Prologue

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The Gem Manor, great home of the also great family known as the Gems. A three stories manor proudly throning at the top of a small hill not far off the capital of Equestria, Everfree. Walls as white as princess Celestia's fur, and a roof as green as the grass surrounding the building sheltering three windows at the front, its particularity was the presence of many gems of different kinds decorating the exterior, showing to everypony to who it belonged.

The Gems were, indeed, a powerful family.

And in the mind of Pyrite, a disgusting family. They could say all they wanted about being tolerating like "Hey look! My son married an earth pony! We aren't speciesist like the other nobles!", but if they were as tolerant as they pretended, then he would be the one possessing this manor! Not his dear little brother. But nooo! Because he was born a bastard child, he couldn't be the successor!

As already said, disgusting.

But he had to come, just so his image didn't get any dirtier in the eyes of his dear mother, so he could at least still ask for money when he needed it when his paintings didn't sell well.

Really, an artist really gets appreciated only after their death!

Huffing, the bearded yellow unicorn stallion knocked on the double door of the manor with the family's old and loyal butler Clean Order soon answering him.

"Sir Pyrite, the master was awaiting your arrival."

"I would have bet the contrary," mumbled Pyrite as he passed the older gray unicorn stallion, entering the foyer.

"The master is awaiting you in the parlor."

Pyrite raised an eyebrow. "He is waiting for me? I would have thought that he would be with the others, celebrating the arrival of his fourth child."

"He couldn't start without you, Sir." The butler replied with a smile, "Despite everything, you are his brother."

"He probably did it to look good."

Sighing, the butler guided Pyrite to the loft toward another double door. After knocking on it to announce himself, he opened it. "Master, your brother is here."

"He can enter!" answered a voice that Pyrite recognized belonging to his little brother. No half-brother.

Moving aside, Clean Order let the yellow stallion pass before closing the door, letting the two brothers alone. Right away, Pyrite's brother, Diamond Cup, then said "I thought that you would never come, Pyrite."

"For a moment, I thought too," replied the older stallion before walking toward the chair in front of his brother.

"Tea?"

"No."

"Still as nice as ever," said the mustachioed yellow stallion with a chuckle.

"Now that I am here, should we go? I would rather not lose time in useless talk."

"You can't wait for the celebration to start! I can't either. But come on, Pyrite, we haven't seen each other in three years. A little talk to catch up isn't bad."

"There is not much to catch up," said Pyrite as he started to look at one of the paintings in envy.

As the tradition, the current master of the manor had his portrait hanging from the wall just in front of the entrance of the room, between two candlelights, and so, the current portrait was the one of Diamond Cup. Around the room are also portraits of Diamond's wife, Golden Hair, their mother, Emerald, the butler Clean Order, and in his generosity, Diamond had also put a portrait of Pyrite. But he would much prefer seeing his portrait between the two candlelights.

"Really now? Nothing special happened? You still haven't found a mare?"

"Don't you think I'm now too old to hunt mares?"

"You are never too old to find love. Too bad however, that it's probably too late to have a nephew."

"You already have a niece, and Golden and Silver Shoes could get a son any year."

"True, but I would have loved seeing you with a little one. Maybe it would have made you less grumpy."

"I already have a hard time living by myself without coming back every few years to ask for money. How could I have afforded to take care of a foal?"

"You could have come living here."

"No."

The two stallions entered the dining room, meeting the rest of the family here. A huge banquet table full of food was prepared, and around it, everypony else was happily eating and chatting, or in the case of the children, running around playing.

"And here come my two sons," said an old green unicorn mare upon spotting them.

"Sorry mother, Pyrite was a little shy."

"I wasn't!"

"Dear," started a pink, blond maned, very pregnant earth pony mare, "stop teasing your brother. You know how much he hates that."

"There isn't much he likes," commented a thin cyan unicorn stallion with a laugh.

"Lapis!" shouts another old unicorn mare, this one purple.

Yes, this was the rest of the family. The pregnant mare was Golden Hair, Diamond's wife, the green old nag was Emerald, his mother, the cyan stallion was Lapis Lazuli, one of his cousins, and the other old nag was Crystal Ball, Lapis' mother and sister of Emerald, making her his aunt.

Beside them, in the room, were also Diamond's twin sons, Ruby and Sapphire, a red pegasus and a blue earth pony; Golden Shoes, Golden Hair's big brother, his wife Silver Shoes, and their daughter, Platinum Shoes, which was playing with her cousins, all earth ponies; Jump Scare, Golden Hair's other older brother, also an earth pony; Pyrite's other cousins, a white unicorn stallion named Zircon, his twin brother, the obese, also white unicorn stallion Pearl currently busy disgustingly stuffing himself, and the younger fake twins Opal Note, an orange unicorn mare, and Topaz, an orange muscled unicorn stallion; finally, there's Pearl's wife, a dark pink chubby unicorn mare named Swift Wave.

The only one who wasn't present was Diamond's eldest son, Prismatic Gem, who was away studying about the... Hum... Family's secret duty, and he would come back tomorrow morning.

Looking at everypony briefly, Pyrite sat on the remaining chair beside his brother, and started eating without saying anything.

"Boooo!" He saw Jump Scare doing at the foals when they passed beside him. But it only had for effect to make them laugh.

"You are still trying to scare somepony, Scary?" Golden Shoes asked with a laugh. "This isn't with those little 'boo' that you will scare anypony."

"But it makes the children laugh."

"I heard you two won another dance contest," said Opal Note to Golden and Silver Shoes. "Impressive. It's your tenth in a row."

"Not as impressive as you," said Silver Shoes in return. "You got to play your piano for the princesses. Many pianists can only dream of being in your place."

"Pearl!" shouted Topaz. "You should stop eating like that! I swear, one day, you will eat yourself to death!"

"Don't be absurd, it won't happen," replied Pearl. He turned to Zircon. "How does the exploration of the North goes for you?"

"Since the disappearance of the Crystal Empire, it's harder, but it progresses. Last month, I climbed Mount Sky."

"Mount Sky? The highest known mountain of the North?" asked Topaz. "Next time, could you bring me with you? I love that kind of challenge."

"Don't you have a fighting tournament soon?"

"Right. I forgot. Maybe next time."

"When do you think the little one will come?" Emerald asked Golden Hair.

"We aren't sure," answered the pink mare. "All we know is that it's almost time. Any day."

"It's what Aunt Crystal said," Diamond confirmed.

"I can't wait to see her."

"Me too, my dear."

Pyrite tuned down the discussions around him, losing himself in his mind.

The family's secret... Pyrite thought about it for some time before. Being good in his mother's eyes wasn't the only reason that he came to the celebration. For a few months, an idea had been forming in his mind. He had enough living like that, hoping that the next painting would sell well enough that he wouldn't need to return pleading his mother while his brother was having the perfect life. He had a manor, wealth, a wonderful family, and he was about to have his fourth foal, a filly he told him... And he had the good graces of the princesses!

That was enough!

For Pyrite, the decision was taken. This night, it would end...

At the end of dinner, they went to the conservatory where Opal Note gave a small concert to everypony with her piano, before they separated, everypony going at their occupation. That was the occasion Pyrite was waiting.

The artist went to the basement, passed by the cellar, and entered the basement's hallway. At the end of the hallway was a locked door. Only the master of the manor had the key to open it. Thankfully for Pyrite, his brother hadn't seen him using his magic to take the key during dinner. So he opened the door and traversed another hallway, this one tortuous, like a snake.

At the end of this hallway was another door, locked too, but not by a key...

A magic field locked this one.

He approached it.

"Powerful Bogmire! Hear me!"

"I felt someone coming. Who is asking me?"

"I am Pyrite! A descendant of the one who sealed you! And I am here to free you!"

"What a despicable creature. You know very well what I will do to your family the instant you break this seal. Do you really wish to continue?"

"Yes, but I want something in return!"

"If you want to free me, I can guess what you want. You want the manor. You want its wealth. You want your family to suffer. Am I right?"

"Yes."

"Very well. As a gift for freeing me, this manor, and everything in it, will be yours forever, and your family will suffer for eternity. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal!"

"Then open this door, and your dreams will come true."

That night...

The manor, and all its inhabitants, disappeared without leaving any trace.

Time passed, Equestria changed capital, a forest appeared, a village was built not far.

All but a few forgot the disappearance of the Gem family.

And yet...

Somewhere in Equestria...

As he listened to a song of Countess Coloratura, an old gray unicorn stallion finished tightening a nut with a wrench, finishing his most recent creation, which looked like a red vacuum cleaner. With a last, powerful pull, he was done.

Taking away his glasses to rub his almost bald head, the stallion sighed before saying "Finally!" He inspected his invention, turning it to admire it in all its details. "Wonderful! That's the fifth finished! I can't wait to test this new version! Hopefully, with it, I will be able to return to business despite my old bones!" He turned his head to look at a drawing on a wall, a drawing of the Gem Manor, which disappeared over one thousand years ago. "But will this be enough if it reappears?" He looked down at the portraits below the drawing, each of a pony who disappeared with the manor. Fifteen portraits. Sadly, not everypony in the manor had a portrait, but he knew there were more ponies in there, like the foals, and the servants. Some texts even talked of a dog guarding the family graveyard at the back. Among the servants, the only one who had a portrait was the butler.

In total, over 20 ponies disappeared this terrible night, and the old stallion mostly knew how. His family had been preparing for generations for the potential reappearance of the manor, and he really hoped that it would reappear soon. He was getting too old, and like an idiot, he had more focused in his inventions and researches than in his life, so he didn't have a son or daughter to continue his family's duty. The day he would die, nopony would be there anymore to prepare for the manor, and the horrors that it would probably bring with it.

Maybe he should start teaching his duty to somepony so they could take over.

At this moment, an alarm started blaring, and the old stallion immediately knew what it meant. Looking at a big crystal at the right of the drawing of the manor, he saw it flashing red.

A big smile formed on the stallion's muzzle.

"Ohohohohohoh! Finally! It's about time!"

Without losing time, he dropped his finished invention and passed the door, exiting the room, which was actually inside a caravan, then climbed on a sit at the front with a wheel. He pushed a pedal, only to be answered by some coughing coming from the vehicle.

"What? Come on! That new fuel was working well yesterday!"

He pushed the pedal a few more times, until the vehicle finally started to move, black smoke escaping from a pipe at the back with the sound of some small explosions.

"I will have to take a look. But later! First! Direction the Everfree Forest!"

It had been a few days since Shining Armor and Cadance's wedding. Everything was back to normal after the invasion of the changelings. Well, almost. With the idea that anypony could be a changeling in disguise, many ponies became paranoiac, and the guards were busy working on a spell to reveal a disguised changeling. To help them, Twilight was also working on the spell in her home, the mare in constant communication with the royal guard who was currently replacing Shining Armor, the captain being on his honeymoon with his wife.

Alone in her room studying a book, the familiar sound of something crashing through a window interrupted her, slamming against a shelf, and causing dozens of books to fall.

"Twilight!" she heard Spike scream from the first floor.

"I heard, Spike!" shouted back Twilight before sighing.

She closed her book, and exited her room to go to the main room of the library and see what Rainbow Dash wanted, or help her get back on her hooves if it was one of her "Rainbow Crash" moments, which was most likely. And help Spike put back the books at their place. The poor dragon already worked a lot today.

"Rainbow?" called Twilight as she went down the stairs.

"Urg... Sorry Twilight," said Rainbow from the pile of books where she was, rubbing her head.

"What is it this time? A failed loop?"

"It wasn't a failed stunt this time!" The cyan pegasus answered as she walked out of the pile, ignoring Spike's glare. "I saw something incredible, and I had to see you!"

"What did you see?"

"You will not believe it! I spotted a strange manor in the Everfree! It wasn't there before!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"A manor?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah! A manor! I didn't approach, but it looked scary! Like, haunted manor kind of scary! It was all dark, and old, and gloomy..."

"I understand, it was a manor like we find in horror stories."

"Does this mean there are ghosts?" Spike asked in fear.

"Come on Spike, you know that ghosts don't exist."

"I don't know if there are ghosts or not," Rainbow said. "but that manor is suspicious."

"You're right. Gather everypony, we will go investigate."

"Should I warn Celestia?" Spike asked.

If that question had been asked a few days ago, Twilight would have answered yes right away. But after what happened in the wedding with Celestia, she had second thoughts...

"No need... This is just a manor. We will only warn her if we find something bad inside."

"Ok, but I'm coming with you so I can send a letter as soon as we see a ghost."

"There aren't ghosts!"

"A manor in the Everfree?" Applejack asked.

"Yes, and we're going to investigate it," Rainbow Dash answered.

Behind Applejack, her little sister, Apple Bloom, listened. A scary manor appeared in the forest? Should she warn her friends to try being 'Cutie Mark Crusaders Ghost Hunter'? She didn't feel kind to see if there were ghosts or not...

In the following hour, Twilight, her friends, and Spike went in the Everfree Forest to see that mysterious manor.

They didn't come back...

In their clubhouse, after school, three fillies gathered in it in worry. It shouldn't take that long to explore a manor.

"They haven't come back since yesterday," Apple Bloom said in worry.

"Maybe whoever owns the manor asked them to spend the night," Scootaloo proposes.

"Or maybe they were captured by ghosts!" Sweetie Belle shouted in fear.

"Pfff! As if! They fought those bug things! And Discord! And Nightmare Moon! As if some ghosts would get them," Scootaloo said.

"You aren't worried?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yes! Even if they slept in the manor, they would have sent Rainbow or Pinkie to warn everypony so we wouldn't worry!" Sweetie Belle said before asking something, "Should we tell Spike to warn the princess?"

"You are worrying over nothing," said Scootaloo. "Nothing can happen to Rainbow Dash. But if you are so worried, we can go and see that manor." She grinned. "Who knows, it may be the occasion for us to get our Cutie Marks."

"Besides, Spike went with them," Apple Bloom pointed out. "Ah didn't tell ya that?"

"No, you forgot. And this makes it even less worrying. If something happened, Spike would have sent a letter to Princess Celestia," Scootaloo said. "But we’re still going."

"Not now. If somepony sees us going in the Everfree, we'll have problems. We should go when everypony's sleeping."

"But... It will be all dark..." said Sweetie Belle.

"Ah heard that this manor isn't far in the forest. It's even closer to Ponyville than Zecora's hut."

"And I will take a flashlight," Scootaloo added.

"Come. You don't want to see if yer sister is alright?" Apple Bloom asked.

"O... Ok..."

That night, the CMC gathered again in the clubhouse, Scootaloo holding a flashlight, ready to go in the Everfree Forest to see that manor.

"Alright, let's go," Scootaloo said.

Her friends nodded.

They left the clubhouse, and went in the forest, following the path that Apple Bloom saw Twilight and the others taking. In just a few minutes, they reached the famous manor, and they all gulped at seeing it.

The manor was at the top of a small hill. A big three stories building, the third story covered by the roof with only three big windows present here at the front. They also could spot what seemed to be the pointed roof of a small tower poking out above the roof of the manor. A stair sculpted in the hill led to the entrance, a double door, above which two windows showed light, making them looking like eyes glaring at them as all the other windows were dark.

"This screams haunted manor alright..." Apple Bloom said.

"Do we continue?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Y-yes..." Scootaloo replied, shaking in fear.

The fillies climbed the stairs, and upon reaching the double door, knocked on it, hoping that an actual living pony, maybe even Applejack, Rarity, or one of their friends, would come to open it. But... Who would live in such a scary manor? The walls and roof were almost black, more like different shades of a sick dark green, as if the whole manor was rotten. But there were two windows alight, so there must have been somepony in there, right?

Then… the doors slowly opened.

But nopony was there to greet them.

The fillies looked at each other, wondering is they should turn around and run away. But since they came this far, they couldn't give up.

They passed the doors...

Which suddenly closed behind them, and a laugh resounded all over the foyer, seemingly coming from nowhere.

The fillies hugged each other in fear, looking around. Everything was plunged in darkness, but thanks to the flashlight, they could see two curving stairs leading to a loft in the second floor, and that there was another double door in front of them, between the stairs.

"Ok, this was a bad idea..." said Scootaloo.

"Yes, let's go out," said Sweetie Belle.

"But, what about Applejack and the others?" asked Apple Bloom.

"R-right! This is not a scary manor with doors opening and closing alone and creepy laughs coming from nowhere that will make us give up!" shouted Scootaloo.

"M-maybe the ghosts just want to have fun," said Sweetie Belle.

Despite their fear, they advanced toward the double door...

Until they heard another laugh, this one very close.

"Girls, please, tell me it was one of you..." Sweetie Belle pleaded.

"Nope."

"It wasn't me."

"But it wasn't me!"

"It was me," a childish voice said.

They felt a chill all over their body at hearing the fourth voice coming from just behind them. Slowly, very slowly, scared of what they may discover, they turned their head.

Here, behind them, laughing, was a ghost. A real ghost. Of a newborn yellow furred, brown maned unicorn filly. Her incorporeal body was faintly glowing, floating above the floor, and the part of her body below her barrel ended in a little ghost tail, meaning she didn't possess back legs with a ponytail instead.

"Boo!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

At this instant, the double door they were approaching opened, and more ghosts of various colors, those ones vaguely looking like ponies without any special features, came out from behind and started circling the fillies. Before they knew it, Sweetie Belle was grabbed by one of them.

"Aaaahhh!!! HELP!"

"Sweetie Belle!"

Another ghost came from behind and grabbed Scootaloo, making her drop the flashlight, and Apple Bloom rolled just in time to avoid being grabbed too. She tried to punch one of the ghosts, only for her hoof to pass through, making the ghost laugh.

"Oh, horseapple..."

"Apple Bloom, run!" yelled Scootaloo.

"I can't! They're everywhere!"

That was when the doors at the entrance suddenly opened, and an old gray unicorn stallion came running through it with a strange red machine on his back. Taking the handle of the machine, he pointed it at the nearest ghost who was already charging at him. He then pressed a button, and the machine created a vortex that started sucking up the ghost. In a few seconds, the ghost disappeared inside the machine, entering by the rectangle-shaped hole at the end of the handle before probably passing by the pipe of said handle and finishing inside the machine itself on his back. The stallion then pointed the handle at the other, surprised ghosts, and said "Release those fillies right now!"

The ghost of the filly immediately escaped through the other double doors, followed by the two ghosts holding Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo while the others either continued to try to grab Apple Bloom, or charged toward the old stallion to attack him.

Cursing, the stallion lowered his head to avoid a punch and started sucking up the attacking ghost, letting it drag him as it tried to escape the vortex to avoid the attacks of the other ghosts. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom ran left and right away of the ghosts trying to catch her, trying to approach the old stallion who could somehow capture ghosts. By now, the stallion finished capturing the second ghosts and started sucking up two more ghosts at the same time. However, they seemed to be too much for him, and he fell on his belly and couldn't recover in time to avoid a punch from a third ghost, which saved the two others.

Apple Bloom finally joined the stallion and helped him back on his hooves. "Ya're alright, mister?"

"Don't worry, I got through worse. Being knocked by ghosts is part of my line of work," answered the stallion after shaking his head to stop the world from spinning. "We should run!" he then said has he saw the five ghosts still in the room slowly approaching them.

"But, and mah friends?"

"We will not be able to do anything for them if we are caught too! Come on, posthaste!"

The unicorn grabbed Apple Bloom and ran away from the ghosts toward the entrance of the manor, exiting the building. The stallion then ran toward a weird caravan that seemed to come out from another time. They entered it, and the stallion quickly closed the door, breathing a sigh of relief.

"By Celestia's great flank! I knew this manor would be the greatest challenge of my life, but I didn't think it would be THAT horrible, and that was just the foyer!" Slowly, the stallion took off the machine from his back and sat on a chair. "I knew I should have taken an apprentice or two..." The stallion then heard Apple Bloom crying and turned to her, rubbing her back. "Hey. Don't worry young one, everything will be alright."

"T-that was so scary... Ah thought they'd catch me and... And I don't know what they'd do to me... And mah friends... And Applejack..."

"What is your name, little redhead?"

"A-Apple Bloom."

"That's nice to meet you, Apple Bloom. Cute bow, by the way. My name is Smart Spirit. Professional ghost hunter." As he said that, Smart Spirits pointed at his Cutie Mark, which was of a red crossed white ghost. "So, tell me everything. What were three fillies like you doing in this manor in the dark?"

"Well, there's mah big sister and her friends who went to see the manor yesterday, but they didn't come back, and..."

"Drat... That's bad... But don't worry, your sister and your friends aren't dead," the old stallion assured. "Why would the ghosts capture them if it was to kill them? If they wanted to kill you, they could have done so the moment they attacked."

At this, Apple Bloom breathed a sigh of relief. "But what can we do ta save them?"

"We could go warn Princess Celestia, but I fear that by the time she comes, the worst may happen. I could use my Poltergust to go and save them myself, but as you saw, the years are piling on me. I can still catch a few ghosts, but I don't think that I would be able to fight the dozens, maybe even hundreds of ghosts that are haunting this manor." He looked at the filly, uncertain. "I only see one solution, but I don't like it."

"Uh?"

Smart Spirit looked through a window at the manor. "My family waited hundreds of years for this manor to appear, and the day it appears, I'm too old to do my duty, and I have nopony else to do it. But I need somepony to clean this manor of its ghosts and save the ponies captured. And right now..." He sighed. "I only see you. But I don't like the idea of sending a child to such a dangerous mission. Beside, I fear the Poltergust may be too heavy for you. And you aren't experienced at all."

"But there's no other way?"

"Not if we want to act quickly to save your friends."

Apple Bloom looked through the window at the looming manor, gulping. "Then... Then Ah'll go, if ya think it's the only way... Eh... Eheheh... Who knows, maybe Ah'll have mah Cutie Mark in ghost hunting..."

"I like the way you think! But before I can send you hunting ghosts, I must prepare you. First, put the Poltergust on your back. If it's too heavy, then we will have to abort the mission and find something else."

Apple Bloom nodded and pointed at the red machine. "That thing?"

"Yes! It's my most recent invention! Fruit of decades of research! The top of the top ghost-catching machine named Poltergust 3000! I would gladly explain to you how it works, but I suppose we have more pressing matters."

Apple Bloom approached the Poltergust and looked at it. It seemed a little too big, but if she had to hold it on her back, then this probably wouldn't be a problem. She put one of her forehooves in the right strap and used her strength to lift it and put it on her back before placing her other forehoof in the other strap. She then hopped a couple of time to test its weight. Yeah, it was a little heavy, but not as heavy as some of the things she put on her back sometimes on the farm.

"It's okay."

"Celestia! You are a strong filly!"

"Ah work in a farm. Ah'm used to lift heavy things."

"Ohohohohohoh! Perfect! Let's get out to test it."

Smart Spirit exited the caravan, quickly followed by Apple Bloom. Already, she took the handle from its place at the right side of the machine, and inspected it.

"So... Ah press this button, and it sucks up ghosts?"

"Exactly!"

"And what's that?" asked Apple Bloom as she pointed to another button that could be turned, with a small arrow pointing at a green, yellow, and red gauge, more exactly at the yellow part. Above this gauge was another one, this one all black

"This is to adjust the power of the Poltergust. At the green, it will use minimum power, just in case, for example, you are in a room full of objects. Well, you wouldn't want to accidentally suck up one of the objects while you are busy sucking up a ghost, but having it at yellow is very useful if there are many ghosts. Like that was the case in the foyer. At the red, it uses maximum power, but it takes the risk to overheat, which could lead to an explosion. Not a small one. I'm talking about the kind of explosion that could destroy a house. The second gauge is to show how much it's overheating. The more it fills with red, the more it means the Poltergust is overheating. If it's full, then you have exactly ten seconds to throw the Poltergust as far away as possible before it explodes."

"Un...derstood."

"Now, put it to green, and test it."

Apple Bloom did so, and activated the Poltergust, moving the handle around.

It was not hard at all to get used to it. Anypony could use this machine.

"Good! Good! I sadly don't have any means to test your skill and train you in catching ghosts, so you will have to get the experience on the field. But it's a good start. Wait here and continue testing the Poltergust, I must return in the caravan to fetch some things."

Apple Bloom nodded and put the Poltergust into yellow mode to see how it went as the stallion entered the caravan. Effectively, the Poltergust started using more force, forcing the filly to use more strength to keep her balance and keep control of the handle. This may take some more time to get used to this mode. As for the red mode, she was not sure if she should test it.

Smart Spirit then got out of the caravan with another Poltergust on his back, and with two little gadgets floating in his magic.

"Ya've another one?" asked Apple Bloom, referring to the machine on his back.

"Yes, before this manor appeared, I built five Poltergust 3000. You know, if one of them gets damaged, or overheats."

"And what're those?" asked the filly, pointing at the gadgets, each composed of three small crystals.

"This is to put on your hear like that." Smart Spirit demonstrated by putting one of the gadgets on his head, one of the crystals in front of the hole of the ear while another one is beside his mouth. "They are communicators. Tap two times on the crystal in the middle, then talk at the crystal beside your mouth, and I will hear your voice coming from the crystal beside my hear. I can do the same so I can talk to you even if I'm not here. I propose that we activate them as soon as we enter the manor, even if we are beside each other, just in case."

Again, Apple Bloom nodded before putting the communicator like Smart Spirit did. "Ya'll come with me?"

"Yes. I will accompany you for a few rooms to help you start and make sure that nothing happens to you."

"Thank ya mister Spirit."

"Please, no need to use the mister. You can call me Smart Spirit, or if you like, Prof. Spirit."

"Okay."

"Alright, I think we are ready. Let's return in the manor and show to those ghosts who are the bosses."

"And save everypony!"

"Yes."

And so, the old stallion and young filly started walking toward the manor, not seeing the figure watching them from one of the lightened windows above the door, giggling.

"This will be so much fun!"

Act 1

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The duo of ghost hunters entered the foyer, Apple Bloom looking around, and more importantly, behind her, to try to spot any ghost that may appear, pointing the opening of her Poltergust left and right.

Smart Spirit chuckled. "You don't need to be so tense. Just keep your eyes and ears wide open, and if you feel your fur suddenly stand on end, turn around and push the button without asking questions. It stopped a ghost from attacking me more than once in my long life."

"Okay..."

"It seems like there are no ghosts this time, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few watching us biding their time, or simply to see what will happen. Be sure to remain on guard all the time. A hostile ghost may appear any second."

Apple Bloom looked at the place where she and her friends were surrounded by the ghosts, in front of the double door between the stairs, and spotted the flashlight dropped by Scootaloo. Slowly, she approached it and took it.

"Eh. What a dunderhead. I forgot to bring a light," Smart Spirit said with a laugh. "But it will be impossible for you to use your flashlight, Poltergust, and walk at the same time. Let me help, I will attach it on your head."

"Like a miner cask?"

"Exactly! Ohohohoh!"

Using Apple Bloom's bow, Smart Spirit attached the flashlight like he told, so anywhere Apple Bloom looked, there was always a light.

"Thank ya."

"Ok, let's go. We shouldn't remain in a room too long."

So the two ponies approached the double door, only to discover that it was now locked.

"Drat. A ghost locked the door."

"What do we do?"

"These doors are old, a good buck should be enough to open them."

But before they could use this solution, they heard something metallic fall behind them, followed by the familiar laugh of the ghost of the newborn filly. They quickly turned around, only to see nothing. Apple Bloom then looked down and spotted at the center of the room a key now on the floor.

"Prof, there's a key."

"I don't like it. Remain close to me."

Carefully, they approached the key and picked it up. However, as they examined it, they started hearing something above them. Looking up, they saw the chandelier twirling.

"Move!" Smart Spirit shouted in panic.

They quickly ran away just in time as the chandelier dropped where they were one second ago, the filly's laugh making itself hear again as the chandelier returned to the ceiling.

"Ok. Note to self, don't go under the chandelier in the foyer anymore," Smart Spirit said, sweating.

"Noted..." Apple Bloom said with a gulp. "Ya think this key opens the double door?"

"We will see soon enough."

Avoiding going under the chandelier, they returned to the double door, only to discover that the key didn't work.

"Drat. It's not the good key. Let's get to the loft. It probably opens a door up there."

So they climbed the stairs, reaching the loft where they found out that there was another double door just above the one between the stairs, as well as a simple door at the end of the left path. They tested the key on the double door, and it worked. So, opening the double door, they entered the next room: the parlor.

Apple Bloom quickly looked around to see if there were any ghosts, but the room was empty. All there was were furniture like two tables or a cabinet, a chandelier (not sure if this one will fall on them like the one in the foyer), two candlelights, and five portraits, the one of a yellow furred stallion with a white beard being between the two candlelights. They slowly advanced, finding that the chandelier didn't fall, until they stopped when they heard a laugh, different from the one of the filly.

"Uhuhuhuh! Well, look what we have here."

"My, my! What are an old stallion and a young filly doing here?"

"Wait! Wait! I recognize them! They were in the foyer earlier! The old one was even able to capture two of us with this weird machine on his back!"

"Ah yes. So you are back to save the two others?"

The two ponies looked around to try to spot the origin of the voices, until Apple Bloom's eyes settled on one of the paintings, the one of a pink mare with a blond mane.

"Unless it’s to save the six mares who came yesterday?" a voice coming from the portrait said, the image of the mare moving, staring at them, her lips opening and closing as she talked.

That was also the case of the other portraits, all of them looking at the living ponies.

Despite her fear, Apple Bloom talked. "Ya... Ya know what happened to Applejack and the others?"

"Of course!" the portrait of a gray stallion said. "They were captured too! They didn't stand a chance!"

"Oh! The purple one was so funny! She was repeating to herself that ghosts didn't exist despite the proof being just in front of her muzzle!" the portrait of a green furred, red maned mare said.

"Acquaintances of yours?" The yellow stallion with a brown mustache asked.

"They're mah sister and her friends..."

"Oh! The poor dear!" said the pink mare.

"Ohohoh! So you want to save your sister and her friends?" asked the bearded stallion. "You don't know what you are getting yourself into, young one. This machine on your back may help you survive longer, but you will eventually fall against the powerful curse of this manor! In the eternal darkness of these rooms, they are everywhere. You will risk your life at each step. And if you die... Ohohoh! It will be a pleasure to have you with us for eternity. So, you really think you can do it? Well, we will see soon enough! Because... THEY ARE HERE! AHAHAHAHAH!!!"

As the laugh of the portraits resonated, a yellow ghost, similar to the ones who captured Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, appeared, ready to attack.

"To your right, Apple Bloom!"

Apple Bloom jumped to her left just in time to avoid being punched. Quickly, Smart Spirit activated his Poltergust and sucked up the ghost, only for another to appear behind him. Seeing the ghost, Apple Bloom pointed her Poltergust at it and pressed the button, catching the ghost in the vortex. The ghost started moving to escape the vortex, and Apple Bloom did all she could to not fall on her belly and resisted being dragged until the ghost finally disappeared inside the pipe of the machine.

She looked at the end of her Poltergust in awe. "Ah... Ah caught mah first ghost!"

"Good job, Apple Bloom! But don't lose focus! Another one is coming!" shouted Smart Spirit as he pointed to what looked like the purple ghost of a griffon, its sharp claws ready to attack. Before it could approach any closer, Smart Spirit activated his Poltergust, and while the griffon resisted a little more than the pony ghosts, it eventually was sucked up too.

Breathing heavily, he looked around to spot any new ghosts, Apple Bloom doing the same.

Only to hear something metallic falling on the floor beside them, and looking down, they spotted a key.

"Impressive," said the portrait of the bearded stallion.

"This may be actually interesting to watch," said the portrait of the mustachioed stallion.

"Let's see how long you will survive in the rooms," said the green mare.

"Who knows? You may actually succeed in saving your sister and your friends," said the pink mare.

"Do not say such stupidity!" shouted the gray stallion. "Do you really think they will succeed to capture Bogmire? And what about Little Ghost? They will fail, that's a fact! But yes, let's see how far they will go."

And at this, the portraits became silent.

"Bogmire?" asked Apple Bloom.

"I will talk to you about it later. You still need first to get used to hunting ghosts. For a first time, you weren't bad, by the way. Good catch."

The filly was beaming at his praise as she spoke "Thank ya! Ah'll get better!"

"I don't doubt! Ohohohohohoh! However, I wonder what that little game with the keys means."

"Uhuhuh. It's just one of Little Ghost's games," The green mare suddenly said. "She probably locked all the doors of the manor, and you will have to clean the rooms one by one to find the keys and pass to the next. In the last room will be what you seek. She loves playing games. But I wouldn't be surprised if there was something in her mind to do this game beside having fun."

"This one certainly opens the door to the anteroom. It's the one just at my left," the bearded stallion said.

"Thank you for your help, my non-living friends," Smart Spirit said. "Let's go, Apple Bloom."

Apple Bloom nodded, and they both went to the door indicated by the portrait. Like it said, the key opened it, and they entered the anteroom, which was just a big empty room with three vases on three small tables with drawers and two chandeliers.

Barely they entered, and two ghosts attacked them, a green earth pony, and a yellow pegasus, the pegasus trying to do a lariat with its wing at Smart Spirit. The old stallion lowered himself to avoid the wing, and once the pegasus passed, he activated his poltergust on the earth pony ghost while Apple Bloom started to suck up the pegasus. The pegasus used its wings to try to escape and forcefully drag the filly behind it, but the ghost did the error to pass beside one of the table, and Apple Bloom grabbed one of the feet to stop sliding until she finally caught the ghost, Smart Spirit having captured his ghost since a few seconds.

But two more ghosts appeared then, a red griffon, and an orange pegasus. Again, the pegasus targeted Smart Spirit with a wing lariat, but the old stallion didn't let it approach this time, letting Apple Bloom deal with the griffon. But just as Smart Spirit caught the pegasus, a pink unicorn ghost appeared and fired a magical beam at him from behind, propelling him a few feet. Apple Bloom quickly finished the griffon, then turned her Poltergust to the unicorn. Thankfully, the unicorn gave fewer problems while capturing it, and as soon as it entered the vacuum, a key fell in front of her.

"Prof! Ya're alright?" she asked in worry.

Smart Spirit shook his head, recovering. "Yeah, I'm alright. It's the risk of the job. Oh, my back..."

She sighed in relief and took the key.

"I don't think I will be able to continue for long. Generally, when I hunt ghosts, there's only one ghost, three at worst. But in two rooms, we got eight ghosts, ten if I count the two I caught in the foyer, and there are many, many more in this manor. Why did this manor have to appear now? At least, you seem promising. Four ghosts! Ohohohoh! You are a natural! You know what? Let's see if you can clean the next room by yourself."

Apple Bloom gulped. "A-alright!"

"Don't worry. I will still be here to watch."

She nodded, and opened the door at the other end of the anteroom, entering a smaller room with three wardrobes and some racks, as well as a mirror. Smart Spirit remained near the door while Apple Bloom advanced until three ghosts, one earth pony, one pegasus, and one unicorn, appeared at the same time, surrounding her.

Smart Spirit had to resist helping her. He must trust her!

Apple Bloom quickly started sucking up the pegasus, and let herself being dragged by its powerful wings, getting out of the ambush of the ghosts before finishing it. She ran to avoid a magical beam from the unicorn, and targeted it next, only for a new ghost, a fat earth pony, to appear, eat a banana, and throw the peel on the floor right on Apple Bloom's path as she was dragged by the unicorn, causing the filly to slip on it and let the unicorn escape. As she fell on her butt, all the ghosts in the room mocked her.

"Seriously? The banana peel gag?" shouted Apple Bloom in annoyance.

Smart Spirit had a hard time resisting laughing. "Even ghosts love classics. But you should hurry and get up! These ghosts will not laugh for long!"

Feeling the approach of a ghost from behind, Apple Bloom rapidly got up and ran, avoiding a jab from the earth pony ghost. She saw the unicorn preparing another magical beam and immediately started sucking it up again. Like before, the fat ghost ate a banana and threw a peel on her path, but this time, Apple Bloom jumped above it and finished the unicorn before targeting the fat pony. Because of its weight, this one had no problem using it to drag the filly behind while eating its banana to throw the peels behind it, and Apple Bloom had to move left and right while sliding to avoid them until she finally got the ghost. Another fat pony appeared to take its place, but Apple Bloom decided to capture the earth pony first before finishing with it.

But the key didn't appear...

"What?"

"There's probably one or two ghosts hidden in the wardrobes. Open them, to see. But watch out."

"Okay."

One by one, Apple Bloom opened the wardrobes, starting with the one closest to the entrance of the room. The ghost was hidden in the last one. She wasn't ready for the jab she took from the earth pony ghost. She was sent hooves over head on the floor.

"Owww! Ah'm okay! Ah'm okay!"

"If you are okay, then quickly get up! It's attacking again!" shouted Smart Spirit as he took the handle of his Poltergust, ready to jump to help her.

"Eep!"

Seeing the ghost about to bring its hoof down on her, she quickly pointed the end of her Poltergust at it and pressed the button, stopping it from attacking. Before long, the earth pony joined the others in her vacuum and the key finally appeared.

"Ah did it!" shouted Apple Bloom happily. "Ah did it Ah did it Ah did it"

"Told you! A natural! You are already as good as me! Well, it isn't hard. Ohohohoh! You know what? Once this is over, I will make you my apprentice! You will be the next generation of ghost hunter!"

Apple Bloom gasped. "Ya really think Ah can be a ghost hunter?" She looked at her flank, only to see that it's still blank. "But... Ah didn't get a Cutie Mark in ghost hunting..."

Smart Spirit laughed. "You don't need to have a Cutie Mark in ghost hunting to be a ghost hunter. This just means it will not be your main talent."

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh- Wait..." She spotted something shiny in the last wardrobe and looked closer. "Hey! There're some coins in there! They don't look like the bits Ah know."

"Mmh? Let me see." Smart Spirit said before he approached the wardrobe and spotted the coins. Taking one, he inspected it. "Oh oh! It's an old equestrian bit from one thousand years ago! Just one of those coins is worth at least one hundred bits."

"What?! But there're..." She counted. "Fifteen of those coins in this wardrobe! This is enough bits to repair and renovate the whole farm!"

"And again, this is just the tip of the fortune that is hidden in this manor! I could use this money to pay myself a real lab, and it would barely put a dent in all that wealth! Of course, finding that fortune is just a secondary goal. Our main goals remain to save the ponies that were captured, and capture the target."

"Target? Ya're talking about this Bogmire that portrait talked about?"

"Yes, Bogmire. I will talk to you about it once we return to the lab. Now, let me take these coins, and we can continue."

Smart Spirit opened his Poltergust, revealing some blue crystal inside, and put the coins in the surrounding space. "I will have to find something to carry all that money."

"What's that crystal?"

"Oh. It's where the ghosts go when we catch them. Yes, there's one in your Poltergust." He closed the vacuum. "Alright, let's go. And if you find more coins, remember that you can put them inside your Poltergust. There isn't much space, but you should be able to place two dozens in it. Now let's see what there's behind this door."

Apple Bloom nodded and tried to use the key to open the door next to the last wardrobe, only for the key to not enter it correctly. "Uh?"

"Let me see."

Finally, it turned out the door wasn't locked, and the reason was quickly clear. The door led to a small balcony.

"Ooh! What a view."

Apple Bloom looked down through the bars of the fence at the edge of the balcony. "That's a graveyard?"

"Yup. A family graveyard. Mmh... And it's protected by a ghost dog. I fear that you may have to come down there at a moment or another."

Apple Bloom gulped. "W-what if there are zombies?"

"Urh... I never had to fight a zombie... But I wouldn't be surprised if some of the ghosts decide to take possession of the corpses down there... You know what? I will give you a bat to defend yourself against anything that isn't ghostly."

"It'd be... great! Very great!"

With nothing else to do, the two ghost hunters returned to the foyer, having to fight their way through a few more ghosts in the three rooms. Once back in the foyer, Smart Spirit pointed at the door at the end of the path.

"The key probably opens this door, but I think it's time to see if you can continue alone. But first, let's exit the manor, so I can give you that bat."

"Ya're sure Ah'm ready?"

"You did amazingly well in those three rooms. I'm sure you are."

"Okay..."

As he told, they exited the manor, and Smart Spirit quickly returned in his lab to give Apple Bloom a bat as well as a purse for her to place any coins she may find.

"Good luck, Apple Bloom. Remember, we remain in contact thanks to the communicators, so don't hesitate to talk and ask me anything."

"Thank ya, prof. Ya... can count on me."

"I know."

So Apple Bloom returned to the manor, alone this time, and once in the foyer, after a quick encounter with a pegasus ghost, went to the locked door on the loft. As Prof. Spirit expected, the key opened this door, and Apple Bloom entered a hallway with four doors, two at the left, and two at the right. She told all this to the prof through the communicator.

«Alright, so here's what we will do: you clean those four rooms, and you will return to the lab to determine if you can continue or not.»

"Alright, prof! Eep!"

She found herself assaulted by some mouse ghosts, as well as the ghost of a donkey which was a little less strong than an earth pony ghost, but she did quick work of all of them, the mice finishing in her Poltergust almost as soon as she pressed the button. With the hallway clean of all rodents, she looked at all four doors, determining which one was the one not locked. In the end, she tried the one closest to her, the first one at her right.

Bingo!

Apple Bloom opened it and entered a room full of bookshelves filled with books. There was also a desk, a rocking chair, and a fireplace.

And there was blood everywhere... Particularly on and around the rocking chair and the books.

And on the rocking chair was the ghost of a yellow furred, brown maned stallion, with a brown mustache, and bloody bite marks everywhere on his body. Apple Bloom immediately recognized him as one of the ponies portrayed in the parlor. At this moment, he was peacefully reading a book, also bloody.

Slowly, she stepped back and closed the door.

Taking a big breath to calm herself, she said, "Uh... Prof?"

«Yes? What's going on Apple Bloom? You sound... perturbed.»

"Ah just entered a room full of blood, and there was the ghost of one of the ponies on those talking portraits..."

«Really? Which one?»

"The yellow one with the mustache..."

«Diamond Cup! You found Diamond Cup! So he's dead? What do I say? Of course, he would be dead! There was no doubt! But there was still the chance that time for them was stopped while trapped in the spiritual dimension. Wait. Did you say 'blood'?»

She gulped. "Yes. Everywhere. And... the ghost had bite marks everywhere on him."

«Ewwww... So he was devoured alive... I don't know what devoured him, but I hope for you it's not in the manor anymore.»

"What do Ah do prof?"

«Well, the ghost in the portrait said that you have to clean the rooms to get the key to the next, so you probably have to capture Diamond Cup. But be careful! The ghosts we fought until now were just... shadows of unknown origin! This one is a real ghost from a real pony! Like the filly! You don't know how he will react once he spots you! Best-case scenario, he will just ignore you. Worst-case scenario, he will attack you. But... If he retained his personality from when he was alive, then he should be friendly. If that's the case, then just ask him gently if you can catch him, promising him that you will release him later, and I'm sure he will accept to help you save the others. But you should keep the Poltergust ready, in yellow, just in case.»

"O... Ok, prof..."

«Good luck...»

"Thank ya..."

Gulping, Apple Bloom opened the door.

"Uh... Howdy? Mr. Diamond Cup?"

As soon as he heard her, Diamond Cup rose his head from his book and stared at her.

She gulped again, shaking. "Howdy?"

Then, the ghost of the stallion rose from his rocking chair, and many books started floating around him, their pages bloody as they opened and closed like fanged jaws. They all faced Apple Bloom, who was paralyzed in fear. With one thrust of his hoof, Diamond Cup then sent the books to devour the filly.

Screaming in fear, she closed the door just in time for the books to violently slam against it.

«What's going on Apple Bloom?!»

"He sent books to devour me!"

«What?!»

"The books! They're the ones that devoured him! And now, he sent them against me! What do ah do now?!"

«Ok! Ok! Don't panic! Wait for me! I'm coming!»

Apple Bloom looked at the Poltergust, more precisely, at the three colored gauge. "Wait. Ah think Ah know what to do."

«Whatever you're thinking, don't do it! It's too risky! You listen to me, ok?! Don't do it!»

She smirked at that. "Ah'm a Cutie Mark Crusader. Ah never listen... Almost."

She turned the button to red, opened the door, and activated the Poltergust!

A powerful vortex came from the end of the pipe and started sucking up all the books as well as some of the objects on the desk, and even the ghost of Diamond Cup. Of course, the Poltergust wasn't made to suck up books, but then she walked closer to the fireplace, and the Poltergust started to suck up the embers which then caught the books on fire. That quickly spread to all the books, creating a great vortex of fire that burned all the books and other objects. When the last book was burned, she turned the Poltergust off to stop the fire vortex, then turned it back on yellow to suck up the ghost. Diamond Cup didn't resist long before he disappeared inside the pipe, like all the other ghosts before him.

"Ah got him!"

«What did you do?!»

"Ah..." She then saw the consequence of her action. "Ah put the room on fire! Waaah! Dratdratdratdrat" Quickly, she started to tap the fire to try to extinguish it, until some cold air current came from nowhere suddenly to put it out. "What?"

"Hey, little one! Don't put the manor on fire! We like it, we would like to still have it by the end of the night!"

"Sorry!"

«You almost put the manor on fire?! How did you manage it?!»

Apple Bloom laughed sheepishly as she spotted the key beside her. Taking it and exiting the room, she started explaining what she did, quickly looking at the overheating gauge to see that it was one quarter full and slowly emptying.

«By Celestia's great flanks! That was genius! But also so dangerous and reckless! I don't know if I should congratulate you, or scream at you!»

She tested the key on the door of the room just in front of the room she just exited. Nope, not this one.

"Ya'd a better idea to fight those books without being devoured alive?"

«Touché. Well then, congratulation! Your first real ghost! Oh you, you will make a great ghost hunter! But please, be careful! Or my heart will not resist!»

"Ah will." She giggled.

The next closest door was the second door at this side of the hallway, but the key didn't work too. So this left the second room at the right, the one just beside the one she left. At this moment, a griffon decided to try its luck by attacking from behind, but was quickly captured after Apple Bloom felt it coming and turned around like Smart Spirit told her to do.

She entered the last room, discovering that it was a bedroom with a queen-size bed. There was also a vanity, in front of which was sitting a pink furred, blond maned earth pony mare that Apple Bloom also recognized as one of the ponies on the portraits. At her hooves, she recognized the corpse of the mare, her own hairs wrapped around her neck, and she had to fight her nausea again.

She was killed by her own mane? What the heck? Aww... Horseapple... She was pregnant. So, is she the mother of that filly?

"Prof, I found another ghost. A pink mare with a blond mane," she whispered to her communicator.

«Golden Hair, Diamond Cup's wife...»

"She was strangled by her own mane..."

«Pony eating books... Self-strangling mane... This is worse than I thought...»

"And she's pregnant."

«Ooh... Oooooh! I remember, yes! There was a text talking about Golden Hair being pregnant the moment the manor disappeared. Ugly... Very ugly... Ok, try to capture her, but be careful. If it's like with Diamond Cup...»

"Yeah..."

She tiphoofed toward the ghost mare, Poltergust ready.

She forgot that Golden Hair was just in front of a mirror. The mare spotted her approaching with it, and suddenly turned her head, roaring at Apple Bloom as her manes separated into several locks of hair slithering toward the filly with a clear purpose. Before she knew it, one of the locks wrapped itself around Apple Bloom's neck and lifted her from the ground as it started to strangle her. But despite this, Apple Bloom was eventually able to press the button of the Poltergust and started sucking up the mare, causing the lock of hair around her neck to unwrap itself and to drop her. She landed on her hooves and continued to suck up the mare, moving left and right to avoid the other locks trying to stop her. As she was dragged, she had to jump on the bed to avoid slamming against its foot, and that was on it that Golden Hair finally joined her husband in the crystal inside the Poltergust.

Apple Bloom coughed a little before talking with a rough voice, "Ah think Ah'll need a glass of water once Ah return to the lab, prof..."

«I will make sure to prepare one. Are you alright?»

"Yeah... Just a little hurt at the throat. Ah don't know if she was trying ta strangle me, or ta break mah neck."

«But now, there's something I don't understand. This filly ghost, Little Ghost I think, she's the daughter of Golder Hair, you came to the same conclusion as me, right?»

"Yeah..."

«Then why would she start a 'game' where you have to capture her own parents to continue? And if it continues, then you will probably end up having to catch the rest of her family. Really, I don't follow. What does she have in mind, forcing you to capture her own family? Oh well, I suppose we will find out sooner or later. Do you want to return to the lab now? This ghost hunt is revealing to be much more dangerous than we first thought.»

"Nope, Ah think Ah can deal with the remaining two rooms. Ah got the father and the mother, so who comes next? Their children?"

«It would be the most logical. But don't underestimate them. That's not because they're foals that they're weak. As ghosts, physical age doesn't matter. So... You should end up fighting two colts, Ruby and Sapphire, twins, five years old at the time of the disappearance of the manor.»

Apple Bloom almost got tears in her eyes at this. They were even younger than her! Two little innocent colts! So cruel!

It turned out that the key she got from capturing Golden Hair opened the first room to the left from the entrance of the hallway, the one just in front of the room where she captured Diamond Cup.

She entered a bedroom, with two beds, one red and one blue, with many toys. And as soon as she entered, the ghosts of two colts, one red and one blue, poked their head out of two different boxes and looked at her. Apple Bloom had her Poltergust ready.

"A new friend!" said the red colt excitedly.

"Yes! A new friend! Will you play with us?"

"Yes! Play with us, please! We will hide, and you will seek!"

"Yes! We will play hide-and-seek! Now get out and count to ten!"

"Yes! Count to ten and try to find us!"

"Uh... Uh... Okay..." She got out of the room, and started counting. Those colts didn't attack her, so why couldn't she play with them a little before she was forced to capture them? Things were already cruel enough for them, no need to add... "Eight... Nine... Ten! Ready or not, Ah'm coming!"

She returned inside the room, and saw the two colts nowhere. Eeyup, they were hidden. But it was a small room, and there weren't many places to hide, it shouldn't be hard to find them.

She started at the boxes, only to step back in fright when she opened the first one. In it was the corpse of Sapphire! Gulping, she opened the other and found the corpse of Ruby.

"W-w-well... At least... Ah found yer bodies..."

After checking the boxes, she looked in the closet, then under the red bed.

"Aww... You found me..." Sapphire said from under the bed, disappointed.

Having a hunch, Apple Bloom looked under the other bed.

"Oh! You found me! Now it's your turn to hide!"

"Yes! It's your turn! We will count to ten!"

"Yes! We will count to ten, and we will search you!"

Apple Bloom giggled, and when the ghosts disappeared, only for her to hear them starting to count, she quickly hid in the closet, making sure to slowly close the door to not make a sound.

"Ten!" she heard.

And then she waited and waited... And waited........... And waited.....

Weird, they should have found her by now.

She waited a little more before deciding that she waited enough, then laughed. "Seems like Ah won!" she said only to find out that the door of the closet wasn't opening anymore! "What?" She pushed it, then started using more strength, but the door refused to move. "Hey! Ah'm in there! Open the door!"

"We will open it!" she heard.

"Yes! We will open it! But we will wait first!"

"Yes! We will wait first!"

"Wait? Wait what?"

"Silly! We will wait for you to be like us!"

"Yes! You will be like us! And we will be able to play forever!"

"Yes! Forever!"

Nope! No thanks! Enough playing!

Despite the lack of place in the closet, Apple Bloom was able to turn around, then started bucking the door. One buck, and the door shook. Two bucks, and she heard something split.

"No! Stop!"

"Yes! Stop!"

"No! Ah'll not stop!"

Another buck, and more wood split. Another buck, and a small hole opened in the door. One last buck, and the door was sent flying! Immediately, she stepped out of the closed, turned around, activated the Pultergust in green mode, and closed her eyes. She heard the two colts pleading with her to stop; she felt them trying to escape... And then she felt something enter her Poltergust, followed by something else.

And silence followed.

She opened her eyes to find the bedroom now empty of ghosts.

«You did the right thing. They were clearly not in their right mind like Diamond Cup and Golden Hair, even if they seemed saner than their parents. Don't worry, once this is over, if everything happens like I hope, we will be able to release them, and all the other ghosts.»

"Ya're sure?"

«Yes.»

Apple Bloom smiled and took the key before walking toward the door. Before that, she made sure to close the boxes with the bodies of the colts.

One room remaining. Walking to it, she had to deal with a few bat ghosts and an earth pony ghost before reaching it and entering the room.

In it, there was a crib, with a bear plushy inside it... Two jester dolls were also on two different chairs, and a ball was beside a dresser at the left of the door.

«What room is it, this time?»

"A nursery... It's... Ah think it's Little Ghost's room."

«They had a room ready for her...»

"Hello!" suddenly shouted a familiar yellow furred newborn filly who appeared in front of Apple Bloom.

"Eep!"

"So you reached my room! Well, hello! My name is Little Ghost! Nice meeting you! Your name is Apple Bloom, right? I like it! I heard about apples, but I was never able to taste them! How do they taste? Also, good job catching mommy, daddy, Ruby and Sapphire! For a moment, I thought mommy and daddy would kill you, but you got them! Now I'm sure you want the key to continue! Don't worry, you will not have to catch me to get it! I don't want to be caught! But it would be boring if I just gave it to you! So I prepared something for you! This will be fun!"

Finishing her babbling, Little Ghost tapped her forehooves together, and the whole room was engulfed in light, forcing Apple Bloom to close her eyes.

"Wait! What about mah friends?! And Applejack and her friends?! Where are they?"

She heard Little Ghost giggle before talking. "I will tell you next time we see each other! But first, you have to win against Mr. Bear!"

"Mr. Bear?"

Apple Bloom was finally able to open her eyes and she looked around, finding that she was somehow shrunk, and on Little Ghost's crib, and that she wasn't in the room anymore but... somewhere. A different space? The spiritual dimension?

"Prof?" she tried to call, only to be answered by silence. "Ya hear me? Prof. Spirit?"

But then, the now giant doll suddenly looked up toward her, and got up before approaching her with a childish giggle. "Come play with me." The bear doll rose its arms toward her, walking on its back legs, ready to give a literal, bone-crushing bear hug. "Hug!"

"Nope!"

Apple Bloom activated the Poltergust on the doll, only for the machine to have no effects on it. She turned it to red at max power, but it didn't work too. Before it overheated too much, she put it back to yellow, then started running away from Mr. Bear.

"What do Ah do, now?"

"Let's play ball!"

The ball, now giant too, appeared out of nowhere and flew to Mr. Bear's forelegs, the plushy catching it. It then put the ball before its back legs and kicked it toward Apple Bloom. The filly avoided the giant ball with one jump followed by a roll, and the ball bounced on the barrier of the crib.

"Your turn!"

Apple Bloom looked at the ball, then at the doll, and understood what she had to do. Thankfully, the ball wasn't that big compared to her, about the size of Applejack, so it wasn't too heavy. So Apple Bloom went behind the ball and bucked it with all her strength. The ball was propelled right at Mr. Bear's face, and the doll fell on its back, stunned. Before it could go back up, Apple Bloom ran to the doll, climbed it, took her bat, and started hitting it on the face again and again, damaging it, causing some holes to open and a button used as an eye to almost fall.

Mr. Bear was eventually able to get back up, and Apple Bloom ran away as the bear started pounding the floor with its back leg in anger.

"You meanie!"

To Apple Bloom's horror, the bear suddenly jumped toward her, and she was again forced to run away to avoid being crushed under its body. As it fell on the crib, it created a big shockwave that spread for a small distance before disappearing just before it reached Apple Bloom. The plushy then started punching the floor again and again, creating more shockwaves as it slowly advanced toward the filly. Making sure to not get trapped in a corner, Apple Bloom ran around the bear to avoid them. Eventually, it jumped again, and this time, the shockwave hit Apple Bloom as she tried to escape it, sending her flying a few feet right beside the ball. The bear then restarted punching the floor.

Rapidly, the filly recovered from the hit and bucked the ball, again hitting the bear on the face and making it fall on its back. Like before, she ran to it, climbed it, and hit it on the face with the bat to the point that it lost one of its eyes, and the other was almost falling too. Holes now covered its face, and one of its ears was almost ripped.

When the bear got back up again, it was even more enraged, to the point of actually roaring to the sky! It then started randomly jumping on the crib again and again, creating shockwaves everywhere, and Apple Bloom was forced to jump above one more than once. The two jester dolls then appeared in front of the crib, floating above the void, and started juggling with various toys before throwing them at Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom eventually reached the ball again and waited to have a nice shot to Mr. Bear's face before bucking it. Again, the hit caused the bear to fall on its back, but it also somehow caused the jesters to disappear in the void. With the bear down, Apple Bloom ran to it to finish it. A few more hit with the bat, and the head finally opened, and Mr. Bear stopped moving, its stuffing spreading on the crib.

The next instant, everything was plunged into light again, and when Apple Bloom was able to open her eyes again, she was back in the nursery, a key at her hooves.

Then, the door opened suddenly with a bang, and Smart Spirit ran in the room in full panic!

"Apple Bloom! Apple Bloom, where are- you are here! Oh, thank Celestia! And you're safe! What happened?! I couldn't reach you anymore!"

Apple Bloom looked around her, lost, not able to answer. Her eyes eventually fell on the crib, and the now headless bear plushy on it. The jester dolls were also spread on the floor. She then looked at Prof. Spirit.

"Ah... Ah'm not sure prof... Ah think Ah was transported to another dimension, but Ah'm not sure..."

"Let's return to the lab. You will tell me everything once we're there. I think you need some rest, and I remember that you also need a glass of water."

Apple Bloom simply nodded.

"That's incredible! To encounter a ghost other than Bogmire powerful enough to send somepony to a pocket illusional dimension parallel to ours...! That Little Ghost... She's dangerous! And Apple Bloom, you were also incredible. You fought this animated giant plushie alone and won. That's... I'm proud. I'm proud of you, Apple Bloom. Not many ghost hunters could boast to come out of such a fight alive, even less somepony who started ghost hunting just one hour ago, and even less a filly."

"Thank ya, prof!"

"But... After such an experience, I would understand if you decide to stop here."

"No, Ah can't. Little Ghost still has everypony... And... You won't be able to fight her."

Smart Spirit looked down with a sigh. "True..."

"Ah must continue. Ah'm the only one who can save them."

"Well, then... Let's continue. Follow me."

Apple Bloom looked at the prof as he went to some weird machine, the blue crystal of her Poltergust floating in his magic beside him. Around the machine were three other crystals: a green, a yellow, and a red. Smart Spirit then put the blue crystal on a socle and took the green crystal before placing it on a different socle.

"As you know, when you catch a ghost, it's trapped in that blue crystal. These three crystals are then where I place them in depending of... things. Let me explain. You see, Diamond Cup, Golden Hair, Ruby, and Sapphire weren't in their right minds when you encountered them. I know for sure that when they were alive, they were good ponies. Sadly, they got trapped in a curse that turned them into those... monsters. But since I know they are good ponies..." He pushed a button, and images of all the ghosts captured in the crystal appeared on a screen above it. Strangely enough, all the other ghosts she captured had disappeared, so only Diamond Cup and the others were shown. Pushing some more buttons, he selected all the ghosts, and sent them in a different screen above the green crystal. Little blue lights, four in total, then came out of the blue crystal, passed through some pipe, and entered the green crystal. "Then I send them in the green crystal. Once the curse is lifted, all the ghosts in the green crystal will be released, free to rest in peace. The red crystal is for the ones I know are evil. This one is reserved, between others, to Bogmire. When these events will be over, I will send this crystal to Tartarus. The yellow one is for the ghosts I'm not sure of whether they're good or bad, so they will need some researches."

"That's incredible! Ya're really smart in that techno stuff! Twilight'd go crazy with you!"

"Ohohohohohohoh! Then I'm curious to meet her! But now, let's pass to the next thing: some explanation."

They approached a wall where there were many portraits of various ponies under a big drawing of the manor. Apple Bloom looked at all of them in wonder and horror.

"These are the targets that you may encounter in your exploration of the manor. The Gem Family. I couldn't find any portraits of the servants, but expect to also encounter them. The only servant possessing a portrait is the butler, Clean Order. As you see, the foals don't have portraits too, but I know there's at least another filly named Platinum Shoes somewhere. And there's a high possibility that you will encounter other powerful ghosts that decided to invite themselves in the manor. But all of them aren't priorities. The one ghost that you must catch to end this nightmare and, hopefully, save your friends is this one!" Smart Spirit pointed at the drawing of... some purple ghost that absolutely didn't look like a pony. "Bogmire."

"What... is this?"

"I don't know. Nopony who studied it could find out its origins, or anything. We don't even know if it was even alive at one point! All I know is this: it's a very powerful ghost, and it's the responsible for what happened to the manor and everypony in it. The Gem family, who was secretly a family of ghost hunters, was able to capture it and seal it in a room in the basement. But somehow, it escaped, probably with the help of somepony -I'm thinking of a traitor-, and plunged the whole manor in a horrible curse, transporting it to the spiritual world. The pony-eating books, the self-strangling mane, the twins who died trapped in their boxes as they played hide-and-seek... Their ghosts losing their mind! All of this is its fault! Capture Bogmire, and this curse ends! So, despite all this, do you still want to continue?"

"If ah say no, mah friends and Applejack are as good as dead. Ah must save them!"

Smart Spirit smiled. "Very well. Rest here as long as you want, and when you are ready, you can return in the manor. Meanwhile, take a look at the portraits, to remember who you will encounter."

Act 2

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After a few minutes of rest looking at the portraits to memorize her future potential targets, Apple Bloom finally returned to the manor, ready to continue. Back in the foyer, she quickly dealt with the two ghosts welcoming her while carefully avoiding going under the chandelier, then approached the double door between the stairs with her key.

But then, a thought struck her mind. She looked up at the wall above the entrance to spot two windows, which were clearly the ones lightened when looking at them from outside, and yet, the foyer's light wasn't on!

She shook her head, closing her eyes. "Uh... Prof? It's normal that light can be seen through a window from outside, but the room's light is off?"

«Yes. Ghosts love that kind of trick. Those lights are probably illusions. Don't mind it.»

"Okay..."

She turned back to the door, inserted the key, and successfully opened it, entering a hallway much longer than the one she cleaned on the second floor. Looking first at her left to spot just one door at the end, then at the right, her eyes grew in fright before she immediately lowered her head just in time to avoid being stabbed by two thrown knives. Their origin was the ghost of a mare wearing a maid outfit, with a good deal of cutlery floating around her. She threw more knives at Apple Bloom, and the filly quickly ran back to the foyer. The maid chased her, but Apple Bloom was ready and as soon as she floated in front of the door, the filly activated the Poltergust, sucking up first all the cutlery, the pipe being big enough for them, before catching the mare. With the calm coming back, she went back to the entrance of the manor, went in front, opened the Poltergust, and dropped the cutlery before kicking them away.

"Prof, Ah got a maid. If ya're interested, there're some knives and stuff now in front of the manor."

«Thank you. My cutlery was getting a little old. And good job.»

Apple Bloom returned to the hallway, carefully looking left and right for more ghosts. With no dangers in sight, she started going to the left to test the door at the end.

Locked.

So she went to the right where the hallway continued toward two other doors, one in front, and one at the right, while it branched at the left. The door at the right was locked, but the one at the front wasn't, so she opened it only to discover that it led to a staircase leading to the basement.

By Celestia, this manor was already very haunted, so how much haunted the basement must be? Basements are known in horror stories to be the most haunted place of a house along with attics!

But if the door was open, then there was a possibility that she must continue by there. So despite her fear, she went down the stairs, dealing with some bat ghosts, and discovered two more doors, one at the left and the other at the right. They were both locked.

"Darn."

Well, she said that, but deep down, she sighed in relief. Basements are scary!

Quickly, she climbed back the stairs and returned to the hallway of the first floor, and started taking the path that branched, where there were two more doors at both sides, both locked too, but she could hear music coming from the one at the right, and somepony eating loudly from the one at the left.

She arrived at another fork, but the hallway going to the right didn't go far before reaching a locked door, so she took the hallway going to the left. Here, she was attacked by another maid, also throwing knives, so Apple Bloom hid herself behind the wall of the fork, waited for the maid to approach, and caught her. As soon as the maid was caught, an unicorn appeared and started using its magic to levitate some of the cutlery that hadn't been sucked up by the Poltergust before throwing them at the filly. Again, Apple Bloom used the wall to protect herself, and caught the ghost once it approached enough. With the ghost gone, she also sucked up the cutlery so no other ghosts could use them.

She passed a first locked door at her right from which she could hear somepony play piano, then another locked door at her left, before the hallway turned to the right with two doors at the left wall, and one last door at the end. The first door was locked, but not the second. It led to a bathroom.

Inside, a pegasus ghost immediately attacked her, and she lowered her head to avoid his wing lariat before sucking it. An earth pony and a griffon followed it. But as she thought that it would be all, the ghost of a diamond dog, again, one of those weird ghosts with no features, appeared, caught Apple Bloom and started strangling her. So she quickly did like with Golden Hair and pointed her Poltergust at it before pushing the button. The diamond dog was strong, but by pressing her legs against the wall separating the bathtub from the rest of the room, she was able to avoid being dragged, and before long, the diamond dog was captured and a key appeared beside her.

"Now, there're diamond dogs."

«They will not be a problem I hope.»

"Ah don't think, Ah'll just avoid getting too close of them. Their claws are no joke."

After some searching, she found out that this key opened the door where she could hear music earlier, and entered what she discovered was a ballroom.

A ballroom with two corpses, and two dancing ghosts; two earth ponies, one a stallion with a golden fur and silver mane, and the other a mare with a silver fur and golden mane. Apple Bloom immediately recognized them as Golden and Silver Shoes. From what she learned, Golden Shoes was Golden Hair's brother, and Silver Shoes was his wife. And the both of them were great dancers that even Princess Celestia had loved to watch.

But how did they die? No marks indicated that they were killed by something, and they were clearly not dead from asphyxia like the twins. Until now, the ghosts tried to kill her the same way they died, so knowing how these two died may be important to prepare herself.

"Hello, little one! Come dance with us!" Golden Shoes suddenly said upon spotting her.

"Yes! It is wonderful!" Silver Shoes said.

Apple Bloom looked at the two ghosts in wonder and suspicion until she felt her body starting to move alone. "Wha-? Hey! What's going on?!" Before she knew it, she was dancing along with the two ghosts, and she couldn't stop! "Stop!"

"Why stop when we can dance forever?" Silver Shoes asked.

"Prof! Two ghosts are forcing me to dance! What do Ah do?!"

«Let me guess: Golden and Silver Shoes.»

"Yes! Them! Ah can't stop dancing!"

«Oh dear... It's hard to fight body manipulation. In those situations, the best way is to try to resist. If the ghosts are close enough, then at least try to regain control of your forehooves and use the Poltergust on them. If you can't, then I'm coming.»

Regaining control of her forehooves... Resisting their manipulation... Alright! So she started putting her strength on stopping her forelegs from moving. Putting in more and more effort, her forelegs started slowing down, becoming desynchronized with the back legs, until she was able to force them to stop moving. But they were still compelled to move because of whatever the ghosts were using to force her to dance, so she had to keep her focus, gritting her teeth as she forced her forelegs toward the handle of the Poltergust, the limbs moving painfully slow. After much struggle, almost losing a couple of times, she was able to grab the handle, and letting her limbs move by themselves again while forcefully keeping her hold, she waited until the end of the Poltergust eventually faced the two ghosts before she pressed the button.

Immediately, the two ghosts were trapped in the vortex and tried to escape, breaking the curse that forced the filly to dance and letting her focus on capturing them. It wasn't easy because she was capturing two ghosts at the same time, so with their combined strength, they were easily able to drag her behind them, and Apple Bloom had a hard time keeping her hooves on the floor. Things got harder when the ghosts separated and went in opposite directions, forcing Apple Bloom to pull on the handle to force one of them back toward her while she let the other drag her. Eventually, Silver Shoes disappeared inside the Poltergust, letting the filly focus exclusively on her husband, who soon followed her.

She sighed in relief, sitting down to let her hooves rest a little after that forced exercise.

«You got them?»

"Yeah... It wasn't easy. Looks like they were forced to dance to death." She got shivers at this. Being forced to dance for hours, maybe even days, until they fell dead from exhaustion? To think that it could have happened to her!

Before she could think more, new ghosts appeared in the ballroom: two earth ponies, one pegasus, and a fat one with the bananas. She immediately targeted the fat one before it could throw a peel. It didn't stop it from throwing some peels as it tried to escape her, but at least it won't bother her by throwing peels on her path as she was capturing the other ghosts. With the fat ghost captured, she quickly spun around and rolled away to avoid being rammed by the pegasus before she started capturing it.

When the pegasus was gone, a donkey appeared behind the two earth ponies, the three of them grouped together as they approached her. So, as crazy as it was, she targeted the three at the same time. Like with the dancing ghosts, the three ghosts were able to drag her, and one of the earth ponies was able to escape as they flew at different directions, but at least, she was able to capture the others even if she was forced to jump above the corpse of Golden Shoes to not trip on him.

Another fat pony appeared, but this one actually tried to body slam Apple Bloom, while a diamond dog appeared too. She rapidly finished the last earth pony before she turned to the fat pony and targeted it while keeping an eye on the dog. As she was dragged by the fat ghost, two more ghosts appeared behind the diamond dog, these being ghosts of earth ponies holding ghostly spears. An unicorn also appeared to complete the lot.

Frowning, Apple Bloom finished the fat pony, then ran away from the approaching diamond dog, circling it to approach the unicorn. With a roll, she dodged a magic beam, then activated the Poltergust, catching it and one of the spearponies in its vortex. As the two ghosts dragged her, the second spear pony threw its spear at her, and she jumped forward to not be impaled by it. Her jump however almost led her to the diamond dog who was ready to grab her, so she stopped catching the unicorn and the spearpony and quickly reactivated the Poltergust on the dog, stopping it in its attempt. However, now, as she captured the dog, she was forced to avoid the magical beams and thrown spears from the other ghosts, letting the dog drag her to help herself in avoiding the projectiles. When the dog finally disappeared inside the vacuum, she turned to the nearest spearpony who was about to thrust its spear at her and captured it too. The remaining spearpony and the unicorn soon followed. And the key appeared.

She rubbed her forehead. "Wowee! That's violent! Ah think Ah counted ten ghosts!"

«Ten?! Cough! Coughcough! Cough! I never heard of so many ghosts at the same time!»

"Two of them were armed with spears."

«Well, that will make things harder...»

Apple Bloom took the key, and spotted the door at the opposite side of the room from the entrance, at the left wall. She tested the key in it, and it opened, letting the filly enter what was clearly some storage room full of crates along with a mop, a bucket, and chairs piled on each other.

As she entered, another new type of ghost appeared: a minotaur. As soon as it appeared, it approached her enough before slamming the floor with its strong hands, creating a shockwave that took Apple Bloom by surprise. As she recovered, two griffons appeared behind the minotaur. Drat!

Thinking quickly, she waited for the two griffons to reach the minotaur before she activated the Poltergust, trapping all three of them in the vortex. As expected, the minotaur was a strong feller and had no problem dragging her behind it, even less with the help of the griffons. The two smaller ghosts eventually managed to escape, but she made sure to not let the minotaur go! And before long, it was captured. She quickly turned to the griffons, who made the error to remain together, so again, she trapped the two of them in the vortex, and this time managed to capture them.

"Hey, little one, not bad!" she suddenly heard from behind the crates. Turning to them in panic, she spotted the ghost of a cloaked purple stallion half hiding behind. "How about I give you a reward? Do you want a candy? I have some on me. I'm sure you will love them."

Suspicious stranger alert!

In less than one second, she targeted the ghost and activated the Poltergust, making him drop something as he started flying around in panic. It wasn't long before he was caught. Looking down at where he dropped something, she spotted a dagger.

"Uh, prof? Ya know anything about a purple stallion who attracted foals with candies before stabbing them?"

«It rings a bell. Wait a moment,» She heard him searching for something in what was probably a pile of paper if she identified the sound correctly. After a few seconds... «Ah! There! Ugh... Nasty feller this one. His name was Red Steel, and he was a blacksmith assistant from around five hundred years ago. A real monster bearing a pony skin. The guy attracted fillies by promising candies to them, then did... stuff to them before killing them with a dagger. He killed at least four times before he was discovered. He died devoured by timberwolves as he tried to escape the royal guards by entering the Everfree Forest. Good riddance, if you want my opinion.»

"Well, Ah think Ah caught our first ghost who will go into the red crystal," said Apple Bloom with a shiver. She didn't want to know what Prof Spirit meant by 'did stuffs to them'.

«I didn't think that it would be used for any other spirit than Bogmire and whoever is the traitor. Keep your senses alert, there may be more psychos like him in this manor. And they may be more dangerous than the Gems. Thankfully, I have with me piles of archives, newspapers, and other docs to inform me of all the known bad ponies of history. This way, I always know who I'm facing.»

Apple Bloom looked around at the floor. "The key hasn't appeared."

«Look around if there isn't a ghost hidden, like in the wardrobe room. This time, try to not get punched. Ohohoh.»

So Apple Bloom looked around the crates, tapped them, even opened one with a buck, but nothing ghostly came out. A thought then struck her as she looked at the room.

"Wait! This room's smaller than it should be!"

«What do you mean?»

"It's hard to explain... The ballroom was big, you see? But this room isn't as big. But it should, because if not, it would mean that there is another room beside it. But there was no door leading to such a room in the hallway, and there're no doors in the ballroom or this room."

«Oh! I see! A room is missing! If I was to draw a map, there would be a big black square between the hallway and this room! Only one explanation: it's a secret room! There must be a secret passage. Look at the wall.»

Apple Bloom did as told and started looking closely at the left wall. After a few seconds of searching, briefly interrupted by a spearpony, she eventually spotted a hole.

"There's a hole."

«Then you have to insert something. If you haven't gotten any key, then this means that this something is in one of the rooms you already explored. Do you remember anything that could enter this hole? Look around in the room where you are first, just in case the 'key' is already there.»

Looking around a little, she replied, "All that could enter in this here room is the handle of the mop, but Ah don't think it's it."

«Trust me, don't judge too quickly. I found many secret passages in my life, and I can tell you, some of them had weird solutions. Putting the handle of a mop in a hole wouldn't be the weirdest. Come on, it doesn't cost to try.»

"Alright..." replied Apple Bloom with a sigh. Following Smart Spirit's instructions, she took the mop and put the handle in the hole. To her surprise, pushing the mop in it caused a door to open in the wall. "It worked!"

«Ohohohohohoh! If you think there's a secret passage, count on me! I'm an expert!»

Entering the secret room, she saw that it was an extension of the first one, but with more expensive stuffs, like cutlery made of precious metals, pots, or high-quality cleaning tools and products. She even found a purse full of gold coins on one of the crates! On the floor in the middle was a trapdoor with a crank beside it, and on the wall behind it was a ladder.

There was probably more stuff stocked in there.

Apple Bloom went to the crank, and again, was forced to put the mop in a hole in it to turn it and open the trapdoor. Once the trapdoor was open, she cautiously approached it to look, but she couldn't see anything in the darkness of the room below, even with her flashlight.

And then...

"Boo!"

"Waaaahhhh!!!" Quickly stepping back in fear, Apple Bloom took the Poltergust and pointed it at the ghost who just came out of the trapdoor, only for the bucket from the first room to suddenly come and clog the end of the machine. "What?" shouted Apple Bloom as she looked at the bucket stopping her Poltergust from creating a vortex.

Then, she heard the ghost laughing and turned to it, only to see that the ghost was actually Little Ghost. She looked at her annoyed. "Ya almost gave me a heart attack!"

"I couldn't stop myself!" Little Ghost continued laughing for a few seconds before stopping. "No wonder other ghosts love scaring ponies, it's so funny!"

"Where're mah friends?!"

"Your friends? Oh! They are down there!" She pointed down at the trapdoor. "We were waiting for you. Good job for beating Mr. Bear. It was an awesome fight! You were impressive!" She then saw Apple Bloom looking at the trapdoor in worry. "Don't worry, they are alright. Nothing happened to them. I made sure of it. Because it's what friends do, right?"

"Friends?"

"Yes! They are now my friends! They are so fun to be around! And soon, they will be able to live in the manor with me without risking being killed! Well, at the condition you don't die while cleaning the manor. It would be nice if you could at least take out Bogmire before you are killed. Like this, even if you die, there is no risk for him to make you crazy like all the others, and I could still be your friend. But, you know, I would like to become friends with you now. The others can't wait for you to join us." At this moment, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, but also Applejack, Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike floated out of the trapdoor before landing around it, looking at her with big smiles... and empty eyes.

"Little Ghost's right, Bloom," Applejack said. "Join us."

"Yeah! We will have so much fun!" shouted Pinkie.

"And we could go ask the others at school to join us too!" Sweetie Belle said.

Apple Bloom started stepping back, absolutely terrified. “E-everypony...?”

"Come on Apple Bloom! You don't want to come? We will all be together... forever."

At this, everypony started advancing toward the filly.

"Yes, join us."

"Join us."

As they advanced and repeated "join us", Apple Bloom continued stepping back, her heart racing, her body shaking… then she suddenly heard Prof Spirit scream through her communicator.

«Run!»

And she ran away. She ran even faster than she would run in the Running of the Leaves. She didn't even take time to close the doors as she exited the storage room and the ballroom. She could hear them following her. As she ran in the hallway, objects that weren't there before were suddenly here trying to block her way, like a closet, a table, a piece of armor that was moving alone trying to catch her... Ghosts of all kind that she encountered until now as well as a few new ones like hippogriffs, a manticore, a swarm of parasprites, and even a chimera, also appeared to attack her and stop her. And she could swear the hallway was distorting, as if it was spinning, becoming shorter and longer at the same time, and blurry like a mirage! Thankfully, there wasn't much distance between the ballroom and the foyer, so she was quickly able to escape this craziness before she could lose her balance and/or get caught. In the foyer, she barely avoided being slammed by the chandelier balancing like a pendulum before she reached the exit. As she ran, and ran, and ran, she looked behind her, seeing the windows flashing, crazy laughter coming from them, and she spotted Applejack and the others at the entrance, watching her before the doors closed, and everything stopped.

But now, she could see Little Ghost waving at her through one of the windows of the foyer, with a big, friendly smile.

Apple Bloom was quickly joined by Smart Spirit.

"That was the most intense paranormal manifestation I ever saw, and I was outside the manor! Are you alright?"

He was suddenly hugged by a crying Apple Bloom, almost getting the wind knocked out of him. "No!"

Smart Spirit awkwardly put a hoof around her. "Let... Let's return to the lab."

She nodded.

One glass of hot cocoa later, and Apple Bloom calmed enough to recount what happened.

"What do Ah do, prof?" asked the filly, some tears still in her eyes.

“This filly appears to be extremely powerful. But to save your friends, somepony must go in the manor with one of my Poltergusts to continue cleaning it. If you don't want to return, I would perfectly understand, but then, I will have to find somepony else. Ponyville is not far, so it shouldn't be long to find somepony who would accept facing this manor.”

"Impossible."

"Uh?"

"Each time that something bad happens in Ponyville, everypony runs away screaming. The only ones who don't mind facing dangers are... in this manor, and in this lab. You'll find nopony courageous enough to face something like THAT. Even Bulk Biceps screams like a filly when there's a catastrophe happening, and he's the most buffed pony Ah know. And... And even if ya find somepony, would they fare better?" Apple Bloom took a big breath. "Ah already proved that Ah'm good at fighting ghosts, but the next pony ya find may not, and they may be killed, or end up controlled by Little Ghost..." She stared at Prof Spirit, determined, but also terrified. "Ah... A-Ah must return to the manor. Ah'm their best chance right now..."

"You are sure? After what happened?"

She gulped, thinking about this very scary event. "Ah fought pony-eating books. Ah fought a ghost trying to strangle me with her mane... Ah fought a giant animated teddy bear. This..." She laughed to reassure Smart Spirit... and herself. "This isn't the ghost of a stillborn filly and her weird tricks that'll scare me!"

The prof sighed. "Very well..." He then rubbed her back, smiling. "You are the bravest pony I ever encountered. Be cautious. But... Maybe I should come back with you."

"But... What if Applejack and the others are still there? You wouldn't stand a change, you're too old."

"Ugh... Thanks for reminding me... Well then, before you go, let's empty your crystal. And I will also take this purse of coins you found. I prepared some place to stock all that gold." He showed the filly a mostly empty chest in which he put the coins before he gave her a new purse. "I enchanted this one so each time you put something in it, it'll appear in this chest."

"Thanks."

Once everything was done in the lab, Apple Bloom slowly returned to the manor. As she approached it, she briefly looked up at the windows, seeing that Little Ghost wasn't there anymore.

She opened the entrance just enough for her head to pass, so she could look around at the foyer and see if anypony, or anything, was here. Seeing nopony, she entered, and spotted under the chandelier a new key, probably left here by Little Ghost, so she could continue her 'cleaning duty'.

Darn, she forgot to ask her about why she forced her to capture her own family.

Rather than going under the chandelier to take the key and risk being crushed, she took her Poltergust and used its vortex to bring the key to her. She then could hear a little "Aww..." coming from nowhere.

Of course, Little Ghost was watching her.

With a new key in her possession, she entered the hallway the same way she opened the foyer, quickly looking if there was nopony before passing the door. The hallway was now full of the obstacles used earlier to try to stop her, like tables, closets, crates, pots, and all other kinds of furniture small enough for the hallway.

Keeping her ears raised, she started testing the doors one by one to find out which one the key was opening. When she passed beside the ballroom, and after she captured the ghost of an earth pony, she suddenly heard the door of the foyer opening and closing, before a voice shouted, "Apple Bloooom! We know ya're here! Where're yaaaaa?"

That was Applejack! And judging by the hoofsteps, she wasn't alone!

"We will find you, and you will join uuus!" Fluttershy said.

As quickly as she could without making a sound, Apple Bloom opened the door to the ballroom, passed it, and closed it, before listening, trying to calm her heart. Slowly, she heard them approaching, and she decided to run toward one of the curtains in the room to hide behind. Just in time, as the door opened, and she briefly spotted Applejack, Fluttershy, Twilight, Spike, and Scootaloo entering. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Sweetie Belle weren't here... Hopefully, they were on the second floor.

She watched discretely as they traversed the room, calling her in that haunting way, thankfully not spotting her, before they entered the storage room. As soon as the door closed, she moved to exit the ballroom.

"Got you!" Bonk!

Pinkie Pie, because she was Pinkie Pie, suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of her, grabbing her. In reaction, without even thinking, Apple Bloom took the bat and bonked the pink mare on the head, knocking her out.

"Sorry Pinkie!"

Released from her grip, she then ran to the door and returned to the hallway, quickly watching left and right to see if there was somepony else. Seeing nopony, she put a chest of drawers just in front of the door, trapping the ponies and dragon in the ballroom, and immediately tested the door just in front, the one from which she could hear somepony eating.

It wasn't the good one, curse!

Somepony started banging on the door of the ballroom, and she didn't lose time to run to the second half of the hallway while she was also hearing the door of the foyer opening again. Quickly, she tested the doors one by one, until she found the good one leading to the washroom.

Before she could breathe, she was attacked by a pegasus coming out of the toilet bowl and throwing a ball of water at her face, taking her by surprise, which caused some of the water to enter her nostrils. As she coughed, the pegasus then punched her, getting her on her back. From the floor, she quickly took the Poltergust and trapped the pegasus in the vortex, and in return, the pegasus threw another ball of water at her eyes, but she closed them to avoid the water entering them and captured it.

The key appeared in the toilet bowl, and she took it just as the door opened, revealing Rainbow Dash smirking and shouting "Hey!" only to take the toilet bowl in the face before the filly escaped.

"Sorry Rainbow!"

In the hallway, she quickly tested the doors again while escaping, only to end face to face with Rarity who caught her in her magic, Sweetie Belle at her side. In panic, she took the Poltergust and targeted the white filly, making sure that it was at yellow before activating it. She trapped Sweetie Belle in the vortex, then slammed her against Rarity, breaking her spell.

"Sorry Sweetie Belle! Sorry Rarity!"

Back on land, Apple Bloom reached the door with the pony eating but found out that it wasn't the good one either. At least, the chest of drawers was still in front of the door to the ballroom, but she could tell it won't resist long as she could hear Applejack now bucking the door. So she ran to test the next door.

The key opened the door beside the one leading to the basement. Getting an idea, she opened then violently slammed the door to the basement before she entered the newly opened room and slowly closed the door. Keeping an eye open in case any ghosts attacked her, she could hear the others falling to her deception.

"She went to the basement!" she could hear Rarity shout before passing.

"We'll get her!" Applejack shouted, soon following her with the others.

Soon, the hoofsteps disappeared downstairs. The problem was that they would quickly come back, and one of them could get the idea to test this door...

"Good job for escaping them, young one," She suddenly heard from her right. In panic, she turned her head to find the ghost of an old purple unicorn mare with a gray mane sitting on a golden chair in front of a well-decorated table with a crystal ball. Lying on the chair, beside her, was her body. The old mare, Crystal Ball, Apple Bloom recognized, giggled. "You don't need to be scared of me, little Apple Bloom, I am not a hostile ghost. Oh, right." She waved her hoof, and Apple Bloom could hear a click in the door. "Now, it's closed. Your controlled friends will not be able to open it. You are safe here."

Almost as soon as she said that, Apple Bloom could hear Applejack and the others climb the stairs from the basement, then open the door to the hallway.

"But if she isn't down there, where is she?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"We will find her again sooner or later," Twilight said.

Somepony then tried to open the door. "Still locked," Spike said. "She isn't there."

"Darn, she got us good," Applejack said.

Apple Bloom could hear them move away and breathed in relief.

"Uh... Thanks..."

"You are welcome," replied Crystal Ball with another giggle. "You are a filly full of resources."

Apple Bloom approached her before sitting. "How...?"

"How am I still sane despite Bogmire's curse? Well, you see, little one, I am a medium, and I possess a good amount of spiritual powers. Enough to use them to protect my mind from the curse." She sighed. "But protecting myself is taking almost everything I have, so I can't even move, and I can barely talk..."

Apple Bloom's ears lowered in sadness."So, ya're trapped here, even if ya're still sane?"

"Even if I could still move, I would still be trapped. I was able to protect my mind, but the rest of the curse still takes effect: everypony that Bogmire killed is trapped in this manor. We can only get out to the graveyard and the garden. But now, I can see it. I can see that thanks to you, there is a possibility for all of us to be free. And just for that I am ready to help you with all my power, even if it means giving up my mind to the curse."

"Ya don't have to!"

"Come on Apple Bloom, you know that whatever happens, the end will be the same: you will capture me in this impressive machine created by my great, great and much greater grand nephew. Yes, your new friend, Smart Spirit, is a descendant of our family. He didn't tell you because he thought that he didn't need to. And he was right. You don't need to know, but it will help you understand the full story. You see, when Bogmire was freed, Diamond Cup and Golden Hair had another son who wasn't in the manor. His name was Prismatic Gem, and he was studying to learn about our family secret: ghost hunting. When the manor disappeared, he immediately understood what happened, and from there he and his descendants prepared themselves for its potential return to stop Bogmire from causing more suffering. This Poltergust on your back is the result of over one thousand years of preparation for this very night. I'm very proud of what they did. However, I'm very disappointed that he couldn't get himself to have a son or a daughter!"

«Ugh...»

"Really, one thousand years of preparation almost for nothing! You fool, your life wasn't just about ghost hunting! You should have at least tried to find a mare!"

«Uhhh...»

Apple Bloom laughed, making Crystal Ball smile.

"At least, he found you." She then started moving her forehooves around the crystal ball. "Now, let me try to help you, but I will have to be quick before the curse clouds my mind. And once I'm done, you will capture me before I try to kill you."

Apple Bloom lost her smile at this. "Okay..."

"You are searching for Bogmire... Well, it won't be long before you find him. He loves places full of death, and you can guess which place stinks of it more."

She gulped. "The graveyard."

"Yes. He is in there. But... Even if you are able to capture Bogmire, I can see... that it will not stop the curse..."

"What?"

«What?»

"I... I can't see why... A great power is blocking my vision... I fear that a ghost more powerful than Bogmire was able to take over the curse... It's probably the reason why the manor reappeared. That's all the help I can give you concerning this..."

"Not even on who's this ghost? Or where it is?"

"No, I'm afraid... I don't think it's Pyrite, the one who freed Bogmire, because even if he has gained a lot of powers thanks to the curse, he didn't gain enough to be able to take over. But now, I can tell you about your sister and your friends. And about Little Ghost." She stopped moving her hooves around the crystal ball to look directly at the filly. "Little Ghost died in the womb of her mother, but like me, her mind didn't get infected by the curse. The reason? Because her mind wasn't properly developed at the time. It's only in the following years that it developed. I helped her by teaching her to speak, and about some other things... You know what this means? That even if you stop the curse, it will not free the ponies and dragon under Little Ghost's control." She sighed. "Something important that I forgot to teach her is morality, and because of that, she has absolutely no idea that what she's doing is wrong. All... All she wants are friends... and to have fun with them..." She restarted moving her hooves around the ball. "If you survive, she will be waiting for you at the last room of her little game, the very room where Bogmire was sealed, in the basement. There, with your job done, she will probably use her powers to make you join her, like the others. It's where you will have a chance to fight her and save your friends. But you will first have to clean the whole manor room by room."

"But why is she making me capture her own family?"

The old mare looked at her sadly. “You saw them... Diamond Cup was reading the same book again and again, Golden Hair was grooming her hair without stopping, Ruby and Sapphire weren't stopping playing hide and seek, Golden and Silver Shoes wouldn't stop dancing... The ponies trapped in the curse are repeating what they were doing at their death forever... For Little Ghost, they aren't family, they are just... hindrances. Dirt to be cleaned by your vacuum to let place for her new 'real' friends. And yes, this includes me... Like I said, despite talking, I can't do much. I'm... boring. When I taught her everything I could think of, she lost interest in me. So I must disappear to let my place to one of her friends. That's all I can say about her...

As for Pyrite, he is on the third floor. He knows about you, and he will use all his gained powers to stop you. He is the master behind most of the ghosts that you fought until now, what Smart Spirit calls Shadows. When you will capture him, the Shadows will stop bothering you." She stopped moving her hooves, her eyes becoming empty. "That's... all... Quick... Capture me... I'm... losing... myself.......... Please....... Free us....."

Apple Bloom nodded, took the Poltergust, and activated it. The old mare didn't even try to resist, she was caught in a few seconds. She looked at the machine on her back "Ah promise." She said as she could hear the door unlocking.

«She gave us some important information. We now know who the traitor is, even if I already had my doubts, to tell you the truth; we know that capturing Bogmire won't work anymore and that a more powerful ghost took over the curse, and we know that you will have to fight Little Ghost to free your friends, unless you are able to convince her to release them. But you know... Little Ghost demonstrated really strong powers... I wouldn't be surprised if she is the one who took over the curse. You know? To force the manor to reappear in our dimension so she could get friends.»

"You might be right. And she'll be in the last room, in the basement."

«And to reach it, you will have to capture all the other ghosts that you will encounter, which includes all the members of the Gem family, Bogmire, the servants, and whatever ghosts entered the manor since it appeared and will get in your way, like Red Steel. Now, our objective is clear.»

"Yes." She took the key and went to the door in the wall at the left of the entrance. "What can you tell me about this Pyrite?"

«He was born from a young love when Emerald was just 17 years old. Because of this, he couldn't be considered as the rightful heir of the Gem family, and it's his younger brother, Diamond Cup, who got everything. So he became a painter, but he had a hard time selling his paintings, so he was constantly living in poverty. I was kinda taking pity of the poor guy, until Crystal Ball just confirmed that he is the one who unleashed Bogmire and, by consequence, caused the death of his family. I understand that he was jealous, and probably desired their fortune, but going this far? Ugh! Definitively red crystal for him!»

Apple Bloom opened the door and entered a room with six beds.

"Uh? That's a lot of beds."

«Oh, you must have entered the chamber of the servants.»

"Six beds, so... six servants?"

«Seven. The butler had his own room. You already got two maids. There must be also at least one cook and one gardener.»

Suddenly, the six beds rose in the air, and one after another, they were thrown at the filly, to her surprise. She avoided the first one by lowering herself against the ground, before she quickly jumped left and right to avoid the others. She had to jump above the last one.

The beds now formed a pile against the door, blocking the exit to her, and the next instant, a manticore, surrounded by three spearponies, appeared, all of them Shadows. The manticore was probably the one that attacked her earlier as she was running away. It was the same color (red), and it was clearly the most dangerous of the bunch, so she targeted it first. Of course, she was dragged by the animal, and it tried to use its tail to stop her, but she didn't let it go. The spearponies, however, forced her to let it go, because they just wouldn't stop attacking her with their spears! So she aligned the three, and activated the Poltergust, doing all she could to capture them before the manticore returned to attack her.

The manticore jumped at her just as she captured the last spearpony, and she rolled out of the way of its biting attempt before she started capturing it again. At this moment, a minotaur appeared with a pegasus, and the bipedal bull immediately slammed the floor to create a shockwave. The filly jumped, using the manticore's strength to jump higher and pass above the shockwave. While she jumped, the pegasus charged at her, and again, she was forced to give up on the manticore to let herself fall and avoid a wing lariat. She fell right beside the minotaur, and before it could slam the floor again as she was recovering from her landing, she activated the Poltergust on it, and the bull dragged her away just in time for her to avoid the pegasus diving at her, the pony disappearing through the ground as a result.

By the time both the pegasus and the manticore came back to attack her, she had finished the minotaur, and she targeted the two remaining ghosts at the same time. The pegasus was the first to lose the fight, but the manticore still resisted for at least fifteen seconds before it was finally captured.

But now, four pony ghosts appeared, an earth pony and a pegasus with water in them, another pegasus with lightning, and an unicorn with ice. The two ghosts with water were the first to attack, trying to hit her with balls of water that the filly avoided, understanding what was their tactic. They would hit her with water, and she would become more vulnerable to the lightning and to the ice.

"You didn't tell me ghosts could use elements! Ah thought the one Ah fought in the washroom was a special case!"

«Because I never had to fight ghosts that can use elements. Unicorn ghosts can use their magic to throw fireballs and other elemental projectiles, and pegasus ghosts can throw lightning bolts from clouds, but so can any living unicorns and pegasi with the necessary knowledge. But elemental ghosts? I never encountered one. But I suppose that a ghost with enough power can use them. You mean you are fighting such ghosts right now?»

While the prof was talking, Apple Bloom targeted who she considered as the most dangerous of the ghosts: the lightning one. After using one of the beds of the pile as cover to protect herself from the elemental projectiles, the lightning one went to her to attack, only for Apple Bloom to trap it in a vortex before quickly capturing it.

"Eeyup! Two waters, an ice, and a lightning. Ah just got the lightning one."

«By Celestia's sun! Pyrite really wants you dead now!»

"Wasn't it already the case with the diamond dog trying to strangle me?"

«Good point.»

By now, she was able to target the three remaining ghosts at the same time, and easily captured them, getting used to capturing more than one ghost at once. But then, five earth ponies with fire in them appeared and started throwing fireballs at her.

"Consarn it! How many there're?!"

Running around to avoid the fireballs, she was eventually able to trap three of the ghosts in a vortex. She let them drag her so she could still avoid the fireballs from the two others until she captured them before she was finally able to catch the last two. But then, two more ghosts appeared: zebras. The two immediately started throwing potions at her, and Apple Bloom didn't want to know what would happen if she was hit by one of them. Would she be turned into some weak animal? Would she be turned into stone? Would she become sick? Become a monster? Become a colt?! Yick!

So she made sure to avoid the thrown potions and was eventually able to capture the first zebra. But as she captured the first one, she couldn't dodge a potion coming from behind, and after an explosion of smoke, she found herself turned into a little foal about as old as the Cake Twins. Thankfully, it wasn't one of those regression thingies that also regressed her mind, so she was able to retain it, but now, she was far too small to hold the Poltergust, her whole body now small enough to pass through the straps, and her communicator also fell from her ear.

But she wasn't too small to lift the handle! So she ran to it, lifted it toward the zebra, and pressed the button. What she forgot was that now, she didn't have the strength to resist being dragged by it... So when the zebra started flying around to escape the vortex; she found herself riding the handle of the machine as it was flying behind, and she made sure to not release the button until the zebra was gone!

As soon as the zebra disappeared, the effect of the potion seemed to disappear with it because the next instant, she was back to her normal age.

Laughing as she placed the Poltergust and the communicator back at their place, Apple Bloom said "That was fun!"

«What was fun?»

Before Apple Bloom could answer, yet another ghost appeared, also a zebra, but this one was different. It wasn't a Shadow... It was the real ghost of a zebra! And as soon as he appeared, the beds started floating around him as he remained in a sitting position in the air, his back legs crossed and his eyes closed.

"Ah... will tell ya later. A real zebra ghost just appeared, and he seems to mean business."

«A zebra? Wow! I only encountered one zebra ghost before! They are rare in Equestria!»

"Zebras are superior," the zebra suddenly said calmly, eyes still closed. "Everything else is inferior."

"Oh. We've an idiot who thinks zebras are the best."

«Oh! I know this one! One minute!»

The zebra started throwing the beds at Apple Bloom, and the filly started running around him, searching for an opening to approach and activate the Poltergust. But the zebra was fast. As soon as he had thrown a bed and it missed, he brought it back to him immediately, so he was never missing ammunitions.

«There! His name was, or is, Zalor! A few dozens years ago, he was the leader of a group of zebras who were preaching the superiority of their race. At first, nopony took them seriously, but then they started murdering non-zebras, and Zalor eventually destroyed a bridge, causing a train and all its passengers to fall to their death. The zebras captured him, and he was executed along with all his followers.»

Apple Bloom frowned. "Then Ah'll show him how much he is inferior to EVERY creatures in this world!"

She stopped running around him and decided to wait for him to throw one of the beds at her. When he did, she jumped on the bed and bounced from it toward the striped ghost, readying and activating the Poltergust, catching him in the vortex. Of course, Zalor started escaping, and in his panic, threw the beds at her with a very bad accuracy, giving her enough space to easily avoid them. However, one of the beds cut through the vortex, and Zalor escaped, disappearing. He reappeared back in the center of the room, and the beds started to float again around him. Having enough, Apple Bloom turned the Poltergust to red before activating it toward the zebra. She actually caught one of the beds in the vortex, and improvising, she slammed the bed against Zalor, stunning him and making him drop the other beds. She used this occasion to capture him, and this time, he didn't escape. As soon as he was gone, she put the Poltergust back to yellow.

"Got him."

«Good job! At this pace, you will have caught every criminals in Equestria's history before the end of the night!» Smart Spirit said with a laugh.

Apple Bloom looked down to spot the key and took it before exiting the room. Back in Crystal Ball's room, she quickly took care of the zebra and two griffons attacking her there before she went to the exit. Raising her ears, she couldn't hear anything at the other side of the door, so she slowly opened it and could see nopony in the hallway. Entering it, she moved slowly, and when she reached the fork, she looked at the right hallway while remaining behind the wall, and spotted Scootaloo and Fluttershy turning to the left toward the washroom and bathroom. Deciding not to go this way for now, she continued forward, passing beside the door to the foyer, before she went to the closed door at the very end. The luck was with her this time, because it turned out that the key opened this one. The doors to the foyer suddenly opened behind her, and quickly, she entered the new room before slowly closing the door, hoping that nopony saw it close.

Then, behind her, a pegasus, a griffon, and a hippogriff appeared, and she quickly forced them to shut up before they could make too much sounds, using a cabinet as support to avoid being dragged too much. A few seconds was all it took for silence to return in the room and for a key to appear. She quickly returned to the door to listen if anypony was approaching.

She didn't hear anything, thank goodness!

She focused back to the key on the floor of what she discovered was a laundry room, with a basket of clothes and a basin like usually used to wash clothes in, actually empty, among other things. She took the key, and went to the door in the wall at her left, the key opening it.

She entered a room which was clearly a chamber, with a bed and all, but had also some items like a glass smoother on a board, a bucket, and also a place to sew. However, most of the room was blackened and full of ashes, and Apple Bloom didn't take long to find the reason, immediately spotting the burning ghost sitting on a stool near the bed. She couldn't see much through the fire, but judging by all the items in the room, and the clothes she could see on the board with the glass smoother, this pony was Clean Order, the butler, the gray stallion who had a portrait in the parlor, and also in the ballroom.

Did he burn alive until nothing remained of him but ashes? At this point, she couldn't decide anymore who had the most horrible death.

As soon as he spotted her, the butler on fire floated toward Apple Bloom, forehoofs raised, ready to give her the same fate that he got. On fire or not, he was still a ghost, and so vulnerable to the Poltergust. However...

"Prof, please, tell me the Poltergust can catch a ghost on fire without burning or overheating."

«Don't worry. It can perfectly catch the ghost of somepony who died burning and is burning as a result.»

She didn't need more and activated the Poltergust. However, the butler didn't let himself get caught that easily and immediately started firing dozens of fireballs at her as he was flying away to escape her. She was quickly forced to give up and run away from the fire, and as soon as the butler was able to escape, he turned around to face her and throw his fireballs with more efficiency. When Apple Bloom tried to approach him, Clean Order started spinning, sending some kind of fiery shockwave all around him which forced her back. So instead, she took the bucket and threw it at him, and did the same thing with one of the stools, the glass smoother, and the board, before she went to a table and bucked it at him. All of those objects thrown at him eventually stunned the butler, especially the table, and Apple Bloom quickly put the Poltergust to red again before pushing the button, quickly catching Clean Order.

"There goes the butler."

«Alright, I'm removing him from the list.»

"But now, Ah think there's another secret room beside this one."

«Room too small for all the space it should take?»

"Eeyup."

Apple Bloom started checking the wall at the left of the door until she found behind a portrait of Emerald a little key hole. Understanding, she started searching the room for a key, other than the one that appeared after the capture of the ghost, and eventually found it among the ashes. Probably Clean Order had it on him when he burned. Apple Bloom shivered, thinking that those ashes she just touched were once a pony. She put the key in the hole and opened a door hidden in the wall, entering a... Woah...

A room entirely made of gold, with no less than seven treasure chests, and many gems of all kinds a little everywhere!

"Uh..... Woah.... Uh.... Prof? Ah think ya'll need a second chest... And maybe a third..."

«You found that much?!»

"Maybe even more..."

Suddenly, a swarm of parasprites appeared along with two earth ponies, two pegasi, and two unicorns, all armed with spears. Apple Bloom immediately ran to the first unicorn, this one beside one of the earth ponies, and quickly captured the both of them while jumping above a chest to avoid the charges from the pegasi. Meanwhile, the swarm of parasprites also started charging at her, sharp fangs ready to leave nothing of her body, not even bones. With the unicorn and earth pony captured, she immediately turned to the parasprites, put the Poltergust to red, and activated it while still running to not be impaled by the spears of the other ghosts. The whole swarm, dozens of parasprites, was swallowed by the Poltergust in just a few seconds, and as soon as the last bug disappeared, she turned the vacuum back to yellow before turning to the two pegasi charging at her again. The two of them were caught a few seconds later, leaving an unicorn and an earth pony who didn't last long against the filly.

No key appeared. Obviously, Little Ghost didn't intend for Apple Bloom to find this room.

But now, she had seven chests to open and to empty into her purse! And she must not forget the gems!

She opened the first chest, and she was greeted with thousands of coins! Each of those old bits worth one hundred actual bits! IT WAS MORE MONEY THAT SHE COULD HOPE TO MAKE IN HER LIFE WITH THE FARM! AND IT WAS JUST ONE CHEST! She could almost faint right now!

"Prof... Prepare to become millionaire..." She looked at the other chests, some of them bigger than the one she just opened, and the gems. "Maybe even a billionaire..."

She heard Smart Spirit fall on the floor.

She started placing the gold coins in the purse before she got an idea. She opened the Poltergust, took out the crystal, and placed the purse in its place, opened toward the hole from which the ghosts usually came. Then, she started sucking up the coins with the machine, rapidly emptying the chest, and she could hear the old stallion shocking through the communicator. Before long, all seven chests were empty, and Apple Bloom replaced the crystal in its place before she started placing the gems in the purse until nothing remained.

"Done! The room's empty! So, prof, ya'll be able to find some place for all this?"

«I... may need to go to Ponyville to place all this gold somewhere.»

"Ya can go to our clubhouse, in Sweet Apple Acre's orchard. Ya can find it easily, it's a small house on a tree."

«You don't mind if...»

She giggles. "Go on. Ah can survive by mahself for a time."

«I will remain in contact.»

Apple Bloom left the room, then traversed Clean Order's chamber and the laundry before slowly opening the door to the hallway.

Fluttershy spotted her.

"She is here!" She shouted happily.

"Horseapple!"

She quickly closed the door, turned around, and went to the basin. She turned it upside down, then went under it to hide, hoping that the others won't find an upside down basin weird. She heard the door opening, and they entered the room.

"Where is she?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"She probably went to that room!" Pinkie Pie shouted excitedly.

"Come on Apple Bloom, where are ya?" Applejack called.

"Apple Bloom?" Spike called as they opened the door to the room of the butler.

"Apple Bloom?"

"Apple Blooooom!"

"Come join us!"

She heard everypony entering the room, and when she heard the last hoofsteps leave, she poked her head out from under the basin

"Hey! There's another room!" Pinkie shouted.

"Woah! This one is made of gold!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"Apple Bloom, you're in there?" Scootaloo asked.

Slowly, she left from under the basin and went to the exit of the room, looking toward the butler's room just in case somepony suddenly turned around and spotted her, because they hadn't closed the door. She was able to exit the laundry and started running.

Then Pinkie Pie came out of one of the closets. "Hey! No running in the hall-!" Bonk!

Like the previous time, she was quickly knocked out by Apple Bloom's bat. "Sorry again, Pinkie."

With fewer doors to check out, it didn't take long for Apple Bloom to find out that the key opened the one from which she could hear somepony playing a piano, and she entered a room full of old musical instruments of all kinds. Toward the end of the room, she spotted an orange unicorn mare with a black mane playing a piano.

A piano full of blood. And no other trace of the mare's corpse around.

"Prof, Ah found Opal Note," she informed.

«Ok.»

She approached Opal Note until the mare spotted her from the corner of her vision. She immediately turned to her, before jumping and disappearing in the piano.

"Oh... Ah don't like it..."

The piano started shaking, and after a few seconds, it started bouncing toward the filly, its lid opening and closing with fangs appearing while making a deafening cacophony.

Apple Bloom's eyes went wide before she screamed, "Nope! Ah'm outta there!"

She ran back to the door, only for it to open, and for everypony else to enter.

"We finally found... ya?" Applejack said before she spotted the piano.

Half of everypony ran away, only Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Pinkie remaining with Apple Bloom. Suddenly, the piano was covered in Twilight's magic, and the lavender mare threw it as violently as she could at the other side of the room before slamming it repeatedly against the walls, the floor, and the ceiling until it was in pieces and Opal Note's ghost got out.

"Uh... Thanks Twilight, Ah'm taking over from here."

Apple Bloom quickly ran to the confused ghost of the mare and was easily able to capture her, a key dropping beside her. She took it and turned around, only to see the four mares just in front of her, smiling.

"Now you can join us," The four of them said at the same time.

"Mmh... Nope!"

Putting the Poltergust to red, she trapped Rainbow Dash in a vortex, and quickly slammed her against the other mares, only Pinkie dodging her before grabbing Apple Bloom.

"Got yo-" Bonk!

Apple Bloom used her bat to knock out the pink mare (again), and immediately ran to the exit, only to see the rest of the gang entering the room.

"Is the scary piano gone?" Fluttershy asked.

"Rarity! There's a mouse at yer hooves!" Apple Bloom shouted.

"IIIIHH!!!" Rarity and Sweetie Belle both jumped into Fluttershy's front legs, the poor yellow mare muttering an "Oh dear..." before collapsing under their weight right on Scootaloo and Spike.

"Sorry, everypony!" Apple Bloom shouted as she exited the room before closing the door. She then quickly did like with the door to the ballroom and put a drawer table in front of it, then a chest, then a crate, then another chest, and finally a small closet before breathing in relief. She could thank Little Ghost for filling those hallways with obstacles to use.

She went to the still locked door beside the washroom, and the key opened it, letting Apple Bloom entering a room with a pool table, a chess set, and some other games. Slowly circling the table was a cyan unicorn stallion with a darker blue mane: Lapis Lazuli. Beside the table was his corpse, impaled by a sharp cue stick.

Apple Bloom was then suddenly levitated on the table, among the balls, and the stallion was about to hit her with the stick as if she was a ball. Without losing time she took the Poltergust back to yellow and trapped him in a vortex. As the stallion started escaping she was dragged on the table, and either by bad luck or by the stallion's intelligence, she was dragged back toward the balls, and she found herself sliding on them. Growling, Apple Bloom quickly kicked a ball at the ghost's back of the head, stunning him a little long enough for the filly to finish him.

Three unicorn ghosts then appeared and levitated some darts from a box before throwing them at the filly. She jumped from the table and went under it, forcing the ghosts to approach. She punished their stupidity by trapping the three of them in the vacuum's vortex before capturing them one by one, the last one causing a key to drop beside her.

She used it to open a door at the left of the entrance, and entered a simple room with a table, two armchairs, and a shelf full of books. A swarm of parasprites immediately appeared, followed quickly by a fat pony with the bananas and a diamond dog. She went first against the parasprites before they tried to devour her, then went for the fat pony as it was starting to put peels everywhere. As she captured the fat ghost while avoiding the diamond dog, a hippogriff appeared with a donkey, the donkey using the lightning element.

She saw the donkey prepare to fire a lightning bolt, and as the fat pony was finally disappearing inside the pipe of the Poltergust, she kicked the table over, using it as a shield. Once the donkey fired the lightning bolt and missed her, she jumped over the table, avoiding the diamond dog's claw, and started sucking up the donkey while a cockatrice appeared. Upon recognizing the animal ghost, Apple Bloom quickly turned away her eyes to not get turned into stone, finished the donkey, and turned the handle toward the half-chicken half-snake animal, catching it, and the diamond dog, in the vortex. To make sure that the cockatrice wouldn't turn her into stone while she was dragged, Apple Bloom closed her eyes, which, however, opened her to the hippogriff who clawed her. But she didn't let go of the button, and she eventually felt something enter the Poltergust. Cautiously opening an eye, she saw that she was still capturing the diamond dog, meaning that the cockatrice was gone. She then saw the hippogriff come back, this time to buck her with two hooves forming from its ghost tail, and she violently pulled on the handle, causing the diamond dog to slam on the hippogriff. She then released the button and pressed it again, trapping the two of them in the vortex, and capturing them.

Then, a chimera appeared, dropping on the table and destroying it before roaring.

«Woah! What was that?!»

"A bucking chimera!"

The chimera bounced toward Apple Bloom, and the filly quickly jumped back to avoid being clawed. Immediately, she activated the Poltergust on the chimera, and while the beast was pushed a little by the vortex, it was able to resist! But Apple Bloom didn't release the button, and decided to run to the left, only to be almost bitten by the tiger head. When she tried to go to the right, the goat head charged at her, horns first, and she rolled out of the way, letting the beast pass her. Apple Bloom was now behind it, facing the snake tail who started thrusting itself at her to bite her. She dodged the biting attempts with some small jumps before putting the end of the Poltergust right in front of its path. The snake's head ended stuck inside it, and it started struggling to get out, moving left and right, dragging the filly who wouldn't let go. The chimera started spinning to catch her with its tiger paws, but it couldn't reach her as she was flying with the tail, until the beast just decided to use its tail to slam her on the floor, which successfully made her release it.

Groaning in pain for a moment, she opened her eyes to see the chimera bouncing at her again, and she quickly put the end of the Poltergust in its way, turned it to red, and activated it. Since the chimera was bouncing right at her, it couldn't escape the vortex and jumped right in the hole. It put its paws on the floor as its tiger head ended stuck in it, resisting as best as it could, the goat head even trying to reach the filly with its horns, until the machine took the upper hand and the ghost was captured. The key appeared.

Apple Bloom remained on the floor for a couple of minutes, taking big breaths, before she got up and took the key.

"Ah... Ah captured the chimera..."

«Wowie! I must say, you are getting all my respect! The best I was able to catch in my time was the ghost of a chimera, so I know how much of a pain they can be! But you seem exhausted. Maybe you should get out of the manor for a time to rest. I'm coming back from Ponyville.»

"No, it's... It's okay. Ah just need to catch mah breath. And Ah feel Ah'm close to Bogmire."

She heard him sigh. «The instant you capture Bogmire, you come back, ok? But if you feel that you are getting too tired, don't hesitate to get out of there to rest a little. Don't be stubborn at the risk of your life. I know how much you Apples are a stubborn bunch.»

Apple Bloom laughed.

She exited the room, and as she traversed the room with the billiard and all, she had to fight a manticore with a group of four griffons. She didn't need to fight them, but she told herself that a ghost caught now was a ghost that wouldn't bother her anymore. So she activated the Poltergust and caught the manticore and one of the griffon in its vortex. By the time the other griffons reached her to attack, she had captured the first one, but the manticore was able to resist. So she let it go and targeted the three remaining griffons, quickly capturing the three of them before she finished the manticore as it was bouncing at her.

With all the ghosts captured, she exited the room and traversed the hallway, noting that Applejack and her friends were still trying to escape their prison, and went to the only door still locked in it without counting the ones at the extremities: the one from which she could hear somepony eating.

She entered the room and spotted a huge white unicorn stallion stuffing himself with a real buffet made of all kinds of food, even... Even meat! Much to Apple Bloom's disgust, there was meat on this table, and the ghost had no problems eating it in his eternal gluttony! Beside the ghost, Pearl, she could see his body on the floor, absolutely stuffed with vomit beside his mouth.

Pearl spotted her, and waved at her to come, and before Apple Bloom knew it, she was sitting on one of the chairs around the table, stuffing herself (but not touching the meat).

Consarn it! It's like with the dancers! I must resist! But, at least, the food is good.

With difficulty, not helped by her stomach starting to hurt, she stopped her front hooves from reaching to the food and took the handle of the Poltergust. She caught Pearl in its vortex, and the very obese stallion started to fly around to escape. Because of his weight, she could only let herself being dragged, most of the time on the table where she got all the food on her face. By the time Pearl was captured, she was covered from head to tail in food, and the room became a mess, with plates and candlelights knocked over on the floor and some of the chairs on their side.

Not minding how messy she was now, and thankful that she was used to heavy meals with her family, Apple Bloom took the key that appeared and opened the door at the opposite side of the room, entering a kitchen. Again, a kitchen without any of the modern technology, like a wood stove instead of an oven.

In this room were two real ghosts, the two of them clearly cooks. However, one of them was... weird. It was a badly burned chubby pegasus stallion holding a very big knife and wearing a bloody uniform... And he had a very crazy look as he smiled down at a living mouse he was keeping down. A smile with teeth looking like fangs. The stallion raised his giant knife, then brought it down on the poor mouse. Not being able to control herself, Apple Bloom barely held back the content of her stomach with a gulp. But this small sound was enough for the ghost to hear her, and he turned his head to look at her, showing his sharp teeth as he smiled happily.

"Aah! Fresh pony meat!"

The other ghost, looking more like a normal cook, turned to her and raised a knife.

Horrified, Apple Bloom spoke, "Prof! There's a weird ghost cook pony with fangs that wants to eat me!"

«Oh Celestia... I can think of only one pony that would eat other ponies and sharpened his teeth into fangs.» said Smart Spirit before he gulped. «Sharp Knife, also called the Bloody Cook, or the Cook of Tartarus, a monster who lived over eight hundred years ago. He... survived in the wild by learning to eat meat when he was a colt. One day, he opened a restaurant for griffons and other carnivores and omnivores in Canterlot, but in the following weeks, several disappearances of ponies were reported... You can guess where they disappeared. When he was discovered, he disappeared in the alleys of Canterlot, and the guards searched him for months as he continued hunting everything that could be eaten. During that time, he sharpened his teeth into fangs to have fewer problems eating. Celestia herself was the one who found him, hidden in a basement of a house in which he had killed all its occupants, and she was so angry that she turned him into ashes right on the spot. He... particularly loved plump fillies.»

Apple Bloom looked at her very stuffed, round belly, then saw the ghost licking his lips, and said, "Horseapple..."

Sharp Knife threw his knife at her, and with an "Eep!", Apple Bloom closed the door, the knife passing partially through it. The stallion took the knife and used it to open a bigger hole in the door before he looked through it.

"Here comes the Cookie!"

Apple Bloom went to a chair, turned the Poltergust to red again, and caught it in the vortex before throwing it at the door, to the stallion's surprise. The chair broke the door from its hinges and took away the crazy cook with it. She quickly ran back to the kitchen to deal with him while he was stunned, but the other cook then came and tried to cut her with his knife. Apple Bloom had no other choice but to target him first, making sure to turn the Poltergust back to yellow, and before long, the first cook was captured. But as she was busy with the cook, Sharp Knife recovered and started levitating more knives around him. He started throwing them at the filly as she ran out of the kitchen to escape. The stallion chased her, now holding... A CHAINSAW?!

Apple Bloom threw another chair at him, but the cook maniacally laughed as he cut it in half with the chainsaw before charging at the filly. She quickly ran to the next chair and used it as a shield, and while the mad cook was cutting it, she activated the Poltergust. But as she was capturing the stallion, the ghost of a fat pony appeared, ate a banana, and threw the peel in her path. She slipped on it, and the cook escaped.

"Seriously?!"

She got her revenge on the fat pony, but the cook came back with his chainsaw, cutting the table in two to reach her. She ran back to the kitchen, took a pan, and threw it at Sharp Knife, hitting his face with it. At this moment, three water pegasi appeared and started bombarding her with water from all directions, and an ice griffon got out of the icebox, preparing to throw ice. Too bad for it, it appeared just beside Sharp Knife. Apple Bloom, not paying attention to the water despite her mane now drooping in front of her eyes (at least, it got rid of the majority of the food still on her body), activated the Poltergust and caught the two ghosts in her vortex, and this time, successfully captured Sharp Knife along with the griffon. The three water pegasi followed just after.

Apple Bloom shook her body like a dog to get rid of most of the water, put back her mane correctly, and took the newly appeared key.

"Ah think Ah'm gonna have nightmares for a few nights..."

«It's only now that you think you will have nightmares? Any filly your age would have started thinking this when facing Diamond Cup's pony-eating books.»

Apple Bloom slowly laughed at this. The prof was right. Since she started exploring this manor, she got in at least ten... or twenty situations that will certainly cause her some nightmares.

She opened the door at the end of the kitchen, beside the wooden stove, and it led her out of the manor. She immediately recognized it as the lawn she saw from the balcony just above, and she quickly spotted the dog, a bulldog, eating some meat.

The meat from the leg of a pony. And its dog bowl was full of body parts of ponies. Again, Apple Bloom had to use all her strength to resist puking. She recognized some of the parts as belonging to the two maids and the cook she captured.

So it's where the bodies of the servants ended? Sharp Knife is probably the one responsible, as well as for the meat Pearl was eating. That stallion was horrible.

However, she couldn't find the body of the dog, but frankly, she wouldn't be surprised to learn that it was eaten by the ghost of the dog. It seemed to be ravenous.

At the other side of the lawn was a portal, and at its other side, she could spot the graveyard, her destination. But first, she had to deal with the guard dog which, by now, probably had a taste for pony meat.

So she approached it, Poltergust ready. The dog spotted her and stopped eating before it charged at her, growling and fangs ready to tear her apart. And gosh! This dog was bigger than her! She quickly turned on the Poltergust and caught the dog in the vortex. Thankfully, nothing came to stop her, and the dog wasn't as heavy as Pearl or as strong as the chimera, so it was quickly captured.

Soon the portal to the graveyard slowly opened with a rusty sound.

She gulped. "That's it, prof. Ah'm about to fight Bogmire. Don't be surprised if Ah disappear, like in Little Ghost's chamber."

«Understood. Good luck.»

She entered the graveyard looking everywhere to spot her target. She focused a little in worry at the graves, not wanting to approach them. There was a total of eleven of them, one of them on top of some stairs at the rear.

Then, from nowhere, lightning struck the first ten graves one after another, surprising Apple Bloom so much that she fell on her butt. A few seconds after the last grave was hit, boned hooves started to come out of the ground in front of them, and before long, ten skeletons with more or less flesh on them were rising from their graves, their eyesockets glowing with a purple light not of this world.

Apple Bloom immediately ran back inside the manor, returning to the kitchen. Quickly, as she was panicking, she looked on the floor and spotted Sharp Knife's chainsaw. She took it, turned it on, and returned outside as the skeletons were reaching the door. Striking the skeletons one after another with the chainsaw, she cut them, then cut them again, and again, and again, until all that remained of them were piles of pieces of bones. When she made sure that they could never get back up, she dropped the chainsaw and took some big breaths to calm herself. Just in case, she crushed their skulls one by one.

After a whole minute, she started advancing again, slowly moving toward the last grave at the top of the stairs. When she was close enough, lightning struck it, and Bogmire appeared. It was exactly like Smart Spirit drew it: a purple... thing. It was tall, with two arms, two yellow, glowing eyes, and one big mouth, with... She was not sure what they were. They looked like fangs, but they looked more like extensions of its mouth as if it was melting, like the arms. And contrary to the totality of the ghosts she encountered until now, it didn't possess a ghost tail. Instead, it was... moving on the floor like a slime. It was looking like nothing she knew. It was as if it wasn't from this world, which may be the case.

"Prepare to learn... true fear... and true despair..."

Darkness came out of him, and soon, the graveyard was plunged in it. Apple Bloom, while terrified, remained alert, just in case the ghost attacked her in the dark. When she could see again, she was in a large circular arena surrounded by a fence; itself surrounded in pure darkness, with purple smoke floating and occasionally taking Bogmire's shape, and Bogmire itself was nowhere to be seen. Then, lightning struck at the opposite side of the arena and Bogmire appeared, and its shadow stretched before it came out of the ground, forming a giant shadowy duplicate of itself. The light of the arena then slowly decreased, to the point that all Apple Bloom could see was the glowing eyes of Bogmire and its clone.

Bogmire's eyes disappeared.

Apple Bloom decided to deal with the clone and activated the Poltergust on it. She could feel the clone struggle a little before she felt it being captured. By the time she dealt with the clone, Bogmire reappeared and created another clone, this one its size. Because of this, in the dark, she couldn't identify who was the real Bogmire. When she saw one of the pair of eyes disappear again, she immediately ran to the other and captured the clone while keeping an eye this time to spot where Bogmire will reappear.

She saw two eyes reappear not far, and soon, another pair appeared further, these clearly belonging to a clone a little bigger, unless Bogmire could change its size, and as soon as she had finished capturing the current clone, she ran to the first pair before they could disappear. When she turned the Poltergust on, she trapped the real Bogmire in the vortex. The arena lightened, and she could see the clone starting to chase her. She was so focused on the closer one; she didn't spot the lightning coming from nowhere, and she was struck by it, making her release the purple ghost. Thankfully, this lightning didn't seem that powerful, so she was just a little burned and shocked.

More lightning bolts struck the arena seemingly at random as it was darkening, each of them creating a clone of different size, some of them the size of Bogmire, some of them bigger, and some of them smaller (even reaching her size). When the arena became too dark again, she could see at least a dozen pair of eyes slowly coming at her. She quickly turned the Poltergust to red and sucked all of them. Then, a lightning bolt struck again, but no clone appeared. Instead, two familiar purple glow appeared. A skeleton! She took her bat and struck it on the head with all her strength! More skeletons appeared, some of them the size of a foal, and all of them quickly got struck by Apple Bloom's bat.

But then, the arena lightened again, and Apple Bloom saw that those were not skeletons, but... Applejack, and the others.

And now, they were all dead.

"No... Nononono... This can't be..."

She could see their ghosts rising from their bodies, and they all turned to her, angry, hateful, hurt... Bogmire appeared behind them, laughing darkly.

"Oh, you killed them. Didn't you come to save them?"

"N... Bu... H... Th... Ah..."

"But now, maybe you will get the idea to save them from me? To free them?"

Suddenly, all the ghosts are enveloped in a purple fire, and Apple Bloom could hear them screaming in pain.

"Stop it!"

The purple fire disappeared, and nothing remained of the ghosts.

"Now, they will wander the spiritual world for all eternity, and you will never be able to save them."

Then nine shadows stretched from Bogmire toward the corpses, and they started to rise, their body blackening, twisting in weird angles, their eyes becoming pure glowing white, inexpressive... The hooves of the ponies became claws, black, fanged mouths appeared on their face, the horns of the unicorns became sharp, the wings of the pegasi became bat-like, and for Spike, everything simply became sharper, from his fangs to his claws, his spikes, and his tail.

The arena darkened again, only their eyes remaining visible, slowly approaching, circling her.

Their distorted voices were starting to whisper...

"You killed us..."

"Now it's our turn..."

"It's what you deserve..."

"Murderer..."

"You failed us..."

"You must suffer..."

"Like we suffered..."

At each whisper, Apple Bloom curled more and more into a ball, shaking, crying, alone, scared, despaired... Dark claws were slowly coming at her.

"Hey!" She suddenly heard from the darkness. "Don't listen to them, you silly filly! Our friends are still alive! They are still in this room you trapped them in! Hey! Everypony! Say something!"

"Howdy little sis! Ah can confirm it! We're still as alive as the day we were born!"

"Yeah! But... Why must we say we are still alive?"

"I think some meanie ghosty tricked her into thinking that we died."

"Well, don't listen to him! We aren't dead!"

"I couldn't die so young!"

"And you still have to join us!"

"Yes! Join us!"

"Join us!"

Apple Bloom stopped listening as she was raising her eyes from behind her hooves, looking at Bogmire's eyes in rage. Not minding the approaching shadows, she took the Poltergust and charged through them toward the purple ghost, whose eyes widened in surprise. Because of its shock, it didn't teleport in time to avoid being caught in the vortex of the machine, and it found itself struggling to escape as the arena was lightening.

The shadows ran back to save their master, and Apple Bloom was forced to give up on Bogmire for now to deal with them. The shadows revealed to be as easy to catch as the clones. Suddenly, Bogmire appeared beside her and, with a wave of its arms, animated Apple Bloom's bow into strangling her, causing the flashlight to drop. Despite the bow strangling her, Apple Bloom didn't try to struggle to get rid of it, and simply turned the end of the Poltergust toward Bogmire before pressing the button. As soon as Bogmire was caught in the vortex, the bow stopped strangling her and fell. Bogmire started raining lightning bolts to save itself, but the filly moved left and right, dodging all of them.

Finally, Bogmire lost its strength, and the Poltergust started sucking it up.

"How... How could I lose...?! Again?! And to a filly!" it shouted in rage before disappearing in the hole.

"Because Ah wasn't alone."

The arena was plunged in light, and Apple Bloom was transported back to the graveyard with her bow and her flashlight, a key now at her hooves. She sat on her butt, tears threatening to fall from her eyes, body heavily shaking.

"P... P... Prof?"

«Apple Bloom? Oh, thank Celestia you are alright! Does this mean...?»

"Yeah... Yeah... Ah captured Bogmire."

«Your voice is shaking...»

"It... was a tiring fight... Very tiring... Ah think... Ah think Ah need some rest... Really..."

«Understood. I will be waiting for you.»

Returning to the lab wasn't hard, thankfully. Only a few 'small' Shadows tried to stop her: five ponies, two griffons, a zebra, and a cockatrice, as well as some mice, bats, and even a rabbit in the lawn area. Apparently, Applejack and the others hadn't escaped yet.

Back in the lab, after a hug and a glass of hot cocoa, Apple Bloom recounted her fight against Bogmire while Smart Spirit put the ghosts in the green and red crystals.

"I suppose we can thank Little Ghost."

"Yeah. Ah owe her one."

"But even if you were helped, capturing Bogmire is still a great exploit. You did what very few could have done."

"And now, Ah'll have to return, because there's more to do."

"But first, after such a fight, you really need some rest." He pointed at his bed, an old mattress. "You should go sleep a little, I will wake you up in an hour."

Apple Bloom nodded. "Yeah... Thank ya..."

"And remember, your friends are alright. You will save them."

Again, Apple Bloom nodded as she went on the mattress, and immediately fell asleep.

Act 3

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Thankfully, she didn't have any nightmares in her hour of rest. Either she was lucky, or the nightmare didn't have time to form.

Having mostly recuperated from her battle against Bogmire, she returned to the manor, not doing much noise to not alert Applejack and the others of her return. She returned to the hallway of the first floor, Bogmire's key certainly opening one of the last two doors here. It certainly didn't open one of the doors in the basement because, from what Crystal Ball told, the basement should be the last floor to be explored since the last room was in it.

And then, hoofsteps.

Darn!

She quickly entered the closest closet in the hallway, and listened, waiting for the hoofsteps to get away.

Then she felt somepony breathing on her neck. Slowly, she turned her head.

"Hey there. Nice hiding spot to play hide-and-seek, uh?" Pinkie said.

Paf! Bonk!

"Uh? Hey, is somepony there?" Rainbow Dash asked upon hearing some noise coming from the closet.

The door of the closet opened, and out of it came Pinkie's hoof waving at her.

"It's just me! Ah'm playing hide-and-seek with the ghosties! But now Ah must stop talking, or they'll find me!"

"Oh, ok," replied Rainbow Dash with a roll of her eyes before she moved toward the foyer. But then, after some steps... "Wait a minute. Since when Pinkie talks like Applejack?" She returned to the closet and opened the door, only to find Pinkie knocked out… again.

Apple Bloom was now in the dinner room, behind the door, listening as Rainbow ran away, probably to find the others and warn them. Thankfully, she went to the foyer, meaning that the others were probably on the second floor. So, rapidly, she exited the room and tested the key on the first locked door, at the right at the fork. Not working, she quickly went to the locked door at the end of the hallway beside the bathroom. This one opened.

Again, she found herself outside the manor, in a courtyard with some statues, dead trees, a fountain, a cabin, and a birdhouse, without forgetting the plants. She slowly advanced, ready to be attacked. Then, as she passed beside a plant, out of it came a ghost with a shear. The gardener. Apple Bloom quickly jumped back to avoid being beheaded by the shear of the ghost gardener before she readied the Poltergust to not give him another chance, but then two more ghosts appeared. Shadow Deers. Using their magic, they raised vines from the ground and sent them after Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom quickly pressed the button to catch the gardener and let him drag her to escape the vines. With some jumps and quick dodges, she was able to avoid the vines until the gardener was captured, his shear falling on the floor. Immediately, she jumped at it and took it, using it to cut the vines. Thanks to the shear, she was able to cut her way to one of the deer, and once close enough, she activated the Poltergust and captured it while dodging the vines of the other. With the first deer gone, she repeated the process for the other.

Strange fish ghosts then started to come out of the fountain, floating around before diving at Apple Bloom. While she was busy capturing those little ghosts, four earth ponies, three pegasi, and three unicorns appeared. Apple Bloom started to run around the courtyard while continuing to capture the ghost fishes, attracting most of the ghosts into a single group as they chased her. Once she caught the last fish, she immediately faced the group of ghosts and activated the Poltergust, getting the four earth ponies, two pegasi, and one unicorn at the same time. Trying to capture all of them at the same time revealed to be as hard as it sounded, and two of the earth ponies escaped, but with some strong pushes and control, she was able to capture the others.

Three griffons and three hippogriffs appeared as a result, joining the remaining ponies in attacking the filly who, again, started running around regrouping as many of them as possible. Before taking on the group of ghosts chasing her, she decided to finish the remaining unicorns to stop their unceasing magical beams. However, when she captured the last unicorn, two zebras appeared, starting to throw their potions, and another deer appeared too, causing vines to chase her again. Cursing, she went after the deer first, using the shear to cut its vines and approach it.

When she caught it in the vortex, she immediately pulled on the handle, slamming the ghost against the ground and stunning it. She then spun, causing the ghost to hit one of the potions coming at her, the potion having no effect on it before she again pulled on the handle toward the approaching winged ghosts, slamming the deer on some of them. The deer was captured just after, and she ran toward one of the zebras to capture it. Apple Bloom did the same to it that she did to the deer, using it to slam the other ghosts and protect herself from the potions of the other zebra. However, as she captured the zebra, she was hit by one of the potions, turning her into a frog.

Like when she was turned into a newborn foal, she took the handle and turned it toward a nearby ghost before pressing the button, and as the ghost was dragging the Poltergust, she rode it. Using the ghosts this way, she was able to get the Poltergust close enough to the second zebra to capture it and return to normal. She then restarted running around regrouping the ghosts, and once there were enough ghosts together, she attacked. This way, she captured all the ghosts rapidly despite the appearance of four spearponies (two earth ponies, one pegasus, and one unicorn) and of one speargriffon.

But now elemental ghosts appeared, two of each elements she fought until now, half of them unicorns while the other half were griffons. A fat pony with bananas also appeared to make her life harder. She targeted the lightning ghosts first, but she saw the water ghosts approach the fountain and use its water to send big streams of water at her. Thankfully, she was able to hide behind the cabin, and once the water stopped coming, she went after the water ghosts before they could restart, making sure to catch the two of them at the same time. She then again went after the lightning ghosts, circling around the fountain to not be hit by the projectiles. Before long, all the elemental ghosts were gone.

The fat pony remained, but before Apple Bloom could run toward it, another fat pony appeared along with four diamond dogs and three minotaurs, and one creature that had the lower body of a pony, and the upper body of a minotaur.

Oh Celestia, it doesn't end.

She didn't know where to start, so she went for her original target: the first fat pony, which was just beside one of the diamond dogs. She trapped the two of them and was able to capture them before the others came. But then, she felt herself being drained and looked around. She spotted the half-pony-half-minotaur, mouth open, absorbing something coming out of her. It seemed dangerous, so she ran away to attract the ghosts, then circled around them to target the creature. It was strong, and was easily able to drag her as it tried to escape, but Apple Bloom was able to hold on, avoiding the banana peels until it was captured. She then could feel whatever was drained from her returning.

"Prof, Ah just captured some weird creature, part pony and part minotaur that was draining something from me. Ya know what it was?"

«No way. A centaur? You are capturing some impressive ghosts, young one.» While Smart Spirit was talking, Apple Bloom ran to the ghosts chasing her and targeted one of the minotaurs, deciding to catch the ghosts one at a time because of how strong they were. «Be careful when you encounter them. Centaurs were known to have the ability to drain magic and add it to theirs, making them one of the most powerful race of the world. Thankfully, most of them were peaceful. But it means that from now, if you encounter centaurs, you should target them first before they drain you. You can use the Poltergust without magic, but ponies drained of their magic tend to be... weak and vulnerable.»

Apple Bloom felt a chill creeping her at this as she was now capturing a diamond dog. One by one, the remaining ghosts were captured, Apple Bloom forced to be careful to not get grabbed and strangled by the dogs, or to avoid the shockwaves of the minotaurs, without forgetting the banana peels of that darned fat pony which were starting to be everywhere!

But finally, she got the last ghost... only for a swarm of parasprites, two cockatrices, and two manticores to appear.

"Pyrite, Ah swear, when Ah'll reach you, Ah'll make ya regret being born!"

She put the Poltergust to red and started sucking up the swarm of parasprites, making sure to not look at the cockatrices and to remain far from the manticores, using the cabin and statues as obstacles. When a cockatrice still almost managed to look her in the eyes, she closed them just in time, stopped sucking up the parasprites, and attacked the beast, quickly capturing it. She finished the remaining parasprites, then saw that the manticores were beside each other, about to jump at her. So she turned the Poltergust toward them and trapped the both of them, still remaining careful of the second cockatrice. With the Poltergust still in red, it didn't take long to catch the two beasts despite their strength. But by now, the Poltergust was almost at the breaking point, so she quickly put it back to yellow to capture the cockatrice.

And finally, the key appeared, falling in the fountain. She swore she could hear Little Ghost laughing.

Grumbling, Apple Bloom decided to keep the shear just in case, and went to the fountain and searched in the water for a few minutes until she found the key. Using it, she was able to open the door at the other end of the courtyard, entering a room that was clearly made for sportive ponies, with punching bags and weights to lift. And the ghost of an orange buffed stallion with a blond mane was lifting two of the weights. The stallion, Topaz, could easily compare to Big Mac in term of bulk. On the floor was his body, the head replaced by two weights above a huge puddle of blood. Yick, the guy got his head crushed between two weights. At least, his death wasn't as painfully horrible as most of the others.

But Topaz wasn't the first bulked ghost that Apple Bloom was facing, so she wasn't impressed and was already ready to deal with him. But Topaz also heard her entering and turned to her. Glaring at her, the muscled stallion took the two weights, and started slamming them together as he slowly floated toward Apple Bloom, threatening to crush her head between them. So Apple Bloom ran around him toward one of the punching bags and bucked it at Topaz's face, stunning him a little. Acting quickly before he could recover, Apple Bloom captured him. As she thought, the stallion put up a good fight to escape the vortex, and with all the weights and bags and all, it was easy to slam face-first into an obstacle, but Apple Bloom was able to avoid them and to keep the ghost trapped, and before long, he joined the gardener in the crystal inside the Poltergust.

However, to Apple Bloom's surprise, two keys appeared.

"What?"

Then, Little Ghost appeared. "One of the keys is for the door to return to the hallway, so you don't have to pass by the courtyard each time," she said before disappearing.

"Ah, the last locked door, of course."

So Apple Bloom exited the room, and said locked door was just at her right, and like Little Ghost said, one of the keys opened it.

And at the other side, Twilight and Sweetie Belle saw her opening it.

"Oh... For the love of..."

"Apple Bloom! We finally found you!" happily Sweetie Belle shouted. "Join us!"

She closed the door. She could take the stairs behind her and go to the second floor to escape them, but at this time, she would just reach a dead end, so she returned to the room where she fought Topaz before exiting into the courtyard. Not deciding to try her luck with the cabin, too obvious, she continued to the first door, and behind her, Twilight and Sweetie Belle were entering the courtyard. Passing the door, she returned to the hallway, paying attention that nopony else was here. Finding nopony, but hearing approaching hoofsteps, she entered the closet she had used to block the room with the instruments, making sure this time that Pinkie wasn't in it. Just after she entered it, she heard the door to the courtyard opening.

Apple Bloom closed her eyes as she heard the hoofsteps coming closer, trying to control her breathing despite her panic as she heard "Apple Bloooom! Apple Blooooom! Where are youuuu?" Slowly, the hoofsteps came closer and closer, and Apple Bloom had to put her hooves on her muzzles to force herself to not make any sound.

They suddenly stopped just in front of the closet.

The door opened.

"Found y-" Paf!

Apple Bloom quickly punched Twilight before bolting out, pushing Sweetie Belle out of the way. Applejack and Fluttershy were then coming from the fork, spotting her running away back toward the courtyard. Applejack looked at Twilight as she recovered from the punch, and the two nodded before the two groups ran in opposite directions.

They will trap her in the courtyard.

Apple Bloom was running in the courtyard toward Topaz's room again, and she was quickly followed by Twilight and Sweetie Belle. However, as she approached the door, it opened, and Applejack and Fluttershy passed it. Apple Bloom was forced to run back toward the fountain until she was trapped between the two groups of two ponies. Before she could think to jump in the fountain, Twilight caught her in her magic.

"We caught you!"

Bad news for her, she was too close, so Apple Bloom punched her right between the eyes, making her drop back on the ground.

"Hey! Ya don't hit ponies like that!" reprimanded angrily Applejack.

"Sorry sis, but Ah don't want t'be brainwashed."

At this, Apple Bloom turned the Poltergust to red again and pointed it at Sweetie Belle.

"No! Please! Not again!" she shouted in panic.

"Y'all give me no choice!"

Using the Poltergust, Apple Bloom lifted Sweetie Belle, then spun on herself, making her hit the head of the three mares before dropping her friend just above the water of the fountain. As the mares were on the ground, Apple Bloom then lifted Applejack before slamming her on Twilight. Rapidly, she then ran back toward the hallway, and entered the bathroom, jumping in the bathtub and hiding behind the curtain before lying down. One minute later, she heard hoofsteps passing, some calls, and after a moment, silence.

Waiting a few more minutes, Apple Bloom eventually exited the bathroom, checking that nopony was in front, before she slowly joined the stairs to the second floor by passing by the courtyard and by Topaz's room. In the courtyard, she almost was seen again by Spike coming from Topaz's room, but she was able to hide behind the cabin before he spotted her. Eventually, Apple Bloom was able to climb the stairs to the second floor, reaching two doors, one in front of the stairs, and one at her right that the remaining key opened.

The new room she entered had two tables with tea sets and some frozen bucket on them, as well as two cabinets on the opposite walls. In clear, there wasn't much place to move, which may be problematic as the ghost of a red furred, green maned very old mare was here drinking some tea. Apple Bloom remarked that she had a Cutie Mark of a scalpel ripping an apple open.

When the ghost spotted her, she smiled and started speaking with a Manehattan accent. "Well, hello little one. Nice meeting you, my great great great great great grandniece."

Apple Bloom tilted her head in confusion. "Who're ya? Ya're an Apple, right?"

The mare nodded. "Yes. My name is Applejack. Yes, like your sister. And for your information, I was a doctor," she said with a chuckle.

Apple Bloom started remembering her family genealogy, trying to find a great aunt named Applejack who had probably lived in Manehattan and was a doctor, and drew a blank. "Weird. Ah never heard about ya."

Again, the mare chuckled. "It is no wonder. I did in my life some actions that... disgusted our family. I doubt they talked about me to their descendants." She took a sip of tea. "Maybe your friend can help you find out? I am certain that he must have heard of me."

Apple Bloom started looking at the red mare in suspicion. "Prof? Do you know any Applejack who lived in Manehattan, was a doctor, and did some... nasty stuff?"

«What? Her?! Oh boy... Apple Bloom, do not trust this mare! Doctor Applejack of Manehattan lived about two hundred years ago and is also known under another name: Applejack the Ripper. A serial killer who killed five ponies before she was captured. She plunged Manehattan in terror for a few weeks, a shadow creeping the streets of the city in the dark, ripping open lonely ponies to collect their organs for her morbid collection. The ponies of Equestria of that time and the following years did everything they could to forget about her, but some texts still can be found in some libraries and in the archives.»

Apple Bloom looked at the mare in horror.

She chuckled. "Seeing your expression, you now know who I am. But don't worry, you risk nothing in my presence. Despite my past, I am still an Apple, and for an Apple, family is everything. Well, that's what I would say in normal times, however, I understand that to save your sister and your friends, you must capture every ghost that you encounter, which includes me. If you capture me, then I will be sent to Tartarus with the other psychoghosts. And this, I can't let it happen. When I came to this manor, I just hoped for a nice home to spend my afterlife. But now, a crazy filly decided that we all had to go so her brainwashed 'friends' could live here in peace. How unlucky." She took a scalpel. "So, no hard feeling Apple Bloom. I just don't want to go to Tartarus. At least, I am comforted that even if I kill you, you will continue to live as a ghost, so this is not the end. And I will make sure after that that your friends join you. And I wouldn't mind having some family to spend my time with."

As she talked, mist came out of the frozen bucket, rapidly plunging the whole room in it. By the time she stopped talking, Apple Bloom could almost see nothing, and she was freezing. She took the handle of the Poltergust and looked left and right, trying to spot her crazy great great great aunt. After a few seconds, she decided to run toward a corner to better her chances.

She forgot that ghosts could traverse walls.

After a full minute of nothing happening, she suddenly felt the scalped around her neck.

"Time to sleep, little one."

This little sentence due to Applejack's sadism saved Apple Bloom's life. She got enough time to react, punching the scalpel from her neck before running, turning around, and activating the Poltergust. However, Applejack also reacted quickly, moving away as soon as Apple Bloom moved, so the filly wasn't able to catch her. However, she saw how the Poltergust was sucking up the mist, and she approached the frozen bucket to suck the mist coming out of it while also sucking the mist already in the room. She also made sure to spin on herself regularly to not be surprised from behind again. Before long, most of the mist in the room was gone, and with another quick spin, Apple Bloom spotted Applejack at an opposite corner of the room, cursing.

Rapidly, Apple Bloom went after her, and before Applejack could escape, she pressed the button again, catching her in the vortex. Like all the other ghosts, Applejack struggled to escape. But even if she was an Apple, she wasn't as strong as an Apple Farmer.

"No! I will not go to Tartarus! I already paid for my crimes! I lived 80 years of my life in a prison alone! I... don't want..."

She finally lost strength and was captured by the Poltergust.

Apple Bloom looked at the handle with a frown before saying "The prof'll decide what t'do with ya! But know that if you had let yerself get caught without trying to kill me, there's a good possibility that he would've released ya. Now, Ah'm not sure. But ya're right about something. Ya're an Apple. And for an Apple, family's everything. So Ah'll give a word to prof for ya. Right, prof? What do ya think? Yellow crystal?"

«Well, in one hoof, she already did get punished for her crimes. Over 80 years alone in a prison until she died of old age, that's not nothing. Of course, nothing can repay the five lives she took, but at least she was punished according to law. But on the other hoof, she tried to kill you, her own five times great grandniece. But we also probably both know how stupid ponies can be when they are scared.»

Apple Bloom remembered Zecora, and how stupid everypony was acting because they were scared of her appearance. "Yeah."

«So does she deserve to go to Tartarus? Maybe not. Does she deserve a punishment? Certainly yes. So I will place her in the yellow crystal and let you decide how we will punish her.»

"Alright."

Apple Bloom took the key that appeared between the tables and exited the room before using it to open the other door, entering the second floor's main hallway which was more gloomy than the first floor, only to be immediately attacked by the ghost of a maid armed with a broken broom, the ghost trying to stab her with the sharp broken part. Apple Bloom simply dodged the thrust before activating the Poltergust to easily capture her.

Exploring the hallway, Apple Bloom encountered another maid just before the stairs to the third floor, this one with a feather duster. Again, Apple Bloom easily captured her, capturing by the same occasion the last servant of the manor. In curiosity, she climbed the stairs to the third floor, which was somehow even more gloomy with that attic feeling, but at the top, she couldn't go far before reaching an unique locked door.

Returning to the second floor, she started searching for the only opened door while fighting a few Shadow ghosts trying to stop her. From the stairs to the third floor, there was a first locked door at the left, then the hallway turned to the right where there were two doors in the right wall. However, one of the doors was heavily barred by studded wooden boards, and she could do nothing to move them away. Maybe if she bucked the door from the other side, she could open it. Then there was a fork like in the first floor, with at the right the door leading to the stairs to the first floor, and at the left, at the end as the hallway turned again to the right, two doors in the left wall, and one in the right wall.

The door not locked was the first one of the left wall, leading to a washroom identical to the one below. A minotaur appeared here, trying to use the lack of place to his advantage to hit her with his shockwave without the filly being able to dodge, but Apple Bloom was faster and was able to trap and capture the ghost before it could attack. A diamond dog also appeared to grab her and strangle her, but it quickly met the same fate.

The key appeared and fell right in the toilet bowl. Sighing, Apple Bloom put a hoof in it to grab it before exiting the washroom. It opened the door just at its left, and Apple Bloom entered another bathroom.

There was somepony in the bathtub, taking a bath, hidden by the curtain.

"Uh, prof? It's okay to capture a ghost while they take a bath?"

«Yes. They are probably taking this bath forever, so no need to wait for them to finish.»

So Apple Bloom opened the curtain, revealing a fat dark-pink mare with a red mane: Swift Wave, as well as her body floating in the water. Before she knew it, Apple Bloom was grabbed by the fat mare, and was immersed in the water of the bathtub to be drowned. And the water was cold! Struggling in panic, Apple Bloom was able to grab the handle of the Poltergust before activating it and moving it around, sucking up the water, and eventually, the ghost. Thankfully, there was a vent in the Poltergust for non-solids that weren't ghosts and for solids small enough like dust and ash to escape. Of course, with the ghost being a big one, Apple Bloom was dragged in the water, then out of the bathtub, then she had to jump back in to avoid slamming against its side before the big mare was captured.

The key appeared and fell in the water beside Apple Bloom. She quickly grabbed it before jumping out of the water, not wanting to remain in it with a corpse. After shaking herself to get rid of most of the water on her, she exited the bathroom.

The key opened the door across the hallway, entering a large room with a table, a bookshelf, a cabinet, and a spinning wheel among other things. Not far from the entrance was a rocking chair beside a small table with a bowl full of balls of yarn, and on it was the ghost of the Gem matriarch herself: Emerald, an old green unicorn mare with a darker green mane. On the rocking chair was also her body, impaled in the neck by her knitting needles. The ghost, her, was busy peacefully knitting a scarf. Since she was basically knitting this scarf for over one thousand years, it was now so long that it was spreading on the floor like the mane of Rapunzel.

Then, Emerald looked up at Apple Bloom, and fired lasers from her eyes!

"What the-?!" Bam!

When the lasers hit her, Apple Bloom was projected through the door back in the hallway. Groaning in pain, the filly slowly got back up, looking up at the ghost of the old mare advancing toward her on her rocking chair, the chair sliding on the floor. Two knitting needles floated behind her, and she threw them at the filly who quickly rolled out of the way, the needles planting themselves on the floor where she had been. They rapidly floated back to the granny as she fired other lasers at the filly, forcing her to run away.

"Prof! Ghost granny with eye lasers! What do Ah do?"

«What? Seriously? That was the high-pitched noises?»

"What do Ah do?!"

«Uh... Avoid the lasers and get close enough to catch her.»

Apple Bloom was running toward the door to the first floor, but as she approached it, it opened, and everypony was here on the passage.

"Here you are!" shouted Pinkie.

"Uh... Why is she running away from an old mare?" asked Rarity.

"BECAUSE SHE FIRES LASERS FROM HER EYES!!" Apple Bloom shouted as she passed between them. "RUN!!!"

As if to prove her, Emerald fired more lasers at the ponies, and they all barely avoided it by lowering their heads, the lasers hitting the wall above the stairs.

"Granny ghost with eye lasers. Ok, I'm out of here," Spike said before running toward the stairs.

"I'm not scared of an old mare ghost! Eye lasers or not!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

She was trapped in Twilight's magic as the other ponies started following Spike and Apple Bloom. "You can't do anything against her! You aren't equipped!"

"How can she fire lasers from her eyes?" Rarity asked.

"Because she's a ghostie, silly!" Pinkie replied.

Running down the stairs, they all quickly entered Topaz's room, closing the door before Emerald could spot them as she slid down the stairs on her rocking chair.

Among them, Apple Bloom talked again to the communicator. "Prof! Ah'd like some advice for the lasers!"

«Uh... Oh! I know! Some lasers aren't magical, but light! So use something that can reflect light! Like a mirror!»

Apple Bloom looked toward the door to the courtyard, beside which was a mirror, and nodded. "Alright! Understood!" She turned to Twilight, but before she could say anything, the door exploded, and Emerald entered the room, eyes glowing. As the ponies and dragon looked at the ghost in panic, Apple Bloom quickly shouted, "Twilight! The mirror!"

Twilight looked at the mirror. "Oh! Of course!" Rapidly, Twilight used her magic to take the mirror from the wall. However, Emerald sent her needles right at her, and she panicked. Thankfully, Apple Bloom activated the Poltergust, attracting the needles to her, and meanwhile, Rainbow charged at the rocking chair and destroyed it, surprising the old mare and dropping her on the ground along with her body. Emerald however looked up toward the cyan mare, and fired her lasers, only for Twilight to levitate the mirror right on the way, deflecting the lasers back at the granny. The lasers hit her and propelled her backward, stunning her, and Apple Bloom rapidly took the occasion to run at her and capture her, ending this craziness.

Applejack and the others all sighed in relief, looking at each other in joy. "Nice teamwork, everypony," said Applejack.

"We did it! We defeated the crazy ghostie granny!" Pinkie shouted.

"Now we can have Apple Bloom join us!" Scootaloo shouted.

"Hey! Right!" said Spike. "Apple Bloom! Join..."

They all looked back at where Apple Bloom was, only to see that she wasn't here anymore.

"Oh... She already left..." Fluttershy said.

"After her!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"She probably returned to the room of that ghost in the second floor to get the next key. Let's go," said Twilight.

So they returned to the second floor, going to Emerald's room. However, when they entered it and looked around, they could spot the Apple filly nowhere. They looked under the table, in the cabinet, even on the chandelier, but they didn't find her.

"Weird, I would have sworn she returned here," Twilight said.

"Or she thought that you would think that, so she went elsewhere," Pinkie said, making Twilight groan.

They exited the room to start searching the manor again, leaving it empty. Or so they thought. About one minute after they left, Apple Bloom emerged from a bundle made of the scarf, key in her possession.

"Ah can't believe Ah was able to get away."

«Leave it to the matriarch of the Gem family to give you the hardest time. She didn't have the spiritual power of her little sister, but she certainly had power.»

Apple Bloom exited Emerald's room, carefully traversing the hallway to find the door that this key opened. Not seeing anypony in the hallway, she tried it on the door next to the barred one. And it worked.

Almost as soon as she entered the new room entirely painted like a checkerboard, excepted for a large socle with a pentacle at the center, five candelabra at the extremities of each branch, a fire unicorn ghost appeared, but instead of attacking Apple Bloom, it lighted up the candelabra one by one. Having a bad feeling, Apple Bloom ran toward it to capture it, but the ghost of a diamond dog appeared on her way, blocking her. She was forced to deal with it, and the fire unicorn could finish lighting the candelabra. When the last one was lighted as Apple Bloom captured the diamond dog, the fire unicorn disappeared, and the flames turned purple. The fire unicorn then came back to attack Apple Bloom while five other ghosts, all cloaked ponies, appeared around the pentacle, starting muttering words that the filly couldn't really hear.

Apple Bloom quickly finished the fire unicorn, but before she could attack the cloaked ponies, more ghosts appeared to stop her. Before long, a chilly wind appeared from nowhere and started circling the center of the pentacle, the purple flames extinguishing.

Then, a dark form appeared above the pentacle, and the room suddenly felt as if it was winter. With a laugh, the five cloaked ponies then disappeared, and as the filly finished the last ghost standing in her way, the dark form turned to her. It was a cloaked pony too, but the limbs that Apple Bloom could see coming out of the cloak were skeletal, and its cloak was shredded. And yet, somehow, all the rest of its body was shrouded in darkness, and the air itself seemed to freeze around it.

And pure terror was filling Apple Bloom as she could feel the thing stare at her.

"Prof... Five cloaked ponies invoked some cloaked skeleton pony ghost thing, and it seems evil, really evil. And everything's freezing." She was answered by silence. "Prof?"

«Dear... Mother of All... A wraith...»

"A what?"

The thing, a wraith apparently, suddenly shrieked, the scream like nothing Apple Bloom had ever heard before, chilling her to the bone, to the point that she urinated. It was cold, hateful, evil...

«Yes, that's definitively a wraith. Listen, Apple Bloom. Wraiths are very dangerous. They are powerful ghosts of ponies that are pure evil, wandering the darkest parts of the world and harming anything they encounter, nothing remaining of when they were alive but their hate. The very coldness of death and darkness follows them everywhere they go. Even other ghosts aren't safe around them. Wraiths can harm them like they can harm living beings, bringing them to eternal suffering. If you fight this wraith, Apple Bloom, you have to win! If it remains unleashed in this manor, not only it will kill and make you horribly suffer for all eternity, it will do the same to anything living or dead in this manor, including your friends! And it may actually gain enough power to steal the curse, and then, who knows what it could do!»

Again, the wraith shrieked before raising a hoof toward her. A purple aura wrapped it before a purple beam was shot at her. Apple Bloom jumped out of the way, and the beam hit the floor where she had been. From the impact point, dark crystals sprouted.

The wraith then charged toward her, hoof raised, crystals sprouting from it to form a sharp claw, shrieking again. Despite the terror that the shriek caused her, Apple Bloom was able to move and put the handle of the Poltergust in front of her to block it. The wraith then raised its other hoof, also forming a claw of crystal, and Apple Bloom jumped back to avoid it before quickly activating the Poltergust. The wraith was caught in the vortex, and with a shriek, started struggling to get away. Eventually, it stopped struggling and simply fired a beam on Apple Bloom's path, sprouting more crystals, one of them almost impaling the filly if she hadn't jumped back.

With a wave of its hoof, the wraith lighted the candelabra again in purple light, giving the room some light, before it suddenly sank in the floor. Apple Bloom looked around to spot it when it would come back, but she then saw something that froze her blood: the wraith's shadow about to slash at her own shadow! Apple Bloom jumped away, only for her shadow to still be slashed by the extremities of the wraith's claw, causing a small scratch mark to appear on her flank hurting like Tartarus! The wraith returned to attack her shadow again, and Apple Bloom, despite the pain, quickly got an idea. She ran to the candelabra and used the Poltergust to rapidly turn all of them off, before doing the same with her flashlight, plunging the whole room in total darkness.

And in darkness, there are no shadows.

Waiting a few seconds, she turned her flashlight on again and quickly looked around, spotting the wraith now out of the floor and about to slash her. Before it could attack, Apple Bloom activated the Poltergust, stopping it. This time, she used all her strength to pull on the handle and slam the wraith on the floor to weaken it, then did it a second time and a third time, making sure that it couldn't use its magic. With one last slam on the floor, the wraith finally lost its strength and was captured.

Strangely, despite Apple Bloom not having captured the five cloaked ponies that invoked the wraith, the key still appeared. Darn, this meant they could come back to invoke another wraith.

"Ah got the wraith."

«Prodigious! Absolutely amazing! I'm proud of you, Apple Bloom! Even with the Poltergust, capturing a wraith is still very difficult and dangerous!»

"Th-thank ya, prof... Mmh... Ah think I'll need a bath when Ah come back to the lab... Ah... peed on mahself..."

«You don't need to be ashamed. Anypony in your place would have probably done the same. I will prepare a basin of water.»

"And do ya have anything to heal scratch marks?"

«Oh, it clawed you.»

"Yeah, and it hurts..."

«Oh my poor girl. Of course it hurts. When a wraith attacks, they attack your very soul. That pain you feel is the pain of your soul hurt. And I have nothing to heal that kind of pain. I didn't expect that we would encounter a wraith. The best thing would be to go see a specialist of healing magic who could heal your soul, which can only be found in Canterlot or near the border of Equestria.»

"Will it heal by itself?"

«Yes, don't worry, but it will take some time.»

"Well, it's just a small scratch on the flank. I should be able to continue, and Ah'm already almost done with the second floor."

«Still, be careful.»

"But now Ah wonder... Was Bogmire also some wraith?"

«I would say that Bogmire wasn't a wraith, but certainly had some similarities. Probably because it was also so much different. It didn't even seem to come from this world. So... Bogmire was just an evil, powerful ghost that had some similarities to our wraiths. A... sub-wraith? A wraith-like? I will have to think about this.»

The key opened the door at the opposite of the entrance, letting Apple Bloom enter a rather small room with not many things in it, mainly a dresser and a telescope looking through a window toward the sky.

The ghost of a dark gray furred black maned thestral mare was looking through it.

"Where is she? Why isn't she there anymore?"

Despite herself, Apple Bloom couldn't stop herself from asking "Who's not there?"

The thestral turned to her, anger in her eyes. "The Mare in the Moon! Our Great Goddess of the night! Everything I did was in her name! But now, she is gone! You know where she is, right? Where is she?! When did she disappear of the moon?!"

"Uh... If ya're talking about Nightmare Moon, she returned last Summer Sun Celebration."

"YES!! My Goddess is back!"

"Ya didn't know that? Even if ya were a ghost, ya should've known. Where were ya?"

"Uh... I'm not sure. I don't remember where I was or what I was doing before arriving in this manor. It's all blurry. My last good memory was me offering myself in sacrifice to the Moon Goddess when Celestia's dogs almost caught me."

"Okay... Prof. Bat pony. Fanatic of Nightmare Moon. Killed herself just before she's caught by the guards."

«Roger! Let me search.»

"Tell me! Where is my Goddess?! I must join her to help her rule the world in eternal night!"

"Uh... Ya know ya're a ghost, right?"

"I know! I will probably be able to join her feared army of shadows! Isn't it wonderful?"

"Well... Uh... Ah'm sorry to say this, but there're no army of shadows."

"Awww..."

"Actually... Nightmare Moon was purified back into Princess Luna by the Elements of Harmony. Now she's living in Canterlot with Princess Celestia. She's not trying to rule the world and to plunge it in Eternal Night anymore."

"You lie!"

"Miss. Ah'm an Apple. Apples are known for their honesty. Mah sister's even the Element of Honesty. We aren't good at lying."

«Ok, I found her. Dark Moon, lived five hundred years ago, fanatic, auto-proclaimed leader of the Cultism Culte of the Great Goddess of the Night, which had only one member: her. Destroyed some statues of Celestia, insulted the Royal Guard... The worst thing she ever did was attacking a guard trying to stop her from yelling in public 'Join the Night Side!' Of course, as a result, guards came to her house to arrest her, but she stabbed herself on an altar to Nightmare Moon before they could reach her.»

Poor girl... "Alright, listen, Miss Moon. If you want, Ah can lead you to Princess Luna, so she'd talk to ya, but, ya see, another ghost's forcing me to capture the ghosts Ah encountered in the manor... And Ah fear it includes ya."

"You won't take me alive, you sun loving jerk!"

Apple Bloom facehoofed. "Oh, for the love of Ce... of Luna. Ya're already dead! And Ah'll free ya once Ah'm done with this stupid manor! Once ya're free, I'll ask Twilight if she can ask Luna to come meet ya!" She then looked at the ghost sadly. "Ya know, Luna'll be really sad to learn that somepony killed themselves in her name, even if it was in Nightmare Moon's name. She didn't want that. She just wanted ponies to love her again."

"I refuse to see this Luna as my Goddess of the Night!"

"Your 'Goddess' is no more! Now, she's just Princess Luna, that ya like it or not! Nightmare Moon's gone!"

"Shut up!"

The telescope was suddenly thrown by an invisible force toward Apple Bloom, who quickly rolled out of the way before she ran to the mare and activated the Poltergust.

"Let me go! I refuse to join the Light Side! I re-Aaaahhh!!!"

The Poltergust quickly got the upper hand despite her struggle, and before long, the mare was caught.

"So... Ah... Green crystal, or yellow crystal?"

«Yellow. We will keep her in there until Princess Luna can come. Hopefully, she will be able to convince her to stop that nonsense with Nightmare Moon and maybe find peace. Outside of this manor, this poor girl would just be a mindless wandering spirit. Sadly, some ghosts just don't have enough power to continue being in this world and remain themselves, which explains why some just repeat what they were doing when they were alive without minding the living. But thanks to this manor, those ghosts can gain this power and be themselves again.»

Apple Bloom took the new key. "Ah hope then that Ah won't encounter more ghosts like her. Ah don't want to capture ghosts that aren't really evil and haven't been turned crazy by the curse."

«Hopefully, they will do like the ghosts that talked to us with the portraits and will remain out of the way to not become targets.»

"Say, do ya think Ah'm in the part of the manor consecrated to ghost stuff? There's that room with the weird star where Ah fought the wraith, and now, Ah'm in a room with a telescope, and Ah heard that watching the night sky can be part of that stuff."

«No doubt about this. This previous room was probably where the Gem family was talking with the spirits to learn about them and discover where were their targets. And this telescope was probably to read the sky and know when was the good time to do their rituals. You know, because some spiritual rituals work better in the right circumstances, like in a full moon, or when a certain group of star is aligned, or when a certain comet passes above our head. If you can find the archives listing those rituals and other... 'ghost stuff', I would like for you to bring them to me. It would help greatly in my researches.»

Apple Bloom looked around, then in the previous room. "Weird, those archives aren't here."

«They are probably in another room, remote, so probably in the basement or in the last floor. You know, away of the public's eyes.

"So Ah won't probably find them before near the end."

She returned to the hallway, making sure that nopony was here. She could hear some hoofsteps from the side of Emerald's room and some talking, so she didn't remain here long and went toward the stairs to the third floor, testing the key at the last door here. It opened.

She entered a well-decorated room, with a single table surrounded by a chair and a sofa and with a tea set on it. Two fire diamond dogs immediately appeared and started throwing fireballs at her, and to her surprise, a bird of fire, a phoenix, also appeared, starting to fly in a circle near the ceiling. But she couldn't pay attention to the bird too much because of the fireballs from the dogs forcing her to run behind the sofa. Using covers, she approached the first dog and trapped it in the Poltergust's vortex. But then, as she was capturing it, the phoenix dove at her, its body combusting. Taken by surprise by this, Apple Bloom deactivated the Poltergust and jumped back, avoiding a bad burn as the phoenix hit the ground in a small explosion of fire before rising again toward the ceiling.

When Apple Bloom was able again to trap the diamond dog, the phoenix attacked again, forcing her to let the dog escape for the second time. Annoyed, Apple Bloom trapped the dog for a third time. Only, as soon as she saw the phoenix diving at her, she stopped capturing the dog and turned the Poltergust to the bird before pressing the button again. The phoenix didn't resist long before it was captured, but the other dog was able to hit her on the back with a small fireball.

"Eep!"

Thankfully, the fireball didn't burn too much, her fur not even taking fire, so she quickly jumped behind cover again before dealing with the two dogs. Five more phoenixes appeared, all diving at her one after another, and Apple Bloom was forced to run without stopping while catching the birds one by one until the last one was gone. Then, of all ghosts, a cow appeared and jumped toward her to fall on her with all its weight. A quick roll was all it took to dodge, and Apple Bloom captured the cow, two new phoenix appearing to annoy her. So she let the cow drag her while she jumped around to avoid the diving birds until it was caught. The phoenixes quickly got the same fate, and the key appeared.

But now, the room was badly burned.

"This time, it wasn't me!"

She heard somepony sigh. "We know."

Apple Bloom opened the door at the entrance's left, entering a bedroom with the ghost of a filly sleeping on the bed, just beside her own corpse. And now, Apple Bloom was feeling the need to go sleep with her, but resisted.

"Ah found Platinum Shoes... Ah think she died in her sleep," she said sadly.

«At least, it's a better way to die than what happened to all the others. Bogmire probably put her in some sleeping coma, and without drinking or eating, she eventually died.»

Apple Bloom sighed. "I'll... capture her, and pass to the next room." She approached the sleeping filly, about to press the button.

But then Platinum started talking in her sleep. "Will you... save mommy... and daddy...?"

Apple Bloom looked at the filly in surprise before she answered. "Ah already saved them. Now, Ah've just to stop the curse."

The ghost smiled. "Thank you..."

Platinum let herself being caught without any struggles, and the key appeared.

"How many Gems are left?" asked Apple Bloom.

«Not much. Zircon, Jump Scare, and Pyrite, without forgetting Little Ghost. But remember, you will certainly encounter other ghosts, so it doesn't mean much.»

With the new key in her possession, Apple Bloom returned to the hallway and, with no room left in the second floor excepted the barred one (which she was not sure how to enter), she climbed the stairs to the third floor.

At the top...

"Found you!" Vlan!! "Ahah! You missed me!" Bonk! "Ahah... You got me..."

Pinkie ambushed her beside the door to the next room and avoided the first swing of Apple Bloom's bat, only for the filly to swing again and hit her this time, making the pink mare spin once with stars in her eyes before falling unconscious.

"Darn. With all the times Ah've hit her on the head, Ah hope she won't have problems..."

She quickly tested the key on the door, and it opened, letting Apple Bloom enter a room full of trophies with some crates.

"Uh... Do trophies count as the Gem family's treasure?"

«Of course. They are rewards from old competitions. They must have a historical value.»

A centaur appeared with three unicorns.

"Okay, After I deal with the ghosts, Ah'll send the trophies to ya."

Like Smart Spirit told her to do, she made sure to target the centaur first before it could drain her of her magic, and she was able to catch one of the unicorns at the same time. However, the room was rather small, so it was really hard to dodge the magical beams of the two remaining unicorns while she was being dragged by the centaur. Eventually, she decided to stop catching it and ran so she would be able to catch the centaur with one of the unicorns. Thanks to this, she was able to capture a second unicorn along with the centaur, and quickly caught the third unicorn.

With no more ghosts showing up, the key appeared, and Apple Bloom took it before placing the trophies in the magic bag one by one, sending them to the prof. Once the last trophy was gone, she opened the door in the wall at the entrance's right, entering a very dark hallway, with a door at the right of the one she passed, and another at the end of the hallway. A swarm of parasprites, some mice, and a minotaur appeared one after another as she traversed it and tested the doors with the key. She had no problems capturing all of them before finding out that the key opened the door at the end of the hallway.

The door led to a huge balcony, with two statues, one of Celestia, and one of Luna, at opposite sides, as well as many plants.

Then, a festival of ghosts appeared a little everywhere on the balcony. Earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, griffons, hippogriffs, zebras, diamond dogs, minotaurs, deers, and a centaur, some of the ghosts holding spears and swords.

"Horseapple..."

She immediately went to the centaur first again, catching with it a zebra and a hippogriff. She did everything to dodge the attacks while the centaur was dragging her; the deers growing vines from around the balcony before sending them after the filly, but she was quickly forced to give up the capture to run away from a shockwave. She immediately reactivated the Poltergust on the centaur, this time catching a deer, two unicorns, and a diamond dog. The deer and the unicorns were gone first, but she had to give up the capture of the centaur and the diamond dog to deal with the vines going at her, using the shear to cut them.

She ran away from the centaur before it could start draining her and finished dealing with more vines before she targeted one of the deers, catching a big group of ghosts with it. She was able to capture a good number of them, but the centaur eventually reached her, and she was forced to give up the few ghosts that were able to resist to finish it along with some earth ponies and another zebra. She got hit by a magical beam, followed by a wing lariat from one of the pegasi. Quickly rolling to avoid the swing of a sword, she activated the Poltergust again, catching another big group of ghosts.

More ghosts appeared, among them, fat ponies with bananas, cows, a few manticores and a cockatrice, a swarm of parasprites, and even some buffaloes, those last ones charging at her in a group to impale her with their horns or to trample her under their hooves. Apple Bloom had to run a lot, and quickly, to avoid the many attacks, quickly capturing the swarm of parasprite before they could devour her. Once she reached the edge of the balcony, she put the Poltergust to red, turned around, and started catching ghosts after ghosts, making sure to make regular pauses to let the machine cooldown.

More ghosts appeared again, then more, then more, yaks joining the party along with phoenixes, donkeys, and elemental ghosts. With their number, Apple Bloom got hit a lot, but she resisted, clenching her teeth as she probably captured the hundredth ghost since this battle started. Thankfully, there was a lot of place to move here, and the statues were useful as covers against projectiles.

Then, a huge arm with a claw rose from beyond the edge of the balcony before slamming on it, causing everything to shake. But Apple Bloom couldn't focus on it too much because of the many ghosts still around. Then, a second huge claw slammed on the balcony at the opposite side, making it shake again. As the number of ghosts on the balcony started to drop, Apple Bloom looked at the edge of the balcony between the claws, and saw a huge reptilian head with a long neck rise, before roaring at her, its roar making everything shake again during its duration.

A bucking dragon.

«What was that roar?! I heard it, and felt it, all the way from here!»

"A-a-a-a-a... A-a-a d-d-d-d-a dragon!"

«You're foaling!»

"Ah wish Ah was!"

The dragon rose its head, taking a huge breath. Understanding what it was about to do, Apple Bloom stopped capturing the ghosts and ran behind the nearest statue, the one of Celestia. The dragon then breathed a huge stream of fire at her, the statue thankfully protecting her, but it was now starting to melt! The fire eventually stopped, and the filly ran from the statue before bites of molten rock could fall on her. Thinking about how she will deal with this dragon, she continued capturing the remaining ghosts. However, the dragon rose one of its claws and brought it down on her, and she quickly had to run before she was crushed. The dragon rose its other claw to do the same, then did it repeatedly, forcing the filly to always move. The dragon then brought its head toward her, opening wide its mouth.

It was trying to gobble her whole!

Thinking quickly, she faced the head with the end of the Poltergust, still put to red, and pressed the button, catching the head in the vortex. Of course, the dragon was BIG and STRONG, so it was able to resist its pull. But since the Poltergust was at red, it still couldn't fully escape the vortex!

With a yell, Apple Bloom then pulled the handle of the Poltergust to her left, and slammed the head of the dragon against the half melted statue of Celestia, destroying the statue and stunning the dragon for a few seconds. During those few seconds, Apple Bloom didn't stop sucking the head, only stopping a little when the Poltergust was about to overheat before restarting.

The dragon recovered and immediately swept one of its claws on the balcony toward her from the left. To avoid it, she got the idea of putting the Poltergust to green. The sudden decrease of the Poltergust's strength led to the dragon raising its head and drag Apple Bloom in the air with it. Once the claw passed under her, she released the button and let herself drop on the balcony to put the Poltergust back to red and restart capturing the few remaining ghosts, only for more of them to appear to help the dragon who started slamming its claws to crush her again before taking another huge breath.

Seeing it, Apple Bloom ran behind the statue of Luna, using it to protect herself from the stream of fire. Once it stopped, she ran away and finished capturing the ghosts, finishing with a manticore along with a centaur and a yak, before she turned to the dragon, seeing it was trying to gobble her again. Like before, she trapped the head in the vortex, then slammed it on the half molted statue of Luna, stunning it. She then didn't stop sucking it up until it recovered and started sweeping the balcony with one of its claws again. And again, Apple Bloom put the Poltergust to green and let the head drag her in the air to avoid the claw, then once it passed, released the head before putting the Poltergust back to red. However, the dragon used its other claw to sweep the balcony from the other side, and she was forced to run to escape it until it couldn't reach her in the opposite side.

At this moment, the door from which Apple Bloom reached the balcony opened, and Applejack and the others came, only to stop as they saw the dragon rise its head before spitting dozens of giant fireballs in the air, making them rain all over the balcony. Apple Bloom was running everywhere to try to dodge them.

Scared for the life of her sister, Applejack screamed, "We must save her!"

Fluttershy looked at her in horror and Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Spike walked back in fear while the five other mares prepared to run and join the fight. However, Little Ghost appeared and stopped them.

"Wait! If you go, you will all die for nothing! You can't do anything against it! Let Apple Bloom do her job!"

"But-"

"No buts!" Behind her, the dragon started pounding the balcony with its claws, creating shockwaves that Apple Bloom avoided by jumping above far enough. The dragon started by pounding its claws alternatively, then slammed both of them at the same time five times. "You would just be hindrances to her. All you would be able to do is dodge its attacks, worrying Apple Bloom, which could get her killed. And look..." The dragon then pounded her under its fist, only for Apple Bloom to trap it in the vortex of the Poltergust before pulling to make it pound the balcony beside her, creating another shockwave that almost got the filly before she ran away to avoid it. Once she ran enough, the shockwave lost enough strength so she could jump above it. Little Ghost smiled. "She doesn't seem to need help."

"She... is right, Applejack," said Rarity.

Fluttershy nodded quickly to show that she was agreeing.

Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, didn't like it, but they were forced to acknowledge that the filly ghost was right.

Again, the dragon tried to pound Apple Bloom with its other claw, and again, Apple Bloom used the Poltergust to make it pound the balcony before she ran far enough so she could jump above the resulting shockwave. Finally, the dragon started taking a big breath.

Apple Bloom clenched her teeth as she looked around. The two statues were destroyed, so she couldn't use them anymore to protect herself from the stream of fire, and there was nowhere else. Risking everything, she ran to the center of the balcony and pointed the Poltergust toward the dragon, ready to take a huge risk with the potential outcomes being life, or death.

The dragon breathed its stream of fire at her, and Apple Bloom activated the Poltergust, starting to suck up the flames in the most dangerous clash. Either the Poltergust will overheat first, or the dragon will stop breathing its fire first. Apple Bloom watched in worry the overheat gauge slowly filling as she wasn't releasing the button.

The dragon stopped breathing fire first.

As a result, she trapped the head in the vortex, then pulled, slamming it on the balcony. She then did it a second time, and a third time, before stopping as the overheat gauge was almost full. As she waited for the gauge to empty itself, she looked in worry at the dragon, hoping that it will remain stunned until the gauge was empty. As soon as it was empty, she activated the Poltergust, just in time as the dragon was recovering. Again, she slammed the head on the balcony, but the dragon resisted and immediately started bringing its claw down to crush her, only for her to run away. It then tried to pound her, but again, she slammed the head, stopping its attack. She slammed it again, and again, and then...

The head started approaching the Poltergust. The dragon put its claws against the edge of the balcony to resist, but it still lost the fight, and its head entered the machine. Its body then started spinning in the vortex as it was sucked up, the neck entering, then the torso, then its belly along with its arms... Finally, its ghost tail entered the Poltergust, and the shock of it entering propelled Apple Bloom backward, on her back, with a huge PUFF!

The key appeared just at her right as the filly breathed heavily, absolutely drained of energy, and hurt.

"Ah... Ah... AH... captured... it..."

«There is no word to express what I want to say... That's... You have surpassed me, Apple Bloom. Definitively. But you should come back. You really need rest, and there's a bath ready for you.»

"Yeah... Give me... a few minutes."

But then, she was surrounded by ponies and a dragon looking at her with awe and happiness. And for Applejack, with pride.

The orange mare hugged her. "Ah'm so proud of ya, Apple Bloom! Ya caught a dragon! That was..."

"That was awesome!" shouted both Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo.

"You were amanishing!" shouted Pinkie.

Apple Bloom laughed, smiling at the praises. "Thank ya, everypony."

"As a reward," started Twilight with a big smile. "You will join us!"

...

"Drat..." said Apple Bloom with horror. In the forelegs of somepony she shouldn't be in the forelegs right now.

"Yes, it is time for you to join us," Rarity said.

Apple Bloom looked around for a way to get out of this. Then, she saw the vines of the deers still on the balcony, and got an idea. She headbutted Applejack, getting her to drop her, then used the Poltergust to slam her on Twilight to stop the lavender mare from using her magic, only to be caught in Rarity's magic. So she took the Poltergust from her back and threw it at the mare, hitting her on the head. Back on the ground, Apple Bloom took the key and quickly ran to grab the vacuum, only to see Rainbow Dash charging at her. So she stopped, took her bat, and placed it horizontally right on the cyan mare's path. Rainbow Dash's head hit it, but she still pushed the filly back toward Rarity's legs before crashing on the ground. Apple Bloom quickly put the Poltergust on her back as she started running toward the nearest vine. Pinkie Pie jumped in her way to stop her, now wearing a helmet.

"You won't be able to hit me on the head this time!"

So Apple Bloom did something else: she charged head first, right in Pinkie's belly, knocking the breath out of her. Apple Bloom then used the Poltergust to lift the pink mare before slamming her behind her. Rarity, who had recovered, as well as Fluttershy, Spike, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, were running after her, quickly followed by Applejack and Twilight, whose horn started to lighten. But Apple Bloom then reached the vine and climbed it before using it to slide all the way back to the courtyard, vines now present everywhere on it.

"Seriously?!" she heard Twilight shout.

"I'm after her!" shouted Rainbow Dash. "You come with me, Flutter!"

So Apple Bloom hastened to the door to the first floor's hallway, the pegasi on her tail, passed it, then slammed the door right on Rainbow's nose. By the time Rainbow recovered, Fluttershy remaining at her side, Apple Bloom already reached the foyer, and exited the manor.

"Hundreds of ghosts, a crazy great aunt, a wraith, a dragon! You never cease to impress me since you returned to the manor! And I was already really impressed after you captured Bogmire! You cleared the first floor, and the second floor, and you started the third floor! When you return in it, you will probably finish the rest of the manor!"

"But who knows what other horrors Ah'll encounter."

"After the wraith and the dragon, I don't think you will encounter anything worse."

"Don't talk too fast... Life proved there's always worse."

Back in the lab, Smart Spirit was transferring the ghosts in the crystals while Apple Bloom was taking a bath to get rid of the urine on her. Before that, Apple Bloom drank a healing potion that Smart Spirit got from Zecora to heal all the wounds she got in the battle on the balcony, without forgetting the small wounds she got before, like the scratchs or the burns. Sadly, the potion couldn't heal the wound to her soul that the wraith inflicted to her. Like Smart Spirit said, she will either have to go see a specialist, or wait for it to heal with time. But at least the pain became more bearable.

"What do ya think Ah'll encounter after that?" asked Apple Bloom.

"I don't know. Anything, really. You could even end up fighting a hydra for all I know. After the dragon and the wraith, everything is possible."

"Maybe Ah'll encounter a windigo."

"That would be your luck. Ohohohohoh." Apple Bloom got out of the bath, and as she used a towel, the prof said "The bed is ready for you. After such a battle, you need some rest, again. Meanwhile, I will go put all those trophies in your clubhouse."

"Yeah. No objection."

"And Apple Bloom."

"Yeah?"

Smart Spirit gave his biggest smile. "We're almost done! Just a little more effort!"

Apple Bloom smiled. "Eeyup!"

Act 4

View Online

About one hour later, Apple Bloom returned to the manor, hopefully for the last time. Key in her possession, she started the hard process of climbing the floors one by one while capturing the few ghosts that got in the way and avoiding her brainwashed sister and friends. While not encountering Applejack and the others on the first floor, she did make a scary encounter: the ghost of a clown pony holding a red balloon and waving at her to approach with a big smile.

"Uh, prof... Suspicious ghost clown with a red balloon in front of me..."

«You're right to be suspicious. Joyous Balloon was known to attract little fillies and colts with his balloons. He foalnapped them... killed them... and stuffed them, because he 'loved' foals.»

Apple Bloom's face turned green. "That's sick."

«Yeah, this guy was sick in the head... He was killed by the vengeful mother of one of the killed foals.»

The ghost continued to wave at her, and she decided to approach him. The ghost's smile grew, then disappeared when the filly took the handle of the Poltergust and pointed it at him. The clown tried to fly through a wall, but Apple Bloom activated the vacuum before he could, and after a few seconds of struggle, he disappeared into it.

"Ah didn't think that Ah'd encounter a real ghost this early."

«The more time passes, the more they come. This manor is a real ghost-magnet. Thankfully, it only appeared yesterday, so there aren't as many ghosts as there would have been if we had waited a whole week.»

"But it's weird, Ah only meet the evil and crazy ones."

«Mmh... It's probably because of the curse. It must attract mostly the bad ghosts, from the ones that laugh about the mortals to the serial killers and other psychos. No wonder you will tell me, it's a curse created by an evil ghost. Don't worry, I know some haunted places with very nice ghosts. I could lead you to those places if you want. There's that little house near Fillydelphia, haunted by the ghost of an old mare. You will love her. She has really nice stories, and she knows many good recipes. And there's that colt who haunts the graveyard of Rockville, always full of curiosity, that one, and yet he's quite shy. Each time I see him, he asks so many questions about my researches, he could by now become the first ghost hunter that’s a ghost.»

Apple Bloom smiled. "Ah'd like to meet them."

Apple Bloom climbed the stairs to the second floor, but as she traversed the hallway, she heard some hoofsteps approaching. So she turned around and entered the room with the two tables and the tea sets where she fought her great grandaunt and remained behind the door, listening as eventually, she could hear Applejack, Spike, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle pass.

"It's weird she hasn't come back yet. Last time, she returned after a little over one hour, but now, it has been over one hour and a half and no sign of her," Spike said.

"Well, she fought a dragon. No doubt she is resting after such a fight," Rarity replied.

"But maybe she is already back, and she is hiding," Sweetie Belle said.

"Yeah. We should start searching in the rooms, starting from the first floor," Applejack proposed.

Apple Bloom waited for them to pass.

Only for a Shadow earth pony to appear with a "Boooo!"

"Uh? What was that?" Applejack asked.

"Ya've got to be kidding me!" Apple Bloom shouted.

The door opened as she captured the ghost, and as the ponies (and dragon) spotted her, Apple Bloom quickly ran behind one of the table.

"It's her!" Spike shouted.

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack shouted as she started approaching. "Come! Join us!"

"Ah'm not gonna join ya when Ah'm about to save ya!" Apple Bloom shouted before slamming a chair against Applejack. "And Ah'm sorry!"

Seeing Spike running toward her, she quickly pointed the Poltergust toward him, and trapped him in a vortex.

"Hey! Let me down!"

"Okay!" She threw Spike toward Rarity before the mare could use her magic, then she ran pass them, head down, forcing Sweetie Belle to move out of the way to not be rammed.

She exited the room, cursing Pyrite's name. Rather than going to the stairs to the third floor, she went to Emerald's room to hide in a bundle of scarf like last time.

And like last time, Applejack and the others searched the room and didn't find her before exiting to search in the bathroom. Not finding her there, they went elsewhere. Apple Bloom waited a few seconds, then exited the bundle before looking in the hallway, continuing upon not spotting them. She stopped at the corner in front of the washroom and watched hidden behind the wall.

After a few minutes, Applejack and the others, joined by the rest of the gang, came from the hallway to the third floor and went to the stairs to the first floor. As Apple Bloom expected, they went to search her in the third floor, but not finding her there, they now went to search her in the first floor.

When they disappeared behind the door to the stairs, Apple Bloom continued her way to the third floor, and once here, tested the key on the locked door before the balcony. The door not opening, she went to the balcony where she fought the dragon and spotted another door at the other side. However, before she could reach it, two centaurs appeared with four... bat-winged strange bipedal beings with lion-like manes and tails, each holding a staff.

When she described them to Smart Spirit as she started attacking one of the centaurs while avoiding magical projectiles from the staffs and the second approaching centaur, he answered «Oh! Gargoyles! Of course, where there are centaurs, there are gargoyles. Their two people lived together like earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns live together. But don't worry, they can't drain magic like centaurs. They were more known to forge powerful magical artifacts.»

"Oh, so that's why those ghosts possess magical staffs..."

«Uh... Yeah. These were their main weapons.»

As they talked, the second centaur approached enough to be able to start draining Apple Bloom's magic, and the filly could feel herself weakening. So she put the Poltergust to red and quickly finished capturing the first centaur before targeting the other one, taking a magical projectile that almost propelled her on the side of her barrel.

She quickly finished the centaur before putting the Poltergust back to yellow, then started capturing the gargoyles one by one, the ghosts using their hands to attack her if she got too close. The gargoyles weren't as strong and as heavy as the centaurs, so capturing them was much easier, and before long, the balcony was clear of ghosts.

Until two real ghosts appeared, one a black unicorn stallion with a smiling mask, and the other a white pegasus mare with a frowning mask. The two of them were armed with hammers.

Apple Bloom ran to capture the unicorn first while she described the two ponies to Smart Spirit, and as she activated the Poltergust, he answered «Smiling Mask and Frowning Mask, a brother and sister that were well known in the theater world. However, when they lost popularity, and as a consequence, their career, they started killing other performers that 'stole the spotlight'. Four victims in total before they were killed by the Royal Guards that came to arrest them. They actually managed to kill a guard before that.»

As he talked, Apple Bloom had to stop capturing Smiling Mask as Frowning Mask was attacking her like a savage with her hammer.

"Ah would love to fight a simple thief for once..." said Apple Bloom before activating the Poltergust on the mare.

«Thieves are probably cowering in the dark to not risk being captured by the Poltergust. And anyway, they are thieves, not killers, so the majority of them aren't the kind to attack somepony. Well, not now that they're dead and that they don't need to steal anymore.»

Seeing the stallion fly at her from behind, hammer ready, Apple Bloom slammed Frowning Mask on him before trapping the both of them in the vortex. As they started struggling to escape, she immediately pulled down to slam them on the floor, stunning them enough for Apple Bloom to finish them.

No more ghosts appeared, letting Apple Bloom to go to the door and unlock it, entering another dark hallway with only one door at both sides, near the end. Some ghost mice, bats, and a donkey later, Apple Bloom opened the door at her left, entering a huge room with many old chests and other old objects stored in here. The attic.

Apple Bloom slowly advanced among the piles of antiquities until she felt the air becoming cold. Despite the cold, she was starting to sweat in terror, recognizing what this sudden cold may mean.

Oh, Celestia... Please, no...

A familiar shriek confirmed her fear.

And it was coming right from behind her.

Quickly turning around, she saw a wraith behind her, a scythe raised. Apple Bloom immediately rolled forward, avoiding the swing of the scythe, before turning around and trapping the wraith in the vortex.

«Don't tell me you are fighting a wraith again!»

"Okay, Ah won't tell!"

Like the first wraith, this one used dark magic to try to escape, but Apple Bloom now knew the trick, and so, she was able to avoid that with some quick moving and jumping, using the objects around to help, until suddenly, some objects started floating before being thrown at her, forcing her to release the wraith to dodge. Another wraith then appeared, objects floating around it.

"Two wraiths?!"

«Say what?!»

The second wraith threw the objects one after another at her, and Apple Bloom ran to it, avoiding them and the occasional beam of dark magic, using covers when necessary, before activating the Poltergust once she was close enough.

As she was capturing the second wraith, she spotted movements in the corner of her eyes, and saw the first wraith about to attack her shadow. She quickly turned her head, and so, her flashlight, to light her shadow, making it go elsewhere, to the wraith's frustration. But because of this, she didn't see the big bag thrown at her by the second wraith, and she was thrown backward because of it, saving the second wraith from the capture.

Recovering, she saw the first wraith going after her shadow again, and turned off the flashlight to plunge the room in total darkness and force the wraith out like last time. Except that light still came from the big window in the room, and Apple Bloom could do nothing about it. So she quickly looked around, and ran in the shadow of one of the piles of objects, its shadow covering hers.

So the first wraith couldn't attack her shadow anymore, but the second one was still throwing objects and dark magic spells at her, and she couldn't approach it unless she made her shadow vulnerable to the first one again. But she looked at the different piles of objects in the room and understood that if she ran from shadow to shadow, she could approach the wraith and limit the time of vulnerability. So she did it, and she was able to approach and capture the second wraith without the first one being able to do anything to her.

But as she captured the wraith, Shadow ghosts appeared to help the other one who still wouldn't come out of its shadow form, so she was forced to capture them while making sure to avoid remaining out of the shadows too long. But eventually, three minotaurs appeared and started wrecking the piles of objects, reducing the number of hiding spots rather quickly. So she rapidly went to capture them, lighting her shadow with the flashlight when necessary.

With her caution, she was able to capture all the Shadow ghosts without her shadow being attacked once, but she did get herself a couple of punches and a magical beam on the face, and a fat pony managed to trip her on a banana peel, thankfully in the shadow of a pile.

With the last of the ghosts gone, Apple Bloom returned to the shadow of a pile for the first wraith to come out, which it did after a few seconds, and she went to capture it. Despite some dark crystals almost impaling her, she was able to get it.

But the key didn't appear...

But she didn't understand! The cold was disappearing, so no wraith was remaining! So... Was there a ghost hidden somewhere in this room?

Maybe in the chests?

She started opening them, and when she opened the second, a dark green furred, black maned earth pony stallion jumped out of it shouting "Boooo!"

Apple Bloom looked at the ghost, blinking, then in the chest, seeing the body of the stallion who, judging by its expression, was literally scared to death. She looked back at the ghost, raising an eyebrow. "Sorry to say, but if ya tried to give me a heart attack, ya failed.”

The stallion stared at her in surprise. "Boo?"

Apple Bloom sighed. "Ya're really not living up t'yer name, y'know... Come on, even Ah'm better than that. Ah'll show ya what it's to really be scary. Go to the center of the room." She smirked. "Ah'll show ya the result of mah Nightmare Nights."

"Boo?"

"Just go already!"

The ghost followed her order and flew to the center of the room. However, when he turned around, he couldn't see Apple Bloom anymore, and he started looking around.

Then, he heard a childish giggle to his left, and he turned, only to see nothing. Hoofsteps were heard behind him, and again, he turned, only seeing a few objects falling. Again he heard the childish giggle, then heard something tap one of the pillars in the room, before he saw an old doll sliding on the floor. He felt something behind him, only to see nothing when he turned, only seeing a shadow in the corner of his eye. Again, he felt something behind him, hearing again the childish giggle, and he started moving back toward his chest while looking left and right.

He reached his chest, and turned to open it and enter it, but then, on it, a light turned on, illuminating Apple Bloom's face before she screamed "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The ghost yelled in terror, before falling on his back, stopping moving.

Apple Bloom looked down at the immobile ghost, then asked, "Prof? It's possible t'give a heart attack to a ghost? Ah think that's what Ah just did."

«That was what the screaming was about, huh? So, wait, you actually managed to...? Who?»

"Jump Scare."

...

She could hear Smart Spirit burst into laughter and falling from his chair as a result. Apple Bloom soon followed him, falling from the chest as she rolled in laughter.

"W-wow! M-maybe Ah'd try to get mah Cutie Mark in jumpscaring!"

«If you were able to scare a ghost like that, then you may actually get it!»

Once Apple Bloom calmed enough, she captured the poor ghost and took the key that appeared. She tested it on the door in the wall at the left of the entrance, at the opposite side of the room, only for it to remain locked, to her surprise. So she exited the room and tested the key on the door across the hallway.

It opened.

Apple Bloom entered a room full of armors, weapons, shields bearing the emblem of the Gem family, and chests and crates probably containing more things military concerned.

And almost immediately, the armors started moving, walking slowly toward her, taking weapons and shields in their magic. With her only having a bat and a shear to defend herself, Apple Bloom knew that she wouldn't stand a chance in a close fight. Thankfully, she could count on her Poltergust.

Putting it to red, she targeted the nearest armor, made it float in the vortex, and sent it toward another armor, turning the two of them into piles of armor pieces from which two Shadow unicorn ghosts came out. She did the same with the other armors, destroying all of them, each time causing an unicorn ghost to come out. Just after coming out, the ghosts would take back their weapons and shield before approaching Apple Bloom again, firing some magical beams. When the last armor was destroyed, the filly quickly turned to the nearest ghost, put the vacuum back to yellow, dodged the swing of its sword, and trapped it in the Poltergust's vortex along with another one. However, she had to give up their capture as she was getting surrounded, and she ran out of the circle of ghosts, using the vortex to scare two ghosts into letting her pass. Once she was out, she finished capturing those two ghosts, then went to the others, capturing them by small groups until they were all gone.

But then, the room became cold, and some pieces of armor started floating before a wraith appeared, putting on the armor before taking a sword and a shield. When Apple Bloom activated the Poltergust, the wraith resisted, putting its shield in front, before charging at her to ram her with it. The filly quickly rolled out of the way, then took herself one of the shields on the floor. But it was far too big for her, so she placed the Poltergust on the floor and placed the shield on her back before taking the handle of the vacuum. When the wraith swung its sword at her, she turned around to get her back to it, using the shield to protect herself, before she turned again to face the wraith and activate the Poltergust.

Like before, the wraith charged at her with its shield, and Apple Bloom spun, using her own shield to not only stop it but also to get it out of the way. She then thrusted the handle of the Poltergust just in front of the wraith's hood and activated it. Because the handle was too close, the wraith couldn't place its shield to do another charge. But it then pointed its sword at her, and from it, it shot a beam of dark magic at her. Apple Bloom saw it coming, and quickly spun again to protect herself from it with the shield while pulling on the handle to slam the wraith on the floor, making it drop its weapon and its shield. The beam still managed to destroy her shield, propelling her forward a little, but she was able to keep her balance, and after a few more seconds, the wraith was captured.

"Prof, Ah don't like it. Ah just captured a third wraith."

«You are right, it's bad. No, wait, it's awesome that you captured another one, but three wraiths in two rooms? Seems like those cloaked ghosts didn't idle while you were resting. I fear that there will be more. You should quickly continue before another comes.»

Agreeing, Apple Bloom took the key that appeared and used it to open the door in the wall just at the right of the entrance, entering a room full of jars and vases among many crates, with the chimney to the room where she fought Diamond Cup at the right.

When she advanced a little, a long red appendage suddenly came out of one of the jars to wrap itself around her hind legs before it started dragging her. Not wanting to know what awaited her if she reached this jar, Apple Bloom grabbed the handle of the Poltergust and activated it. The appendage unwrapped itself from Apple Bloom to get away from the vortex, and after some struggle, it was able to escape the vortex and to enter the jar.

The next instant, eight appendages came out of eight jars and vases. Looking in fright at the tentacles coming at her, Apple Bloom ran to one of the jars and gave it a powerful buck, destroying it. The appendage that was coming out of this jar fell on the floor, twitching, and Apple Bloom quickly sucked it up before she was wrapped by one of the other tentacles. Despite being wrapped, she turned the Poltergust to another tentacle and pressed the button, trapping it. Then, she violently pulled on the handle, lifting the vase from which came the tentacle before slamming it on the jar of the tentacle wrapping her, destroying the two and dropping the two tentacles to the floor. She quickly sucked them up too.

But now, all five remaining tentacles came at her at once from all around. Quickly looking at the tentacles in panic, Apple Bloom activated the Poltergust after putting it to red, and started spinning. She caught all the tentacles one after another in the vortex, and after more spinning, threw them against a wall, destroying all the jars and vase. Not only it caused the tentacles to drop, but it also revealed the ghost's main body coming from one of the jars: a rather big red octopus. One by one, the tentacles connected back to its body, and the three that Apple Bloom had sucked up reappeared before it used them to rise and turn toward her.

The octopus then spat blobs after blobs of ink at her as she started to run to avoid them. She grabbed one of the remaining jars and used it to protect herself from the ink while approaching. Getting too close, the octopus sent its tentacles at her, but Apple Bloom threw away the jar and activated the Poltergust on the tentacles, and once they were all caught in the vortex, she pulled, and slammed the octopus on the floor again, and again, and again, until it was captured.

Taking a few breaths, Apple Bloom spoke, "Ah never thought Ah'd end up catching the ghost of an octopus."

«Of all the things, an octopus, really?»

"Eeyup."

Apple Bloom took the key that appeared and returned in the room where she fought the two wraiths to test it on the locked door she couldn't open earlier. It still didn't work.

She had to fight another wraith before exiting the room, then as she traversed the balcony, she fought a group of five manticores before returning to the other hallway with the remaining locked door. The key also didn't work on it.

"What? Wait..." Apple Bloom rubbed her head. "Ya mean this key opens one of the doors in the basement? But, Ah haven't finished the third floor!"

«Isn't Pyrite somewhere on the third floor? Maybe Little Ghost doesn't intend for you to fight him yet.»

"If there's one locked room remaining, Ah'd understand, but there're two rooms left, so what's in the other room?"

«I don't know, but I have a bad feeling.»

Deciding to stop thinking about this, Apple Bloom started descending the floors of the manor to go to the basement. On the second floor, however, as she passed beside the door to the room where she first fought the phoenixes, it suddenly opened, and out of the room came Pinkie, Twilight, Spike, and Fluttershy.

Immediately, Apple Bloom ran back to the third floor, followed by Twilight and the others repeating their "Join us!" As she opened the door to the trophy room, she found Pinkie just in front of her, again wearing a helmet

"I will not let you get away this time! Join us!" she shouted, ready to grab Apple Bloom.

"There's a cake behind ya!"

"Really?! Where?!" Pinkie shouted as she looked behind to see where was the cake. But then, she felt Apple Bloom grab her tail before dragging her to the center of the room. The filly then started spinning, and when Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike came to the door, she threw Pinkie at them, doing a strike!

Apple Bloom quickly ran to the balcony after that, and like the previous time, she used one of the vines created by the deers in the battle to slide to the courtyard. Looking around to see if nopony was here, she then ran to the door leading to the first floor hallway. She entered the room with the instruments when she spotted Applejack approaching from the foyer, and once she disappeared toward the second floor, she ran to the stairs to the basement.

The basement, still as gloomy as Apple Bloom remembered from the little she had seen from it, which was just the little corridor going from the stairs to the two locked doors.

The key opened the one to the right, leading her to a rather big and dreary room full of crates and barrels forming small paths. Rapidly, three fat ponies appeared with two pegasi and two griffons, the fat ponies starting to fill the paths with banana peels, obviously to make sure that Apple Bloom would slip on them if she ever passed by those paths while being dragged by the pegasi and griffons. When she saw this, however, she quickly targeted the fat ponies while avoiding the attacks of the other ghosts.

When two of the fat ponies were captured, some phoenixes appeared, as well as some mice, and a swarm of parasprites. Avoiding the paths more or less filled with the banana peels, she sucked some of the mice and a phoenix before targeting the approaching swarm, capturing a griffon by the same occasion. After capturing a pegasus and finishing the mice, a cow appeared and jumped on her, while some buffalo also appeared to charge along the paths, not leaving the filly anywhere to dodge. So she jumped back to avoid the cow, waited for the buffalo to approach, then activated the Poltergust, trapping both the cow and one of the buffalos in the vortex.

When both the cow and the buffalo were captured, quickly followed by the last fat pony, the room suddenly became cold, announcing the arrival of a wraith. Looking back and forth along the path she was currently in, she captured some phoenixes, and another buffalo along with the last pegasus, leaving a griffon, a buffalo, and three phoenixes in the room. She eventually spotted the wraith, only it was already in its shadow form, advancing toward her shadow. She could already turn off her flashlight, but with the phoenixes, there would still be light, so if she wanted to get the wraith out of the shadow, she had to deal with the birds first.

She ran away from the wraith and quickly captured the last buffalo and the last griffon before jumping on some barrels. Looking to see if the wraith was far enough, she started moving on the walls formed by the barrels and the crates to capture the birds one by one. As soon as the last phoenix was captured, she jumped back in one of the small paths, and turned off the flashlight. When she saw a purple aura appear, showing the wraith's presence, now out of the shadow form, she quickly ran behind some crates to avoid the resulting beam of dark magic, used the brief light given by it to use again the barrels to climb on the 'walls', then turned on the flashlight to spot the wraith. Upon spotting it, she ran on the wall toward it, then jumped back in the path just in front of it before pressing the button. As the wraith struggled, before it could fire some dark magic, Apple Bloom slammed it on the floor, then slammed it again, before capturing it.

With no other ghosts coming, the key appeared. Apple Bloom took it and used it to open the other door across the hallway. The room it led to was a little like the big one in the third floor where she fought the two wraiths, but tidier, the objects here being on shelves, along with a few barrels, crates, and bags. However, for some reason, there was a large fence blocking the path along with one of the shelves, forcing Apple Bloom to do a detour to reach the exit door in the wall at the right. And for some reason, there were also several piles of dust on the way, but thankfully, Apple Bloom didn't mind being dusty.

However, those piles of dust revealed to be really annoying when earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, all armed with spears, appeared to attack, along with some mice again, becoming obstacles hindering her ability to swiftly reach the ghosts or to avoid their attacks.

Yes, she could suck the dust with the Poltergust, but the vacuum wasn't made for that, so it would only expel the dust by the vent.

Again, a wraith appeared too, but thanks to the lack of space and the fact she was in the middle of the path by then, she was quickly able to reach it and trap it, and after a few slamming into some nearby ghosts, she captured it before it could do anything. The filly rapidly finished the remaining ghosts before taking the key that fell on one of the piles.

"Ya know, prof, Ah'm starting to get good at capturing those wraiths."

«Well, after six wraiths, I wouldn't expect less. I was searching for an apprentice, but at this point, I should as well call you 'master'. Ohohohohohoh!»

Apple Bloom giggled before opening the exit, entering another hallway with two more doors in the opposite wall, and another at the very end. This one possessed a lock rather different from all the others, decorated with a skull inside a pentacle.

Apple Bloom easily guessed that it was the door to the room where Bogmire had been sealed, and so, the door to her final destination, where Little Ghost was waiting for her.

After fighting more mice, as well as two donkeys and a hippogriff, Apple Bloom found out that the key opened the door just across the hallway, and she entered a frozen room, everything here covered in ice, with a few crates and shelves. There were even stalactites in the ceiling!

And in the opposite corner was a white unicorn stallion in warm clothes sitting beside his frozen corpse: Zircon. The room was so cold that Apple Bloom was already shaking as if it was winter, so she decided to quickly capture the stallion and get out of here. However, Zircon spotted her, and breathed a stream of ice at her. When Apple Bloom tried to run to escape, she slipped on the ice covering the floor and slammed face first against the wall.

And to make things worse, a wraith with a sword appeared before firing a beam of dark magic at her. Not losing time rubbing her face, she rolled to escape the beam, causing her to slide again on the ice, passing near the wraith who prepared its sword. But while sliding, she pointed the Poltergust at the wraith and trapped it before letting it drag her on the ice to escape another stream of ice from Zircon. Once close enough of the stallion, Apple Bloom then slammed the wraith on him to stop him from breathing ice before she trapped the both of them in the vortex. The wraith disappeared first and was quickly followed by Zircon.

But two more wraiths appeared, the two quickly arming themselves with crystal claws. Apple Bloom used the first wraith's sword to help herself to get up on the ice before she used it to propel herself between the two wraith as they fired their dark magic. While passing between them, Apple Bloom trapped one of the wraiths in a vortex, and quickly slammed it on the other wraith to stop it from attacking before she went too far. She then quickly put the Poltergust to red to finish the wraith before she went to the other. The wraith started to sink in the floor to turn into its shadow form, but the filly was able to stop it by trapping it in a vortex, and after a couple of slams, it was captured too.

Apple Bloom quickly took the key before exiting the room, hoping she would not get sick after this room.

However, she barely got out of the room that she was attacked by another wraith. By reflex, she was able to turn and trap it before it could swing its scythe, and she stopped it from sending a beam by slamming it on the floor before capturing it.

She looked many times at both sides of the hallway, then upon spotting nothing, breathed in relief.

"Make it ten, prof."

«Ten wraiths in one night, and the number's still growing. I'm ready to bet that by the end, you will have captured twenty, at least.»

"Twenty? Ah doubt. There aren't many rooms left. Ah'm thinking closer to fifteen."

«You got four wraiths in just one room.»

"Point taken."

Apple Bloom used the key to open the other locked door in the hallway (without counting the one leading to Little Ghost) and entered a room full of shelves with papers. Surprisingly, only one wraith and one earth pony attacked her in this room. Apple Bloom simply used the method that worked very well until now: she trapped the wraith, slammed it on the earth pony, trapped the two, and captured them.

And just two hours ago, she peed on herself facing her first wraith. It's surprising how much can change in so little time.

After grabbing the key, Apple Bloom remembered what Smart Spirit asked her previously and went to see the papers, thinking that those may be the archives. After some reading, rather hard since it was in Old Equestrian, she confirmed it: this room was the archive room. She immediately started the process of sending the papers to the prof.

«Are those what I think they are?!»

"Eeyup! The archives, like ya asked!"

«Wonderful! Be sure to miss none!»

Apple Bloom giggled as she continued to send the papers. After many minutes, the room was emptied, and Apple Bloom exited it.

"Well, Ah already cleaned the basement. I thought that it would have been the last. Time to return to the third floor then."

However, her trip to the third floor was everything but calm. Already, in the basement hallway, she had to face another wraith. Then, in the room before the stairs, she encountered a serial killer named Lumberjack. Like his name implied, he was a lumberjack who hated ponies entering what he considered his forest, and so he cut with his axe any ponies he encountered in it. Of course, he tried to cut Apple Bloom into shreds with his axe, but as soon as he approached too much, the filly activated the Poltergust and captured him.

Another serial killer was met on the stairs to the first floor, a griffon this time, who simply murdered ponies because "They should be at the bottom, and yet, they're at the top!"

It's a wonder she hadn't encountered more supremacist speciesists.

On the first floor, she had to go from closet to closet to avoid Applejack and the others doing some rounds, and Pinkie ended up again being bonked on the head after Apple Bloom thrust her bat in her belly and took off her helmet. She then quickly hid Pinkie in a closet before the others could spot them, and once nopony was there anymore, she climbed to the second floor.

Here, she had to enter the room where she fought her first wraith to avoid Rainbow Dash, where she ended up fighting two other wraiths along with a cockatrice. The cockatrice being the more dangerous; she captured it first before fighting the wraiths.

She easily reached the third floor after that, still having to fight a wraith and two zebras in the trophy room. She learned by the way what it was like to be as old as Granny Smith... Not fun...

She tested the key on the locked door in the first hallway, and when it didn't work, she traversed the balcony, having to fight this time an old captain of the Royal Guard which was also a noble, named Diamond Sword, who didn't hesitate to use his position to oppress lower class ponies and even outright kill some ponies and above all non-ponies just because they crossed his path. Let's just say that he didn't remain captain of the guard for long.

Two other wraiths faced her in the second hallway, and three others in the room where she encountered Jump Scare. While she was easily able to capture the first two with the now usual method, the third was able to turn into its shadow form, forcing Apple Bloom to use the same method as the previous time she was in this room to get it out of the shadow and capture it.

"And this makes twenty."

«Told you.»

Apple Bloom used the key to open the locked door in this room, entering a room as large as the previous one, but not as big, with a big door leading to what seemed to be a tower, and like the previous one, it was filled with objects. However, they were all trapped inside little domes of glass, and looking at them made her fur stand on end. Either those objects were cursed, or haunted. Seeing in the corner of her eyes a doll move its head alone, then she would lean to haunted, and since they were inside domes of glass, probably by evil spirits.

"Prof? Is trapping objects haunted by evil spirits under glass all we can do to deal with them?"

«Only if the ghost in the object is bound to it and too powerful for the object to be destroyed or for the ghost to be exorcised. When an object is haunted, or possessed as we also say, the ghost in it, if he's evil, can cause misfortune, illness, and even death to the ones owning them, or to ponies simply passing beside them. And if they can't be forced out, then there's no other choice than to trap them in a small prison with some powerful wards. I'm actually trying to find a way to force them out, and those archives you sent to me will certainly help me greatly.»

"Mmh... This may be problematic..." Apple Bloom suddenly heard from her left. With a small "Eep!", she jumped to her right while looking at the origin of the voice, which was none other than Little Ghost, rubbing her chin in thought. "I want you to clean the manor of all the meanies, but if you can't do anything to them, then you will not be able to clean everything. Well, let me help." With a wave of her hooves, all the glass domes were suddenly destroyed. All the objects then started floating before, with another wave, they were destroyed too. Now, seventeen ghosts were filling the room without counting Little Ghost. With a giggle, Little Ghost waved goodbye to Apple Bloom, said "Good luck," and disappeared.

Apple Bloom sighed. "Prof, Ah found a solution: becoming friend with a more powerful ghost."

«Of course! Why didn't I think of this?!»

The seventeen ghosts in the room, the majority of them ponies, but also two zebras and a griffon, turned toward her, ready to give her a bad time, and the totality of the glass shards and of the remains of the objects started floating. Apple Bloom quickly opened the door to the previous room and hid behind the wall as a barrage of projectiles was sent at her. After a few seconds, the sound of objects hitting the wall and the sight of them passing through the entrance stopped, and she looked in the room to see the ghosts approaching, some of them already recuperating the projectiles. She immediately put the Poltergust to red and ran in the room, sucking up the ghosts one after another without stopping, targeting in priority the ones levitating projectiles. She didn't hesitate to slam ghosts multiple times on other ghosts, and before long, the seventeen ghosts were captured, and a key a little bigger than the others appeared, certainly opening the big door.

"Well, prof, ya'll have a lotta ghosts to place in the red crystal once Ah come back."

«Frankly, I didn't think that I would have to fill the red crystal so much.»

As Apple Bloom thought, the big key opened the big door, revealing a spiral staircase going right to the roof!

"Guess what, prof, Ah think Ah'm going to the roof."

«So there's an entrance to the roof? If it is like with the balcony, then prepare for a big battle.»

"Yeah..."

Slowly, Apple Bloom started to climb the stairs, and after half a minute of climbing, she reached another door. Pushing it open, she walked on the roof, exiting a little tower with the pointy roof she had spotted when approaching the manor. The area of the roof was, as predicted, the biggest one of the manor, with many small pillars, and a chimney at both sides of the tower, Apple Bloom guessing that the one at the left went to the room where she fought Diamond Cup, while the other one either went to the locked room of the third floor, or the barred room of the second floor.

She advanced to the center of the roof.

And then... all Tartarus broke loose.

It started with ten earth ponies, ten pegasi, and ten unicorns appearing at the same time, quickly followed by two wraiths. Apple Bloom ran to the closest wraith and trapped it before using it to slam the surrounding ghosts while doing some small bounces to avoid the magical beams. She made sure to have a pillar between her and the other wraith so it couldn't target her with its dark magic beam that spawn crystals. As soon as she captured the first wraith, she went to capture the other, only to see that it took its shadow form, and with the moon lighting the area, there was no way for her to make it completely dark and force it to return to normal. So instead, she remained in the shadow of one of the pillars and started capturing the other ghosts, spinning and slamming them repeatedly, turning their number against them. After a moment, the other wraith had waited enough and came out of the shadow to attack, giving Apple Bloom the occasion to go and capture it.

However, as she started capturing it, another wraith appeared with two dozens more ghosts: six earth ponies, two pegasi, three unicorns, three fat ponies, six griffons, and four donkeys. And from then, it was an avalanche of ghosts. Each time that Apple Bloom captured some, more appeared, with armed ghosts, elemental ghosts, armored ghosts, zebras, hippogriffs, diamond dogs, and minotaurs joining the fight. But after capturing a fifth wraith, the evil ghosts left their place to three real pony ghosts armed with knives that would sneak behind Apple Bloom to try to open her throat. But since the filly wasn't stopping spinning to slams ghosts on each other, it didn't work, and before long, two of them were captured.

A pegasus soldier from the time of the three tribes then appeared armed with a crossbow, remaining out of range while firing arrows at her. Frowning at the pegasus, Apple Bloom continued capturing the ghosts that appeared while covering behind the pillars, eventually capturing the last knife ghost. When the deers appeared and started sprouting vines from all around the manor to attack her, she saw her chance. Using the shear to cut some vines, she ran away from the ghosts to gain some space, hiding behind the chimney at the left, and tied the vines into a lasso. Once it was ready, she ran as close as possible to the pegasus while avoiding the other ghosts, and threw the lasso, successfully wrapping the crossbow. She then pulled hard, and the pegasus was slammed on the floor on a deer. Apple Bloom then promptly captured the two of them.

With the ghosts still numerous, Apple Bloom put the Poltergust to red before targeting the deers in priority. However, when a zebra was able to hit her with a potion, turning her into a rabbit, she was forced to go capture this one. But the zebra played smart and flew further to avoid being captured while laughing. Frowning, Apple Bloom put the Poltergust to green, and trapped the ghosts to force them to drag the Poltergust toward the zebra while she was holding the handle. But the zebra wasn't letting her approach, continuing to avoid her, and with the ghosts not always dragging her where she wanted, it may take a while to reach it.

Things got bad when a new wraith appeared among the ghosts, and she was starting to sweat. But then, she was hit by the potion of another zebra, and again, she was transformed, this time into an old mare, again. She would grit her teeth both at the transformation and at her back now hurting her if she still had them, but resisting the pain, she quickly took the Poltergust, put it to red and turned to the zebra that just transformed her before activating the vacuum just before it could fly out of range. When the zebra was captured, she was back to normal, and she immediately jumped away to avoid the dark beam of the wraith and the crystals that appeared as a result.

She did some more running and bouncing to avoid punches, beams, spears, and vines before doing a quick spin to capture many ghosts around her. With fewer ghosts circling her, she returned to the shadow of the left chimney at the corner of the roof, where she camped, waiting for the ghosts to approach before capturing them. But when two other wraiths appeared beside the first one, she ran to them to use her slamming tactic, trapping a first wraith before quickly slamming it on the two others. As they were dazed, the three of them were then trapped and captured.

Now, cows, yaks, buffaloes, centaurs, and gargoyles appeared among the ghosts, as well as an earth pony mare looking like a mad scientist riding a giant buffed monster of a pony that seemed to be made of different body parts to make it look like a very buffed alicorn with two screws on the head, the claws of dragons instead of forehoofs, and the tail of a manticore. On its back, the mad scientist cackled before ordering the monster to crush Apple Bloom.

Thankfully, it was slow, and its magical beams were easy to dodge if far enough, so Apple Bloom decided for a first moment to avoid it to capture all the deers, zebras, and centaurs that had appeared until now. The real ghost of a young teenage dragon also appeared to join in the fun, starting to breathe fire at her while flying around. Once the last centaur (for now) disappeared in the pipe of the vacuum, she looked at the flying dragon and at the monster pony approaching her. She dodged the fire of the dragon with a quick side jump, then trapped him in the Poltergust's vortex before slamming him on the monster.

The monster barely moved when the dragon slammed on it, and even when Apple Bloom activated the Poltergust on them, it was as if the vortex was doing nothing on it, when both the dragon and the mad mare on its back were eventually captured, the mare losing grip after a moment. Since the machine was on red, Apple Bloom was regularly forced to take pause to let it cool down, but as soon as she could, she reactivated it, and continued trying to capture the monster while turning around it to avoid the claws, the beams, and the scorpion tail.

After a long minute of trying to capture the monster while occasionally capturing other ghosts, including another wraith that appeared, the monster was finally captured when its forelegs were literally ripped from its ghostly body by the vortex, making it lose enough strength that the Poltergust was able in the following seconds to get it.

After this monster, a few more wraiths and ghosts of bad ponies more classic appeared along with all the ghosts she encountered until now, and for what felt like hours, but what was in reality just two minutes, the battle continued with ghosts endlessly appearing.

Until they stopped appearing.

Apple Bloom captured the remaining ghosts, finishing with the ghost of an earth pony trying to kill her by firing poisoned darts with a blowgun. Silence returned on the roof, but seeing no key appearing, Apple Bloom looked around her, searching for any remaining ghosts, or waiting for new ones to appear.

Then, a chimera appeared, but this time, the tiger head had the fire element, the goat head had the ice element, and the snake had the lightning element. The three heads fired elemental projectiles at her, and she jumped behind a pillar to protect herself from them before running from pillar to pillar toward them. When she approached too much, the chimera jumped around the pillar behind which she was hidden and tried to claw her. Apple Bloom side jumped to dodge it, then rolled to avoid a lightning bolt from the snake before activating the Poltergust. Since it was put to red, the chimera couldn't resist the vortex as well, but it still attacked the filly with everything it could, so Apple Bloom started to run around it. The chimera then spun around, sweeping the floor with the snake-tail, and Apple Bloom was hit and propelled backward, releasing the beast. But Apple Bloom quickly recovered and ran back to the chimera while jumping left and right to avoid the elemental projectiles.

But then, one after another, an alicorn appeared, then some weird fusion between a bee and a panda, then a sea serpent wrapping itself around the little tower, then a big three-headed dog like Cerberus, and finally, a roc, the giant bird flying around while shrieking.

Apple Bloom looked around at all those powerful ghosts, gulping. "Pyrite's sending his big cards..."

«Is it a bucking roc that I can see from the lab?»

"Eeyup..."

She ran behind a pillar to avoid more projectiles from the chimera, only to see the alicorn charge magic on its horn. Panicking, the filly started to run again, just in time to avoid a huge magical laser, then jumped back to avoid an as huge stream of water spat by the sea serpent. Seeing the panda-bug-thing approach her with its dart ready, Apple Bloom quickly turned to face it before pressing the button, trapping it in the vortex. In return, the panda started flying around, dragging the filly behind it in the air without problems, unknowingly saving her from the three-headed dog that had been about to bite her. While in the air, the ghosts weren't able to hit her with their projectiles, the filly moving too much, but she was now at the mercy of the roc who was starting to fly toward her, claws ready to catch her.

So she let herself fall back on the roof just beside the alicorn, which she immediately trapped. Without surprise, even if the alicorn was the less strong-looking ghost of the bunch, it was still able to drag her around easily. But this one wasn't as heavy! So when Apple Bloom saw the dog approaching again, she slammed the alicorn one, two, three, four times on it! But before she could trap the both of them, she had to hide again behind a pillar to not be hit by the elemental projectiles of the chimera and the stream of water of the sea serpent. The alicorn took the occasion to fly away, while the dog recovered and attacked her.

Having no choice, she targeted the dog, but like the chimera, it was more or less able to resist the vortex while attacking her with its claws and its three heads. When she saw the roc and the panda approach from the air, she ran away from the dog and went to hide again in the corner beside the left chimney where the roc had to fly back up. The panda was however able to reach her, but Apple Bloom was prepared, and trapped it again, and this time, it didn't resist long before it was caught. Of course, before that, it dragged her out of her hiding place, and she was again targeted by the other ghosts.

The roc landed beside her, and she ran away to not be caught by its beak, still using the pillars as covers to protect herself from any projectiles. But the roc followed her, and the alicorn then dived at her with a halberd. Dodging the weapon with a roll, she trapped again the alicorn, jumped to avoid the roc's beak, then slammed the alicorn on the head of the bird. The alicorn was finally captured just after.

Rather than attacking the roc, she ran to the chimera next, the dog chasing her. Seeing her approaching, the chimera jumped at her, tiger head ready to bite. Apple Bloom rolled to the side, then placed the end of the Poltergust in the path of the goat head as it was about to ram her before activating it. The snake thrust itself to bite her, and Apple Bloom rolled again before seeing the dog now beside the chimera. So she released the button, then pressed it again to trap the two beasts in a single vortex, before she started circling the chimera, forcing the dog to circle it too to reach her while the chimera attacked again. Like previously, the chimera eventually spun to sweep her with its snake-tail, but this time, Apple Bloom jumped, and instead, the tail hit the dog on its forelegs, tripping it. But then, Apple Bloom saw a shadow covering her, and looking up, she saw the sea serpent about to crush her with one of its claws. Acting quickly, she jumped away while dragging the tripped dog at her place, the sea serpent crushing it instead.

Thanks to this, both the chimera and the three-headed dog were captured almost at the same time, and Apple Bloom turned to the sea serpent as it tried to crush her again. Behind her, the roc was also coming. Trapped between the two giants, Apple Bloom dodged the serpent's claw before running toward the roc. The giant bird tried again to eat her, so she did a quick roll to avoid its beak before she activated the Poltergust. Trapped in the vortex, the roc took flight, taking the filly in the air with it. The bird flew low to try to slam her against the pillars, but the filly used her legs to bounce away from them, also dodging a stream of water from the sea serpent this way. However, Apple Bloom eventually had to release the bird as the Poltergust was about to overheat.

She immediately hid behind the right chimney so she didn't have to constantly dodge the serpent's attack while waiting for the Poltergust to cool down, keeping an eye on the roc. Clearly annoyed, the roc revealed that it possessed the lightning element, and it started shooting lightning at her, forcing her to run. Eventually finding herself again between the two ghosts, she targeted the sea serpent, forcing it to try to crush her again with its claws. After dodging its first attempt, she then targeted its claw, turning the Poltergust to green, so when it raised its claw back to it, she released the button as she was sent in the air just as the roc approached. Putting the Poltergust to red, she caught the claw of the sea serpent again, then pulled hard, causing the sea serpent to punch the roc on the head. She then changed target and trapped the roc in the vortex by the head before pulling down with all her strength as she was dropping back on the roof. With the roc dazed by the punch, it couldn't resist the pull as it was still flying forward, and so it ended up headbutting the sea serpent. The roc fell against the little tower beside the stunned sea serpent, and once the Poltergust had cooled down enough, she activated it on the both of them.

Already weakened before. The roc was captured first, but the sea serpent resisted and recovered before attacking again. Apple Bloom dodged claws and streams of water until the serpent finally lost the fight and was captured too.

Breathing heavily, Apple Bloom thought that that was it.

She was wrong.

Behind her, what she recognized were the cloaked ponies who invoked the wraith appeared, excepted they were now twenty forming a large circle. When she heard them mumbling those same words she heard the first time, and a pentacle made of fire appeared in the circle, she immediately charged at them to stop them. However, a big, muscled cloaked pony appeared in front of her, armed with two flails, and he started swinging them at her.

This pony wouldn't let her approach his buddies, so Apple Bloom had no choice but to attack him. She ran back out of the range of the flails, then when the pony approached to attack her again and swung one of his flails, she activated the Poltergust on the flail, catching it in the vortex, and pulled, bringing the ghost to her. She then activated the vacuum on him, and while the stallion was able to drag her and to struggle quite well, even using his flails to attack her even if she was behind him, Apple Bloom was eventually able to capture him.

However, the stallion was able to gain enough time for the others to finish, and in a tornado of clouds of darkness, nine wraiths appeared on the pentacle.

Nine wraiths, each wearing a crown. Three of them were unicorns, three others were pegasi, and the last three were earth ponies. And they were all armed with swords of very high quality.

Despite being now used to wraiths, Apple Bloom couldn't stop herself from shaking at seeing those nine wraiths.

The cloaked ponies bowed to the wraiths, and then the wraiths took their swords and pierced the cloaked ponies one after another to Apple Bloom's surprise. And to her horror, the ghosts of the cloaked ponies pierced by the swords turned into wraiths too! Apple Bloom immediately ran away from them, toward the left extremity of the roof, before she turned around and watched as the nine crowned wraiths finished turning the ghosts.

"Prof, ya didn't tell me wraiths could turn other ghosts into wraiths."

«Because I didn't think that you would see something as horrible as this. Ghosts, even idiot ones, avoid wraiths. And, to be more exact... Anypony killed by a wraith is turned into a wraith, not just ghosts. Who was turned into a wraith?»

"Well, ya remember the cloaked ghosts that invoked the wraiths?"

«Ah...»

"They invoked nine crowned wraiths, and those wraiths used their swords on them."

«Wait wait wait! Did you just say 'nine crowned wraiths'?!»

"Uh... Yeah? Nine crowned wraiths, three of each races of ponies. Ya know anything?"

At this instant, the wraiths turned toward her, and the nine started approaching her, almost forming a line, swords raised in front of their cloaked faces, the twenty newly transformed wraiths following them.

«They are no less than the result of the worst of our history: the time of the pony tribes. Remember how much this time was filled with hatred?»

"Yeah... It even caused the windigos to come."

«Remember how wraiths are born? When not born from being killed by other wraiths, of course.»

"Oh..."

«Exactly. And who were the greatest bearers of hate of that time?»

Apple Bloom gulped. "The leaders of the tribes."

«Exactly. For four generations, this terrible story lasted. The last generation was saved thanks to the Fire of Friendship, but what about the previous ones? Well, they're in front of you. Of the earth pony tribe: Chancellor Earth Quake, known for his earth shaking strength, Chancellor Wild Love, known to make nature obey her at the level of the deers, and Chancellor Titan, known for being one of the tallest ponies of history.» Apple Bloom looked at the three earth pony wraiths, recognizing the taller one as being Titan. Another one looked very muscled, probably Earth Quake. «From the pegasi tribe: Commander Comet, whose speed was as feared as his tendency to charge head first toward his targets like a comet, Commander Calm Wind, who flew like the wind and could fly among a group of enemies and be detected too late, and Commander Eagle Claw, who had one of his hooves replaced by the claw of an eagle with the help of an unicorn -that was before the tribes started hating each other-.» Apple Bloom easily recognized the wraith with an eagle claw among the three pegasi. «From the unicorn tribe: Prince Diamond, which was known to throw gems at his enemies right out of the earth, Prince Sun, who mastered fire like nopony else, and finally, the other who started all this with her need to control everything, Princess Rose, whose grace rivaled her dangerosity and her hate of everything that wasn't an unicorn.» Somehow, Apple Bloom knew that Princess Rose was the wraith in front of the others, who was acting like the leader.

By now, the wraiths had almost reached her, preparing to thrust their swords, and Apple Bloom got ready to press the button.

«They were all powerful ponies when they were alive, and no doubt they still are as wraiths, but... But I don't doubt that you will win this battle! Go get them, Bloom!» Apple Bloom could hear the fear in his voice...

She activated the Poltergust, but the instant she pressed the button, the nine floated backward, avoiding the vortex, while the twenty all charged at the filly, some of them firing beams of dark magic. Apple Bloom rolled and activated the Poltergust on them. With it put to red, half the wraiths were caught in a few seconds while the other escaped and turned into their shadow forms. Seeing this, Apple Bloom quickly ran to the shadow of the chimney.

But then, vines with thorns rose from the earth below and attacked her, and with the shear, she did everything she could to cut them without getting out of the shadow. Then, she felt a sudden cold, and she rolled forward just in time to almost avoid the swing of a sword, only getting a small gash, as a pegasus wraith, certainly Calm Wind, passed almost undetected to her. But before Calm Wind could fly away, Apple Bloom caught it with the Poltergust before slamming it around a few times until it was captured.

But as she captured Calm Wind, one of the vines successfully slapped her out of the shadow of the chimney. Not remaining on the floor to groan in pain, she rolled, avoiding this way some gems thrown at her, before seeing that all the wraiths had returned to their normal form, thankfully. But now, Comet was charging at her, and she couldn't dodge it in time. Rammed by it, she was however able to press the button and trap it before using it to slam some nearby wraiths. When Earth Quake approached, Apple Bloom also tried to slam it, but it dodged before readying itself to smash her with its hoof. Apple Bloom quickly jumped while Comet was finished, and Earth Quake punched the roof instead, causing some cracks to appear as the whole manor shook! Before Apple Bloom could activate the Poltergust on it, it immediately swung its sword at her, and Apple Bloom had to use the handle of the Poltergust to protect herself before she was propelled backward against a pillar by the force of the hit.

She quickly recovered, and she started capturing some nearby normal wraiths before she had to dodge more gems from Diamond, and to dodge again the vines of Wild Love. But then, she saw streams of fire flying around before homing in at her, and she used the Poltergust to suck some of them while she ran to avoid the others. While running, she was able to approach the origin of the fire: Sun. The wraith quickly fired a beam of fire at her, but Apple Bloom rolled behind a pillar, and once the beam stopped, she jumped from behind it to Sun. The wraith tried to float away, but the filly caught it and captured it.

She then felt a deep pain in her left foreleg, and saw now a scratch mark in it. She quickly saw the origin when she saw a wraith in shadow form beside her own shadow, the claw in the shadow letting her recognize who it was. She ran to the shadow of the nearest pillar, only for Titan to attack her, its great size giving it a great range compared to her. She moved her head backward to try to dodge the sword, but it still was able to cut her on the muzzle. Gritting her teeth, she activated the Poltergust and trapped the wraith, but it was a force of nature, so it dragged her out of the shadow of the pillar right into the shadow claw of Eagle Claw, who gave her another scratch against her barrel, with all the deep pain that came with it. Apple Bloom couldn't stop herself from yelling in pain, but she still was able to see Earth Quake approaching. She dodged his roof breaking punch, and spun, slamming Titan against it and sending it right toward Diamond, sending the both of them beyond the edge of the roof.

Titan disappeared in the vacuum just after, and she quickly ran back in the shadow of a pillar to avoid being clawed again. However, the remaining normal wraiths fired dark beams, and she had to run again, catching one of them on the way, leaving five normal wraiths. She first thought to return to the shadow of the left chimney, but she remembered the vines, and knew that she wouldn't be safe here as long as Wild Love wasn't captured. So, she looked around, seeing that three of the normal wraiths had returned to their shadow form while the two remaining continued firing dark beams. By now, dark crystals were littering the roof, giving her less and less place to move. But not thinking about it, she spotted Wild Love, and she ran toward it, dodging beams and vines and making sure to avoid approaching the shadows.

But she saw something coming from her left and quickly lowered her head, almost getting beheaded by a sword floating in the air. Only one wraith remained who could control this sword: Rose. The wraith of the princess was actually not far, simply looking as it used its sword with its magic. The sword attacked again, and again, and Apple Bloom had to use the handle of the Poltergust to protect herself. As the sword was clashing with the pipe, Apple Bloom grabbed it, and planted it in the roof, getting it stuck long enough for her to run toward Wild Love again, avoiding by the same time the attack of one of the shadows who was almost at her.

Wild Love created a cage of vines around itself, but it was no use against the Poltergust! The vortex of the vacuum passed through the holes in the cage and trapped the wraith, and the filly forced it out before slamming it and capturing it. With the threat of the vines gone, Apple Bloom immediately ran to the shadow of the left chimney, only for Earth Quake to intercept her just in front. It took its shadow form and readied its sword, daring her to approach. Apple Bloom hesitated, but with the limited protection that the pillars offered, and the shadow of the right chimney and of the small tower still leaving her vulnerable to projectiles from most of the roof, this shadow was her best chance to protect herself from both the shadows and the beams. So she continued, not stopping from looking at the shadow of Earth Quake.

The shadow swung its sword, and despite Apple Bloom's best attempt to avoid it by jumping back, her shadow still got cut on the face. Putting a hoof with a scream on the painful injury appearing on her face, she still jumped and rolled forward to pass the shadow of Earth Quake and reached the shadow of the chimney before pressing herself against its wall.

Earth Quake was the first to come out of the shadow form before charging at her with its sword, but she easily dodged it before capturing it while the remaining normal wraiths gathered on the little space of the roof from which they could reach her with their dark beams, joined by Diamond. Seeing this, Apple Bloom came out of the shadow of the chimney and quickly captured the gathered wraiths, one after another, targeting in priority any of the wraiths trying to return to shadow form, and using the pillars as cover when necessary. Before long, all that remained were Eagle Claw and Rose.

And again, she saw Eagle Claw's shadow about to claw her, and she quickly rolled away before going to the nearest shadow, forcing the pegasus to come out, the occasion for her to capture it, only leaving Rose.

But suddenly, the sword of Eagle Claw that was at her hooves started floating, and it cut her on the chest before she ran from it, only to see another sword coming at her. It would have beheaded her if Apple Bloom hadn't parried it with the Poltergust. But a third sword came and cut her on the flank.

Before long, she was surrounded and attacked by nine floating swords.

The worst part? While one of them repeatedly attacked her to kill her, forcing her to parry it or to dodge it, the others were attacking only to make her suffer with more and more injuries until she would die of blood loss. And Rose, the wraith manipulating all those swords, remained at the other side of the roof, watching without moving.

What a despicable mare... wraith... whatever!

But again, Apple Bloom could count on the Poltergust! She activated it and spun around, catching the nine swords in the vortex! Continuing spinning for a few seconds, she then released the button, sending the swords beyond the edge of the roof before she started running toward Rose! The wraith visibly panicked and started sending dark beams that the filly dodged by jumping left and right. Rose then tried to turn into a shadow, but too late! Apple Bloom reached it and trapped it in the vortex! And with all the rage she accumulated in this battle, she slammed it on the floor again, and again, and again, andagainandagainandagainandagain...

Until it was gone.

Apple Bloom looked around in fear of more ghosts appearing, but a ladder materializing on the right chimney made her understand that it was over. Sighing in relief, she fell on her side, taking big breaths.

"Ah... did it..."

«I only saw and heard some pieces of the battle from the lab, but I could tell that it was probably the greatest battle in the paranormal world! Knowing that it opposed a filly against an army or ghosts, including many wraiths, makes it even more grandiose! But... you should return to the lab... I heard you scream, and it seemed ugly.»

"Getting mah soul clawed would do that... It hurts, but it's okay, they're only small gashes and scratches. Ah just need a couple of minute to recuperate." She smirked. "And Ah can't leave now. Pyrite's mah next target. He's the only one remaining other than Little Ghost. And he must be very tired now."

«......Good point, but I'm not sure. He may still have a trick up his sleeves.»

Apple Bloom thought for a few seconds. "Do ya've another healing potion?"

«I have a couple more, yes.»

"Then, ya know what? Ah'll go see what I've unlocked with that chimney -a ladder appeared on it- and Ah'll return to the lab to drink a potion. Then Ah'll immediately return to the manor to finish with Pyrite. And only after, Ah'll return to the lab to rest. Deal?"

«Very well...» said Smart Spirit after a sigh.

A few minutes later, Apple Bloom got back up and climbed the ladder, enduring the pain. On the chimney, she looked around, then down the hole. "Wait. Don't tell me Ah've to jump down here!"

"Is there a problem?" asked Little Ghost upon appearing in front of Apple Bloom.

The Apple filly pointed down at the hole. "If Ah jump from here, Ah'll break a leg! Or Ah may even die!"

Little Ghost tilted her head. "Really? You can die from falling from too high?"

Apple Bloom facehoofed. "Eeyup..."

Little Ghost giggled. "Then let me help you!"

The next instant, Apple Bloom started floating before slowly dropping down the chimney. Before long, she reached the bottom, entering a big room.

A big room with many big piles of gold and gems, some of those piles reaching the roof!

Apple Bloom's jaw dropped, looking in silent awe at this for a whole minute before she spoke, "Prof... Prepare yerself..."

«For what?»

Apple Bloom approached the pile, only for a Shadow earth pony to appear and try to stop her, but the filly had no problems capturing it.

A key appeared.

Apple Bloom rose an eyebrow in surprise. "That's all? Pyrite must be really tired."

Like she did in the secret room, Apple Bloom put the purse at the place of the crystal in the Poltergust and started sucking up the gold coins, hearing a surprised gasp from Smart Spirit.

«You found more coins?»

"Ah found a whole room full of them and gems! And Ah think it's the barred room in the second floor!"

«Ohohoh! It must be where Pyrite assembled all the wealth of the Gem family that he could find! This explains why the room was barred.»

"And it explains why Ah had t'fight a whole army t'reach it. And this key Ah found here probably opens the door to Pyrite's room."

Apple Bloom passed the following minutes emptying the room of all coins and gems, giggling at Smart Spirit's more and more shocked voice as his lab was getting full. Some more ghosts tried to stop her, but they were quickly captured. By the time she was finished, she was wondering if there was still enough place in the lab for her.

And she also wondered if the prof now was the richest pony of Equestria.

But now, she had to exit the room, and the door, the only exit, was barred.

Which was not a problem for an Apple! Apple Bloom ran to the door and bucked it. After a few more bucks like that, the door opened!

She started running toward the exit of the manor, not minding passing beside Applejack and the others on the way. When they spotted her, by the time they reacted, she was already gone. She however still had to punch Twilight on the head to stop her from using her magic to catch her.

Finally, she exited the manor and entered the lab. It was a miracle that a mountain of gold and gems didn't fall on her the moment she opened the door with how much it was full of them!

"Woah... We'd swim in it!"

"I know, right?" replied Smart Spirit, who admired the gold before turning toward her, gasping upon seeing all her injuries. "Good gracious!"

"Ah know... Could ya hurry up and give me that potion, please?"

"Of course! But you know it'll not stop the injuries done to your soul from hurting, right?"

"Ah know, but at least, it'll hurt a little less, and Ah'll stop bleeding."

"Yeah... I would gladly recommend you another bath, but as you can see, there isn't enough space anymore."

"Ah'll take one after you go place all that gold in... Wait, Ah don't think there's enough place in the clubhouse."

Smart Spirit gave her the potion before speaking "Uh.... You're right. It's already half full with the gold, gems, and trophies I put there."

"We may need t'use the barn," said Apple Bloom after drinking the potion. "Ah could open the door for ya."

"Alright."

Apple Bloom took a sharp breath while gritting her teeth as she still felt great pain despite the injuries healing, but already knowing that it would happen, she endured and spoke "Okay, Ah can go now. Ah hope that now that the cloaked ghosts are gone, Ah won't have to fight more wraiths."

"I think you captured all of them on the roof. Speaking of, you will have to tell me everything! From what I could see, it was epic! How did you manage to force that sea serpent to punch the roc?"

"It's surprising how easy it's to pull even big things with this Poltergust."

The both of them exited the lab, and Spirit started waving at Apple Bloom as she returned to the manor. "Remember! You capture Pyrite, and you come back!"

"Ah know! Don't wo-"

A sudden gust of freezing wind followed by a howl interrupted her, forcing her to close her eyes and put a hoof to protect them.

Smart Spirit started looking around in panic. "Oh no! Oh no! Don't tell me one of them is coming!"

"What was that howl? And why it's suddenly freezing like that?"

Another howl, closer, was heard, and Smart Spirit looked up to the sky. "Look!" he shouted, pointing up.

Apple Bloom followed his hoof, and saw a ghostly horse-thing with blue glowing eyes approaching the manor, and she immediately recognized what it was. "No way... Is that a windigo?"

"By Celestia's great flank! It must have been attracted here by both the curse and the hatred of all those wraiths!" The windigo reached the manor, and started hovering above it, the roof getting frozen as a result. "And it doesn't seem to be ready to go away! I think it's starting to feed off the curse!"

Apple Bloom laughed. "Woah. Ah didn't think that Ah'd actually get to fight a windigo!" She then looked seriously at the ghost above the manor. "Ah must stop it before it freezes everypony inside the manor!"

At this, Apple Bloom ran inside the manor, and started to climb the floors to the roof. On the way, just in front of the foyer, she encountered everypony else, and she shouted, "No time to deal with y'all! Ah must save y'all from a windigo!"

"A windigo?!" Twilight shouted.

"No wonder it's now winter in the manor," Pinkie said.

Apple Bloom stopped and turned to them. "And if y'all leave me alone, Ah'll also deal with Pyrite and stop him from sending those mean ghosts! That's what Little Ghost wants, right? So y'all won't mind letting me do mah job?" Without giving them time to answer, she restarted running, the ponies and dragon not following her.

"There's really a windigo above our heads?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"It's the only explanation for why it's suddenly so cold," Spike said.

"What do we do?" Fluttershy asked.

"Ah'm going after her. Ah want to be there for her," Applejack said.

"And we already missed the Battle of the Roof! I don't want to miss another great fight!" Pinkie shouted.

Everypony nodded before they started following Apple Bloom.

Eventually, the filly reached the roof, where she almost slipped upon passing the door of the small tower. She looked up at the windigo, seeing that it was a little too high for her to reach it "Darn... What do Ah do now?"

Then, Applejack and the others reached the roof too, some of them slipping on the ice. Annoyed at first that they followed her, thinking that they still wanted to capture her, Apple Bloom then looked at Rainbow Dash and got an idea. "Rainbow Dash!" she called.

The cyan mage looked at her. "Uh?"

Apple Bloom pointed up at the windigo. "Ah need yer help!"

Rainbow Dash looked up at the ice spirit, then at Apple Bloom, and smirked, understanding what she wanted. She nodded, flew to Apple Bloom, and lowered herself to let the filly climb on her back. Smiling, Apple Bloom climbed, and the pegasus took off toward the windigo.

The spirit saw them approaching, and it howled, sending a gust of freezing wind at them, intending to freeze them right here in the sky. But skillfully, Rainbow was able to dodge the attack with an aileron roll, Apple Bloom clinging to her, before successfully getting close enough. The windigo, however, forced her back by surrounding itself with more winds.

But then, Apple Bloom turned the Poltergust to red again, jumped from Rainbow's back and braved the freezing wind, much to Rainbow and everypony else's surprise, and activated the vacuum, trapping the windigo. As she started falling, she then pulled down hard and slammed the windigo on a cracked part of the roof so violently that this part collapsed, revealing the room where Apple Bloom encountered Jump Scare. Before the filly could hit the floor, she was snatched by Rainbow Dash, who gently dropped her beside the newly formed hole while she continued sucking up the recovering windigo.

The windigo was able to resist the vortex and sent a gust of freezing wind at the filly who was blown away while some ice formed on her. She quickly recovered and smashed the ice of her body before she faced the windigo who flew toward her, sending more wind. This time, Apple Bloom ran away from the wind and circled the spirit while approaching it, the wind following her. Rapidly, she got close enough to trap the windigo again, and she slammed it again, only for the windigo to send another burst of wind. But Apple Bloom resisted the wind despite the cold and slammed again the windigo. In return, the spirit did a sudden spin, dragging Apple Bloom and slamming her against a pillar. But she didn't release the button, and as soon as she recovered, she did a spin too, slamming the windigo's head against the surrounding pillars before she pulled and slammed it on the floor again and again. With a last howl, the windigo was finally sucked in the Poltergust.

Shaking violently because of her body half covered in ice and feeling like she was walking in the mountains of the North, Apple Bloom spoke. "Prof... Ah'll seriously need a hot bath... Like, super hot..."

«Roger!»

She broke again most of the ice covering her body before she was hugged by Applejack, quickly followed by all the others, giving her some much-needed body heat.

"Ya gave me a scare up there when ya jumped! What were ya thinking?!" Applejack shouted.

Apple Bloom laughed. "Ah was thinking that Ah could trust Rainbow."

"Aww, of course you can trust me, kiddo. Always here to catch you!" proudly the pegasus mare said. "And I must say, that was awesome!"

"But please, Apple Bloom, no more of that," Applejack said.

"No promise," said Apple Bloom. "If Ah fight another ghost like the windigo, Ah may be forced to take more risks like that. Speaking of..." She got out of the group hug and started walking toward the exit of the roof. "Ah still have Pyrite to capture."

"What?" shouted everypony.

"Why now?! You were half frozen to death just now!" Sweetie Belle shouted.

"She's right! You should wait! And meanwhile, we can take you with us so you can join us!" Twilight said.

"Ah must capture him now, before he starts sending more ghosts. Ah already lost enough time because of the wraiths and the windigo."

The ponies and dragon looked to each other with doubt as Apple Bloom went down the stairs of the little tower. Little Ghost then appeared in front of them. "Let her go. She's right, it's the best occasion to get rid of Pyrite and have the manor all for us. And you know what this means?"

Pinkie gasped. "We start preparing the party?"

Little Ghost nodded. "Yep! Apple Bloom will deserve that for clearing the manor of all the meanies. And then, she will finally join us!"

"Yeah!" shouted everypony.

Meanwhile.

«Good job Apple Bloom for becoming the first being in history to capture a windigo! It’s nice to see that ponies won't have to fear them anymore!»

"The first... Woah... Ya think Ah'll appear in history books?"

«No doubts! But are you really sure that you'll be able to face Pyrite?»

"Yes. No matter what he'll send at me, Ah'll finish him!"

Apple Bloom reached the last locked door and opened it, entering a room with seven paintings, all representing a different kind of shadow ghosts she encountered until now: an earth pony, a pegasus, an unicorn, a griffon, a zebra, a fat pony, and a diamond dog. There were also some sculptures on shelves, and the wall of the chimney leading to the not-barred-anymore room. And finally, at the opposite side of the room painting something she couldn't see, was Pyrite himself who seemed a little... down.

"I don't believe it!" he screamed without turning to look at her. "A miserable little earth pony filly was able to pass my legions of creations! I sent manticores, centaurs, an alicorn, a sea serpent, a roc, and even a freaking dragon! I even was able to bring that cult of the old monarchs! And I even succeeded attracting a windigo!" Giving a last swing of his brush at whatever he was painting, Pyrite then turned around to face her, exhaustion, anger, and hatred visible in his eyes. "And you were able to defeat all of them! Even the Great Bogmire couldn't stop you! And to make it worse, you freed all my damned family from this deserved curse, and you took all the treasures in the manor! MY treasures!! Despicable! Unforgivable! I absolutely HATE you!"

"Ah return yer sentiment, ya excuse of a pony! Ya're the one who's despicable and unforgivable! Ya trapped yer whole, innocent family in this terrible curse! Even foals! Ah can't believe somepony would be so horrible as to do that! And for what?! For some gold and gems?! Ya're disgusting!"

"You can't understand what it's like to live like I did, living of paintings that were barely selling, forced to hurt my pride and ask my mother to help me regularly, while my half brother was living the good life, having a wife, children, wealth, and even the good grace of the princesses! And just because I was born at the wrong time! But now, I have everything! And you're trying to take all this from me! I will not let you! Don't think because you passed my army I will just let you come to me and capture me like that! I have power! Given to me by the Great Bogmire itself! So be ready to face that power!"

Pyrite then swung his paintbrush toward the seven paintings, and the next instant, three examples of each painted ghosts came out of them, ready to attack Apple Bloom. Putting the Poltergust to red again, the filly prepared herself as the small army of ghosts came at her, and activated the vacuum.

The earth ponies were the first to disappear, being the closest, quickly followed by the pegasi and the griffons. Apple Bloom was forced to roll constantly to avoid the magical beams and potions of the unicorns and zebras, and when she captured the last griffon, she quickly ran to those last ones to stop them and not get turned into whatever. At the same time that she captured the zebras, she also captured the diamond dogs who came at her, as well as one of the fat ponies who were starting to litter the room with their banana peels. After finishing the last zebra, she had no problems capturing the unicorns and the two remaining fat ponies.

Pyrite could only look in wonder and horror as his creations were easily destroyed despite their number. When the filly finished the last one and turned to him, this horror turned into pure rage.

"Don't think you have won! I was prepared for that! I will not let you capture me! Not like that! You are weakened! You are tired! You are hurt! It is time for me to bring my last joker!" With a yell, Pyrite plunged the whole room in light, and when Apple Bloom could see again, she was in some colorful dimension, the surrounding void swirling with all the colors, and she was on a giant white canvas. In front of her, Pyrite screamed "Now, begone you little pest!" and flew up, revealing what he had been painting: a hydra!

The painting then dropped under the giant canvas, and the next moment, in a giant puff of smoke, the giant canvas was surrounded by four giant ghostly heads of a hydra!

Apple Bloom looked at the four heads in panic. "Horseapple..."

The heads roared before they all attacked her, opening their mouths wide to gobble her. Apple Bloom didn't know what to do to escape them, but in their haste to eat her, the four heads bumped together. As the heads started fighting each other for the right to eat the filly, Apple Bloom quickly acted and targeted one of the heads before activating the Poltergust. While the head struggled to resist the pull, the three others went to help it and attacked the filly again. Apple Bloom then quickly pulled, causing the trapped head to headbutt one of the others while she ran to escape the two others, before trapping a third head and making it headbutt the fourth.

Annoyed, the hydra stopped trying to eat her, then started to fire elemental projectiles, a different element for each head! Dodging the streams of fire, ice, water, and lightning by running and jumping around, Apple Bloom got an idea. Targeting one of the streams while making sure that the vent of the Poltergust faced one of the heads, she activated the vacuum, and started sucking up the targeted element, fire, while not stopping moving to avoid the others. The fire she sucked up was then expelled from the Poltergust by the vent, right toward the head it's facing, the one breathing ice, burning it and making it roar in pain. She then did the same thing with the lightning element while targeting the head spitting water.

So the heads stopped firing elements before they started slamming their chins on the canvas, creating shockwaves coming from all four directions. Apple Bloom carefully jumped above them while approaching one of the heads, and once close enough, she trapped it, then slammed it on the floor face first, stunning it. Like before, the three other heads went to stop her, and Apple Bloom pulled to force the trapped head to headbutt the one coming from the opposite direction before she did the same with the two other heads.

The four heads fell on the canvas stunned, and Apple Bloom didn't stop sucking up one of them, excepted when the Poltergust was about to overheat. When the head she targeted recovered and rose back up, it dragged her in the air where she pulled down violently to slam it again on the canvas. The other heads eventually started firing again their elements, ice, water, and lightning, and the filly quickly dodged, the elements instead hitting the slammed head. The head rose and roared in pain, only to be slammed again by the filly. Which was too much for it. The head disappeared in the Poltergust, soon bringing with it the rest of the hydra, the other heads still using their elements to make her stop and try to escape in vain.

Like with the dragon, when the hydra entered completely the Poltergust in a big PUFF, Apple Bloom was propelled backward, but she quickly recovered to look up at Pyrite who was slowly floating down, drained of all his energy.

"Impossible... How... How could I lose...? With my power...?"

Not letting him recover, Apple Bloom ran to him and captured him, Pyrite not offering much resistance. Not long after, everything was plunged in light again, and Apple Bloom returned to the rooms with the paintings, a key now at her hooves. A key very different from the others. Its head was a diamond skull, and the part that is to be put in the lock was a pentacle.

The key to the door to the sealing room.

Taking the key, Apple Bloom said, "Ah captured Pyrite. He's gone."

«Well done, Apple Bloom! Well done! Now, the manor will be much safer without him and his Shadow ghosts!»

"More like Painted ghosts. He was creating them from paintings."

«Noted. Now return here! We will put all that treasure in your barn, you will take a super hot bath, I will place all those ghosts you captured in the crystals, and you will rest for your battle against Little Ghost!»

"I won't say no to some rest. Not after having to capture a hydra."

«Say what?!»

Apple Bloom exited the manor. Strangely enough, she didn't encounter anypony while moving down the floors. Stopping thinking about this, she entered the lab. While Smart Spirit drove the caravan back to Sweet Apple Acres to place the treasure in the barn, Apple Bloom used the machine to put the ghosts in the right crystals, now knowing how to use it after watching the prof use it.

However, after placing all those ghosts, something was wrong.

Pyrite wasn't in the crystal!

...

It clicked.

He used a Painted version of himself to take his place, and he escaped!

"THAT MOTHERB-"

Final

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Apple Bloom returned to the manor, still peeved at Pyrite for tricking her like that to escape like the coward he was. Hopefully, he was still in the manor, so she could give him a piece of her mind. And if he wasn't, then she swore to capture him one day, even if she had to chase him beyond the borders of Equestria.

But she did a quick search of the whole manor just in case, room by room. Even the secret room beside the butler's chamber. She searched everywhere.

But she didn't find him...

At least, no ghost attacked her while she was searching. No psychos (they probably understood that it was no use to attack her), no wraiths (obviously, after dealing with the cloaked ghosts, they stopped coming), and no Painted ghosts (so either Pyrite was recovering, or he really escaped the manor to hide who knew where). To her wonder and worry, she didn't encounter Applejack and the others even once. They had just disappeared.

Probably waiting for her in that room in the basement, with Little Ghost.

Well, since Pyrite couldn't be found, Apple Bloom had no choice but to join this room and finish this nightmare once and for all. Since she searched the basement last, finishing her search with the archive room, she didn't have to go far before reaching the only door still locked in the building. Taking the Skull Key, Apple Bloom used it and opened the door, revealing a tortuous hallway.

And at the other end of this hallway was another door.

Apple Bloom took a big breath to prepare herself.

"Here we go..."

«Good luck, Apple Bloom.»

She opened the door, entering a room plunged in darkness.

Then, dozens of candles lit up by themselves, illuminating the room, and many voices screamed "SURPRISE!"

Apple Bloom jumped back and took her Poltergust, only for a bucket to come out of nowhere and block its end, giving her enough time to see what was going on.

Everypony was here, including Little Ghost, around a table full of food under a banner "APPLE BLOOM CLEANED THE MANOR OF ALL THE MEANIES!" and a smaller banner "APPLE BLOOM WILL JOIN US NOW!" under it.

It totally contrasted with the rest of the very gloomy room, which was full of weird symbols on the floor, the walls, the ceiling, and even the door. This whole room was made to seal Bogmire!

Apple Bloom simply looked dumbfounded at this. She definitively didn't expect a surprise party.

She was then hugged by Pinkie Pie, "What do you think? Do you like it? You sure took your time! We were starting to wonder if you were coming!"

"Yeah, what took you so long?" Rainbow Dash asked .

"Uh..." Apple Bloom looked at Little Ghost. "Pyrite escaped and Ah searched the whole manor for him, but I couldn't find him."

Little Ghost giggled. "Yeah. He ran away during your fight. But it's okay, he's not here anymore, so it counts."

"Ah also went to take a hot bath after Ah was half frozen by the windigo."

"Eeyup, ya needed one," Applejack confirmed.

"And Ah also had to help Smart Spirit placing all the treasures Ah collected in the barn."

"Treasures? How much are you talking about?" Rarity asked.

"We aren't sure, but we think it must be worth many billions of bits."

At this, half the ponies as well as Spike choked, Rarity even fainting, while the other half looked at Apple Bloom with wide eyes.

"And if you want them, no problem. I don't need gold and gems."

"This treasure's the wealth of the Gem Family, and Smart Spirit is their descendant! It's him who'll decide what t'do with this treasure!"

"Okay, whatever, now that you are there and that all the meanies are gone..." She waved her hoof, and the door behind Apple Bloom closed and some ghostly barrier blocked it. "You can join us!" she said happily. "And we will all be friends forever!"

"Yes! Join us!"

"Join us!"

Apple Bloom got out of the hug of Pinkie and took a few steps away before speaking. "Ah wouldn't mind becoming yer friend Little Ghost. Ya seem nice and all, but ya aren't using the right method." She looked angrily at the foal ghost. "Brainwashing ponies into becoming yer friends doesn't make them yer friends! Just puppets that pretend to be yer friends!"

"Hey! That's not nice!" Pinkie shouted.

"We aren't puppets!" Spike shouted.

Little Ghost frowned at Apple Bloom before she waved at the others. The next instant, they all fell on the floor, sleeping.

"Let me ask you one question. What is a normal pony's first reaction at seeing a ghost?"

"Uh... They... They run away screaming like a filly?"

"So what do you think would happen if I tried to make friends the normal way? If I simply approached somepony to ask them to be my friend?"

Apple Bloom started looking at Little Ghost in sadness. "They'd panic..."

"That's right! They would panic! They would run and never come back! And I would be alone! And I have enough being alone!"

"But... It's still not the right way. Y-ya know... If ya release everypony, Ah'll become yer friend. And Ah'll ask everypony to be yer friends too, Ah'm sure they'll accept despite what ya've done, and despite ya being a ghost."

Little Ghost looked uncertain before closing her eyes. "N-no! I can't! There's no way! If they don't run away, then they will hate me! And they will not be my friends anymore! And you, you are just saying that to trick me and save them! You just want to take them away from me and leave the manor!"

"No! Ah-"

"I will not let you! They will remain with me! And you will join them! And I will never be alone anymore! Now..." Her eyes started glowing strongly as she looked Apple Bloom in the eyes. "Become my friend!"

Apple Bloom quickly looked away before taking the Poltergust and activating it on Little Ghost.

"NOO!!" She screamed as she struggled for a couple seconds. Using her power, she then created a shockwave around her, breaking out of the vortex before rapidly flying away. Once at the other side of the room, she looked back angrily at Apple Bloom. "You meany!" she screamed as the room started shaking while Applejack and the others awakened, looking angrily at Apple Bloom too.

"Ya're forcing me, Little Ghost! Ah don't want t'be brainwashed! And if ya won't listen, then ya won't leave me any choice! Last warning! Release them, and there won't be a fight!"

"NO!!"

At her scream, the ceiling, then the walls, along with the banners and everything else hanging from them, flew away, revealing that the room was now in some kind of void with a shifting background like in her fights against Mister Bear, Bogmire, and Pyrite. Everything that was sent away then started flying around what remained of the room.

Little Ghost managed to send them in another dimension without Apple Bloom realizing! There wasn't even the flashing stuff like before!

But Apple Bloom didn't let this distract her, as with one wave of her hoof, Little Ghost ordered Applejack and the others to attack her while the table and all the food on it started floating. She immediately took the bat, having no choice.

Rainbow Dash was the first to reach her thanks to her speed, only to take the bat to her face, sending her flying beyond the edge of the room into the void. Apple Bloom then swung her bat again while spinning, hitting Pinkie on the head as she somehow popped behind her.

At this moment, Little Ghost threw the table at her while Twilight levitated her in her magic. Apple Bloom took the Poltergust, put it to red, and trapped the table in the vortex before sending it back toward Twilight, the table slamming her and propelling her beyond the edge of the room. Twilight was however saved by Little Ghost levitating her back to the room while Rainbow flew back here too.

Then, from the void, the floor of Clean Order's room came and merged itself with the floor of the sealing room. At this, pretty much the whole manor, in pieces, started flying around, and one by one, the floor of a bathroom, of the room with the armors, and of Ruby and Sapphire's room also merged with the sealing room, the pieces destroying each other when merging when the borders exceeded, so they could still assemble despite their differences in size. The objects in those rooms then started levitating, to be used as projectiles by Little Ghost.

Apple Bloom thrust the bat in Scootaloo's belly, then bucked her, before she trapped Fluttershy with the Poltergust and sent her toward Rarity. Now with enough place, she ran away from the remaining ponies and dragon, bonking again Rainbow Dash as the pegasus charged at her, and after doing some running around avoiding Little Ghost's projectiles, she charged at her and activated the Poltergust. Like before, Little Ghost was trapped in the vortex for a few seconds before she escaped with a shockwave.

The floors then separated, and Apple Bloom found herself stuck in the bathroom while Zircon's frozen room merged to it, and the twin's room and the armory room returned and merged to them. Little Ghost then dropped her 'friends' on the merged room before she took the bathtub -which was probably the one that Swift Wave used as it was full of water-, took all the water from it, and sent it right toward Apple Bloom. The filly ran to dodge the stream, but Little Ghost used her power to make the water home in on the filly, wetting her with the freezing water. Apple Bloom then saw electricity appear above her and restarted to run again, a lightning bolt striking where she had been not even a second earlier. More lightning bolts tried to strike her while she avoided the controlled ponies and dragon chasing her, still having to buck Rainbow Dash on the muzzle, propelling her toward Twilight and making the two of them slide on the ice of the frozen room. a room that she avoided with how wet and cold she already was with the bathtub's water.

But then, a closet charged at her, and caught her inside it before its doors closed on her, trapping her inside. She quickly bucked the door a few times to break it and escaped the closet just in time as it was impaled from all sides by different swords. She immediately had to avoid a buck from Applejack before she caught her with the Poltergust and slammed her on Rainbow, Spike, and Pinkie. She then spun and threw Applejack at Twilight. She rolled to avoid a lightning bolt and ran toward Little Ghost, who was in the freezing room. For the third time, she trapped Little Ghost, and for the third time, she escaped.

Again, the rooms separated, leaving Apple Bloom in the frozen room. However, Little Ghost threw at her the floor of the room where she fought Diamond Cup, and with a well-timed jump, Apple Bloom was able to jump on it as it passed. Objects rained, and the filly had to run around to avoid them until the floor merged with the floor of the room with the instruments, then with the floor of the kitchen.

As Little Ghost dropped Applejack and the others, knives started flying toward Apple Bloom to impale her while floating books appeared to try to devour her, along with that nightmarish piano! She started by sucking up the knifes like she did against the first maid, before she trapped Rainbow with the Poltergust and threw her toward Twilight to stop her from using her magic. She then took the shear and used it to cut the books until she was caught from behind by Rarity. While the mare was holding her, Sweetie Belle punched her in the face. The Apple filly escaped by headbutting Rarity under the chin, forcing her to release her, before she also headbutted Sweetie Belle, and bucked her. She rolled to avoid the remaining books charging at her, captured them with the Poltergust, and threw them at the approaching piano as it opened its 'mouth', causing the instrument to devour them.

As she ran from the piano, she then heard a familiar sound, and saw Pinkie Pie now holding a chainsaw charging at her! She side jumped to avoid Pinkie's first swing, then lowered her head to not be beheaded, before she headbutted the pink mare hard in the gut, making her drop the chainsaw. She then used the Poltergust to throw her at Twilight before she took the chainsaw and looked at everypony, daring them to approach. The piano then bounced at her, and Apple Bloom turned to it, rising the chainsaw. And in a long clash, the filly cut the instrument almost in two! She quickly circled it as it tried to keep itself together and finished it by cutting the second part from behind!

Apple Bloom then looked around and spotted Little Ghost in the kitchen part of the merged rooms, the wooden stove floating beside her, a fire in it. Then, a stream of fire came out of the stove toward Apple Bloom who started running around while approaching the ghost, the fire forcing the others to run or fly away too. She was eventually able to approach enough to attack Little Ghost, but before she could activate the vacuum, Little Ghost threw the stove at her, which she avoided with a roll. Little Ghost then expelled all the others out of the rooms and made them float in the void as, like a book, the music room started to close on the kitchen. Apple Bloom couldn't run to Diamond Cup's room in time, so instead she ran to the edge and jumped in the void, catching a passing flying candlelight. She then balanced to gain momentum, and jumped on a flying desk, before she jumped again to land on the floor of the attic (the room where she jumpscared Jump Scare).

Little Ghost started throwing pieces of room at her, but luckily, the attic had enough space for her to avoid all the pieces thrown. She just had to run fast enough. After a whole minute of that, Little Ghost just decided to send the floor of the attic flying wildly, causing it to ram into a field of floating objects and pieces of rooms, and Apple bloom to be propelled to a wall before she fell. In her falling, she caught a floating chair and sat on it while looking around.

She spotted Little Ghost surrounded by at least one hundred candles, and she started firing little fireballs from them, forcing the filly to jump from object to object, running on tables, balancing on candlelights, using floating books that didn't try to eat her as platforms to reach other objects.

Little Ghost sent Applejack and the others after her, the brainwashed also using the objects to reach her, Twilight firing magical beams, and the ones that can fly, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, directly charging at her from the air. Keeping her balance on a portrait of Pyrite, she lowered her head to avoid a magical beam before using her bat on Rainbow Dash to send her at Fluttershy. She then jumped to a chest from the attic to avoid the next magical beam and restarted approaching Little Ghost while avoiding the fireballs.

Applejack bounced at her, only to take a high kick on the head that made her miss her jump and fall on the ceiling of a room below. She then caught Scootaloo with her Poltergust and threw her at Sweetie Belle. Grabbing a mirror passing beside, she used it to deflect a magical beam back at Twilight before throwing it at Spike.

After a few more jumps, Little Ghost started floating backward while she stopped firing her fireballs. ALL the objects then started flying around her like a tornado, and Apple Bloom thought about how she was going to reach her now. Then, she got an idea and started climbing the tornado of objects while Little Ghost took some of said objects and threw them at her one after another. Applejack and the others also continued chasing her, the chaos of the tornado causing them to attack from all directions. Like always, Rainbow charged at her, and Apple Bloom stomped on her, using her to reach the table of the dinner room before she took a plate floating around and slammed it against her. Applejack then reached the table from below and climbed on it, and Apple Bloom saw a shelf approaching, so she caught Applejack with the Poltergust and placed her on the path of the shelf, the furniture passing and taking her with it.

Pinkie then dropped from above right on her, but Apple Bloom was able to use the handle of the Poltergust to bonk Pinkie and force her to move. Getting up, Apple Bloom then used the Poltergust to hit her again, and again, before bucking her and throwing her beyond the edge of the table, hitting Rarity on the way. With Pinkie gone, Apple Bloom left the table by jumping on the passing pool table, just in time as another shelf thrown by Little Ghost destroyed the table of the dinner room.

She climbed, and climbed, and climbed, until she judged that she climbed enough. Now walking on the floor of one of the washrooms, she approached the edge facing the direction of Little Ghost to see if she was right. Taking her decision, she walked back, then ran and jumped. While jumping, she took the handle of the Poltergust, pointed it at Little Ghost, and once she fell at her level, she pressed the button. Little Ghost was caught in the vortex, and she dragged her while she fell as the floor of the foyer passed below. Apple Bloom then pulled down on the handle, and Little Ghost was slammed before Apple Bloom dropped hard on the floor. But despite the pain of her fall, she quickly got back up before Little Ghost could escape and caught her again before slamming her again, and again, and again.

Little Ghost couldn't resist anymore, and with a terrible scream, she was captured.

Then, the tornado of objects became totally erratic, losing its shape to become a chaos of objects and pieces of the manor flying in all directions. And as Apple Bloom looked around, Applejack and the others fell one by one on the floor of the foyer, unconscious, while the rooms reformed, objects and walls returning at their places. Around her, the foyer returned to normal, first the walls, then the objects, then the stairs, the loft, and finally, the ceiling with the chandelier. More sound indicated the rooms returning at their place before it finally stopped.

Apple Bloom looked again as everything calmed, breathing heavily. Slowly, she advanced to the entrance of the manor and opened the door. Looking outside, she saw that she... they were back in their dimension. She could spot Smart Spirit's caravan at the bottom of the hill.

"Prof? Ah... Ah caught her..."

«Wonderful! But I am saddened that you couldn't reason her.»

"Maybe if we free her with the others, she'll listen to them."

«I hope. What about your friends?»

Apple Bloom looked at the others as they were starting to wake up, all of them groaning in pain. "They may need t'go to the hospital, but they're alright."

Seeing Applejack opening her eyes, Apple Bloom ran and tackle hugged her, knocking her on her back.

"Applejack!"

"W-whoa! Watch out Bloom! Urg... Why does it feel like Ah was run over by a herd of buffalos? What happened?"

Apple Bloom looked at Applejack. "Ya don't remember?"

"Ah... Ah remember entering this scary manor with the others... Then... Ghosts... But after that, it's all blurry... Ah... Ah remember chasing ya... But why'd Ah chase ya? And... Ya punched Twilight?"

"Ugh... Why is my head feeling like it was hit again and again by a bat?" asked Pinkie.

"Ow ow ow..." groaned Rainbow Dash as she rubbed her slightly bleeding muzzle.

"Why do I see myself punching Apple Bloom in the face?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Strange, I see myself firing beams at her," Twilight said. "And also... A little... filly ghost? But... Ghosts don't exist but... I remember that we were foalnapped... And..."

"I remember that too..." Fluttershy said as she started looking around in panic. "Where are they?! Where are the ghosts?! I... I must get out of here!"

"Don't worry!" shouted Apple Bloom as she ran to Fluttershy and rubbed her leg to calm her. "No ghosts will attack ya anymore. Ah made sure of that."

"What do you mean? And what's this weird machine on your back?" asked Scootaloo. "I remember those ghosts too. We entered the manor, and then, there was that filly ghost, and all those ghosts came and took us and..."

"It's a long story. The short version, Ah used this 'weird machine' on mah back to capture the ghosts and save y'all."

"Capture... the ghosts? It's possible?" Spike asked.

"Thanks to that there machine, yes. How about we get out of here and get y'all to the hospital before Ah explain what happened? Unless you're able t'remember by then."

"I wouldn't mind getting to the hospital," Rainbow said as she rubbed her muzzle.

So they all slowly started to move to the exit.

But then the Poltergust started shaking.

Fluttershy saw this. "Hum... Apple Bloom? Why is the machine on your back shaking? Is it normal? Well, if you don't mind me asking."

"Uh?" Apple Bloom looked at her back and saw the Poltergust shaking. It shook more and more.

Then, with a Boom! Little Ghost came out of the Poltergust, yelling like a banshee, glowing, before disappearing in the ceiling of the foyer.

Apple Bloom could only look in both wonder and horror as it happened, while everypony else jumped back in surprise, Fluttershy hiding behind Rainbow Dash.

"What was that?!" Twilight yelled.

"That was her! That was the filly ghost!" Sweetie Belle screamed.

«Apple Bloom? Apple Bloom, what happened?!»

"She... She escaped..." Apple Bloom answered, not believing what she said.

«WHAT?!»

The room suddenly started shaking, and Applejack shouted, "Everypony out!"

"Don't tell us twice!" Spike shouted as the chandelier dropped behind them.

They all passed the door and exited the manor, the whole building shaking, the lights of the windows going wild. The ponies went down the hill and stopped beside the caravan of Smart Spirit, joined by him, to look at what was happening.

This continued for a few more seconds before it stopped, all the lights from the windows disappearing.

Then, the lights of the two windows above the entrance lit up, like before, while the manor started glowing like Little Ghost earlier.

And the manor visibly frowned at them.

And the whole hill started shaking, the trees of the Everfree Forest around starting to fly toward the manor.

Smart Spirit took down his glasses. "You have got to be kidding me..."

"Prof... Don't... Don't tell me..."

"She took possession of the whole manor..."

Before everypony's eyes, the flying trees started to merge, wrapping around each other, forming four long wooden things that then merged with both sides of the manor, forming... legs. Planting them on the hill, the manor slowly used them to rise from the ground.

"And she is angry..."

Above it, a small hole opened in the sky, slowly growing, and soon enough, Apple Bloom could see ghosts coming out of it, and the manor started advancing, struggling at first (being Little Ghost's first steps).

"And of course, in her rage, she opens a hole to the spiritual world! Ok! Time to escape!"

"What?! But we can't! We must stop them!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"Do you really expect to destroy a whole manor while fighting a literal, infinite army of ghosts?!"

"Uh..."

"I thought so! We need the power of an alicorn to destroy this manor, and then some ponies will use my Poltergusts to attack the ghosts and cover said alicorn! Now, all of you enter my caravan pronto before we get turned into paste and join that army of ghosts!"

Everypony obeyed him while Smart Spirit went to the driver's seat to start. He was joined by Apple Bloom on the seat by his own.

"But prof, what about Ponyville? By the time one of the princesses comes, it'll be destroyed!"

Smart Spirit pressed the pedal, moving the caravan, before he turned it away from the possessed manor that had almost reached the bottom of the hill.

"I know, but I don't know what else to do! If we had explosives, we could try to destroy it, but I don't have such things in my caravans. Well, no explosives powerful enough."

"Explosives..." Apple Bloom looked at the Poltergust, and more exactly, at the overheat gauge. "Actually, prof, we've such explosives. Five, to be exact. Powerful enough to blow up a house. Prepare the four other Poltergusts! Ah'm going!" she shouted before jumping from the siege and walking back toward the walking manor.

"What?! Are you crazy?!" Smart Spirit stopped the vehicle and turned to her. "Apple Bloom! Come back!"

"Apple Bloom!" Sweetie Belle shouted, looking through a window.

"Apple Bloom! Ya come back immediately!" Applejack shouted.

"Sorry, Applejack, but nope!" Apple Bloom shouted back. Then, at the manor, she yelled, "Hey! Little Ghost! Ah'm here!"

Taking one last step, the manor stopped, looking down at her, the legions of ghosts circling it like the wind.

Apple Bloom put the Poltergust to red. "Come at me."

As one, the ghosts charged at her, and Apple Bloom activated the Poltergust. When the first dozen ghosts were captured, the others quickly dispersed around her, attacking with all kinds of weapons and abilities, and Apple Bloom dodged and attacked them in return.

The manor then raised a leg toward Apple Bloom, and seeing it, the filly quickly ran, jumping and rolling at the last moment, barely escaping being crushed. She immediately got back up to capture more ghosts, capturing a griffon soldier, then a nurse mare, then a noble stallion, then another mare using a sword... The manor raised another leg, and like before, Apple Bloom barely escaped it.

Then, after capturing the ghost of some bipedal cat, the Poltergust started doing Bip! Bip! Bip! Looking at the overheat gauge, Apple Bloom saw that it was full. Quickly, she removed the Poltergust from her back, took the crystal inside, and threw the machine right through the entrance door before running away. The next instant, the whole foyer, and everything around it were destroyed in a huge explosion, blowing a big hole at the front of the manor. The windows that served as eyes were also destroyed, but new ones lit up at both sides of the manor to replace them.

"That crazy filly is doing it... I can't believe it," said Smart Spirit in disbelief.

The others could only look with wide eyes at what they witnessed.

"Prof!" Apple Bloom yelled as she ran back to the caravan. "The next Poltergust! Quick!"

"Here!" The prof shouted as he threw a new Poltergust at her. Apple Bloom quickly put the crystal in it before returning to the fight.

"Wait! Ya're letting her return?!" Applejack yelled. "She's just a filly! She'll get herself killed!"

"That filly is the only one who can save your town! She fought through an army of ghosts, a dragon, a hydra, a windigo, a group of wraiths, all to save you all! And right now, she just blew a huge hole at that mad manor! That filly has a greater chance of surviving this battle than any of us! So trust her!"

Applejack and the others looked at the prof in disbelief, before they looked at Apple Bloom.

The filly was starting to suck up ghosts again, rolling to avoid the spear of a griffon, then jumping to avoid a magical beam, before she trapped the ghost of a buffalo and slammed him around. The manor then started firing energy beams from all its windows before trying to stomp on her again. Apple Bloom ran around to avoid all this, until suddenly, the manor jumped and fell back on her. Thankfully, she was able to get to the hole in the floor caused by the explosion earlier, avoiding being crushed by the building. The manor jumped back, then lowered itself before charging.

Apple Bloom avoided the charge simply by pressing herself against the ground, the manor passing above her. It would have charged at the caravan if Smart Spirit hadn't quickly moved the vehicle. When the manor stopped, it didn't turn around, instead firing from its chimneys big fireballs that separated into smaller ones that rained all over the area.

Avoiding the fireballs, Apple Bloom approached the manor while continuing to capture the ghosts, finishing a minotaur before targeting some weird bipedal creature covered in white fur armed with a shield and a trident. The creature brought down his trident, and Apple Bloom jumped to the left before passing under the ghost. At his back, she activated the Poltergust and slammed him around on the other ghosts around until he was captured. Apple Bloom then captured the slammed ghosts, and some more, until she heard the Bip! Bip! Bip! again. As the manor continued firing fireballs from the chimneys, it didn't see the filly approaching the back door leading to the first floor hallway. After taking the crystal, Apple Bloom entered the hallway, placed the Poltergust in front of the washroom, then ran to the front of the manor, the Poltergust exploding with a good part of the back left of the manor, including the leg, the remaining that survived the explosion crumbling, the left chimney disappearing.

Exiting the manor from the hole at the front, Apple Bloom ran back to the caravan to take the next Poltergust that Smart Spirit threw at her. At the same time, the manor started again firing energy beams, so Apple Bloom quickly took the Poltergust, placed the crystal in it, and put it on her back, all the while running, some of the beams almost hitting the caravan.

"Come on, Apple Bloom! One or two more explosions and that manor'll be a pile of rubble!" Applejack shouted.

"You can do it, Apple Bloom!" both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo shouted.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?!" a voice suddenly yelled from the sky behind them.

When everypony looked up, they saw both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna coming, followed by some pegasi and thestrals.

"Princess!" Twilight happily screamed. "You're he-"

Suddenly, the area started shaking, and all around the manor, whole chunks of ground broke away and started levitating, three of them under the three remaining legs bringing the manor up while another took Apple Bloom with it. The 'ghost storm' then gained in intensity as the hole in the sky grew even more and ghosts came out of it by hundreds.

"I recognize that manor! It is the one of the Gem family! But it disappeared over one thousand years ago!" said Celestia.

"And why is a filly fighting it all alone?!" Luna shouted.

"Because, Your Majesty, before you came, that filly was the only one who could fight it and stop it from destroying Ponyville. If we had come to warn you like we wanted to do first, the town would have been destroyed," said Smart Spirit. "But now that you are here, you could help her destroy the manor!" He then looked curiously at them. "By the way, how did you know what was happening here?"

Luna raised an eyebrow at him. "A hole opening in the sky is hard to miss."

"Touché."

On the flying chunk of the ground, they could see Apple Bloom capturing ghosts after ghosts while avoiding energy beams from the manor.

"Now, could somepony explain to us how a filly is actually fighting an army of ghosts and a living manor?" Luna asked.

"Oh! Easy! The manor is possessed by the ghost of an unborn filly, and she's so angry that her power opened a hole in the sky to a dimension full of ghosts! But thanks to that Polterthingy she has on her back, Apple Bloom, who has become really good at fighting ghosts, is able to capture them and is using the Polterthingies as bombs to blow up the manor!" Pinkie Pie answered.

Celestia looked at all of them in worry. "And why are you all hurt? Did you try to fight it?"

"Uh... We aren't sure for that," answered Applejack. "We woke up like that before it all went to Tartarus with the manor."

"You were brainwashed by Little Ghost, and Apple Bloom had to fight you to save you," informed Smart Spirit.

"Wait. You mean we got all our flanks kicked by Apple Bloom?" asked Rainbow Dash in disbelief. "How?"

"I didn't see the fight, but from what she told me about her previous encounters with you, the Poltergust is not only a powerful weapon against ghosts but also a powerful weapon against the living. You see what she's doing to those ghosts?" The ponies looked to see her slamming around a ghost of a yak. "She could do the same to you. And I also armed her with a bat." Speaking of this, Apple Bloom used the bat to send back a rock thrown at her by one of the ghosts.

"It is no wonder we are so hurt, then," said Rarity, flinching at the thought of being slammed like a rag doll.

"So, will you go help Apple Bloom, princess?" asked Twilight.

Princess Celestia looked back at Apple Bloom as the filly jumped on another, smaller chunk of ground slowly floating up beside the first one. Thanks to it, she was able to reach another big chunk of ground floating a little higher, and closer to the manor. Here, she immediately started fighting more ghosts while advancing to another chunk of ground beside it. She then looked at the hole in the manor before looking back at Apple Bloom.

"What do you think, Luna?"

"Fighting an entire possessed manor would be a first for us, but the filly seems to handle this fight very well without us."

Suddenly, the manor slapped a small group of small floating chunks, more like boulders, sending them toward Apple Bloom. The filly ran around to dodge them, then caught one of them with the Poltergust. She then spun a few times before throwing the boulder back at the manor, breaking one of the windows of the second floor at the right. Apple Bloom then jumped on a few more chunks, the manor trying to slap her as she approached more and more, until she reached the roof.

"I propose we watch. I am curious to see what she will do. And it would not feel right to intervene. It seems to be her fight."

Celestia nodded, smiling. "And I feel that this fight is almost over, we wouldn't help much."

On the roof, Apple Bloom remained close to the right chimney as she ran around a group of changeling ghosts, some of them attacking her directly while others fired magical beams. Some of the ghosts even shapeshifted into other races like griffons or minotaurs. But it didn't help them much against the Poltergust at full power. The ghost of some unicorn mage was also using all kinds of offensive spells, but Apple Bloom quickly ran to him before capturing him.

While she was capturing a pack of Diamond Dogs, the manor then raised its front right leg to try to crush her again and again, but Apple Bloom didn't stop running in a circle to avoid it. More fireballs came out of the remaining chimney, and as they rained, they put the roof on fire. But before the fire could spread too much, Apple Bloom finally heard the Bip! Bip! Bip! and ran to the chimney.

Like before, she took the crystal and threw the Poltergust in the chimney before she ran to the hole in the roof that had been caused by her slamming the windigo. She jumped in it and landed on a part of the floor of the attic that hadn't been blown by the first explosion, at the left. At this instant, a huge explosion happened on the right side of the manor, blowing the right extremity of the attic along with Pyrite's room, a good part of the trophy room, a part of the right side of the balcony, and pretty much all the rooms of the second floor on the right side.

As the right part of the manor that had survived the explosion started crumbling, the manor itself dropped completely on the ground, having lost its two legs at the right with the explosion. Apple Bloom quickly took the occasion to jump from the attic all the way to the ground, doing a roll as she landed, before she ran away from the manor. The building itself started tilting forward, more of it crumbling, and Apple Bloom ran faster to avoid it falling on her.

She was able to escape, and the manor hit the ground, the little tower detaching of what remained of the roof before falling behind her, and the building disappearing in a huge cloud of dust. When the cloud disappeared, all that remained was a pile of rubble.

Apple Bloom looked at the pile, breathing hard. Meanwhile, the ghosts that hadn't been captured scattered everywhere or returned to the hole in the sky as it closed. Seeing that it was really over this time, she smiled, before she was tackle hugged from behind by Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, quickly followed by Applejack also hugging her while telling her how reckless she had been and how worried the mare had been. The others joined her, congratulating her and/or scolding her. Behind the group, Celestia and Luna slowly approached, followed by the impressed guards, the younger princess ecstatic at what she just saw, while the older saw that it was time to raise the sun.

But then Apple Bloom saw something moving among the rubble, and saw Little Ghost slowly float out of them, looking down, totally drained of her energy. She was so drained that she was almost invisible.

There would be no way for her to escape now...

Epilogue

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Apple Bloom looked at Little Ghost slowly floating away from the ruins of the manor, while everypony around her looked at each other wondering what to do. Quickly, Apple Bloom went out of the group hug and ran toward the ghost despite some of the ponies telling her to come back, that it's too dangerous, especially now that she didn't have a Poltergust anymore, but the filly didn't listen to them.

Little Ghost spotted her approaching, and looked at her in both fear, anger, and despair, but she couldn't do anything to her anymore right now, having spent the totality of her energy in this fight, she could barely lift a small object with her mind. She could only look as the other filly approached her.

Apple Bloom eventually reached her. And then she hugged her... "Uh? Whoaa!" Only to pass through her and fall on the ground. "Darn it..."

Little Ghost looked at Apple Bloom in disbelief. "Did you just try to hug me?"

Apple Bloom got back up while answering, "Eeyup."

"Why?"

Apple Bloom looked at her with a sad smile. "Because ya need one."

Behind her, among the ponies looking at them, Smart Spirit gave a small smile before he started running toward the caravan.

"But why would you give me one? I'm a ghost... I... brainwashed everypony... I almost... killed you... B-but now, they are all f-free... You could just c-capture me and return to your home with everypony..."

"Because Ah want t'be yer friend. Isn't that what Ah told ya before the fight? Isn't that what ya want?"

Little Ghost looked at her with wide eyes. "B-b-but... But..."

"Ah know. Ya're a ghost. And ya're right, at first Ah'd have probably run away in fear. But now, Ah'm not running, right? Ghosts aren't scary when we learn to know them. They're just... creatures that are dead but are still here, transparent, floaty, that can pass through objects, and all. And Smart Spirit told me that he's friend with some of them, so why couldn't Ah?"

Little Ghost continued to stare at her in disbelief without saying anything.

"Come on, Little ghost. Is it so hard to believe that Ah want to be yer friend? Ah promise Ah'm not lying. It's not in the habit of the Apple Family to lie. Especially not for something like that."

Again, Little Ghost was just looking. But Apple Bloom could spot her eyes becoming wet.

Smiling, she continued. "Okay, ya're asking for it. Ah Pinkie Promise that Ah want t'be friend with ya. And that ya won't be alone anymore. "Cross mah heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in mah eye." It's a special promise. If Ah ever break it, then Ah'll lose yer trust and yer friendship forever."

Pinkie Pie was about to scream, but Applejack stopped her by placing a hoof in her mouth. "Don't ruin the moment."

Pinkie just pouted.

"So..." Apple Bloom began. "Friends?"

She was answered by Little Ghost putting her hooves around her neck to hug her while crying.

Laughing, Apple Bloom said with a roll of her eyes, not minding the cold feeling of the ghost touching her, "Of course. Ah can't hug ya, but ya can hug me. Ghosts."

This made Little Ghost laugh. "I could let you hug me, if I wanted. I was just scared."

"Understood. 'Don't try to hug a scared ghost.'"

"I am glad that this could be ended peacefully," they heard. Beside them now stood Celestia, smiling down at them. Despite Little Ghost still hugging her, Apple Bloom bowed. Celestia giggled at how adorable it looked with the filly ghost still hugging her around the neck. "Rise." As Apple Bloom rose, and Little Ghost ended the hug to look at her in awe, Celestia laid down in front of them. "I wasn't told much about what happened. But from what I know, Apple Bloom, you fought great dangers to save everypony. So, first, let me thank you, and congratulate you, for saving them, despite all the odds."

"Uh... Ya're welcome, Princess."

"And now, despite everything she has done, you still found it in you to forgive your enemy, and to befriend her. I am really proud of you."

"W-well... Little Ghost wasn't evil. She was just very lonely." She looked at the ghost with a giggle. "And she needs to learn what's bad and what's good."

"Uh... Brainwashing ponies to force them to be my friends is bad...?" Little Ghost proposed with a sheepish smile.

"It's a good start."

Celestia gave a small laugh before she looked sadly at Little Ghost. "So, you are Golden Hair's unborn daughter? I wish things could have happened differently, that your life wasn't taken from you before you could even start it. But whatever happened, I now hope that everything will become better for you, and that you will finally have a good life, even if it's in death."

"By the way, I would like to learn of what happened," they heard Luna say as she approached. "I was among the ones who were saddened to learn the disappearance of the Gem Family. They were really loved. Where are they? I would expect to see at least their ghosts."

Smart Spirit drove the caravan toward them and stopped it not far before he entered it and exited it, holding a red crystal and a green crystal. Approaching them, he showed the green crystal. "They're in here! Because of Bogmire's curse, they became hostile spirits who tried to kill Apple Bloom the same way they were killed, and Apple Bloom had to capture all of them."

"Ah was forced to, thanks to a certain little ghost," said Apple Bloom while staring at Little Ghost with a smile, the ghost laughing sheepishly at this.

"The only one who couldn't be captured was Pyrite, the responsible for this whole tragedy. The coward tricked Apple Bloom and escaped to who knows where," continued the prof. He then showed the red crystal. "Speaking of Bogmire, Apple Bloom did a very good job and captured him along with many other dangerous ghosts, all placed in that red crystal, ready to be sent to Tartarus. Among the captured ghosts are many killers, like Sharp Knife the Bloody Cook, Zalor the zebra supremacist, the Mask Siblings, or even Crazy Laugh the mad scientist and her Monster; there's also a windigo, and about half a hundred wraiths, including the nine leaders of the three pony tribes before Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane, and Chancellor Puddinghead. Yep, this includes Princess Rose herself."

Luna almost choked. "H-half a hundred wraiths?! And a windigo?!"

Celestia took the crystal with awe. "Impressive!"

Smart Spirit turned to Apple Bloom and smiled while showing the green crystal. "Now, let's release those poor souls."

Smiling widely, Apple Bloom followed the prof inside the caravan, waving at Little Ghost to come. They were quickly followed by the rest of the ponies and the dragon either entering the caravan or looking through the windows to see what will happen.

Inside, Smart Spirit showed the crystal to Apple Bloom again. "You want?"

Excited, Apple Bloom nodded, took the crystal, and placed it in the machine at the place where they normally put the blue crystal from the Poltergust. Pressing a couple of buttons, the screen above the crystal showed an image of all the ghosts currently trapped in it, which were the majority of the Gem Family without Pyrite and Little Ghost, the servants, and the dog. Pressing some other buttons, Apple Bloom then selected the proposal 'RELEASE?' before pressing one last button "YES".

The next instant, one by one, blue lights came out of the crystal and flew outside of the caravan, slowly taking back their real appearance as they landed around the vehicle. Everypony inside the caravan exited it, and they all looked in awe or in happiness as the newly released ghosts, over twenty, looked around in confusion, clearly lost. But after a moment, they seemed to recover their senses, and smiled happily at each other before exchanging hugs with happy shouts of "My dear!" "Mommy!" or different names among barks from the dog who was petted by the gardener and the cook.

Slowly, unsure, Little ghost advanced toward them, and Golden Hair was the first to spot her. Almost immediately, the mare was brimming with joy, and she flew toward the foal to hug her and shouted, "My baby!"

"M... Mo... Mommy?"

"Yes. Yes, sweetie. It's me."

"It's my girl!" Diamond Cup shouted as he joined to hug his daughter.

The rest of the family quickly grouped around them while Golden Hair talked. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you. I'm so sorry."

"But now, we are here. And we will not leave you," said the father.

"D-daddy..."

"Hey! Hey! We are here too!"

"Yes! We are here!" shouted Ruby and Sapphire as they bounced in joy beside them before they both nuzzled Little Ghost.

"We are sorry. We were bad big brothers," they then both said.

"Big brothers..."

"And I am sorry too," said then Emerald. "I was making a scarf for you, but I made it too long, and now, it is ruined..." She looked at the ruins of the manor. "Even more ruined now..."

"Don't worry. You can always make another one later," Crystal Ball said.

"Gr... Gran..." By now, Little Ghost could barely say anything with how much she was crying as she looked one by one at the members of her family, all looking back at her with warm smiles.

Apple Bloom was crying too as she watched, but despite this, she said, "S-see? Ya'll never be alone anymore."

At hearing her, all the ghosts looked at her. Upon spotting her, Jump Scare screamed in fear before flying away, causing everypony to look at him in surprise.

"The hay?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Applejack looked at Apple Bloom as the filly started rolling on the floor, laughing. "What have ya done t'that poor stallion to scare him like that?"

"She jumpscared him!" Smart Spirit answered before laughing too.

"She jumpscared a ghost?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Isn't it supposed to be the contrary, ghosts jumpscaring us?" Scootaloo asked.

"Ah just wanted to teach him how to really scare ponies!" Apple Bloom said while laughing.

Golden Hair laughed. "Yes. Jump Scare was never good at scaring ponies despite his name." She then approached the filly, releasing Little Ghost from the hug, before she bowed to her. "I am sorry for trying to kill you."

Looking at his wife for a few seconds, Diamond Cut quickly followed. "I am sorry too for trying to get you devoured by books."

"Say what?!" asked Twilight.

"Yeah, sorry Twilight, Ah had t'burn a few books trying to devour me," said Apple Bloom. "Between the books, the piano, the mad cook, and the dog, Ah had mah dose of things trying to eat me."

Hearing about that, and not minding the lavender mare whose eyes started to twitch, Opal Note approached and bowed saying "Sorry about that!"

And one by one, the ghosts asked forgiveness for their murder attempts on the filly, excepted Platinum Shoes and Crystal Ball, who didn't have this guilt.

"Uh... It's okay! Ya weren't yerselves! Ah'm not angry at y'all!" She looked at Emerald. "But it was really scary with yer eye lasers."

Emerald simply laughed with a 'stop it you' move while everypony looked at her in wonder.

"We must also thank you for saving our family," said Diamond Cup. "Ask anything, and if it's in our mean, we will give it to you."

"Ah... Ah don't need anything."

"We insist."

Smart Spirit then decided to approach. "He-hello everyghosts. I present myself, I am Smart Spirit, the one who invented the Poltergust, the machine that helped stop this nightmare. And... I... I am Prismatic Gem's descendant. Nice finally meeting all of you."

At the pronunciation of the name of the missing son, the family members looked at Smart Spirit is sadness, but also in joy at understanding that the colt who survived had a good life and continued the family duty with his descendants. "Nice meeting you, Smart Spirit," eventually said Diamond Cup while Golden Hair went to hug her great great great whatever grandson.

Taking off his glasses to rub his eyes, Smart Spirit continued. "After your disappearance, Prism understood immediately that this had something to do with Bogmire, and so, he waited for the manor to potentially reappear with all of you so he could capture Bogmire and stop the curse that fell on you. This duty was transferred to his descendants. For over one thousand years, we waited, preparing ourselves to end this curse. Now that it's done, I hope that my ancestors will be more at peace in the afterlife, especially Prism."

"They already are," Crystal Ball said.

Diamond Cup put a hoof on his withers. "Well done, son."

"So... Ah... Apple Bloom was able to find the totality of your fortune, and we placed it in a safe place. And... If you insist on thanking her, then how about I give her all this fortune?" He chuckled as Apple Bloom gasped. "You don't need it anymore, and I don't need it too to continue my researches."

"Good idea, son! So, right now, we, Diamond Cup Gem, and Smart Spirit Gem, bequeath our fortune to the little filly named Apple Bloom!"

"Oh my, that's a lot," Celestia said.

Applejack gulped. "How much we're talking about?"

Apple Bloom took a big breath. "Right, ya still don't remember. Ya'll see once we return to the farm. Maybe Big Mac already saw it."

Diamond Cup then turned to the princesses and bowed. "Your Majesties."

The others quickly bowed too.

"Rise, please." She looked at all of them. "I can't express how much I am happy to see all of you again."

"And how horrified we are to learn that you were trapped in such a horrible curse for all those years," said Luna. "Especially a curse caused because of the betrayal of one of yours. Wherever Pyrite is, we promise that he will get the punishment he deserves for this."

"But why did he do this?" asked Pearl.

"His soul was invaded by jealousy, hatred, and greed," Crystal Ball said.

Apple Bloom nodded. "Pyrite was jealous of Diamond Cup for getting everything while he had nothing, and he freed Bogmire so he could become the new master."

Diamond Cut sighed. "Oh... Pyrite... You poor fool..."

Twilight rubbed her head in thought. "How will we find him? He can be anywhere. And since he's a ghost, it will be even harder. I still can't believe ghosts exist."

"Leave it to me," Apple Bloom said. "Sooner or later, he will probably take his revenge and try to take back 'his' fortune. This day, Ah'll capture him, with the help of Smart Spirit."

"Yes. With the help of the archives you found, I should be able to protect your farm with a way to keep Pyrite and other evil ghosts away."

"And we will help you," Diamond Cup said.

Smart Spirit looked at the ghost in wonder. "You aren't going to go rest in peace in the afterlife now that you are free?"

Diamond Cup laughed. "We could." He looked at Little Ghost. "But I doubt that my little dear will want to go now that she can finally see the world and make friends. Right, sweetie?"

Little Ghost nodded before hugging Apple Bloom. "I don't want to leave yet!"

"Oh, she already has a friend. See? And I refuse to leave her just after finally hugging her for the first time. Goldy will refuse to leave her for the same reason. The twins will not leave us. Clean Order wants to continue to serve us -such a loyal stallion, really-. I think you get it. And I want to have a few words with my dear brother once you finally catch him."

"Count on me!" Apple Bloom shouted.

"No. Ah won't leave ya in harm's way again. Ah'll be the one who'll take that there machine and capture this guy," Applejack said.

"Aww please Applejack, Ah already proved that Ah'm good at capturing ghosts. And ya can't be at my side all the time t'protect me from Pyrite. He'd attack me when Ah'm alone. Or he'd even use ya t'get me. Sorry Applejack, but this time, ya can't do anything to keep me out of harm's way, unless ya force me to remain in the house."

Applejack could only grit her teeth, knowing that Apple Bloom was right.

"Applejack, Ah know that ya want to protect me, but..." She looked at the Gem Family and smiled. "Ah won't let mahself get in harm's way because Ah discovered Ah'm good at capturing ghosts. Ah just went through a whole manor full of ghosts, capturing many evil ones, not only to save y'all but also to save them. And Ah loved it. Knowing that Ah stopped evil ghosts from causing more harms, that Ah saved ponies, both dead and alive, thanks to this, and that Ah even made friends. Ah want to continue this. Ah want to continue stopping bad ghosts and helping good ghosts." Unbeknown to her, a small flash of light appeared on her flanks, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo gasped. "This is what Ah want, to become a guardian for and against ghosts!"

Applejack looked at Apple Bloom in amazement, before smiling warmly. "How could Ah say no after that?" She pointed at Apple Bloom's flank.

"Uh?" Apple Bloom looked at her flank and gasped. On her flank, there was now a red shield protecting a white, smiling ghostly figure. From the bottom of the shield was coming the pipe and the handle of the Poltergust in the process of capturing a black, angry-looking ghostly figure. "Ah... Ah... OH, MY GOSH! AH GOT MAH CUTIE MARK!!!"

She was tackled and hugged by Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, the both of them congratulating her, quickly followed by everypony else, with Pinkie already starting to plan her Cute-ceañera, and with Applejack also saying "Alright. Ya can go hunt ghosts. But could ya at least avoid the powerful ones like the windigos until ya're an adult?"

"Ah'll try, but no promise. Powerful ghosts like Pyrite may come at me, like villains and trouble come at ya."

"Darn... Good point..."

Once everypony calmed, Apple Bloom then thought about something and turned to Smart Spirit. "What about the ghosts in the yellow crystal?"

"Oh! Of course! I forgot about them!" He turned to Luna. "Princess Luna, there's a ghost who would like to meet you." He then turned to Diamond Cup. "We will need three circles to trap three ghosts. Ghosts in the yellow crystal are ghosts we aren't sure how to deal with. Apple Bloom captured three in the manor: a thestral mare who killed herself in the name of Nightmare Moon," Luna recoiled at this. "Applejack the Ripper," Applejack looked wide-eyed at this. "And an octopus who attacked Apple Bloom without any seemingly reasons." Fluttershy looked interested.

"And we will also have to find somewhere to go," Emerald said. "This is not because we are now ghosts that we will live in the streets."

"Oh! I know!" Scootaloo shouted. "There's that manor in Ponyville, and..."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "No Scootaloo, you will not ask the ghosts to go haunt the manor of the Rich Family."

"Darn..."

"Well... Ya can come to the farm, Ah suppose," Applejack proposed. "Just, let me warn Granny Smith first. Wouldn't want to give her a heart attack."

Apple Bloom looked at the ruins and started rubbing her chin. "Wait... How about Ah use some of the fortune to build a new manor? The Gems will be able to live here, and we could even have a few rooms for Smart Spirit's lab. A real lab."

"A-a real lab for... Ahem! Good idea, but it will still take months to build it, so until then, you will have to make some place for them," said Smart Spirit.

With a nod, they prepared for the three ghosts, Apple Bloom reminding the prof that they should also do something about all the ghosts she captured in the battle against Little Ghost possessing the manor, but the prof told that they will do something about them later, after some much needed good rest.

Soon enough, with the knowledge of the Gems, three circles were created, each to attract and trap one of the ghosts once they're released from the yellow crystal. After that, they decided that while Luna would talk to the thestral mare, Fluttershy would talk to the octopus and Apple Bloom and Applejack would talk to... Applejack. When Applejack was told that this Applejack was a five times great grandaunt who killed ponies before spending over eighty years in prison, and that she tried to kill Apple Bloom in fear of being sent to Tartarus with the other serial killer ghosts, she didn't know what to think. On one hoof, she wanted the old mare to be sent to Tartarus for trying to kill Apple Bloom, but on the other, she was pitying the mare, and she was still family, so...

She wanted to see her first, and talk to her, and then she would judge her.

And so, Smart Spirit freed the three ghosts, and they all landed in a different circle like planned.

And so, Apple Bloom and Applejack faced Applejack the Ripper, who looked around in confusion before she looked down at the circle. She tested it by trying to move a hoof outside it, only for a mysterious force to stop her, like an invisible wall. She then looked at Applejack and Apple Bloom.

"So, you haven't sent me to Tartarus, but I see I'm still imprisoned."

"What were ya expecting after trying to kill Bloom? Ya were scared, Ah can understand that, but it's still something horrible to try."

The ghost sighed. "Well, then, I'm waiting your judgment. Make it quick. But..." She looked at Apple Bloom. "Know at least that I'm sorry for trying to kill you. I shouldn't have let my fear take over like that."

Apple Bloom looked at the old mare, seeing how tired she was. "Why... don't ya move on?"

The old ghost smiled at the filly. "Because I would join my family up there, and they don't want to have anything to do with me anymore."

Applejack huffed. "Many ponies have folks who hate them for a reason or another, and this doesn't stop them from moving on. Ah don't know what's waiting for ya in the afterlife, but ya may be surprised. And Ah know that we Apples can hold grudges for a long time because we're just that stubborn, and that they've a good reason to hold a grudge against ya, but centuries passed since then, and ya already paid for yer crimes. If even after that, they still don't want ya, then just go elsewhere and find other ponies to be with. Again, Ah don't know how this works up there, but Ah'm almost certain that ya won't be limited to just seeing the family." She saw the ghost looking down in sadness. "There's something else."

Apple Bloom thought for a moment. "For us Apples, family's everything... Are... Are ya sad that ya're left out? That we forgot about ya?"

The ghost looked to her right, seeing Princess Luna hugging the crying thestral Dark Moon before using her hooves to destroy the circle, letting the ghost go. Dark Moon then started floating toward the sky, smiling peacefully, before slowly fading. The octopus was also out of its circle, hugging the yellow pegasus, Fluttershy.

She nodded.

Apple Bloom and Applejack looked at each other and nodded before looking back at their grandaunt.

Applejack said, "Ya did wrong, but Ah must admit that it was wrong from our family to leave ya out like that. No matter what ya did, family's family. So, Ah promise that Ah'll get yer name back in our family tree."

Apple Bloom then used her hoof to destroy the circle. “And even if ya still don't want to move on after that, we're planning to build a manor for the Gems to live in, and for the prof t'have his lab. Ah remember ya said ya were hoping to spend yer afterlife in the manor, but now that it's destroyed, then ya could come and live in this new manor.”

Applejack the Ripper looked at the mare and the filly, almost crying. "You are... too kind..."

"Sorry, kindness is Fluttershy's stuff," said Applejack with a laugh, "If ya think we're too kind, then ya'd be surprised by how forgiving she can be."

The ghost laughed with a nod. "Thank you. And thank you for the offer, Apple Bloom. But I think I will refuse it."

"Oh. Then ya'll go?" asked Apple Bloom. "Okay! Then if ya see yer family, and they forgive ya, can ya tell them that we say 'Hi'?".

She laughed again. "I will." She then hugged Apple Bloom and Applejack, saying "Thank you," again before she started floating toward the sky before fading away, both mare and filly waving goodbye at her.

Apple Bloom looked at her sister. "This is one of the reasons Ah want to continue this 'job'."

As expected, Luna was able to convince Dark Moon to give up her fanaticism about Nightmare Moon, the mare understanding that she killed herself and ruined her life for nothing. The thestral just accepted to leave and find peace, and maybe... one day... Have a second chance at life.

As for the octopus, it wasn't hostile at first, but not long before Apple Bloom entered its room, a group of cloaked ghosts used some dark magic on it to force it to devour her. But in truth, the octopus was just a big softy who loved hugs, and for some reason, it also loved living in jars. So a room full of jars? Perfect home for it. When it was alive, it even was a cook! Having eight arms can be really useful for this post, and some eccentric pony trained it for his restaurant.

Since it didn't want to move on right now, not now that he made new friends, Apple Bloom proposed to it to become a cook for her future new manor, which it accepted, the cook of the Gem Family wanting to join his family in the afterlife, along with all the servants without counting Clean Order, and even the dog.

And so, everypony went to the farm, Applejack warning Granny Smith like she told. The old mare didn't have any problems getting some guests in her house, even if those guests were a whole family of ghosts. Apples are known for their hospitality, and they'll be darned if they don't show hospitality to somepony just because they're dead!

However, she almost got a heart attack, along with Applejack and pretty much everypony outside of Apple Bloom, Smart Spirit, the Princesses, and the Gems, when they saw the fortune that was given to Apple Bloom, making the Apples one of the richest family of Equestria, even richer than most of the nobles. Some ponies even lost consciousness upon seeing the treasure in the barn and the clubhouse. Big Mac was among them when he opened the barn not long before everypony came back from the forest.

When a certain pink filly with a tiara learned about this, she forgot to breathe for so long that she almost died.

When Celestia expressed her worry about all those ghosts that escaped after the defeat of Little Ghost, Smart Spirit and Apple Bloom promised to remain alert and to find a way to know when a ghost was causing problems somewhere.

And not long after, they started planning the new manor.

A few months later.

Apple Bloom returned from school and walked toward the clubhouse along with her friends. When they entered Sweet Apple Acres, they were welcomed by Little Ghost possessing a letter that she immediately gave to Apple Bloom.

The letter told that there was a ghost devouring all the food in a five stars hotel in Manehattan.

Apple Bloom looked at her friends. "Duty calls!"

Her friends waved at her, saying "Good luck!" as she ran to her house, followed by Little Ghost.

Entering her house, she shouted, "Ah must go! Ah'll be back soon!"

"Ya're going to Manehattan, right? So Ah suppose ya won't be back for dinner! Ah prepared a box with yer dinner in yer chamber!" shouted back Granny Smith.

"Okay!"

She entered her chamber, took her box, her Poltergust, then exited the house, still followed by Little Ghost, and ran to the Everfree Forest, toward the hill where everything happened. The ruins of the old manor weren't here anymore, having been cleared a long time ago. In their place now stood a new manor that Apple Bloom entered, greeted by some of the ghosts now living here. She quickly found the prof in his lab, working on a new prototype of Poltergust.

"Prof! Let's go!"

"Oh! Oh! You are here! Alright, let's go!"

They ran to the garage at the back of the manor where Smart Spirit replaced his caravan by a smaller, but faster boxlike vehicle. The three of them climbed in it, the prof taking the conductor siege, before he started it. The door of the garage opened, and the vehicle exited the manor, starting its journey to Manehattan.

The end

Or not...

Not long after Little Ghost's defeat.

The Spiritual World was a strange place, consisting of islands and buildings floating in an infinite purple void.

Among those islands and buildings, there was a castle, looking more like the one in the Everfree Forest than the one in Canterlot, excepted that the entrance was in the mouth of the skull of a dragon.

In this castle, there was a throne, and on this throne, there was a being.

A being extremely bored. So bored that he could die. But since he was already a ghost, he couldn't die, so he was bored beyond death.

He was so bored that he didn't even react when some ghost entered his throne room. The ghost of some bearded yellow unicorn stallion.

So boring.

"All Powerful Lord Thanatos, I am here bearing some news. You see, my name is Pyrite, and..."

"Just get to the point, before I snap you away," the named Lord Thanatos said, preparing to snap the fingers of one of his skeletal claws to teleport the stallion away if he continued to be boring.

"Uh... Yes... Your creation, Bogmire, was captured."

This got Thanatos to raise a non-existent eyebrow on his skull. "Oh? It got captured again? What a shame. But, oh well. It's the game. Is that all?" Again, he prepared his fingers.

"You may be interested to learn how it was captured."

Again, Thanatos raised his non-existent eyebrow. "What do you mean? It wasn't captured by a magic circle again?"

"No. You see, Great Lord, the mortals created a weapon that can actually capture ghosts."

"Oh? Tell me more."

"This is a really powerful weapon. So powerful, that Bogmire was captured by a mere earth pony filly, and this same filly was able to capture a windigo as well as the Nine Lords of Hate! She defeated all my creations, including a dragon and a hydra! She was even able to defeat Little Ghost despite all her powers!"

By now, Thanatos was actually smiling, bending toward the stallion. "Really now? Tell me more about this filly and that weapon." He chuckled. "I may be able to have fun, for once."

To be continued

Apple Bloom's Mansion

by Lucar

Prologue

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Act 4

Final

Epilogue