First Mansion: Gloomy Manor
Carefully, Applejack drove the Poltermobile to Smart Spirit's caravan in front of the portal of Gloomy Manor, the structure well deserving its name. It was smaller than the Gem Manor, but the atmosphere was easily as creepy. The dead trees and the dark sky played a big role in it, but the pitiful state of the manor, between the broken windows to the portal constantly opening and closing and squeaking because of the wind, passing by the front yard not at all tended, added a lot.
All the mares gulped.
"Ya're sure ya want to go in there alone, Bloom? Maybe Ah should come with ya... What if that wizard who took control of the ghosts was here?" Applejack asked as she stopped the Poltermobile beside the caravan.
Apple Bloom lowered her ears. "Ya're right, Applejack, but Ah don't know... There'll be a lot of ghosts in there, and Ah'm not sure Ah'll be able to protect ya. The prof could barely protect me when Ah started exploring the Gem Manor and he followed me."
"Then Ah'll just have to learn like ya learned."
"Then I'm coming too!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
Twilight shook her head. "No, Rainbow Dash. You too, Applejack. We will remain in the caravan. We will only impede Apple Bloom if we come with her. Don't worry, I have something in mind, so I can teleport to her if Apple Bloom is in danger. But first, let's all enter the caravan."
At this, the mares and filly all left the Poltermobile and entered the caravan. The inside of the caravan hadn't changed much. The machine to stock the ghosts captured was still here, but now, there was something else: a camera device beside a screen.
Twilight helped Smart Spirit create it not long after the Gem Manor incident, just in case Apple Bloom had to go explore another manor full of bad ghosts. They hadn't needed it until now. The camera device was on a pink headband that Apple Bloom took and put on her forehead. She then pressed a button on the camera while Twilight pressed one on the screen, and the screen now displayed what the camera was filming.
"Good. It works," said Twilight. "Now, we will be able to follow her and see if we have to intervene."
While Twilight said it, Apple Bloom took and put the same communication device that she used in the Gem Manor, putting an end in her ear and the other end before her mouth. Seeing this, Twilight took one too, and gave one to everypony else.
"Test. Test," Apple Bloom said once all the devices were activated.
Hearing her through the device in her ear, Twilight nodded. "It works."
"Eeyup," Applejack confirmed.
"I confirm," Rarity said.
"I read you loud and clear," Pinkie Pie said. "I always dreamed to say that!"
"Hey! I wanted to say that!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Anyway, yeah, I read you."
"Uh... It works too for me," Fluttershy said, the poor mare looking around for any ghosts suddenly coming out of the walls.
Fully prepared, Apple Bloom started to walk toward the exit of the caravan, but before she could leave, Applejack hugged her. "Good luck, Apple Bloom."
"Thank ya, Applejack. Don't worry, Ah'll be careful. But remember to remain on guard, too. Ghosts could come anytime."
"Don't worry about us!" shouted back Rainbow Dash as she got one of the Poltergusts they took with them from Apple Bloom's manor on her back. Pinkie got one too, taking poses with it. "We will manage!"
Apple Bloom smiled at them, then exited the caravan. Once out, she turned to the manor; the building looking very imposing to the little filly. But after the Gem Manor, this didn't deter her at all.
She opened the portal and entered the front yard, but she barely did a few steps before she suddenly heard the portal violently closing behind her. Looking back quickly at it, she saw nothing. The wind had stopped blowing right now, so it couldn't be it.
"They haven't lost time," she said.
«The ghosts already?» Rainbow Dash asked.
"Eeyup. They saw us coming," Apple Bloom answered before she looked around. "Ah'm surprised they aren't already attacking."
«They are probably waiting for the right moment,» Twilight said. «Don't lower your guard.»
"Of course."
Apple Bloom turned back to the entrance of the manor and walked to it. However, when she tried to open the double door, it remained closed.
"Darn. Locked." She looked around. "And no trace of the..." That's when she spotted a mouse holding a key in its maw. The mouse looked at her, then ran away. "Ya've got to be kidding me! Come back here! Give me that key!" yelled the filly as she started running after the mouse all around the front yard.
«Hum... Maybe if you ask nicely and stop chasing him, the mouse will give you the key?» Fluttershy proposed.
Hearing her, Apple Bloom stopped running and took a big breath. "Worth a try... Uh... Mister mouse, could ya give me that key please? Ah need it to enter the manor."
The mouse looked back at her, grabbed the key from its mouth, and stuck out its tongue at her before placing the key back and running away again.
"Welp, sorry, Fluttershy, the nice way didn't work. Sorry for what Ah'm about to do," said Apple Bloom as she took the handle of her Poltergust.
«Please. Even if he was rude, try to not hurt him.»
"I'll try to not hurt him too much," replied Apple Bloom before she activated the Poltergust. She then pointed the hole at the fleeing mouse, and the rodent was sucked into the pipe with the key. She then took off the Poltergust from her back, dropped it on the ground, and opened it. The mouse jumped out of it, but Apple Bloom was able to catch its tail in her mouth, leaving the mouse dangling. She then raised a hoof under it, the meaning clear: "Drop the key and I will let you go." The mouse complied and spat the key on her hoof.
So Apple Bloom released the mouse who quickly ran away, and she placed the Poltergust on her back again before returning to the entrance. "Ah hope not all mice'll be as annoying here," she then said.
«At least it was funny,» said Pinkie.
"Speak for yerself."
Placing the key in the keyhole, Apple Bloom was able to open the double door and to finally enter the manor. The entrance room was rather simple: three doors, one just in front of her, one to the left, and one to the right. At both sides of the front door were two armors, surrounded with many paintings, and at both sides of the entrance door were two vases. Some other furniture and a chandelier completed the room.
Apple Bloom looked at the armors in suspicion. Ghosts may be hiding in them, and they may use their swords to attack her. So she slowly approached them, ready to jump back as soon as they start moving. Once close enough, she bucked them, reducing them to piles of armor pieces. Assured that ghosts weren't ambushed in the armors, Apple Bloom turned to look at the three doors, wondering which one led to Smart Spirit's lab.
She should have looked through the windows outside to see what was in the rooms at the left and the right.
There was better luck for the front door to be the right one, probably leading deeper into the manor, but just in case, she decided to go check the two other doors, starting with the left one.
The door led to a very dusty garage with an old carriage, among other things like a chest.
Two green ghosts were here, one of them sitting in the carriage and looking at the other who was pulling at one of the wheels. Eventually, the second ghost was able to tear off the wheel from its place and showed it to the other. The first ghost then took it and threw it at a pile of objects on a table, knocking down the whole thing the same way that foals knock down piles of bottles in fairs to gain prizes. While the ghost threw the wheel, the other started pulling on another, only to spot Apple Bloom. The ghost then tapped the carriage to gain the attention of the other and pointed at the filly who readied her Poltergust.
The ghost then teared off the wheel he started to pull and threw it at Apple Bloom who lowered her head to avoid it. She then ran to the ghost who threw the wheel and activated her Poltergust. However, as the ghost started to drag her, the other ghost suddenly opened the door of the carriage on Apple Bloom's face, and the filly fell on her rear, rubbing her injured muzzle.
«Oh no! Are ya alright, Bloom?!» Applejack yelled.
"Don't worry, Ah had worse," answered Apple Bloom before she glared at the two laughing ghosts. They didn't laugh long as Apple Bloom started sucking up the one who opened the door, and this time, nothing stopped her from capturing him. The other ghost tried to punch her, but she easily avoided him and even slammed the ghost on him. Soon enough, the two ghosts were captured.
But then, she heard loud metallic stomps approaching her from the entrance of the room, and she quickly turned to spot the two armors from the entrance room, no longer piles of pieces, approaching her. More green ghosts could be seen in them, holding the swords in their mouth.
She quickly ran to the closest one, then jumped back to avoid the swing of his sword. She then quickly bucked him in the chest, forcing him to take a step back. She then took the occasion to jump on his back and face the other ghost, signing him to attack. The other ghost did so and swung his sword. Apple Bloom avoided it by jumping down from the back, and the second ghost accidentally beheaded the other. Well, he beheaded the armor, and the ghost in it started yelling at the other.
And so, Apple Bloom activated the Poltergust and forced the ghost out of the armor before she slammed him against the other, the force of the blow enough to turn the armor into a pile of pieces again, with the second ghost coming out of it a little disoriented. So Apple Bloom slammed the first ghost on him to keep him from recovering his senses, and before long, the two ghosts were captured.
«Yeah! You show them, Apple Bloom!» Pinkie Pie yelled.
«You defeated those ghosts like they were nothing despite their armors! It was so awesome!» Rainbow Dash said.
"Thanks," replied Apple Bloom before she started to throw some of the pieces of the armors through the windows, assuring that the ghosts would have a harder difficulty to reform them. "Ghosts in armor're nothing new for me."
Once done with the armors, she quickly checked the chest only to find nothing. She then left the room and decided this time to check the door at the right of the entrance, entering a mudroom with another door in front of her. No ghosts attacked her there, but through a window on her left, she spotted something moving. She quickly moved to watch through it and saw an outside area with a doghouse between two dead trees. Around said doghouse, a white ghost dog was playing with a key. After some more playing, the dog eventually threw the key in the branches of one of the trees. Instead of recuperating it, the dog lost interest in it and moved away.
"Now a dog..."
«He was so adorable,» Fluttershy said.
"He sure was, but something tells me that he'll be a thorn soon. Already, he's forcing me to fetch a key from a tree."
At this, she passed the second door to exit the manor and reach the doghouse. Here, she used the Poltergust to suck up the key from the tree, only for a ghost to suddenly jump out of the hole in the tree with a "Boo!" causing her to jump back in surprise. She quickly turned the Poltergust to him, but then, a second ghost came out of the doghouse and took the dropping key before flying away into the manor.
Cursing, Apple Bloom quickly captured the first ghost, then chased the other one all the way back to the entrance where he was waiting for her. Before she could activate the Poltergust, two other ghosts came out of the vases, one holding a crowbar while the other was holding a bat. Two more ghost came out of the garage, the two of them armed with the swords of the armors.
She turned to one of the swordghosts first and activated the Poltergust on him, also catching the ghost with the key in the vortex. She let the two of them drag her away of the other swordghost, avoiding him spinning around with the sword, then slammed them on the ghost with the crowbar, disarming him. As the two ghosts were captured, she quickly bucked the bat that the last ghost was swinging at her, knocking it out of his mouth, then activated the Poltergust on the second swordghost before using him to slam the others. One by one, the last three ghosts were captured, and she got the key.
«Ahah! Those ghosts are smart, but they aren't that tough!» Rainbow Dash said.
"True, but they can use weapons, so who knows what they'll use against me. And like ya said, they're smart, so they'll probably put a lot of traps and ambushes like they just did. Also, there'll probably be other, much stronger ghosts in this valley, and maybe even in this manor."
As she talked, she tested the last door she hadn't opened yet, and discovered that it was locked. So she used the key and opened it, entering a hallway with four armors, two at each sides. As soon as she entered, the armors turned toward her, revealing to have ghosts in them, each armed with a sword.
The worst part was that since it was a hallway, there wasn't much place to move around them. But then, she saw that they were walking on a carpet, and with the help of the Poltergust, she pulled it. All the armors crashed on the ground into piles, and the ghosts were exposed, disoriented. She then trapped the closest ghost in the vortex of the Poltergust and quickly slammed it on the second ghost. As the first one was captured, she quickly ran to the third one as he started reforming the armor, and trapped him before using him to slam the fourth one before he could also reform his armor. She then ran back to the second ghost and captured him before finishing with the fourth. Like before, she then threw some of the pieces of the armors through the windows to make sure that the ghosts won't be able to reform them easily.
Once done, she passed the door at the end of the hallway, and entered a two-story room. A door was directly at her right, beside the staircase leading to the second floor, and another door was a little further to the left, not far of a fountain. Behind the fountain was a wall full of gears with a crank.
Not knowing where to go, she tested the right door first, and entered a room with a toilet, a closet with hanging coats, a bathtub, and a sink. In the bathtub, two of the green ghosts were taking a bath, one of them scrubbing the back of the other. The two ghosts then spotted her and screamed, the ghost with the brush throwing it at her, and Apple Bloom used the door as a cover to protect herself. The two ghosts then came out of the bath to attack her, but she quickly dealt with them.
Seeing nothing of interest in this room, she returned to the previous one. This time, she went to the left door, entering another, L-shaped, hallway. Two doors were present on the wall in front of her. Taking the nearest to her first, she finally entered the lab.
Now, time to find out if the Prof left something for her. Anything. Who knew, maybe even the wizard who took control of the ghosts left something.
But before that, she had to deal with the ghosts in the lab, and there were a lot. Apple Bloom counted eight of them. Upon seeing her, they all took an object to attack, including books, to Twilight's dismay. One of them who took a broom even started to twirl it around like a professional in martial arts, only to hit the head of another ghost by accident, and the ghost punched him back.
She couldn't help but to giggle at this. Those ghosts were annoying, but they were funny, too. No wonder the Prof liked them.
Despite their number and their weapons, the now usual tactic of trapping and slamming worked very well to capture all of them rapidly without Apple Bloom getting hit once. Some of the ghosts started to throw objects at her when their number diminished, but she was able to use the various machines and other stuff in the room to cover herself. Three more ghosts came from the pivoting board, trying to take her by surprise, but the filly was faster and was able to trap and capture the three of them at the same time. A last one tried its luck from the fireplace but met the same fate.
The room cleaned, she started to look around for anything that could tell her where was the prof. After a few minutes passed looking at the many papers scattered around, she eventually found a map of the manor draw by Smart Spirit. And it even indicated the secret passages! Apparently, there was one in the fireplace to enter this room from the one above, and there was also a room under the stairs accessible from the two-story room, but she didn't remember seeing a door.
The ghosts probably made it disappear with their illusions. She may have to use the Dark-Light Device and see if there was something important in there. There was even a secret pocket between the lab and the room beside it, hidden behind the wallpaper. Speaking of, she did see that the wallpaper was partially torn off from the wall here. Another place to look at. On the second floor, another fireplace also acted as an alternate entrance to the room beside the lab.
This manor was smaller, but it certainly possessed more secrets than the Gem Manor.
Keeping the map, she then found beside it a message.
Find him in the cellar! Bwahahahaha!
This smells a trap... she immediately thought. But having nothing better, she looked back at the map to see how to go to the cellar. Apparently, the only way to go to the cellar was to take an elevator from the lobby on the second floor. But the door to it was hidden behind an aquarium in the foyer, so she will have to use the crank she saw here to move it.
Her objective clear, she returned to the foyer, only to find a buffed minotaur-like red ghost tearing off the crank and flying away with it into the hallway she came from. Three other red ghosts then pulled off three gears from the wall and flew away, one of them following the first one while the other two flew to the hallway on the second floor.
Apple Bloom looked at what remained of the mechanism in disbelief, then groaned before returning to the first floor hallway.
"Thanks Celestia the ghosts in the Gem Manor weren't that annoying."
«Well, they were just painted creations of Pyrite,» Twilight said. «Those are real ghosts with real brains. Yes, I know they don't have brains; you know what I mean.»
While Twilight talked, Apple Bloom had the bad surprise to see a green ghost locking the door to the lab with a key. When the ghost spotted her, he did an "Ah ahah ahah ah!" then flew through the door.
Apple Bloom had a not at all happy expression. She went to try the other door leading to the studio, only to discover that, while it wasn't locked, something was blocking it from the other side. So she entered the secret pocket to see if there was anything and did find a key at the end. There was also a hole in the right wall, and she could look through it to see what was blocking the door to the studio.
In the room, she could see a blue, lanky diamond dog-like ghost painting one of the red ghosts on a canvas, the red ghost flexing his muscles while taking a pose. Looking at the door, she could see that it was blocked by a pile of objects.
Groaning again, Apple Bloom exited the secret pocket and looked into the second part of the hallway. She could see only one door to her left, the map saying that it led to the library. But curiously, she could hear somepony play a piano in it.
This brought back some very bad memories. The door was locked anyway, and the key she possessed didn't open it.
According to the map, there was also a door at the end of the hallway leading to a patio, but no door in sight. Again, an illusion. So she used the Dark-Light Device to make it appear and entered the patio, a simple exterior area leading to the kitchen at her left, with some dead flowers, a large fountain, and the statue of some stallion, probably the ancient owner of the manor before it was abandoned and finished here. There was also a door to her right leading, according to the map, to the small room under the stairs of the foyer.
Some green ghosts took her by surprise by jumping out of the water of the fountain, but they didn't last long. The area cleared, she tried to enter the kitchen, but the door was also blocked by a pile of junks. Looking through the windows, she could see some of it, along with a green ghost chasing a blue ghost with a rolling pin, to the amusement of some other ghosts.
With the kitchen out of her reach, she took the door to the room under the stairs, finding another key as well as a green ghost jumping out of a chest. The ghost captured, she used the Dark-Light Device to make appear the door to the foyer, and passed it.
Now, she could probably return to the hallway to test her new key on the door to the library, but she decided instead to visit the second floor. However, as she climbed the stairs, they suddenly turned into a slope!
"Woah!"
She fell back to the bottom, and a blue ghost came out of it, laughing at her. The blue ghost then flew away, joined by three other blue ghosts, and they separated to the four corners of the room. They then entered the furniture.
Her left eye twitching, Apple Bloom got up and went after the nearest blue ghost hiding in a vase. As she approached him, the ghosts started to regularly come out of their hiding place to throw objects at her. Reaching for the vase, she bucked it, destroying it and revealing the ghost in it. Before he could fly away, she activated the Poltergust and captured him, making sure to avoid the objects thrown at her meanwhile.
One by one, the ghosts were captured the same way, until no one remained. With the stairs back to normal, she climbed them carefully. On the second level of the room, she passed in front of the aquarium behind which she could see the door to the lobby, then reached the door to the second floor hallway, just above the one to the first floor hallway.
Like in the first floor hallway, the second floor hallway possessed two doors in front of her, but wasn't L-shaped. Near the end of the hallway, she could also see a trapdoor with a cord leading to the rafters. She decided to test the door in front of her first and discovered that it was locked. So she used one of the keys she got and was able to open it, entering the parlor, a phonograph in it playing a spooky song.
One of the red ghosts who stole the gears was sitting on one of the chairs, listening calmly to the song. But then, he heard her entering and looked at her before getting up, ready to attack with his big arms. But Apple Bloom was used to fight muscled ghosts, so it wasn't hard for her to roll out of the way to avoid his punch before activating the Poltergust. While capturing him, he obviously dragged her around thanks to his strength, trying to ram her into objects or to force his way out of the vortex, but the filly managed to avoid every obstacle and to hold on until the ghost was captured, letting his gear fall.
Apple Bloom took the gear but...
"Uh... Twilight? Ah've nothing to keep it."
«I'm coming to take it,» the princess replied before she teleported in the room. Apple Bloom gave her the gear. "You are really impressive, Apple Bloom. I wish I could help more than that."
"It's okay. Thanks."
Twilight nodded and teleported back to the caravan with the gear.
Remembering the secret passage in the fireplace, Apple Bloom entered it and pulled down a lever hidden in it, opening a trapdoor under her. She fell to the fireplace of the lab, surprising the ghosts in it, including the green one with the key and the red one with the crank. Shaking her head to recover her senses after this fall, Apple Bloom quickly got up and trapped the red ghost in the vortex of the Poltergust before he could act.
The three green ghosts in the room then recovered from their shock and started attacking her, but thanks to the red ghost dragging her, she was able to avoid everything they did against her and even managed to slam the red ghost on the one with the key, making the both of them drop their objects. Once the red ghost was captured, the green ones didn't last long.
As Twilight appeared to take the crank, Apple Bloom used the key to open the door and exit the lab. She then returned to the foyer to return to the second floor, but as she climbed the stairs, they turned again into a slope!
"Seriously?!" She yelled once at the bottom, to the amusement of the blue ghost that caused it.
Like previously, the blue ghost went to hide in the furniture to throw objects at her, joined by two others. However, green ghosts also came armed with various weapons to distract her from the blue ones, which worked for a few seconds. So she went to get the blue ghosts first, finding them, trapping them, and slamming them on the green ones to stop them from chasing her.
Once the last ghost disappeared in the Poltergust, she ran up the stairs and returned to the second floor hallway to open the second door, using the other key she found before, and she entered the bedroom. Here, there was another door to her right leading to the study, but again, it was blocked, probably by another pile of junks. This meant that she had to use the bed on the wall. No ghosts attacked her there, so she didn't lose time, pulled on the rope to reveal the bed, went on it, then pressed a button on the wall beside it to make it return to the wall, taking her with it.
She didn't think that the bed would return so fast, resulting in her getting propelled to the wall of the study opposite to the bed. Groaning in pain, she briefly rubbed the hurting spot before getting up.
"Note to self, cling to the cover next ti-Woah!"
Seeing a red fist coming, she quickly lowered herself to avoid it and activated the Poltergust on the red ghost. He was quickly captured, and Apple Bloom took his gear. Looking around to see if there wasn't another ghost coming, she saw that the red ghost had been reading a book on a chair beside the fireplace.
Oh well.
Once Twilight took away the gear, Apple Bloom turned off the fireplace and entered it. Like in the parlor, she pulled down a lever and opened a trapdoor under her. The filly fell to the studio, interrupting the two ghosts from earlier in their artistic activity. Like in the lab. She quickly got up and trapped the red ghost before slamming him on the blue one before he could go hide. The two ghosts captured, she looked in curiosity at the artwork of the blue ghost and immediately started to laugh when she saw that he painted black mustaches on the red ghost.
Through the communication device, she could hear that she wasn't the only one laughing.
«Those ghosts are so funny! Too bad they're meanies,» said Pinkie.
«Remember, Pinkie, they are controlled,» Rarity said. «Once we take care of whoever controls them, they will be back to their friendly self.»
«Yipee! And I will do silly pranks with them!»
«Oh, Celestia please, no...» Applejack said, groaning.
Apple Bloom giggled again. "Anyway, Twilight, Ah've the last gear."
At this, Twilight appeared with the two other gears and the crank, as well as some tools. Taking the last gear, she spoke, "I will remain with you to repair the mechanism."
"Okay. Ah's wondering what Ah'd do. Thanks. Just remain close to me."
Twilight nodded before she used her magic to levitate the pile of junks out of the way, letting them open the door to the hallway. Back in the foyer, Twilight immediately started to repair the mechanism.
Two red ghosts then appeared, each armed with big, spiked clubs, while four blue ghosts appeared behind them and went to hide in the furniture.
"Uh... Twilight. Ah don't think Ah'll be able to protect ya against the objects those blue guys'll throw."
"I will just use a shield. You should focus on the red ones."
"Aye!" said Apple Bloom before she ran to the red ghosts. The two tried to smash their club on her, but she jumped to the side and trapped the two of them, getting herself dragged around by their combined strength. Two green ghosts appeared to save them, but she was being dragged too rapidly for them to successfully hit her. The two red ghosts eventually got the idea to separate, and Apple Bloom was forced to give up one to focus on the other. Once the red ghost was captured, she dislodged a blue ghost hidden in a nearby object and slammed him on the green ghosts chasing her before capturing all of them. She then saw that the second red ghost was approaching Twilight, and she quickly ran to trap and capture him.
Another red ghost then came out of the wall followed by two other green ghosts, but Apple Bloom immediately trapped the red one and used him to stun the green ones. One by one, the remaining ghosts in the room were captured, and they stopped coming, leaving Twilight to finish repairing the mechanism in peace.
"Thhhhere!" she shouted as she finished replacing a gear. "It should work. Let me test." She turned the crank, and sure enough, the aquarium was lowered behind the fountain, opening the way to the lobby.
"Good job, Twilight!" Apple Bloom shouted.
"Thank you. You were impressive too. Thank you for protecting me. I really didn't want to be knocked by those big red ones," she said with a shiver. "I will ready the girls. If the wizard is in the cellar, then we will have to be here."
"Okay," Apple Bloom said with a nod before Twilight teleported back to the caravan.
She climbed the stairs, thankfully not turning into a slope this time, and passed the door to the lobby. Here, she found the elevator, only to have bad news.
"The elevator's locked! Darn it!"
She could hear some of the girls sigh.
«This would have been too easy, uh?» Rainbow Dash asked.
«Too easy. Too easy. Ya saw all she had to face just to get that there aquarium lowered?» Applejack asked back.
«Right.»
Apple Bloom groaned. “Well, then... Off to find the key...” She looked back at the two doors in the lobby, one in front of her leading to the second level of the library (she could still hear the piano) and one to her left leading to a balcony. Thankfully, there wasn't much left to explore.
The door to the library was locked, so she went to the door to the balcony. Which was above the patio where there was another door leading to the dining room, only to discover that it was blocked by a pile of junks too. The ghosts inside the room, seeing her trying to enter, raised their glasses at her before drinking, the wine in the glasses passing through them and going on the chairs.
«Such a waste of good wine!» Rarity huffed.
«What will you do now? I could teleport to get rid of what's blocking the door,» Twilight proposed.
Apple Bloom shook her head. "No, Twilight. Ya'd be at the mercy of the ghosts. There're still the rafters to explore."
So she returned to the hallway and used the Poltergust to reach the cord and pull it down, opening the trapdoor and deploying a ladder. She climbed it, only to face two new armors, a big one armed with a spear and another armed with an axe.
And no carpet to make them crash. No choice, she had to do it the old way. She went between the two armors and jumped above the swung axe. She then jumped away to avoid the spear, the weapon impaling instead the other armor. As the spear armor tried to pull its weapon out. Apple Bloom ran behind the axe armor and bucked it on the rear, making it crash against the other. They both crumbled in a pile, and the two green ghosts who used them came out dazed. The filly quickly captured them.
With the place clear, Apple Bloom started to look, seeing that she was just on a platform in a corner of the room surrounded in two sides by holes, with just a small, narrow path leading to a key in the opposite corner. She could see that the path passed just above the library, and she could see the piano seemingly playing alone. But she didn't dare jump because of the height.
Slowly, she walked on the narrow path, looking where she placed her hooves. However, halfway, a red ghost appeared and started attacking her. She couldn't even try to capture him in return, because she knew that he would be able to drag her out of the path and make her fall. So she had no choice but to avoid his attacks while advancing until reaching the platform with the key. It was only here that Apple Bloom trapped the red ghost, and she pressed her hooves against a box to make sure that he wouldn't be able to drag her into a hole.
Once the ghost was captured, she took the key and carefully returned to the entrance of the room. Exiting it, she returned to the lobby and used the key on the door to the library, opening it.
The second level of the library was mainly a loft going all around the room from the left wall to the right wall passing by the back wall. The left and right walls were full of shelves with books, and looking down through the barrier supposed to stop ponies from falling, Apple Bloom could see stacks upon stacks of books around the piano that still played alone. There was also a fireplace beside it, but she knew that it hadn't a secret passage this time.
It was still too high for her to risk a jump, so she continued her way until reaching the right side where there was a door to the dining room.
In the dining room, the ghosts were still here fooling around with the food, but they quickly spotted her and started to fool with the food in another way: by throwing it at her.
Along with the silverware, including knifes.
Apple Bloom quickly went under the table to avoid the projectiles, and the ghosts followed her. So the fight mostly happened under the table where Apple Bloom had to be careful to not hit her head, which still happened two times.
Once the room was empty of ghosts, she destroyed the pile of junks blocking the door to the balcony, then wondered what to do from here. That's where she saw a dumbwaiter. Getting an idea, she jumped in it and pressed the button on the wall beside it to make it go down.
And so, she entered the kitchen with all the ghosts she saw earlier: five greens and two blues. Upon spotting her, the green ghosts immediately took everything they could get their hooves on, from rolling pins to knives to frying pans, while the blue ones went to hide in the fridge and in a drawer.
One minute later, they were all in the Poltergust. Apple Bloom almost missed the painting ghosts. At least, they presented some challenge and were diversified. Well, those ghosts weren't as diversified, but they clearly made up with their intelligence, leading them to pick up weapons and to use different tactics to get her.
She destroyed the pile of junks blocking the door to the patio, then passed the door to the first level of the library. Slowly, she advanced while looking at the piano still playing. Then, little by little, an orange earth pony-like ghost taller than the others with a very big head (a brain even visible in it) appeared on the chair of the piano, revealing to be the one playing it. He looked smugly at Apple Bloom as he stopped using his hooves to play, and yet, the piano continued to play as he floated away, front hooves crossed. Books then started levitating around him.
Two other ghosts like him then appeared, causing more books to float around while they laughed, looking down at her like unicorn nobles looked at peasant earth ponies. Then, as they started to throw the books at Apple Bloom, they turned invisible.
«Stop using books as weapons!» Twilight yelled, almost deafening the filly.
"Ugh... Twilight, not now, please..." Apple Bloom said as she activated the Dark-Light Device. Not only the device could reveal illusions, but it could also reveal invisible ghosts, and even reveal traces of ghosts, like when they traversed walls.
So, while running around avoiding the books, she used the Dark-Light Device to reveal the ghosts. When she discovered one, she immediately activated the Poltergust on him. The ghost was clearly surprised to be caught, but quickly got over the shock and started to fly around to escape, still throwing books at her with his telekinesis power. She stopped him by slamming him around, successfully hitting one of the two other orange ghosts this way. She continued to slam the ghost on him, so he couldn't recover until the ghost was captured.
The third ghost clearly didn't like seeing any of them getting captured and seeing the other being beaten, because he doubled the amount of books thrown at her, successfully hitting her as she started sucking up the second ghost. Despite the hit, she didn't release her hold on the ghost and used him to move around and avoid the books. When the second ghost was captured, she got hit again, but she quickly recovered and started to run around while looking with the Dark-Light Device. When she finally found the last ghost, she activated the Poltergust and captured him without too much problems despite the books. The piano stopped playing.
Two keys dropped from the ceiling, probably kept levitated here by the ghosts. One opened the door connecting the library to the hallway. The other was the one for the elevator to the cellar. Finally.
"Ah got the key to the elevator."
«We saw. Thank you for showing those ghosts to not mess with books,» Twilight said.
«What Twilight wanted to say was "good job, Apple Bloom, it's almost the end,"» Rarity said.
«"And you got them good despite their freaky power and all mighty expression,"» added Rainbow Dash.
«Wait for us at the elevator. We're coming,» Applejack then said.
"Uh no. Ah'll wait for ya'll at the entrance to escort ya. Ghosts may attack ya between the entrance and the lobby. What if they were able to reform those armors?"
«Then I'll bring my cannon!» Pinkie shouted.
«No need to wait for us at the entrance. I will teleport all of us directly beside the elevator,» said Twilight.
"Ah, yeah."
«Ugh... Ah hate when ya teleport us,» said Applejack. «It makes me feel like Ah ate a rotten apple.»
«Or like when we drink too much at one of Pinkie's parties,» Rainbow said.
«You will get used to it,» Twilight then said.
Stopping listening to the mares, Apple Bloom made her way back to the lobby, only for the stairs to turn into a slope AGAIN! After dealing with the ambushing ghosts (three blues, two greens, and one red), she continued. However, just as she was about to pass the door to the lobby, she walked on a puddle of purple slime-like stuff without knowing, and the next instant, she was inside a purple hippogriff-like slime ghost trying to suffocate her. She was able to struggle enough to free herself and to separate the ghost into three smaller versions of himself that were quickly captured.
"Now there're ghosts like that... Ah'll have to watch where Ah walk."
After this, she entered the lobby, and she was soon joined by Applejack and the others teleporting here thanks to Twilight. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie had a Poltergust on their back, and most of them had now their face looking green. After some minutes passed recuperating from the sickness, the six mares were ready, and they went to the elevator. However, they discovered that the elevator was just big enough for one of them to enter with Apple Bloom.
Huffing, Twilight spoke, "I will go with her to the cellar, then return to you and teleport us here," making the ponies groan again.
"And why don't you teleport us directly to the cellar?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I can only teleport to places I know how they look and where they are, or else, I take the risk to teleport inside a wall, or in the earth. I already told you that, like, five times."
"Right, right."
"Hum... Could we not simply take the elevator one after another? If you don't mind me asking," asked Fluttershy, the mare making sure to be in the middle of the group.
"And take the risk of leaving one of you isolated at the mercy of the ghosts? No. Also, something may happen as soon as Apple Bloom reaches the cellar, so we need to be here and ready as soon as possible," answered Twilight. "So, please, try to not be sick after I teleport you."
"Easier said than done," Applejack said.
With their plan made, Apple Bloom and Twilight entered the elevator and activated it to go down to the cellar. However, barely the elevator started, it suddenly stopped.
"What now..." Apple Bloom said.
Twilight pressed repeatedly the button to try to restart the elevator, to no avail. "Darn it. It must be broken or stuck. It's an old elevator, after all. Or it's the gh-"
Before she could continue, the elevator suddenly shook, and the next instant, it started to fall, with the two ponies screaming. Thankfully, the fall wasn't long, so it was more fear than harm. But now, the elevator was unusable.
"Well, at least, I can teleport us out," the alicorn said once they recovered. Seeing that they were now on a wooden platform with some stairs leading to the cellar proper, and that no ghosts or wizard suddenly appeared to attack them, she then said, "Wait for me. I'm bringing the others," before teleporting.
She quickly came back with the five other mares, again getting some of them sick. Once they recovered, they went down the stairs, seeing that the cellar was a big, long room with some barrels and armor thankfully not moving.
And suspended to the ceiling, trapped in a shadowy cocoon, was Smart Spirit, unconscious.
"Professor!" yelled Apple Bloom in both relief and worry at seeing him.
"Here you are," they heard suddenly. Then, the familiar ghost of a yellow bearded stallion appeared beside the prof. "You made me wait. Seems like I underestimated the ghosts of the valley if they were able to slow you down that much."
"Pyrite! Ah should've known you'd something in it!" Apple Bloom yelled. Then she put a hoof under her chin, thinking. "But it can't be only ya. Ya don't have the power to control ghosts."
"Mph. Clever girl. You are right, I now have a very powerful ally who is helping me get my revenge. But don't expect to encounter him. You will die before that. If not from me, then from one of those guys," explained the ghost before he pointed down at something back on the ground.
Looking down, the ponies saw some weird ghost looking like Bogmire, but with a spider-like head and two spider-like legs instead of arms.
"Eeeek!!! What is that?!!" Rarity asked with a yell.
"I present to you Death Widow. My ally created it and his brothers just for you." He then chuckled. "Have fun." And then he disappeared.
Death Widow screeched, and the next instant, coming out of the holes in the walls, millions of spiders appeared and started to climb it. Before the ponies' horrified eyes, the spiders eventually formed a giant spider with a head looking like the fusion between a pony skull and a spider head, eight big holes forming the eyes.
"This is absolutely disgusting!" Rarity yelled.
"Spiders? Ah! No prob-"
A sudden invisible force interrupted Rainbow Dash, expelling the six mares to the wall behind them. A prison made of bones then appeared around them, trapping them. Shadow-like rings also appeared on Twilight and Rarity's horn, blocking their magic.
"Now, now. This is Apple Bloom's fight, and I don't want any interlopers. So just remain here and enjoy the show. I was already nice enough to let you help in the manor," suddenly said an unknown voice before it cackled.
"Who is it?! Show yourself!" Twilight yelled.
"Oh, I will show myself, but not now. Much too soon. Now, may the fight START!" shouted the voice before it slowly faded with another cackle as the giant agglomeration of spiders started attacking Apple Bloom with its legs.
"Twilight, ya can get us out of here, right?" Applejack asked. "Don't tell me he's able to block yer magic."
Twilight bit her lips. "He is... I can't use my magic anymore... Whoever he is, he's powerful enough to be able to block my magic."
"What?! But you're an alicorn!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"Exactly... And you know what this means?" asked Twilight.
"Whoever is this meany pant is more powerful than an alicorn," said Pinkie Pie. "Wow. He must be as powerful as Discord. Maybe he's Discord's evil twin brother? Or the super powerful evil emperor of the dead. Or a really, really, really powerful necromancer. Or-"
"Please, Pinkie. We understood," Rarity said.
"So, we can't do anything?" Applejack asked.
Twilight shook her head. "No, we can't."
At this, the mares all looked back at Apple Bloom still facing Death Widow. The giant spider constantly tried to impale the filly with its legs, or to bite her with its teeth, or even to headbutt her, but the filly was always able to dodge its attempts at killing her. More than once, the attacks caused spiders to fall on her, and more spiders also climbed her from her legs, but her constant rolls always made them fall from her, if not crushing them.
As soon as the giant spider started attacking, Apple Bloom activated the Poltergust and started sucking up the spiders. Before long, the machine was full of them to the point that their remains started to come out by the vent, but she continued eating the giant spider little by little. Eventually, she sucked up enough spiders to reach its core: Death Widow itself. The vortex immediately trapped it, and the giant spider crumbled back into the millions of spiders that hadn't been sucked up. They quickly spread all around and went after Apple Bloom to climb her as she was dragged around by the Shadow. If she didn't watch out, her body would disappear under thousands of spiders, and only bones would remain of her.
So as she was dragged by Death Widow, she made sure to force him to drag her away of the spiders, and she rolled to get rid of the ones who were able to climb her. Once far enough, she slammed the Shadow on the spiders following her, crushing a lot of them.
Death Widow then was able to free itself from the vortex, turned into a shadow, and got away from Apple Bloom. It screeched again, calling for more spiders to reconstruct its giant spider body. It was even bigger than before, meaning that it would take more time for Apple Bloom to suck up the spiders until reaching Death Widow.
The giant spider also started spitting silk at her, trying to trap her in a cocoon, or at least to slow her enough that she wouldn't be able to avoid its attacks in time. So Apple Bloom ran to one of the armors and took a sword in her mouth.
When she was too slowed down by the silk sticking on the ground to dodge in time, she used the sword to cut the giant spider's legs about to impale her, then used her Poltergust to suck up the spiders that formed said legs. When the spider tried to bite her, she was able to cut the head, leaving the spider open for her to suck it up to the core, the cut parts taking time to reform.
Again, she reached Death Widow and trapped it in the Poltergust's vortex until it escaped.
Another screech, another wave of millions of spiders coming from the holes to reform the giant spider. Only, again, it was bigger, and it had now the torso of a pony skeleton, but instead of skeletal forehooves, it had scythe-like appendages. So she now had to deal with those appendages in addition to the rest. Also, because of the torso, the spider had more range to bite or headbutt her.
The sword was again very useful, but this time, because of spiders constantly coming out of the walls, whatever was cut was very quickly regrown, so Apple Bloom had to work quick to suck up the spider to the core. For this, she tried to remain on the spider's side, where she would only have to avoid the silk spit by it, but the spider was very quick to turn. So she decided to get practically under it, almost placing the end of the Poltergust against its body. Here, the spider couldn't reach her at all except with its scythes, but they didn't work well here, so it tried to let itself fall on her. But again, Apple Bloom was only practically under it, not under it, so she had no problem avoiding this. As much as the spider moved to get away, Apple Bloom always moved in response to remain more or less under it, and before long, she reached Death Widow.
This time, the Shadow didn't escape and was captured. Immediately, the spiders ran away back into the walls. The cage of bones around the mares and the rings around Twilight and Rarity's horn disappeared, as well as the cocoon of shadow trapping Smart Spirit. The old stallion fell along with a key, for some reason.
Apple Bloom rapidly ran to him screaming his name and shook him to try to wake him up.
But the stallion wasn't moving. Actually... he wasn't even breathing...
Thanatos was howling in laughter, almost falling from his throne made of bones. "Perfect! Just perfect!" He turned to the ghost of a certain stallion at his left. "What did you think, Smart Spirit? Wasn't it funny? Her expression? What? Oh, don't give me that look. It was never precised if she would save you dead or alive. I prefer dead. Especially when it makes such funny moments." He looked back at the portal showing him Apple Bloom. "Now... what should I do..." The portal focused on the six mares behind the filly, and he smirked. Three other portals opened, the first one showing Apple Bloom's family, the second one showing Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, and the last one showing the Gem Family. His smirk became wider. "So many choices... So many possibilities... I wonder how long our little games will last before you break."
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Are you going to do a crossover story starring Scootaloo and/or all three Cutie Mark Crusaders at once?
10082102
I don't know yet. In the sequel to A Sweetie Dreamland, Sweetie Belle may briefly visit the universes of my other stories, but an actual story staring the three crusaders of my three stories together? I don't know.
I noticed you skipped the Sticky Situation Mission. Great story so far, by the way!
You forgot an 'e' in green, replace the 'r' with an 'l', and replace the 'c' with a 'z' in prices.
Other than those small errors, this was a great chapter. Looking forward to reading more!
10082400
Thank you, corrected.
Yeah, some missions will be skipped. Like, here, I skipped the mission to recuperate the Poltergast and Strobulb, the one to recuperate the Dark-Light Device, and the one with the webs. In other manors, the 'save the toad' missions will be skipped too.
I know you meant to say Poltergust, but I'm curious. For some reason, the name Ectoblast gets my attention, but I don't know why.
Couldn't she store it in her Poltergust?
What... The... HAY!!!
If I had the chance to, I would kill Thanatos right where he stood...
10084867
Oops.
Ectoblast is the French name of the Poltergust. A little relapse, corrected.
Not enough place. Those were some big gears.
Thanatos: "Ahahahah! You can't kill what is already dead."
More seriously, yeah. This is Thanatos. No care at all for the livings. If it is for his entertainment, he's ready to play with them like dolls until they break and are good to throw. And right now, his little doll is Apple Bloom.
The main villain of this saga, everyone. Be ready. The death tag isn't here for nothing.
10084881
Then I'll settle for the next best thing: Bring him back to life. And then I can kill him! But if it's impossible to bring him back to life, then I'll give him a fate worse than death... I'll prank him and annoy him until he goes crazy!
Marx was able to do it repeatedly to Dark Meta Knight in A Sweetie Dreamland, so why wouldn't it work on the embodiment of death?
10085356
Then he will just kill you and take control of your ghost.
10085359
*considers asking if Ultra Instinct-level dodging would help, but thinks twice* You've stumped me with that, but what if Kirby encountered Thanatos?
10085541
This is a hard question. Thanatos can kill anything with just one touch, and since he's a ghost, he's invincible to any physical attacks. But I'm sure that Kirby would be able to do something, like, suck him. Or maybe by using the Ghost Ability? I'm sure that Kirby, as a ghost, would be able to resist his control, but I'm not sure how he would be able to attack him. Thanatos remains powerful.
10085548
Kirby's killed Necrodeus, who is essentially the Pop Star universe's version of the embodiment of death. He's defeated a dark god twice and befriended it the third time. Star Dream itself has said that Kirby has nearly infinite power. And Kirby is the embodiment of all things positive, so he shouldn't easily be mind-controlled to be bad, even as a ghost. If you ask me, this information alone should be enough to make Thanatos at least raise an eyebrow.
10085611
True true. After, Necrodeus was more a lich-like being than a real ghost, and ghosts in the Kirby-verse seem to all be tangible, so it's hard to say if Kirby could attack a real, untangible ghost.
Thanatos? You want to know why you still exist? It's because I already know that you'll get your comeuppance. In every reality where that isn't true, you're about to have a bad time. Don't tell me that I'm not powerful to follow through with that threat. It should have been obvious that I don't need to be, because I am merely a herald.
I love this "scene" in that you aren't even pretending that a single basic enemy is a threat. Just skip right over the struggle that technically happened.
10294487
Welcome to the club of "Everyone hates Thanatos!"
Yeah.
The poor guy was all "Boo! Ah! Got you! AAAAH! I'm being sucked! Help! *poof*" It was over in five seconds.
just seems right