Fluttershy nervously strolled back and forth in the Captain's cabin, until two pirates entered. It was the two pirates who had brought her aboard the ship, and one of them was holding a black silk dress.
"You'll be dining with the captain," he said, "And he requests you wear this."
"Tell him no thanks." said Fluttershy.
"He said you'd say that. He also said if that be the case, you'll be dining with the crew. And you'll be naked."
Fluttershy's face turned red and she instantly grabbed the dress. The pirate frowned, and he and the other pirate exited. Fluttershy quickly slipped on the dress, and hurried off to eat with Captain Sparkle.
"You look very lovely, dear." said Sparkle as Fluttershy sat down at the full table.
"Dare I ask the fate of its previous owner?" asked Fluttershy nervously.
"Now, none of that. Please dig in."
Fluttershy picked up her knife and fork and gently cut off a piece of the bread on her plate.
"No need to stand on ceremony, and no call to impress anyone," said Sparkle, "You must be hungry."
Fluttershy hesitated, before scarfing down the bread on her plate.
"Try the wine." said Sparkle, watching her intently as she ate.
She took a large gulp of wine, before scarfing down a roll.
"And the apples, one of those next."
She chomped down on an apple, before stopping. Sparkle wasn't eating anything.
"It's poisoned?" asked Fluttershy, nervously pushing away her plate.
"If I wanted to kill you, Miss Dash, I would have done it earlier." said Sparkle.
"Then why aren't you eating?"
"Would that I could," Sparkle pulled out the medallion, and held it loosely from his hoof, "Do you know know what this is, then?"
"It's a pirate medallion."
"It's a piece of the treasure of Isla de Muerta," Fluttershy blinked in confusion, "Ah, so you don't know as much as you pretend. Back when the great Treasure Hunter was cutting a great bloody swath through the New World, a high priest gave him all the gold they had, with one condition: that he spare the people's lives. Of course, Hunter being Hunter, he didn't. He would've made a great pirate, that one."
Sparkle stood up from the table, and moved over to a shelf. He put a key into a medium-sized polished wooden box, and opened it.
"So the priest, with his dying breath, called on the power of the blood of his people, and put on the gold a curse. If anyone took so much as a single piece, as he was compelled by greed, by greed he would be consumed."
Inside the chest was charts, some gold, a sextant, and a few pages of Mayan Codex, pieces of tree bark inscribed with Mayan glyphs. Sparkle carefully removed them, and set them on the table.
"Within a day of leaving port for Spain, the treasure ship carrying the gold... Something went wrong. The ship run aground, every man aboard dead, save one. He survived long enough to hide the gold ashore," he paused, "Over time, the dark magic of the curse seeped into the place, making it a cursed island. An island of death. Isla de Muerta."
Fluttershy snapped out of her absorption in the story, and looked up at Sparkle.
"That's all very interesting," she said, "But I don't really believe in ghost stories anymore. Too scary."
"You idiot girl!" cried Sparkle, sweeping the food off the table and causing Fluttershy to flinch nervously, "It's no make-believe! My crew and I, we found the gold, and we did more than take one piece, we took it all. Rich ponies we were and we spent it and traded it and gave it away in exchange for drink and food and pleasant company. But we found out: the drink could not sate us, and the food turned to ashes in our mouths, and no amount of pleasant company could ease our torment."
He stood back up, more calm. Sparkle took a breath before continuing "We are cursed ponies, Miss Dash, condemned, to be forever consumed by our own greed. Gold calls to us, always, and we are driven, always, to find more, and add it to the treasure. There is but one way to remove the curse. All of the scattered pieces of the treasure must be restored in full, and the blood repaid."
He threw away all the stuff he had taken out of the chest, "We've recovered every piece," he held up the medallion, "Save for this. And as for the blood... That's what we have you for. And that's why there's no sense in killing you. Yet."
Fluttershy stared at Sparkle in horror. He casually picked an apple up off the floor, and extended it out towards her.
"Apple?"
Fluttershy back away from Sparkle, towards the door. She slipped on the silverware on the ground, and accidentally managed to kick a knife into Sparkle's hoof. Her eyes widened as Sparkle casually pulled the knife out, and the wound didn't bleed.
"Now, Miss Dash, there no need to try and kill me."
Fluttershy turned away and ran outside, but came to a dead stop. Every single pirate in the moonlight was a skeleton. She quickly turned away, only to run into Sparkle in the doorway. He quickly whipped Fluttershy around towards the skeletons.
"Look!" he said, shaking Fluttershy, "Look! The moonlight shows us for what we really are! We are not among the living and so we cannot die," he spun Fluttershy back around to face him, "But neither are we dead!" Sparkle moved forward so his face was in the moonlight, and it became skeletal, "We have all the desires of the living, but cannot satisfy them! Ten years I have been parched of thirst, and unable to quench it! Ten years, I have been starving to death, and haven't died!" Fluttershy began to hyperventilate, "And I have not felt anything for ten years... Not the wind on my face, nor the spray of the sea... Nor the flesh of a mare..."
Fluttershy broke away from Sparkle, and backed out onto the deck. Sparkle stepped out into the moonlight, and began completely skeletal. He pulled out a bottle of wine, uncorked it with his teeth, and raised it above his head.
"You'd best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Dash. Because now you're in one."
He tilted back the bottle and drank from it. The dark red wine ran over his jar, and onto his ribs, making them appear to be bloody. Fluttershy quickly ran back inside to the cabin, and shut the door behind her. She huddled in the far corner of the cabin, terrified.
"Rainbow, save me..." she whispered.