Vincent Van Ghoul and his young flying leopard apprentice guided the group, who were slightly shaken after their encounter with Asmodeus, into the castle sitting room, where Kova flew into the room, pushing a cart of tea, cakes and cookies into the room. “Here you go. I always prepare some snacks for me and Vincent, but I always make way too many for just both of us-- help yourselves.”
“Aww, well aren't you just the sweetest?” Queen Haven said as she took her tea cup from the cart. “Thank you, Kova.”
The group did the same, munching cookies and cakes and sipping tea for a few moments before Kova turned to her mentor. “I think the best place to start would be from the beginning, sir. Long before you met Shaggy, Daphne and Scooby here.”
“A very good point, my young apprentice,” Vincent said, sitting in his chair with a heavy sigh. “It was all my fault...”
XXXXXXXX
“Through here.”
A younger Vincent guided a younger Mortifer through the dark tunnels until their destination was finally in sight. “King Solomon's private vault.”
Mortifer and Vincent ran toward the entrance at the top of the stairs, where Vincent inspected all of the markings on the door before finding one shaped like a demon. Upon seeing it, he gently pressed on it, causing a chain reaction that caused the wall to raise, revealing a giant stone coffin on the other side.
And Vincent knew what this was immediately. “The Chest of Demons!”
Vincent and Mortifer immediately ran toward the coffin, and Vincent slid his crow bar underneath the lid, and moved it until he felt his crow bar impact something on the inside. “I think I hit something.”
Together with Mortifer, they lifted the lid off, revealing the small red chest with the demon carved in the lid... the thing they had saught after for a long time.
Mortifer easily helped Vincent to carry the chest out of the coffin, excited and overjoyed. “One of the most important archaeological discoveries in history. Vincent, we are going to be famous!”
However, Vincent's next response surprised Mortifer greatly. “No. It's too dangerous. The chest exists. The demon chest in which Solomon trapped the 13 ghosts that plagued the ancient world. The evil contained in this box was never meant to be released.”
Suddenly, as he moved his hand toward the lock, Vincent froze in realization. “Vincent?” Mortifer questioned. “What's wrong?”
“The lock. The crow bar must have--”
But the chest immediately opened, flinging Mortifer and Vincent back and letting all of the 13 ghosts fly out into the world, free to plague the world once more.
XXXXXXXX
At the end of the story, the group was in stunned silence for a few moments... like they were living every moment that Vincent had told them of.
Finally, Fred decided to speak. “So... what happened?”
“Mortifer and I tracked down and trapped all 13 of the ghosts in the Chest of Demons. And that's where they remained,” Vincent said, looking at Shaggy and Scooby with a slight glare, “until these two let them out.”
“Shaggy? Scooby?” Zipp raised an eyebrow at this. “Is that true?”
“Like... maybe...?” Shaggy gulped. “But it was a totally total accident! Honest!”
“We know, guys, we know,” Alphabittle told them reassuringly. “Even though Haven and I have only known all of you for a short time, we sense that you're good people.”
“And I didn’t doubt either of you for a second,” Queen Haven said. “And at least 12 of the ghosts have been captured in that chest.”
“So who did they turn out to be?” Velma asked, turning to Daphne. “Crooked real estate agents? Disinherited step-children? Vengeful lighthouse keepers?”
“Velma, we keep telling you,” Daphne said, “they're real ghosts and they're all really dangerous!”
“Uh-huh.”
“And the last ghost is still on the loose,” Kova said, getting up from her perch. “Asmodeus... the 13th, and like Allura, very evil and very powerful.”
“How I had hoped he'd vanish from this realm for good,” Vincent said, looking toward the fiery flames in front of him. “I faced him once before, of course... but Mortifer was by my side then.”
Pipp felt the sadness within Vincent's words, feeling the need to ask one important question. “Whatever happened to Mortifer? I-If you don't mind me asking.”
Vincent was silent for a few moments, looking toward the flames before sadly responding. “We said we would protect the chest with our lives... and that's what he did, brave soul. He paid for my foolishness then just as you're paying for it now.”
“Oh, Vincent... I'm so sorry...” Queen Haven said with a frown. “I know how horrible it must feel to lose someone you love... whether a best friend... or the king you planned to share your life with.”
Pipp and Zipp looked toward their mother and then each other... it had been a long time since their mom had talked about their dad... not since he passed all those years ago.
But they knew that the queen was just trying to help Vincent, so they had to respect their mother's methods.
Shaggy and Scooby approached Vincent and Queen Haven, with Shaggy looking toward a giant portrait hanging in front of the fireplace. “Like, speaking of paying, I hope this portrait was cheap,” Shaggy told Vincent. “It doesn't look anything like you.”
“Well, sticking around here jabbering would be a grave mistake,” Vincent advised before moving to the center of the room. “We have to get to the Himalayas before Asmodeus finds the chest.”
“Well, that would be great,” Hitch said, “but how are we gonna get there in that sort of time-frame?”
“The way pegasi and flying leopards have done it for centuries,” Kova smirked, unfolding her wings. “We fly.”
XXXXXXXX
Soon enough, Vincent had gotten everyone aboard his bat-like jet plane, taking off into the sky toward the Himalayas.
Zipp had decided to go to the front and see if the pilot needed any help (since she flew the Marestream quite often), and this left the others to relax in the back.
Scooby acted as a flight attendant and wheeled a cart full of snacks around, stopping in front of Fred to give him a snack and a refreshment. “Uh, cran-apple please.”
Scooby handed Fred his drink before holding up two small bags. “Peanuts or cookies?”
“Uh… one of each?”
“Oh my…” Scooby dropped the snacks in Fred’s lap with a huff before moving onto the rest of the passengers. “This sure is a neat jet, Mr. Van Ghoul,” Fred told Vincent, who was sitting beside him with Kova. “Thank you, Fred,” Vincent smiled. “You'd think I paid dearly for it. But you'd be wrong… dead wrong. Ha ha ha ha…”
Misty squeaked as thunder and lightning came from beside the plane and out of nowhere, causing her father to comfort her gently. “Easy, Tea, you’re safe now.”
“I know,” Misty nodded, “but… thunder kinda creeps me out. Reminds me of being... you know... locked away in Opaline's castle on stormy nights.”
Alphabittle frowned in concern when Misty said this. “You still think about that, huh?”
“I try not to, because I have you, and my mom, and Queen Haven and all my friends, plus Opaline is gone forever now, but… it’s hard sometimes.”
At the same time, Fred was talking to Daphne, feeling a lot better about himself and his role at the moment. “See, Daphne? I don't mind being chauffeured. As long as it's a highly-skilled professional at the wheel.”
“Uh-huh,” Daphne smirked. “Say, has Zipp introduced you to the pilot yet? If not, you should go up and say hello.”
Fred smiled at this… getting to know the pilot might be a good move on his part. “Don’t mind if I do.”
He got out of his seat and moved toward the cockpit, knocking on the door and causing a voice that wasn’t Zipp’s to answer. “Like, come on in!”
Fred blinked… he knew that voice! “Shaggy?”
When he opened the door, he was shocked not to see Zipp flying the plane, but Shaggy flying it instead! “Shaggy?!”
“It’s Captain Rogers up here, young man,” Shaggy spoke with a rather confident smile. “Not for vanity, but because when you got 10 tons of steel and the lives of every passenger in your hands, it's best to think of yourself as the office, not the man.”
Zipp only chuckled from the co-pilot's seat. “Are you sure it isn't a little bit for vanity?”
“Well...” Shaggy said with a chuckle. “Okay, maybe a little bit for vanity.”
That's when Scooby entered the cockpit with his cart, causing Shaggy to clear his throat. “Uh, stewardess?”
Scooby glanced down at him with a frown. “That’s flight attendant.”
Zipp couldn't help but try and keep her laughter bottled in. “Whatever you say, toots. And you might wanna lose the makeup... kinda makes you stand out... if that’s even possible...!”
“Hoo hoo hoo hoo! Nice!” Shaggy laughed, high-fiving her and causing Fred to back up right into his seat much to Daphne and Pipp's amusement. “What’s the matter, Freddy boy?” Pipp asked. “Not comfortable with somepony else at the helm?”
“Well, no-- I-I mean, yes... I mean, oh I don't know what I mean!”
Hitch chuckled as he approached with Sparky. “Boy, Freddy, I didn’t realize this before, but like me, you are not a fan of change.”
At the same time, Velma and Sunny were talking to Vincent and Kova from their seats. “One thing’s bugging me, Vincent,” Velma spoke up. “Castle Van Ghoul…”
“The rigged shudders?” Vincent smirked. “The recorded howling?”
“Uh, yeah, that’s right!” Sunny said. “How did you know about that?”
“Oh, that’s just the alarm system Vincent rigged up,” Kova said. “Keeps all unwanted guests away.”
“I knew it!!” Velma practically leapt from her seat in excitement, and this caused Sunny and Kova to glance at her strangely, which caused Velma to correct herself. “Not that it wasn't convincing. But ghosts aren't real.”
“I wish that were true,” Vincent said as Scooby passed some sleeping masks around. “But fear not, Velma, before we are finished, I promise you will change your mind about ghosts and goblins.”
But, Velma merely scoffed at the thought. “Never!”
“Well, I definitely wanna catch up on sleep,” Pipp said with a yawn before turning to her mother. “Right, Mom?”
But when she turned she found Queen Haven and Alphabittle already fast asleep, and Misty giggled a bit. “Let them sleep… we have a long day ahead tomorrow, and we need our energy.”
XXXXXXXX
Later that night, while everypony else was fast asleep in their chairs, Izzy stirred to hear footsteps walk past her, her eyes slowly opening.
When she finally got a good look, she noticed that Kova had snuck to the back of the plane, holding something within her paws and... looking rather sad.
This was enough to get Izzy rather concerned, and this got the unicorn to get up and approached her. “What’s up, Kova-Nova?”
Kova gasped in surprise, but when she saw it was Izzy, she relaxed a bit. “Oh... Izzy, it's you.”
“Of course it's me!” Izzy said, sitting beside her. “Who did you think it would be? Some sort of long lost relative you haven’t seen in many moons?”
As Izzy giggled at her own antics, she saw that Kova was looking down at the ground, causing Izzy to immediately stop laughing. “Oh… d-did… did I say something wrong?”
“No… it’s okay,” Kova shrugged off quickly. “It was a long time ago when it happened, I barely remember it anyway.”
“...remember what? I’m your friend, Kova,” Izzy said softly, putting her hoof on Kova’s shoulder. “And friends can tell each other things.”
“...you really mean that?” Kova asked hesitantly. “You won’t… tell anypony else yet, will you?”
“I unicorn-y flake promise to not tell anypony until you tell me to.”
Kova sighed before taking out the object she had been fiddling with her paws and handing it to Izzy. When Izzy got a closer look at it… she was curious and in awe all at once.
It seemed to be a necklace of sorts, with a linen rope and at the end, there was a crystal fragment that glowed in the dim light.
After a moment or two, Kova spoke up. “My brother and I have matching necklaces that our parents gave us before they... before Allura banished them from the colony, shortly after she and her brother discovered that they were starting an uprising against them.”
“Oh... I'm so sorry,” Izzy frowned in concern. “So... who raised you and your brother in the meantime?”
“Our grandfather, Percius,” said Kova. “He was greatly respected in the colony... well, at least until my brother got banished...”
“Why would he get banished?”
Kova hated to be reminded of that horrible day... but in order for Izzy to understand, she needed to explain the entire story. “After our parents got banished, my brother Aveen worked day and night to track all the possible locations they could have gone to, and tried to rally all the leopards in the colony in a search party to find them, many of them knowing that my parents were just trying to save them. Things were going really well... until Twitch, Allura's little rabbit minion, caught word of what he was doing.”
Izzy shuddered at that. “Twitch always gave me the willies!”
“Me too,” Kova nodded. “Once he told Allura and her brother what Aveen was planning, they chased Aveen out of the village, and... Allura dropped Aveen's necklace at my paws, claiming that he 'would never be a hindrance again'.”
Tears began to form in her eyes, causing her to quickly try and wipe them away. “Ever since Allura got banished, I tried to close myself off from caring about anyone, but... ever since Vincent took me in as his apprentice, that plan kinda backfired.”
“Oh, Kova... I'm so sorry...” Izzy said comfortingly. “That must have been horrible. I promise, this secret is safe with me. Hoof to heart.”
“...yeah. Hoof to heart,” Kova said, touching Izzy's hoof with her paw. “Come on... we better get back to bed.”
But as she laid down, suddenly, Kova suddenly had a question on her mind. “Izzy? How come you're giving off the aura that you understand exactly what I've been through?”
“...because everypony has at some point,” Izzy said simply in response, and that was the last thing to be said before the two friends retired for the night.
The next day, the Chest of Demons would be found, Asmodeus would be reimprisoned and everything would be right as rain...
...or so they hoped.