//------------------------------//
// Chapter 53: Once Together, Now Apart 
// Story: The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse: The Equestrian Adventure 
// by wingdingaling 
//------------------------------//






	Chapter 53

Once Together, Now Apart


Kelp leaves gently swayed in Mr. Cray’s massive aquarium. All else was still as stone. Until a shadow drifted over the bottom, stirring the silt into a whirlwind that followed the sudden current.
The giant, disfigured fish, dubbed Chopper by Mr. Cray, swam wide circles in his tank, eagerly awaiting the pink morsel that dangled above his waters to be dropped once more.
Ever since Sneek’s straight razor had landed in her hooves, Pinkie had been surreptitiously trying to cut herself free. The going had been excruciatingly slow, and she was beginning to doubt if she would ever escape the thick ropes that bound her.
From where he sat, it looked to Theef like she was simply trying to wriggle out of her ropes. And he was enjoying every minute of watching her, as his palm rested on the lever that would drop Pinkie
At the moment, he was idly picking his teeth with his toothpick, and absentmindedly throttled the lever.
Pinkie shook on her ropes, and loosed a muffled yelp through her gag when she almost dropped her razor.
“Ehhhh, shaddap,” Theef said.
Below the tank, the scene was not much happier. After seeing his father defeated in a supremely unfair game, Max did nothing but sulk in his seat. And try as Miss Argente did to comfort him since then, there was nothing she could say or do to lift the young goof’s spirits.
Deep down, she knew why. It was because without his father, he was doomed to stay aboard the Double Down, until Mr. Cray ordered the weasels to take him somewhere else in a world he knew nothing about.
Rather than continue trying to talk Max through his ordeal, Miss Argente opted to silently stay by his side, until the dreaded moment Mr. Cray arrived.
And it came sooner than she knew.
Somewhere beyond the room, a metallic door swung open and slammed shut.
So great was the sudden shock that Pinkie nearly dropped her razor again.
Two large claws punched through the door, and sliced through like it was tin foil. Mr. Cray burst through the door, breaking it apart. Behind him, Cheet, Creep and Cheepskate followed.
“GET YOUR HAND OFF THAT LEVER!!!” Mr. Cray shouted, without even being able to see Theef.
“Whup!!! Whoah!!” Theef shouted, as he jumped in his seat and accidentally pushed the lever on the winch forward.
Pinkie gasped as she plummeted toward the water.
Theef caught the rope in his bare hands and slowed Pinkie’s descent.
“YEEEE-OOOWW!!” he shouted, as his hands started to smoke.
With a sudden jerk, Pinkie stopped just above the surface of the water and her razor jumped from her hooves.
Glancing upward, she was only just able to clasp it in her rear hooves.
“Somebody help me out here!!! My hands’re lightin’ up like a luau!!!” Theef yelled.
“What are you waiting for!!? Don’t let my diva become an hors d'oeuvre yet!!” Mr. Cray ordered.
With that, Cheet, Sneek, Cheepskate and Creep all darted upstairs. After them, Max ran upstairs, shoving past Mr. Cray.
“Max! Wait!” Miss Argente called, taking a brief moment to check on Mr. Cray. After he angrily snapped his claws at her, she followed after Max.
All six took hold of the rope, and slowly hauled Pinkie upward, while the beast swam hungrily below.
The rope started going slack. Max took it upon himself to crank the winch and spool it up.
“That’s it. Dis boid’s hoisted high as a Christmas goose,” Cheepskate said, just before he and the other weasels let go of the rope.
Max had to brace himself against the crank to keep Pinkie from falling again.
Before he collapsed, Miss Argente locked the mechanism, letting Max free.
“She’s safe, boss!” Cheet called.
“Safer than you’ll be, if you don’t get down here right now!! Get back to the roof, all of you!! You’re getting off my ship yesterday!!” Mr. Cray shouted.
Four of the weasels quickly rushed downstairs, nearly bowling over Mr. Cray in the process. Cheet, however, stayed to offer one last taunt to Pinkie.
“Ya know, you ain’t lookin’ so good, goof. An’ after all that trouble you, the pigeon-horse an’ the dippy dawg gave us, I ain’t feelin’ too bad for ya,” Cheet said.
Pinkie thrashed against her ropes and shouted muffled curses at Cheet.
Cheet glimpsed between Pinkie and the monster fish in the tank.
“Hm...Ya know what ya need? Some condiments!!” Cheet said.
Pinkie’s eyes shot wide when she saw Cheet take her bottle of hot sauce from his coat, and wound up his arm to throw it at her.
“What are you doing up there!!? Get moving!!” Mr. Cray shouted.
Cheet jumped, and nearly dropped the bottle of hot sauce into the tank.
Pinkie gasped when she saw the bottle balanced on only the tip of Cheet’s finger. But, after a moment of fumbling, the weasel managed to grip the bottle, and safely pocket it.
“Comin’!” Cheet answered Mr. Cray, as he ran downstairs and followed the door to the roof.
Up top, Max lingered to watch Pinkie for a moment, while she fought to retrieve her hot sauce.
“Max, we should be going,” Miss Argente said.
“In a minute,” Max said, before talking to Pinkie, “Hey!”
Pinkie stopped struggling a moment, and turned to face Max. Even though her world was literally upside-down, she immediately recognized the young goof from the picture in Goofy’s wallet.
“Mapf!!!?” Pinkie said through her gag.
“Are you friends with my dad?” Max asked.
“Mm-hm!!!” Pinkie said, emphatically nodding.
“Miss Argente!! Get down here! And bring the kid!!” Mr. Cray yelled.
Miss Argente tried to lead Max away, but he insisted on staying.
“You have a plan to beat Mr. Cray, don’t you?” Max asked.
For a moment, Pinkie was silent. She, nor Dash or Goofy had thought of any plan to defeat Mr. Cray, or any of his weaselly henchmen. But, that did not stop them back in Trottingham.
“Mm-Hm,” Pinkie replied.
Max smiled. But, before he could answer, Mr. Cray’s rough voice sounded again.
“MISS ARGENTE!!!”
“Yes, Monsieur Cray,” Miss Argente answered, “Max, we need to leave. Now.”
Though hesitant, Max knew Miss Argente was right. He had seen Mr. Cray’s wrath, and didn’t wish to be on the receiving end of it.
He and Miss Argente hurried downstairs to where Mr. Cray was waiting for them.
“Follow me. You’re about to go for a ride,” Mr. Cray said, leading them to the exit at the other end of the room.
That was it. Max knew then that he was to leave the Double Down and his father behind. With a worried look to Miss Argente, he knew that there was nothing that she nor any other creature could do.
“MOVE IT!!!” Mr. Cray barked, shoving them both along, until they were gone from the room.
Once everyone in the room was gone, Pinkie resumed slowly slicing through her ropes, keeping an eye on the monstrous Chopper, who circled below her.



The wake behind the Double Down churned and bubbled, creating a rapid stream that rolled and rumbled, stirring all behind it under and above the surface.
Up on the deck, Greesball, Speekeezy and Shlemeel all stood leaning against the guard rail, watching the wake. Between them two ropes were tied to the rails.
Over the roar of the splashing water, other noises were heard. Loud yelps and curses from far below that could barely be made out.
Steps were heard, and Freeboot appeared from the nearby staircase carrying a fishing rod and an enormous tackle box.
“How fares the fishbait, mateys? Still squawkin’?” he asked.
“Feh! Those goofs just won’t give up the ghost! Dun’t matter how long they been riding keel. They just won’t shut up,” Greesball said.
“That blue one’s been shootin’ her mouth off real good. Can’t hardly hear the boat’s wake over her,” Speekeezy said.
“You wouldn’t believe the things she says. She’d make ya blush if ya heard her,” Shlemeel added.
Freeboot stepped between the others, and looked over the back of the boat. There, at the end of two long ropes, he could see two figures tied by their ankles behind the ship.
“You think--getting keelhauled--is gonna s--stop me!!!?” Dash sputtered, as she tumbled through the water. “You--You’re just--putting more--nails--in your coff--*cough*--”
She would have continued, had the current not slammed Goofy into her side.
“Aw!! Give it--a rest--alread-y, would yuh!!” Goofy said, spitting out a mouthful of water when he finished.
He and Dash started drifting apart.
“Not until--I give those--weas--weasels--each a big--fat--shiner--OW!!!” Dash said, before her flank hit a drifting log that made her jump out of the water momentarily.
“Is that--all yuh care about!!?” Goofy said, before his nose was dragged across the many branches of many pieces of driftwood. “Whut about my--son!! He’s--more important to--to me than--some darn ol’--quest!!”
“Don’t act like--I don’t care--I’ll help you--get your son--B--” Dash and Goofy were knocked together again. “But--my job’s to--protect my friends--and Equestria!!”
“Fer whut!--If yuh just lear--ed magic like me--yuh wou--n’t have tuh--worry ‘bout guys like--that crawdad--runnin’ thuh show!!” Goofy said.
When he was done talking, they separated again, and the goof ended up riding down the length of a row of rocks.
“My magic’s just as good as yours!!!” Dash shouted, angrily jumping out of the water, and getting smacked by a low-hanging branch.
Up top, the four weasels watched in amusement at the bickering goofs.
Freeboot chuckled heartily at the sight, and opened his tackle box. Inside, there were many hooks, lures, bobs and lines. At the bottom, there were many prehistoric arthropods.
He reached in and grasped one of the creatures. For a moment, Freeboot watched as it snapped his claws at him. And with a huff, he stuck the little beast on his hook.
“Let’s see if we can’t get a catch with some more tantalizing bait,” Freeboot said, as he readied to cast his fishing line. And with a swing, he let fly.
In the tumultuous wake, Dash and Goofy drifted together again, just as Freeboot’s bait landed in the water between them.
“Whut--wuz that!?” Goofy asked.
Dash looked up and tried her best to follow the gossamer fishing line to its source. At the very end, she saw four weasels. One of them holding a familiar piece of equipment.
“He’s got your--fishing pole!!” Dash shouted.
“What’s he--got it for!!?” Goofy wondered.
“Fishing!--What else!?” Dash answered.
“Whut’s he fishin’ for!?”
“Why do you care--It doesn’t matter”
As Dash and Goofy bickered, something else was making its way to the surface. And completely without their notice, it began surfacing behind them.
First, a head larger than the two of them put together rose, followed by a neck as long as a tree.
“Ha-har!! Thar she blows, mateys!!” Freeboot said,
The beast opened its mouth and readied to eat all three morsels in one go.
It was only the raging current of the wake that made Dash and Goofy separate again, just as the beast lunged at them, and disappeared underwater.
The wake of the beast’s strike knocked the two waterlogged goofs back together.
The moment they were back together, the beast lifted its head above the water again, with Dash and Goofy both clinging to the top.
“Now look! Out o’ thuh fryin’ pan an’ intuh thuh fire!!” Goofy said, pointing to the beast they were riding.
“Like it’s my fault!! You’re supposed to be Mr. Magic around here! Magic us an escape, Starswirl!!” Dash rebutted.
The beast had eaten the bait, but had snagged Freeboot’s fishing hook on its teeth. It started grunting and bellowing as it tried to shake the hook free of its teeth.
“Knock it off!! We’re trying to talk!!” Dash yelled, as she slapped the beast’s nose with her hoof.
The beast sputtered and snorted, and started shaking its head violently.
As burly as he was, Freeboot was nearly pulled over the rail by his giant catch. Before he went, the other weasels all caught him, and were one by one pulled over the side.
Just as Speekeezy was the last one over, he gripped the rail with his ankles.
With only an elderly barman keeping them from going overboard, Freeboot didn’t dare let go of his fishing rod. Lest the combined weight of himself, Greesball and Shlemeel overpower Speekeezy.
As Dash was still carrying on her tirade against Goofy, seeing the taut line gave the goof an idea.
“--And I’d like to see you make a sonic rainboom with your kind of magic!!” Dash yelled.
“Well, rainboom all yuh want on yer own time! I’m gettin’ out o’ here!” Goofy said, gripping the fishing line.
He started shimmying his way up the gossamer thread, slowly making his way back toward the deck of the Double Down.
After only a few feet, the beast in the water snapped again, snagging one of its teeth on the back of Goofy’s shirt.
“Hey!! Leggo!! Get off o’ me!!” Goofy shouted.
“How’s that escape coming, Hoofdini? Still hanging around?” Dash asked from atop the beast’s head.
“Why don’t yuh gimme a hand here!?” Goofy asked, as he stopped the beast from snapping at him by pressing the soles of his shoes against its mouth.
“Oh, look at Mr. Magic! Needs somepony else’s hoof to make anything happen!” Dash said, as she swatted Goofy’s shirt from the tooth of the beast.
The beast shook its head, and violently flung Dash forward.
Dash grabbed Goofy around his waist and held tightly as the beast continued shaking its head to loose the hook from its teeth.
Keeping his grip, Goofy started swinging around and around the fishing line. Slowly he started sliding up its length. And as the beast shook harder, the faster Dash and Goofy ascended.
The weasels at the end shook too, with only Speekeezy’s old, frail ankles holding them to the boat.
“This is givin’ me--a real--shpilkes!!” Shlemeel said
“But it’s--fixing my--lumbago!!” Speekeezy added.
At the front, Freeboot tightened his grip, and only just barely saw the two goofs whirling toward him.
Down at the end of the line, the beast pulled hard on the line, and started to feel the hook slipping from its teeth. And with one last tug, the hook slipped free.
The recoil of the line snapped the weasels all back up to the deck.
Goofy and Dash both landed hard on top of Freeboot. Once they had landed, Goofy took back his fishing pole.
“I didn’t need a hoof from you tuh do this!” Goofy said, indicating that the ropes that bound their ankles had come undone as they were spinning around.
“Dumb luck! Real magic makes you do really cool stuff! Like fly! You ever flown with a fishing pole?” Dash rebutted.
A low growl sounded, and Freeboot sat up between them, teeth bared and fists clenched.
Seeing him, he looked more vicious than the beast that the two goofs had just encountered as they were being keelhauled. In that moment, he looked likely to gully them both with his bare hands.
With a bellow like a foghorn, Freeboot burst to his feet, blowing Dash and Goofy away.
Viewed from below, Freeboot seemed to grow in size. And he only looked worse when he was joined by the other three weasels.
Goofy looked at the wall of weasels before himself, then glanced upward. The light of the upper floors shone brightly. He knew that was where he needed to go. If however far he fell through the floor was any indication, Max was going to be on the uppermost floors of the ship. And there was no way a few weasels were going to stop him.
He raised his fishing rod to attack. But, before he even lifted his arms, Freeboot’s fist smashed into his nose, sending him flying backwards into a nearby barrel.
Dash rolled her eyes and rushed to attack next.
Freeboot swung his fist down.
Dash dodged and tried to counter with a swing of her wings.
Freeboot backpedaled away, and Dash’s wing went straight over Shlemeel’s head.
The diminutive weasel retaliated by unleashing a flurry of rabbit punches right into Dash’s chest.
For a moment, Dash thought he had stopped. But, he was only allowing Greesball room to attack next.
Dash blocked with her wing and circled around to buck.
Greesball ducked and kicked Dash’s front legs out from beneath her.
When she fell, Dash flapped her wings and spun with her rear legs outstretched.
Greesball jumped back from the attack.
Dash spun to her hooves, and was immediately smacked in the face by Speekeezy’s elbow as the old codger lifted a silver flask to drink from.
When he was done drinking, Dash recovered and almost countered. She never got the chance, as Speekeezy belched loudly in her face.
From the intense heat and stench, Dash thought he may as well have been blowing fire from the deepest pit of Tartarus from his mouth. Whatever it was, it made the pegasus stagger back.
Goofy saw his friend was in trouble. Though he wanted more than anything to rescue Max, he knew he would never live with himself if anything happened to Rainbow Dash.
He tried to pull himself from the barrel he was in, only managing to teeter forward, until he fell over.
Keeping his momentum going, Goofy managed to get upright, with only his hands, feet and the tip of his nose protruding.
The weight of the barrel soon made him topple forward again, and the goof went rolling toward Dash.
The weasels had lined up one in front of the other to attack Dash, taking successive turns in attacking her.
By the time Freeboot had moved to the front, Shlemeel was bowled over at the back of the line. After him, Speekeezy and Greesball were hit, then Freeboot. Finally, Dash was flattened by Goofy rolling into her.
Caught in the momentum of the roll, Dash and Goofy went careening toward the edge of the ship.
At the very moment Dash and Goofy were going over the edge of the ship, Dash quickly caught the rail in her front hooves, and clasped Goofy’s barrel in her rear hooves.
Unfortunately, the opening of the barrel was pointed downward, and Goofy went sliding out.
He caught the edges of the barrel, and grasped his fishing pole in his teeth before it fell.
As Dash tried to pull herself up, Freeboot reached beneath his hat and produced a lead pipe.
Seeing the burly weasel raise his arm, Dash quickly jumped to the side along the rails.
The rail dented deeply where Freeboot had struck, and he swung again.
Dash shimmied her way back and forth, avoiding each hit. Below her Goofy could feel the barrel slipping from Dash’s hooves.
Pulling his arms back, Freeboot readied to thrust his pipe into Dash’s gut.
Dash sucked in her stomach and swung herself backward, the tip of the pipe just getting her.
The surge of inertia made the barrel slip from Dash’s grip, sending Goofy plummeting below.
“AH-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOOOY!!!” Goofy shouted, before he realized what he was holding in his mouth.
He took his fishing pole and cast his line up top, hooking the rail. Once the line was taut, Goofy quickly reeled himself up.
Dash used her momentum from dodging to jump back to solid ground, where she immediately had to duck under Freeboot’s swing.
Greesball took one of the ropes that had bound Dash and Goofy earlier, and quickly tied one end into a monkey fist. Now armed with an improvised slungshot, he swung the heavy rope at Dash.
The moment Goofy set his feet back on deck, he was bowled over by Shlemeel charging him.
Flat on his back, he had no time to react when Speekeezy drank from his flask and toppled over, striking Goofy with his elbow.
From the ground, Goofy could see that every time Dash nearly got to her hooves, she was tripped up by Greesball’s slungshot. Somehow, he knew he needed an escape. Only then would he be able to resume his rescue of his son.
Staying to fight the weasels wouldn’t be worth the effort. And he was going to make good his getaway.
He rolled to his feet and dodged another attack from Shlemeel.
Focusing his mind, Goofy readied once more to perform the secret technique of the goofs.
“Ten o’ clock!” He said, hitting Speekeezy as he assumed his stance. “Two o’ clock!” he continued, hitting Shlemeel next. “Quarter tuh three! Tour jete!” he snagged the two weasels by their shirts and swung them around.
Dash’s hooves were tangled by Greesball’s slungshot, causing her to fall. And before Freeboot could strike with his pipe, he and Greesball were hit by the swinging Speekeezy and Shlemeel. All of who toppled on top of Rainbow Dash.
Crawling her way out of the bottom of the pile, Dash saw Goofy swinging his fishing pole through the air.
“Twist over! Pas de deux!” she heard him say.
He was getting ready to escape. And she was going to go with him, whether he wanted to or not.
She immediately rushed over to him.
“Wind up! An’ let ‘er fl--UGH!!!” Goofy said, when he felt a sudden weight thump onto his back the moment he cast.
“Tryin’ to ditch me!? Forget it! Somepony has to finish this quest! And if you don’t I sure as Tartarus will!!” Dash said, clutching tightly to Goofy’s back.
What would have been the Perfect Cast was thrown far off by Dash’s intervention. Had it not been for her, Goofy’s aim would have been true, and he would have snagged the very topmost part of the ship. Instead, he was only able to reach midway.
“Doggone it all, Rainbow Dash!! Whut’re yuh tryin’ tuh do tuh me!?” Goofy asked, as he slowly rapeled up the wall.
“Same thing I’ve been trying to do since we left Ponyville! Now, shut up and get climbing!”
“Yeah!? Well, why don’t yuh just make me?”
The sounds of the weasels approaching made up Goofy’s mind for him. That, and a swift kick in the seat of his pants from Dash spurred him upward.
They started going further beyond the reach of the weasels, just as a strong wind blew, and the waters of the swamp grew restless.
“Don’t worry, fellas. I got ‘em,” Greesball said, as he twirled his slungshot around, ready to slam it at the goofs.
“Nah. I got ‘em,” Speekeezy said, taking a vial of pure rainbow out of his pocket.
“You got ‘em? You got nothin’!” Shlemeel said, before dashing away. In a blink, he had returned with a rail-mounted gatling gun. “I got ‘em!”
Freeboot knew the ship almost as well as Mr. Cray. And he knew precisely what room he was standing above.
Plunging his fist through the deck, Freeboot retrieved a locker full of harpoons from the room below.
“We’ll all get ‘em! And it’s fifty dubloons to the swab what gets the goofs!” he declared, as he busted the locker with his elbow and retrieved his armaments.
Speekeezy started the festivities by drinking the entire vial of rainbow.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, his eyes turned into seven-colored gauges. Starting at violet, they quickly moved to red, where steam started shooting from his ears. And with a loud whoop, he ran straight up the wall the goofs had ascended, trailing a rainbow streak behind himself.
With a sudden whoosh, he was upon the goofs, who spun violently when Speekeezy shot past them. And with one swift movement, he undid the hook Goofy had cast.
Goofy quickly grabbed onto the outcropping from the side of the ship, with only the tips of his fingers gripping.
Dash couldn’t believe what she saw. Somehow, some other creature had emulated precisely what she was capable of. The greater insult was that he couldn’t even fly.
Speekeezy swerved back around and charged again.
When he was upon them, Goofy tried casting his line again, but instead struck Speekeezy in his knees.
The sudden jolt nearly made Goofy let go, but it had tripped up the speeding weasel, who dropped off the wall to the deck below.
“Nice going, Goof! You trying to get us killed!?” Dash said.
“That’s a laugh, comin’ frum thuh mare whut tried takin’ on every bad guy she met single-hoofed!!” Goofy rebutted, as he cast his line again, successfully snagging a higher point.
The moment he hooked on, a harpoon pierced the wall next to them. And with a yelp, Goofy swung to the side.
He stopped when Greesball’s slungshot dented the wall before them.
Dash kicked the wall, making them swing back the way they came.
They came to a stop when they hit the harpoon Freeboot had thrown.
Looking down, they saw that all the weasels had armed themselves. Even Speekeezy was taking another gulp of rainbow to make another charge.
At the very rear, Shlemeel saw that his opponents were right where he wanted them. He pulled the trigger on his gatling gun. And after a moment of whirling around, the barrel fired a rapid stream of lead at the goofs, making the tiny weasel shake violently.
Goofy yelped as he and Dash both reeled up on the fishing line, managing to stay just ahead of the line of fire.
Freeboot threw another harpoon, sticking it just above where Dash and Goofy were going, so that they both hit their heads on it as they ascended.
Quickly coming to, Dash shoved herself and Goofy out of the way, making the hook come undone from its anchorage.
Goofy cast again, keeping just ahead of Shlemeel’s gunfire, until he ran out of ammo.
“Oy! Bullet hogs, these things! Ten seconds to the clip! I oughta get one o’ those economic rail guns!” he said.
Freeboot aimed another harpoon just ahead of the goofs, and threw with all his force.
The harpoon hit its mark in front of the goofs’ fishing line, making Dash and Goofy twirl around the shaft of the tool.
When they stopped, Greesball’s slungshot pelted them seemingly from all sides.
Dash kicked off the wall again, making Goofy swing up to stand atop the thrown harpoon.
Once there, Dash jumped off of Goofy’s back and started climbing up the fixtures outside the ship.
“Wait! Where yuh goin’!” Goofy asked.
“I’ll get there quicker if I do it my own way! I’ll throw you a rope, or something when I’m up!” Dash answered, as she hopped atop another harpoon as it was thrown.
“Ain’t that a pretty picture!? Abandonin’ yer pal when he needs yuh!” Goofy said, swinging up to the next ledge.
“My flank I’m abandoning you! I’m just doing things the way I know how!” Dash said, catching the slungshot and throwing it over the next nearest fixture, then using it to swing across a gap. “And you know what? It always works! For me and my friends!”
“Whutever it is, it ain’t workin’ here!” Goofy rebutted, just before Speekeezy zoomed back to them, and ran rapid circles around them.
Once they were corralled together, Shlemeel aimed his newly loaded gatling gun.
Things were quickly going downhill. If the tide didn’t turn in their favor, Dash and Goofy both knew they were dead.



Sweat poured down Pinkie’s forehead as she feverishly cut through her ropes. She could feel her dexterity increasing gradually. The more it did, the more she knew she was closer to freedom.
“I can do it! Come on! Just a bit more!” Pinkie thought to herself. “It’s just like slicing a pie. Or a cake. Or a cupcake. A cupcake with sprinkles and cream filling. Mmm...Cream Filling…”
The image of her beloved Cream Filling flashed in her mind. Him in his regal royal clothes, sitting on a throne in his castle. And next to him, a second throne made completely of gingerbread. One bejeweled with candy. And a frosted crown set atop the queen’s royal pink head.
Between them, a tiny table loaded with all the royal pastries, with which they would share their first bottle of hot sauce together.
“Need...my...hot sauce!!!” Pinkie thought, just as her ropes sliced apart.
There was hardly any time for Pinkie to perceive what had happened, just as she plunged back into the water of the aquarium.
Once she hit the bottom, Pinkie pulled the gag off of her mouth and loosed a victorious, “HA!”
As soon as she spoke, Pinkie covered her mouth, trying now to keep as much air as she could.
She tried swimming to the surface, only to find that the lead belt she was wearing weighed her down.
Trying to exert as little force as possible, Pinkie started trying to undo her belt. Unfortunately, she found the machinations of a simple buckle were more than a match when all one had was hooves.
As she struggled with her belt, she began to feel the clench of hypoxia gripping her chest. Worse, she felt the sudden sensation of being watched.
Looking to her side, the tip of Pinkie’s snout bumped against a metal hook. And with a sinking feeling, she turned her head to see the gigantic eye of Mr. Cray’s pet staring at her.
Pinkie ducked beneath the beast’s snapping jaws.
Once the jaws safely passed over her and were bitten into a rock, she scrambled across the sandy bottom of the tank.
The beast chomped through the rock it had snagged, and crushed what was in its mouth to pebbles. Lashing around, it caught sight of its pink prey hobbling across the sand.
From the energy she was exerting, Pinkie felt her breath rapidly growing short. She knew she needed to escape the belt around her waist, or she would surely drown.
As she ran, she noticed something she had not before. Deep in the simulated kelp forest, Pinkie could see a steady stream of bubbles rising to the surface. Unless she found the source of them soon, she knew she was done for.
Just as she reached the edge of the kelp, she dove forward and hit the sand, just as Chopper’s open mouth sailed over her.
The beast disappeared into the kelp forest. And with it went an incredible current that dragged Pinkie after into the waving foliage.
Pinkie rolled into the tangled forest, and came to a hard stop against what she thought was a rock. Until the rock suddenly grew legs.
Not even waiting for the thing to turn and face her, Pinkie climbed atop its back and jumped to the ground some meters away. Upon landing, she had to quickly jump again when a long, slender claw lashed out from within the screen of floating leaves.
Quickly, she tried burrowing underneath the sand for safety, only to jolt back above when she uncovered a large, flattened crustacean.
There was no more time for her to waste. She was in another world of monsters, and her time was growing short.
Pinkie galloped as best she could through the underwater world, hoping to avoid any more unpleasant surprises.
Everything she passed seemed to come alive. Legs and antennae appeared from beneath every rock. Eyes and tentacles peered out from between the kelp leaves. And all the while, Pinkie dreaded facing the hook of Chopper.
In an effort to escape the reaching appendages below, she tried climbing one of the stalks of kelp. Only halfway up, the weight of her lead belt made the stalk bend heavily.
Holding tightly as she could Pinkie burst through a school of much smaller fish, which scattered when she plowed through them. The moment she passed, they all reconvened, and stopped to watch the pink stranger in their midst.
The kelp bent all the way to the ground.
Pinkie went rolling when she hit the bottom. When she stopped, she felt that her belt had slipped somewhat down her hips. But, it wasn’t enough to be free.
When she got her bearings, Pinkie found herself in a clearing. On the other side of a large rock, she could see the bubbles billowing wildly.
With a surge of energy, she rushed across the clearing to the source of the bubbles.
To her side, she saw the kelp shifting. She couldn’t tell how much kelp was moving, or how big what was making it move was. But, she wouldn’t stop to find out.
Pinkie clambered around the side of the rock, opposite of where she saw the kelp moving. When she was there, she saw the source of the bubbles.
A large, prop treasure chest was seen. From its open lid, it exposed vast quantities of plaster coins, diamonds and pearls. But, the greatest treasure of all was the geyser of bubbles shooting forth.
Wasting no time, Pinkie rushed forward, just as she noticed the kelp behind the treasure box moving.
She picked up her pace, racing frantically toward the prize.
A metal hook peered out from beyond the veil of green.
Pinkie leapt forward, just as she saw the hook’s owner appear.
She felt her hooves touch the edge of the box, and quickly pulled herself inside.
Chopper’s hook pierced the box, damaging the internal structure and releasing a surge of bubbles.
Pinkie clasped her lips around where the bubbles were coming from, and breathed deeply. She could feel the tightness in her chest loosening. And even though she was being shaken about inside the treasure chest, she felt nothing but relief.
With a snap of his head, Chopper broke his hook through the box, breaking it apart and revealing Pinkie with her snout stuck in an air hose.
Acquiring fresh air was such a relief that it took Pinkie a moment to realize that she was facing down a prehistoric apex predator.
Keeping the hose on her snout, the pink mare dodged another chomp of the jaws and a slice of the hook.
She picked up a piece of broken plaster, and brandished it like a saber.
With one chomp, Chopper nearly took Pinkie’s entire front leg off, had she not let go of the plaster.
One more swing of the hook, and Pinkie was forced to dodge to the inside. Right toward Chopper’s mouth.
There was no other choice. She was forced to grab onto the rusted hook in the beast’s mouth.
Chopper thrashed around, trying to shake Pinkie off. For a moment, he had. Pinkie was swept upward, but was quickly snagged back on the hook by her diving belt.
In an effort to get her, Chopper kept snapping to the side he saw Pinkie. And when that didn’t work, he resorted to the normal technique of his species: a high speed ramming assault.
Try as she did, there was nothing Pinkie could do to keep the air hose on her snout when Chopper swam at full speed through the tank.
With nothing keeping her connected to the beast but a belt, Pinkie was able to use her hooves to bat away anything that came her way.
Stalks of kelp and smaller fish were pushed easily aside. Then, Pinkie saw she was swiftly approaching a rock.
Trying not to yelp, she quickly planted her hooves on the surface of the rock and started running along its sheer surface.
Chopper veered to the side, making Pinkie briefly run on nothing.
He jerked his head to the other side, making Pinkie spin around his hook.
Pinkie pulled herself toward the tip of the hook, just as the beast snapped at her. After she dodged, she found that her belt was snagged on the top of the rusted instrument.
After missing again, Chopper swam at full speed toward the front of the tank.
Pinkie braced herself for impact and was smacked face first into the glass. The hook took the brunt of it, and cracked the glass where it had hit.
Chopper circled around, trying to heave Pinkie off of his hook.
The cracked glass had given Pinkie an idea. And just in time, as she felt herself liable to pass out from a lack of air.
She positioned herself on the hook to draw the beast’s attention where she wanted.
The gigantic fish charged headlong again. And again, Pinkie braced herself for impact, smacking face first into the glass like before.
A daze fell over Pinkie, who drifted to one side of the hook. But a sudden charge from Chopper snapped her back to her senses.
The lead belt had slipped around her shoulders, forcing her hooves to stick straight up. And Chopper was trying his best to get them.
Pinkie wriggled desperately, stuck again between snapping jaws and a slicing hook.
Soon, she managed to get the belt over her head, down her front legs and around her hooves. Were she not in such desperate need of air, she would have laughed. But, the belt gave her another idea.
Keeping hold of Chopper’s hook, she swung the lead belt at the center of where the beast had repeatedly rammed the glass.
For as hard as she tried, she could feel nothing give. No matter how hard she hit, she couldn’t manage to make a dent.
She could bear it no longer. With one last hit, Pinkie loosed all of the air from her lungs in one great bubble, and dropped the belt she was holding.
A single chip of glass fell, and the water pressure built against the tiny compromise.
In a moment, the cracks across the glass grew larger behind Pinkie. And with a thunderous crash, the wall of glass burst, spilling water into Mr. Cray’s game room.
It took only moments for the room to fill up, and the weaker glass of the game room shattered under the pressure.
Pinkie, Chopper and dozens of other aquatic specimens surged toward the open window.
Down below, Dash tried to brace herself against the wall, but was washed away by the torrent.
Goofy anchored his hook onto another spot and swung to catch Dash before she fell.
On the deck each one of the smaller weasels had to hide behind Freeboot, who was the only one sturdy enough to withstand the sudden tide that washed over them.
Pinkie desperately swam against the rushing current, while the monstrous Chopper was trapped just on the edge of the broken window.
No matter how hard she swam, Pinkie found herself unable to escape the rush of water. Chopper’s snapping jaws were growing closer and closer. Unless she thought of something fast, she knew she was done for.
The tip of her tail was only inches from Chopper’s mouth.
It took a moment, but Pinkie realized then that the solution was obvious. All of the water had run out, and she was swimming frantically against the wet carpet.
Slowly, she stopped swimming and stood up, soaked and tired.
She walked over to Chopper, who was still frantically trying to bite her.
Pinkie faced the beast, and quickly reached her hoof into his mouth to retrieve the chunk of her mane that had been bitten off earlier. She placed it back on her head, and it fused back to the rest as if it had not gone at all.
“Bad old Mr. Meanie Head!” Pinkie admonished, before turning around and bucking Chopper with a single hoof. A rash move, since she hurt her hoof against his armored head.
But, it was not for nothing. Her buck moved Chopper a mere centimeter through the window. Just enough to make him overbalance and slip backwards.
Dash and Goofy both screamed, and made a mad effort to run any way they could to avoid being hit by a falling fish the size of a school bus.
However, Chopper fell right past them.
“That it? Is it safe to move?” Greesball asked, when the last of the water passed them by.
Not one of them had a chance to glance upward, just as an open mouth closed around them. And with his palate satisfied, Chopper flopped back into the waters he had been fished from.
That was that. The perils had passed, but the water was not done pouring down, as it started to rain just then.
“Goofy! Dashie!” Pinkie called from the window.
Looking up, the two of them saw their pink friend, soaked but safe.
Quickly, they both climbed up to the broken window. Pinkie helped them both inside. Now that they were back together, they knew they had to resume their quest.
“Where’d those jerks go?” Dash asked.
“They got my son!” Goofy added.
“They have my hot sauce!” Pinkie finished.
“And we still have to free the whole kingdom from that crawdad!” Dash said.
“I know where they went!” Pinkie said, readily leading the way through the broken fish tank.
Goofy rapeled them all up the far end, and Pinkie led them through the door the others had exited.
From there, there were only two ways to go. One was a long hallway. The other was a staircase. Pinkie distinctly remembered Mr. Cray ordering the weasels to the roof, and led her friends upward.



On the very top of the Double Down, a flame ignited, and a canvas started to fill.
“There! The balloon’s almost ready for liftoff, boss!” Cheet called, shielding himself from the rain with his hat, while his associates all waited in the basket of a giant balloon.
“Finally! I thought I was going to have to take the kid myself!” Mr. Cray answered.
Max recoiled at the thought of going anywhere with Mr. Cray alone, and retreated to the safety of Miss Argente’s hooves. But, it was not to last.
Mr. Cray roughly took hold of Max’s arm and pulled him along.
“If you value your life, or his, you’ll stay right where you are!” he told Miss Argente. He then turned to Max. “Get in the basket! And wait there for liftoff!” he ordered.
“No!” Max defiantly shouted.
“Get in the basket, now! Or Miss Argente’s gonna join your dad!!” Mr. Cray threatened.
One look to Miss Argente, and Max knew he couldn’t go through with defying his captor. Tears slowly welled up in his eyes, as he silently relented.
Miss Argente wished nothing more than to rush forward and overpower Mr. Cray to retrieve Max. But, she knew full well the fury of the crustacean. Broken and defeated, she could do nothing more than watch him take Max away.
Suddenly she heard many steps approaching.
“HEY!!” a voice called.
“Dad?” Max said. He turned around, and beamed at the sight of his father, flanked by two of his friends. “DAD!!!”
“Get yer claws offa my son!!” Goofy shouted.
Goofy kept his eyes on Max. Dash kept her eyes on Mr. Cray. And Pinkie never averted her glare from Cheet.
“I don’t believe this! No matter what I do, nothing can kill you!!” Mr. Cray yelled, heaving angrily as the rain pelted him. “Weasels!! Get the kid!! I’m going to do what I should have done, and dissect these goofs with my bare claws!!”
Max was violently pushed back into the waiting hands of the weasels, who all pulled him back toward the waiting balloon.
Miss Argente had only seen Mr. Cray as mad as he was once before. Normally, he was an abominable, reprehensible, unlovable reprobate. As he was now, and only once before, he was truly a monster. A demon capable of any terrible thing, done in the most terrible possible way. It was at that time that she hid herself away, and hoped that she would not lose her life. The very same as she was doing in that very moment.
Before Goofy, Dash or Pinkie moved, Mr. Cray threw his jacket off of his shoulders. Then, he shredded his shirt with his bare claws, leaving only his suspenders to cover his torso.
His physique revealed, the goofs felt their nerves waver when they saw the raw, muscular body of their opponent. Though not nearly as large as Rex, and with only his snapping claws, Mr. Cray exuded a fury that eclipsed anything they had encountered. And as his fury grew, the rain poured harder. The winds blew. And the waters of the swamp churned violently.
Lightning flashed. And in the brief moment it illuminated the deck, Mr. Cray charged, ready to slice through his opponents.