Ghost Busting 3

by Edguy0009

Chapter 8

Once the doors to the elevators opened, the group was met by a trio of purple top hats floating in a line, regularly changing places before doing a loop with their owners popping out of their hats shortly.

"Hello, I'm Magica Hat!"

"Hello, I'm Magica Wand!"

"Hello, I'm Magica Card!"

All three were purple mares with blond manes with the first one who appeared was on the right, had two short pony tails and is an earth pony, the second who appeared was on the left with two long ponytails and is a pegasus. The third one who appeared was in the center and had only one pony tail and was a unicorn. Outside side of those, the trio looked the same with the same clothing, dark purple tuxedos and capes along with their top hats.

"And welcome… to the Twisted Suites!" They said at the same time.

"A different world where your senses are abused." Hat said as she took out some cards and waved a hoof, causing them to disappear.

"Where left will be right, and right will be up or upside down." Wand said, floating upside down.

"Where it's easy for something to go tragically wrong!" Card said as she grabbed a saw with a giggle.

"Now for the show." The three said with a bow, "We hope you love it to death." They added before leaving through the door to the left while giggling.

"Great, we're facing three Trixies." Apple Bloom said with a groan.

"I have a feeling that this floor will be… interesting in a twisted way." Kratus said.

"What do you mean by that?" Little Ghost asked.

"It's in the name."

"Kratus is correct." Twilight said, "The floor you're at likely has surprises involving traps and illusions."

"Which means that I'll go first and be the meat shield."

"Meat shield?" Little Ghost asked.

"Someone who can take a lot of damage, usually able to dish it out as well." Kratus replied as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle voiced what hoped wouldn't happen to the former.

"Well, anyway, let's follow them and just deal with whatever they throw at us."

"Agreed." Kratus replied before the group left the elevator into the hallway which was well decorated and looked more like a living room, most of the room was in red, walls, floor, curtains and so on with a table on both sides of the elevator. The one on the right had cards in a triangle. The one on the left had a giant dice, the right table also had a red sofa in a corner and a red chest, two chairs with having a bunny plushy and the other a piggy bank. Beside the left table there was a potted plant in a corner. The floor had a large, yellow and green carpet covering most of it with two red, rectangular carpets under the tables with a third in front of the door to the left, on the opposite wall, there was a bookshelf with some books, and there was also a smaller bookshelf above the left table with some books and a skull with a candle on it. On the ceiling there were lights, including some on a chandelier with some on the walls on both sides of the door and big shelf. The most defining feature was the framed posters and pictures relating to stage magic hanging everywhere on the walls.

After breaking the piggy bank and taking the bits inside, then opened the chest that had some bits inside, though there were props like fake teeth or balls. With nothing else to find, the group went to open the door with Kratus going first, only notice to something about the door.

"That's clever of them, would've worked if I hadn't noticed." The Makuta said, "The door isn't real, it's made of paper." He added with Apple Bloom groaning as the Makuta peeled the paper off, revealing a hole with them finding the hats of the three mares that moved around until one stopped, causing the one behind to bump into it from behind with Magica Wand coming out of the first with Magica Card coming out of the second hat, angered at what happened and started an argument before Magica Hat appeared, settling the argument with them returning to their hats that twirled out of the room, phasing through the door, "That must be their ghost power, intriguing." He said before turning to the bookshelf and moved it after Sweetie Belle pointed out something odd about it, finding the door after Apple Bloom used the Dark Light Device.

The room they were in was a bedroom, judging by the appearance, though the wall apparently was a brown and blue target where a pony is strapped to it with another pony attempting to avoid hitting the strapped pony with knives as they spun around, and there was one of those boxes where one gets sawed in half with a saw ready, and after checking the nightstands for any loot, the group entered the door on the opposite end with them entering the bathroom which had swords, cards, some pictures and a chandelier with the symbols of cards on their sides which was unusual for a bathroom, and to their right was another door that led to another room, though other than a closet, there was nothing interesting in the room so, the group passed through it and entered a hallway that led to the right.

The hallway was, in the words of Kratus, interesting thanks to the crows in cages hanging from the ceiling, giant posters of magician ghosts on the wall in front of them, and going left to right they were the following, a trickster with mystical energy around his front hooves, a thrower and a trickster performing the sawed in half trick with the latter being the one in the box, and a creeper pulling a bunny plushy out of a hat. The first poster had a rope that would raise it, revealing a safe. The left of the poster had a box with more props, a table with an upside-down table with an upside down hat with a bouquet coming out of it, along with a chair that had a bunny plushy on it.

"Seeing all this reminds me of somepony."

"And who would that be?" Little Ghost asked.

"The founder of the Lulamoon family: Lilly Lulamoon." Kratus replied, creating a lifelike illusion of a cerulean coated unicorn mare with a silver with a white striped mane and tail and a cutie mark of a triangular illusion with an arcane symbol background.

"I hope she wasn't like Trixie." Apple Bloom groaned.

"She was the opposite and was an absolute master at illusions, with nopony reaching or surpassing her in that field. But I admit that I helped in that regard after she came into my service with her among the greatest of my agents. She wasn't married at the start, but she did marry during her time as an agent." Kratus replied, "The agent she worked with the most when a mission required another pony was Gusty." He added, surprising the fillies and Twilight Sparkle.

"The Gusty The Great in your dimension was an agent?"

"She's retired though."

"What do you mean retired?"

"She touched the Kanohi Ignika which gave her an extended lifespan and an eternal youthful look after somehow finding the secondary entrance to New Daxia, which is how she came into my service, she's an alicorn now, making her immortal, still has the cloak I gave her during her time as an agent along with a pair of Kraata mentally tied to her in recognition of her service though."

"She's a princess now?"

"Far from it, though she gets asked why she isn't one which annoys her. As for what she's the alicorn of? Hope, the bringer of light in a dark time." Kratus replied as the group turned the corner and found two doors, The right led back to the room with the swords, and as the Makuta approached the left door as the meat shield, the garbage bin in the came to life and attacked, only to earn a well-aimed kick from the Makuta, destroying it.

The room they were in was… twisted. The floor looked like the ceiling, with an upside down fan on it. There was no way to tell what was the floor, on the wall in front of them, there was a bed with two nightstands and a carpet, the left wall was a desk with a lamp next to along with some books on the desk. The right wall near the exit door had a table which had some bits on it along with a chair. But the ceiling topped it all off, lots of rugs, a chandelier and along with a lamp against the right wall. The left wall had a grandfather clock, and not far from the bed chair was a table. On the walls were lamps in hanging in different directions depending on their placement.

The triplets were around the table drinking tea while upside down with Magica Card sitting on the chair.

"Hellooo there!" She said, noticing the group as they entered the room.

"What do you think of Twisted Suites so far?" Magica Hat asked.

"Mind blowing, I bet." Magica Wand said before she shook her wand, "How about you join us for tea." She added as she gave it a flick, causing Kratus, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle fell on the ceiling, surprising the trio with Kratus recovering first.

"To answer your question. I find it… interesting so far, not mind-blowing as I've seen stranger." Kratus said before looking around, "And it has, especially this room, given me some ideas on some things, though what you just did, also gave me an idea or two." He added, gaining the triplets' curiosity only for Samuel to speak before they could.

"Great… just great." The deity said, noticing the look in his friend's eyes. "You just gave him some ideas to upgrade his lairs' defenses, and I pity any who come across them."

"You know me all too well, old friend." Kratus said, chuckling.

"Sometimes more than I'd like too." Samuel groaned.

"You have an invisible friend?" Magica Card asked, looking around, hoping to find a hint of said friend.

"He's not invisible, he's a god that lives in a place between universes, And he's the owner of it." Little Ghost said before the deity could respond.

"My student speaks the truth." Samuel said with the triplets' jaws dropping as the deity continued, "And, as much as I would like to enter your universe, circumstances are preventing me from entering."

"But back to why we're here." Kratus began, "As nice as tea time is, I think we should get down to business, you have something we need, the button. You have two options, one is."

"You expect us to give it to you after what you did to Oogie Boogie?" Magica Card asked, interrupting while nearly growling, only for the Makuta to laugh.

"I'm sorry, it's just that what I assume is your nickname for Ooga sounds like a name a nightmarish villain would have." He said, calming down, "And from previous experience, you're not going to voluntarily give it to us, we're going to have to catch you."

"If you can." The triplets said in unison before leaving, with the Makuta telling them it's inevitable, but Wand returned and sent them to the floor while canceling tea time.

"Uh, I didn't know stage magic can be used to get others on the ceiling."

"Normally, it can't." Apple Bloom said with a groan as she recovered.

"Not like Trixie's." Sweetie Belle said before turning to Kratus, "Or her ancestor in your dimension, and if Trixie was more powerful, she could be like them."

"Oh, hay no!" Applejack said.

"She probably will be when she becomes a ghost." Pinkie Pie pointed out.

"Oh, Celestia, no…" Rarity said in horror.

"If the Trixie in this dimension is like the one in mine, then she'll mellow out, even help run a school. That reminds me, I still need to give her Lilly's spell book as I promised her to do so when I found her successor that's part of her bloodline."

"She wrote her own book?" Twilight asked.

"Kept it safe for millennia, stasis field and preservation spells are very handy."

"I was wondering what the ability ya used to halt ghosts attacking was." Apple Bloom said as the Makuta went to the door.

"Hmm… locked." He said, checking to see if it was unlocked, "Think you can find the key in one of the drawers?" He asked Little Ghost, who nodded and failed to find the key, "Maybe the three of you should try the DLD to find it." The Makuta told the fillies who nodded in agreement with the Makuta watching for ghosts with Apple Bloom finding a secret door to the bathroom with a chest, and as before the Makuta went first, which was justified as the chest came to life and attempted to gobble Little Ghost until the Makuta crushed it with his Shadow Hand, revealing that the former chest had the key and some bits that the group took before they used the key to open the door.

The next room was relatively normal as it had a stage for magic shows, tables, food, drinks and other goodies on shelves for spectators, the triplets were doing a show waiting while waiting for the group, though once they saw them, they did a Tadaa! Before entering their hats and twirled through the door on the opposite side.

"They're like the UFO versions of clown cars when they do that." Kratus said, "Well, until they become IFOs, that is."

“I know what a UFO is, but what’s a IFO?” Sweetie Belle asked.

"Identified Flying Object." Kratus replied before the group found the door locked, causing them to check for a key, finding none with them trying out other doors, one to the left of the stage, and another at the front to the right of the stage. After some exploration, they found a crack in the wall behind the stage and found a room that needed a key in a cage. Knowing where to go, the group used the door next to the stage.

The room they were in was a bathroom with one of those big, glass water tanks that magicians try not to drown while escaping, chains and all. But after the group saw another interesting part of the bathroom…

"Rubber ducky, you're the one. Rubber ducky, you make bathing fun!" Kratus said in a singing tone of voice.

"I thought ya said ya couldn't sing." Apple Bloom asked, confused as she remembered when a certain pianist had a short chat with the group.

"Just because I don't sing in an orchestra or a quire, doesn't mean I don't know how to sing."

"Fair enough." Apple Bloom said before the group searched for another door and pulled off a paper with a window on it before they found the door using the DLD which led to another bedroom with a bed to the right in a corner, this one happened to be used to train animals for shows as there were the tools for it, including an obstacle course made of planks and furniture. There was also a lot of paper covering the floor, and in the center, on a round platform, was the cage with the key inside. There was also three piggy banks, one on the bed, one on a small closet that was converted into a small cage for mice, with the last on a chair next an aquarium that looked like a desk thanks to the sheet covering it, then there was also in front of the bed, a cage full of crows that was covered by a sheet, making it also look like a desk.

As Little Ghost went to grab the key from the cage which was open, a purple lightning bolt hit it, turning the key into a golden rabbit with the key as its tail, but as it went to escape, it found itself frozen in place as something told it to halt before Kratus grabbed it.

"Whoever was powerful enough to do this, was also pretty stupid. I mean, come on, I can tell animals to do stuff they wouldn't do with a single thought, then there’s the fact that I can literally freeze someone in terror, and they thought this would work?" The Makuta said, gripping the rabbit by its neck as the group returned to the stage room with the rabbit returning to a key as they went to unlock the door with them exploring the room to the right first, which turned out to be a laundry room.

The laundry room turned out to be the most normal room on the floor with the only thing that let the group know they were on a floor with a stage magic theme was the ribbons hanging on the dryer with the only other interesting things in the room were bits on the shelf that they grabbed before they went to the unlocked door.

The room was a bedroom with a strange feature; the bed was on a pillar in the center of the room with the right side of the pillar covered by a mirror, making it look like the bed was floating thanks to another optical illusion formed by the curtains against the walls facing and behind it, on the right wall was a black-and-white picture of a mare magician who looked like the triplets, but without the mane style with the group guessing that the mare might be the triplets' mother, at the right of the door that they entered, was a round table that looked like time stopped, because the tea-pot floating in the air pouring tea into a cup was frozen with nothing moving, not even the liquid.

Finally, at the right of another door was a semi-circular platform beside a rope, and once Kratus pulled the rope, a curtain dropped, and once he released it, a treasure chest appeared.

"What just happened, wasn't the strangest thing I've ever seen or happened to me." The Makuta said.

"And what was?"

"My first time entering the Realm of Possibilities, finding out that a bunch of doors happened to be universes and found that someone lived there was." Kratus replied before sighing, "But that was a lifetime ago."

"Yeah, literally in your case." Samuel said.

"Still doesn't make it any less strange." Apple Bloom pointed out.

"It's ghost magic. Don't even think about trying to understand it." Little Ghost said.

"And that's fine by me." Kratus said before the group went to a door before going through the hidden door behind the curtains near the mirror.

The room happened to be a bathroom that had a blue sheet partially covering the tub, making it seem like it was overflowing. Though when they removed the sheet, they found a pressure plate with Kratus telling them to stand back as he pressed down, causing a chest to rise.

"There are a lot of secrets on this floor, I hope we haven't missed any." Kratus said with Apple Bloom shrugging before opening the chest, if they missed anything, then it wasn't a major loss, she was rich enough already, they just did it to annoy Eternal Rest. Though, despite her armored friend saying that it wouldn't even help, she'd give the gold to Kratus to help refill his gold supply.

After they left the bathroom, a giant top hat fell on Apple Bloom.

"Hey, why is it so dark all of a sudden?" She asked, surprised before trying to get it off by the bottom, but her hoofs were unable to get under it as it was on the floor, and she couldn't remove it from the top as her hooves couldn't reach, only for Kratus to remove it for her after shaking his head.

"I have the feeling that we may need this fairly soon." He said before the group entered an alcove to the right of the door they entered where there were three large dice on top of each other in an unstable equilibrium. They weren't sure if it was real or a sculpture. Beside it was a trash can and another door in front that led to another hallway where to the left, was a space full of shelves full of books, a table, two chairs, another trash can, and a pedestal with a trio of floating statues of Magica Wand were floating in a triangular formation with one missing its hat with the Makuta putting it on the statue, that caused a spiral stairway of purple energy to surround the statues and that, yes it was solid as the Makuta put a foot to test it, it didn't phase through, the stairway led to a secret area above the shelves with a chest, and once the group returned to the bottom of the stairs after retrieving the contents, the two trash cans in the hall came to life and attacked, though that proved useless as Kratus used disintegration to destroy them before exiting the hallway.

The room they were in was not like the others, lit only by a small light hanging from the ceiling, and over a dozen candles were arranged around a hexagon made with tape while taking up most of the floor. All the beds, carpets, and chairs and other furniture were moved to the corners, there were cards arranged in triangles, and the red box with swords, speaking of which, there were many planted in the rolled-up carpets and in the walls, there was also a picture of a crow hanging on the wall beside the door, both right and left walls were mirrors that revealed a chest that required the usage of a DLD to make it appear. Though contrary to most rooms there wasn't a single picture frame, the right wall also contained a door that the group entered.

The door led to the room that they saw through the hole in the elevator hall, with it a restroom converted into a wardrobe, waiting there, upside down where the hats of the three sisters.

Then the sisters appeared above their hats with a poof. Magica Wand made a bunny plushy come out of her hat. Magica Hat made three billiard balls come out of hers. Magica Card made… Sweetie Belle's skull come out much to the surprise of the group with the sisters laughing before the lich demanded her skull back with Magica Card throwing it telling her to catch with Apple Bloom catching it, though Magica Card did one more trick, she pulled Kratus' Kanohi Kraahkan out of her hat… big mistake.

You see... there's a fact about the Kanohi Kraahkan only a few know, it has a defense mechanism that stops anyone other than a Makuta from holding it. Something Magica Card found out the hard way when the Kanohi fired blasts of shadow energy at the mare, stopping only after she flung it away from her with the Makuta catching it in midair, calling her a Kohlii Head while amused by what happened before the mares left the room after waving their wands, releasing a purple wave of energy and telling them to have fun exploring the floor again with them returning to the previous room, only to find that they were back in the room with the swords, the box and saw along with the round target, with a purple mist covering the floor, surprising the group and those at the caravan, but they had little time to register what happened as a trio tricksters appeared and armed themselves with the swords.

They should've known that it was too easy thanks to only having to deal with the tricks and animated objects, and only the sisters being the only ghosts that attacked.

But that was for later as they had more immediate things to worry about, mainly the tricksters armed with swords that the Makuta dealt with by taking them away with his magnetism, allowing the fillies to capture them without worrying about the swords, allowing the group to think about what had happened before they found themselves in the room with the three statues with three throwers attacking, only for them to end up captured with Apple Bloom making a plan with the group agreeing before they had to go through a maze of rooms and dealing with the ghosts along the way, each one both annoying Kratus and giving him some ideas for more upgrades before they finally wound up back in the room with the hexagon.

"Wow! You managed to get past the maze of rooms along with all the ghosts." Card said.

"Bravo, Bravo!" Hat applauded.

"Seems like it's now showtime!" Wand said with the others agreeing before they entered their hats and twirled around, circling the group with their respective tools ready before the hats disappeared with a red curtain that surrounded the hexagon appearing from the floor with the floor the hexagon was on turning a mystical purple with lights appearing on the edges before the curtain lowered, revealing they were now in another dimension.

Kratus and Apple Bloom hadn't been in one like this since the fight with Little Ghost.

The hexagon was now a stage surrounded by an infinite void made of a mist changing from blue to red with some of it spinning like a vortex with props coming out with the sisters appearing in front of it in a line and gave a bow as the spot lights returned to the group before the sisters disappeared back into their hats

"We're in a pocket dimension made by powerful ghosts to prevent their escape, we can leave once we defeat the sisters." Kratus said after noticing how worried Sweetie Belle was.

"Defeat us?" One of the sisters asked from her hat.

"You can't defeat us!" Another said.

"You will die here, and we will avenge our darling Oogie Boogie." The third voice said with them attacking by sending giant spinning cards at them that the Makuta destroyed with everypony shuddering before the Makuta laughed, not an evil laugh, but the same one that he made when he and Apple Bloom faced Thanatos with the area briefly darkening, and Apple Bloom had three words to say to the sisters.

"Welp, yer doomed." She said with the other fillies not knowing what to say yet with the three sisters confused before Kratus spoke.

"We entertained you. Now… it's your turn to entertain ME!" He told the sisters with the area turning dark, courtesy of the Makuta's dominion over shadow, with only his eyes showing before they disappeared.

"Yep, you're right, they are doomed." Little Ghost said, "I hope this trick I learned during my training with Samuel works."

"What do you mean by that?" Sweetie Belle asked, earning an unseen smirk from the filly ghost as the fillies heard the sound of Kratus firing his skyblaster.

"This." Little Ghost responded, with her power forming a shield that disappeared in the darkness, "There, we're now protected by a barrier." She said, just in time for something to hit said form of protection with a muffled thunk.

"You can run, but you can't hide from me in the shadows." Kratus told the mares, amused, "For they are mine." He said as the fillies heard one of the mares scream as the Makuta laughed,

"And there's that sadistic sense of humor of his." Apple Bloom groaned as the area lit up, revealing that Magica Hat had her clothing on fire before the others put it out, only for Kratus to send all three flying thanks to him using fragmentation to cause the ground beneath them to explode, before the Makuta singled out Magica Wand as the area turned dark again, only for it to light up once more when Kratus used the darkness to surround the blade of his weapon before unleashing it in pillars of darkness that sent Wand flying once it hit before the Makuta turned his attention to Magica Hat and slashed her with his sword after teleporting behind her.

"You defied the law of gravity, now you must pay the price." Kratus said before increasing the pull of gravity on all three sisters, causing them to slam into the ground before sending a shockwave of compressed air at them.

"I don't know about you girls, but I think he's having fun." Sweetie Belle said, noticing the look of amusement on the Makuta's face as he toyed with the three sisters.

"Like I said, he has a sadistic sense of humor." Apple Bloom said as Kratus attacked Magica Card with electricity and, surprisingly, caused her to "dance" once he hit her with it, resulting in the Makuta cackling at the sight.

"You're right about that." Little Ghost said with a sigh, noticing that Kratus used plasma to light Magica Card's clothing on fire with the others putting it out, as the Makuta laughed once more.

"You know, I knew stage magician that was way better than you three combined." Kratus said, "And she had some training from me to improve her skills." He added, creating illusions of himself that surrounded the three sisters before attacking from random directions.

"Haven't seen him use a version of that move in a while." Samuel said, having established a connection earlier.

"And what's its name?" Little Ghost asked.

"He calls it Tiger Shark, after the way said shark toys with its prey before landing a bite." The deity replied as Kratus attacked from random directions a few more times before speaking.

"Now, it's time to end this." Kratus said, tossing his sword up into the air as he reverted it back into a swordstaff as darkness gathered around the blade with the Makuta creating a wave of darkness with a single horizontal slash that slammed into all three sisters, knocking them out cold, resulting in Little Ghost dropping the barrier which allowed she and the other fillies to capture all three mares without resistance.