Apple Bloom's Mansion

by Lucar


Prologue

The Gem Manor, great home of the also great family known as the Gems. A three stories manor proudly throning at the top of a small hill not far off the capital of Equestria, Everfree. Walls as white as princess Celestia's fur, and a roof as green as the grass surrounding the building sheltering three windows at the front, its particularity was the presence of many gems of different kinds decorating the exterior, showing to everypony to who it belonged.

The Gems were, indeed, a powerful family.

And in the mind of Pyrite, a disgusting family. They could say all they wanted about being tolerating like "Hey look! My son married an earth pony! We aren't speciesist like the other nobles!", but if they were as tolerant as they pretended, then he would be the one possessing this manor! Not his dear little brother. But nooo! Because he was born a bastard child, he couldn't be the successor!

As already said, disgusting.

But he had to come, just so his image didn't get any dirtier in the eyes of his dear mother, so he could at least still ask for money when he needed it when his paintings didn't sell well.

Really, an artist really gets appreciated only after their death!

Huffing, the bearded yellow unicorn stallion knocked on the double door of the manor with the family's old and loyal butler Clean Order soon answering him.

"Sir Pyrite, the master was awaiting your arrival."

"I would have bet the contrary," mumbled Pyrite as he passed the older gray unicorn stallion, entering the foyer.

"The master is awaiting you in the parlor."

Pyrite raised an eyebrow. "He is waiting for me? I would have thought that he would be with the others, celebrating the arrival of his fourth child."

"He couldn't start without you, Sir." The butler replied with a smile, "Despite everything, you are his brother."

"He probably did it to look good."

Sighing, the butler guided Pyrite to the loft toward another double door. After knocking on it to announce himself, he opened it. "Master, your brother is here."

"He can enter!" answered a voice that Pyrite recognized belonging to his little brother. No half-brother.

Moving aside, Clean Order let the yellow stallion pass before closing the door, letting the two brothers alone. Right away, Pyrite's brother, Diamond Cup, then said "I thought that you would never come, Pyrite."

"For a moment, I thought too," replied the older stallion before walking toward the chair in front of his brother.

"Tea?"

"No."

"Still as nice as ever," said the mustachioed yellow stallion with a chuckle.

"Now that I am here, should we go? I would rather not lose time in useless talk."

"You can't wait for the celebration to start! I can't either. But come on, Pyrite, we haven't seen each other in three years. A little talk to catch up isn't bad."

"There is not much to catch up," said Pyrite as he started to look at one of the paintings in envy.

As the tradition, the current master of the manor had his portrait hanging from the wall just in front of the entrance of the room, between two candlelights, and so, the current portrait was the one of Diamond Cup. Around the room are also portraits of Diamond's wife, Golden Hair, their mother, Emerald, the butler Clean Order, and in his generosity, Diamond had also put a portrait of Pyrite. But he would much prefer seeing his portrait between the two candlelights.

"Really now? Nothing special happened? You still haven't found a mare?"

"Don't you think I'm now too old to hunt mares?"

"You are never too old to find love. Too bad however, that it's probably too late to have a nephew."

"You already have a niece, and Golden and Silver Shoes could get a son any year."

"True, but I would have loved seeing you with a little one. Maybe it would have made you less grumpy."

"I already have a hard time living by myself without coming back every few years to ask for money. How could I have afforded to take care of a foal?"

"You could have come living here."

"No."


The two stallions entered the dining room, meeting the rest of the family here. A huge banquet table full of food was prepared, and around it, everypony else was happily eating and chatting, or in the case of the children, running around playing.

"And here come my two sons," said an old green unicorn mare upon spotting them.

"Sorry mother, Pyrite was a little shy."

"I wasn't!"

"Dear," started a pink, blond maned, very pregnant earth pony mare, "stop teasing your brother. You know how much he hates that."

"There isn't much he likes," commented a thin cyan unicorn stallion with a laugh.

"Lapis!" shouts another old unicorn mare, this one purple.

Yes, this was the rest of the family. The pregnant mare was Golden Hair, Diamond's wife, the green old nag was Emerald, his mother, the cyan stallion was Lapis Lazuli, one of his cousins, and the other old nag was Crystal Ball, Lapis' mother and sister of Emerald, making her his aunt.

Beside them, in the room, were also Diamond's twin sons, Ruby and Sapphire, a red pegasus and a blue earth pony; Golden Shoes, Golden Hair's big brother, his wife Silver Shoes, and their daughter, Platinum Shoes, which was playing with her cousins, all earth ponies; Jump Scare, Golden Hair's other older brother, also an earth pony; Pyrite's other cousins, a white unicorn stallion named Zircon, his twin brother, the obese, also white unicorn stallion Pearl currently busy disgustingly stuffing himself, and the younger fake twins Opal Note, an orange unicorn mare, and Topaz, an orange muscled unicorn stallion; finally, there's Pearl's wife, a dark pink chubby unicorn mare named Swift Wave.

The only one who wasn't present was Diamond's eldest son, Prismatic Gem, who was away studying about the... Hum... Family's secret duty, and he would come back tomorrow morning.

Looking at everypony briefly, Pyrite sat on the remaining chair beside his brother, and started eating without saying anything.

"Boooo!" He saw Jump Scare doing at the foals when they passed beside him. But it only had for effect to make them laugh.

"You are still trying to scare somepony, Scary?" Golden Shoes asked with a laugh. "This isn't with those little 'boo' that you will scare anypony."

"But it makes the children laugh."

"I heard you two won another dance contest," said Opal Note to Golden and Silver Shoes. "Impressive. It's your tenth in a row."

"Not as impressive as you," said Silver Shoes in return. "You got to play your piano for the princesses. Many pianists can only dream of being in your place."

"Pearl!" shouted Topaz. "You should stop eating like that! I swear, one day, you will eat yourself to death!"

"Don't be absurd, it won't happen," replied Pearl. He turned to Zircon. "How does the exploration of the North goes for you?"

"Since the disappearance of the Crystal Empire, it's harder, but it progresses. Last month, I climbed Mount Sky."

"Mount Sky? The highest known mountain of the North?" asked Topaz. "Next time, could you bring me with you? I love that kind of challenge."

"Don't you have a fighting tournament soon?"

"Right. I forgot. Maybe next time."

"When do you think the little one will come?" Emerald asked Golden Hair.

"We aren't sure," answered the pink mare. "All we know is that it's almost time. Any day."

"It's what Aunt Crystal said," Diamond confirmed.

"I can't wait to see her."

"Me too, my dear."

Pyrite tuned down the discussions around him, losing himself in his mind.

The family's secret... Pyrite thought about it for some time before. Being good in his mother's eyes wasn't the only reason that he came to the celebration. For a few months, an idea had been forming in his mind. He had enough living like that, hoping that the next painting would sell well enough that he wouldn't need to return pleading his mother while his brother was having the perfect life. He had a manor, wealth, a wonderful family, and he was about to have his fourth foal, a filly he told him... And he had the good graces of the princesses!

That was enough!

For Pyrite, the decision was taken. This night, it would end...


At the end of dinner, they went to the conservatory where Opal Note gave a small concert to everypony with her piano, before they separated, everypony going at their occupation. That was the occasion Pyrite was waiting.

The artist went to the basement, passed by the cellar, and entered the basement's hallway. At the end of the hallway was a locked door. Only the master of the manor had the key to open it. Thankfully for Pyrite, his brother hadn't seen him using his magic to take the key during dinner. So he opened the door and traversed another hallway, this one tortuous, like a snake.

At the end of this hallway was another door, locked too, but not by a key...

A magic field locked this one.

He approached it.

"Powerful Bogmire! Hear me!"

"I felt someone coming. Who is asking me?"

"I am Pyrite! A descendant of the one who sealed you! And I am here to free you!"

"What a despicable creature. You know very well what I will do to your family the instant you break this seal. Do you really wish to continue?"

"Yes, but I want something in return!"

"If you want to free me, I can guess what you want. You want the manor. You want its wealth. You want your family to suffer. Am I right?"

"Yes."

"Very well. As a gift for freeing me, this manor, and everything in it, will be yours forever, and your family will suffer for eternity. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal!"

"Then open this door, and your dreams will come true."

That night...

The manor, and all its inhabitants, disappeared without leaving any trace.


Time passed, Equestria changed capital, a forest appeared, a village was built not far.

All but a few forgot the disappearance of the Gem family.

And yet...

Somewhere in Equestria...

As he listened to a song of Countess Coloratura, an old gray unicorn stallion finished tightening a nut with a wrench, finishing his most recent creation, which looked like a red vacuum cleaner. With a last, powerful pull, he was done.

Taking away his glasses to rub his almost bald head, the stallion sighed before saying "Finally!" He inspected his invention, turning it to admire it in all its details. "Wonderful! That's the fifth finished! I can't wait to test this new version! Hopefully, with it, I will be able to return to business despite my old bones!" He turned his head to look at a drawing on a wall, a drawing of the Gem Manor, which disappeared over one thousand years ago. "But will this be enough if it reappears?" He looked down at the portraits below the drawing, each of a pony who disappeared with the manor. Fifteen portraits. Sadly, not everypony in the manor had a portrait, but he knew there were more ponies in there, like the foals, and the servants. Some texts even talked of a dog guarding the family graveyard at the back. Among the servants, the only one who had a portrait was the butler.

In total, over 20 ponies disappeared this terrible night, and the old stallion mostly knew how. His family had been preparing for generations for the potential reappearance of the manor, and he really hoped that it would reappear soon. He was getting too old, and like an idiot, he had more focused in his inventions and researches than in his life, so he didn't have a son or daughter to continue his family's duty. The day he would die, nopony would be there anymore to prepare for the manor, and the horrors that it would probably bring with it.

Maybe he should start teaching his duty to somepony so they could take over.

At this moment, an alarm started blaring, and the old stallion immediately knew what it meant. Looking at a big crystal at the right of the drawing of the manor, he saw it flashing red.

A big smile formed on the stallion's muzzle.

"Ohohohohohoh! Finally! It's about time!"

Without losing time, he dropped his finished invention and passed the door, exiting the room, which was actually inside a caravan, then climbed on a sit at the front with a wheel. He pushed a pedal, only to be answered by some coughing coming from the vehicle.

"What? Come on! That new fuel was working well yesterday!"

He pushed the pedal a few more times, until the vehicle finally started to move, black smoke escaping from a pipe at the back with the sound of some small explosions.

"I will have to take a look. But later! First! Direction the Everfree Forest!"


It had been a few days since Shining Armor and Cadance's wedding. Everything was back to normal after the invasion of the changelings. Well, almost. With the idea that anypony could be a changeling in disguise, many ponies became paranoiac, and the guards were busy working on a spell to reveal a disguised changeling. To help them, Twilight was also working on the spell in her home, the mare in constant communication with the royal guard who was currently replacing Shining Armor, the captain being on his honeymoon with his wife.

Alone in her room studying a book, the familiar sound of something crashing through a window interrupted her, slamming against a shelf, and causing dozens of books to fall.

"Twilight!" she heard Spike scream from the first floor.

"I heard, Spike!" shouted back Twilight before sighing.

She closed her book, and exited her room to go to the main room of the library and see what Rainbow Dash wanted, or help her get back on her hooves if it was one of her "Rainbow Crash" moments, which was most likely. And help Spike put back the books at their place. The poor dragon already worked a lot today.

"Rainbow?" called Twilight as she went down the stairs.

"Urg... Sorry Twilight," said Rainbow from the pile of books where she was, rubbing her head.

"What is it this time? A failed loop?"

"It wasn't a failed stunt this time!" The cyan pegasus answered as she walked out of the pile, ignoring Spike's glare. "I saw something incredible, and I had to see you!"

"What did you see?"

"You will not believe it! I spotted a strange manor in the Everfree! It wasn't there before!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"A manor?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah! A manor! I didn't approach, but it looked scary! Like, haunted manor kind of scary! It was all dark, and old, and gloomy..."

"I understand, it was a manor like we find in horror stories."

"Does this mean there are ghosts?" Spike asked in fear.

"Come on Spike, you know that ghosts don't exist."

"I don't know if there are ghosts or not," Rainbow said. "but that manor is suspicious."

"You're right. Gather everypony, we will go investigate."

"Should I warn Celestia?" Spike asked.

If that question had been asked a few days ago, Twilight would have answered yes right away. But after what happened in the wedding with Celestia, she had second thoughts...

"No need... This is just a manor. We will only warn her if we find something bad inside."

"Ok, but I'm coming with you so I can send a letter as soon as we see a ghost."

"There aren't ghosts!"


"A manor in the Everfree?" Applejack asked.

"Yes, and we're going to investigate it," Rainbow Dash answered.

Behind Applejack, her little sister, Apple Bloom, listened. A scary manor appeared in the forest? Should she warn her friends to try being 'Cutie Mark Crusaders Ghost Hunter'? She didn't feel kind to see if there were ghosts or not...


In the following hour, Twilight, her friends, and Spike went in the Everfree Forest to see that mysterious manor.

They didn't come back...

In their clubhouse, after school, three fillies gathered in it in worry. It shouldn't take that long to explore a manor.

"They haven't come back since yesterday," Apple Bloom said in worry.

"Maybe whoever owns the manor asked them to spend the night," Scootaloo proposes.

"Or maybe they were captured by ghosts!" Sweetie Belle shouted in fear.

"Pfff! As if! They fought those bug things! And Discord! And Nightmare Moon! As if some ghosts would get them," Scootaloo said.

"You aren't worried?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yes! Even if they slept in the manor, they would have sent Rainbow or Pinkie to warn everypony so we wouldn't worry!" Sweetie Belle said before asking something, "Should we tell Spike to warn the princess?"

"You are worrying over nothing," said Scootaloo. "Nothing can happen to Rainbow Dash. But if you are so worried, we can go and see that manor." She grinned. "Who knows, it may be the occasion for us to get our Cutie Marks."

"Besides, Spike went with them," Apple Bloom pointed out. "Ah didn't tell ya that?"

"No, you forgot. And this makes it even less worrying. If something happened, Spike would have sent a letter to Princess Celestia," Scootaloo said. "But we’re still going."

"Not now. If somepony sees us going in the Everfree, we'll have problems. We should go when everypony's sleeping."

"But... It will be all dark..." said Sweetie Belle.

"Ah heard that this manor isn't far in the forest. It's even closer to Ponyville than Zecora's hut."

"And I will take a flashlight," Scootaloo added.

"Come. You don't want to see if yer sister is alright?" Apple Bloom asked.

"O... Ok..."


That night, the CMC gathered again in the clubhouse, Scootaloo holding a flashlight, ready to go in the Everfree Forest to see that manor.

"Alright, let's go," Scootaloo said.

Her friends nodded.

They left the clubhouse, and went in the forest, following the path that Apple Bloom saw Twilight and the others taking. In just a few minutes, they reached the famous manor, and they all gulped at seeing it.

The manor was at the top of a small hill. A big three stories building, the third story covered by the roof with only three big windows present here at the front. They also could spot what seemed to be the pointed roof of a small tower poking out above the roof of the manor. A stair sculpted in the hill led to the entrance, a double door, above which two windows showed light, making them looking like eyes glaring at them as all the other windows were dark.

"This screams haunted manor alright..." Apple Bloom said.

"Do we continue?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Y-yes..." Scootaloo replied, shaking in fear.

The fillies climbed the stairs, and upon reaching the double door, knocked on it, hoping that an actual living pony, maybe even Applejack, Rarity, or one of their friends, would come to open it. But... Who would live in such a scary manor? The walls and roof were almost black, more like different shades of a sick dark green, as if the whole manor was rotten. But there were two windows alight, so there must have been somepony in there, right?

Then… the doors slowly opened.

But nopony was there to greet them.

The fillies looked at each other, wondering is they should turn around and run away. But since they came this far, they couldn't give up.

They passed the doors...

Which suddenly closed behind them, and a laugh resounded all over the foyer, seemingly coming from nowhere.

The fillies hugged each other in fear, looking around. Everything was plunged in darkness, but thanks to the flashlight, they could see two curving stairs leading to a loft in the second floor, and that there was another double door in front of them, between the stairs.

"Ok, this was a bad idea..." said Scootaloo.

"Yes, let's go out," said Sweetie Belle.

"But, what about Applejack and the others?" asked Apple Bloom.

"R-right! This is not a scary manor with doors opening and closing alone and creepy laughs coming from nowhere that will make us give up!" shouted Scootaloo.

"M-maybe the ghosts just want to have fun," said Sweetie Belle.

Despite their fear, they advanced toward the double door...

Until they hear another laugh, this one very close.

"Girls, please, tell me it was one of you..." Sweetie Belle pleaded.

"Nope."

"It wasn't me."

"But it wasn't me!"

"It was me." a childish voice said.

They felt a chill all over their body at hearing the fourth voice coming from just behind them. Slowly, very slowly, scared of what they may discover, they turned their head.

Here, behind them, laughing, was a ghost. A real ghost. Of a newborn yellow furred, brown maned unicorn filly. Her incorporeal body was faintly glowing, floating above the floor, and the part of her body below her barrel ended in a little ghost tail, meaning she didn't possess back legs with a ponytail instead.

"Boo!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

At this instant, the double door they were approaching opened, and more ghosts of various colors, those ones vaguely looking like ponies without any special features, came out from behind and started circling the fillies. Before they knew it, Sweetie Belle was grabbed by one of them.

"Aaaahhh!!! HELP!"

"Sweetie Belle!"

Another ghost came from behind and grabbed Scootaloo, making her drop the flashlight, and Apple Bloom rolled just in time to avoid being grabbed too. She tried to punch one of the ghosts, only for her hoof to pass through, making the ghost laugh.

"Oh, horseapple..."

"Apple Bloom, run!" yelled Scootaloo.

"I can't! They're everywhere!"

That's when the doors at the entrance suddenly opened, and an old grey unicorn stallion came running through it with a strange red machine on his back. Taking the handle of the machine, he pointed it at the nearest ghost who was already charging at him. He then pressed a button, and the machine created a vortex that started sucking up the ghost. In a few seconds, the ghost disappeared inside the machine, entering by the rectangle-shaped hole at the end of the handle before probably passing by the pipe of said handle and finishing inside the machine itself on his back. The stallion then pointed the handle at the other, surprised ghosts, and said "Release those fillies right now!"

The ghost of the filly immediately escaped through the other double doors, followed by the two ghosts holding Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo while the others either continued to try to grab Apple Bloom, or charged toward the old stallion to attack him.

Cursing, the stallion lowered his head to avoid a punch and started sucking up the attacking ghost, letting it drag him as it tried to escape the vortex to avoid the attacks of the other ghosts. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom ran left and right away of the ghosts trying to catch her, trying to approach the old stallion who could somehow capture ghosts. By now, the stallion finished capturing the second ghosts and started sucking up two more ghosts at the same time. However, they seemed to be too much for him, and he fell on his belly and couldn't recover in time to avoid a punch from a third ghost, which saved the two others.

Apple Bloom finally joined the stallion and helped him back on his hooves. "Ya're alright, mister?"

"Don't worry, I got through worse. Being knocked by ghosts is part of my line of work," answered the stallion after shaking his head to stop the world from spinning. "We should run!" he then said has he saw the five ghosts still in the room slowly approaching them.

"But, and mah friends?"

"We will not be able to do anything for them if we are caught too! Come on, posthaste!"

The unicorn grabbed Apple Bloom and ran away from the ghosts toward the entrance of the manor, exiting the building. The stallion then ran toward a weird caravan that seemed to come out from another time. They entered it, and the stallion quickly closed the door, breathing a sigh of relief.

"By Celestia's great flank! I knew this manor would be the greatest challenge of my life, but I didn't think it would be THAT horrible, and that was just the foyer!" Slowly, the stallion took off the machine of his back, and sat on a chair. "I knew I should have taken an apprentice or two..." The stallion then heard Apple Bloom crying, and turned to her, rubbing her back. "Hey. Don't worry young one, everything will be alright."

"T-that was so scary... Ah thought they'd catch me and... And I don't know what they'd do to me... And mah friends... And Applejack..."

"What is your name, little redhead?"

"A-Apple Bloom."

"That's nice to meet you, Apple Bloom. Cute bow, by the way. My name is Smart Spirit. Professional ghost hunter." As he said this, Smart Spirits pointed at his Cutie Mark, which was of a red crossed white ghost. "So, tell me everything. What were three fillies like you doing in this manor in the dark?"

"Well, there's mah big sister and her friends who went to see the manor yesterday, but they didn't come back, and..."

"Drat... That's bad... But don't worry, your sister and your friends aren't dead," the old stallion assured. "Why would the ghosts capture them if it was to kill them? If they wanted to kill you, they could have done so the moment they attacked."

At this, Apple Bloom breathed a sigh of relief. "But what can we do ta save them?"

"We could go warn Princess Celestia, but I fear that by the time she comes, the worst may happen. I could use my Poltergust to go and save them myself, but as you saw, the years are piling on me. I can still catch a few ghosts, but I don't think that I would be able to fight the dozens, maybe even hundreds of ghosts that are haunting this manor." He looked at the filly, uncertain. "I only see one solution, but I don't like it."

"Uh?"

Smart Spirit looked through a window at the manor. "My family waited hundreds of years for this manor to appear, and the day it appears, I'm too old to do my duty, and I have nopony else to do it. But I need somepony to clean this manor of its ghosts and save the ponies captured. And right now..." He sighed. "I only see you. But I don't like the idea of sending a child to such a dangerous mission. Beside, I fear the Poltergust may be too heavy for you. And you aren't experienced at all."

"But there's no other way?"

"Not if we want to act quickly to save your friends."

Apple Bloom looked through the window at the looming manor, gulping. "Then... Then Ah'll go, if ya think it's the only way... Eh... Eheheh... Who knows, maybe Ah'll have mah Cutie Mark in ghost hunting..."

"I like the way you think! But before I can send you hunting ghosts, I must prepare you. First, put the Poltergust on your back. If it's too heavy, then we will have to abort the mission and find something else."

Apple Bloom nodded and pointed at the red machine. "That thing?"

"Yes! It's my most recent invention! Fruit of decades of research! The top of the top ghost-catching machine named Poltergust 3000! I would gladly explain to you how it works, but I suppose we have more pressing matters."

Apple Bloom approached the Poltergust and looked at it. It seemed a little too big, but if she had to hold it on her back, then this probably wouldn't be a problem. She put one of her forehooves in the right strap and used her strength to lift it and put it on her back before placing her other forehoof in the other strap. She then hopped a couple of time to test its weight. Yeah, it was a little heavy, but not as heavy as some of the things she put on her back sometimes on the farm.

"It's okay."

"Celestia! You are a strong filly!"

"Ah work in a farm. Ah'm used to lift heavy things."

"Ohohohohohoh! Perfect! Let's get out to test it."

Smart Spirit exited the caravan, quickly followed by Apple Bloom. Already, she took the handle from its place at the right side of the machine, and inspected it.

"So... Ah press this button, and it sucks up ghosts?"

"Exactly!"

"And what's that?" asked Apple Bloom as she pointed to another button that could be turned, with a small arrow pointing at a green, yellow, and red gauge, more exactly at the yellow part. Above this gauge was another one, this one all black

"This is to adjust the power of the Poltergust. At the green, it will use minimum power, just in case, for example, you are in a room full of objects. Well, you wouldn't want to accidentally suck up one of the objects while you are busy sucking up a ghost, but having it at yellow is very useful if there are many ghosts. Like that was the case in the foyer. At the red, it uses maximum power, but it takes the risk to overheat, which could lead to an explosion. Not a small one. I'm talking about the kind of explosion that could destroy a house. The second gauge is to show how much it's overheating. The more it fills with red, the more it means the Poltergust is overheating. If it's full, then you have exactly ten seconds to throw the Poltergust as far away as possible before it explodes."

"Un...derstood."

"Now, put it to green, and test it."

Apple Bloom did so, and activated the Poltergust, moving the handle around.

It was not hard at all to get used to it. Anypony could use this machine.

"Good! Good! I sadly don't have any means to test your skill and train you in catching ghosts, so you will have to get the experience on the field. But it's a good start. Wait here and continue testing the Poltergust, I must return in the caravan to fetch some things."

Apple Bloom nodded and put the Poltergust into yellow mode to see how it went as the stallion entered the caravan. Effectively, the Poltergust started using more force, forcing the filly to use more strength to keep her balance and keep control of the handle. This may take some more time to get used to this mode. As for the red mode, she was not sure if she should test it.

Smart Spirit then got out of the caravan with another Poltergust on his back, and with two little gadgets floating in his magic.

"Ya've another one?" asked Apple Bloom, referring to the machine on his back.

"Yes, before this manor appeared, I built five Poltergust 3000. You know, if one of them gets damaged, or overheats."

"And what're those?" asked the filly, pointing at the gadgets, each composed of three small crystals.

"This is to put on your hear like that." Smart Spirit demonstrated by putting one of the gadgets on his head, one of the crystals in front of the hole of the ear while another one is beside his mouth. "They are communicators. Tap two times on the crystal in the middle, then talk at the crystal beside your mouth, and I will hear your voice coming from the crystal beside my hear. I can do the same so I can talk to you even if I'm not here. I propose that we activate them as soon as we enter the manor, even if we are beside each other, just in case."

Again, Apple Bloom nodded before putting the communicator like Smart Spirit did. "Ya'll come with me?"

"Yes. I will accompany you for a few rooms to help you start and make sure that nothing happens to you."

"Thank ya mister Spirit."

"Please, no need to use the mister. You can call me Smart Spirit, or if you like, Prof. Spirit."

"Okay."

"Alright, I think we are ready. Let's return in the manor and show to those ghosts who are the bosses."

"And save everypony!"

"Yes."

And so, the old stallion and young filly started walking toward the manor, not seeing the figure watching them from one of the lightened windows above the door, giggling.

"This will be so much fun!"