"Hey! Hearty, he's waking up! Can you go grab Leader and let him know our new friend is awake?" Horsenado slowly opened his eyes. The overwhelming pain and exhaustion had mostly dissipated, but he was groggy and confused. As his eyes adjusted to the small light beaming in through a window that was covered with shades that could generously be called drapes, he looked around an empty room. The walls were made of some long, thin, brown tree looking things that he had never seen. He was laying on a bed, surprisingly. The room was mostly empty aside from this. He couldn't remember a lot of what had happened. He did remember going overboard and then washing up on shore. he remembered being carried by another Toon as he drifted into and out of consciousness. He wasn't sure if it had been a dream. He had seen a Toon that looked a lot like John, but with a weird shaped head, and a mouse wearing a Robber Baron's mask. He had chalked it up to exhaustion, and likely his mind hallucinating from pure exhaustion. Pulling himself up, he stretched out, cracking all of the stiffened joints that had built up in who knew how long.
As Horsenado tried to stand up, three Toons walked into the room. The red horse stared in unadulterated shock at what he saw. On the left was the bulkiest monkey that Horsenado had ever seen. Or he assumed it was a monkey? It's head was a big bigger, and they were definitely bigger. They had unusual black fur, something he had never seen on a non-cat Toon. On the right was that weird crocodile again. The Toon's head was much pointier than any crocodile he had seen, who usually had very rounded heads. In the middle though? An ordinary brown horse. The only "normal" toon he had seen the entire time he had been awake, which admittedly was not very long. "Ah, it looks like you are finally awake son." the horse was noticeably older than the other pair, who were closer to Horsenado's age. "How are you feeling?"
Unable to speak, Horsenado's mind was overwhelmed with thoughts. First, these Toons spoke the same language as he did. So either he had died and gone to Heaven, he was dreaming, or he somehow landed in some strange area of Toontown that he had never seen. Finally, he was able to put words to mouth and respond. "Um. Um. Yes, yes, sir. Thank you..." Horsenado looked around again, trying to look for any signs of familiarity, any signs of anything really to give away where he could be. "Sir, you wouldn't happen to know where I am, would you?"
"All in good time, young one. First let us get you some warm food and some water. You surely must be starving after the long journey you must have gone on to get here?" the kindly horse knelt by the bedside and smiled.
"Well, I am a bit hungry. But I really need to know where I am. My crew mates, they are probably looking for me! They must be so worried. What if they think I died?" Horsenado begun to realize the consequences of what had happened to him and started to panic.
The monkey and crocodile doppelgangers stepped out of the room, leaving the pair of horses to their devices. "Son, I understand how you must be feeling right now. Don't worry, I promise we will worry about finding your crew and your ship. But first off we need to focus on getting you better, you're still likely getting over that cold. You've been asleep for four days. Never seen a Toon sleep that long. Let's keep you alive, alright? I think you'll find the food here is pretty amazing after all."
"Here. You say here. Please, just tell me where I am!" Horsenado begged, getting onto his knees, he grabbed the horse's breezy, flower covered shirt.
"Aha, alright. Well let's see if you can walk, and I'll tell you while we walk." the horse held out his hand and helped Horsenado to his feet. Four days of being off his feet had made the younger horse a bit wobbly, but with the seniors' help, he soon found his footing. Walking out of the room, Horsenado noticed that he was in a small hut. Other than the one room, there was just a slightly larger room that had a small bit of furniture. As they walked outside, the young Toon looked around in awe. This was nothing like Toontown. He was on an island, not dissimilar to the one they had stopped on just a few weeks earlier. Instead of raging monkeys, there was a small village of similar looking huts. "Welcome to the Isle of Laughter. Or at least that's what I call it. It's just called Island One, but that's a bit boring now, isn't it?"
Horsenado was too distracted by the Toons he was seeing. Now he truly believed he was dreaming. A pair of armless duck-like creatures walked by and smiled at him. A short round Toon with a firehose attached to his face stood near the coastline and began to suck up water, before shooting it straight back into the air, soaking a group of young Toons of various appearances. "Um, that Toon. What is he doing? What's on his face?"
"Ah, young one. You remind me of myself when I first discovered this place. That Toon's name is Sprinkler. He's an elephant... Or so that's I've been told..." the horse stopped and stood in front of Five-o, facing him. "You're not from around here, are you son?"
"No sir! I'm from a place called Toontown!" Horsenado exclaimed, hoping anything he said would make even the littlest amount of sense to this stranger.
Before the older horse could respond, the thick monkey had returned with a bowl of mixed fruit. Or what Horsenado assumed was fruit. Some was familiar, pineapple, bananas, and pineapples but there were things that he had never seen before. "Leader, here you are, I have brought you and our guest a delicious meal prepared by my wife, she hopes you will be honored enough to eat."
"Ah, cut it out with the Leader, Big Monkey. You know how I feel about that, we're all equal here! Anyways, I would love some of your wife's delicious food, you know she is the best chef on this whole island, and probably out of the entire town." stopping he laughed and looked to Horsenado. "Excuse me, where are my manners. This is my friend Big Monkey. He is a carpenter, and his wife, Ooga is an amazing chef. Would you be so kind to sit with us and enjoy?"
"Um, sure." Horsenado followed the duo over to a small spot in the sand. Big Monkey laid out a blanket and bowed to the pair before making his exit. Once the monkey had disappeared, Horsenado whispered. "What's wrong with his head?"
This caused the older horse to erupt into raucous laughter. "Ah to be so young and naive again. You remind me of myself when I was younger. Well not quite as young as yourself, but certainly younger than I am now. You see, I have not always lived here myself. Big Monkey is a gorilla. They are very similar to monkeys. Actually, most of the Toons here are... well different. I am the only horse in this entire archipelago. Did you hear what he called me earlier? Leader? Well, none of these Toons had ever seen a horse before. When I arrived, I was met with confusion and eventually great praise. Some thought that I was a God. Many thought I had been sent with a message. But I was just a lone Toon who managed to wash ashore, similar to yourself. I am no longer the only horse, which is likely why the Toons here have taken such a great curiosity with yourself."
"Wait, you washed ashore too? That's incredible. Does that mean... does that mean you come from Toontown too?" Horsenado scooped a small spoonful of a strange orange fruit into his mouth and chewed, before delightfully digging in for more.
"You would be correct, son. Although the name Toontown is not one I have heard in many years. I have lost track of how long I have been here, but it's got to be around thirty years now. This is my home now. I am happy here. Although I must be honest, I never thought I would meet another Toon from Toontown all the way out here." the horse bypassed a spoon and drank directly from his bowl. "How rude I have been again, I have not even asked your name."
In-between a mouthful of food, the red horse responded. "My name is Category Five Horsenado. I just go by Horsenado. Although Captain calls me Five-o. It's kind of caught on with the crew."
"Ah, your captain sounds like a great Toon. Now, what was a ship from Toontown doing all the way out here? You must be hundreds of miles from home. Were you guys also lost?" the horse placed his bowl down and wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt.
"Well, sir. We were actually sent on a mission to explore and find a place called the Old World. We've been sailing for weeks and we've had no luck. We did run across a different island with some cannibalistic monkeys... but I don't think that's what we were looking for." Horsenado cringed at the memories.
Furrowing his brow, the Horse dropped his silly grin and replaced it was a very serious face. "Horsenado, did you say the Old World?"
Nervously inching back, the young horse gulped and nodded. "Uh yeah, yes sir."
"Intriguing. That's a name I haven't heard brought up in many a year. Actually, I believe they talked about it numerous times now that I think about it." the brown horse talked to himself.
"I don't mean to interrupt, but you said they? Who is they?" Horsenado inquired.
Shaking his head, the older Toon chuckled. "Oh sorry. There I go daydreaming again. Just a long distant memory from my past." standing up, the horse faced the small village and spread out his arms. "Well Five-o, I do have some good news for you, I think I found what you're looking for, welcome to The Old World."
After getting a tour around the village, Horsenado determined that there eleven new species of Toons here that didn't exist in Toontown; Gorillas, Elephants, Alligators, Beavers, Raccoons, Bats, Kiwis, Kangaroos, Koalas, Armadillos, and Foxes. All were quite distinct, although some reminded him of Toons he had seen. Toons here wore much different clothes, usually baggier and flowery. Many Toons wore flower headsets and fruit just seemed to grow everywhere. From what he had gathered, there was nine different islands, with Island One making up what would be considered the capitol as it was the largest and where the brown horse, the "Leader" as he was referred to by the others, lived. The pair had finally returned back to the small hut that Horsenado had awoken in. "Please excuse the lack of amenities, when we found you we had to make haste and build a proper place for you to stay, unfortunately we didn't have all the needed materials to finish so I hope this will suffice."
"Wait, you guys built this all in a couple of days? That's amazing!" Horsenado's jaw dropped.
"Ah yes, these Toons are excellent carpenters. This is certainly no Toontown estate, but I find it to be quite charming and comfortable. It doesn't disrupt the natural beauty of the island." night had fallen and outside a large fire roared, with Toons sitting around. Some would stand up and sing or tell a story. It was a small community, at least relative to the enormous playgrounds that Horsenado had grown accustomed to. The older horse watched Horsenado's face as he looked sadly as the groups of friends. "Son, you really want to get back to your crew don't you?"
Nodding, the red horse slumped down onto the bed. "I'm more worried about them. I'm sure they're fine, but I guess I just don't want them to worry. I just want them to know I'm okay. Even if I don't see them again, I just want to tell them I'm sorry."
"Son, you have nothing to be sorry about. Believe me, for many years I would sit on that very shore at night and stare at the stars, wishing they could somehow lead me home. Wishing that someday that someone would come find me. One morning though I woke up and the feeling was gone. While I certainly wish I could tell my loved ones that I am okay, and to see their faces again, I'm sure they have all moved on and forgotten this old bag of bones. I'm sure they've forgotten about me. But anyways, I promise you will not follow the same fate as me. As I mentioned, these are expert craftstoons. We have several ships that would rival even the most advanced Toontown ships. I will talk to my fellow leaders and I am sure they would all be very happy to help you find home."
Horsenado wiped a tear away. "Sir, you have been so incredibly kind to me. I don't even know what to say. I don't have the words to thank you. I just hope that I can someday repay you for everything. Maybe you can come back with me and see if we can find your family?"
This caught the older horse off guard, as he seemed to be contemplating what Horsenado had said. "Family. Yes. You know, after being here for so long, it is strange to hear family referred to somebody else. You know, I have thought about leaving for many years, but I have always felt selfish asking such an amazing community to take such a monumental risk on my behalf. Plus to be honest, I was scared. The more time that went by, the harder it was to leave. How would everyone react to seeing me? Would they still remember me? What if they had found somebody else? It had stopped me for so long from trying to return home. Yet, just like that morning all these years ago, it seems I may have a change of heart. I guess it just took seeing things from my own perspective."
"I'm sure your family would want nothing more than to see you again, sir..." Horsenado slapped his forehead. "I can't believe how rude I'M being. We've been walking for hours together and I haven't asked for your name. I know everybody calls you Leader, but surely you must have a different name, yes?"
The brown horse smiled. "You're right, Horsenado. Well me? You can just call me Melville."