//------------------------------//
// Chapter 46: All Aboard the Double Down 
// Story: The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse: The Equestrian Adventure 
// by wingdingaling 
//------------------------------//






	Chapter 46

All Aboard the Double Down


Deep in Le Marais Sombre, a ship was anchored in the foggy waters. Near the top of it, light shone through two large window panes, the only beacon of civilization for miles.
From the left pane, a silhouetted figure watched the waters below. His beady eyes darted across the foggy waters, waiting for any sign of life. It would be then that he could carry out his mission for his master, and destroy his enemies once and for all.
Suddenly, as if it had peered out from behind a wall, a tiny light appeared in the distance through the mist.
They had come. And with a sharp turn, the silhouette turned away from the window.
Down in the waters, the light sailed like a ghost through the fog. Unseen beneath it was the little boat it was set on. Unseen to all, but its six passengers.
“That’s it, guys! We finally made it!” Cheet said, as he watched the lights of the larger ship ahead.
“An’ about stinkin’ time, too! I never thought we’d get this far alive!” Sneek added, slicking his hair back and putting his hat back atop his head.
“Heh,” Cheet huffed, before twitching his head backwards. “Go let the the others know we got here.”
Sneek turned and walked across the deck of the boat. He walked around the cabin in the center, all the way to the back where the others were.
A table had been set up where Theef, Creep and Cheepskate all had their noses pressed into the cards they held in their hands. Also at the table, Max was sitting and staring equally intensely at his own dealt hand.
“Alright. I’m puttin’ in fifty!” Theef said, slapping a number of bills and pocket change onto the table.
“That all ya got? I’ll see yer fiddy bucks, an’ raise ya a reuben!” Creep said, as he placed his money and a sandwich on the table.
“A reuben!?” Cheepskate asked. “You musta lost it, little bro.”
“Eh-eh-eh-eh. This here’s corned beef on marbled rye. Whole peppercorns. Aged swiss cheese. An’ the sweetest thousand island on top o’ the sourest sauerkraut you ever ate. Freshly grilled on the boat’s engine,” Creep boasted.
“Ahh,” everyone else at the table said, enlightened to the value of the sandwich.
Theef added more money to the ante to stay in the hand.
“Alright. I got somethin’ woyth just as much,” Cheepskate said, as he reached into his pocket, and placed a dingy diamond ring on the table. “My foyst wife’s weddin’ ring! Worn only once! Nevah been appreciated!”
The weasels all laughed heartily, while Max only stared, confused by the exchange he just heard.
“What about you, squirt? What’re you addin’ to the pot?” Theef asked Max.
Being barely five years old, Max had very little to up the ante. As it was with every other hand, he bet the best thing he could think of.
“I bet my dad’s gonna tie you all together by your noses and throw you overboard!” he said.
The weasels all laughed loudly, just the same as they did when Max bet his dad would find them and use them as bait for the spike-tailed monster he saw on the shore a while ago. Or when he bet that his dad would sink their boat by swimming through the hull.
Theef had already promised Max that his dad was reduced to a smear on the ground by Theronicus Rex, but the boy didn’t waiver his faith in his father.
“Whatevah you say, kiddo,” Cheepskate said, as he turned over the last card in the river. “Nine o’ diamonds.”
“Ohhh!” Theef and Creep both said in unison.
“Nine o’ diamonds at the end o’ the river. You know what that means!” Theef said.
“Yer gonna have bad luck fer the rest o’ the game!” Creep chuckled.
“Aw, get stuffed! That’s just a superstition,” Cheepskate said. “Let’s see ya hands.”
“Two pair!” Creep began.
“Three of a kind!” Theef said, triumphantly.
“Ha! Flush! Beat that!” Cheepskate said, having surreptitiously changed his own hand.
“How ‘bout you, kid? Whaddaya got?” Theef asked Max.
“Uh...I got four, five, six, seven, eight. All hearts. Is that good?” Max asked.
“What!? No, it ain’t! Dat’s one o’ the woyst hands ya can get!” Cheepskate said, as he took the pot in his arms.
He was just about to take a bite of his newly won sandwich, but bit his own tongue as it was pulled out of his hands.
Max didn’t know what hand beat what, but he knew when he was being cheated. As Theef and Creep laughed, he glared daggers at Cheepskate, and took a huge bite of the sandwich himself as he pocketed the rest of his winnings.
“This kid’d make a good weasel!” Theef said, as he jostled Max’s shoulder.
“Yeah. Whaddaya say ya ferget ya old man, an’ loyn what it really takes ta make in this crazy woyld?” Creep asked.
“Uh-uh!” Max said through a mouthful of reuben. “I won my bet! So, that means my dad’s gonna beat all of you up and take everything you own!”
Cheepskate was still grieving over his sore tongue, and glared at Max.
“Ya really think so, eh?” he said, angrily eyeing the sandwich he had lost. “Well, even if yer dad did beat Rex, which he ain’t gonna, he’d never get past the beasts.”
Max stopped chewing his bite for a moment and stared at Cheepskate.
“The whats?” he asked.
“You remember that thing ya seen on the shore? The one ya said yer dad was gonna feed us to? Heh-heh-heeeh. Well, that ain’t the only thing ya gotta worry about out here.”
“It’s not…?” Max nervously said, as he lowered his sandwich back onto the table.
“Not even the least,” Cheepskate said in a low voice, as he leaned over the table to Max. “Ya see, this swamp ain’t just home to a buncha mean gators, or fish with a dental problems. The worst things are the beasts that live only here.”
“What are they? Where did they come from?” Max wondered, wide-eyed.
“That’s just the thing. Nobody knows. Far as they can tell, they always been here. Monsters from a time before anybody started writin’ any history books. An’ the swamps o’ Bichumonterre are the last place that these forgotten beasts live. An’ they’re gonna stay here. Unchallenged. Unchangin’. Until some smart aleck decides they’re gonna try meetin’ one face to face…”
Max was petrified, staring frozen at Cheepskate, who was barely inches from his face.
In one swift motion, Cheepskate snatched the sandwich from Max.
“Hey!” Max shouted.
“Snooze, ya lose, kid. Ya can’t be so dim with them beasts!” Cheepskate gloated.
“You mean, like that one!?” Max gasped, as he pointed ahead.
Cheepskate turned and yelped at the massive, dark shape that appeared next to their boat. It was only a second that he realized it was actually a ship. But, he couldn’t focus on that, as the sandwich he was holding was slipped out of his hand.
“What the--”
He turned back around, and watched as Max stuffed the entire sandwich into his mouth.
Theef and Creep laughed hysterically at Cheepskate, and Max couldn’t help but feel proud of himself for besting a grownup so easily.
Cheepskate thought otherwise. He reached into his jacket for a blackjack or a set of brass knuckles.
“Hold it!” Sneek sharply said. “You got any idea what Rex is gonna do to us if anything happens to the kid!?”
Sneek had stretched the truth when he relayed the instructions Rex had given him to the others. Back in Trottingham, Theronicus Rex threatened that if anything happened to Max, he would blame it exclusively on Sneek. However, Sneek had told the others that they all were in trouble otherwise.
Not wanting to risk the wrath of a two ton war horse, Cheepskate put his weapon away.
“Come on. Our new pals’re waitin’ for us,” Sneek said, motioning for the others to follow him.
Sneek, followed by Max, Cheepskate, Creep and Theef met Cheet at the front of the boat, where a gangplank was lowered to receive them.
Single file, they all boarded the larger ship, while their own was left to drift out into the swamp. Once on the deck, they were greeted by a much larger, more muscular weasel.
“Evenin’, mateys. Name’s Freeboot. Be ya the swabs the boss was expectin’?” the weasel asked in a salty, grizzled voice.
“Only if he was expectin’ five mooks an’ a nipper,” Cheet said, indicating his company.
“No. He be expectin’ a nipper, a wiseguy an’ four dips. I guess it’s you after all,” Freeboot said, before he motioned for the others to follow him. “This way. Mr. Cray’s waitin’ for ye.”
The crew from the smaller boat was led into a door, which led into a room that was simply a long hall with many doors on either side. At the end, there was a long staircase that went up into the ceiling.
They climbed the staircase, where at each landing there was another solid metal door. Up they went, seemingly without end, until they reached the door at the top.
Freeboot led them through the door, which led to another hall. This one was lavishly decorated with gold moldings and red carpets. On the walls, there hung lamps that cheerily illuminated the hallway.
There was a door at the end, which Freeboot stopped before and knocked.
An intercom by the door buzzed.
“Who is it!?” asked a gruff, gravelly voice from the speaker.
“Freeboot. Your appointment’s here,” Freeboot answered.
“Appointment, eh? Miss Argente! Get the door!”
The door was quickly opened by a short, skinny cervequin, whose silver-white mane stuck out wildly from the bun she tried to tie it in, and whose glasses were slipping down her nose.
As quickly as she opened the door, she backed away from the company of weasels, clutching the clipboard that was hanging by a chain around her neck.
When the weasels walked in, Miss Argente gasped quietly at the sight of the young dog in their company. She had always known her employer was the unscrupulous sort, but never imagined that he would bring children to that horrible place.
The boss was standing with his back to them, hunched over his desk as he hastily scribbled on some papers. As he wrote, there was the sound of a snap, and the pieces of the pencil he was holding rolled to the floor.
“Heck!” the boss shouted, before taking another pencil from the jar next to him. On the floor next to his desk, there was a wastebasket full of other things that had broken. Mostly pencils.
What Max had noticed was that the boss at the table wasn’t grasping the pencil with a hand, but with a claw. A large, pincer-like claw.
“These swabs wanted to see ya, boss,” Freeboot said.
“Fantastic! Now, get out!” the boss said, as he snapped another pencil. “Nuts!”
“Not just yet. See, we got us some merchandise to deliver. From Theronicus Rex,,” Cheet said, as he yanked Max forward.
“From Rex, huh?” the boss said, now sounding intrigued. “So, the old mule couldn’t handle a job that didn’t involve breaking things. I guess it’s up to me to finish what he couldn’t.”
The next pencil he had grabbed snapped. And when the pencil snapped, so did his temper.
“Of all the rinky-dink, jury-rigged garbage!” the boss shouted as he threw his pencil into the trash and kicked the bin into a wall. “Why don’t they make things like that with stainless steel, or wrought iron!? I’m gonna have a thing or ten to say to the high-falootin’ bozo who makes these things!”
The boss finally turned to face them, and Max was hit by a silent surge of fear. The boss had a face like no other creature he had seen. Not a dog, a mouse, or even a duck. He was a crayfish. A large crayfish in a black suit, white shirt, brown shoes, brown suspenders and a red necktie. And his face was more furious than he had seen Donald Duck on his worst days.
Mr. Cray stomped over to the newcomers. Max flinched when he stood towering over him. In the back of his mind, he feared that this was one of the beasts that Cheepskate was telling him about.
“Doesn’t look too tough to handle. Should be easy enough, between fleecing all those goons downstairs,” he said. He sharply turned to face the cervequin in the room. “Miss Argente!”
“Yes, Monsieur Cray?” she answered, her glasses sliding further down her nose after she jumped.
“You’re on babysitting duty now! Look after the kid! And make sure he never leaves your sight!” he shouted. He turned to the weasels. “And you fur wraps: get outta my office! Or the next time anyone sees you is gonna be wrapped around a lady’s shoulders at a gala!!”
“Done an’ done,” Cheet said. He and the others turned to the door. “Come on, boys. Let’s blow this joint.”
They were stopped by Freeboot.
“I says ye’re goin’ nowhere. If ye’re not a customer, then ye’re an employee. So, get below and get some uniforms! We got work to do!” he said to the other five weasels.
“Great! We just get here, an’ we’re shanghaied!” Creep moaned, as they followed Freeboot away.
Max watched as the weasels left, before Miss Argente closed the doors.
“Make yourself comfortable, kid. You’re gonna be here for a long time,” Mr. Cray said.
“Not as long as you think,” Max rebutted. “I know my dad’s coming for me! He’ll blow this whole ship up, if he has to!!”
For as brave as Max felt for the strength and bravery he knew if father had, he felt his own courage falter when he saw Mr. Cray glare at him.
“You think your dad’s coming for you?” he said, as he snapped his claws.
Max inched backwards, and hid behind Miss Argente, who stood shivering in front of him.
“I got news for you, pup: even if your dad got to me--” he illustrated his point by cleaving the head off of a marble statue with his bare claw, “--He’d never get past the muckasaurs in the water!!”
Mr. Cray laughed malevolently at the idea of the boy’s father failing before he even got close to rescuing his son. And his laughter carried deep into the swamp, far from where his boat was.



Nobody went so deep into Le Marais Sombre without good reason. Deep in the swamp, where Mr. Cray’s laughter was naught but a whisper, the land had become little more than a vast expanse of quicksand, where anything heavy enough found itself treading up to its knees in the mire. That is, only the ones large enough not to be swallowed by the ground.
Every other creature dwelt in the wild, gnarled branches of the trees, which tangled with the branches of their neighbors. Cackling birds and chattering insects made their homes above, not daring to risk the dangers of the waters below.
Down in the deep, dark water, poisonous reptiles made their homes. Large fish awaited their next meal to drop from the branches above. But, no matter how vicious they were, they all feared the beasts.
A single glittering light drifted across the top of the murky waters. Behind it, the surface of the water rippled gently, as a fallen log drifted lazily along, stirring the inhabitants that dwelt on the bottom, who created a fog of silt and mud as they swam.
The sounds of rustling reeds accompanied the gentle lapping of the log, and were joined by a choir of frogs. Unseen birds chimed in from time to time, adding to the eerie symphony.
A gentle breeze blew, whistling like a lost voice through the reeds, calling to all who could hear to go deeper into the swamp and stay for eternity. With the breeze, the mists on the banks blew across the water, billowing into ghostly shapes that faded almost as soon as they were seen.
The ambience played its song for the lost, slowly fading into the back of the minds of all lost souls who could hear.
Far in the distance, a new voice was added to the song. One that when it started, all others went silent, fearfully hoping its owner was not near. It started out quietly, but grew louder to the point that it seemed to split the water with its voice. A roar that cut through the entirety of the swamp, letting all know who truly ruled there, and daring others to challenge it.
The drifting log started to spin, as the three goofs riding on top of it scrambled into one another’s arms.
In a moment, the log stopped spinning, and the largest of the three steadied the log under his shaking knees, holding his smaller friends.
“What was that!?” Pinkie said, trembling as she clung to Goofy’s head.
“Gawrsh if I wanna find out!” Goofy answered, clutching Dash like a shield.
“Whatever it is, don’t just throw me at it!” Dash said, as she struggled to free herself from Goofy’s grip.
Another roar shook the swamp. Whether it was nearer or further, they couldn’t tell, as Goofy tried to run away with his pony friends holding tightly to him.
Instead of going anywhere, the log beneath him spun end over end, making them all rise up and down on the length of their ride.
The roar died down, and Goofy stopped running as the log bobbed on one end. He wobbled under the weight of Pinkie and Dash, teetering to stay atop the log. Finally, when the terrible noise stopped, he found his center and stopped moving completely.
The three all listened as they held their breath, fearing the slightest sound would alert the source of the roar.
Nothing more came. All that was heard was the gentle moan of the wind through the reeds. As if to signal that all was well, the song of the frogs started again, which was soon joined by the rest of the swampland symphony.
Pinkie, Dash and Goofy breathed one collective sigh of relief, as the log gently tilted back downward.
Goofy was able to lean in tandem, keeping upright and allow the mares back onto the surface of the log.
They continued to drift lazily ahead, keeping a wary eye out for anything as mean as what had just made that terrible noise.
Nothing was visible through the fog, save for the glittering light ahead of them. There was no telling what they may have been heading toward. Or worse, what may have been heading toward them.
Dash’s eyes darted to the darkened bank across from them. She knew as well as the others that something was there in the swamp with them. And she was sure that it wouldn’t care to talk about the Wonderbolts or Daring Do.
As she looked out into the haze, she could see the reeds near the bank moving. Sometimes, they were accompanied by a sound she was familiar with. Other times, they simply stopped moving without a sound. One that seemed particularly large slipped unseen into the water.
For a moment, Dash looked to the water, hoping that whatever it was wouldn’t swim toward their floating vessel.
Something in the water broke the surface briefly, then sank back down. Her eyes darted to a bubble which burst only hooves across from them. Then, she heard it.
The sound of wood being rhythmically tapped reached her ears. A quick, rapid pace that sounded almost to her like some kind of code. Were there others in the swamp with them? Did they need help? Or was it something to lure curious souls to their doom?
The more Dash listened, the nearer the noise sounded, until she looked to her right and saw Pinkie Pie nervously tapping her hoof on the log.
“Stop that! You’re making me nervous!,” Dash said, stopping Pinkie’s hoof with her own.
“Well, this is making me be un-nervous!” Pinkie said, as she started tapping again.
Pinkie was taken by surprise when Dash took her hooves and put them under her own flank.
“Sit on your hooves then!” Dash said with finality, before looking back to the haze.
Pinkie sat indignantly, wishing that there was something to take her mind from the unsettling ambiance. The more she looked, the more her mind wandered back home to Ponyville and Sugarcube Corner.
The Cake family, the cupcakes, the tortes, the pies, the cookies, the cupcakes, the parties, the fun, the community, the cupcakes, the music--
“Music…?” Pinkie thought.
She gently tapped her rear hoof on the log, quietly enough for Dash not to hear. There was a simple sound to it. Almost like a bongo. And a tune came to her head. Something in the vein of a salsa or a calypso.
Slightly louder, but still too quiet to notice, Pinkie continued to rhythmically tap her hoof.
At the front of the log, Goofy, who had been keeping a watchful eye ahead, started bobbing his head and humming in tune.
“What’s that you’re humming, Goof?” Dash wondered.
“Dunno. Sure is catchy, though” Goofy replied.
Before she asked what the goof meant, Dash heard it too. This sound was different, however. It was strangely calming. Almost uplifting. And she thought she could pinpoint the source.
“Pinkie?” Dash said, as she looked to her pink friend.
Hearing the change in Dash’s tone, Pinkie stopped sitting on her hooves and added them to the beat.
Dash and Goofy both started gently bobbing to the rhythm, careful not to overturn their floating log as they did.
The log drifted beneath the reaching branches of one of the trees, sending them into a hollow that was only illuminated by the phosphorescent fungi that grew near the banks and the twinkling little bugs that danced about through the air.
“Are we doing this?” Dash wondered.
“A-yup. Ain’t nuthin’ to it. Just go along an’ cruise with the beat,” Goofy answered.
A cruise? That was it. They were on a cruise through the wild wetlands of a foreign kingdom. And Dash was going to add to the atmosphere.
Jumping up, she performed a graceful somersault as she knocked some branches down with her hoof.
She and the other branches made the log jump when they landed. And when they did, the branches and leaves all set themself up like a canopy over the log. With the canopy, Dash was now wearing a skirt and a lei, both made of the hanging moss.
“Nice canopy, Dashie!” Pinkie said, as she continued her lively beat.
“A-hyuck! An’ some snazzy threads to go with it,” Goofy said, indicating that he too was wearing a skirt and a lei.
It was too tempting to resist. Even though the log wobbled back and forth, threatening to roll them overboard, Goofy and Dash both stood up and started dancing. Without losing a beat, Pinkie scooted back and forth to keep from spilling into the drink.
For just one moment, they forgot the fear and the danger of the swamp. All there was was the music and the time with friends. But, they were soon reminded.
“Aloha oe. Aloha oe. Alo-HOO-HOO-HOY!!!” Goofy sang, before he received a nasty surprise.
The lei that landed around his neck turned out to be an irate snake, which had been napping peacefully before it was awoken by the loud noise of its new neighbors.
Goofy quickly pulled the snake from around his neck and threw it into the water.
The snake’s head rose above the surface, followed by its tail. Its tail balled up into a fist, which it shook at the goofs, before it swam away into the reeds.
Dash and Pinkie both laughed as Goofy checked himself for any other unfriendly hitchhikers. And the sound of their laughter carried far into the swamp. To the ears of one of the ageless beasts that lived there, which started sloshing its way through the mud to the source of the sounds.
Goofy had just shaken his hips like a hula dancer, and dislodged at least a dozen other biting bugs into the water.
“Whoah! Whoah! Whoah! Whoah!” Dash and Pinkie both shouted, as the log wobbled back and forth from Goofy’s mad dance. Unfortunately, the canopy was a casualty of the turbulence and fell apart.
Finally, the mossy skirt fell from Goofy’s hips, and landed in the water.
“Sorry, Goof. I didn’t know you’d have all those dance partners with you!” Dash laughed.
“You know who I bet is a great dancer? Cream Filling!” Pinkie said.
At the mention of the name, both Dash and Goofy rolled their eyes and groaned.
“How many times are ya gunna bring him up?” Goofy asked.
“As many times as it takes for the whole world to know that my coltfriend is the king of Trottingham!” Pinkie answered, saying the last seven words slightly louder than the rest.
“Then, tell it to the rest of the world! We already know! And don’t yell so loud! That thing might still be out there!” Dash said.
“Whut thing?” Goofy asked.
Amidst the fun they were having, Goofy, and even Pinkie, had quite forgotten the terrifying roar that had shaken them so. And before Dash could remind them, the log suddenly shook.
“What was that!?” Pinkie said, as she frantically looked around.
“The thing we were trying not to make mad!” Dash answered.
Though she had hoped to avoid an encounter with the thing, Dash was now prepared to defend her friends from what was to come. But, when one was on a floating log, in the middle of a foggy swamp, with no way to fly, she wondered how she would do it.
The log rocked again, and they all wobbled atop it.
When the shaking stopped, another log floated up next to them. One that looked as grey and as dreary as the one that they were riding on, which was angled toward the shore.
“D’yuh think we can get to shore from that one?” Goofy asked.
“Anything to get away from that thing rocking our boat!” Pinkie said.
At first, it seemed like a good idea to take the opportunity to escape, until Dash noticed something that was quite off.
“Wait!” she said, grabbing hold of Goofy’s shirt and Pinkie’s tail.
“Yuh don’t really wanna stay an’ fight that thing, do yuh!?” Goofy asked.
“No. Look,” Dash said, pointing her snout to the drifting log.
Pinkie and Goofy both looked, and thought they saw what Dash meant. The other log in the water was so similar to the one they were on, but so different as well.
The color was wrong. Though it was the same shade of grey, thin, black stripes ran along its topside. At either end, there was no sight of any roots, or what may have once been branches.
It was a curious sight to see. Whatever it was, one thing was for sure: it wasn’t a log.
“Should I give it a poke-see?” Pinkie wondered, as she raised a hoof.
“NO!” Dash and Goofy both said at once.
It was too late. Pinkie had already poked the log, and found that it was not made of any kind of wood. And the log drove the point home when Pinkie saw a paddle-shaped flipper briefly break the surface of the water.
There was a sudden splash of water, and Pinkie felt herself pulled back by her mane, just as a set of teeth snapped where her neck had been.
None of them knew what the thing in the water was. Only that it had a long snout and lots of teeth. And that was all they saw, before it sank back below the surface.
Pinkie had barely seen anything, as she was too busy scrambling up Goofy’s back and resumed her perch on his head.
“Did you see it!? Did you see it!? Celestia and Luna, that was a muckasaur!!” she shouted.
“Muck-uh-huh?” Goofy asked.
“A really big, really nasty water monster! But, it was supposed to be extinct like a million years ago!” Dash said.
“What do we do now!? We can’t fight something that even extinction couldn’t kill!” Pinkie said, as she tightened her grip around Goofy’s head.
“We might just have to,” Dash said, as she readied herself into a fighting stance.
Goofy mumbled as Pinkie tightened her grip around his head.
“You really want to fight it!? Are you nuts!?” Pinkie shouted.
“I don’t want to fight it! But, what choice do we have!?” Dash rebutted, spreading her wings wide.
There was another splash, as the muckasaur leapt out of the water toward Goofy.
The goof jumped aside, and landed on top of Dash’s back.
For a split second, he saw the beast more clearly. Before the sudden and unexpected trip into Equestria, Max had been learning about dinosaurs in school. In one of the books Max had brought home from school, there was a picture of some vicious aquatic animal that looked like a dolphin with a bad attitude. By the light of the bugs and the fungi, Goofy thought that he was only feet away from one of those prehistoric beasts. And with a splash that rocked the log, it was back in the water.
Dash wobbled around, trying to stay on the log while her friends teetered on her back.
“This isn’t helping, guys!!” Dash tersely said, as she steadied herself.
“Wo-ow!!” Goofy said, as he leaned forward under Pinkie’s weight.
Pinkie overbalanced, and started slipping from Goofy. In a moment, she found herself falling toward the water, and slapped her hooves around the goof’s neck.
There hung Pinkie like a great pink worm on a hook. Below her, she thought she could see the surface of the water rippling, as the thing swam about.
“Pull me up! Pull me up!! That thing’s eyeing me like I’m fish bait!” Pinkie shouted.
“We got yuh, Pinkie! We ain’t lettin’ yuh go!” Goofy answered.
Dash was already leaning too close to the side of the log, and felt it start rolling beneath her hooves. She tried stepping backward, but found the weight atop her only made the log roll in step with her own hooves.
The more she moved, the more quickly the log spun. Soon, she was trotting backward like a log roller.
The muckasaur swam toward them again, and rapidly surfaced.
Dash tried shuffling to the side, but found that any lateral movement threatened to throw them all into the water.
Soon, the beast was upon them, ready to lunge again.
Pinkie’s rear legs ran in vain through the air, as if she were hoping that would somehow take them further from the beast.
It was upon them. The muckasaur rose from the water, ready to devour them all.
With no warning at all, a boulder the side of a barrel landed right on top of the beast’s head.
There was a sudden splash, which made the log jump up high enough for Goofy to grab onto the lowest branches they were under. Pinkie still held tightly around his neck, while Dash clung to his knees.
Below them, the beast in the water floated bolt upright in the water as a lump rose on its head. Gradually, it sank back down into the water, the lump being the last thing that disappeared.
“Gawrsh! Thank goodness fer flyin’ boulders, huh?” Goofy said.
“I don’t think that’s a good thing, Goof. Boulders don’t fly!” Dash said.
As they dangled from the branch, a noise from the shore diverted their attention. A noise that was growing rapidly closer.
“Look! Somepony’s there!” Pinkie said.
“Huh? Who?” Goofy asked, as he squinted to see.
Through the haze, they thought they could see the form of their savior.
They couldn’t make out the exact form. Only that it was very broadset, and almost as tall as Goofy. Whoever it was, they had saved Dash, Pinkie and Goofy from the beast in the water, and was likely a friend.
“Hey! Over here!” Dash called. “Thanks for helping with that thing! But, could you help us down from here next?”
Their savior didn’t answer. They only huffed a short, agitated breath of air. Then, it started bobbing up and down as if it was doing squats.
“You can exercise later! We need some help here!” Dash shouted.
“Dash...I don’t think it wants tuh help us,” Goofy said, as he watched the strange behavior of the creature on the bank.
Indeed not. The creature on the bank suddenly reared up onto two legs, standing even taller than Theronicus Rex. It started beating its chest and roaring loudly, before it picked up another gigantic boulder from the mud.
That was their cue to go.
Goofy tried to scramble up to the branches, as the mares tried frantically climbing up him. In their mad hurry to escape, they barely got anywhere as the creature on the shore wound up to heave its boulder.
Dash tried to climb Goofy, but her hoof slipped when she was kicked by the scrambling Pinkie.
Pinkie was pulled down as Dash kept climbing.
“Come on, Pinkie! Move!” Dash said.
“I’m trying! You stop moving!” Pinkie rebutted.
Amid the battle around his waist, Goofy could feel his belt loosening.
“Girls! I think yuh oughta--” Goofy said, before his pants slid down to his ankles, revealing pink boxers with green polka dots.
“AUGH!!” Dash and Pinkie both shrieked, as they held tightly to Goofy’s ankles.
The creature threw its boulder, and the mares had to pull their hooves up to keep them from being struck. There was another splash, which blew up beneath the three and sent them into the branches above.
They landed on one of the tangles of the many branches. None of them took the moment to notice how the knot of limbs was almost as broad and sturdy as any road they walked on. Their first priority was to escape.
“Let’s hoof it! Before that thing chucks another rock!” Dash said, as she trotted down the branches.
“I’m with you, Dashie!” Pinkie said, as she hurried after her friend.
“Hey! Wait fer me!” Goofy shouted, as he stumbled along, trying to pull up his pants.
The creature on the shore growled ferociously and climbed up the nearest tree. Those intruders were on its territory, and they wouldn’t be tolerated.
Dash and Pinkie ran through the winding paths the branches made, throwing caution to the wind, in spite of the heavy mist around them. From time to time, they had to jump across a gap from one tree to the next.
“Don’t wait fer me!! I’ll catch yuh up!!” Goofy called, as he hopped after them, hitching up his pants.
There was no telling what dangers going so deep into the swamp would present. After avoiding two monstrous beasts, they could only imagine how much worse it could become. And the worst presented itself.
Dash suddenly dropped down, but was caught by Pinkie. Through the mist, they hadn’t seen the branch they were on suddenly ended, and were overlooking a vast body of water.
Behind them, Goofy had just finished refastening his belt around his waist, when he bumped into Pinkie. Quicker than he could blink, he grabbed Pinkie before she too fell in the water.
“Now’s a good time for a plan, guys!” Dash said.
“Hang on! Lemme think a bit!” Goofy said. The noise of the beast chasing behind them reminded him that time was of the essence.
“Oh! I know! Dashie can fly us out of here!” Pinkie suggested.
“No magic, Pinkie!” Dash said.
“I know! But, can’t you use magic like Goofy!?”
“Don’t work like that!” Goofy reminded Pinkie.
There came a guttural hooting and grunting noise behind them, and the sound of snapping twigs was growing closer.
Dash could think of nothing else to do. She started flapping her wings, hoping in vain that they would soar from danger.
“What are you trying to do!? Die tired!?” Pinkie shouted, as she held tightly to the flailing Dash.
But, the pegasus paid no mind to her friend. She was focusing on a way to escape.
She had done magic before. And it was as simple as what Goofy told her back in Trottingham: she just had to imagine it.
Through the fog, she could see another solid shape. Something that she knew she and the others could use to escape across the river from their pursuer.
“This is it! I’m flying us out of here!” Dash thought to herself.
She could hear the flurry of wings flapping all around her, and the cheer of the distant crowd. Unknown to herself, the source of the cheer was closer than she thought.
“Keep going, Dashie! You’re doing it!” Pinkie cheered, as Dash started hovering back and forth.
Seeing her friend perform such a magical feat inspired Pinkie to conjure an escape in turn. She had seen what Dash did, and wanted to have her hoof in helping. If only she could help Dash reach it.
Goofy started swinging his arms in concert with Dash. He too had seen the dark shape, and knew how they were going to reach it.
“Get ready, girls!--” Goofy said.
With one last powerful surge from all three, Goofy was able to swing both mares over his shoulder, knocking Dash’s head against the head of the monstrous ape that had been pursuing them.
“--We’re gunna fly!”
He cast Dash and Pinkie out like a fishing rod.
Goofy teetered forward so that only his toes were planted on the edge of the branch.
His legs, along with the legs of Dash and Pinkie, all stretched inches longer than normal as Dash flapped through the air. In seconds she grabbed onto the top of the dark shape in the water.
The ape stopped rubbing its sore head, and reached to grab Goofy. Before its massive palm could wrap around the goof’s middle, Goofy snapped forward like a rubber band.
The soles of the goof’s shoes planted onto two floating branches, which made a wake behind him like he was speeding on a pair of water skis.
“We did it, Dashie! We’re saved!” Pinkie cheered.
“Like there was any doubt!” Dash said, as she victoriously pounded her hoof on the dark object.
A sudden burst of hot air hit her stomach when she heard a low growl.
Now that she got a closer look at what she was holding, Dash saw it was the face of another prehistoric monster.
There was little that made Rainbow Dash scream. But, facing into the bloodshot, death stare and feeling the hot breath as it opened its mouth wide enough to swallow her made her terror escape. The only upside was that its roar was loud enough that the others couldn’t hear her.
Goofy skidded across the water, around the tree-like neck of the beast. As he shot further across the river, he pulled on the mares.
Dash let go of the monster’s face, and she and Pinkie snapped back to Goofy. Their sudden jolt sped them faster across the water, as they perched on either one of his shoulders like a pyramid of performers. The burst of speed was just what they needed to send them rocketing away from the snapping jaws of the beast.
Below them, they could see tall grass. Goofy could feel mud beneath his improvised water skis. The mares on his shoulders were buffeted by low-hanging moss, until they both wore moss shaped in one another’s mane styles atop their heads.
Goofy snagged a ski on a tree root and sent them all tumbling end over end. Each of the three took turns as the one running atop the rolling others, until the wild ride ended with a crash against a rock.
There was a spurt of mud as three solid forms dropped. For a moment, there was stillness in the swamp. The roars of the beast had faded away, and the simple swampland symphony returned. Until one blob rose up and jumped victoriously into the air.
“Did you see that!?” Dash triumphantly declared
“Uh…?” Goofy said, as he tried to sit up.
He was promptly knocked back down by Dash lifting his hand and slapping it with a forceful high five.
“We just creamed the beasts that beat extinction!”
Pinkie staggered to her hooves, and was promptly spun by Dash slapping her hooves left and right.
“We’re buckin’ unstoppable!” Dash declared, as she bumped Pinkie’s side, knocking her back down.
“Oof...I’d almost rather been caught by that ape…” Goofy groaned.
“It would be gentler,” Pinkie added.
Dash didn’t hear them. She was too busy celebrating their escape. Even if they were in a land forgotten by time, she felt like they were invincible.
“You hear that, you prehistoric punks!? Come and get a piece of us! We’re ready for anything!” Dash called out to the swamp.
“Dashie!” Pinkie interjected, snapping Dash back to reality. “We’re supposed to be following that magic light! Not fighting dinosaurs!”
Goofy sat up and shook the mud from his face.
“Yeah. An’ we still gotta find my son,” he said. He took a moment to gaze at his surroundings. The mist had thinned some, letting him see the dismal mire with its gnarled trees and hanging moss. And somewhere out there, he knew more of the monsters were waiting. “Gawrsh. I just hope he ain’t lost out here somewheres.”
“Don’t worry, Goofy. We’ll find him...Just after we find our light…” Pinkie said, suddenly sounding less sure of herself.
It was true. None of them had realized it before, but their guiding light had disappeared. Whether they had lost it, it abandoned them, or it simply disappeared when it had guided them far enough, they didn’t know. All they knew now was that they were without a guide to take them to any place that looked like they were needed there.
“There it is!” Pinkie declared, pointing her hoof toward the distance.
Dash and Goofy both looked to where their friend indicated, and saw something through the thinning mist. In the far reaches of the bog, there was a shining light. As Goofy squinted, he thought he could see there was something different about it from before, but he couldn’t tell what. Before any of them could mull on it longer, it was swallowed up again by the fog.
“Come on. Let’s go, before it moves without us,” Dash said, as she started forward.
“But, what will we do if we run into more of those beasties?” Pinkie wondered.
“Let ‘em find us. Remember how we just got away from those two monsters just now? We got enough magic between all three of us to squash anything in our way.”
“Yuh didn’t seem to think so when you were screamin’ at that nessie-saurus,” Goofy said.
“I wasn’t screaming! I was...breathing really hard!” Dash tried to explain.
Just then, the rock that they had crashed into rose up ever so slightly, and a turtle’s head, larger than any they had ever seen, rose up to blink lazily at them.
Dash, Goofy and Pinkie all screamed in unison, and took off blazing across the muddy ground of the swamp to the light they had seen.
The prehistoric-sized turtle simply yawned at the sight of the three screaming goofs and set to enjoying a meal of hanging moss.



In a deeper part of the swamp, the sounds of screaming carried far. By the time it reached a cave where no living thing dared to trespass, it had all but gone from existence. Though faint, it was enough to wake the one beast that was feared by all other inhabitants of the bog. A beast who had ruled the land in its own time, and remained the undisputed terror of the land few dared to tread.
Rising from its foul lair, it pinpointed the direction where it had heard the noise, and stomped across the land to find and devour the intruders on its territory.