"Ah, now, where to begin? Tsk tsk tsk... how about 'Once upon a time, in a land far, far away...' nah, how many times have you heard that to begin a story? Ah, I got it. Here's what we're going to do. Why don't I just go back to the day everything took a turn for the worst?"
It was a regular day in the bright, silly, cheerful town of Toontown. Blue, cloudless skies as far as the eye could see, colorful Toons running through the playgrounds happily, the sound of robotic cogs blowing up in the streets. What more could a young, up-and-coming Toon ask for?
But elsewhere in Toontown, things weren't quite so cheerful. The evil Mystery, a brown cat who had a thing for allying with the Cogs to take over the world, and building giant murder machines, was busy hatching his latest plot to overthrow Toontown. He had the perfect plan: Build a wormhole machine and use it to bring a horrible monster into Toontown, let the creature have its way with the population, then destroy it and take what was left. How could this plan possibly go wrong?
Mystery, and his assistant Lady Mildew Grumblecrash, a short female bear Toon who had a fetish for blowing stuff up and killing role-players, most especially warrior cats, would soon find out the answer to that question. The two were currently in Bossbot Headquarters putting the finishing touches on Mystery's new wormhole machine, which had yet to be given an actual codename, and was due for its first test run that same day. Mystery had high hopes for this new device.
Wiping the sweat off his brow, Mystery looked over with his cyborganic right eye at Mildew, who was gazing from a clipboard she held in her hand to the machine and muttering to herself under her breath. He clapped his hands twice to get her attention.
"So... is everything ready?" He asked Mildew, in a very -ish voice, to which Mildew just smiled.
"Yep. Everything's ready. We just need that Power Medal." She said, pointing over to the empty insert in the nearby control unit. The insert was about the size of a fist.
Mystery frowned.
"Hmm. Where's Two with that Power Medal? Certainly it doesn't take THAT long to input a two hundred digit passcode." He asked, more to himself then to Mildew, as he put a hand to his chin.
Mildew just shrugged and returned to her clipboard. She had to make sure everything was in check before the medal got here.
Mystery had half a mind to call up Two on his radio and ask what was taking so long, but a nearby scream, which shook a small amount of dust from the ceiling, interrupted his thoughts.
"LET US GO!" A female mouse Toon screamed from a nearby prison cell. She, along with several other Toons, were captured while attempting to enter the Executive Office Tower, and placed in this small prison cell inside Mystery's lab, to be used as test subjects for one of his other inventions.
"Orders, sir?" Big Cheese 519-1 asked who was standing next to the prison cell.
"Silence them." Mystery said flatly, walking over to the control unit. He was getting sick and tired of all these interruptions he was having today.
519-1 Turned and drove his fist into the steel bars. Hard. To the Toons inside, it sounded like a point-blank explosion. They all recoiled to the other side of the cell at once, their eyes wide with terror.
"SHUT UP IN THERE!" He shouted, before turning around and looking back over at Mystery, who was currently shaking his head, probably in disapproval over how long it was taking Two to arrive with that blasted Power Medal.
Finally, a ringing noise from a nearby radio broke the silence in the room. Mystery quickly grabbed it and turned it on.
"Sir, it's Four." Downsizer 819-4 spoke over the radio, a minor hint of panic in his voice. "I have some good news and some terrible news. Which would you like to hear first?"
"The good news." Mystery said, wondering what was going on.
"Two's on his way with the Power Medal. He'll be there in a few minutes." Four replied. Mystery grinned in a very wicked way, making the Toons in the prison cell recoil in fear once again.
"Ah, excellent." He said in a very pleased tone. He then dropped his tone and spoke again. "So what's the terrible news?"
"The Bumblejinks Bros. just blew through the front gate of the headquarters! They're on their wa-Oh no, please, no, stay back! GET AWAY! AHHH!" All Mystery could hear after that was the sound of cream pies hitting Four in the face, followed up by a loud explosion. A moment later, another voice came through on the radio. One Mystery hated with a burning passion.
"You're cog buddies a little dead right now. He'll have to call you back!" The voice of Dusty Bumblejinks, Toontown's resident superhero, came through on the radio, shortly before the line went dead. From the sound of it, Dusty had thrown the radio on the ground and stomped it to pieces.
Mildew gave him a confused look. She hadn't heard what had happened to Four.
"Sir? Is everything alright?" She asked.
Mystery growled in frustration, before hitting another button on the radio.
"ATTENTION ALL UNITS! ATTENTION ALL UNITS!" Mystery's voice blared through the entire headquarters. "Bumblejinks has been spotted approaching the headquarters! All units stand by for an assault! Put the headquarters under full lockdown until further notice! This is NOT a drill! Repeat: This is NOT a drill!" He screamed into the radio, getting both Mildew's and One's attention, before slamming the radio down onto the control unit.
He turned to look at Mildew, who had a mild shocked expression on her face.
"Why does that blasted Bumblejinks always get in my way!?" He said in a fury, slamming his fist into the control unit. It seemed someone was always keen to spoil his plans for world domination.
"He's just trying to stop you from doing all the terrible things you're trying to do." The young mouse Toon said from the prison cell.
Mystery looked over and glared at her with his cyborg eye, which was currently glowing crimson red. The Toon backed away from the bars instantly.
"Indeed?" He asked, almost mockingly. "Well, he's too late to stop me this time. Once I insert that Power Medal, my wormhole machine will be ready to go. Then all of Toontown will be at the mercy of whatever terrible monster I decide to set upon it." He said, laughing in a devious way that made the hair on all the Toons in the prison cell stand on end. They really didn't want to be here, trapped in this cell with this maniac.
"Someone... please... help us!" Another one silently pleaded, hoping beyond hope that this wouldn't be the day they died.
The door on the other side of the room then opened, and Mystery looked over to see Head Hunter 219-2 running over to him, the Power Medal clutched in his hands.
"Sorry for the delay, sir, but the arrival of those Bumblejinks Bros. forced me to take a detour." He said to Mystery, handing over the medal. It was mostly aqua blue and transparent, except for a solid light blue snowflake design in the middle. It was glowing a bright blue, giving off a powerful energy that nobody fully understood. It was attached to a golden string.
Mystery looked down at the medal, grinning. This one medal alone could run a thousand Cog headquarters for the rest of time. It was more then he needed, but it would do the job well.
"Perfect. We're all set." He said to himself. He then turned to the control unit and inserted the Medal.
He was just finishing configuring the machine that had just come online, when the door to the lab suddenly exploded. A pair of level twelve Bossbots flew into the room and exploded, and once the smoke had settled, Mystery was able to see who it was who had made such an explosive entrance.
Dusty Bumblejinks, a tall crimson dog Toon, was standing in the doorway, smiling in triumph. He was clad in his usual Cog-Crusher suit, black combat boots, black fingerless combat gloves, and his favorite black pilot's hat, which had a large, golden letter "D" engraved upon it. His younger brother, the ToonFest Blue Snappy Bumblejinks, who stood slightly shorter then Dusty, was standing next to him, wearing much the same attire as Dusty, except he was wearing the yellow Cog-Buster outfit, and his hat had an "S" on it, instead of a "D". Dusty had his trademark police baton in his hand.
The Toons in the prison cell all looked over and cheered when they saw Dusty enter the room. One and Four had both taken cover when he came in, afraid they would be his next targets. However, his sight was currently set on Mystery.
"Hate to crash the party, Mystery, but you've got something that belongs to Melody. And we're here to get it back." Dusty said to the brown cat, eyeing the Power Medal in the control unit for the nearby machine. Snappy had a hand on the straps for his jetpack.
At first Mystery just stood there, stunned. Then, with an evil sneer, he reached over and grabbed the switch to activate the machine. Dusty and Snappy both tensed up.
"Too late, Bumblejinks!" He shouted. He then laughed out loud, in another wicked way, before addressing the pair. "You'll never stop me now, Dusty! All I have to do is throw this little switch. I suggest you both give up now." He said, smiling at the dogs in the doorway.
Dusty just smirked. Didn't Mystery know who he was messing with?
"Yeah... let's see if you're hands are faster than my feet." He challenged, which made Mystery nervous. Dusty WAS pretty quick on his feet. Fast enough to grab and break the switch before Mystery could activate it.
Mildew, who had been looking at the Bumblejinks Bros. in stunned silence just a second ago, was now holding her favorite TNT launcher in her hand. She grinned at the dogs.
"Why don't you try it, fool?" She asked, before firing a bundle of TNT at the pair.
Dusty saw her out of the corner of his eye and gasped.
"Snappy, SCRAMBLE!" He shouted, before jumping aside. Snappy engaged his jetpack and flew away in the other direction, just as the TNT bundle flew through the doorway and exploded, damaging the headquarters even more.
Mildew wasted no time in taking aim at Dusty himself, firing TNT bundle after TNT bundle at him. She was being careful not to damage any of Mystery's machines, while keeping Dusty on the move. And she was doing a pretty good job. Dusty was finding it difficult to get any closer to her.
"Get him!" Mystery shouted, before turning back to the wormhole machine.
And receiving a giant hammer in the face from Snappy, who had flown over and around the carnage all around them. Mystery fell to the ground, stars twinkling in his eyes.
Snappy landed on top of the control unit and laughed at him.
"Now that's just pathetic. Never discount the sidekick, Mystery!" He said tauntingly to the brown cat, making a "Tsk, tsk" motion with his finger. He then reached down to pick up the Power Medal.
But was stopped when the lights suddenly went out. He just gazed around in confusion, wondering what was going on.
Dusty and Mildew had stopped their battle as well, due to them not being able to see anything.
"Hey! Who turned out the lights!?" Dusty shouted, unable to see his own hand in front of his face.
"Don't look at me, I didn't do it!" Mildew shouted into the darkness, turning on the spot to face the machine... or at least, she thought she was.
A moment later, a low purple glow began to fill the room, and along with it, a very loud, and very annoying humming noise. It hurt Mildew's ears to listen to it.
"What the-!?" Snappy exclaimed, turning around to spot the source of the glow. His heart just about skipped a beat when he saw what was happening.
The wormhole machine had been activated. It was currently working on finding someone, most likely some terrible creature, to bring into this world to destroy Toontown. On top of the loud, annoying humming noise and the purple glow, it was giving off a very bright magenta light. VERY bright. It hurt Dusty's eyes to look at it.
Snappy gasped and looked down. He had accidently landed on top of the activation switch, and had started the machine.
"Uh oh..." He looked over at Dusty in a panic, whom had started moving around again in order to dodge TNT bundles fired at him by Mildew.
"DUSTY! WHAT'LL WE DO NOW!?" He shouted, hoping Dusty would have the answer, as he usually did.
Dusty looked over at him, dodging another bundle of TNT from Mildew, which flew through the doorway and into a group of fifthteen security Cogs, killing them all.
"Grab the Power Medal!" He shouted, trying to get closer to Mildew on order to subdue her. She was doing a good job of keeping him at a distance.
Snappy reached down to take the Power Medal. However, he failed to notice that electric bolts were currently shooting out of the medal, and when he went to grab it, it gave him a powerful electric shock.
"OUCH!" Snappy screamed, pulling away from the medal and falling off of the control unit. He stood back up and looked over at the wormhole machine, which looked like it had found what it was looking for.
"It's no good! If I try to grab it, I'm going to get fried to a crisp!" Snappy cried out, trying to figure out what else they could do. It wouldn't be long before that awful machine brought some terrible monster from another world into their beloved town, and all of Toonkind would be wiped out as they knew it.
- Meanwhile -
"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FLUTTERSHY!"
Fluttershy recoiled in surprise upon entering her house, which was pitch-black inside, and having the lights come on so suddenly, followed by her friend's birthday wishes. She quickly got over her surprise, though, and smiled at her friends.
"A... a surprise party? For me?" She asked, as Twilight Sparkle came over and smiled at her.
"Of course! It's not every day you turn eighteen, after all!" She giggled, making Fluttershy giggle as well. Pinkie Pie bounced over and smiled happily at her giggling friend.
"Wait till' you see the cake I made for you. It looks amazing!" She happily exclaimed, causing Rarity to roll her eyes. She was still slightly sore over the fact Pinkie Pie decided to lob some icing onto her new dress as a joke while making the cake, which obviously upset her. But at the same time, she couldn't deny the cheerful atmosphere that usually hung over someponies birthday party.
"What about the presents? We all pitched in to help put one of them together, after all." Spike inquired who was on Twilight Sparkles back. She just giggled at him. He always seemed to have his mind on presents these days for some reason.
"Come on, y'all. Today is Fluttershy's special day! Let her celebrate how she wants too!" Applejack said, walking over with a present for Fluttershy on her back. "After she opens this, of course."
Fluttershy gasped at the present she was carrying, feeling her eyes widen somewhat.
"Presents? But, you really didn't have to..." She said in a slightly shocked tone, but Applejack wasn't having any of it. She put a hoof over Fluttershy's mouth to silence her.
"Aw, come on, sugercube. It's your special day! Of course there's gonna be presents!" She told the pink haired Pony, lowering her hoof to the ground and setting down the present in front of her.
"We wanted you to open that one first, since it's from all of us." Rainbow Dash told Fluttershy, flying over and landing next to her.
She looked over at Rainbow Dash with a confused look on her face, and then looked at everyone else. They all nodded in approval.
"Go on. I just know you're going to love it." Rarity said, with a cute smile on her face.
Fluttershy approached the present and slowly pulled on the ribbon, causing the top to slide off and onto the floor. She peeked inside and gasped.
What appeared to be a golden scarf fitted with tiny butterflies was inside. The butterflies were made from tiny gems of various colors, and the scarf appeared to be sparkling. It looked absolutely beautiful.
"Oh my Celestia... how... where did..." Fluttershy stammered in shock. The other Ponies in the room just giggled, gathering around Fluttershy.
"We all worked together to make that scarf. It's a special gift from all of us, as a sort of "Thank-You" for being our friend." Twilight Sparkle explained, watching her friends shocked reaction to their gift.
"You're the best friend a Pony could ask for, Fluttershy." Rarity pitched in.
"Everypony..." Fluttershy was at a loss for words. Small tears of joy in her eyes, she just smiled at everyone and gave them the most appreciative expression she could muster. "...T-Thank you..."
The others all smiled at her and shortly after, a group huddle was in order. After the six had broken up, and Rainbow Dash had helped her put the golden scarf on, they all laughed happily, and the REAL party began.
Naturally, Pinkie Pie had arranged only the best party she possibly could, seeing as it was a very special occasion. The cake, which had a picture of Fluttershy on it, surrounded by a heart, was top notch, and when it came time to open the other gifts, Fluttershy was happy to see what they were. One was a brand new, custom made quilt for her bed from Twilight Sparkle, which was good, since her old one was just about worn out, a beautiful leafy dress from Rarity, also good, considering she had outgrown her last one, a small hairpin with an apple on it from Applejack, and a small whistle from Pinkie Pie that, according to her, was supposed to make any animal pay attention to her. But she could tell from the furious look on Angel Bunny's face that it was clearly distressing to animals, making her quirk an eyebrow at it. The last gift was a cute rainbow bracelet from Rainbow Dash.
"I have such wonderful friend's." Fluttershy thought to herself, looking at her reflection in the mirror. The scarf was beautiful on her. "How could things be any better?"
The party was going on smoothly, and everyone was having an excellent time, when all of a sudden, the lights went out, casting them all into a pitch-black darkness once again. They all gasped in shock.
"Woah! What the-!?" Spike exclaimed, trying, but failing, to make out anything in the pitch-black darkness. He couldn't even see Twilight Sparkle, despite having climbed back onto her back.
"HEY! Who turned out the lights!?" Pinkie Pie shouted, bumping into the wall in the dark. She stepped on something soft and heard Rainbow Dash scream in pain.
"OUCH! That's my tail you're stepping on!" She screamed, causing Pinkie Pie to recoil and fall to the ground with an "Oof!"
"Calm down, everypony! I'll get the lights!" Twilight Sparkle called out, before attempting to turn the lights back on with her magic. However, nothing happened. They were still in pitch darkness.
"Twilight, you're magic isn't working!" Spike exclaimed, clearly distressed over the situation.
Twilight gave a concerned look. It wasn't usual that her magic failed to accomplish a task as simple as turning the lights on.
"Tell us something we DON'T know, Spike!" Rainbow Dash grumbled angrily, for she had just tripped over Rarity, causing them both to tumble into the ground.
"Wait, I have a candle over here." Fluttershy called out. Twilight directed her glowing horn in her direction, which allowed Fluttershy to find and light the candle. The other ponies all hurried over to the light source, some looking confused, others looking downright terrified.
"W-W-What's going on!?" Pinkie Pie asked, clearly scared. She wished the lights would come back on. She didn't like this darkness one bit.
"You got me, Pinkie." Applejack responded, her eyes darting around every square inch of the house. She wished the lights would come back on, too.
"It's darker in here then a run-down barn in a dark cave at midnight." Applejack had thought to herself.
Twilight Sparkle looked outside through a nearby window. "It sure is dark outside... too dark for just six-thirty." She thought to herself. "Is Nightmare Moon up to no good again?"
Fluttershy could see that Angel Bunny was hiding under the bed, though whether it was out of fright, or out of disapproval of the lights going out suddenly, she couldn't tell.
"Stay together, girls. This could be dangerous." Twilight Sparkle said, her horn still glowing brightly. She was ready to work her magic if need be.
It was at that very moment that a purple lightning bolt shot out from out of nowhere in the middle of the room, flew out the window, and struck an outside tree.
Fluttershy screamed when she saw another lightning bolt shoot past her and her friends, missing them by mere inches and hitting the wall behind them. They all dove for cover behind the dining table.
"WHAT IS THIS!?" Rarity screamed, as another lightning bolt flew past her face, striking the window behind her. Somehow it was still intact.
A few lightning bolts later, and what could only be described as a large purple-colored portal appeared on the middle of the room in a bright flash, bringing with it a very loud and scary humming noise. The portal cast a bright purple glow all over the room, and the portal itself shined a bright magenta as it pulsated like a hundred slithering snakes. The ponies all gasped when it appeared, but Twilight Sparkle stood her ground, horn still aglow.
"Twilight... what is this...?" Spike asked her slowly, dreading the answer.
Twilight rapidly searched her mind for an answer.
"No idea, Spike." She finally answered, having come up with nothing. Sure, she had seen portals before, but nothing like this. She didn't know of any portals that launched lightning bolts around the area right before appearing. Or that gave off an eerie, purple glow.
Fluttershy had forgotten how long they had stood there, watching this purple portal that sat in the middle of her house. It wasn't until Rainbow Dash spoke up shortly after that they all decided they needed to check it out.
"Somepony, um, should... should, you know, go check it out." She stammered. They could all hear the fear in her voice, and frankly, nopony judged her for being scared. They had never encountered something like this before.
Slowly but surely, the Ponies all approached it, Twilight in the lead.
But before they could get much closer, the portal suddenly turned crimson red, and the humming noise was replaced with a terrifying grinding sound that hurt their ears. The crimson glow from the portal cast a demonic atmosphere over the room. One that made Fluttershy's mane stand on end.
"Oh my Celestia..." Rarity silently exclaimed.
And to make matters worse, the portal was starting to suck the Ponies in!
Twilight Sparkle, the glow gone from her horn, quickly grabbed a leg on the nearby dining table and held on for dear life.
"Grab onto something!" She screamed to the others as loudly as she could, barely making herself heard over the sound of the portal.
The other Ponies quickly followed her lead, grabbing onto anything they could to save themselves from being pulled into the portal. It wasn't long before they were all off the ground, the portal doing its best to suck them all in.
"Hang on, y'all!" Applejack shouted, having grabbed onto a nearby door frame, Rarity right next to her. She let out a yell when her favorite hat suddenly flew off of her head and into the portal. Strangely enough, the portal wasn't sucking in anything except for the Ponies. But they had no time to figure out why.
"What is going on!?" Pinkie Pie cried, who was holding onto a window frame, with Fluttershy hanging on right next to her. She could see Rainbow Dash holding onto one of the cabinets next to her, Spike held firmly in her wing.
But the force of the portal was getting stronger. It felt as if they were all caught inside of a giant vacuum cleaner!
Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, Fluttershy began to lose her grip on the window frame. She gasped and let out a terrified shriek when she saw she couldn't hold on much longer.
"Ah... help me!" She called out, making the others look over at her in fear.
"Hold on, Fluttershy!" Twilight Sparkle cried, fearing for her friends' life. She didn't know what would happen if she flew into that portal, and she wasn't too keen to try and find out. She wanted to use her magic to help her, but she was having a hard enough time holding onto the table.
However, Fluttershy couldn't hold on any longer. With a final gasp, and a tear in her eye, she lost her grip on the window frame and flew, screaming, into the portal. She tried to flap her wings and escape, but it was no use. It was as if they were superglued to her sides.
"This is it... I'm going to die..." She thought miserably to herself, watching the world, the friends, and the life she knew and loved disappear from sight, before blacking out.
The other ponies looked wide-eyed in pure fright as their friend was sucked right into the crimson sphere and disappeared.
"FLUTTERSHY!" They all screamed.
A few restless moments later, the portal finally disappeared in a bright, crimson flash, and the Ponies could finally move around again. The lights came back on shortly after.
At first glance, everything appeared as bright and cheerful as it had been minutes ago. But there was something missing. Or rather, somepony.
"Fluttershy, are you still here? Where are you!?" Twilight Sparkle cried, struggling to catch her breath after nearly losing her grip and flying into the portal herself, not seeing any sign of Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash flew out the window to look outside, while the other four searched the house, high and low.
Rainbow Dash soon flew back into the house, looking extremely distraught.
"No sign of her outside." She reported grimly. The others lowered their heads. There was no sign of her inside, either.
"Oh no... what happened to her?" Rarity asked, completely distraught. Pinkie Pie and Applejack both walked over to where the portal had been mere minutes ago, tears in their eyes. What had happened to their friend? Their friend, who just a few minutes ago, had been celebrating her birthday with all of them?
"Fluttershy..." Pinkie Pie choked out, before bursting into tears. Rarity and Applejack both broke down as well, and joined her in crying over the fate of their friend. Applejack tried to reach up to grab her hat, but then remembered that it was gone, too. Rainbow Dash just looked away, her wings drooped, unable to watch this depressing scene anymore.
Twilight Sparkle was at a total loss over what to do, and as such, she was left standing near the dining table, trying as hard as she could to find a solution to this problem.
"Um, Twilight? What do we do now?" Spike asked, clearly having no idea what to do about this situation. He was sad over Fluttershy's fate, too. Though he tried his best not to show it in front of Rarity.
Twilight Sparkle just looked over at him, a half miserable; half confused look on her face.
"I wish I knew, Spike..." Was all she could say. She had no idea how they could help her friend. Even if they assembled all the Princess' and the Elements of Harmony together to help, they would still have an immense amount of trouble trying to find where she had ended up, and even then, there was no guarantee they could pull Fluttershy out of wherever she was.
Twilight simply sighed and lowered her head, tears forming in her eyes, unsure what they could do to fix this latest disaster that had just befallen their wonderful friend. Would they ever see her again?
- Back in Toontown -
"Hey, Mildew! Over here!" Snappy shouted to Mildew, blowing a raspberry at her. Mildew turned to Snappy, growing furiously, and launched a bundle of TNT at him.
Dusty quickly realized what was about to happen and gasped loudly. Somehow he didn't think this was Snappy's best idea ever.
"Snappy, NO! You're only going to make things worse!" He quickly shouted to his little brother, trying to warn him. But it was too late.
It was only after she fired the TNT that Mildew realized where Snappy was standing.
Right in front of the control unit!
Mildew gave a horrified expression and dove behind a nearby stack of crates.
Dusty just turned and covered his ears.
Snappy quickly flew away from the control unit. Clearly, everyone knew something was about to happen.
Everyone except Mystery.
Mystery had just come around, and was now standing up, a hand on his forehead. His head was still spinning after being hit in the head with Snappy's hammer.
"Ugh... what's going on?" He asked, before looking over and spotting a bundle of TNT flying in his direction. His eyes narrowed, and he sighed in frustration.
"Note to self: Remember to take Mildew's TNT launcher away." He muttered to himself, shortly before screaming as the TNT bundle hit the control unit in front of him and exploded. The blast blew away most of the unit, sent Mystery crashing into the wall on the other side of the room, knocking him out, and sending the Power Medal flying across the room.
Snappy flew up and caught it easily.
"Yes! I got it!" He cheered happily, before flying over to Dusty, medal in his hand. "Look, Dusty, I got it!"
But Dusty wasn't concerned about the Power Medal. His eyes were on the wormhole machine. The bright magenta portal had now grown crimson red, and the humming noise had been replaced with a spooky grinding sound. The thing looked like it had just gone out of control!
"Now you did it." Dusty told Snappy, eyeing the machine with a deep dread in his heart. He had no idea what it was doing. Was it getting more than one creature? Was it simply going haywire? Or was something even more insane about to happen?
Snappy just looked confused.
"What do you mean? I got the Power Medal!" He exclaimed happily. But Dusty quickly grabbed him and jumped behind a nearby steel barricade. The two Cogs that were in the room quickly bolted for the door, running as fast as their legs could carry them.
"Yeah, but at what cost? That thing just went out of control, and without those controls, we might not be able to stop it now!" Dusty explained to Snappy. He doubted the machine had an emergency "OFF" switch anywhere; Mystery wasn't smart, or dumb ( depending on how you looked at it ) enough to put one of those on his machines, no matter how small or unimportant they were.
Snappy gave Dusty a baffled look. Clearly he hadn't planned ahead for this.
"What'll we do then?" He asked, not sure what they could do to stop this dreaded device.
"I'm not sure, Snap." Dusty replied, looking back over at the machine, covering his face with his hand. It was still shining brightly.
Snappy stood thinking for a moment, wondering what they could do to possibly destroy the machine, when all of a sudden, he got an idea. An idea that he hoped would work. And dreaded it didn't.
He took one of Dusty's TNT gags from his gag pouch and ran close to the machine. He didn't know how much time he had.
Dusty, who hadn't noticed Snappy grabbing one of his gags, suddenly gasped when he saw what Snappy was doing. He thought to go after him, but something was holding him back.
"Snappy, what are you doing!?" Dusty called out. He was hoping beyond hope that Snappy knew what he was doing.
But Snappy couldn't hear him. He lit the fuse on the TNT, and then pitched it into the machine like a baseball. It hit its mark directly.
"HIT THE DECK!" Snappy shouted, as Dusty ran up behind him. The pair quickly turned to run back to the barricade just as the TNT exploded.
Dusty and Snappy both dived for cover behind the barricade, as pieces of the machine flew everywhere. The crimson portal had disappeared, and the loud noise it was making had stopped. The room had gone dark and silent following the destruction of the wormhole machine. A second later, the overhead lights came back online.
"Well. That didn't go so well..." Mildew said, who had come out of hiding to see the machine destroyed.
"Thus ends another genius scheme to overthrow Toontown." She thought to herself bitterly. She knew Mystery was going to be furious about this.
She quickly bolted to Mystery, picked him up, and ran full-speed from the lab. With any luck, she and Mystery could get away while Dusty and Snappy were busy dealing with the prisoners.
Snappy wiped his brow, and sighed with relief. Dusty just looked with wide eyes at where the machine had been just moments ago. He hadn't been expecting THAT, of all things!
"Well, looks like that's the end of that." Snappy said, wiping his hands. He had to admit, he had handled the situation pretty well! At least, in his own personal opinion.
Dusty opened his mouth to say something, but he never got the chance.
"AHHH!" A loud scream from the prison cell caught the two brother's attention.
They turned and ran over to the cell. Dusty grabbed the door with both hands and ripped it off easily. He tossed it aside like an oversized playing card and the pair entered.
And gasped when they saw what had happened.
One of the Toons, a bright yellow cat, was lying on her back, a metal rod from the machine sticking out of her chest. Dusty could tell by where it was sticking out from that it had pierced her heart. The other Toons in the cell, minus the young mouse, who was currently crying over the dead Toons body, were looking over at Snappy with anger in their eyes.
"Are you crazy, Snappy!? Look at what you've done!" A tall green bear shouted, pointing at the yellow cat.
"Yeah, this is all your fault!" An orange rabbit pitched in, glaring at Snappy as if he were some sort of monster.
"You should be ashamed of yourself, Snappy! How could you be so reckless!?" An aqua duck called out. Clearly, he was convinced that Snappy could have handled the situation better, but didn't, and cost this poor Toon her life as a result.
The Toons insults all hit Snappy like anvils, one after another. Had he really blown it that badly? Sure, he accidently activated the machine, destroyed the controls so they couldn't stop it, and then blown it up, killing an innocent Toon in the process...
He shuddered and stopped his train of thought as Dusty put a hand on his shoulder.
"I hate to say it, Snappy, but that wasn't the smartest move you've ever made. You should have tried to shut down the machine instead of destroying the controls." The older brother told him, a sort of sadness in his eyes. Probably over the fact his brother had just blown it on a very important mission.
Snappy could only watch as Dusty walked over and handed the Toons their portable holes and Shticker books so they could get home. He then picked up the dead Toon and turned to Snappy, who was just standing there in shock.
"We really should go, Snappy, before more security Cogs show up." Dusty said, before pulling out his own portable hole and jumping into it. Snappy's thoughts were all a mess as he pulled out his portable hole and leapt into it as well.
He had really blown it this time... out of all his blunders on missions with his older brother, this one topped them all. Never before had he caused the death of a fellow Toon. And now that he had, what would the rest of Toontown say when they found out about what he had done? It would only be a matter of time before those captured Toons let slip what had happened.
"Maybe it won't be that bad." He thought to himself. He had blown it a couple of times in the past, and everyone in Toontown still seemed to like him. Maybe this time he'd be just fine.
Dusty Bumblejinks and all associated characters are owned and copyright by Bulldozer Studios.
Fluttershy, My Little Pony and all associated characters are owned and copyright by Hasbro.
Toontown and all associated characters, including the cogs, are owned and copyright by The Walt Disney Company.