//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: The Trotting Dead // Story: Apple Bloom's Mansion 4: The Castle of Death // by Lucar //------------------------------// The ponies left behind the stadium, traversing the bridge back to the Main Wing. After the huge battle that took place, they rested a few minutes to recover their energy, with how they used a lot of it to fight all those ghosts. Sweetie Belle had been especially spent. She did a lot of singing during the battle, and it took a lot of her. She will have to avoid singing for a little while. Halfway through the bridge, they found themselves assaulted by the ghosts of the castle again. At least, it wasn't as bad as the battle of the stadium. The ghosts weren't as numerous, and while some of them could give some troubles, they were still quickly dealt with. However, almost immediately after they entered the Main Wing, the hallway was suddenly flooded, and from a corner came a small ghostly boat with on it the ghost of a griffon armed with a harpoon. "Yarr! The whale is in sight!" shouted the griffon with an excited smirk as he stared at Apple Bloom and prepared to throw his harpoon. "Hey!" shouted back Apple Bloom indignant. "Wait a minute. A captain griffon whaler?" said Scootaloo in recognition. "Captain Gachab? The griffon whaler who hunted that whale only to end trapped on its flank by ropes?" "Himself!" shouted the griffon with a tilt of his hat. "He's real? I thought he was only a story!" said Sweetie Belle. "Apparently, not," said Apple Bloom. She quickly jumped to the side to avoid a harpoon thrown by the griffon, then had to deal with a Prankster who had approached in the water. When an Icy appeared, she then immediately fired a Poltergun beam at him before he could freeze the water with them in it. Applejack then quickly captured the Icy before he could recover. Little Ghost intercepted another thrown harpoon with her power, stopping it right in the air before she threw it back at Gachab with some added power. Instead of targeting Gachab directly, she targeted his boat, and when the harpoon impacted, it caused an explosion powerful enough to blow up half of it, sending the griffon flying in the air further down in the hallway. It was then that Scootaloo turned into a scooter and rolled ON the water toward the dazed sailor to quickly capture him before he could recover his senses. When Gachab was captured, the remains of the boat and the water disappeared almost immediately like a mirage. With the water gone, the ponies could continue to their next destination. The key from the stadium led them back to the section of the hallway with the back door to the pool room and the double door to the room with the quiz show. This time, it opened the first door on their left upon entering this section of the hallway. A greenhouse, but without the wall of glasses to let the sun rays pass. Because, obviously, there wasn't any sun in this place. And so, the plants that could be seen in this room were either dead, nocturnal plants... or mutants. Like, there were roses with red stem, as if instead of absorbing water, they absorbed blood. There was a door in the back, and the ponies could see through windows that it led outside, probably to the graveyard. However, they couldn't see much because there were stuff blocking most of the view; a small wall between two pillars. There was another door in the right. And tending for the plants was the ghost of an earth pony mare. An earth pony mare with a pale gamboge coat and a brilliant gamboge curly mane. When she turned to look at the ghost hunters, her glowing eyes revealed to be turquoise. And Applejack's legs failed her as she recognized the mare, her face now entirely expressing shock as she said a single word. "Ma?" Apple Bloom's eyes widened when she head this. "It's... it's Ma?" The three other fillies stared at Apple Bloom with horror. "Your mother?" asked Sweetie Belle as she placed a hoof on her mouth. "She's here?" asked Scootaloo. "C-could this mean that your father is...?" "W-why? Why are they here?" wondered Apple Bloom, her body beginning to shake. Applejack let out a sound like a growl. "Thanatos. That's why. He probably captured them and forced them into servitude. All those years..." Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Little Ghost exchanged looks, then gave each others a firm nod before they advanced in front of the Apples. "Leave her to us," said Little Ghost. "We won't let you fight your own mommy." But then, the mare, Pear Butter, used her power to make several vines grow from the plants. Several carnivorous plants also turned toward them, also raising their vines or ready to spit something probably poisonous or paralysing. Sweetie Belle became worried. "Hum... This may complicate things..." "That's nothing! We can burn them!" shouted Scootaloo. "And they're nothing against me!" shouted Little Ghost. But before they could charge into battle, Apple Bloom walked between them and stopped in front of them, facing her mother and ready to press the button of the ST, to everypony's shock. "Are ya sure, sugarcube?" asked Applejack. "It's our Ma..." "Ah know..." replied her little sister. "Ah... Ah won't fight her..." She looked determinedly at the mare sending the vines to attack her. "Ah'll save her." She pressed the button and turned herself into a ghost. She then flew up, avoiding the vines. "It's only right for one of her daughters to do this." At this, Apple Bloom used her own power to supplant her mother's and take control of the plants. She quickly destroyed the carnivorous ones, then wrapped Pear Butter in the vines, only leaving out her ghost tail. Apple Bloom then approached and activated her Poltergust before she unwrapped the vines to free the mare from them so she could capture her. Once Pear Butter was captured, she then used the vines to entirely destroy to the greenhouse. Back to normal, she took the two keys that appeared and began to burn the plants. Nothing will remain of what her mother had been forced to do for Thanatos. Once all plants had burned, Apple Bloom returned to the others and said "One more reason to buck Thanatos' butt." "As if there weren't already enough," said Scootaloo. "There're never enough reasons to buck somepony's butt," said Little Ghost. "Each reasons add to our determination." Sweetie Belle put a hoof on Apple Bloom's whither. "Are you alright?" "AH... don't know... Ah finally got to see Ma but... Like that..." Applejack went to hug her. "At least... Like ya said... Ya saved her... And if he's here, we'll save Pa too." "Pa..." Applejack gave her sister a warm smile. "And once it's over, Ah'm sure they'll want to spend some time with ya before they move on... If they decide to move on." Applejack let out a chuckle. "There's already a ghost in the family, so two more..." Apple Bloom could easily hear the hope in Applejack's voice. Her sister clearly wants their parents to remain with them. And... Well, she hoped too. To finally have her parents back, even as ghosts... But if they decide to move on, then it'll be their choice. They couldn't stop them. Apple Bloom nodded to her friends to show them that they could continue, and she looked at the two keys that she took capturing her mother. One led to the back door of the room, and the other led to the door in the right. So they could now access the graveyard? As curious as they were to see what was up there, they decided to go to the right door first. They wanted to continue to clean the rooms until they were left with no choice but to go to the graveyard (not counting the other keys yet, the one they got from the game room beside the Great Hall and the one they got from cleaning the East Wing). The new room quickly revealed to be a disturbing one that gave the colors of what was awaiting them: a coffin workshop. Coffins could be seen against the walls, and an unfinished one was in the middle of being built by a dark brown earth pony stallion with a pale grey mane. The coffin was a foal-sized one, big enough for somepony like Apple Bloom to go in. When Apple Bloom understood that this coffin was her coffin, she couldn't stop herself from making a grimace, much to the stallion's amusement when he saw her. The stallion, however, revealed to be as much of a threat as any other 'normal' ghosts, having no powers to speak of. He just tried to use a hammer to hit Apple Bloom. However, he was quickly joined by other ghosts; two Pranksters, one Trickster, one Bulky, one Zappy, one Assassin, and a couple of punk-like ponies armed with metal pipes. Some Shadows also came from the shadows of the coffins but were quickly destroyed before the battle itself even started. Apple Bloom took care of the Zappy while Applejack went to deal with the Bulky. Sweetie Belle, who remained near Apple Bloom, got the Assassin as he attempted to attack the Apple filly from behind, Scootaloo went after the punks, and Little Ghost captured the dark grey stallion as well as one of the Pranksters. But when only a Prankster and a Trickster remained, more ghosts came; four random ponies that immediately took possession of four of the coffins in the room, the possessed coffins attempting to devour Apple Bloom. But they were easily destroyed by Applejack, Scootaloo, and Little Ghost, leaving the ghosts vulnerable to be captured. A Boggy then appeared and levitated the remaining coffins and the shards of the broken ones to throw them at Apple Bloom who avoided them as best as she could with jumps and rolls. It didn't take long however for the ponies to approach the Boggy and capture it, causing a key to appear. Apple Bloom then destroyed the small coffin made for her, the only one that survived the battle. "Ah ain't gonna be buried anytime soon!" After that, they used the key to open a double door that was in the eastern side of the workshop. It was a bigger room, but mostly empty excepted for the presence of chairs here and there and of a table in the center. there were also several dresses and tuxedos against a wall as well as a box of makeup on a smaller table beside a stand with scissors, needles, and rolls of wire. On the table in the center was an open coffin with the body of a mare in it, dressed and made up. And beside the coffin, looking down at the body with a big smile, was the ghost of a black unicorn stallion with a dark grey, near black mane, the mane covering part of his eyes. Still, the ponies could see them turning toward them when they approached, and the stallion's smile widened. "Isn't she beautiful?" he asked. "A young mare taken in her prime. Look at her..." He gave a small caress to the body's left cheek. "You could almost believe she's just sleeping. An eternal beauty sleep. I could spend the whole eternity just admiring her." he fully turned his head to look at the hunters. "Don't you agree?" "We agree that ya're sick," said Apple Bloom. The stallion just chuckled at this. "Or I just have different tastes than you. Is being different being sick? Then, aren't we all a little sick?" "There's being different, and there's being a weirdo who likes to admire corpses!" said Sweetie Belle. "It's a hobby like any other," replied the stallion to this with another chuckle. "Still a weirdo," said Sweetie Belle matter of factly. «And a murderer. He was known as Undertaker, and he killed ponies so that when their body passed by his funeral home, he could satiate his... love of corpses, so to say,» said Twilight. "Lovely..." deadpanned Apple Bloom before she pointed her Poltergust at Undertaker who floated backward, forelegs raised. "Hey. Hey. I'm just an undertaker. No need to get violent over a small difference in our tastes." "And a taste for killing too, apparently," said Scootaloo. "Oh... Ooh..." said Undertaker at this with a small wince. "Well then..." Suddenly, he levitated the corpse of the mare to use her as a shield while he also levitated the scissors and needles in the hope to pierce Apple Bloom with them. However, Sweetie Belle used her own body as a shield for her friend, not affected by being turned into a pincushion. Little Ghost then used her powers to force the body of the mare away from Undertaker, leaving the way open for everypony to capture the black stallion. Little Ghost then gently dropped the body back in the coffin as Undertaker's capture caused six keys to appear beside the table. "Six?!" shouted Sweetie Belle. Apple Bloom took the keys and verified them one by one. One opened a door in the southern wall of the room, back to the hallway, near the end of it. Another opened a double door in the northern wall of the room, to the graveyard. The four others all led to the graveyard. «I guess it's time for you to go to the graveyard,» began E. Gadd. «You're already used to them, so it should be a breeze.» "Yeeeeah... Ah'm not so sure. Ah's never lucky with graveyards in mah adventures, and do Ah need to remind ya where we're?" asked Apple Bloom. «I meant that it will not be some little graves that will scare you, girly. I don't doubt that you will encounter some serious opposition here. But it still shouldn't be a problem with the five of you. however, I have a feeling that you're getting close to one of the three remaining guardians. You should ready yourself,» proposed E. Gadd. "Ah'd that same feeling too. It starts to be a while since Toy Maker," said Apple Bloom. «Anyway, whatever awaits you in the graveyard, I'm sure you will get them. You're a master ghost hunter now. Whatever is here should be scared of you. Good luck.» So, finally, the ponies entered the graveyard. And they already could say that it will be a huge piece of work. At their left, they could see the entrance to the greenhouse. It was just under what seemed to be a terrace, and what they first thought was a wall was actually a staircase leading to it. Beside the terrace was the wall of the hallway leading to the VIP Wing which was just in front. Almost directly at their right was the edge of the floating island on which stood the castle. They weren't really in the graveyard proper. Between the VIP Wing and the edge of the island, the path tightened before broadening at the level of what had been Red Sword's bathroom. The graveyard itself started not long after, and they knew it was huge with hundreds of graves littering the place, spreading to other, smaller islands connected to the main island by bridges. They couldn't see much however because there were also a lot of dead trees, and because of this, they could only spot a tomb on one of the two visible islands at the right, but if they remembered correctly, there was another tomb near the center of the graveyard, without forgetting the huge gate and the huge bridge leading to that huge tower visible in the distance. And to make things worse, there was a fog, and Sombra's tower visible above finished to make the place one of the gloomiest ever visited by Apple Bloom. «Huum... You know, if zombies come out of the graves, you should have Sweetie Belle start to dance. It should make a great diversion,» proposed Pinkie Pie. «I'm not sure. She's not wearing red,» said Discord. «But I must admit it would be funny to watch.» "What the hay are you talking about? How would me dancing in front of zombies would create a diversion?" asked Sweetie Belle. The others shook their head and stopped listening as the group advanced toward the graveyard. Once in the fog among the trees and the graves, Applejack said "Stay close, girls," as they continued to walk. Soon enough, what they expected happened: zombies (of all species) started to come out of the graves. In just a few seconds, they already had five zombies surrounding them and probably more in the fog. «Quick, Sweetie Belle! Dance! Discord, music!» There was a snap! and music started blaring through the headpieces. "STOP!" yelled Sweetie Belle, causing the music to end with a Scratch! "I'm not going to dance with zombies!" She saw one of the zombies staring questioningly at her and said "A weird joke from Discord and Pinkie." It didn't help the zombie to understand, but he still nodded. Of course, they weren't real zombies, but ghosts possessing corpses, so the ghost hunters just ha to damage the corpses enough to force the ghosts out and capture them. But damaging the body of a possessed undead pony wasn't as easy as damaging a possessed furniture, especially for the fillies. Only Applejack, with her strength, and Little Ghost, with her powers, were really effective against them. Scootaloo could also do some wonders with the trails of fire she could leave behind in her scooter form, and Sweetie Belle could still use her singing to take control of one of them. Sweetie Belle, however, tried to limit the use of her singing, still recuperating from the battle of the stadium and knowing that they weren't far from fighting a guardian. As for Apple Bloom, she could break bones, but that was pretty much everything she could do without turning into a ghost. Thankfully, there were the Poltergusts. And if she had to, she could turn into a ghost and use her powers to manipulate the trees around to do a carnage. Among the zombies were some ghosts, a little of everything they encountered until now excepted wraiths. There were especially a lot of gardeners and gravediggers, all armed with some tools, mainly shovels. Possessed gargoyles were also present, as well as carnivorous plants on some graves. Finally, after some exploring, they found the first tomb, the one near the center of the graveyard that they had seen from Sombra's tower. A small structure with a simple door that one of the four keys from Undertaker opened. The door immediately led to a staircase going underground. At the bottom, it led to a rather big room full of coffins in alcoves in the walls. twelve in total. And twelve zombies broke out of the coffins to attack the ponies. Again, Applejack was in the front line to deal with them, with Little Ghost behind with her powers. The others mainly used fire. Before long, the twelve zombies were destroyed, and the twelve ghosts possessing them were captured. Nothing appeared, but after some searching, the ponies found a small skull made of crystal in the remains of one of the coffins. "A crystal skull?" wondered Scootaloo. "Woah... Despite being a skull, it's so pretty," said Sweetie Belle in awe. Apple Bloom smiled. "Ah think Ah understand what we must do." She showed the three remaining keys they got from Undertaker. "There're four tombs, and each tombs'll possess an object, probably more crystal skulls like this ones. And, if Ah ain't wrong, those skulls will be the keys to open the big gate leading to that huge tower." «That's exactly what I was starting to think,» said E. Gadd. «And this would mean that the second guardian is in that tower.» "This'll be quite the climbing. That tower was very high," said Little Ghost. "And before that, there will be that very long bridge to cross," said Sweetie Belle. "But first..." started Apple Bloom before she waved the three keys to show what she meant. From then, it was just a matter of following the arrows created by each keys to find the three remaining tombs, starting with the one Southeast of here, and of fighting their way through hordes of zombies, possessed gargoyles, and ghosts. Reaching them, however, revealed to not be as easy as the first one. After crossing a small bridge, they reached a smaller island that they had seen earlier from the entrance of the graveyard. There weren't as many trees on this one, but there were still many graves. And they encountered the ghost of a pale, tan mare with a two-toned green short mane with some yellow. A mare with very familiar clothes that made the ponies immediately recognize who she was. Smart Cookie, one of the Founders. And they had to fight her while dealing with the zombies and ghosts that continued to come. For a moment, they hoped that she wouldn't be as problematic as princess Platinum, but the mare quickly revealed some powers over the earth itself, managing to bend it to her will, more or less. Enough to create spikes directly under the ponies. If she hadn't immediately pressed the button to turn into a ghost, Apple Bloom would now have a very big hole in her belly. She immediately charged at Smart Cookie, avoiding the boulders thrown toward her. Sweetie Belle fired a Poltergun beam at the mare to help her friend, but she managed to defend herself by using a boulder as a shield. It was still enough of a distraction for Apple Bloom, and she passed right through the boulder before she activated her Poltergust. While Apple Bloom captured Smart Cookie, the others, after recovering from being impaled for the ones who were hit, dealt with the zombies and the ghosts. Little Ghost had the particularly effective method of throwing the zombies who couldn't fly over the edge of the island to fall into the purple void, forcing the ghosts possessing them to leave to return to the fight. With Smart Cookie captured, the way was (mostly) open for the hunters to cross another bridge toward a second island where one of the tombs was. Like in the first one, they had to go down some stairs to fight a bunch of zombies. However, this time, a Boggy appeared to use the remains of the coffins as projectiles. Despite this, it was quickly captured, and the ponies found a second crystal skull. Back to the main island, they went North this time. Just before reaching another bridge however, they had to deal with a big bulbous plant that seemed to be made from the flesh of dozens of creatures. It sent fleshy vines to catch Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, but the ponies were able to catch them and suck them up with their Poltergusts, causing the plant to open and revealing sharp bone-teeth. The plant then jumped (!) right toward Apple Bloom in an attempt to eat her, only for Applejack to place herself in the way before bucking it with a powerful air blast, sending it flying far beyond the edge into the void. No ghost came out of the plant. It really was a plant made of flesh somehow alive. After dealing with the plant, they crossed the bridge to another island, quickly dealt with a Nightmare Moon fanatic, then entered a tomb that was on the eastern side of the island, the door just beside the edge. In the room inside it, they had to deal with more zombies as well as with some wraiths, getting possession of a third crystal skull. "Three done, one to go," said Little Ghost as they got out. "And the last tomb is not far!" said Scootaloo as she pointed to a similar structure on another island connected to the one they were actually on by another bridge. But before they began to advance, Apple Bloom spotted somepony digging a grave near the edge further back beside the tomb. She recognized him. She had seen him in photos. She immediately bolted toward the bridge, quickly followed by the others who screamed at her to wait for them. She zigzagged to pass some zombies on the way, bucked one into the void, and crossed the bridge before she approached the stallion who was digging. A stallion with a pale yellow coat and a red mane who possessed glowing green eyes. When Applejack caught up to Apple Bloom and saw the stallion, she got a resigned look as she said just one word. "Pa..." So Apple Bloom was right. This ghost was her Pa, Bright Mac... Bright Mac stopped digging and flew out of the hole while staring at them. He then threw the shovel he was using right at Apple Bloom, but the filly easily avoided it by stepping to the side, the shovel planting itself in the ground. Bright Mac then strongly stomped the ground, causing a shockwave to spread. Apple Bloom jumped above it and charged at her father only for him to surround himself in stone from the ground, turning himself into a round boulder that began to roll to crush the filly. But Applejack then came and destroyed the boulder with a buck, forcing the stallion out. The two Apples then both activated their Poltergust, but the stallion proved that Big Mac didn't get his strength from nothing because he managed to resist the Poltergusts enough to smash the ground and create more shockwaves for Apple Bloom and Applejack to avoid while sucking up their father. He didn't resist long in the end, and he joined his wife in Apple Bloom's Poltergust. Apple Bloom sighed sadly. "Soon... Ya'll be free... Both of ya..." Apple Bloom then looked at the grave that Bright Mac had been digging and saw in the gravestone written "HERE LIES APPLE BLOOM" Buck. They had forced her own father to dig a grave for her. Those monsters. They hadn't much time to gloom over this however, zombies and ghosts still coming to attack them. Sweetie Belle and the others had managed to push them back to give the Apples some place, but Apple Bloom didn't want to let her friends fight by themselves too long. An Apple doesn't slack and let the others do all the job! After pretty much cleaning the population of undeads on this island, the hunters entered the last tomb. In it, after fighting some more zombies, they had to face something that made Apple Bloom's fur stand. The 'ghost' was just a giant floating eye with tentacle-like hairs that ended in smaller eyes. "Hum... It doesn't seem to have a ghost tail. Can it still be captured?" wondered Sweetie Belle. "Well, the wisps can be captured despite not having any ghost tails so... Maybe?" said Apple Bloom. Suddenly, the thing started to fire lasers from all its eyes in all directions, sweeping the room randomly with them. The only laser that it fired directly on the ponies was the one of the main eye. However, before it could reach them, Little Ghost had quickly acted and teleported herself between the laser and Apple Bloom. She then used her shield, with some difficulty, to deflect the laser back at the main eye, greatly hurting the thing to the point that it was stunned for a few seconds. Without a word, the ponies took the occasion to approach the thing and activate their Poltergusts. There, they discovered that they could suck up the tentacle-like hairs, diminishing the number of eyes that the thing had to fire its lasers. It recovered and immediately flew away while firing its lasers In return, the ponies chased it and began to fire Poltergun beams. Little Ghost used her shield again to deflect the smaller lasers back at the thing. The smaller lasers weren't enough to stun it, but they did hurt. eventually, the thing fired another big laser from its main eye only to have it deflected too back at it. Stunned again, it couldn't stop the ponies from tearing off more of its eyes. Now with most of its eyes teared off, the thing had almost nothing remaining to keep the ponies at bay, so instead of sweeping the room randomly with its lasers, it decided to directly attack them with everything excepted the big laser to avoid being stunned again. But the ponies didn't need to approach. They just continued to attack, weakening the thing more and more. In the end, they didn't even need to capture it. Once it had taken enough damage, it simply burned in purple flames until nothing remained of it. "First the plant, now this. Ah guess ghosts and possessed stuff aren't our only enemies in this castle," said Apple Bloom. "Where does those abominations come from? Is it Thanatos who created them, like Bogmire?" asked Sweetie Belle. «That's a good question. I don't know if Thanatos' powers include being able to create those things,» said Smart Spirit. «If I remember correctly, there must be a laboratory somewhere in this castle,» reminded Twilight. «Who knows what kind of horrible experiments they must do in there. Maybe that's where those abominations come from.» Apple Bloom shivered. "Oh boy... Ah can't wait to visit this place..." she said with sarcasm and dread. Applejack returned with the fourth crystal skull. "Ah can't wait too... to destroy this place and capture the sicks that run it. Now, let's put those skulls in the gate." With a general nod, the ponies left the tomb and returned in the main island. The skulls, unlike the key, didn't show were their destination was, but they remembered that it was East, so in their left after returning in the main island from the North bridge. they still had to do some exploration while being careful to not accidentally walk beyond the edge before they could find it. And on the way, they had to deal with a giant ball made of countless zombies. A literal zombieball that tried to crush them and that followed them no matter where they ran. But dealing with it was actually quite easy. They just had to place themselves against the edge, wait the last second, and run to the side to avoid the ball before it fell in the void. They then just had to deal with the ghosts that flew out of the falling ball. Not long after that, they found the gate. A giant black double door between two black towers that only served as supports. There were some gargoyles on it that took life and attacked, but they were quickly destroyed before the ponies placed the four crystal skulls in corresponding holes in the doors. Almost as soon as the last skull was placed, the door opened, letting the ponies have a view of the giant bridge leading to the giant tower in the distance. After exchanging determined looks, Apple Bloom said "Let's go!" before they passed the door. And the door closed behind them in a loud SLAM!