Frankie was at her locker taking out her mad science book. Mr. Hack was really cracking down on his students now that their mad science projects were coming up. Seeing Draculaura, Clawdeen and Cleo coming around the corner, she waved to them as she closed her locker. Cleo was brushing her hair and didn't notice. Draculaura waved back and walked over to Frankie. Just before Draculaura made it over, Frankie's icoffin beeped in her pocket. The beeps traveled from her to Draculaura then to Clawdeen and finally Cleo. Frankie took out her icoffin to see that Spectra had posted a new blog post. Before she had a chance to read it though the ghoul in question floated through the wall just above Frankie's locker.
"Breaking news! Mr. Hack says mad science projects are to be about the catacombs!" Without pausing to get a reply, Spectra flew off to inform any monster that would listen about the news. Frankie looked to her friends and saw Cleo frown.
"I am not going down there. These are new shoes." Cleo said and turned her face away in a huff. Clawdeen crossed her arms and turned to the mummy.
"I'm sure your Ghoulbanas can take five minutes in the catacombs." Clawdeen said with a slight glare. Draculaura frowned this time and turned to Clawdeen.
"Five minutes?" Draculaura asked with a tilt of her head. Clawdeen smiled and let her arms drop to her sides.
"Yeah, all we have to do is find Operetta or Jane. Those two practically live in the catacombs, and I'm sure they'll help us." Clawdeen stated.
"That's a great idea, Clawdeen." Frankie said smiling as well. Everyone turned to Cleo who sighed.
"Fine, I'll go." Cleo said with a small sigh and a flick of her hand. With a smile, Frankie walked over and linked arms with Cleo.
"Well, let's go find them!" Frankie exclaimed as she pointed down the hall. With another sigh, Cleo allowed herself to be pulled down the hall towards the catacombs elevator. Draculaura and Clawdeen were hot on their heels. As they made their way, they passed several monsters reading the blog post on their icoffins. When they finally arrived at the elevator, it was empty. Frankie pushed the button inside when everyone was on. Frankie hoped Operetta and Jane didn't get flooded for help. She hoped nobody else had the same idea as them. Jane was way too shy to take a flood of monsters looking for her help. Operetta though might actually try to help everyone. Frankie hoped they got there first. Finally, they hit the bottom and the doors opened. Draculaura took a careful step off the elevator and looked around at all the entrances into the various parts of the catacombs. If a monster didn’t know their way they could easily get lost down here.
"Does anybody remember which way to go?" Draculaura asked. Frankie shrugged, but Clawdeen stepped up to one of the tunnels.
"I think Operetta's hall is this way….” Clawdeen said then she pointed to another tunnel. “Then Jane's favorite spot would be over there." Then she looked back to the one she stood in front of. "Or was that the other way around?" Cleo stepped off the elevator and walked up to the tunnel Clawdeen had pointed to.
"Who cares? Let's just find them quickly." Cleo said with her hands on her hips. With a shrug, Clawdeen walked over to Cleo and they both started down the tunnel. Draculaura and Frankie glanced at each other with a bit of worry on their faces before following their friends. They walked along the tunnel for a couple of minutes. The halls were lined with the pictures of famous monsters. They passed a couple of more openings but made no move to go down them. Finally the hall started to narrow when they made it to a doorway. Without a second thought, Cleo pulled it open. Behind it, instead of a hallway, stood a portal. It looked like a giant swirl of color but somehow didn’t seem to move. Cleo gasped then was pulled into it and so was Clawdeen who tried to grab the door jam as it flew past.. Draculaura and Frankie ran over to help their friends with worry etched on their faces. Not getting there in time to grab them they were also pulled into the portal. They all tumbled through the space inside the portal and then flew out the other end. Cleo landed in a pile of books and the rest of them landed on the floor. As they started to stand, a certain mummy looked down at her outfit.
"Oh. My. Ra." Cleo exclaimed with a shriek. Cleo was covered in dust from head to toe. It was in her hair and it completely covered her new gold dress. "This is a Ghostier original!" Clawdeen walked over to her and started to dust her off.
"It's fine, Cleo. A little washing, and it'll be as good as new." Clawdeen said while patting out her dress. Cleo gasped and pushed Clawdeen away.
"I think not! This is dry clean only!" Cleo shrieked. Clawdeen sighed, but before she could say anything more, Frankie spoke up.
"Uh, ghouls, do you know where we are?" The ghouls looked around at what appeared to be a basement with a couple of piles of books and some weird equipment. Draculaura spotted the stairs first and started to go up. Frankie followed behind at a slower pace. Clawdeen turned to Cleo, who was brushing off her outfit.
"You coming?" Clawdeen asked. Cleo looked at the stairs and then back down to her outfit.
"If I must." Cleo replied, she followed Clawdeen to the stairs and slowly walked up them. At the top of the stairs stood a wooden door and Draculaura took hold of the door knob. As she tried to push it open, the door started to fall. Then, it slammed down on a small set of stairs that was on the opposite side of it. Draculaura started to step around the door when Frankie saw what was beyond it. What used to be a building surrounded them. The walls were nothing but bits and pieces. What was left of the walls were charred and whatever had been on them was ruined. The roof was totally gone, and the floor was a giant crater. She looked across the destroyed building to see the remains of another doorway. From that direction, behind one of the still standing wall bits, came a voice.
"Who's there!?" Am odd shaped figure walked to the destroyed doorway. Then the figure stepped through the doorway into the light. The purple pony looked on shock at the sight of Draculaura much like the vampire did. They both stood there for a few seconds just staring when Frankie came up behind Draculaura. She took one look at the pony and smiled.
"Why, hello there, little one." Frankie asked while she approached the pony with her hand out like she was going to pet it. The pony reacted by backing up quickly and then opening its muzzle. The most shocking thing came out of it's throat: a voice.
"What are you doing!?" The purple pony yelled at the Frankie. Frankie jumped back in surprise, and Draculaura gasped. Clawdeen and Cleo arrived up the stairs. Clawdeen smiled at the pony but Cleo scowled down at it. That's when Frankie got a good look at the pony before her. The wings and horn that the pony was sporting should have been a clue that she was not an average pony. Frankie looked to her friends then back to the pony.
"You can talk?" Frankie had never heard of a talking pony even though she was almost a couple months old now. Before the pony could respond, another voice sounded.
"I think we'll ask the questions here." A cyan, rainbow-haired pony flew just over a especially low wall piece. Frankie was amazed: ponies could fly as well as talk? The cyan pony landed next to the purple one and stared at Frankie. "Like, what are you exactly?" The rainbow haired pony asked. The purple pony frowned.
"Rainbow Dash! Don't be so rude!" Twilight said. Rainbow Dash shrugged her shoulders and took to the sky again. She gave the ghouls a hard look.
“Be right back.” Rainbow Dash said before flying off. The purple pony watched her go and then approached Frankie.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle. Who are you?" Twilight replied with a smile. Frankie held a hand to her chest.
"Well, I'm Frankie Stein," Frankie said. She pointed to her friends one by one. "That's Draculaura, Clawdeen Wolf, and Cleo de Nile." Draculaura and Clawdeen waved. Cleo, on the other hand, was dusting off her outfit again.
"Where did you come from?" Twilight asked the ghouls. Frankie looked back to the basement doorway and pointed at it.
"We came through a portal from down there," Frankie said. Twilight walked over to the doorway and then glided down the steps. Frankie walked to the doorway to watch her. Twilight examined the door they had flown through and gripped the handle with her magic. The door opened and there on the other side stood the portal. Through the portal, Twilight could see the tunnel of the catacombs that the ghouls had walked through. Closing the door, Twilight turned to look at Frankie.
"Where exactly is that place?" Twilight asked while still holding the door open.
"It's the catacombs beneath Monster High." Frankie supplied helpfully. Twilight cocked her head to the side and frowned.
"Don't you mean Canterlot High?" Twilight asked. The three ghouls looked at each other, then at Cleo to see she wasn't even paying attention. Clawdeen sighed and placed a hand to her forehead while shaking her head. Frankie looked back to Twilight.
"I've never heard of that school before. Is it a normie school?" Frankie asked causing Twilight's frown to deepen and she shut the portal door. She started up the stairs.
"What exactly is a normie?" Twilight asked with a tilt of her head. Frankie was about to answer her when Draculaura gasped. Everyone turned to her and she held up her icoffin to Frankie's face so she could see the screen.
"I was going to text Clawd but there’s no service!" Draculaura brought her icoffin to her chest, about to cry. "I always ask him about his day after school and if we can't meet up I always text him. What will he think if I don't text him? He might think I'm being a bad girlfriend." Draculaura wailed. Clawdeen placed her hands on her hips and glared gently at her vampire friend.
"My brother is not going to be mad if you don't text him." Clawdeen said with a slight scowl. Draculaura sniffed and wiped under her eyes. Twilight meanwhile was watching the exchange with a confused expression. Frankie turned back to Twilight who had reached the top of the steps. Frankie smiled down to Twilight.
"Well a normie is a normal person, someone who isn't a monster." Frankie informed her. Twilight looked even more confused then before. Just then Rainbow Dash returned with some other ponies and what looked like a tiny dragon. Twilight walked up to them.
"What's everypony doing here?" Twilight asked with a slight frown. Rainbow Dash pointed to Frankie with a hoof.
"We wanted to make sure these creatures weren't going to do anything bad," Rainbow Dash said. Twilight facehoofed at that and shook her head.
"Do you remember how I told you about the humans? These girls are that." Twilight said while pointing to the ghouls. Rainbow Dash and the rest of the ponies circled the ghouls and Cleo finally started to pay attention. She looked around at the ponies then when she looked up again Rainbow Dash was in her face. Cleo shrieked and pushed the rainbow haired mare away.
"Personal space. I am royalty, you know." Cleo said with a huff. Twilight's ears twitched, and she looked at the mummy.
"So you’re a princess then?" Twilight asked causing Cleo to smirk and cross her arms in front of her like she was holding a flail and crook. She looked like a sarcophagus lid.
"That's right! I am the Nile princess and future pharaoh." Cleo said proudly. Draculaura placed a finger on her chin in thought.
"What about your older sister Nefera?" Draculaura asked in a innocent voice. Cleo shot the vampire a glare and Draculaura shrank away.
"My father knows who would make a better pharaoh, and by that I mean me." Cleo said as she raised her chin even higher than usual, and Clawdeen sighed.
"Just ignore her, she'll stop in a bit," Clawdeen said. Cleo's eye twitched but she held her pose. Twilight watched Cleo for a second more before looking to Clawdeen.
"What's a pharaoh?" Twilight asked making Cleo scoff but Clawdeen ignored her.
"It's what Egyptians call their king or queen." Clawdeen explained helpfully. Twilight thought something over and then looked over each of the ghouls.
"You're really not from Canterlot High, are you?" Twilight asked with a frown. Frankie shook her head and Twilight sighed. The orange pony with the cowboy hat perked up at that and walked over to Twilight.
"Wait, Twi. You mean to tell me they aren't from that world?" The orange pony asked. Twilight shook her head and the orange pony looked back to the ghouls. The white one fluffed her mane and smiled.
"Well, wherever they are from, they have impeccable taste in clothes." The white pony said with a sophisticated voice. Clawdeen smiled and placed a hand on her hip, posing for the pony.
"Thank you, I designed this outfit myself."Clawdeen said and even did a little twirl for the pony. The white pony gasped and looked up to Clawdeen's face.
"You design clothes?!" The white pony asked that caused Clawdeen shrugged.
"I have a big family. We can't really afford to buy designer clothes, so I design and make my own." The white pony's eyes twinkled.
"You simply must come to my boutique, darling. I would love to see some more of your designs." Clawdeen glanced behind her at the book bag slung over her shoulder that held her design book. Then she looked to her friends. Cleo had finally dropped the pharaoh act and had a worried look on her face. They all did. Frankie placed her hand on her chin and then her bolts gave off some electricity as an idea came to her. She stepped forward towards the ponies and smiled.
"Listen, we would love to stay and fang out but we have to go home." Rarity deflated at that even as she wondered what 'fang out' meant. Frankie saw her sad face and frowned. Then remembering the rest of what she was going to say she started speaking again. "Tomorrow is a Saturday, meaning there isn't any school. So I would love to come back and get to know you better then." All the ponies and the little dragon looked to Twilight. She smiled at Frankie and nodded.
"Of course, you all are welcome to come back." Twilight said. With that, the ghouls said goodbye to the ponies and climbed back down the stairs. Frankie opened the door and stepped through the portal. When she came out on the other side she waited for her friends. They all walked back to the elevator chatting excitedly about what tomorrow would bring. The ride up was taken up by them going over where they would meet tomorrow. Then they all headed home for the day.
Tomorrow would be a lot of fun.
Frankie was on her way to the meetup point just outside the gates of the school. With school out for the day the gates were locked and secured with several padlocks. By her side was Jane Boolittle who Frankie had asked to show them the way into the catacombs and back to the portal. Jane had told her that there was an entrance just outside the gates they could use and she had texted her friends the news. As they neared the meeting point they heard talking and as they came to the gates they saw who was there. Cleo was currently talking to Ghoulia Yelps she was a zombie and Cleo's oldest friend. Clawdeen stood by herself with a bag full of sketchbooks sticking out the top. Draculaura was talking to her boyfriend Clawd Wolf who was leaning against the gate to the school. Frankie frowned when she saw the two extra monsters. As they approached them Cleo and Draculaura both stopped talking and turned to Frankie.
"I thought we agreed we wouldn't tell anybody else," Frankie said and crossed her arms. Draculaura looked to Clawd for help but Cleo stood tall.
"I only told Ghoulia, besides what if I need to do something while we are there? Who will do it for me?" Cleo looked to the zombie for some support and Ghoulia stepped forward.
"Uuuhhhh uh uhhhh uuuuuh?" Ghoulia moaned in zombie speak and Frankie sighed.
"It's not that I don't trust you Ghoulia it's just I don't want too many monsters coming along," Frankie said and let her arms fall. "I guess it's fine as long as nobody told anybody else." The ghouls all shook their heads but Clawd rubbed the back of his neck. Clawdeen saw this and turned to her brother.
"Who did you tell?" Clawdeen asked and started to tap her foot on the ground in annoyance. Clawd let out a nervous chuckle and looked away from his sister.
"Howleen." Clawd said in a small voice and Clawdeen let out a growl.
"You know that girl can't keep a secret!" Clawdeen yelled and then let out a big breath of air to try to calm herself. Howleen was Clawdeen's little sister and sometimes she had trouble keeping a secret. Frankie raised her hands in front of her in a calming gesture.
"I'm sure Howleen wouldn't spill something like this. She's a smart ghoul she'll do the right thing." Frankie stated trying to calm her werewolf friend. Clawdeen glared at her brother for a minute before taking a deep breath and nodding to Frankie. Cleo sighed at the drama unfolding and crossed her arms.
"Can we please just go?" Cleo said with an exasperated sigh. Frankie nodded and looked at Jane.
"Follow me," Jane said and entered the bushes to the left of the gate. Cleo gave the bushes a disgusted look as Clawdeen and Draculaura followed Jane. Frankie sighed to her friend and pushed her towards the bushes. She dug her heels in and then realizing that she was getting her shoes dirty doing that she walked to the bushes. Ghoulia walked over and held a bush out of the way so Cleo could get through without much trouble. She nodded to Ghoulia and walked through the space with her head high. Frankie sighed and Ghoulia lets go of the bush with a shrug. Clawd and Ghoulia walked through the bushes with Frankie bringing up the rear. Jane walked for a while and then they came across a sewer manhole in the middle of the words. Frankie made it to the front and looked down at it.
"Is this it?" Draculaura asked from the side of Frankie.
"It is indeed. From here we can get to the portal in a few minutes." Jane said and looked to Clawd. He walked over and lifted the manhole cover. Draculaura 'oohed' at her boyfriend and hung off his arm with a smile. Clawdeen was the first to climb onto the ladder that was visible after the manhole cover was removed. Next was Ghoulia at Cleo's insistence then Frankie. Cleo came down next followed by Jane. Draculaura looked at her shoes and frowned. Then she gasped and with a small giggle turned into a bat. She flew down the hole and turned back at the bottom. Clawd was last and he put the cover back on before climbing down. Jane nodded to the ghouls before starting off in a direction. Clawd brought up the rear this time with Draculaura hanging on his arm. The part of the catacombs they were in looked more like a sewer but still had the paintings on the wall every so often. Frankie heard a shriek behind her and she turned around quickly. Cleo was standing on one leg and pointing to a rat scurrying near her. Jane walked over to the rat and leaned down. She said something low to the rat and it ran off. Frankie looked at Cleo and crossed her arms.
"Your boyfriend has a pet rat," Frankie said as she glared slightly at the drama ghoul. Cleo put her foot back down and dusted off her signature outfit.
"That is different Deuce takes Perseus baths, that rat was an unwashed sewer rat." Frankie sighed and turned back in the direction they were walking to find Jane already there again. She started walking again and soon they passed the elevator that led to the school. They walked down the same path they took before until they came to the door that hid the portal. Jane looked back to Frankie.
"This is it, yes?" Jane asked as she gestured to the door. Frankie nodded and walked over grasping the handle. She turned back to look at the assembled monsters.
"Let's go!" Frankie said loudly and pulled the door open. The portal greeted her and she walked through it. As she came out on the other side she smiled. She started for the steps right away and didn't even wait for the others. She climbed them quickly and emerged out of the basement. The first thing she saw was the ponies from the day before talking to each other in the ruined building. As soon as Frankie came up the stairs Twilight turned to look. When she saw Frankie she smiled and walked over.
"Frankie! You made it!" Twilight said and it was obvious she was really happy about it. Frankie placed her hands on her knees and bent over so she was about at eye level with the pony. She smiled brightly at Twilight and then she heard the footsteps behind her. She glanced back to see the rest of her ghoulfriends and Clawd were coming up the stairs. When Twilight saw the three extra ghouls she tilted her head in confusion. Frankie stood up straight and pointed to Jane.
"This is Jane Boolittle, Ghoulia Yelps, and Clawd Wolf." Jane nodded and Ghoulia moaned. Clawd smiled at Twilight and then started to look around at the other ponies. Twilight followed his gaze and then she facehoofed.
"I should introduce everypony," Twilight said and pointed first to herself. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. Over there is Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. Then this is Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and lastly, this is Spike." As Twilight said the last name the tiny dragon from the other day popped his head out from behind Applejack. Rarity's eyes lit up as she saw Clawdeen. She walked over quickly and looked up at the werewolf ghoul.
"I do hope you will come to see my boutique today." Rarity said as she looked over Clawdeen's outfit for the day. Clawdeen was practically going to burst out of her fur she was so excited.
"I can't believe you have your own boutique. That is like a dream come true for me." Clawdeen said and held up the bag full of sketchbooks. "I brought my design books to show you." Rarity's eyes sparkled as she stared at the bag. Just then an owl flew into the building and landed on Twilight's back. Twilight looked at the owl and frowned.
"What is it Owlowiscious?" The owl hooted at her and then Jane stepped forward. She closed her eyes for a second and then kneeled down so she was more on the level with the owl.
"What would you like to tell your owner?" The owl hooted at Jane a couple of times and she nodded. She looked to Twilight then. "You have a visitor at your castle." Twilight looked at Jane shocked.
"How do you know that?" Twilight asked and Jane giggled.
"That is my monster ability. I can understand animals." Jane said and Twilight gave her a slightly confused look. With a small shrug of acceptance though she turned towards the old doorway of the library.
"It seems I have business to attend to," Twilight said as she started to leave. Cleo's interest had been piqued, however.
"Did you say castle?" Cleo asked and walked towards Twilight. She managed to make it to the door just as Twilight did.
"It's a castle yes. It is for my use as the princess of friendship." Twilight said and Cleo smiled a small dignified smile. Cleo waved Ghoulia over and the zombie dutifully walked to her side.
"I think I would like to see this castle of yours," Cleo said and brushed her hair off her shoulder. Twilight hesitated for a moment but finally nodded. "Good. Ghoulia will come as well she is my assistant." Twilight glanced at the zombie but turned back to the doorway. She walked out and Cleo followed with Ghoulia lagging behind at zombie speed.
After they departed Rarity wasted no time and trotted over to the doorway herself. Looking back to Clawdeen as she did.
“Come darling. We have much to discuss.” Rarity said as she practically bounced out of the library. Clawdeen was hot on her hooves as she followed her out. Draculaura looked conflicted as the pair left. Finally coming to a decision she raced after the pair. Clawd looked shocked for a second before smiling gently and shaking his head at his silly ghoulfriend. Frankie looked at Clawd as a thought occurred to her.
“Don’t you have casketball practice today?” Frankie asked with a frown. Clawd shook his head slightly and placed his hands on his hips.
“We moved them to the afternoon since some monsters were skipping morning practice.” Clawd said with a small shrug. Rainbow Dash’s ears twitched at that.
“What’s casketball?” Rainbow asked as she took to the air to be more on the level with Clawd.
“It’s a sport that I play. I’m on the school team so we try to practice for games.” Clawd explained casually and Rainbow’s face lit up.
“Could you show me how to play?” Dash asked with a slight excitement. Clawd thought it over and finally nodded. “Awesome! Applejack you wanna play me?”
“Oh, you’re on Dash.” Applejack responded and tilted her hat back to get a better look at the pegasus above her. With that settled Rainbow flew behind Clawd and started pushing him out of the rubble. The three were gone before anyone else could say much.
That left two ponies and two monsters behind. Frankie looked for Spike but didn’t see him. She figured he ducked out with one of the groups. Frankie looked down just as Pinkie started bouncing in front of her. She didn’t even notice as Fluttershy said something quietly to Jane and they both headed for the doorway. Before she realized she was alone with the bouncing pink mare. Pinkie gave her a huge smile.
“Do you wanna help me with the welcome to Ponyville party?! It’s going to be super spectacularly stupendous!” Pinkie giggled at her own word choice. Frankie thought about it and finally smiled.
“Sure. I am part of the welcoming committee at my school so I have some experience with that. A party sounds fun. A way to get every monster to feel welcome.” Frankie said with a smile. She had never thought of throwing a party before. She was going to take notes for sure and use them when she got back home. The thought of a monster welcome party excited Frankie. With that, she happily followed the bouncing mare out of the library rubble to whenever she was leading. It looked like the day was going to be fun for everyone.
