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.