//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7: It's Time to Do Science! 
// Story: Apple Bloom's Mansion 3.5: Luigi's Mansion 
// by Lucar 
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Apple Bloom decided to wait the arrival of her friends and Applejack to recount what happened to her since she arrived in this dimension. Instead, for the next hour or so, she explained to Twilight and Smart Spirit, with E. Gadd's help, what she wanted to do. They already knew about the Spectral Transmograftizer, so she mainly explained about the Poltergust. She did a demonstration of E. Gadd's three Poltergusts and told them about how she wanted to include all their characteristics into Smart Spirit's Poltergust while trying to keep that last one's lightness compared to them.

Twilight then took out the anti-ghost cannons from her bag and said that they could use them to make it so the Poltergust could fire the same energy. It would be a great weapon against Thanatos! She also reminded about how Apple Bloom had to defend herself physically a lot, especially in her recent adventure with all these possessed objects, so she gave the idea of finding a way for Apple Bloom to better defend herself. Training to become stronger won't be enough if Apple Bloom finds herself fighting a possessed closet or whatever else. Yes, if they're able to add to the Poltergust the capacity to spit fire, then she could better defend herself, but she needed something more direct.

Already, they were noting down what they will do to make all those stuff possible when Discord entered the room with Applejack, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Little Ghost.

"Applejack! Girls!" shouted Apple Bloom in joy before she jumped from her chair and ran to tackle-hug her sister. Her friends then all gave her a group hug as they shouted her name. "Ah missed y'all so much!"

"Well," began Discord. "My job is done." He then gave Apple Bloom a mask of his face sticking out his tongue. "Once you want to return to Equestria, pull the tongue of this mask, and I will come. Right now, I'm returning in Equestria to keep watch in case my brother does something. Tata!"

The draconequus then passed through another portal back to Equestria, leaving Apple Bloom with her sister and her friends.

Once the initial joy of being reunited with Applejack and her friends was over, they all gathered around a table again where Apple Boom briefly resumed what she went through since she arrived in this dimension. Which wasn't much. The fight against King Boo upon arrival, the almost two weeks of coma that followed, the brief exploration of Peach's castle and of Toad Town (taking the time to explain to Twilight the craziness of this world so she wouldn't freak out as soon as she looked through a window), and her arriving to E. Gadd's lab where she trained and studied since to be ready against Thanatos.

And with Twilight and Smart Spirit's arrival, they will be able to seriously work on some projects.

In return, Applejack explained what happened in the few hours that passed in Equestria since she disappeared. The hotel collapsed just after the end of her fight against Eternal Rest, and when they discovered what happened to her thanks to Little Ghost, they immediately went to ask Discord for help in Canterlot. Applejack then freed all the ghosts who weren't in the red crystal, and they all either went to live in Apple Bloom's mansion or went in Evershade Valley. Twilight also revealed that Celestia's guards found more chests that they had missed in the ruins of the hotel, and all the gold in them was given to Apple Bloom under Celestia's orders. The princess thought she deserved it.

Oh, and of course, Discord helped Apple Bloom's friends, which was why Scootaloo wasn't trapped in her scooter anymore for example.

"Oh! Ah must show y'all!" eventually said Apple Bloom as she jumped from her chair. "Follow me! Ah want to show ya something!" Apple Bloom then led everypony back to her room and pointed at a certain portrait on a wall. "Look!"

They all looked and saw on the wall the portrait of Eternal Rest.

"A portrait of Eternal Rest?" asked Applejack. "Uuuuh... Why?"

"It isn't just a portrait. It is Eternal Rest!"

"What?!" shouted everypony else.

"How is this possible?" asked Twilight.

Apple Bloom looked at E. Gadd, prompting him to talk. "It's thanks to a machine I have in another lab, the Ghost Portrificationizer."

"The what?" asked Scootaloo.

"A machine to turn ghosts into portraits?" said Smart Spirit. "Genius! How did you come up with that idea?"

"Well, you see, my ghostly equine counterpart, I was..." E. Gadd then began a long explanation full of scientific babble that Smart Spirit and Twilight listened like students in a classroom. To her friends' surprise, Apple Bloom also listened and even took note.

"You understand what he says?" asked Scootaloo.

"Not everything. Ah'm not that much into 'egghead' territory yet as ya'd say. Ah'm just taking note for later."

"For when you will be an actual 'egghead'?" asked Sweetie Belle with a giggle.

"Eeyup."

Meanwhile, Applejack stared at the portrait, and was internally cackling like a madmare at Eternal Rest now trapped in a portrait, hopefully for eternity. She got what she deserved, and just for this, Applejack will never get bored of watching this portrait. She was sure that Rainbow would think the same thing.

Once E. Gadd was finished with how he came up with the Ghost Portrificationizer, Apple bloom then talked.

"Ah want to build one back in Equestria. Ah find the idea of trapping evil ghosts in portraits better. It's more effective than the crystals, and they can be admired. Even Thanatos shouldn't be able to escape. It'll be mah own collection."

"Ya'll even trap the ones that were already sent to Tartarus, like Pyrite?" asked Applejack.

"Of course. Ah want to add all of them. And everypony'll be able to admire them."

"Like, a museum?" asked Little Ghost.

"Exactly. Ah've been thinking it since Ah saw the Ghost Portrificationizer in action. Ah'll build a museum in Evershade Valley where ponies'll be able to come and admire the portraits. Gotta use all that money Ah got. Also, instead of doing like professor Gadd and build a new hotel in the place of Eternal Rest's one, Ah'll build it beside the museum, and they both won't be far of the Gloomy Manor where I'm planning to build the Ghost Portrificationizer in the basement."

"Sounds great!" said Sweetie Belle.

"Don't forget to ask the ghosts in the valley first," said Twilight.

"Of course, but Ah'm sure they won't mind. Also, the hotel and the museum aren't the only things Ah'm planning to build in the valley. Director Cut'll need a movie studio, DeathJay'll want a club to DJ... A Gym for Deep End. A theater with a big stage for the ones who want to do shows like Piano Virtuoso, the Magica triplets, or even for Opal Note. Maybe a school for the ghosts who died very young like Platinum Shoes, Ruby, and Sapphire, without forgetting ya three, Sweetie, Scoot, and Little Ghost."

"At this point ya'd just build a whole town," said Applejack with a laugh.

"That's where Ah's leading to. Ah'll build a whole town for ghosts around Gloomy Manor, a 'ghost town' so to say. Mah manor and the ones in the Evershade Valley're starting to be a little overfull of them."

"You don't say. We can't take a step in your manor without encountering a ghost," said Scootaloo. "And now, I'm one too."

"That's really ambitious, Apple Bloom," said Applejack, impressed.

"But Ah won't start until we're done with Thanatos," finished Apple Bloom.

"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Twilight. "It's time to do science!"



Thus began long months of work, of fail and retry, of crazy science, and every now and then, of stuff blowing up.

They began to work to create what Apple Bloom called the Supreme Poltergust. The Poltergust possessing the features of all the other, light enough to let them jump like her Poltergust, but strong enough so powerful ghosts captured like Eternal Rest won't be able to escape once they recovered their energy.

They drew dozens of blueprints, created dozens of prototypes, and did hundreds of tests to ensure that it was the most effective possible, especially for a quadrupedal being like Apple Bloom, but also for bipedals because E. Gadd planned to keep a copy for Luigi is case King Boo escaped again.

Magic was used a lot for this Poltergust to make sure that it would remain light despite all the features. It was especially used so it could fire elements, fire, water, and ice, but also lightning bolts, because why not? For keeping the ghosts trapped once they were captured, they used the magical crystal again, but they put it as the core of a containing chamber like the ones in E. Gadd's Poltergusts, which amplified it, and the chamber itself was amplified by magic from the crystal and from wards put in it.

After some researches on the anti-ghost cannons, or rather, Poltergun as they decided to call it, they were able to create one as a feature of the Poltergust. With just one press of a button, the Poltergust will be able to fire a small beam that can hurt a ghost, but not injury living beings or ghosts possessing objects. However, this led to a small problem.

With all those features, the handle of the Poltergust was full of buttons, switches, and gauges (without forgetting the lever for the Suction Shot)!

E. Gadd then got the idea of using a technology similar to the one used to transfer someone's mind to control the goo, and went to develop a headpiece linked to the Poltergust by electromagnetic waves. Thanks to a chip in the headpiece, the user would be able to control with the mind the Poltergust. Much better than pressing switches and buttons! Additionally, there'll be a visor showing the various gauges AND while he was at it, he put in a nocturnal vision, infrared vision, and even a feature that showed ghosts in the field of view with cursors, even in the dark. The flashlight wouldn't be needed anymore! And it could even see what was invisible, so they won't need to search randomly with the Dark Light Device to find stuff that was turned invisible, and ghosts like Creepers will be less annoying!

As for the more direct way to defend against possessed objects, mummies, zombies, and stuff, E. Gadd killed two birds with one stone by also finding a way to use the Burst for quadrupeds: shoes! To be more exact, shoes that, once put, could be linked to the Poltergust by small pipes. With a thought, air will then pass by the pipes and burst out of the shoes, creating a shockwave that will propel the user in the air and everything around backward. To use it against possessed stuff, Apple Bloom, in this case, would then just need to point the sole of one of her hooves at the attacking object and burst air from just this one. The object will violently be propelled backward and will end up crashing against something, damaging it more or less depending of how much power was put into the burst and how much heavy and solid the object was. For the worst case, the shoes could plant themselves in the floor so the user could give the strongest burst possible without being propelled backward by it. Or forward, because in Apple Bloom's case, she could use her back hooves to attack enemies behind her. Heck! She could even create streams of air from her shoes to fly!

This needed a LOT of training to control it. There were a lot of crashing and muzzle bleeding, and a few concussions. Thankfully, E. Gadd kept mushrooms for healing.

And so, the Supreme Poltergust was finished, but now came the hardest part: developing the Spectral Transmograftizer. How to turn a living being into a ghost, then back into a living being?

This needed a lot of experiments on ghosts, but also on living beings. E. Gadd used mice, and the ponies told themselves to never tell Fluttershy. It was apparently common to use mice in this world for experiments. They experimented both with magic and technology, alone or together, and after more months, they were able to create something. However, that something was a cabin in which someone could enter, and someone else would activate it to turn whoever was inside into a ghost, and turn them back to normal.

It was a good beginning, but inside Thanatos castle, this clearly wouldn't work. They needed something smaller, lighter, and that could be activated without needing anybody else.

At least, they could use this cabin for more experiments, and things advanced faster from there. They discovered, for starting, that someone turned into a ghost couldn't remain a ghost too long, or else, it would be impossible to turn them back to normal. In clear, they would be dead for good. Thirty seconds was the limit (actually, it was thirty four point twenty nine seconds, but they rounded it down), and sadly, some mice were sacrificed to discover this.

As guessed, someone already dead couldn't be brought back to life. This saddened Apple Bloom because she hoped deep down that she could bring her friends back to life this way.

Once they knew that it was safe to use the cabin as long as they kept a watch, Apple Bloom used it on herself, becoming a ghost for half a minute with success. However, there was something that annoyed her as a ghost.

The power of a ghost was determined by many thing (when they weren't just gifted like Little Ghost). How strong they were physically and mentally (especially mentally) when they were alive, the powers they possessed (magic, mind powers, and so on) and how powerful those powers were when they were alive, time (the more time passed, the more a ghost could gain power. How much power was also determined by the other factors), training, skills, and a few others.

Apple Bloom was strong physically but was far from ponies like Applejack, Big Mac, or Bulk Biceps. Heck, Deep End was very strong (the guy was buffed!) and yet he possessed little power. He could smash stuff with his strong hooves, throw balls like cannonballs, lift heavy things, create shockwaves, but that was all. Not much compared to other ghosts like Leyla Rahfa who could manipulate sand. Apple Bloom, her, was just a filly stronger than average, so what could she hope to do from this point?

Mentally, she wasn't better. She would say she had a good mental, but again, she was just a filly. Nothing extraordinary. At best, when she was a ghost, she could levitate a small object.

She hadn't much power too. As an earth pony from an apple farming family, she had a better affinity with plants than average, but this was far from being developed to its full potential. She barely could control a small plant as a ghost.

As for the skills... Well, her greater skill was at catching ghost with her Poltergust. She was very good at fighting, and she was an excellent carpenter. She was also kinda good with potions even if she didn't really follow that path. Of course, she developed some skills in science and technology first thanks to Smart Spirit, then thanks to E. Gadd. All good skills, but beside the ghost catching and the fighting skills that she naturally used (duh!), all the others weren't really useful in a fight against ghosts. Maybe she could use her carpenter skill helped by her plant control to control wood, but she would need a lot of training. She could also train to brew potions, but she wasn't sure they would work against ghosts. Science was mainly knowledge that she could use in the right circumstances, and technology... How could she use her technology skill in a fight beside what she already had on her back?

So yeah, as a ghost, she didn't have much power, and was more what would be called a physical fighter, which she already was when she wasn't a ghost.

She wanted more power. She wanted to shoot lightning like Eternal Rest, to levitate heavy stuff, to possess powerful objects like the T-Rex or a freaking ship like Blackbeard!

Okay, the possession may not be possible because of the limited time, but she wanted all the rest! And because of this same time limit, she could barely train, so it wasn't this way that she would gain that power!

When she told Twilight, Smart Spirit, and E. Gadd about this, they agreed to try to find a way while they tried to improve the Spectral Transmograftizer.

While all this happened, E. Gadd also tried to help Apple Bloom's friends.

Sweetie Belle was an undead who was very good at singing, so there wasn't much he could do to help her unless she decided to become a cyborg, which she refused. Everybody however had the same idea: she could use that singing in some way. E. Gadd knew that various creatures used singing to do various things. Make someone fall asleep. Give themselves and others a boost. Or even to control someone else!

If Sweetie could learn to use her singing this way, she could become a great support! For this, however, the undead filly could only train by herself, which she did since E. Gadd told her about it a few days after her arrival, when she wasn't busy training with her friends to become better at fighting ghosts. At the same time, E. Gadd created a 'Sweetiegoo' for her.

Scootaloo wanted to be a robot like Applejack. When E. Gadd was told however about how useful she had been as a scooter, he got a genius idea: create for her a robotic body that could transform into a scooter (with thrusters, please)! If he had ever the occasion, he could even make it so she could plug herself to the Poltermobile or to Smart Spirit's caravan to drive them! Megagenius!

Scootaloo loved that idea. They just had to wait for the body to be created, and then, they would call Discord so he could bind her to it. Contrary to Applejack, however, her robotic body wouldn't heavy, more focused on speed than pure strength. She still would have the Poltergust integrated like the mare.

Speaking of, there wasn't much to do with Applejack. She was the muscle, with a very good skill at using a lasso. All she needed was an update of her integrated Poltergust.

Then, there was Little Ghost. She didn't need much help too. She was a very powerful ghost who could use all kinds of powers to fight the other ghosts. She still needed a shield to protect herself against Poltergun beams, a shield that she could also use to protect the others from projectiles and other stuff like she did in the hotel. For this, a simple shield would be enough, but with the help of Twilight, E. Gadd created some kind of mirror shield that could deflect some of the projectiles. This way, Little Ghost could send the Poltergun beams back to the ghosts who fired them.

Of course, every now and then, they took pauses to explore the Mushroom Kingdom and visit princess Peach as well as the Mario brothers. Well, when Peach wasn't kidnapped by Bowser and the brothers weren't busy travelling the kingdom to save her. Gosh, Bowser even kidnapped her in front of their muzzles a couple of times! Each times, they couldn't stop it from happening because he was always surrounded by his army, especially his son Bowser Jr, the Koopalings, and the Magikoopa Kamek. Of course, they joined the brothers to save the princess afterward, sometimes helped by a yellow Toad and a blue Toad.

Those adventures were very interesting experiences, but also very dangerous. They had to jump above seemingly bottomless pits, fight hundreds of Goombas, Koopas, and other minions, swim in very dangerous water (which they somehow could breath in), escape traps in Bowser's fortresses, jump above lava, traverse haunted manors infested of Boos and other ghosts and full of illusions and other tricks to make them lost...

Oh, and Bowser had a whole armada of flying ships.

As Mario and Luigi would say: mama mia!

And so, months passed, and passed...

Eventually, they managed to develop the Spectral Transmograftizer enough to reduce it into a gadget small enough that Apple Bloom could put it against her chest (not falling thanks to magic). By then, it was just a disk-shaped device with a red button. All Apple Bloom had to do was to press the button to become a ghost, and press it again to return to normal.

Almost at the same time, Twilight, Smart Spirit, and E. Gadd found a way to help Apple Bloom become more powerful as a ghost.

But they first needed to open a portal between the two Evershade Valleys. A permanent one.