It was an hour or so after their impact with the ground that the group finally began to wake, opening their eyes and sitting up quickly, with Shaggy and Scooby crashing into each other in the process. “Oooh…” Mystique groaned. “That’s gonna leave a mark in the morning.”
“Is everypony okay?” Sunny asked, looking around at her friends. “Ugh… other than falling from the sky after being blasted with goblin green fire,” Hitch said, cradling Sparky in his hooves, “we’re fine.”
Sparky nodded at this before his eyes widened at a spectacular sight. And once everyone got over the pain from their crash landing, they looked around their surroundings and gasped at what Sparky saw.
They seemed to be in a brightly lit forest, the trees as tall as small buildings. And a bright golden glow seemed to echo from everything in that small grove, making it seem almost… magical...
...on an Equestrian level that even the Mane 6 had never even seen before!
After staring in awe for a few moments, Shaggy gulped. “Like… are we dead?”
“Whoo…” Pipp got up, flapping her wings to get a better vantage point. “But if we are dead… I think I would actually like this side of heaven.”
“Of course you’re not dead!” giggled a male voice before a female voice giggled afterwards. “You big sillies!”
“W-Who… who just said that?” Misty asked nervously as the group gathered around. “Stay close, everypony,” Sunny whispered. “I have a feeling we’re not alone.”
The group looked around for a few moments, wondering where the voices were coming from before Shaggy turned and saw a fairy dressed in green in front of his face. “Name’s Sparkplug!”
“AHH!!” Shaggy fell back in surprise. Suddenly, a small breezie with clear wings, a dark purple body with purple eyes and a shimmering purplish-white mane and tail appeared in front of Misty with a cheerful smile. “I’m Night Glow!”
“EEK!!” Misty shrieked and jumped back into the other ponies, causing them to fall in a huge heap, just as a yellow fairy appeared on Scooby’s head. “I’m Honeybee!” she greeted, prompting Scooby to duck, he and his best friend trembling in fear. “And I’m Tiddlywink,” said a fairy in pink as they uncovered their eyes. “Welcome to the City of the Fairies and Breezies of the Spirit World.”
With that being said, Tiddlywink flew throughout the city, causing tiny lights inside the tree to ignite. “Whoa… like, either we're really seeing this,” said Shaggy, “or we REALLY hit our heads when we fell.”
“No… we’re seeing this,” Sunny said with a soft smile. “And it’s beautiful!”
“Sorry if we scared you,” Night Glow apologized. “I’ve just never seen other Equestrian creatures besides myself and the other breezies in the city before. We... don't really leave much.”
“It’s okay,” Izzy chirped. “We’re just as surprised as you that there are breezies here! And they can talk, like Brushfire!”
“You know Brushfire? I've been looking all throughout the city for her-- she's one of my best friends! Where is she?” Night Glow asked. “Is she okay?”
“Well…, she's fine...” Zipp hesitated, scratching the back of her neck nervously, “...but... that’s the thing.”
But as they conversed, Honeybee suddenly gasped at something she saw. “Look over here!” she said. “Your broomstick…”
The group looked over and saw a saddening sight-- Broomy was badly damaged in the fire, and bent out of shape from the impact when they landed. “Oh no!” Shaggy exclaimed as Mystique’s ears pinned sadly. “Poor Broomy…”
“Brooomy!!!” Scooby wailed while everyone else hung their heads in sadness. What were they gonna tell the witches after all this? It would be pretty obvious that they would think twice before trusting them again. “Don’t worry,” Sparkplug let out a whistle. “A little fairy and breezie magic will have him fixed up in no time.”
With that, several fairies and breezies of different colors flew from the trees and lifted Broomy up and into the forest to be repaired. “Wow, ha ha! Who knew fairies and breezies could be so friendly?” Mystique wondered. “Of course!” Sparkplug answered. “We fairies use only good magic,” Tiddlywink explained, “balancing out all the bad magic used by the Shadow Goblins.”
“But tonight, the balance is shifting,” Night Glow said with a frown. “I fear something terrible is happening,” Honeybee added. “We know all about it,” Shaggy said. “If we can catch a lift to the Goblin Castle, we may be able to stop it.”
The ponies spared Shaggy a confused look, causing him to blink. “What?”
“Sorry, sorry!” Zipp apologized. “We just… never heard you sound so confident before.”
“Yeah,” Misty nodded. “It’s a good fit for you and Scooby.”
Shaggy and Scooby smiled, realizing they were right… they had become a little more confident... and surprisingly, they loved the new feeling it brought. “We can show you the way, but you’ll never get inside!” Honeybee crossed her arms, interrupting the tender moment, and Tiddlywink nodded at this. “The castle will be crawling with guards for the Goblins’ Rave.”
“G-G-G-Goblins’ Rave?” the group gulped nervously. “Yeah, she’s right-- you’ll never get in,” Sparkplug said. “It’s totally the biggest party of the year.”
“You don’t say?” Shaggy then chuckled. “If there’s one thing we know how to do, it’s crash a party!”
“Yeah,” Scooby giggled. “Okay… I trust you on that. But now that the whole Goblins’ Rave thing is sorted, we can lead you there,” Night Glow said, pointing into the distance. “It’s just across the Dark Swamp and into the Goblin Graveyard.”
“D-D-Dark Swamp? B-B-But… do we have to go across that way?” Mystique then asked. “It is the only way to get there without you getting hurt,” Sparkplug shrugged, causing the black earth pony filly to shudder nervously. “That's what I was afraid of…”
“Mystique? What’s wrong?” Pipp asked, causing the filly to gulp with hesitancy. “Well… the thing is… I’m afraid of the dark.”
“Oh… so that’s why you’re so nervous,” Mindy frowned. “I’ve been trying to get over it, but there’s one thing that helps,” Mystique admitted. “My mom's special song.”
Then, Mystique took a deep breath before she began to sing in a soft tone.
Hey there, filly, don't you fear
Remember that your friends are near
“Aww… that’s a nice song,” Scooby smiled. “My mom always sang it to me when I was afraid,” Mystique said. “And… I do feel some better. So… I guess I’m ready.”
“That’s the spirit, Mystique!” Sunny smiled. “And who knows? Maybe the Dark Swamp isn’t as dark as you think.”
XXXXXXXX
But boy, was Sunny ever wrong-- it was so dark in that swamp that no one could see a thing. The moon had been covered by the clouds, so their only light source was gone. “Okay…” the earth pony/alicorn mare said hesitantly. “The Dark Swamp? Really dark.”
“So… how do we get across? And see our way across without falling in there?” Nita asked, looking down at the water close to them. “There should be a batch of glowing mushrooms around in the water, with a big one that, with special Halloween fire, activates them at the end,” Tiddlywink frowned. “But it’s fire is gone.”
“And I can’t see it in the dark! What are we gonna do?” Zipp asked. “Hmm…” Izzy said as Mystique nervously handled her fire. “If only there was somepony we knew who could handle this Halloween fire to light the mush-- MYSTIQUE!!”
Mystique yelped at the loud shout, and turned to see everyone facing her. “Oh… my fire, heh… that’s what it’s called?” she asked. “Heh… who knew?”
That’s when Misty thought of something, turning to the filly with a frown. “Sorry, Mystique,” she apologized, “but as the only one with fire power, you have to go first and light the way for the rest of us.”
“But, I can’t go out there… it’s dark!” Mystique featfully argued. “My friends won’t be near! I’ll be all by myself…”
“Even though you won’t be able to see us, you’ll be able to hear us,” Hitch countered. Looking at all her friends, the filly eventually sighed-- they were right… she had to do this. “Okay… I’ll try.”
“You can do this, Mystique!” Scooby encouraged as the little earth pony slowly stepped onto the bridge. And then, looking at one another, they decided to help boost Mystique’s confidence by singing the filly's special song.
All: Hey there, filly
Don’t you fear
Remember that your friends are near
Hearing her friends singing her mother’s song did help Mystique to move forward, even though she was still terrified, and the group decided to continue the song until she was across.
Zipp: Hey there, filly
Don’t you fear
Shaggy: Like, remember that your friends are near
Pipp: Just sing along to this little song
All: And feel it make you
Brave and strong…
Pipp and Sunny: (Brave and strong…!)
Mystique: The dark can be a scary thing
But it’s not so bad
When you start to sing
All: Hey there, filly
Don’t you fear
Remember that your friends are near
(Don’t you fear…)
Mystique: (spoken) I think it’s working!
I’m feeling braver with every step (Your friends are near)
Singing this song is really
Giving myself some pep (Don’t you fear)
Don’t you fear, don’t you fear
Don’t you--
Suddenly, the filly looked up and saw that she had arrived at the giant mushroom, not lit up and causing the swamp to be just as dark as it was.
Mystique: Hey, I think I’m here
Now all she had to do was turn the mushroom back on. “Lights on, Dark Swamp…”
With her hoof blazing in purple fire, she reached out and lit the mushroom by touching it, sending a signal to all the other mushrooms of the swamp, allowing them to glow with Halloween fire too.
Mystique: I did it!
Izzy: She turned the lights back on!
All: Our super problem’s now super gone
Mystique: And all it took was facing my fear
Remembering my friends are always here…
As soon as the mushroom was turned back on, the others made their way across the bridge, and Mystique's new friends gathered around her with hugs and smiles. “You did it!” Shaggy cheered. “Way to go!” Zipp encouraged. “Thanks for the extra confidence boost, guys,” Mystique said. “Even when I didn’t have it in myself.”
“We knew you could do it. So… does that mean your fear of the dark is gone?” Night Glow asked. “Well… I don’t know yet,” Mystique admitted. “But I do know you guys will always be near to help me. Come on… we still have a castle to get to, don’t we?”