//------------------------------// // Case Closed at Last/Finding Courage is the Key // Story: G5 Adventures in Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare // by ponydog127 //------------------------------// Finally... the case of all the Camp Little Moose hauntings had finally been closed. The authorities had been called, and soon, Ranger Knudsen and BabyFace Borretti were in handcuffs. Once Velma had told him everything about what happened in the jail cell, Fred could not believe what he had just heard. “I can't believe Deacon was really BabyFace Boretti!” “Believe me, we had no idea either,” Hitch admitted. “But he certainly knew how to play us.” “After BabyFace broke out of prison...” Zipp began to explain, “...he teamed up with Ranger Knudsen to find LaRue's treasure.” “Knudsen wore the Fishman costume as cover to search the lake for the lost town using the stolen sonar equipment,” Velma continued. “But with the solstice approaching and us showing up,” Sunny realized, “they had to step up their game.” “Exactly!” Zipp said with a smile. “Boretti posed as a camper named Deacon, acting as an inside man. That's why Deacon kept trying to get us to leave.” “He wasn't afraid of the Woodsman...” Glory said, piecing the clues together. “He needed us gone so they could blow the dam!” “Right,” Velma nodded. “But when we found that RV, they realized we were getting close. So Knudsen brought the Specter to life to try and scare us off for good.” “Like, I've got one question,” Shaggy said curiously. “How did Knudsen make the Specter fly?” That's when Sunny and Trudy seemed to come up with the same answer at the same time. “Zip line!” “We would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling kids,” BabyFace Borretti sneered. “And those pesky ponies too.” “Hey!” Peach Fizz said, offended. While the other Pippequeaks tried to console her, Jessica approached Fred to talk to him about something. “Fred... I just wanted to say...” Fred immediately shushed her to prevent her from speaking, having a speech of his own in mind. “Jessica... this thing between you and me, it could never work. You're Big Moose, I'm Little Moose. We're just too different. I'm sorry.” However, what Fred thought Jessica was going to say was completely different to what Jessica ACTUALLY said. “I was just gonna say thanks again for saving my life.” Fred felt his face flush up in embarrassment. “Oh. Oh, that thing. Sure, you're welcome.” As Jessica walked away, Daphne couldn't help but smirk at the blonde-haired boy. “Smooth. Real smooth.” XXXXXXXX At the same time, Ranger Knudsen looked at Velma from the police car with a pleading look. “Wait for me?” “In your dreams, Knudsen,” Velma crossed her arms just before the police car drove away. Luckily, Zipp was there to approach Velma and provide some sort of comfort. At that same moment, Burt came over to Jessica with a new problem. “What are we gonna do? I got a lake with no camp and you got a camp with no lake!” “Maybe there's a way we can rebuild the camps to make them even better,” Misty said. “But how...?” That's when Scooby seemed to get an amazing idea, whispering it to Shaggy and the Pippsqueaks, causing Seashell to smile in response. “Scooby-Doo, that's perfect! Scooby said that it would take some time, but you could combine the two camps to make one big megacamp that everyone would love coming to! We could call it... Camp Little Big Moose!” “That’s brilliant!” Jessica exclaimed with a smile. “What an amazing idea!” “Hey... thanks again for saving all of us back there, Pippsqueaks,” Trudy told the fillies. “What you did back there was--” “Totally amazing!” Luke interrupted. “You three are just as big of heroes as Sunny and the others!” “Well... I don't know about that...” Peach Fizz said with a blush. “Actually... I think that Luke is right this time,” Sunny smiled. “You three proved yourselves to be brave, smart, kind and willing to take action when the situation called for it. We're really proud of you.” The cutie marks of the Pippequeaks glowed at this, and only a few seconds later, a portal opened nearby, causing Zipp to sigh. “Well, that's our cue to head home. Thanks again for the adventure, everyone. Good luck with building Camp Little Big Moose!” “Wait a second,” Trudy said, stopping the ponies before they could leave. “What about the moving problem? The Pippsqueaks being separated from one another?” “Don't get your hoodie in a bunch, Trudy,” Glory winked. “Us Pippsqueaks have a plan to fix that.” After exchanging heartfelt good yes with their friends, the groups immediately parted ways, and the ponies set forth back into their own world. XXXXXXXX When the Mane 6 took the Pippsqueaks home to their families, the second they reached the floor of the apartments, Seashell's mother, Glory's father and Peach Fizz's mother were at it again, each claiming that their daughter was missing and thought that they were hiding with another family. The Mane 6 seemed worried about this, but luckily... the Pippsqueaks had their own ideas in place on how to stop the fighting. First, it was Peach Fizz's time to speak... or in this case, scream at the top of her lungs. “STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP FIIIIIIIGHTIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!!!!!!!!!” At that very moment, Ocean Silk, Solar Charge and Amethyst Charm stopped their fighting and turned wide eyes to their stern looking daughters glaring at them. “Peach Fizz?” Amethyst asked in an appalled tone. “What have I told you about taking that kind of tone with me, young filly?” “If you were trying to get your mother's attention, wouldn't you do the same thing?” Amethyst tried to find some sort of words to scols her daughter, but instead, she stood there in stunned silence. “Well, I'm just glad you three are home,” Solar said before moving toward Glory. “Glory, let's get inside--” “No, Dad. I'm not going anywhere until you listen to me for once,” Glory slapped her father's hoof away. “I know you prefer living in Zephyr Heights, cause you feel closer to where you last saw Mom. I miss her too, but you said yourself that we needed a change of pace. But... I like it here, more than anywhere else in the world!” “Me too, Mama,” Peach Fizz spoke. “You keep teaching me to do what you do and be a dignified filly, but I wanna go and have fun with my friends, and I... I wanna go camping! Have real fun with you and... I want us to be a real family.” “And Mom, I know you want me to be happy, and I love you more than anything else in the world,” Seashell told her mother. “And I know that you only yell when you're trying to protect me, but... I don't need you to protect me from standing up for myself. What we're trying to say is...” “None of us want to be without one another!” the Pippsqueaks exclaimed. “And if you wanna leave, you can go without us!” All three parents were stunned into silence, carefully considering each filly and her words. Turns out... they knew that their daughters were right. They had been putting themselves before their daughters' happiness, and it made them feel completely horrible. Ocean Silk approached her daughter with regretful eyes. “Oh, my precious little Seashell... I'm so sorry for what we put you through today.” “I am too, my little firework,” Solar apologized to Glory. “I guess I'm just a little too... hot-headed sometimes, and I need to learn how to control that. I never really meant to hurt you by what we said.” “...I guess I was just trying to raise you like my mother raised me, and... I can see I've gone the wrong way about doing so,” Amethyst told Peach Fizz. “If you really want us to be a better mother-daughter duo, go camping and... not move back to Bridlewood... then, I think we should stay here and try and figure all of this out.” “I agree,” Glory's father spoke up. “We're not going anywhere.” “We'll all try our best to do better,” Ocean Silk then promised. “You have our word.” The Pippsqueaks each hugged their parents in happiness while the Mane 6 looked on from afar. Now, all they had to wonder about was if Camp Little Big Moose was going to be a success. XXXXXXXX Camp Little Big Moose was opened a few weeks later, after the ponies had gone back to Equestria, and needless to say, everyone was thrilled with all the changes that had been made. Faster zip lines, cabins made out of the houses in Moose Creeks, a bigger lake for activities... you name it, they did it. One particular night, Burt and Jessica had gathered the campers and Mystery Incorporated around the campfire to tell their version of the Woodsman story. “He wouldn't stop searching for LaRue's treasure,” Burt spoke. “He'd sneak out every night and scour the depths of the lake. Ranger Knudsen was driven mad by greed.” “They say he still wanders these woods with an ax... completely out of his mind,” Jessica told the frightened campers. “They call him...” “...the Woodsman!” By the end of the story, an evil laugh filled the air, and everyone screamed as a dark figure emerged from the woods. “It's the Woodsman!!” one of the boys yelped. “No, it's not,” Daphne said with a chuckle. “It's only...” Scooby ripped off his Woodsman disguise, revealing his true self to the campers. “Scooby-Dooby-Booooooo!!!! Hee hee hee hee hee hee!!” Finally, another mystery was solved, but don't worry... ...there are going to be many more adventures with our pony heroes just around the corner. All you have to do is wait till the time is right.