//------------------------------//
// 95. Winter is Coming 
// Story: My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship 
// by Danieru 
//------------------------------//

Just like every year, at the same time, the annual Running of Leaves Races was held in Ponyville to celebrate the jump from fall to winter. In order to make the last leave fall from the trees, many ponies took care of the race.

One of them was Star Twinkle, who took part in this race as well and was actually pretty close to win it. In the last year he actually managed to win the race but this time it looked a little bit closer. He was not in the lead but really close to the ones in front of him. Of course, winning the race was not the most important thing in all of this. The most important thing was to take care of all the leaves but if he decided to take part in this race, then he might as well get a good placement.

But in the end, it was not enough and he didn't win like last year. He managed to get seventh place though, which he thought was well enough.

"I did it!" Star Twinkle said happily but also heavily exhausted. He started to pant heavily after the race was finished.

Everypony else seemed to be happy that the race was over as well and looked back at the forest where the race took place. Star Twinkle did the same and was happy to see that all leaves were gone. Shortly after everypony left, Twilight was walking towards the stallion with a water bottle hovering above her head.

"Hey good job, Star Twinkle," Twilight said as she walked over to the stallion offering him a water bottle after this successful race.

"Thanks, Twilight," he replied before he wasted no time drinking a healthy amount of water.

"I was wondering something for a while now..." Twilight started while the stallion was still drinking. "Why is it that this race is so important to you? You looked really determined while racing. Is there a reason for that?" She asked.

Star Twinkle had to think about this question. He noticed too that the Running of the Leaves Race was causing him to get really motivated for some reason. And it wasn't like as if he was forced to participate or anything. Normally Star Twinkle would avoid anything that would cause him to sweat or workout but when it came to this race, he simply couldn't ignore it for some reason.

He could only give one answer. "I don't know..." he simply said while he shrugs his shoulders.

Twilight was not sure how to take this answer but then again, it wasn't too important to her either so she just accepted it. Her eyes wandered to the forest behind her. She began to smile after she saw how all the leaves were gone. "It looks like we are right in time to welcome winter," she said before she looked at something in the distance far in the sky. "And Cloudsdale is here as well which means that Ponyville is next up for winter,"

Star Twinkle was aware that Cloudsdale was responsible for every town to get their winter. For that, the whole town moved closer to Ponyville. They probably got most of their preparations done and were just waiting to bring winter to the little town.

"Are you excited for winter?" Twilight asked towards Star Twinkle.

"I sure am!" Twilight got as an answer. But it wasn't Star Twinkle who replied. It was Rainbow Dash who just appeared next to the stallion out of nowhere, much to his surprise. "The most exciting time of the year is right around the corner! Extreme sledding! Horse Hockey! So many things to do!" She said excitedly. "And the best thing is that I can do all those things for the very first time with the most awesome pet ever who is just as excited about all of this like I am! Right Tank!?" She asked before she turned towards her pet tortoise.

But Tank was not too excited it seemed like. The little guy was yawning loudly and could barely keep his eyes open as he was flying around with his little propeller device strapped on his shell.

Star Twinkle looked at the tortoise with a confused look on his face. "Uh...yeah," he said, trying to hide how obvious it was that Tank was not in the best condition.

Rainbow Dash was aware of how little excitement her pet was showing and actually got a little worried. "Just a quick question. Does Tank look alright to you? He is acting like this for a while now," she asked.

The two ponies took a closer look at the tortoise and saw him yawn again. "Well, he does seem to be moving a little slowly," she pointed out.

"I know, right?" Rainbow Dash agreed.

"And he looks kind of sleepy..." Twilight continued.

"Totally!" Rainbow Dash agreed once more.

"...Just like he always does," Twilight concluded.

Rainbow Dash was surprised to hear that but she had to admit that this was right. Star Twinkle, however, was giving the tortoise some looks as if he wanted to make sure to come to the same conclusion. But he realized that he didn't know much about tortoises so before he wanted to give that, he suggested something else to play it safe.

"It can't hurt to let Fluttershy check him out though,"

The mare looked at her pet with concern. She would never admit it openly but she was really worried about Tank and wanted to make sure that he was okay. If there was really something that was wrong with him than she really needed to check it out.

"I guess you're right," Rainbow Dash admitted as she looked over to her pet with concern.

"Let me come with you," Star Twinkle offered. "I was about to ask Fluttershy to lend me some fish food for Comet anyway,"

Rainbow Dash seemed relieved to have somepony accompany her and Twilight seemed happy as well that the stallion was giving her moral support like this. "I'm sure everything is fine with Tank," she assured before she left saying that she had to be somewhere else at the moment.

This only left Star Twinkle, Rainbow Dash and Tank walking over to Fluttershy's cottage, or in Tank's case, flying. Star Twinkle occasionally looked over to Tank only to find out that he was having a hard time flying straight and keeping his eyes open.

"I have a strange case of Deja Vu..." the stallion thought to himself. He obviously was referring to Twilight a while back, who was in a similar state. Seeing Rainbow Dash concerned about her pet was also really strange to him. She normally was not someone who would show weakness like this openly. The stallion felt as if he should say some things to comfort her.

"Don't worry about Tank. I'm sure there is nothing wrong with him," he said in order to comfort the mare.

But then again, it was Rainbow Dash...

"Worried!? Me? I'm not worried!" She said offended. "Tank is my pet, there is no way that he is ill or something! He's a tough guy!" She said proudly but her words were not that believable once Star Twinkle took another look at the little guy. It was then that Rainbow Dash got a little closer to the stallion as if she was embarrassed about the next thing she was about to say. "You really think he is okay?" She then asked in an unusual timid tone.

Hearing Rainbow Dash like this actually made Star Twinkle worry about her more than Tank. She really liked Tank, that much he could tell. Still, the green pony smiled confidently, hoping that Rainbow Dash would cheer up again.

"I'm sure nothing is wrong with him," he said with a smile on his face.

And with those last words, the three went to Fluttershy to get an official answer. If there someone who would know what was wrong with Tank, then it was her.


Later, inside Fluttershy's cottage...


Fluttershy wasted no time taking care of Tank. She saw that something was wrong immediately and tended to him right away. Right now, she was holding a stethoscope against his chest...or rather, his shell. It was interesting to look at how Fluttershy was attending to him. Star Twinkle never actually saw the mare taking her time to check on an animal like this, at least not from that close.

While he was waiting patiently for her results, Rainbow Dash was visibly nervous to hear an answer and too close to Fluttershy than she would actually like. Understandably, Star Twinkle would not like it either if somepony was right next to him, watching every step of him while he tried to do his work. He thought that the behavior, she was showing, was just her overreacting.

But eventually, Rainbow Dash's patience came to an end. "Well?!" She asked nervously, startling Fluttershy for a moment.

The mare timidly replied. "I suppose his heartbeat could be a teensy-weensy-eensy bit slower than usual..." she said as if she was scared by Rainbow Dash's reaction.

But Rainbow Dash's reaction was more reasonable. "Okay, so give him a vitamin or something!" She said as she was looking over to an already asleep Tank again.

Meanwhile, Star Twinkle asked the most important question in the room. "Is he even ill?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, not at all. That's why I don't think he needs medicine at all," she added.

Hearing that, made Rainbow Dash feel considerably better. "Maybe we're just staying up too late. Uh, too many Daring Do stories," she said as she was petting Tank with a nervous smile on his head.

But Fluttershy disagreed. "Oh, that's not it either," she said confidently.

And just like that, Rainbow Dash got nervous again. "Well, what's wrong with him then?!" She exclaimed frustrated.

"Nothing! He's perfectly fine," Fluttershy replied with a smile on her face.

But after taking a look at the tortoise again, the one who was already asleep again, Star Twinkle was now the one who wasn't convinced. "But~?" He then asked as if he wanted a more throughout explanation from the mare, which he got.

"But, he's just going to hibernate," she explained.

And now suddenly everything made sense for Star Twinkle. That was the reason why Tank couldn't stay awake. Because he was supposed to sleep right now.

"I didn't know tortoises needed to hibernate too," Star Twinkle said with still a look of disbelieve on his face.

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash added. "You do realize he's not a bear, right?"

But Fluttershy just giggled and walked over to a bookshelf to prove it. She quickly found the book she was looking for and opened it in front of the two ponies.  "When the weather grows cold and less food is available, many animals hibernate to conserve energy. It's like taking a really long nap during winter, and then they wake up in spring. And see? Even tortoises do it!" She explained while she pointed at a picture of a tortoise sleeping during the winter. "When the time comes, Tank will leave and dig into the ground," she added. 

Star Twinkle, again, looked at Tank. "Seeing how Tank barely could keep his eyes open, it looked as if he really needed to hibernate soon," he figured. For some reason, Rainbow Dash really didn't like the sound of that, judging from the angry expression on her face.

"But don't worry," Fluttershy said. "He'll reappear when the spring sun warms the ground back up," she assured confidently.

But Rainbow Dash wouldn't have it. "Come on! Tortoises don't hibernate! Somepony put that picture in there as a joke," she said offended.

"It's not a joke," Fluttershy replied.

"Well, then your book must be wrong!" Rainbow Dash said angrily. "Next thing you gonna tell me is that Star Twinkle's fish needs to hibernate as well!"

Star Twinkle was avoiding eye contact with Rainbow Dash after she said those words. "He doesn't but...he has his way of dealing with winter..." he explained.

In the meantime, his pet goldfish, Comet, was swimming motionless in his bowl wearing a red scarf and a wool hat to protect himself from the cold. Strangely enough, it was snowing in his bowl already...

It was obvious to Fluttershy that Rainbow Dash didn't like the idea that her pet was about to hibernate but being the animal expert she was, she needed to make sure that her friend would realize that it is important for the tortoise.

"Rainbow Dash, Tank needs to hibernate. It's healthy for him, just like sleeping is healthy for us," she said.

But Rainbow Dash just laughed and didn't bother to even accept this advice. "Whatever. Okay, thanks. Come on, Tank," she said before she took her tortoise to leave Fluttershy's cottage.

"And where are you going now?" Star Twinkle asked confused.

Rainbow Dash turned around. "To get a second opinion from a real reptile expert," she replied before she was gone for good now and closed the door behind her angrily.

This left the two remaining ponies in the cottage a little bit confused. Fluttershy looked over to Star Twinkle with a worried expression on her face. "Tank really needs to hibernate. If Rainbow Dash won't let him, then it would be really bad for the little guy," she explained.

The stallion got what she was trying to say. "Alright, alright, I try to make sure that she won't do anything stupid," he said before he walked outside as well.


Later inside of Twilight's castle...


Rainbow Dash was talking to this so-called reptile expert and Star Twinkle could only shake his head annoyed once he realized who she was talking about. It was Spike...and he was really confused about her visit as well, especially after she asked him questions about hibernation.

"I told you, Rainbow Dash, I'm a dragon!" Spike said annoyed after he got questioned by the mare.

"Come on! You're practically twins!" Rainbow Dash said.

It took Spike just a look at Tank to prove her wrong. "I'm purple," he said, stating the painfully obvious.

"But if you don't have to hibernate, why should Tank?!" Rainbow Dash pointed out.

By now, Star Twinkle could not bear to watch any longer and had to say something to this discussion as well. "Because he is a dragon and Tank is a tortoise," he explained. "They don't even come from the same family so..." but then Star Twinkle stopped in mid-sentence after he realized that he was not one-hundred percent sure about what he was to say so he moved his head closer to Spike. "Dragons are no reptiles, right?" He asked casually.

"No!" Spike replied.

"So..." Star Twinkle then continued as if the last sentence didn't even take place. "Spike not needing to hibernate, doesn't change anything about Tank," he explained.

Spike was agreeing with the stallion and at the same time, he didn't understand why Rainbow Dash had such a hard time accepting this. "Look, if Fluttershy says tortoises hibernate, then I guarantee tortoises hiber—"

But before he could finish his sentence, Rainbow Dash was right in his face. "Well, what would you know?! You're a dragon!" She said before she rushed out of the room again angrily.

Star Twinkle groaned in annoyance before he followed the mare outside as well, leaving only a very confused Spike behind. Rainbow Dash was already gone while Star Twinkle was outside. She probably knew that the stallion was agreeing with Spike and didn't want to hear his opinion. Judging from how little the mare was listening to Fluttershy and Spike, Star Twinkle was not sure if he could even convince her to listen to him anyway. So he just decided to wait until she was getting friendly with the idea of letting Tank hibernate.


Later...


Preparations for winter still had to be done. The Running of the Leaves Race was not the only thing that needed to be done to prepare Ponyville for winter. Some Pegasi were moving the clouds in the right positions while some ponies were cleaning the ground and preparing the animals for the change of weather.

Star Twinkle and his friends were helping as well. Rainbow Dash took care of the clouds while the rest took care of the animals and the ground. Being separated like that gave the group a chance to talk about Rainbow Dash a little and how she was acting towards the idea of letting Tank hibernate.

"So she doesn't want Tank to hibernate?" Applejack asked as she was sweeping a bunch of leaves into a pile in front of her.

"Yes..." Star Twinkle replied while he was sweeping some leaves as well. "She definitely is against the idea," he added.

Fluttershy lowered her eyebrows. "Whether she is against it or not, it is something that Tank needs to do," she explained.

"Fluttershy is right," Twilight agreed. "I'm sure she will listen to us if we take our time explaining everything," she added. This just showed that Twilight did not have to deal with Rainbow Dash so far on this matter and had no idea how difficult she was to deal with.

But then suddenly, the group heard Rainbow Dash's voice screaming from the distance. 

"If you think hiber... – you know, that napping thing – is so cute, why don't you go do it?! Somewhere far away from here?!" The mare screamed right at Pinkie Pie's face who now was just walking away before the situation would get worse.

This is exactly what Star Twinkle was thinking about. "Be my guest..." He said, referring to Twilight's idea of talking to the Pegasus mare.

Shortly after, Rainbow Dash noticed how she was looked at by her friends and looked a little confused. "What are you looking at?! Pinkie Pie and I are just having a conversation!" She shouted at her friends angrily.

Despite Star Twinkle's warnings, Twilight still attempted to talk with Rainbow Dash even though she was having second guesses about it. "Look, Rainbow Dash, we all know how upset you are about Tank hiber—"

But then Pinkie Pie was stopping the mare in mid-sentence. "Shhhh! Don't say that word! That's what started this all!" She warned in a panic.

Twilight just ignored her and continued. "We all know how upset you are about Tank. But you shouldn't take your anger out on your friends," she advised.

Rainbow Dash did not take too well of this advice. "Who said anything about anger?! I didn't say anything about anger! I'm not upset! And I am not angry! DO I LOOK ANGRY?!" She screamed at her friends while literally making the angriest face that any of them have ever seen. Star Twinkle desperately wanted to say "yes" but he was fearing that a rain of hooves would come hailing down on him if he did so he decided to be smart and stay quiet.

The mare grabbed her pet. "Come on, Tank! Let's get out of here!" She said angrily before she flew away.

This left the group rather stunned. Everypony except Star Twinkle and Fluttershy were rather surprised to see Rainbow Dash like this. Star Twinkle had an "I told you" kind of expression on his face.

"I don't know about you," Pinkie Pie hushed to her friends. "But I think she was pretty angry," she said nervously as if she was fearing that Rainbow Dash would come right back at her.

"The girl just needs some time to cool off a little bit," Applejack said.

"I hope you are right," Twilight added.

It was true that Rainbow Dash was really angry and wouldn't listen to her friends but in the end, there was nothing that she could do to stop Tank from hibernating. If Tank was really that important to her then she would most likely realize that as well. At least that's what Star Twinkle was hoping.

With Rainbow Dash refusing to listen to her friends there was also not much they could do to help so they all went back to work.


Later...


Star Twinkle was busy cleaning the ground and piling them up in one spot. He was not really seeing the point of that because eventually, everything would end up being covered by snow anyway but he just continued because he didn't want to run into any trouble.

As he was sweeping away some more leaves near a tree, he realized something strange being put inside the holes of it. Curiosity got the best of him and he decided to check it out. Something white and fluffy stuck out from the tree. He decided to poke at it for a while which ended up being a mistake because that something was popping out of the tree and made him fall to the ground.

The stallion got quickly up on his hooves again and quickly realized what that thing inside the tree was. 

"A cloud?" Star Twinkle said confused. "Who put a cloud inside this tree?" He added before he pushed the cloud upwards at the sky where another Pegasus was already placing it somewhere again.

That was definitely weird for the stallion. He wondered how something like this could end up happening and he shortly got an answer to his question. A specific Pegasus mare was grabbing clouds from the sky and put them inside trees or buried then under the dirt. And the pony who was doing that was none other than Rainbow Dash.

The mare was just done hiding another cloud inside a tree and wiped her forehead. She seemed to be exhausted which indicated that she was doing that for maybe some time now. She was about to go and grab another cloud but then she saw Star Twinkle staring at her from not too far away.

"Um...hey! What's up?" She said while she leaned against the tree in an attempt to play whatever she was doing just now off.

But it didn't work. "What are you doing?" Star Twinkle asked with a look on his face that was more than suspicious of the mare's actions.

"Nothing," the mare replied casually. "What are you doing?" She asked back in a poor attempt to change the subject.

"I am helping to clean the ground so that Ponyville is ready for winter something that you are supposed to do as well," he explained. "So why are you hiding the clouds inside the trees?" He asked.

Rainbow Dash didn't answer right away. It was obvious that she was fishing for an answer right now. "I am keeping the clouds save inside those trees so...that there will be plenty of them left for winter," she explained with a very unconvincing tone in her voice.

Star Twinkle raised an eyebrow. "Those clouds are supposed to stay in the sky though. So that the snow can come out of them," he said.

The mare didn't answer and just rolled her eyes as if Star Twinkle was the one who had no idea what he was talking about. It didn't take long until the stallion looked at Tank, who was sitting next to a tree close to Rainbow Dash, barely awake as usual.

After connecting some dots inside his head, Star Twinkle had a pretty good guess what Rainbow Dash was trying to archive and called her out of it.

"You can't stop winter from happening you know?" He said bluntly.

Judging from how surprised Rainbow Dash was to hear this, the stallion seemed to hit the nail on the head. "I can still try!" She shot back angrily which was clearly enough to prove that Star Twinkle was right.

"Rainbow Dash..." Star Twinkle started, this time in a more caring and worried tone. "Tank has to-" he said before he stopped in mid-sentence after he realized how angrily she was glaring at him. She really did not like to hear the word hibernating. "He really has to do that thing. It's in his nature, you just can't stop him from doing what he is supposed to do," he explained.

Despite Star Twinkle talking to her in a pretty calm voice though, Rainbow Dash still was pretty angry. "I think I as Tank's owner know best what is good for him!" She claimed arrogantly while she put a hoof on her chest. "Do I go around and tell you how to take care of your pet!?" She then asked right into the stallion's face.

But Star Twinkle would not let himself get intimidated by the mare and formed a stern look on his face. "I can understand that you might be upset to not see Tank for a while. If Comet needed to...sleep as well then I would feel sad too but I still would let him do it because that is just how things are supposed to be," the stallion explained, trying to sound as calm and collective as he could be.

Again, Rainbow Dash returned the stallion's calmness with anger. "Easy for you to say now! Don't tell me you know you understand me! Unlike you, who always stuffs his problems inside himself, I try to eliminate them! And if that means that I have to make sure that Tank doesn't have to...well...you know, then I will do that!" She exclaimed angrily.

By now the anger that Rainbow Dash was showing the stallion was slowly rubbing off to him as well. "But what if Tank doesn't want that!? Have you ever thought about that!? You think you are helping him but all you do is thinking about yourself! Besides, as long as winter is scheduled to come, there is nothing that you can do to prevent it! Because guess what!? You can't stop winter!"

The two ponies glared at each other angrily while grinding their teeth until Rainbow Dash opened her mouth again. "We'll see about that!" She said in a serious tone.

"What?" Star Twinkle replied confused.

"You heard me!" Rainbow Dash replied. "All I have to do is stop winter and Tank won't have to do that...thing!" She added confidently. "And I know exactly how to do that!" She said before she looked up at Cloudsdale.

Star Twinkle had a really bad feeling. He realized how Rainbow Dash had her sight locked on Cloudsdale and after thinking about why that was the case. But then it struck him. The weather factory was in Cloudsdale, the place that pretty much took care of the whole winter things. Rainbow Dash must have aimed to do something in this factory to stop winter from happening.

As soon as the stallion realized that, he only had one choice. "I won't let you do that!" He said determined before he realized that Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be found anymore. "Rainbow Dash?" He asked confused before he noticed a shadow right beneath him. It came from a cloud that was just a few hooves above him with Rainbow Dash sitting on top of it. The mare pushed the cloud down and Star Twinkle was stuck inside of it. She must have manipulated the cloud a little bit because it should have not been that hard for him to get out of it.

"Sorry, Star Twinkle but I just have to do this," Rainbow Dash said before she kicked cloud away with Star Twinkle still inside of it.

"Rainbow!" Star Twinkle screamed at the mare while the cloud floated away from her. Now there was nopony who could stop her in her attempt to stop winter so she took Tank and flew right in direction of Cloudsdale to put her plan in motion.


Later...


Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie continued their work without suspecting anything yet. They still were worried about Rainbow Dash which made it hard to focus on their work, especially after her little outburst from before.

After Rarity was done sweeping up a rather big pile of leaves, she was wiping her forehead and was impressed by her own work. However, that quickly changed once a cloud was flying right through it, causing her to growl annoyed. "Why are the clouds flying this low!?" She asked frustrated.

The other girls quickly noticed that as well and had their eyes locked on this single cloud flying past them. They also thought that it was really weird until Twilight saw something stuck inside of it. "Star Twinkle!?" She asked confused.

Fluttershy was the one who managed to stop the cloud on its track and freed Star Twinkle, who fell to the ground. "Thanks..." he said relieved with his head still spinning a little.

The girls walked up to him. "That looked fun!" Pinkie Pie said cheerfully.

"How did you manage to get into this situation?" Rarity asked confused but also concerned.

But Star Twinkle had no time to waste. "Doesn't matter, we need to stop Rainbow Dash!" He said hastily.

He was greeted with confused looks by the girls. "What do you mean?" Twilight asked confused.

Star Twinkle explained. "I don't know exactly what she is trying to stop Tank from hibernating!"

Fluttershy looked worried. "Oh, dear...she is still not over it? I hope she doesn't do anything dangerous," she added worriedly.

But Rarity kept being positive. "Don't worry, Fluttershy. I mean, what is possibly the worst thing she can do? Stop winter entirely?" Rarity said jokingly.

"Yeah...about that..." Star Twinkle said.

As if on cue, a loud noise was going coming from far away up in the sky, from Cloudsdale to be exact. A lightning storm was surrounding it, something that was definitely not normal. It looked unnatural and something was wrong, that much the group of ponies had to agree on.

"What in the name of Celestia's goin' on up there?" Applejack asked.

At first, nopony had any idea what was going on but then a realization struck Rarity's mind. Rainbow Dash was not with them and he just had to think about the last sentence she said. "I was kidding just now!" The mare was saying as if those words were directed at some greater force out there that deliberately tried to prove her wrong.

By how worried Twilight looked at Cloudsdale, she must have figured the same thing that Star Twinkle was trying to tell them just now and she didn't like it one bit.

"Prepare yourselves, everypony! Winter is coming!" She announced.

And as soon as she said it, something did happen. A huge snowball was shot out from the weather-factory of Cloudsdale and it came flying dangerously close towards Star Twinkle and his friends. Realizing that, the ponies knew that they were about to get hit.

"Everypony, look out and take cover!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Take cover!? Where!?" Star Twinkle asked. But just standing around and waiting for impact was not the best thing to do either so everypony was just running away in the hope to escape the snowball. As Star Twinkle was running away, he was keeping a close look at the giant snowball, and just before the impact, he clearly saw Rainbow Dash's upper body sticking out of the snowball who was holding into Tank. That meant, that Star Twinkle's guess was right and that Rainbow Dash was actually trying to stop winter and did something in the weather factory.

There was a rush of anger and annoyance running through Star Twinkle as soon as he realized that. "Rainbow Da-"

BOOOOOOOOM!

The giant snowball hit Ponyville directly. Fortunately, there was no damage. In fact, after the snowball hit the town, it managed to cover all of it in a blanket of snow, nice and clean. The impact of the snowball also did not hurt anypony too much and left them only a little dizzy. One after another pony popped out from the snow again once things settled down.

Rarity was walking around to find the rest of her friends and she quickly found most of them coming out from the snow again. "Is everypony alright?" She asked.

Twilight looked around as well and figured that everypony was nearby with the exception of Star Twinkle who she found stuck with his head in the ground, poorly trying to free himself. She did him a favor and used her magic to pull him out.

"Thanks," Star Twinkle said relieved once he was put gently on his hooves by Twilight's magic.

The stallion was shocked and impressed at the same time once he saw all of Ponyville being covered in snow. The Pegasi probably prepared themselves for a more quiet and natural routine to bring the snow to Ponyville but it somehow worked out like this anyway, which bought up the question of what Rainbow Dash was planning in the first place. Star Twinkle was sure that he saw her inside the snowball right before it came crashing down on him after all.

It wasn't long until he saw the mare popping up from beneath the snow as well. Her head was spinning as well but she pulled herself together and immediately looked for her pet tortoise who seemed to be still buried beneath the snow. Luckily, she managed to find it quick and smiled but her smile was vanishing right away once she saw all the snow around her. Winter was already there, something that she did not want at all.

Her friends were already walking up to her to make sure she was alright.

"Rainbow Dash! Are you alright?" Twilight asked worriedly.

Rainbow Dash sighed. "No..." she said with a frown on her face. She was at the point where she just didn't care anymore and straight out admitted her plan to everypony in front of her. "I thought if I could prevent winter from happening all together then I could stop Tank from hibernating," she said before she looked around herself. "But that didn't really work..." she said with a really big frown on her face. "If you excuse me now, I'm going home..." she said before she slowly flew away with Tank in her hooves.

If it wasn't clear to anypony that Rainbow Dash was really sad, then this was enough to convince them by now. The six friends looked at each other concerned. 

"She really is sad about this hibernating thing," Applejack figured.

"Yes," Twilight agreed on. "We need to talk to her about it. We can't just leave her like this," she suggested.

Her friends all came to the same decision. It was not like Rainbow Dash to be this upset about something. Seeing her acting this sad was proof enough for them to say or do something to make her feel happy again. They didn't know what to say yet, but if they don't do anything then who knows what Rainbow Dash would do next. What she needed right now were some friends who would cheer her up in this dire situation.


Later...


The six ponies went to Cloudsdale, to Rainbow Dash's house to be exact. They entered her house and it didn't take long until they found the mare laying on her bed wearing a purple bathrobe and some tortoise slippers while she was hugging her Tank who was wearing a sky-colored bathrobe and some Rainbow Dash slippers.

While the sight of this was really weird for Star Twinkle, he did not let it distract him from how sad the mare still was. The group slowly entered the room quietly, except Pinkie Pie, who just straight out walked through the wall, which was probably easy to do since it was made out of clouds.

"Knock, knock!" Pinkie Pie said happily as she walked towards the mare like the rest of her friends but she got some glares from the others, asking her to be quiet in a moment like this and smiled back sheepishly in response.

Rainbow Dash didn't seem to care though. It was like her friends weren't even there right now. She just kept hugging Tank and didn't care that she wasn't presenting herself in her usual tough and cool persona right now.

"How are you feeling, Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow Dash didn't even bother to turn around facing her friends. "Whatever..." she just said with no signs of happiness in her voice at all.

Rarity really wanted to help the mare but had no idea how. "The poor thing looks so sad! Just what are we doing to do?" She asked into the round.

But Twilight was clueless. "I don't know what we can do,"

"Well, we have to do something," Star Twinkle said.

Applejack was the first one to give it a try. "Buck up, Sugarcube. You just ain't yourself these days," she said as she walked close to the mare's bed.

Rainbow Dash just repeated herself from before. "Whatever..." she said in the same tone as before, again, not bothering to even turn around.

The ponies looked at each other confused. It was really hard for them to come up with a solution with this but they just had to keep trying. Rarity was the next one to talk to Rainbow Dash but instead of trying to cheer her up, she decided to just say things as they were at the moment.

"Uh, how can I say this tactfully...? You've lost your sparkle, Rainbow Dash," she said something that Rainbow Dash didn't seem to care about.

Pinkie Pie followed up on that. "I hate to say this, but, well... you've become...!" She then leaned over to Rainbow Dash. "A party pooper!" She hushed as if she was scared to see Rainbow Dash's reaction after saying this.

But again, Rainbow Dash didn't care less. This time she turned towards her friends as if she thought they didn't understand her before. "Didn't you hear me? I said 'whatever'. I don't know if you're here to cheer me up or what, but I'm fine," she said before she turned away from them again.

But no matter how you look at it, Rainbow Dash was not remotely fine. "What now?" Star Twinkle asked, hoping that somepony would answer him.

Surprisingly, Fluttershy stepped up and took the matter in her own hooves. "Let me handle this," she said unusually confident, much to everyponies surprise. They all figured that Fluttershy must have a plan to deal with this situation and just let her do her thing.

Star Twinkle shook his shoulders confused. "What do we have to lose?" He said, getting the girls to agree on that.

Fluttershy then took a quick breath and "executed" her plan. "Rainbow Dash, your winter is going to be pet-less," she said sternly.

This time, Rainbow Dash reacted. She sat up and looked at Fluttershy with shock in her eyes. She didn't say anything but soon, tears started to form in her eyes and the mare broke out in tears, sobbing uncontrollably in her frustration and sadness.

Fluttershy did not seem to be surprised by this outcome at all and kept up her stern expression. The rest of her friends, however, were a little confused by Fluttershy's choice of words and what it resulted in.

"Whatever did you do that for?!" Rarity asked confused, taking the words out of the mouth from her friends.

Fluttershy explained. "Because she'll never get past this until she lets it all out," she said sternly.

And she sure was letting it all out. For a long time...with no end in sight. It was weird watching a grown mare cry her eyes out like this while just standing on the side. Soon, the group felt a little uncomfortable.

"She really is taking her time though..." Star Twinkle thought as he kept watching the mare, like the others.

Soon, Twilight was thinking that this dragged out for a little too long and decided to use her magic and dragged Applejack in front of her to make her say something to her friend. And even though Applejack felt a little annoyed by this, she did as she was told and tried to cheer Rainbow Dash up.

"Uh... it's okay," she said awkwardly. "Tank'll come back in a few months," she assured.

"Months?!" Rainbow Dash replied in shock before she continued crying even harder and rolled on her bed while hugging Tank. "I don't want him to go!" She shouted desperately.

Applejack had no idea what to do now. This was not one of those situations where she would shine normally. " Alright, alright. There, there," she said as she petted the mare in a poor attempt to comfort her before she then walked back to the others, mainly to Fluttershy who she was glaring at. "Nice going, Fluttershy. How do we get her to stop?" She hushed towards the mare.

"Yeah," Star Twinkle agreed. "I'll admit I liked it better when she was just quietly sobbing," he added.

But Fluttershy still thought that this was the best thing to do. "She's got to be about done by now. Can't be too much left in there," she said confidently. And to the surprise of everypony, the crying did stop. This was a cue for Fluttershy to step in. She was sitting next to Rainbow Dash in the hope that she was listening to her. "Feeling better?" She asked in a caring voice.

"Uh-huh," Rainbow Dash replied while she wiped away one last tear from her eyes. Now it was time to talk with Rainbow Dash. At least that was the plan. Things went wrong as soon as Rainbow Dash resumed to cry again.

Now the group was waiting for Fluttershy to save the situation once more but that didn't exactly happen. "Oh, you poor, poor thing..." she said before she joined the mare on her crying streak.

Right now, Star Twinkle just thought things got weirder, which was saying a lot. "Is this part of her plan too?" He asked confused into the round.

But after seeing how Rarity was forming some tears in her eyes now as well, he had the feeling that this was not the case. "I can't bear to see Fluttershy cry!" She said as she walked over to the two mares and joined them

As if that wasn't enough, Pinkie Pie began crying as well. "It's just heart-wrenching!" She said while she joined the three mares now too.

Now it was four ponies who cried heavily on Rainbow Dash's bed. It was a really weird scene to look at. "What is even going on now?" Star Twinkle asked while he stood there with Twilight and Applejack. He was not sure if he should tell them to stop or just watch. The situation was just too weird.

Twilight was just looking towards Applejack who was fixing her hat for a moment, which she mistook for her trying to hide her tears.

"You too?!" She asked surprised.

But Applejack gave an honest and almost cold answer. "Nope, I'm good,"

Twilight figured that somepony should say or do something so she walked up to the crying bunch in an attempt to stop them from crying. "Look, everypony, I know how hard it is to say goodbye—"

But then she was interrupted by Pinkie Pie, who was drawing her closer to her. "I'm mostly sad because you're not sad!" She said in a sobbing voice.

"What?! Me?!" Twilight replied confused. "What about Star Twinkle and Applejack?" She said while she pointed at the two ponies who kept standing a little bit further away from the crying bunch.

"Star Twinkle and Applejack are crying on the inside, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie shot back.

Applejack just nodded in response. "It's true," she said casually.

"Yeah, sure," Star Twinkle replied casually as well.

Both of them seemed unfazed by the four crying ponies in front of them. They figured that there were enough of them crying anyway. Thankfully, Rainbow Dash finally stopped for good this time.

"It's alright, Fluttershy. It's alright," Rainbow Dash said in a calm and relieved voice.

The girls backed away again and waited for what was about to happen next. They just hoped that it didn't have anything to do with Rainbow Dash starting to cry again.

"You think she's done or just getting a third wind?" Applejack whispered to her friends.

"I don't know..." Twilight replied. "Rainbow Dash? Are you okay?" She asked.

Rainbow Dash got out of her bed, she wiped away her last tears even though they kept coming back anyway. "I think so. I feel better. Really, I do. Thanks, everypony. I don't know what I'd do without you," she said before she looked back at Tank, causing her to tear up again. "Or him..." she added before she hugged Tank one more time. "Oh, Tank... I'm sure gonna miss you."

Her friends were approaching Rainbow Dash and comforted her some more before she was about to go outside with Tank to do what she should have done earlier.


Later...


Even though winter came in the form of a giant snow explosion, the ponies in Ponyville still had fun in the snow. Winter had officially begun. Star Twinkle, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were already wearing fitting winter clothes to keep warm and spend the time together in the snow.

"Well, guess we're starting winter with a bang," Twilight said.

Applejack already pilled up some snowballs and threw them around. "The fun's come early! Yee-haw!" She said before she threw one at the girls, to Pinkie Pie to be exact, who fell on her back as soon as she saw the snowball flying right at her.

"You think we could mess up winter every year? It's way less work!" Pinkie Pie said while she was making a snow angel in the snow.

Star Twinkle chuckled. "Getting bombarded with huge snowball was actually not that bad after all," he figured with a smile on his face.

"Uh, I don't think Rainbow Dash could handle it," Twilight pointed out.

And speaking of Rainbow Dash, the mare just joined the group of ponies. Tank was inside one of her saddlebags, popping out his head. She seemed to feel a lot better now after she accepted to let Tank hibernate. "Riding that entire season from Cloudsdale to Ponyville was pretty awesome," she said with a smile on her face. Tank was still really sleepy and couldn't help yawning again but this time Rainbow Dash was not sad to see that, at least like before. "I thought you guys might like to say goodbye to Tank. He's ready to hibernate," she then announced to the group.

"Ooh, you're using the word! Oh, she's using the word!" Pinkie Pie said happily before she rushed over to Tank. "And when Tank finishes hibernating, I'm gonna throw him the biggest welcome home party ever! Or wait. Should it be a 'welcome above ground' party? Or a 'happy wake-up' party? Maybe an 'it's about time!' party!"

"And I'll design him a very special suit just for the occasion, whichever one it ends up being," Rarity said happily.

"I'm glad you're feelin' a little better, Rainbow Dash," Applejack expressed.

"Yeah, me too," Rainbow Dash agreed on.

The group then took a moment to find a good spot for Tank where he could sleep. They quickly found one beneath a tree. Rainbow Dash dug a little hole in the ground beneath the snow and put Tank inside it.

It was still obvious that Rainbow Dash was not completely liking the idea of Tank being away for a while but at least she was not stopping him from doing it. "So, you really wanna do this hibernating thing, huh?" She asked one last time, causing Tank to nod in response.

The group was all there as well saying the farewells to the little guy.

"Goodbye, Tank," said Rarity.

"Happy winter," said Fluttershy.

"See you later, little feller," said Applejack.

"Have a good sleep, Tank!" Said Pinkie Pie.

"Nice dreams little buddy," said Star Twinkle.

"Goodbye, Tank! We'll miss you!" Said Twilight.

And just like that, Tank was covering himself in snow and went to sleep. There were still some running down on Rainbow Dash's cheeks but she pulled herself together right away again. She kept telling herself that this was the right thing to do and that made her decision clear.

"Well? Ready for some winter fun?" Twilight then asked.

But Rainbow Dash needed one more moment to get ready. "Uh, I'm gonna hang here and read to him a bit. That little guy can never get to sleep without a bedtime story," she said happily while she pulled out one of her Daring Do books. "I'll be right there," she assured. The six ponies understood and left her. They knew that this was her way of dealing with the situation a little bit better. And as long as if she was letting Tank sleep everything was okay.

Star Twinkle was happy that everything was resolved in the end, even if it was a little bit difficult. Having to let a friend seemed to be much harder than he imagined, not that he knew anything about that. He decided to leave the mare as well.

"Wait! Star Twinkle!" Rainbow Dash then suddenly said much to the stallion's confusion who turned around to look at the mare.

"Yes?" He asked.

Rainbow Dash then slowly walked up to the stallion with an embarrassed expression on her face. She rubbed her neck and had a hard time looking into Star Twinkle's eyes but eventually, she managed to find her words. "Listen...about before...I'm sorry...I was pretty mean..." she apologized.

"Yeah," Star Twinkle agreed on.

"And...I maybe acted a little bit stupid," she added.

"Yeah," Star Twinkle agreed once more.

Rainbow Dash lowered her eyebrows. "You can stop me if you want," she then said a little bothered.

"Yeah," Star Twinkle replied smugly with a smile on his face.

The mare returned the smile, a happy one that is. "So we're are good?" She asked.

Star Twinkle nodded. "Yes, don't worry about it, Rainbow Dash," he said with a warm smile on his face.

Rainbow Dash was happy to hear this and grinned at the stallion. It must have been really important to hear that the stallion forgave her. She then turned around and looked to where Tank was sleeping. "I'll better go back and start reading to the little guy," she then said before she walked back.

The green stallion was about to turn around to join his friends but then he looked back at Rainbow Dash who was sitting down next to Tank. He then walked up to the mare and sat next to her with a smile on his face.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked.

The mare didn't seem to expect Star Twinkle to do this but she certainly did not refuse his company. "Not at all," she said happily before she started to read.

It was relaxing to hear Rainbow Dash read the book. She was reading it in a really caring and warm voice, which was most likely because she was reading it to Tank with all of her heart put into it. Star Twinkle remained quiet until she was done and they both joined the rest of their friends to spend the winter together.

They all had a lot of fun. It almost felt as if Rainbow Dash was having double the fun to make up Tank's absence. It was refreshing to see her get over it, making this winter even more special to everyone else.