She was worried, her friend's voice changed a little before returning to normal, as the group of from what a Rahi at her level of intelligence could understand are alternate versions of her friend's friends, something that confused her. But she was more worried about her friend as they approached a factory, thankful that she could stay nearer to her friend thanks one of her friend's alternate friend.
"Well, we're here." Kratus said after changing back from a Lohrak, before noticing something with the debris. "Dynamite, wonderful. Probably placed here by the ghosts." He said, watching his step despite the temptation of setting them off before Apple Bloom unlocked the door, allowing the two to enter.
"Say, Kratus." Apple Bloom said, earning the attention of the Makuta, "Yer voice changed a little before it returned to normal."
"How did it change?"
"It sounded deeper, and… evil." Apple Bloom replied, shuddering at the last word, though when her friend went to speak he remembered something, The Voice said to him as he squashed thoughts of a dark deed.
"It has to do with a painful part of my past, both figuratively and literally." Kratus said, remembering the events and who was behind them as he looked around the first floor finding holes, gears and other clock parts all over the floor, "What a mess." He added, "Not even the machine shop where I tinker with stuff gets this messy."
"Does it get messy?"
"Only the tables." Kratus replied, searching the safe and found more ribbon before checking the doors, and found that only the one in front of the entrance unlocked, both entering and found themselves in a room above a canyon, opening to the left to a pit with a railway, and the room itself was separated into two parts by this pit, a raised wooden bridge, the only thing linking the two parts beside some narrow metallic beams in the second level. The part where the two were was only a small wooden path leading to a door in the right wall, and the other part at the other side of the pit was bigger, with many crates surrounding a turntable with a track. Behind the turntable was a staircase leading to the second level, "No way to lower the bridge from this side." He said, looking down at the pit.
"What about when ya stretched yer arm out at the mansion?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Elasticity? I could do that or teleport but, we'll miss things." Kratus replied, knowing that the Lord of The Dead is watching and would likely prevent "cheating" while Apple Bloom looked for an unlocked door. Though the Makuta had a light bulb go off and went back to the first room and unwrapped the ribbon in the safe, revealing it to be a key and tried it out on the door near the safe as Apple Bloom entered the room, and found the Makuta had already found the key and the door it unlocked with her dashing towards the Makuta as he opened the door and blasted two green ghosts with his skyblaster allowing Apple Bloom to capture them before the tools levitated with the Makuta using magnetism to clump them together and draw them to him with Apple Bloom discovering an orange ghost and capturing it and entered a room on the other side of the room and found that sand covered the ground and the means to open the way to the clock tower was missing components, the clock hands and rotor with Applejack suggesting it was the ghosts that took them after they noticed the bridge on the second level, "Well, now we have a reason to explore the factory." He said before noticing the dust devils, confusing him before Apple Bloom revealed them to be green ghosts before capturing them along more that appeared with one attempting to throw a bomb that blew up in its face thanks to the Makuta's heat vision, causing Pinkie Pie to laugh at the ghost's reaction while the companions entered another room, one with a large hole slicing the room in two with explosives all over the place, "I know of this organization that handles the safety of the workers, and they would look at this place in horror for the lack of safety measures and shut it down if it wasn't abandoned."
"I bet they would." Apple Bloom said as the two traversed the hole to the other side, the Makuta pulling a rope that lowered a stairwell and as the two climbed it a pink ghost appeared and shoved Apple Bloom and laughed before getting a bolt of shadow to the face as two more pink ghosts appeared along with two green ghosts with the pink ghosts disappearing with the latter going for the dynamite that the Makuta turned to dust using his disintegration before Apple Bloom captured them after dealing with the pink ghosts with the two by bypassing the bridge with them crossing the bridge and entered the door on the other side with a room with two green ghosts that Apple Bloom captured as the Makuta searched the room and found a button that caused past of the west wall to retract revealing a smaller room with desk and chair, but as they went to enter a group of four pink and one red ghosts blocked their path with the Makuta hitting the red ghost with a one-two punch to the face before bashing it on the head with both fists, dazing it so Apple Bloom could capture it as the Makuta used his density control to phase through the wall to search the desk and found a compass and a key before heading back out after deeming the key to be the way out normally.
"Found this compass." He told Apple Bloom as she went to press the button.
"Then we'll be able ta find the ruins as the professor mentioned it in his notes."
"A Fa-Matoran would make a better compass thanks to their sense of direction making the skilled navigators, and they can talk."
"But, wouldn't ya have ta translate for us?"
"True." Kratus replied as they left and found the ruins after he experimented with the compass with them sliding down conveyor belts with the bottom full of sand with a wheelbarrow, shelves and a door along with the lift they end in before a group of green ghosts appeared with them dealt with in short order allowing them to open the weight operated gate and found themselves in at a canyon after they came across a part of the passage blocked, "I know a safer way across." He said, noticing that both bridges were destroyed.
"Teleportin'?"
"Nope, Gukko." Kratus replied before his form changed into a large, slender, four-winged Rahi, the sight made Fluttershy's eyes sparkle at how beautiful the bird is though the Nui-Jaga couldn't help but chitter in annoyance as Apple Bloom jumped onto the transformed Makuta and made their way across with Apple Bloom jumping onto the ground after they reached their destination, allowing the Makuta to change back before they walked through passage with the Makuta shooting giant spiders as they attempted to attack, with the filly dealing with a pink ghost that followed them along with blue ghosts throwing spiders at them with the Makuta frying each spider with plasma while declaring it a shooting gallery causing Apple Bloom to roll her eyes before they reached the door with debris blocking it after finding a key. "Stand back." He told the filly who complied despite her confusion before he unleashed his fragmentation on the pile, shattering it with pieces of it bouncing off the Makuta's armor before the two returned to the underground path and entered a room with boxes, shelves with containers, and a sarcophagus, before blue and green ghosts appeared and threw the dynamite at them with the Makuta's armor shrugging the explosions off, allowing Apple Bloom to capture them from cover before the sarcophagus opened with a mummy moaning as it approached before Apple Bloom tossed a stick of dynamite at the undead, destroying it while revealing a green ghost that the filly captured, with a conversation about other undead creatures. But, when they got to the subject of curses… "Curses, yummy." He said, earning the attention of Twilight Sparkle.
"How can you taste a curse?" She asked over the comms, confused.
"I can't, but I do feed off them as they're a darkness based ability." Kratus replied, "The more powerful the curse, the more power I gain. I find it amusing when someone casts a life drain curse on me." He added with the last part somehow amusing Twilight Sparkle, "Now then, enough about curses. There's work needing done." He said, Apple Bloom nodding in agreement with the duo entering a secret door with the exit collapsing with the Makuta deeming it unwise to unblock it before noticing the only way forward… was down with the duo sliding down a slope that once they reached bottom and entered a large downward spiraling room with broken mine cart tracks at the bottom that had a hole, with sand falling from the ceiling with a level out of Apple Bloom's reach with the Makuta tempted to teleport them up there, but decided against it and pushed a mine cart over the hole in the ground, causing sand to fill the room with ghosts appearing and earned a bolt of shadow to the face along with a trip to the crystal inside the Poltergust before entering the door that led to a dark hallway with only Apple Bloom's lamp along with a torch being the only significant source of light before a ball of plasma formed at the tip of the Makuta's weapon with the Makuta using it to burn away the webs allowing them to enter a tomb lit by torches with them talking about mummies before they heard Kratus' friend.
"At least they're not the type that drain you of your life force through biting you or casting a curse on you."
"Ugh, don't remind me of the former." Kratus replied, but before the conversation could go further, the tomb opened up with a mummy that left by floating out after punching Apple Bloom as more rose from the sand, totaling the number to four with the walking ones attacking until the Makuta lit their bandages with plasma, setting them ablaze and attempted to go after the Makuta who slowed them down until the fire damaged them to where the green ghosts possessing them had to leave allowing Apple Bloom to capture them with the levitating ghost forming a dust devil to protect itself and created more to attack the duo, only for the Makuta to send a burst of plasma at it, scorching the mummy that used the sand to douse the flames before sending spikes of sand at them with the Makuta turning each one to glass with his heat vision before spotting a tip of the bandage unwrapped on its back and informed Apple Bloom who unwound the undead, revealing its petrified form with the Makuta slicing its head off with his blade with a blue ghost with the appearance of an orange leaving it enraged before grabbing a hand from the tomb and used its telekinetic powers to cause the room to collapse before leaving, though the Makuta failed to relieve the ghost of its burden of carrying the clock hand with his magnetism before teleporting the two out of the ruins to the caravan with the Nui-Jaga chittering in worry for the Makuta who pet her after clearing his blade of the remains of the mummy from his blade with plasma before he and Apple Bloom reentered the factory and trekked through the underground and encountered the ghost in a room with crates and a turntable who looked at them surprised at their survival with the Makuta giving a smug smirk after it threw a brick and crushed it with his bare hand without leaving a scratch with Apple Bloom attempting to peek out of her usage of the Makuta as cover only for the ghost throw a brick at her before the Makuta could intercept with the two making the same attempt, though this time the ghost threw bricks in random directions with the Makuta intercepting each one, locking them in a stalemate before the two hunters retreated with two going through an alternate route and encountered ghosts, including one sleeping with its head in a bucket before the two ended up in an area above the ghost that remained looking at the door the duo left it, "I'm tempted to shoot the ghost in the head, but that would ruin our element of surprise." He told the filly.
"Agreed." She said before the two teleported across the gap and entered a room full of tools with a door leading back to the hallway and another to a balcony before ghosts appeared, an orange that threw tools at them along with green and red ghosts that ended up captured before the two entered the second door and entered the third door of the west wall and entered a room full of steam with the two wisely leaving to door open to let the steam out as they closed the valves releasing the steam and located the second door behind the kiln that the pipes connected to it with them going through a double door to reach it, though a pair of green ghosts opened the doors, sending Apple Bloom back with the green ghosts laughing before they saw the irritated Makuta and gulped at the sight of him annoyed before earning bolts of shadow to the face before they could flee allowing Apple Bloom to capture them with the two having to face a brown ghost before leaving the kiln allowing them to retrieve the key on the other side of the hall with Apple Bloom retrieving it, allowing the two to sneak up on the ghost bellow through the other staircase who looked at them surprised after they appeared thanks to the Makuta using silence to mask their approach and giving a shot to the head before pointing above, causing the ghost to facehoof before opening the crates showing them that they contained dynamite before entering the turntable and creating a dust devil and sent the sticks their way with Makuta shooting each one until the ghost left the turntable.
Uh-oh. It thought after finding out it ran out of explosives before turning back to the bricks that the Makuta destroyed, allowing Apple Bloom to capture the ghost before it escaped with it dropping the minute hand, starting a discussion until the Nui-Jaga chittered something before she poked Twilight Sparkle with a claw, causing her to facehoof and groan.
"What?" Kratus asked.
"Ghosts are playing with the hour hand at the court, the Nui-Jaga saw them first."
"She's a smart girl." Kratus replied with the Rahi happy to have helped her friend before Twilight retrieved the minute hand after Apple Bloom pointed out the ghosts' stupid choice before the duo left for the court with Apple Bloom lowering the bridge, and once they entered the three ghosts playing with the hand spotted them, but before they could do anything, the white ghost dog appeared and took the hand… only for it to earn a blob of brownish gunk to the face, blinding it with everyone who could see turning to the culprit after Apple Bloom captured the dog, an upset Nui-Jaga, "That's right… Nui-Jaga can launch venom from their stingers." Kratus said as the Rahi did the same to the two of green ghosts allowing Apple Bloom to capture them with the third fleeing as the Makuta retrieved the hour hand.
"Will the poor doggy be okay?" Fluttershy asked.
"Fortunately, the blindness wears off shortly." Kratus replied, the Rahi chittered happily as the Makuta pet her at a job well done.
"Though, how'd she sneak up on them ghosts?" Applejack asked.
"Didn't ya know? Purple iz 'da sneakiest." Kratus replied in an odd accent before more ghosts appeared, the remaining green ghost brought reinforcements, three reds and a brown, all earned venom to their eyes, allowing Apple Bloom to capture them before the ghost dog left the Poltergust, eyesight restored, "See, it wears off." He said as the dog left, not wanting to have venom in its eyes again as the scorpion Rahi glared at it, "When we get back, I'm going to give you an extra helping of your favorite Rahi chow." Kratus said, the Rahi chittering in happiness at the prospect of her favorite chow her friend would give her as Twilight expressed her disbelief at the failure of the containment crystal and vowed to upgrade it before the ghost busting duo returned to the factory to enter the eastern part of the factory.
"No, let me deal with the blockage." Apple Bloom said, stopping the Makuta from using his fragmentation on the debris blocking the door to the stairwell, gaining a grin after realizing what she meant as the filly gathering explosives at the door.
"I like either a medium-sized crater or an explosive party depending on the situation." The Makuta said before the filly lit the fuse after talking to Twilight, "Pretty fireball." He said at the sight of the explosion before the two entered the bottom of the stairwell with the ghosts on the opposite side still stunned with the duo giving a predatory look at them before the filly captured them before the two realized that they were in a two story room with a broken elevator, with them entering the door to another two story room and used the sin scale there to enter the floor below with two doors, the first accessible thanks the belts operating the scale and the pendulum it was attached to with the Makuta getting an idea on how to reach it as Apple Bloom peered through a hole and the wall discovering that a pink ghost held the rotor with a green ghost blocking the hole in the wall with a brick after spotting her with the Makuta increasing the pull of gravity on the scale, lowering it and allowing the two to access the other door, surprising the ghosts before the pink ghost handed the rotor to an orange that fled before Apple Bloom caught it after capturing the green ghost with the two pursuing the orange into the sand covered bottom floor of the previous room, with three green ghosts appearing before spinning around, creating dust devils with four mummies rising from the sand, the Makuta igniting their bandages with his heat vision, causing the green ghosts to leave the bodies, allowing Apple Bloom to capture them before more appeared along some red, pink and an orange ghost with them captured allowing the two of them to pursue the orange ghost that flew away earlier, entering rooms full of gears with them using the gears in the second room to sneak attack the two red ghosts while fixing the mechanism for the previous room, allowing the retrieval of the key and entered the first room that contained a giant gear in the center and entered the west door and used the cuckoo clock to enter the other half of the room where the orange ghost awaited the two who wore it down by forcing it to use its powers on the gears using the three valves to keep the gears turning with the Makuta grabbing the rotor as the filly captured the exhausted orange ghost before teleporting the two back to the room with the clock door as the Makuta had grown impatient again with Twilight appearing to repair said mechanism with ghosts appearing, including the ones they bypassed with them captured after Twilight repaired the door, "I can create a rainstorm for you to wash that sand off in." He said when Twilight made a comment about showering after returning to the caravan.
"There's no way you can control the weather outside of making those cyclones." Rainbow Dash said, causing the Makuta to grin before it rained on the prismatic pegasus no matter where she moved before the storm stopped.
"Ya were saying?" Applejack asked, amused at the sight of the drenched pegasus who grumbled while the Nui-Jaga looked disappointed she didn't get some water as Apple Bloom discovered a way to open the door, by turning to hands to make the time seven thirty with the two entering the room that turned out to be a lift operated by valves and used the door to enter a room full of crates that led to a ladder, though the floor turned out to be a giant spring that launched them through a trapdoor that led to the belfry with another Bogmire-like ghost that had clock hands instead of arms that changed to the hour positions with Pyrite appearing from behind the ghost.
"Death by animals, death by objects… now it's time for you to face something nopony can face: death by time. No matter who you are, no matter what you are, time always wins in the end. Everyone has a final hour." He said before waving at the ghost, though he noticed the look in Kratus' eyes, one of… evil before it disappeared before he continued. "Meet your Final Hour." He said before the Bogmire-like ghost entered the clock with its hands turning, "You should hurry. Time is flowing, and it'll soon run out for you." He said, but noticed the lack of aging for the Makuta, whose eyes regained that evil look as heard a voice inside his head.
"My return is imminent, and I have you and that creature to thank." It said before laughing, its evil sound caused the ghost to shudder before he disappeared, with Apple Bloom aging to around twenty, and broke off the hands of the clock, noticing the Makuta frozen with his attention turned inward with Final Hour leaving the clock, and Apple Bloom attacking it before it retreated, though the Makuta screamed, not in pain but of frustration.
"Enough of this." He said before stepping in front of Apple Bloom, the clock turning to sludge as its molecules felt the power of the Lord and Master of Shadow's inorganic molecular disruption that allowed for the capture of Final Hour that undid the effects on both the filly and the Makuta with the former returning to her current age, though inside the Makuta's mind he heard a voice.
"Soon…" It said as Apple Bloom made a comment about time winning, though inside the Realm of Possibilities, a deity was worried, for he sensed a great darkness growing inside his friend.