Fluttershy had finished performing the sending, the spirits of the departed Crusaders and Al Bhed brought to the Farplane as their bodies rested on the shore. Again, Rainbow Dash had to see the pegasus dance, and again, she hated seeing her being so graceful to ease the souls who had died. So many lives have already been lost in a span of a week, and many more will keep dying, which means Fluttershy would keep dancing.

While taking this moment to relax after another run in with Sin, Applejack paid her respects to the Crusaders, even if they had thought using machina would have been a good idea. She walked back to Twilight, who was awake after her fainting spell from unleashing so much magical power on the Sinspawn. She sat next to her as Mog and Smarty Pants grew cautious around her.

"...Ya alright, Twi?" Twilight didn't answer, looking down at her dolls. "...Ah ain't mad at ya, Twilight."

"Yes you are," she mumbled.

"...Ok, maybe a little...but Ah know ya didn't want me to know because of how mad Ah got." Applejack took off her hat, looking down at the worn out headgear. "Mah brother was the only family Ah had...We lost our parents when we were little, when Sin came to Besaid...Ah don't know how we both survived that day...

"Then, when ya came around a few years ago, everythin' changed...for all three of us. Ya didn't like me that much, but ya had a thing for Big Mac." The earth pony began to chuckle as she reminisced. "It was kinda funny when Smarty Pants tried to give ya signs to kiss him. Not a very social pony, and it surely showed." She didn't get any reaction from Twilight, sighing sadly. "Ya never really talked about your life much, always readin' your books. And when ya don't have pages pressed against your nose, ya always wanted to be around him.

"Ah know I shouldn't pry, and Ah won't, but Ah want to know more about ya aside from ya bein' smart and, apparently, more powerful with magic than Ah thought." Twilight still looked down at the ground. "Ya can tell me anythin', sugarcube...We were gonna be family, and Ah considered ya a sister even before ya got hitched with Big Mac..."

"...I know..." She finally looked up at Applejack, an apologetic look in her eyes. "But...I can't tell you...It's...too painful..."

"...Ah understand." Applejack stood back up, putting her stetson back on. "If ya'll are ready, Ah'll listen. We're still friends?"

"...Yeah." Twilight got up as well. "I have no choice since we're Fluttershy's guardians," she said, giving the ex-blitzball captain a grin.

The two laughed, their friendship slowly mending back together. Though, as one pair of friends were still together, another old pair weren't any closer than they were moments ago.

"Are you happy, Sapphire?" Rarity asked the maester. "Those faithful to Faust still live, while those who betrayed her teachings are dead. And you weren't one of them, running away like a coward."

"It's called a tactical retreat," Sapphire argued. "There's a difference."

"It still means the same thing; running away." Rarity huffed as she turned away from her old friend, Sapphire not showing any remorse for the ponies who died as she headed off down the road.

As Rarity walked down to the shore to meet up with Rainbow Dash, Blueblood stood with Fluttershy, sensing her trepidation from the events that had transpired today. "Are you well, Lady Fluttershy?"

"N-No...I wish I could have done something to stop Sin," she said.

"I know. But do not lose faith, m'lady," Blueblood said, gently taking her hoof in his. "Everypony in Spira is counting on you, relying heavily on your strength to defeat Sin. You are Spira's hope. Do you understand?" The pegasus nodded. "Do not be afraid, Lady Fluttershy...Allow me to be your pillar of strength. Just as Celestia had with her sister, Luna."

The Guado bowed and gently kissed Fluttershy's hoof, leaving her as he hurried after Sapphire Shores before she got too far. Rainbow had watched them, sneering as Blueblood's lips touched the young summoner's hoof. Even if he had helped save her and everypony else from the Sinspawn, she still didn't trust him.

"Jealous?" Rarity asked.

"Shut up." She hoped they don't see Blueblood again."...You were right, Rarity. I did feel my dad inside Sin. Why is he doing this?"

"He is showing you what Sin does," the unicorn answered. "He wants you to kill him, to stop Sin before he can kill anymore."

"I didn't need to know that after Zanarkand and Kilika. How do you even know about all of this anyway?" Rarity said nothing as she walked back to the group. "Hey! Stop running away from me when I want answers!"

"I'm not the one running, Rainbow Dash." The pegasus groaned, hating how cryptic Rarity always was when she speaks.

After paying their respects to the fallen ponies, the group continued on their pilgrimage, the Djose Temple not too far away. Rainbow Dash fell behind the group, so many thoughts going through her head. It was bad enough that she's seen so much death, but hearing from Rarity that Jet Stream wanted her to kill him, as Sin, was odd. Fluttershy's words to her earlier, saying ponies can change, she still didn't want to believe that her father actually had a heart. But that painful feeling in her heart when she saw that memory as she fell unconscious; it still bugged her.

Sighing, she didn't realize where she was going, bumping into Spike. He looked down at her, the same stoic expression on his face, with those same reptilian eyes looked at her like a rival he wished he never knew. Being so quiet, he never expresses himself at all.

"You know, Spike, I don't know how you deal with all this," she said, knowing she won't expect an answer. "I don't know why Fluttershy wants us to be happy when so much has been going on. Sin comes and goes, he kills without leaving many survivors, and everypony's still miserable once a summoner beats him. Even I know she has to have her limits on the dread going on here."

"...When dark times come, somepony has to be the shining light," Spike said, sounding not as gruff as he looked, almost like a teenage male who had reached adulthood. "Fluttershy tries her hardest to do what she believes is right, and if we begin to worry, she'll keep trying harder and harder until she grows weary."

"Yeah...After dealing with that Chocobo Eater thing, she won't be going do-" Rainbow blanched, having just now noticed that Spike was ACTUALLY talking to her. "Whoa! You actually talk!?"

"Yes," the dragon said.

"...I-I thought you were mute or something! And now you're talking...to me...Why now?" she asked, growing more confused and curious.

"I keep my thoughts to myself, unlike you." Spike crossed his arms as he said that, leering at the pegasus.

"And your reason for attacking me in Besaid?" Rainbow questioned.

"One; I wanted to see how well you are in combat. You failed, by the way." She scoffed, staring at Spike with a deadpanned expression. "Two; you did deserve that for breaking the rules."

"Urgh. Can you please stop reminding me!? I know I screwed up! I got enough of a lecture from Twilight!" Spike snickered as he laughed at the pegasus's anger.

"We're going to keep reminding you, now that you're considered a guardian." The two continued walking down the road as the others noticed them falling behind, letting them catch up.

"So, I noticed those two dragons back in Luca that were messing with you had wings," Rainbow said. "...Are you gonna grow yours at any time?"

"I did have wings, when I was born," Spike grumbled, pointing at his back. "They were hacked off by Garble, that skinny red one that started the fight."

"What!? Why would he do that!?" Rainbow shouted, unable to believe the nerve of Garble.

"I deserved it." Rainbow gasped in shock. "I acted out of line, he tossed me over a cliff on Mt. Gagazet, where my kind lives, and I had to climb back up to prove I'm not as weak as he thought I was...He and Clubba are considered the strongest in the tribe, and I was sick of him making fun of my size over ten years ago. I fought him, lost and humiliated to be called a dragon, and was deemed banished by my home."

"...Then, you became Fluttershy's guardian?" Spike nodded. "...But, why?"

"...There was a mare I met when I was climbing up that mountain back then. There was a harsh blizzard that day, so I couldn't see her face that well...She died, her last words were 'Protect Lord Kindred Heart's daughter.'" The dragon looked up at the sky, the memory vague in his mind as he was pretty young, and the pain from having his wings cut off along with the harsh blizzard didn't help him remember it clearly. "With nothing I could do and considered an exile, I found Fluttershy, and I've been her guardian ever since."

"Hmm...So you became her guardian because of some random traveler who was dying...Fate must really suck, huh?" Spike only shrugged, catching up with the others as they continued on their way to the Djose Temple.

Along the way, they saw a few surviving Crusaders, some of them greatly injured or helping those critically injured to the temple to be given medical attention. A couple of them seemed to look insane, Sin's toxin affecting them in some way. At least Twilight wasn't giving Rainbow Dash anymore lashing with her mental health deteriorating from it anymore. They soon reached a fork in the road, after taking care of some fiends that crossed their path, one way leading to the temple while the other continued the rest of their journey.

"So, how much longer until we reach Zanarkand?" Rainbow asked, Twilight pulling out a map of the world for the pegasus.

"It's still a long way away." She pointed out each location, along with where they were now with her magic. "We're stopping here at Djose for Fluttershy's next aeon, then we cross the Moonflow to Guadosalam, the Guado city, then past the Thunder Plains to Macalania."

Rainbow groaned as she saw how big the world of Spira was, and how far each location was. "And we can't skip anything because the other aeons are needed for the Final Aeon, right?" Everyone nodded, making her droop her head. "Great! I love waiting and walking for miles to wait some more!"

"I think you're doing fine, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said, hoping to ease the impatient pegasus's mind.

As they headed down to Djose, Rarity stopped Rainbow Dash as she held her back with her magic. "Hold on a second, newbie."

"What do you want, Rarity?" Rainbow turned around to face the older unicorn.

"I'm making sure you heeded my warning, keeping Jet Stream as Sin a secret," she said, making the pegasus roll her eyes. "I don't want you to tell Fluttershy about this especially. He was like an uncle to her."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm not that stupid to reveal something that will make anyone freak out," Rainbow said in annoyance. "...Actually, why tell me?"

"Better to know something now than at a critical moment and get emotional." The pegasus growled as she glared at the unicorn.

"Get emotional? Seriously?" she questioned.

"I heard you were quite a crybaby, Dashie." Rarity chuckled as she walked down the road to the temple, catching up with the others.

"I did not cry!" Rainbow half expected that same annoying kid to show up out of nowhere like he always seemed to the past few days, but didn't as she ran after Rarity.

On the bridges leading to the temple, they caught sight of Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot, but with only one of the chocobos that were with them from earlier. "Lady Summoner, we're happy to see you're ok," Spitfire said as they saluted to the group. "We managed to escape with our lives...but we lost all of our chocobos except for this big guy."

The chocobo let out a sad "kweh", making Fluttershy tear up at the horrible news. "Without chocobos, we're not considered the Chocobo Knights," Soarin said as he petted the avian's neck. "We deserve this after going back on Faust's teachings."

"Once we rest up, we're going to see if we can get some more chocobo from the Calm Lands," Fleetfoot sighed. "It's gonna be a long trip on hoof. We don't want to leave him behind on his own."

Wishing the Chocobo Knights luck on their safe journey, they continued on their way to the temple, the ground suddenly beginning to quake. But as they reached what looked like there was a temple, all Rainbow Dash saw was nothing but the dead end of the cliffs. The ground began to shake more and, to the pegasus's surprise, the rocks attached to the temple break off the building and began to orbit it via an electrical core in the center of the roof.

"Whoa! That is awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"The Lightning Mushroom Rock is active," Twilight said. "That means a summoner's already praying to the fayth."

"Another summoner? It better not be Trixie. I do not want to run into her again." Rainbow would do anything, even do the Faust prayer a thousand times if it meant not running into that third-pony speaking unicorn and her steroid injected guardian.

They walked inside the temple, electricity sparking in the air along with a large family of small monkeys roaming around the temple as their home. As soon as Fluttershy walked in, they all ran up to her, chittering around as they climbed all over her, making her giggle as they already took a liking to her. They didn't have to wait much longer as the summoner finished praying to the fayth and exited the Cloister of Trials. Three ponies walked out, one a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane, an elegant blue moustache on his upper lip, a white unicorn mare with a light magenta mane with white streaks, and a white earth pony colt with light brown spots on his body, his mane a dark brown.

"Hmm? I say, is that who I think it is?" The stallion pulled out a monocle from his robe, using it to better see. "Ah. High Summoner Kindred Heart's daughter, in the flesh!" The three walked down the steps, the colt bouncing down as he stood next to them. "I have heard of your father's achievements ten years ago. I wish I had met him. Allow me to introduce ourselves.

"I am Fancy Pants, a summoner just like yourself," Fancy bowed as he introduced himself. "And this is my family, as well as my 'guardians', though I don't wish to put them in too much danger. This is my lovely wife, Fleur Dis Lee, and our adoptive son, Pipsqueak."

"Hello, Lady Fluttershy!" Pipsqueak greeted, the tiny colt bouncing in excitement.

"Ever since your father had defeated Sin, he had inspired me to do something to help Spira and become high summoner like himself." Fleur nodded as Fancy spoke. "I believe you might uphold Lord Kindred Heart's legacy, seeing a glint of his potential in you."

"I-I don't think I'm that talented," Fluttershy said modestly. "I mean, I only just started out as a summoner not too long ago."

"Of course, but you are progressing faster than any other before you. I wish you all luck with your pilgrimage, Lady Fluttershy." The family bowed as Fluttershy and her guardians made their way up the stairs to enter the Cloister of Trials. Rainbow Dash walked up last, only to be stopped by Fancy Pants, garnering her attention. "Excuse me, miss?"

"Ugh. I am a guardian. I'm not breaking any taboo laws or anything," the pegasus groaned, fearing she was going to be scolded.

"No no, I was not going to say anything like that. I can see serious guardian strength in your eyes." Fancy looked behind him, seeing Fleur and Pipsqueak were about to leave the temple. "On a serious note, miss, I've been hearing rumors about summoners disappearing on their pilgrimage around this road as of late. Just a little precaution before venturing further, eh?"

"...Alright. Thanks. I'll be sure to tell the others." Fancy bid Rainbow Dash farewell, giving her the Faust bow as he hurried to join his family to continue their pilgrimage. "Disappearing summoners...This isn't gonna be good." Next Chapter: Chapter 21: Djose Temple Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 51 Minutes