//------------------------------//
// End of the Line 
// Story: Disappear 
// by ShimmeringStallion 
//------------------------------//


End of the Line





The front compartment only had one door, and Vanish was keeping it closed with his magic. It led to the area where a pony would shovel coal into a furnace to keep the train moving, but one could also speak to the conductor from there. As Fluttershy had some of her bandages unwrapped from her torso and wings thanks to the efforts of her friends, Scootaloo was trying to pull the door open, not wanting to let Vanish leave until he answered her question. Should Vanish open the door, Scootaloo would be thrown off of the side of the train due to the force of the door sliding open, coupled with her loss of balance, but she didn't care. Her fellow Crusaders knew that she needed to be calmed down, so they pulled her off the handle to the train car, before pulling her back into the car everypony had boarded the train on.

“What are you doing!? Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, let go of me! I need to get that guy! I need t-…” A voice rose up from the back of the train cart. “What good would that do, pipsqueak?” Rainbow Dash had positioned herself on the other side of the car, lying on a seat calmly, but spoke up so that Scootaloo could hear her over the sound of the train running on the tracks. “Rainbow, I… I…” Scootaloo sat down, exhausted in her attempts to justify her actions with an excuse. She couldn’t help but get mad at Vanish after everything that had occured recently; she honestly blamed herself for what happened to her idol at Cloudsdale, and was too brash and stubborn to think of any other alternative. At a loss for words and out of ideas, she just wanted somepony to confirm what she thought. A part of her still didn’t want to believe it to be the truth, but the rest of her had all but accepted it as fact. Rainbow Dash rolled off the seat, walked up to the filly, and gave her a hug.

The light blue mare knew what the young filly was upset about. “Listen Scootaloo, what happened to me wasn’t your fault, so don’t blame yourself. You didn’t even know about Vanish at the time! You were only trying to help!” Scootaloo pushed the rainbow-maned mare away, slightly. “Some help I was, I couldn’t even climb those dumb ste-AHH!” Rainbow Dash stomped in anger, scowling as she scolded the young Pegasus filly. “SCOOTALOO! STOP IT!” Scootaloo winced at the shout and laid down, ready to accept whatever was going to be told to her as tears formed in her eyes, prompting Rainbow Dash to explain her reaction. “Darn it Scootaloo, stop blaming yourself when we’re trying to help you!”

“If you’re going to blame anypony…” Vanish had slowly opened the front compartment door without detection, proceeding to walk back in, closing the doors behind him with his rear hoof. “Why not blame the one who actually took your idol’s wings?” Scootaloo was about to stand against him, but Rainbow Dash pinned the filly's hind leg to the train car floor by gently placing her hoof on it, keeping her in a struggle to stand, prompting the stallion to continue speaking. “You want the truth? We’ll reach Canterlot shortly, so we’ve got some time. Let me tell you a little something.” Vanish sat down in front of Scootaloo, ceasing her ongoing attempts at standing up as Rainbow Dash stepped off of the filly's hind leg. “Of those on the list of Ponyville and Canterlot Pegasi whose wings I was negotiated into obtaining, your wings are the only ones that I refused to take.”

The comment sparked curiosity within the speedy Pegasus filly. “But why?” Scootaloo wanted to know, and Vanish didn’t want to tell her. She knew she had to make up for how she reacted before, and worked up a polite means of asking. “P-Please tell me why?” He looked at her eyes, seeing the previous look of desperation slowly become replaced by one that mirrored acceptance. The desire to know the truth could be seen in her young, grayish-purple eyes; she was ready to listen, as the stallion answered. “I dislike attacking fillies or colts in order to achieve my desired goals. It’s a policy of mine, arguably my most important one.” Vanish, using his hoof, toyed with Scootaloo’s wing, whimsically. “I don’t care how fast you may be. You could even be faster than Rainbow Dash. Regardless, you didn’t do anything to warrant any physical harm, even if you are a bit too brash for your own good, but perhaps that is merely the spirit of youth. Ha ha ha… ha…”

Scootaloo saw Vanish lower his head and his hoof, as a tear began to fall down his smiling face. “… I’m sorry that I made you feel like a pawn, filly, and I apologize further for having to use you at the town in the clouds. I wanted to keep you out of this.” Vanish struggled to keep his mind on the topic at hand. “I need you to know something: I grabbed you because I had followed Rainbow Dash with the intention of getting her wings, had she been alone. She wasn’t, so I grabbed you to lead her back behind Cloudsdale, so that her friends could not hinder my plans. I implore you to not take it personally.”

Vanish bowed respectively to Scootaloo; an act he had performed in front of Twilight at the hospital, almost as if he was asking for mercy from royalty. The filly was even more surprised by this act than Twilight had been, but the stallion simply remained in his proper bow for several seconds before standing once again. “Truth be told, I’m glad it was you that I grabbed. I knew I could trust you to help yourself, as opposed to the other two fillies, who would have been unable to save themselves if in the same position.” Scootaloo thought it over, and realized how true that statement was; If Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle were dropped from above the clouds, and knocked away as she had been, they would’ve been unable to land on the clouds, as they weren’t Pegasi themselves, and that was assuming they would even be lucky enough to reach a cloud and not just plummet to the ground, not that a difference would have been made either way.

“Well, might as well wake them up.” Scootaloo realized that Vanish had walked past her, and went up to Spitfire, kneeling down to shake her gently, trying to wake her up. “Hold on, I got it.” Soarin’ walked over, not wanting Vanish anywhere near his long time friend as Vanish conceded with the request. “Hm. As you wish.” Vanish walked over to Pinkie Pie, examining her for a moment. “Any of you want to wake this one? I fear I may harm her, since her tongue is still sticking out. How it’s been out all this time, is beyond my grasp of understanding.” He scratched his mane in confusion, as Rarity and Applejack walked over to where he was standing, the latter choosing to speak in place of the unconscious party pony. “It’s Pinkie Pie. It’ll be fine, we’ll wake her up. What’cha planning t’do, anyways?”

Rarity was also confused by this course of action. “I must agree with Applejack, it doesn’t seem logical to wake them up without reason.” Vanish smiled at the curious seamstress. “Who said there was no reason? I just never explained my reason, my dear.” Rarity looked at Vanish with her eyebrow raised in confusion, leaving Applejack to try waking Pinkie Pie by herself, which worked out surprisingly quickly, as the dark blue stallion noticed. “She only had a minor dose of sleeping powder exposure. I knew she would wake up quickly, same with the flyer.” Spitfire woke up, dazed and confused, but Soarin’ reminded her of where they were since she was put to sleep, not knowing if the powder had affected her memory.

The gray-maned stallion addressed the two conversing ponies. “Looks like you could handle waking her up by yourself, after all. Very well, then! Since you’re both awake,” Vanish pointed to Pinkie Pie, who seemed quite refreshed, given how she was put to sleep with sleeping powder, even if her tongue was still sticking out due to it being swollen and pained. As she looked to him, he continued speaking to the ponies. “I might as well show you something.” Vanish opened the door at the back of the train car, and sat down in the doorway, placing all four of his hooves on the frame, trying to keep himself off the floor of the compartment. “Consider this to be a gift of sorts, since I can respect the effort put into your attempts to befriend me, and you have my most sincere pity at your resulting failure in doing so.”

Vanish lowered his head swiftly, not wanting to listen to what the ponies would respond with. His horn began to glow, and the ponies in the train compartment could see him focusing critically on his magic. Suddenly, he cloaked himself, but that wasn’t all; the train car itself had also appeared to be slowly turning transparent around them, from back to front, causing the ponies on board to become panicked, which Twilight vocalized quite clearly. “W-What’s going on!? What are you doing, Vanish!?” The lavender unicorn was scared, but nowhere near as bad as some of the other ponies. Once the magic reached its limits, only the train car they were in was transparent. They could see each other, and the adjacent cars. They couldn’t see the unicorn stallion anymore, but they could hear him chuckle. “As I said, consider it a gift. Go ahead. Look around. Enjoy a view few others can hope to see: Standing in place, as the world flies by."

Scootaloo, Spitfire, and Fluttershy each used their wings to hover briefly, by reflex, unsure of what was going on, before realizing that they were still safe in the train car, and landing back on the invisible floor. Spitfire was particularly stunned at the demonstration, as she was used to seeing the world speed by, but without the wind in her face, it felt incredibly surreal to her, as well as it being a peculiar experience for Soarin’. Rainbow Dash was even more stunned, despite her reasons being identical. She was paralyzed with confusion and fear, due to the fact that she was going about as fast as her normal, non-competitive dashing speed, but there was no wind blowing through her feathers, which was a peculiar feeling for her.

The experience was dreamlike to the Pegasi on the train car, but for the other ponies, it was breathtaking. Standing on the sides of the train car, they could even see the areas below the train tracks. It was mostly a stone bridge directly below the train, but on solitary-track sections, they could see off to the sides, from mountains and forests on the right of the train, to the ocean that spanned endlessly to the left, to even the visibly limitless sky above them. They could never hope to see all of this solely with the windows of the train, in such clarity. It was just the beauty of Equestria that they knew, and seldom took the time to appreciate.

“Oof! My nose!” Rarity had tried walking towards the direction of the sun setting in the mountains, in an attempt to see it slightly closer, but walked right into the invisible wall that blocked the ponies from falling off the side. The dark blue unicorn stallion couldn't help but laugh at the sight. “Ah ha ha. I apologize. I can only cloak the train car; while I can be selective in terms of stationary objects, it is difficult to cloak things such as ponies, indirectly. Ah! If you would be so kind as to look toward the right side of the train car, the front, specifically…” Twilight was careful to not hit the wall, but Pinkie had been woken up and holding the wall (and her mouth) ever since Vanish started. Sure enough, up ahead was Canterlot. They were nearing their destination, but something was wrong, for while it looked like the shield was up, they could see a single cloud outside the barrier, moving rather erratically. Twilight knew who it was. “Gather... He made it well before us.”

The sound of a struggle could be heard behind the ponies, and they turned around to see that Vanish had exhausted himself in his efforts to cloak the rest of the train car, finally letting his fatigue cease his efforts to provide a 'cart with a view' for the ponies he was with. The cart finally became wholely visible again, as could the stallion behind the magic. “You know, I take enjoyment in observing the sights as they speed by, but much like this ride, our time together has come to an end.” Twilight raised her hoof in protest. “Wait. Vanish. Please help us fight against Gather!” The smoke gray-maned pony raised his own hoof in response, silencing the earnest request. “I’m afraid I cannot do that, my dear. Perhaps, sometime in the future, we can look back on the events that are still to occur, without bitterness in our hearts.”

Vanish grabbed his fedora from his saddlebag, placing it on his head and tipping it down with his hoof, as he cloaked himself once more and walked to the front of the cart, casually walking by each pony on the train while using his magic to keep the fedora tipped over his eyes. “Well, you could, anyways.” The front compartment door could be seen sliding open, as the ponies listened to the sound of Vanish reaching the top of the train, before hearing hoof steps quickly leading off of the side of the roof, as the train approached the shield near Canterlot. They looked out the window, some looking up, but others taking note of the grass that was being pressed into the ground just outside. Even cloaked, they could tell that Vanish jumped before he could reach the shield, so that he wouldn’t hit it and give away his whereabouts.

As they passed through, Twilight opened the window, looking outside it, past the guards who were watching Gather jump down from his cloud, as Vanish had left to discuss business with his client. The train stopped, and the ponies were greeted by several friendly faces. “Twiley!” Shining Armor was with Cadance, much to Twilight’s dismay; she had hoped that Spike would have sent the message, but clearly the baby dragon was unable to do so thanks to the efforts of Vanish at the station. Shining Armor was more than happy to see his younger sister appear safe and sound, exclaiming his joy quite openly. “Hey, sis. It’s great to see you, again! Cadance noticed that a part of the train car seemed to be missing, so we went through the station, but it seems to be back now… Hey, you okay?”

Applejack could see her friend not paying attention, and she could hardly blame her. She knew that Twilight just wanted Vanish to join them, and everypony on that train had come to the same conclusion: Vanish didn’t want to help his client, but was honor-bound by a contract they couldn’t hope to break. The purple unicorn needed time alone, so Applejack spoke on her behalf, leading the other ponies off the train with their bags. “C’mon, y’all, we’ll fill everypony in on the situation. Let’s leave her alone fer now.”

Twilight sat down, feeling sad about the circumstances surrounding her recently obtained knowledge of Vanish; a pony plagued with short-term memory loss who seemed to lead a life solely through contracts with other ponies in order to do his job. It was pitiful, but more than that, it was such a foolish way to live. Worst of all was that she could tell that Vanish knew it, and even cared, in his own way. The sad part was that he held onto that pride, for the trust with his clients was as important to him, as friendship was to Twilight.

‘A life without friends…’ Twilight was once like that, but even then, she had her brother. She wondered what it was like in the mercenary’s mind, as she sat there with tears falling on the train station platform.





“Ha ha ha ha ha! This is great! You’re really worth your weight in gold, y’know that, princess?” Gather picked up a small pebble, and flew back up in the cloud he had brought from Ponyville, before tossing the pebble directly at Princess Celestia. The shield in front of her bounced it off and the pebble fell back down, prompting another burst of laughter from the easily amused stallion, begetting further taunting. “You know, I never thought I could enjoy this, but after handing me these wings so generously, I can’t help but consider your royalty a joke.”

In the time Gather had been mocking her outside her kingdom prior to the ponies reaching Canterlot, Princess Celestia had ordered some guards to subdue the roguish stallion, prompting him to fly into the air in order to avoid the range of their magic. Pegasus Guards went through the shield, where Gather simply outmaneuvered them in order to take their wings as his own. He was more than happy to taunt the princess through not only using the guards’ wings, but even running laps around her kingdom, attempting to taunt the Canterlot Elite, as well as other guards. It was during this time that the guards who had their wings taken, would be brought back within the confines of the shield that the Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor, had put up to protect the Kingdom of Canterlot from the turquoise menace that flew around the shield in hysterics.

“You really are just too much! You put up a barrier to protect you from a threat, you learn about the threat, and then you try taking it on with your ‘Chump Patrol’? Gyahahahaha!!! Seriously, do you have a license to rule your kingdom? ‘Cause I gotta say, you really stink at it, if one little pony could cause such a crisis by himself!” Gather could hear the sound of a magical aura nearing him, and jumped down from his cloud, still sporting the wings of one of Celestia’s guards. “I’ll enjoy taking those wings from you, ‘Princess’; no question. But for now, it looks like the cavalry is here,” Gather raised his head and smirked at the princess before continuing, “for me, anyways. Keep those wings lookin’ pretty for me, Princess!”

Vanish revealed himself, and Gather walked away to discuss the next part of their plan. Princess Celestia had said nothing as long as Gather had been taunting her. She believed in Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Hearing some of them approach, she turned around to greet them, still feeling sour from the insults that Gather had thrown her way while he had been outside the barrier.

“I don’t know what Gather is planning regarding the act of getting through the barrier, but it appears as though he’s waiting us out. Where is Twilight Sparkle?” The other ponies looked behind them, seeing the mare in question running past some of the royal guards, faintly showing the darkened stains of tears below her eyes. She spoke normally, as the other ponies bowed in Celestia’s royal presence. “I’m here, Princess… and I have information.” The other ponies from the train turned around, noting the stern look in Twilight’s eyes. “Information that could help us.”