//------------------------------//
// Carrying Out the Sentence 
// Story: Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1) 
// by Barrobroadcaster 
//------------------------------//

"Um… can I finish my cross examination first?" Phoenix asked awkwardly.

The sound of the courtroom doors creaking drew his attention. He turned around quickly to see the witness stand was empty. Firedancer was gone without a trace. The courtroom doors slammed shut.

He turned back around, about to address the judge, suggest taking a break for lunch when he noticed the judge's chair was empty. The jury's rows were vacant and Dan, Sombra, Lightning Claw and Spike were gone as well. The room was empty save for Phoenix Wright.

"I guess that's recess." Phoenix closed his court record briefcase and left to join the others. Before leaving, he approached the bench and took the judge's gavel. "Court will adjourn for thirty minutes for lunch!" he announced. He banged the gavel, surprisingly heavier than it looked, and it reverberated through the desk and resounded through the courtroom. Phoenix smiled. (Always wanted to do that.)

Dan was already at the court entrance by the time everyone else had filed out. Having paid over his phone(using Phoenix's BitBud account), Dan opened one of the double doors, checking his phone as he did so.

"Ten minutes, not bad. You guys must be close by."

"Very close," the delivery stallion smiled.

From through the doorway, Nick, Sombra and the others could see outside. While it would've been obvious who it was by the way he held the pizza boxes in one of his metallic hands, it was even more obvious when Dan took the boxes himself revealing a familiar face.

"Uh, D-Dan, that's-"

"A lot to carry, I know but I got it," Dan replied. He sat three of the boxes down on a table beside the door, holding the other in his left hand. He turned back to the delivery guy. "That everything?"

"Everything except your receipt, sir," the tall, brown stallion said, handing him a slip of paper grasped by steel fingers. Dan received the receipt, entirely oblivious to who had just handed it to him.

"Dan, don't you know who that is?!" Phoenix yelled.

Dan looked up from the receipt. The delivery stallion was as tall as Phoenix was and wore a white lab coat. Unlike most ponies, he stood upright on two steel boots that his hind legs were slotted into and wore a pair of metal gauntlets attached to his forelegs, giving him a very anthropomorphic appearance. Dan would've sworn he'd seen the stallion before, even would've said he looked like somepony he knew if he didn't have a black, curled mustache on his face. It was a bit odd that it didn't match his sandy-tan colored mane but Dan didn't think that much of it. He did, however, notice his name tag.

"You're uh…" Dan squinted to read the tag.

"My name'a Vince'a Grippe," the delivery pony said in possibly the worst racist stereotypical-Italian accent ever. "I thank-a you so much for-a choosing'a Sbarro's."

Phoenix facepalmed.

"Is he this dense all the time?" Sambra asked.

Nick: "Well…"

Spike: "Yep."

Lightning Claw: "Uh huh."

Firedancer: "Probably."

The Judge: "Indubitably."

M. Bison: "Yes! YES!!"

"Thought so," Sambra said.

"Well, thank you Vinny, for your speedy and efficient service," Dan said with a courteous slight bow.

"Oh, it's-a no problemo," 'Vinny' replied, returning the bow.

Dan smiled. "I will be sure to write a favorable review on your website. Thanks again!"

"Of-a course-a! Asta-la… whatever." The odd stallion turned around to depart.

"You too!" Dan turned around to pick up the rest of the pizzas. "Hey… wait just a minute!" he said, his voice suddenly full of his traditional, hostile anger. 

The pizza guy stopped feet away from the door. "Isa… isa there a problem? Uh?"

Dan glared back at him. "Oh, you bet there's a problem," he sat the pizza boxes down on the table and stomped over to him.

"I, uh… I-I-I-I-" he stammered, hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. "I assure you," he waved defensively, "I-a don't knowa what-a you're talking about."

"Don't give me that," Dan said. "You know EXACTLY what's wrong, here. You thought after all this time, I'd forget."

"I… I do?" 'Vince' asked nervously.

"Yeah, you do," Dan said, eyes narrow, face an inch from his muzzle. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ten-bit note. "You thought I forgot your tip!"

'Vince' exhaled so hard his mustache was blown sideways. "Ah… but of-a course." He accepted the bill from Dan and stuffed it into his coat pocket.

"Thanks again!" Dan said, picking up the pizzas and turning back to the gang.

"Don't-a mention it!" the stallion waved, departing again.

Stunned, the group watched as their de facto leader walked over with four ticking 'pizzas' in his hands. Phoenix swallowed hard.

"Lightning?"

"Y-yes, Phoenix?"

"Can you make a shield spell? Around us? Right now? Please?"

"Um…" Lightning clicked his hooves together shyly. "I'm not really that good with shield spells."

Phoenix turned to him slowly. "How 'not good' exactly?"

"Well," Lightning blushed, "the shields I make don't really block anything. They just kind of attract these floating gold rings for some reason."

Firedancer raised his hoof. "But in the game they block stuff. Once."

Lightning nodded. "I know."

Dan walked over to the group with the boxes. "Somepony or somebody get some plates! It's lunch, guys!" Delighted and completely oblivious to the ticking still coming from the boxes, Dan opened the top one he was carrying up with his free hand. He smiled as the fragrant aroma of cheese, tomato sauce and crisp dough wafted from within. He checked each of the toppings to see that they were all there: beets, onions, hay bacon and hay sausage. All were there in perfectly-fresh dispersion across melted mozzarella cheese, a work of culinary art. It looked, smelled, even the heat from the box felt absolutely delicious.

Then, something caught Dan's eye. Oddly enough, a digital clock display had been placed on top of the pizza. Wires were protruding from it running into the crust and the cheese surrounding it. The clock seemed to be counting down from ten. As he watched in bewilderment, it ticked closer to zero.

"Hey… wait a minute!" Dan shouted. He closed the box and looked up at the group. "We didn't order time bomb on this! Did we?"

The group's eyes went wide. They collectively yelled a unanimous "NO!!!"

"I didn't think so!" Dan opened the courtroom doors again. "HEY VINNY!!"

Vice Grip turned around quickly. "Ye-yes?"

"WE'RE SENDING THIS BACK!!" Dan chucked the pizza boxes right at Vice Grip. The boxes tumbled through the air together.

Vice had time to utter a pathetic "Mama mia…" before the boxes collided with him and exploded.

KRABOOOOOOWWWWWMMM

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

Vice Grip was sent flying by the explosion. A smoke trail followed him as he soared into the distance and out of sight, finally become a twinkle that audibly "dinged" out of existence for no other reason than to reference Pokemon. Which we've done before but hey, it's Vice Grip now.

"And you forgot your mustache!" Dan hurled the fake mustache in the direction Vice had flown. He turned back around and closed the lobby doors.

"Dan…" Phoenix asked, dumbfounded, "did you know that entire time?"

"Of course I did!" Dan proclaimed. "I was the one who ordered it, remember?"

"That's… not what I meant…"

But Dan just grinned confidently at him. "Always check your food while the delivery guy is present, Nicky."

Phoenix shook his head. "I don't think we'll be ordering out again for a while."

"Probably not," Dan patted the attorney on the shoulder. "Let's grab something from the vending machines and get back to your cross examination."

(Great idea. So long as the vending machines aren't ticking.)