Silverback forest was really large in this part of Zebrica, humid and hot too. A couple of monkeys were seen in the tall trees, some of them jumping from one tree branch to another, and others eating leaves from the branches. There were species of colobus monkeys, de brazza monkeys, roloway monkeys, and many many more.
Everyone was fascinated by how much monkeys there were in this dense jungle. All of a sudden, a blue monkey appeared dangling from a vine with a curious look on it’s face. It caught everyone by surprise and it tilted it’s head sideways to the left.
“Careful.” Said Zecora. “You should always be cautious around these type of monkeys, no matter if they are happy and cheerful.” The blue monkey dropped down on the ground, and climbed his way up to Applejack. This creature then used his fingers to search her mane.
“Oh, look.” Said Fluttershy. “You made a new friend, Applejack.”
“Heh heh, yeah, I never had a monkey climb on ma back before.”
“What's it doing?” Asked Pinkie Pie.
“It is searching for ticks and insects inside of her mane so it can eat them if there are.” Okove explained. “It’s a rather common sight to see zebras being groomed by some monkeys, along with a monkey’s mates or partners.”
“Oh yes. Many monkeys around Silverback are very friendly and docile creatures. As long as you treat them with respect, they will treat you nicely right back.” Said N’dugo. “Some monkeys even like to hang on our backs and eat ticks from them.”
“It’s like that old saying: you scratch my back, and I scratch yours.” Luke remarked with a sense of deja vu. “Literally and figuratively.”
The Mangani let out a chuckle, and said: “Yes! Exactly like that. What you said is a perfect example of how we live together as one.”
Just then, the monkey leaped on Rarity now, and searches her mane for any ticks or insects. “Oh Celestia.” She Said. Rarity wasn’t really liking that kind of feeling like Applejack was before, and she thought it felt so wrong to her. “Not my beautiful mane.”
“He’s just doing his job, Rarity.” Said Larry.
Discord then conjured a camera on himself, and took a picture of Rarity’s misfortunes and suffering. “Ha! This will make a terrific Hearths Warming card!”
“Discord, it’s not nice to take a picture of Rarity like that.” Said Pinkie.
“No no.” Said Luke. “Let him have it. It! kinda fun that way.” And they all laughed at him, ans Rarity Of course. This blue monkey jumped on another vine and crawled back to the tall trees. Everyone continued onward for anything cool and interesting to find.
For Rarity, she was using a hairbrush to stroke her mane off of what she called: “Monkey germs” from it despite that, she was trying her ebst to keep it cool for the rest of the trip, only for her friends, even though adisford got a picture of her little misfortune back there. Inside, she was wishing she brought a sun hate.
“Whoo-wee.” Said Twilight. “It’s so... humid in this place.”
“It is a rainforest.” Said Fluttershy.
“Yeah.” Lyra added. “It’s like being in a steam room walking in a place like this, Twilight. It won’t be long before we sweat like an apple pie coming out of the oven.”
"Don't let that get you down, everypony." Said Pinkie Pie. "We can still have fun in this jungle."
"I'm with her." Said Bon Bon. "So what if it's a little... sticky out here? Doesn't mean we can't enjoy this."
"That's the kind of talk I wanted to hear." Said Luke. "Lead on, N'dugo.
"Of course."
While walking a few hundred yards, Luke noticed something moving and rustling in the bushes.
Everyone was being cautious, and Luke was ready to pull the lightsaber out to scare whatever it was away.
It was quiet for a moment, except for the many sounds of different birds chirping, and then, something appeared from out of the bushes.
It was a large baboon with a colorful face, and a short tail, and it had a colorful butt on it's hindquarters. Luke recognized what this monkey was. "Oh wow." He muttered. "A mandrill."
The gigantic monkey just looked at the group, and smelled the air for an unknown reason. Then, it showed his sharp canines and teeth. It looked like it was going to attack them, but it was just yawning.
"Aww. Look at it." Said Fluttershy.
"My, what a colorful face it has." Rarity said.
"What's it called?" Asked Twilight.
"A mandril. These are the largest monkeys to exist in my world."
"Right you are, Luke." Said Okove. "This is indeed a mandrill. Rather passive type of monkey, despite their intimidating appearance."
"I wouldn't really call them intimidating unless you count those teeth in their mouths." said Rainbow Dash. "And it kinds looks like a dog."
"Yeah, the face does." Lyra greed. "Just look at the size of that guy."
The mandrill then made a somewhat intimidating look on his face, showing his teeth, looking quite fierce. It made the others quite concerned. "N'dugo stepped up and tried to have a conversation with it. He made sounds of grunting and low growling at the world's largest monkey. The baboon-like monkey made an ear-piercing screeching sound to start off, and then it made sounds like: "ooh ooh ah ah aaaaah." and other types of monkey sounds.
Luke and the others couldn't quite tell what they were saying to one another, except for Fluttershy, who kept that adorable smile on her face. It was thanks to her that it would make things easier for getting around dangerous animals. That, and her infamous stare on any animal if needed.
As the conversation continued, it sounded a little loud, like there was going to be a violent grudge match against these two primates. Luke prepared for the worst and gripped on the handle of his lightsaber, and prepare for the worst if all else fails. After a few more yelling and ranting against one another, N'dugo and the Mandrill settled down, and the Mandrill became very calm.
"What were they saying?" Applejack murmured to Fluttershy.
"The mandrill only wanted to know why we came all the way to this part of the rain-forest. I think we were walking into his territory, and he wanted to know why we were here."
"That would make sense. Mandrills can be territorial." said Luke. "Especially when it's mating season for them.:
All if a sudden, the gigantic monkey ran up to Luke, and climbed on his back, perching on his right shoulder.
"Oh god." He muttered in irritation. The weight was so much to take in for the young human, and everyone couldn't help but laugh at that.
It was almost like a barbell was trying to crush his spine from trying to work out in the gym lifting weights
The young monkey looked around at his surroundings, and then to Fluttershy.
The sound of a camera taking a picture was heard, and it was Larry, who couldn't help but get a picture of the funny situation his own son was dealing with right now.
"Do Mandrills get along okay with you Mangani?" Asker Discord
"Of course. We respect one another, and were are both primates after all." Said N'dugo. "If you would have all came here without me, these monkeys would have killed you and eat you for his dinner."
"Wait, those monkeys can eat us?" Said Pinkie Pie in confusion.
"They could if they wanted to." Said Zecora. "Baboons, the Mandrill, and the Drill are all omnivores possessing sharp canines to go with their dog-like faces."
"Drill?" Asked Rainbow Dash.
"It's a cousin of the mandrill, but it's way less colorful, and a little smaller than their bigger counterpart." Luke remarked.
All of a sudden, a dozen more madrills appeared from out of the bushes and looked at the visitors. Most of the. were females and babies.
"Aww. Look at those baby baboons." Said Fluttershy. She couldn't help but gently pet the mandrill down his back, and the large Monkey was obviously liking it. "He must be the alpha Male of this movement."
"It's always the biggest ones that are alpha." Said Twilight. "This is amazing. I never thought we would get to see mandrills this close up."
"You certainly have an impressive gift with animals, Fluttershy." Said N'dugo
"It's her special talent." said Lyra. "Fluttershy is one with animals."
All of a sudden, the baboon leaped off of Luke, and he went back to his little family of mandrills. He videotaped the others farewell, and he went off deep into the woods.
This little tour continued, and they were seeing more cool animals and creatures along the way.
One thing that caught Spike's eye was a large millipede crawling on a large rock, and he got a look at it. This insect was as long as his arms, and he tried picking it up with his left arm.
"Wow. You're a beauty." Said the baby dragon. The small legs the insect had tickled his skin like a brush, and the millipede was crawling all around his body.
"Oh Spike." Twilight chuckled. "You made another friend."
"Ah, a millipede." Said Okove with an amused look on his face. "These little creatures are harmless, and a common sight to see in Zebrica. Especially where there are large rocks, boulders, or caves."
Applejack looked at the little critter a little closer and thought of how intriguing it was. "You're quite a small little critter, aren't ya?" She said to the millipede.
Rarity gave a disgusted look, for she was not very fund of insects at all, even sticking her tongue out going: "Ugh!"
"Come on, Rarity." Spike said. "He's a cute little guy. He won't bite."
"No thank you, sweetie." Rarity replied. "I do not want to have a millipede crawling on my fur, disgusting little creatures."
"Don't listen to her, Spike." Said Fluttershy. "I think it is so adorable."
After a little while, Spike gently put the millipede back on the rock and they continued onward deeper into this jungle.
It was a long walk, and they decided to take a little breather by looking for a place to relax for a little while.
Drinking water was certainly a good option for going through this hot, humid piece of land.
Spike sat in front of a round piece of rock that looked gigantic, about the same height as Luke. Sighing, a reptilian face appeared in front of Spike from the right side. It had green eyes, a wide mouth, and it's face looked similar to a bearded dragon, then it blinked at him two times.
"Ah!" The baby dragon made a small yell and backed away to Twilight for protection from this large creature.
"Do not worry, Spike." Said Starlight Glimmer with a chuckle. "I don't think this guy will hurt you."
"This is a rock lizard." Said Zecora. "These reptiles are large and passive creatures."
The gigantic animal slowly got up, and it made a yawn opening his mouth horribly wide. This creature had a gray-green color on it's scales and skin. It slowly walked in front of Spike, and sniffed him.
Before he could think any further, Spike felt his face being licked by the rock lizard's slimy, warm tongue.
Everyone couldn't help but laugh at what just happened to him.
"Eww." Said Spike in disgust. "I'm gonna smell like lizard slobber."
"It wasn't that bad, Spike." Said twilight. "I thought that was cute."
As usual, Fluttershy thought it was adorable like the other animals she and the others have seen during their walk.
Luke couldn't help but try and touch the gigantic lizard, and it's scales felt rather soft, despite being called a rock lizard . Still, it was a very extraordinary animal to encounter on this fine day.
Then the creature slowly went off. This lizard had a sluggish movement, but it made sense since this was a large animal.
Going down further and further in these humid woods, they all saw a large family of gorillas. Luke and a few of his friends knew they weren't Mangani, for these gorillas were way smaller than Mangani.
It was a rather extraordinary sight, and the others kept their distance from the gorillas so they wouldn't intrude.
Walking around these majestic aids, Like couldn't help but ask N'dugo: "Do you Mangani and gorillas make nice?"
"It's... a matter of debate." Said the gigantic ape. "We tend to have our disagreements, but we learned to get past them for the sake of our tribes and interests."
"Good. The last thing i want is to see a bloodbath between you guys." Said Rainbow Dash.
"There are usually never any bloodbaths." N'dugo reassured. "Most of my tribe are smarter than that."
"And what about your leader?" Asked Twilight.
"Oh ho ho. Our leader: Sogozi, is the most stubborn ape i have ever met before. He can be prideful and brag about his strength."
"What can we expect of him?" Asked Fluttershy
"Well... let me do the talking for now." The ape replied. "It is best if I was the one to speak first."
All of a sudden, a bunch of other Mangani appeared from above the group, landing on the ground with a loud thud.
These brutes looked more fearsome and intimidating than N'dugo, looking fierce and angry. These apes didn't have any weapons on them, but the hands and strength on their side.
About six of these apes surrounded the group, prompting Luke and his father to pull out their weapons.
N'dugo stopped them: "no!" He said. "I know these apes."
Just then, a black Mangani appeared from behind of the the lighter Mangani, and he looked more terrifying than the others.
"N'dugo." He said flatly in a low voice. "You have a lot of nerve bringing these creatures here in our homeland."
"Sogozi," said N'dugo. "These friends of mine mean us no harm."
And the leader looked at the group, then let out a loud breathing from his nose. "What business have you all here?" He asked
"Our business is none of yours!" Said Rainbow Dash defensively.
"Rainbow, don't!" Said Fluttershy
"Pfft. I ain't scared of these guys."
Sogozi then let out a loud, monstrous roar right in her face. The force was powerful enough to make Rainbow's mane fly backward like strong wind pulling it back.
Poor Rainbow Dash was so terrified of that roar and her eyes widened in fear.
"You were saying?" Said the alpha Mangani with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah.... I stand corrected." Said Rainbow Dash, staying away from Sogozi. A lesson she learned from this was to not make a dangerous and powerful Mangani angry.
"Please, sir." Said Luke. "We don't want any trouble. All we wanted was to explore this place."
"Luke, please." N'dugo muttered. "I'll do the talking."
"Is that so, ape?"
"I'm no ape. I'm a human."
"Well, you will come with us." Said the chief. He looked down to see Zecora and gave her a bitter look. "Zecora." He said coldly.
"Sogozi." The female zebra replied in the same tone.
"We want to see what you all really are."
And they all followed the leader of these apes as their possible prisoners.