The mood on the way to the Haunted Towers was grim, the looks on the faces of the ponies was one of sadness before Apple Bloom spoke how afraid she was for her friends and family, the Makuta remained silent until a part of the conversation caught his attention, "Take it from me, power is useless if you don't have the skill to use it effectively." He told them, "Little Ghost was powerful, and she had skill, just not enough to use it, and whoever is behind all this has more than her."
"Way ta make us feel better." Applejack said sarcastically.
"I wasn't trying to."
"Say, how powerful is your friend?" Twilight asked.
"Samuel? Going by scale, he's a main sequence star while I'm a hundred-watt bulb."
"Sounds like somepony you shouldn't anger."
"Yet, I irritate him whenever I feel like it."
"Then how are ya still alive?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Because, I know what buttons to push." Kratus replied, "You six stay here until needed." He told the Mane Six who nodded, though upon entering a red ghost spotted the duo and flew away, possibly to warn the others and went to activate the pump, only to find that it didn't work thanks to a clog, "Never a Toa of Water or a Gahlok around when you need one." The Makuta groaned before Twilight informed the duo of the two bridges and Apple Bloom finding a key inside a chest after seeing what doors she could or couldn't open, with it opening a door to a room separated by an empty canal, with the Makuta tempted to shapeshift into his full sized form or teleport across as the filly found a hidden door leading to a greenhouse with overgrown plants, with the Makuta stopping shelf from falling, surprising the green ghost that made the attempt with more approaching with the Makuta using his skyblaster on each of them, with Apple Bloom capturing them and retrieved another key from a chest and returned to the previous room and opened the door on top with Makuta slicing an attacking plant with his blade, "I'll deal with these." He said.
"How ya gonna do that?" Apple Bloom asked, causing the Makuta smirk before the plants turned to dust courtesy of disintegration, "Oh, right that." She said as the filly grabbed a key from another chest and headed towards the bridge with crows attacking, "Mind using that Rahi Control of yers?" She asked the Makuta who nodded halting the attacking birds with said ability by diverting their attention elsewhere and entered a lab in the right tower with overgrown plants inside with ghosts with the filly capturing all six without the Makuta's aid, though with the elevator shaft missing the elevator meant that the filly had to use the balloon plant to ascend the next floor with the Makuta deciding to change into a Fire Gafna and used its ability launch fire energy that burnt away any out-of-control vines in the path of the filly allowing her to ascend to the fourth floor with the floor damaged by plant life with the Makuta remaining as the Rahi until they left room and climbed the stairs outside the tower and used his Rahi Control to prevent crows from attacking.
"This would be easier if they had Kanohi for me to infect." He told the filly, pointing at his mask as the crows flew away, allowing them to reach the top of the tower below the tank, with pipe dripping goo into a wooden bucket.
"Think ya can clear the pipes with one of yer powers?" Apple Bloom asked.
"First, let's try the button and see if it'll clear the pipes." Kratus replied, before the two noticed the bucket levitating with the filly using her detection device finding a green ghost with the Makuta backhanding the bucket out the ghost's grip with the filly capturing the ghost while the Makuta pressed the red button, causing water to flow through the pipes, filling the pit below, raising the bridge, then a disgusting, brown ghost crawled out of the pipes with the Makuta using his vacuum power to damage the ghost as they circled the ghost, dodging its attacks.
"He doesn't like that." Apple Bloom said, using the poltergust to weaken in the ghost further with her catching it shortly.
"Out of all the undead creatures I've encountered before this universe, that was the first disgusting ghost."
"You fought undead before the Gem Manor?"
"That's how I can tell what a wraith is at first glance, not all I encounter were hostile to the living."
"Ya have them back in yer universe?"
"Maybe other planets have them, but not the one I call home."
"Then how do ya know what a wraith is?"
"I've been to many universes and observed many more." Kratus replied, "Now then, let's take the expressway back down." He added, grabbing the filly and teleporting to the second floor, with the filly surprisingly, not queasy."
"Yer teleportation is better than Twilight's." Apple Bloom said.
"I think you can learn a thing or two from him, Twilight." Rainbow Dash said, embarrassing the alicorn.
"More ghosts." Kratus said, blasting the ghosts with his skyblaster with Apple Bloom capturing them, "I swear, the two of us fight in sync to the point where it's almost like I'm fighting side-by-side with Samuel."
"Really?" Apple Bloom asked, causing the Makuta to nod with her beaming at the praise.
"It's true, the two of you fight like the way I do with him." The aforementioned deity said, his voice coming from nowhere, "The difference is that I can withstand him going all out, but that doesn't make what the two of us said less true." He added before going back to observing the duo's progress.
"Praised by a god is quite the achievement." Rarity said, "Though, I wonder if we'll ever get to see him." She added with the rest of the ponies, wondering the same, something the Makuta noticed.
"If you're wondering if you'll get to meet him in person, it's impossible for him to enter here, thanks to him locking this dimension down preventing those without a connection from entering." Kratus said, dashing their hopes, though a certain Lord of The Dead was internally sighing, for if there's one being that can defeat him without a second thought, it's a god, as the filly and Makuta left the tower, heading to the gateway with a pinwheel before red attempted to punch the filly only to receive a punch from the Makuta that sent it flying as blue ghosts appeared and took five of the six vanes, annoying the Makuta who attempted to catch one in his shadow hand, only for them to dive into the ground and head towards the right tower with the duo following after them, I swear, the Lord of The Dead behind this is playing with us. He thought as the two entered the tower and encountered the ghosts, all escaping after a few distracted them, "Pests!" The Makuta growled as the two followed the lone blue ghost into a hidden door with the filly moving the bed after finding a hidden elevator with him turning into another Rahi he called a Fire Burnak allowing the two to descend into another laboratory with a flooded path and balloon plants and carnivorous plant inside a container with the Makuta changing back and torching the plant with his heat vision before green ghosts entered with the filly capturing them as the Makuta located the blue ghost and blasted him with his skyblaster, preventing its escape with the filly capturing it with the two entering the door in the flooded path appearing in a sewer and capturing green ghosts wandering around before finding a chest with a key behind false bars and continued through the sewers and found a tomb with two coffins, "We must be near a graveyard."
"Not again." Apple Bloom said, "It's jus' like that time back at the Gem Manor and those skeletons."
"I did most of the work. But, if I hadn't fused the internals of the chainsaw, you'd probably helped more."
"When did this happen, and what's this about a chainsaw?" Twilight asked with the filly explaining.
"Cook of Tartarus? I thought that ghost looked familiar."
"I take it ya dealt with him back home?"
"Tried to kill one of my agents. The look on his face when I revealed that I wasn't another pony to him was priceless. I hoped his mind would last longer than three days when I punished him, but at least I enjoyed every second of it before giving him the mercy of death."
"Yer sadistic." Apple Bloom said, the other ponies thinking the same.
"I made his death quick and painless." Kratus countered.
"Yer still a sadist."
"At least I go the painless route of torture. Besides, most days I'm the nice Makuta." The Makuta said, brushing off what the filly called him as they headed back to the laboratory and found that, yes, there's a nearby graveyard before using the key to enter a tool shed with a red ghost with its back turned to them, looking at a fountain with a door near it, the Makuta stunned the ghost with his skyblaster, allowing the filly to capture it and the ghosts that attempted to intervene as the Makuta located another blue ghost in a drawer, and smacked it as it attempted to escape with it dropping the vane thanks to the blow allowing Apple Bloom to capture it with Twilight taking the vane away as the two left the tower, and found a brown ghost with two green ghosts with a bucket, the Makuta knocking out the former with his vacuum power along with cyclone with the filly capturing it after the green ghosts as the Makuta located another blue ghost, staring at it menacingly before bashing it over the head allowing Apple Bloom to capture it with Twilight retrieving the vane as the two entered a secret room behind the fountain, said room had broken stairs, "Who makes stairs like that?"
“I dunno, maybe some sadist?” Apple Bloom suggested, with Makuta suspicious about the door in front of the stairs with a green ghost receiving a backhand from the Makuta as it attempted to ambush the duo with the filly capturing it, fixing the first set of stairs that the two climbed.
"Wait, don't touch that door, it might be…" Kratus said, attempting to warn Apple Bloom and failed, "A trap." He added, wincing as the door smacked the filly, "Well, at least it wasn't a chest mimic."
"I've had enough of them back at the Gem Manor."
"Eh, I built more creative traps inside vital facilities that I built."
"And what kind of traps are they?"
"Some lethal, others to incapacitate for capture and interrogation." Kratus replied as the two entered another lab. This one contained a sprout in a jar along with another pump and more ghosts, including two purple ones with the duo clearing them out, as they listened to a piano above, "Agricultural lab." He said, now able to study the room in detail.
"How d'ya know that?"
"The, bottles and vials have chemicals in them, then there's that sprout, likely the latest test specimen."
"That make sense." Twilight Sparkle.
"Question is, what genetic modifications did they make?"
"Only one way ta find out." Apple Bloom said, looking at the pump that had a missing pipe section, and used the DLD to reveal it, the Makuta activating the device, causing water to fall and water the plant that grew large and fast while forming stairs that the two climbed and found more ghosts in another laboratory with the Makuta locating another blue ghost and stunned it with electricity allowing the capture of the ghost with the retrieval of the fourth vane.
"I've seen off-key Le-Matoran play better than that ghost." Kratus whispered after the duo climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, finding a red ghost playing a pipe organ surrounded by plants, including the balloon plants with a blue ghost carrying the last vane popping out of the pipes with the Makuta nailing the red with his heat vision with Apple Bloom capturing it with two more red ghosts and a brown one appearing, the Makuta using vacuum on the latter allowing the filly to capture them with the Makuta gaining a devious look on his face before placing tendrils of shadow on most of the keys using his hands for the remainder then pressed them all at once, causing the blue ghost with the last vane to jump out thanks to the mixture of noise with Apple Bloom capturing the ghost shortly with Twilight appearing to retrieve it, "No, no teleporting yet, we still got more of the place to explore, that and I can teleport her down."
"Fine." The princess groaned, teleporting back to the caravan with the two ascending to the ceiling and found a broken platform leading to a balcony above the bridge made of tree branches before descending back down and opened the door to the bridge with the Makuta using Rahi Control on all the crows nesting there preventing them from attacked, allowing the two to pass unhindered with the Makuta releasing them from his control after entering the door to the other side finding two doors with the one on their right locked and the one in front unlocked with them entering it, finding a bedroom with three blue ghosts in bed that heard them coming with Apple Bloom managing to catch one before the other two hid with remaining two hiding in the beds, starting a game of Cups and Balls.
"Haven't played that game in long time." Kratus remarked after Apple Bloom caught the last blue ghost before the Makuta found a key in one of the beds that opened the door on the opposite room with it leading to a solarium with three flights of stairs that they used to reach the floor below and found a trio of pictures with three mares, a fat purple earth pony, a thin aqua pegasus and a small yellow unicorn, possibly the old owners though a wall separated the room in two. The second having a kitchen with a door on the left, leading to a toy room, with dolls, including one the size of a mare whose heads turning towards them, "Stay behind me." He told the filly who nodded as the dolls moved towards the duo before the Makuta used his sonic powers to create a wave of sound that shattered the dolls revealing that green ghosts along with one red controlled them with them all captured, though the filly had to empty the device of the doll parts, the fight lasted only. Ten. Seconds. Flat.
"Did ya really think that yer little doll play'd scare me? I fought a house-sized doll, and it's much scarier.”
"And I've fought horrors that would kill one at the mere sight of them."
"You two… have my respect." Rainbow Dash said.
"Eh, it was nothing." Kratus said, brushing off the praise, though the filly expressed gratitude at the praise before finding a key inside the dollhouse they used to enter last locked room above and dealt with the purple, green and brown ghosts inside a bathroom that contained a reclining chair, "A reclining chair inside a bathroom? That's not suspicious at all." The Makuta said sarcastically with the two using it to ascend into the room above, a new room with the walls and ceiling made of glass and a pool with frog statues at the top of the left tower, overwhelmed by plants, "I'll grab the key." He told the filly after she revealed the missing statue which held a key that fell into the pool and estimated that the filly could barely keep her head out of the water while touching the bottom before fishing the key out of the water and turning towards the filly before both sensed something behind them and found nothing. Only for the Makuta to turn around and grab a pink gryphon-like ghost, "Thought I didn't know you were behind us, did ya?" He asked, "Now, where's your compatriots?" He asked after bringing the ghost closer before more of them appeared, resulting in the Makuta to tossing the ghost with a flick of his wrist with it returning with Apple Bloom capturing all four of them, the duo concluding that the key opened something behind the gateway.
"How far can ya teleport?"
"From one pole to the other in a single teleport." Kratus replied.
"That shouldn't be possible!" Twilight Sparkle said in disbelief, the Makuta only chuckled as he grabbed the filly and teleported to the pinwheel with Twilight appearing with the vanes and started repairing the pinwheel before a horde of ghosts appeared, too many for the filly to capture repeatedly without overheating the Poltergust. Fortunately, Kratus had a solution.
"Why aren't you in a shelter? Didn't you pay attention to the weather alert?" He asked the ghosts, confusing them and the two ponies as the wind picked up and the sky darkened, "Things are about to go for a spin." He added, further confusing the ponies and ghosts. Then… they heard the rumble and turned around as they saw a funnel cloud touch the ground, and head towards the ghosts with a howl, picking them up and carried them away, though some remained for Apple Bloom to capture, though the ghosts picked up by the cyclone returned after it dissipated upon Kratus' command before he used his stasis field or slow on the ghosts, slowing their advance. Eventually, they caught the last of the ghosts and the Poltergust didn't approach the red once and not once did the ghosts get near Twilight who teleported away after repairing the pinwheel, "I don't think they like Twilight very much."
"No kidding." Twilight said, "They really don't want me to help you. Thank you, Apple Bloom and Makuta."
"I caught one that came here!" Rainbow Dash said proudly.
"Dashie's first ghost!" Pinkie Pie said before Rainbow Dash continued.
"But I couldn't help but notice that out of the two of you, they go after the big guy more than you."
"I noticed." Apple Bloom said, "Wonder what they have against him."
"I dunno, maybe because I'm the more powerful one?"
"But, I'm the one that can capture 'em."
"Doesn't mean that I'm not a threat." Kratus pointed out, using his vacuum power to turn the pinwheel by drawing in the air, opening the gateway with the Makuta unleashing the gathered air in a single burst before the two partners approached the oak tree, finding a circular door carved into the base allowing them to enter the hollowed out tree lit by torches with the center covered in water, three alcoves with one of them having a pair of stairs leading to more that went up four floors, the two guessed that the center alcove between the stairs led to the graveyard, the other two led to dead ends with big spiders. The two decided to head up the stairs, the first attempt turned into a ramp with a green ghost appearing and laughed before Apple Bloom caught it, and found that the other stairs didn't turn into a slope, "Hang on, let me try something." He told Apple Bloom who looked her companion with a raised brow before two copies of Kratus appeared, and ascended the stairs, one turning into a ramp, the other didn't but a lit torch turned blue, "Oh, it's one of those traps."
"Not much of a trap." Apple Bloom pointed out after capturing the ghost that appeared with the other bearers agreeing.
"Not all traps are lethal, some nonlethal traps are to hinder the progress of others." Kratus said, as the two ascended the stairs with the process repeating, the Makuta would create copies that he revealed to be illusions that ascended both stairways to reveal which was the true path with them reaching the top and found that the door there turned out to be a monster with red eyes and sharp teeth with the door opening at the teeth.
"That door almost gave me a heart attack." Rainbow Dash said.
"And it almost ate Apple Bloom and Makuta, well Makuta would've been fine." Pinkie Pie said, "But it looks like this is where you need to go."
"Y-yeah… but we still need to find the key, and it might be in the graveyard." Apple Bloom said with Twilight remarking how casual the filly was in talking about graveyards and telling her she's been to a lot of graveyards while ghost hunting and made a few friends during those hunts.
"You're an interesting filly with an interesting life." Kratus said with Apple Bloom giggling.
"I know." She said with the two descending back to ground floor, taking what the Makuta called, the "fun way" that being sliding down the ramps and headed to the second alcove, finding it to be a dead end thanks to a big root with mushrooms, moss and a green root that the Makuta pulled, revealing a platform that the two stepped on before it flung them out of a beak of a crow statue, "Why… Just, why…" She groaned as she and the Makuta stood up, and spotted crows that didn't bother making an attempt to attack, though they also noted that lack of ghosts.
"I swear if one of them says nevermore…"
"You know The Raven?" Twilight asked, with Apple Bloom telling her that she studied it in school before she and her partner walked through the graveyard looking at the gravestones daring skeletons and ghosts to attack with none appearing before they approached a crypt with Apple Bloom opening it before Twilight made another remark about how casual Apple Bloom was in entering a crypt with Apple Bloom telling that she dealt with a ghost throwing coffins another crypt, and found this one in bad condition, broken shelves with missing coffins before they heard the voice of Kratus' friend.
"It saddens me to see a crypt in such condition, even if this isn't a royal crypt."
"You've been in one before?" Apple Bloom asked.
"To visit my parents and grandparents."
"That means all this time, Samuel was… royalty?" Rarity asked, earning a confirmation before fainting, with the Nui-Jaga poking the mare with a claw, causing her to wake and shriek at the sight of the Rahi near her face before said god spoke again.
"I'm former royalty, gave up the position of prince when I gained the power I have now."
"And that's how I annoy him, by reminding him of his past as a prince before he became a god." Kratus said, resulting in a groan from the deity.
"Was his foalhood bad?"
"Overall? No, it's just that I had some… interesting older siblings."
"What kind of siblings."
"The kind that can you can love and hate because how annoying they are."
"Regular sibling stuff."
"More like, most days I was the responsible one despite my adventurous streak." Samuel said, ending the conversation as the Makuta spotted a weakened wall and punched it, revealing a chest with a wooden key shaped like the mouth of the monster in the tree.
"Tadadada!" Pinkie Pie shouted, causing everyone there to laugh except for the Makuta who smiled with Apple Bloom thanking the mare after everything that has happened with Pinkie Pie happy to have done so, and once she mentioned that this is what Smart Spirit would want.
"I know, but him dyin' that way sucks."
"Language." Applejack said over the comms.
"And Pyrite and his ally'll pay for this. Even if they return as ghosts, ya don't kill my friends. And I swear, if they touch one hair on any of y'all, I'll find a way to bring them back to life and regret being born in the first place."
"It's not Apple Bloom they have to worry about, it's me, for as I said before, I can be a valuable ally or your worst enemy, anger me, and I'll hunt you down and once I catch you, I will make death a mercy. So, fall upon your own swords when the shadows turn against you. For a vengeful Makuta is not you want bearing down on you." Kratus added, though the mares couldn't see them, they could tell that both had the look of hate on their faces.
"You know revenge isn't the answer, right?" Twilight asked, only for the Makuta to speak before Apple Bloom could answer.
"Is it revenge, or is it justice? Besides, Pyrite and his ally must be stopped. And after what they've done and will do, you can't blame us for making it personal. "
"You're right, we can't." Twilight sighed as the filly and Makuta left the crypt, only for the Makuta to punch a stone thrown at them and finding the culprit, an orange ghost laughing as it appeared with green, blue and red ghosts appearing, the blues hiding in the vases on some tombs before Apple Bloom used her device to gather the red and green ghosts in a single group as the Makuta used fragmentation on incoming boulders as the filly caught the other ghosts before the orange ghost before the appearance of three familiar, mares as ghosts appeared, the ones from the three pictures and chuckled at them, all with vain expressions and holding mirrors they used to admire themselves before the fat pink earth pony ghost attacked, missing both the Makuta and Apple Bloom who used her weapon in an attempt to capture the mare, only for the aqua pegasus to make an attempt to slam into her, earning a chop to the back from Kratus, sending her to the ground, before the small yellow unicorn attack with a magical beam the Makuta countered using his sword to reflect the beam back at her with a bolt from his skyblaster following, stunning the mare as the aqua pegasus attempted to attack the Makuta from behind, only for the Makuta to grab her and throw her into the pink mare attempting to hit Apple Bloom with her mirror before hammering the unicorn with bolts from his skyblaster allowing Apple Bloom to capture all of them before remarking that they were the first ghosts that looked like ponies, starting a discussion, though when they discussed the spirit world.
"Take it from me, going there is not a pleasant experience, especially the areas where the unrepentant souls are." Kratus said, ending the discussion before he and the filly teleported back to the oak tree with the dog from Gloomy Manor appearing and licking Apple Bloom, though when it attempted to take the key to start a game, it found the key in the Makuta's grasp, though the sight stunned them, his arm was stretched out like a rubber band before returning to its normal length, "Go on, shoo." He told the dog. Who whimpered before it left.
"That wasn't very nice, he only wanted to play." Fluttershy said.
"I ain't in the mood or got time for games." Kratus said before turning to Apple Bloom, "You might want to upgrade the crystal after this, because things are going to get more difficult." He told the filly, who nodded as the two entered the oak tree again and ascended the to the top and unlocked the door, finding another room and more staircases, twenty in a row of three, with blue torches starting another game of finding the right stairs.
"Challenge excepted." Apple Bloom said, the tone suggested she wanted to do this the hard way, and told the Makuta just that.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Kratus said as the two played the game, the Makuta growing irritated with each failure and the filly losing her breath by the end, "I swear, once we're through here, I will turn this tree into mulch or the largest piece of firewood by burning it." He growled before they spotted the crow on a branch that flew away after a few minutes with the filly recuperating as the Makuta punched a wall with a ball made of vines in it, revealing another passage leading to a tree house with the Makuta growing more suspicious with him touching the steps to the tree house, revealing it was possessed as a face appeared.
"This is Wild Oak." Pyrite said, appearing near the tree house as it chased them, “Why don't you feed him? He seems very hungry." He added, disappearing with a cackle as the Makuta sent bolts of light from his skyblaster towards him, both the Makuta and the filly growled, the Makuta having enough of this nonsense, decided to unleash his vacuum ability in a focused burst that demolished the house, revealing a Bogmire-like ghost that looked more like a tree that created another tree house, only for it to crumple as the Makuta used his gravitational abilities on it then caused it to explode with his vacuum power on it once more, with the filly using her weapon to weaken the ghost before it possessed the tree itself, turning it against them, though the Makuta's sword glowed a sickly green.
"I. Have. Had. Enough of this tree." He growled plunging the blade into the wood that cracked with a green glow shining though as the cracks spread with the ghost screaming as the Makuta pulled the blade out, though Apple Bloom felt wood beneath her hoofs soften under the effects of what the Makuta did with the him grabbing the filly and teleporting outside, revealing the glowing cracks spread to even the outside as the ghost continued to scream in agony before the Makuta used his heat vision ignite the leaves, setting the tree aflame, causing the ghost to scream louder with the Makuta using slow to further torment the tree as it collapsed from both the effects of the green glow and the flames with the ghost leaving the tree before with tendrils of shadow impaled the ghost before the Makuta's Shadow Hand grabbed the ghost with it dropping its key as the Makuta's Shadow Hand pulled the ghost into him then crushed the still screaming ghost's will, terminating its existence as a storm quenched the flames, though it did nothing to the green glow that died only after the tree rotted away, "Poison." Kratus said, catching the attention of the mares who looked at the Makuta in shock, "I sent poisons through the tree and that is only just an example of the kinds of torment I will do to the culprits." He added, though still shocked at the Makuta's actions, the ponies noticed that the Makuta's voice changed a little.