Seagulls cried as they flew over the ocean, the sun shining down, the calm waves reflecting the light of the rays. Not too far from the shore of an island, Rainbow floated on the surface of the water, face down, and still alive. She breathed in, startled awake as she inhaled water, raising her head up and coughed, getting some air back in her lungs. Treading water, she looked out to the ocean, yet again lost and having no clue where she was.

"Pinkie Pie!?" she called out, but there didn't seem to be any sign of her ship or any of the Al Bhed. Suddenly, she was smacked upside the head, slamming her face down in the water as she grumbled, angrily blowing out bubbles from her nostrils. Floating up next to her line of sight was a blitzball, her anger ebbing away as she grabbed it. "A blitzball?"

"Hey!" Rainbow turned around, spotting the shoreline of an island. Standing on the shore were some ponies, all of them dressed in similar outfits, one of them the only mare in the group. She was an orange earth pony with a brown stetson hat, her blonde mane and tail tied in a ponytail. "Ya'll alright out there!?"

Judging by how they wore similar outfits, they must have been a blitzball team, the pegasus spotting a few more blitzballs on the sand. "Hey!" She waved at them, letting them know she was ok, at least mostly. She looked down at the ball and smirked. "Maybe I should show these guys how to blitz the pro way."

Rainbow swam down until she rested her hooves on the shallow, sandy floor. Looking up, directly underneath the ball, she shot up from the ground, breaching the water a few feet with the ball tossed up with her head. Flipping backwards, she kicked the ball hard, sending it flying across the water's surface toward the ponies. The mare gasped and ducked just in time, her hat knocked off her head as the blitzball flew up and over the other side of the shore.

The whole team was surprised as they tried to find where the ball ended up, the mare quickly recovering as she picked up her hat, chuckling in excitement. She placed her hat back on after brushing off the sand, turning back to the ocean as she saw a lot more potential in the washed up pegasus than she thought.

"She's got some skill." She looked over at the path leading deeper into the island, spotting a couple ponies gaining her attention. "Alright! Ya'll keep on practicin'! No shirkin' off!"

The stallions went back to practicing while Rainbow swam up to the shore, shaking off the water soaking her fur. She only managed to catch a glimpse at who the ponies the earth pony mare was talking to. Soon, the whole team approached her, not knowing if they were going to be hostile toward her. The captain came back, seemingly impressed by her earlier move.

"Uhh, hi?" Rainbow said nervously.

"...Ya wanna show us that move again?" she asked.

The rainbow-haired pegasus grinned, nodding her head, her ego kicking in as she wanted to impress the ponies that already admired her. One of the stallions tossed a ball up, letting it bounce off Rainbow's head. After getting it up high in the air, she leapt up, impressing the others without using her wings, since she can't use them at all at the moment, flipping back and kicking it hard, sending it flying out toward the ocean. As she landed, she heard them exclaiming in awe, only boosting her ego more.

"How was that?" she asked.

"Ya'll ain't no amateur, sugarcube. Who do ya play for?" the mare questioned.

"The Zanarkand Wonderbolts!" Rainbow exclaimed.

Unfortunately, the reaction she received was the opposite of what she expected, hearing them all mutter and staring at her in confusion. "Ah'm sorry, what did ya just say?"

Realizing her mistake, as she was still in this future, the pegasus chuckled nervously as she tried to figure out how to back up her poor choice of words. "Uhhh...Well...I actually don't know what I'm saying. You see, I kinda got too close to Sin the other day, and I...have no clue where I am, or how I got here..."

Surprisingly, they somehow bought her lie. "Sin's toxin. At least ya'll are still alive. Praise be to Faust." They all soon began to give Rainbow the sign for victory for blitzball, which only confused the pegasus all the more. The rest of the team continued their practice drills, though they seemed to do poorly. "Name's Applejack, captain of the Besaid Aurochs."

"I'm Rainbow Dash." Rainbow's stomach suddenly growled, the mare groaning at her empty stomach.

"Heheheh. Starvin'? Ah don't blame ya," Applejack said. "Come on. Ah'll take ya to the village. Ah make some pretty good apple fritters that'll make ya beg for more."

Applejack led Rainbow down to the path leading into the jungle to reach the village. She had to know if what Pinkie said about her home really was true, and it was possible for her to go back, hoping all of this was a bad dream. Applejack seemed like the honest type, so she had to find out if this really was happening and she wasn't imagining things.

"Hey, Applejack?" The earth pony stopped and turned to look at her. "...Is it true Zanarkand's really destroyed a thousand years ago?...Nothing but a giant pile of rubble?"

"Eyup," she replied. "Ya see, Spira had many large cities way back when with all kinds of machina-- machines--that they always run every single day. Ponies let them things do all the work while they did nothin' but do whatever they wish. Then...well, just take a look around ya." Rainbow looked out to the area, seeing a few ruins of buildings strewn about. "Sin came around one day and took out them machina cities. Sin became our punishment, all because of some ponies usin' them confounded things so many years ago.

"The best thing we can do is repent for our sins, and maybe one day, we'll all be free from Sin's wrath." Rainbow's ears slowly matted down to her head, feeling her heart sink as Applejack had just told her the worst case scenario. Zanarkand really was gone, just like Pinkie Pie said. She already felt miserable, and after encountering Sin again, it didn't bring her back in time. She heard Applejack laugh, yelping as she felt her powerful foreleg wrap around her neck. "But ya'll comin' from Zanarkand!? That was a pretty funny joke! Ah bet that hoity toity team would be pretty easy to beat, huh?"

"Heh...yeah...Funny joke..." Rainbow tried to hide her misery, though her charade was clearly able to be seen through. Applejack chuckled some more as she continued walking down the path, the depressed pegasus staying behind as she looked out at the ocean. She sighed, already feeling homesick. "...I guess I gotta start my whole life over...Worst moment of my life since Sin attacked..."

Rainbow trudged down the path, following Applejack as she waited patiently for her. As much as she appreciated the cheering up from her earlier, it wouldn't really make her feel better. They reached a fork in the road, the captain leading Rainbow to the right. They soon reached a lake overlooked by the nearby cliff, the view absolutely breathtaking. It was a different site compared to being in the big city.

"Hmm? Hey, what's that down there?" Applejack pointed out, looking down from the edge.

Curiosity taking hold, Rainbow Dash looked down, finding nothing but crystal clear water. Applejack snickered, quietly sneaking behind the pegasus, then bucked her off the edge and into the water. She dove in after her, unable to help herself as she resurfaced and was met by Rainbow's glare.

"They hay was that for!?" she shouted.

"Ah couldn't help mahself," Applejack laughed. "Ah thought ya would have flown, but ya fell right in the water."

"I can't exactly do that when one of my wings have been struck by a...falling rock," Rainbow lied, not wanting to be accused again by mentioning Zanarkand.

"Oh. Sorry, sugarcube. Did ya try any of the large blue spheres? They can heal injuries real quick." Rainbow did seem to notice a few in the past few days, but didn't pay them any mind, thinking they were just for show. "Huh. Must not have worked if your wing's broken. We'll see what we can do about that wing when we get to Besaid Village."

"Thanks." Both mares began swimming through the clear waters to reach the village.

Just like in the ocean, more of those annoying piranha fiends were back and were quickly taken care of. To Rainbow's surprise, Applejack actually used a blitzball as her weapon. She throws it with so much power, Rainbow could swear she heard the fiends' bones cracking as they died, and it always rebounded back to her. As bad as the rest of her team was, she was the star athlete of the Aurochs, and it certainly showed. They continued swimming along until they were close to the small cavern that led to the end of the lake and back to the road.

"So, Rainbow Dash, Ah got a question for ya," Applejack said.

"You want me on your team?" Rainbow asked, already knowing what she was going to say.

"That obvious, huh?" The pegasus mare floated on her back, looking up at the clear sky. "We got a big tournament comin' up in Luca, and the competition's gonna be tough. Maybe somepony might recognize ya and help get your mind workin' again. What do ya say, sugarcube?"

"...Sure. Whatever." Figuring she could at least get rid of some steam playing blitzball again, she wanted a challenge, having no clue about any of the other teams that will compete.

"Great! This is gonna be a fun year!" Applejack exclaimed, both mares swimming under the cavern and arrived back on land.

After climbing up the hill, Rainbow got a good look at the village down a steep pathway. A few large tents made up the buildings, and in the back was a temple. As Applejack had mentioned earlier that everypony in this world, which was apparently called Spira, was repenting for using machina, and somepony by the name of Faust was considered to be some kind of god/goddess they worship. If she had to learn about any religious stuff, it was going to bore her to no end.

"Well, there it is," Applejack pointed out. "Besaid village. Born and raised here."

"Pretty small village," Rainbow noted.

"Yeah, but it's home. Ah started playin' blitzball when Ah was a filly, then Ah joined the team at thirteen." Applejack sighed, thinking back to her time in the Aurochs. "Ten whole years, and we haven't won a single game. I quit after last year's tournament and got this new job...Problem was, Ah couldn't get mah mind off the games."

"...Wow. After seeing how hard you can throw a blitzball at those fish, I thought you would have been scoring goals left and right," Rainbow said, unable to believe Applejack would have lost so many times in over a decade.

"It's a lot different fightin' for your life than playin' blitzball. The first match last year was mah big chance, but Ah just couldn't focus. Somethin' else kept poppin' up in mah mind." Rainbow rolled her eyes, finding her excuse a lame reason for messing up.

"Whatever you say. So, what's gonna be our goal for this year?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Ah don't think it matters," Applejack shrugged. "If we can just give it our all, Ah can walk out of that stadium happily."

"Whoa whoa whoa! Hold up, AJ. When I ask 'What's our goal?', you need to say 'Victory!'" The pegasus thrust her hoof up in the air, intent on seeking victory for the lousiest team she was drafted in.

"...Are ya sure?" She received a nod from Rainbow Dash, highly determined to see the Aurochs win for once. "...It would be a nice change of pace...Alright then. This year, we're gonna win!"

The two hoofbumped, then made their way down to the village. As the two entered the village, Rainbow's senses were overwhelmed with some food being made in a nearby tent. Her stomach growled, wanting to find the source of the delectible scent.

"That smells sooooo good." Rainbow licked her lips. "When do we chow down?"

"Ah'll make somethin' for ya in a bit in that tent there," Applejack said, pointing out a tent to the right of the entrance, the center one out of the three set there. "Now, knowin' ya'll are a little bit muddled with everythin', ya'll can learn a bit about everythin' ya can here. On the left, in that blue tent is where the Crusader's Lodge is. A couple mares I know who are part of that group will explain what they do." Rainbow took note of the special tent that stood out from the others. "And when ya get a chance, take a gander at the temple."

"Ok." Applejack began to head off so Rainbow Dash can do some exploring, only to turn around and walk back.

"Forgot one thing, sugarcube." She led the confused pegasus behind the walls of the entrance, having forgotten to tell Rainbow one other thing. "Ya do remember the prayer, right?"

"...Uhhh...prayer?" she asked.

"Hmm...Must have forgotten that too. Here, Ah'll show ya." Applejack sat down and showed Rainbow the prayer. Ironically, it was exactly how the blitzball sign for victory was: spreading out her forelegs, bringing them close to make a sphere shape with their hooves, and then bowing. "See? Now your turn." Rainbow Dash hesitated a bit, but awkwardly did the prayer. "...Not that bad. Ok, once ya'll are done searchin', we'll have some lunch and Ah'll see what Ah can find for that injured wing of yours. Have fun, sugarcube!"

Applejack ran off to her tent, leaving the flabbergasted pegasus to herself. Rainbow looked through the sphere her hooves made, unable to believe that something that was meant to be a sign of victory was now used as some sort of religious prayer.

"This has to be the weirdest future I will ever experience," she uttered to herself. "And why are machines that bad? They helped us out in Zanarkand..." Rainbow sighed, never going to find the answers she wants. "Might as well get to know about what goes on in 'Spira'...and I hate learning..." Next Chapter: Chapter 5: Crusaders and Summoners Estimated time remaining: 12 Hours, 20 Minutes