//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: The North Wing Part 2 // Story: Apple Bloom's Mansion 4: The Castle of Death // by Lucar //------------------------------// At the end of the hallway were staircases leading to the second floor. So, instead of returning at the beginning of the hallway, they took them. In the second floor, the key still led them back at the beginning of the wing, so they had to traverse the hallway there. Then, as they walked in the darkness, they suddenly heard children giggling further in the hallway. This made the ponies stop before they exchanged looks and sighed in sadness. Encountering ghosts of children really was depressive. They soon found the ghosts near the beginning of the hallway, two earth ponies, a filly and a colt, twins with a red coat and a blue mane (the filly having a lighter one than her brother). However, as soon as they could spot them in the darkness, the two ran excitedly and passed through a door, which was the one that the key unlocked, the first one at the right from the beginning of the hallway. So they entered the room, and they immediately spotted the two foals awaiting them in the center of the room which revealed to be some playroom full of toys. "Will you play with us?" the two foals asked innocently. At the same time, the colt discretely pushed a small ball toward dominoes, starting a chain reaction that led to a crossbow firing an arrow to cut a rope that was stopping a big box full of sharp objects from falling, the box being on a shelf just above the ponies who entered the room. When the rope was cut, the box tilted, dropping all the sharp objects it contained on the ponies. The ponies had seen it however and Applejack quickly pushed Apple Bloom out of the way, saving her from becoming a pincushion. The objects bounced off the robots and passed through Little Ghost and the clones of goo, but Sweetie Belle still ended as one even if it didn't matter for her in the end. Applejack got the box on her head however. This comical scene made the two foals laugh. Apple Bloom, however, began to run toward them, only for the ghost filly to send a toy chariot at her, causing Apple Bloom to walk on it. The toy rolled under her hoof, making her fall on the ground. And the foals laughed again, the colt using the occasion to fire a sharp stone with a slingshot at Apple Bloom, only for the filly to stop the stone with the handle of her Poltergust as she was already getting up. The foals, however, hadn't kept an eye on the others, and so, they were taken by surprise by Scootaloo and Little Ghost, the first reaching them in her scooter form. The two didn't wait to activate their Poltergusts and each capture one of the foals. The foals not being powerful, it was just a matter of seconds. Applejack threw the box that had dropped on her head. "For foals, they're crafty," she commented. "But... Why...?" «You will not like the answer,» said Twilight. «Nuisance and Burden came from an abusive family in which they developped an hatred of adults that developped into a sadistic need of 'playing' with them in a dangerous, harmful way that generally ended with the adults' death. You just got an exemple of their method. Their first victims were their own parents, and from there, they began to enter houses randomly, targetting whoever was inhabiting them before passing to the next. They were killed when one of their own traps turned against them. They had entirely trapped an abandonned house against royal guards who were trying to catch them and things went wrong.» Applejack growled. "Why even have children if it's to name them 'Nuisance' and 'Burden' and to treat them like trash to the point of turning them into psychos?" «Uh... Maybe they were... an accident?» proposed the alicorn. This made it worst for Applejack. "Ah hope we'll encounter their ghost so Ah can beat them senseless." "Ah think we're all thinking the same thing, AJ," said Apple Bloom. After that, they took the key from the twins' chamber and used it to open the door in the opposite side of the hallway. It was strange. It was a totally normal-looking living room as you would expect to find in any houses, and there was no ghost awaiting them. So they continued into the chamber which was also like any chamber, shining by the absence of a key, and still no ghost. However, what was anormal compared to all the other chambers found in this wing was the presence of an additional door. There was the usual one leading to a bathroom, at the left, but there was also one in the back. This door led to a balcony where the ghost of a pegasus mare awaited them. She had a coat of a silver gray with a short black mane, and she had the particularity of having the feathers of her wings replaced by feather-like knives of the same silver than her coat, making it hard to see their real nature. The mare immediately attacked them, flying at the speed of a Wonderbolt to use her feather-knives to cut Apple Bloom's throat as rapidly as possible. She did some tricks to dupe them, using her speed at her advantage, until the ponies all used a Burst against the ground at the same time, creating a big shockwave of air that blew the ghost back, stopping her in her track. They then took the occasion to rapidly activate the Poltergusts and capture the mare before she could recover and fly away. Upon her capture, the mare left behind the key. «So... A pegasus who replaced her feathers with feather-knives... Ah. Found it. Steel Wind, a famous assassin for hire. Not sure how many she killed in total, but the number of confirmed kills are over one hundred, of all classes, species, and ages. She was however caught and executed by the griffons as she was about to assassinate one of their important members.» "And we just finished the job," said Apple Bloom with a smirk. They then took the key and went to the next door, the second in the right. It was again a basic-looking living room, but they barely entered that the ghost of an old white unicorn mare with a light blue mane approached Apple Bloom with an expression full of kindness. After the last 'kind mare' trick however, Apple Bloom wasn't falling for it and didn't let the mare time to talk before she activated her Poltergust. This took the mare by surprise, and she was barely able to resist before she was captured. "Still. Ah wonder what was this one's game," she wondered. «I will try to find out,» said Twilight. The ponies entered the mare's chamber only to discover that the key wasn't there, and that beside the door leading to the bathroom in their right, there was another door. It was just at the left of the entrance of the chamber, and it led to a room full of toys and games. Half a dozen ghosts of fillies and colts were present in this room, looking very depressed. When they saw the ponies enter the room, they didn't even attack them. Instead, they looked surprised. "Who are you?" asked one of the fillies. "Wait. Are those... ROBOTS?!" asked a colt. "You were able to pass Miss Star?" asked another colt. The ghost hunters exchanged surprised looks, but remained suspicious. "We captured her," said Apple Bloom. Almost immediately after she said that, the foals cheered, some shouting "We're free!" One of the fillies then flew to Apple Bloom and hugged her while repeating "Thank you!" The other ghosts then all followed her and each also hugged one of the ghost hunters, two of them hugging Applejack. Scootaloo eyed the filly who was hugging her. "won't you try to kill Apple Bloom like all the ghosts tried to do until now?" The filly gave her a weird look in return. "What? Why would we try to kill one of you?" "Duh!" said a colt who had been hugging Sweetie Belle. "Remember where we are?" "Oh, right." "Well, we can assure you, we aren't bad ghosts," said the filly who had been hugging Apple Bloom. "The only bad ghost there was Miss Star. She was keeping us here against our will." «I just found the archive about her,» said Twilight. «Twinkle Star. She lost her two children in an accident, and she began to foalnap foals to forcefully keep them with her. She didn't hesitate to break their legs to ensure that they couldn't escape. Was found out, arrested, the foals were saved, and she was sent to an asylum where she died of old age.» «Ah, yes, the Widow, I heard about her,» said Rarity. «Her actions were despicable, but I can't help but pity the mare.» "So Twinkle Star foalnapped y'all?" asked Apple Bloom. "Uhuh," nodded the colt who had been amazed at seeing robots. "We were just minding our business in the Spiritual World when she came out of nowhere and dragged us to this room. She used her powers to make sure we couldn't escape. We couldn't even pass the walls." "Wow. I think you did well to take her by surprise, Bloom," said Little Ghost. "So you're ghost hunters?" asked the colt who had hugged Sweetie Belle. "Eeyup," answered Applejack. "On our way to beat Thanatos to a pulp." At this, the ghosts exchanged hesitant looks. "Don't worry. We will defeat him," said Sweetie Belle with assurance. "Now that you are free, you should get out of this castle before Thanatos forces you to attack us." «Once they're out, I will be able to bring them here where they will be out of danger for good,» said Discord. Apple Bloom repeated what discord said to the foals. Some looked insure, but they all eventually nodded, wished the ghost hunters good luck, informed them that the wing was actually named the VIP Wing by informing them that it was the home of many of the worst beings that inhabited the world (this, the ghost hunters had already guessed), and flew through a wall. When the last foal was gone, the ghost hunters passed a last door that led to what was apparently the foals' chamber, finding the key on one of the beds. Back in the hallway, it opened the second door in the left, just in front. They were immediately welcomed by the sight of their friends' corpses in a room entirely red and distording. There was Twilight, impaled on a spike from her butt, the spike comming out of her mouth. Rarity, lying against a wall, beheaded, her head in her hooves. Pinkie Pie who looked like she had been partially devoured by something with a lot of sharp teeth. Rainbow Dash had her wings teared off and they had been used to stab her in the eyes with the bones. And there were others like Big Mac, Sweetie's parents, and some friends from school. "What the..." said Applejack in horror. «What? But that's not us! We're still here, and alive!» shouted Twilight. Apple Bloom suddenly felt a chill from behind, turned around, and gave air burst punch in the face of the ghost of some blue unicorn stallion with a darker blue mane that had teleported just behind and had been about to attack her. The ghost was sent right through a wall, and almost immediately, the room took the appearance of a normal living room, the red, the distortion, and the corpses disappearing in a flash of light. «Illusions. I should have guessed,» said Twilight. "That coward used these as diversion to attack me from behind," said Apple Bloom in understanding. The unicorn suddenly teleported just in front of her, his face facing hers, seemingly using an illusion to make himself look like a monster, with black eyes and sharp teeth. "Who are you calling a coward, you little bitch?" Apple Bloom stared him in the eyes without flinching. "Ya, ya coward." She then fired a Poltergun beam at him at point blank, making the stallion drop on his back in pain. She then placed the end of her Poltergust on him and continuously fired electricity at him for many seconds until he couldn't even move anymore. Only then did she capture him, not giving him any mercy. "Darn. Savage," said Scootaloo. "After that illusion he gave us, he deserved it," replied Apple Bloom. «I found something. Executor was a master illusionist very sadist who loved to use his illusions to make ponies suffer in the worst way imaginable. A predecessor of Shining Armor still managed to surpass his illusions and to kill him,» informed Twilight. "Ya know, once we're done with Thanatos, we'd form some milice to track and capture ghosts of evil beings who haven't passed on," said Apple Bloom. "I agree," said Sweetie Belle. After getting the key in Executor's chamber, they used it to open the third door in the left of the hallway and entered a room that had been reconverted into a stage, two dozen chairs facing an elevated platform with curtains. On the stage, the ghost of a white unicorn mare with a red mane partially covering her left eye smiled as she saw them enter, then began to sing. Apple Bloom almost immediately began to feel pain in her head, and she quickly pressed the button of her Spectral Transmograftizer to turn herself into a ghost, making the pain stop. At this moment, the mare knew she was doomed. She still attempted to escape, but Little Ghost teleported in her way. The mare didn't stand a chance. «So...» began Twilight once the mare was safely trapped in one of the Poltergusts. «Fatal Sonata. A singer who developped the ability to kill ponies just by singing. She would sing, and anyone hearing her song would die in ten seconds. She was forced to use earplugs however, because her singing could kill even her. It's actually how she died. As she sung, one of the royal guards who had come to arrest her managed to knock her earplugs off. So she died along with the guards.» Apple Bloom returned back to normal. "Thanks again the ST." "To think that I could use the same power if I wanted..." said Sweetie Belle. "Not like it would be useful in this castle," said Little ghost. Fatal Sonata's key led to the third door in the right, which led to... A platform floating in space. "What the buck...?" said Applejack in awe. «Maybe another illusion?» proposed E. Gadd. Scootaloo placed a hoof beyond the edge of the platform to test this theory only for her hoof to not touch any floor. "Uhuh. Not an illusion." "So that's space stuff, again," concluded Apple Bloom with a sigh. "Okay, and what now?" asked Sweetie Belle. "Now..." began Little Ghost as she pointed up. "We find a way to get up there." Following the direction she pointed at, everypony saw another platform with what was probably the exit door. "Mmh... Ya and Apple Bloom won't have any problem getting up there. Applegoo and Sweetiegoo can be recalled in their Poltergust. But me, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, however..." said Applejack. "No problem!" said Little Ghost before she used her powers to move several platforms that were randomly floating around, some of which possessed furnitures like a table of a shelf, to form a path to the exit door before taking a proud pose. "This ghost thought they were smart. Too bad for them, I'm here." "Apple Bloom too. She could have done the same in her ghost form," said Scootaloo. "Uuuuuh... Ah didn't think about this," said Apple Bloom sheepishly. "Still not used to having all those powers. They aren't just for throwing energy balls, you know?" stated Little Ghost with a smirk. "Just give me time." However, as they began to walk on the formed path, more platforms floating around flew at them one after another, and some of the platform forming the path began to move away. Little Ghost had to use her powers to maintain the path while the others began to run, avoiding the attacking platforms. Before long, they reached the door and passed it only to enter a very long room. As the ponies traversed it, all kinds of traps activated on their path, from seesaws coming out of the ground to weapons flowing out of the walls and the ceiling. Arrows, spears, even spiked balls. So they continued to run, Apple Bloom keeping watch of the floor while the others protected her from the rest. When they reached the door, however, they only entered another, similar room. This one, however, had furnitures getting in the way, and there was part of the floor collapsing under their hooves. Another room followed, this one having actually a huge staircase, and climbing stairs while avoiding sharp objects flying at you isn't easy. Finally, at the top of the staircase, they passed another door and entered a chamber. In front of the bed was the ghost of a female griffon chick who was exhausted. She stared at them without moving and without saying a word. As the ponies approached, she remained there, not doing anything to make them stop or to escape. She just continued to stare at them, as if accepting her fate. This made the ponies raise an eyebrow. "Ya aren't gonna resist, or do anything?" asked Apple Bloom. After a few seconds of silence, the griffon chick answered. "I don't see what I could do. I'm out of energy and you managed to get through everything I threw at you. Just capture me and take that stupid key that will appear once I'm gone." The ponies exchanged looks before sweetie Belle said "You don't seem as bad as the others we encountered in this wing... Who are you?" The griffon gave a shrug in return. "Just call me Grima. That's all you need to know about me..." She didn't need to say more. Applejack could see in her eyes that whatever happened to the young griffon in her life left her totally empty. "Ah don't know what happened to ya, little one, just know that it's not with pleasure that we're forced to capture ya," said the mare before she gave the chick a warm smile. "Once we're done with this castle, we'll help ya. Ya clearly need help. The chick just gave a huff in return before she looked down and closed her eyes. The ponies took it as their cue to activate their Poltergusts and capture her. A key then appeared on the bed. Next room was fourth in the right, a room full of closets, chests, and boxes. There, the ghost of a grey earth pony stallion with a dark blue mane came out of one of the boxes and fired an arrow at Apple Bloom with his crossbow. Apple Bloom quickly jumped to the side to avoid the arrow and fired back at the stallion with a Poltergun beam, but the stallion returned in the box before he could be hit. This continued like that for a little while, the stallion comming out of an object randomly before firing an arrow at Apple Bloom and returning in said object. So the ponies kept an eye on the objects to be ready each time that the stallion got out of one of them. What they didn't expect was for the stallion to get out of the door behind them, attempting to stab Apple Bloom. The filly quickly acted however and used the handle of her Poltergust to parry the knife. this gave the ponies an opening to trap the stallion and capture him. «Pickaboo. A sadist who loved to foalnap ponies to trap them in a building that was his 'playground'. He would then play some kind of hide and seek game with them where the victims would attempt to escape while he would hide in boxes, closets, and other stuff to ambush them and kill them. Was killed by one of the victims managing to turn his knife against him.» "That's horror movie material, there," said Scootaloo. The next room was just in front, the fourth in the left. A room with a counter on which were several pieces of meat. In the back was a table where the ghost of a green earth pony mare with a yellow and blue stricked mane was using a big knife to cut meat. It wasn't hard to guess what was the origin of the meat. They even saw the mare eating a small piece of it before she turned to stare at Apple Bloom, brandishing her bloodied knife. The mare, however, wasn't that big of a threat with just a knife. She just charged at Apple Bloom, ready to clean her head off her neck with the knife, only to be caught by the ghost hunters. She still threw the knive at the filly to try to plant it in her head, but the knife was sucked up by her Poltergust and was destroyed. The mare followed not long after. Not looking at the meat, the ponies then walked around the counter and passed the door to the chamber in the back, taking the key here, before they quickly returned in the hallway. «S-so... Hum...» began Twilight hesitantly. «Butchery Jeane. She passed some years with the minotaurs and learned to love meat with them. Back in Equestria, she opened a butchery and...» "She started to kill ponies to eat and sell their meat..." guessed Apple Bloom. «Yeah... She was sent in prison where she died several years later killed by another prisoner in a brawl.» Fifth room in the right. A living room... With the walls, floor, ceiling, and even the furnitures entirely covered in blood with organs as decorations. Apple Bloom immediately turned herself into a ghost to not puke. It didn't take long to spot the responsible, the ghost of an old magenta unicorn stallion with a black mane possessing a red stripe. The guy was actually using a brush to cover a candle in blood. The worst was that he was acting like he was just doing a regular painting. The ponies didn't wait for the stallion to notice them. They didn't want to remain in this room longer than necessary. So they ran to the stallion, then as he saw them approaching, they activated their Poltergusts and captured him. Little Ghost then quickly entered the chamber, took the key, and came back before they returned in the hallway where Apple Bloom returned to normal. "Worst room ever..." she said as she tried to stop thinking about said room. "This stallion... Urp..." «I... I will just tell you that his name was Red Brush, also known as the Gorish Artist, that he had a serious mental problem, and that he died in an asylum from old age. I will leave it at that. Urg...» informed Twilight who was clearly as sick as everyone else. Deciding to leave this room behind and to pass to the next one (hoping that it won't be as bad), they unlocked and opened the fifth door in the left. And they entered a room full of dresses. at first glance, it was okay, but looking closer, the ponies could see that the dresses were made from pony skins. Barely better than the previous room, and it totally horrified Rarity. How could somepony use pony skins to make dresses?! A mad dressmaker, of course, as the ponies quickly discovered. There was the ghost of an unicorn mare in the room, the mare possessing a cream-colored coat with a purple and yellow mane, and she was wearing one of the dresses, a light blue one. And when she saw Apple Bloom, she levitated scissors while smiling and saying "Hello sweetie. Can you come here? I need you for a dress." "Alright, Ah'm coming," replied Apple Bloom as she approached the mare with a barely supressed smirk despite her frown. The others understood what she was doing, so they didn't interfere, but they remained on guard, ready to intervene. Scootaloo and Little Ghost still had to supress a laugh. That mare was an idiot, and she was doomed. As Apple Bloom approached, the mare's smile grew wider, and she began snapping the scissors while approaching them to the filly. But then, once she was close enough, Apple Bloom activated her Poltergust and sucked up the scissors before she trapped the mare. The others then joined her, and together, they easily captured the mare. Twilight took a big breath and said «Prisma, a mare who saw the skin of creatures, especially of ponies, as perfect dress materials. Was killed by a scissor being planted in her neck by somepony in self-defense.» «She almost disgusted me of my passion,» said Rarity. «I hope this witch will rot for eternity wherever you will put her, Apple Bloom.» "Ah'll make sure of it, Rarity," said Apple Bloom. Key in their possession, the ponies went to the next door: the sixth, and last, door in the right. For the second time, they found themselves in front of a counter displaying something, and this time, that was baked goods like cupcakes. But before Pinkie could rejoice about it, they quickly saw that something was wrong with those baked goods. They were all made with meat. Twilight and the others quickly led Pinkie away the time of this room. No trace of the ghost responsible for this horror however until she came out of a door in the ponies' left, holding a trail carrying more freshly made baked goods. She was a pegasus mare with a white coat and a puffy blond mane who looked a lot like Pinkie Pie, which made the situation worst in the ghost hunters' point of view. The ponies immediately activated their Poltergusts on her before she could react to their presence, and in a few seconds, she disappeared inside one of the vacuum cleaners. Twilight, who had come back, then said «Surprise, a crazy baker who drugged ponies to drag them into her basement where she... Well, you can guess what she did to them... Ponies investigated, and she ended up dying with a knife planted in her heart.» Not able to stop her curiosity, Applejack opened the door from which the mare came from, seeing that it led to a kitchen. She quickly closed it. If she had still been alive, she would have felt sick from what she saw in there. "Don't open this door," she warned before she went to retrieve the key in the chamber. The fillies just nodded at this, having a good idea of what she saw. The key led to the last room in this floor, the sixth in the left. Apple Bloom couldn't stop an horrified gasp upon entering. The room was full of creatures hanging from the ceiling in various states of decomposition. And before she could react, a rope was suddenly put around her neck from nowhere, and the next thing she knew, she was hanging from the ceiling, hooves on the rope to try to get rid of it as she was suffocating. She quickly remembered however that she had the Spectral Transmograftizer, so she pressed its button to turn herself into a ghost, saving herself from becoming one of the corpses hanging in this room. All of this passed so quickly that the others barely had time to act. They were as chocked as Apple Bloom at seeing the hanging corpses, so it took them time to react to the filly suddenly being hung by a rope that had come from nowhere without warning. In the end, Apple Bloom saved herself just before Little Ghost teared the rope. As for the origin of the rope, the ponies quickly found it: the ghost of a male minotaur with a brown coat and a redder lower body. He was growling at Apple Bloom's escape from death, and he was beginning to retreat only to be rammed by Scootaloo in her scooter form. The ponies then all went on him, and while he offered some resistance thanks to his greater physical strenght, he didn't last long against their collective might. «Tight Rope, a minotaur who had a very sick hobby as you can see...» informed Twilight. «Was imprisoned, sent to the minotaurs, got the death sentence and was hung by them as punishment.» "The irony," said sweetie Belle as they entered the minotaur's chamber and took the key. "Finally done with this floor!" shouted Scootaloo. "It was one horrible room after another!" «Maybe you should take a break from this wing,» advised E. Gadd. "Nope. Only one floor left. We'll finish this wing," said Apple Bloom with determination. "I still hope that the last floor will not be as horrible as this floor..." said Sweetie Belle. "Ah hope too..."