Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy found the cafe and entered the establishment. Inside, there were several patrons dining as they watched some clips of previous blitzball matches recorded in the past, filler for the events that will be seen today. Many of them were drinking some of the specials served at the bar, while others placed their bets on who would win the tournament. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any sign of the purple haired unicorn mare inside.

"She isn't here," Rainbow said in disappointment. "We must have missed her..."

Fluttershy went around to see if anypony had seen Rarity. Spike walked into the cafe, but as soon as he approached the bar, he began growling as he caught sight of two dragons inside, knowing them. One was a tall red dragon while the other was a slightly shorter, portly brown dragon. They were both taller than the purple dragon as they stood up and approached him.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here, Clubba," the red one said. "If it isn't the wingless outcast, Spikey."

Clubba guffawed, relishing the anger in Spike's face. "How long has it been, Garble? Ten years? It's been too long, punching bag."

The tubby dragon shoved the smaller dragon, catching Rainbow's attention. "What? You think you're too cool to talk to us, Spike? I'm sure the elder would love to hear how you've been doing living with these namby pamby ponies, being the weakest dragon to ever be hatched."

"The hay is going on?" Rainbow asked, alerting the two bully dragons.

"Oh look! This must be one of Spikey's owners!" The two began laughing at him.

"Spike, you know these guys?" Spike only growled, leering intensely at the two dragons. Rainbow noticed that these two dragons had wings compared to the small stubs on the purple dragon's back. "Well, don't just stand there. Beat the living hay out of them."

Taking the pegasus's advice, Spike bent his knees, ready to fight them. That only made Garble and Clubba laugh harder, only for it to end when Spike punched the both of them in the face.

"Hey! No brawling in my pub! Take it outside!" the manager said, distracting Spike long enough for the two dragons to pounce him and getting the three into a fist fight.

Some of the patrons egged them on, entertaining themselves before the actual matches started. The manager could only groan and shake his head, knowing nothing will stop a dragon fight, letting them deal with the problems themselves with no intervention. Somepony notified the rest of the establishment that the games were about to start, the sphere screens broadcasting the stadium, showing the team captains standing before the maesters.

"Oh great. The match is gonna start." Ignoring what the maesters have to say, she noticed that Applejack looked really worried. "The hay's wrong with Applejack? She's not gonna crack, is she, Flutters?" She waited for a response from Fluttershy, but didn't get one. "...Fluttershy?" She looked around the cafe, finding no sign of the pegasus anywhere. "Fluttershy!?" She was gone. Rainbow only turned away for a second, and she disappeared. "Spike! Fluttershy's gone!"

The dragon lifted his head up in shock, his face sporting bruises from his fight, leaving him open to getting sucker punched by Garble. He crashed into a few tables, the bully dragons cracking their knuckles for some more fighting, but Fluttershy's safety is more important than dealing with them. He ran out of the cafe, ignoring the laughing dragons as Rainbow Dash hurried after him, looking around in a panic for the pegasus summoner.

Twilight ran into the square, spotting the dragon and cyan pegasus. "Rainbow! Spike! Where's Fluttershy!?"

"Ok, before you get mad at me, I only looked away from her for a second, and she was gone!" Rainbow flinched, waiting for a possible physical lashing from the unicorn or one of her two dolls.

"Oh no...They took her already." Rainbow stared at Twilight, greatly confused. "The Al Bhed Psyche kidnapped Fluttershy!"

"What!?" the pegasus exclaimed.

"They want the Aurochs to throw the game if we want her back! They're blackmailing us!" Rainbow growled, stamping her forehooves to the ground.

"You gotta be kidding me! They're cheating!" She pulled out her sword, ready to show the Al Bhed blitzball team a thing or two. "Applejack's not gonna toss their chances to win after getting their one chance to make it to the finals!"

"She won't throw in the towel. Once rescue Fluttershy, I'll signal Applejack so she won't hold back anymore. Let's hurry! They might be holding her hostage on their ship at dock four!" Mog and Smarty Pants nodded their heads, pointing to the stadium.

"Then let's go!" Rainbow led the way as Twilight and Spike followed, only having such a small amount of time before the match between the Besaid Aurochs and the Al Bhed Psyches ended. Running past the crowd, they reached the stadium's entrance, but as soon as they were about to head to the right where docks 4 and 5 were, the way was blocked by several suitcases and crates. "What the hay!? Was this all here before!?"

"They must really be desperate to keep them from winning. We have to go the other way!" Twilight took the lead as the trio were forced to take the long way.

As soon as they arrived at the second dock, strange machines blocked their path, clanking loudly as they walked. "Whoa! The hay are these things!?"

"Machina," Twilight said. "These things are constantly salvaged by the Al Bhed, but they're no problem to me."

"Uhh, they weak against lightning?" Rainbow asked, surprising Twilight at her guess.

"Y-Yes...How did you know their weakness?" she asked the uneducated mare.

"Hey, I'm not dumb. I know when machines get overcharged, they blow up. Learned that the hard way when I zapped a lightning cloud on a light pole in Zanarkand." Rainbow chuckled at the memory. "I kinda got in trouble, but it was worth it to tick my dad off."

They made quick work of the machina, Twilight easily destroying one with a Thunder spell, while Spike and Rainbow Dash double teamed the other. Running past the broken down robots, they were met with two more at the central dock. Repeating the same strategy, they made it to the fourth dock, only this time, there seemed to be several more of them. They weren't that strong, so they didn't do much damage to the party, but they quickly destroyed the machina before being overwhelmed.

"How many of those things did they have?" Rainbow rhetorically asked.

"No idea, but those things are forbidden for a reason." They soon began to hear the game going on on one of the screens above them.

It was already four minutes into the first half, and the scores were tied two-all. This is an incredible match so far, everypony!" Echo announced as they saw Applejack catch the ball that was passed to her. The Aurochs are tied with the Psyches, doing an impressive job and-" As the captain was about to charge in, she was suddenly tackled hard by one of the Al Bhed Psyches, knocking the ball out of her hoof. And again, she was rammed into, her body heavily battered. "OH! A bad hit for Applejack!"

"The referee isn't even calling a foul on that," Reverb said. "Applejack does not look good folks. It's like the entire team is out to get this poor mare, and with it being her last year in her career, she's gonna be walking home with broken bones."

Applejack went limp as the time reached the five minute mark, an alarm blaring to signal the end of the first half. "And saved by the bell, too. Hopefully Applejack will have enough time to recover after getting smacked around like a ragdoll," Echo said. "Don't go away, Spira. We will be back in a few to commentate on the second half, an exciting match for those who are still loyal to the Besaid Aurochs with their losing streak."

"She does not look good," Rainbow said. "She's gotta hang in there for the second half."

"...She won't last much longer." Rainbow stared at Twilight, finding it rude for her to say something like that to her friend/partner. Looking down the docks, they saw the Al Bhed ship as it began to take off. "They're leaving!"

"I don't think so!" Rainbow flew on ahead while Twilight leapt on Spike's back, his speed far faster than hers.

The cyan mare made it with ease thanks to her flight, and Spike had made it just as the ship had set sail out to the ocean, leaping off the ramp and landing on the deck. Twilight leapt off the dragons back as they were prepared to fight off the kidnappers. Instead of ponies, they were facing a machina that began to rise up from the inside of the ship, and it looked like a dangerous blitzball shooting machine.

"Ok, this is not good," Twilight said, greatly worried. "There's no way we can stop something like this."

Rainbow looked around, spotting a crane sitting next to her. It looked like the same one she saw on Pinkie's ship, a little disappointed yet also glad this wasn't her ship. She pressed a few buttons, but it wasn't active.

"Darn it. Hey, Twi, you think you can give this thing some juice!?" Twilight noticed the crane, deep in thought as to how it would do anything to the machina.

Her train of thought was lost when the mares and dragon were suddenly shot at by a barrage of blitzballs, knocking them over and almost off the ship. "Urgh...I don't know how that's gonna work, but whatever you have planned, go for it. Just cover me until then!"

"On it! Let's go, dragon boy!" Rainbow and Spike protected Twilight as she began to cast Thunder spells on the crane while the defenders alternated guarding the unicorn and attacking the mobile blitzball machine.

With each jolt of lightning shot down on the device, it whirred to life a little, but it wasn't active just yet. Rainbow and Spike were being constantly hit by dozens of blitzballs, coming from some endless source inside it. After five total Thunder spells, the crane finally came to life and stayed on, humming and shaking with its engine slightly fueled. Twilight hurried over to the control panel, but was absolutely clueless as to how this thing worked.

"Uhh...Darn it," she uttered. "Machina's forbidden, and there's never been a tome written in Equish that explains how to operate these things. If only I learned the Al Bhed language!"

"Here, move over!" Rainbow quickly shoved Twilight out of the way, pressing a few buttons to move the crane around. Maneuvering the claw over the oblivious machine, she dropped it down and grabbed its engine, lifting up over the deck. "Jackpot! Let's claim our prize!"

Due to the weight of the machine, its lower intelligent half fell back to the deck, sparks shooting out from its body, on the verge of shutting down for good. To add insult to injury for the unfortunate machina, Rainbow controlled the crane, hovering the engine out above the sea, dropping it into the sea as it sank to the bottom of the ocean floor. With it completely defenseless, Spike thrust his spear through the machina, making its sparks fly out uncontrollably as it blew up into tiny pieces.

The door to the cabin opened up, the three ready to face any of the Al Bhed on board. But when the stallion walked out, he collapsed to the ground, several large bumps on his head from being smacked by a blunt object. Looking down the hall, Fluttershy walked out calmly, as if she wasn't even a victim in a kidnapping.

"Fluttershy!" Twilight grabbed the summoner with her magic, making her yelp as she pulled her and hugged her tightly. "Thank goodness you're alright! What did they do to you!?"

"Nothing," Fluttershy said, confusing Twilight and Rainbow Dash. "They didn't really hurt me. Though..." She looked over at the unconscious stallion. "I think I was the one who did the hurting."

"Were there anymore Al Bhed inside?" Rainbow asked, feeling somewhat hopeful, but Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh. Just that guy you beaned over the head with your staff?"

"What are you talking about?" Twilight questioned.

"Well, I did say I was in a temple before I washed up on Besaid the other day. I was saved by some Al Bhed, though I kinda had to work for them to stay on their ship. I thought this would be the same one, but it's not." Rainbow sat down, staring at the deck sadly. "Maybe they didn't make it. We were attacked by Sin before I arrived at Besaid..."

"Was there a stallion named Cid on that other ship?" Fluttershy asked. Rainbow shook her head, only knowing Pinkie Pie, disappointing the mare. "Oh...I thought my uncle would have been with you."

Rainbow looked up in shock. "W-Wait a minute! Your uncle is an Al Bhed!?" The summoner nodded. She looked at Twilight, surprisingly not as shocked as her. "...Twi, did you know she was part Al Bhed!?"

"I had, yes." The unicorn approached Rainbow, almost threateningly, Mog and Smarty Pants holding the same gaze on the pegasus. "You can't tell Applejack about this. She hates the Al Bhed, and we don't want her to overreact over Fluttershy's lineage."

"Applejack!" Rainbow shouted. "We gotta tell her!"

"What did I just say!?" Rainbow slapped her forehead at her poor choice of words.

"Not about Fluttershy! The game!" Twilight gasped, having completely forgotten.

Looking out to the stadium in the distance, she charged up her aura and shot up a bright magical flare of light up in the sky, giving Applejack the signal.

Back in the sphere, Applejack was even more bruised than ever. They still kept the tie at two points each, with about a minute left in the second half. She looked up, clutching her side, her eyes widened when she spotted the lavender light from Twilight's magic. Getting the signal, and knowing that Fluttershy was safe, it was time for her team to finally play hard.

"We have thirty seconds left on the clock, and it looks like the Aurochs are going on an all-out offensive!" Applejack ordered her team to go on ahead to give her some cover as she swam behind them. Letty stayed behind, holding the ball, throwing a long pass in the captain's direction. "A long pass from Letty...and Applejack catches it! This could be it, folks!" She swam as hard as she could to the other side of the sphere, her team managing to block each of the Al Bhed Psyches except for one. She faked a pass, getting rammed hard in the chest, but didn't let the pain stop her. She flipped over the stallion, pushing off his back hard to get closer to the goal and made a last minute shot. "She shoots!"

The goalie wasn't able to stop the ball as it landed in their goal, alarms blaring right as the time limit ended the last half. "Aurochs' score one more point just in the knick of time, winning 3-2. I don't know about everypony, but this is quite the miracle. The Besaid Aurochs are moving on to the finals."

Applejack winced, clutching her chest as she began succumbing to her injuries. She smiled though, glad to move her team to the finals after so many years. With the help of Jassu and Botta, they escorted their brutally injured mare out of the sphere and into the locker rooms. It was too soon to celebrate, and they all knew it as they were about to face their rival team in the finals match: the Luca Goers. Next Chapter: Chapter 15: Aurochs vs. Goers Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 15 Minutes