Disappear

by ShimmeringStallion

Unplanned

Unplanned

The stallion held his hoof to his head, leaning back and laughing maniacally. “I KNEW IT! HEHEHAHAHAHA!!! YOU HAD NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING THAT YOU COULD DO!” Twilight struggled to breathe, but didn’t take her eyes off of Gather. The stallion was rolling on the floor in hysterics, before quickly scrambling to his hooves and running over to Princess Celestia, who was holding her head in pain as the vicious unicorn yelled, “Do you see? Did you see the feeble nature of their attempt to stop me? This is what's in store for everypony in Equestria who defies my plans!” Gather picked Celestia up with his magic, throwing her away like discarded trash in the direction of Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn slowed her mentor's approach thanks to her magic, but had the princess crash into her due to a lack of focus from exhaustion, as Gather smiled with a look of content bliss in his ice blue eyes. “My plan was perfect, my plan is perfect. Nopony… Nothing can stop me.”

Gather slowly approached Twilight Sparkle sadistically; her friends were much too weak from using the Elements unsuccessfully to stop his march towards their fallen friend. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had developed black scars on their backs, where their wings once were, as it appeared that the princesses had as well, accompanied with black scars where their horns once were, which was also visible on Shining Armor's head. They could only stare weakly as the stallion berated Twilight's efforts. “Now that you know where you stand, allow me to send you off… just as soon as I take this from you.” Gather activated the power of his horn, bending slowly towards Twilight Sparkle, drinking in the victory, smooth and crisp. “You won’t need it where I’m sending you: Back to Cloudsdale. High in the sky, no one will be able to save you, having to be content with watching as you fall through the clouds and straight to the ground. That Wonderbolt thought she had it bad, but you? You won’t ever recover. I guarantee it.”

Seeing the fear in her eyes made him begin chuckling again, before Gather noticed a sound approaching him: Galloping. He turned around, as Vanish charged into his former client, sending him rolling on the ground, before he righted himself with a corrective slide, addressing mercenary. “Ah, how could I forget you, Vanish? You should have just taken your money and run. You will be a perfect display of the limits of my power before I begin my new Equestrian reign. After all, you have nothing I need… well, perhaps one thing.” Gather used his magic to produce the wings of Rainbow Dash, charging straight at the gray-maned stallion. Vanish sidestepped Gather’s charge, before being sent careening into the wall, with a sudden, sharp turn and buck-kick that the artificial alicorn had performed in the air. Rainbow Dash was far too agile to be tricked so easily, and with Gather’s calculating mind controlling the wings, it was a devastating combination.

The stallion smirked as he walked over to the fallen, dark blue unicorn. “You know, I can use the strength of the ponies whose magic and wings I’ve gathered, without taking them out; it just makes me stronger as I drain their bodies of energy!” Twilight listened intensely. She thought that the speed that Vanish had moved around Spitfire with when they fought had seemed unnatural. She was right; Vanish had used Gather’s horn to increase his aerial speed, by using the combined wingpower of all the ponies he had gathered the wings of. He had their speed, their agility, and even their stamina. He had put Spitfire against every pony in Cloudsdale, as well as her fellow Wonderbolts.

Gather activated his horn as he scoffed at the mercenary's efforts to stop him. “Hmph… I won’t even dignify you with the honor of having last words. You are simply trash, meant to be used and thrown away.” The menacing unicorn placed his horn next to Vanish’s own horn, absorbing the horn of the mercenary into his own magical aura. Without his magic, Vanish couldn’t cloak himself, which for him, implied far more than what it meant at face value. He hated how weak he was compared to Gather, but now there was no way to hide from anypony whose wrath he believed to have incurred. Gather smiled as he remained controlling the helpless stallion before him. “I’ll leave you in a moneybag, and send you to 'meet' the ponies back in Ponyville and Cloudsdale. It will make a great addition to the Canterlot Archives, as a tale of what happens to those who attempt to defy me.”

“NOOOOOO!!!” A loud buzzing was heard, heading quickly towards Gather. Before he could even turn his head, he was blindsided by something. Vanish fell out of the air, as he tried to make sense of what just occured. “Who is that? No… WHAT is that!? A... A scooter!?” Scootaloo had rushed into the Wedding Hall, determined to stop Gather from hurting her friends. She was far too late, but Gather applauded her effort as he stood back up from the impact. “So, the little foal wants to play ‘hero’? What are YOU gonna do? It's over, my plans are done: Your friends have failed, filly. Run along before I rip those wings from your body.” Gather grinned menacingly. “Without magic.”

“You don’t scare me, chump!” Scootaloo was as brash as Rainbow Dash, but perhaps it was to a fault. Gather shouted at her. “I DON’T HAVE TIME TO PLAY, KID! SCRAM, OR I SWEAR YOU’LL REGRET COMING HERE!” Rainbow Dash stood up. “L… Leave her alone…” She coughed, clearly in pain, but shouted at the menace that threatened the orange filly. “LEAVE HER ALONE, GATHER!” Gather used his magic to pick Scootaloo up, tossing her into Vanish, as well as throwing her prized scooter at her as the stallion and filly soared through the air from the force of the throw. Vanish had crashed into the wall pretty deep, but he had caught Scootaloo when she flew into him, quickly tossing her off to the side before he was hit by the scooter in her place. Coughing at the impact, he finally fell from the crater he had left in the pillar embedded in the wall, with the scooter being tossed off to the side with his hooves before he landed on the floor.

“W… W-Why did you do that!?” Scootaloo had barely been hurt, and ran over to Vanish, who grabbed her with his hoof to bring her close once she approached him. Whispering something to her, she seemed startled at first, but noticed that Gather had stopped paying attention to her, believing that she had been hit as intended by her scooter. Scootaloo paid attention to what Vanish whispered to her, before noticing that Rainbow Dash had been brought close to Gather. Being shoved weakly in the direction of the others, the filly ran as fast as she could to the other ponies who were struggling to find their balance at the side of the room.

She quickly took a look behind her to see the stallion once more, before turning her attention to the mares. “Twilight! Vanish said it’s time to stop Gather’s plan. Vanish said, ‘His plan has worked. Gather made a mistake, and now it’s time to make him pay’, or something like that. But anyway, this could be out chance!” Twilight used Scootaloo to stand herself up, as the other Spirits of the Elements of Harmony slowly rose up around her. “Scootaloo, the Elements have failed us. It’s over.”

“… M-Maybe I never told you this...” Vanish hobbled over to the other ponies, using the scooter as a crutch to avoid collapsing near them as he struggled to speak. “… A plan… has two p-points of weakness… and we have reached… the end of the line, so go… use your elements… on…” Twilight shook her head. “We used them on Gather already! As long as he has the wings and horns of Pegasi and Unicorns, we can’t possibly hope to focus on them enough to-” Vanish worked up all his strength to interrupt her, finishing his sentence. “ME!” Gather moved Rainbow Dash out of the way, tossing her back towards her friends, noticing that the orange filly he had tossed into Vanish was heading back in his direction with her scooter.

“But, Vanish! If we do that, then-AH!” Applejack jumped up, interrupting Twilight in order to catch Rainbow Dash. Vanish took the opportunity to cut her off, placing all his focus into speaking clearly. “L-Listen to me. If you want to save your home, you will do as I have asked. I can handle whatever you throw at me. Please… There’s no time for debate. You can either do it now, or surrender Equestria!” Twilight could hear the desperation in Vanish’s voice. He knew something that they didn’t, yet from the look in his eyes, he wasn’t certain of whatever he was thinking, but he was sure enough to risk his own well-being in order for Twilight and her friends to get one more chance.

Nodding in agreement, Twilight turned around to her friends. “Everypony, focus on the Elements. This time, Vanish is our target. There’s no time to explain, so just trust me!” Gather paid attention to Scootaloo, ignoring the mares that he had believed to have been defeated. Grabbing Scootaloo off her scooter with his magic, his ice-cold stare worked well to freeze her in place with his magic. “I’ll make you suffer far more than your nightmares would ever dare to imagine possible.” Scootaloo was in deep trouble, and she knew it. She couldn't move from the magical aura as Gather placed her on the ground again. Bound by his magic as he removed her helmet and tossed it, Gather lifted her scooter into the air. “I’ll start by making you one with your precious mode of transport. This might sting, but then again, that's where the fun lies. Heh heh heh…” Scootaloo closed her eyes and whimpered, before the sound of the rainbow shot out by the Elements of Harmony rang through the air, alerting all nearby of its presence.

“You have learned nothing, ignorant wo-… What is this!?” Tossing Scootaloo’s scooter weakly, Gather watched as the rainbow formed an arc, landing on Vanish, causing him to scream in pain. “Your desperation has driven you mad, mares! I shall consider it an act of generosity to end your lives!” Gather walked a couple of steps towards them, before a sudden, dull ache, becoming sharper and sharper, worked its way through his body from his horn. “A… AGH! WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? WH… WHAT IS… AUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!” Gather collapsed on the floor, very much alive and conscious, rolling in agony as he produced involuntary spasms from the pain pulsating from his horn. Opening his eyes, a flash of light caused his horn to activate, as he felt an all-consuming pain coursing through his body.

Vanish could feel something stirring inside him, as he felt sharp pain where his horn once was. “KEEP GOING! YOU’RE ALMOST… DONE…” It was as he thought: Gather’s magic made Vanish’s horn his own, but that also meant that his horn, the most sensitive part of a unicorn, would feel any pain that the pony who owned the horn would feel, so long as it was an all-consuming pain, like the Elements were capable of delivering. Gather had the power of every Pegasus pony, and several unicorn ponies, but it was not ‘his’ power. It was still connected to those who owned them. The ponies who owned those wings and horns were connected to Gather, as was he to them. Vanish screamed in pain, as the Elements of Harmony remained focused: Vanish wasn’t connected to their own horns and wings, so they felt unaffected, hearing Gather’s own cries of pain emanate from the center of the Wedding Hall.

It was at this moment that Scootaloo noticed something happening to Gather, with his magic that had held her in place no longer keeping her down. There were several auras of magical energy coming from his horn, now hovering in the air above him. He was losing the powers he had acquired though the efforts of Vanish, and through his own efforts. As his screams echoed in the Wedding Hall, he opened his eyes, alert to what was happening. “NO! MY POWER!” Vanish shouted to the mares. “COMPLETE THE SPELL! THEN USE IT… ON G-GATHER!!!” With a blinding flash of light, the Elements of Harmony unleashed their full might on Vanish, in a final burst of magic that appearing to do nothing to him physically, but causing him to collapse from the strain that it had put on him, leaving him still conscious and panting.

Twilight and her friends turned their attention to the beautiful display in the air: several auras of magic, of an incredible variety of colors, shapes, and sizes, were simply floating above the desperate stallion in the center of the Wedding Hall, who appeared to have only his own power remaining. Seeing the look of renewed vigor and confidence in the mares, he tried grabbing Scootaloo, desperate to get any power he could in order to escape the oncoming, merciless wrath that the Elements of Harmony were sure to deliver. Scootaloo hopped on her scooter as Gather clasped his hooves on the scooter’s rear brake, failing at his attempt to grab her but desperate to make a second attempt, as Vanish shouted to the two ponies in the center of the room. “BRING HIM HERE! BRING HIM HERE, SCOOTALOO!!!”

Acting entirely out of instinct, she kept her hooves on her scooter, as she used her wings to speed towards Vanish while Gather still held the rear brake, trying to keep her grounded, and failing. Rushing towards the wall, Scootaloo jumped off the scooter, tucking herself in a ball to protect herself without her helmet to help her, sending her scooter into Vanish, and Gather into the wall with it, close to the Elements of Harmony and into the exposed side of one of the pillars that lined the Wedding Hall.

Dazed from the impact, Gather took a moment to collect his bearings before noticing where he was, seeing the fury in the eyes of the mares he had taunted. He still had one other power within his horn besides his own: Vanish’s unicorn magic. He cloaked himself, causing the focus of the six mares to falter, until they saw something they never expected: Vanish desperately jumped on Gather’s invisible body in order to prevent him from escaping, so the ponies could still tell where Gather was, even if they couldn’t see him.

Focusing on the magic of their friendship, they used their strength to unleash the full force of the Elements of Harmony on Gather, as Vanish bashed the turquoise unicorn in the head with his front hooves before using the recoil of his strike to force himself off of the menace before the arcing rainbow could reach the dark, dark blue stallion for a second time. The mares thought the Elements had missed their target, until Gather was forced to uncloak himself from within the rainbow he had been engulfed in. Feeling his energy waning, the maniacal stallion let out one final scream of pain, as the Elements of Harmony completed their task, with a blinding flash of magical, purifying light.

They landed on the ground, having completed the power of the Elements. Exhausted, they collapsed, before looking at what became of Gather. The view in front of them, sent shivers up their spines, from head to tail, as they jumped up at the sight that lay before them; Gather was not encased in stone, nor had he been imprisoned in the moon, or turned into a version of himself that had shed its maniacal ways: He was panting weakly, as his horn glowed ominously. He was still there, with them. He was still awake, appearing unharmed.

And he had withstood the full force of the magic the Elements of Harmony, and was still standing, very much conscious, and very, very angry.

Comments

[ponybrony]

oh buck...

[ShimmeringStallion]

2274603 I struggled so hard with this chapter in terms of what I'd put in it. I wanted it to be "just enough to be believable" without going overboard. If your comment is any indication, I'd say I did at least a good job in that 'mission'.