It wasn't long before the ponies found themselves at a crossroad with the two keys they possessed. The one they just got from the squared tower was leading to the entrance hall while the other key was leading to the Great Hall.
They decided to go to the Great Hall because they still intended to finish the second floor if possible before they have to move to another floor.
So they entered the Great Hall, the remains of the skull and the statue still there, and the organ was still playing (has it played all this time?). Two Super Throwers were present, using said remains as projectiles, and between two to three dozens other ghosts, Zappys, Bulkys, Splitters, ponies, zebras, diamond dogs, griffons, and even some bipedal cats were dispersed a little everywhere in the room. There were also over one hundred Wisps, a few Shadows, and two manticores.
The Wisps closest to the hunters were the first to be captured before they dispersed to deal with the many ghosts present. Little Ghost flew around to capture the Wisps so the others wouldn't have to worry about them. Applejack, with Sweetiegoo, went to capture the manticores. Scootaloo in her scooter form, Apple Bloom riding her, decided to go directly fight the Super Throwers, using her speed to rapidly join them. Sweetie Belle and Applegoo moved around to attack the other ghosts and lower their number, soon enough joined by Little Ghost once she was done with the Wisps.
Applejack continuously slammed one of the manticores onto the other. Seeing that she didn't need help, Sweetiegoo instead began to target the Shadows. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo each caught one of the Super Throwers, and they joined their friends in the cleaning. They were about halfway done when Applejack got the two manticores.
With the most bothersome ghosts out of the way, it didn't take long for the seven hunters to capture the remaining ones despite the arrival mid-fight of the ghost of a butler who opened the door to let enter half a dozen of those spider pony zombie abominations as well as two earth pony who had their four legs replaced by sledgehammers making their attacks as bone-shattering as Applejack's bucks.
When the danger was gone, they could continue to follow the arrow of the key which led to the third door in the Western wall of the Great Hall, near the end of it. A large one.
The door led to a big room full of piled up tables and chairs among other things, a storage room for the Great Hall.
Ghost mice and rats were present along with spiders and some other insects. Wisps, in lesser number than in the Great Hall thankfully, were floating around. Surprisingly, there were no other ghosts. However, the ponies barely started to clean that the Wisps began to gather into some kind of swarm. The Wisps forming the Swarm then seemingly merged their powers, normally too weak to do anything beside some burn upon contact, to send fireballs in quick succession, each fireball as big as Apple Bloom. The Swarm also advanced toward the ponies certainly to use the Wisps' burning contact to seriously harm them.
But it was a Swarm of Wisps, and so, it had a big weakness. When the ponies began to suck it up, the Wisps were torn from the Swarm one after another, which had for effect to weaken it. Before long, the remaining Wisps were forced to separate, destroying the Swarm as there accumulated power wasn't enough anymore for it to be effective.
However, more Wisps came and formed a new Swarm. Two Boggys then appeared to add some difficulty, the two of them levitating the many objects in the room to use as shields and projectiles. To fight them, the ponies divided themselves into three groups and the Swarm was rapidly destroyed.
Which was followed by the arrival of wraiths, and before the ponies knew it, one of them managed to sneak to one of the Boggys and to turn it. So Apple Bloom turned into a ghost and went to deal with the wraith Boggy while the others quickly captured the second Boggy before it could be turned and dealt with the wraiths.
And just when everything was calming down with all the ghosts captured, an Assassin using said calm to sneak behind Apple Bloom to attempt to back-stab her. Too bad for him, when the ponies saw that no key had appeared, they understood that at least one ghost remained, was discovered, and was captured.
And yet, no key appeared, but no more ghosts came... The ponies looked in the shadows just in case, and even used their visors, but found nothing.
Excepted an invisible door in the southern wall, near the southwestern corner of the room which previously was blocked by a pile of table that had been destroyed by the Boggys.
They already had an idea of the shape of the room, or rooms, it led to. By now, they had pretty much the whole second floor mapped, and they could say from it that the room behind this door will be an elongated one between the auditorium and the hallway with the staircase leading back to the first floor. And it was followed by a bigger room just in front of the base of the squared tower, of the room with all the invisible objects, and the room where they captured Puddinghead, and also in front of one of the second floor exits of the auditorium. Unless it was actually two rooms plus the elongated one?
But when they opened the door, Apple Bloom was immediately blinded by an intense light.
"What's this light?" she asked, a leg placed in front of her closed eyes.
Ghosts not being immune to intense lights when they aren't bound to a body, Little Ghost was also dazzled by it and couldn't stop herself from flying backward a little. She could use flashlights, but being on the receiving end of such a light really wasn't pleasant to her and her eyes. But the others could keep their eyes open without feeling the burn. Applejack and Scootaloo because they possessed robotic bodies, and Sweetie Belle because her dead body couldn't feel pain. The clones of goo weren't affected too.
Despite this, the light was so intense that they just couldn't see anything in the room beyond the door, so Applejack could only answer "Ah don't know," when she decided to answer her sister.
«You should use the infrared vision,» advised E. Gadd.
"Oh. Thanks, prof," replied Apple Bloom before she and the others activated the vision.
They still couldn't see much details, but they could see that the light was originating from hundreds of sources all over the room, said sources being a deep red compared to the yellow to light red of the rest of the room (because of the warmth of the lights). However, because of all those warm colors, they couldn't see any trace of blue that would indicate the presence of the cold furniture or whatever else could be there.
This meant that they had to advance cautiously as they entered, but in the end, they didn't have to worry. The room revealed to be entirely empty. They weren't even attacked, not that any ghost would or could attack them in there because of the intense light. Even if they were wearing sunglasses (or whatever) to protect their eyes, they still could see nothing, like the ponies.
And so, without encountering any obstacles, the ponies reached the opposite side of the room and eventually found and opened the door.
Once they passed it, they closed it, and Applejack deactivated the vision to see if it was now okay for Apple Bloom and Little Ghost.
"It's okay girls, ya can look without the vision. But be careful, there's still a big light."
A big light that they could see with the infrared vision, coming from the center of the room. When they deactivated the vision, they could see that the light was coming from some kind of small pillar. It was the only thing present in the room beside the ponies. As a result of the light and the absence of obstacles, the ponies' shadows were perfectly visible on the wall behind them.
At least, the light wasn't as intense as in the previous room, so Apple Bloom could directly look at it, only having to half close her eyes. However, it still was a problem for Little Ghost when she looked directly at it.
But then, Shadows and wraiths appeared, and the ponies immediately understood how dangerous this room was. With their shadows perfectly visible, and huge, on the wall, they were easy targets for the Shadows and the wraiths.
It was almost impossible to distinguish between the Shadows and the wraiths in their shadow form, but the objective remained the same: fire at them with a Poltergun beam. If it was a Shadow, it was immediately destroyed; if it was a wraith, it was forced out of its shadow form, ready to be captured at the first occasion. There were thankfully much more Shadows than wraiths, so the number rapidly diminished enough to let somepony capture the wraiths without too much risk.
But then, after the destruction of over two dozens Shadows and the capture of eight wraiths, the remaining Shadows and many others suddenly gathered, not unlike the Wisps earlier, to form a huge shadowy creature. Being just a shadow, it was hard to see what exactly the creature looked like, but the ponies could see a lot of claws ready to tear their shadows, and so them, to shreds.
It was certainly a weird fight that followed. The ponies had to fire at the shadow monster with their Polterguns to destroy it while using the shadows of the handles of the Poltergusts (or of Little Ghost's shield) to block the claws. But it still ended pretty quickly. With the ponies constantly firing at it (excepted when they were busy parrying the claws), the fight lasted not even one minute before the shadow monster was destroyed and a key appeared.
"First the Wisps, now the Shadows," said Apple Bloom before she took the key.
Apparently, fighting new ghosts every now and then wasn't enough anymore. Now, already known ghosts were using new tricks. What next? They will discover that a Bulky and a Buffy can merge? Those two ghosts were so lookalike that it was a real possibility. Or the Icys could start to use their ice power in a different manner, more like the Ice Queen.
Now, this will force them to be cautious around already known ghosts. Even ghosts as simple as Tricksters or Pranksters could have an hidden skill that they would decide to show now that the hunters had explored over half of the castle.
Infrared vision activated, they traversed the room with the light back into the storage room where three Yaks, a Super Thrower, and the ghost of a centaur awaited them.
The centaur was immediately targeted and captured, being the more serious threat. The others followed quickly enough, letting the ponies return in the Great Hall.
But just as they passed the door, everypony excepted Apple Bloom and the clones of goo found themselves trapped inside a circle with some symbols that had been painted just before it. Apple Bloom and Little Ghost immediately recognized it as some kind of ghost-trapping ward, a little like the one that was trapping Bogmire in the basement of the Gem Manor, or all those containers with possessed objects trapped in them in the attic. And it was a good one with how it trapped four ghosts including a really powerful one and three bound to something.
This meant one thing: somepony who knew how to trap ghosts was around, possibly somepony from the Gem bloodline.
And yep, there was the ghost of an old, white unicorn stallion with a prismatic mane not far of the circle.
They could hear several gasps from the spectators.
«It's Prismatic Gem!» shouted Smart Spirit.
In the background, Diamond Cup roared «How dares he control my son?!»
Well... Guess it's time to capture the last member of the Gem Family, thought Apple Bloom as she stepped out of the circle with the clones of goo.
A sudden coldness entered the room, signaling the arrival of wraiths, to everypony's horror.
Apple Bloom growled, understanding what Thanatos was playing there. "Applegoo! Sweetiegoo! Attack any wraiths that dare to approach Prism! Ah'll deal with him mahself!"
The two clones acknowledged her orders with a "YAY!" before Apple Bloom ran toward Prism, hoping to rapidly capture him. But the stallion made sure to keep his distance from her as he took out a crossbow and began to fire arrows at her as well as magical beams from his horn. In return, seeing no choice, Apple Bloom, as well as the ponies trapped in the circle, began to fire elemental projectiles with their Poltergusts, mainly bolts of electricity, but the stallion revealed to be good at dodging.
He was a ghost hunter alright. He probably spent the rest of his life fighting ghosts while preparing himself for the possible return of the Gem Manor and Bogmire. A good ghost hunter develops quite a dodging skill knowing that the ghosts can fire or throw all kinds of stuff at them with their powers.
And while Apple Bloom and Prism were busy firing projectiles and dodging them, the clones of goo guarded them from any wraiths that were approaching, firing countless Poltergun beams to force them out of their shadow form before capturing them in small groups. However, despite all their efforts, one or two managed to pass from time to time, and Apple Bloom was forced to deal with them.
Apple Bloom could turn herself into a ghost, but she wasn't sure if Prism had something prepared against her for such an occasion.
Thankfully, Prism wasn't able to dodge ALL the projectiles fired by Apple Bloom and the others and was regularly hit, so it was only a matter of time before Prism was eventually weakened enough for her to approach...
And capture him before he was turned by the wraiths, to everyone's relief.
Almost as soon as he was captured, the wraiths stopped coming, but the remaining one began to target everypony, including the ones who were still trapped in the circle. Thankfully, even trapped, they still could defend themselves with their Poltergusts, so it wasn't problematic, and before long, all the wraiths were captured.
And, surprisingly, a key appeared. When Apple Bloom took it, it revealed to unlock the only door in the eastern wall of the Great Wall, a shortcut leading just before the staircase to the third floor and just in front of the door to Copper Gear apartments.
But before unlocking it, she went to free the others by erasing some of the circle, hurrying up knowing that more enemies could come anytime.
"Thanks Bloom. Ah hope we won't encounter another ghost hunter," said Applejack.
"There may be more ghosts who know how to use those circles," warned Sweetie Belle.
«She's right, so watch out for fishy circles,» said E. Gadd.
At this, they unlocked the eastern door before looking at where the key they got just before led to, which wasn't far at it unlocked another door in the western wall, near the north end.
It led to a smaller room that seemed to be a break room, what with the few tables and shelves full of books. Certainly for the ones who would want some calm or rest during whatever events that could take place in the Great Hall. Just at the right of the entrance was another door.
Two gargoyles that were present in the far corners of the room near the ceiling took life, and a group of Pranksters appeared along with a Zappy. Some of the books also revealed to be possessed as they flew out of the shelves, and the ponies quickly discovered the presence of Sneakers, Creepers, and of at least one Assassin, and there were several purple puddles on the floor that were obviously Huggers.
The books were the first to go, destroyed by fire as they charged to bit them. The clones of goo then began to capture the ghosts who came out of the destroyed books while Applejack went to deal with the gargoyles. Apple Bloom remained close to her to deal with any ghosts who tried to attack her. The three remaining hunters formed a team: Scootaloo walked around to capture the Huggers while Sweetie Belle and Little Ghost remained close to protect her.
The gargoyles were rapidly destroyed, and their ghosts captured, so Apple Bloom and Applejack helped Sweetie Belle and Little Ghost in dealing with the Sneakers and Creepers, the Assassin having been captured earlier by Apple Bloom and no other having showed themselves up. By the time Scootaloo captured the last Hugger without getting herself trapped in one, all the other ghosts had been captured, and a key appeared which opened the door beside the entrance.
It led to a big room that was separated from the Great Hall by three tall double doors at the North. The ponies quickly understood that it certainly was the ballroom of the castle, the room possessing a lot of purple curtains, some chairs against the walls to rest, chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and a well decorated floor. Windows covered the North wall, showing a terrace that was connected to the ballroom by three windowed doors.
They remembered the terrace. They had seen it from the graveyard. Well, from below, so it was the first time that they had a glance of what was on the terrace. If they remembered correctly, it was connected to the graveyard by a staircase.
There were also a lot of gargoyles on the walls near the ceiling, and a few suits of armor; and of course, they all revealed to be possessed. Many well-dressed ghosts (mainly unicorns, surprisingly) also came, certainly the kind who loved fancy dances before they were forced into slavery by Thanatos. Wisps were present in great number, enough that they formed three Swarms.
Not wanting to bother themselves with the number of enemies, Little Ghost and Apple Bloom as a ghost went to unleash their powers on the gargoyles and armors while the others used the Red Mode to rapidly capture the many enemy ghosts. However, not long after the last ghost was captured, the three doors to the Great Hall as well as the three windowed doors to the terrace suddenly opened, the first three doors letting enter possessed armors and the last three letting enter zombies.
By then, Apple Bloom was forced to return to normal, leaving Little Ghost as the only powerhouse.
It didn't mean that the others were defenseless of course, far from it, especially Applejack who didn't need anything but her bare hooves to reduce the zombies into pulp and the armors into piles of scraps. As for the fillies, they simply air punched the enemies to send them flying into each other or into the walls. Scootaloo also used her scooter form to create fire walls to burn them. As soon as a ghost was forced out, they were immediately captured.
And soon enough, all zombies and armors were destroyed, and the ghosts that possessed them were captured, letting to two keys to appear.
One opened the last locked door of the ballroom, in the western wall. The other led beyond it, into the hallway leading to the library, the North Wing, and the Toy Wing. It very certainly unlocked the door beside which they had passed when they went to the Toy Wing.
«Good news! Once you're done with whatever awaits you behind that door, you will be finished with the second floor of the castle!» informed E. Gadd gleefully.
"So... This'll leave about half of the first floor... The third floor... and the fourth floor," said Apple Bloom in joy, finally seeing the end of this adventure. There really was almost nothing left!
«And certainly an underground. It's a castle after all. The underground must be more than just that cellar you explored under the kitchen,» said E. Gadd.
Despite this info that surprised nopony (he was right after all), knowing that they were approaching of the end gave the fillies a small bounce in their steps as they went into the hallway and unlocked the last door of the second floor.
They entered a room that was quite normally furnished, with a round table, a couple of chairs, a shelf with some books and trinkets, some potted plants (dead, of course), a chest of drawers, and a few candles. However, as soon as the first pony, Apple Bloom, put hooves in the room, she felt it lower slightly, proved by the door that was now slightly up to the floor. and the more ponies walked in the room, the more it lowered.
At the left was an entrance to another room that was an exact copy of this one, excepted that where one room had descended, the other had ascended.
Like a balance.
And the ceiling was covered by spikes.
Then, a Goost appeared in the other room, the left room, causing it to lower and the right room to rise, getting the ponies dangerously closer to the spikes.
Apple Bloom immediately ran into the left room to deal with the Goost just as more ghosts appeared and began to attack of to take possession of the various objects in both rooms. The ones possessing objects in the right room then began to move to the left room, wanting to use the accumulated weight of the objects to make the left room rise so Apple Bloom would end up impaled on the spike.
So the ponies divided themselves into two teams, one going into the left room while the other remaining in the right room, destroying the possessed objects before they could gather in a room and capturing the ghosts. If they had to, they used the suction cups to move the objects from one room to another to balance the weight. When Big Brains appeared and began to use telekinesis to levitate pieces of destroyed objects into the other room, they were used a lot. Sweetie Belle also had to use her magic. A Goost regularly appeared either in the left room of in the right room to add some spice to the whole.
In the battle, the rooms constantly lowered, rose, lowered, rose, but never to the point that somepony was impaled. The ponies managed to keep the weight of the rooms balanced enough to avoid the worst. There was however a really close call when a trio of gargoyles suddenly entered the right room from the hallway. If a Goost had appeared at this moment, Apple Bloom would have finished on a spike... Or she would have just saved herself by turning into a ghost.
It was rather stressful to keep track of the situation, and Apple Bloom had to run a lot, changing room when she saw that it was becoming dangerous to remain in the current one.
In the end, only a Goost remained and was promptly captured, ending the battle.
And the last key of the second floor appeared.
After taking it, the hunters gathered, exited the room, and the fillies did a victory jump, Apple Bloom shouting "Oh yeah! Second floor completed!"
The end was near, she could feel it!