The party of six began their trek down the Mi'ihen Highroad, a long road that was several miles long that started from Luca down to Djose Temple, where Fluttershy was supposed to head to next on her pilgrimage. As a dangerous road that should be traveled with caution, Rainbow Dash noticed there were lots of ponies, adults and foals, that are walking along the path. She thought everypony in Spira was either crazy to wander around with fiends present in the fields, forests, and jungles, or they were a lot braver than she thought after what happened in Luca earlier.

Soon, they were met with one of the fiends that inhabit the highroad, a small beast-like creature, its arms like heavy shields. "This thing looks pretty slow."

"Yes, but they also have very thick skin," Rarity said, trying to keep the brash pegasus from acting before thinking. "I'll handle these types of fiends."

"I got this, Rares. Don't want you to ruin your mane!" Rainbow lunged at the fiend, her sword barely able to make a dent in it as it moved its arms up to defend itself. "...Uhhh..."

"Urgh. Amateur," Twilight uttered. "Raldos are heavy armored fiends, Rainbow Dash. Their armor can only be struck with Piercing weapons."

"Which is why I told you to leave these to me." Rarity ran forward and slashed through the Raldo, killing it for the pegasus. "Please learn to only take down opponents you're specialized in attacking. You're as irrational as your father."

"Tsk. I could have killed it," Rainbow mumbled, humiliated by the older mare.

She at least took Rarity's advice to heart when confronting the canine fiends on the road. The others dealt with the other fiends they can take out with no problem: Twilight against elemental foes, Spike assisting Rarity with the armored fiends since his spears could pierce through enemies, Applejack with flying or highly evasive foes, and Fluttershy healed anypony's injuries with her magic. The summoner may not be that good of a fighter, but without her, their journey would have been more troublesome.

Up ahead, Rainbow's ears perked up when she heard a strange "kweh" sound down the road. Coming into view, three large yellow birds the pegasus had never seen before appeared, wearing armor on them and running very quickly on their feet. Riding on their backs were three pegasi, the leader a gold-yellow mare with a fiery orange mane, the one on the right a light blue mare with a gray mane, and the one on the left a pale blue stallion with a dark blue mane.

"Hey. Are any one of you a summoner?" the leader asked. Expecting a response from Fluttershy, Rainbow looked back at the pegasus, who was staring at the large birds with utter excitement, fidgeting her hooves as if she was a filly unable to wait to see her favorite idol. "Uhh, is that mare ok?"

"To answer your question, miss, this young mare is a summoner, and we are her guardians," Rarity answered for the eager yellow pegasus. "Pay her no mind. She has a fascination for animals that are not bloodthirsty fiends."

"I see." The leader saluted, along with her companions. "I am Spitfire, captain of the Chocobo Knights in Djose. These are my two lieutenants, Fleetfoot and Soarin."

"There's been some reports of a large fiend attacking chocobos on this road," Fleetfoot said. "Be careful if any of you decide to travel Mi'ihen by chocobo."

"Thank you very much. We'll be careful." The Chocobo Knights sped off on their mounts to warn other travelers along the way. Fluttershy kept her eyes on the land-dwelling avians, completely oblivious to the others' slightly amused expressions. "Darling, are you alright?"

"Can I ride a chocobo!? Please!?" Fluttershy asked, begging the white unicorn.

Rainbow snickered at the summoner's excitement, her love for animals almost addictive. "...Maybe. As long as it isn't too expensive. We need to save our Gil for important stuff, such as supplies."

Fluttershy hugged the guardian tightly, Rarity patting her head while the others watched. They continued on their way, the young summoner skipping gleefully, unable to wait to see more of those chocobos. As they continued on their way, they spotted a cart that held a cage, holding some fiends inside as they were pulled by a chocobo. Rainbow spotted Vinyl and Octavia flanking the cart to keep their steed from going off the path. Whatever they were doing, she didn't want to disturb the Crusaders from their work.

"Excuse me." The group stopped as they were met with a pink pegasus mare, her mane in streaks of pink, fuschia, and pale yellow. "Are any of you by chance a summoner?"

"Yes, I am." Fluttershy gave the prayer to the mare. "I am Summoner Fluttershy."

"Ah. High Summoner Kindred Heart's daughter." The mare bowed to her in respect. "My name is Cadence. I, too, am a summoner. I was wondering if I could test the skills of your aeons. I may even teach you a few things about them as well."

"You mean...a duel?" she asked.

"Yes, but not to the death. Do you accept my challenge?" Fluttershy nodded, a little interested in testing her bond between her aeons. The guardians gave them room as the pegasi summoners faced each other. Cadence held out her hoof, an orb of fire appearing from it as it dropped to the ground underneath her. The Kilika Temple's symbol appeared, turning the ground into molten rock as it rose up, the pink pegasus being lifted up along with it. Resting inside of a sphere of lava was a monstrous beast, breaking free from it imprisonment, sending the summoner up into the air. She landed gracefully next to it as it fell to the ground with a thud. "I'll be choosing Ifrit. Choose your aeon, Fluttershy."

"Ifrit?" Rainbow asked, staring at the aeon of fire.

"An aeon received from the temple in Kilika," Twilight explained. "Not all aeons are similar. Some of them, like Ifrit, have elemental attributes, some of their skills far more powerful than others."

Fluttershy summoned Valefor, the avian aeon flying down from the sky as it hovered in the air, facing its opponent. The two summons began to fight, both powerful creatures lunging at each other with speed and casting their unique magical spells and skills. Seeing two different aeons fighting was a thrill for Rainbow Dash to see, and despite Cadence's expertise in her aeons, Ifrit was losing as it couldn't face up to Valefor. Finishing the flaming behemoth off, Valefor flipped up into the air, flipping its head, making the hair extension on the back of its head twirl in front of it, creating the same glyphs that it came from. A beam of light appeared in its mouth as it fired in the glyph, shooting out dozens of beams down upon Ifrit, making it disappear as it was defeated.

"My, my...I'm impressed," Cadence congratulated Fluttershy, approaching the young summoner after dismissing Valefor. "I clearly underestimated you. You just might be able to defeat Sin with some more training."

"Thank you, but I think you might beat Sin before I do," Fluttershy said.

"I can't." Everyone stared at Cadence in confusion. "Or...I should say I wasn't able to..." They were silent, wondering what the pink pegasus summoner meant. "...I hope we meet again, Summoner Fluttershy."

Cadence flapped her wings and flew off down the highroad. Whatever the mare was hiding, they didn't question it, continuing down the Mi'ihen Highroad, fighting off more fiends. They ran into a few more fans of the young summoner, a little filly asking her if she'll bring the Calm. Rainbow had asked what the Calm was finally, being told by the others that it was a small window of time where after Sin is defeated, peace returns to Spira for a short while, and then Sin comes back to life. She did find it odd that Sin was still here after Fluttershy's father defeated it a decade ago. As much as she didn't want to say it out loud, she couldn't help but think it was all a lost cause.

Up ahead, they spotted a Crusader arguing with a disciple of one of the temples, a light amberish gray earth pony mare with a pale light cyan and opal mane. "B-But you can't do that. The teachings-"

"I've had enough of this!" the Crusader yelled, making the mare flinch. "We're stopping Sin any way we can, even if it means disobeying the teachings! Out of my way!"

The stallion marched off down the road, leaving the miserable mare behind. Feeling bad for the poor acolyte, they approached her to help cheer her up.

"Is everything ok?" Fluttershy asked.

Looking up, the mare gasped, bowing to the pegasus. "Lady Summoner! It is an honor!" Even though she was excited to meet Fluttershy, her enthusiasm died as she recalled what had happened earlier. "I-It's the Crusaders...They were planning some kind of operation up near Mushroom Rock Road, and they were going to use machina."

"What!?" Applejack exclaimed. "Are they serious!? Disobeyin' the precepts like that!? What for!?"

"I overheard a few Crusaders before I arrived in Luca," Rarity said. "'Operation Mi'ihen' they called it, a plan to stop Sin. It won't even work."

"They didn't even listen to me." The mare drooped her head in sadness. "I'm still just a lowly acolyte..."

"What's your name?" Fluttershy asked.

"...Coco. Coco Pommel," she answered.

"Well, Coco, I just started my pilgrimage a week ago, but I can't let everypony down," Fluttershy said, slowly bringing the depressed earth pony's spirits up. "Everypony depends on all of us, to keep the teachings from being broken and to repent for our sins from our ancestors using machina. You can't give up after one pony puts you down, right?"

"...Y-You're right, Lady Summoner...I'll continue my training and spread Faust's words throughout all of Spira." Coco bowed to Fluttershy, her words giving the mare hope and courage to continue following her beliefs.

They passed by her and continued walking down the path. They reached a travel agency, reaching the halfway mark of the highroad, though to Applejack's dismay, it was run by the Al Bhed. Rarity walked toward it, feeling a little exhausted.

"Let's rest here for a while, everypony," she announced.

"No way! This is an Al Bhed shop!" Applejack said. "None of them varmints believe in Faust, and they kidnapped Fluttershy back in Luca!"

"Where were her guardians, then?" The earth pony was about to argue, but she didn't have a perfect excuse.

"Well, I technically wasn't a guardian at that point when that happened, so I'm in the clear." Rainbow grinned, only to fall to the ground as Applejack smacked her upside the head.

"Applejack, Lady Rarity's just concerned about your health," Twilight chimed in. "You took a pretty nasty beating in the tournament, and your fatigue is showing."

"Ah ain't tired!" she lied, her eyes darting around, looking at anything but anypony.

"Well, I am. And a lady always needs her beauty sleep." Rarity ignored Applejack's resisitance and headed into the shop to assign them rooms.

They soon heard another "kweh" from a chocobo nearby, the shop also having a small ranch of chocobo they rent to those who wish to travel on Mi'ihen without the fear of fiends. "Chocobos!" Fluttershy dashed off to the docile birds, petting one of them as they immediately took a liking to her.

"Sorry, Applejack, but you're outnumbered. I think we all need some rest after today's chaotic tournament." Twilight walked in the travel agency, Spike following her with a dazed Rainbow Dash dragged with him by her tail.

"...Great...Just great." Applejack grumbled, marching into the shop, having no say in the situation. "Ah hate the Al Bhed..."

As the sun began to set on the horizon, everypony was relaxing around or in the Al Bhed travel agency. Applejack pouted inside, not wanting to be anywhere near the ponies running the place, Twilight searching through some of the wares they had for sell, mainly books, though they were written in Al Bhed, none of them translation guides. Outside, Fluttershy had her fun petting the chocobos, though got in a little trouble with the rancher because they always kept flocking to her like she was one of their own. Rarity and Spike were outside watching her, though Spike would occasionally look at the white unicorn from time to time on his perch on top of the shop. Rainbow Dash was just waking up from unconsciousness after getting hit in the head again.

"Why am I always getting smacked in the head by something every single time since I got here?" she mumbled to herself, rubbing her sorely abused skull. She walked out of the shop/inn, gasping in awe at the scenery as the sun cast its setting glow on the landscape. "Whoa...What a view..." She walked forward, spotting Fluttershy sitting next to the cliffside overlooking the ocean, some ruins of an old city able to be seen in the distance. She approached the oblivious summoner, who seemed to be whispering something, though Rainbow couldn't tell what she was saying. "Hey, Flutters! What'cha up to!?"

Fluttershy squeaked in surprise, quickly hiding something as she turned around to look at Rainbow Dash. She sat down next to the summoner and watched the sun set with her, the two pegasi enjoying the scenery.

"I wish I could live in a place like this," Fluttershy said after a few minutes of silence. "Just to live in peace, never having to worry about fighting."

"After you beat Sin, that is," Rainbow said.

"But Sin will always come back," the summoner sadly said.

"Then beat it again. You managed to do well against Cadence earlier, beating that Ifrit of hers." As much as she tried to lighten the mood, Rainbow failed to do so, for both her and Fluttershy. As Rarity warned, she had to keep her knowledge of her father being Sin a secret, though she wished she could tell somepony. "...You know, that's one thing that's still bugging me. How come Sin always keeps coming back?"

"...Sin punishes us from our ancestor's past choices many years ago," Fluttershy said. "It won't go away until everypony atones for our sins."

"Is it really about the machina?" Rainbow asked. "How is it all a bad thing? I mean, in Zanarkand, we used tons of machina for everyday life. It makes no sense."

"...I never really thought of that." Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash. "But, I don't think I have an answer as to why it's bad. It just is...I'm as clueless as you."

"Thank you!" Rainbow exclaimed, standing up. "Somepony actually understands my confusion and wanting to find out what the hay is going on! Twilight should be scolding you more instead of me because of my desire for knowledge...even though I messed up in school a lot when I was a filly because I hated learning." Fluttershy giggled, never imagining somepony like Rainbow Dash would ever like to learn anything and just jump in headfirst toward the action. "Though, I gotta say this, Fluttershy."

"Hm?" She stared at the cyan pegasus in confusion, wondering what Rainbow Dash had in mind.

"When you confront Sin, it's best not to worry about anything else until it's truly dead. It's kind of like putting all my focus into a blitzball game." Rainbow hovered around as she began to explain her simile. "You can't think, 'Hey, look at that stud watching me play fifth seat from the right!' And you can't think about trying to ask that colt out on a night out on the town and freak out about what his personality would really be, because then you'll lose that focus and miss the shot, or lose the game. Know what I mean?" Fluttershy nodded, understanding what she meant. "...Well, unless stallions aren't your thing, then maybe that's not what your mind is going through and you think of mares. N-Not that I'm saying I'm into mares or anything! I mean...I-"

"I get it, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy giggled as Rainbow Dash blushed as she dug herself a hole with her sexual preferences.

"R-Right..." She chastised herself, feeling like a blabbering idiot when she looked at Fluttershy, which only made her nerves worse with the sunset's light bathing the summoner in its glow. Taking a moment to calm herself while trying not to look into her different colored eyes, which seemed to shine at the angle she was hovering in, she finally found her voice. "But the big question is how you're supposed to stop Sin."

"The Final Summoning," Fluttershy said. "The goal of a summoner's pilgrimage is to receive the Final Aeon, where the Fayth awaits the summoner in the far north, the only aeon that can defeat Sin. That Fayth lies at the world's edge...in Zanarkand."

Rainbow's eyes widened, the last aeon Fluttershy would need was up in Zanarkand. "She means the ruins of a city that USED to be Zanarkand." The pegasus yelped in surprise as Rarity had somehow quietly snuck up on them. "You'll see for yourself when the time comes, Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy, let's go inside. It's getting late."

Fluttershy nodded, Rarity headed back to the building, where she looked up at Spike, who quickly leapt down and avoided her gaze, heading inside the travel agency. The two pegasi were left alone, though Rainbow Dash still didn't want to believe Zanarkand was really destroyed. "Well, we should get some sleep. Good night, Rainbow."

"Yeah. 'Night, Flutters..." The summoner headed inside and to her room, Rainbow trudging along after her.

"Smooth move, by the way," Rarity said, making the pegasus turn her head to face the older mare. "'Not that I'm saying I'm into mares?'"

"I'm not!" she exclaimed.

"Oh please," Rarity scoffed. "I've heard of your little flings as soon as you reached puberty back in Zanarkand." Rainbow's cheeks turned red, mostly in embarrassment, trying to hide it by glaring at the unicorn in anger. "I wouldn't get too close to her, Rainbow Dash."

"Why not?" the pegasus questioned.

"It's just a warning." Rarity headed inside for the rest of the evening, leaving Rainbow confused with her answer.

"How about you just tell me instead of being cryptic!?" Rainbow groaned in annoyance, forgetting about Rarity's idea on 'letting her find out everything on her own' and headed inside, feeling exhausted from today's shenanigans.

As the sun rose to signal the start of the day, Rainbow yawned tiredly as she walked out of her room, stretching her limbs awake. The others were already up, either outside or browsing through what the shop had to sell. Before the pegasus could exit the Al Bhed travel agency, she accidentally bumped into a blueish gray earth pony stallion with a lighter blueish-gray mane with pale gray stripes, wearing tinted sunglasses that covered his eyes.

"Byntuh sa," he said.

"Uhh...what?" Rainbow asked, having no clue what he said.

"Oh. Sorry," the stallion apologized. "I meant to say 'pardon me', but it came out in Al Bhed by mistake."

"You're Al Bhed?" The stallion nodded as he bowed.

"Indeed. I am Hoity Toity, owner of Hoity Toity's travel agencies around Spira. Hela du saad oui." Unfortunately, Rainbow had no clue what he said, only understanding that "oui" meant "you". "That means 'Nice to meet you.'"

"Oh! Well, helly doo sad wee to you too!" The pegasus seemed a little proud to actually say a sentence in another language, but Hoity Toity didn't seem impressed.

"...Close enough. Here, if you wish to learn about our language, more fluently, you can have these." Hoity gave Rainbow Dash a few small books, each of them a book on learning how to speak Al Bhed. "It's a fun experience to learn several languages, understanding our culture and even understand what we say."

"Yeah...Kinda sucks that the Al Bhed aren't liked much," Rainbow said, pitying the ponies prejudiced by others because of their lineage and using machina.

"Ed ec y crysa," Hoity sighed.

"AHH! Somepony help! It's here!" somepony outside screamed in terror.

"Everypony, outside!" Rarity said to Rainbow, Twilight, and Applejack.

They quickly met up with the rest of the party outside near the ranch. Everyone present heard a loud roar come up from the top of the shop along with the frightened "kweh" of a chocobo. Looking in the sound's direction, everyone gasped as they saw a large fiend with long arms and a large maw with two tongues. In one of its hands was a chocobo, trying to escape out of its grip.

"What the hay is THAT!?" Rainbow shouted.

"A Chocobo Eater!" She didn't need much more information on the fiend, its name explaining for it.

Saving the poor bird, Applejack threw her blitzball at its face, making it drop its breakfast and leaping down at the party. Both sides had their backs toward cliffs, the fiend's back facing the cliffside looking out at the ocean, while the ponies and dragon were close to a lower road of Mi'ihen that had sealed off a second pathway.

They were ready to fight the Chocobo Eater, but Fluttershy seemed deadly serious. "How...dare you..." Confused, Rainbow looked at the summoner, the others slowly backing away from her. "You...actually eat...innocent, cute little chocobos!?" The fiend grunted in confusion, watching the puny yellow pegasus begin to approach it, her mane blocking her face. "You...will not...eat...ANY OF THEM!!!!!!!!"

"Oh no," Twilight said in fear, giving the mare some distance. "Rainbow Dash, back up."

"W-Why?" She got her answer as the summoner screeched in fury, ramming into the fiend's abdomen and knocking it on its back. "W-What the hay!?"

Fluttershy began spanking the fiend's backside with her staff, making it yelp in pain as it began to sport red welts from the metal symbol on the end. Each hard smack echoed along with the Chocobo Eater's cries of pain, sending the fiend skidding along the ground every few inches. Giving one last grunt, the pegasus smacked it one last time, sending it sliding back over the cliffside. It hovered in the air for a moment, making grunting noises that sounded like it said "uh-oh", then screeching to its death as it fell into the sea, drowning to death as spirits flew out from the water.

She turned around, instantly back to her calm, chipper self. "The chocobos are saved!" she announced, the chocobos in the ranch the only ones rejoicing as they all surrounded the pegasus, giving her their thanks for saving them from their predator.

Everypony else was quite stunned, even Spike lost his stoic expression. "...Well, now you know why. Mess with animals she adores, she turns into a 'fiend' to save them."

Rainbow was speechless, her mouth dropping to the ground as her wings flared out from her sides. Hoity Toity approached his store/inn's savior, applauding her bravery.

"Thank you so much for saving my chocobos, miss! Quite a feat for one such as yourself," he said. "How can I ever repay you?"

"...Well, there is one thing, if it's ok with you," Fluttershy said, petting one of the chocobos. Next Chapter: Chapter 18: Applejack's Rage Estimated time remaining: 9 Hours, 30 Minutes