G5 Adventures in Scooby-Doo! and the Cyber Chase

Chapters

A Trail Trotters' Camping Trip/Trouble Starts Brewing
The Final Level (Part 1: Meeting Anitra and the Cyber Doubles)
Reuniting with Mystery Inc./An Encounter with Officer Wembley
Learning of the Phantom Virus
Splitting Up/Getting Beamed into Cyber-Space
Level 1: The Moon
Level 2: The Roman Colosseum
Level 3: Prehistoric Times
Bonus Level: Equestria/Levels 4 through 9
The Final Level (Part 2: Escaping Villains from the Past)
The Final Level (Part 3: The Final Fight Commences)/Finally Going Home
The Culprit Behind It All/Heading Back to Equestria

A Trail Trotters' Camping Trip/Trouble Starts Brewing

It was about two weeks after the Mane 6 got back from their most recent Unity Quest in Cartoon World, where they met several friends that they really hoped that they hoped to someday see again.

Once the portal appeared to take them home, they arrived back to the talent show, where they watched the rest of the acts go on and they watched Queen Haven, Alphabittle and Phyllis Cloverleaf give them their ratings, which were all top notch.

However... no one could pick just one winner, so... Queen Haven declared that, as her treat, ALL of the talent show contestants were going to spend a week in Ponytropico, much to everyone's delight and to the Mane 6's relief.

They weren't sure if they could pick one winner either, so this was the best way to make sure everypony was happy.

But… ever since their last Unity Quest, the entire Mane 6 have been jumpy and just waiting for the Unity Crystals to summon them on another adventure, fearing that Allura may be back and terrorizing other realms.

However, while defeating Allura was their main goal, and it WAS important, Sunny couldn’t help but feel that the others were worrying themselves too much.

That got her to thinking… what could she do to ease them of this stress?

XXXXXXXX

Sunny was working at her smoothie stand one afternoon, blending smoothies while in serious thought as to how to get her friends to relax a bit.

However… no ideas were filling her head yet.

“Something wrong, Sunny?”

Sunny looked down to see Posey glancing at her in concern, causing Sunny to shake her head to clear it. “Oh… well, nothing’s really wrong, Posey,” Sunny said. “It’s just… me and my friends have been on some wild Unity Quests recently, and they’re starting to get a little on edge. But… enough about me. What can I get for you today?”

“I’ll get the Alicorn Special, please,” Posey requested, and as Sunny worked to blend her smoothie, Posey sat down at the table nearby. “You guys have really had it rough recently, huh?”

“Oh, yeah. We haven’t seen Allura in a few weeks, which is good,” Sunny said, “but… I think my friends are worried about when we DO see her again. She has one of the star shards, and that does make her more powerful. The only way we were able to stop her last time is because we had help, which isn’t a bad thing, but… still…”

“Man… sorry to hear about that,” Posey said sympathetically. Sure, she had some mixed feelings about the team when magic first returned, but now that she knew what they had been going through to defend Equestria all this time, she felt better about them somehow.

As she thought for a few moments, Posey got an idea. “Windy and I were gonna go camping in the woods tonight for the Trail Trotters club–- why don’t you and your friends come along with us? It’ll be a good way to get out of your comfort zones and have some fun.”

Sunny smiled at this. “Posey, you’re a genius! That sounds like a great idea!” she said while handing Posey her smoothie. “I’ll ask my friends to meet me at the Brighthouse after my shift, and we’ll meet you and Windy in front of the Together Tree later. Sound good?”

“Sounds great! See ya later,” Posey bid farewell before trotting away. That left Sunny with only one thing to do-- text her friends and ask them to meet her at the Brighthouse at the end of her shift, which was only one hour away.

XXXXXXXX

Sunny was almost done packing her stuff by the time the others came into the Brighthouse, looking confused and unsure of why Sunny wanted to meet with them. “We’re here now, Sunny,” Hitch said as they approached her. “What’s going on?”

“Well, I know we’ve all been a little on edge with these Unity Quests lately,” Sunny said, “but, Posey helped me come up with a way to help us relax and have some fun–- she invited us to go with her and Windy on their Trail Trotters camping trip tonight in the woods! Eee-hee-hee! Doesn’t that sound fun?!”

“You know… it does sound fun!” Misty said as she sat down next to Sunny. “My dad said when I was a filly, before I got left at Opaline’s doorstep, he and my mom would camp out with me in the backyard of the Crystal Tea Room, but I’ve never been camping in the woods before.”

“But… what about the Unity Crystals?” Zipp tried to point out. “They could summon us at any time and we won’t be here!”

“If they do have a Unity Quest for us, they’ll send a portal for us,” Sunny said before tossing the white pegasus a spare backpack. “Now, come on-- we gotta go get packed! We have to meet Posey and Windy in front of the Together Tree soon!”

Hitch, Izzy and Misty cheered as they rushed to get ready, but Pipp and Zipp hesitated before following, not sure that this camping trip was a good idea…

…especially with the Unity Crystals summoning them at any time, and with Pipp’s dislike of sleeping outside.

XXXXXXXX

Pretty soon, everyone was packed, and they met Posey and Windy at the Together Tree before going along the trail to search for their campsite.

But as they entered the forest, it was pouring rain as thunder struck, leaving our heroes soaking wet. Windy gave a smile at this, not bothered by the rain one bit. “Ah, the outdoors. Doesn't it just make you feel so peaceful and calm?”

“Oh, yes,” Pipp said as she tried to get her hoof out of a vine. “We are totally… WHA!!”

She eventually got her hoof out of the vine but landed smack dab in a patch of mud. “...one with nature,” Pipp finished with a deadpan expression on her face. “Not to worry, ponies,” Windy reassured. “The campsite is actually in a cave nearby to keep us out of the rain and wind, so it works out for everypony! Let’s get there and set up!”

XXXXXXXX

A little bit later, the rain stopped as the skies cleared up as the Mane 6, Windy, Sparky and Posey set up their camp in the cave Windy spoke of. Pipp then gave a smirk as she was next to her speaker and microphone, which she INSISTED on packing for various reasons. “What's a campfire without…” she said as she grabbed the microphone and flew up to her sister. “...campfire songs from ME-ME-ME-MEEEEE?”

“Camp perimeter secured, Sunny,” Misty said to Sunny as she gave a determined smile. “Leave it to me to keep watch.”

“And I'll light the campfire.” Hitch said with a smile as he rubbed a stick over some logs with Sparky watching. “Stand back, Sparky.”

However, it seemed to be taking quite a while to get the fire started. Sparky then started to feel his stomach rumble and turned around before he farted out a blast of dragon fire as it hit the logs, lighting them up in flames, and causing Sparky to giggle and Hitch to sigh. A dragon-made fire was better than nothing, after all. “And all that's left to do is… dinner!” Sunny declared as she stomped her hooves, making a small patch of carrots grow near the entrance to the cave, in order to let the sunshine in.

The rest of the Mane 6 couldn’t help but admit it-- this was rather fun, even if it had a rainy start.

But, they couldn't help but wonder if things in the mortal world were as calm as they currently were.

XXXXXXXX

In the mortal world, in the computer lab of a prestigious university, a young man by the name of Eric was working on a top-secret project with his friend Bill Macklemore, hoping to fix a problem with their newest invention.

However, they weren't having much luck, even as their teacher, Professor Kaufman, approached him. “Having progress, Eric?”

“Sorry, Professor Kaufman,” Eric apologized, sparing a glance at the laser projection device nearby. “There’s still something wrong with the program.”

“Well, we can’t do any experiments with the laser,” Professor Kaufman said, “until you boys fix it.”

“We know, we know,” Bill sighed in frustration before spotting something on his computer screen. “Hey, wait. I found something!”

However, a bright flash from the screen caught him offguard, and only a second later, the laser device behind them began to turn on. “Who turned on the laser?” the professor asked, looking shocked, but Bill and Eric merely shook their heads at this. “Not me!”

“Shut it down!” Professor Kaufman told Bill, who tried this, but all his attempts failed. “I can’t. It’s not responding!”

The laser suddenly fired away from them and projected something right into the room, and that something looked like a walking bolt of lightning with devious eyes.

Seeing this caused all three men to gasp in shock while this creature, presumably a virus from the computer itself, with Professor Kaufman breaking the silence. “What is that?!”

“Uh, I was hoping you’d know, professor,” Bill said nervously as the virus began to walk past beakers filled with liquid, breaking them apart, and causing them to gasp in shock. Then, the virus walked past the computers, absorbing the data from within them. “Look!” Bill then pointed out. “It’s absorbing all our computer data!”

“Call security!” Professor Kaufman shouted. When Eric got to the phone, the virus shot out lightning at the phone, tangling Eric’s wrist and causing Professor Kaufman and Eric to rush to his aid as the virus cackled.

Now what were they going to do?

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, the sun had now set, and the Mane 6, Sparky, Windy and Posey were roasting carrots over the campfire and sharing stories to pass the time.

Posey laughed out loud at what Izzy had just said. “Seriously? Odie seriously let himself get conked in the head in order to get the alligators to laugh?”

“He sure did, and it worked,” Pipp nodded with a laugh. “We got past the alligators no problem after that happened.”

“Wow, your Unity Quests sound really fun sometimes,” Windy smiled fondly. “I sure hope I can go with you on one someday.”

“Yeah, me too!” Posey nodded. “Maybe you can sometime!” Izzy chirped. “But it only happens when your cutie mark lights up.”

Posey looked down and gasped, seeing what Izzy was describing. “Like that?”

The Mane 6 looked down at their cutie marks and realized that Posey was right-- their cutie marks were lighting up, and a portal was beginning to form not too far away. “I guess that’s our cue,” Zipp said. “Let’s get going!”

“We should be back in just a few minutes, girls! We promise!” Sunny told Posey and Windy before she led the Mane 6 and Sparky into the portal before it closed, leaving Posey and Windy to look at one other and wonder…

…which world were the defenders of Equestria going to go to this time?

The Final Level (Part 1: Meeting Anitra and the Cyber Doubles)

Our heroes have succesfully made it through 9 levels of the computer game (10, if you include the Equestrian bonus level), and they were pumped and ready to make it through the final level and finally be sent home.

But with the virus still lurking out there, they knew this wasn't going to be easy, so they would have to use all the resources they could in order to succeed in their task.

Now, let's get back to the story at hoof.

XXXXXXXX

Once more, the group appeared in the white void after completing the last level, and the white void disappeared into a city-like area under a starry sky.

Seeing this caused Daphne to look around, a sense of familiarity filling her mind. “I think we're finally home!”

Shaggy sighed in relief at this. “Finally, no more monsters chasing us. Let's go celebrate with some chow!”

“Yeah!” Scooby nodded enthusiastically. “Chow!”

Tanya looked up at the sky with wide eyes. “Uh, it might be a little early for a celebration, gang. Look!”

As the wolf pointed her paw to the sky, the others gasped upon seeing a green dome still hanging over their heads, signaling that they're still stuck inside the game. “Oh man! We're still in the game!” Zipp groaned, causing Pipp to frown. “And I thought we were home free...”

“Yeah...” Scooby whined sadly, leading Sunny to try and comfort him.

XXXXXXXX

Back in the real world, Bill became hopeful about the group making it to the final stage of the gang. “Okay, they made it to the last level!”

“But this one's the toughest of them all,” Eric pointed out, frowning as he held Sparky comfortingly in his arms. “No player has ever won it. Not even me. They'll take everything they've got just to survive.”

XXXXXXXX

Back in the game, Izzy turned to the others with confusion. “Now what?”

“All we have to do is find the last box of Scooby Snacks,” Velma explained. “But since this is the last level, it isn't gonna be easy,” Sunny pointed out with a serious expression. “We’re gonna need to work together like never before.”

“I agree whole-heartedly, Sunny,” Daphne said, “but this city is so big. Where do we start?”

Fred looked across the street and smiled at seeing an old woman waiting to cross the street. “Hey... let's see if that woman knows anything.”

“Good idea, Freddy-Beddy!” Izzy chirped. “Old ladies are always willing to help teens and ponies out when they're in need!”

However, Tanya hummed in thought, feeling as if something didn't feel right about the arrangement. The group proceeded to walk over to the woman, and Daphne felt the need to speak up first. “Excuse us, ma'am... we were wondering...”

“Surprise!” the Phantom Virus said from his old woman disguise, causing the group to scream in fright. “The virus!” Pipp and Shaggy yelled as the Phantom virus removed the hood from his disguise. “Welcome to the final level. You're in the major leagues now.”

However, before the virus could make any sudden movements, the group burst down the street, running and screaming to try and get away from the virus' clutches.

After a bit of running, Shaggy turned to the others with a slight pant of exhaustion. “Like, where are we going?!”

“As long as it's far away from that virus creep, who cares?!” cried Hitch. “But we can't keep running forever!” Misty pointed out. “We need someplace to hide until we're sure the virus isn't chasing us anymore!”

That's when Fred spotted a building up ahead that they could hide in and got an idea. “Let's hide in the malt shop!”

“Great idea, Freddy!” Shaggy exclaimed as they high-tailed it toward the malt shop, burst inside and then screeched to a halt, every single one of them out of breath. That was way too close for comfort, and everyone had to agree with that statement.

That's when Daphne turned and saw 11... strangely familiar figures sitting at the barstools next to them. “Can someone help us?”

When the figures turned, the gang, the Mane 6 and Tanya, as well as the figures themselves, gasped in shock-- the figures looked exactly like the gang and the Mane 6, with only a couple of slight differences.

Cyber Shaggy wore a red shirt, Cyber Scooby wore a red collar, and Cyber Misty had Misty’s old blue and green mane coloring, but still kept her cutie mark.

Shaggy and Cyber Shaggy looked at each other in shock, realizing how similar they both looked. “Zoinks!!”

“You're me!” Shaggy exclaimed. “And, like, you're me!” Cyber Shaggy spoke up in reply. That's when Cyber Velma and Velma looked at each other in fascination, Velma deciding to speak first. “You're the characters in Eric's video game!”

“And you're from the real world!” Cyber Velma agreed, leading both Velmas to look at each other in surprise. “Jinkies!”

Daphne looked at Cyber Daphne’s apparel with hands on her hips. “Did I really wear that years ago?”

“That jacket with that skirt?” Cyber Daphne looked at Daphne’s outfit with the same expression before they hummed in thought.

Fred then lifted Cyber Fred's ascot with a smile. “Nice ascot.”

Cyber Fred smiled proudly at this. “Heh... works for me!”

At the same time, Sunny was talking with her own cyber double not too far away, shaking her head in surprise. “This is so unreal. You're me?”

“Uh, yeah,” Cyber Sunny nodded. “It would certainly seem so.”

“So you're the version of us from cyberspace?” Zipp asked her cyber double in confusion. “Yeah, that's us,” Cyber Zipp nodded. “It's kinda strange looking at another version of me.”

“Well, not for me,” Pipp said as she and her cyber double copied each other's movements to a T. “It's like I'm looking in an absolutely gorgeous mirror!”

“Even I have to admit it,” Hitch said to his cyber double. “I look even better up close.”

Cyber Hitch blinked in surprise at this. “Weird to receive a compliment from myself, but I'm not complaining.”

“Sweet sauce horseshoe toss! Another me!” Izzy said, completely amazed as she and Cyber Izzy got to know one another a bit. “I know, right?!” Cyber Izzy chirped. “Best day ever!”

Misty looked at her cyber double in surprise, realizing that her cyber double had her old mane coloring, further making Misty want to ask her double a question. “You're not an evil doppelganger created by dark magic, are you?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Cyber Misty said with a shrug, “so I don't think so.”

Meanwhile, the Scoobys sniffed at each other and circled each other for a few moments before giggling and high-fiving one another, obviously becoming fast friends while Velma looked at her outfit, then at the outfit of her cyber double. “I guess it's been awhile since we'd seen Eric. He hasn't seen our fashion changes.”

“We'll go shopping later,” Daphne told her cyber double and the two Pipps, causing the two fashionista pegasi to squeal and high-hoof one another. At the same time, Cyber Shaggy led Shaggy, Izzy and Cyber Izzy over to a table where a basket of fries waited for them. “Like, why don't you join us for a little snack?”

“Man,” Shaggy said with a smile, “I thought you would never ask.”

“I love French fries!” Cyber Izzy chirped. “Can somepony pass the ketchup?”

“Got you covered, mare-friend!” Cyber Izzy told her double. Not too far away, Scooby got an idea and whispered it to his cyber double, prompting Cyber Scooby to nod with a smile. “Okay!”

Izzy, Shaggy and their cyber doubles proceeded to snack on some fries for a few moments, drowning the fries in ketchup until they heard Scooby whining and panting next to them, and Shaggy picked up a fry and tossed it into Scooby’s mouth. “Here ya go, pal.”

Izzy, Cyber Izzy and Cyber Shaggy tossed Scooby a fry each, unaware that Cyber Scooby was snatching the basket of fries while Scooby waved to them with his paw. “Thanks a lot!”

He quickly trotted away, and as Izzy, Shaggy and their cyber doubles looked down at the table, they realized that their fries had gone missing. “Hey!”

When they looked over, they saw Scooby and Cyber Scooby dining on the fries they had swiped, drowning them with their own ketchup stash and not having a single care in the world... at least for a few moments. “As much as I love the new friends we're making,” Tanya then spoke, “I'm afraid we don't have time to play around. We have to find the Scooby Snax, find my sister and get out of here.”

“Aww, come on,” Cyber Zipp brushed off, a calm smile stretched axross her face. “You guys need to relax.”

“Yeah,” nodded Cyber Daphne. “What are you worried about?”

Daphne looked at the rest of the cyber doubles in surprise. “Aren't you afraid of the Phantom Virus?”

“Phantom who?” Cyber Fred repeated, confused. “Never heard of him.”

“You're kidding!” Hitch said in shock. “Huge? Creepy? Shoots lightning? None of that rings a bell?”

“Oh I get it. The virus isn't part of this game,” Velma pointed out. “They have no reason to be looking for our cyber doubles.”

“Well, you cyber guys are lucky,” Shaggy told the cyber doubles with a frown. “The Phantom Virus is creepy and has this really scary laugh.”

Suddenly, the Phantom Virus' laughter could be heard from outside the malt shop, causing Misty to gulp nervously, all the hairs on her neck standing up. “Uh... just like that!”

“Come out and play...”

Cyber Scooby and Scooby dove under the table, shivering in fright at the sound of the virus' voice, just as Sunny, Zipp, Velma and Cyber Fred approached the window and saw the virus outside, letting Sunny gasp in shock. “It's him!”

“Come out, come out...” the virus taunted as they got away from the window and back with their friends. “Let's get out of here!” Cyber Fred told the groups. “The Mystery Machine is out back!”

“I'll drive!” both Fred's announced at once causing them to look at one another. And as the two Freds tried to work this whole driving situation out, the group went out the back doors to get to the Mystery Machine for a slick getaway.

XXXXXXXX

Out on top of the Mystery Machine, a white wolf slept peacefully, taking a break from her annual patrol.

But as she was beginning to come out of her slumber, she heard the back door open, and she heard Cyber Fred speak a few moments later. “Anitra, come on! We gotta help our new friends find the Scooby and get rid of the Phantom Virus!”

The white wolf, now known as Anitra, yawned and stood up, opening her eyes slowly. “Phantom Virus? Are you sure? And who are these new friends of yours?”

Once her amethyst eyes opened, Anitra found herself locking eyes with the same tender blue ones of a wolf she thought to be lost forever. “T-Tanya...?”

“Anitra...?” Tanya whispered softly. “Is that really you...?”

“Oh, my big sister! You're okay!” Anitra cried in happiness while she and her sister hugged and nuzzle one another in happiness to finally have found each other after such a long time of being apart. “Aww...” Cyber Misty smiled. “They’re finally back together!”

“I told her that we would help Tanya find her sister... and here she is,” Pipp smiled. “At least this part of the story has a happy ending.”

“We'll get our happy ending too, I promise you that,” Sunny said sincerely. “For right now, everyone needs to get into the Mystery Machine-- we have a box of Scooby Snacks to find... and we need to find them fast, before the Phantom Virus gets his grubby hands on them.”

Reuniting with Mystery Inc./An Encounter with Officer Wembley

The Mane 6 were being summoned on their next Unity Quest adventure, but like always, they had no idea where exactly they were going.

But in a way... they couldn't wait to find out for themselves.

What our heroes don't know, however, is that this Unity Quest was going to be one of their craziest, wildest and... actually... funnest adventures to date.

Now, let's check in with the ponies and see how they're doing on their mission.

XXXXXXXX

The portal from Equestria opened, and the Mane 6 and Sparky leapt out of it and looked around to see if they could recognize where they were.

However, it didn’t look familiar-- it seemed like a rest area out in the countryside, causing Zipp to hum in thought. “I don’t see anypony that needs our help yet… maybe we just have to be patient.”

“Or… maybe who we’re supposed to help is somepony inside that rest area! And I think I know who it is!” Pipp said, pointing to a nearby sight that made Misty gasp in delight. “The Mystery Machine! Scooby and the others must be here!”

“Come on, let’s look around for them,” Sunny said as she trotted around a bit. “I’m sure they’re around here some--”

“SUNNY!!!”

The earth pony mare yelped as a large brown blur tackled her to the ground, only to discover it was a very excited Scooby licking her face, causing Sunny to laugh out loud. “Well, we found one of our friends,” Hitch laughed with a smile as he helped Sunny onto her hooves. “Even if he found us first.”

“Hey, Scooby! Ooh, it is SO good to see you!” Izzy said as she rubbed the Great Dane on the head. “Speaking of which, where are the others?” Pipp asked, looking around. “I thought they’d be with you.”

“We are here, Pipp!” called a voice, and it was revealed to be Velma’s voice as she, Fred, Daphne and Shaggy walked over to them. “Scooby just got a little too excited and ran out toward you before we could.”

“Oops…” Scooby realized, smiling nervously at this. “Sorry.”

“Well, it’s good to see all of you, nonetheless,” Zipp said as she hoof-bumped Fred. “What have you guys been up to since we saw you last?”

“More mysteries, mostly,” Fred shrugged, “but we can tell you all about it and what we’re doing out here once we’re on the road.”

“Really?” Misty said as they walked toward the Mystery Machine again. “Where are we going?”

“We can’t go into ALL the details,” Daphne said with an excited grin, “but that’s what makes it a surprise! You guys are gonna love it.”

That left the ponies curious about where they were going but didn’t say a word as they got into the Mystery Machine and set off once again.

XXXXXXXX

As they drove for the next while, the Mane 6 told their longtime friends about their previous Unity Quest since they had last seen the gang, and the gang listened, interested entirely.

However, as they continued to talk, the gang remained very vague about where they were going. All the ponies knew was that they were going to visit the gang’s friend Eric at the university he was at.

After a little while more of talking, snacking and video game playing, Shaggy spoke up to Fred, who was focused on driving at the time. “Like, are we there yet, Fred?”

“I told you, Shaggy,” Fred responded. “Soon.”

“But you said that over, like, an hour ago!” Pipp said with a huff. “I gotta get out and stretch my legs and wings eventually!”

“The university isn’t that far away from here, Pipp,” Velma told the pink pegasus. “Once we get there, you can stretch your legs and wings before we go where Eric told us to meet him.”

“You know,” said Daphne, “it’s so impressive that Eric received a grant for his computer project.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Fred said with a smile. “Back in high school, they practically lived in the computer lab, right, Velma?”

“Yep,” Velma nodded. “He’s one smart cookie.”

“Cookie?” Scooby became excited when he heard this. “Cookie?!”

“Sorry, Scooby,” Zipp said, rubbing the Great Dane’s head. “Figure of speech.”

“Aww…” Scooby pouted as he sat back down beside Shaggy, who was playing a space game on his video game console. “Cheer up, Scoob. When we get there, we get to play the computer game Eric designed. I bet it’s way cooler than this one.”

“Yeah!” Scooby nodded. “Cooler!”

“Really? Eric designs video games?” Misty asked. “He sure does,” Velma nodded. “And he managed to put all of us in there too! Surprise!”

“Wait… really?!” Zipp asked in excitement. “He put US into a video game?”

“That’s awesome!” Sunny squealed. “So that’s why you were being so vague!”

“We didn’t wanna spoil the surprise until we got a little closer to the university,” Daphne smiled. “But just imagine,” Fred spoke up, “a computer game starring all of us!”

“Solving mysteries in cyber-space!” Hitch agreed with an excited nod, while Shaggy frowned, having lost on his own video game. “Like, I hope I do better on Eric’s game than this one.”

“I’m sure this is gonna be really fun, Shaggy-- trust us on that,” Zipp smiled. “Next stop, the state university!”

XXXXXXXX

It wasn't much longer after that until our heroes pulled into the parking lot of the university, finally getting to stretch after such a long car ride.

However, our heroes had no idea where exactly they were supposed to go, so they just decided to wander around campus until they found the computer lab.

Unfortunately, this was a mistake in the making, because the security guard who spotted them (a big, tall, and bulky male with a brown buzzcut and a security uniform) did not look happy at all. “Hey! Where do you think you’re going?”

“To visit our friend, Eric Staufer,” Velma explained. “He’s a student here.”

“Not if you’re not on my list,” the officer said, gesturing to the clipboard he had with him. “Uh, it should be under Fred Jones,” Fred told the officer, who looked for Fred’s name on the list. “Is this whole group with you?”

Fred nodded at this. “Yes, sir.”

“Including the colorful horses, the lizard and the dog?”

“Dog?” Scooby looked around, confused. “Where?”

“Uh… begging your pardon, sir,” Sunny said, “but… we’re ponies. Not horses. And Sparky is a baby dragon.”

“Yeah,” Pipp nodded sassily. “There’s a real difference.”

“Yeah… whatever.”

Unaware that the Mane 6 were glaring at him for his rudeness, the officer glanced at the list again, eventually finding Fred’s name. “Ah, there you are. But just so you know,” he said, not noticing that Scooby had taken his hat and was mimicking every move that the officer made, “I don’t like a bunch of punks and their pets running around my university.”

“Your university?” Daphne asked in confusion. “It might as well be. I’ve been here for twenty years and there’s never been any trouble on my watch,” the officer boasted proudly. “I’m the head of security. Wembley’s the name.”

The gang and ponies tried to stifle their laughter at Scooby’s antics, and Hitch was able to stop so Officer Wembley wouldn’t get suspicious. “As a fellow officer of the law myself, I gotta admit, 20 years is an impressive record.”

“You bet it is, and I’m gonna make sure that it stays--” Officer Wembley began to say before noticing his hat was gone, causing him to turn to Scooby, who chuckled nervously, and snatched his hat back. “Oh, a wise guy, eh? I’m keeping a special eye on you, pooch.”

“Pooch?” Scooby questioned. “Like, Scooby’s just playing, officer,” Shaggy defended his friend as Scooby nodded in agreement. “Yeah,” Scooby nodded. “Sorry.”

“Well, since that’s over and done with,” said Zipp, stepping forward, “we’d really like some help finding the computer lab.”

The officer glared hard at the group for a moment before sighing and pointing in another direction. “The lab is three buildings down on the left.”

“Oh, great! Thanks!” Izzy said cheerfully. “Let’s go, guys!”

But as they left, Officer Wembley gave the group one final piece of advice. “And keep your dog off the grass!”

“Huh?” Scooby looked shocked before he huffed and turned to follow his friends, unaware that Officer Wembley was watching them leave. “Geez, that guy really needs to take a load off,” Pipp said with a frown. “He acts like we’re a bunch of criminals or something.”

“He just takes his job really seriously, Pipp, like any law enforcement officer would,” Hitch pointed out. “I sure take my job seriously, but… I do feel like something else is going on.”

“But what?” Misty asked with worry. “I’m not sure, but we better keep an eye on things while we’re here,” Sunny said to her friends as they noodded, hoping in her gut that there wasn’t anything too serious on their plates.

But you never know with these ponies and their new friends… especially with a new mystery right around the corner.

Learning of the Phantom Virus

Our pony heroes don't know it quite yet, but this adventure is going to take a serious turn. Especially after the encounter that they had with Officer Wembley, the head of security at the university that the gang's friend Eric was studying at.

Speaking of Eric, they finally managed to track down the computer lab and walked toward the building, and Eric was waiting for them at the entrance. “Guys! Man, it feels like it’s been ages since high school started,” Eric said as he hugged and high-fived the human gang members one by one before rubbing Scooby’s head and looking toward the ponies. “Are these the ponies that you told me about?”

“They sure are,” Velma nodded. “Eric, meet Sunny Starscout, Misty Brightdawn, Zipp Storm, Hitch Trailblazer, Sparky Sparkeroni, Izzy Moonbow and--”

“Pipp Petals, at your service, Eric,” Pipp said with a smile. “I mean, I have to be, since you included us in YOUR video game! AHH!! Can you tell how excited I am?!”

“What my sister means to say, Eric,” Zipp interrupted, silently scolding her sister, “is that it’s nice to meet you.”

“This is some campus you have here,” Misty said as she looked around. “It’s almost as big as Zephyr Heights! Maybe bigger!”

“Thanks,” Eric smiled back at the blue unicorn. “It is pretty great getting here on a full scholarship. Come on inside-- I’ll show you all around.”

Eric pushed open the doors and led everyone inside the building, guiding them through it until they reached a lab filled with computers, test tubes, beakers, books and files of every kind imaginable-- a real sight for someone as science-crazy as Zipp and as study-crazy as Sunny herself. “Wow, Eric. This lab is one groovy setup,” Daphne said as they walked along. “Yeah,” Eric responded. “We like it, too.”

But as they trailed at the back of the group, Izzy, Shaggy and Scooby stopped upon seeing the biggest tomatoes they had ever seen-- even in Equestria they didn't grow this large without earth pony magic to fuel up the process.

No one would mind if they took a small bite... would they?

But before they could take a bite, a voice interrupted them. “You don’t want to eat those.”

“Huh?” Shaggy and Scooby chorused as they and Izzy turned to see who was speaking to them, and the voice belonged to Bill. “Because,” Bill said, “they’re grown in radioactive soil.”

“Zoinks!!” Shaggy yelped as he wiped his hands off on his shirt, and Scooby did the same with his paws while Izzy ran them over Scooby’s fur. “Everyone,” Eric introduced as Bill came over, “this is my lab partner, Bill McLemore.”

“Nice to meet you,” Fred said as he shook Bill’s hand. “And thanks for keeping our friends from glowing in the dark,” Sunny said with a giggle. Eric then rubbed Izzy on the head, making the unicorn smile with pleasure. “We’ll go to dinner after the tour.”

“But first, can you show us your new video game?” Shaggy asked. “Totally! We’ve been dying to play it!” Izzy nodded enthusiastically. “Well… ever since we heard about it 30 minutes ago, that is.”

“No one’s playing the game until we get rid of our problem.”

The ponies and their friends turned in surprise to see a white haired man with glasses, Professor Kaufman, enter the room, looking rather serious while he spoke. “Professor Kaufman,” said Eric, “’d like you to meet the mystery gang and their pony friends I based my game off of.”

“Hello.”

“Hey.”

“Sup?”

“Hi.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Ah,” Professor Kaufman smiled at the gang. “The famous Mystery Inc and their Equestrian allies.”

“And over there,” Misty said as she pointed to Scooby, who was looking at some test tubes and beakers nearby, “is Scooby-Doo.”

Scooby giggled as he admired all the wonky reflections of himself that the beakers and test tubes gave off, causing Professor Kaufman to clear his throat. “Yes. Well, it looks like you showed up just in time for a mystery.”

This immediately peaked Velma and Zipp’s interest. “A mystery?” Velma asked first. “Why?” Fred questioned. “What happened?”

Eric approached the laser that he and Bill had built together, with Professor Kaufman and Bill standing nearby. “This is a hyper-energy laser,” Eric explained as Zipp brought out her magnifying glass to study it. “We’ve been using it to break down actual objects to project them into cyberspace.”

“Holy horse feathers!” Zipp immediately stood up, eyes wide. “You mean you can transport objects from the real world into the computer world?”

“Precisely, young lady,” Professor Kaufman nodded, unaware that Officer Wembley was listening by the door… and no one except Sparky, who just tilted his head, noticed. “That’s fantastic!” Daphne exclaimed. “It was,” Eric sighed worriedly with a frown, “until the laser beamed a monster into our world last night.”

This immediately caused Misty, Izzy, Shaggy and Scooby to go wide-eyed with fright. “A monster?!”

And just like that, Shaggy and Scooby bolted into hiding. “Yes,” Eric nodded regretfully. “The laser beamed a computer virus right here into this lab.”

“A really freaky looking thing,” Bill added before Eric continued. “He wiped out all the data from our computers just by walking near them.”

“This virus is also able to control and manipulate electrical objects,” Professor Kaufman added, just before Misty and Daphne walked over to Scooby to comfort him. “But where did it come from?” Daphne asked, rubbing Scooby on the head reassuringly. “Eric’s computer game,” Bill said without hesitation. “I don’t know much about computer games, but I do know one thing,” Zipp said with a serious look, finding Bill's answer rather suspicious. “Computer viruses don’t just appear. They have to be created by someone.”

“But I didn’t create it!” Eric protested, but Professor Kaufman put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “I’m sure it wasn’t Mr. Staufer here. But whoever created this virus is in serious trouble,” he said sternly. “Our civilization is so dependent on technology that this virus is a threat to the entire world.”

“And,” Hitch whispered to his friends, “it could mean big trouble for Equestria too, especially if the virus were to figure out how to get there.”

“You’re right,” Sunny nodded at the statement. “We have to do whatever we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“But where would we even start?” Pipp asked in confusion. “I think I have an idea,” Fred spoke, eyeing the laser before looking at Eric and Professor Kaufman. “Can you show us how this laser works?”

“You can show them the demo,” Professor Kaufman said to Eric sternly, “but don’t start the game.”

“Yes, sir,” Eric said before moving over to the computer and pressing a few buttons, causing the title card with the title Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase appeared on it, along with cyber versions of the gang and the Mane 6. “Like, check it out!” Shaggy cried out. “Ha ha ha! We’re digital!”

“Yeah! Digital!” Scooby agreed with a laugh. “And man… I never thought I would say this to a computer version of me,” said Hitch, “but we look good! Right, Sparkeroni?”

“Mmm-hmm!” Sparky nodded enthusiastically from Hitch’s back. “We used the game to extrapolate 3-D data into quantum particIes,” Eric said, using words that most of the Mane 6 and the gang didn’t understand. “From there, it's child's play to reintegrate the molecular structure in virtual space.”

“Of course!” Zipp smiled. “It really is simple.”

“It is?” the others questioned in surprise, leading Velma to explain for them. “He used the Scooby game as the location in cyberspace to store physical objects.”

“See? That’s how you explain it to somepony who knows NOTHING much about science and video games,” Hitch said with a nod. “And, you’re sure,” Daphne said to Eric, “the virus came from the game?”

“Unfortunately,” Eric responded, “yes.”

“Well, there's no virus in my baseball game, and it's more entertaining,” Bill said as he played the baseball game he created off to the side. “Now, this is a game you can get into!”

“That’s really cool, Bill,” Fred said with a smile. “I'm a huge baseball fan myself.”

“You have good taste, Fred!” Bill responded with a wide grin. “I think it's the greatest sport in the world.”

“Eh, baseball is okay,” Izzy shrugged with a smile, “but it doesn’t have all of us in it!”

“The Scooby game has 10 levels,” Eric explained, grabbing a box of Scooby Snacks from the floor and standing up with it to bring it to a nearby table. “You need to battle monsters or villains whiIe trying to find a box of Scooby Snacks on each level.”

“Oh boy!” Scooby barked in a cheerful manner. “Scooby Snacks!”

“Okay, professor,” Eric said to Professor Kaufman as he put the Scooby Snacks on the table. Professor Kaufman then pressed a button on the remote, and instantly, the laser shot out a beam of green light that hit the Scooby Snacks dead on, and after a moment… they disappeared from view.

Needless to say, the others were completely shocked. “Whoa…”

“Now, check out the monitor,” Bill said, gesturing to the large monitor hanging nearby, and just like that, the Scooby Snacks slowly appeared on it, causing a bunch of reactions.

“Cool!”

“Jinkies!”

“Whoa!”

“Call me crazy if you want,” Misty interrupted with wide eyes, “but I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes!”

“Like, I don’t believe it either,” Shaggy said sadly, rushing to the table and glancing at the spot where the Scooby Snacks had been. “We didn't even get one Scooby Snack.”

Scooby whined sadly at this, leaving Misty to rub his back reassuringly. “Eric and Bill are sure to win the quarter-million-dollar grand prize,” Professor Kaufman said, “at the international science fair.”

“Whoa,” Sunny said in surprise while also developing a suspect theory in her mind. “That’s quite the prize!”

“It will be a reward for all their talent and hard work on the laser project,” Professor Kaufman added, causing Eric to smile. “We couldn’t have done this without you, Professor Kaufman,” he said. “You should share on the reward, too.”

“No, no, no,” the professor politely declined. “As a teacher, being able to guide young minds to their full potential is reward enough, Eric.”

“Like, speaking of rewards, is it possible to get the Scooby Snacks out of the game?” Shaggy asked, trying to ignore the look he was getting from Zipp. Eric typed on the keyboard for a few moments before the Scooby Snacks disappeared from the monitor and instantly appeared on the table again, thanks to the laser beaming it back in.

And no sooner than this happened, Shaggy and Scooby began to tug back and forth, trying to claim the snacks for themselves. “Is that the way the virus came out of the game, Eric?” Hitch asked, pointing to the laser. “Yeah,” Eric nodded. “It was pretty scary.”

“If it's just a computer virus,” Daphne then said, “what harm can it do in the real world or in Equestria?”

“From what we observed last night,” Professor Kaufman explained, “this virus has the potential to steal every computer program in the world.”

“And the virus made a telephone come to life, which attacked Eric,” Bill added. Eric moved his sleeve to reveal the mass of bandages underneath, causing Izzy, Velma and Daphne to gasp as Bill continued the story. “It kept coming toward us and we couldn't stop it.”

“Then I held up a magnetic bar in defense,” Professor Kaufman added on. “It seemed to have an adverse effect on the virus.”

“Yeah,” Bill nodded. “And it seemed like the magnet weakened him. Like kryptonite to Superman.”

“Creepy…” Pipp gulped nervously while the others either gasped out of shock or shuddered out of fear. “The security guards checked the campus,” Bill added on, “but they couldn’t find him anywhere.”

“I suspect,” said Professor Kaufman, “that he is still in this building somewhere.”

This news caused Shaggy and Scooby to stop bickering over the Scooby Snacks and become fearful. “Still here?”

“No more arguing, boys,” Sunny told them as Velma took the snacks away, leaving Shaggy and Scooby to pout. “Okay, so now that we know what we’re up against,” Zipp said, taking out her FlyPad, “what can we do to help, Eric?”

“Well, if you can lure the Phantom Virus into the lab,” Eric explained, “l can use the laser to beam him back into cyber-space.”

“Hey, that sounds pretty easy!” Misty smiled. “We’ll do it!”

“Oh, great,” Shaggy groaned. “Like, you want us to be virus bait? Like, no way, man.”

“Uh-uh,” Scooby shook his head. Luckily, Velma and Zipp smirked at each other, the former getting out the cowardly duo’s secret weapon. “Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?”

“Yeah!” Scooby nodded instantly. “Yeah!”

“Hold on, Scoob,” Shaggy frowned, sensing something fishy. “Only one Scooby Snack to go chase a phantom? I don’t think so.”

“Well,” Zipp said with a sly smirk, “what if we gave you each two Scooby Snacks?”

Scooby panted eagerly as he looked up at his best friend, and Shaggy eventually relented after a moment. “Okay, you got a deal.”

“Go long, guys!” Zipp said as she flapped her wings and sent the Scooby Snacks flying toward them, to which Shaggy and Scooby caught in their mouths. And once the snacks had been digested, Shaggy turned to Scooby to whisper in his ear. “This place is so big, we'll probably never see this virus anyway.”

“Yeah,” Scooby agreed with a quiet laugh. “How do we capture the Phantom Virus once we find him?” Velma asked Professor Kaufman, who pulled out a desk drawer and pulled out several large magnets. “The Phantom Virus is composed of electron magnetic energy,” he explained, pulling the magnets apart. “Get close enough to him with one of these… super magnets and it will render him helpless.”

Scooby took one of the magnets in his mouth, but didn’t expect several sharp thumb tacks to come flying in his direction, causing him to drop the magnets and run to hide as the thumb tacks hit the magnet dead on. “Oh, be careful, Scooby,” Sunny told the Great Dane gently. “Those are pretty strong magnets.”

“Oop… sorry,” Scooby apologized bashfully as Fred took one of the magnets with a confident smile. “Now let's really put them to the test.”

“I knew l could count on you guys!” Eric said, wrapping an arm around Fred and Shaggy with a smile. “Don’t worry about a thing, Eric. We’ll have that virus taken care of in no time,” Zipp smiled. “All right, ponies and Mystery Inc, let’s get moving-- we have a phantom virus to catch!”

Splitting Up/Getting Beamed into Cyber-Space

The Mane 6 and Mystery Incorporated's new mission could never be more clear-- they had to find some way to find the phantom virus haunting the university and get him to follow them back to the computer lab so Eric could beam the virus back into cyber-space.

It wasn't going to be easy, but our heroes knew that with a task this important, and with both of their worlds at risk, they had to at least give it a try.

XXXXXXXX

Immediately after leaving the computer lab, the ponies and their friends began to wander the hallways to begin their search for the phantom virus. “This building is so big,” Daphne said in concern. “This Phantom Virus could be anywhere.”

“Daphne’s right,” Fred told the others. “I think we stand a better chance of finding him if we split up.”

However, before he could give out assignments for teams, Shaggy and Scooby began to walk off in another direction. “Hey, you guys, I didn't say how we were gonna split up,” Fred told them before they got too far away, but this led Shaggy to only shrug. “Like, do we ever do it any other way?”

“I… he… you know, he actually has a good point,” Zipp shrugged innocently. “So I guess we ponies better split up too.”

“Izzy, Pipp and I will go with Shaggy and Scooby,” Misty volunteered, “and you guys go with Fred and the girls. And once we see the virus, we’ll chase him back to the computer lab.”

“Sounds like a plan to us,” Zipp nodded. “Good luck, everypony.”

XXXXXXXX

After separating from their friends, Fred, Velma and Daphne led Sunny, Zipp and Hitch down into the basement to begin their search… much to Daphne’s disliking. “Do we really have to look in the basement?”

“We have to search the whole building, top to bottom,” Zipp explained. “If we don’t, we may miss some important clues that will tell us who in the world is behind this.”

Fred removed a cover off of one of the old exhibits, revealing a very old machine underneath. “Wow. This stuff looks like it shouId be in the Smithsonian.”

“But if this stuff is so old,” Hitch wondered, “why would they bother keeping this stuff?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Some of this old junk could be very valuable,” Velma shrugged as she blew some dust off one of the book she found… only to have the phantom virus, who was in front of her, sneeze from the dust. “Jinkies! It’s him!”

Sunny, Hitch and Zipp let out a startled gasp at this while Daphne merely tensed, frozen in fear. “Uh-oh…”

“Watch out!” Fred cried just before the virus blasted electricity at them. Luckily, our heroes were able to move out of the way before they could get blasted, but Velma dropped her magnet to the floor in the process. But as the phantom virus began to move closer, he stepped on Velma's magnet, causing him to scream in pain and fall backwards into a nearby shelf.

That instantly made Fred and Daphne, as well as the ponies, remember what Professor Kaufman told them. “The magnets!”

They held the magnets out at the phantom virus as he was regaining his footing, but the ponies were prepared in case the magnets only lasted so long. “Get back, you… creepy… thingy!” Daphne shouted, causing the others to look at her rather strangely. “Creepy thingy?” Fred repeated, making Daphne smile nervously… just before the phantom virus hissed at them. “You’ll pay for this.”

“We don’t think so,” Sunny said as she shifted into her alicorn form. “...thingy!” Fred said to tease Daphne, causing Velma and Hitch to hold in their snickering. This caused the phantom virus to growl and limp out of the basement, clearly still affected by stepping on the magnet. “After him!” Hitch shouted to the others, and they immediately ran out of the basement to capture him and end this madness once and for all.

XXXXXXXX

In the school cafeteria, Izzy, Misty and Pipp watched Shaggy and Scooby devour enormous amounts of food in a short amount of time. However, some other people who were there at the time found it disgusting and left, causing Shaggy to become confused. “I wonder why they left.”

“I dunno,” Scooby shrugged with his mouth full. And once Scooby had swallowed his food, Shaggy began to put whipped cream on his hot dog. “Man, it's bad enough we're always chasing real ghosts. Now we're chasing computer-generated ones.”

“Yeah,” Scooby agreed, shaking the whipped cream canister a bit to get it started again. “Well, on the bright side,” said Izzy, “it’s a good thing phantoms don't care about lunch.”

“Yeah,” Scooby said with a giggle before trying to get some whipped cream out of the canister. However, he might have shaken it a little too much and sent whipped cream flying all over the place. When Scooby finally regained his footing after being blasted back by whipped cream, he saw that Shaggy now looked like a beloved holiday figure. “Santa Claus!”

Scooby giggled and began to lick the whipped cream off of Shaggy’s face as Pipp flew over with some paper towels. “We better clean this place up before anypony else comes roaming around, girls. Scooby can take care of Shaggy, but… ugh… does anypony REALLY want whipped cream in their mane?”

XXXXXXXX

“Oh, great…” Zipp muttered, frustrated as she and the rest of her group wandered the dark hallways. “I think we lost him!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find him again,” Sunny reassured the white pegasus with a gentle smile. “And when we do, it’s back to cyber-space for that creep.”

“Wait,” Fred spoke, stopping the group in their tracks. “Look!”

A bright light from around the corner made Fred think that someone else was there, and Sunny instantly realized he was right. “What do we do?”

“Get as close to him as possible with our magnets,” Fred whispered back. “Ready? One, two, three!”

At that moment, our heroes ran to charge around the corner, but were met with the blinding flashlight of Officer Wembley. “I thought I heard some noise down here,” he said, flipping the lights on. “What are you kids doing? The basement is for staff only.”

“Sorry if we startled you, officer,” Hitch said politely, “but we’re hot on the trail of the phantom virus.”

“Yeah, I heard about this so-called virus,” Officer Wembley rolled his eyes. “I think it's some kind of a college prank.”

“No, Officer Wembley,” Fred spoke, “You see, we…”

However, the officer wasn’t going to hear it. “You kids are coming with me back to Kaufman's lab.”

“Oh, great…” Zipp muttered to her friends. “What else could go wrong today?”

XXXXXXXX

Back in the cafeteria, plates were stacked sky high as Shaggy and Scooby rested on the table with their stomachs bulging-- even Izzy, Misty and Pipp gave into some of the food and had way too much of it for their own good.

Misty groaned stiffly in order to break the silence. “Can you believe the cafeteria ran out of food?”

“Yeah,” Shaggy nodded, “and we’re still hungry!”

“Yeah, hungry,” Scooby agreed. Suddenly, the Great Dane heard the sound of electricity crackling above him, and looked up slightly to see the Phantom Virus hovering over their table. Frightened, he began to tug on Shaggy’s shirt and Pipp’s wing in no particular order to get their attention. “You know, guys, I think I saw a vending machine down the hall,” Shaggy said to before Pipp sighed at Scooby tugging her wing. “What is it, Scoob?”

That’s when Shaggy casually sat up and saw the virus standing right there. “Oh, hello, Mr. Phantom. ZOINKS!!!”

“Everypony, RUN!!!” Izzy shrieked as the group got up and bolted away as the virus shot lightning bolts at them. This chase led them over to the psychology department, where they quickly ducked inside an office to avoid being seen. “What do we do?!” Pipp asked in panic. “That overgrown lightning bolt will be after us in no time!”

Misty looked around the office and suddenly got an idea as her eyes hit a particular looking machine. “I have an idea, but it’ll require Scooby to wear a dress and a wig.”

“Huh?!” Scooby looked shocked before grumbling-- how could this day get any worse?

XXXXXXXX

Within just a few minutes, the Phantom Virus had found the group in the office, but they were already dressed up as doctors and nurses, ready to exact Misty's plan. “Thank you for volunteering for our experiment, Mr. Virus. Nurses,” Shaggy said to Misty, Izzy and Scooby, “take the patient over to the table.”

“Okay,” Scooby nodded and led the virus over to the table. “This way, please.”

“Now you sit down and just relax,” Pipp said as she, Izzy and Misty began to put wires all over the virus’s face, confusing him. “Huh?”

“Now,” said Shaggy, “can you tell us how many layers are in an ideal cIub sandwich?”

However, the virus had no idea. “Uh…”

“Time’s up,” Shaggy interrupted. “The correct answer is, ‘Never enough’!”

Izzy pressed a button on the machine, shocking the virus and causing him to scream before groaning, exhausted. “Let's try one more,” Shaggy spoke up. “When's the best time to enjoy
a milkshake with your french fries?”

“Uh...”

“Time’s up. The correct answer is... 'anytime'!”

The phantom virus groaned under her breath before he was shocked again. This time, having enough, he ripped the wires off his face and growled at the group, causing them to scream, lose their disguises and flee right out the door.

And that wasn't even the highlight of their chase:

In the biology lab, they let all of the animals out of their pens and let them trample all over the virus, allowing them to get away.
In the chemistry lab, Pipp gave the virus a heavily reactant liquid, which exploded when the group left the lab.
In the robotics lab, Scooby was able to use a robotic arm to save Shaggy from the virus, and once he was disoriented, Izzy kicked the virus into the back wall, allowing them another chance to escape.
Lastly, in the library, Pipp was able to lure the virus onto a tall rolling ladder, and once he was at the top, Shaggy, Scooby and the unicorns pushed him all the way to the end, flinging him into a nearby bookshelf, which fell over with a giant crash.

After the library incident, the group left the library in order to rejoin the other in the computer lab, hoping that the others could help them get this electrical bully out of the picture for good.

XXXXXXXX

Back in the lab, Officer Wembley was patiently waiting with the others for Professor Kaufman to return, but it was taking an unusually long time. “I'm worried about Shaggy, Scooby and the girls,” Daphne frowned in concern. “They've been gone for a long time.”

“And Pipp’s not answering any of my texts,” Zipp said, as equally as concerned. “Neither is Izzy, and neither is Misty. That's not like them at all.”

“Yeah. Maybe we should go look for them,” Fred spoke, preparing to get up until Officer Wembley stopped them. “No one's going anywhere until Professor Kaufman gets back!”

Suddenly, the others entered the lab with the virus hot on their tails, causing them to spin past Officer Wembley, who looked on in shock. “What was that?”

“It's the phantom!” Zipp shouted to her friends. “Come on!”

Once making sure that Sparky was going to be fine on his own for a minute, Zipp, Hitch, Sunny, Fred and the girls spun past Wembley as well, giving their friends chase as they ran after their friends and after the Phantom Virus.

However, they just seemed to be running around in circles, and this was shown as evidence when our heroes crashed into a huge heap on the ground.

But as the group tried to get themselves together, a figure pressed a button on the hyper-energy laser, which activated it and sent a laser beam right at the gang, causing them to gasp as they were struck with it.

And within just a few seconds, our heroes had disappeared from the real world and into the cyber universe that was unknown to them.

Level 1: The Moon

The first thing our heroes remembered after being struck with that laser and disappearing from the real world was first appearing in a white room, clearly confused and bewildered about what was happening.

Next, space suits of different kinds appeared on their bodies. While Mystery Incorporated's space suits were all white with Scooby's tag symbol on their shoulders, the Mane 6's space suits were kind of like the ones they wore back in Orbit City.

Misty's spacesuit, with its matching boots, was a mix of light blue and lavender, creating a color balance that matched her coat color and her mane and tail color, with light yellow stars scattered around and her cutie mark was on the right flank of the suit.
Zipp's spacesuit and boots were had the colors of white with cotton candy pink, magenta, turquoise and thulian pink mixed in, and her cutie mark was imprinted on the right flank.
Izzy's spacesuit and boots were pastel blue and purple, with stars and moons around and her cutie mark on the right flank.
Pipp's spacesuit and boots were truly worthy enough to be worn by a pop star princess. It was a bright pink collar with different gemstones sporadically placed on her suit, and her cutie mark on her right flank.
Sunny's spacesuit and boots were a light orange color, lighter than her coat color, with her cutie mark on the right flank.
Hitch's spacesuit and boots were light yellow, lighter than his coat collar, with green zig-zag stripes around his waist and on his boots, and his cutie mark on his right flank.

And then, the last thing that shocked the group was their surroundings changing until it looked very similar to outer space and on the moon above the Earth every night. “Jinkies!” Velma exclaimed with surprise, realizing immediately what had happened. “It looks like we've been beamed into Eric's computer game.”

“Wait... we're in the game?!” Hitch yelped, going into a full blown panic. “How are we in the game?! HOW ARE WE GONNA GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE?!!!”

“Hitch! Hitch! Calm down a second!” Sunny said reassuringly. “I'm sure we can find a way out of this-- promise.”

“Sunny, we do have at least one problem,” Zipp said with a nervous look. “We’re here, but... we left Sparky behind back there when we left!”

XXXXXXXX

Sparky was babbling innocently by the time Eric, Bill, Officer Wembley and Professor Kaufman arrived, and Eric immediately noticed the laser closing itself up. “The laser's been fired!”

“At that Phantom Virus, I hope,” Officer Wembley couldn't help but shudder as Professor Kaufman picked up Sparky, knowing that Hitch wouldn’t leave him here on purpose, wherever he was. Bill then accessed the computer to see what had been beamed into the game, and his eyes widened in shock. “I don't think so. Look here! Your friends have been transported into cyber-space!”

Eric and Professor Kaufman gasped in shock and horror, and even Sparky let out a little gasp. “So?” said Officer Wembley, not really seeing the big deal. “Throw a switch or something and get them out!”

Eric shook his head in response. “The game doesn't work that way. They have to play through all the levels to get out.”

“You're kidding me,” the officer said in shock. “I wish he was,” Professor Kaufman said with a grave tone of voice. “And,” Bill added, “until they can get out by winning every level of the game... the danger in there can be very real.”

“Danger?!” Officer Wembley said in shock. He felt terrible for the group being trapped in there, and he felt even worse that Sparky was stuck here with his adopted father and friends in cyber-space.

All they could do now is wait and see what might happen next.

XXXXXXXX

Sunny and Zipp had successfully gotten Hitch calmed down, but there was still a bit of a problem-- they still had no idea how they were going to get back home.

While the others were trying to figure this out, Shaggy started hopping across the moon, laughing in excitement. “Check this out. I'm, like, a superhero!”

“Be careful, Shaggy,” Velma called rather cautiously. “There's less gravity on the moon.”

However, Shaggy lifted a giant boulder as if it was no problem at all. “Look! It's Super Shaggy!”

Misty sighed with a smile before she turned to her Great Dane friend. “Scooby, wanna help me get Shaggy back here before he hurts himself?”

“Okay!” Scooby nodded before he and Misty started leaping toward Shaggy. “Scooby-Dooby-Dooooo!!”

However, Shaggy leapt in another direction in order to get away from them. “Nice try, guys!” he called to Misty and Scooby with a teasing smile. “Like, catch me if you can!”

However, Shaggy slammed right into a boulder, causing the others to groan in pain before they leapt right over to the others to check up on Shaggy. “Shaggy, are you all right?” Pipp asked in concern, causing Shaggy to groan. “I think so. But I made an important discovery.”

“What’s that?” Daphne asked as Misty helped Shaggy up onto his feet again. “In this video game, you can get hurt.”

“Or worse!” Velma pointed out. “We'd better be careful.”

“Velma's right,” Fred nodded with a serious look. “Eric said this game has creatures and who knows what else.”

“Zoinks!” Shaggy yelped, pointing into the distance. “I know who!”

The others looked in the direction that he was pointing, and seeing the Phantom Virus instantly made their blood run cold. “Oh no!” Daphne gasped as the virus cackled. “He must've gotten beamed into the game too!” Zipp realized before she sighed wearily. “And just our luck!”

Scooby screamed and leapt away in fright, just before Fred caught site of two figures approaching. “Oh no! He's not alone!”

The two figures were revealed to be moon goons, kinda like the gang had placed in an earlier mystery, and they were coming at them fast with the Phantom Virus taking the lead. “Let’s play ball.”

“Like, let's not!” Shaggy yelped as the others followed Scooby in the direction that he was leaping. “Hold on a second!” Zipp said with a confused expression. “I thought WE were chasing HIM!”

“Back at the lab, we were!” Fred nodded in response. “But here in the game,” Velma reminded, “he's got friends!”

“They don't look very friendly to me!” Shaggy spoke in fear as they hid behind a large rock where Scooby was cowering, and Izzy took a breath of relief when she saw the virus and the goons no longer behind them. “I think we lost them.”

Scooby whimpered fearfully, shaking in his space boots, causing Misty to approach him gently. “Don't worry, Scooby,” she said, stroking the Great Dane as gently as she could. “As long as we stick together, we're gonna find a way out of this place and get rid of this virus thing... I promise.”

This did seem to get Scooby to smile a little bit, but he was still pretty shaken up, prompting Pipp to rub his back gently with her hoof. “You know, Misty,” Velma spoke, “getting beamed into cyber-space may not be such a bad thing.”

This caused Pipp to look at her in surprise. “And how is that, Velma?”

“Yeah!” Scooby nodded fearfully. “Maybe if we play along, we can find out who created this virus,” Velma pointed out, causing Fred to nod. “Right! Maybe we can find some clues.”

“Do you think the 'Play ball' thing is a clue?” Izzy asked curiously. “It might be, Iz,” Hitch nodded. “But, let's focus on getting off the moon before we leap right into clues.”

“Remember what Eric said?” Velma asked the group. “We need to find the box of Scooby Snacks.”

“And, like, there it is!” Shaggy said, pointing to the Scooby Snacks box over near the American flag planted in 1969. “Wow,” Daphne commented. “That was easy.”

“It's only the first level of the game,” Zipp reminded with a smile. “It's supposed to be easy.”

“Over there!”

The gang gasped at seeing the moon goons and the Phantom Virus getting closer. “Oh no! Here they come!” Misty cried. “We have to get moving, now!”

“But we can't carry the gang on our backs and leap great distances at the same time!” Zipp pointed out. “We need a way to get there a lot faster!”

Luckily, Scooby pointed his paw to something that he thought could help with that. “Look! A rover!”

“Huh?” Shaggy and Pipp chorused before they all spotted a Mystery Machine themed moon rover nearby, to which Fred got excited about. “A moon rover!”

“And what a cool paint job!” Shaggy smiled. “Well, I was sorta hoping for a new crafting idea,” Izzy shrugged, “but whatever floats your boat!”

“Come on, you guys!” Zipp said as they leapt into the moon rover and sped away as fast as the rover could go, which... honestly, wasn't that much. “This thing needs new shocks!” Fred told the group as the moon rover roughly bumped along. “As long as it gets us away from those moon goons,” Daphne told Velma and Zipp, “who cares?”

That's when Sunny spared a look behind them and her eyes widened in shock. “Oh, no! They've got a set of wheels too!”

The moon goons were operating their own moon rover while the Phantom Virus repeatedly blasted at them, causing Misty, Shaggy and Scooby scream and duck down to avoid the blasts altogether. “Step on it, Freddy!” Izzy cried. “They're gaining on us!”

“I am! But this is it's fast as it goes!”

Finally, after a few more seconds, the Phantom Virus managed to strike the engine of the heroes' moon rover, causing it to halt. “Oh, man!” Shaggy cried. “He got us!”

“It’s okay, guys,” Velma reassured, pointing to the nearby Scooby Snacks box. “The Scooby Snacks are right there.”

“Oh boy! Scooby Snacks!” Scooby licked his chops hungrily before taking leaps toward the American flag and the box. “Scooby-Dooby-Doo!!”

“Go, Scooby, go!” Sunny cheered. “You can do it, boy!” Zipp cried out… just before the moon goons and the virus gave the dog chase. “Uh-oh!”

“Come on, ponies!” Misty cried, leaping out of the rover. “Scooby might need our help!”

“Right behind ya, Misty-Twisty!” Izzy shouted as the rest of the ponies followed after her. Scooby continued to leap and leap toward the snacks until the other moon rover crashed with a crater, sending the moon goons and the virus flying while Scooby was able to get out of the way in time.

However, the Phantom Virus wasn't intent on giving up. “Stop that dog!”

The moon goons set out immediately after Scooby, unaware that the Mane 6 were following close behind. “Come on, Scoob!” Shaggy called out encouragingly. “You can do it, pal!”

Hearing his best friend’s voice caused Scooby to pause mid-bounce and wave to his friends below. “Hello!”

“Watch out!”

“Be careful, Scooby!”

Scooby yelped as he saw the moon goons reaching out to grab him, but Sunny and Hitch leapt on the goons, causing them to fall to the ground. “Pipp, Zipp! Get Scooby to the Scooby Snacks!” Sunny then instructed. “We’ll take care of the goons!”

“You got it, Sun!” Zipp saluted. “Let’s bounce, you two!”

Scooby, Pipp and Zipp then proceeded to leap closer and closer to the American flag until Scooby screeched to a halt, grabbed the box in his paws and giggled. “We got it!” Pipp cheered. “Way to go, boy!”

“We knew you could do it!” Zipp said as she and her sister hugged the Great Dane. But, no sooner did this happen that something strange occurred-- first the box disappeared, and then Pipp, Zipp and Scooby disappeared with it, surprising Daphne and the others. “Where did they…?”

And just like that, the rest of the gang and the rest of the Mane 6 disappeared too.

And we all know what that means-- they won this level, and now they were moving onto level 2... where a new friend and some new trouble were gonna catch them offguard.

Level 2: The Roman Colosseum

Immediately after our heroes finished up the moon level and escaped the Phantom Virus and the moon goons, they disappeared from the moon and into the white void once again, their clothes being changed back to normal.

But not a second or two later, the ponies appeared in different clothing-- clothing that seemed almost... Roman.

Sunny's new outfit was a gorgeous white toga with a dark pink flower behind her ear, with her traditional saddlebag underneath.
Hitch's new outfit was a white toga as well, with a light yellow belt around him.
Izzy's new outfit was a white toga with her mane halfway pulled up into a ponytail.
Zipp's new outfit was a light pink toga with a leaf headdress on her head.
Pipp's new outfit was a white toga as well, with a flower necklace around her neck.
Misty's new outfit was also a white toga, with the same kind of flower necklace around her neck.

But that wasn't even the craziest part-- the white void slowly disappeared into a very old arena-styled building, possibly having been around for the past 1000 years or so. Daphne looked around the new area of the level, trying to get a feel as to where they were. “Where are we now?”

“And what are these outfits?!” Pipp asked with a squeal. “They’re totally stunning and retro-chic!”

“If I’m not mistaken,” Sunny hummed in thought, “we’re inside the Roman colosseum, and we're wearing traditional togas! Right, Velma?”

“I think so, Sunny,” Velma nodded. “Like, the kind of colosseum where they play football?” Shaggy asked out of curiosity. “Not exactly,” Zipp shook her head. “In ancient Rome, people used to gather in the Colosseum to watch all kinds of events.”

“Like sports? And music?” Izzy asked optimistically before gasping, her eyes sparkling excitedly. “And parties?!”

“Yeah, they did that too,” Fred nodded. “But the Colosseum is famous as the place where Romans fed people to the lions for lunch.”

This made Scooby instantly freeze up, not liking this idea at all. “Lions?!”

“Oh, boy…” Hitch gulped nervously. “I sure hope there are friendly lions in this level.”

“I don't think we have much to worry about, Hitch,” Daphne told the earth pony sheriff. “This place looks deserted now.”

“Speaking of lunch,” Shaggy recalled with a slight frown, “ we didn't even get to keep the Scooby Snacks from the moon level.”

Scooby noticed this and sighed at noticing his paws didn’t carry the snacks. “Don’t worry, Scoob,” said Shaggy reassuringly. “ I bet there's a concession stand somewhere.”

Suddenly, an eerie sounding howl echoed through the colosseum, causing everyone to freeze in place. “W-W-What was that?” Misty asked nervously. “Please, oh, please tell me,” Pipp gulped, “that’s somepony’s phone going off…”

“I don’t think that’s it,” Fred shook his head, looking at something up near the top of the colosseum. “Look up there!”

That’s when it revealed itself.

The creature seemed to be a beautiful wolf with black and dark gray fur, howling to the sky before looking down at them with the most beautiful blue eyes.

The wolf leapt various lengths in order to reach the group, and not wanting to take any chances, the Mane 6 stood in front of their friends. “Stay back, wolf!” Zipp sneered. “If you’re with that Phantom Virus thing, you’re not gonna hurt our friends!”

“Oh, I’m sorry about that-- I didn’t mean to be threatening,” the wolf suddenly apologized, catching everyone offguard. “Hold on… you can talk?!” Fred asked in surprise. “Yes… all Enchantix Wolves can speak where I came from,” the wolf explained. “I came here when I heard voices, and I came down to see if it was… someone I’ve been looking for since... practically forever.”

“Enchantix Wolves?” Velma asked. “I’ve never heard of that kind of wolf before.”

“We’re an enchanted species, and we’re not very well known. We can speak practically any language, and we have magical powers of different varieties, depending on the color of our fur,” the wolf explained before her ears seemed to pin against her head. “Again, I’m sorry if I frightened you. I’ll be on my way now.”

Suddenly, before she could leave, the wolf sniffed the air around the group, causing her to gasp. “You all smell new… probably just entered cyberspace recently. Tell me something... are you from the real world?”

“Yes… we are,” Sunny nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“...no one except me and my sister have been able to enter this place,” the wolf explained with some sadness in her tone. “Maybe you can help me. My name is Tanya.”

“I’m Misty, and these are all my friends,” Misty smiled politely. “It’s nice to meet you, Tanya.”

“Uh-huh!” Scooby nodded enthusiastically, causing her to chuckle. “A pleasure to meet you all. Now, I must ask... how did you all come to cyberspace to begin with? Did an evil sorcerer curse you as well?”

“No, we’ve got something worse than an evil sorcerer to worry about,” Hitch shook his head. “Some creep called the Phantom Virus is chasing us through the levels of this game, and we can’t leave until we complete all the levels. Why are you here?”

“...an evil sorcerer imprisoned me and my sister in separate worlds in cyber-space,” Tanya explained with a heavy heart. “I’ve been searching for her for many years, but… I’m beginning to think my search is only bringing me down. I… I may never see my dear Anitra again…!!”

The wolf sniffling back tears was enough to get Scooby to whine and approach her, licking her face to clear the tears away. “We’re so sorry, Tanya. We had no idea,” Sunny said sorrowfully before she suddenly got an idea. “Hey… I’m sure that we can help you find your sister in cyber-space somewhere. When we clear the second level, we can bring you on our mission with us!”

“Yeah!” Daphne agreed. “We’d love to have you.”

“You… you would help me find Anitra? Even though we just met?” Tanya asked in surprise, causing the group to nod. Eventually, a smile graced Tanya’s face as she nodded. “I would be so grateful to you all for helping me. So… what do we have to do to escape this dreaded land?”

“Well, first we have to figure out where there’s a box of Scooby Snacks on this level,” Zipp said. “And then,” Izzy said, “we just go ‘WHAM!! WHAM!!! KABLAM!!!’, kick some bad guy butt and then we move on! At least… that’s how it was last time.”

“But the colosseum is a lot more different than the moon,” Pipp pointed out. “Those snacks could be anywhere!”

“Well then, we’re just gonna have to look around until we find them,” Sunny said encouragingly. “As long as we keep our hope alive, we’ll pull through.”

That’s when Fred spotted some white lines in the shape of a large diamond not too far away. “Hey… what’s this?”

“What are these white lines for?” Velma wondered. Tanya sniffed at the white lines curiously while Shaggy got down and rubbed the lines for further inspection. “Like, it’s chalk.”

“Chalk? But that doesn’t make much sense,” Tanya shook her head. “These lines weren’t here before… why are they suddenly here now?”

“That’s exactly what I’m wondering,” Zipp told the wolf, a look of thought on her face. “And if I’m not mistaken, this could qualify as our next clue!”

“You’ll hear her say that a lot,” Izzy whispered. “She loves investigating things.”

Tanya giggled. “So does my sister. I have a feeling you all will get along just fine with her… and that we’ll get along too.”

Suddenly, Scooby glanced across the arena and saw something rather frightening. “Yikes!” he yelped, pointing to it. “Virus!”

“Huh?!” the others cried, and looked where Scooby was pointing to see the virus over by a huge set of wooden doors. “Welcome to level two, game players, where things get a little tougher,” the virus sneered with a smirk. “But first, let me introduce you to the home team!”

The virus chopped the chains right off the doors, letting them open to reveal three skeletons in gladiator outfits, causing the group to become fearful for their lives. “Those guys Iook like they've got a bone to pick, huh, Scoob?” Shaggy asked his best friend, who nodded fearfully. “Uh-huh.”

“Don’t worry, guys,” Fred reassured. “We can beat these meatless gladiators.”

“And now,” sneered the Phantom Virus, “for the home team’s mascot!”

Once again, he sliced chains off another set of doors, but this time, an angry lion came out from the doors, snarling with the Scooby Snacks box in his mouth.

Seeing this caused Pipp to gasp in pure panic. “The lion's got the Scooby Snacks!”

“You know,” Shaggy stammered, “for once, I'm not in the mood for Scooby Snacks!”

“Me neither!” Scooby agreed with the shake of his head. The lion tossed the Scooby Snacks box onto a mound of dirt in the middle of the diamond before roaring and lunging right at the group. Scooby yelped and ran off, and Fred and Daphne, along with Sunny, Hitch, Tanya and Misty running after him, Daphne choosing to speak first. “Good idea, Scooby!”

“Come on, Shaggy!” Zipp encouraged as she, Izzy, Pipp, Velma and Shaggy immediately ran after their friends with the skeleton gladiators in pursuit. However, as they ran, one of the gladiators tossed a net that wrapped around Shaggy’s legs, bringing him to the ground.

Seeing this caused the others to immediately screech to a halt. “Shaggy!!”

“Are you alright, Shaggy?” Daphne asked in concern as they approached. “Yeah,” Shaggy nodded as he, the human members of Mystery Inc and Tanya tried to pry the net off of his legs, “but I'm really tangled up!”

However, with the gladiators and the lion right behind, there was very little time to act, so they had to come up with another plan, and fast. Scooby looked around for a moment before spotting a Mystery Machine colored chariot nearby, his smile growing wide. “A chariot!”

“Good thinking, Scoob!” Sunny smiled, realizing what Scooby was thinking. “Thank you,” Scooby smiled in return. “Come on, ponies,” Zipp told her friends. “It's time to take this contingency plan into high-gear!”

Pipp sighed reluctantly, having a feeling that she knew exactly what this contingency plan was... and she knew that she wasn't going to like it.

XXXXXXXX

Shaggy yelled out as he and Scooby hung on for dear life as the chariot went at full speed around the colosseum. “Faster, you guys!” he cried out to the ponies. “Faster!”

With Sunny and Hitch at the front, Izzy and Misty in the middle and Pipp and Zipp at the back, the six ponies panted as they galloped around the colosseum, with the skeleton gladiators right on their heels, and it didn't take Shaggy long to notice. “Yikes! Like, hit the turbo, guys!!”

“Hold onto your hats, guys! We're kicking this ride into overdrive!” Misty said as she lit her horn, casting a speed spell over the Mane 6 and making them zoom around the colosseum as fast as their hooves could go.

XXXXXXXX

“Good work, guys!” Fred called out to the others from where he, Tanya, Fred and Daphne stood. “You handle the gladiators and we'll take care of this lion.”

The lion growled at them menacingly, causing Tanya to brace herself to attack the feline if it came too close. Daphne, however, seemed to scared to move at that moment. “And... how exactly are we going to do that?”

“I think a bit of a bull fight will do,” Tanya said. “Only it'll be more of a lion than a bull.”

“Right,” Fred nodded before looking at Daphne again. “Give me your jacket.”

“But, I just bought this!” Daphne protested. “Daphne!” scolded Velma. “Oh, all right... here,” Daphne said with a sigh, handing Fred her jacket before Tanya led Velma and Daphne to a safer location. Fred looked at the jacket in his hands with a nervous look. “I know this isn't red, but it'll have to do.”

Then, as the lion charged toward them, Fred waved the jacket around as if he was a matador. “Turro! Turro!”

However, the lion stopped and gave a confused look, causing Fred to quickly correct himself. “Leo! Leo!”

This got the lion's attention immediately, and as he charged, Fred immediately moved out of the way. “Ole!”

Velma sighed in relief as she saw Fred quickly moving off to the side to avoid the lion. “That was too close.”

Tanya then spotted the large doors that the lion had come through, a grin coming onto her face as she turned to look at her new friends. “I have an idea-- come with me!”

While Fred kept the lion distracted, the girls crept over to the large doors and opened them for the lion to go through them. Once Fred saw their plan, he stood in front of the doors and waved the jacket around again. “Leo! Leo!”

The lion roared and charged again, but like before, Fred leapt out of the way, causing the lion to re-enter the room he came from, and Velma, Tanya and Daphne immediately slammed the doors shut on him to trap him inside.

And needless to say, Fred was impressed. “Way to go, girls!”

“Thanks,” Velma smiled as she barred the doors so the lion couldn’t escape again. “This should hold him.”

Daphne went up and kissed Fred on the cheek with an admiring smile. “That was very brave, Freddy.”

Fred blushed nervously at this with a chuckle. “Thanks. Oh, uh... here's your jacket.”

Suddenly, screams from nearby caught Tanya’s attention, and she turned to look at the sight with a startled gasp. “The ponies, Shaggy and Scooby need our help! Come on!”

XXXXXXXX

Misty’s speed spell that she had casted a few minutes earlier was already starting to wear off, and because of that, one of the gladiators sliced off one of the chariot wheels, causing the entire group to tumble to the ground.

The good news about that was, Shaggy was finally able to get free from the net after he got done tumbling.

The bad news? The gladiators now had a chance to strike them down.

Luckily, Zipp came up with a clever idea. “Pipp! Flap your wings as fast as you can! Hurry!”

The two pegasus sisters flapped their wings as fast as they could while their friends were trying to get away, and this wing flapping made a huge dust storm that temporarily blinded the gladiators and allowed the Mane 6 to rejoin their friends. “Good going, guys!” Fred smiled. “Yeah, thanks,” Hitch responded, panting tiredly. “I-I think.”

“You guys just need to cover more ground and keep those gladiators busy just a little bit longer,” Fred encouraged the others. “I'll get the Scooby Snacks.”

“That's easy for you to say, man,” Shaggy said tiredly, causing Scooby to nod. “Yeah.”

“Tanya, Misty, Pipp and I could help with that!” Zipp said with a smirk, causing Tanya, Misty and Pipp to nod, causing Velma to point up to the stands nearby. “Try to lead them up into the stands.”

“Well, I don't think we have the energy...” Pipp said tiredly, just before spears nearly hit the group, quickly reinstalling the fear in her soul. “But... maybe we do.”

The gladiators charged toward them with yells in anguish, just before Fred picked two of the spears up from out of the ground and handed them to Shaggy and Scooby. “Here.”

However, Shaggy seemed confused as he grasped the spear. “What are we supposed to do with these?!”

“Use them to pole-vault over the wall!” Fred told the group before he, Velma, Daphne and the rest of the ponies ran toward the Scooby Snacks. “But then what?!” Misty asked before hearing the gladiators and seeing them approach, sending the small group into high gear. “N-Never mind!!”

While Shaggy and Scooby pole-vaulted over the wall, Misty and Tanya somersaulted over the wall while Pipp and Zipp used their wings to give them a boost of power in order to get up there.

However, while the three ponies, Shaggy and Scooby made it, Tanya slipped and dangled over the side of the wall with the gladiators trying to climb up and get to her, causing her to scream out in panic. Misty, having heard this, screeched to a halt with a gasp. “Tanya is in trouble!”

Tanya struggled to try and find her way up after a moment, but as she saw that the gladiators were trying to climb up the wall, she kicked at them just before she gathered a smoky ball of magic on her tail and, with a growl, threw it onto one of the gladiators, causing him to fall onto the two other gladiators with a huge crash.

The others rushed over and helped her back onto solid ground, causing the wolf to pant tiredly with wide eyes. “You... you saved me!”

“Hey, it's what we do. But, we can talk about that in the next level! We gotta go!” Zipp encouraged her friends. “Right now! Come on!”

The group immediately ran toward the nearby satin tent nearby. The gladiators managed to get on their feet and follow them, but before they could enter the tent, the ponies, Tanya, Shaggy and Scooby exited the tent, with Tanya and the boys dressed in togas like the ponies.

But what threw the gladiators off were the golden, wreath-like crowns of leaves on Tanya and Scooby’s heads. “Friends, Romans, and spooky gladiators!” Shaggy announced with a proud smile. “All hail Empress Tanya and Emperor Scooby!”

The gladiators got down on one knee to show their respect, and Tanya couldn’t help but giggle at the title she was just given. “Empress Tanya... I like the sound of that!”

“Come on,” whispered Misty. “Let’s sneak away while we have the chance!”

But as they snuck away, Scooby's toga accidentally got hung on one of Shaggy's shoes, causing Scooby's disguise to fall off and reveal to the gladiators who they really were.

And needless to say, the gladiators weren't happy to be tricked.

Shaggy and Scooby clung on to Tanya in severe fright while Misty, Zipp and Pipp made ready to defend their friends if need be.

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, the others managed to reach the Scooby Snacks, and upon touching the box, everyone was teleported out of the colosseum and into the next level.

But what was this next level?

And what kind of dangers would be waiting for our heroes when they got there?

Level 3: Prehistoric Times

The last level that the Mystery Incorporated gang and the Mane 6 just went to was a real doozy.

Not only did they have to encounter the Phantom Virus, skeleton gladiators AND a lion, they also made a new friend-- an Enchantix Wolf named Tanya, who had been imprisoned in that part of cyber-space for many years and had been separated from her sister.

Luckily, our heroes allowed her the chance to go with them to find her sister and find a way to escape the game once and for all.

Unfortunately, they still had a long way to go before this could happen.

XXXXXXXX

Just like before, while they were in the white void, the ponies gained brand-new outfits that sort of told them what kind of world that they would be going to.

Sunny’s outfit was a dark brown dress with leopard themed spots in gold.
Pipp's outfit was a light pink dress with black spots.
Misty's outfit was a black dress with light blue and white spots.
Zipp's outfit was a white dress with snow leopard-like spots of purple and black.
Hitch's outfit was a dark brown leopard-spot printed shirt.
Izzy's outfit was a leopard-spot printed dress, with a black choker necklace with diamonds on it.

And as the outfits appeared on the ponies, their surroundings changed from the white void they started with into a huge jungle-like environment, much to the group’s awe and total wonder.

But no one was more in awe than Tanya herself. “Where are we now?”

“Looks like a jungle of somekind,” Fred said as he observed the environment, and Daphne smiled fondly as she gazed around the area. “It's gorgeous here.”

“I'll say,” Shaggy nodded in agreement. “This place beats Rome any day, eh Scoob?”

Scooby nodded at this, a smile on his muzzle. “Uh-huh.”

“And even I have to admit,” Zipp said as she looked herself over, “these outfits are actually pretty cool! For something created by cyber-space, I mean.”

“But this level is a lot bigger than the other two,” Sunny said as she gazed around. “We’re really gonna have to pull together on this.”

Suddenly, there came a loud squawk, and a giant flying beast came toward them at top speed. “HIT THE DIRT!!” Hitch cried as the group ducked for cover, letting the giant beast pass over them and into the open skies once again. And it didn’t take Misty long to realize what exactly was going on. “Oh, no! This is a prehistoric jungle!”

“I take back what I said,” Shaggy said fearfully. “Rome is lovely this time of year!”

“Hey!” Fred pointed to something nearby. “Look over there!”

The ponies and their friends, new and old, got up to see a giant dinosaur with a long neck eating leaves from the trees nearby, minding its own business.

A real sight to behold if you weren’t running from a phantom virus in cyber-space.

Suddenly, a stomping sound from nearby caused the giant dinosaur to look past the gang in another direction. “Huh?” Tanya, Shaggy and Scooby chorused before looking in that direction… and Tanya honestly wished they hadn’t as she let out a shriek. “What’s that?!”

The Phantom Virus was laughing like a maniac, holding a large spear and riding their way on another giant dinosaur-- this time one that ate the dinosaurs that ate plants. “How’s THIS for a heavy hitter?”

“Jinkies!” Velma cried. “He’s riding a T-Rex!”

“And a T-Rex, despite its body size, is pretty fast!” Sunny cried. “We gotta get out of this clearing and somewhere safe!”

As the T-Rex roared at the top of its lungs, Zipp looked around and saw a thick forest nearby, and instantly got an idea. “Let’s head for those trees!” she cried to her friends “It’s too thick for them to follow!”

And so, that’s what they did. With the T-Rex hot on their heels, our heroes ran for their lives until they were safely within the boundaries of the trees, leaving the T-Rex to roar at them as they vanished from its sight.

XXXXXXXX

Back in the real world, Bill, Eric, Professor Kaufman, Officer Wembley and Sparky watched the group in action, and Bill sighed in relief that our heroes got away. “That was a close one.”

“Yeah,” Eric nodded, “but they're doing pretty good so far.”

“I'm wondering something here, fellas,” Officer Wembley then spoke up. “Who activated that laser and sent those poor kids into the game?”

“Who knows?” Bill shrugged as Eric held Sparky in his arms. “Could be anyone.”

“Even,” Professor Kaufman continued suspiciously, “someone in this very room.”

Honestly, who did it didn’t matter to Sparky… all he wanted was his papa and his friends back.

XXXXXXXX

As for the others, they kept running until they couldn't run anymore, causing them to stop and pant tiredly. “I… I think we finally lost ‘em,” Zipp told her friends. “Phew,” Sunny sighed. “That was close.”

“Almost too close,” Tanya sighed. “There’s no way my sister could be here… there are too many predators here that she doesn’t know how to deal with.”

“Well, we need to find the Scooby Snacks,” Fred told the others with a frown, “and fast. Before the virus and his pet catch us again.”

“...I… I wanted to tell you all how much you letting me come with you means to me,” Tanya said as she broke the silence. “My sister and I have spent two years apart, and… well… I was beginning to think I would be alone forever.”

“Well, you’re not alone now,” Pipp said kindly. “We’ll stick with you until you find your sister, and then we can ALL escape from cyber-space together.”

“I hope so,” Tanya said sadly. “Enchantix Wolves believe that family is the most important thing you could own. And without your family… you can feel at your lowest point in the world.”

Then, the wolf began to sing an emotional ballad, that… strangely, our heroes could relate to.

Tanya: What is the key to a family? (Oh, oh)
What is the key to a home?
What is the part that I'm missin' (Oh, oh)
To help me find where I belong?

Hitch: I'm searchin', I'm lookin' for somethin'
Somethin' that comes from the heart (from the heart)
'Cause sometimes you need somethin' to lift ya up
And help to reignite your spark

Tanya: E-E-E-Even when it feels so confusin'
When you're alone

Misty, Shaggy and Scooby: You kno-o-o-ow we've got each other
To find our way home

Mystery Inc, Ponies and Tanya: Cause I've got you and you've got me
We're closer than close friends, yeah, we're a family
If you're feelin' low or incomplete
You've always got me, yeah, we're a family

So, as the song continued, the group began to hike through the forest in search of the Scooby Snacks, remembering both good times and tough times they all endured.

Hitch: Together when there are good times (Oh, oh)

Zipp: Together when times are tough (Izzy and Misty: Times are tough)

Sunny: Together when things need celebratin'

Izzy: And when you think that you've had enough

Hitch: Cause I-I-I-I-I know you better than anypony else

Mystery Inc, Ponies and Tanya: And you-u-u-u-u know me better than I know myself

Cause I've got you and you've got me
Cause when you're with your friends, yeah, you're with your family
Keep 'em in your heart 'cause that is the key
Oh, when you're with your friends, yeah, you're with your family

I've got you and you've got me
Cause we aren't just friends, no, we're a family
When you're feelin' lonely or incomplete
Don't forget about your friends, yeah, they're your family

As the song began to come to an end, they still hadn't found any trace of the Scooby Snacks, and they were starting to get tired again. Fortunately for them, Tanya spotted a cave at the top of a tall hill, and led her new friends up to it so they could rest.

All: Oh-whoa, oh, oh, oh
Oh-whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh-whoa-oh
Oh-whoa, oh, oh, oh

Cause when you're with your friends, yeah, you're with your family...

The song finally ended, and so did the group's search for the Scooby Snacks... temporarily at least.

XXXXXXXX

Over half an hour later, a fire had been built, and the group, although discouraged that they didn't find the Scooby Snacks right away, settled themselves down to rest for a while. “We’ve just hiked through miles of jungle,” Daphne said with a frown, “and still can't find the Scooby Snacks.”

“Well, we better,” Zipp sighed, equally as worried. “Otherwise we'lI be stuck in this level forever.”

“All I know,” Shaggy said as he, Scooby, Sunny and Izzy drew on the walls with some small rocks, “is that this virus likes to scare us in cyber-space as much as in the real world.”

Scooby giggled at the ice cream sundae he just drew, causing Velma to stand up and smile. “Hey, nice work, guys. Which one of you did the drawing over there?”

Sunny, Izzy, Shaggy and Scooby looked over at the volcano that had been drawn not too far away, but none of them knew where it came from, causing them to shake their heads. “Not me.”

“It looks like a volcano,” Hitch said, causing Velma to hum and look at it. “I wonder if it means anything.”

Suddenly, the light from the fire began to dim, causing the group to gasp and realize what it meant. “Oh no!” Sunny cried. “The fire is going out!”

“It’s gonna be dark in a few hours too,” Zipp noticed as Fred stirred the embers to keep the fire going. “And we can’t search for the Scooby Snacks in the darkness.”

“Speaking of which,” said Misty before turning to some of her friends. “Scooby and Shaggy, it's your turn to get the firewood.”

Shaggy let out a sigh at this. “All right.”

“Don’t worry about it, guys,” Pipp brushed off. “Tanya and I will go with you! It'll be a fun bonding experience for us.”

“Sounds good to me,” Tanya smiled. “We’ll be back soon, everyone, and we'll have a bigger fire than you've ever seen in your lives combined!”

XXXXXXXX

And so, with Tanya at the lead and Pipp flying overhead, the group began to gather small sticks and pieces of wood for their fire. Once they all gathered some sticks, Shaggy seemed satisfied with their progress. “Like, just a few more sticks then we can head back, guys.”

“So... Tanya? What can you tell us about that evil sorcerer who trapped you and Anitra in cyber-space?” Pipp asked. “Should we be worried about him coming after us?”

“I don't think so,” Tanya shook her head. “But... he was awful. He terrorized the animals in the forest where we used to live, and would use his magical scepter to put animals under his control and do whatever he wanted.”

“Yikes...” Shaggy groaned. “So what did you do?”

“Anitra and I united our magic against his, and we were able to destroy his scepter that he used for a lot of his spells,” Tanya explained. “But, right as we were celebrating, he used a magical crystal to summon a portal, and it pulled us into cyber-space and in two different directions. So I ended up in the colosseum era of cyber-space, while my sister... well... you know the rest.”

“But like we said before, you're welcome to stay with us until we find your sister,” Pipp said generously. “And then we can ALL escape this game with what nerve we have left.”

“Even if we do end up having to spend the night in this level, at least we'll be nice and warm in that cave,” Tanya pointed out before a strange smell caught her nose, causing her to stop. “Wait... Scooby, do you smell what I smell?”

Scooby sniffed the air as well, and instantly recognized the source of the stench. “Smoke!”

“Smoke?” Pipp looked confused before sniffing the air. “I don't smell any smoke, guys. Maybe it's the jungle heat starting to affect your brains.”

Suddenly, Shaggy saw something alarming not too far away. “Zoinks! Up there! Like all the trees are burning!”

Turns out, Pipp saw that Shaggy was right, and the group screamed as ashes flew from the unknown and onto the ground in front of them, causing Pipp to try and catch her breath. “Where in Equestria did that come from?!”

That's when Scooby saw the source of the burning trees and flying ashes, pointing his paw to the source out of panic. “Volcano!”

Turns out, a volcano in the distance was on the brink of erupting badly, and Tanya knew there was no time to waste if they wanted to escape this level alive. “Forget the wood, everyone,” she said, discarding the sticks she had gathered with her dark magic. “We have to warn the others!”

And just like that, the four discarded their sticks and rushed off to warn the rest of their friends before it was too late.

XXXXXXXX

The others were sitting around the dwindling campfire when Pipp, Tanya, Shaggy and Scooby entered the cave, panting as if they had run a great distance. “What happened, you guys?” Fred asked. “Yeah,” Zipp nodded. “And where’s the firewood?”

“Like, if we don't get out of here soon,” Shaggy said in panic, “we’re all going to be firewood!”

“What are you talking about, Shaggy?” Misty asked in concern. “Volcano!” Scooby clarified in great panic. “Volcano?” Velma asked. “Yes,” Tanya nodded. “There’s one a great distance from here, and… well… it’s better if you see for yourself.”

That's when the others finally got a glance at what Tanya and the others were talking about. “Oh, great!” Hitch groaned out of exasperation. “Not only are we stuck in prehistoric times, but that volcano is really cooking!”

Suddenly, that’s when Velma began to piece things together. “I bet that's where the Scooby Snacks are.”

“Huh?” the ponies looked beyond confused, causing Velma to point to the volcano drawing they had seen on the wall of the cave earlier. “That drawing is a clue to lead us to the Scooby Snacks!”

“Wow… I can’t believe I didn’t see that right away,” Zipp blinked. “Respect, Velm… respect.”

Velma let out a chuckle at this. “Thanks, Zipp. I learned from the best.”

“But the volcano is miles away,” Daphne said, “and not all of us have four legs. It’ll take hours to get there.”

“Well,” Fred spoke, “where there’s a will, there’s…”

XXXXXXXX

“...wooly mammoths?!”

Not long after the group had left the cave, they encountered a herd of wooly mammoths while they were migrating, and Hitch was able to convince them to give them a ride to the volcano so they could get to the Scooby Snacks a lot faster.

It wasn't the ideal mode of transportation, but at least the ponies could rest their hooves for a while. “Mammoths didn't live in the same age as dinosaurs,” Velma pointed out, “but… I’m not complaining.”

“Well, I am,” Daphne sighed. “l wish Eric had put saddles on these guys. I can't take much more of this.”

“I wish he wouId have made them smell better too,” Izzy groaned in disgust. “P-U!”

“How are you guys doing?” Zipp looked back at Tanya, Shaggy and Scooby on their mammoth. Tanya seemed to be enjoying the ride just fine, but the looks on Shaggy and Scooby’s faces told Zipp everything. “Like, do you have an airsickness bag...?” Shaggy groaned while Scooby looked like he was getting ready to puke, causing Tanya to pat his back in reassurance. “Well, hang on, guys,” Fred called. “We’re almost there!”

Soon enough, our heroes finally managed to reach the volcano, hopping off of the mammoths and gazing up at the huge mountain before them. “We made it!” Sunny smiled. “Any sign of the Scooby Snacks, guys?”

“Like, aIl I can see is smoke,” Shaggy answered back as the volcano began to rumble. “And lava!”

Unfortunately, the sight of the volcano being close to erupting was enough to frighten the mammoths away... just before Daphne gasped and pointed to the side of the volcano. “Look up there!”

Zipp pulled out her visor and zoomed in, revealing a baby pterodactyl on the side of the mountain, and its wing was trapped under a huge boulder that had fallen down into its nest. Just the sight along made the pegasus gasp in concern. “That poor baby pterodactyl is trapped!”

“Poor little guy,” Shaggy frowned while Tanya and Scooby whined in concern. Suddenly, the ground began to rumble again, causing Pipp to gasp and try to regain her balance. “The volcano is erupting again!”

“No!” Fred exclaimed as he pointed behind the group. “We’ve got company!”

The group looked behind them to see the Phantom Virus approaching on the back of his T-Rex again, cackling like a maniac. That’s when Tanya began to come up with a plan. “Everyone! Start flying and climbing! Hurry!”

And that’s exactly what the group did-- Zipp and Pipp spread their wings and flew up the side of the mountain while the others leapt from rock to rock, trying to get away from the T-Rex’s snapping jaws.

Once they had made it to a safe place (as safe as they could get from the virus, I mean), Scooby and Shaggy made faces at the virus, who threw a spear near them while the T-Rex roared loudly. “I think we’re safe,” Zipp said to the others. “The T-Rex is built for running, not climbing.”

“Oh, that’s just swell,” Pipp said as she then rolled her eyes sarcastically. “But can we focus on the erupting volcano, please?!”

“I’ve got an idea for that! Hang on, guys!” Sunny said as she shifted into her alicorn form and flew up above the group. “I am all three pony kinds, wrapped up into one! My cutie mark comes to life with hope bright as the sun!”

Saying this, Sunny blasted a huge blast at the volcano, and once the entire thing had been enveloped in her magic, Sunny began to strain, as if she was using all the power she had to keep the volcano from going kaboom. “I can hold it, but not for long!” she strained. “You better find the Scooby Snacks, and fast!”

“We’re looking, we’re looking!!” Izzy called as the group began to look around. But even with Sunny holding the volcano’s lava back, rocks were still beginning to fall, causing Tanya to use her magic in her tail to make the rocks go in different directions, all to give her new friends some more time.

That’s when Velma spotted a mother pterodactyl trying to get to her baby in the nest, but she couldn’t make a clear landing. “Look! The mama pterodactyl is trying to save its baby!”

“Ruh-roh!” Scooby yelped, and he knew that he had to do something. And honestly… so did Misty. “I know what you’re thinking, buddy-- we have to get up there and help the little guy. Come on!”

And so, the two of them began to climb further up the mountain, much to the surprise of the others. “Hey!” Shaggy called. “Where are you guys going, Scoob?”

“Be careful, Misty and Scooby!” Daphne called to the duo as they proceeded to climb and while Sunny kept holding the lava at bay. In the nest, the baby pterodactyl was squawking and trying to get itself free from the rock pinning its wing, scared out of its mind. That is… until Misty and Scooby climbed up to the nest, causing it to tilt its head, confused. “Huh?”

“Hello,” Scooby bid the baby hello, just when he and Misty saw the rock pinning the baby’s wing. “Aww… that looks like it hurts,” Misty frowned sympathetically. “Don’t worry, we’re here to help you and get you back to your mama. But first, we have to take care of this boulder. Come on, Scooby!”

So, the two began to heave, push and struggle with all their might, but even with their struggling, they couldn’t move it all the way off the baby’s wing. “It’s too heavy!” Scooby panted. “We can’t move it!”

“Not yet… you and the baby brace yourselves,” Misty said, trotting back a bit. “I wanna try something.”

Misty got a good distance away from Scooby and the baby pterodactyl before taking a deep breath and speaking loud and clear. “I might seem a little quiet, but my strength is very real. When my cutie mark comes to life, my heart helps me feel!”

Then, Misty stomped her hooves right at the rock, sending magic that broke the rock into a million pieces, freeing the baby's wing. “Way to go, Misty!” Zipp cheered from below. “He’s free!”

“But… you two… need to get him out of here!” Sunny strained as the glow of her magic began to disappear. “My spell over the volcano is wearing off!”

The baby pterodactyl lifted its wing, and Scooby gasped as he and Misty saw what was under it. “Scooby Snacks!”

The baby squawked at seeing the lava coming closer, and as Scooby grabbed the snacks and as Sunny grabbed Misty, the baby grabbed Scooby and they all flew off from the side of the volcano for the others to see. “Hey!” Shaggy cheered. “They found the Scooby Snacks!”

And just as the lava poured down the side of the volcano, our heroes disappeared from this level and into the next.

Bonus Level: Equestria/Levels 4 through 9

While in cyber-space, Mystery Incorporated, the Mane 6 and their new Enchantix Wolf friend Tanya completed three levels in total, and that meant there were only seven more levels to get through and they would be home free at last.

However... this was not the case.

Due to the ponies' cutie mark magic being so powerful, it affected the game in different ways... and our heroes would soon find one of those different ways out in just a few moments.

Now, back to our story.

XXXXXXXX

Once again, our heroes reappeared in the white void before the world around them began to change into a small community with a factory on one end and a lighthouse with a rainbow beacon shooting out of the other.

Suddenly, as the group looked around to try to get a feel as to where they were, Sunny gasped in shock. “Wait… I know where we are now! W-We’re in Equestria! More specifically, we're in Maretime Bay!”

“Maretime Bay?” Fred asked, looking at the ponies in surprise. “Are you sure, Sunny?”

“Yeah. I hate to admit it,” Velma said with concern, “but it doesn’t look like the pictures Pipp showed us.”

Velma was right-- the skies that were usually sunny were overshadowed by gray storm clouds, with thunder sounding every so often. Torches of blue and purple fire replaced the street lamps on the streets, and dark vines with sharp thorns covered the houses as well.

Not to mention, there were a few familiar looking statues on the street as well, along with the Together Tree glowing with a sickening purple light.

Sunny was the first of the stunned group to speak, shocked entirely at this reveal. “What… what happened here…?”

“It looks as if someone with dark power overthrew this place,” Tanya said as they looked around, “but… who in their right mind would want to do that?”

XXXXXXXX

Back in the real world, Bill turned to Eric as he laid Sparky down for a nap. “Eric… did you install this level into your game before?”

“No… it seems that the cutie mark magic of the ponies is affecting the games in ways I never knew about,” Eric shook his head. “But whatever is going on, I’m sure that the ponies will pull everyone through it… I know they can.”

XXXXXXXX

In the level, our heroes walked around to see if they could find anypony that could tell them what in the world happened to this version of Equestria... and they hoped it was something too dangerous.

But, I think we all know that it WAS something dangerous, even if our heroes didn't at the time.

Scooby sniffed some of the vines near him, but as he reached his paw out to touch them, Zipp stepped in his path to stop him. “Careful, Scoob… we don’t know what these things are, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“Huh… now that you mention it,” Izzy said nervously as she and Hitch looked at some nearby torches, “these fiery torch thingies kinda look… familiar.”

“Familiar?” Tanya tilted her head. “What do you mean, Izzy? The Phantom Virus doesn't have the power to grow vines like this.. and he certainly doesn’t have the magic of fire, either.”

“No… he doesn’t,” Misty shook her head, her fear slowly beginning to rise. “But I have a funny feeling I know who did this.”

“Misty… I’m begging you,” Hitch said, just as nervously. “Don’t say it…”

“Um... forgive me for interrupting,” Tanya said softly, “but can someone tell me what exactly is going on?”

“DRAGONS!!!” cried a shrill, yet familiar, voice. “TO THE TOGETHER TREE!!!”

Sunny immediately recognized that voice, fear entering her soul and shattering what bravery she had within her. “No no no no!! Quick! Everypony needs to hide! NOW!!”

Tanya gasped and bolted into an alley nearby with Shaggy, Scooby, Pipp, Sunny and Misty while Fred, Daphne and Velma hid on the other side with Zipp, Hitch and Izzy.

That's when the real culprit behind all this flew into their line of sight.

Who was it, you might wonder? Well, it appeared to be a a slim, magenta-purple-coated alicorn with almond-shaped deep-ocean eyes, long thick eyelashes, arched black brows, deep-ocean hooves, makeup consisting of glittery-blue eyeshadow and angled mascara, a silver-white mane and tail with various thin streaks of cyan-green and a cutie mark of a violet-magenta horn having an inscribed rhombus, and accompanying it are two, cyan-blue flames on the sides that resemble wings.

However, at the time, the cyan-green streaks were glowing brighter than usual, the entirety of her horn and wings produced multicolored fire and her metallic hoof cuffs turned into a vivid cyan as well.

Misty began to breathe rather heavily upon seeing her, never expecting to have to face her again. “Guys… that’s Opaline!”

“But... but that's not possible!” Zipp exclaimed. “We stopped her, right?!”

“Right,” Velma nodded, although she was a bit startled as well. “She’s imprisoned in the Together Trees in Norville o’er Morgania!”

“So… this must be a cyber version!” Daphne realized, causing Pipp to sigh in relief. “That’s comforting… I think…”

“But… who is she?” Tanya asked curiously. “And what did she mean by ‘dragons’? Are there dragons here too?”

Before anyone could answer the wolf's question, the sound of wings beating got their attention, and all the dragons from the Isle of Scaly flew into Maretime Bay, landing beside the alicorn in front of the Together Tree.

However... what the ponies noticed about their friends horrified them.

Their eyes, instead of being normal colors, were now a glowing pink color... even Dragon Lord Spike's, signifying that all the dragons were under Opaline's control. “No…” Misty whimpered, trying to keep her fear and her tears contained. “No…”

Scooby whimpered and nuzzled her out of comfort as the rest of the group watched the scene progress. “Well done, Mistress Opaline,” Jade told Opaline in a monotone voice as all the dragons bowed to her. “Nearly all of the magic in Equestria is yours.”

“Not quite…” Opaline sneered in reply, her eyes hatefully glaring as she looked toward the Crystal Brighthouse, with the prisbeam, thankfully, still intact. “Sunny and her friends are still not here… I need their cutie mark magic to break through the protection spell and drain the Unity Crystals’ power permanently! So... I'm afraid we must wait until they decide to come crawling back to Maretime Bay.”

Zipp gasped at this. “Did you hear that? There’s still a chance for us to win and set things straight in this cyber version of Equestria!”

“But how are we going to get past all those dragons and Opaline herself?” Daphne whispered back. “They’re going to be on the lookout for us!”

“And speaking of which, where ARE the cyber versions of us?” Pipp wondered, looking around with worry pressed onto her face. “Shouldn’t they be here fighting Opaline by now?”

“I don’t know,” Sunny shook her head. “But we have to get to the Brighthouse and figure out some sort of plan when the coast is clear. Until then, everypony stay down and wait for further instructions.”

Everyone nodded and ducked back into the alley as they saw Opaline begin to sing a rather familiar tune to her new dragon minions... more victorious sounding than ever before.

Opaline: You could call me evil, but
I will go and take just what I need
Don't need nopony with me

Yes, it might be villainous
But that's what makes me the perfect queen
You will bow to me

So hush, filly, just get lost in the rush
Hyptonized by the words I'm saying
Feel the heat, then the beat, mesmerized until sleep
Like a lullaby I'll be singing

I've got the power (Power)
The fire that runs through my veins
I've got the power (Power)

And you're going to feel, you're going to feel the flames, flames
La-da-da-di-da-da-da
Oh you'll feel, the flames, flames
La-da-da-di-da-da-da (Oh you'll feel)

Misty couldn’t help but shudder during the song, memories of serving under Opaline filling her mind. Memories she never wanted to experience since the last time they defeated the alicorn.

But Misty was soon driven from her thoughts as the song continued.

You might think I'm wicked but
Don't be mad becuase I have a plan
It spells out "victory" (So, so, so)

So hush, filly, just get lost in the rush
Hyptonized by the words I'm saying
Feel the heat, then the beat, mesmerized until sleep
Like a lullaby I'll be singing

I've got the power (Do you hear me?) (Power)
The fire that runs through my veins
I've got the power (Ha-ha-ha) (Power power power)

And you're going to feel, you're going to feel the flames, flames
La-da-da-di-da-da-da (Feel the fire!)
Oh you'll feel, the flames, flames
La-da-da-di-da-da-da (Oh you'll feel)

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Shaggy shuddered from their hiding place as Opaline cackled and the dragons roared. “Is it just me or is the cyber version of Opaline even scarier than the version we originally encountered?!”

“No, Shag, you’re right,” Hitch shuddered, his ears pinned against his head. “She’s a lot scarier than I always remembered, and we've faced her at least 10 times.”

“Continue the search for those ponies, my dragon minions!” Opaline barked to the dragons nearby, her wings flaring up and her voice filled with hatred. “The magic won’t be mine unless I can get access to those crystals!”

“Yes, mistress…” the dragons, even Spike, chorused in a monotone voice before they flew off in different directions to resume their search. “Okay, we have an opportunity now,” Zipp whispered. “Let’s get to the Brighthouse while the protection spell is still up and figure out our next move!”

So, one by one, they crept from their alley hiding places and crept down the street, careful to stay out of sight. Once they managed to get past the last dragon, they ran for the community garden, hid there for a few minutes and then ran into the Crystal Brighthouse, all without Opaline or the dragons noticing them.

XXXXXXXX

Once they were safely inside the Brighthouse, Fred looked outside to see that they hadn’t been followed, much to his relief. “Phew… I think we’re safe. For now, anyway.”

“Okay, okay… let’s think a minute,” Zipp said, trying to get over her nerves for the sake of the ponies’ friends. “The way we defeated her last time is everypony in Norville o’er Morgania and at the Camelot Reimagined attraction combining what magic they had against Opaline, and this activated the Together Trees and they gave back all the cutie marks, right?”

“Right,” Sunny nodded at the statement. “So all we have to do is convince the ponies in Cyber-Equestria to band together with us and make sure Opaline goes back to her prison in the Together Trees!”

“Just one problem with that,” Tanya said with a frown. “It seemed as if all the houses in Maretime Bay that we saw were empty… like all the ponies had fled for their lives.”

“Great… so we’re completely on our own,” Misty sighed as she sat down on the couch. “All of this world is in serious danger and we can’t help them if they’re not here to help us!”

“Don’t give up, Misty,” Sunny said gently to comfort her. “I’m sure we can think of a plan.”

“Misty… you seem to know this Opaline better than any of us do,” Tanya pointed out. “Where do you think the Scooby Snacks might be in a cyber version of your world?”

Misty hummed in thought at this, thinking for a few moments before suddenly… an answer hit her dead on. “I got it! If I know Opaline, and I probably do, the Scooby Snacks will probably be somewhere in her lair! And it’s not far from here! I could probably gallop to her lair within 10 minutes and we’ll be out of here!”

“But we can’t just leave this place without at least doing something!” Hitch pointed out. “Even if we can’t stop her, we can at least weaken her, free the dragons from her spell and force her to retreat!”

“Uh… honestly, I like Hitch’s plan!” Shaggy said quickly, causing Scooby to nod in agreement. “Me too!”

“Okay… first things first. We’ll go out and distract Opaline so Misty can make a run for Opaline’s castle,” Sunny said. “But, just in case things go south… gang? You guys are going to go with Misty to make sure she’s safe.”

“We can totally do that,” Daphne smiled. “But… what about me?” Tanya asked, stepping forward. “I want to help too!”

“We appreciate that, Tanya,” Zipp said, “but Opaline is something you’ve never faced before, even with Anitra. She might be too dangerous this time.”

“So? You saved me before,” Tanya declared seriously, “and now it’s my turn to do the same for you.”

“All right… but you’ll have to stay close to us at all times,” Sunny told the wolf, who nodded in compliance. “Okay, guys… we’ll have to be quick about this in order to buy Misty and the gang enough time to move out. Is everypony ready?”

“...well… as ready as we’ll ever be,” Misty shuddered, and the other ponies followed suit, as well as Tanya and the gang. “Okay, then…” Sunny declared, shifting into her alicorn form. “Let’s go.”

XXXXXXXX

“Keep up the search!” Opaline shouted from her perch. “Those ponies must be found before I steal their magic and steal those blasted crystals!”

“OPALINE!!”

Opaline whipped her head around and the dragons stopped flying when they saw Sunny, Hitch, Pipp, Zipp, Izzy and Tanya down below in the street. “We’re here, just like you wanted!” Sunny shouted with her eyes narrowed. “But we’re never going to surrender our magic to you!”

“You know, little ponies… you really are a thorn in my side,” Opaline scoffed before landing in front of the group. “But… I will admit, your persistence is admirable… just not in every circumstance.”

“Just tell it to us flat,” Zipp said coldly. “How in the world did you gain control over all these dragons so fast?”

“Easy… with the dragonstone I used to pick off that little dragon friend of yours,” Opaline smirked. “Then, I used my own magic to lure the little dragon to my castle and imprisoned him. His magic is powerful, you know… which is exactly why I took it to begin with. He lays in my castle as we speak… tired and weakened.”

“You… you MONSTER!!” Hitch roared before trying to pounce on her, only for Izzy and Tanya to try and hold him back. “You’ll never get away with this!”

“Hitch, it isn’t your Sparky, remember?” Tanya whispered. “It’s the cyber version of him! Your feelings are credible, I do admit, but we have to be strong and not let her win us over!”

“Right…” Hitch sighed, taking some deep breaths before glaring over at Opaline. “Right.”

“You wanted to battle me, ponies? Well… then you WILL,” Opaline said as she spread her wings. “And as my opponents, you get the first move.”

“Big mistake, Opaline!” Sunny shouted, ready to charge at any moment. “NOW!!”

That’s when the five ponies and the wolf yelled out in anguish as they charged toward her to let the battle for the fate of Cyber-Equestria finally commence.

XXXXXXXX

Misty, Shaggy, Scooby and the rest of Mystery Inc panted tiredly as they ran down the road to Opaline’s castle, already having a good head start, thanks to their friends distracting Opaline. “Are we… almost there, Misty?” Scooby panted tiredly as they crossed over a hill. “Almost!” Misty shouted. “We should be seeing it coming into view any second now!”

And just as she said, the castle of Opaline, with the dark clouds in the sky painting an ominous background, came into view, lightning flashing across the sky.

Mystery Inc had always heard Misty tell stories about how spooky the castle was, but now... they were getting ready to find out how spooky it was for themselves.

Misty continued to lead them closer to the castle until they were at the front doors, to which Misty pushed open, revealing the dark corridors within. And upon seeing the darkness of the castle, Shaggy gulped nervously. “Do we honestly have to go in there to find the Scooby Snacks? I mean… maybe they’re right here! Outside and away from the creep-zone!”

“If we’re facing Opaline as a boss, I doubt it,” Misty said sternly. “It has to be in here somewhere. Just follow me, and you'll be fine.”

And so, with Misty's horn lighting their way, the group advanced into the castle and through its many hallways all the way to Opaline's throne room. “All right, everyone, look around,” Fred instructed the others. “Keep an eye out for anything that might point to the Scooby Snacks.”

So, the group began to go in differrent directions, searching different bookshelves, under potion bottles, behind plants that Opaline had grown with her earth pony magic... but no Scooby Snacks in sight.

Scooby, on the other hoof, looked at Opaline's mirror pool with curiosity, and approached it. “What’s this, Misty?”

“That’s the mirror pool Opaline used to spy on Equestria while regaining her strength,” Misty explained. “It shows her pretty much everything.”

“That gives me an idea,” Velma spoke up. “Misty, do you think the mirror pool will let us see where the Scooby Snacks are in here?”

“I’ve never seen anypony except Opaline use the mirror pool,” Misty said in thought, “but… I think I can give it my best shot.”

Cautiously, Misty approached the mirror pool, took a deep breath and lit her horn in front of it. “Mirror pool of Opaline, we ask you... please… guide us to the Scooby Snacks we so desperately desire!”

The gang watched and waited for a moment before an image began to form in the mirror pool, causing Daphne to gasp. “It worked! Way to go, Misty!”

“And now, we have the location of the Scooby Snacks!” Misty beamed, looking at the image in the pool. “Next stop… the castle dungeon!”

Shaggy and Scooby cringed at that before they followed their friends away-- why, oh, why did it always seem to be dungeons for them to search through?

XXXXXXXX

Opaline yelled out as she tried to blast Sunny and the rest of her friends, but they were much too fast and quick for her to keep up with-- and the wolf that they were with certainly knew how to pick a fight.

Even the dragons, at her command, of course, couldn't catch the ponies or their wolf friend with their magic fire blasts.

As Opaline panted tiredly, something made her body go stone stiff, and as she closed her eyes, she smirked with a soft chuckle. “So… somepony used my mirror pool, eh? Well… I think I know who that may be,” she smirked. “Dragons, keep watch over Maretime Bay, and I shall return shortly!”

And just like that, as she cackled like a maniac, she flew off into the distance. “Wait… why did she leave so suddenly?” Pipp asked in confusion. “And where is she going?”

“She’s heading back to the lair!” Sunny realized with a fearful expression. “We have to get there and save our friends!”

“No need to tell me twice!” Hitch cried and charged in same the direction Opaline went with his friends in hot pursuit.

XXXXXXXX

“Yeesh… these dungeons are just like Opaline herself,” Fred groaned as Misty led them down into the dungeons. “Cold, dark and mysterious.”

“Guys, look!” Misty pointed, seeing the object they needed to find nearby. “There are the Scooby Snacks!”

“And… wait,” Daphne paused, seeing something else nearby. “Is that… Sparky in that bubble?”

The others glanced in the direction that she was looking, and as it turns out, she was right-- Sparky, weakened from her dragon fire being taken, was whimpering in a nearby magic bubble, causing Misty’s heart to flinch. “Don’t worry, little guy… we’ll get you out of there as soon as we grab the snacks.”

“OH NO YOU DON’T!!”

As Misty reached her hoof out for the snacks, she was suddenly picked up off the ground by Opaline’s magic, causing her to scream and the gang to gasp in shock. “MISTY!!!”

“You miserable little whelp!” Opaline snarled to Misty. “How dare you betray me after everything I’ve done for you?!”

“Oh, I dare!” Misty spat in Opaline’s face. “You’re nothing but a cruel, cold-hearted fire monster! And my friends and I are gonna do anything in our power to protect Equestria from you!”

At that moment, the others entered the room, and while Tanya, Hitch and Izzy stood in front of Mystery Inc to keep them safe, Sunny dove toward Opaline and tackled her in mid-air, causing her to drop Misty safe into the hooves of Zipp and Pipp, who carried her back down to the ground.

Opaline kicked Sunny away with a growl, lighting her horn with fury. “YOU’LL REGRET THAT, YOU ALICORN FAKE!!”

“Put it on my tab!” Sunny said as she ducked under Opaline’s blast. “Ponies! Give it all you have!”

At this, the ponies nodded and turned to the Together Tree in Opaline’s castle, and as their cutie marks lit up, they called out their elements one by one.

“Hope!”

“Confidence!”

“Kindness!”

“Empathy!”

“Courage!”

“Creativity!”

Mane 6: We just need a little hope
We just need a little unity
We just need to find the ma-a-agic
That's inside of everypony

Sometimes it feels a little hopeless
But things aren't always what they seem

As the ponies sang, their cutie mark magic poured into the trees as Opaline looked around in total panic. “Wait a second. What is this?”

Mane 6: Can you feel it, the energy?
Yeah, the power is growing...!!!

As Mystery Inc looked around in shock and in awe, some roots came up behind Opaline and immediately grabbed onto her. “No!” she cried and tried to get free, but then one of the roots went up to her flank and magically removed her Cutie Mark, “NO! My mark! My power! I am the Fire Alicorn! Why, you… ponies and your disgusting friendship magic!!!”

Opaline than screamed as she was being dragged away by the roots as she was about to enter the tree stem but the grabbed the side as she glared at the heroes, “This... isn't... over!”

And just like that, she disappeared into the tree… hopefully for good, causing the group to cheer wildly. “We did it!” Zipp cheered. “We totally stopped her… again!”

“That was quite the rush!” Tanya smiled, tail wagging in happiness. “Although I never want to do that again.”

“Now… what do you say that we get out of here and onto the next level?” Misty asked her friends. “Sure thing, but… first things first,” said Sunny, flying over to Cyber Sparky and using her horn to pop his bubble before setting him on the ground. “Sleep tight, Sparky… your friends from this Equestria will be back for you soon.”

As soon as the group was all together again, they touched the Scooby Snacks and set off to the next level.

XXXXXXXX

The fourth level took place under the ocean, and after shortly appearing in the ocean, our heroes appeared in different colors of scuba gear.

All of the members of Mystery Inc had matching orange scuba suits, flippers, air tanks and goggles.
Sunny's scuba gear was a lighter orange color than what Mystery Incorporated had.
Pipp's scuba gear was a darker pink than her fur color that seemed to match her well.
Misty's scuba gear was a dark blue, but it had lighter blue in different areas.
Zipp's scuba gear was a really light bluish teal color that she really liked.
Izzy's scuba gear was a dark purple that complimented her lavender coat.
Tanya's scuba gear was white, something that reminded her of her older sister.
Hitch's scuba gear was a light green that complimented the darker colors of his mane.

Shortly after getting used to their surroundings, our heroes dove down to explore a shipwreck, with the Scooby Snacks being part of the treasure that they had to find. But shortly afterwards, they were chased by various aquatic life, including a great white shark, but managed to quickly grab the Scooby Snacks and move on.

XXXXXXXX

The fifth level ended up being in a gigantic backyard-like area. Our heroes were seemingly shrunk down to insect size as a giant red ant stalks them in the tall grass. Tall, giant flowers, bigger than Sunny and Hitch could ever grow, could have been seen briefly as the gang found the Scooby Snacks in the ant hill where the red ant lived before jumping into the next level.

XXXXXXXX

The sixth level ended up taking place within the samurai era in Japan. A burly red samurai on top of stone stairs drew his katana on the group, ready to attack. Zipp, Hitch and Fred grabbed some garden rakes from nearby to defend themselves and their friends as the samurai drew near. The rake that Fred was holding was quickly knocked from his hands and flew up into the air, thankfully with Daphne already nearby to catch it.

Then, much to the shock of the others, Daphne then spun the rake in an intimidating martial arts style, which scared off the samurai after a brief fight.

XXXXXXXX

The seventh level took place in ancient Egypt, where Shaggy, Scooby, Pipp, Misty and Izzy were running from a mummy through the hallways of a majestic pyramid. Scooby and Shaggy got an idea, and they had themselves and their pony pals pose next to a statue of Anubis, hoping to blend in with the artifacts, which works well enough until the Anubis statue came to life as well and scared them off.

They ran outside to join the rest of the Mane 6, and they ran past the Phantom Virus while doing so, knocking him off from the camel he was riding.

XXXXXXXX

The eighth level appeared to be set during medieval times, where Shaggy was dressed as a knight on the back of Scooby, who was apparently his knightly steed.

The ponies leapt out of the way while Shaggy and Scooby leaned to avoid dragon fire breath, noting its rider, none other than the Phantom Virus.

Nearby, a princess was seen, tied to a tree and wearing an off-shoulder pink dress while in her hands were the box of Scooby Snacks.

Scooby and Shaggy charged toward the dragon with the Mane 6 in tow, and the ponies managed to use a surprise water attack to put out the dragon's fire. The princess then tried to kiss Shaggy as he grabbed the box of Scooby Snacks and the group were teleported off to the next level.

XXXXXXXX

The ninth level took place in the Arctic Circle, and while the gang was dressed in the same winter clothing, and Tanya wore a red scarf, the ponies' winter clothing seemed to be different.

Sunny's winter clothing consisted of a light orange scarf and some light orange earmuffs.
Pipp's winter clothing consisted of a dark purple sweater, dark purple booties and some dark purple earmuffs, the same color as her mane and tail.
Misty's winter clothing consisted of a light purple hat with a matching scarf and stockings that went around her legs.
Zipp's winter clothing consisted of a dark pink and light blue sweater and a matching beanie hat.
Hitch's winter clothing consisted of a light yellow sweater.
Izzy's winter clothing consisted of a dark purple sweater to contrast with her lavender coat, and some dark purple earmuffs.

Lucky for them, they didn't have to search long for the Scooby Snacks-- the box was sitting right on top of the North Pole!

Right on cue, the Phantom Virus shows up with his spear, riding a polar bear. He charged toward the gang, and Sunny encouraged Scooby to climb up the pole and grab the Scooby Snacks while they distracted the virus.

And how were they going to do that, you may be wondering? By hurling snowballs at the virus, of course. And this successfully threw him off the polar bear and into a snowbank nearby.

At the same time, Scooby successfully scaled the pole and climbed down to his celebrating friends, and they jumped and cheered right before they were teleported off to the final level.

But since this is the final level, it isn't going to be easy to beat, especially with the Phantom Virus still undefeated.

Thankfully, our heroes know that as long as they stick together, through good times and bad, they could do just about anything.

So you better look out, Phantom Virus-- the Mane 6 and Mystery Incorporated are coming to defeat you, find Tanya's long-lost sister and get themselves home!

The Final Level (Part 2: Escaping Villains from the Past)

Shortly after arriving in the final level of the video game, the Mane 6 and Mystery Incorporated met some pretty surprising new friends… their cyber counterparts created specifically for Eric's computer game.

They got along with their new friends instantly, but the bonding was short lived when the Phantom Virus arrived on the scene, prompting the group to flee out the back of the malt shop, where they encountered another brand-new friend…

…Tanya’s long-lost sister Anitra!

The two Enchantix Wolves had never been so excited to see one another, but they knew they would have to discuss everything while they were in the van.

They did have the last box of Scooby Snacks to find after all.

XXXXXXXX

“...and I spent the last two years trying to find you in Rome,” Tanya finished her story to her sister, “and when I met the Mystery Inc and the ponies from the real world, I knew they were our ticket to finding one another again… and I'm so glad we did.”

“So am I,” Anitra told her sister happily. “My Mystery Incorporated friends from within this game have been helping me rest and recover until I could find you again… and I felt a need to help the cyber ponies with their problem as well.”

The Cyber Mane 6 tensed at this, their ears flattening, and the real Mane 6 could sense that something was really wrong... and Sunny had a good feeling she knew what it was. “Was it Opaline?”

Cyber Sunny looked at her in shock. “H-How did you know?”

“We ran into her in the cyber version of Equestria,” Velma explained. “And she captured your Sparky and put all the dragons from the Isle of Scaly under her control!”

“Oh no... it's worse than we thought...” Cyber Hitch muttered in worry. “If only we never left to find help... maybe we could have saved our home before it was too late!”

“Wait... that's why you guys weren't in Cyber Equestria when we were there?” Zipp asked their cyber doubles in surprise. “Because you traveled to another world to search for help?”

The Cyber Mane 6 nodded sadly at this. “I guess we were more scared than anything,” Cyber Pipp muttered, “so when the portal appeared, we knew we couldn’t miss the chance. I guess we missed out on it either way.”

“We hate that you guys had to face her all by yourselves,” Cyber Izzy said to her new friends. “We wanted to go back and fight her, but I guess we... we were kinda... what's the word...?”

“Scared of what might happen?” Misty asked with a soft expression, causing the Cyber Mane 6 to nod again. Luckily, Misty smiled at their new friends reassuringly. “It's natural to be scared, you guys... we were scared when we had to face her again too. But, you'll be happy to know that we took care of them, and that Sparky is okay. When we get the Scooby Snacks and head back home, you guys should be okay to go home too.”

“You really took care of her?” Cyber Misty asked with wide eyes. “So she's gone? Forever?”

Zipp nodded. “As far as we know, yes.”

“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” Cyber Izzy said, hugging Zipp around the neck, surprising the white pegasus a bit. “We don't know what to do to repay you for this!”

“Just promise us that you'll look after your Equestria with bravery and compassion,” smiled Sunny, putting a hoof on her cyber double's hoof. “Just like we're doing right now.”

The Cyber Mane 6 nodded at this. “We promise!”

“This is nostalgic. I miss this old van,” Fred said as he looked around the Cyber Mystery Machine. “In Cyberworld, things never get old,” Cyber Zipp explained with a smile. “It's actually pretty cool.”

“There's a lot to like in Cyberworld,” Cyber Fred added. “There's stores, theaters, and parks. And lot of tasty food.”

“But what about all the villains and monsters?” Pipp asked in confusion. “Well, we haven't seen any,” Anitra shook her head. “They're probably guarding the Scooby Snacks.”

However, this statement caused Velma to become confused. “You mean you guys don't know where the Scooby Snacks are?”

“Oh we know where they are. There's just no reason to go after them,” Cyber Velma explained casually. “Because even if we get the Scooby Snacks, we just go right back to the beginning of the game.”

Cyber Daphne nodded to this. “And we like it here.”

“Until you guys showed up with that Phantom Virus, that is,” Cyber Shaggy interjected, causing Izzy to giggle quite nervously. “Oopsie-doodle...”

“Well, we would be happy to find a way to get rid of him for you,” Misty offered the Cyber Mystery Incorporated with a smile. “I mean... if we can.”

“You know, if all of us team up, the Phantom Virus, he wouldn't stand a chance!” Fred suggested with a bright grin. “Yeah!” Cyber Fred agreed, nodding at the idea while the other cyber doubles looked at each other. “Think of it this way, guys,” Cyber Sunny said to the rest of the cyber gang. “You were going to after the Scooby Snacks eventually.”

“So, you’ll help?” Daphne asked hopefully. “Count us in!” Cyber Fred smiled. “Well, then let’s go!” Zipp smiled. “We have some Scooby Snacks to find and a virus to stop!”

XXXXXXXX

After a few more minutes of driving, the Cyber Mystery Machine pulled up to the boardwalk amusement park at the edge of the city, where everyone got out and looked around, impressed and in awe all at once. “Wow!” Zipp said, impressed. “This place is awesome! We should really think about adding an amusement park like this to Maretime Bay… somewhere.”

“So, where are the Scooby Snacks?” Shaggy asked Cyber Shaggy curiously as they headed onto the boardwalk. “On the Scooby game, of course,” Cyber Shaggy responded. “Right inside the video arcade.”

As they began walking further into the boardwalk, they began to hear a strange sound, to which Velma heard first. “What’s that sound?”

Pipp’s ears twitched as the sound continued and while she looked around. “There it is again!”

“Baseball!” Cyber Scooby said, recognizing the sound immediately. “Cyber Scooby is right,” Cyber Fred said, pointing to some nearby batting cages. “There’s a batting cage over there.”

As it turned out, there was someone hitting baseballs in the batting cage, as if he was a professional baseball player. “Wow,” Fred spoke, impressed. “That guy’s really clobbering the ball.”

“Hey, man!” Shaggy called. “Great swing!”

However, when the player turned around, he revealed himself to be the Phantom Virus! “Thanks. Want my autograph?”

The sight of the Phantom Virus caused the ponies, the cyber ponies and all their friends to shriek, and Anitra and Tanya hugged each other tightly as the Phantom Virus prepared to bat again, this time AT the group. “Let’s play ball!”

Instead of shooting a regular baseball, he hit a ball infused with lightning energy right at the gang, causing everyone to duck and dive or fly out of reach. Eventually, Anitra realized they had to make a run for it while they still had the chance. “Everybody, make a run for the video arcade!”

“No need to tell us twice!” Cyber Hitch shrieked as the group ran away from the battling cages and further into the amusement park. However, as they were about to head for the video arcade, they stopped and gasped immediately upon seeing a figure block their path.

It seemed to be a boogeyman-type character with green skin and devious eyes who could only say one word in particular. “Creeper! RAAAH!!!”

“Jeepers!” Daphne cried. “It’s the Creeper!”

“The what?” Cyber Velma spoke, confused. “He’s one of the villains from our past!” Fred explained, just before Misty shakingly pointed ahead of them. “And I think he's got a pet!”

Standing beside the Creeper and growling at the group seemed to be a creature with a jaguar-styled head, but a gorilla-modeled body, to which Velma instantly recognized. “It’s Jaguaro!”

“Didn't you say he was supposed to be in Brazil?” Zipp asked her friend nervously. “Cause he sure isn’t now!”

Fred, Cyber Fred, Pipp and Cyber Pipp began to back up nervously… that is, until Cyber Pipp and Fred backed up into something really gross, and when they looked back, they saw a monster entirely made of tar and a huge alligator behind them, causing them to scream and run back to the others while Fred recognized the two villains. “Gator Ghoul and the Tar Monster?”

“Everypony!” Cyber Sunny commanded. “Head for the beach!”

However, once looking down at the beach, the Scoobys immediately stopped, with Cyber Scooby shaking his head. “Uh-uh!”

“No way!” Scooby immediately shook his head like his cyber counterpart, just before Cyber Scooby pointed down to the beach below. “Look!”

Riding up to the beach on two great white sharks appeared to be a man with an iron mask over his face and menacing green eyes, causing Shaggy to immediately panic. “It's old Iron Face!”

“Man,” said Cyber Shaggy, “you guys know some strange people.”

“It's like every villain we've ever faced is here!” Velma said in concern. “Or at least some of the worst ones,” Tanya pointed out, making Pipp a bit nervous. “Maaaybe you guys shouldn't have told Eric so much about your mysteries.”

“How right you are, my dear.”

The Phantom Virus was revealed to be leading the entire batch of monsters, urging them to get closer while the ponies surrounded Anitra, Tanya and the two Mystery Incorporated gangs, with both Sunnys shifting into their alicorn forms. During this protective stance, Velma suddenly realized something. “Wait a minute. All these creatures in the real world turned out to be just people in costumes.”

“Velma’s right!” Fred suddenly said as he came to the same realization. “They were all fakes!”

“Nice try, Phantom Virus,” Zipp said to him with a smirk. “But you can’t fool us!”

“Yeah!” Scooby and Cyber Scooby barked in agreement. Then, filled with a newfound confidence, the two Great Danes and the two Mistys approached the Gator Ghoul and tried to pull his mask off, but it ended up being stuck on there really good (so they thought), and this caused Shaggy to look over at them with a worried expression… especially when the Gator Ghoul roared in Scooby’s face. “Tough time with the masks, guys?”

“Shaggy, I-I don't think it's a costume,” Cyber Misty said with a nervous gulp. “H-He’s real!”

The Gator Ghoul roared in Cyber Scooby's face at this, causing both Scoobys and both Mistys to scream and run back to their friends. “But that means,” Sunny said, looking around with wide eyes, “they’re ALL real!”

“Make a break for the amusement park!” Zipp shouted to the groups, and they ran past the Phantom Virus and entered the park, splitting up into different groups to avoid capture. “Get them!” the Phantom Virus barked to the other villains, who sped past him as well in order to capture the groups.

XXXXXXXX

The Tar Monster looked around some of the games for Shaggy, Izzy and their cyber doubles when suddenly, Shaggy popped out of hiding with Izzy, wearing an old fashioned barker's outfit. “Step right up and test your strength!”

“Huh?” the Tar Monster groaned before Cyber Shaggy and Cyber Izzy came out of hiding, Cyber Shaggy wearing the same kind of outfit. “How about you, handsome?”

The monster pointed to himself at this. “Me?”

“Yes, of course you, sir!” Izzy said as she levitated a large strength hammer. “Let us show you how easy it is!”

She slammed the hammer down on the Tar Monster’s foot, and while he yelped out in pain, the team ran off in another direction to avoid capture.

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, Daphne and Pipp were walking with their cyber doubles in the haunted house, despite how much it gave Cyber Daphne the jitters. “Creepy. Why’d you pick this place to hide?”

“Us?” Pipp looked surprised. “We were following you and cyber me!”

“Well, if you two thought this wasn’t a good place,” Cyber Daphne said, “you should’ve said something.”

Suddenly, Daphne stepped on a button on the floor, and the four yelled out before they stumbled into a pit that opened up in front of them. “Where did that come from?” Cyber Pipp asked in alarm. “These fun houses have all sorts of trapdoors,” Daphne said, using the button to close the pit again. “Let’s keep an eye open for more.”

They continued to walk through the house for a few moments before Cyber Daphne let out a startled cry. “Oh no!”

“What’s wrong?” Pipp asked as she, her cyber double and Daphne ran over, and Cyber Daphne pointed to the mirror she was standing in front of. “Look how fat I am!”

“Oh, it’s just a trick mirror,” Daphne reassured with a smile. “You look perfect.”

“Aw, thanks. You too.”

But suddenly, as the group looked in the mirror, they saw another figure approach them from behind-- the Creeper, to those who want specifics. “Creeper!”

Both sets of Pipps and Daphnes screamed and immediately tried to get away, but the Creeper kept advancing toward them. “Keep away from us!” Daphne barked, but Cyber Pipp was getting nervous, despite having a vantage point with her double in mid-air. “What are we gonna do?!”

Luckily, Daphne had an idea of her own. She pressed on the button activating the trapdoor just as the Creeper was on the edge of it, and once he began stumbling, she let herself smirk at him. “Sorry. You’re not our type.”

And with that, she and Cyber Daphne blew against the Creeper, sending him tumbling down the slide and into the pit below. “All right!” Pipp cheered as she high-hoofed her friends, new and old. “Way to go, girls!”

Unfortunately, that victory was short-lived when Cyber Daphne saw the Creeper climbing back up the slide toward them. “He’s climbing back up!”

Daphne suddenly pushed the button, closing the trapdoor and letting the Creeper growl and bang on the door repeatedly. “That door won’t hold him long,” Daphne told the others, but then, she noticed that Cyber Daphne was missing. “Hey… where are you?”

Turns out, Cyber Daphne was admiring herself in the trick mirror, causing Pipp to sigh and fly over. “Come on,” she urged, and the four left the house in order to get away from the Creeper before he broke free himself.

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, Fred, Hitch and their cyber doubles were on the roller coaster with the Gator Ghoul at the end of the train while they were at the front. “Is he still behind us?” Cyber Hitch asked, causing Cyber Fred to look behind him and see the Gator Ghoul slowly crawling toward them. “Yep!”

“That walking handbag will reach us any minute now!” Fred said as the roller coaster proceeded to go along the track, with the Gator Ghoul getting closer by the minute. As Hitch and Fred tried to think of a plan, Cyber Fred spotted something up ahead. “Look!”

Hitch looked ahead and his fear instantly rose-- the end of the track was only a short distance away! “Oh no!”

Not to mention the Gator Ghoul was getting a lot closer, leaving Cyber Fred to turn to Fred for advice. “What do we do now?”

Luckily, Fred had an idea in mind. “Jump!”

“WHAT?!” Hitch shrieked. “But we’ve gotta be at least 5 stories high!”

“Down there!” Fred pointed downward to reveal a bouncy castle that Anitra and Tanya were pushing into place. With this in mind, the countdown began. “One… two… three… GO!!”

As the Gator Ghoul reached the top of the coaster, Fred, Hitch and their doubles jumped from it and onto the bouncy castle, safe and sound without a single scratch. “Wow,” Cyber Fred commented as they got down. “That was some jump.”

“Yeah, but it beats getting eaten by an alligator,” Anitra pointed out, causing Cyber Fred to shrug. “Just barely.”

“Speaking of the gator, look!” Tanya pointed to the gator, who reached the end of the track and went flying. “See ya later, alligator!” Cyber Fred declared. “Come on, guys,” Hitch urged. “We’ve gotta find the others and the Scooby Snacks before the virus gets another upper hoof!”

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, Velma, Zipp, Sunny and their cyber doubles were entering the wax museum, and Cyber Sunny shuddered at the creepy nature of the figurines around them. “These wax figures are pretty creepy.”

“But,” said Cyber Velma, “at least they’re not real.”

That’s when they entered another room with a pot full of bubbling wax. “Hey,” said Cyber Zipp, “what’s that?”

“This must be where they make the wax figurines,” Velma explained, just before Cyber Velma caught sight of another figurine nearby. “Hey, that one looks like…”

Suddenly, the figurine growled, revealing it wasn’t a figurine at all, but one of the scariest of the monsters chasing them. “Old Iron Face!” both Velmas cried out. “Jinkies!!”

“Let’s get out of here!” Cyber Velma said urgently, but she and Velma quickly ran into each other, making them lose their glasses on the floor.

“Oh no! My glasses!”

“Mine too!”

As both Velmas crawled around on the floor to find their glasses, the two Zipps and the two Sunnys took care of Old Iron Face themselves, kicking him into the boiling wax just as the two Velmas found their glasses and put them on each other's faces. “Thanks.”

“What happened to Old Iron Face?” Cyber Velma looked around. “Oh, don’t worry about him,” Zipp smirked. “He won’t be bothering us anymore.”

However, she regretted saying that because Old Iron Face burst from the pot and began to slowly stalk toward them. The four ponies got in front of their friends to protect them, but suddenly, they saw the wax harden, and Old Iron Face became very stiff. “The wax is hardening,” Velma explained. “He can’t move.”

Suddenly, with a roar, Old Iron Face broke out of the wax. “Yes he can!” Cyber Zipp shrieked. “Let’s get out of here!”

And so, the six of them immediately left the museum and out into the park again.

XXXXXXXX

Around the same time, Jaguaro was searching for Scooby, Misty and their cyber doubles over near the carousel, on which the four were trying to disguise themselves as carousel horses.

Jaguaro walked past them a few times, but one of those times, Scooby felt the urge to sneeze, prompting Cyber Scooby to block his nose before that happened.

But then, after Scooby felt the sneezing need go away, Cyber Scooby was the one that sneezed, prompting Jaguaro to turn around and see them. “Come on, guys!” Cyber Misty cried out. “RUN!!!”

“Right behind you, me!” Misty cried as they followed her. “Ah! I mean… aw, this is so confusing!!”

They ran around and around the carousel a couple of times before they eventually stepped off, letting Jaguaro run around it before he realized that they weren't there, and wondered where they went.

All of a sudden, the carousel sped up so much, Jaguaro was unable to hold on and went flying into a display of milk bottles.

Turns out, the Scoobys and the Mistys had messed with the speed lever not too far away, and once Jaguaro was out of the picture, they laughed and cheered, high-fiving one another before they heard some voices not too far away. “Great work, Mistys and Scoobs!”

The Hitchs and the Freds were approaching them with smiles, but as soon as they saw them, or rather what was behind them, Scooby and Cyber Scooby began to whimper while Misty and Cyber Misty froze up in fright. “Don’t be scared,” Cyber Hitch said reassuringly. “It’s just us.”

“It’s not you we’re scared of!” Misty cried. “It’s THAT!!”

That’s when Fred, Hitch and their Cyber Doubles turned and saw the Gator Ghoul growling behind them. “Huh…” Hitch spoke as he blinked calmly. “I thought we lost him.”

Suddenly, they screamed and darted near the Scoobys and Mistys as the Gator Ghoul stalked closer… that is, until Shaggy, Izzy and their cyber doubles screamed, ran over and slammed into him, knocking him down. “Go, Izzys and Shaggys!” Fred cheered, but the look on Shaggy’s face told them everything. “Like, the Tar Monster's right behind us!”

“And boy,” said Cyber Shaggy, “is he mad!”

“And all we did was bonk him on the head!” Izzy added as the Tar Monster stalked into view. “Oh! And don’t forget we smashed his foot,” Cyber Izzy added with a nod. “Well, forget who exactly did what!” Hitch cried. “Let’s get out of here!”

This sent all of our heroes on the run again, wondering if they would ever escape from these monsters and claim freedom as theirs once again.

The Final Level (Part 3: The Final Fight Commences)/Finally Going Home

At the moment, our heroes (real and cyber) were in the process of being chased by monster that Mystery Inc had faced in their past, and it wasn’t easy to finally get away from them.

Pipp, Daphne and their cyber doubles had run into the saloon, where they tricked the Creeper into wearing a cowboy costume to get a picture taken, and the camera blew up, leaving the Creeper charred beyond recognition.

Zipp, Velma, Sunny and their cyber doubles managed to escape Old Iron Face at the petting zoo, where a mama goat head-butted the monster into the next pen filled with chickens.

The two Freds and the two Hitches were on bumper cars when the Gator Ghoul was riding on one, and they got his car to speed up to a wall, sending the gator to a dunk tank. Fred tossed his shoe at the target, and the gator was now in the water.

Shaggy, Izzy and their cyber doubles were enjoying some snacks when they were suddenly approached by the Tar Monster, but they got back at it by blasting soda at it, sending it to the cotton candy mixer to become cotton candy.

Tanya, Anitra, Misty, Scooby and their cyber doubles managed to lose Jaguaro on the log flume ride, sending him into the waters at the end of the ride.

Now the only things that our heroes had to do was regroup and find the Scooby Snacks before anything worse happened.

XXXXXXXX

“Mistys!”

“Tanya! Anitra!”

“Scooby-Doos!”

“Where are you?!”

Many of our heroes made it back together again, but now they still had to find the friends that were still lost in the amusement park. “I wonder where they are,” Daphne wondered out loud, just before Misty, Scooby, their cyber doubles and the Enchantix Wolves walked into view. “We’re over here!”

“There they are!” Pipp and Cyber Pipp said at once. “Come on, guys!” Shaggy and Cyber Shaggy exclaimed, prompting the wolves and the Mistys to race to their friends and hug them while the Scoobys barreled into the Shaggys, knocking them off their feet, causing everyone to laugh out loud. “Now that we're all here,” Fred declared, “we've got one last monster to face.”

Tanya nodded stiffly at this. “The Phantom Virus.”

“And,” Velma added, “this is the final level, so the virus won't be easy to beat.”

“But as long as we stick together,” Sunny added, “we can do anything! All we need right now is a plan to bring the virus down.”

“Hey… what’s this?” Shaggy felt his pocket, and when he felt that there was something in there, he reached in and pulled out something rather familiar. “Zoinks! I still got the magnet Professor Kaufman gave me!”

“Hey, so do I!” Sunny realized, pulling hers out of her saddlebag. “You mean you had that magnet with you all this time and forgot about it?” Zipp asked with a frustrated look. “Yeah,” Shaggy said a bit nervously. “I guess I was too busy being scared.”

“What’s wrong with Cyber Shag?” Velma then asked. When Shaggy, Sunny and Zipp turned, they saw Cyber Shaggy… in fact, all of the cyber doubles, in some sort of daze due to the magnet’s influence. “What’s going on here?” Anitra wondered, worried about their friends. “The cyber gang and the cyber ponies made of electromagnetic energy,” Velma assumed, “and therefore affected by the magnet, just like the Phantom Virus.”

Quickly enough, Shaggy and Sunny put their magnets away, bringing their friends out of the daze. “What's this about a magnet?” Cyber Shaggy asked, not recalling any of what just occurred. “Hey!” Misty realized. “We have a way to beat the Phantom Virus now!”

“And we know he’s guarding the Scooby Snacks in there,” Zipp said, pointing to the arcade. “We just have to go in there and get the snacks.”

That’s when Fred turned to his cyber counterpart. “We need your gang to stay here.”

“You don’t want us to help?” Cyber Hitch asked in confusion. “Well, we’ll ask for your help if need be,” Pipp said, “but we wouldn't want you to get hurt by the magnets again.”

“Magnets?” Cyber Daphne asked, confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh… never mind,” Pipp chuckled nervously. “I’ll go in with you,” Tanya said before turning to her sister. “Anitra, want to come?”

“Of course!” Anitra nodded. “It’s because of these guys we were able to find one another. If I can do anything to help… I will.”

“Then let’s put our gaming faces on, guys,” Zipp said, cracking her neck and trying to be intimidating. “It's monster busting time!”

XXXXXXXX

The real Mane 6, the real Mystery Inc and the two Enchantix Wolves soon entered the arcade, and Shaggy couldn’t help but be impressed with the layout. “Man, this is one great video arcade.”

“Uh-huh,” Scooby nodded in agreement. “Just keep an eye open for the virus,” Fred told the others as they proceeded to walk into the arcade. Only a few seconds later, Daphne spotted the Scooby-Doo video game on the edge of the arcade wall. “Look! There’s the Scooby-Doo video game!”

“And the Scooby Snacks!” Hitch pointed to the Scooby Snacks on top of the arcade machine. “Oh boy!” Scooby panted. “Scooby Snacks!”

“Well, come on, boy! Let’s go get it!” Pipp said before she and Scooby charged toward the machine. But not even a few seconds later, they ran back to Zipp and Shaggy at the sound of the Phantom Virus’s laughter. “I-I hear him,” Tanya said as she and her sister charged their magic, “but I don’t see him!”

“Keep your eyes peeled for him!” Sunny shouted as she activated her alicorn form. “He could be anywhere!”

“Uh… I think I have a good idea!” Misty said as she pointed to the Scooby-Doo game, which violently shook before it exploded, revealing the Phantom Virus, in the cyber-flesh. “Ta-da! Ready to play some games?”

He shot lightning right at the arcade machines, causing them to come to life and start flinging balls and pucks right at the group, causing them to scream and dive for cover behind more arcade machines. “Shaggy, Sunny!” Anitra cried. “The magnets!”

“Huh?” Sunny blinked before she remembered. “You’re right! Come on, Shag! Time to end this!”

“Like, if you’re sure about this!” Shaggy said, holding out his magnet while Sunny held out hers… but the magnets didn’t seem to affect the virus in any way. “Shaggy, Sunny!” Zipp called. “You gotta hold your magnets closer!”

“Like, that’s easy for you to say!” Shaggy cried. “Then toss the magnet over here!” Fred told him. “With pleasure!” Shaggy said before tossing Fred his magnet. Then, Fred and Sunny moved closer to the virus with their magnets in tow. “Hey, Mr. Zappy!”

As the magnets drew closer to the virus, the virus yelled out in pain as he began to glitch in and out. “It’s working!” Hitch exclaimed. “Misty, Scooby! Go get the snacks!”

“We’re on it!” Misty saluted with a smile before she and Scooby split up to different sides of the arcade. “Hurry, guys!” Fred strained as he and Sunny kept the magnets close to the virus. “I don’t know how much longer this is going to work!”

However, as Misty and Scooby kept getting closer and closer to the snacks, Fred tripped on a ball and landed on Sunny, causing them to both fall to the ground and lose their magnets underneath the arcade machines. “Oh no!” Daphne yelled while the others gasped in shock. “Oh, tough break,” the Phantom Virus taunted, and as Sunny and Fred tried to get away, the virus zapped some arcade machines, letting Sunny and Fred get tangled up in the wires. “Sunny!” Daphne gasped. “Freddy!”

“Hang on, guys!” Zipp cried. “We’re coming to help you!”

“Oh, no you don’t!” the virus said before zapping more machines, letting all the other ponies (except Misty, who was hiding with Scooby), Tanya and Anitra get tangled up in the wires. Hitch tried to get out of the wires, but even he found himself struggling. “The wires are too tight! I can’t use my magic while I’m in them!”

“Neither can I!” Tanya strained. “My wings are tangled too!” Zipp struggled to move. “I can’t fly!”

“What are we gonna do now?!” Izzy shrieked as the gang prepared to take on the worst.

XXXXXXXX

Outside the arcade, the cyber Mane 6 and their friends saw all the lightning coming from inside the arcade, causing Cyber Daphne to become very concerned. “Looks like they’re in trouble.”

“Like, we gotta do something!” Cyber Shaggy pointed out. “You’re right!” Cyber Hitch agreed. “Then let’s go help them!”

But before they could move, they froze upon hearing growling and groaning sounds behind them, and looked to see the monsters coming up from behind. “Oh no!” Cyber Velma cried out. “They’re back!”

“RUN!!!” the cyber ponies screamed as the cyber gang and themselves split up into several different directions. While one third of the gang (Cyber Fred, Cyber Daphne, Cyber Velma, Cyber Hitch, Cyber Zipp and Cyber Sunny) got cornered by the Creeper, the Tar Monster and the Gator Ghoul and another third (Cyber Shaggy, Cyber Izzy and Cyber Pipp) got chased by Jaguaro and Old Iron Face, Cyber Misty and Cyber Scooby were able to get somewhere safer, and Cyber Misty came to a conclusion. “Scooby, we have to get in there and save our friends, no matter what they might be facing. Are you with me?”

“Okay!” Cyber Scooby nodded with a smile. “Come on, Follow me,” Cyber Misty encouraged, “and stay close.”

So, the two cautiously entered the arcade and gasped at what they saw before them-- many of their friends were tangled in wires, and the Phantom Virus was shooting lightning and throwing balls from games all over the place while cackling like a maniac.

Cyber Misty knew that it would be too risky to go out into the open, so she guided Cyber Scooby off to the side where Fred and Sunny were tied up. “Misty!” Sunny exclaimed as she thought she recognized the duo. “Scooby!”

But that’s when she saw the real Scooby and the real Misty hiding from underneath the nearby air hockey table. “Cyber Misty and Cyber Scooby?”

“That’s right,” Cyber Scooby nodded and tried to cut through the wires with his teeth while Cyber Misty used her horn, but none of this seemed to work. “It’s no use,” Fred told them. “We’d need some wire cutters!”

The Phantom Virus cackled and continued terrorizing the others, who seemed terrified in their own rights, but as Fred looked at the Scooby Snacks behind the virus, he suddenly had a thought that much just work. “I got an idea!” he said, looking toward Cyber Misty and Cyber Scooby. “Wanna help?”

“Okay,” Cyber Scooby nodded with a smile. “Great!” Fred smiled. “Here’s the plan.”

XXXXXXXX

Scooby and Misty trembled in their hiding place, wondering how they were able to get the Scooby Snacks when their friends were tied up and too afraid to move. Suddenly, their cyber doubles crawled underneath the table with them, surprising Misty. “Cyber me? Cyber Scooby? What are you two doing here?”

“Long story short, we’re here to help, and we have a plan,” Cyber Misty whispered. “Just listen close…”

Then, she and Cyber Scooby began to whisper the plan into their doubles’ ears, and after this was done, Scooby nodded in compliance-- any plan was better than no plan, so it was worth their best shot. “Okay!”

“Be careful,” Misty told them before they left, prompting the two cybers to nod before they went out into view and got the Phantom Virus’s attention.

“Yoo-hoo!”

“Over here!”

The Phantom Virus growled before firing lightning bolts at both of them, but luckily, they were able to move out of the way, just as Velma watched all of this in shock. “What are you guys doing, Scooby?”

Cyber Scooby and Cyber Misty didn’t answer, but instead leapt around and around the arcade to avoid the lightning bolts. And with the Phantom Virus distracted, Misty and Scooby silently made a move for the Scooby Snacks, much to Pipp’s alarm. “Misty, Scooby! Get back here!”

At the same time, Zipp and Shaggy watched Cyber Misty and Cyber Scooby dodge blast after blast, surprised entirely. “I've never seen Scooby so brave!” Shaggy commented. “Or Misty for that matter!”

“Hey… Shaggy, I think we may have it backwards!” Zipp said. “Look!”

Shaggy saw that she was pointing to Misty and Scooby (the real ones) silently stalking toward the snacks, and somehow, Shaggy understood. “Oh, I get it. Over there is Cyber Misty and Cyber Scooby,” he said before looking toward Scooby and Misty again. “And that’s our Misty and our Scoob going for the snacks!”

“Meddling horse and canine!” the Phantom Virus fired another couple of blasts, which hit Misty and Scooby’s cyber doubles but instead hit the arcade machines behind them. Then, the arcade machines grabbed Cyber Misty and Cyber Scooby with their wires and pulled them closer. “HELP!!!”

“Oh no!!” Hitch cried out while the others gasped. Suddenly, that’s when a familiar voice echoed through the air. “This game is officially over, virus!”

The Phantom Virus turned at this voice, and immediately froze in horror.

Scooby and Misty had made it to the final box of Scooby Snacks.

Immediately after this, the Phantom Virus began to fade in and out. “NOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

“All right, Misty and Scoob!” Shaggy cheered while the virus screamed in agony. That’s when the wires released their prisoners after what seemed like a long time, causing the ponies to sigh. “We’re free!” Anitra howled. “And safe at last!”

“Look!” Tanya pointed to the virus, who let out a final shriek as he disappeared, never to be seen again...

...much to our heroes' ultimate relief.

At the same time, the monsters that had been chasing the rest of the cybers disappeared as well, resulting in them being safe too. “You did it!” Cyber Fred cheered. “You beat the Phantom Virus!”

“Great job, guys!” Cyber Shaggy exclaimed while Cyber Scooby and Scooby snacked down on the Scooby Snacks together. “Misty, you and Scooby are real heroes!” Hitch said with a smile. “You guys and your cyber doubles!”

“Awww… guys…” Misty blushed nerovusly. “We didn’t do all THAT much.”

“Don’t be so modest,” Cyber Misty told her double. “You and Scooby got the snacks and saved our butts-- Cyber Scoob and I just distracted the virus.”

“We’re all heroes in our own way,” Cyber Zipp smiled. “And that’s all that matters.”

Suddenly, the arcade began to fade away, and a glowing orb appeared in the sky, meaning only one thing. “Looks like we’re leaving,” Fred observed. “Finally! Sister, we’re gonna get to go home!” Anitra told Tanya. “We’re finally free!”

“Are you sure you wanna split?” Cyber Shaggy asked his double. “There's a lot of cyber-buffets to try here.”

“Yeah!” Scooby nodded enthusiastically. “Okay!”

“Sorry,” Velma told their new friends. “But we have to go.”

Soon, that ball of light turned into a portal above them. “So…” Cyber Sunny frowned, “...I guess this is goodbye.”

“It’s just goodbye for now,” Sunny told her double, giving her a hug. “We’ll meet again someday… I promise.”

“Bye!”

“See ya!”

“Thanks again for all your help!”

And just like that, the cyber gang and cyber ponies watched as their friends levitated into the portal above before it vanished, letting them leave cyber space for good this time.

Now there was only one thing to do... get back to the lab and finally, after all these levels and terrifying experiences, put this mystery to bed.

The Culprit Behind It All/Heading Back to Equestria

While the gang and ponies, along with their new Enchantix Wolf friends, tackled the final level, Eric, Bill, Officer Wembley, Professor Kaufman and Sparky worriedly waited back in the lab for them to return.

Just as their hopes were beginning to diminish, the laser activated and shot a blast of green light, and once that light faded… our heroes were back in the lab, safe and sound.

Hitch felt himself as soon as they appeared back in the lab, sighing in relief. “We’re back! We’re home!” he exclaimed just before he saw his little dragon. “SPARKY!!”

“Papa!!!” Sparky cheered and hugged his adopted father tight, causing Hitch to gasp. “I can’t believe it! Did he just…?”

“He sure did… Papa,” Zipp smirked as Eric approached. “You’re back! I thought you'd be stuck in the game forever!”

Pipp sighed in relief. “There really is no place like home.”

“Everyone okay?” Officer Wembley asked Velma and Zipp, and the former nodded with a smile. “I think so.”

“Well done,” Professor Kaufman smiled at the group. “You've saved the world from a terribIe menace.”

“And we brought Tanya and her sister back too,” said Sunny with a smile as Tanya and Anitra stepped forward. “So they can start their lives over.”

“There’s a lot we need to rediscover about ourselves,” Tanya said, smiling at her sister, “and I can’t wait to get started.”

“So am I,” Anitra nodded. “But did you find out who created the virus?” Bill asked, but Zipp gave him a narrowed look. “We've got a pretty good idea.”

“Good,” Professor Kaufman said firmly. “Because whoever created the virus must be punished.”

“Glad you agree, professor,” Velma said, “because you're as much a suspect as anyone here.”

“What?! Me?!” the professor asked in shock. “But I'm a scientist. I've dedicated my life to my students and this university.”

“But,” Tanya said in a suspicious tone, “you also stood to make a quarter-million dollars at the science fair.”

“If,” Daphne added, “you stole the invention.”

“Oh! Preposterous!” Professor Kaufman said in disbelief. “And let's not forget Officer Wembley,” Shaggy said, looking at the officer next to Professor Kaufman. “WHAT?!” Officer Wembley said, appalled. “I'm an officer of the law. Sort of. Anyway, I've never committed a crime in my life!”

“But you were the only person that was with us in the lab when we got sent into the game,” Fred pointed out, just before Velma spoke up again. “But once inside the game, we found some important clues.”

“Our first clue came when we were on the moon level,” Daphne interjected. “The Phantom Virus shouted ‘Play ball’.”

“And on the colosseum level, we found some chalk lines like a large diamond,” Fred agreed. “But,” said Velma with a smile, “our biggest clue was on the final level.”

“When the Phantom Virus appeared in a batting cage!” Zipp finished with a smile. “Uh… forgive me for being blunt,” Anitra said out of confusion, “but what do those clues have to do with anything?”

“Yeah. All I'm getting is that the virus had a thing for…” Eric began to say before he realized who the culprit really was. “Baseball!”

That’s when they all turned to see Bill trying to escape the room. “Bill?!” Izzy cried in shock. “Not so fast, kid!” Officer Wembley said just before Bill ran off to avoid them. Bill rounded a corner, only to be met with Mystery Inc, Tanya and Anitra in front of him and Officer Wembley and the ponies coming up from behind. As Bill began to back up and get away, Tanya swept her tail behind Bill’s foot, causing him to stumble to the floor, and this gave Officer Wembley the chance to handcuff him. “Okay, son, it's all over.”

“Bill, you were my best friend,” Eric said, clearly saddened and betrayed. “And, my best student,” Professor Kaufman added before Bill took on a bitter tone. “But you didn't pick my project.”

Eric crossed his arms at this. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Professor Kaufman chose your video design over mine… even though I've been here two years longer.”

“Students are all equal, Bill,” Professor Kaufman said sternly, and Velma stepped forward to close out the investigation for good. “So you invented the Phantom Virus, hoping it would scare Eric away.”

“That’s right,” Bill confirmed, “and it worked… till you guys showed up.”

“You were afraid that we would find out who created the virus,” Fred crossed his arms, leading Izzy to nod. “So you beamed us into cyber-space!”

“But thanks to some brand new friends,” Sunny concluded, “we were able to escape and come back here to expose your plan.”

“The prize would have been all mine!” Bill groaned as he was led away. “If it weren’t for…”

“Us meddling kids,” Mystery Inc chorused just before everyone else in the room laughed.

Another mystery was solved, and that meant only one thing.

It was now time to celebrate!

XXXXXXXX

Eric had taken the gang, the ponies, Sparky and the Enchantix Wolves to the malt shop that they had on campus in order to celebrate their success at escaping cyber-space and stopping the virus. “I wanna thank you for getting rid of that Phantom Virus,” Eric told the group. “Lunch is on me, guys.”

“In that case,” Shaggy said after finishing his cheeseburger, “I’ll have another cheeseburger!”

“Two cheeseburgers!” Scooby added. “Actually make it four!” Anitra said hungrily, downing her cheeseburger. “These things are divine!”

“No problem!” Eric smiled before it faltered for a few moments. “I'm sorry you guys got trapped in cyber-space.”

“Well,” Fred spoke, “it really wasn't all that bad.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Going back in time was really fun,” Hitch nodded. “And,” Pipp added, “our outfits were amaziiing!”

“You did a great job designing aIl the game levels,” Daphne said, causing Eric to smile. “Thanks, Daphne!”

“But next time, go easier on the monsters,” Shaggy said, causing the group to laugh before Eric brought out his laptop. “Hey, Shaggy, l just pulIed up the Scooby-Doo video game on my laptop. Wanna play?”

Shaggy turned to the Great Dane beside him. “What do you say, Scoob? Now that there's no creepy virus in the game.”

Scooby nodded to this, and they immediately joined the others at the table while Shaggy logged into the game. However, Velma was a bit confused at their excited nature, considering what they had just been through. “Haven't you had enough for one day?”

“Eh, you guys deserve to have a little fun after what we’ve been through,” smiled Sunny. “Just as long as no more viruses come out of there.”

Shaggy got logged into the game, but immediately paused and turned the laptop around when he saw something. “Zoinks! Look!”

The others crowded around to see their virtual doubles waving to them. Then, Scooby grabbed the laptop and started tapping on the keyboard, much to Shaggy’s confusion. “What are you doing, Scoob?”

Before Shaggy realized it, Scooby had used the computer to give Scooby Snacks to Cyber Scooby, causing Daphne to chuckle. “Now that's what I call hacking.”

“Hacking,” said Misty, “and Scooby Snacking!”

“Scooby-Dooby-Doooooo!!” Scooby howled, leading the others to laugh just before another portal appeared. “That’s our cue, guys,” said Zipp. “We gotta get home.”

“Thanks again for everything,” Tanya told the ponies. “We’ll never forget your act of kindness.”

“That’s what we do,” Sunny smiled, and the ponies exchanged final farewells with the gang before they leapt through the portal back toward home.

XXXXXXXX

“And that’s everything that happened on that last Unity Quest,” Hitch told Posey and Windy, who stood there slack-jawed for a few moments before Posey spoke up. “Wow. I wouldn’t have believed it if it wasn’t you guys telling the story.”

“Do you think those wolves are going to be okay?” Windy asked in concern. “I mean… they did lose a lot of time being together after being stuck in cyber-space all that time.”

“I think they’re gonna be just fine, Windy,” Misty smiled. “After all… they’re family. And families always look out for each other.”

“Now,” said Pipp, “there’s only one question on my mind.”

Zipp looked at her sister in surprise. “What’s that?”

“Can we have dinner already? I’m starving!”