The Magical Quest

Back at the castle, Minnie woke up after a good night's sleep. She slowly walked over to her mirror but noticed something odd. For a split second, she could swear she saw Mickey's face instead of her own. She rubbed her eyes and Mickey was no longer in her sights. She must have been imagining things.

She had actually dreamt of Mickey while she'd been asleep. She had dreams of the two of them skipping through a field and having a romantic picnic together. But what was it about Mickey that struck her? It wasn't as if he was the only other mouse in the kingdom. There was just something about him that made her heart melt when she saw him for the first time.

Suddenly, a group of birds flew in through Minnie's window, chirping a happy tune as the princess let out a sigh, an odd feeling deep down inside. Was this that feeling many referred to as 'butterflies in one's stomach'? Nevertheless, it filled Minnie with many positive emotions as she walked over to the window and looked out.

As she looked up at the sky, she let out a sigh and said, "When I saw his eyes for the first time, I felt things that I never felt before."

The birds started to join in while she continued, "Now that I've seen his handsome smile, I want to see him more and more."

With that, Minnie started to dance gracefully around the room, grabbing her nicest clothes and stating, "Daisy thinks that it shouldn't be, but I for one think it should. After all, is it not my life to live? It's my choice to do what I would."

As she stepped behind a cover, Minnie quickly changed her clothes as she posed for the birds who whistled at her while she added, "A queen needs a king who's loyal and kind to rule by her side. That poor boy Mickey is just that king and my feelings I cannot hide."

Then with a warm smile on her face, she held one of the birds on her fingertip saying, "I know it can work."

The bird chirped while the others smiled and nodded, the princess adding, "He's truly the one for me."

Then with that, the princess danced gracefully towards the door stating, "This was a match that was truly meant to be," exiting the room while the birds shrugged, realizing their purpose had been fulfilled and flew away from the castle.

Meanwhile, in the forest, Mickey and Donald continued their trek, unknowing of the large mutated snake following close behind. Donald was grumbling mild curses under his breath as a bunch of small purple bugs kept latching themselves to him. Soon enough, his whole body was covered as the duck fumed and flailed his arms around furiously, the bugs soon flying away from him.

"That's better," Donald said with a look of frustration, pushing his sailor hat forward and carrying on as more bugs flew at him and covered his entire body, the duck throwing another tantrum.

Mickey looked at this and slapped his forehead saying, "Donald, this is no time to be goofing around!" Donald glaring at him as the bugs soon noticed the snake emerging from a set of bushes, snarling at the duck. The bugs knew that this couldn't possibly be good as they flew away from Donald, the duck smiling and brushing himself off saying, "Now that's more like it," his back still turned to the large snake.

As the snake looked as if it was preparing to pounce, Mickey looked back and forth at a fork in the path asking, "Say, Donald, do you know where exactly we're supposed to be going?"

Donald glared at Mickey again as the mouse chuckled, "Yeah, perhaps we should have gotten some kind of direction as to where Peteland was located before leaving, huh?"

The two shrugged and decided to try the right path just as the snake leaped at them, missing completely and running face-first into a tree, a large tomato falling from it and landing hard atop its head, covering its face in tomato juice. The snake hissed angrily in response to this as it slithered along the right path, certain it would catch its pray this time.

Back at the castle, Goofy awoke from his own slumber, scratching the back of his head and letting out a big yawn. He looked as if he was still half-asleep as he made his way towards his drawer, pulling out his jester uniform and placing it on over his pyjamas.

The dog then proceeded to exit his room, walking in the direction of the basement, which was the area his friends always had to clean up. Mickey was often awake before him, so it was always nice to wake up to the mouse's happy face. Hopefully, Mickey would be in a better mood this morning.

As Goofy made his way down the hallway, he ended up subconscious tripping over his own left foot falling down a stairwell while screaming at the top of his lungs, "YAAAAAAHOOHOOHOOHOOHOY!" landing face-first in the basement.

Goofy got up, rubbing his nose as he noticed something odd. Mickey wasn't there doing his chores. Well, rather than assuming the worst, Goofy, like the optimistic type that he was, simply chuckled, "Ahyuck, I'm up first."

However, he would soon be proven wrong as Minnie made her way down the hall towards Mickey's room, humming her earlier tune. She just had to wish the other mouse a good morning at the very least. Besides, for all she knew, he probably needed more reassurance. She swore to herself that after visiting him, she would order the guards to locate the whereabouts of Peteland.

But when the princess entered Mickey's room, she found a shocking sight. There was no one there. Mickey was gone. But maybe this wasn't as bad as Minnie thought it was.

With that in mind, the princess simply giggled, "Oh, he must be at work already," but just as she was about to leave, Goofy suddenly burst in shouting, "RISE AND SHINE, MICKEY!" Minnie covering her ears while the dog blinked and laughed, "Ahyuck, you're not Mickey!"

Minnie nodded, still cringing a little from the loud yell as she said, "Wait, you're one of Mickey's friends, right?"

"Last I checked, I was," the jester replied as Minnie said, "I take it you haven't seen him either?"

"Nope," Goofy replied, "He's usually at work before anyone else even wakes up, but he wasn't at his work stay-shione today."

This was a bit alarming. If Mickey wasn't in his room or in the basement, where could he be? But this was no cause for alarm. After all, the castle was huge. For all they knew, Mickey was probably somewhere else.

"Perhaps Donald could help us find him," Goofy suggested, "Knowing him, he's probably still asleep."

With that in mind, the two rushed off to Donald's room, which was only four doors down from Mickey's and opened it up, the two surprised to see that he wasn't there either. Goofy simply stated, "Perhaps he's off somewhere else too," as Minnie noticed the duck's clock on the ground, broken. The only assumption that came to mind was that Donald must have accidentally knocked it off his counter when he woke up that morning. Had he done it earlier, the room inspectors would have disposed of it and replaced it with a new one. Yes, the kingdom had room inspectors... don't ask.

The scary thing was that the clock was stuck on 5:05. Still, whether or not Donald really knocked it off his counter the minute he woke up was nothing more than mere assumption.

Unbeknownst to them, the very peasants they were looking for were still travelling through the forest, the snake following them close behind, making sure to stay hidden amongst the large bushes that covered the area. It hid behind trees whenever it felt that it was going to be spotted.

Donald lightly tapped Mickey on the shoulder while the mouse continued to look around for some kind of clue before turning to the duck and asking, "What's on your mind, Donald?"

"I feel something, Mickey," the duck replied, a look of worry on his face, "It's like there's something following us."

The snake's eyes went wide at the sound of that as it ducked down behind another bush, Mickey staring at Donald asking, "Did you hit your head or something? It's not like you to be scared."

Donald laughed nervously as Mickey did have a point. The duck had always been hard-headed. To see him like this was very odd to say the least.

"Besides," Mickey added, "Do you think I'm not a bit scared myself?"

With that, Mickey stood atop a stump, the snake laying in wait, readying itself to pounce while the mouse stated, "Look at this vast world that lays before us! There could be more that's yet to come! It might be troublesome or even scary, but all will fall if we ever fuss!"

Mickey leaped on a tree branch while Donald followed close behind, the snake leaping out of the bush only to miss Donald by a mere second, one against slamming his head up against a tree. While climbing the tree, Mickey starting to fling himself from branch to branch adding, "The world is big, that's a well known fact! Our destination may be far ahead!"

With that, he flung himself off a branch, performing a flip as he landed perfectly atop a stone saying, "But you must remember to leave your fear behind or you could wind up dead," Donald doing the same only to land face-first against the stone, some of his teeth falling out.

"Nothing will stand in our way if we look inside," Mickey stated, the snake slithering in front of him and growling, Mickey's head turned away from it as he used its face as a stepping stone, Donald somehow not seeing it himself and following close behind while the mouse added, "As long as our hearts are strong, there's no need for us to ever hide!"

The snake fumed at the head, now agitated as the two of them marched along its back until they reached the end, leaping off of it while the snake quickly turned around, pursuing them again. Donald noticed an army of bugs flying toward him as he held up his fists, punching one away from him as the others followed, Donald feeling confident in himself not knowing that they only fled because of the snake following close behind.

"If we look down deep inside," Mickey stated, Donald now with a smile on his face, "we'll find the strength to win. What we lack in size outside we make up for within."

Donald nodded and added, "Nothing will stand in our way if we look inside. As long as we just believe, fate is ours to decide!" Mickey nodding and replying, "Right!"

The snake continued to follow them, slowly homing in on the two as Mickey placed a hand on Donald's shoulder saying, "Just as long as we believe we'll make it through and through. Nothing will ever bring us down as long as we show them what we can do."

Suddenly, the mouse heard a hissing noise, his eyes going wide as he turned around, placing his nails between his teeth. Donald whistled the tune as Mickey tapped him on the shoulder, now trembling, facing the snake and backing up.

Donald simply laughed hysterically saying, "Don't worry, Mickey. As long as we believe..." but stopped his statement when he turned his head around far enough to see what Mickey was looking at.

"RUN!" Mickey shouted as the snake opened its jaws, leaping at the two. Luckily, the two managed to run far enough forward for the snake to miss as its chin landed hard against the ground.

The two continued to flee for their lives as the snake shook its head, following close behind. Things got even more complicated when they noticed a big patch of spikes ahead of them. How could they possibly get over this?

Luckily, this question was soon answered as Mickey noticed a large tomato conveniently place in front of it, the mouse grabbing Donald's shoulder asking, "Can you balance yourself atop a ball?" Donald remarking, "What!" as Mickey leaped up onto the tomato, pulling Donald with him.

With that, the two started to move their legs quickly against the large fruit as it started to roll forward, moving over the briar patch as the snake stopped in front of it, hissing angrily. Just as Mickey and Donald looked back, breathing a sigh of relief, that relief soon ended as the snake ignored the danger it was putting itself in and started to slither across the needles, each one scraping up against its belly and causing the serpent pain. Nevertheless, the snake ignored the pain and advanced forward while the duo finally cleared the patch only to notice a wall mere seconds away from them.

"JUMP, DONALD!" Mickey shouted as Donald replied, "No need to tell me twice," the two leaping off of the tomato as it rolled into the wall, its contents splattering all over the section it hit.

However, while that crisis had been averted, there was still one that had to be dealt with. What were they going to do about the snake pursuing them? The two had reached a dead end. They had nowhere else to go.

While Mickey continued to tremble, an odd feeling came over Donald as he rose his fists, waving them around while shouting, "Alright, snake, put up your dukes!"

Mickey stared at the duck as if he was crazy. He knew very well that there was no way Donald could take on something as huge as that snake, and by the look of uncertainty on Donald's expression, it was clear that the sailor knew this as well. But what other choice did they have? They had to fight.

With that in mind, Donald started flailing his arms around while raving like a lunatic, charging at the snake as it grinned, preparing to pounce. However, before things could get out of hand, Mickey noticed what looked like a large red seed sticking out of the ground.

Out of curiosity, he lightly tapped one of the leaves as both started to spin, the seed rising up out of the ground as Mickey shouted, "Donald, come on!"

The duck stopped midway, turning to notice Mickey making his escape, then looked back at the snake, who was only a second away from pouncing. The duck didn't need to think twice about this. Just as the snake pounced at him, the duck leaped up over its head and grabbed onto Mickey's leg, the two rising up into the air while the snake rammed head-first into the wall, creating a large hole where the tomato had hit.

Mickey sighed with relief as Donald looked downward, laughing at the snake before spitting raspberries, turning his head away from him and laughing some more. However, his laughter came to an end when he felt something biting his tail feathers, Mickey rather alarmed by the fact that the seed seemed to be lowering towards the ground.

The mouse turned around, his eyes widening while Donald yelped in panic at the sight of the snake pulling on his tail, rage in its eyes. It was painfully obvious that this was one creature that never gave up.

Mickey looked around for something he could use while Donald continued to panic, the mouse noticing a small stone sticking out of the wall. Using his free foot, he quickly kicked the stone out thus causing it to fall on the snake's face, causing it to let go. However, what happened next was completely unexpected as the area surrounding the stone's original placement started to crack, soon shattering into large chunks of stone.

The stone fell atop the snake, crushing it underneath as a ghost that resembled Pete rose up from under the rubble. It seemed as if this snake was one of the demons created by King Pete, but of course Mickey and Donald didn't know that. They simply watched the ghost float past them as they looked at each other with confused expressions before shrugging, figuring it was best not to question anything right now.

The fact of the matter was they had defeated the snake and were on their way. Nothing could stop them now... or so they thought.