By the time that Royal and Aspen arrived in the throne room, the party that King Arthur had set up for himself seemed to be in full swing-- music playing, a jester juggling, a person blowing fire, and plenty of food for everyone to eat.
Luckily, no one noticed the pegasus cousins enter later than everypony else, a real relief on their part. If the king had seen, he would have pressured the two for answers.
Soon, the gang and ponies, now with Phoenix, who was wearing a satin blue gown, entered on the second level balcony, gazing down at the party for a few moments with excited smiles. Knowing that the gang wouldn’t know many things about royal events, Phoenix decided to give them a few… tips she learned from Royal and Aspen. “Okay, guys, when meeting royalty, you always wanna do the standard bowing and speaking with respect,” she advised. “But, the entrance is EVERYTHING-- shows what your made of. So, please… try not to do anything--”
“WHOOO-HOO!!!” Izzy squealed as she slid down the railing of the stairs flipping and landing at the bottom. “--brash…” Phoenix muttered under her breath as they followed Izzy down the stairs... the normal way, I might add. Luckily, nopony seemed to notice what Izzy had done, so now was time to make a royal entrance the right way.
Zipp and Pipp whispered to the herald what she wanted to say, and the herald cleared his throat. “Hear ye, hear ye!” he called out. “Presenting Sir Norville of Crystal Covia, his entourage and the Unity Squad from the realm of Equestria.”
The royal fanfare blew for all to hear, and once they got closer, the twelve bowed toward King Arthur before Shaggy decided to speak. “Like, I, Sir Norville of Crystal Cove…”
“...ia!” Misty whispered to correct him, but then blinked cutely at the king so he wouldn’t suspect. “Uh, Crystal Covia, do present myself before thy king,” Shaggy finished. Royal and Aspen looked relieved that this first part seemed to go well... now they just needed King Arthur’s approval. “Crystal Covia? Hmm… the realm of Equestria sounds very familiar, but this new realm of Crystal Covia sounds very new-agey. Very witchy,” King Arthur said with a serious look. “Where is it? What do they wear? Is it clothes?”
When the others had no idea what to say, Sunny decided to step forward and speak on Shaggy’s behalf. “Um… I’m Sunny Starscout, sire,” said the earth pony mare, “and me and my friends have been to Crystal Covia many times for… several different reasons. It’s a country that lies far across the sea. It’s where they have great treasures, like malt shops, and Taco Tuesdays, and…”
“Taco Wednesdays,” Scooby interrupted. “Taco Wednesdays,” Sunny finished, only for Shaggy to take over. “And yes, we mostly wear clothes, but sometimes also food.”
“They’re slobs,” Velma deadpanned, and this made Aspen giggle slightly. “These guys are funny!”
However, King Arthur looked very unsure about everything that had just been said. “Miss Starscout, how did you meet this… Sir Norville and his entourage?”
“On one of our adventures, sire,” Sunny said, a bit nervous. “The magic in Equestria is very powerful, and it sometimes sends us to wherever Sir Norville and his friends are in order to help them with… various tasks.”
“It does sound very plausible, sire,” Royal admitted. “I mean… where do you think all of the ponies in Camelot came from at one point?”
However, King Arthur chose to ignore her statements. “This sounds like witchcraft to me,” said King Arthur. “Right? Eh? Am I right?”
Two knights from nearby muttered, unsure of what to say, and the gang suddenly became nervous. What if the king assumed they were witches and they were banished to the dungeons?!
Of course, Sunny and her friends would never let this happen, but even they were growing nervous. “Yeah, yeah… all right then. Show it to me,” said the king. “Let’s see it. Bring it on-- show me the witchcraft.”
“Your highness,” Velma began, “Sunny and her friends always use their magic for good, as do many other ponies and Equestrian creatures. But in this world, there is no such thing as any other forms of--”
“I know witchcraft!” Shaggy interrupted, making Velma cross her arms rudely at him. There goes her chance to change history. “Where I’m from,” Shaggy told the king, much to the confusion of the others, “I was taught by 1000 sand-witches.”
He winked to Scooby and Izzy, causing them to giggle in amusement. “And I’d like to put you under the spell of a beast from 1500 years in your future,” Shaggy added mysteriously. “The hoagie!”
“Oh-ho, I am so in!” Izzy cried. “Scooby, let’s make history!”
And just like that, Shaggy, Scooby and Izzy rushed to the buffet tables to show the king what they were made of. Darani and the citizens of Camelot watched in wonder as they collected bread, meats and veggies to make a huge and long sandwich. “Now,” said Shaggy, laying it on the table, “all we need is a knife to cut it with.”
“Shaggy!”
At the Great Dane’s call, Izzy and Shaggy looked over to see Scooby over near a stone with a sword in it, with a plaque on the front of the stone. “Scooby, nice work! That’ll do the job perfectly!” Izzy said as they approached, and Shaggy took hold of the sword’s handle. “I love your knife holder,” he called to King Arthur. “Very rustic!”
Royal and King Arthur studied the scene for a moment, confusion written on their faces-- what was Shaggy doing with the legendary sword?
But before they could say anything, everyone watched in shock as Shaggy pulled the sword from the stone, causing the townsfolk to gasp and kneel before Shaggy as he cut the sandwich in half. “Now that’s what I call a Super-Shaggy Sandwich,” he said with a chuckle. But, it was then that the others noticed that the townsfolk were bowing at Shaggy. “Whoa, hey! I know it’s an amazing sandwich but, come on!”
“It’s just like the legend! You just pulled Excalibur from the stone,” Velma said as she and Sunny came forward. “That makes you the rightful heir to Camelot!”
But, King Arthur didn’t look happy about this at all. “Whoa… whoa whoa whoa there, buster-- pump the horse brakes, all right?” he said, getting off his throne. “Pulling an old hunk of metal from a rock doesn't make one a leader.”
“But, sire… isn’t that what you did to become king?” Misty asked, causing King Arthur to glare at her. “You know… just curious.”
“Well, yes,” said the king, “but that is beside the point!”
“She does have a point, your highness,” Royal said as she flew toward the plaque with Aspen in tow. “And it very clearly says ‘Whosoever pulls the sword from the stone shall become the rightful king of Camelot’. So it shouldn’t matter WHO pulls it out, just so long as they have a good heart… and I sense a good heart within Sir Norville.”
“Phew… thanks, Royal dude,” Shaggy said in relief, but King Arthur wasn’t having this. “You come in here with your… sand-witchcraft, steal my sword, and try to take my throne as well?” he asked Shaggy, crossing his arms. “That good sir… or madam… is just plain rude. I ought to give you a taste of Camelot's just desserts.”
“Hold on, boys,” said Daphne as King Arthur picked up a pie from the table. “There has to be a way we can settle this.”
But Scooby, for once, wasn't too scared by King Arthur's threat. “I’m cool with pie.”
“Oh, we will,” said King Arthur with narrowed eyes. “We will settle this. Like men!”
He threw the pie at Shaggy, but instead of hitting them head on, the pie actually froze in mid-air. “Phew, heh… good call, Izzy,” Sunny sighed in relief. “That was close.”
“Uh… hate to break it to you, Sunny-Bunny,” Izzy said slowly, “but… I didn’t do that.”
“Neither did I,” Phoenix admitted. “Me neither!” Misty said. “And… it couldn’t have been you, Sunny. You’re not in alicorn form!”
“So, if it’s not you unicorns doing this,” said Sunny, “then… who did?!”
At this question, all the candles around the room suddenly went out, and in a puff of smoke, an elderly man with a white beard and a blue robe was standing before everyone.
With him was a silver earth pony with dark gray hooves, dazzling green eyes, a curly blue mane and tail with light pink highlights, a red cloak and a cutie mark of a snow cloud with three snowflakes beneath it.
Upon the sight of these two, Zipp was filled with a mix of confusion and curiosity. “Who’s that?”
“I-It’s me,” said the man, stroking his beard. “I’m Merlin.”
Some of the people and ponies in the ground glanced at each other in confusion. “Merlin?”
“Merlin? Where?” the wizard looked around. His wand then released a magic blast that struck a nearby knight’s sword, melting it, much to the surprise of everyone in the room. “Ah, yes…” Merlin tucked his wand back into it’s holder. “I'm Merlin the Magician, master of knowledge and mystical secrets. And this is my loyal assistant, Platinum Snow.”
The earth pony bowed to the newcomers out of respect. “The pleasure is mine. Hello, Royal. Hello, Phoenix.”
“Platinum! Of course!” Phoenix chuckled. “How did we not realize it was our best friend with snow powers AND the assistant to a legendary wizard?”
However, as Phoenix and Royal hugged their friend and while Scooby and Shaggy were with Izzy and Misty, licking pie from their plates, King Arthur looked exasperated at their appearance. “Merlin, you're always spoiling my fun. Just like my mum. Beard and all.”
This earned a glare from Merlin and Platinum before they turned around to face the crowd again. “If there’s one thing we can’t stand,” Platinum said to the Mane 6 and their friends, “it’s adulty people acting like children.”
Behind their backs, King Arthur stuck his tongue at them, but Merlin raised his wand and the magic made King Arthur’s tongue yank forward, causing the king pain. Honestly, Darani thought it was rather funny, but she would never say that in front of the king himself. “All this noisy arguing is what brought me down here,” Merlin explained. “I’m a busy wizard, and I need to focus, right?”
“Sorry, Mr. Merlin,” Velma apologized, “our friend Shaggy here pulled the sword from the stone, so technically…”
As King Arthur kept groaning in pain, Hitch soon caught on to what Velma was saying. ”Yeah,” the earth pony sheriff agreed. “How can there be two kings at one time?”
Merlin tucked his wand back into his sleeve, finally relieving Arthur of the pain. “Uh, well, there can't be, can there?” he answered with a smile. “Hmm? You bunch of numpties. You gotta solve this like the adulty people you are.”
Once his fingers were snapped, they all disappeared from the throne room, and while Fred, Daphne, Phoenix and every one of King Arthur’s knights were in the courtyard, the citizens were on the sidelines and the Mane 6, Royal, Aspen, the king and queen, Shaggy, Scooby and Velma were on the balcony, joined by Merlin and Platinum themselves. “With a winner take-all melee for the crown!”
“Whoa… does-- does he do that often?” Sunny asked, a little dizzy from such a teleportation feat. “It’s like how unicorns did it in years’ past, just… without a horn.”
“Heh, I guess you could call it that,” Platinum smiled. “I’ve learned so many things from him, but we can get into further details later. Right now, I think a royal decree is about to be made.”
But before the ponies could mention this, a royal fanfare began to play, and the herald of the court stepped forward. “Hear ye, hear ye!” he shouted. “To determine the true king, the prospects must test their skill upon one another. The champion becoming the king of Camelot!”
The townsfolk cheered, but Misty became nervous-- everyone knew that Shaggy was not very athletic. “He’s gonna have to compete?”
“Because,” Shaggy said to the king, “to be honest, I’m pretty sure you could take me.”
To this, King Arthur chuckled heartily. “We’re nobility,” he said. “Nobility doesn't fight one another. We get the unwashed commoners to fight on our behalf.”
Shaggy, Scooby and the ponies honestly sighed of relief. “Us, sweating? Waving our arms around? Can you imagine?” King Arthur asked before handing Shaggy a drumstick. “Drumstick?”
Shaggy happily giggled and took the drumstick without hesitation. “Looks like you all have this thing sorted,” Platinum smiled, patting Nita’s paw. “There's a whole arsenal down there to choose from.”
The crowd began to shout ‘Arsenal’ from the sidelines, and as they looked on, Merlin and Platinum disappeared in a burst of smoke. “All right, let’s get down to it,” Arthur said, throwing the bone from his drumstick aside. “I choose… uh… Sir Galahad.”
Everyone cheered for King Arthur’s decision, and now, it was Shaggy’s turn. “Um… I choose…”
But before Shaggy could make a choice, the king stopped him. “Hold on, mate-- I’m not finished yet.”
Soon, King Arthur went on to be choosing every single knight in the arena… but he hesitated when it came to Sir Lancelot. Even though it drove him crazy when he saw his queen waving to Lancelot, Arthur desperately wanted to win, so he chose Lancelot anyway. When it FINALLY came time for Shaggy to choose, there wasn’t anyone TO choose. “Like, I’d like a knight to fight for right… but there isn’t one in sight.”
“Okay… that’s so not fair!” Zipp tried to be reasonable. “Can’t you at least give Shaggy one of your knights?”
“It’s either my knights fight for me,” King Arthur crossed his arms, “or be exiled/executed.”
“I hate to say it, Zipp, but he’s right,” Royal sighed. “Unless Shaggy can find somepony to fight for him, King Arthur automatically wins.”
Now Shaggy was worried that he and his friends would cease to be for sure… until Fred stepped forward. “I, Fred of… Ascot, do volunteer to fight on Sir Norville's behalf.”
“Are you sure you’re up for this, Fred?” Daphne asked. “You're a big tough guy, but those are crazy-ripped man-men.”
But, Fred only replied with a confident smile, even after watching the knights swinging their weapons threateningly. “For sure, Daph. As long as you're there to cheer me on, we'll be fine. Besides, the way I figure it, according to legend, we've already won. What's there to be afraid of?”
Daphne sighed as she began to list off a few things that she knew of. “The black plague… deranged highwaymen… giant brown bears… dysentery… armies of angry orcs…”
“Don’t worry, Daphne-- he’ll be fine,” Phoenix assured, sparing a glance at Aspen and Royal nodding from the balcony. “My friends and I won’t let anything hurt him… we promise.”
Deciding to trust their new friends, Daphne nodded, and the crowd began to cheer as Fred was now in the competition, while King Arthur looked amused. “Just the one, eh?” he asked Shaggy with a smirk and chuckle. “At least your mum thinks you’re cool.”
Misty couldn’t stand Shaggy being put down like that and confidently stepped forward. “I think he’s cool too,” she said, “and if one knight is all it takes for Sir Norville to win, then I’m sure Sir Fred will do a great job!”
Shaggy sighed in relief at that, causing King Arthur to hum. “Brave, aren’t you, young unicorn maiden? You have impressed me. Why don’t you stay here with Sir Norville, Royal and I, to make sure everything for the challenges go as planned?”
“Uh… I guess I can do that?” Misty gulped nervously and sat beside Shaggy, but not before Pipp turned to Velma with worry. “Come on, Velma… for the sake of the technological era, find a way to get us out of this place!”
“I’m on it,” Velma nodded. “If anyone knows what’s up here, it’s Merlin.”
“Ooh! Can we go with you?!” Sunny asked as she and Izzy bolted over, accidentally knocking Scooby over in the process. “We’d love to meet Merlin face to face!”
“Maybe Zipp and I better go with her, just in case,” Hitch said. “You guys can stay and help Fred get ready for the tournament.”
“Good idea,” Zipp said. “I’d love to get some photos of what his work might lead to.”
“Okay… but be careful,” Sunny said as they walked off. “And send me those photos!”
XXXXXXXX
The group split up immediately after these events, with Velma, Zipp and Hitch going up into the dark sectors of the castle, a lantern within grasp.
Something about this part of the castle made Zipp feel even more on edge and Hitch more worried about what dangers lurked. Only Velma’s lantern provided light to which they could see, and soon enough, they reached what looked like Merlin’s study.
As they looked around, it sounded like there was a growling sound right around the corner. Nevertheless, they moved closer until fire blew them backwards onto the ground, and the fiery glow came closer and closer toward them, causing them to back up in fear, Zipp having her wings outstretched as a form of saying 'back off'.
Turns out, a small frog was the one making the fire when it ribbited, and it turned out to be Merlin in another form.
Needless to say, Velma was surprised beyond measure. “M-Merlin?”
“Oh, hello,” Merlin said with a kind expression as Platinum Snow came down the stairs after Merlin. “Sorry. We didn't hear you come in over my burping fire and all.”
“Here, let me help you to your hooves,” Platinum offered a hoof to Hitch, who got up slowly with Zipp helping, and Merlin helped Velma onto her feet. Then, with the stomp of Merlin’s hands, the room illuminated with orbs of light slowly wafering to the torches.
As Zipp and Hitch looked around the room in wonder, Velma decided to speak up and ask him her questions. “Um… my friends and I have come seeking knowledge?”
Luckily, Merlin smiled at her. “Oh. You must be my sister Karen's friend. I can teach you.”
“Uh…”
At this remark, Velma, Zipp and Hitch looked completely confused before Merlin continued speaking again. “Oh, that's fantastic. You know, Karen's the one that gave me the idea. She's like ‘Can you breathe fire?’ And I'm like ‘Yes’. And then she's like, ‘But can you belch the alphabet?’ And I'm like, ‘Oh, my gosh. Yes, I can’. Why has no one ever combined these two things before, hmm?”
With that, he proceeded to burp, making the letters out of fire, but when he got to G, the blast was too big, and the group yelped and ducked to avoid being struck by the flames, and Merlin sighed at this. “I get stuck on the G.”
“Uh, yeah…” Hitch spoke slowly as they rose up, brushing himself off. “I could definitely tell.”
“Hey, Merlin, or whoever you want to call yourself, I'm having a day,” Velma sighed, and Platinum merely chuckled. “That’s what tea’s for. And don't worry, my helpers just made a fresh batch.”
With the stomp of her hoof, a pair of snowy owls flew in with a tray in their talons, and and Zipp couldn’t help but be impressed. “Your helpers are snowy owls?!”
“Northwind and Frost have been old friends of mine for quite a long time,” stated Platinum. “They offered to help me with my duties around here, and I gladly agreed.”
After a moment, Velma proceeded to speak while Merlin stirred his tea and the ponies drank a little bit of their tea. “I think you might have a time machine or something. A device…”
But when Hitch saw that Velma’s wording was confusing Merlin and Platinum, he decided to step in. “Okay, it's your own form of magic. Whatever it is, we need to learn how to use it to send our friends and ourselves back home.”
“Oh… so you want to be sorcerer’s assistants like Platinum, huh?” Merlin asked them, causing Zipp and Hitch to nod. “To learn the arcane secrets what make the world turn like a platter. Then this is where your quest for knowledge begins.”
A large, heavy book floated over to Velma, and she flipped through it to see it was full of spells. “Uh… what am I supposed to do with this?”
“I used it to learn spells, obviously,” Platinum responded with a chuckle. “And although I’m not a unicorn, I have become quite the spell-caster. But when the time comes, you will know just when you will use it.”
“Huh… sounds pretty cryptic, but… I guess that makes sense,” Zipp spoke. “We’re ready. Just tell us what we need to do.”
“Wait wait wait, hang on, Zipp,” Velma said immediately before turning back to Merlin. “Can’t we just have access to your time machine?”
“Oh-- is that all you wanted?” Merlin turned to grab something, but it turned out to be a common sundial, causing Velma to sigh. “We’re gonna need magic just to get through this day.”
“Hey, Platinum? Maybe you can answer a question for us,” Zipp said. “Why does Royal wear those anklets around her hooves when the rest of you, claiming to be from the same village, don’t?”
Platinum sighed reluctantly. “Well… that’s a bit of a hard story to tell. But, all that I can tell you is… well… Royal has something to hide. Nothing dangerous, but… something that she can’t forgive herself for.”
That’s when Hitch and Zipp looked at each other with concern. Whatever Royal was keeping from them… they were going to help her through it.
No matter what.