The three girls that came out of the alley all had standardized appearances, scary fangs, creepy smiles, goth looking clothing, deep lipstick, and... well... looking downright terrifying!
Seeing the girls' appearance as something they feared and didn't expect, Shaggy and Scooby screamed and ran away as fast as their feet could take them. And as soon as they were far enough away, Shaggy looked back to see if they were being followed. “I think we lost them, old buddy!”
Hearing this made Shaggy and Scooby screech to an alarming halt. “And I thought there was only one ghost witch,” Shaggy shuddered. “Yeah,” Scooby nodded. “Anyway, with all that running,” Shaggy said, “we've worked off that big meal. But you know? Now I'm hungry again.”
“Me too!”
But before they could go off to find their friends, they could have sworn they heard a beautiful humming coming from the stretch of trees not too far away from them. And then... that humming turned into singing.
Where the north wind meets the sea
There’s a river full of memory
Sleep my darlings safe and sound
For in this river all is found
Shaggy and Scooby never heard a voice so beautiful before... but they had a strange feeling that they knew who it was. Curiosity got the better of them though, so they decided to go through the woods until they were able to the source of the singing.
In her waters deep and true
Lie the answers and a path for you
Dive down deep into her sound
But not too far or you’ll be drowned
Parting some bushes aside, Shaggy and Scooby were stunned to see the voice of the singing belonged to... Autumn Rain herself!
She was in a cozy, private nook in the forest, with different plants, hoofmade shelves on the trees, a cauldron and a garden of rainbow colored flowers growing nearby.
Autumn seemed to have been sweeping up the homemade stone floor, singing that little song to herself, unaware that Shaggy and Scooby were listening.
Yes she will sing to those who hear
And in her song all magic flows
But can you brave what you must fear
Can you face what the river knows
Where the north wind meets the sea
There’s a mother full of memory
Come my darling homeward bound
When all is lost, then all is found
“Like... whoa...” Shaggy gasped quietly, but enough for Autumn's ears to flicker until she saw them. “Oh! Shaggy, Scooby!” the mare smiled nervously. “I... I didn't see you there. Did you see the witch with the others?”
“Well, heh... we saw SOMETHING, all right,” Shaggy chuckled. “But, uh... what was that little tune you were singing to yourself?”
“Just a little something my mom used to sing to me whenever I had trouble sleeping,” Autumn admitted as she set the broom down. But then, she looked at them with a serious look. “Nopony else followed you this way... did they?”
“Uh uh,” Scooby shook his head calmly, and this caused Autumn to calm down. “Good. Well... I guess I can show you both around my little workshop... since nopony else has ever seen it.”
“Not even Ben?” both Shaggy and Scooby questioned in surprise. “Especially not Ben,” Autumn said before she showed them around. “I come to this special little nook all the time when I'm in town with Ben. My family has used this nook for potion making and spell casting for moons upon moons.”
Shaggy gulped, not sure what to make of this information. “So are you... like... a pony witch of some kind?”
Autumn sighed when she heard this, her ears slightly pinning. “People of this world may think so, but whether the spell caster's intentions are good or evil determines whether they are a witch or not,” Autumn admitted. “In my opinion, I'm more of an... enchantress and a wiccan. My mother taught me the things my grandmother taught my mother, and so on and so on. And before she passed... my mother gave me this.”
She pulled out a short, gray branch with silver swirls along it, smiling in admiration. “This is my family wand, made by my great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother and passed down from generation to generation for as long as I could remember.”
“Ooh, pretty,” Scooby pawed the wand before Autumn put it back in her bag. “My mother showed me how to make potions to infuse into the wand, so I can cast spells like unicorns can, and she taught me how potions can also become a useful weapon. I think it might be useful against this so called Ghost of Sarah Ravencroft.”
But then, she turned to Shaggy and Scooby with a pleading look. “You won't tell Ben or anypony else about this, will you? I want to tell them when I feel like they're ready, and with Ben being so determined to find his ancestor's journal, I just... don't want to upset him.”
“Autumn, your secret is safe with us,” Shaggy promised, and he and Scooby made the hoof-to-heart motion to her. “As Sunny always says... hoof to heart.”
“...yes. Hoof to heart,” Autumn made the same motion before she began to cover up all the entrances to the nook with branches, leaves and blankets she had laying around. “Come on... I better get you boys back to your friends before they get worried.”
Shaggy and Scooby followed their new friend toward the edge of the woods, determined not to let her down in keeping this a secret. But as they walked along, the wind began to get stronger, and then a sinister cackle.
And out from the top of the trees came the ghost of Sarah Ravencroft!
Her frightening green glow and her piercing red eyes was enough to send thr group screaming and on the run, even though Autumn wasn't sure if it was the real thing or not. “This town shall pay for what it did to me!” the witch shrieked before she began launching fireballs at them, to which they thankfully avoided. “lt's every coward for himself, old buddy!” Shaggy shouted to Scooby as they rounded a corner...
...and ran smack dab into the others, causing a heaped pile right on the sidewalk. “Ooh...” Autumn groaned. “That has to hurt...”
“What in Equestria is going on, guys?” Sunny asked. “Ghost!” Scooby tried to say. “Roast?” Ben repeated what he heard as the others all got back on their feet and hooves. That's when Scooby decided to quickly clarify. “Witch's ghost!”
“You saw the witch's ghost?” Misty asked with wide eyes. “All three of us did,” Autumn said as she approached. “We can show you if you want us to.”
“Like, do we have to?” Shaggy whimpered. “SHE THROWS FIREBALLS, MAN!!”
“Oh, can you at least get off me first, Freddy?” Daphne groaned, since Fred was still sitting on top of her. “Gee, uh... sorry Daph,” Fred apologized as they got up, and Shaggy pointed his arm fearfully down the street they came down. “Like, down this street.”
But when they looked, there was nothing on that street now, to which Autumn became suspicious of. “We thought we'd gotten away from the first three witches,” Shaggy said, “when this ghost chased us from down there.”
“First three witches?” Ben questioned in surprise. “Psst. Velma,” Zipp whispered from close by. “Check this out.”
Zipp had found some sparkly powder on the ground, and Velma kneeled down to examine it. “Hmm... you said she threw fire balls right?”
“lt was like this, Velma,” Shaggy pointed to the shirt hanging up in the window, “but a thousand times worse!”
“Okay, Shaggy, I think that might be a little bit of an exaggeration,” Autumn chuckled. “But she did throw fireballs at us.”
“Is this the street she chased you down?” Zipp pointed down the street, making Shaggy shudder in fright. “Don't remind us!”
Pipp was walking down the pavement when she stepped on something. And when she looked down, she discovered a broken branch in underneath her hoof. “Huh?”
The pink pegasus stepped off the branch and Fred immediately picked it up, looking toward the line of trees on the side of the street. “Check out these branches-- they were all broken from the tops of these trees!”
“And in a perfectly straight line,” Daphne observed, and Velma adjusted her glasses in thought. “This is getting interesting, Ben.”
“Uh, guys?” Misty spoke up, pointing over to the distance. “I think we should be more worried about that light and music over there instead of worrying about broken trees.”
“Huh?”
Everyone looked off in the direction in which Misty was pointing, and true to her word, brights lights and music were coming from the forest. “Shaggy!!” Scooby wailed, running into his best friend's arms. “Like, not again!”
“What is that?!” Daphne wondered. “Let's go see!” Izzy chirped, bouncing forward. “Maybe it'll be some new friends we can play with!”
Shaggy and Scooby spared each other a nervous glance as they followed their friends toward the forest.
But what if Izzy was wrong about the lights and music being from a potential friend?
XXXXXXXXX
They wandered through the forest with their phone flashlights leading the way, and when they parted some bushes, they revealed a stage on the other side.
On the stage were three girls that looked strangely familiar to Shaggy and Scooby... but they weren't sure where they saw them. “Hit it, sisters!” one girl shouted to the others before turning around and hissing. “Zoinks!!” Shaggy shouted in fear. “It's the witches!”
“Easy, guys,” Fred quickly reassured. “It's just the Hex Girls!”
And so, the group crept out of hiding to hear the Hex Girls' performance.
Thorn: I'm gonna cast a spell on you
You're gonna do what I want you to
Mix it up here in my little bowl
Say a few words, and you'll lose control!
Hex Girls: I'm a Hex Girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you
(I'm gonna put a spell on you)
I'm a Hex Girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you
(Put a spell on you!)
Thorn: You'll feel the fog as I cloud your mind
You'll get dizzy when I make a sign
You'll wake up in the dead of night
Missing me when I'm out of sight
Hex Girls: I'm a Hex Girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you
(I'm gonna put a spell on you)
I'm a Hex Girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you
(Oh yeah)
Thorn: With this little cobweb potion
You'll fall into dark devotion
If you ever lose affection
I can change your whole direction
Hex Girls: I'm a Hex Girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you
(I'm gonna put a spell on you)
I'm a Hex Girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you...
We're gonna put a spell on all of you!
The gang, Ben and the ponies applauded and cheered happily as the smoke effects cleared the stage. “Thanks,” said the lead singer. “What are you doing here?”
“The concert's tomorrow,” the girl with pig tails who played the drums stated. “Well, we heard this spooktacular music on the other side of the trees,” Pipp said, fluttering forward. “And we thought we would come and see who was making it. You three really know your stuff.”
“Heh, thanks,” said the third girl before she noticed something familiar about Ben. “Hey, wait a minute. Aren't you Ben Ravencroft?”
“Why? You not gonna bite me, are you?” Ben asked jokingly, and the lead singer led her bandmates down off the stage to greet him. “Cool, I always wanted to meet you. You're like... one of us.”
“Yeah,” the third girl nodded. “You understand what we're into.”
Shaggy, Scooby and Misty glanced at each other in confusion, just before the girl in pig tails smiled at them, showing off her fangs. “Hi...”
“H-Hello,” the three of them stammered, shaking in fear as Zipp approached the band. “That's quite an act, Ms... uh.. ”
“Thorn,” the band leader smiled. “This is Dusk and Luna. We're eco-goths.”
“Eco-goths?” Shaggy and Scooby became incredibly confused, and Dusk, huffed with her hands on her hips. “And we don't need your approval.”
“Oh! Uh... we didn't mean to send any unwanted messages, Ms. Dusk,” Misty rapidly shook her head. “We just, uh... never heard of an eco-goth before.”
“Hmm... sure. I buy it.”
Fred took the opportunity to step forward, a small smirk gracing his face. “Gee, all those explosions at the end were pretty mystifying, eh, Velma?”
“Yeah...” Velma nodded. “Very mystifying.”
Then, a gentle, calm but eerie voice spoke up from the shadows. “Thank you... they were all created by me.”
Wisps of shadows emerged from the forest before swirling together before forming the shape of a figure... more specifically, a unicorn.
She had fur as gray as ashes, with even darker hooves to match. Her black mane and tail seemed to flow in an invisible gust of wind, and her purple eyes radiated with mystery, as well as her violet rose cutie mark and the deep, midnight blue cloak.
Shaggy and Scooby yelped in surprise, the former letting the latter jump into his arms. Luna, the girl in purple, merely chuckled at their response, smiling as if it was natural. “Don't worry-- this is our special effects pony. We met her a few years ago while we were on the road, and her magic talents are just what we needed at the time.”
“Ametista Blackpetal-- at your service,” the mare responded with a bow. “Nice to meet you, Ametista,” Zipp smiled. “Huh... I've never met a pony whose mane and tail move like they're in a nonexistent wind before.”
“I was told to be the descendant of a miraculous sorceress called Mistmane,” Ametista stated. “She too had great appreciation for beauty, and her mane moved just like mine.”
Sunny's eyes lit up when she heard about Mistmane-- she was an old figure her father once told her about! “Ametista, I think you and I are gonna get along just fine!”
“So, where are you girls from?” Ben asked the Hex Girls as the ponies chatted. “Oakhaven, but we won't be here for long. We're close to cutting our first CD,” Thorn said before shaking Ben's hand. “Well, it's been killer meeting you.”
“Same here.”
“But we better get back to our rehearsal,” Thorn spoke. “Ametista? You coming?”
“Of course,” Ametista nodded. “It was wonderful to meet you and your friends, Sunny, but I have to be going now. I hope to see you all tomorrow night at the concert?”
Sunny smiled at that, touching Ametista's outstretched hoof. “We'd love to be there. Count on it.”
They began to go their separate ways, but as they did, Misty began to get nervous around this Ametista pony and these Hex Girl characters.
Sure, they seemed nice, but what if it was all an act?
And worst of all... what if they were allies of Opaline?
One thing was for sure, she had to find out.
XXXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, Opaline was watching everything from her castle, humming to herself. “This is taking a very interesting turn of events... and it would be a real shame if I twisted events into my own pleasure... a real shame.”