Chapter 14: The Doll House
Victorious, the ponies left the ruins of the tower and traversed the giant bridge back to the graveyard, feeling good about saving a few hundreds souls from an eternity of suffering trapped in a soul-eating abomination.
Too bad the souls will have to wait Thanatos' defeat to see freedom.
"What could be worse than that thing?" wondered Sweetie Belle.
"I don't know, and I don't think I want to know," answered Scootaloo to this.
"We'll have to make sure it'll never escape," said Apple Bloom. "It's too dangerous."
The others nodded, then Sweetie Belle asked "Where do we go, now?"
"We will just follow the arrows of the keys until we reach a door that we can unlock," answered Little Ghost.
"At least, if Ah understand well, all that remain's the Main Wing of the castle. We've cleaned everything else," said Applejack.
«We saw nothing else around the Main Wing while you were outside so I suppose,» said E. Gadd. «But you still have a lot of the Main Wing to explore, so it's far from being over.»
The ponies nodded again.
No ghosts attacked them on the bridge beside a few Wisps, but back in the graveyard, they had to fight their way through the remaining zombies along with a few gargoyles and some ghosts. They then returned inside the Main Wing by the greenhouse where a Puffer, some Huggers, and a few Slitherers awaited them.
Scootaloo and Sweetiegoo quickly captured the Huggers so nopony would accidentally walk on them or be pushed on them by the Puffer. Applejack then dealt with the Puffer while the others captured the Slitherers one after another.
Once out of the greenhouse, the ponies then followed the arrows of the two remaining keys they had (not counting the two skull keys) which both led back to the second floor of the Main Wing. On the way, it seemed like the ghosts decided to raise the difficulty now that the ponies had defeated two guardians, now appearing in greatest numbers, and more powerful than average ghosts appearing more often. Just on the way to reach the stairs beside the auditorium, they fought a Super Thrower, a bandit leader, and a group of killer clowns that used murderous versions of clown tricks to attack. Then, once they were in the second floor, they faced a minotaur who was constantly smashing the ground at the end of the hallway, creating many shockwaves, before they had to fight another Super Thrower.
Finally, they stopped beside the door of the room just West of the Entrance Hall, the one that the key they got from the game room unlocked. The other key was leading further East.
However, before they could unlock the door, they had to deal with a Slappy that was ambushed in front of it. The ghost of a rhinoceros used this to charge at them from down the hallway, but it was stopped in its charge by a buck from Applejack on the head, leaving it to be captured by the ponies.
Finally, they could unlock the door.
And after everything they went through, it was very welcome for them to finally enter what seemed to be a simple parlor, even if it was a very well decorated one. Decorated in the usual dark manner of the rest of the castle, of course. Some cupboards, a big round table with half a dozen chairs under a chandelier, some potted dead plants, and a gargoyle against each corners near the ceiling.
Then, ghosts came and took possession of everything, even the chandelier which began to send purple fireballs from its candles. It was immediately destroyed by an energy ball from Little Ghost while Sweetie Belle sang to boost Applejack who smashed the ground to create a shockwave. It destroyed all the chairs, the tables, and the potted plants, and badly damaged the cupboards, but the gargoyles all jumped above it. So while Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and the clones of goo dealt with the ghosts that came out of the destroyed objects, Applejack and Little Ghost destroyed the cupboards and the gargoyles one by one.
When all the objects were destroyed, a Boggy and a Big Brain then appeared and levitated the remains to throw them at the ponies, especially at Apple Bloom. But thanks to Sweetie Belle who used her own body as a shield, Apple Bloom wasn't hurt and both she and Scootaloo fired Poltergun beams back at the two ghosts, making them stop. They were then captured by Little Ghost, Applejack, and the clones of goo who had approached. They then just had to capture a few remaining ghosts that had possessed the objects to make the key appear.
The key opened the door to the room just West of the parlor which quickly revealed to be entirely empty excepted for the presence of a mirror covering the entire southern wall.
Almost as soon as they entered, the ponies felt something very wrong with this mirror.
And they were quickly proven right when their reflection suddenly stepped/flew out of the mirror, each of them smiling like a psycho who couldn't wait to plant a knife into someone (excepted the clones of goo because they don't have a face).
«Mmh... That's bad. If those clones have everything you have...» said E. Gadd.
«It's a classic battle against an evil clone! You will have to find a way to surpass them!» they heard Spike shout.
But before the ponies could think of a strategy, the clones began to attack them, each clone attacking their original. The clone of Little Ghost quickly revealed to be the most dangerous, as expected since she possessed all her powers, and Little Ghost had to counter whatever she was throwing to ensure the safety of her friends.
When Apple Bloom turned herself into a ghost in the hope of getting the upperhoof, she found herself having the same problem as her clone did the same thing, and the only reason why the room wasn't destroyed by the time they both returned to normal was certainly thanks to Thanatos' power.
Both Sweetie Belles used their singing to boost their allies, but in the end, it didn't change anything excepted making the fight more dangerous with the Applejacks beginning to create shockwaves and the ghosts using more powerful attacks.
But then, as she avoided an ice shard fired by her double, Apple Bloom looked at the double of Little Ghost and got an idea. With a smirk, jumping to the side to avoid a lightning bolt from her double, she then quickly fired a Poltergun beam at the fake ghost.
The beam hit, and the clone was immobilised in pain. The real Little Ghost took the occasion to teleport beside her and trap her with her Poltergust. She then slammed her on the clone of Scootaloo. Thanking her friend, Scootaloo then fired water at the fake clones of goo, destroying them. Before they could come back, the real clones fired lightning bolts at the clones of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. The real Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle then both tackled their clone as they were shocked and destroyed their Poltergusts. The fake clones of goo still came out of their tubes, but now, the fake Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had lost their main mean of fighting. Meanwhile, Scootaloo had joined Little Ghost in capturing her double, slamming her continuously on the fake Scootaloo and not leaving time for her to recover. All this time, the Applejacks had continued fighting each other.
Then, cracks appeared all over the fake Little Ghost, and as she was slammed one last time, she broke into glass shards that disappeared into the air.
Free from having to deal with her clone, Little Ghost could unleash her power on the other clones, starting with the fake Apple Bloom before she could turn into a ghost again. One by one, the clones were destroyed like the fake Little Ghost, and when all of them were destroyed, Applejack bucked the mirror and destroyed it, its shards also disappearing into the air like the clones. And the key appeared.
"Well, that wasn't something Ah's expecting to have in this castle," commented Apple Bloom as she took the key.
«And it wasn't as hard to overcome as I thought,» said Rainbow Dash. «Aren't clone battles supposed to be very hard?»
«Obviously, those ones didn't know real advanced teamwork and revealed to be easy to destroy once disadvantaged,» said E. Gadd.
"Lucky for us," said Sweetie Belle.
Back in the hallway, they followed the arrow of the key that led them further West. On the way, however, they were stopped by the ghost of a dark brown earth pony stallion armed of a nunchaku. The stallion flew out of a wall, placed himself on their way, and began to show off his mastery of the weapon, doing figures with it in a clear attempt to intimidate them (or to impress them and feed his ego, hard to say).
Apple Bloom, however, just gave a deadpan look before she fired a Poltergun beam at him, stopping his show. They couldn't lose time watching him as other ghosts and possessed stuff were still regularly coming to attack them.
However, as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were capturing the stallion with the nunchaku, another ghost suddenly came and fired with a familiar cannon at Little Ghost. The beam that came out of it hit her and she was filled with pain for a brief instant, immobilizing her.
A Poltergun Cannon, exactly like the ones that some of the ghosts back in Eternal Rest's hotel used.
Apple Bloom quickly dealt with the ghost before he could fire again while Applejack defended Little Ghost as she recovered.
"Are ya alright, Little Ghost?" asked the mare.
"Ugh... Yeah... But I hadn't missed this," answered the recovering filly ghost.
"We'll have to watch out other ghosts with those cannons," said Little Bloom as she returned from capturing the ghost.
"We should have expected to meet some eventually," said Sweetie Belle.
"Yeah... And this means that you'll have to be careful when you turn into a ghost, Apple Bloom," said Little Ghost.
Apple Bloom agreed.
At this, they were able to continue until they reached the door that the key unlocked which, surprisingly, wasn't the first one West of the room they were in like previously, but the second one.
And the room it led to was totally empty. Like, really, there was nothing.
Seemingly.
But then, they heard the distinct sound of objects bouncing or dragging themselves on the floor, so the ponies activated their Dark Light Devices and discovered that the room was actually full of objects that were simply invisible. Because of this, Apple Bloom wasn't able to react in time to avoid being hit by a charging chair, and a flying book from a shelf rammed Little Ghost while Scootaloo barely avoided being eaten by a chest.
But after the initial surprise, the fight went pretty much like in the parlor. The objects were destroyed one by one, and the ghosts possessing them were captured. A dozen of Shadows and a Boggy came as reinforcements, but they were quickly destroyed and captured too, and the key appeared.
This one led to the next door West, and when they entered the room, which was the last one in the hallway just before it split North toward the auditorium and Southwest toward the West Wing, the ponies immediately heard a lot of laughs.
Sitting upside down against a wall on the ceiling was a pink earth pony stallion with a short, darker pink mane who was laughing like somepony told him the best joke of the world. His clothes immediately identified him as the famous Chancellor Puddinghead.
He wasn't the only thing laughing in the room. Hooked on the walls were masks and paintings/portraits, many of them tilted at various angles. A little everywhere were clown puppets, jack-in-the-boxes, and statues.
All of them were laughing.
The ponies were shocked at first by what they were seeing, but then, they started to laugh too, not able to stop themselves.
They laughed, and laughed, and laughed...
To the point that Apple Bloom was beginning to miss air, but she still continued to laugh.
She couldn't stop laughing.
If this continued, she would die of laughter. But she was laughing so much that she couldn't move.
However, there were two beings who weren't laughing. Applegoo and Sweetiegoo advanced toward Chancellor Puddinghead and, once they were close enough, they activated their Poltergusts. And before long, the chancellor was captured.
The key appeared, and all laughs in the room immediately stopped.
It took many seconds for Apple Bloom to recuperate her breath.
"Huff... Puff... Thanks... Applegoo... Sweetiegoo..."
The two clones of goo returned the thank you with a wave.
«To think that a ghost tried to kill you by making you die of laughter...» said E. Gadd.
«And not just any ghost. Chancellor Puddinghead, one of the Founders of Equestria,» said Twilight.
«Which makes three Founders out of six. Clover the Clever, Commander Hurricane, and Private Pansy remain,» said Spike.
«What do they have against me? First cake! Then, baking! Now, laughter! It's like they're using everything I love to kill! What next? Smiles?» shouted Pinkie Pie.
«How could you kill somepony with a smile?» wondered Rainbow Dash.
"Not sure, and if it's possible, Ah'm not sure Ah want to know," said Applejack. "But Ah'm sure that it's only a coincidence."
"Killing by dying of laughter... What else will they find?" wondered Scootaloo before they took the key and exited the room.
It led them East to the other side of the Entrance Hall, at the first door beside it (still in the second floor).
And they entered a room that looked like the typical entrance hall of a house. Coat hooks beside the door, a chest of drawers against a wall with a potted plant on it, another potted plant in the southwestern corner, some candles on the walls, and a small passage to another room without door in the southeastern corner.
And a few dolls sitting here and there, their heads turning to look at the ponies as they entered the room.
"Déjà vu," said Apple Bloom at this.
«Twisted Towers. That room with all the dolls,» said Pinkie Pie to this.
The dolls present then charged at the ponies, and were subsequently destroyed, and the ghosts who possessed them, captured. However, it wasn't over.
This entrance hall was only the first of a succession of rooms all full of dolls. First came a living room where a lot of dolls were playing dinette. Then, there was a kitchen with a lot of cook dolls armed with knives and other utensils. The kitchen itself was linked to a balcony from where more dolls came as the ponies were already busy with the cooks. A gargoyle even came from there in the middle of the battle. After the kitchen, they entered a dinner room where many dolls were pretending to have a small banquet. Lot of fake food was thrown in this room. After that came a bathroom where a few dolls were taking a bath.
Finally came the last room of this giant doll house: the chamber. There, a literal mountain of dolls was present on the bed. Then the mountain began to shake, and the dolls composing it began to break and twist, their parts merging to each others. Before the ponies eyes, the mountain of dolls was becoming some kind of golem entirely made of doll parts, which was really disturbing.
Especially when the eyes of all the dolls composing it turned to look at them, and when the dolls' legs all over its body moved as if they wanted to grab them.
If they weren't already used to that kind of stuff, it would certainly give nightmares. Not helped when some of the dolls began to repeat "Mama."
But even if it was a disturbing golem made of dozens of dolls, the strategy to destroy it remained the same. It was just taking more time, and it was more risky because the golem was obviously stronger. One swipe from it would be enough to send anypony crashing against a wall.
Fire worked well on it, burning the dolls composing it. Ice shards were also very good to destroy small chunks of doll parts. After, Applejack and Little Ghost remained the most effective to deal a maximum of damage to it.
Little by little, the doll parts composing the golem were destroyed, and the golem became smaller and smaller as a result, making it easier to fight. Eventually, a shockwave from Little Ghost blew what remained of it all over the room.
Excepted a single, still intact doll that had been in the center of it and that remained floating in the air. Many doll parts, the most sharp ones, then began to levitate around it, but before the doll could send them toward Apple Bloom, it was caught in the vortex of Applegoo's Poltergust and was slammed on the floor, destroying it.
Only for the doll to reform.
"Darn, the ghost possessing it is bound to it," said Scootaloo.
"No problem," said Little Ghost before she used her power to force the ghost out of the doll, the ghost revealing to be the one of a very young pegasus filly with a white coat and a grey mane. Despite being forced out, the ghost still attempted to send sharp doll shards at Apple Bloom, and the ponies used their Poltergusts to suck them up before they trapped the filly and captured her.
Two keys appeared.
"Any idea who this filly is?" asked Apple Bloom.
«Sadly, no. I can't find anything about her. Maybe she died of sickness, so she wasn't recorded in those archives I took,» said Twilight.
"Whoever was that filly, she could have been in a horror movie," said Scootaloo.
"Yeah. I hope we won't see more golems like this one," said Sweetie Belle.
At this, they took the two keys and used one of them to unlock the exit door in the northern wall of the chamber, returning in the hallway.
Following the arrow of the key, they found themselves with a choice: at the first fork, the key they got continued forward while the other they had, the one they got from the East Wing, was leading them to a different section in the right.
Now, they wondered if they should continue to follow the key they got or if they should finally go see where the other was leading to.
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Better than I hoped. Wish I could draw or make art now...
This time I'm early.
Yay! Clowns!
I can't help but feel sorry for Pinkie. She is pretty much used as the running gag.
I don't know if thats a good thing or a bad thing.
I have read the story involving Sweetie Belle and the toy museum. Nice that you did a small reference to that fanfic.
Definitely not the first time I've heard of a haunted chandelier.
cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/thumb/c/cc/Pokk%C3%A9n_Chandelure.png/220px-Pokk%C3%A9n_Chandelure.png
The mischievous and playful Chandelure hypnotizes its prey with its flames before finishing them off. Instead of physically burning victims, Chandelure's flames absorb and burn the spirits of its victims, leaving the body behind. That isn't particularly gruesome, but it's still scary to think about, especially when you learn that the favorite kind of victim of their pre-evolution Litwick is children.
I was expecting a battle similar to the fight with the Big Boo in Super Mario 64 (except that the ghost couldn't be revealed by the DLD and could only be seen in the reflection, therefore making the fight harder to compensate for there being more ghost hunters), but this works just as well.
If I had a nickel for every time I saw someone in media attempt to intimidate their opponent with fancy moves only to get defeated easily with a straightforward attack, I'd have... five nickels, I think. Which isn't a lot, but it's still significant.
My answer might make readers sick to their stomachs, so I'm putting it behind this spoiler bar: Maybe the victim smiles so widely that either they break their jaw or their face/head is literally split in half by the smile. Or, for a less gory answer, maybe they die in the same way as victims of the Joker's "beauty products" in the 1989 Batman movie.
10401992
Sometimes, I wish the same thing. Out of curiosity, what would you draw if you could? The doll golem?
10402022
Ironic when she's often used as the running gag. It's pretty much her role. But yeah, this time, it isn't a fun running gag. To make it "better", the other ponies also got it. Twilight with her book and her love of science (library and laboratory). Rarity and her dresses (North Wing). Applejack and her apples (without forgetting her parents (cellar, greenhoose and graveyard)). Fluttershy with the animal ghosts (a little everywhere) and kindness (North Wing, the nurse that killed children). And Rainbow Dash with one or two ghosts of Wonderbolts (the stadium).
Thanks.
10402117
I knew that the possessed chandelier would remind you of Chandelure.
I hadn't thought of this fight.
With this one in top:
The worst? I was thinking exactly the sames when I wrote those lines.
10402508
Ponies and video game references and something to do with this story
10402552
You know, I perfectly have in mind the drawings that I would like to have.
One of the castle from outside, where we could see how immense it is compared to the ponies. It would actually look a lot like Dracula's castle from Castlevania (especially in the Lords of Shadows games).
One of Toy Maker in his giant puppet in the middle of the battle against him, everypony attacking him as he controls Applejack with his strings and smaller toys are raining from the ceiling.
One of the Abomination in its worm form, one of its tentacles wrapped around Apple Bloom as it had its mouth wide open ready to devour her.
One of the two other guardians that I haven't revealed yet.
One of Thanatos during the final battle. Sadly, I can't say more without spoiling.
Sadly, if I attempted to draw, I would expect to draw something like this:
i.pinimg.com/originals/c5/e4/d9/c5e4d96885078b6cdf33ab9ac8dbb14c.jpg
Only to draw something like this:
cdn.drawception.com/drawings/pNOMmFfj5v.png
That's exactly the kind of scenario I was thinking of!
10402117
With the flames specified as purple, I immediately assumed that it was a deliberate reference.
10476981
It's mainly because purple is known as the color of death. Especially in Japan.
Who was the pony possessing the doll suppose to be?
10634069
Just a filly who loved dolls and died beaten up by her father.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1b/Joker%27s_Evolution.jpg
Need I say more?
so, if I had to take a stab (pun intended), I would say that this is a reference to Annabelle, currently under lock, key, and holy ward in the Warren's museum?
EDIT: i mean the fact that she possessed a doll after dying.
11674781
Yep! A bit.