Underneath the sea, not too far from the S.S. Liki, Rainbow floated in the water, completely unconscious. The turret Sin had pulled off managed to fling a large piece of it off, smacking the pegasus upside the head and knocked her off the ship. It wasn't exactly safe in the water, some Sinscales that fell off of Sin were left floating around in the water, and they were homing in on the mare. They swam into her with their sharp, scale bodies, knocking her around and injuring her further.

Applejack dove down deep, catching sight of Rainbow's colorful mane as she was struck by the Sinscales. She kicked her blitzball hard across the water, ricocheting it off the fiends and scaring them off. Catching her ball again, the blitzball captain grabbed the mare's tail by her teeth, pulling her a bit closer to the ship so they don't get lost at sea. Seeing they were close enough, she took off her hat, pulling out a red and yellow feather from inside it. Putting her stetson back on her head, she tossed the feather in Rainbow's direction, disappearing as its power glowed around her.

Revived by the magic inside of the feather, Rainbow was startled from unconsciousness, holding in her breath as she was about to breathe in a lung full of water. She felt incredibly sore, sporting a bruise on her cheek where she was struck, wondering what had hit her. She looked over at Applejack, giving her a look of concern. She nodded her head, easing the earth pony's worries.

Their ears perked up as they heard dolphins screeching, fleeing from something as they swam past the two mares. They were right to flee as they were running away from a massive jellyfish fiend, though its presence seemed far more dangerous than any of the normal fiends. Applejack stared at it in shock, knowing exactly how dangerous this creature was while Rainbow was ready to take it out.

The fiend had backup with it, several of those Sinscales floating next to it, and with how exhausted Applejack and Rainbow Dash were from their fight on the ship, it was going to be an overwhelming fight. The large jellyfish threw out its tentacles, spinning them around to create a whirlpool that sent the two mares spiraling wildly. Rainbow was quick to recover from it, using the momentum to swim through it, spinning rapidly with her sword ready to slash it. She made contact, cutting off one of its tentacles and stopping its disorienting attack.

Applejack recovered, throwing her ball at the fiend, making it bounce off it and smacking into the Sinscales. She managed to distract the dangerously big fiend from grappling Rainbow Dash as she swam back to her partner. With the fiend down on its last legs after having some of its tentacles cut off, Applejack focused her power as she held her ball out before her. After some time, it began to spark with electricity, spinning around rapidly in her hoof. The earth pony tossed it up and kicked it, sending not just one, but five blitzballs, flying at the Sinscales and its jellyfish leader, shocking them all to death.

They watched as the fiend shuddered and dissipated into nothingness, dozens of lights flying out of it. With the threat gone, Rainbow Dash winced, succumbing to her previous injuries, thankful that nothing else on her was broken. They both swam up, the pegasus gasping for breath as she nearly felt her lungs collapse, swimming toward the ship where the crew dropped a ladder for them to climb back up.

"Applejack! Rainbow Dash!" Applejack was the first to make it back up on the ship, helping Rainbow up as she fell to the deck, coughing out any water that got in her lungs. As she sat up, Fluttershy used her Cure spells, healing her guardian and friend from their injuries. "Are you two ok?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Applejack said. "There was a Sinspawn underneath the ship, but we took care of it. Though, Rainbow did most of the damage. Had to use a Phoenix Down I was savin' to wake her back up."

"A Phoenix what?" Rainbow asked, stretching out her forelegs. "No wonder I felt something warm wake me up. Saved me from dying."

"Phoenix Downs can only wake you up after taking too much trauma when attacked, Rainbow Dash," Twilight explained, pulling out another one to show. "I assume you know what a Phoenix is, right?"

"Duh. Magical birds that burn up and come back to life from their ashes. One of the coolest kind of bird to have if they were real," Rainbow said.

"...They do exist," Twilight blandly said. "But they can't bring back the dead. Only when you fall unconscious, with your limbs and organs intact...You can't bring back the dead..."

She began to trail off as she looked at the feather, her attitude shifted from annoyed to sad. Rainbow looked at Applejack, who seemed to be as miserable as Twilight, having saved that for something, or maybe her brother. It would have been useless after Big Macintosh had been dead for a whole year.

"Oh no!" Everypony was alerted to a distraught crew member who was from Kilika, looking out over the railing to see the silhouette of Sin under the water out in the distance.

Out in the peaceful fishing village of Kilika, everyone living there minded their own business, running errands, or for the colts and fillies, kicking a blitzball around. Unfortunately, that peace was about to be ruined as Sin created a massive tidal wave. Many of the villagers were unfortunately swept away by the wave, mares, stallions, foals, even many of the buildings weren't able to stand up to the massive wave. Their torment didn't end yet as Sin rose up from the water.

Screams could be heard as many ponies were swept up in Sin's gravitational hold, lifting up trees, pieces of the docks and homes, every bit of debris hovering over it like a makeshift halo. Victims were badly torn apart by the sharp pieces of wood or drowned from the previous tidal wave, their screams slowly turning to dreadful silence. It felt like hours of torturous death as the many villagers had suffered, young and old. After causing enough damage, Sin left, dropping his chaotic wrath into the water, sending many bodies and debris splashing into the ocean.

No words could be spoken on the S.S. Liki. Everyone on board had just witnessed Sin attack Kilika, and they all feared the worst for the villagers. They all heard their screams and cries for help, but there was nothing they could do. Some of the crew that lived in Kilika had tears in their eyes, scared to find any of their loved ones were victims of Sin's latest attack.

Rainbow Dash felt sick to her stomach. Being caught in the middle of Sin's attack may have been scary, trying to desperately escape, but watching the carnage that had just taken place was a horrifying sight. Hearing the villagers of Kilika scream in agony and hearing nothing but silence was by far the worst moment she had ever witnessed in her life.

"...I will defeat Sin," she heard Fluttershy whisper. "I must defeat Sin."

The sun began to set as the S.S. Liki approached what was left of the docks, where they miraculously saw a few villagers from Kilika still alive, having been further in the jungle away from Sin's destructive wrath. Fluttershy was led by some ponies as she got off the boat, followed by Twilight and Spike. Rainbow Dash and Applejack walked down the ramp, looking over the destruction.

"What a mess. It couldn't be helped even if we tried." The captain turned back to the ship, the rest of the team heading down the ramp. "Alright, everypony. We gotta help out these poor ponies fix their home as best as we can. Tomorrow mornin', we're all goin' up to the temple to pray for victory."

"Yes, captain!" they said, running down the docks to help the others repair and rebuild the town.

The two mares walked along the docks, though Applejack noticed Rainbow had been quiet ever since they saw Sin destroy Kilika. "Ya ok, sugarcube?"

"...No. I just saw an entire village get slaughtered, and we failed to save it." She looked at the mess left behind, cringing at the many lives that were lost today. "Does this happen all the time?"

"Sadly, yes. Many of us just get unlucky." Applejack patted the pegasus on the shoulder. "One day, Sin will be gone and the Calm will begin."

Rainbow didn't feel like asking what the Calm was. After being near Sin again, she had sort of hoped it would take her back to the past, but it didn't seem like it. Applejack began helping repair the village while Rainbow wandered around, heading over to the group of ponies surrounding Fluttershy. She spotted Twilight and Spike watching on the docks, overlooking what seemed to be a graveyard of coffins in the water, each of them littered with wreaths and flowers to commemorate the loss of their loved ones. There were even small ones, meaning foals had lost their lives to Sin as well, making Rainbow feel even more depressed.

"Twilight?" The unicorn and Smarty Pants looked at her. "What's going on? A funeral?"

"In a sense, yes. But we're also going to watch Fluttershy perform the sending." Twilight looked down at the crowd. "Summoners perform this ritual to ease the suffering of the dead. When ponies die, their spirits tend to refuse being at peace. Eventually, they'll grow angry and resent the living, turning into the fiends that roam across all of Spira. If the deceased aren't sent to the Farplane, or for your toxin filled mind, the afterlife, then they'll end up turning into one of the many monsters we face on the road."

"...I didn't even do anything to tick you off to receive a lecture," Rainbow said, actually taking in this new information to heart. She had no idea if the fiends really are the angered, unsent souls of the dead, but after the last week, she'll believe anything now. "Why?"

"To give you some common knowledge...and I kind of ended up rambling subconsciously." Twilight rubbed her head, pulling out one of the books she carried on her with her magic. "A con of being a scholar, where you spout out intelligence, yet some ponies don't seem to listen too much."

"...Egghead," Rainbow muttered, trying to cheer herself up by making fun of the unicorn, but it didn't do much to make her laugh.

She watched Fluttershy bow to the elder of Kilika, given permission to perform the sending. Rainbow Dash was going to see how it was done for the first time, and she was afraid to see how it would go. Fluttershy looked out to the underwater graveyard, her staff in her mouth as she stepped forward. The cyan pegasus's eyes widened when she saw her walk on top of the water, not even using her wings to hover over it. Back in Zanarkand, she never though pegasi and earth ponies could actually use any kind of magic, but because it was one thousand years in the future, it might be possible for everyone to learn magic. Maybe she could in the future, though she had no clue how to use any of it.

Fluttershy stopped at the center of the coffins, standing up on her hind legs as she held her staff in her hooves. She took in a deep breath and began the sending. As she started, Rainbow could swear she heard the same hymn from Besaid Temple, only it seemed to sound more somber and depressing. The summoner twirled her staff around as she danced, which almost seemed hypnotic to the pegasus. She could hear the villagers of Kilika sobbing as they watched, mourning for their friends and family as their spirits were being put to rest.

She then saw spirits begin to float out from the coffins, circling around Fluttershy as she spun her staff around, acting as a vortex to bring the orbs of ethereal light up to the Farplane. Rainbow flinched when all the torches in the area began to glow blue, though Twilight and Spike didn't, too transfixed on watching the summoner dance. Turning her attention back to Fluttershy, Rainbow stared in awe as the water underneath the yellow pegasus rose her up like a pillar, still dancing as she beckoned the spirits to rest.

Her mind had completely zoned out, her hearing lost to the song of the sorrowful hymn, overpowering the cries of the mourning ponies standing before her. Her vision was fixated on Fluttershy's graceful movements, spirits floating in her line of sight and surrounding the pegasus. As beautiful as the sending looked, it was what Rainbow Dash had feared; it was depressing. Those spirits floating around and being sent looked exactly like the lights expelled from the fiends she had killed, Twilight's words ringing true in her mind.

After what felt like forever, Fluttershy finished her dance, sent the restless spirits to the Farplane where they belonged, the pillar lowering her back down to the water's surface. She walked back to the docks, offering a prayer for those mourning and joined Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

"Did I do ok?" she asked.

"You did wonderfully," Twilight assured. "They're in the Farplane now, and they won't turn into fiends." Fluttershy nodded, eventually heading off to the nearby inn to rest, greatly exhausted from today's events. Rainbow was still frozen in awe, snapped out of her daze by Smarty Pants bouncing on her head. "You alright, Rainbow Dash?"

"Huh?...Uhh...yeah...That was...something..." She grabbed the old, animated doll, gently placing Smarty Pants down on the docks. "I think I need some sleep..."

Rainbow headed off to the inn to rest, though she wasn't going to get that much sleep tonight. She laid down in her bed, looking up at the ceiling as so many things raced through her mind. The fiends were the spirits of ponies who were unsent, enraged at the living as their time was cut short. Everypony treats Sin's attacks like it's an every day occurrence, feeling sorrow for a while until the Calm begins, whatever it was supposed to be. And seeing just how depressing the sending was earlier, she didn't ever want to see Fluttershy do that ever again.

"Rainbow Dash?" She sat up, finding Fluttershy was still awake. "You don't look so good."

"...I'm fine," Rainbow said, looking down at her hooves. "...I'm just so confused..."

"You didn't like the sending..." Reluctantly, she nodded. "I'm sorry...Nopony really does. But it has to be done."

"I know..." Rainbow laid back down, but couldn't get to sleep. She heard Fluttershy head back to her room, sighing dejectedly. "This future sucks..." Next Chapter: Chapter 10: Madness in the Jungle Estimated time remaining: 11 Hours, 23 Minutes