Chapter 10: Curtain Call in the Manor Serpente
Chapter 10
Curtain Call in the Manor Serpente
It began with The Massster swaying his head back and forth, as though he were a cobra entranced by a charmer's flute.
Minnie, Spike and Pluto all cautiously watched as the snake's entire body started to shift and slither throughout the backstage area.
Unseen by them, the snake's body turned cranks, switched levers and pulled ropes, making the background of the castle on a sunny hill grow more and more detailed with every passing second. Plywood clouds on wires descended from above, green hills shifted into the foreground, lights dimmed while others brightened to create the illusion of a sunny day. Lastly, a green carpet was rolled out to simulate grass.
"There we are. A much more accommodating ssetting," The Massster said.
"What's this supposed to accommodate?" Spike asked.
"A question only assked by an uncultured boor," The Massster answered. "Look around you, little dragon. Can't you ssee it? The sstage iss sset for the king of the land to march onto the field of battle and duel with the peassantss that wish to ussurp him from power. Befitting, issn't it?"
"You're the only uncultured boor around here! Living in a mansion and forcing loyalty doesn't make anyone a king! And these 'peasants' that you hate so much are nothing more than the good people trying to get rid of the evil that's been in charge for too long!" Minnie said, threateningly pointing her fan at The Massster.
"Quite the sspeech, dear lady. However, you are not the heroine of this tale."
As soon as he finished speaking, The Massster lashed forward to bite Minnie.
Minnie parried by sending a gust of air into one of the hanging clouds to intercept the snake's bite.
With all the fluidity of water, The Massster wove around the attack, positioning himself above his opponents to attack again.
"Though the peassantss fight valiantly, they are no match for the sskill and cunning of the king. For, how elsse would he have arisen to ssuch presstige?" The Massster chuckled.
The snake shook his body violently, making sandbags drop from the rigging of the upper levels.
Minnie dodged one, parried another, and was struck by a third.
Spike and Pluto watched as Minnie was pummeled by a sandbag, and narrowly dodged the next bite from The Massster. On and on, the snake struck from above, his fangs like lightning from the plywood clouds.
"We've got to do something, Pluto," Spike said.
Pluto readily agreed, nodding his head.
Of course, neither one of them knew exactly what to do about the snake attacking Minnie so ferociously. The obvious answer was to get him to stop attacking somehow, but the execution of such a plan was not so apparent. First thing, though: they had to get up to the catwalk.
The sandbags that had assaulted Minnie started retracting back up into the rigging.
Pluto rushed forth and clasped one of the ropes in his teeth, sending him rising upward. Spike quickly followed by grabbing onto the bag itself.
The two ascended higher and higher, until they reached the catwalk above. There, they jumped off the sandbag, and onto the catwalk, where The Massster's body coiled around every working part of the backstage. There was a weakness to exploit there. They only had to find it.
Down below, Minnie continued her battle, backpedaling up the slope of one of the plywood hills as she dodged The Massster's rapid bites.
"Taking to the hillss--the brave peassant girl--hopess to gain an advantage--Unknown to hersself--it iss she who alsso fightss an uphill battle!!" The Massster narrated between attacks.
A sound above Minnie alerted her to a falling sandbag. Opening her fan, she swung hard, throwing the falling weight into the snake's face.
Quick as lightning, Minnie jumped from the plywood hill, just before The Massster bit into it.
Minnie landed on one of the hanging clouds, while down below The Massster circled his excess length around any area she could have landed.
The Massster's head rose up so that he was at eye level with Minnie.
"High above the land, the duelisstss battle among the cloudss, the passionate fire of their quesstss blazing more brightly than the ssun. As it wass with poor Icaruss, should they fly too high, they would surely plummet. Should they fly too low, sso too would they die. How much higher will the sstakess of their battle take them? And who will be the firsst to touch the ssun?"
The snake snapped his fangs at Minnie.
Minnie swung her fan, making a gust that blew the cloud she was on away from her attacker's mouth.
The cloud swung back on its wires.
Minnie swung her fan in the opposite direction, propelling the cloud forward to ram full speed into her opponent's face.
The Massster recoiled from the blow, but quickly retaliated by lashing his head forward and catching the metal wire that suspended the cloud in his fangs.
There was a sudden turbulence as Minnie tried to hold onto her mount. If she did nothing, soon she would be at the mercy of The Massster's coils.
Up above, Spike saw the danger Minnie was in and breathed his flames onto one of the ropes a sandbag hung from. The sandbag fell, and Spike hoped that it would hit true on the snake's head.
It didn't.
Instead, it landed on the plywood cloud, opposite the end Minnie was on, sending her flying over to the next cloud.
Minnie swung her fan again, pushing the cloud she was on out of The Massster's range.
The Massster struck again, and Minnie fanned herself further away. And more and more as her opponent kept lashing out at her. Soon, Minnie was swinging herself up into the catwalk, where she circled completely around the fixture that held the cloud aloft. On her descent, she looped the metal wires around The Massster's body, which was also hanging across the fixture.
Spike watched as Minnie looped around the snake, and an idea immediately occurred to him.
"Pluto: we need something we can tie him up with," Spike said.
The hound dog was immediately on the job, his paws clattering against the metal catwalk as he searched for an appropriate tool.
Spike hung tightly to Pluto's collar as he jumped over one length of The Massster's body, and slid underneath the next. For all their searching it seemed to be a fruitless endeavor. When they reached the far corner of the catwalk, Pluto climbed up a pile of sandbags that were stacked there, and took something in his teeth. Something long and velvety in a deep red color.
"What is this? A curtain?" Spike wondered.
"Yeayeayeah," Pluto panted.
It wasn't as practical, but a spare curtain was certainly long and durable enough to get the job done.
"Okay," Spike said, taking one end of the curtain in his claws, and spurring Pluto with his heels, "Yah, steed!"
Pluto bucked up onto his hind legs and mimicked a whinny as best he could, before taking off like a wild stallion.
Minnie jumped off the cloud she was on, just before it was bitten by The Massster. The mouse fluttered her fan to land gently on the ground. As soon as she landed, she was slammed from the front by one of the snake's coils. Minnie landed on her back, and rolled to the side when she saw one of the plywood hills sliding rapidly toward her.
"The land itsself hass turned againsst the peassant girl," The Massster narrated.
Minnie was hit from behind by another hill.
"SSoon, she will have losst the will to fight. And in turn, the battle with the undissputed king of the land."
Minnie was hit from the side by a swinging cloud.
Up in the catwalk, Pluto had to work double time as the snake's body started shifting through the working mechanisms of the backstage.
Spike too had to focus harder as wrangling a moving opponent proved harder than a still one.
Pluto jumped over a railing as one of The Massster's coils swung toward him.
Spike held fast to the curtain, as they cleared over a length of the snake's body. The curtain he held trailed behind, catching on the snake as they descended and swung around his coils.
Spike grabbed a moving rope and clutched Pluto with his heels, sending them both rising higher and higher. With them went the part of The Massster that they had just tied up. However, both their heads ended up hitting something that was hanging from the ceiling. Something heavy and made from solid iron.
Minnie readied to block The Massster’s next attack, only to see the snake suddenly yanked backwards by some unseen force.
"What!? What the devil'ss going on back there!!?" the snake wondered.
Now that he was distracted, Minnie took the opportunity to retaliate by swinging her fan and sending one of the hills plowing into the snake's face, creating a Massster shaped impression on the surface.
The Massster broke his head through the plywood, hissing furiously. However threatening he sounded, he looked ridiculous, as the broken plywood inside his mouth briefly looked like a set of buck teeth, before he spat them out.
Spike had let go of the rope he was holding onto, making Pluto land on The Massster's back. Pluto ran along the snake's length, jumping from one segment of his body to the next, while Spike continued to trail the curtain behind them, entangling their opponent as he went.
The curtain's length was running out, but they had subdued the snake for the moment. A simple curtain would not hold him forever. They needed something that would put The Massster out of commission. And the pile of sandbags at the oncoming corner would do just the thing.
"Stop here!" Spike said, pulling back on Pluto's ears like a couple of reins.
Pluto screeched to a halt, and Spike jumped off, trying his best to pull the curtain forward. He strained to move, feeling that the curtain had gone taut.
Seeing the problem, Pluto quickly hopped onto the pile of sandbags and started digging, his paws pushing each of the weights over to Spike.
Now that they were within his reach, Spike took the corner of the curtain, and stuck the tip of his tail through it like a needle. Having spent many fond hours watching Rarity as she worked, Spike was able to quickly thread the curtain through the sandbags like a certain fashionista would stitch together a gown. Soon, he had sewn together a massive weight of sandbags. The only problem was how to move it.
Both dragon and dog started pushing as hard as they could, only able to move it inches toward the edge of the catwalk.
An idea came to Pluto. He turned Spike toward the nearest part of The Massster’s coils and pulled the little dragon’s tail with his teeth.
The sudden shock made Spike spew forth a stream of flames, which burned The Massster's side, making the snake jerk violently and knock the weight of sandbags off the high perch.
The heavy weight dropped down to the stage, breaking through the floor and pulling the curtain that wrapped around the snake’s many coils.
Every part of him that wrapped around anything was pulled away from their perches, bound against structures, tied into knots, and some of him jammed into pulleys.
Onstage, The Massster's eyes popped wide as his head jerked backwards from Minnie, and all of the props that attacked her ceased to move. Every part of him backstage was in a complete bind, preventing him from defending himself as Minnie waved her fan to one side and the other, pummeling the snake between every one of the plywood hills and clouds.
Though he was immobile, The Massster would not be stopped so easily. He began thrashing his body about, grabbing a hill in his teeth and using it to knock Minnie aside. Backstage, his body twisted, turned and contorted all about. Spike and Pluto ran, as the catwalk they were on was rapidly bent and broken by the snake's rampaging coils.
In a desperate move, Pluto jumped over the catwalk to the stage below. Spike looked desperately for a way to slow their fall, but found nothing.
Minnie was laying in a crumpled heap against one of the plywood hills, and saw her friends falling. With a wave of her fan, she was able to stop them from falling so fast and let them fall onto the stage with a thud.
Spike held tight as Pluto spun around on the stage, until he and the hound dog both fell right into the prompter's box at the front.
Minnie winced slightly when she heard the crashing beneath the stage, and hoped her friends were alright. Her attention was drawn back to the snake, as he broke free from his restraints. Minnie dodged The Massster’s next attack by swinging her fan and making herself slide backwards across the floor, just before The Massster disappeared above the stage.
There was no time to wonder what he would do next, as the backdrop on the stage rolled up and the props all slid offstage.
A new backdrop was unfurled. One that was a blue sky with a bright shine in the middle. The lights changed again, this time to simulate a sun on a cloudless day. Wooden seabirds dropped in from above, as did a plywood sun. A length of The Massster's body slid across the stage, his back decorated by wooden waves. Another length sprawled in the opposite direction, also laden with simulated waves, which moved back and forth rhythmically with one another, creating the illusion of ocean water.
Minnie yelped loudly as a massive cutout of a grand galleon came sliding toward her. She jumped high and grabbed onto one of the ship's cannons. A sizzling noise from somewhere within made her quickly climb upward to the ship's railing, just before a blaze loudly flared from the cannon's muzzle. No projectile was fired from it, but the blast would surely have blown a hole right through her midsection.
Minnie climbed aboard the ship's deck, and watched as The Massster came slithering out of the cabin at the back of the far end.
"Were the hillss not to your liking? Then, perhapss you would prefer to ssettle thiss on the high sseass? Where the dashing, rapsscallion of an admiral comess to face once and for all his mosst bitter nemessiss, and greatesst love of hiss life. The lady captain of the pirate vesssel, Ocean Heart," the snake said.
"You've never had any love in your life! I can tell just by looking at you!" Minnie said.
"True, I have not been romantically encountered by a lady of my own ssocial sstanding. However, I have known a great love of the wealth that comess with the life of a king. Of owning the very land l sslither on, and having dominion over thosse who tread upon it. I assure you, Minerva, there's nothing quite like it."
The more she got to know him, the more she hated him. But now, The Massster was offending every last one of Minnie's sensibilities.
"Ohhh! You're nothing but a shallow, self-righteous, uncaring tyrant! You're not a king! You're not even a gentleman!"
The Massster glared indignantly.
Minnie opened her fan and swung it hard at some barrels that decorated the deck.
"And the name is Minnie!!!!" she shouted.
Both barrels went careening toward the snake, on a straight course for his head.
The Massster weaved his head around both attacks, and undulated his body inside the cabin. Though the machinations of his movement were unseen, the ship began to rock about like it truly was at sea. Sails unfurled from the masts. A flag climbed up the mainsail and unfurled at the top, revealing an emblem of two snake fangs crossed like swords against a blue and gold backdrop with a black 'X' mark.
Minnie closed her fan and held it ready like a fencing sword.
"En garde, rogue," The Massster humored her.
Down below the stage, Spike and Pluto stood up from the fall they had just taken. If they were counting, that had to have been the third or fourth one that day.
Once they got their bearings, they found themselves in the trap room, where the theater crew would prompt the actors onstage, operate special effects and produce certain props. Much like the backstage area, The Massster's coils were strewn about in the underbelly of the stage.
Spike had to step back as part of the snake's body undulated toward him.
"Sweet Celestia! This guy's everywhere!" Spike said.
He and Pluto looked around the room for something that they could use against their opponent. Pluto turned up his nose when he caught a whiff of a familiar scent. A very distinctive, pungent scent that he could almost put his paw on. Almost, if The Massster's body didn't undulate toward him and slam him into a wall.
The hound dog fell to the floor, flat as a sheet of paper, until Spike picked him up and snapped him like a dusty sheet, popping him back into his original shape.
"There's no time to lay around, Pluto! We need to figure out how to stop this snake!" the dragon said.
He and Pluto were both smashed into the wall by The Massster's body.
"Off to a great start, huh?"
Pluto shook his head.
Both dog and dragon stepped off the wall and re-inflated themselves.
"Let's see what we've got to work with down here!"
Back atop the stage, the snake began his attack by lashing forward, stopping just short of Minnie before she could counter him.
Minnie swung her fan left and right, blowing whatever was loose into her opponent.
The Massster weaved his way through the thrown projectiles and slammed into Minnie with his head.
Minnie was thrown backwards to the ship's bow, where a cannon was pointed out to sea. Until she slid into it, making it pivot upwards on its axle and land on top of her head.
The mouse was knocked dizzy by the heavy impact, and slowly staggered to her feet. She was only just lucid enough to perceive The Massster pick up a barrel in his fangs and throw it back at her.
Minnie jumped over the barrel, which crashed into a pile of cannonballs, sending them rolling about under the mouse's feet. She stumbled and wobbled to stay balanced, only to crash onto her face.
The Massster slithered toward Minnie, intent on making the killing blow.
Minnie shook her head into lucidity, realizing now that she was surrounded by cannonballs, and a cannon was sitting behind herself.
Springing to her feet, the mouse twirled her fan about, creating a whirlwind that collected every one of the loose cannonballs that were strewn about. The projectiles within the wind pummeled The Massster once he was close enough. Minnie then swung her fan and blew them all into the cannon behind herself, making it bulge to an immense size when she stuffed it past capacity.
With another flick of her wrist, Minnie blew the ripcord attached to the cannon into her waiting hand. One strong pull, and the cannon fired its entire payload at the snake.
The Massster was blown backwards into the backdrop of the scenery, where all the plywood seagulls circled around his head.
"Ha! Turning the captain's ship against him, the roguish pirate turns the tables and blows her enemy out to sea for the sharks!" Minnie said, fanning herself.
The Massster shook his head, tangling himself up in the seagulls' wires, before ripping them out from the rafters above and returning to the ship's deck.
"Bloody rodent. Only I may narrate!" The Massster declared.
Minnie continued her assault by blowing more cannonballs at the snake.
The Massster retracted his head inside the captain's cabin and the ship rumbled again.
Minnie stumbled forward and landed on her face. The remaining three cannonballs behind her rolled up her back and conked her on the head one after the other. When the last cannonball passed her, she looked around anxiously, wondering where the snake may appear next.
The Massster burst out from the stage below like a sea monster breaking the waves.
Minnie was caught completely off guard as the snake rammed her all the way to the other end of the ship.
In the trap room below, Spike and Pluto had to duck and crawl under The Massster's hanging body, trying their best to avoid having to climb over his massive sides.
"There has to be something in here! Anything!" Spike said, having so far come up fruitless.
Pluto too was having a hard time coming up with a good idea for combating the snake. And that familiar, yet overpowering stench made it all the more difficult for the hound dog to concentrate.
"Wait! That's it right there!" Spike said.
Pluto looked, and saw the dragon pointing to a lever that said 'TRAP DOOR.' Next to the switch was a platform that rested upon a scissor lift. The hound dog tilted his head to the side, confused about what Spike was planning.
"Give me a boost over there!"
Spike jumped onto Pluto's hindquarters and braced for a flight.
Catching onto the plan, Pluto compressed his body like a spring and launched Spike through the gauntlet of coils.
Spike caught the lever in his claws, and pulled down hard.
The scissor lift lowered the trap door down into the underbelly of the stage, revealing The Massster's body draped over the opening. The edges of the platform lowered to the floor, squashing the snake's body in the trap room as it went.
Up on deck, The Massster's assault on Minnie was halted again when he suddenly choked loudly.
Minnie used the opportunity to gain the upper hand by waving her fan at one of the masts, making it bend over and bop the snake on his head, before it snapped back into place.
Below the stage, The Massster broke his body free of the trap door, slipping out and snapping his side against Spike and Pluto, who were pushed into another side of the snake. Both dog and dragon were slapped about like a pair of pinballs through the trap room. They had been a thorn in The Massster's side before and now he was making sure that they would pay for their infractions.
Pluto was thrown into a cabinet at the far end of the stage, its contents pouring out onto him when he slumped to the ground. The hound dog sneezed when the offensive scent of the boxes that fell out reached his nose. Quickly, he shook his snout and looked at the label on the boxes
'CAUTION: CONTAINS BLACK POWDER!! HANDLE WITH CARE!!'
Black powder? That was what he had been smelling! The same thing that he always smelled whenever Mickey fired his rifle during their hunting trips.
With a shout, Spike landed in the pile of boxes next and stood up hacking and coughing.
"Ugh! It smells like a dragon ate rotten eggs!" Spike wheezed.
Pluto elucidated the matter by holding one of the boxes in his teeth to show Spike the label.
"Black powder?" Spike read aloud.
That was it! An idea came to Spike when he remembered the work he had done at the theater back home with Twilight. He quickly rummaged through the pile, and produced a whole string of empty flash pots.
"We've got him now!" Spike declared, while Pluto barked and jumped up and down. "Come on! Get as much powder as you can in here!"
Back up top, Minnie had been chased into the ship's rigging, fighting off The Massster as best she could.
"Their battle hass come to the top of the ship!"
The Massster bent the yardarm Minnie was standing on, launching her into the air.
"Here in the air, the lady pirate iss out of her element!"
Minnie was slapped into the mainsail by The Massster's body. She tried to maintain her balance and dug her fan into the fabric to slow her fall enough to grab onto a hanging rope. Taking hold of the rope, she ran along the surface of the large sail to dodge The Massster's successive bites.
"Though she triess to gain the upper hand, the admiral hass her where he wantss her!"
Minnie swung around the other side of the sail, right toward the snake's open mouth. She let go of the rope, allowing herself to quickly drop to the deck and resume dodging his next attacks.
"Hurry! Minnie needs our help!" Spike said.
He and Pluto had stuffed each one of the many flash pots far past their normal capacity, ensuring a devastating pyrotechnic effect. Now, they were on their way to the trap door from before.
They developed a system to quickly transport the flash pots by one of them reaching the other side of the snake's body and the other passing them along. Sometimes they were tossed over, sometimes they were slid under. Now, Spike had reached the trap door from before and Pluto was sliding them down a length of the snake's coils like an assembly line. The hound dog followed next, bumping into Spike when he arrived.
Upon impact, Pluto was flipped over Spike's head and his collar caught onto the trap door switch. The trap door began lowering itself once again, only this time it was caught by an undulation of The Massster's body, and slowly started pushing it back to the top.
Spike quickly jumped up onto the switch Pluto hung from, pursed his lips and clicked his claws next to his mouth. A spark emanated from his claws, which in turn made a stream of flame spew from his lips like a cutting torch. It was this flame that Spike used to cut through Pluto's collar, dropping the hound dog to the floor. Pluto quickly collected his collar, and he and Spike took the flash pots and scrambled up to the top of the slowly rising trap door.
Unknown to them both, the floor in the trap room was slowly beginning to fill with smoke, as the flames in the basement climbed upward.
On the trap door, Pluto took his collar and affixed it around his neck as if there were no damage to begin with. Spike took a quick look at what Pluto had done and wondered how exactly the hound dog was able to do that. But, that couldn't be dwelt on. They had a job to do.
Above them, The Massster's body undulated to the side, allowing them enough space to jump and crawl out of the trap room.
Onstage, they saw that Minnie was having troubles of her own, for now she had been chased to the ship's bow, and was running out of room to move.
No time was wasted setting to work laying down the various lines of flash pots. They both took whatever they carried and laid them down, aimed at The Massster's undulating sides. When they finished, Spike looked at the work they had done and realized that each line only had about five pots each. In the time that it would take him to run to the next line and light the wick, the snake could have easily knocked it out of the way. Still, he had no other idea than what he had now.
Taking a breath in, the dragon spewed his flames at the nearest wick, which sizzled brightly as it quickly traveled to the first flash pot. However, he had ignited something else as well.
Pluto sniffed the air when he smelled something new. The strongest scents were the black powder mixture and the burning fuse, but something else was mingled with it. Something like singed hair. A look to his back, and he saw that the very tip of his tail had a tiny flame on it.
"BOOOOOOOWWWW!!!!!"
With a loud yelp, Pluto went running across the stage, trying to put the flame on his tail out. Unknown to himself, he was igniting the other wicks as he dashed past them.
The hound dog's yelp had alerted The Massster, who had just pushed Minnie over the edge of the ship's bow.
"You two again!?" the snake growled. "Why musst it be sso hard to drive home the point to you animalss!? DIE ALREADY!!!"
The snake was prepared to charge them with his mouth open as wide as it could go, until once more something stopped him.
There was a loud popping sound, followed by an incredible whistle as the flash pots detonated, all of which was barely audible over The Massster's shouts of pain. One after another, the simple special effects blasted their flames at the snake's body, making him thrash about. One part of his body crashed into the side of the ship, giving Minnie enough momentum to swing herself on board.
Once her feet were back on the ship's deck, Minnie looked over the side and saw Spike and Pluto frantically dodging The Massster's attacks as he raged about to escape the flames. It was time to pull out the stops, and attack her opponent with something huge. One look at the ship's sails, and she had just the idea.
Rushing to the back of the ship, Minnie started waving her fan at the sails, creating a gust that caught within the fabrics, but didn't do much else.
She needed to try harder. Twirling her whole arm around at the shoulder, Minnie started creating a gigantic whirlwind that blew throughout the stage, fueling the flames that were already slowly spreading.
The Massster had been trying to escape from the fire that burned him, only once again for his excessive length to keep catching itself in the blaze. He had been coiling himself up in the orchestra pit, but froze momentarily when he felt the sudden wind that was blowing.
Minnie held onto her hat with her free hand, and glanced up at the small tornado she had conjured. Now was the time to unleash it.
With only a flick of her wrist, Minnie sent the entire maelstrom into the ship's sails. She quickly took hold of the ship's helm and steered it toward the front of the stage. The winds blew as if there was a great storm at sea, but Minnie held fast as the prop ship sailed forward.
Slowly at first, the ship quickly picked up speed and plowed through the waves that adorned The Massster's back.
Pluto grabbed Spike by the scales on the back of his neck and ran away from the danger.
The Massster had only comprehended what was happening when the ship was already halfway across the stage. Before he could dodge, no less shout, the ship was already tilting over the edge of the stage.
Minnie jumped overboard and was caught by Spike and Pluto, who extended a curtain for her to land on.
There was a loud crash as the ship landed right on top of the snake, crushing him underneath it.
Had it ended? Was the battle over? Minnie dared to hope so, but that was quickly dashed as smoke started seeping through the ground beneath them.
From beneath the pile of rubble that was once a ship, The Massster released a bellowing hiss, before coils of his body burst out the sides of the wreckage in a shower of broken wood.
As if on cue, the flames that had been crawling up from the basement started to manifest themselves onstage, overtaking everything in sight.
The Massster spread his body throughout the entire audience, though his head was unseen. The bones of the perished ponies were all knocked aside, and clattered to the floor as the snake made his way through, over and between the seats.
The curtains on the stage burst into flames, framing the entire area with a border of blaze.
The Massster rose up in front of the stage, his imposing size and fiendish orange eyes now exacerbated by the wreaths of flames and smoke that were present.
"You cannot win, moussse!" The Massster said. "Thiss iss my domain! Here, I am invincible, and you are nothing more than a common houssse pesst! You and your filthy friendss!"
"Even if I can't win, that won't stop me from trying!" Minnie retorted. "I'll fight you to the end of my days if I have to! Even if it means the death of me, I won't stop until one of us is defeated!"
Spike and Pluto both had to admire the tenacity of the mouse, but the sudden glint in The Massster's eyes made them all uneasy.
"Iss that sso?" the snake said. "In that casse, I'll have to make the ssituation a little more expeditiouss."
Some hidden part of The Massster shifted itself, and something started to lower from the top of the stage. Something heavy and made from solid iron, with two dents in the bottom from where Spike and Pluto's heads had impacted it earlier. When it finished lowering, the contraption proved to be a large cage. Trapped within was Loving Care, who held fast to her frightened dog in her trembling hooves.
Minnie, Spike and Pluto all stepped backwards, as The Massster slithered his body onto the stage and circled around the suspended cage.
"SSo you ssee, Minerva, I hold the ace in thiss hand," the snake chuckled. "Now, you have a choice: you can abandon thiss charade of nobility and comply with my employer'ss will. SSimply sstep forward and allow yoursself to be transsported to hiss quarterss to be ussed as he sseess fit. Your friendss will be allowed to walk free and die in the wildernesss in any way they ssee fit. Or, you can keep fighting. You can sstruggle and sstrive all you want in the hopess of ssaving everyone. Little by little, that hope will dash, and you will face the moment of your impending demissse. Either way, you go to my employer, and your friendss die. But, you have a choice in the matter: live...or die with your friendss. Which do you choosse?"
The sheer fatalism and gravity of the snake's words put Minnie at a complete loss for words. She had never faced such a situation before and had no way of knowing how to answer. She looked to Spike and Pluto, who were both trying their hardest to put on a brave face, but the terror of what was to come was perfectly apparent in their eyes. A look to Loving Care, and she too had the same fear as she hugged her precious pet.
For Minnie it was that fear that made her decision.
"I say...suck caviar, you pompous jerk!!" Minnie shouted, before waving her fan and blowing the metal cage into the side of The Massster's head.
Loving Care held tightly to her dog, while recoiling from the impact against the snake's head. Between the bars of the cage, she watched him shake his head, before his eyes reflected the flames that were growing around them.
"Then, you have made your choice…” The Massster growled. “SSo be it!!!”
The Massster dove forward, knocking Minnie, Spike and Pluto backwards with his head.
All three of them landed in the audience, but not on the floor. Instead, they had all landed upon the snake's back. Minnie looked up and saw Spike and Pluto had landed some twenty feet away from herself. Before she could try to reach them, she was heaved upward by The Massster's body.
With a snap of his coils, The Massster sent Minnie into the air, and tightly gripped her in a loop of his own body.
Minnie landed hard on the ground, and was sent careening down the length of the snake's body as if she was caught in a slipknot. Unlike Loving Care, who was brought to face the snake when she was caught like this, Minnie's head was knocked against every seat on the length of the aisle. The ride ended with her face smashed into a wall, knocking her dizzy.
A short distance away, Pluto was being bounced into the air by one coil and slammed back down by another.
Away from Pluto, Spike was being pummeled in all different directions. All that was missing from the dragon's beating were all the lights and bells of a pinball machine at the rate he was going.
For Spike, enough was enough. Before he was paddled away by the next coil, he began spewing flames from his mouth. The stream of fire hit home on The Massster's side, and made the segment of the snake's body recoil in pain.
Momentarily free from harm, Spike climbed over a row of seats, and ran along their backs to elude The Massster's attacks. The Massster, however, would not let him escape so easily.
Behind Spike, the rows of seats were crushed and mangled by the snake's pursuing coils. Spike ended up having to jump to another row of seats to avoid being knocked over, but the danger hadn't passed.
At the end of the row, The Massster's open mouth appeared and lunged forward.
It was too late for Spike to dodge. The Massster's mouth closed around him, and the snake's throat bulged as he swallowed his spicy morsel. Perhaps too spicy.
With a sudden wretch, The Massster's body contorted wildly and he belched smoke and green embers. One last wretch, and he regurgitated Spike back into the audience, where he was promptly thrown against a wall, and smashed repeatedly until his entire body indented it.
Minnie and Pluto both saw their friend under attack, and tried to reach him.
Pluto was snapped across the room by The Massster’s coils, where he landed next to Spike, and was subsequently crushed as the dragon was. After him, Minnie was thrown against the wall in the same way.
Barely conscious, Minnie raised her head and saw The Massster slithering toward them. The fire had spread into the audience, and Minnie saw the snake was careful not to get too close to any of the flames. This detail was only just noticed when The Massster stopped directly in front of her and lowered his gaze only inches from her nose.
"You should know that I truly did resspect you as a guesst in my domain," The Massster began. "I didn't want to asssault you sso, but it was your choice in the matter. You rebuked my offer for a peaceful ssolution, and brought thiss pain upon yoursself. Now, Minerva, I'm going to give you one lasst chance to call off your ssparkling friend and deliver yoursself to your desstination. Will you take the only chance you have left for you and your friendss to live?"
Minnie remained silent, making the snake wonder if he had knocked her out cold, until she looked up to face him.
"You don't get it, do you...?" Minnie said. "I can't surrender to you...because I'm not like you. I owe my entire life to the people I care about...Not some pushy boss who only wants power over spineless lackeys like you...If you ever considered yourself a gentleman...you would help us escape...and take us to safety. But, that's not who you are...You're only a pawn who can't take control of his own life!"
The Massster prided himself on his gentlemanly nature, and took grave offense every time he was challenged for it. Except for this time. Maybe it was the force of Minnie's weakened voice, but her words made him slowly back away from her. Was he truly everything he thought he was? Or was he something fabricated for someone else's own ends? Whatever the case, he was given a duty and would fulfill it, no matter how menial.
"Minerva--"
Before The Massster could continue his sentence, he looked down to Minnie's hands. Unknown to himself, the mouse had been wringing her fan for as long as they both had been talking, and it had grown to at least four feet long.
Minnie opened her fan and wound up her arms.
"I told you: my name...is MINNIE!!!!!!" she shouted.
A mighty swing, and Minnie sent a powerful gale-force wind that knocked The Massster over and fanned the flames in the audience to grow larger.
"Go get Loving Care!" Minnie said to her friends.
Though battered and beaten, Pluto was already on his paws and ready to do as Minnie commanded. Taking Spike's claw in his teeth, the hound dog pulled him out of the wall and placed the dragon on his back. Spike slowly roused and gripped Pluto's collar.
Pluto charged headlong into The Massster's coils, sliding along the twisted lengths like an errant roller coaster. As he and Spike slid on the serpent's back, they heard a loud crash as a chunk of the ceiling came crashing down on their opponent's body.
Minnie swung her gigantic fan again, sending a force of wind that broke off another chunk of the flame-worn walls and ceiling, crushing more parts of The Massster's excessive length, and burning him as she fanned the ever-growing fire. Another swing, and The Massster's head was blown backwards into a wall.
The impact of the hit put a crack in the wall, which crawled upward and across the ceiling, where it dropped more chunks into the blazing audience seats. One such chunk landed directly in front of Pluto, launching him and his passenger onto the stage, which had become a sea of flames.
Extending his tongue, Spike caught onto the edge of the cage and reeled them both up to the bars.
"Hangg aw! He'pth aw uh wayy!!" Spike lisped as he pulled himself up.
Pluto reached his paws up and clung securely from the bars.
Spike climbed up to the tip of the hound dog's snout and set to work using his flames like a cutting torch.
Minnie continued to assault The Massster with her oversized fan, blowing her opponent every which way and that. The Massster, however, didn't seem to be putting up much resistance. Not even when Minnie blew his head into the top of the stage and broke the fixtures up there.
The fire had weakened the structures atop the stage. Spike had just finished cutting one of the bars off, before the constructs holding it all broke off and plummeted toward the stage.
The heavy iron cage broke right through the charred floor. Spike, Pluto, Loving Care and her dog all went screaming into the fiery hole that had opened up. The Massster too was caught in the fall, his head having tangled in the broken fixtures.
Minnie practically flew down the aisle toward the stage, jumped onto The Massster's back, and slid down his scaly hide into the lower levels of the mansion. So great was the fire damage that the cage had even broken through the trap room and into the basement.
The underbelly of the house had become nothing more than a maze of flames, the pipes, vents and furnaces all spewing fire.
When Minnie landed, all of her friends were huddled together, trying to stay as far from both The Massster and the fire as best they could. The only drawback was that both were practically surrounding them.
Minnie opened her fan and tried to push back the flames as best she could, but the power from all the machinery belched back the blaze with twice the power. And things only became worse when The Massster raised his head.
The snake turned his gaze to Minnie and all her friends, doing nothing, only staring. For a moment, Minnie wasn't sure that he was going to attack them, until with one swift motion he wrapped them all in his coils.
It was sure to be the end of them. Crushed to death in the fiery bowels of a madman's domain.
In one swift motion, they all went sailing up The Massster's body. Up toward the stage and out of the flaming halls.
With a swing of his massive body, The Massster hurled everyone out of the fiery hole they were in, up to the stage area. Minnie did her best to fan the flames back, as one crept ever closer to Loving Care's dog.
Looking down into the pit, Minnie saw The Massster extend his massive body upward, climbing the flaming woodwork toward the others. She reached her hand down to help the snake up, but just as the tip of his snout was within reach of her, the fixtures above the stage collapsed completely.
Minnie had the wind knocked out of her when the snake's body knocked her away from the danger. The collapsing wood and metal landed on The Massster's body, pinning him just at the edge of the pit. The rest of the rubble dropped into the hole in the stage, right on top of his head.
Shocked by the sight, Minnie had to be pulled away by Pluto. Loving Care then guided Minnie and the others through the burning mansion to the front door.
Back in the mansion's underbelly, The Massster laid buried under the pile of rubble, having all but given up on escape. For betraying Yen Sid, there would be no continuing under his employ. For betraying Minnie, there would be no remaining with her. For all the ponies and animals he abused, there would be no help to come for him. For all the wretched things he had done, he had sealed his fate.
The pipes around him rattled, and the walls throughout the mansion rumbled, as the snake came to a moment of self-realization.
"I...am no gentleman..."
For only a moment, he felt a certain kind of glimmer in his mind. By only speaking the truth of himself, he realized that he was hardly fit for this romanticized idea of the societal elite. He was more the hideous underbelly of the world that he despised. However horrible the truth was, it was a quiet comfort for him to finally realize it about himself. But, only for a moment.
The flames reached the main boiler, which reacted with a mighty explosion, causing a chain reaction throughout the inner workings of the house that all but destroyed the foundation of the mansion, and everything and everyone within it.
Minnie, Pluto, Spike, Loving Care and Rusty all ran out the mansion's front door just as the floor gave way under their feet. None of them dared to look back as the sounds of falling wood, cracking stone and creaking metal thundered behind them.
The sudden tremor made them all fall forward and collapse in a heap. Dust and smoke were thrown forward, and the ground shook beneath them when the mansion finished collapsing.
Minnie slowly lifted her head from the ground, one arm protectively around Spike, who was held by Pluto; the other arm around Loving Care, who cradled her dog. "It's alright. It's over now," Minnie said, gently rousing the others.
The others cautiously looked up, and saw the destruction behind them. The trees were burned, the grass was scorched, and the mansion had been reduced to a heap of rubble.
"He could still be alive down there. Couldn't he?" Minnie said. "We could dig him out and--"
"Minnie," Loving Care interjected, "He's gone."
In his last moments, The Massster had shown himself to be what he truly desired. More than anything, Minnie wanted to believe that he was able to live his life as a redeemed soul. But, it was not to be.
"Minnie," Loving Care said.
Minnie turned to face her friend, who was still shaking from the ordeal they had conquered. After a moment to collect herself, Loving Care finished her thought.
"You shouldn't wear a nice dress like that in the wilderness. Here."
From the pack on her side, Loving Care produced the very same polka dot dress that Minnie was wearing when she first arrived at the Manor Serpente.
"This was--How did you find this?" Minnie asked, as she accepted her dress.
"I went back to get it before I tried to leave the mansion. It was only a second after I got it from the laundry room that The Massster caught me."
Minnie was taken slightly aback at the idea that anyone would stay in the mansion longer than they needed to, but was touched by the thought that she would go back and brave the danger to look after her in any small possible way.
"Oh, Loving Care," Minnie said, before embracing her friend.
Spike was too frazzled to even wretch at the display of feminine affection, instead slumping against Pluto's side. The nightmare was over, and he could finally take a breather.
Minnie felt something nudge between herself and Loving Care, and found it to be her dog, who quickly nuzzled up to his owner and quietly huffed.
"Rusty, don't you be jealous of me hugging my other friends. You'll always be my number one," Loving Care playfully admonished her pet as she rubbed his head.
Minnie watched as the two friends reunited, grateful that she could have helped bring them back together. With luck, she would be able to do such a thing for herself when Mickey was found. And when she did find him, she was never going to let him go. First thing first: she had to get changed.
Right before everyone's eyes, Minnie reached to her side, and magically pulled a red curtain from nowhere that covered her up completely. Over the top, they saw Minnie take off her cloche hat and put on her bow. The curtain was pulled open, and disappeared into nothingness, revealing Minnie back in her dress and bow.
"You're going to have to teach me that," Loving Care said, her eyes popped wide.
"That's nothing. It's just a trick I picked up when me and my boyfriend went to the circus once," Minnie answered.
"As part of the act?" Spike said.
Everyone chuckled lightly at the dragon's quip, before they decided to leave the depressing foundation.
Turning away from the pile of rubble, they all hoped that wherever they went next, they would be safer than where they just were.
The glittering light that had guided Spike to Minnie and Pluto wriggled its way out of the rubble heap and quickly floated its way to Spike's backpack. It stopped briefly when the backpack started to glimmer on its own, before it stopped.
It didn't know what, but the dragon had picked up something of great importance during his tribulations in the mansion. Whatever it was, it was sure to be something wonderful. Until it revealed itself, it would only have to ride along inside the pack and live out the rest of the magical quest.
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Read as much as I can and...its so dark and also sad. Hope the Massster is in a better place over that last bit I read made it sound like he came to his senses. It feels sad tho, like I am pitying him, even to what he did.
Also can Disney please have some good snakes for once.
8423967
Holy jeez. Sorry for bumming you out so bad. And, does Disney have any snake characters? Like, at all?
8424482
Well, there's Flotsam and Jetsam. They're, uh, like snakes.
Kind of.
8424482
Nah, you didn't bum me out that big tho. Sure, I am a reptile fanatic that wants reptiles to be good guys more than bad guys. But I am not gonna chuck clubs at people over that's stupid thing to do.
But on a serious note, there are Disney snakes but they are always projected as bad. Expect for the toy variety, which I mean on Doc McStuffins and Toy Story. I dunno if there are other good Disney snakes, like maybe Kaa of Jungle Cubs and the original Jungle Book not done by Disney. Speaking of JB, the new live-action one they had was suppose to be true to the original book but we got Kaa still being evil and Baloo being still a carefree bear boy. Welp, at least there is Jungle Cubs and that Jungle Book cartoon. Oh, wait, think I remember Murgatroid from The Brave Little Toaster that looks bad but is good.
Think there was another good snake but...forgot. Eh, maybe for the best. Heard he's annoying.
8425487
Why not. Could be interesting. There is plenty of leway in the MLP universe for that!
This story gets better and better every chapter.
Now on the second leg of the journey for them: getting out of the Everfree forest, a sprawling jungle full of dangerous critters.
Maybe King Aspen of the Deer kingdom would kindly escorts them out as thanks to have gotten rid of that snake.
Or maybe even better: Zecora the Zebra to the rescue! Maybe give them a potion or twould for their quest.
Do you plan to incorporate the Cutie Mark Crusader in the story at some point?
8425545
I suppose being escorted to safety by Zecora or King Aspen could be implicit. I plan to pick up the next story arch with Minnie and Spike at a point where they are already on it for a bit.
As for the Cutie Mark Crusaders: no. I don't plan on them having any appearances in this story. But, I have written a few other stories where they are featured prominently, if you'd be interested in those.
i wonder how Donald Duck, Fluttershy and Applejack's adventure will turn out
8425474
I hadn't realized that the action scenes were set up like in a video game. I just do them with the mindset that the bad guy always has some kind of superior advantage and the good guy has to overcome them using their own skills and assets.
But, what you say about Spike is accurate. I did envision him as the kind of character who finds things and uses them at later points. And it was because of his nature as a dragon that I decided that should be. Good on you for catching that.
Now to actually catch up on these most recent two chapters....
...
...
Wait... did, did she just....
YES
YES
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
8440371
It was bound to happen eventually.
Another great character would be the Mad Doctor. Maybe that mysterious being who Pete and Big Bad Wolf work for is the Mad Doctor. Just a little theory.
8452247
I can't really say of you're right or not. But, I will say that the identity of the villain Pete and Big Bad work for will be kind of a shocker.
8452560
I'm already interested.
Well it was mentioned that the massster wondered why the boss wanted him to hold onto an old pair of boots for them amd spike picked up some old boots. So my guess? 7 league boots. Carry you up to 7 leagues with every step
9019901
I like that you're thinking. But, no. That's not why The Massster was guarding those boots. That will be revealed much later down the line. Although, that seven leagues thing would be really cool.
Hah, it's funny you keep mentioning Magical Quest, because throughout this entire chapter I kept picturing the fight with the SNES Magical Quest visuals in my head, with the scenery changes and the characters constantly going up and down multiple levels.
Goodness though, the Massster sure can take some punishment. So can
MinervaMinnie, for that matter. Really, if it weren't for the fact they're in a story where cartoon physics apply, this fight would have ended a lot sooner than it did. As it was, it took a lot of gunpower and fire to break down the Massster, along with some fighting words from Minnie, before he finally gave up the ghost. Even then, he could have taken everyone down with him but Minnie got to him in the end.Great...Now I'm emotionally torn. I really want to hate The Massster because he's a snake. But I also want to feel bad for him. WHY DO YOU DO THESE THINGS TO ME!?
Well, at least the Snake 🐍 realized his Downfall
And Minnie is willing to help Reform him
But I guess the Damage he has done to himself and others is gonna come back to him like Karma.