Mount Prosperity
Dan slid out of the tunnel and onto a hard, steel floor under him. Wherever he was, it was well-lit. Looked like a science lab, or a military base, or both. Not unlike the Stable on the moon. He figured this had to be Vice Grip's last major complex.
"Twilight..." It was painful. He didn't know a lot about magic. Was the Director really Twilight Sparkle? Had she been all along or.... no. There was no point in speculating, as hard as it was not to. He had to focus on the one thing he was sure of know: Chrys. He had to find Chrys. And Vice Grip.
He had a feeling he would find them both together.
He walked through the corridor to a door. It opened for him, as he expected. Having come this far, there was no point in any final defenses, any guards or barricades. It would've just been more he'd already seen before. No, this was the point when both hero and villain of this story know that it is fate, destiny pushing them towards one another. And fate, too, was something Dan and Vice had both tried to defy in the past. Not this time, not now.
Although a battle raged outside, they would have all stopped to see these next, crucial moments. The fractions of time as the unstoppable force hurtled towards the immovable object. No, not an eye would have blinked, not a soul would have looked away. The cosmic and supernatural forces of Equestria did swirl like a torrent around in anticipation, a hurricane of turbulent unseen energies, and they were in the eye of it.
There were three corridors, all identical. Dan half-expected to see memories, guards saluting, weapons offered to him, something, anything at the last minute. Images of the past, like before his first fight with Vice. But there was nothing. Only silence.
The final door opened. Into a large, rectangular room Dan stepped. Opposite to him was another door. In front of that door was Rice.
He stood up. Dan stopped. Silence.
Neither of them said a thing for a long moment. An empty moment. Between them, only distance and silence, they stood like statues regarding each other, only breathing. Nearly-unblinking. Was it mutual respect, mutual hatred, gathering of strength? Perhaps all this and more.
"I expected you sooner," Rice said. "What took you so long?"
"I had..." Dan stopped himself. Why was he explaining? No matter. "I had some... other things to do."
"Of course. Of course you did," Rice said, smiling, a grin that hid his own anger and not very well did it hide. "You were busy. You had to run errands. It doesn't matter if it makes everyone else wait for you. You're that important."
Dan's fists balled. "It's not like that," he said through gritted teeth. As much as he hated Rice, he was making him even angrier. Impossible as it seemed to be, he was actually infuriating Dan further.
"Isn't it? Everything has to be YOUR way. You're always right, you know the right way, it's always you."
"I LISTEN to my FRIENDS. What the hell would you know ANYTHING about that?"
Rice scoffed. "You think I didn't have friends? A thousand years ago, I ran the little town you call home. I ran this whole country before it became this... backwater, stagnant, bloated kingdom that it is now. And I've done my homework, Dan. I've told you before- we're a lot alike. Haven't you had the same complaints about America? About Earth? Inefficient, overly-bureaucratic, wasteful... neglectful. Uncaring."
Dan said nothing in response. He had learned, especially since becoming a lord that Equestria and the United States of America, at least his version, had a lot in common. They both had their problems. All too similar problems. Even traffic, which Dan was originally happy about, until he rode a train in Equestria. No, Rice was right about this, and Dan didn't deny it. A lot escaped Equestria's government, a lot still happened that shouldn't, a lot of things... so many problems...
The system was broke. No one person could fix it.
But they could still make the world a better place.
"At least we're united. We may not be able to hardly stand each other... we may hate each other at times. I know I do. But we can still come together. We can still do awesome things. All my friends, they're outside because I asked them to be. Me. The really stupid thing is, that it's because they love me and I hate you. It's love and hate. It's a combination of all this crap, you can't shut it out. Instead of trying to eliminate each other... we should both accept that we're here. We could work well together."
Rice nodded. Then, shook his head. "No, no I don't have to accept it. I can change this world, alone if I have to."
Dan nodded. His fists unballed. "You don't have to do it alone." He stepped forward, and smiled. "This is gonna sound crazy... and really stupid. Like, really, really insanely stupid. But it's you who needs to stop trying to get revenge."
"Like you have? When have you, EVER, IN YOUR ENTIRE, MISERABLE, MISERY-CAUSING LIFE EVER BUCKING given UP on REVENGE?!"
Inhale. Exhale. "Uh... well, just now."
"Well then," Rice stepped forward. "That's where we're different."
After all this time, after laying in bed awake, too angry to move or hardly think, Dan's anger had dissolved. Or perhaps, resolved into something else. He had always been good at being practical, about being fair, about being pragmatic. He did like doing things efficiently, his way. Because he genuinely thought it was better. His anger was mostly frustration that others let things impair them, hold them back, get in his way. But he was good at being practical and finding solutions.
He had found one.
Rice was a genius. When other scholars had said magic couldn't be duplicated, he invented technological versions of spells. When it was physically impossible for things to be built, he built them anyway. Rice was Dan as a pony in almost every way. There was truly little that separated them- even their voices were similar, taste in music, and Dan liked Lunchables, too. And Dan wanted to remove Rice as a threat to Equestria... but to kill him would have been a waste. It would have been adding another crime, another tragedy to Rice's life.
It would have continued the cycle.
It wouldn't have fixed anything.
Finally, Dan accepted that.
"We destroy our enemies when we make them our friends."
Friendship is magic. Right now, they needed all the magic they could get. To face future threats and present ones. Rice could help today. Behind bars or buried, he could help no one. There, deep underground, away from the eyes of the world, Dan truly started to forgive someone. He didn't need to get even, he didn't need to get justice. He had to give it up to prevent further injustice from happening. If he didn't, more ponies would suffer.
They needed Rice. He needed them.
Unfortunately, Rice did not feel the same. That's why he threw the first punch.
"ALLCK!"
And the second.
"GALG!"
And the third.
"GAGGK!"
Dan doubled up, fell to the floor. He used his forearms to shield his face; a good thing, too, because Rice delivered a hard kick to his stomach.
"You got EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING YOUR WAY. THIS WAS MY WORLD!!!" He kicked him so hard he rolled over.
"I... I..." Dan was panting, gasping for breath. Surrendering his anger had also surrendered some of his physical strength. He felt every blow and rage could not numb the pain. Without strong feeling, magic had nothing to latch onto and could not empower him. It was just him, him alone. Maybe it always was. Still, even when he needed to, he felt no anger.
"I was worse than exploited. I was buried. Forgotten. Erased. ERASED!" He kicked him again. "My FAMILY, MY SON! Like my beating heart was ripped out of my chest and crushed... like my soul had died. But I kept on living. I'm not even sure why." He turned around, paced a bit.
"I... these... the... these..." These things happen? Was that what he wanted to say? He tasted blood, that was bad. He steadied himself. He had to keep going. He had to survive. He rolled himself onto his stomach, the cold metal floor on his fresh bruises. Any other man would have been dead, magic or not. Dan braced his arms against the floor.
"And you... you come in here, become a major celebrity. A hero. You get everything your way," Rice said. "Everything you could've ever wanted. My world. And it was all just a boon for you, wasn't it?"
Dan was woozy. Breathing was hard. Still, he steadied himself, pushed up off the floor. He managed a word. "Wha... what?"
Rice turned around. "Yes, this was everything you wanted, wasn't it? You didn't have anything on Earth. You didn't have any friends."
"Mrow?"
"You've never truly lost anything. Because you've never cared about anything."
"Mis... Mis..."
"Mr. Mumbles! Where have you been?"
"Mrrow."
"Oh, I love you too, little kitty."
"Mis... M-Mister... Mi... Mister..."
On a long, cold and raining night, he'd come home and there would be a friend waiting for him. One of his closest friends. His kitty cat, Mr. Mumbles.
"Mister... Mumbles. Mr. Mumbles."
The memory of his cat came first. He still cared about her. He never forgot her. She never forgot him. Not ever.
"What's that now?" Rice asked. He knelt over Dan. A small puddle of saliva, sweat and blood lay in front of him.
Tears began streaming down Dan's face. Other memories came next.
"Apology accepted, Dan."
"You're not the only one with a grudge against New Mexico."
"He's like an angry gold fish."
"In fact, I remember this one time..."
"That's completely absurd! Can I come along?"
"Okay, but I'm not killing anyone."
"Dan."
"Dan."
"Dan!"
"Merrrow."
A host of memories flashed before Dan's eyes. His friends, his friends from Earth, the life he left behind. No, he hadn't truly left them behind; they were a part of him. They made him. Every bright spot in his crummy life up until now. Including his friends on Equestria.
"Good job, Dan."
"Thanks, Dan."
"NICKY!!"
"DAN!"
"TWILIGHT!!"
"Spike?"
"Stevie!"
"Thpppbth!"
Dan stood up. "You think I don't care? You think I OF ALL PEOPLE don't CARE?!?!" Rice swung at him, he dodged, backed away. "ALL I CARE about is my friends. And I care about them enough NOT to care about you and your threats... when they tell me not to."
"You should've killed me on the moon. I should've killed you when I had the chance."
"I'M SORRY. You want me to say it? I'm part of the Equestrian Royal Family now. I'm a noble, that makes me... I don't know what it makes me. In line for the throne or something."
Rice almost spat in disgust. "You're a complete fucking idiot and them giving you a title is just another example in a long list of bad decisions by the royalty. By what passes for leadership here."
"AND I'M APOLOGIZING. On behalf of that leadership, I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" Dan said, genuinely. "I'm sorry... really, I am."
The scientist's muscles tensed a little less. Impossibly, it seemed like he was actually calming down as well. Maybe Dan was getting through to him.
So Dan continued. "You lost your son. Your home, your family, everything you knew and loved was taken to you. And yes, it was by some evil, unicorn bitch. They tried to kill you and-"
"She's alive."
"She- what? Who?"
"Princess Quintessa Quartz. It was a made-up name," Rice revealed. "There never was a Princess Quartz. Princess Platinum's heir was a male, Prince Cyano. He's Blueblood's ancestor."
"I..." Dan shook his head. "That doesn't matter."
"You really don't know how much of their own history they changed, do you? Or... does America do the same thing? Make things look better in hindsight for themselves?"
"It doesn't MATTER! What matters is NOW!!" Dan shouted. "WHERE. IS. CHRYS?!"
"Chrys IS Princess Quartz. The same way Discord was Minister Discovery; they were trying to infiltrate Equestria and conquer it from within. Discord was at least successful for a time."
"I. DON'T. CARE." He didn't have time for this. He wanted Chrys, he wanted his family. That's all he cared about. Once they were all together, all safe, then they could decide who was what and who did what. He would not rest until he found her.
Rice folded his arms, smirked. "What happens if Chrys isn't here, Dan? What if she never really loved you?"
Dan's fists balled again. "WHERE?! I'm not going to ask again."
Again, Rice smirked. "And? What are you going to do?"
And... Dan's fists unballed. He wasn't going to give in to him. He pinched his eyes, turned away from him. "There are more important things... more important things happening. Than just me and you." He looked at Rice. "It's not worth it. She... they are. There is no justice to be had for you or me. The biggest thing... the best thing to do, to settle things is to just get over it. Move on."
"Move on? That's what you intend to do?"
In a clearly unstable, almost jittering-ly angry fashion, Rice shook his head. "No. Maybe you can just start over, but not me. Not me, Dan." His jet boots activated and he rushed at Dan.
"Oh, COME ON!!" Dan guarded his face as Rice delivered a rocket-powered punch into him. He flew backwards, out of the room again.