//------------------------------// // Into the Halloween World/Bump in the Night // Story: G5 Adventures in Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King // by ponydog127 //------------------------------// Quickly enough, the ponies, Scooby and Shaggy got changed out of their costumes and met Mr. Gibbles outside. It was chilly this time of year, but their hearts held the fire of determination, for it was up to them to find the scepter and save their friends from doom. “I wish there was more I could do for you, but take these,” Mr. Gibbles handed Shaggy some cards. “They should serve you well on the other side.” “A deck of cards?” Shaggy asked skeptically. “These are magic cards,” Mr. Gibbles explained to him. “Hold one out like so, and read the inscription.” The group looked a little skeptical-- how could a deck of cards be magical? “Eh... we might as well try it anyway,” Zipp shrugged. “Besides, they really might help.” Shaggy took a card from the deck and held it out before reading the text on the front. “Like… demented disguises.” Suddenly, a puff of purple smoke enveloped them for a few moments, and when it vanished, Shaggy and Scooby were now in their unique monster forms, and the ponies' bodies seemed see-through, almost ghostly. “Hey! Check it out, Scoob!” Shaggy commented. “Like, our very own monster mash-up!” “Cool!” Scooby giggled while they admired their new appearances. Mr. Gibbles laughed-- the card worked like a charm! “Marvelous. You’ll have no trouble blending in now, eh?” “Hey, these cards are really something else with special effects!” Pipp said, grabbing the cards from Shaggy. “And I can still hold objects! That gives me an idea-- try another one, Scoob!” “Okay,” Scooby shrugged, and would have reached up to pick another card, if Mr. Gibbles hadn’t stopped him first. “No no no! You have to save them for emergencies,” he said. “Each card can be used only once. And be careful-- each magic lasts but a short time.” “Mr. Gibbles is right,” said Zipp as Pipp tucked the cards under her wing. “We need to think things through really well. Otherwise, Krudsky will win, and who knows what permanent damage he might do!” Then, before anything else was said, a train whistle echoed through the air, confusing the ponies and their friends-- there wasn’t any train close to them! Suddenly, as a crack in the ground formed, Mr. Gibbles pulled out a pocket watch. “Speaking of time,” he said, “you’ve got a train to catch.” “Train?” Zipp questioned. “But that’s ridiculous! There isn’t a train station around here for miles!” “I think the ground would like to disagree, Zipp!” Misty pointed over the railing. “Look!” The ponies, after exchanging glances with Shaggy and Scooby, walked and trotted and floated over to the railing of the porch where Misty was.  Then, before their very eyes, a ghostly train (with the engine looking like a skull) rose from the crack in the ground before landing in front of them, its train whistle sounding like a banshee screech and a wolf howl all in one. “Like, check out that freaky freight train!” Shaggy exclaimed. “Yeah,” Scooby nodded with a mixture of fear and worry. “Freaky.” “Eh, makes sense to me,” Izzy shrugged. “I mean, with the only way to the ghost world being a ghost train and all.” After this was said, the conductor (actually a conductor’s skeleton) appeared in the doorway of the passenger car. “Attention!” he announced. “Afterworld Express with one-way, nonstop service to… Sleepy Hollow, Hangman's Corner, and Ghost Central Station.” Each one of those spooky locations ran a shiver down the friends’ spines, and Shaggy finally turned to look at them with worry. “Scoob, old buddy, I think we're in for the ride of our afterlives.” But before Shaggy and Scooby could turn, they were dragged onboard, causing the ponies to swiftly get on after them, Sunny hesitating before she turned to the red and orange breezie. “Brushfire, do you wanna come with us?” she asked. “Thanks, Sunny,” said Brushfire, “but I think I better stay here with Mr. Gibbles. Him being a rabbit might be something I can find an herbal remedy for.” “That’s a good point. Just be careful,” Sunny advised before getting on the train with her friends. “Oh! One last thing!” Mr. Gibbles warned. “Whatever happens, you must return by sunrise or be trapped in the spirit world forever!” “Back by sunrise, trapped forever. Got it,” Misty nodded. But then, a thought suddenly came to her mind, realizing that the train only went one way between the two worlds. “But, uh… quick question; how are we supposed to get back?” But as he was about to answer, Mr. Gibbles suddenly stopped. “Oh dear! I hadn’t thought about that.” This answer practically stunned the group-- how were they gonna get back when even Mr. Gibbles himself didn’t know how they were gonna get back?! “Well, you guys better get going!” Brushfire urged quickly. “You don’t have that long to get that scepter-- only about three hours!” “THREE HOURS?!” the ponies cried. But before anything else could be said, the skeleton conductor then threw the friends onboard before the whistle blew. Then, the train lifted off the ground and then, after picking up speed, lurched into the sky. Shaggy, Scooby and the girls weren’t expecting the train to move so fast… or fly for that matter. So their screaming was a natural reaction as they fell to the very back of the train, finally landing on the ground, naturally in pain. “Ow…” groaned Hitch, shaking his head while Sparky just cheered. “That was a rude awakening.” “Ugh… now you tell me...” Pipp groaned, shakingly standing on her feet before she and her friends witnessed ghosts and demons hooting on the train with them, making them watch wide-eyed. “Zoinks! Don’t look now, Scooby-Doo,” Shaggy said with a nervous chuckle, “but… ho ho… I think we’re riding on the Grim Reaper Railroad!” “AAH!! Okay, I totally think we’ve seen enough of this ride!” Misty said, nervously prancing. “We better get off this thing and find another way to the Goblin King’s castle!” “Misty, do not touch that emergency break!” Zipp said firmly. “If you do, we may never get there before midnight!” “If she doesn’t, I sure will!”  “Huh?!” Shaggy instantly regretted the decision to take on this mission-- he had to get the group off of this thing! So, he raced to the emergency brake and pulled it repeatedly. “Like, stop the train!” he cried. “We want off this loco locomotive!” “It’s true!” Hitch cried. “Sparky wants off this thing as much as we do, right little guy?” Sparky was merely giggling as he held up his arms, making Hitch chuckle. “D-Delayed fear reaction.” The brakes on the train immediately hissed as the train began to slow down to a stop, and Izzy hugged Scooby while he covered his eyes with his paws. Eventually, the train did stop, but there was one thing that they failed to anticipate-- the train stopped, and since it was in the sky, it started to fall! Our intrepid pony heroes and somewhat cowardly heroes screamed like there was no tomorrow by that point, and as the train reached the ground, its descent got slower, until it finally landed softly on the ground. Not wasting anymore time, Shaggy and Scooby staggered off the train and started kissing the ground, just as the ponies leapt out and flew out of the window to stand beside their friends. “Ha ha ha ha! Like, we made it, Scoob!” Shaggy cheered in relief. “We’re on the ground! The sweet, sweet ground!” “Whoo! What a rush!” Pipp cheered. “Yeah! Can we do that again?!!” Izzy asked excitedly. “Ugh…” Zipp groaned, shaking her head from the dizziness. “I would take my reaction and Shag and Scoob’s reaction and say… no way, Jose!” Luckily, Shaggy and Scooby were too busy kissing the ground to pay attention to the ponies’ conversations. But then, a burly man approached them looking cross, prompting Shaggy and Scooby to stop what they were doing. “You there,” he said to them in a British accent, hands on hips. “What you think you're doing, eh? Trying to sneak into my boneyard while my back was turned?” “Well, uh… here’s the thing, sir,” said Sunny, but even she began to stammer and lose her train of thought under the unsettling gaze the man was giving them. “Uh… help me out here, ponies!” The group was just about to help Sunny answer him when a puff of purple smoke engulfed them, and when it cleared, the four friends were back to their regular appearances. “I think our disguises have lost their charm!” Hitch said, and the group gasped as they looked themselves over-- what a time for the spell to wear off. “Ohh… couple of wise-acres, eh?” the man challenged. “Believe me, laddies, you don't want to see my bad side.” Misty gulped and whispered over to Sunny. “What bad side do you think he’s talking about?” Suddenly, before Sunny could answer, the man's appearance began to change drastically-- his hands and feet became paws with claws, his mouth became a muzzle, a tail stuck out from behind, and to top it all off, he let out a fearsome howl that signified only one thing-- he was a werewolf! The ponies screamed along with Shaggy before they managed to get hold of themselves, Sunny using her alicorn magic to create a barrier around the group while Scooby dove into the back of Shaggy’s shirt, trembling out of fear. “Like, this being your bad side?” Shaggy asked. The wolf then roared before lifting a paw up to knock them down. “Time for a late-night snack!” “Uh, hold on!” Izzy said, getting an out-of-the-box idea that might help them get out of this. “Y-You wouldn’t eat a fellow werewolf and his friends, would you?” “Huh?” the werewolf stopped his attempted attack in confusion, and even the other ponies looked at Izzy in surprise-- Shaggy was definitely no werewolf! But luckily, Shaggy saw where she was going. “Observe.” He then stuck his head and arms inside his shirt, and fidgeted Scooby around till his head and front legs were in place of his head and arms, making it look like turned into a werewolf. Scooby whimpered nervously for a moment as the werewolf sniffed him, but then after releasing a fearsome roar of his own, the werewolf chuckled. “Stone me-- it’s one of me own brethren!” he exclaimed, patting Scooby roughly on the back before leading him away. “Come on then. Come on.” The ponies stood there wide-eyed for a moment before they shook it off and followed their friends away. “Iz, how did you know that would work?” Sunny asked. “I didn’t,” Izzy shrugged. “I guess I just thought on my gut. But, let’s not worry about that now-- we have a job to do.” The ponies, with Sparky on Hitch's back, quickly followed after their disguised friends toward the structure nearby, and the werewolf opened up the bulky door for them. “Sorry about the rough reception, mate,” he said to Scooby with a chuckle. “Gotta keep the riff-raff out, don't we?” He pushed the disguised Scooby inside roughly, and he and Shaggy tumbled head-first into a stone pillar. Other than that, they weren't badly hurt. The ponies managed to slip past the werewolf and make it to their friends, thankful they were able to find a way inside. “Well, this isn’t going exactly the way I expected,” Zipp said, “but maybe we can find someone to help us get to the castle from here.” But the question was… who would be willing to help a group of total strangers find their way? Once the group picked Shag and Scooby onto their feet from the tumble, they heard the sound of music on the other side of the wall, and when they glanced around the corner they found that the structure was actually a bar, filled with all sorts of monsters. “Zoinks!” Shaggy cried. “Like, this is one whacked out watering hole!” “Yeah…” Pipp said after sniffing a bit. “A very smelly watering hole. Should we even be in here? I mean… we don’t have ANYTHING like this back home.” “Truth be told, I don’t like this place either,” Hitch said. “But unless we wanna wander around, hopelessly lost while trying to find the castle, we have no choice.” The ponies, Shaggy and Scooby knew that Hitch was right-- even their guts told them  they had to be brave… especially for their friends back home. “Okay, guys,” Sunny said quietly to her friends. “Uh… just be cool, and try and blend in.” “Yeah… be cool,” Scooby nodded with a gulp, and the group slowly advanced inside. Moving past monsters of different varieties, the ponies found themselves the eye of pretty much every monster there. “Excuse us…” Misty said politely. “Ooh, excuse us! Coming through! Happy Halloween!” “Yeah, yeah, sure, kid,” a skeleton brushed her off. “Just watch your hooves next time!” “Oh!” Pipp cried, surprised at how rude the skeleton was being to them. “I’ve never heard such bad--”  “Easy, Pipp,” Zipp told her sister. “Remember… blend in.” “Yeah, yeah, I know…” After moving past the crowd of monsters, the friends sat down to a nice young woman at the bar. “Like, great party, huh?” Shaggy laughed, and the woman turned to look at him with a sly little smirk, making Shaggy grow a little more confident. “So, uh… what's a nice ghoul like you doing in a place like this?” Just as the woman was about to respond, her eyes became a blood red, and her blonde hair became blonde snakes, hissing at the group menacingly, catching all of them off-guard. “ZOINKS!!” Shaggy cried out. “Uh, heh…” Zipp nervously spoke. “Forget we asked.” “Oookay then,” Sunny said to herself. “If everyone’s going to be so negative, then this is gonna be a lot harder than I thought.” Suddenly, an upbeat jazzy tune began to play from the band on the other side of the room, and every monster in the bar decided to sing along.  Skeleton: Gather round, you’re underground So listen to our song We can rock this joint till dawn If you sing along (Hey!) What goes bump in the night? All: We go bump in the night Skeleton: This time of year, the coast is clear To cause a terrible fright All: We go bump in the night! Ghost: It’ll be out of sight Girl Vampires: We come out for a bite Monsters: Tonight, we toast To ghouls and ghosts Who haunt the pale moonlight Whoo! Skeleton: What goes bump in the night? All: We go bump in the night! Monsters: (unintelligible muttering) All: We go bump in the night! During the middle of the song, Shaggy, Scooby, Sparky and all six ponies had been spooked into leaping right into the dancing line. But after a minute, they weren’t scared at all… it was actually fun! But, dancing would have to come later-- they had a job to do. Monster 1: So, if you’re new Monster 2: Here’s what you do… Monster 3: Take your turn and sing! Shaggy: Like, anybody know the way To the castle of the Goblin King? All of a sudden, the entire bar fell completely silent, and the group were being stared at with wide eyes-- one of the skeleton’s jaws even dropped… literally. “GOBLIN KING?!” the monsters shrieked before they screamed and ran in different directions-- all of the directions being an exit to the bar. Like his comrades, Shaggy was beyond confused. “Like, was it something we said?”