G5 Adventures in Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf

Brunch, Crunch and Indigo had successfully captured Shaggy and were returning him (after he was turned into a werewolf) and his friends (including the Mane 6 and Sparky) to Dracula's castle in the deepest, darkest parts of Transylvania...

...and Indigo hated the fact that she was part of this evil plan to begin with.

All she wanted more than anything was to forget she was ever a part of this kidnapping/werewolf transformation plan and find a way to get back to her friends so they could escape Transylvania together.

However... if Dracula needed her here, then that was where she needed to be... at least, for now.

Now, let's get back to the story and figure out what happens next.

XXXXXXXX

After a long while of flying through the skies, Crunch finally saw that the castle was coming into view. “Look! The castle!”

“Yeah, Crunch… the castle,” Indigo sighed sadly as she gazed down at the lifeless hunk of bricks. “Home, sweet home… I guess…”

“'I see the master has installed the new bat copter dome door,” said Brunch, observing their surroundings before seeing Dracula waiting for them on the drawbridge. “Ah, there he is, awaiting our landing. Get the remote control, my good fellow, and open the dome.”

“Okay,” Crunch nodded before activating the remote. However, instead of the dome opening, the drawbridge went up instead… with Dracula on it! Luckily, Dracula was able to slide safely into the castle, but Crunch felt a sense of dread wash over him. “Uh-oh…”

“Oooh… bad aim, Crunch,” Indigo winced. “I-I think we’re in hot water now.”

“Hot water nothing!” Dracula scolded all of them on the screen before them, surprising Indigo and the two hunchbacks. “I’m going to put you ALL in boiling oil!”

“Oh no! Not boiling oil!” Crunch pleaded desperately, spitting all over the screen AND all over Dracula. “Oh, please, master!”

“Stop that, you whining wimp!” Dracula barked as Vanna Pira wiped off his face. “And bring my werewolf in here, on the double!”

“Yes, master,” Crunch said obediently, but ended up spitting on Dracula even more and causing his anger to rise. “Gah! Phooey!”

“There there, Dracky honey,” Vanna Pira said soothingly. “Your face is getting flushed!”

“How can I help it?” Dracula protested. “Every time he talks, he flushes everything!”

“Well, it’s not really his fault,” Indigo said to her master gently. “After all, he IS a monster.”

“Sure, he's a monster, but that's no excuse for being a wet schnook!”

Indigo sighed as her master cut off the feed… it seemed as if anything she said would be met by a rebuttal of her master’s rudeness.

Nevertheless, they still had a job to do.

The BatCopter began to lower through the dome and managed to get the car with their guests inside, but the copter itself got stuck since it's wings were so large. This caused Dracula to come in, still fuming about being spit on earlier. “What’s wrong now?!”

“A spot of bother, sire,” Brunch said with an apologetic frown on his face. “It seems we're hung up, as it were.”

“Well,” said Dracula with his hands in his hips, “can one of you fools release the cable on the car?”

“Sure!” Crunch said cheerfully. “I can!”

With one tug of a lever, he released the cable and sent the car falling onto Dracula, causing him to scream as the car made contact. “Uh oh...” Crunch and Indigo winced all at once, and Brunch turned to Crunch with a faint smile. “Oh, I do wish you had consulted me before you did that, old man.”

Suddenly, just before anyone could say or do anything else, the BatCopter fell out of the dome and right on top of Dracula (who just got out from under the car when it happened), causing him to wail and causing Indigo to wince. “You know,” she said to the Hunch Bunch, “I wonder which lubricant he'll boil us in. Machine oil or motor oil?”

However, Crunch's response to this was a mere sob.

XXXXXXXX

Only a few minutes after Dracula got out from under the copter, Indigo used her weather powers to create clouds and carry Shaggy and all his friends to the throne room for them to be woken up and for them to meet the other monsters.

Well... she WAS doing that... until she heard a tapping at the window, which caused her to turn and gasp at what she saw.

Cyrus was waving to her outside the window, beckoning her to come outside.

Indigo gulped nervously before sending the clouds with the sleeping group toward the throne room. “Uh... I'll be back soon, master. I gotta... use the little leopard's room, if you know what I'm saying.”

And just like that, Indigo flew off down another hallway, leaving Dracula and the Hunch Bunch a bit confused.

The bathroom was a completely different direction, so where in the world could she be going?

XXXXXXXX

Indigo met Cyrus up on the roof of the castle, her eyes wide and full of panic. “Cyrus, what in leopard's name are you doing here?! If Dracula or anyone else were to see you here, he could take you captive too!”

“I know, but when I was out hunting, I saw you guys coming back in the BatCopter and I wanted to come and check on you,” Cyrus said to his friend. “So... how did it go?”

“Well... things took a bit more of a drastic turn. Instead of just capturing Shaggy and turning him into a werewolf,” Indigo explained, “Brunch had the genius idea to bring Shaggy's friends with him in order to make sure he didn’t try to leave!”

“What?! Forget what we said earlier-- that's wrong on a totally different level!” Cyrus growled before turning back to her. “Other than Shaggy, how many were there?”

“Ten more, as far as I could see-- knocked out cold using the moondust that Brunch and Crunch had on hand,” Indigo said, clearly worried. “There were, uh... two dogs, one girl, obviously Shaggy's girlfriend, a baby dragon and... six Equestrians.”

Cyrus did a double take at this. “Equestrians?! Six of them?! Are you sure?”

“I've never been so sure about anything in my life,” Indigo responded seriously. “And there's no way that Dracula is gonna let them go and make Shaggy stay... he'll hold all of them here until he gets what he wants, and I know he's gonna try and make them all miserable.”

“...just like he's doing to you,” Cyrus said gently, and Indigo's silence was enough to make him come to an internal decision. “That's it-- I'll get the rest of the clan and we're gonna make sure Dracula pays for all of this!”

“No! If you do that, Dracula won't hesitate to destroy you!” Indigo said seriously. “I... I just have to keep them safe until after the race. Once the race is over, we can get them all out of here together.”

“But... are you still gonna be in time for the big Fairy Moon celebration tomorrow night?” Cyrus asked. “You know we haven’t missed a single one since... well... since your mom...”

“Since she passed away. I know,” Indigo hung her head. “Just... wait for me tomorrow night at the top of the cliffs. We'll figure out what to do once were all together... I promise.”

Cyrus sighed heavily at this. “Okay. I guess we'll see you tomorrow night. Keep those guys safe until then, okay?”

“...I'll protect them with all the magic I have in me.”

Cyrus purred against her as a sign of comfort before unfurling his wings and flying off toward the cliffs to reunite with the other leopards.

Not long after she had watched him disappear from sight, Indigo found a sadness stirring within her heart and decided to express it in a way her mother taught her before she passed...

...by singing her feelings out.

Indigo: If I'm a diamond
Then why do I feel so rough?
I'm as strong as a stone
Even that's not enough

There's something jagged in me
And I've made such mistakes
I thought that diamonds were hard
Though I feel I could break

Would you believe
That I've always wished I could be somepony else?
Yet I can't see
What I need to do to be the leopard I want to be

Indigo sniffled and tried to wipe her tears away with her paw, but more appeared before she could stop them, deciding to sing another verse of how she had been treated by Dracula... the Hunch Bunch...

...even her own father.

Indigo: I've been told my whole life
What to do, what to say
Nopony showed me that
There might be some better way

And now I feel like I'm lost
I don't know what to do
The ground is sinking away
I'm about to fall through

Would you believe
That I've always wished I could be somepony else?
Yet I can't see
What I need to do to be the leopard I want to be

And be the leopard I wanna be...

And with one last sorrowful glance, Indigo left the rooftop to head into the castle to greet their guests.

After all, with the race in a few days, there was still quite a bit to prepare for.