Vice Grip powered right towards Dan, flying at him like a wrecking ball. Dan didn't move.
Instead of trying to evade, Dan caught Vice Grip's blow. If he'd dodged, he would've left himself open for a pincer grab when Vice missed. The stallion was actually crippling himself by wearing the gloves; they acted as tells, telegraphing Vice's attacks and letting Dan see where he was going to hit next.
Dan grabbed Vice Grip's gauntlet by the sides, pulling with it. Rather than absorbing the force of the blow, Dan changed its direction, throwing Vice over his shoulder.
The scientist stallion's eyes went wide as the world flipped around him. The force of his jet boots combined with Dan's judo-esque maneuver turned the villain quite literally upside down. The flares from his jets scorched the top of Lightning's shield as he was flipped until Vice Grip's back slammed onto the floor with a crack.
"Ogh!"
Dan tried to jump on top of Vice while he was down, eager to press the advantage. Too eager; Vice blocked with his back-right leg, kicking Dan's chest and pushing him off. The human tumbled, giving Vice time to get to his feet.
They both got back to a standing position at the same time. The two combatants raised their fists, preparing to go toe-to-toe. They began circling the arena, facing each other in one of those standoff shots.
"I've trained extensively in hand-to-hoof combat," Vice said. "Even against humans."
"I don't doubt that," Dan said back.
"Oh?"
"I don't doubt you've trained against humans- but I doubt you've won any fight that wasn't on your own terms."
"I'll make this one the first," Vice's eyes narrowed. Guarding his muzzle, he advanced on Dan. His metal gauntlets offered a better defense than Dan's human hands; being made of steel, they could endure far more punishment from jabs. He lunged at Dan with his right fist.
But Dan was faster. The human dodged quickly and delivered a straight punch over Vice's left guard and into his muzzle. Overcome with rage, Vice continued jabbing at Dan with his right while trying to block with his left. Dan ducked, dodged each blow and backpedaled away.
"Maybe you'd fight better on all fours," Dan taunted.
Vice tasted the smallest amount of blood in his mouth. He spat. "When I'm done with your race, I'll be the only upright creature to walk the face of your planet!"
"Shoes like those, I'm surprised you can walk upright now," Dan said.
"I'll break you in half, biped!!" Vice lunged at Dan again. Vice's gloves might've given him immense power and defense but they made him just a little bit slower on the response. Dan grabbed him by the right arm and pulled him close. Before Vice could pull away, Dan punched him the face. Over and over again.
"YOU. DON'T. EFFING. MESS. WITH. MY. FRIENDS," Dan said, delivering a blow each time to the stallion's face. "YOU LITTLE. PIECE. OF SH!T."
The wrist on Vice's right gauntlet rotated, reversing his entire hand. It grabbed Dan's left arm and squeezed down hard.
"GAAAAH!!"
Vice smacked his left fist into Dan's jaw. The force of the blow spun the man's head around and made him spit blood. He punched at Vice's right foreleg, trying to force him to release his left arm. It caused Vice to pull forward, buckling the joint in his foreleg. His left hand still free, Vice swung at Dan's head again, messing several times. Dan elbowed into Vice's stomach several times while the stallion still swatted, managing only to brush the back of his head.
Dan turned Vice Grip and used his back to throw him off. The two broke off the grapple again, panting.
Dan's face was now bloodied. Even a single blow was enough to break Dan's nose and probably a couple of teeth. But Vice's muzzle was just as bloodied, drips of crimson trailing down from his bruised nose.
Both of them feinted, guarding themselves more now.
"You think your friends care about you?" Vice asked. "They're just using you. That's why they summoned you. You know what happens if you fall here? One of them will just summon another human. That's all your race is to them- pawns they can sacrifice at any time."
"Knight," Dan corrected. "And my friends didn't summon me."
Vice lowered his guard for a moment in utter disbelief. "What?"
"I thought you knew," Dan said, edging closer. "I just dropped in an announced. But they're pretty happy I'm here!" He jumped at Vice.
Vice's eyes were wide. He made no attempt to raise his guard. "She lied to me."
Dan collided with Vice. He tackled the scientist to the ground. In that moment, Vice's distraction ended and he tried to defend himself- too little, too late. Dan was on top of him, landing blow after blow on his face.
"You're a liar! You hear me?! You don't care about any pony's future but your own!" he grabbed Vice Grip by the ears. "You want Earth so bad?! Go there! GET HOME!" He head-butted Vice, then grabbed him and slammed his head against the floor. "GO HOME! GO HOME! GO HOME!"
"THIS IS MY HOME!!!!!" Vice roared. He grabbed Dan's face and activated his jets again. In desperation, the two were flung towards the side of the shield. They hit the shield, electrifying both of them as Lightning's electric magic surged through their bodies. They both screamed, yelled in agony. The shield blistered and sparked, pushed by the force of Vice's boots and the combatants smashed against it. Vice Grip's jet boots shorted out, dropping both of them to the floor, smoldering.
Vice rose first, struggling to stand as smoke rose from his boots. He limped over to Dan's singed form, lying prone and picked him up by the neck.
"THIS IS MY HOME!!" he yelled again. He spun Dan over and slammed him onto the floor. "This is my FUTURE! My DESTINY!!" he smashed Dan against the floor repeatedly. "I don't have anything else! They took it from me! MY FAMILY, MY FUTURE, MY FATHER!!" With each declaration, he slammed the back of Dan's head into the floor. The platform began to crack, splintering like glass. Dan's grip on Vice's gauntlet at his throat finally went slack. The scientist slammed him down one final time. The human's arms flung backward and his form went prone and motionless.
"You… you can't possibly… possibly understand," Vice said. He turned to Dan's friends and Lightning on the Flutterbird, still watching. "None of… none of you have experienced loss like I have. I… I tried to spare you, all of you from it and still get back what was taken from me," he said, speaking to all of them. He wiped his muzzle on his lab coat, staining the white fabric with blood. "You know that? I tried to PREVENT this from happening! I could've blown Canterlot, Ponyville, all of Equestria to bits and beyond at any given time! I didn't! Because I was trying to SAVE you!"
Dan's form twitched behind him. He jerked, eyes still closed, blood and broken shards of the platform around him.
Vice Grip turned back to him. "But I see now. The only way to make you understand is to make you feel that same loss. To show you what following them leads to," he walked over to Dan slowly, limping awkwardly. He lifted up his boot, shaking a bit as he did so and raised it over Dan's head. "If this is what has to be done, so be it."
"RaaaRARRGH!"
Dan's eyes shot open at the last second and he grabbed Vice's other boot. He sunk his teeth deep into Vice's leg just above the metal.
"Gah-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGH!!"
Vice grabbed his knee as Dan twisted and bit hard, drawing blood. The stallion buckled forward and reached for Dan's head, managing only to grab his hair. He pulled, trying to pry him off but Dan only shifted his bite and punched his joint. Vice was stabilized thanks to the metal boot but couldn't yank Dan off him with his gloves alone. He kicked at Dan's legs with his free boot while pulling Dan's hair, combining both actions to pull him off.
Dan pushed off Vice and the villain fell backwards. The two struggled to stand again, both of them battered, bruised and bloodied. They got to their feet, caught their breath for a moment and then lunged at each other again, this time, both Dan and Vice went for each others' throats. They grabbed each other, both clutching the other by the neck.
"Why… won't you... break?!" Vice asked.
"Why… won't you... give up?!" Dan asked.
"You… can't… stop me!"
"You… can't… win!"
They grappled with each other, pulling and twisting while clutching each others' necks. Their heads butted, they smashed into each other over and over again.
"It's… useless!" Vice said, straining. "Why… why do you keep… fighting?! We both want… revenge!"
"I'm not… fighting… for revenge," Dan said back, straining. "I'm fighting for… MY FRIENDS!!"
"AAA-AAAGH!"
Dan pushed Vice down with all of his strength. Vice stepped back, his knees buckling. The servos in his boots popped and grinded, unable to stand up to the force pressing down on them.
Dan stepped on Vice's tail between his legs.
"GAAAAAHHUGH!"
"THEY'RE MY FRIENDS!" Dan pulled back his fist and punched Vice's muzzle. Stepping on Vice's tail, he grabbed him by the throat with his left hand and repeatedly slammed his fist into the villain's face with his right. Over and over, blow after blow landed until Vice's forelegs went slack. He released him.
Vice staggered backward, unbalanced.
Dan pulled back and hit Vice one more time in the face. The stallion flew backward and landed in the center of the platform. The surface cracked again but didn't break.
"You could've saved… a lot of time," Dan said, limping towards Vice Grip's form, "if you had just… let me kick your ass in the first place."
"Dan…"
"Wow," Lightning said. "Just… wow."
Dan walked over to where Vice had dropped his remote. He stumbled twice as he walked but didn't fall, bending over to pick up the remote. "All right… now which button turns off the force field things?" he asked. He flipped the remote upside down, trying to look at all the buttons. "WELL DON'T COME DOWN HERE AND HELP ME!"
"Oh, uh, right," Lighting deactivated his shield spell and flew down to the platform.
"I JUST K.O'D THE FREAKING BAD GUY, YOU'D THINK I COULD GET SOME TECH SUPPORT!"
"I'm coming!" Lightning said. "I got it! I got it!"
Dan handed him the remote, then walked over to his captive friends. "Twilight…"
"Dan," Twilight said, amazed. "That was incredible. You actually beat him!"
"Thppp-Thpppp!!!" Fluffle cheered. Okay, THAT was better than pie.
"You kicked his techno-loving plot, Dan!" Chrys added. "It was so cool the way you grabbed him by the arm and-"
"Great job, Dan!" Phoenix yelled from inside the Flutterbird. "And there's no possible way he can sue us!"
"That was awesome, Dan!" Spike added.
"He didn't stand a chance against you!" Firedancer said, waving.
"Guys," Dan stopped them mid-praise, "I appreciate it, I really do but Twilight?"
"Yes, Dan?"
"Summon another human here with my blood type. Honestly, we're uh… we're kinda high up here and I think I lost some blood when I fought Vice," he pointed at Vice Grip's unconscious form with his thumb. "I think you should teleport us to a… a hospital. You know, when you get free."
Twilight nodded. "Oh, uh, of course. We'll get you help right away."
"Are you okay, Dan?" Chrys asked, concerned.
"Yeah," Dan said, catching his breath. "Kinda dizzy but... I'm all right. You guys okay?"
"We're okay," Chrys said timidly. "It's just amazing that you actually beat Vice Grip."
"I know," Dan said. He looked over his shoulder to make sure Vice was still lying down. Lightning was still fiddling with the remote. "I'm gonna need somepony else to carry him though. And a Mountain Daring Dew, cold."
"Um, Dan?" Lightning tapped his shoulder.
"Yeah?"
He looked up at Dan, then back down to the remote frantically. He mouthed words, unsure of how to tell him. "I-uh, I-"
"What is it?"
"What's wrong?" Twilight asked.
"I, um…" Lightning swallowed. He whispered to Dan: "I don't know how to use the remote."
"YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO USE THE REMOTE?!!!!"