G5 Adventures in Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright

by ponydog127

The Third Phantom is Unmasked/Dewey's Deception

Velma and Zipp had begun their search for footage in the control room, and as Pipp and Hitch were with Fred, Daphne and the SirenSong Sisters as the Talent Star finals drew closer and closer, Izzy, Misty, Sunny and Shaggy were working on their own plans... how to get Scooby into the opera house without the security guards suspecting.

And to do that... Izzy had to get her friends to be the most creative they've ever been.

Now, at this very moment, Shaggy and the ponies were finishing up their plans. “There’s a lot of police at the opera house, Scooby,” Shaggy told the Great Dane, “so if we're gonna get in, this disguise has gotta be a good one. How’s it coming, Iz?”

“Almost done…” Izzy placed a pair of glasses on Scooby’s muzzle, finishing the disguise of an older man with a long beard. “And… viola!”

“Perfect!” Misty smiled. “I think this is gonna work, Scooby-Doo!”

“Yeah!” Scooby nodded optimistically. “Now, repeat after me,” Shaggy said before speaking in a shaky voice. “These kids today…”

Scooby then did his best to mimic what Shaggy was doing. “These kids today…”

“Darn newfangled contraptions!”

“Darn newfangled contraptions!”

“Excuse me, sonny. Does this computer have an Internet in it?”

“Excuse me, sonny. Does this computer have an Internet in it?”

“By Celestia,” said Sunny, “I think he’s got it!”

Suddenly, her phone rang, and Sunny answered the call she was getting from Pipp. “Sunny! Where are you?!” the pink pegasus whispered. “The SirenSong Sisters are getting ready to go on and I’d hate for you guys to miss their opening act!”

“We’ll be right there!” Sunny promised before disconnecting the call. “Okay, guys, it’s time we go cheer our friends on and solve this mystery once and for all!”

XXXXXXXX

Luckily, Sunny and the rest of their friends were able to get to the opera house to see Breena, Eden and Pavari finishing their act, and the crowd was going wild for them, just like they had hoped!

Pavari: If the top is where you wanna stay...!!!

SirenSong Sisters: You gotta work hard (Uh-huh)
To make it look it easy
You gotta live fast
To keep makin' that money (Ooh)

If you want to be as famous as me
You gotta work, you gotta work, you gotta work

Watch me work!

Everyone in the audience roared in applause by the end of the act, and once they had gotten done waving to their fans, the sisters flew offstage and allowed Brick to come on and introduce the start of the show. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Talent Star finals. I'm your host, the man, Brick Pimiento,” Brick welcomed the audience with a smile. “Now, I'm sure you've all heard that we've had some trouble?”

Images of the phantom appeared on the large screens, causing the audience to gasp. “Mm-hm, terrible business. Terrible,” Brick continued. “Because of this so-called Phantom, we're down to just three acts. Emma... Blake and Jones… and Chrissy!”

The audience cheered as live footage of the performers waiting backstage was shown, leading Brick to chuckle. “By the end of the show tonight, one will be crowned this year's Talent Star. The others receive a year's supply of Fudge-a-Roni. Fudge-a-Roni, the great taste of fudge with the convenience of roni.”

“Oooh!” Shaggy and Scooby said in awe from where they and the remainder of the Mane 6 watched from nearby. “Guys, focus!” Misty shushed her friends. “Just remember the plan.”

“As you know,” Brick told the audience, “on Talent Star, you decide the winner. You can vote by text or online. Your votes will be tallied in real time and displayed on this scoreboard. Heh, and now, going out live all over the world, I give you Chrissy!”

“Come on, guys,” Sunny urged her friends. “We better get to Emma’s dressing room if the phantom is gonna show up. Fred, Daphne and the others are already waiting for us.”

As the group silently departed, Chrissy then began her performance, while Barb gave the thumbs-up to someone offstage... a plan of their own in mind.

Chrissy: Stay away from my man, home-wrecker
Nobody comes between me and my man
Stay away…

XXXXXXXX

In her dressing room, Emma was busy combing her hair while Breena laid beside her, grooming herself as the hand of the phantom reached out to try and sabotage Emma's violin.

But suddenly, Eden and Pavari swooped in with ropes made from vines and grabbed the phantom's hands, with Fred and Daphne helping to pull them tight. “You were right, Emma,” Fred told their friend. “You are better bait than us.”

“The most important thing is,” said Pavari, “we can finally see who’s really behind all this.”

But at that moment, the phantom broke out of the vines holding him and ran out of the room, but he didn’t get far when he crossed paths with Scooby, and Scooby’s disguise made him scream at the same time the Great Dane screamed, allowing the rest of the Mane 6 enough time to tackle the phantom to the ground.

And once the phantom was finally secured, Daphne pulled the phantom’s mask off, revealing who was underneath. “Lance Damon!”

“Aha!” Hitch cried confidently. “I knew he would be involved somehow! Er… and at some point.”

“So it was you all along!” Fred spoke up. “When it wasn’t Mel.”

“Ugh!” Lance groaned. “I would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for you meddling kids… and your nosy… old guy?”

“Thanks,” said one of the police officers as they took Lance away. “We’ll take it from here.”

“Happy to help!” Eden waved the officers farewell before Dewey approached Fred and Daphne. “Blake and Jones,” he said, “you’re on in 30 seconds!”

“Come on, guys!” Sunny encouraged, and the rest of the ponies, Fred and Daphne ran after her to the stage. “Brick. Blake and Jones have been cued. They'll be on in 30,” Dewey said silently into his headset before turning and walking, accidentally bumping into Scooby, causing him to gasp and Scooby to try and repeat the lines he had practiced earlier. “These darn newfangled… k-kids?”

Breena cringed at that… but, Dewey seemed to buy it as he put on some more hand sanitizer. “Ugh, your grandfather smells like a dog.”

Shaggy sniffed the air with a suspicious look. “Yeah? Well, you smell like lemons!”

“It’s the hand sanitizer,” Dewey responded simply before walking down the hall and out of sight. That’s when the sisters and Shaggy and Scooby suddenly recognized the smell from one of their earlier clues. “Lemons!”

“Like the phantom!” Shaggy realized, and they all looked down the hall that Dewey went down, with Eden sniffing the air. “The lemon smell goes down that way!”

“Then maybe we can catch him and get to the bottom of this!” Breena agreed. “Come on!”

That's when the pink leopard, her younger sisters and two of their new friends raced off after Dewey, hoping that their suspicions wouldn't be confirmed.

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, Chrissy had just finished her performance and walked offstage, listening to the applause as she elbowed Brick out of her way. “Ugh, one side, doofus. I killed out there.”

“Heh, yeah. Fantastic,” Brick said sarcastically. “Uh, by the way, they just arrested your dad. Ciao.”

Chrissy pouted at this, throwing her microphone aside as her mother approached her. “Sweetie… Daddy’s in trouble--”

“I told that pinhead to watch his step!” Chrissy snapped. “Idiots.”

XXXXXXXX

“Fantastic, Chrissy, just fantastic,” Brick said as the votes Chrissy got skyrocketed into the millions. “Wow, look at those numbers. Up next, Blake and Jones!”

“Okay, guys,” Pipp whispered encouragingly, “you got this!”

“You can do it!”

“Break a leg!”

“We believe in you!”

With the encouraging words of their pony friends in mind, Daphne and Fred walked out onto the stage to perform their act in front of the crowd.

Daphne: Rainstorm over the ocean
Sunshine after the rain
Clouds rise up from the water
Nature's endless chain

The world keeps on spinning
From day into the night
From season to season
From darkness to light....

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, while the others were watching Fred and Daphne perform, the SirenSong Sisters, Shaggy and Scooby arrived in the backstage waiting area, where Breena looked around in alarm. “Where’s Dewey?!”

“I don’t know,” Emma responded with a shrug. “He’s supposed to be here.”

“Where the heck is Dewey?” Brick asked as he approached. “Like, nobody knows!” Shaggy responded. “Well, wherever he is,” Brick said, listening into his earpiece, “he's still wearing his headset. I can hear him. He's breathing hard. Sounds like he's running and muttering. Something about soap. But that's what he's always talking about so…”

“Mind if we borrow this? Thanks!” Pavari snatched the earpiece and gave it to Shaggy before the five ran/flew off. “Hey!” Brick shouted as they left before turning to Collette. “Hey, you, yes. Get me another earpiece. And a latte. Yeah, yeah, fantastic.”

XXXXXXXX

“Come on, guys!” Breena encouraged her sister and friends as they ran along, and as Scooby ditched his disguise. “We’ve gotta get to Dewey’s office!”

“Why… don’t… we just… fly there?!” Eden panted as she struggled to keep up. “Man, my legs are tired!”

“But we can’t stop now!” Pavari said. “We just had another breakthrough, I can feel it!”

They immediately found Dewey’s office and burst inside, looking around for a moment before Shaggy found a brochure about the soap diamond sitting on Dewey’s desk. “The lemon smell is still fresh!” Eden said. “He was here recently!”

Scooby then looked at the brochure in curiosity. “Soap?”

“Yeah! That’s what he’s talking about!” Breena said, putting her paws on the Great Dane’s shoulders. “The soap diamond!”

“And it’s right around the corner, too!” Pavari agreed. “Come on, we gotta go tell Velma and Zipp!”

XXXXXXXX

“What the heck are you guys doing in here?” K.T asked the panting group as soon as they arrived at the control room. “I’m sorry, K.T, but we don’t have time for this!” Breena said. “This is a total bonefide emergency!”

“Guys!” Velma said smiling as she and Zipp approached. “You’ll never guess what me and Zipp found of…”

“No time!” Shaggy interrupted. “Dewey! Phantom! SOAP DIAMOND!!”

Zipp blinked in confusion. “Wait… are you saying that…?”

“We don’t have time for this! Come on!” Eden pushed Zipp out of the room as Shaggy grabbed Velma, and they rushed out of the room to warn the rest of their friends.

XXXXXXXX

“Dewey is the phantom too?!” Misty cried out. “That explains his kooky behavior!”

“And a lot of other things too,” Velma agreed. “He told the police to assign everyone they have here. He must have done that so no one would be watching the mineralogical society!”

“Ugh, I knew he was trouble from the moment we met!” Breena growled. “I should have trusted my instincts, but I guess the star treatment got in my head…”

“Sis, this isn’t your fault,” Pavari purred in reassurance. “Yeah,” Hitch said. “That could have happened to any-creature.”

“But what matters now,” said Zipp, “is that we stop him from stealing that diamond!”

All three leopards extended their wings, and Eden gave the group a confident smile. “Tell us what to do.”

“You guys need to stay here and keep Emma and her family safe,” Sunny told the three sisters. “The rest of us will go after Dewey, but we’ll let you know if we need backup.”

“Good idea, Sunny. This way!” Velma urged her friends, and the sisters waved farewell as their friends ran off. “Knock ‘em dead, Emma!” Zipp called to the young violinist as they ran past her.

Now the chase was really on. They had to find Dewey and save the soap diamond… but they had no idea what the diamond might do to their Equestrian powers.

But… we’ll get to that in the next chapter.