//------------------------------// // Splitting Up (Part 2)/Capturing the Ghost // Story: G5 Adventures in Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost // by ponydog127 //------------------------------// Thorn had walked to a shed not too far from her home, and Fred, Misty, Hitch, Pipp and Daphne stealthily followed after her. Thankfully, Misty had spied for Opaline for so long, she was pretty much an expert. The only good thing that came out of her living in that wicked alicorn's presence. All members of the group peered inside the window of the shed to see Thorn brewing some sort of mixture inside, with all sorts of herbs and other things. Everyone gasped and immediately hid in order to avoid Thorn seeing them. “What's she up to?” Fred wondered. “If I didn't know any better...” Hitch said in concern, “...I'd say Thorn is a witch!” “...do you think that Opaline sent her and the other Hex Girls to this world in order to seek vengeance on us?” Misty asked nervously, ears pinning. “Well, Opaline didn't create them or send them. They're from Oakhaven, originally,” Daphne pointed out. “But, it does make me wonder if Opaline did have something to do with it.” Misty whimpered nervously... that was exactly what she was afraid of. XXXXXXXXX Sunny, Shaggy, Scooby and Izzy had been following Mayor Corey all throughout the streets of Oakhaven, watching as he went into different stores, dropping things off and picking things up, all while occasionally looking back to see if he was being watched. And in order to spy on the mayor at one point, Shaggy and Scooby even dressed up as a romantic couple, grossing Sunny and Izzy out, but they didn't say anything after that. Once Shaggy and Scooby got changed out of their disguises, that's when they saw the mayor entering some sort of warehouse. “Hoo hoo! We got him now, guys!” Izzy cheered. “Let's go see what the mayor is really up to!” They crept over to the door, and making sure they all knew to be silent, Izzy and Shaggy pried the door open with Izzy's horn and stepped inside the dark warehouse. But when they stepped into the warehouse, the mayor had virtually disappeared! “Like, where do you think he went, Scoob?” Shaggy whispered as they crept around the warehouse. “I don't know,” Scooby shrugged. “We have to keep our senses wide open,” Sunny told them quietly. “The mayor could be anywhere in--” Suddenly, a squeaking sound caught their attention, and when they slowly looked up, they saw the witch glaring at them from the rafters before she attacked! “How dare you disturb my resting place?!” “AHHHHHH!!!” the group exclaimed, not wanting to find her in here. “This town will pay!!” the witch shrieked before diving toward them. “Like, send them a bill! But leave us alone!” Shaggy shouted. “Yeah!” Izzy said, lighting her horn and grabbing some pinecones. “Leave our friends alone!” She threw the pinecones at the witch, and when she stopped at their impact, that's when Sunny and Izzy ran out through the warehouse doors... while Shaggy and Scooby ran right through the wall. But as they ran, they knocked the mayor right over, as well as Velma and Ben before Shaggy and Scooby in a nearby mailbox, completely avoiding Autumn and Zipp. Velma and Ben even put on each other's glasses, apologizing before putting on the right ones. Everyone else came toward them, clearly worried after what just happened. “Hey, what's going on?” Misty asked. “Ask Shaggy and Scooby,” Ben said as they were helped up. “Well, where are they?” Fred questioned, and Velma looked over toward the mailbox with a smirk. “That's no mystery.” Sunny and Izzy stood right by the shaking mailbox, trying to console their frightened friends inside. “So, what happened guys?” Zipp asked, and Velma opened the mailbox flap to speak to them. “We followed the mayor to some warehouse,” Shaggy trembled, “and that ghost attacked us!” “It did?” Zipp asked before groaning. “There goes our cherry picker theory.” “Cherry picker theory? Wait till you hear what we saw at Thorn's place,” Fred added. “Hey!” Shaggy said as he slid out of the mailbox. “We were reporting first, right, Scoob?” “Yeah,” Scooby nodded, trying to wiggle out of the mailbox himself. “The mayor was one busy guy. Picking things up...” Shaggy said before Scooby fell on him, “...and dropping things off.” “Like what?” Velma asked, but before Shaggy, Scooby and their group could say, the mayor barged over to them, clearly displeased. “What is going on here?! What's the big idea running over me?” “Uh oh...” Sunny gulped. “I think we better explain it to the mayor by showing it to him.” XXXXXXXXX “As you can see, there's nothing here. Except for the damaged wall,” the mayor pointed to the warehouse wall. “Sorry about that, Mayor. Scooby and Shaggy just lose it when they get scared,” Velma apologized. “In fact, I'm worried that staying in Oakhaven might just be too frightening an experienced for them. I think we should leave.” Autumn and Ben looked completely surprised at this. “Really?” “What?!” the ponies cried in unison, with Scooby happily licking Velma's face. “Well, I'm sorry to hear that,” the mayor apologized. “But, I need to get one more clue before the night is over,” Velma said. “Then I think I'll can solve the mystery of the witch's ghost before tomorrow's Autumn Fest.” “Oh, great, I'll do anything I can to help,” the mayor said as he turned to leave. “l should've known leaving wasn't an option,” Shaggy said as Zipp looked to her friend. “What was that all about, Velma?” “You have a plan, right?” Autumn asked, and luckily, Velma did. “Here's what we're going to do.” XXXXXXXXX After Velma explained her plan to everyone, they went over to the Hex Girls' stage, where Scooby removed the sheet and started playing Dusk's drums and Shaggy started playing Luna's keyboard. But that's when Dusk showed up with her hands on her hips, clearly unpleased. “Hey.” “Sorry,” Scooby nervously gulped before hiding under the sheets, and Shaggy continued playing while speaking to his best friend. “Like, why'd you stop, old buddy?” “No one touches my keyboard,” Luna said with a frown, causing Shaggy to nervously chuckle and dive underneath the sheet. “All right, calm down, both of you,” Ametista told Dusk and Luna, using her magic to lift Shaggy and Scooby out from under the sheets. “They were just naturally curious about the instruments-- nothing wrong with that.” “Thanks for coming, girls,” Velma said as she and Zipp walked onstage. “We should be resting for the concert tomorrow,” Thorn stated. “We only came because Ben asked us to.” “Hey, I'm just following orders,” Ben told the Hex Girls with a shrug. “So what do you want?” Luna asked. But before anyone could respond, an eerie wind began to blow, and the witch's ghost showed up again, throwing fire balls right at them! “THIS TOWN MUST PAY FOR IT'S FOULED DEED!!” “Everypony, run for it!” Sunny cried. That's when all the group bolted as fast as they could, until Velma tripped and fell to the ground. “Help me! I've fallen and I can't get up!” Shaggy and Scooby stuck right by her, and Zipp and Pipp rushed to their friends aid, stretching their wings wide as the witch got closer. That's when Zipp put the plan into action. “NOW!!” Izzy released the tree branch just as the witch flew past, slamming the witch backwards and into the nearby soccer net. “Yes! You did it guys!” Velma exclaimed. Izzy and Misty giggled and high hoofed, but as she came forward to watch the unmasking, Izzy felt a pain in her leg, probably from when she leapt off the stage. But there would be time to worry about it later. Fred was the first to approach the witch. “Okay, let's see who's behind all this.” He pulled off the witch's mask to reveal one of the first people to greet them when they first arrived in town. “Like, it's the T-Shirt guy!” Shaggy exclaimed. “Mr. McKnight?” Pipp blinked. “The pharmacist?” “Daddy?” Thorn questioned in shock, and the unmasked Mr. McKnight smiled up at her. “Hello, Sally.” “Your dad's the ghost?” Luna asked. “Your real name is Sally?” Fred questioned, leading Hitch to smack him scoldingly. “I don't believe this, Daddy,” Thorn said with a betrayed look. “Why would you do something like this?” “You mean... you didn't know?” Misty asked, leading all the Hex Girls, even Ametista, to shake their heads. “The girls have nothing to do with this,” Mr. McKnight said after he stood. “What in the world is going on this evening?” Mayor Corey asked before gasping, seeing Mr. McKnight in his costume. “Is that you, McKnight?” “Maybe I can explain. I found flash powder residue where Shag and Scoob saw the ghost,” Velma explained before revealing a device on Mr. McKnight wrist. “This is the device to throw the fireballs which was just wads of flash paper. He got it from his daughter's stage props.” Misty shrieked as a flash was shot out, sending her on her behind just before she noticed a truck hiding in the trees, out of sight. “What's that over there?” “Its the cherry picker that made the ghost flie above the trees with the use of an extention device,” Velma explained, shining a light on the truck. “And there's the fan that created the eerie wind. It took more than one person to pull of this scam. Isn't that right, Jack?” “Jack?!” And just like that, Jack walked out of hiding, much to everyone's shock. “Velma is right,” Zipp pointed out. “It would take someone pretty strong to hoist Mr. McNight around.” “Like, you should be cooking pot roast, instead of cooking up trouble,” Shaggy scolded before Velma turned to the forest. “That goes for all of you!!” “All of you?” Ben repeated, watching as several more people came out of hiding. “Sure,” Zipp nodded. “There had to be more people involved to make this hoax work. Especially you, Mayor Corey.” “What?!” the mayor cried. “That's preposterous!” “But, you knew more than anyone that the town's popularity was taking a downfall,” Hitch said. “So you used the witch ruse to get more people to come into town to boost your fundings.” “I'm very disappointed in you, mayor! And all of you!” Ben scolded to all the townsfolk. “For lining your pockets by dragging Sarah Ravencroft's name through the mud!” Scooby shook his head in disapproval, and Sunny smiled at everyone else. “Come on, guys. Let's head back to Ben's house and try and relax after this whole witch ordeal.”