Act of Good Faith
Derpy walked over to the pile of saddlebags that Pinkie Pie was loitering around, curious about their placement. As she did this, Twilight went up to Spike, knowing that she could always count on him to give her an update of the current status of anything happening. She learned about Princess Celestia’s letter to Spike, the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ actions with regards to the library, and that Fluttershy had left to check on her wildlife friends before everypony could leave for Canterlot. She asked Spike to send her letter, but to wait until everypony had gathered in the lobby. Spike moved the scroll to the table as well as the scroll that the princess had sent, so that he would remember to send them.
As Twilight sat down at the table in the lobby, the other ponies followed suit, sitting around it with her. Applejack took the time to fetch the Cutie Mark Crusaders; they needed to know what was going to happen, and more importantly, that they could not under any circumstances be allowed to follow them to Canterlot. Twilight knew that Scootaloo was especially hoping to do what she could for Rainbow Dash, and once the Crusaders were rounded up, she gave the filly a mission: “Scootaloo, would you mind waking Rainbow Dash up? She should be down here by now.”
Scootaloo grinned with determination, giving a quick salute. “I’m on it! Rainbow DAAAaaaaash…” Scootaloo had begun calling for Rainbow Dash before she even reached the stairwell. Upon getting upstairs, she was amazed at how clean things were compared to when she woke up. Twilight had put away the sleeping bags and the spare bed set, since the floor had been cleared of them. Looking up, Rainbow could be seen climbing off of Twilight's bed, having been woken up earlier by the sounds of Spitfire’s complaints and Rarity’s screams of ‘inspiration’ as she thought of new things to put in the orange Pegasus pony's mane. The blue mare turned to look at the curious eyes smiling filly, returning the small smile with one of her own. “Hey, pipsqueak. Looks like I’m the last one up, huh? Is everyone else downstairs?”
Scootaloo was happy that Rainbow Dash seemed back to her old self, aside from the obvious lack of wings. “Pretty much everyone, yeah. Twilight wanted me to get you before they went over the plans for the... t-the day…” Something outside caught Scootaloo’s eye, as well as her attention. Rainbow Dash took notice, and looked out the window, glaring in fear at what she saw: Due to the sun having clearly risen, giving way for the morning, Rainbow could clearly see that Fluttershy was returning, though it seemed like somepony was with her, using themselves as a crutch for her, or hiding behind her. Helping her return, or forcing her back.
“Rainbow, isn’t that Fluttershy? Who’s that with her?” Scootaloo heard hoofsteps behind her, and turned around to see Rainbow Dash making a quick gallop for the stairs. “Rainbow! Wait!” Scootaloo ran as fast as her filly legs could go in order to catch up with the rainbow-maned pony. By the time the filly reached the lobby, Rainbow had been stopped by the other ponies, but was reaching for the door as Twilight tried talking to her. “Rainbow, you need to hear the plans for today before going out!” Rainbow protested against her friend's request. “But Twilight, you don’t understand! Fluttershy is-”
“*THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP*” The sound of the wooden door being kicked hard in succession with the rear hooves of a pony, echoed in the library. Rainbow Dash took the opportunity brought about by the distracting sound, in order to crash through Rarity and Applejack, but Twilight used her magic to grab Rainbow Dash by the tail, causing the frantic mare to flail helplessly at the door with her hooves scraping on the floor, before Twilight walked in front of her, looking at her curiously. “What’s the big deal, Rainbow? Fluttershy said she’d be back, right?”
Twilight used her magic to open the door, seeing the pink mane and yellow coat she had known all too well. “Welcome back, Flu…tter…shy!?” As Twilight’s generous greeting slowly morphed into a frightened query, she opened the door the rest of the way, now seeing the reason Rainbow Dash was trying to reach the door before the other ponies: Somepony else was with Fluttershy. “A little assistance would be appreciated!” The condescending tone of voice could only belong to one pony they knew, and it was no surprise as to the identity of the visitor once Spitfire and Pinkie Pie took Fluttershy off his hooves.
Twilight spoke so the other ponies could know who the visitor was: “Vanish.” The dark, dark blue coat and short, smoke gray mane was a clear indicator of his presence. He had his double-saddlebags, but his hat was missing, showing his horn for all to see. Normally he would have worn his hat, but something else had caught Twilight’s eye; Vanish’s second horn, the one bestowed upon him by Gather, was missing. Vanish gave a polite bow to the ponies inside the library. “You have my gratitude, for it was no small feat escorting her from her abode to here, I can assure you.”
Angel, Fluttershy’s pet bunny rabbit, had followed her and Vanish all the way back to the library, worried about the timid Pegasus pony. Seeing Vanish give her to the ponies inside, Angel made his move, hopping out from a bush and into the library, hurrying to Fluttershy’s side. “Hmph. I didn’t think I was followed…” Vanish sighed, exhausted. “Oh well, I suppose you have that right, little one.” Twilight was angry, but Rainbow Dash was furious. Twilight could feel that her magic was draining from Rainbow’s attempt at attacking Vanish, and was about to let her go until a soft, pained voice whispered from behind everyone.
“… P-Please… No…” Fluttershy was severely hurt and weak, but far from unconscious as she lay on the lobby table. Twilight had allowed her focus to be averted, releasing Rainbow Dash from her magical hold, to which the mare rushed to the side of her fallen friend, ignoring Vanish momentarily. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy, we won’t let him get away this time. Just relax, you’ve been through enough.”
Fluttershy opened her eyes; a severely worried expression surged through the pain in them. “N-No, please! D-Don’t… don’t hurt him… He didn’t do… He… Hnngh…” Fluttershy was clearly in pain, whimpering while she spoke, but seemed to be trying to defend the antagonistic stallion before her friends lunged at him. Rainbow didn’t want to listen, but chose to turn her head, casting her glare towards Vanish with a stare that cut right through the ponies in the lobby. “… You get one chance to tell us how this happened. I’ll choose whether to believe you or not, understand?”
Vanish averted his gaze and smirked. “You’ve changed from the brash, arrogant mare I met at the hospital… and the tailoring store… and even Cloudsdale. Heh…” Rainbow Dash fully turned around, glaring angrily at the stallion who she saw as mocking her as he stopped recalling painful memories for the wild mare, ceasing his teasing. “… Settle down, I’ll talk. May I be permitted entrance into your home, my dear?” He gave a more casual bow, this time directly towards Twilight, who couldn’t understand why Vanish seemed so calm around them. She raised her hoof towards her friends, motioning for them to make room for him. They obliged, and he entered the library.
“I assume that some of you have several questions, but first I have an inquiry of my own.” Vanish had been walking towards Rainbow Dash, but turned so that the right side of his saddlebag faced her, before reaching into it, to pull something out. Rainbow lunged towards him, and used her hoof to stop Vanish from retracting the hoof he placed in his saddlebag. “No! You’ll answer my question, first! Got it!?”
The dark blue unicorn looked at Rainbow after she had stopped him from obtaining the item from his saddlebag. He gave a coy smirk towards her, prompting a look of fury from the light-blue mare. With a sigh of acknowledgement, Vanish finally produced a response to Rainbow's question. “I suppose you have earned the right to know what transpired.” Vanish took his hoof out from his bag, and walked towards Fluttershy, who had been placed on the lobby table to be examined for injuries. The stallion gently stroked his dark blue front hoof through her bright pink mane, seemingly ignoring the other ponies in the room as his smile turned into a frown of sorrow.