Vice Grip had not used the Crystal Heart to brainwash all the ponies in the Crystal Empire. Shining Armor, Cadence, Flash Sentry and a few others needed to be made examples of for the rest of Equestria and so had been relocated to different places after they were captured. The royals had been kept in the palace where Vice could get to them if he needed them while the potentially 'resourceful' prisoners had been placed elsewhere, like King Sombra had been. Fortunately, he remembered where at least a few of the others had been kept.
No-longer King Sombra teleported Dan, Phoenix Wright and Spike to a detention center north of the Steel Palace.
"This was the last place I saw Flash Sentry before I was relocated," the former tyrant explained. "Vice Grip said I was too dangerous to be kept with the others… but I really think he may have just wanted to show off that he captured me."
The detention center was another out-of-place building like the mall complex under the palace. It was a plain and rectangular with a flat roof and very few windows placed too high off the ground to reach. A modern jail or correctional facility, minus the barbed wire fences or additional buildings, it stood out among the crystalline houses and buildings even if it wasn't meant to.
"So, what are we going to do?" Dan asked. "Checking in on your boyfriend before the trial?"
"He is my fiancé," the shadowy blue stallion corrected. "I must make sure he's unharmed."
Dan rolled his eyes. "You do realize that if you're found guilty, we're all screwed anyway, right?"
"Why is that, anyway?" Spike asked. "Why does this trial matter so much?"
"It has to do with Vice Grip's leadership," Phoenix said. "His position of power is reliant on the fact that Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor are no longer the rulers of the Crystal Empire."
"Vice bought his way into position as a security advisor in the Crystal Empire," Sombra explained. "He conducted experiments on the Crystal Heart that we thought had been authorized by Princess Celestia. Before we knew what happened, he'd corrupted half the Empire and half our guards. We tried to destroy the Crystal Heart to stop its spread and he was able to use this as grounds to arrest us. The crystal ponies are all tied in to the magic of the Crystal Heart. They'll follow whoever is in control of it but only so long as they're in control. If Vice Grip is removed from power, he'll lose control over the Crystal Heart and the crystal ponies, regardless of the type of magic they're being influenced by, will no longer obey him."
Dan frowned in his typical aggressive skepticism. "And you do realize how INCREDIBLY convenient and simultaneously INCONVENIENT it is for us, don't you? Dr. Wingnut's got the key to the kingdom and all we have to do is prove that he doesn't deserve it and everypony will automatically believe it?" he shook his head. "Trial or not, Grippy isn't going to give up without a fight. And if he says he's the pony version of me, he won't give up at all willingly unless he finds something better."
Sombra turned to Dan. "He's not you, Dan."
"Come again?"
"He told you the title of the story was an anagram for you being him, didn't he? Well, you can actually make a lot with the same words."
Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship
Dan isn't Vice Grip
"Oh…," Dan said, genuinely surprised. "So he was full of crap when he said that?"
"Yesssssssss."
"Then he's NOTHING like me at all! That bastard LIED to me!" Dan exclaimed. "AGAIN! Now, I'm gonna kill him for pretending to be a pony equivalent of me from another dimension! Attempted impersonation of a royal guard officer! I can arrest him for that, right?"
Phoenix scratched his chin. "I'm not entirely sure on that one. He was claiming to be an equivalent to you, not you yourself. It was like he was telling you that both of you were similar at some core level, that you wanted the same things."
"I NEVER WANTED AN ARMY OF NUCLEAR PONIES!!" Dan yelled. His expression then changed. "To be fair, I probably wouldn't say no to my own private army. But something that could easily blow up the town I'm living in, no dice."
"Good to know you won't try to get an ICBM silo for the treehouse," Spike said. Dan cast a disgruntled frown his way. "What? I'm just saying."
"It's likely Vice said that to upset you," Phoenix commented. "But again, it may tell us a bit more about what his true motives are."
"If he's motivated by revenge, he's nothing like me," Dan said. "I wouldn't be strutting around like I'd already won, making others do my work for me."
Phoenix's eyes went wide. "Unless who you were trying to get revenge on did the exact same thing."
"Then I have one more reason to kill him!" Dan declared. "Trying to impersonate me and failing. Let's go impeach the son of a bitch."
He threw open the double doors to the detention center and they all entered.
Dan looked around. "I guess the people who built this place were trying to decide between making it a school or a jail… not sure which one they went with."
"I've actually seen a lot of places like this," Phoenix commented. (Exactly like the ones back home. And in Ponyville. I know people sent here aren't exactly in the best legal positions but could they at least make one of these places a little… cheerier?)
"Who're you guys?" a voice asked. Coming from around a corner to a hallway was a gray stallion with a red mane, colors that actually matched the decor of the detention center. "Is it time for the trial?"
Sombra stepped forward. "Where issssss Flash Sentry?" he asked, voice stern.
"Umm… I think they moved him," the young pony said. "Right after they moved you, I think. You're… King Sombra, aren't you?"
"Don't answer that," Dan said. "We're asking the questions around here, kid. Are you with the jackass in the lab coat?"
The stallion rubbed his ear. "The what?"
"I am Sombra and you will tell me where Flash Sentry is," the shadow unicorn said, advancing on the new pony. "Now."
"I-uh-I don't know!" the stallion said, backing up. "They took him out of here a couple days ago, right after they moved you! I don't know where he is!"
"Sombra," Phoenix stepped between the two, "I think he's telling the truth. Threatening him isn't going to get us any closer to Flash or any closer to our goals."
"I- yes," Sombra said, stepping back. "I apologize. Flash would… agree with you if he was here."
"I'm sure he would," Phoenix got to eye level with the sensitive shadow. "But right now, the only way we can help him is by getting you free and freeing the Empire from Vice Grip's control."
Sombra nodded. "Yes, yes I understand. I will try to restrain myself."
"Thank you," the lawyer said, relieved. (Emotionally-attached defendant prone to outbursts of irrational behavior with possible dependency issues… now the building isn't the only thing that's too familiar.)
He turned back to the new stallion, who was apparently scared speechless. He was curled on the floor with his tail wrapped around his hooves, eyes closed and legs shaking. "Now… what's your name? What are you doing here?"
The gray stallion suddenly jumped up. "I'm Firedancer! They call me FD, sometimes. Like fire department I guess…" he trailed off, thinking. Then he looked back at them again. "I'm a witness in tomorrow's trial… I think," he scratched his ear again. "Sorry, I get kind of uncertain sometimes. I'm supposed to take medication for it."
Dan stamped to the front of the others. "Are you with Dr. Frankensteed up there? Or with his nut job company?"
"What are you talking about?" Firedancer asked. "I don't know any Frank or company."
"He means Vice Grip," Spike said. "Like, are you working for Vice Grip or anypony that works for him?"
"Yes, that," Dan said.
"Oh, uh… yeah," Firedancer said. "I'm like, one of FIST's special partners, I guess."
Dan's eyes went wide. "You… wouldn't happen to have a brother, would you? Freaky-looking indigo striped alicorn with a broken horn?"
"You mean Lightning Claw?" the pony asked. "Yeah, he's… not actually my brother. But Vice said we were brothers… I think. I don't know why; I don't have any real siblings."
"I knew it!" Dan smacked a fist into his palm. "You're another one of those ponies with special powers, aren't you?"
"I don't have any special powers," Firedancer said, scratching his ear again. As he did, a few small flares flicked off his mane, like embers. "Not that I know of, anyway." He looked at them blankly for a few seconds. "Who did you guys say you were again?"