As the Al Bhed Home was under attack, Pinkie ran down the sandy slope, rolling the rest of the way as she tripped. Landing perfectly on her hooves, shaking off the sand that got on her, she ran to the entrance of the base, where many of her Al Bhed brethren were killed, their bodies strewn about the metal ground. Her mane deflated in her sorrow, the others having caught up with her as they saw the carnage around them.

"Oh my goodness," Twilight uttered in shock. "What is going on?"

"It's like a war's goin' on," Applejack said. "Between the Al Bhed and Faust, them Al Bhed are losin'."

"Dryd ec fnuhk! Guado ku vun dra summoner." They looked up as they saw a rugged, dark red earth pony stallion approach them, more specifically, Pinkie. He didn't have any hair on his head, but his tail was as red as his coat. He patted the mare's head, consoling her as he understood her pain. "Hey, you guys with Pinkamena?"

"Yes, but who are you?" Rainbow asked.

"No time! We gotta kick them Guado out of our Home!" The Al Bhed stallion ran on ahead, fighting his way through the fiends with his own hooves.

"Might as well help them if the Guado are actually obeying their deceased leader's commands." Twilight ran on ahead with Spike, Rarity, and even Applejack.

Rainbow Dash helped Pinkie back up on her hooves, seeing how distressed she was. "Who was that, Pinkie?"

"...Cid. My dad," she answered sadly.

"So, that's Fluttershy's uncle...Wait, then that means you and Fluttershy are cousins!" Pinkie nodded her head.

"We gotta save her and the other summoners." The two hurried inside with the others, catching them just in time as they took care of a few fiends being controlled by the Guado.

While navigating their way through the steel corridors, they fought their way through the endless amounts of fiends and Guado soldiers. Whatever they could try to do to end the fight, it wouldn't do much difference. Home was already badly destroyed, and many Al Bhed had fallen and died trying to protect their home. Pinkie lead the way to someplace she called the Summoner's Sanctum after hearing Cid speak out to her in Al Bhed to get underground. The reason why, she didn't explain as they had no clue what he said in Al Bhed.

As they reached another hallway, entering a room leading down to where the Summoner's Sanctum lies, there was no hope to saving Home. "Ah don't think there's any way of savin' this place."

"I know," Pinkie said sadly. "I can't believe this is happening again...Sin destroyed our previous island we used to live, and all of us were scattered across Spira. My dad brought the Al Bhed back together again, made Bikanel our new Home, working together to rebuild what we lost...Now...all of this..."

Applejack began to feel guilty. As much as the Al Bhed should be hated, Rainbow was right. They were ponies too, and they suffered under Sin's wrath too. Maybe all her beliefs had blinded her to the struggles the Al Bhed really had, hated because they used machina, even though she knew it was considered forbidden to use. She kept viewing them as hated all her life, despising the Al Bhed and the machina more after her brother died, but that hatred only grew because Big Macintosh chose to use a machina weapon to fight.

Putting aside her resentment to the Al Bhed, she approached Pinkie and hugged her. "...Ah'm sorry, sugarcube. Everythin' Ah said about ya...and your home...Ah'm so sorry." This had surprised the others, hearing Applejack apologizing and making up with Pinkie Pie. The pink mare returned the hug, feeling a little better, but losing her Home to the Guado attack didn't help raise her spirits. "The hay are the Guado doin'?"

"Pinkie, what's the Summoner's Sanctum supposed to be?" Twilight asked, Applejack letting go of Pinkie.

"It's where we keep the summoners safe." She received a stern glare from the ex-blitzball captain, though not in anger, just baffled at her and the Al Bhed's plans to kidnap the summoners. "...I know its against the teachings and all...but-"

"Ah understand now, Pinkie," Applejack assured, promising her she wasn't mad at her anymore. "I just don't understand why ya had to do this."

"Well, I don't have a clue either, AJ," Rainbow said. "I mean, are the Al Bhed worried about the summoners getting hurt, Pinkie? That's what guardians are supposed to do, right? Protect the summoner from anything until they beat Sin. So, if we do a good job as guardians, then Fluttershy will stay safe! And if Sin comes back, we can just fight it again until it gets sick and tired of fighting us! Right!?" She received silence among the group, all of them looking just as miserable as they had back at the Moonflow. "...A-Am I right?"

"...It's starting to get quiet," Spike said, breaking the silence, but not answering Rainbow Dash's question. "Let's keep moving."

Time seemed to slow down around Rainbow Dash as she looked at everyone, begging for some kind of explanation. She saw each of their faces as they all turned away to head into the sanctum, Spike already gone on ahead. Twilight looked away when she met the pegasus's gaze, both Mog and Smarty Pants just as miserable as their owner as she headed down the stairs. Applejack avoided her look, pulling down her stetson over her eyes. Pinkie had tears welling up in her eyes as her pink colors grew darker and darker in sadness. Rainbow looked over at Rarity, her expression neutral as she followed Applejack and Pinkie. Even she wasn't able to give her an answer.

"Guys?" Confused, Rainbow Dash chased after them.

As soon as she entered the sanctum, the pegasus gasped as they all witnessed the state of the room. The entire sanctum was a wreck, bodies of the Al Bhed strewn about. The summoners that were kept safe were Trixie, whom Bulk Biceps was trying so desperately to find, and Fancy Pants, no sign of Fluttershy anywhere. The two summoners performed the sending for the deceased stallions and mares, keeping them from turning into fiends.

"What an unfortunate fate," Trixie said after the two unicorns finished the sending. "The Al Bhed died trying to keep us safe from those Guado."

"I'm sorry to say that Fluttershy is no longer here," Fancy added, praying to the fallen stallions and mares. "The Guado took her hostage...They all tried to stop them, but they were powerless."

"What!? Where did they go!?" Rainbow asked, now more worried than ever.

"We don't know." The pegasus growled in frustration.

"Dang it, Pinkie! If your friends didn't take Fluttershy here, we wouldn't have to lose her!" Rainbow shouted. "And if that sleazeball Blueblood didn't tell the Guados his plan to destroy everything, we could still be leading Fluttershy on her pilgrimage!"

"They have to stop." The pegasus turned to Pinkie, her body trembling as tears rolled down her cheeks. "If Fluttershy...makes it to Zanarkand...and she defeats Sin..." She began to sob as her tears were practically streaming down her face, looking at Rainbow in the most painfully sad expression the pegasus ever saw her. "She'll die!"

"...W-What?" Rainbow stared at Pinkie, even more confused than ever as the mare cried, burying her face in her hooves as she wept.

"The Final Aeon." Rainbow turned her head to look at Trixie, holding a same sorrowful expression as the others, along with some anxiety. "A summoner's pilgrimage takes them all the way across Spira, where their final destination is Zanarkand. We receive the Final Aeon, the only aeon that can defeat Sin, and face it in the Calm Lands. But, once the Final Aeon is called...it destroys Sin, and its summoner."

As this was now brought up to answer Rainbow's questions, she regretted ever finding out. She slowly shook her head, unable to believe that Fluttershy would die if she beat Sin. Trixie had to be lying, but if she was, then the others would have called her out.  She looked back at the others, their expressions telling her that it was true. And it shattered her resolve.

"...It can't...No...That can't be..." Rainbow's emotions began running through her like a raging rapid. She was greatly upset, more confused than ever before, but all of that disappeared as she began to get angry. She looked at Twilight and Applejack, both their heads lowered. "...You all knew about this!? Why the HAY did none of you tell me!? Why did you hide this from me!?"

"...We thought ya knew, Dash," Applejack said, unable to look at her.

"What were any of us supposed to say about something like this?" Mog and Smarty Pants climbed down Twilight's back as they ran off to comfort the depressed Pinkie Pie.

"We tried to stop her...We knew what she was gettin' into, but she wanted to do it..." Rainbow Dash growled, her anger rising, wanting to take out her frustration on something, anything.

"I thought she was like family to you two!" she shouted. "You should have stopped her! Forced her to stop thinking about being a summoner!"

Both mares began to shed tears, having tried several times to deter Fluttershy from her fate. "She's like her father." Rainbow Dash looked at Rarity, finally speaking after remaining quiet for so long. "Kindred knew about his fate once he became a summoner. Your father was ignorant of this knowledge too, until it was too late to back out. Summoners end up sacrificing themselves, just so Spira can have some semblance of peace for a short while...Even I find it as despicable as much as the others."

Suddenly, dangerous fiends began to appear behind everyone, born from some of the lingering spirits Trixie and Fancy Pants had overlooked. Facing the fiends, they both summoned an aeon: Trixie calling Valefor and Fancy calling Ifrit.

"This is the choice we have made," Fancy said. "Even if we have to give up our lives to bring peace, we will follow through with our pilgrimage, no matter what!"

"Even if some of us may be scared of what awaits us, myself included, it's better to know everypony would be safe from Sin's wrath, no longer fearing they will die in their sleep!" Trixie said, a surprise to hear her not speak in the third person.

Even though their words were reaching Rainbow Dash, it still didn't help quell her rising anger. She began recalling every moment she had with Fluttershy, as if she was already dead. Meeting her in Besaid, chatting with her about their fathers, the awkward moment back in Luca where they laughed like idiots, only to laugh uncontrollably at the stupid moment. They all kept flashing back to her, wishing she didn't say all those things, saying they should fight Sin over and over and coming back to the Moonflow to see the pyreflies. She felt so stupid, trying to bring everyone's hopes up for a depressing victory.

"I want my journey...to be full of laughter...and happiness." Those words echoed in Rainbow's head, finally breaking through her emotional dam.

Unable to control her anger any longer, Rainbow Dash screamed and rushed at the fiends to vent out her frustration and sorrow, only to be blocked by Valefor. "I'M! SO! STUPID!" the pegasus screamed out as she punched the avian aeon's abdomen, tears streaming down her face, not even caring if anyone saw her cry. "Everything I said...Everything I promised her! I was going to take her to Zanarkand! I wanted her to beat Sin! And...and all this time..." Her punches got weaker as she leaned against the aeon, Fancy Pants's Ifrit dealing with the fiends in the background. "...She just smiled..."

As Rainbow silently wept, Valefor wrapped its wings around the pegasus, comforting the pegasus. All this time, she thought it was a stroke of bad luck when a summoner fights Sin and gets killed. All this time, she never knew that ponies, who become summoners, end up sacrificing their lives for some false peace, safe from Sin for only a few short months. And all this time, no one told her about it because it was painful, everyone always staying happy as they continued Fluttershy's pilgrimage, until the day she died.

Now, she didn't care about what others thought about her. She harbored feelings for Fluttershy the moment Rainbow laid eyes on her in Besaid. She wanted to tell her her feelings, even if it meant being rejected. It wouldn't matter if she could say it before reaching Zanarkand. Now, Fluttershy was taken away, the Guado kidnapping her, destroying the Al Bhed's Home just to find her. Rainbow Dash had no idea what to do anymore, no other ideas to save Fluttershy, even if she tried to force her to quit her pilgrimage.

Rainbow had no idea how much time had passed as the aeons defeated the fiends. "Dashie, come on...we gotta go."

She looked up at Pinkie, the others heading toward what looked like a hanger as she was dragged by the Al Bhed. Where the walkway lead, she looked up at the massive machina that sat there, which looked a bit familiar to her. She dried away her tears, glaring intensely as she began to loathe the Guado, unable to wait to kill them for causing more trouble than Sin ever had to Spira, more than her own father treating her like nothing and ruining her life. She wasn't going to give up on Fluttershy.

"I'm not going to let her die...I'll find you, Fluttershy...I'll save you," she whispered to herself as they entered the machina. Next Chapter: Chapter 31: Wedding Crashers Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 44 Minutes