Rainbow Dash had no idea how long the room had been quiet for. Celestia had told Fluttershy to choose someone to become the fayth to earn the Final Aeon, which meant killing one of her guardians, one of her friends, to gain the power to defeat Sin. How was anyone supposed to make a decision like this? It'd be like committing murder, yet it's considered justified because it's for Spira's future. She knew something was wrong the very moment they discovered the fayth of Luna was empty of her soul, and now they know that two lives are lost, not one.

Rarity was really out of it after re-watching the tragic moment of her past ten years ago, watching Jet Stream and Kindred Heart confront Celestia to make Rainbow's father the fayth. What really confused the pegasus was the fact that her father was now Sin, yet he was supposed to be dead. It didn't make any sense. After a moment thinking about how this was possible, her eyes widened as she remembered what Blueblood had said about freeing Jet Stream from his torment as Sin and why he was desperate to have Fluttershy "use" him as a sacrifice.

She didn't want to voice out her theory if she was right, not wanting to sound crazy. Looking around the room, everyone was still in shock and actually considering going through with this pointless endeavor. Fluttershy was conflicted, unable to choose her close friends and those she considered family to sacrifice. Pinkie Pie was desperately trying to come up with another solution to beat Sin while they had the chance, but with no results. Applejack and Twilight were completely silent as they still couldn't believe this was really happening. Rarity was being comforted by Spike, having slightly recovered from her outburst, but still a little shaken up.

Growing tired of the silence, Rainbow Dash finally spoke up. "This is not happening! We're going to break this cycle!"

"Are ya out of your mind, Rainbow?" Applejack questioned. "There's nothin' we can do."

"This is the only way we can stop Sin," Twilight said. "...If anypony's going to be the fayth, Fluttershy, choose me."

"Nuh uh! No way are ya gonna sacrifice yourself, Twilight!" the stetson wearing earth pony argued. "Ah'll do it!"

"No me! I'm it!" Pinkie exclaimed, appearing between the two mares. "...Wait, who are we it for?"

"Becoming the fayth," Twilight said blandly, annoyed at Pinkie's obliviousness.

"Oh! No! I don't want to be it! I'm trying to find a way to NOT get anypony killed!" Pinkie shouted.

"No one is going to be killed, because I'm gonna find another way," Rainbow said.

"Do ya have any idea how much of a foal you're bein', Rainbow Dash? Ya'll are gonna get nothin' if ya want everythin'." The pegasus scoffed, her discovery being a dream more depressing than what they all just learned recently.

"Ok. Fine, Applejack. I'm acting like a foal. So let's hear what the adults are gonna do. Hmm?" Rainbow held a hoof up to her ear in the mare's direction. "I'm waiting to hear what mature solution the grownups have." Receiving no answer, she turned away from Applejack and Twilight. "Exactly. But just because there's no other option, that doesn't mean I'm gonna give up finding a better way, so nopony dies. I am not going to let Fluttershy die, and I am NOT going to let any one of us to sacrifice ourselves!"

"What are you gonna do, Dashie?" Pinkie asked.

"I'm gonna march right up to Celestia and tell her that all of this is nothing but pony feathers! If she's as powerful as she claims to be, turning somepony into the Final Aeon, then she has to have a safer solution if she's being as sadistic as Blueblood killing ponies!" Rainbow flew up the stairs and looked down at her friends. "This is my story! If I'm going to die, then I'm gonna die trying on my own terms, not by anypony else's!"

"Then it's my story too." Fluttershy walked up the steps and stood next to Rainbow Dash. "I know I've always followed the path I had chosen, and I knew where my fate would end up, doing it for everypony in Spira...But Rainbow Dash has a point. As much as I don't want to lose any of you, there might be another idea if we ask Lady Celestia."

"Right. Let's go, guys!" Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash walked down the corridor, leaving the others behind.

"...Is there really another way?" Twilight asked.

"There might be." Rarity stood up from Spike's embrace, picking up her discarded katana and hefted it on her back. Her puffy eyes looked up at the stairs, ignoring the loss of her shades as they were only a shield to hide the pain in her eyes. "This time, I know things will change...We've all suffered long enough, and I'm sick and tired of doing nothing, letting everything I strived to do for Spira become nothing but a twisted game for her..."

She followed after the pegasi, ready to confront Celestia again. With no other choice, the rest of the guardians headed up the stairs after them, worried about the outcome of asking the powerful summoner another way to stop Sin.

As soon as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash passed through the corridor, they walked up a flight of stairs, only to wind up in another dimensional realm. Thankfully, it was unlike the one the Spectral Keeper brought them in, the world outside of the small stretch of ruins surrounded by stars. It was as if they were in space. Soon, the rest of the party walked in, just as amazed as they were at the realm they walked into.

"Wowie! This is some cool interior decorating!" Pinkie said. "Are we really in space? Where's the moon!? I heard it's made out of cheese!"

"Pinkie, the moon is a giant ball of earth with no atmosphere to sustain life," Twilight said.

"Ooooh. Maud would love a moon rock." The lavender unicorn slapped her forehead, Mog following suit as they both shook their heads.

A while of looking around the majestic realm later, Celestia walked up from a flight of stairs on the other end of the room, where it didn't look like there was any passage from any other angle. Seeing the summoner party were all here, she approached the center of the room, standing on top of a glyph that signified Zanarkand's aeon.

"It appears you have made your decision," Celestia said, feigning ignorance of the party's expressions of anger, confusion, or sadness. "Now, who will become the fayth and become the next Final Summoning?"

"Before I decide, may I ask a question?" Fluttershy asked, the powerful summoner nodding her head. "If I defeat Sin using the Final Aeon...will Sin come back?"

Celestia began to chuckle, as if she was hearing a joke. "Of course Sin will always come back. Sin is eternal. Every aeon that defeats Sin becomes Sin in its place, reborn after some time."

While a majority of the group was horrified of the winged unicorn's answer, Rainbow growled, her guess being right on the dot. "I knew it. That's why my dad is Sin now. That's why Blueblood wanted Fluttershy to have him as a sacrifice. You've been doing this on purpose just to screw around with everypony for a thousand years!"

"...As much as you'd like to make that claim, you cannot fault me for Sin's creation." Rainbow Dash seemed to have struck a nerve with Celestia, seeing a small glint of anger in her eyes before it disappeared. "Sin is an inevitable part of Spira's destiny. It is immortal, always in a never-ending cycle."

"But, we've been atonin' for our sins in the past," Applejack said, swallowing the lump in her throat as she spoke to the demigoddess. "If we keep followin' the teachin's, then Sin will go away, right?"

She laughed again, unnerving everyone. "What hope is there for every single sentient being to do such a thing? You have an Al Bhed in your group, and they are considered heathens because they still use machina."

"That's racist!" Pinkie shouted. "I haven't touched a single machina in a couple days, only dismantling them! That counts for something!"

"B-But this is wrong!" Twilight exclaimed. "For the last millennium, everypony's been atoning all this time so that it may exorcise Sin! It's the only hope that we've had for the longest time!"

"Hope?" Celestia questioned. "What a word it is; hope. A want of something to happen...So powerful, yet meaningless at the same time. Hope allows us accept fate, even the ones that end in tragedy." Everyone was appalled to hear the mare say something like that, practically spitting on all of Spira's face like nothing matters if the world suffers. "How painful reality can be once that hope comes crashing down like a tidal wave."

Rainbow Dash growled, growing sick and tired of hearing Celestia talk. She was far worse than Blueblood, but at least she didn't want to destroy Spira. Instead, she's leading summoners to their death and lost her heart a thousand years ago. She even wondered if she really was upset when she sacrificed her own sister to stop Sin back then if what they saw in Guadosalam was nothing but a falsified tale made up by the manic Guado stallion.

The pegasus was about to rush at Celestia with her sword held out, only to stop as the realm flashed as a memory was playing back, hearing the sound of a mare screaming her head off as they came running into the room. Young Rarity ran past everyone as she skidded to a halt before the past Celestia standing before the present one, her diamond katana slamming hard into the ground as she glared at the summoner with tears streaming down her face.

"Y-You...You...!" Rarity seethed as she tightened her grip on her blade. "You're worse than Sin! Kindred Heart followed the teachings and believed in them, getting killed by the Final Aeon! Jet Stream believed in him and sacrificed himself, only to kill him in the end! You killed my friends!"

"I only did what was necessary for Spira's hope," past Celestia said, the present mare grinning as she watched the growing anger on past Rarity's face. "They chose to die because of that hope."

"...You monster..." The unicorn growled, unable to hold back her rage. "Sin came back...you got two fathers killed...I'LL KILL YOU! NOPONY WILL EVER HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS EVER AGAIN!"

Rarity screamed as she ran toward the powerful deity before her, leaping up in the air to cleave Celestia in half. The memory seemed to slow down as they watched the two. Past Celestia closed her eyes, then opened them again as they flashed white. A barrier formed around the one thousand year old summoner, blocking the heavy and unbreakable katana mere inches from her head. She then thrust out a hoof, shattering the barrier and turning it into sharp shards, sending them flying into Rarity as she screamed in agony, one of them managing to hit her eye, the same spot where she currently has her scar.

The unicorn flew back and tumbled across the ground, deep gashes on every part of her body as she slowly skidded across the ground. Her katana, flung away from her as she lost her grip on it when she was struck, fell toward her, landing mere inches away from her face, cutting off a small bit of her mane. Everyone, except for the Celestias, stared in horror, Rarity wincing as she recalled the excruciating pain she received in that moment. Past Celestia walked away as the memory slowly faded away, present Celestia watching herself walk away as she left the unicorn's unconscious, bleeding body.

"Faust's teachings and the Final Summoning give Spira hope," Celestia said. "Without hope, everypony would just wallow in their sorrow, lost in an endless sea of despair." She held out her hoof out toward Fluttershy. "Now, choose which of your guardians will be the next fayth. Who will be Spira's new hope?"

Celestia waited for a response, but she was met with silence. Fluttershy looked back at her guardians, not wanting to give up any of their lives. She didn't even give them the answer they wanted, if there was any other way to defeat Sin without giving up two lives, where one of them would end up as the next Sin. Sin always came back because of this tradition, which is the true cause of Spira's never-ending suffering. Fluttershy looked back at Celestia defiantly, making her decision.

"I choose no one." The elder summoner raised a brow in confusion. "As much as I want to save Spira, gladly giving up my life, but not like this! The Final Summoning should never be used again if we want to end this cycle, throwing away this miserable tradition!"

"You do not seem to understand, summoner," Celestia said, her calm stare slowly turning cold. "This is our only hope. Your father sacrificed himself to give Spira hope."

"He didn't want this! My father wanted to end Spira's suffering for good, not cover it up with lies!" Fluttershy shouted.

"Sorrow will never disappear. Your words are meaningless," Celestia said as her mane seemed to billow a little wildly.

"Then if my words fail, I'll take action, without using the Final Aeon." Fluttershy looked back at the others, seeing Rainbow Dash backing her up with a determined grin. Though the rest of the party seemed skeptical, they knew all of this was wrong. All their beliefs, all of their atonement, none of it mattered with this endless cycle, and they were willing to fight to find another way, no matter how futile their search may be. "I loved my father...and I was so sure he was doing the right thing...After what I saw..." She looked back at Celestia, holding out her staff. "I'd rather live in sorrow than die to bring false hope. For every summoner after you, who gave up their lives, and every guardian that became Sin, I will find another way to end Spira's suffering. I will defeat Sorrow and refuse to follow this tradition any longer."

Celestia let out a sigh, closing her eyes and shaking her head in disappointment. "You poor, unfortunate pegasus...You would rather throw away your hope and die in misery..." She opened her eyes, glaring harshly at the party, no longer the peaceful mare she was just moments ago. "Fine then. If this is what you desire, then I will grant you all your death. I shall liberate you all from your suffering, so you can die with hope than continue living in despair!"

Her wings flared out and her mane and tail waved erratically in the air as if she was in a hurricane. Spirits around her flew out of her body as she unleashed an aura of power. As strong as she claims to be, no one stood down, Rarity stepping forward as she held her katana over her shoulder.

"Now is the time, everypony!" she said. "This is where you make your choice! Would you rather die and be free of your pain, or will you live and tackle your sorrows head on and conquer them!?" The unicorn held her blade out at Celestia, ready for a rematch against the conceited mare of the past. "Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate lies in your hooves, not in anypony else's!"

Spike stepped forward, twirling his halberd as he readied himself for the fight of his life. "I humiliated myself in front of Elder Yiazmat and shamed my tribe. They accepted me again after I proved my strength, and they died because of a power-hungry Guado who wanted to be Sin! If I die, then I just shame my dragon brethren more for my failure! I'm never going to back down!"

"Me too!" Pinkie exclaimed bouncing up and down as she tightened her claw weapon to her hoof. "No more death! No more pain! No more losses! I'm going all in!"

"...Ah can't believe this is really happenin'," Applejack muttered.

"So you're just going to give up?" Twilight asked, seeing she was ready to fight, Mog putting up his paws in a boxer's stance on top of the unicorn's head.

"Ah didn't say that," Applejack countered, clutching her blitzball tightly as she lifted up her stetson, revealing her determined gaze. "If Ah back down now, Ah'll never forgive mahself. Even if Ah die!"

"My thoughts exactly," Twilight said, her horn glowing as she prepared to cast her magic.

With everyone ready to fight for their lives, Rainbow Dash stepped up next to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, let's see this through together." The pegasus summoner nodded as the cyan pegasus held out her sword. "This is our story, Celestia! We're not letting you decide what'll happen to us! This cycle you hold so much is going to end here and now!"

"You are all fools." The party spread out, staring down Celestia. "The cycle will last forever. It cannot end!"

For being deemed as a powerful summoner, Celestia wasn't as quick as she seemed as Rainbow Dash flew at her in a blur, slashing at her and breaching past her barrier. Confused, she was left open as she was struck with a barrage of powerful elemental spells coming from Twilight, followed by a hard smack in the face by Applejack's blitzball as the smoke cleared away.

Growling, Celestia spotted Rainbow Dash charging at her again. She thrust her hoof out at her, sending out a powerful force at the pegasus, sending her flying back to the others. Her horn began to glow a golden hue as it shot out at Rainbow, the aura absorbing energy from her. It flew back to her, healing any injuries she had sustained. Before she could mock the pegasus, she felt her own energy being absorbed from her by Spike, stealing the regenerated health she had taken. He used one of his abilities using Dragon Rage, a calming white wind blowing against the him and his friends as they were reinvigorated by the breeze.

Rarity ran forward and slashed her katana, managing to cut the mare's chest. "Hope you're ready for round two, fiend. I'm going to enjoy killing you after what you've done to them."

"...How did you even survive!?" Celestia exclaimed as she saw Rarity's eyes, recognizing the older mare.

"Must have been lucky!" Rarity was about to cleave the mare in two, only for her blade to be stopped by the summoner's aura.

Pinkie quickly distracted Celestia, leaping onto her back and clawing at her eyes. Yelling in pain, trying to shake the Al Bhed mare off of her, Rarity slashed away, leaving more deep gashes in her. Growing irritated at the weaker ponies and dragon actually getting the upper hoof on her, she shoved the two mares away from her with her magic, glaring at the party.

"Don't any of you realize who you are attacking? Don't you see what will happen if you kill me!?" Celestia slammed her hooves down, making the glyph she stood upon glow brightly, which then turned dark as a void appeared. She began to rise up as a dozen demonic tentacles lifted her up, sitting down on them like it was a throne. "You will not destroy the only hope Spira has! I will not allow it!"

She thrust her hooves down, sending the tentacles buried in the ground toward the mares and dragon. They rose up in front of them and stabbed each of them, inflicting Zombie status on all of them. While they were stunned, she cast a healing spell on Rarity, wanting to end her life before she could get her revenge. The powerful spell damaged the unicorn greatly, but she still stood.

"Oh come on! Enough with the Zombie stuff!" Pinkie complained. "Do something useful, not cheap!"

"I am; killing heathens who wish to destroy this land!" Celestia continued casting healing magic on them, hurting them in the status that they're in.

Fluttershy could barely do anything to heal everyone while inflicted with the Zombie status. No form of white magic can help heal this dangerous ailment, only Holy Waters, and they didn't have any on them. The only way it can wear off is if any of them falls over from their injuries and she could revive them with a Phoenix Down or a Life spell. She had to do something before Celestia could kill them.

She decided to summon Bahamut as a shield, distracting Celestia for a while until she could heal her friends' ailments. "Sorry, everypony. This will only hurt for a second."

Fluttershy began casting healing spells on the others, killing them to get rid of their Zombie status and reviving them using Life. It was a shock to know that the guardians' summoner had killed them, but she had the right idea of doing this. Now the only problem was to help her.

They didn't have much time as Bahamut was defeated, though the dragon aeon seemed to have dealt a lot of damage to Celestia and the tentacles she sat upon. She began to grow desperate as the demonic appendages began to lift up something else from inside the void that the glyph created. What came out of it made everyone sick to their stomachs: the tentacles were actually large strands of hair that came from the head of an undead pony head, its face almost resembling Luna's as the abomination screeched.

"Your lives will end here! You will not destroy what she has made for so long!" Celestia's aura began to turn a dark black, the pony head beneath her letting out a demonic roar.

Appearing before them was a cloaked figure, a pony skeleton wielding a deadly scythe laughing menacingly at its prey. It teleported over everyone, slashing the curved blade through them all, stealing all their souls except for Fluttershy's. It brought the souls it stole in front of it, slashing through them as the guardians' all fell over, instantly killed by the devastating attack.

Fluttershy gasped as she had watched her friends and marefriend killed by the grim reaper itself. She was spared, realizing that it didn't take her life because she was considered undead to it. She was on her own to fight Celestia, the thousand year old summoner snarling as one of them remained standing.

Having been fully prepared for any of the worst of circumstances, Fluttershy pulled out a Phoenix Down she hid in her sleeves, this feather glowing brighter than the average ones they always used. She swallowed the lump in her throat, knowing this was going to hurt her as a Zombie, but it will help bring the others back with just this one feather. Tossing it up in the air, several lights shined down from the heavens on the group as the feather disappeared.

The guardians were fully revived, some of them almost feeling like their lives flashed before their eyes after feeling their souls snatched out of their bodies. "Whoa...That was terrifying." They soon heard Fluttershy scream in pain as the healing light killed her. "Fluttershy!" Rainbow shouted, quickly running up to the fallen summoner in a panic, taking out a Phoenix Down from her pocket.

"A Mega Phoenix Down," Celestia grumbled, unable to use her instant killing spell after some time.

"For being somepony who seems like a goddess everypony worshiped, you seem to like death far too much." Rarity held her katana tightly as she knelt low to the ground, the air around her whirling violently as she was about to unleash her Overdrive. The others backed away, feeling the wind beginning to pull them in, Rainbow Dash holding Fluttershy as she revived the pegasus. Rarity began to spin around, swinging her weapon around to increase the force of the tornado she formed around her, sending it soaring at Celestia as it engulfed her in its powerful storm. "Why don't you burn in Tarterus where you rightfully belong?"

Taking the jug attached to her hip, the unicorn flung it into the tornado, shattering in the razor sharp winds as it engulfed the tornado in a fiery blaze from the liquid inside of the jug. The undead head screeched in agony as it was burnt alive, Celestia screaming in pain as the fire burned her. The mare couldn't stay on her perch for long as she was sucked up in the burning twister, the undead tentacle beast disappearing as several spirits flew out of it.

The tornado calmed down and disappeared, Celestia falling to the ground, unable to hover down to safety with her wings badly singed. She landed hard, but she wasn't dead yet. Not wanting to give her the chance to recover her injuries with her own healing magic, Rarity rushed at Celestia to deal the final blow. Celestia cast a barrier around herself as the unicorn thrust her weapon toward her, however, it wasn't going to end like last time. Her katana pierced through the magic shield and ran itself right through the summoner's chest.

Celestia's mane and tail had ceased flowing and drooped, letting out struggled gasps as blood seeped out of her impaled chest and mouth. She looked down at Rarity with terrified eyes, her demeanor drastically changed from cynical to frightened.

"...W-What...have you done?" she weakly asked.

"What I needed to do to keep you from killing anypony else." Rarity swiftly pulled her blade out of Celestia, the mare collapsing to the ground as she hung on to what life she had left. "Sin will never come back now."

"...Y-You...You just killed...S-Spira's only hope..." Celestia let out a shuddered gasp. "You've...doomed us all..."

"We'll find a new hope," Rainbow said as she approached the dying deity.

"E-even if you do...F-Faust will only...create...a new Sin...no matter what you do..." She began to fade away, the spirits around her floating away from her body. "L-Luna...Forgive me...T-These ponies...took away...Spira's light of hope...All...that remains...is.......sorrow..."

As Celestia finally succumbed to her death and disappeared, everyone looked at each other in confusion. She mentioned Faust, the deity Spira worshiped and obeyed teaching created by it, and Faust was an actual being who does exist. And Faust was the creator of Sin, but how it was possible was beyond them. Though the others couldn't believe they killed Celestia, they at least got rid of the one thing that kept bringing Sin back.

"Well, now what are we gonna do?" Pinkie asked.

"We beat Sin without the Final Aeon," Rainbow said. "I don't have a clue how we're going to do that, but I'll think of something." They soon took their leave of the realm, Rainbow Dash staying behind as she drooped her head. "That is IF I can think of something to stop something that big..." Next Chapter: Chapter 44: The Promise Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 25 Minutes