It was a winter's evening, and in Dash's garden the air was crisp and cold. In the sky the first stars were lighting up, one after another, like lots of little yellow lights. There wasn't a single cloud. Then, without a sound, it began to snow: white, soft flakes drifting down from the sky, light as feathers.

Dash, Ziggy, Lily, and Skye were all bundled up in their little coats, with noses red from the cold. They had lain down in the fresh snow and were moving their arms and legs to make snow angels.

"Mine's already done!" laughed Dash, jumping to his feet. "I made it in a flash! I'm the fastest of everyone!"

"Mine has big wings," said Lily, in her firm little voice.

Skye, on the other hand, was gazing up at the sky, all calm. Suddenly she pointed high up with her finger. "Friends... look up there. Something's not right."

Everyone looked up. In the middle of the stars shone the rainbow of the night, a special rainbow you can see only when it snows beneath the stars. But there was a problem: a color was missing.

"The red!" cried Ziggy. "The rainbow has lost its red!"

It was true. There was yellow, green, blue, and purple... but where the red stripe should have been, there was only a gray, empty hole.

Just then a familiar sound was heard: "CHUFF CHUFF!"

From the far end of the garden came Toby the Magic Train, all colorful, puffing little clouds of white smoke. He stopped in front of the children and said:

"Good evening, dear children, how cold blows the breeze,
hop up on my back, fly away if you please!
A color is lost up above in the night,
so follow me up where the sky shines so bright!"

The children clapped their hands and hurried aboard. Toby whistled happily and set off upward, up and up, among the snowflakes and the twinkling stars.

The little train stopped in a wonderful place. It was a mountain made all of soft snow, floating in the starry sky, like an island in the middle of the clouds. It didn't touch the ground: it hung in the air!

"Wow!" said Dash, his eyes wide open. "A flying mountain!"

Up the mountain rose a line of glowing poles, made of little stars, forming a zig-zag path all the way to the top. And up there, at the top, shone the moon, big and round, lighting up everything.

All at once, in front of them, a big wooden window appeared, floating in the air. It had two shutters and it opened and closed all by itself, as if it were clapping its hands. Every time it opened, a sprinkling of snow fell on it from the frame.

The window flung its shutters wide open and shouted in a very loud voice, like an announcer at a stadium:

"WELCOME TO MOUNT CLOUDYTOOOP! I am FANFARE, the Curious Window! And today... we raaaace!"

The children jumped back in fright, then burst out laughing. Fanfare shouted so loud that it tickled their ears! And she smelled of fresh snow and warm fritters.

"But why do you shout like that?" asked Ziggy, laughing.

"I DON'T SHOUT!" shouted Fanfare. "I ANNOUNCE! I was born to announce races! And this one will be SPECTACULARRR!"

Then she opened her shutters even wider. "Listen well, champions! The rainbow's red color rolled all the way up here and ended up at the TOP of the mountain! Only the one who reaches up there by slaloming between the little star poles can bring it back. Who will win the TRIUMPH?!"

"The... triumph?" asked Dash, scratching his head under his hat. "What's a triumph?"

"A triumph," explained Skye gently, "is when you win something important and become very, very happy. It's a big victory."

"And what's a slalom?" asked Lily.

"A slalom," shouted Fanfare, "is a race where you slide on the snow zig-zagging between the poles, without knocking them down! Zig! Zag! Zig! Zag!"

Dash rubbed his hands together, all happy. "Easy! I've got this, I'm the fastest of everyone!" And off he dashed, without waiting for his friends.

But the snow was slippery. Dash ran toward the first pole, put a foot down crooked, and... THUMP! He flew head over heels and landed bottom-first in the snow.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" he said, getting up all white with snow.

He set off again. This time he picked up speed, but he couldn't turn in time. He banged into a star pole, which went TLING, then into another, which went TLONG, and ended up rolling like a spinning top down the slope. He spun and spun until he stopped upside down inside a pile of snow, with only his feet sticking out.

Fanfare commented on everything like a crazed announcer: "OHHH! WHAT A TUMBLE, FOLKS! Little Dash is spinning like a TOPPP! What a stunt, friends!"

The others ran to help him, but Dash popped out of the snow all puffed up. "No, no! I can do it myself! Watch!"

He tried again. He ran, he jumped, and somehow he set off a little avalanche... but it wasn't an avalanche of snow. It was an avalanche of warm, fragrant FRITTERS, rolling down the mountain! One fritter landed right on his head, like a soft hat.

"PFFF!" went Dash, spitting powdered sugar everywhere.

Then he slipped again, and this time the snow went all the way down inside his trousers. "BRRR! It's freezing cold!" And he started hopping here and there like a little frog. The children laughed till they cried, and so did Fanfare: "SPECTACULARRR! Snow in his trousers! Never before has there been such a race!"

But Dash still wouldn't give up. He took the longest run-up ever, ran as fast as a rocket, and... instead of climbing, he spun around like a runaway merry-go-round! He saw the stars dancing and the moon doing somersaults. "Hey, how many moons are there?" he said, wobbling with his eyes all crossed. And then, plop, he fell bottom-first into the snow again.

But after so many tries, Dash was worn out. His legs were like jelly, his nose was frozen, and he hadn't climbed even one step toward the top. He sat down in the snow, truly tired, and for the first time he didn't feel like laughing anymore.

He looked at the faraway top, then he looked at his friends. And he understood something important.

"Friends..." he said in a tiny little voice. "I really can't do it by myself. Will... will you help me?"

His friends ran to his side right away, with big smiles.

"Of course we'll help you!" said Lily. "We were just waiting for you to ask!"

Ziggy had an idea right away. He gathered two smooth, sturdy branches and tied them under Dash's feet. "There we go! Two real skis! Now you'll slide better and won't fall anymore."

Lily stood in front of everyone. She had a sharp eye and never gave up. "I'll show you the way. Watch where I point my finger: first right, then left. Zig, and then zag!"

Skye, calm and kind, stood beside Dash and held him by the hand. "And I'll keep you balanced, so you don't wobble. Let's go together, no rushing."

And off they went. Dash pushed fast, the way he knew how, but this time he wasn't alone. Lily pointed: "Right!" and Dash turned right. "Left!" and Dash turned left. Skye held him steady every time he was about to fall. Zig! Zag! Zig! Zag!

The little star poles went ting, ting, ting as they brushed past them, but not one of them fell.

"You're doing it, Dash!" shouted Skye. And for the first time, he didn't fall even a little bit.

The higher they climbed, the steeper the mountain became, and the cold wind blew hard. At one point Dash felt his legs shaking. "I'll never make it to the top!" he said, out of breath.

"Yes, you will!" they all shouted together. "We're here with you!"

And then Dash found a new strength. With one last dash, all four of them together, they reached the TOP, right under the moon.

And there, hidden behind a mound of snow, glowed the stripe of RED color, warm and bright as a sunset.

"We found it!" shouted Dash. He reached out his hands and grabbed the red, which instantly shot up into the sky and flew straight into the rainbow of the night, filling the empty hole.

The rainbow became whole again: red, yellow, green, blue, and purple. It was beautiful, and it shone across the whole starry sky.

Fanfare flung her shutters wide open as far as they'd go and shouted louder than ever: "TRIUMPHHH! THEY DID ITTT! WHAT GREAT CHAMPIONSSS!" And a whole snowfall dropped down on her from the frame: poof!

Dash hugged his three friends. "Thank you. By myself I just kept slipping. With you, I really won."

Right then it was heard again: "CHUFF CHUFF!" Toby the Magic Train popped out from among the clouds to take them home. Everyone climbed aboard, tired and happy. Toby whistled and said:

"Oh children, what fun, what a wonderful race,
the red is back home, it flew right into place!
Alone you kept falling and spinning around,
but ask friends for help, and together you're crowned!"

The little train came down among the stars and brought them back to the snow-covered garden. Then, with one last "CHUFF," he waved goodbye and vanished into the dark.

That night, before falling asleep, Dash looked out the window at the rainbow that had become whole again, and he smiled. He had learned something important: asking for help is not a sign of weakness. Whoever asks for help when they're in trouble is clever and wise, because together with friends you can get anywhere, even to the top of a flying mountain.