Chapter 47: Grim Discovery
Chapter 47
Grim Discovery
All the sounds of the swamp had gone silent. Through the mist, the bones of a long dead beast bridged the way across a watery ditch. The armored plates of its back were gripped tightly by the claws of the exoskeleton of a massive prehistoric scorpion, while the rest of it was wrapped by the chitinous remains of a centipede the size of a boat.
For time immeasurable, the remains of the three beasts sat undisturbed, locked in combat in death as they were in life.
On that foggy day, after being undisturbed for so long, the remains all started to move. It began as a gentle rattle, which soon turned into a sharp wobble. Were there any others there to watch, they would have seen the source of the disturbance to be the silhouetted forms of three lost goofs.
“I don’t like this,” Dash said, as she trotted across the back of the beast, using its armored plates as cover.
“Me neither,” Pinkie said, as she hopped across the tops of the plates. “But, I try to think of it more like a funhouse course.”
“But, yuh don’t get dropped intuh water with Pinkie-eatin’ dino-sawrs if yuh trip in a funhouse,” Goofy reminded her, as he wove his much taller figure back and forth through the plates. However careful he was, he found he was still bumping into them.
All three skeletons shook when Dash dove and rolled behind one of the armored plates. She quickly peeked her head out, and darted her gaze around the foggy scape.
“It’s not that. It’s all the quiet,” Dash said.
“What’s so bad about that?” Pinkie asked, as she dangled herself upside-down from the top of the plate Dash was hiding behind.
“Yeah. What we can’t hear can’t eat us, right?” Goofy added, just before he wobbled around and bumped face first into a plate, teetered dangerously close to the edge.
As he shimmed by only his toes across the beast’s spine, the legs of the centipede dropped one after the other behind the goof, threatening to impale him.
Just as the last leg caught up to Goofy, he spun around and teetered into a handstand when the last leg nearly struck him through.
Goofy’s hat landed on his nose just as he regained his balance. Unable to lean back for the large armored plate, and unable to move for the drop into the water below, he shimmied along on his palms.
“Goofy’s right, Dashie. As long as everything’s quiet, it means there aren’t any more of those prehistoric meanies out to get us,” Pinkie said.
“Don’t you guys read adventure books?” Dash asked, as she darted to another cover.
The wobbling her rush created caused the claw of the scorpion to creak toward her. Had Dash not moved to another cover, she would have been crushed by the great pincer.
“Why? Because the boredom might put us to sleep? I know I always need some noise to liven things up,” Pinkie said, who would have produced blowers and crackers, had she any of her usual magic. Instead, she settled for making faces at herself in the chitinous reflection of the claw.
Once she was done, Pinkie jumped through, just before the claw snapped shut.
“No! Because, it means that anything that’s trying to eat us is hiding from whatever eats them!” Dash replied.
“Don’t yuh think sum’n that nasty’d make a little more noise?” Goofy asked, as he scuttled along by his fingertips.
He stopped suddenly when the cuff of his pants got caught on a smaller armor plate.
“That’s just the thing, Goof. Predators like them never make noise. They only roar after they pounce!” Dash dramatically said, as she demonstrated pouncing forward when she saw the shore was near. Unseen through the fog was the pit that she landed in.
“Why? Are they shy?” Pinkie asked, before she jumped off of the last armored plate.
Were she looking where she landed, Pinkie would have successfully avoided landing on the spikes that were on the beast’s tail.
“YEEEE--!!” Pinkie shouted, before she restrained herself.
For a moment, she held her breath, and her face turned deep red, before she rocketed into the air, and landed in the pit next to Dash.
“--oooooooooooowww!!” Pinkie whispered.
“Keep it down, Pinkie!” Dash said, as she pressed her muddy hooves over her friend’s mouth, still fearing the pained shout would alert something terrible.
Back on the bridge, Goofy’s pants were still caught on the armor plate.
“Hmm…” Goofy muttered to himself.
The goof strained as he curled his whole body so that he was able to see the cuff of his pants caught on the top of the armor plate. Though he tried to be careful, all of the bones around him all rattle violently as he tried to unhook his pants from the skeleton.
“Hey, Goof! What’s the holdup?” Dash asked from the shore.
“Hang on! Jus’ gimme a sec!” Goofy replied. “WO-OW!”
He overbalanced at the top of the plate, and teetered forward. Though his pants were now free of the snag, he tumbled down the armored plate, and rolled the rest of the way to the pit with his friends.
They had all made it. After the treacherous trek, they were all safely on the other side of the trench they crossed. All of a sudden the three skeletons all started shaking at once, and as one fell apart and splashed into the water.
Far off, the sound of the splash reached the ears of the beast all others feared. In its primitive mind, it registered the direction of the sound, and lumbered toward it.
As for the goofs, they were busy trying to pinpoint the direction of the light they had been following to get where they were.
Through the gloom of the slowly thinning mist, Pinkie once more saw something glowing in the distance.
“Thattaway, troops!” Pinkie said, as she hopped out of the pit.
Dash followed next, lifting off with a flap of her wings. Whether or not her wings actually helped her take off, she didn’t know. But it felt right.
Though Goofy was much taller than either of the ponies, he had trouble scrambling out of the pit. With a little help from the mares, they both pulled him free.
“A-hyuck. Thanks,” Goofy said, as he wiped the mud from himself.
“Yeah, don’t mention it,” Dash replied, as she wiped away the mud that Goofy had passed to herself and Pinkie. “Let’s keep following that light. I want to get out of this swamp.”
“But, what if that light only takes us further into the swamp? What if it’s one of those fool fires that leads ponies to a place where they stay forever?” Pinkie asked.
“That’s just a Nightmare Night story. We’ve been following that light forever now, and it hasn’t led us wrong yet. I say we trust it,” Dash said, before she sliced through the brush with her hoof like a safari explorer.
Pinkie and Goofy both followed immediately after her. Had they lingered for but a moment, they would have seen in the thinning mist that it was not a pit they had escaped from, but a massive print of a four-toed hoof.
The magical light ahead disappeared through the mist and foliage. But, they knew that they were on the right track
Beneath them, they could feel the ground changing. What was once soft mud was gradually felt to be solid rock. And with the mud, the foliage soon ended, revealing the scene before them.
“Ho--”
“--Lee--”
“--Snickerdoodles!”
Dash, Goofy and Pinkie said one after the other.
The awesome sight of a forest of massive mushrooms loomed before them. Mushrooms of all shapes, some were flat, some were domed, and others were shaped like an umbrella that was blown the wrong way by the wind. The one thing they had in common was that they towered as tall as trees, blotting out any light from the sky above with their enormous caps to turn any land beneath them as dark as the night.
There was a river flowing through the rocks, feeding into what looked like a massive, knee-deep lake that spread far through the mushroom forest, until it was swallowed by the mist and darkness. And within the mist and shadow beneath the mushrooms, the faintest of lights was seen, before it dimmed into nothingness.
“Looks like this is it,” Dash said, as she started forward.
“*ulp*...S’pose there’s nuthin’ else for it,” Goofy said, hoping that the light would have guided them somewhere more pleasant. Someplace where nothing could hurt them, such as a petting zoo or a flower garden.
There were smaller mushrooms throughout the forest, which were the exact perfect size and height for improvised stepping stones
Dash took one step onto a smaller mushroom, and an amazing thing happened. The moment that it vibrated beneath her hooves, it began to glow. When it bumped into the mushroom ahead of it, it too illuminated.
And through the forest, the lights of many bioluminescent mushrooms shone and dimmed. Some stayed lit, while others simply faded out and didn’t illuminate again for several seconds.
All three of them managed a shaky smile. At the very least, they were going to have a somewhat easier time than they thought navigating the darkness of the mushroom forest.
Pinkie was next, and found the fungi were strong enough for her to hop across. Taking a moment to cradle the bottle of hot sauce that Cream Filling had given her, she thought of what was waiting for her at the end of the magical quest, put away her condiment and hopped onward. Lastly, Goofy followed quietly, humming his favorite song to himself.
The trek through the mushroom forest was unnerving, if not dangerous. Strange colors seemed to swirl about them all, as though trying to hypnotize and allure them off of their path to the darkness beyond.
In the water floated the usual debris of the swamp. Leaves, branches, moss, and the occasional log. But, most of all there were the animals that lived there.
Small, milk white creatures swam through the water below. Some looked like furry slugs. Some looked like living ribbons Others looked like amphibians. And others still looked like tiny armored fish. Once in a while, something was heard scurrying up and down the mushrooms, or splashed into the water from beneath one the travelers were standing on.
Ever wary, Dash, Pinkie and Goofy all kept their eyes and ears open for danger. But, it was beyond the mushroom forest where the danger lay.
The king of the beasts had seen the broken bones of the dead creatures, and followed three sets of tracks through the brush. Soon, it was at the mushroom forest, and sniffed the air.
It had been that way hundreds of times. The albino creatures within were easy prey to track down and devour. Now, mingled with the familiar smells of spores and water were new smells. Creatures not known to the swamp.
This was where the king would find them and devour them all. With a low groan, it lurched into the mushroom forest, whipping the tip of its tail in anticipation.
“You know, this isn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Pinkie said, as she hopped from mushroom to mushroom, creating the pattern of a cupcake with sprinkles with their lights.
“Yeah. These lights really take the edge off of getting lost in here. Like, if anything’s trying to eat us, we can see it now,” Dash said, hopping off of one mushroom like a trampoline, and landing flawlessly after a triple somersault
Goofy said nothing. His eyes were wandering all about the mushroom forest, trying to find their guiding light among all of the others.
“Wulp!” he jolted when Pinkie suddenly popped up in front of him with two round, pink fungi atop her head, and one on her nose.
“Guess who I am!” Pinkie said.
Goofy was no stranger to this game. Twenty Questions and Charades were two of his favorites. And as he looked at Pinkie, he thought there was indeed something familiar about the two round shapes atop her head. And the little button nose reminded him of a certain somebody he thought he could put his finger on.
“Uh...Felix the Cat!” Goofy resolutely declared.
“Eh! Wrong! IIIIIIt’s--” Pinkie said, before she started sniffing the air. “Cupcakes?”
“Cupcakes?” Dash asked from up ahead.
“But, Felix ain’t a cupcake,” Goofy replied.
Pinkie took the mushrooms she had been wearing and started sniffing them. After one deep inhale, she darted over to Dash.
“Dashie, smell these!” Pinkie said.
“No! I don’t want to--” Dash tried to protest, as the mushrooms were pressed to her nose. Soon, she stopped trying to push them away when she noticed the familiar smell. “I don’t believe it! That smells just like--”
“Cupcakes!” Pinkie finished.
“Well, I’ll be gawrshed. Where’d yuh find sum’n like that?” Goofy asked.
“They’re all over the place. Look,” Pinkie said, indicating the swamp around them.
It was true. Through the dark and the fog, they could see many more of the little mushrooms growing on the larger ones. And just like the ones Pinkie had plucked, they too smelled like cupcakes. How such a wondrous thing had happened, they couldn’t say. But, if something like that could exist among the prehistoric monsters that wandered about the swamps, then truly there was always hope to be found.
A low guttural growl suddenly cut through the silence. A growl that was all too near.
Panic suddenly struck the goofs. Perhaps one of them had a plan to escape and regroup. But, not one of them would have been able to hear it over the roar that shook the swamp. The very same that they heard during their log ride into Le Marais Sombre.
It was lucky for them that Dash was wrong. The king of the beasts had roared before it attacked, giving them time to find a hiding place. Only, now not one of the goofs knew where the other two were. They only sat motionless in their hiding places, hoping that whatever had just roared would come no closer to them.
As it was with most pleas and prayers, this one went unanswered.
From where she hid, Dash heard a loud splashing noise that was coming closer. And in the ghostly glow of the fungi, she saw the back of the monster. Twenty hooves tall, forty hooves long, and covered in rows of armored plates, it looked as if nothing would ever penetrate its hide.
Whether it was the light of the mushrooms, or its natural color, Dash couldn’t tell. But, there was something oddly luminous about the beast. Like a scorpion seen under a special light. Whatever it was, she wasn’t about to get close enough to investigate.
Goofy pulled the mushroom cap he had jammed over his head down further, as only his eyes peered out to see what was approaching him.
Water splashed over the goof, when a gigantic four-toed hoof stomped through the fog to the ground. The leg the hoof was attached to was nearly as big around as the trees in the rest of the swamp, and covered in reptilian scales.
Three more of those terrible legs passed by, each one making the ground tremor and the water crash over Goofy. For a moment, the goof dared to raise his head, only to quickly duck back down as the massive tail of the beast swung over his head.
It was Pinkie Pie who had the most terrifying vision of all. From her hiding place, she could directly see the face of the beast coming toward her through the fog. And the sight of it sent shivers down her spine.
Countless hours of her life had been spent joyfully playing with her pet alligator, Gummy. Gummy, who was affectionate, playful and above all cute. Were it not for Gummy, the sight of this beast would have put her off alligators for life.
Its long, pointed snout hovered just above the water, and waved left to right, scanning the area for any unfamiliar sight or scent. As it approached her through the fog, Pinkie could see the flashes of its jagged, serrated teeth glistening in the light of the mushrooms with every pass of its gaze. From the front of its mouth, long tusks jutted and curled in many directions, adding to its fierce appearance.
Worst of all were its eyes. Giant, yellow lamps that shone through the fog, with no trace of any pupil or white. It may have been another prehistoric survivor. Or, it may have been the ghost of one. Either way, it was clear from its appearance alone that this was the king of the beasts. The ruler of all that walked the swamplands of Bichumonterre. And it was lumbering ever closer to Pinkie.
Pinkie’s heart raced at the sight, and hoped that her disguise would fool the beast. In a desperate bid, she had covered herself with more of the cupcake-scented fungi. Hoping that she looked and smelled like nothing more than a cluster of mushrooms, she tried to sit still as the beast came closer to her.
From their hiding places, Goofy and Dash watched the beast lumber on, and saw that it was heading toward a large bunch of shivering mushrooms.
Pinkie was in danger, and their minds raced for a way to save her.
Deciding that she could always improvise an escape, Dash started silently jumping across the glowing mushroom caps toward the back of the beast.
Goofy took a different approach. He started quickly tying together dozens of long, skinny mushrooms that were growing out of the ground around him. Once he had run out of mushrooms, and hoped he had enough line for what he was about to attempt.
Taking one of the drifting branches out of the water, he tied the line onto it.
“Okay! Stay loose! Relax!” Goofy frantically thought to himself. He tried to keep himself composed as he readied to unleash the secret technique that was passed down in the Goof family. “Ten o’ clock! Two o’ clock! Quarter to three--”
He realized there was no time to complete the technique, when he heard the beast loose a low growl as it lowered its head to the shivering mushrooms.
Taking no risks for his friend’s life, Goofy let fly the line of his improvised fishing pole.
He had meant to snag Pinkie and pull her to safety. His plan was to grab her around her hoof, or her waist, or anything, and reel her in like a prize tuna.
Cursing his rushed cast, Goofy was dismayed to see that his line had snagged around the tusks at the very front of the beast’s face.
The beast growled angrily as its head whipped away from Pinkie when it was pulled by its tusk. For just a moment, Goofy could see its eyes shining against its silhouetted body, before it snapped its head in the other direction.
With the line suddenly pulled further away, Goofy’s arms stretched like rubber beyond their normal threshold.
“Oh, boy…!” Goofy groaned to himself, just before the rest of him followed his arms.
With the beast’s jaws away from her face, Pinkie was about to run away to safety. Before she even had a chance to shake off the mushrooms she had piled around herself, she saw the silhouette of Goofy come flying at her through the fog.
There was no time to shout when the goof slammed into her, knocking away her mushroom disguise and pinning her against the large mushroom stem behind her. All but the two round mushrooms over her ears.
“Ow…” They both groaned.
The king of the beasts jerked its head again, trying to loose the line of mushrooms from its tusk.
Goofy was once again yanked into the air, with Pinkie clasped tightly around him.
Both of them were flung around the air, Goofy not daring to let go of his improvised fishing pole.
The beast thrashed around, trying to snap at the flying morsels. But, no matter how it tried, they always seemed to avoid its snapping jaws.
Pinkie planted her hooves and kicked off of the beast’s nose.
Goofy rolled them both up the length of the line like a yo-yo and stopped against the beast’s tusk, just before its jaws snapped over them. Unable to keep up the suspension, Goofy and Pinkie unraveled again.
Dizzy and disoriented, Goofy and Pinkie barely had time to react when they saw an open mouth full of fangs snapping toward them.
With a shout, Pinkie put her hooves in Goofy’s hands and threw herself into a hoofstand. Both goofs compressed slightly when they felt the beast’s jaws suddenly clasp over them.
They grunted and strained as they pushed against the beast’s crushing jaws.
The king of the beasts reared its head back and chomped with all its might.
Under the strain of the bite, the two goofs stuck in the jaws of the behemoth started to bend outward.
Dash had been trying to think of a plan, and saw one practically fall together below herself.
Wasting no time, she started rushing back and forth across the top of the mushroom she had climbed. In seconds, the entire fungus started to sway.
Goofy’s hands clutched tighter around Pinkie’s hooves, as they both tried to keep their footing inside the beast’s mouth.
They knew they couldn’t keep it up. Slowly, they both inched toward the opening of the monster’s jaws.
Neither knew who, but one of them had given way. One of them had slipped, and forced them both to pop out of the beast’s mouth.
In one sudden movement, the king of the beasts snapped upward.
In the exact same instant, Pinkie and Goofy clasped one another close and stood directly atop the beast’s nose.
Knowing that they were little more than a biscuit on a very ferocious dog’s muzzle, they had no time to think when they were suddenly bobbed into the air.
Goofy managed to keep ahold of his makeshift fishing pole, but his line had come loose from the beast’s tusk. There would be no more zipping around to avoid it this time.
Dash finished rocking backward, and started rapidly flapping her wings.
When the mushroom she was on snapped forward, Rainbow Dash shot off of it toward her friends, trailing a streak of rainbow behind herself.
The king of the beasts jumped with its mouth open. But, before it could finally eat the little morsels that had intruded on its land, they were snatched away by a flying blue blur.
Dash held tightly to her friends, and did not let go until they landed on top of another, taller mushroom.
“And Rainbow Dash saves the day again!” Dash triumphantly shouted.
No sooner did she finish speaking did the mushroom they were on start shaking violently.
The king of the beasts bellowed another roar and started chomping away at the mushroom stalk.
Apparently Dash had not quite saved the day.
One look to Dash’s wings, and inspiration struck Goofy like a brick wall.
“Grab a hold, gals!” the goof said, as he swung his line of mushrooms around the mares.
“And what!?” Pinkie practically demanded to know, as the mushroom they were on shook again.
“Dash, when I say so, flap yer wings hard as yuh can!” Goofy explained.
“Right!” Dash said, as she readied for her cue.
“Let’s try this again!” Goofy said to himself, as he raised his fishing rod over his head.
“Try wha-AAAAAAAAT!!!!!??” Pinkie shouted, as she and Dash were both whipped off of their hooves.
“Ten o’ clock! Two o’ clock--!”
Goofy’s cast was interrupted again when the mushroom beneath him started teetering downward. They were toppling like standing timber, and he knew that the king of the beasts was waiting below to devour them.
There was no more time. He had to cast.
“Now, Dash! Let ‘er fly!!!”
The moment she heard her name called, Dash flapped her wings with more gusto than she ever had since entering the swamp.
With Pinkie close in tow, Dash almost felt as if she were actually flying when she started weaving around the massive mushroom stalks. Whether or not it was real she didn’t question it, and allowed herself to maneuver masterfully through the forest.
Once she felt the line going taut, she and Pinkie grabbed onto the cap of one of the shorter mushrooms and held tightly.
With one last snap of its jaws, the king of the beasts chomped through the mushroom stalk and awaited Goofy’s landing.
Goofy tried to backpedal on the top of the mushroom, but found it was toppling too fast.
He was soon met with the open jaws of the beast, and just felt the line he was holding go taut. With a sudden jerk, he was pulled through the mouth of the monster, and had to suck in his gut and turn his body to slip through its teeth.
“AAAAHH-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOOOOYYYYY!!!”
The goofy holler rang through the swamp, as the goof it came from followed the curving line he cast. Every sharp turn sent Goofy swerving madly around the stems of each massive fungi. One, he smacked into face first, before zipping away.
Dash and Pinkie looked below themselves and saw Goofy zip right past them.
Pinkie grabbed the line with her free hoof and yanked it upward.
Goofy swung up into the air and curved around the pale white stem of another mushroom. After him, the mares were pulled along the line.
All three went spinning around the mushroom stem, until they all tangled so much that they tied themselves up to it.
“Well, here’s a real gawrsh an’ a half,” Goofy said.
“This isn’t a problem! They’re just mushrooms,” Dash said, before taking a bite through the strand around her nose.
The moment she chomped through, her eyes watered and her face turned from sky blue to sickly green. The next moment, she started retching loudly, and spat madly like she was trying to remove any trace of the fungus from her mouth. After retching one last time, Dash’s whole body went lax, her eyes rolled up into her head and she began to drool lazily.
Eating their way out was no option. Pinkie and Goofy instead struggled hard against the binding fungus, hoping that the king of the beasts wouldn’t catch up to them in time.
Pinkie thrashed her head about, and saw through the fog their guiding light ahead of them. Only now, it was moving without them.
“Wait! Come back! Don’t just leave us here!” she called to it.
Goofy, however, saw a different light when he was struggling to get free. The eyes of the king were shining brightly through the dark and the mist, and were growing rapidly closer. Then, there came a groan.
Not from the king of the beasts, but from somewhere nearer. Somewhere above them. Looking up, Pinkie and Goofy saw that it wasn’t a mushroom stem they were tied to, but the impossibly long neck of one of the prehistoric beasts.
Like all the other creatures in the mushroom forest, it was completely albino. At the moment, it was munching on the giant mushroom caps without a care in the world.
“Hey! Hey! This isn’t the time for munchies! There’s a monster after us!!” Pinkie said, as she frantically rapped her rear hoof against the beast’s neck.
If only Fluttershy was there to work her magic touch on the beast. Surely, even a prehistoric animal would prove no challenge for her to cooperate with.
Pinkie’s mind raced for a way to entice the beast. She thought of the many ways she had seen Fluttershy coax unruly animals into behaving, especially the always ornery Angel Bunny.
That was it! Even whenever Fluttershy wanted a favor from Angel, she always promised him extra food. With that in mind, she started thumping her head against the beast, hitting it with the mushroom that was still on her ear.
The familiar sweet scent reached the beast, who started craning its head around to find the source. Except what it saw was not a delicious treat. Instead, it saw a pair of solid yellow eyes shining through the fog. And the shadow they belonged to was growing closer.
Taking no chances to face the ruler of the swamp, the albino dinosaur turned tail and fled through the mushroom forest.
It was a bumpy ride, to say the least. The thumping of the albino beast’s feet shook its three passengers, making Dash turn greener than before. And it did not help that when it ran, it pointed its head directly forward, and snaked its neck through the winding hazards.
Pinkie and Goofy both continued their struggle to get free, and were starting to make headway. Goofy managed to free both of his arms and started pulling himself out. Dash, however, was already partly free, and had been steadily slipping out of her line of mushrooms. And in moments, the weight of her slumping body started pushing her restraints away.
“Whup--Whoah--Hold on there, Dash!” Goofy said, as he flicked the line of mushrooms.
The line cracked, arched up and started following the path around the beast’s neck.
Just as Dash was about to fall to the ground, the line of mushrooms whipped out and snagged her by her hoof.
Pinkie freed her hooves and grabbed Dash around her shoulders.
With the line loosened up, Pinkie and Goofy both started shimmying around the neck of the beast. When they reached the back, they all slid down the beast’s neck to its back.
“Dashie! Are you okay? Speak to me!” Pinkie said.
“I-I-IIIII don’t feel so good…” Dash moaned, before collapsing into Pinkie’s hooves.
A sudden bump reminded them all that they were on the run.
Dash’s cheeks bulged beyond their normal size, as she tried to keep her stomach out of her mouth.
The eyes of the beast were growing closer, and its silhouette was growing more defined.
Goofy looked around the neck of the albino beast. Ahead, he saw the guiding light had turned in a different direction than where they were heading.
The albino beast jumped over a fallen mushroom, making its passengers all jolt.
Goofy wrapped his fishing line around the beast’s neck, and kept from falling.
Try as she did, Pinkie couldn’t keep her grip on Rainbow Dash, who went rolling down the back of the beast.
“Dashie!” Pinkie shouted, before running after her friend.
Dash bounced down the beast’s pallid back, rolling further with every rushed step.
She started teetering toward the side.
Goofy didn’t even think about the fishing line around the beast’s neck. He simply pulled in the direction he had seen their guiding light, and the albino beast swerved to the side.
The change in momentum let Dash flop back toward the center of the beast’s back, where Pinkie was able to catch her and pin her down.
Looking around, Pinkie saw that they were now almost at the base of the beast’s tail. But, the shock of nearly falling off was nowhere near the terror of the king of the beasts now closer than ever before.
They could see its ghostly eyes against its monstrous face. Its unusual coloring distorted by the luminous mushrooms made it seem as if it were stepping from one world into another with every step it took, growing closer at an unnatural rate.
Goofy tried to keep their ride steady as it ran toward their guiding light.
“C’mon, girl! Pick up the pace!” Goofy shouted, as he spurred with his heels.
The albino beast didn’t run faster, but whipped up its tail to uppercut the predator behind herself.
The king of the beasts was struck, and the suddenly inclined tail made Dash and Pinkie roll back toward the front. Right into Goofy’s back.
“Whoof!!” Goofy wheezed when he was struck.
Pinkie kept one hoof around Dash and the other around Goofy, as they rode the albino beast through the forest.
They were getting closer to the light. Hopefully, it was leading them away from danger. But, the closer they came, the more they thought they were being misled.
There was another dark shape beneath the light. One that did not look in any way natural.
Before they were upon it, Goofy steered their massive mount to the side of it to try and see it. They heard a sound of a motor revving, and the moment they passed by they saw what they had truly been following.
The light turned out to be nothing more than a lamp on top of a small airboat with two passengers occupying it. One of them was holding a sack, while the other was revving the engine of the craft. In the dim light, the beast’s passengers thought they could recognize the pointed face of one of them.
With one last rev, the airboat took off like a shot, faster than any prehistoric beast could run. And soon, it was out of sight. But, the sound of it’s motor lingered behind.
There was a sudden splash, when all of a sudden the albino dinosaur partly submerged itself into the water and paddled away.
Another splash sounded, when the king of the beasts followed suit. However, its smaller frame and four-toed hooves didn’t allow much in the way of swimming.
The albino beast was swimming far ahead of the king, and soon disappeared like a ghost in the fog.
With no way to catch up to its prey, the king of the beasts paddled to the shore behind it, and turned to look one last time at the lost meal.
On the back of the albino beast, Pinkie, Dash and Goofy watched tensely at the glowing eyes peering at them through the mist, before they turned and disappeared from view.
“Please be gone forever! Please, please, please never see us again!” Pinkie begged to herself.
“No good praying, Pinkie...We’re just gonna have to be more careful…” Dash said, feeling less nauseous now, for the smoother ride. She burped loudly, but managed to keep her stomach down. “Ugh...Never. Never again…”
As Pinkie cradled the nauseous Dash in her hooves, Goofy took one of the cupcake-scented mushrooms from her ears and offered it to their mount.
Here yuh go, Gertie. Fer helpin’ us out back there,” he said.
The albino beast’s head craned around, and saw the mushroom. Reaching down, the newly christened Gertie took the mushroom from Goofy’s hand and swallowed without chewing.
“Cool! I want to feed her…” Dash said, as she reached up and took the other mushroom from Pinkie’s ear.
Gertie the dinosaur saw the other treat, and licked it out of Dash’s hoof. Lastly, she took the final smallest mushroom off the tip of Pinkie’s nose.
“Man...Fluttershy would be so jealous if she found out we had a pet dinosaur!” Dash said, the queasiness ebbing away from her.
“Gertie the albino dino! Mare’s best friend!” Pinkie affirmed.
It seemed that Gertie didn’t feel so strongly, as she promptly started to dive.
“Whuh-oh! Oh! No! No! No!” Goofy said, as he and the mares all scrambled to the highest spot on Gertie’s back.
In moments, they were all sinking down below the surface with their prehistoric mount, until they were all submerged. Less than a second later, they all bobbed back to the surface.
“Gertie!? I thought what we had was special!” Pinkie called out to the fog.
“Yeah! Is that all the thanks we get for giving you those mushrooms! I oughta--” Dash would have gone on, if not for another bout of nausea. When she looked up from the water, she saw something else through the mist. “Hey! Over there!”
Pinkie and Goofy both looked to where dash pointed, and saw it as well. There, resting against one of the trees of the swamp was a small fishing boat, perfectly intact and with a light still lit on the deck.
The condition of the boat led them to believe that it had not been there long. And judging by the way it had lazily moored against a tree, and for seeing nobody aboard, it made them wary as to whether or not the crew might ever return to it.
Rather taking their chances aboard the ship than the water, the three of them swam over to it.
Goofy put his hands up and grabbed onto the side of the boat first. Promptly he was climbed up like a ladder by Dash and Pinkie. Once the mares were on board, they both reached over and hauled Goofy up out of the water.
Dash shook her mane out. Pinkie checked her mane and found that her bottle of hot sauce was still unharmed. Goofy hiked up his pant legs, and shook out a load of water and one prehistoric fish, which flopped back over the side of the boat into the drink.
“Whuddaya think? Look like anyone’s here?” Goofy wondered, as he carefully walked around the deck.
“I don’t think so. Looks like this tub’s been abandoned,” Dash said, before peering into the cabin.
No sooner did she finish talking did the boat’s motor start sputtering to life. Apparently the boat was not as abandoned as they thought. Dash was still feeling slightly nauseous, and Goofy had lost his fishing pole to Gertie the Dinosaur. They would have to get creative to defend themselves from who or whatever was still on the boat.
“Guess what!” Pinkie Pie said, as she suddenly popped up from a trap door in the deck like a pink jack-in-the-box.
“WHA--!!” Goofy yelped, as he jumped onto Dash’s back.
“The engine still works! That’s WHA--!” Pinkie explained, emphasizing the last word, before climbing on deck and kicking the trap door shut.
“It does?” Goofy asked, trembling slightly as he climbed off of Dash’s back. “A-hyuck. I knew that.”
Dash groaned and rolled her eyes, as she walked over to the tree the boat was moored against. Goofy and Pinkie both joined her, and in seconds were able to push themselves away.
The boat was free now. Soon they were drifting down the river.
“I call skipper!” Dash, who had no nautical experience whatsoever, volunteered immediately. She ran past Goofy, and made him spin around.
“I’ll keep a lookout for any more of those beasties!” Pinkie said, making Goofy spin the other way, before she climbed to the top of the tiny mast.
With the mares occupied, Goofy tried to think of a job for himself. And the filthy deck gave him just the idea.
“Guess I better see if there’s any swabbin’ gear ‘round here,” he said to himself.
He walked past the cabin and saluted Dash through the window. Had he been watching where he was going, he would have been able to avoid a terrible accident.
“WO-OW!! Goofy shouted, as he tripped down the steps to below deck.
And with a crash, he was where he wanted to be, ready to contribute to the continuing of the magical quest.
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ah yes, the Perfect Cast from A Goofy Movie.
9647437
But, will we see it in full?
I want a pet dinosaur!!! Gertie forever!! Off topic but since you have all these different places based on the real world like Peru, renaissance Europe, Persia and Wales, any chance of having Canada in there?
9648551
It's funny you should mention a place based on Canada. Because...you'll see. Why do you ask? Are you Canadian?
9648555
Sure am, eh! I just had a kerfuffle on the ice and now I'm aboot to get some timbits and a double-double at Timmy's, eh!
9648558
Pardon my American ignorance, but I'm more fluent in European English than Canadian English. What was that you just said?
9648566
I just had a fight during a hockey game and now I'm about to get donut holes and a regular coffee with two creams and two sugars at Tim Horton's (like Canadian starbucks).
9648575
So, that's it, huh? Neat. It never occurred to me that I might have an international reader base.
You referenced my story? Awesome!