Fly Like You

by Jinzou


Tanks for the Memories

The story you're about to read is a sad one, a story of heartbreak and anguish, where out heroes limits will be tested, as well as their bonds with each other.

In the following epic, our rainbow maned protagonist will be pushed to her emotional limits, but she and the ponies she cares about will push through all the turmoil to find the light at the end of the tunnel.

And it all began with that damn yawn...

Twilight shivered violently, the chilled air settling into her coat. She blew hot air into her hooves and rubbed them together as she magically fumbled with the flint and steel. After a couple of attempts she produced sparks, which then fell to the tinder and started a small flame. She blew on it gently, shivering again, and watched as the flame grew.

"W-why is it so cold in here?" Scootaloo complained, rubbing her legs to attempt to get some feeling back into them. "And where are Rainbow Dash and Spike?"

"Crystals don't retain heat." Twilight explained. "Spike is lighting the other fireplaces in the castle and Rainbow is helping bring the snow clouds in. After we're done with the fireplaces we're gonna bundle up and join her. Since I'm all done this one, you want to go get us some scarves?"

Scootaloo nodded and ran off to go find a closet.


Twilight flew over to a pensive looking Rainbow Dash, who was fixing Tank with an unreadable expression.

"Everything's looking great, don't you think?" Twilight smiled.

"Almost everything. Does Tank look alright to you?" Rainbow Dash bit her lip, outwardly nervous for the state of her tortoise.

"Well, he does seem to be moving a little slowly." Twilight started.

"I know, right?"

"And he looks kind of sleepy..."

"Totally!"

"...just like he always does." Twilight finished, smiling at her friend.

"Yeah, ha ha, I'm sure you're right." Rainbow Dash let out a forced laugh, not at all placated by the princess' nonchalance.

No Twilight. I know Tank. I read to him every night and before Scootaloo came along, talked to him a lot more than many ponies would think is normal. I know my pet and something is very, very wrong.

Twilight saw the artificial smile dissapear from her friend's face as she grabbed Tank and rocketed off toward Fluttershy's cottage.

Twilight knew that tortoises hibernated, and she knew that Fluttershy would have the guts to tell Rainbow what she couldn't. Twilight also knew it was going to destroy Rainbow Dash.

I know I should... no, need to do something for her... but what? Might just have to let this one play out until we can directly jump in. Between Scootaloo and I, we'll have her covered.

At least she's going to Fluttershy first... Fluttershy will be gentle.


After dropping Scootaloo off to go play with her Crusader friends, Twilight went to go meet with the rest of her friends, bar Rainbow. After the Running of the Leaves, there was still all the leaves to get up off the ground and dispose of. Having nothing better to do that day, the group of friends had agreed to meet up and help out.

"So she just told me she was going to find a real reptile expert and flew off." Fluttershy finished her tale.

Twilight hummed softly. So far things had gone about as well as one could expect when it came to Rainbow Dash. Instant denial. If anybody knew Rainbow, and Twilight did, it was obvious what her next move would be. She would try to weakly fight the rapidly oncoming season. She would, of course fail, and then get more desperate. Twilight shuddered to think of what harebrained schemes Rainbow's grieving mind would come up with.

"Aww, look at the cute wittle Tankie, all snuggly-wuggly, getting ready to hibern—"

Oh no, here we go...

"Don't say that word!" Rainbow practically screamed at Pinkie. Twilight set down the mass of leaves she had been levitating and started padding over to the two ponies.

"Which one? "Snuggly"? "Wuggly"? "Tankie"? "Hibernate"?"

"That one!"

"I was just saying how cute he—"

"If you think hiber... – you know, that napping thing – is so cute, why don't you go do it?! Somewhere far away from here?!"

"Rainbow." Twilight said flatly. "Stop."

Rainbow's angry expression instantly softened a bit as she met Twilight's gaze. Twilight could still see the cold fury in Rainbow's expression, but for the moment, she had contained Rainbow's angry outburst. Still, Twilight still had her trump card.

"Rainbow Dash, please." Twilight placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "Your behavior has everyone concerned. Me, our friends, even Scootaloo would be worried if she was here, I promise you." Rainbow visibly deflated at the thought of Scootaloo's small concerned expression. That was like a weaponized guilt trip.

"Rainbow, let's all sit down and talk about this like rational ponies. I know you're upset about Tank, but we can help you thr-"

Twilight had struck the wrong chord. She saw Rainbow's face screw back up into an angry expression at the mention of Tank. She pushed Twilight's hoof off her and wordlessly took off into the sky, dragging Tank along with her. Twilight sighed and turned to her friends, who all wore similar expressions of mild shock.

"...What?" Twilight questioned.

"Well darling... it's just that we all know Rainbow can sometimes get in those moods, but we've never seen anybody break her out of it in one sentence. Or at all." Rarity finally spoke up.

"For all it matters. She still flew off to do Celestia knows what." Twilight scoffed.

Nobody retorted to that. They all silently agreed to keep an eye on the skies as they continued to work.


"So then Maud says 'no, pancakes aren't the best breakfast, Pinkie. I think it's oatmeal.' And then I said 'Oatmeal? Are you crazy?!'" Pinkie rambled on.

Twilight sighed internally, hoping for a distraction to stop Pinkie from recounting inane conversations from her past. Fortunately for Twilight, a distraction occurred at that moment as the loud sound of electricity crackling from miles away drew the attention of the five friends. They glanced over to the source of the noise to see one of the towers in Cloudsdale erupt in a scintillating electric explosion, smoke starting to pour out of it.

The friends gasped as the electrical energy moved to the sky outside the factory, and lightning started showing. There was a massive buildup of pressure in one of the exit tubes used to remove newly created snow clouds from the factory, and with a sudden burst, a giant snowball erupted from it, hurtling toward Ponyville.

"Everybody, look out!" Twilight yelled, turning tail and running the other direction. And then the massive snowball hit. Twilight felt herself get flung fifteen feet easily, and after the blinding pain from the explosion ramming her face first into the ground cleared up, Twilight found herself unable to breathe as she was trapped under a foot of snow.

Twilight quickly dug her way out, letting out a moan as she took a breath of fresh air and rubbed her sore temple. To her relief, she saw the rest of her friends surface in relatively good condition as well. Then she spotted the culprit pop out of the snow herself. Rainbow Dash dug in the snow around her, and among pulling out Tank's shell with a relieved sigh, pushed down on his carapace and saw the tortoise's head pop out of the shell.

"You okay Tank?" Rainbow groaned weakly. Tank merely yawned in response. Rainbow Dash looked down in defeat.

"Rainbow Dash! Are you alright?" Twilight asked, running up to her fallen friend.

"No..." Rainbow sighed before collapsing into the snow. She hugged Tank close to her, and a moment later slowly flew off toward her cloud home.

Twilight turned her head to view her friends. She'd have to cast the cloud walking spell to get them all up to help with Rainbow. She'd have to find a way to break Rainbow out of her defeatist rut.

She'd have to get her secret weapon.


-Pop-

There was a familiar sound as six ponies teleported into Rainbow Dash's room. Six sets of eyes fixed upon a morose Rainbow Dash, clad in her purple bathrobe and Tank slippers. Tank was wearing a fluffy coat that covered his carapace, and matching Rainbow Dash slippers.

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

"Whatever." Rainbow responded despondently.

"The poor thing looks so sad! Just what are we doing to do?" Rarity whispered to Twilight.

Twilight gave off a small knowing smile. "We aren't going to do anything. I brought my secret weapon."

Twilight looked down at the aforementioned weapon and nodded. Scootaloo nodded back, and clambered up onto the bed and sat right in Rainbow's field of vision. Rainbow met her gaze with a dead, defeated look. She didn't even have the will to greet her.

Scootaloo took a deep breath, bracing herself for what the reaction Rainbow Dash was gonna give her would inevitably be.

"Rainbow Dash." Scootaloo spoke in a small voice. "Over the past months, while I've been getting help, I've learned a lot of things..." Scootaloo looked around at the other ponies in the room, and got a myriad of nods to help reassure her. Scootaloo turned back to Rainbow and gently moved her head so Rainbow met Scootaloo's gaze.

"And one of the hardest lessons is that holding your emotions will just cut you up inside. If you're around ponies who care about you," Scootaloo gestured to Rainbow's friends. "as everyone in this room cares about you, then releasing those emotions is very cather... cathi..."

"Cathartic." Twilight whispered.

"Releasing those emotions is very cathartic. So Rainbow Dash... I'm sorry to be this pony..." Scootaloo shut her eyes and braced herself. "But Tank is going away, and you need to accept that your winter is going to continue on without him."

For a moment Rainbow Dash sat up with a completely neutral expression, before screwing up her face and bursting out into tears. To the rest of her friends, seeing the brave, boisterous pony that had faced down every villain without fear or hesitation, the pony who's first idea on how to get rid of a dragon was directly kicking it in the face crying like a foal was jarring, to say the least. Twilight and Scootaloo, who had both experienced Rainbow's more sensitive side, just felt pity.

Twilight moved over to Rainbow's side and sat by her side, on the opposite side of Scootaloo. Twilight sadly regarded the rainbow mare, who was currently sobbing into Tank's shell, and gently draped her wing over Rainbow's back and slowly pulled Rainbow into her side. Rainbow leaned into the embrace and rested her head upon Twilight's breast.

Twilight silently motioned for Scootaloo to join the hug, and Scootaloo scrambled over and took her place nestled between Rainbow and Twilight. With a particularly loud sob Rainbow Dash threw her right forehoof around Twilight's neck and started crying into Twilight's neck, squeezing onto Tank even tighter with her left forehoof.

Everyone in the room stayed quiet, allowing Rainbow Dash to cry herself out. After another minute or two, it seemed like she was out of tears. She pulled out of the hug and used a forehoof to wipe her nose. She took a moment to look around the room, seeing all the ponies that had come to see her. All the ponies that were worried about her.

Rainbow sniffed and let out a weak chuckle. "Thanks everybody. I don't know what I'd do without you." She turned to look at Scootaloo and Twilight, the same look of sympathy with a twinge of worry on both their faces. "All of you."

Rainbow set Tank down and got off the bed so she could be eye level with the beloved pet. "Or him. Oh, Tank... I'm sure gonna miss you." Tank slowly lifted one of his legs and set it on one of Rainbow's forehooves, giving her a smile.


The ponies were happily playing in the snow. Rarity and Fluttershy were making a snowpony while Pinkie rolled around making snow angels. Applejack was making snowballs and kicking them at a tree, her usual snowball fight opponent was still on her way. Scootaloo had gone off to go find the Crusaders again, saying something about competing to see which filly could make the "most realistic" snowponies.

The quiet sound of snow crunching underhoof alerted the ponies that Rainbow Dash had arrived. She was all dressed up in winter gear and carrying Tank in her saddlebags.

"I thought you guys might like to say goodbye to Tank. He's ready to hibernate." She said softly.

Pinkie gasped happily. "Ooh, you're using the word! Oh, she's using the word! 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 added.

"I'm glad you're feelin' a little better, Rainbow Dash." Applejack smiled at her friend.

"Yeah, me too." Rainbow sighed and she dug out an area for Tank. "So, you really wanna do this hibernating thing, huh?"

Tank slowly smiled and nodded at Rainbow Dash, who had to fight to hold back tears again.

Her friends chorused in their own goodbyes to Tank, and with Tank taking one last look at her, Rainbow saw her beloved pet scrape the dirt and snow over himself. Rainbow looked down in defeat.

"Well? Ready for some winter fun?" Twilight asked, giving Rainbow a reassuring smile.

Rainbow smiled back weakly. "Uh, I'm gonna hang here and read to him a bit. That little guy can never get to sleep without a bedtime story. I'll be right there."