Rainbow Dash awoke in the night to find her body leaning against some sort of brown rock with her rear hooves floating in water. She shook her head trying to clear it and started to roll on her back, only to be reminded of the intense pain in her left wing, “Ah!” She let inhaled quickly. Well, the suit should keep it in place, so I can probably get away without taking a look at it for now. Instead, she decided to stand up completely and start looking around. She noticed her sword was still with her and she slung it across herself so as not to touch her left wing. She took in the surrounding area and realized it was the ruins of a large temple-like structure, including the rock she had been cast upon. The ruins themselves were actually halfway submerged in water, with only its tallest structures and spires protruding.
“Soarin!” Rainbow called out, hoping for a reply, “Anypony!?” She felt her stomach sinking as she frantically looked around, “HEEEEEEY!” She shouted even though she knew no answer would come. Rainbow was more than a little upset as her situation sank in, Well this is just great. Whole city goes to Tartarus, Soarin doesn’t explain what’s going on, and I’m stranded alone. Rrgh, when I find him, he better have a good explanation. She gave a deep sigh as her rage subsided and saw a large domed part of the temple in the distance. I guess I better head up there if I want somewhere to sleep. It’s not like I’ve never been in trouble before, I’m sure the guards are already working on a rescue effort. I just have to wait around for a little while and one of the pegasi is bound to notice me. She started swimming towards a walkway that appeared to lead straight to the dome. Strange though, I don’t remember seeing anywhere like this in Manehattan…or Equestria for that matter. She shrugged it off as she climbed onto the narrow path. Whatever, it’s not like I knew the city like the back of my hoof anyway.
She made it halfway across the stone walkway before she felt a rumble. Oh come on! She thought to herself just as the rocks beneath her started to give. She quickly started to run as far as she could before making a jump to the part of the bridge that wasn’t falling. She landed with all four hooves on the other side and looked back to give a triumphant smirk. Hah, piece of cake. She started to walk forward and didn’t notice that there was a wet spot on the ground in front of her. Her hooves made contact and her heart skipped a beat as she immediately lost her balance and fell into the water with a splash.
Rainbow surfaced and spat out some water that she accidently took in. Not fair, she thought as she moved her mane out of her face. She looked up at the now broken platform and narrowed her eyebrows. Now what? She decided to follow it the rest of the way by water to see if it would lead her to another way up. She swam for a few minutes before she heard a bubbling in the water. Seconds later, a strange looking, green fish that was about her size breached the water over her head. What?! She thought this as two more followed suit. They had two elongated dorsal fins and multiple tail fins, similar to other fish. The strange part was the fact that not only did they have teeth, which was rare, but the fins on their sides were longer and had sharp claw-like edges to them.
Rainbow took a dive into the water and starting swimming as fast as she could. When it didn’t look like the creatures were going to give up, she drew her sword and turned to face them. Okay you know what, fine. I needed an outlet for my anger anyway, she thought with her temper flaring. The closest creature lunged at her and she swiveled her body to avoid it; she countered with a slash across the side of its body as it rushed by her. She noticed it disperse in the same manner that the Sinspawn had, Huh, I guess Soarin was right. I still don’t understand why I am just now seeing this, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen a wild animal die. I know I’ve never seen a pony do that. As her mind wandered on a tangent, she felt the wind knocked out of her as a second fish tackled her from behind. She shrugged off the hit and righted herself in time to counter the third attacker by shooting over it as it charged and cutting it from above.
She looked around for the soon to be sushi that had hit her and saw it was rapidly swimming away. Rainbow gave a cocky grin as she watched it leave. Hah, that’s right, run like a guppy! Nopony messes with Rainbow Dash. She turned around to continue following her route just in time to see the scariest looking monster she’d ever seen zooming towards her. All sense of victory gone, she dived down as quickly as possible to avoid its gaping maw. Having narrowly dodged it, she looked over her shoulder to get a more complete view. It was very round looking, almost like a giant ball, except this ball was spikey, scaly, and had tentacles on its undercarriage. Instead of fins, it had arms in the shape of fins with pincers on the ends of them. The strangest part about it was its chest area, Rainbow could see inside of it! It looked like a more complex, but hollow rib cage. Its head had other protrusions that glowed at the tips and it didn’t look like it had any eyes. The mouth that she had just avoided, peeled back six flaps to roar at her, making the water in the area bubble and froth. Yeah I think I’m done here, Rainbow thought as she beat a hasty retreat. She was tough, but she wasn’t stupid.
Rainbow spotted a small opening in a wall of the submerged ruin, That’ll do it. She started to pick up speed so the monster wouldn’t be able to keep up. She felt her rear hoof brush up against something living. Oh boy, she used the last of her adrenalin to push herself even faster. She managed to breach the entrance that opened up into a tunnel. The moment she did she felt the threat that was following her crash into the side of the wall outside. A rush of water soon followed and made Rainbow lose control as it propelled her through the rest of the tunnel. She was soon launched out of the tunnel and made contact with a solid enough force to stop her face first. The exit she came out of was quickly crushed beneath new layers of debris.
Rainbow gave a slight groan as she got back to her hooves and lightly shook her head. She observed her new surroundings to find that it was only a small room that had chunks of rocks littering it, no doubt from the various holes in the ceiling. She also noticed there was a stairway ahead of her that lead straight upwards. Guess I’ve only got one option, she thought after looking towards the cave-in. She made her way up the stairs and went into the next area.
She came out of an archway into a colossal, circular room. There were multiple statues and pillars of ornate design that she had never seen anything similar to. She could see other floors from where she was standing that seemed to go all the way up. A broken waterfall was cascading down one side from a couple holes in the ceiling. Rainbow noticed for the first time that her breath was visible, but she didn’t really give it much thought, pegasi traditionally lived at such a high altitude that they were naturally resistant to the cold. She did however, notice that all of the recent activity had left her exhausted. Satisfied that the area was safe enough, she set her sword to her side as she curled up for a much needed rest.
Rainbow’s slumber was disturbed when a rock came loose from above and hit the ground near her. “Mm, I’ll fix the clouds in a minute…” she said groggily. A skittering noise followed by a couple more rocks falling caught her attention and she remembered where she was. Sitting up with a jolt, Rainbow’s head darted from left to right. She looked up for the source of the commotion and her eyes met with those of a being not completely dissimilar to an oversized scorpion. There were a few key differences though: it was thinner, black, and the tail curved the opposite direction. It also only had four legs that had a sort of armor that continued past the point where it was jointed, making it look like it could impale something by kneeing it. Its head also shared this armor that extended back like a helmet.
The creature took a lap around the walls of the room and jumped down at Rainbow with an arm poised for a strike. She rolled out of the way as the creature came smashing down onto the ground. She tried to strike at it but her sword skidded off of its armored parts. She and the beast traded attacks back and forth without either making much headway. Rainbow was starting to get tired, she still hadn’t fully recovered. Before she could come up with an idea, a violent explosion was heard and a pair of double doors were blown open at one side of the chamber.
Rainbow glanced over to see a group of earth ponies pour into the room. They all wore what seemed to be jumpsuits or some sort of clothes she would expect from mechanical field workers. They all had either goggles or full face masks and were wielding some strange looking sticks with metal on them. There was one shapelier figure with an interesting mane that stuck up through their red headgear. They too were sporting a pair of goggles but didn’t seem to have a weapon. The pony walked up to Rainbow cracking her neck as they did so. Rainbow eyed them warily and came to the conclusion they were female from the way her face looked. When the mysterious mare came closer to Rainbow, she turned to face the monster.
“You here to help? Awesome!” Rainbow said as she focused her attention once more on the creature before them. Before she could reinitiate the fight, the unnamed mare retrieved an item from a satchel and threw it at their enemy. “Hey uh, I don’t think a rock is gonna-,” Rainbow started before the object exploded on contact with the ground around the monster. “Whoa!” Rainbow exclaimed as the monster started to dissipate into pyreflies, “That was so cool! I’ve never seen anything like that. You guys like Special Forces or something? And what’s with the sticks?” She continued to talk as the mare with the explosives took off her goggles. Suddenly Rainbow’s mane was grabbed from behind, “HEY, what gives!” She shouted. The other ponies surrounded her and were pointing their sticks at her, the sticks also had spears on the ends of them so Rainbow felt less prone to struggling.
“Fryd ec drec?” One of them asked the others.
“Y fiend! Eh buho tekieca!” Another one cried out. She recognized the word fiend, but not much else.
“Are you guys crazy? Is that it?” Rainbow said with her eyes darting from one pony to another.
“Fa gemm ed?” They ignored Rainbow and brought a knife to her throat. She immediately tensed up.
“Fyed!” The mare from before walked over to them, “Fryd ev ec y buho?”
The one with the knife to her neck twirled it around and pointed it to the mare while saying, “Drao yna dra cysa eh taydr.” Rainbow didn’t know why, but whatever he said sounded menacing.
“E vunpet ed!” The mare stomped her hoof down, “Fa pnehk ed fedr ic.” She walked closer to Rainbow and put her head beside hers, “Cunno.” She whispered as Rainbow felt a hoof drive up into her gut, knocking the wind out of her and sending her to the ground. Rainbow took one last look at the mare before slipping into unconsciousness.
When Rainbow woke up she found herself under the stars lying on a hard metal surface. She sat up quickly and saw she was on the deck of some kind of ship. It didn’t have any sails like most ships she saw and the deck she was on was in the back of the ship. The front was taken up almost entirely by what looked like a large water wheel. That’s one way to make a ship move, she thought. The wheel was covered by a long metal awning with searchlights that were currently moving across the water. Rainbow saw that there were two of the ponies from before standing in front of her. She started to get up when they quickly turned around to face her. One of them smacked her back down to the ground.
“Ced, lybdeja!” He raised his voice at her.
“Hey pal, you better watch it, you’re really starting to make me angry.” She noticed she still had her weapon and was going to reach for it until the other one pointed the stick-thing right in her face. She didn’t know what it was, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to find out yet. “Alright, fine.” She snorted, finally relenting. They were interrupted by a mechanical sound and Rainbow saw a piece of the ship open upwards to reveal the mare that hit her as well as a stallion she hadn’t seen before. He had a Mohawk and wore goggles much like the others she had seen. He also wore suspenders without a shirt so she was able to see a large tattoo that covered most of his body.
“Caynlr ran.” He pointed at Rainbow.
The other mare came behind Rainbow and held her with one hoof to stand her up and started patting her down. Rainbow tried to retain her angry look, but winced as her left wing was grazed. They seemed either to not care or take notice. The stallion started to make some funny noises and gestures that looked like swimming.
“Uh…?” Rainbows ire was being replaced by confusion at this point.
“Tu oui hud cbayg?” He gave her a quizzical look. He then continued to make gestures and grunts and pointed to her, a pair of goggles, and then the water.
“So uh, you guys just let me know when you want to start making sense.” Rainbow rolled her eyes.
“Ehcumahla!” One of the original ponies shouted as he stuck his stick back into her face.
“Fyed!” The mare exclaimed from behind Rainbow. She then whispered, “They said you can stay if you make yourself useful.”
“What!? You could understand me? Why didn’t you say anything before!?” Rainbow growled at her. She then received a smack to the back of her head. “OW, fine! I got it! Don’t know how much help I’ll be half-starved and lame though.” She huffed.
“Lame?” The mare gave her a look, “You’re walking just fine.”
“I meant my wing…” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed as she looked pointedly to her back.
“You’re a pegasus!?” It was the mare’s turn to be surprised, Rainbow wasn’t sure why. The mare started to stare intensely as she said, “Prove it.”
“Fine, just let me get out of this thing.” Rainbow replied. The mare let go of her and Rainbow started to unzip the front of her uniform. She slid the top part down to her flank to reveal her wings, one of which was swollen, before the others. Most of them either let out a gasp or their eyes widened. “What’s the big deal?” She looked at them bewildered.
“What do mean, ‘what’s the big deal’ you’re a pegasus!” The mare said to her excitedly.
“Yeah so?” Rainbow still didn’t get it, but she started to feel uneasy.
“Pegasus are the rarest pony type on the planet! How could you not know this?” The mare continued gawking at her as Rainbow let what she had said sink in. “Oh wow, I never thought I would meet one after the last one disappeared ten years ago!” She kept talking.
“Whoa, whoa ju-just hang on a minute.” Rainbow’s brain kick started again, “What are you talking about? Have you never even heard of Cloudsdale? There’s tons of us there, I should know, being born there and all.” Rainbow looked at her like she was crazy, “That doesn’t even include the rest of Equestria!”
“Uh, did you hit your head or something?” She cocked her head at Rainbow.
“Uh, you guys hit me.” Rainbow corrected her.
“Oh yeah, sorry.” She rubbed the back of her head, “We thought oui were a fiend.”
“We?” Rainbow asked.
“Oh! Oui means you.” The mare explained and looked again at Rainbow’s swollen wing, “Ouch…that looks like it hurts.” The mare walked in front of her said something in the strange language to the others. Rainbow thought they looked a little miffed at first but then seemed to lighten up a bit. While she was talking, Rainbow started to take off the rest of her suit. The mare slowly stopped talking when she noticed the others were staring behind her instead of listening. She turned her head and blushed profusely as she saw Rainbow removing her garments. “H-Hey! What are you doing!?” She rushed over to block Rainbow from the other ponies.
“Taking my suit off?” Rainbow’s statement sounded more like a question.
“In public!?” The mare sounded embarrassed.
“What’s wrong with that?” Rainbow asked her.
“I don’t know where you’re from, but ponies should keep their pants on, literally!” The mare explained as she tried to pull Rainbow’s clothes back up her body.
“Why? We don’t normally wear clothes.” Rainbow smirked at a memory of a similar exchange.
“Well in Spira, we do.” The mare pouted at her and Rainbow had to stifle a giggle because she looked kind of cute.
“If you say so, but I would still kind of like a cast or a splint rather than a Blitzball outfit.” Rainbow decided to play along.
“Oh yeah, they said you didn’t have to dive until it got better. Let’s go get you fixed up, for now at least, they still want you to help on the ship.” She started pushing Rainbow into the opening from earlier and led her down inside the ship. Rainbow was taken through a few corridors until they came to a door that had an electric sign that glowed with the word ‘Rikku’. The door slid upwards and the mare lead Rainbow inside.
“So does Rikku mean hospital?” Rainbow questioned her as they entered the room.
“What? Oh, sorry. That’s my name!” She happily told her. She directed her towards her bed and motioned for Rainbow to sit.
“That’s an interesting name.” Rainbow complied and took a break from standing.
“Well, what’s yours?” Rikku asked as she started to retrieve some bandages from a first aid kit.
“Rainbow Dash,” She was all too happy to tell Rikku as she waited for the look of recognition.
“You mean the Rainbow Dash?” Rikku asked her with excitement.
There it is, Rainbow thought, “The one and only!”
“Never heard of you” Rikku smiled at her.
Rainbow’s mouth dropped and her mood sank. “What do you mean you’ve never heard of me?” Rainbow snapped her head towards Rikku, “You know, Element of Loyalty, Captain of the Canterlot Wonderbolts, and star Blitzball player for the Manehattan Gulls?” Rainbow elaborated.
Rikku’s smile turned into a look of worry. She made her way to Rainbow and started peeling back the top of her suit to get to her wing. “Are you sure you’re okay?” She asked as she started to wrap Rainbow’s wing.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Rainbow arched an eyebrow, “Aside from the obvious.” She motioned towards her current predicament.
“It’s just that…well, what do you remember from before?” Rikku sounded uncertain. Rainbow proceeded to tell her everything, about her best friends, their adventures, accomplishing their dreams, and everything that had led up to Sin’s attack on Manehattan. Rikku was silent for a while and Rainbow started to get a nagging feeling in the back of her head. “You were close to Sin…” Rikku sounded sure of herself now, “Don’t worry, you’ll get better in no time!” She had long since finished patching up Rainbow and now jumped up off the bed. “Maybe you just had a weird dream or something?”
“Wha-?” Rainbow scrunched her eyebrows together. Rikku left the room and Rainbow quickly zipped up her uniform and followed after. Rikku was already on her way above deck when Rainbow caught up. “What did you mean by that?”
“It’s probably Sin’s toxin.” Rikku elaborated as they walked outside. “Ponies usually act all funny if they get to close to Sin.”
“Hey you can’t just-,” Rainbow started but was cut off by Rikku continuing her sentence.
“I mean, Equestria’s been destroyed for a thousand years!” Rikku looked off the side of the boat and into the distance, “Sooo no pony plays Blitzball there. The Princesses have been gone since then too!”
Rainbow was stunned. What…I…she couldn’t even form a complete thought. “Wh-You can’t be serious.” She said in disbelief. “I was just there, I saw Sin attack Manehattan! You’re saying that happened a thousand years ago? That’s insane!” Rainbow shook her head. This mare’s definitely crazy, the whole ship probably is, she thought.
Rikku didn’t answer immediately but when she did it wasn’t what Rainbow was expecting, “Hey…you said you play Blitzball?” Rainbow nodded in affirmation. “You know, you should go to Luca. You might find somepony you know or maybe somepony who knows you.”
“Luca? What’s that?” Rainbow tilted her head.
“Ugh,” Rikku’s hoof met her face and she started to pace around in a circle as if deciding what to say next. She stopped pacing and came up close to Rainbow’s face, “Okay, I’ll get you to Luca, promise!” Rainbow just looked at her with a blank expression. “You’d rather stay here?” Rikku teased.
“Uh, no way!” Rainbow shook her head rapidly.
“Okay then, I’ll go tell ajanobuho!” She smiled.
“Ahjahnobootoh?” Rainbow tried to repeat.
“Sorry, it means everypony!” Rikku told her.
“So what language is that?” Rainbow wanted to know before she was left alone to think.
“It’s Al Bhed, can’t you tell?” Rikku started to walk back towards the door that lead below deck. She paused for a second, “Wait…you’re not an Al Bhed hater are you?” Rikku sounded crestfallen and her eyes started to resemble those of a puppy.
“I can’t really hate something I know nothing about, can I?” Rainbow responded with another question.
“Hah I guess not.” Rikku grinned and turned back around, only to do a complete 360 as she added, “Oh, and don’t tell anypony you’re from Manehattan, Ponyville, or any other city like that. Yevon says it’s a holy place, even if the only city still above water is Canterlot.”
Rainbow still thought she was crazy, but just had to ask, “So what happened to Cloudsdale then? It can’t exactly drown.” Rainbow snorted.
“Remember what I said? Pegasi are rare, the gene is almost nonexistent now. Any time one is born, it’s a momentous occasion!” Rikku’s expression turned darker, “Without the ability to manipulate the weather, the city just sort of fell apart over time…nopony could live there even if they wanted to.” She turned to go below decks and Rainbow just stared off the side of the boat.
Ponyville, a holy place? Rainbow stood there thinking like she had been for a while. Since when? I thought Sin just took me somewhere off the coast, but a thousand years into the future? Rainbow started to get angry at the very thought. No way. She turned and slammed her hoof into the side of a shipping container. NO WAY! She made contact with it and the ship suddenly started shaking. What the? The ship continued to the point where it rocked back and forth violently. Rainbow lost her balance and rolled backwards into the guardrail with a thud. The ships doors opened and a few Al Bhed plus Rikku came running out only to lose their balance as well. The ones that got back up made it over to the guardrail and looked out to sea. Rainbow turned her head and followed suit only to see a familiar sight.
“SIN!” One of them shouted, Rainbow didn’t need to be told what that meant.
“Sin ec lusa!” Another one yelled. “Ihtan ic! Ihtan ic!”
The ship continued to rock, but Rainbow managed to get back to her hooves. No sooner had she gotten up when the ship shook even harder and a large wave washed onto the decks. Rainbow didn’t see it coming and was swept up into the ocean. She looked back up at the ship to see Rikku looking back in horror before being sucked into a whirlpool and blacking out.
