Chapter 1: Arrival

“So this is Ponyville.”, she whispered to herself. “Looks nice.”
Standing on the small hill, just outside of the town, her eyes wandered and she looked at what lay before her. It was a beautiful day. The sun stood high in the cloudless sky and a warm breeze was blowing through the trees and over the green grass. She closed her eyes and lifted her head, letting the gentle wind flow through her mane. The silver hair with dark purple strands formed a mild contrast to her dark blue fur. If anyone would have seen her standing there, they would have said that she looked like any other Pegasus. Even her cutie mark, a simple cloud, silver colored like her hair, was pretty common among pegasi. The only unusual thing about her appearance was the silver bracelet around the ankle of her right front leg.

After standing there for a while, enjoying the view and weather, she stretched her wings. “Let’s take a closer look.”

She started flapping her wings slowly, lifting only a few inches from the ground. For her staying this low was always better to explore a new city. Other ponies would say, that the view from above is more natural for a pegasus, but she didn’t care about that. Getting a good impression of what the town and its inhabitants are like was all that counted for her.

She came to the first house and stopped. It was a simple timber-framed building, with flower boxes before each window. So she stood there, gazing at the crafted walls and the colorful flowers. As if they had hypnotized her, she simply could not look away. Every frame, every flower, every small ornament reminded her of home. The home left so long ago.
One of the windows opened and a pegasus with a light green coat stepped into the light, waving at her. She could not see the face, but she knew that the pony standing there was her mother. But because of what happened that faithful day, the day she left her old life, this was not possible. Since that day she had no one left. She had no home. She was alone, always alone. Shaking her head, to cast away this shadow of the past, she looked again to see that the window was still closed.
She scolded herself.
“Come on. You cannot change the past, so there is no sense dwelling in memories.”
With a sigh she forced herself to look away and proceed to hover towards the town square.

This time of the day the square was filled with ponies. Some were doing their daily work, like cleaning the road or caring for the flowers at the sides of it. Others just stood there, chatting, laughing or simply fooling around. There were also a few market stands, with ponies selling all types of things, including all sorts of vegetables and fruits. Her stomach growled heavy as her eyes wandered over the food. But as usual it was ignored, since she could not afford to buy something.

And then there were these thoughts again.
‘Maybe you can snatch a carrot when nobody looks.’
‘Nobody will notice if there is one celery stock missing.’
‘You know you need something to eat!’
‘Come on. Only a small apple, I know you want it.’
She shook her head to banish the voices.

“No, I will not steal anything again!”

Her hoof covered her mouth before she could realize that she said that aloud. Luckily nobody heard her. But she could not deny it, she needed something to eat, and without money, in a town she just arrived, it would not be easy to get something. But to steal it was not the answer. She knew that. Although the hunger seemed to gain control of parts of her body as her wings slowly moved her near the apple stand.

The owner of the stand, which in fact was nothing more than a simple cart, was an orange earth pony with blond hair and a cowboy hat. Currently she was talking to what seemed to be her last customer, a mint colored unicorn. Slowly and barely making a sound her wings brought her nearer to the cart. Every second the gap between her and one of these delicious apples reduced. The other ponies still did not notice her.

“No, I will not do that again!” she shouted, forcing her traitorous wings to fold on her flanks.

“Can Ah help ya’?” the orange pony, now aware of her new customer, asked.

“Oh… I… ehm…”
Before she could get a sentence together her stomach growled.

“Ah see. Well ya’re lucky ‘cause Ah’m Applejack an’ Ah sell the best apples in all of Ponyville. An’ who’re you? Ah’ve never seen you around here before.”

Snapping out her paralysis, she looked at Applejack. There was only honest curiosity and nothing that would lead to believe she knew she just caught someone who almost stole an apple.

“Well, if ya’ don’t want t’ tell that’s okay. Ah won’t force ya’.”

“Oh… I…” shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she tried to start again.
“I’m sorry, I just arrived in Ponyville and …” her sentence stopped as her stomach interrupted her once more. She felt ashamed, but decided to just ignore it this time.
“A-anyway, my name is Silver … and I’m sorry, but I have no money and just came to … well … I don’t know. My wings brought me here.” She lowered her head, trying to hide the guilt she felt.

Applejack looked at her quiet, stared into her silver colored eyes, at her silver and purple colored mane and her strange silver bracelet. The silence was awkward and Silver felt like she should just leave, but her wings won’t move from their place at the side of her flank. Then the other pony smiled.

“Silver, eh? Nice t’ make ya’ acquaintance.”

“Oh … ehm … nice to meet you too, but I should really go now, sorry.” and with that she turned to the side, determined to go, before her hunger could take control again. An orange leg stopped her.

“Well, always nice t’ meet new ponies…”

A loud, vicious growl interrupted her.

“…an’ it sounds like ya’re really hungry.” the earth pony said cheerfully.

Silver blushed and opened her mouth to disagree, but Applejack already scrabbled around in the pile of apples, until she found a big, red one.
“Here, have’ an apple, free of charge.”

Rainbow Dash sat on the roof of Sugarcube Corner, carefully aiming at the cloud before her. It was the only cloud that got spared today, all because it was destined to serve a higher purpose. And this purpose was being the canvas for Rainbow’s newest trick. In her mind she could see it already, the Wonderbolts, stunned by her awesome performance, inviting her to be their leader because of her awesome new stunt. But before that could happen, she needed to perfect it. Unlike all of her previous tricks, which tended to not work the first or the second or the third time she tried them, if they even worked at all, this one could not fail.

Dash held her hooves before her face, using them to measure the size of the cloud. The size was perfect and there were no wind which could move it out of its position. Licking her lips in anticipation, she focused on the task ahead. In her head she went through it all again. Every move was planned, though this was actually pretty strange, since Rainbow Dash was more known for rushing ahead, without thinking at all. But this time, she thought to herself, everything will be different.

With closed eyes she took a deep breath and then jumped into the air, racing to the cloud. Faster and faster she flew circles around it, getting nearer with every round. And then she started to tear out bits. At first Rainbow ripped out big junks of the cloud, seemingly aimless. But every time she hit her canvas, her moves got more precise. Slowly the cloud began changing its shape, to what Dash had desired for it.

After ten minutes of circling and cloud ripping Rainbow returned to the roof of Sugarcube Corner. She folded her wings and wiped the sweat out of her face.
“Phew, that was harder than I thought. Now, let’s take a look at my super awesome cloud statue.”
As her “awesome statue” came into sight her jaw dropped. According to her plans there should be a portrait of herself, in a heroic pose, of course. But instead there was a horrible, malformed monstrosity of a cloud. Somehow it reminded her of Fluttershy’s table after being “repaired” by the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Hi Rainbow Dash! What are you doing?”

Surprised by the sudden noise, Dash jumped a few steps to the side, tilting her head in the direction of the pony who spoke to her.

“Pinkie Pie? What are you doing up here? And how did you get up here?”

“Oh I saw you up here and thought you might practice a new trick and I love your tricks you know like the one where you go whoosh and then fast into the air and then even faster down again you know what I mean this is the most awesome trick ever of course all your tricks are awesome but come on that one was so super duper mega cool and I thought when your preparing a new trick up here it must be super cool too so I came to see it.”

Rainbow gave Pinkie a confused look, trying to sort out what she just said.
“Yeah… right.”

“Sooo, what is your new trick or is it a secret?”

Annoyed by Pinkies way of talking way too fast, Dash rolled her eyes and pointed towards the “statue” she worked on.

“Oh oh, I know this game! I have to guess what it is, right? Okey dokey lokey! Is it a tree? An apple? A cupcake? A statue of you in heroic pose? Gummy? A table?”

“Yeah whatever… wait, what?”

“Hooray I won.” Pinkie jumped around cheerfully, until she slipped and nearly fell. She turned to Dash with a big smile. “And as reward I want you to perform your trick that I like the most. You know which one I mean, do you, do you?”

Dash looked at her confused again, until she realized what Pinkie wanted from her. “Oh you wanna see an awesome stunt? All right!” And with that she lifted off again. Higher and higher she flew into the sky, until she finally stopped and turned around. From up here she could rarely make out anything in Ponyville, besides the buildings. Folding her wings Dash raced back to the ground, gathering more speed each second. She got faster and faster as the ground came near. Pinkie jumped up and down in anticipation of what would come next. In the last possible second Rainbow unfolded her wings and changed her direction, only a few inches of air were left between her and the earth.

She looked back to see Pinkie jump and cheer until she nearly fell again. Closing her eyes she muttered to herself. “Pinkie Pie, you are so random.”
She didn’t notice that she was still at full speed, racing through town only a few inches above the ground. Opening her eyes Dash could see two ponies before her, one orange and familiar, the other one dark blue and unknown, standing in front of an apple cart. Her view got filled with apples as she crashed into them, burying all three under a mountain of fruits.

Applejack lifted her head, shoving apples aside. “Everypony okay?” she asked and rubbed her head while taking a look at the mess, laying before her. The cart had fallen over and there were apples rolling away in all directions. In the middle of the scene, sticking out of a large pile of fruits, she could see a familiar rainbow colored tail.

“Rainbow Dash! Look at what mess ya’ made!”

The cyan pegasus erupted from the mass of apples, shaking her head to clear off the daze caused by the collision.

“Ugh, sorry AJ, your cart stood in the way.”

“Ain’t the problem that ya’ hit the cart but… wait, where’s Silver?”

“Who?”, Rainbow gave her a puzzled look.

A sudden groan from beneath the cart caught their attention. Applejack immediately ran over to it. Without hesitation she hit it with her hind legs, as if it were an apple tree. The cart fell over to the other side, revealing the dark blue pegasus that was trapped beneath it.

“Are ya’ all right sugarcube?” she said, offering one of her legs to help her stand up. Silver grabbed it and pulled herself up, slowly. Dash joined them on the ground, eyeing the unknown pony, searching for signs of injuries.

“Your right wing doesn’t look so good.” she said.

“My wing? What’s wrong with it?”

Silver tried to stretch her wings to see if there’s something wrong with them. The left one felt normal, but trying to move the right one cramped her muscles and sent a wave of pain through her body. Looking behind, she could see her wing standing to the side, unable to move, with a few bruises and a small trail of blood dripping from one of the feathers.

“Gosh darn it, seems like tha’ rusty ol’ cart fell directly on it. Let me take a closer look.” Applejack stepped at her side, inspecting the wound with a worried expression on her face.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a scratch.” Silver put on a smile, trying to ease them, but the others could see that it was forced.

“Well, it doesn’t seem like it’s broken, but better not take any unnecessary risks. Rainbow, take her t’ the nurses, Ah will take care of mah apples.”

“You can count on me, AJ!” Rainbow rushed to Silver’s side, stabilizing her wounded wing with her own. “This will make sure it doesn’t get any worse.”

“But I just have a muscle cramp … “, she tried to protest, her voice being unsteady. But it was too late. Dash had already decided to take her to the hospital and she was not known for stepping back, once she had decided on something. Realizing that there was no way out of it, she sighed. “Fine.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be there in no time.”

Silver nodded, concentrating to suppress and hide the pain originating from her wing. Slowly, watching every step, the two pegasi headed towards the local hospital, leaving the scene of the accident behind. Applejack, assisted by a few other ponies, had already flipped the cart and started to collect the apples that where scattered all over the ground.

Rainbow opened her mouth and tilted her head towards Silver, trying to say something, but decided against it after seeing her stressed face. Her teeth ground on each other and her eyes twitched whenever her wing moved even the slightest bit.

“I’m sorry” was all she said.

Silver sat on one of the hospitals beds, grinding her teeth again, while nurse Redhearth tended to her injured wing. Luckily her wing was not broken but had cramped up due to a cut right in the middle of it. A sharp metal edge of the carts axis must have caused it, though the nurse said it wouldn’t be much of a problem. Sadly this knowledge didn’t make it hurt less. She struggled not to scream as the nurse stretched her wing, trying to get the tension out of the muscles. As she was finally able to fold it, she started putting it in tight bandages.

Trying not to think too much about what the nurse was doing to her wing, Silver looked around the hospital. She was in a big clean room, the main part of the hospice, with beds aligned at its walls. It seemed empty, considering there were only 2 other patients. One of them, a sleeping earth pony with one of its legs fixated in a sling above the bed, was not really interesting. But the other patient caught her attention. It was a little filly. Two Elder ponies, probably the parents of the little one, stood there, talking with one of the nurses. Silver really didn’t want to spy on them, but nonetheless she picked up parts of their conversation.
“… and that’s why your filly needs to stay here for a few days. I’m sorry but it would be too dangerous to travel with his fever.”
“Are you sure you can’t do anything about this? We really need to go and it would be a shame to leave her behind.”
“I’m sorry but like I said…”
“*cough* mom, dad, you want to leave me behind?”
“We’ve got no choice sweetie, you know that. But don’t worry, we’ll come back for you in…”

Nurse Redheart laid a hoof on her shoulder, which forced her to turn her ears away and focus back towards her own injury.
“I’m sorry, but this will hurt a bit.”
She grabbed the end of the bandage with her teeth and pulled it in order to get it tight. Despite of the pain rushing through her body, Silver tried to concentrate and listen to the family. But all she could hear were the quiet sobs of the filly, while its parents and the nurse argued with each other.

“And remember, do not use your wing for a while and if you feel it cramping up again come back immediately.”

“Understood. Thank you, nurse Redheart.”

Silver left the hospital, her wounded wing folded on her side, wrapped in tight bandages. Though it still hurt, she insisted on leaving. It was only a minor injury and her legs were fine so she could walk around and explore the town, at least that’s what she said to the nurse. Rainbow Dash stood outside, waiting for her to finally come out.

“How’s your wing? Does it still hurt?”

“No, it’s fine now. I won’t be able to fly for a while, but its okay.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t stay at your side during the treatment. It’s just so boring in there and I needed to stretch my Wings.”

It took a minute of silence till Rainbow realized what she just said. Her head turned red, but before she could say anything Silver sighed.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind being grounded for a few days.”

Dash breathed out heavily. The color of her face normalized itself again.

“Well, if you need something just call for me, I never leave anypony hanging!”

Silver smiled, hoping that Rainbow didn’t notice how forced it was. It was not her fault though. In fact Silver was so deep in thoughts that she didn’t pay attention at what the cyan pegasus said or did.

“Well I gotta go and take care of some weather business. Remember to call me when you need help, okay?”

“I will.”

“Okay, see you later!” and having said that, Rainbow rushed away into the sky.

Silver sighed and stood there for a while, thinking about what she had seen and experienced in the last hours. Something bothered her greatly and she just could not let it go. So she stood there, ignoring her surroundings and not caring for anything but her thoughts, until she finally made a decision. Stomping on the ground she broke out of her statue like posture, sighing and muttering to herself again.

“Why is it always like that?” she sighed once more. “It would have been really nice to finally have a home. But there’s no helping it. What needs to be done, needs to be done.”

With a last sigh, she stomped on the earth again.
The bracelet around her ankle started to glow.

Chapter 2: Disappearance

Angel ran. He couldn’t remember the last time he ran so fast. In fact, he never had a reason to. But this time was different. He still didn’t understand what exactly happened, but he knew that he had to get help.

Ponyville came into his sight and his mind raced, trying to remember in which house this purple unicorn lives. If anyone could make sense out of this, it was her. And if not, there were all this books… Books! He remembered now, the library, the great tree thing in the middle of town, is where she lives. Angel sped up again, running past the first houses. Although there were many ponies on the streets, nearly no one paid attention to the little white bunny, and those who did just looked confused and didn’t question it any further.

His legs hurt. Fluttershy always told him to be careful and not overdo himself, but he couldn’t stop now. He must reach his goal. Reach it. For her. He could already see the library. ‘But how do I get into it?’, he thought to himself. Luckily this question got answered as the door opened right before him. He ran through the open door, past two pairs of orange legs and directly into a pile of books.

“I’m sure the book is somewhere in this bookshelf.” Twilight Sparkle’s horn glowed as she hovered some of the books in front of her face, reading their titles. “The Tale Of The Two Sisters, no, The 42 Best Oatmeal Cupcake Recipes, no, Theories Of Magical Foci, no, no, no!” Frustrated she let the books fall to the ground. They piled on top of the few dozen already laying there.

“No need t’ stress yourself tha’ much sugarcube. It’s not that’ urgent ya’ know.”

“I know Applejack, you already said that. But what sort of library is this if you can’t get the book that you need?”

“Maybe someone borrowed it?”

“Why would someone borrow The Encyclopaedia Of Vermins And How To Keep Them Away From Your Fruits?” Twilight gave Applejack a puzzled look.

“Beats me. Ah can’t even imagin’ someone remembering tha’ title.”

They looked at each other and started to laugh.

“Ah that’s true. But that means it must be somewhere around here.”

AJ sighed. Would she have known how long this would take, she never would have asked Twilight if she has a book about the evil, little vermin’s stealing her apples right from the trees. Although she didn’t see them this time, and the amount of stolen fruits was unusual high - they even stole a few buckets! - , she was sure that it were those thievery little bunnies like so many times before. Normally she would hunt them by herself, but this time whole trees got cleared of their apples. And stealing her apples was something she took personally.

“Ah, there it is.” Twilight happily trotted over to her, hovering a big green book in front of her. “I’m sorry that it took so long. If Spike wouldn’t be in Canterlot for a week, he would have found it in no time.”

“It’s a’right sugarcube, need mah help t’ clean up?”

“Clean up what?” She looked around the room, shocked about the mess her search created. Books lay all over the floor. In fact, there were so many piles of books that it was surprising that she walked to Applejack without falling over them.
“Oh no, don’t worry. I… wanted to bring them in a new order anyway… yeah that’s right, new order.”

They laughed again.

“Alright, just let me put this book in my bag outside, before it gets lost gain.”

Applejack walked to the door and just as she opened it something white came running through it, ran between her legs and right into one of the pile of books on the floor.

“Wha’ the hay was that?” She looked behind to see that Twilight was as confused as herself.

“Well, let’s find out.”

Using her magic she moved the fallen books to the side, revealing a heavy breathing white bunny.

“Ain’t that Fluttershy’s little bunny friend?”

“”It seems so, though I wonder why he would be in such a hurry, to run directly into my books.”

The Voices of the talking ponies remembered Angel that he got no time to rest. Though his limbs still ached from the long run, he forced himself to stand up and started to hop around, trying to get the attention. But then he stopped. He hadn’t thought past the point of getting here, so how should he tell them what happened? It was hard enough to tell Fluttershy what he wants to say, who knows how long they would take to understand.

Seeing the bunny standing there, in a thinking pose and still breathing heavily, somehow worried Twilight.

“You ran here so fast, did something happen?”

Angel turned to her, nodding frantically. Then he started to hop around again, his arms shacking wild.

“Sorry, Ah have no idea what he wants t’ say.” Applejack looked at the bunny, frustrated. It seems like he’s extremely worried about something… or someone! From the worried look on Twilight’s face she could tell, that she got the same idea. She nodded, knowing what her friend would say.

“Did something happen to Fluttershy?”

Angel nodded again, even more heavy then before, till he fell on his back, finally giving in to his exhaustion. He could feel that he was lifted from the floor by an invisible force, as Twilight used her magic to place him on her back.

“To her cottage?” she asked, looking at the bunny. He nodded again.

“Let’s go Twi. We ain’t got no time t’ loose.”

“Right!”

The two ponies ran through the door and started galloping as fast as they could, following the path to Fluttershy’s home.

“What do you mean by ‘They didn’t show up’?” Rainbow shouted, rolling around on the cloud she used as a bed for her midday nap. Lying on her belly, she could see the Mayor standing below. She was flanked by two pegasi, members of Ponyville’s weather patrol, just like Rainbow herself.

“It’s exactly as I said.”, the Mayor explained. “The two pegasi scheduled with weather duty this morning, never showed up to get their schedules.”

“We looked for them at their homes, to see if they’re just ill or something.”, one of the pegasi added. “But there were no sign that would lead to believe that they not went to work.”

The Mayor nodded. “And there’s more.”

Rainbow jumped up from her cloud, flying down and landing next to the mare. “More?”

“Yes, more. One of the post officers said that the mail pony is missing too. She forgot a package, when she went to her daily tour. He tried to follow her, but it looked like she never got past the first mailbox.”

Rainbow sat down, scratching her head with one of her hooves.
“Three pegasi missing? This can’t be a coincidence.”

“Well actually…” one of the other pegasi started.

“What? Don’t tell me…”

“We looked around town. Approximately one third of the pegasus ponies are missing.”

Rainbow’s jaw dropped and she stared at the three ponies before her. One third… missing? Thoughts racing through her mind, she recalled everything that happened the past days, trying to find something that could explain this, until the Mayor broke her concentration.

“Right now we’re going to everyone, asking if they’ve seen something. We would appreciate if you could look around too. And tell everyone that there will be a meeting in the town hall in one hour.”

The three ponies walked away, leaving Rainbow to her thoughts again.
What if they went somewhere together? No, that doesn’t make sense. Maybe they were kidnapped? But why would someone…
A single thought crossed her mind and led her to rush off immediately… ‘Fluttershy!’

They finally arrived at the cottage. Exhausted and out of breath Twilight sat down, letting Angel climb from her back. Meanwhile Applejack walked over to the door and knocked. Nothing happened. There was no sign of life in the house. After a while she knocked again. Like before there was no reaction from within.

Carefully she tried to open the door. It was not locked. The inside looked exactly like it was supposed to be. Everything was in order. If it weren’t for the fact that Angel brought them here, she would have thought that everything is okay. Except one thing, Fluttershy was not here.

She stepped out again, looking around to see Twilight watching Angel doing something that looked like a pantomime show.

“Ain’t anybody at home. Did ya’ find something Twi?”

“Well, I asked Angel what happened, but I don’t think I can understand what he’s trying to say.”

She looked down at the bunny, which now started to stomp on the ground, frustrated by his inability to tell them what he needed to tell. Applejack looked around, trying to find someone else, who could tell them what happened. Something at the surrounding of the cottage bothered her greatly. It took a while till she realized that it was the silence.

“It’s awful silent, ain’t it? Weren’t there dozens o’ little critters ‘round here?”

“Yes AJ, I noticed that too. They probably hide in their dens. The question is, from what are they hiding?”

“There’s only one way t’ find out!” She stomped hard on the ground right in front of Angel. The bunny startled because of the sudden move. “Okay ya’ little vermin, what has happened?”

Frustrated Angel stomped on the ground and started with his pantomime again, but gave up after seeing the puzzled faces of the two ponies before him. If only there could be a way for him to talk to them, like he could talk to Fluttershy. This way they would understand. Looking at them, trying to find an answer to his thoughts, his eyes found Twilights horn. Of course! That’s the answer! He started to jump up and down, pointing at the horn with his arms.

“Eh Twi, Ah think he wants ya’ t’ cast something.”

“Huh? How can you tell? He’s just jumping up and down, gesturing at my horn… oh! I get it! Maybe I can cast a spell so that he can talk to us.”

“Ya’ know a spell fo’ that?”

“No, I’ll have to improvise. Stand back, I don’t know if this will work.”

Clearing her mind and thoughts, Twilight concentrated on the bunny before her. She closed her eyes, concentrating. First she to find a spell she could alter to do what she wanted, but as she found none she just started to improvise, hoping that the spell would go right. Slowly her horn started to glow and a small violet band of light formed between it and Angel. After a few seconds the band vanished, leaving Angel glowing like her horn.

Twilight opened her eyes again.

“Did it work?”, Applejack asked.

“Well, we’ll find out. Angel, try to tell us what happened.”

Angel cleared his throat and opened his mouth. And then he started to talk.

“Also es war so: Ich stand hier vor meiner Hütte, Fluttershy wie immer um diese Uhrzeit dabei die anderen Tiere zu füttern, als…”

„Oh no, no, no. Ah cannot understand a single word.“

“But it worked. He can talk. Now let’s see if I can do something so that he talks in our language.” Her Horn started to glow again, in a slightly darker color this time. The Aura around Angel changed too, as did the language he was talking in.

“…ничего не вышло из облака, и как эти …”

“No Twilight, try again!”

The aura changed colors again, this time to a much lighter tone.

“…og derefter var væk Fluttershy …”

“Come on Twilight! Ya’ can do it!”

Twilights horn glowed brighter and brighter, until Angel was wrapped in light blue light.

“… and then I started running as fast as I could.” With his explanation done, he looked at the two ponies. Twilight seemed to be a little exhausted, while Applejack still had a confused look on her face.

“I’m sorry Angel, but could you please start from the beginning?”

Frustrated at how long all of this took he sighed and started again.
“I was standing right before my hut and Fluttershy fed the other animals, like she always does this time of the day. I turned around, hiding half of my carrot, so she wouldn’t scold me for not eating enough, as I heard her scream. As I turned around I could see her, getting surrounded by clouds. They came out of nowhere. It was like they ganged up on her, trying to trap her inside. As usual she was so paralyzed by her fear that she couldn’t get away. The clouds closed up completely forming one big cloud, and then it just moved away, taking Fluttershy with it. And then I started running as fast as I could.”

They stood there, gazing at Angel, trying to sort out what he just said. It didn’t make any sense. Clouds kidnapping a pegasus? Puzzled they looked at each other, but neither had a clue about what this could mean.

Applejack broke the silence. “Ain’t never heard o’ something like that.”

“Me neither. But what could that mean?”

They stood there again, thinking, forming theories and discarding them right after. Nothing seemed to make sense.

“Angel, can you remember anything strange about the clouds? Maybe their form or their color?”

Angel rubbed his chin with his paw. “Yes. Yes there was something. Their color was strange. Not the normal white or grey but a more metallic look… like they were made out of silver or something like that.”

Silver… Applejack echoed in her mind. A thought crossed her mind. But she quickly discarded it as a simple coincidence.

Before they could think further about it, a familiar blue pegasus rushed towards them, landing at their side.

“What are you guys doing here? Where’s Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked.

“Apparently she was kidnapped by a silver colored cloud.”, Twilight responded.

“She… WHAT?”

Standing on her cloud, high above Ponyville and out of sight for anyone but a pegasus, Silver gazed at the silver colored cloud before her. She could see the faint shadows of ponies inside of it.

I already got half of the town’s pegasi… but there’s not much time left.
She gritted her teeth, cursing her own actions. She hated doing this, she always hated it. But these were things she needed to do, because no one else could… or would… do it. It was always like this and she knew how the end will be. It happened so many times ago. Looking down at her glowing bracelet she sighed. Why do I always do this? Why can’t I just live happily without worrying or doing this kind of things? She sighed again. Muttering to herself. “I don’t want to… but it’s too late to stop now ... and if I don’t do it, who else would?”

Looking down, she could see the clouds gathering.

Chapter 3: Clouds

Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe it. Looking at each one of the nine pegasi standing before her, she rubbed her chin, thinking about what to do next. The emergency meeting the mayor had called for was long over and the earth ponies and unicorns were sent to their homes. The only ones left in the town hall, were Rainbow Dash and the nine standing in front of her. Apparently, all other pegasi were kidnapped. No one knew why. No one knew by whom. The only thing they knew was that they were all taken by silver clouds. To the pegasi this didn’t made any sense.

The mayor asked them to stay at the town hall for a while. But Rainbow didn’t like being trapped, even if it was for her own safety. Twilight and the others went to the library. ‘Don’t worry, I’m sure we can find something in my books about… this.’ she had said. Though she trusted her friends, just sitting there, waiting for something to happen, drove Rainbow crazy. The faces of the other ponies told her that they felt the same.

To make things even worse, the sky started to cover in clouds. Most of them had a normal shade of grey, but some of them were silver colored. Dash wondered if there could be any link between the clouds and the pegasus she met the day before. But why would she do that? And more importantly, how would she do it? The last time she saw her, her right wing was wrapped in bandages.

Frustrated she stomped on the floor, getting the attention of the others.

“Okay, listen! I’m tired of waiting! I say we go out there and search for the other pegasi!”

They looked at each other, mumbling and nodding. Rainbow waited till they all gave her their silent agreement.

“Here is the plan: I go out and clear the sky, trying to get the attention of whomever, or whatever, is responsible. You head out in teams of three and search for any sign of the other pegasi. They’ve got to be somewhere above the clouds and if anyone can find them, we can!”

The others stomped on the ground, eager to do their best to find their missing friends.

“It’s settled then. We’ll meet in an hour at the library. If we can’t find anything… “, she paused, looking through the window. “If we can’t find anything, then I hope Twilight and the others found something in one of those books.”

Rainbow walked to the hall exit. The door flew open as she hit it with her hoof, letting a cold wind blow through the hall. She shivered from the sudden temperature change.

“One last thing guys… “, she said against the wind. The other pegasi looked at her and tilted their ears.

“… don’t get caught too.”

Rainbow rocketed away into the sky, targeting a large patch of normal colored clouds. Her plan was to stay away from the silver ones as long as possible. Not that she was worried about them capturing her. Her pride wouldn’t even consider that to happen, she was the fastest flyer in all of Equestria after all.

There were only a few seconds of flying left, until she arrived at the cloud. “Here we go!” she thought to herself and sped up. She pierced right through it, ripping a large hole. “Well looks like this is easier than I thought.” Looking down she could see that the hole already started to fill up... with silver colored clouds. “Or maybe not.” She let out a frustrated sigh before piercing through the clouds again.

They stood there, watching Rainbow ascend into the sky. They admired her. Not only because she was faster than all of them, but also because she showed no fear. They held their breathes as she finally broke through the clouds and watched in horror as the clouds closed behind her faster than anyone of them could have imagined. Minutes passed. No one moved an inch. One of them let out a cheer of relief as Rainbow pierced through the clouds again.

Their hearts filled with new confidence. They looked at each other and unfolded their wings, ready to set off and do their part. The three groups of pegasi headed off, each one in a slightly different direction. Flying higher and higher they followed Rainbow’s example and searched for patches of normal clouds to break through.

All three groups managed to get over the clouds in visibility to each other. Two of them watched in horror as the clouds beneath the third group churned up, like the sea before a storm. The group disappeared under a wave of silver clouds. After seeing what happened to the others, the remaining pegasi spread out, staying away from the clouds as far as possible.

In the distance they could spot a large silver cloud, probably the size of the town hall and in front of it the shadow of a pony, standing on a small cloud, was visible. With their target and a possible explanation in front of their eyes, they forgot about the fear and sped up, flying right through a field of little silver clouds. Only 4 of them made it to the other side.

The wind howled in their ears. Their wings exhausted from fighting against it, they forced themselves forward. Their target, now clearly identifiable as a pegasus, was right before them. Another one of them hit a cloud, but they couldn’t give up now. Clouds gathered before them, forming a tunnel towards the unknown pony.

Throwing all caution aside, they flew right into it. The walls around them came closer, slowly decreasing the tunnel’s size. A scream for help caused the leading pegasus to look behind. Seeing her last two comrades get trapped she put all her courage together and rocketed forward, pushing her wings to its limit.

The exit of the tunnel shrank with every passing second. Only a few meters away from it, the hind legs of the last pegasus got stuck between the closing walls. She lost control of her flight, landing hard on the cloud below. The last thing she saw, before the clouds completely surrounded her, was a dark blue leg with a glowing silver bracelet around its ankle.

Rainbow breathed heavily, while hovering in midair above Ponyville. “This is ridiculous! The holes close up faster than I can rip them!” She threw her hooves up in frustration.

To make things worse, she had not seen any sign of the others. She looked around, searching for a hole in the clouds or any other indication that would point towards the other pegasi being there. “I hope the others are ok.” she said to herself.

She took one last glance at the clouds above before turning around, flying in the direction of the library. Maybe Twilight and the others found something in the books, something that could explain everything happening. The great treehouse came into view and Rainbow lowered her speed, landing in front of the entrance.

She pushed the door open and entered the library. The inside was a mess. Books lay all over the floor. In the middle of the room sat Twilight, surrounded by large piles of books. She was skimming through a thick old tome, her horn glowing bright. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration and her face was covered in sweat.

Applejack stood near one of the bookshelves, scratching her head while browsing through the book titles. Once in a while, she grabbed one out of the shelf, dropped it to the ground and flipped through it, before kicking it away with a frustrated grunt.

Rarity stood on the other side of the room, mumbling something while trying to rearrange the books on the ground into a less chaotic shape. The scene was absurd: AJ on one side, thoughtlessly throwing books around; Rarity on the other side, collecting the books on the ground and rearrange them into small stacks.

Looking around more Rainbow could see Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sitting in a corner. They had a glum look on their faces, telling everyone who knew their usually enthusiastic temper that they weren’t meant to be CMC librarians. But they tried to help nonetheless. It took Dash a moment to realize that one of them was missing. “Of course, Scootaloo’s a pegasus, she probably got caught too… poor fillies.” she thought to herself.

For a moment she stood there, silent. She was proud to have such friends, yet worried because the way they worked meant they had not found anything.

And then Pinkie Pie came out of the back room. Hopping around, she moved from bookshelf to bookshelf, looking at single books before hopping away again. From time to time she giggled, probably because she found a title sounding funny. Though it didn’t fit the overall atmosphere in the library, Rainbow couldn’t help but smile. Seeing her friend laughing filled her with hope. Hope that they would find a way out of this mess. Hope to find their missing friends.

And then it struck her. “Wait, where are the other pegasi? Don’t tell me they…”

“Hey Rainbow! Didn’t you stay at the town hall together with the other pegasi? Good that you’re here now! I found a book filled with awesome pranks and we should totally try them out when…”

“Pinkie Pie, this is not the time for pranks.” she said in a grumpy tone.

“Oh I know you silly filly! Now is the time to read!” Pinkie hopped away, looking at the bookshelves again.

Applejack stepped near Rainbow. “Didn’t the mayor ask ya’ t’ stay at the town hall with the others?”

“Well AJ you see…”

“Let me guess: you got bored and headed out on your own, didn’t find anything and decided to visit us.” Twilight said without looking up from her book.

“How did you know? Did one of the other pegasi tell you? Where are they?”

Applejack gave her a confused look. “No, Pinkie saw ya’ flying earlier, ya’re the only pegasus here. Ain’t they at the town hall?”

Rainbow sat down, shocked and dazed by the words her friend had said.

“What? Did Ah say something wrong?” AJ asked in confusion.

“They’re gone… we left the hall together. I started a diversion so that they could search for … “

Applejack stomped on the ground. “Rainbow Dash, why do ya’ never listen?” She looked at her angrily.

“Aha!”

Twilight’s loud shout interrupted them. They all gathered in the middle of the library, curious what she did find out.

“Did you find something?” Rarity asked.

“Yes… well, maybe.”

“What do you mean, maybe?” Rainbow hovered nervous above Twilight, trying to look into the book she was reading.

“Well it’s nothing that really explains everything happening, but it’s a hint. You see, on this page a type of weather magic is mentioned. Though it’s not clearly stated how it works, it might have something to do with our situation.”

“And how can it be relevant to our situation?”

“You see, the spell is called Living Clouds.”

Silence spread out through the library as each one of them thought about what Twilight said. Though they finally had a hint at what was going on, this single discovery led to more questions than answers. If this was a type of magic than who used it? And more importantly: why?

Applejack was the first to break the silence “Does the book say anything else about that spell other than its name?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, though it’s pretty… vague. According to this text passage, the spell can be used to create clouds which can move on their own, controlled by the will of whoever created them.” She used her magic to flip to the next page, eager to read more about this spell. “What the… someone ripped out a page! The rest of the description is missing!”

“What? Who could’ve done that?” the others shouted in unison. They looked at each other, but no one seemed to have an answer. Twilight stared at the rest of the page that was left inside the book.

“Well, it looks like this happened long ago… maybe it’s just bad luck.”

“Bad luck? How many ancient tomes, with ripped out pages, are in this library?” Rainbow’s patience started to fade and she circled around the room, frustrated by the situation. “How are we supposed to find answers when the books holding them are damaged by bad luck?”

“We could ask her!” Pinkies cheerful voice stopped the ranting. They looked at her, confused by her words. Pinkie stood near the window, pointing to the sky. High above, below the clouds and barely visible, there was a single cloud… with a pony standing on top of it. Despite being far away, the dark blue coat of it was easily noticeable against the silver background.

Without hesitation, Rainbow rocketed to the door. Only a few inches away something stopped her and pulled her backwards. Looking behind she could see Applejack, holding her tail with her mouth.

“Hold ya’ horses Rainbow. Ya’re not going outside again.” she said.

“Don’t you see? This may be our only chance to get some answers!”

“Applejack is right Rainbow, it’s too dangerous to go out there! We can’t let you get caught too.” Twilight said while moving to Applejacks side.

“I won’t get caught! I’m the fastest flyer in all of Equestria! Now let go!”

“Darling, please. Listen to us just this one time.” Rarity laid one hoof on her shoulder, trying to ease her temper.

Rainbow let out a frustrated sigh. “Fine, I won’t go out.”

Applejack spit out her tail. “Now that ya’re reasonable we can…”

The instant her tail was free, Rainbow rushed out of the door, ascending into the sky.
”I’m sorry everypony, but this might be our only chance and I won’t let it slip away.”

“YOU!”

Startled by the sudden noise, Silver shrugged. Her Cloud trembled as Rainbow landed hard on it. She quickly moved closer, reducing the distance between them. Standing only a few inches away, she looked angrily at her.

“So it really is you! I didn’t want to believe it, but the evidence is clear!”

Silver looked away, trying to avoid eye contact with the enraged pegasus. But Rainbow circled around her, staring at her, making her attempts to look away useless.

“What have you done to the other pegasi?”

Giving up on trying to avoid her gaze, Silver simply looked to the cloud below them.
“They’re safe, don’t worry. I just needed to…”, she stopped, looking away again.

“You needed to what? Spit it out!”

“I… I need to make sure no one interferes.”

“No one interferes? INTERFERES WITH WHAT?” Rainbow jumped at her, pinning her down on the cloud. Her patience was at its limit. She needed answers.

Silver looked to the side, tears gathering in her eyes. “Interfere with the storm”, she said quietly.

“Storm?” Rainbow looked at her, searching for a meaning behind her words. Suddenly Silver looked at her, her eyes filled with unexpected determination.

“Yes, Storm.” A tear ran down her cheek. “I’m sorry, but I need to do this. I vowed that I will do whatever I must to never let anyone feel the same loneliness I feel. And I will live up to that, no matter what it will take.”

Rainbow looked up in confusion, thoughts running through her mind. “Storm? Feel the same loneliness? What does she mean by that? No, I’ve got time to answer that later, now I need to stop her!” The glowing bracelet around Silver’s ankle caught her attention. The glow had something familiar. It took Rainbow only a few seconds to get the idea. It glows just like a unicorn horn! But how was this possible? But there was no time for questions, she needed to act now! Lifting her front hoof she aimed at the bracer.

“Let’s see what happens if I break this!”

“No, you don’t know what…”

The moment Rainbow’s hoof hit the bracelet it pulsed with energy, releasing a shockwave which threw her back, right into another cloud. Dazed by the shock she tried to move away, but her limbs were shackled by the silver mass she was thrown into. Something hard hit her on the head and her vision started to blur as the cloud closed itself around her. But before losing her consciousness, she could take one last look at Silver. She just stood there with a sad face, looking at the clouds below.

Though it was only a whisper, Rainbow could hear one last thing.

“I’m sorry.”

Chapter 4: Memories

Silver breathed heavily. Since Rainbow had jumped at her, her wing wouldn’t stop hurting. No one ever came so close to her. No one ever stood up to her the way Rainbow had. No one ever even considered attacking her bracelet. She looked down at the glowing silver band. She didn’t know what happened when Rainbow hit it and still wasn’t sure if the shockwave was a reflex of herself or just an overflow of magic from the bracelet. Whichever it was, it had exhausted her. Maintaining control over her clouds was strain enough, even without anyone disturbing her.

“Maybe it would be better if she had broken it” she muttered to herself.

The glow around the bracelet pulsed a little, changing its color to a light blue tone. Silver was always fascinated how the colors changed whenever she looked at the bracelet. Though she knew it was impossible, she imagined it to react on her mood and feelings. As if the bracelet read her thoughts, the color changed again to light green. Silver sighed, focusing back on the clouds ahead.

“Who am I fooling? I could never let anything like that happen.”

‘Of course you could not! The bracelet is a part of who you are! Just think about how it would be without it!’

Silver shrugged by the sudden noise in her head, but relaxed after realizing that it was only one of the voices; the voices in her mind; the voices that were her only company for so long. She couldn’t remember when she first heard them, but ever since they appeared they were there for her. Some of them encouraged her, some of them scolded her, some of them acted as a conscience; though she couldn’t always tell which one is which.

Sometimes she dreamed about them too. These dreams were always the same. Surrounded by thick fog, she could see the shadows of ponies. But no matter how hard she tried, she never managed to see the faces that belonged to the voices. It weren’t the most pleasant dreams. Alone, trapped in fog and surrounded by shadows that argue with each other.

Sometimes the voices had a familiar sound, but she never could tell why. So she just gave in and listened to what they said.

‘You really overdid it this time!’ yelled one of the voices.

‘Don’t be too hard on her! You know she has a reason too!’ answered another.

‘No, no, no. Kidnapping pegasi and initiating a storm of this magnitude? What reason could there be to justify that?’

‘You know the reason! It’s always the same reason!”

‘Bah! That stupid oath of her, what good did it bring?’

‘That’s right. Silver, you really should think about yourself sometime. Do you want to leave this town, like you did so many before?’

Silver grit her teeth, knowing that the voice hit a wound spot. “No, I don’t want to leave again. But I’ve got no choice. You know that.” she angrily murmured to herself.

‘No choice? Don’t make me laugh! You always had a choice! You had a choice as you nearly killed that unicorn in the last town! You had a choice as you stole this food in the town before! You had a choice as you…‘ The voice raged on, listing everything choice she mad in the past. Judging and taunting her for every mistake. ‘…and don’t forget you biggest mistake! Don’t forget how your mother…’

‘That’s enough!’ rumbled a voice, louder than all the others before. The voices became silent, hushed in the presence of this specific one. Although it seemed to be the most powerful of them, it was also the most calm, the most familiar and the most kind. ‘She suffers enough from the memories, no need to rub in every time.’

Silver shivered from the sudden silence. Although she knew they were not real, these voices were the only thing that kept her company. They were what kept her from loosing herself. She needed them.

‘You know, you can always throw it away, if you want to!’ one voice whispered through the silence.

“Throw it away?”

‘Yes throw it all away! The bracelet… the power… the responsibility… the loneliness. everything!’

“Throw it away…” she whispered to herself. The first drops of rain poured from the sky. But Silver didn’t notice them. Her mind drifted away, picturing memories from long ago.

The sun fell through the window and bathed the room in a warm light. The room was small, but not uncomfortable. A few bookshelves were aligned on one wall and there was a big bed on the other end of it. A bench was aligned right before the window, allowing everyone who sat on it to enjoy the view to the outside. This day a pegasus filly with a dark blue coat sat on it.

Silver shrugged as the light fell on her eyes. She tried to protect them with one of her front hooves, letting out a frustrated grunt. Everyone would expect that a young pegasus like her would fly around and play on a day like this, yet she sat in her room, looking out of the window. The reason could be found outside.

There were five unicorn fillies on the street, playing some sort of ball game. Throwing around the ball using their magic, they laughed and cheered at each other. Though for an outside viewer this scene was peaceful, even filled with joy, for Silver things were different. They were taunting her. Every time she tried to join them, every time she tried to make friends with them, they always refused. They made fun of her, simply because she was one of only two pegasi in a town full of unicorns. She let out a long frustrated sigh.

“Why so glum my little pony?” asked a deep and warm voice behind her.

Silver hadn’t noticed that the door had opened. She turned around and looked at the unicorn stallion standing there. Smiling he walked over to her and sat down on the bench. He looked at the little filly, which just continued to look outside with a depressed expression on her face. He followed her gaze. “Ah I see. Did they make fun of you again?”

“They’re always making fun of me!” Silver threw up her hooves in frustration, turning to the unicorn besides her. She looked at his dark purple coat, followed the flow of his grey mane up to the horn on his forehead. She lowered her eyes, sighing again.

“I see.”

“What do you see? How could you understand?” she shouted at him, letting out all the frustration that had built up inside of her. “You don’t know how it feels to be different than everyone! How it feels to be the only pegasus in town! How it feels to have no friends!”

“You still have me and your mother.”

“It’s not the same! You are a unicorn! And mother cannot fly anymore. It’s not fair.” Tears filled her eyes and she leaned against his side. He patted her on the head gently.

“You know, you’re wrong on one point.” he said with a calm voice.

“Huh?” she looked up, trying to find the meaning of his words.

“They are not making fun of you because you’re not a unicorn, but because they’re jealous.”

“Jealous?”

“Yes, jealous.” he let out a warm laughter. “Jealous because you can do a thing they will never be able to.”

“And that is?”

He looked out of the window, laughing again. “They can never fly, of course.”

She flapped a few times with her wings before folding them to her side again. “Great. And what use is it if I can fly but do not have any magic like everyone else?”

“You’re wrong again. Every pony has magic inside of them.” Looking down he could see the confused look on her face. “I see. You do not believe me, right?” She nodded and he laughed again. “But it’s true! Everyone has magic inside, though it’s not always the type of magic a unicorn uses.” he stood up and walked to the bookshelves, searching through the titles while continuing his explanation. “Everything that makes a pony special can be counted as magic; magic that only this single pony has.”

“But when every pony has magic, how come that only unicorns can cast spells?”

“It’s simple; unicorns have more magic than earth ponies and pegasi. The magic running through them is what makes them unicorns at all. But that does not mean that there are no non-unicorns with high magic potential out there. They just lack a certain something to utilize it.”

“They lack a certain something?”

He turned away from the bookshelf, looking at Silver and using one of his front legs to point at his forehead. The horn glowed in a soft green light.

“Oh, right; the horn, how could I’ve forgotten that?” She let out a grunt and looked away. Why does it always end with a hint at the horn? The unicorn sat down beside her again, levitating a book in front of him. Curious she looked at it. “Theories Of Magical Foci? What a strange title.”

The stallion laughed again. “Yes it is a strange title, fitting for a book written by an earth pony magician.”

“Now you’re making fun of me! An earth pony magician? That’s not possible. You said it yourself.”

“No, I said that they lack a certain something, not that it’s impossible. You see, the author of this book spent his whole life trying to find away around this problem.” He opened the book and read the name. “Greymane the Hornless, do you want to know what made him want to be a magician?” Silver grunted and looked out of the window again. “Well, I’ll tell you anyway. He was the son of an earth pony and a unicorn. A half unicorn, if you want to say it that way.”

Silver looked at the book curious. This one sentence was enough to stir her attention. “But how did he manage to be a magician without a horn?”

“That’s what this book is about. Let me say it as easy as possible.” He stood up and walked up and down the room, thinking about how to phrase the words. “The question is: does the horn of a unicorn hold the magic or does it just utilize the magic inside of the body? The answer is the latter. The horn just acts as a focus, allowing its owner to concentrate and form the magic that resides within them.” He looked to Silver and judging by her puzzled look he could tell that she didn’t understand. “Okay, another try. Assuming a unicorn loses its horn. What does happen to its magic? Will it fade away or just not be usable anymore?” He walked out of the room, leaving a confused pegasus filly behind.

After a few minutes he returned, levitating a silver bracelet before him. “This bracelet is a gift for you.”

“Huh?” Silver tilted her head, overstrained by the situation.

The stallion levitated the bracelet to her right front leg. With a clicking sound it closed around her ankle, hanging loosely on top of her hoof. “Don’t worry; when you’re grown up it will fit perfectly.”

Silver looked at the bracelet. “But, why do you…”

“No complains! This bracelet is my gift to you. Always value it greatly, because only then it can act as your focus.”

“Act as my focus?”

“Yes, act as your focus or in easier words: it can act as your horn. But only if you value it the way a unicorn values its horn.” He turned around, walking towards the exit of the room.

“But, how can I use it?”

“It’s all described in the book. I’m sure you will be able to find out by yourself.” he answered without turning around.

Silver doubtful looked at the bracelet. “But, how can you be so sure that I can use it at all?”

He turned to her and laughed again. “Oh you silly filly, I’m sure because you’re my daughter. Never forget that.”

A rolling thunder behind her broke her out of her memories. The rain already poured down on Ponyville. Her mane and coat were soaked with water. She looked down to the glowing bracelet again, sighing in relief that it still glowed.

“Throw it away…” she repeated the suggestion of the voice again. “No, I could never throw it away.”

‘Why hold on to it? Have you forgotten that your father left the day after he gave it to you? He never came back! He never cared for you or your mother!’

She closed her eyes. She hated that one voice. It always spoke about the things that hurt her most. Why it did that she didn’t know, nor did she care. “I know he left.” she answered in a grumpy tone. “But no matter how bad you talk about him, he will always be my father and this bracelet is my only remembrance left of him.” and silently she added: “And it’s the only thing left of home.”

The voice faded. All she could hear was the sound of the falling rain. Though the silence was some kind of relief, she could not feel happy about it. She was alone again.

The cloud beneath her started to move down to the houses of Ponyville. It was time to see if her plan worked out the way she wanted. Slowly she flew from house to houses, looking through each window, trying to find the one that mattered.

She could see ponies lying in their beds or on the floor. In another house there were a group of ponies, embracing each other, probably in an attempt to wipe their fear away. She could even see some ponies playing some type of board game. But none of this was relevant to her. The cloud sped up as she finally spotted the one building she was searching for.

Nearing the window she took a look inside. The inside was dark, not even a candle burned inside. For a moment her heart sank. Had she failed? Was all her effort in vain? A thunder illuminated the sky, allowing her to peek inside. She could see the shadows of many beds, aligned on the wall. On one of them three shades were visible; a little one in the middle, with two bigger embracing it from each side.

Silver smiled and ordered her cloud to move back to her position high above Ponyville. She had found what she searched for, now all that mattered was that she could control the storm long enough.

“This will be tough.” she whispered to the raging clouds above.

Chapter 5: Rain

“Rainbow, you’re finally awake. Thank goodness…”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes slowly opened. She moaned, her head hurting like never before. Hey view was still blurred as she spotted a familiar yellow shade in front of her. “Fluttershy? Is that you?”

Fluttershy gave her a long hug, burying her face in Rainbow’s mane. “I was so worried.” she whispered. Rainbow could feel that her timid friend was shaking.

After giving in to the hug for a while, she gently pushed Fluttershy aside “I’m okay, just got a massive headache.” Fluttershy nodded, her body still shaking. Rainbow waited, until she had calmed down a bit, before asking the next question. “How long did I sleep?”

“I-I’m not sure. It’s really hard to tell. Though, judging from the amount of light that gets in here now, and the earlier darkness which clearly was night… you slept probably a whole day.” she quietly replied.

“A whole day?” Rainbow exclaimed, shock in her voice. Though her view was still a little blurred, Rainbow looked around. In every direction she could see walls that looked like clouds. Silver colored clouds. They formed a large room, at least the size of the town hall, which was filled with pegasus ponies, all pegasus ponies of Ponyville to be exact. In one corner of the room stood a large amount of buckets, filled with what looked like apples and water, probably enough for a whole week. “Where are we?”

“I-I’m sorry, I don’t know”, Fluttershy said. “But some of the others said that it is the inside of a giant cloud.”

“The inside of a cloud?” Rainbow gave her a puzzled look.

The yellow Pegasus nodded. “Yes, the pegasi that…” she stopped, her voice shifting into a quiet whisper. “… came here before you, said that they saw a giant cloud, and someone they thought to be responsible in front of it.”

“Oh, I know who is responsible. And when I get her, I better hope she has some better answers than before. These didn’t explain anything at all.” Rainbow jumped up, not willing to sit any longer.

Now it was Fluttershy’s turn to look puzzled. “Y-You know who did this?”

“Yes, I do. And I will go out there and get some answers from her! There is no way a cloud can hold Rainbow Dash.” She hopped of the ground, flapping her wings and heading towards the middle of the room, accelerating fast. She was so concentrated on speeding up that she did not recognize the quiet shouts of Fluttershy, begging her to wait. It didn’t matter anyway as she could talk to her after their escape, or at least that was what Rainbow thought.

She flew a couple of small circles inside the cloud room, catching up more speed. Finally she decided that it was time to get out. She looked around, searching for a part of the cloud to break through. With a last flap of her wings she dashed in the direction of a suitable spot. Fluttershy tried to get in her way, but was simply pushed aside.

Rainbow prepared herself for the breakthrough, already thinking about her next steps, as she hit the wall head on. It was hard as metal, and her world exploded in pain. Sparks of light started dancing before her eyes. Her view blurred again and the last thing she could see, before losing consciousness again, was Fluttershy’s worried face.

Rain poured down from the sky and onto the windows of Carousel Boutique. Through the window, Rarity stared at the dark silver clouds hanging over Ponyville. She had never seen a storm like this. Streams of water were running down the houses and into the growing lake that was the street just hours ago. As if the amount of water was not enough, occasionally the sky was lit by bright lightning, followed by terrifying thunder.

A new bolt illuminated the sky, striking down only a few dozen meters away from the Carousel Boutique. She jumped back from the window in shock, her heart beating wild. What if one of these would strike down on her boutique? Maybe she should have stayed with Twilight and the others in the library. After all, Twilight had this lightning warden spell to protect her home. Slowly her heartbeat normalized again, and with it the fear filled thoughts faded away.

Rarity stepped back to the window. She wondered how her friends were doing. She still felt guilty for leaving them, not that she could help them that much, after all magic was Twilight’s specialty and not hers. But she could not deny that she left them for selfish motives. Reasons others would even call unreasonable or even plain stupid. She hated to admit it, but in the back of her head she knew they were right. Leaving her friends alone, because she couldn’t stand the dust filled air in the library any longer, was a stupid reason. Normally, dusty books and air wouldn’t be a problem, but she couldn’t even read the tomes Twilight brought out of the back room. In the end, it was just the justification she needed for herself, to hide from her feelings of uselessness.

She turned away from the window and slowly trotted over to her bed. On it laid Sweetie Belle, sleeping. Instead of a blanket she used her Cutie Mark Crusader cape. Rarity looked down on her peaceful sleeping sister, and she could feel a tight knot in her stomach. It was unfair of her to use Sweetie Belle as an excuse to get away from the library. She knew that, but it was too late to go back anyway.

No, she could not just stand there and do nothing. There had to be something she could do for her friends. Something that did not involve getting her mane and coat messed up in the rain. Something that did not involve burrowing through mountains of old, dusty books.

She looked around her room, searching for inspiration. Her gaze fell upon a bolt of special cloth she had bought a few weeks ago. Of course, why didn’t she think of that earlier! She used her magic to levitate the fabric in front of her. Gently she touched it with one of her hooves, rubbing along the smooth material.

Using her magic, she levitated a glass of water to her, holding it right above the fabric. Without hesitation she turned the glass, and the water poured down on the textile. But instead of soaking the cloth, the water just formed little drops on top if, rolling around with every move. Rarity tilted the fabric a little and the water rolled down and fell onto the floor. Not a single wet stain was left on it. Yes, this will be perfect; she thought to herself. Relieved that she finally found a way to help her friends, Rarity walked to her working table, and started working on a pattern. For the first time this day, she smiled to herself. These raincoats will be fabulous.

“Ugh, nothing in this one either.” Twilight let out a frustrated grunt and tossed the book away. It landed on top of a large pile, in front of an empty bookshelf, releasing a dusty cloud into the library.

“Twilight, sugarcube, ya’ really should take a break. Ya’ haven’t slept for two days.” Applejack stood beside her friend, resting a hoof on her shoulder. With concern filled eyes, she looked at Twilight. She had never seen her looking this bad. Her mane was a mess and her eyes looked tired. Slowly she shook her head.

“Sorry Applejack, but I can’t rest now. There must be something in the books. I just need to search harder.” Twilight smiled, trying to hide her tiredness. Although it seemed that she was doing this more to assure herself than her friend.

Applejack shook her head. “No Twilight, ya’ ain’t doing any good pushing yourself this far. Ya’ need t' rest now.”

Twilight’s smile faded. She stood up, glaring at her friend with narrowed eyes. “How can I just sit back and rest now? How can I rest while our friends are in danger? How can I rest while outside is… THIS!” She pointed to the window, a lightning illuminated the outside the very same instant, as if it were to underpin her words.

A shiver ran down Applejack’s spine; a knot forming in her stomach. The way Twilight had said these things made her feel guilty. Not guilty for telling her friend to rest, but guilty for not being any help. She had stopped trying to understand any of the books, Twilight was reading, shortly after Rarity and Pinkie Pie had left the library. She let out a long sigh. “Ah’m sorry Twi. Ah’m sorry, Ah can’t help ya’ with the research. Ah’m sorry, Ah can’t do anything for Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy or anypony else.” She looked down to the ground, scratching on the floor with her hoof. “But Ah ain’t taking back what Ah said. Ya’ need t' rest. Ya’ can’t keep going like that forever. That wouldn’t help anypony!”

Twilight closed her eyes, letting out a long sigh. She looked around the library. Mountains of books lay all over the floor. Nearly every bookshelf was empty, and those which weren’t held books about cooking, tailoring or other, for the situation useless, topics. The air was filled with dust, everything looked gray and dull. It would take her forever to get things cleaned and back in order. Twilight suddenly felt very tired. She knew Applejack was right, she was at her limit. Maybe she should rest just a little bit… “No! Everpony is counting on me! I can’t sit back and rest while our friends are out there!” She shouted at Applejack, letting out all the frustration of the past days. She felt tears filling her eyes. Were they tears of anger or frustration? She didn’t know.

Applejack stepped closer, looking deep into Twilight’s eyes before wrapping her legs around her neck. For a while, the only sound that filled the library, was that of raindrops hammering against the windows.

Finally Applejack let go of her friend. “Feelin’ better now?”

Twilight nodded. Every part of her body screamed for a rest. Until this point, her willpower was all that kept her going. “Maybe a short nap… only a few minutes.” Before she even realized it, she fell on her side, quickly falling asleep.

With a triumphant smile, Applejack shoved a pillow below the head of her sleeping friend. Letting out a long yawn, she remembered that she hadn’t slept for two days too. With a sigh, she fetched another pillow and lay down too. Soon the library was filled with a loud snore.

Applebloom woke up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Although she insisted to be treated like the grown up pony she was, her sister had forced her to sleep. She didn’t want to sleep, she wanted to help. But as soon as Applejack had laid her on Twilight’s bed, she had fallen asleep. She jumped up, fully rested and ready to help her friends again.

A lightning struck down in front of the window, illuminating the room, followed by a loud thunder. Applebloom found herself hiding under Twilight’s blanket, staring at the rain outside.

Suddenly a shadow passed by in front of the window. Curious she slid out of the bed and sneaked up to it. It rained even more than before she went to sleep, making it hard to see anything. But there was it again: a shadow, flying from house to house.

Another lightning struck down, causing Applebloom to jump away from the window. But the lightning had a good side: it allowed her to clearly see the pegasus pony, she previously only saw as a shadow, and the cloud it stood on.

Quickly she ran down the stairs into the main room of the library, calling out for her sister. The only answer she got was a loud snore. Applebloom let out a frustrated sigh as she stepped to her sleeping sister. “Wake up sis’. There’s somepony out there that looks like she knows what’s going on.”

Applejack continued snoring. Applebloom tried to wake her by nudging her. The only reaction was a grunt as Applejack changed her sleeping position. Frustrated she looked to Twilight, who didn’t seem like she would wake up either.

Applebloom sighed. “Seems like Ah need to take things in mah own hooves.” She ran to the door and kicked it open. The rain immediately fell in through the opening, accompanied by a lightning. Applebloom took a few steps back, a knot of fear forming in her throat. “No, Ah need to be brave now! For mah friends; for Scootaloo!” She swallowed her fear and ran out into the storm.

Chapter 6: Responsibility

“APPLEBLOOM! AAAAPPLEBLOOM!” Applejack’s shouts echoed through the rain. Her coat and mane were soaked with rain water and her hooves were covered in mud. Water splashed in every direction as she stepped into another puddle.

Twilight ran behind her, her horn glowing in soft light. Suddenly she turned to the right. “This way!” she shouted in Applejack’s direction.

A massive bolt of lightning could be seen in the distance. Applejack hearth skipped a beat as she realized that it was in the direction Twilight pointed to.

As they sped up, galloping through the raid, neither Twilight nor Applejack noticed that the rain weakened and the thunder stopped.

“M-Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.” Applebloom stuttered. She had curled up under an old tree, her fur and mane completely soaked with water. She sneezed and shivered as the cold wind blew around her.

She had followed the strange pegasus with the cloud through the town, until she lost track of her. The rain got stronger and prevented her from seeing anything farther away than a few hoofsteps. She stumbled around till she found the tree, under which she lay now.

“Big sis’… please… Ah need you…” she cried into the wind.

At least it couldn’t get any worse, she thought to herself.

And then the lightning hit the tree behind her, splitting it in half.

Silver let out a sigh of relief. Finally she was able to shake off the earth pony following her. Though she had to admit, she never had imagined anyone leaving their houses, or even chasing her! Though, it boggled her mind why anyone would even try to follow her through this storm.

She lay down on her cloud, allowing herself to rest for a few minutes. Her heavy breath and the falling rain was everything she could hear. Her ears tilted to the side, fearing that maybe the pony chasing her hadn’t given up and was just waiting for an opportunity like this.

Minutes passed as a realization hit her. She hit her forehead with one of her hooves. “Stupid, stupid! Why didn’t I just fly higher?” She let out a long tired yawn. The glow of her bracelet intensified a bit as she ordered the cloud to rise higher into the air.

And then her ear caught the crying shouts of a pony, barely noticeable through the constant noise of falling water. She followed the direction where the sound came from. A lone tree, which got split in half by a massive bolt of lightning the very instant she looked at it. “Oh no… please don’t be there… ” she whispered. The faint shadow of a little pony was barely visible in front of it. Her cloud couldn’t move fast enough to get there before something terrible…

Silver quickly unfolded her wings, ripping away the water soaked bandages in the process. Gritting her teeth to suppress the pain, she jumped up from her cloud and flew as fast as she could.

Applebloom couldn’t move. Shock froze her in place, as the half of the tree slowly fell in her direction. It seemed to fall forever. She couldn’t look away. No matter how much she tried, her legs wouldn’t move. “Sis’… help…”

Someone jumped at her, throwing her away from the falling tree, seconds before it impacted on the ground. Applebloom and her savior rolled away in a tangle of legs, wet manes, tails and wings.

As they finally came to a halt, Applebloom lay on top of another pony. “Big sis’, is that you?” she asked. The answer came in form of two wings that slowly waved in front of her eyes, before she was thrown of by the Pegasus below her. The Pegasus she now identified as the one she was chasing. Surprisingly she could see her very well, despite the rain and the, through the thick storm clouds, weakened light. No, that was wrong. There was enough light. It originated from the glowing bracelet that the Pegasus wore right above her right front hoof. She looked down on Applebloom with her silver colored eyes, a saddened and regretful expression in her face.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, her voice calm and comforting, but also filled with great weariness.

Applebloom sat up and shook her head. She opened her mouth, trying to say something, but Silver had already turned away from her. She watched in awe as the light around the bracelet grew stronger. A small silver cloud formed in front of Silver, growing fast until it was the same size as the cloud she had seen her on before.

Silver turned her head to Applebloom. “You shouldn’t be outside, get back home now. …please.”

“Wait, why…”

“APPLEBLOOM! Get away from her!”

Applebloom turned around and smiled. “Big sis’! Ya’ve found me!”

Applejack galloped past her and placed herself between Silver and the filly. She put on an aggressive stance and glared at Silver with narrowed eyes. “You…” she growled.

Silver shrugged and took a step back from the threatening sight of the enraged earth pony. She bit her lip, asking herself why she didn’t leave faster. Now she had to deal with one of these ponies again. This one seemed even more eager to attack her than Rainbow Dash had. She hated it.

“Big sis’ what are ya’ doing? She sa… “

“Stay behind me Applebloom. She’s dangerous!”

Twilight finally reached the scene, panting heavily. Her gaze immediately fell on the pegasus. “Who’s that?”

“Silver…” Applejack hissed as response.

“What?” Twilight narrowed her eyes, soaking in every detail of the Pegasus before her. She stood there, her dark blue coat soaked with rain water. Her wings were folded on her flank, though Twilight could see that one of them seemed to be injured. Behind her a little silver colored cloud hovered a few inches above the ground. Her gaze fell upon the glowing bracelet. It glows just like a unicorn horn! Could that mean… “So, Applejack and Rainbow Dash are right! You are responsible for the storm!”

Silver shrugged, taking a step back, her tail touching the cloud. It was hard enough to face the orange earth pony, a unicorn will make things much more complicated. “Please go home. I don’t want anypony to get hurt.” She said with an unsteady, weak voice.

Applejack stance didn’t change, but Twilight’s ears perked up. “You want what? What do you mean? Why are you doing this?” she shouted.

Silver looked to the ground and sighed, water running down her face, dripping to the ground. To Twilight it almost seamed that she was crying, but she quickly dismissed this thought as imagination, the water clearly originated from the rain.

Silver’s head jerked back up. Her sad expression replaced by a stern determination. “I do what I must, and I won’t stop no matter what you say or do!” With her last word, the stormed gained strength, the rain poured down more relentless and a lightning struck down in the distance.

“But why are you doing this?”

“Because I won’t let anyone suffer the same way I suffer!” Silver took a quick jump backwards, landing on top of the cloud.

“What?” Twilight and Applejack shouted in unison.

“Big sis’, Twilight, please stop! She sa… “

“Rainbow Dash didn’t understand. You wouldn’t understand either.”

“Rainbow Dash? WHAT DID YA’ DO TO HER?” Applejack shouted, galloping forward towards Silver. The cloud quickly moved upwards out of her reach, the unexpected move knocked her off balance. She landed hard on the wet and muddy ground.

“Whatever reason you have to do this, you need to stop this storm!” Twilight shouted.

“I can’t stop now. I need more time, only a little more…” The cloud quickly moved away, gaining height with every passing second.

Twilight concentrated, her horn glowing in multiple layers. This may be her only chance to stop whatever Silver was doing! She reached out with her magic, trying to get hold of the cloud and pull it back down. As her magic reached the cloud, the light from Silver’s bracelet grew brighter, until it was nearly blinding everyone that looked up at her. A shockwave erupted from the bracelet. The loud bang ringed in Twilight’s ears, waves of pain shot through her horn. She fell to the ground, panting heavily, the light around her horn fading slowly.

“What happened?” Applejack asked as she sat down besides the exhausted unicorn, her voice still growling in anger.

“I… don’t… know…”

They both looked up, but there was no trace of Silver left.

Applebloom sat beside them, a pained expression in her eyes. “Why did you attack her? She saved me!”

Twilight and Applejack both stared at her in surprise and confusion.

Silver fell down on her cloud, feeling more exhausted than ever before. Every muscle in her body screamed for rest. At least, it distracted her from the pain in her right wing.

She stared down at her bracelet. It still glowed, although less intense than before. “What exactly happened back there?” She asked it, as if it could answer all her questions. I couldn’t. She still had no idea what happened. Although this was no surprise considering she didn’t know that much about magic. To her magic was nothing she could really grasp or understand; it was just a warm feeling that flew through her body whenever she used it. Not that she could do that much with it anyway, aside from that one cloud creation and controlling magic she didn’t knew any spells. Even if she knew more spells, she doubted she would be able to cast any of them.

The glowing of the bracelet flickered, getting weaker before returning to its normal glow. It felt strange. Like a cold chill, running through her whole body from her mane to the tip of her tail. What did this mean? She didn’t know.

She raised her head. It was getting dark, the rain still poured down. Her thoughts trailed off towards the ponies down in the town. In her mind she saw Rainbow Dash, leaping at her in furious anger. She saw Applejack, standing before here, growling, shouting and angrily digging on the ground. She saw the purple unicorn mare, using her magic for whatever she had tried to do.

Silver closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. “Am I really doing the right thing? Making all them worry for the sake of one filly?” She closed her eyes, tears flowing down her face, joining in with the endless rain. “No, I can’t stop. They wouldn’t want me to stop.” Her mind drifted away again. Pictures flashing before her eyes; a dark purple unicorn stallion, smiling at her before turning around; a green pegasus mare, with saddened eyes smiling at her; a tombstone in the middle of blooming garden.

She closed her eyes tight, banishing the thoughts and pictures. The storm drowned the sound of her weeping, as she slowly drifted into uneasy sleep.

Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin, trying to distract her from her burning headache. Something about her prison had changed, she could feel it. She didn’t know what it was, she didn’t why she felt it, but she knew there was something. Maybe even a way out of this.

Scootaloo rushed to her side, balancing an apple on top of her head. “Here Rainbow Dash, the apple you wanted.”

Rainbow took the apple, slowly circling it in front of her eyes, judging the quality, before taking a bite. “It’s good, thank you.”

“Anything for you, Rainbow Dash.”

Dash still couldn’t believe it. She was trapped in here for almost three days now. Three days trapped in a cloud. A cloud! Rainbow dash, the fastest flier in Equestria, trapped in a cloud for three days. What would the Wonderbolts think of her, if they ever learn about this?

She took another bite of the apple. At least Silver hadn’t trapped them without food. She chuckled a little at the thought that the buckets full of apples looked exactly like the ones that were stolen from Applejack a few days ago.

“Hey Scootaloo, bring me another apple.”

The filly smiled bright and ran off towards the food storage.

Rainbow slowly stepped towards the cloud wall of her prison. Her headache got worse as she remembered her first try to break through it. However, this time she was not trying to break through, instead she was searching for something that would explain that feeling she had, the feeling that the wall had changed.

“I wonder if…” she muttered to herself, lifting her front leg and slowly knocking on the cloud before her. Then she started beating the wall with more strength. Whenever her hoof hit the wall, it resulted in a faint metallic sound.

*Clonk *Clonk *Clonk *Clonk *Clonk *Clonk *Clonk *Clonk *Clonk

Then, suddenly, on her tenth strike the sound didn’t came. Rainbow lifted her hoof and looked at the wall. Curious she hit it again, at the same point as before.

*Clonk

“Strange…” she muttered, hitting the same spot again.

*Clonk *Clonk *Clonk *Clonk *Clonk *Clonk *Clonk *Clonk

There! On her tenth hit, the sound was different again. She looked at the wall more closely. Where her hoof had hit the cloud, a small crack was visible.

“Aha! Now that is something I can use for a cool escape plan…” she muttered to herself, hitting the wall again and again.

“Ah don’t get it.” Applejack exclaimed, stomping on the library floor in frustration.

“Oh darling, it’s really easy. You see, the fabric I used for these is very special. Similar to the material used for umbrellas, the water does not go through it, instead it just flows down and your coat won’t get wet.” Rarity answered.

“Nah, Ah ain’t talking about that fancy raincoats of yours. Ah’m talking about Silver.”

“Oh… She’s the one controlling this horrible storm, right? She’s probably also responsible for whatever happened to the pegasi, right? That makes her a pretty awful pony, does it not?”

Applejack shook her head. “There’s more t’ it.”

“Applejack is right. She looked sad, and she said she does this because she needs to and not because she wants to.” Twilight said.

“And she saved Applebloom.” Applejack added, looking to the stairs leading to Twilight’s bedroom where Applebloom was sleeping now.

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Okay… but that leaves the questions ‘Why’ and ‘How’ she does this.”

“Oh, we know the ‘How’… sort of. Ya’ saw her bracelet too, didn’t you Twilight?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, it’s obviously magic, though that shouldn’t be possible, she’s a pegasus after all, and I’ve never heard of magic bracelets too. Well, at least not of ones with magic this powerful.” She turned her head towards a bookshelf. A thought crossed her mind. “Wait, I have read about something like this… what was the book called…” she fell back on her haunches, lost in thought.

“Do we need to look through every book again?” Applejack asked, clearly uncomfortable with the thought.

“Maybe…” Twilight muttered in response.

Rarity stepped to her side. “Twilight, darling, I’m sorry but I don’t think I’ll be a great help with that. I wasn’t able to find anything when the books were ordered inside the shelves. I don’t think I could find anything in this mess.” She looked around, pointing at the piles of books that filled most of the library. “Besides, I can’t focus on anything with all the dust in the air. It’s just dreadful.”

Twilights ears peaked and she looked at Rarity. “Wait; can you repeat what you just said?”

Rarity blinked, obviously confused. “It’s just dreadful?”

“No, the sentence before that one.”

“I can’t focus on…”

“Focus! Of course! That’s the answer!” Twilight happily exclaimed, clopping her hooves together.

“I beg you pardon but: the answer to what?” Rarity asked in utter confusion. She had never heard the term before.

“It’s something I’ve read about in my time in Canterlot. Though it’s pretty rare, I’m sure I’ve seen a copy of the book here…” Twilight looked over the mountains of books, her cheerful expression fading fast “… somewhere.”

“Theories Of Magical Foci, third pile from the right, seventh book from the bottom.” Pinkie Pie chirped cheerfully as she hopped through the door into the library, leaving a trail of rain water behind her. She wore her umbrellahat and balanced a big basket, also protected by an umbrella, on her back. Rarity rolled her eyes, Applejack had one of her hooves on her forehead and just shook her head.

“Pinkie Pie? How do you… nevermind, I’m not sure I really want to know.” Twilight said before heading to the pile of books. Pinkie just giggled behind her, dropping the basket in the middle of the room. She took out a muffin, flipped it in the air, and caught it with her mouth.

“Where did ya’ get these?” Applejack asked, peeking into the basket. There were only a few muffins inside, raising the question why she would use a basket of this size to carry them around.

“Oh, they’re just leftovers. You see, there’s this poor sick filly in the hospital and her parents were forced to stay here with her because of the storm though the really needed to leave because of some important thingies and I thought they may be sad and I thought I should make something to cheer them up and then I made a whole basket of muffins for them.”

Applejack looked at Pinkie, trying to process what she just said. She put a hoof on her chin, her eyes half shut in thought. “That means…”

Before she could finish the thought, Twilight returned from the pile of books, a triumphant smirk dominating her face. She levitated a book at her side. “Theories Of Magical Foci,” she read the title out loud. Pinkie giggled behind her, earning confused looks from every other pony in the room.

“What? The title is funny!” She answered cheerfully before chewing on another muffin.

Twilight frowned and opened the book. To her surprise a sealed envelope stuck on the first side. “What is this?” Curious and careful she took it out and broke the seal and peeked inside. It contained two folded sheets of paper. She used her magic to pull out one and slowly unfolded it. “Strange, it’s a letter. I wonder why it was in there.”

“What does it say?” Rarity asked.

Twilight cleared her throat and started to read the letter aloud.

“My dear old friend

“If you read this letter, it means the package arrived safe at your library. I’m sorry I can’t bring the book back in person, but things have happened and you will probably never see me again. I also apologize for ripping the page out of your old tome of weather spells, I’m sure you have noticed it. I know you had warned me, but I couldn’t let this chance go to waste. It doesn’t matter anymore. You will find the page in the same envelope as this letter.

“I don’t have much time, but we know each other long enough that you deserve an explanation. I’m sure you remember my wife, Green Feather… my sweet Green Feather. I’m sure that you also remember her condition. I had hoped to use this cloud creation spell to help her fly again, but I failed. I wasn’t able to cast it, no matter how hard I tried.

“I left them again, searching for another way to let her dream come true. Things didn’t go well. As I returned home nearly a year had passed and neither my beloved Green Feather nor my sweet, little angel was there. All I found was a gravestone in the middle of the garden. I had failed them both. I couldn’t be there when they needed me the most.

“I asked every pony in town about the whereabouts of my little angel. They said she ran away and that she gave herself the guilt for what happened to her mother. Although no pony could tell me what exactly had happened. Some of them even told me how glad they were that the little feathered freak finally left. I still can’t believe it.

“I’m sorry old friend, this will be the last you will hear from me, at least until I found my little silver angel. She’s out there somewhere, alone… she needs me… and I won’t give up until I find her.

“Goodbye old friend

“Purple Shade

“P.S. inside the envelope you will find a picture of my little angel. Should you ever come across her, please tell her that I’m sorry and that I love her.”

Twilight stared at the letter and the envelope in front of her. Silence filled the library as she slowly pulled out the second sheet of paper; a third, smaller than the others, fell out and onto the floor. Slowly she unfolded the page of an old tome. Just like she thought, the second page of the Living Clouds spell they had discovered the other day.

“Twilight, you might want to take a look at this.” Rarity said, pointing towards the paper on the floor.

Curious Twilight lifted it with her magic. Her jaw dropped as she took a closer look. “Oh my…”

“What is it Twi?” Applejack walked to her side, peeking at the picture. It was the Picture of a little filly, around the age of Applebloom, with a dark blue coat and a silver and purple colored mane. A silver bracelet hung loose around her right foreleg. “Gosh darn it…”

“What is it? Do you know this filly?” Rarity asked.

“Yes, it is Silver.”

Silver awoke to the violent shaking of the cloud she lay on. Something was wrong, the rain was more intense than before and the lightning came more often than it should. Every bolt almost instantly followed by another, turning the dark night bright as the day. Silver’s ears peaked up and her eyes widened in shock. The storm shouldn’t be this fierce!

She looked down to her bracelet. It’s usually constant glow was unsteady and flickering, changing from bright light to barely noticeable in the blink of an eye. Silver tried to focus on the magic flowing through it. Her mane tingled and she could feel uncontrolled energy rush through her body. She knew what this meant.

This was bad. No, this was worse. She was losing control.

Chapter 7: Control

“Alright everypony, listen up!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, looking at the crowd of weather patrol pegasi in front of her. A hole in their cloud prison, barely large enough for two ponies at once, could be seen behind her. She had worked on it for what seemed like forever, and even then she only had managed to dig a hole big enough for a filly. Much to her surprise, the wall around it collapsed a few moments later. In fact, the whole cloud prison started to slowly crumble away. Rainbow Dash wasted no time, rallying all pegasi of the weather patrol and every other voluntary. They all lined up in front of her, eagerly waiting to hear her plan.

“Our target is Silver, pegasus, about this height, dark blue coat, silver and purple mane, right wing injured; but most important: silver bracelet around her right front leg. I have no idea how she’s doing it, but she’s using it to cast magic like a unicorn.”

The crowd audibly gasped and looked confused at each other.

“We need to get out there and find a way to disrupt whatever she’s doing. My plan is simple and effective. We all fly out and break through the clouds at once and search for her. Once we find her we just threw everypony at her, she can’t withstand all of us. Oh, be sure not to try anything with that bracelet…” Rainbow took a moment to rub her still aching head. “… didn’t work well the last time I tried. Anyway, once we got her under control it should be easy to break the storm and restore the normal weather schedule.”

A murmur rose from the pegasi as they started to discuss Rainbow’s plan with each other. It took every bit of Rainbow’s patience to wait until they finally calmed down and focused back at her, her tail flicking nervously all the time.

“Any Questions?”

A royal-blue, male pegasus wearing flying glasses raised a hoof. Dash turned towards him, raising an eyebrow. “Yes Chips?”

“Are you sure we should go out there while… well… THAT?” He asked, motioning towards what lay behind the hole in the cloudwall.

Rainbow turned around. “What do you…” she started to say, breaking off mid sentence. The clouds outside were pitch black, churning and raging like an angry beast. Lightning ran across the surface, turning the clouds into an image straight out of a nightmare.

“Oh come on… that’s so not cool…”

“Twilight, are you sure about this?” Rarity asked, her voice filled with concern.

“Yes Rarity, I am sure.” Twilight Sparkle answered as she corrected the position of her new raincoat, making sure it’ll not hinder her.

Rarity glanced towards the window. Thick streams of water rushed down along the surface of the glass. Outside the storm raged stronger than ever before, the sky illuminated by one lightning after the other. A shiver ran down her spine just imagining how it must be to be outside.

“Is this really necessary?” she asked again.

“Look, I know you’re concerned, but there is no other way. We need to help Silver or everything will get even worse.”

“But, didn’t you say that these clouds will just vanish once she used up all her magic? And didn’t you say you think she reached this point already? Why risk going out there when she’s already at her limit?”

“She’s right sugarcube, ya’ said that. So why rush outside?” Applejack asked.

“What do you see when you look outside?”

“Huh?” the two ponies answered in unison, looking confused.

“Well, a dreadful storm.” Rarity finally answered.

“Look closer, especially at the clouds.”

Applejack looked up through the window, sipping in every detail. “Well, looks like a big, solid black cloud cover t’ me.”

“Exactly. Remember what it looked like the past days?” Twilight chimed. Reading through the Living Clouds spell description again.

Applejack thoughtfully rubbed her chin with a hoof, but could not finish her thoughts as Rarity answered. “It was dark, but spotted with silver patches… of course! The silver ones were created by her magic and the others…”

“… are normal storm clouds.” Twilight finished the sentence. “I think she did not create the storm with magic, but did it like the pegasi usually do, by working and controlling the clouds by hoof. To do this, she created the clouds with this spell. But now that her clouds are gone, there’s nothing there to hold the storm back. Imagine it like the weather in the Everfree forest.”

Each one of them shivered as a thunder roared outside the instant the unnatural forest was mentioned. Applejack started to put on her own raincoat.

“Applejack?”

“Ah’m coming with ya’ Twilight. Ah Won’t let ya’ go outside alone.”

“Thanks AJ” Twilight answered with a smile.

“So Twi, what’s the plan?” Applejack asked.

“We go out there, search for her, and hope that she doesn’t run away again.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Surely she will stay close after what happened the last time you met her. But, just in case. Take this with you.” She walked over to her saddlebags, in which she brought the raincoats, She pulled out an extra one, with two holes on the back. “I made this one for Rainbow Dash, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind… just imagine being out there in the rain for days, her coat must be a real wet mess now.”

“Thanks Rarity. Please stay here with Applebloom and Pinkie Pie… speaking of which, where’s Pinkie?” The three ponies looked around the main room of the library, their pink friend nowhere to be seen.

“Her raincoat is missing too!” Rarity exclaimed. “Don’t tell me she went outside without telling anypony!”

They all exchanged worried looks. Thoughtful silence fell over the library.

“Well, one more reason to get out there and get this storm under control.” Twilight said.

“Ah’m right behind ya’ Twi.”

‘You really outdid yourself this time’ the mockery voice chirped cheerfully.

“I don’t have time to argue with you,” Silver muttered through gritted teeth.

‘Oh right, I forgot. You’re too busy messing things up.’

“Leave me alone. I have more important things to concentrate on,” she responded angry. The light around her bracelet flickered unsteady as she furiously beat her hoof on her cloud.

‘Of course you do’, the voice said, chuckling, ‘you always have more important things to do.’

Silver sighed, raising her head to look at the storm before her. “I didn’t want this. I just wanted to…”

‘Yeah, yeah, you just wanted to help this filly. How often did you say that to yourself? How often did it go wrong?’

“I …”

‘It’s always like this. You always want to help somepony. But in the end, you will fail.’

“No!” Silver shouted into the rain, tears streaming down her face.

Her cloud exploded as lightning struck it from behind. Silver fell, spiraling downwards, the world around her fading to darkness.

It was a bright sunny day, not a single cloud to be seen. The colorful garden in front of the simple timber framed house stood in full bloom, filling the air with all kinds of wonderful aromas.

Green Feather loved her garden. She tilted the watering can a little and watched the water sprinkle down on the flowers, the light of the sun reflecting in every drop. It was beautiful. The colors, the scents, it was here that she felt alive and it almost made her forget how it felt to fly.

With a wistful sigh she looked at her right wing. She stretched it carefully, concentrating on keeping balance. She folded it and turned her head to the large scar where her left wing should be. She let out a long sigh and turned her attention back to watering her flowers.

She had emptied her can when a dark blue filly hopped into her view, jumping around her joyfully. Every jump the filly beat her small wings to reach higher than her legs alone could bring her. And all the time she cheerfully shouted: “I did it! I did it!”

“Silver, sweety, calm down.” Green Feather reached out with one hoof, stopping the endless jumping of the overexcited filly.

“I did it mom, I did it!” she shouted cheerfully.

“What did you do?”

“You must come so I can show you!” Silver answered, pulling on Green Feather’s right front leg.

“Okay, okay. Lead the way and show me.” She answered with a giggle, not able to turn down the request of her overexcited daughter.

Silver led her to the rocky hills only a few minutes away from their house. The grass was thin on the hard ground, and big boulders lay all over the landscape. They stopped at a particularly flat rock, an open book on top.

“Have you been trying magic all day again?”

“Yes!” the filly chirped cheerfully. She hopped to the book and pulled a loose sheet of paper out of it.

“So, what do you want to show me?” Green Feather asked curiously.

Silver didn’t answer. Instead, she concentrated on the sheet of paper before her. She sticked out her tongue as the bracelet around her ankle started to glow unsteady. Green Feather’s eyes grew wide as the glow raised in intensity. Sweat ran down Silver’s face as the released magic finally showed effects.

A small silver colored cloud formed in front of her, slowly growing in size. Green Feather could only watch in awe as her daughter used all her willpower to enlarge the cloud. The cloud had reached the size of three full grown ponies, Silver collapsed on the ground, panting heavily, the bracelet still engulfed in a soft glow.

“Silver… that’s… incredible.” Green Feather walked to the cloud, gently touching it with her hooves. “It feels like a real cloud too. It’s… wonderful.”

Silver smiled from ear to ear. “I can move it at will.”

“You… you can move them at will?”

“Yes,” Silver chirped. “We can fly around with it without needing use our wings. Isn’t this great?”

Green Feather embraced her in a tight hug, tears of joy running down her face.

“Mom… you can let go of me now.”

Escaping her mother’s embrace, Silver flapped her wings and jumped on the cloud. Carefully Green Feather joined her, and both of them sat down besides each other.

The glow of Silver’s bracelet intensified as the cloud started to ascend into the sky. Higher and higher it rose, allowing both pegasi to look at the land below. The view was overwhelming. Green Feather closed her eyes and lifted her head into the wind. For the first time since her accident she felt like a pegasus again. She embraced the moment and wanted to never let it go again.

“It’s … beautiful.” Green Feather said quietly.

Silver snuggled closer to her, giggling slightly. “Hey, that tickles.”

“Huh?” her mother responded, looking down at her little filly. She smiled at the sight of the silver cloud shaped Cutie Mark that now shone on her daughter’s flank. She nuzzled her gently. “I’m so proud of you.”

They sat there for hours, high above the rocky hills, watching the sun stroll across the sky.

Silver let out a long yawn and cuddled against her mother, as the exhaustion from using her magic finally overcame her great excitement. She closed her eyes and soon drifted away into peaceful sleep.

Green Feather looked down at the sleeping filly beside her. She had never imagined her daughter would be able to do something like this and she never felt more proud, though she knew what would happen next.

The glow around the bracelet started to flicker and the cloud began to shrink, its corners dissolving into the air.

She embraced her sleeping daughter in a tight hug and kissed her on the forehead. “It’s not your fault sweetie.” She whispered into Silver’s ear.

The glow faded away. The cloud dissolved into thin air. The fall began.

“This way AJ” Twilight shouted, galloping through the rain. The roads of Ponyville had mostly turned into soft, water soaked mud, making it difficult to get proper grip while running. The surrounding was illuminated by an eerie light originating from Twilights horn.

“Ya’ sure ya’ve seen something?”

“Yes, it definitely looked like a falling Pegasus. It must be somewhere around here… there!” They rounded another corner and finally found what they were searching for.

‘Wake up.‘

Silver let out a grunt, opening her eyes slowly. Everything around seemed to be clouded by grey fog that blurred her vision. Her whole body felt numb and far away, even the rain pouring down on her was nothing more than a faint echo from far away. She closed her eyes again.

‘Don’t give up now. You’re so close.’

Her eyes flashed open again. Collecting what strength was left in her numb, exhausted body she rolled on her belly, getting her legs beneath her. Slowly she tried to stand up, but quickly fell back into the mud. Lifting her head, she let out a frustrated sigh. There was not a single patch of silver clouds left, and judging by how she felt, the cloud holding the other pegasi also wasn’t there any longer.

“So this is it? Is this were I fail again?” she asked towards the dark clouds above.

Her ears tilted to the side, catching faint but familiar voices nearby. She couldn’t make out the words, the voices muffled through the thundering heartbeat echoing in her ears. The world around slowed down as she gave in to the numb feeling her failure left behind. There was no sense fighting anymore. She had failed again, failed to the promise she gave to the sad filly in front of her mother’s grave so long ago. The promise she gave to herself.

She felt something being laid on her back. What was it? A blanket? A cloud? Another pony? She didn’t know. She wouldn’t even notice that there was something, if it didn’t stop the rain pouring down on her back.

The face of a purple coated unicorn appeared in front of her. Her mouth moving, but Silver could her nothing but muffled sound that made no sense. She lifted her head and looked at the speaking pony with tired eyes. She felt so tired…

‘Wake up. You still have so much to do.’

Her head slowly rose again. Who said that? Where did these words come from? She watched the mouth, of the unicorn before her, open and close, but no words ever reached her. Not that it mattered anymore. It probably were accusations or worse, like it always were. No pony ever said good things to her ... not even the projections of her own mind …

‘Stop thinking that. It’s not true.’

Silver closed her eyes and lowered her head to the ground. The sounds of the outside world faded until her slow heartbeat was the only sound that remained. At least until the voices returned. First only a single one, silently pleading, but soon it rose to a concert of voices shouting at her out of the back of her mind.

‘Wake up!’
‘Don’t give up!’
‘Wake up!’
‘Stop fooling around or you really will fail!’
‘Wake up!’
‘… live!’

Silver’s eyes snapped open, the world turned back into focus and bombarded every one of her senses. Pain ran through her whole body, her muscles screaming for rest. The Unicorn still stood before her, talking endlessly and desperately.

“Come on, we need you. Snap out of it.”

“Twi’, ah fear the fall didn’t do her any good” Applejack said, standing at one side of Silver, holding a colorful raincoat in place over the back of the lying pegasus.

“Of course not, but we … “

Pushing herself up a few inches, just to fall back into the mud with a groan, Silver caught the attention of both Ponies.

“Thank goodness, we feared the worst”, the Unicorn spoke for both of them.

“Why are you here?” Silver responded silently, her voice barely noticeable.

“Aw shoot girl, we saw ya’ fall down and reckon’d ya’ could use a helpin’ hoof.”

Silver looked to the ground again. “Why help me, after all that I’ve done to you.”

“Ya’ saved mah little sister. Helping ya’ s the least we can do.”

“Besides,” the other pony intercepted, “we need your help to stop this storm.”

“I can’t help you. My magic is all gone, and even if I had some left, I don’t think I can move now.”

“Oh don’t worry, I can cover that part. Which reminds me… hi I’m Twilight Sparkle”, the unicorn said with a bright smile.

“Huh? … Oh … hi … I’m Silver.”

“Good, now that this is done…” Twilight’s horn started to glow in magical light. The air around it vibrated slightly and between the raindrops formed a small purple colored cloud. It quickly rose in size until it was as big as three ponies. “Phew, this is harder than it looks.”

“So, you know the spell? What do you need my help for then?”

“I know the spell yes, but I’m no pegasus. I have no idea how use these clouds to control a storm. And that’s why we need your help. I create the clouds and you say what I need to do with them. Come on Silver, let us work together to end this storm, it has raged for long enough don’t you think?” Twilight held out a hoof towards Silver.

The pegasus felt unsure and lost. She looked towards her side where Applejack stood smiling and nodding.

‘Trust them.’

“Okay, let’s end the storm”, she finally said, grabbing Twilight’s hoof to pull herself up.

“That’s the spirit. Now, where do we start?”

“First we need to get higher. We can’t control anything from down here, we need to get near the storm cloud as far as possible.”

“And I know exactly how we get there.” Twilight’s hooves glowed for a second before she jumped on top of the cloud she created moments ago.

“How do you… nevermind, we have time for that later”, Silver said, joining Twilight on the cloud.

“Good luck to both of ya’. Ah’ll stay here and wait for ya’r return.”

The two ponies looked at each other, their eyes filled with determination.

“Let’s go.”

The cloud, with the two ponies on top, shot away towards the storm clouds above.

“Okay, here we are”, Twilight exclaimed, bringing the cloud to a halt.

Around them the storm raged at its strongest. The wind tore at their manes and raincoats, rain fell down reckless, trying to get through their waterproof clothing.

“What now?” she asked, turning towards Silver.

“Create a cloud, size approximately the size of two ponies.”

Twilight nodded and started to concentrate, her horn glowing in soft purple light. The air whirled around them as a new purple cloud formed in front of them.

“Good, now send it into the clouds over there”, Silver said, using her front hoof to point at a part of the storm cloud.

Twilight clenched her eyes an aimed at the spot her pegasus companion pointed at. She couldn’t see any difference between this part of the cloud and every other part around it, but then again she was a unicorn and didn’t know anything about clouds. The purple cloud sank into the storm, spreading into its surrounding cloudy mass, creating a small purple patch in the black stormy ceiling.

“Okay, next one, same size, goes over there.”

She used her magic to create the next cloud and sent in on the way. Halfway towards her goal the cloud was struck by lightning, evaporating it instantly. Twilight fell onto her knees, her face a mask of pure pain, sweat running down in a stream. Her ears moved around nervously and the light around her horn flickered unsteady for a few seconds. Shakily she came back onto her hooves. Gulping heavy she turned towards Silver.

“Does it always hurt like this?”

She winced and returned her gaze with a sad nod. “Every time one of them is destroyed like this.”

“How many did you … ?”

“In this storm? Seventeen.”

Wincing slightly, Twilight returned her gaze towards the clouds above. “Let’s try that one again”, she said, creating a new cloud.

Rainbow flew around aimlessly, always looking at the storm clouds below. Something was happening again, she could feel it. She felt it with every part of her body. That soft tingling that told her the weather was changing.

She beat her wings and stopped in midair, her eyes nervously darting around. The lightnings that jumped across the surface of the storm clouds below seemed to come less frequently. More importantly, the colors were off. Something disturbed the pitch black surface below: a single purple patch.

“Huh? … purple?”

But before she could wonder any longer about it, a second purple patch formed. Like a bullet shot into the clouds from below, a purple cloud broke through the storm before settling down and stretching out throughout her black surrounding.

“Twilight.” She murmured to herself.

Rainbow shot away towards the next pegasus in sight.

“Chips! Something is happening down there; tell the others to get ready.”

Rainbow quickly returned to her old spot and continued watching the clouds below, now directly searching for purple spots.

“Urngh … where to with this one?” Twilight asked, panting heavily from her exhausting task.

“Over there Twilight, between these other two.”

Over a dozen purple patches could be seen in the clouds, and yet the storm didn’t seem to slow down a bit. Twilight began to wonder if it ever would. Carefully she placed the next cloud.

The wind suddenly grew wilder, tearing at their clothing viciously. Both ponies clinged to their cloud, fighting hard to not fall off. They tried to secure their faces from the relentless rain pouring at them from the side. It felt as if the storm tried to protect itself, as if the long exposure to magic and the absorption of so many living clouds had given him a will of his own. Twilight grimaced and created the next cloud.

“Where?” she shouted towards Silver.

“Directly above us! Quick!”

Lightning struck down past their cloud, shaking their bodies and making their hearts beat faster. For a second, Twilight lost control and the wind sent their cloud flying away uncontrolled.

Collecting all her willpower, Twilight forced the last cloud in position, avoiding the barrage of lightning that tried to stop it.

The purple cloud broke through the dark clouds. Nearly instantly, the stormy clouds around seemed to calm down.

“Now everypony!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, flaring her wings to fly in a wide circle. Behind her a dozen pegasi mirrored her every move.

They circled one more time before diving down, breaking right through the newest patch of purple.

Twilight looked up and watched in awe as the rainbow colored streak broke through the cloud, tearing a big hole.

“The pegasi… Silver, we made it!”

She continued to stare, following every move of the weather patrol. They spread out, punching through the cloud cover just to return at a different spot. Slowly the cloud cover thinned, the rain weakened and finally stopped.

Twilight smiled and lifted her head into the first rays of sunlight breaking through the holes the pegasi created.

“It feels like forever since … Silver? … Silver!”

Twilight turned her gaze to the side, the unconscious body of the pegasus lying on the surface of the cloud they stood on.

“Oh no, no, no….. Rainbow!” she shouted towards her pegasus friend that circled through the clouds nearby. She caught the calling and shot towards her.

“Twilight! There you are. I knew you could… whoa, is that…” Rainbow glanced at the unconscious pegasus.

“Yes it is, quick, help me.” Twilight quickly said, commanding the cloud to descend towards the ground and her library.

Below them, the citizens of ponyville started to leave their houses and cherish the end of the storm.

~~~

Author's Note
In case you were wondering: Chips is short for Chipper Blue, an OC of my good friend Mixup (whom's constant nagging, if and when the next chapter will come, kept me going ;) ). Check out his stuff, it's great. Blue Skies; Soaring through Fire