After entering Blueblood's manor, Tromell lead the party inside the great hall, where he left them to retrieve Blueblood. In the main entrance, there were several pictures of the previous lords of Guadosalam, even showing a smug portrait of Blueblood next to his father's Orion Guado. And just like the previous leaders, they all didn't have a horn. Twilight had mentioned that Orion had married a unicorn mare, hoping to bring the relationship between their two races together in peace, which was why Blueblood was a unicorn.

As they waited for their host to meet up with them, Pinkie indulged in the spread of food laid out for a possible banquet, or it was meant for them, they just weren't told it was. That didn't bother the mare as she helped herself to the variety of fruits and desserts, stuffing her face to her heart's content. The others were a little wary, wondering if they were in any trouble with the Maester, all except for Rarity and Rainbow Dash.

Finally, after several minutes, the Guado arrived with his loyal servant. "Welcome, Lady Fluttershy and her trusted guardians. I hope you are enjoying yourselves and helping yourself to this wonderful course my servants have made."

"Sure am!" Pinkie said, sliding a few pastries down her gullet.

"I hope this is quick, maester," Rarity said, keeping her eye on the stallion. "Fluttershy has an important task ahead of her, and we do not wish to stay for too long."

"Forgive me. It has been such a long time since I've had guests," Blueblood said as he bowed in apology. "Since my father's passing, it has grown too quiet. But, I wished to show you all something. Something that I'm sure you would all be surprised to see."

Blueblood stood before his guests, lighting his horn with magic. Soon, the dining hall began to change, Pinkie letting out a disappointed groan as the tables of food disappeared as the Guado used his magic to expand a sphere's simulation. What they saw next astounded everyone; it was an exact reconstruction of Zanarkand, Rainbow's home.

"No way. Zanarkand," Rainbow whispered as they all watched the city fly over them as they stood staring in awe.

"Indeed. Zanarkand as it was a thousand years ago, reconstructed from the deceased who once lived in this metropolis." The simulation began warping as they stood in the middle of thousands of ponies wandering about to different areas of the city, passing through the ponies and dragon. Fluttershy was very impressed, exactly how she imagined it when Jet Stream had told her about it. "Grand, isn't it?"

"It is..." The sim threw them out of the busy streets as they flew along a track used to travel to and from different sections of the massive city, which was almost nauseating to some of them.

"Even she once lived in this machina city," Blueblood said.

As they wondered who they were talking about, the sphere changed their location again, this time inside of a regal bedroom that overlooked the city. Sitting on the king size bed was a white unicorn mare with long pink hair, similar in color to Fluttershy's. She looked upset about something as she stared at her hooves.

"Lady Celestia," the summoner whispered.

"Yes. Lady Celestia, the first pony to defeat Sin." As they continued watching the scene before them, a blue pegasus mare with a light azure mane stepped through Fluttershy, seeming concerned as she looked at the unicorn. "When confronting Sin, she wasn't alone. Her only family, her younger sister, Luna, was there for her. In order to defeat Sin, it requires an unbreakable bond of love-whether it be the love between friends, family, or lovers. Without that bond, Sin would be unstoppable and would have destroyed all of Spira."

The two sisters hugged, as if it seemed like it would be the last time they would ever be together. As the scene played on, Blueblood stepped closer to Fluttershy as she watched Celestia and Luna. The stallion whispered something in her ear, making the young summoner's ears perk up and her face turn bright red. She looked up at him as he nodded, giving her a gentle smile.

As the sphere's recording had ended, they were all back in the dining hall. Fluttershy looked away and hyperventilated, quickly grabbing a glass of water and chugged it all down. Curious, Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie rushed up to her.

"Wow, Fluttershy! Your face is all red!" Pinkie suddenly gasped. "Did he give you a flu spell!? Are you burning up!?"

"...B-Blueblood...H-He," Fluttershy stammered, trying to find her voice as her cheeks would threaten to explode as her face grew more red. "...He...asked me...t-t-to...m-marry him!"

Everyone was shocked, but Rainbow Dash was absolutely furious. "WHAT!?" She flew up into the smug Guado's face. "Are you serious!? You don't even know her that well!"

"Blueblood," Rarity said, joining Rainbow Dash as she stepped closer to the stallion. "Fluttershy has a duty to uphold. You know that."

"Of course, but you see, this is more than just defeating Sin," Blueblood said. "All summoners have a task to bring peace to Spira, help to end the suffering for everypony, a leader to our salvation. I proposed to Lady Fluttershy as a Maester of Faust."

"This is not a game," Rarity interjected. "It may bring amusement to everypony who watches, but nothing changes."

"Yet the players must abide by the rules." He then bowed to Fluttershy, hiding her face behind her mane as she looked at him. "You don't have to answer me right this moment. Think it over. I gladly await your reply, m'lady."

"Gladly. Let's get out of here." Rarity began to march out, but as she about to reach the door, Blueblood teleported in her path, his nostrils flaring slightly.

"...Why are you still here?" he asked.

"Hey, we were gonna leave, you idiot!" Rainbow shouted, causing Applejack and Twilight to gasp at her rudeness. The former couldn't stop the pegasus in time as he flew right back into Blueblood's face. "You stopped Rarity from leaving, so get out of her way before she hacks you up with that giant diamond katana of hers!"

"...Forgive me," he apologized as he bowed to the white unicorn mare. "We Guado are keen to the scent of the Farplane. My mistake."

He stepped out of the way and approached one of the tables, taking a fresh apple and sinking his teeth into it. Strangely curious, Rainbow Dash began sniffing Rarity, only smelling her expensive perfume. She received a hard shove to the floor, the unicorn's eye twitching as she quickly left the manor before anything else could happen.

While the others talked about the sudden marriage proposal Blueblood had given to Fluttershy, Rainbow sulked as she fumed at the proposal. It was completely out of nowhere, and she had a bad feeling it was for something more than just for Spira's salvation. She was glad to distrust him the moment he set hoof off that boat in Luca, just looking at his face was enough to tell him he was downright dirty. He disobeyed the teachings and flat out ignored any consequences in Operation Mi'ihen, yet he was a maester, somepony who was supposed to uphold those teachings.

"This is so stupid," she mumbled to herself. "Coming out of nowhere, asking her to marry him...'Hey, Fluttershy, I'm a maester, and more important, so I get what I want. Marry me because I say so cause I'm a dumb moron!"

"Are you jealous, Dashie?" Rainbow yelped as Pinkie had ended up behind her.

"Who said I was jealous!? I'm not jealous! Who's being jealous!?" she kept questioning, though her behavior didn't deter the pink earth pony.

"You clearly are when you tried to sound like Blueblood," Pinkie said.

"...Look, he's being stupid. Fluttershy's pilgrimage comes first before anything else, right? That includes sightseeing, relaxing, and getting hitched by some stallion who barely even knows her like I do." Pinkie crossed her forelegs and raised a brow, giving her a serious look. "...What!? Why are you looking at me like that!?"

"You are jealous." Rainbow growled, turning away from the Al Bhed. "Don't hide your feelings, Dashie," Pinkie said, though sadly. "It might be too late..."

Before she could ask why her attitude shifted when she warned her, Fluttershy walked up to her, still pretty frazzled by the proposal. "Rainbow Dash, we're going to the Farplane. I want to see my father and think about my...proposal."

"The Farplane?" Rainbow asked. "We can actually go there? Without dying? How is that possible?"

"We can access the Farplane here in Guadosalam. And...maybe we can find out if your father's still alive." As much as she didn't need to know Jet Stream was still alive, she thought it would be cool to see what the Farplane looked like.

She followed the group along the pathway leading to where the Farplane lies, though how they were supposed to reach the land of the departed was a mystery to Rainbow Dash. They soon reached the steps leading up to what looked like a portal of sorts, pyreflies floating about. Rarity and Pinkie didn't follow the others up the steps, the former somehow going pale while the latter seemed fine.

"Hey, you guys gonna come or what?" Rainbow asked.

"I-I...don't belong there..." Rarity mumbled.

"Ohhhh...You're scared to see dead ponies in there, huh?" Rainbow mocked, only to yelp as Rarity pulled the pegasus's neck down, looking her dead straight in the eyes.

"Don't push my buttons, Rainbow Dash. I'm CHOOSING not to go in," she said, almost growling.

"S-Sorry," Rainbow apologized, backing away from the unicorn.

"It's not actual spirits, Dashie," Pinkie said. "It's more like memories of them. The pyreflies react to your thoughts, and the lights they make create an illusion of that pony you remember. That's all."

"You're not coming in either?" she asked.

"Nope. I'd rather not remember sad stuff. It's always been miserable in the past with Sin destroying things." Pinkie sat down on the steps to wait for everypony with Rarity.

"Ok, then." Rainbow ascended the steps and looked at the strange, thin psychedelic wall that separated Guadosalam from the Farplane. She walked through and wound up on a floating piece of land, but when she looked out at the landscape, it was like they were floating up high in the sky, clouds shrouding everything around them. The clouds began to dissipate, revealing the Farplane's true realm. "Whoa..."

Down below were large fields of flowers, floating lights that were either pyreflies or spirits, resting on cliffs where tons of waterfalls could be seen spanned out in the distance. This looked more like a paradise for retired couples or nature lovers than a land meant to be the resting place for the dead. Sadly enough, it really was the resting place for the dead, seeing Fluttershy standing before her parents and Applejack standing before a stallion, who happened to be her brother.

Fluttershy's father, Kindred Heart, looked exactly like her, only his mane was far shorter than hers and his eyes were green. Her mother was an earth pony mare, her eyes exactly like Pinkie's eyes, which meant her Al Bhed traits came from her. She had a light pink coat and her mane was a dark red, her hair reaching down to her shoulders. To Rainbow, they looked like a perfect couple, but their lives had to be cut short in their youth, leaving Fluttershy behind.

Applejack's brother was a deep red earth pony stallion, pretty muscular, though not as buff as Bulk Biceps, he looked pretty strong. His mane and tail were orange, and his eyes showed a kindness that didn't seem to fit his bulk. Rainbow noticed Twilight watching Applejack, or more specifically, her brother, holding both her dolls close to her.

"Hey, Big Mac," Applejack said, speaking to the illusion of her brother. "Ah was gonna visit ya earlier, but we kinda got in a bit of a pickle. Sorry...Oh, we actually won the tournament this year. Ah decided to bring in a newcomer, and she's not all talk and no action. She helped us win the cup...She's probably as stubborn as ya'll...Thought there was a little of you in her, but Ah was just bein' too hopeful...

"Oh. And, about that mare, Ah gave her your sword." Rainbow pulled out her weapon, rightfully belonged to Big Mac, though untouched by the stallion. "She really likes it...Though it looks better on her when she wields it. Ah didn't know blue was your color..."

The pegasus sighed, keeping a weapon that was once Applejack's older siblings, always reminding her of him. Putting her sword away, she walked over to Twilight. "You gonna say anything to Big Mac?"

"I don't even know where to start," the unicorn said sadly.

"Hmm...I can see why you like him. He's pretty good looking." Rainbow smirked. "I bet he's as 'big' as his name, huh?"

Twilight punched Rainbow hard in the shoulder, the pegasus wincing as she was struck with about enough force as an earth pony. "We didn't go that far...Unlike you, I'd rather save myself for when I'm officially wed..." She looked down at the ground, remembering Applejack saying Big Macintosh was going to propose to her. "That'll never happen, though...I sometimes think I liked him because I...I saw something similar in him to somepony else I knew."

"An ex who treated you like crap, except Big Mac was a lot nicer?" Rainbow questioned.

"No..." Twilight looked down at Smarty Pants, the doll wilting as they both thought the same thing. "Just another stallion who was like Big Mac..."

"...I get it. Too much info..." She looked out at the Farplane, getting a little idea to see if Twilight's other stallion was gone like Big Mac. "Is he in the Farplane now?"

"...I don't know..." The unicorn held her old doll closer, ending their conversation.

Rainbow sighed, at least giving her curious thoughts on who Twilight meant a shot, walking over to Fluttershy. She was deep in thought, probably going through the proposal Blueblood gave her, which the cyan pegasus hoped she would quickly decline.

"I've decided," Fluttershy finally said after a few more minutes silently speaking with her parents. "I'm going to continue my pilgrimage."

"Good! No need to marry that dumb Guado! Let's go tell that stallion you're not interested!" Rainbow ecstatically said, heading out to leave the Farplane.

"But, maybe marrying Blueblood might not be so bad." The cyan pegasus's smile turned upside down, backing up as she stood next to Fluttershy, staring at her in shock. "I want ponies to be happy...And, if marrying him can do that, I might say yes."

"Are you kidding me!?" Rainbow exclaimed. "Do you even love him!?" Fluttershy shook her head. "Then why!?"

"I don't know." Rainbow Dash groaned, flopping onto her stomach. "I just want Spira to live happily, and distract them from Sin."

"Great." Rainbow stood back up, leering in the distance. "It's like an arranged marriage for a stallion who's popular, but is gay, and weds a mare to divert the public from finding out he is gay...By the way, I think Blueblood actually is gay."

"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy gasped, appalled.

"Hey, don't go an blame me! I don't trust him as far as I can throw him. And I'll gladly throw him off a cliff!" Rainbow pouted, looking at Fluttershy's parents, wondering what they would think about this situation if they were still around.

"You shouldn't say stuff like that to somepony important. But, it's your opinion, I guess..." Fluttershy looked at her parents some more, already missing them. "Well?"

"Well, what?" Rainbow asked.

"Call Sir Jet Stream." Deciding to just get it over with, Rainbow began thinking of her father. She already knew he was still alive, as Sin. She didn't want to see him, dead or alive. "See? He's still alive, right?"

"Pth. I don't even care. Even if he is still alive, just not being anywhere around him ticks me off! He's done nothing but cause me and my mom so much-" Rainbow froze as she was suddenly met with the illusion of her mother, standing before her and smiling. "...M-Mom?"

"That's your mother?" Fluttershy asked. "She's real pretty."

"...B-But how?...My mom...she wasn't sent to the Farplane. There weren't any summoners to send her..." Rainbow felt her eyes water, looking at her mother.

"Maybe she died peacefully? She accepted her death?" As much as Fluttershy tried to help ease Rainbow's worries, it really didn't do much.

The cyan pegasus looked down at the ground as memories resurfaced in her head. "...I think I know why I really hate my dad..."

Rainbow Dash back in her boat home in Zanarkand, as a filly, walked up on the deck, trying to find her mom. Her ears perked up as she heard giggling, coming from her parents. She poked her head up, seeing Jet Stream wooing her mother, both of them looking out at the city as they brushed their sides against one another

"Heeheehee, honey! Not my ear!" the mare giggled as her husband nipped on her sensitive ear.

"Can't help it, babe. I'm crazy for you." Rainbow sneered at Jet as the couple began to make out, her father's wing draping around his lover. "I could take you out for a night on the town, if you're up for it."

"Jet, Dashie needs somepony to watch out for her," she said. "We can't exactly find a sitter after the chaos she caused as a foal, flying around at near breakneck speeds across the whole city. A troublemaker like her father."

"Psh. She wants to cause trouble whenever you try to make us bond. No idea why she hates me." The filly growled, knowing he knew exactly why she hated him.

"Mom! I need you for something!" she said, trying to get her mother's attention while keeping her away from Jet Stream.

"Just a moment, honey!" she called out, too focused on having her time with her husband.

Yet again, whenever he was around, her mother always gave her attention to Jet and not her. She ran away, hating her father more and more. She ran off before deciding to hear out something she never would have expected to hear Jet Stream say.

"Ah, just go to her, babe. She'll just cry if you don't," he said, nuzzling his beloved.

The next moment flashed forward to a few months after Jet Stream's disappearance. Rarity walked up to the docks, spotting the filly sitting on the ledge on the upper deck of her home. Looking into the window, she could see doctors tending to Rainbow's mother. The mare looked pale and malnourished, having grown deathly ill a couple weeks ago and getting worse by the day.

"Rainbow Dash?" The filly didn't move. Rarity approached her, sitting behind her. "Is your mother doing ok?"

"Why do you care?" Rainbow said coldly.

"Darling, if your mother dies, I wouldn't know what to do to help," the unicorn said.

"Don't say she's gonna die!" Rainbow shouted, turning to face Rarity, tears streaming down her cheeks. "She's not gonna die! The doctors will fix her!...S-She can't..."

The filly sobbed, unable to hide her emotions anymore. Rarity reached out to help comfort her, but Rainbow ran away, scared to face the truth. The unicorn sadly sighed, watching her flee and escape from the harsh reality.

"Rainbow...I'm sorry..." Rarity headed back down and looked in the window again, watching the doctors slowly pull a white sheet over the filly's mother.

Fluttershy held a hoof against her mouth as she heard about what had happened to Rainbow's mother, feeling sorry for the horrible memory in the pegasus's life. "...Because he disappeared...Mom gave up on living...and left me alone...Some old mare told me what happens when a lovebird's mate dies: they give up living to be with its mate...She died, thinking she could be with...him...He was still alive...She died for no reason..."

"...Oh Rainbow Dash...I'm so sorry." Fluttershy gave her a hug, consoling the grieving pegasus.

Rainbow accepted it, looking at her mother again. She couldn't help but shed a tear, quickly wiping it away before anyone else noticed. She didn't want to cry, not after being teased for it by her father every day in her youth. She was at least grateful her mother didn't turn into a fiend. It would have made fighting those out in the field more difficult if she never knew she was at peace in the Farplane.

Outside of the Farplane, Pinkie and Rarity occupied themselves playing tic-tac-toe, with Pinkie winning every single one. "I win again!"

"...How the hay do you keep doing that?" Rarity asked. "...Best out of seventy-one."

The others walked out after seeing their loved ones, Guado climbing up the stairs to check on the gateway to the land of the departed. "Sorry to keep you two waiting," Fluttershy apologized.

"Ahh! Lord Orion!?" The group turned around, gasping in shock as something tried to leave the Farplane.

The recently deceased Guado Maester, Orion Guado, slowly walked over to the shocked Guado, almost sluggishly like a zombie. "Fluttershy, send him. He doesn't belong here."

"O-Ok." Fluttershy walked back up the steps to send the undead Guado back to the Farplane.

While everyone was distracted, none of them noticed Rarity groaning in agony, nearly collapsing as she swatted pyreflies away from her. After the summoner sent Orion back to the Farplane, a sphere dropped from where he stood. Curious, she took the sphere, the other Guado not noticing it.

"Urgh. We're leaving, now," Rarity said desperately, wanting to get far away from the Farplane.

"What the hay just happened?" Rainbow asked, though everypony else seemed clueless about what had just transpired. "Was he even sent?"

"Possibly," Twilight said. "Maybe something kept him attached to Spira, some kind of powerful emotion that bound him, as if he feared passing away."

"What exactly happened to him if he 'passed away peacefully', like that Maester Star Swirl said?" Rainbow was suddenly struck by Mog and Smarty Pants, both dolls trying to injure her with their fabricy hooves/paws.

"Don't you DARE say anything bad about Maester Star Swirl! He wouldn't lie!" Twilight scoffed as she headed down the stairs, Rarity already long gone.

Rainbow groaned in annoyance as the dolls kept trying to beat her up. "You know, 'Mog', I bought you for Twilight, right? You should be on my side." The Moogle doll shook its head. "...Figures...Betrayed by my gift for a moody unicorn who's more terrifying than Rarity." Next Chapter: Chapter 25: Thunder Plains Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours