G5 Adventures in Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob

by ponydog127

Paradise's Reform/Misty's Worst Nightmare Come True

Soon after she and Morgan had left with Shaggy and Misty, the spell Opaline put over Fred wore off, and everyone gathered at the top of the balcony to see if they could spot any sign of the two wicked sorceresses with their friends.

While Izzy tried to clear her silent tears, Scooby was full on sobbing by this point, clearly worried sick that he would never see their friends again. “Don’t worry, Scoob,” Sunny assured gently. “We’ll get them back!”

“But how, Sunny?” Zipp wondered. “In case you haven’t noticed, Opaline is getting a lot stronger now that she has some cutie marks!”

“Yeah!” Hitch looked down at his blank flank. “Mine included, and not to mention Platinum's and Phoenix's…”

“Guys, we have to be brave, and we have to have hope!” Sunny cried. “If we save Misty and Shaggy, maybe we can defeat Opaline and Morgan in the long run!”

“Well, whatever the plan is, we better hurry-- look!” Velma pointed at the picture on her phone, which was flickering in and out. “Our future is fading out of existence! If we don't find out where Misty and Shaggy went, we'll cease to be, creating a time paradox that will destroy both Equestria and this world!”

Scooby whimpered nervously at that, and Pipp nuzzled the Great Dane in comfort. That’s when Royal suddenly thought of something that could help. “Ooh! I think I know this one!” she exclaimed as raised her hoof. “Better yet... I know where they went. To Morgan's Keep-- not far from here. Really creepy.”

“And,” King Arthur added, “there’s a gauntlet of deadly traps before you can even get inside.”

“Did someone say traps?” Fred perked up while Sparky nervously clung to Hitch's leg. “D-Deadly traps…?!” Hitch gulped. “Mmm-hmm,” King Arthur nodded. “Deadly traps. Awesome. Good luck-- hope you get your mate back.”

“He’s your friend too,” Daphne said, and Royal Enchantment whole-heartedly agreed with this. “I don’t need a mate,” King Arthur scoffed. “I’m the king. I have… hoagies. Uh… hoagies!”

At the clap of his hands, his servants brought multitudes of hoagies for him to chow down on, while Scooby only looked annoyed and disgusted by the actions he displayed. “How could you eat at a time like this?”

“Yeah!” Zipp agreed with anger laced in her voice. “Even Scooby knows that when a friend’s in trouble, you drop everything for them.”

“Even snacks!”

“Especially snacks,” Sunny said. “Being a good friend means you’ll support your friends whenever they need you, and right now, Shaggy and Misty need us! You may not care about Misty, but Royal does! And think about Shaggy! How would you feel if you were in trouble and your friend wouldn’t come for you?”

“I told you,” King Arthur turned away. “Shaggy’s not my…”

But then, the king got to thinking about all the good times that he and Shaggy had while watching the tournament, slowly coming to a realization. “Shaggy is my mate… or the closest thing I’ve got to one,” he realized, dropping his sandwich on the balcony floor. “My whole life is a lie!”

The ponies couldn’t help but frown at the sight of the king crying, but then Fred decided to speak up. “So, you’ll join the Scooby Gang and Unity Squad while we rescue them?”

“No, are you mad?” King Arthur stopped sobbing immediately and crossed his arms. “I’m not leaving this castle without a bunch of knights.”

But when Pipp looked down at the knights in the arena, he realized many of them were banged up from their fights with Daphne. “Uh, slight problem with the knights, guys… I think Daph broke ‘em all!”

“Awww, dang it!” Zipp cried. “How are we gonna save our friends now?!”

“Well… I know where Morgan’s Keep is, so I could take you there,” Royal offered. “But… it’s going to be very dangerous, and I’m not exactly sure where in that place the evil beings would be keeping your friends. So… without King Arthur coming with us, we’d be walking on thin ice…”

“I got it!” King Arthur said after getting an idea. “Um… kneel.”

The rest of the ponies, Scooby and the rest of the gang kneeled before the king and his pet lioness, and King Arthur tapped the shoulders of the group with his sword. “I, Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot, and the rightful wielder of Excalibur, do dub thee… Knights of the Round Table.”

The group stood up bravely and excitedly, ready to serve the king during their time rescuing Shaggy and Misty from the dreaded sorceresses. “Come on,” Royal bravely led them inside. “Let’s go save our friends. Phoenix and Platinum, watch the castle while we're gone!”

“You got it!”

“You can count on us!”

XXXXXXXX

“Uh-huh… yeah, I think this looks right…” Pipp said as she helped the gang and the king adjust their armor. “Yes, I think we got it!”

“Wowzers, Pipp!” Izzy said. “You really did pay attention to Phoenix’s armor arranging lesson!”

“Hey, what can I say? Me recording a video of her explaining really paid off! Right, Sunny?”

Sunny, however, wasn’t listening… she was instead thinking nearby and rubbing the heart locket she had gotten from the North Pole.

Scooby whimpered and approached her. “Sunny, is something wrong?”

“Maybe I’m just worrying for nothing, Scooby,” Sunny admitted, “but… I can’t believe that Paradise would bring Opaline back and let her daughter get taken.”

“Yeah, if I ever see her again,” Zipp said, “I have some words for her.”

“Believe me, Zipp… we all do,” Daphne said. “But we have to get to Morgan’s Keep and save them before Opaline and Morgan figure out we’re on a rescue mission.”

“...they’re too wrapped up in themselves to pay attention to anything else.”

Everyone gasped and turned to see Paradise enter the room, and all anger levels seemed to run through the roof. “YOU!!” Zipp snarled. “How can you be so… so cold-hearted?! Misty believed in you!”

“We all did!” Fred cried. “And you ruined that belief that Misty thought you could be good!”

“And, you let our friends be kidnapped without any consultation!” Pipp agreed. “Not cool… at all.”

Hitch handed his baby dragon to Izzy, who cradled Sparky in her hooves as he approached Misty's mother in anger. “Now… what do you have to say about THAT?!”

“I… I… I’m sorry…”

Suddenly, these simple words caught everypony offguard. “I’m sorry,” said Sunny, “but… what did you just say?”

“I’m sorry… you’re right,” Paradise said. “I am evil. And I am a monster. I didn’t know Moth-- I mean, Opaline was going to take Misty captive! Otherwise, I would have protested before that! That… that alicorn was all I had… she never showed me real love, and… I guess I listened to her twisted lessons of Equestria too much. Now, she’s on a path of world domination-- stealing the cutie marks of everypony in Camelot and all of Equestria! That’s why she’s stealing the cutie marks of you and your friends… she plans on opening a portal to Equestria once she gains enough power, and she plans on leaving you all here forever, without your cutie marks to help open a portal back!”

“Oh no…” Zipp spoke. “It’s way worse than we ever thought!”

“I just want you to know that… after today, I’m not serving that monster anymore,” Paradise said, tears pouring down her face. “And… please tell Misty that… I’m so sorry. For leaving her as a filly… for serving Opaline… for everything…”

“You can tell her yourself,” said Sunny gently, “because you’re coming with us.”

This left Sunny's friends in shock. “WHAT?!”

“Guys, she’s right,” Zipp said. “If Paradise has been hanging with Opaline and Morgan, then she might know where in Morgan’s Keep our friends are being held!”

“...I guess that’s true,” Hitch sighed before turning to the cream unicorn again. “Okay, Paradise, if you’re coming with us, you’ll be in chains until we know you can be trusted.”

“Of course.”

Once Paradise was put into chains, everybody was ready and got in a Mystery Machine colored, horse-drawn cart, setting off in the direction of Morgan’s Keep, while the group could only pray that their friends would make it until they arrived.

XXXXXXXX

Misty and Shaggy groaned as they hit the floor upon arriving in Morgan’s Keep, looking around in horror. “Where… where are we?” Misty stammered. “What is this place?”

“That is none of your concern,” Morgan sneered. “We’re too far from civilization for anyone to come and find you.”

“And now,” Opaline said, approaching Misty with a wicked sneer, “I believe you have something that is mine…”

“Like, leave her alone!” Shaggy cried out, getting in front of Misty. “She doesn’t have to give you anything!”

“Silence!” Opaline tossed him aside. “This is between me and my… blech… granddaughter.”

“No… no please!” Misty begged as she tried to escape, but Opaline binded her hooves, letting her fall to the ground. “There’s so much you hid from me all this time,” Opaline said. “Your friends… your cutie mark… and all this time, I thought we were friends-- family even!”

“No! We weren’t!” Misty snapped before her face eventually fell. “It’s so sad. You’ve got all this power and you still haven’t ever felt true friendship.”

“HA!!” Opaline scoffed. “I have friends! And I have a daughter who does whatever I say, unlike you!”

“You have to force others to pretend to be your friends!” Misty retorted, not intimated one bit as Opaline kept her glare. “Like me. That’s control!”

Opaline got in Misty's face, hoping to scare her back into submission. “You ungratful little pony!”

However... Misty wasn't scared one bit. “You were by yourself for so many moons… all alone,” she said with a frown. “I actually feel really sorry for you.”

“Wow, Misty. All grown up!” Opaline sarcastically said. “So empathetic. So kind!”

But, in the flash of an eye, Misty watched as her cutie mark was ripped from her flank, much to her and Shaggy's horror. “I always told you… if you want your cutie mark, you have to do what I say,” Opaline told Misty as Shaggy ran to Misty's side. “You used to be a good and loyal helper. You can do that again, and you and I can be with your mother, just like... a family. Hmm?”

“You didn’t give me my cutie mark, Opaline,” Misty responded. “I earned it by helping my friends. And that’s something you can’t take away from me!”

“Well… we’ll see about that,” Opaline snarled as she put the cutie mark inside the necklace and undid Misty’s binds, letting Shaggy catch Misty before she hit the ground. “Morgan… the deed.”

Morgan whipped a piece of paper from her cloak. “If you sign this and give me full access to the throne… your friends will not be harmed. But if you fail… then not only does Opaline get all the cutie mark magic… your friends will also die.”

Shaggy and Misty gasped at this wide eyed in terror, wondering what sort of action could be done about this.

Suddenly… it hit Shaggy.

He knew what he had to do... for his sake... for Misty's...

...and for everyone they knew and cared about.