On the other side of the portal, the dark colors of the night sky covered the Earth in a deep blanket, tiny, twinkling dots being the only light...well, other than the headlights pulling up to an abandoned worksite. “All right, gang,” said a voice. “This is the place. Now all we have to do is put the plan into action.”

You guessed right-- this is Scooby-Doo and his mystery-solving friends, arriving at this abandoned, half tore down theater to solve their next mystery. “But usually,” Shaggy argued with a bit of sass, “Scoob and me are the bait in these so-called plans, so how is this one any different?”

“Simple,” Fred shrugged. “You and Scooby are gonna be bait for a ghost and his ghost puppet.”

Scooby gave Fred a deadpan expression, clearly not pleased. “They’re ghosts… it’s the same thing!”

Suddenly, a bright glow opened up from next to them, and out of it tumbled six figures, yelping and crashing to the ground before the portal closed. “Seriously?” Zipp asked with an aggravated tone. “After three months of NOT going on quests, NOW it wants to act up?!”

“Jinkies!” Velma exclaimed as the gang rushed to help them up. “This is a surprise!”

“Like, yeah!” Shaggy agreed as he and Izzy embraced. “We thought we’d never see you again since old fiery and evil is gone. What are you guys doing here?”

“On another Unity Quest, surprisingly,” Sunny admitted. “We’re just not sure what we’re facing yet. What mystery are you guys into this time?”

“Ghost puppets,” Scooby shuddered. “Oh… what’s so scary about puppets?” Misty asked, rubbing the dog’s head. “Zephyr Heights puts on the best puppet shows for foals and fillies.”

“It’s a long story, but we’ll explain once we get inside,” Daphne said. “You guys can actually help us with the plan.”

“Sure. We can sure wing it,” Zipp winked, leading the entire gang to chuckle and head inside.

XXXXXXXX

After about 10 minutes of explanations, the gang put the plan into action; while Fred, the girls, Zipp, Hitch and Izzy were preparing the trap, Shaggy, Scooby and the other ponies would act as live bait. After hearing that their friends would be bait with them, Scooby and Shaggy weren’t as nervous as they were before… but still quite nervous.

At this particular moment, while their friends were in the main auditorium, prepping a way to catch these ghosts, the ponies and Shaggy and Scooby put their plan into action, leading the ghosts around the building to buy their friends some extra time. “Scoob, I take back everything I ever said about birthday clowns!” Shaggy said as they stopped to catch their breath. “Nothing’s scarier than…”

Their eyes fell upon the puppets hanging all around them, and their freakish smiles and glaring eyes made the hairs on their necks raise up. “Puppets…” Scooby spoke as he and Shaggy shuddered. “Okay, I see what you mean now,” said Sunny, a tad bit disturbed herself. “Those really ARE scary!”

“I’m actually glad we use friendlier looking puppets back home,” Pipp said. “But… maybe we could fix these up later.”

A cackle was emerging behind them, and they looked to see that the ghosts have caught up with them before the girls, Shag and Scooby broke into a sprint again. “Like, man!” Shaggy shouted to the others through Pipp’s phone. “Why are the girls, Scoob and I running from the monster instead of anyone else?!”

XXXXXXXX

“It’s pretty much default behavior at this point,” Velma retorted before turning back to her friends. “How’s it coming, Fred?”

“Almost done,” Fred said after he and Daphne tightened something. “Counter-weighted pulleys, titanium weave mesh. And now… my most escape-proof trap yet. I call her… the Marionette!”

“...he names his traps?” Hitch blinked before Izzy gasped. “Like I name by unicycled friends!!” she squealed. “I knew we were gonna get along!”

“Incoming!” Scooby shouted as the doors flung open, and their friends and the bad guys ran into the auditorium, the ghosts laughing loudly. “It’s not ready yet, Shaggy!” Fred cried out, and Pipp immediately rolled her eyes. “No problem,” she replied with sarcasm lacing her voice. “We’ll just as the killer puppets to take a time out!”

The ghost puppet then broke off his lines and charged toward them, allowing just enough time for the girls, Shaggy and Scooby to hop onto the stage. But, as the ghosts were about to strike, some sort of boomerang landed in front of them, causing a large flash that scared the ghosts away. The gang looked around, puzzled-- where did that come from?

Just then, two figures jumped down from a hole in the ceiling and looked toward the doors determinedly. One was a masked crusader with an outfit looking similar to a bat, while the other was a female, crystal-like kirin, masked with a dark blue mask and cape.

But, the masked man was the one that got the ponies confused about, but the gang recognized immediately. “Jinkies!” Velma cried. “The world’s greatest detective!”

“Batman? What are you doing here?” Fred asked. “I go wherever puppet related crime rears its ugly head,” Batman explained before leaping up to the group with the kirin. “Well, thanks for the assist!” Daphne said with a chuckle. “You should be hanging out in malt shops,” Batman told the group sternly. “Not loitering in condemned buildings with mythical horses.”

“Uh, we're ponies, Mr. Batman, sir. Not horses,” Sunny said politely. “Just... wanna point that up.”

“Like, forget that for now, Sunny! Batman just told us to get a milkshake! I think we should listen,” Shaggy said, immediately wanting to get out of this. “Yeah! To the malt shop!” Scooby barked, but Velma stepped in with the shake of her head. “But, we’re here to solve a mystery,” she said, causing Shaggy and Scooby to whine and groan. “Leave the sleuthing to professional mystery solvers,” the kirin told them a calm, gentle voice. “It's not safe here for you kids.”

“Hey! No one calls us kids!” Daphne exclaimed with a frown. “Actually, a lot of people call us kids,” Shaggy recalled, thinking back. “Most commonly paired with the word ‘meddling’.”

“And who are you to tell US what we can and can’t do?” Zipp challenged the kirin, only for Hitch and Pipp to hold her back. “Zipp, she’s just trying to make sure we’re safe,” Pipp said. “It’s nothing against us personally.”

Zipp spared the kirin a glare. “It better not be…”

Ignoring the argument, Fred turned back to Batman and the kirin with a serious expression. “We are mystery solvers,” he said, “and we are profe--”

Suddenly, the lights suddenly went out as cackles filled the air, and everyone looked around before gasping as the ghost puppeteer went through the floor to get to them. “This vindictive ventriloquism ends now, you pernicious puppeteer!” Batman declared before he and the masked, crystal-like kirin charged at him, but instead of tackling him, they went right through! “Zoinks! He’s a ghost!” Shaggy cried in fear. “Not possible,” Velma rejected. “There's always a rational explanation.”

“Rationalize later-- trap now!” Misty shrieked. “Trap!” Fred reminded himself. “Right!”

As the ghost lunged at them, the gang ran off in separate directions for them to avoid the ghost. While Fred was trying to activate the trap with only a match and Izzy's horn for light, the others were trying to shake the ghost puppet off of Shaggy after he latched on tight. Fred finally was able to get the trap lever to move, but he mistakenly got Batman instead of the ghost. “Great!” Daphne cried. “You just trapped Batman!”

“Uh... we did?” Izzy blinked before gulping. “Heh... cool!”

“Iz, Fred, think!” Hitch cried. “If Batman’s in the trap, then where’s…?”

The puppeteer ghost appeared beside them, and when Izzy screamed and ran, and Fred jumped in his direction, the ghost appeared to be afraid of the fire on the match. “Afraid of a little fire, huh?” Fred smirked. “Looks like you met your match!”

But, just like that, the match went out, causing the gang to retreat to the outside. As Fred passed a crane, he got an idea. Using the blinding headlights, he stopped the ghosts in their tracks, and knocking some parts of the building on them, trapping them, much to the gang’s relief and delight. “Well, gang,” Fred announced, “it seems like we've finally gotten to the bottom of this mystery.”

“Thank hoofness for that,” Sunny said. “Velma, would you like to start us off in our explanation?”

“My pleasure, Sunny. You see, it all started when we got an anonymous e-mail asking for our help with a rash of bizarre thefts, all committed using puppets,” Velma showed the evidence on her tablet, leading Zipp to nod. “This could only mean the abandoned theater of Puppetto the Puppeteer,” she explained. “Locals claim his ghost began terrorizing them when they voted to tear it down.”

“Then I noticed Fredo using his hands and feet to steal jewels. We also found something else at the crime scenes-- banana peels,” Velma went on. “And Puppetto was frightened of a lit match,” Fred added. “But the real Puppetto was a trained fire-eater.”

“He also phased right through Batman's hand,” Daphne said, and Velma moved closer to the criminals. “Which can only mean that Fredo and Puppetto are really…”

Velma removed their masks, only to find a monkey and a space alien underneath them-- not what the gang was expecting. “A monkey and a space alien?” Shaggy questioned, and izzy hummed in thought. “Obvious in retrospect, though not something any common pony would suspect otherwise.”

“Not just any monkey/alien. This is the Martian Manhunter and Detective Chimp,” Velma said. “The superheroes? But why would two good guys resort to stealing?” Daphne wondered, and even Velma looked puzzled. “For once, I have no idea. Unless…”

A second of silence passed, and they looked up to see Batman and the crystal kirin on the roof, the former clapping, pleased. “Congratulations,” Batman said as they jumped down to the group. “You passed the test.”

“A first for me,” Shaggy said, and high-fived Scooby happily. “Batman?” Misty looked confused. “W-What test?”

“To see if you were ready to join our organization,” Martian Manhunter stated, cutting himself and Detective Chimp free, and the latter put on an old fashion detective hat. “Bravo! Good show, and all that rut!” he said before tossing them some small business cards. “Sunny Starscout and friends, Mystery Incorporated,” said Batman with a proud smile, “welcome to the Mystery Analysts of Gotham.”

Hearing this name caused Velma and Zipp to gasp in surprise and amazement. “The world’s preeminent crimebusting organization!” Velma exclaimed. “Velma showed me a bunch of stuff about it online, but… I never thought they were searching for members!” Zipp added with an excited grin. “This is a lifelong dream. What made you choose us?” Fred asked the superheroes. “We’ve been aware of your team for some time,” the kirin told them with a kind expression. “This was your initiation.”

“I knew something about the crime felt staged,” Velma said, and the chimpanzee tipped his hat to her, causing Shaggy to shudder. “Like, man, talking animals freak me out,” he said, causing Scooby to roll his eyes. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

“But wait… aren’t we…?” Hitch tried to ask, but Sunny merely stopped him. “Just let it go, Hitch.”

“Our next meeting is in a week,” Batman told them. “In the meantime, I could use your help on a few cases. I've made all the arrangements, if you'll follow me.”

“Jinkies! Batman needs our help?” Velma said excitedly as they walked along. As they did, Zipp walked closer to the crystal kirin with a sheepish look on her face. “Hey, uh… sorry for jumping the gun on you before. I had my suspicions up pretty high for the last couple months.”

“It’s all right, Zipp,” the kirin smiled. “I understand, you dealing with Opaline and all.”

“Wait… how did you know about that?” Sunny asked. “One of my superhero colleagues spotted you battling her in the Himalayas, so I knew that you would be great additions,” the kirin said. “By the way, my name is Ivory-- Ivory Justice of the Crystal Kirin clan.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ivory,” Misty said. “But, uh… is it just me, or do I feel a little underdressed to be working with a team of superheroes?”

“AGH!! You’re right!” Pipp shrieked. “We should be wearing our superhero costumes from when we saved Sparky! Ugh, why didn’t I think of that?!”

“Don’t worry about a thing,” Ivory stopped the ponies with a chuckle. “I know just the spell.”

Lighting her horn, she wrapped each one of the ponies in a sparkling chrysalis, and after a few moments, the chrysalises, one by one, opened to reveal the Mane 6 in their superhero forms, with Misty’s mane being reverted back to its original color so she wouldn’t be recognized. “Whoa… this is some serious magic skill!” Sunny said. “How did you do that?”

“It’s a talent of mine,” Ivory shrugged. “Come on-- we have cases waiting for us.”

But as they walked away from the abandoned theater, they were unaware of the crimson-colored figure watching them from afar… bent on revenge.

Author's Note

This is Ivory Justice-- all credits go to the creator.

Crystal Kirin by Kabuvee on DeviantArt