//------------------------------//
// Wounds to Lick 
// Story: Disappear 
// by ShimmeringStallion 
//------------------------------//


Wounds to Lick





In order to occupy the young fillies so that they wouldn’t try leaving after their friend, Spike, Pinkie Pie, and Derpy Hooves decided to help the girls get their cutie marks in “Library Book Reshelving”. The fillies were less than excited, but a cutie mark is what they wanted, and Spike brought the idea up in the hopes of buying some time. They had done a very good job with most of the books in the side rooms and lobby, leaving only the upstairs area as that which needed organization. It wasn’t the system that Twilight was used to, but Spike knew that Twilight could always use a change of pace, and even if that failed, she could always take a long time distracting herself on Reshelving Day. While putting away “The Art of the To-Do List”, Spike glanced out the window, seeing a small crowd of ponies approaching the library.

“THEY’RE BACK!!!” Spike jumped down from his perch, as Sweetie Belle took his place, with Apple Bloom hopping on top of her friend’s back in the hopes of looking out the window for herself. Derpy and Pinkie Pie followed Spike down the stairs to greet their friends, whom they had been worried about while organizing the shelves of the library. Truthfully, they were joining in the organization of shelves solely as a means of keeping themselves from running to Cloudsdale and finding a way to help their friends, but that was now a subject for future contemplation. They were finally back, and those in the library believed wholeheartedly that things were going to change for the better.

“We are in dire need of help out here! Can anypony hear me!? Please, open the door!” Rarity was screaming in panic, clearly unable to think about just opening it herself. Spike jumped on the doorknob, turning it to open the door as he, as well as the fillies in the lobby, were greeted with a terrifying sight: It seemed that the only ponies that weren’t hurt or exhausted in some way were Applejack and Rarity. While this served as a relieving sight for their younger sisters, that was the only good thing about the state of affairs. Spitfire was trying to lead Twilight into Ponyville Library by using herself as a crutch, while Fluttershy and Applejack were carrying Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo into the library, having placed the larger pony above them, and walked carefully to keep her from falling off. Scootaloo still had ropes around her, being grasped by Rainbow Dash’s mouth; the orange filly wasn't awake, but the mare didn't want to let her go.

Spike began questioning everything. “W-What happened? Where’s Soarin’? Did you manage to stop Vanish? Twilight, what happened out ther-…” Spike knew he was panicking, but the raised hoof of assurance from his longtime friend stopped him from continuing his series of questions. “… Spike, get some bandages and ice packs. I’ll explain everything once I know everypony is recovering.” Spike ran upstairs to grab resources needed for administering first aid, running past Derpy Hooves and Pinkie Pie in the process. When the two ponies reached the bottom of the stairs, they knew there was a problem, given the weakened conditions of Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Twilight Sparkle herself. Derpy was especially nervous, considering how three Pegasi were hurt, and Soarin’ appeared to be absent.

Twilight wasn’t finished speaking, taking the moment to turn her attention to the unicorn beside her. “Rarity, go upstairs to where Spike went and grab a quill, ink well, and scroll. We need to get a letter to the princess as soon as possible.” Rarity was being hugged by her sister, but placed her on the floor upon being requested to help. “Understood. I will return shortly, Sweetie Belle, so you stay here. I’ll be right back.” The fashionista trotted up the stairs, almost being knocked over by Spike, who was carrying a tower of medical supplies. It was at this point that Twilight found the time to ask Rainbow Dash about something.

“Rainbow, did you notice your back?” The light blue mare never even wanted to look at her back after having seen it earlier, and after having felt the terrible burning pain of her wings being removed. Rainbow placed Scootaloo on the floor before responding, as Twilight took the time to untie the ropes that bound the filly. “My back? What does that have to do wi- HUH!?” She turned around, and noticed something that she was amazed she hadn’t noticed earlier: Her back no longer had the charred, black markings on it. She looked identical to an Earth pony, without the telltale signs that her wings had been removed. Twilight turned to Derpy, seeing that she was the same. “Derpy's the same… It looks like she recovered while we were at the Cloudosseum. Actually, she could have even recovered before then!”

Twilight voiced her thoughts for her friends. “Hm. As I thought, those ‘burns’ were caused by magic. One was accidental, and one was intentionally painful, yet in both cases the effects were temporary. Rainbow, do you remember the state of the Pegasi in Cloudsdale that had their wings removed?” Rainbow Dash thought it over, as Spike handed out ice packs to various ponies in the library. “Well, yeah, they seemed upset, but they didn’t look like they were in much pain…! Wait, what are you saying, Twilight?” The purple unicorn placed the ice pack behind her head with great difficulty, and laid flat on the floor to make sure it wouldn’t shift from its position.

“I think it’s safe to assume that the burns aren’t part of the magic, itself; the wielder can simply cause the wings to ‘vanish’, should they know how to, without leaving any visible traces of how or why. Derpy was the first, so Vanish probably didn’t know exactly how to use the magic of the other horn, or maybe she struggled. I’m fairly certain that Vanish was counting on you to struggle, Rainbow, thus causing massive amounts of pain and scarring. That’s probably what knocked you out.” Twilight considered the events that had occured at the Cloudosseum. After a brief pause to consider how to word her thoughts, she finally spoke. “It seems Vanish isn't our target, or at least not our main target.”

Spitfire chimed in. “Soarin’ wanted to take a look at what was happening in the Cloudosseum. There’s less of a chance for any Pegasus pony to be detected if there’s less ponies with them. I know Soarin’, and he’s dedicated to getting the job done. He’ll be back.” Twilight nodded in understanding. “It’s safe to say that whoever Vanish was with is the pony responsible for so many Pegasi losing their wings. We don’t know why, but we know enough to warrant a request for Princess Celestia to provide maximum security both in and around Canterlot.”

Twilight removed the ice pack and used magic to wrap bandages around the welt that had grown on her head; the welt had been growing ever since the painful bash she took at the hooves of the sinister stallion. “Ugh. I can’t help but think we’re missing something.” Twilight rubbed the welt on her head, which Spike answered by smacking her hoof, and placing a fresh ice pack on the bandaged welt. “Nngh… Thanks, Spike.” The baby dragon had already begun checking out the other ponies, and saw that Scootaloo had it pretty bad, but was at least semi-conscious, if not asleep. Rainbow Dash was visibly upset that she couldn’t just fly over and drive the head of the stallion who threw Scootaloo, straight into the ground, but she was even more upset that Scootaloo was in visible pain, and she had done little to help the young filly.

“Um… R-Rainbow?” Fluttershy walked over and patted her on the back with her hoof, struggling to provide support for her friend. “L-Listen. Don’t feel bad about Scootaloo. She’ll be okay. She really looks up to you, you know!” Rainbow swatted the hoof off her back and turned to her friend, angrily. “Yeah? Why look up to somepony that got played like a chump into losing their wings!?” Rainbow backed the timid Pegasus into a bookcase with her verbal assault, almost aiming to challenge her attempt at providing comfort. “And THEN I got her in even more trouble by jumping after her! Spitfire or Soarin’ could have saved her, but it took BOTH of them just to make sure we weren’t badly hurt! I put her in so much danger! What point could there be in her looking u-!”

She was stopped by the small hoof of Scootaloo, who Rainbow Dash had thought was asleep, but was clearly just exhausted and pained. “… N-No… You’re… wrong…” The filly couldn’t speak to Rainbow Dash clearly, taking pauses between every word. Rainbow focused all of her attention on what Scootaloo was saying, and stopped attacking Fluttershy with her angry, self-abusive ranting. “… If… you didn’t… do anything… w-when I was… falling…” Scootaloo kept her eyes closed as she spoke, tears falling down her cheeks as she remained on the hard, wooden library floor, unbound from ropes thanks to Twilight. “… I know… I’d be………” Scootaloo had fallen asleep mid-sentence.

Rainbow stood up before walking over to Applejack and grabbing the Earth pony's hat with her mouth. “What the hay do you think yer do-…” Rainbow Dash gave Applejack a familiar look: ‘Wait’. Applejack piped down, watching as Rainbow Dash placed the hat on Scootaloo’s body, providing a crude form of shelter from the air, and even muting the sound around her with the material that the hat was made from. “I’m gonna get a blanket from the side room.” Rainbow Dash walked into the side area, searching for a suitable blanket for the young, exhausted filly. Twilight watched until the last streak of color from her friend's rainbow tail was out of view, before realizing what Rainbow Dash was thinking. "This isn’t a time for self-reflection or placing blame. It's time to prepare for the problems ahead."

Rarity had grabbed the requested objects from upstairs, and brought them back to Twilight. Thanking her friend, she proceeded to compose a message detailing the plans that the stallion had for Canterlot, but she needed to know something. “What was the name of the pony we encountered? Is he really Vanish’s client? If only we knew, then maybe we can proceed with confidence…”

“…-ther!” Twilight heard a voice coming from outside, having left the door to the library open. Much to her surprise, it was Soarin’ in the hot air balloon they left back under the Cloudosseum, which Applejack and Rarity had used to escape before the vicious stallion had tried attacking them. “What was that, Soarin’?” Spitfire went outside to greet her fellow Wonderbolt, who had his head rested over the side of the basket. “That pony… His name is Gather. His cutie mark is four boxes: One had wings, one had a horn, one is blank, and the last one had a silhouette of a pony.” Soarin’ turned away. “I think his name suits his cutie mark and talent: To gather and use the wings of other ponies… and that’s just the start.”

“Soarin’, how do you know...” Soarin’ stopped his friend, and continued. “He also has the power to take the horns of unicorns.” The other ponies gasped in fear as Twilight recalled previous conversations. "Vanish had vaguely mentioned something of this sort, but if it's true, than Gather's intentions seem clear: To take the powers of the greatest users of magic in Equestria... Including the magic of Princess Celestia!" Fluttershy spoke in a terrified tone. “Oh, my. Th-That’s terrible news! We need to tell the princess at onc-!” Fluttershy was interrupted by Spitfire suddenly pointing her hoof at her friend. “Soarin’, get out of the basket, please.”

Twilight didn’t catch on at first, but upon contemplation, all this information seemed like it was a bit much for one to simply overhear. “Did something happen between Soarin’ and Gather?” Soarin’ looked behind him, and lowered his head in shame. “… I’m sorry, Spitfire, I just wanted to be useful.” The stallion perched his front legs on the balloon basket, sighing with regret. “But now I’m no longer a Wonderbolt.” Soarin’ jumped out of the basket, and their worst fears were realized.

Soarin’s wings had been taken, with minimal scarring being visible. It appeared that he traded his wings just to be able to help Spitfire and the others learn about the pony who was terrorizing Cloudsdale. He wasn’t a Wonderbolt anymore, just a regular pony: A Pegasus pony without wings. And the hard blow that Spitfire landed on his face with her hoof said all that needed to be said: “How could you do this!?”