Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1)

by Barrobroadcaster

The Truth of All Elements

Prosperity Mountains, Northern Equestria
Exact location unknown

Rice didn't have a home to return to. It was immediately evident to him upon returning to Stable 5 and Prosperity Base that things had changed. The reason it was immediately evident was because Stable 5 and Prosperity Base were not there. The entire mountain complex, the airstrip, the vehicle hangars, the lab and everything else were gone, all gone. More than just gone; it was like they had never been built in the first place. Erased.

Erased.

The spot in which Rice built everything, where he plotted his complex revenge scheme along with the Director, all gone. The railroad tracks that led up to the base still went to the gem mine, long-since abandoned. The way he'd found it. Nature had reclaimed the rest of the area, or rather, simply dominated it. Tall trees surrounded the mountain base, the only space being the swath the train tracks cut through on their way into the mine. The only evidence of civilization in the area and it looked more natural than anything Rice had done.

For some reason, that fact hurt him the most. The fact that the world could simply take whatever he did and just write over it like it had never been. Like he had never been. Yet it still left him with memories, the haunting visions of his son and his life in Ponyville. They were images in his head now, nothing more and nothing less, evoking only pain when they inevitably surfaced.

A world where the impossible could happen, where anything was possible and yet he still would never be reunited with his son. The thought made him ball his fist. Dan had crushed his left hand into scrap, which shouldn't have been possible. Now, with things the way they were, he had no easy way of fixing it.

Maybe... maybe he could start over. There was nothing else for him. There was no going back, he knew that much.

---

Rice spent a few days living in the woods. He slept inside the mine where it was a little warmer and drier. Ate roots, berries and other food that he could forage, drank water off trees and collected it where he could. It was some of the roughest living, but it was living.

His exile was self-imposed, he knew that. Although he had agreed to peace between his own forces and Equestria, a lot had been unspoken. He never formally agreed to leave Equestria or disband his army, yet that was what happened. He never agreed to disarm or dismantle his facilities, yet that was what happened. He didn't know what he would do now and suicide was not an option. If there was a way to get his son back and he gave up before it was found, that would have been a greater indignity than he could suffer in life or death.

He built a small cabin for himself using tools from the mine- a pickaxe, a couple shovels. His gauntlets and boots were gone. Rice returned to living as a regular earth pony on four legs. It wasn't easy for him; he'd spent much time living upright but it came back to him eventually. The natural way wasn't all bad, but it was rarely easy. Rice foraged for food, slept on a rough bed made of things he could scavenge.

There were few animals in the wilderness. A few birds flew by occasionally, sometimes he saw a few rabbits or other animals. He had time and not much to do. Alone, it dragged by slowly, so he tried to keep himself busy. Ponies, like humans, were not meant to live alone but that was what he was doing. Perhaps, if he were truly to start over, he could visit the north.

The idea of starting over became more and more appealing in his mind. Maybe that, finally, was the way to get over the pain he felt. Was that how magic worked? Did you have to want it and work for it to get it to work for you?

Did change only come when you truly tried to change yourself? He decided to think about it. Maybe another group of people would welcome him in, just as Dan had been welcomed by the ponies. Was the reverse possible?

There were other civilizations out there, some that were more reclusive than Equestria. There was the zebras to the north, but they were still xenophobic for the most part; there was a reason they were seldom seen outside their lands. The mountain goats were their chief rivals, but they were very stubborn and superstitious. The centaur were big sports lovers and loved competition, but were also aggressive. The Buffalo League like them were very set in their ways and expected travelers to adhere to them when they visited, apart from their casinos.

The deer, or deerfolk as they were sometimes called, were the most secluded race in all Equestria. They rarely ventured out of the forests and lived in isolated, small tribes. Even among more aggressive species like the dragons, the deer were considered by far the most innocent and at times, respected. A single deer had never been involved in anything sinister, at least on record.

The griffons were almost all thieves and pirates in their homelands. It was part of their culture and even the ones that weren't sky pirates were known to pirate movies, songs and games online. Yakyakistan, Saddle Arabia, Nippone, all were quite far away. Not exactly viable within walking distance.

Then, there were the sea ponies. The ones encountered by himself, Dan, even the ancient ones, hadn't actually been from this Equestria. They'd been from another universe, Rice had learned, an alternate universe where water covered the planet. An Aquastria, of sorts. Yet, there were some evidence that sea ponies of this realm were more than myth. Some sailors and fisherman had sworn to their fabled existence, and stories of ponies being saved by mysterious ocean-dwellers was common in coastal communities.

Mane, the simple pony version of Maine, was a couple days' hike from the Prosperity Mountains. If he headed east and followed the mountain range, he'd find Mane easily. It was a quiet community but, like its Earthly counterpart, was also the primary setting for most of Seedphen King's novels. So it was creepy. Still, creepy looked like the best option considering it was the closest.

Rice decided. He'd make his way to Mane and start a new life. Work the docks or on a boat or something. He would change his name, get a haircut, maybe grow a beard. He'd change his name, too; just let Rice fade back into the pages of history along with Vice.

In that last moment, he finally began to feel less pain. Maybe enough time had finally passed or, maybe it was because he was tired and aching, maybe it was a lot of reasons. Maybe, it was more than one thing.

There. That was the magic of Equestria: multiple things coming together. Like multiple people. Alone, Rice discovered the magic of friendship. It had and would always be the only thing that caused real change, real improvement in this world. Out in the elements, the realization dawned on him that the elements had to come together to create harmony.

---

Dousing and collecting condensation would only provide him with so much water. He was going to have to build up stores, and that meant digging a well. Rice settled on the idea that he'd grow out his beard, spend a few weeks in the forest to build up some muscle chopping wood. He would change his entire appearance and build up some supplies of water and foraged food, fruits and roots before he made his journey. He found an old minecart he could convert into a regular cart to carry his supplies. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was all he had.

The digging was tough. He had to scavenge for food and water every day if he didn't want to starve or die of thirst. It took a lot of time and effort, and the rest of his time spent awake went to fixing his crude tools or maintaining his shelter. There wasn't much food or water around, so he had to conserve his energy and build up stores, little bits every day.

He was just about to hit groundwater when he hit something else. It was hard and metallic, clanking against his shovel. At first, he thought it was a piece of metal that got buried from the mine or the rails, but he pulled it up and began to realize it was something else.

Rice dug it out of the dirt. The dirt brushed off of it easily, too easily. Underneath was an advanced polymer substance, highly-compressed and refined into one of the most durable and resistant, particularly magic-resistant substances ever known. Few knew of how to make such a substance, but Rice knew. He had invented it.

It was the chrome-like metal he'd used to build the Magic Gears, a single piece of it. There hadn't been enough at the base to manufacture another full Magic Gear, so the surplus had been stored. It had survived the destruction of his base, the destruction of the entire planet and its restoration.

Rice pulled himself out of the hole. He still held the piece of metal, looking into its reflective surface. Under all the dirt, dust and debris, there was still a piece of himself there. He sat on the ground, staring at it for a long, long time, only blinking occasionally.

He dug another hole. And another. And another. And another, another, another, another, another, another, another; he never had to dig very far. Bits and pieces of his base were scattered all throughout the area. A piece of concrete from the tarmac here, a chunk of metal from a girder there, parts of the hangar he'd housed vehicles in.

Equestria had only changed on the surface. Underneath it all, it had just tried to bury everything that had come before. The elements of the planet were built on the death and destruction of all the previous generations, the previous concepts, the ideas and ponies that hadn't made it. Him. His son.

Equestria had tried to bury him.

Rice dug up all the pieces he could find. Then, he burned the present and returned to building the future.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

So close, so Voldemort, so Rice cooking.

[Razzy]

Time for him to Minecraft.

[hamster wizard]

Rice decided. He'd make his way to Mane and start a new life. Work the docks or on a boat or something. He would change his name, get a haircut, maybe grow a beard. He'd change his name, too; just let Rice fade back into the pages of history along with Vice.

You repeated the change his name part twice here.

Rice just keeps coming back.

[Barrobroadcaster]

10682366
Vice was his son. He used his son's identity during the war with Dan. It's somewhat of a reference to Ocelot and Liquid Snake. He took his son's name and used self-hypnosis because he values his son's life more than his own, and used it as a way to mask his own pain, exact revenge and prevent Luna or other ponies from reading his mind, thoughts or dreams while working against them.

[LadyLeomon]

Wait, 2 new chapter means it’s Sunday? Darn it!

BRB Pinkie Promise