Disappear

by ShimmeringStallion

A Pony in a Glass House

A Pony in a Glass House

Twilight ran with Spitfire, but only for a short length of the path to Carousel Boutique, just to catch up with the others who were ahead of her. Seeing as how it was now the middle of the morning, seeing Vanish, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle in the distance was a fairly simple task without the darkness of night or reduced light of early dawn. Twilight couldn’t use magic to increase the speed of her gallop, and seeing Spitfire choosing not to use her wings, felt like the Pegasus pony understood that running ahead and leaving the purple unicorn behind would be in poor taste. As they closed in, Twilight began to notice a few peculiar things around Ponyville.

First, it was much more populated than usual, and Twilight had felt like she had seen several ponies before but couldn’t quite remember them as vividly as she usually could. Secondly, the ponies in question seemed to be in groups, and discussing something with one another. From the direction of their stares and occasional pointing of their hooves, it was easy to figure out that they were talking about Sweetie Belle, Rarity, or Vanish. It was then, that she connected the two events together. It was obvious; they were Cloudsdale Pegasi. Without wings, they chose to head to Ponyville to see their friends for various reasons. Some ponies just wanted a friend to talk to while others sought shelter, feeling unsafe at the city in the clouds without the ability to fly. Many had been reliant on their wings, and Twilight began to wonder if Spitfire was the same. “Hmm, I wonder: Aside from her job, does Spitfire use her wings for daily tasks?”

The question stirred in Twilight’s head, but the gazes of the Cloudsdale ponies shifted so quickly that Twilight almost froze on sight. They noticed Vanish, and saw Spitfire closing in from behind him, wings and all. Several conclusions could be made, but none of them could possibly be correct, as Twilight considered what they must have all been thinking. “How could any of these ponies guess that we're just keeping an eye on Vanish? We're not planning on attacking him…” It was even worse for Twilight, as most ponies had heard of her throughout the last two years. They knew of her ‘talent’, they knew her power, and she was certain that they were expecting the most out of her. She started sweating, feeling the uncomfortable nature of ‘pressure’ being placed on her all too quickly as her legs began to quiver under her.

“… Just keep going.” Spitfire could tell that Twilight was nervous, and despite how she seemed, Spitfire was a performer; a daredevil to be precise. She could handle the pressure, and could tell that Twilight had it in her to handle the eyes and expectations of the Ponyville citizens as well. Spitfire knew all too well that if someone lets their nerves get the better of them, they tense up and can’t think straight. As a result, she worked hard to make sure that such fear never took hold of anypony in a performance. This was different from guiding a rookie through a routine, however, and Twilight felt a tremendous amount of weight being thrown onto her as she spoke to the Pegasus pony. “S-Spitfire… I'm no performer… I-I don't think I…”

“We’ve almost caught up to them. Look!” Twilight looked ahead and breathed a massive sigh of relief. Sure enough, Spitfire was right; Vanish, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle had stopped for a moment, and appeared to be discussing something. Twilight and Spitfire sprinted towards the others, who were waiting for the two to catch up. The brown-eyed stallion had a frown of impatience on his face. “Took you long enough, unicorn, now hurry up.” Vanish stepped behind Rarity, using his head to push her flank forward in an attempt to force her to speed up, being careful not to harm his horn with the steady use of force. This came as a sudden, unexpected surprise to her, and for her younger sister to be seeing. Twilight had never seen the normally prim and proper unicorn stallion act this way before, but trotted next to Rarity. “Rarity, do you have any thoughts about Vanish’s behavior?”

The white-coated pony was being shoved tenaciously, but still replied in a serious, stern manner. “I-I don’t think he wants to be out here; around the ponies whose wings he stole. But at the same time he knows he can’t just cloak himself. He knows the truth.” She looked directly at Twilight. “Eventually, given his lifestyle and choices, he’ll have to face them: ponies he has victimized, ponies he has stolen from…” As her hooves struggled to find the ground beneath her feet in order to resist falling down, as well as her focus being placed on responding to Twilight, Vanish spoke again. “If you want to talk about me, I implore you to wait until you’ve entered that store again, and preferably you’ll have the nerve to speak to me directly rather than around me. Typical self-entitled-! WHA-!?”

Rarity sat down quickly, causing Vanish to lose his balance and have his statement interrupted. Upon breaking his fall with his front hooves, he stood up and turned around, casting a vicious glare towards the angry eyes of Rarity, who spoke harshly. “I don’t have to do this for you, you know! If you happen to have a problem you can’t get over and it involves me, we can discuss it elsewhere. But as for Twilight, she is my friend, and Sweetie Belle is my sister…” As Rarity continued to speak, Vanish's eyes shifted around the plaza. They were close to the boutique, but there were still several ponies around, much like when Pinkie Pie had went around to tell ponies of the interaction between Rarity and Vanish that occurred outside Carousel Boutique just yesterday.

Rarity impatiently shouted at Vanish, expecting a response to the words she had been speaking. “… Well!?” The stallion hadn’t been listening. He was sweating profusely, and the last thing on his mind right now was the act of responding to the purple-maned, white unicorn in front of him. Vanish had his own trials; trials he didn’t have the strength to overcome by himself, nor did he care to take the time to attempt to overcome them. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem, but without his fedora for him to duck over his eyes in order to shield his vision from those of the ponies around the plaza, he couldn’t handle the pressure he was feeling. Sensing something wrong, Twilight Sparkle tried to step between the two ponies, but it was too late. Vanish lunged at Rarity’s back, launching himself off of the ground next to her tail with a shout of panic, grabbing the hat from out of the air in front of her before cloaking himself.

They couldn’t see him, but the ponies in the plaza were surprised at the scene they had just witnessed only seconds ago. Rarity in particular was left stunned from the sound of fear she had heard come from the stallion, but wasn’t quite shocked enough to forget what she needed to do. Using her horn, she alone easily saw through Vanish’s magically-induced cloak, as the gemstones in the fedora could be sensed as heading straight to Carousel Boutique. It was still a mess in the doorway, with the door itself being completely blown off its hinges and lying on the ground next to the store. Suddenly, a new sound got Rarity's attention: Laughter. It wasn’t coming from around the plaza, it was coming from somewhere else, somewhere close.

“Rarity, is that cloud… laughing?” Sweetie Belle pointed in confusion, singling out a lone, medium-sized storm cloud that was hovering over them. The Pegasi had been disposed of, yet there was one storm cloud seemingly concealing the presence of somepony. The Mares knew the answer, well before the pony showed his face to them. “Ah ha ha ha... Well, well, well. Trying to intimidate Vanish won’t get you nothin’. Believe me, I tried! Ha ha ha ha ha!” Gather peeked over the edge of the cloud, sporting a coat that looked familiar to the ponies heading for the boutique, yet only Spitfire seemed to react with hostility at the sight of it. Gather hovered over the plaza on his cloud, having seen Vanish’s moment of panic.

Spitfire made her proclamation. “Give the ponies their wings back, Gather! You’ll never reach Princess Celestia!” The Pegasus pony was furious. This was the same pony who took the wings of her long-time friend, and he didn’t care who he insulted. “Hah! You have no idea what I've got in store for Canterlot, but at this point, my plan’s in the middle of its completion. You wanna take a shot at me, ‘Winged Wonder’? Go right ahead. Maybe you'll fare a second or two longer than the Wingless Wonderbolt, but I doubt it!” Spitfire was in a rage, and tried to charge at Gather before Twilight used her magic to grab Spitfire’s tail, stopping her assault. “No, Spitfire! If you get your wings taken now, then who’s going to be able to lead the Wonderbolts in their defense of Canterlot?”

The laughter from the turquoise pony on the cloud became maniacal at the sound of the question Twilight had asked the orange, winged mare. “AHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Y-You really think that you have a fraction of a chance at stopping me!? Oh, Oh ho ho… You’re wrong. You’re so, so wrong.” Gather kept himself out of range of Twilight and Rarity’s magic, but was hoping Spitfire would attempt to strike him. Much to his disappointment, Twilight’s magic was too powerful for Spitfire to break away from with wingpower and willpower alone. “I’ve got places to go, and things to do. Catch ‘ya later when you’ve lost that ‘ball & chain’ holding you back… Oh, and Vanish? I know you’re down there.”

Vanish uncloaked himself at the entrance to Carousel Boutique, staring at the ice-blue eyes of the pony on the cloud. “About your payment: It’ll be at Canterlot. Once you're there, we’ll go over the final parts of our contract, and remember: It only applies, as long as you get the wings yourself! I’m not gonna pay if you don’t ‘pony up’.” The hysterical laughter of the artificial alicorn echoed through the plaza even after the cloud had suddenly taken off in the direction of the kingdom of Princess Celestia, leaving a familiar trail of lightning clouds in its wake. Gather truly wanted to get under Spitfire’s skin, and it was working, as Twilight clued in about whose wings he was using: He was using the wings of Soarin' to carry the cloud to Canterlot.