Area: Portal Site
Year: 1944

Scootaloo jumped through the portal, returning to Europe because of the news that Castlevania, and most likely Dracula, had returned. Her mad dash towards the ominess castle was stopped by Death however. "Greetings, I have heard much about you, Scootaloo," He said, his cloak having a pin of a skull.

"Hello... Death. So it's true, Castlevania and thus Dracula have returned?" Scootaloo asked as Death shook his head.

"It is true that the castle is back, it is not true that my master is back. The castle feels as if it is not the same as it should,"

"That so? Well, guess I'll have to ensure that the castle's destroyed before Dracula comes back then, won't I?"

"Not so fast you little filly," Death said as he raised an arm and took away every point of EXP and the data of every kill Scootaloo had done, before scattering most of the relics she had. The only ones that stayed with her dash boots and the artifical horn. "What?! Give me back my stuff!" Scootaloo commanded aloud but Death simply flew to the castle.

"Ugh... god damn it."

Area: Castle Entrance
Year: 1944

Scootaloo galloped towards the castle before finding two humans, one a male in a red vest, black shirt and pants, having blonde hair, and wielding a very familiar weapon, the other being a female in a white top with a blue and white skirt, a blue cape like accessory, a red bowtie on the shirt, some decently long brown-ish hair, and a spell book in her hands. They were speaking with a priest who also came to the castle for some reason.

Scootaloo galloped into the castle as she found a strange cube that she couldn't interact with and she found that she, alone, couldn't press the switch down. "This is reminding me of Castlemania..." Scootaloo said as the humans walked through the gate and found her.

"Uh... Charlotte? What is that?" The male asked.

"It isn't a 'what' Jonathan, it's a 'who'. From what I remember reading, that's Scootaloo who helped against Dracula in both 1798 and 1813, so we're safe," the woman, Charlotte, replied.

"Yeah... hehehe... could I get a bit of help here?" Scootaloo asked as Jonathan and Charlotte came and pressed the button when Scootaloo which opened the gate... albeit, three probably wasn't neccessary. The button looked like it needed two alone.

"So... if you are Scootaloo and you are so important to having helped against Dracula twice before... why do you look so weak?" Jonathan asked Scootaloo.

"Plain and simple. Death. He took most of my relics and benefits, including my Lizard Tail, EXP, and the number of monster kills I'd amassed," Scootaloo replied.

"So basically Death made you weak?" Jonathan said.

"... Yes. Since we're getting to know each other, what about you Jonathan, I see you have the Vampire Killer and Richter told me and Alucard that he gave the whip to the Morris clan. Does that mean you are a Morris then?" Scootaloo asked Jonathan.

"Yes, however my father failed to teach me how to use the damn thing so it's as good as garbage," Jonathan explained as he grabbed a sword and put the next-to-useless whip away.

"Your father didn't teach you to use the whip? It had to have been for a good reason. I doubt the heir to the Vampire Killer being unable to use said whip has to have some good logic behind it."

"Maybe but let's just focus on getting to Dracula to defeat him," Jonathan said, reminding Scootaloo of something.

"About that, Death told me that while this is Dracula's Castle, Dracula, himself, isn't here... somehow," Scootaloo mentioned causing both Jonathan and Charlotte to look at Scootaloo like she was crazy.

"Yeah, that's the expected reaction. Usually the castle and Dracula are inseperable but whoever brought Castlevania back clearly found a way to seperate the two."

Scootaloo stated as the found some pillars with weak spots. She immediately bucked the weak spot as Charlotte grabbed her new weapon, a Tome of Arms. This continued for a few moments as Scootaloo realized she heard stomping after a certain point. That sounds like... "BEHEMOTH!" Scootaloo yelled as everyone was now rushing to get through the area to escape the Behemoth, breaking pillars to ensure that the Behemoth doesn't catch up and when they reach the end... platforms to stand so the Behemoth could break the door open.

Jonathan jumps up first, then Charlotte, then Scootaloo. The Behemoth crashes into the sealed off door and crawls through and up to a part the group can't reach yet. And in front of the group was a familiar, and terrible, sight. The Knife subweapon. Jonathan picked it up and sighed, "At least it's something to handle distant foes..." he said as the group entered the immediate next room, finding it to be a save room with a statue similar to the ones Shanoa saved with.

They saved and moved on finding Axe Armors("Been a while since I fought an Axe Armor of Castlevania," Scootaloo said) and killing them as she found they could drop... axes. Duh. But specifically, the Axe Su weapon which Jonathan grabbed... without tossing the knife? "Jonathan, do you just... have two subweapons right now?" Scootaloo asked to which Jonathan was confused before Scootaloo killed an Axe Armor to get the axe and it ejected her Holy Water as usual.

Safe to say Jonathan was shocked. "I thought everyone could hold onto two subweapons, I didn't know it was just a 'me' thing," Jonathan said as Charlotte(And Scootaloo) giggled.

"Duh, of course it's a you thing, subweapons are usually ejected from the holder but you have a special trait from me being your childhood friend, remember, Jonathan?" Charlotte said as Scootaloo realized that Charlotte, being a witch, used a magic spell to make subweapons work very differently for Jonathan.

"You know... I used to have some childhood friends..." Scootaloo mentioned out of the blue as Jonathan picked up the "Wait Cube" which doesn't seem to do anything as Charlotte just sat on top of the statue with Scootaloo. "Really? What happened between you and your friends?" Charlotte asked.

"Eh, we ended up having differing views on things. But I don't expect a child like you to understand," Scootaloo said as Charlotte had her jaw dropped at what Scootaloo just implied. Scootaloo just smirked. Scootaloo and Charlotte got onto the higher area as Charlotte used a "Call Cube" to bring Jonathan to her.

"Jonathan, Scootaloo called me a child," Charlotte said but Jonthan just looked at her like "Okay? What do you want me to do about it?" Charlotte wasn't happy about that.

Finding a magic spell page, Charlotte took it and decided that Scootaloo'd be good target practice. She chanted the spell and suddenly, Scootaloo saw flames. When the flames stopped and Scootaloo recovered, she, Jonathan, and Charlotte had a good laugh. Charlotte because Scootaloo looked like burnt chicken... much to Scootaloo's dismay. They found a room with access to a warp room, a room with the Book of Spirits and Fairy Tome, and a room with a ghostly presence. And soon both a ghost of a human and Rainbow Dash(for some reason) appeared in the room.

"Dash... what the actual hell are you doing here instead of waiting in Equestria?"

"What? Can't a mare assist a heroine and her friends?"

Everyone else in the room was confused by the exchange between Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash. At the end of the comversation Scoots and RD were having, it turns out Jonathan had been given a side mission of sorts and she suddenly remembered Estella and her ingredients search... oh no.

Dash looked at Scoots having side-quest related PTSD and decided to step in, "Hey, Scoots, calm. Eric Lecarde, or Wind as he asked to be called, won't require anything past this one quest. Plus, I have your Lizard Tail, found it on my way here," she said causing Scootaloo to look at her and nod, getting her Lizard Tail back. When Jonathan and Charlotte return, they have a piece of the castle map and a potion as Eric Lecarde/Wind gives them... a Lizard Tail... well now they can all access new areas. The first area they go to, after opening a shortcut through the bottom to the entrance room, was a room with a... portrait. What? Upon Charlotte being called into the room she and Scootaloo had a similiar feeling, "This painting... its power is incredible," Charlotte commented as Scootaloo nodded, "Glad to see you sense it as well, this power... it can only aline with a vampiric entitiy's powers," Scootaloo added.

"Yes, this must be how Brauner's controlling the Castle's power." Charlotte said.

"Then let's rip it to shreds and be done!" Jonathan said.

"Impossible. From what I can tell, based on the theory of curse amplification, this picture is a multilayer quantum-space barrier, a kind of paranormal phenomenon."

"Uh... could you translate that to human language?"

"She's saying that portrait is the outermost wall in a series of walls that draw in magic from the castle to regenerate the portrait, making it unbreakable," Scootaloo explained.

"Oh how convenient, so what the hell do we do now?" Jonathan asks.

"I can aline my magic with the painting's so we can enter it. That'll be the best way to circumvent the castle's magic. The risk is quite high, though." Charlotte mentioned that last bit in warning. Jonathan smiled as he said, "No problem. C'mon, what do we have to lose?"

"Our life? Our equipment? Our fucking sanity? We have a lot to lose, Jonathan. Would your father want you to-"

"Don't mention my father!" Jonathan yelled in retort.

"Right, forgot you had daddy issues." Scootaloo said as Charlotte alined her magic with the painting's and suddenly...

Area: City of Haze
Year: 1944

Scootaloo, Jonathan, and Charlotte found themselves in the painting world. "So, we're in the painting now?" Jonathan asked.

"The will of the artist is embodied here," Charlotte replied.

"I sense a powerful presence deep in the area, probably the area's boss monster," Scootaloo stated.

The group went deeper into the area as they found a blue face thing with wings that Scootaloo learned resisted physical attacks like they were nothing. She sighed in annoyence, "Just great..." they still beat it before it attacked. Finding a great sword, Jonathan took it and equipped it. Despite what Scootaloo thought, Jonathan was strong enough to wield the great sword with one hand(mostly).

The group's exploration was thorough, finding a leather whip that Jonathan was quick to equip and test out in his amphidexious(dominate left)-nature. Oh yeah, nothing stands in their way now. The group keeps going deeper, finding a cart with a drill attached to the front and a lever that Jonathan nearly pulled. "Jonathan, no. Not yet, if my thoughts are correct, that cart will only be able to destroy things if someone's on it," Scootaloo said as she got on the cart and saw the drill start going, "Ok, now you can pull the lever." Jonathan pulled the lever and the cart started moving with Scootaloo on it as it destroyed wall after wall until it crashed into a small wall that had to be made from titanium. And now Jonathan and Charlotte had to walk the whole way. Great.

After walking the entire way, they continued forward and found a warp point, a save point, and the entrance to a boss room. They saved before heading to the boss room.

The trio entered the boss room, expecting an easy boss as that was common for first bosses. Well... for Scootaloo at least. Scootaloo felt for a moment, "The presence is much stronger here, that head is probably a part of the boss," she said as Jonathan nodded and appoached the head as it started floating while laughing, a giant suit of armor holding a massive lance crashing down not long after. Jonathan rushed forward, whip in hand, but Dullahan attacked with his lance and sent Jonathan flying towards the wall. Charlotte charged Raging Fire and it dealt decent damage but her low defense made is so that she was one-shot but Dullahan... leaving it and Scootaloo, Scootaloo took a breath as she rushed forward and used a dash attack before she was pierced right through the center of her torso... then everything went dark.

Area: Chaotic Realm
Year: 1944

Dracula was worried, not about the fact that he could lose, oh no. Death weakened Scootaloo so she was next to no issue... only problem... he was stuck in the Chaotic Realm. Sweetie Belle was trying to figure out what was happening as she wanted Dracula back in the world of the living as much as he, himself, did. Then Apple Bloom appeared, "Okay, good news and bad news. Good news: Ah know what's stoppin' Dracula from exitin' this place. Bad news is that we have ta rely on the chicken, a witch of the church, and a Morris who can't even use the full power of the Vampire Killer to undo it..." she said, causing both Sweetie Belle and Dracula to cringe at the idea.

"Isn't there a different way? I don't feel great that we have to rely on those people..."

"Trust meh, ah tried. The paintin's are somekind of multilayer quantum-space barrier that pulls in the castle's magic so they have ta take out the paintin's core monster anyways,"

"So we can't do anything but wait it seems..."

"No worries, Drac, I promise that you'll be back in the world of the living soon. Apple Bloom, keep a careful eye on the magic of the paintings and see how you might be able to replicate it for my own castle." Sweetie Belle said which caused Apple Bloom to nod as she went back to Dracula's, currently Brauner's, castle.

Author's Note

Relics acquired: Change Cube(Allows Charlotte and Jonathan to switch places), Call Cube(Teleports one to the other), Wait Cube(Does nothing?), Fairy Tome/Book of Spirits(Shows enemy names upon hit), Lizard Tail(Slide with down + [Jump], deals low damage)

A chapter without a boss fight!?! What?! Also, that scene with Scootaloo and friends dying, just remember how I did the memories of death in Arc 1(Chapters 1-7). Hehehe. Also, Portrait of Ruin will have the least changed plot out of the arcs written... so yeah.

Also, first arc where Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom have minor role, woohoo!