"Pinkie's log. Date...Today. We set off on the open seas to Keelhaul Key to find our fifth Crystal Star, bringing us one step closing to stopping a horrible calamity and saving our royal friends, Peach and Twilight. The skies are clear with a nice wind sailing us to the south...East? Southeast? Definitely not weast. Regardless, we head for the isle that holds treasures and spooky tales of a famous pirate captain I have never heard of. It may take us days, but we have plenty of snacks and lots of fun board games to pass the time. And I call the crow's nest! I'm good at spotting things, especially when playing 'I Spy'!"
"Uhh, Pinkie, why are you talking to yourself?" Fluttershy asked.
Pinkie blinked, looking toward her friends and some of the crew, who stopped what they were doing when they heard the pink earth pony talking to herself. "What? It's a captain's log, even though I'm not the captain. Hopefully somepony's writing this all down so if this ship ever crashes, everypony will know the tale of the great explorers who tried to reach Keelhaul Key."
"I'm not gonna let this ship sink to the bottom of the ocean!" Bobbery called out from the helm. "Have some faith in me, ya crazy pink puffball."
"Has she already got a case of sea madness?" Pa-Patch questioned the passengers worriedly.
"We're used to her randomness," Rainbow assured the Bob-omb. "Just let Pinkie be Pinkie."
The first day of their voyage was already meeting with smooth sails. No signs of poor weather in the near future as the cries of the gulls rang over the sea as they flew along with the ship. Vivian leaned over the edge of the rail, gasping in awe at the calm waves lapping at the hull of the ship and took in the vast ocean around them.
"So this is the ocean," she uttered. "I've never even been on a boat before."
"Just be careful not to fall overboard," Starlight warned.
"Yeah! We won't be rescued by a giant friendly whale this time!" Pinkie said as she popped up behind the rail next to Vivian.
"What's a 'whale'?" the shadow asked.
"Not a tuna, that's for sure," Pinkie answered, but her response only confused Vivian more.
"Uhh...what's a...tuna?" she asked.
"Pinkie, for goodness sake, don't confuse the poor girl," Applejack chided Pinkie.
Fluttershy hovered up to the rail, looking out to where the ship was going. "I wonder if there are other islands with cute Yoshis out here," she said with a squee.
Goombella looked over some maps of the ocean around Rogueport she had on hand. "I highly doubt there would be Yoshi settlements around these waters," she said.
"But what if there is, and one of those island was where Scrappy was taken from when he was still in his egg?" Fluttershy asked. "What if his family is really worried about him?"
"Ah, I don't mind it, Mama Fluttershy," Scrappy said. "I'd rather explore new places and protect you from danger."
The little Yoshi was scooped up by the yellow pegasus into a hug, which he gladly returned. Even though Fluttershy found herself as Scrappy's adoptive mother, she did worry about who his real family was after he was kidnapped by someone and got bought by the hot dog vendor in Glitzville. Even if they couldn't find his real home, she was happy to know he had found his family with her and the others, despite being a bit too young to really act like a guardian to her.
The voyage was smooth sailing as the crew and its adventurous passengers traversed the open seas. Bobbery kept the S.S. Flavion on course, even through the night despite some of the crew begging him to take at least a few hours of rest. The old Bob-omb refused, remaining stubborn and refusing to deny Scarlette's final wishes for him. There wasn't a lack of entertainment thanks to Pinkie coming up with all sorts of games for the crew to also take part in. However, the other source of entertainment that came from Flavio and the odd song he repeatedly sings while showing off his crystal skull was not as fun.
"Skull captain casts his gaze! Red Jewel shines and plays! Boom-bassa-boom festival!" Flavio sang at the bow of the ship on the third night of their voyage. "The 'Stache brothers, best of friends! Three times Red 'Stache lands on his end! Blue 'Stache's four times is whacked, so let's hear those fireworks go BOOM! At the boom-bassa-boom festivaaaaaaaaaal~!"
Pa-Patch grumbled in annoyance while most of the crew stared at him. "I'm gettin' really sick and tired of listening to that song," he muttered.
"Do you even know why he sings that?" Starlight questioned Pa-Patch.
"Don't know. Don't care. But I wish I had ears to yank out to not hear that nonsensical 'shanty'," the eye-patched Bob-omb said.
"Yeah, it's not all that catchy," Pinkie agreed. "I came up with other short songs back in season one, and they're much more catchy than that. Ooh! Like when I made a song about Zecora when we thought she was an evil enchantress! Who wants to hear that!?"
"NO!" Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Rarity exclaimed, startling Starlight, Mario, and their other friends.
"I'm guessing that's a very bad song that insulted this Zecora person," Flurrie said.
"Yes, and we were also in the wrong mistreating Zecora, who happens to be a zebra," Rarity said.
"What's a zebra?" Vivian and Scrappy asked curiously.
"Imagine an earth pony, but with black and white stripes," Starlight explained. "The only zebra we know is Zecora, so it's pretty rare to see another visiting zebra from their homeland of Farasi."
"Sounds very exotic," Ms. Mowz said.
Mario nodded, having seen Zecora a couple times when she came to town, but was never officially introduced to her. It was odd for him to know she spoke in rhyme, which sounded difficult for him to try to do, and she was a very talented alchemist. Maybe she can come up with a potion that he can trick Bowser into drinking to forget about kidnapping Peach and taking over the Mushroom Kingdom.
After singing another round of his favorite song, Flavio put away his skull and pulled out a telescope. He adjusted the scope, spotting Keelhaul Key in the distance under the glow of the full moon.
"Aha! Land ho!" Flavio announced. "Keelhaul Key is just ahead! We made it in good time!" Putting away his telescope, he joins the others on deck as they leaned over the rail to see the island. "Nothing to fear, as expected! Mountains of treasure waiting for us to nab! I feel so excited, allow me to tell you all another of my tales of raw bravery!"
The crew all groaned as Flavio spouted a story about running into a sea serpent and fighting tooth and nail against it. "I don't know which is worse: his singing, or his storytelling?" the veiled crewmate, whose name was Four Eyes, questioned, getting a snicker out of Pa-Patch.
"Didn't we hear this story yesterday?" Koops asked.
"The real question is if any of his adventures are true," Applejack said. "Ah can tell he's makin' most of it all up just to be entertainin'."
While being bored to tears by Falvio's adventurous tale, the ship had come to a mysterious stop as the wind blowing the sails had stopped. Bobbery noticed as he looked up at the now hanging sails, the ship sitting idle on the eerily calm waters.
"Oh, this doesn't bode well," he uttered. "We've lost wind!"
The others looked up the sails, noticing the ship's stopped except for Flavio, who was still in the middle of his story. "That's odd. How is there no wind?" Starlight asked.
"If we've got no wind, I can make some," Rainbow suggested.
"Out around these waters, there should be enough wind for sails to blow, but it's completely vanished," Bobbery said. "Something's definitely not right."
"Oy! Flavio!" Pa-Patch called out to their captain. "The ship's stopped moving!"
Letting out a haughty grunt, Flavio leered at Pa-Patch in annoyance. "Stopping me in the middle of my grand venturous recap to tell me the ship is not moving?" he questioned. "It's your job to keep it moving, hmm? So take care of it!"
Pa-Patch let out a heavy sigh at their "captain's" obliviousness. "Aye aye, captain," he grumbled. "I swear, he can't see past that stupid nose of his."
"Is the weather gonna get any worse later this evening?" Rarity asked.
"Not sure, but I'll take a look," Pa-Patch said as he began climbing up the mast to the crow's nest.
"Hey, I wanna look, too!" Pinkie said as she followed Pa-Patch.
"You guys know Rainbow or Fluttershy could just fly up instead to get a much higher vantage point!" Starlight called out.
"I don't know. Something just...doesn't feel right," Rainbow said. "This world might not have complete control of the weather, but this lack of wind just feels...creepy."
"And...maybe the fog rolling in is just as bad?" Fluttershy asked as she shakily pointed a hoof out to the sea, where a thick fog was beginning to roll up around the ship.
At the top of the crow's nest Pa-Patch and Pinkie looked at different ends of the lookout, switching sides to double check if the other missed anything. "Oooooooh. We got some bad clouds coming in," Pinkie said. "Is it gonna storm?"
"I don't hear any thunder," Pa-Patch mumbled. With their backs turned, neither Bob-omb or pony noticed a blue flame with yellow eyes phase into existence between them. It hovered over to Pa-Patch and tapped his back. "Hey, if you're gonna look with me, don't distract me. Now's not the time."
The flame disappeared as he turned around, only to see Pinkie leaning over the railing of the crow's nest, barely acknowledging what he said. Confused, Pa-Patch turned back around, where the flame reappeared, then approached Pinkie and poked her flank.
"What is it Patchy? Find something weird?" Pinkie turned around to look at the Bob-omb, missing the flame as it disappeared again. His back was turned, making her pout. "Fine. Don't tell me if it's super secret."
"What are you talking about?" Pa-Patch questioned. "You're the one pestering me."
"No, you poked me and are being really rude not telling me what you saw!" Pinkie argued.
"Lass, there's nothing but sea and clouds! If you wanna play your weird 'I Spy' game, don't do it when the ship's stuck in the middle of the ocean!" Pa-Patch exclaimed.
"I'm being super serial right now! And we are playing a game: we ARE the game!" Pinkie exclaimed back.
"...Wha-?" Pa-Patch shook his head, ignoring the random pony and turned away. "Look, just head back down to the deck with your friends and let a real sailor do his job."
Pinkie crossed her forelegs and stuck her tongue out at Pa-Patch, blowing raspberries at him. Her spluttering quickly weakened and stopped when the flame that was bothering them popped into existence between the two, staring menacingly at her. Pinkie's eyes widened as she stared at the odd flame, recognizing running into these kinds of living blue flames on the star road leading to Star Haven back in the Mushroom Kingdom. She tilted her head, which mimicked her head movements while continuing their staring contest.
"...Uhhh...Patchy?" Pinkie called out.
"And stop calling me 'Patchy'! The name is Pa-!" Pa-Patch turned around, only to freeze when he spotted the blue flame hovering between them. It slowly turned around to look at the Bob-omb, letting out an ominous groaning sound. His eyepatch shot up, revealing his other eye as he shook in fright. "Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-AAAAAAHHHHHH! GHOST!!!!"
Pa-Patch scrambled over to the ladder and slid down the ladder, practically falling down to the deck with a painful thud, leaving Pinkie Pie alone with the ghost. "Ohhhhhhh. So that's why these things are blue. They're bad spirits! Makes so much sense back on Star Way," she said to herself with a nod, then screamed after a moment of silence and ran around the crow's nest, leaving the ghostly spirit bubble confused as it watched her. "GHOSTIEEEEEEES!"
Pinkie dove over the crow's nest, startling the crew along with Pa-Patch's swift drop as she wound up landing on top of Mario. "What in the hay is goin' on up there?" Applejack asked.
"G-G-G-G-G-Ghosts!" Pa-Patch stammered.
"Ghosts? What are you talking about?" Flavio questioned.
The fog suddenly got much thicker, making it hard to see the water, and several more blue flames appeared around the ship, letting out eerie wails. "Oh no. They're upon us!" Pa-Patch panicked. "The pirate ghosts! The rumors are true: Cortez's undead crew have come to haunt us!"
The rest of the crew began to panic as the spirits floated closer to them. Flavio, despite trying to put on a brave face, was shivering in terror as his yellow face went pale.
"N-N-No need to panic!" Flavio said, trying and failing to calm his crew and passengers down, though the passengers were ready to fight back against the spirits despite Pinkie overreacting earlier. "T-This is all...just a horrible dream, and we'll wake up any moment! L-Let's just...get the ship moving! Right away, please!"
Hundreds of ghosts suddenly appeared in the mist around the boat as more popped in on the ship. Flavio's face quickly turned blue as one hovered directly in front of him, causing him to scream like a girl and run around in a panic, thinking that ghost was the Pirate King Cortez. Things were getting out of hand as most of the crew was a panic-struck mess sans Four Eyes and Bobbery. Even though Mario and his own crew had some more fighting experience, these ghosts weren't like Boos; they were living flames and burned at the highest degree possible.
The whole ship began to rock, not just from everyone else running around in a panic, but the ghosts seemed to also be attacking the ship, wanting it to sink and take everyone down with it. "Everypony, try to remain calm!" Starlight yelled out, her words barely reaching everyone.
Flavio ran over to the unicorn and clung onto her, nearly bowling her over as he sobbed uncontrollably. "I'm too young to die! There's so much I wanted to live for! My treasure! Romance! I'm done with adventures!"
"Will you let go of me!?" Starlight exclaimed.
"Get off my ship!" Bobbery exclaimed. "I've faced tsunamis that made me cower worse than a bunch of-!"
One of the spirits rammed into Bobbery, making him yell and send him overboard. "Bob-omb overboard!" Goombella exclaimed.
"Hey! Listen!" Four Eyes said. "Stop panicking! If we can form an orderly line without running around shoving each other!" The boat shook harder, hearing some of the wood breaking apart from the attacking spirits as it started to take on water and sink. "...Oh, forget this! Makeway, people!"
Four Eyes shoved past everyone and dove into the water to escape. "This is getting worse and worse by the second!" Flurrie exclaimed.
"Where are the lifeboats!?" Applejack asked. "Don't these big ships have anythin' like that in case it sinks!?"
"What am I!? Made of money!?" Flavio questioned.
"You said you're a rich merchant, and you didn't bother to buy a ship with important safety features in case of a situation like this!?" Starlight exclaimed after peeling the "brave" captain off of her.
"I was hoping to get all sorts of riches, but that won't matter if I die at the bottom of the sea!" Flavio screeched. The ship shook harder and began to sink faster. "AHHHHHHH! ABANDON SHIP! EVERYONE BUT ME LAST!"
Flavio ran to the edge to jump overboard, but Starlight grabbed him with her magic, keeping him stuck on the dock with everyone else. "Oh no you don't! You're the captain, you go down with your ship!"
Panicking, Flavio took off his hat and placed it on Starlight's head. "I never said I was the captain! You're the captain!"
Starlight glowered at the cowardly merchant, but she didn't have much time to berate Flavio as the ship began to break apart. Everyone who was still on the ship quickly jumped off and fell into the water, swimming far away from the sinking ship to avoid getting sucked down with it. Bits of debris and cargo floated where the S.S. Flavion sank as the voyagers treaded water, the ghosts and the ominous clouds disappearing once it was completely sank.
Vivian panicked and splashed around in a panic. "H-Help! I-I don't know how to swim!" she cried out as she almost completely sank under the surface of the water.
Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Flurrie splashed out of the water and hovered around, Fluttershy grabbing Vivian's hand and helped her out with Scrappy seated on her back. "I've got you, Vivian!"
With so many people on the ship, there was no way the only few flyers of the group could get everyone to land on Keelhaul Key without exhausting themselves, or losing some of them in the process. It also didn't help that Flavio was clinging onto Starlight to avoid drowning, and Pinkie was doing the same with Mario to avoid the metallic snapper fish she had the misfortune to meet in the waters around the region. Shoving Flavio off of her once again, Starlight quickly looked around at all the bits of broken boards and pieces of the ship.
"I hope there's enough wood around to fashion a makeshift raft," she uttered to herself, using her magic to gather all the pieces she could see in the moonlight. Gathering each piece, not concerned about making sure the makeshift planks were even, she was able to build and keep them all together to make a sizable wooden raft that was enough for everyone to stand on without getting pushed off. "Everypony climb on! Quick!"
Everyone swam over to the raft and were helped up by Rainbow Dash while Fluttershy and Flurrie helped some that were unable to swim get on, like Vivian. As soon as Fluttershy helped Vivian onto the raft, she shook and coughed up some water, absolutely terrified.
"I don't like the ocean anymore," she whined.
"I thought you could float," Koops said, his shell thankfully making him buoyant in the water. When he glanced at the shadow's tail wisp, he grimaced when he saw that thin tendril connecting her to the ground was in the water. Far, far deep in the water, toward the sea floor. "...Oh...Not when your 'tail' is...literally connected to the ground...like a shadow..."
Slowly, but surely, everyone was helped and gathered onto the raft. With Starlight's horn still glowing, keeping the raft glued together, she glanced around for a headcount. "Anypony missing?" she asked.
"Well, obviously, your captain is still alive," Flavio said.
"Oh, shut your trap, Flavio!" Pa-Patch exclaimed. "Your ship's sunk! You ain't no captain anymore! Miss Starlight's a much better captain than you!"
"Mutiny already! See how I pay you any coins when we find Cortez's treasure!" Flavio argued. Growling, Starlight levitated Flavio off the raft and hovered him over the ocean. "Ahh! What are you doing!? My clothes are already ruined by seawater!"
"Worrying about your treasure is less important than the fact that we're shipwrecked, and we seem to be missing a few members of the crew!" Starlight said. "So either you behave, or you'll be shark bait until we get to shore!" Flavio gulped, keeping his big mouth shut as his expedition partner was planning to feed him to the fishes. Seeing he would behave for the time being, Starlight set him back down on the raft. "Now, we're missing Bobbery, Four Eyes, and that young green-spotted Toad. Did anypony see if the waves washed them away?"
"It was so foggy, it was too hard to see a few feet around the ship," a Toad crewmate answered.
"Maybe the waves helped push them to Keelhaul Key," a Bob-omb sailor pondered.
"Let's hope that's the case," Goombella said.
"It's too dark and we won't find any mainland being out this far at sea," Pa-Patch said. "Our only option is Keelhaul Key."
"Right. My magic won't be able to hold this raft for much longer," Starlight said. "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Flurrie, push us off to the island."
"Aye aye, Captain Glimmer," Rainbow responded with a mock salute, trying to make light of their situation.
"Aye. Captain Glimmer sounds much more reliable than Flavio," Pa-Patch said.
Flavio glowered at the Bob-omb as the two pegasi and wind spirit got behind the raft and pushed everyone present to Keelhaul Key. It took a bit of effort and careful pushing to avoid messing up Starlight's concentration, but they managed to reach the shore within half an hour. The moment they reached the sand, Starlight dropped her spell, mentally exhausted for connecting several pieces of the ship and holding a huge weight of people all at once. Vivian scrambled away from the sand and onto dry land, afraid to go anywhere near the water and risk having that same terrifying experience again.
Once everyone had recovered from the scare of drowning on a sinking ship, they all gathered inland, taking the pieces of debris with them to save for either a fire or to fashion into makeshift rooves for shelter if the weather gets bad. They made it to their destination, only to be marooned with no possible way of getting off the island, even if they bothered to search for Cortez's treasure and the Crystal Star.
Through the next couple days, the shipwrecked passengers tried to bring some form of temporary civilization on Keelhaul Key. Using bits of the ship they had along with the remaining wreckage that washed on shore, they built a few huts to protect themselves from the jungle climate. Many hope that a ship will come and rescue them, but after getting attacked by the hundreds of dangerous spirits, it would be impossible for even a modern ship made of steel to traverse near and meet the same fate as other ships that approached this cursed isle.
It didn't stop a certain cyan pegasus from trying. If they couldn't escape by sea, they could try by air. Sadly, everything's fair game with these ghosts. Standing by the shore, Mario, Starlight, Applejack, and Rarity looked out to the sea, watching Rainbow Dash flying around, trying to get past a wall of spirits keeping her from leaving the perimeter of their territory. They could hear the pegasus grunting and yelping, trying not to get singed by the living flames. Rainbow had been at it for half an hour, flying in different directions and at different altitudes, but the ghosts would not let her escape, popping in faster than even she could approach.
"These ghosts are really persistent, huh?" Applejack asked.
The other three nodded, continuing watching until Rainbow flew back to join them, exhausted and frustrated. "I can't slip past them! It's like they know where I'm gonna go and block me!" she exclaimed.
"They really don't want their victims to escape and keep this island from being invaded," Starlight thought aloud. "Maybe there is treasure here they're protecting and they don't want anyone to leave and take it with them."
"I can't believe we're marooned here," Rarity whined. "Twilight and Peach are in peril, the world's going to end from a dormant demon spirit ready to wake up from a thousand year nap, and I have no shampoo or conditioner to deal with the salty air ruining my hair!"
The others gave Rarity a blank stare as the unicorn emphasized her deflated curls in her mane and tail losing their heft. "...Rarity, Ah think survivin' on this island is more important than your hair problems," Applejack uttered.
"At least we're not trapped underneath those disgusting sewers in Rogueport," Rarity argued with a look of disgust. "I don't want to trudge around in dirty sewer water and...who knows what else is down there!"
Mario sighed, lowering his head and shook it. From the small path made through the thick jungle brush, Koops came rushing over to the ponies and plumber.
"Uhh, guys?" he called out timidly. "They're...at it again."
"Oh for the love of Celestia," Starlight groaned. "I'll handle this."
They headed into the jungle, the shore they stood on not too far away from where they set up their makeshift village. Some of the surviving supplies in barrels and crates were stored in a corner of their jungle "home", but none of the snacks Pinkie made with Zess T. survived, either ruined by the salty ocean water or eaten by the aquatic creatures making the S.S. Flavion their new home. The sails were used as makeshift canopies for a few tents with Rarity's stitching expertise, though her friends had to remind her to make them work to provide shelter, not beautify them. There was a flag stuck in the ground with the sunken vessel's flag, along with someone's underwear as a small prank. And a small firepit sat in the middle of the camp, a lounge chair next to it, which served no purpose for survival, but Flavio insisted on keeping it for thinking of a way to get them off the island.
The former ship captain, however, was distracted from his thoughts and standing in the middle of their shipwrecked village while arguing with Pa-Patch. Everyone was standing around and watching the two bicker, though the only ones missing from the group were Fluttershy, Pinkie, Scrappy, and Vivian, who volunteered to find some food deeper in the jungle.
"Ya really expect me to do all your dirty work when we're all doing our part!?" Pa-Patch shouted angrily at Flavio.
"I'm still in charge of this group, and if you don't do what I say, I'll keelhaul you!" Flavio argued back.
"Ya can't keelhaul someone without a ship, ya fancy pants idjit!" Pa-Patch countered, making Flavio balk at the insult.
"D-Did you just call me, Flavio, 'fancy pants'!?" he questioned.
"Yeah! I did!" Pa-Patch said. "You're no longer a captain of a ship, just the captain of fancy pants, fancy pants! Real captains don't fear danger, whether it be the sea or a bunch of ghosts!"
"Excuse me!? You also cowered in your shoes when they stopped and destroyed my beautiful ship!" Flavio exclaimed.
"At least I didn't scream like a lass who wet their knickers...fancy pants," Pa-Patch said with a scowling look.
Fuming, Flavio was about to fight the one-eyed Bob-omb, but Starlight teleported between the two, using her magic to shove them a few feet away from each other. "ENOUGH! I have had it with you two fighting with each other! We've been stuck here for three days, and your pointless bickering is not helping our situation!"
"B-But he's the one who-" Flavio tried to explain, but Starlight shoved his hat down over his head to silence him.
"I don't care who started it, because I'm ending it!" she shouted. Glancing at Pa-Patch, the smug Bob-omb stiffened and dropped his satisfied gaze, knowing not to cross Starlight Glimmer, truly respecting her as a leader better than Flavio. Taking a deep breath, she sighed heavily, trying to keep the peace between everyone despite the situation they wound up in. "Look, I know we're marooned here, but we need to work together to survive. There has to be some way to get off this island, and there has to be a way to get rid of all these-"
"GHOOOOOOOOSTS!!!!!!!" Speeding in from the jungle, Pinkie zipped into the village, dropping a few bunches of bananas from her saddlebags, the ponies' and Mario's packs surviving the wreck along with the rest of their supplies. As Pinkie hid behind Mario, her tail slightly singed, Fluttershy and Vivian appeared through the brush, followed by Scrappy as he hopped back, laying eggs and flinging them at a trio of ghosts chasing after them. "EVERYPONY RUN!!!!!"
The survivors panicked and hid while Flavio and Pa-Patch cowered with Pinkie behind Mario. "N-Not again!" Flavio cried out.
"Come on, you dumb ghosts!" Scrappy goaded, smacking one of the flaming spirits with one of his eggs. "I'm not scared of you! I bet you taste spicy!" Deciding to try swallowing them, Scrappy shot his long tongue out one of them, only to get the bulbous tip of his elastic organ burnt. Instant regret washed over his face as his tongue retracted back to his mouth, yelping and keeping his tongue out as tears of pain welled in his eyes. "OWW! Hath! Too hath!"
"They're living fireballs!" Vivian said. "I can't even touch them!"
"C-Captain Glimmer, please stop them!" Pa-Patch begged.
"Ugh. Fine," Starlight groaned. "At least these things aren't really ghosts if they got hit by an egg."
Mario quickly jumped in, his hammer at the ready, and to add a bit of protection to the ghost's fiery forms, he used the Lucky Star's protective enchantment to keep himself and his friends from getting burnt. He ran up to one ghost and smacked it hard with his hammer, stunning it, and leaving it open to getting bonked by Goombella. Koops ducked in his shell as Applejack bucked him hard, sending him crashing into the other two, then boomeranged himself back with the unique shell tossing technique from Petalburg. As the flames were knocked by the returning Koopa shell again, Ms. Mowz showed her capabilities in combat, trusting in the pink aura Mario granted her and her new comrades. Sprinting toward one of the ghosts, she leapt and dive kicked its face, backflipping away as it retaliated by shooting small fireballs out its hidden mouth, then jumped back in to give it a hard slap, making it spin about and make it dizzy.
"Nice try, darling, but you've got to be sneakier than that to touch me," she taunted.
Rainbow Dash swooped down and flew around in a circle, building up speed and creating a small whirlwind, sucking in the three flames and depriving their fire of oxygen. Trapped and stunned, Flurrie blew a powerful gust of wind, sending them flying off toward the sea. Neither flame could reorient themselves as they plopped into the water, letting out loud hisses as they evaporated into steam. Everyone relaxed as the threatening pirate spirits were dealt with, some of them gathering the bananas Pinkie dropped as she fled to safety.
"Phew. We sure showed them," Pinkie said.
"Pinkie, you didn't join in," Goombella said. "And you carry around a hammer. You could have just bonked them."
"I could have, but I had all the bananas," Pinkie reasoned. "Besides, the forced battle couldn't start unless they came over here, not in the jungle."
The ship crew stared at Pinkie and questioned her random logic for not joining her friends. "...What?" a Bob-omb sailor uttered.
"Ignore her. She doesn't have jungle madness," Goombella assured the confused sailor.
As everything settled down, Flavio began to grow a bit worried. "There might be more of those evil spirits lurking around searching for us," he said.
"Technically, those are Embers, not ghosts," Goombella stated. Flipping through the pages of her book, which somehow survived after being drenched in sea water when the ship sank, showing the flamboyant captain a page of said "spirit", along with a Lava Bubble on the other page. "It may be a spirit, but it's just a living fireball with a different color. And being blue, it's clearly much hotter than the red Lava Bubbles."
"At least this island doesn't have an active volcano like on Lavalava Island," Fluttershy said. "I can't imagine innocent, cute and cuddly Yoshis living on a scary island like this."
"I'm nah sthared oth no ghosths," Scrappy mumbled, his tongue still numb after carelessly trying to slurp up the Ember.
"Regardless, more of them will come and take us to their lair!" Flavio continued. "As the leader of this expedition, I shall remain here to keep watch of the camp while my lovely, and magically gifted, co-expeditioner and her companions explore the rest of the island to scare them off."
Starlight blankly leered at Flavio. "...Charming. Also, kissing up to me is not going to work," she said. "Plus, this expedition is no longer considered one when we're marooned. Besides, I was going to have us explore anyway because, not only are we searching for a very important jewel that'll save the world, but we're still on the lookout for the three missing crew members from your now sunken ship. They had to have washed ashore on Keelhaul Key with us, just somewhere else and are trying to survive like we are."
"...Well, it has been three days," Flavio trailed off.
"Oy! Admiral Bobbery was one of them, ya fancy pants wuss!" Pa-Patch exclaimed angrily. "Ya don't even care about the GREATEST sailor to have ever lived and even gave us the honor of sailing your ship!?"
"That is it, you one-eyed, walking, talking windup toy!" Flavio shouted as he pointed at Pa-Patch. "You and me! Hammers at high noon!"
"GUYS!" Starlight shrieked, silencing the bickering sailors as they winced. "If you two so much as pick a fight with each other while I am gone, I'm gonna keelhaul the both of you off this island myself!"
Flavio and Pa-Patch looked at each other, then back to Starlight. "...Umm...Y-You can't...keelhaul someone without a ship?" Flavio muttered weakly.
"I'll find a way, considering this island is called 'Keelhaul Key'," Starlight said, glowering menacingly at Flavio. He let out a loud, audible gulp, shivering in terror, keeping his mouth shut from now on. Pa-Patch was a bit annoyed that Flavio used his words earlier to correct Startlight, but he knew better not to correct the unicorn when she's ready to blast the both of them out into the ocean. Letting out a breath to calm her growing ire toward her "partner", Starlight turned to her friends. "Guys, we're going deeper through the jungle. Everyone else remain put. And if anypony sees Flavio and Pa-Patch getting into another fight while we're gone, you let me know."
"Yes, ma'am!" everyone else said.
Flavio was dumbstruck, hearing everyone give a respectful response toward Starlight and not him, the captain. He grumbled to himself, pouting and stomping away to his tent. With order finally back to the group, Mario led his friends deeper into the jungle, farther than they dared to explore after washing up on Keelhaul Key.