Disappear

by ShimmeringStallion

Reparations

Reparations

Entering Carousel Boutique for the first time, Vanish was temporarily distracted by the quality of the surroundings. He had been so focused on getting inside that he had not even begun to consider what it would be like, finally gaining access to Rarity’s store. However, as Rarity noticed his curiosity, she was still a storeowner, and had a job to do. “Now then, how can I help you? You mentioned a fedora that needed some work, yes?” Vanish turned his head in order to unlatch and flip open his saddlebag, reaching in to grab his hat just after opening it. “Yes. I need this repaired at once. Consider it a top priority, if you please.” Rarity didn’t like the tone he was taking with her, and he could see it, so he clarified himself. “… I can pay, if that’s what you are wondering.”

“The only thing I’m wondering,” Rainbow Dash walked up from behind her friends to the front of the group, staring right at Rarity while speaking, “is why you would even consider helping this guy, Rarity!” Rainbow turned around in front of Rarity, in order to stare angrily at Vanish. “You just told us that you were gonna attack Cloudsdale, and now you want us to fix your HAT!? Why should we do anything for you, anyway!?” Twilight was going to stop her friend, but she couldn’t argue with Rainbow Dash’s logic. Despite his nature, Vanish was far from a friend of theirs. If anything, he was a danger to the harmony of Ponyville and Cloudsdale. In fact, he was a threat to the very lives of the ponies in Equestria.

Vanish kept the hat in his saddlebag, knowing that he had a lot to answer for. “Perhaps you should calm down, my dear. Too much pent up anger isn’t healthy, you know.” Rainbow was infuriated at the stallion's demeanor. "First he seems desperate to fix some dumb hat, now he's mocking me!? I'll pulverize this guy!" Applejack got between Rainbow Dash and Vanish, giving the latter a glance in order to place blame on the current state of rage that had engulfed her friend. “Y’can’t just waltz in here an’ expect us to help you. Not after what you did to Derpy, and what you said you’re gonna do. If you want our help, yer gonna have t’earn it.”

Vanish gave an innocent smile, clearly masking his intentions. “… I believe you asked a few questions, is that correct Miss Dash?” Rainbow glared at him, trying to jump over Applejack to reach him as he stepped closer to her. “Firstly, I was asking your friend for their help; I didn’t ask for your help at all. Giving you responsibilities and expecting you to commit to them? What a farce. Erm…” Vanish gently tapped Applejack’s flank with his hoof. “Let go of her, please.” Applejack was surprised at the request, but felt her friend stopping her attempt at attacking Vanish, so she let her go. “In my line of work, it’s quite important for those of my profession to obtain as much information about others as we can, before we commit to our given tasks, and I’ve been informed that you are a rather… unreliable source of labor. Incidentally, you're a rather unreliable source of help as well, considering how you allowed Miss Derpy Hooves to lose her wings.”

Rainbow lunged at Vanish, who used his magic to cloak himself before jumping out of the way, causing Rainbow to tumble into a curtain used by Rarity to showcase new attire, ripping it from the rungs that held it above her. Vanish uncloaked himself, continuing to taunt the entangled mare. “Secondly, I believe your friends have a better grasp of understanding ‘opportunity’ than you do.” Rainbow struggled for a bit, before finding a hole from the curtain to stick her head out of and see Vanish, who had grabbed his hat from the saddlebag, as she saw him toss it to the desk that stood near Rarity. “I’m not giving you a ‘hat’, I’m giving you a ‘chance’. Consider taking it before I change my mind.”

Rainbow was about to get up, but her legs got caught in the curtain, and Vanish stepped on the curtain to make sure Rainbow was stuck laying in front of him. “As for you, my dear… calm down.” Vanish used his hoof to shuffle the curtain that Rainbow Dash had caught herself in, freeing her in the process. “… If you’re so careless, you’ll only end up hurting yourself, and others.” Rainbow was about to stand, but Vanish slammed his hoof on the floor in front of her, getting her attention. “Stop allowing your anger to control your actions, Rainbow Dash!” He looked down his nose at her, with a slick grin on his face. “Why can’t you act like you did when you found Derpy? You were calm then, right?”

Rainbow rose up cautiously. “How did you know about that?” Vanish reached into his saddlebag and grabbed a book. Rainbow was startled by what it was, given how she'd totally forgotten about it: ‘Daring-Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone’ was in this stallion’s possession. She had left it on the road, back when she had picked Derpy up and took off to find Twilight Sparkle. The Pegasus pony pointed her hoof shakily. “Y-You… where did you…” Vanish didn’t leave her in suspense. “I was the one who placed the book there. Derpy mentioned your fondness for it, so I figured it would make at least 'decent' bait in order for me to get your attention.”

Rainbow was speechless. "This guy had thought that far ahead?" A familiar voice rose up from the Boutique. “What did you want her attention for?” Twilight spoke up in place of her friend, but Vanish remained staring into Rainbow’s cerise eyes with his own brown eyes. “I needed to make sure Derpy got help, and that she got help quickly. She told me that Rainbow Dash was set to do some weather jobs, so I left her on the path between Cloudsdale and Ponyville, and after taking her wings and knocking her out, I took the book and placed it on the path so that her friend would see it, her ‘friend’ being Rainbow Dash; she’s the fastest in Cloudsdale, and she represents the Element of Loyalty.”

Rainbow had sat down, focused fully on what Vanish was saying. “... As I said before, I don’t trust you with labor. However, I trust you with knowing what to do if your friend is in danger, or hurt.” Vanish turned away from her and looked at Twilight Sparkle as he resumed speaking. “… I concealed myself with magic after placing the book, and once the bait was taken, I followed Rainbow Dash to the library. I even saw the book, 'The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide’, on the shelf, despite feigning ignorance.” Twilight gasped softly; she heard it before, but still couldn't believe that Vanish knew that the book was on the shelf before he asked about it. “I wanted to see if you were a trustworthy unicorn. Regrettably, I came to my conclusion before it could be verified.”

Vanish stared at his hat, which laid on the desk where it was tossed upon earlier. “… Derpy being hospitalized was not something that I was hoping would happen, but I had accepted it as a very likely scenario. This second horn is not my own, but that of my client, and I am not used to utilizing their unicorn magic with efficiency.” Vanish walked towards his hat. “If I knew about how to use it, there wouldn’t be any pain or marks left. I was shown how this magic could be used, personally, when my client took my horn as a demonstration of its power.” Vanish glared at Twilight again, angrily. “My dear, having your magic taken from you… well, it is not an experience I’d wish to share… I was given a generous offer, as well as a request by my client.”

“… Listen, Vanish. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but I can’t understand something: How did you know so much about us?” Rarity spoke up from behind the desk. “You knew our elements, you knew where we were going to be, you even knew about Derpy’s connection to Rainbow Dash; how much do you really know?” Rarity put on her glasses, used for examining fine fabrics, before repeating the question she wanted to have answered. “How do you know so much?”

Vanish sighed in relief at the simplicity of the question. “I read.” The other ponies just gave a blank, disbelieving stare at him, as if they believed the truth couldn’t possibly be summarized with such ease. “This book here: ‘Modern Ponyville History’. I was told to get it as a source of reliable information, by my client. Sure enough, he was right.” Vanish took the book out of his saddlebag with his mouth, placing it on the floor and physically opening it with his dark-blue horn, to a desired page. “As you can see, anyone could learn about the Elements of Harmony from this.” Twilight lifted the book with her magic. Sure enough, it described their battle with Discord, even showing the glass pane that Princess Celestia put in her castle, in recognition of their efforts against the fiendish Draconequus. Below it, clearly written, were the names of each of the ponies responsible for sealing Discord into his stone statue state.

“B-But… This only talks about our Elements and who we are. What about knowing Rainbow Dash as the fastest flyer in Cloudsdale?” Vanish motioned for Twilight to lower the book with his hoof, which she did with hesitance. He turned the pages back with his horn again, this time to the coverage of the ‘Best Young Flyer Competition’, which not only described Rainbow Dash, but also described, in accurate detail, Rarity’s place in the competition, and how events transpired. Twilight remembered this in particular, for she had been the one who wrote down the formula used to allow her friends to walk on the clouds with the Pegasi, as well as the formula for Rarity’s wings. Something didn’t seem right about this information being so readily available, but Vanish’s hoof landing on the pages of the book interrupted her train of thought.

“As you can see, there’s plenty in this book. It covers most, if not all events that transpired in Ponyville, and those that occured with its inhabitants. I’ve been taking the time to closely pay attention to the pages I was requested to read, by my client…” Vanish reached into his saddlebag, pulling out a piece of paper. “… using this as a reference, for knowing which chapters to read.” Twilight used her magic to bring the paper closer. Sure enough, everything was written there, in brief notes: ‘Elements of Harmony and Nightmare Moon’, ‘The Grand Galloping Gala’, even the use of Tornado power by the Pegasi from Cloudsdale and Ponyville to funnel water into Cloudsdale. “I don’t believe it. Everything is in this book, for anypony to see… but most ponies of Ponyville know all about it, so the only ones who’d use it would be…”

Vanish interrupted her. “… Somepony like me, who would have no idea about the events that transpire in Ponyville and the surrounding area, nor of the ponies in those respective areas.” Vanish grabbed the paper with his mouth, and placed it back in his saddlebag as Twilight spoke, stunned. “I don’t believe it. All this time you were just casually getting information from a book… one of my books!” Twilight was dumbstruck at the simplicity of Vanish’s movements through Ponyville, staring at the floor in disbelief as he corrected her. “… Not everything.” Twilight looked up at Vanish, surprised to hear him talk, as he clarified his statement. “I was only told about two 'local ponies’ by my client: Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy, though there is one more that my client mentioned, which I will find elsewhere: One I absolutely need to obtain the wings of at any cost, for only then can my contract be considered as ‘fulfilled’.”

Vanish glared at Twilight, raising his hoof to meet her terrified stare, while beaming his own angry gaze down upon her. “Your ruler! Princess Celestia!”

Comments

[ponybrony]

Woah..... didn't see that coming....

[Kurty_Boy]

Vanish seems to end things with a Phoenix Wright-kinda vibe, like "J'accuse!"

I am so tired.

[ShimmeringStallion]

3058678 What? I-I don't see that! *looks at own Phoenix Wright-based avatar*

N-Nope...