//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9 
// Story: Ghost Busting 3 
// by Edguy0009 
//------------------------------//

In another timeline, Apple Bloom would've been very worried about the ghost that Rusty warned about who dwelt on this level, but with Kratus around she wasn't that worried, especially after the recent fight, mostly because she noticed the Makuta was more relaxed after the fight with the triplets, as if he released stress during it, speaking of which.

"Little Ghost, if ya can create a barrier, then why do ya have to use a metal shield?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Thanks to my reduction in power, I can't maintain it for long when under constant attack." The ghostly filly explained, earning Kratus' interest.

"So, you're currently like me back when I was pushing the boundaries with what I can do with my kind's powers, in that after found that yes, I could do those techniques, but I couldn't do them often or for a sustained amount of time until I trained in their usage. But, even now I rarely use most of them because of how devastating they can be."

"I hope I never have ta see ya use 'em." Apple Bloom said before reflecting on what had happened during the group’s time in the hotel with a sigh.

"Don't worry, we'll save them and teach Eternal Rest a lesson." Kratus said.

"Did ya read my mind?"

"I didn't, I'm good at reading others." Kratus replied before the doors opened, revealing that the twelfth floor was nautical themed, the arrow for the elevator was a hook, inside a basin shaped like large barrel was a pool with a mini island in the center, the chandelier was shaped like a wheel at the helm, with framed pictures of the sea and islands on the walls, with the pillars wrapped in rope, and once the doors to the elevator closed behind them, they saw the fish engraved in them, "Judging from what Rusty told us about the ghost and the theme of this floor, I'm guessing that we'll face a pirate." Kratus said.

"Question is, who is the pirate, and how cruel are they?" Little Ghost asked.

"I have an idea, but I don't know fer sure." Apple Bloom said, guessing who the pirate is with Sweetie Belle guessing the same, one of, if not, the most infamous pirates as they wandered through the room, and discovered that the floor they were on is a restaurant thanks to the counter with an anchor displaying a menu beside it.

Once they were in the hallway, there was a bow of a ship with some barrels and nets with a hole in the hull that allowed entry with them opening a double door.

While Kratus wasn't, the fillies were in awe at the sight of the room; it was huge while looking like the inside of a cave with waterfalls at the sides and water flowing through the paths, and being theme after pirates, some tables were barrels with others that were against the wall were planks, stools for chairs. At the other end of the room. Was a round bar with the exit behind it inside the mouth of a giant skull carved into the stone. The only sources of light were candles in holes in the wall and lanterns suspended by rope. There were also some, hopefully, fake skulls decorating the place.

The only thing missing was a stage where a band of 'pirates' playing songs.

"Celestia… the colts at school would go nuts at the sight of this place." Apple Bloom said.

"Especially Pipsqueak." Sweetie Belle added.

"And you're perfect for this place, Sweetie Belle." Little Ghost said, "Skeletons work very well with pirates. You could play the undead pirate protecting their treasure."

"Wouldn't be I too young to be a pirate?"

"It's not like there are any other skeletons walking around Equestria."

"Maybe there are, and we don't know." Pinkie Pie said.

"That's very unlikely." Rarity pointed out.

"But we've got to admit, this hotel puts others to shame." Twilight said.

"Maybe once Eternal Rest is gone, somepony nicer'll take her place and run this hotel." Applejack said.

"And then we can go to the restaurants!" Spike said, only for Kratus to kill the mood.

"I said it before, this place shouldn't be in use, anyone sane would've had it demolished, especially since what we've seen likely makes the repairs and changes are likely to cost more than its worth."

"Well, aren't you a pessimist?" Sweetie Belle said.

"No, I'm a realist, with a bit of optimist mixed in." Kratus said with a shrug as the group made their way through the room using the path, starting by going left, then went down some stairs and reached a box with a mechanism that raised a flag before the path made a U-turn and continued down another staircase before going all the way to the other side of the room with some barrel-tables, before another U-turn, then used another staircase to reach a raised part of the room with a box of coconuts. There were two paths, one going back to the right with more tables and a chest, the other led to the bar with the group going for the chest first, which came to life under Eternal Rest's power and attacked before the Makuta formed a fist with his Shadow Hand and smashed it with the group grabbing the gold inside.

When the group approached the skull, its mouth opened and revealed the exit entirely with the group opening the double doors with the fillies' jaws dropping again with Kratus remaining unimpressed at the sight.

An artificial sea… The hotel had an artificial sea with a beach! And again, the walls and ceiling were painted like the night sky, this time with clouds. There were even some coconut trees, however, a mist covered most of the room.

The fillies had no words.

"I see something." Kratus said, having been on the lookout for any surprises, "Looks like a ship." He added after the fillies turned their attention to him.

"Wow. They not only have an artificial sea but also an actual ship?" Little Ghost asked in surprise.

"Best pirate themed restaurant ever." Apple Bloom said.

"And I have the feeling we need to board it." Kratus said, "And I think the bell on the pier is the way to call it." He added before ringing the bell, causing the ship to approach, with it leaving the fog like a ghost ship, though it was rather small with only two masts. As it stopped at the pier, the group heard the crew having a party on deck as there was an accordion playing. A plank lowered onto the pier with the group exchanging looks with Kratus shrugging before walking up the plank.

Once they reached the deck, all sounds stopped. Thanks to the mist, all the group could see on the deck were crates used as tables and stools. It was almost as the ship was abandoned, with the group cautiously advancing while looking in all directions, their respective tools ready.

Upon reaching the center, silhouettes appeared from the mist before pirate ghosts came out. At least two dozen surrounded the group, armed with scimitar, saber or a readied crossbow. A really ugly collection of cutthroats that once plagued the seas around Equestria and beyond. And now they were looking at the group with sadistic smiles, probably imagining the torment they'd do to the group.

"They shouldn't be harder than those tricksters." Kratus said, readying his sword.

Then, the double doors on the stern opened with the pirates in front parting ways so the group can see the arrival of the ship's captain. At first the group could see nothing. Then two lights appeared, followed by the appearance of a glowing eye. Slowly they approached with a silhouette appearing with its owner appearing shortly, a captain-clothed, sea blue earth pony stallion. Imposingly in size compared to the fillies and possessing an eye patch over his left eye. Many readied crossbows were poking out of his clothing. But his most distinguishing features were the long black beard, and his tressed, long black mane. And out of his mane, beneath his hat, were two lit fuses. His only eye showed intelligence, and an evil madness that promised death.

It was him, the most feared pirate in history, who appeared in countless stories, all the ones that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle read and heard about him didn't do him justice. He was much more terrifying than in any of them, Sweetie Belle had to restrain herself from running away, and despite her power, Little Ghost hid behind Apple Bloom, Kratus had little to fear from, in his mind, the gnat in front of him.

"Eh-heh-heh-heh… you two don't seem to be surprised to see me, little filly and armored one."

"After what Ducky told us and from what we've seen on this floor. I figured it was ya, Captain Blackbeard." Apple Bloom said, with Twilight and Applejack expressing their surprise, but before the captain could speak, the Makuta made a sound, with the captain hearing it. 

"There something you have to say?" He asked.

"I've heard of you, and I was not impressed, and I'm still not impressed."

"Oh, and why aren't you afraid of the most feared captain in history?"

"The amount of damage you've done in both property and lives, are nothing compared to what I've done. For I've slaughtered armies, made the leaders of countries fear me when I forced them to bow to my will after I destroyed their cities if they refused to comply and continued to do so, even left their country in ruins as a result of their noncompliance, sometimes through my power alone." Kratus said, "Now that power is turned against Eternal Rest and any who serve her, like you. Now give us what we want, and I may spare you from my wrath." He added with a growl.

"You mean this?" Blackbeard asked, lifting his eyepatch, revealing the button to the thirteenth floor. "And I suppose you also mean her?" He added, hitting the floor with his hoof twice, and out of the mist came Rainbow Dash who landed beside him.

"Rainbow Dash!" Everypony shouted.

Then, Blackbeard put a saber under the mare's throat, "Well, you'll have to choose! The button, or her? Resist, and I cut her throat! Let us kill you, and I set her free!"

"That's… that's." Apple Bloom said in disbelief.

"Not fair, yes? What did you expect? We're pirates, we don't play fair!"

Apple Bloom growled for a few seconds. She knew she couldn't let them kill her, but she also didn't want Rainbow Dash to die. Then she got an idea the same time Kratus did, with the Makuta telepathically talking to her.

"I have an idea, one that will let me have a little fun with the "good" captain." He said, sending her images of what the plan is, causing her to look at the Makuta and give her approval, and relayed it to Twilight as Kratus enacted his plan.

"What will it be?" Blackbeard asked, only to feel something tap his shoulder, causing him to look behind him, and found Kratus standing there, wiggling the fingers of his left hand up and down in hello with a smile which confused the captain, as the Makuta was still in front of him. Which caused him to look between the two, though on the second glance back to his front, he found that the Makuta disappeared, revealing that it was an illusion, causing him to look back once more, only for the Makuta to punch him in the face with the same hand, sending him to the floor and dazing the pirate, at the same time an electrical field snapped into existence and incapacitated Rainbow Dash, the culprit was bright blue/bright red slug-like creature, a Stage Six Kraata of Electricity that the Makuta had created before he teleported behind the mind controlled mare and the pirate captain, with Twilight teleporting there to take the prismatic mare and Kraata back to the caravan with Kratus teleporting back to the group.

Blackbeard recovered from the blow, and it was hard to say if he was amused or angry at what happened. In the end, he settled for a laugh, "You win this one! You must have pirate blood in your veins!"

"Maybe Apple Bloom does, but I, for one, don't." Kratus said as Blackbeard took his saber before giving the order to kill the two of them.

The fight started with the ghosts with crossbow users firing the crossbows first, with Little Ghost forming a barrier around Apple Bloom that blocked the bolts from hitting the only living filly, though some ghosts fired at Kratus with his armor shrugging off the bolts with the Makuta retaliating using his skyblaster, at the same time the ghosts with swords attacked with Kratus countering with his own blade as the fillies captured them, though Kratus had to parry a scimitar used by a ghost that attacked Apple Bloom.

Acting quickly, Little Ghost used her metal shield and charged the ghosts with Kratus just rushing through the ghosts in order for them to break out of the encirclement, but as Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom followed, a trapdoor opened and cause Sweetie Belle to fall into the crew quarters below, though tempted to follow, Kratus remained on the deck, picking off the ghosts with crossbows using his skyblaster as Apple Bloom captured ghosts, though their number forced Apple Bloom to climb the steps to the bow, then climb the netting with Kratus and Little Ghost blocking attacks from the pirates, especially bolts from the crossbows with the former sniping each of the crossbow users like a sharpshooter.

Then, the ship shook, almost causing Apple Bloom and Kratus to fall, A ghostly aura surrounded it, and the face of Blackbeard, including the eyepatch over the left eye, appeared on part of the deck.

"That madstallion possessed the ship!" Apple Bloom said, horrified.

It was the fight against the Gem Manor all over again, though this time she had Kratus with her. As the filly climbed to the crow's nest, Blackbeard laughed.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA! You will never defeat me!" The ghostly captain said, causing Kratus mentally roll his eyes as he and Apple Bloom reached the crow's nest before the mast violently shook, like a pony trying to shake a pest off of their leg with the Makuta teleporting the two into it, the same time Sweetie Belle left the crew's quarters through a door in the bow, though when she saw the face on the deck, she immediately climbed stairs to the bow, far from the face, capturing the ghosts that followed her from the crew's quarters.

The pirate ghosts were now joined by tricksters, buffies, throwers and creepers dressed as pirates with tricksters armed with sabers, scimitars and crossbows with throwers coming out of the deck with powder kegs, planning to light them before throwing them at the Makuta and filly.

"FOOLS!" Blackbeard shouted at the throwers, "You want to damage my ship? Return those powder kegs back to their places!" He added with one of the throwers apologizing sheepishly with both Kratus and Apple Bloom watching it from their perch, giving both an idea on how to destroy the ship, but before either of them could tell Little Ghost what to do, the mast swung at the ghost like a baseball bat, sending her toward the beach. Then the ship tilted to the side, sending Sweetie Belle who was still on the bow overboard with ghosts following her into the ocean with others going after Little Ghost while Kratus and Apple Bloom hung on.

This left the two alone in the nest, both were contemplating joining Little Ghost on the beach before the ship left the dock, heading towards the sea, isolating the two of them as the Makuta refused to leave Apple Bloom alone, leaving Little Ghost to deal with the ghosts attacking her on her own. Fortunately, it gave her a chance to use her power.

Blackbeard's face appeared on the floor of the crow's nest, preparing to bite Apple Bloom's legs, only for Kratus to grab her and teleport to the bow, only for Blackbeard's face to appear next to them and attempted to bite the filly, with she and the Makuta jumping above the guardrail to the main deck. Ghosts weren't as numerous as before, which meant fewer problems for the duo, that is until Blackbeard's face appeared beside them again, only to receive a spinning reverse kick from Kratus once Apple Bloom dodged the charge and continued capturing ghosts, while avoiding more of the attempts to attack.

Blackbeard eventually grew tired of the game of cat and mouse with his face appearing at the stern, tilting the ship up, causing both Apple Bloom and Kratus to fall towards the mouth, that is until the Makuta shapeshifted into a Nui-Rama and carried Apple Bloom to the beach before changing back with Sweetie Belle walking out of the water, fight ghosts with the Little Ghost joining the duo in aiding the lich. And just as they joined her, they saw that Blackbeard's face had appeared on the bow of the ship, underneath the figurehead. Which happened to be a seapony.

"I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO ESCAPE ME!" He yelled as the mist grew thicker until the group couldn't see a thing anymore. Then, the mist disappeared with the group noticing that the beach was now part of a small island, the ocean was now extending beyond the horizon. A storm was also present, its strong winds churning waves with lightning striking the ocean. The ship was still there, circling the island.

"This is twice now that we're sent to a pocket dimension!" Apple Bloom shouted.

"We should've expected this." Little Ghost added.

"Less talk, more action." Kratus said, firing his skyblaster at the ghosts still attacking the group. The ship also fired its cannons.

"Watch out!" Sweetie Belle said, causing Apple Bloom to run as a cannon ball passed behind her, destroying a tree with another impacting the sand, sending some flying at her. Despite this, they continued capturing the ghosts on the island, reducing their numbers. Eventually the ship fired again, this time Apple Bloom and Kratus were ready, the former turning her Poltergust to red until Kratus spoke.

"Cover me." He said, using slow on the cannon ball, then grabbed the cannonball out of the air using his Shadow Hand. Then, he used accuracy to calculate the required force necessary, then used his Shadow Hand to throw it while using vacuum to create a void of air to increase the velocity of the sphere with him nailing the ship, right at the center. "If that was a 8 inch HE round fired from the same caliber of gun, I would've sunk that ship." Kratus told the fillies who shrugged, not knowing what the Makuta was talking about.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Blackbeard shouted.

Smirking, Apple Bloom spoke, "Sweetie Belle! Little Ghost! While he's focused on me and Kratus, return to the ship and use the powder kegs to destroy it! Don't worry about us, we'll survive."

"You two really are amazing." Sweetie Belle said.

"You can count on us!" Little Ghost said before grabbing the lich and carried her to the ship. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom and Kratus finished dealing with the ghosts, though the two infiltrators found that there were still ghosts on the ship, some firing the cannons, But Kratus, who sent the cannon balls back at the ship, sometimes aimed for the cannons, wrecking them as a result. Eventually, the infiltrators found the powder magazine and returned, just as the ship exploded.

"Good work." Kratus said, "But we're not done yet." He added, pointing to the wreckage with Blackbeard emerging from it, absolutely enraged while armed with two sabers. He was followed by eight ghosts, two pirates, three tricksters, two creepers, and a thrower which was remained of the crew.

With a roar, Blackbeard charged towards the group and savagely attacked Apple Bloom, who had her poltergust back at yellow mode, swinging his sabers over again, he didn't give the filly a chance to counter, that is until he earned a beam of plasma from Kratus, looking smug before making the bring it on gesture, causing the captain to turn his attention to the Makuta who sidestepped at the last moment and delivered a vertical slash to the side before using a reverse kick, sending the captain flying with Sweetie Belle using her poltergust on the captain before he sent her flying with a kick from his left leg. This left Apple Bloom enough time to trap Blackbeard, who escaped by attacking the filly.

A creeper tried to attack Apple Bloom from behind until Little Ghost, who had been capturing the ghosts one-by-one. She'd already she captured the thrower and two tricksters. But as she saved Apple Bloom, one of the two pirates fired at her with a crossbow with the filly ducking in time as she parried an attack from Blackbeard as Kratus fired a bolt of shadow at the ghost in response, preventing the ghost from reloading his weapon.

Sweetie Belle returned and activated her poltergust, trapping Blackbeard who attempted to kick the lich who dodged the attack with Apple Bloom activating her poltergust with the two slamming the captain, forcing him to drop his sabers, though the second creeper grabbed Sweetie Belle and stopped her, giving Blackbeard time to save himself from Apple Bloom as Little Ghost and Kratus saved Sweetie Belle from the creeper, the latter summoning a tendril of shadow that pulled the skeleton free with the former capturing the ghost as the Makuta returned his attention to Blackbeard who fired his many crossbows at Apple Bloom who avoided the bolts using a coconut, waiting for an opportunity to counter, one that almost never came, for the Makuta sent the pirate flying with a tackle.

"Time to end this." Kratus said, tossing his sword into the air, transforming it back into a swordstaff before sending a wave of shadow at the captain who recovered.

"That's a fancy blade you have." Blackbeard said, "It'll make a fine trophy along with your mask once I take your head."

"Time for you to fall before the power of shadow." Kratus said calmly, returning to his 14 ft height as shadow gathered around the blade before unleashing it in a powerful wave that slammed into the captain who, while he recovered, found the Makuta had sent a wall of shadow at the stallion who felt the full force of the blow before the area darkened, with the Makuta attacking from random directions, another version of Tiger Shark before the light returned to the area, revealing that Kratus used the darkness to cover the blade of his weapon before unleashing it with a powerful swing with it forming a wave, one that reminded the captain of the waves that tossed his ship when he and his crew braved them during the storms at sea when he still lived. Except this time he had no ship or crew. That is, until he found himself on a ship with a crew in a storm, though something told him that it wasn't real.

Not all pirates perish at the decision of the law, sometimes it’s nature that decides that their time has come. Blackbeard thought before a wave approached. One that would sink his ship. The captain stood tall and looked towards the oncoming wave with a smile, ready to embrace his fate with the wave slamming into the ship shortly, sinking it while revealing that it, as the captain thought, wasn't real, for he lay on the ground while looking at the group before Kratus and the rest of the group stood over him, looking down at the captain.

"Do you know I showed you meant?" The Makuta asked.

This motley band that defeated me and my crew is the storm, and will be the ones to defeat Eternal Rest. Blackbeard thought, realizing what the Makuta meant before nodding, "Give her Tartarus for me." The defeated captain said weakly with the group promising him in response, knowing who the captain meant before Little Ghost captured the stallion, returning the group to the hotel, the artificial beach and ocean now devastated and the ship a burning wreck with Apple Bloom expressing her gratitude that she had her friends with her. Then, she remembered something.

"Before the fight with Blackbeard, ya said that ya did horrible things. Did ya really do them?" She asked Kratus, who sighed before speaking.

"Yes, but I wish I never had to resort to doing them." He said the fillies could tell that he meant what he said, "And I hope history will judge me fairly, for we all most make hard choices, even if means we condemn our souls in the process." He added before the group returned to the caravan after Little Ghost retrieved the button.