Episode 23: Cruisin' For a Future-in'...

At Freedom Fighters Mansion, Silver and Blaze were at a tennis court, playing doubles tennis with a automatic tennis ball launcher. Blaze was in her tracksuit and tennis shoes.

"Keep it up, Silver," Blaze said. "We got to stay in shape if we're gonna fight evil villains like Eggman or Opaline."

"I'm trying," Silver said. He was sweating and panting. "How do you not get hot from doing this all day?"

"I'm always hot," Blaze said. She then spun around in a fiery twister. She then hit the ball back towards the automatic tennis ball launcher and hit it back into the releasing tube, making it fall back where the releasing tube was facing upwards, and the tennis balls inside were dumped out. "Oops."

"Yeah, I think we're gonna need a break," Silver said as both he and Blaze dropped their tennis rackets. Then they headed back inside the Mansion.

When they got in, they saw Sunny and her friends packing up their bags and were wearing vacation outfits. Sunny had on a pink shirt, blue shorts, red sunglasses, a sunhat and blue flip flops. Hitch had a had with a strap that goes under his chin, black sunglasses, and green flip flops. Izzy had a blue tank top, pink shorts, pink flip flops, a purple hat with blue flowers poorly sewn onto it and holes for her ears and horn, and pink sunglasses that had pink heart shaped lenses. Zipp had on a yellow T-shirt and blue shorts, blue flip flops, a visor hat, and teal sunglasses. Pipp had on a white tank top, purple shorts, purple sunglasses, a large, floppy sunhat, and white flip flops. Misty had on red strapless tank top, white shorts, purple flip flops, a red visor hat, and white sunglasses with yellow lenses.

"Whoa, you all going on a trip somewhere?" Silver asked.

"Yes we are, Silver," Sunny said. "All of us have been invited onto a cruise to the Bahamas."

"A cruise?" Blaze asked. "I haven't been on a boat since... well months before my dimension blew up."

"Sounds like you need a vacation as well," Pipp said. "I'm sure that we can convince Twilight and her family for you two to join us."

"MC will be joining us as well," Sunny said. "We should get going."

"Hang on!" Hitch said. "Where's Sparky?!"

Then MC came up to the group, carrying Sparky. He handed Sparky to Hitch, saying, "Here he is, Sheriff." Sparky giggled as he was handed back to Hitch. "Okay, the transport will be here in an hour. Sparkles and her family should be coming here soon." He then noticed Silver and Blaze. "You two want in?"

"We might as well bring Marine as well," Blaze said. "She loves to sail."

"Then grab your bags and pack up, and tell her to do the same," MC said. Blaze nodded and headed towards her room.

At a port just outside of Station Square, a lot of people were boarding a cruise ship. Including the Sparkle Family, MC, Sunny and her friends, Sparky, Silver, Blaze and Marine. Blaze was back in her normal outfit.

"Whoa," Misty said. "There are a lot of people here."

"Relax, Misty," Sunny said. "We're here for some nice vacation time."

"It's too bad we couldn't get Sonic and the others to join us," Twilight said.

"Actually, all I could get to come is Amy and Truemen," MC said. "The others are keeping an eye out for Opaline if she plans to strike again."

"Good call," Twilight said. Then they boarded the cruise ship.

Eventually, they all came up to a penthouse suite aboard the cruise. MC was looking out at sea from the balcony as the boat was already out to sea.

Twilight walked up to him and asked, "Are you nervous?"

MC turned his head to look at Twilight and asked, "About what?"

"Your 18th birthday is coming up soon," Twilight said. "And when that comes, so does your coronation to be king."

"Before my kingdom was destroyed on my seventh birthday, I couldn't wait to be king," MC said. "I was hoping one day I would be leading the people of my kingdom with a glorious purpose. But all that changed when a certain roboticist attacked my kingdom on my seventh birthday."

"Well, I hope that this time, things won't be that eventful," Twilight said. "We're also gonna have to do is find a location for your coronation to be."

"Actually, Sally is allowing me to have my coronation at the Acorn Kingdom Embassy," MC said. "In the grand hall. She says I can invite whoever I want."

"You coming up with invitations?" Twilight asked.

"They've already been sent through the mail," MC replied. Nyx then ran up to the two.

"Hey, Mom," Nyx said. "Hey, Dad."

"Finally getting used to calling us that, huh?" MC asked.

"It actually started after the Olympics that it got comfortable for her to call us that," Twilight said.

"Mom? Where's the schedule for our fun time on this cruise?" Nyx asked.

"Oh, we don't have one," Twilight said. That made MC and Nyx look at her in shock.

MC then got a smug look and asked, "Who are you and what have you done with Sparkles?" That made Twilight and Nyx giggle.

Later, on the pool deck, Sunny, Pipp, Izzy, Misty, Blaze and Velvet were getting a tan as the rest of the group were in the pool. Cadance was helping Flurry Heart learn to swim.

"That's it, Flurry," Cadance said. "Keep kicking."

Flurry giggled and said, "I'm kicking, Mommy."

MC, Silver, Spike and Joshua were outside of the pool, stretching before they could get into it.

"Why are we stretching again?" Silver asked.

"Sometimes, it's best to stretch your muscles before entering a pool," MC said. "We wouldn't want you to get a cramp in your legs, would you?"

"Better to swim as a biped than a quadruped," Joshua said. He then looked over at Shining Armor and and saw he was with Guard in the hot tub. "Hey, Uncle Shining, Guard, you two want to join us in the pool?"

"No thanks, Josh," Shining Armor said. "I'm showing Guard how to relax in a hot tub." Then both him and Guard sighed in relief. "Maybe you should join us."

"No thanks, Shiner," MC said. "Swimming is a great way to keep your body strong and loose. Although, we've been having trouble getting Sonic to do it because he can't swim."

"Is that the reason why he isn't here?" Shining Armor asked.

"That, and he wanted to keep an eye out for Opaline," MC said.

"Opaline?" Candace asked. "I swear, I've heard that name somewhere before."

"You have?" MC asked, looking at Cadance. Just then, Twilight came out from the water. She was wearing a dark blue one-piece swimsuit and a magenta swimming cap. "Jesus, Sparkles!"

"Sorry, Michael," Twilight said. "I was checking out this teched up pool. What are those special lights on the bottom?"

"Oh, I think those are so no one can swim in the dark," MC said. "Also, there are water heaters in case it gets too cold at night. The water always gets cold at night. You saw what happened to those people after the Titanic sank."

"It killed DiCaprio," Silver said.

"It killed everybody," Joshua said.

"It didn't kill the old lady," Hitch said coming up to the group with Sparky on his head. "She threw the jewel into the ocean decades later."

"Oh, you saw that movie?" MC asked.

"While Sparky and Spike were still in the Dragon Lands after the Olympics," Hitch said. "Hopefully, you haven't had an encounter with an iceberg."

"That was one time," MC said. Just then, the speakers started blaring and a voice came out of them.

"Attention all passengers, we are coming across the island where Royal Member of the Freedom Fighters, Prince Michael Crayton, was born, coming up on the starboard side." Then a lot of passengers zoomed towards the starboard side of the boat.

"What?" Twilight asked. She then looked towards MC. "I thought you were born in your family castle."

"I was," MC said. "It's always been the family tradition."

"Something's up," Princess Cadance said. "Wait a minute. You don't think..."

"Iron Will has promoted us again?" Twilight asked. "Let's get to the bottom of this."

"Iron Will?" MC asked. "That Minotaur that's been doing those get rich quick schemes?"

"You heard of him?" Twilight asked.

"I have," MC said. "I heard because of him, Fluttershy, the kindest pony of all of Equestria, became the biggest jerk everypony has seen?"

"Bingo," Twilight said. "And he also tricked my parents into getting us onto a Princess Promotional Cruise."

"Isn't it illegal to promote someone for an event without their permission or knowledge of that promotion?" MC asked. Then Twilight and Cadance went wide eyed.

Twilight facepalmed herself and said, "It is." Then she headed for the edge of the pool. Cadance followed her, carrying Flurry.

"Shining, you watch Flurry," Cadance said. She then levitated Flurry over to the hot tub. Shining then grabbed Flurry and sat her next to him. Then Twilight, Cadance and MC went towards the bridge of the ship.

Eventually, the three of them made it to the bridge of the ship. Twilight and Cadance were back in their normal attire. MC then opened the door and walked in where the Captain of the ship was.

"Ah, if it isn't our guests of honor," the Captain said. "What brings you here?"

"Where's the promoter?" MC asked. "We like to stage a complaint."

"Over here," came the voice of a raspy creature. The three royals looked towards their right and saw Iron Will standing in front of a console with a microphone. "What can Iron Will do for you today?"

"Only one thing," MC said. "Jump ship and leave your ill-earned money behind."

"What is he talking about?" the captain asked.

"We did not give Iron Will permission to promote us for this promotional cruise," Twilight said. "In fact, we never got information about it. We were invited here for a vacation."

"And it wasn't the first time he did it," Cadance added.

"What?!" the captain asked, getting angry.

"Uh... all customers agreed to come on this cruise even if no Freedom Fighter or Royal Member of Equestria is on board," Iron Will said, getting nervous.

"Take him to the brig," the captain said.

"With pleasure," MC said. He then jumped and started rolling into a ball. He then started bouncing off of the walls, floor and ceiling, ricocheting and slamming into Iron Will, avoiding the controls and those who else were in the bridge, Iron Will grunting in pain. Iron Will then fell over. MC then grabbed Iron Will by his back and carried him towards the door.

The captain went over to the microphone and said, "Attention all passengers, apparently the promotion of this cruise was made without the permission, or knowledge, of those our promoter has promised. They're just here for a vacation of their own. We'll give everyone a 50% refund for your inconvenience."

The people who were excited about the promotion all understood and left the Freedom Fighters and the Equestrian Royal Family alone.

In the water, a glacier was coming up towards the ship. And from the glacier, there was the sound of a creature roaring.

In the brig of the cruise ship, MC was pulling Iron Will by the horn past the closed cells. Eventually, he came across one empty cell and threw the minotaur in.

"Whoa!" Iron Will said. MC then closed the cell. Iron Will then got up and grabbed the bars of the closed cell. "You can't treat Iron Will this way! Iron Will demands to be released!"

"You don't demand anything to me, criminal," MC said, pointing his left forefinger at Iron Will. "You tricked us onto coming onto this ship and promoted us without our permission or knowledge. Which was very illegal."

"Iron Will does whatever Iron Will wants!" Iron Will said.

"Some laws say that Iron Will can't," MC said, walking away. Just then, another voice came in.

"Palsy, palsy, palsy! Please, let me out!"

MC looked towards the voice and saw a weasel in a yellow plaid tuxedo.

"Wes Weasely?" MC asked. "I was wondering what was happening to you. How'd you end up in here?"

"I was just trying to sell some much needed items to this ship, and the next thing I knew, they put me in here," Wes Weasely answered.

"More likely, you were trying to scam them," MC said. "You may not know this, but I can smell lies."

"Oh, right," Wes Weasely said.

Just then, MC's communicator beeped. MC brought his right wrist closer to his head and answered, "What is it, Sparkles?"

"MC, there's an iceberg in the path of the ship! Hurry!" Twilight's voice came out of the communicator.

"I'm on my way," MC said. He then started running towards the bow of the ship. There was Twilight and Sunny.

"There!" Sunny said. "The ship's not going to stop or turn in time!"

"Get me onto that piece of ice and I'll turn it into a giant snow cone!" MC said.

"Snow cones!" Sunny said as she brought out her Alicorn form. "I should've made some during the heat wave that came last month!"

"Let's go," Twilight said. The two Alicorns started flying and Twilight used her magic to carry MC. They all headed right for the iceberg. Twilight, MC and Sunny landed on the iceberg.

"Time to make some..." MC started to say before being cut off by a noise. He also had his claws bared. "What... was... that?"

Twilight and Sunny looked towards where the noise was. They ran towards the noise and came around an ice pillar. When they came around it, they gasped at what they saw.

"What is it?" MC asked, coming around. "What did you... What the heck?!" What the three saw shocked them.

"A dinosaur?!" Sunny asked.

"I've researched this creature," Twilight said. "In the Smithsonian. It's a Terapod."

"Not just a Terapod, a baby Terapod," MC said. "It's... domesticated on this piece of ice. He's all alone."

"A baby Terapod all alone on this rock?" Sunny asked. "That's so sad. And he doesn't even know what's going on."

"Not entirely true, Sunny," MC said. "Sally have been studying Terapods, and rumor has it that they're just as intelligent as us. They're just not able to speak English." Just then, the ship's horn came to their attention. "The ship!"

"We gotta get rid of this iceberg!" Sunny said.

"But we can't leave this baby Terapod all alone," Twilight said. "He's about 65 million years from its original time period."

"What are we gonna do?" Sunny asked.

"We don't have a choice," MC said. "We need to get this baby Terapod onto the ship. Then we'll deal with the iceberg."

"I'll take him to the ship," Twilight said. "Sunny, help MC when the iceberg is shredded enough."

"Gotcha," Sunny said. Twilight then started flying away, carrying the baby Terapod in her magic.

Twilight groaned and said, "You're... really... heavy..." The baby Terapod let out a roar.

MC then started shredding the iceberg with his claws and super speed. The iceberg was being shredded into ice cubes. Sunny noticed how fast MC was shredding the iceberg. It was starting to crumble.

"MC, time to go!" Sunny said.

"Not yet!" MC said. He then jumped up, then used some of the shredded ice as stepping stones in the sky. He then reached a certain height. "This won't last long, but enough for the ship to get clear." MC then started descending. "Time to go really heavy. Then, start the light show." MC then started falling faster and his left hand started glowing. "Chaos... Dragon... Fist!" MC's fist gained the head of a golden dragon, covering his left fist. It then collided with the remaining iceberg. The iceberg then went down towards the bottom of the ocean.

Sunny then caught MC right before he hit the water.

"What now?" Sunny asked.

"We need to get to the stern of the ship," MC said. "We need to increase the speed of the ship before the remains of the iceberg resurfaces." Sunny nodded. She then carried MC towards the stern of the ship. Eventually, they made it. MC then used his materiokinesis to lift the water from the back of the boat. It then made the back of the boat lift up and increase its speed. Enough for the ship to get out of the way from the coming iceberg piece coming from below.

MC and Sunny sighed in relief as the ship was cleared in time. Sunny then looked towards MC and asked, "Smoothie?"

"Yeah, I could go for one," MC said. Then the two of them headed back to the front of the ship.

At the bow of the ship, Twilight and her family, along with Sunny's friends, were calming down the baby Terapod.

"Easy, boy," Twilight said. "It's okay. You're safe now." The baby Terapod was roaring, tears coming out of its eyes.

"Oh, man," Hitch said. "That's so sad."

"You can understand Terapod language, too?" Zipp asked.

"These guys are as intelligent as us," Hitch said. "This poor guy is crying. He wants his Momma."

"The poor thing," Izzy said. "It must be so sad having him be this far from his home." The baby Terapod roared.

"Don't worry, big guy," Hitch said. "We'll look after you." The baby Terapod roared.

That night, the Spirit of Freedom came over to the ship's bow. Tails, Sally and Mutt were inspecting the Baby Terapod.

"Incredible," Sally said. "This little guy is domesticated."

"He says that he wants his Momma," Hitch said.

"You can understand him?" Tails asked.

"Yeah," Hitch said. "I can communicate with all animals. Just like Fluttershy."

"Oh, right," Tails said. "You're her descendant. Lynol said so when he was checking your blood samples." He then remembered something. "Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. Misty, your DNA test came in. Apparently, you're also a descendant of Applejack and Fluttershy, just like Hitch."

"Really?" Misty asked, looking towards Hitch. "We're related?"

"Distantly, that is," MC said, coming up to the group. "After all, the three pony types have been separated for almost 200 years."

"Oh, that's right," Twilight said. She then looked at Misty. "You know, I kinda see it in her. Her shy personality and butterfly cutie mark, and let's not forget the freckles."

"Oh, yeah," Sunny said. "I can compare that. Fluttershy's shy personality and butterfly cutie mark, and Applejack's freckles." She then looked back at the baby Terapod. "But right now, we have to focus on taking care of this baby Terapod."

"We'll take him back to the Acorn Embassy back in Station Square," Sally said. "We wouldn't want this creature to be Cruisin' for a Future-in'."

"You're right," MC said. "But, I don't think he's gonna fit in the Spirit of Freedom that well. He needs more leg room than that." He then brought out his Super Warp Ring. "Let's get you all..." Just then, he was interrupted by a masculine voice.

"Iron Will doesn't think so!"

They all looked towards the voice and they saw both Iron Will and Wes Weasely standing there.

"Iron Will will take that dinosaur and promote it," Iron Will said.

"No way!" Wes Weasely said, trying to push back Iron Will. "I'll buy it off you! Do you realize how much people would pay for the discovery of a prehistoric creature alive and in such good health?!"

"Oh, crud," MC said. "These two are wanting the Baby Terapod."

"Not gonna happen," Twilight said.

Iron Will started running towards the group of heroes. Silver then came in and used his power to lift Iron Will off the ground.

"Whoa!" Iron Will shouted. "Who dares lift Iron Will off of solid ground?!"

"I do," Silver said. "You're a criminal. You've illegally promoted us without our permission."

"Iron Will does what Iron Will wants," Iron Will said. He then broke out of Silver's hold.

"Impossible!" Silver said. "No one has broken through my psychokinetic hold like that before! The closest thing was a spin dash by Sonic and MC."

"Iron Will will do anything to get what he wants!" Iron Will said. He then charged towards Silver. Blaze used her super speed and pulled Silver out of the way right before Iron Will could make contact. He couldn't stop and he accidentally went over the railing and yelled all the way down. Blaze then walked to the railing, grabbed a life preserver and threw it off the boat for Iron Will to use.

"He's going to need a couple more than that," MC said. Blaze nodded in agreement. Then they looked around. "Hey, where's the Terapod?" Then they heard the baby Terapod roaring in fear. They looked towards the noise and they saw the baby Terapod being pulled away by Wes Weasely.

"Hey, palsy," Wes Weasely said. "Don't worry. You're going to be well taken care of and will make me lots of money! Things will look up for us both!" Just then, Twilight teleported in front of him, surprising Wes Weasely. "Huh? Oh, hey, Princess. What brings you here?"

"You're not taking the Terapod," Twilight said, sternly.

"You don't understand, Princess," Wes Weasely said. "This thing is a personal gold mine! Tell you what, whatever money I make off of this guy, I can split the profits. What do you say? 70-30, is that a good deal?"

"Not gonna happen," Twilight said. She then used her magic to try to get the collar off of the Baby Terapod, but it wasn't doing anything. "What? What's going on?"

"That's the patent pending magic proof collar," Wes Weasely said. "It's able to resist any kind of magic from wherever on Earth. It's from when I was being a sponsored salesman for Fail-safe Wizardry Inc. Nothing magical is able to get it off of this little gold mine."

The baby Terapod roared. It then used its trunk to grab onto the collar. It used its strength and started pulling it. It eventually got ripped off, surprising Wes Weasely.

"But how?" Wes Weasely asked. "It's immune to..." He then got a revelation. "Oh, that's right. Terapods aren't magic, they're history. Well, pre-history. But still..." Before he could continue his speech, the Baby Terapod used its trunk to whack Wes Weasely towards the railing and he fell off the boat. "Whoa!"

The splash was heard from there.

In the water, Wes Weasely got out of the water, trying to use his briefcase as a flotation device. He then pulled a cord from it and it turned into a one person dingy. He then said, "Good thing I never leave the boat without my personal watercraft briefcase." Just then, Iron Will came out of the water and tried climbing onto the dingy.

"Just hold on a second!" Iron Will said. "Iron Will needs to survive more than you, Weasel."

"Hey, wait!" Wes Weasely said. "You cannot come onto my personal watercraft briefcase! It won't be able to hold the weight!"

"Iron Will don't care!" Iron Will said, trying to push Wes Weasely off.

"Hey! Get off!" Wes Weasely said, trying to push Iron Will off. Just then, the vibrations of both the water and the two pushing each other off started making the boat crack. Then it broke and the two fell into the water. They then resurfaced. "Now look what you did you big oaf!"

"What Iron Will did?!" Iron Will asked. "You were the one pushing Iron Will off of Iron Will's boat!"

"It wasn't your boat!" Wes Weasely said. Just then, another boat came towards them. It had the words "US COASTGUARD" painted on the sides. It then brought out a net to catch the two and bring them out of the water.

Back on the boat, Sally was putting something onto the baby Terapod's neck. It was a collar that had a speaker on it.

"Is that the translation collar?" MC asked.

"Yes," Sally said. "Rotor and I have been continuing it ever since we moved into the Embassy. Hopefully it'll work on this little guy."

The baby Terapod was roaring in fright as this was happening. Hitch then got in front of it and said, "It's okay, little guy. It's okay. It's not gonna hurt you. It's gonna translate what you say so the rest of us can understand you."

The Terapod roared as Sally was adjusting the settings. She then said, "Just keep talking, little guy. Just until we reach English on this collar." The Terapod kept roaring. The speaker was letting out animal noises until it started coming out as a human language.

"Est-ce que ce truc fonctionne?" the collar translated what the baby Terapod said, which translated "Is this thing working?".

"That's French," Cadance said. "I remember hearing that language back during the Olympics."

"Okay, let's try this again," Sally said, adjusting the translator. "Okay, try speaking again." The baby Terapod roared as another language came out.

"Jigeum-eun eotteohseubnikka?" the translator said for the baby Terapod, which translated, "What about now?".

"That's Korean," MC said. "One of the East Asian languages."

"Okay, that's two strikes," Sally said, readjusting the translator. "Let's try... this."

"I don't think that it's gonna work," the collar translated.

"Boom, there it is!" MC said. "Now we can all understand you."

"Really?" the collar translated. "You can understand me now?"

"Yes, we can," Sally said. "Okay, little guy. Before coming out of the ice, what happened to you?"

"I remember... large rocks... falling from sky," the baby Terapod's roars being translated. "All of them... burning."

"Large burning rocks?" Twilight asked.

"The dinosaurs were wiped out when an asteroid 6-miles long came down from space," MC said.

"Like my world," Joshua said, getting sad.

"Mama pushed me onto ice... pushed me away from land..." the baby Terapod's roars continued being translated. "Mama... saved my life. She's..." The baby Terapod let out some tears.

"I know how you feel," Joshua said.

"We should take in Baby T here," Mutt said. "After all, he's like Joshua."

"Terapods grow up to be as big as a garbage truck," MC said. "I don't think we have enough room at the Mansion for him to stay."

"But, we do have room for him at the Acorn Embassy," Sally said. "MC, you mind...?"

"On it," MC said. He then pulled out his Super Warp Ring and threw it. It expanded into a portal to the Acorn Embassy. Sally then walked through the portal.

"Come on, little guy," Sally said. "We'll clear out some space for you."

The baby Terapod roared, and the translator said, "Thank you, miss." He then followed Sally through the portal. Tails and Mutt then got back into the Spirit of Freedom. It then started taking off and headed back towards Station Square.

"Okay, that was an interesting start to this vacation," Shining Armor said.

"Scammers, desperate salesmen, a baby dinosaur domesticated in this time," Silver said. "Hopefully we can..."

"We're not bringing back the dinosaurs," MC said.

"Why not?" Twilight asked.

"Jurassic Park," MC said.

"Ohh..." Twilight said. "Okay, that's perfectly understandable." She then looked at the rest of the group. "So, who's hungry?"

"I could eat," MC said. Then they all started walking away from there, heading for the eating area of the ship.

Author's Note

Next Episode:
C+L+O