//------------------------------// // Meeting the Client // Story: Disappear // by ShimmeringStallion //------------------------------// Meeting the Client “You’re behind this, aren’t you?” Twilight circled the cage, getting a good look at the pony on the other side. Despite their turquoise coat and cerulean mane, their eyes, now clearly visible and shining in the spotlights, were ice-blue, making their gaze seem far more chilling than their presence was. What stood out the most, however, was a black dot in the middle of their forehead, prompting Twilight to silently question its purpose for being there as the stallion spoke up. “Hmph. I didn’t think such insects would find their way up here so fast. Perhaps it’s my fault for leaving the lights on… Oh well.” The stallion dismounted Rarity, shoving her plot forward with his hooves. Doing so caused her to begin falling through the non-bridged section around the cage, which Twilight quickly stopped by using her magic to grab Rarity and levitate her back to the other ponies. The stallion greeted them. “Pleased to meet you, even if we'll cut this short. I don’t have time to play right now; neither with those ‘wingless worthless wonders’ who are watching to see the fate of their wings and town, nor you ignorant foals.” The pony walked towards them, grinning menacingly. “You should know your place.” Twilight was focused on the pony in front of them, but Applejack’s attention was redirected from him, to the pony Fluttershy discreetly hinted to: Rainbow Dash had made it to the Cloudosseum, and was trying to hide behind the bleachers, out of view of the menace that stood before the other ponies. It seemed like she had made it without detection, but there was no sign that Scootaloo had made it. “Go ahead, try and stop me. You’ll only delay the inevitable. As for you, Vanish, I got what you asked for.” The pony reached into one of the saddlebags, pulling out some lime green powder, and blew it through the bars, which Vanish then surrounded with magic. He seemed to be dispersing the powder among the cloud cage's bars, ceiling, and floor with his magic, much to the confusion of the other ponies, who stepped back in order to keep their distance from the powder. The saddlebag-sporting stallion continued blowing more and more powder into the cage, until he motioned that the powder was no longer available to be thrown, by crossing his hooves in front of Vanish as the clouds were left with a lime green tint, but the stallions' reasons for tinting the clouds were unknown. It didn’t take long for the other ponies to learn it, as Vanish used the magic of his second horn once more, to produce the wings of Rainbow Dash, before charging straight into the cage. With a mighty thud, the bars of soft, green cloud somehow absorbed the full force of the charge, visibly hurting Vanish and knocking his hat off from the recoil of the force, as would be expected of somepony attempting to charge through a cloud, only to end up hitting a brick wall or steel bars. “Good, it looks like you’re ready, then.” Reaching into the other saddlebag, the stallion produced a small burlap sack, used to hold some gray powder, and blew it onto Vanish’s prone body, which was still recovering from the impact. Upon doing so, the dual-horned unicorn stood up once more, and went close to the cage’s edge to allow himself to be coated in the strange powder as the other stallion spoke. “This will work to prevent self-inflicted injury. Oh, and I couldn’t forget this…” The stallion produced a small burlap sack from the inside of the saddlebag. Opening the small rope with his mouth, he took out a peach-colored powder with his hoof, and blew it into Vanish’s face. Vanish backed up, lay down, and within seconds, seemed to pass out. “What did you do to him!?” Twilight used her magic to take the saddlebags and sack from the threatening pony, assuming he had done something terrible to Vanish with the contents inside: It was powders. Magic couldn’t be used to determine what they were for at a glance, but Twilight was questioning something that was bothering her far more than their individual chemical makeup: “Why are there so many different types? What do Vanish and this guy need them for?” Twilight’s thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of minor sobbing coming from inside the cage, as well as the fluttering of wings from the stallion contained within. Fluttershy had become concerned from the sounds. “V-Vanish?” There was no response aside from the sight of the pony hovering in the air, with wings seemingly acting on their own. Twilight spoke up. “What’s going on? Vanish, what's wrong!?” Applejack tried her best to get his attention. “Look, Van, say somethin’! If you’re upset about what y’did, you could alway-” *Thud* *CLANG* *CLANG* Vanish, with Rainbow Dash’s wings on his body, seemed to not be in control of what was transpiring in the cage; he appeared to still be asleep, but the wings were propelling him into the cage bars with incredible force. The dull thuds became loud crashes, like a hammer hitting a piece of steel being forged to make armor for the Royal Guard. “T-These are just clouds! How is this possible without the use of magic!?” Twilight was trying to piece the sight before her together, while the stallion outside the cage seemed to enjoy watching the sight of Vanish crashing into the bars of the cell with accompanying sobs, as the turquoise stallion produced a deep and menacing cackle. He sought the attention of the other ponies, but didn’t give them a glance. “It’s quite the shameful sight, isn’t it? He’s no different from all the other weak and pathetic, flying or magic-wielding ponies from here, from anywhere, really! In order for him to do what I requested, he asked me to give him the means to sleep, while he would remain in control of the magic I provided, so I took a little walk while he performed his tasks for the day. Upon finding the ‘medicine mare’, I asked her for some things: A powder to harden a soft, fragile material into one of supreme toughness and durability, a painkiller and pain suppressor, and most importantly, sleeping powder.” The stallion turned his stare to the other ponies. “Oh, he can do his job well, I suppose, but those who tie themselves to others, or even their own emotions, are weak and useless in this world.” Fluttershy went up to the cage, entranced by the soft sobbing sound coming from the pony within its confines. “W-What's wrong with him?” Fluttershy had been terrified at the notion of losing her wings to the caged pony moments ago, but she could tell that he was clearly haunted by something; something he couldn’t control in his own power. The stallion outside the cage spoke up. “It’s just a side effect. I warned him about it when we formed our agreement, and at his request, used some of the bits I acquired outside of my payment to him, in order to buy the means for him to get his necessary sleep before the big day.” Soarin’ wasn’t pleased with what he was seeing. This was like watching somepony perform against their will. The pony he was asked to detain was in a cage in front of him and the others, but he couldn’t leave him there. Before he could pursue any course of action, the turquoise stallion continued. “He isn’t doing this on purpose, you know: It’s because of the magic he’s using, as well as his own stupid, unrelenting guilt for his actions.” The pony chuckled deeply. “Like I said, it’s truly pathetic: The wings he’s using are on him, and yet they still seek their true ‘owners’, so they desperately try to break free of this cage, to find the ponies they rightfully belong to.” The pony waited for the trapped, sleep-flying stallion to charge into the wall of the cell again, before turning around and buck-kicking the artificial alicorn in his face, sending him careening into the other side of the cell. “HAH! What a pathetic joke of a mercenary!” Rainbow Dash couldn’t stand watching such disrespectable antics anymore. She ran from the bleachers, leaping over the bridged, cloud-ridden ring between the platform and the outer part of the Cloudosseum, landing in front of the stallion. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the wingless wonder, herself.” The stallion knew that the light blue pony was there, and turned his head in order for him to face her, grinning mischievously in the process. The rainbow-maned mare tilted her head up, directing her words to her friends while keeping her eyes on the cynical stallion. “I've got this, girls. Go back to Ponyville.” Twilight protested, causing the Pegasus pony to turn around and face her. “Not without you and Scootaloo! Besides, we got this under contro-…!” Rainbow Dash was launched at Twilight, by a charge from the menacing stallion behind her. “I’ve had enough of this! It looks like you have no intention of leaving me to my own agenda, so here’s a very simple warning for you and your precious princess!” The stallion ran towards the backstage area he had come from before, but the Wonderbolts tried cutting him off in the process; he had begun something involving a threat on the princess herself, and they couldn’t just let him go. “Out of my way! Unless you want your wings removed, as well!” Soarin’ and Spitfire were both taken aback by this claim, and the stallion saw this as an opportunity to take control. He ran past both, through the backstage curtain he got the bags from, and brought out a rope-bound, bruised, winged filly. “SCOOTALOO!!!” Twilight had hoped the young Pegasus filly hadn’t made it, but apparently she got too close, before the other ponies could reach Cloudsdale. No surprise, given how she was the fastest pony out of all of the ones present, at least on land, with her scooter. Scootaloo looked worn out, like she had been in a fight she couldn’t have possibly won. The stallion turned her around to face him, and glared at her with a sick, menacing grin. “You’ve outlived your usefulness. From what Vanish told me, he’s sorry you had to ‘witness’ such terrible things occurring to the pony you chose to care for.” He picked her up, and held her with his hooves, the clanging of the cage no longer affecting them. “I’m not like that weak and pathetic mercenary. Without my horn’s magic, he’s nothing more than a mere unicorn. If I say that you’ve outlived your use, you’re better off gone from this world.” Rainbow Dash knew that she wouldn’t make it in time, and could only hope to stop the visibly demented stallion. “STOP! DON’T DO ANYTHING TO HER, YOU-!” He wasn’t listening, as he raised Scootaloo above his head with his hooves grasping her neck and chin, looking down into the seemingly endless darkness below him, from a non-bridged section surrounding the cloud platform. “BEGONE FROM MY SIGHT, WORM!” The pony threw Scootaloo, eyes laden with terror, body bound with rope and mouth muffled with tape, down into the darkness below. Applejack grabbed Rarity by her mane with her mouth and retreated to the backstage area, where their balloon was nearby, knowing that they could do nothing without wings except hope to meet the others by safely landing on the ground. Rainbow Dash didn’t even think over her actions: She jumped right into the darkness, hoping to catch Scootaloo before she landed. Even without her wings, she couldn’t let somepony get hurt. The Wonderbolts went in after the two of them, raising their goggles in order to use their refined night vision to locate and catch Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo before it was too late. “As for YOU, I’m sure you’re see your princess soon… in the hospital.” Twilight let herself get distracted by Rainbow’s plummet to the ground, she didn’t even notice the pony rush up to her, launching himself into the air with his hind legs, up, over, and behind her, before slamming his rear hooves into the back of her head, causing her to lose her balance and fall into the abyss, herself. Fluttershy made a break for it, diving right after her friend in the hopes of catching her in time. All that could be heard by anypony, were the screams of panicked hope from the ponies searching through the darkness for their friends. These shouts were barely audible due to the air whizzing past their ears, blocking most sounds from being heard, with the exception for one sound: The sound of loud, maniacal laughter coming from the Cloudosseum, by an insidious stallion who had made his intentions clear. He had made his presence known, and he was coming for Princess Celestia.