The long road to reach the only standing building in Zanarkand was long, and littered with fiends that were from Mt. Gagazet's caverns. As they traveled along the broken debris, they saw hundreds of pyreflies floating around, more and more appearing in clusters as they got closer. It was as if Zanarkand was a living version of the Farplane, only the place was more of despair and destruction than peace and serenity.

After trekking through at least a mile of broken buildings and roads, they finally arrived at their destination, which was a shock for Rainbow Dash to see where it was; the blitzball stadium. Just like before she was brought to Spira, it was in the exact same state it was destroyed in when Sin attacked and nearly killed her. If the fayth was inside the stadium, she was afraid to see how ruined the interior of the building was. And the strangest thing was she never even knew there was an aeon here. Even Celestia was still a mystery to her, despite being known as the first summoner to defeat Sin and having existed in her time. The fayth should have at least given her some knowledge on somepony like her, and in her life, the only celebrity everyone fawned over was Jet Stream.

While pondering what will lie before them, somepony, not a fiend, walked down from the entrance, an old stallion priest. "Ah, a summoner hath arrived." He made his way down the still stable ramp and approached Fluttershy. "Name yourself, traveler."

"I am Summoner Fluttershy. I have come from the isle of Besaid," she said, bowing to him.

"Let me see your eyes, my dear." The two stared at each other for a moment until the stallion nodded his head. "Very good. You have come a long way. Lady Celestia awaits your presence. Go to her, along with your guardians."

Pyreflies began to fly out of the priest, everyone gasping in shock as he walked past them, physically phasing through them as he slowly disappeared. It was obvious nopony would be insane enough to live in this dead city, but it was still a shock to know someone, even unsent, would risk living in a dangerous, fiend infested ruins.

"Ok, this is spooky," Rainbow said as she looked back at the stadium.

The party headed inside and began making their way across the destroyed stadium, Rainbow Dash cringing at the damage that was done to her favorite place to play blitzball. The path was a winding trail of fallen debris from the building, and it was infested with undead warriors and machina similar to the ones in Bevelle. It was bad enough if there were normal fiends, but the stadium was far too dangerous with the out of control golems and zombie soldiers carrying machina weapons.

While carefully making their way across the winding trail, the stadium suddenly flashed as the area turned blue for a moment, almost as if it was a giant sphere replaying some kind of memory. Running past them, two mares in Crusader armor ran forward, stopping a few yards ahead of the party as they panted heavily. One of them was a light tan earth pony, her mane a cobalt blue with a light fuschia stripe down the middle, the other a light aquamarine unicorn, her mane a pale light green with white highlights.

"We're almost there," the earth pony said, looking at her comrade in worry.

"I know," the unicorn said. "If it means sacrificing my life, then I'll gladly do it. Take my life, Bon Bon, and I'll help you get rid of Sin."

The memory faded, the others growing confused at what they saw. "Wait, 'Bon Bon'? Did she mean Summoner Bon Bon!?" Twilight gasped. "Lady Bon Bon's sacrifice was over a hundred years ago, though!"

"Since this area is infested with pyreflies, the ruins of this stadium is like a gigantic sphere." Rarity swatted away one of the glowing orbs of light as one got close to her. "We'll be seeing our predecessors from several years who passed here, or even just recently. And their thoughts stay here. Forever."

They continued on for a while until another memory played out. There was a colt crying while and adult unicorn mare limped over to him, seeming exhausted from taking out the machina and zombies that tried to attack them. What surprised them all was that the colt crying was a young Blueblood, nothing at all like the psychotic stallion that's been trying to kill them.

"No, mommy! I don't want you to be a fayth!" Blueblood sobbed as tears streamed down his face.

"There's no other way, sweetheart," his mother said. "This is the only way everypony in Guadosalam will accept you. You must use me in order to defeat Sin."

"I don't want to! I don't care! Mommy, don't!" Blueblood buried his face in his mother's chest and held her tightly, crying harder.

The mare looked like she was on the verge of passing out, holding her foal close. "...I don't have much time left...Blueblood...Orion..."

The memory faded away, leaving the group stupefied. "...Was that seriously Blueblood!?"

"And his mother..." This only brought so many more questions about Blueblood's motives, and his status as a summoner. "They were out here in Zanarkand?"

"But what did she mean?" Twilight asked. "She said, 'You must use me in order to defeat Sin.' That was the same thing Summoner Bon Bon's guardian said."

"Who cares?" Rainbow coldly said. "If seeing this means we should feel bad Blueblood, I say screw his past! He wussed out as a summoner, and he became a madpony bent on killing everything to 'heal' Spira! Does anypony actually feel bad for him?" She looked back at the others, seeing confused expressions on their faces, but they all agreed Blueblood shouldn't be pitied for his actions against them. "Right! I hope he rots like the corpse he is."

Continuing on, they were about to enter another part of the blitzball stadium when yet another memory flashed in. This time, it showed Kindred Heart, Jet Stream, and Rarity from ten years ago, panting in exhaustion as they made it through the dangerous fiends that lurked in the stadium.

"I can't believe all this. I used to blitz here," Jet Stream said, looking over at Kindred Heart. "Kindred, we don't have to do this, you know. We can just go back to Bevelle."

"We've gotten this far already, Jet. I can't turn back now." Jet sighed, unable to change the pegasus's mind.

"Kindred, for once, I'm agreeing with Jet Stream," Rarity said, more worried about going through with this than the two older stallions. "I don't want to see you die when you face Sin! What would Fluttershy do when you sacrifice yourself!?"

"Rarity, I'm grateful you're concerned about me," Kindred said, resting a hoof on his guardian's shoulder. "You knew this would happen. We all did."

"I didn't," Jet grumbled, able to be heard by the two.

"...Yes. Forgot about that." Kindred shook his head, looking back at Rarity. "Rarity, you know this is the only way to end Spira's suffering. When I defeat Sin, I'll be protecting the world from its wrath. And protecting my daughter before anything happens to her."

The moment faded as they ran further inside the ruins, the present party following after them. Jet Stream was just as clueless about a summoner's pilgrimage as much as Rainbow was, but he seemed to have taken it better than she did. Another memory played out as they followed Kindred's party up to the entrance that lead down to a section of the building Rainbow didn't know about before.

"Let me guess; there's going to be some kind of annoying puzzle in here?" Jet asked as Kindred pressed his hoof against the nearby Save Sphere, healing their injuries. "I'm gonna take that as a yes. Ugh! I hate solving these dumb things! And where's the festivities when we got to the final temple!? Parades and fireworks, mares to welcome us, confetti all over the place!?"

"You can ask for all that once I beat Sin." The trio headed down into Zanarkand's Cloister of Trials, Kindred and Rarity ignoring the comment about mares congratulating them.

"Wow, Rarity. I thought you would have smacked my dad upside the head for that." Rarity just looked at the entrance, her eyes hidden beneath her glasses. "Rarity?"

"After we solve the Cloister of Trials, we'll be tested by another fiend." Ignoring Rainbow Dash, she moved on ahead.

"What's up with her?" Rainbow Dash asked.

The others shrugged, having no clue what the unicorn seemed upset about. She wanted to get all this over with, never wanting to take a break, and whenever something important about her journey with Kindred Heart and Jet Stream could help the others at this point, she flat out ignores them. As much as they need to discover things for themselves, they were in dire need of answers.

Heading downstairs, they watched Rarity already begin working on the puzzles for them, having opened the doorway leading to another room further in. From what they could gather, the tiles on the floor lit up in different colored and shaped blocks, needing to activate them by pressing on specific ones with a light in the center, making a certain shape around it. There were pedestals on the sides of the small room, two of them pushed in already as Rarity came back, pushing another one in.

"Rarity?" The unicorn didn't answer as she headed off into the next room. The others followed as the found her walked around the larger room with more tiles, matching the same tiles to the one that appeared on the monitor. In the center was a hole that lead down, six circular platforms around the edge. "Rarity, what's wrong?"

"I just want to get through with this annoying puzzle is all," Rarity said, though by how she began to stomp down on the tiles that made the blocks glow, it looked like it was more than the puzzle that's irritating her. "The sooner we get through this, the faster you can all understand what's really going on..."

"This is so stupid." Rainbow Dash stepped on a random tile, messing up the one portion of the puzzle, resetting the glowing tiles. "Rarity, stop being cryptic and tell us what the hay's going on!"

"...Get your hoof off that tile," the unicorn growled, almost threateningly.

"Not until you tell us what you're so ticked off about. You've been wanting to rush us ever since you showed up in Luca and became Fluttershy's guardian, you keep brushing off our problems like they don't mean anything, and now your getting mad at the fact we're here, when you clearly wanted us to be here!" Slowly, Rarity brought out her katana, glaring at the pegasus refusing to obey her. "Oh, you think you're so scary! What are you gonna do next? Put me in a dress?"

"Get off of that tile and let me finish this stupid puzzle!" Rarity shouted.

"...Make me." Setting off the unicorn's temper, Rarity ran at Rainbow Dash, intending to kill her.

Before she got closer, Spike pounced on her and pinned her to the ground, knocking her weapon away and temporarily disabling her telekinesis. Even though Rarity was strong enough to life a magically transformed katana that weighed more than a boulder five times her size, she was no match for the dragon's brute strength as she struggled to get out from underneath him.

"Rarity, please calm down," Fluttershy said, trying to calm the situation before either mare made it worse.

"Calm down!? How can I be calm when I have to have everything that happened here ten years ago come back to haunt me!?" Getting sick and tired of secrets being hidden from her, Rainbow Dash shoved Spike aside and slammed the enraged unicorn's head into the ground.

"You know, I'm getting sick of this, Rarity! Every time there's something none of us now about, someone has to keep something hidden because they don't want to say anything tragic or they're being an idiot withholding something IMPORTANT to all of us! You fall under the last category, and I'll beat everything out of you if I have to!" The two mares began fighting, tumbling around the room as they exchanged a few blows as they argued.

"Don't you dare patronize me, you brat!" Rarity stood over Rainbow Dash and began punching her, the pegasus blocking her hooves with her forelegs. "You have no idea what I've been through! Don't act like you're wiser than me when you're clearly more immature than your father!"

Spike grabbed Rarity and pulled her away from Rainbow Dash while Applejack kept the pegasus from lunging at the unicorn. "Rarity, Rainbow Dash, cut it out!" Twilight yelled. "Now isn't the time to be instigating anything when we're in a lot more danger than we already are!"

"Yeah! Not to mention the bright and colorful tile puzzle that I must solve because it looks fun!" Pinkie added as she wandered around, wanting to solve a Cloister of Trial's puzzle.

Fluttershy walked up to Rarity, growing worried at her sudden change in demeanor. "Rarity, we all saw you were really scared when the memory of you, Sir Jet, and my father appeared. Please, tell us what happened here."

Rarity finally controlled herself, though she still seemed miserable just by being here, looking away from the others. "...I can't say it...It's better if you find out from her..." Seeing she had calmed down enough, Spike let go of her. "...You're all going to have second thoughts when you see Celestia down here."

"Again with this!? Just tell us already!" Mog leapt up on Rainbow's head and tugged her ears hard, shutting her up before her big mouth angered Rarity again. "Augh! Dang it! I bought you, you stupid doll! Whose side are you on!?"

"Rainbow Dash, shut up." Twilight used her magic, zipping Rainbow's mouth like a zipper before she instigated another fight.

"Like I said before...you'll find out soon," Rarity said, her magic returning to her as she grabbed her katana with her aura. "...I'm not as tough as I seem...Back then, I was terrified. I didn't want to lose Kindred Heart...I didn't want anypony to die as much as you all do...What happened here...was so painful for me to even recall. Even if I did tell you everything, what chance was there for all of you to turn around and stop you from continuing this journey?"

"Then how come my dad didn't come back with you and he's now Sin?" Rainbow asked.

Rarity didn't answer, but was thankfully distracted when the lights dimmed down and the circles in the center of the room began glowing different shaped glyphs. Pinkie bounded, having completed the puzzles while the others stopped Rainbow Dash and Rarity from killing each other.

"It's alright guys! I solved the trial!" she exclaimed. "It was kind of annoying because there tiles that made white squares, but I managed to finish it!"

"...Pinkie, did you seriously just complete the puzzle?...Right now?" Rarity asked.

"Yeah...Why?" The room suddenly got darker as the party was dragged onto the glyphs, turning into platforms as their environment changed into some strange dimensional void.

More glyphs appeared, forming a circle, some large stone platforms outside of the circle for anything bigger than them to stand on. "Oh great. Spectral Keeper's coming."

"Who?" From the center of the circle of glyphs was a dangerous looking spiritual fiend, rising up from the red void down below.

Its arms were long, able to spread out to the glyphs around it, with dangerously sharp claws. It had no legs, but its tail was like a third arm, the blade at the tip sharper than its claws and could only hit something that was directly facing it. Everyone was standing on individual glyphs, fourteen of them in total instead of six, unable to move from their starting glyphs.

"W-What the hay is going on!?" Twilight exclaimed as she tried to move her hooves.

"Spectral Keeper is a different kind of fight," Rarity explained. "We have to move around with our will to a free glyph in order to avoid its attacks. We're all sitting ducks if we just stay in one spot."

"Perfect. Another gimmick that nopony likes! And having Blueblood dismiss aeons and getting rid of our buffs was something that everypony hated because he was unfair!" The Spectral Keeper looked at Pinkie and whipped its tail at her, smacking her up in the air a little. Her body twitched a little as her coat and mane began blinking a dark red, her expression turning into blind rage. "Now I feel like ATTACKING FOR NO REASON!"

Pinkie swiped her claws blindly, and surprisingly hitting it despite her entire being glued to the center of the glyph. "And his tail can cause Berserk and get her more killed if it decides to release Glyph Mines! Twilight, Fluttershy, stay behind it as much as possible! Rainbow, provoke it so it pays attention to you while Fluttershy heals you!"

"What!? Why am I the scapegoat!?" Rainbow complained, everyone, quickly spreading out as the dimensional fiend began to attack the others. "Are you seriously that mad at me!?"

"I was Provoked by you, Rainbow Dash. You didn't realize it because you wanted answers, but there was some magic in your words that wanted me to strangle you." The pegasus only stared at Rarity in confusion. "Remember when you fought Evrae? Your speed increased drastically when you finally cast Haste. You're now realizing the latent magical power you've had. Utilize it."

"...You're kidding? Taunting fiends can distract them that easily?" Rainbow asked.

"Just Provoke the Spectral Keeper and defend! We'll do the rest! Just make sure to avoid the-" The fiend let out a screech as black glowing spots appeared on a few of the glyphs, one of them being directly under the berserked Pinkie Pie. "Glyph Mines..."

Seeing Pinkie was in danger of the mine underneath her, Fluttershy quickly cast Esuna to heal her from her enraged status. "...I saw red, and now I see pink...ie Pie!"

"Pinkie, move! You're on a Glyph Mine!"

Looking down, the Al Bhed yelped and quickly moved to another glyph, making it just in time as the ones that had been set blew up. Seeing how dangerous this fiend was compared to the Sanctuary Keeper, Rainbow Dash had to go along with Rarity's plan and hope it didn't kill her in the process. Since she's going to be keeping quiet about everything until they discover what's bugging her, Rainbow had no other choice but to wait and see what she's been hiding. With the rest of the group spread out and the pegasus alone, she decided to try and taunt the Spectral Keeper and get its attention.

"Hey, ugly! Over here!" Rainbow Dash caught its attention, and it looked mad. "Yeah, that's right! Bet you can't kill me!"

Her Provoking worked as its eyes were now fully on her, adding in a few more taunts by making faces at it. Now with its focus on Rainbow Dash, the others began attacking it while the pegasus defended herself from its sharp claws. While Fluttershy used her healing magic to cure her injuries, they had to change their formations around to avoid the Glyph Mines that were randomly set underneath them. It took a while, but they managed to defeat the fiend with Rarity's strategy. As the fiend disappeared, the room began to shift back to normal, the glowing glyphs forming together over the hole and forming a lift leading down safely to another level.

Hopeful that the last of their tests were done and over with, the group took a small break, Fluttershy healing any further injuries Rainbow Dash had sustained as the scapegoat. Now knowing she had some skills other than Haste, she had to be a little careful when she spoke. After Fluttershy was sure Rainbow Dash was fully healed, she stepped onto the lift and headed down, where the Chamber of the Fayth laid in wait for her.

"What!? What the hay do you mean there's no Final Aeon!?" The others looked up in confusion as they heard Jet Stream's voice echo from down below.

Suddenly, they heard Fluttershy gasp in shock, exiting the chamber. "Everypony! Come down quick!"

"Fluttershy? What's going on!?" The lift rose up, though the summoner wasn't on it.

Worried, everyone else got on it and headed down to the chamber, fearing there was another fiend Rarity didn't know about and Fluttershy was in danger. Next Chapter: Chapter 42: Two Lives for the Price of Nothing Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 56 Minutes