“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.