Chapter 7: Snake in the Grass
Chapter 7
Snake in the Grass
The screaming stopped.
Pluto turned tail and ran, leaving Minnie spinning on the ground.
"Pluto! Pluto, wait for me!" Minnie called after the hound.
It was too late.
From the darkness of the bushes across from her, Minnie could see a pair of great green eyes with pupils in reptilian slits.
The thing in the bushes moved toward her, revealing itself in all its horror.
"Hey. Are you alright?"
Minnie's eyes widened when she saw the very same dragon as the one in the mirror standing before her.
"It's you," Minnie said.
Spike didn't say anything at first, only staring at the mouse in the polka dot dress. This was surely the one he was supposed to find.
"You. You're just like the others!" Spike said.
"What others?" Minnie asked.
"The others like you. They came here just a couple of hours ago. There was a dog. And a duck. And--"
"Was there a mouse with them?"
"Yeah! He said his name was Mickey!"
"Mickey was here? I knew it!"
Minnie picked up Spike and hugged him, gagging the young dragon in her grip.
Two more eyes opened from the darkness of the foliage, and Pluto emerged with leaves around his eyes.
The hound dog happily jumped up and down at the news of his best friend having been by that way.
"Hold on! Put me down!" Spike said.
"I'm sorry," Minnie said, obliging the dragon's request. "Which way did Mickey go? What's he even doing in a place like this?"
"I don't really know. He didn't know either. He just said something about a mirror that showed him where he needed to be when something bad happens, and then he was guided somewhere by a light like this one."
The same twinkling light that Minnie had seen came floating out of Spike's backpack, and hovered in front of Pluto's nose.
Pluto crossed his eyes to look at it.
The light sprinkled some of its stardust onto the hound's nose.
Pluto sniffed, and snuffed, and sneezed a mighty sneeze that blew the glittering magic off his nose.
The magic light hovered back to Spike's side, then floated before Minnie.
"How strange. I wonder what it is," Minnie said.
Minnie reached out a finger to touch the light, which arced over and smooched the top of her hand.
"Oh! My, my."
"It's supposed to be my guide to show me where to go next. Just like what happened with Mickey. Since I met you, I guess that means that I need you with me while I go on my own quest like the others."
Minnie was torn between her desire to find her boyfriend and help the young dragon. However, her sensible side allowed her to come to a decision.
"Well, I suppose that if you're going to follow a strange light, you'll need someone to look after you. And if Mickey's doing the same thing, we're sure to run into him eventually," she said
"You mean you'll come with me?"
"Somebody has to. If what you said is true, that mirror brought me here for exactly that reason."
Pluto looked up in surprise at Minnie. What was she thinking postponing the search for Mickey? Still, Mickey had made it abundantly clear that in his absence Minnie was the boss. So, he had no choice but to go along with her decision.
"I'm Spike, by the way," the dragon introduced himself.
"I'm Minnie. And this is Pluto."
The hound dog sat on his haunches, proudly puffed his chest and saluted.
"Wow. That's some dog you've got," Spike said.
"He's Mickey's dog. I've always preferred pet birds. But, he does do good," Minnie said, patting Pluto on the head.
Pluto panted happily, but then caught a whiff of something that was quickly approaching them all. Putting his skills as a pointer/hound mix to use, Pluto hopped into the air, and pointed with his nose toward the direction of the scent.
"What's that he's doing?" Spike wondered.
Thinking quickly, Minnie scooped up Spike and pulled him off the path, just as a deer jumped through the bushes and sprinted away.
"Good boy, Pluto. You're proving to be quite a useful scent hound," Minnie said.
"Yeayeayea!" Pluto panted.
The hound dog barely had any time to perceive the next wave of scents that were coming toward them all.
There was a sudden burst as it seemed almost every animal in the forest was running past them.
Minnie grabbed Spike and Pluto, and pushed them both against the side of a bank from the direction of the noise.
Squirrels, rabbits, ravens, raccoons, deer, moose, hedgehogs, quails, mice and everything in between came cascading down from the bank above. In their mad rush, some of them stumbled over one another. From the look of it, they were all running away as fast as they could from some unknown threat.
The stampede passed, and the three on the bank cautiously stood up.
"Goodness! What could have scared them so much?" Minnie wondered.
"I don't know. This is the Everfree Forest, so it could have been a lot of things. Bears, timber wolves, cragadiles, manticores," Spike answered.
Pluto began to shiver from the list Spike rattled off.
Minnie herself didn't quite believe what she was hearing. She wasn't too sure what a 'cragadile' was, but the idea of a manticore sounded a little far fetched. Then again, she was talking to a dragon.
"Worst case, we could run into a hydra!" Spike finished.
There came a sound through the foliage, like a storm tearing through the trees.
"What's that?" Minnie asked.
The sound of the storm through the forest was accompanied by a loud hiss.
"Hydra! Definitely a hydra!" Spike said. "Everypony run!!"
Spike took Minnie by the hand and quickly led her away.
Pluto rushed ahead of the group and sniffed out the safest path. Maybe he would find a patch of strong-smelling flowers or a river that could hide their scent from whatever was chasing them. He didn't know what a hydra was, but it smelled vaguely similar to some things back home: scales, instead of fur; and the strong smell of dust from crawling on the ground.
Looking behind, Minnie could see the shape of something through the thick clusters of bushes and trees. Something with a long body that undulated up and down and side to side into her line of vision.
Another hiss was heard, and the quarry all picked up their pace to keep ahead.
Pluto led the others through a wall of leaves, and they found themselves running on the curled trunk of a tree that was growing out of a cliff face.
Pluto jumped and slid down the spiraling branches, followed by Minnie and Spike.
The three of them all coursed off onto separate branches, and looped and swirled and crossed paths with one another.
Spike reached down and took hold of Pluto's collar, allowing himself to land on the hound dog's back.
Minnie rolled up a vertical loop and fell onto a downward spiral, which deposited her onto a ramping tree trunk that sent her sliding across the ground.
Above, Spike and Pluto encountered a similar ramp in the branches, and were launched into another treetop some ways away.
Another hiss was heard, now closer than ever before.
Minnie turned around and saw their pursuer was now coursing through the curling branches toward herself.
The mouse scrambled backwards across the ground, until her back was against a boulder.
Leaves in the tree started falling down the trunk.
There was only a matter of time now until whatever was chasing them found her.
Not knowing what else to do, Minnie ducked in cover and hoped the creature would overlook her.
The sound culminated with a loud rustle when the creature burst forth from the tree. Then, all fell silent.
Minnie knew it was looking her over. Her ploy had failed, and she was to face her final curtain.
"Oh! Goodnesss me! Dear lady, are you well?"
Minnie opened her eyes and looked up from the ground, and found herself staring at what seemed to be the end of a scaly tail that was hovering right in front of herself.
Lifting her head, Minnie gasped when she saw the tail's owner was a gigantic snake. One that was far larger than any she had seen back home. He was at least fifty feet long from what Minnie could see, but most of him was hidden in the treetop and the bushes beyond. He could have easily been a hundred feet for all she knew!
The scales on his back were a lustrous, sparkling blue color with dots of silver and black stripes. And his belly scales complimented them nicely with their pale yellow color that shined like polished gold.
"Yess, I undersstand I musst sseem quite imposssing. But, I assure you: I am here to help," the snake said, hovering his tail closer to Minnie.
"Oh! Thank you," Minnie said, realizing she had been staring at this so-far-perfect-gentleman and gently grasped his tail.
"The pleasure is all mine, Missss. A gentleman never would leave one as yoursself in ssuch a ssituation," the snake said, helping Minnie to her feet. "Oh dear! Your dresss! It'ss possitively ssoiled!"
Minnie looked down at herself, and saw that the entire front of her dress was covered with dirt.
"That's alright. These things happen when you go running through the wilderness," Minnie said.
"Undoubtedly. As one who crawlss on hiss belly, I am no sstranger to the conssequencess of wildernesss travel. Often I wonder if I should fashion an infinitely long rug, or ssimply make a pair of bootss from my excesss length."
From where they were in the neighboring treetop, Spike and Pluto watched how Minnie and the snake both shared a laugh at the snake's joke. Thus far, it seemed like they were in luck to have run into him, rather than all the other vicious creatures and monsters they could have encountered.
Minnie looked in their direction, silently signalling for them to come out.
Feeling a strong sense of relief, they both started climbing out of the leaves they were in, creating a loud rustle.
"What wass that!!?" the snake snapped, whipping his head to the direction of the noise.
"Nothing! It was--" Minnie tried to explain.
"Wass it an animal? I desspisse animalss! I wass only here in the firsst place to flush out any that have sstayed in my domain!"
The snake's tongue flicked wildly from his mouth, taking in the scent of the area around him.
"There'ss ssomething elsse here. SSomething...undessireable."
"Maybe it's not a wild animal! Maybe it's just a dog," Minnie suggested.
Pluto gulped, hoping for a good answer.
"I should hope not. I find them to be the mossst unclean, sslovenly, sslobbering, sslobs there are! I would jusst as ssoon eat domesstic caviar! With red wine! Rather that, than have a dog around! I would prefer anything elsse to a dog on my property!"
"I see,” Minnie said, “Um...How do you feel about dragons?"
Spike gulped next, not anticipating a good answer.
"Hm...I musst take back what I ssaid. Dragonss are by and large the mosst undessirable creatures out there! SSpewing ssmoke everywhere! SStinking up my fresh air! Hoarding moundss of treasure, which should rightfully belong to me! Oh, they're dissgussting! And I believe there hass been one through here recently," the snake said.
Spike shrank into his hiding spot with Pluto.
The snake's tongue flickered again.
"They've been thiss way..." he muttered, following their scent up the tree he was just in.
His body slowly coiled through the path the others had taken, slithering through the branches after his quarry.
"Come out, little friendss. Come and ssee what awaitss thosse who tresspasss on my land."
Minnie watched as the snake grew closer to her friend's hiding spot, and quickly intervened.
"Now, wait just a minute!" Minnie said, grabbing the snake by his tail and pulling. Her pull only yanked his excess length from the bushes beyond.
The snake lowered his head from the tree branches.
"Iss ssomething the matter, Misss?" he asked, somewhat agitated.
"Yes, there is! You spend your time chasing away animals for doing nothing more than living in the forest that you so boldly claimed for yourself! Because of you, I was nearly run over by a stampede, my friends and I have been separated, and my dress has been ruined! How do you call yourself a gentleman after all of that?"
The snake lowered his upper body from the tree so that he faced Minnie.
Now face to face, Minnie realized how enormous he actually was, and she began to regret the things she had just said to him.
"You...are abssolutely correct. Pleasse, I musst make up to you my transssgressionsss. Follow me, and I shall take you to where you may properly clean yoursself off. And then, I shall ssend you on your way," the snake offered.
Minnie didn't know how to answer. Accepting would leave Spike and Pluto behind. Declining may rouse the snake's temper. Neither one was a desirable option. But, she had a responsibility to keep.
"That's nice of you to offer. But, I really need to find my friends," the mouse answered.
"Ah! Then I shall ssearch for them mysself. In the meantime, I musst inssisst that you sstay in my home until I find them for you," the snake replied.
'No' would not be taken for an answer. The snake slithered past Minnie, offering his side to her to hold onto as they walked.
"Oh dear. I've just realized that I've not yet assked whosse company I'm enjoying," the snake said.
"I'm Minnie."
"'Minnie? As in an abbreviation for 'Minerva?' I musst ssay it'ss quite befitting one of divine beauty ssuch as yoursself."
"Why, thank you. And who may I ask is my gracious host?" Minnie politely inquired.
"You may call me The Massster. As in 'The Massster of the Manor.'"
"The Master?" Minnie asked, not quite believing this was his chosen moniker.
"No no. The Massster. Accentuate the 'sss.'"
The Massster slithered away with Minnie at his side, his incredible length unwinding itself from the branches and weaving through the bushes for what seemed like miles.
Spike and Pluto carefully watched The Massster slither away for almost a minute, until his tail finally disappeared from view.
"Nevermind. Worst case: we run into that guy," Spike corrected himself.
Pluto nodded in agreement.
"Well, I guess we should do our best to rescue her now. Right?"
Pluto hesitantly nodded.
"Okay. Um...great. I have some experience with rescue missions. So, this should be no problem for me."
"Hrm..." Pluto said, squinting pensively.
"Oh, be quiet. We can do this easily...I hope."
The two of them went walking after Minnie and The Massster, formulating a rescue plan.
"Hey, you don't think this guy eats dragons, do you?" Spike asked.
Pluto nodded again.
"That makes me feel so much better..."
Minnie's walk with The Massster was completely silent. Not only because they were not speaking to one another, but the complete lack of ambiance. No birds singing in the trees. No squirrels rustling through the leaves. Not even insects buzzed about.
Worst of all, she thought she could catch glimpses of the snake's eyes darting in every direction, ever watching for some sign of one of the creatures he hated so. It was especially bad when he looked in her direction, which made her flinch inwardly every time their eyes met.
Without the snake's notice, Minnie had been cautiously looking around herself for any means of escape. An excuse she could make to leave. Even if there was a steep hill that she could fall down. No such thing was to be found during the trek.
"We've near arrived, Lady Minnie," The Massster said.
A path began to appear on the ground, made of grubby cobblestone.
A trellis made of rotting, splintered wood parted the foliage before them.
"Ladiess firsst," the snake offered.
Polite as ever, Minnie stepped through as requested and was dismayed by the sight of her destination.
A withered lawn the size of a city park was the first thing that Minnie saw, along with the dried up three-story fountain in the center. Across from that dismal sight was a red stone mansion, overgrown with thorns, ivy and horrible, wilted flower beds at its foundation. Dead trees surrounded it on all sides, with branches that grew as if they were reaching out to overtake and tear down the horrible structure.
"Here we are. Welcome to my humble abode," The Massster said, indicating the sight with an undulation of his body. "I know you're already in awe of it, but pleasse, ssave your wonderment for when you are insside, dear Lady."
"Heh heh...I'll try," Minnie chuckled.
The snake led the mouse forward, and after his impossibly long tail had passed through the trellis, Spike and Pluto arrived to see The Massster creak open the front door and guide Minnie inside. Soon after, his body began disappearing into the house next.
"This looks like the place, Pluto. Now we need to find a way in," Spike said.
Pluto's knees began to shake, but he quickly steadied them. Now, his tail was quivering in place of his knees.
"Come on! This isn't the time to chicken out! We're just...*gulp*going into the lair of a dog-hating, dragon-eating monster..."
The hound dog knew that he couldn't turn back. If anything happened to Minnie on his watch, Mickey would never forgive him. Sticking to his responsibility as a loyal companion, he was the first one to pass through the trellis and creep toward the imposing mansion, shortly followed by Spike.
"Here we are. Welcome to the Manor SSSerpente," The Massster proclaimed to his guest.
Minnie's eyes popped when she saw the inside of the mansion. Here was an entirely different world than what was on the outside.
The marbled floor was perfectly polished to the point Minnie could see her reflection in it. The walls all glistened as if they were freshly painted, and were decorated with paintings and suits of armor on pedestals.
Gold moldings were affixed up on the ceiling, creating a majestic touch to the grand portrait of a snake that was painted above.
The staff hurried about their work, which Minnie saw were ponies of all conceivable colors. Some of them even had horns on their heads or wings on their backs.
"SSo, what do we think?" The Massster asked.
"It's...It's wonderful," Minnie said, taking in the atmosphere
"Just as I ssaid. You're overflowing with wonderment at the ssight of my home." A segment of The Massster’s body undulated upward and clapped the ground twice. "Loving Care."
A mare with a pink coat and a dark blue mane rushed over to greet The Massster."
"Yes, Massster?" she said.
"I'd be much obliged if you were to take Lady Minnie to one of the guesst roomss. She will be sstaying with uss for an indeterminate amount of time, until we locate her losst friendss," The Massster said.
"Of course, Massster. I'll see to her personally," the mare said with a smile so big Minnie was positive it was fake.
"Exquissite. And you know that I'm asssigning thiss tassk to you, because you truly are the besst at caring for guesstss. It'ss why I hired you, after all."
"Oh yes, Massster. It's my sworn duty to care for any and all that you bring to the Manor Serpente."
"SSee that you do, and you may get a raissse."
The Massster started slithering away toward the stairs, his body passing between Minnie and Loving Care.
"Help!" Loving Care whispered through her smile.
"What?" Minnie asked.
"Get me out of here!"
The Massster had reached the second level of the T-shaped staircase, when he suddenly stopped and extended his neck toward the mare.
"Oh. I nearly forgot: what word iss there of the beasst that has been sskulking around my property?" he asked.
Loving Care's smile flared to a larger size.
"No word of it yet, Massster, she said. “But, the groundskeepers believe that they're hot on the trail of finding it. They think that it's living somewhere on the mansion grounds and--"
"DON'T--even ssuggesst ssuch thingss!" The Massster snapped.
Minnie and Loving Care both cowered under the snake's sudden intense glare.
"The mere thought of one of them living under my nosse iss enough to make me wretch!" The Massster’s glare softened to a warm smile. "I'm ssorry. I've been behaving possitively uncouth. Loving Care: take Lady Minnie upsstairss and provide her with a clean dresss."
His head shifted over to look at Minnie.
"And you, dear Lady Minnie: if your friendss are found before dark, I musst inssisst that you all sstay for tonight's play. I'm sure the production of my theater sstaff with delight you all."
Minnie glanced out a nearby window, and saw that the sun was setting. Now was she going to have to stay the night? She was about to decline, until she glanced over at Loving Care, who answered with a subtle shake of her head.
"That sounds lovely," Minnie answered.
"It'ss not half as lovely as you ssimply accepting," The Massster answered. "I'll attend to my bussinesss in my chamberss. Then, I shall be off to locate your friendss in the foresst. Good day to you all."
The snake's body disappeared up the stairs, leaving Minnie alone with Loving Care.
"We shouldn't waste any more time. Let's get you cleaned up," Loving Care said.
"What's going on here?" Minnie asked.
"Sh! We'll talk later," Loving Care hissed. The lady in waiting sidled up next to Minnie to guide her up the stairs. "Come along. The Massster will be upset if I dawdle!"
Loving Care took Minnie up the stairs, in the opposite direction that The Massster took, much to the mouse's relief. She looked at all the sights as she passed by them: there in the hall were small tables made from polished wood, decorated with sparkling silver dishes and gleaming, painted vases which were filled with the withered flowers from the gardens outside.
A glance upward, and she saw the portrait of the snake on the ceiling continued on through the hall. This time, the snake's body was what was seen undulating through the halls. Looking back, Minnie saw The Massster's body still slithering up the stairs and through the hall.
"This way. Around the corner," Loving Care said.
They rounded the corner and passed by a pony in a maid's uniform, who was carrying a basket of laundry on her back.
"Hello, Loving Care. And who might this be?" the maid asked.
"This is Minnie. The Massster has invited her to stay for the night," Loving Care answered.
"He has? Oh, you lucky...creature, you," the maid chuckled, before her smile disappeared. "Escape while you can! Before it's too late!"
"Before what's too late?" Minnie asked.
"Quiet! You never know if he's listening!" The maid's smile returned. "I'll leave you to your guest. I'm sorry I can't stay, but I have loads of laundry to do. Every room in the house! Have a nice day."
"Be sure to come back for mine later," Minnie requested.
"Of course. Of course. Bye."
The maid trotted off.
Minnie was led into a room down the hall, and Loving Care quickly slammed the door shut.
"Alright. Now that we're away from The Massster, I think you owe me an explanation. What's going on here? And why is everyone here acting so jittery?" Minnie asked.
"I'll explain everything. Just go about your business and get changed," Loving Care said, pulling a privacy screen open for Minnie.
Taking the cue to stay discreet, Minnie began humming a tune and stepped behind the screen.
Outside on the lawn, Pluto crept low to the ground, providing cover for Spike to hide behind.
The dragon dashed ahead into a patch of dead flowers, which all turned to dust.
Then, he hid behind some dead, brown bushes, only for all the leaves to fall right off and reveal him hiding.
He dashed up a small, dead tree, which tilted over like standing timber as soon as he reached the top.
Pluto snickered at the sight of Spike's hiding place toppling so easily.
Spike popped up from the brown foliage, with a mustache of leaves on his lip.
"Oh, like a dog could climb trees any better," Spike said, before shaking the leaves off. "Come on. We still need to find a way in there and get Minnie out."
Pluto began sniffing the air for Minnie's scent. There was only a faint trace of it, as most of the yard was overpowering with dead vegetation. Then came a new scent.
It wasn't the scent of the snake from earlier, but it wasn't any that he recognized at all. Unknowing if the owner was friendly or not, he dove into the leaves with Spike.
The dragon recognized the sound of approaching hooves.
"Oh, great. Look at this. Now we have more stuff to clean up," said one voice.
"We can't worry about that now. We still need to find that dog for The Massster," said the second voice.
"Why should we? It's just a dog. Who cares if it's sniffing around here for a bone or two?"
Pluto shivered quietly, knowing that they were talking about him.
"It's what The Massster wants. And you know what happens when he doesn't get what he wants. Didn't you notice that we're the only groundskeepers left since yesterday?"
"Y-You're right. We still haven't checked anywhere past the treeline. Why don't we look around there for a while. A long while. In fact, let's look long enough to find a way out of the forest."
The second pony covered the first's mouth and listened for a sound. All was clear, and he turned to his friend.
"Don't say things like that out loud. Who knows how far away The Massster could be?"
The first pony only nodded, before the two continued on their way.
After they had gone, Spike and Pluto both crawled out from deep within the leaves of the fallen tree. Somehow, the snake had learned that they were on the property. How he had known, they couldn't tell. But, the danger had increased for them at least tenfold now that their presence had been discovered.
The closer they came to the mansion, the more they could hear the humming of a familiar voice from somewhere above. Looking up, they saw Minnie's round ears poking up just above the windowsill.
Now that they knew where she was, all they needed was a way in.
The dragon and the hound dog both started creeping toward the house, unaware that they were being followed.
So far, so good. We just met the featured villain of this chapter, and he his one doozy of a dinger.
For anyone who is curious: The Massster is an original villain with no prior existence in either Hasbro or Disney media. He was inspired by a garter snake that my niece and nephew found on the front porch of their house. As such, his coloring was somewhat inspired by such a snake.
Another influence was the snake boss in the first 'Resident Evil' game. Anyone remember that guy?
As for his voice: I imagine that he is voiced by Tim Curry. Why? Because Tim Curry is the man! And he so should have been the voice of Dormammu in the Doctor Strange movie.
Sorry for the lack of a sunburst during Minnie's first story arc. But, for the life of me, I just couldn't find one! It's like those guys at Disney didn't even bother! What a bunch of hosers!
Now, that thing that Minnie says about how she prefers to keep pet birds is something that's never stated in the cartoons. But, if you watch them, especially a lot of the early ones, you can see that she always has pet birds in her house. I know that canonically, she has owned Fifi and Figaro, but parrots, canaries, finches, parakeets and the like can all be seen in Minnie's ownership.
Recently, I was given an assignment in my art class to design a character. So, I took about a half hour to draw up a character model for my homework. And now, I want to share it with you. It's not exactly professional grade, but hey, I don't think any of you will mind (not much, anyway). And with that, I present to you: The Massster of the Manor!
My question to you all is this: can you imagine that guy with Tim Curry's voice?
Things are turning out mighty strange in this new setting. What will be uncovered there? You'll just have to wait for the next chapter to find out. Rock on, guys and gals \m/
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... huh, well how about that? It's Pluto, alright.
Okay.
8323183
I was thinking more like 'Lonesome Ghosts' Goofy, or 'Billposters' Goofy. But, this side of the goof may come into play sooner or later. Also, some more modern elements may play a part in the story.
Huh. When I first saw the snake I was thinking it was the sea snake from the second episode of the show, but I guess not. He's certainly a lot creepier than that other serpent, too. Honestly, feels a little bit more like the snake lady from the filler episode early on in Dragon Ball Z on Snake Way.
Just one thing I want to point: the deer.
In one of the MLP comics by IDW edition, there is an arc where the pony discover that the Everfree forest is in fact a Kingdom ruled by deers instead of pony. A small tibits of probably useless information in this story but maybe you could have use for it.
LoL. Maybe the deer should have shouted at them: "Run!"
8425365
You know, I never read those Pony comics from IDW. Maybe I should start. But, since you brought up the mention of a kingdom not inhabited by ponies, you may be pleasantly surprised by a future story arch. Not saying who stars, or what the kingdom is inhabited by, but I think you readers will be delighted by it.
Tim Curry? Oh fuck yes! I can't not hear his voice now whenever The Massster speaks!
Oh, that's what the Snake Looks like.