Horsenado rubbed his eyes groggily, stretching his arms and legs he kicked off the thin fleece blanket that was attempting to cover him. As the morning blur faded, and his vision became clear, the young horse was reminded of where he was. Part of him had hoped that it had just been a long dream, but unfortunately the wooden log walls, and sandy floor were all too ready to remind him of his fate. Once he was sufficiently awake, Horsenado kicked his legs over the bedside and stepped down into the unstable sand. It felt good against his feet, almost ticklish. Walking outside of the tiny hut, he glared in awe at the beautiful morning sky. The sun was still in the process of rising, gleaming a myriad of beautiful colors across the sky. It was unlike any sight he had ever seen in Toontown. As he watched, he could feel the presence of another Toon approaching from his left. Spinning rapidly, he was nearly face to face with the black gorilla "Big Monkey" that Mel had introduced him to yesterday. "Um, good morning, Big. You're up early."
"Yes, yes. I was sent to gather you for breakfast by Leader. He has an exquisite feast preparing for you two." Big Monkey swung his large, bulky arm forward, indicating for Horsenado to follow him. The island was surprisingly depth for how small it was. Many huts were crowded into small areas, with other various shops and other necessities taking up the remaining space on the back half of the shore. The front half was left wide open, beach as far as the eye could see. Horsenado was used to the sprawling, gigantic estates that housed Toons. Each Toon usually had several acres of land, and some, usually more wealthy Toons, had hundreds. Here, huts were crammed together, with almost no room between.
"Hey Big. You guys have so much space to spread out, build bigger houses. Why don't you?" the red horse inquired. "I feel like it'd be much more comfortable, y'know?"
Big Monkey smiled and shook his head. "Ah, but then we would be taking away from the elegant beauty provided to us. We wish to integrate with nature, not to invade it. Of course that is easier said than done, but we have done what we can to limit our footprint and preserve this beautiful sanctuary for our children and our grandchildren, and their grandchildren, and for many more generations to come. Besides, what need is there for a large house? We spend much of our time outside. Truly it is paradise here."
"It is quite beautiful. I guess it just takes some getting used to. Where I come from we ran out of places for Toons to live. Actually, part of why I ended up here was to look for a new place for us to go. Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine that others lived here as well, let alone a whole community."
Standing back in shock at Horsenado's words, Big Monkey scratched his head. "Amazing, there are more of you. Truly the Gods are mysterious beings. Tell me more about your world."
"Gods...?" Horsenado shook confused. "I'm no God, Big. Neither is Melville. We're just Toons, like you guys."
"I am aware of this, however horses have not lived in this world for hundreds of years. You both being here was no accident, it could only be a divine intervention."
Horsenado squeezed his cheeks together as he clasped his hands to his jaw. "Wait, do you mean horses used to live here? How come everybody calls Melville - Leader, and treats him like a king?"
"Yes, yes. It may be difficult to understand. Here, let me show you." Big Monkey steered the pair off course towards a larger hut titled "library." strangely enough there was a library here. Horsenado was still amazed that these Toons could understand and speak to him with no issues. Now he was learning that horses had previously lived here? What was this place? If only the rest of the crew were here to see this, this would blow their minds.
"So, Calypso. You know, we've heard a lot about this Old World, and I honestly know nothing about it. Those explorers must have left some juicy details right? What was it like there? Why did they leave?" Mariner slurped on his bowl of vegetable soup between words.
The blue duck, chuckled as he waited for his dinner to cool down. "You're right. Well I do have a whole book about it you could read. Ah, who am I kidding. Nobody read that. Well it's a pretty murky backstory. Trying to piece together the details is still up for debate among historians, and honestly I'm still a bit skeptical that those who left did so for the reasons they gave."
"What do you mean?" Cross leaned back in her chair, holding her foot on the table for balance. "Why would they lie? I mean, they probably didn't know anyone was going to read their diary, right?"
Nodding skeptically, Calypso reached his hand over his bowl and felt the warm heat radiating from the still cooling liquid. "Well that's a good point. It might be easier to start from the beginning of what we know. We don't have many accounts of the ancestoons. A few diaries and word of mouth stories that have been passed down. Of course no historian worth their artery clogging salt would ever use word of mouth for accuracy. So we have to go based off of several diary accounts. The most prominent one was from an explorer named Leaf Ericstoon. He was just a young lad, probably around your age." Calypso pointed to Mariner. "Anyways, he was part of a family of horses who had decided to come search out a climate more suited for them. Apparently the Old World was more beach like, and horses don't do well in that environment. Apparently certain Toon species also dealt with harassment and discrimination. To avoid starting a conflict, one group decided to set out and find their own world, a New World."
"Harassment? Conflict? That all sounds a little, um, worrisome?" Edmund added in. "I mean, there's a reason they left in the first place." pausing, the brown dog's eyes widened. "Wait, does this mean that there are other Toons that might live there? I guess it would make sense. Unless they all died. Well actually, that would be sad. Nevermind."
"Other Toons? What kind of Toons were there" pouring more soup for the hungry crew, John checked over his shoulder in Calypso's direction. "Well, I'm guessing it wasn't horses leftover."
Pulling out a small notepad, Calypso stuck his tongue out. "Um, well that's in the air. We don't know for sure what species stayed behind, but we do know who came with. Obviously any species in Toontown would likely have come from the Old World, as the ancestoons reported seeing no signs of life when they landed. This is another topic of debate. I personally feel that so many species all completely deserting their home seems ludicrous at best. I'm assuming certain species were bullied out, and groups of other sympathetic parties joined them. Some think there are undiscovered species. While I do feel there is the possibility, they aren't mentioned at all and I wouldn't assume anything. Even Pigs which new to Toontown about fifty years ago, came from Funny Farms. So, honestly, I'm not sure. It is something to keep in mind. If there are signs of life - if we find it - there is a chance we will just been looking into a mirror.
"Wow, this is incredible." Horsenado spun around the large library. Shelves and shelves filled a huge room full of books. It rivaled the Toontown Central Library in scope, something that the red horse was surprised by. "I didn't know you guys read books?"
"We're not savages." Big Monkey found Horsenado quite amusing. "We write, we read. In here we have the entire documented history of these islands. Now, I am certainly not a historian. I am just a simple carpenter with a family. However, I feel that you would be best to start over there if you are looking for more about our history." Big Monkey pointed to a large shelf aptly titled "history."
Five-o nodded and slowly made his way over. Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of books, he had no idea where to start. "Hey Big where should I-" when he turned around Big Monkey had already left. "Alright then." running his finger over the first row that he could reach, Horsenado whispered to himself until he finally settled on something that caught his eye. "The Great Species War." pulling the dusty old book off of its resting place, Horsenado walked over to a small desk that was illuminated by the bright light from the morning sun. The book creaked as Horsenado pulled it open. Blowing off more dust and cobwebs, the red horse was surprised at the technical skill that was on display. The writing appeared to be through the same type of print that Toontown's books were made from. These Toons seemed to be pretty technologically advanced, and this was quite an old book. The first page listed the table of contents. Hoping there was something about horses, he read quietly until a jolt shocked him as a voice quietly called his name.
"Good morning, Horsenado. Catching up on some light reading?" a voice echoed through the mostly empty library. the young Toon turned around and was met by the older horse who was holding a place of some sort of foot.
"Oh, good morning Mel! I'm sorry, I didn't know you were awake yet." he watched as the brown horse walked and sat down at the desk with him, sliding the plate across the table. On the plate was a golden-yellow thing. It was some sort of food, but it was nothing that he'd ever seen before. Staring at it awkwardly, he looked up to Mel. "So what brings you here so early?"
This brought an amused reaction from Mel, who pointed to the plate with his hand. "Well Big came and told me you were awake and that you'd be here. I figured you'd be hungry so I decided to bring you breakfast! Ah, the library, such a beautiful place isn't it?"
"Yeah... What is this?" Horsenado picked up his horse and stabbed it into the flimsy, soft meal.
"Oh yes. I apologize. That is called an omelette. I guess you wouldn't have something like that in Toontown. I'm not really sure what it is myself but the chefs over at Eggsellent Cooking make it well. I remember the first time I ever had an omelette. Boy, must have been twenty-eight years..."
Cutting off his elder, Horsenado tried to change topics. "Yes this library is amazing. I think it's as big as the one in Toontown Central?"
"Bigger actually. It was actually a consolidated effort between all of the islands. We gathered up all of the books on the island, and everything that is written ends up here. That way everybody has access to everything. Wonderful isn't it?" Melville grabbed the plate from Horsenado and took a bite into the omelette. "You sure you don't want this? It's really good."
"I'm okay. I'm not really hungry right now..." burying his face into the book, Horsenado squinted as he read. "Hey Mel, why did horses not stay here? Or any other Toons? I heard that horses used to live here. Why did they leave? or ducks, cats, dogs, rabbits. etc? I mean there has to be a reason? Why doesn't Toontown have elephants or gorillas?"
Melville swallowed the rest of his breakfast and coughed as the food went down the wrong way. "Ah, yes, aha excuse me, sorry. That is quite the story, and it is one I feel you would be better learning from reading or from someone else than me. While I know a bit about it from reading, I feel it will make more sense if you hear it directly. Although to keep things short, the islands used to be split up by species. At some point there was a great conflict for many reasons and the species split into groups. One side, the side with horses and other Toons we see in Toontown, decided they could not stay and split off from Toontown. Species did not used to inter-marry. For example, a horse marrying a cat would have been shunned and de-legitimatized which is apparently part of what caused the split. Quite a sad tale, really. Anyways those antiqued views of the world have disappeared from all but one island here, although they tend to keep to themselves on most matters. We figure it is best to just let those Toons live with their archaic views of the world and keep ourselves open armed for anybody who may be in need of help.
"So like elephants and gorillas, basically stayed behind?" Horsenado was astonished, so much Toon history that many Toons never would have known was revealing itself to him. If only Calypso and the rest of the crew could be here. Their minds would be blown. "Do any of them know about Toontown?"
"There's knowledge that Toons exist elsewhere, but they don't really know about other species very much. I mean, if they did they probably wouldn't have treated me so uniquely. The books are all here, so anybody could read it at any time. However I reckon many would prefer to look to the future and not to the past." Melville stood up and yawned. "I must say I agree with them too. Although I have been living in the past for far too long. I will allow you to saunter here as long as you need. Do not forget that in two days we will be venturing out. I have already started discussions with the other island leaders about using a boat and will be looking into putting together a crew. Just make sure you're ready. Alright?" the brown horse rubbed Horsenado's head and spoke to himself as he walked out of the library.
"What kind of things do you think we'll find, Captain?" John laid back against a crate and tossed a ball up into the air, catching it with one hand, and tossing it with the other. "I mean, other species would be one of the biggest breakthroughs since it was discovered how to harness silly energy. We would be legends. Have you heard anything about it?"
"Arrrrgh. Tis not my place ta' speculate, however I do be belivin' there be someone out there. After all, never thought I'd lay me eye on a mackerel that would rival a small ship. The world be an amazin' place, John. Aye, I hope they be nicer than those monkeys we be runnin' across. Don't think me old leg can handle another chase." Scurvy gently rolled the pegged steering wheel back and forth, keeping the large ship on a straight and narrow path through the transparent blue waters. "What ye thinkin' ye wanna catch us one of these new species? Bring em back?
John mismanaged the ball as it came back down, obscured by the sun, the ball hit the floor and bounced over the railing, disappearing into the ocean blue. "Oops. You know, I'm not really sure. I really just want to see what they'd look like. It's trying to imagine what a new color would look like. How do you visualize something like that? It seems incomprehensible. I remember as a young man when me and my wife were animating my son, I wondered what would happen if I drew something that wasn't a Toon. Would it come to life? What if I drew a different species? Ultimately me and my wife didn't end up doing anything, and maybe it wouldn't have mattered, but it always stayed in the back of my mind."
"Harr Harr. That would be quite the sight, bucko. Now I just be imaginin' some monstrosity walkin' the world, longing for revenge against a father who dreamt his cruel fate. This probably be why I should never have my own. My own curiosity would always get the best of me. Although that'd be my curiosity of the sea. I'd never be home. Do ye ever think about yer life if ye never became a father?" Scurvy reached a hand over their face, shielding their eyes from the brightly attacking sun.
"Of course. I'm sure my life would be completely different. I know I wouldn't be here. Heck, I don;t know if I'd be anymore. Might be dead by now. There were a lot of times I just didn't have the will to get out of bed, but I had a boy to take care of. When I lost my wife, he was the one who was still there. Seeing him grow up was the proudest accomplishment of my life and I wouldn't trade it for anything. But I can see why someone would never want kids of their own. Boy was he a hassle. Plus now that I've been out on the open sea... Eh actually I think I'd prefer to be home for the most part. No blood-eating monkies!" the pair chuckled and spent most of the afternoon talking, the two elders of the ship reminiscing about their pasts, their futures, and anything else that came to mind, completely oblivious to the pain they had felt as early as that morning.