Castle Gorros
Back in the caravan, Rarity received a group hug from the ponies and dragon already present, grad to see her alive. While they hugged, the fillies went to put all the captured ghosts into the prison crystals (in the green and yellow ones. They hadn't encountered yet a ghost that deserved to go in the red one).
Once they were done, they rested a few minutes, Polterpup joning them as they related what happened since Rarity and the others were captured. Eventually, they exited the caravan to continue their quest.
"I'm curious to see what is awaiting us in the sixth floor," said Sweetie Belle.
"Yeah. Sixth floor and beyond are uncharted territory for us," said Little Ghost.
"We'll discover soon enough," said Apple Bloom.
They reached the elevator, took it, waited until the doors opened in great anticipation, and exited it only for Apple Bloom to be almost beheaded by a falling axe.
"Eep!"
«Woah! That was close!» said Spike.
«Are ya alright, Apple Bloom?» asked Applejack.
"Y-yeah yeah! Ah'm alright!" answered Apple Bloom as she exited the elevator, letting Little Ghost go first this time, just in case. Her jaw, like the one of all the others, dropped when she saw the elevator hall.
It was made of stone in a style very similar to the old castle in the Everfree Forest. There were two armors guarding the entrance of the elevator, banners, a fireplace with weapons on the wall above it, a brazier on the wall beside the exit, and even the arrow of the elevator looked like a sword.
«A floor themed after the old style castles?» wondered Twilight. «That's... special.»
"But if this is themed after a castle... then does this means there'll be a prince or a princess?" asked Apple Bloom.
«If it's Princess Platinum...» started Twilight.
«I only see her,» said Rarity. «Or Chancelor Puddinghead or Commander Hurricane. If I remember correctly, Apple Bloom captured all the others last year on the roof of the Gem Manor.»
«Not all, there were rullers before Princess Rose,» informed Twilight.
While Twilight began listing the names of rullers that preceded Rose, Apple Bloom eyed the two armors. "Twilight. Ah don't think the ghost guarding this floor will be a pony. These armors're griffon armors."
«Uh? Oh! You are right! Well, this certainly widen the possibilities. Contrary to ponies, griffons have had a lot of kings in their history, from before the founding of Equestria to today.»
Apple Bloom nodded with a "Mmhmm," then used the Poltergust to smash one of the armors into the other.
"What are you doing?" asked Sweetie Belle.
Apple Bloom kicked the pieces of armor, spreading them everywhere in the room and even sending some of them into the fireplace before she answered. "Ensuring that no ghosts will use those armors to attack us."
"They really got you paranoid," laughed Little Ghost.
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, but still laughed. "Eeyup."
«So, a castle floor with maybe a ghost griffon king was just above our heads? Well, darn...» commented Applejack.
«This certainly explains why they didn't want us to go above the fifth floor. It would have been hard to explain that, and who knows what kind of other crazyness there must be in the floors above,» said Spike.
«Yeah, after that castle floor, we can start bets on what will be next,» said Applejack.
The fillies finally exited the elevator hall, and were awed at the 'room' they were now in. It was a room that represented the entrance of a real castle: on their left was a fence with a gate and two small towers (with two griffon statues on them...), and behind the gate was a wooden bridge above a moat leading to the actual entrance door of the castle. And the wall of the door really looked like the front wall of a castle, with windows and all! However, the castle thing was kinda ruined by the presence of a stand of popcorns at the other side of the room, with a chest full of bits at the other side!
«Oh my...» said Rarity on the verge of fainting.
"Ah know, Rarity, Ah know, that's a lot of bit," said Apple Bloom as she emptied the chest.
"And this isn't even the first one," informed Little Ghost. "There was even a chest under the bathroom of your room."
«WHAT?!»
Sweetie Belle tried to make noises with her throat to gain attention, only to be remembered that she didn't have a throat to clear to make the noise, so she made it as if. "Ahem! Little Ghost, I think we will need your help to pass the gate," said Sweetie Belle as she pointed at the rope at the other side of the fence.
"Oh, yeah, give me a second."
Passing the gate, Little Ghost pulled the rope (with a little help from Sweetie Belle's magic), raising the gate and letting the two other fillies pass. Releasing the rope, letting the gate drop, she then joined her friends to pass the double door to the castle.
They then entered a hall with four arches, two at both sides of it and each containing another armor, but those ones were different from the ones back in the elevator room. They were much bigger, reaching the size of Celestia, entirely black, and could entirely cover the user's body, not letting any skin or fur or whatever for the others to see. Whoever was their owner, certainly the king of the castle judging by the crowns on the helmets, was also very muscular, because the armors were wide, and were each equiped with a black shield with a golden griffon skull on it.
"Woah... That's some big armors..." said Apple Bloom.
«Oh buck... Oh buck buck buck... That's his armor... That's bad... That's so bucking bad...» said Twilight with clear horror in her voice.
«Please, darling, calm down,» tried to calm Rarity.
"Okay, Twilight, who are we up against?" asked Apple Bloom.
«Emperor Gorros, said the Giant, also called the Black Knight.»
«Oh... Crud...» said Spike.
«Everypony here knows about the great Griffon Empire, right?»
«Yes I do.»
«Eeyup.»
"We learned some of it in school," said Sweetie Belle.
"Yeah, I was told by Aunt Crystal Ball that it was a big pain in the butt of Equestria back then," said Little Ghost. "I was... disappointed to learn that all that remained was a city. How the mighty has fallen."
«Well, Gorros is none other than the one who created the empire, conquering many lands on the blood of countless creatures, stealing their wealth... From the moment he got on the throne to the day of his death, thirty six years in total, he terrorized all the populations of not only what is now Equestria, but also of the other kingdoms in the East, and he was never defeated. Never. We don't know what was his real appearance, the griffons kept it hidden when he died. We only know him by this black armor he was wearing in all his battles. His presence alone was generaly enough to cause whole armies to run.»
Apple Bloom gulped. "How did he die?"
«Sickness. At the time, medical knowledge wasn't as advanced as today, so griffons, like ponies and most other creatures, had a rather low life expectancy.»
"And Eternal Rest manages to force this guy to work for her?" asked Sweetie Belle. "How powerful must she be if she's able to force such a brute into her slave!"
Apple Bloom stared at the closest armor, then smirked. "Undefeated, until today. He may use a sword, spear, axe, or whatever, but we have two much better weapons: the Poltergusts, and teamwork!" She bucked one of the legs of the armor, making it crash on the ground. She then took its shield and showed it to Little Ghost. "There. This'll be much better than yer tray."
Smiling widely, Little Ghost threw the tray she used as a shield and took the one offered by Apple Bloom, only to drop it because of its weight. Even if Apple Bloom was holding it as if it was weighing nothing, the truth was that it was really heavy, worsened by the fact that Little Ghost was the ghost of a newborn filly, so she was much smaller, and less strong than her friends (especially Apple Bloom). With her weakened ghost powers, holding that shield the normal way was impossible. But after some thinking, she got an idea.
"Twilight?"
«Yes?»
"Is it possible for you to come here and shrink this shield?"
«Uh... Yes. I can.»
Not long after, the fillies left the hall, the four armors now in pieces, a treasure chest in a secret passage behind one of the armors emptied, and Little Ghost now equiped with the smaller shield (still big enough to protect most of her body). They then entered what was an absolutely HUGE room containing no less than a whole coliseum! They were actually on a balcony overlooking the arena, a stand of watermelons, tomatoes, and bread at their right, a door blocking the path leading to the arena beside it, and another door blocked by a metal gate at their left, with two armors guarding it. On the opposite side of the arena, they could see another balcony, this one with a roof and the golden griffon skull symbole on it. There was a huge throne on a small mountain of skulls of various species, but it was actually empty.
After a quick passage to the stand to empty the chest, the fillies went to the gate to the path only to discover that it was locked. So they then went to climb on the small stone wall stopping creatures from falling over the ledge, and they looked down at the arena.
Two Tricksters came beside a huge double door at the left of the arena and began to play trumpets, announcing the arrival of someone. Heavy steps then could be heard approaching the door, and the Tricksters quickly flew away before it was kicked open, and a big, deep laugh resonated menacingly. While this happened, countless ghosts, Tricksters, Buffies, Throwers, and also purple ones looking like Sneakers, appeared on the bleachers, cheering and applauding at the arriving figure.
Finally, the figure revealed itself from the doors: Emperor Gorros. The huge black knight waved at the cheering audience, laughing again, but more cheerfully this time.
"Who is ready for a blood bath?!" he shouted with his grave voice, and the cheering doubled as an answer, making him laugh even more. Gorros then turned his head toward the watching fillies, staring at them with his glowing red eyes, the only things that could be seen through his armor.
«Emperor Gorros... Seeing him in person...» said Twilight.
«He makes me shiver,» said Rarity.
"So!" suddenly shouted Gorros. "Here are my challengers! Three little fillies! Ooooh, I'm scared!"
The audience laughed or booed at the fillies.
Gorros then took a huge red sword and pointed it at the fillies. "If you think that you can defeat me-which is impossible, of course-then..." He pointed at the blocked door at the fillies' left, and the metal gate opened. "pass this door, survive the traps of my castle, and come to me. Your skulls will make nice trophies. MWAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!"
"Challenge accepted, Black Knight! Be ready to have yer first defeat!" yelled Apple Bloom, causing the audience to laugh again.. "Come, girls!"
Her friends nodded hesitantly, then followed her as she passed the newly unlocked door, entering an armory with two Tricksters fighting playfully with swords. They were quickly captured, but more Tricksters appeared andarmed themselves with the swords and spears in the room, and four of them took possession of the four armors present.
The fillies each managed to trap one of two ghosts, and began to slam them on the other ghosts around, Apple Bloom slamming her two ghosts on one of the armors to destroy it. Another armor readied itself to attack her, but was stopped by Sweetie's head hitting its helmet, leaving Apple Bloom to smash this one too. The third armor tried to cut Sweetie Belle in half with its axe, but Little Ghost parried the weapon with her shield, and Sweetie Belle, with Apple Bloom's help, caught the carpet on which the armor and the other remaining one were walking and pulled, making the armors crash. They promptly captured the Tricksters coming out of the armors and made sure that no ghosts would take possession of them again.
Once the room was cleaned, Apple Bloom remarked that some breaks on a part of the wall were suspiciously protruding, and she pressed them, causing the part of the wall to rise and revealing a small secret room with a treasure chest.
After emptying the chest, they left the room by the opposite door and entered a room that was just a stairway leading to the inferior level. On the middle level of the stairway was a treasure chest,but as the fillies approached it, Apple Bloom walked on a plate that caused a row of spikes to come out of the ground just in front of her.
"Woah!"
"Okay, leave it to me."
Little Ghost took Apple Bloom's bag, flew above the spikes and emptied the chest before they continued. A similar trap was on the lower level, blocking the path to the door, and Little Ghost had to pull a rope to make the spikes go down and let her friends cross. On the other side, a hall in the wall let them enter a secret room with another treasure chest.
The next room was a cellar with barrels full of tomatoes and bigger barrels lying on their side. Out of the tomato barrels came Tricksters equiped of shields, the ghosts using them as cover to protect themselves from the Poltergusts. Throwers also appeared and hid in some of the barrels to throw tomatoes at them. The Tricksters were easy to deal with using number: one of the fillies got their attention, and the others circled them to trap them from behind, and the one not busy capturing the Tricksters went for the Throwers.
Once the room was cleaned of ghosts, they discovered that the exit was locked, forcing them to search in the barrels for the key. It turned out that the key was inside one of the big barrels (Apple Bloom had to buck them to open them). The next room had nothing interresting excepted a baner of the Black Knight and another row of spikes blocking the way. There again, Little Ghost had to pull a rope, but the rope didn't cause the spikes to go down. Instead, it caused four chained metallic balls to drop from the ceiling.
after exchanging a quick look, the fillies went to pull the balls. The one that Apple Bloom pulled caused a helmet to drop on her head.
"Ouch! Darn it!"
Little Ghost got a bit and a sword falling on her.
"Lucky I'm already dead."
Sweetie Belle got a dozen bits, and nothing hurtful.
"Yay!"
finally, Apple Bloom pulled the last ball, causing a trapdoor to open right under her, dropping her in a level directly under the floor of the room.
"Are you alright Apple Bloom?!" asked Sweetie Belle from the trapdoor.
"Yeah, just my butt that hurts a li- Woah!"
"What? What's going on?"
"I'm coming!" shouted Little Ghost before she flew down to join Apple Bloom.
"False alarm. It's just a stupid dragon costume. Ah took it for a real one for a moment there."
Sweetie Belle mimed sighing in relief before she jumped to join her friends. Looking around, they saw that the only way to continue was blocked by a huge spider web, most of the room being blocked by the mecanism causing the spikes to rise in the room above. The dragon costume was in pieces here and there in the room, the head directly beside them, mouth open to reveal a pipe linked to some machine, probably to spit fire like a real dragon. There was also a torch.
Apple Bloom got an idea and took the torch. "Sweetie Belle, press the button of the machine, please."
"Oki."
Sweetie Belle did as instructed, and a stream of fire came out of the pipe inside the mouth of the dragon head. Apple Bloom put the torch on the way of the flames, lighting it. Once the fire stopped, she then went toward the web and put it on fire, opening the way. It let them reach a stack of bits and another metallic ball, this one revealing a ladder that led them back to the room above, at the other side of the spikes.
The next room was rather small with just a walkway, a banner, a crank, and a metal cage. Behind the banner was a safe with some bits and gems. Finally, turning the crank caused an elevator to move up to their level. They could use it to go to the lower level, but one of them had to remain behind to turn the crank again and make it go down.
"Welp. Here I go again."
"Maybe I should have remained a ghost," commented Sweetie Belle.
"Told you, ghosts rule. But you're alright as a skeleton. Now, go in the elevator so I can turn this crank and join you down here."
In the lower level, Sweetie Belle had to resist jumping on Apple bloom's back at the sight of a mouse. There were more cages, another crank for the elevator, a second crank to move down one of the cages, a pillory, a basin full of water, and a rope hanging from a bucket on a shelf. From the elevator, there was a door at the right, but it revealed to be closed. Apple Bloom ent to pull the rope, but eyed the bucket suspiciously. When she pulled it, she quickly moved away to avoid whatever would fall of the bucket, which revealed to be water.
Apple Bloom huffed, then continued to look with her friends to search the key to open the door. Finding nothing, they turned on their DLD and revealed in the wall opposite to the door a coffin.
"Oh, I hope there isn't a body in there," said Sweetie Belle. "And if there's one that it will not jump at us when we open it."
"The worst's that it may happen. Ah already fought mummies and animated squeletons, so zombies're very possible," said Apple Bloom. "Especially in that there hotel where bodies're everywhere."
Sweetie Belle wanted to gulp.
Thankfully, they found nothing inside the coffin, but the door suddenly closed on Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, locking them inside. The coffin then spinned, and released them inside a new room. Little Ghost quickly passed the wall to join them in panic. Seeing that they were alright, she calmed down.
"You scared me, girls."
"Sorry, we weren't expecting this coffin to close on us," replied Apple Bloom as she looked around at the new room.
It was a room with a waterwheel visible at the other side of a wall, a wooden platform with three hooded figures holding crossbows, a small staircase leading to a small pathway filled with water, a canal at the other side of the wooden platform, and a treasure chest at the end of the room. There was also a platform above the hooded figures, a rope hanging from it.
"Ah bet the key's in that chest."
"But I imagine that those figures will fire at us if we try to traverse."
"Not like arrows'll do anything to ya and Little Ghost."
"We should pull that rope. Maybe it'll cause something."
Apple Bloom nodded and did so, causing the platform above the figures to weaken. She spotted another rope on the platform and pointed at it.
"Little Ghost."
"On it!"
Little Ghost pulled the second rope, and the platform collapsed on the figures, opening the way for Apple Bloom. They then opened the chest, getting a key like they expected as well as more bits.
They used the coffin to return to the previous room, and used the key to open the locked door and continue their path after dealing with two dozens Little Buffies dropping with the elevator. The next room was a dungeon, with a cage taking half of it. A key was in the cage, and a metallic ball opened the door to it. However, to keep the door open, the ball had to be kept pulled.
Little Ghost could enter the cage by herself, but the key left in the middle of it was suspicious, so while Sweetie Belle pulled the ball, Apple Bloom entered the cage with Little Ghost. When the earth pony filly grabbed the key, a Trickster suddenly came and punch Sweetie Belle, causing her to let the ball go, and the door of the cage closed. Then, spikes came out of the left and right walls of the cage, and the walls started to close in on Apple Bloom.
"Uh oh. Open the door, Sweetie Belle!" shouted Apple Bloom in panic.
"I can't! That Trickster is stopping me!" shouted Sweetie Belle. "I have to capture him first!"
"More are coming behind you! I'm coming! While I deal with them, pull the ball! I'll protect you!"
"Okay!"
Little Ghost flew out of the cage and joined Sweetie Belle, trapping the Trickster who punched her and slamming him on the approaching ghosts while Sweetie Belle began to pull the ball again.
"Hurry up! The walls're getting close!" yelled Apple Bloom.
"Al...most..." said Sweetie Belle. A ghost almost punched her, but Little Ghost got him and swung him, hitting a lot of ghost thanks to this move. Sweetie Belle finally pulled completely the ball, and the door of the gate opened. Apple bloom bounced out of it just before the walls reached her.
"Thanks, girls," she said with a relieved sigh before she began to help Little Ghost capturing the remaining ghosts, joined by Sweetie Belle.
"You are welcome! You're lucky we came! If you were alone, you would have died!" said Sweetie Belle.
"Yeah, Ah suppose that Ah's lucky the two previous times that there wasn't that kind of traps."
«Which means that, from now, ya'll always have somepony with ya when starting an adventure,» said Applejack, clearly on the verge of a breakdown.
"Ah promise."
Apple Bloom unlocked the door, and the fillies entered a new room separated in two parts by a bridge. However, the bridge was made of two parts not connected to each other, blocking the path. Below the bridge was a lower level of the room full of spikes. Apple Bloom going down here was out of the question. On a wall was a giant head of the Black Knight, its eyes following Apple Bloom, freaking her out. On their left was another ball with a rope to be pulled.
Apple Bloom pulled it, rising a wooden wall and revealing a crank, but like in the previous room, the rope had to be kept pulled, so she had to leave the crank to Sweetie Belle and Little Ghost. Making sure that there were no traps, Sweetie Belle turned the crank, and after some back and forth, connected the two parts of the bridge. Once they were sure that there were no traps, and while Sweetie Belle connected the bridge, Little Ghost went to open a chest in the spiked level of the room.
But then, as Apple Bloom started to cross the bridge, she steps on a pressure plate, and three giant axes began swinging across the bridge.
"This castle really wants mah death..."
«Be careful, Apple Bloom,» said Applejack.
"Don't worry. Ah just have to be patient, and quick. Ya too, Sweetie Belle. That can't kill ya, but that can cut ya."
"I know."
Apple Bloom observed the axes, an waiting the good moment, began to run, passing the three axes one after another. Sweetie Bele was quick to follow, the skeleton almost getting her tailbone sliced by the last axe.
"Take note, girls. This is probably the kind of stuff we will face when we will storm Thanatos' castle," said Little Ghost as she joined them.
Her friends nodded, and they climbed the small staircase leading to the exit door at their right (beside the sculpted head of the Dark Knight). In the next room were more of those hooded figures holding crossbows, and no platforms to collapse on them. However, there was a track with a chariot full of tomatoes on it. They just had to pull it, and Apple Bloom could use it as a shield to cross the room without being turned into a pincushion.
Their progress was halted when they discovered that the track was broken in the middle, stopping the chariot from continuing, and there were still half the figures to pass! And no chariot visible in the other side of the room. Or, is there? There were four wheels on the track standing up. Little Ghost went to them and used the DLD, revealing the chariot they belonged to. Sweetie Belle then joined her, and together, pulled the chariot to the figures so Apple Bloom could cross what remained.
After an ambush of Little Tricksters quickly taken care of, they exited the room and entered a long hallway that turned to the right. Another pressure plate caused two axes to swing, but they were quickly passed. There were also many banners of the Black Knight, and another of his huge black armors at the end. After destroying it, they discovered behind one of the banners a hidden door leading to Emperor Gorros' treasure room, full of gold and gems.
"Woooh! Time to make this emperor poor!" shouted Apple Bloom.
Once the room was empty, they returned to the hallway and opened the giant double door at the end, finally entering the arena under the booing of the audience.
"Oh! Knock it off!" yelled Sweetie Belle.
"Sweetie Belle... Stop yelling at the public and pay attention to the giant buffed griffon in black armor in front of us," said Little Ghost.
Because, yes, Emperor Gorros was in front of them, at the other side of the arena, staring at them as he swung his sword in the air and laughed.
"So you reached me successfully. Not sure if you are good, or just lucky. It doesn't matter, your adventure ends there. Right, everyone?! Are you ready to see those three fillies fall before my mighty sword?!" he asked the audience who cheered loudly in return. "MWAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!"
"Are ya done?" deadpanned Apple Bloom. "Ah's told you're a terror, not a show off."
The audience booed.
«Ooooh! Burn! Apple Bloom burned the Black Knight! Respect!» shouted Spike.
Gorros growled. "Fine! If you wish to die that quickly, then have at it!"
Grabbing his shield, sword ready to swing, Gorros charged toward the fillies who moved out of the way. Targetting apple Bloom, he swung his sword at her, and she jumped above it. Little Ghost bashed his helmet with her shield, not doing anything to him excepted annoying him. In return, the Black Knight tried to bash her with his own shield, but she flew out of the way.
"Apple Bloom! How can we defeat this guy?!" asked Sweetie Belle as she avoided being stombed by one of Gorros' back legs.
"Uuuuh..." Apple Bloom lowered her head to avoid being beheaded by Gorros' sword, then said "Ah'll try something!" She then put her Poltergust into red mode, and activated it, catching the knight in the vortex.
To no effect, he was too heavy, and he made it known by swinging his sword again, forcing Apple Bloom to roll away.
"Drat!"
«Wait, it's maybe the right thing to do. What if you attack him with Sweetie Belle and Little Ghost at the same time?» advised Twilight.
Hearing her, the fillies exchanged looks and nodded before they all put their Poltergusts to red mode. Avoiding Gorros' sword, shield, and legs, they then gathered and activated their Poltergust at the same time. To their joy, Gorros was lifted from the ground.
"What?!"
Giving the evilest smirk they could give (or trying to in Sweetie's case), the fillies swung their Poltergusts at once and slammed the Black Knight violently on the ground, causing some pieces of his armor to fall and the audience to gasp. Gorros quickly recovered however and attacked the fillies with his sword, forcing them to release him and to move away as he got up.
"Impossible!"
Now that some pieces of the armor had fallen, the fillies could see some parts of the inside, revealing some transparent red, what looked like a metallic beak, and also a metallic bone-like part of the front right leg, to their confusion. Gorros growled, then as he faced the fillies, he threw his sword to his left like a frisbee. To the fillies' surprise, the sword, while spinning in the air, did an arc, forcing the fillies to dodge before it returned in Gorros' claw. Gorros then raised the sword, emitting a red light, and three crossbows came out of three windows with wooden doors on the side of the arena. The crossbows then fired at the fillies, and Little Ghost quickly used her shield to cover Apple Bloom. When they looked at Sweetie Belle to see how she was, they saw that she had an arrow in her left eye socket. Disturbed by it, Apple bloom took the arrow out of it.
"Thanks. It was... awkward."
"Watch out!"
At Little Ghost's shout, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle rolled away, avoiding Gorros' swing. The griffon emperor war more violent, taking the fight more seriously. Those three fillies managed to break some of his armor! That! Was! ON! Rare were the ones who managed to do it, and they all had a special place in his collection of skulls, now a part of his very throne! He won't be able to have the ghost's skull, but the other two will be a nice addition!
He swung and swung and swung again forcing the fillies to always move backward. He was stopped by Little Ghost bashing his helmet again with her shield, but this time, she wasn't able to escape in time before being bashed in return, sending her flying above the bleashers. He then swung his sword again at Apple Bloom, and she jumped again, only to be bashed by his shield too, and she was sent right toward Sweetie Belle, causing her bones to spread everywhere because of the impact. Gorros then ordered the crossbows to fire again, but Apple Bloom rolled away immediately and was even able to use one of Sweetie Belle's bones to slap one of the arrows, making it change trajectory and making it end its course right into the right eye of Gorros. He didn't even flinch at this.
Apple Bloom dropped the bone to let it return to Sweetie Belle, then started to circle the Black Knight to get his attention away from her reconstituting friend. Again, Gorros attacked her without mercy, but this time, the filly used the Poltergust, still in red mode, to deviate the attacks, catching the arm holding the sword in the vortex and making it move so it wouldn't hit her.
"To think that this is not against a sword that I am struggling, but a machine originally made to clean!"
He swung again, and Apple Bloom caught his sword and made it hit the ground.
She smirked. "That's because this machine is mah sword! And Ah mastered it!"
Gorros laughed, then put his shield in front of him and charged. As Apple Bloom rolled out of the way, he then swung his shield at her, and she used the handle of her Poltergust to parry it. As she was clashing with his shield, Gorros attacked her with his sword only for it to be caught in another vortex from Little Ghost. The filly ghost then forced him to do a big swing that made him lost balance. Another vortex from Sweetie Belle then caught one of his back legs, and with a pull, he lost ground and fell. As he recovered, the three fillies then activated their Poltergusts at the same time and slammed him for the second time, making him lose more of his armor.
"Don't forget about us!"
"With us at her sides, we are beyond masters!"
"We're legends!" the three shouted.
Gorros recovered, and everypony gasped. The helmet was now gone, revealing a fully metallic skull-like head, the glowing eyes being actually a fire burning inside of it through the holes in the skull. With more of the armor gone, more metallic bone-like parts could be seen a little everywhere, with more of the red transparent visible in the torso area.
«Wait, WHAT?!! The Black Knight is a mecha?!» yelled Spike.
«More like a metallic endoskeleton inside an armor. That's incredible!» shouted Twilight.
«But then, where's the pilote?» asked Spike.
«The red thing we can see in the torso, Ah suppose,» said Applejack.
Gorros growled. "I am a legend too, and... I... Will... KILL YOU!!!" He violently threw his sword and his shield to the ground, then raised his right claw, emitting a red light again. Two more crossbows appeared, and the knight sent five light balls at the now five crossbows, covering them in a red aura. The five crossbows then targetted the fillies, and fired.
Little Ghost covered Apple Bloom again with her shield while Sweetie Belle just let the arrows pass between her bones. but the crossbows continued to fire, and Gorros charged at them with a shriek, metallic claws ready to tear them into shreds. Apple bloom got out of the cover offered by Little Ghost's shield and jumped toward the Black Knight, taking him by surprise as she moved between his legs and bucked the back left one, making him crash and lose a little more of his weakened armor.
With another shriek, Gorros rose and turned to attack Apple Bloom, but was bashed on the head by Little Ghost again, knocking the metallic skull away and only leaving the fire that was in it. Even without its head, the knight continued to move and swung his claws at Little Ghost who did her best to avoid them. He was stopped by Sweetie Belle catching one of his claws with her Poltergust, and Little Ghost caught the other one before they both pulled down, and Gorros slammed on the ground again, losing more armor. He was then hit by the arrows of his crossbows, Apple bloom, who was their target, moving so he was between them and her, and so, using him as a shield.
Before he could get up, the fillies caught him in their three vortexes again, but instead of directly slamming him, moved toward the crossbows, the knight struggling to escape. Once they were close enough, they then slammed him on one of the crossbows, destroying it and causing more armor pieces to fall. Another slam, another crossbow was destroyed, and more armor broke. Again, and again, and again, the knight was slammed on the crossbows, destroying all of them and destroying all his armor.
All that was left was the metallic endoskeleton (without the head), and the real Emperor Gorros in an espace in the torso area. Gorros was actually a red griffon very small, barely bigger than Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They could see that he could manipulate the skeleton and the armor thanks to a system of wires wrapped around his limbs. He even separated his ghost tail into two to reform his back legs for this. And he talked through a horn to have his deep voice.
"The legend has fallen," said Apple Bloom.
"Not yet!" growled Gorros with a higher pitched voice as he recovered. He then charged toward Apple Bloom, shrieking.
Apple Bloom advanced confidently, and Little Ghost and Sweetie Belle didn't move, leaving their friend finish the emperor. Gorros swung his right metallic claw at the apple filly, and Apple Bloom activated her Poltergust still in red mode. Now that there was just the endoskeleton, the Black Knight was light enough for her, and as it was caught in her vortex, she slammed it, causing parts of the skeleton to break.
She slammed it again, and more parts of the skeleton broke.
Another slam, more parts fell.
She then spun, spun, spun, and finally released the knight, throwing what remained of it toward the throne on the balcony. The knight, the throne, and the small mountain of skull exploded upon impact, the audience's jaws dropping. Not done yet, Apple Bloom climbed on the bleachers, not minding the ghosts, and entered the balcony as Gorros, now by himself, recovered.
The emperor took a smaller sword that he had on him to defend himself, but it was no use against the Poltergust. Apple Bloom caught him, then slammed him on one of the front pillars supporting the roof of the balcony, weakening it, then slammed him on the other, also weakening it. Slowly, the two pillars began to break, and Apple Bloom jumped from it back into the bleachers, the ghosts moving away from her as she slammed again the emperor.
Feeling that he was being sucked, Gorros planted his sword on the bleacher to resist, and looked as the roof of his royal balcony collapsed on it, his golden skull emblem breaking into pieces.
Giving a big roar, he strenghtened his grip on his sword. "I am Emperor Gorros! I am undefeated! I won't... I won't..."
Then, to his horror, his sword got out of the ground.
"NOOOOOOOO-" Pouf!
And thus, the undefeated Emperor Gorros, was defeated.
But it wasn't over. As Apple Bloom took the elevator button that was dropped, the one to the seventh floor, the ghosts of the audience recovered from their shock. Thinking that the fillies were weakened after this fight, they decided to attack. Apple Bloom quickly got away from the bleachers and joined her friends. Back to back with them, they then activated their Poltergusts still in red mode, and SUCKED! Dozens of ghosts were captured in a few seconds until the fillies were forced to let the Poltergusts cooldown.
Forced to put them back to yellow mode, the fillies started to battle the normal way, catching, slamming, sucking, catching more ghosts. They used the Buffies to hammer the other ghosts, Little Ghost used her shield to protect her friends from the thrown tomatoes of the Throwers, and Sweetie Belle threw her head when she needed to. The purple ghosts revealed to be exactly like the Sneakers, turning invisible and sneaking on them, so the fillies always made sure to watch each others' back. Thankfully, not many of the purple ghosts- Creepers, Apple Bloom decided to call them- were able to sneak too close because of all the slamming. Eventually, they put the Poltergusts back to red mode, and finished the remaining ghosts.
The fillies gave a general hoof bump in victory, and Sweetie Belle began to bounce excitedly.
"That was the most intense thing ever! We captured an emperor! And it was the Black Knight! Like in the stories, but he was real! And we captured a whole coliseum!"
Apple Bloom laughed. "Calm down, Sweetie Belle. Something tells me that something more intense'll happen soon."
"Oh my gosh! You're right! We've still, like, nine floors to explores! No, wait! Ten floors! There's the second basement level too! But what could be more intense than an emperor and a whole coliseum?"
"The witch who forced said emperor to obey her?"
"That's right! That's right! Oh my gosh!"
Apple Bloom and Little Ghost laughed.
Sweetie Belle wasn't the only one excited, for a different reason.
«Wait until I tell Celestia about Gorros!» shouted Twilight.
«Yes dear, yes, we can't wait,» said Rarity with a sigh.
The mare with the afro whistled. "Well, someone pinch me, they actually did it."
"Told you!" shouted the old stallion. "That emperor was just a jester with a sword and an armor! Now that it's my turn, I will show you how to stop annoying fillies possessing machines that can capture ghosts! With time comes experience, and I had a lot of time!"
"Lad! You may look old, but you're nothing more than a colt compared to some of us!" said the stallion with the pirate accent.
The bandaged mare huffed. "And this statement is obviously wrong, or else, Ooga would be the smartest of us, which is NOT the case."
"Guh?" asked the huge stallion, Ooga.
"See what I mean?" asked the mare with a roll of her eyes.
"Just you wait, and I will show you!" shouted the old stallion. "I'm not called 'doctor' for nothing! I will get those fillies!" The stallion then passed through the floor.
The mare with the afro looked at the others. "I bet on the fillies."
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I get it! Director Cut, director's cut!
It's not paranoia when they really are out to get you in that specific way.
Fun fact: the historical Monsieur Bonaparte was actually of fairly average height for his era. He only looked short in paintings due to his habit of surrounding himself with positively enormous bodyguards.
Funner fact: presumably because I'm Canadian, my spellcheck was able to help me with "Monsieur" (I do not actually speak French)
10474307
You made me learn something there, and yet, I love reading and watching stuff about Napoleon. After, I must tell you that I absolutely didn't have Napoleon in mind when I wrote Gorros. In Luigi's Mansion 3, the king was already a dwarf.
10944337
What... the...
I feel like it speaks to the prolificity of Mario games that, whenever Sweetie gets knocked apart and reassembles herself, the Dry Bones sound effect plays in my head.
11205387
Mmh... And this series is a crossover with Mario...
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