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DCLeadboot — Path to Redwall - Chapter 6
#alex #redwall #danbuster
Published: 2019-08-24 19:50:56 +0000 UTC; Views: 3264; Favourites: 2; Downloads: 0
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After so much excitement, somehow crammed into the space of just one day, Danbuster and Alex were completely exhausted. Yawning softly to themselves, they now realised they had a new issue to worry about. With one thing and another, sleeping arrangements had still yet to be worked out for both of them. In fact, Alex was even considering just sleeping on the grass somewhere outside, when Skipper of the otters came to offer up a better solution.
“Come on, matey! I’m sure we’ll fix ye up with a berth. We can sling an ’ammock somewhere. That’ll work mighty fine for you.”
Alex was puzzled by the offer, he was so used to sleeping in a bed.
“Wait a sec, why a hammock?”
Skipper grinned broadly. “Well, why not? We otters enjoy a hammock. We can sling it up anywhere, it’s comfy an’ it wraps itself right round yer, warm and snug!” Craning his head sideways curiously, he asked, “Errr, got a problem with hammocks?”
Alex didn’t want to appear rude or ungrateful. He waved his hands and replied hesitantly, “No, please. I’ll give it a whirl, I always like trying something new once in awhile… like that mole bake from the feast. Mmm!”
“Well, follow along with us, matey!” replied Hul, once more wrapping a friendly arm around his stripetailed shipmate and leading him along with the crew.
Danbuster watched as Alex headed off with the otters back inside the Abbey. He could not help but protest in a comical manner to both Constance and Matthias.
“Hey, don’t I get some attention too? After all, I did kick the fat one in the stomach! Probably knocked the wind out of him to boot – a LEAD boot, that is!”
Constance nodded in approval, for she felt a certain closeness with the brave but zany hare.
“You must have left a hare-foot shaped imprint on his stomach, too!”
As they made their way back indoors, Matthias could not help puzzling over the sudden appearance of Danbuster’s sabre, for it was a blade of some three-foot length, and yet it had appeared as if from nowhere.
Unable to contain himself, he had to ask his burning question. “I realise you are a warrior yourself and all, but… where exactly do you keep that thing? You don’t possess a sheath or anything for your sword, and yet next second there it was in your paw!”
Danbuster, feeling it best to keep quiet about the cartoon logic of his sporran-hammerspace for now, he just shrugged and replied quickly, “I have VERY deep pockets.”
As they were talking, they returned to the dormitories on the first upper floor behind Great Hall. Many of the Redwall’s residents were already fast asleep, snoring the night away. Little did they know of the storm of war looming on the horizon. Other late-nighters were just about to turn in themselves, wisely deciding not to wake their fellow friends with the bad news.
Danbuster glanced round, noting many beds suitable for mice or larger creatures like hedgehogs and squirrels, but finding a place for a fellow of his gangly build was not so easy. As they passed through one dormitory, he eyeballed the various beds, which were mostly occupied by dormant beasts.
“Errr, where do I sleep, then?” he wondered aloud, in a careful stage-whisper, not wishing to wake anybeast.
Cornflower spread her paws wide, replying apologetically, “It’s a bit short notice, I’m afraid. We don’t have that many beds in your size. Not unless we put a couple of smaller beds together.”
“There IS a spare hare-sized bed in the male dormitory,” offered Constance. “It’s the one next to Basil Stag Hare’s bed, I believe. But I’m afraid neither one is made up, since he’s away and we have no other Resident Hares here in Redwall.”
“I’m afraid that you have to just make the bed up yourself,” Cornflower said. “Oh, but of course. The bed linens are in this cupboard here.”
“Oh, no problem. I’m just glad of have SOMEwhere to settle,” replied Danbuster gratefully.
They politely bade each other goodnight in hushed whispers, Danbuster bowing politely to the departing ladies.
Matthias was the last to take his leave of the hare. He touched a paw to the red pommel of his Sword, winking good-naturedly.
“I’ll see you in the morning, then – hopefully bright, alert and ready for action!”
Alone at last, Danbuster quickly made up his bed and changed into a large old-fashioned thigh-length nightshirt that had been thoughtfully left out for him, before getting into bed. For all the old-world feel of the wooden bed, homespun sheets and feather-stuffed pillow, it was surprisingly comfortable. Tucking his sporran under his pillow, within easy reach, he settled himself down. Lulled by the sounds of soft steady breathing and snores from other sleepers, he soon joined in with their harmony.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Elsewhere, Alex had rejoined the otters in the otter’s dormitory. He gazed around the room upon entering and he noticed that the otters had hammocks arranged similar to sailors on a ship, with triple hammocks stacked one above the other. Not too surprisingly, most of the ottercrew were already asleep.
“Well, it’s been a while since I slept in a hammock. I don’t recall how they feel,” whispered Alex.
He was not entirely sure how to climb into one either, but he avoided saying that aloud. He was more afraid that if he took a medium or top hammock, he would mess up and crash down on anyone unfortunate enough to be underneath him. He watched as Winifred expertly climbed into her own, trying to study her technique.
“So which one is mine?” he asked, eyeballing the empty hammocks.
“Oh, jus’ take the top one there, if you can reach it.” Skipper offered.
Alex thanked the big otter. Seeing the hammock just above the floor, he recalled what he observed from Winifred and tried swinging himself into it. Unfortunately, he misjudged it completely, and his momentum carried him right over the top and back onto the floor with an audible thud!
The otters who were still awake to witness this could not help but giggle.
“If Frederick can do it, so can I!” grumbled Alex. He tried climbing in more carefully on his second attempt. But this time, with too little momentum to get inside, he instead flipped over and again fell smack dab onto his face, nearly cracking his glasses!
This amused the otters even more. Some of them were even woken up by the sound of impact, looking down to see Alex nearly cracking the floorboards.
“Blimey! Good job he ain’t at sea! He’d rock the boat!”
“Or make an ’ole in it!”
“What a great dive, matey! You sure you’re not an otter in disguise?”
“You nearly shook the ’ole room wi’ THAT one! Haharr!”
Alex picked himself up, with what little dignity he had left, as he ran a paw down his face with embarrassment.
He confronted the mockers. “AH HA HA HA HA HA, SILENCE!!”
Winifred was more sympathetic. She could tell Alex grew frustrated.
“Awww, it’s like watching a beached whale trying to climb a tree!”
This remark just made Alex grumble in embarrassment.
“You sure you don’t need a helping paw?” offered Skipper.
Alex tried to keep a straight face, but remembering the rule of three, he felt he didn’t want to risk falling and making a fool of himself again, so he relented.
“Alright, I guess I do need a bit of help… please?”
“Only if you smile!” chuckled Streamwag.
Alex snorted with embarrassment but forced a small but noticeable smile.
“…and say that Rudd is the best otter of the crew!” called Hul.
Alex parroted back, “Rudd is the best otter of the crew!”
He knew that the otters were just messing with him now. Their mischievous grins were clear evidence of that.
Before anyone else could think of something else silly to make Alex say out loud, Skipper of the otters hopped down from his hammock to put a stop to the games. “Alright, ALRIGHT! It’s late, maties. We should all be asleep by now. C’mon now, who can help our stripetailed friend out?”
Finally, the otters helped Alex get into the hammock with some effort, but eventually rather more success. Soon, Alex was comfortably settled down and wrapped snugly in a blanket. For all their teasing, the otters were really growing very fond of him and meant no real malice.
As Alex draped the blanket over him, he actually felt rather comfortable, the hammock slowly rocked him left and right like a crib of some sort.
“Cosy?” whispered a young otter named Riverjack, flashing Alex a quick wink.
“Yeah, although how strong are these hammocks? I mean, I’m quite a heavyweight.” Alex replied in a whisper, not wanting to wake up anybody else.
“Oh, the ropes we used to make them is strong enough to support a canvas sail, so they should take just about any weight. Even that young rip, Cheek! Just relax and get some sleep matey.” Riverjack replied cheerfully. As he began to settle back into his own hammock, he remembered something. Turning to Alex, he asked, “Oh, before yer drop off, can you blow your lantern out?”
With a shrug, Alex leaned over to grab the lantern carefully in his hands, he had to remind himself the lanterns were the old-fashioned ones where a candle provided the illumination. After figuring out how to open the lantern’s door, he extinguished the candle with a short sharp blow.
“Thank ’ee!” a voice called from the darkness.
Pretty soon, even they were all asleep, for what remained of that long night.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The coming of the new day was announced by the ringing of the Abbey bells. Early risers were up and about, attending to duties ranging from preparing breakfast, sweeping Great Hall and Cavern Hole, wiping the dew from the windows and, in light of the new threat from Cluny, delegating lookout duties on the outer walls.
But even as creatures around Redwall were up and about, Alex was still snoring with the volume of a chainsaw!
Nothing Skipper of the otters did to wake him seemed to work. He yelled at the top of his voice, smacking the ground with his hefty rudderlike tail and even tried shaking the hammock. Finally, Skipper resorted to the ultimate measure of tipping a beaker of cold water in his face. The results were instantaneous – the surprise shower caused Alex to jerked upwards, spin around wildly in his hammock and finally catapulted himself onto the floor with a resounding thud, where he lay spluttering!
Skipper gazed result in amazement, until he found his tongue. “Well, I thought that would get you up, but not down as well! Come on, matey, up on yer paws. Everybeast is awake by now!”
Alex sighed and picked himself up, dusting off his glasses. “Okay… where do I go? I need something to jolt.”
The big otter looked confused by that statement. “What do you mean jolt? Yer not a morning beast, I’m guessing?”
At that moment, Winifred approached them, bearing a large mug of something steaming.
“You want something to wake yerself up? Why not try this? It always gets ME up in the morning.” She hid a slowly-spreading smile as she said this.
With a quick “Thank you”, Alex quaffed the contents of the mug, assuming it to be coffee. Within seconds of guzzling the contents down to the very bottom of the mug, his face turned bright red! Inside the raccoon’s brain, he was blaring out multiple sirens! His pain receptors kicked into overdrive, he sweated profusely, coughed, gasped and blew out – anything to try and cool the insides of his mouth and throat. The steaming liquid was not coffee – it was the otter’s signature food: hotroot soup! (Emphasis on hot!)
“I don’t remember coughing like that,” remarked Winifred.
Danbuster came running into the cabin-themed otter dormitory.
“What on earth was that noise?” he cried. “Is everybody… errm, everybeast… is everybeast all right?” Then he saw Alex’s plight and caught the eye-watering whiff of hotroot pepper. His nose wrinkled at the radiant stench alone as he exclaimed. “Blimey, don’t tell me you guys make hotroot COFFEE too!”
Alex blew out a mouthful of hot steam and replied with a gasp, “Whew! THAT was brutal, but I do admit I am rather awake now!”
As he fanned his mouth with both paws, and wiped the tears from his eyes, he now saw his long-eared friend standing there with the two otters. “Oh hey! How did you sleep, Dan?”
“Well, I could say I slept like a log, but my bed was too comfortable for a fireplace,” replied Danbuster. “And I could say I slept like a top, but I’m not giddy. I could even say I slept like a baby, but I’m more of a grown-up child! Either way, it’s safe to say that I slept soundly – because Frederick tells me I snore!”
Skipper laughed merrily. “Haharr… well, nothing wrong with that, so long as you don’t keep the otherbeasts awake, matey.”
The hare shrugged cheerfully. “No one else complained, at least.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The group made their way down to Great Hall with the ottercrew in tow, and found many other woodlanders were had arrived overnight, having heeded the warning of rat hordes in Mossflower.
“Wow, it’s really crowded today!” remarked Danbuster.
“What’s going on here?” wondered Alex.
Cornflower and some of the other Abbey Sisters were running a careful headcount of the newcomers, family by family. “Well, that’s the local hedgehogs accounted for. The otters were here already, and Jess Squirrel got word to her relatives and friends. I hope everybeast is here?”
Sister May checked a record book, referring to a list from the latest local census. “Errr, yes. They all seem to be accounted for. Hmm, though we’re still missing one of the small vole families.”
Cornflower was dismayed. “Oh dear, those voles! They’re similar to us mice, but they’re so prone to getting themselves into trouble. I hope they’re all right.”
But just at that moment, they were interrupted by the anguished wailing of a small child outside.
Constance went to investigate immediately, while the others waited anxiously. The reason for the disturbance soon became apparent when the badger returned. She cradling a small vole-child, not much older than a few seasons and looking very distressed.
Cornflower hurried over at once to investigate. “It’s Cissy Vole, the daughter of Colin and Katie!” she exclaimed.
“Where are your parents though, little one?” asked Sister May.
The frightened child was barely comprehensible. She wailed out in a hysterical tone, “B-big mean rat… he… he…” she burst into tears again.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” said Constance.
Alex made his way to try his luck at comforting the young one.
“A big rat?” questioned the Raccoon, gesturing with his paws as he offered a description, “Was he… tall…? Wore a cloak… had an eye patch… and had sharp teeth? Looked ugly?”
The little vole shook her head in response to all those questions, before burying her tiny face into Constance.
“Hmmf, I doubt Cluny himself would concern himself with seizing hostages,” replied Constance. “That filthy scum would have sent his henchmen to do his dirty work.”
Danbuster was trying to get some clarity. “You’re telling us that rats took your parents captive, little one?” he asked gently.
Cissy nodded and sobbed, clutching at Constance’s apron.
This was dire news indeed. Reactions were mixed with some creatures expressing sympathy while others, mainly the otters and younger beasts, expressed indignation. Who did that Cluny think he was, capturing innocent creatures and taking hostages?
Matthias immediately took charge, calling for volunteers to help him find a way of saving the voles. The first to volunteer was Danbuster, who for once was not in the mood for acting silly.
“Though we oughtn’t divide our forces,” the March Hare pointed out. “We can’t be rescuing captives and defending Redwall all at the same time!”
Matthias agreed. “It’s fortunate we have Skipper and his otter crew with us, though. If I’m to organise a rescue operation, it’ll make sense I take as few as possible with me, but make sure we’ve left somebeast in charge of the defence. Constance, I look to you. Will you take over in my absence?”
Constance nodded. “Most certainly I will. I’m just grateful that you’re at least telling us of your intentions this time, Matthias.”
Matthias chuckled a bit. “Well, let’s face it, when I was first doing that sort of thing, I was just a young novice, and you would have stopped me if I told you something like ‘I’m going to look for Martin’s lost Sword.’”
“That’s true…”
Between them, Matthias, Constance and Skipper composed a swift plan of action. Skipper and Constance would oversee the Abbey defences, while Matthias set out on the rescue mission, with Danbuster as backup.
“Righto!” chimed Danbuster. “Now it’s settled then. You and me, Matthias… we’ll teach those rats a lesson!”
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go get the vole’s parents back ASAP!” barked Alex, as he stepped forward, audibly cracking his knuckles.
“You as well, Alex?” questioned Matthias. “Are you sure you’re up to such a task?”
Alex grinned confidently, jabbing his thumb against his chest. “What’s the worst they can do? Bite me?”
Danbuster knew Alex was capable, but he also knew he could not use his anachronistic katana blade in this world. “At least you have a lot of…… determination? And your bare paws…”
Matthias stroked his chin thoughtfully, and examined the raccoon.
“You’ll need more than that if we get into a fight. Skipper?”
The big otter took the cue and led Alex aside.
“Belay there, matey. Where d’ya think you’re goin’ without a weapon?” he asked.
Alex shrugged. “Err… guess, I could leave the fighting to Matthias and Dan?” he squeaked, his bravado liquidating into embarrassment.
Skipper shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. Can’t let you do that, raccoon! Come now. Walk this way.”
The otters led Alex away to be properly kitted out.
Danbuster watched them walk off, unable to resist another pun. “If they could walk THAT way, they wouldn’t need the talcum powder.”
Everyone within earshot of Danbuster groaned or facepalmed. The hare smirked to himself – he loved caused a reaction with his humour.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sometime later, the unlikely trio were striking out into Mossflower Woods, armed and ready for anything.
The otters had very thoughtfully provided Alex with a good stout fishing spear as a weapon, and the raccoon could not help brandishing it about proudly.
“How do I look, guys?” he asked.
“It’s certainly good to defend yourself with,” Matthias responded.
Danbuster agreed. “Definitely a multipurpose weapon there. You can stab and slash with the pointy end, or use the shaft end as a polearm or quarterstaff for defence.”
As they made their way forward, they avoided the path and instead kept to the cover of the trees.
Matthias gave his companions some seasoned advice. “Now, remember to follow my lead, friends. The first thing a good warrior learns is obedience, so always pay attention to orders. A foolish action can very easily cause needless loss of lives.”
Danbuster nodded sagely, while Alex followed behind cheerfully humming snatches of old songs to himself, only partially listening to Matthias.
“Nothing can stop me now… yeah, yeah…”
“Any tracks, Matthias?” asked Danbuster.
“None at all, I’m afraid. We’d better keep our wits about us, though.”
“Don’t worry Matthias,” said Alex, “I’m sure we’ll find the young mouse’s…”
“She’s a vole, mate.” Dan quickly cut in. “Try to learn the difference. Voles are slightly bigger and rounder.”
Alex roll his eyes. “VOLE, then. I’m sure we’ll find her parents.”
He started checking the bushes for clues.
Danbuster tried to recall the geography of Mossflower and offered a suggestion.
“Weren’t there some other landmarks around here? Besides the Abbey, I mean… oh I dunno, like a farmhouse or a church or something?”
Matthias brightened at this question. “Of course, old St Ninian’s Church! Cluny once used that as a base before, so you could actually be onto something there, Dan!”
Alex tilted his head upon hearing this. “Saint Nina’s? Where is that at?”
“St Ninian’s,” Matthias corrected. “And as far as I remember, it was a short hike southeast of Redwall. We’d have got there easily if we followed the path.”
“Then we don’t we go find the path so we can get there?” asked Dan.
Matthias quickly sat on the idea. “Oh, don’t be daft, Dan! If Cluny has set up base at the old church, he will surely have guards on the path in case we try to approach him that way!”
Danbuster looked crestfallen. “I’m an idiot, aren’t I.”
“Not exactly… I mean, you may not always be the most sensible, but at least your logic is sound and your heart’s in the right place,” the warrior mouse replied kindly.
Alex agreed. “Don’t be too hard on him, Danbuster may have a few stones loose, but he’s my trusted friend regardless of his faults and whatnot. I only punish the deeds, not the breed. On top of that, having a crazy friend on your side is a good thing as I learned the hard way.”
Danbuster’s smile returned, hearing Alex’s remark. “Thank you, Alex! And I do take your point, Matthias. Let’s be fair, I tend to act first and think later… this is why my friends often have to provide a voice of reason.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being brave and all,” said Matthias, “but you must stop and think sometimes.”
“Wait a sec, could anyone easily shrug off emotions and go by pure emotion? Wouldn’t that be handy in a massive mêlée?” Alex asked Matthias.
The Champion of Redwall looked very grave, recalling past incidents.
“Orlando the Axe had told me of such a condition, suffered by somebeasts, but it’s common in male badgers. It’s called Bloodwrath – very terrible affliction. Imagine hating a foe so badly that your vision becomes obscured by a blood red mist and you fight like you were possessed, even against overwhelming odds – even if wounded near to death, you fight on and on, no longer even knowing friend from foe, in your single-minded purpose to reach your target!”
This seemed to strike a chord with Alex, who had a potential for a similar scenario. He shuddered with the mental thought of him or Danbuster getting into that state and squeaked a brisk reply.
“No comment.”
Danbuster beckoned to his friends. “Over here! I think I might have found something.”
Matthias took a look. “Tracks?”
“Yes, and it’s not even our own footprints either! Let’s follow them!”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
They followed the trail for a fair distance, with Matthias showing some signs of recognition. He seemed happy that they were actually heading towards the abandoned church, as they had hoped.
“This is looking much more like it, my friend.” said Matthias. “You seem surprisingly good at tracking, Dan!”
Danbuster shrugged modestly. “If there’s one thing I learned during my time with the Hare’s Brigade, it was the basics of woodland survival. For instance, Matthias, going by what you told me, we must assume that St Ninian’s Church is somewhere to the south. Now, as everyone should know, moss grows mostly on the north side of trees, does it not?”
Matthias nodded. “Yes, so I hear. Mossflower IS a very mossy old place, and the open glades are quite rich in flowers. Also, the sun is quite strong today, so we should be able to find our way by that?”
Matthias looked in the direction of the sun and tried to gauge the direction of the shadows. Danbuster, taking advantage of the distraction, discretely took out his watch and held it up in the direction of the sun. By pointing the hour-hand towards the sun and halving that between twelve o’clock, he very quickly located the south. Matthias himself was able to figure out the same just by the sun’s position, using the natural intuition of a woodlander.
On the trail again, they proceeded in the direction that Danbuster pointed out, until Alex broke the silence with another question.
“So why is it called St. Nina’s church and what IS a Mossflower anyway?”
Matthias looked thoughtful. “Oh, it’s bit of a long story there, actually. It was said in one account that a mouse named Ninian had a very large family and decided they needed a bigger place to live, so they built themselves a big house. However, he was so lazy that his wife ended up doing most of the work, so she then hung up a sign saying ‘This ain’t Ninian’s’ so that he couldn’t take credit for it. Over the intervening seasons, time wore away the sign until all that was left was “Saint Ninians” and so it got converted into a church for a time.”
Alex listened in astonishment, it’s a fascinating story.
“As for Mossflower,” added Danbuster, “Well, that’s where we are now! Mossflower Wood. Heh, you surely didn’t think this whole land was called Redwall, did you?” he chuckled.
Alex smiled approvingly. “It’s a cool name! Hmmm, I would like to pluck a Mossflower myself to give to Freda someday.”
Danbuster laughed a bit and was about to reply when he pulled up suddenly, listening intently. Matthias and Alex nearly walked into his back.
“What’s the matt…?”Alex began, but Dan quickly covered his mouth.
“Quiet! Get down in these bushes!”
They quickly ducked down and listened. Somewhere nearby, some creature was laughing and talking to himself, or so it seemed. The voice was very gruff and bore a nasty tone. Matthias and Danbuster lay quiet, trying to hear where the voice was coming from. However, Alex started to sneak away while nobody was looking, trying to find a flanking position. The inexperienced raccoon was acting a little half-baked.
Noticing he was missing, Dan stared in disbelief. “Alex! What are you doing?” he whispered urgently.
The raccoon just shushed him and crept forward, commando style.
“Alex! Get back here!” Matthias hissed furiously.
Unfortunately, just at that moment, Alex fell afoul of the high pollen-level in the air. Feeling his nose start to tickle, he tried to silence his mouth and plugged his nose his nose until he felt the urge to sneeze subside… but as soon as his paws left his face, he let rip with the loudest sneeze imaginable!
“WAH-CHOO!!!”
Matthias winced from the sudden noise.
Danbuster facepalmed at the unfortunate incident.
“Alex!” he cried aloud in utter frustration, “That’s like the oldest cliché in the book! Sneezing and betraying our presence to the enemy! You great steaming…”
At that same moment, a big fat rat popped out from a hidden spot, brandishing a long knife.
He spoke mockingly to the hare. “Yes, it IS rather clichéd, isn’t it? Now what have we here?”
Suddenly, four more rats broke cover from all sides and surrounded Matthias, Alex and Danbuster, each one heavily and ready.
“Great seasons!”
“Whoops! Bummer!”
Related content
Comments: 6
Of that chapter, at least...
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I don't know anything about Redwall, yet I find myself enjoying this.
Am currently somewhere in chapter 7, thanks to text-to-speech generated audio books and smart phone audio book player apps that let you pause / continue whenever.
It reminds me of good ol' "Brony in Equestria"-fanfics from the early to mid-days in the MLP fandom, wish fulfillment stories where a fan of the TV-show "My little Pony: Friendship is Magic" finds themselves suddenly (usually through some rather flimsy explanation that's not-to-closely looked into) in the titular magical land of talking ponies, where they end up going on adventures and/or making friends with the ponies from the show in a more casual setting.
There are some interesting parallels and divergences here to how a typical "Brony in Equestria" story plays out.
Let's start, err, somewhere:
Alex turning into a non-hybrid racoon makes me wonder what a human would've turned into. Interesting that the world would accept a racoon even though it's apparently in none of the books, but it wouldn't accept a flying hybrid-racoon? Perhaps there are raccoons out there somewhere, in some far away corner of the land of Redwall, they just never came up in the books, hinting at a larger world not limited by the author's word.
...Similarly, about 50% of the time, humans showing up in Equestria will find themselves turned into a member of the native species, 90% of the time that's a pony, be it unicorn, pegasus, earth pony, bat pony, or the powerful and very special "rare" alicorn.
Let's talk about "anachronisms". That's, where the typical "human in Equestria" story diverges from yours completely:
Usually, the human visitor is all-too-happy to show off modern technology, and play the part of the interesting alien - and I freely admit, the daydream of "showing off" with "the amazing technology of today" is a silly fantasy I've daydreamed about myself every once in a while since childhood, though back then the idea usually involved going back in time 20-odd years or so rather than to a magical land of ponies to do so.
...Though in return, the visitor gets to marvel at the feats of magic possible in this world, so it slightly balances out.
Of course, some visitors to Equestria are not so fortunate as to carry their smart phone at the time of their unplanned excursion to another dimension, and end up turned into ponies to boot. So... without any proof of their alien origin, they sometimes do keep quiet, since talking about other dimensions and alien technologies would probably make them seem crazy. This does happen rather rarely, though. Usually, they end up the center of attention.
And it's not like Danbuster and Alex don't have the proof right there in their pockets - but their insistence on avoiding any and all "anachronisms" does make me wonder:
What would happen if they revealed their true origin as visitors from another, far more technologically advanced world, effectively from the future? (without mentioning the "Redwall is a book/TV-show"-part, we'll get to that in a bit)
I imagine if the rats heard about it, they'd try to steal their stuff! ...Good luck getting any use out of a smart phone in the middle ages, though.
How would the Redwall-residents react to a smart phone, and "Tales from the Future!"? (There could be some comedic juxtaposition there - them not believing some of the things we do in everyday life. 
Also, the relation between Danbuster's world and their world carries some interesting implications.
If the books / TV show always depict rats as evil, but they were also published in Danbuster's world full of anthro-animals... then does that mean the books/tv-show are seen as racist against rats?
Would the author have gotten negative press? Would there be some disapproving rat-parents issuing complaints to TV-stations for airing such a show teaching children to dislike rats? 
And now, to break the Fourth Wall...
In most "Brony in Equestria" stories, the human either tries to keep his otherworldly knowledge secret, or, the entire situation is explained away as "it's an alternate universe 'next' to our own and the 'real' Equestria somehow caused the TV-show to happen", and thus, he can be open about his knowledge; sometimes, in such stories, the 'real' Equestria reveals to have aspects the TV-show had grossly simplified, details that would have translated poorly into a TV-Y show. But more often than not, it just sticks to the cartoon, but giving internally logical explanations for things seen in the show. A logic to the magic.
What, however, happens extremely rarely, is that the "supposedly fictional" characters start questioning this whole "fictional world" business any deeper.
I wrote / am writing an entire story about that exact situation - suddenly finding yourself in the world of your favorite fictional character, and trying to piece together how any of this is even possible, flat out denouncing the "alternate universe that just so happens to line up with a work of fiction"-hypothesis; all, while the titular protagonist of the book in turn is trying to figure you out, after revealing a little too much of your knowledge after a slip-up.
...Only, I turned that on it's head. It's not about a fan of "My little Pony" in the world of "My little Pony", it's about Rainbow Dash finding herself in her favorite adventure novel series.
It's a Fourth Wall mystery adventure novel.
...I wonder, how the Redwall characters would react if they learned of the existence of the "Redwall"-novels. And are events in their world dictated by the novels, or is it the other way around?
I also find it ironic how it's Danbuster who has the "cartoon logic" weapon, not the "allegedly fictional" Redwall characters.
I wonder, does that hint at a deeper meaning? Could it be... that Danbuster's world is fictional, as well?
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That's quite a long comment indeed!
Glad to hear you've been enjoying this story though - good to finally get some feedback!
I can imagine, it's all rather complex when two vastly different worlds collide.
Yeah, Alex is the one more worried about anachronisms than Danbuster, as he believes that Redwall is a past version of their own world, rather than a completely different dimension - so he doesn't want to risk a time paradox or something, I guess.
He doesn't have Danbuster's own prior knowledge of Redwall, of course.
And indeed, Brian Jacques based his own fantasy world of Redwall in a rather more grounded realism in some ways - while Danbuster's world is more cartoony, but also grounded in its own sense of realism... so it's pretty complex... 
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Yeah, I wonder what would happen if, at the end of Danbuster's little excursion to Redwall, when Retsy's spell runs out, they accidentally dragged one of the Redwallers with them to "the future".
So, Alex believes Redwall is the past? But... he does know of the Redwall-franchise to an extent, and believes it is based on historical events?
Did he and Danbuster not discuss this? Or is Danbuster just humoring him? Or is it for more practical reasons they don't give away future knowledge and show off their tech to the Redwallers?
...What exactly is it with their swords that's so "anachronistic", anyway? Unless those are electrified laserswords and I missed that part somehow, wouldn't they merely be considered "exotic"?
>"good to finally get some feedback!"
Ah. That's unfortunate.
I'm afraid deviantArt isn't the best platform for posting stories, this sort of things needs a decent up/downvote rating system to get any sort of good overview what's good and what's bad. 
And fanfiction cover art. Maybe you can entice people by drawing cover art?
...Well, okay, that's how it works on fimfiction.net at least, the pony-centric fanfiction site, where you can add cover art for your fic. Which, as far as I can tell, is funnily the most well-organized fanfiction site out there, far easier to find "the good stuff" than on fanfiction.net or archiveofourown.org (the last one has apparently existed for something like 20 years, yet I only heard about it a few years ago through the pony-site.
I mean, I've tried finding good Sonic the Hedgehog fics. Only two actually good ones I know are by people who also write pony, and one of them is specifically a pony-crossover.
Well, I say "two", but really, the other one only has had one chapter published, so err. Well. At least the first one has sequels .
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Well, things are actually a bit more complex than that. Retsy sent Dan and Alex into Redwall by way of a dimension portal, so in order to get back, he must actively open another portal for them to return by...
I'm not quite sure how that logic works... I guess Alex does indeed believe that Redwall is a real place - mind you, so does Danbuster, but he also is more willing to believe there is a disconnect between their worlds and feels this whole "world order" thing is just irrational paranoia... 
Either way, it's simpler for all if they avoid anachronisms, as there is no way they'd be able to explain such magical devices as smartphones and computers and suchlike...
Also, the problem of their own weapons. Firearms are obviously a no-no, of course, but Alex's High-Frequency katana is simply too modern. At least Danbuster's sabre gets away with it, being not too different from some grand Long Patrol officer sword.
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