demon foal before it got any stronger.

“It’s going to be alright, Pinkie” Applejack sniffed, putting her hoof around Pinkie’s shoulders. “Rainbow Dash is really brave. She’ll make it through. Besides, she’s been through much worse situations than this”

“But that’s when we were with her, fighting villains together. Like Nightmare moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Tirek and even Starlight Glimmer. None of those we fought entirely on our own.” Twilight responded. The mane 5 dropped their heads. Rainbow Dash was their friend, and when she was in need the most, they sent her away unintentionally to fight her darker self.

They all entered the train that took them back to Ponyville. Hardly any of them said anything on the carriage. Twilight just stared out the window, Rarity was comforting Fluttershy who was still crying, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie were just sadly looking at the ground. Then, a bouncy enthusiastic unicorn entered the train. She had a dark blue coat with a white and blue mane and an hour glass for a cutiemark. Her name was Minuet. As soon as she noticed Pinkie Pie, she ran to her in excitement.

“Pinkie! So nice to see you again!” she expressed. But she was getting no response from the pink Earth Pony.

“Um, I didn’t know you came to Canterlot. Just a coincidence that I’d be coming to Ponyville, we all planned to visit Lyra Heartstrings. If you know her? Of course you know her! You told me you knew every pony in Ponyville!”

“That’s nice” Pinkie Pie finally replied unenthusiastically. Minuet’s smile dropped.

“Pinkie, what’s wrong? Why are all of your friends look like they’re down in the dumps?” Pinkie just sighed and turned away from Minuet. Then something came to her.

“Wait a minute. You told me that you made five friends when you were in Ponyville” Minuet counted the sad ponies. “Why are only four of them with you?”

Pinkie Pie began to tear up again and bury herself in Applejack’s arms.

“Rainbow is going somewhere, and we don’t know when or if she’s going to return” Applejack replied.

“Oh, that’s a shame. I’ll just leave you girls alone then, I was never here” Minuet travelled to another carriage. The rest of the train ride was silence. No pony talked at all. Even some of the passengers that had Pinkie Pie in the same carriage as them were surprised she was behaving herself.

They finally made their way back to the castle. As they reached the door, Spike happily answered it.

“Twilight you’re back!” he answered whilst he hugged her leg, but she just kept moving. Then he noticed something was up. “Hey, why are you guys so upset? Didn’t you find out what you were looking for?”

“Spike. The watch doesn’t matter anymore” Twilight snapped, trying not to cry again.

“What? Why? You were making such a big deal about it yesterday”

“It doesn’t matter anymore ok!” Spike was scared with Twilight’s sudden tone of voice. Twilight began to cry again, so did the rest of the ponies in the room. Then, Spike knew what was up.

“Hey, why isn’t Rainbow Dash with you?” he finally asked. The saddened ponies looked at the oblivious dragon. Then suddenly, Pinkie ran up to Spike and squeezed him tightly.

“RAINBOW DASH IS GONE!!!” She sobbed, squeezing Spike harder and harder.

“Why is she gone?” he asked.

“She’s going to fight her demon foal. That was the being that sent her the watch. The princesses said themselves that Rainbow is the only one who can fight it. She also said that Rainbow might not have a chance of coming back” Twilight replied.

“Twilight. You shouldn’t have told Spike. He’s just a child!” Rarity argued.

“You mean; we’re never going to see Rainbow Dash again?” Spike asked again. The other mares nodded.

“YEEESSSSS!” Pinkie sobbed, squeezing the dragon even harder. But this time, Spike was also crying. Pinkie let go of Spike as he ran up to Twilight and hugged her. They both cried together. It wasn’t something that anypony was going to get over so easily.

“Those poor, poor ponies!” a voice echoed through a cave. She had a crystal ball showing the rest of the mane 6 and Spike saddened by the loss of Rainbow Dash. The room was so dark her face was hidden.

“They can’t survive a day without the tough, loyal Rainbow Dash by their side to make things all better. Well, once I’m done with her, they will not see another day with her!”

The voice laughed maniacally.

Meanwhile, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Rainbow Dash were wandering through the forest. They were going to the demon caves. It was a long distance to travel, so they were flying for most of the time. The entire time though, Rainbow had lots of questions on her mind she wanted to ask them, like how they knew about the demon foals in the first place. She just looked sadly at the ground. The princesses observed her. They didn’t know what to do.

“Are you alright, Rainbow Dash?” Celestia asked. Rainbow Dash just sighed.

“I just don’t understand” she replied.

“What don’t thou understand?” Luna asked.

“Why this is something I have to do by myself. I mean, I’m used to fighting monsters and stuff like that. But like you know, I would always fight them with my friends. Like when we had the hoard of changelings. I would’ve been ok to defeat them all by myself, but to be honest; I would’ve gotten tired afterwards. Princess Luna, as you probably remember. I had a dream where I fought changelings by myself without any problems. And you thought it was the tantabus. But that in reality, I never would’ve done by myself”

“But whatever do you mean?”

“I mean that’s the pony I really want to be. The one who can fend off anything by herself. But, I can’t. I always rely on others in the end. Helping others instead of myself”

“But you are. Going in there and fighting your demon foal, you could be saving Equestria” Princess Celestia responded, putting her hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder.

“I know that, I just don’t understand why I have to go alone. It would’ve been more helpful if my friends were with me. Then we could fight the demon foal together. Or at least go half and half with finding the song”

“You have to go alone because demon foals are very unpredictable creatures. We had to face our demon foals before too. When we did have help, they just ended up getting themselves hurt. We don’t want that to happen to your friends, and neither do you”

Rainbow hung her head and sighed again.

“I guess I don’t. But not being with them is making me more anxious”

“We know. But they are safer finding a cure for Tank, which will only work if the demon foal is destroyed first”

“But there has to be more to it than that”

“We all have to face our demons. Our darker selves. Unlike all of the threats that you and your friends have faced, you cannot fight your demon with your friends” Luna replied.

“When you put it like that, it makes more sense”

The mares kept trekking through the never ending forest with a chance that they might come across something soon.

Expedition

The Mane 6 headed off to the library to brainstorm ideas. They had been told by Princess Celestia that they had to answer the watch’s riddle before the three days was up, or as Twilight calculated, by 9 o’clock AM on the 29th of December. It was already 12 o’clock PM on the 26th so they didn’t have much time.

“We only have about 69 hours left until Tank succumbs. We have to act quickly” Twilight said, burying through her books.

“69 hours, that seems like a long time to me” Applejack replied.

“But hours can go for a very quick time, Applejack. Do you know that there are only 60 minutes in an hour, and 60 seconds in a minute?” Twilight inhaled and faced the farm pony. “That means we only have less than 4,140 seconds left!”

“How in flaming horse apples did you figure that out in your head?” Applejack asked. Twilight just grabbed Applejack’s shoulders and shook her repeatedly.

“THAT DOESN’T MATTER!!” Twilight yelled.

“Twilight, stop it darling! You’re going to make Applejack sick!” Rarity interrupted as she pushed the stressed alicorn aside. Applejack’s eyes where spinning in all different angles and she was struggling to stand.

“Are you ok?” Fluttershy asked the dizzy pony.

“I’ve never seen Twilight this stressed in a long time!” Applejack replied as she fell to the ground.

“So are there answers in any of your books?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“No, because I’ve already searched my entire library!” Twilight replied in an angry tone.

“Maybe we can search around town and ask some of the ponies about it” Fluttershy said as she stepped forward. Twilight’s expression loosened as she inhaled and exhaled.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe the ponies of Ponyville know something” Twilight replied.

“But as you said Twilight, we don’t have much time left. We only have about 1 thousand….2 thousand……3 thousand………” Rarity’s voice trailed off for a second. “How many seconds, darling?”

“4 thousand, 1 hundred and 40 seconds left” Twilight replied.

“Yes, that”

The ponies rushed outside to the middle of Ponyville. Twilight had brought her map with her to put her plan into action.

“Alright girls, formation!” Twilight responded. The girls lined up and awaited their orders, just like when a dragon’s smoke was invading Ponyville a year and a half ago.

“Here is what is happening: Rarity, you search the east side of Ponyville” Twilight ordered.

“Oui princess” Rarity replied as she headed in the east direction.

“Applejack, you search the west side of Ponyville”

“Got it!” Applejack replied, she headed off too.

“Pinkie Pie, you take the north of Ponyville”

“I’m on it” Pinkie replied as she sneaked like a ninja towards the north.

“And I’ll search the south of Ponyville”

“What about me?” Fluttershy timidly asked. Twilight glanced at her and thought about it.

“Fluttershy, you search Cloudsdale. You and Rainbow Dash know that place better than any of us” Twilight replied.

“Cloudsdale, ok then” Fluttershy replied as she flew up from the ground.

“Everypony is meeting back here if they find anything, or before it gets dark” Twilight mentioned before her friends were completely out of her sight. Then she herself headed south to search for any clues to the riddle.

The section of Ponyville that Rarity was searching in had lots of houses and was near the town hall. That meant she had a lot of ponies to ask but she didn’t have that much luck in doing so. She didn’t know who to ask.

‘If discord didn’t know the answer, then who here would?’ she thought. She came across Lyra and Bonbon who were walking in her general direction. This was her chance.

“Um excuse me darlings” the two mares stopped in confusion. “Have you heard of a song that Rainbow Dash sang to Tank per chance?” Lyra and Bonbon just looked at each other and shrugged.

“You mean the rainbow maned Pegasus pony?” Bonbon asked.

“Yes, her. She has a pet tortoise called Tank” Rarity replied.

“Sorry Rarity. That doesn’t ring a bell” Lyra responded. The two mares walked away from her.

“Who does that mare think she is, asking us about a tortoise a Pegasus has?” Bonbon asked Lyra.

“Don’t be rude, Bonbon. Just because you don’t know that many Pegasi”

“Good luck to Rarity to finding the answer to whatever she’s doing”

“I wish we could’ve help more, she seemed very stressed about something”

“Oh well, I guess”

Rarity just looked at Lyra and Bonbon as they went further and further away from her.

“Thanks anyway, darlings” Rarity responded before they were out of her vision.

“This is basically searching for a needle in a messy boutique. How am I ever going to find the answer?” Rarity used her magic to summon a fainting couch. “I hope the others are doing better than me”

Meanwhile, Applejack was searching the West side of Ponyville. This was familiar to her of course because Sweet Apple Acres was nearby. She trotted along familiar territory and saw the school fillies and colts hanging out in the playground and playing games with each other in the snow.

‘I couldn’t ask the school ponies, they’d have no idea what I’m talking about’ Applejack thought.

She continued her trek past the school until her sister Applebloom saw her.

“Hey sis!” Applebloom called out as she ran towards her big sister.

“Oh, Hey Applebloom” Applejack replied.

“Where did you run off to this morning? Why didn’t you join the rest of the Apple family?” the filly asked. Applejack flinched when her oblivious sister asked her that question. She started to sweat. She didn’t want to lie to her own sister; she was the element of honesty. But at the same time, she felt she wouldn’t understand. Then she noticed that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were playing on the merry go round.

“Can I ask Scootaloo something?” Applejack asked changing the subject. Applebloom eyed her for a second until she perked back up into her happy state.

“Of course you can!” she replied.

“Me?” Scootaloo asked. “What do you want to ask me?”

“Well, you’re a fan of Rainbow Dash, right?” Applejack responded. Scootaloo was confused for a second, but when she heard Rainbow Dash’s name then she got excited.

“A fan? Please. That doesn’t even begin to describe it!” the small Pegasus replied. “I am Rainbow Dash’s biggest fan!”

“Ok then. If you are her biggest fan, you must know a lot about her”

“Yes I do! Ask me anything!”

“What animal does she have for a pet?”

“A tortoise named Tank”

“Do you know of a song that Rainbow had sung to Tank after they met?” Scootaloo’s smile dropped as she tried to think of an answer. She started breathing heavier than usual, she was panicking.

“I’m sorry! I don’t know the answer to that! I guess I’m not Rainbow Dash’s biggest fan!” Scootaloo ran off crying.

“Wait, Scootaloo, come back!” Applebloom called out. She then turned angry towards her sister. “What’s the big idea? Making one of my friends stressed out like that?”

“I didn’t mean to. I just thought...” Applejack replied.

“That Scootaloo would know everything about Rainbow Dash?” Applejack’s eyes widened, and then she sighed.

“You’re right, Applebloom. I didn’t mean to rush into things. I was just trying to help Rainbow Dash, that’s all”

“What do you mean ‘help Rainbow Dash’?”

“If I tell you, you might get worried”

“Well can you at least tell Scootaloo? Maybe she can help you as well”

“Fine, I will”

Applejack wondered over to where Scootaloo was. She had vacated under a tree to wipe the rest of her tears away.

“Scootaloo?” Applejack said, trying to get her attention. The crying Pegasus turned her head around to see the sorrowful farm pony before her.

“You’ve come back for more information about Rainbow Dash I have no idea about?” Scootaloo asked.

“No, sugarcube. Listen, I’m sorry for what I had said before. You see, the truth is, that Rainbow Dash….”

“Rainbow Dash what?” Scootaloo replied, intrigued. Applejack closed her eyes tightly then she punched the tree.

“Last month, Rainbow Dash tried to stop winter from coming in order to prevent her tortoise Tank from hibernating. But she didn’t succeed obviously. So she had to say goodbye to him. A month later, she got a watch that could grant her any wish she wanted. She wished for Tank to come back. It was fun for a little while, but then he got sick. We found out from Princess Celestia this morning that it was a demon foal that had sent Dash the watch. A creature that feeds off her grief. So, she’s out there trying to find her demon foal and we were told to find the cure to Tank’s illness. A song from after her and Tank met!” Applejack’s eyes watered a bit. Scootaloo sat with her mouth open. “I’m so sorry”

“Rainbow Dash is missing?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yes”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know she was in trouble. And she left without saying goodbye?”

“It would’ve been too dangerous if you went with her”

“She never told me of a song from after she and her pet met, I’m afraid”

“That’s ok. I’m not mad at you for that” Applejack replied. “I’ll just continue on my trek then”

“Wait, is there anything I can do?”

“Don’t tell anypony else that Rainbow is missing. I don’t want the entire town fussing over it yet”

“I will do so!” Scootaloo replied as she walked back over to the merry go round with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.

‘If only there was more I could have done or said’ Applejack thought to herself.

Pinkie Pie was jumping up and down in excitement. The ponies greeting her as she walked past them. Her end of the search was mainly houses. She just asked any pony that she could find. She was so caught up in bouncing however, that she wondered away from Ponyville. She had ended up in front of the vet.

“What a convenient place to get lost at! Maybe I’ll ask the nurses if they know anything!” Pinkie Pie gleefully trotted into the vet building. It was mostly quiet. There were hardly any customers. Mainly because it was winter and ponies preferred to stay indoors. Pinkie noticed one of the nurses was coming towards her.

“What can I help you with?” she asked.

“Do you know if Rainbow Dash ever came here?” Pinkie asked.

“Rainbow Dash?”

“Light blue Pegasus pony, rainbow coloured mane?”

“Oh yes, I’ve heard of her”

“Did she regularly come here, you know for her tortoise Tank?”

“No, I don’t think so” Pinkie looked comically shocked and grabbed the nurse’s collar.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. From my knowledge, I knew she had a pet tortoise Tank. Fluttershy told me. But I think she would always go to her for help”

“Fluttershy?” Pinkie said as she slouched “Thanks anyway”

Pinkie walked back in the direction she came normal paced rather than happily hopping. She was disappointed that she hadn’t found any information. She out of all the ponies wanted Rainbow Dash to be ok, but she was getting more and more worried by the minute.

‘I could ask Fluttershy but she’s searching in Cloudsdale. I’d rather just keep looking here’ Pinkie thought to herself.

Twilight Sparkle had wondered deep into the Everfree forest. She figured that because she was looking in the south part of Ponyville, she might as well ask Zecora if she knew anything. She knocked on Zecora’s door and waited for a response.

“Oh hello Twilight. What brings you to my sight?” Zecora asked. Twilight sat down on one of the chairs.

“Well, I was just wondering if you knew about a song that Rainbow Dash sings to her pet tortoise”

“You mean a song she sings to Tank? I’m afraid that my knowledge of that is blank”

“You don’t know even by a crystal ball or something?”

“I only deal with potions and vials, and I am afraid I’m not in denial”

“Rainbow Dash never came to you?”

“I’m sorry, she has not come here. But do not give up, have no fear”

“Thank you anyways”

“No problem Twilight. I hope you get back all right”

“It may be the everfree forest, but I do know my way around here” Twilight walked off and sighed.

‘What am I going to do? We don’t have much time left, and I’m worried the others might not find anything either’ Twilight thought to herself.

Fluttershy was flying through Cloudsdale asking everypony the question. No Pony knew the answer to the riddle. She felt like this whole entire mission was in vain.

‘Come on, Fluttershy. You have to think of something. What was the actual riddle?” Fluttershy thought as she flew onto a cloud to think.

“’You must sing a song after you met’, so it definitely isn’t the song me and Rainbow Dash sang whilst trying to find a pet. ‘Not shortened but as a whole’. Not shortened, not shortened. What was shortened?” Suddenly Fluttershy gasped in delight.

“Rainbow Dash’s lullaby for Tank!” she cried. “’you must sing a song after you met’, we sang the lullaby for him a few days after Rainbow adopted him! And ‘not shortened, but as a whole’, Rainbow only knew the first verse of the song. Maybe I can ask her mother how the rest of the song goes! Fluttershy, you are a genius!”

Fluttershy quickly flew over to Rainbow’s old house in Cloudsdale where her parents were. She carefully knocked on the door. A Pink Pegasus with a blue mane answered it.

“How can I help you?” she asked.

“Hi, I’m Fluttershy, filly friend of Rainbow Dash”

“Oh, Fluttershy! I haven’t seen you in ages! How much you have grown! Come in”

Fluttershy sat down on the couch as Rainbow’s mother prepared some tea. The house itself was mainly made out of cloud and there were posters of the Wonderbolts everywhere.

“I guess Rainbow Dash wasn’t the only one in your family to like the Wonderbolts, huh” Fluttershy said as her tea was given to her. Rainbow’s mother sat down on the seat opposite of Fluttershy’s.

“Yes. When I was Rainbow’s age, I tried to get into the Wonderbolts myself. This was at the time I met her father. I got as far as being in the academy, until I found out that Spitfire would be the new member, not me. Then I gave up my dreams. Then they were restored when Rainbow was having trouble flying and we introduced her to them” her mother replied. “So, what brings you to visit, Fluttershy?”

“You know that Rainbow Dash has a pet tortoise right?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh yes. She wrote about that in her letters” Rainbow’s mother replied “How is he doing?”

Fluttershy stared down at her tea before she put it down. And looked down at her hooves.

“Well actually, that’s why I’m here. Tank is ill” Fluttershy responded.

“Oh dear. That’s terrible news. Is he getting better?”

“No. He’s getting worse and worse. We found out that the only cure for him is a song she sang after they met. When Rainbow Dash first got Tank, we created a lullaby for him to help him get to sleep. We used the lullaby you sang to her. I was wondering if I could find out how the rest of that song went”

Rainbow Dash’s mother’s eyes widened in amazement. She was almost speechless.

“N-no pony has ever asked me how the rest of the lullaby went. It was sung to me when I was a small filly too. I haven’t sung it in 11 years. Let’s see if I still remember it”

She got off from her chair and cleared her throat.

‘Little Dashie Please do not cry now.

I will always be by your side now.

If the weather starts to get too cold now.

I’ll never leave you alone.

You will soon lift up your wings one day.

That’s why you must get your rest today.

You will be a great flier one day.

Just as soon as you can fly on your own.

But remember sweetheart that you’ll do me proud.

When you find your purpose in the sky.

Your talent comes when you lose all doubt.

But when you say goodbye.

Little Dashie someday you will leave me.

And I won’t always have you beside me.

When that time comes, Dashie, don’t forget me.

For I will always love you.

For I will always love you.’

Fluttershy was left speechless. She applauded the mare in great delight.

“That was beautiful” she said.

“Thank you” Rainbow’s mother replied. “I hope that might help Tank in some way”

“I’m sure it will. Thanks again!”

“No problem!”

Fluttershy flew from the house and started writing the lyrics and melody of the song down. If she was going to make this work, it would probably work better if everyone learnt it.

‘The faster I teach this to my friends, the faster Tank is to being cured. I just hope Rainbow herself is ok’

Fluttershy put the manuscript back in her bag and set off down to Ponyville. There was not time to go back.

Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle headed back to the middle of Ponyville. It was sunset already. They were all exhausted from asking every pony they could find.

“Did any of you find anything?” Twilight asked.

“Nope” Applejack replied.

“Me neither” Rarity responded.

“No such luck” Pinkie Pie replied.

“Neither did I” Twilight replied hanging her head. “I’d thought we would find some answers, but now we only have 62 hours left”

“Only five hours have passed?” Pinkie asked.

“And we wasted that time searching for a song that in the end none of us could find out!” Twilight replied.

“What about Fluttershy?” Applejack asked. “She’s not here yet, maybe she found something”

“We can only hope” Twilight replied.

“Girls!” Fluttershy responded as she gracefully landed back down on the ground with manuscripts in her hoof.

“Did you find anything, sugarcube?” Applejack asked the Pegasus.

“Actually, I did!” the other mares had their mouths open in shock.

“How did you do it?” Twilight asked.

“Well, it turned out I knew what the riddle meant! 9 months ago, we came up with a lullaby for Tank based on the lullaby Rainbow Dash’s mother sang to her. Rainbow could only remember the first verse so I asked her mother how the rest of the song went and I wrote the lyrics down for us to learn!”

“That’s fantastic!” Twilight replied.

“Wow, darling. I can’t believe you figured out the riddle!” Rarity responded. Fluttershy blushed a little.

“Fluttershy, I knew deep down that you would probably find the answer and not us” Twilight said.

“But what if I didn’t?” Fluttershy asked.

“THEN TANK WOULD BE DOOMED!!!” Pinkie Pie interrupted.

“Pinkie Pie, really?” Rarity complained.

“What, too much?” Pinkie asked. The other mares just looked at her in mild anger.

“Come on, we have to learn this song and we only have less than three days to do so” Fluttershy finally said, giving a copy of the lyrics and tune to all of her friends. They wandered over to her cottage to practice. Only Fluttershy knew how to read music so she had to help her friends learn the words and the tune. The girls had less than three days left to learn the song. And they knew it would be more effective if the demon foal is destroyed first so there won’t be a chance for Tank to be cursed again. But would Rainbow Dash have any luck trying to find her demon foal? Every pony wondered that, and hoped that she will…

Failure and Loss

Rainbow Dash, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia approached the caves with great caution. They had made it to the entrance and stood still at how big it was. Rainbow Dash gulped and was shaking. Princess Celestia put her wing behind Rainbow.

“You will be fine” she said.

“But you and Princess Luna said I might not make it out” Rainbow replied.

“We did say that. But there was something we forgot to mention to you”

“What was it?”

“In order to completely destroy your demon foal, you must find five gemstones. When they are activated, you will be able to have enough power to destroy the foal”

“What are these gems?” Rainbow Dash asked confused. Princess Luna stepped forward.

“They are the Amethyst of Failure, the Topaz of Loss, the Diamond of Disappointment, the Opal of Cruelty and the Sapphire of Harshness” she said.

“Whoa, very specific names!” Rainbow replied “But how will I know where to find them?”

“They will appear on your way to your demon foal” Princess Celestia replied. “Now you must go. There is little time”

“Now I really have to do this on my own?”

“I’m afraid so, Rainbow Dash”

Rainbow Dash ran to hug the princesses. They were surprised at first, but of course they realised that Rainbow might never see them again either.

“I’m going to miss you” Rainbow said as she tightened her saddle bag and headed towards the entrance. She took one last look at Equestria until she headed towards the darkness.

As soon as she fully went through the door, it suddenly closed shut behind her. Rainbow turned around and tried to unlock the door. It was no use. Now she definitely knew she was on her own.

“As the princesses said; I have to face my demons by myself. I can’t have any help from any pony. Not even my best friends. Though it does hurt, it makes more sense. Here goes nothing”

She inhaled and exhaled as she moved forward.

Rainbow Dash entered a realm full of giant test papers. The sky was dark amber. The archway of the realm said “Failure”. This definitely told Rainbow one thing; that there could be ponies who experience grief from failing, If they care about it a lot that is. The test papers all had big fat Fs on them. She was starting to find this place pretty eerie indeed.

“Twilight Sparkle would not like it in here” she said to herself. She also thought about what the princesses told her. The gems that she had to find in the caves themselves must have had similar names to the titles of the realms. For example; one of the gems she had to find was called the “Amethyst of Failure”. Since this was the Realm of Failure, she thought she might find the first stone here. Suddenly, she could hear a filly crying. She then figured she was not the only one in the caves.

“Hello? Any pony there?” she called out. The crying continued until she could hear where it was coming from. A dark purple filly was behind a rock crying. She was just dark purple all over, more of a smoky figure than an actual pony. She had straight hair that was cut neatly on her forehead.

Rainbow Dash approached the filly with great caution to make sure it wasn’t a trap and responded with a “hello”. The filly flinched and turned around to see Rainbow Dash standing before her. Now that she had opened her eyes, they were bright white. There were no pupils, just white.

“W-who are you?” the filly asked.

“My name is Rainbow Dash. I’m kind of lost out here. Do you know where my demon foal is located?”

“What’s a demon foal?”

“You’re a demon foal” Rainbow patiently responded.

“No I’m not. I’m a unicorn!”

“A unicorn?”

“Yes. And I’m not just any unicorn; I’m Princess Celestia’s prized pupil!”

“You are Princess Celestia’s prized pupil?” Rainbow Dash asked. Then she gasped and realized something. Rainbow knew who this filly was. “Twilight Sparkle?” The filly flinched again.

“How do you know my name?”

“There’s only one pony I know who would be the prized pupil of Princess Celestia! And back where I’m from, we’re best friends” Rainbow Dash replied as she crouched down to Twilight’s height “So why are you crying? If you’re Princess Celestia’s prized pupil, shouldn’t you be happy?”

Twilight looked down at her hooves.

“Well, you see, this is what happened: Soon after I got my cutiemark in magic and became Princess Celestia’s pupil, I started taking magic classes to control my magic. I was good at all of the subjects I was taking at the time; levitation, appearance, etc. But the one subject I was not good at was potion making, and that was a very important subject to learn. Every time I practiced potion making, I always ended up getting it wrong.

One day, the potion making exam was coming up. I was trying my best to pass the class. I tried following the instructions as best I could, but this time, I managed to make an explosion in the classroom. Princess Celestia came up to me:

‘Meet me in my office’ she said. I was very scared of what she was going to say. The other fillies in my class just stood there in silence as they saw me leave. I sat down on the chair opposite of Princess Celestia’s and she began to talk to me:

‘I’m worried about your progress in potion making’ she said. ‘You are doing so well in the other subjects being taught here but you continue to struggle with potion making, a vital part of your studies’

‘I’m sorry’ I replied ‘I’m trying my best to practice, I really am, but I seem to be getting worse and worse at it every single time’ I just hung my head in shame as my tutor got up from her seat.

‘The exam is in two days. If you’re not able to pass this subject, I will have to give you an F on it’ she said in a stern matter. I gasped in shock; tears started welling up in my eyes.

‘But Princess Celestia, I don’t want to fail!’ I replied trying to catch up to her.

‘Then make sure you practice, or you can also forget about being my pupil!’ she used her wing to push me out of her office. I just ran off crying after that”

“But you passed that test, right?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I don’t know that, all I can remember is me running off”

‘Oh yeah, Demon foals only remember up to when they were created’ Rainbow Dash thought. Twilight went back to sulking and sighing.

“If I don’t pass the exam, I’m never going to be good at magic!” Twilight said as she started to sob again. Rainbow tried to think of some way for her to stop, until she came up with an idea.

“You know what, you do pass that exam. And you still continue being her pupil” Rainbow Dash replied.

“How do you know that?”

“I told you, I’m your friend remember?” Rainbow Dash said “When you a full grown mare, you travel to Ponyville, my home town, because Princess Celestia sent you there to make some friends, including me. You soon discover that we are the spirits of the elements of harmony and we defeat Nightmare moon”

“I defeat Nightmare moon?” Twilight asked.

“Yep. You, me and the rest of our friends.”

“That’s so cool!”

“But that’s not all! You make friendship reports to Princess Celestia until she makes you an alicorn, the princess of Friendship!” Twilight started to smile and run up to Rainbow Dash for a hug.

“I can’t believe I’m destined for all of these great things!” she said. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash”

Suddenly Twilight started to glow a light shade of purple.

“What’s happening?” Rainbow asked herself as she moved further back to shield herself from the bright light. As the light dimmed, a hologram like shape of fully grown Twilight was present.

“I am the amethyst of Failure, now cleansed as the amethyst of magic. You have four more gems to find. Once they are all activated, you will be able to defeat your demon foal”

The hologram lit up again and formed a light that swarmed around Rainbow’s wrist. A bracelet with a star shaped amethyst in the middle.

“The first gem, Twilight’s demon foal was the first gem! Maybe the rest of my friends are the rest of the gems I need to find!” Rainbow said to herself as she kept walking.

Rainbow set off into the next realm. This realm however was much darker than the last one. The sky was a dark navy blue, like the night-time with storm clouds. The realm was covered with grave stones. It was the Realm of Loss.

"Ok, this realm is even creepier than the last one, what’s with all of these graves?” Rainbow asked herself. She stopped suddenly as she perked her right ear up. She heard another filly crying; another demon foal. She went to go see who it was.

The filly this time was a dark, smoky orange instead of dark purple like the last one. Her mane and tail was tied up with special hair ties on the ends of her hair.

“Why’d ya have to go?” the filly sobbed “It’s all my fault that you’re not here anymore!” Rainbow Dash observed. She soon recognised whose demon foal this filly was.

“Applejack?” Rainbow whispered. The filly turned back and was very defensive this time. She was almost in anger towards Rainbow Dash.

“What’re tryin’ to do? Give me a heart attack? How did ya know my name?”

“You see, I’m best friends with you in Equestria. My name is Rainbow Dash”

“That’s nice to hear, I guess. If my parents were ‘ere, they’d be nice to see ya”

“What happened to your parents?” Rainbow asked.

“Well, it happened at the start of school. I was very excited because I found out I got my cutiemark. My best friend Rarity came up to me, running in delight.

‘Look! Look! Applejack! Yesterday I got my cutiemark!’ she squealed.

‘Wow, that’s amazing!’ I replied. ‘How did you get it?’

‘I discovered that I had the power to track gems using my magic. I was trying to fix costumes for the performance yesterday which I fixed using the gems I used. Then, three diamonds appeared on my flank!’

‘Well, that’s a mighty fine coincidence, because I also got my cutiemark yesterday’ I replied as I showed my cutiemark to Rarity.

‘You got your cutie mark too?’ Rarity asked ‘How did you get that?’

‘Well, I kind of ran away to Manehattan to stay with Uncle and Aunt Orange. But I missed home, so then I returned and my cutiemark appeared’

‘So that’s why you were absent from school last week. You got your cutiemark by going to a place then going back again? You make it sound so easy’

‘Not really, I first thought that my talent was bucking apples. But no cutiemark showed up. I guess it was the loyalty to my family that made it appear’

‘That makes sense’ Rarity replied.

‘I can’t wait for my little sister Applebloom to finally get her cutiemark!’

‘Applejack, darling, isn’t Applebloom only a newborn filly?’

‘I know she is, but I can’t wait!’

‘I have some more exciting news!’

‘What is it?’

‘You know how you have a little sister. Well I found out from my parents that I might become a big sister soon!’

‘Really? That’s amazing!’

‘I can’t wait! I hope it’s a little sister. Then I can braid her hair and make her clothes and it will be so cute!’

The school bell rang.

‘We’d better go to class’ I said. We ran off to class. When the day ended, we were skipping outside to get fresh air.

‘Well, I’d better get to the Apple Orchard before my parents worry about me’ I said. Rarity’s smile disappeared.

‘But you said that we were going over to my house to play!’ Rarity responded.

‘I know that, but the work load has gotten bigger since Applebloom has entered the family’

‘You’re a filly? Why do you already have work?’

‘You have work too; we get work when we get our cutie marks remember?’ Rarity started moving backwards as I started moving forwards.

‘It’s not work if it’s a hobby’ Rarity said.

‘Well it kind of is’

‘Why must you take the fun out of everything?’

‘Like blindly walking onto a raggedy bridge?’ I asked. Rarity noticed that she was on a wobbly bridge that looked pretty broken.

‘Applejack, help me!’ she shrieked. I wish I could’ve done something, but I wasn’t strong enough. But there were a couple of ponies who were.

‘Hang on Rarity. I’ll get my parents, they’ll save ya’

‘Please hurry!’ Rarity yelled as she clung on to the bridge.

I ran to where my parents were as fast as I could. They were busy bucking apples with my big brother Big Macintosh.

‘You’ve gotta help! My friend Rarity is dangling from a bridge!’ I panted. My parents were fast on the trail, and so was my big brother. They came as soon as they could. Suddenly, the other end of the bridge snapped and Rarity clung on to it as it came closer to us. Big Mac, Mom and Dad pulled the rope of the bridge with all their might with Rarity clinging for her life. Luckily she was safe.

However, Big Mac noticed there was a crack in the ground and quickly moved out of the way. And just like that, I saw my own parents falling to their deaths, never to be seen again. Big Mac ran away back to the apple field, I collected the hat that dad wore. Tears started to come out of my eyes, I started to cry.

‘Mom and Dad are dead!’ I cried. Rarity started to cry too, silently. ‘I’m an orphan!’ I sobbed into the hat, Rarity tried to comfort me.

‘It’s all my fault, I’m sorry Applejack’ Rarity sniffed as she ran away from the scene, leaving me all alone with dad’s hat. Because of Rarity, my parents are dead!” Applejack continued to sob loudly as Rainbow Dash looked concerned and worried.

‘That’s what Applejack didn’t want to say to me that one day. Her parents are dead; she didn’t want to put me down anymore’ she thought. ‘Little does she know that I’ve been through that pain before too, but not with Tank, with something else’

“Hey kid. Don’t let the past get to you. I made that same mistake” Rainbow replied.

“What’re you talking about?”

“Just hear me out. The Applejack I know doesn’t cling on to the past as much as you, obviously, she uses the pain and grief she has to help others in that situation. She tries to be mature about it, and sometimes she’s stubborn about it too, but new exciting things wait for you like your little sister Applebloom getting her cutiemark” Applejack’s eyes widened.

“Applebloom has her cutiemark?”

“She does. In fact, she has the same cutiemark as her friends Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s little sister, and Scootaloo, a Pegasus”

“Rarity has a little sister?”

“Yeah. And don’t say that it’s your fault your parents died. Don’t beat yourself in the past. Look in the future. You even understood what I was feeling when I was sad about Tank hibernating and was able to help me get over my mistakes. I made the same mistake as you did and I totally accepted it for a while. Applejack, you are the most hardworking pony I know”

“Thank ya, Rainbow Dash! That means ‘lot”. Same as with Twilight, Applejack turned into her full grown self in front of Rainbow Dash.

“I’m the topaz of loss, now the topaz of honesty. You have three more gems to find. Good luck to ya” Applejack finally said as she transformed into a yellow topaz the shape of a hexagon left of the amethyst.

“Two gems, three more to go” Rainbow Dash said as she trailed forward yet again.

The Last Three Gems

This third realm was covered in giant dresses on coat hangers. The sky was a dark red this time. It was the realm of Disappointment.

‘This is definitely where Rarity’s demon foal should be, just by looking at all these dresses with rips and holes in them’ Rainbow thought. Yet another demon foal was crying. Rainbow just rolled her eyes, she felt that this was going to be the same for all of the gems she needed to find. This demon foal was a smokey dark grey unicorn with a curled mane style.

“Hi Rarity” Rainbow Dash said. The filly just screamed and hid behind the rock.

“What are you? A stalker pony?” Rarity asked.

“No, actually I’m one of your best friends” Rainbow replied.

“Is that so?” Rarity loosened her expression.

“Yeah. Why are you crying when you’re surrounded by dresses?” Rarity wiped her tears away and she cleared her throat.

“It happened after I got my cutiemark. I knew I was determined to be in the fashion business. I was busy making clothes for fillies. But then I decided I should make clothes for full grown mares too. I made a couple of designs using the mannequins my parents got for me. When it came to the grand opening, I was super excited about it. Then the ponies came rushing in and I made my grand entrance.

‘Mares and Gentlecolts!’ I began. ‘I may be just a small filly, but I have big dreams and those dreams are to become a world-famous fashion designer. I present…my line’ I showed my line of clothes to the rest of the ponies. But, then they found out they were not very good.

‘These are terrible!’ one pony said.

‘They have rips and holes all over them’ another pony said.

‘You should not be a fashion designer’ the last pony said at my face. And then I ran up to my room and cried. That’s all I remember”

“That’s quite the story, not as long as the last one I heard from Applejack. By the way, you have a sister” Rainbow Dash replied. Rarity gasped.

“I do have a sister! Ha, I win the bet!” Rainbow Dash’s expression turned to confusion.

“What bet?” she asked.

“I bet with applejack if I would have a brother or sister. I said sister and she said brother!”

“Uh huh. Her name is Sweetie Belle. She’s best friends with Applebloom. And now, they have their cutiemarks, they’re the same mark”

“That’s absolutely magnificent!”

“And also. Don’t give up just because some ponies told you your outfits were awful. The Rarity I know is very successful. She made dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala for us. You continue your dream, and some day, you might open stores all over Equestria too”

“That’s…” Rarity started to tear up again “That’s very nice of you to say darling!”

Like the others, she transformed into her adult self.

“I am the diamond of disappointment, or generosity. You are so close to defeating your demon foal darling. Just two more lovely gems left!” She shined again and transformed into a white shaped diamond on the right of the amethyst. Rainbow now had three gems; she still needed to find the Opal of Cruelty and the Sapphire of Harshness.

“Blood. Blood everywhere” Rainbow Dash said to herself. “Forget what I said about the ‘Loss Realm’, this realm is way creepier. Could this be Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie?” The sky of this realm was dark purple this time and the realm was littered with blood. She read the sign on the archway; the Realm of Cruelty. Another demon foal was crying now. As soon as Rainbow turned around, she saw lots of bunny corpses. This demon foal was a dark smoky yellow. She was taller than the other demon foals she talked to, almost her own height. Rainbow Dash approached her trying to avoid stepping on the rabbit corpses that lay before her, she felt sick just by looking at them.

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow uttered. A young Fluttershy noticed Rainbow Dash, but she didn’t freak out like the others did.

“Rainbow Dash?” she replied. Rainbow just gasped in shock. But then she remembered that Fluttershy would know her from back then. “Is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me. What is with all of the bunny corpses?” Rainbow asked. Fluttershy looked around her and started to cry again. “Fluttershy, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry. I just want to know what happened” Fluttershy did stop crying and wiped her tears away. She tried to find her voice.

“Well, it was very soon after I got my cutiemark in communicating to animals. I was looking after two rabbits. After a while, they had a son. He was white like the clouds not brown like his parents. I decided to call him “Angel”. I was very excited to be taking care of three bunnies. One night however, I forgot to close the rabbit enclosure. It was about midnight; I was busy sleeping in my bed when Angel suddenly came on top of me. When I opened my eyes, he was covered in blood.

‘What happened to you?’ I asked him. He pointed outside. I followed him out to where the enclosure was, and what did I see? Angel’s parents had been mysteriously murdered by a creature from the Everfree forest. I was very close to passing out. Instead I collapsed on top of the enclosure and sobbed. Angel comforted me, he was also sad about the loss and I was lucky he was not hurt. But, I don’t think I was made to take care of animals after all”

Rainbow Dash took a moment to take the new information in. She sighed and smiled and came closer to Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, don’t think that you can quit just because you let two bunnies die. That doesn’t make you a terrible caretaker. Besides, only the best suffer through mistakes they’ve made in the past so they learn from their mistakes and help others. When I was sad about Tank hibernating, you gave me a push in the right direction to fully accept his hibernation. I was mad at you before for saying all of those things to me, but for everything you had gone through, I finally understand what you were trying to accomplish. You’ve made me become a better mare through your experiences with animals, and I’d like to thank you for that”

“Y-you’re welcome, Rainbow Dash. Maybe I should continue to look after animals” Fluttershy replied tearing up. She transformed into a hologram version of her mare self just like the others.

“I am the Opal of Cruelty, rather the Opal of Kindness now. You just have one more gem to find and then you will be able to defeat your demon foal” Fluttershy said. She transformed into a pink gem the shape of a triangle on the far left of the bracelet. Rainbow only had one more gem to find, and she knew it would be Pinkie Pie.

This was the last realm Rainbow came across before she would approach the realm of her demon foal. This realm had a dark green background; the Realm of Harshness. There were balloons with creepy faces all over them, similar to the balloons that discord had in the labyrinth the day he corrupted the mane 6. To make it more eerie, creepy music was playing in the background.

She spotted Pinkie Pie’s demon foal sitting by herself out in the open, in the centre of the creepy balloons. She wasn’t her usual bubbly self. She was a dark pink foal with straight hair instead of poufy. This was how she looked before she discovered her cutiemark. Rainbow Dash ran up to Pinkie Pie and smiled. Even if it was her demon foal, she was still happy to see her pranking buddy again.

“Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow cried. She ran over to give Pinkie a hug, but Pinkie tried to resist.

“How do you know who I am?” she asked. She seemed mad.

“I just want to find out what’s wrong. My name is Rainbow Dash. Back where I come from, we’re really good friends”

“Huh, friends. I find that very hard to believe! I have no friends” Rainbow’s eyes widened.

“But your talent is making other ponies smile, isn’t it?”

“Not anymore. It used to be, until the first party I ever threw”

“What happened at that party?” Pinkie Pie just sighed.

“Well, when I discovered my love for planning parties. I moved to Ponyville where I could make lots of friends. My first party was going pretty well, until my clumsiness ruined everything. I wrecked everything. Ponies came up to me and laughed in my face and told me that I wasn’t fit to plan parties. My mane deflated and my coat turned darker, I looked just how I was before I learned how to smile in the first place. There was this one colt with glasses and a poufy mane like mine who looked sadly at me. ‘I’m sorry’ he said then he walked off. I was all by myself, surrounded by balloons”

‘Her story sounds similar to Rarity’s’ Rainbow Thought.

“I’m sorry I’ve wasted your time” Pinkie said as she turned her back on Rainbow. Rainbow just smiled.

“You haven’t actually. I’ve said this to the other demon foals I’ve talked to, but don’t give up on your passion because of one fault. Learn from your mistakes and get better. The Pinkie Pie I know is always happy and makes other ponies laugh successfully. Not only that, but she plans the best parties. I remember when you were planning my birthday party, you let a young stallion called Cheese Sandwich help you and it was the best party ever. That colt you mentioned before, that was Cheese Sandwich, he was inspired by you”

“He was?” Pinkie Pie smiled.

“He was. And you are the best party pony I know”

“That’s so nice of you to say” Pinkie’s mane puffed back to its normal state “I won’t give up, not just yet!” Pinkie transformed into a hologram version of her older self. This time, Rainbow Dash started to tear up a little, she remembered she missed Pinkie Pie the most.

“I’m the Sapphire of Harshness, now laughter! Congrats! You have found all five of the gems. Good luck on your journey!” Pinkie turned into a square shaped sapphire on the far right of the bracelet.

“I have all of the gems now!” Rainbow said to herself. “Next stop, my demon foal”. Rainbow Dash was nervous. She didn’t know how powerful her demon foal was going to be. But with the gems obtained now, she had confidence she would succeed.

Fluttershy's Guilt

“Now. If we are going to learn this song before the three days are up, we need to be punctual and organised. I think its best we stay at my place until we learn the piece off by heart” Fluttershy said.

Fluttershy was the fortunate one to find out what the song was. It was obvious the whole time. The lullaby that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash came up with was perfect.

“Um, Fluttershy” Applejack interrupted, putting her hoof up in the air.

“Yes Applejack” Fluttershy responded.

“I don’t exactly know how to read music”

“Ooh, mine is different from yours!” Pinkie Pie replied, comparing her sheet music to Applejack’s.

“I thought it would be nice if I added extra harmonies for every pony to sing to” Fluttershy replied back.

“Do you really think it’s necessary for us to stay at your cottage for three days learning this song?” Rarity asked.

“I’ve been on a choir camp before when I was a filly. I guess it’s similar to this. Besides, Little Dashie/Tanky is a short lullaby even with the extra verses included” Fluttershy replied.

“Ok, well why don’t you sing us the lullaby for us?” Twilight asked. Fluttershy perked up when she heard that.

“Why of course!” Fluttershy responded.

After she sang it, the ponies applauded happily.

“Now that’s just my part, you guys have your own parts to learn too. I’d think it would be pretty special if we did that” she said. The mares looked at their music for a while. But they only started rehearsing when it became dark. Fluttershy had fun trying to teach them the music, including Applejack who had no idea how to read sheet music. They started rehearsing at 7:30 PM, it was late even for them, but they knew that they had to learn the music, for Tank’s sake.

When it was 10:00PM, the rest of the mares started getting tired. Fluttershy had laid sleeping bags in the living room and one on her couch for her. She made it like a sleepover at her cottage, which she hadn’t had since the day Rainbow Dash visited Ponyville before she moved there.

“You know, Fluttershy, you really don’t have to do this” Twilight said getting into her sleeping bag. Fluttershy flinched after she zoned out for a second.

“But it was the least I could do. We’re all doing this for Rainbow Dash’s sake after all. I sure hope she’s ok in there, she hasn’t come out yet” Fluttershy suddenly replied.

“We all want her to be ok, sugarcube” Applejack responded “She is the bravest pony I know. She tries to be anyway. She’s probably fine”

“But why did this have to be a mission she does herself? Why couldn’t we have come with her? To support her?” Twilight asked. That question made the ponies depressed again.

“Well, I need to get my beauty sleep. Thanks for letting us sleep over, darling” Rarity yawned putting on her sleeping mask.

“Me too. I’m exhausted from all of the singing” Twilight replied. The rest of the mares climbed into bed as Fluttershy shut off the light.

“Good night girls” she said.

“Good night, Fluttershy” was her response.

Fluttershy was running around the meadow when she spotted Rainbow Dash in her vision. She was so happy she ran towards her friend, only to run through her. As she did that, she fell through the ground and was surrounded by pictures of Tank. She was basically floating.

“You did this” a voice echoed from above the hole. Fluttershy looked up to see who it was, she had no idea.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Fluttershy, you did this to me” the voice repeated. Fluttershy then recognised the voice. It was Rainbow Dash.

“What are you talking about?” Fluttershy asked.

“You know. If only you hadn’t told me that Tank was going to hibernate, then none of this would’ve happened. You have destroyed Equestria!” Rainbow replied as she suddenly appeared in front of Fluttershy. Her eyes were closed in anger.

“But it’s not my fault. Even if I didn’t tell you, some pony else would have!” the yellow mare replied.

“Not only that, but you have killed your friend. You have killed me!” Rainbow responded, her eyes were different. The whites of her eyes were red, her magenta eyes were white and there was no reflection in the pupils.

“No, I didn’t. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. Not to you! You’re my best friend. I only did what needed to be done!”

“When can you stop lying to me?” Rainbow angrily shouted as she attacked Fluttershy.

“NO!” Fluttershy woke up from her nightmare heavily panting. She looked around, everything was still the same. She took a deep breath and went towards the window. She couldn’t get back to sleep. She needed somepony to talk to. But she didn’t want to wake up any of her friends. Then she knew exactly who to go to.

Rainbow Dash had finished getting all of the gems. These were the gems that would help her defeat her demon foal once and for all. But there was still one problem; the caves were huge, there were tunnels everywhere. Before it was just one straight tunnel, but now there were tunnels even on the ceiling.

She took a deep breath and looked at Tank. He had calmed down a little. He still had a fever, but all of the realms were cold as ice so he could cool down a bit even though he was cold blooded. She wondered why her friends had their own realms. Maybe because they were the elements of harmony. She then worried what hers would look like and how powerful she would be.

“Where would I even start?” she asked herself before taking Tank out of her bag. “Don’t worry Tank; I will solve this problem once and for all. It’s a promise”

“Hi there! You look lost!” a mare replied right in front of Rainbow Dash. She jumped and moved back a bit, accidentally dropping Tank on the ground. The mare in question was flying upside down but turned the right way around as she landed back on the ground. She was blue Pegasus with a light purple mane and a blue lightning bolt on top of a purple lightning bolt as her cutiemark. She was laughing hysterically.

“Oh man, you should’ve seen the look on your face!” she giggled.

“What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?” Rainbow yelled. She picked up Tank and hoped he wasn’t injured. But luckily, he still had enough strength to hide in his shell quickly.

“Whoa, chill man. I just wanted to greet you that’s all. I don’t see other actual ponies come through here often. In fact, you’re the first one I’ve seen come through here!” the mare replied.

“So what are you doing in this dark cave anyway?” Rainbow asked, putting Tank back in her bag.

“My name is Blue Streak” the mare replied. She held up her hoof for a shake. “I’ve been living in these caves for as long as I can remember. And you?”

‘Blue Streak, where have I heard that name before?’ Rainbow thought to herself.

“I’m Rainbow Dash. I’m in here…to kill my demon foal” Blue Streak stood there in silence.

“Why are you doing that? I’m practically friends with all of the demon foals here”

“Why are you friends with figments of young fillies’ saddest memories?”

“They talk a lot, so I know a lot about them”

“Only of their saddest moment and before then. They don’t even have the power to let go of the past, let alone remembering the present”

“Oh well, it’s a good conversation starter” Rainbow Dash looked confused and annoyed at the same time.

‘This mare is weird’ she thought.

“And because I know all of the demon foals, I’ll be able to help you find yours. Do you know why your demon foal was created?” Rainbow then reacted quickly to the topic.

“Oh, it actually happened last month. I tried to stop my tortoise Tank from hibernating and then it appeared because of my grief for Tank” she presented Tank to Blue Streak.

“Aww. You have a pet tortoise! He’s so cute!” she replied, squeezing his sickly cheeks.

“I wouldn’t touch him if I were you. He’s sick”

“Oh, that’s a shame”

“Actually, that’s partially why I’m here. My demon foal was powerful enough to curse Tank with an illness”

“Why? And how?” Blue Streak was now intrigued.

“My demon foal is very powerful. The princesses told me because it was created last month and was a mare, it had enough power to interact with the present time and her creator via a watch. She said through the watch that I could bring Tank back from hibernation. But it came with a price, the watch said that Tank only had 3 days left to live unless I kill my demon foal first”

“That’s terrible! There is only one demon foal in these entire caves that is a full grown mare”

“My demon foal?”

“Iris is your demon foal?”

“Iris?”

“She’s the queen of the demon foals”

“Queen?”

“Yes. She was only created a month ago I hear, but she has enough power to rule over this cave. It actually makes more sense because all of the demon foals have Latin names to the English. So English for Iris is Rainbow. I have no idea what she is planning, but I suspect it can’t be good”

“You still didn’t tell me how you got here” Rainbow interrupted. Blue Streak thought about it for a while but nothing came to mind.

“I actually can’t remember” was her answer. “I guess I just appeared in these caves with no reason at all”

“So you don’t know where you lived?”

“I have heard from the demon foals that there is a place called Equestria. Maybe I’m from there”

“Where in Equestria?”

“I don’t know that much I’m afraid. All I know is that I live here now” Rainbow Dash was thinking about something, then she had an idea.

“I’ve got it! How about after I’ve defeated my demon foal, you can come live in Ponyville with me”

“Ponyville?”

“Yes. I have six awesome friends to introduce you to. One of them is a dragon”

“A dragon?”

“You do know what a dragon is right?”

“Yes actually, one of the demon foals told me about one with lots of description. Apparently they’re creatures that breathe fire. You’re friends with one of them?”

“It’s ok though, he’s only a baby dragon. He’s smaller than me. His name is Spike”

“That’s so cool! And who are your other friends?” Rainbow Dash was taken back to yesterday when she sadly had to say goodbye to her friends. She started to tear up again.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you upset. If it bothers you, I won’t ask”

“No, of course not. I’ll tell you all about my friends. First there’s Fluttershy. I’ve been friends with her since flight school. Her cutiemark is 3 butterflies and her talent is communicating to animals. She’s a really nice pony though she can be shy to new ponies, she used to anyway.

‘Then there is Twilight Sparkle, she is an egghead. She’s actually an Alicorn princess. She is crazy good at magic, that’s what her special talent is, included with a star as her cutiemark. She knows almost anything about magic, it’s insane.

‘Then there is Rarity. She’s a unicorn who is a fashion designer. She designed our dresses for the grand galloping gala one year. Her cutiemark is three blue gems.

‘Applejack is awesome. She’s a farm pony who looks out for her family. And now I realise the secret she had kept from me. She’s good at bucking apples from trees. She obviously has three apples as her cutiemark.

‘Lastly there’s Pinkie Pie. You’re actually a bit like her. She’s really hyperactive and random. Her talent is making other ponies smile and planning parties; hence the three balloons on her flank. And don’t get me started on how many times she breaks the laws of physics! But you should not get on her dark side, that happened to me once and it did not end well”

“Wow, that’s a lot to take in. but your friends sound really cool. How do you stay best friends even though you’re interested in different things?”

“You see; we were bearers of the elements of harmony. They were really powerful objects that could defeat any villain we came across. But about six months ago, we had to give them up to save the tree of harmony. Then we all found our special keys and unlocked a rainbow power. Then the castle and Twilight’s new home was born. Though we don’t hold the physical elements of harmony anymore, we’re called upon this map in the castle to solve friendship problems. The first one we all had was intense! Our cutie marks were taken away by a crazy pony and replaced with equal signs and so was everypony elses!”

“You fight monsters and help spread friendship together? That is so cool! Now I really can’t wait to meet your friends. Maybe I can become an element of harmony”

“It doesn’t really work that way, but if it helps, I’m the element of loyalty”

“I can tell, you worry about your friends, don’t you?” Rainbow Dash just sighed. “I’m sorry”

“That’s ok. As soon as I defeat Iris, the quicker we can get out of here”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. She’s pretty powerful, even more powerful than an alicorn”

“I’m not too worried about that, I have these gems to stop her” Rainbow showed her the gem bracelet on her hoof.

“Oh, I see you captured Scintillat, Pupillam, Lapis, Parte and Papilio”

“Who?”

“Sparkle, Apple, Gem, Party and Butterfly”

“Oh, you mean Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy’s demon foals”

“Yes. That’s what I meant”

Truth in the Streak

Fluttershy flew all the way to Cloudsdale and visited Rainbow Dash’s old house again. She knocked on the door a couple of times. A tired Firefly opened the door.

“Fluttershy, what are you doing out so late?” she asked.

“Firefly, I need to talk to you. I can’t sleep” Fluttershy replied.

“Of course, you’re always welcome to visit, no matter what time it is”

The two mares sat on the couches and drank some hot chocolate that Firefly made.

“So, what’s on your mind Fluttershy?” Firefly asked, taking a sip of her hot chocolate.

“It’s about Rainbow Dash and Tank” Fluttershy replied.

“Oh yes. Did the song work on him? Is he cured?”

“About that, I’ve just started teaching the girls the song earlier. But that’s not why I’m here” Firefly put down her cup on the table.

“Why are you here then?”

“I had something that I didn’t tell you before”

“Oh, and what was that?”

“Rainbow Dash is gone” Firefly froze in her position.

“What do you mean ‘gone’?”

“Rainbow got a watch for Hearth’s Warming. This watch could grant her anything she wanted. She wished for Tank to come back. But the watch put a curse on Tank which made him sick. The watch told Rainbow that the song you sang to your daughter is the only thing that can cure him. Whilst we’re doing that, the watch is a demon foal which feeds off her grief, and Rainbow... Well Rainbow Dash is fighting her demon foal right now” Firefly had her mouth wide open.

“Dashie is fighting her evil self?”

“When you put it that way, yes”

“She is so brave, saving Equestria hundreds of times”

“Yes, but that was with us. This is the first time she is going out on her own. And that’s why I couldn’t sleep. I had a nightmare”

“What happened?”

“In my nightmare you mean?”

“Yes”

“I was in the meadow when I found Rainbow Dash. I ran up to her but then I found out she was transparent. I fell through a hole as I saw floating pictures of Tank. Then she said to me: ‘you did this to me’. Then that’s when I woke up”

“I see. I kind of knew that Rainbow Dash had a close bond with Tank. And it hurt her to see her sad. But it wasn’t just losing Tank that was hurting her, there was also something else too” Fluttershy’s eyes widened.

“What might that be?”

“Rainbow had her first taste of losing somepony she was close to when she was only 4 years old”

“4?”

“Yes. When she was 4, she had a good bond with her grandmother, Blue Streak. She was a former Wonderbolt back in her day, but she retired as soon as she wasn’t able to fly as fast as she used to. In fact, Blue Streak who was also my mother told her about the Wonderbolts themselves and that’s what inspired my daughter. They were really close.

Blue Streak would always tell stories about her past to my daughter too. But then, my mother got really sick and got sent to hospital. Rainbow had no idea what was going on at the time. It wasn’t until her 5th birthday party when we got the news that Blue Streak was in a terrible condition. When she was at the party, she had invited all of her friends. Mainly because they didn’t believe her that her grandmother was a former Wonderbolt. She got really anxious when Blue Streak wasn’t arriving, or that she was left alone in the house. But she was really excited when we arrived back.

‘Did you pick up Grandma?’ she asked us.

We looked at each other. We didn’t know how to break it to her. We thought that she would be heart broken.

‘Sweetie, I’m afraid your grandmother is not coming’ I replied.

‘Why?’ she asked. Then I hugged my little girl, broke down into tears in front of her.

‘Your grandmother is gone’ I replied back. Then Rainbow pushed me away.

‘Hold on. Are you saying that my grandmother is dead?’ she asked back. I hugged her again.

‘I’m sorry’

‘How could you have let this happen?’

‘I’m so, so sorry’

‘She didn’t even say goodbye! She told me that Wonderbolts never die! She lied to me!’ Rainbow sobbed into my chest.

We did try to hide the truth from her, but she had already figured it out. It was something that she was never going to forget, even now.

Fluttershy was crying and using hundreds of tissues in the process.

“I never knew that Rainbow was exposed to losing a loved one at such a young age” she sniffed “But what does that have to do with Tank”

“Well, years later, when she first got Tank, she came to visit us to show him off. We were really impressed that she got a new pet. Then I found out from Rainbow that Tank reminded her of her grandmother”

“So that’s why she felt sad about Tank hibernating, she didn’t want to feel the same sadness she did 14 years ago”

“Last month, we heard that there was a disturbance in Cloudsdale in the weather factory. We don’t know what caused it, but the next thing we know, Ponyville gets winter early. That night, it was raining heavily. Rainbow knocked on my door, she was soaked.

I asked her what was wrong. She said that Tank needed to hibernate. Then she said that she missed her grandmother. I was surprised she still remembered that moment. Then she ran up to my arms and cried herself to sleep”

“That is really odd. Always looked up to Rainbow Dash, even when she was shorter than me, because she was so brave and loyal. She always helped me through any situation. I never knew for a minute that beneath all of that pride and ego, there was a small filly who had lost one of the most important ponies of her life. And when I said ‘your winter is going to be petless’ to her face, that’s when it all came out. Not just the memories of Tank, but the memories of her grandmother too”

Firefly looked at the clock, it read 1:00AM.

“Maybe you should head back to Ponyville now” Firefly said.

“Yeah, good idea. Thank you for listening to me”

“No problem”

The two mares, Rainbow Dash and Blue Streak walked silently for a while until Blue Streak brought another topic up.

“You know, I still think it’s crazy that you’re fighting Iris. Is that literally the first time you ever experienced grief, last month?” Rainbow Dash stopped walking and Blue Streak looked back. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s not the first time” Rainbow replied.

“It’s not?”

“No, the first time was…was…” Rainbow couldn’t finish her sentence.

“Was what?”

Rainbow then had a vision. She was looking at Blue Streak weirdly. In her mind she was shifting from a young mare to an elderly mare. She couldn’t make it go away.

“Make it stop!” Rainbow yelled as she crouched down on the ground.

“Make what stop? I’m not doing anything” Rainbow looked up and calmed down.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me”

“What came over you?”

“It was so strange. I looked at you and then you changed into my grandmother”

“What? What does your grandmother have to do with anything?”

Rainbow Dash got back up and took a big breath in and let it out, just like Twilight would in a stressing situation.

“The first time I ever experienced grief was when I was 5 years old” Blue Streak’s eyes widened.

“5? That’s a young age, you mustn’t have had your cutiemark then”

“I didn’t. It was 14 years ago. When I was 4, my grandmother would tell me stories about the Wonderbolts. She was a former member herself. I thought she was the coolest pony to ever exist, even though she was old. The other fillies didn’t believe me that she was a former Wonderbolt, but I wanted to prove them wrong. At my 5th birthday, I told every filly in Cloudsdale about my grandmother and all the stories that she told me. Then my parents came in and told me that she…that she…” Rainbow stumbled in her words. “forget it! You don’t want to know”

“But I do. Tell me, I’ll listen. I won’t make fun of you or anything” Rainbow sighed and continued.

“My parents told me that my grandmother had passed away. On my 5th birthday. It was something that I couldn’t get over. I was completely heartbroken. What made things worse was that Tank reminded me of her. And when I found out he was hibernating, I didn’t want to lose him like I lost my grandmother”

The two mares stayed in silence again. Blue Streak hung her head.

“That’s so sad. Why were you exposed to death at such a young age?”

“It wasn’t my fault; I think it was just old age that killed her. But every time I look at Tank, I look at her. And I don’t want the same thing to happen to him”

“That makes sense. Pity you were too young to have that as your demon foal” Rainbow nodded her head in agreement. Then she looked at Blue Streak in a closer perspective, then she realized something that was obvious to her this entire time.

“I remembered something”

“You did?”

“My grandmother’s name was Blue Streak. Same as yours. She had the same coat color, mane style and the same cutiemark!”

“Really? That’s creepy”

“Blue Streak, you’re a younger version of my grandmother!”

“I’m what!?”

“A younger version of my grandmother!”

“How is that possible? I’m 19 years old. Shouldn’t I rather be an old mare or something?”

“I don’t know how this is possible either”

Suddenly an evil laugh emerged from the biggest tunnel. It sounded like Rainbow’s Demon foal Iris.

“That tunnel! Let’s go before it’s too late!” Blue Streak responded.

“Good idea!” Rainbow replied.

The two mares headed towards the middle cave. They didn’t know how far they had to go, or what to expect when they got there. All they did know what that Iris was powerful and they had to be careful. But Rainbow just smiled to herself.

‘I can’t believe it, I’m friends with my grandmother! My grandmother when she was 19, the same age as me!’

Rainbow Dash and Blue Streak had been following the middle tunnel for hours. They didn’t see anything new besides crystals and other gem stones.

“Are we there yet?” Rainbow Dash complained. “We’ve been flying for hours. Are you sure you know where you’re going?”

“Yeah. I told you, I know the demon caves better than any pony” Blue Streak replied.

“But you’ve been to Iris heaps of times?”

“Yep”

“Do you know what she looks like?” Blue Streak got nervous when that question popped up.

“I’d rather not say”

“Come on, I’m going to be fighting her anyway, I just want some heads up is all” Blue Streak took a deep breath in and exhaled.

“Well, you already know that most of the demon foals have dark smoky bodies with white eyes?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, Iris doesn’t”

“She doesn’t?”

“No. She is the only demon foal I’ve seen to have different eyes from the others”

“What do her eyes look like?”

“The eyes are like those of a pony instead of a demon foal. Whilst we have the whites around our eyes, she has reds around her eyes. And where there would usually be a color of the eyeball, like yours is pink, hers is white. She has no reflections but just a straight on black pupil”

As Blue Streak was saying this, she was making what it looked like with her eyes. Though she was a Pegasus, Rainbow didn’t know how she would be able to do it. But either way, she was freaked out.

“Ok, I get it! Please don’t do that again!” Rainbow Dash complained.

“You wanted to know what she looked like”

“But not like that. Are her eyes really red?”

“Yep. I’ve seen her myself”

“Right I knew that” Blue Streak stopped in her position but Rainbow kept going. “Hey, why did you stop?”

Rainbow Dash unintentionally bumped into a rocky wall.

“Ow, I think my nose is broken” Rainbow replied.

“We’re here” was Blue Streak’s response. Rainbow got up from the ground and looked at the huge realm in front of her. It was covered in clocks and the realm was black and white.

“Whoa” Rainbow stared in awe. “This is Iris’ realm?”

“Yep. The realm of inevitability” Rainbow stood there confused.

“The realm of what now?”

“The realm of inevitability. It means you try your best to stop something from happening. But you know deep down that you can’t do anything about it”

“That’s a little harsh”

“It’s like when you tried to stop your tortoise Tank from hibernating, but in the end, he had to. Even though now he isn’t which has led to something much worse. You’re lucky that Iris is giving you a second chance. How did you plan to stop Tank from hibernating anyway?” Rainbow froze in her position.

“Um, well, you don’t want to know that story! It’s too boring!” Rainbow lied.

“I don’t care if it’s boring. I still want to her about it”

“Trust me, you don’t want to. You’ll regret it”

“No I won’t. Why don’t you trust me? I thought we were friends”

“We are! I’m not saying any different, but I think you don’t want to hear this story!”

“Why not? I listened to the last one you told me!”

“Well that one was different!”

“How was it different?”

"No worries, if she won’t tell you, I’ll be happy to take over" a lower voice bellowed. It was Iris. The two mares stopped arguing and looked behind them at the demon foal in question. She was just like Blue Streak described. She had red in her eyes, white eye color and total black pupils. She was also twice the size as the normal ponies looking at her.

“You are Iris?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes I am. Recognize me? I’m the voice in the watch. The one who gave you that chance to make your wish come true”

“Yes, but you made Tank sick in the process!”

“That was your fault, not mine! I was just showing you the consequences. You really should have just listened to Fluttershy. She knew what was best!”

“But if I did, your plan wouldn’t work!” Rainbow smirked.

“Oh what was that I heard? You want to hear my plan?”

Rainbow face palmed.

“Yes!” Blue Streak replied.

“Very well. You see, when I was created, I was the same size as you two. I spent the first month crying just the other pathetic demon foals you came across. Then when your grief was brought back, I was set free from this saddened prison and I was able to notice the things around me, outside the cave. Then I was able to hear your plea and send you that watch. And then I gave you the opportunity to make your wish in return for more grief power. So then, I would take over Equestria and my plan can come true!”

“What are you planning to do to Equestria?” Rainbow asked.

“Why, what you started of course!” Rainbow’s ears drooped.

“What is she talking about? What did you start?” Blue Streak asked.

“Um, well” Rainbow uttered.

“What’s this? You haven’t told her?” Iris giggled maniacally. “This is amusing!”

“Stop! Please don’t!” Iris didn’t listen.

“Rainbow Dash here tried to stop winter from coming in order for Tank to not hibernate! She even went as far as go up into Cloudsdale and destroy the weather factory! That is a totally evil plan and you didn’t even care that what you were doing was wrong, all you cared about was that tortoise. Too bad you didn’t accomplish what you wanted!” Iris replied.

Blue Streak looked back at Rainbow who hung her head.

“Is this true? You tried to stop an entire season from coming?” Blue Streak asked. Rainbow just sighed. “why would you do that?”

“Blue Streak, I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to find out. At the time, I didn’t care that what I was doing was wrong. I sung a whole song about it. But over the past month, I have regretted it. Because deep down I tried to do something unreasonable, so bad, and all to protect Tank. But in reality, I wasn’t protecting him at all, I was keeping him all to myself!”

“Exactly, your selfishness has given me more power than you can ever imagine. It even gave me the power to go back in time and alter something” Iris replied. Rainbow and Blue Streak stood there confused.

“Go back in time and alter something?” they both asked.

“Yes. You see, Rainbow Dash. Your grandmother didn’t die when you were 5, she died when you were 10. By then you already had your cutiemark and your own demon foal, so I went back in time to the time where you didn’t have a cutiemark yet and cursed your grandmother to die earlier!”

Rainbow Dash stood there shocked and speechless.

“But hold on, how would you have been able to do that if you hadn’t existed in the first place?” Blue Streak asked.

“What do you mean?” Iris responded.

“I mean; how could it be possible to go back in time to alter the past so that you yourself could be created? Cause isn’t it true that you were created after last month?” Iris was feeling uncomfortable.

“Well yes, that is true but...”

“A pony can only create one demon foal. If it is true that you went back in time to produce a more recent one, then you couldn’t have existed before then. Unless you expect me to believe that you grew from the first one, which I don’t”

“Fine! Do you want to know my secret?” Iris asked. “My name is not Iris”

Blue Streak was astounded.

“Then who are you?” she asked. Suddenly Iris began to transform. She was not a demon foal. She ditched the demon foal body behind her and became a black shadowy figure with red eyes. Blue streak saw the transformation and tried to run further back, but then she noticed Rainbow was stuck in one place.

“Come on, Rainbow! We have to get out of here!” Blue Streak yelled as she ran towards her. Rainbow didn’t say anything. “It’s not safe here”

“She…. killed…. my…. grand…. mother” Rainbow stuttered, holding back tears.

“Didn’t you see anything? Your demon foal is not your demon foal. If you still want to defeat her with your gems, you might not have a chance!” Before she could finish, the door shut behind them. There was no way out.

“Who are you?” Rainbow’s expression changed to one of anger as she turned to the shadowy figure. “Answer me, WHO ARE YOU?!?!”

“My real name is Tenebris. I am a creature that corrupts an evil idea and spread it across”

“How did you do it?” Blue Streak asked.

“First of all, I wasn’t as powerful as I am now. Mainly because Equestria is full of peace and harmony. Then, I discovered these caves which had every single pony’s saddest moments. Ok I didn’t discover them; I was actually the creator of them. I was the one who would take the saddest memory from when a foal got her cutiemark and use their power to get stronger.

‘I figured out that I could pose as one of them and take all of their grief power until I got strong enough to take over. But there was one problem, the ultimate flaw to my plan; all of the demon foals were of fillies, I couldn’t get enough power from them.

‘So I devised a plan to make one of them a mare. I picked a random one; it turned out to be Rainbow Dash. Then in order for the plan to work, I went back in time and erased her demon foal. It just so happened that the next time she experienced grief was with her tortoise.”

“YOU MONSTER!!” Rainbow yelled, tears streaming down her face as she charged towards Tenebris.

“Dashie, no!” Blue Streak cried. Rainbow showed her wrist which had the gems. Rainbow went straight through the figure. The gems were ineffective. Tenebris just laughed in delight.

“Did you really think that you could stop me?” Rainbow just stared down at the gems in shock. “Didn’t the princesses tell you that they can’t be used unless they’re activated?” Rainbow Dash slowly got up, her back right leg was injured.

“Why did you do it? Why me? Was I just a part of your plan? You ruined my life just to get your way?” Rainbow asked.

“Of course, I’m awesomely evil! Now because you have given me enough power, I can finalize my plan to finish what you had started. Get rid of Winter!”

“Get rid of winter?” Rainbow asked.

“Too much? I know what is even better! I’ll erase the weather!”

“You won’t get away with this!”

“But I will, first, I’ll get rid of you. You are no use to me!” suddenly the shadowy figure went inside Rainbow Dash. She collapsed onto the ground. Blue Streak ran towards her.

“Rainbow, are you ok?” she asked. Rainbow was struggling to breathe.

“You...have...to...g-get...out...of...here! And...take...T-Tank...with..you” Rainbow weakly replied. She gave Tank and the gems to Blue Streak.

“But there’s no way out”

“Just...g-get...out...of...here!” Rainbow yelled. Then, she felt an intense pain inside and started to scream. Blue Streak took Tank and the gems began to light up. Suddenly they were gone. But little did they know that Equestria was in danger.

Cutie Mark Trouble-Makers

Applebloom and Scootaloo were hanging in the club house. They had a huge problem on their hooves. They were the only ponies besides the mane 5 to know of Rainbow’s disappearance. She had been missing for three days.

“I really wanted to help Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo complained.

“Ya can’t help it, Scootaloo. Applejack told you not to mention it to any pony until they sort things out!” Applebloom replied.

“But, Rainbow Dash could be in danger!”

“I know, but we can’t disobey my sister!”

“Hi guys, what are you talking about?” Sweetie Belle asked as she came in through the door of the club house. The other fillies panicked.

“We weren’t talking about anything, Sweetie Belle” Scootaloo replied.

“Are you sure?” Sweetie Belle asked again. Applebloom sighed.

“Rainbow Dash is missing” she said. Scootaloo freaked out and carried Applebloom to the corner of the club house.

“Applebloom, we promised not to tell anypony!” Scootaloo whispered in anger.

“Applejack promised you, Scootaloo. And besides, Sweetie Belle should know too. She is our friend after all!”

“Rainbow Dash is missing?” Sweetie Belle asked. The other fillies nodded in sync as they moved back to the middle of the club house. “That’s terrible! For how long?”

“About three days now” Scootaloo said.

“Three days?!” Sweetie Belle shrieked as the others put their hooves on her mouth trying to keep her quiet.

“We can’t let any pony else know about this” Applebloom said. Sweetie Belle removed her friends’ hooves from her mouth and let out a huge sigh.

“What are you trying to do? Suffocate me?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Sorry Sweetie Belle!” Applebloom and Scootaloo said in unison.

“Anyway. Stop overacting about it! I won’t tell any pony either!” Applebloom and Scootaloo eyed their oblivious unicorn friend.

“Do ya Pinkie Promise?” Applebloom asked.

“Um. Is it: ‘Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye’?”

“Yeah, that’s it!” Scootaloo replied.

“We all will promise not to tell a single pony” Applebloom said.

“Deal” the other two ponies replied. The three fillies put their hooves in the air and hoof bumped. That was what triggered the magic for them to get their cutie marks.

Then, Scootaloo wandered off to the far corner of the clubhouse again. She sat down and sighed. The other ponies wore an expression of concern and walked towards Scootaloo.

“What’s wrong, Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked. Scootaloo sighed and faced her friends.

“I’m sorry. I’m just worried about Rainbow Dash, that’s all. When I heard from Applejack that she might be in danger, I was worried. She told me of a song that she and the others were searching for to cure Rainbow Dash’s tortoise” Scootaloo replied as tears started to come out.

“Rainbow Dash has a pet tortoise?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Since when?”

“I think my sister told me, about nine months ago, I think. Rarity never told you about it? She was also there when Rainbow was having that stupid completion” Applebloom responded.

“I think Rarity was looking for Opal’s toy mouse. Then in the end, she had to get a new one. I never knew about Rainbow’s pet afterwards”

“Who cares about your cat’s stupid toy?!” Scootaloo yelled. Then she sighed again. “I-I just had no idea of how much Rainbow was going through, my hero, my idol going into a dark, cruel world to face her evil self just to cure her pet. I just wished I could’ve done more to help, y’know”

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other in concern as they saw their fellow cutiemark crusader break down in front of them. They moved towards her to comfort her.

“Hey, I know you’re worried about Rainbow Dash. But there’s nothing we can do about it” Applebloom replied. Using her magic, Sweetie Belle transported some tissues from the other side of the house to give to Scootaloo.

“We’re worried about Rainbow Dash too” she said, putting her hoof around Scootaloo “And we wish we could do something as much as you” Scootaloo sniffed and used the tissues to wipe the rest of her tears away.

“You don’t understand what it’s like to have a sisterly figure or even a sister just disappear for three days with no hope of coming back!” Scootaloo replied, getting angrier “Applebloom, what would happen if Applejack disappeared for three days fighting a monster and you were told that she might not come back?”

“Well, that wouldn’t be good. Without Applejack, I will no longer have some pony to do the Sisterhooves social with me. Not only that, I won’t have her to cheer me up or look out for me” Applebloom replied, sadly looking down at the ground. Scootaloo turned to Sweetie Belle.

“Same with your sister, Rarity. If she was doing the same thing and you were told she would not come back, what would happen?” Sweetie Belle teared up to those words.

“The thought of losing my one and only sister is too horrible to bare!” she replied, holding back tears “She runs the boutique. I don’t know who would be willing to take over for her. I would, but I’m terrible at making clothes. I would be lost without her!”

“See. None of you know what it’s like. Even if all three ponies go out and save Equestria, at least they come back to tell the tale. Now, it’s completely different!”

“Scootaloo, listen to yourself! That doesn’t sound like you at all!” Applebloom interrupted. Scootaloo loosened her expression and looked down at the floor.

“Just because Applejack said that you wouldn’t be able to do anything, that doesn’t mean you still can’t” Sweetie Belle said to Scootaloo. Scootaloo sighed and then had a face of determination.

“You’re right, I’m not just going to sit here and cry about it! I’m going to find Rainbow Dash and help her!”

“But you don’t even know where she is” Sweetie Belle responded.

“Then, let’s go ask her friends where she might be” Scootaloo replied.

“They might not let us go, though” Applebloom argued.

“It doesn’t hurt to at least try” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other in concern yet again. Their Pegasus friend was about to leave.

“Wait, can we come with you?” Applebloom asked.

“Of course you can” Scootaloo replied. The cheerful crusaders walked out of their clubhouse and tried to find the rest of the mane 6 for help.

Meanwhile, everypony else was getting suspicious about Rainbow Dash’s sudden disappearance. The winter clouds were grayer than usual and the ponies below thought that it was going to rain. Derpy Hooves was casually flying with a package. It was addressed to Rainbow Dash herself. She knocked on the door of her house, unaware that there was no one inside. She knocked on the door.

“Package for Rainbow Dash!” she said. Not having an answer, she unintentionally opened the door. She discovered that it wasn’t locked. The whole place had been abandoned for three days. She searched around for Rainbow Dash but no luck was found. She came out of the house confused.

“If Rainbow Dash was going somewhere, surely she’d lock her door first before going right?” Derpy asked herself “Unless she’s missing!” Derpy hurriedly flew up to the mayor’s building and told her everything.

After Derpy, the news had now spread like wild fire. Everypony in Ponyville now knew that Rainbow Dash was missing. Some were panicking about it, others were concerned. Citizens started creating missing signs all around Ponyville. No one had seen Rainbow Dash since three days ago. Only Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and the Cutiemark crusaders knew where she was.

Every pony gathered around town square for a meeting. The majority of the citizens were busy freaking out on the sudden disappearance.

“Everypony. Calm down!” The mayor said “There’s no need for alarm. Though she is the manager of the weather patrol, I’m sure there is another Pegasus who can take over”

“But Rainbow Dash is the fastest pony we have!” one of the ponies argued “None of the other ponies would be as good”

“The question is, how did she disappear in the first place?” another pony argued. As soon as that question was spoken, every pony in Ponyville started asking it at the same time. The mayor started to panic.

“Now, everypony. I don’t know how she disappeared. My source was Miss Derpy Hooves who came to me about Rainbow Dash’s sudden disappearance and she doesn’t know either” the mayor said.

On the other side of Ponyville, the Cutiemark crusaders noticed everypony gathered at town square. There were missing posters everywhere.

“But, I thought we were the only ponies who knew about it” Sweetie Belle argued.

“Unless somepony eavesdropped on our conversation!” Applebloom panicked.

“So that’s why they’re all gathered around towns square right now” Scootaloo said.

The three fillies finally ran off to where their sisters were. They had to tell them because it was probably obvious they didn’t already know.

“Splendid! We have learnt the entire song!” Fluttershy said in excitement. “It has taken us three days, but I think we’re finally ready to cure Tank”

“Was it necessary to learn all those harmonies?” Applejack asked.

“It would be more effective if we did them, my arrangement” Fluttershy replied.

“Are you sure it’s ready, darling?” Rarity asked.

“I think Fluttershy is right. We have learnt this song through and through for three days, I think we will be able to remember what it sounds like” Pinkie Pie replied.

“Wait, has it already been three days?” Twilight asked. She was starting to freak out. She trotted over to Fluttershy’s calendar. It said the 29th of December. She then looked at the clock, it was 7:00AM. Twilight shrieked.

“What’s wrong, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“We have literally just spent three days learning the song and staying at Fluttershy’s cottage to do so!” Twilight yelled.

“That’s what I just said” Fluttershy replied.

“Tank’s time is almost up! We only have two hours left!” Twilight said in a panicked tone. Now the rest of the ponies were worried too.

“Oh my goodness, how did time fly so quickly?” Fluttershy asked, also looking at her clock.

“Well, it’s a good thing that we’ve learnt the song already” Applejack responded.

“Sis!” Applebloom and her friends barged through the door of the cottage.

“Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, what’re y’all doing here?” Applejack asked.

“We have a major problem” Sweetie Belle replied.

“What happened, darlings?” Rarity asked.

“Ponyville knows Rainbow Dash is missing” Scootaloo replied. Out of all the ponies in the room, Applejack was shocked the most. Not because of the news itself, but the fact that she thought Scootaloo didn’t keep her promise.

“I thought I told ya not to tell anypony!” she said in a stern tone.

“But she didn’t, sis” Applebloom argued.

“They told me” Sweetie Belle responded.

“Ok, besides Sweetie Belle, we didn’t tell another pony, we pinkie promised!” Applebloom finally said. Pinkie Pie flinched when she heard ‘pinkie promise’

“Somepony must have eavesdropped on us or something” Scootaloo replied.

“How badly does everypony in Ponyville know about Rainbow Dash’s disappearance?” Twilight asked.

“See for yourself” Sweetie Belle said pointing in the general direction. Leaving the cottage, the mane 5 and the Cutiemark crusaders trekked through Ponyville and saw all the missing pony signs.

“This is bad” Twilight Sparkle said.

“There are Rainbow Dash’s friends!” one pony from the crowd yelled. The rest of Ponyville including the mayor ran up to Twilight and the rest of the ponies. None of them wanted to tell anything.

“The princess must know something” another pony from the crowd said, all of the ponies agreed in unison.

“Is this true?” the mayor asked as she finally made her way through the crowd “Do you know something about Rainbow Dash’s sudden disappearance?”

‘How do I tell them?’ Twilight was panicking in her thoughts ‘They’ll probably get mad at me if I tell them for letting Rainbow Dash out on her own. Or worse, Princess Celestia and Luna too’ Twilight sighed and drooped her head.

“I have to tell them” Twilight said. The other mares gasped.

“But Twilight, you can’t” Rarity objected “They’ll never believe you”

“They have to, it’s the truth” Twilight replied. She stood in front of her friends and cleared her throat “Well, citizens of Ponyville. We know where Rainbow Dash is” the whole town gasped at her words. She hesitated to complete the next sentence.

“She is fighting her demon foal. A creature that feeds off her grief. The princesses said that is was powerful enough to take over Equestria. She is the only one that can stop it.”

“Why would you let something like this happen?” the mayor asked again.

“I didn’t want to. Princess Celestia and Luna said so”

As the crowd of ponies watched a stressed Twilight Sparkle, she didn’t know what to do. Tank’s time was almost up and she didn’t know what else to try.

Suddenly, a huge beam of light had appeared right in front of the crowd of ponies. When the light cleared away, it was Blue Streak and Tank. They had safely come out of the caves before they saw anything happen to Rainbow Dash. Pinkie wore a smile on her face.

“RAINBOW DASH!!!” She cried as she ran towards Blue Streak. She was hugging her very tightly.

“Pinkie Pie, is it?” Blue Streak asked. Pinkie opened one eye, then realised that she was hugging a complete stranger. She reacted quickly.

“Hold on a second, you’re not Rainbow Dash!”

“No I’m not, am I. Actually I’m…” Pinkie grabbed Blue Streak tightly.

“Are you her demon foal?”

“Of course not! I’m a friend of Rainbow Dash, my name is Blue Streak!” Fluttershy’s eyes widened. She recognised the name from her conversation with Firefly.

“Oh, sorry about that” Pinkie apologised as she helped Blue Streak back up. Fluttershy also noticed Tank next to Blue Streak and ran towards him.

“Oh Tank, you even look worse than when we left you!” Fluttershy said to the sickly tortoise.

“I guess now that he’s back in Ponyville, we can cure him with our song right?” Pinkie asked.

“I’m not sure about that actually” Twilight replied. “Not if Rainbow still hasn’t returned”

‘That alicorn must be Twilight Sparkle, the Pegasus must be Fluttershy, the unicorn is Rarity and the other Earth pony is Applejack’ Blue Streak thought.

“Oh yeah, why did you two arrive in Ponyville but Rainbow Dash didn’t?” Pinkie asked.

Now that Blue Streak had arrived in Ponyville, she was starting to see things that she couldn’t see before. The world from a different set of eyes. She was seeing herself, about seventy years before. After a Wonderbolts show, there was a huge storm coming. Every pony was running for their lives. But Blue Streak had unfortunately hurt her wing and left leg, so she couldn’t run or fly. Then, a lightning bolt struck her.

Blue Streak blinked for a moment, coming back to the present. She soon realised how she got here, how she got to Ponyville.

“Well, where is she?” Twilight asked. Blue Streak soon realised what was being asked. She hesitated, but she knew that these were her friends and they deserved to know.

“It’s not good. It’s terrible” Blue Streak replied.

“What is?” Fluttershy asked.

“Rainbow Dash’s demon foal isn’t a demon foal at all, it’s a darker more powerful creature called Tenebris. That creature made the demon foal a mare by going back in time and killing Rainbow’s grandmother five years earlier so that her demon foal could be created when Tank was going to hibernate. Not only that, but the Tenebris created the demon foals too. Now because of what has happened Tenebris is very powerful and has engulfed Rainbow Dash with it. We used the gems on Tank’s neck to escape, but I don’t know if we can get her back”

The ponies stood with their mouths open.

“Rainbow Dash is what?!” the mane 5 said in unison.

“Did ya say engulfed?” Applejack asked. Rarity fainted on the ground, this time not caring to summon a couch first.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know what else to do. But what I do know is that Equestria is in danger. It is not safe”

“How do we know we can trust you?” Twilight asked with a stern look.

“Because I’ve witnessed it myself!”

“Then why didn’t you help her?”

“Because she told me to go! I didn’t want to, but she told me!” Blue Streak sighed. “We don’t have time to argue, we have to get everypony inside safely”

“WHAT’S THAT?” Pinkie asked in shock as she pointed at something.

“Pinkie, that’s a pony who has let a shadowy figure take over our friend!” Twilight replied, annoyed.

“No, That!” Pinkie was pointing at a dark cloud coming this way from the outskirts of Equestria. An evil laugh could be heard in the distance. It sounded like Rainbow Dash, but lower in pitch. A cold wind began to blow the ponies’ manes. Lightning came out of the cloud as well as thunder. The mane 6 knew they were in huge trouble now. Their friend was engulfed by this thing.

‘This is the beginning of a new end’ Twilight thought, having full doubt of defeating the villain in front of her. So did the rest of the ponies.

The gray cloud got closer and closer. The ponies began to panic. Then, the clouds turned into the shape of a pony, Rainbow Dash. After the Tenebris had taken over her body, she molded herself into cloud. This could also mean she could become anything. All of the ponies except for the Mane 6, Blue Streak and the CMC ran back to their homes in fear.

“That thing is Rainbow’s demon foal?” Twilight asked, pointing at the figure before her.

“That’s not her demon foal, it’s the Tenebris taking over her body remember” Blue Streak replied. Tenebris let out another evil laugh.

“Hello, Ponies. It’s so nice to see your scared faces. Well you should be scared. For what I’m about to do is so evil, I didn’t even come up with it myself!”

“What do you mean you didn’t come up with it yourself?” Twilight asked again. Tenebris chuckled again.

“I guess your friend was more secretive than I thought” she replied.

“Rainbow Dash, secretive?” Pinkie Pie asked. Tenebris broke into laughter.

“Do you ponies remember how upset Rainbow Dash was in saying goodbye to Tank? There is something she didn’t tell you. She tried to stop winter from coming. And to make things even more evil, she broke into the Cloudsdale Weather factory and planned to shut it down. But she failed when a giant snowball came out of the factory instead with her and Tank in it. But still, she got as far as planning to stop winter, she sang a catchy song about it. How did it go again? Oh yeah.

‘And I’ll fly.

And I’ll fly until the end of the sky.

So I’ll be the one who doesn’t have to say goodbye.

I’ll clear the skies forever.

So we won’t be apart.

I’ll keep the weather warm for you.

And the winter will never start’

Something like that I think”

Everypony except Blue Streak and Applejack were shocked by this news.

“No you’re wrong! Rainbow Dash would never try to stop winter. You’re lying!” a desperate Pinkie Pie yelled.

“That’s right! You’re just saying all of that stuff to turn against our friend, aren’t you darling!” Rarity commented.

“I know that Rainbow was upset about Tank hibernating, but she would never truly go that far” Fluttershy timidly replied.

“Well you can stop the charade now and tell us what you have done to Rainbow Dash!” Twilight angrily yelled at the Tenebris.

“She’s right” Blue Streak and Applejack said in unison, they looked at each other in shock. Neither of them knew that the other knew about it. So didn’t the rest of the mane 6.

“You knew about this?” Twilight asked Applejack. “How?”

“Rainbow Dash told me herself” Applejack replied.

“She told you too?” Blue Streak asked.

“But how was that possible, darling? She was cooped up in her house for 23 days” Rarity responded.

“Not on the first day of winter she wasn’t. I managed to catch her, just after I was helping ya Rarity. She told me everything. How she wanted so badly to have Tank back with her, how she tried to stop winter from coming, and how she was the one to send a giant snowball into Ponyville accidently. And I understood what she was going through because I went through a similar phase when I was younger” Applejack replied.

“I don’t believe it! Are you sure you’re not lying Applejack?” Pinkie asked.

“Of course I wouldn’t, I’m the element of honesty. I’m terrible at lyin’!”

“She told me the story as well. Sadly, Tenebris is telling the truth” Blue Streak sadly responded. Pinkie Pie slowly backed away from Applejack and Blue Streak.

“Why didn’t she tell me then? I’m really close friends with her, I would’ve understood!” Pinkie yelled.

“Because she didn’t want you to worry, Pinkie. But she had to confess to some pony. And the most appropriate in this case was Applejack.” Fluttershy replied.

“This never would’ve happened if you didn’t tell Rainbow that Tank needed to hibernate!” Twilight yelled whilst pointing at the yellow pegasus.

“Twilight, if I didn’t tell her, some pony else would have” Fluttershy replied.

“Oh really, I heard that rabbits also hibernate. So how come I saw Angel at the Hearth’s Warming Party a few days ago?” Fluttershy stood there stunned. Sweat was coming down her brow.

“What are you talking about? Angel is a bunny that hibernates like all of the other animals at my cottage, just like in my book. Are you calling me a hypocrite?”

Then out of nowhere, Angel jumped across to Fluttershy’s leg and was complaining about being hungry again. Twilight gave Fluttershy an annoyed look.

“You were saying?” she asked.

“I’m sorry I lied to all of you. But the truth is, Angel doesn’t hibernate” the rest of the ponies gasped.

“Why not? Don’t bunnies hibernate?” Twilight asked.

“They do, when they’re in the wild. But I’ve taken care of Angel ever since he was a baby bunny. In the winter, I would always have plenty of food for him to eat so he won’t have to hibernate. The reason I told Rainbow that Tank had to hibernate is because they had only been together for 9 months. I found Tank after he emerged from hibernation. Because this was their first winter, Tank was used to hibernating” Fluttershy responded. The ponies’ expressions loosened. Twilight just sighed.

“I’m sorry for accusing you before, that was wrong of me” she replied.

“That’s ok” Fluttershy replied back.

“Uh, I’m getting bored over here! Can’t I just get on with my plan already?” The Tenebris asked. The mane 6 turned back to the shadowy figure in front of them in anger.

“What are you planning to do?” Twilight asked. Suddenly, they disappeared. The CMC tried to run up to them, but then they were too late. Applebloom Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were worried about what would happen to the mane 6, so was Blue Streak. But they had an important job to do; look after Tank. Where they were going, was not good. The rest of Ponyville were cooped up in their houses, unaware of what Tenebris had next for them...

Tenebris' Plan

It was cold and dark in the dungeons. That’s where the rest of the mane 6 up, all in one big cell. Tenebris was nearby contemplating her next move. She knew exactly what she was going to do, but she had to get rid of Rainbow’s friends to do so.

“I have all of this power that I didn’t have before. I could do anything. Maybe with this pathetic Pegasus’ plan, I can finally get my revenge on Princess Celestia. After all, I was only trying to help her. I was practically doing her a favor” she stopped in her words and looked up at her head, then she thought of something. “Are you paying attention to any of this?”

She used her magic to project the real Rainbow Dash as a hologram. At the moment, she was trapped in the psyche, unable to control it.

“Where am I?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, I see you’ve just woken up. You are trapped in my mind and there is no way you can take control. For I am more powerful than you remember?” Rainbow’s anger only grew. “What’s this? Are you still mad at me for taking over your body?”

“Give my body back! Sure it would be nice to mold into clouds but this is not funny! I won’t let you get rid of winter! My friends will stop you!”

“Oh really? You mean these friends?” Tenebris replied as she projected the ponies in the cell. “They’re bound by powerful bars that not even a fully grown alicorn can break”

“Let my friends go! They have nothing to do with this!”

“You are feisty. You definitely demonstrate your element, element of anger!” Tenebris just laughed in her words. This only made Rainbow even madder. “Sure, I’ll let them go, on one condition. Let my plan succeed and I will”

“You can’t be serious. Even if you don’t set my friends free, you are still powerful enough to succeed with your plan. That compromise won’t change a thing”

“Let me remind you that it was your plan?” Rainbow froze in fear again. “And it was you who almost succeeded, not caring who it would effect. All you cared about was your pathetic excuse of a pet. What happened if he couldn’t fly? Would he still have been worth it? Why did you choose him anyway? Any of your other pets like the falcon and the eagle would have done much better to match your coolness. And what’s even better? They don’t hibernate, so you didn’t have to feel the sadness you had last month and this whole problem could have been avoided altogether! A tortoise? Seriously? That’s so lame. That doesn’t even match up to the level of awesome you have”

“Enough!” Rainbow shouted. “You want to know why I chose him? I chose him because he was loyal to me. I chose him because he had saved my life. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t even be here, and neither would you! Sure, an eagle or a falcon would have been cool or awesome, but they definitely aren’t loyal, they abandoned me! They were useless! And they didn’t follow my rule; the pet who crosses the finish line with me gets to be my pet. All they cared about was winning. Just like how I used to be. But Tank taught me so many new things when he was my pet, that I can have responsibilities and be sensitive sometimes, sometimes. Even if you try your best to persuade me that having Tank as a pet was a mistake, you are wrong! He isn’t just my pet, he’s also my best friend, and I was trying to look out for him! And nothing you say can make me change my mind!”

Tenebris just stood there, not moving a muscle, until she gave an evil smirk.

“I see your point, but there is no way you’re going to get to me. You aren’t useful enough for that I’m afraid. Nice try though” Tenebris responded as she turned her back on Rainbow Dash who looked sadly down at the floor and sighed.

“Tenebris, why are you using me for your plan?” she asked. Tenebris face palmed.

“I thought I had already told you, I picked a random demon foal which turned out to be yours, remember?”

“But there has to be more to it than that” Tenebris froze.

“What do you mean by ‘more to it’? I gave you all of the relevant information”

“I don’t feel you have. The story you told had so many plot holes, come on. Randomly choosing one? If there are demon foals made from every pony in Equestria who is alive, how come you didn’t use a more powerful being like Princess Celestia? Why did it have to be me? I’m just a regular Pegasus from Ponyville with speed and awesomeness, I don’t have any magical powers like the princesses. I did, but we gave up the elements of harmony 6 months ago so…”

“But you do have a magical power though, the one thing that can fully defeat me”

“What is that?”

“Your Sonic Rainboom”

Rainbow gave a look of confusion.

“My Sonic Rainboom?”

“Back about 1000 or more years ago, back when Princess Luna and Celestia were fillies, they created a toy. It was made out of clay but the princesses gave it magical properties. They loved this toy, they called it Tenebris, which was Latin for darkness. The ponies around the princesses didn’t like the look of the toy and said it was evil and cursed. The toy of course was made to make the princesses happy, but it accidentally acquired the power to collect grief from them. The toy liked it so much that it wanted to do that to the other ponies. When the princesses were in their teens, they realized what their childhood toy was doing, destroying Equestria and making the world gloomier. They realized they had created a monster. They read in the books if there was a way to get rid of their creation, if a pony with a rainbow mane could perform the Sonic Rainboom, the chosen one. There was only one who could do it, a rainbow maned stallion who was a fast flier. He performed a Sonic Rainboom which exiled the Tenebris for 1500 years. The Tenebris set revenge for the next pony able to perform such an impossible task and…”

Rainbow looked sadly at the Tenebris, feeling sorry for her almost.

“That pony was me, right?” she asked. Tenebris nodded. “But I’ve performed the Sonic Rainboom multiple times, how come you weren’t seeking revenge then?”

“Because I didn’t know about it until recently. I was plotting my revenge of course, but I didn’t simply want to get rid of you, I wanted to make you suffer. And unlike the last time, I was protected in the caves. I only got stronger”

“Maybe I can help you, help you find your way again. Revenge is never the answer to anything”

“I find that very hard to believe. Your plan has already begun, so I’m not going to stop now. In the end, everything is blamed on you. You claim to be the element of Loyalty, but are your friends loyal to you back? Are your friends really there for you?”

“Now what are you talking about?”

“Your friends haven’t always been there for you. Remember the time when they all pretended to be Mysterious Mare Do Well?”

“That was a long way back. And my friends have been there for me, they comforted me when I was crying about Tank. They cried with me”

“No they weren’t. Why do you lie to yourself? Fluttershy said those things to make you cry and ‘let it all out’. She was cruel to you. As for Rarity and Pinkie Pie, they were only crying because Fluttershy was. They even said so themselves. I guess they only realized their mistakes when you had to go away to fight me. Then they realized the meaning of the saying ‘you don’t know what you have until it’s gone’. Kind of like you with your pathetic tortoise”

“You’re wrong! You’re only saying that stuff to turn against my friends! I always looked out for them and they have always looked out for me! Fluttershy only said those things to help me. We’ve always helped each other, ever since we were fillies. Any obstacle we face, we faced them together. Applejack and I have also been really close, we were always having competitions to see who was most athletic, because we both were. She even forfeited as daring pony when she found out I was going into the demon caves. Even though Rarity could be a bit strange with her fashion choices on me, we still got along fantastically. Even though I thought Twilight was an Egghead, she introduced me to the Daring Do series because she believed I would like them which I do. And Pinkie Pie…Pinkie Pie has been my best friend for a couple of years now, even when I first met her I called her random, but then I discovered her love for pranking was just as strong as mine. And we’ve been best friends ever since” Rainbow was starting to tear up a little. “Please don’t hurt them because of me”

“Oh, I’ll try not to, but I have to do something, they’re going to interfere with my plan if I don’t” Tenebris used her magic to zap Rainbow back into her head. “And there is nothing you can do to stop me; you can just enjoy the show”

She then walked over to the cell where the others were. Twilight tried to break the spell set on the gate. She tried teleporting out, but she just ended up back in the cell again.

“What happened Twilight?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know. I think this gate is enchanted. Somehow, I can’t escape with my magic” Twilight replied.

“Oh, this is a special gate that not even alicorn magic can break. It’s only temporary. I don’t want you ponies interfering with my plan is all” Tenebris said as she magically appeared in front of the ponies, looking like an evil version of Rainbow Dash.

“Why did you lock us up?” Rarity complained. “Everything is so filthy here”

“Poor Rarity, I feel so sorry for you. Too bad you didn’t feel sorry for Rainbow in return. All you cared about was Fluttershy, the one who broke Rainbow in the first place”

“How dare you! You, you cretin! When I get my hooves on you I’ll…”

“Enough Rarity. Hurting the Tenebris with brute force is not going to get us out of ‘ere” Applejack interrupted. Tenebris just laughed.

“Oh you ponies are not prepared for what is next” she responded as she stamped her hoof on the ground. Suddenly the rest of the ponies were gassed with magic and the light of the cell disappeared.

The attention went back to Tenebris with Rainbow Dash, she was angrier than ever.

“You sick jerk! What are you doing to my friends?” she yelled as she charged towards Tenebris. But she was tossed back with dark magic and tied to a chair. The more she struggled the tighter it got.

“You’ll be able to get a front row seat of what your plan could do to the ponies you love!” she laughed maniacally and left Rainbow alone, trapped in the chair.

The rest of the mane 6 woke up. They were all tied up to various chairs that made a pentagon shape. They immediately freaked out when they discovered where they were. Rarity and Applejack were worried that the CMC weren’t with them, and Fluttershy was worried about Blue Streak. The room was pitch black, and the only light was surrounding the chairs that they were tied to.

“Hello, fellow ponies” Tenebris greeted the captured mane 5 coming out of the darkness. Applejack was the angriest of all of the mane 5, followed by Rarity and Twilight. The others were just concerned.

“Let Rainbow Dash go!” she yelled, trying to get out of her chair, but it was unsuccessful.

“It’s no use trying to escape, besides, you don’t want to miss the fun and excitement I’m about to show you all” Tenebris replied.

“First you kidnap us and throw us in a dungeon, then you tie us up? You don’t have very good manners!” Rarity complained.

“Oh, boo hoo. Does it look like I even care?”

“You are just diabolical; you know that? I mean who just takes the form of some pony you love and takes control just like that?” Twilight asked.

“A changeling” Tenebris replied.

“Well, yes a changeling. But you’re worse than a changeling. You’ve trapped our friend and using her own failed attempt of a plan to get your revenge on the princesses?”

“Wait, how did you know that? I didn’t even tell you that story”

“We did over hear you when we trying to escape”

Tenebris got angry.

“Ok fine. But still, I was rejected. You have to understand that it wasn’t very fun being in the position I was in. I had great powers, but no pony acknowledged them!”

“But not only did you capture our friend, but you also went back in time and killed her grandmother? You are more evil than a changeling to do that much damage to somepony’s life!”

The rest of the mane 6, except for Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were making their points really clear and yelling over the top of each other.

“ENOUGH!!” Tenebris finally yelled. “God you ponies are so annoying! I don’t even know why that pathetic Pegasus is your friend, after everything she has done to you. She’s hurt you in so many ways you wouldn’t believe, and you hurt her back. Is this what a friendship is? Is friendship really magic?”

“You’re lying! She hasn’t hurt us. Not in a cruel mean way. But you have! No friend of ours would keep us locked up like this tied up to chairs that are giving me splinters right now!” Pinkie complained as she tried to set herself free using her cartoon physics logic. But even that was not enough to break free.

“Why would you want to escape when I can give you your own ticket to see my plan unfold?”

Tenebris stamped her hoof again. With her magic, 10 screens magically appeared in front of the mane 5. They were 10 locations that they were familiar with. Applejack could see Appaloosa and Sweet Apple Acres, Rarity could see her boutique and Manehattan, Pinkie Pie could see Sugarcube Corner and the rock farm, Twilight could see the castle in Ponyville and Canterlot and Fluttershy could see her cottage and Cloudsdale. But there was one problem; all of these locations were in flames. The ponies reacted quickly in shock. So did Rainbow Dash who could see through Tenebris’ eyes. She in particular didn’t think this was good.

“Why are all these locations burning in flames?” Twilight asked.

“Allow me to explain; If Rainbow Dash’s plan succeeded, the weather would be inconsistent. Without the snow and the cold weather, it would be much hotter weather causing the snow to melt. Rainbow would have also cleared all of the clouds and destroyed the weather factory making it not rain or snow ever again. Because of the lack of water, fire would spread, seeing what would happen in these locations. Applejack, the fire would spread to your orchard and all of the trees would die, same with the apple trees in Applaloosa”

Applejack stayed silent. Tears rolled down her eyes.

“How could you? All of the ponies are gonna starve! And no apples means no cider either. Rainbow Dash loves cider” Applejack cried.

“No cider?” Rainbow said as she witnessed the screens. Tenebris ignored that statement and moved onto the next pony.

“Rarity, the fire would spread to your boutique and the flats of Manehattan. I’m afraid your clothes will also be burnt to a crisp”

“But, Tank’s suit is in there! I hadn’t even finished it yet!” Rarity replied.

“No! not Tank’s suit! She promised she would finish it by the next winter wrap up! Tenebris you have to stop this!” Rainbow shouted from inside the psyche. Tenebris still ignored her.

“Pinkie Pie, your precious little Sugarcube corner will be nothing but crisps. And the all of the rocks on the rock farm would be completely destroyed!”

“But, that’s not possible! I learned that rocks can’t be destroyed by fire!” Pinkie objected.

“Oh, but they can now. Because the fire has gotten so strong it can destroy even the toughest of boulders”

Pinkie Pie began to cry a little.

“But my family is down there! All of their hard work…”

“But does it matter? You wanted so desperately to run away from them because they would treat you the way you didn’t want to be treated!” Pinkie looked wide eyed to Tenebris.

“How did you know that?”

“I overheard your conversation with Applejack a while back. As an all-powerful being I am everywhere!”

“But that doesn’t matter, I love my family!”

“Then why did you want to run away? In my opinion, they had what was coming to them”

She walked over to Twilight Sparkle.

“Rainbow Dash would never do something like this!” Pinkie Pie finally said.

“No I wouldn’t!” Rainbow replied even though Pinkie couldn’t hear her. “I would never do such a thing!” Rainbow’s eyes were close to being filled with tears again. She didn’t want to see her friends suffer because of her. She didn’t even know why Tenebris was doing this.

“Twilight, you see Canterlot is already in flames and so is your precious castle. The fire is strong enough to destroy these strong architectures”

“They span many centuries of light and hope in Equestria. I can’t believe any pony would want to destroy them!” Twilight replied, turning her head away from the screens.

“Don’t listen to her. It’s not really me doing all of these things!” Rainbow tried to reply.

“And Fluttershy. Yours is a little different. Sure the consequence of your house is the same, but not Cloudsdale. It is not fire that destroyed it, it was something else”

The rest of the ponies gasped. Rainbow looked scared because she knew deep down what it could be.

“What was it?” Fluttershy asked calmly.

“Rainbow Dash tried to destroy the source of the weather making which was the last thing that could create winter. But she accidentally destroyed all of Cloudsdale in the process. But she was still satisfied with how things turned out in the end”

“How could she be? She had destroyed the place we grew up! Would that really make her happy?”

“It would, because she didn’t care at the time”

“That’s not fair!” Rainbow cried out. “Tenebris has to stop this!”

“I can’t believe you would do such a thing, you meanie!” Pinkie yelled.

“You obviously had no consideration for the ponies you would harm!” Rarity complained.

“You had forgotten what had really mattered!” Applejack yelled.

“This is not what Rainbow Dash would do!” Twilight yelled.

Suddenly the ponies were yelling on top of each other again. Tenebris couldn’t take anymore.

“I’m sorry!” Fluttershy sobbed. The attention went directly to the yellow Pegasus who was busy crying. Even Rainbow Dash was amazed.

“Excuse me?” Tenebris objected.

“You heard me! It’s my fault all of this has happened!”

“But it isn’t! it’s Rainbow Dash’s! it was her plan, not yours!”

“Which she wouldn’t have come up with if I didn’t tell her the truth!”

“What truth?” Tenebris scoffed.

“I was the one who told Rainbow that Tank needed to hibernate, I was the one who told her that her winter was going to be petless! I said all of those things and she came up with this whole idea and caused you to use it for your own needs! Because of me, my best friend has turned into a monster!”

Fluttershy continued to sob loudly as the rest of the ponies watched in silence.

“Fluttershy…” Rainbow choked. “You can’t blame yourself”

“Hmph. Of course you would say those things. To defend your friend no less!” Tenebris finally said.

“But, it is the truth!”

“Of course you would lie. None of you would say how you really feel. How it was all Rainbow’s idea not mine”

“You keep saying that, but it doesn’t make any sense!” Twilight objected. Tenebris started to grow impatient. Her friends were still defending her. Then she had an idea. She set them free of the chairs.

“Ok, we’ll make a deal. I’ll put all of this back to normal and release your friend, if you touch the fiery orbs above you”

The rest of the mane 6 looked up at the flaming orbs which had the elements of harmony shaped into them.

“If we touch them, you’ll keep your word?” Twilight asked.

“Absolutely” Tenebris replied. The ponies touched the orbs above them, but something bad happened to them in return. They all screamed in pain as the fire surrounded them. Rainbow couldn’t watch. What Tenebris was doing to them was not good. When the fire cleared, the mane 6 were lying on the floor. Rainbow gasped in shock, tears were streaming down her face now.

“What did you do to them?” she yelled, trying to break free.

“Oh you’ll see” Tenebris replied. The mane 5 got up and opened their eyes in unison. They were much angrier than before.

“She destroyed my home and all of the apples. Every pony will starve! I hate Rainbow Dash for that!” Applejack spoke.

“Applejack?” Rainbow was confused. “You hate me?”

“She destroyed all of my clothes and the town of fashion! I will have my revenge!” Rarity said.

“Rarity too?”

“She destroyed my home and my family! I will not forgive her for that, ever!” Pinkie yelled.

“Pinkie Pie!”

“She committed a crime against the machines that bound our land in harmony! She will be punished!” Twilight said in a royal stern tone.

“Twilight!”

“I created a monster! That monster destroyed everything we loved together! She will not get away with this!” Fluttershy finally said.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow turned away from her friends and collapsed on the floor. She began to sob intensely. Tenebris looked at Rainbow Dash with delight.

“Well, I hope you’re proud of yourself. You have finally succeeded with your plan. You have stopped winter from coming! This must be a huge victory for you. Three huge cheers for Rainbow Dash the awesome. I hope you’re happy!”

Tenebris walked away from her as Rainbow tried to get up.

“No, no I’m not” Rainbow replied. Tenebris stopped in her pacing.

“I’m listening”

“I’m not happy because of everything that has happened. You expect me to be happy? After everything that you have done? All I wanted was to spend some time with Tank at Winter. I never wanted to lose my friends! I never wanted them to hate me for my mistakes!” Rainbow sobbed.

“Well that’s what happens when you have a plan. There will always be consequences if it is wrong. Which I demonstrated. You wanted to get rid of winter, and now all of Equestria is destroyed and your friends hate you forever. I see that as a fair consequence. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to take over Equestria and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!” Tenebris laughed as she exited the room where Rainbow was trapped. Rainbow collapsed on the ground again and continued to cry her eyes out. There were only a couple of words she could utter:

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! It’s all my fault! What have I done?”

Sacrifice

“That cloud thing took my sister!” Applebloom complained.

“That cloud thing also took my sister!” Sweetie Belle argued.

“What does Rainbow Dash want to do with them now?” Scootaloo asked.

Since the rest of the mane 6 were captured, all that was left were the CMC and Blue Streak just staring at the sky. Luckily no harm actually came to Ponyville. What the mane 6 saw were just projections of what could happen. But that didn’t mean that it wasn’t going to happen. The CMC looked at Blue Streak who hadn’t said a word since the rest of the mane 6 were captured. She was busy looking after Tank who was still not coping well. He was getting worse and worse.

“Maybe that thing captured them so that they wouldn’t cure Tank” Scootaloo said. The other CMC looked at her in confusion.

“You mean that song that my sister was talking about?” Applebloom asked.

“That must be it! We have to find a way to get them back” Scootaloo replied.

“Blue Streak, or whatever your name is, do you know where that thing took them?” Sweetie Belle asked. Blue Streak hesitated, trying to come up with an answer. She couldn’t focus on that right now, more memories were flowing back to her and it was driving her crazy.

“Um, I have absolutely no idea. Even though I know the demon foals myself, Tenebris is a being that’s really unpredictable. I have no idea what she could be planning” Blue Streak then looked at Sweetie Belle and got an idea. “Sweetie Belle, you’re a unicorn. Can you teleport to where the mane 6 could be? Or maybe you can project where they are or something?”

“I’m sorry. Even though I am a unicorn, I’m only good at levitating objects. I’m not good at teleportation or that other thing you mentioned” Sweetie Belle replied.

“Oh well, it was worth a shot. I’m just worried about them. Where has Tenebris hidden them?”

“Hey, Twilight. I was just sorting out past papers for your random snow research and…” Spike had jogged to the scene of the crime and stopped to find out Twilight wasn’t there. He scratched his head in confusion. “Twilight?”

“Twilight isn’t here” Blue Streak replied.

“Where is she then?”

“Spike, it’s terrible!” Applebloom replied.

“It is?” Spike asked.

“It’s dreadful!” Sweetie Belle also replied.

“It is?”

“It’s absolutely diabolical!” Scootaloo also replied.

“It is? I mean, what is?”

“Applejack, Rarity, Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy have been captured!” the CMC all yelled in Spike’s ear. He fell on the ground and dropped the parchment he was carrying.

“What!?” he asked, finally understanding the question, he got up and dusted himself. “Captured?! By who?”

“Well, ya see Spike. It would be someone ya don’t suspect” Applebloom replied.

Spike thought about who could have possibly kidnapped them.

“Is it Queen Chrysalis?” he asked.

“No” Applebloom replied.

“Is it Tirek?”

“No” Sweetie Belle replied.

“Is it Starlight Glimmer?”

“No” Scootaloo replied.

“Well those are the only villains I could think of because Nightmare Moon was turned back into Princess Luna, Discord is reformed and I think King Sombra exploded or something”

“Rainbow Dash has captured them!” the CMC yelled again. Spike fell down yet again but got up ok. This time he was just confused.

“Rainbow Dash has captured them?” he asked. “But she’s their friend, that doesn’t make any sense”

Obviously he forgot that Rainbow Dash had to be sent away to fight her demon foal.

“No ya don’t understand, Spike! It’s Rainbow Dash’s evil self that has captured them!” Applebloom replied.

“Oh, wait what!?” Spike was freaking out.

“She threatened to get rid of winter so she could take over!” Sweetie Belle panicked.

“I’m surprised she hasn’t done that yet” Scootaloo replied.

“So you’re Spike the dragon” Blue Streak commented. Spike turned around to see the new mare behind him.

“Yeah. Who are you?” he asked.

“My name is Blue Streak. I’m a friend of Rainbow Dash. Well I was until the Tenebris took over her body”

“Tenebris?” he asked. “What’s that?”

“A creature that feeds off one’s grief. She’s using Rainbow Dash for her plan. Though I don’t know what she needs the rest of her friends for”

“Spike, you can send letters to Princess Celestia right? Maybe they know where they are” Applebloom commented.

“Sure. I can do that!” Spike replied. He got his quill and started to write.

Dear Princess Celestia and Luna

We have just found out that Rainbow’s friends have been kidnapped. We need you to find out where they have disappeared to. P.S: The one who has taken them is a creature called Tenebris. If we don’t find them, Tenebris threatens to destroy winter. Yours Sincerely; the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

The princesses read the letter and worried; especially Princess Celestia.

“What should we do, sister?” Luna asked.

“I don’t know, Luna. I didn’t think that Tenebris would strike again, but how wrong I was” Celestia replied.

“But what could Tenebris want with the rest of Rainbow’s friends?”

“Something terrible I bet. I can use my magic to project a portal to where Tenebris has hidden them, and then I can reply to their letter”

Princess Celestia used her magic to project the portal. They saw the rest of the mane 6 acting crazy. They seemed to be tearing things apart by the looks of it, like wild Timber-wolves.

“It seems that they are more than captured. Tenebris must have done something to them” Luna responded.

“This is bad. I must write the letter to the CMC right away”

“We should get a reply any time soon” Spike responded to the CMC. Suddenly, he burped out the response letter and read it:

Dear Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

We have got your message and we know where the rest of the mane 6 are. They have been transported to a special prison in Tartarus. But they are not the same as they usually are. Tenebris has done something to them, something terrible, and we sadly are the ones to blame. When we were fillies, we created Tenebris as a magical toy, but then it absorbed grief so we had to get rid of it. Come to Canterlot Castle immediately whilst the portal is still open.

Princess Celestia and Luna.

“There’s something wrong with Applejack?” Applebloom asked.

“There’s something wrong with Rarity?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“There’s something wrong with Twilight?” Spike asked.

“There’s something wrong with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy?” Scootaloo asked.

“This is worse than I thought. We have to heed the Princess’ advice and go to the castle right away!” Blue Streak responded.

“But how are we going to get there?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“I’m a Pegasus. I can fly us there. Scootaloo, maybe you can carry one of your friends too”

“But, I can’t actually fly” Scootaloo sadly responded. Blue Streak just sighed.

“Fine. I’ll carry all of you”

“Are you sure? Won’t that extra weight weigh you down?” Applebloom asked.

“I think I’ll manage. I’m pretty strong”

Blue Streak then proceeded to carry four children on her back; Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Spike. For a normal pony, it would be a challenge. But Blue Streak was managing without struggling at all. The CMC were amazed.

They had made it to the castle in time. The portal was about to close. They jumped in, but the princesses didn’t because they were securing the portal. Blue Streak looked at her new surroundings, they were dark and damp. Luckily there was some form of light around them so they could see where they were going. Finally, after trekking for a bit, they found the cell where the mane 6 were. The gate was locked tight. And a good thing too. They were acting as vicious as Princess Celestia described.

“Applejack and Rarity. They don’t usually act this way” Applebloom commentated.

“What could have made them act this way?” Scootaloo asked.

Suddenly, Blue Streak’s ears perked up. She could hear another pony’s sobs. She was trying to figure out who’s they were.

“Do you hear that?” she asked the CMC.

“Hear what?” Applebloom asked.

“I hear another pony. She’s crying”

“I don’t hear anything. Do you Sweetie Belle?”

“No, Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle responded.

“Me neither” Scootaloo replied.

“That’s strange. Why am I the only one that can hear it?” Blue Streak asked herself. Then, she recognised the voice. “It’s Rainbow Dash!”

“What?” the CMC asked in unison.

“I can hear Rainbow Dash. And only I can hear her. Maybe I might communicate to her too” She then looked up and put her right hoof on her ear. “Rainbow Dash. Can you hear me? It’s me, Blue Streak”

Rainbow stopped crying and heard Blue Streak’s voice come through.

“Blue Streak?” she asked.

“Yes. Now where are you?”

“I’m trapped inside the mind of Tenebris” Rainbow stopped for a second and looked confused. “Wait, how are you able to communicate to me?”

“I don’t know. I just heard your voice when no pony else did. And somehow, I am able to communicate to you”

“That makes no sense whatsoever!”

“Anyway. Your friends are acting really strange. Do you know what happened to them?”

Rainbow Dash hesitated. But she knew she had to tell them. Maybe she could help them escape.

“Well. Tenebris kidnapped them. Then she showed them images of Equestria in flames because of my plan to get rid of winter. Then she corrupted them. She corrupted them into hating me forever! That’s why they’re acting like this!” Rainbow began to tear up again to those words.

“Equestria in flames?”

“Yeah”

“But Equestria is fine. The snow is still there. Tenebris hasn’t done anything yet”

Rainbow Dash blinked.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. She hasn’t completed her plan. Not yet anyway. There still might be a chance to do so before she does. Maybe we can also set you free”

“I don’t know about that. She said that the only thing that can stop her is a Sonic Rainboom. And I’m the only one able to do it. That’s why she’s using me for her plan, to get revenge on the princesses. By the way, how is Tank?”

“He’s still not coping well. We only have about an hour left until the three days are up, so we’ll have to act quickly”

“An hour?!”

“Yes, sadly that’s the reality here”

“Please make sure you do cure him before then”

“I will. And I will save your friends too”

“Thank you”

The CMC were confused as to what just happened, so was Spike.

“This makes no sense! You’re a Pegasus! How are you able to communicate to Rainbow Dash like that?” Spike asked.

“I don’t know; I’m just able to do it. Come to think of it, I have discovered some strange things since I arrived back in Ponyville. Like for example, I’ve seen flashbacks of myself. I think I know how I came here. How I ended up here. Because before I arrived, I couldn’t remember. Which reminds me; Rainbow Dash, do you know how to unlock it?”

“Unlock what?”

“The cell that your friends are in. I think I have an idea of returning them back to normal”

Rainbow thought about it, and then she got it.

“The bad news that the gate can’t be opened by magic or a normal key”

“I know that. Is there another way”

“The good news is that there is”

“And what is that?”

“Is Spike with you?”

Blue Streak looked at Spike, then back up at her head.

“Yes”

“I overheard Tenebris mention that the claw of a baby dragon is the only way to unlock it”

“That makes sense! Just by looking at the shape of the hole itself. Of course that would be the only thing that would work!”

Blue Streak looked at Spike again. He was feeling uncomfortable.

“What? What did Rainbow Dash say?” he asked.

“She said that the only way to unlock the gate is by using your claw” Blue Streak replied. Spike looked at his hand.

“That’s the only way?” he asked.

“Yes. Apparently the Tenebris didn’t know that you existed, which I think is very peculiar”

Spike sighed and opened the gate. The rest of the ponies reacted quickly. They turned their anger towards Blue Streak and the CMC.

“Look what we’ve done! We’ve just made them mad!” Spike complained.

“They’re comin’ right toward us!” Applebloom shouted.

“Are you sure this was such a good idea?” Scootaloo asked.

“Trust me. I know what I’m doing” Blue Streak replied. The corrupted Mane 6 came slowly towards the others.

“She destroyed our food!” Applejack said, angrily.

“She destroyed our clothes!” was Rarity’s line.

“She destroyed my home and my family!” Pinkie angrily replied.

“She must be punished for doing industrial damage!” Twilight said.

“I’ve turned her into a monster. I will never forgive her!” Fluttershy said.

“ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!” Blue Streak yelled across the room. The ponies looked at Blue Streak in annoyance. “Listen to yourselves! All of you! You’re all saying you hate Rainbow Dash because of one little mistake? She’s your friend! She’s the element of loyalty, she looks out for you! You all have just been corrupted by Tenebris into thinking otherwise. The real Rainbow Dash is trapped inside the psyche of Tenebris letting all of this happen. But she didn’t want it to. When the spell was completed, she burst into tears. She never wanted this to happen to any of you. Sure she only cared about Tank at the time, but Tenebris only showed you what could’ve happened. She hasn’t even done anything yet. And when there is still time, we can still stop her from completing her plan. Who’s with me?”

The ponies stayed silent for a little bit. Then they lit on fire again. When it had disappeared, the ponies had returned to normal.

“Of course we will stop her!” Twilight replied, getting back up again.

“Twilight!” Spike yelled happily as he ran to hug her.

“Applejack!” Applebloom also yelled.

“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle yelled.

“How did you unlock the cell? Tenebris said that not even Alicorn magic could break it” Twilight responded in confusion.

“Well after you guys were corrupted by Tenebris, I found out I had the ability to talk to Rainbow Dash. She’s trapped in the psyche of Tenebris. She told me that the only way to set you free was to use a dragon’s claw” Blue Streak replied, pointing at Spike. Twilight face palmed.

“The way to set us free was to use Spike?” she asked.

“Yep”

“Hold on darling, did you say you could talk to Rainbow Dash through the psyche?” Rarity asked.

“I’ll explain later. But now we have to get out of here, whilst the portal is still open

The ponies leaped through the portal back to the throne room of Princess Celestia and Luna. Celestia closed the portal and was happy to see them again. She hugged Twilight. But it didn’t mean that Celestia didn’t have bad news.

“I’m sorry. Whilst you were saving the others, Tenebris preceded her plan. We tried to stop her, but our magic was no use on her” Princess Celestia said.

“WHAT!!!” Pinkie yelled.

“You mean she has already destroyed everything?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m afraid so” Celestia replied.

Blue Streak just sighed and walked over to the far end of the castle. She knew there must be a way to stop her, to stop Tenebris, she just couldn’t figure out how. The other mares tried to comfort her, but then Blue Streak had an idea.

“We should go and save her, save Rainbow Dash I mean” she said. But even her friends had doubts.

“I don’t know, Blue Streak. It might be risky. And as the princesses said, if we can’t stop her with magic, I don’t know what we could do” Twilight replied.

“What do you mean, save Rainbow Dash?” Princess Luna asked.

“I know this may sound crazy, but I gained the ability to talk to her. The real Rainbow Dash. She’s trapped in the psyche of Tenebris and she told me how to return the others to normal” Blue Streak responded. The princesses looked confused.

“I know, it’s weird. I’ve never seen any pony being able to do something like this. Not even I could perform something like that with my magic. And she’s a Pegasus!” Twilight whispered into Celestia’s ear.

“I think I might know one creature able to do that though” Princess Celestia said.

“What creature?”

“An illusion”

The rest of the ponies and Spike stood there stunned and looked at Blue Streak.

“An illusion?” Blue Streak asked. “What’s that?”

“An illusion can be anything that can perform any types of magic even being a different type of pony like you. But the sad truth of the matter is that an illusion doesn’t actually exist in this world” Princess Celestia replied. The other ponies were shocked. Blue Streak just hung her head. She knew all along what was going on. Why she had all of these abilities.

“But she does exist! Look she’s right here!” Pinkie Pie argued.

“That’s right. You can’t just accuse a pony not being here or existing if we can physically see her” Rarity argued.

“They’re right” Blue Streak sighed. “What they’re saying actually makes sense”

“What are ya talking about sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“Fluttershy. You know how you talked to Rainbow’s mother, and discussed about Rainbow’s grandmother? Her name was Blue Streak. I am Rainbow’s grandmother”

“But that doesn’t make any sense. Why are you in this time then?” Twilight asked.

“Because I’m in a coma” Blue Streak cleared her throat. “Ever since I came to Ponyville, more memories are flowing back to me very slowly. I remembered that I was a brand new Wonderbolt at the time. Then there was this storm. I tripped over and got struck by lightning. Then I was sent here, to your time, somehow. And I met my granddaughter who is the same age as me”

“You’re, you’re in a coma?” Fluttershy asked. Blue Streak nodded. Then, suddenly, she felt intense amounts of pain and collapsed on the ground. The other ponies ran towards Blue Streak in concern. “Oh my goodness. Are you ok?”

“I can feel myself waking up, in about 15 minutes or so I’ll be back in my own time” Blue Streak replied.

“That’s the same amount of time we have left until Tank succumbs” Twilight said in amazement.

“That’s quite a coincidence” Blue Streak replied as she got back up.

“This makes more sense. Maybe you were sent here for this particular mission. To save your granddaughter”

“But why you? It could’ve been any other pony” Applejack argued.

“It’s me because I was the original source of Rainbow’s demon foal”

“What do you mean, darling?” Rarity asked.

“I mean before Tenebris went back in time and altered history, I was the real source for Rainbow’s demon foal not Tank. The first time she experienced grief was when she was 10 not 5”

“What?” Fluttershy gasped. “That means she would’ve already had her cutie mark by then!”

“That’s right. Demon foals can only be created after the filly gets her cutie mark. So Tenebris killed me 5 years earlier so that Rainbow would have a demon foal that was a mare to succeed with her plan”

“Blue Streak is right. There has to be a way to get Rainbow back. If she’s only trapped in the psyche” Twilight told Celestia. Celestia thought about it, then she noticed the gems on Tank’s neck.

“Actually, there is a way to save her” she replied. “See those gems on Tank’s neck. When activated, they can defeat Tenebris once and for all”

“But Rainbow already tried to use them, they didn’t work” Blue Streak argued.

“That is because she didn’t know how to activate them”

“What are those precious jewels anyway?” Rarity asked, intrigued.

“They are your demon foals”

Rarity quickly backed away.

“That’s not very pleasant” she replied.

“You ponies need to activate them. Activate them with your grief”

Twilight gasped in shock.

“So we could’ve gone with her all along!? We could have avoided this whole mess!” Twilight argued.

“Not necessarily. The gems still wouldn’t have worked even if you were with her. The Tenebris would have to succeed with her plan first” Luna replied.

“It looks like she already has!” Scootaloo commented as she pointed out the destruction and flames. The rest of the mane 6 began to feel sad.

“Maybe that Equestria is in flames, your parents will come back” Pinkie Pie commented.

“What do you mean?” Applejack asked.

“I mean, you even said yourself that they were busy travelling. If the flames are covering all of Equestria, then that means your parents will return”

“No it doesn’t!” Applejack yelled.

“But that’s what you told me, isn’t it?”

Applejack sighed.

“My parents are not travelling, they’re…they’re…dead. They died whilst trying to rescue Rarity from a raggedy bridge when we were fillies. They fell to their deaths”

Applejack hung her head in shame. She finally admitted it. But surprisingly, she felt better.

“I’m so sorry” Applejack wept. Pinkie Pie came up to Applejack and comforted her.

“You could’ve just said so. I’d understand” she replied. Applejack looked sadly at the window, at the remains of the trees of her orchard.

“She has destroyed the orchard; all of my hard work is gone!” Applejack cried. The topaz lit up on Tank’s neck. The CMC ran towards it and were amazed. They didn’t mention anything though.

“My clothes and my lines are completely destroyed!” Rarity complained. The diamond lit up.

“She really did destroy Sugar Cube Corner! That meanie!” Pinkie Pie cried. The sapphire lit up.

“She has destroyed the castle, and everything we hold dear” Twilight cried. The amethyst lit up.

“She’s destroyed Cloudsdale! I can’t see how that’s supposed to make her happy!” Fluttershy sobbed. Finally, the opal lit up.

The whole bracelet was activated now. The others looked at what was going on and reacted.

“What’s happening?” Twilight asked.

“They are only activated when the owners of the gems, or demon foals, feel grief once again and give the gems powers. Not for bad but for good” Luna continued. The mane 5 and Blue Streak gathered around Tank as the gems magically came off and into the ponies. The ponies lit up and magic surrounded them, they felt like they were transforming.

Twilight’s mane and tail turned a bright lilac as shoes for her hooves and a necklace with a star shaped amethyst appeared on her neck.

“I will never give up. If I do fail, I will keep trying until I succeed! Amethyst of Magic!” she yelled out.

Applejack’s mane and tail turned a bright yellow as she got the same accessories with a necklace with a hexagon shaped topaz appeared on her neck.

“Even if my parents are gone, I will continue to live my life and protect my friends and family! Topaz of Honesty!”

Rarity’s mane and tail turned bright silver getting the same accessories with a necklace with a diamond on her neck.

“Clothes making is my passion! Even if I receive negative criticism, I will use it as constructive criticism and learn from my mistakes! Diamond of Generosity!”

Fluttershy’s mane turned a bright pink, lighter than her original mane colour. As well as the rest of the accessories, she got a necklace with a triangle shaped opal on her neck .

“Though I lose a pet I care about, that won’t stop me from taking care of them, instead that will help me look out for others! Opal of Kindness!”

Pinkie Pie’s mane turned a bright blue. She got the accessories as well as a necklace with a rectangle shaped sapphire on her neck.

“I love to plan parties and make other ponies smile in return, and I won’t let one mistake get in the way of that! Sapphire of Laughter!”

Lastly was Blue Streak. Her mane turned a bright red. She received all of the accessories and a necklace with an oval shaped ruby on her neck.

“I will protect my friends no matter what, and I will save you Rainbow Dash, I promise! Ruby of Loyalty!”

The ponies had completed their transformation as they soared up to the sky. Tenebris looked at them and was now scared.

“How is this even possible? I thought they couldn’t be activated?”

“They needed to be activated by the ponies that created the demon foals!” Twilight replied. “And that is us!”

They shot out gem beams from their necklaces around the demon foal. She was completely surrounded. She began to light up herself. They tried their best to destroy the demon foal, but it was not working. Even when they had powered up. Blue Streak then had an idea. She looked at the Tenebris. Because she was an illusion, she knew it was the right thing to do.

“Twilight, I’m going in to rescue Rainbow Dash” she said. Twilight looked at her in shock.

“Are you crazy? You might not make it out!”

“It’s the only way. Since I’m an illusion and the original source to her demon foal, then I’m the only one that can do it”

Twilight just sighed.

“If that’s what you want. We’ll never forget you”

“Thanks”

Blue Streak proceeded into jumping into the Tenebris. There she saw Rainbow Dash, saddened by what was happening. She couldn’t bear to open her eyes.

“Rainbow Dash” Blue Streak tried to get her attention. Rainbow turned around to see powered up Blue Streak in front of her.

“Blue Streak, what’s going on?”

“Rainbow, I have to confess something. I am an illusion”

“You’re a what?”

“I had unintentionally travelled to your time to save you. I am the real source of your demon foal after all, that’s how I was able to communicate to you. The truth is, I’m in a coma. And by midday, I will wake up from it. Back in my own time”

Rainbow looked at the time. There was only 3 minutes left.

“But, that means I’ll never see you again!” Rainbow argued.

“I know, but it has to be done I’m afraid”

Blue Streak ran to hug Rainbow Dash.

“I’m sure gonna miss you!” Rainbow cried.

“It’s ok, I won’t be far away” Blue Streak replied as her voice changed. Rainbow noticed it too and looked at Blue Streak. She was staring at a familiar elderly figure.

“Grandma!” she gasped.

“As long as you have Tank, you will always remember me. I won’t be far from your memory” an elderly Blue Streak replied.

“But, I never got the chance to say goodbye to you!” Rainbow was trying her best to wipe her tears away, but was not doing a good job at it. Blue Streak just smirked.

“I thought you were tough. I thought nothing was strong enough to bring you down that easily”

“For the record, I am not crying! I forgot I collected onions sometime this week. And I may have accidentally opened them!” Rainbow explained.

“Oh Rainbow, you have not changed!” Blue Streak said as she started to disappear.

“Wait! Don’t go! I still want to spend time with you!” Rainbow cried out as she started to light up.

“Don’t worry. You won’t forget me. And one day, you will become an amazing Wonderbolt!”

“Thanks!” Rainbow sniffed. Blue Streak completely disappeared. Rainbow Dash then transformed into the ruby of loyalty. “It’s over!”

She shot magic beams from inside the psyche. And miraculously enough, that was enough to finally defeat Tenebris.

“Noooooo!” Tenebris cried until she suddenly exploded. As that happened, everything went back to normal. The snow came back, the houses were no longer in flames, the apple orchard was ok again and Cloudsdale was back. Not just that, but the demon foals were all destroyed and so were the caves they lived in. So that also meant that the magic of the demon foal gems wore off and the ponies returned to normal.

Epilogue

When everything had turned back to normal, there was just one figure that was still glowing. When it stopped, it turned out to be Rainbow Dash. The real Rainbow Dash. She was lying on the ground with her eyes closed.

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy cried running to her childhood friend. “Are you ok?” Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and saw Fluttershy in her view.

“Yeah, I think so” she replied. “I think we’ve finally gotten rid of Tenebris for good”

“What happened to Blue Streak?” Applejack asked.

“She’s gone”

“What do you mean, she’s gone?” Rarity asked.

“Blue Streak sacrificed herself to save me. She’s gone back to her own time, probably waking up in hospital somewhere”

“That is a shame” Fluttershy commented.

“I know. And after I told her she could join us” Rainbow sighed.

“We’re just so glad you’re back!” Pinkie cried out, hugging Rainbow Dash tightly.

“Me too” Rainbow replied. Then something came into mind. “Where is Tank?”

“Over here!” Scootaloo replied. “But I don’t think he’s breathing” Rainbow’s smile vanished and hurried towards Tank. She tried to talk to him, to wake him up, to get his attention. But then she looked at the clock. It read 9:00AM. The three days were over. Rainbow Dash held Tank’s lifeless body and soon realised that it was too late.

“No, it can’t be. Tank, you can’t go!” Rainbow began to cry “We never even got to cure you!” Rainbow Dash was sobbing on top of Tank’s corpse. The other ponies even began to follow suit, even Applejack and Twilight. It didn’t matter a month ago when he was hibernating. But this time, Tank was never coming back. Rainbow tried to stop the flow of tears when she had an idea. She knew it was probably not going to work but it didn’t hurt to try anyway.

“Little Tanky please do not cry now

I will always be by your side now

If the weather starts to get too cold now

I will never leave you alone.

Goodnight Tank!” Rainbow Dash continued to sob even louder after she sang her lullaby for the last time.

‘You will soon lift up your wings one day.’ Fluttershy began to sing. Rainbow reacted and looked at her in shock. Fluttershy didn’t seem to notice.

‘That’s why you must get your rest today.

You will be a great flier one day.

Just as soon as you can fly on your own.’

The rest of the mane 5 joined in the song, just like they rehearsed. Tank was soon being lifted up out of Rainbow’s arms and was glowing.

‘But remember sweetheart that you’ll do me proud.

When you find your purpose in the sky.

Your talent comes when you lose all doubt.

But when you say goodbye.

Little Dashie someday you will leave me.

And I won’t always have you beside me.

When that time comes, Dashie, don’t forget me.

For I will always love you.

For I will always love you.’

Tank was put back on the ground. Rainbow Dash was confused about what happened. But then she noticed that Tank was starting to open his eyes. He was alive. Rainbow Dash was now crying tears of joy as ran to hug her tortoise.

“Tank! I thought I would never see you again!” she sobbed. Tank gave a healthy smile to her. Rainbow Dash giggled in joy. Then she looked over to her friends in amazement.

“Was this the cure to his illness?” she asked.

“It was a song from after you met. You could only remember the first verse so I asked your mother to sing the rest of the song for me. We learnt it and sang it” Fluttershy replied. Rainbow went to hug the rest of her friends.

“Thank you so much!” she tearfully said. Twilight pushed her away.

“Not so fast. Why didn’t you tell us that you tried to stop winter from coming?” Twilight asked. Rainbow blushed of embarrassment.

“Sorry about that. It won’t happen again” Rainbow replied.

“Haven’t you learnt anything the past five days?” Twilight asked.

“I shouldn’t linger in the past, I should be patient and wait for Tank to finish hibernating” Twilight just smiled.

The ponies headed over to Tank’s hibernation spot and said goodbye to him once again. Rainbow Dash knew this time that she was going to do the right thing. Wait until the next winter wrap up to see Tank and spend spring, summer and autumn with him.

Months later, Rainbow Dash was busy sleeping in her bed. She had her alarm clock set. She walked over to the other side of the room to check her calendar. It was the first of March, Winter wrap up day. Rainbow Dash was super excited. Finally she would be able to see Tank after months of waiting. She eagerly got on her vest that she wore the year before and looked at herself in the mirror.

“This is it, Rainbow Dash. You get to greet Tank from his hibernation today. He can help me with some of the weather stuff too” she said to herself. She did a couple of warmups to get pumped up. She also got breakfast for herself and prepared a meal for Tank for his return. She was super enthusiastic about the whole situation.

Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle was at Rarity’s boutique to fix her vest. This was the first winter wrap up with her as a princess, which made her ever more important as all-team organiser. But ever since she became a princess, she had gotten wings. Rarity needed to put appropriate wing holes in the vest so that she would be comfortable.

“Sorry I didn’t get this to you sooner, Rarity. With all that had been happening the past few months, it slipped my mind” Twilight said.

“Don’t worry your head about it, darling. It’s the least I could do. I was also finalising Tank’s post hibernation suit. She used her magic to levitate it. “Doesn’t it look absolutely ravishing?”

The suit was a dark green with a cute bowtie to match.

“That looks so cute. Tank is going to look great in that!” Twilight replied.

“Thanks. It was some of my best work. It’s not often that I make clothes for animals” the two mares giggled.

“Girls!” an enthusiastic Rainbow Dash came storming through the boutique. “It’s time!”

“Time for what?” Twilight asked. Rainbow put her hoof to her forehead.

“Duh, Tank’s wakeup of course!” Rainbow replied.

“Oh yes. I have finished his suit as promised” Rarity said, levitating the suit for Rainbow’s vision.

“Ha! Tank is going to look awesome in this” Rainbow replied. Then, her voice got softer, a bit more serious. “Thank you. This means a lot to me”

“It was the least I could do” Rarity replied. They went over and hugged each other.

“Now let’s go and tell the others!” Rainbow shouted in delight.

Pinkie Pie was busy skating on the ice yet again, doing what she usually does for Winter Wrap up, when Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow Dash came her way.

“Oh, hi guys!” Pinkie shouted in delight. “What’s up?”

“Tank’s getting woken up from his hibernation today!” Rainbow Dash squealed.

“I’ll be there! I can’t wait!” Pinkie replied as she safely skated off the ice, took off her skating shoes and followed the others.

Next was Applejack. She was starting to sort out the different seeds for the harvest. She saw her friends up in the distance.

“Hi y’all!” she yelled.

“Are you coming or not?” Rainbow shouted.

“Coming for what?” Applejack asked. Suddenly Pinkie Pie was in her vision.

“We’re going to wake up Tank and it’s going to be so much fun!” Pinkie replied bouncing up and down as the rest of the ponies caught up.

“Come on, AJ. Are plants more important that your friends?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Ok. I’m coming” Applejack finally said to Rainbow Dash. “You know I wouldn’t miss it for the world”. The two mares giggled their way over to Tank’s hibernation spot. It was covered in snow just like Rainbow had left it months before.

She wondered if Tank was going to be ok and not too cold under the snow. But Fluttershy was certain that Tank would be fine. Rainbow grabbed a shovel and started to dig some of the snow out, then she borrowed one of the bells used for the animal team.

“Wakey, wakey Tank!” Rainbow called out to him. She eagerly waited for the arrival of her little buddy. Tank’s head managed to pop out of his spot along with the rest of his body. He felt much more refreshed now and he had stopped yawning.

“Nice to see you again” Rainbow Dash said again as she nuzzled her pet.

“And just as promised, Tank. Here is the suit” Rarity said as she used her magic to put the suit on Tank. He looked really good in it everypony thought.

“Come on Tank, why don’t you help me clear the clouds with the weather team?” Rainbow said to Tank, he gleefully nodded in delight. They both took off to the sky and started to clear some of the clouds away, and this time not bring the sun in too close to melt the snow.

“Do you think she’d let him” Twilight began her sentence to Fluttershy, she reacted when she started talking. “That she would get him to hibernate again”

“Of course. Tank needs to hibernate because it’s healthy for him. Why is that?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well because months ago you told us that Angel didn’t hibernate because you supplied him with warmth and food”

“Because he’s always been domesticated I said. Tank was still in the wild when I found him, which, as a matter of fact, this would be the 1st anniversary of when I found him and soon to be the 1st anniversary of him being her pet”

“So when winter comes again, do you think Tank is going to hibernate?”

“Probably”

“And how do you think Rainbow Dash would feel about that?”

“This time, Rainbow knows what’s best for her tortoise. As long as she keeps him warm, I’m sure he won’t have to hibernate again” Twilight’s eyes widened as she was almost in rage.

“Are you kidding me?” she asked in fury. “So you’re telling me that it’s ok for Tank not to hibernate the second time winter comes around?”

“Twilight. That’s just for Rainbow herself to decide, and what Tank wants too”. The two mares giggled as they saw their friend and her tortoise clearing the clouds. Rainbow Dash was happy because from today, she was going to spend spring, summer and autumn with her pet and have lots of fun with him, even when there wasn’t snow. She felt happier that he was alive and well rather than staying with him. And she knew deep in her heart that there was always an empty shell to fill as well.

The Heart’s Shell.

Prologue

“Wee! This is so much fun!”

The ponies of Ponyville were having a blast. Because of the past couple of days, they were able to enjoy winter. It came much faster than expected because of a certain rainbow maned Pegasus called Rainbow Dash who tried to stop winter from coming, but instead she made it come sooner.

She was doing it for her pet tortoise Tank who was going into hibernation. But sadly, having to say goodbye to him hours later was one of the hardest things she ever had to do. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was sliding down the snow as she crashed into the ice by accident. Fluttershy watched from a distance but calmly walked up to her. She was concerned that the shoes that Pinkie Pie was wearing were not really ice friendly.

“You should be more careful Pinkie” Fluttershy said, concerned.

“Relax Fluttershy, I didn’t hurt myself” Pinkie replied.

“Yes, but you stacked”

“Fluttershy you silly filly. I’m not worried about my pride being destroyed; I’m the element of laughter for crying out loud!”

The two mares just laughed.

“What’s going on, darlings?” Rarity asked, trotting over to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Applejack was with her.

“I crashed into the ice” Pinkie replied.

“Are ya ok?” Applejack asked.

“She is, I think, I don’t know. She might have an ice scratch or something” Fluttershy replied.

“I’M FINE!” Pinkie angrily replied.

“I wouldn’t worry too much ‘bout Pinkie, but maybe Rainbow Dash” Applejack confirmed to Fluttershy.

“Why Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked.

“Because she ain’t here right now”.

“Oh right, you do have a point. We did leave her and Twilight alone by Tank’s hibernation spot”

“Hi girls” the other mares turned their heads to see their friend Twilight Sparkle walking towards them. “Rainbow Dash won’t be joining us just yet. She’s staying behind for a while”

The other mares looked at her with confusion.

“Why is she staying behind?” Rarity asked.

“Apparently she’s reading a daring do story to Tank” Twilight replied “I have no idea when she is going to come join us though. I think it would be best that we give her some time with him”

“Do you really think that Rainbow Dash would ever truly accept Tank’s hibernation?” Pinkie asked. Twilight just smiled.

“I shouldn’t be too worried about that, Rainbow loves Tank. And she knows that the one thing to prove she loves him is to let him go. When he does wake up in three months’ time, we will be able to rejoice. After all, Tank is our friend too isn’t he” Twilight replied.

The other four mares started to tear up to Twilight’s words. They hung their heads and so did Twilight.

“That was beautiful” Fluttershy sniffed.

“I feel so sorry for Rainbow, waiting this long” Rarity said.

“Don’t worry sugarcubes” Applejack replied, wiping her tears away “If I know Rainbow, she is truly loyal to her friends, especially her tortoise, she shouldn’t do anything too drastic for now”.

“OUR DASHIE IS GROWING UP!!!” Pinkie Pie sobbed happily. The other mares just giggled at her. “Why are you laughing? I was being serious!” Pinkie replied.

“We know darling. That was awfully sweet what you said” Rarity replied.

Every pony just looked at each other, waiting for some pony to speak up. They were fully aware of the Ice hockey game taking place next to them. The blue team had won and they cheered loudly. They were carrying a stallion with a purple mane and orange coat. Apparently he had scored the winning goal. That brought the mares out of the subject for a moment, until Twilight thought of something. She managed to clear her throat.

“How about we go ice skating?” she said.

“Good idea Twilight” Fluttershy replied.

“Good thing that I brought extra pairs of ice skating shoes with me!” Pinkie said whilst grabbing the shoes from behind her back. Everyone just stood there staring at Pinkie Pie.

“How did ya do that?” Applejack asked.

“A pinkician never reveals her secrets” Pinkie replied. Applejack wore a look of confusion; she then looked at Rarity who was giggling a lot.

“I get it! Pinkician instead of magician! That was clever, Pinkie Pie” Rarity complimented between giggles. Applejack just rolled her eyes.

“Let’s go find an ice rink where Pinkie Pie isn’t going to topple over again” Fluttershy said.

“Hey! That was one time! I pinkie swear it’s not going to happen again” Pinkie replied. “Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye”.

“She won’t fall over Sugarcube” Applejack said, pushing her forward.

“Yeah, listen to my cousin. She knows me better than you do!” Pinkie replied.

“Yes but you only discovered she was your cousin a couple of months ago” Fluttershy responded.

“That still doesn’t change the fact that she knows me better than you do. Remember, I came into Ponyville when I was just a filly. Then I was looked after by the cakes. They practically adopted me”.

“Yes, I think you have told me that story. I remember I moved to Ponyville when I was 15, I was looking after my grandmother’s cottage according to her will”.

“TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!” Pinkie interrupted.

“Ok Pinkie, I was just saying”.

The mares just giggled and put their ice skating shoes on their hooves. They continued through the hours of the day until it was starting to get Dark.

“Boy that was intense” Twilight spoke.

“I never knew Fluttershy was so good at ice skating” Rarity mentioned. The yellow Pegasus blushed.

“Now Rarity I’m not that great at ice skating. Pinkie Pie is the professional” Fluttershy replied.

“What you say does not change my opinion, darling. I thought you skated brilliantly”.

“Um, thanks”. The mares giggled again. Twilight stopped for a second. She looked over to Rainbow Dash who was busy reading a Daring Do story to Tank.

“What are ya lookin’ at Twilight?” Applejack asked.

“Don’t worry about it Applejack. I was just thinking about something”.

“Rainbow Dash?”

“She’ll be fine”.

The five friends headed over to their own houses to rest. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash had just finished reading a bedtime story to her tortoise Tank, who had gone into hibernation. Though she herself was not 100 percent ok with the idea that she had to say goodbye to him. But of course, he was a tortoise after all, and tortoises as Fluttershy had told Rainbow Dash had to hibernate.

She was upset by this news and tried to stop winter from coming. That wasn’t successful. Thanks to her, she managed to make winter come sooner. Then when it came to Tank’s hibernation, she had fully accepted this fact. However, deep down, she still wished to have Tank by her side as usual.

“Aw man!” Rainbow complained. “Look Tank, it’s already evening. I’d better get back!” Rainbow packed her Daring Do book back in her bag and looked where Tank had buried himself in the mass of snow. She tried not to cry, she had been doing a lot of that lately. But one singular tear did manage to escape her eye without her noticing.

“I’m gonna miss you Tank. I’ll see you by the next winter wrap up ok”

Rainbow hadn’t even had Tank for a year yet and she was getting all emotional of his absence. After all, he first became her pet after he saved her from being trapped under a boulder. Thinking about these memories of her pet made her heart clench. She knew she wouldn’t see him again until the next winter wrap up.

She slowly walked away from the pile of snow where her pet had buried himself and flew back to her cloud-house. She stopped by the entrance of her cloud-house and cried a little. They weren’t loud sobs. She was trying her best not to be heard, worried that the other residents of Ponyville might be concerned.

“You’ve got to stop crying so much Rainbow Dash” she said to herself whilst wiping tears from her face. “You’re the element of loyalty for crying out loud. You’re not going to forget about him or anything!”

Once she stopped talking to herself, she collected some firewood to start her fireplace. It was a cold night, being the first night of proper winter; she tried her best to keep warm. Having a house made of clouds didn’t help much with the cold breezes that came and went during the night. Her house also didn’t have any windows with glass, so it was easy for the cold breezes to come into the house too. But that didn’t bother Rainbow in the least.

What bothered her was that she felt alone for the first in a long time. She still had her friends, but she felt like something was missing without her pet tortoise around to keep her company.

“Goodnight Tank, sweet dreams” she said after she finally drifted off to sleep in front of her fireplace. Luckily for her, the breezes of snow never disturbed the fire keeping her warm. But she did struggle to sleep. She felt that way for the next few weeks after because she knew there was nothing she could do to bring Tank back early.

At least that’s what she thought…

Nine Months Earlier

Nine months earlier. Rainbow Dash had a new addition in her life, Tank the tortoise. She was jealous of how everypony had a pet except her. So she held a competition to choose her new pet, it ended up being the tortoise because he rescued her from being trapped under a boulder. And because of that, her right wing was injured a bit so she couldn’t fly.

“He's like a... like a... Tank!" Rainbow said as she put her hoof on the tortoise’s shell.

“But Rainbow! You didn't want a pet that couldn't fly because it would keep you grounded and hold you back, remember?” Fluttershy pointed out. Tank just looked at Rainbow and she looked sadly back at him. She thought about it, and then she had it.

“How about I create a machine that can help him fly!” Rainbow replied. She ripped the bandage that was holding her right wing in place unintentionally “Let’s fly up to my house and do that! Ow!” Rainbow collapsed on the concrete in front of her.

“Are you ok?” Twilight asked helping her up.

“Yeah, I’m fine” Rainbow replied.

“Maybe you shouldn’t fly for a while” Rarity explained “After all darling, you have just had your wing trapped under a boulder”.

“I guess you’re right” Rainbow sighed. “But how am I supposed to get to my house?”

“I can help you” Fluttershy replied. But little did she know that she had to be carrying her best friend and a tortoise with her. No one else in the group could fly, so there wasn’t any way they could help her.

“Come, y’all. We’d best be heading back now” Applejack said, breaking the silence.

“I agree; I think Opal is worried about the whereabouts of her toy” Rarity replied.

“I do hope they’ll be ok” Twilight said to herself. “Come on Spike, now that Rainbow Dash has chosen her pet, we should probably go back to the Library to do some research”

“Twilight, you’re always doing research. Research on what exactly?” Spike asked.

“Tortoises of course! I find them to be very fascinating creatures myself” Twilight replied. Spike just face palmed.

“You know, whenever there is a new animal introduced to the group, why is the first thing you want to do is research on that animal? Isn’t that the same thing you did with Owlowiscious?”

“Yes, well owls are also interesting creatures. And seeing that Tank is as loyal as Rainbow Dash it just makes it more fascinating. What if all of our pets match up to our element of harmony? Think about it, Winona who is Applejack’s pet hardy does anything bad and when she does, simply confess through dog speak…”

‘What have I gotten myself into?’ Spike thought to himself.

Twilight just continued her conversation all the way back to the library.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy was struggling now. Sweat was coming down her brow.

“Rainbow Dash, why are you so heavy?” she asked. Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“You know, Fluttershy, you don’t have to carry me”.

“But I do, your wing is injured, remember?”

“I know that, but why don’t I just stay at your place until I recover?” Fluttershy froze in her position.

“D-don’t be ridiculous, I couldn’t possibly. Besides, Tank needs to see his new home instead of staying at my house for the next couple of days” Fluttershy argued.

“If you say so. Your loss” Rainbow replied. Luckily Fluttershy made it to the house peacefully. By then, the sun was starting to set.

“Rainbow, contact me if you need anything” Fluttershy said.

“I think I’ll be fine, thank you” Rainbow replied. She waved her friend goodbye as she shut her door. She turned around to look at Tank, wondering what she should do. She had just gotten a new pet. But then she remembered the flying contraption.

She gathered a bunch of metal and got straight to work. It took her a while to model, but she had followed Rarity’s advice on helmet making when she first arrived in Ponyville 9 months earlier.

Rarity thought that Rainbow was a skateboarder for some reason. But that was just how they met. By the time she was finished, the contraption fitted Tank perfectly. It was just a belt she borrowed from Rarity and a magical propeller that she bought in Cloudsdale.

“There, that looks really good!” Rainbow said to herself pleased. “Now, let’s see if it works!” She flicked the propeller on the top of the contraption until the bottom glow a bright yellow. Tank was now flying around the room.

He didn’t know how to control his flying yet though and he was heading straight towards her new owner. Rainbow tried to duck, but it was too late. Rainbow had got hit in the head by his shell. Rainbow was struggling to get up. She had been out for 5 minutes, and Tank was really worried. To top off having an injured wing, she also had to deal with an injured head too.

“I didn’t think that that would happen” Rainbow finally said putting her hoof on her head. “I guess you don’t usually see a flying tortoise, huh” she looked below her and she saw that Tank had an ice pack in his mouth.

“You are fast…for a tortoise” Rainbow said to Tank has she collected the ice pack from him. “You’re really great help; I don’t know what I’d do without you little buddy” She patted his shell as she got up from the floor. “I am feeling better, how about I give you a tour of the house”.

The tour had begun. Rainbow set up a chariot just for Tank for no reason whatsoever. Maybe, she just wanted him to ride in style.

“Welcome to Rainbow Dash’s Cloudominium! I am your host, the one and only Rainbow Dash and I am about to take you on a tour of a lifetime!” she dashed over to the first location. Though she couldn’t fly, she was still fast on the ground.

“This is the lounge room where we have all sorts of couches and other materials accessible to you and me. Pretty neat huh?” Tank gave no response. Rainbow walked over to the other locations.

“We have the kitchen with all our yummy supplies that you are free to eat at any time. You can just tell me what you usually eat then everything will be fine” Tank still gave no response.

“I guess you really don’t talk much. I mean Applejack’s dog barks, Rarity’s cat meows, Twilight’s owl hoots. Fluttershy’s bunny does something. Although, Pinkie Pie’s pet alligator doesn’t say much either. But I don’t want to feel like I’m talking to myself. We need to form some kind of communication like nodding. Nod if you understand” Tank did so. This made Rainbow sigh in relief.

“Then we have bathroom, laundry, training room, and finally the bedroom. I know it’s going to be so weird sleeping in a room where the walls are made of cloud. But don’t worry; the only burglars we could possibly have would have to be able to fly. And I have set special alarms just in case that does happen, so you are perfectly safe” Tank smiled until he noticed his stomach growling.

“I guess you’re hungry. It has been a long day; let me get you something to eat”

Rainbow searched the cupboards for some food. Then she found the vegetables which she thought tortoises do eat. She got out some carrots and lettuce and placed them in front of Tank. He actually wore a look of disgust.

“Come on, you must like lettuce?” Rainbow asked. Tank ate it then immediately spat it out, landing on her face. “How about carrots. They’re good for your eyesight and Fluttershy’s bunny Angel loves them” Tank took one bite but then started to choke. Lucky Rainbow was there to give him the Heimlich.

“I don’t know what else to feed you!” Rainbow complained “I mean you’ve gotta eat something!” she walked over to her window. The sun had already gone down and it was getting late.

“What if I ask Fluttershy what tortoises eat? Nah, I’ll give more time before I’ll require her help again” Rainbow thought to herself. She got hungry herself so she got some popcorn from the cupboard.

For the remainder of the night, they both watched TV and Rainbow taught Tank how to play a couple of video games. By the time they had finished, It was late and both Tank and Rainbow Dash were tired.

She showed her new pet the bedroom which had a large bed in the middle and a mirror with draws on the left. Rainbow snuggled in her nice warm bed and Tank got cosy in the bed Rainbow made for him.

In the middle of the night however, Tank got up and was close to falling out of the house. His reason was probably being up so high in a cloud house, he wasn’t used to it yet. He couldn’t sleep because he felt dizzy. Rainbow noticed her new pet was gone and tried to stop him from falling off because she couldn’t fly yet. Luckily she caught him before he fell off.

“How did you even get out of the room, it was locked” Rainbow complained but then was interrupted by realization as she put her hoof to her head “oh, right. The walls are made of cloud. Of course you were able to get out. But try not to walk off again, I can’t fly yet”.

But to Rainbow’s dismay, this occurred many more times than she could think about it. Then she knew that she did need help after all.

The next day, Fluttershy was concerned about Rainbow Dash. She flew up to her house and knocked on the door. A tired looking Rainbow opened the door, her eyes were almost red from all the times she tried to save her pet from falling to his death.

“Oh my, Rainbow what happened to you?” Fluttershy asked. Before she got a response, she was pulled into the house by her distressed friend.

“Thank goodness you’re here!” Rainbow said in a panicked tone.

“What do you need help with?” Fluttershy asked, trying to be patient.

“Tank couldn’t sleep last night. Every time he tried to, he just kept trying to fall out of my house. That meant I couldn’t sleep either”.

“That makes sense. You only got Tank yesterday after all. I guess you don’t know what tortoises eat either”.

“I tried to give him carrots but he didn’t like them, I also tried to give him lettuce but he didn’t like them either!”

“Rainbow calm down. I can help you with this. I looked after Tank before you did. That’s why I’m here” Rainbow took a deep breath.

“Ok”

“Tortoises love food with good nutrition like leaves, cabbage and turnip. They don’t like lettuce because it doesn’t have much nutrition”

“Well, that explains why he doesn’t like lettuce”

“Now you also said that Tank wasn’t sleeping”

“Yeah. As I mentioned before, he tried escaping the house every single time and I don’t know why”

“Hmm. Let me have a look at him” Rainbow carried Tank over to Fluttershy for a look.

“Well. Is there anything wrong with him?”

“Not terribly. He’s not sick”

“Then why won’t he sleep?”

“I think he’s just dizzy. He’s not sick at all”

“Why is he dizzy?”

“You live in a cloud house. It’s really high up for a tortoise. Of course he would get dizzy because of how high up he is”

“Then how do we make him stop being dizzy?”

“I think he just needs to get adjusted in his new home. That takes time”

“But I can’t take not having much sleep” Fluttershy thought about it, and then something struck her.

“How about we sing a lullaby for Tank”

“Good idea” Rainbow replied.

‘Hush now quiet now it’s time to lay your sleepy head

Hush now quiet now it’s time to go to bed

Drifting off to sleep, exciting day behind you

Drifting off to sleep, let the joy of dream land find you

Hush now quiet now it’s time to lay your sleepy head

Hush now quiet now it’s time to go to bed’

After Fluttershy sang hush now quiet now, unfortunately it wasn’t very affective. Fluttershy just looked at Tank with concern.

“Hmm, it looks like it didn’t work after all” Fluttershy replied. She looked to where Rainbow was. Then she knew it was effective, but on Rainbow who hardly slept and was now fast asleep. Fluttershy shook her friend gently to wake her up.

“W-what, is Tank asleep?” Rainbow asked eyes half open.

“No, but you were”

“Oh, I guess I was really tired”

“Seems like it”

“Now what do we do then?”

Fluttershy gasped with excitement. She had an idea.

“Why don’t we compose a lullaby for Tank?” Fluttershy replied. Rainbow just looked confused.

“Fluttershy, I don’t know the first thing about composing music, otherwise I would have a completely different cutiemark altogether. And no offence, I’m happy that my cutiemark is to do with racing” Fluttershy just giggled in amusement. “What’s so funny?”

“Your cutiemark doesn’t have to bind you to one thing you’re good at. I mean, you’re good at clearing clouds away”

“Yes, but that also requires my speed to do so”

“Well, I composed Hush Now Quiet Now and my cutiemark is to do with communicating to animals. Looking after them and ponies too, I need something to get them to sleep”

“But that lullaby only works on foals and the rest of your animals, maybe mammals, I don’t know”

“There’s no point stressing about it now. If we compose a different lullaby just for Tank, then maybe he’ll be able to fall asleep comfortably”

“Right, let’s just hope your method works”

The mares were pacing around coming up with ideas for a good lullaby. Each of those ideas didn’t seem to work on Tank. He just wouldn’t fall asleep at will. Rainbow’s impatience grew to the maximum.

“This is hopeless!” Rainbow yelled in anger. “I’ll never get my tortoise to sleep!”

Fluttershy looked at Rainbow in concern and suddenly thought of something else.

“Rainbow, did you ever have a lullaby sang to you when you were a foal?” Fluttershy asked. Rainbow’s eyes widened.

“Why do you ask?”

“Because you kind of remind me of a stressful mother trying to get her baby to sleep”

“I do?”

“Yes you do actually. So did you have a lullaby sung to you?”

“Well to tell you the truth, yeah. Before I got my cutiemark! Then my parents decided that I was too old for that stuff. And they were totally right. Lullabies are just lame! I’m too cool for them.”

Rainbow paused in her words. She soon remembered her family, how she hadn’t really seen them in a couple of months. She didn’t even bother to visit them for Hearth’s Warming. She just wanted to hang out with her new friends instead. But with the introduction to Tank, she would plan to visit them again.

“We will always love you, our little Dashie” a voice echoed in her head.

“What did it sound like?” Fluttershy interrupted. Rainbow Dash stopped day dreaming and focused on the question.

“What did what sound like?” she quickly replied.

“Your lullaby of course”

“Oh that. Man that is a long way back; I’m just trying to remember the song itself. Here goes:

‘Little Dashie please do not cry now

I will always be by your side now

if the weather starts to get too cold now

I never will leave you alone’”

Fluttershy clapped in the background.

“That was beautiful. You have a lovely singing voice when you want to” Fluttershy responded. Rainbow blushed a little.

“That’s all I can remember from it” she replied “there is probably more but I can’t remember the rest”

“That’s ok, that should be enough anyway”

“So how do we change the lullaby to fit Tank?”

“Simple. We just change the lyric “Dashie” to “Tanky” instead”

“But do tortoises even have tear ducts?”

“I don’t think so. But not everything in a lullaby needs to make sense. As long as it gets him to sleep that’s all that matters”

“How do I know it’s going to work?”

“Test the lullaby now. Then we’ll know for sure”

“Got it. I will”

Rainbow sang the lullaby to tank, replacing the lyrics from Dashie to Tanky. Rainbow was relieved. She thought it was the comforting sound of her voice that got him to sleep, not Fluttershy’s.

“It worked! It actually worked!” Rainbow Dash squealed.

“That’s good to hear” Fluttershy replied. “If there is anything at all about Tank you need help with, don’t hesitate to tell me” she left for the door and was preparing to fly when her friend’s hoof clung onto her leg.

“Wait, I want to know something else. Something I’ve been meaning to ask you” Rainbow said.

“Oh, and what might that be?”

“Fluttershy. How did you find Tank in the first place? I mean he wasn’t living in your cottage before”

“That’s true, he wasn’t”

“So how did you find him?”

Fluttershy headed towards the couch to sit down on.

“You see, Rainbow Dash. It was the beginning of spring. Everypony had finished winter wrap up a day ago. I was heading towards the market to get some carrots for angel, when suddenly I saw a slow green tortoise crossing the street. But there was a carriage heading straight towards him. I had no other option but to fly swiftly and save him. Good thing I did before he got injured.

‘Why were you crossing such a dangerous street?’ I asked him. He wasn’t talkative so I didn’t really get a response from him. My natural instinct was to take him home to my cottage. I really didn’t know what urged him to cross the street without looking first”

“So if you didn’t save him, I would have a completely different pet altogether” Rainbow replied.

“Not just that, but Tank would have gotten seriously hurt or killed if I didn’t save him”

“I guess Tank was shown loyalty from the start. After all, he did save me from being trapped under that boulder”

“Maybe it’s because I saved him, he wanted to save another pony in return and prove himself”

“Yeah that must be it” Rainbow replied. Then, she remembered the contraption she made for Tank and showed it to Fluttershy.

“Wow. You made this for Tank?”

“Yeah, I did. Just out of a belt and a propeller. Pretty neat, huh”

“Yes” Fluttershy replied as she went over to Rainbow’s wing “I think your wing is almost on the mend. It should be ok by the next Pony-pet playdate”

“Thanks” Rainbow replied.

“No problem” Fluttershy replied back.