Chapter 7

A Dark Secret

Thankfully for Scooby, Shaggy, and the others that they ran into, the group managed to escape the zombies and ended up in some of kind of dimly-lit cave. The girls, save for the werewolf, slowly got up and held their heads in pain.

"Feels like the time I got pounced on by Spike during that one thunderstorm last month," said Sunset.

"Runderstorm? Rue rhat," said Scooby, shaking his head.

Just then, the werewolf growled in pain as she slowly got up.

"Rikes! Rererolf!"

The werewolf slowly rose and stood on her hind legs. She then adjusted her back to loosen it up a bit.

"Ow. Now I know how a bowling ball feels," she grieved.

Fluttershy's vision was still a little blurry from all of the rolling around earlier. Eventually, her vision cleared up and the first thing she saw was the werewolf. The first thing one might expect Fluttershy to do is to be absolutely terrified of this monstrous-looking creature. Instead, however, Fluttershy actually went up to the werewolf and smiled at it.

"Oh, my goodness! Aren't you just the cutest thing?" Fluttershy cooed.

"Excuse me? You're not scared of me?"

"No, of course not. You're just so cute with that outfit on."

"Uh, Fluttershy? What are you doing?" asked Pinkie.

"Are those guys who disturbed my sleep earlier friends of yours?" the werewolf asked.

"Well, of course. All of them are. I'm Fluttershy and these are my friends. Pinkie, Rarity, Sunset Shimmer, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo. What's your name?"

"My name? I'm Winnie! Short for Winnifred, but I like being called Winnie. AHWOOOOOOOOO!"

"You sure gave us quite a fright when we were back at the mansion."

"Well, duh. You guys shouldn't be here. This island's dangerous!"

"Rangerous?" gulped Scooby.

"Exactly how dangerous are we talking about?" asked Sunset.

Before Winnie could answer Sunset's question, both Scooby and Rarity whimpered in fear.

"Are you alright?" asked Winnie.

"Reyes!" he said.

"Rice? What's so scary about rice other than its taste, that is."

"N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-Not rice, darling, EYES!" Rarity clarified.

Everyone turned around and saw a bunch of sinister-looking red eyes in the cave. Everyone except for Winnie ran out of the cave in fear. Fluttershy, of course, had to drag Winnie out of the cave herself.

"GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU VILE BEASTS!" Rarity shrieked as a colony of Mexican free-tailed bats flew out of the cave.

Meanwhile, Velma asked the others if they found both Shaggy and Scooby. Daphne admitted that they did, along with a bunch of zombies, to which Fred reluctantly admitted were really real.

"I finally got my story and all the proof sank in quicksand," Daphne sighed.

Suddenly, they all heard Lena screaming again.

"Come on, we've got to get to the house!" Fred said frantically.

Everyone made a dash for Simone's house as Lena screamed again.

Back with Shaggy's group, everyone managed to get somewhere in the bayou, where they found out that it was just a colony of Mexican free-tailed bats that scared them.

"Thank goodness. It was just a colony of Mexican free-tailed bats," Fluttershy panted.

Just then, everyone heard the moaning of zombies nearby. And sure enough, a couple of zombies were slowly making their way towards them. Pinkie was so frightened that she started biting her nails.

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I don't think they're out looking for a date," she shivered.

The group slowly backed up, only to be greeted by two more zombies.

"Like, let's get out of here!" exclaimed Shaggy.

"I HATE ZOMBIES!" shrieked Rarity.

Back at the mansion, everyone arrived to find the place dark and deserted. Twilight attempted to turn on the light switch, but flipping it up and down did nothing.

"HELLO?! IS ANYBODY HERE?!" she called out.

"The generator must have gone out," said Beau.

He started to leave to go and check, but was immediately stopped by Velma.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight," she hissed.

Elsewhere in the mansion, Fred called out to Lena. He started going up some steps and eventually fell down a hidden trap door. Daphne, Rainbow and Applejack eventually made their way to where Fred fell and saw that Lena was with him, tending to any possible injuries.

"Did you guys find anything?" Twilight asked from behind them.

"We sure did, Twilight," said Rainbow. "I think we might've found a secret passage that leads under the mansion."

"What's going on?" Daphne asked suspiciously as she and the others made their way down.

"It was a nightmare," said Lena. "Ms. Lenoir and I went outside to wait for you when we were attacked by these… these…"

"Zombies?" asked Velma.

"Yes. We ran back to the house and Ms. Lenoir opened the secret passageway. She said it was built during the Civil War to hide from Union soldiers. But the zombies came after us! They grabbed Ms. Lenoir and dragged her away!"

As she spoke, Twilight and Velma noticed some footprints in the ground. There was something about them that didn't add up.

"You're saying these zombies DRAGGED Simone away?" Twilight asked suspiciously.

"Yes, it was horrible."

"Something about her story doesn't add up," Applejack whispered to Rainbow.

"What do you mean?" asked Rainbow.

"I'm saying I don't think she's telling us the whole truth. Something about it just gives off a red flag."

"Come on, we've got to save Simone," said Daphne as she walked further into the tunnel.

As the group walked with their lanterns, they couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy by the uncertainty of where they were going. Rainbow Dash gulped nervously. She didn't scare easily, but knowing what they had faced so far had made her extremely on edge. They eventually came to two separate tunnels. Velma found the one where Simone's footprints were going into and led everyone into it.

They soon reached the end of the tunnel, which was met by an old, wooden door. Velma slowly opened it and walked in a mysterious room with everyone else following close behind.

"Where are we?" mused Daphne.

"Looks to me like a place for voodoo rituals," Velma responded. "But why don't we just ask… Lena!"

"What are you talking about?" Fred asked.

"Lena's story doesn't add up, Fred," said Twilight. "She said Simone was dragged away by zombies, but that is 100% completely false! Velma and I saw the footprints of Simone's heels!"

"That's right. She wasn't dragged, she walked down that tunnel," Velma added.

"I knew it! You're nothing but a no-good, two-faced liar, Lena!" Applejack snarled.

Suddenly, everyone heard the sound of chains rattling. They then noticed the top of the tunnel opening up, which revealed the light of the Harvest Moon as it poured in. And just as both Twilight and Velma suspected, Simone was indeed, unharmed.

"Very clever, girls," Simone chuckled sinisterly. "But it's too late."

"Wait. So, you two were behind this THIS WHOLE TIME?!" Rainbow Dash panicked.

Simone got out two wax dolls of both Velma and Daphne and used them to pin them to the wall.

"Sorry, Freddy," Lena said sinisterly. "I really do like you." She then used a wax doll of Fred to pin him to the wall, as well.

"That's it! I've had it with this!" Rainbow growled. She ran up towards Simone, but was soon pinned to the wall with a wax doll that looked very similar to her. Simone then used another wax doll to pin Applejack to the wall, as well.

Beau tried stepping in, but was soon pinned to the wall with a wax doll that looked like him, as well, thanks to Lena. Lena then used a wax doll that looked like Twilight in order to pin her to the wall, as well. The two women then tied up their seven victims' dolls with two ropes.

"Voodoo dolls!" gasped Velma.

"These wax dolls DO come in handy," Simone chuckled.

"Wait'll I get my hands on you, you witch! You'll be sorry you ever messed with Rainbow Mirian Dash!" Rainbow snarled.

"Save yer breath, sugarcube! Screaming about it ain't gonna get us anywhere!" Applejack reprimanded.

Velma then noticed that the cleaning cloth for her glasses was being used on the voodoo dolls.

"Sorry I suspected you," she apologized.

"Apology accepted," Beau said, struggling to get free from the voodoo ropes.

"The Harvest Moon will soon reach the midnight point on this moon dial and then the ceremony will begin," Simone said victoriously.

"What ceremony?" asked Fred.

"You won't get away with this!" retorted Daphne.

"I've been getting away with it for 200 years," Simone chuckled.

Suddenly, Simone started to change. Her teeth became more jagged, her eyes became more cat-like, her ears went up to the top of her head and became pointed. She was no longer a human. Rather, she had just began her transformation into a terrifying werecat.

"At least Sunset and the others are still free, maybe," whispered Fred.

"I heard that, Fred!" snarled Lena, who was also becoming a werecat. "Those two simpletons Shaggy and Scooby and those other three girls, Sunset, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, we didn't even bother making wax dolls of them! Ha! A waste of time and magic wax!"

"Then explain why you made a wax doll of Rarity!" yelled Twilight.

"Oh, that? That was just for a laugh. I saw how your friend reacted to Snakebite and decided to have some fun with her by making her levitate."

"Just what are you planning to do to us?" asked Fred.

"It's simple. Every Harvest Moon I must drain the life force from victims lured to my island to preserve my immortality," Simone explained.

"This is more haunted stuff than I really wanted," Daphne whimpered.

Meanwhile, Shaggy, Scooby and the rest of the girls ran up to the ferry, where they were greeted by Jacques. All except for Winnie, that is, who stopped herself before reaching the dock. Upon seeing Jacques, she let out an intense snarl at him.

"Jacques! Like, are we ever glad to see you," said Shaggy.

"I'm happy to see y'all," he chuckled. Just then, right before their very eyes, Jacques transformed into a werecat, complete with orange fur. The very sight of his transformation caused the humans and Scooby-Doo to scream at the top of their lungs.

"LEAVE THEM ALONE, OLD MAN!" Winnie snarled. "IF YOU WANT TO GET SOMEONE, THEN COME AND GET ME! AHWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"EVERYBODY RUN!" screamed Sunset. She and the others, save for Winnie, started running away from Jacques the werecat as fast as they could.

Jacques charged towards Winnie and managed to overpower the young werewolf pup at first, but soon underestimated her strength. Winnie lifted Jacques over her head and tossed him towards the bayou. She then roared like the lycanthrope that she was and charged towards Jacques. Jacques barely had any time to react before Winnie pounced on him and bit him on the arm. Jacques soon regained his composure and tossed her towards a tree. The impact of which knocked her out cold. Jacques then proceeded to run after Scooby, Shaggy and the others after seeing Fluttershy witness the battle. Upon seeing his face, Fluttershy ran after the others in order to get away as quickly as she could.

Back underneath Simone's house, Velma decided to ask Simone about the pirate treasure.

"If you're as old as you say you are, then I'll bet you're the one who found Morgan Moonscar's treasure!" she said.

"Morgan Moonscar!" snarled Simone. "He was the cause of all of this!"

"What are you talking about, Simone?!" Twilight asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Since you've asked, Ms. Sparkle, I will tell you, since you won't be around much longer. I was one of a group of settlers who made this island our home. We looked to our Cat God for a bountiful harvest."

"Sounds like what the Pilgrims did in 1621 when they celebrated the first Thanksgiving."

"Exactly. That is, until that fateful night when he came ashore."

"Morgan Moonscar, right?"

"Yes. He and his crew started attacking us during our festivities. He drove the islanders into the bayou. All except for Lena and myself. We could do nothing but watch in horror as those meddlesome pirates forced the other settlers into the bayou and fall prey to the alligators. In retaliation, we uttered a curse on the pirates to destroy them as they had destroyed our island. Our wish was granted. We became cat creatures and destroyed the pirates. Only afterwards did we discover that invoking the Cat God's power had cursed us as well."

"Over the years, boats continued to come to our island," Lena continued. "One was full of spice traders who started a pepper plantation. The plantation flourished."

"At least until the Harvest Moon. Sometimes it became necessary for Lena to lure outsiders back to the island."

"You monster!" Rainbow snarled. "You tricked us!"

"I've had years of practice," said Lena.

"And those zombies are just the poor souls you drained," Daphne added. "They were just trying to warn us so we wouldn't suffer the same fate they did!"

"Pretty smart for a television reporter," said Simone.

Suddenly, everyone heard an even fiercer werecat snarl. It was Jacques.

"Sounds like Jacques has found your frightened friends and that useless werewolf pup," said Lena.

"There are NO SUCH THINGS AS WEREWOLVES!" Twilight screamed. "And what does Jacques have to do with all of this, anyways?!"

"We needed a ferry driver," explained Simone. "The old man wanted immortality. So we gave it to him."

Sure enough, Jacques was still chasing after Shaggy and the others. He eventually managed to get in front of them, halting their progress.

"Going somewhere?" he asked sinisterly. He then grabbed them and hoisted them up high. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? That little werewolf can't save you now. Not unless her father comes to the rescue, which is highly unlikely. Old man Talbot wouldn't even know where to begin looking."

"TALBOT?!" exclaimed Sunset. "But that means… WINNIE IS THE DAUGHTER OF THE WOLF MAN!" Just then, a bunch of zombies came out of nowhere and started overpowering Jacques.

"Why are the zombies helping us?" asked Rarity.

"Who cares?! Like, let's just get out of here!" said Shaggy.

Fluttershy looked back in the direction where Winnie was as the others started getting away.

"Fluttershy, let's go!" said Sunset.

"Not without Winnie!" said Fluttershy, standing her ground. "I'm going to go get her. You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up!"

She ran off in the direction where Winnie was knocked to retrieve the young werewolf pup.

"Like, come on. Let's go," said Shaggy.

The others, save for Fluttershy, managed to sneak away from Jacques and the zombies that were overpowering him. Fluttershy eventually made her way back to Winnie and managed to pick her up in her arms. She then ran in the other direction to catch up with the rest of her friends.

Back underneath the mansion, both Simone and Lena heard Jacques being overpowered and immediately realized that he was in trouble.

"Jacques is in trouble!" exclaimed Lena.

"FORGET ABOUT HIM!" roared Simone. "They must be drained now while the moonlight is in the midnight alignment." The two werecats proceeded to drain the life force of their victims, but were soon cut off by Shaggy and the others, who managed to slide into them like a bowling ball. Pinkie held her head as she got up, then shook it to get herself back to normal.

"Are you guys alright? What are you doing?" she asked.

"Jinkies! Look out!" warned Velma.

"BEHIND YOU!" Twilight added.

Both Simone and Lena got up and they were really mad.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THAT MEDDLING DOG!" roared Simone.

"Dog? Where?" asked Scooby.

"Now's not the time for jokes, Scooby-Doo! LOOK!" exclaimed Pinkie as she pointed to both Simone and Lena.

The two women were changing again. This time, their bodies were becoming completely covered in brown fur. They ripped their shoes and the backs of their dresses. They were now fully-fledged werecats.

"I WANT TO GO HOME!" Rarity shrieked. "I'M TOO PRETTY TO DIE!" They barely managed to dodge the werecats' sharp claws, but accidentally managed to push the wax voodoo dolls towards the fire. They soon came face-to-face with the zombies again and ran back in the opposite direction, pushing the voodoo dolls away from the fire. Just then, everyone heard a familiar howl.

AHWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Everyone looked in the general direction of where the howling was coming from and right there next to Fluttershy was Winnie the werewolf.

"Your days of immortality are OVER!" Fluttershy snarled.

"YOU USELESS PIECE OF TRASH! YOU'RE NOT EVEN WORTHY OF CALLING YOURSELF A TALBOT!" Simone snarled.

Winnie roared at Simone's insult. That was the last straw.

"I'LL SHOW YOU! MY PAPA'S THE BEST WEREWOLF TO EVER EXISTED!" she roared as she lunged towards Simone. She pinned her down and started smacking her head down relentlessly. Simone retaliated by tossing her off, smacking her into a wolf. Thankfully, though, she managed to stay alert this time.

Just then, a bunch of zombies lunged towards both Lena and Simone, who then promptly tossed them off. Shaggy and Scooby ran towards the exit, only to be greeted by Jacques. Seeing that the bad guys were distracted, Winnie snuck over to the captives on all four of her paws and used one of her claws to undo the rope on Twilight's voodoo doll.

"Just who are you?" asked Twilight.

"The name's Winnie. Winnifred Talbot, but please, just call me Winnie."

"You're the Wolf Man's daughter?! He's real?!"

"As real as the sky is blue."

She then undid the others' ropes, cutting their voodoo dolls free, as well.

"Look! This is a piece of Lena's blouse," said Velma, picking up a ripped part of Lena's blouse from when she completed her transformation.

Scooby and Shaggy tried to get away, but Jacques managed to get them before they could escape. The resulting scuffle not only managed to rip Scooby's collar, but it also caused Shaggy to drop some of the chili peppers that he had stashed in his pocket. Thinking fast, Scooby squirted some of the juice in Jacques's eyes, which blinded him.

"Come on, Shaggy! Let's get out of here!" Sunset pleaded. As they went to leave, both Simone and Lena managed to grab Shaggy, Scooby, Sunset, and Rarity, and started to drain them of their life energy.

That is, until the two werecats found themselves launched towards the wall unexpectedly. They gasped in horror upon discovering that both Velma and Daphne had made voodoo doll versions of them.

"You're not the only ones who like playing with dolls," mocked Daphne. She then used Simone's doll to force her to hit Lena. The two girls picked up the dolls and slammed them against the wall, launching the two werecats into one of the statues.

"Are you guys okay? Fred asked as Scooby, Shaggy, Sunset, and Rarity regained their life energy.

"My beauty! My precious beauty!" Rarity sighed in relief.

Just then, Jacques, who was still blinded, ran into the girls, causing both Simone and Lena to fly into the zombies, knocking them down. Having had enough of everyone's antics, the three werecats slowly crept towards the humans, Scooby-Doo and Winnie to end the charade once and for all.

"This is bad. This is very bad," whimpered Pinkie.

Beau grabbed a torch, hoping it would ward them off, but it only made them angrier, instead. Sunset planted her head in Shaggy's shoulder, bracing herself for the worst, when suddenly, it appeared as if the werecats had started to disintegrate. It was as if they were on fire or something. That's when Velma realized that it was past midnight. They hadn't drained any life energy within the allotted amount of time and thus, they were beginning to disappear forever.

"Looks like your nine lives are up!" Velma exclaimed triumphantly.

And indeed they were. Lena, Simone and Jacques all disintegrated, bones and all, leaving behind only Simone's necklace. The zombies continued towards everyone, even the zombie of Morgan Moonscar until the green energy came directly out of them and they returned to the dust of the Earth.

"Like, what's happening to them?" Shaggy asked.

"Their spirits have been avenged, Shaggy," explained Velma. "So they can finally rest in peace."

As soon as the energy left for good, the ghost of Jackson T. Pettigrew appeared and saluted them.

"Thank you all," he said before disappearing.

"Thank goodness that's over. I couldn't stand another moment of anyone being lured to this island another minute," said Winnie as Rainbow picked up the cat necklace.

"Without that video tape of yours, Daph, absolutely no one is going to believe us," Applejack said solemnly.

"You're right, AJ. I've got nothing for my show," sighed Daphne.

"Yeah. And the police will never believe this story, either," sighed Velma.

"Don't be so sure," said Beau. He then showed them a police badge, meaning that the entire time he was with them, he was actually working undercover as a gardener. "I'm Detective Beau Neville. Been working undercover investigating the island disappearances."

Just then, Scooby smelled something interesting.

"What do you smell, Scooby?" asked Fluttershy.

"Reasure," he said.

"Treasure?"

"Uh-huh."

He then put his nose to the ground and started sniffing around the cave. He then came to the spot that was just before the steps of the altar and started digging. Winnie hopped in front of him and started digging twice as fast as he did. As they continued to dig, Winnie eventually hit something made of wood.

"Found something!" she called.

She lifted up a wooden treasure chest and threw it down on to the ground right next to the hole. Everyone looked on in curiosity at the chest.

"I wonder what could be in it," Rarity mused.

"Well, open it," said Rainbow.

Rarity lifted the top of the chest and saw something absolutely unbelievable. Inside the chest was a brown book with seven gemstones on the cover. Sunset reached for the book and grabbed it out of the chest.

"A book?" asked Fred.

"Something tells me that there might be more to this book than meets the eye," observed Velma.

Sunset opened the book and almost immediately, a note fell out of it.

"Hey, what's this?"

Fred grabbed the note and observed it curiously.

"It appears to be a note from Morgan Moonscar," said Twilight. "It says, To ye who have discovered my treasure: I may not be around much longer, as I fear that a great disaster is about to befall on me and my crew. So I write this message for those who find it. Seek out the seven geodes of Friendship, but beware the blue-skinned man. For he is searching for them as well. Ye will most likely find these geodes in the most oddest of places, so keep your eyes peeled at all times. Best of luck to you, matey! P.S. Keep the book with you, as it will help you translate the inscriptions that are printed on these mysterious geodes."

"Say what, now?" said Applejack.

"Sounds like we've stumbled on to one of the biggest mysteries of all time, gang," said Fred. "But if we're going to find these so-called geodes, then I guess that means that we'll just have to solve more of our usual mysteries!"

"Zoinks! Like, I've had just about enough mystery for one day," said Shaggy.

"Re roo," said Scooby.

"We'll worry about the mysteries when they come up, guys," said Fred. "For now, let's head home. I think we could all use some time back at the Malt Shop."

"I couldn't agree more, Freddy," said Pinkie.

Later that morning, both Sunset and Shaggy were gazing at the sunrise while standing out by the docks.

"This is absolutely romantic, isn't it Shaggy?" Sunset cooed.

"Like, you bet," said Shaggy.

She then turned his head towards hers and ended up giving him a well-deserved kiss.

"Ami… C'est l'amour," sighed Pinkie.

Just then, Rainbow Dash pulled up in the Mystery Machine to get it onto the boat, which would now be driven by Beau.

"Where's Scooby?" asked Velma.

"Picking a few peppers for the road," said Rainbow. "Hey, Scooby! Come on! We're going to be leaving, soon! And I want to present this necklace to Dr. Yearling when I see her!"

"Rokay, Rainbow!" he said. Scooby leapt on to the boat after picking a few peppers and putting them into a small wicker basket.

"Look, y'all!" said Applejack, pointing to Snakebite.

Turns out that Snakebite finally caught Big Mona in the most mundane way possible. An old reliable handheld fishing net.

"Well, I'll be. The ruffian finally caught that elusive catfish," beamed Rarity.

Twilight walked towards the boat, then looked back at Winnie.

"You coming with us?" she asked.

"As much as I would like to, I'm afraid I'll have to decline," said Winnie. "And who knows? Maybe we'll see each other again someday?"

"I really hope we do, Winnie. I really hope we do."

Twilight got onto the boat, which then took off and headed straight for New Orleans for the gang to finally return to Coolsville, Ohio. Even though almost no one would believe their story, they still had one amazing adventure. But the mystery behind the book and the eventual discovery of the seven geodes was just beginning.

THE END