//------------------------------//
// Wrath: Off The Air 
// Story: Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1) 
// by Barrobroadcaster 
//------------------------------//

In orbit above Equestria

A white-hot shot streaked through the space between the planet Equestria and her moon. The bolt of red illuminated the space, briefly turning inky black into nothing but a blinding flash for the fraction of a second. It melted through bits of metal and rock and debris as it scorched through the emptiness to finally pierce its target. The cylindrical starship that had been attempting to hide among the wreckage was cut in half by the shot, then exploded in an instant.

Another probe, it had been. One of many that had invaded Equestria's airspace over the past few months. All of them had been destroyed by Barro, operating as a captive gunner in his starfighter orbiting Equestria. Rice Grip's captive, so long as the scientist had Michael. Since then, entire fleets of ships had arrived in orbit only to be shot down by Barro, all at Rice's command. Like unsuspecting fish, they were caught. None could outreach Barro's broad cast.

Barro had to admit, it was yet another stroke of genius from Rice. A satellite defense grid or minefield could be hacked or disabled. Like the clever prey triggering the mousetrap intentionally to get the cheese. No, a manned trap was a smarter one.

"Hey Barro? You there?"

"Yeah, Michael." After the initial negotiating, Rice had allowed Barro to speak to Michael via radio. "How are things with that new guy?"

"I dunno, really. But I think they stopped fighting. They don't seem to be yelling any more, anyway."

"Rice probably killed him, then."

"I don't think so. I can't really tell, but it sounded like they came to some sort of agreement."

"Hmmm," Barro said. "Probably not good but I don't think it matters to us any. We'll be out of here before he does anything."

"Back to Voss, then?"

Barro nodded to himself. "Back to Voss. And Taris."

There was silence on the other end of the radio for a while. "...I would have liked to have seen the raffle."

"There's not going to be a raffle."

"I know. I was kind-of hoping we could make one. We already have the tickets."

"We still could. We just get some prizes and... we'll do it," Barro said. After all they'd been through, it seemed fitting enough. Wherever they ended up, whether it was back following the same war or another one, they could at least do this together.

But Michael said, "I don't want to start over again."

"Michael-"

"You said 'no more dead heroes,' Barro. We wouldn't be covering that kind of stuff any more. This was supposed to be different."

Barro shook his head. The ship responded to his movements, making its own equivalent of a head-shake. "It WAS different."

"It didn't end differently..." Michael said, his voice hiding none of what he was feeling right now.

"Well," Barro said, "it's not still not over. Not yet. We could still-"

*Vrzzzzzzzznnn. Vrzzzzzzznnn.* Not the ship's comms system but another communicator reacted with a call- his phone.

"Mikey, I'm gonna have to call you back."

"Okay."

"Hello?"





Back on the surface

"Hey! Barro! Hi, what's up, good buddy?"

"You know what I want, Dan. Give up the Imps, I'll let you and the others leave," Barro said. "I know you're at the prison complex, even if I can't penetrate it. You launch yourself up here, I'll shoot down anything you even try to break orbit with."

Dan had a big fake smile plastered on his face as he stood next to his two holes. "Eeyep, I'm sure you could. But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

Barro was still all-business. "You're never going to rendezvous with Khan. I intercepted your call to him, Dan. He can't hide from me forever and neither can you. Give me what I want and go free."

A lump formed in Dan's throat and he did his best to swallow it. "You... found out about that, did you?"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Shhh, Doctor!" Twilight shushed him. It was rude to interrupt someone when they were on the phone. Even if they were on speaker phone; Dan had to put Barro on speaker to hear him over the sound of the sandstorm surrounding the complex.

"Well, heh, that doesn't change anything," Dan said, sounding intentionally brash. He walked carefully between the two holes in the ground.

"Is that right?" Barro asked, sounding thoroughly unconvinced.

But Dan kept his confidence, whether it was genuine or not. No one could tell either way; maybe it was both.

Part of Twilight was regretting not asking Dan more about his plan. A larger part of her, however, trusted him. And the entirety of her very clever mind knew that that was the entire point. No amount of knowledge, whether it was about the arcane or the advanced, humans or ponies or anything in between, even if you could predict the very future itself, you could still be surprised. Dan was simply full of surprises.

"That's right. Because I've joined the Empire."

A long silence followed. Twilight and Doctor Whooves were wondering exactly where Dan was going with this themselves. But Dan simply beamed, as if he'd made it a matter of pride.

"...You what?"

"Equestria's joining the Galactic Empire, Barro. They made a really good offer and Twilight- err, Princess Twilight, and myself have agreed to it," Dan said. He gave Twilight a wink as he did so.

"You CAN'T do that. There's not even a planet or a kingdom left to give them. You're bluffing."

Dan's smile grew wider. "Am I? AM I?"

"Are you?"

"Shut up. Don't mind that. ANYWAY no, I'm NOT bluffing." Dan produced a small cylinder from his pocket. "I still have that commlink thingy that Edge gave me. The same one you use to contact your own squadron."

Barro's voice became incredibly cold. "How do you know about that?"

Dan spun around to Twilight. "What YOU need to know is that I have it. With all your little codes and frequencies on it, too. And I'm going to hand it over to the Imps."

"You're not going to do a fucking thing."

"Well, of course I'm not!" Dan said. And then he quickly added, "Because I already gave them your codes." He then threw the commlink straight down and ran at Twilight and Whooves yelling,

"SHIELDSHIELDSHIELDSHIELDSHIELDSHIELDSHIELDSHIELD!!!"





"What YOU need to know is that I have it. With all your little codes and frequencies on it, too. And I'm going to hand it over to the Imps."

Barro's eyes went wide. The commlink was like a phone, but more advanced. It kept records of every frequency used by the computers, radios, sensors and equipment used by the Rebel Alliance. Easily accessible with a datapad or any data-reading device, it was able to send and receive signals from computers to droids to starships to starbases to people. If one captured it, they potentially had the codes to every computer in the Alliance.

"You're not going to do a fucking thing," Barro said back. He charged up the railgun again and this time, aimed it for the surface. Knowing the codes of his own commlink, Barro was able to pinpoint Dan's exact location. He regretted doing this, but it was too important to leave in Dan's hands.

"Barro, I don't think you should-" Michael's voice came back. He hadn't hung up.

"This doesn't concern you, Michael, get off the channel!"

"Well, of course I'm not!" Dan's voice came back.

The railgun charged up, but Barro held back from firing.

"Think this through- this doesn't seem right," Michael said again.

"I..." he looked down at the controls, thought of Michael. "Maybe you're right. Maybe... we..."

"Because I already gave them your codes."

Barro fired.





Twilight had enough time to put a shield around herself, Doctor Whooves and Dan just as the sky began to turn red. A massive beam broke through the clouds, so loud as it burned the sky that Dan's voice screaming at her was drowned out completely.

As the bolt came down, the sheer force of the energy it took down with it was enough to blast the walls of the prison complex like the explosion of a bomb. A bomb bigger than anything the Blast Sisters had yet concocted, more powerful than a sonic rainboom. It was the force of the beam simply colliding with the air itself that caused the explosion of force; it hadn't even hit the ground yet.

The beam struck right where Dan had thrown down the commlink, vaporizing the tiny cylinder of metal in an instant. It kept going and disintegrated the dirt, drilling down into the holes Dan dug. No one but Dan knew that the holes actually connected at the bottom and that was where he had laid the railroad pieces. But, it became evident to Dan that his plan had worked when he saw the beam shoot down into the hole... and then right back out.





Barro was waiting for the explosion on the surface. A crackling sound from his own communicator told him before his eyes did that the commlink had been destroyed, however. He looked briefly to the communicator in his cockpit before turning his eyes back to the surface to see the shot he fired coming right back at him.

"Oh fuck."

Another explosion filled the skies of Equestria. When it was done, Barro's own starfighter had been added to the debris field above the planet.





*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM* It was like the sun had broken through to the surface, only replaced with a bright red supernova. A bright explosion pierced the sandstorm above them, bathing Equestria in bright crimson light.

Backs up against the wall, Dan, Twilight and Doctor Whooves looked up to see the explosion that had been Barro the Broadcaster.

"Ha... HAHAHAHA!" Dan jumped to his feet. "See? I TOLD you I could take out the author."

"Well, you were right," Twilight said. She levitated them all back up to the tower. As she did, everyone who had been taking shelter inside came back out. They all looked up towards the sky.

"Wow... Dan, I can't believe you did it," Phoenix said.

"So, wait a minute," Doctor Whooves interrupted, "if THAT was the guy writing the story, who's writing it now?"

"That would be us for the moment," Tuxley said. "Keep going, Reginald, easy pace."

"I'm trying, sir."

"Here's more paper."

"Very good, sir."

Near the side, a very frantic Reginald was typing away at a typewriter while Tuxley fed it paper.

"So THEY'RE writing the story now?" Dan asked. He looked around. "We're still here, in case anybody hadn't noticed. You know, I didn't hear a 'thank you, Dan, for saving our asses yet again,' yet."

"Okay, so Reginald is writing the story now," Doctor Whooves said. "But he can't stop writing?"

"Get him more paper!"
"MORE PAPER!"

And then, the typerwriter jammed. "It's jammed."

"OH NOOOOOO!"

"What's going to happen now?" Cap asked.

"I don't know," Twilight said. They all looked around.

"We're all still here," Phoenix said. "Does that mean...?"

"Either Dan didn't kill Barro," Twilight started.

Before Dan interrupted, "Oh, I definitely killed Barro." He held up the cell phone. "See? Nothing."

Twilight tapped her chin. "Then... that must mean..."

"Someone else is writing the story!!" they all exclaimed.

"Great job, Dan!" Cap exclaimed. He was the first and then the rest joined in, congratulating him, thanking them, hugging him despite him not wanting it.

"You're the best, Dan, always knew it!" Phoenix said. (I'm so happy we're not dead!)

Dan beamed genuinely this time. "Yes, yes, I truly am awesome and the best thing ever, keep it coming. Now, who bet on me and who bet on Barro? I wanna know names. And I want my share of the winnings."

Twilight looked back up at the sky. She had found it hard to believe herself. But, another part of her knew it had always been possible. She was relieved she listened to that part of herself, that part of her that just believed in her friends. And believed in Dan.

After beating up a few people and taking money that had been bet on him, Dan joined Twilight. "Not a bad sight, huh?"

"Nnnope. Good work as always, Dan."

Surprisingly, Dan put his arm around her shoulders. "I couldn't have done it without you, Twilight."

She nodded. "I'm happy to believe in you."

"No, I mean the shield spell. That thing's really handy- we would not have survived without it."

She nodded again. "You're welcome, Dan." He hadn't said the words "thank you," but in her heart, he knew he meant something that was pretty much the same. Or as close as Dan could get to it. In the end, that was close enough.

Just as they were watching the sky, something else broke through. From the centered of the red explosion, just as it faded, an object appeared. It scorched its way down to Equestria, smoldering and black.

"What is that?"

"SHIELD AGAIN! SHIELD AGAIN! EVERYBODY TAKE COVER!" Dan dove with Twilgiht and hit the deck as the object crashed into the center of the complex, right where they had been minutes earlier. It crashed into the dirt and sent a shower of sand and smoke up over the prison walls.

When it cleared, Dan and gang looked over the side again. "It's a spaceship!"

"Holy shit," Phoenix remarked. "You really DID shoot down Barro."

The entire group made their way down to the middle of the complex. The wreckage of the vessel, still smoldering and smoking from reentry and the explosion that destroyed it, was strewn about the yard.

Dan got closest to it. He clapped his hands, "Alright! Who's got a camera? Fifty bits for a picture of the one-and-only Dan with his latest triumph! Dan Vs. The Author Barro, another great victory for Team Dan!"

Some actually did take up Dan on his offer. Cap and Chris picked their way through the debris.

"Can't believe he actually did it," Captain America said.

"I can't believe he did it himself," Chris said. "Little guy actually does know what he's doing." He looked over at Dan, making it clear he was more skeptical of the man because of his display rather than inspired or in awe of it.

"You're surprised a guy like Dan could do something like this?"

He shook his head. "Steve, I really don't need a lecture. Things happen, I move on. We've got a job to do."

"We have a mission. But there's also what's right and what's wrong," Steve said. "Believe it or not, I prefer talking things through. Just because I'm prepared for things like this to happen doesn't mean I like i when they do."

Chris folded his arms. "I know what you mean..."

Dan was still reveling in his glory when he noticed Link and Gannondorf fighting high on the prison walls again. "What the hell?" He was about to ask what they were doing, how they had come back when Kelsan shouldered his way up to him.

"Dan, we need to talk."

"Yeah, give me a minute- HEY! YOU! LINK!"

"Dan," Kelsan spun him around, "that's NOT Barro's ship."

Everyone went silent. Dan turned around slowly. "What?"

Kelsan dragged Dan to the cockpit. The canopy was open and a pile of ash was sitting in the pilot's chair.

"Oh crap," Dan said. "I vaporized him. Cool."

"That's not Barro," Kelsan said.

"Alright, FINE!" Dan yelled. "Then who the hell is it?"

Twilight patted him on the back. "You killed Marvin the Martian, Dan."

Dan frowned. "We don't KNOW that. It could still be Barro. Maybe this guy didn't know where he was going." And that was when Dan's cell phone started ringing.

"Oh fuck," Dan said. And answered it.

"Not a bad move, Dan. Almost would've worked if I hadn't seen it coming. They actually train you for this kind of thing at the academy. We do use lasers, you know? Mirror effects are one of the things they teach you."

"Mm-hmm," Dan said. "I guess it's not the most complicated trick. Had to make sure you couldn't see the mirror though, that was hard. And you get three lives in Galaga, don't you?"

"We're not playing Galaga, Dan. And even if we were, I've destroyed enough ships to give me plenty of extra lives. But I am in a sporting mood, so I'll let you get up here before we tango again."

"Sounds just peachy," Dan said sarcastically. "I'm not giving back the money I won."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, and I should mention Rice has sent the last of his forces down to stop you. Have fun with that, partner." The phone shut off.

The ground beneath Dan's feet began to rumble. This time, the rumbling came from a lot closer.

"We need to leave. Now."