"This is the second time I've had to listen to that guy gloat and then watch him fly away," Dan said, still hanging in midair. "Next time, he won't be flying away unless I send him flying!"

Dan found it hard to glare at the indigo stallion while he was holding him several kilometers off the ground but he still managed.

"Oh, come on. I can hope. The guy's nice… sort of. Like you," Lightning defended his claim. The human remained silent, continuing to glare at him and let the look of sheer disgruntled rage speak for him. Dan's expression was a mixture of 'grumpy neighbor' and 'let's go to war.' They simply did not make disdainful anger like his.

"Let's just figure out how to get the others free," Dan finally said. "I'll deal with him next time when I… deal with him. Next time. Do you still have the remote?"

Lightning levitated up the remote, held tight in his magical grasp. "You think I'd drop it?"

"No. Because if you did, I'd strangle you if you did. Now, get us over to the Flutterbird so we can figure it out."

"No problem at all, Dan. It's under control," Lightning said confidently. He hovered himself and Dan over to Phoenix's commandeered Flutterbird.

"Relax, Dan, I got it." To Lightning's credit, he did have it. He was able to expertly navigate the updraft generated by the Flutterbird's wings and fly both himself and Dan over to the entry hatch while avoiding the dangerous air current. He got them both over to the hatch.

"I got it, Dan," he reassured the human again. Lightning's indigo-colored magic grasped the door handle and it opened. "See? No problem." He dropped off the human first and then hopped in himself.

"I have to admit, that was a good job for a knockoff alicorn," Dan said, standing in the Flutterbird. "Now, who's flying this thing?"

"That'd be me, Dan," Phoenix said, waving from the pilot's seat. "You're flying Air Wright today!"

"Ha," Dan chuckled. "At least we don't have to worry about having to get Twilight to summon the greatest pilot ever to Equestria."

"Who would be the greatest pilot ever?" Spike asked, sitting in one of the jump seats.

"Well, Wedge Antilles is the best pilot in Star Wars," Dan said, closing the hatch behind him. "So, if we were summoning the best pilot ever, we'd probably get him. Or one of those guys from Top Gun. Maybe one of the guys from Airwolf or Battlestar: Galactica," he began to list. "Possibly David Hasselhoff or- OOH! Maybe the A-Team!"

Phoenix turned around in his seat, eyebrow raised. "Are you just listing 80s pop culture again?"

Dan folded his arms. "Hey, we're talking about the greatest pilots of all time here."

Dan shrugged. "The summoning spell might give us either one, Nicky. I just want to be prepared."

"All right, now let's focus on getting our friends free. Lightning, you did a good job getting us in here. And… thanks for saving my life, I guess," Dan patted the pony reluctantly.

"Of course," Lightning turned around to retrieve the remote from outside. But it wasn't there. The alicorn's confident smile faded.

Dan immediately stuck his head out the door. He looked around frantically but of course, there was no sign of the remote. The device was plummeting to the surface of the Crystal Empire and a velocity that would ensure there wasn't a piece of it large enough to identify when it hit the ground.

"Ummm…" Lightning clipped his hooves together. "I must've forgotten to keep holding onto it when I reached for the door. But like I said- UHHHLLL- UGG"

"Like I SAID," Dan strangled Lightning. "NOW HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET THEM FREE?! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!!"

Dan paused mid-strangle. "Well, technically you weren't thinking," he pondered aloud. "I guess it's more of a reflex action and I suppose it's happened to everypony now and then. Focus on one hoof, forget what the other's doing, I guess the same applies with magic."

"What if something goes wrong?" Spike asked. "What if without the remote, we can't get Twilight and Chrys and Fluffle out? What if it activates the cells' self-destruct sequences?!"

"IF WE HAVE TO PICK UP THE PIECES TO THAT THING AND PUT THEM BACK TOGETHER OR heaven forbid FIND VICE GRIP AND GET HIM TO BUILD ANOTHER ONE THEN I AM GONNA-"

Firedancer cleared his throat. "Sorry, I don't want to bother you guys. I'll wait till you're done."

"Oh," Firedancer turned around. "Well, I was just gonna say, Twilight and the others are free."

Turning around, Dan was hugged by Twilight, Chrys and Fluffle Puff who had come in through the hatch way.

"You saved us Dan! You all saved us! Dan, Spike, Phoenix, even Lightning!" Chry exclaimed and hugged them all tight. "The forcefields deactivated the moment that remote hit the ground!"

"Wow!" Dan exclaimed. "Hey, you hear that Lightning? All we had to do was break it to get it to turn off. So it looks like it was a good thing you dropped it. Good job!"

"Hey, it's all right," Dan stopped her. "We know how dangerous he is now. He can't hide his intentions from us anymore and you can use your cool Princess authority to seize his company and all his crappy machines. And then I can break them. And him."

"We will," Twilight smiled, holding her friend's hands. "And we'll get help from Princess Celestia and Luna, too."

"Assuming they're both all right," Phoenix said from the cockpit. "And speaking of, we still need to rescue your brother and Princess Cadence."

Phoenix, clad in a new pair of sunglasses and blue streaks in his hair for some reason, keyed the controls. "Way ahead of you," he said, smiling. "Ladies, would you do the honors!"

"Sure thing, babe," Blast Fuse and Powder said simultaneously. The sisters pressed down the plunger on a homemade detonator. Outside the cockpit, the crew watched the Crystal Empire light up. All the Magic Gears, like enormous pony-shaped dominos, exploded six at a time. The blew up in formation, erupting into showers of sparks, flames and debris as they became lines of fire that stretched from the base of the Crystal Palace all the way out to the outskirts.

The Mentor Gears, towering over the others, exploded last. Their titanic frames rippled with explosions until finally their heads burst and the bodies of the great machines fell over, blasting to pieces.

Crystal Ponies, once again awakening from nightmare, cheered as they saw the massive machines explode. Bits and pieces of the Magic Gears rained down but because of the nature of Blast Fuse and Blast Powder's expert explosive crafting, the debris was superheated to the point that it disintegrated before it caused damage to any ponies or property. Like the Sword Spells, the once-lethal robots were reduced to nothing but fireworks.

"Ahh," Blast Powder remarked, satisfied. "I love it when a plan comes together."

The Flutterbird descended to ground level. Dan and company stormed the facade mall again and found Shining Armor and Cadence in a cardboard box cell behind the bank of elevators. With the timely action of more convenient explosives, the rulers of the Crystal Empire were once again free. Reunited, the group even found Sam, Flash Sentry and the Judge outside the palace.

"Dan, Phoenix Wright," Shining Armor approached the two. He then looked down at a certain purple dragon. "And Spike again. You all did so much to help the Crystal Empire. You saved us from being both conquerers and conquered at the same time, not to mention your own world. We can't begin to express our gratitude."

Dan wrapped his arms around Twilight, Phoenix, Chrys and Lightning. "It was a team effort. We couldn't have done it without Twilight, Chrys and everyone else who came here to help. Now, we get to hunt down Vice Grip together."

"And blow him sky-high!" the Blast sisters exclaimed, clapping their hooves together.

Sam-formerly King Sombra, walked up to Dan and the others. "And I need to thank you all… personally," he said, lowering his head. "There's more I could've done but… I was afraid to face this alone. Afraid to face Vice alone. Despite your generosity and forgiveness, I wasn't strong enough to defend you. I wasn't brave enough. I… I don't deserve your forgiveness."

"Sombra," Twilight moved to comfort him. "It's not your fault. You still tried to help out everypony."

Dan pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "Buddy, there's a thousand forty-foot-tall pony robots exploding right behind us. No one could've predicted this. You did your best and you helped us out in the end."

Phoenix nodded. "Your testimony allowed us to free the others, free the entire Empire. It dispelled Vice Grip's hold on the Crystal Ponies. Because of you, they're free."

"It's okay," Sam said to him. The two held hooves. "You were there in spirit the whole time." They both kissed.

The entire group let out a collective d'awww. This was then echoed by the Crystal Ponies surrounding them in a massive crystal crowd that carried the d'aww across the Empire. The only pony that didn't d'aww was Twilight, who was too shocked to say anything. And Fluffle Puff but she was raspberrying the entire time.

The purple alicorn forced herself to watch the two stallions kiss, though it was hard. Chrys picked up on it right away.

Blast Fuse and Blast Powder came up beside the Princess. "It's true what they say- all the good ones are either gay-"

"Well," Twilight said, moving on. "Today has given me a lot to… think about. I think we should head home."

"Dan," Twilight said, "if we don't, how are we going to-" She turned around, then stopped when she saw Dan on his own super-overpowered hyper-charged chariot.

"That somehow looks less safe than the Flutterbird," Phoenix commented. "And the one we arrived in blew up after it dropped us off. And nearly crashed."

"That was kind of my fault," Lightning admitted. "But hey, I'm on your team now!"

"Well, Twilight," Chrys said next to her friend, "in times like these, there's only one thing left to say."

"Shotgun!!" Chrys announced, galloping up to join Dan at the side of the chariot.

"We can't all take the chariot home!" Twilight yelled. "Or, maybe we can. But make sure everypony has enough room!!"

Cadence nodded. "FIST is a threat to all of Equestria. And Earth. And everything in between. It's time we responded to this threat like princesses."

Shining looked back over his shoulder. "I think we found the right ponies for the job."

"Prince Sam Sombra Sentry and Prince Flash Sentry will be taking over for us while we're gone. After their wedding, of course," Cadence said. "They said they were preferring a small ceremony anyway."

"Hey Twily, it's like we always say- you never know what's going to happen next," her brother said.

"But you can always count on your friends!" Dan shouted at the approaching ponies. "Now let's all go break more stuff together!" The massive party of ponies, dragon and two humans boarded the tiny chariot, a standing-room only proposition. Once they were all on, Dan revved the handles and the chariot sped off down the street amidst Crystal Pony cheers. And then it stopped halfway down the block. Dan alone got out and cranked.

"I know, I know, I mean, maybe I can recharge the batteries?" He held up both his hooves and a surge of electricity sprang between them. "It is my thing."

"Relax," Lightning smiled. He hit the crank with a charged bolt and the batteries were charged again. Even overcharged as the dials on the chariot went beyond full. "Like I said, I got it."

Dan patted him on the head. "Indeed, you do. And now, your boss is going to get it," he revved the chariot again. "Next time, you're mine! VICE GRIP!!!!!!!!!" The chariot flew down the street out of the Crystal Empire faster than even a Flutterbird could travel. Dan and the others were traveling together, straight as an arrow, a blue blur heading for their home in Ponyville.

Next time on Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendshi-ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Uh, I'm sorry, we seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties. Please standby as we try to-ZZZZZZZZZRRTTT

Through a dark and broken mirror…

"The Terran Empire has fallen. All hail Celestia and Luna, Empresses Eternal of Equestria and Earth!"

Things have transpired quite differently than what you're used to.

"It wasn't about loyalty. It was looking out for me."

"So this is all some kind of game to you?"

"A game I'm going to win."

Different and yet somehow… familiar.

"They found something, the zebras. Some kind of weapon from another dimension."

"Another dimension?"

"Another Equestria. And they think this thing, whatever it is, can defeat an alicorn."

"We can finally beat Empress Celestia! We can finally be free!"

This isn't your world.

"I WAS loyal! I WAS a revolutionary! And look where that got me!!"

This isn't their world.

"Nopony who stands up to Celestia and Luna lives."

"I'm not asking you to stand up to them- I'm asking you to stand up to him."

But they are fighting to get it back.

"I have a mission for you, doctor. To see if you're as smart as Inquisitor Twilight thinks you are."

"You think I'm a threat?"

Whatever it takes.

"I sincerely hope so."

Next Saturday, get ready to see things differently as we show you what's on the flip side!

"We show them what it means to be Equestrian. We show him what it means to be Terran."

"This is the ultimate weapon! The tool to finally liberate Equestria and Earth! To free us all! They call it-"

"Magic Gear."

Vice Grip Vs. The Solar Empire- Next Saturday, Dan isn't the only thing versing things on Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship!

"And what were you two doing?"

Mirror, mirror on FIMFiction.net.

Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1)

by Barrobroadcaster

Let's All Go Break More Stuff Together