Silver Clouds

by isi

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.”