Chapter 8: The North Wing Part 1
Apple Bloom and the others left the Toy Wing and its horrors behind without saying a word, traversing the bridge leading back to the main wing of the castle. They had thought they had seen the worst against Eternal Rest, but Toy Maker proved to them that there was always something worst.
Eternal Rest was a sadistic witch who took pleasure in making others suffer and enslaving them to feel great.
Toy Maker was a nice stallion who loved toys like his children and couldn't support to see them being mistreated, which broke his mind and turned him into that vengeful mad demon killer of children.
Toy Maker was tragic.
And the worst part was that with Toy Maker came the realisation that anybody, in the right circumstances, could become like him.
Everybody could be Toy Maker.
And that was scary.
However, it wasn't really the time to dwell on that thought. The ponies still had a big part of the castle to explore and three guardians to find and fight.
After Toy Maker, they didn't dare to imagine how were the other guardians.
But now, as the ponies entered the main wing, they were left with a choice, and as Apple Bloom took the three keys that she possessed beside the skull key, she asked "So, which one do we use, now?"
"If I remember correctly, one leads to the North wing, one leads to a room beside the entrance hall in the second floor, and one leads to... Erh... I don't think we ever verified where the third key leads to," said Little Ghost.
"Uhuh. We just know it leads somewhere in the second floor, or maybe even above," said Sweetie Belle.
"You know, after what we went through, the North wing doesn't sound so bad, creepy atmosphere or not," said Scootaloo.
"Uuuh... Maybe we should do a few less creepy rooms before we start the North wing," said Sweetie Belle. "You know, to rest our mind a little before we enter another potentially traumatizing part of the castle."
"Excepted that we never know when we'll enter a room that'll be as bad," said Applejack.
"Good point... So... North wing?" asked the undead.
The ponies exchanged looks before nodding, Apple Bloom saying "We'd as well do it sooner rather than later."
So they went to the North wing which wasn't far. They just had to return to the entrance of the library and continue North.
As they entered the wing, the atmosphere became like they felt earlier, oppressive and gloomy, but this time, they were ready. They were however greatly disturbed by the absence of ghosts attacking them. Until now, there was always at least a ghost in the hallways assaulting them, but in the darkness of the North wind, there was nothing.
They had to climb down a staircase and return to the first floor, the key opening the first door at the right here. Reaching the door, they hesitated a few seconds before they unlocked it and opened it.
The room they entered revealed to have its walls covered by dozens and dozens of swords of all kinds and of various designs, scimitars, claymores, sabers, or even giant swords the size of a grown stallion. And speaking of stallion, the ghost of a yellow, green-maned unicorn stallion was present in the room, smirking at them as he levitated many of the swords from the walls to him.
«Hey, I recognize this guy! It's Red Sword, that famous bandit leader that had finally been caught and killed a few years ago!» said Spike.
«And how do you know about him?» asked Twilight.
«I read the newspapers. While you passed days locked in your library, I informed myself on what happened in the outside world.»
The ponies had to stop listening as Red Sword attacked, sending his swords at Apple Bloom in a mortal dance that would have been really hard for the filly to avoid. Thankfully, air bursts were enough to repel them, and Little Ghost was particularly effective thanks to her powers, leaving the way open to capture the ghost of the stallion. Red Sword, however, levitated more swords to him, so the ponies formed a protective wall around Apple Bloom until the filly could reach and capture the bandit. Despite being sucked up, Red Sword still attempted to defend himself with his swords, but he was stopped by the constant slamming, and before long, he disappeared in the Poltergust.
"And one famous bandit leader down, one!" said Scootaloo.
"Ah feel like it's only the beginning..." said Apple Bloom.
Red Swod's defeat left the way open for the ponies to enter what must have been his chamber (a few swords littering the room) where they found a key on his bed. A door led to a bathroom (that also served as restroom) but there was nothing of interrest here so they returned in the hallway.
The new key led to the door just in front, and they entered a larger room that looked like a restaurant or a mess hall, with a few tables and a checkered black and white floor. Jst in front was a door, and the right of it, there was a small, empty hallway.
At the beginning of this hallway, someone in a yellow bunny costume was standing, staring at the fillies. Whoever it was tilted his head innocently, then signed for the ponies to come as he turned and walked down the hallway.
"It's SOO a trap," said Sweetie Belle.
"Not like we have much of a choice but to follow him," said Apple Bloom.
«Wait, somepony in a bunny costume? I thing I saw something like that in the archives. Let me search,» said Twilight.
While she searched, the ponies followed the bunny in the hallway until reaching a door at the end. Apple Bloom was the first to pass it, only for the door to close behind her, revealing the bunny who had hidden himself behind it and blocking the others outside. Then, the ghost of a purple pegasus stallion with a purple mane and a purple security uniform came out of the costume, the stallion holding a knife. He immediately tried to stab her only for Apple Bloom to deflect the knife with her leg. At the same time, Little Ghost passed through the door and headbutted the stallion from behind, leaving him open for the two fillies to capture him, making a key appear.
«There. Night Twister. A security guard who used the costume of the mascot of a restaurant chain to lure children to a backroom and kill them a couple of decades ago. Hanged himself in prison before his trial. Because of this, he was never officially declared guilty,» informed Twilight.
"Well, for me, he's totally guilty," said Apple Bloom as she took the key while Little Ghost pushed the bunny costume out of the way and opened the door.
Not needing to enter what was certainly Night Twister's chamber, the ponies returned in the hallway, the key leading to the second door of the right wall.
They entered a big room where they immediately spotted the ghost of a red earth pony mare with a purple mane. Behind the mare were a few crates full of bombs, and the mare herself was holding a couple of them while laughing like a loon.
«Oh, I recognize her. Red Blast, the mad bomber,» said Twilight.
«What? That mare who terrorized Manehattan for a few months with her bombs?» asked Spike.
The mare began to throw bombs at the ponies who quickly ran to avoid them. Eventually, Applejack bucked one of the bombs, sending it back at Red Blast, the bomb exploding on her face as she was about to throw another. because of the explosion, she was sent crashing into one of the crates with her lit bomb.
The bomb explosed, causing a chain reaction, all the bombs exploding and destroying a good part of the back wall of the room which revealed Red Blast's chamber. As for the mare, she was sent flying by the explosions, and she would have traversed the ceiling if Little Ghost hadn't been here to intercept her. The filly ghost caught her, then suddenly flew toward the ground to violently slam her. A couple more slams were enough to capture her.
«It seems like this wing is home to questionable people,» said E. Gadd.
«So... A mini-boss rush,» guessed Discord. «Bah, it still should be a breeze.»
"Well, that fight certainly was a blast," said Sweetie Belle, causing a few groans and some laughs.
The key was found on Red Blast's bed and led to the second door in the left wall back in the hallway. The room they entered immediately revealed something very horrifying: in the center, sitting on a chair, there was the corpse of a mare, throat sliced. The most disturbing was the presence of several cameras around her.
The ponies stared at the scene in horror when a masculine voice appeared.
"Do you like it? This is my art."
Then, the ghost of a male kirin with a dark yellow coat and a light blue mane appeared not far beside the ponies. He was holding several photos that he showed to them, the photos being of the mare as she was agonizing taken from various angles and distances.
"Look at them! Look at them! Aren't they beautiful? It is said that the flame of a candle glows brighter before disappearing, and life is like such a flame. So the last moment of a life? There's nothing more magnificent that I can think of!"
"What?!" shouted Applejack. "That's-"
"By the way. I'm Final Flash, war photograph, and I live to photograph the end of lives. Enchanted to meet you! So, we have a mare and four fillies. Mmh... Looks like four of you are already dead. Too bad. I suppose that I will have to do with just the earth pony filly, which is totally okay! I never tried my hoof with a foal until now, I can't wait to see-GAAAH!!"
"Ya'll do no such thing ya crazy buck!" shouted Applejack as she activated her Poltergust and trapped the kirin, revealing that he was hiding a knife. She was quickly joined by Apple Bloom, then by the others who all wanted to see this disgusting guy disappear as quickly as possible.
"Nobody ever understood meeeeee-" Pouf!
Applejack let out a growl. "That guy's place's in an asylum!"
"Agreed!" said the others.
With the kirin captured, the way was open for the ponies to enter his chamber and get the key.
The key led to the third door in the right wall of the hallway. In the room behind it, an unicorn stallion ghost in a red cloak was awaiting them. All they could see from him was his grey coat with his red glowing eyes and a dark red lock of his mane.
And also his tongue as he was licking his lips.
Then, without a word, his horn began to glow, and Apple Bloom almost immediately began to feel a huge burning pain coming from inside her body, from her head to her legs, and she fell on the ground yelling.
"Apple Bloom!" shouted everypony before they all turned to the ghost and charged at him to make him stop.
however, they hadn't seen that the room had many containers full of blood, and when they charged at the stallion, he destroyed all the containers, freeing the blood and using it to form various objects to attack the ponies or entrave their advance.
«He's a blood mage!» shouted Twilight. «Apple Bloom, turn into a ghost, quick!»
Despite the pain and the screaming, Apple bloom heard her and was able to press the button of the Spectral transmograftizer, turning into a ghost. Immediately, the pain disappeared, to her relief.
"Thank ya, Twilight."
«He was probably using your blood to hurt you from inside. Quick! Capture him before you've to revert to normal!»
She didn't need to say it. Little Ghost already managed to repel the blood thanks to her power, giving her an opening to fire a Poltergun beam at the stallion. Thanks to the pain caused by the beam, the stallion lost his focus on the blood, freeing the way for everypony to reach him. By the time he recovered from the pain, it was too late to stop the ponies from activating their Poltergusts on him. He still tried to use the blood to attack them and force them to let him go, but Apple Bloom used her own powers to do like Little Ghost did, letting the others finishing the mage just before the filly had to return to normal.
Sweetie Belle immediately sang to heal whatever damage the mage caused to Apple Bloom's body with her blood.
«There aren't many blood mage known, thankfully. I think this one was Blood Thirsty. He boiled his victims' blood to cook them alive from inside... and eat them.»
"I'm not hungry anymore!" said Pinkie Pie.
"I'm surprised you were even hungry after everything we went through in this castle," said Little Ghost.
After getting the key in the mage's chamber, they unlocked the next door, which was the fourth in the right wall. The room it led to was a very normal living room excepted for one thing: the heavy presence of knives absolutely everywhere. In this room, awaiting them was the ghost of a yellow unicorn cold with a brown mane wearing a green and yellow striped sweater who was giving them a very... disturbing smile for a colt.
And he was armed of a knife.
Before anyone could act, the colt then did a cross slash with his knife, creating a cross-shaped red shockwave that went toward Apple Bloom who was quickly pushed out of the way by Scootaloo who received the attack in her place. Then, as Apple Bloom got up, a knife floated above her, and she quickly jumped to the side to avoid it as it planted itself in the floor. At the same time, many of the knives in the room began to float and where thrown at the ponies while a few others slashed the air in different patterns, sending more shockwaves.
And judging from Scootaloo's reaction at being cut by one of them, it was in their best interests to avoid all those attacks.
The ponies quickly countered the knives by sucking them up with their Poltergusts, destroying them, much to the colt's frustration. So he replied by multiplying trick attacks, trying to corner the ponies or to attack them from their blind spots as they were busy dealing with his frontal assaults, especially on Apple Bloom who was his main target.
But the ponies watched each others' back, and all his attacks failed, causing at best small cuts.
And eventually, enough knives had been destroyed that the ponies started a counter-offensive and charged at the colt while continuing to suck up his knives. Sweetie Belle then managed to trap the colt, but she still had to avoid his knives before he was finally captured.
"When a colt is the one giving us the most problems since we entered this wing..." commented Scootaloo.
"He's strong, that's clear," said Apple Bloom.
«Wasn't there a report about the disappearance of a colt a few years ago?» asked Spike. «If I remember correctly, the photo was of this colt.»
«You're right, Spike. What was his name? I didn't really pay much attention to it at the time.»
«Uh... I don't remember. Something to do with Character, I think. But what the heck happened to him?»
«No idea...»
Leaving it at this for now, the ponies took the key in the colt's chamber and went to the next room: the one behind the third door in the left wall, just in front of the colt's room.
It revealed to be a big empty cave-like room with only a couple of lights hanging from the walls. Because of this, the room was almost entirely plunged in darkness.
And in this darkness, the ponies could see a couple of dozens glowing pair of eyes glaring at them.
Applejack immediately recognized those eyes. "Changelings!"
She barely said this word that the ponies were assaulted by said changelings, all ghosts of course. Since they were ghosts, they couldn't shapeshift into Apple Bloom or the others who possessed a body, so the only they could correctly copy was Little Ghost.
But they couldn't copy her Poltergust, so in the end, it wasn't really useful. It caused some confusion at first, but the ponies quickly got over it when they saw this, and the changelings were all quickly captured.
Then...
"Mph... I was wondering what all that fuss was," said a feminine voice that showed disdain.
At this moment, in the light of the flashlights came what was clearly a changeling queen looking a lot like Chrysalis but with a shorter mane of a paler green.
"A changeling queen?!" said Applejack in wonder.
"Oh, so you lowlives know what I am. So you finally discovered our existence. Took your time."
"One of yers invaded Canterlot!" shouted the mare.
"So someling finally did it?" asked the queen as she looked at Applejack with happiness. "Tell me! Who was it?"
"Uh... Ah don't think we got her name. But she looked a lot like ya."
The changeling's smile became as wide as Pinkie's. "Oooh! One of my descendants! Ahahah! My daughter must be turning in her grave." She then suddenly frowned. "Too bad she seems to have lost. She's probably an idiot."
Applejack snickered. "She lost because she turned her back and gloated when she'd practically won."
"Leaving the ponies to do something behind her back to defeat her," finished the queen as she facehoofed. "She lost all my respect. She seems to have inherited everything from me excepted my brain. Queen of idiots. Anyway, I should present myself. I'm Cocoon, ex-queen of the changelings, and would be empress of the Changeling Empire if my daughter hadn't stopped me from invading Equestria by killing me."
This shocked the ponies, making Cocoon huff. "I know. Horrible, right? All because she wanted the changelings to keep their secrecy. That ungrateful pest."
But then, her smile returned as she stared at the ponies, more exactly at Apple Bloom. "But now, I will finally be able to let off some steam. 'Kill the pony' was my favorite sport back then."
Without warning, she then fired a beam of sickly green magic at Apple Bloom that the filly, who was expecting this, easily dodged with a side jump. Before the ponies could act in return however, Cocoon disappeared in the darkness of the room, not even her eyes glowing like it had been the case for the drones earliers. And speaking of drones, more appeared to attack the ponies, distracting them from the queen who fired at them from the darkness.
Sweetie Belle then got the idea of taking control of one of the drones with her singing, and she used his ability to see in the dark to spot where was Cocoon. Scootaloo then immediately turned into a scooter and charged toward the queen's position, taking her by surprise. The pegasus also left fire behind her to light more the room, giving a greater advantage to the ponies who less needed to use their flashlights as a result.
When Scootaloo reached Cocoon, she then jumped and hit the queen's face with her wheels. Little ghost took the occasion to rapidly fly to their position and activated her Poltergust on Cocoon, quickly joined by Scootaloo. The drones went to rescue their queen only to take Poltergun beams on their back from the three remaining ghost hunters as a result.
Cocoon resisted despite the two Poltergusts sucking her up, and she managed to send Little Ghost flying with a big bolt of green magic before she tried to do the same to Scootaloo only for a Power Surge to interrupt her and leave her open for some good slammings (Scootaloo taking the occasion to slam her on nearby drones). The others then ran to join her and help her however they could, either by capturing Cocoon or capturing the drones.
Cocoon still resisted with her magical blasts, but it was a losing battle, and like all the others before her, she was captured, the queen disappearing with a yell of rage. With her capture, the drones stopped coming, and before long, the ones that remained in the room were captured too.
"Heh. When they aren't boosted by love, they aren't that problematic to deal with," said Applejack.
«No doubt your Poltergusts helped a lot,» said Twilight.
"Eeyup. No matter what, it's a very effective weapon," said Apple Bloom.
Done with this room, they entered Cocoon's chamber which really was the one of a queen, with a queen-sized bed and all. They took the key that was on it and returned in the hallway where the key led to the fourth door in the left wall.
The new room had more light than the previous one, and was smaller. There was a desk with a feather, a bottle of ink, a candle and a parchment against the right wall surrounded by small shelves with some books.
And sitting on a chair in front of the desk was the ghost of a young unicorn stallion with with a yellow coat nearing white, a blue mare with a couple of purple stripes, and wearing small rectangular glasses.
He looked surprised at first when the ponies entered his room, but his expression quickly changed to a gentle one.
"Oh. Hello there. I wasn't expecting guests. Especially a living one. You managed to traverse Thanatos' castle and to reach my room? That's impressive."
The ponies, obviously, looked at him suspiciously. The stallion was acting gentle, but it was Thanatos' castle. The probabilities of encountering a friendly ghost were a big, fat 0%. They were either evil, mad, or controlled. And in this wing, all ghosts encountered had been evil or mad until now (excepted maybe the changeling drones who just followed their queen). So this stallion was raising a red flag.
The stallion saw how they looked at him and raised his forehooves in a calming gesture. "Hey, hey! You have nothing to worry about me. I'm just a student from Manehattan." He then lowered his hooves and gave them another gentle smile. "My name is Open Book. What is yours?"
Apple Bloom advanced. "Mah name's Apple Bloom." She frowned. "And yer act would've worked if it wasn't for two facts. First, Ya may be just a student, but Ah heard stories of student murderers. Second, we're in a place full of psychos. So, ya're planning to lower our guard with yer kindness only to backstab us?"
The Open Book's eyes widened before he recomposed himself. "But... Not at all! I wouldn't hurt a fly!"
While he said that, he grabbed the feather and lunged toward Apple Bloom, ready to stab the filly with it, only to be hit by a Poltergun beam from her, causing him to drop on the floor in pain.
Then, in green flames, Open Book transformed into a changeling, which actually surprised the ponies.
"Well, this, I didn't see it," said Apple Bloom.
The changeling chuckled. "How could you have? But yeah, you were partially right, but instead of stabbing my victims, I brought them to a desert place and trapped them in cocoons to suck them dry of their love. And only when I was done with them I would stab them and get rid of their bodies somewhere where they wouldn't be found before a long time. And now, I have nothing to do with Chrysalis, the queen who attacked Canterlot. I was a loner."
"Ya're surprisingly open," commented Scootaloo.
"Well, I'm doomed, so gotta leave a legacy before I disappear," chuckled again the changeling. "I was never discovered. I was only stopped because Chrysalis herself came to kill me after the failed invasion. Now, I will remain in memories."
Having enough of him, Apple Bloom captured him.
«I did hear that there had been a few disappearances in Manehattan,» then said Rarity. «Now, we know why. We will have to tell the princesses about it.»
"He could've at least told us where he hid the bodies," said Applejack in anger.
After that, they entered the changeling's chamber and took the key that was on his bed. Back in the hallway, it led to the fifth door in the right wall.
And the horror climbed back to eleven when the ponies discovered that the room was full of dolls. Just this was already creepy, but they quickly saw that there was a problem with the dolls: their eyes.
The eyes were real eyes, taken from real ponies.
The ponies were absolutely horrified by this.
"What sick..." started Applejack
"Oh. Hello, little one," suddenly said a feminine voice before the ghost of a pink unicorn mare with a blue mane appeared and looked Apple Bloom right in the eyes. "You've beautiful eyes. They remind me of my little sister's." The mare then floated a knife to her. "Can I take them?"
"Mmh... Nope!" shouted Apple Bloom before she flashed the mare.
"Arg!"
The five ghost hunters then activated their Poltergusts and rapidly captured the mare. The ponies then quickly entered the mare's chamber and took the key on the bed, beside a doll of a pink unicorn filly with a pink, near white mane that possessed eyes of the same colors than Apple Bloom's.
«I have something about this mare, Happy Doll» said Twilight before she sighed. «Her little sister died from an accident, and just after that, she began to take eyes from ponies, generally from fillies, and to put them in dolls. Some kind of eye obsession she developped after the death of her sister. Her favorites were fillies with the same eye colors than her sister, like yours Apple Bloom. She was discovered, judged mentally ill, and sent into an asylum where she died not long after of illness.»
A Toy Maker...
"So... What will this mean for her?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Ah don't know..." answered Apple Bloom. "Ah suppose Ah'll try to convince her to pass on. If she refuses, then Ah'll have to trap her like all the others. She's too dangerous to be left free."
With this, Apple Bloom gave the doll on the bed a last look before they all returned in the hallway and went to the next room, the fifth one in the left.
The inside of the room quickly revealed to be disturbing. There were eyes, organs, and other pony stuff inside glass jars on shelves, pony skins hanging from the walls, and sewing materials.
And in front of them was a pony who looked like he came out of a mad scientist lab. It was a stallion with patches of skin of various colors stitched everywhere on his body, his mane and tail were composed of locks of hair of different colors too as well as of different lengths, his left eye was green while the other was purple, he had a brown horn on his forehead, as well as a blue left wing and a pink right wing. He was also missing a lot of fur and feathers as well as some teeth, and there were spots where he was bald too.
And he was smelling like a rotting corpse!
"What now?" wondered Little Ghost, not paying attention to the comments of disgust from everyone in E. Gadd's side, especially Rarity.
The stallion gave them a Joker smile and laughed maniacally as he took a knife. "New materials! Give me! Give me!" he shouted before he charged at Apple Bloom.
Only to be bucked very hard on the face by Applejack, totally breaking his muzzle and causing one of the eyes to pop out as he was sent flying However, the stallion recovered, the damage he had taken healing, even the eye returning in its place. Once he totally recovered, he charged again, only to be pierced by many shards of ice fired by the ponies. Despite this, he continued to charge only to be bucked again by Applejack, which ended like previously.
"Ah think he's a ghost who bound himself to his own corpse," then said Apple Bloom.
«And he seems to be using... Hum... 'Materials' taken from other ponies to replace whatever part of his body is decomposed too much,» said E. Gadd.
"Ugh. I'm in the same situation than him, but I will never do this," said Sweetie Belle, disgusted.
"Well, you have Discord to make sure that you don't decompose," said Scootaloo. "Seems like this guy hasn't the same luxury."
"So, this means we've to do like against Toy Maker's toys? Destroy his body until he has no energy left?" asked Applejack.
"I can do something that will make this fight much faster," said Little Ghost with a chuckle before she used her power to force the stallion's ghost (revealing his true self: a brown unicorn stallion with a yellow mane) out of his body, to his surprise. "I couldn't do this to the toys because Toy Maker was more powerful than me, but this guy? No problem!"
"Great! Thanks Little Ghost!" said Apple Bloom as she immediately went after the stallion who started to have serious break down as he tried to return in his body only to be stopped by Little Ghost, repeating "I'm not dead!" over and over.
"Anything on him, Twilight?" asked Apple Bloom.
«Let's see... Let's see... An unicorn stallion with a brown coat and a yellow mane...» muttered the alicorn as they could see her searching in the archives. «Nothing on him. It seems like he did nothing wrong when he was alive. Or he was never discovered. I will have to ask Celestia once this is over.»
"Maybe he simply didn't want to accept that he died and did everything to keep the illusion of being alive," said Sweetie Belle.
«It seems in accordance with his reaction,» said E. Gadd. «Another poor fella who lost his mind.»
Once they took the key in the stallion's chamber, the ghost hunters entered the sixth room in the right of the hallway.
The new room looked like Discord was the one who decorated it. To put it simply, the room was like the interior of a church, but chaotic, and judging by the statue of Discord made of various stuff present on an altar near the end of the room, it was a church venerating him and his chaos.
«A discordian church?!» shouted many ponies in surprise.
«There are ponies worshipping me?» wondered Discord who seemed the most shocked of everyone. «And what is a church worshipping me doing in Thanatos' castle? He hates me!»
Apple Bloom thought about it. "Well, this wing's full of psychos, right? And what better psycho than somepony who worships Chaos? No offense Discord."
«None taken, I understand what you mean. ESPECIALLY if they worship the old me.»
"Which is very probably the case," said Sweetie Belle.
"Hey! There's somepony in front of the statue!" shouted Scootaloo as she pointed at a cloaked form facing the statue of Discord.
Carefully, the ponies approached until the cloaked figure turned his head to reveal himself to be an unicorn purple stallion.
"Wow! Visitors! That's unexpected!" he said before he fully turned to face the ghost hunters, revealing a pink mane. "Are you here to join my Church of Chaos? Please, say yes, it has been a little lonely there."
"Yeah... I don't suppose there are many ponies who want to join the chaotic side," said Sweetie Belle.
The stallion rolled his eyes. "Because they all have a stick in the butt and don't know to appreciate the true good stuff. Chaos is the real way of life! Without it, life is SO boring!"
«That's totally me before,» said Discord.
"Oh! I forgot to present myself! I am Upside Left! Great Priest of the Lord of Chaos Discord! So, do you accept to join Chaos?"
The ghost hunters exchanged looks, then Apple Bloom said "One moment!" before they gathered and began to whisper.
"What do we do?" asked Apple Bloom.
"We certainly won't join his chaos church, but if he's like Discord, then maybe he can be talked to," said Applejack.
"We will still have to capture him to continue," said Little Ghost.
"Maybe we should just capture him and let Discord talk to him?" proposed Scootaloo.
Sweetie Belle nodded. "I think I know what to do." Then, the undead filly turned to face the stallion who was passing time by 'swimming' in the air. "Excuse me mister, but we're actually ghost hunters who are trying to capture Thanatos, and he's leaving us no choice but to capture you to reach him. Will you let us capture you so we can continue, please? If you say yes, then once this is over, we will lead you to Discord. He's now free of his stone prison, and he's even helping us fighting Thanatos. He hates him, you see."
Upside Left eyed her. "I totally approve of trying to capture Thanatos, I don't like him too, but I can't believe that you are with the Lord. Even if the Lord hates Thanatos, he wouldn't help a bunch of ponies like that."
"Trust me. Thanatos did something that really angered Discord, so he wants to make him pay, even if it means that he must work with ponies. This castle is warded against Discord, so he has no choice."
Upside Left rubbed his chin. "If you say so... That's a good point. But I don't really fancy myself getting captured."
"It's for the cause of Discord," said Sweetie Belle.
"Oooh alright alright! If it's for the Lord's cause, and if I can talk to him afterwards, then I accept to let myself being captured without resistance," said Upside Left. "But before..." His horn suddenly glowed, and in a flash, the ponies found themselves with their colors mixed. Apple Bloom now had a coat of the same purple than Scootaloo's mane and had her mane and tail of the same white than Sweetie Belle's coat for exemple.
"Hey!" they all yelled at the stallion.
Upside Left began to laugh, and the ponies could also hear Discord laughing too.
"Ahahahah! Don't worry. It should disappear once you capture me, I just wanted to do a little chaos for fun."
«Oh, I like him! Once I convince him to be a little less 'extreme', he will be a good apprentice,» said Discord.
«Discord, with an apprentice?» said Twilight in horror.
Many others groaned at this.
At this, Upside Left was captured (like he said, the ponies returned to normal at this), and the ponies could enter his chamber, which was as chaotic as the church. Still, the key was awaiting them on his bed, and they could enter the next room, the sixth and last one in the left in this floor.
They entered a room that seemed to serve both as a living room, a dinning room, and a kitchen.
And again, the horror was here, in the presence of unicorn skulls around the table, as well as one on it, all open and with a spoon in the last one.
«Those skulls... That spoon...» said Smart Spirit.
Understanding, everyone alive felt ill, especially the unicorns.
At the same time, the ghost hunters had to defend themselves against the ghost of an unicorn stallion with a light green coat and a darker green mane who appeared through a wall and fired at them with his magic while also throwing really big knives. The magic was dodged, the knives were sucked up and destroyed by the Poltergusts, and a Poltergun beam was fired at the stallion, giving the ponies the occasion to approach and catch him.
«Mystic Star. Teacher in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns who wanted to reach the level of power of Starswirl the Bearded himself, and got in his mind somehow that eating the brain of unicorns would help him in reaching this goal.» Twilight sounded very, very disgusted as she recited what she found. «He foalnapped students from the school and ate their brain, but was found out. He resisted his arrest, but died in a magical explosion that he accidentally caused, taking with him a couple of royal guards. I can't believe that a teacher from CSFU would do something so... So...»
"Well then, princess Celestia'll be pleased to hear that he's finally caught," said Apple Bloom.
With this, the ponies entered the chamber, took the key, and unlocked the last door in the wing's first floor: the seventh in the right.
The room was entirely white and possessed three beds separated by curtains, indicating it to be some kind of hospital room.
The presence of the ghost of a nurse confirmed it. She was a yellow earth pony with a pink mane in a bun, and possessed the usual uniform of a nurse.
Also, there seemed to be ponies in the bed, but they couldn't see from where they were.
"Oh? What are little ones doing in such a horrible places?" asked the nurse in wonder. "This castle is full of dangers. You must have escaped many near death experiences."
"Ya've no idea..." said Apple Bloom as she and the others eyed the mare with suspicion, like with Open Book.
"Well, you are welcome to remain in this room to rest as long as you want. My name is Peaceful Heart, and I will take care of you while you are here. You must be thirsty, I have water for you." As she said it, Peaceful Heart took two glasses from a shelf and filled them with a bottle of water that was on a nearby table.
While she was busy doing this, Little Ghost quickly flew to the nearest bed and hid behind it as she looked at who was in the bed. Then, as Peaceful Heart gave Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle the glasses of water, the filly ghost pointed at the nurse and made a cut throat sign.
With this confirmation, the fillies dropped the glasses, and before the nurse could act, the ghost hunters all activated their Poltergusts on her.
"Why are you doing this?!" asked Peaceful Heart as she tried to escape.
Not answering her, the hunters captured her with a collective Power Surge.
With the nurse gone, Applejack went to the bed that Little Ghost looked to earlier and uncovered the pony who was in it.
Revealing the skeleton of a foal. The two other beds also revealed corpses of foals, one of them not fully decomposed yet.
«Peaceful Heart. A nurse who saw the world as a horrible place and didn't want to let innocent children live in it to suffer, so whenever she was in charge of a filly or a colt, she secretly poisoned them to put them to rest... definitively. Poisoned herself when she was discovered,» said Twilight in sadness.
At this point, the ponies just accepted it without comments, recovered the bodies, and entered the chamber where they took the key.
Time to do the second floor...
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It took me 5 minutes to realize that the north wing was the VIP wing.
You might want to change the name of the VIP wing in the Thanatos Castle blog post to North wing to avoid confusing readers.
Not much can make me sick to my stomach, but this... almost did.
And same goes for the pony that ate unicorn brains...
About time the chapter's up. Please get the next one up soon.
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The official name is the VIP Wing, but the ponies (and anyone who haven't seen the blogs) only know it as the North Wing for now.
It was only the beginning. There are still the second and third floors of the wing.
I can't believe you referenced Five Nights at Freddys with the purple pony and the bunny costume.
FINAL FLAAAAASSH!!!
*Mimics Vegeta's voice*
A Blood Mage? Now it would be really scary to encounter someone who has the power to CONTROL BLOOD!
So Chara from Undertale? Neat. Aren't references fun?
I'm really liking some of the ghosts in the castle like, Red Blast, Peaceful heart, Open Book and Happy Doll. Even though they might have done really bad stuff they at least have an interesting personality.
Don't you mean Upside Down? Or Right Side Up?
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Yep, references are really fun. I always love to spot references in TV shows and the like. It sometimes feels like I'm playing a seek-and-find game like Where's Waldo.
I think it's supposed to not make sense. After all, Discord is the lord of chaos.
10353639
Thankfully, Apple Bloom could turn into a ghost, an the others don't have blood anymore (excepted Sweetie but she couldn't feel the burn if the guy tried it on her).
10353683
Same. I love references.
Exactly. A name that doesn't make sense because what is the fun in making sense?
10354391
Are you working on the next chapter yet?
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I just started.
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Is the next chapter almost ready yet?
10364595
Almost. Only one room left.
Im surprised they haven't encountered a Onryo yet considering where they are.
Vanny from FNAF: Security Breach
or
Glitchtrap from FNAF: Help Wanted
Chara from Undertale
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Purple Guy in the Spring Bonnie suit.
FNAF Springtrap