Prosperity Base Interior
Dan had two options: he could engage Vice Grip, or keep running. For whatever reason, he chose the latter option. As Rice was still reversing his course, preparing to rocket back down the corridor the other way, Dan dashed back to the box room.
"Don't you run from me!!"
He ran through the shattered doorway. As predicted, Rice came rocketing right at him. But Dan knew he was going to do this, and side-stepped Rice at the last second. Perhaps it was his own understanding of single-minded fury, but he was now able to predict Rice's actions the same way Rice had predicted Dan's own in their previous scuffles.
Rice grabbed at Dan as he came by, but his boot jets were meant for speed and ascension, and had to slow down in cases like these for precise maneuvers. This worked to Dan's advantage, though he didn't know for how long. He didn't know what was beyond the door at the end of the box arena- he was just focused on getting to it at that moment. Rice only managed to grab at thin air as he roared past Dan again.
Dan dodged him again. Putting distance between him and Rice, he bolted for the door. Rice took a full five seconds to readjust his jets before he was able to chase after Dan again. By that time, Dan had reached the door.
"No!"
He yanked it open, ran through and closed it behind him. He didn't turn back for a second- he kept running. Up a set of stairs to another tight corridor. The ceiling, the floor, the walls all looked identical and were the same glowing, iridescent white and black trim in color. Unexpectedly, Rice didn't open the door to follow him. Dan didn't slow down; he quickly vaulted up the steps and into the next hall.
He kept running. His breath felt cold. Was this rational? Was he doing the right thing? Should he be stopping to examine the panels, the lighting, see any other parts of the base? These questions each flashed in his head among dozens of other silent concerns, all pushed aside as he jogged, breathing heavy, running to the very end. It's where Chrys had to be- at the end. She was the primary concern, the only thing that mattered on his mind.
A loud, mechanical noise rang down the hall. Dan hardly noticed it, didn't let it slow him down. What he couldn't ignore was when the hallway suddenly split straight down the middle.
"Oh... oh crap."
The floor suddenly parted under him and the ceiling above him. The widened away from each other and an expanse, no, an abyss formed beneath him... and above him. Nothing, no light, just endless blackness expanding outward, growing. He instinctively moved to the right side, still doing his best to keep up his face but now, he had to also not fall into the void.
"You only care about her. Admirable. But you can't protect her. No more than I could protect my son."
He glanced up, then all around. He didn't even know where Rice's voice was coming from, nor did he care. He kept running.
The hall shifted again. The wall next to him folded downward, then away. He was now running on a very thin strip in the dark. From the distance of the void, he looked as though, and actually was, walking on a single beam of light. Every instinct he had told him to slow down, to balance more. One wrong step and he would fall, tumble into nothing. Would he just be falling forever?
"This world never had anything to give you. You weren't even born into it. It brought you here because it needed something from you. Once you're no longer useful, the moment you're in the way, you'll be discarded. Like you never even existed."
"Oh, for fuck's sake! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!?!" Dan yelled frantically, hysterically. "I just want my fiance- she's alive! I'm sorry about your son, Rice, but I wasn't even involved!" He slowed down, came to a stop. "Just gimme... just gimme a minute, gawd. Why are all the hallways so long?!"
"I understand why you want revenge now. Why it's such a base desire. I'm a scientist, remember? I figure things out, now, I've figured out what you want. It's another thing we share."
"You DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANT!!!" Dan shouted. "I WANT CHRYS!!!"
The lights underneath him, the panels parted. He hopped to the next one, then the next one, then the next one. He was now hop-stepping in the dark. His heart did leaps inside his chest.
"You want people to understand. When the rest of the world just wants to move on, revenge, retribution is a lesson, a reaction to match the magnitude of the crime inflicted. Equal and opposite, with emotion, with feeling, with effort and everything unseen and unquantifiable taken into account. It's genius, really. It makes sense. Natural justice driven by natural action and reaction. The world must understand, Dan. The world physically needs people like you because it needs revenge."
"I'M NOT... I'M NOT..." Oh gawd, oh gawd, one step, he didn't have time to balance. One step, his knees felt like they were on fire. His legs began to wobble.
"You can't fight your nature any more than I can. Or anything else in this world. But I can see you break, Dan. And break you will. So that they will suffer. So that the magic of friendship understands what happens when you try to just bury your problems. When you burn bridges, you burn your side as well."
The panels disintegrated. They split again into smaller pieces. Dan's foot fit on one, then the next one, then they disintegrated again into particles. Dan fell. He grabbed at the dots, the tiny particles of light instinctively and was rewarded when he grabbed hold of them. He then grabbed the next one, then the next one. It was actually a bit easier since his arms weren't as tired as his legs, but the effort was still exhausting. Still, he vaulted.
Dan was now horizontally climbing, swinging from light cluster to light cluster, hang-climbing. Beneath him, his legs touched nothing, he swung through cold air.
"...Okay, now that's actually impressive."
"Fuck... fu... fuck... you..."
"You cling to hope, sure. But that runs out eventually. Here or Earth, there are rules you must abide to, Dan. The fact is, we were all deceived. There's always been more than just six elements. Some elements, like you, are more unstable than others. But you can be controlled. Cleo knew that. We just had to have the proper conditions."
Dan stopped. He hung, needing to catch his breath. He tried to pull himself up, but couldn't.
"Twilight knew you were a missing element. You were summoned to this world to help it learn a lesson. And now, I'm going to use you to teach Equestria a lesson it will never forget."
The lights in his hands turned off. The lights ahead and behind him turned off. He fell.
"Time to die, Dan."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
Down into the darkness he went.