The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse: The Equestrian Adventure

by wingdingaling

Chapter 65: In the Balance

Chapter 65: In the Balance

A loud, deep, rapid sniffing filled the air of the jungle. From around a tree trunk, Pluto appeared with his nose turned upward, sniffing deeply for traces of Minnie’s scent.

For as long as he had been searching, the hound dog began to think that Minnie could not possibly have gone so far into the jungle after their crash landing. Then again, he was still finding pieces of the broken bridge, even though he had traveled a long way from the crash site.

He bumped his nose against a broken piece of wooden plank and began sniffing it intently. The smells of wood, weather and dirt were all present on the plank. But, it was nothing that would lead him in the direction of his missing friends.

Nothing was turning out the way that Pluto wanted it. First, the bridge broke. Then he was separated from his friends. Now, he was stuck with some uppity little punk, who insisted on finding new ways to irritate him every second.

Sniffing deeply, Pluto’s bloodhound nose was registering scents that had passed even days ago. But, none of them seemed to lead to where he wanted. Then, his ears registered a new noise.

Somebody was sniffing along with him. A short, quick, rapid succession of sniffs that sounded so near. And yet, Pluto could not place exactly where the sounds were coming from.

He turned right, the sounds came from the left. He turned left, and the sounds came from the right.

Pluto used a paw to lift his ears, so that he could better detect the source of the noise. But no matter how he tried, the source eluded him.

Perhaps if he tried sniffing the source of the noise out.

Putting his nose back to the air, the hound dog sniffed as well as he could, carefully discerning each particle of every aroma that entered his nose. All he could get were the normal jungle scents of greenery, flowers and tree bark. The smells of small animals hiding in the brush were also quite prevalent. All around, pieces of the broken bridge were still catching his nose, but that was no good. The only other scent he could discern clearly was the little monkey who was bumming a ride off of him--

Hold on a second.

Pluto bared his teeth and whipped his head around to look at his tail. There, the little, blue monkey had its own nose turned up to the air and was sniffing over and over, same as Pluto.

“Grrrrr-Raff!!” Pluto shortly barked at the monkey.

The baby monkey quickly stopped sniffing and resumed idley hanging from Pluto’s tail. Pluto gave one last warning growl and the monkey innocently waved at him. And with that, the hound dog resumed his search for his friends.

The faint traces of Minnie’s scent were not fading, but they were growing no stronger. For a moment, Pluto wondered if there had been something that he had missed. Some crucial detail that he had overlooked during his search for his friends.

He thought he might be able to hear them from somewhere far off, and lifted one of his ears again.

“KEE-KEE-KEE!!!”

The high-pitched call pierced Pluto’s unprotected ears like a needle, sending an unpleasant vibration through his entire body.

“KEE-KEE!! UKO-KO-KEE!!!”

The little monkey was propped up into the air by its own tail and blaring like an air raid siren.

When Pluto recovered from the shock, he immediately started chasing after his own tail to catch the baby monkey and give him what for.

It was a game that Pluto had done to amuse himself ever since he was a puppy. And it always amused Mickey when he sat down to watch Pluto’s canine antics. This time, it was personal. The second Pluto caught his tail, he was going to give the passenger riding it a lesson he would never forget.

The little monkey jostled up and down, starting to feel slightly queasy from the unwanted ride he was being given.

The chase came to an abrupt stop when Pluto’s paws nearly went over the edge of the leafy platform that they were on. As quickly as anything, the hound dog backed up to safety and quickly growled a warning to the little monkey.

“KEE-KO-KO-UKA!!”

The call echoed somewhere in the distance, answering the shout of the little monkey. Any feeling of ill will between Pluto and his young charge faded in that moment. The sound was coming from the direction that Minnie’s scent was the strongest. Where the mother monkey was, there Minnie would be, along with Spike. Pluto would find his friends, and he would be rid of the little, blue pain in his tail. Except reaching them would prove difficult.

They had arrived at the edge of the platform, quite unintentionally. And in the direction that they were trying to go, the jump to the next platform was further than Pluto had to jump before.

Inching to the edge, Pluto looked down into the dark depths that waited below. If he failed his next jump, he would have been falling for who knew how long, until he hit the bottom. If there was a bottom.

Behind himself, Pluto felt his weight shifting toward the edge. Barely noticeable at first, until his front paw slipped over the side of the platform, making him scramble back away from the side.

Looking back, Pluto saw that the baby monkey had been trying to swing himself closer to the edge from his tail. The baby smiled innocently. He was just trying to see over the side. How was he supposed to know that moving to look might have sent them screaming into the abyss?

Pluto growled another warning and started looking for another way to cross the gap. There were no other nearby branches to jump to. No vines to cross, or outcroppings to follow. No way to circle around, until they reached the other platform. It was simply a straight shot, but with no way to clear it.

It was a problem that needed some thought. And so, Pluto sat plop on his haunches, sending a tremor through his tail that shook the little monkey loose.

The little monkey lifted his face up and spat out a mouthful of leaves. After being dropped so unceremoniously, he was not about to be left in the dust by his only means of transportation.

He crawled over to Pluto’s tail and tried to grab for it with his own, only for the hound dog’s tail to swish out of the way. He tried again, and again Pluto’s tail swished aside.

The little monkey was taken completely by surprise when Pluto’s tail wagged up and hit him in the nose. After the sudden shock had worn off, he watched and observed the movements of the hound dog’s tail.

It wagged up and down rapidly, preventing any means of grabbing for it. So, the little monkey gave up and sulked on the leafy platform, waiting for the time when Pluto came up with the solution to cross over to the other side.

But, it was the baby who found the solution first.

All around them, the answer to their problem was lying broken and strewn about. And chattering quietly and contemplatively to himself, the little monkey scampered over to collect the needed items.

At the edge of the platform, Pluto sat and meditated a way across. He thought he might climb the trunk of the nearest tree and take a leap of faith from there. Except even if he landed from that height, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t end up the world’s flattest hound dog.

His thoughts were interrupted by something landing lightly on his head. After shaking it off, Pluto found that it was a length of rope from the broken bridge. And it wriggled again after it landed.

Startled by the sudden movement, Pluto nearly fell over the side of the platform again. After collecting himself, he saw the little monkey scamper over and take hold of the rope near the end closest to the edge.

It would be a cinch. The blue baby had done this many times before with his own tail, so doing it with a rope would surely be no problem at all. He twirled the rope around, throwing his whole arm into the motion. After building up a proper momentum, he tossed the rope as best he could to the other side. Unfortunately, his child strength failed him, and the rope barely got five feet from them.

Pluto rolled his eyes at the effort. Though his intentions were in the right, there was no way the blue punk was going to be able to make the throw. Pluto, on the other paw, had worked with Mickey, Donald and Goofy on ships, on ranches and on the sides of buildings. All of which required ropework. So, putting his knowledge of such things to use, the hound dog put his paws and jaws to work, until a great, round knot was tied at the end of the rope.

Once the knot was tied, the blue monkey balled up his fingers into a fist and held it up beside the knot. There was some resemblance between the two, and the monkey chattered happily at the discovery, running circles in childish joy.

Young minds were always easily amused, Pluto noted, before he started swinging his rope and let it fly from his jaws.

The knot flew through the air, carrying its length behind it. It sailed all the way to the other side, and caught itself between two outcropping branches.

Pluto had just finished securing the knot at his end of the gap when the little monkey trotted over with another rope. The process was repeated and now two ropes were spread a little less than two feet apart from one another.

The last part of the puzzle was delivered when the little monkey pushed over as many bits of plank as he could. Pluto took the first plank and placed it directly across the two ropes, then turned to pick up another.

The plank was broken already, and so it was discarded. The next plank was also broken. The next was broken lengthwise, and offered hardly any foothold. One was hardly more than a splinter. Finally at the bottom of the pile, there was another intact plank.

That was it. They had two frayed ropes and two proper planks to use. A rudimentary look around proved that there were no other usable pieces of wood. And it would waste too much time to go back and look for more.

There was a weight on Pluto’s tail, and he saw that the little monkey had already set himself up for a ride.

The young passenger chirped inquisitively, looking ahead at the pitiful bridge they had built.

It was now or never. If they wanted to find their friends again, they would have to brave the danger before them.

Taking the second plank in his teeth, Pluto placed it ahead of the first. Then, he positioned his front paws on the front plank, and his back paws on the rear.

The ropes sagged slightly beneath his weight, but held securely to their anchors. And so, the perilous progression began.

Pluto scooted the front plank beneath his paws forward, followed by the back plank. Slowly and carefully, he inched along the length of the ropes, taking care not to look too far down.

Things were progressing very smoothly, if not slowly. Until they reached the middle of the gap. There, the weight of the passengers started to spread the ropes further apart.

Beneath them, the passengers could feel the ropes sliding out from beneath them. Sweat dripped down Pluto’s forehead as he whimpered quietly, trying his best to keep the ropes underneath the board.

Winching himself down with his tail, the little monkey grabbed one of the ropes and pulled it closer to the middle of the planks. But, it was still uneven. The little monkey reached a rear paw to the opposite rope, stretching as far as he could to grasp it. And just when he felt his little leg was going to pull loose, he could feel his toes touch the rough, hempen cord. Finally, he was able to grab the rope and pulled as best he could toward the middle.

Pluto felt the ropes steadily shift to beneath them. Looking between his legs, he saw the little monkey straining to keep ahold of the two ropes.

The little monkey turned his head and offered a reassuring, if not forced, smile. And with that, Pluto looked ahead and carefully started shuffling forward again.

Progress was slower than ever now. Pluto made perfectly sure that he was going to give his young charge the time that he needed to maintain his grip on the ropes.

Behind him, the little monkey was shimmying along, always with his hands and feet on the ropes and his tail tightly wound around Pluto’s.

The little monkey breathed in cadence with every fourth grip, keeping his pace with each rhythmic movement.

They were getting closer to the other side. The little monkey could feel the ropes resisting his pull less and less under his aching limbs. After a few more feet had passed, he thought that maybe it would be safe to loosen his grip on one of the ropes.

At the front, Pluto could feel the rope sliding out from beneath the planks again. Looking between his legs again, he saw the blue punk slacking off on his duty to keep them from falling.

Pluto yelped at the monkey, who looked up from his work. Momentarily distracted, the little monkey let the rope slide completely from his grip.

The rope snapped outward, forcing everything and everyone upon it to fall.

Pluto only just managed to hook his two right paws around the rope that did not move. As he swung down, he caught the falling wooden plank in his teeth.

Behind him, the little monkey stretched down as far as he could and grabbed the other plank.

Pluto’s momentum made him swing around the rope, and he was just able to catch the swinging left rope with his other paw and place the plank in his teeth upon them. At the rear, the little monkey lowered himself down and placed the other plank behind them.

There they were. Pluto’s whole body arched up, his rear paws stuck in the air, while the little monkey hung from his tail.

It was not a pretty predicament. But, the other platform looked so close.

Not about to give up, Pluto grasped the rope on either side with his paws and scooted forward on the plank in his teeth. Next, he scooted his tail slightly closer to his front. Behind him, the little monkey kept hold of the second plank to keep Pluto’s undulating body stable.

Like an oversized inchworm, the two were scooting their way across the gap. And soon, the edge was upon them.

Pluto was a mere foot from the edge of the platform. He could practically feel the grass beneath his paws and reached for it. But, the closer he came, he started to slide back. And when he tried to hurry forward, he felt the ropes wobble.

Now that they were so close, their own weight was making the ropes slope backwards, preventing them from reaching their destination. They had come so far, and after overcoming so many snags, they were at a standstill.

The little monkey was not about to give up. Though young, he was still an experienced jumper. And with jumping there came other skills and abilities.

He looked at the distance they had to go, then to Pluto’s arching body. What he had to work with was more than enough.

The little monkey carefully started springing on his arms, gradually getting more and more forceful. Before Pluto had a chance to admonish him again, the monkey jumped up and over, flipping the hound dogs haunches straight up.

Pluto’s equilibrium wobbled front and back, but the blue monkey held on. And for what little weight his young body held, the monkey continually resisted Pluto’s attempts to wobble backward to the rope.

Enough was enough. The little monkey opened his mouth and chomped hard on Pluto’s tail.

“BOOOOOWWW!!!”

Pluto yelped loudly and jerked forward. His front paws let go of the ropes completely, but his back landed on the platform.

Once he had landed on the platform, the little monkey grabbed Pluto’s tail in his front paws and started pulling as hard as his baby strength could manage.

For the first time since they had started across the ropes Pluto was gazing directly down in the depths of the jungle. A surge of fear shot through him, spurring his back legs into action. Quicker than he ever knew he could, the hound dog crawled onto the solid surface until his entire backside felt the prickles of the twigs beneath himself.

All seemed well, and Pluto’s middle expanded to full breadth as he filled his lungs to capacity. Before the sigh ever left him, all the air in his system was punched out of him by repeated tiny jumps.

Joyful chatters filled the jungle around them, as the little monkey jumped up and down. Gradually, his celebration stopped when he felt Pluto have less and less spring with each bounce. When the spring let out altogether, he peered over Pluto’s nose to look the hound dog in the eye.

“Eek-ee-kee?” the monkey asked.

Pluto answered by snorting in the baby’s face, making the little punk roll off of him. Once the monkey was off, Pluto stood back up and shook the leaves from his fur.

It took him no time to notice the scent he had been following was stronger now than it was before. They had gone in the right direction, and were now back on track to getting where they needed to be.

Before him, Pluto watched the blue punk stand up on his tail and start calling loudly out to the jungle again.

“KEE-KEE!!

They stopped and listened again. And in a moment, the answer came back.

“OOK-KEE-KEE-KO-KO!!”

The smell was stronger, but the call of the mother monkey was no nearer than it was before.

There was still a ways to go, until they both got to where they wanted. Wasting no time to get going, Pluto lowered his tail for the little monkey to tie his tail around, and the two were off.

As they walked across the platform, a ray of sunlight caught something in the wedge of two branches. Something that shimmered like a cluster of twinkling starlight.

Curious to the nature of it, the little monkey climbed up the tree trunk and investigated the find.

---

“UK-KEE-KEE!!” called the mother monkey to the jungle.

She listened intently for the reply, as did her green child. And somewhere in the distance, the weak reply.

“Ko-kee!”

Somehow, something seemed off about the call. She could not put any of her fingers on it, but something about the call made the mother feel uneasy.

Still, the call had come from somewhere, and the only thing to do was to follow it.

The overlarge flower pod on the branch behind the monkeys compressed and recoiled suddenly. In another moment, the mouse who had jumped on it landed behind the two monkeys.

“I swear, from now on I’m going to wear more sensible clothes before I go walking through magic mirrors,” Minnie said, as she fixed her skirt and replaced the shoe she nearly lost.

After fixing her clothes, she noticed the mother monkey beckoning her in the direction they were facing.

“This way?” Minnie asked.

The mother monkey trotted onward with her baby in tow, and Minnie following after.

Minnie followed them around the bend of a tree trunk and promptly walked into a hanging segment of bridge.

“Oh--!” Minnie yelped, when her nose hit the planks. “Honestly. How bad could that crash have been?”

Before she was able to walk around the hanging bridge, she saw the mother monkey pacing frantically at the edge of the leafy platform they were on.

Beyond the point they were at, there was a semblance of civilization. Round huts were built onto the leafy platforms that grew from the trees, and were connected by several rope bridges.

“A town!” Minnie exclaimed.

Any kind of help from anybody would have been appreciated. Except that the gap between them and the little treetop town was too wide for Minnie to cross. Likely, it was even so for the mother monkey.

Fortunately, they had exactly the thing that they needed to cross the gap.

Taking the dangling end of the broken bridge in her hands, Minnie cracked it like a rug, sending a wave through the entire structure. When the wave reached the top end, the part that was snagged came loose and rolled up into a manageable, portable bundle.

Now that she had the means to cross, the mouse readily employed it. And just the same as unrolling a blanket for a camping trip, the bridge unfurled its full length across the gap. At the far end, the ropes of the bridge wedged between the planks that surrounded the foundation of the nearest hut, and the end of the bridge nearest was securely tied into the branches beneath the leafy ground.

The mother monkey went first, carefully walking along as her green child nervously watched the ropes that held the end of the bridge. After they safely reached the other side, Minnie followed suit.

Under her weight, the bridge gently rocked back and forth.

Minnie froze completely, waiting for a sign that this part of the bridge may break as well. Seconds passed, and nothing happened.

Every step she took afterward, Minnie was looking at the bridge, careful not to get her heels caught between the planks.

In another moment, the planks of the hut’s foundation appeared into view and Minnie found herself safely on the other side.

“I guess I had nothing to worry about,” she almost giggled.

There was a sudden clattering of wood, and the farthest end of the bridge came undone, slapping hard against the branches of the tree they were at.

Glancing back, but not daring to look over the ledge, Minnie saw what had almost become of herself.

The mother monkey curiously looked over the edge to see what had happened, while her child hung as far back as he could.

“Goodness!” Minnie quietly gasped to herself.

It was then that she noticed something quite off. Even though it was the middle of the day, the town was deathly quiet. All that was heard were the ambient sounds of rustling leaves and the calls of distant birds.

“Hello!” Minnie called out.

No answer came.

“KEE-KEE!!” the mother monkey called.

“Kee-kee!” came the reply.

The answer sounded closer than ever now.

The green baby clapped his hands and feet together, and chattered excitedly. Soon, he was going to be rejoined by his siblings, and they could be a family again.

Far off, another pair of dark, round ears registered the call and hurried toward the direction.

The pursuer wove her way through the trees, effortlessly slipping this way and that as she chased down her quarry.

She jumped across a gap and landed on a lower branch. Her claws dug deep into the wood, before she hopped to the next branch, quickly closing in on her prey.

Author's Note:

This is a pretty predicament. The closer they get to finding one another, the closer their hunter gets to finding them all at once.
A while back, one of you readers commented that certain parts of this story really did feel like a video game. What with parts that seemed like a quick time event, or timed events. I never really thought of those chapters as being video game-like, but I guess it’s only fitting, considering the nature of this crossover. This time, however, inspiration was taken directly from games.
So far, the entire segments with Pluto and his blue companion were inspired by old time platformers. Specifically: Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, Mega Man and of course The Magical Quest.
I remember that there was somebody else who commented a while back about how they could easily imagine Minnie’s battle against The Massster having 16-bit graphics, with prop clouds and hills for platforms and a giant snake looming in the background. I hope all of you could picture a 2D, 16-bit Pluto jumping across those tree branches. Because I sure did.
For anybody who doesn’t get that part where the blue monkey is so happy about the knot, it’s because the knot that Pluto ties is called a ‘monkey fist.’ And the way that Pluto uses it to add weight and anchorage to the rope is the way people actually do it.
One of the references that I like to add to my stories was kind of easy to miss here, but it was where the treetop town was mentioned. Treetop town was one of the levels from the original Donkey Kong Country. Anybody know of any good Donkey Kong stories? I’d gladly read them if there are any worth reading.
Normally, I spout off about whatever’s on my mind at this part. But, I don’t have anything particularly interesting to share this time. Sorry, all. But, I will advise you to keep safe out there.
That’s all for me. What waits for us in the next chapter? More lives in the balance. Literally? Figuratively? You’ll see in a little while. Rock on \m/