//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Ghost Busting 3 // by Edguy0009 //------------------------------// Ding! The elevator reached the seventh floor, with the fillies and Makuta leaving it. "This is a Bo-Matoran paradise." Kratus said, noticing the amount of greenery. "What are Bo-Matoran?" Twilight asked. "Matoran of Plant Life or The Green, despite their inability to access to their elemental power to its full extent, they have the innate ability for a full understanding of plant attributes, such as poisons and possible medical uses, making them well-suited healers, their physical appearance is green and blue armor." Kratus explained with Twilight fascinated at that fact, "For the past few years, I've been employing their services for healing my agents thanks to said skills." He added before looking at the fillies. "Let's hope that there aren't any giant carnivorous plants." "If there are, I'm sure that you'll deal with them like last time." Apple Bloom pointed out. "You're not wrong." Kratus said before the fillies held a conversation ending with Sweetie Belle wishing she still had a tongue before a snake jumped out, causing Twilight to flee with Applejack calling her back, "Hey, at least it wasn't a Doom Viper." He said after Applejack got Twilight calmed down. "Why do I feel like I'm regretting asking what a Doom Viper is?" The lavender alicorn asked. "Because, it's a biomechanical snake with six heads with a breath that can kill everything except other Doom Vipers." Kratus replied, "Fortunately, none of them are alive." He added, "Let me take the lead." He told the fillies who nodded as they wandered down the hallway, encountering snakes, mice, bats, and crows with the birds flying away before they reached the end and entered the double doors behind the elevator. What was behind those doors surprised them. The room was like a tower with staircases leading to seven walkways with four on the left, three on the right, the group guessed that there were rooms above while they saw large windows all the way up to the top with the room covered in plant life with them spotting the crows from before in the grass; it reminded the Makuta and Apple Bloom of the Haunted Towers. "Hey! Look!" Little Ghost said, pointing to a pedestal in the center of the room,  beside the first staircase, was the button they needed. "Stay alert, I got a bad feeling about this." Kratus said, before he and the fillies advancing slowly, with nothing happening, though the Makuta remained cautious, with him justified as Apple Bloom reached to grab the button. Something finally happened: a red watering can appeared and watered a plant, causing it to grow into a carnivorous plant that went after Apple Bloom's hoof with the plant taking the button. The ghost responsible appeared, an elderly green earth pony stallion, while bald, had bushy eyebrows and beard while wearing brown eyeglasses, a yellow hat with a flower and brown coat with saddlebags with the stallion watering the plant again, causing it to grow larger and all the way to the top while laughing before the stallion spoke. "Greetings, little ladies and armored one, I am Doctor Greenhoof, and I'll be the one to end your ascent in this hotel. Please give me some fun." "Something about him rubs me the wrong way." Kratus said before realizing something, "That formula he used was the same as the one back in the Haunted Towers!" Makuta and Apple Bloom recalled something. The Haunted Towers belong to the ghosts of the previous Flower Sisters, who had no relation to the current ones in Ponyville, with a room for a fourth family member. "Doctor Greenhoof, The Gardener."  Kratus said. The sisters told Kratus and Apple Bloom about him, Doctor Greenhoof was a stallion with a fascination with plants with a strong focus on carnivorous plants. The towers used to belong to him before the Sisters who happened to be his nieces, who came to live with him. He was the one who developed the instant growing formula and the other things found in the laboratories, tolerating only his nieces and nopony else in the towers. A hermit. But the stallion was also insane. Secretly capturing ponies and animals to feed his plants, he had no mercy, not even to foals. When his nieces found that out, he fed them to his plants without hesitation. He died of old age, caring only for his plants with none finding out about his actions. Something the Makuta found too good for the stallion. When the Towers were transported to the valley not long after his death, his ghost didn't follow. They now know why. As for the victims of his cruelty? Their ghosts haunted the Towers and were among the ghosts attacking the Makuta and Apple filly at the terrace of Treacherous Mansion. Now they were friends/allies who told them all about the cruel stallion with Apple Bloom passing on the information to Little Ghost and Sweetie Belle and cautioning them about the plants the stallion may have created with the Makuta telling them to let him deal with the plants while calling himself a weed wacker before the group climbed the stairs, finding the first one having a door blocked with vines before heading to the second staircase with Greenhoof's watering can appearing and caused a vine on the giant plant to grow with the stallion laughing before the Makuta rolled his eyes before he crossed the gap with a teleport with the fillies following and thanks to the gap in the walkway, they entered hole that led to room overgrown with plants, including carnivorous ones that were the same ones from the Haunted Towers with the Makuta slicing some with his sword with several flicks of his wrist with fillies crushing the others with a couch with both the countdown and them congratulating each other amusing him before he noticed a floating garden fork and use his magnetic power to pull it towards him and caused the trickster to reveal itself, upset that its attempt to ambush Apple Bloom failed as the Makuta blasted a shovel, knocking it out of the second trickster's hands with both captured shortly as Kratus used his vacuum power to pull the leaves off the door allowing the group to enter the bedroom, opening the chest by the bed before entering the bathroom. The Bathroom had among the leaves and vines, lots of pink flowers, piles of petals along with a pair of carnivorous plants that the Makuta flash fried with his heat vision as the fillies dealt with the tricksters that appeared with petals scattered during the fight, revealing a drain that had a hidden chest that Little Ghost found as the Makuta unleashed the absorbed air that blew the leaves off the hole that led to the other side of the walkway, and as they walked up the stairs to the next walkway, Greenhoof appeared and went to water a pineapple plant, only for a bolt of shadow to hit the stallion with another destroying the plant as the stallion recovered, finding the Makuta looking at him before sunglasses appeared in his hands before putting them on. "Deal with it." Kratus told the stallion smugly, with the stallion growling before leaving with the sunglasses disappearing, revealing them to be an illusion created by the onyx armored figure with the four of them advancing until a large thorny vine blocked their path, the Makuta rolled his eyes before using disintegration on the vine, turning it to dust with ghosts appearing, annoyed that the group bypassed their ambush before their capture before the group used the walkway to climb the stairs with Greenhoof appearing one more to water another plant only for the Makuta to destroy it after blasting the stallion who growled at the smug Makuta before leaving with the group having to use a hole in the wall to bypass the large vine that grew. The room they entered was full of grass, vines wrapped around the furniture and blocking the bathroom door, with five carnivorous plants with the Makuta going to deal with them before Apple Bloom spotted a buzzsaw to help the Makuta despite the latter not needing it. “I say let her keep it, I don’t mind the help.” Kratus said, shrugging caution that Twilight and Applejack express, “Just be sure to not swing it wildly.” He told the filly as she sawed the legs off the furniture to empty the chest with a vine shooting from the wall and grabbing Apple Bloom with the Makuta slicing it and the second vine as the group entered the bathroom full of giant watermelons and bulbous plants, that they discovered had toxic spores when ghosts and vines attacked, the Makuta used plasma or heat vision against the bulbous plants, incinerating both the plants and their spores as the fillies dealt with the ghosts, “Out of all the ghosts we face so far, I’ll say that Greenhoof is the most annoying.” “Same here.” Little Ghost said, nodding in agreement. “Not surprising considering how he’s controlling plants.” Apple Bloom said as the Makuta dealt with the watermelon blocking the hole in the wall with the Makuta telling them fillies to stop before giving them a smirk with his sword glowing green, worrying Apple Bloom that is until she saw the blue mixed in as the Makuta pointed his word at the vine with it unwinding. “Fascinating, he can use florakinesis!” Twilight said. “What’s that?” Apple Bloom asked. “Plant control.” Kratus replied with Twilight giving an affirmative, “No, don’t ask me to use it to cheat our way there.” He added, walking up the vine and slashed attacking vines as the fillies followed with the Makuta unwinding another vine and dealt with more attacking vines, sometimes causing them to tie themselves into knots with the fillies using a liana as the Makuta unwound the final vine allowing the group to reach the walkway with them noticing that they’re near the top with one final stair case before they noticed the Greenhoof finish watering the giant plant with vines growing, destroying both the staircase and the walkway with one almost impaling Apple Bloom thanks her dodging out of the way in time with them retreating to the floor below with Apple Bloom having a small pile of rubble dropped on her thanks to a vine with the Makuta annoyed. “I swear, when I get my hands on him, I’ll.” “BUCK YA GREENHOOF!” Apple Bloom shouted after popping out of the rubble, interrupting the Makuta who facepalmed, knowing how others might take what the two of them said. “I’d say language, but he’s starting irritate me as well.” Applejack said. “And now there’s no way to continue!” Rarity complained as Kratus noticed something. “Don’t be so sure, there’s a hole in the wall that we can use.” He said, with the group entering the room with a collapsed ceiling, leading to the rafters and another hole leading to the room above while covered in vines, along with giant mushrooms with one of said mushrooms in a chariot with the Makuta and Little Ghost looking at each other and thinking the same thing with the latter speaking after Apple Bloom asked how the group will get up to the ceiling. “Those mushrooms look like we can bounce on them.” “I’m not sure we can bounce on ‘em.” Apple Bloom said. “Only one way to find out.” Kratus said, shapeshifting into an Ice Gafna and jumped on the smallest of the mushrooms bouncing him onto the bed, “There’s a chest here!” He told the group telepathically with Little Ghost emptying the chest as the Makuta got off the bed and helped Apple Bloom move the chariot to the vine blocking the entrance before they bounced on the mushrooms and climbed the vine and bounced on another mushroom to the floor above with the Makuta shapeshifting back. The room they were in had pots in piles, a hammock made of ropes, and a board with leaves pinned to it with a green leaf coloring the room. Apparently the room belonged to Greenhoof. “Normally, I don’t approve of vandalizing another’s room, but I'll make an exception” Kratus began as Apple Bloom gained an evil grin as she activated the buzzsaw, “Eh, why not.” He added before trashing the room with Apple Bloom, shattering the pots and the table along with the table and bed with the latter having a not-so hidden chest that was soon emptied of the gold before they left to the door to the final walkway. Or what remained of it... two platforms, the first they were on, the other accessed by a rolled up vine that the Makuta used Plant Control to unwind it and another rolled up vine and dealt him dealing with the vines that attacked as the fillies used the liana with the Makuta teleporting to reach another vine with them using another liana to reach another vine that the Makuta unwound with the vine leading a giant leaf on a beam that forced them to use another liana to reach the flower of the plant with Little Ghost giving the buzzsaw back to retrieve her shield after dealing with the vines that attack her friends during their ascent. There were a lot of crows flying around the flower with the mouth of the plant containing the button, with both Kratus and Apple Bloom going through vines to reach the button and cutting the plant, only for the button to roll off the plant into a carnivorous plant’s mouth in a pot held by Greenhoof. “HA HA HA HA! Congratulations, you reached the top for.” The stallion said before he noticed that the plant had grown without him watering it and noticed that the head was severed with the button held in the Makuta’s hands before his sword glowed with the large plant, much to the deceased professor’s surprise shrinking as the Professor dived, not to retake the button from the Makuta who had given it to Samuel, but to the small army of plants he grew while the group ascended to the top, “Just in time for.” He began as the flower reached the ground before the Makuta asserted his control over plants again by turning them against each other before unleashing a wave of shadow that cut them all down from his sword. “I just love derailing the plans of others.” Kratus said before destroying the pots with his fragmentation as the stallion grabbed a portable cannon ready to fire once the dust settled, only for a bolt of shadow to destroy it before the Makuta’s Shadow Hand grabbed the stallion who was unable to get free, “Time for you get what you deserve for all the pain you’ve caused during your life!” The Makuta declared, dropping the stallion while summoning plants that engulfed the stallion who couldn’t flee. “Please! Have mercy on this old stallion!” He said, as the enzymes hurt him. But like before with Pyrite, Kratus ignored it before he spoke. “Why should we when you showed none to the ponies, including your nieces that you fed to your plants?” Kratus asked rhetorically, “I’m sure they’ll be glad that you’re getting the karma that caught up with you, along with one other punishment, an eternity in Tartarus.” He added with the plants releasing the stallion whose form showed damage from the enzymes as the plants withered and died with the fillies capturing the ghost who disappeared inside Apple Bloom’s Poltergust. “Don’t say it.” Kratus said, noticing Apple Bloom opened her mouth to express her relief that it was over as Samuel returned the button.