The Heart's Shell

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...