After climbing up the several flights of stone steps, they finally reached the entrance to the temple in Kilika. Rainbow spotted Twilight sulking next to a nearby pillar, her nose buried deep in what looked like a novel. Smarty Pants was trying to cheer her up, but couldn't get her attention. Twilight and Applejack's falling out was already tearing this group apart, mostly affecting Fluttershy. If they don't make up, then Spike would have to pick up the slack, though it didn't seem like he minded as he lived for the thrill of combat.

Up ahead, exiting the temple came a group of ponies wearing what looked like blue and white uniforms for a blitzball team. The one in the center seemed to be the team's captain, a turquoise pegasus mare with an orange and gold striped mane. The trio spotted the Aurochs, smirking as they sauntered over to the team, Applejack's hat tilted over her sad eyes.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here, boys," the mare said mockingly. "If it isn't the worst blitzball team on the face of Spira. The Besaid Losers." The three laughed at them, the Aurochs sneering at the team. "You guys come here to pray? To 'do your best' again? What's the best you losers even got anyway!?"

"Hey, back off, you jerk!" Rainbow stepped forward. "This year, the Aurochs are going to win while you guys will be the losers!"

"...And who are you?" The mare looked over Rainbow's shoulder and at the depressed earth pony captain. "What's the matter, Applejack? Too much pride to speak to me while you have some newbie talk for you? You and the Aurochs don't stand a chance against the Luca Goers. Always losing to us in the first match, just to warm us up for the real competition."

"I said back off!" Rainbow headbutted the pegasus, glaring angrily at the insulting mare. "We're having a rough day, and you don't seem to give a flying feather about sportsponyship! You mess with my team, you'll be dealing with me!"

The mare slugged Rainbow hard in the face, knocking the pegasus down to the ground. "You might as well just quit while you're ahead, rookie. The Luca Goers are the greatest blitzball team you'll ever know. You're all going to be humiliated in front of all of Spira once you set hoof in the sphere."

Lightning kicked dirt in Rainbow's face, the Goers laughing at them as they headed down the stairs and back to Kilika. The pegasus got back up, rubbing her sore cheek as she leered at the heartless team.

"Stupid jerks..." Fluttershy healed her bruised face as the pegasus seethed with anger. "Putting others down like that as if they were spoiled gods being worshiped...They're worse than my dad."

"B-But Sir Jet was a kind and gentle stallion. He was never like that," Fluttershy said.

"Pth. Not my Jet." Rainbow sulked, hating having to be reminded of her father by somepony else who acted all high and mighty like he acted.

After a while of waiting for Twilight and Applejack to calm down from their argument, the group entered Kilika Temple. The Aurochs began to pray around the main hall, but Rainbow didn't feel it was right to do something this superstitious. She was still mad at Lightning Dust after hearing her making fun of a team that always played their hardest, even if they lost many times. At least she was only a nuisance in Zanarkand for showboating a few times, never once showing any disdain toward any other teams she played against before that lost more than won any matches. She at least respected her opponents unlike that braggart.

She looked over at the entrance to the Cloister of Trials for the temple, Fluttershy and her guardians not going in. She got her answer as to why when two ponies walked out of the entrance, a summoner and a guardian. The guardian was quite obviously the incredibly buff white pegasus stallion, his wings too tiny to even lift him off the ground with his bulky muscles rippling out of his limbs and chest. The summoner was an odd case: she was a blue unicorn mare with a blueish-silver mane, wearing a lavender cape and hate littered with blue stars. The mare noticed Fluttershy, walking down the steps with her bulky guardian following her.

"Well, if it isn't High Summoner Kindred Heart's daughter," she said. "What an honor."

"Who are you?" Fluttershy asked the mare.

"You are in the presence of The Great and Powerful Summoner, Trixie Lulamoon. And this is my guardian, Bulk Biceps." Trixie pointed at the stoic pegasus stallion, Rainbow staring at him and wondering how he got so muscular. Trixie looked at the other three ponies near the pegasus summoner, as well as the overprotective dragon eyeing her. "Hmm...Trixie seems to count four other guardians. Last Trixie heard, your father only had two guardians, and Trixie only has need of one guardian. Right, Bulk Biceps?"

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH!" the stallion yelled, flexing his muscles while snorting out air from his nostrils.

"It's not a competition, Trixie," Fluttershy said. "I only have as many guardians as there are ponies, or dragons, I can trust. I think it's a blessing to have so many guardians I can trust with my life, knowing they can protect me no matter what happens...But I won't question how you go about your pilgrimage." Trixie scoffed, ignoring the young summoner's words. "Now, please leave us and continue with your pilgrimage...if you don't mind."

"Hmph. Trixie does not care. Let's go, Bulk." Trixie left the temple with her guardian in tow.

Even though Rainbow Dash wasn't considered a guardian by the others, Fluttershy viewed her as one. Guardians were supposed to protect their summoners, meaning there had to be some trusting bond they had to have as they journeyed across Spira. She looked back at the yellow pegasus, who was looking at her awkwardly, brushing her hoof against the stone floor in bashfulness.

They soon headed into the entrance to the Cloister of Trials, stepping onto the elevator heading down to the actual test. As Rainbow stepped on, Spike immediately pushed the pegasus off.

"Ahh! Hey!" She turned around, leering at the silent dragon despite how terrifying he was. "What was that for!?"

"Sorry. You're not a guardian yet," Fluttershy responded, Twilight and Applejack still staying silent. "Don't worry, Rainbow Dash. We'll be back soon."

"Oh sure, like tomorrow soon?" The elevator went down as they disappeared down below. "Great. More waiting, and eventually, I'm going to wait a whole day, barge inside, and get scolded by everypony for trying to save her."

"They actually left you behind?" Rainbow turned around, finding Trixie and Bulk Biceps behind her. "Trixie actually feels sorry for you."

"I'm not a guardian, so I'm not allowed down there. That's the rule, right?" Behind the pegasus mare, the elevator rose back up to their level.

"Not a guardian, huh?" Trixie looked at Bulk Biceps, motioning her head toward Rainbow Dash, obeying her silent command.

Before she could react, Rainbow was picked up by the buff pegasus stallion, getting tossed onto the elevator. "OW! Hey!"

"Have fun down there." Before she could try and escape, the elevator began to slowly descend to the Cloister of Trials. Rainbow flew up to confront Trixie, only for the unicorn to cast a barrier around the opening, making her smack into it and fall back down to the moving platform. "No escaping! If you want to be a guardian, you have to always be with your summoner!"

The unicorn laughed as Rainbow Dash reached the bottom. "Oh great...Everypony is going to kill me..." Having no choice since she saw the barrier still blocking her only way out, she had no choice but to go through the trial and face the music. "Hopefully they'll believe me when I tell them Trixie threw me down here..."

It was no or never, either going the the Cloister of Trials and getting yelled at sooner, or just waiting by the entrance near the elevator for almost a day to be scolded later. Rainbow entered a room where a doorway was blocked off, a circular recess next to the door that could fit a sphere. Luckily, there was a sphere in the room resting on a pedestal, glowing red and emitting flames like a makeshift torch. She grew cautious as she reached out to grab the sphere, quickly removing it to avoid the flames, but the fire only seemed to be an illusion.

Wondering what the Kilika spheres are supposed to do, she placed the sphere next to the door, an orange light flowing down to the underside of the door, setting it on fire. The flames burned brightly, somehow revealing a flaming cell wall in place of the destroyed door, still blocking her path. Taking the sphere out, the fire disappeared, giving her access to the next room. Inside this room were three empty recesses on the walls with a mobile pedestal that held a Glyph sphere.

Rainbow groaned in annoyance as she encountered a dead end, completely clueless to where she needed to go and what to do next. Just by taking a wild guess, she placed the Kilika sphere in her mouth into the center recess, the flames igniting the wall. To her surprise, it managed to reveal a scorched glyph on the wall. Grinning at her stroke of luck, she took the sphere out and placed it on one of the side recesses, dousing the flames blocking the glyph. Heading back to the wall, she touched the glyph and made the wall rise up, another pathway into another room that had roaring flames spewing out from the lower walkway leading to another blocked door.

"Heh. I'm a genius with these puzzles," Rainbow said to herself. "Maybe they're not as bad as I expected them to be."

As she walked into the next room, her grin of success turned to a frown, the flames so intense that there was no way for her to even fly over them. Even if they're an illusion, it still felt like a real fire roaring in the small ditch. Rainbow followed the lights where the fire's source was coming from, which came from an indent in the wall on the right, a Kilika sphere activating the barricade of flames, along with three empty ones up above that don't have any spheres in them.

Taking the one sphere out, she expected the flames to die out, but they were still burning strong. Grumbling in thought as she scratched her head, she looked back at the wall, noticing that the wall looked like a doorway that could be opened. And conveniently enough, there was a Glyph sphere in the other room that might open it up. Heading back, she placed the Kilika sphere in the empty recess that was left available, taking the Glyph sphere from the pedestal and went back into the fire room.

Placing the sphere in the wall, just as she predicted, it rose up and blocked the spherical indents up above, extinguishing the flames blocking her way. Now with nothing blocking her way, Rainbow flew back to grab a Kilika sphere, inserting it next to the door to burn it away. She could see a stairway leading up, the end of the Cloister being this doorway. Taking out the sphere to expel the flames, she walked down the path, but as soon as she reached the stairs, the sphere disappeared from her mouth as she tried to take it with her.

Figuring it was only meant to be used inside the temple only, Rainbow Dash didn't question how it worked. All she cared about was making it through the maze of puzzles that lead up to the Chamber of the Fayth. As soon as she entered the room, the other three guardians glared at her.

"Are you kidding me!?" Twilight shouted. "Again! You did this again!"

"Hey, don't blame me! Blame Trixie and her steroid injected bodyguard! They trapped me down here, and I couldn't get back up!" They still kept their angered expressions, not believing the pegasus. "Oh come on! I'm telling the truth!"

"Even if you are, which I highly doubt, Fluttershy is going to face serious consequences when she gets out of the Chamber of the Fayth!" Groaning in frustration, Twilight headed back to her spot, staring angrily at the book she was reading. Rainbow expected Smarty Pants to run at her to try and smack her in the snout of punch her forelegs, but surprisingly, the doll only seemed to look at its owner in sadness. "She might get excommunicated for this happening. Twice! Do you ever think about the rules, or do you just like to break them whenever you feel like becoming a delinquent!?"

"I don't know the rules!" Rainbow argued back. "It's not my fault this keeps happening! Back in Besaid, I was doing something nopony else was doing to help Fluttershy, and this time was by complete accident because of Trixie! What was I supposed to do!?"

"Wait outside the Cloister of Trials, so none of the precepts can be broken!?" Twilight slammed her book closed, her horn sparking up, threatening to shoot a spell at the pegasus. "Do you ever think before you act!?"

"Chill out, Twilight! It's not like I'm hurting anypony!" Twilight growled as she was ready to incinerate Rainbow Dash. Before she could shoot a spell, Spike firmly gripped the unicorn's horn, dispelling her spell she was about to cast as she forced her to lay down. It was surprising to see the dragon was actually saving her, trying to calm the disgruntled unicorn before she exploded, literally and figuratively. "Sheesh. What is wrong with you? You get mad at just about everything."

Twilight growled, quickly silenced as Spike began to give the mare a massage to calm her stress. She was still frustrated, but she wasn't going to try and blast Rainbow to smithereens. With the room now silent, the pegasus could hear the hymn again, this time sung by a masculine voice echoing in the chamber. She sat next to Applejack, not wanting to risk getting yelled at by Twilight...again.

"Ya know, Fluttershy really will get in trouble," Applejack said.

"Nopony else in the temple even knows I'm really a guardian. Trixie thought I was, so what's the point?" Applejack just shook her head, still considered wrong even if nopony else even knew. As they waited, Rainbow tapped her hoof impatiently after about ten minutes, looking at the door leading to the inside of the chamber. "So, what exactly is this 'fayth'? Is it in that room?"

"Eyup," the blitzball captain responded. "The fayth were ponies who willingly gave their spirits to Faust to fight Sin. Their souls are trapped in statues in those rooms. When a summoner comes around, their spirit turns into an aeon, heeding the call of the pony who calls them." Rainbow nodded her head, understanding how the aeons are called. "Only summoners can enter these chambers. It's considered taboo for guardians to enter with them."

"...Thanks for telling me that now. I would have broken more rules, huh?" Rainbow chuckled, only to be smacked in the face by one of Twilight's books.

After another half hour, the chamber's door opened up, Fluttershy stumbling out, looking greatly exhausted. She noticed Rainbow Dash, and unlike the others, she wasn't upset at him for following them inside. While the guardians tended to the tired pegasus mare, Rainbow was feeling conflicted as her ears twitched, hearing the hymn's tone echo around them. There had been so many similarities between Spira and Zanarkand, and the ones that made her feel homesick were this song that kept repeating constantly in the temples and blitzball still being around.

As the party left the temple, nopony was any the wiser when they saw Fluttershy leave with her guardians, Rainbow technically not one of them. They might not have seen any rules broken, but the moody unicorn, the blitzball captain, and the silent dragon knew they would eventually suffer the consequences with their summoner. Trixie and Bulk Biceps are nowhere to be found, having left as soon as they heard Rainbow enter the Cloister of Trials. When they exited the temple's hall and Fluttershy was surrounded by her adoring fans, it made the blitzball playing pegasus flashback to her own fame in Zanarkand.

They were about to head down the steps to head back to the village, but Rainbow stopped, feeling so much anger boiling to a breaking point. It's been nearly a week since she was forced to travel a thousand years in the future, her home in Zanarkand gone and never able to return. She's being treated like an unintelligent pony because of the "toxin" lie she had to keep spewing just to avoid being whip-lashed verbally by very religious ponies. Any questions she actually asks makes her feel stupid, especially when Twilight has to lecture her like she constantly failed a test given out every single day. She wants to know about the world, but everyone puts her down because of her lack of knowledge in this horrible world she lives in now.

Not to mention knowing that her father, Jet Stream, who had disappeared from Zanarkand ten years ago, was actually in this timeline throughout those same years. He was Fluttershy's father's guardian, he was considered a kind stallion when nopony else knew how much pain he made her suffer through as a filly. He just can't stay out of her mind, his insults and mockery toward his own daughter constantly echoing in her head, which only made them worse when Lightning Dust behaved just like the stallion.

Fluttershy paused, noticing the pained expression on the cyan pegasus's face. "Rainbow Dash? Are you ok?" She shook her head, gritting her teeth. "...What's wrong?"

"...I...I feel like screaming at the top of my lungs..." A moment of silence had passed, then Rainbow reached that breaking point, seeing her father laughing at her in her mind. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Everypony present had turned in surprise as they heard the pegasus yell out in frustration, her voice echoing out to the jungle as flocks of birds fled from the noise. It didn't really help quell her anger much, still feeling a burning hatred to the stallion who ruined her foalhood, ruining any chance for her to ever be truly happy. Being in Spira didn't help matters, only making them worse. Her life will never get better, no matter what she tries. Next Chapter: Chapter 12: Reconciliation Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 57 Minutes