The sun was setting on the horizon at the base of a nearby mountain, overlooking what remains of what used to be a grand city in the distance. Resting on a small hill were a few objects near a group of ponies and a wingless dragon: a blue and white ball with rough ridges, surprisingly used as a deadly weapon than a toy, a staff fit for a magical caster, and a blue sword that shone in the light of the descending sun, almost like it was the reflection off the water's surface.

Around the campfire, the seven travelers seemed to have had a long journey, and it showed on their weary faces. They all seemed to dread what lies in wait for them at the end of their path, taking this momentary break to relax before the worst of circumstances happened to them. Some were fidgety, some were afraid, but all of them had to keep going, even if the end of their travels seem fruitless.

One of the travelers stood up, a cyan pegasus mare with rainbow hair, wearing a strange uniform that was meant for a sport, not for traveling long distances. She walked by one of her companions, a yellow pegasus with long pink hair that nearly touched the ground if she stood on all fours, wearing a white and purple dress that was worn by specific magic wielders. She looked up at the blue pegasus, her eyes making her stand out as a unique mare: one eye was blue, while the other was green. The athletic pegasus gently laid a hoof on the other mare's shoulder, both mares exchanging a small smile, though the yellow pegasus quickly looked down at her hooves.

Feeling solemn, not in disappointment, but in the fears of knowing what will happen to them all, the rainbow-haired pegasus made her way up one of the nearby hills that overlooked the ruined city. As she reached the top, she looked out at all the destruction all around her, watching small lights floating around her and beyond the crumbled path to the ruins nearly a mile away. She was in utter disbelief, leaning against a nearby piece of the ruins as everything that lead them up to this point in time came flowing back into her.

"This...may be our last chance," she said. "I need to find something soon...before it's too late..."

Zanarkand. A massive city that never seems to sleep, lights shining all around the many tall buildings keep the city alight in the night. It also had one of the biggest harbors as many of the city's inhabitants prefer to live in boat homes, especially since the greatest forms of entertainment was a sport known as blitzball. Luckily enough, one of the biggest matches were about to take place this evening, and many of the ponies that live in Zanarkand were excited to see their favorite teams and players compete.

Down in the harbor, many fans grew excited as one of the star players was about to leave to the stadium, all of them rushing down to where the player lived. While nopony was around, a small creature walking on two legs appeared and disappeared, wearing a black cloak concealing its body as it walked in the same direction as the crazed fans. They waited on the boardwalk as they all cheered when the pony showed herself, a cyan pegasus mare with a rainbow mane and tail.

The mare took in a deep breath, smelling the scent of the ocean as she viewed the ponies vying for her attention. "Ahh. My public awaits."

She walked off her boat home, getting a lot of attention from the ecstatic foals and a few stallions around her age, most of them carrying a blue and white ribbed ball, which was the type of ball used for playing blitzball. The young blitzball star basked in the adoration of her fans, being approached by the young foals first.

"Rainbow Dash! Can you sign my blitzball!?" one of them asked eagerly.

"No prob, squirt." She pulled out a pen from her outfit's pocket, signing her name on the filly's ball.

"Please!?" another begged, almost shoving his blitzball in Rainbow's face.

"Alrighty!" she said, signing the colt's ball before having another one ready to be signed.

"Me too! Me too!" the second colt begged, bouncing up and down.

"Hey, take it easy! I only have one mouth." She signed the last of the eager trio's blitzballs, the foals laughing with joy as they got their idol's signature.

Rainbow Dash was soon approached by the two stallions holding blitzballs, just as excited to meet with the pegasus as the foals were. "Can you sign ours, Miss Dash?"

"You can just call me Rainbow," she said, signing one of their blitzballs.

"Good luck in the sphere. We're rooting for you and the Zanarkand Wonderbolts," the other stallion praised, handing his blitzball to the mare to sign.

"Heh. Luck's not even necessary, dude." After signing the other stallion's ball, she spun the ball on the tip of her hoof, tossing it up in the air a little and headbutting it back to him. "But luck is on your side, boys. If I score a goal, I'll do this for you guys."

She struck a pose, standing on her hind legs as her wings flared out, getting the two older fans excited. "Cool. We're in the east block in the front row."

"Fifth from the right," the other stallion finished his friend's description of their seats.

"Got it." After doing enough signings, she checked the time located on one of the buildings in the city, almost time for the blitzball game to start. "Well, I gotta get going. Game's not gonna start without little old me."

"TEACH US HOW TO BLITZ!" the three foals shouted after one of them silently counted them down.

"Whoa, guys. The match is gonna start soon," Rainbow said, trying not to dash their hopes.

"Then teach us after the game!" the filly said excitedly.

"Uhh...Tonight?" Rainbow scratched her head, thinking it over.

"You can't tonight." She suddenly looked over at the crowd, spotting the owner of the voice coming from the cloaked figure standing in front of the other adults.

What was strange to Rainbow Dash was that she was able to hear him, sounding like an young adolescent male, but nopony else even acknowledged his existence. Ignoring the strange child, she looked down at her eager young fans as they waited for an answer.

"How about tomorrow? I'll give you all some really good lessons when I get a good night's sleep after kicking some butt. Promise." The foals cheered, placing their blitzballs down as they simultaneously stretched their hooves out to the side, bringing their forehooves together to create a sphere and bowed, a sign for victory for the blitzball player and her team.

After her time giving her neighboring fans some attention, Rainbow Dash jogged along the road as other ponies were headed straight for the coliseum, all of them excited for the big game. She decided to travel by hoof instead of fly to warm up her legs, since pegasi players using their wings wasn't allowed, and unicorns using magic was also illegal so they won't cheat for their team. The pegasus took a small break, looking up at the nearby skyscraper, but as she looked at the board placed on the building, she leered at it.

An image of a pegasus stallion, matching her unique mane colors with the color for his rugged facial hair. His coat was a faded dark blueish-purple, and he posed with a cocky grin. The writing underneath his mugshot was a dedication to this stallion, a memorial for the greatest blitzball player in history as it had been over ten years since he went missing and was presumed dead.

Rainbow scoffed, despising him. She ignored the blitzball star and ran down the road, focusing all her attention on the biggest match of the year. She passed the many wandering citizens of the impressively lit city as she overheard some of them exclaim her appearance or talking about the statistics for each player on the team. The pegasus made it to the entrance of the coliseum, but not without a large flock of fans waiting to get in, noticing her presence.

"Oh my gosh! It's Rainbow Dash of the Zanarkand Wonderbolts!" one shouted with excitement as they all crowded around her.

"Ahh, hey! Come on guys, I'm gonna be late!" Rainbow tried to shove her way past the eager crowd, hearing them all shouting their praise to her incredible skills and feeling her tail being tugged by younger fans. "Ow! Let go! I'll give you all signatures after the game! Cut me some slack!"

She finally pulled herself free and walked up the ramp to meet up with her team in the locker rooms. Before she entered, she turned around, giving her fans one last pose as they cheered her name. Getting the crowd excited, she ran inside and met up with the rest of the Zanarkand Wonderbolts, all of them wearing the same outfit she was wearing.

"There you are, Dash," the captain said.

"Sorry about the wait. Nopony could keep their hooves off me," the pegasus gloated.

"Yeah, yeah. Youngest member of the team, and you let that ego get to your head." The captain slammed his locker, alerting the rest of the team. "Just don't go around showboating when, and if, you score a goal. You may be a prodigy of Jet Stream, and you have the skills to back up that ego of yours, but keep yourself in check so we don't get called out by the refs."

"Psh. Whatever. I'm better than that drunk," Rainbow muttered, her ears twitched at the mention of her father's name.

The coliseum was very dark, the only light in the massive arena coming from the lights along the steps for the many fans entering to take their seats and in the large ring with some water in, the light reflecting off the surface. Leaning back on that ring was Rainbow Dash, a blitzball floating next to her on the water, her breathing calm as she waited for the moment the fans would all be waiting for. Soon, loud music began to play, the pegasus opening her eyes and flicking her ears up, the center of the arena lighting up with electricity as it began to form a massive sphere of water.

The crowd erupted in excitement as the sphere condensed itself smaller and smaller, more spectators clambering inside and quickly filling up the seats. Rainbow Dash stood up, carrying the ball under her wing as she watched, everypony cheering at the favored blitzball player basking in their presence. The sphere soon exploded in a blinding flash, everypony flinching as the blitzball field was set up, a massive sphere with two holographic goal posts on either end, along with matching starting positions for the players to stand on before the ball is set into play, where it would shoot up from the center of the field.

"Let's blitz," Rainbow said to herself as she and her team dove into the sphere, along with their opposing team they will be playing against, getting themselves into position.

Far from the coliseum and in the busier section of the grand city of Zanarkand, standing on one of the rafters of a tall building was a unicorn mare in a red haori. Her coat was white and her dark purple mane was curled in an elegant fashion, though its beauty slightly marred by a few small streaks of gray. It was hard to tell since they were easily hidden under the curls, but it didn't deter her. She also wore a pair of fashionable black sunglasses on her nose, not doing much to conceal the scar over her right eye, though what caused this injury didn't keep it closed, thankfully.

She looked out at the ocean as a massive wave began to rise up in the distance, catching sight of something inside of the large mass of water. The unicorn lifted a jug up toward it, which was holstered to her hip. The liquid inside of the jug began to rise up in small orbs and flew right toward the growing wave.

"Right on time," she said.

The game was already underway as the players began fighting for the ball, the captains first going for it as it shot up in the center of the field. Ponies were tackling each other and passing it around to deter their opponents. Rainbow Dash managed to catch the ball as it was passed to her, quickly being grappled by an opposing earth pony stallion, trying to snatch it away from her. Elbowing him hard in the abdomen, she scoped out any open teammates and passed it to her captain.

He managed to grab it, but was shoved hard from behind and the blitzball fumbled out of his grip. One of the enemy team grabbed it and was about ready to pass it to one somepony else, only to be rushed in by a powerful tackle by Rainbow Dash, sending the mare flying out of the sphere and into the stands. It wasn't a foul since the ball was fumbled out of the mare's hoof, and the timer was still going, with the ball picked up by one of Rainbow's teammates. As the water formed back to normal, the pegasus smirked at the dazed player, getting back into the game to take advantage of the temporarily knocked out mare.

The unicorn walked calmly down the road as she was passed by a few ponies who began to panic as they saw the massive wave slowly engulf Zanarkand. It began to turn into a sphere, glowing eyes shining through the water as the buildings around it began to warp into it. It was as if the mare wasn't even concerned about the well-being of her life, just looking at the windows of some of the nearby stores, perusing the wares that would soon be destroyed.

"Ooh," she squealed, looking at a beautiful diamond necklace. "That would look lovely...It's too bad I don't have the bits at the moment, or enough time to acquire it."

She continued on her way, heading for the coliseum with the strange being inside of the massive sphere of water heading in the same direction.

With the first half of the game reaching two minutes remaining on the clock, the Zanarkand Wonderbolts managed to score a goal, the audience cheering loudly as the team high-fived each other. They soon got back into position to continue with the first half, the other team taking the ball as the timer continued from its mark. They quickly lost it as it was taken back by the Wonderbolts, sailing far across the aquatic field. Rainbow swam fast up to the top of the sphere, breaching the field as she began to slowly flip backward, her wings spread out to show off her first of many scored goals. The blitzball was tossed up after her as the pegasus prepared to kick it back down hard and into the opponent's goal for another point.

Unfortunately, just as she was about to kick, she caught sight of a giant sphere of water out in the distance. The creature inside it shot out several energy bolts, striking the city and decimating many of the buildings with each explosive blast. She gasped as one of them struck the coliseum, sending a large piece of debris flying toward her, smacking one of her wings. She yelped in pain as she fell, the audience screaming in terror as they scrambled to flee, the blitzball field dissipating as the mechanism keeping it whole was destroyed.

As Rainbow fell, she quickly grabbed onto the ledge with a hoof, struggling to pull herself up as she cringed in the pain her wing was in. Not knowing if it was broken, she couldn't risk flapping and injuring her wing further, loving flying as much as she does swimming. The coliseum quaked from the crumbling destruction, her grip falling short until she eventually fell, screaming as she disappeared under the mist of the evaporated arena and dust from the destroyed building.

All of Zanarkand was in peril, everypony in the city either running for their lives or unfortunately killed by the crumbling skyscrapers or struck by the powerful energy bolts' explosive force. Little did any of them realize that this marks the beginning of a never-ending nightmare, where everypony will fear the monster that is an unstoppable force. Next Chapter: Chapter 1: It All Begins Here Estimated time remaining: 13 Hours, 5 Minutes