> Miss Grimwood's Finishing School for Girl Ghouls
>  by SamuelK28
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Beginnings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“LET GO OF ME YA GREAT GALOOT!!!” Applejack screamed, tears streaming down her face as she tried to slip from her brother’s strong hooves.

Big Mac didn’t budge. Forcing back his own tears he held his head up high and stared at what once was his youngest sister’s and her new friends’ clubhouse, now engulfed in flames. “And lose my other sister? Not a chance. She and her friends are gone Jackie. We need to be strong and focus on making sure the fire doesn’t spread to the entire orchard. It’s what she would have wanted.”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Applejack screamed trying one last time to push herself past her brother so that she could get at the fire raging behind him. Having finally exerted every last ounce of strength she had, she collapsed into her brother’s chest and wept. “It’s all my fault. It’s all my fault. I gave them the treehouse for their clubhouse. I reluctantly let them have the sleepover in the treehouse. I-I-I…”

Big Mac grasped his last remaining sister’s head in his forehooves and rose it until her eyes locked onto his. “Look at me. You are not to blame. You were just doing what any loving and caring big sister would do. No pony could have foreseen this.”

“B-b-but we know what the Everfree is like,” Applejack sniffled, barely able to hold her brother’s gaze. 

“So? That stray lightning bolt could have hit anywhere, it just…” he stopped as his voice broke and lip quivered. A solitary tear slid down his face. 

“Hit the exact spot our sister and her friends were camping out. I’ll make it bucking pay,” Applejack growled as a huge snapping sound reverberated in the background and another huge branch of the ancient apple tree fell with an almighty crash to the earth below.

“That’s my sister,” Big Mac replied with a warm smile. “Let’s get some buckets and water,” 

He placed a comforting kiss on his sister’s forehead as almost in response the heavens suddenly opened up above them.

“Saw the bolt from my…” Dash began, appearing out of the darkness to land next to the grieving siblings. She stopped mid-sentence as she saw just what the large rain cloud she had rapidly acquired from the emergency stores was slowly putting out.

“No, son of a bitch, please tell me…” she bolted straight for the flames only to be tackled to the ground by Applejack. 

“LET ME GO!!!!” Rainbow screamed as Applejack pinned her down. “SCOOTALOO!!! I’m coming for you, just hold on.”

“They’re gone Rainbow,” Applejack sighed, slowly coming to terms with everything as the rain began to get heavier. 

“No, no, let me go. I have to save her. I just have to,” Dash cried, not even trying to hide the tears that were now streaking down her face as she struggled valiantly but pointlessly to free herself from the much stronger earth pony. 

Carefully Applejack manoeuvred her forehooves around the Pegasus mare and brought her up into a tight hug that was immediately reciprocated. It was here that both mares remained, sobbing into one another’s shoulders while the rain plastered their fur to their skin.

Neither of them knew how much time had passed before their sombre embrace was broken by the sound of hoofsteps approaching from town and the fluttering of wings above but it must have been at least thirty minutes as the fire had, by that point, been reduced to no more than a smouldering pile of ash by the raincloud. Both mares closed their eyes, took a deep breath and waited for the inevitable.

“Girls, girls, where are they? Where is Sweetie… No. It can’t be true. It just can’t be. SWEEEEEETIEEEEEEEEE!!!” Rarity wailed as the reality of the situation hit her. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were dead. 


*


Apple Bloom awoke with the most side-splitting headache imaginable. “Core blimey what hit me?” She groaned as the world slowly stopped spinning around her and came into focus. Wherever she was, it was still dark.

“Sweetie, Scootaloo?” she called into the darkness before doubling over with pain and throwing up. 

She knew listening to her two new best friends and eating all those sweets before bedtime had been a bad idea. Agonisingly slowly and painfully she tried to piece together just what had happened and more importantly where she was right now. Her head throbbed once more causing her to wince with pain. One thing at a time. 

Firstly, what happened? All she could remember was slowly drifting off to sleep next to Sweetie and Scootaloo in their new clubhouse after an evening of idol gossip, games and eating sweets when she had been abruptly awoken by a loud boom and then everything went white and… the next thing she remembered was waking up here, wherever here was. Had there been an explosion of some sort? She couldn’t be sure, but from what she could make out in the darkness, that was a real possibility. She certainly wasn’t in the treehouse anymore and that would explain her mighty headache. As if in reply her head throbbed painfully once more and she followed up spitting up vomit with some blood and fell against a tree, panting heavily.

Swell, that certainly wasn’t good. Heck, she’d probably be in a lot worse state if she wasn’t an earth pony with...

Sweetie, Scootaloo. If she was this bad. 

“SWEETIE, SCOOTS!” she yelled at the top of her lungs causing her to slump to the ground and cough up even more blood. Great, just great. 

As the world started to spin once more and inky blackness seeped into her vision, the last thing Apple Bloom saw was a peculiar looking green lizard followed by a female voice she didn’t recognise.

“OVER HERE. Octavius hurry, she’s in an even worse state than her friends.”


*


Apple Bloom was next awoken by something tickling her nose and two light-hearted giggles she knew only too well.

“Eugh, go away Scootaloo, I’m trying to…” 

Apple Bloom’s eyes shot open. She seemed to be in a bed of some sort, possibly back at Sweet Apple Acres? No, from what she could see this definitely wasn’t her home. 

“I told you that would work,” Scootaloo giggled causing Apple Bloom’s attention to turn to both her friends who were stood at her bedside, Scootaloo holding a feather in her left forehoof that was dangling tantalisingly close to Apple Bloom’s nose. 

Not that Apple Bloom had noticed. Her eyes had shot straight to Scootaloo, then Sweetie Belle, and then back to Scootaloo’s left flank which was covered in bandages. 

“Your…” Apple Bloom began before doubling over in a coughing fit.

“Woah, easy their Bloom. You’ve been delirious with a fever for four days. Shattered multiple ribs and punctured a lung along with a very nasty bump to your noggin.” She tapped her own head to emphasise her point. “Think you got it the worst out of all of us.”

“Says you,” Sweetie grumbled turning herself around for Apple Bloom to see. 

Apple Bloom’s eyes went wide. Sweetie Belle’s entire right side was nothing more than bare skin and her formally green eye was now red whilst a large scar travelled down it from the top of her head to the bottom. 

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Seriously, how many times has Miss Grimwood reassured you that your fur will grow back as long as you take your medicine and that your cyber whatever eye is good as new if not better than the original.”

“Probably the same amount of times I’ve told you not to disturb your friend if you want her to heal properly and to remain in your own bed so that you can also heal fully,” a voice Apple Bloom vaguely remembered said in a scathing tone causing Scootaloo to gulp in fear. 

After seeing Sweetie, Apple Bloom didn’t feel her eyes could go any wider. She had been mistaken as an enormous bipedal creature appeared in a puff of smoke on the opposite side of the bed she was in to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. She only had black fur atop her head along with a hairband that was similar in colour to the bow in her mane, wore a pink dress and walked on only two hooves that featured red shoes. As neither of her friends batted an eyelid at the newcomer though she was guessing they were friendly and not about to cause her more harm.

“Although, I am glad to see your fever has finally broken. It was touch and go there for a while. And please dear don’t speak. Although my magic did its best your lung is still recovering and speaking will only aggravate the injury further. I’m sure you’ve many questions and I’ll try to give you as many answers as I possibly can. First of all, though, how about something to eat? Your friends have taken a particular liking to my caterpillar and cricket soup,” the stranger stated, sitting down in a rickety old rocking chair she’d pulled up as she did so.

As if on cue, and to Apple Bloom’s astonishment, the door to the bedroom slammed open and an Octopus wearing a bow tie walked in pushing a trolley with a serving platter atop it. Walking over to the bed he lifted the platter up and placed it on Apple Bloom’s lap as Scootaloo and Miss Grimwood helped her sit upright. 

“Thank you, Octavius. I’ll call you if I require anything else,” Miss Grimwood said politely before the octopus removed the lid to the platter, bowed and took its leave. 

Apple Bloom’s rational mind wanted to ask several questions surrounding the octopus butler, most notably how he was able to breathe out of water but her stomach had other ideas as it let out a mighty growl. So instead, she looked down at the green slime with floating “things” inside it and immediately wished she hadn’t. Her stomach growled again.

“Trust me, it tastes better than it looks,” Scootaloo stated bluntly seeing Apple Bloom’s hesitancy. 

“Agreed,” Sweetie seconded with a nod.

Apple Bloom let out a sigh as her stomach growled for a third time, closed her eyes and then, cusping the bowl in her hooves, dove her muzzle into it. In less than a minute she’d licked the bowl clean and eaten every last caterpillar and cricket that had been floating in the so-called soup.

“My oh my, you were hungry weren’t you. Here, have some water to help wash it down,” Miss Grimwood commented holding out a glass of water to Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom took the offered glass and downed it in one to before letting out a mighty yawn.

“Seriously Bloom. You’ve been asleep for the most of four days, how can you still be tired?” Scootaloo admonished before receiving a sharp look from their host. “What?” 

“Ignore her dear. Now, before I let you rest, let me put your mind at ease a little. My name is Griselda Grimwood. I’m a witch of human origin and alongside running my school for ghouls I also monitor and maintain a fracture in the fabric of my world. Although it might be hard for you to grasp, there are countless worlds similar to your own that live independently without any knowledge of each other, as it should be. Bizarrely, a large proportion also seem to share similar languages and that is how we can understand each other right now and have this conversation. You still with me so far?”

Apple Bloom nodded, concentrating hard despite her slowly drooping eyelids. 

“Excellent. Unfortunately, every world has weak spots, often locations where a high amount of magic resides in the air. Think of them as a small crack in an otherwise perfect glass. Over time due to further wear and tear that crack slowly grows until finally…”

“The glass breaks and anything inside spills out,” Apple Bloom interrupted unable to stop herself. She was rewarded with yet another painful coughing fit.

“Yes, very good,” Miss Grimwood continued once Apple Bloom’s coughing fit had subsided. “But, as I said earlier, please don’t strain yourself. So, you and your friends fell through a widened crack that buckled under magical pressure in your world and miraculously made it here, with a little help from myself. I say miraculously because you see, no one is supposed to be able to traverse between the worlds. I’d say ninety percent of those who are unlucky to do so will either get stuck in limbo between worlds, suffer severe physical injuries during the journey and arrive dead or practically dead in your cases in the new world or, failing that, arrive in one of the worlds with, well, I’d rather not give you nightmares. There are some rather nasty worlds out there.” Miss Grimwood paused for a moment and shuddered just thinking about them.

Not wanting yet another coughing fit Apple Bloom turned and looked expectantly at her friends. Sweetie turned away unable to face her, the tears in her eyes the only answer Apple Bloom really needed.

“I can read you like a book Bloom. Yes, you’re correct, there’s no way back home,” Scootaloo deadpanned with a shrug of her shoulders having already come to terms with the news. “Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, they’ll believe we’re dead and as Miss Grimwood said just now, we would be if it hadn’t been for her observing our arrival in her crystal ball, recovering and then healing us. We owe her our lives and, in a moment, she’s going to give you a contract and tell you it’s either stay here and study at her school permanently or, well, simply put, get sent to this world’s Tartarus. What?” Scootaloo exclaimed seeing the disproving look Miss Grimwood was giving her. “She was going to find out sooner rather than later and she’d already worked it out anyway. Fine,” And with that Scootaloo turned and was just about to make her way back to her own bed when a meek voice squeaked. “No, please, stay, I…” Apple Bloom’s voice broke as the tears started to fall from her eyes. 

Applejack, Big Mac, Granny Smith, she’d never see any of them ever again. Was it really better to be alive knowing she’d never see any of her family again? As she pondered that thought a pair of hooves wrapped themselves around her and Scootloo’s voice whispered softly in her ear.

“I’m going to miss home to but at least I get to enjoy banishment with you two knuckleheads,” Scootaloo whispered into Apple Bloom’s ear. 

No sooner had she finished in her attempt to cheer Apple Bloom up then the Pegasus filly found the empty soup bowl atop her head.

“I heard that,” Sweetie stated sternly. “Room for one more?”

Before either Apple Bloom or Scootaloo could reply they found a third body joining in the hug. It was not long until all three were fast asleep, Scootaloo with the bowl still atop her head.

Miss Grimwood smiled as she rose from her seat and put the contract back into her robes as she made for the door. There’d be time for talking more later. For now, she would let the three girls’ rest. They’d been through enough already.


*


Over the course of the next week the girls slowly grew stronger and stronger as their bodies recovered from the ordeal of traversing between dimensions. Yes, there were times when they sorely missed the comforting hoof of a loved one or remembered a particularly painful memory but, with each other’s support, they slowly managed to return to a somewhat normal life at their new home, opting to keep themselves busy to prevent their minds from wandering.

After a few more days in bed Apple Bloom felt as good as new thanks to all the herbal medicines and remedies Miss Grimwood had made her drink, even if some did taste like sheep’s dung. The poultices their host had also applied hadn’t smelt much better either. Anyway, growing restless from inactivity and boredom Apple Bloom had finally managed to coax a reluctant Miss Grimwood into allowing her to help with odd jobs around the school. Any fears the headmistress might have had were swiftly alleviated as she witnessed first-hand just how much of a help an earth pony can be, lifting things effortlessly that she and Octavius would have struggled with between them! 

It also provided the two with some time to get to know one other and their worlds. It was during one of these earlier conversations that Apple Bloom told Miss Grimwood about each of the main pony races, their special skill sets and magic, and how they reaped the benefits of working together in harmony. It was from here that Miss Grimwood learnt of Scootaloo’s disability and, how, even with both wings, Scootaloo almost had no chance of ever being able to fly. Her heartstrings tugged, this possibly led to the biggest mistake Miss Grimwood had ever made, giving Scootaloo a magical flying broomstick. On the plus side the girl kept out of everyone else’s way, gone from practically first light until Miss Grimwood demanded she come in at dusk for dinner. But on the downside, as Apple Bloom tried to warn Miss Grimwood before she gave Scootaloo the broomstick, Pegasi are notorious for impulsive and reckless behaviour. Miss Grimwood had lost count over the course of the week just how many times Scootaloo had nearly given her heart failure. How the filly had managed to get out of the week without breaking at least one bone had to be classed as nothing short of a miracle considering some of the stunts she’d pulled and attempted. Unfortunately, there was also no chance of her getting the broomstick back or preventing Scootaloo from riding it so Miss Grimwood had eventually had to simply turn a blind eye to what could only be categorically described as “dancing with death itself.”

As for Sweetie, after four days of alternative medicines the singed half of her coat had slowly begun to grow back, a light pink, much too her ire. It hadn’t helped that upon seeing her new look later that evening Scootaloo had immediately sniggered and commented that she looked like a two-toned marshmallow. The marshmallow nickname had immediately stuck. Thankfully, due to two new arrivals that day the Crusaders were under strict instructions from Miss Grimwood to behave themselves, and, as Sweetie found herself pre-occupied by one of them, she was unable to react.

It was nearly summer and for Grimwood’s that meant the start of a new school year, the first term running from June to October for any girl ghouls aged between eight and sixteen. This year would also mark Grimwood’s highest intake ever. Including the three latest arrivals, eleven girl ghouls in total would be studying under Headmistress Grimwood and her staff, the first time ever the school had reached double figures in a single year for students in its history. It was only a small school, but that was the whole point of Grimwood’s. It was designed with two key purposes in mind, to provide anything that slips through a fracture between worlds and that wasn’t extremely dangerous an education, and now it seemed also their children, and to act as a cover in case anything extremely nasty did try to seep through the fracture the school sat on and into this world. 

Anyhow, the rest of the staff, aside Octavius the butler, and Matches the guard dragon, would not be here until the start of term next week the Crusaders had been informed. Even so, over the coming days their fellow students would be filtering in from around the world. The first of these had been the youngest two and fellow newest arrivals, eight-year-olds Tanis and Madeline Medusa.

Tanis, a shy young girl who looked like the human equivalent of one of the Neighgyptian mummy’s Miss Cheerilee had taught them about back in Equestria, had initially been extremely reluctant to leave her mummy daddy’s side until she’d spotted a disgruntled Sweetie Belle trotting down the stairs. Aside from trips to the bathroom, the scared younger girl had refused to let the unicorn go for the entire day. Although initially reluctant, Sweetie, alongside Apple Bloom, had been only too happy to make a couple of new friends alongside the other new arrival. To begin with both fillies had been taken aback by Madeline, who had snakes instead of hair. After being assured though they would only turn them to stone if she commanded them to do so or if she was extremely emotional, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle soon found themselves happily spending the entire afternoon getting to know their new acquaintances, much to Miss Grimwood’s delight. 

Of course, nothing is ever smooth sailing in a school full of monsters and, even if Sweetie had been unable to react to Scootaloo’s teasing at dinner that evening, Madeline hadn’t. In a flash Scootaloo had been turned into nothing more than a garden ornament. Caught in a multitude of emotions Sweetie Belle had ended up simply staring at Scootaloo gobsmacked until Miss Grimwood had reappeared and promptly scolded Madeline for her actions, instructing her to turn her fellow student back immediately. Thankfully, Scootaloo had simply played down the whole incident with a devilish smile and the two girls swiftly became firm friends because of it. Alas, sadly for Miss Grimwood, she could already tell that those two were going to be trouble with a capital T throughout their time at the school. 

A few days later the group were joined by a twelve-year-old goofy phantom called Phantasma, who had given Sweetie such a scare she’d dropped in a dead faint, and an almost normal looking human thirteen-year-old girl Elsa, aside from the bolts in her neck and stiches that were dotted all across her body. Elsa had proven to be just as strong as Apple Bloom, the two girls deadlocked after a two-hour arm/foreleg wrestle. Next up had been Winnie the werewolf, who had proceeded to wake everyone up in the middle of a night with an almighty howl before attempting to chew Scootaloo’s leg off. The Pegasus had not been amused and Miss Grimwood had promptly set Winnie a thousand lines before the term had even started. You must not wake other students up in the middle of the night or use them as chew toys.  

Unfortunately for Miss Grimwood, the troublesome twosome was about to become a troublesome trio. 

“Ah, Mrs Bones. It is so glad to see you once more. How was your trip to Hawaii?” Miss Grimwood asked as she answered the door for the latest arrival. 

“Exquisite, just what I needed,” the other teacher replied emotionlessly, removing the sunglasses that adorned her face as she did so. 

Two gaping holes appeared where the woman’s eyes should be, as, you see, Mrs Bones was exactly that, a pile of bones, or, in other terms, a skeleton.

“And how was your break? I’m hoping there were no further unexpected arrivals?” Mrs Bones continued. 

“Three actually. Arrived just over a week ago now. Poor things were at deaths door when I found them,” Miss Grimwood explained.

“Three?” Mrs Bones replied with clear surprise and despite the fact she had no vocal cords. “You mean to tell me not one, not two, but three monsters managed to seep through the fracture and survive! And not only that but you chose to save them! Are you mad woman?” 

“I can assure these are no ordinary monsters. In actual fact, I wouldn’t call them monsters at all,” Miss Grimwood replied, firmly holding her ground.

Mrs Bones looked at her fellow teacher for a moment with an unreadable expression, well, she was a skeleton, before saying, “Okay, I’ll bite. What are they then? Ghosts, robots, a…”

“Race of sentient horses or as they prefer to be known as, ponies. One is a unicorn, another is a Pegasus and the final one is a normal pony except she has more strength than me and Octavius combined despite only being ten years old,” Miss Grimwood interrupted flatly.

Silence engulfed the entrance hallway until finally Miss Bones managed to utter, “I must be mistaken, I thought I just heard you say that three horses managed to survive the journey across dimensions whilst having there bodies, genes and goodness knows what else, stretched, pulled, sliced, cut, stabbed,” she stopped mid-sentence with a shudder as the memories of her trip across the void between worlds became all too real in her mind.

“Well, the earth pony did suffer some severe internal injuries but a combination of my magic and her natural regenerative magic helped save her. The unicorn also lost an eye that I’ve managed to replace and suffered severe burns on nearly half her body that are currently healing. As for the Pegasus…” Miss Grimwood began only to be halted by a spindly white hand.

“Stop Griselda, please. This joke of yours is not funny. Next, you’ll be trying to convince me the Pegasus had a wing sawn of or something equally…”

One of the front windows next to the door shattered and Madeline came flying in. Well, to describe it as flying wouldn’t have been totally accurate or truthful. More like hanging onto a broom for dear life whilst screaming her lungs out. Almost as soon as she had appeared though she disappeared through the window on the other side of the door. Perfectly timed, the heads of the one-winged Pegasus and Winnie, on two more broomsticks, appeared through the first window.

“Hey, either of you two seen a… Winnie, why are you looking like that all of a sudden?” 

“T-t-that’s Mrs Bones,” the usually rambunctious werewolf whimpered pointing a shaking paw at the aforementioned teacher.

“Ah, you mean the mean old crone who kept giving you detentions for howling last year?” 

Winnie nodded rapidly, her eyes going wide. 

“Tactical retreat?” Scootaloo suggested. 

Winnie nodded rapidly once more before both girls turned and shot of on their broomsticks. 

For a moment Miss Grimwood and Mrs Bones simply stared at each other utterly flabbergasted at what had just transpired. 

Eventually Mrs Bones said, “Would you like to do the honours or should I.”

“Be my guest,” Miss Grimwood replied, a smug smile slowly crossing her face. 

“WINIFRED WINONA WOLFMAN, YOU GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!” Mrs Bones bellowed so loud the house shook and everyone came running to the entrance hall, including, much to Mrs Bones disbelief, two more horses.

“Oh Elizabeth, is there really the need to be so dramatic,” a voice cooed in reply.

The next moment a witch with frizzy ginger hair and wearing a lime green dress and pointed hat appeared in the doorway on a broomstick. A black cat wrapped itself around her neck whilst a petrified Madeline hung on tightly to her midriff. 

“Girls will be girls after all,” the newcomer continued whilst sipping a cup of tea. “It’s alright dear, we’re back on the ground now, see.”

Slowly one of Madeline’s snakes opened an eye and, after a moment, the girl opened both of her own and carefully manoeuvred herself of the broom and onto the ground.

“There we go, no harm done. Now, you go find your friends whilst me and the rest of the grownups tidy up this mess.”

Madeline was about to bolt when a cold bony hand grasped her arm and thrust the broom she had previously been riding into her chest. 

“Oh no you don’t. Under my watchful eye you shall sweep up every last shard of glass and then, once that is done, you shall be writing lines until dinner after which you’ll be spending the evening cleaning the dishes before an early night in preparation for school tomorrow,” Mrs Bones sneered cruelly. 

Madeline’s face dropped and she looked like she was about to burst into even more tears.

“B-b-but I didn’t mean to. It was an accident. I just really wanted to learn how to fly and…” 

“Enough, I don’t want to hear anymore excuses. Less talk more…”

Miss Bones was cut off by a sharp breeze and the sudden disappearance of the girl she had just been punishing for her part in this needless vandalism. 

“Where?” 

“YOU SNOOZE YOU LOSE BONES!” Scootaloo’s voice echoed from out one of the broken windows. “THE THREE MONSTETEERS RIDE AGAIN! ONE FOR ALL, ALL FOR ONE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT!”

Before Mrs Bones had a chance to decide whether it was worth going after the three misbehaving miscreants, a scream, followed by an explosion and then what sounded like a screeching cat sounded behind her. She turned just in time for said cat to leap into her chest. 

“Just what is the meaning of this!” she demanded.

End for now
> The Cat and Pony Show
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hi Mrs Bones,” the anthropomorphic cat said sheepishly. 

“Miss Jekyll, I’ll give you three seconds to give me an excellent reason not to drop you and put you in detention until the Halloween Holidays,” Mrs Bones droned.

“It wasn’t her fault; she fired a bolt of magic at her!” Another voice interrupted. 

Another scream, this one slightly different to the last. 

“Isabella, detention tomorrow after classes,” Mrs Bones droned once more. “And put your head back on.”

“But, but…” Isabella began before conceding defeat. She’d learnt from experience that arguing with Mrs Bones was a futile endeavour and would only lead to heavier punishments. 

“Now, now Elizabeth, is that really necessary?” The witch with ginger hair asked. “The poor girl has only just arrived.”

“Mrs Poppycock, I will not have my authority questioned. Every year one of us has had to tell Isabella not to arrive with either her head under her arm or something else for her head and every year she doesn’t listen, turns up and scares the new arrivals. The girl, like those miscreants on the broomsticks, needs strict discipline to help mould them into responsible members of society and prevent this whole school from falling into anarchy and chaos,” Mrs Bones lectured, still holding the anthropomorphic cat in her arms. 

“Nonsense,” Mrs Poppycock retorted. “What these girls need is guidance, not to be turned into braindead robots, afraid to put even a foot wrong for fear of punishment. They need to learn for themselves what is right and wrong with only a gentle nudge from us to help steer them on the correct path.”

“A gentle nudge, a gentle nudge,” the skeleton exclaimed, dropping Miss Jekyll unceremoniously onto the floor in the process. For a split second, her empty eye sockets blazed with fire and then it was gone as she said in a monotonous drone, “Fine, deal with them how you see fit, just don’t come crying to me for help when they progress from vandalising the school to blood sacrifices under the full moon or worse, loving the colour pink. Octavius, if you wouldn’t mind, please bring my bags to my quarters when you are ready.”

And without waiting for a reply, Mrs Bones departed up the stairs, not bothering to look back even once.

“I think that’s a new record even for you two,” Miss Grimwood said with a sigh walking over to Mrs Poppycock.

“I’m sorry Griselda but you know me and Elizabeth never see eye to eye,” Mrs Poppycock replied turning to face her boss. 

Both witches just looked at one another for a moment before doubling over with laughter. 

“That was utterly terrible,” Miss Grimwood eventually wheezed. 

“I know but true. I swear if she had her way, she’d happily force feed the students’ fresh fruit and vegetables whilst making them watch Happy Horses or some other ghastly tv show the humans make their offspring watch,” Mrs Poppycock stated before hastily turning to Apple Bloom and Sweetie. “No offense, it’s just most of us monsters have a preference for the more macabre. We like a good stretch on the rack or a nap on a bed of nails, that sort of thing. Anyway, might I ask what’s wrong with your poor friend there?” 

“None taken,” Apple Bloom replied as Sweetie continued to cower between her legs. “As for Sweetie, she suffers from Ailurophobia.”

“Ailuro-what-now?” Isabella interjected. 

“Ailurophobia,” Apple Bloom repeated. “It means she has an extreme fear of cats. From what she told me a stray bit her when she was two and it led to an elongated stay in hospital and numerous shots in case of a possible rabies infection. It’s why she also has needle phobia as well.”

Sweetie tentatively poked her head out from under Apple Bloom. 

The anthropomorphic cat tried to smile and look as friendly as possible. Big mistake.

“Hi there Sweetie Belle, I’m Harriet Jekyll, daughter of…” Harriet got no further as Sweetie fired of another bolt of magic that resulted in Harriet having to take evasive action. “Woah, cool it, I’m a, wait, why does it suddenly smell like something’s burning?” 

Unbeknownst to Harriet, whilst dodging the first blast Sweetie had swiftly fired of a second that had caught the end of her tail. 

“That’s because your tail’s on fire,” Apple Bloom deadpanned. 

“WHAT! MEOOOOOWWW,” Harriet screamed leaping into the air as Sweetie made an attempt to run away only for Elsa to grab a hold of her.

“Oh no you don’t,” she said, grasping the struggling unicorn to her chest as Harriet doused her tail in a bucket of water conveniently supplied by Mrs Poppycock. 

“Thank you, Elsa,” Miss Grimwood sighed. “I feel it might be best…”

The entranceway was abruptly filled with a blinding white light. As it slowly dissipated, one thing became immediately clear: Sweetie was gone. 

Elsa stared at her hands in bewilderment, unsure at just what had transpired. 

Apple Bloom’s eye had gone wide. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO SWEETIE!” she finally hollered ready to leap at Elsa, only for Miss Grimwood to step in. 

“She’s done nothing. Sweetie simply teleported away somewhere.”

“Teleported? But only extremely talented unicorns can master that,” Apple Bloom exclaimed. 

“And the same goes for witches as well, which means that this has most certainly been caused because Sweetie was under significant duress,” Miss Grimwood explained.

“Okay, why am I not liking where this is going or your tone of voice,” Apple Bloom stated flatly. 

“Because of three things. One, the spell requires a significant amount of energy, so wherever Sweetie now is, she is likely extremely weak. This leads onto number two, we have no idea where your friend teleported to and likely, neither does she but I doubt it could have been far due to the amount of energy required. Three, she is under extreme stress and isn’t thinking clearly,” Miss Grimwood clarified, deciding not to alarm Apple Bloom further by telling her of some of the more interesting creatures that inhabited the Grimwood grounds. 

“So, what are we doing standing here, we need to find her!” Apple Bloom exclaimed racing for the door. “I’ll take outside. Hey, let go of me,” Apple Bloom huffed turning to face Isabella who was holding her by the tail. 

“Not, without a partner you don’t. The last thing we need is anyone else getting hurt.”

“Thank you, Isabella. You and Apple Bloom take the coppice at the back of the property along with Harriet, Me and Mrs Poppycock will take the rest of the outside grounds. Phantasma, Tanis and Elsa, comb the house from top to bottom. And Harriet,” Miss Grimwood said, taking charge. 

“Yes, Miss Grimwood.”

“If you are the first to come across Sweetie, please stay back and let the others approach her. I know you want nothing more than to help but trying to solve this problem by yourself is likely just going to worsen the situation further, understood?” 

Harriet reluctantly nodded before replying, “Understood.” 


*


“Got any mummies?” Scootaloo asked.

“Go hunt,” Winnie replied. 

“Damn,” Scootaloo said, taking a card from the pile in the middle of the three girls. 

Scootaloo, Winnie and Madeline had taken refuge in Winnie’s secret hiding spot, a large hollowed out bush located in amongst the coppice at the very edge of the Grimwood estate. From here, Madeline had produced a deck of cards of one of her favourite games, Go Hunt, a monster rendition of Go Fish/Happy Families. 

“Eugh, this is so boring,” Scootaloo groaned. It had only been five minutes. “And my wing’s getting cramp.”

Although a good hiding place for one, the bush had been an extremely tight squeeze for three. 

“Would you prefer being grounded for life?” Winnie retorted. “Because you not only broke into the broomshed, a big no, no, but proceeded to then give a broom to a friend with no prior broomstick flying experience, inadvertently putting them in serious danger and resulting in significant damage to the school. Oh, and you also broke me out of detention. Thanks for that by the way.”

“Anytime and when you put it like that, I guess I see your point. Miss Grimwood must be furious with me right now,” Scootaloo responded, suddenly looking extremely worried.

Winnie couldn’t help but let out a chortle. “I never thought a pony could look so scared. Don’t fret, I know Miss Grimwood. Give her a few hours to calm down, then we can go grovelling to her for forgiveness and the worst we get is doing the dishes after dinner and a stern lecture, trust me,” Winnie finished with a toothy grin. 

“I do but could you not have found us a more comfortable hideout to ride out the storm?” Scootaloo grumbled. 

“Thirty-two,” Winnie replied.

“Thirty-two?” Scootaloo said confused.

“That’s the number of different hiding places I’ve had over the past two years before this one. Every time Bones found me and tripled my punishment. I even hid in the dirty laundry once and she still found me! Another time, I sat on the weather vane atop the school all night after the window I’d climbed out of locked behind me. Turned out Brutal Bones had found me after half an hour and locked the window to teach me a lesson and that was only the start of my punishment! In short, this is the only safe spot I know for certain Bones won’t find us,” Winnie explained. 

“Erm, sorry to interrupt but if we’re just going to get into even more trouble from hiding, what’s the point?” Madeline asked. “Not that I regret what you did back there, I owe both of you massively otherwise I’d be stuck doing chores until bedtime right now.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Winnie responded. 

“Yeah, it’s what friends do,” Scootaloo added. 

“As for your question, simple, because most adults aren’t Mrs Bones. Most will act in the heat of the moment and thus dish out a heftier punishment on you. Give them some time to calm down and think and often you can get away with little more than a talking to and making a promise never to do what you did wrong again,” Winnie explained.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Scootaloo supported. “All we need to do is avoid Bones when we reappear. I honestly can’t believe she’s just as bad as you told us Winnie.”

“Well, I hate to tell you I told you so but…”

“I told you so?” Scootaloo finished for her new friend. 

“Precisely. Now, who’s turn is it?” Winnie enquired.

“Mine,” Madeline replied. “Got any mummies Scootaloo,” the snake-haired girl said wickedly. 

Scootaloo looked less than pleased as she forked over her near complete set of mummies that Madeline then immediately completed and added to her already large pile of completed sets. 

“Eugh,” Scootaloo groaned again. “there’s got to be something more interesting we can do.” 

“Well, we could just talk,” Madeline suggested. “I do want to learn more about this Equestria you… hey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Scootaloo mumbled staring at the hard earth beneath her hooves. 

“You dingus,” Winnie chastised Madeline. 

“What?” Madeline said indignantly.

“Are you really that dense? She’s barely been here a week, the last thing she wants to be reminded of right now is her old home and all the friends and family she’ll…” 

“I’m an orphan,” Scootaloo cut in sombrely.

Winnie’s face dropped. 

“Well, look who’s put their paw…”

Winnie shoved said paw into Madeline’s mouth. 

“Well, maybe I wouldn’t have if you hadn’t brought it up first,” Winnie retorted before turning to Scootaloo. “Hey, sorry about that. I won’t lie I’m not a great listener, I get distracted way to easily but that doesn’t mean I can’t try if you ever want to talk to me about anything.”

Something that sounded roughly like “Me to,” came from Madeline’s mouth, although it was hard to tell considering her mouth was still filled with Winnie’s paw. 

“Eww,” Winnie griped, removing her paw from Madeline’s mouth and wiping it on her dress. 

“Well, you’re the one who shoved it into my mouth in the first place,” Madeline countered before spitting out some fur. 

Scootaloo let out a chuckle causing both her newest two friends to redirect their attention back to her. “Thanks girls, for everything. I know with you two, Apple Bloom and…”

A blinding burst of white light cut Scootaloo off and a minute later, the already cramped hideout became impossible as Sweetie landed atop the three delinquents. 

“Sweetie, how, what, where,” Scootaloo stammered, unsure just what to ask her friend first as she tried, unsuccessfully, to get one of Sweetie’s hind hooves out of her left eye. 

“Cat,” was all she got in reply from Sweetie. “Big, scary cat.” 

“Oh great. Which one of the other students has a pet cat?” Scootaloo sighed, forcing her way out of the bush.

“Erm,” Winnie replied following Scootaloo out of the bush, “No one but…” she paused, a little unsure of how to finish that sentence. 

“But what?” Scootaloo pressed as Madeline helped a clearly traumatised Sweetie out of the bush.

“Well… SQUIRREL!” Winnie suddenly exclaimed.

“Squirrel?” Scootaloo asked looking totally lost, only to find Winnie was no longer where she had been just a moment ago. “Winnie, where’d you…”

THUMP.

Scootaloo twisted her head around and immediately wished she hadn’t. Winnie had run head first into a tree and was now sprawled on her back, out for the count. Looking up, Scootaloo’s eyes widened at the sight of a lime green squirrel with three heads chittering angrily down at the now unconscious werewolf.  

“Big, scary cat,” Sweetie Belle repeated as Madeline, with one final heave, at last managed to push Sweetie out of the bush.

“Just brilliant,” Scootaloo bemoaned, shaking her head to clear her mind of what she’d just witnessed before turning to Madeline who now lay sprawled out on the ground, panting heavily. “I guess you’ve not got any idea what might have spooked Sweetie? Winnie got distracted.” 

“What do you mean?” Madeline eventually managed to force out.   

Scootaloo thrust a hoof in the unconscious werewolf’s direction. 

Madeline managed to force her head up and stared in disbelief at what had become of Winnie. “What happened to her?” she finally managed to question. 

“Squirrel,” Scootaloo deadpanned in reply. “And that was before she told me just what exactly spooked Sweetie.”

“I’d like to help myself but I’m new here to and still don’t know everyone either,” Madeline explained sitting up. “Must have been something really frightening though if she’s as traumatised as that.” 

“Cat,” Sweetie repeated, eyes wide and staring off into the distance. 

“Not exactly. Sweetie has a couple of extreme phobias, specifically cats and needles from a traumatic early life experience,” Scootaloo explained.

“Needles?” Sweetie exclaimed before looking like she was about to bolt. 

“No Sweetie, there are no needles here, or cats for that matter,” Scootaloo tried to reassure her friend.

“But cat. Huge cat, massive teeth, wants to bite me, infect me, needles, shots, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH” Sweetie screamed as she bolted only for Scootaloo to attempt to tackle her to the ground.

“Sweetie calm down, there is absolutely nothing here that will hurt you,” Scootaloo tried again to get through to her friend but it was futile as Sweetie wrestled free of her grasp and sped off into the distance. 

“Come on, we’ve got to catch her before she hurts herself!” Scootaloo exclaimed, not waiting for a response from Madeline as she galloped after Sweetie.

“But, but,” Madeline tried to argue before giving up and racing after Scootaloo. 


*


“Apple Bloom slow down,” Isabella called after the clearly panicking pony. “Rushing head first into this is going to get us nowhere, we need to formulate a plan of action.”

Apple Bloom barely broke her stride as she turned her head back to address Isabella. “What’s there to plan, we’ve just got to find Sweetie.”

“Well for one the coppice is home to the fracture and a number of peculiar things you are likely not used to, such as the Venus fly trap that is looking at you a little to eagerly,” Isabella explained.

Apple Bloom abruptly halted and only just managed to dive out the way as the Venus fly trap lunged for her. 

“Secondly, you don’t know the grounds very well yet,” Isabella went on approaching Apple Bloom and helping her back to her hooves. “Let me take the lead and I promise, if Sweetie Belle is out here, we will find her.” 

“Fine,” Apple Bloom conceded as Harriet approached, looking like she was about to have a heart attack. 

“Could…you…. two… slow… down… a… bit… please,” she rasped, doubling over with her hands/paws resting on her legs whilst taking several deep breaths.

“Sorry Harriet, I’m just really worried about…” Apple Bloom began only to pause as Sweetie Belle streaked past faster than lightning followed by Scootaloo, who froze in her tracks when she saw Harriet. 

“Oh buck,” the Pegasus swore, before swiftly taking of again. 

Apple Bloom didn’t waste anytime with words and took off after her two best friends, Isabella hot on her hooves. 

“Not again,” Harriet groaned, preparing herself for more of her worst nightmare, physical exertion. That was until another voice she didn’t recognise called out from the gloom.

“Hey, I know this is going to sound crazy but have you seen two small horses run by… woah,” Madeline finished, staring wide eyed at the anthropomorphic cat in front of her.

“They went that a way along with Apple Bloom and Isabella,” Harriet stated, pointing with a digit the direction in which everybody else had run off in. 

“So, they’ve got it covered?” Madeline wheezed, trying to get her breath back.

Harriet smiled, maybe she wouldn’t have to do anymore exercise today after all. “I think so. Name’s Harriet Jekyll by the way. Long story short my father’s a mad scientist and accidentally ended up splicing my DNA with our Havana Brown, Cherry. Havana Brown is a type of cat by the way, just in case you couldn’t guess.”

Madeline tittered before responding sardonically. “I would have never have guessed. Mine’s Madeline Medusa by the way. If there is enough of them to help Sweetie, would you mind helping me with Winnie, she ran into a tree chasing a squirrel and knocked herself out.”

Harriet’s face dropped, maybe not. And she also stood corrected, her second worst nightmare. Her worst nightmare currently lay knocked out under a tree. “Fine,” she replied sharply, “Show me where that imbecile is and we’ll try and carry her back between the two of us.”

“Erm, is something wrong? Would you prefer if I went and fetched Miss Grimwood?” Madeline responded, taken aback by the sudden change in tone of Harriet’s voice. 

“Look, it’s complicated but in spite of the fact I’d love to leave her out here for chasing me all over the place over the past two-years, I know it wouldn’t be right and I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself for doing so. So please, show me where she is,” Harriet admitted.

“Ahh, I didn’t know you cared so much kitty and you know I only chase you so much because it is a lot more fun than those pesky squirrels who just dart up a tree or breathe fire at me.”

Harriet’s face dropped like a stone. “Oh no.”

“Oh yes,” Winnie replied. 

Harriet scarpered. 

Winnie chased. 

“Hey you two, wait up,” Madeline called, racing after Winnie and Harriet.


*


“Any luck?” Miss Grimwood asked walking round to the back of Grimwood Manor.

“None,” Mrs Poppycock replied. “But from what I’ve been able to establish, she most certainly didn’t fall in the moat.”

“Well, to some extent that’s a relief but the longer she remains missing…”

“The more we begin to fear that something bad has happened to her,” Mrs Poppycock finished for Miss Grimwood.

“Precisely.”

For an awkward moment a grim silence hug in the air between the two teachers as the sound of thunder rumbled in the distance to indicate an incoming storm. And then, out of the corner of their eyes they caught the most peculiar of sights heading straight towards them. 

Out in front Sweetie was setting a blistering pace, dragging Scootaloo through the dirt as she did so, the Pegasus desperately holding onto a rope that had been thrown around Sweetie’s neck for dear life. Miss Grimwood guessed it had been thrown by Apple Bloom, who, despite being in clear discomfort and trying desperately not to put weight on her left foreleg, was still right behind them, neck and neck with a panicking Harriet who had Winnie on all fours right on her tail, literally. Some way behind them were Isabella and Madeline, the two girls having pretty much given up trying to keep up with their school mates.

“Sweetie,” Scootaloo tried to call out to her friend, only to receive a mouth full of mud for her troubles. 

“Bad werewolf, sit,” Harriet pleaded desperately with Winnie to no avail, only receiving a gnashing of jaws that was way to close to her tail for comfort and made her double her effort whilst praying for Sekhmet, Mafdet, Bastet and whatever other cat gods she could think of to help her.

“Well, I see the girls had a lot better luck than we did,” Mrs Poppycock commented. 

“Indeed, although I was hoping Winnie might have matured a bit over the summer,” Miss Grimwood sighed. 

“Well, she’s still only ten, give her a few more years,” Mrs Poppycock defended the young werewolf. 

“Fair point,” Miss Grimwood responded. “I suggest we brace for…” she paused as magic started to spark on the tip of Sweetie’s horn. “Or not.” 

“Indeed, three,” Mrs Popycock began as the magic grew at the tip of Sweetie’s horn.

“Two,” Miss Grimwood continued as Sweetie prepared to fire, only for her magic to suddenly falter. 

“One,” Mrs Poppycock finished as Sweetie collapsed and went sliding through the mud landing perfectly at Miss Grimwood’s feet.

“Magical exhaustion. Poor dear must have…” Miss Grimwood began only to find herself interrupted.

“LOOK OUT!” Harriet cried. 

Unfazed, Miss Grimwood simply looked up and plucked her frightened pupil out of the air and brought her into her chest. 

“Uh oh,” Winnie said, unable to slow her forward momentum she tripped over Sweetie’s unconscious body and sent herself, Harriet and Miss Grimwood flying into the moat. 

An upstairs window flew open. 

“Just what…” Mrs Bones looked down at the scene of chaos below her in the moat. “Winifred, I might have known. Ten thousand lines starting tomorrow after class and cleaning duty for a month.” And without another word she slammed the window shut. 

“So much for keeping a low profile,” Scootaloo winced, rising gingerly from the dirt.

The window flew open once more. 

“And that reminds me. For your two delinquent friends, five thousand lines each.” 

The window slammed shut once more. 

Scootaloo groaned.
> A Werewolf and his Dogs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

If the months were anything to go by, they were supposedly on the brink of summer. And yet, by mid-afternoon the storm clouds had rolled in and it now felt like the middle of winter. It was only early evening and yet it was pitch black outside, aside from the odd bolt of lightning that shot out of the sky above, as rain pelted the earth below. No sane person in the world would have been caught dead in such weather, let alone be driving in it, but then Norville “Shaggy” Rogers was not a normal person. 

If you went back two years it would have been a different story. He had a wonderful, supportive girlfriend and was heading to the top of American race car driving as the next big thing. But then, just like that, everything had come crashing down. He'd discovered that monsters were real and been turned into one himself in an attempt by the one and only Count Dracula to make him race in the Monster Road Rally in deepest darkest Transylvania. In the end Shaggy had agreed after Dracula promised to turn him back if he won the race. After doing everything in his power to stop Shaggy from winning the race and failing, Dracula had then refused to hand over the tome that held the reversal enchantment. It was only after stealing the book and fleeing back to America that Shaggy and his friends had realised that the reversal enchantment also required the moon to be in the same position as it was for the initial conversion spell. That wouldn’t occur for another five hundred years and thus, Shaggy had gone through the whole chaotic race for absolutely nothing except putting his dearest friends in danger and angering one of the mightiest monsters out there. 

After Dracula and his minions, the Hunch Bunch, had turned up outside his window he’d given up and signed a contract to drive the werewolf car for the next one hundred years without any resistance, much to Dracula’s surprise. He’d retained his crown for the third year on the trot in February and ultimately a talk with Dracula, along with a review of the contract he’d signed, had led to his current predicament and new job. 

To be honest though, it couldn’t be any worse than being turned into a werewolf, dumped by your long-term girlfriend who you were planning on proposing to, and then dealing with your recently deceased uncle’s long-lost fortune and discovering that he’d been murdered by a psychopath pretending to be the local sheriff. And even then, those first four months had been nothing in comparison to what he, Scooby and Scrappy were about to be put through. 

After a relaxing couple of months doing up his uncle’s estate with his now substantial wealth whilst running an orphanage for ghosts, yeah, peculiar one that one but that’s another story altogether, a supposed old friend had sent him a letter stating that she needed a pilot for a business trip to Hawaii, offering him a free vacation in the process for his services. Of course, he’d agreed, who wouldn’t have? Especially considering they were a long-term friend who Shaggy had thought he could trust. Little did he realise at the time just what Daphne Blake was getting him, Scooby and Scrappy into.

Daphne was in truth now a covert operative for a government department run by her father that was so secretive not even the president knew what it did. Even Shaggy still wasn’t one hundred percent sure just what Blake did but what he did know was that she had lied to him and her actions had ended up having serious consequences, like, for one, fighting the thirteen most powerful monsters to have ever set foot in their world. They’d caught eleven before their luck had eventually run out catching the twelfth, Asmodeus, the king of all demons. To put it in perspective, Asmodeus made Dracula look about as threatening as a bunny rabbit. 

As Daphne’s handler, Vincent Van Ghoul, a warlock, performed a Christmas miracle, she had revealed everything to Shaggy. About how they were never actually going to Hawaii and how her actual mission had been to retrieve the chest for her father and have it locked away for safety purposes where no one would ever find it. About how she had purposefully given Scooby the wrong map and never meant for any of this to happen. But at the end of the day, it had, and because of her they’d been sucked into monster movies, mirror realms and even a comic book, fought terrifying monster after terrifying monster and stared the end of the world in the face on what felt like a weekly basis. And that wasn’t even the worst of it. The mental toll on poor Scooby had nearly killed him and possibly would have if Asmodeus hadn’t. 

Instead, his best friend now had no recollection of anything that happened after the plane took off all those months ago and didn’t even question the stitches connecting his head to the rest of his body. Shaggy was glad, it was like he’d finally got his best friend in the whole wide world back, aside a somehow even greater addiction to Scooby Snacks. Still, for himself and Scrappy, there was no magical amnesia spell and the horrifying memories of the past eighteen months would stay with them the rest of their lives, the most notable of which was Scooby’s decapitation at the claws of Asmodeus and Flim Flam’s sacrifice, trapping himself in the chest with Asmodeus to save his remaining friends. 

Unsurprisingly, Shaggy had abruptly informed Daphne he was done after finally being told the truth, handing her back the chest not caring that only Scooby could trap the final monster as he was the one who had inadvertently opened it, and headed home. For the next month, the Boo Brothers had proven surprisingly excellent counsellors and helped both him and Scrappy deal with the severe mental trauma they had suffered as they tried desperately to keep the truth from Scooby. This had certainly not been easy considering just how much Scrappy had grown but they had managed to spin a story of sorts that had seemingly satisfied Scooby, stating that the plane they had been on had crashed and he’d been in a coma for more than a year.

In what felt like no time at all the Monster Road Rally had come around again and despite everything, Shaggy had actually welcomed the distraction and won for an unprecedented third time in a row. He now wondered though if his mental state at the time might have impacted his judgement regarding this new job. 

“Hey Shaggy, you there Shaggy?” 

“Huh, what?” Shaggy replied, turning to see the giant three foot plus tall Great Dane in the back of the van that was covered in scars and missing part of his right ear.

Scrappy, unlike his uncle who was the very definition of a coward, was more akin to his own name, a fighter, whose sheer stubbornness, determination and strong will had got them all through more than one scrap over the course of the past eighteen months but not without consequences. The most notable of these was where his back left leg now naturally ended three quarters of the ways down, the end replaced with a metallic prosthetic after their escape from Befuddle Hall. 

“You zoned out there for a while. Everything okay?” Scrappy asked, already knowing the answer. Things would never again be okay no matter how hard they tried to forget and move on from the past. Because Flim Flam was gone and never coming back. A tear slowly formed in his right eye as Shaggy replied.

“Sorry Scrappy, I was just thinking that maybe it would have been better if we had just told Dracula no and dealt with the fallout. I mean, I know he could deal with me easily but when you’ve an estate with a thousand or more ghosts backing you up, I’m not sure even Dracula could deal with that,” Shaggy admitted. 

“Nonsense,” Scrappy replied, wiping the tear away with a paw as he forced a smile onto his face. It might be impossible to forget what had happened but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t at least try for his uncle’s sake. “You’ll make a great gym teacher and I’ll make a great assistant, won’t I uncle Scoob?”

“Sure thing Rappy,” Scooby responded, pausing for a moment from where he had been devouring a box of Scooby Snacks next to Shaggy to reach over with a paw and proceed to pat his nephew on the head. 

Scrappy looked less than pleased. “Quit it unc, I’m not a little pup anymore!” he exclaimed.

“You’ll always be ry little Rappy and you row it,” Scooby replied, struggling to pronounce several words and instead replacing the first letter of each with an r. 

The fact he could talk at all was astonishing in itself but then Scooby wasn’t a normal dog and neither was his nephew. Another bombshell Daphne had dropped on Shaggy after the thirteen ghosts’ debacle. Even so, if it wasn’t for the fact Scooby was now technically an immortal zombie held together by some seriously powerful magic, his lifespan would still have probably been only around fifteen to twenty years, around twice that of your average Great Dane. Now at least, Shaggy would never have to worry about that day arriving, for Scoob at least.

Shaggy shook his head and tried to focus on the road ahead, which was easier said than done through the pitch-black exterior. Thankfully, his enhanced night-vision helped a lot, even if he hadn’t passed another vehicle on this deserted, barely passable road for well over an hour. It had been a long drive from the Beauregard Plantation over the course of several days but claws crossed they were hopefully nearly there, wherever there was. Shaggy wasn’t entirely sure himself anymore what part of the country they were in.

“Scrappy, you’ve got the map, haven’t you? Mind locating where we are. I’m pretty sure we must be getting close to the school by now,” Shaggy requested. 

“Erm, about that” Scrappy replied like a guilty puppy who had just been caught with his paw in the biscuit barrel. “I put it in the glove box between two pieces of bread for safe keeping and, well, uncle Scooby just ate it.”

Scooby burped. “Rorry, I was still hungry,” Scooby said apologetically. 

“Oh swell, so we’re lost. We could be halfway to Alaska for all we know,” Shaggy exclaimed, not taking his eyes of the road for even a moment. 

“I said I was rorry,” Scooby responded dejectedly.

“Sorry Scoob, I’m not blaming you okay, or Scrappy either for that matter. And don’t worry, it looks like there’s a property ahead. Maybe it’s the school and if not, hopefully we’ll at least get some directions to where we are going,” Shaggy said optimistically before his eyes caught sight of the sign on the gate. 

Calloway Military School

Shaggy let out a mighty sigh of relief. They were on the right track. Grimwood Manor should be just next door according to the instructions he’d been provided with. 

“Nearly there guys,” Shaggy said, reversing the van back and then turning left up a windy narrow lane that ended at a set of gates.

A bolt of lightning momentarily lit up the dilapidated looking manor in the distance.

“RIKES!” Scooby screamed, diving under the seat whilst shaking uncontrollably.

“Sc-ooo-by, will y-ou come out fr-om u-nder there,” Shaggy said disjointedly as he bounced up and down on the seat. “I told y-ou wh-at to ex-pect be-fore we left,” he added as the set of gates swung open. 

“Ruh-uh, scared,” Scooby replied, but thankfully at least the shaking subsided enough for Shaggy to manoeuvre the van up the driveway. 

“Wow, what a neat place,” Scrappy commented, peering over Shaggy’s shoulder from the back of the van. “It even has a moat!”

“Yeah, I can see and the drawbridge is up,” Shaggy replied, peering through the never-ending tirade of rain. To make matters even worse, the wipers had conked out!

“Rood,” Scooby replied. 

Shaggy rolled his eyes as he brought the van to a standstill. 

“I do hope the girls aren’t in bed yet but I can’t think of any other way to get their attention,” Shaggy said before he let out an ear-splitting howl.


*


“How was your flight from Transylvania Sibella?” Miss Grimwood asked as the eldest and last of her current students arrived alongside her father.

“Fangtastic Miss Grimwood but awfully tiring and the last part was extremely wet,” the vampire replied with a mighty yawn that showed off her elongated canines as she wringed the water from her long two-tone purple hair into a bucket. She also sported pale purple skin and a dark purple dress with a red waistband.

“I can imagine so,” Miss Grimwood replied with a stern glance in Dracula’s direction before returning her attention back to Sibella. “Octavius has filled the bath tub ready for you and your luggage is already in your room along with some blood packs in case you wish for a snack before bed. Your dormmates should be awake but I’ve just sent the younger ones to bed so please try to keep the noise down.” 

“Thanks Miss Grimwood, you’re the best and will do,” Sibella said before turning to her father and giving him a hug. “As are you daddy. Thanks again for letting me do my first long distance flight.”

“The pleasure was all mine Sibella dear,” Dracula replied, reciprocating the hug whilst stroking his daughter’s hair. “It is nice to know that even as you grow older you are still willing to spend some time with your old man.” 

Sibella gripped her father tighter. “You know that’ll never change,” she said firmly before slowly releasing her father. “I’ll see you at Halloween, right?”

“Is your favourite blood type B negative?” Dracula replied with a broad grin across his greyish green face. 

“You know it,” Sibella replied as she turned and headed for the stairs. 

“Then there’s your answer. Now let me not…”

A loud howl suddenly came from outside. 

“Oh no, I totally forgot!” Miss Grimwood exclaimed as the howl was answered upstairs followed by the sound of hastily approaching footsteps (or more accurately put, paw steps). 

Dracula turned to Miss Grimwood as Winnie came barrelling down the stairs.

“Hi Winnie, how have you…” Sibella began only for the werewolf to push her to one side as she stormed down the stairs with a face like thunder and continued to the front door. 

“WHO DARES INVADE MY TERRITORY,” the young werewolf roared angrily. 

“You didn’t tell her?” Dracula said with just a hint of surprise. 

“It’s been one of those weeks,” Miss Grimwood sighed as Winnie paused in lowering the drawbridge and redirected her attention to Miss Grimwood. 

“Tell me what?” Winnie growled. 

“Would somepony like to tell us what all the noise is about,” Apple Bloom grumbled with a yawn appearing at the top of the stairs, her left shoulder heavily bandaged. 

“Yeah, we were just drifting off when we heard Winnie howling her head off again,” Scootaloo added testily beside Apple Bloom.

“Talking horses! Well, that is a new one,” Dracula chuckled.

“Yeah, and what’s it to you Fang Face?” Scootaloo responded rudely. 

“Hey, that’s my father you’re talking about!” Sibella interjected, glowering at Scootaloo.

Dracula simply let out another chuckle. “Feisty to. They’ll fit in well at Grimwood. But I also suggest learning your place chicken unless you want to end up being my next meal,” he added, disappearing in a puff of smoke and reappearing by Scootaloo’s side, his extended canines mere millimetres from her throat. 

Scootaloo gulped nervously, a bead of sweat dripping down her forehead.

“No matter how troublesome she may be, that so called chicken is still a pupil of this school and under my responsibility and care. So, unless you want your daughter witnessing your untimely demise, you’ll back off,” the cold, harsh tones of Mrs Bones suddenly cut through the hallway. 

Dracula retracted his canines and did as he was told but not before whispering in Scootaloo’s ear, “You’ve been warned.” He then turned and faced Mrs Bones with a toothy grin. “Elizabeth, long time no see, how you…”

The students grimaced as a cold bony hand slapped Dracula around the face. “You’ve five seconds to get back downstairs before I start ramming garlic down your throat.” 

Dracula disappeared once more in a puff of smoke and reappeared next to Miss Grimwood downstairs. “I see she’s still the same old Mrs Bones,” he stated to the Headmistress whilst rubbing his sore cheek and proceeding to laugh of the whole incident. “Anyway, before I go Sibella there’s one more surprise I’ve planned for you.

He snapped his fingers and the drawbridge dropped with a loud bang followed by the front door swinging open, allowing the raging storm outside into the entranceway.

“I know how much your sports competitions against the cadets next door mean to you and how disappointed you feel that you’ve never been able to win either, so, I found and sponsored you a gym teacher,” Dracula announced.

“GYM TEACHER,” all the older girls exclaimed as one just as Shaggy appeared in the doorway. 

It was a well-known fact at Grimwood about the lacking of a specialised gym teacher due in part to a lack of funds and in part due to the fact no one who wasn’t either a monster themselves or completely insane would be willing to teach a bunch of monsters. Thirdly, there was also the significant security risk associated with hiring outsiders who might leak confidential information about the school or worse, cause the students harm. 

“Like, thanks, it is really coming down hard out there. And sorry about the howl, I was unsure how else I could catch your…” Shaggy paused momentarily as he caught sight of Dracula. “Attention,” he finished before stating the obvious, “Drac, I had no idea you would be here.”

“Sibella wanted to fly all the way here from Transylvania and, as I felt she was old enough to do so, I let her but only with me accompanying her as it was her first long distance flight. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything bad happened to my precious Sibella due to my negligence and I expect you to take just as good care of her whilst she’s at Grimwood, understood,” Dracula somewhat explained, somewhat threatened.

Shaggy gulped nervously, his knees knocking against one another in fear. “Understood, Count.”

Sibella went rosy cheeked on the stairs in embarrassment. “Dad, I’m not a little ghoul anymore, I can quite easily look after myself. But thank you daddy, I’m sure with his help this will finally be our year!”

A mixture of howls, screams, cheers and squeals greeted Sibella’s declaration.

“Hey, what did we miss?” Scrappy enquired, letting go of his uncle’s tail. Scooby had had to be dragged in from the van and immediately shot off and hid under a nearby rug upon his release.

“Ah, so you brought the dogs to,” Dracula said as the cacophony of noise subsided. “I wondered if you would. I see he’s still as big a coward as ever,” he finished, stabbing a finger in the direction of the cowering Scooby.

Shaggy placed himself between Scrappy and the Count before the former said something he regretted later. “Scooby is who he is, that’s all that matters. And as you’ve very well seen, he’s never one to shy away from danger when his friends need him,” Shaggy said in a tone that clearly told Dracula not to push the subject any further.  

“Understood. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve some business to attend to with Miss Grimwood before I depart. It was good catching up with you again Shah-gee and we’ll catch up again at Halloween, hopefully with the first of many trophies, for your sake,” Dracula responded with a toothy grin. 

Shaggy’s knees started knocking once more but he refused to back down. “Got ya. Look after Sibella, help all the girls win a volleyball match. Anything else?” 

“My, my, you’ve certainly developed a bit more of a backbone Shah-gee since we first met,” Dracula said light-heartedly. “I think you and your dogs will fit in perfectly here at Grimwood. Miss Grimwood, I’ll wait for you in your office, try not to keep me waiting for too long.” And, after one final wave to his daughter, Dracula disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“Still the same old Drac,” Shaggy muttered to himself whilst letting out an almighty breath of relief as he offered out his hand to Miss Grimwood. “Norville “Shaggy” Rogers, mystery solver, race car driver, reluctant werewolf and now, apparently, gym teacher extraordinaire.”

A ghostly white floating hand reciprocated the offer. In the past Shaggy would have baulked and run a mile at such a thing but now he didn’t even flinch and just shook it. 

“Miss Griselda Grimwood, headmistress of this finishing school for girl ghouls,” Miss Grimwood stated. “If you wouldn’t mind helping Mrs Bones getting the students back to bed that would be much appreciated as I’d better not keep the Count waiting. Handy here and Octavius will collect your luggage and show you to your quarters once you’re done. 

“Rones?” Scooby said, suddenly popping up at Shaggy’s side out of nowhere. 

Miss Grimwood chuckled and gave Scooby a pat on his head. If someone had been super attentive, they might have noticed Miss Grimwood’s smile flicker but it was so swift it would have been super difficult for even the keenest of eyes to tell if it had truly happened or not. The tone of her voice though could not hide the fact that something was definitely wrong, in spite of her best attempts to hide it.

“Aren’t you a good boy. And what’s your name?” She asked, scratching Scooby behind one of his ears.

“Scooby Doo,” Scooby replied. 

“And I’m his nephew Scrappy,” Scrappy nipped in.

Miss Grimwood let out an audible gasp as her eyes fell upon Scrappy. 

“Plane crash,” Scrappy said robotically before Miss Grimwood had the opportunity to ask the obvious question. 

Miss Grimwood raised an eyebrow in response but didn’t push the matter any further. “Alright then. I’ll see you all at breakfast tomorrow but if you’re hungry now, as I’m guessing you will be after such a long drive, Octavius will show you to the kitchen after you’re done here. Help yourself to whatever you fancy and there should definitely be a couple of bones lying around for you Scooby. Just no munching on Mrs Bones if you know what’s good for you, okay? Huh, where’d he go?”

This time it was Shaggy’s turn to let out a chuckle as he pointed to where Scooby was bounding up the stairs barking wildly. “You said the magic word, FOOD. I’d better go and ensure he doesn’t scare the students half to death, or vice versa. And return this one to her bed.” He lifted his left arm to reveal Winnie’s jaws clamped on it. 

“RAT! GIANT RAT,” Shaggy suddenly heard Scooby exclaim from upstairs. 

“Oh no, not again!” Harriet’s voice suddenly squeaked from upstairs. “Get away from me you filthy mutt!” 

This was followed by Mrs Bones barking commands. “Down! Sit! Stay!” 

“Erm, uh oh, looks like I should have asked sooner, how’s you dog with cats because one of our girls is half-cat,” Miss Grimwood enquired uneasily. 

Shaggy bolted for the stairs, with Winnie still hanging off his left arm, Scrappy following in his wake.

“Scooby Doo, you leave that poor girl alone you hear me,” Shaggy yelled as he did so. 

A loud crash followed by a scream that was obviously Harriet, was all Shaggy received in reply.

Miss Grimwood thought momentarily about assisting but knew her presence was needed more urgently elsewhere. Especially if she was going to get an answer as to why her new gym teacher had a zombie dog that radiated the magic of one Vincent Van Ghoul.


*


“Okay, would you like to tell me just what is going on and why my new gym teacher has an undead dog for a pet or… are you drinking my vintage bourbon?” 

“With a shot of blood, yes. It’s very nice I must say. Oh, and I’d like to ask you the same question,” Dracula replied. “To be precise, why your friends at the Interdimensional Demon Defence Division (IDDD) instructed me to persuade Shah-Gee to take residence here at the school as a teacher without him knowing they were involved in doing so. I’d show you the letter but it self-combusted, as is the norm for any correspondence received from the I triple D once it has been read.”

Miss Grimwood’s eyes widened in surprise. “They did what?”

“I can guess from your face that you didn’t know?” Dracula questioned before taking another sip from his drink.

“Well, I did think it strange that you were willing to partly fund a gym teacher for the school but considering how much you adore your daughter, I didn’t really give it as much thought as I possibly should have,” Miss Grimwood admitted, walking over and pouring herself a large glass of bourbon. She needed it after the day she’d had.

“So, I guess we’re both a little in the dark then as the mortals say?” 

“Very much so but that doesn’t mean we can’t try to piece together the pieces of the jigsaw we do have. Firstly, the IDDD want Mr Rogers at the school for one reason or another. Secondly, he must have strong ties with one of the highest ranking IDDD agents, Vincent Van Ghoul, as the warlock resurrected…”

“Wait, did you say Van Ghoul was involved?”  

“Yes, I’d recognise that magic anywhere, why?”

“Because if he and Daphne Blake are both involved, we’re looking at something so powerful, it has the possibility to change the world as we know it. No wonder the I triple D were trying to cover it up so badly,” Dracula stated grimly. 

“Daphne Blake? How’s she involved? And, oh, you mean that spike of malevolent magic two years back that caused a significant shift in the balance of good and evil in the world?” Miss Grimwood enquired. “I knew the IDDD couldn’t be trusted on that one but trying to find out anything they don’t want you to find out about is virtually impossible. There security is tighter than Fort Knox combined with the Whitehouse.”

“Exactly. I found that out the hard way a few times myself before being told in a rather abrupt letter to cease my attempts to infiltrate their base of operations or find myself and my family residing in a vacuum bag. Considering the message was delivered via a high velocity stake that shattered one of my castle’s windows and very nearly took my head of, I decided it best not to push my luck, especially as I’d just found out Vana was pregnant with Sibella,” Dracula explained. 

“I see, so how did you find out Mr Rogers was involved with Daphne Blake?” 

Dracula collapsed onto the floor and pressed his back up against the desk and looked up to the ceiling. He let out a deep breath and then began. “Two years ago, when I first met Shah-gee, he was just like his eldest dog, terrified of practically anything that wasn’t food but a happy and jolly fellow who enjoyed life to the fullest. Then, a year later, it was like a totally different werewolf turned up to the Monster Road Rally. He was cold, aloof and there was a steeliness to him that wasn’t there before. I’ve never seen any monster ever change so much, let alone in just a year. Don’t say this to anyone but his change in demeanour even frightened me to a degree and I’m one of the most powerful monsters on the planet.”

“Okay. So what? You got the Hunch Bunch to tail him to try and find out more?” 

“No,” Dracula clearly lied before wilting under Miss Grimwood’s gaze as she offered him a hand to help him back to his feet. “Eugh, how do you know me so well?” he grumbled. 

“I taught you for nine or so years of your life remember? Before I opted to make Grimwood a school for girl ghouls only,” Miss Grimwood deadpanned, pulling Dracula back to his feet. 

“Of course,” Dracula stated with a roll of his eyes. “Anyway, getting the Hunch Bunch to follow Shah-gee did me little good, aside finding out he now ran an orphanage for ghosts.”

“Well, that sounds a little peculiar,” Miss Grimwood nipped in.

Dracula held up his hand to cut her off. “I asked him about it discreetly, stating I’d heard rumours of such, and he was happy to discuss the whole caper. A stressful situation involving hillbillies, murder, a loose gorilla, creepy butlers and a treasure hunt amongst a lot else but overall and, quite bizarrely, he seemed at peace with the whole thing. I’d tell you the full story but time is of the essence right now and we seem to be getting nowhere with solving just what the I triple D is up to or how Shah-gee is involved.”

Miss Grimwood, who had taken in what Dracula had said in stunned silence, eventually responded. “I’ll ask him about it when I get five minutes. Right now, I go back to my initial question, how did you find out Daphne Blake was involved?

Drac reached into his waistcoat and pulled out a photo. “I’d practically given up but decided I might as well have the Hunch Bunch tail Shah-gee to the airport when he left after the race. It’s a little blurry, as they had to remain a good distance away to avoid being spotted, but I’d recognise that ginger hair and purple jumpsuit anywhere.”

Miss Grimwood took the photo and examined it. It seemed to show Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy boarding an airplane where a woman was standing waiting for them in the doorway. 

Miss Grimwood sighed. “Yep, that’s definitely Daphne Blake and now I have some idea of what’s going on and I don’t like it, not one bit.” 

“You do?” Dracula responded, unable to hide his surprise. 

“Only a vague outline but enough to be worried. The IDDD must have had something insanely evil that they didn’t want anyone to know about trapped and it managed to break free. For some reason we have yet to uncover, Mr Rogers was brought on board to help Blake recapture it that caused him significant mental and emotional stress, thus the change in personality you reported. Mr Van Ghoul meanwhile was likely their handler and the one who oversaw the entire mission. Anyway, after months of tracking and trying to recapture whatever got loose, they must have finally cornered the evil abomination only for it to lash out, kill his dog and then get away again in the ensuing chaos,” Miss Grimwood theorised. 

Dracula stared Miss Grimwood for a moment utterly speechless until finally he managed to utter, “That actually is a good theory but still leaves us with several massive questions. Like, why do they want Shaggy at the school? Why resurrect his dog? And most importantly, what was unleashed?” 

“This is the part you’re not going to like. I believe that whatever unholy demon escaped has some kind of link to Mr Rogers and his dogs, most likely he’s the only one who can re-imprison it. But, after nearly losing his dog, he walked away before the job was completed and now, without fear of being captured, the IDDD fear that monster is planning something big, something that involves the school, or, more accurately, what it sits on,” Miss Grimwood went on.

“The fracture,” Dracula said barely above a whisper as he helped himself to some more bourbon.

“Precisely.”


*


On a rocky outcrop surrounded for miles all around by a gloomy forest filled with gruesomely deadly creatures sat a castle that had laid derelict for years until very recently, Castle Revolta. That was until its owner, Revolta, the Witch of the Web, had returned after finally being released from her insufferable prison after so many years of entrapment alongside twelve more of the most evil and diabolical monsters ever to have lived. It was from her castle that she had opted to bide her time, allow her power to grow, and plot her next move whilst monitoring the situation. And so, it had proven a wise decision, as one by one her brethren were defeated by a bunch of bizarre misfits and returned to the chest from whence they had been released from. Even Asmodeus, the most powerful of them all, had fallen, but not before landing a couple of fatal blows that had inevitably caused the bunch of misfits to disband and give her more time to perfect her scheme. She just wished he’d taken these two idiots with him in the process so that she didn’t have to listen to their pathetic pleading right now. 

“ENOUGH,” Revolta bellowed sat atop her throne of bones. “I have no need for failures, so begone from my sight before I banish you to the beyond for good.”

“Oh, please be merciful your highness, all we want to do is help,” Weerd pleaded.

“Help, help? All of my brethren have been returned to the chest because of your incompetence,” Revolta snapped, firing a bolt of lightning at the two quivering ghosts at her feet. 

“Yow,” Weerd and Bogel screamed in tandem, leaping into the air. 

“The only good you two have done is that now I don’t have to share this world with anyone. I shall rule it entirely alone with obedient and competent minions fulfilling my orders to the letter.” A sinister smile suddenly crossed her face. “Actually, maybe I was too harsh, there is one way you could help me.”

“Anything your mightiness, anything,” Weerd beseeched, grovelling at Revolta’s feet. 

“Grim Creeper, take these two to the laboratory, we have tests to run,” Revolta sneered.

“Yes Revolta,” a strange, dark green plant like creature with one eye replied appearing from the shadows. 

“Erm, tests?” Weerd replied, looking a lot less sure of himself than a moment ago.

“Don’t worry, they won’t hurt, much,” Revolta replied wickedly. “They’ll hurt a lot.”