//------------------------------// // Fight or Flight // Story: Disappear // by ShimmeringStallion //------------------------------// Fight or Flight Rainbow Dash was stunned silent by Vanish’s harsh words, to the point where she simply sat in place with tears welling up in her eyes. She knew his words would never be said without confidence, and as Rainbow Dash thought over what she considered to be ‘right’, she found herself unable to hold back her tears. Sobbing in the doorway quietly, Vanish spoke in a normal tone of voice, directing his attention elsewhere. “… Dragon, I apologize for my actions back at the train station.” Spike crossed his arms, muttering to himself. “You can start by getting my name right, at least...” Vanish heard his words, and promptly bowed gracefully in response. “Spike, I could not allow you to send that letter to Princess Celestia. It was something that neither I nor Gather had considered, as in, the concealment of my targets. Therefore, I had no choice but to stop you from sending it. I don’t expect you to forgive me, which is why I had you brought here, to the Royal Wedding Hall.” Spike uncrossed his arms, looking dumbfounded at the last statement that was made. “Wait, but the Princess brought me here on a chariot!” The stallion corrected the baby dragon. “At my request.” Vanish kneeled down to Spike. “Sir, I request that you take a letter for me.” Vanish used his magic to bring a quill and a scroll from his bag, as well as a fresh, sealed ink well, as Spike protested. “Wait, why should I do that for you?” The dark blue pony stared blankly as he offered the stationary objects. “It’s not for me. It’s for the good of Canterlot, good sir.” Vanish was confident in what he was doing, too confident for the tastes of Applejack, who stepped forward. “Van, what’re ya doi-!” “DEAR...” Vanish interrupted Applejack in a very sudden manner, but kept his focus solely on Spike, and the contents of the letter he wanted to have written. “… Princess Celestia.” Spike looked at Twilight, who in turn looked up at her mentor. Princess Celestia gave a rather hesitant nod, prompting Spike to grab the scroll from the air, sit down, dip the quill in the ink, and begin taking note of what Vanish was saying, unable to comprehend the stallion’s plan, but being given the 'order' to write it down. “With regards to the crimes of attacking the Pegasi of Cloudsdale, The Wonderbolts, The Elements of Harmony, and the Royalty of Equestria, consisting of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess Luna: The Princess of the Night, and Princess Celestia: The Regal Ruler of Equestria and Princess of the Day, the individual below hereby admits their guilt in the crimes of the theft of the wings of all those listed, as well as the forced removal and obtainment of the unicorn horns of the aforementioned Royalty of Equestria, as well as of the Captain of Princess Celestia's Royal Guard: Shining Armor.” Vanish paused for a moment, trying to consider what else to add, before continuing. “These crimes were planned in full, and committed solely by the individual listed below.” The ponies could hear a gasp of shock from nearby, as the rainbow-maned mare in the doorway turned around. “NO! SPIKE, DON’T YOU DARE WRITE THAT!!!” Rainbow had regained her composure, and her sudden shouting almost caused Spike to drop his quill, as everyone suddenly looked at the desperate mare. “Vanish, don’t do this! Please! Just… Just leave.” She ran up to Vanish, launching herself at him as she grabbed onto his body with her hooves. “Y-You don’t have to do this! Just leave! Just get on a train and leave! We’ll forget this, right, girls?” She looked to her friends, who had their heads bowed down in pity. “R-Right?” Pinkie Pie spoke up in agreement with her friend. “Hey, she’s right! You've got Dashie's wings, so just fly! SHOOOM!” The charismatic party pony could see Rainbow’s sincerity, and wanted to help out, though the stallion's chuckling caught both of them off guard, as well as everyone else in the room. “Ah ha ha… You two are far too naïve. You forget the most important thing.” Brandishing the color of coat and wings of Blossomforth, Rainbow Dash gasped at the realization of her plan’s very basic flaw. “You can make all the promises you want, but I was seen in Cloudsdale, and Canterlot, and even in Ponyville!” Vanish pointed his hoof at Pinkie Pie, reverting his colors in the process. “You even brought attention to me, by telling everypony about my conversation with Rarity.” Pinkie gasped at the realization. “B-But it was really funny…” Pinkie drew circles with her hoof on the floor of the Wedding Hall, as Vanish turned back around to meet the eyes of Rainbow Dash as he complimented the light blue mare. “You are kind, but you have no right to tell me what to do, my dear. Just play your assigned role.” Rainbow stood up with the help of Vanish's hoof lifting her, as she released her hold on the stallion. “M-My ‘role’?” Vanish gave a timid smile and a nod, before turning back to Spike. “… Sorry about that. Allow me to continue, good sir.” Spike huffed in a disgruntled manner. “Hmph. Being polite won’t get you any respect from me, Vanish.” Vanish chuckled at the toughness Spike was attempting to display, before continuing. “With this confession, the individual listed below accepts the punishment disclosed in the form attached.” Vanish paused for a moment, turning to Princess Celestia. “Have you made your decision, Princess?” The Princess of Equestria smirked at Vanish, which prompted the stallion to produce a frown in response. “… Why do I feel like I’m about to have a very, very bad prank played on me?” Several ponies turned to Pinkie Pie, who looked shocked at their sudden stares. “What? What are you looking at me like that, for?” Princess Celestia lowered her head slightly, still smirking as she seemed to be thinking to herself. “Hmm. You see, Vanish, I saw Princess Luna while she was leaving to go to the Infirmary, and asked her for something.” Without missing a beat, Luna chimed in, well-composed and elegant in tone. “And I have returned, sister!” The Princess of the Night regally walked towards the other ponies, having waited in the reception hall for her ‘cue’ by her sister; it seemed as though they had made their own plans. Princess Celestia nodded, smiled, and turned her attention to the stallion yet again. “Vanish, here is the paper you requested.” Princess Celestia produced a scroll from her mane with her magic, yet Princess Luna also stepped forward as her sister continued speaking. “I thought I had made my decision, yet after seeing my sister escort the Wonderbolts to the Infirmary earlier, I asked that she do something for me, should she have the time.” Luna took the well-timed cue to explain her actions. “You see, stallion, I got this from my sister’s room.” Princess Luna produced a scroll from her own mane, levitating it next to the one her sister had produced. Princess Celestia smiled, before giving her explanation of the two scrolls. “Despite your crimes, you are not in charge of us, nor are you in charge of our decisions. You still helped us to dispel the true ‘evil’ that plagued our peaceful kingdom. With that in mind, I take the choice you gave me, and throw it back to you.” Unfurling the scrolls with their magic, the words that had been written upon each scroll were almost identical, aside from a small bit of text. “Th-This is… my ‘sentence’! The punishment to be carried out! You… You never chose!?” Vanish was sweating from the unexpected development, though Princess Celestia appeared unfazed by the demeanor and shouting of the stallion that stood before her. “I made a decision, until I realized who you were truly planning on punishing.” Smiling timidly, Princess Celestia tapped the quill that Spike had been writing with, in fresh ink. “Please, Vanish, sign whichever one you want. You can be banished from Canterlot, Ponyville, and Cloudsdale, as well as the areas surrounding them, or you may face a prison sentence, carried out for an extended period of time with stipulations of my choosing, hereby keeping yourself here and unable to leave by your own power.” Vanish's composure returned as he thought to himself, vocally. “… Exile or Imprisonment… How simple of a choice.” Vanish lifted the quill with his magic. “I said from the beginning that I don’t intend to stick around. Canterlot is nothing but a memory, now.” As he placed his quill on one of the scrolls that the alicorns were holding up, Twilight stopped him from writing, having suddenly realized something important. “Vanish, can you remember what happened here?" She raised an eyebrow as she continued. "It’s just that you haven’t been using your contracts or notes since we all woke up, and you woke up last, so you had no time to review them. And then there’s the fact that you’ve been calling us by our names… it’s almost as if you…!” Twilight gasped as she put the pieces together in her head, which Vanish simply spoke of while remaining fixated on the scrolls. “… The Elements are far crueler than I could have ever predicted, my dear.” Vanish lowered the quill below the scroll, closing his eyes. “… I remember everything. Every client, every place I’ve been, every contract I had ever made, everyone I’ve ever victimized.” Vanish held his head with his hoof. “There is no cloud of smoke in my head, obscuring the truths I have learned to allow my mind to cast into the depths of my subconscious. They’re there, as clear as they were when I made them.” Twilight put her hoof on Vanish’s back, as he held back his sorrow, poised on the brink of release. “Why do you ponies harbor such terrible magic? What ‘Harmony’ could such sorcery possibly bring to anyone?” Rarity had heard enough, choosing to speak up. “Vanish, you know what you did. You’ve always known what you've done, you just couldn’t remember, but you knew they were bad.” She stepped forward, prompting Vanish to let tears out as he heard the generous mare’s words. “They were bad enough that you didn’t care if you remembered them or not. I know that you understand the importance of remembering these things!” He turned his head, tears clearly visible in his eyes. “NO! I was able to live! I was content with my life! You… wicked mares, ruined that for me!” The voice of Rainbow Dash rose up over his hollow insults. “Enough, Vanish.” She walked up to the sobbing stallion, making sure he saw her. “Ignoring stuff doesn't help anything. All we can do is take the time to accept it, and move on.” Rainbow Dash used her hoof to nudge the quill Vanish had dropped, towards him. “And now, you have that chance.” “… My chance?” Vanish lifted the quill, wiping the tears from his eyes with his foreleg. “‘Take time to accept it, and move on’. W-What rubbish.” Princess Celestia and Princess Luna raised their scrolls, as Vanish dipped the quill in the ink well, before raising it up to the scrolls. He smirked as he offered advice to the light blue mare. “Such dramatics are best left for a lesson to be learned by friends, Rainbow Dash.” As the ponies in the room chuckled at the irony of the overdramatic stallion ranting about the dramatics of another pony, Vanish signed his name on the scroll of his choice, as well as signing the scroll that Spike had written out for him, confessing his crimes. “… I guess it’s time to ‘pony up’.” Vanish proceeded to walk out of the Wedding Hall room, into the reception hall, as Princess Celestia read the scroll Vanish had signed, turning both scrolls to her and her sister. “Hmm… Alright.” Rolling it back up, Princess Luna stored the unsigned scroll in her mane before promptly requesting the guards to accompany Vanish outside. Twilight walked up to her mentor, unable to just let her leave. “Princess, wait.” Twilight couldn’t let Vanish face his sentence without saying anything, not after all they had been through the past few days. Princess Celestia pointed her sister to Vanish’s direction, prompting the lunar alicorn to continue leading Vanish to his destination, as the ruler of Equestria walked up to her faithful student. “What is it, Twilight Sparkle?” Twilight was curious, having taken the time to laugh instead of seeing which contract held which option. “Please show me what Vanish chose.” Looking over her shoulder, Princess Celestia saw Vanish walking out of the reception hall, pausing for a moment to allow his tear-moistened eyes to adjust to the fresh daylight, unblocked by windows or walls, before continuing to walk outside of the field of vision of the Princess of the Sun, before she voiced her decision. “… Very well.” Princess Celestia unfurled the scroll, raising it to Twilight, as her student skimmed through most of it, before seeing the paragraph that spoke of the judgment Vanish had chosen for himself. He had two very basic choices: Exile or imprisonment. He could leave Equestria forever, never to be allowed to return, or he could stay and serve a prison sentence of unlisted time or conditions; conditions that Princess Celestia would decide upon, herself. The purple unicorn smiled with uncontained glee as she spoke up so her friends could hear her. “Great! He’s staying here!” Twilight sighed in relief, having held her breath until she read the passage that said what his choice had been. The other mares were also filled with considerable relief, knowing that Vanish chose the option of not running from his problems. More importantly, they could still communicate with him as they chose to, not as obstacles or enemies like they had been over the past few days, but as possible friends, if he let them. Twilight turned back to her mentor as she asked her question. “Princess, with your permission, can I… be in charge of how he serves his sentence?” Applejack stepped forward, curious as to her friend’s intentions. “What’cha gettin’ at, Twi’?” Twilight turned around, smiling at her friends. “I have an idea. I think I know how Vanish can serve his sentence, in a way that benefits everyone.” The other ponies looked at each other, not entirely sure about what their friend was thinking, but if there was one thing Twilight was good at, it was forming plans. Nodding to affirm their trust in their friend, the unicorn turned back around to her mentor. Princess Celestia raised her head, looking down her nose at her pupil's shining, hope-filled eyes, unsure of her plans, but having the authority to allow Twilight Sparkle the right to hold control over the fate of Vanish. With reluctance, she spoke to her student. “What do you have in mind?”