Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1)

by Barrobroadcaster

BBC Equestria

"You want us to go with you?" Dan asked.

Vice gave a slot bow and nod of the head to affirm.

"And what makes you think we would?" Dan asked.

Vice didn't respond, remaining mid-bow/mid-nod. He froze. Dan and the others waited for him to say something, but he didn't even move. His body suddenly twitched, reverted to his standing, clasped-hands posture, then back to bow. It was almost instant, then happened again.

"Uh… is he broken?" Chrys asked.

A large, white rectangular panel appeared over Vice's face. Letters were typed on the center with a blue bar above and a symbol in the top-left.

Phoenix squinted to read the words. "'Error, Vic-dot-ee-ex-ee has stopped responding." Reading it aloud did nothing to explain it to any of them.

Vice's form turned into a blue silhouette, pulsed once, twice, then disappeared for a moment before reappearing. A low dirging tone was heard, reminiscent of a computer booting up before Vice's traditional form reappeared.

"Sorry about that, still working the bugs out of the operating system. Another reason why I can't technoport you there at the moment but outside, you'll find a Flutterbird waiting for you."

"A Flutterbird?" Twilight asked. "But that's an Enclave craft. How do you get one?"

Vice shrugged. "The Storm Enclave has partnered up with FIST, along with the Crystal Confederation. But I don't want to spoil all the surprises for you. So I'll let you see for yourself when you've arrived."

"You didn't answer my question!" Dan declared. "Why should we take a ride in your windowless white air van in the first place? What's to stop us from saying no?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure it's in all of your best interests to come," Vice said. "I certainly know it's in the best interests of your brother and Princess Cadence," he turned a sly smile to Twilight.

There was no need for that statement to be explained. "What did you do?!" Twilight leapt forward. "What did you do to them?!!"

Vice had to step back as both she and Dan advanced on him. "What did I do? I didn't do anything to them," he said, though it was only too obvious that it was a lie. "Unfortunately, it seems that Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza were involved in some sort of plot to destroy the Crystal Heart."

The whole group gasped. Even Dan appeared shocked to hear that the Shining and Cadence would do such a thing. Though he quickly leaned over to the others and whispered, "What's a Crystal Heart?"

"The Crystal Heart's a focusing point for magical energy," Phoenix explained. "Various types of magic from all parts of Equestria pour into the heart-shaped gem and then out in the form of brilliant auroras. It's a way of restoring and refreshing magic to all corners of Equestria."

"Wow… I didn't even know that," Twilight remarked, surprised her friend knew so much.

Phoenix put his hands on his hips in his trademark pose of confidence. You know the one. "I did some research while I was here, seeing as I had plenty of time this time. I also happen to know that Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor would never do anything to endanger the Crystal Empire," the lawyer declared.

Twilight, Spike, Fluffle and Chrys were happy to see their human friends, especially Phoenix, defending Shining and Cadence so valiantly. Even if they hadn't much involvement with her brother and sister in law, Twilight was very happy that Dan and Phoenix supported them.

Vice half-turned to the flatscreen t.v behind them. "Well, it seems the Crystal Empire doesn't agree with you," he pointed at the screen with one gauntlet, turned a nob on the other and the television turned on.

"-on BBC Equestria! The home of Equestria's best original programming! And up next, don't miss four hours of Doctor Whooves reruns followed by Monty-"

Vice quickly changed the channel, flipping through various other references to other shows and movies including My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Archer, Dan Vs., and Mr. Belvedere. He finally stopped on a news channel where the author of this story was giving a broadcast.

"-levels of aggression we haven't seen in decades. We've received no information from the Zebra Nation at this time for what appears to be an unprovoked attack on Saddle Arabia-" The screen displayed a white stallion with a brown mane next to the image of a desert city, smoke rising from various parts of an overhead shot. The image of the city filled the screen as the camera panned over the buildings and structures, Saddle Arabia under attack. The camera then caught the reflected sunlight of a metal surface in the distance.

"Oh, sorry," Vice said, sounding distinctly not genuine, "wasn't expecting this on so early." He pressed another button on his hand and the image froze.

"That… that's Magic Gear!" Dan said, pointing at the screen. Amid the smoke of a burning Saddle Arabian tower was a Magic Gear, this one with a much larger mane. It looked like a fan and the machine itself resembled more of a zebra than a pony.

"Really?" Vice asked, pretending to take a closer look at the screen. "Oh wait, that's one of the knockoff versions."

"Knockoffs?!" Dan asked. "You're the only one who makes those crazy things!"

Vice grinned. "Well, I WAS. It was Princess Luna's orders, after all. But… it seems that my designs were stolen recently when I gave a copy to Flim and Flam so they could make commercial construction models," he fixed a falsely-innocent gaze to Phoenix Wright. "You wouldn't happen to know where those would be, would you? After all, whoever stole them… or knew who stole them and didn't inform the authorities… is certainly risking Equestria's security. After all, I'm just a defense contractor."

It silenced them all. While Phoenix had received the only copy of the Magic Gear schematics from Flim and Flam, Vice had apparently found a way to use it to his advantage. The scientist was making it all to clear that if he found out Phoenix had them, he'd blame the lawyer and the rest of Twilight's friends for the attack they were witnessing right now.

"Ah well," Vice shrugged, "It should comfort you to know that Celestia and Luna are looking into the zebra's attack as we speak. But meanwhile, the crystal ponies have accused your brother and sister-in-law of treason, Twilight."

Twilight shook her head. "That's… that's not possible."

Chrys could tell she was shaken up. "Shining and Cadence know how important the Crystal Heart is to the Empire. They would never do anything to harm it."

"Who knows why they did it?" Vice asked innocently. He looked over his shoulder. "But… uh… since the news doesn't seem to be covering it at the moment, I happen to have the footage of them being arrested." Vice flipped over his palm and a blue light pulsed from the center of his gauntlet. From his hand appeared a holographic image of Cadence and Shining Armor being surrounded by royal guards, their own royal guards. Twilight noticed neither Nightshade nor Flash Sentry were among them.

"Twilight…" Spike said. They all saw it but none of them could believe it. And it was that fact that made Vice beam. They watched the image in his hand as the prince and princess were escorted by their own guards out of the throne room.

"Yes, it seems quite a lot has transpired lately," Vice nodded. "And just after I was made security chief of the Empire as well. But after this, I've had to take up the office regent of the Crystal Empire," he smiled slyly, crushing the image in his fist.

"They made YOU a regent?!" Twilight asked.

The scientist clasped his hands behind his back. "The citizens of the Crystal Empire insisted upon it. After all FIST has done to provide for them. But after these events, I knew I had to contact you about your brother and Cadence. Which is why I'm here."

"Of course," Dan said, venom in his tone. "Because you're just being… neighborly. As always."

Vice tilted his head in Dan's direction and gave him a grin that made him want to punch the stallion's face down his throat.

"So you technoported into our living room to inform us of this development," Phoenix said, surmising Vice's intent.

"Indeed, Mr. Wright. Going so far as to test one of FIST's latest inventions to get to you faster, given the importance of this terrible turn of events," Vice bowed in Nick's direction.

He didn't buy it, none of them did but it's all they had to go on. And they didn't need to believe it, Vice knew, he just needed them to be unable to prove him wrong. And the proof was beyond them, at the moment.

"What're we gonna do, Twilight?" Chrys asked.

Dan brought them in for a huddle, pulling them together suddenly. "All right, we wrap the N64 controllers around his… boots or whatever, then I flip the couch on top of him. Then Nicky, you-"

"Dan…"

"Nicky, you get the flamethrower from the upstairs closet, we set the couch on fire and then teleport him and the couch outside and claim it was an electrical fire caused by his tekken-port thingy. Okay, team? Ready-"

"Dan," Twilight put a hoof on her violent friend's shoulder. "Dan, we're not going to set him on fire."

"Awww," Dan groaned, disappointed.

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure they'd be able to tell the difference between an electrical fire and one caused by a flamethrower," Phoenix added. (That is, if the detectives here are more perceptive than Gumshoe.)

Comments

[HB_DS2013]

Yeesh, Vice Grip is more evil than all the evil villains in the Ace Attorney series...

[Booster Spice]

Tell the difference between an electrical fire and a flamethrower?

Hey Dan, ever heard of an electric arc plasma torch?

All you need are two ends of a cable, some gas, and it gives you temperatures far higher than the surface of the sun. vapourises Everything it hits.

I made one once out of a 6 volt battery and a pencil.

[Cocaine]

What is this magic?

[Xenomorpher]

5960086 still not as annoying as Godot.

[HB_DS2013]

5960456 Godot's cool! It's Franciska von Karma that I don't like. There's something about that whip of hers that scares me...

[Warrior Kitten]

5960618
If Vice dies I won't be able to use him in my story. So no.

Besides, he's only doing what he believes is right. It's not his fault he's wrong, nor is it his fault he's really good at looking like an asshat

[Barrobroadcaster]

5960260 There are different types of magic, including friendship so… I'm gonna need more specifics than that. What type of magic are you referring to? If you're talking about Vice Grip's tech, his "magic" is just new innovations and it's kind of a jab at people who take technology too seriously, something I'm often guilty of, too.

[Cocaine]

5962150 I was referring to the story as a whole. I'm happy to see someone give such dedication to two series I hold dear. You are a trooper and deserve my follow.

[Barrobroadcaster]

5962160 I do appreciate that and I can only hope that you continue to enjoy what will be a very long series. This season alone will have 26 episodes and we're only on the eleventh so far, what will be part of a 3-4 episode arc. Two more arcs follow with the third being about Dan and Chrys and the final wrapping things up and revealing the hows whats and whys.

This story does have many themes, defiance being one of them. Dan represents positive defiance while Vice represents negative defiance, a counterbalance to the different concepts of change. Dan also represents personal belief as a whole and how being resolute in your convictions, while keeping an open mind to possibilities, leads to the realization of your goals. In that regard, Vice represents false conviction and how disregarding the views of others leads to disastrous results.

I believe everyone has a little bit of Dan in them, some more than others. He's a jerk but that's not a bad thing. Being a jerk in his case just means that he's not afraid to share his opinion, challenge beliefs he doesn't share and that he's willing to stand against injustice on any scale. It's that small voice inside of us that doesn't want to tolerate things that don't make sense, that knows what is right and wants to pursue it at any cost. This is in contrast to the world they live in, which sometimes doesn't make sense. But there is good and bad nonsense and sense; in a day-to-day setting, Dan fights the bad nonsense while laughing and poking fun at the good nonsense. Vice Grip represents bad sense in the idea that what he's doing is practical but ultimately beneficial only to him. He also can't tolerate the good nonsense the ponies often display but he's forced to in the form of Lightning Claw, Warrior Kitten's OC.

Other themes in the story include the idea that some things seem out of place but are still there and have an impact. Deeper than just the "odd-looking puzzle piece that doesn't fit anywhere" idea, I'm attempting to explain how elements of things that we don't understand, may even seem entirely pointless, still have an effect on our world.

Ultimately though, it's for fun. The humor is not to be taken too seriously; if I find a joke or a reference that I think will make the story funnier, I'll throw it in regardless of canon. There's one scene where Dan tries to get to Cloudsdale via one of the beanstalks from Super Mario World. He tries to climb it, when Wario comes riding down on a motorcycle. This scene pretty much has no impact on the plot and is never mentioned again, though it could be. Did it happen? Was it real? Are there special rules to this? Regardless, it is there and Dan knows better than to try and climb strange vines again.

So I hope you do continue to enjoy this story. I've been updating it every Saturday for over a year and a half now and there's still a long way to go. There's also a pre-season and a movie in the works as well as season 2, all of which will be featured on FIMFiction. And hopefully in other media as well.

[Dustchu]

5962296 Wow, that's very well thought out and epic.
of which I approve man, legit.
I just got into Dan VS, and combining it and MLP, makes me one happy camper! :D

So I commend you on an awesome job well done, anid nice going!
Keep up the amazing work!

ONWARD!

[LadyLeomon]

WHAT?! How did this twerp get made Regent?! Dan is right: Ponies has a serious lack of common sense! Oh let Fluffle tear that punk up later, right now go rescue Shining and Cadence team! Go Dan, go!!! Go Phoenix too!!!

[Razzy]

Oh, oh, maybe Chryssie could reunite with her changelings and then sic them on Vice to devour him alive! Seriously, he's getting on my nerves big time.

[Terabyte West]

"You call keeping the entire nation in a perpetual dark age for the past thousand years RESTRAINT?!"

It's the very definition of restraint, genius.

[Vaalintine]

Again, I don't think they'll actually do anything to stop him. They'll go and tell him to quit, they run around and fight, and then they let the Joker Vice Grip free to go make more magic robots to kill people and throw the world into chaos. Are we sure Vice isn't supposed to be the real protagonist with how people have been stupidly letting him do whatever he wants?