The Heart's Shell

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.