The Heart's Shell

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.