With the help of Smart Spirit, Applejack freed all the ghosts that had been sent to the green crystal. So, the maid, the night guard (Cruller, she remembered), the cook, Piano Virtuoso, Director Cut, Ducky, and DeathJay. All the others were either in the yellow crystal or the red crystal. The muscled stallion from the fitness center was still in Apple Bloom's Poltergust along with the cat, Eternal Rest, and all the ghosts she caught since the fitness center, so they were stuck in the other dimension with her.
The ghosts came out one by one and appeared outside the caravan, in front or Apple Bloom's mansion. Some members of the Gem Family as well as some ghosts of the Evershade Valley were present to help, or simply to watch. Many others were guiding the dolls into the manor to settle them while they waited for Discord to recover Apple Bloom.
Once all the ghosts of the green crystal were out, Applejack then freed the many, many ghosts of the yellow crystal. The Tricksters, Buffys, Throwers, Creepers, and Slappys, but also the bellhop, Ooga, and the triplets. Those ghosts were attracted toward a huge area with a ward to keep them in it. They weren't sure of what they will do, after all. They didn't show any problems following Eternal Rest's orders.
The freed ghosts looked around in confusion and surprise when they saw that they weren't in the hotel anymore.
Applejack then amplified her voice to be heard by all of them (an useful robot gadget she got from Discord).
"EVERYPONY! AH'VE GOOD NEWS! WE DEFEATED ETERNAL REST! YA'RE FREED!" she shouted.
The ghosts all looked at her in disbelief.
"No way... They really did it?" asked DeathJay.
"Well, slap mah head and call me silly!" said Ducky in awe.
"Are we... really freed?" asked Director Cut.
"Y'all are," confirmed Applejack as she pointed at all the ghosts who had been in the green crystal "Ya proved ya're clean." She then turned toward the ones who had been in the yellow one. "Them, however..." She walked toward them and shouted "WHAT ARE YER INTENTIONS NOW THAT YA AREN'T CHAINED TO THAT WITCH?! YA ATTACKED US WITHOUT REMORSE, BUT YA MAY NOT BE EVIL, SO PROVE THAT WE CAN TRUST YA!"
The bellhop immediately advanced in front of the others to talk. "I was only following orders. I didn't mean any harm to you and the others, but orders were orders. If Eternal Rest is really gone then I have nothing against you or anypony."
All the other ghosts excepted Ooga and the triplets began to talk at the same time, over each others, to tell something similar to him, or to say that they just didn't dare to show hesitation, they were too scared, or something like that.
Applejack signed them to calm down. "ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT Y'ALL!" She then turned to the last four ghosts who didn't talk. "And ya?"
"Chief of Ooga defeated, then Ooga follows new chief!" shouted Ooga.
Right. She should've expected that. "Apple Bloom's the one who captured Eternal Rest, but she isn't present right now, so ya'll have to follow mah order. And mah order is: don't hurt others. Beside this, ya can do whatever ya want."
"Yes, chief!" shouted Ooga.
"This leaves ya three," said Applejack as she looked at the triplets.
The three mares hesitated for a moment before Magica Hat said "We were just angry that you captured our Oogy Boogy!"
"And... We wanted to have some fun," said Magica Card.
"And old meanie was breathing behind our neck," said Magica Wand.
"But now that Oogy is free and that he wants to follow you, we're totally okay with you!" said Card.
"Yes yes yes!" shouted the others, head nodding expectantly.
Applejack eyed them, then nodded. "Very well." She destroyed a part of the circle creating the ward with her hoof. "Do whatever ya want as long as it doesn't harm anypony, or ya'll join Blackbeard, Gorros, Leyla, and the others in Tartarus. Ya're welcome to remain in the manor behind me if ya want. Apple Bloom built it as a refuge for ghosts. The Evershade Valley's also a nice place for y'all. Just ask the other ghosts to guide ya. Ya can also go and make friends in Ponyville, the folks're used to ghosts."
Applejack then entered the caravan, leaving the ghosts by themselves for a few seconds before she came out with some film reels on her back. She walked toward Director Cut who wasn't really sure what to do now, like most of the ghosts.
"Here're yer film reels, Director Cut, without a scratch."
"Oh! Thank you!" shouted the filmmaker happily before he took the reels. "How are the fillies? I imagine that after this long night and the certainly terrible fight against Eternal Rest, our little superstar must be resting."
Applejack sighed. "Apple Bloom was sent to another dimension by Eternal Rest..."
"Oh... I'm... sorry..."
"Don't worry. We're working to bring her back. It's a matter of days. Ah just hope she's alright."
Director Cut nodded. "Dimensional travels can be very dangerous. I know this because it's used a lot in movies. But I don't doubt she's alright. She's a little fighter, she proved it when we shot my movie."
"Eheh. Yeah. Ah know this very well. She went through a whole pocket dimension full of mind controlled ghosts almost by herself. And before that, she destroyed a possessed manor all alone. She has resource. But this means ya won't be able to continue yer movie right away."
"I will wait. I can use this to better work on the scenario and find actors for the other characters. Good luck finding her."
Director Cut then flew toward the manor probably to start working on his movie. Applejack then sighed, looked around to observe the ghosts finding out what they will do and interacting with each others, then decided to just return to the farm. There wasn't much more she could do there beside worrying.
Bip...
Bip...
Bip...
It was the first thing Apple Bloom heard as consciousness returned to her. She opened her eyes only to close them immediately as she was dazzled by the light in the room. Little by little, she reopened them, letting them adjust to the light. Once they were fully open, she rubbed them to rid them of some dust before she looked around.
She quickly understood that she was in a hospital room, in a bed. Through a window, she saw that it's day. Morning, noon, or afternoon however, she had no idea. There were a few other beds in the room, all separated by curtains, so she didn't know if she was alone in the room or not.
Looking down at herself, she saw that, to her surprise, she wasn't covered in bandaged like she expected after how much she was injured in this adventure. However, she also had all that medical stuff attached to her to ensure that she wouldn't starve in her sleep. If they had to use this, then she must have slept a long time. And there were also those wires connected to that machine doing bip.
She really was in a sad state. But at least, Eternal Rest was captured, and everypony was safe from her, if not alive, sadly.
Damn it. Three more deads. Scootaloo, Fluttershy, and Starlight. If this continued, then everypony will end up dead before they capture Thanatos.
And now, she was in another dimension... Actually, maybe it was a good thing. Without her, Thanatos had no reason to continue his 'Death Games', and everypony will be safe.
Or, after reflection, maybe not. Without her, Thanatos could report his attention to Applejack, Sweetie Belle, or Little Ghost who proved that they now knew how to use a Poltergust. And any Poltergust users were potential toys for him to have fun. She had to return to her dimension.
But... How? Did this dimension have a mean to travel to other dimensions? To hers? This one had ghosts too, obviously, so maybe she could find one powerful enough, and kind enough, to send her back to her dimension. That is if they could even find her dimension. Eternal Rest's portal seemed to have sent her in this one by chance, or because there was this fight against King Boo happening and so the dimensional barrier was thinner because of his power, or because her fight against Eternal Rest and Luigi's fight against King Boo were pretty much the same event but with different beings. There were many possibilities as to why the portal transported her to this dimension at this place at this moment, but Eternal Rest knowingly sending her there was certainly not one. She probably would've preferred that the portal sent her in the void of space, or inside a volcano, or several hundreds of meters up in the sky, anywhere where she would have died without doubt.
Darn, she was already getting bored. Wasn't there a way to call a nurse or a doctor? She remarked a button beside the bed, but she wasn't sure if she should press it. What if it turned off something important? She could just shout, but her throat felt very dry.
So in the end, she just settled to wait for a nurse or a doctor, as boring as it was.
A nurse came a few minutes later, probably to verify if she was awake or still sleeping. When Apple Bloom saw her, she couldn't stop to look at her curiously. The nurse seemed to be a fusion between whatever Luigi was and a mushroom. She lacked whatever was called the big round thing that Luigi had in the middle of the face, above his moustache. Instead, there were just two small holes for her to breathe. On her head was a mushroom hat white with pink dots. She was also smaller than Luigi, about half his size, so this made her about as tall as Apple Bloom. Maybe a little taller. She will better see once she will be on her legs.
When the nurse saw that she was awake, Apple Bloom slowly waved at her with a smile. The nurse gave a big happy smile in return and immediately approached Apple Bloom to give her a glass of water.
"I'm so glad you're awake. There, drink. Is there anything I can do for you? Luigi told us you could talk."
Apple Bloom slowly drank the water before she answered. "Thank ya. Can ya tell me how long Ah slept? Ah guess it's a long time."
"Yes. You were in a coma for a little over two weeks. When you were brought here, you had a lot of injuries, and you had lost a lot of blood. We were really worried."
"Darn... Ah's that bad? Thank ya for taking care of me."
"You sound young. How old are you, if I may ask?"
"Ah'm twelve years old," answered Apple Bloom.
This got a gasp from the nurse. "How could a kid get so badly hurt?"
Apple Bloom was confused. "A kid? But Ah'm not a goat, Ah'm a pony."
The nurse wasn't sure how to reply to this. "Uh... For us, 'kid' is a synonym of 'child'."
"Weird... Well, this is a long story, but basically, Ah'd to fight a very powerful witch ghost and her army of ghost minions to save mah friends that she'd captured."
...
"Really?"
"Really."
"Wasn't there an adult who could have done the job in your place?"
"No one that's as experienced as me in ghost hunting. Beside, the Lord of Death Thanatos wouldn't have liked to see somepony take mah place. Long story again."
The nurse stared at Apple Bloom. "For someone so young, you seem to have quite a rambunctious life. And as shocked as I am, I'm also amazed to learn that someone so young could fight, and defeat apparently, such an army. You must be very resourceful."
"Ah's helped by some friends. Without them, Ah'd have died more than once."
The nurse gave her a warm smile at this, then said "Now that you are awake, we will be able to let you go. We already gave you a mushroom, so you are fully healed. I just have to go warn Doctor Toadstein so we can take off all those wires and give you permission to leave the bed. A guard then should come to lead you to princess Peach. She really can't wait to meet you."
"A princess? Why? Does this have something to do with what Ah did on the roof of that hotel?"
"I don't know all the details of what happened, but apparently, you saved her against King Boo with Luigi. She was also very worried. You were so close to death."
"Uh... So, one of Luigi's friends trapped in that frame was a princess?" Apple Bloom asked before she giggled. "Lucky me. Ah'm in this dimension since barely five minutes and Ah already save a princess."
"Dimension?" muttered the nurse before she decided not to ask. She already understood that this child wasn't ordinary. She then left the room, and not long later, came back with the doctor. A creature of the same species than the nurse, but with a mushroom hat white with brown dots. They then took off the wires one by one.
Apple Bloom then finally asked "Sorry, but what are you?
"Uh?" asked the doc in return.
The nurse then whispered in his hear "She said she came from another dimension."
"Oh, I understand. Well, we're called Toads."
Again, Apple Bloom was confused. "What? But ya don't look like toads. Ya know, those animals that look like frogs, but bigger."
The doc laughed. "Actually, we're named after toadstools. Don't worry, we aren't poisonous."
Then, a Toad with a white, red dotted mushroom hat and a spear entered the room and said "I'm here to escort the pony to the princess."
"Give us a minute," said the doc as he took off a last wire. "You can get out of bed."
Apple Bloom nodded and got out of bed. She then took her ribbon that was on a stand beside the bed and reformed her bow. She would ask where was her Poltergust and her belt with her bag and everything, but she guessed that these Toads probably didn't know, so she planned to ask the princess. She also wanted to ask about this mushroom that apparently helped her heal faster, but she thought this could wait. She looked at the guard and said "We can go."
The guard nodded and walked out of the room. Apple Bloom thanked the nurse and the doc, then followed him.
She discovered that the room was part of the princess' castle. No wonder, if she saved the princess, then she probably wanted her to have the best care. After some turns, encountering more Toads with hats of various colors on the way, they finally entered the throne room where princess Peach was awaiting her.
And for the third time since she awakened, Apple Bloom was confused when she saw that the princess of the Toads... wasn't a Toad.
Why are you so confusing, world?