The Last Casino

by WeirdBeard

Chapter 4- The Lab

A few miles away from Morgue, a green flash of light brightened an abandoned carriage lot. It was an obscure spot that no one noticed as Jackpot, Fang, and Vinyl appeared. The latter two were unconscious while the gray stallion was on the verge of joining them. He looked around in slow astonishment, trying to piece together what had happened. No one was around and dusk was fast approaching.

"I told you to be careful!" a stern, feminine voice loudly chided.

Jackpot arched his gaze to the sky, eyes meeting with the strange, dark green alicorn of the previous night. Her wings flapped steadily to allow herself to hover over the exhausted group. While a black blindfold still covered her eyes, her features expressed anger and disappointment. The alicorn's ethereal mane was as untamed as before, with shimmering gold strands that waved fluidly.

"Guess I should have expected as much from you. It would help if you tried," the alicorn coldly stated.

The earth pony shrugged off the insinuation and rose to his hooves. "A tad hard to pull that in this line of work, toots," he replied. His body still felt rigid with peculiar magic that seemingly coursed through him. Jackpot eyed his surroundings once more and then glanced back to the alicorn. "Don't suppose some other magical being besides you saved us?'

"You're welcome by the way," the alicorn responded. Her head turned towards the stallion's two companions who remained still. "Your friends need medical care. Luckily for you, Twilight's research facility is just around the corner."

When Jackpot's coughing interrupted her, she returned her blinded gaze to the stallion. "Probably the best option for you as well. Seems Big Daddy really did a number on you."

"Shut up," the gray buck rasped. He rubbed at his throat and raised an eyebrow at the alicorn. "There's no way you did this solely out of the goodness of your heart. What do you want?"

A few tense moments passed between the two before the alicorn landed lightly beside Jackpot. She hesitated, but replied, "Fine, we'll do without the pleasantries. What I need is something that will also benefit you, however." The sage-coated being paused and nodded towards the aforementioned direction. "Twilight's zebras have created a very unique potion, combining both her magic and the herbal knowledge of their homeland. They don't know the full potential of it yet, but they could repurpose it into something far more sinister. It's in her primary lab; a small vial containing an odorless, purple liquid."

"Now hold on right there," Jackpot responded quickly. "This is a nice story and everything, but remind me again why I should trust you. I don't even know you, yet you expect me to just waltz in there and get that potion for you. Who are you? How do you know all of this? What are you even doing here in Trace? If you're such an all-knowing and mighty alicorn, why don't you just go in and get it yourself?!" With every question, the gray stallion's voice raised louder and louder in volume. He wasn't about to simply let himself be taken advantage of by this stranger.

The alicorn's wings flared out as she tensed angrily at the line of questions. "Everyone has their limits, Jackpot! Surely you know that!" she yelled out, responding to his latest inquiry. Her mane flowed wildly as though it was controlled by her emotion, angrily whipping about her frame. She leveled her breathing, however, and calmly replied, "Your answers will come in due time. Right now, your friends need you and I have other matters to attend to."

Jackpot broke off his glare at the alicorn and glanced to the unconscious pair. Fang's breathing was still heavily labored, but Vinyl appeared to be waking up. The earth pony brought his attention back to the alicorn and asked, "How do I even know you're not some bizarre mind trick by the princesses?"

The alicorn paused, her horn faintly glowing. "You don't. If it's any consolation, you can call me Fortuna."

Before Jackpot could raise any objections or even a witty comeback, Fortuna disappeared in a brilliant flash of green light. He blinked away the temporary blindness and looked back at where she had stood. Sighing, he shook his head and trotted towards Fang and Vinyl.

Lamp posts were slowly beginning to illuminate the streets and ill kept buildings that surrounded them. The symphony of nightly crimes echoed from the distant blocks, but Jackpot dismissed it as Vinyl groggily arose. Her coat was still matted with blood from the hydra and she looked extremely exhausted. The unicorn examined their new location in confusion. "What happened?" she slowly asked.

"Don't worry 'bout it, right now we gotta get you and Fang medical attention. Can you move alright?" Jackpot questioned. He knelt beside Fang and propped his scaly body onto his back. The sizable dragon was somewhat cumbersome for the stallion to carry, but Jackpot managed his weight just fine after a few steps.

Vinyl nodded, but showed displeasure at his dismissal of her earlier question. "Seriously, we were goners back in that arena. How did we get out of there?"

"We got lucky, let's leave it at that," the gray earth pony responded. His voice held a tone of annoyance at the unicorn's persistence along with the heavy weight of Fang on his back. "C'mon, it's just around the corner here." Jackpot trotted forward, hoping she would follow suit.

Unfortunately, the white mare darted in front of him and stopped. She glared at him evenly and asked, "What happened?!"

Jackpot rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll tell you the truth," he muttered, but grinned as a sudden idea came to him. "I'm being stalked by a blind alicorn who has a crush on me and wants my body so she teleported us out of the arena and now she wants some wonder juice from Twilight's lab that will help her help me and help you at the same time. That’s why we're going there for medicine. Clear as mud?"

Vinyl's glare now changed to complete skepticism and utter disgust as he finished his rapid-fire explanation. She sighed and shook her head at him. "Has anyone ever told you that you're an ass?"

"Never. But my great-great uncle was three-quarters mule so that might explain things," the gray stallion half-joked, trotting past the unicorn and towards the street corner. After several steps, Vinyl finally began following him and the pair continued on in silence.

Jackpot sighed. He wasn't a sadist by any means and making Vinyl more miserable wasn't solving anything. The stallion glanced out the corner of his eye at her as they trudged along the empty street. "I never thanked you for saving Fang..." he began, but was cut off by the unicorn.

"What? Remembered some witty comment about me saving him because of a crush or some garbage like that? No thanks, I'll pass," Vinyl muttered. She never looked at Jackpot, instead maintaining a glare at the road that she trotted upon at that moment.

"Now just hold on there," the gray stallion responded quickly. He groaned in exasperation. "Look. I'm sorry. I never really gave you a chance to explain yourself. You probably didn't expect to be in this mess, and for that, I'm sorry."

Vinyl Scratch finally looked back at him. She shook her head and muttered, "Let's just get this over with. With how bloodthirsty the Fluttershy copy is, I'm worried about seeing the rest of the six."

"She's not all that bad," Jackpot replied. When Vinyl raised her eyebrow at him, he quickly corrected himself. "Okay, she's psycho, but that's thanks to Big Daddy. She'll have her rampage now that we left and wipe out most of her goons since her pet's gone. Then she'll be sane enough to talk to if you want."

The unicorn shook her head. "Fat chance. I'm having a hard enough time trusting you and-"

"Greetings, weary travelers!" an exotic, chipper voice called out. The outburst caught Vinyl and Jackpot's attention as they twisted their heads to view a group of zebras approaching them. At the head of the group was a smaller zebra clothed in fine robes of starry material. She wore a peculiar belled hat atop her head, lined with bells and strange beads. The lead zebra gasped when she saw Fang unconscious on Jackpot's back. "You are hurt! Come!"

Jackpot arched his brow. "Uhhh... right. Listen, we just need some potions and then we'll be on our way."

"Oh no no no, Twilight has been waiting for you. You have to come!" the zebra quickly replied. Without another word, the group of zebras corralled behind Vinyl and Jackpot and herded them forward to the laboratory.

Galaxy was an extravagantly built structure of subsections all combined together. Steel beams weaved between one another, crisscrossing at the top to form a six-pointed star. The outer walls had the appearance of dark marble, reflecting the day to night transition upon the incoming group. Inside was a labyrinth of lab rooms and offices that baffled Vinyl and Jackpot as they were led by the zebras. After what seemed to be the millionth door, they finally arrived at a large chamber which housed a monstrously large machine of some sort.

Twilight sat at the far end of the oddity, tinkering with several test tubes. Her hair was incredibly frazzled and her eyes twitched wildly. Upon noticing the group's arrival, she briefly glanced up and muttered, "About time you showed up!"

Jackpot frowned skeptically. "Right. Definitely knew you were looking for us."

"You know what I mean! I've been busy with these experiments and I've really needed your help. These zebras are okay, but I need another pony to assist me," Twilight explained angrily. She continued fuzzing over buttons and machine readings.

Vinyl cocked her head to the side. "What sort of experiments?"

The purple unicorn paused in her frenzied work, not recognizing the new voice. "What sort of experiments?" Twilight repeated, almost in mock question. "Everything! This is science!" At the exclamation, she turned to face her magical counterpart. "With you and Jackpot here now, I can finally test my newest hypothesis!"

"Whoa whoa whoa, none of that," Jackpot interrupted. The gray stallion trotted closer to the crazed mare. "We just need some help for Fang, nothing more. Especially last time when for four hours you made this dragon get one huge, massive-"

"A minor setback, Jackpot. My assistants will see to him just fine," Twilight replied. She nodded to a few other zebras robed in lab coats. Immediately, they circled around Jackpot and eased the dragon off his back onto their own backs together. The gray stallion opened his mouth to protest, but was interrupted by Twilight. "Now! You two are going to help me with my new invention!"

The crazed unicorn's bizarre excitement perplexed both Jackpot and Vinyl, and then even more so when she magically removed a white sheet covering something on her work bench. Underneath, a strange jumble of cords and a pair of giant metal helmets lay haphazardly.

Vinyl stuttered, "You know, I really think we'll pass on that. Thanks, but no thanks. We really have to-"

"SCIENCE!" Twilight yelled madly. In rapid succession, she retrieved both of the helmets with her magic and secured them tightly onto Jackpot and Vinyl. A series of loud beeps and mechanical whirs echoed loudly in the chamber while Twilight grinned insanely. "This is gonna be great!"

At those words, an electric current shot through the helmets and shocked the pair into unconsciousness. Instead of falling, however, their bodies remained standing up straight. A magical pulse soon glowed from Vinyl's horn and gradually grew. As Twilight and the remaining zebras watched, the energy stretched to connect to Jackpot's helmet.

"Connection complete, Mistress Sparkle!" a zebra cried triumphantly. Within moments, two ghostly forms appeared over the helmeted pair. Despite being almost transparent, the manifestations were in fact exact copies of Jackpot and Vinyl. The ghostly unicorn's eyes shrank to pinpricks as she tried to piece together what was happening, while Jackpot shook his head dismissively,

"This is NOT the time, Twilight! It's been cute with all of your other weird experiments, but I have had it! Whatever you've done now, cut it out!" the ghostly gray stallion shouted, hovering over his body.

Twilight clapped her hooves together. "Why I'm glad you asked what I've done! Well, this is a highly advanced piece of machinery that I have created to read minds! Or more specifically, obtain particular memories that I desire from someone. You two are both going through a controlled out-of-body experience to accomplish this. In this case, we're going to see what makes you tick, Jackpot!" she happily exclaimed.

"Uhhh..." Vinyl finally uttered, trying to escape her stupefied state. "Why not just use a memory spell?"

The purple unicorn paused a moment in thought. "Well... you see... shut up, it's brilliant! A memory spell is too simple anyway. With this invention, I'll be able to help my friends! Though, seeing how dangerous it could be as this is the test run, I needed another unicorn to power the necessary magic rather than risk my own life. Sacrifices must be made for science after all!" she explained.

Jackpot rubbed at his temples. "I'm going to give you to the count of three to cancel this lousy, little school project. Otherwise, I'm beating the stupid out of you."

"C'mon, Jackpot, this will be fun!" Twilight replied with a wide grin. Another hum added to the mechanical symphony of noises and gradually grew louder. "Ohhhhh, here comes the resonance cascade! Hold onto your hooves!"

The energy that radiated from the pair suddenly expanded violently, but retracted just as quickly. The burst shorted out the lightning within the chamber as well, leaving everyone completely in the dark. After a few minutes, a white beam began to glow from Vinyl's horn and steadily illuminated the room. Twilight and the zebras watched in awe, Vinyl's ghostly figure still floating while Jackpot's was nowhere to be seen.

"What's going on?! Where's Jackpot?!" Vinyl asked, her voice filled with panic.

"Don't worry, he's perfectly fine. Relax and watch the show," Twilight quietly responded. The light from Vinyl's horn soon projected colors along with the illumination. The walls of the chamber flickered with strange images and the cry of a hawk echoed around them. Eventually, their room vanished completely and was replaced with a vast desert landscape. Beyond a few cacti, only sand and rock formations covered the desolate region.

While it was almost silent for the moment, a distant rumble could be faintly heard. Their surroundings quickly moved under them as that noise reached their ears and brought them closer to a far-off train. For Vinyl and the zebras, the changing sensation was disorienting, but Twilight remained steadfast with a smile. Unbelievably, they passed through the train and stopped within one of the carts. The complexity of the whole thing baffled Vinyl, but she continued watching as their perspective turned to a young family of three ponies. Her jaw dropped and she managed to ask, "Is tha-?"

"Shh!" Twilight quickly replied. The vision before them became clearer and revealed two unicorn parents seated around a small, earth pony foal. Both the father and mother were dusty brown in color, but their manes differed in shades of gray. The little pony at their hooves bounced around the compartment, bearing a contagious grin.

"We're gonna see Princess Celestia! We're gonna see Princess Celestia! YAY!" the gray foal shouted happily.

The mother giggled softly. "Calm down, Jacky, we still have a long way to go!" she explained, picking up her son with her magic and setting him on the seat.

"Your mother's right, champ. Be a good pony and sit down with us," the father replied. He adjusted the hat atop his head with his magic and leaned back.

The little foal gazed up at his parents and smiled. His grin slowly vanished though as another thought crossed his mind. "Mommy... Daddy... what if the princess doesn't like me?" he asked.

The two unicorns looked at one another in surprise and then back at their son. "Why wouldn't she like you, Jacky?" the mother asked.

Jackpot bit his lip, but continued. "Well, she's really really really important, and she has magic and wings! All of her guards have either wings or magic. You and Daddy have magic, but I don't have that or wings. There's nothing special about me."

"Hold on there, sport! Of course you're special!" the father replied quickly. "You don't have to have either of those things to be special. You're somepony that nopony else, Jackpot."

The mother hugged the little foal close to her. "Besides, Princess Celestia will love you, sweetie. I promise you."

"But that's not the point!" Jackpot muttered in frustration. He jumped down from the seat and faced his parents, narrowing his eyes. "You always say that I'm special the way I am and that I was meant to be born like this, but why?! I'm just an earth pony while both of you are unicorns! It's not fair!"

"Honey, sometimes that's the way things are. We can't control everything and we have to work with the gifts that we're given," the mother explained.

The father nodded. "We've talked about this before, Jackpot. Somethings can't be changed, but you can make the best of it."

"You're not listening to me, I want-"

"That's enough, son. You have to accept this and grow up," the stallion defiantly retorted.

The mother glanced at her husband, worry in her eyes, and replied, "Bronze, he's just a foal."

"We can't keep using that excuse, Sunny. He has to learn sooner than later," the father quickly responded.

Jackpot continued glaring at his parents. "I don't want to be just an earth pony! Why can't I be a unicorn, too?! I hate this!"

"Too bad, son! Now behave yourself!" Bronze shouted.

Tears welled in the corners of Jackpot's eyes, but his anger fueled the argument further. Strangely, a faint aura of green began to glow around him. "No! I hate you! I hate you!"

"Jacky." The mother began, but the little foal interjected again.

"I hate you!"

Vinyl watched in horror as a loud crack echoed from the front of the train and immediately their own cart launched upwards. The three ponies were thrown about the compartment while the train continued its turbulent crash. The little foal's head collided with the ceiling and sent him reeling. Despite him losing consciousness, the steady green glow persisted while the scene darkened before Vinyl, Twilight, and the zebras.

After what seemed like an eternity, light slowly trickled back into their vision. The train no longer had any sort of resemblance to its original design. Broken supports and torn chairs lay strewn about the dry desert ground and only the haunting sound of a calm breeze broke the silence.

"M-Mommy? Daddy?" a young, broken voice called out. A cushion was pushed over and revealed the tiny form of Jackpot. He sniffled and looked around sadly. "Mom?! Dad?!" he cried out.

The young gray foal continued his search, dodging around the wreckage of the train. He stopped, however, when he saw a pair of dusty brown hooves beneath a set of metalwork. "Mommy? Daddy?"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" an enraged, adult voice of Jackpot called out.

The scene suddenly changed back to the original test chamber. Twilight blinked in surprise as Jackpot pulled off his helmet and slammed it onto the ground. His eyes flared in unchecked anger, looking around for the next thing to break. Before Twilight could stop him, the gray stallion grabbed Vinyl's helmet and hurled it. While it wasn't really aimed, the helmet struck Twilight’s horn dead on and knocked her unconscious.

"Stop him!" a robed zebra shouted. More and more zebras filled the chamber, but nothing could stop the buck. He was on a rampage and Vinyl could only watch in shocked surprise. Twilight's assistants tried to detain him, but every attack was dodged or simply taken full on by Jackpot. His rage-induced fury sent every offender back as his hooves smashed into their heads with powerful precision. His deadly dance continued until every zebra was unconscious while he and Vinyl remained standing.

The unicorn stood motionless, unsure of what to say to the panting earth pony. "Jackpot... I... I’m s-sorry, I didn’t-"

"Don't," Jackpot quickly said. He trotted towards Twilight and knelt next to her, rifling through her packs. After a moment of searching, he found the small vial he had been sent for.

"What's th-"

"Vinyl," the stallion interrupted, restrained anger present in his voice. "Don't."

Another door to the chamber opened and Fang slowly entered. The dragon glanced around the room, finally turning his attention to Jackpot and Vinyl. "That much fun, huh?"

Jackpot shook his head. "Just shut up, Fang. We're leaving."

"Where are we going?" Vinyl asked hesitantly.

His quick glare made the unicorn balk, but Jackpot answered anyway. "We're gonna visit Rarity."