Chapter 2

Lester

"So, what about these aliens?" Fred asked Dottie.

"Ain't no big deal, darling. Lots of people have seen 'em," she said.

"Jinkies!" exclaimed Velma.

"Yeah. That's why we all don't go out much after dark."

"Have you seen them, too?"

"No. Just the strange lights and the funny sounds at night."

"Goodness!" Fluttershy gasped.

Dottie then pointed to an old man sitting at a table eating his soup and explained that he was taken aboard a space ship.

"I told you they're real!" the man snapped. "Them aliens are here to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!"

"That there's Lester. He's a little touched."

"Lester, I told you to keep it down or you'll have to leave!" boomed Sergio.

"Always have to keep quiet," Lester grumbled.

"He thinks they experimented on him," Sergio explained, walking out of the kitchen.

"I-I-I-I-I-I don't really like the sound of that," Rarity stammered.

"See, about a month ago, some local cattle vanished overnight without a trace."

"Yep. A lot of folks moved out of town," said Dottie.

Shaggy and Scooby were both watching Lester until they saw some of the food that Sergio had just recently prepared. In fact, the smell of the dessert even attracted Pinkie's attention, as it was her favorite.

"Excuse me, but we understand that you've had some contact with aliens?" said Velma as she and others, save for Scooby, Shaggy, Pinkie, and Sunset, walked over to Lester's table.

"That's right, young lady," said Lester. "Took me aboard their ship, they did!"

Everyone aside from Fred gasped in shock, as he was a bit skeptical about it. He then told them to sit down so that he could explain how he was taken aboard in more detail. Everyone sat in the booths to hear his story.

"The aliens looked just like your friends said. I was out in the desert one night. Just by Scorpion Ridge barely outside of town, there was this loud humming sound and a bright light came up from behind me. And the light got brighter and brighter and then, before I knew it, I blacked out. I woke up strapped to a cold metal table inside a spaceship. And these three aliens were looking down at me. They stuck one of them medical wires to my head! They told me not to worry, 'because they just wanted to ask me some questions."

"What kind of questions?"

"Like, who I was and what I'd seen that night."

"Maybe I've seen one too many movies, but this just gets creepier and creepier," Sunset shivered.

"You're telling me," Pinkie said as she swallowed her bite of cherry pie.

"What happened after that? Do you know?" Twilight asked.

"I don't remember much after that," said Lester. "I woke up the next morning outside my house."

"Has anyone else in town had this experience?" asked Fred.

"Don't know. If they had, they's ain't telling me."

"Brrrrrrr…! That's creepy!" Daphne shivered.

"So, you young'uns better watch out, or they'll take you aboard they're spaceship, too!" he shouted, unintentionally knocking over Dottie's food tray.

"LESTER!" she snarled.

"Sorry, Dottie. It was an accident."

"Oh! What a mess!" she groaned.

"Aw, don't worry. Ol' Scooby-Doo'll take care of it," said Pinkie.

Just as Scooby was about to eat up the hamburger, Shaggy beat him to it. As much as she tried to hold it in, Sunset couldn't help herself and burst out laughing.

"Norvie, you are such a ham!" she chortled.

Shaggy looked back at her and let out a sheepish smile. It was at that moment that he knew that their quarrel over that one game was over. He knew that no matter what, she would always love him.

"Hey, Serge! I finally met somebody who likes your cooking!" Dottie teased.

"Ha ha! Very funny!" Sergio replied sarcastically.

"Out of curiosity, do you actually have any proof that you abducted by aliens?" Twilight asked.

"Yep. I've got pictures," said Lester.

"Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words," Applejack said reassuringly.

"Could we see them?" asked Velma.

Lester nodded in reply. As soon as Shaggy, Scooby and Pinkie were finished eating, he led them to his house that was near Scorpion Ridge close to Scorpion Creek. He flicked on the light and led the gang inside. They all were amazed at how the inside of his house looked.

"Whoa! This is so awesome!" Rainbow gasped.

Both Fred and Daphne walked up to some newspaper clippings that Lester had on his wall that noted possible UFO sightings.

"Have you told the media about your experience, Lester?" asked Fred.

"Oh, yeah! A number of times!" Lester scoffed. "But they think I'm some kind of nut!"

"Not hard to see why," Twilight whispered to Sunset.

Sunset giggled upon hearing that, as she thought it was pretty funny. Shaggy and Scooby both walked up to a closet door and were soon startled when an alien-looking doll fell form the top shelf.

"Hey! Be careful with that!"

"Like, is this the kind of spaceship you went on?" asked Shaggy, pointing to a miniature model of a UFO hanging from the ceiling.

"Yeah. Something like that."

"But you said you had pictures," said Fred.

"You bet I do. Lots of pictures."

Lester walked over to a white sheet and pulled it back, revealing a bunch of paintings.

"Oh! Paintings," Daphne said, feeling a bit disappointed.

"Yeah. I'm a landscape artist," he explained as Rarity knelt down to flip through the various paintings.

"They're very, uh… unique, Lester," she stammered.

"Well, thank you. Yeah, I've been trying to show people the danger out there but no one is believing me."

Rarity continued to flip through the paintings until she saw one with a spaceship that resembled the object they saw that night. She brought it up to her friends and showed them the painting.

"This kind of looks like the ship we saw earlier."

"Reah," said Scooby.

"We don't even know we saw a ship," Fred argued.

"Maybe not. But we definitely know we saw something earlier tonight," said Twilight.

As she was looking at the picture, Rarity noticed three peculiar objects that looked large satellite dishes.

"Lester, darling, what exactly are these things?" she asked, pointing to one of the satellites in the picture.

"SALF dishes," Lester explained, pointing outside his window. "The government put them up about a year ago."

"What are they for?" asked Daphne.

"SALF means Search for Alien Life-Forms."

"They send and monitor messages to and from space, hoping to find intelligent life," Velma explained.

"Ever since they built them dishes, aliens started to show up. And I know why," said Lester as Shaggy accidentally broke one of the model spaceships in two.

"Why?" asked Fred.

"TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!"

Lester walked over to Shaggy and Scooby, who were desperately trying to fix the model. As soon as he did, they immediately hid the pieces behind their backs in embarrassment.

"I think Lester's been out painting in the sun too long," Fred said skeptically.

"Maybe, Freddy, but there could be a connection those dishes and the aliens," said Velma.

"Velma's right, Fred. And I propose that we start investigating tomorrow," added Twilight.

Thanks to a little bit of glue by Sunset, both Shaggy and Scooby were able to get the model spaceship back together and ended up placing on the top shelf to avoid it being broken again.

"I got more pictures in the back room. You want to see them?" Lester asked.

"Uh, no thanks. Is there a hotel in this town?" Fred asked.

"There ain't no hotel. But you're welcome to stay here for the night."

Lester walked up to a nearby door and opened it up, revealing a room with a couple of bunk beds.

"You four ladies with the glasses and red hair can sleep in the back room. It used to be the kids' 'til they moved out."

"Wow. These are very nice," said Sunset.

"And you, young fella," he said to Fred, walking towards the couch before taking the newspaper off. "Can sleep on the couch."

"Uh, Lester, darling, do you by any chance, happen to have any sleeping bags for the rest of us?" asked Rarity.

"And if it's not too much trouble, is there a place I can be with Shaggy and Scooby to sleep? I'm kind of nervous after hearing your story with the aliens," Fluttershy said meekly.

"Don't worry. I've got a place for and your friends there," said Lester before turning back to the boys. "BUT QUIT TOUCHING MY STUFF!"

Lester then led Shaggy, Scooby and Fluttershy up to the roof of his house with some sheets and a sleeping bag for Fluttershy.

"Wow. It's pretty groovy up here," Shaggy gasped.

"Uh-huh," Scooby said in agreement.

"The desert is really beautiful at night from way up here," added Fluttershy.

"Yep. It's nice, ain't it?" said Lester before tossing a sheet on to Shaggy. "Now, you kids get a good night's rest."

As soon as the sheet landed on Shaggy, Scooby and Fluttershy were immediately frightened, since he looked like a ghost with the sheet on top of him. After he got it off, he apologized for scaring them. The two of them were relieved that it was only Shaggy and not a real ghost.

As everyone settled in for the night, no one was aware that the aliens that Shaggy had described earlier were closing in on Lester's house. These aliens were green with broccoli-shaped heads and red bulging eyes while wearing purple, metallic suits. What were they planning to do, exactly? No one really knew at the moments except for them. One thing was for certain, though. It was most likely going to be pretty scary.