After two years, Kratus returns to the alternate Equestria after given a mission by a friend to find a reason for feeling a pull towards it, and if necessary... eliminate it while united with an old ally who found her duty with another friend.
"Two years, that's how long it's been since that eventful day." Makuta Kratus said, remembering the fight that led to his brief forced exile to an Equestria that a friend of his called a Unique Timeline, something that he quickly locked-down to prevent it joining other countless lost ones after retrieving him, but not before allowing him to send a Phase Dragon that he managed to recreate as a congrats for Apple Bloom on gaining her cutie mark, yet something drew his attention back there despite him usually visiting or observing a dimension once and when his friend locks down a dimension. Nobody can enter or even influence it unless they have a connection already established to it, something the Makuta doesn't have, but he felt the urge to return. Well, the MAA is up and awake so… He thought, heading to the lab before a large purple, biomechanical scorpion called a Nui-Jaga pounced on him from her perch and chittered happily. "Okay girl, nice to see you too." He told the biomechanical scorpion who got off the Makuta allowing him to go to the lab where the portal device lay, only for a portal to open before he opened the door.
"Come here!" His friend growled, grabbing the Makuta by the arm and pulled him in with the Nui-Jaga jumping in after.
"What'd I do?" Kratus asked his friend, only for the deity to point a finger at the doorway that had nothing wrong with it. Then he noticed the line attached to the door ...aaand found that it led to him.
…
"Oh."
She was confused. First a hand came out of a portal and grabbed her friend with her following after then her friend found out that he had a line connecting to a door after his friend spoke to her friend, before they discussed something.
"Do you how hard that's making my job?" Samuel asked.
"No, because you're the one who's the expert on this sort of thing, not me, remember?"
"It's making my job harder because… something's calling you back."
"And you can't find the source?"
"No, I locked it down tight enough that I can't influence the universe so I can't find the cause on my own." Samuel replied, shaking his head, "So, I need someone else to do it."
"That someone being me to go in, find the cause and neutralize it should it be a threat thanks to the connection I have."
"Precisely." Samuel said, opening a portal to grab the Makuta's trusty swordstaff and Midak Skyblaster and used his power on the former, turning it into a sword with a white stone in the crossguard, "You know the drill when it comes to changing weapon forms."
"That I do, your elderliness." Kratus said, irritating the deity, who opened a portal to the Unique Timeline using the connection Kratus had. "WOOOOOOORTH IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" The Makuta shouted as his friend used his power to shove him through the portal and closed it. The Rahi looked at the deity, who noticed a connection to the dimension their shared friend went forming for the Rahi.
"You want to go and follow him, don't you?" He asked the Rahi, who chittered an affirmative, "He cannot guarantee your safety if you follow him, I cannot bring him home until his task is done with the same applying to you, and I don't know how long that will take" He said, hoping that would change her mind as she considered the deity's words before chittered again, this time in a manner that suggested that she could stay some place safe while her friend goes into danger, "That is acceptable." He said before, giving her the gift of divine protection, meaning that until he removes it, nothing can kill her or even force her to do something against her will as he had sneaking suspicion that someone other than him was observing the Makuta before reopening the portal, allowing the Rahi to follow her friend.
Eternal Rest was about to speak before a portal opened with them hearing a voice that most haven't heard in a year.
"-ORTH IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT" The Makuta said, flying out of the portal onto the ground with thud, the Rahi following shortly before noticing the other ponies, including the ghosts, causing her to ready her tail for action with the Makuta noticing after sitting up. "It's okay girl, they're friends." He told the Rahi before Apple Bloom ran up to the Makuta and hugged him.
"Good ta see ya again, big guy." She told the Makuta, "How ya been?"
"Good to see you too." Kratus said, patting the filly on the head, "I've been doing fine for the past two years." He added, before noticing the looks of disbelief on gathered ponies' faces, "Something wrong?"
"It's been a year fer us." Apple Bloom replied, causing the Makuta to place a palm on the face of his Kanohi.
"Time differences, must be because of a friend of mine locking this dimension down or something."
"Why would your friend lock the dimension down?" Little Ghost asked.
"That's because this is a Unique Timeline. Something that's fragile, and anyone with the power to influence it from the outside."
"Like your friend?" The ghost filly asked, earning a nod from the Makuta before he continued.
"Can have a big impact on it by altering certain events, or outright destroying it." He replied, shocking the gathered ponies. "And because of how frail a timeline like this is, he locks it down, preventing anyone from influencing or entering it."
"But you came back." Eternal Rest pointed out.
"Only because something called me back." Kratus said, thanks to not trusting anyone with the information, hid the fact that he has a connection as a result, and he's there to look for the reason why, and if necessary, eliminate it. "Otherwise, the only thing I could do is observe it with it being the same for him." He continued as the Rahi cuddled up to him, resulting in the Makuta petting her. "Adding to what I said about someone destroying the timeline out of maliciousness, it's happened before to others."
"H-h-how many?" Scootaloo asked.
"The numbers are countless." Kratus replied, his face saddened by the fact before smiling, "But this timeline is among the countless others he saved."
"Does your friend know who's causing the Unique Timelines to disappear?" Platinum Shoes asked.
"Unfortunately, he doesn't know who's behind them, for the methods used to destroy them are alike but different at the same time."
"How does he know that they're destroyed?"
"That's because he can feel when they're gone as they release some kind of cry, and when he first entered his home, he heard the remains of the cries of the countless lost and it overwhelmed him." Kratus said, "But that's not something for us to worry about thanks to my friend, no?" He asked as his form shrank, the gather ponies nodding in agreement, with some of the Gem family curious about the Nui-Jaga, who relaxed but remained on guard before the Makuta spoke, having noticed it. "For crying out loud… no one here's gonna hurt ya." He told the Rahi, who hesitantly complied, "I swear, she's like this thanks to her unintentionally held in stasis for over three million years." The Makuta said with a sigh, "Now what were you going to say before we arrived?" He asked Eternal Rest, though something about her rubbed him the wrong way as she explained why she was there, something the Nui-Jaga picked up.
"So, what have ya been up to for the two years in yer dimension?" Apple Bloom asked, as the Makuta (after the filly insisted) stayed with her family.
"What I usually do."
"Such as?" Applejack asked.
"Making sure that millennia of work isn't undone by some idiot, while waiting for a day that finally came four years ago."
"An' that would be?" Apple Bloom asked, earning a smile from the Makuta.
"For my friends to awaken from their slumber, one that lasted for over three million years." He said with the Apple Family shocked at that.
"Some friends of yer’s, takin' that long ta wake up, if I was there I'd give 'em a piece of my mind." Granny Smith said, earning a frown from the Makuta.
"The event that caused them to sleep is something I'm.... still healing from."
"Why? Were ya the cause?" Apple Bloom asked.
"No, but I took part and lost a great deal of friends with a ruined planet, resulting in me, and some other friends that are no longer around to find a way to heal it afterwards."
"This event sounds more like a war than anythin' else." Granny Smith said. The look in the Makuta's eyes gave her the answer she needed.
"I don't know about y'all, but from what I gathered. Makuta's been a great friend to make sure that his friends had a home they could wake up to." Applejack said, her family nodding, "Even if it took 'em millions of years to wake up." She added, turning to the Makuta who chuckled.
"They could've woken up after the planet recovered, it just wasn't time for them to wake up, for there was a prophecy that required them to awaken when the time came."
"I remember that ya telling me that I have a greater power await'n me thanks ta a vision." Apple Bloom began, earning a nod from the Makuta, "Is that how ya knew about this prophecy of yers?"
"No, a friend of mine revealed it to me before he entered his slumber." Kratus replied, "While I do have visions of the future, they're often too vague for me to know what they mean immediately."
"Well, prophecy or not, the fact ya waited for the right time for them to wake up, shows yer a friend that Twilight Sparkle would be proud of." Applejack said, earning a laugh from the Makuta, "What's so funny about what I said?"
"It's just that the Twilight Sparkle I know actually said that three years ago!" Kratus said before the stomachs of the Apple Family grumbled.
"Well, time fer us to get dinner ready." Granny Smith said, "Little Blossom, could ya get our guest a plate?" She asked the youngest Apple, "What do yer kind eat, anyway?" She asked the Makuta.
"Don't need any, same with drink and rest." He replied, causing Apple Bloom to pause.
"And why's that?" She asked, only for the Makuta's eyes to close as he slumped over, worrying the family, though Apple Bloom looked at the greenish black mist leaving the Makuta with suspicion before she smiled, remembering something the Makuta said a year ago, "That's yer Antidermis!" She said, before she, along with the rest of her family heard the Makuta speaking in their minds.
"Bravo!" He said, as his Antidermis returned to his armor, causing his eyes to open, "That's what makes up my kind, though I'll admit that we used to have organic components like you. Meaning that we needed sustenance and rest."
"And since yer jus' Antidermis now, ya don't need any of that stuff." Apple Bloom said before putting a hoof to her chin in thought, "But then, what do ya do durin' the night?"
"Lots of things, but mostly looking at the stars for relaxation and to help me get clarity for my visions with meditation to help in that task when I do get a vision." Kratus replied, "Now then, what's for dinner?"
"But ya said that ya don't need food." Big Mac said.
"Doesn't mean I can't help make the food." Kratus countered, plasma surrounding his hands to kill any microbes, "Now, what can I do to help?" He asked, before helping make dinner with it starting shortly after, though as the Apple Family ate, Diamond Cup entered, "What's wrong?" He asked, noticing the look on the face of the ghost.
"The ghosts of the valley, they suddenly turned hostile! Somepony took control of them, and they captured Smart Spirit!"
"Wait, a minute! Did ya say that somepony took control of ghosts?" Applejack shouted.
"This is what I could feel! They also tried to take control of me, but I was able to escape the valley before I was!"
Only a skilled necromancer or a Lord of The Dead can do that. Kratus thought, frowning as Applejack went to warn the others and prepare for departure, though, when the time came. Despite the fact that the Makuta halved his size, he couldn't fit in the vehicle with him transforming into a Rahi he called a Lohrak, though he warned the ponies not to touch the skin due to it being poisonous with Fluttershy backing away before she entered the caravan with the Makuta's Nui-Jaga following until the cave with her chittering in sadness, unable to follow her friend who turned back into his half-sized Shadow Titan form, and followed the filly into the portal, his weapons ready, though what they first encountered was something… unexpected, a mouse with a key with Apple Bloom at Fluttershy's suggestion asking it to hand it over with the Makuta rolling his eyes, "I'll deal with this."
"And how are ya gonna do that?" Apple Bloom asked, only for the mouse to freeze. And as if hearing an unheard command, released the key and scampered off with the filly looking at the Makuta in curiosity.
"Rahi Control, an ability that allows me to control animals to do anything I command them to, including… ending themselves." He said, Fluttershy gasping at the last part, "But until now, I've only used it to redirect their attention elsewhere when they're hostile, or to calm them down." He added, with the buttery pegasus sighing in relief before the duo entered the mansion with various decor including a pair of armor, both eyeing them suspiciously before entering a garage with two ghosts working on a carriage before spotting the duo before the two captured them before the armor from before approached with green ghosts inhabiting them, both holding swords in their mouths, "Hey!" Kratus said, catching the attention of the two ghosts, "How about you fight a pro?" He added, readying his blade as the two ghosts looked at each other before deciding on facing the Makuta who never gave them a chance to strike as he knocked the swords out their mouths and beheaded the armor allowing Apple Bloom to capture the ghosts inside.
"You two rock!" Rainbow Dash said with Pinkie Pie agreeing.
"Please, they weren't on my level of skill in swordsmanship. Only my brothers and a friend of mine can give me problems." Kratus said, brushing off the praise as if it was nothing, with Apple Bloom having the same sentiment as they explored the place and spotted a doghouse from a mudroom.
"Say, about this friend of yers, is he like you?" Apple Bloom asked with Twilight Sparkle curious.
"In that he's a Makuta or a biomechanical being? No, he's an organic like you, and our personalities have nothing in common, I doubt we have anything in common, other than our interest in other dimensions. Not mention he's a god while I'm not."
"How long have ya known each other?"
"Since the time before I was who I am now." Kratus replied, remembering a life he lived eons ago, and could never return to.
"That makes the two of you around the same age, right?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
"No, he's way older."
"How old is he?"
"He's lived the lifetime of countless universes," Kratus replied, the ponies' jaws dropping in disbelief, "Yeah, I had the same reaction." He said before they heard the voice of his friend.
"Way to make me feel like an old man!"
"Well, I am younger than you."
"Touché." His friend said after a few seconds of silence with Twilight speaking again.
"Then, why aren't you dead?" She asked, hoping the Makuta's friend could hear her, only for the Makuta to answer for him, as the deity had returned to observing.
"He's immortal and time has no meaning in his home." Kratus replied, "Don't ask me how that works, I can't wrap my head around it despite my age." He added, as Twilight opened her mouth as the Makuta and Apple Bloom approached the doghouse that had a ghost dog.
"That dog isn't hostile, so don't attack it." Apple Bloom said before playing with the dog in order to retrieve the key it had, only for the canine to throw it into a nearby tree, but as the Makuta went to grab the key.
"Boo!" A ghost said, jumping out of the tree with the filly capturing it while a second grabbed the key and flew into the manor before the Makuta could react with him grumbling in a tongue that his former self sometimes spoke in before dashing after the ghost who waited for him to arrive with Apple Bloom following with more ghosts appearing wielding various weapons with Makuta dealing with them first by bonking them on the head, allowing Apple Bloom to capture them along with the others before they reentered the manor again, entering a hallway with four possessed suits of armor that the Makuta dealt with by using his magnetism to rip off the helmets of two of them and using his shadow ability to smash the other two together, disorientating them with confusion for good measure, allowing the filly to capture them and to prevent any further possession, the Makuta fused armor pieces together using his sonic and magnetic powers with the duo entering a two story room at the end of the hallway with a pair of doors and fountain with gears operated by a crank, though the filly decided to enter one of the rooms, that held a pair of ghosts taking a bath that the filly captured without the aid of the Makuta before the two entered the other door that led to an L shaped hallway with the two entering the lab with eight ghosts, that engaged the duo with the Makuta acting as mobile cover for the filly, while stunning some of the ghosts with electricity from his sword or using fear, allowing Apple Bloom to capture them allowing them to look for clues about the whereabouts of the professor with a map that showed secret passages the only one. Then they found a message.
"Either they have the intelligence of a Sand Snipe, or they set a trap." Kratus said.
"A Sand Snipe wouldn't happen to be one of them Rahi of yers?" Apple Bloom asked, earning a nod from the Makuta.
"And when they see a pool of Liquid Protodermis, they dive right in and drown themselves."
"And nopony tries to save them?" Fluttershy asked.
"Their deaths are immediate as they're tiny insects, and they were pests to the Matoran." Kratus replied, rolling his eyes as he and Apple Bloom returned to the foyer, only for a red minotaur ghost to pull of the crank to the only way to the cellar and fly away with it, with the Makuta failing to stop it, with three more red ghosts taking the gears, "Okay, I was wrong, they're more intelligent than a Sand Snipe." He said, changing into a mouse-like Rahi he called an Air Gafna, with Fluttershy squeeing at the sight despite the weapon attached to the tip of the tail allowing the Makuta to enter the secret passageway that contained a key and hole in the wall that let them find what blocked them from entering the studio, "I could create an Elasticity or Shapeshifting Kraata to get the two ghosts to move the pile or slice my way in, but either option is undesirable, and we have more pressing matters to attend to." He told Apple Bloom telepathically who nodded in agreement with the two leaving the passage and headed towards the library with the Makuta reverting back and found the door locked, "Who puts a piano in a library?" He asked rhetorically before the two headed towards the patio that had a fountain, dead flowers and a statue of a stallion, along with the path to kitchen, with a trio of ghosts jumping out of the fountain with the Makuta punching them in the face allowing Apple Bloom to capture them and found the door to the kitchen with a blue ghost with a rolling pin chasing a green ghost with more ghosts amused with two grabbing a key from a nearby room under the stairs, the Makuta casually backhanding a ghost with Apple Bloom capturing it before heading back to the foyer, though went the filly attempted to climb the stairs, they turned into a ramp thanks to a blue ghost leaving it with a laugh before flying off with three more joining it with the duo capturing them after drawing them out of their hiding places with the two climbing the stairs and entered a hallway with a trap door leading to the rafters, the acquired key unlocking it and entered a parlor with one of the red ghosts that took the gears listening to music from a homophone before spotting them and attacking, with the Makuta delivering a cross punch followed by an uppercut before a one-two punch, knocking the ghost out long enough for Apple Bloom to capture it, resulting in it dropping the gear with Twilight Sparkle coming to get it.
"You two are really impressive. Wish I could help more than I can."
"It's okay. Thanks." Apple Bloom said.
"Eh, this is just another day at the office for me." Kratus said, brushing off the praise before the princess teleported away.
"Do ya face ghosts that often?" Apple Bloom asked.
"No, but things happen often enough that it's become a routine for me." Kratus replied, shapeshifting into a Gafna once more, this time a Fire Gafna in order to enter the secret passageway that led to the lab and found more ghosts, including the one that took the crank and a green one with the disguised Makuta sending elemental energy at both ghosts before changing back and slamming the first into the ground with his Shadow Hand, stunning it long enough for Apple Bloom to catch them as the other ghosts recovered from the surprise attack with the Makuta tossing one of the remaining ghosts into the other, stunning them with Apple Bloom capturing them with Twilight taking the crank as the two left the lab to head back upstairs, with the stairs turning back into a ramp with the culprit appearing, another blue ghost that earned a bolt of shadow to the face from the Makuta's skyblaster for its actions. "Boom, Headshot!" He said, raising a fist before the ghost hid behind the couch with two more joining it and tossed various things at the duo with the Makuta acting as mobile cover that attacked the green ghosts that appeared, all getting a bolt of shadow to the face long enough for the filly to capture them allowing them to go to the second floor without opposition, heading into a bedroom with the filly accidently sending herself into wall courtesy of the bed with red ghost inhabiting the room noticing the Makuta and attacked, with Kratus sidestepping and delivering a blow to the back knocking the ghost onto the floor, and retrieved the gear with his magnetism as Apple Bloom recovered.
"That was fast." She said, capturing the ghost as Twilight retrieved the gear.
"There are times when I drag out a fight, and then there are times when I end it as it begins." The Makuta replied before the filly opened the trapdoor in the fireplace after extinguishing the flame with the Makuta phasing through using his density control, both entering the studio at the same time and dealt with the ghosts, the Makuta blasting both with his skyblaster allowing Apple Bloom to capture them before the two of them laughed at the painting with Pinkie Pie laughing along, "I can remember the times I drew glasses on the Celestia and Luna I know while they slept."
"Those ghosts are so funny! Even if they're meanies." Pinkie Pie said.
"Someone's controlling them, I intend to find out who and deal with them appropriately." Kratus said.
"Yippee! And I will do silly pranks with them." The party mare said with the other bearers unamused, before Twilight teleported away with the last gear before returning with the other two gears and the crank, telling them that she'll remain with them to repair the mechanism before moving the pile out of the way and heading back into the foyer to repair the mechanism.
"So many targets, so little time." Kratus said when ghosts appeared to stop them, most earning bolts of shadow or electricity to the face as the Makuta covered Twilight Sparkle.
"Anypony else find it odd that the big guy hits the target every time?" Rainbow Dash asked, the others agreeing.
"Having an ability that makes it so that I can hit my target every time helps." Kratus said.
"Well, that explains it." Apple Bloom said before Twilight announced she's testing the mechanism after repairing it with it working as expected with Twilight readying the girls with the two heading up the stairs to the elevator.
"Of course they'd lock it." Kratus said with a sigh, with the others grumbling about that fact, forcing the two heading to the balcony where there was another blocked door.
"Couldn't ya use yer density control and unblock the door?" Apple Bloom asked.
"I could, but then we might not find the key we need."
"Good point." Apple Bloom said before the two found the dining-room door blocked with ghosts drinking wine.
"I don't get why others would want to drink something that does damage to the body thanks to a certain ingredient." Kratus said.
"It can do that?" Rarity asked, surprised at that fact.
"Even in moderate amounts, but if they want to damage their body, it's their funeral and said ingredient happens to be alcohol."
"Well, when you put it that way." Rarity said before Apple Bloom and Kratus headed up the ladder, finding two possessed suits of armor, one with a spear, the other with an axe, with the Makuta rolling his eyes and used his mastery over the shadows to smash the two together, dazing the green ghosts within allowing Apple Bloom to capture them while Makuta turning to an Air Gafna and crawled up the ceiling both finding that the piano in the library playing itself before a red ghost appeared with the transformed Makuta warding the ghost off with elemental energy, finding that air is very effective against it and made a mental note to use vacuum and cyclone more often whenever possible while Apple Bloom caught the ghost after retrieving the key with the two returning to the lobby and after the Makuta changed back entering the library, with them entering the dining room, only for the ghosts to start throwing food at them along with the silverware, though that proved to be pointless as the Makuta used his stasis field or slow abilities on them, while using dodge to evade ones he missed, unfortunately that meant Apple Bloom couldn't use him as mobile cover, but he proved to be enough of a distraction that she could pick off the ghosts one by one, with the room cleared shortly with the Makuta moving the junk pile blocking the door to the balcony and used using the dumbwaiter to enter the kitchen, though Kratus phased through the floor with the two clearing the kitchen of the ghosts and removing the junk pile blocking the door to the patio, allowing them to enter the first floor the library, with three orange earth pony ghosts with large heads and the brains to go with them floating around, laughing while looking down on the duo like a bunch of stuck up nobles.
Ugh, I hate stuck ups. Kratus thought before the three ghosts threw books at them with the filly dodging and the Makuta taking the hits before the ghosts disappeared into the walls with Apple Bloom locating one with her device, I wonder where I can get one. He thought, unable to do a thing until the ghosts appeared. His help in this fight was unnecessary as Apple Bloom caught them all, with the final key dropped, with Twilight ready to teleport her friends to the elevator, though they encountered more ghosts, the two made it to the lobby with Twilight and friends appearing, though before they went to the elevator after recovering, Fluttershy spoke with the Makuta.
"Um, Mister-" She began, only for the Makuta to interrupt.
"Kratus. Makuta, it doesn't matter what you call me, just don't add mister in front."
"Makuta, that scorpion creature."
"Nui-Jaga."
"Well, I don't know how to calm her down, she's upset about something."
"She's either hungry or wanting to see me. Possibly wanting some attention, if she's hungry, she needs meat, if it's the latter two, then she's out of luck if she wants to see me, but if she wants some attention, if you pet her, she'll calm down." Kratus informed the buttery mare.
"I'll try those methods." She said before the Makuta shapeshifted into an Air Gafna and followed Apple Bloom and Twilight into the elevator. With it plummeting below until it reached a platform with stairs to the cellar with the alicorn bringing the rest down before they proceeded to the cellar after they recovered, and found the professor in a cocoon of shadow, irritating the Makuta for their usage in that way, before a certain ghost appeared.
"Oh, it's the whiner again. You gonna go on another rant about how unfair life treated you before you're given the beatdown that you deserve?" Kratus said, only for Pyrite to say otherwise before disappearing after summoning a creature called a Death Widow, with Twilight and friends trapped in a cage of bones, So, a Lord of The Dead is behind this. Now the question is, how powerful is the Lord of The Dead? He thought, crossing off necromancer as the culprit's voice spoke to the Mane Six with the fight starting.
"Think that Rahi Control of yers can effect them?" Apple Bloom asked the Makuta.
"Not as effective as another power." Kratus replied, using his insect control on them with limited effectiveness, "Something's diminishing the effectiveness of my ability to control insects." He said, much to the confusion and dismay of the ponies, "That means we're going to have to do this the hard way." He added, unleashing his vacuum ability against the swarm with the filly using her device to suck up others and revealed the Death Widow, the Makuta switching the ammunition of his skyblaster to light for greater effectiveness against the creature and hammered away, Hmm… this is proving to be a challenge. He thought, noticing the limited effectiveness of the bolts of light, as Apple Bloom used her weapon of choice against the creature with the Makuta dealing with the spiders with his chain lightning or disintegration as the creature dragged the filly around, a process that repeated several times, the duo dividing its attention with the capture of the Death Widow, though the Professor was dead before they could rescue him, though as the ponies were saddened, the Makuta, while also saddened, was angered as they left the mansion, though he paused for a second, feeling like someone was watching him and turned around, "I know you're behind this, Lord of The Dead. And when I'm done here, I will find you. Then I. Will. Make. You. Pay."
The mood on the way to the Haunted Towers was grim, the looks on the faces of the ponies was one of sadness before Apple Bloom spoke how afraid she was for her friends and family, the Makuta remained silent until a part of the conversation caught his attention, "Take it from me, power is useless if you don't have the skill to use it effectively." He told them, "Little Ghost was powerful, and she had skill, just not enough to use it, and whoever is behind all this has more than her."
"Way ta make us feel better." Applejack said sarcastically.
"I wasn't trying to."
"Say, how powerful is your friend?" Twilight asked.
"Samuel? Going by scale, he's a main sequence star while I'm a hundred-watt bulb."
"Sounds like somepony you shouldn't anger."
"Yet, I irritate him whenever I feel like it."
"Then how are ya still alive?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Because, I know what buttons to push." Kratus replied, "You six stay here until needed." He told the Mane Six who nodded, though upon entering a red ghost spotted the duo and flew away, possibly to warn the others and went to activate the pump, only to find that it didn't work thanks to a clog, "Never a Toa of Water or a Gahlok around when you need one." The Makuta groaned before Twilight informed the duo of the two bridges and Apple Bloom finding a key inside a chest after seeing what doors she could or couldn't open, with it opening a door to a room separated by an empty canal, with the Makuta tempted to shapeshift into his full sized form or teleport across as the filly found a hidden door leading to a greenhouse with overgrown plants, with the Makuta stopping shelf from falling, surprising the green ghost that made the attempt with more approaching with the Makuta using his skyblaster on each of them, with Apple Bloom capturing them and retrieved another key from a chest and returned to the previous room and opened the door on top with Makuta slicing an attacking plant with his blade, "I'll deal with these." He said.
"How ya gonna do that?" Apple Bloom asked, causing the Makuta smirk before the plants turned to dust courtesy of disintegration, "Oh, right that." She said as the filly grabbed a key from another chest and headed towards the bridge with crows attacking, "Mind using that Rahi Control of yers?" She asked the Makuta who nodded halting the attacking birds with said ability by diverting their attention elsewhere and entered a lab in the right tower with overgrown plants inside with ghosts with the filly capturing all six without the Makuta's aid, though with the elevator shaft missing the elevator meant that the filly had to use the balloon plant to ascend the next floor with the Makuta deciding to change into a Fire Gafna and used its ability launch fire energy that burnt away any out-of-control vines in the path of the filly allowing her to ascend to the fourth floor with the floor damaged by plant life with the Makuta remaining as the Rahi until they left room and climbed the stairs outside the tower and used his Rahi Control to prevent crows from attacking.
"This would be easier if they had Kanohi for me to infect." He told the filly, pointing at his mask as the crows flew away, allowing them to reach the top of the tower below the tank, with pipe dripping goo into a wooden bucket.
"Think ya can clear the pipes with one of yer powers?" Apple Bloom asked.
"First, let's try the button and see if it'll clear the pipes." Kratus replied, before the two noticed the bucket levitating with the filly using her detection device finding a green ghost with the Makuta backhanding the bucket out the ghost's grip with the filly capturing the ghost while the Makuta pressed the red button, causing water to flow through the pipes, filling the pit below, raising the bridge, then a disgusting, brown ghost crawled out of the pipes with the Makuta using his vacuum power to damage the ghost as they circled the ghost, dodging its attacks.
"He doesn't like that." Apple Bloom said, using the poltergust to weaken in the ghost further with her catching it shortly.
"Out of all the undead creatures I've encountered before this universe, that was the first disgusting ghost."
"You fought undead before the Gem Manor?"
"That's how I can tell what a wraith is at first glance, not all I encounter were hostile to the living."
"Ya have them back in yer universe?"
"Maybe other planets have them, but not the one I call home."
"Then how do ya know what a wraith is?"
"I've been to many universes and observed many more." Kratus replied, "Now then, let's take the expressway back down." He added, grabbing the filly and teleporting to the second floor, with the filly surprisingly, not queasy."
"Yer teleportation is better than Twilight's." Apple Bloom said.
"I think you can learn a thing or two from him, Twilight." Rainbow Dash said, embarrassing the alicorn.
"More ghosts." Kratus said, blasting the ghosts with his skyblaster with Apple Bloom capturing them, "I swear, the two of us fight in sync to the point where it's almost like I'm fighting side-by-side with Samuel."
"Really?" Apple Bloom asked, causing the Makuta to nod with her beaming at the praise.
"It's true, the two of you fight like the way I do with him." The aforementioned deity said, his voice coming from nowhere, "The difference is that I can withstand him going all out, but that doesn't make what the two of us said less true." He added before going back to observing the duo's progress.
"Praised by a god is quite the achievement." Rarity said, "Though, I wonder if we'll ever get to see him." She added with the rest of the ponies, wondering the same, something the Makuta noticed.
"If you're wondering if you'll get to meet him in person, it's impossible for him to enter here, thanks to him locking this dimension down preventing those without a connection from entering." Kratus said, dashing their hopes, though a certain Lord of The Dead was internally sighing, for if there's one being that can defeat him without a second thought, it's a god, as the filly and Makuta left the tower, heading to the gateway with a pinwheel before red attempted to punch the filly only to receive a punch from the Makuta that sent it flying as blue ghosts appeared and took five of the six vanes, annoying the Makuta who attempted to catch one in his shadow hand, only for them to dive into the ground and head towards the right tower with the duo following after them, I swear, the Lord of The Dead behind this is playing with us. He thought as the two entered the tower and encountered the ghosts, all escaping after a few distracted them, "Pests!" The Makuta growled as the two followed the lone blue ghost into a hidden door with the filly moving the bed after finding a hidden elevator with him turning into another Rahi he called a Fire Burnak allowing the two to descend into another laboratory with a flooded path and balloon plants and carnivorous plant inside a container with the Makuta changing back and torching the plant with his heat vision before green ghosts entered with the filly capturing them as the Makuta located the blue ghost and blasted him with his skyblaster, preventing its escape with the filly capturing it with the two entering the door in the flooded path appearing in a sewer and capturing green ghosts wandering around before finding a chest with a key behind false bars and continued through the sewers and found a tomb with two coffins, "We must be near a graveyard."
"Not again." Apple Bloom said, "It's jus' like that time back at the Gem Manor and those skeletons."
"I did most of the work. But, if I hadn't fused the internals of the chainsaw, you'd probably helped more."
"When did this happen, and what's this about a chainsaw?" Twilight asked with the filly explaining.
"Cook of Tartarus? I thought that ghost looked familiar."
"I take it ya dealt with him back home?"
"Tried to kill one of my agents. The look on his face when I revealed that I wasn't another pony to him was priceless. I hoped his mind would last longer than three days when I punished him, but at least I enjoyed every second of it before giving him the mercy of death."
"Yer sadistic." Apple Bloom said, the other ponies thinking the same.
"I made his death quick and painless." Kratus countered.
"Yer still a sadist."
"At least I go the painless route of torture. Besides, most days I'm the nice Makuta." The Makuta said, brushing off what the filly called him as they headed back to the laboratory and found that, yes, there's a nearby graveyard before using the key to enter a tool shed with a red ghost with its back turned to them, looking at a fountain with a door near it, the Makuta stunned the ghost with his skyblaster, allowing the filly to capture it and the ghosts that attempted to intervene as the Makuta located another blue ghost in a drawer, and smacked it as it attempted to escape with it dropping the vane thanks to the blow allowing Apple Bloom to capture it with Twilight taking the vane away as the two left the tower, and found a brown ghost with two green ghosts with a bucket, the Makuta knocking out the former with his vacuum power along with cyclone with the filly capturing it after the green ghosts as the Makuta located another blue ghost, staring at it menacingly before bashing it over the head allowing Apple Bloom to capture it with Twilight retrieving the vane as the two entered a secret room behind the fountain, said room had broken stairs, "Who makes stairs like that?"
“I dunno, maybe some sadist?” Apple Bloom suggested, with Makuta suspicious about the door in front of the stairs with a green ghost receiving a backhand from the Makuta as it attempted to ambush the duo with the filly capturing it, fixing the first set of stairs that the two climbed.
"Wait, don't touch that door, it might be…" Kratus said, attempting to warn Apple Bloom and failed, "A trap." He added, wincing as the door smacked the filly, "Well, at least it wasn't a chest mimic."
"I've had enough of them back at the Gem Manor."
"Eh, I built more creative traps inside vital facilities that I built."
"And what kind of traps are they?"
"Some lethal, others to incapacitate for capture and interrogation." Kratus replied as the two entered another lab. This one contained a sprout in a jar along with another pump and more ghosts, including two purple ones with the duo clearing them out, as they listened to a piano above, "Agricultural lab." He said, now able to study the room in detail.
"How d'ya know that?"
"The, bottles and vials have chemicals in them, then there's that sprout, likely the latest test specimen."
"That make sense." Twilight Sparkle.
"Question is, what genetic modifications did they make?"
"Only one way ta find out." Apple Bloom said, looking at the pump that had a missing pipe section, and used the DLD to reveal it, the Makuta activating the device, causing water to fall and water the plant that grew large and fast while forming stairs that the two climbed and found more ghosts in another laboratory with the Makuta locating another blue ghost and stunned it with electricity allowing the capture of the ghost with the retrieval of the fourth vane.
"I've seen off-key Le-Matoran play better than that ghost." Kratus whispered after the duo climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, finding a red ghost playing a pipe organ surrounded by plants, including the balloon plants with a blue ghost carrying the last vane popping out of the pipes with the Makuta nailing the red with his heat vision with Apple Bloom capturing it with two more red ghosts and a brown one appearing, the Makuta using vacuum on the latter allowing the filly to capture them with the Makuta gaining a devious look on his face before placing tendrils of shadow on most of the keys using his hands for the remainder then pressed them all at once, causing the blue ghost with the last vane to jump out thanks to the mixture of noise with Apple Bloom capturing the ghost shortly with Twilight appearing to retrieve it, "No, no teleporting yet, we still got more of the place to explore, that and I can teleport her down."
"Fine." The princess groaned, teleporting back to the caravan with the two ascending to the ceiling and found a broken platform leading to a balcony above the bridge made of tree branches before descending back down and opened the door to the bridge with the Makuta using Rahi Control on all the crows nesting there preventing them from attacked, allowing the two to pass unhindered with the Makuta releasing them from his control after entering the door to the other side finding two doors with the one on their right locked and the one in front unlocked with them entering it, finding a bedroom with three blue ghosts in bed that heard them coming with Apple Bloom managing to catch one before the other two hid with remaining two hiding in the beds, starting a game of Cups and Balls.
"Haven't played that game in long time." Kratus remarked after Apple Bloom caught the last blue ghost before the Makuta found a key in one of the beds that opened the door on the opposite room with it leading to a solarium with three flights of stairs that they used to reach the floor below and found a trio of pictures with three mares, a fat purple earth pony, a thin aqua pegasus and a small yellow unicorn, possibly the old owners though a wall separated the room in two. The second having a kitchen with a door on the left, leading to a toy room, with dolls, including one the size of a mare whose heads turning towards them, "Stay behind me." He told the filly who nodded as the dolls moved towards the duo before the Makuta used his sonic powers to create a wave of sound that shattered the dolls revealing that green ghosts along with one red controlled them with them all captured, though the filly had to empty the device of the doll parts, the fight lasted only. Ten. Seconds. Flat.
"Did ya really think that yer little doll play'd scare me? I fought a house-sized doll, and it's much scarier.”
"And I've fought horrors that would kill one at the mere sight of them."
"You two… have my respect." Rainbow Dash said.
"Eh, it was nothing." Kratus said, brushing off the praise, though the filly expressed gratitude at the praise before finding a key inside the dollhouse they used to enter last locked room above and dealt with the purple, green and brown ghosts inside a bathroom that contained a reclining chair, "A reclining chair inside a bathroom? That's not suspicious at all." The Makuta said sarcastically with the two using it to ascend into the room above, a new room with the walls and ceiling made of glass and a pool with frog statues at the top of the left tower, overwhelmed by plants, "I'll grab the key." He told the filly after she revealed the missing statue which held a key that fell into the pool and estimated that the filly could barely keep her head out of the water while touching the bottom before fishing the key out of the water and turning towards the filly before both sensed something behind them and found nothing. Only for the Makuta to turn around and grab a pink gryphon-like ghost, "Thought I didn't know you were behind us, did ya?" He asked, "Now, where's your compatriots?" He asked after bringing the ghost closer before more of them appeared, resulting in the Makuta to tossing the ghost with a flick of his wrist with it returning with Apple Bloom capturing all four of them, the duo concluding that the key opened something behind the gateway.
"How far can ya teleport?"
"From one pole to the other in a single teleport." Kratus replied.
"That shouldn't be possible!" Twilight Sparkle said in disbelief, the Makuta only chuckled as he grabbed the filly and teleported to the pinwheel with Twilight appearing with the vanes and started repairing the pinwheel before a horde of ghosts appeared, too many for the filly to capture repeatedly without overheating the Poltergust. Fortunately, Kratus had a solution.
"Why aren't you in a shelter? Didn't you pay attention to the weather alert?" He asked the ghosts, confusing them and the two ponies as the wind picked up and the sky darkened, "Things are about to go for a spin." He added, further confusing the ponies and ghosts. Then… they heard the rumble and turned around as they saw a funnel cloud touch the ground, and head towards the ghosts with a howl, picking them up and carried them away, though some remained for Apple Bloom to capture, though the ghosts picked up by the cyclone returned after it dissipated upon Kratus' command before he used his stasis field or slow on the ghosts, slowing their advance. Eventually, they caught the last of the ghosts and the Poltergust didn't approach the red once and not once did the ghosts get near Twilight who teleported away after repairing the pinwheel, "I don't think they like Twilight very much."
"No kidding." Twilight said, "They really don't want me to help you. Thank you, Apple Bloom and Makuta."
"I caught one that came here!" Rainbow Dash said proudly.
"Dashie's first ghost!" Pinkie Pie said before Rainbow Dash continued.
"But I couldn't help but notice that out of the two of you, they go after the big guy more than you."
"I noticed." Apple Bloom said, "Wonder what they have against him."
"I dunno, maybe because I'm the more powerful one?"
"But, I'm the one that can capture 'em."
"Doesn't mean that I'm not a threat." Kratus pointed out, using his vacuum power to turn the pinwheel by drawing in the air, opening the gateway with the Makuta unleashing the gathered air in a single burst before the two partners approached the oak tree, finding a circular door carved into the base allowing them to enter the hollowed out tree lit by torches with the center covered in water, three alcoves with one of them having a pair of stairs leading to more that went up four floors, the two guessed that the center alcove between the stairs led to the graveyard, the other two led to dead ends with big spiders. The two decided to head up the stairs, the first attempt turned into a ramp with a green ghost appearing and laughed before Apple Bloom caught it, and found that the other stairs didn't turn into a slope, "Hang on, let me try something." He told Apple Bloom who looked her companion with a raised brow before two copies of Kratus appeared, and ascended the stairs, one turning into a ramp, the other didn't but a lit torch turned blue, "Oh, it's one of those traps."
"Not much of a trap." Apple Bloom pointed out after capturing the ghost that appeared with the other bearers agreeing.
"Not all traps are lethal, some nonlethal traps are to hinder the progress of others." Kratus said, as the two ascended the stairs with the process repeating, the Makuta would create copies that he revealed to be illusions that ascended both stairways to reveal which was the true path with them reaching the top and found that the door there turned out to be a monster with red eyes and sharp teeth with the door opening at the teeth.
"That door almost gave me a heart attack." Rainbow Dash said.
"And it almost ate Apple Bloom and Makuta, well Makuta would've been fine." Pinkie Pie said, "But it looks like this is where you need to go."
"Y-yeah… but we still need to find the key, and it might be in the graveyard." Apple Bloom said with Twilight remarking how casual the filly was in talking about graveyards and telling her she's been to a lot of graveyards while ghost hunting and made a few friends during those hunts.
"You're an interesting filly with an interesting life." Kratus said with Apple Bloom giggling.
"I know." She said with the two descending back to ground floor, taking what the Makuta called, the "fun way" that being sliding down the ramps and headed to the second alcove, finding it to be a dead end thanks to a big root with mushrooms, moss and a green root that the Makuta pulled, revealing a platform that the two stepped on before it flung them out of a beak of a crow statue, "Why… Just, why…" She groaned as she and the Makuta stood up, and spotted crows that didn't bother making an attempt to attack, though they also noted that lack of ghosts.
"I swear if one of them says nevermore…"
"You know The Raven?" Twilight asked, with Apple Bloom telling her that she studied it in school before she and her partner walked through the graveyard looking at the gravestones daring skeletons and ghosts to attack with none appearing before they approached a crypt with Apple Bloom opening it before Twilight made another remark about how casual Apple Bloom was in entering a crypt with Apple Bloom telling that she dealt with a ghost throwing coffins another crypt, and found this one in bad condition, broken shelves with missing coffins before they heard the voice of Kratus' friend.
"It saddens me to see a crypt in such condition, even if this isn't a royal crypt."
"You've been in one before?" Apple Bloom asked.
"To visit my parents and grandparents."
"That means all this time, Samuel was… royalty?" Rarity asked, earning a confirmation before fainting, with the Nui-Jaga poking the mare with a claw, causing her to wake and shriek at the sight of the Rahi near her face before said god spoke again.
"I'm former royalty, gave up the position of prince when I gained the power I have now."
"And that's how I annoy him, by reminding him of his past as a prince before he became a god." Kratus said, resulting in a groan from the deity.
"Was his foalhood bad?"
"Overall? No, it's just that I had some… interesting older siblings."
"What kind of siblings."
"The kind that can you can love and hate because how annoying they are."
"Regular sibling stuff."
"More like, most days I was the responsible one despite my adventurous streak." Samuel said, ending the conversation as the Makuta spotted a weakened wall and punched it, revealing a chest with a wooden key shaped like the mouth of the monster in the tree.
"Tadadada!" Pinkie Pie shouted, causing everyone there to laugh except for the Makuta who smiled with Apple Bloom thanking the mare after everything that has happened with Pinkie Pie happy to have done so, and once she mentioned that this is what Smart Spirit would want.
"I know, but him dyin' that way sucks."
"Language." Applejack said over the comms.
"And Pyrite and his ally'll pay for this. Even if they return as ghosts, ya don't kill my friends. And I swear, if they touch one hair on any of y'all, I'll find a way to bring them back to life and regret being born in the first place."
"It's not Apple Bloom they have to worry about, it's me, for as I said before, I can be a valuable ally or your worst enemy, anger me, and I'll hunt you down and once I catch you, I will make death a mercy. So, fall upon your own swords when the shadows turn against you. For a vengeful Makuta is not you want bearing down on you." Kratus added, though the mares couldn't see them, they could tell that both had the look of hate on their faces.
"You know revenge isn't the answer, right?" Twilight asked, only for the Makuta to speak before Apple Bloom could answer.
"Is it revenge, or is it justice? Besides, Pyrite and his ally must be stopped. And after what they've done and will do, you can't blame us for making it personal. "
"You're right, we can't." Twilight sighed as the filly and Makuta left the crypt, only for the Makuta to punch a stone thrown at them and finding the culprit, an orange ghost laughing as it appeared with green, blue and red ghosts appearing, the blues hiding in the vases on some tombs before Apple Bloom used her device to gather the red and green ghosts in a single group as the Makuta used fragmentation on incoming boulders as the filly caught the other ghosts before the orange ghost before the appearance of three familiar, mares as ghosts appeared, the ones from the three pictures and chuckled at them, all with vain expressions and holding mirrors they used to admire themselves before the fat pink earth pony ghost attacked, missing both the Makuta and Apple Bloom who used her weapon in an attempt to capture the mare, only for the aqua pegasus to make an attempt to slam into her, earning a chop to the back from Kratus, sending her to the ground, before the small yellow unicorn attack with a magical beam the Makuta countered using his sword to reflect the beam back at her with a bolt from his skyblaster following, stunning the mare as the aqua pegasus attempted to attack the Makuta from behind, only for the Makuta to grab her and throw her into the pink mare attempting to hit Apple Bloom with her mirror before hammering the unicorn with bolts from his skyblaster allowing Apple Bloom to capture all of them before remarking that they were the first ghosts that looked like ponies, starting a discussion, though when they discussed the spirit world.
"Take it from me, going there is not a pleasant experience, especially the areas where the unrepentant souls are." Kratus said, ending the discussion before he and the filly teleported back to the oak tree with the dog from Gloomy Manor appearing and licking Apple Bloom, though when it attempted to take the key to start a game, it found the key in the Makuta's grasp, though the sight stunned them, his arm was stretched out like a rubber band before returning to its normal length, "Go on, shoo." He told the dog. Who whimpered before it left.
"That wasn't very nice, he only wanted to play." Fluttershy said.
"I ain't in the mood or got time for games." Kratus said before turning to Apple Bloom, "You might want to upgrade the crystal after this, because things are going to get more difficult." He told the filly, who nodded as the two entered the oak tree again and ascended the to the top and unlocked the door, finding another room and more staircases, twenty in a row of three, with blue torches starting another game of finding the right stairs.
"Challenge excepted." Apple Bloom said, the tone suggested she wanted to do this the hard way, and told the Makuta just that.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Kratus said as the two played the game, the Makuta growing irritated with each failure and the filly losing her breath by the end, "I swear, once we're through here, I will turn this tree into mulch or the largest piece of firewood by burning it." He growled before they spotted the crow on a branch that flew away after a few minutes with the filly recuperating as the Makuta punched a wall with a ball made of vines in it, revealing another passage leading to a tree house with the Makuta growing more suspicious with him touching the steps to the tree house, revealing it was possessed as a face appeared.
"This is Wild Oak." Pyrite said, appearing near the tree house as it chased them, “Why don't you feed him? He seems very hungry." He added, disappearing with a cackle as the Makuta sent bolts of light from his skyblaster towards him, both the Makuta and the filly growled, the Makuta having enough of this nonsense, decided to unleash his vacuum ability in a focused burst that demolished the house, revealing a Bogmire-like ghost that looked more like a tree that created another tree house, only for it to crumple as the Makuta used his gravitational abilities on it then caused it to explode with his vacuum power on it once more, with the filly using her weapon to weaken the ghost before it possessed the tree itself, turning it against them, though the Makuta's sword glowed a sickly green.
"I. Have. Had. Enough of this tree." He growled plunging the blade into the wood that cracked with a green glow shining though as the cracks spread with the ghost screaming as the Makuta pulled the blade out, though Apple Bloom felt wood beneath her hoofs soften under the effects of what the Makuta did with the him grabbing the filly and teleporting outside, revealing the glowing cracks spread to even the outside as the ghost continued to scream in agony before the Makuta used his heat vision ignite the leaves, setting the tree aflame, causing the ghost to scream louder with the Makuta using slow to further torment the tree as it collapsed from both the effects of the green glow and the flames with the ghost leaving the tree before with tendrils of shadow impaled the ghost before the Makuta's Shadow Hand grabbed the ghost with it dropping its key as the Makuta's Shadow Hand pulled the ghost into him then crushed the still screaming ghost's will, terminating its existence as a storm quenched the flames, though it did nothing to the green glow that died only after the tree rotted away, "Poison." Kratus said, catching the attention of the mares who looked at the Makuta in shock, "I sent poisons through the tree and that is only just an example of the kinds of torment I will do to the culprits." He added, though still shocked at the Makuta's actions, the ponies noticed that the Makuta's voice changed a little.
She was worried, her friend's voice changed a little before returning to normal, as the group of from what a Rahi at her level of intelligence could understand are alternate versions of her friend's friends, something that confused her. But she was more worried about her friend as they approached a factory, thankful that she could stay nearer to her friend thanks one of her friend's alternate friend.
"Well, we're here." Kratus said after changing back from a Lohrak, before noticing something with the debris. "Dynamite, wonderful. Probably placed here by the ghosts." He said, watching his step despite the temptation of setting them off before Apple Bloom unlocked the door, allowing the two to enter.
"Say, Kratus." Apple Bloom said, earning the attention of the Makuta, "Yer voice changed a little before it returned to normal."
"How did it change?"
"It sounded deeper, and… evil." Apple Bloom replied, shuddering at the last word, though when her friend went to speak he remembered something, The Voice said to him as he squashed thoughts of a dark deed.
"It has to do with a painful part of my past, both figuratively and literally." Kratus said, remembering the events and who was behind them as he looked around the first floor finding holes, gears and other clock parts all over the floor, "What a mess." He added, "Not even the machine shop where I tinker with stuff gets this messy."
"Does it get messy?"
"Only the tables." Kratus replied, searching the safe and found more ribbon before checking the doors, and found that only the one in front of the entrance unlocked, both entering and found themselves in a room above a canyon, opening to the left to a pit with a railway, and the room itself was separated into two parts by this pit, a raised wooden bridge, the only thing linking the two parts beside some narrow metallic beams in the second level. The part where the two were was only a small wooden path leading to a door in the right wall, and the other part at the other side of the pit was bigger, with many crates surrounding a turntable with a track. Behind the turntable was a staircase leading to the second level, "No way to lower the bridge from this side." He said, looking down at the pit.
"What about when ya stretched yer arm out at the mansion?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Elasticity? I could do that or teleport but, we'll miss things." Kratus replied, knowing that the Lord of The Dead is watching and would likely prevent "cheating" while Apple Bloom looked for an unlocked door. Though the Makuta had a light bulb go off and went back to the first room and unwrapped the ribbon in the safe, revealing it to be a key and tried it out on the door near the safe as Apple Bloom entered the room, and found the Makuta had already found the key and the door it unlocked with her dashing towards the Makuta as he opened the door and blasted two green ghosts with his skyblaster allowing Apple Bloom to capture them before the tools levitated with the Makuta using magnetism to clump them together and draw them to him with Apple Bloom discovering an orange ghost and capturing it and entered a room on the other side of the room and found that sand covered the ground and the means to open the way to the clock tower was missing components, the clock hands and rotor with Applejack suggesting it was the ghosts that took them after they noticed the bridge on the second level, "Well, now we have a reason to explore the factory." He said before noticing the dust devils, confusing him before Apple Bloom revealed them to be green ghosts before capturing them along more that appeared with one attempting to throw a bomb that blew up in its face thanks to the Makuta's heat vision, causing Pinkie Pie to laugh at the ghost's reaction while the companions entered another room, one with a large hole slicing the room in two with explosives all over the place, "I know of this organization that handles the safety of the workers, and they would look at this place in horror for the lack of safety measures and shut it down if it wasn't abandoned."
"I bet they would." Apple Bloom said as the two traversed the hole to the other side, the Makuta pulling a rope that lowered a stairwell and as the two climbed it a pink ghost appeared and shoved Apple Bloom and laughed before getting a bolt of shadow to the face as two more pink ghosts appeared along with two green ghosts with the pink ghosts disappearing with the latter going for the dynamite that the Makuta turned to dust using his disintegration before Apple Bloom captured them after dealing with the pink ghosts with the two by bypassing the bridge with them crossing the bridge and entered the door on the other side with a room with two green ghosts that Apple Bloom captured as the Makuta searched the room and found a button that caused past of the west wall to retract revealing a smaller room with desk and chair, but as they went to enter a group of four pink and one red ghosts blocked their path with the Makuta hitting the red ghost with a one-two punch to the face before bashing it on the head with both fists, dazing it so Apple Bloom could capture it as the Makuta used his density control to phase through the wall to search the desk and found a compass and a key before heading back out after deeming the key to be the way out normally.
"Found this compass." He told Apple Bloom as she went to press the button.
"Then we'll be able ta find the ruins as the professor mentioned it in his notes."
"A Fa-Matoran would make a better compass thanks to their sense of direction making the skilled navigators, and they can talk."
"But, wouldn't ya have ta translate for us?"
"True." Kratus replied as they left and found the ruins after he experimented with the compass with them sliding down conveyor belts with the bottom full of sand with a wheelbarrow, shelves and a door along with the lift they end in before a group of green ghosts appeared with them dealt with in short order allowing them to open the weight operated gate and found themselves in at a canyon after they came across a part of the passage blocked, "I know a safer way across." He said, noticing that both bridges were destroyed.
"Teleportin'?"
"Nope, Gukko." Kratus replied before his form changed into a large, slender, four-winged Rahi, the sight made Fluttershy's eyes sparkle at how beautiful the bird is though the Nui-Jaga couldn't help but chitter in annoyance as Apple Bloom jumped onto the transformed Makuta and made their way across with Apple Bloom jumping onto the ground after they reached their destination, allowing the Makuta to change back before they walked through passage with the Makuta shooting giant spiders as they attempted to attack, with the filly dealing with a pink ghost that followed them along with blue ghosts throwing spiders at them with the Makuta frying each spider with plasma while declaring it a shooting gallery causing Apple Bloom to roll her eyes before they reached the door with debris blocking it after finding a key. "Stand back." He told the filly who complied despite her confusion before he unleashed his fragmentation on the pile, shattering it with pieces of it bouncing off the Makuta's armor before the two returned to the underground path and entered a room with boxes, shelves with containers, and a sarcophagus, before blue and green ghosts appeared and threw the dynamite at them with the Makuta's armor shrugging the explosions off, allowing Apple Bloom to capture them from cover before the sarcophagus opened with a mummy moaning as it approached before Apple Bloom tossed a stick of dynamite at the undead, destroying it while revealing a green ghost that the filly captured, with a conversation about other undead creatures. But, when they got to the subject of curses… "Curses, yummy." He said, earning the attention of Twilight Sparkle.
"How can you taste a curse?" She asked over the comms, confused.
"I can't, but I do feed off them as they're a darkness based ability." Kratus replied, "The more powerful the curse, the more power I gain. I find it amusing when someone casts a life drain curse on me." He added with the last part somehow amusing Twilight Sparkle, "Now then, enough about curses. There's work needing done." He said, Apple Bloom nodding in agreement with the duo entering a secret door with the exit collapsing with the Makuta deeming it unwise to unblock it before noticing the only way forward… was down with the duo sliding down a slope that once they reached bottom and entered a large downward spiraling room with broken mine cart tracks at the bottom that had a hole, with sand falling from the ceiling with a level out of Apple Bloom's reach with the Makuta tempted to teleport them up there, but decided against it and pushed a mine cart over the hole in the ground, causing sand to fill the room with ghosts appearing and earned a bolt of shadow to the face along with a trip to the crystal inside the Poltergust before entering the door that led to a dark hallway with only Apple Bloom's lamp along with a torch being the only significant source of light before a ball of plasma formed at the tip of the Makuta's weapon with the Makuta using it to burn away the webs allowing them to enter a tomb lit by torches with them talking about mummies before they heard Kratus' friend.
"At least they're not the type that drain you of your life force through biting you or casting a curse on you."
"Ugh, don't remind me of the former." Kratus replied, but before the conversation could go further, the tomb opened up with a mummy that left by floating out after punching Apple Bloom as more rose from the sand, totaling the number to four with the walking ones attacking until the Makuta lit their bandages with plasma, setting them ablaze and attempted to go after the Makuta who slowed them down until the fire damaged them to where the green ghosts possessing them had to leave allowing Apple Bloom to capture them with the levitating ghost forming a dust devil to protect itself and created more to attack the duo, only for the Makuta to send a burst of plasma at it, scorching the mummy that used the sand to douse the flames before sending spikes of sand at them with the Makuta turning each one to glass with his heat vision before spotting a tip of the bandage unwrapped on its back and informed Apple Bloom who unwound the undead, revealing its petrified form with the Makuta slicing its head off with his blade with a blue ghost with the appearance of an orange leaving it enraged before grabbing a hand from the tomb and used its telekinetic powers to cause the room to collapse before leaving, though the Makuta failed to relieve the ghost of its burden of carrying the clock hand with his magnetism before teleporting the two out of the ruins to the caravan with the Nui-Jaga chittering in worry for the Makuta who pet her after clearing his blade of the remains of the mummy from his blade with plasma before he and Apple Bloom reentered the factory and trekked through the underground and encountered the ghost in a room with crates and a turntable who looked at them surprised at their survival with the Makuta giving a smug smirk after it threw a brick and crushed it with his bare hand without leaving a scratch with Apple Bloom attempting to peek out of her usage of the Makuta as cover only for the ghost throw a brick at her before the Makuta could intercept with the two making the same attempt, though this time the ghost threw bricks in random directions with the Makuta intercepting each one, locking them in a stalemate before the two hunters retreated with two going through an alternate route and encountered ghosts, including one sleeping with its head in a bucket before the two ended up in an area above the ghost that remained looking at the door the duo left it, "I'm tempted to shoot the ghost in the head, but that would ruin our element of surprise." He told the filly.
"Agreed." She said before the two teleported across the gap and entered a room full of tools with a door leading back to the hallway and another to a balcony before ghosts appeared, an orange that threw tools at them along with green and red ghosts that ended up captured before the two entered the second door and entered the third door of the west wall and entered a room full of steam with the two wisely leaving to door open to let the steam out as they closed the valves releasing the steam and located the second door behind the kiln that the pipes connected to it with them going through a double door to reach it, though a pair of green ghosts opened the doors, sending Apple Bloom back with the green ghosts laughing before they saw the irritated Makuta and gulped at the sight of him annoyed before earning bolts of shadow to the face before they could flee allowing Apple Bloom to capture them with the two having to face a brown ghost before leaving the kiln allowing them to retrieve the key on the other side of the hall with Apple Bloom retrieving it, allowing the two to sneak up on the ghost bellow through the other staircase who looked at them surprised after they appeared thanks to the Makuta using silence to mask their approach and giving a shot to the head before pointing above, causing the ghost to facehoof before opening the crates showing them that they contained dynamite before entering the turntable and creating a dust devil and sent the sticks their way with Makuta shooting each one until the ghost left the turntable.
Uh-oh. It thought after finding out it ran out of explosives before turning back to the bricks that the Makuta destroyed, allowing Apple Bloom to capture the ghost before it escaped with it dropping the minute hand, starting a discussion until the Nui-Jaga chittered something before she poked Twilight Sparkle with a claw, causing her to facehoof and groan.
"What?" Kratus asked.
"Ghosts are playing with the hour hand at the court, the Nui-Jaga saw them first."
"She's a smart girl." Kratus replied with the Rahi happy to have helped her friend before Twilight retrieved the minute hand after Apple Bloom pointed out the ghosts' stupid choice before the duo left for the court with Apple Bloom lowering the bridge, and once they entered the three ghosts playing with the hand spotted them, but before they could do anything, the white ghost dog appeared and took the hand… only for it to earn a blob of brownish gunk to the face, blinding it with everyone who could see turning to the culprit after Apple Bloom captured the dog, an upset Nui-Jaga, "That's right… Nui-Jaga can launch venom from their stingers." Kratus said as the Rahi did the same to the two of green ghosts allowing Apple Bloom to capture them with the third fleeing as the Makuta retrieved the hour hand.
"Will the poor doggy be okay?" Fluttershy asked.
"Fortunately, the blindness wears off shortly." Kratus replied, the Rahi chittered happily as the Makuta pet her at a job well done.
"Though, how'd she sneak up on them ghosts?" Applejack asked.
"Didn't ya know? Purple iz 'da sneakiest." Kratus replied in an odd accent before more ghosts appeared, the remaining green ghost brought reinforcements, three reds and a brown, all earned venom to their eyes, allowing Apple Bloom to capture them before the ghost dog left the Poltergust, eyesight restored, "See, it wears off." He said as the dog left, not wanting to have venom in its eyes again as the scorpion Rahi glared at it, "When we get back, I'm going to give you an extra helping of your favorite Rahi chow." Kratus said, the Rahi chittering in happiness at the prospect of her favorite chow her friend would give her as Twilight expressed her disbelief at the failure of the containment crystal and vowed to upgrade it before the ghost busting duo returned to the factory to enter the eastern part of the factory.
"No, let me deal with the blockage." Apple Bloom said, stopping the Makuta from using his fragmentation on the debris blocking the door to the stairwell, gaining a grin after realizing what she meant as the filly gathering explosives at the door.
"I like either a medium-sized crater or an explosive party depending on the situation." The Makuta said before the filly lit the fuse after talking to Twilight, "Pretty fireball." He said at the sight of the explosion before the two entered the bottom of the stairwell with the ghosts on the opposite side still stunned with the duo giving a predatory look at them before the filly captured them before the two realized that they were in a two story room with a broken elevator, with them entering the door to another two story room and used the sin scale there to enter the floor below with two doors, the first accessible thanks the belts operating the scale and the pendulum it was attached to with the Makuta getting an idea on how to reach it as Apple Bloom peered through a hole and the wall discovering that a pink ghost held the rotor with a green ghost blocking the hole in the wall with a brick after spotting her with the Makuta increasing the pull of gravity on the scale, lowering it and allowing the two to access the other door, surprising the ghosts before the pink ghost handed the rotor to an orange that fled before Apple Bloom caught it after capturing the green ghost with the two pursuing the orange into the sand covered bottom floor of the previous room, with three green ghosts appearing before spinning around, creating dust devils with four mummies rising from the sand, the Makuta igniting their bandages with his heat vision, causing the green ghosts to leave the bodies, allowing Apple Bloom to capture them before more appeared along some red, pink and an orange ghost with them captured allowing the two of them to pursue the orange ghost that flew away earlier, entering rooms full of gears with them using the gears in the second room to sneak attack the two red ghosts while fixing the mechanism for the previous room, allowing the retrieval of the key and entered the first room that contained a giant gear in the center and entered the west door and used the cuckoo clock to enter the other half of the room where the orange ghost awaited the two who wore it down by forcing it to use its powers on the gears using the three valves to keep the gears turning with the Makuta grabbing the rotor as the filly captured the exhausted orange ghost before teleporting the two back to the room with the clock door as the Makuta had grown impatient again with Twilight appearing to repair said mechanism with ghosts appearing, including the ones they bypassed with them captured after Twilight repaired the door, "I can create a rainstorm for you to wash that sand off in." He said when Twilight made a comment about showering after returning to the caravan.
"There's no way you can control the weather outside of making those cyclones." Rainbow Dash said, causing the Makuta to grin before it rained on the prismatic pegasus no matter where she moved before the storm stopped.
"Ya were saying?" Applejack asked, amused at the sight of the drenched pegasus who grumbled while the Nui-Jaga looked disappointed she didn't get some water as Apple Bloom discovered a way to open the door, by turning to hands to make the time seven thirty with the two entering the room that turned out to be a lift operated by valves and used the door to enter a room full of crates that led to a ladder, though the floor turned out to be a giant spring that launched them through a trapdoor that led to the belfry with another Bogmire-like ghost that had clock hands instead of arms that changed to the hour positions with Pyrite appearing from behind the ghost.
"Death by animals, death by objects… now it's time for you to face something nopony can face: death by time. No matter who you are, no matter what you are, time always wins in the end. Everyone has a final hour." He said before waving at the ghost, though he noticed the look in Kratus' eyes, one of… evil before it disappeared before he continued. "Meet your Final Hour." He said before the Bogmire-like ghost entered the clock with its hands turning, "You should hurry. Time is flowing, and it'll soon run out for you." He said, but noticed the lack of aging for the Makuta, whose eyes regained that evil look as heard a voice inside his head.
"My return is imminent, and I have you and that creature to thank." It said before laughing, its evil sound caused the ghost to shudder before he disappeared, with Apple Bloom aging to around twenty, and broke off the hands of the clock, noticing the Makuta frozen with his attention turned inward with Final Hour leaving the clock, and Apple Bloom attacking it before it retreated, though the Makuta screamed, not in pain but of frustration.
"Enough of this." He said before stepping in front of Apple Bloom, the clock turning to sludge as its molecules felt the power of the Lord and Master of Shadow's inorganic molecular disruption that allowed for the capture of Final Hour that undid the effects on both the filly and the Makuta with the former returning to her current age, though inside the Makuta's mind he heard a voice.
"Soon…" It said as Apple Bloom made a comment about time winning, though inside the Realm of Possibilities, a deity was worried, for he sensed a great darkness growing inside his friend.
"A mine eh?" Kratus said they ended their trek to a mine that the griffons used to own to mine gold from now called the Secret Mine, "Been sometime since I've been in a mine, or spot for a potential mine."
"And why's that?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
"So I could prepare for the Great Awakening, needed to help my friends get back on their feet." Kratus replied, petting the Nui-Jaga as Apple Bloom held a conversation with Applejack before the ghost hunting duo left. With the Rahi, after digging through the snow, buried herself into the ground to keep warm as the filly and Makuta entered a chalet and captured a surprised a blue ghost before more appeared with the Makuta pulling a blue ghost down from an upper area with his elasticity while Apple Bloom captured a ghost that hid in the bearskin rug with Fluttershy horrified at the sight of the animal parts, the Makuta rolled his eyes at that since she was warned earlier as the two were unable to use the hidden elevator to reach the mines, entered the room near the fireplace with all sorts of culinary tools with a door blocked by ice with the stove lighting up before a green ghost left it before earning a fist to the face from the Makuta before Apple Bloom captured with more appearing from the stove, each holding a lump of coal, though they were caught before they could do any harm with the Makuta turning into a Fire Burnak and released a pulse of elemental energy, melting the ice before changing back before exiting the back and saw Treacherous Mansion with Applejack saying something with the Makuta shapeshifting to a Fire Gafna and walked across the frozen lake with Apple Bloom as they headed towards the hut on the other side with the two entering the mine through there with the Makuta changing back afterwards.
"Should've taken one of those fur coats back at the chalet." Apple Bloom said, hugging herself for warmth with the Makuta forming a ball of plasma on the tip of his blade and lowered it towards the filly with her using it to warm herself, "Thank ya." She said with the Makuta nodding before some green ghosts with pickaxes along with a red ghost appearing before their capture with the Makuta using accuracy to send Apple Bloom to the second level before heading there himself by teleporting there before heading into a hallway and dealing with a brown ghost that appeared before entering the only unlocked door, one with a pit, an elevator that likely led back to the chalet, a gondola and another elevator in the form of a scale, "Think ya can grab the key with one yer fancy powers?" She asked the Makuta, noticing how low the key was with the Makuta using his magnetism to draw the key towards him with them reentering the hallway and opening a locked door that led to another hallway with a frozen floor and a chest with ghosts appearing, four green, one red and three pinks with the Makuta blasting green and red ghosts, allowing Apple Bloom to deal with the pink ghosts unhindered before capturing the ghosts.
"The ghosts have increased aggression since the two of you entered the mine, they've been attacking you more." Twilight said.
"That's because we're close to the end." Kratus replied, hoping to bring an end to this as Apple Bloom added to what Kratus said before the two entered another hallway after using the key Apple Bloom found in the chest, this one covered in ice with crates of dynamite.
"Okay, who let some Toa of Ice and/or some Ice Tribe Glatorian relieve some stress or practice using their control over ice in here?" Kratus asked jokingly before ghosts appeared including some blue ones that threw the explosives at them, though they earned a bolt of shadow to the face before Apple Bloom dealt with them as the Makuta engaged the remaining green, red and pink ghosts before their capture with Apple Bloom grabbing a stick of dynamite before the two returned to the room with the gondola and used the stick of dynamite to blast the ice that blocked the door to the gondola, with Pearl, Topaz, and Lapis appearing from the gondola, the Makuta noticing that someone took control of them as Apple Bloom expressed her disbelief before the ghosts created chains and attached them to the gondola, though they paused at the sight of the shadows wiggling a writhing about before flying off in different directions as Apple Bloom said something that worried her and the bearers who panicked before Twilight calmed them down except for Apple Bloom who looked around in fear before remembering Kratus' words he told her during their first adventure.
"Courage isn't the absence of fear, it's the will ta conquer it." She whispered as she looked at the Makuta who stood there in silence, "You okay?" She asked him.
"No." Kratus replied in an eerily calm voice, "I'm furious." He added as the shadows' movement grew more violent.
"Well, ya need ta calm down." Apple Bloom said, causing the Makuta sigh with the shadows' movement stopping.
"Whoa, that was creepy." Rainbow Dash said over the comms, the other bearers nodding in agreement.
"I apologize for that." Kratus said, earning the attention of the ponies. "I subconsciously manipulate the shadows in my fury."
"Fascinating." Twilight said, causing the Makuta to chuckle.
"Though, it has the side effect of intimidating those on the receiving end of my fury." Kratus added, "When I'm irritated, you should be worried. When I'm furious? Be afraid because I don't care who you are, just back away and hope you're not on the receiving end as I'll chew you out after smacking you or giving an equivalent of one depending on what you did." Kratus said before they heard Samuel.
"It's true, even I'm afraid when he's furious, even if I've never been on the receiving end." He said, surprising the ponies as he went back to watching his friend's progress who went back to the room with the crates of dynamite, finding Pearl along with pink and blue ghosts with the duo focusing on the other ghosts for they threw dynamite at the duo with the Makuta shrugging them off before they captured Pearl who spat fireballs at them, before they returned to the room with the elevator and dealt with the green ghosts along the way before using the elevator to return to the chalet, finding Topaz with green and orange ghosts with the latter two throwing coals at them with Apple Bloom dealing with them as Kratus had another good ol' fist fight with Topaz and defeating him again before his capture.
"That leaves Lapis, but we need to explore the rest of the mine." Kratus said with Apple Bloom nodding in agreement before they used the elevator, the Makuta teleporting them across the bridge and took another door and entered a place with broken down railroad tracks with a makeshift wooden plank bridge taken from a wall on the second part of the gap with the two finding a key trapped in the ice on the other side with Apple Bloom retrieving it as the Makuta waited for her with the Makuta transforming back into a Fire Burnak and released a pulse of fire energy against the ice blocking the door, melting it as the Makuta changed back as Apple Bloom unlocked the door, finding a slope in the next room with a makeshift zipline the way back up.
"There a Rahi that ya change into ta get us back up?" Apple Bloom asked, earning a nod.
"Crystal Climber, their claws can let them grip cold and slippery surfaces while using their long tails for balance. They also have great night vision." Kratus said before the two went down the slope before turning a propeller to raise a gate that blocked a building and entered a room with a bonfire in the middle and a pair of armor for use by the gryphons that held spears in their claws, though they were lighter for increased agility, though it meant that physical attacks had greater effect, though that mattered little to the Makuta's Protosteel armor, especially since the spears bounced off before the Makuta unleashed a wave of compressed air that sent it into the wall that shattered it, allowing for the capture of the green ghosts within before more green ghosts appeared along with a red and an orange, the latter used both spears to attack until the Makuta blasted it with his skyblaster allowing Apple Bloom to capture it along with other ghosts.
"Mind melt'n that block of ice?" She asked, pointing at the block of ice that prevented them from exiting through the door with the Makuta nodding in agreement before a pink ghost opened the window, allowing the freezing wind from the blizzard along with pink and green ghosts that attacked and ended in their capture before the Makuta used his heat vision on the block of ice after Apple Bloom shut the window before the two left the room and entered a shaft with a rotor with the Makuta turning it to go down as the filly dealt with the green, red and pink ghosts that attacked them with them entering a room after turning another mechanism to open the door, though Apple Bloom was thrown into the rope that prevented anyone from falling off, the Makuta wasn't as he phased through the door with his density control allowing him to avoid being flung into the rope, though said room had toppled mine carts and a lantern hanging above a pit with the two using the door to the other room with a pair of doors, one in front with the other to the left, though one door was blocked by iron bars that was raised by a pair of ropes with one frozen over with green, red and pink ghosts attacking while a brown ghost blocked the second door that ended in their capture with the Makuta using his heat vision to melt the ice on the frozen rope before more ghosts along with two orange ghosts attacked with the orange throwing coal at them before their capture.
"I wish they'd learn that attacking us is pointless." Kratus said, the filly nodding in agreement as the Makuta pulled both ropes that raised the iron bars allowing the two to open the door and entered a room with a railway and many pipes with a key hanging in the ceiling frozen in ice with the Makuta flinging a blob of plasma at the ice, freeing the key that dropped to the ground with the filly recovering without any ghosts appearing as the two used the key to open the door and found themselves in an abandoned quarry where Lapis Lazuli along with three brown and five orange ghosts, the duo dealing with the orange ghosts that attacked by throwing pickaxes at them, though they only caught two with the remaining three joining the brown ghosts floating near Lapis who charged them with a cue stick before the Makuta used chain lightning to deal with them, allowing the Apple Bloom to capture them, with that the Makuta teleported them back to where the gondola was before ghosts attacked them, including a gryphon who died in the mine with the duo surprised that they hadn't encountered more, along with pony ghosts that worked at Old Clockwork, though both had a foreboding feeling that Pyrite had the rest at Treacherous Mansion as the two entered the gondola finding a cannon there with Makuta sending a blob of plasma at the frozen rope that melted the ice, allowing the filly to cross to the heavily damaged gondola with one wall missing and two more partially missing with the Makuta following as a Fire Gafna with two using the beams to cross to the workshop with the Makuta warding off crows with elemental energy with the two finding entrance to the workshop opened by a mechanism that used a generator in another room with Apple Bloom grabbing coal from a pile brought there by a conveyor belt and threw it into the furnace with the Makuta igniting it with elemental energy before changing back with them leaving the room and entered the workshop after pressing a button, finding the workshop ravaged with a large chunk of the floor missing revealing the ice underneath with another Bogmire-like ghost above the ice as its body shifted with elemental energy, fire, water, earth and wind with Twilight and Rarity speaking before the ghost entered the ice, melting a hole while creating a room with the Makuta and the filly following it with it waiting with Pyrite nearby who spoke.
"Something that the ponies can fully fight are the elements. They can tame them to use it for everyday activities, but when they must face fury, the only possible response is to escape, or die. Now face the incarnation of this fury: Nature's Wrath. I wonder how you will die. Cooked? Buried? Frozen? We will see soon enough," He said, cackling before flying away as Nature's Wrath attacked after forming a suit of armor out of wind.
"That's not going to stop us." Kratus said, as the shadow sent gusts of wind at them before drawing in the air around the shadow, hitting it with it the same time as the chunk of ice Apple Bloom sent at it, the shadow then broke a pipe and use the gas coming out to create armor out of fire and attacked with fireballs. Though the Makuta grinned and drew in air before unleashing in a shockwave that had the dual effect of extinguishing the fire and sending the shadow into the wall, stunning it, allowing for Apple Bloom to use the Poltergust on it as it recovered, and once it did, it created armor out of ice with the Makuta rolling his eyes and sent plasma its way, melting the ice with the shadow creating armor made of stone with the Makuta unimpressed, sending a beam of energy that shattered the armor, stunning the creature allowing the two to attack it directly, before it recovered with it creating armor that shifted between the elements with the duo acting appropriately with the two defeating the shadow shortly after with the key to Treacherous Mansion falling from a chunk of ice with Apple Bloom grabbing it.
"We did it! Girls, we can go ta the last manor now! Girls? Girls? Hello?" The filly said, though she and the Makuta only heard silence before a tapping noise.
She was confused and worried; she was busy keeping herself warm when she heard a commotion above her after the blizzard died down and found that her friend's friends were silent while inside the transport before deciding to tap a claw on it, with no one answering before her friend and his partner appeared.
The sight of the interior of the caravan was a mess with Apple Bloom taking of her headband with the camera and the Makuta detaching the communicator that he was given earlier from the side of his Kanohi and changing it back to its normal appearance as Apple Bloom tied her bow back on before putting on Applejack's hat as the shadows wiggled and writhed once more while the Makuta clenched his fists before both vowed to make Pyrite and his ally pay.
The walk to Treacherous Mansion was a quiet one other than the crunching of snow beneath the feet of the Makuta and the Nui-Jaga as Apple Bloom rode in its back with it looking worryingly at the filly and her friend and tried to comfort the former who brushed it off, causing the Rahi to chitter in sadness before her friend spoke.
"This is it, the last manor." He said after an hour of walking up the mountain, arriving at said manor before turning towards the filly, "I have an admission to make." He added, earning the attention of the filly.
"What's that?" She asked.
"Although I don't know who is behind all this, I do know what is behind it." Kratus replied, though the filly was upset that her partner kept this information from her, she knew he had his reasons, "Pyrite's ally is a Lord of The Dead." He added, earning Apple Bloom's curiosity, "As the title suggests, they control the dead. But to a greater degree than a necromancer along with more abilities than a necromancer."
"How d'ya know all this?"
"Because, during my travels, I've encountered Lords of The Dead, some friendly with others hostile."
"And yer thinkin' we're dealin' with the latter?"
"I don't think we are, I know we are." Kratus replied, opening the entrance to the grounds of the manor, with the two taking in the sight of Treacherous Mansion. A huge two-story building sitting on a huge pillar of stone and earth in the middle of a round seemingly bottomless ravine, like a huge black hole in the middle of the lake where the water dropped to disappear in the darkness. The path leading to the mansion had almost totally collapsed, to the point that in some places, all that remained were very narrow and brittle bridges, and the mansion's right front corners wasn't on the ground at all, giving the impression that the building could fall at any time. This same corner seemed to be invaded by vegetation, roots coming out of the floor and keeping it stable while the top of trees were poking out of the roof. At the left, they saw a well, a doghouse and a staircase on the side of the cliff that led to a door with debris blocking it, though a pair of gargoyles guarded the front door, both hoping they won't move before the two approached the door after traversing the path with Apple Bloom securing her sister's hat, only for the ghost dog from before to jump out from the door and grab the key, both the filly and Makuta seeing red.
"Ya stupid dog, give that key back! We ain't got time ta play with ya, we got everypony to save!" Apple Bloom said before the dog took off after looking back in curiosity with the duo growling as a result, though the ghosts inside the manor heard the noise and laughed or blew raspberries out the window, the Makuta giving a glare after shaking his fist.
When we get in there, they're gonna pay for that. Kratus thought before he and the filly went to after the dog first by seeing where it was before going into the well after checking to see if they could sneak up on the dog that way with them entering a tunnel with the dog leaving while dropping the helmet on its head that they saw it had when the checked to see where it was before the four suits armor they saw earlier attacked, only for the Makuta to melt them with his heat vision with the ghosts inside leaving resulting in their capture allowing for Apple Bloom to peek into the hole between the debris with the dog inside a semicircular room while the Makuta smashed a weakened wall in the tunnel and found another entrance to the underground, though whether by the growing darkness that his friend sensed inside of him, or by growing impatience, the Makuta decided not to raise the grate but decided to pull it apart with his magnetism as Apple Bloom followed, worried about her companion who opened the door with spiders and a suit of armor waiting for them, the Makuta shooting each one with his skyblaster and gave the ghost a death glare along with a growl with it struggling in the tendrils of shadow the Makuta summoned to capture it, though when he went to attack it with his sword along with more tendrils of shadow, Apple Bloom managed to snap the Makuta out of his anger with it hiding behind the filly who noticed that the terror in the ghost's eyes, terror it held for the Makuta while she noticed that said emotion broke the Lord of The Dead's hold over it.
"It'll be okay, he won't hurt ya now." Apple Bloom said, trying to comfort the ghost who continued to look at the Makuta who looked at it with indifference before turning around, the ghost deciding to remain where it was shivering in fear as the Makuta and filly entered the room with a big chain linking the floor an alcove before the armor in the room attacked before the Makuta reduced them to piles of molten metal with his heat vision with the filly capturing them, not wanting them go through the same trauma that the green ghost in the tunnel went through before the two went to the throne that lowered it to the floor below, the Makuta growling at sight of the purple energy surrounding the entry ways as he recognized what it was, a maze that the two completed after Apple Bloom used the DLD to find the paw prints of the ghost along with dealing with the ghosts that possessed the armor in the maze with them ending up in a lab where two green ghosts were performing an experiment on armor while laughing like mad scientists with the armor coming to life with the two ghosts retreating to watch the show after pointing at the two companions.
"Don't they know it's useless?" Kratus growled, using his heat vision to melt the armor with Apple Bloom capturing them with the two going through another maze and dealing with red, green and pink ghosts, before finding the dog at the bottom of a staircase, the Makuta attempting to stop the dog before it could flee and failing with the two pursuing it into a dungeon and after dealing with the blue ghosts hiding barrels, they found the dog and captured him with the dog unable to come out with the two teleporting back to the front of the mansion and unlocked the door where they found Diamond Cup leading twenty-four green ghosts armed with swords and shields with red ghosts holding baseball bats with other green ghosts wearing helmets. Though once Diamond Cup gave the order to attack, the Makuta grinned, tossing his sword up much to the confusion of everyone else before the hilt grew, returning it to being a swordstaff with shadow energy gathering around the blade and with one mighty swing, the Makuta unleashed the energy in a wave that slammed into the ghosts as he sliced the bats the red ghosts held in two and gathered the swords and helmets in a ball with his magnetism before reducing them to molecules with his inorganic molecular disruption as Apple Bloom captured the ghosts only for more to arrive. Mostly armed red ghosts with some green and pink ghosts along with two pony ghosts from Old Clockwork, ending in their capture with Apple Bloom having to pause for a bit to prevent the Poltergust from overheating.
"Didn't know ya could turn yer sword." Apple Bloom said, earning the Makuta's attention after checking the room.
"Into a swordstaff?" Kratus asked, interrupting. "This is what it normally looks like, only that a certain deity we know changed it into a sword for tight quarters with me able to change it depending on the situation." He added, changing it back to a sword before the two entered the second floor and found ghosts under the command of Golden Hair with them causing a giant gargoyle statue holding two cages to disappear with both thinking the same thing.
Clever, too bad we saw you. Never would've guessed that there's a giant gargoyle here, and since you made it disappear, then it must be important for us to continue.
"Come, we'll find a way to recover it." Kratus said with the two returning to the first floor and entered the door to the left of the entrance, entering a hallway with the ghosts attacking them with some possessing armor that the Makuta shattered using tendrils of shadow allowing for their capture along with the brown ghost blocking the door at the end, and entered a room full of armor and weapons from Equestria's past, all possessed by ghosts under the command of Jumpscare who operated one of his own with the Makuta melting the armor with his inorganic molecular disruption. While lamenting the loss of historical artifacts that were in pristine condition, he couldn't let that get in the way of doing his job with the two entering a door to the right and entered another hallway with lots of gargoyles with a door with ice around it, though as the two walked across the hallway a food cart barreled from the right with both avoiding it before it slammed into the wall with dazed green ghosts appearing with Apple Bloom taking the opportunity to capture them before more ghosts appeared including some orange ghosts that attempted to use what was on the cart to attack the two of them, though they ended up captured with the two entering the door surrounded by ice and found themselves in a room covered by ice and snow, an igloo, a mammoth that the filly poked and found that it wouldn't move, along with some fishing holes with Zircon waiting for them with three ghosts of gryphons, some pink and blue ghosts that threw fish from the buckets with the Makuta frying each one with his chain lightning and by that, he burnt them to a crisp with Apple Bloom capturing the ghosts and spotting a key in the shape of a gargoyle's head with the Makuta melting the ice to free it and deduced that it had a relationship with the gargoyle statue. Though the two of them decided to explore the rest of the mansion that they could access without the key with them leaving and head down the right path and dealing with ghosts along the way before entering a kitchen where green ghosts attacked them with kitchen utensils along with a ghost of a cook with Apple Bloom capturing them all before they took a path before Apple Bloom spoke.
"So, what d'ya think this Lord of The Dead wants from us?" She asked the Makuta. "Despite my interactions with Lords of The Dead in the past, I have no idea as each had different personalities, though the friendlier ones sometimes requested my help with some tasks."
"Such as?"
"One asked to help him undo what some idiot did; making it so that everything living was turned into an undead." Kratus replied, opening the door and finding it returned them to the courtyard where the ghosts from the windows attacked along with Golden Hair with Apple Bloom turning the Poltergust to red while the Makuta unleashed a sonic attack that stunned the ghosts allowing for their capture with the five browns that dropped down. Once the courtyard was empty of ghosts, Apple Bloom used the DLD to make the gargoyle statue visible again and found that both cages were open with the Makuta throwing two stones into the cages, lowering the arms and finding that, as the Makuta deduced earlier. There was a keyhole, but guessed wrongly for it had two, meaning that it required two keys with the two wondering where the second was before noticing three balconies, one right, left and at the back with no way to enter the left balcony from the left side of the manor as neither saw staircases that led to it before they entered the right side of the manor through the door on the right with a hallway similar to the one on the left with two doors on the left of this hallway leading to two bathrooms with a red in one and using the toilet before Apple Bloom "pranked" it before capturing it with a green ghost attempting to do the same in the other, though Apple Bloom and Kratus fooled it, causing it to appear and boo them in disappointment before it ended up in the Poltergust.
The two had to clear the hall again before they entered the door with sand around it, and finding that it had a winding staircase that led to the lower level with sand passing by a giant statue. Once at the bottom they found coffins from which mummies commanded by Clean Order burst out, the Makuta lighting them all with heat vision allowing for the capture of the ghosts inside along with the butler along with pink and red ghosts that appeared before they left the room and cleared the hall of more ghosts and entered the door surrounded by vines finding themselves in a room full of plants, waterfalls, tribal masks, logs and a giant carnivorous plant guarding the second key before ghosts wearing masks and wielding tribal spears led by Opal Note attacked with Apple Bloom capturing them as the Makuta dealt with plant after calling it a weed with his blade and retrieved the second key before the two left to the hallway again with a lot of ghosts glaring at them, "I think they're mad at us for sequence braking, which is a gaming term." Kratus told the filly before the two cleared the hallway and returned to the courtyard with the two inserting both keys at the base of the statue, causing it to lower as a spiral staircase replaced with it, at first leading to the rear balcony that had a locked door, though they found that the staircase could rotate using the rotor and turned it, causing it to rotate clockwise with it stopping at the right balcony.
"Now we're getting somewhere." Apple Bloom said as the two found the door unlocked before they cleared the hallway of the ghosts before approaching the left most door that they spotted after entering, though it turned out to be a trap with Apple Bloom rubbing her nose, "I forgot those doors existed." She said.
"That one doesn't anymore." Kratus said after using disintegration on it in retaliation before the two used the next door that, thankfully for the two of them, was a real door that led to a room with a table and chair, stacks of books and a bookshelf with same colored books with one missing, "A study." The Makuta said, as the two cleared out the paranormal activity before checking where the missing book was and found a secret passage to a room with a train theme and unable to find the book in the room, the two left it to the last room and found it rocking like a boat while full of fog coming from a hole in the wall and a red ghost at a wheel and other objects linked to sailing with a statue of an octopus on a barrel with the Makuta closing the hole and Apple Bloom capturing the ghost along with the ghosts that appeared afterwards before the two left the room and returned to the courtyard since they finished exploring the right side of the manor and turned the rotor causing it to turn to the left balcony and entered a hall that had three rooms and dealt with the ghosts there and tested the door to the right and found it was a real door that led to a room full of model airships and balloons with a large balloon in the center before clearing the room of ghosts and exiting it to head to the next door.
The room the door led to was small with a table with stuff on it, a ladder and four boxes with Ruby and Sapphire jumping out of two of them as they approached, with Ruby holding the book the duo needed causing the Makuta. Despite not like having to hurt young ones, even if they're ghosts to take aim at Ruby and fired his skyblaster before they could escape, though Sapphire, having seen the Makuta move. Grabbed Ruby and ran with him making the Makuta miss as the twins headed to the airship and balloon room with the two pursued them and found the two colts in the basket of the large balloon before more ghosts appeared and attacked while the colts threw bombs at the duo with the Makuta's armor shrugging off the explosions before he sent a ball of fragmentation energy at the basket, causing it to explode and sent the twins flying, allowing Apple Bloom to capture them, though Swift Wave took the book from Ruby before the Makuta nailed her, though she recovered quick enough to escape with the book with the Makuta glaring at her.
The two found Swift Wave in the right hallway before she entered the nautical room with the two fighting ghosts on the way to her, including Octy the Octopus from the Gem Manor who became the cook for Apple Bloom's Mansion, though the fight was easier since he didn't have jars to hide in but as the duo climbed the ramp to Swift Wave, Crystal Ball took the book from her.
"Stupid baton pass using a book." Kratus growled before vaporizing water sent at them by Swift Wave, with Apple Bloom capturing the fat ghost before the duo went off in pursuit of Crystal Ball.
The duo chased Crystal Ball into the room to the second story on the left that the two didn't explore, with the Makuta appreciating the irony of the theme, paranormal activity with an ouija board, pictures with a ghost in them, weird items and dolls that the Makuta guessed were used for voodoo and such with the final thing being a crystal ball with the mare named after it hovering above it with the book floating nearby with more ghosts appearing to stop them, including orange ghosts throwing objects at them with Crystal Ball through a greater amount but when she used her namesake… "PEST!" Kratus growled after the flash of light died down, causing him to believe that the crystal ball would be a nuisance, covered the object in shadow, preventing Crystal Ball from using it effectively no matter how hard she tried to clear the shadow away, though some light got through the shroud, not enough to blind Apple Bloom and Kratus, but enough to dampen their vision long enough for the ghosts to injure the former, though that proved useless as the fight ended with the duo capturing the ghosts and retrieving the book.
The duo entered the room where the passage to the train themed room was with Apple Bloom having a bloody muzzle with the Makuta placing the book back causing the bookshelf to move to the left, allowing the two to enter the train themed room where Emerald waited for them with the key while surrounded by many ghosts before the mare attacked with her eye beams, though the Makuta reflected them away or countered with his own while he and the filly dodged attacks from the ghosts until he decided to use an ability that he used yet, he let out a howl that caused the ghosts in the room to cover their ears stopping their attacks though he prevented it from effecting Apple Bloom with silence allowing her to capture the ghosts at her leisure as the Makuta continued to howl while he used another ability he hadn't used yet, confusion that dazed the ghosts, he only stopped when Apple Bloom captured the last of the ghosts.
The key the two retrieved unlocked the door on the back balcony with it leading to a terrace with an alter, the two cautiously approached the altar with the Makuta moving his skyblaster from side-to-side, but as they neared the altar, portals opened up from all directions including one at the altar with ghosts pouring out, including Golden Shoes, Silver Shoes and Platinum Shoes, with Little Ghost nowhere in sight, though the other normal ghosts included ones from the valley and the ghosts of ponies, gryphons, zebras and breezies along with painted ghosts made by Pyrite, all controlled by the Lord of The Dead with the duo nodding to each other before the Makuta changed his sword back into a swordstaff along with growing to his true height of 14 ft as the battle began.
Apple Bloom captured the ghosts while Kratus acted as crowd control, using his abilities to push the ghosts back while blasting them with his skyblaster allowing Apple Bloom capture them in small groups with the Poltergust almost overheating several times as the crowd thinned, though wraiths also appeared with Apple Bloom dealing with most of them as Kratus absorbed one with his Shadow Hand and crushed its will and nailed two more with his skyblaster set to light ammunition, though once they were dealt with and things started to calm, another portal opened with an alicorn ghost coming out and firing a magical beam.
"Fortunately for us, there's only two Alicorns capable of defeating me with a third potentially able to give me trouble, though I'm not saying which ones." Kratus said before he engaged the alicorn allowing for Apple Bloom to capture the rest unhindered by it with the Makuta defeating the alicorn with multiple strikes from his swordstaff and his skyblaster allowing for its capture.
The two rested in front of the portal for an hour with the two ready to continue, Apple Bloom's muzzle stopped bleeding and the rest of her wounds weren't painful anymore with the Makuta having regained his power after meditating with the two entering the portal after Samuel wished them luck.
They appeared on a small island inside the spiritual world, a purple void with countless random objects floating around, mainly objects, buildings or parts of the latter with the air cold and empty, not even a breeze, though it was saturated with spiritual energy.
"This spirit world is different from the ones I've entered." Kratus said with Apple Bloom looking at him in curiosity, "The ones I've entered looked like the living realm." He added before turning towards the path made of islands that led to a ruined statue of Celestia, "Stay alert, there's no telling what will happen." He said, Apple Bloom nodding an affirmative before the two crossed the path to the statue and found a half conscious Applejack inside the ruins with Apple Bloom disregarding the warning from earlier, excited to see her sister before a Shadow made of magic appeared between the filly and her sister, then they heard the voice of one the ones they're after.
"Not so fast." Pyrite said, floating above Applejack.
"You." Kratus said in an eerily calm voice, shadows wiggling and writhing before Pyrite spoke. Though his voice appeared calm, he was intimidated by the sight of the Makuta furious.
"You faced animals, objects, time, and nature. What else do you think causes a lot of death among ponies? Magic, of course. More than anything, magic caused a lot of suffering, and will cause more in the future. Magical accidents, power hungry tyrants like Sombra, wars, or just wild magic suddenly going out of control. So face the last Shadow, Dark Magic, and be ready to fight the ponies' best friend, but also their worst enemy." He said, giving an evil smirk before disappearing, leaving behind Dark Magic and Applejack, the former taking possession of her body, causing the Makuta to let out an enraged yell that echoed for bios as something happened.
To her sister's horror, Applejack painfully transformed, the mare groaning in pain as a horn started to grow out of her forehead while bones poked out of both sides of her barrel to form skeletal wings. Flesh then appeared on the bone, followed by orange feathers, ending Applejack's transformation into an alicorn. But it wasn't over. The mare opened her eyes that had become green with purple smoke coming out of them, and she gave the filly a glare promising murder. Her fur and mane became darker, and purple crystals appeared on her body, forming a crystal armor with claws at the forehoofs, some forming two swords that floated at both sides of Applejack with her foes vowing to save the mare and glared at the shadow possessing the mare.
The two charged with Applejack firing a beam of magic in their path, causing a spike of crystal to rise, the two dodging it by moving to the side, with Applejack swinging her swords, the Makuta catching both in his hands with the possessed mare attempting to pull them out, only for cracks to form in the crystal before they shattered, rendering them useless before the Makuta delivered an uppercut with Applejack turning into a shadow and moved away and stomped on the floor that created a shockwave that shattered the crystal with Apple Bloom hitting the possessed mare with Makuta using his skyblaster using shadow energy as ammunition along with tendrils of shadow before Dark Magic left the mare allowing Apple Bloom to use the Poltergust on the shadow, though it defended itself with its power before possessing Applejack again and transformed her once more, this time giving her a nightmare form while changing her side. With the process of forcing the shadow out of her repeating though, instead of delivering an uppercut to the mare, Kratus threw her into the wall with the shadow leaving the possessed mare with Apple Bloom using the Poltergust once more, but before it could posses the mare again, the area darkened briefly as cold wind blew, causing it and Apple Bloom to freeze before they heard a growl coming from the Makuta with them hearing Samuel who finally was able to observe the duo's progress, though what he saw horrified him.
"No… no no no, not again." He said, his voice filled with worry and terror as the Makuta let out a primal roar, sending a shiver down the spine of the filly and the shadow, "Apple Bloom, snap out of it and RUN!" He shouted, snapping the filly out of her terror.
"What happened to our friend?" She asked, her voice filled with terror as the Makata charged the shadow like wild animal.
"His rage has blinded him, there's now only a beast in control." The deity said sorrowfully.
"Ya make it sound like it's happened before."
"Because it has, and it happened multiple times in a life he lived before who he is now. Sometimes I was able to stop his rampage, though sometimes it ended on its own before anyone innocent got hurt… or worse." Samuel said, causing the filly to gulp as she watched the fight, her enraged friend absorbed every attack from the shadow before it possessed Applejack again, though it never got the chance to change the mare for the Makuta slammed the mare into statue forcing the shadow to leave the mare with the Makuta turning his attention to the shadow and attacking it before they heard Apple Bloom shout, snapping the Makuta out of his rage and returning his armor to normal and causing him to turn around and found that a piece of the horn impaled Applejack, killing her with the filly in tears before turning towards the direction of the Makuta.
She knew it wasn't her companion's fault that her sister died, but she could see that her friend looked shocked then remorseful that it happened before she turned to Dark Magic then activated the Poltergust and slammed the shadow into the ground fifty times before it disappeared with her walking up the Makuta and told him it wasn't his fault then… she cried into his leg with Makuta kneeling down rubbing her back, unable to say words to comfort the filly as he still blamed himself before they heard Applejack.
"Both of ya, stop it. It's over." She said, her orange hooves transparent as she hugged them, "I'm sorry, but ya did yer best." She added before a beam of purple energy struck her, causing her to clench her head with the duo telling her to resist, only for her to get a blank look and float away into the void with the arena tilting as they went after her, causing them to fall onto a smaller island towards that floated towards a larger island with a tower in the center and on the top…
And now, she was a ghost controlled by Pyrite's mysterious ally.
Like Smart Spirit.
Like the Gem Family.
And maybe even like the others...
Who was dead? Who was still alive? What about Little Ghost? She was the only member of the Gem Family they hadn't fought for now. Were they keeping her as a trump card?
They didn't know.
Kratus and Apple Bloom only knew one thing as their small island was approaching the giant one with the tower at the center: Pyrite was the responsible for all this.
He was the one who freed Bogmire to assassinate his whole family and get their fortune.
He was the one who escaped the first time.
He was the one who went to seek help from this Lord of The Dead of his.
So he was indirectly the one who caused the death of Smart Spirit and Applejack.
This had to stop.
The duo wasn't over Applejack's death, though with their destination finally reached, they put it in the back of their minds, moving from their island to the larger one as the Makuta halved his size, entered Pyrite's chosen arena for their battle. The stallion was waiting for them at the top of the tower. The two walked towards it, full of rage and hate towards him.
If he wasn't already dead, she would kill him after making him suffer. Though knowing he would rot for eternity in Tartarus was enough.
He, on the other hand, didn't care that the stallion was already dead, and would torment him with his preferred method of punishing scum like him before giving him the mercy of oblivion if it were up to him as he learned a valuable lesson.
Never anger a Makuta, especially Kratus, for he can and will make a the worst tyrant seem like a stuffed toy.
Then, canvases appeared along with floating paintbrushes, though as the latter moved to paint, the Makuta used his inorganic molecular disruption on them, scattering their molecules before igniting the canvases with his heat vision, though more appeared, forcing the duo to dash into the tower and deal with ghosts all the way to the top with Pyrite hovering above a bell used to warn of invasions with ghosts already there with more arriving, though they didn't attack with Pyrite chuckling instead before speaking.
"Finally, you're here… now that Thanatos had his fun, I can have my revenge. Oh, but I admit, seeing your expressions when you discovered the old fool was dead and when the older sister was dead was worth the wait. But now, I will kill you, and take back what." He said before Kratus interrupted him by blasting the ghost with his skyblaster using light energy.
"I told you before, you forfeited any right to your family's fortune thanks to the actions towards your family and now… your lack of remorse for what happened shows how unworthy you are. I wouldn't be surprised if your family disowned you and wiped your name from the tree, a fitting fate for a traitor like you." The Makuta snarled.
"Ya'll got only one thing, Pyrite, an eternity in Tartarus with this Thanatos." Apple Bloom growled.
Pyrite laughed. "Thanatos? Imprisoned in Tartarus?" He smirked at the duo. "Thanatos is one of the few beings in existence that Tartarus can't keep imprisoned. His power is beyond anything you can think of. If you face him... he could kill you on the spot if he wanted. You are just a larva compared to him. Not like this will happen since you will die now." He said, though as after he rang the bell with the hammer and the ghosts attacked, the ringing stopped even though the bell still moved with Pyrite looking at in confusion as darkness spread and tendrils of shadow appeared, crushing, impaling, slicing or tearing apart the ghosts before the darkness rescinded, Apple Bloom and Pyrite look towards the source of the drain… the Kratus' Midak Skyblaster and swordstaff and after the Makuta returned to his full height. Uh-oh. Pyrite thought before the Makuta swung his swordstaff, unleashing a wave of shadow that decimated the painted ghosts before taking aim at Pyrite. Double uh-oh. The ghost thought before the Makuta fired, unleashing a beam of shadow that engulfed the stallion, destroying the bell in the process along with more painted ghosts, any that remained found themselves frozen by a wave of fear as the beam of shadow ended, revealing a weakened Pyrite with the Makuta grabbing him.
"Let's see if this works on ghosts directly." He told the stallion before a green glow surrounded his hand, Apple Bloom's eyes widened in recognition of the glow before Pyrite screamed as pain coursed through him. Then, he felt himself growing weak before the Makuta dropped him, then stomped on him repeatedly with Pyrite before tendrils of shadow grabbed the stallion around his legs and pulled, causing him to scream in pain before electrical energy coursed through him with his senses growing numb, "Your punishment… has only begun." Kratus told him after pausing, Pyrite screamed in horror and struggled to get away with the tendrils of shadow squeezing harder as the Makuta entered the stallion's mind, and tortured him that way.
"Stop it!" Apple Bloom said, causing the Makuta to pause from his torture of the stallion. Who begged for mercy with the Makuta denying it, for he had none for the piece of scum who he decided that he should suffer both physical and mental torment. "We need ta punish him the right way." She added, causing the Makuta to pause once more.
"Tartarus is too good for slime like him." Kratus retorted, giving the stallion a glare that caused the stallion try and break free of the tendrils to run and hide, something that would've been pointless. For one can run from The Lord and Master of Shadow, but they can't hide from him.
"Even if it is, this isn't the way." Apple Bloom countered, Pyrite looked at the filly for mercy. Something she granted by capturing him without resistance, whether it was because the stallion was too weak to resist or wanted to get away from the Makuta, she knew not. An island floated towards them after the duo wondered where Thanatos and Apple Bloom's friends and family were with the two stepping on it with it transporting the duo to a void of darkness before they heard a bell in the darkness before more rang with the duo having a bad feeling before purple flames appeared on both sides of the island forming a path that the island traveled.
Then Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Spike appeared in round cages that floated around in a circle.
"Everypony!" The duo said.
"Apple Bloom! Makuta!" Sweetie Belle yelled.
"Help!" Spike yelled.
The duo looked around, looking at the cages, wondering what to do, the Makuta couldn't use his powers as it would cause the captives to fall if Thanatos hadn't made said powers useless against them, though the Lord of The Dead could probably make more before they heard an organ play with the duo turning around and found a castle rising from the depths as a skull of a dragon opened its mouth with the cages flying into it and entered the castle through the double doors of the castle, the two took off in pursuit, following the screams of the ponies and dragon with the duo climbing staircases and passing by doors with the organ growing louder before they stopped in front of double doors that required four keys in the mouth of a pony skull painted on them, though they didn't need said keys as the door opened for them. The two entered a room plunged in darkness. The only things they could see were cages with what was left of Apple Bloom's friends and family and Little Ghost tied to something they couldn't see.
Torches lit up with purple flames, giving little light as the two advanced cautiously.
"Well, hello there." A voice between the cages said.
"Thanatos, show yourself." Kratus said after figuring out that the owner was the one they were after.
"Very well." Thanatos said, a pair of purple flames appeared, forming eyes, "I would congratulate you on defeating Pyrite and winning my game, but the fight was one sided and not entertaining, unlike the rest of the game." He added, giving a glance at the Makuta.
"This game of yours caused the deaths of two ponies, Smart Spirit and Applejack." He growled, making the captives gasp.
"I know." Thanatos said as the ghosts of Smart Spirit and Applejack entered the room, "Aren't they lovely like." He added before Kratus interrupted by sending a bolt of light at him, "Rude much?" Thanatos asked after avoiding the bolt.
"At this point in time, I don't care." The Makuta said, "So, why don't you show us what you really are, Lord of The Dead."
"Lord of The Dead? That's an interesting thing to call me." Thanatos said before a claw appeared and twirled around, causing more ghosts to appear and join Smart Spirit and Applejack in spinning around the room, "Especially since the living are mere playthings to me. Just one touch from the tips of my fingers " He added as a claw bopped Sweetie Belle, causing her to slump over with Apple Bloom screaming her name, "And they break, becoming a new servant to me, for death is my domain, because. I. Am. Death! Or to be more exact Thanatos, Spirit of The Dead." He said, revealing himself to be a skeletal draconequus. The captives gasped as Thanatos laughed and spread his arms and revealed all his glory.
"This changes nothing! We're still going ta capture ya and save everypony!" Apple Bloom shouted.
"Oh?" Thanatos asked, jumping from his throne and landed among the ghosts, scratching Sweetie Belle's chin, "Then, please, entertain me." He said smugly before the surrounding ghosts attacked the duo, mainly ponies from the three tribes, though zebras and gryphons attacked, that was before a shiver went down their spines as the Makuta bellowed out in laughter, it didn't sound like one of evil, but one of amusement, "You're supposed to be entertaining me, not the other way around." The spirit said as the Makuta continued to laugh before stopping.
"I too… am a lord." He began, amused. "Not a lord of the dead like you, obviously." He added as he grew again, "But of shadow, just as they gave birth to me, they empower me, they are me, and where they dwell, I dwell, for they are my domain and mine to command, for I am their Lord and Master." He said before they heard his friend.
"Since he made that speech Thanatos. I only have ten words to say."
"And they would be?" The Spirit of The Dead asked.
"He ain't gonna just fight you, he's gonna pulverize you." Samuel replied, pausing for a few seconds, "Another thing, you made a mistake because you've angered him to the point where he won't show any mercy." He added, going back to watching the fight, Apple Bloom and Kratus isolating and capturing Applejack before the Makuta sent beams of shadow at Thanatos from his skyblaster that nailed him as he attempted to touch either him or Apple Bloom who trapped him in a vortex that he escaped after two seconds with an explosion of energy that sent the filly flying, though a beam of plasma scorched his side, blackening one of his ribs as he countered, going after Apple Bloom while the ghosts went after the Makuta.
"Too scared to face me?" Kratus asked Thanatos smugly.
"No, I just have somepony else to deal with."
"A pity." Kratus said, hitting the spirit with electrical energy that made a loud crack as shadow energy gathered inside his skyblaster before he unleashed it in a beam that split apart, each separate beam nailing the ghosts and Thanatos and stunned them, allowing for the capture of Sweetie Belle and Smart Spirit along with more ghosts, though Thanatos sent a wave of energy that sent Apple Bloom flying before the Makuta blocked it with one of his own as Thanatos taunted Apple Bloom about her state, though that left him open to a shockwave of air from the Makuta who gathered shadow energy inside his skyblaster before unleashing it in a large beam, that overwhelmed him as Apple Bloom captured the last of the ghosts, though Thanatos wasn't done yet, as he went after the Makuta by teleporting behind him to use his touch of death, though he sensed something inside the Makuta.
A shard of the dead? What is one of them doing inside this guy? He thought before sensing something about it; it was ancient, though before he could draw it out and find out who the shard was, the Makuta turned around and sent him flying with a backhanded slap with the skeletal draconequus deciding to investigate later as he had other priorities, such as playing with the duo in front of him by sending bones at them with the filly dodging them with them shattering against the Makuta's armor, Silly me, anything physical that I know of shatters, bounces off or crumples against that armor. Thanatos thought, mentally facepalming with the Makuta amused before he attacked, sending a beam of energy through the ground at Thanatos, that exploded underneath him that sent him flying before he attempted to use the touch of the dead against Apple Bloom, only for the Makuta to grab his wrist with him growing weaker.
"Life drain sucks when used against you, doesn't it?" Kratus asked, smirking before sending him flying, his Shadow Hand smacking him into the ground before turning into a fist that pounded the skeletal figure while creating a crater before he teleported and attempted send bones and purple flames against the duo with the Makuta dodging the flames with the filly doing the same with the bones, though as he went to use the touch of the dead, he found himself slowed down, "You must be getting old, you're a little slow there." Kratus said, smirking before giving Thanatos the beat down with his many abilities and his skyblaster before the spirit's speed returned to normal before Apple Bloom captured him.
Finally, they defeated Thanatos, but before either she and her friend could yell in victory, Thanatos burst out of the Poltergust, causing the duo to groan before Thanatos congratulated them on entertaining him and telling them that they'll see him in a few months before releasing his captives and sending them through a portal.
The group landed with a thud with Little Ghost floating, regaining control, then they got up while groaning.
"Where are we?" Twilight asked, with Kratus speaking after noticing Apple Bloom's heavy breathing.
"We're on the terrace of Treacherous Mansion." He said before Apple Bloom lost her strength and fell before Big Macintosh caught her with Twilight placing her back as the stallion looked at Apple Bloom's wounds.
"We need ta get her ta a hospital, quickly." Big Mac said.
"But the nearest hospital is miles away." Twilight countered before Apple Bloom and Little Ghost informed them of something with Twilight skeptical before they turned to find Rarity crying while holding Sweetie Belle with other ponies gathered around the sight before leaving the manor with them hearing the chittering of the Nui-Jaga.
She was relieved to see her friend and the alternate versions of her friend's friends. Wait… why is one of them crying and carrying a young one not moving?
The Nui-Jaga approached Rarity and Sweetie Belle and poked the latter a few times with a claw before chittering sorrowfully.
Dead… the young one was dead, life taken from her while young, and there was nothing she could do to comfort the crying one and that saddened her, and she expressed it, though she also noticed that one of the alternate versions of her friend's friends is missing and caused her to be worried about her before the alternate versions of her friend's friends held a conversation before they made their way down the mountain. With ghosts appearing that she eyed warily even if they helped, though her friend changed into another Rahi, with Fluttershy in awe at the sight before green energy surrounded the wings as her friend took off and grabbed her and carried her back to the mine with the Makuta changing back after letting her go.
"Well, we know what called you back now." Samuel told his friend.
"Thanatos?" The Makuta asked, looking at the mourning group who set the ghosts free except for Pyrite and Dark Magic along with the wraiths, though the Makuta guessed that inside the red crystal, Pyrite was still shivering from his experience.
"Mmhmm."
"Meaning I can't go home yet as I haven't eliminated him."
"Nope, but you and Apple Bloom will get him."
"I hope so old friend, I hope so." Kratus sighed, the Nui-Jaga chittered before the ponies, and dragon entered the caravan with the Makuta turning back into a Lohrak with the Nui-Jaga following them to the Crystal Empire for them to rest before heading to Canterlot.
She was happy to be back in a warmer climate as they entered the castle with ghosts accompanying them; the Rahi having gotten used to the ghosts and looked at the guards who looked at her and her friend with caution, especially her friend. The staff looked at them in fear, though her worry for the young ones seemed to calm them down before one of the alternate versions of her friend's sisters appeared with the mismatched one appearing shortly and a conversation starting.
"If only my friend could send Mata Nui over." Kratus said when Discord mentioned necromancy.
"And what could this Mata Nui of yours do?" Celestia asked with Discord looking at the Makuta.
"Well, mainly the mask that he wears, the Kanohi Ignika, or Mask of Life."
"Sounds like a mask that a necromancer would use." Celestia said, causing the Makuta to laugh.
"It doesn't work that way, it restores someone back to life with none of that undead stuff." Kratus replied, causing those there to gasp. "It can mutate or unmutate life as well or even change their species or restore one to their former self, and with enough power behind it can turn a desert world into a paradise." He added, "Though on the restore someone to life part, I don't know about life forms our size, but for a robot with a spirit millions of feet high, it required someone to give their life to restore the life back to the robot, but necromancy might bypass the give life to save life part." He added again before the conversation continued on without him with Discord touching each pony and the dragon there that made his brother's touch of death useless against them, though he paused and stared at the Makuta while rubbing his chin before partially restoring Sweetie Bell back to life with another conversation starting, though on the subject of dark magic, "That's only corruptive if you let it."
"And how do you know this?"
"I've seen it used without it corrupting the user, many times including alternate versions of Twilight Sparkle from universes I've observed." He replied as Discord informed Sweetie Belle of what she could do before creating a robot body for Applejack as the spirit couldn't retrieve the mare's body, "Samuel, mind sending me some of the stuff I like to use for experiments concerning Rahi and such?" He asked quietly.
"Are you sure?"
"I am, need to practice what my species was meant for." Kratus replied before telling him which ones of the "stuff" he wanted.
"Fine." Samuel groaned, sending over seven vials. Five had different labels and contained green energy based substances, with the last two containing a grayish liquid that the Makuta caught and attached them to where a belt would go.
"Since I still feel guilty about what I did while enraged." Kratus said approaching the group who noticed the vials the Makuta didn't have before, though Twilight was curious as to what they were, "I have a few gifts for Applejack and Sweetie Belle."
"Are they related to those?" Celestia asked, pointing at the vials the Makuta had who nodded.
"Now step aside, please? The only expert around for what I'm going to do needs some space." Kratus said with the group dispersing with the Makuta putting his fingers together and stretching them, "Now remember young ones, don't try this at home without the supervision of a Makuta." He added, grabbing four vials of the green stuff, then opened them, before letting out a fake mad scientist laugh as he poured them on Applejack, causing her to glow green as the Makuta put a hand on her, manipulating the green substances effecting her before putting the greyish liquid on her, causing the glow to die down and revealing the changes. Her body gained a mixture of mechanical and organic properties. "Congratulations, your Applejack is now a technorganic being with a few abilities!"
"And what about me?" Sweetie Belle asked before the Makuta did the same, this time without the laugh that once he finished his work he spoke again.
"Congrats, your Sweetie Belle, now has increased durability and can now heal damage at a rapid pace."
"And what are my abilities?" Applejack asked.
"You can create armor for yourself, self repair with or without the armor and control the earth to a degree, being the active ones, the passive is that you still have the advantages of your robotic half though." Kratus replied, earning a hug from the technorganic mare, "Oh, and your body is made out of Metallic Protodermis mixed with organic properties." He added before they heard Samuel.
"Little Ghost." He said, earning said filly's attention.
"Yes?"
"I know that you have a power within you."
"What about it?" The filly asked, looking down while remembering what she used her power for at first.
"How skilled are you at using it?"
"Not enough to face Thanatos and win."
"From where I am, I can tell you have the potential to hold your own against him."
"Really?" She asked.
"With training."
"Who'll train me?"
"Take a guess."
"You?"
"Would I be speaking to you otherwise?"
"How will you train me?" Little Ghost asked. Her answer came in the form of a portal that caused her to facehoof with the portal closing.
"We can start the day after tomorrow." Samuel said before the visitors left Canterlot with them laying Smart Spirit's body to rest the next day, which Kratus attended before meditating to tame his darkness further and to temper his anger towards Thanatos, for anger clouds judgment.
Prepare for your end, Thanatos. For when the times comes… I will hunt you down.
A blue-white portal opened in front of Samuel near the doorway to the unique timeline his friend was in with a yellow furred and brown maned filly ghost exiting it who looked around in wonder before the deity spoke as the portal closed.
"Welcome Little Ghost, to The Realm of Possibilities." He said, earning the filly's attention and took in his features, his bipedal form covered in armor with a claymore with runes etched into the blade on his back while his skin was pale in coloration with blue eyes and white hair that despite the youthful look, she could tell that he held a vast amount of wisdom, some he will give to her.
"You're different from what I expected." Little Ghost said, floating at eye level.
"Expected a pony?"
"Actually, yes." Little Ghost replied, "So, how are you going to train me when there's nothing here?" She asked, earning a chuckle from the deity before they found themselves in a grassy plain with a few trees and hills, a hut with a flower bed next it along with some training grounds nearby.
"Here is where I actually live." The deity replied.
"It's beautiful." Little Ghost said, floating around the place after the deity thanked her. Though in the distance, she could see a castle and saw the nostalgic look on the deity's face.
"That castle is a replica of the one I lived in."
"Must've been nice serving royalty." The ghost said, earning a chuckle from the deity.
"Actually, I was part of the royalty, third son of a king, and before you call me a prince, I gave up being one when I became a god at age eleven." Samuel said, beckoning Little Ghost to follow him to the training grounds with her training starting the moment she entered, starting with what she could do with the power she has before expanding what she can do.
"So, are you really as powerful as Makuta says you are?" Little Ghost asked during a break in her training, "He said that you're a main sequence star with him a hundred-watt bulb."
"I am that powerful, but I'm not all powerful." Samuel replied, "Though, there is an acquaintance of ours who's almost or just as powerful as me, for she has the power to destroy a universe, and she's trillions of years older than me." He added, "Break time's over now." He said, with the training continuing once more, this time the filly had to dodge and attack with some dummies, but before long, they entered the next phase of training.
"You want me to do what?" Little Spirit asked in disbelief.
"You heard me, attack me with all you got, need to face a live opponent to see how far you've come, and how long you'll last." Samuel replied, his student unsure what to do before the deity encouraged her to attack once more with her doing so, while not able harm the deity in any significant way. That wasn't her goal, it was one of endurance with her using what she learned so far to attack and evade, though she was giving it her all, the deity wasn't going to let her win easily with the test ending shortly as the filly had to return home