The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse: The Equestrian Adventure

by wingdingaling

Chapter 63: Onward and Forward

Chapter 63: Forward and Onward

Deep in the jungles of South Zebrica, a marvelous thing that happened once every year was occurring.

At the heart of the jungle, the rays of the afternoon sun shone through the lush, green canopy, illuminating the jungle beneath it.

For that one time of the year, the sun was in just the right position to reach that little world that was hidden by the jungle greenery. And it was in the one spot where a small wonder of the world occurred.

Set in the forest floor, untouched by the hooves of the zebra or antelope, were the makers of the little miracle. Smooth and unassuming, the crystals sat dormant in the ground, protruding sometimes two or three hooves above the soil. And when the rays of light touched them, it happened.

Their prismatic forms collected every bit of light that touched them, and spread it out among the rest of the hidden place. Like a miniature sun, the crystals illuminated the little world around them.

From their long slumber, the leaves of the many plants, ferns, grasses and trees perked up and absorbed every ounce of light that they could. Color returned to the flowers, which faced the light to bask in as much of its warmth that they could reach.

One stone that had been lying on the forest floor began to wobble gently. From beneath it, a narrow, whiskered snout peered out, followed by a pair of soft, curious eyes. The mouse that they were attached to crawled out next and gazed in awe at the wondrous sight.

A broad smile on its tiny face, it poked its head back beneath its rocky home and squeaked an announcement. And a moment later, its friend, the lizard, peered out next.

It was true. The sun had returned to their home.

The lizard crawled out from beneath the rock and dashed toward the glorious light, making quite a ruckus as he went. His claws pattered noisily across the rocks and rustled loudly through the leaf litter.

Along his path, more of the residents of the forest floor awoke, wondering what the noise was about.

During its trek, the lizard stepped on the tail of one of his neighbors. The golden thorn viper, who only ever wanted to be left alone, wrapped his tail around the lizard, hoisted him into the air and glared contemptuously.

The lizard simply pointed ahead to the light that had returned to their grove, and all animosity was forgotten. The viper put the lizard down and set off to spread the news.

The mouse rang the petals of a row of bell drop flowers, creating a musical tone that awakened others who were nearby. Ever inquisitive, the parrot was the first to rise from her nest to investigate the sounds. But her curiosity was answered immediately when she saw the sun in her home.

Squawking to awake her husband, the two nearly left before they noticed their unhatched eggs. Standing over their clutch, the two parrots shook themselves until enough feathers fell to keep the eggs warm.

The resulting, happy clamor was enough to wake even the mole from his sleep beneath the ground. And just as he burrowed above the surface to tell everyone to keep it down, he noticed the wonderful change in their home and joined the others in gathering around.

Even visitors from beyond the home of the grove arrived to join the occasion. Chattering monkeys filled the branches, shoving aside a row of fancy, colorful birds to get a better view. A wild sow and her litter of piglets marched in, treading carefully to not step on any smaller residents.

They had all gathered to watch and wait. Moments passed, and more visitors arrived over time, hoping that they were not too late.

Then finally, it happened.

The sun from the crystals touched the trunks of the trees, where the ibhuqu flowers grew. These ibhuqu flowers had sat dormant, their silver petals tightly shut against any and all outside intrusion. Until now.

The petal of one flower twitched, and the spectators all watched in rapt silence.

Slowly, the petals unfolded themselves, revealing the flower in its argent glory. And it was only one of the many others that followed after.

One by one, the ibhuqu flowers awakened, stretching their petals as if to shrug off the long dormancy they had undergone.

A little breeze blew through the grove, its subtle chill contrasting the warmth of the rays of light, and mingling through the silvern flowers on the trees.

It had happened. The ibhuqu flowers were once more among the waking world, ready to spread their bounty upon the world.

From the canopy above, hundreds of butterflies descended to the scene, fluttering about, brushing the edges of leaves and faces of other animals with their gentle wings as they completed their tasks.

Each little bug went from flower to flower, sometimes two or three at a time. It was then that the creatures all were reminded how the flowers got their name.

In the language of the speaking creatures of South Zebrica, ibhuqu meant ‘dust.’ And from within the silver flowers came the finest, most concentrated pollen in the whole of the jungle.

Most of the animals covered their faces when the pollen fell, while some of the youngsters jumped and frolicked through the veil that descended upon them. In time, the glittering powder had blanketed the forest floor.

After shaking the pollen from their fur, ruffling it from their feathers or wiping it from their scales, the animals all awaited the bounty that was to fall upon them.

Beneath the pollen of the ibhuqu, the plant life began absorbing the veil that had fallen upon them all. Within seconds, they began growing larger, greener and healthier than they had in all their days since the last time the flowers had bloomed.

The animals rejoiced. Food was now plentiful for days on end. Properly stored and rationed, they could survive months off of what was available.

Two monkeys discovered a berry bush that had grown in size and chattered over one particularly large berry. In the end, their quarrel wound up squeezing any juice that it had into both of their faces.

Old viper basked in the warmth of the sun, as he let the lost juices of the berry drip and trickle down into his open mouth. Next to him, a bird landed on one of the crystals, and was pecking up the seeds of the ibhuqu to carry home to its nest in a more distant part of the jungle.

The seeds were carefully tucked beneath its feathers, and its beak was full to capacity. It was ready to leave. And so, clutching up its feet, it flapped its wings and took off through the narrow windows of light that opened up above.

The bird flew above the treetops, unaware that it had taken a tiny, broken part of one of the crystals with it in one of its clutching feet.

The bird’s flight took it long from the happy little grove in the forest. And without its knowledge, the tiny shard of crystal dropped from its grip and fell from the sky, catching every bit of sunlight it could on its way down, before it disappeared in the shadows of the canopy beneath it.

On a nearby ridge, another, larger mouse with a large bow between her ears stood watching.

“My goodness. What could that have been?” Minnie wondered, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand.

Next to her, the magical light that had been guiding her and the other seemed to shrug and drifted onward down the ridge.

Looking ahead to see where they were going, Minnie noticed that the ground before her view had all but disappeared. Instead, there was a deep canyon that stretched out as far as her eyes could see. The canyon itself was impressive enough. But any of its wonders were hidden beneath the towering foliage of innumerable trees that grew from the unseen bottom.

From where she stood, Minnie could see that many other bridges were strewn along the sides of the canyon, just as the one nearest to her was. And they all led into enormous trees of the deep abyss.

The little light tinkered, shimmered a moment and started drifting along the length of the bridge.

Already, Minnie knew perfectly well that the next place that she and the others were needed was within that dark world under the trees. And just as it had been in the Manor Serpente and in the ruins beneath Blaiddru, she knew that danger was sure to await them all. What it would be, or when the would meet it, Minnie was positive that some terrible minion of the overlord that had been dogging her since she and Pluto arrived in Equestria would be waiting for her. This time, she would have to be ready for it.

A wheezing, panting noise reached her ears, and Minnie turned to see Pluto trudging up the slope to meet her on the ridge.

The hound dog huffed and puffed loudly, catching his breath after the long, long hike to get up to the ridge. That was not to mention the many rides that they had to take to even reach the Zebrican continent in the first place, then the many more rides and walks to get to South Zebrica.

“Now, Pluto, it wasn’t all that bad. The fresh air is probably doing you a world of good,” Minnie said, having by now gotten used to having to walk most everywhere in a world without automobiles. However, she wished that she didn’t insist on wearing heels for all occasions.

Pluto exhaled long and loud, before dropping to the ground. What did Minnie mean ‘fresh air?’ He always got plenty of fresh air back home playing with Mickey in the backyard. And going on hunting trips with him, helping him during the many jobs he would work, or even just going into town to visit the grocer.

Thinking of Mickey made Pluto think of home. Where there was less danger of being hurt, maimed, mauled, eaten, or just plain killed. He also began to think of where his best friend could have possibly gone to. According to Spike when they first met, Mickey was somewhere in that strange world. But, for all their traveling, their paths had not crossed. And somewhere deep inside of him, Pluto wondered if he would ever see Mickey again.

“Pluto,” Minnie said, interjecting the hound dog’s thoughts, “Where’s Spike?”

It seemed like a silly question to ask. Spike was always near them, or riding on Pluto’s back. But, when the hound dog looked side to side, behind and beneath himself, he saw that Minnie was right. Spike had somehow gone away from them.

With all of the foliage around themselves, Pluto knew that the little dragon’s scent would have been distorted. But, for a hound dog of his skill and pedigree, he would have no problem tracking Spike down. In fact, he did not even have to sniff once.

Pointing as best he could back the way they had come, there sat Spike on the trail behind them, sitting against the trunk of a tree.

“Spike?” Minnie asked, walking back to check on him.

After Minnie passed, Pluto’s fatigued body gave way, and he fell forward from his pointing position.

Spike sat silently beneath the tree, his backpack laid beside him. From the time that he and the others had left Blaiddru, he would periodically remove Caru’s red coat from his pack and simply stare at it. And he would wonder.

What really was the purpose of him being goaded into the magical quest by the light of the Tree of Harmony? Why did it choose him, and not some other, more capable pony? What was it trying to lead him and the others to? And most of all, were the lives lost truly worth carrying on?

Since he had begun, he had watched not one, not two, but three creatures pass away in horrific detail. The Massster, who had sacrificed his own life to save the lives of his enemies. The doctor, whose madness led to Spike making the most difficult choice of his life. And Caru.

Caru, who more than anything was the greatest loss to him. In such a short time, Spike felt as if he had made a friend who was just like him. Somepony who was different than the others around themselves, who never truly felt as if they fit in. An outsider in a world that was not theirs. Even if they were not the same species, Spike knew that Caru had felt the same, being the one doll among flesh and blood theows.

Spike’s heart sank when he realized just how unintentionally cruel he had been to Caru. Ever since they had met, up until the moment he had left Blaiddru with the others, he had thought of Caru only as a doll. Perhaps more than anything else, Caru had wished to be like all the other theows in her village. To be a real theow, who could grow up and experience everything that living could offer. But, it was never to be.

“Spike?” Minnie’s gentle voice came. “Honey, are you alright?”

Spike did not answer. Instead, he lowered his gaze from Minnie’s.

It was not a reaction Minnie did not expect. Ever since they had left Blaiddru, Spike had barely said a word to her or to Pluto. And she knew exactly why. Every time that she saw the little dragon holding that red coat, she thought about how much she wished to take him back to his own home. To be away from all the danger and turmoil that was clearly taking its toll on his young mind.

Having lived a life where she was often in peril, Minnie knew what such things did to a person, especially when they were so young. But, she had never lost anyone who was precious to her during those times.

Gently, she lifted Spike up and carried him up the path over the ridge.

“Come along. Let’s try to finish this,” Minnie said.

She passed by Pluto, who was still laid flat on the path.

“Let’s go, Pluto. No time to lollygag,” said Minnie.

Lollygagging? That would have been a luxury. But, as it seemed, it was a luxury that Pluto could not afford. And so, puffing up his chest and standing up straight, the hound dog got up and followed after.

The moment that he encountered the long suspension bridge, Pluto was hesitant to continue. After listening to Mickey read aloud his adventure novels enough times, he knew that these bridges were always fraught with danger. Still, if he did not go on, Mickey would never forgive him for staying behind while Minnie walked toward certain peril. Ever mindful of his duty, Pluto walked onward.

At the very moment his paw touched the first plank of the bridge, Pluto was suddenly felt something land on top of his head and jump off.

Pluto’s face had hit the ground and gotten a snout full of dust. It was just the kind of thing that he would expect from one of the neighborhood cats back home, who loved to torment him so. Once he was done shaking and snorting the dust out of his nose, the hound dog looked up to view his attacker.

What he saw was not some ornery cat, or even a fierce jungle predator. There, sitting on one of the posts that secured the bridge to the ground was a creature the likes of which he had never seen before.

It looked like a monkey. But, at the same time, it was unlike any monkey he had ever seen on a trip to the zoo, or to some tropical paradise. This thing had a very round face, with two equally round, mischievous eyes. Its deep blue fur was glossy, and reflected many bands of sunlight across its coat. Most notable of all was its tail. Out of all the tails Pluto had seen on any animal, this one beat them all by a mile. It was at least three times as long as the animal itself, and swished about as if it had a life of its own, bobbing, dipping and undulating, until it curled around the post that its owner sat upon.

Pluto looked curiously at the animal, and wondered if he should chase it now or some other time. His canine instincts told him that now was the time to chase it down and make sure to send it a message not to mess with him again. But, his chase was to be postponed.

“KEE-KEE!!”

The unfamiliar noise drew Pluto’s curiosity, but it made the smaller animal flinch slightly.

From the trees at the side of the path that Pluto and the others were just on, there was a flash of green fur and another animal appeared. Pluto could see that it was the same species as the little one that had just jumped on him. Just one that was larger and more mature than the first. Slightly shorter than himself, and half his own length. At least, its body was shorter than his own. The newcomer’s tail was much, much longer in proportion to the smaller one. Easily five times as long as its own body. Only, this one did not swish its tail so playfully.

“Ukee-kee-ku-ka-ko-kee!” the animal said, swiveling its tail around to the front of it.

From the impossibly long tail, two more of the smaller creatures hung upside down, their own tails wrapped tightly around the larger animal’s.

The animal pointed a finger to an empty space between the two smaller animals.

The look of shame on the little, blue monkey’s face reminded Pluto of the one he would make when his own mother would scold him for trying to explore beyond the yard where he was born. And the faces his own quinpuplets would make when Fifi scolded them for the very same.

Shame in its little face, the smaller animal unwrapped its tail from the post and scampered over to its mother’s waiting tail.

The mother lowered her tail and the baby swung its own tail around the same way a climber swung a grappling hook. And with a gentle toss, the baby’s tail looped around its mother’s and clung tightly, before winching up and pulling its owner off the ground. After a second, the blue baby was suspended between its green and black siblings.

With her babies all securely on her tail, the mother animal walked toward the bridge to begin her trek across. But, she did not take the topside.

The many ropes beneath the bridge appeared to serve not only as a support for the structure, but as a secondary bridge for the animals that possessed the opposable digits and prehensile extremities to make the trip.

Just before the animal’s tail disappeared over the ledge, the blue baby stuck its tongue out at Pluto.

Pluto was appalled by such a display of disrespect. So much that his instinct to chase it kicked right in.

“RRRRAAFFRAFFRAFFRAFFRAFFRAFFRAFFRAFF!!!

Pluto ran onto the bridge, barking, growling and pawing at the little animal through the planks. No matter how hard he tried, he was unable to get through the wooden slats to give it what for.

In spite of the shaking, the mother animal kept her firm hold on the ropes beneath the bridge.

It was a different story for the other two passengers on the bridge.

The bridge rocked back and forth on its ropes, making Minnie and Spike wobble violently.

In one hand, Minnie tightly held onto Spike. With her other, she gripped the ropes on the bridge.

“Pluto! Whatever you’re doing back there, cut it out!” Minnie angrily admonished, trying not to look over the side of the bridge.

Naturally, Pluto did not listen. He plowed past Minnie and Spike, nearly shoving them off the bridge as he went.

“Pluto!!!” Minnie shouted.

Pluto was still not listening. His hound dog instincts spurred him on to catch his young quarry..

Beneath the bridge, the blue monkey continued mocking Pluto, making faces and daring him to come and get it.

As it happened, Pluto’s questing snout discovered the one loose plank along the bridge. In an instant, he was able to flip the plank up and poke his muzzle through the open space, barking fiercely at the technicolor monkeys beneath the bridge.

The hound dog’s sudden intrusion faltered the mother monkey’s grip, making her loose one hand from the ropes. And when Pluto jumped upon the planks, her other hand and both feet slipped, leaving the mother to hang only by the tip of her tail that was not occupied by offspring.

Pluto gasped sharply at the sight. His intention was only to scare and intimidate the little monkey, not to send it plummeting into a bottomless pit. Seeing the simians’ predicament, he lowered his head down to grasp them in his teeth, but came up short.

Further back on the bridge, Spike and Minnie both saw what was unfolding before them.

“Oh, Pluto! Now you’ve done it!” Minnie said.

Spike flashed back to Blaiddru. Caru’s last moments, cradled in her mother’s hooves, singing for everypony. The last notes of Caru’s song echoed in Spike’s mind, and he wriggled free of Minnie’s grip. Once he was on the bridge, he sprinted toward the trouble.

“Spike!” Minnie called, before regaining her balance on the wobbling bridge and following after him.

The first thing that Spike did upon arriving was lower his tail down through the planks of the bridge.

Dangling like a pendulum, the mother monkey looked up to see that Spike had lowered his tail. Not knowing whether or not he was a predator in cahoots with the crazed dog, but knowing that her offspring were in immediate danger, she carefully uncoiled as much of her tail as she dared from the ropes and reached it up to grab Spike’s. Try as she did, she came up far too short.

Spike did the only thing he could think to do to extend his reach, and climbed down the plank, holding on only by his claws.

“Spike! What are you doing!?” Minnie shrieked, as she arrived to pull Spike up.

No matter how she tried, Spike resisted being pulled back up. Instead, he kept trying to lower himself closer to the mother monkey’s tail.

Still, the two tails could not reach one another.

Pluto started trying to take charge by reaching his own tail down in place of Spike’s. Surely his own larger size would allow for better reach. Unfortunately, his canine agility was meant for running. Not for climbing.

Before any of them realized what had happened, Pluto’s back paws slipped from the bridge, and he went sliding through the open hole between the planks.

It was only his quick reflexes that allowed him to catch hold with his front paws. His claws dug deep into the wood of the bridge, and scraped away the topmost layer of wood as he slid down.

Minnie reached out one hand to grab onto Pluto, and caught the hound dog’s paw before he fell.

Desperately clinging to her friends, Minnie tried to pull them back up. Pluto tried to accommodate, but Spike insisted on reaching for the mother monkey.

The weight of them had become too much. Minnie fell forward, until her waist went over the side. Now, she was only anchored by her hips to the topside of the bridge, dangling Spike and Pluto both over a seemingly bottomless chasm.

“I want you boys to know: I’m not having fun!” Minnie scolded.

Pluto’s back paws pedaled furiously to get back up. But Spike was now well within the reach of the mother monkey’s tail.

Their two tails twisted around one another, tightly entwining. Finally, the monkeys found salvation. And it was what led to everyone’s calamity.

The moment their tails were twisted, the mother monkey loosed her hold from the ropes beneath the bridge. With the extra weight pulling on her, Minnie was pulled through the open slat and started falling downward into the abyss.

Before they fell past the point of no return, Pluto reached his neck out and chomped his teeth around one of the ropes, stopping their deadly descent.

The bridge shook under the weight of them all, and the ropes started to fray. And with a series of terrifying snaps, the ropes started coming undone.

In one fell swoop, the entire bridge broke in two, right at the point where Pluto had removed the one loose plank.

The screams of the terrified passengers on the broken bridge were drowned out by the whoosh of air that whirled around them, as they swung across the remainder of the chasm at breakneck speed.

A loud crunching, crashing sound was heard as the passengers and their hazardous ride disappeared into the thicket of tree trunks, leaves, vines and flowers. And at once, all noises stopped.

At the end of the bridge, a pair of great, yellow eyes peered out from the shadows beneath the foliage.

The owner of the eyes puffed irately and looked down to the lower levels of the trees.

“Great,” she said, “Now, I have to get my fur dirty.”

With the ease and agility of the shadows that surrounded her, she slipped her way down below.

Author's Note:

Welcome one and all to South Zebrica!
As I’m sure that you’ve realized, this new setting is inspired by the wildlands of South Africa, which is riddled with mountainous ridges and deep canyons. So, it only seemed natural that this story arch would take place within one of those canyons. But, to give it a bit of a fantastical twist, things like the abyssal depth, giant trees and magical ibhuqu flowers were added.
For anybody who does not know (maybe some of you do), ‘ibhuqu’ is the Zulu word for ‘dust.’ And before you start to anticipate it, I want to say now that I don’t think that we’ll be seeing any speaking creatures of Zebrica in this story arch. Because I don’t want to have to learn a completely new language and have to put it in rhyming stanzas. (This is Zecora’s fault you know, having to speak in rhyme. What were the writers thinking)?
Oh, sure. You could say, ‘But Wing, why not take advantage of the Alt. Universe tag like you always do?’ Or, ‘You know, English is a major language in South Africa too.’ Both very good points. However, this is my story and I say that the native creatures of South Zebrica speak Zulu.
Lots of references were made to other Mickey and Pluto cartoons and comics in here. Things like the vague references to jungle adventures and stuff like that. The only real specific reference here is to a cartoon short called ‘Pluto’s Quinpuplets,’ wherein we see that Pluto and Fifi the Peke have had a litter of five puppies. This short goes to show that being a dad is tough, no matter what species you are.
There’s something that occurred to me that I’m certain is of no concern to anybody, but I feel like I should address it. Of all the references to the two media that are crossed over in this story, most of them are coming from the Mickey side, rather than the Pony side. I promise you all, this is not because I am in any way biased. This is simply because I have been a fan of Disney for a lot longer than I have of My Little Pony. Because of this, I have a whole backlog of knowledge of the history and media of Disney that vastly outweighs anything I know about My Little Pony of any generation. So, I hope that clears up any doubts about this issue (which I’m pretty sure didn’t exist anyway).
Anyway, one of the biggest references here is with the friends who we have just met. These strange little monkeys are inspired very heavily by The Marsupilami. I’ve been a fan of the Marsupilami comics since I was very young. And only about a month ago, I learned that the Marsupilami was made into a cartoon by Disney. That cartoon is very, very different from the comics (namely that the Marsupilami speaks English and can be understood by humans), but it was alright. Personally, I prefer him to just say ‘houbah!’
That being said, I think it’s pretty obvious to say that this monkey is not based on any real species. And so, I shall call them ukeekees. At first, I thought that name sounded familiar. But, after a web search, the name ukeekee has not been used anywhere else before. If I’m wrong, could somebody tell me? Because I totally feel like I’ve heard ukeekee before.
Moving on, not only did we meet the new friends in this chapter, we’ve met the villain. She is going to be revealed in the coming chapters. But, I can already hear her voice when she says just those few words at the tail end of the chapter. And the voice I hear for her is Rosario Dawson.
That’s it for me. I’m out of here. So, rock on, my happy readers \m/

Comments

[karnazom]

*Sees Story pic*
Me: Wow! I wasn't expecting a fiction like this
My brain:

Now to read the whole story

[Venerable Ro]

Old faces in a new place, with new faces to meet them. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess our latest foe is of the feline persuasion?

[wingdingaling]

10108475
Could be. We'll find out in a bit.

[wingdingaling]

10108437
Well, you, and your brain can both enjoy. Have fun, you two.