//------------------------------//
// Questioning the Policy of Truth 
// Story: Disappear 
// by ShimmeringStallion 
//------------------------------//


Questioning the Policy of Truth





Applejack used her hoof to nudge Vanish, who didn’t respond with anything other than exhalation, as he lay atop a curtain that had previously covered Rainbow Dash. “I don’t get it, y'all. Why would this guy say those things to get Rainbow Dash all riled up like that?” Rarity spoke from behind her desk, nearly finished the hat she was given to work on. “If you ask me, it doesn’t seem like Vanish wants anything to DO with this ‘client’… Why would anypony do work, even if they got paid, for something they didn’t like doing?” Twilight thought it over. "Clearly Vanish didn’t tell us everything. Hmm... Maybe we can take this time to learn some things by ourselves."

Fluttershy went up to Vanish to make sure he was alright, but stopped when she caught a glimpse of a pony in one of the pictures. “T-T-Twilight! Look here! Isn’t this a picture of your brother and his wife?” Twilight rushed past Pinkie Pie, causing the pink mare to spin around uncontrollably by the sheer force of the unicorn moving past her. “Fluttershy, you’re right! This is Cadance and Shining Armor! But why would he have a picture of them?” She noticed another picture, which she lifted with her magic to get a closer look. “What’s this? It looks like… a treehouse?”

Applejack ran over and looked at the picture. “Why, that’s the clubhouse Apple Bloom n’ her friends always use! But that’s nowhere near Cloudsdale, that’s Sweet Apple Acre territory! Why would he have this, n' how'd he get it?” Applejack shook her head, trying to make sense of it all. “I got a bad feelin’ about this, y’all… What else fell outta that bag?” Pinkie Pie started rummaging through the pictures curiously, speaking about each one as she saw them. “Here’s one of the Royal Wedding Hall… Here’s one of the Wonderbolts… And look! There’s even a picture of Princess Luna! Does Vanish work as a photographer as a side job?” Twilight started feeling sick. “I don’t know about you girls, but I don’t think we should tell Rainbow Dash about these… let me see that paper, Pinkie.”

Twilight motioned to a list that fell out of Vanish’s saddlebag. It seemed to be a list of objectives he had been given by someone. “I think I have an idea. What if we changed the orders he was given? It seems he needs this to keep track of what he needs to do, or at least that's what it looks like. Rarity, grab me a quill, please?” Rarity was putting the finishing touches on the hat, while the others grabbed the photos and put them on the desk where Twilight had brought the list. “Just a minute, darling. Aaaaand… Done! Perfect. Alright, let me see…" The fashionista started making her way up the stairwell of her store as she continued speaking. "I think I have some quills upstairs. Girls, would you mind helping me find a quill? It’s a bit of a mess up here.” Applejack and Pinkie Pie left Twilight and Fluttershy downstairs with the unconscious stallion, as they followed the graceful mare up the boutique stairs.

Fluttershy kept watching Vanish. He seemed to be upset, though asleep, almost appearing as if he was having a nightmare, though Fluttershy was heavily worried. “T-Twilight, are you sure it’s okay to do this? Wouldn’t this be betraying his trust? Y-You know what he’d do to us if we did that, d-don’t you?” Twilight wasn’t listening to the concerns of her friend: "Let's see... gotta think of some alternate objectives that sound similar to these ones, but can't be too different. It's a pretty safe bet that he has read this before, so even if he's relying on it now, he might recognize obvious changes... Hmm..."

As Twilight planned to herself silently, Fluttershy stepped closer to her and muttered her concern timidly. “W-What if he… c-comes after us? W…W-What if he comes after p-ponies we care about, like Cadance?” The mention of Cadance’s name shocked Twilight out of her thought process. “I-I’m sorry, what was that, Fluttershy?” Fluttershy turned to Twilight and continued attempting to express her fears as the lavender mare gave the yellow Pegasus pony her full attention. “W-Well, u-um… if we do this, and he figures it out… w-what if he swears revenge on us, like he did with Rainbow? S-She just cut his hat, but what if we outright betray his trust!?” 

Despite the substantial degree of fear in her voice, Fluttershy had a point; the girls had an idea about how Vanish’s mind worked, but one thing was clear from his words at the hospital: He did not tolerate liars. If they feigned ignorance about this, and then it somehow got revealed that they were the ones responsible for it, they could put others in danger. Applejack already saw the picture of her sister's clubhouse, so even if she didn't represent the Spirit of the Element of Honesty, the notion that Vanish might attack her sister to get answers was reason enough to stop the plan.

Twilight bowed her head as she lowered the list. “F-Fluttershy, I…” Just then, the door gave a jingle, turning the ponies’ attention to the small unicorn who walked in. “Siiiiis! I’m back from schooool! Oh! Fluttershy! Twilight! What are you doing here? And where’s my sister?” Sweetie Belle joyfully trotted forward, eyes shining with cheerful bliss, now paying attention to Twilight and Fluttershy in the hopes that they knew where her sister was, apparently ignorant of the pony lying prone on the curtain off to the side. Fluttershy spoke up with reluctance. “O-Oh! Hi, Sweetie Belle! Rarity is just upstairs, looking for something for us.” Fluttershy ran ahead of Sweetie Belle, showing her to the stairs before she noticed anything, while Twilight covered up the papers and pictures they had gathered by the desk, giving a sweet and innocent smile in Sweetie Belle’s direction. Both ponies focused completely on Sweetie Belle, making sure she didn’t look at the unconscious unicorn on the curtain.

“Oh! Thanks, Fluttershy! You two seem strange. I mean, you tore down one of Rarity’s curtains! What if there was somepony else in here? They’d think this place was a mess! Raaaarityyyy! I’m coming upstaaaairs!” Sweetie Belle cheerfully bounced up the stairs with her backpack, at which point Fluttershy and Twilight both ran to the area Vanish had been laying upon. Sure enough, he wasn’t there anymore. Fluttershy shakily raised her hoof, and tentatively lowered it in the middle of the curtain, thinking Vanish would be there, somehow cloaked in his sleep. Much to her horror, he wasn’t there at all. The two mares gasped at the realization of the stallion having gone missing, before running upstairs to check on their friends, and saw Sweetie Belle talking with Rarity, before promptly excusing herself, gleefully going up to Rarity’s bedroom in order to put her backpack away.

Rarity noticed her friends curiously standing in the doorway, and called out to them. “Twilight, why are you here? Did you find a quill downstairs?” Pinkie Pie jumped up from behind some boxes, her body draped in a sheet of fine fabric and sporting a bucket on her head. “We’re having a search party for quills! Isn’t it great?” Applejack sighed at Pinkie Pie’s antics, but turned her attention to the worried looks of her friends. “Why’d y’leave Vanish downstairs by himself?” Twilight stepped back to look down the stairwell. “Vanish isn’t there, he just disappeared! We took our eyes off him for a second, and he must have cloaked when we were looking over that paper he had! If it wasn’t for Sweetie Belle opening the door, we never would’ve even noticed… w-wait...”

Twilight had suddenly been struck by the realization of her own words. “Wait, that door has a bell. If it opens, it jingles in response. If Vanish left, we would have heard it, but if that was the case, then Vanish has to be…” “… Girls, I think Vanish is still here... so then… Quick! Everypony back downstairs!” Twilight and her friends ran as fast as they could back down the stairs, but Rarity paused to go see Sweetie Belle. “Sweetie Belle, I want you to go get your friends and come back as soon as you can. I have some… umm… Ideas! F-For… getting your Cutie Marks! Now hurry and go bring your friends back here, hmm?” Sweetie Belle jumped for joy back down the stairs, hugging her sister before continuing her joyful bouncing. “Thanks, sis! That’s great news! I’ll go get Apple Bloom and Scootaloo right away! I can’t wait to hear your ideas for getting our Cutie Marks!”

Rarity didn’t want Sweetie Belle around as long as Vanish was still in her boutique, so she breathed a sigh of relief when she went back downstairs and saw Sweetie Belle open the door, bell jingling as Pinkie Pie held it open for her, closing it soon after. If her sister came back, Rarity could speak to her and her friends outside to keep them out of the boutique and away from Vanish. After breathing a sigh of relief, Twilight walked around the area and closed her eyes to focus on hearing the sound of magic being used. Seconds later, Applejack noticed that the hat on the desk was still there. “Look, y’all, he left his hat! He couldn’t have gone far!”

“… Hmph.” The hat suddenly vanished right off of the desk without movement, causing Applejack to back up in surprise. Vanish ceased usage of his magic, with angry brown eyes directed towards Twilight Sparkle, as he used his second horn to brandish Derpy’s wings once more. “I truly don’t know what’s worse, my dear: Lying or betrayal. I’ve been nothing but cooperative with you mares, and what do I get in return? You go through my personal possessions, you try making sure I don’t move from where I laid upon as opposed to helping me, and you even consider tricking me… No, I cannot forgive such thoughts, even if nothing became of them. If you have even an ounce of integrity within you, you will bring me the list that you took from me. I took back everything that is mine, photographs included, but I feel the need to give you a chance; to see for myself if you are even remotely honest, my dear.”

Twilight was on the defensive, with her back to the paper, as Vanish raised his eyebrow curiously, slowly growing a smirk on his face. “Hmm, now doesn’t this seem similar to what happened at the library? Ah, yes… maybe I should ask if the paper is even ‘in stock’. Ah ha ha…” Twilight growled in anger at the idea of giving this pony his list of objectives again, but she had no other choice. “Before I do, just answer one thing… please?” Vanish clearly seemed irritated, but raised his hoof as if he was accepting an imaginary offering. “Give me your question, I’ll choose whether or not to answer it.”

Twilight grabbed the paper from behind her by using her magic, floating it just above her horn as she asked her question. “Why do you have those pictures? They’re of ponies we know, ponies we care for… why do you have those?” Vanish chuckled, flapping his wings to hover in the air. “Would you believe I have a side job as a photographer?" His wry chuckle and arrogance only motivated the mares to stand between him and the door. The stallion wasn’t pleased with the other ponies' attempts at stifling his means of escape. “I’m here to follow the orders of my client, and should I come into contact with anything that might hinder my progress, I have been instructed to do what I must in order to get around such obstacles… HAH!” Vanish dashed forward, grabbing the paper and launching himself over Twilight.

“My dear, it’s nothing personal, as is always the case, but now it’s time for me to continue my work, and I only have a few hours left until I am to meet my client… want my advice?” Vanish cloaked himself so that Twilight couldn’t use her magic to immobilize him. "You’ll want to camp out, tonight… to see your ‘Best Young Flyer’.” The others heard a fast dash through the air, and saw the door burst off its frame from an unseen impact, throwing glass and debris all over the boutique, as well as outside that which was once its ‘entrance’. Twilight ran straight outside, followed closely by her friends as they made their way to Cloudsdale, except for one pony.

Rarity was stunned at what she saw, stammering at the sight of her precious boutique ravaged in such a way, that she simply stumbled over her own words, then over her hooves, before falling on her chin. “… No, don’t help me…” She uttered sarcastically, looking at the backsides of her friends as they ran for Cloudsdale. “… I’ll clean this up in no time… No time at all.” With that, she planted her face on the floor in disbelief and frustration. “This is going to take a while...”