"And now, what to do with the rest of you?" Dan asked, swinging the handgun around. What could he make the remaining assassin cronies do? Follow their leader and jump over the side? Too easy. Maybe freeze them and then crack them into a million pieces? Possibly, but then who would clean up the mess? He could make them eat the Smooze, but the Smooze might eat them back somehow, and that was another problem on its own to deal with.
Suddenly, the engines on Boba Fett's ship roared to life. The Slave I lifted off from the tower, but as it did, every remaining Team Rocket grunt lunged onto it. Could it carry them all? Didn't matter. The grunts all jumped onto the vehicle as it maneuvered around, some of them even making it into the ship itself, others holding on for dear life until they could do the same. The ship rocketed away from the garrison and into the fog, taking the criminals with it.
"Well... there goes that," Dan remarked.
"There's still the Smooze to worry about," Phoenix reminded him.
"Ah yes, the sludge threatening to consume us all. Stevie, Redfield, all of you, get over here," Dan beckoned them into a huddle. Tired, sluggish, but not one of them reluctant, they got up to join Dan. Whatever private doubts or concerns about Dan's leadership, whatever it may be, none of them said anything. They knew Dan would have a plan.
But Twilight had an easier way.
"It's alright, Dan. I've got it."
"Twilight!" Dan called. "YES! Use your magic to kick that crap's ass!" He sprung up, shook his fist, almost danced; with Twilight back, he was happy to have a heavy hitter back on his team. Unbeknownst to him, Twilight may very well have been the heaviest hitter of them all at that point.
Her eyes still glowed white and she still levitated. She was in total harmony, magic flowing through her at such a rate that her body was a conduit for nearly-unlimited power and potential. God-mode Twilight, pretty much. The strands of her mane floated, resonating with magical power. Her body glowed, every part of her radiating intense energy that made the air warm and still around them, calming the rushing winds in an expanding aura.
Twilight had been in this state before, at least a few times. It wasn't something she was able to do at just any time, but she was getting better at maintaining this 'harmonious state.' To her, it felt like she was in the center of a great storm. More than that, like she WAS the center of a great storm, like she herself had transformed at some level into a massive supernatural force that was moving and constantly shifting, but at the same time she could control.
And to be honest, although she felt totally at peace physically, a part of her mind felt uneasy. In truth, this was how the Director felt all the time. More of an entity than a person, connected to everything and everyone and yet still separate, forced onward and only able to pull at the tiniest strings without causing massive damage. It was like trying to grasp a grain as it was carried by a violent, ever-turbulent rushing river, forever watching it slip and dance through your fingers carried on by the eternal flow.
"Uh, Twilight?"
"Yes, Phoenix?"
"You're gonna be careful, right?"
"I'll be fine, Phoenix. But thank you." She levitated above them in a near-trance to the other side of the balcony. With an outstretched hoof, she turned on one of the generators, then another, then the other. Finally, she turned around and with barely a flick of her fetlock, she turned on the last generator. All four of them came on at full-blast, powered not by anything but her magic.
"How in the hell is she doing that?" Sendback asked.
Samule L. Jackson frowned at him. "This is the one time you're not going to say you see how it is?"
Sendback glared. "Don't you start that shit with me, Sam."
"Why? You gonna call your mom on me? Shut the fuck up, let the ponies handle it."
The generators hummed, powering up the prison once again. Lights along the walls came on, and the gates activated, opening to let the Smooze drain into the perimeter walls.
Dan looked over the balcony, and the others followed him to do the same.
"HaHA! Like grime on the shower room floor!" Dan remarked.
"No one wants to know about your shower, Dan."
"Hey, there's a LOT worse in my shower than this, Redfield."
"Again, NOBODY wants to know-"
"I sent that one thing to a lab and they said they were going to get back to me, but I think they shut down," Dan continued. But the others weren't paying too much attention to him; they were busy watching the Smooze level lower. The eyes of the Smooze turned upward, some of them looking at Dan and the others, but most were confused as to what was happening.
"Umm... Twilight dearie, not to interrupt," Rarity said.
"It doesn't appear to be draining completely," Reginald said.
"We don't want it to," Samule said.
Most everyone turned back to him. "And why is that?"
"Because then, we wouldn't be able to hit it with this." Samule flipped a switch on the generator.
And from it launched Mechbeth. Or, more precisely, the top portion of the generator transformed into a Mechbeth. The pylons which the guards had pushed on became its wings and the centrifuge disengaged from the platform. The strange creation took flight like a butterfly, and flew above them all.
A bit exhausted herself, Twilight levitated herself back down to the garrison roof. Dan and friends practically caught her as she landed and helped her steady herself, even if she didn't need it.
"I'm fine, I'm fine everyone, thank you."
"Remember that hug we talked about earlier?"
Twilight smiled softly, and began to say, "Yes, I do," but only managed "Ye-" before Dan grabbed her and squeezed her to his shirt.
"ALLGGGK! Dan, THAT's REALLY-"
"I'm never letting you go again. Not ever. Never ever ever for the next five minutes never."
"Dan," Cap put a hand on his shoulder. "We just got Twilight back, can you try not to break her?"
Phoenix smiled mischievously. "I know how to fix this problem." And he hugged Dan and Twilight from the back. Then, Chris and Captain America joined in.
"NO! NO, STOP! I did NOT consent to a group hug! Grouping makes it worse!" Dan protested as Rarity, Tuxley, Reginald, Doctor Whooves and the others all joined in.
"We all love you, Dan. And we love Twilight, too."
"Just go with the moment, Master Dan," Tuxley advised.
"NO! I CAN'T MOVE MY ARMS MAKE IT STOP!"
But the group hugging did not relent. Soon, even the donkeys, Imperials and other troopers joined in, along with the prison guards and prisoner volunteers, then the raiders and at last, the foodimals.
"THIS IS WORSE THAN THE SMOOZE! HELP! HELLLLLPPP!" Despite his complaints, the hugging continued, until Dan and everyone else was consumed by the cuddle pile that followed. The strange, random, completely out-of-nowhere cuddle pile.
"Look everybody! The flutter-donkey is killing the Smooze!"
It may not have been a flutter-donkey, or a flutter-pony for that matter, but it used similar magic and operated under similar principles. From its wings, the MechBeth shot rainbow beams of pure energy-infused magic(rather than magic-infused energy) that destroyed the Smooze. The beams altered the sludge and transformed it from a liquid into solid, freezing the gunk like a statue.
The first MechBeth was joined by three others, one from each generator. Together, they made quick work of the Smooze in the courtyard. Using the gates, the machines then entered the complex proper and began doing the same on the inside. The Smooze crumbled to bits off the walls, ceilings and throughout the halls, turning to powder on the floor. The MechBeths sanitized the Bursavis Prison Complex.
"And that," Samule flipped off the generator, "is why you don't mess with my trains."
"Alright," Dan said. "But now, how are you going to clean up the rest of this crap?"
Phoenix pointed down from the balcony. "I don't think he's going to have to- look."
The foodimals were eating what was left of the Smooze. Although it was pretty disgusting, the rubbery creatures nibbled and nommed their way through the sludge. It made sense; being food themselves, they only ate things that were completely inedible. And probably popcorn.
"Ahhh... that is disgusting," Dan remarked. He watched as one of the sandwich foodimals ate its way through the sludge in a pattern. "Very disgusting."
"I saw one of them eat that cra- err, your granny's 'homemade napalm' earlier. I guess the foodimals must have pretty strong stomachs," Phoenix said. (I am going to barf again.)
"Yeah I guess that makes sense- TWILIGHT!" Dan exclaimed, and stopped short of hugging her in half again. "And where's everybody else? How do we get to Tartarus?" As Dan asked the important questions, everyone turned to Twilight with bated breath, waiting for her to answer.
Unfortunately, much to their dismay, she shook her head. "They're not in Tartarus any more. Most of them... never were."
"We were duped again?" Dan asked. "Again AGAIN again?"
"I don't understand," Captain America said. "We were there, Chris and I."
"Another thing we don't need brought up, Cap."
"Where exactly is Tartarus?"
Twilight shrugged. "We're standing in part of it. This place used to be called Tambelon, the city of bells. The Fausticorn brought it here so the donkeys of the new Equestria would have a home. The realm left behind became empty and hollow, but still accessible to this world. The king and queen of Equestria banished the most powerful monsters and demons they encountered there, and it became a realm of hate and punishment."
"Wow... just like the shower room."
"Shut up, Dan. So where are the rest of our friends, Twilight?" Rarity asked. And yeah, she said "shut up, Dan," too. She's been through a lot and even ladies are allowed to be impatient sometimes.
Twilight looked up. "They're on the moon now. With Princess Celestia and Luna."
"So wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait WAIT," Dan said. And paused for a minute. "You're telling me Vice Grip kidnapped all our friends, threw them in Tartarus, then sold them to a bunch of criminals, raiders and fanboys, had a bunch of assassins then steal them, JUST SO HE COULD TAKE THEM BACK WITH HIM TO THE GODDAMNED MOON IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?!"
"Actually, that was Barro."
"WHAT?!"
And Twilight explained what really happened, why Dan woke up three months later, why everyone else was missing, how it all happened. Chancellor Rice Puddinghead really doesn't care about Dan, Twilight or his friends. He imprisoned them, as the Director had instructed, but then betrayed her and sold them to Writhe N. Payne, the real one. Writhe then sold the ponies to criminals at an auction, unknowingly helping the GenoHaradan in the process.
Meanwhile, Rice retreated to the moon to prepare the next phase of his plan. By holding Barro's friend Michael hostage, he forced Barro to deal with the Rebels, Imperials and any other starships that came near Equestria, as well as any resistance on the surface. The only problem was Dan, whom with his unique relationship with magic, was unaffected by Rice's teleportation and instead was teleported into the future... or so it seemed.
"But then, why is the planet all... crappy? In more ways than one, not including the Smooze?" Dan asked.
Twilight inhaled, then exhaled heavily. "The Director... Cleo, she was the spirit of the planet. And Rice killed her."
"Have I mentioned I hate that guy lately?"
"It's more than that. It's more than any one thing. The damage the surface has taken, the lack of ponies being involved, the magical fluctuations and now Cleo being taken out, there's not much more Equestria can take," Twilight said, looking around.
"What is the world to one person?" one of the fanboys asked.
"One person can mean the world to another."
"Without them, the world has no meaning."
"Without them, no one else has any meaning."
Dan and company looked around them. While the Team Rocket grunts were gone, the hooded fanboys had remained. And Dan was beginning to think their hoods were looking all-too familiar.