"La la-la-la la la-la la la laaa," Fluttershy sang as she rode on the back of a chocobo as they continued further down Mi'ihen.

The pegasus requested to rent a chocobo for free for the remainder of their travel down the highroad, which Hoity Toity gladly accepted to repay her for saving his corral of rental mounts. Oddly enough, the chocobo sang along with her as the two sang a very catchy an addictive tune. There wasn't much of the highroad left for them to cross as they were approaching a checkpoint between Mi'ihen and Mushroom Rock Road. They caught sight of Vinyl and Octavia walking through with their wagon, other Crusaders blocking the route after they passed. Having had her fun riding on a chocobo, Fluttershy climbed off the avian, giving it one last nuzzle as it headed back to the corral at Hoity Toity's Travel Agency.

The party tried to pass, but the guards stopped them from going any further. "Lady Fluttershy, forgive us, but we can't let you continue further. Operation Mi'ihen is going to commence at any moment."

"It's for your own safety," the other guard said.

Unable to get by, they had no choice but to wait. As luck would have it, or to Rainbow Dash, bad luck, Blueblood came cantering down the highroad with two Guado guards. The guards didn't have horns though, which was quite odd. The others, excluding the suspicious pegasus, silent dragon, and Rarity, gave him the Faust bow, as Rainbow decided to call it after a week of seeing that annoying prayer so many times, the maester bowing back to them.

"Lady Fluttershy," Blueblood said. "We meet again, as if fate wanted us to be together." Rainbow stifled her groan, not liking the way he was eyeing the young summoner. "You seem a little troubled."

"Y-Yes, Maester Blueblood," Fluttershy stammered.

Without needing to explain their predicament, Blueblood understood. "I see. Wait right here."

The Guado approached the Crusader guards, saluting to him. "Maester Blueblood. I'll show you to the command center."

"Hold, please," the Guado maester said, holding up a hoof. "I have a request to make. I would like Summoner Fluttershy and her guardians to pass and join me at the command center." The two guards seemed to worry, shocked at the maester's request. "I shall take full responsibility for their safety if any of them are harmed."

"...Y-Yes, Maester Blueblood." Following his orders, they allowed them to pass.

The stallion looked back at Fluttershy, giving her a wink, then continued onto Mushroom Rock Road. "That stallion's freaking weird," Rainbow muttered as she followed the others through the checkpoint.

As they walked down the next area, the land was pretty grim, the whole landscape a large rocky canyon. The were some that seemed to actually be shaped like a mushroom, as the name of the road implied. Many Crusaders, even the Chocobo Knights, were busy at work to put Operation Mi'ihen into effect. They noticed Blueblood approaching, all of them ceasing their duties as they saluted to the maester.

"Brave Crusaders of Spira, your deeds shall be witnessed on this day for your courage under Faust's guidance! Believe in the path you have chosen, and let your strength guide you on your mission!" The Crusaders saluted to the stallion again, then carried on with their assigned duties.

"Why is he goin' along with the Crusaders?" Applejack asked, feeling conflicted at the maester's acceptance to the operation. "They're gonna use Al Bhed machina! That's disobeyin' the teaching's we've been followin'!"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" The ex-blitzball captain looked up as Rarity asked, freezing up as the Guado approached them.

"I assume you had little trouble making it through?" he asked. His attention was soon turned to Rarity, who leered at the stallion underneath her sunglasses. "Ah. Lady Rarity. An honor to meet you personally. You seem to have disappeared and haven't been known in over ten years. I am interested to know what had happened to you."

"No comment," Rarity huffed, walking past him and smacking him in the face with her tail.

"...Touchy." Blueblood wasn't deterred by the smack as he looked back at the others. "Yet, she is a legendary guardian. You are quite lucky, Fluttershy."

"Umm...Excuse me, your lordship," Applejack said, getting Blueblood's attention. Twilight facehooved, along with Mog and Smarty Pants, watching the earth pony make a fool of herself. "W-Why exactly...are ya present here...presently...in our...presence?"

"Please, speak to me like you would anypony else." Rainbow would gladly say a few words against this stallion, especially with his random ogling at Fluttershy like a creepy stalker.

"R-Right." Applejack took a deep breath, trying not to look angry. "Uhh, this operation is usin' machina, and it goes against what we've been taught in the temples. Shouldn't ya stop them?"

"...True. I should. However, the Crusaders, and even the Al Bhed supplying the machina only wish for peace in Spira." His answer did not help ease the mare's concerns, making her faith in the teachings feel worthless in this moment. "I know Operation Mi'ihen is sacrilegious to Faust's teachings, but all of their intentions for this mission are completely pure. As Blueblood Guado, the stallion, not the maester, want to wish them luck with their endeaver."

"B-But the machina are illegal! They're never supposed to be used because Sin destroys any town that uses them!" Applejack argued, hoping to get him to change his mind.

"Pretend you didn't see them." Fluttershy, Twilight, and Applejack gasped in shock, unable to believe their ears.

"M-Maester Blueblood, that ain't somethin' ya'll should say!" Applejack exclaimed.

"Then pretend I didn't say that." Blueblood walked off, leaving behind the utterly horrified mares as they watched him leave.

Applejack's hat slowly slid off her head, floating next to her hooves as her face turned pale. "...Ah think Ah'm gonna be sick."

With the road leading to Djose blocked for the time being because of Operation Mi'ihen, the group of six made their way down the left path, where the operation's command center was set up. More fiends inhabited the other pathway, the most annoying of monsters Rainbow had ever fought were the Funguar, red mushrooms that spewed out pollen that put anyone that attacks it physically to sleep. She found out the hard way as she rushed at it without heeding Twilight's warning on the commonly encountered fiend, passing out as she inhaled the spores it expelled as soon as she slashed it with her weapon.

Aside from the annoying run ins with fiends, it was just a long and winding path up to the command center, rising up to certain levels of the canyon with odd glyphs on certain pieces of land, activating them to rise up like a pillar. They reached a lift that was made by the Al Bhed to rise up to a cliffside that overlooked the operation from above. Near said lift was Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody, the two mares arguing about something.

"Come on, 'Tavi! I can fight too! Just let me help!" Vinyl shouted.

"You are ordered to guard the command center, Vinyl," Octavia calmly said. "We have to listen to our superiors, especially you."

"Screw them! If we go down, we'll both go down fighting!" The gray earth pony kept her stern glare on the unicorn, Vinyl eventually giving up. "Fine then. Go ahead and die out there without me! See if I care!"

Vinyl ran to the lift, activating it and rising up to her post. "Vinyl..." As Octavia was about to head back down the path to her position for the operation, she saw Fluttershy and her guardians were here, heading for the lift. "So, they actually let you guys in?"

"Thank Blueblood for that," Rainbow said, earning a hard jab in the side from Twilight.

Applejack leered at the Crusader, stepping forward. "So, mind tellin' us why the Crusaders are fightin' in this stupid job? Aren't the machina enough to do the deed!?" she questioned, practically spitting out the word that caused Spira's millennium long suffering.

"The Crusaders are around in order to keep Sin at bay while the Al Bhed finish setting up the machina." Applejack growled, wanting to beat the gray earth pony mare to a pulp. She turned away and sulked, though Octavia seemed to look guilty about something. She took in a deep breath and sighed. "...Applejack...I might not be able to have another chance to tell you...It's about your brother, Big Mac."

"Octavia, don't tell her!" Twilight blurted out, only to quickly cover her mouth, looking at Applejack in fear.

"What?" The guardian looked at Twilight, then back at Octavia, Smarty Pants and Mog trembling in fear as they saw the rage in Applejack's eyes. "...What about mah brother?"

"...I was the one who convinced him to join the Crusaders." Applejack's pupils shrunk as Octavia lowered her head. She slowly looked at Twilight, tears welling up in her eyes as she looked away from her, unable to look at her friend. The orange earth pony panted heavily, her legs shaking with anger as she rubbed her head, knocking off hat as it fell to the ground. "I'm sorry, Applejack..."

The mare snapped, rushing at Octavia and punched her hard in the face, almost knocking her off the cliff with how far she flung her. Applejack was about to pummel the Crusader, but she was held back by Rainbow Dash and Spike, both the pegasus and dragon using all their strength to hold the enraged earth pony back.

"Applejack, don't! It's not worth it!" Rainbow said as she pushed her back.

"Ya got mah brother killed! Mah only family!" Applejack shouted, being pulled away by Spike, being forced to sit down while he held her down. "Big Mac was gonna propose to Twilight after we won the cup, and instead, he gets himself killed because ya'll convinced him to join the Crusaders!"

Octavia got back up on her hooves, rubbing her face as she felt the sting of the earth pony's hoof. "...I didn't know..." She looked up to Twilight, who was shocked to know Big Macintosh was going to propose to her at some point, which was startling news for Rainbow Dash to know. Now she knew how sensitive she was on the subject of Applejack's brother and their relationship. "But, you brother joined by his own will...I didn't force him, just telling him what could benefit for him if he joined; not only to protect his fiancee from Sin...but also his little sister."

Even though her brother had thought about her safety just as much as Twilight's, it didn't help quell her anger. Applejack looked at the lavender unicorn with a disappointed glare, her outburst earlier telling her she had found out before her. She no longer resisted under the dragon's hold, Spike letting go of her, though staying cautious if she was going to attack Octavia again.

"Twi?" she growled. "How long have ya known?"

"...Since we left Besaid..." Twilight sobbed as Fluttershy pulled her into a comforting embrace, Mog and Smarty Pants helping to console their owner.

"Twilight also hit me...with magic." The Crusader lifted her mane up, revealing a star shaped scorch mark on the back of her neck. "Still burns after the few days I got it."

"Attention all Crusaders!" Octavia looked up, spotting Fleetfoot from the Chocobo Knights flying over the path to alert everypony's attention. "Operation Mi'ihen is about to start soon! Crusaders in the vanguard report to the Djose Shore immediately!"

"...Guess it's time." Octavia began to head down Mushroom Rock Road to the beach, where they would hold Sin at bay until the Al Bhed finished their preparations.

Applejack watched her leave, her day today only getting worse and worse with each minute that had passed. It was bad enough that they had to rest at an Al Bhed shop yesterday, Maester Blueblood was practically breaking rules and allowing machina to be used to stop Sin, Al Bhed are assisted by the Crusaders to try and defeat Sin, and she just now found out her brother was enlisted in the Crusaders by Octavia, and felt betrayed as Twilight hid all this from her.

After Twilight had calmed down a little, Applejack grabbed her hat and placed it back on her head, the rim veiling her eyes as she glared at the ground. They got on the lift, the disgruntled earth pony staying far away from the lavender unicorn as much as possible. As they reached the top, they saw the bluff had several cannons facing out to the ocean, a large building out in the distance, a much larger cannon mounted on top of it. Growling, Applejack approached one of the nearby cannons, glaring at the metallic weapons of destruction.

"Consarn these stupid-!" Applejack bucked the cannon, immediately regretting it as it nearly broke her hind hooves. "AUGH! Why do they even exist!?"

"I know Applejack's pretty ticked off, but why exactly does she hate the machina?" Rainbow dared to ask.

"...Big Mac left the sword you're using behind...and he fought with an Al Bhed machina weapon," Twilight mumbled as she held her head low.

"That ain't it, Twilight!" Applejack shouted, wincing as she tried to walk after hurting her legs on the artillery weapon. "Ah hate these confounded things!"

Rainbow Dash pulled out her sword, or she should say Big Macintosh's sword. She stared at her reflection in the brilliant blue blade, feeling bad for both Applejack and Twilight. The former lost a brother, hating Al Bhed machina more as the stallion had used one in place of the blade she now holds, the latter lost a lover, along with somepony else in her life she doesn't wish to say. They were going to be sisters-in-law, but now their friendship was diminishing, the pain of their losses threatening to tear them apart.

The pegasus sighed, putting her sword away. "So much drama...How many lives are you going to destroy, dad?" she whispered to herself, following the others as they headed to where Blueblood awaited them to arrive, to her dismay. Next Chapter: Chapter 19: Operation Mi'ihen Estimated time remaining: 9 Hours, 20 Minutes