With all the funds Twilight had on her at the time being, she made sure to buy herself enough items to allow her to last long enough through the forest, including a few potions, some antidotes and one singular phoenix down just in case she fell in battle. Allowing Spike to ride on her shoulder through it all, she finally set out on her quest to check on the wind crystal.

She pulled out her map at the gate of her hometown, Ponyville, and saw that the mage's house was only a few kilometers away. From there, her house wasn't even half a kilometer from the forest. Twilight inwardly questioned why anyone in their right mind would live so close to a forest jam-packed with monsters, but that wasn't important at the time. What was important and extremely dangerous however was the multitudes of monsters in her way.

"Something tells me this is going to be a long trip, Spike" Twilight sighed as she petted the young Bahamut on the head "Now, how's about we test some of your skill on these monsters, hmm?"

"Kaw!" Spike gleefully hopped, causing Twilight to smile a bit.

"Then let's get a move on" she confidently nodded. And with that, she stepped out of Ponyville's borders and into the land of Equestria. She took a deep breath and let the fresh air into her lungs. Only rarely has she ever gone outside Ponyville, and even then it was an airship ride to Canterlot. Truly stepping out into the world was foreign to her, but nonetheless calming and peaceful. Or, it would be calming and peaceful if not for the monsters growling and screaming everywhere.

"Ugh! Can't a Summoner, or anyone for that matter, have a quiet trip?!" Twilight yelled at the monsters "Oh, who am I kidding; not like you're going to listen to me anyway... Time to rid a bit of filth!"

The monsters, more specifically some bipedal green ones with elongated mouths and noses as well as tattered red garments for clothing, commonly referred to as goblins, came charging at Twilight with wooden daggers in their hands, flailing them around without true direction, showing just how intelligent they truly were.

"Summon! Bahamut Lv.1!" Twilight pulled out her book and shouted, calling forth Spike and letting him launch a blast of fire at the goblins, which took care of them almost immediately. However, more goblins were on their way, including a different monster that looked very much like a pink bird with a white breast, a yellow crest, white wings and a ruffled tail. These monsters were commonly known as pyrolisks.

"Spike, your fire might heal those fire-based monsters" Twilight told her Bahamut "Leave them to me. In the meantime, take out those goblins. Summon! Bahamut Lv.1!"

Spike did as told and once again fired his breath attack at the oncoming monsters, wiping all the goblins out. Unfortunately, the pyrolisk caught poor Twilight off guard and dealt some damage to her, knocking her to the ground.

"Ow! Hey!" Twilight angrily stomped her foot "Fine then, come on down and try that again! I dare you!"

The pyrolisk, having the intelligence of any ordinary bird, swooped back down and attempted to land another hit on its foe. But Twilight was ready this time. With every ounce of her strength, she whipped out her dagger and thrust forward into the fire bird's neck, killing it immediately.

"Huh, well, that was easier said than done" Twilight smiled before pulling her now bloodied dagger out of the pyrolisk and cleaned it off "In fact, I feel a little stronger than I used to. I wonder why..."

(Music Stop)

Spike jumped back onto his owner's shoulder after the battle and nuzzled her a bit. She simply patted him on the head again before picking up her journey where she last left it.

Through countless encounters with goblins and pyrolisks, as well as killer plants and giant wasps, Twilight finally managed to reach the mage's home. Funnily enough, despite the battles behind her, she felt as if those 2 kilometers were only a few steps away from Ponyville. The moment she reached the steps up to the house that looked like some sort of hollowed out tree, she collapsed and groaned into the ground. Her body was covered in small bruises and harmless cuts, as well as her cloths were dirty and even ripped in some places.

"Spike..." she moaned with her face still buried in the ground, getting the Bahamut's attention "Knock on the door... please..." he nodded, despite knowing his owner couldn't see him do so, and went up to the house's door and tapped it a couple of times.

At first, nothing happened, which slightly disappointed the dehydrated and exhausted Twilight. However, just as Spike was about to knock again, the door opened up and revealed the resident of the abode, causing both him and his owner to look up.

Her skin was cream yellow and her hair was very long and pink, and she had the brightest baby blue eyes either of them had ever seen. She wore a white robe that went over her head like a hood; the hood itself had two pointy bumps at the top so her ears wouldn't be uncomfortable under it. The robe had two sleeves for her arms to slip through and went down to her ankles. On her chest was a slightly revealing green area, and in her hands she held a long wooden staff with a curled tip. Her face was one of concern.

"Oh my..." she spoke in a soft voice that both Twilight and Spike found somewhat soothing "Oh no... You two look hurt! We have to get you both back inside as soon as possible!" she turned back inside her home "Friends, please help bring them in for me?"

"Ugh... No... I'm good..." Twilight said as she slowly got up from the ground "Just a little thirsty, is all. So, you must be the mage who lives on the edge of the Everfree Forest, right?"

"Um... y-yes" the mage nodded slowly, shrinking down a bit in either fear or embarrassment "I-I'm... P-P... um... Fluttershy..."

"S-Sorry? You'll have to speak up."

"My n-name is... Fluttershy..."

"Um, one more time..." Twilight was beginning to get a little agitated, but she kept a kind, albeit nervous, smile on her face.

"F-Fluttershy..." the mage said finally "M-My name is... Fluttershy... the White Mage..."

"Oh, well, nice to meet you, Fluttershy!" Twilight stuck out her hand to shake Fluttershy's, to which the latter eventually did the same, albeit slowly "I'm Twilight Sparkle, but most people just call me Twilight. And this is my pet Bahamut, Spike. I'm a Summoner, see, so I can summon him even when he's on the other side of the planet."

"Oh! A baby Bahamut!" Fluttershy's face turned from shy to curious in less than a second, cream yellow wings bursting up behind her as the transition occurred, telling Twilight she was a Pegasus "I've never seen one before! Aw, he looks so cute..."

"Best not to call him cute..." Twilight looked at a now scowling Spike "He doesn't like it when someone calls him cute. Anyway, if you'll permit me, I would like to rest at your home for a moment before I set back out."

"Oh, of course" Fluttershy nodded and smiled "Besides, I can't bear to witness you with those injuries on you, so a nice healing session should get you into shape again."

"Oh, these?" Twilight chuckled at her bruises and scars "It's fine, really. They don't hurt all that mu-AAHHHHHCCCHHHHH!!!" she, along with Spike, was pulled into Fluttershy's house almost immediately.

The two visitors were gently put on a big green couch in the house's living room where Fluttershy could easily work on fixing them with the healing properties of her white magic. She waved her staff slowly over their resting bodies and chanted something in her soft voice, making Twilight nearly fall asleep. To try and avoid that, she attempted some small talk with Fluttershy.

"So, um..." she began "How long have you been out here?"

"Hmm? Oh, quite some time now" Fluttershy politely responded after finishing with her chanting "I used to live in Cloudsdale before moving down here for a quieter style of life. I don't plan on moving out, though. All my animal friends would miss me."

"Animal friends?" Twilight curiously question before she looked around the entire house. She didn't know how she missed it, but the abode was filled with every animal one could think of: bats, butterflies, rabbits, even animals not native to the Everfree Forest like koalas and kangaroos. The strangest part was how well-behaved each one was, never once screeching or making a ruckus while their owner was healing her guests.

"Okay, all done" Fluttershy smiled and allowed Twilight and Spike to get up off of the couch and stand.

"Thank you, Fluttershy" Twilight nodded with a grin before recalling what Princess Celestia told her "Oh, by the way, would you like to like to come with me on my quest to check on the wind crystal?"

"O-Oh my... I don't know if I could..." Fluttershy said in a nervous tone "All my animal friends will need to be taken care of, and I'm not exactly one for dark forests..."

"But you live-" Twilight pointed out confusingly before stopping herself and returning to the more important subject "...okay. If that's your decision, I can accept that. I guess I couldn't convince you after all."

"I'm sorry, Twilight..."

"It's fine, it's fine. No need to sweat over it. Besides, I have Spike here with me! He'll protect me, right boy?"

"Kaw!" Spike climbed up to his owner's shoulder and nuzzled her in affection like he normally does.

(Music Stop)

At that very moment, the ground began to shake. It only lasted for a second or two, but it was enough to send every animal in Fluttershy's home scurrying for their lives.

The moment the tremors stopped, Twilight rushed outside the house to see what had caused that thundering boom. What she saw both frightened her and intrigued her: a large black bird with gigantic black wings, a red crest that went down its spine, a dark pink beak and two dark pink talons. It had landed right outside her home and was staring right at her with a stare that could kill if it were possible. The giant bird let out a terrible screech from its beak that blew Twilight back a bit.

"No way!" Twilight spoke in both awe and fear of the beast in front of her "A Zu? Here? I never would have imagined it! But aren't they native to the south? Hmm..." she thought for a moment before finally coming to a conclusion "Something drove it away, that has to be the only logical reason! But what could be more powerful than a Zu in the south lands? Maybe we'll fight one, maybe we won't, but either way we gotta deal with this guy. Are you in, Fluttershy?"

"N-No, I think I'll just stay over here... Where it can't touch me..." Fluttershy, who had emerged from her home soon after Twilight, shyly said with a frightened smile as she slowly backed away from the battle field.

"Ugh... C'mon, Fluttershy, you can do this!" Twilight encouraged "You live next to a forest infested with monsters! Surely you have to put up with this every once in a while, right?"

"N-No, I'm fine, really..." she shook her head, still terrified of the gigantic bird. The latter groaned before returning her attention to the Zu that rudely interrupted them.

"Alright, you overgrown turkey!" Twilight spoke confidently "It's time for you to cock-a-doodle do you to hell!"

"Please don't make bad puns... if you want to, of course..." Fluttershy nervously spoke up.

"Oh, right, sorry..." Twilight apologized for returning her attention once again to the great bird. Before she could react however, the Zu began its first attack by attempting to claw at its foe, the attack hitting Twilight, unfortunately.

"GAH!!" Twilight was knocked back onto the ground, causing Fluttershy to gasp a bit "Ugh... uh... Is that all you got?" she got back up again and faced the Zu "Spike, go for it!" she commanded her pet. Spike jumped down from his perch on her shoulder and spewed a fiery breath at the Zu, dealing a good amount of damage to it.

The Zu was not finished yet, though. With a single flick of its wings, it knocked Twilight and Spike back once again. When she arose, this time only on her knees, she panted from exertion. While she got a good hit on the monster, it was only a matter of time before the Zu struck her hard enough to keep her down permanently. She desperately tried to get back up and fight again, but her wounds had taken their toll. She closed her eyes and expected the worst to come.

"Cure!" a chant was heard behind Twilight. Suddenly, her body began to feel refreshed and revitalized. She looked all over her body and felt no pain whatsoever. All her cuts and bruises were gone. She looked back and saw that Fluttershy had cast that heal spell.

"Didn't you imply you didn't want to be a part of this fight?" Twilight questioned.

"I did, and that was so very rude of me..." Fluttershy sadly said "The truth is, I'm terrified of that monster, and when I saw it my body nearly locked up. All I could do was watch..." a tear fell onto her cheek, but her somber face soon became one of determination "But then I saw you get hurt by it, and I couldn't sit idly by... It's my duty as a White Mage to make sure that no one gets hurt!"

"Fluttershy..." Twilight looked at her before giving her a thumbs up and smiling "Thank you..."

Just as she turned to face the gigantic monster again, she saw something approaching them in the distance. She tried squinting her eyes to make out what they could be, but to no avail. All she knew was that they were quickly coming closer and closer to them.

"T-Twilight!" Fluttershy called out "I can see some pyrolisks coming closer!"

"Wait, how can you tell that they're- WHOA!!" Twilight was nearly caught off guard from a wing attack from the Zu. She managed to strike it back with her dagger, but that only did so much damage. This unfortunately lead the Zu to flap its wings as hard as it could, creating a gust of wind that blew the two back and straight into the front of Fluttershy's house. They fell to their knees soon afterward.

"Ow..." Twilight groaned just as the Zu was about to attack them, only this time to finish them off for good "I'm not sure how much more abuse I can take..."

"...mmm..." Fluttershy whimpered before sticking out her staff as a desperate means to defend herself. But to her pleasant surprise, a gust of wind shot out the staff, this time knocking the Zu away from them.

"Fluttershy, I didn't know you could use, Aero!" Twilight beamed.

"...I didn't either..."

"Sorry?"

"Oh, n-nothing!" Fluttershy quickly dismissed anything she may or may not have said previously.

"Alright then..." Twilight was still slightly skeptical "Well, cast as many Aero spells as you can on that Zu and those pyrolisks coming this way, okay?"

"A-Alright..." Fluttershy nodded and attempted to fire another blast of air at the large black bird. Meanwhile, the pyrolisks had finally reached the battle zone and had begun bombarding Twilight with attack after attack. She wished either Spike or Fluttershy could help, but she knew that they'd be useless against pyrolisks, or busy fighting off the Zu, respectively. That's when a thought that never crossed her mind before struck her head harder than a rock being slammed into her face.

"What if I try some of the other Lv.1 summons?" she thought to herself before slapping herself on the head "Well duh, Twilight! You should have thought of this before, you nerd!" she then flipped through some of the other pages of her book until she found a Lv.1 summon that could prove useful later on.

"Okay, here goes nothing..." she chanted to herself before releasing her summon "Summon! Chocobo Lv.1!"

A purple summoning circle appeared on the ground in front of Twilight's feet, slowly giving rise to a large yellow bird with long orange legs and claws, as well as small, flightless wings and an oddly cute and fluffy body. It had big, beady black eyes that looked curiously at its surroundings. It was a Chocobo, the lovable mascot of many stores within Equestria. As soon as its body stopped rising from the circle, it ran forward, jumped and began kicking the pyrolisks with its elongated yet powerful legs. One by one, the fiery birds dropped dead on the ground like flies, until there were no more to dispose of.

"Well, that was a piece of cake!" Twilight smiled before returning her attention to the Zu, which Fluttershy had fortunately managed to hold off with her recently acquired Aero spell. Hopping onto the Chocobo's back, Twilight ran off at the Zu and allowed her mount to jump up and kick it dead on the beak, cracking it open and leaving a large hole in the side for attack. This caused the giant bird to be momentarily stunned long enough for Twilight to explain a plan she had.

"Spike, Fluttershy" she began after analyzing the state of the Zu, still riding on her Chocobo "With your fire breath and Aero respectively, I want you to set fire to the inside of the monster. Spike, on my mark, launch your fiery breath. Fluttershy, with your Aero, aim it into the beak."

"O-Oh, well..."

"Just do it!" Twilight crouched down and flexed her arms "We got one shot at this, Fluttershy. Think about your animal friends and what will happen to them if you don't!"

Fluttershy thought for a moment before finally conceding and nodding. She readied her staff and waited for the right moment.

"Okay... 3..." Twilight prepared herself "...2..." the Zu had already begun to snap out of its daze "...1..." the monster shook its head and charged right at the two magic users "NOW!!"

"Aero!" Fluttershy shouted as Spike spewed out his fiery breath from his mouth at the Zu the exact moment his owner called out. Fluttershy fired a blast of air and guided the flame straight into the beak of the beast, setting its mouth on fire and causing it to cry out in agony. Being a White Mage, and therefore against most violence, Fluttershy turned her head away from the scene to spare her at least the visions of a dying animal. Finally, the Zu stopped squawking and fell over dead, its body continuing to burn, eating away at the surrounding oxygen.

"Alright, we did it!" Twilight cheered before noticing a slightly depressed Fluttershy. As soon as her Chocobo summon descended back into a purple summoning circle, she approached her companion and attempted to cheer her up.

"Hey, it's okay, don't worry... That monster would have done some seriously bad things to you and your animals if we weren't around to help them, so it's all good."

(Music Stop)

"Twilight..." Fluttershy began.

"Hmm?"

"I, um... I would, y-y'know... like to go with you."

"A change of heart?" Twilight assumed.

"Well, you see..." Fluttershy had a difficult time voicing her opinions "I, um... I want to join you because, um..."

"Yes? Just say it, it's oka-"

"I want to get rid of all the monsters in this world!" she suddenly came out with her opinion, slightly startling Twilight. This caused the latter to scratch her head in confusion.

"But I thought White Mages were supposed to be pacifistic" she pointed out "Wouldn't saying something like that go against the White Mage code?"

"Twilight, I became a White Mage so I could heal people and animals who grew ill or became injured" Fluttershy finally revealed "If there are creatures that seek to bring harm to both people and animals alike, then I want to do my best to rid the world of them."

"You're intentions are pure, Fluttershy" Twilight smiled "But you know that monsters will just multiply as the year goes on, right? It's impossible to completely wipe them out, unfortunately."

"I-I-I understand that..." Fluttershy gave a slightly sad smile "But s-so long as I'm helping my animal friends, then I'm h-happy. Besides, didn't you say you needed to protect the wind crystal? If that goes out... oh no... the world would begin falling into ruin and disarray. The birds wouldn't be able to fly anymore, and... and... oh..."

"Fluttershy, I can't thank you enough" Twilight smiled kindly "Well then, pack your stuff and let's get a move on. Oh, and don't forget to say goodbye to all your animal friends."

"Wouldn't dream of it" Fluttershy nodded before heading back inside. Twilight watched as the mage closed the door behind her as gently as she could. She wondered what it would be like with another person fighting, or rather healing, alongside her. Given the excellent teamwork she, Spike and Fluttershy produced, she had little doubt that having a White Mage would be an invaluable asset, if any doubt at all. She let off a warm smile as her Bahamut climbed onto her body.

(Music Stop)

"Hey, Spike" she smiled, petting him once again on the head "We made a new friend today. Isn't that exciting?"

"Kaw!" Spike simply answered the only way he could, causing Twilight to laugh a bit. As soon as her moment of enjoyment ceased, her face became slightly more serious.

"Y'know, it never crossed my mind about what might happen if the crystals' lights when out" she sighed "Fluttershy's right; the world would become a desolate wasteland without the crystals. We have to protect them at all costs! But speaking of protection... what would happen to a guardian if their crystal became corrupted or shattered?"

"Kaw!" Spike nuzzled his owner again, bringing another smile to her face.

"Yeah, I probably shouldn't think about it too much" Twilight said "Besides, they're guardians! What's the worst that could happen to six legendary beings of light?"

Author's Notes:

It recently dawned on me that there has never been a non-MMO Final Fantasy game (because you can choose what you want and that doesn't technically count) in the history of ever that started you out with a Summoner right from the get-go. I mean, Final Fantasy V had one of their first jobs a Summoner, but never had a game started you out with them from the moment you begin play. Strange, huh?

It also recently dawned on me that I suck at writing stories with consistency. Please, if you see ANYTHING in my story that barely or does not follow anything I previously stated, tell me immediately! I'll do my best to try and not let things like that slide under my radar, but any help would be appreciated.

Special thanks to Garage Door Opener, Timeline and Hidden Scorpius XI for pointing out a few problems with my story and helping me fix them. I couldn't do it without you, guys!

Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, dream on everyone!