//------------------------------//
// OSP Final: Plan on Daring 
// Story: Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1) 
// by Barrobroadcaster 
//------------------------------//

By the time Twilight and company arrived, Dan had finished converting Halberd Base into Fort Jerk. The Enclave's banners were all emblazoned with white letters on them that, combined with the giant E in the center, spelled JERK on the walls and flags of the exterior. Even Twilight was a bit surprised to see Knight, the original Magic Gear, repairing the base alongside the former Enclave pegasi. While they weren't the best soldiers, they made a pretty good construction and maintenance crew. After all, fixing things been their jobs when they were part of Cloudsdale.

The wreckage of Cogsdale was used to help fix the base, as well as build new defenses around it. The missing pieces of Cloudsdale had actually been inside Cogsdale, a way of keeping the massive gear-shaped craft in the air. Now that they were free, they were beginning to take shape high above the base under the caring hooves of the non-Enclave pegasi, what few there were. After finally reaching the base, Phoenix led them to Dan, who was busy teaching the Enclave ponies how to fight in a scene oddly reminiscent of the tutorial of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

"No, no, NO! You don't fight fair!" Dan yelled, breaking up a couple of pegasi. "When they're down, you don't give them time to get back up again- you STRIKE!" he said, punching one of the pony and knocking them down.

Twilight, Chrys and Fluffle all winced at the ruthless display. "Ooooh, that's gotta hurt," Spike remarked.

"Kinda seems like I got off easy now," Gust added. Dan looked up at them. "Heheh... maybe I should be quiet."

"Twilight! Chrys! Guys!" Dan exclaimed, delighted to see them. "Welcome to Fort Jerk!"

"Catchy name. I like it," Spike said.

"It looks like you beat the tar out of the Enclave, Dan," Chrys remarked. She blushed. "Just like you always do."

He strode over, grinning confidently to his almost-girlfriend and Twilight with enough brazen swagger for the army he'd just beaten. "Well, you know what they say: can't make an omelette without breaking some legs."

"Don't you mean eggs?" Twi asked.

"Actually, I meant faces, but we'll go with eggs." He looked around, noticing that one of them was missing. "Where's Fluffle Puff?"

And before any of them could answer, Fluffle pounced upon Dan and Phoenix from the side. "Gah!"

"Aah!"

"Thppth!" Sucker puff!

Fluffle Puff's attack was one of the many sneak attacks made that day. Unlike the others, it was not met with any resistance, resulted in no casualties and was immediately responded with reciprocative retaliatory snuggles.

"Fluffle!"

"Ha, looks like someone's happy to see us," Phoenix said, getting to his feet. Both humans were assaulted by a flurry of licks and nuzzles from the large puffy mare who alternated between them to deliver maximum affection. "Hey, did she change the color of her fluff?"

"That's camouflage!" Dan exclaimed, happily petting her. "She was ready to go back to Plan J if we needed to! Good Puffer!"

"Arararrrrrrawr! Rarararaaww! Arf!" Fluffle buried her muzzle furiously into Dan's neck and play-bit and nuzzled him like a large, fluffy puppy.

"Who's a good little tactical subverter? Is it you? Is it you?"

"Rar!"

"Yes it is! Yes it is!" Dan rubbed her playfully. "Hey, you wanna go play with the Enclave?"

"*gasp!*" She nodded.

Dan smiled. "Go get 'em, girl!"

The fluffy mare gasped again and then zipped off towards the former Enclave trainees. Unfortunately for them, Fluffle tended to play aggressively when Dan said "Go get 'em." She went for their necks and barrels, grabbed them, shook them and glomped them with a ferocity designed to forcibly remove any lingering evil they may have contained inside of them with love and snuggles. The kind of hugs bears gave to other, larger bears. Suffice to say, it was very one-sided.

"What is that thing?!"

"It's got the lieutenant!"

"RUN! RUN FOR YOUR- AARRRRRGGH!!" The ranks of the Jerklave were ravaged once again, now by a pink cuddly wrecking ball of softness that ruthlessly picked them off one by one and snuggled them into submission.

"Oh mai gawdddd..." Gust covered his beak. "The humanity..."

"She's got a lotta love to give," Chrys remarked.

"It's good to see," Dan said, taking Twilight and Chrys and wrapping his arms around their shoulders. They watched as Fluffle dispensed the "love" onto the Enclave, the sounds of snarling and screaming as Dan just smiled. It truly was the gift that kept on giving. "So, what've you guys been up to?"

"Well, we looked into Vice Grip," Twilight said. "Among... other things."

"And?"

"What have you found out?" Phoenix asked. "Was anything he said true?"

Twilight shifted, somewhat of a half-shrug. "From what we can gather, maybe. We think he's either related to the last chancellor of the earth ponies or that he might be the last chancellor of the earth ponies."

"What do you mean- "chancellor?" Dan asked. "He doesn't really... his claims don't actually have some kind of merit, do they?"

"We're not sure," Chrys said. "The earth ponies haven't had a chancellor since Unification Day, the day all three tribes came together under the Princess. The last pony to hold the office was Rice Puddinghead, an inventor who was reelected five times."

"Yeah... I think I remember seeing his picture," Phoenix said. "In the Golden Oaks Library, I think there's a dedication plaque with him on it. Didn't he have a son?"

Twilight nodded. "Vice Puddinghead. We can't find any other record of his direct descendants but... he may be related to Pinkie Pie and Applebloom through the original Chancellor Puddinghead."

Dan rubbed his chin. "Related to Pinkie and AJ... that makes sense."

"What happened to him?" Phoenix asked.

"Well... we believe..." Twilight started to say but was having trouble getting the words out.

Chrys stood strong, held Twilight and interjected. "We have kind of a theory. The records show that there was an accident on the first Unification Day, an accident that claimed Rice Puddinghead's life. There's no indication as to what happened to Vice Puddinghead or if he and Vice Grip are even the same pony. But, there's a memorial dedicated to both of them in the mayor's office. There's not much information from that period to go on."

"Hold on," Phoenix stopped them. "What accident was this?"

"Rice Puddinghead was a genius inventor," Twilight explained, as if she had read it many times over. "He's responsible for dozens of innovations- greenhouses, telephones, aircraft, he's cured diseases and plagues and even discovered new lands. They called him Equestria's "Second Sun."

"But, one of his inventions didn't work out well- the first locomotive," Chrys said. "According to the texts we found, lightning struck the train and destroyed it, killing Rice and Vice in the process. The accident was blamed on the pegasi and ultimately the Pegasus General at the time, General Typhoon. She was fired and the position of Pegasus General was changed to General Manager and Earth Pony Chancellor became Mayor. Equestria then turned to Princess Quintessa as the sole ruler, who reigned until Celestia and Luna came of age."

"That... doesn't sound right," Dan said, before anyone else could. "There was a triumvirate one day and then there's just one chick in charge because of an accident?"

"I know how this looks," Chrys said. "Trust me, I was around back then. It was a few years before I... well, was imprisoned. But yeah, I was there. Not in Ponyville, though but I know how things were back then," the changeling explained. "Things were... different. Shit was weird. There was a lot of uncertainty, a lot of fear, there weren't any Fluffle Puff ponies running around loving everything that moved, I know that much. Me and the horde had to ration the love we got but... that's another story," she said, giggling. "Seriously though, seriously, we think this might've been like, an assassination attempt or something. Doesn't it seem like that?"

They were all silent for a moment. "Yeah... it does," Phoenix said. "You think... that might be why there are a lot of pegasi that are really... gung-ho?" They looked back to the Enclave.

In fact, that was exactly the reason for how the Enclave acted, part of it, anyway. It was true the pegasi did more actual work than both the unicorns and the earth ponies as a whole. They were driven as a species and one need only look at the marks of history to see why. The pegasi used to have an army, used to conquer and defend Equestria militarily but time changed and they were asked to lay down their arms. It had been a difficult transition and to this day, they still maintained the discipline, training and vigilance of an army without the equipment or mandate. Yet, they still worked hard and received only a third of the recognition because of what happened in the past.

While Twilight didn't know what happened to Rice Puddinghead yet, she knew General Typhoon had been blamed for his death. Shortly after that, the pegasi had seen their leadership, their voice in the triumvirate removed, the triumvirate removed. And like the most loyal of soldiers, they blamed only themselves for this accident. It was as if their entire race had been dishonorably discharged, cried Axious! and took to the sky again, determined never to let their country down again. When in reality, it was their government who had let them down. And Twilight explained this all to them, in detail.

"Speaking of, how is the mayor?" Phoenix asked. "How are things holding up in Ponyville?"

"They're better, or at least getting there," Twilight said. "Shining and Cadence are still fixing that big space-cruiser thing. It might be our only chance of getting to the moon, if that's where the princesses and our friends are."

"Not all of our friends, your highness!" Daring exclaimed. She flew down along with the DeLorean, carrying it alongside several other pegasi. And when the doors opened, Twilight was overjoyed to see who emerged.

"Twilight!!"

"Rainbow!!!" The pair grabbed each other, embracing in the fullest of hugs. "Oh mai gawsh! Thank Celestia, thank Luna, thank everypony you're okay!!"

"I'm not the only one, either!"

"Um... hi," Fluttershy said, peeking out.

"FLUTTERSHY!!!" they all exclaimed.

"EEEP!" They grabbed the yellow pegasus and hugged her, creating a group hug around their returned friends. Even Daring joined in from a top perspective; they were all her fans, anyway.

"I'm so happy you're both back!!" Twilight said, joyful tears running down her face.

"We're happy to see you, all of you guys!" Rainbow said back, hugging just as strongly but not crying quite as much. Not quite as, anyway.

"It's good to see you're all okay!" Fluttershy said. "After all that Vice had us doing, we were really worried."

"What exactly did that maniac have you do?" Dan asked, voice enraged.

As if on cue, Blast Fuse and Blast Powder slid into the frame. "Please say ship fiction. Pleeeeasse say ship fiction."

"Pffft, like that hasn't been done," Rainbow scoffed. It disappointed the Blasties but they were happy to get the chance to rub their creator's favorite pony. Scratch another thing off the list. "No, Vice was trying to experiment on all of us. He put us through all these weird tests."

Fluttershy nodded. She hovered around Tuxley's head, absolutely fascinated by the gentlemen lizard. "He... wanted to learn how I bonded with animals. He tried to get me to bond with his robots to see if I could control them."

"And he kept scanning me with all these weird things to try and see if he could make rainbows that crossed into other dimensions!" Rainbow said. "The guy's nuts!"

"What about Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie?" Chrys asked, turning into each of them and asking the question in their own voices.

Rainbow shook her head. "We didn't see them. Vice had us shipped to this base and even then, we were blindfolded the entire time. We don't know where the others are."

Twilight grabbed both of her friends. "We'll find them. I promise, we'll get them all back and the princesses, too!"

"That's right we will!" Dan declared. "And we're gonna find Vice Puddinggrip and kick his freaky flank all the way back to a thousand years ago!"

"I hate to break up the party," Gust said, removing his sunglasses. "But Vice ain't really the immediate problem."

"He's right," Sharp Winter said, walking over to join them, his body covered in fluff. "There's an army of zebras on their way here. Led by General Zeal."

"It sounds like I missed a lot," Rainbow said bashfully. "Can anypony bring me up to speed?"

"We can! We can! We cannnnnn!!" the Blasties cheered.

"Yes, come and bask in all of my accomplishments as I tour you around Fort Jerk!" Dan said, leading the group off parade-style. Even some of the Jerklave ponies joined him, though one accidentally got too far away from the group and exploded. "Mind the landmines. There's a lot of those. Medic!"

As Twilight and Chrys picked up the pace to join the others, Daring Do flew down to walk beside her. "I'm sorry about deceiving you guys. But I didn't want to put any of you at risk."

Twilight looked down, then back up and smiled. "You didn't really deceive us. We trust Dan and Dan trusted you, so, nopony was really betrayed."

Daring dipped her head down. "No... the whole kingdom was betrayed," she said. "By Vice Grip. And his deception has caused us to fight each other ever since. This is the first time we've been able to hit back."

"That was the real sucker punch," Chrys said. "And we all fell for it."

"We did," Twilight agreed. Her eyes narrowed. "But we won't fall for it again." They followed the others as Dan led them on a tour of the base. He explained to all of them, to every pony how he fought valiantly, embellishing and exaggerating more things then anypony cared to stop and examine. Whether he was doing it because of the possibility of prolonged surveillance by Vice Grip or just for his own ego, no one knew. He even reenacted several battles, even forcing the Jerklave ponies to go through the same motions as they had during the attack. Again, they did not know if he was doing this for some other reason or if he just wanted to beat the crap out of the Enclave yet again.

Finally, he led them all into a briefing room. "So, we're all here, more or less. What do we know about these zebra guys?"

"They're tough," Chrys said, transforming into one of them. "Incredibly focused and resilient. They use spears tipped in potion but no other weapons, technology or vehicles."

"Haha," Dan chuckled. "Which means, we've got the advantage, finally!"

"Not exactly..." Twilight said.

"What? What do you mean?"

She looked up at him, surrounded by their friends, allies and former enemies. "We don't really have any advantage against them."

Dan leaned against the desk. "I don't see how. We've got air superiority, we've got Flutterbirds and we've got those plasma-laser things and lots of bombs! We've got the Enclave AND the Griffons! We've got all the air support we need!"

"But it won't help us against the zebras," Blast Fuse said.

Blast Powder, next to her, nodded in agreement. "Zebras have shields, they have magic, they have weapons and they're on the ground. They've also never been defeated."

"But... air superiority!" Dan protested. "I thought... that's how it works. You control the sky, you control the battlefield. I thought..."

They shook their heads. "There's no cover in the air. Our weapons from that high up won't penetrate their shields. And they can take out our ground forces, even this base before we know it. Even turn the turrets against us," Blast Powder said.

"I... you're telling me, that ALL the friends we just made, the entire ARMIES and SHIPS we just recruited and NONE of it can help us against the zebras?" Dan asked, raging.

"If we weren't vulnerable on the ground, maybe," Fuse said. "We own the skies, maybe but we can't all stand on it. And it won't stop them marching right for us. It won't even slow them down."

It was true that the master strategist knew that sometimes, you had to sacrifice a piece to keep the game going. Like chess on a scale never seen before. Perhaps Vice Grip's greatest genius was not his understanding of technology or magic but his understanding of his opponents. For all he had done, all they had fought so far, all Dan had raged against had only been things within Equestria itself. In a way, Vice Grip had set Equestria on itself, forcing them to fight and using them as test subjects for all his experiments. So, Vice had at least proven himself even beyond a master strategist because he had forced his opponent to sacrifice their own pieces. For that, he was that much closer to winning the game.

"That's not entirely true," Chrys said, waving her hoof. "We have Knight now!"

"That's right!" Dan exclaimed, his confidence returned to full. "And we're not fighting each other any more. We're fighting FOR each other, for an Equestria we all know and love! We will make things better again no matter who we come up against!"

"Yeah!!" they all cheered.

"Whoever this Zen Zeal guy is, he doesn't stand a chance!" Dan declared, raising his fist. "Because we've got a plan!!"

"YEAH!!" they all cheered louder.

"That's right!" Dan said. He unfurled a map on the desk. "So now, let's get right to it! Okay, I wanna go over objectives eight-through-eighty-five first because they'll be identical in Plans A-through-N. Also, we will be adding new objectives and procedures for what to do if the army you've just beaten is suddenly overtaken and replaced by a second army of holographic clones and what to do if part of the base you just captured turns into a doomsday ship and tries to attack you."

"Aaaaugh," the crowd groaned unanimously as Dan began another planning monologue. All except Twilight, Chrys and Phoenix.

"Ehh," Chrys shrugged. "It worked for us last time." Twilight nodded.

"I'll go get the soy sauce," Phoenix said. (Better get a couple bottles, too; I have a feeling I'll be involved in every plan.) And he was right, just as he had been before. But this time, he was happy about it... and he wasn't the only one. Sometimes, complicated things worked, like the twist in the middle of one of Daring Do's books.  No matter what happened, it was the ones who dared to do those things that won and right now, right then and there, they all dared to believe in one another. They dared to believe in Equestria. They dared to win.






Next time on Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship... the war continues.



"If I don't make it back, I want the Flim Flam Brothers to go next because nobody likes them."

"Didn't we already do that joke?"

"If they're still alive, it means no."

General Zen Zeal arrives...

"I thought you guys were supposed to rhyme."

"..."

"I thought you guys were supposed to talk."

"..."

"Dan, we might wanna start running."

"Why?"

An invincible army, an unbeatable commander, an unstoppable conquest...

"RUN! RUN! The zebstrikas are trying to kill us!!"

...and none of them are Dan's.

"We stop them here!"

"No."

"Here!"

"No."

"Okay, then we go here-"

"No."

"No, I was saying we could go there for dinner. You know, if we uh, survive."

Next time, the lines are drawn.

"INCOMING!!"

Next Saturday, the war comes home.

"RETURN FIRE... oh, crap, I'm the only one left again."

Episode 15: Secrets of The Zebras- Dan Vs. The "Unstoppable" Zen Zeal. 
Next Saturday, Dan must beat a zebra with a better battle record than him if Equestria's to see tomorrow! It's a war that's anything but black and white next time on Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship!

"Okay, now we call Flim and Flam."

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