About one hour later, Apple Bloom returned to the manor, hopefully for the last time. Key in her possession, she started the hard process of climbing the floors one by one while capturing the few ghosts that got in the way and avoiding her brainwashed sister and friends. While not encountering Applejack and the others on the first floor, she did make a scary encounter: the ghost of a clown pony holding a red balloon and waving at her to approach with a big smile.
"Uh, prof... Suspicious ghost clown with a red balloon in front of me..."
«You're right to be suspicious. Joyous Balloon was known to attract little fillies and colts with his balloons. He foalnapped them... killed them... and stuffed them, because he 'loved' foals.»
Apple Bloom's face turned green. "That's sick."
«Yeah, this guy was sick in the head... He was killed by the vengeful mother of one of the killed foals.»
The ghost continued to wave at her, and she decided to approach him. The ghost's smile grew, then disappeared when the filly took the handle of the Poltergust and pointed it at him. The clown tried to fly through a wall, but Apple Bloom activated the vacuum before he could, and after a few seconds of struggle, he disappeared into it.
"Ah didn't think that Ah'd encounter a real ghost this early."
«The more time passes, the more they come. This manor is a real ghost-magnet. Thankfully, it only appeared yesterday, so there aren't as many ghosts as there would have been if we had waited a whole week.»
"But it's weird, Ah only meet the evil and crazy ones."
«Mmh... It's probably because of the curse. It must attract mostly the bad ghosts, from the ones that laugh about the mortals to the serial killers and other psychos. No wonder you will tell me, it's a curse created by an evil ghost. Don't worry, I know some haunted places with very nice ghosts. I could lead you to those places if you want. There's that little house near Fillydelphia, haunted by the ghost of an old mare. You will love her. She has really nice stories, and she knows many good recipes. And there's that colt who haunts the graveyard of Rockville, always full of curiosity, that one, and yet he's quite shy. Each time I see him, he asks so many questions about my researches, he could by now become the first ghost hunter that’s a ghost.»
Apple Bloom smiled. "Ah'd like to meet them."
Apple Bloom climbed the stairs to the second floor, but as she traversed the hallway, she heard some hoofsteps approaching. So she turned around and entered the room with the two tables and the tea sets where she fought her great grandaunt and remained behind the door, listening as eventually, she could hear Applejack, Spike, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle pass.
"It's weird she hasn't come back yet. Last time, she returned after a little over one hour, but now, it has been over one hour and a half and no sign of her," Spike said.
"Well, she fought a dragon. No doubt she is resting after such a fight," Rarity replied.
"But maybe she is already back, and she is hiding," Sweetie Belle said.
"Yeah. We should start searching in the rooms, starting from the first floor," Applejack proposed.
Apple Bloom waited for them to pass.
Only for a Shadow earth pony to appear with a "Boooo!"
"Uh? What was that?" Applejack asked.
"Ya've got to be kidding me!" Apple Bloom shouted.
The door opened as she captured the ghost, and as the ponies (and dragon) spotted her, Apple Bloom quickly ran behind one of the table.
"It's her!" Spike shouted.
"Apple Bloom!" Applejack shouted as she started approaching. "Come! Join us!"
"Ah'm not gonna join ya when Ah'm about to save ya!" Apple Bloom shouted before slamming a chair against Applejack. "And Ah'm sorry!"
Seeing Spike running toward her, she quickly pointed the Poltergust toward him, and trapped him in a vortex.
"Hey! Let me down!"
"Okay!" She threw Spike toward Rarity before the mare could use her magic, then she ran pass them, head down, forcing Sweetie Belle to move out of the way to not be rammed.
She exited the room, cursing Pyrite's name. Rather than going to the stairs to the third floor, she went to Emerald's room to hide in a bundle of scarf like last time.
And like last time, Applejack and the others searched the room and didn't find her before exiting to search in the bathroom. Not finding her there, they went elsewhere. Apple Bloom waited a few seconds, then exited the bundle before looking in the hallway, continuing upon not spotting them. She stopped at the corner in front of the washroom and watched hidden behind the wall.
After a few minutes, Applejack and the others, joined by the rest of the gang, came from the hallway to the third floor and went to the stairs to the first floor. As Apple Bloom expected, they went to search her in the third floor, but not finding her there, they now went to search her in the first floor.
When they disappeared behind the door to the stairs, Apple Bloom continued her way to the third floor, and once here, tested the key on the locked door before the balcony. The door not opening, she went to the balcony where she fought the dragon and spotted another door at the other side. However, before she could reach it, two centaurs appeared with four... bat-winged strange bipedal beings with lion-like manes and tails, each holding a staff.
When she described them to Smart Spirit as she started attacking one of the centaurs while avoiding magical projectiles from the staffs and the second approaching centaur, he answered «Oh! Gargoyles! Of course, where there are centaurs, there are gargoyles. Their two people lived together like earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns live together. But don't worry, they can't drain magic like centaurs. They were more known to forge powerful magical artifacts.»
"Oh, so that's why those ghosts possess magical staffs..."
«Uh... Yeah. These were their main weapons.»
As they talked, the second centaur approached enough to be able to start draining Apple Bloom's magic, and the filly could feel herself weakening. So she put the Poltergust to red and quickly finished capturing the first centaur before targeting the other one, taking a magical projectile that almost propelled her on the side of her barrel.
She quickly finished the centaur before putting the Poltergust back to yellow, then started capturing the gargoyles one by one, the ghosts using their hands to attack her if she got too close. The gargoyles weren't as strong and as heavy as the centaurs, so capturing them was much easier, and before long, the balcony was clear of ghosts.
Until two real ghosts appeared, one a black unicorn stallion with a smiling mask, and the other a white pegasus mare with a frowning mask. The two of them were armed with hammers.
Apple Bloom ran to capture the unicorn first while she described the two ponies to Smart Spirit, and as she activated the Poltergust, he answered «Smiling Mask and Frowning Mask, a brother and sister that were well known in the theater world. However, when they lost popularity, and as a consequence, their career, they started killing other performers that 'stole the spotlight'. Four victims in total before they were killed by the Royal Guards that came to arrest them. They actually managed to kill a guard before that.»
As he talked, Apple Bloom had to stop capturing Smiling Mask as Frowning Mask was attacking her like a savage with her hammer.
"Ah would love to fight a simple thief for once..." said Apple Bloom before activating the Poltergust on the mare.
«Thieves are probably cowering in the dark to not risk being captured by the Poltergust. And anyway, they are thieves, not killers, so the majority of them aren't the kind to attack somepony. Well, not now that they're dead and that they don't need to steal anymore.»
Seeing the stallion fly at her from behind, hammer ready, Apple Bloom slammed Frowning Mask on him before trapping the both of them in the vortex. As they started struggling to escape, she immediately pulled down to slam them on the floor, stunning them enough for Apple Bloom to finish them.
No more ghosts appeared, letting Apple Bloom to go to the door and unlock it, entering another dark hallway with only one door at both sides, near the end. Some ghost mice, bats, and a donkey later, Apple Bloom opened the door at her left, entering a huge room with many old chests and other old objects stored in here. The attic.
Apple Bloom slowly advanced among the piles of antiquities until she felt the air becoming cold. Despite the cold, she was starting to sweat in terror, recognizing what this sudden cold may mean.
Oh, Celestia... Please, no...
A familiar shriek confirmed her fear.
And it was coming right from behind her.
Quickly turning around, she saw a wraith behind her, a scythe raised. Apple Bloom immediately rolled forward, avoiding the swing of the scythe, before turning around and trapping the wraith in the vortex.
«Don't tell me you are fighting a wraith again!»
"Okay, Ah won't tell!"
Like the first wraith, this one used dark magic to try to escape, but Apple Bloom now knew the trick, and so, she was able to avoid that with some quick moving and jumping, using the objects around to help, until suddenly, some objects started floating before being thrown at her, forcing her to release the wraith to dodge. Another wraith then appeared, objects floating around it.
"Two wraiths?!"
«Say what?!»
The second wraith threw the objects one after another at her, and Apple Bloom ran to it, avoiding them and the occasional beam of dark magic, using covers when necessary, before activating the Poltergust once she was close enough.
As she was capturing the second wraith, she spotted movements in the corner of her eyes, and saw the first wraith about to attack her shadow. She quickly turned her head, and so, her flashlight, to light her shadow, making it go elsewhere, to the wraith's frustration. But because of this, she didn't see the big bag thrown at her by the second wraith, and she was thrown backward because of it, saving the second wraith from the capture.
Recovering, she saw the first wraith going after her shadow again, and turned off the flashlight to plunge the room in total darkness and force the wraith out like last time. Except that light still came from the big window in the room, and Apple Bloom could do nothing about it. So she quickly looked around, and ran in the shadow of one of the piles of objects, its shadow covering hers.
So the first wraith couldn't attack her shadow anymore, but the second one was still throwing objects and dark magic spells at her, and she couldn't approach it unless she made her shadow vulnerable to the first one again. But she looked at the different piles of objects in the room and understood that if she ran from shadow to shadow, she could approach the wraith and limit the time of vulnerability. So she did it, and she was able to approach and capture the second wraith without the first one being able to do anything to her.
But as she captured the wraith, Shadow ghosts appeared to help the other one who still wouldn't come out of its shadow form, so she was forced to capture them while making sure to avoid remaining out of the shadows too long. But eventually, three minotaurs appeared and started wrecking the piles of objects, reducing the number of hiding spots rather quickly. So she rapidly went to capture them, lighting her shadow with the flashlight when necessary.
With her caution, she was able to capture all the Shadow ghosts without her shadow being attacked once, but she did get herself a couple of punches and a magical beam on the face, and a fat pony managed to trip her on a banana peel, thankfully in the shadow of a pile.
With the last of the ghosts gone, Apple Bloom returned to the shadow of a pile for the first wraith to come out, which it did after a few seconds, and she went to capture it. Despite some dark crystals almost impaling her, she was able to get it.
But the key didn't appear...
But she didn't understand! The cold was disappearing, so no wraith was remaining! So... Was there a ghost hidden somewhere in this room?
Maybe in the chests?
She started opening them, and when she opened the second, a dark green furred, black maned earth pony stallion jumped out of it shouting "Boooo!"
Apple Bloom looked at the ghost, blinking, then in the chest, seeing the body of the stallion who, judging by its expression, was literally scared to death. She looked back at the ghost, raising an eyebrow. "Sorry to say, but if ya tried to give me a heart attack, ya failed.”
The stallion stared at her in surprise. "Boo?"
Apple Bloom sighed. "Ya're really not living up t'yer name, y'know... Come on, even Ah'm better than that. Ah'll show ya what it's to really be scary. Go to the center of the room." She smirked. "Ah'll show ya the result of mah Nightmare Nights."
"Boo?"
"Just go already!"
The ghost followed her order and flew to the center of the room. However, when he turned around, he couldn't see Apple Bloom anymore, and he started looking around.
Then, he heard a childish giggle to his left, and he turned, only to see nothing. Hoofsteps were heard behind him, and again, he turned, only seeing a few objects falling. Again he heard the childish giggle, then heard something tap one of the pillars in the room, before he saw an old doll sliding on the floor. He felt something behind him, only to see nothing when he turned, only seeing a shadow in the corner of his eye. Again, he felt something behind him, hearing again the childish giggle, and he started moving back toward his chest while looking left and right.
He reached his chest, and turned to open it and enter it, but then, on it, a light turned on, illuminating Apple Bloom's face before she screamed "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The ghost yelled in terror, before falling on his back, stopping moving.
Apple Bloom looked down at the immobile ghost, then asked, "Prof? It's possible t'give a heart attack to a ghost? Ah think that's what Ah just did."
«That was what the screaming was about, huh? So, wait, you actually managed to...? Who?»
"Jump Scare."
...
She could hear Smart Spirit burst into laughter and falling from his chair as a result. Apple Bloom soon followed him, falling from the chest as she rolled in laughter.
"W-wow! M-maybe Ah'd try to get mah Cutie Mark in jumpscaring!"
«If you were able to scare a ghost like that, then you may actually get it!»
Once Apple Bloom calmed enough, she captured the poor ghost and took the key that appeared. She tested it on the door in the wall at the left of the entrance, at the opposite side of the room, only for it to remain locked, to her surprise. So she exited the room and tested the key on the door across the hallway.
It opened.
Apple Bloom entered a room full of armors, weapons, shields bearing the emblem of the Gem family, and chests and crates probably containing more things military concerned.
And almost immediately, the armors started moving, walking slowly toward her, taking weapons and shields in their magic. With her only having a bat and a shear to defend herself, Apple Bloom knew that she wouldn't stand a chance in a close fight. Thankfully, she could count on her Poltergust.
Putting it to red, she targeted the nearest armor, made it float in the vortex, and sent it toward another armor, turning the two of them into piles of armor pieces from which two Shadow unicorn ghosts came out. She did the same with the other armors, destroying all of them, each time causing an unicorn ghost to come out. Just after coming out, the ghosts would take back their weapons and shield before approaching Apple Bloom again, firing some magical beams. When the last armor was destroyed, the filly quickly turned to the nearest ghost, put the vacuum back to yellow, dodged the swing of its sword, and trapped it in the Poltergust's vortex along with another one. However, she had to give up their capture as she was getting surrounded, and she ran out of the circle of ghosts, using the vortex to scare two ghosts into letting her pass. Once she was out, she finished capturing those two ghosts, then went to the others, capturing them by small groups until they were all gone.
But then, the room became cold, and some pieces of armor started floating before a wraith appeared, putting on the armor before taking a sword and a shield. When Apple Bloom activated the Poltergust, the wraith resisted, putting its shield in front, before charging at her to ram her with it. The filly quickly rolled out of the way, then took herself one of the shields on the floor. But it was far too big for her, so she placed the Poltergust on the floor and placed the shield on her back before taking the handle of the vacuum. When the wraith swung its sword at her, she turned around to get her back to it, using the shield to protect herself, before she turned again to face the wraith and activate the Poltergust.
Like before, the wraith charged at her with its shield, and Apple Bloom spun, using her own shield to not only stop it but also to get it out of the way. She then thrusted the handle of the Poltergust just in front of the wraith's hood and activated it. Because the handle was too close, the wraith couldn't place its shield to do another charge. But it then pointed its sword at her, and from it, it shot a beam of dark magic at her. Apple Bloom saw it coming, and quickly spun again to protect herself from it with the shield while pulling on the handle to slam the wraith on the floor, making it drop its weapon and its shield. The beam still managed to destroy her shield, propelling her forward a little, but she was able to keep her balance, and after a few more seconds, the wraith was captured.
"Prof, Ah don't like it. Ah just captured a third wraith."
«You are right, it's bad. No, wait, it's awesome that you captured another one, but three wraiths in two rooms? Seems like those cloaked ghosts didn't idle while you were resting. I fear that there will be more. You should quickly continue before another comes.»
Agreeing, Apple Bloom took the key that appeared and used it to open the door in the wall just at the right of the entrance, entering a room full of jars and vases among many crates, with the chimney to the room where she fought Diamond Cup at the right.
When she advanced a little, a long red appendage suddenly came out of one of the jars to wrap itself around her hind legs before it started dragging her. Not wanting to know what awaited her if she reached this jar, Apple Bloom grabbed the handle of the Poltergust and activated it. The appendage unwrapped itself from Apple Bloom to get away from the vortex, and after some struggle, it was able to escape the vortex and to enter the jar.
The next instant, eight appendages came out of eight jars and vases. Looking in fright at the tentacles coming at her, Apple Bloom ran to one of the jars and gave it a powerful buck, destroying it. The appendage that was coming out of this jar fell on the floor, twitching, and Apple Bloom quickly sucked it up before she was wrapped by one of the other tentacles. Despite being wrapped, she turned the Poltergust to another tentacle and pressed the button, trapping it. Then, she violently pulled on the handle, lifting the vase from which came the tentacle before slamming it on the jar of the tentacle wrapping her, destroying the two and dropping the two tentacles to the floor. She quickly sucked them up too.
But now, all five remaining tentacles came at her at once from all around. Quickly looking at the tentacles in panic, Apple Bloom activated the Poltergust after putting it to red, and started spinning. She caught all the tentacles one after another in the vortex, and after more spinning, threw them against a wall, destroying all the jars and vase. Not only it caused the tentacles to drop, but it also revealed the ghost's main body coming from one of the jars: a rather big red octopus. One by one, the tentacles connected back to its body, and the three that Apple Bloom had sucked up reappeared before it used them to rise and turn toward her.
The octopus then spat blobs after blobs of ink at her as she started to run to avoid them. She grabbed one of the remaining jars and used it to protect herself from the ink while approaching. Getting too close, the octopus sent its tentacles at her, but Apple Bloom threw away the jar and activated the Poltergust on the tentacles, and once they were all caught in the vortex, she pulled, and slammed the octopus on the floor again, and again, and again, until it was captured.
Taking a few breaths, Apple Bloom spoke, "Ah never thought Ah'd end up catching the ghost of an octopus."
«Of all the things, an octopus, really?»
"Eeyup."
Apple Bloom took the key that appeared and returned in the room where she fought the two wraiths to test it on the locked door she couldn't open earlier. It still didn't work.
She had to fight another wraith before exiting the room, then as she traversed the balcony, she fought a group of five manticores before returning to the other hallway with the remaining locked door. The key also didn't work on it.
"What? Wait..." Apple Bloom rubbed her head. "Ya mean this key opens one of the doors in the basement? But, Ah haven't finished the third floor!"
«Isn't Pyrite somewhere on the third floor? Maybe Little Ghost doesn't intend for you to fight him yet.»
"If there's one locked room remaining, Ah'd understand, but there're two rooms left, so what's in the other room?"
«I don't know, but I have a bad feeling.»
Deciding to stop thinking about this, Apple Bloom started descending the floors of the manor to go to the basement. On the second floor, however, as she passed beside the door to the room where she first fought the phoenixes, it suddenly opened, and out of the room came Pinkie, Twilight, Spike, and Fluttershy.
Immediately, Apple Bloom ran back to the third floor, followed by Twilight and the others repeating their "Join us!" As she opened the door to the trophy room, she found Pinkie just in front of her, again wearing a helmet
"I will not let you get away this time! Join us!" she shouted, ready to grab Apple Bloom.
"There's a cake behind ya!"
"Really?! Where?!" Pinkie shouted as she looked behind to see where was the cake. But then, she felt Apple Bloom grab her tail before dragging her to the center of the room. The filly then started spinning, and when Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike came to the door, she threw Pinkie at them, doing a strike!
Apple Bloom quickly ran to the balcony after that, and like the previous time, she used one of the vines created by the deers in the battle to slide to the courtyard. Looking around to see if nopony was here, she then ran to the door leading to the first floor hallway. She entered the room with the instruments when she spotted Applejack approaching from the foyer, and once she disappeared toward the second floor, she ran to the stairs to the basement.
The basement, still as gloomy as Apple Bloom remembered from the little she had seen from it, which was just the little corridor going from the stairs to the two locked doors.
The key opened the one to the right, leading her to a rather big and dreary room full of crates and barrels forming small paths. Rapidly, three fat ponies appeared with two pegasi and two griffons, the fat ponies starting to fill the paths with banana peels, obviously to make sure that Apple Bloom would slip on them if she ever passed by those paths while being dragged by the pegasi and griffons. When she saw this, however, she quickly targeted the fat ponies while avoiding the attacks of the other ghosts.
When two of the fat ponies were captured, some phoenixes appeared, as well as some mice, and a swarm of parasprites. Avoiding the paths more or less filled with the banana peels, she sucked some of the mice and a phoenix before targeting the approaching swarm, capturing a griffon by the same occasion. After capturing a pegasus and finishing the mice, a cow appeared and jumped on her, while some buffalo also appeared to charge along the paths, not leaving the filly anywhere to dodge. So she jumped back to avoid the cow, waited for the buffalo to approach, then activated the Poltergust, trapping both the cow and one of the buffalos in the vortex.
When both the cow and the buffalo were captured, quickly followed by the last fat pony, the room suddenly became cold, announcing the arrival of a wraith. Looking back and forth along the path she was currently in, she captured some phoenixes, and another buffalo along with the last pegasus, leaving a griffon, a buffalo, and three phoenixes in the room. She eventually spotted the wraith, only it was already in its shadow form, advancing toward her shadow. She could already turn off her flashlight, but with the phoenixes, there would still be light, so if she wanted to get the wraith out of the shadow, she had to deal with the birds first.
She ran away from the wraith and quickly captured the last buffalo and the last griffon before jumping on some barrels. Looking to see if the wraith was far enough, she started moving on the walls formed by the barrels and the crates to capture the birds one by one. As soon as the last phoenix was captured, she jumped back in one of the small paths, and turned off the flashlight. When she saw a purple aura appear, showing the wraith's presence, now out of the shadow form, she quickly ran behind some crates to avoid the resulting beam of dark magic, used the brief light given by it to use again the barrels to climb on the 'walls', then turned on the flashlight to spot the wraith. Upon spotting it, she ran on the wall toward it, then jumped back in the path just in front of it before pressing the button. As the wraith struggled, before it could fire some dark magic, Apple Bloom slammed it on the floor, then slammed it again, before capturing it.
With no other ghosts coming, the key appeared. Apple Bloom took it and used it to open the other door across the hallway. The room it led to was a little like the big one in the third floor where she fought the two wraiths, but tidier, the objects here being on shelves, along with a few barrels, crates, and bags. However, for some reason, there was a large fence blocking the path along with one of the shelves, forcing Apple Bloom to do a detour to reach the exit door in the wall at the right. And for some reason, there were also several piles of dust on the way, but thankfully, Apple Bloom didn't mind being dusty.
However, those piles of dust revealed to be really annoying when earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, all armed with spears, appeared to attack, along with some mice again, becoming obstacles hindering her ability to swiftly reach the ghosts or to avoid their attacks.
Yes, she could suck the dust with the Poltergust, but the vacuum wasn't made for that, so it would only expel the dust by the vent.
Again, a wraith appeared too, but thanks to the lack of space and the fact she was in the middle of the path by then, she was quickly able to reach it and trap it, and after a few slamming into some nearby ghosts, she captured it before it could do anything. The filly rapidly finished the remaining ghosts before taking the key that fell on one of the piles.
"Ya know, prof, Ah'm starting to get good at capturing those wraiths."
«Well, after six wraiths, I wouldn't expect less. I was searching for an apprentice, but at this point, I should as well call you 'master'. Ohohohohohoh!»
Apple Bloom giggled before opening the exit, entering another hallway with two more doors in the opposite wall, and another at the very end. This one possessed a lock rather different from all the others, decorated with a skull inside a pentacle.
Apple Bloom easily guessed that it was the door to the room where Bogmire had been sealed, and so, the door to her final destination, where Little Ghost was waiting for her.
After fighting more mice, as well as two donkeys and a hippogriff, Apple Bloom found out that the key opened the door just across the hallway, and she entered a frozen room, everything here covered in ice, with a few crates and shelves. There were even stalactites in the ceiling!
And in the opposite corner was a white unicorn stallion in warm clothes sitting beside his frozen corpse: Zircon. The room was so cold that Apple Bloom was already shaking as if it was winter, so she decided to quickly capture the stallion and get out of here. However, Zircon spotted her, and breathed a stream of ice at her. When Apple Bloom tried to run to escape, she slipped on the ice covering the floor and slammed face first against the wall.
And to make things worse, a wraith with a sword appeared before firing a beam of dark magic at her. Not losing time rubbing her face, she rolled to escape the beam, causing her to slide again on the ice, passing near the wraith who prepared its sword. But while sliding, she pointed the Poltergust at the wraith and trapped it before letting it drag her on the ice to escape another stream of ice from Zircon. Once close enough of the stallion, Apple Bloom then slammed the wraith on him to stop him from breathing ice before she trapped the both of them in the vortex. The wraith disappeared first and was quickly followed by Zircon.
But two more wraiths appeared, the two quickly arming themselves with crystal claws. Apple Bloom used the first wraith's sword to help herself to get up on the ice before she used it to propel herself between the two wraith as they fired their dark magic. While passing between them, Apple Bloom trapped one of the wraiths in a vortex, and quickly slammed it on the other wraith to stop it from attacking before she went too far. She then quickly put the Poltergust to red to finish the wraith before she went to the other. The wraith started to sink in the floor to turn into its shadow form, but the filly was able to stop it by trapping it in a vortex, and after a couple of slams, it was captured too.
Apple Bloom quickly took the key before exiting the room, hoping she would not get sick after this room.
However, she barely got out of the room that she was attacked by another wraith. By reflex, she was able to turn and trap it before it could swing its scythe, and she stopped it from sending a beam by slamming it on the floor before capturing it.
She looked many times at both sides of the hallway, then upon spotting nothing, breathed in relief.
"Make it ten, prof."
«Ten wraiths in one night, and the number's still growing. I'm ready to bet that by the end, you will have captured twenty, at least.»
"Twenty? Ah doubt. There aren't many rooms left. Ah'm thinking closer to fifteen."
«You got four wraiths in just one room.»
"Point taken."
Apple Bloom used the key to open the other locked door in the hallway (without counting the one leading to Little Ghost) and entered a room full of shelves with papers. Surprisingly, only one wraith and one earth pony attacked her in this room. Apple Bloom simply used the method that worked very well until now: she trapped the wraith, slammed it on the earth pony, trapped the two, and captured them.
And just two hours ago, she peed on herself facing her first wraith. It's surprising how much can change in so little time.
After grabbing the key, Apple Bloom remembered what Smart Spirit asked her previously and went to see the papers, thinking that those may be the archives. After some reading, rather hard since it was in Old Equestrian, she confirmed it: this room was the archive room. She immediately started the process of sending the papers to the prof.
«Are those what I think they are?!»
"Eeyup! The archives, like ya asked!"
«Wonderful! Be sure to miss none!»
Apple Bloom giggled as she continued to send the papers. After many minutes, the room was emptied, and Apple Bloom exited it.
"Well, Ah already cleaned the basement. I thought that it would have been the last. Time to return to the third floor then."
However, her trip to the third floor was everything but calm. Already, in the basement hallway, she had to face another wraith. Then, in the room before the stairs, she encountered a serial killer named Lumberjack. Like his name implied, he was a lumberjack who hated ponies entering what he considered his forest, and so he cut with his axe any ponies he encountered in it. Of course, he tried to cut Apple Bloom into shreds with his axe, but as soon as he approached too much, the filly activated the Poltergust and captured him.
Another serial killer was met on the stairs to the first floor, a griffon this time, who simply murdered ponies because "They should be at the bottom, and yet, they're at the top!"
It's a wonder she hadn't encountered more supremacist speciesists.
On the first floor, she had to go from closet to closet to avoid Applejack and the others doing some rounds, and Pinkie ended up again being bonked on the head after Apple Bloom thrust her bat in her belly and took off her helmet. She then quickly hid Pinkie in a closet before the others could spot them, and once nopony was there anymore, she climbed to the second floor.
Here, she had to enter the room where she fought her first wraith to avoid Rainbow Dash, where she ended up fighting two other wraiths along with a cockatrice. The cockatrice being the more dangerous; she captured it first before fighting the wraiths.
She easily reached the third floor after that, still having to fight a wraith and two zebras in the trophy room. She learned by the way what it was like to be as old as Granny Smith... Not fun...
She tested the key on the locked door in the first hallway, and when it didn't work, she traversed the balcony, having to fight this time an old captain of the Royal Guard which was also a noble, named Diamond Sword, who didn't hesitate to use his position to oppress lower class ponies and even outright kill some ponies and above all non-ponies just because they crossed his path. Let's just say that he didn't remain captain of the guard for long.
Two other wraiths faced her in the second hallway, and three others in the room where she encountered Jump Scare. While she was easily able to capture the first two with the now usual method, the third was able to turn into its shadow form, forcing Apple Bloom to use the same method as the previous time she was in this room to get it out of the shadow and capture it.
"And this makes twenty."
«Told you.»
Apple Bloom used the key to open the locked door in this room, entering a room as large as the previous one, but not as big, with a big door leading to what seemed to be a tower, and like the previous one, it was filled with objects. However, they were all trapped inside little domes of glass, and looking at them made her fur stand on end. Either those objects were cursed, or haunted. Seeing in the corner of her eyes a doll move its head alone, then she would lean to haunted, and since they were inside domes of glass, probably by evil spirits.
"Prof? Is trapping objects haunted by evil spirits under glass all we can do to deal with them?"
«Only if the ghost in the object is bound to it and too powerful for the object to be destroyed or for the ghost to be exorcised. When an object is haunted, or possessed as we also say, the ghost in it, if he's evil, can cause misfortune, illness, and even death to the ones owning them, or to ponies simply passing beside them. And if they can't be forced out, then there's no other choice than to trap them in a small prison with some powerful wards. I'm actually trying to find a way to force them out, and those archives you sent to me will certainly help me greatly.»
"Mmh... This may be problematic..." Apple Bloom suddenly heard from her left. With a small "Eep!", she jumped to her right while looking at the origin of the voice, which was none other than Little Ghost, rubbing her chin in thought. "I want you to clean the manor of all the meanies, but if you can't do anything to them, then you will not be able to clean everything. Well, let me help." With a wave of her hooves, all the glass domes were suddenly destroyed. All the objects then started floating before, with another wave, they were destroyed too. Now, seventeen ghosts were filling the room without counting Little Ghost. With a giggle, Little Ghost waved goodbye to Apple Bloom, said "Good luck," and disappeared.
Apple Bloom sighed. "Prof, Ah found a solution: becoming friend with a more powerful ghost."
«Of course! Why didn't I think of this?!»
The seventeen ghosts in the room, the majority of them ponies, but also two zebras and a griffon, turned toward her, ready to give her a bad time, and the totality of the glass shards and of the remains of the objects started floating. Apple Bloom quickly opened the door to the previous room and hid behind the wall as a barrage of projectiles was sent at her. After a few seconds, the sound of objects hitting the wall and the sight of them passing through the entrance stopped, and she looked in the room to see the ghosts approaching, some of them already recuperating the projectiles. She immediately put the Poltergust to red and ran in the room, sucking up the ghosts one after another without stopping, targeting in priority the ones levitating projectiles. She didn't hesitate to slam ghosts multiple times on other ghosts, and before long, the seventeen ghosts were captured, and a key a little bigger than the others appeared, certainly opening the big door.
"Well, prof, ya'll have a lotta ghosts to place in the red crystal once Ah come back."
«Frankly, I didn't think that I would have to fill the red crystal so much.»
As Apple Bloom thought, the big key opened the big door, revealing a spiral staircase going right to the roof!
"Guess what, prof, Ah think Ah'm going to the roof."
«So there's an entrance to the roof? If it is like with the balcony, then prepare for a big battle.»
"Yeah..."
Slowly, Apple Bloom started to climb the stairs, and after half a minute of climbing, she reached another door. Pushing it open, she walked on the roof, exiting a little tower with the pointy roof she had spotted when approaching the manor. The area of the roof was, as predicted, the biggest one of the manor, with many small pillars, and a chimney at both sides of the tower, Apple Bloom guessing that the one at the left went to the room where she fought Diamond Cup, while the other one either went to the locked room of the third floor, or the barred room of the second floor.
She advanced to the center of the roof.
And then... all Tartarus broke loose.
It started with ten earth ponies, ten pegasi, and ten unicorns appearing at the same time, quickly followed by two wraiths. Apple Bloom ran to the closest wraith and trapped it before using it to slam the surrounding ghosts while doing some small bounces to avoid the magical beams. She made sure to have a pillar between her and the other wraith so it couldn't target her with its dark magic beam that spawn crystals. As soon as she captured the first wraith, she went to capture the other, only to see that it took its shadow form, and with the moon lighting the area, there was no way for her to make it completely dark and force it to return to normal. So instead, she remained in the shadow of one of the pillars and started capturing the other ghosts, spinning and slamming them repeatedly, turning their number against them. After a moment, the other wraith had waited enough and came out of the shadow to attack, giving Apple Bloom the occasion to go and capture it.
However, as she started capturing it, another wraith appeared with two dozens more ghosts: six earth ponies, two pegasi, three unicorns, three fat ponies, six griffons, and four donkeys. And from then, it was an avalanche of ghosts. Each time that Apple Bloom captured some, more appeared, with armed ghosts, elemental ghosts, armored ghosts, zebras, hippogriffs, diamond dogs, and minotaurs joining the fight. But after capturing a fifth wraith, the evil ghosts left their place to three real pony ghosts armed with knives that would sneak behind Apple Bloom to try to open her throat. But since the filly wasn't stopping spinning to slams ghosts on each other, it didn't work, and before long, two of them were captured.
A pegasus soldier from the time of the three tribes then appeared armed with a crossbow, remaining out of range while firing arrows at her. Frowning at the pegasus, Apple Bloom continued capturing the ghosts that appeared while covering behind the pillars, eventually capturing the last knife ghost. When the deers appeared and started sprouting vines from all around the manor to attack her, she saw her chance. Using the shear to cut some vines, she ran away from the ghosts to gain some space, hiding behind the chimney at the left, and tied the vines into a lasso. Once it was ready, she ran as close as possible to the pegasus while avoiding the other ghosts, and threw the lasso, successfully wrapping the crossbow. She then pulled hard, and the pegasus was slammed on the floor on a deer. Apple Bloom then promptly captured the two of them.
With the ghosts still numerous, Apple Bloom put the Poltergust to red before targeting the deers in priority. However, when a zebra was able to hit her with a potion, turning her into a rabbit, she was forced to go capture this one. But the zebra played smart and flew further to avoid being captured while laughing. Frowning, Apple Bloom put the Poltergust to green, and trapped the ghosts to force them to drag the Poltergust toward the zebra while she was holding the handle. But the zebra wasn't letting her approach, continuing to avoid her, and with the ghosts not always dragging her where she wanted, it may take a while to reach it.
Things got bad when a new wraith appeared among the ghosts, and she was starting to sweat. But then, she was hit by the potion of another zebra, and again, she was transformed, this time into an old mare, again. She would grit her teeth both at the transformation and at her back now hurting her if she still had them, but resisting the pain, she quickly took the Poltergust, put it to red and turned to the zebra that just transformed her before activating the vacuum just before it could fly out of range. When the zebra was captured, she was back to normal, and she immediately jumped away to avoid the dark beam of the wraith and the crystals that appeared as a result.
She did some more running and bouncing to avoid punches, beams, spears, and vines before doing a quick spin to capture many ghosts around her. With fewer ghosts circling her, she returned to the shadow of the left chimney at the corner of the roof, where she camped, waiting for the ghosts to approach before capturing them. But when two other wraiths appeared beside the first one, she ran to them to use her slamming tactic, trapping a first wraith before quickly slamming it on the two others. As they were dazed, the three of them were then trapped and captured.
Now, cows, yaks, buffaloes, centaurs, and gargoyles appeared among the ghosts, as well as an earth pony mare looking like a mad scientist riding a giant buffed monster of a pony that seemed to be made of different body parts to make it look like a very buffed alicorn with two screws on the head, the claws of dragons instead of forehoofs, and the tail of a manticore. On its back, the mad scientist cackled before ordering the monster to crush Apple Bloom.
Thankfully, it was slow, and its magical beams were easy to dodge if far enough, so Apple Bloom decided for a first moment to avoid it to capture all the deers, zebras, and centaurs that had appeared until now. The real ghost of a young teenage dragon also appeared to join in the fun, starting to breathe fire at her while flying around. Once the last centaur (for now) disappeared in the pipe of the vacuum, she looked at the flying dragon and at the monster pony approaching her. She dodged the fire of the dragon with a quick side jump, then trapped him in the Poltergust's vortex before slamming him on the monster.
The monster barely moved when the dragon slammed on it, and even when Apple Bloom activated the Poltergust on them, it was as if the vortex was doing nothing on it, when both the dragon and the mad mare on its back were eventually captured, the mare losing grip after a moment. Since the machine was on red, Apple Bloom was regularly forced to take pause to let it cool down, but as soon as she could, she reactivated it, and continued trying to capture the monster while turning around it to avoid the claws, the beams, and the scorpion tail.
After a long minute of trying to capture the monster while occasionally capturing other ghosts, including another wraith that appeared, the monster was finally captured when its forelegs were literally ripped from its ghostly body by the vortex, making it lose enough strength that the Poltergust was able in the following seconds to get it.
After this monster, a few more wraiths and ghosts of bad ponies more classic appeared along with all the ghosts she encountered until now, and for what felt like hours, but what was in reality just two minutes, the battle continued with ghosts endlessly appearing.
Until they stopped appearing.
Apple Bloom captured the remaining ghosts, finishing with the ghost of an earth pony trying to kill her by firing poisoned darts with a blowgun. Silence returned on the roof, but seeing no key appearing, Apple Bloom looked around her, searching for any remaining ghosts, or waiting for new ones to appear.
Then, a chimera appeared, but this time, the tiger head had the fire element, the goat head had the ice element, and the snake had the lightning element. The three heads fired elemental projectiles at her, and she jumped behind a pillar to protect herself from them before running from pillar to pillar toward them. When she approached too much, the chimera jumped around the pillar behind which she was hidden and tried to claw her. Apple Bloom side jumped to dodge it, then rolled to avoid a lightning bolt from the snake before activating the Poltergust. Since it was put to red, the chimera couldn't resist the vortex as well, but it still attacked the filly with everything it could, so Apple Bloom started to run around it. The chimera then spun around, sweeping the floor with the snake-tail, and Apple Bloom was hit and propelled backward, releasing the beast. But Apple Bloom quickly recovered and ran back to the chimera while jumping left and right to avoid the elemental projectiles.
But then, one after another, an alicorn appeared, then some weird fusion between a bee and a panda, then a sea serpent wrapping itself around the little tower, then a big three-headed dog like Cerberus, and finally, a roc, the giant bird flying around while shrieking.
Apple Bloom looked around at all those powerful ghosts, gulping. "Pyrite's sending his big cards..."
«Is it a bucking roc that I can see from the lab?»
"Eeyup..."
She ran behind a pillar to avoid more projectiles from the chimera, only to see the alicorn charge magic on its horn. Panicking, the filly started to run again, just in time to avoid a huge magical laser, then jumped back to avoid an as huge stream of water spat by the sea serpent. Seeing the panda-bug-thing approach her with its dart ready, Apple Bloom quickly turned to face it before pressing the button, trapping it in the vortex. In return, the panda started flying around, dragging the filly behind it in the air without problems, unknowingly saving her from the three-headed dog that had been about to bite her. While in the air, the ghosts weren't able to hit her with their projectiles, the filly moving too much, but she was now at the mercy of the roc who was starting to fly toward her, claws ready to catch her.
So she let herself fall back on the roof just beside the alicorn, which she immediately trapped. Without surprise, even if the alicorn was the less strong-looking ghost of the bunch, it was still able to drag her around easily. But this one wasn't as heavy! So when Apple Bloom saw the dog approaching again, she slammed the alicorn one, two, three, four times on it! But before she could trap the both of them, she had to hide again behind a pillar to not be hit by the elemental projectiles of the chimera and the stream of water of the sea serpent. The alicorn took the occasion to fly away, while the dog recovered and attacked her.
Having no choice, she targeted the dog, but like the chimera, it was more or less able to resist the vortex while attacking her with its claws and its three heads. When she saw the roc and the panda approach from the air, she ran away from the dog and went to hide again in the corner beside the left chimney where the roc had to fly back up. The panda was however able to reach her, but Apple Bloom was prepared, and trapped it again, and this time, it didn't resist long before it was caught. Of course, before that, it dragged her out of her hiding place, and she was again targeted by the other ghosts.
The roc landed beside her, and she ran away to not be caught by its beak, still using the pillars as covers to protect herself from any projectiles. But the roc followed her, and the alicorn then dived at her with a halberd. Dodging the weapon with a roll, she trapped again the alicorn, jumped to avoid the roc's beak, then slammed the alicorn on the head of the bird. The alicorn was finally captured just after.
Rather than attacking the roc, she ran to the chimera next, the dog chasing her. Seeing her approaching, the chimera jumped at her, tiger head ready to bite. Apple Bloom rolled to the side, then placed the end of the Poltergust in the path of the goat head as it was about to ram her before activating it. The snake thrust itself to bite her, and Apple Bloom rolled again before seeing the dog now beside the chimera. So she released the button, then pressed it again to trap the two beasts in a single vortex, before she started circling the chimera, forcing the dog to circle it too to reach her while the chimera attacked again. Like previously, the chimera eventually spun to sweep her with its snake-tail, but this time, Apple Bloom jumped, and instead, the tail hit the dog on its forelegs, tripping it. But then, Apple Bloom saw a shadow covering her, and looking up, she saw the sea serpent about to crush her with one of its claws. Acting quickly, she jumped away while dragging the tripped dog at her place, the sea serpent crushing it instead.
Thanks to this, both the chimera and the three-headed dog were captured almost at the same time, and Apple Bloom turned to the sea serpent as it tried to crush her again. Behind her, the roc was also coming. Trapped between the two giants, Apple Bloom dodged the serpent's claw before running toward the roc. The giant bird tried again to eat her, so she did a quick roll to avoid its beak before she activated the Poltergust. Trapped in the vortex, the roc took flight, taking the filly in the air with it. The bird flew low to try to slam her against the pillars, but the filly used her legs to bounce away from them, also dodging a stream of water from the sea serpent this way. However, Apple Bloom eventually had to release the bird as the Poltergust was about to overheat.
She immediately hid behind the right chimney so she didn't have to constantly dodge the serpent's attack while waiting for the Poltergust to cool down, keeping an eye on the roc. Clearly annoyed, the roc revealed that it possessed the lightning element, and it started shooting lightning at her, forcing her to run. Eventually finding herself again between the two ghosts, she targeted the sea serpent, forcing it to try to crush her again with its claws. After dodging its first attempt, she then targeted its claw, turning the Poltergust to green, so when it raised its claw back to it, she released the button as she was sent in the air just as the roc approached. Putting the Poltergust to red, she caught the claw of the sea serpent again, then pulled hard, causing the sea serpent to punch the roc on the head. She then changed target and trapped the roc in the vortex by the head before pulling down with all her strength as she was dropping back on the roof. With the roc dazed by the punch, it couldn't resist the pull as it was still flying forward, and so it ended up headbutting the sea serpent. The roc fell against the little tower beside the stunned sea serpent, and once the Poltergust had cooled down enough, she activated it on the both of them.
Already weakened before. The roc was captured first, but the sea serpent resisted and recovered before attacking again. Apple Bloom dodged claws and streams of water until the serpent finally lost the fight and was captured too.
Breathing heavily, Apple Bloom thought that that was it.
She was wrong.
Behind her, what she recognized were the cloaked ponies who invoked the wraith appeared, excepted they were now twenty forming a large circle. When she heard them mumbling those same words she heard the first time, and a pentacle made of fire appeared in the circle, she immediately charged at them to stop them. However, a big, muscled cloaked pony appeared in front of her, armed with two flails, and he started swinging them at her.
This pony wouldn't let her approach his buddies, so Apple Bloom had no choice but to attack him. She ran back out of the range of the flails, then when the pony approached to attack her again and swung one of his flails, she activated the Poltergust on the flail, catching it in the vortex, and pulled, bringing the ghost to her. She then activated the vacuum on him, and while the stallion was able to drag her and to struggle quite well, even using his flails to attack her even if she was behind him, Apple Bloom was eventually able to capture him.
However, the stallion was able to gain enough time for the others to finish, and in a tornado of clouds of darkness, nine wraiths appeared on the pentacle.
Nine wraiths, each wearing a crown. Three of them were unicorns, three others were pegasi, and the last three were earth ponies. And they were all armed with swords of very high quality.
Despite being now used to wraiths, Apple Bloom couldn't stop herself from shaking at seeing those nine wraiths.
The cloaked ponies bowed to the wraiths, and then the wraiths took their swords and pierced the cloaked ponies one after another to Apple Bloom's surprise. And to her horror, the ghosts of the cloaked ponies pierced by the swords turned into wraiths too! Apple Bloom immediately ran away from them, toward the left extremity of the roof, before she turned around and watched as the nine crowned wraiths finished turning the ghosts.
"Prof, ya didn't tell me wraiths could turn other ghosts into wraiths."
«Because I didn't think that you would see something as horrible as this. Ghosts, even idiot ones, avoid wraiths. And, to be more exact... Anypony killed by a wraith is turned into a wraith, not just ghosts. Who was turned into a wraith?»
"Well, ya remember the cloaked ghosts that invoked the wraiths?"
«Ah...»
"They invoked nine crowned wraiths, and those wraiths used their swords on them."
«Wait wait wait! Did you just say 'nine crowned wraiths'?!»
"Uh... Yeah? Nine crowned wraiths, three of each races of ponies. Ya know anything?"
At this instant, the wraiths turned toward her, and the nine started approaching her, almost forming a line, swords raised in front of their cloaked faces, the twenty newly transformed wraiths following them.
«They are no less than the result of the worst of our history: the time of the pony tribes. Remember how much this time was filled with hatred?»
"Yeah... It even caused the windigos to come."
«Remember how wraiths are born? When not born from being killed by other wraiths, of course.»
"Oh..."
«Exactly. And who were the greatest bearers of hate of that time?»
Apple Bloom gulped. "The leaders of the tribes."
«Exactly. For four generations, this terrible story lasted. The last generation was saved thanks to the Fire of Friendship, but what about the previous ones? Well, they're in front of you. Of the earth pony tribe: Chancellor Earth Quake, known for his earth shaking strength, Chancellor Wild Love, known to make nature obey her at the level of the deers, and Chancellor Titan, known for being one of the tallest ponies of history.» Apple Bloom looked at the three earth pony wraiths, recognizing the taller one as being Titan. Another one looked very muscled, probably Earth Quake. «From the pegasi tribe: Commander Comet, whose speed was as feared as his tendency to charge head first toward his targets like a comet, Commander Calm Wind, who flew like the wind and could fly among a group of enemies and be detected too late, and Commander Eagle Claw, who had one of his hooves replaced by the claw of an eagle with the help of an unicorn -that was before the tribes started hating each other-.» Apple Bloom easily recognized the wraith with an eagle claw among the three pegasi. «From the unicorn tribe: Prince Diamond, which was known to throw gems at his enemies right out of the earth, Prince Sun, who mastered fire like nopony else, and finally, the other who started all this with her need to control everything, Princess Rose, whose grace rivaled her dangerosity and her hate of everything that wasn't an unicorn.» Somehow, Apple Bloom knew that Princess Rose was the wraith in front of the others, who was acting like the leader.
By now, the wraiths had almost reached her, preparing to thrust their swords, and Apple Bloom got ready to press the button.
«They were all powerful ponies when they were alive, and no doubt they still are as wraiths, but... But I don't doubt that you will win this battle! Go get them, Bloom!» Apple Bloom could hear the fear in his voice...
She activated the Poltergust, but the instant she pressed the button, the nine floated backward, avoiding the vortex, while the twenty all charged at the filly, some of them firing beams of dark magic. Apple Bloom rolled and activated the Poltergust on them. With it put to red, half the wraiths were caught in a few seconds while the other escaped and turned into their shadow forms. Seeing this, Apple Bloom quickly ran to the shadow of the chimney.
But then, vines with thorns rose from the earth below and attacked her, and with the shear, she did everything she could to cut them without getting out of the shadow. Then, she felt a sudden cold, and she rolled forward just in time to almost avoid the swing of a sword, only getting a small gash, as a pegasus wraith, certainly Calm Wind, passed almost undetected to her. But before Calm Wind could fly away, Apple Bloom caught it with the Poltergust before slamming it around a few times until it was captured.
But as she captured Calm Wind, one of the vines successfully slapped her out of the shadow of the chimney. Not remaining on the floor to groan in pain, she rolled, avoiding this way some gems thrown at her, before seeing that all the wraiths had returned to their normal form, thankfully. But now, Comet was charging at her, and she couldn't dodge it in time. Rammed by it, she was however able to press the button and trap it before using it to slam some nearby wraiths. When Earth Quake approached, Apple Bloom also tried to slam it, but it dodged before readying itself to smash her with its hoof. Apple Bloom quickly jumped while Comet was finished, and Earth Quake punched the roof instead, causing some cracks to appear as the whole manor shook! Before Apple Bloom could activate the Poltergust on it, it immediately swung its sword at her, and Apple Bloom had to use the handle of the Poltergust to protect herself before she was propelled backward against a pillar by the force of the hit.
She quickly recovered, and she started capturing some nearby normal wraiths before she had to dodge more gems from Diamond, and to dodge again the vines of Wild Love. But then, she saw streams of fire flying around before homing in at her, and she used the Poltergust to suck some of them while she ran to avoid the others. While running, she was able to approach the origin of the fire: Sun. The wraith quickly fired a beam of fire at her, but Apple Bloom rolled behind a pillar, and once the beam stopped, she jumped from behind it to Sun. The wraith tried to float away, but the filly caught it and captured it.
She then felt a deep pain in her left foreleg, and saw now a scratch mark in it. She quickly saw the origin when she saw a wraith in shadow form beside her own shadow, the claw in the shadow letting her recognize who it was. She ran to the shadow of the nearest pillar, only for Titan to attack her, its great size giving it a great range compared to her. She moved her head backward to try to dodge the sword, but it still was able to cut her on the muzzle. Gritting her teeth, she activated the Poltergust and trapped the wraith, but it was a force of nature, so it dragged her out of the shadow of the pillar right into the shadow claw of Eagle Claw, who gave her another scratch against her barrel, with all the deep pain that came with it. Apple Bloom couldn't stop herself from yelling in pain, but she still was able to see Earth Quake approaching. She dodged his roof breaking punch, and spun, slamming Titan against it and sending it right toward Diamond, sending the both of them beyond the edge of the roof.
Titan disappeared in the vacuum just after, and she quickly ran back in the shadow of a pillar to avoid being clawed again. However, the remaining normal wraiths fired dark beams, and she had to run again, catching one of them on the way, leaving five normal wraiths. She first thought to return to the shadow of the left chimney, but she remembered the vines, and knew that she wouldn't be safe here as long as Wild Love wasn't captured. So, she looked around, seeing that three of the normal wraiths had returned to their shadow form while the two remaining continued firing dark beams. By now, dark crystals were littering the roof, giving her less and less place to move. But not thinking about it, she spotted Wild Love, and she ran toward it, dodging beams and vines and making sure to avoid approaching the shadows.
But she saw something coming from her left and quickly lowered her head, almost getting beheaded by a sword floating in the air. Only one wraith remained who could control this sword: Rose. The wraith of the princess was actually not far, simply looking as it used its sword with its magic. The sword attacked again, and again, and Apple Bloom had to use the handle of the Poltergust to protect herself. As the sword was clashing with the pipe, Apple Bloom grabbed it, and planted it in the roof, getting it stuck long enough for her to run toward Wild Love again, avoiding by the same time the attack of one of the shadows who was almost at her.
Wild Love created a cage of vines around itself, but it was no use against the Poltergust! The vortex of the vacuum passed through the holes in the cage and trapped the wraith, and the filly forced it out before slamming it and capturing it. With the threat of the vines gone, Apple Bloom immediately ran to the shadow of the left chimney, only for Earth Quake to intercept her just in front. It took its shadow form and readied its sword, daring her to approach. Apple Bloom hesitated, but with the limited protection that the pillars offered, and the shadow of the right chimney and of the small tower still leaving her vulnerable to projectiles from most of the roof, this shadow was her best chance to protect herself from both the shadows and the beams. So she continued, not stopping from looking at the shadow of Earth Quake.
The shadow swung its sword, and despite Apple Bloom's best attempt to avoid it by jumping back, her shadow still got cut on the face. Putting a hoof with a scream on the painful injury appearing on her face, she still jumped and rolled forward to pass the shadow of Earth Quake and reached the shadow of the chimney before pressing herself against its wall.
Earth Quake was the first to come out of the shadow form before charging at her with its sword, but she easily dodged it before capturing it while the remaining normal wraiths gathered on the little space of the roof from which they could reach her with their dark beams, joined by Diamond. Seeing this, Apple Bloom came out of the shadow of the chimney and quickly captured the gathered wraiths, one after another, targeting in priority any of the wraiths trying to return to shadow form, and using the pillars as cover when necessary. Before long, all that remained were Eagle Claw and Rose.
And again, she saw Eagle Claw's shadow about to claw her, and she quickly rolled away before going to the nearest shadow, forcing the pegasus to come out, the occasion for her to capture it, only leaving Rose.
But suddenly, the sword of Eagle Claw that was at her hooves started floating, and it cut her on the chest before she ran from it, only to see another sword coming at her. It would have beheaded her if Apple Bloom hadn't parried it with the Poltergust. But a third sword came and cut her on the flank.
Before long, she was surrounded and attacked by nine floating swords.
The worst part? While one of them repeatedly attacked her to kill her, forcing her to parry it or to dodge it, the others were attacking only to make her suffer with more and more injuries until she would die of blood loss. And Rose, the wraith manipulating all those swords, remained at the other side of the roof, watching without moving.
What a despicable mare... wraith... whatever!
But again, Apple Bloom could count on the Poltergust! She activated it and spun around, catching the nine swords in the vortex! Continuing spinning for a few seconds, she then released the button, sending the swords beyond the edge of the roof before she started running toward Rose! The wraith visibly panicked and started sending dark beams that the filly dodged by jumping left and right. Rose then tried to turn into a shadow, but too late! Apple Bloom reached it and trapped it in the vortex! And with all the rage she accumulated in this battle, she slammed it on the floor again, and again, and again, andagainandagainandagainandagain...
Until it was gone.
Apple Bloom looked around in fear of more ghosts appearing, but a ladder materializing on the right chimney made her understand that it was over. Sighing in relief, she fell on her side, taking big breaths.
"Ah... did it..."
«I only saw and heard some pieces of the battle from the lab, but I could tell that it was probably the greatest battle in the paranormal world! Knowing that it opposed a filly against an army or ghosts, including many wraiths, makes it even more grandiose! But... you should return to the lab... I heard you scream, and it seemed ugly.»
"Getting mah soul clawed would do that... It hurts, but it's okay, they're only small gashes and scratches. Ah just need a couple of minute to recuperate." She smirked. "And Ah can't leave now. Pyrite's mah next target. He's the only one remaining other than Little Ghost. And he must be very tired now."
«......Good point, but I'm not sure. He may still have a trick up his sleeves.»
Apple Bloom thought for a few seconds. "Do ya've another healing potion?"
«I have a couple more, yes.»
"Then, ya know what? Ah'll go see what I've unlocked with that chimney -a ladder appeared on it- and Ah'll return to the lab to drink a potion. Then Ah'll immediately return to the manor to finish with Pyrite. And only after, Ah'll return to the lab to rest. Deal?"
«Very well...» said Smart Spirit after a sigh.
A few minutes later, Apple Bloom got back up and climbed the ladder, enduring the pain. On the chimney, she looked around, then down the hole. "Wait. Don't tell me Ah've to jump down here!"
"Is there a problem?" asked Little Ghost upon appearing in front of Apple Bloom.
The Apple filly pointed down at the hole. "If Ah jump from here, Ah'll break a leg! Or Ah may even die!"
Little Ghost tilted her head. "Really? You can die from falling from too high?"
Apple Bloom facehoofed. "Eeyup..."
Little Ghost giggled. "Then let me help you!"
The next instant, Apple Bloom started floating before slowly dropping down the chimney. Before long, she reached the bottom, entering a big room.
A big room with many big piles of gold and gems, some of those piles reaching the roof!
Apple Bloom's jaw dropped, looking in silent awe at this for a whole minute before she spoke, "Prof... Prepare yerself..."
«For what?»
Apple Bloom approached the pile, only for a Shadow earth pony to appear and try to stop her, but the filly had no problems capturing it.
A key appeared.
Apple Bloom rose an eyebrow in surprise. "That's all? Pyrite must be really tired."
Like she did in the secret room, Apple Bloom put the purse at the place of the crystal in the Poltergust and started sucking up the gold coins, hearing a surprised gasp from Smart Spirit.
«You found more coins?»
"Ah found a whole room full of them and gems! And Ah think it's the barred room in the second floor!"
«Ohohoh! It must be where Pyrite assembled all the wealth of the Gem family that he could find! This explains why the room was barred.»
"And it explains why Ah had t'fight a whole army t'reach it. And this key Ah found here probably opens the door to Pyrite's room."
Apple Bloom passed the following minutes emptying the room of all coins and gems, giggling at Smart Spirit's more and more shocked voice as his lab was getting full. Some more ghosts tried to stop her, but they were quickly captured. By the time she was finished, she was wondering if there was still enough place in the lab for her.
And she also wondered if the prof now was the richest pony of Equestria.
But now, she had to exit the room, and the door, the only exit, was barred.
Which was not a problem for an Apple! Apple Bloom ran to the door and bucked it. After a few more bucks like that, the door opened!
She started running toward the exit of the manor, not minding passing beside Applejack and the others on the way. When they spotted her, by the time they reacted, she was already gone. She however still had to punch Twilight on the head to stop her from using her magic to catch her.
Finally, she exited the manor and entered the lab. It was a miracle that a mountain of gold and gems didn't fall on her the moment she opened the door with how much it was full of them!
"Woah... We'd swim in it!"
"I know, right?" replied Smart Spirit, who admired the gold before turning toward her, gasping upon seeing all her injuries. "Good gracious!"
"Ah know... Could ya hurry up and give me that potion, please?"
"Of course! But you know it'll not stop the injuries done to your soul from hurting, right?"
"Ah know, but at least, it'll hurt a little less, and Ah'll stop bleeding."
"Yeah... I would gladly recommend you another bath, but as you can see, there isn't enough space anymore."
"Ah'll take one after you go place all that gold in... Wait, Ah don't think there's enough place in the clubhouse."
Smart Spirit gave her the potion before speaking "Uh.... You're right. It's already half full with the gold, gems, and trophies I put there."
"We may need t'use the barn," said Apple Bloom after drinking the potion. "Ah could open the door for ya."
"Alright."
Apple Bloom took a sharp breath while gritting her teeth as she still felt great pain despite the injuries healing, but already knowing that it would happen, she endured and spoke "Okay, Ah can go now. Ah hope that now that the cloaked ghosts are gone, Ah won't have to fight more wraiths."
"I think you captured all of them on the roof. Speaking of, you will have to tell me everything! From what I could see, it was epic! How did you manage to force that sea serpent to punch the roc?"
"It's surprising how easy it's to pull even big things with this Poltergust."
The both of them exited the lab, and Spirit started waving at Apple Bloom as she returned to the manor. "Remember! You capture Pyrite, and you come back!"
"Ah know! Don't wo-"
A sudden gust of freezing wind followed by a howl interrupted her, forcing her to close her eyes and put a hoof to protect them.
Smart Spirit started looking around in panic. "Oh no! Oh no! Don't tell me one of them is coming!"
"What was that howl? And why it's suddenly freezing like that?"
Another howl, closer, was heard, and Smart Spirit looked up to the sky. "Look!" he shouted, pointing up.
Apple Bloom followed his hoof, and saw a ghostly horse-thing with blue glowing eyes approaching the manor, and she immediately recognized what it was. "No way... Is that a windigo?"
"By Celestia's great flank! It must have been attracted here by both the curse and the hatred of all those wraiths!" The windigo reached the manor, and started hovering above it, the roof getting frozen as a result. "And it doesn't seem to be ready to go away! I think it's starting to feed off the curse!"
Apple Bloom laughed. "Woah. Ah didn't think that Ah'd actually get to fight a windigo!" She then looked seriously at the ghost above the manor. "Ah must stop it before it freezes everypony inside the manor!"
At this, Apple Bloom ran inside the manor, and started to climb the floors to the roof. On the way, just in front of the foyer, she encountered everypony else, and she shouted, "No time to deal with y'all! Ah must save y'all from a windigo!"
"A windigo?!" Twilight shouted.
"No wonder it's now winter in the manor," Pinkie said.
Apple Bloom stopped and turned to them. "And if y'all leave me alone, Ah'll also deal with Pyrite and stop him from sending those mean ghosts! That's what Little Ghost wants, right? So y'all won't mind letting me do mah job?" Without giving them time to answer, she restarted running, the ponies and dragon not following her.
"There's really a windigo above our heads?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"It's the only explanation for why it's suddenly so cold," Spike said.
"What do we do?" Fluttershy asked.
"Ah'm going after her. Ah want to be there for her," Applejack said.
"And we already missed the Battle of the Roof! I don't want to miss another great fight!" Pinkie shouted.
Everypony nodded before they started following Apple Bloom.
Eventually, the filly reached the roof, where she almost slipped upon passing the door of the small tower. She looked up at the windigo, seeing that it was a little too high for her to reach it "Darn... What do Ah do now?"
Then, Applejack and the others reached the roof too, some of them slipping on the ice. Annoyed at first that they followed her, thinking that they still wanted to capture her, Apple Bloom then looked at Rainbow Dash and got an idea. "Rainbow Dash!" she called.
The cyan mage looked at her. "Uh?"
Apple Bloom pointed up at the windigo. "Ah need yer help!"
Rainbow Dash looked up at the ice spirit, then at Apple Bloom, and smirked, understanding what she wanted. She nodded, flew to Apple Bloom, and lowered herself to let the filly climb on her back. Smiling, Apple Bloom climbed, and the pegasus took off toward the windigo.
The spirit saw them approaching, and it howled, sending a gust of freezing wind at them, intending to freeze them right here in the sky. But skillfully, Rainbow was able to dodge the attack with an aileron roll, Apple Bloom clinging to her, before successfully getting close enough. The windigo, however, forced her back by surrounding itself with more winds.
But then, Apple Bloom turned the Poltergust to red again, jumped from Rainbow's back and braved the freezing wind, much to Rainbow and everypony else's surprise, and activated the vacuum, trapping the windigo. As she started falling, she then pulled down hard and slammed the windigo on a cracked part of the roof so violently that this part collapsed, revealing the room where Apple Bloom encountered Jump Scare. Before the filly could hit the floor, she was snatched by Rainbow Dash, who gently dropped her beside the newly formed hole while she continued sucking up the recovering windigo.
The windigo was able to resist the vortex and sent a gust of freezing wind at the filly who was blown away while some ice formed on her. She quickly recovered and smashed the ice of her body before she faced the windigo who flew toward her, sending more wind. This time, Apple Bloom ran away from the wind and circled the spirit while approaching it, the wind following her. Rapidly, she got close enough to trap the windigo again, and she slammed it again, only for the windigo to send another burst of wind. But Apple Bloom resisted the wind despite the cold and slammed again the windigo. In return, the spirit did a sudden spin, dragging Apple Bloom and slamming her against a pillar. But she didn't release the button, and as soon as she recovered, she did a spin too, slamming the windigo's head against the surrounding pillars before she pulled and slammed it on the floor again and again. With a last howl, the windigo was finally sucked in the Poltergust.
Shaking violently because of her body half covered in ice and feeling like she was walking in the mountains of the North, Apple Bloom spoke. "Prof... Ah'll seriously need a hot bath... Like, super hot..."
«Roger!»
She broke again most of the ice covering her body before she was hugged by Applejack, quickly followed by all the others, giving her some much-needed body heat.
"Ya gave me a scare up there when ya jumped! What were ya thinking?!" Applejack shouted.
Apple Bloom laughed. "Ah was thinking that Ah could trust Rainbow."
"Aww, of course you can trust me, kiddo. Always here to catch you!" proudly the pegasus mare said. "And I must say, that was awesome!"
"But please, Apple Bloom, no more of that," Applejack said.
"No promise," said Apple Bloom. "If Ah fight another ghost like the windigo, Ah may be forced to take more risks like that. Speaking of..." She got out of the group hug and started walking toward the exit of the roof. "Ah still have Pyrite to capture."
"What?" shouted everypony.
"Why now?! You were half frozen to death just now!" Sweetie Belle shouted.
"She's right! You should wait! And meanwhile, we can take you with us so you can join us!" Twilight said.
"Ah must capture him now, before he starts sending more ghosts. Ah already lost enough time because of the wraiths and the windigo."
The ponies and dragon looked to each other with doubt as Apple Bloom went down the stairs of the little tower. Little Ghost then appeared in front of them. "Let her go. She's right, it's the best occasion to get rid of Pyrite and have the manor all for us. And you know what this means?"
Pinkie gasped. "We start preparing the party?"
Little Ghost nodded. "Yep! Apple Bloom will deserve that for clearing the manor of all the meanies. And then, she will finally join us!"
"Yeah!" shouted everypony.
Meanwhile.
«Good job Apple Bloom for becoming the first being in history to capture a windigo! It’s nice to see that ponies won't have to fear them anymore!»
"The first... Woah... Ya think Ah'll appear in history books?"
«No doubts! But are you really sure that you'll be able to face Pyrite?»
"Yes. No matter what he'll send at me, Ah'll finish him!"
Apple Bloom reached the last locked door and opened it, entering a room with seven paintings, all representing a different kind of shadow ghosts she encountered until now: an earth pony, a pegasus, an unicorn, a griffon, a zebra, a fat pony, and a diamond dog. There were also some sculptures on shelves, and the wall of the chimney leading to the not-barred-anymore room. And finally, at the opposite side of the room painting something she couldn't see, was Pyrite himself who seemed a little... down.
"I don't believe it!" he screamed without turning to look at her. "A miserable little earth pony filly was able to pass my legions of creations! I sent manticores, centaurs, an alicorn, a sea serpent, a roc, and even a freaking dragon! I even was able to bring that cult of the old monarchs! And I even succeeded attracting a windigo!" Giving a last swing of his brush at whatever he was painting, Pyrite then turned around to face her, exhaustion, anger, and hatred visible in his eyes. "And you were able to defeat all of them! Even the Great Bogmire couldn't stop you! And to make it worse, you freed all my damned family from this deserved curse, and you took all the treasures in the manor! MY treasures!! Despicable! Unforgivable! I absolutely HATE you!"
"Ah return yer sentiment, ya excuse of a pony! Ya're the one who's despicable and unforgivable! Ya trapped yer whole, innocent family in this terrible curse! Even foals! Ah can't believe somepony would be so horrible as to do that! And for what?! For some gold and gems?! Ya're disgusting!"
"You can't understand what it's like to live like I did, living of paintings that were barely selling, forced to hurt my pride and ask my mother to help me regularly, while my half brother was living the good life, having a wife, children, wealth, and even the good grace of the princesses! And just because I was born at the wrong time! But now, I have everything! And you're trying to take all this from me! I will not let you! Don't think because you passed my army I will just let you come to me and capture me like that! I have power! Given to me by the Great Bogmire itself! So be ready to face that power!"
Pyrite then swung his paintbrush toward the seven paintings, and the next instant, three examples of each painted ghosts came out of them, ready to attack Apple Bloom. Putting the Poltergust to red again, the filly prepared herself as the small army of ghosts came at her, and activated the vacuum.
The earth ponies were the first to disappear, being the closest, quickly followed by the pegasi and the griffons. Apple Bloom was forced to roll constantly to avoid the magical beams and potions of the unicorns and zebras, and when she captured the last griffon, she quickly ran to those last ones to stop them and not get turned into whatever. At the same time that she captured the zebras, she also captured the diamond dogs who came at her, as well as one of the fat ponies who were starting to litter the room with their banana peels. After finishing the last zebra, she had no problems capturing the unicorns and the two remaining fat ponies.
Pyrite could only look in wonder and horror as his creations were easily destroyed despite their number. When the filly finished the last one and turned to him, this horror turned into pure rage.
"Don't think you have won! I was prepared for that! I will not let you capture me! Not like that! You are weakened! You are tired! You are hurt! It is time for me to bring my last joker!" With a yell, Pyrite plunged the whole room in light, and when Apple Bloom could see again, she was in some colorful dimension, the surrounding void swirling with all the colors, and she was on a giant white canvas. In front of her, Pyrite screamed "Now, begone you little pest!" and flew up, revealing what he had been painting: a hydra!
The painting then dropped under the giant canvas, and the next moment, in a giant puff of smoke, the giant canvas was surrounded by four giant ghostly heads of a hydra!
Apple Bloom looked at the four heads in panic. "Horseapple..."
The heads roared before they all attacked her, opening their mouths wide to gobble her. Apple Bloom didn't know what to do to escape them, but in their haste to eat her, the four heads bumped together. As the heads started fighting each other for the right to eat the filly, Apple Bloom quickly acted and targeted one of the heads before activating the Poltergust. While the head struggled to resist the pull, the three others went to help it and attacked the filly again. Apple Bloom then quickly pulled, causing the trapped head to headbutt one of the others while she ran to escape the two others, before trapping a third head and making it headbutt the fourth.
Annoyed, the hydra stopped trying to eat her, then started to fire elemental projectiles, a different element for each head! Dodging the streams of fire, ice, water, and lightning by running and jumping around, Apple Bloom got an idea. Targeting one of the streams while making sure that the vent of the Poltergust faced one of the heads, she activated the vacuum, and started sucking up the targeted element, fire, while not stopping moving to avoid the others. The fire she sucked up was then expelled from the Poltergust by the vent, right toward the head it's facing, the one breathing ice, burning it and making it roar in pain. She then did the same thing with the lightning element while targeting the head spitting water.
So the heads stopped firing elements before they started slamming their chins on the canvas, creating shockwaves coming from all four directions. Apple Bloom carefully jumped above them while approaching one of the heads, and once close enough, she trapped it, then slammed it on the floor face first, stunning it. Like before, the three other heads went to stop her, and Apple Bloom pulled to force the trapped head to headbutt the one coming from the opposite direction before she did the same with the two other heads.
The four heads fell on the canvas stunned, and Apple Bloom didn't stop sucking up one of them, excepted when the Poltergust was about to overheat. When the head she targeted recovered and rose back up, it dragged her in the air where she pulled down violently to slam it again on the canvas. The other heads eventually started firing again their elements, ice, water, and lightning, and the filly quickly dodged, the elements instead hitting the slammed head. The head rose and roared in pain, only to be slammed again by the filly. Which was too much for it. The head disappeared in the Poltergust, soon bringing with it the rest of the hydra, the other heads still using their elements to make her stop and try to escape in vain.
Like with the dragon, when the hydra entered completely the Poltergust in a big PUFF, Apple Bloom was propelled backward, but she quickly recovered to look up at Pyrite who was slowly floating down, drained of all his energy.
"Impossible... How... How could I lose...? With my power...?"
Not letting him recover, Apple Bloom ran to him and captured him, Pyrite not offering much resistance. Not long after, everything was plunged in light again, and Apple Bloom returned to the rooms with the paintings, a key now at her hooves. A key very different from the others. Its head was a diamond skull, and the part that is to be put in the lock was a pentacle.
The key to the door to the sealing room.
Taking the key, Apple Bloom said, "Ah captured Pyrite. He's gone."
«Well done, Apple Bloom! Well done! Now, the manor will be much safer without him and his Shadow ghosts!»
"More like Painted ghosts. He was creating them from paintings."
«Noted. Now return here! We will put all that treasure in your barn, you will take a super hot bath, I will place all those ghosts you captured in the crystals, and you will rest for your battle against Little Ghost!»
"I won't say no to some rest. Not after having to capture a hydra."
«Say what?!»
Apple Bloom exited the manor. Strangely enough, she didn't encounter anypony while moving down the floors. Stopping thinking about this, she entered the lab. While Smart Spirit drove the caravan back to Sweet Apple Acres to place the treasure in the barn, Apple Bloom used the machine to put the ghosts in the right crystals, now knowing how to use it after watching the prof use it.
However, after placing all those ghosts, something was wrong.
Pyrite wasn't in the crystal!
...
...
It clicked.
He used a Painted version of himself to take his place, and he escaped!
"THAT MOTHERB-"