//------------------------------// // Chapter 27: Thanatos // Story: Apple Bloom's Mansion 4: The Castle of Death // by Lucar //------------------------------// The hunters were standing in front of the only door of the castle that was still locked: the entrance to the throne room, with its four locks. To reach it, they had to clear some of the debris of the roof that had crumbled in the third floor's hallway during the fight against Ω. On the way, they didn't encounter a single ghost. Either they all flew away, or Thanatos ordered them to leave the hunters come now that they had the four Skull Keys. The hunters were perfectly alright with that, it let them recover from the fight against Ω, they had needed it. After taking a big breathe, Apple Bloom inserted the four keys one by one, and a few seconds after the last one was in place, the double door opened by itself, letting the hunters enter the throne room, their goal. And there, sitting on his throne beside a model of the castle, awaiting them, was the Lord of Death, Thanatos. With a wave of his left claw, he made the model disappear in purple smoke, and he began to talk. "Well, congratulation, you managed to defeat my guardians, the four most powerful ghosts in this castle beside me. I'm really... impressed, I must say. A few weeks ago, you and your friends struggled against Eternal Rest, and here you are today, capturing ghosts of equal or superior power and making it look easy even if you still struggled a little. You really came prepared to fight me, uh?" "Eeyup. Ah had to stop ya, and Ah wanted to've all the chances in mah side. Time to end yer stupid games once and for all, Thanatos." Thanatos chuckled. "Hey. It's not my fault if I'm bored and you're the best source of entertainment since forever. I like the thrill of seeing you fighting my minions to save your friends and your life. And you fighting Ω and the others is a spectacle that I will not forget anytime soon. Thank you for your participation. My castle has taken some hits, and I'm now a little low in powerful minions to send after you, but it was really worth it. Once we're done here, and I have replenished my reserve of minions, I will be happy to call you for a second round. I already can't wait for next time." "There won't be a 'next time', Thanatos!" "How cute. You really think you're prepared enough to capture me? Well then, try. But don't be surprised if it ends like last time." "Last time was different. Ah knew nothing about ya and Ah's alone. But now..." Thanatos rose from his throne, and the room began to shake. "But now, you still know nothing about the full extend of my powers! Last time, I was merely playing with you! Not this time!" Lord of Death Thanatos "Jump!" yelled Apple Bloom before she jumped, just in time to avoid being impaled by dozens of bones coming out of the ground just under her in a large area. The others (excepted the clones of goo) followed her word and jumped too, avoiding the same fate. The bones simply passed through the clones of goo. Apple Bloom then landed on the bones and began to run on them to approach Thanatos who began to fire dozens of purple fireballs from his claws and the many candles present in the room. Apple Bloom and the others jumped from bone to bone to avoid them while they still approached. Since she flew, Little Ghost was the first to reach Thanatos, but before she could activate her Poltergust on him, a sudden powerful shockwave of energy from him propelled her back to crash into a wall. He then teleported right beside Apple Bloom and slapped her on the cheek with the back of his claw, also sending her flying, but not as far. He frowned (it really was surprising how expressive he was despite his head being a skull) when he saw that Apple Bloom still moved. "Mph. I should have known that my brother would do something so you could survive me touching you." While he talked, he was surrounded by the five remaining hunters who all activated their Poltergusts on him, in Red Mode because this was Thanatos. He still quickly freed himself with an explosion of energy followed by purple electricity spreading all around him, electrifying the five hunters at the same time. A wave of energy then sent all of them crashing into walls and pillars. The hunters, quickly recovering, then began to fire Poltergun beams at him, but Thanatos quickly teleported, again just beside Apple Bloom, and attempted to grab her, probably to do like Eternal Rest did to Scootaloo. Apple Bloom avoided his claw with a jump and she followed it with an air punch on Thanatos' face, sending him flying. Sweetie Belle caught him and immediately slammed him before he could free himself. "That's for killing me! With a boop! A boop!" Thanatos freed himself and grabbed Sweetie Belle by the neck and used her as a shield to protect himself from the beams fired at him. Thankfully, the beams didn't hurt Sweetie Belle since she was inside a physical body. "Come on. I always dreamed of booping a pony to death. You ponies just ask for it with these muzzles of yours." He then saw Little Ghost charging at him, probably to save her friend, and he slammed Sweetie Belle on her. But he was then rammed by Scootaloo in her scooter form. Just after ramming him, Scootaloo returned to her basic form, activated her Poltergust, caught Thanatos in its vortex, and slammed him on a nearby pillar. "That's for what your fanfilly did to me!" Thanatos laughed as he grabbed the Poltergust's handle and used it to slam Scootaloo on the same pillar. "So I'm paying for somepony else's actions?" Scootaloo got up and stared at him, imitating a growl (robots couldn't really growl). "She worked for you! You sent her for your 'game'!" Thanatos shrugged. "I didn't order her to kill you. She was free to do what she wanted, and she chose to kill you. Now, I would like to debate my implication in your death with you, but we're in the middle of a fight." At this, he levitated Scootaloo and threw her toward Applejack who managed to catch her. "The same goes for me! It's because of ya that Ah'm dead!" shouted the mare. "Wrong!" shouted the draconequus as he moved a finger left and right. "Your death was an accident. I hadn't planned for you to be impaled by the horn of a statue. But I don't complain, it was funny to watch." "Ya're still responsible! If it wasn't for ya..." Thanatos was suddenly punched by Little Ghost charging at him from the side. "If it wasn't for you, Bogmire would have never existed and I would have lived a normal life with my family!" Thanatos just smirked before he impaled Little Ghost with a finger. "Alright, I'm at the origin of all your sufferings, you, your family, and your friends, but look at it the other way. If I hadn't created Bogmire, you would have never met Apple Bloom and the others." He turned to look at Apple Bloom, avoiding her as she charged at him in her ghost form. "You, Apple Bloom, would have never become a ghost hunter. You would have never made all these friends. Gone to another dimension!" He then blasted away both Little Ghost and Apple Bloom before he turned to look at Applejack and Scootaloo both firing at him (while still keeping an eye at Apple Bloom. As long as she was in her ghost form, she was dangerous). "And you two became robots! It was worth dying, don't you think?" "Well, being a robot is cool, but I would have preferred not dying," said Scootaloo. This just made Thanatos huff before he spreed his arms and teleported to avoid powerful bolts of lightning fired by Apple Bloom. "So, you see, despite all the bad I'm responsible of, some good came out of it! I think I deserve some thanks! But I guess that ponies prefer to focus on the bad side of things. But in the end, I don't care. All that matters to me..." He smirked. "is to have fun!" Dozens of scythes made of purple energy then materialized around him and began to fly randomly all over the room while spinning. Apple Bloom, still a ghost, broke one of the pillars and levitated it, using it as a club to hit Thanatos who, however, had no problem destroying it. Apple Bloom was then forced to return to normal. Thanatos then levitated the pieces of the destroyed pillar and threw them at the ponies who quickly covered themselves behind other pillars. As soon as the bombarding stopped, the ponies restarted firing at Thanatos, but they seemed as effective to him as bugs' bites. Maybe it was time to use the batteries for the Super Suction Mode. It looked like it will be the only thing really effective against him. Thanatos didn't wait for them to decide. He suddenly sent a shockwave that destroyed all the pillars in the room and that sent everypony on their back. But Apple Bloom immediately got up, took her battery, and plugged her Poltergust to it before activating it, creating a HUGE vortex that began to suck up everything that was caught in it, even the debris of the pillars. "What the-?! AAAAAAHH" Thanatos was totally caught off guard by the power of the Super Suction and didn't react in time to even attempt to resist it. He was sucked up in just a couple of seconds, and Apple Bloom immediately stopped to not use all the energy of the battery. But before she could scream victory, her Poltergust shook violently, and Thanatos came out of it. «What?!» yelled E. Gadd in shock. «He escaped from the Supreme Poltergust so easily?! Despite everything we did to make it as hard to escape from as possible?!» Apple Bloom sighed. "Darn it..." Thanatos flew away from Apple Bloom, dusting himself off just for the show. "You got me there. So you had an ace up your sleeve. Well, I will remember this for next time. See you until then." "Not this time!" yelled Apple Bloom before she took the Anti-Portal Gun and fired at a portal that Thanatos just opened, closing it. "Like Ah said, there won't be a next time!" Thanatos was very shocked at seeing his portal being closed, and then, he frowned at Apple Bloom. "So it seems... You really want a fight to the end, uh?" "Until Ah capture ya! Or Ah die trying!" Thanatos stared at Apple Bloom a few seconds, then looked at the other hunters one after another, seeing that they all plugged their Poltergusts to a battery too. Turning back toward Apple Bloom, he said "Very well," before he snapped his claw. The next instant, a spiral staircase made of solidified energy leading to the ceiling appeared. "I guess the time for games is over. Climb those stairs, and you will see that you should have passed this portal. You will face the true power of Death." Thanatos then flew to the ceiling, opening a hole at the end of the staircase. "Let's go after him!" shouted Scootaloo. "Come on! We can get him!" shouted Little Ghost. As they began to climb the stairs, E. Gadd then said «Remember, your batteries only have enough power for one minute of Super Suction. Use it with parsimony.» "One minute, that's a lot seeing how effective it was," said Sweetie Belle. "It only took a few seconds to capture Thanatos." «But he was caught off guard, so it won't be as easy next time. He knows what's coming now,» said E. Gadd. The ponies climbed and reached the hole at the top, getting on the roof of the castle. A very large arena in open sky, perfect for the final battle, even if some pieces of Thanatos' tower fell on it at the Eastern extremity. The hole closed behind the hunters, so there was no going back. In front of them was Thanatos, and above them, flying in all directions, were countless ghosts. Thousands, maybe even millions of them. Thanatos then said "So, do you think you will be able to fight me..." He pointed a finger up at the many ghosts above them. "and them?" Apple Bloom sweated. "Uh... With the Super Suction, Ah'm sure we can." Thanatos chuckled. "If you're sure, then..." One finger snap, and the next moment, the army of ghosts came down on the ponies. "We'll take them, Bloom! Go after Thanatos!" shouted Applejack as she readied herself. Apple Bloom looked at her, nodded, and ran toward Thanatos along with the clones of goo. While they ran, the others all activated the Super Suction, beginning to suck up hundreds of ghosts per second. The clones of goo took care of any ghosts that managed to approach Apple Bloom despite this, and many others surrounded the hunters. Soon enough, countless projectiles of magic or ghost energy were sent at them from all directions. Apple Bloom got close enough of Thanatos to activate her Super Suction, but like E. Gadd said, this time, Thanatos was ready for it and resisted the powerful vortex long enough to send a storm of purple energy balls at her. The filly ran left and right to avoid them until Thanatos eventually disappeared inside her Poltergust again after about ten seconds, only for him to escape for the second time. Thanatos then opened several portals out of which came skeletons that Apple Bloom and the clones of goo had to destroy with air punches or by slamming ghosts on them (Apple Bloom making sure to not use the Super Suction against the simple ghosts). While the hunters dealt with the skeletons, Thanatos raised a claw, and then, meteors, or rather, boulders normally floating here and there in the void of the Spiritual World rained all over the arena, and the castle. Meanwhile, Applejack and the others decided to stop using the Super Suction, and to use the Red Mode instead. They wanted to keep some juice just in case. And so, they began to fight the ghosts the normal way and some of them went to help Apple Bloom to deal with the skeletons, all the while avoiding the falling boulders, and firing at Thanatos whenever they had the occasion. Little Ghost unleashed her full power at this occasion, the power that Apple Bloom fought that first time. Sweetie Belle sung like never before, Scootaloo rolled everywhere to create walls of fire, and Applejack created shockwaves after shockwaves. With their help, Apple Bloom had the opening to approach Thanatos again, only for him to teleport away. From the opposite side of the arena where he appeared, he then sent big columns of purple energy at them by lines, the columns moving left and right while moving toward them. He also began to send spinning scythes made of energy at them regularly. Apple Bloom turned herself into a ghost for the second time in this fight, sent a shockwave to propel the enemy ghosts away from her, and teleported beside Thanatos before she activated the Super Suction, sucking him up for the third time, this time sending electricity at him at the same occasion. But he escaped again, and Apple Bloom had to avoid a purple beam fired from one of his fingers, only for him to teleport in front of her and to punch her. She recovered and headbutted him on the torso, but Thanatos repelled her with a wave of energy. But then, he was caught from behind in Little Ghost's Super Suction, and for the fourth time, ended up inside a Poltergust, but still escaped. But as soon as he got out, he took a powerful projectile of energy from Apple Bloom before the filly had to return to normal and was forced to deal with some ghosts attacking her. A spire beside the arena was then levitated by Thanatos who threw it toward Apple Bloom. The filly quickly ran as fast as she could to get away and barely avoided the spire which destroyed a part of the arena where it crashed. Several more spires were levitated and thrown at Apple Bloom one by one. She was saved by Scootaloo who joined her and let her ride on her before escaping with her speed. All of this caused many debris to float around, and Thanatos, Little Ghost, and some other ghosts began to use them as projectiles or shields. And then, Thanatos was caught in a Super Suction again, this time from Applejack. He attempted to resist and attacked her with purple lightning, but the mare resisted the pain and captured him, only for him to escape again. Growling, Thanatos snapped his fingers, and Applejack, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo found themselves forced out of their bodies. Before they could understand what was going on, Thanatos levitated their bodies and threw them into the void, their Poltergusts with them (it was even more bad for Applejack and Scootaloo since their Poltergusts were integrated in their bodies)! "Horseapple..." said Applejack at this in horror. This forced Little Ghost to reactivate and use what remained of her Super Suction to protect them, only for her and the others to be hit by purple lightning bolts from Thanatos with his right claw. Then, with his left claw, he fired more bolts at Apple Bloom to stop her from approaching. The filly was busy defending herself from enemy ghosts anyway. Even with the help of the clones of goo, always there, the enemies were just too many. She had no choice but to use the Super Suction, but she used it only by small dose when needed to capture big groups of ghosts, leaving her openings to approach Thanatos. When he saw that she was managing to approach despite everything, Thanatos stopped attacking Applejack and the others and focused all his powers on Apple Bloom, but this left him open to a counterattack from behind. An explosive projectiles on the back of his head followed by a strong punch from Applejack left him open for Apple Bloom to activate her Super Suction on him and capture him yet again. Applejack flew away just before to avoid the same fate. But Thanatos still escaped, and enraged, he pointed his claws directly at the arena. The next instant, the whole castle began to shake, and cracks appeared and spreed everywhere more and more. Thanatos used his power to destroy the whole castle, including the island it was built on! The building broke apart piece by piece, the towers collapsing, the roof breaking open, debris floating away into the void! The part of the roof/arena Apple Bloom was on slowly began to spin while it floated, and the filly could only watch in horror as she began to slid. Thankfully for her, she saw the Spectral Transmograftizer's cooldown reach zero, and she immediately pressed the button. But at the same time, she didn't see Thanatos charging at her, right claw enveloped in purple energy as it was ready to impale her. Just as she pressed the button, the claw hit her right on the device, destroying it in an explosion of ghost energy that expelled Thanatos away from Apple Bloom who was enveloped in it. The filly survived this, but it didn't stop her from sliding, and eventually, falling into the void as she hadn't transformed into a ghost. Only to suddenly turn into one in her panic! When she realized this, Apple Bloom looked down at herself. Somehow, without the Spectral Transmograftizer, she managed to turn into a ghost. It was as if the device exploding because of Thanatos' energy while she pressed the button gave her the device's power. But what did that mean? Did she still have the thirty seconds limit? The cooldown? Could she turn into a ghost whenever she wanted? Well, right now, she could only hope that the limit was gone with the device, because returning to normal was too dangerous right now. Debris of various sizes, pieces of rooms, spires, and furniture now floated everywhere, and none of them were stable enough for her to remain on. She had no choice but to remain a ghost, which was good since she had access to all her powers like this. But even with this, the situation really wasn't good. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applejack didn't have their Poltergusts anymore, the clones of goo couldn't get out of their containers without somewhere to walk on, Thanatos didn't seem to get tired, and there were still millions of ghosts flying everywhere ready to attack. And she was almost out of juice for the Super Suction. But then, as she was getting surrounded by the enemy ghosts, she was joined by the others, and to her surprise, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applejack had a Poltergust again! "What?! Where did you get these Poltergusts?" asked Apple Bloom. "From me!" suddenly said a familiar voice behind her. Apple Bloom turned around and got the surprise of seeing Discord. "What?" "Discord?!!" yelled Thanatos who approached again. "How are you here?!" In answer, Discord inflated his lion paw and gave him a giant punch that sent him flying through several floating debris. "THAT'S FOR FLUTTERSHY!!!" he yelled through a megaphone. "AND TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, LOOK AROUND YOU! YOUR CASTLE IS DESTROYED! AND WITH IT, THE WARD THAT WAS KEEPING ME AWAY!" Done yelling in the megaphone, he threw it away and turned toward Apple Bloom. "I recovered Sweetie Belle's Poltergust and brought new ones for our metal friends. The brainiacs built a lot of spare Poltergusts, so you won't run out of them anytime soon. Don't worry, I also recovered their bodies. Oh, and I also came with the cavalry!" Before the ponies could ask what he meant, Discord snapped his fingers, and suddenly, EVERY ghosts who were friends with Apple Bloom appeared around them! The Gem family! The ghosts from the Evershade Valley! And the ones from the hotel! All of them were ready for some action, and some of them were even equipped with a Poltergust! "He has an army? Well, you too! We will deal with his ghosts while you deal with Thanatos!" said Discord just as the allied ghosts began to fight the enemy ghosts. "Wait. 'We'? As in them and you?" asked Apple Bloom. "Shouldn't ya been the one fighting Thanatos?" "Maybe," answered Discord before he winked at her. "But I think this is more your fight than mine. Beside, I must make sure that the few wraiths among the enemies don't do anything bad. Also, maybe you should put some electricity into that battery. Just a friendly advice. Come on, you four, let's leave her have a one on one with her nemesis," he said to Applejack, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Little Ghost. "Ya're sure?" asked Applejack. "Don't worry, she has it. Let's help the others." Apple Bloom looked as Discord led her sister and her friends to fight the enemy ghosts, then looked at the battery for the Super Suction, wondering why Discord said that. But then, she understood. Of course! She could recharge the battery with the electricity she can use as a ghost! She will be able to use the Super Suction as much as she wanted! A smile spreed on her muzzle. "Mph. I don't know what he thinks leaving you alone to face me," she then heard Thanatos say as he had returned from the hit he took and looked around at the huge battle opposing his minions to Apple Bloom's friends. "That's because he knows that Ah'll win," said the filly This made Thanatos laugh. Despite this, Apple Bloom continued to smile. "We'll see who'll laugh." And then, she used electricity to recharge the battery. Thanatos understood what she did and frowned before he threw one of the few spires that still floated around. Apple Bloom destroyed it, then flew to the side to avoid a wave of energy before she began to approach. Thanatos sent everything he had to stop her, but she just flew between the projectiles until she was close enough to catch him, capturing him a first time. After he escaped, he teleported away and threw countless debris at her, only for Apple Bloom to suck up all of them with the Super Suction before she did like him and threw what she recognized was a part of the graveyard at Thanatos. The Lord of Death destroyed it, and Apple Bloom teleported right beside him before she used the Super Suction to capture Thanatos again. She quickly captured him a third time despite his attempts to stop her by sending purple lightning bolts in all directions. This made Apple Bloom laugh. Thanatos was extremely powerful, but there wasn't much he could do against the Super Suction. Again and again, she captured him, rapidly reaching ten times. The ghost of a dragon came to help his master only to be smashed by Ooga. Other ghosts under Thanatos' control attempted to do the same but were stopped by Apple Bloom's friends. Debris and projectiles flew in all directions, Poltergust vortexes moved up, down, left, and right to capture as many ghosts as possible, and the whole chaos was made worst by Discord. Apple Bloom could count on her friends to make sure that she wasn't bothered while she fought Thanatos. And the ones who weren't fighting encouraged her from Evershade Valley. «Yeah! You got him again!» shouted Rainbow Dash as Apple Bloom captured Thanatos for the eleventh time since the beginning of this paranormal battle. But like all the previous times, he escaped. «Come on, Apple Bloom! He will eventually tire!» shouted Mario. Apple Bloom expertly avoided a slap of the back of Thanatos' right claw, then avoided his tail, only to be hit by a blast fired from his mouth! While she was propelled backward by it, Thanatos then fired from his claws several homing shots that Apple Bloom blocked by placing a big boulder on their path. She then threw the boulder at Thanatos, followed by dozens of ice shards. Thanatos destroyed all of them with a shield, but Apple Bloom teleported behind him, only for Thanatos to suddenly turn and grab her by the neck. As he prepared to pierce her with the other claw, she quickly materialized a small blade made of energy (the same way Thanatos created his scythes) and used it to cut the claw holding her. She then attempted to behead Thanatos, but he ducked only to be caught by Apple Bloom activating the Super Suction, and to be captured for the twelfth time. They both teleported around a few times, throwing projectiles at each others. Thanatos' projectiles were more powerful than Apple Bloom's, so each times they clashed, his won, but they were mainly diversions for Apple Bloom to teleport near Thanatos and capture him again. And again. And again. After the fifteenth capture, Thanatos began to throw really everything that he could throw, especially the giant pieces of the castles still floating around. Whole rooms, the Ice Tower still mostly intact, a large part of the laboratory and its fleshy walls... He even began to throw his ghosts at her! But she either avoided them or made short work of them with the Super Suction. That thing could suck up a whole house! «Apple Bloom! Apple Bloom! Apple Bloom!» repeated Pinkie Pie like a cheerleader. Escaping after his eighteenth capture, Thanatos immediately teleported away and materialized hundreds of bones and skulls that he threw at Apple Bloom. Again, Apple Bloom used the Super Suction to suck them up, but then, Thanatos teleported behind her and clawed her back before sending her flying with a blast. She barely avoided a bone by moving to the side before she teleported beside Thanatos again and captured him for the nineteenth time. Before he escaped, Apple Bloom materialized several balls of energy that she let float around her. When he got out of her Poltergust, she immediately sent one of the balls at him, the ball causing a big explosion that stopped him from teleporting away, letting Apple Bloom capture him again. From there, each time that he escaped, she hit him with one of the exploding balls before capturing him again. "ENOUGH!!!" he suddenly yelled after a few more captures before a black hole suddenly came out of his body, engulfing both him and Apple Bloom. At the same time, all the enemy ghosts that hadn't been captured flew into it, and when the last one entered, the hole disappeared with no trace of Apple Bloom and Thanatos. "Apple Bloom?! Where's she?!" shouted Applejack. «I lost contact with her. I think she was sent to a pocket dimension by Thanatos,» said E. Gadd. «Now, we can only wait.» Apple Bloom recovered her senses floating above an endless ocean of blood full of skeletons of all kinds of creatures. Above her, the sky was just an empty void of the darkest black. She looked around, searching Thanatos, but couldn't find him. Then, something huge began to come out of the ocean. Slowly, it rose, revealing more of its horrible body. It was a giant skeleton of a draconequus, hundreds of meters high, entirely made of souls. A dark, near-black purple-green mist escaped from the orifices of some of the souls constituting the skeleton, wrapping it to look like a cloak that hid most of it, head included. The skeleton was holding a giant scythe entirely made of bones, big enough that it could slice a building from Manehattan. "I wanted to have you at my side, but I will just destroy you!" yelled Thanatos as he readied his scythe. "Woah!" Apple Bloom quickly teleported, barely avoiding being sliced in half along with a big part of the ocean behind her. She appeared in front of the skull and began to use the Super Suction, sucking up hundreds of souls out of the skeleton, and when she saw the skull opening its mouth, she teleported again just before a giant beam came out of it. As Apple Bloom began to fly around the colossal skeleton, sucking up countless ghosts out of it, Thanatos made even more ghosts come out and sent them after the filly in the form of conscious, moaning winds. She flew away, then up, left, back, and began to suck up the ghosts with the Super Suction. The ghosts, however, were coming from all sides, so she had to constantly move. But suddenly, with a move of an arm, Thanatos manipulated the blood of the ocean to make it form hundreds of long needles, some of which successfully impaled Apple Bloom. Thanatos then attempted to slice her again with his giant scythe, but Apple Bloom freed herself from the blood needles by destroying them with an explosion of energy and teleported away. When she appeared and restarted sucking up the ghosts composing the giant skeleton while avoiding the ones sent at her, she kept an eye on the ocean of blood in case Thanatos repeated the needle attack. What she saw instead was the skeleton of a dragon suddenly rising from the blood and attempting to eat her. Or at least to really hurt her with its sharp teeth. She blasted it into piece, but was slapped by Thanatos' giant claw, sending her into the ocean of blood. As she recovered, she was then swarmed by hundreds of skeletons attempting to grab her and to drag her to the abysses, which would certainly result in her being trapped for eternity. With another explosion of energy, she destroyed the skeletons that were too close and teleported away just in time as Thanatos slashed again with his scythe. As soon as she appeared, she charged toward the skull, accumulated energy, avoided the ghosts sent at her, some projectiles of blood, a giant beam fired from the mouth of the skull, rammed it, and unleashed the accumulated energy, destroying a part of the skull and knocking back the giant skeleton. Countless ghosts were freed from the skeleton, and Apple Bloom immediately began to suck them up before Thanatos could force them to reform the skull. The skull was still reformed by souls coming from the body, and Apple Bloom teleported away as soon as Thanatos had recovered to avoid a new slash from the scythe. She then began to fire giant explosive projectiles all over the body of the skeleton to knockout as many ghosts forming it as possible, ghosts that she then moved to capture. The sky was then covered by giant purple clouds that appeared from nowhere and began to unleash a storm of purple lightning bolts. Between this, the ghosts that continued to be sent toward her, the blood manipulated to form various projectiles and weapons, and the skeletons in the ocean beginning to climb on each others to try to reach her, Apple Bloom didn't have any time to rest. She was constantly moving and teleporting while attacking and sucking up ghosts. Thankfully, the giant skeleton was beginning to shrink, Thanatos running out of ghosts to replace the ones captured. It only made Thanatos double the intensity of his attacks. He gathered all the clouds into a sphere above Apple Bloom and made it follow her as it unleashed real columns of electricity many meters wide, one by one. Apple Bloom flew as fast as she could to avoid them, but Thanatos then began to slash with his giant scythe again and again, faster and faster. Apple Bloom decided to teleport away and appeared behind Thanatos, but then, Thanatos manipulated the ocean of blood again and turned it into a giant bed of huge spikes. Apple Bloom was lucky that she wasn't impaled by any of them, but then, Thanatos separated the surface of ocean in two, moved them far enough at opposite directions, turned them 90° so the spikes faced Apple Bloom, and smashed them together. Again, Apple Bloom barely escaped with a teleportation. All these attacks must cost a lot of energy to Thanatos, and it could be seen as some of the ghosts constituting the skeleton began to break out, making holes form in the 'bones' while the cloak of dark green-purple mist was losing shape. Of course, Apple Bloom made sure to capture the ghosts that broke out as they could still be used by Thanatos in other ways, or they could be harmed by his attacks. Thanatos still wasn't giving up and fired homing purple fireballs from his eyes while sweeping the ocean with a huge laser from his mouth, chasing Apple Bloom with it as she flew around him, not sucking up the ghosts, but electrifying him to weaken him further. By weakening him, more ghosts broke out anyway, ready to be captured. Even his scythe seemed ready to crumble. Spikes of blood forced Apple Bloom to fly away, and Thanatos took the occasion to attempt to slice her again with his scythe. But this time, instead of teleporting or dodging, Apple Bloom activated the Super Suction. The scythe barely holding together, it had no chance resisting it. Piece by piece, it was sucked up, starting by the blade before Apple Bloom moved up the handle and sucked up the giant skeleton's claws by the same occasion. Thanatos roared in rage and sent ALL the ghosts still forming what remained of the skeleton to attack Apple Bloom. Again, she activated the Super Suction, and the ghosts flew right into it. For several seconds, a constant stream of ghosts came and disappeared into the hole until every single one of them was captured. Excepted one. Thanatos was still there, facing Apple Bloom, growling. Then, Apple Bloom took the Absorber and placed it on her chest, and Thanatos' eyes widened. "Game over, Thanatos." A beam of light came out of the Absorber and hit Thanatos, letting the filly absorb his powers. It was over in a few seconds. When it was done, Thanatos wasn't a skeleton anymore. He now looked normal, with a skin covered in pale gray fur or made of pale gray scales. He looked at himself in shock, then closed his eyes before he let out a slow chuckle. "You win..." Then, he looked at Apple Bloom. "But I wonder now how long it will take for you to become like me." Apple Bloom had changed too. She was now just a ghost skeleton, like Thanatos had been, excepted that she still was a pony instead of a draconequus. After looking at herself, she frowned and stared at Thanatos. "Ah'll never become like ya." Thanatos chuckled again. "Eternity is a very long time. A lot can happen. Who knows." Apple Bloom just gave a huff at this before she pointed her Poltergust at him. "At least, Ah know what Eternity'll be for ya." And at this, she activated the Super Suction one last time, capturing the draconequus. This time, he didn't escape. And the whole dimension flashed around her.