Third floor of the VIP Wing, beginning of the hallway, first door in the left. This was where the key gotten from the minotaur led. And before entering it, the ponies already knew that it would be special because they remembered seeing a tower from the roof of the library starting from whatever room was behind this door.
The room revealed to be a living room. A very high class one, where the furniture were of high quality, the kind you would normally find in Canterlot Castle. It was surprising considering that, until now, Thanatos' castle only had furniture barely better than the ones that were found in the Gem Manor at best. There was a door in the right, and also one in the left, not far of the beginning of a spiral staircase at what was clearly the base of the tower, at the end of the room where the wall was circular.
"Very fancy here," commented Apple Bloom. "Ah bet we'll encounter a noble. Or at least somepony who was very rich."
"Evil rich ponies?" wondered Scootaloo before she chuckled. "I-"
«Don't use that cliche stating that all riches are jerks. I know a few nobles who are very respectable ponies,» interrupted Rarity. «Without forgetting the princesses.»
"They must be a minority," said Scootaloo.
«What about the Wonderbolts? They're rich, but...»
«Uh... Remember what they did to try to get Rainbow in their team for the Equestrian Games?» interrupted Twilight. «That was a really jerk move there.»
Rainbow Dash sighed. «Even I must admit that it was a low move for Spitfire, but she learned her lessons, and now, they shouldn't be as bad.»
"Stop trying Rare. Ah know ya love all that upper class stuff, but ya must admit that most of them aren't what Ah'd call friendly. Lazy stuck up idiots at best, egotistical jerks at worst, like a certain prince ya know," said Applejack before she turned to look at Apple Bloom. "Ah hope ya won't get like that."
Apple Bloom huffed. "Ah'm better than that. Ah won't get all that money in mah head, don't worry."
At this, the filly went to check the right door, seeing that it led to a dinner room as classy as the living room but that was empty of ghost. Following her example, Sweetie Belle checked the left door, which led to a bathroom also empty of ghost.
So this left the staircase.
Climbing it, they entered a circular room with a vanity and some closets and shelves full of clothes, hats, jewelries, and so on.
And sitting in front of the vanity was the ghost of an old unicorn mare with a white coat and an elegant pink mane.
And the ponies all gasped, recognizing who the mare was.
Princess Platinum.
The ghost turned to face them without saying a word and levitated from her vanity. She then levitated from beside the vanity a rapier that she points at Apple Bloom.
And suddenly, the blade extended, taking everypony by surprise, but by reflex, Apple Bloom was able to do a side jump to avoid it. However, to everypony's surprise again, the extended blade bended to follow Apple Bloom, and she was only saved by Sweetie Belle using her own body as a shield, getting pierced in her place.
Princess Platinum frowned, then did a small wave of her hoof toward Applejack and Scootaloo. the next instant, the two of them felt something wrong with their body.
"Uh?" they both said as they looked down at their body that began to move by themselves. To their horror, they lost all control of their body, to the point that they couldn't even warn Apple Bloom. As a result, the filly found herself punched on the cheek by Applejack before she was headbutted in the belly by Scootaloo.
Apple Bloom quickly recovered and intercepted Scootaloo's hoof as she had been about to punch her. Scootaloo then attempts to punch her with the other leg, but Apple Bloom caught it too. The earth pony filly then threw her robotic friend to the staircase.
As Scootaloo fell down the stairs, Apple Bloom muttered "Sorry..."
At the same time, Little Ghost stopped Applejack from attacking Apple Bloom again by making her levitate before throwing her at princess Platinum. The princess quickly manipulated the metal of her rapier to turn it liquid and to make it take the form of a shield to save herself from the thrown robot. This, however, freed Sweetie Belle who took the occasion to run toward the princess. Just as Platinum reformed her rapier, the undead filly activated her Poltergust and caught her. Before Platinum could defend herself, Sweetie Belle slammed her, breaking her focus and freeing Scootaloo and Applejack from her control.
But Platinum freed herself with a small shock wave, teleported away, and manipulated the metal of her rapier to create several smaller daggers that she threw at Apple Bloom, each dagger taking a different trajectory. A terrible error because thanks to their small size, Apple Bloom, helped by Little Ghost, managed to suck them up, destroying them totally, leaving Platinum weaponless. But the mare quickly forced Applejack to attack the ghost hunters as a distraction while she took whatever metal remained in the room, mainly the screws of the furniture, and gathered it to form another dagger.
She then teleported just beside Apple Bloom as she was distracted by Applejack and prepared to stab her.
Only to be jump-kicked in the cheek by Scootaloo who had just come back. The pegasus filly followed this by firing a couple of Poltergun beams, leaving the princess open for a big counterattack from everypony excepted Apple Bloom who was still busy against Applejack. So Little Ghost did like previously and threw Applejack , this time down the stairs, to let Apple Bloom participate.
And together, they finally managed to capture the first of the six Founders.
Apple Bloom stared at Scootaloo's Poltergust where Platinum disappeared into. "Ah can't believe it. We captured princess Platinum!"
«I already warned that there will be Clover and Gusty, so why are you surprised that the other Founders are here?» asked Discord.
"It's not that we're surprised. It's the shock of actually capturing one of the Founders! One of the ponies without who Equestria wouldn't exist today!" said Sweetie Belle. "But what was princess Platinum doing in this wing? She wasn't evil, and she was clearly hypnotized. Isn't this wing only for the very bad creatures?"
«Well, this is the VIP Wing, so I guess there was no better place for someone as distinguished as this princess, evil or not,» said E. Gadd.
"Ah wonder if we'll encounter the other Founders in this wing then," wondered Apple Bloom.
It was then that Applejack climbed back the stairs and immediately rushed to Apple Bloom to hug her. "Ah'm sorry Apple Bloom! Ah couldn't control mah body anymore!"
"Ah know AJ, Ah know," replied her sister as she patted her back. "We got princess Platinum. Let's take the key in her chamber and let's go to the next room. We may encounter the other Founders."
"Are ya sure ya're alright? That punch Ah gave ya must've hurt."
"Yeah... But it's passing. It's not a punch that'll get me. Same for Scootaloo's headbutt. Ah got much worse. Not gonna waste Sweetie's energy on this."
Applejack stared at Apple Bloom for a moment before she relented. "Ah'm not sure for some of the Founders, but if we encounter commander Hurricane or Clover the Clever, then ya"ll immediately let Sweetie Belle heal you. Ah can already say those two'll put up a big fight."
Apple Bloom nodded, and at this, the ponies climbed another spiral staircase to reach the last floor of the tower where Platinum's chamber was. Beside being as classy as the rest, the only particularity that this chamber had was an opening to a small balcony that didn't let the ponies see much, mainly the Toy Wing, but also the stadium behind, the tower of the library and a small part of the West side of the Main Wing.
They took the key that was on the bed, descended the stairs back to the living room where they returned to the hallway, and used the key to open the first door in the right side, a little further down.
The room they entered was a huge room that had a terrifying particularity: it was full of ant farms. Dozens of transparent boxes full of ants. And the worst? They could see bones in them, animal bones, but also pony bones, all without any flesh left.
The ghost of an earth pony then appeared. He was a brown stallion with slightly long, spiky green mane wearing big glasses, and he was smiling at the ghost hunters with a sadistic glee. The next instant, he opened the lid of all the ant farms, and thousands of ants began to climb out of the boxes and to approach the ponies.
"Go, my little ants. Lunch is ready."
Apple Bloom stared at the sea of ants approaching her, then said "Hey, AJ. Remember the spiders in Gloomy Manor?"
"Eeyup. We do the same?" asked Applejack.
"Eeyup," answered Apple Bloom before she activated her Poltergust and began to suck up the ants, rapidly followed by Applejack and the others. Before long, all the spiders had disappeared inside the vacuum cleaners, and contrary to what happened back in Gloomy Manor with the spiders, the machines didn't need to be cleaned this time. The ants had been totally vaporized, to the brown stallion's horror.
"My-my ants! What have you done to my ants!" he yelled.
"Ya haven't seen? Maybe ya should change yer glasses," deadpanned Apple Bloom. "Not like ya'll get an occasion," she finished with a smirk before she charged at the stallion and activated her Poltergust on him.
Once the stallion was captured with barely a struggle, Twilight began to talk. «Ant King. Ant Breeder who didn't hesitate to give ponies as food to his ants.»
"So, like doctor Green Hoof, but with ants," commented Sweetie Belle.
«When royal guards were about to arrest him, he let his own ants devour him to escape.»
This made Apple Bloom shiver. Being devoured alive by ants seemed to be a very terrible death.
Key in possession, they opened the second door in the right and entered an even bigger room that possessed some tables surrounded by chairs, a bar counter in the opposite side, and some barrels and shelves full of bottles behind it.
A bar, or a tavern.
Behind the counter was the ghost of a blue-violet pegasus mare with a cascading salmon pink mane who was, to put it simply, very hot. And right now, the mare was looking at Apple Bloom with a knowing smile as she started to pour apple juice in a glass.
"Hello everypony. Welcome to my bar. Want a drink?"
"It won't work, ya know? Ya aren't the first pony who wants to poison me in this wing," said Apple Bloom as she approached the mare.
The pegasus ghost chuckled at this. "Oh. I expected this. This is why the drink itself isn't poisoned." She then smirked.
Apple Bloom quickly pressed the button of the Spectral Transmograftizer to turn herself into a ghost just in time to let a dart pass through her, the dart coming from a small hole in a wall.
This displeased the mare greatly. "Well... Crud..."
A few seconds later, she disappeared inside Applejack's Poltergust. Apple Bloom then returned back to normal and looked at the apple-juice before pushing the glass beyond the edge of the counter. She wasn't sure if the mare had been lying about the drink not being poisoned or not, but she didn't want to take the risk even if she was a little thirsty.
«So... A barmare who seemed to specialize in poison... Let's see... Ah! I have it! Grape Juice was the owner of a tavern in the middle of nowhere. She would then poison lonely travelers, or put sedative in their drink so force them to rest in a chamber where she would finish them without witnesses. She then robbed them of their possession before burying them in her cellar. She was killed by some bandits raiding the tavern, but we only discovered what she did when the buried bodies were discovered.»
The next room was just in front, the second door in the left.
A room with a round stage surrounded by cages with ghost of animals in them. Animals such as tigers, lions, a bear, and even a manticore.
It was then that the ghost of a tan earth pony stallion with a red mane Monsieur Loyal outfit with a clown makeup came on the stage.
"Ladies and gentlecolts! Welcome to Crazy Show's Circus! I am Crazy Show, and it's with joy that I proclaim that today's show staring some honoured guests is about to start! May the guests come on the stage, please?"
The ponies stared at the Monsieur Loyal, then at the animal ghosts in the cage, then exchanged insure looks before they got on the stage. they had to go there anyway to capture the stallion.
As soon as they got on the stage, Crazy Show took out a whip and cracked it on the floor. The next instant, the doors of all the stage opened.
"In today's show: animal feeding! All in good fun, of course!"
Following this, the animals flew on the stage one after another to attack the ponies, especially Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. But it wasn't because they were animals that the ponies changed a good formula: catching and slamming. They made particularly sure to slam the ghosts of the weakest animals onto the strongest ones like the bear and the manticore.
But then, Apple Bloom saw Crazy Show take a pie from a trailer he brought and threw it at her. Apple Bloom quickly lowered her head and the pie passed above her to hit instead Sweetie Belle who was just behind. To everypony's horror, the part of Sweetie Belle's body that was hit began to melt as if the pie had been made of acid. Thankfully, it wasn't a problem for the undead who could regenerate her body.
It was Apple Bloom who had to make sure to absolutely avoid the pies that the stallion continued to throw at her.
Little Ghost quickly came to her rescue, stopping to catch the animals to deal directly with Crazy Show. The stallion saw her coming and quickly used his whip on her to force her to fly back while avoiding whatever was fired at him.
Eventually, all the animals were captured, leaving only the Monsieur Loyal. So the stallion began to throw burning rings that could be passed through, and spiked bouncing balls started to bounce onstage. Because of all this and his whip, approaching the stallion wasn't easy, not made better by him constantly moving to remain far enough, but the ponies managed to surround him, and with their number, his whip was no use. Crazy Show still attacked them by juggling and throwing explosive pins around, but the clones of goo blew them away by expelling air at them, leaving the way open for the others to get close enough to capture him.
Before being captured, the stallion gave a small bow.
"Show's over," said Apple Bloom.
«So, Crazy Show. Owner of a circus. Crazy. Managed his circus like a tyrant and mistreated his animals. When he was about to lose his circus, he unleashed the starving animals. Crazy Show ended up devoured by one of them. The animals still caused many victims before they were stopped.»
«I... I don't know what to say...» said Fluttershy in clear horror to what Twilight said.
The next room was the third in the right.
It quickly revealed to be a room with a neighpanese style, part of the floor covered by tatamis mats. There was also an indoor garden with a small pool with bamboo stalks and a small fountain with one of those bamboo thingies where water falls in the bamboo, and once the bamboo is filled enough, it tilts and empties itself of the water before returning to its previous position, hitting a rock. Twilight quickly found the name for them: a shishi-odoshi. Present on the tatamis mats were also those wooden dummies armed with weapons that turned when they were hit. And speaking of weapons, there were various weapons present here and there in the room like sabers and daggers, and shurikens and kunais were planted in the walls and dummies.
What was worrying was the absence of the enemy ghost. Seeing the nature of the room and of the weapons, it wasn't hard to guess what they were up against.
"A ninja," stated Apple Bloom with a frown.
The ponies immediately positioned themselves to cover all angles, ensuring that the ninja couldn't sneak on them or throw a shuriken or a kunai at Apple Bloom. But then, the whole room was plunged into darkness, only letting whatever the flashlights were lighting to be seen. But they quickly turned on their night-vision.
They then turned off the flashlights, hoping to make the ninja's job harder. Just in case the ninja remembered her position, Apple Bloom carefully moved one meter forward, hoping to trick the ninja this way. The sound of two things planting themselves in the floor showed that she had been right to move.
Ninjas were master assassins, and the best of them could use their sense of hearing and touching to locate their victim even in darkness where their eyes would fail them. So Apple Bloom made sure to move very slowly and to not make a sound when she moved. She even controlled her breathing to be as quiet as possible.
To make sure that the ninja wouldn't spot Apple Bloom, Scootaloo got the idea to cover her friend by making sounds by tapping her hooves against each others. Being metallic, this caused quite the racket. The ninja couldn't hope to spot Apple Bloom this way.
This continued like this for a few minutes, the ponies continuously looking around to spot the ninja.
Then, the flame of the candles reappeared, lighting the room. It seemed like the ninja understood that it was no use to let the room in darkness. But still no trace of the ninja themself. However, Apple Bloom saw two kunais that were now planted where she had been earlier.
Again, she did well to move.
And she remarked that the kunais had their handle turned toward the ceiling.
"Little Ghost! The ninja is in the ceiling!" she shouted.
Understanding, Little Ghost gave a salute and flew in the ceiling. A few seconds later, they could hear her Poltergust being captured, somepony (a mare) cursing in Neighpanese, followed quickly after by something being violently slammed on the ceiling. This caused one of the panels composing it to break which revealed an hidden space above. In this space, the ponies could see Little Ghost in the process of sucking up the ninja before she slammed her on another panel of the ceiling, also breaking it. the ninja was then captured.
"Good job Little Ghost!" shouted Apple Bloom.
"yeah! Great job capturing a ninja!" also congratulated Scootaloo.
"Eheheh. Thanks! But it was Apple Bloom who understood where the ninja was hidden, so she must be congratulated too," said Little Ghost.
«She's right,» said E. Gadd. «Great observation.»
«However, I can't say who was that ninja. I couldn't even see the color of her fur,» said Twilight.
"We will just call her Ninja Mare then," said Scootaloo with a shrug.
After finding the key on an actual futon in the ninja's chamber, they used it to open the third door in the left side of the hallway.
A room in fire where they were immediately attacked by some pony in fire that manipulated fire to burn them!
The ghost hunters immediately sprayed water everywhere in the room, putting out some of the fire including the fire covering the ghost, revealing that the ghost was an orange unicorn stallion with a yellow spiked mane red at the points. Drenched, the stallion could only blink in incomprehension at what happened before he was caught and captured.
«Blazing Life. Had no job, was still living with his parents. Began a pyrostallion and put countless houses on fire just for the heck of it, causing many victims. One of his fire got out of control while he was still in the house, and he died in it.»
"Epic fail," said Little Ghost at this with a giggle.
Fourth room in the left was next. A room full of stuff like you would expect to find in Zecora's home, like those weird and creepy tribal masks.
The ghost of a zebra mare then came holding a rather creepy pony-shaped doll possessing some red hairs for a mane. The zebra placed the doll on a small table, then took a nail while she gave an evil smirk...
And the ponies (excepted Little Ghost who didn't know about voodoo) understood what she was about to do.
In panic, Apple bloom turned herself into a ghost and teleported directly beside the zebra before she blasted her away just before she could plant the nail in the head of the doll. She then flew after the zebra, caught her, slammed her repeatedly, and captured her without giving her any chance. At the same time, Applejack took away the red hair forming the mane of the doll before burning it.
"Uuh... What was the problem with the doll?" asked Little Ghost.
«It was a voodoo doll,» said Twilight before she explained. «Voodoo is a very obscure branch of magic, and a voodoo doll can be used to harm or even kill somepony. You just take something from the pony you target, like some hair of their mane of fur, put them on a doll following some ritual, and anything that happens to the doll also happens to the targeted pony. For example, you put a nail in the doll's front left leg, and the pony will feel pain in their front left leg. You put the doll on fire, and it will be as if the pony was burning alive.»
"Then how come Applejack was able to burn the doll without burning Apple Bloom?"
"Ah got rid of Apple Bloom's hairs that were on it before, it cut the link" explained the robotic mare. "But Ah wonder how this zebra got her hooves on some of Apple Bloom's hairs."
"Easy. Since we started exploring this castle, Apple Bloom must have lost some hairs here and there," guessed Sweetie Belle. "We constantly lose hairs after all. The zebra just had to serve herself."
"If Ah must watch out my hairs now..." grumbled Apple Bloom.
«Hopefully, she was the only voodoo witch in this castle,» said E. Gadd.
Fifth room in the left. A totally normal living room.
But barely they entered that the door to the chamber, in the back, suddenly opened, and Apple Bloom was levitated through it before it closed. Little Ghost tried to fly after her only to hit the door, not being able to pass through it. The wall didn't work too, so she tried to open the door only to find it locked.
The others then reached the door, and Applejack tried to buck it, but surprisingly, it didn't work. The door remained closed.
"Apple Bloom! Ya hear me?!" she then yelled.
No answer.
But then, there was a loud shriek that they recognized coming from Apple Bloom followed by a stallion's scream of pain that lasted almost a whole minute. The calm returned for a few seconds only to be suddenly interrupted by explosions, more screams of pain, and the room shaking a couple of time. Calm returned again...
And the door slammed open, Apple Bloom walking out of the chamber with the key and an expression that constantly shifted between shock and rage, tears present in the corner of her eyes.
Seeing this, Applejack immediately hugged her. "Apple Bloom! What happened?!"
In answer, Apple Bloom simply placed her head against Applejack's barrel, not saying anything as she shook.
Twilight was the one answering. «We saw everything. The ghost of a stallion tried to... To...»
«To do something very bad to Apple Bloom,» said E. Gadd with clear disgust in his voice.
Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Little Ghost tilted their head in wonder at this, but Applejack understood and had to control herself to not crush her sister in her hug because of the rage she felt at this instant.
"He forced me to remain belly on the floor while he's whispering sweet words in mah ears," then said Apple Bloom with difficulty as she tried to calm herself. "Ah looked back, saw his... thing, and managed to fire a Poltergun beam at him. Ah... Hum... Ah then lost control of mahself and... Well... y'all heard his screams..."
«She placed the end of her Poltergust you-guess-where and continuously fired a beam there, pretty much turning the guy into a mare,» said Rainbow Dash. She would be laughing if the matter wasn't serious. «She then turned into a ghost and unleashed Tartarus on him until she had to return to normal before she finally captured him. Totally deserved.»
Apple Bloom managed to stop shaking as she took big breaths after big breaths. "A-at least... Ah managed to stop him before he'd do... this..." Having calmed down enough, Apple Bloom then got herself out of the hug and walked to the exit. "Let's go to the next room."
"Ya're sure?" asked Applejack in worry.
"Yeah. Continuing Thanatos' 'game''ll help me forget about this. And Ah can estimate mahself happy that Ah's just barely... whatever ya call what he's about to do to me. Remember all those ponies, or their remains, that we saw as we explored this wing? And the horror of the Toy Wing? Ah can't complain about such a small incident when Ah's almost hanged a few rooms earlier, without forgetting that moment where Ah's almost cooked alive with mah own blood not long before."
Applejack stared at Apple Bloom. "Still, once we return home, we'll talk about this and Ah'll remain with ya all night while ya'll be sleeping. And Granny'll give ya the best darn apple pie she'll have ever baked in her life."
Apple Bloom smiled back at her sister. "Thanks..."
Meanwhile, the others exchanged looks, still not sure what happened. But they understood that it was bad, so once they were all in the hallway, they all gave Apple Bloom a hug before they opened the last door of the wing, a very well decorated dark double door.
And they entered a big hall where Applejack immediately understood who they were up against. It was a room where the walls were entirely covered in dark purple crystals, a red carpet going from the entrance to the base of a spiral staircase in the back and branching in the way to go to the right toward a door. Against the crystals on the walls were small columns.
And on those columns were busts of none other than Sombra himself.
At this moment, a cloud of darkness with a familiar pair of red and green eyes out of which a purple mist was flowing appeared and looked down at the ponies. The cloud then took the vague shape of a stallion.
"Sombra!" growled Applejack.
"It's king Sombra for you!" replied Sombra with a smirk visible in his cloudy body.
"King? Of what kingdom?" Scootaloo couldn't help but taunt. She knew about Sombra and how he was destroyed. Rainbow Dash told her everything.
Sombra visibly frowned at this. "Of the Crystal Empire, of course! I may have been forced out of my throne, but it's only temporary! I may only be shadows now, but one day, I will come back and take back what is mine!"
"Not if we capture ya now. Ah don't know what ya're right now, a ghost or a bodiless shadow entity, but either way, Ah'm sure the Poltergust'll work on ya like on the others," said Apple Bloom.
«Be careful. It's Sombra. He's very powerful. He was able to resist against both Celestia and Luna at the same time,» warned Twilight.
«Bah! That's nothing! A filly could do it!» said Discord.
Meanwhile, Sombra was laughing at what Apple Bloom said. "What a foolish filly you are if you think that you can defeat me! You may be seven, but none of you are alicorns!"
Apple Bloom gave to him an intense stare. "We ain't alicorns, but we don't need to be to kick yer royal butt, especially when ya're just a shadow of yerself."
Sombra growled. "You-" he began to shout only to be interrupted by a Poltergun beam hitting him, effectively hurting him. But he quickly recovered and glared at the one who had fired the beam: Applegoo.
The other ghost hunters immediately began to fire at Sombra, Little Ghost even unleashing her more powerful projectiles to harm him. But Sombra used his body's inconsistency, being made of shadowy smoke, to change his shape so to avoid the projectiles while he began to fire back with his dark magic, targeting in priority anypony who approached too much. But Sombra quickly understood that it would turn at his disadvantage in the long run. The ponies easily dodged his beams, Little Ghost even using her shield to deflect them. Any crystal that sprouted was quickly destroyed. And Little Ghost's attacks were easily as powerful as his, if not more.
So Sombra fully turned himself into a shadow, crept in the floor while avoiding the Poltergun beams that would still no doubt hurt him despite his state, and managed to get himself into Little Ghost's shadow. He then manipulated the filly ghost by the shadow to force her to attack her friends while remaining safe in it. The beams couldn't hurt him while he was in Little Ghost's shadow.
Apple Bloom let out a small curse, wondering how they could force Sombra out as they began to avoid Little Ghost's attacks. When Sombra began to force Little Ghost to hypnotize Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom immediately turned herself into a ghost and quickly used her power to push the undead away from a distance. Having no choice, she then used used all her power to send the most powerful ice beam possible at Little Ghost, managing to trap her in ice. With her being trapped and unable to move, Sombra had no choice but to leave her shadow less he wanted to remain in it, powerless, for hours.
When she saw Sombra's shadow move out, Apple Bloom immediately moved to intercept it before it could enter somepony else's shadow. Then, she actually managed to grab Sombra and to force him out of the floor before she expelled him away with a point blank energy blast right into Applejack's waiting back hooves. Sombra was violently bucked, and he then found himself trapped in three vortexes coming from Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Sweetiegoo's Poltergusts. Sombra however quickly managed to freed himself before he flew away. At this moment, Apple Bloom had to return to normal.
Sombra took the occasion to fire a very powerful beam of dark magic at her, but the filly still managed to avoid it with a big jump to the left with the help of an air blast. The beam still got Sweetiegoo who was destroyed, but the clone quickly came back out of Sweetie Belle's Poltergust. Meanwhile, Applejack and Scootaloo worked to free Little Ghost from the ice.
But then, Sombra stared at Apple Bloom right in the eyes, and his eyes flashed.
The next thing Apple Bloom knew, she was now a ghost trapped in a suspended cage. She recognized Thanatos' throne room, and saw that the cage was just at the right of the throne. Thanatos himself was sitting on the throne, smiling widely, and in front of him were the ghosts of all her friends and family, all bowing to the draconequus, their eyes empty, totally submitted.
Apple Bloom could only look in horror, not understanding. What happened? Did they lost? She slammed her front hooves against the bars of the cage, causing it to balance a little as she shouted Applejack's name.
Thanatos then looked at her with a victorious smile and said "Game over."
How? When was she killed? When did everything go wrong? What happened in the fight against Sombra? One moment his eyes flashed and the next...
Wait a minute...
Was it... a dream caused by dark magic? Oh, she really hoped it was just a dream. If it was just a dream, then she needed to get out of it!
"Come on... Wake up... Wake up..." she willed herself as she closed her eyes. She felt that she began to draw in her ghost powers as she did, and she used it to help herself.
Then, she opened her eyes, and she was greeted with the sight of Sombra charging at her, a dagger of dark crystal in his hoof ready to stab her, and of her friends and Applejack yelling her name, probably not able to save her in time.
With a sudden burst of air against the ground, she propelled herself upward, avoiding the dagger. Before Sombra could react, she then spun in the air and gave a charged air blast kick in his face almost at point blank, sending him flying through the room. as she landed, she then used streams of air to rapidly move after the stallion. He had barely recovered when the filly reached him, activated her Poltergust to trap him while still moving thanks to the air, and used the momentum to violently slam him against one of the busts against the walls. then, as she sucked up the tyrant, Apple Bloom passed her Poltergust to Red Mode, and even Sombra couldn't resist long to such a powerful vortex.
Yelling in disbelief and rage, the ex-king disappeared in Apple Bloom's Poltergust.
Her friends, including Little Ghost who had been freed, then all rushed to her.
"Are ya alright, sugarcube? Ya suddenly stopped moving for a few seconds," asked Applejack worriedly.
"Ah'm alright," answered her sister. "Sombra trapped me in an horrible vision, but ah managed to understand that it's just a vision and to get out."
"What was that vision?" asked Sweetie Belle.
Apple Bloom sighed. "We'd lost. Ah's in a cage in Thanatos' throne room while ya'd all become his servants..."
The room became silent at this as the ponies exchanged looks.
Then, Scootaloo said "No wonder you quickly understood that it was a vision. It will never happen! We will win this 'game' and give Thanatos what he deserves!"
"Darn tooting," agreed Applejack before she hugged Apple Bloom. "We won't lose."
Apple Bloom nodded. "Well... Ah guess this means we're done with this wing."
"Once we get the key, yes," said Little Ghost.
"Then let's quickly take the key and get out of there. I want to get out of this horror center full of freaks yesterday," said Sweetie Belle before she walked toward the spiral staircase.
Agreeing with her, the others followed the undead, Apple Bloom muttering "Ah can't believe Ah captured Sombra."
The group reached a living room where they had to take a second, much longer spiral staircase, the tower here being taller than princess Platinum's one like they remembered from the roof of the library. Then, they reached Sombra's chamber where they found the key on his bed.
Before leaving, they decided to pass a door in the chamber that led to a balcony much bigger than the one back in princess Platinum's tower. This one was facing the Main Wing of the castle, giving them the best view they had of it until now. They really could see the spires and the towers, and they also could see the waterfall at the East side.
Looking down, they finally had a good view of the graveyard which was easily bigger than the one from the Haunted Towers, possessing dozens and dozens of graves. Not far, they could even see a structure that seemed to be a tomb. and just East of the tower, they could see a huge black door with two towers that served as the entrance of the bridge that was leading to that huge tower they could see in the distance.
They couldn't see it as well as in Platinum's balcony, but they could also see the stadium in the distance behind the Toy Wing, West of the Main Wing.
They had finished the VIP Wing, but they still had a lot to explore.