The sea was bluer than the sky as the All of My Rage chugged through the sky. For the griffon pirates, the word 'vacation' didn't have much meaning, considering they were on vacation almost all the time. But it did for everyone else, who were busy enjoying themselves. The moment word came up that Dan was planning a vacation on the griffon carrier, the griffons had taken it upon themselves to turn the vessel into a massive aerial cruise ship/casino. Card games, dice games and other assorted gambling activities were started on all decks accompanied by plenty of food and beverage. The griffons were intent on fleecing the ponies for what hard-earned bits they brought with them.
And this lasted about twenty minutes until Dan started playing cards, essentially changing the rules of poker, blackjack and even crazy-eights and war to his own advantage. Though attempts were made, no one was able to convince Dan about the rules of the game, and so he ended up with a lot of money. At Twilight and Chrys' urging, he returned it to the ponies who had lost it, resulting in very little net gains or losses among the passengers and crew.
Chrys, Twilight and the Blasties watched the humans play volleyball, drinks levitating near their muzzles. Fluffle Puff was enjoying being used as a ball. Raspberry noises were made every time she was served or returned, though whether that was Fluffle or her fluff, no one really knew.
"Higher! Get those arms up higher, Mr. Erica!"
"It's- it's Steve. Just, Steve is fine, Chrys."
"Okay, Stevie!" Chrys said, taking a loooooong sip on her beverage. "Ima need another drink. Is anyone else hot?"
"Ubbb... ubbllahh... errrrrg." The Blasties were both drooling over the sight of half-naked humans playing volleyball with the pirate griffons.
"I think they're about done," Twilight commented, stepping the stream of drool as it flowed by from the two sisters. The humans, Dan included, were playing feathers-vs-skins against Gus and his griffons. Four tall, intensely-muscled men stretched and hopped to keep Fluffle Puff in the air, skin and hair glistening with beaded sweat rolling over their sculpted bodies. Even Phoenix was tall and relatively chiseled and his hair retained its shape no matter how he moved. The mares watched in slow motion as the bipedal olympian-esque figures danced and jumped for their pleasure.
Although Chrys' eyes did notice the others, they were mostly fixated on the shirtless form of Dan. His slightly pudgy pale body moving and flowing in slow motion, making her heart beat faster with every flabby quiver. Sweat clumped his excess back hair together in a greasy mass of funk that she wanted to bury her face into. While waiting for his turn, he scratched in places that weren't appropriate even for pirates. While Chrys blushed, a couple griffons vomited.
The humans walked over to the bar underneath the ship's bridge deck. "Ahhh, good game, Gust. Good game."
"Yeah, if you call forty-four to nothing a good game. Gimme a drink, make it a double," the red griffon said, taking a stool.
"Ah, better luck next time, nuggets," Dan said, toweling himself off.
"Dan, we lost," Captain America said.
"Which is kind of hard to believe, considering half the other team spent half the time puking," Chris added, looking over to where their opponents were still vomiting.
"Hey! If you have to throw up, do it over the- okay, nevermind," Gust said, shaking his head. "Another thing to clean up." As he mentioned that, Blast Fuse and Blast Powder had dissolved into puddles and were slowly leaking off the side of the deck.
"We'll help you clean up the ship, Gust," Twilight said. "When we're done with our um, vacation, we can get the All of My Rage and the other two ships back to Cloudsdale and clean them from stem to stern. I'm sure the pegasi will help out."
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash zipped up. "It's the least we can do since you guys helped us protect the kingdom. You're welcome around here any time, Gust."
"Oh uh, thanks," Gust said, rubbing his neck. "It's not really that big a deal, it's just... worried about my own home. Haven't seen it in a while... or my family." The majority of griffons lived in the north-western most corner of Equestria in an area called Verticia, a series of enormous stone pillars that rose right out of the sea and stretched up for miles. Verticia was also the name of the capital city of the griffons, an enormous hanging cage-like structure supported by the three largest pillars. Griffon cities often made use of vertical space. Gust was originally from Peaktown(or Peakton depending on dialect), a village on the outskirts near Griffonstone.
Twilight nodded. The ponies patted his wings sympathetically. "We're all going through that. We will find them, eventually."
"That's right, feathers," Dan said. "We'll find the rest of your chickens and get them all back in your toilet-buckets and you'll be good to go. Nobody messes with my turkey except me," he said, slapping him.
But Gust knew exactly what he was saying. "Thanks, Dan."
"Hey, Rainbow!"
"Nix!" The pegasus tackle-hugged the lawyer. The Blasties both magically levitated towards them and proceeded to glomp Phoenix and Rainbow.
(Ah, three of my favorite girls. Maya would love this.) "Rainbow! Where did you come from?"
She pulled off him for a moment. "Whaddaya mean?"
"Oh, uh, I didn't mean like you weren't welcome with us, I mean, uhh-"
"Well, what DID you mean?" Rainbow said, folding her hooves. Fusey and Powdy zero-animation slid next to her with identical character models, joining her in frank criticism of the lawyer's comment.
"I uh, umm, I didn't mean it like that. Wha-what I meant was, I didn't know what you were doing here now and..." he swallowed.
"I believe he's asking what you're doing away from Ponyville," Khan commented. The dark-haired augment wasn't even sweating. Shirtless, he really did look 'superior' as he slowly put back on a Freakazoid! t-shirt. The shirt hid absolutely none of his muscles, the cloth adhering to every curve of his sculpted form. Both Blasties swallowed and blushed hard.
"Bu... guh... urrr..."
"Oh. Well, Dan said it was a vacation for everypony, didn't he?" Rainbow asked.
"And everyone else as well," Fluttershy said. She was sitting on the deck, Angel Bunny in her hooves and surrounding her were most of her pets. The rest were below decks.
"Which reminds Trixie," Trixie said as she walked by, "That the Great and POWERFUL Trixiiiiiie! Will be performing along with Granny Smith, Big Macintosh and the band tonight in the cruise ship's auditorium! Be sure to arrive early to get the best seats to see TRIIIXXXIE!" She was followed by Snips, Snails, Blueblood and Berry Punch.
"So, wait a minute, EVERYONE is here?" Phoenix asked. He looked around. The ship was big, but he didn't think it was THAT big. Apparently, however, it was large enough to hold the majority of Ponyville and Cloudsdale's populations. At least, all the characters seen on screen, anyway.
"Scans indicate the current occupancy of Expunger-class vessel "All of My Rage" at nearly ten-thousand beings including four-thousand griffon crew and flight personnel. The ship is at seventy-eight percent capacity and can operate safely in excess of one-hundred-thirty-five percent capacity," Knight said, calculating out loud.
"Oh. Well, that's good to kno- wait, Knight?" Phoenix looked down. Rather than seeing the metal filly towering over him, he was surprised to see her as actual filly-sized. He knelt down to her. "Knight?! Is that really you?"
She nodded. "Affirmative. Greetings, Phoenix Wright. Joyful expression engaged."
"Ohh, wowwwww," Phoenix said, astonished. "How did you get so small?"
"Mini Gear mode allows compartmentalization and deployment of main operating functions into smaller chassis."
"HA! Like anyone can understand that techno-babble," Ace added. The other filly flew down on tiny, jet-assisted wings. "She means we're remote controlling these smaller units. Lightning Claw help us set it up. So now, we can be regular-size ponies, too!"
"That's amazing! Hey, Dan!"
Dan skidded over. "This is what now-OH! TINY MAGIC GEARS!" He grabbed Knight and picked her up. She was the same size as Sweetie Belle. "OH MAI GAWD IT'S ADORABLE!" He hugged her tight. "I have my own tiny killing machine! Finally!"
"Help."
"Can I... pick you up?" Phoenix asked lil Ace.
The mini gear's eyes slanted slyly. "Sure, big guy, if you think you can handle all of me."
Blast Fuse and Blast Powder stared wide-eyed at the humans holding tiny robot ponies. They both said, at the same time, "I want one."
Dan continued squeezing Knight tightly. "Ohh, this is the best thing ever! We're gonna make a FORTUNE selling these things!"
"That course of action is inadvisable."
"OHHH! Nicky!" Dan exclaimed. "Did you hear that? She has her own catchphrase!" He held her up in front of him, her tiny metal hooves tangling adorably. "Say it again!"
"That course of action is inadvisable."
"THIS IS THE BEST THING SINCE THE TANK! Hey! Have you guys seen the tank?" Dan said, still ecstatic. "I'm gonna go show you the tank. You'll love it."
"Help." Dan carried the metal filly in his arms below decks to the hangar where all of his stuff, most of which Knight had already seen and all of it she was aware, was being held.
Vol, the mother gear was also a smaller size now, though still a crab-like robot. She played with Fluffle Puff and the ice cream spider foodimal. It was as adorable as it was creepy, balancing the two.
"Purr... purr... purr," Ace said, in Phoenix's arms. It wasn't really purring- she was just saying purr repeatedly, but the sentiment was the same.
"Aww, good girl," Phoenix said as she nuzzled him. He pulled her off of him for a moment. "I have to ask, though... do you still have your weapons when you're this size? And the, uh, important weapon?"
She shook her head. "Not at the moment. But I got the internet." Her eyes changed to display the Magic Gear desktop screen. Phoenix was able to use one of her hooves as a mouse.
Phoenix was mesmerized. He was using a robot pony to internet. (Okay... maybe Dan was right. These things... err, girls, would be worth a fortune. Oh crap, are we inventing robot slavery? And we're done.)
He set her down. "So everyone is here on this vacation?" he asked. And the view answered his question- Flim and Flam were selling kites, the CMC were playing hopscotch with some griffons, Miss Cheerilee was leading a tour, Roseluck, Lyra and Bon-bon were sitting on a park bench, Noteworthy was reading a newspaper, Cranky and Matilda were playing checkers and Zecora and Daring Do were playing shuffleboard against Tuxley and Reginald. Even Aegis and the royal guards were nearby, with their families just enjoying themselves.
"Huh," Phoenix remarked. "I guess everyone is here." But it begged the question, which Phoenix then asked, "Who is really staying to watch Ponyville?"
"Someone very, very trustworthy," Dan said. "And someone whose vacation involves people not being at home."
"Okay. How trustworthy are they?"
"Very, very trustworthy."
"Uh huh," Phoenix nodded. "Well, I hope that's the case, considering they'll be the one in charge of the ion cannons. And the security system. And the Sword Spells."
Dan closed-eyes smile-nodded. "Of course, Nicky. There was only one name that came to mind for the job."
Back at Ponyville, Derpy sat at the controls to the treehouse's security system. On the console were several buttons, all of which had an angry picture of Dan's face on them. She pressed one of them that looked like Dan shouting at a mailbox. *Boop*
*BLAAM* Halfway across town, the Ponyville Post Office exploded again.
"Vacation!" Derpy exclaimed.