The Calm Lands were a pretty peaceful stretch of land, if one doesn't include many of the dangerous fiends that wander the plains. As long as they didn't wind up anywhere in the northwestern part of the field, they won't have to fight one of the worst creatures everyone warned Rainbow Dash about; the Malboro. Just from hearing the name of such a fiend, it was obviously something no one should ever mess with. The rest of the fiends weren't much of a problem, along with some random machina running out of control, which Pinkie easily took care of.

Up ahead was a rest stop in the middle of the Calm Lands, run by some of the Al Bhed. "Let's stock up on supplies before heading to Mt. Gagazet," Rarity said. "This is pretty much the last rest stop we'll have after passing the Calm Lands. No more towns or villages past this point."

They soon entered the small rest stop and took a small break. As Rarity and Fluttershy bought the supplies they'll need, Rainbow began to panic as she tried to think of some other possible way to keep the young pegasus summoner from sacrificing herself. As she thought, a gray pegasus mare with blonde hair walked in the rest stop, her eyes a unique feature as they seem cross-eyed. The mare noticed Applejack and Twilight, though how she was able to with those eyes, Rainbow would never know.

"Applejack! Twilight!" The mare caught their attention as they approached the pegasus, obviously knowing her. "I thought you two were back in Besaid!"

"Lady Derpy, it's been a while," Applejack greeted, though Twilight remained quiet and fidgety. "We're helpin' Summoner Fluttershy on her pilgrimage this time."

"Oh! Lord Kindred Heart's daughter! I heard you guys became traitors." That brought a little bit of worry to Rainbow Dash as they might be hauled back to Bevelle. "I don't believe a word those monks say! You two would never do anything bad!"

"Thanks, Derpy. Glad to hear you're on our side," Applejack said, grateful for the mare's beliefs in them.

"Of course!" Derpy looked over at Twilight, who was always looking toward Mt. Gagazet. "Twilight? You ok?"

"Huh!? Y-Yes! I'm ok!" Twilight assured, although she didn't seem to be too honest.

"...Ok. Well, good luck you guys. Maybe you'll be able to touch the foot of the mountain today, Twilight." The unicorn wilted as she clutched her dolls tightly in guilt. "Don't worry, Twilight. I didn't really feel up to making it all the way to Zanarkand that day, anyways. Hope you all stay safe!"

Derpy bowed to the two mares and wished the others luck as she left the small inn and headed out, only to turn around and head back to Bevelle. Curious, Rainbow Dash walked over to Applejack, seeing that Twilight's on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"Who was that? Was that mare a summoner?" she asked.

"Eyup. That was Lady Derpy Hooves," Applejack explained. "Twilight and Ah used to be her guardians a couple years ago. We got pretty far, though she kinda stopped before we even reached Mt. Gagazet."

"So, she gave up?" Applejack nodded her head.

"Afraid so...Except, the day she quit was when Twilight freaked out and couldn't go near the mountain." She looked over at Twilight, highly anxious and shivering in fear, brushing the tops of Mog's and Smarty Pants's heads. "We had no idea what happened...She didn't even tell us. The only thing we got from her when we came back here to help her calm down was her mumblin' 'Ah don't want to be here.'"

Rainbow Dash looked over at the nervous unicorn, never seeing her this panicky before. "Wait, you mean you didn't make it to Zanarkand?"

"Nope. Though, Ah'm startin' to worry about Twilight...Ah'm afraid she might have another panic attack." After gathering their supplies, they headed out on their trek down to the canyon leading to where the entrance to Mt. Gagazet lies.

After a long walk through the Calm Lands, the party reached the northern end of the fields and headed up to where they could see the entrance to Mt. Gagazet's trail. There was a gorge down below, leading to possibly more dangerous fiends. As they reached the bridge, Rainbow Dash peeked over the edge and spotted a cavern not too far from the hill leading down.

"Hey, is there anything down there?" she asked.

"Hmm...I remember there being something down below," Rarity pondered as she looked down. "There was a rumor I was told, where somepony managed to steal a fayth from a temple and dragged it through the caverns. I didn't go down there with Kindred and Jet back then. We didn't really give it much thought."

"Somepony stole a heavy statue?" Rainbow asked. "Why would he do that?"

"Ooh! I know! Maybe he wanted to stop summoners from continuing their pilgrimages! No fayth, no journey!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"...But, it's not needed...Maybe it's something more powerful than the other aeons Fluttershy knows. I say we check it out!" Pinkie leapt up and down, wanting to see what was down there as well, along with some curious agreements from the others, except Twilight.

"W-Wait! W-Why do we have to go down there!?" she asked as Smarty Pants and Mog tried to calm her down to no avail. "I mean, yes, the fayth may have been stolen some hundred years ago, but it's not necessary to get for the Final Summoning! Let's just get going before it gets too late!"

Twilight began to walk across the bridge, only to have her tail tugged by Rarity's aura, pulling her back with the others. "We're going to see if the rumors are true."

"Hooray! Let's excavate some caves!" Pinkie shouted as she now wore some heavy and bulky green armor and wielded a pickax of the same color as the armor.

"...Where did you get that?" Spike asked as he scratched his head in confusion.

"I was saving this for a special occassion! But if there are any Creepers in there, I am so getting out of there!" Ignoring Pinkie's randomness, they headed down into the gorge as they dragged Twilight, her protests failing to voice out as she stared at the cavern.

Inside the caverns, a strange purple miasma was being expelled from crevices. It screamed dangerous, as the place seemed to be infested with pyreflies, or wandering spirits. There were fiends that seemed really dangerous to encounter, especially one specific green creature.

"Oh no. It's one of those things!" Rarity exclaimed as they spotted one of those fiends.

"What's the big deal? Doesn't look that tough," Rainbow said as she looked at the fiend. It was completely green, had yellow eyes that held no soul, wore a tattered brown cloak, and carried a small butcher's knife and a lantern that emitted an eerie blue flame. "I think I can kill that thing in one strike."

"Not against a Tonberry, Dashie! They're worse than Creepers!" Pinkie threw a smoke grenade at the Tonberry, pulling the pegasus far away as the others fled. "Phew. That was close."

"Never mess with a Tonberry, Dash, unless ya'll are askin' for a death sentence." After narrowly escaping from the deadly fiend, they continued carefully making their way through the hoof-made, cavernous maze. Applejack noticed Twilight had been completely silently and blindly following the others, her mane was a total mess and was shuddering in fright. She wasn't helping the others fend off the fiends that weren't Tonberries, looking around everywhere as she clutched her dolls tightly. "Twilight? Are ya alright?"

"I-I don't want to be here...I want to go home," she mumbled, growing more frantic by the minute.

"Just how deep is this cave, anyway?" Rainbow asked as they seemed to reach what was supposedly the halfway point. They all stopped as they watched hundreds of pyreflies floating around one of the corners of a passage on the other side. A pale white hoof stepped forward, revealing a unicorn stallion wandering from the four-way passage, his mane a pale-gray blue. "There's somepony here?"

"No. He's an unsent." The stallion slowly walked toward them, his dull blue eyes glazed over as he stared at them.

He stopped, blocking their path, pulling out a lance he had on his back. As the others prepared to fight the stallion, Twilight gasped in horror as she looked at him. Her breathing grew heavy, almost as if she was having an anxiety attack, tears rolling down her face as she couldn't tear her eyes away from him.

"...N-No...S-Shining?" Twilight slowly made her way up in front of the others, confusing them as she gently shoved past the physical fighters. "...I-It's you..."

"Twilight? What are you doing?" Applejack asked, but she didn't seem to hear her.

"S-Shiny...It's me...Your baby sister." Everyone stared at the lavender mare in shock. "Don't you remember me?"

The stallion didn't respond. He just stared at Twilight with his dead eyes. She tried to approach him, only for Spike to hold her back, none of them having any idea what was wrong with her.

"Twilight, what are you talking about? Do you know him?" Fluttershy asked, feeling a little worried at the unsent stallion's power. "Who is he?"

"...My big brother...Shining Armor," Twilight slowly answered, weakly struggling out of Spike's grip to reach out to her undead brother. "He's still...alive...after I failed...ten years ago..."

"You had a brother too?" Applejack looked at Shining Armor, the stallion waiting patiently as he waited for one of them to strike first. "...Twilight, was he-"

"Fluttershy, send him. He doesn't belong here," Rarity said.

The summoner nodded as she stepped forward. Just as she was about to perform the sending, the stallion leapt forward and thrust his lance at Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash quickly blocked the attack and pushed the unsent unicorn back. Fluttershy was about to try again, but Shining somehow shot out some kind of shockwave that disturbed her.

"Ok, he really doesn't want to get sent." The pegasus guardian got ready to defend again as Shining Armor brought up a hoof.

The area soon got dark as peach blossoms began to fall all around them. A peach tree appeared out of nowhere, and leaning behind the tree was a taller stallion samurai, about as big as Shiva was. He stepped away from the tree and stepped forward, standing alongside the unsent stallion as he was also assisted by a fiend-like canine that stood next to him.

"What in tarnation did he just do!?" Applejack asked as the others were also surprised.

"He's a summoner. That's an aeon," Rarity said. "This is bad. We have no choice but to fight him in order to rest his spirit! Fluttershy, summon an aeon and take his down!"

"Ok!" Fluttershy summoned Shiva to help assist her in this fight as the others stood behind them.

As the two aeons fought, Twilight was lost to what was happening around her, unable to look away from her brother. She hyperventilated as memories she wished to repress for the rest of her life came flooding back, the day she ended up failing her older sibling.

Walking down the hill leading down to the gorge, two unicorns approached the caverns where the rumored stolen fayth lies. Filly Twilight Sparkle, carrying her favorite hoof-made doll, Smarty Pants, walked alongside her older brother, Shining Armor. The two siblings stood before the entrance to the cave, the young filly feeling a little nervous.

"A-Are you sure there's really a fayth in here, Shiny?" Twilight asked as she held the inanimate Smarty Pants tightly. "Y-You just became a summoner a week ago. What if it's just a rumor?"

"I know, Twily, but I need to know," Shining said, holding his lance tightly in his magical aura. "I wasn't told anything about this aeon being important. Better to find out if it is necessary so we don't come back down here later."

"Why not later?" she pleaded. "We have to go up to Mt. Gagazet anyway."

"I think we can make it. After all, I've spent a few years under the monks' tutelage, and passed with flying colors, and I've got a powerful little guardian who can turn a Flan into mush with her incredible magic," the stallion praised, erasing any of the filly's fears.

"Yeah...Yeah! I studied every magic spell and cast them successfully!" Twilight exclaimed. "I'm gonna be the best guardian ever! Guardian Twilight and Smarty Pants ready to do our duty!"

The filly saluted, using her magic to make Smarty Pants salute with her. The two ventured forth into the caverns to seek out the stolen fayth. Despite their young age, they were able to take out the worst of the fiends that rested inside the miasma filled depths, though they knew to stay clear of the Tonberries. They wandered around, finding lots of dead ends and secret passages. One thing the filly had noted was that there was a glyph placed in the first room, though with how dangerous the caverns were, she didn't have enough time to look at it closely and find out what it did.

After going through a majority of the caves, they reached a dead end, where all they found was a large room with what looked like more passages, but they were blocked off by rocks, the passageways having collapsed on themselves. There was another one of those glyph platforms like back in the earlier room near the entrance. Curious, Twilight walked up to it and examined it.

"I wonder what these glyph things are?" she wondered. "Is it...machina?"

"I don't think so." Twilight sat next to his sister and looked at the platform. "I think I remember seeing one of these when the monks took me down to see the Via Purifico. They're some kind of transportation device to maneuver around the dungeons."

"It looks like the same one back near the entrance, so we can use this to get back out without backtracking!" Twilight clapped her hooves together, Shining seeing that glint in her eyes as she wanted to learn more about something. "But how does this thing work?"

Her questions would remain unanswered as the unicorns heard lots of growling coming from behind them. As their luck would have it, a large group of fiends, lead by a lone Tonberry, rushed into the room and surrounded the two.

"Oh great. They decided to be smart." Shining stood in front of Twilight to defend her, though with the amount of fiends around them, he couldn't take them down on his own. "Twily, you got any spells that can hit all of them you can cast?"

"I-I don't know," Twilight said, completely terrified. "I don't know if I can."

"What about that new spell you found? Ultima?" Shining asked.

"I-I can't cast that! It's dangerous! I don't even know what it'll do!" She yelped as one of the fiends lunged at them.

Shining ran it through with his lance, throwing its body away from them. "Just try! I know you can do it! I don't know if I can keep any of them at bay, and that Tonberry's getting closer!" The Tonberry was slowly getting closer as the other fiends distracted the stallion, trying to protect himself and his sister. Twilight tried to cast the powerful spell, but she was so scared and nervous that her horn always fizzled out before she could complete it, hiding behind Shining as the fiends attacked them. "I know you want to protect me, Twily, but I have to protect you more...This is my fault. We shouldn't have come down here."

"I can't do it! I can't cast it!" Twilight began to panic, failing her brother as the guardian she was supposed to be.

With the filly broken down, and the Tonberry getting closer as the fiends kept the young stallion from focusing on the menacing creature slowly walking toward them. There was no way they could survive, and he blamed himself for being unprepared and too overly curious over the stolen fayth rumor. He brought his little sister down in this dangerous cavern, and he wasn't going to let anything bad happen to her. He looked back at the platform they stood by, seeing there was no room for the both of them to use it together.

"Twily, I'm not going to let them hurt you. As soon as you get to the exit, run back to Bevelle, and don't look back." Before Twilight could question what he meant, Shining Armor shoved the filly onto the teleportation glyph and activated it to send her back to the entrance. "...I'm sorry."

"Shiny?" Before she was transported away from danger, she saw the Tonberry leap up behind the teenage stallion, about to thrust its knife into his back.

As soon as she disappeared, knowing she was safe, Shining screamed in agony as the Tonberry's knife was thrust in his back, causing more pain than any normal stabbing would. Fighting through the pain, he threw the small fiend off his back and smashed the platform to pieces. He knew Twilight would try to come back after sacrificing himself like this, neither one of them wanting to be apart from each other.

"I'm sorry, Twilight," he weakly said, feeling his life drain from the bleeding wound left by the knife. "...I'm leaving you on your own...Some responsible older brother I turned out to be..." Shining turned around, facing the several fiends still alive, as well as the Tonberry that stabbed him. Ignoring the pain, he held out his lance and pointed it at the small fiend. "...I'm sorry, mom...dad...Guess I'll be joining you in the Farplane."

As Shining was ready to go down fighting, Twilight ended up back near the entrance, the platform deactivating after he had broken the other one. She wanted to help her brother, she was supposed to protect him, but she failed him. She wanted to look back, hearing the stallion's grunts and shouts echo throughout the cavern as he fought off the fiends. Eventually, she did as she was told and ran away, tears streaming down her face as she fled.

She didn't look back. She didn't want to look back. She had lost her parents when she was barely a toddler, the only family she had was her brother. They were supposed to protect each other. He learned how to fight with a weapon, his favorite being his lance, and she studied everything she could involving black magic and the fiends throughout Spira. She was a prodigy in magic, able to cast advanced spells for a filly her age, even using the most powerful of black magic that could take the most experienced of mages several years to master. Now she lost her older brother, and she failed to save him while he saved her.

She didn't stop running as she ran through the Calm Lands and reached the gates of Bevelle. She was safe, but felt overwhelming guilt as her magic failed to save them from the ambushing fiends. She ended up tripping on her hooves, her never-ending tears blurring her vision as she had broken down, panting heavily and bawling her eyes out. She held Smarty Pants close as she curled in a ball and cried, catching the attention of a few ponies as they saw the distraught filly. They couldn't get any answers as to what was wrong with her as she spent the rest of the day mourning her loss and failure.

Shining's aeon was a lot more powerful than the others had expected. Though it was the same size as Shiva, its attacks looked brutal as it attacked with several different swords and even tossing kunai at the deity of ice. Thankfully, Shiva was an expert evader and managed to triumph over the samurai aeon, Fluttershy's commands more tactical than the unsent stallion's. It disappeared as it fell on its knees, defeated by the pegasus summoner's power. But the battle wasn't over, Shining Armor running forward and running his lance through Shiva, defeating it easily as she was too tired.

"Wow, he's tougher than he looks." The unsent unicorn stallion looked up at the party, readying his weapon as was prepared to charge at them again. "Let's just send him before he summons anything else."

"No! Don't take my brother away!" Twilight shouted as she broke out of Spike's grip. Rarity and Rainbow Dash quickly blocked the mare from getting any closer, but that didn't stop Smarty Pants as it ran up to the stallion, his eyes focused on the ragged doll that stopped in front of him. To everyone's surprise, he lowered his weapon as he picked up Smarty Pants, the doll reaching its forelegs out to him. "Shiny? You remember Smarty Pants?

"You made her for me on my birthday...You wanted to get me a good gift, but you didn't have any Gil to buy a doll for me, and I really wanted a Moogle doll. You made her with old and used materials, and I never wanted to be apart from her," Twilight said, feeling a little hopeful as she was seeing her brother coming back.

The others watched, more wary than accepting, the undead stallion looking at Smarty Pants in some sort of curiosity. Shining blinked, looking up from the doll and at the teary-eyed face of the mare who was his little sister. She thought she would bring him back and she didn't care if he was unsent. If he was able to retain his memories like Blueblood had, then maybe she could convince Fluttershy not to send him.

Unfortunately, her hopes would be shattered. Shining lifted up his lance and tossed Smarty Pants in the air. As soon as the doll fell, he thrust his weapon straight through it, ripping Smarty Pants to shreds. Pieces of the ragged doll laid about the room, the spell on it dispelled as it was "killed", Smarty Pants's head rolling over to the shocked and horrified lavender unicorn.

"I'm sorry, Twilight," Rarity said as the distraught unicorn collapsed to the ground. "He's not your brother anymore...He's a fiend, just like the others. His spirit doesn't belong here."

Shining thrust his lance into the ground, causing a small quake as it alerted several fiends throughout the cavern. They surrounded the party as they awaited the undead stallion's command. While the others prepared to fight for their lives, Twilight felt her world shatter again. The memories of her and her brother flooded back after repressing them for several years to avoid the heartache she suffered. Smarty Pants was the only thing that helped her stay sane, especially after animating her so she wouldn't feel alone.

Now, her favorite doll was destroyed by Shining Armor, no longer remembering her. The stallion she saw as her brother was no longer there, only a fiend who led the others like the alpha of his pack, exactly like the Tonberry had back then. Her happiness was broken, her failure to protect the one she cared about plaguing her until she grew cold around others to keep herself from failing under others' expectations of her. Any hope she had of being happy was always taken away from her, believing she was cursed after getting her brother killed when she couldn't save them back then.

Her emotions began to overwhelm her as the pain came flooding in like a blazing fire spreading a large forest, her magic sparking brightly as she couldn't contain it any longer. Her eyes began glowing white as she screamed, her voice piercing through everyone's ears and managing to terrify some of the fiends. Her magic exploded as she unleashed a powerful spell, the area turning dark as several orbs of non-elemental energy formed around the fiends in large groups, imploding multiple times and killing every single fiend within them.

The others backed away from Twilight as they saw her unleashing all of her magic, surprised to witness the spell that was cast. The same sphere appeared around Shining Armor, the unsent stallion thrusting his lance forward to break free, only to shatter his weapon from the magical force keeping him trapped. He was unable to escape as his body was wracked with explosions, the magical blasts slowly destroying him with each implosion that was released. As soon as it ended, he fell to the ground, his body slowly disappearing as the pyreflies around him, who miraculously survived the magical spell, flew away, his spirit finally released from his connection to the living.

As the last of the fiends disappeared, Twilight's magic finally subsided and greatly exhausted her, the mare passing out as she collapsed to the ground. Now that things have calmed down, and there didn't seem to be anymore fiends around for the time being, everyone took a moment to relax after the near-death experience they were about to receive.

"...Ah didn't know Twilight had a brother," Applejack mumbled as she looked down at the unconscious unicorn.

Pinkie Pie picked up Smarty Pants's pieces, though it didn't seem like Twilight's special gift from her older brother could be repaired. "Maybe it was a bad idea to come down here after all."

"But that aeon...The stolen fayth must really be here," Fluttershy said. "If Twilight's brother was a summoner, how was he able to call an aeon?"

"Some memories can still be retained from an unsent pony," Rarity said. "Most of them are more based on feral instinct: see any movement or feel threatened, strike their opponents, and kill or be killed. And he managed to prove there was an aeon nopony's ever seen."

"Then why don't we look for it?" Rainbow asked. "This place can't be too big."

"Ah'll take Twilight out of this place." Applejack lifted the unconscious unicorn up onto her back, Mog sitting on top of the mare's hat as it mourned the loss of its felty friend as Pinkie gave the pieces to the Moogle doll. "Ya'll go and find that fayth. Ah'll wait at the foot of Mt. Gagazet."

The rest of the party nodded, wanting to get Twilight out of here before she might have another breakdown if she woke up. As soon as Applejack made it safely outside the cavern, the others continued on their way through to reach a dead end in the cavern. In the center of the room was a broken transportation glyph, and the rest of the passages were caved in, no sign of the fayth statue anywhere.

"Hmmm..." Pinkie stood over the platform and inspected it. "Seems broken. But I think I can fix it." With a bit of tinkering that only lasted for a few minutes, the Al Bhed mare fixed the transporter good as new. Stepping on it, she pointed the arrow up to the northern end of the room, disappearing as she was teleported to another part of the cave. She came back, bouncing excitedly. "I found it! I found it! I found it!"

"The fayth?" The mare nodded her head. "It's really here?"

"Yeah! I'm guessing these transporter thingies must have been used as a shortcut. Rightfully so because the room was blocked off by heavy rocks that SOMEHOW can't be moved to free the way after a bit of digging. Teleporters fix everything though!" Pinkie pulled out a blank blueprint sheet and began drawing out the schematics for the transporter. "I wonder if I can make one that can transport more than one pony."

"Well, let's see what it is!" Rainbow excitedly said as she walked on it first.

After arriving in the caved in room with the fayth inside, the pegasus spotted the statue in a dug out ditch, yellow caution tape around it to act as some kind of dome or warning anyone not to step on it. It was hard to tell what the fayth was supposed to be with its long hair, but it was definitely a pony holding a sword in one hoof. Fluttershy arrived in the room, the others waiting for them to come back out. The summoner prayed to the fayth, and an illusion of the fayth appeared, along with a dog that sat beside him. The stallion seemed to look like a mercenary, his face concealed by his hat, similar to that of the aeon.

"Greetings, summoner," he said. "I am the blade of vengeance, those who resent me dare to whisper my name: Yojimbo. What do you need of me?"

"Yojimbo, I wish to defeat Sin and bring peace to all of Spira, where everypony will rejoice in happiness," Fluttershy said.

"...I see...Then, if you desire my strength, you must pay my price." Both pegasi stared at the fayth, aghast as they were being forced to pay an aeon for their help.

"Are you serious!?" Rainbow complained. "You can't be serious!"

"I am serious. For the price to pay...how about three hundred trillion Gil?" Rainbow's jaw dropped at the expensive price.

"W-We don't have that much money," Fluttershy admitted.

"Then you waste my time," Yojimbo said coldly. "Come back when you have the money, and then we'll see if you are worthy of my skills."

The fayth disappeared, leaving the two mares flabbergasted. "What a cheap prick! She's fighting Sin, you stupid spirit thing! Why do we have to pay you to summon you!?" Rainbow groaned and sat down, yelping as her rump landed on something hard in the dirt. "What the hay was that?"

She dug up the area where she sat at, finding a sphere. There was dried blood on it, with Twilight's name written on the side of it.

"Is this...Shining Armor's sphere?" Fluttershy asked.

"Maybe...but how did it end up in here if that thing was broken?" Rainbow carefully placed the sphere in her pocket as the two pegasi ignored the cheap fayth and met up with the others.

With Twilight having fallen unconscious, the party spent the rest of the day near the foot of Mt. Gagazet, setting up a campsite as they seemed to be safe from any fiends. She did wake up a while ago, though she seemed drained of any emotion as she stared at the fire. Rarity was struggling to try to fix Smarty Pants, but Shining's lance had done a big number on the already worn out toy, turning it into a dilapidated mess.

"Ugh...Clothing is more my specialty, not stuffed animals." She gave up trying to return Smarty Pants to her former glory, giving the remains back to Twilight. "Sorry, Twilight. Not all unsent can act like Blueblood or Star Swirl. Even if your brother did  behave normally, he still shouldn't exist if his time had come."

Twilight didn't respond. Everyone felt bad for the mare, having gone through a pretty traumatic experience that she kept silent about for over a decade. It was no wonder she ended up acting strangely as they reached the Calm Lands and didn't want to go down the gorge. Out of all of them though, Applejack understood exactly how Twilight feels, though her depressing loss was when she was only a filly.

They both had older brothers who cared about them, and they died in the worst ways nopony could ever imagine. And the pony she had mentioned back in Kilika when she brought up the theory that anyone who was killed by Sin couldn't come back, but her brother didn't die from Sin. She must have accidentally slipped it out as she thought of Shining Armor again.

While the camp was quiet, aside from the crackling fire in front of them, Rainbow Dash pulled out the sphere she and Fluttershy found. "Hey, Twi? This sphere had your name on it...I think it might have been your brother's."

Twilight looked up and noticed the sphere, recognizing the writing on it. She took it in her telekinesis, and played it with a shaky hoof.

The sound of painful groans could be heard behind the sphere as it recorded the inside of the collapsed cave where the stolen fayth rested. It kept a visual on the statue for a moment until the pony recording it turned it around to look at it. Shining Armor was a wreck, his body covered in wounds as his body began to turn pale, blood staining his white coat. He wrote out Twilight's name on the sphere before he set it down, panting heavily in exhaustion.

"H-Hey...If anypony finds this...then, congratulations. You found the stolen fayth...rumored to be in these caves near Mt. Gagazet...for hundreds of years." Shining took a moment to catch his breath, feeling like he was on the verge of passing out, or on the verge of death. "And...if you do find this sphere...please...give this to my little sister...Her name's written on this sphere...

"Twily...if you're watching this...I barely made it out alive, but I got them." The tired stallion lifted up a small knife that belonged to the Tonberry that got him, still stained with his blood. "Got the little bugger." Shining chuckled, only to begin coughing heavily and hacking up blood. He controlled his breathing as he looked at the sphere. "At least...I know you're safe...I'm not going to make it...I still can't believe I fought them all and won...while also slipping through the caved in room for safety.

"...I know you're probably mourning for me...but I don't want you to blame yourself, Twily. It was my fault I dragged you outside of Bevelle...and to this place...I'm not mad at you for being afraid to cast any magic...I only wish I didn't believe those rumors..." He weakly slammed his forehoof into the wall he leaned against out of frustration on his careless actions. "...I put my own baby sister in danger...I think I deserve to die for being the worst brother in Spira's history...At least I protected you and gave you the chance to flee...

"...I hope you're doing ok without me...I hope you're safe." Tears began to roll down Shining's cheeks as he was about to lose consciousness. "I'm sorry, Twily...If I get sent, if any summoners do make it down here...I'll say hi to mom and dad for you...I love you...L.S.B.F.F..."

He reached out to the sphere to end the recording, and as the screen went dark, Shining fell over as he breathed his last breath.

As the last of Shining's dying message to Twilight ended, she just stared at the sphere, letting his final words sink in. The others worried as Twilight was eerily quiet, half expecting her to blow up again and half expecting her to cry. At least the ones who questioned the unicorn's moody attitude understood why she behaved this way, feeling sorry for her as she seemed to go through the worst traumatic moment no one should go through at a young age.

Applejack moved closer to Twilight, resting a hoof on her shoulder. "Twilight?" She slowly looked up at the orange earth pony, tears slowly beginning to well up in the unicorn's eyes. "...Why didn't ya want to tell us about this? Losin' your brother?"

"...I-I...I didn't want to remember," Twilight said as her tears ran down her face. "I didn't want to remember my failure...Shiny needed me to help him, and I couldn't do anything...I mastered every spell I ever read, and I froze in fear in that stupid cave! I was his guardian, and I was supposed to protect him like he does for me! I let him down...and he...he..."

Twilight couldn't hold it back anymore, burying her face in Applejack's shoulder and cried. She gently patted the lavender mare's back as she let out all her pent up sorrow. Applejack heard Twilight mumbling apologies as she sobbed: to her, Shining Armor, everyone she had lashed out at from her frustrations while keeping her depression from coming back.

"Ah'm sorry, sugarcube," Applejack consoled the unicorn, holding her tightly as she wept.

A while later, Twilight managed to calm down a little, everyone else having fallen asleep while she stayed awake. She looked down at the remains of Smarty Pants, somewhat fixed up thanks to Rarity's attempt to repair her, but her animation spell wouldn't work on her special birthday gift as it was now. For so long, she kept Smarty Pants as a memento, both as a reminder of her brother and her greatest failure as a guardian. For so many years, she was afraid Shining Armor hated her for being unable to use her magic to save them, but hearing him blame himself and understanding her fright back then in that situation eased her mind a little. He kept her safe like the protective older brother he was, always looking out for her when they were oprhans.

"...Shining...I hope you're in the Farplane, resting peacefully now..." Twilight gently brushed the remaining bits of mane left on Smarty Pants's head. "...I miss you so much...If only I was strong enough..."

"What more could ya have done as a filly?" She looked over at Applejack, pretending to sleep as she watched Twilight. "It sounded like our big brothers were alike after seein' that sphere. They were both makin' sure we would be safe, even if what they thought was a good idea ended up bein' stupid." The earth pony guardian sat closer to Twilight, looking at the destroyed doll that was once alive. "When ya'll were datin' Big Mac...did ya see your brother in him?"

"...A little," the unicorn admitted. "I was...actually afraid when I was with him...I didn't want to feel happy, scared of losing somepony I wanted to be close to, just like Shining...I felt like I would never be happy ever again after what happened to him...That's why I wanted to shut any positive emotions away. I didn't want to go through that pain anymore, losing the ones I love..."

Twilight choked back a sob as a fresh wave of tears began to run down her cheeks. "Twi..." Applejack hugged her, understanding her pain. "Ah know it was hard for you to even say somethin' that painful...Ah'm glad ya did. Ya shouldn't bottle anythin' inside forever. Ah felt like explodin' a month after what happened to Big Mac." After Twilight kept herself from crying any further, she held Smarty Pants up before her. "...What are ya gonna do about Smarty Pants?"

"...I can't bring her back to life like this...She's too badly torn apart, killed like a normal living being..." She looked down at the fire, still burning brightly as it illuminated their small campsite. "...I kept Smarty Pants to remind me of my failure...but now, I feel like a small weight's lifted from my shoulders after hearing Shining's last words..." Twilight looked up at the night sky, wondering if her family is watching her. "...I love you too, B.B.B.F.F...Take care of Smarty Pants for me..."

To Applejack's surprise, Twilight gently hovered Smarty Pants's remains into the fire. She watched as the doll burned, imagining her doll's spirit would reach the Farplane and be with her big brother as her gift turned to ashes. As the last of Smarty Pants burned away, Twilight held Mog tightly in her hooves as she leaned against Applejack. She had fallen asleep moments later, greatly exhausted, but at peace with herself.

"Hey, Twi?" The unicorn's ears twitched, listening to Applejack as she slept. "Ya know what that spell was ya cast down there? It was pretty powerful."

She shifted a little as she recalled her magical burst in her distress, knowing exactly what the spell was. "Ultima..." Next Chapter: Chapter 36: Dragon's Pride Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 6 Minutes