“The Ancient Kingdom of Zadubadabu!”
Pilate tilted his head about from where he sat in the Noble Jury’s navigation room. “I beg your pardon?”
“That’s where my Uncle Prowse went!” Props hopped up and down in place. “Wooohoo! Yeah! Go Uncle!”
“I do apologize, Miss Props, but… uhm…” Pilate pivoted about and leaned forward. “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage. Kingdom of… Zab… Zabuu…”
“Zabubadabu!” Props insisted with a frown. “It says so right here!” She waved a sheet around, then blushed. “Oh. Right. Ahem.” She yanked the stallion closer. “Get your knowledge ball out.”
“Gaaah! Well… if you insist!” The zebra cleared his throat, concentrated, and levitated the O.A.S.I.S. sphere. The device scanned the sheet as the runes along his metal brow flickered. “Where in Spark’s name did you find this?”
“I remembered that Uncle Prowse had a partnership with the Upper Bronze Iron Welders! Traditionally, Sooters around these parts share storage lockers, and their joint container hadn’t been opened in months! That meant it was untouched since before I got captured by the Lame Mares! So, I trotted up there with Ebon Mane and we had a look-see. Sure enough, a bunch of my Uncle’s stuff is there! Including a few steam parts, a bit bag with two hundred gold, and this here map!”
“It certainly appears to be… uh… a diagram of sorts,” Pilate said. “But a map? I do find that to be a bit of a stretch.”
“Oh come on, Stripesey! Don’t tell me you can’t see the path to the magical Kingdom Zabubadabu!”
“Miss Props, it isn’t even labeled with that name, much less any title whatsoever.”
“I know one of my Uncle’s obsessive map sketches when I see it!” Props slapped the sheet with her other hoof. “For years upon years, he’s asked ponies from far and wide about this old, old kingdom where the streets were made of silver and the foundation fashioned out of pure manacrystal! According to folklore, Zabubadabu was an immaculate utopia, a work of engineering genius! I mean, the city’s sheer weight in silver has got to be four times the entire fortune of the rest of the world!”
“I… fail to see what any of this has to do with our current plight.”
“Don’t you get it?! My Uncle was always rambling on about this maretropolis, about living long enough to find it someday! It was always an archaeologist’s dream of his to land himself in the city and be the first pony in eons to take a survey of the fantastical place!”
“I thought your Uncle was an engineer.”
“Yup! And he was an archaeologist, a pediatrician, and a bricklayer on the side!” Props blinked, smiling. “And sometimes she flipped the switch!”
“Er… flipped what switch?”
“Anyways, it makes perfect sense why left now!” Props sing-songed. “He must have finally found the kingdom! I mean, this map is the most advanced sketch of the place I’ve ever seen, and this was last updated months ago! Who’s to know how many more discoveries he’s made since?!”
“And you think this whim was enough for him to have completely abandoned his way of life here?”
“Well, Uncle Prowse sure did get bored easily, and he was always wanting a break from the boring clang-of-clang of wrenchwork. So, like, maybe my disappearance was the last straw that broke the seagull’s beak, and he decided to take the first lead that came to him!”
“That’s a touching thought, sad even, but still purely hypothetical.”
“Just think of it! If he’s out there somewhere, looking for the Zadubadabequines, then that means we may still be able to find him! I mean, check out this legend with your brain balls!” Props grinned as she pointed emphatically at the side of the map. “This is totally east, right?! When Rainbow Dash comes back with Kera, we could swing by, pick my Uncle up, and enjoy the spoils of his discovery together! Heck, maybe we could buy our sexy way out of Xona! Huh? Huh?!”
“First thing’s first, Miss Props,” Pilate said, lower her hooves with a gentle forelimb. “I know how desperately you wish to find your Uncle. Don’t forget, there’s somepony very close to me and Belle whom we’re trying to relocate at the moment as well.”
“Oh, I know! And I think the gold that I found in Uncle’s stash should be enough to get us a steam manifold for Nancy’s naughty bits!” Props giggled as she galloped towards the stern. “Heee! This is so great! First, we save the foal, then we track down Uncle, then a bunch of question marks, then profit! Heee hee hee!”
As the mare scampered down the thin hallway, she nearly ran over Josho. The stallion slid to the side, blinked, and trotted into the Navigation room. “And just what’s stuck in her moist craw?”
“Miss Props has found a way to acquire a steam manifold for us, which is fantastic progress.”
“Is that why she’s laughing out both ends like a jester with gas?”
“And… uhm… she believes she may know where her Uncle has gone.”
“Oh yeah? Where?”
“To the mythical Kingdom of Zadubadabu.”
Josho blinked. He frowned. “No.”
Filler? What filler? This is clearly foreshadowing a quest for Zadubadabu, which will turn out to be intimately connected to the underground cities and the precursor pegasi. I fail to see how this chapter, or Props, could be misleading in any capacity.
Respect the chapter title.
That's a rather forceful answer there, Josho.
'CAUSE THIS IS FILLER
FILLER NIGHT
All hail the land of the Zabadudabu
This is pure comment
This, right here, is probably the single most important thing ever committed to the internet.
Fifty pushups, ):(. Knock 'em out!
Make up your mind!!!
by the way...
she can break the fourth wall!!!
3339691
Honestly, I think that unlike most typos, that one adds to the effect the story's trying to get across.
static4.fjcdn.com/thumbnails/comments/Green+thumb+for+JonTron+_2671fafb5198361e1fcebf1be3073014.gif
I wonder what the people who don't read the comments will think when they reach this chapter.
IT HAS BEGUN
3339950
Is it a reference to something in the comments earlier on?
Hhhhhuh...sounds like Josho knows something about that Zabumabooobooo or whatever it's called...
I hope they spend like the next 150 chapters packing up an expedition to zabubadabu and exploring it and Props was right all along
Probably has a chest of some sort that the Ledo peeps are trying to find as well. Then they will tie up the good guys when they do find it and open it. Then they will all die because of the caskets holy power. Seems like a reasonable assumption to me.
Out of all of the above:
That has to be Josho's best line yet.
3339691
Of course she can break the fourth wall. She can store stuff in her mane, what the hell else do you think she can do? SHE'S OUR RESIDENT PINKIE PIE BACK FROM THE DEAD!
This may be filler, but it's still funtastically enjoyable.
These are good characters, here. Good enough that just watching them yabber on pointlessly is actually super fun.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/6/13/347176__safe_solo_twilight+sparkle_animated_reaction+image_wut.gif
MEANWHILE, BACK ON THE NOBLE JURY...
3339580
Comment...?
This...
IS...
EQUIS!!!!
hasn't rainbow been to a place like that before? Or am I totally insane..
Am I the only one who tried to say that out loud?
This is either a hillarious slip or a brilliant play with the current atmosphere. I'm not sure.
thinkonthesethingstoo.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/sad-schopenhauer-meme-generator-no-you-re-not-f4dcfd1.jpg?w=520
Props and Josho would be unbearable without the other to balance them out I say. Imagine if Schopenhauer ever met Epicurus. That's pretty much it I think.
Zadubadabu!
...I guess the soldier Josho talked to said something about Zadubadabu.
~bass
Mmm delicious filler. So... Filling.
3340056 Yes.
Since the days of Eljunbyro some people decided to give the name "Zadubadabu" to the mythical city of pegasi, and has become sort of a running joke since then.
I wonder what Dragonridergoku thinks of this chapter...
3340056
The original comment by dragonridergoku: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/57450/51/eljunbyro/my-hope#comment/1630348.
By the way, Zadubadabu was previously mentioned by Dash in Eljunbyro:
So (if we take things way too seriously) Zadubadabu must be either a well-known legend, or (more likely) a well-known nonsense word from Equestria to Ledomare.
3341941>>3342132
Ah, thank you. And now you know how someone who hadn't been reading the comments would react: with a lot more willingness to believe that it is an actual place. (I had also not remembered that Dash had used the word before.)
3342639 We took it and we rolled with it.
I had forgotten that RD had said that too.
It's just like IC to do something like that.
Just in case, I think I'll go and re-read Austraeoh (and all of the comments) in case that he told us something crucial in the first chapters and we missed it.
3340725
It's a lovely little tongue twister, ain't it?
3341941>>3341941>>3339691>>3348255>>3340102>>3340056>>3340088>>3339576
ZADUBADABU!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!! I'm gone for a week and I miss the best chapter in this story so far. Why do all the best chapters always come out when I stop reading for a few days? At any rate, I'VE GOT A SECRET ANCIENT KINGDOM MADE OF SILVER!!!! ALL HAIL ZADUBADABU!!!!
3365159 Hail.
:I
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Well, it certainly makes my job easier. Anyways, I'm not sure if this'll turn into a quest or if it'll be just what it says - filler. Too early to tell. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Did eny body else notice that Imploding kept spelling zadubabu or whatever differently
I should've been prepared for this to happen at some point.
I wasn't.
And yet, upon reading it, I regret nothing.
Long live Zabudadababu!
It's... it's... beautiful. How could such an amazing plan not work?
3385802 I like it
I like this chapter's title.
Also, am I the only one who actually went back to check how Zadubadabu is spelled?
I know every other comment has already quoted this, but I can't not. Props is awesome.
I love this joke.
4311319 I already knew how it was spelled.
I wonder if we're actually going to go to Zadubadabu?
Probably not.
-Spirit
4438019 I don't get it. Can you please explain the joke?
reaction to zabadu land....youre shitting me right? is that a serious "no" ?!?!?!
Oh Josho. Ever the chubby straight man,
I am totally fine with this filler.
But the science behind those says it's counterproductive!
Haha!
You're brilliant, Skirts. Ancient mythical cities are usually made of pure gold/have their streets paved with it... but it's a mythical engineering city! And what's the best conductor in the periodic table?
SILVER
You genius
I would assume that josho's answer at the end is Colon's answer....but I wont rule out the possibility of him being whimsical enough to have the jury go there
...Prowse is officially the Most Interesting Pony in the World.
Zadubadabu is clearly part of the machine world.