After receiving some forewarning from Fancy Pants, a summoner Rainbow Dash actually liked that wasn't as arrogant as Trixie, she headed into the Cloister of Trials. At least this time, she was allowed inside now she was an official guardian, and she didn't have to go through these confusing puzzles on her own.

"Ok, finally gonna get through this without being on my own." She caught up with the others, all of them looking at her. "Uhh, sorry I fell behind. Fancy Pants wanted to talk to me about something. So, how are we going through this?"

"...We all came to an agreement," Rarity said. "Due to you breaking the rules, we thought it would be a fitting punishment for you to complete the rest of the temples' Cloister of Trials on your own."

"WHAT!? That's not fair!" Rainbow complained. "I thought we were all going to solve this thing together!"

"Sorry, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy apologized.

"...Urgh...I should have stayed outside..." The pegasus grumbled, having no choice but to solve the trial while being watched by her superiors.

She finally took a look at the first room, which was a simple one: one door blocking the way with two recesses for spheres, and two of those spheres are on opposite ends of the room, glowing a bright blue as they sparked with electricity. Lines underneath where they were placed glowed and went underneath the door, no idea where they ended up. Taking the Djose spheres, Rainbow placed them in the door and opened it up.

Up ahead, there was a mobile pedestal in the center of a symbol, two parts of it glowing brightly. As everyone picked a spot in the central part of the room to watch the pegasus suffer for her crimes, she continued trying to solve this temple's puzzles, and it was going to be a lot more complicated than Kilika's. In the room, the pedestal had a Djose sphere on it, there was one on the wall that sparked power to one of the glowing parts of the symbol, another on the other side that connected to a wall, and two more recesses that connected to a pedestal stuck to the ceiling, a glyph sphere connected on the pathway to power it.

Scratching her head in thought, she figured there had to be something about the spheres and that pedestal. Leaving the sphere on the grounded pedestal alone, she took the others and put them in the wall that connected to the device, which she could swear is almost like a complicated machina. After placing them in, she pushed the pedestal underneath where it was supposed to be placed. An overwhelming green bolt of lightning shot down and struck the sphere, powering it up.

Taking this newly upgraded sphere, she wondered where it should be placed. Rainbow did notice a symbol for the temple had shown up on the wall when the other sphere was inside it. Curious, she placed this powered sphere in that same indent, making the wall rise up to reveal a smaller room. Inside it was a sphere placed in a movable podium across a pit of electricity. Unfortunately, the room was so narrow, it wold be impossible for the pegasus to fly over.

Moving the pedestal back in the center of the room, she tried to see if she could use it like a platform to get across, but it fell right into the pit. "Ok, that didn't work. How am I supposed to get it back?"

The others said nothing as they watched in amusement, Fluttershy giving subtle hints toward the small stairway on the left side of the room. Rainbow did take those hints, noticing seeing these sparkling glyphs in the previous temples. She never knew what they did, but she decided to try and find out. As soon as she stepped on it, the room flashed white for a moment, then her vision went back to normal. When she looked back, the pedestal was back in the center of the room.

Now that her makeshift platform has returned, she tried to figure out how to reach that other side. Knowing that the Djose spheres were sparked with electricity, they might have some way to reflect the electricity sparking in the pit to create some kind of magnetic force. Putting her theory to the test, she grabbed the spheres and placed them on both sides of the pedestal, finding it irritating she could only pick up one sphere at a time. After putting them in their new home, she pushed it into the pit, and just as she guessed, it rose right back up and hovered in the air, held in place by the flowing energy sparking around it.

Leaping over to the other side, she pushed the sphere into the wall, making it spark to life as the line it connected to lit up the center eye of the symbol on the floor.Jumping back over, she brought the pedestal back up and closed the wall leading to the previous room, taking the super sphere and putting it in the other wall. Now, the only thing left that wasn't glowing were the wings of the strange symbol, though Rainbow didn't see any other recesses that connected to the remaining two parts.

It took a moment for her to figure out what to do, remembering that the indents in the previous room seemed to have lead in the central room of the Cloister of Trials. Having no other available solutions, she grabbed one of the Djose spheres and headed back to the first room. Placing it in one of the recesses, the electricity flowed down the hallway and lit up one of the wings. Groaning at the constant backtracking she had to do, she grabbed the last sphere and put it in the last indention, fully lighting up the symbol and created a lift, the pedestal sinking into the ground as the platform appeared.

"Urgh. Finally!" The group walked onto the lift as it carried them up to the upper floor. Thinking they were done, Rainbow groaned as she saw five more pushable podiums that each lead up to a ring above the floor. "Oh come on. How much more is left!?"

Grumbling, none of the others assisting because this was still considered her punishment, she walked over and pushed all five of them into the wall. Electricity sparked down at the floor, lighting up a path to one of the walls, revealing the stairs that lead to the Chamber of the Fayth. Rainbow trudged behind the others and walked up the stairs, the guardians picking a spot in the room to wait while Fluttershy prayed to the door, opening up for her and giving her access to pray to the fayth inside.

"Well, that was an easy trial we passed," Twilight said in spite of Rainbow's transgressions earlier in the week.

"Yeah, cause I did all the work," the pegasus said, disgruntled at her "teammates". Now, they began to wait, and after only a few minutes, Rainbow Dash was bored. The others waited patiently, Spike guarding the door to the fayth, Twilight with her books, along with Mog and Smarty Pants to keep her company, Rarity and Applejack resting against the walls in the room. Every agonizing minute, the impatient pegasus twitched and fidgeted in her spot. "I'm bored."

"It's only been a few minutes, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, not looking up from her book. "This takes time."

"Like a whole day!? I can't wait that long!" Rainbow groaned as she sat upside down, her back against the wall as she stared at the others. "I'd rather keep solving the Cloister of Trials's puzzles than sit here and do nothing! Fluttershy, hurry up in there!"

Applejack kicked her blitzball hard at the pegasus's abdomen, making her wheeze as it struck her chest. "Ya can't interrupt her, sugarcube. This all takes patience, and Fluttershy needs all the concentration she needs."

Flopping onto her stomach as she coughed, both from the landing and the ball knocking the wind out of her, the pegasus sat back up and sulked. After half an hour, a pair of ponies Rainbow didn't wish to see walked into the room, Trixie and Bulk Biceps.

"Oh, what do we have here?" the unicorn summoner said as she observed the waiting guardians. "Still traveling with Kindred Heart's daughter's guardians, or did you try to sneak in again?"

"Oh great. You again. In case you don't know, Trixie, I'm an actual guardian this time," Rainbow said.

"Good for you. Trixie does not care." Trixie turned to Bulk Biceps, only to see him staring aghast at Rarity. "Bulk! What are you doing!?"

"Y-Y-You...You're Lady Rarity, are you not?" the buff pegasus stallion said, almost hopeful.

"Indeed I am," the guardian said.

"...C-Can I...shake your hoof?" Bulk asked. "It is an honor to meet you personally, and I was inspired by your heroism to become a guardian."

"...Oh, why not?" The stallion nearly squealed with delight, taking out a clean handkerchief to wipe his hoof, almost as if it was a sin to make contact with his idol.

"Ugh. Bumbling oaf," Trixie mumbled as the two shook hooves. Bulk Biceps acted like a colt, vowing never to wash his hoof ever again. After waiting several more minutes, Fluttershy finally walked out of the chamber in exhaustion, Spike catching her just as she nearly collapsed. "You are such a frail pegasus. Having several guardians to protect you, including your father's guardian, just to keep you safe? No wonder Maester Blueblood has quite an affection for you. You're too easy to please, just from your presence alone."

"Hey, back off, Trixie!" Rainbow growled, getting in the unicorn's face.

"And you have your bodyguards defend you as well." Trixie shoved Rainbow Dash out of the way and walked past the weakened pegasus summoner. "Try standing on your own four legs for once! They can't protect you forever."

Trixie walked inside the Chamber of the Fayth as Fluttershy's guardians leered at the unicorn as the doors closed shut. "How do you deal with a summoner like her, Bulk?"

"I tune her out," he simply said. The stallion looked down at his hoof, acting all giddy. "I can't believe I have met with, talked to, and shook the hoof of the greatest guardian ever! So lucky!"

"Or you do something weird like that," Rainbow muttered.

The next day, Rainbow woke up in the inn next to the temple. Many of the Crusaders that were brought here for treatment had left to head back to their homes, not welcomed near the temple because of their blasphemous use of machina the previous day. Some, unfortunately, succumbed to the worst of their injuries and had passed away, sent by Fluttershy once she had recovered from praying. At least she didn't see the summoner dance again, but the memory of watching it firsthoof was still burned in her mind.

She walked outside, breathing in some fresh air. When she looked at the temple, she spotted Vinyl Scratch leaning against the wall, her eyes bloodshot and baggy. After what had happened yesterday, she must have been a total wreck after her friend had died. She did see her last night in the very same spot before heading to bed, sobbing uncontrolably with a bottle of liquor next to her. That same bottle laid next to her, empty.

"Hey, Vinyl." The unicorn looked up, saying nothing as Rainbow approached her. "...You alright?"

"...No...'Tavi's gone..." Vinyl lifted up the empty bottle, tipping it over, no liquid pouring out of it, having been drunk dry. "I should have gone down there...I should have fought with her...We both could have died."

"Stop thinking like that!" Rainbow shouted, smacking the empty bottle away from the Crusader. "You're still alive, and Octavia wouldn't want you to think like that! What happened, happened...I'm sure she would want you to move on, not think about committing suicide because of your regrets..."

The depressed unicorn looked down at her hooves as the pegasus's words rang in her hungover head. "...You're right...She wouldn't want me to think anything that stupid..." Vinyl stood up, clutching her head at the small migraine beginning to pound her skull. "I think I'm gonna go back to Besaid...take a long, long vacation...Good luck on your pilgrimage."

"Same to you getting back to Besaid in one piece." Rainbow left the unicorn to herself, meeting up with Rarity, Spike, Twilight, and Applejack outside the temple. Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen as the cyan pegasus wondered where she was. "Hey, where'd Fluttershy go?"

"She must still be inside the temple. Rainbow, can you get her so we can reach Guadosalam before evening comes around?" Twilight asked, Rainbow nodding as she headed inside.

She asked around the temple to find Fluttershy, the priests and nuns pointing to one of the side rooms inside. As Rainbow walked in, she found the summoner sleeping in the bed, her outfit folded neatly on a nearby dresser, several of those little monkeys sleeping next to her on the bed. She must have been exhausted last night after healing the Crusaders' injuries and sending those that had died in the temple. It was kind of funny to see all the monkeys huddled up to the sleeping pegasus as if she was one of their own.

Before she could even try to wake the mare up, Rainbow had frozen in place as she kept staring at Fluttershy. This was the first time she had ever seen the summoner without her dress on, and she couldn't help but blush. She was pretty skinny as a pegasus, but that didn't make her seem weak, especially after seeing her wail on the Chocobo Eater when it was clearly stronger than anypony else. She even caught sight of her cutie mark that was hidden under her clothing, a trio of pink butterflies, which explained why she loved animals that much.

Quickly shaking her head, getting rid of the dirty thoughts running through her mind as she was already ogling her like a creepy stalker, and the mare was asleep, which made it even more awkward. Smacking her cheeks to snap her back into focus, she began to wake Fluttershy up, only she didn't have to as the pegasus stirred awake. She sat up, the monkeys waking up along with her, letting out a yawn as she rubbed her eyes, her mane a frazzled mess and sticking out of place.

"Morning, Fluttershy," Rainbow said.

"Hmm? Morning?" Fluttershy gasped as she was now wide awake. "It's morning!? Oh my! I slept in!" She flailed out of bed, the monkeys skittering about as she fell out, quickly getting up and running around the room. "I-I'll be ready in a second!"

"Flutters, we don't-" The summoner didn't listen as she struggled to put her outfit back on, gathering her belongings in a frenzied panic. Leaving her to get herself ready, she headed outside to the others. "She'll be out in a sec."

Exactly a second later, Fluttershy barged out of the temple, her mane more of a mess than when she woke up, stumbling over her hooves as she ran to her guardians. "I'm so sorry! I was so tired, and I slept in!"

"We're not in any rush, Fluttershy, though we might be delayed because of your hair." Twilight giggled as Mog and Smarty Pants leapt up on the summoner's back, messing with her mane.

"Did ya let them little critters in the temple give ya a makeover, sugarcube? That mane won't do for a summoner!" Everypony soon began laughing as they poked fun at Fluttershy.

"Why didn't anypony wake me?" she asked.

"You're a really heavy sleeper," Rainbow said, not wanting to let Fluttershy know she was watching her sleep for a few minutes before waking up.

"Darling, this won't do at all," Rarity said with a giggle. "Once we fix up that ratty bedhead of yours, we'll head off."

They all laughed again as Fluttershy scrunched her face in confusion. "Why is everypony picking on me today?" Next Chapter: Chapter 22: Ze Shoopuf Dishashter Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 39 Minutes