//------------------------------// // Avalanches and Investigations (Part 1) // Story: G5 Adventures in Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost // by ponydog127 //------------------------------// The rest of that night seemed rather peaceful, with dreams of succeeding in defeating Asmodeus, being home in Equestria… a multitude of happy things. But we will soon see if these happy things were going to be a reality or not. As the sun slowly began to rise over the snowy mountaintops, Shaggy’s voice on the intercom system woke everybody up, causing many to remove their sleeping masks. “Like, ladies and gentlemen,” Shaggy announced, “this is Captain Rogers. We are now entering Himalayan airspace. If you look out to the right side of the plane, you'll see a ratty old haunted temple.” The group looked down at the temple Shaggy was speaking of through the window, Daphne humming in thought for a few moments. “Funny,” she muttered. “I don't remember seeing that courtyard the first time we flew in here. Of course, we were a little busy crash-landing at the time.” “Uh… crash-landing?” Alphabittle asked upon hearing this. “What was that about crash-landing?!” “Dad, remember, this was before we met the gang, so we couldn’t have been with them at the time,” Misty reminded. “We were still in Equestria.” “Oh… right, of course,” Alphabittle chuckled nervously. “I knew that.” “And even though crash-landing doesn’t sound ideal,” Queen Haven said, “it seemed that you made it out of there all right.” Zipp then came out of the cockpit with a smile. “All right, everypony, bundle up!” she exclaimed. “We should be landing in a few minutes, and then this Unity Quest can really get started!” XXXXXXXX Once the plane had landed, everypony got out of the plane, bundled up with winter clothing and warm fur… well, everyone except Fred, who was trying to drive the Miss-tery Machine out of the lower part of the plane, but it kept stopping abruptly every couple seconds... ...which was actually pretty funny. “Nope. Hang on, I got it,” Fred said through the open window. “This time. Oh! Ah... drat. Hang on, I got it, I got it this time! Drat.” “Does he always have this much trouble with the vehicles?” Alphabittle murmured to his daughter and her friends. “Not usually,” Zipp whispered back, honestly amused. “But it’s pretty fun to watch when he does struggle.” “Zephyrina…?” Queen Haven raised an eyebrow at her eldest daughter, making Zipp chuckle nervously. “Just kidding, Mom, just kidding!” At the same time, Vincent checked his phone for a few moments, but then turned back to the group with a grave expression on his face. “Daphne, my Air Boo n' Boo host just scream-mailed me back on my DiePhone. The package from Shaggy was never delivered by the ghostal service.” But, while Kova tried her best not to laugh at the puns, the others gave Vincent either a deadpan look or a confused expression. “What?” Kova asked. “One too many puns?” “Speaking from experience with dad jokes,” said Misty, “I’d say that was three too many.” “Maybe four,” Hitch agreed. “But… they were kinda funny at first.” Sparky babbled in agreement before Daphne looked around at the near empty airport with a frown on her face. “Where is everybody? It's a supernatural capital of the world!” “News reports say,” Velma explained after looking at a news website on her phone, “the whole village has been evacuated due to… ‘demon infestation’.” “Asmodeus!” Scooby, Misty and Izzy cried, looking at one another in panic. “But… how in the world did tall, red and creepy get here before us?” Alphabittle wondered. “We took a private jet, for pony’s sake!” “I don’t know, but we need to find the Chest of Demons,” Sunny said, “and fast!” “Yeah!” Zipp agreed. “Who knows what might happen if Asmodeus releases the rest of the ghosts from the chest!” “Hey,” Shaggy spoke up, looking in another direction. “Don’t we know that guy?” “Shaggy, have you got retro-grade amnesia or something?” Kova asked in sarcasm. “He’s the 13th ghost? We just ran into him at our castle?” “No, not him,” Shaggy said. “That guy, over there!” Shaggy was pointing over at a familiar man at the yogurt stand nearby, and suddenly, Queen Haven remembered where she saw him. “Come to think of it, I think that was one of the men at your garage sale!” “You’re right, your highness!” Daphne realized. “He was there!” “Oh, yeah, Bernie Alan,” Fred recalled as he approached. “I still have the check he bounced.” “And he’s here? Now?” Vincent said, raising his opera glasses to get a better look. “That’s quite a coincidence.” “In my experience, Vincent, there is no such thing,” Velma slapped Vincent on the back, making him drop his opera glasses to the ground. “My opera glasses!” “It may be my overprotective father instincts kicking in,” said Alphabittle, “but something in my gut is telling me that we need to keep a close eye on this Bernie Alan character.” “But no too close,” Daphne advised, “okay, gang?” But when the group looked again, Shaggy and Scooby had disappeared. “Huh?” Hitch looked around. “Where did they…?” “Take a better look, sheriff,” Zipp pointed over to Shaggy and Scooby, who were directly behind Bernie Alan at the frozen yogurt cart. And when he saw them, Bernie screamed and started running on the nearby path. “We've got a runner. Looks like he's headed for the temple,” Daphne said before giving orders. “Vincent, you, me, Kova and the boys are going to follow that tourist. Velma, Fred, take the Miss-tery Machine into town to look for Shaggy's…” After seeing Vincent’s excited face, Daphne let out a sigh. “Scare package.” “Daphne’s right,” Sunny said. “It's possible the post office has been holding on to it until further notice.” Vincent gasped at this. “But of course-- the dead letter office!” he realized before speaking in a sinister tone. “Mail goes in… but it never comes out! Mwah ha ha ha ha ha!” This caused the others to give him a deadpanned look. “Vincent, I care about you,” said Kova, “but now isn’t the time.” “Sorry,” Vincent apologized. “Force of havoc. Er, habit!” “Why don’t we all split up too?” Queen Haven suggested to the Equestrians. “That way we can provide our friends here with protection if the situation were to arise.” “Good idea, Mom,” Zipp said. “Hitch and I can go with Fred and Velma to the post office.” “And Izzy, me, Misty and Pipp will go with the others,” Sunny said. “Queen Haven, Alphabittle? Which group do you want to go with?” “I think Haven and I will go with Fred and Velma’s group,” Alphabittle said. “Going to a post office sounds nice and safe.” “Yes, as much as I care about you, girls,” Queen Haven told her daughters, “extreme danger is your thing, not mine.” Zipp chuckled a bit. “Sure, Mom.” “All right then,” Kova said. “If anyone needs anything, try to contact Pipp or Zipp. I just hope we find the Chest of Demons before anyone else does.” “Believe me,” Misty said. “We hope the same thing.” XXXXXXXX With Velma at the helm of the Miss-tery Machine, she and Fred led Hitch, Sparky, Zipp, Queen Haven and Alphabittle into the post office, which seemed strangely quiet. So quiet that Fred had to ring the front bell to try and get someone’s attention. “Hello?” But, there was no answer… just silence. “Excuse me, is anypony here?” Queen Haven called out. “The Queen of Zephyr Heights demands your presence!” “Mom, I don’t think that’s going to work,” Zipp frowned. “Seems like the post office is deserted too… just like the rest of the village.” “Do you think Asmodeus got here first?” Hitch asked. “And stole the Chest of Demons before we got here?” “Ohhhhh…” Sparky trembled, not liking the sound of that. “Maybe, Hitch,” Velma said. “But there still could be a chance that the chest is still here.” That’s when Queen Haven saw the door with a sign on it, reading ‘Dead Letter Office’. Remembering what Vincent said before, Queen Haven opened the gate to allow the group to pass through to the back. “Come on.” The group followed the queen into the back room, where many packages laid waiting on the shelves. “We laughed at Vincent, but he was right,” Fred shuddered as he looked around. “This place is creepy.” “The sooner we find Shaggy's box,” said Zipp, beginning to look at packages, “the sooner we can leave.” But as they began to move packages and look at the labels, they were unaware of the two sets of eyes watching them from the darkness. XXXXXXXX The remaining ponies, Kova, Vincent, Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby trudged through the snow as quietly as they could, trying not to startle Bernie Alan and give themselves away. Eventually, they caught up with him at an intersection of paths, and Bernie was looking at the map and the different paths, confused beyond measure. Misty honestly felt a twinge of sympathy for him, her ears folding. “He looks lost…” “I don’t fully understand what we’re doing,” Vincent spoke up. “Is this all because of a bounced check?” “No no, you said it yourself,” Daphne told Vincent. “It's a pretty strange coincidence this guy showed up here. I think he knows something we don't.” “But, instead of creepily following him to wherever he’s going,” said Kova, “why don’t we just ask him WHY he’s here?” “Like, the man’s a notorious check bouncer,” Shaggy answered. “We’d never get the truth!” “But… there has to be another way other than stalking him,” said Pipp with a sigh. “Oh, if only Zipp was here… she would be able to come up with something genius to get the truth out of him.” But as Pipp said the word ‘truth’, Scooby began to get an idea. “Unless…” He whispered his idea to Shaggy, who lit up at the idea. “Hey, that’s right!” he said before turning to Vincent. “Vincent old buddy, why don't you cast a truth-telling spell on him? That ought to get us some answers.” “He can do that?” Misty asked with wide eyes. “He’s one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world!” Kova bragged. “Of course he can, right, Vincent?” “Right, of course!” Vincent said with some hesitation. “Um… let me see…” Suddenly, there came a strange rumbling sound, to which Daphne heard immediately. “Did you hear something?” “Oh, like, that's just Scooby's stomach,” Shaggy clarified. “He hasn't eaten anything in over seven minutes.” Scooby’s stomach growled as emphasis, causing the ponies and Kova to look at them with rolled eyes and smiles. “No, I believe I heard it too,” Vincent spoke up. “It came from down the road.” But when the group looked to the intersection of paths, they discovered that Bernie had vanished from sight. “Oh no!” Sunny cried. “He’s gone, and there are no tracks for us to follow!” “Come on,” Daphne urged. “We have to find--”  Then, all of a sudden, there came another growling sound, and Scooby automatically assumed that it was his stomach again. “Excuse me.” “No, Scoob!” Misty said. “I think this time, Daphne is right!” “It wasn’t you!” Shaggy added out of fear. “It… it was…!!!” The same sound appeared again, and this caused Shaggy and Scooby to hug each other in fear and for Sunny to spark her alicorn form again, in case it was something dangerous. When the group realized that the sound was getting louder, everyone turned to see the same black car that tried to run them off the side of the mountain earlier was just a little higher on the hill above them. Daphne was first to let out an audible groan. “You gotta be kidding me…” “EEK!!!” Izzy cried. “It’s that driverless car again!” “Like, RUN!!” Shaggy shrieked. “Wait,” Daphne stopped anyone from moving. “This is crazy. First the guy from our garage sale shows up, now the car that tried to run us off the road on our way to find Vincent? What's the connection?” “Maybe he's just a big fan of us but doesn’t want us to know about it, so he tried to kill us to cover it up...?” Izzy asked, causing Pipp and Misty to stare at her in surprise. “What? It could happen!” “I don't know about all that,” Kova responded with some hesitancy, “but I do know there's a bigger question that needs a bigger answer.” Scooby grew more and more nervous as he heard the car's engine revving louder and louder. “What’s that?” Kova narrowed her eyes at the car, wings spread wide. “Why isn’t that car coming toward us right now?” “You know... that's a good question,” Sunny said curiously. “If it was really wanting to after us, it would have come by now.” Suddenly, as the car continued to rev, and as it shot out green flames from its tailpipes, the snow behind the car and the snow toward the top of the mountain began to crack and move toward them at an alarming pace. “Oh no...” Misty trailed off. “All that motor revving! He was starting an...” “AVALANCHE!!!!!!” everyone screamed out of panic not wanting to get severely flattened. “Say, Daph,” Shaggy then spoke in a relatively and strangely calm voice, “like, nowcan we...?” “RUN!!!” Daphne shrieked before they all bolted, running for a short ways before they began sliding down the mountain at top speed, trying to escape the massive amounts of snow and ice heading their way. XXXXXXXX Back at the post office, the search for Shaggy’s package was going nowhere, and many members of the group were beginning to get tired and frustrated... ...Velma especially. “I don't think we'll ever finish checking all these labels.” “Well, we definitely won't if we have an attitude like that,” Alphabittle said, nudging her. “It’s like I always told Misty, 'if you think about the worst outcome, those thoughts will surely be your result.” “Alphabittle is right. Don't give up, Velma. You can do it,” Fred tried to encourage. “Velma, Velma, Velma!” This got the ponies blinking in confusion as Fred continued his little... routine. “V-E-L-M-A. She's the one who...” “...why are you doing that and risking your chances at embarrassment?” Hitch asked with a raised eyebrow, and this led Fred to sigh sadly. “You're right. I don't know what my role is anymore...” “Huh?” Before anything else could be said, however, a pile of boxes behind them fell over, meaning one thing and one thing only... someone else was in there with them. “Okay,” said Velma, “that was weird.” “Hitch and I will go and check it out,” Fred offered. “We will?!” Hitch blinked, causing Fred to glance at him. “Oh! Oh yeah, right... we will.” But before they could move, however, Queen Haven flew in their path to stop them. “Wait! I've watched movies like this with Cloudpuff back in Zephyr Heights-- this feels like the right moment to insert a trap!” “No offense, Queen Haven,” Fred spoke as he pushed past her, “but I think I would know whenever I was walking into a...” Suddenly, a net sprung up from around Fred, hoisting him up into the air, much to his own surprise. “...oh...” “Gotcha!” At the sound of this voice, the group stood ready for some sort of attack, and from the shadows appeared to be a darker-skinned teenager with black hair and wearing a yellow hoodie. Beside of him was a flying leopard much like Kova, but a different color scheme-- this leopard had pink fur with dark pink swirls as her spots, a white underbelly, teal eyes and pink and teal feathers on her wings. Needless to say, neither of them looked happy to see intruders, and Velma was first to rush forward with a gasp while Queen Haven and Zipp got Fred down from the trap. “What’s going on here?”