The Heart's Shell

“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.