//------------------------------// // Mansion Mayhem (Part 2) // Story: G5 Adventures in Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! meets Courage the Cowardly Dog // by ponydog127 //------------------------------// Meanwhile, the others had found the museum wing and looked around in wonder, Zipp taking pictures of everything in sight. “I'm hoping we can find some answers here,” Hitch said out loud. “There really is something odd about this town.” “Ohh, how exciting!” Muriel said excitedly. “And all of this is totally #vintage!” Pipp said, taking several selfies among the pictures and statues around the wing. “Time to construct a slide show for the Pippsqueaks!” Zipp fluttered around when she suddenly felt something cold on her neck. When she turned, she didn't see anything, making her hum in thought. What could have caused that chilly feeling? XXXXXXXXX Eclipse swallowed the piece of bread Courage broke off for her with a gag. “That's NOTHING like the treats Muriel makes, that's for sure. And not very satisfying,” the sphinx cub shook her head before looking at her friends. “Anypony got any other ideas on where to find some grub around here?” That's when Shaggy smiled, getting another idea. “Hey, guys, how about we take a look for the kitchen? Maybe we'll find something edible.” “I’m down with that!” Izzy said, getting up instantly. “Good idea, shaggy-haired fella,” Eustace smiled. “Maybe we can find some real food.” But as they walked down the hallways, looking for the kitchen, Sunny kept looking around for Misty. She had been gone for quite a while, and if Sunny was honest with herself, she was getting worried about her. “Hey, have you guys seen any sign of Misty?” she asked. “We’ve been walking throughout the whole mansion, and I haven’t seen any sign of her or Paradise.” “Maybe they just had such a good time catching up, they lost track of time,” Eclipse shrugged. “Don’t worry, Sunny. I’m sure they’re fine.” But, Sunny kept looking around, worried for Misty, but deciding to trust the small sphinx and followed her friends away. XXXXXXXX Eventually, they did find the kitchen, and found the fridge fully stocked with food. “Hoo-hoo! Jackpot!” Shaggy told Scooby as they got a bunch of food out and set it on the counter. “Watch the masters at work, if you please.” “You hungry?” Scooby asked, and Courage, Eclipse and the two ponies nodded… while Eustace crossed his arms with a frown. “I doubt you can make anything that looks good to me.” “Au contraire, country old dude,” Shaggy responded. “Behold, the majesty of what Scooby-Doo and I like to call…” “El Sandwicho Extra Grande!” Shaggy and Scooby shouted at once, causing Courage to clap his paws excitedly. Then, Shaggy and Scooby then began to add different and… unique sandwich ingredients. “Ooh!” Izzy said, raising a hoof. “Don’t forget the anchovies!” “Anchovies?! Blech!!” Eustace grumbled. But, Scooby found that there was one thing missing. “Needs more mustard.” He squeezed the bottle to get some of the contents out, but along with the mustard came a sound that sounded a lot like flatulence. “Excuse me,” Scooby said, letting Courage and Shaggy giggle before he did it again. “Why, I never!” Shaggy and Courage laughed a little louder this time, and the girls found themselves snickering as Scooby squeezed the bottle a final time. “Must’ve been something I ate.” That caused the group to boil over in laughter… well, everyone except Eustace. “Ah, that's just gross. But I'll tell you what isn't gross. This!” Eustace pulled out a mask made of food and put it on his face in an attempt to scare the group. “Ooga-booga-booga!!” Izzy, Shaggy and the dogs screamed, causing Eustace to laugh and throw the mask away. “Never gets old. Give me!” he said, swiping the bottle from Scooby and going over to the pantry. “I'll get a new mustard.” “Aww, that’s nice of you, Eustace!” Sunny smiled before looking at her friends and whispering. “See, guys? He isn’t so bad after all.” Courage and Eclipse didn’t seem so sure about that, and when Eustace opened the door, he saw none other than Mr. and Mrs. Glockenspiel behind the door, causing him to slam it shut in surprise. “On second thought, Shaggy fella, you get the mustard because I am leaving. I've had enough of this place and you kooky teenagers,” Eustace said, moving toward the door. “See ya! Wouldn’t wanna be ya!” And just like that, Eustace walked out, leaving the six of them alone. “Classic Eustace…” Eclipse sighed under her breath. “I guess that means there’s more food for the six of us!” Izzy chirped. “Right-o, Izzy!” Shaggy agreed. “Let's see if we can find some other kind of goodies to put on our…” “El Sandwicho Extra Grande!” Shaggy and Scooby shouted. “Like cookies and pretzels,” Scooby listed, “and sweets, and--”  “Pasta! And canned peaches and peanut butter,” Eclipse added. “Olives?” Shaggy asked. “Definitely olives,” Eclipse added as she, Shaggy and Scooby walked to the cupboard. “And then we'll put some of those, and crackers and dressing and butter butter.” Courage happily rubbed his tummy at the sound of that. “That would be perfect extra sandwich fixings,” said Shaggy, “for our…” “El Sandwicho Extra Grande!” the boys and Izzy shouted. “Yes! I like that!” Izzy pumped a hoof. “Let me see if we can find some rainbow sprinkles too!” But when she opened the cupboard, she discovered that the giant cicada was in there instead of the food, screeching at the top of its lungs. This caused the group to immediately scream and bolt from the kitchen, even unsure of where they would be going. XXXXXXXX While Shaggy, Scooby, Courage and their batch of Equestrians were being chased by the cicada, Muriel, the other gang members, Hitch and the sisters were looking through the museum wing some more. “It's so dusty,” Muriel began dusting around the floor. “They really should clean more.” “Look, Muriel!” Zipp stopped her and pointed at the floor. “Footprints and hoofprints!” “Someone’s been in here recently with a pony,” Daphne assumed with hands on her hips. “Curious. Look at this,” Velma said from across the room, holding a book. “The original land survey books of Nowhere County. And some of them are missing!” “Hmm… that’s interesting,” Hitch hummed. “But what's even more interesting are all these kooky photos and statues,” Pipp said, inspecting them with a shudder. “Oh my pony, this is definitely one weird place.” Muriel was dusting near the TV on the display stand when it suddenly flicked on, causing the gang to turn toward it in wonder. “So, you've decided to visit the town of Nowhere,” said a man on the TV. “Good for you. Ten out of ten tourists would never do what you have done.” “Oh, I feel so special,” Muriel said as the man on TV continued. “This means you're special.” “See? I am! How nice.” “Creepy stuff happens in Nowhere. Monsters, aliens, demons, mad scientists… zombies, vampires and other such perils from myth and legend. Nowhere is also known for evil masterminds like Katz, or international thieves like Le Quack.” Zipp spared a glance at the cat and duck statues on either side of the TV, feeling that the names fit their creepy personalities. “From robots to weremoles, Nowhere has it all.” “Oh, goodness,” said Muriel. “I never knew I lived in such an interesting place.” “Some speculate that the mysteries stem from a nearby top secret military base,” the man on TV continued. “Others are not so sure.” Zipp hummed in thought. This was getting more interesting by the minute. Now all they could wonder was what the others might be figuring out at that moment. XXXXXXXX “Hurry, guys! This way!” Sunny led her friends down an empty hallway to escape from the cicada queen, many of them panting tiredly before they finally screeched to a halt, Shaggy sighing as the queen was nowhere in sight. “Like, she’s gone!” “Thank goodness for that…” Eclipse muttered, just as the mayor opened a door not too far away from them. “Say, are you kids okay?” he asked as two creepy legs came up from behind him. “You look like you've had a fright.” Suddenly, those same legs came and grabbed the mayor before dragging him into the room with a scream, causing the others to scream as well. “Is...?” Eclipse gulped. “Is he...?” The group moved closer to the doorway, and where the mayor should have been, the group only saw his clothing. “Oh no...” Sunny said with worry. “The mayor is gone!” “No, look!” Scooby pointed down at the mayor's clothes, which were fidgeting on the floor next to them. Eclipse was first to step forward, giving the clothes a sniff before a large cicada popped out from them, causing her and the others to shriek. “That horrible cicada queen lady monster turned the mayor into a giant cicada bug!” Shaggy screamed. “That means what I was thinking has more evidence to it,” Sunny said. “There must be Equestrian magic at work here!” “Equestrian magic?” Scooby asked. “How?” “I don’t know… yet,” Sunny said. “But we have to find the others and share this info with them before anyone else gets transformed!” As the girls, Shaggy and Scooby discussed the strange occurance, Courage found himself growing uneasy in this environment... like something was watching them. After they got done, the others couldn't help but notice Courage's uneasy nature... particularly his nervous babbling. “What is it, Courage?” Eclipse asked with a frown. “Something wrong?” “He does seem pretty upset about something,” Sunny realized. Courage continued to babble for a few moments before he managed to point up at the ceiling. “Look!!” The others looked where he was pointing, and after a moment, the cicada queen burst out of hiding, causing the group to run and flee, running down the halls at top speed before Courage pulled open a door to a bedroom, allowing them to run inside. “What are we gonna do?!” Izzy asked. “She’s gonna be here any second!” “Uh… uh… I got it!” Eclipse spoke. “Maybe my wings can conjure us up something to distract the cicada!” “Well, whatever you do, Eclipse, make it quick!” Shaggy shivered. Taking this as her cue, Eclipse unfolded her wings and flew up a bit. “I wish we had exterminator outfits and equipment with us!” The rainbow magic of her wings circled them for a few moments, producing exterminator costumes and equipment on everyone. “It worked! But… how is this gonna help?” Sunny asked. “I think I know,” Shaggy smiled. “But everybody needs to follow my lead!” At that second, the cicada queen opened the door and entered the room. “There you are!” Shaggy said, pushing her inside. “You're late,” Scooby scolded. “Yeah,” Courage nodded. “Late, late.” “Like, here's your sprayer,” Shaggy said, handing the cicada such a device after Scooby put a uniform on her. “We'll start in here, then sweep the upstairs levels before finishing in the basement. All set?” The cicada only blinked, leaving Eclipse to groan. “Oh, man. Don’t tell us this is your first day on the job!” “Mmm-hmm,” the cicada nodded. “We should have known the agency would send over a noob,” Eclipse rolled her eyes at her friends. “Guess we'll have to show you the ropes.” Scooby then put a huge pile of ropes on the sprayer. “Those are the ropes.” “Those are the ropes,” Izzy repeated before levitating a big tent onto the pile. “Tie down this big tent that we’re gonna drape over the building before we fog. Did you bring a ladder?” “Uh-uh.” “Don’t worry, I got this!” Sunny said, grabbing a ladder and putting it on the pile. “All right,” said Shaggy. “You got your ladder. You got your tent. You got your ropes. You got your sprayer. You got any questions?” The cicada grunted over the heavy weight of the materials, but didn’t say much of anything otherwise. “No? You got this,” Sunny assured before printing out a clipboard. “Right. We'll just have you sign for the equipment rental here.” “Print here, initial here,” Izzy pointed as the cicada signed, and then she took out a camera and snapped the bug’s picture. “Your fully laminated photo badge will be mailed within 24 hours of receipt of your completed benefits Roman package,” Shaggy said before they shook the bug’s many hands. “Congratulations. You're officially a pest control professional.  Welcome to the life. And remember…” “No prisoners,” Scooby spoke. “And no mercy!” Eclipse growled, causing the bug to pretend to punch the air in front of her in a fighting stance before doing push-ups and sit ups. “The only good bug is a what?” Izzy asked, and the bug seemed to growl ‘Dead bug’ in response. “That’s right!” Izzy chirped. After its warmup, the cicada began to spray the air, allowing enough time for the group to change and begin to sneak away. “Whoa-ho,” Eclipse said quietly. “I can’t believe that actually worked.” “You’d be surprised at what we can accomplish as a team,” Sunny said with a smile. “I just hope the cicada doesn’t realize what just happened.” But unfortunately, the cicada saw them sneaking away through the mirror and followed them, only for the group to realize too late, causing them to scream and run once again. XXXXXXXX The chase led them into the museum wing, where Izzy tripped upon the carpet while carrying Shaggy, Scooby and Courage, causing them to tumble and the others to back up. But Fred accidentally hit one of the statues, causing a secret passage to open up, and the rest of the ponies, Muriel and the rest of the gang disappeared behind it with startled yells. “Muriel...” Courage whined, having seen the whole thing. The others didn’t see this, however, cause they were too focused on the cicada queen coming in their direction. Then, before the ponies had time to react, Courage was already grabbing big heavy items and barricading them against the door. Shaggy was the first to sigh in relief. “Good job, little pink dude.” “Phew… yeah,” Sunny nodded. “Thanks, Courage.” But even with the barricade, the cicada was able to open the door and roar at the group, sending them on the run through the wing before removing the stuff and heading out into the mansion again. During the chase, they found a large closet to hide in, and Sunny knew that they had to keep silent. “If we don’t make any loud sounds,” she whispered, “maybe the cicada will leave us alone.” A second later, the sound of the cicada entering the room filled their ears, and luckily, she didn’t hear the sound of chattering teeth. Just as the group thought they were in the clear, Scooby suddenly felt the urge to sneeze, and after holding it in for a moment…  “ACHOO!!” “Gesundheit!” Courage said. “Thanks… so dusty,” Scooby rubbed his nose before he was handed a tissue on his left side. “Oh, thank you.” But… none of his friends were on the left side. When they turned, the cicada had somehow wormed her way in, causing them to shriek and run away again. “Come on!” Eclipse groaned to herself. “Does this bug have to chase us everywhere?!” “No time for debates, Eclipse!” Shaggy panted. “Like, we gotta get this giant bug and her wacky lackies off our tail before we bug out!”