Out on the ship, dubbed the S.S. Liki, it slowly sailed off across the calm sea to the first stop on Fluttershy's and her guardians' journey, Kilika Island. It would take the rest of the day for the vessel to reach the island, and without being able to fly around, Rainbow Dash was left bored, sitting on the deck with her head resting on the railing, looking out at the vast ocean and clear skies.

"Ugh. Bored!" she whined, wishing the S.S. Liki moved faster.

Looking to her left, she spotted one of the crew members holding a pair of binoculars, looking out at the sea for something. Smirking, she snuck up on the unsuspecting stallion, too busy scoping out the seas for any land. Rainbow leapt up on the stallion's back, surprising him as he tried to shake her off.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" The pegasus balanced her forelegs off his shoulders, vaulting off him, spiral flipping onto the railing.

"Mind if I borrow this? Thanks!" Rainbow snatched the binoculars away from the crew member.

She looked out at the sea, managing to spot a small speck of land miles ahead, which had to be Kilika. It made Rainbow anxious, wanting to see what's in Kilika now rather than later this evening. She turned around and began scoping out the ship, looking around at the other passengers. The Aurochs were busy making their strategic plays as they strived to claim the cup in the tournament, Spike was sitting on the upper deck, watching Fluttershy as everypony wanted to meet her, and Twilight was by herself with Smarty Pants, looking through a bestiary.

As Rainbow looked at Fluttershy, she spotted her looking, giving her a wave. "Hey!" She looked down, the stallion leering at her angrily as he tapped his hoof. "You mind giving those back? I need to keep a lookout for fiends!"

"Eh. I was bored looking around anyway." Leaping off the railing, she tossed the binoculars back at the crew member.

Before she could get the chance to speak with Fluttershy, she was immediately crowded by more passengers. Groaning in annoyance, she spotted Applejack walk up next to Twilight. As much as she wanted to speak with Applejack, she did not want to be talked down to by the grumpy unicorn. Reluctantly, she had to know why Fluttershy was this popular, and if she was going to be given a hundred lectures by Twilight, she would just drown her out.

"So, you guys wanna tell me why Fluttershy seems to be liked by everypony right now?" Rainbow asked.

Twilight sighed in irritaiton, but stayed silent. "Fluttershy's the daughter of High Summoner Kindred Heart. He defeated Sin ten years ago," Applejack explained.

"Oh...That's why..." It was odd to know that Rainbow had something in common with Fluttershy: their fathers were famous for what they did, and they were looked upon to uphold a family tradition. Unfortunately for her, the young blitzball player hated being known as Jet Stream's pride and joy. "It's tough when you're father's famous."

Applejack stared at her, wondering what the pegasus had meant. Eventually, the crowd finally dispersed, leaving Fluttershy alone. Taking this chance to finally speak with her, Rainbow nonchalantly walked up to the bow of the ship, leaning against the rope railing as they looked out at the ocean.

"It's a nice day out today," Fluttershy commented.

"Yup." The pegasi were quiet for a moment, just looking out at the scenery. Some of the seagulls began to perch near Fluttershy, almost as if she was able to communicate with them. It was pretty funny to see her try to smuggle some animals with her on her pilgrimage, even when she knew it was going to be dangerous on the road. "...Sooo...How did you know I'm from Zanarkand? Applejack?"

"Mhmm," she replied. "But you know what, Rainbow? I actually believe you." The rainbow-maned pegasus did a double-take. "I heard Zanarkand is supposed to be a beautiful city, always awake when night falls, and with the biggest stadium in all of Spira where blitzball is played."

"...H-How...do you know that?" Rainbow was practically on the tips of her hooves, desperately wondering who else had actually told her about her home.

"A stallion named Jet Stream told me." And just like that, her curiosity turned to anger at that name. "He was one of my father's guardians."

Rainbow Dash looked down at the water, trying to calm her anger over her dad so she wouldn't blow up on Fluttershy. She just couldn't stay away from her dad, whether by name or by his feats. But Jet Stream has been dead for the past ten years, or assumed dead.

"...My dad's name is Jet Stream." The summoner gasped with delight, fate having brought the two together. "Don't think that the Jet you knew is my dad...He died ten years ago...I think. One day, he was busy training out off the coast of Zanarkand, and then he just disappears suddenly."

"Ten years ago?" Fluttershy gasped again, making a realization. "That's the day he came to Spira!"

"What?" Rainbow questioned in disbelief.

"It's true! I met him ten years and three months ago, the same day my father left on his pilgrimage!" Rainbow's mind reeled, wondering if it was even possible that Jet Stream had actually wound up a thousand years in the future like her. It made sense that he was lost at sea, thinking Sin must have been around ten years ago and sucked him forward in time. "It makes sense, right? If he wound up here, then maybe it happened to you too."

"...Fluttershy, I don't think-" The boat was suddenly struck by something, sending it tilting over and throwing everypony to the deck. Unfortunately, with Rainbow and Fluttershy standing on the front of the bow, where no side rails would keep them from falling off, the cyan mare grabbed the summoner's hoof while holding onto the rope railing tightly. "Hang on, Flutters! Wait, you're a pegasus! Can't you fly!?"

"I'm not a strong flier! I never learned that much when I moved to Besaid!" Fluttershy said, struggling to keep her grip on Rainbow's hoof.

"Oh great. Of all the worst luck." The ship suddenly rocked to the other side, the sudden movement weakening their hold on each other. Rainbow couldn't hold on much longer, accidentally letting go as Fluttershy was sent tumbling over. "No!"

Before she could fall off, Spike was quick to come to her rescue again, grabbing her just in the nick of time. Something behind the ship shot up from under the water, spraying everyone on board. Sin shot up from the ocean, and was dangerously close to the S.S. Liki.

"SIIIIIIIIIN!" somepony shouted as everypony began to panic.

Sin passed by the boat and was heading directly toward Kilika, the ship not its intended target of casualties to inflict. Fearing for the safety of the village, two of the crew members manned the harpoon guns mounted on the bow, aiming the massive bolt turrets toward the hulking, invincible monster.

"What in tarnation are ya doin'!?" Applejack shouted at them. "If ya stick one of them harpoons in it, Sin'll drag us all down in the ocean!"

"We have families in Kilika!" one of them said. "We have to distract it! Please forgive us, Lady Fluttershy!"

"Oh, this is not good," Twilight muttered.

The stallions took aim at Sin's fin, both of them firing at once, the harpoons flying at it with ropes tied with them, connected with the ship. One of them hit their mark, the rope suddenly going taut as Sin began to drag the boat along its path, knocking the passengers and crew over while also splashing salt water on everypony.

"Great goin'!" Applejack sarcastically congratulated the stallions.

"Quick, everypony get in the ship and stay there until we handle Sin!" Twilight ordered, none of them needing to be told twice as they scrambled to get inside where it was a little safer. Smarty Pants bounced up and down on the unicorn's back, getting her attention as it pointed at the fin. Looking up, she saw something shoot off from it and head right toward them. "Sinscales!"

"Huh?" Rainbow looked back after getting her bearings, leaping back as she saw those same fiends back in Zanarkand popping out from their scale-like state. "This thing can't give me a break, can it?"

Everyone pulled out their weapons as they faced the three Sinscales that jittered before them, keeping their balance as Sin shifted the boat around. "Ok, here's what we're going to do!" Twilight said, getting the party's attention. "We have to hit Sin's fin! Applejack, you and I are going to attack Sin!"

"Got it!" Applejack said, rolling her shoulders, preparing herself for a really powerful throw.

"Rainbow Dash, you and Spike protect the three of us from those Sinscales!" They both nodded as they stood in front of the three mares, sword and spear ready to strike the scales. "Fluttershy, you focus on healing any injuries we may sustain, and if needed, summon Valefor if I run out of mana."

"Ok." Fluttershy nearly fell over as Sin shifted the ship again, getting back up as she prepared her Cure spells if anypony gets seriously hurt.

Applejack threw her blitzball hard, sending it sailing across the water. It bounced back after smacking the fin, but it didn't seem to do much to faze it. Twilight cast spell after spell, needing lots of focus to cast each one. Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, and Water spells struck the fin, but not even magic seemed to do anything to it either. Sin was just far too powerful for any mere pony to kill, only feeling small pokes when their attacks hit.

Rainbow Dash slashed through one of the Sinscales as they all either tackled her and Spike, or shooting at them with spines from their glowing fins on their heads. As scary as it was to be attacked by the spear wielding dragon, she was glad he was an ally, if only for this moment. Spike was stabbing each Sinscale without sustaining any damage, avoiding each attack aimed at him. Even when he did get hit, he pulled off some kind of move that absorbed energy from his foes, just by thrusting his open palm in the fiend's direction, clenching his fist tightly, and pulling his arm back.

Once they took care of the scales, more just kept shooting out, an almost endless supply of the fiends constantly growing on the monstrous fiend's fin. "There's no end to these things," Rainbow uttered, quickly backing up as all three of them began to threaten to fling her off the ship. "It's just like back in Zanarkand..."

The others kept fighting, Applejack catching her ball again after kicking it hard, starting to get weary. "Nothin's workin'! There's no way anypony can stop Sin unless they have the Final Aeon! We're not gonna make it!"

The rope suddenly broke as Sin managed to tug the harpoon turret connected to it off the ship, causing everypony to crash to the deck as it bounced off the waves. Sin slammed its tail down into the water, splashing the ship with water as the massive fiend dove into the water, keeping on its route to Kilika.

Panting in exhaustion, everyone got back up, slightly shaken, but grateful to be miraculously alive. "Is everypony alright?"

"Ah think so," Applejack answered for Twilight. As she looked around the deck, some of the passengers came out to investigate to see if the coast was clear, but out of the ones in her group, she counted two mares and one dragon. "...Wait...Where's Rainbow Dash?" The others looked around, but there was no sign of the pegasus. She soon noticed the torn off harpoon turret was gone, which happened to be the last place Rainbow was when she was cornered by the Sinscales. She feared the worst, looking down at the water, finding no sign of her on the surface. "Oh shoot! MARE OVERBOARD!"

Applejack dove into the water to find her, alerting the captain of the ship to keep the boat from sailing off until she came back. Fluttershy soon began to worry, fearing losing her friend that was related to the stallion Jet Stream, somepony she had grown fondly with after meeting him ten years ago. Next Chapter: Chapter 9: The Sending Estimated time remaining: 11 Hours, 33 Minutes