The Great Stage
Floor four, the one with the stage. There wasn't much there, the hallway leading to the auditorium, the restrooms, and a concession stand, without forgetting the dressing room that had always been locked.
The door of the elevator opened, and the fillies came out of it, Poltergusts ready in case any ghosts were present or appeared. Like the rest of the hotel, the floor was more gloomy than last time they visited, with now the presence of those horrible 'statues' to greet them along with the displayed tuba and the portrait of the piano.
"I bet we will finally encounter the pianist," eventually said Sweetie Belle.
"It's a given. And we will certainly end up fighting him or her for the button to the next floor."
Apple Bloom shivered, remembering bad memories of her last encounter with a pianist ghost. If this pianist also took possession of the piano, she wasn't sure how they would be able to destroy it. Maybe she would have to call Twilight so she could destroy the piano like she did previously with her magic. But now that Sweetie Belle and Little Ghost were with her, maybe they would be able to do something by themselves. If they were fast enough, they could actually capture the pianist before they could possess the piano.
After, maybe the pianist won't try to possess the piano like Opal Note did. It's not because one ghost pianist took possession of a piano that all ghost pianists will do the same. Let's avoid... What was the word? Stereotypes. Yes, there seemed to have some stereotypes among ghosts. Pony ghosts were generally the small fry with a lot of diversity, minotaur ghosts were the big muscles small brains, diamond dogs loved to hide and throw objects, and so on, but those were the ghosts native of the Spiritual World, not the ghosts of real dead beings, and the pianist was certainly the ghost of somepony dead.
But just in case... "Girls, if the pianist takes possession of the piano, we must think of a way to destroy it without having Twilight smashing it with her magic."
«I did what?!»
Little Ghost laughed. "I remember! It was funny to watch! But it wasn't as cool as you using a chainsaw to cut the second one in half in our fight."
"Yeah, but Ah don't think there'll be a chainsaw this time. And with yer powers diminished, ya can't use them to throw it at the wall."
"Meh. We will find a way. You always find a way. I wasn't there to watch them, but you were able to face a giant spider made of millions of smaller one, a possessed giant tree, a haunted clockwork that could speed up your time to make you old, an elemental golem, and your sister turned Nightmare Moon-like turned monster. A piano is nothing compared to all those things. This pianist doesn't know it, but he's already doomed." She gave Apple bloom a noogie. "This filly is a smart one!"
"Stop that!" shouted Apple Bloom as she tried to stop the filly ghost.
"Hey! I am the smart one!" said Sweetie Belle, trying to pout.
"You're a different kind of smart. You are egghead smart. Apple Bloom is resourceful smart."
"Ah have to be to survive in this job."
As she said it, Apple Bloom began to advance down the hall only to stop when she saw a cymbal roll from the hallway before stopping. The three fillies looked at it in silence for a few seconds, Poltergusts pointed at the hallway where the cymbale came from.
"They really expect to scare us with a rolling cymbal?" wondered Sweetie Belle.
"Ya know ghosts. They love atmosphere," replied Apple Bloom.
Advancing in the hallway, they spotted at the end of it a Trickster flapping the carped up and down, creating waves that threatened to trip Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Despite their surprise at such a move, both of them were able to jump to avoid the first wave, and Little Ghost flew to the Trickster to capture him and stop him. Once the hallway was clear and waves stopped coming, they gathered in the hall in front of the double door to the auditorium. They could hear somepony play a piano through it.
"Eh. This one had a great idea, too bad for him that he's alone," said Apple Bloom with a chuckle.
"Yeah, I really expected an ambush."
Apple Bloom then tried to open the door, only to find that it was locked. "Darn."
"Okay. So, what do we explore first? The stallions' restroom? The mares' restroom?" She pointed at the doors at both sides of the hall they were in.
"Let's start with the mare restroom," answered Apple Bloom. They approached the door to the left, but they then saw that Sweetie Belle wasn't coming. They turned and saw her humming the song that played through the door. "Sweetie?"
Hearing her name, Sweetie stopped humming. "Uh?"
"We're going."
"Oh, sorry. I really love the song this pianist is playing. It's the Piano Sonata number 16 made by Piano Virtuoso! Whoever is playing, this pianist is very good!"
"Who?" asked her friends.
"A prodigy from a couple centuries ago. I'm sure you heard at least one of his pieces somewhere. Well, at least you, Apple Bloom. He made a lot of songs, many with piano and violin. Too bad he died young."
Apple Bloom listened to the song a bit. "Ah admit, it's good, but not mah style."
"Uh... Maybe I should find the partitions for Opal Note."
"Ah'm sure she'll love it," said Apple Bloom before she opened the door to the mares' restroom.
They found nothing in the restrooms excepted a Trickster sitting on a toilet of the stallions' restroom reading a newspaper. Apple Bloom will never understand why some ghosts sit on toilets when they don't even need to use them. This left them with the concession stand.
The entrance door was back in the hallway just beside the window of the stand. The stand was as they remembered: jars of candies on shelves, bottles on a stand, jars of licorice behind glass, and more candies popcorn here and there along with a sink and a cash register. There was also a safe beside the stand with the bottles. For some reason, more candies and some tickets were spread on the floor.
At first sight, no trace of the key to the auditorium, but it wasn't hard to guess that it was probably in the safe. Before they could go and open it, a dozen Little Trickster came out from behind the jars and bags while three... Drat, they forgot to give them a name. Three of the yellow ghosts appeared with the little ones, and there were also a few Little Bulkies that came.
The Little Bulkies charged at them first from different directions, arms spinning, while the yellow ghosts began to throw candies. The candies wouldn't be dangerous if they weren't thrown with such strenght that it would feel like they were hit by rocks. At least, the Little Bulkies could be captured without problems compared to the normal ones. No need to snuck up behind them, their bodies were just too small to be able to resist the Poltergust. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle went to deal with the yellow ghosts -Apple Bloom finally decided to name them Throwers- while Little Ghost easily covered them with the trail she took from the restaurant and now used as a shield. While covering them, Little Ghost captured the Little Tricksters.
Once the ghosts gone, Apple Bloom opened the safe and took the key in it as well as all the bits. Key in hoof, they returned to the hall and opened the double door to the auditorium, now hearing more clearly the song that was played by the pianist, another Piano Sonata of Piano Virtuoso, the eleventh, Sweetie recognized.
The auditorium was like any auditorium, with rows of chairs facing a stage, with some balconies on the level above with side doors leading to them. There were, however, many of those 'statues' beside the walls, making the room very gruesome.
On the stage, a piano was playing alone, and a certain mare was dancing to the song.
Sweetie Belle gasped and shouted "Rarity!" before she ran toward her dancing sister.
"Wait!" shouted Apple Bloom.
Understanding that there was no stopping Sweetie Belle, Little Ghost flew after her intending to protect her if... when something wrong happen. Apple Bloom ran after them. But then, as Sweetie Belle climbed the stairs to the stage, she and Little Ghost were thrown back by an invisible force, causing the skeleton filly to lose some bones that quickly return to her body.
The piano stoppped playing, and the ghost playing it revealed himself: an elegantly dressed purple unicorn stallion with a well combed mane of silver hair who looked at them with indifference.
Sweetie Belle gasped, again. "Piano Virtuoso!"
"What? That's him?" asked Apple Bloom.
Piano Virtuoso hummed, then turned to Rarity. "I'm very sorry, my dear, but it seems like we must stop this lovely dance. Go in the dressing room and wait for me to finish with those three little disruptors."
Rarity bowed to him, then walked to the dressing room. Once Rarity closed the door, Virtuoso levitated a key to it and locked the door, then put the key in a pocket of his suit. He then turned back to face the fillies.
"So. You three are finally there." He looked at Sweetie Belle with a raised eyebrow. "A fan?"
"Apparently," answered Apple Bloom, chuckling at Sweetie Belle stuck in her gasping state. "She revealed before coming there that she loves yer stuff."
Virtuoso looked at Sweetie Belle's bony flank, seeing her Cutie Mark. "Mmhmmh... A fellow pony who loves to practice the musical art. Which instrument do you play?"
Sweetie Belle recovered from her shock at his question and answered. "Uh... None. I sing."
The pianist smiled. "Yes. You do have a lovely voice."
Sweetie Belle squeaked at being appraised by Piano Virtuoso, and would blush if she could. "Th-thank you!"
Virtuoso sighed. "Maybe we could have formed a duo for some of my pieces." He shook his head, then faced his piano, readying himself. "I will make it quick."
"No! I will make it quick!" shouted Little Ghost before she charged at Virtuoso only to be thrown back by that same force than earlier.
"Do you really think I will let you approach me?" asked Virtuoso with a huff.
Little Ghost growled. "If I had all my powers..."
"How'll we approach him...?" wondered Apple Bloom thoughtfully.
«Piano Virtuoso was easy to anger when something didn't go as planned. Anger him, and I'm sure he will lower his defense,» advised Twilight.
«This reminds me of somepony,» said Applejack smugly. «Replace 'getting angry' by 'going crazy'.»
Spike laughed.
«Hardy har har...»
Before Apple Bloom could thanks Twilight, Piano Virtuoso began to play, and suddenly, all the chairs in the auditorium began to levitate and to move following the song. The fillies could barely react that some of the chairs were thrown at them, and they had to run to avoid them.
Some of the chairs thrown broke upon hitting the ground while others just sweeped it. For those last ones, Apple Bloom had the idea of trapping them with her Poltergust before slamming them either on the ground or on other chairs close enough. Her friends followed her exemple, and rapidly, all the chairs of the auditorium were destroyed.
Virtuoso stopped playing and looked at them, annoyed. "You fillies are not as easy to defeat as you look. Very well, you give me no choice. He clapped his hooves, then began to play again while Tricksters in tutu, a good dozen, came from the sides of the stage, dancing and approaching the fillies.
The Tricksters attacked them in coordination with dancing moves following the song, but despite the novelty of fighting perfectly coordinated dancing ghosts, they were still simple Trickster easy to deal with. The only thing dangerous was their number, but with the usual catching and slamming and with their teamwork, the fillies rapidly got them, each taking four ghosts.
The more ghosts were caught, the more Piano Virtuoso was visibly frustrated, and when the last ghost disappeared in Sweetie Belle's Poltergust, he stopped playing, heavily shaking.
"You just had to make it hard!" he shouted at the fillies.
"Here we go..." chuckled Apple Bloom.
"I planned for you to fall rapidly! But no! You had to resist! You little..."
"Hey! We're ghost hunters! How could you think that we would be easy victims?" asked Little Ghost smugly before she patted Apple Bloom. "Especially this one. Throwing chairs? Dancing ghosts? Please! It's almost insulting for her! Piano Virtuoso? More like Lame Virtuoso!"
"Uh... Little Ghost... You are going a little too far..." said Sweetie Belle worriedly.
"Not at all!"
Piano Virtuoso yelled in rage, mane unravelled into a mess, before he slammed his hooves on the keyboard of the piano, an aura looking like fire appearing around him. He then flew into the piano, the instrument gaining life as two glowing angry eyes appeared and as it started to play again.
"Uh oh..."
"Well, he's angry alright. You're welcome."
"Ugh! Ah wanted to avoid this!"
The piano jumped from the stage right at them.
"Dispersion!" yelled Apple Bloom.
The fillies ran or flew away just in time to avoid being crushed by the piano. As it dropped on the ground, the piano created a shockwave that forced Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to jump. The piano then charged after Apple Bloom, and she jumped on the keyboard, then jumped above the lid and bucked it mid-jump, slamming it closed, cracking it a little. Apple Bloom used the air bucking to propel herself and land behind the piano.
She then looked around, and her eyes locked on the petrified ponies still intact. Taking a big breath, she muttered "Sorry..." before she pointed at the statues. "Sweetie Belle! Little Ghost! Let's use these statues to destroy the piano!"
Her friends looked at the statues. "Are you sure?" asked Sweetie Belle hesitently. "You know that they're..."
"Ah know! But they're the only thing we can use to effectively damage the piano!"
Little Ghost nodded as she flew out of the way of the piano jumping at her. "They will be too heavy for only one of us. Two of us will be needed."
Some of the keys of the piano suddenly began to levitate and went after the fillies who dodged them. When the keys hit something (generally a wall), they returned to the piano, ready to be thrown again.
Apple Bloom then said "Me and Sweetie'll go for the statues!"
Little Ghost smirked. "Then I will bring the piano to the statues."
Little Ghost then approached the piano and slammed herself on the keyboard, giving the piano a smug look before she began to fly around it. The piano tried to to headbutt her, to slap her, to smash her, but the filly ghost was to fast. Little Ghost eventually sticked her tongue at it before flying away, the piano on her tail. She stopped beside a wall, waiting for it to approach, and at the last second, she flew up, the piano smashing where she had been. Just above, in the alcove with the statues, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, each grabbing a leg of a statue, lifted said statue and slammed it on the piano.
It was as effective as Apple Bloom thought it would be, the statue greatly damaging the piano, destroying the lid and cracking the rest. Somehow, the piano still worked, but one or two more hit and it should be destroyed. However, the statue was now in piece, so they had to use another.
So they repeated the process, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle moving to another statue while Little Ghost returned to taunt the piano. Despite it using its keys more often, forcing Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to hide, Little Ghost was able to lead it to them, and they slammed a second statue on it, damaging it more, almost making it reach the breaking point.
One last hit.
But Piano Virtuoso seemingly understood what they were doing, because he suddenly sent the keys to destroy all the remaining statues.
"Buck!" shouted Apple Bloom.
"Apple Bloom!" suddenly called Little Ghost. When Apple Bloom looked at her, Little Ghost was floating beside one of the candlesticks hooked to the walls, and the filly ghost teared it off. "Take that!" She threw the candlestick at Apple Bloom, and the earth pony filly caught it.
"Thanks!"
As Apple Bloom ran to the piano to attack it with the candlestick, Little Ghost took two more candlesticks for her and Sweetie Belle, and they joined their friend. The three of them surrounded the piano, hitting it from all sides with their candlesticks while constantly running and rolling (and flying in Little Ghost's case) to avoid its attacks.
Eventually, it was too much for the piano, and it collapsed, breaking in pieces.
Piano Virtuoso floated out of what remained in rage, only to find himself with three Poltergusts pointed at him. This calmed him, and understanding that he was defeated, he gave them a formal bow before he was captured, dropping the key to the dressing room and the button to the sixth floor.
As Apple Bloom took the key and the button, Applejack said «For one of those guys playing that boring music, he's epic.»
Sweetie Belle huffed. "You should listen more of that 'boring music', you will be surprised. Some of them would put to shame many rock bands. Piano Virtuoso was one of them."
«Noted.»
Sweetie Belle sighed. "I can't believe we just captured him... Let's... save Rarity."
As they climbed on the stage and approached the door to the dressing room, Apple Bloom said "Ah wonder who else we'll fight after this guy."
"After encountering Piano Virtuoso, I'm almost waiting to encounter the princesses' parents," said Sweetie Belle.
"This would be so weird..."
«If this happens, I can't imagine what would be Princess Celestia's reaction,» said Twilight. «But you are right. After Piano Virtuoso, you could encounter absolutely anypony. Even the likes of Commander Hurricane or Princess Platinium. Darn. If I had known, I would have brought sheets about historical personalities of Equestria.»
«Nopony could have seen it coming,» said Spike.
Finally reaching the door, as Apple bloom began to unlock it, they could hear someone playing a piano through. Exchanging looks, the fillies opened the door, and saw Rarity sitting on a stool while a Trickster played some love song on a piano (the kind that can play alone). Seeing them entering, the Trickster stopped and waved at them with a sheepish smile only to receive deadpan looks in return.
Sweetie Belle rapidly captured him while Apple Bloom used the Dehypnotist on Rarity. The mare struggled a few seconds before she came back to herself, confused. She was immediately hugged by her sister who shouted her name.
Rarity shook her head. "Uh...? What...?"
"Long story short, this hotel is super haunted, the owner is a ghost who works for Thanatos, she captured everypony excepted me, Applejack, Sweetie Belle, and Little Ghost, and we have to explore the whole hotel in search of the elevator buttons to save everypony and reach Eternal Rest," resumed Apple Bloom.
"And we just had to capture Piano Virtuoso himself to save you!" said Sweetie Belle.
Rarity looked at Sweetie Belle, seeing the Poltergust on her back and sighed. "If you weren't already dead, I would be really worried at the idea of you fighting dangerous ghosts." She then returned Sweetie's hug. "Thank you, my little hero. Wait a minute, Piano Virtuoso? THE Piano Virtuoso?"
Sweetie Belle nodded. "Yup! And he was really hard to fight! He was powerful so we couldn't approach him, but then he got angry and he possessed his piano and we had to destroy it to capture him!"
"Why would Piano Virtuoso fight you? He wasn't a bad stallion from what I was told."
Little Ghost answered her. "Eternal Rest threatens the ghosts under her orders to forcibly bound them to dolls for eternity if they don't do as she wants, so, many good ghosts are forced to do bad things because of her."
"We already saved Twilight and Spike, they're back in the caravan with Applejack," informed Apple Bloom. "Let's bring you there. Applejack's a Poltergust, and Twilight can use her magic, they'll protect ya and tell ya everything that happened while we continue to explore the hotel."
"Very well."
So the fillies began to escort Rarity back to the elevator. When they returned to the auditorium, Rarity was shocked by the state of the room.
"It must have been a very intense fight..."
"Ya've no idea."
"Are those bones?!"
"Uh... Yeah... Uh... Let's just say that we aren't the first to come to this hotel... and never come out."
"If you see pony-shaped statues... They aren't really statues."
Rarity gulped.
Then, the backwall of the stage suddenly rose, revealing a hidden orchestra mainly made of Tricksters, but with also a Buffy at the cymbales. As much instruments ready to be used as weapons.
As Rarity screamed, the fillies readied their Poltergusts, Apple Bloom shouting "Remain close to us, Rarity!"
Before attacking the Tricksters, they went after the Buffy first, not waiting for him to charge them. Apple Bloom remained beside Rarity to protect her from the Tricksters while Sweetie Belle and Little Ghost caught the Buffy and used his huge body to attack the other ghosts, weakening a lot of them. A lot of ghosts lost their instruments/weapons thanks to it, making it easier to fight them. With the Buffy gone, the fillies then just had to finish them. Many Tricksters still remained, a little less than half of them, but the resulting fight was barely harder than the one against the Tricksters dancers, the only main difficulty there being that they had to fight while protecting Rarity (who decided to use her magic to attack the ghosts, making her a harder target).
When the fight was over and all that remained were instruments, some brokens, spread on the ground, the group left the auditorium and traversed the hallway to return to the elevator.
"You really surprised me, Sweetie Belle. If you hadn't already your Cutie Mark, I would think that your special talent would be ghost hunting, like Apple Bloom," said Rarity.
"Thank you. I'm not as good as Apple Bloom, but I try my best."
Apple Bloom nodded. "She decided to join our ghost hunting team."
"She has some tricks that are unique to her thanks to her skeletal body. She's a really good addition to the team."
"Nice to hear," said Rarity.
"One of her tricks is to throw her head."
Rarity raised an eyebrow at this before looking at Sweetie Belle. "Seems like those hoofball trainings with father weren't for nothing."
Sweetie Belle laughed sheepishly.
"So they managed to capture that good for nothing Virtuoso," said mockingly the ghost of a very buffed stallion.
"Gahahaha! That feller put up a good fight with that there piano! Ah almost though he had it!" said another stallion wearing a cap and overalls.
"Did you really expect-"
"-that idiot with his boring music-"
"-to win?" said three mares who were triplets one after another.
"Aye! That weakling was just an appetizer!" said a stallion with a heavy pirate accent before he got out a cutlass. "I can't wait to cut their throats!"
"Ooga will smash weak fillies!" yelled a huge stallion.
"Ah! They would first have to pass my floor, and I will not let them!" said a rather high pitched voice belonging to a smaller ghost. "I'm Emperor Gorros! I'm undefeated! Everyone fears my name! Those fillies won't know what will hit them!" The smaller ghost then exited the room.
"Uhuhuhuhuh! This promises to be interresting," said a tall mare with a body almost fully covered in bandage, licking her lipses.
"You got it, sister!" shouted another mare with an afro. "This will be groovy! Those fillies are strong, but they have no chance against Gorros. But this will still be an epic fight! I can tell"
An old stallion huffed. "You put too much trust into that pipsqueak king."
"Come on!" said the mare with the afro. "That's Emperor Gorros! If you opened a historic book, then you know how much the guy means business! The fillies are doomed!"
"He's just a pipsqueak who plays the big bad emperor because his ego can't put up with his size! Not my fault if everyone back then was stupid enough to take him seriously!" replied the old stallion before he chuckled. "But don't worry. In the surprising eventuality that the fillies defeat him, well... my darlings are very hungry, and I couldn't refuse them fresh meat other than stupid rodents."
"You thing your weeds are scary? Wait until they get to MY floor!" cackled the stallion with the pirate accent. "If everyone gets scared at hearing Gorros' name, then everyone cries their mommy at hearing my name! Those fillies will know what is real terror! And then I will send them to feed the fishes!"
The bandaged mare chuckled. "That is if I don't burry them in the sands of my floor first."
"Ooga will smash weak fillies!" yelled again the huge stallion.
"Shut up you fossil-for-a-brain!" shouted the bandaged mare.
"Please, don't shout at our big teddy bear," pleaded one of the triplets as she and her sisters hugged the stallion who began to laugh stupidly at being hugged by three mares.
"Hey! I'm a big teddy bear too!" shouted the buffed stallion as he flexed his muscles.
All the while, Eternal Rest was sitting at her desk, petting her three-tailed ghost cat with a smirk, her finished yellow, pink haired doll sitting beside her, terrified. These ghosts were her elite, the best of the best that she could gather, all a threat in their own rights. But, while there was a possibility for one of them to succeed in stopping Apple Bloom, she was almost certain that the fillies will somehow manage to pass all of them and to reach them. Apple Bloom captured Bogmire, the Shadows, the Nines, without forgetting Pyrite. It would be really disappointing if she failed to reach her floor, especially now that she had two friends to help her.
"What about Director Cut?" then asked the mare wearing an afro.
The stallion in overalls, lying down in the air using his forelegs as support for his head, laughed. "Probably thinking about his next potential big cinematic hit. Like always."
The bandaged mare sighed. "I really don't know why we keep this stallion..."
"We have nothing better to take his place," said the buffed stallion with a shrug. "But knowing what the boss will do to him if he doesn't do his job, I'm sure we can count on him. And hey! With his movie thing, he's probably the one among us who knows the most ways to kill somepony. It will all depend of what kind of movie he will decide to do while killing them."
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10175790
I played the game, but yeah, they defeat god-level entities by crossing the streams, not capturing them. Actually, if Gozer as Stay Puft Marshmallow Man had fallen on the vehicle as the Ghostbusters first planned, would they have been captured, or would only their physical envelop have been captured? 🤔 Gozer was weakened, so I'm not sure if it would have worked or not.
10183079
Well right now I'm working on upgrading my proton pack with my infinity stone of power so it can take him down but I need to figure out how to direct the power maybe if I had the soul stone it would be easier but I don't.
10196297
Is it anything important?
10196401
The title of an anime, I think. So, no, excepted that I may have the reference, but I can't remember it.
10196430
Oh.
10189340
make the thing out of Uru and power it with an Arc reactor
Yeah, as soon as I read Sweetie Belle talking up a specific composer of the tune I immediately figured out it was the actual guy himself. Because what other possibility was there?