//------------------------------//
// Broke: Playing with a Full Deck 
// Story: Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1) 
// by Barrobroadcaster 
//------------------------------//

The casino was loud with noise of all kinds. Talking, shouting, laughing, a sea of bells, chimes and jingles from slot machines and some accompanying music piped through the intercom for ambience. It was almost too much to take in, an assault on the senses but of course, that's what Vegas was if nothing else. A dazzling show to distract the masses from their wallets and purses.

There were lines at the cashier and service counters with dozens of griffons quickly exchanging bits, gems and baubles for chips. The casino had to keep cash itself, so they used bills and other currencies commonly used by donkeys, zebras and goats. It was all too quick for any of them to notice or care, but the griffons were giving back the ponies their own property by the ton at a time.

The trick was keeping it going.

"Seems like you guys are pretty well-set for cash," Dan, disguised as Biff Wellington, remarked.

De Gauss smiled. "Why, yes. We've had quite the windfall lately."

"Really? Do tell."

"Hmm-hmm-hmm, well, let's just say we had a return on quite a few long-term investments, lately," De Gauss said, smirking. "Quite good returns. One might say they were almost... criminal."

Dan smirked right back. "Criminal indeed, my friend. Criminal indeed."

The card tables were packed. De Gauss's griffons were giving the dealers plenty to work with. A lot of the players even had their friends nearby, so each of the tables was packed like its own private party.

The ponies, disguised as zebras, dealt and collected, all while maintaining the calm demeanor common of zebras. Most of the card dealers were actors from the Equestrian Society for Theatre and Drama, so they knew how to keep calm under pressure. But that didn't help them win at cards; for that, Dan had extra insurance. There was a reason the house always won, especially this house.

"Looks like the poker table's full up. We could wait for a space-"

De Gauss pointed. "There's room at the blackjack table."

"Ahh, blackjack! An excellent choice. And here," Dan produced a stack of chips from his shirt pocket. "On the house. Good luck, sir!"

De Gauss let the chips fall into the palm of his claw. "Care to join us for a hand or two, Mr. Wellington?"

"I..." Dan stopped. He hadn't expected this. The plan was to get De Gauss into the High Roller's lounge with as many of his lieutenants as he could. Once the suckers were in place, they'd initiate Phase 2. Dan needed to keep his eyes on things elsewhere. But he also needed them to not be suspicious. Fully relaxed, fully at ease. Maybe he could speed things along if he did it himself.

"Sure, why not? Casino owner playing at one of his own floor tables, not strange at all. Perfectly appropriate."

"Wonderful."

There were a couple of seats open at one of the blackjack tables. Sure enough, it was Pinkie Pie's table.

"Deeeeeeeeeeeeealer has twenty!"

"Gaah!"
"I'm out."

"Hey there, Biff!" The disguised Pinkie said.

"Hi," Dan looked at her name tag, "Zinkie... dear gawd, I'm going to have an aneurysm."

"What's that?"

"Gimme a hundred in chips... Zinkie."

"Chaaaaaanging a hundred!" 'Zinkie' looked back at him and blinked. "Uh... ahem?"

"What?"

"Your bits, sir? Money? Currency? Moolah-"

Dan glared back at her, teeth-gritted. "I'm good for it, just go."

The other griffons left just as De Gauss took his seat at the opposite side, his wide-brimmed hat taking up quite a bit of space. The regal-looking pirate griffon maintained the smug smirk on his beak.

"Place your bets, gentlemen," disguised Pinkie said.

"Let's start things off right, shall we?" De Gauss said. Dan had given him ten standard casino chips, the equivalent of one-hundred bits. De Gauss placed three of them on the table.

Dan did the same. "Sounds great to me."

Pinkie dealt the cards. Nevada-style, meaning facedown. She flipped two cards each to Dan, De Gauss and finally, herself and flipped one of hers over. As fat had dealt, one of her cards was the queen of hearts. A picture of Cadence was on it.

Dan slid his own cards into his palm, dragging them across the table a ways until he flipped them up. He had fifteen- jack of clubs and a five of spades.

"You... do know how to play, right?" Pinkie asked him.

Dan glared at her. "Why, of course I do, Zinkie. Are you sure you're playing with a full deck?" he asked, teeth gritted again.

The pink-striped 'zebra' checked. "Eeeyep. So, what'll be, boys? Hittin' or stayin'?"

"I'll take a hit," De Gauss said. Pinkie slipped him another card. The griffon calmly took it into his claws, placed it neatly aside the other, said nothing else. He looked at Dan and razed a single eyebrow. "Your move, Mr. Wellington."

Dan was still in the process of suppressing a snarl. "Hit me," he said. And Pinkie slipped him another card.

Two of hearts. He was at seventeen.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaand dealer takes another card."

"I'll stand," De Gauss said.

"Dealer stands. Aaaaand Da- I mean, Biff?"

Dan's upper lip was trembling with annoyance. He was being upstaged on his left and dealing with incompetence in front of him. "Hit me."

"Okie dokie rokie."

He looked down at his cards. "Hit me again."

Pinkie quirked an eyebrow. "Are you suuuuuuure?"

"I SAID," he cleared his throat, then calmed down a bit. "Hit me again."

She slipped him another card. He glanced down at his hand and said, "I'll stay."

"Let's see what we got, fellas." Pinkie flipped her cards over. Queen, four, six. "Dealer has twenty!"

Dan flipped over all five of his cards. "Twenty-nine"

"Aaaaaand player busts."

"What? HOW? HOW?!"

"Ummm, ten plus five, plus two, plus eight, plus four. That's twenty-nine. Sorry, but you busted," Pinkie said, collecting Dan's chips.

Dan snarled at her as she did. "No one is EVER shipping us together. Period."

De Gauss casually flipped his cards over. King of diamonds, Jack of clubs, and an Ace... of Spades. "Blackjack."

"Congratulations, Mr. Dee Goose!"

"It's De Gauss."

"Great job! Here are your winnings!" She hooved him three more chips, doubling the amount he bet. She even clapped her hooves as he took them.

"I don't understand this. How did I lose?" Dan asked. He stared in disbelief at his cards, even counted them twice just to be sure.

"You got over twenty-one. That's how," Pinkie said.

"But... but I'm usually great at cards." Actually, he wasn't. Dan's friends, and Mr. Mumbles let him win all the time. He was a sore loser, usually and had a habit of accusing others of cheating even when they weren't. So Chris, Elise and Ted would often throw card games, board games and even air hockey and arcade games when they played with Dan. 

Gauss slowly slid the chips across the table. Dan watched him the entire time. "Care to continue, Dan?"

"Um," Dan swallowed. "Dan? Who's that?"

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. Were you wanting to continue with your little charade?"

"You saw through it, huh? How long did that take?" Dan asked, casting an angry look at Pinkie. And Pinkie just smiled back at both of them, just enjoying herself.

"Heh," the griffon chuckled. "We knew it was you before we docked. Honestly, many of my raiders thought you were all wearing costumes for a party rather than trying to fool us. It's been quite entertaining, however. I hope this hasn't ruined your impression of us."

Dan got up. "Oh, no, I thought you were a bunch of pompous, puffed-up preening psychopaths before I met you. And I just have your pal Gust to go off of but to be fair, I do like him better than you." He turned.

"So what was your plan?" De Gauss asked before he could walk away. "Let us spend all the money we stole from you so you could get it back? Did you expect us all to just leave here with some hangovers and empty pockets?"

Thinking for a moment, Dan turned back to him, then shrugged. "Sure. Your gang is having a good time, isn't it? We need our stuff back, you want to enjoy yourselves, everybody wins."

"Of course. Of course," De Gauss said. He picked up the casino chips, spread them out between each of his talons. "And you know, we'll just steal it back from you again."

Dan glared at him. He was angry, and he really didn't like losing. The card game was just the latest in a long list of recent losses. The security system being repossessed, the attacks in broad daylight, the poverty, the plans not working, everything was going wrong. Not now, though. He had planned on waiting a bit longer, making a few more checks to make sure everything was in place, but he couldn't wait any longer.

Time for Phase 2.

"Actually, I knew you were going to figure it out. I just didn't think it would be quite this quick, but I think it's safe to say most of your goons are inside my casinos?"

De Gauss' smile faded. "Not for long. Men! Back to the-"

And Dan's smile reemerged. He pulled out a Playskool walkie-talkie(cheap and affordable). "Phase 2, go. Lock it down."

"On it." From outside New Pegas, Twilight enveloped the city in a bubble. A shimmering purple shield between the griffons and their own ships, trapping them all in a glowing prison.

"Marshal! They've locked us in!"

"Calm down," De Gauss said. He looked at Dan, who was beaming with confidence. "Very clever, Dan. Using greed to box us all in. Successful, if not unoriginal."

"Well, you play with the cards your dealt."

"Oh ho ho," De Gauss chuckled, "I think you're forgetting something- we're pirates." He pulled out his hand cannon. "We play with things more deadly. Did you think we'd come here unarmed?"

And then, De Gauss felt the barrel of another gun press against the back of his own neck.

"You apparently thought that about us," Pinkie said. "Also, he was cheating," she continued, and held up four Ace of Spades that he'd kept in his coat sleeve.

Dan smirked. "See? I knew I was good at cards."

"I mean, you still busted, so it wouldn't have really made a difference either way. I mean honestly, when you had seventeen, you were really-"

"Pinkie, shut up and threaten the bad guy."

"Okie dokie karaoke!"

"Now, Mr. De Gauss, we're going to play a higher stakes game. Take him to the high roller's lounge."

Pinkie escorted the griffon out. His claws were raised the entire way. He looked back at Dan, over his shoulder. And he wasn't smiling. Dan had wiped the smug look off his face and now, it was Dan's turn to smirk. Things were looking up.

"Umm," one of the griffons raised his claw. "Can... can we still gamble?"

"Sure, knock yourselves out."

"Cool!"