In the Brighthouse bedroom, Pipp's phone started to ring, showing Queen Haven calling on Facetime. Pipp answered the call and saw her mother crying a lot.

"Pipp! Pipp, he’s gone!" Haven cried out to the phone as her eyes were tearing up. "Gooonnnneee!!!" she cried out again, which caused Pipp to stare at her mother and cringe slightly. "I looked everywhere! He’s missing!" she cried out, placing her hooves over her eyes.

"Wait. What? Who’s gone, mother? What are you…" Pipp tried to ask but was cut off when Haven cried out again.

"So fluffy! And cuddly! And now, he’s gone!" Haven cried out as she brawled a storm.

Zipp then approached her sister with a smile. "What’s wrong? Did she say missing?" she asked before gasping. "Is someone missing?" she asked and scooted closer to Pipp's phone, which squished Pipp's cheek in the process.

"What's happening, and why is your mom crying about someone missing?" Tails asked, arriving with the sisters since he was in the room, too, testing out a portal to get back to Mobius. "Wait! Who's missing?" he asked, then got close to the phone and squished the other Pipp's cheek.

"So sweet! Yippy! I love him!" Haven cried out on the phone.

"Wait," Zipp said, starting to think about what her mother had said. "'Sweet'?" she asked.

"'Yippy'?" Tails asked next.

"'Fluffy'?" Zipp asked again.

And then realization hit the three of them like a train. "Cloudpuff?!" Pipp called out as the three friends looked at each other.

"He's gone missing!" Tails cried out with worry.

"We've gotta do something!" Zipp pointed out that he was worried for Cloudpuff since he was family to her and Pipp.

"Leave it with me!" Pipp pointed out and tapped on her phone. "This is where the Pippsqueaks, like, totally shine!" she stated as she sent the message to her followers.

Dahlia was the first pony to see the message and gasped in shock. "Cloudpuff?!" she cried out.

"Cloudpuff!" Windy cried out as well.

"Cloudpuff?!" Rufus called out.

"Cloudpuff?!" Sonic called out as well.

"Cloudpuff?!" Posey also got the message.

Even a raccoonicorn and pegasnail got the message as the raccoonicorn squeaked at the message.

And then, one by one, almost everypony that could be called a Pippsqueak got the message that Cloudpuff was now missing.

Sometime later, a crowd of ponies was in front of the Crystal Brighthouse, with the Mane 5 facing the crowd for an announcement about Cloudpuff's disappearance.

"Have you heard?" a mare in the crowd asked a pony among them.

"It's just awful," a pegasus stallion said.

"Excuse me!" Sunny called out to the crowd, trying to get their attention.

"I heard he ran off with the raccoonicorns," an earth pony stallion said.

"Hey! Everypony!" Sunny called out again, but the crowd was busy talking among themselves. "Can I have your attention?!" she called again, but they didn’t hear.

Hitch saw this problem and blew his whistle so loud that the crowd of ponies got startled and stopped talking, then turned and faced the two ponies. Sunny looked at Hitch in shock while he gave an authoritative expression. After all, he was the sheriff of Maretime Bay.

Sunny smiled at him after he had calmed the crowd down. "Thanks, Hitch," she thanked him before facing the crowd. Now, as we all know, Cloudpuff has gone missing, and we need to work together to find him!” she called out to them.

Zipp hopped on the stage next to Sunny and Hitch and faced the crowd with determination. "Everypony needs to spread out! When somepony or some pup is missing, the first forty-eight hours are critical!" she instructed the crowd. "Dewdrop any information directly to my flyPad!" she added, holding her flyPad on her hoof.

Pipp then jumped next to her sister and started to cry. "Cloudpuff is a brother to us! We have to find him!" she cried, worried for Cloudpuff.

"Everypony has their assignments!" Hitch called out with determination. "Let's move out!" he ordered, pointing his hoof in a direction.

Then, Izzy jumped next to Hitch and cheered to the crowd. "Thank you for all your—" she tried to say but was cut off when the wooden platform the Mane 5 were on started to creak. "Five ponies on a table is too many," Izzy pointed out with a nervous smile.

The table creaked more, but when it seemed to break, it stopped moving and stood still, which confused the Mane 5. However, they heard gasps from the crowd looking down the platform.

Izzy popped her head down and smiled at who she saw. "Oh, hi, Knuckles!" she greeted since Knuckles was holding the platform so it wouldn't fall apart, with Sonic and Tails at his side.

"Hello, Izz," Knuckles replied. "It seems like you needed a little help up there," he joked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can you guys get off so we can drop this thing and look for Cloudpuff already?!" Sonic asked, his arms hurting a little.

"Sonic's right, we've gotta go!" Zipp pointed out with worry. "Cloudpuff is out there... somewhere!" she called out.

Later, in Zephyr Heights, Pipp brought out her phone and started to livestream. Sonic was there too because he knew Pipp was too sensible now, so he thought he could comfort her if she broke into tears.

Pipp sighed as she started talking to the camera. "I am live-streaming to you with devastating news. Our beloved and loyal pup…" She started to whimper as Sonic came by her side and touched her shoulder. "... Cloudpuff is missing," she stated as she held up a missing poster of Cloudpuff.

Meanwhile, Zipp was wearing her Z-Goggles and used them to control a drone that she got to search every corner of Zephyr Heights. Tails were flying all around Equestria, with some goggles he made for himself and scanned every corner of the land. "My sister Zipp is searching high and low in Zephyr Heights, and Tails is looking on every corner of Equestria," Pipp narrated.

"And back in Maretime Bay, Hitch, his critters, and all the Earth ponies are leaving no stone unturned in the search for this pampered pooch," Pipp narrated while Hitch and his critters were putting up missing posters of Cloudpuff on a building.

In the forest, Hitch and a Pegasus mare were putting missing posters of Cloudpuff on the trees while the critters on top of a hill rolled a rock down. Hitch and the Pegasus mare saw this and ran for cover as the boulder hit a tree with a Cloudpuff Missing poster, and the tree fell to the ground.

"Even as far as Bridlewood, everypony is finding creative ways to come together to find our sweet little pup," Pipp narrated. At the same time, Sunny, Izzy, and Knuckles searched Bridlewood for any signs of Cloudpuff. Knuckles was digging holes; Sunny wore her roller skate gear and placed a poster on a tree, while Izzy used her homemade detector to find any trace of Cloudpuff.

Izzy’s detector went off and blinked in red, which made the two ponies see a slobber trail. Thinking it could be Cloudpuff, the two ponies follow the trail, but then Izzy stops and gasps in shock and disgust. The trail they followed was from Alphabittle, who was taking a nap while drooling, which made the drool trail. "Ewwww!" Izzy cringed in disgust.

"Aah! Ugh!" Sunny cried out since she slipped on Alphabittle’s drool because of her rolling skates and bumped into Alphabittle, who woke up from his nap and looked at Sunny, who gave off a nervous look with a chuckle. "You're not Cloudpuff, are you now?" she nervously asked while Alphabittle continued to look at Sunny.

Then, Knuckles popped his head out of the ground as he made another hole. "No signs of Cloudpuff down there," he announced to Sunny and Izzy, but then he looked at the scene with Sunny in front of Alphabittle. "I'm not even going to ask; I honestly don't wanna know," Knuckles said, cringing at the scene.

"The only thing we know for now is that if you're out there, Cloudpuff, we will find you!" Pipp narrated with a little sad tone.

Fifi knocked on the door back in the Brighthouse, and Hitch opened it, holding his sheriff book. He was watching over the Brighthouse while the others searched around Equestria for Cloudpuff.

Hitch turned and saw Fifi holding a box with Zipp and Pipp's faces and the Zephyr Heights stamp. Hitch shook his head, telling Fifi that Zipp and Pipp were not there right now, and went back into the Brighthouse as he closed the door.

For some reason, the box shook, and Fifi placed a return stamp on it. The box also growled.

"Even if it means we must cross all of Equestria, we will never… stop... looking!" Pipp finished as she faced her phone closer and finished her livestream in Zephyr Heights.

"Hey, Pipp," Sonic called out, not using the nickname he had given her since this was a critical moment for her. We'll find that pup, even if it's the last thing we'll do, I promise," he assured her with a comforting smile.

Pipp smiled at him with teary eyes and kissed his cheek as thanks. "Thanks, Sonic," she said, then hugged him with a blush. Sonic blushed, too, but hugged her back and kept his smile.

Zipp’s flyPad started to beep a little bit later, and she checked her messages. "Ooh," Zipp said, hoping the messages would give her a clue about where Cloudpuff was.

Tails entered the place sweating a little since he had flown around all over Equestria but hadn't found Cloudpuff. "My tails hurt a lot..." he complained. Then he looked at Zipp and her phone. "Any luck, Zipp?" he asked her.

"Not yet," she answered, as she looked over at the messages on her phone, which were not what she expected. "Ugh! That's a bunnycorn! What's this? A street sign? Not helpful! Fan photo of random picture of Hitch, fan photo, fan photo... A sad selfie of Pipp?! Really?!" Zipp called out while Tails came closer and looked at the photos.

"Seriously? Ponies know we're in an emergency, and they use your phone number to send nonsense trash?" Tails complained about the ponies that sanded things that were not helping.

"Ugh! It's hopeless!" Zipp cried out as she searched through the photos with a down expression. "We're never going to find—! Hang on," she said as she saw something in one of the photos. She tapped the photo of Zephyr Height’s mailroom and enlarged it. "What's that?" she asked both Tails and herself as they saw a piece of a purple gem next to some mail.

"Wait a second!" Tails called out, recognizing the gem. "Isn't that a gem from Cloudpuff's collar?!" he pointed out with shock.

"Yeah, but... In the mailroom? Hmmm…" Zipp told herself she might have a lead and sent several messages to Pipp and Haven.

Haven and Pipp's phones vibrated, each receiving a message from Zipp. After seeing the messages, Pipp and Queen Haven smiled with sparkling, and Haven boosted towards the mailroom. Sonic grabbed Pipp and ran towards the same place. He was still with her when he saw the message.

Zipp inspected the gem piece in the mailroom while Tails looked around for more clues. Zipp sniffed on the floor and walked around to find more clues but then got up and groaned. "Right. Doesn't make any sense," she said while looking at the gem in her hoof again. "The gems from his collar are here, but he isn't," she added worriedly.

"Strangely, looking for a dog is like looking for a needle in a haystack," Tails pointed out as he got to Zipp's side. "It should be easier," he added with concern.

Then the mailroom's doors opened suddenly, and Queen Haven busted in with Pipp and Sonic, which startled Zipp and Tails. "Where's my fluffy boy?!" Haven and Pipp called out for Cloudpuff but didn't see him. Zipp and Tails turned to the rest with startled expressions but then got sad since they hadn't found Cloudpuff yet.

Getting the hint of silence, Haven started to cry as her eyes brawled up a storm. "Oh, why, why, why?!" she cried out.

"Where are you, Cloudpuffy-poo?!" Pipp cried out as tears began forming, and Sonic patted her back with a worried face.

Then, Tails noticed the table had paw tracks made from stamp ink. "Hey, look at this," he said to the others. He looked closer at the table with a device and scanned the track.

Zipp was also looking at the paw tracks with her magnifying glass. "This might sound crazy, but I think Cloudpuff was here," she said to rest.

"Yup!" Tails agreed as he got the scanning results. "The paw tracks on the desk match with Cloudpuff's paw tracks, so he was here," he pointed out.

"Here?!" Haven called out as she came next to Zipp and Tails. "Why should he be here?! How should I know?!" she cried out in a panic.

"Mom!" Zipp called out, snapping her mother out of it. "Just calm down and think. Why would Cloudpuff have been in the mailroom?" she asked slowly.

"I don't know. I mean, I did send you and Pipp a care package of all your favorite things this morning," Haven explained, walking around the mailroom while her daughters, Sonic and Tails, paid attention to her. "Maybe he followed me down here, and..." she widened her eyes at the realization of where Cloudpuff was. "WHAAAAAT?! What if I mailed my baby?!" she cried out.

"So he's on the mail..." Sonic said calmly at first, then widened his eyes in realization. "Hold on! HE'S IN THE MAIL?!" he cried out with worry, shaking Tails a little.

In the Brighthouse, Hitch looked tired from waiting for somepony to give him a clue, then his walkie-talkie gave off static, and he answered.

"Hitch! Has anything been delivered to the Brighthouse for me or Pipp?" Zipp asked to him. "Think!" she cried out, while Hitch remembered that Fifi had come earlier with a package for them, but he rejected it, and Fifi left with it.

"Uhhh…" Hitch said to the walkie-talkie, starting to panic about his mistake. "Well, funny you should ask. I, uh... You know what it's like. Today has been crazy. And I, uh…" he said to Zipp, trying to find the right words to say that he had Cloudpuff in his sight without knowing it.

The Royal family, Sonic and Tails, grew more worried.

"Is this a bad time to make a sarcastic joke about how Hitch screwed it?" Sonic asked innocently.

"Yes, it is" Tails stated, still worried about Cloudpuff but frowning at Sonic.

Suddenly, the mailroom door creaked open, and the Royal family, Sonic and Tails, turned to see Fifi coming in with the package.

Fifi placed the package down and wiped a brow from her forehead. "Phew! Just the ponies I was looking for!" she said with an added laugh. And then the package made a muffled growling while the others stared at the box, knowing that Cloudpuff was in there. "Oh, don't worry," Fifi said with a little chuckle. "It's been doing that all day," she said with a smile. "Wiggliest parcel I've ever tried to deliver!" Fifi stated that she had flashbacks of trying to get the package from the mailroom while it wiggled and growled.

After Fifi left since her work was done, the package gave muffled groans, which made the rest look at each other. Zipp ripped the tape off to open the box and saw Cloudpuff growling through a box with some makeup on him.

Sonic, Tails, Zipp, and Pipp gasped in joy, and Haven smiled while they all looked at Cloudpuff with smiles and sparkling eyes. "Hey!" both Zipp and Pipp said together in joy.

Cloudpuff heard their calls, got his head out of the box, and made yip sounds at Haven. When Cloudpuff got out of the package, the royal family embraced together around their beloved dog, glad that he was okay.

Pipp then saw something in the package and broke the hug along with Zipp. "Ugh! All of my Luscious Lilac bath bombs?! Cloudpuff, really?!" she complained to Cloudpuff as she held some of the broken bombs in her hooves.

"Uh, neigh way!" Zipp called out as she grabbed a box kit. "Is this my hoofprints kit?!" she asked, seeing that Cloudpuff had also gotten into her detective kit.

"I'm afraid so, my dear," Haven said to her daughters a little sheepish. Then she nuzzled Cloudpuff, relieved that he was okay and found. "What do you have to say for yourself, you naughty little puppy?" she said with a coed baby voice to Cloudpuff. And then Cloudpuff passed gas as he stinks in the room, which caused Haven to cringe in disgust. "Oh, dear! That is truly awful!" she said as she smelled the stank. "Cloudpuff!" she said to the dog.

"Cloudpuff!” Pipp cried out as she and Zipp covered their noses to block Cloudpuff's stink.

Zipp coughed from the smell before speaking. "It seems like he's paying the price already," she stated. "Ugh!" she groaned from the smell.

"Ew..." Tails said as he covered his nose as well.

"Well, it seems like it's time to work!" Sonic said, wearing a mask to cover his mouth and nose from the smell, while he took off his gloves and gave them to Tails. "Hold them for me until I'm done with the pup, lil' bro," he asked, then came closer to Queen Haven and grabbed the dog. "Alright, little buddy, let's clean you up before you leave a gift," he said to Cloudpuff as he got him out of the room.

Then, Tails used his tails to make some wind and get the smell out of the room. "And there it goes, the smell," he said with a smile.

"Oh, thank you so much, dear," Haven thanked him.

"No problem, Your Majesty," Tails replied with a smile and a little bowing. "Help! It's what we do!" he added, pointing out Sonic's help with batting Cloudpuff.

Sometime later, after Sonic got Cloudpuff clean, he sat on a high spot over the Royal Castle, contemplating the sight of Zephyr Heights and Equestria with a smile.

"So here you are," Pipp's voice said as she flew over and sat beside him.

Sonic's smile grew, and a little blush appeared. "Hey, Little Pipp," he greeted. How's your mom doing now that Cloudpuff's safe?" he asked curiously.

"Ah, you know, I'm being a little too dramatic about him," Pipp replied with a chuckle. "Hey, um, thanks for helping out, Sonic. Not only for looking for him but also for actually caring for and bathing him after... well, that," she thanked with blush and also pointed out the little situation back in the mailroom.

"I'm glad I could help," Sonic replied with a kind smile. "As long as somepony, pet, or animal in general gets in danger, I cannot just stand and wait for a miracle to happen. It never happened before; why would it happen now?" he pointed out. "Better take action yourself than wait for someone else to do the job," he added with a smile.

"You know, I've never got to ask... who taught you so much?" Pipp asked with curiosity. "I mean, you've been through lots of crazy stuff in your life, and I can say you have faced death several times, but I don't get how you say so many wise words after everything that has happened to you," she pointed out, a little worried.

"Life taught me most of the things I appreciate nowadays, but if I have to give someone credit for most of the things I know... that has to be my mentor, Longclaw," Sonic said, as he started to feel a little nostalgic. "She was my mother, raised me since I was a baby, and taught me lots of stuff that I didn't get back then, and I appreciate a lot now..." he added with a sad smile.

"'Was'?" Pipp questioned.

Sonic then gave a sad look as he looked down and his ears down. "You know that sometimes life is not fair, and it can take something you love with your soul at any second... it took her away years ago," he explained, now looking at the sky with sadness. "She said she was going to help some people in a town... and a few days later, that town was burned to ashes," he added.

Pipp gasped and covered her mouth with a hoof, not expecting the shocking answer.

"For a very short time, I thought she was alive, but I found her scarf on those ashes, completely burned..." Sonic added, now letting tears out of his eyes. "A-And the worst part is... that I never said goodbye to her..." he chuckled in pain. "I-I would give anything to see her one last time, to thank her for everything, t-to..." he was cut off when Pipp suddenly hugged him.

"Don't hold back, Sonic," Pipp begged him. "Let it all out; don't hide your emotions just to comfort others, and comfort yourself first," she added softly.

Sonic immediately broke his shelf after her words: that confidence and cockiness faded completely away to let out a vulnerable and scared Sonic, that started to cry and let all his pain out. He hugged Pipp back and buried his face in her soft fur.

Usually, Pipp would make a whole scene for her fur getting wet, but she wouldn't stand to look at Sonic holding onto his shelf again so that she couldn't care less now.

He spent most of the afternoon letting out his pain on her fur until no more tears were left, and Sonic fell asleep on her. Pipp looked at the sunset with a smile, then looked at Sonic resting on her back and kissed his cheek. "Sweet dreams, my little prince of blue quills," she said with a chuckle, then returned her sight to the sunset.

THE END

Author's Note

Thanks to JD1 for editing this chapter!