"What now? The ghosts going to pop out next?" Dan asked, as if any of them knew the answer. They huddled together in a snuggly defense posture.
"Someone is coming."
They huddled closer together, interlocking hooves and hands while Dan raised his weapon high. The sound of footsteps continued approaching until finally, someone that was at the very least familiar to them.
"Ah! There you all are."
"Colress!" Phoenix exclaimed.
"Hey... that guy!" Dan added.
"It's Colress, Dan."
"Right, yeah. I knew that."
Phoenix rubbed his chin. "Dan? Do you call me Nicky and abbreviate other names so they're easier for you to remember?"
"No!" Dan flatly defended himself. "Two-syllable names are easier to shout in emergencies. Faster than three-syllable names and less of a chance to be mistaken than single-syllable names. It's practicality, Nicky."
"So then why do you go by Dan and not Daniel or Danny?" Phoenix asked, smirking slightly.
"Grrr. Because. I'm usually the cause of, or at least involved with an emergency if it's nearby," Dan said. "I prefer to be the cause."
"And it's easier to remember."
"Grrrr..."
As Colress approached, a Magnezone rounded the corner to follow him. Its magnets glowed a pulsing blue that seemed to affect the lights nearby."Zzzonne... Zzzonnne..."
"It's a good thing I found you. And the CMC and Marksaline are here as well. Good, very good," Colress remarked. He began typing on a built-in digital interface(BIDI) on his forearm. "The Director wasn't expecting anyone to hack into her network... she seems preoccupied for the moment."
"Thanks for helping us out, science dude!" Blast Fuse said, hugging his leg tightly.
"It's no problem. But we should get going while the securities have been deactivated," Colress said, turning around. The group followed him, including Marksaline.
"How long can you hack their security system?" Dan asked.
Colress shrugged. "That depends on how long it takes for them to notice I'm on their network."
Dan grinned. "Good. Keep it that way."
"I have absolutely no control over whether or not they find me."
Ignoring that, or being completely oblivious to it, Dan turned back to Phoenix and said, "You know what comes next, Nicky
Phoenix nodded. "We blow the whole place up while they think we're imprisoned."
"Good job, Nicky. I have trained you well."
"I, uh, just try to follow your example." (And the destruction you leave in your wake. Our wake, now.)
"We're coming, too!" The CMC declared in unison.
"Now girls, I admire your enthusiasm for trying to invade the evil lair yourselves, but this part is really dangerous," Dan said to them as they picked up the pace. "It's going to require caution, professionalism and subtlety."
"Which is why we're here!" the Blasties gleefully shouted.
The CMC looked down. "Please, Dan, Nix," Scootaloo pleaded, "we want to help!" They looked at the humans as they trotted, turning large eyes and trembling lips on the tall bipeds.
"Don't try the face on me, ladies. That only works when Chrys does it."
"Chrys sounds nice. I would like to meet Chrys."
"Pleeeeeeeeaaaaseee?" Sweetie Belle led them in a begging chorus.
"Why did you guys come down here any way?" Phoenix asked. "I thought Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were always mean to the three of you."
"They are..." Apple Bloom admitted. "But you guys were gone. And Blueblood is..."
"Wall."
"Yeah, he's like a-"
"No, we're coming up on a wall. Turn," Dan said. The group turned, hustling towards the corner they had landed in.
"While you guys were gone, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon found that big pony thing in front of the library," Apple Bloom explained.
Dan's heels screeched on the floor again. "Wait wait wait wait wait. What 'big pony thing' in front of the library?"
"I think they mean Knight, Dan," Phoenix said.
The shorter human shook his head. "Knight wasn't there when we went to the Crystal Empire. They must be talking about..."
"They said it was an Ace," Scootaloo said.
"Called it!"
"They found it after Hearth's Warming Day," she explained.
"Christmas," Dan corrected through gritted teeth.
"What?"
"Don't," Phoenix quickly interjected. "Just please, for the love of all that is holy and just, don't."
"Ah, that's Magic Gear ACE!" Blast Fuse said. "She was first off the line. Production-model Gear, tough as nails on nails on-"
"We already did that joke," Powdy stopped her. The other sister nodded, understanding.
"They've been trying to rebuild it," Sweetie Belle explained. "But we knew it was dangerous because you said so. So we went to try and stop them, to beat them to the pieces of that other thing they were searching for to fix it with."
"But then they captured you. And you found me~"
Dan was truly touched by what the CMC said. "I'm... I'm truly touched by what you guys have said. Taking the initiative like that, that's everything I've been trying to instill in you ponies since I got here. And... started to get involved and stuff. But it's still too dangerous."
Behind them, Marksaline grew a little bit. "Uh, Dan?"
"Aww, but pleeeease?"
"No buts," Dan continued. "You're going to take a ride with Colress- see? I did remember his name."
"That's great, but-"
"-and he's going to take you back to Ponyville."
"But Dan!"
"I'm sorry, my little DMC. But you're going to have to-"
"Dan," Phoenix grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him around. "This."
Marksaline had now somehow grown into a dragon. A guttural noise emitted from her maw, echoing against her now larger teeth.
"Fascinating," Colress said, typing on his interface again.
"We got it," Blast Fuse said, holding up a Snonckers bar. The neighcromorph snatched it up with her tongue and popped back to her original form.
Dan tapped his chin. "I detect that this may be what is known in some circles as, a thing."
"Numnumnumnumnum. Numnum......... Num."
"Okay, you guys can come," Dan said.
"Yayyyy!!" the CMC and Blasties cheered.
"Jubilation."
Colress tapped a command into his arm display and the walls parted again. Beyond them was the chute that had dumped them off into the maze. "Magnezone will take you back to the first floor," Colress said. "But first, I have the map of the facility." He held his arm in front of them and a holographic image beamed out in front of them.
"I want a watch that does that."
"Stable Three connects to the other Stables through a series of tunnels that run all throughout Equestria. But underneath the Determination Mountains are where the real factories are," Colress explained.
"There are two."
"Factories?" Dan asked, "As in more than one?"
The friendly scientist nodded. "They're producing more Magic Gears, more Sword Spells, other advanced weapons and new vehicles based on your MY-Wing." As he explained, a picture of a quad-engine fighter appeared. It looked like the MY-Wing, which Dan affectionately referred to as a space truck, except this version had a sharper cockpit and spikes protruding from its nacelles. "They're calling it a MY-Claw. With this, they'll be able to dig underneath Ponyville, Canterlot, any city we have and attack from underneath."
Several jaws hit the floor with that announcement, including Dan's. He quickly followed up with the question, "What about the ion cannon? Or the griffons' toilet ships? OR MY CHARIOT?!"
Colress shook his head. "They don't seem to be building any new aircraft at this time. The Claws are built for digging. And the Magic Gears, well, you know what they're built for- but these will be more advanced."
"Meaning tougher," Dan surmised.
"Where are Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?" Apple Bloom asked.
"And the Director?" Scootaloo added.
"I haven't been able to locate her position yet, but Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon seem to be here," Colress gestured. The image zoomed in to a large network of boxes and tubes- rooms and hallways far north of their position, miles north. "Lightning Claw and Firedancer seem to be with them as well."
"LC and FD!" Dan exclaimed. "Ah, thank goodness they're okay."
"Hopefully not still... programmed, though," Phoenix reminded them. (Initials, also easy to remember.)
"Shut up, Nicky."
(Sorry.)
"So how do we get to them? If we come at them from the surface, they'll see us coming," Dan said.
Colress nodded. "There's a tram system that runs throughout the tunnels. It's how they ship cargo and personnel quickly throughout the complex. Your only problem... is here," the image zoomed in to a large spherical chamber underneath a large mountain. It might as well have said BOSS CHAMBER above it. "This is underneath Mount Insurmountable, a dormant volcano. This is where Magic Gear VOLCANUS is building the other Magic Gears."
"VOLCANUS?" Dan repeated. "The *squee* kinda name is that?"
The image switched to display one of Magic Gear VOLCANUS- a massive Gear with a longer body and two pincers in front. On its back was a long tail and a pair of wings- the butterfly wings from the mech Dan destroyed on the train. The machine resembled some sort of colossal crab, spider or scorpion, or some combination of all three of them than a pony.
"What... the actually bucking *squee* is that?"
"The Gearmaker..." Powdy muttered.
"VOLCANUS, from what we can tell, is leeching Equestria's magic in order to build weapons and construct the other Magic Gears. We're not entirely sure, but we think it made most of them," Colress explained. "I'll keep in touch. There's some other things I need to research."
"You're not coming with us?" Phoenix asked.
"Not right now. Magnezone, Magnet Rise."
"Zone-Zooooonneee." The Pokemon levitated them up the shaft they had come in from, and the doors closed behind them.