Dan wasn't originally planning on taking De Gauss to the High Roller's Lounge this early, but he couldn't wait any longer. Now, he was going to force the griffons to witness the full extent of his plans.
"Okay, you've got me, you've got my griffons," De Gauss said. "But we're still at an impasse. I still have all your country's stuff, plus that of the Crystal Empire. Anything happens to me, it all goes in the ocean and neither of us will see it again."
"Keep walking, ostrich," Dan said. "You feeling a bit nervous? Don't worry, buddy. The show's just getting started."
"How touching. I can tell you're used to playing for a captive audience," De Gauss said.
The replica of the Lucky 38 was where the "high roller lounge" was located. Actually, it was a replica of Mr. House's penthouse at the top of the casino, but this version was serving a new purpose. Instead of a giant computerized face, it was a digital map of Equestria that displayed everything in a nice, easy-to-read fashion.
"Quite an impressive operation. This isn't the first time I've been held hostage."
"Really? Could've fooled me by how much you're sweating," Dan said. Pinkie Pie was still holding a gun to his back.
De Gauss looked at Dan over his shoulder. "So what is the meaning of all of this? You planning on ransoming us back to our own country in exchange for your kingdom's wealth?"
Dan parsed his lips, then nodded. "I had considered that, for a while. But then, I came up with an even better idea." Dan pressed a button on a remote. The terminal screen changed to that of three missiles, each one with a glowing red warhead on the tip. Sword spells.
De Gauss looked up at the magical weapons. And he grinned. "The nukes? Really? Ehhahaha... you're really threatening us with those?"
And Dan grinned right back. "These are special Swords. Low-yield, you might say. They won't wipe out your entire country but they'll turn cities into craters of glittery shards real easily. Griffonstone, Lavertica, Roostovekia. You'll need more than you stole from us to recover from those losses."
Griffonstone was the major population center of the Griffon Kingdom, Lavertica, the capital was its manufacturing and industrial center, not to mention where it shipped goods both stolen and not, and Roostovekia produced most of its food. The loss of any one of them would be a crippling blow but losing all of them, the zebras might as well conquer it. Unlike the zebras and ponies, the griffons were more likely to dissolve into infighting. It would mean the end of their kingdom.
"You fail to realize, Dan, that we suffered when the planet came apart, too. Our population has grown, unlike yours, and while Rice managed to save us-"
"How DID Rice manage to save you guys?" Pinkie asked. She still had a gun pointed at De Gauss' back.
Gust Grasp, who happened to be one of the griffons watching, raised his claw. "Uh, actually, that'd be well... kind-of a long story."
Slowly turning around, Dan's face lacked any amusement. "Chicken livers... you better not be telling me something I don't want to hear right now."
"It's not my fault! I swear, bro! Rice messed with your memories. After the Games ended, he just snapped his fingers and everybody forgot. But they didn't forget forever, because Chrys-"
"STOP. TALKING," Dan grabbed his beak. "WHAT games?"
"The Equestria Games, man! Back before Equestria blew up, Rice had his own games with all of us- well, not ALL of us, but you and the ponies versus his dogs, man. He had me round up all the stragglers."
"Equestria Games? There were no-" And as Dan spoke, Gust held up a photograph. The memories started to flood back even before Gust showed him the picture, but now... now, the pieces were fitting together.
Following the vacation, Rice demonstrated his considerable powers by simply snapping his fingers, causing Dan, his friends and all their allies and partners to vanish in a flash. Dan awoke some time later with Equestria in a state of complete disarray. All of his friends were imprisoned, and his closest human friends twisted and forced to fight him.
But a lot can happen in a flash, apparently. Dan and others originally assumed that Dan's unique relationship with magic and Equestria caused Rice's spell to misfire, transporting Dan three months into the future rather to Tartarus or the moon. As it turns out, Rice teleported everyone to another place first- the Equestria Games. Following the conclusion of the Games, Rice snapped his fingers again and erased everyone's memories, everyone except Gust Grasp. He needed Gust's help to plunder what was left of Equestria after everyone else was gone, and so his mind was left unaltered.
"There were Games. I... was there," Dan remembered. He remembered everything. "And Nicky and Stevie... I was so proud of them. Even Chris. and Chrys especially."
"Yeah," Gust raised his claw. "But didn't you guys just run security?"
"YES! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Dan shouted. The humans had not competed in the Games, but rather worked as security, organized by Dan. Something he was very passionate about. "Hahaha... yes, yes, it's all coming back to me now."
"Heheh, see?" Gust said.
"Yeah," Dan walked over to him, smiling, chuckling. "And hey, you remember what I said I was going to do to you?"
"Haha... uhhhh," Gust stopped smiling. "Uh oh."
Dan strangled Gust. "YOU LEFT US! YOU LEFT US, YOU CHICKEN-FRIED COUNTRY-SEASONED PILE OF TREASONOUS BIRD CRAP!" He lifted the griffon off the floor. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?! YOU HAD EVERYTHING, YOU WERE RIGHT THERE! YOU COULD'VE TAKEN HIM OUT RIGHT THEN AND THERE!!"
"So, this is... this is normal for you all?" De Gauss asked Pinkie.
Shrugging, Pinkie simply said, "I try not to use the term 'normal.' Because what is normal, you know? I like to say 'business as usual' or 'regularly-scheduled insanity.' Or normal. But I TRY not to use the term 'normal.'"
"I mean Dan threatening people, strangling people, concocting elaborate revenge schemes, that happens often?"
"Pretty much every day."
That statement actually made De Gauss a bit nervous. For the first time since setting foot on New Pegas, De Gauss was beginning to doubt he had the upper hand. Sure, Dan was an unstable, violent maniac, that all was a given. But the ponies gave him the keys to the kingdom, essentially. They let him have access to nuclear weapons. If they were willing to let someone like Dan have that kind of power, they obviously didn't care much what he did with it... or they had total faith in him, which meant he was smarter than he looked.
De Gauss watched as Dan strangled his rival and thought, probably the former was truer than the latter.
He swallowed, his own neck suddenly feeling tighter. "Mr. Dan? Or... Mr. Wellington? Whichever you prefer-"
"IT'S DAN! Biff Wellington is just one of my many alter egos and a convenient disguise."
"It's also the name he orders sandwiches with," Pinkie said.
"Shuttup!" Dan released his grasp on Gust, who gasped as soon as he was free. Dan turned to face De Gauss again. "So, we're ready to deal for real, are we? But this time, it's me who's holding all the cards. It's just how it is, matey. The house always wins and you're in MY house now."
De Gauss looked back over his shoulder at Pinkie. "How many times has he rehearsed this?"
"F-fourteen..." Gust said, rubbing his neck.
"Don't make me step on you, turkey."
"I-I'd like a cider, please..."
"So, if you're willing to bet you can come out of this ahead, I've got news for you-"
"Yo, Dan?" Vinyl poked his shoulder. "I know you're doing a thing, but-"
"I am TRYING TO INTIMIDATE these worthless morons and it is HARD ENOUGH to make gambling puns without interruptions!"
Pinkie raised a hoof. "I gave you a book on gambling puns!"
"AND IT WAS VERY HELPFUL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, NOW SHUT UP BEFORE I DISMBEMBER YOU!"
De Gauss looked back and forth between them. He didn't see any controls for the nukes, but he had to guess they were on Dan's person. "Look, stealing is part of our economy. Not the only part, but a big part of it. We were going to steal stuff from you eventually. We're pirates. It's what we do. But the planet exploding reset everything for us, too. We needed the money now."
"So did we!" Dan exclaimed. "Wait..." Again, he turned back to De Gauss. He was starting to think like Nicky. "What for?"
The purple griffon realized he had made a slight error of disclosure. "I... we have debts. Our... our collectors were getting impatient. It is substantial."
"Wait, we're in debt?" Gust asked. He had apparently been out of his own state for quite some time. "To who?"
De Gauss looked at Gust. "You think we're just going to rely on a motley surf windsurf bum like you to finance all our needs?"
"Well, not ALL of them," Gust answered. It was clear he had not given the matter much thought.
"Look," De Gauss stepped forward. "Both our countries have needs. We'll give you back the gold. We'll even give you some gold we've stolen from other countries but we need the gems."
Dan rubbed his chin. "Why do you need the gems?"
De Gauss did not answer. Sweat was forming on his neck, but he kept his beak buttoned.
"Alright, if you don't want to talk, we can learn enough from the ashes." Dan pulled out a remote and pressed the button.
"Wait!"
This operation of Dan's was not just designed to get back their wealth. No, revenge was a teaching instrument. The consequence was combined with a lesson, and was harsher as a result. Not just a lesson for the griffons, but for anyone else who wanted to steal from Equestria. That was why he was doing this with a grand Las Vegas-style show. This would be recorded, broadcast thanks to Barro and would be recorded in history.
Barro was also still on his mission for Dan, so technically he didn't know that his station was broadcasting anything at the time. Honestly, should've expected it. Dan is always thinking ten steps ahead of everyone else.
The missiles fired. From the silos in the back of New Pegas, the missiles quickly launched up to the sky, streaking trails of fire into the night.