"Uh, it's not stopping."
"This is bad," Phoenix said. "Shouldn't that thing have...?"
Rarity shook her head. "I don't know."
"The vessel is on a collision course. The explosion will damage the cannon."
"Oh, great. It's going to kamikaze us!" Ace said.
"Crude but accurate assessment," Knight remarked.
The Cogsdale Mk. 2 was still struggling to stay in the air. Despite this, the vessel's A.I. was determined to complete its mission. Spinning with very little control, it was trying to control its descent so it crashed onto the barrel. And it was doing so very quickly.
"What do we do? Where's Dan?!" Phoenix exclaimed. He looked around. "We need some kind of... thing! A thing to knock it off course!"
"There's nothing here!" Rarity said. "And it's made of that anti-magic material!"
"You all must leave now," ALT said.
They hesitated, all of them. They knew what the machine meant.
"What will happen to you?" Rarity asked.
"It does not matter," ALT answered.
To ALT and her mechanical sisters, it was easy to predict when, where and how the massive vessel would land. They were able to process these things faster than their organic friends, and so the seconds before it collided with them seemed like all the time in the world to them. Factors like wind, weight, motion, rate of the vessel's destruction, all were compiled and computed and analyzed in fractions of time too small for words within ALT's brain. She knew what she had to do and how to do it.
What couldn't be known, what could not be predicted by man, mare or machine was what happened after. This thought caused just the slightest trill sensation of fear through the machine. The most basic of fears, the fear of the unknown. It was unique as it was the first of such experiences for ALT, who had not matured as much as her sisters on the plane of consciousness. Yet it was an easy fear to overcome.
Living and doing nothing was worse than making the ultimate sacrifice for her friends.
"Go! Now!" ALT shouted. The giant mech pony raised itself onto its hind legs just in time to catch the giant spinning airship.
"Leg drive motors at maximum. EMP at maximum. Hydraulics system operating in overdrive mode."
ALT's jets flared, her horn glowed bright orange, her forelegs gripped the hull of the giant vessel. It was large enough that it could've filled the cannon's bowl easily; the Magic Gear was absolutely dwarfed by the steel donut ship. The vessel's own engines were still flaring, still firing even as it fell apart under its own fractured weight.
The Cogsdale leaked fluid, debris and bits of its armor flaked off and its hull continued to buckle and crack under stress. Like a donut dissolving in coffee, it was only a matter of time before it disintegrated completely. But when it did, the damage would reach its cold fusion reactor, where what was left of Kyurem's power was stored. It would detonate and flash freeze the cannon, preventing it from firing.
ALT was not going to let that happen. She knew she could not hold the vessel in place forever, though.
"Thank you, ALT! And... and tell the doctor we said thank you, too!" Phoenix yelled.
"He knows. As do I. There was no other alternative."
Phoenix smiled. "We didn't need another one." He picked up Knight, Ace and Volcy, who strangely was surrounded by a large group of foodimals, and carried them back downstairs. Rarity followed them and the foodimals, having nowhere else to go, followed as well.
Dr. Vice Grip, the Mirror of Rice Puddinghead, had taught Magic Gear ALT well. She had learned to value life, just as the other Gears had learned through Dan and the others. Like her friend she had left behind, she did not care what dimension she was in, who was in charge or what other people wanted from her or thought about her. She only cared about her friends, doing the right thing and hoped, very much hoped that she made a difference.
It was the last difference made in this Equestria.
ALT's hooves dug into the metal hull, crumpling it like paper around her limbs. Even with all her magic, tech and raw strength, she could only hold the crumbling vessel in place. It was a fight she could not keep up for long. As soon as the door closed behind the last of the foodimals, she put all of her might into lifting the Cogsdale, and flipped it.
The rounded bow of the ring-shaped ship couldn't handle the sudden upward motion. It collapsed inward, but the interior of the ring, its strongest structural area, held on, keeping the ring shape even as its outer hull was crushed. Its engines failed, explosions broke across its dorsal and ventral surface, the craft was now carried solely by ALT's jets. And she was carried with it.
With what power remained in her jets, ALT steered the ship back upward. She pushed it as hard as she could, out over the cannon's bowl. She had to get far enough away, that she knew, so she would carry it as long as it was needed. Her leg jets began to fail, so she tried to lift it more with her forelegs, using every ounce of strength she had. Further, further, further.
Her own systems began to fail. Her own armor cracked under the stress. No longer able to hold it up, she did her best to guide its descent. With the last of her power, she sent one last message to a friend.
Doctor.......... I have completed my mission. Thank you. Her eye-lights went out. Still grasping the burning airship tightly, they both crashed into the ground and exploded. The bright orange fire was visible from space.
Phoenix and the others felt the explosion even as they ran through the facility. The cannon shook, but suffered no damage, and the tremors subsided quickly.
"Impact registered nine-point-six kilometres north-east of our current position," Knight said.
Ace shook her head. "ALT's signal stopped transmitting. No power readings."
Volcanus, closest thing to a mother that the Gears had, hung her head low. "Farewell, lost daughter. You will forever have a place in our hearts."
"Pfft, she's probably fine," Ace said. She had gotten a lot of her personality from Rainbow Dash. "I mean, it's not like we haven't done the whole Iron Giant sacrifice like a dozen times already. All three of us came back from it."
"That's a good point," Phoenix said. (Though, Mia's able to contact me and her death still hurts. I guess it's not quite the same with robots.)
They arrived back at the train platform just in time.
"We're here!"
"Oh, thank goodness- you guys are just in time! Get on!"
"Wait," Phoenix stopped, as did Rarity and the Gears. "Where is everybody else?"
Twilight shook her head and shoved Phoenix in the train. "It'll take too long to explain!"
"She teleported them all into the Crystal Heart, safe and sound!" Judgey said.
"Judge?"
"Hello, Mr. Wright! Will you be coming to the moon with us?"
"Uh, yeah- what about the Crystal Heart?"
Twilight shut the doors behind them. "We don't have time for this, you guys! The cannon's about ready to blow, the planet's about ready to blow, we have to go now!"
Rarity looked around. "Is that everybody? Did we forget anything?"
"I don't think so," Phoenix said. "If everyone's in the Crystal Heart, I guess we're ready to go."
"Right, we're leaving! Colress, activate the loading sequence!"
"On it." The train car moved forward through a false door at the back of the platform. Through the dark corridor, the wheels creaked and rolled. Not in a thousand years had the cannon been used, but it was about to be.
Rarity looked behind her. "Are we sure we haven't forgotten anything?"
"YES!! YESS, GO! GO NEW ROBOT!" Dan cheered as the new Magic Gear carried the giant steel donut away from the facility. Still on the MTW circling the bowl, Dan couldn't help but applaud the machine. Relief flooded over him, and he was reminded he had a lot of people to thank when he finally rescued them.
He looked back to make sure the cannon was safe. It was, but strangely enough, the four points of the cannon were gone. In its place, the cannon seemed to look like a giant unicorn's horn, with stripes of light running up its length from base to tip in a glowing spiral. Dan didn't know it, but this was the Spiral Staircase- the magical stairway to the stars.
"Of course, it has to be shaped like a horn," Dan remarked.
A massive explosion shook rocked its way through the ground beneath him. It was bright enough that it illuminated the area around him.
He watched as the explosion dominated the landscape, bathing everything in an orange glow. "Hahaha, nice," he said, a bit proud of himself. And then he spotted a piece of debris hurtling towards him. "Oh shit."
The MTW exploded, and Dan with it. The rail-based cannon was thrown from its tracks and skidded across the bowl.
Back inside the cannon...
"HOW COULD WE FORGET DAN?"
"Stop the train!!" Phoenix yelled.
"There is no stop! There aren't any brakes up here!" Colress shouted.
"Well uh, we're certainly not going to tell him about this. When we get him back," Twilight said. "It's been a difficult day and well, it just slipped our minds."
"It didn't slip MY mind!" Phoenix shouted.
Twilight flew up in his face. "HOW? You didn't tell us to wait for him either!"
"OBJECTION! You said EVERYONE was in the Crystal Heart! I thought you meant Dan was, too!"
Judge Judgey nodded. "A fair point, Mr. Wright. I'm going to have to penalize you, Twilight."
Twilight's psyche-gauge took a hit at that. "Wait, why do I have a psyche-gauge? We're not even in the courtroom?"
Phoenix rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, Ace Attorney rules?"
Twilight rubbed her head. "Okay, I pretty much had the magical powers of the cosmos flowing through my brain for like... a while. I'm kinda... out of it. I'm sorry."
Phoenix, Rarity, Gears and Judge patted her princess-ly shoulders. "It's okay, Twilight. You don't have to apologize to us. We love you."
She smiled at them, teary-eyed. "Thanks you guys."
"Yeah, you're gonna have to apologize to Dan- you forgot him."
"Would you like us to calculate the odds of him assaulting you?"
"Why don't you calculate the odds of ME assaulting YOU?" Twilight asked.
"Erasing data..."
Slowly, Dan pulled himself from the burning wreckage. He was burnt, again, covered in blackened soot, again, and bruised, battered and barely standing, again. It was dark, hazy and his eyes were burning and watery from the smoke. Legs felt shaky, but he could move them, and walked away form the flames.
He tried to see where he landed. Looking around, Dan saw the Spiral Staircase and began limping in that direction. Behind him, the fires on the MTW reached the ammo magazine and it exploded. The explosion slammed Dan in the back and propelled him through the air yet again. He tumbled the moment he hit the ground, rolled, unable to control himself. He rolled all the way down the bowl to the base of the cannon, and that is where he blacked out.
When Dan came to, his vision was fuzzy. As it cleared, it was still fuzzy, because something fuzzy was in his way, something blue.
"Wait, wait- what? What're you doing? Get off!" Someone or someTHING was licking his face. It was irritating enough that he felt some of his strength return... or was that something else?
He looked up and he saw... more blue fuzz.
"Fluffle?"
"Thhrrrpp."
A blue flufflapon pony, like Fluffle Puff stood above him. Except it was a stallion. He licked Dan again.
"STOP THAT! I don't know you!"
"Thrrrrbb thrrrbb thrrpppp phrrrrb."
"Yeah, I don't understand you. Now will you-"
The blue fluffy pony bit Dan's pant leg and dragged him into the cannon.
"Wait! Stop!" Dan protested. "You don't have to-OW I CAN WALK, JACKASS! HEY!" But the fluffy pony continued pulling Dan hastily into the cannon.
"One of us has to go back for him!"
"Not it."
"Not it."
"Access denied."
Twilight rubbed her face, exhausted.
Phoenix just shrugged. "Well, it will be easier since you can fly. And teleport. And stuff."
"Rarity needs to sit down," said Rarity upon sitting down.
"Also, this will let you-"
The doors to the train opened and a Dan flopped in. "Aughff!"
"Dan!!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Can we get off this planet now? Please?"
"Yes! Also, sorry we forgot about you. Let's get going- I found a new planet, it'll be perfect for the new Equestria! We can get started building a new Ponyville, a new Canterlot and everything!" Twilight said.
Dan carefully picked himself up off the floor. "Great, and I can supervise everything. Gonna need a lot more plans for this new- wait, forgot about me? YOU WHAT?!"
The train shook, nearly knocking him back to his feet again. "Wait!" Dan exclaimed. He pressed his face against the glass. "There's someone else who-" He looked outside. The blue pony was gone. The train moved back into the loading chamber.
"Alright, everyone!" Twilight said. "Strap in and remain seated!"
Dan, Phoenix and the others buckled into their seats while Twilight and Colress worked the controls. The train car moved into a massive spherical chamber. A massive mechanism built by the donkeys, even though it hadn't been used in over a thousand years, it still worked like new without a hitch or scratch.
The train car rolled into position. The rails underneath it flipped upward, pointing the car to the sky.
"Hey, you think there's going to be an in-flight movie?" Phoenix asked, grinning a little.
Dan looked over at the taller Phoenix, with Rarity right next to him.
"Something wrong?" Phoenix asked.
"Nothing, Nicky. Just a little deja vu is all."
"Everybody ready?" Twilight asked.
"YES!" they all called back.
Dan leaned into the aisle. "Is there going to be a countdown or-"
"FIRE!!"
The cannon exploded.