Chapter 4

Moonscar Island

The gang arrived on Moonscar Island without any trouble. As Daphne backed up the Mystery Machine, Jacques told Lena to give Miss Lenoir his regards.

"I'll do that, Jacques. Thanks," said Lena. "Ready? Follow me and hang on. The road's a little bumpy."

Lena then took off down the road with the Mystery Machine following behind. Sure enough, the road was as bumpy as Lena had told them. So bumpy, in fact, that Applejack had to hold on to her hat as they traveled. As they were following Lena, the friends eventually saw an antebellum manor past the trees. Fred got out the camera and started taping as Daphne continued driving.

"Wow! There's our haunted house," she beamed.

As soon as they pulled into the front lawn, just like Lena said, there were a bunch of cats everywhere.

"My! Lena wasn't kidding. This place is crawling with cats," said Fred.

Hearing the word made Scooby grab the camera to make absolutely sure that Fred wasn't joking. Sure enough, as soon as he grabbed, Scooby knew he was looking at a bunch of cats. As if on cue, his canine instincts kicked in and he started chasing the cats.

"Scooby, wait! Come back!" Fluttershy called.

But Scooby didn't listen. He continued chasing the cats like there was no tomorrow. He even got into the garden, as well. This irritated the gardener, a tall muscular man with left-sided curved brown hair and hazel eyes. He wore a white tank top under a thick long-sleeved brick red denim shirt, which were both tucked into his light grey denim pants, held up by a brown belt. He also had on brown shoes and dull yellow gloves.

"Hey, you mutt! I just planted those!" he bellowed, referring to the plants that Scooby trampled.

The cats ran in between the wheel of a wooden wheelbarrow, whereas Scooby could barely fit under it. He was very persistent when it came to chasing down these cats.

"Scooby, stop! Yer gonna get us into trouble!" shouted Applejack.

One of the cats decided to taunt Scooby-Doo by blowing raspberry at him. Of course, this only irritated him even more and he resumed chasing the cats. In doing so, he also ended up breaking the wheel, which sent the plants on the wheelbarrow flying. Luckily, Shaggy was able to catch one of the potted flowers as Scooby continued his chase.

"Why? Why? Why-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y?" wailed Rarity. "Why must that dog always insist on chasing cats of any kind?"

"Shaggy, do something!" pleaded Sunset.

"Scooby-Doo! STOP!" hollered Shaggy, dropping the potted plant.

"I spent a whole week on that planter!" the gardener groaned.

He soon found himself victim to one of the cats and Scooby-Doo. The latter of whom he was run over by. Scooby, of course, being the ham that he is, dusted off the gardener before resuming his chase. Thankfully for the cat, though, the chase stopped as soon as it leapt into its owner's arms. The owner was a middle-aged woman with chin-length blonde hair and green eyes. She was wearing a long, blue shirt over her white dress, deep red lipstick, blue square-shaped earrings, blue high heels, and a green necklace that was shaped like a cat's head.

Scooby tried his best to stop, but due to how fast he was going, ended up skidding right into the woman. Everyone else cringed as he landed on top of her.

"Ms. Lenoir!" gasped Lena. She ran to her employer to help her up. Scooby was about to give chase to the cat again until Shaggy stopped him by holding on to his collar.

"Scooby-Doo! That's quite enough!" scolded Fluttershy. While usually very kind, even Fluttershy had her limits. And it looked as if Scooby had managed to push the right buttons.

"Rorry, Ruttershy," he whimpered.

Fluttershy wasn't the only one who was upset. Ms. Lenoir, Lena's employer, was very cross at the fact that Scooby was chasing her cats. "Who brought this—this dog?!" she hissed.

"Rog? Where?"

"I'm terribly sorry," Daphne apologized. "We should have held on to him better. I'm Daphne Blake of Coast to Coast."

Ms. Lenoir just stared at her like she didn't know what she was talking about.

"I don't like the look she's giving us," Pinkie whispered to Twilight.

"Just can it, Pinkie. Daphne knows what she's doing… I hope," Twilight whispered back.

"You know? The TV show?" continued Daphne.

"We do not have television on my island," said Ms. Lenoir. She then turned to Lena. "Lena, what are they doing here?"

"It's all my fault, Ms. Lenoir," said Lena. "I heard these folks say they wanted to see a real haunted house. So I thought—"

"You might show them mine? I see. Really, Lena?"

"But your house is simply beautiful, Ms. Lenoir. Isn't it, Fred?" said Daphne.

"Picture perfect," agreed Fred. "Just how old is it?"

"It has been in my family for generations," explained Ms. Lenoir. "It was a pepper plantation. Some of the hottest peppers in Louisiana grow on this island."

Shaggy, Scooby and Pinkie LOVE chili peppers. Upon hearing that the island was once a pepper plantation, the three of them were really excited, especially Pinkie. Velma then proceeded to ask Ms. Lenoir if the house was really haunted.

"Yes," replied Ms. Lenoir, answering Velma's question. "It is an old house with restless spirits."

As they were talking, no one was aware that they were being watched by what appeared to be a girl with brown fur all over her body like a wolf. The girl let out a deep gravelly growl as she observed everyone from the nearby trees.

"You're welcome to look around if you like," said Ms. Lenoir as she headed up to the front door.

"Would we ever!" Daphne said excitedly. "Do you mind us taping?"

"No. Of course, not. In fact, I'd be most flattered."

As the friends started up the stairs to the front door, Ms. Lenoir warned them that they'd have to find some way to keep Scooby from chasing her cats.

"Like, food always keeps Scooby occupied," said Shaggy.

"It keeps you occupied, too, Shaggy," Sunset said smugly.

"Hey!"

"If it will keep him from chasing my cats, you're welcome to my kitchen," said Ms. Lenoir.

"Groovy! Come on, Scoob!"

Both Shaggy and Scooby made their way inside as the gardener grumbled at the mess that was made.

"Sorry about all the damage, Lena," said Fred.

"Oh, don't worry. Beau will take care of it," said Lena.

Beau was the gardener's name, and he was not happy at the mess that Scooby made.

Making their way inside, Scooby sniffed one of the pet bowls on the kitchen floor.

"Rat food! Yuck!" he gagged.

"Forget the cat food, Scoob," said Shaggy as he lifted up the lid of a pot. "There's a lot better chow in this kitchen."

Pinkie sniffed the air and immediately licked her lips.

"Mmmmmmmm! That's gumbo, right, Miss Lena?" she said.

"You do know your food," said Lena as she was preparing lemonade.

"Like, we've traveled the world on our stomachs," said Shaggy. "Mind if we have a taste?"

"Of course not. Let me know how you like it."

Lena walked out of the kitchen with a full tray of lemonade for Fred and the rest of the girls.

Shaggy poured some gumbo in two bowls. One for Scooby and one for Pinkie. He tested some of the gumbo himself with the pots ladle.

"Like, not bad, but it needs a little more spice. Don't you think so, guys?"

Both Scooby and Pinkie licked their bowls completely clean of gumbo. They were really fast eaters.

"Yes, indeedy," said Pinkie.

The trio went into the pantry, where Shaggy turned on the light. There was loads of fruit everywhere, including a jar of hot chili peppers. Shaggy grabbed said jar and figured that the chili peppers would add some well-needed spice to the gumbo.

Meanwhile, in the living room, everyone else was enjoying the lemonade that Lena had prepared for them. Just as Daphne was about to ask Lena how long she had been working for Ms. Lenoir, they heard screaming coming from the kitchen.

"That was Shaggy! It sounds like he's in trouble!" exclaimed Sunset.

Everyone ran into the kitchen, only to find Scooby, Shaggy and Pinkie cooling off their mouths with lemonade and water.

"Like, that was some hot pepper," Shaggy sighed.

"Those are Moonscar Island peppers," Lena chuckled.

"I wasn't exaggerating when I said they were the hottest peppers in Louisiana," said Ms. Lenoir.

"With all the screaming, we thought you might've seen a ghost," said Fred.

"If we do, you'll be the first to know," said Shaggy as Lena swept up the broken lemonade pitcher.

"Sorry for the interruption, Ms. Lenoir," Daphne apologized.

"Please, call me Simone," Ms. Lenoir insisted. "Shall we continue our of tour of the house?"

"Great, Ms… uh, Simone."

"Oh, brother," Rainbow Dash groaned.

"Maybe you guys should stay away from those peppers," chuckled Velma.

"I'll stay with them if that's alright with you guys!" said Sunset.

"That's fine, Sunset. Just keep those three away from those hot peppers!" Twilight said as she followed the others.

"Best if you guys just stick with the gumbo. That is, if you don't mind, Lena."

"Of course not. I'm glad you like it. Help yourselves."

Shaggy, Scooby and Pinkie then gazed intensely at the door to make sure the coast was clear. One look and Sunset immediately knew what was going on. They were going to have more of those hot chili peppers.

"Shaggy, you're not seriously thinking of eating another one of those, are you?"

"Aw, come on, Sunset, try one," said Shaggy, offering her a pepper.

Sunset glared at him as she folded her arms. She did not appreciate the fact that he was trying to force her to eat one.

"You think this is funny, Norville? Because I'm not laughing."

Suddenly, there was a huge chill in the kitchen and everyone suddenly felt cold.

"Brrrrrrrrrrr! That's weird. It's supposed to be warm at this time of year in August. Yet, somehow, it's fr-fr-fr-fr-fr-fr-fr-freezing!"

"Reah. Reezing," shivered Scooby.

Just then, they all heard scratching on the wall. They all looked in the general direction of where it was coming from and saw a white wisp writing a message. The message was being written with what appeared to be the ghostly image of a cutlass, the weapon of a Caribbean pirate. The message in its entirety spelled the words GET OUT. The eeriness of the message frightened not only Shaggy and Scooby, but both Sunset and Pinkie, as well.

Meanwhile, in Simone's library, Velma and Twilight were complimenting her on it when everyone else heard the four screaming in the kitchen.

"Now what?" Daphne groaned.

Everyone ran into the kitchen and noticed that the pantry door was rattling like crazy. Daphne opened the door and saw Shaggy, Scooby, Sunset, and Pinkie shivering in fear.

"What the heck happened?" asked Rainbow. "Did you guys eat some of those peppers again?"

"Ruh-uh. Writing!" said Scooby.

"Writing? What writing?" asked Velma.

"Um, guys?" said Fluttershy, tapping on Velma's shoulder. "I think he means th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-THAT writing!" She pointed to the wall where the words GET OUT were written earlier.

"What in tarnation?! How did that happen?" exclaimed Applejack.

"Normally I wouldn't jump to conclusions, but for once, I'd have to say that this place actually is haunted!" shivered Sunset.

"Wow! Fred, get a shot of that!" beamed Daphne.

"Jinkies!" exclaimed Velma.

Daphne brushed her hair in order to make herself look presentable in front of the camera.

"Simone, could you come stand next to me, please?"

Knowing what was going on, Velma backed away from the wall as Daphne got in position for Fred to start taping.

"Here we are in Ms. Simone Lenoir's kitchen where we've had our first encounter with the supernatural spirits of Moonscar mansion. You can feel the chill in the air."

Just then, Daphne felt a breeze blowing through her hair, which practically ruined the take for her.

"CUT! Who opened a window?!"

Unbeknownst to her, however, another word was written below GET OUT. It was the word BEWARE. The three most synonymous words often associated with haunted house.

"No one opened a window, darling. Look!" cried Rarity.

"Holy guacamole!" exclaimed Twilight.

"Wow! Is this great stuff or what?" Daphne beamed.

"Are you crazy, Daphne? That's got to be a warning of some kind!" exclaimed Sunset.

"The haunting might just be starting," said Simone. "After sundown, the ghosts get more restless."

Suddenly, everyone heard an extremely eerie sound coming from outside.

AHWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

"Zoinks! L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-Like, what was that?" shivered Shaggy.

"Werewolves, maybe?" Fluttershy gulped.

"Fluttershy, there's no such thing as werewolves," said Velma.

AHWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

"Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-You were saying?"

"Keep rolling, Fred. Maybe we'll have another ghostly manifestation," said Daphne as she brushed her hair. Just then, Fred noticed something strange happening with both Velma and Rarity. "Freddy! I'm over here!"

"It's Velma and Rarity!" he exclaimed as both Velma and Rarity started levitating.

"We've been levitated before, and there's always a magnet or wires somewhere."

"No wires here, Fred," said Velma.

"Wow! A real case of levitation!" said Daphne.

Rarity suddenly screamed as both she and Velma were levitated higher up into the air.

"This just gets better and better!"

"Maybe from where you're standing!" Velma whimpered, trying to cover her undergarments.

"THIS IS ABOSULETLY INAPPROPRIATE!" Rarity shrieked, doing the same thing. "SOMEBODY GET US DOWN FROM HERE!"

"Come on, Scooby," said Shaggy. Both he and Scooby walked over to the girls and they immediately landed on Scooby.

"I was scared to death! I'd rather stay on the ground unless I need to climb something, thank you very much."

"Nice catch, Scooby. Thanks," panted Velma.

"You're welcome," he groaned.

Looks like something or someone is watching the gang and the girls. But who are what could it be? And what is with that weird writing on the wall and the mysterious levitation? The answers may be revealed soon, but it might not be the answers that anyone wants to really hear.