After the party's vision had cleared up after seeing nothing but white, they found themselves in a distorted realm where all they could see was nothing be a red void all around them. Beneath them, they stood on a larger version of the Final Aeon's starry blade, chains wrapped around it as the stars had disappeared, almost as if the sword was corrupted. While looking around at their surroundings, everyone noticed that they all had halos floating above their heads, filled with powerful holy light.

"Uhh, did we all die?" Pinkie asked. "Did we lose before we even got the chance to win!?"

"No...These halos..." Fluttershy reached a hoof out to touch the golden ring, her hoof passing through it, feeling a gentle warmth coming from the halo. "This is...Auto-Life."

"Auto-Life?" Twilight asked, Mog trying to poke the ring floating above the unicorn's head as she looked up at it. "Why do we have them? These immediately revive us if we fall in combat..."

"I didn't cast the spell though," the summoner said, wondering why Auto-Life was given to them.

They didn't have enough time for an answer as they heard Faust show up, flying around the sword, searching for something to take control of. "Fluttershy, summon the aeons!"

Fluttershy nodded as she stepped forward, facing her friends as she was ready to summon. It was going to be difficult to do this to the creatures that were willing to fight for her, but if it was the only way to truly defeat Faust, then she had no choice but to lose her summons for the sake of Spira. Those same two pillars that aided Jet when he was the Final Aeon appeared behind her, paying them no mind as she began summoning.

The first aeon was the first one she had earned before her journey started; Valefor. The avian flew in through the void and hovered in front of Fluttershy. Faust sensed an aeon, taking anything she could at this point, even if it wasn't what she needed to keep Sin alive. The dangerous spirit flew into Valefor, the aeon shrieking in agony as its body began to turn dark, now in full control of her. Rainbow Dash stepped forward, her sword at the ready as she was going to take this aeon down solo.

The avian and pegasus took to the air and clashed, Rainbow's sword blocking and deflecting Valefor's beak and talons. The pegasus was a lot faster than the aeon, though what it lacked in speed made up for it with strategy. Valefor flapped her wings hard, sending out a powerful sonic boom that flung Rainbow into the ground. The aeon screeched, its voice distorted from being controlled by Faust, diving down toward the pegasus. Rainbow Dash quickly flipped back up on her hooves and charged forward, running her sword through Valefor's abdomen, expelling Faust from the aeon as she was defeated.

As the avian aeon faded away, Fluttershy winced as she had felt like she lost a part of herself, especially when Faust took complete control over Valefor. She fought back against that pain as Applejack stepped up to take on the next aeon, summoning Ifrit from his molten rock cell from the ground. Faust flew in once again and took control of the flaming beast, turning its fiery body darker in her control.

Fighting against Faust to them was a bother to them with constantly manipulating the less powerful aeons. Applejack easily avoided Ifrit's attacks, even countering his special ability, a large ball of fire shot out of his mouth, with her blitzball, juggling her weapon after bouncing off of the aeon. She was able to defeat it without a scratch, Faust fleeing from her new host and flew around again as Ifrit disappeared.

Pinkie stepped forward as Fluttershy summoned Odin, Faust taking control of the bipedal thunder aeon, turning his golden armor black. Odin ran forward and tried to slash his sword at the Al Bhed mare, Pinkie kept avoiding the tall being's attacks while taunting it. Though her gloved claws were unable to make a dent in his armor, she still had plenty of explosives at her disposal. While randomly popping up around Odin, she planted several grenades in his armor, disappearing when he looked around or tried to shake her off, continuing to fill him full of bombs. After one last bomb, placing it directly in the center of Odin's helmet, Pinkie leapt off him and looked back at the aeon, holding a small device in her hoof.

"Time to end Odin's lightning storms-" Pinkie took out a pair of shades and put them on. "-and blow him away."

Pressing the button on the device, it caused the bomb attached to Odin's helmet to blow up, causing a chain reaction of explosions inside his armor with the other grenades she stashed in him. Faust flew out of the smoke from the blast, Odin disappearing as he was defeated. Despite everyone else's groans at the terrible pun, they refocused their efforts on Faust as Fluttershy summoned Shiva, another aeon taken over as her coat turned gray.

Twilight stepped forward this time, both magical unicorns shooting their well known magical spells at each other. Shiva cast powerful Blizzard spells while Twilight countered with Fire spells, their black magic avoided or exploding as the magical energy connected along their trajectories. Their magic duel lasted for a while until Twilight managed to get the upper hoof, the ice aeon distracted by Mog as the Moogle doll bounced on Shiva's head. A Firaga spell struck the aeon, incinerating Shiva and killing her, Faust escaping from her fourth lost host.

Next was Bahamut, the dragon aeon diving down before the party and taken under the unrelenting spirit's power. Spike was next, spinning his halberd around as he faced the king of all dragons. If any of his tribe were to see him slay Bahamut on his own, every dragon in Spira would immediately look up to him as their elder and leader. Though their sizes made it seem like the aeon was the strongest of the two, Spike's latent powers using his Lancet ability could make Malboros cower under his skills.

Bahamut's massive fists tried to pound the smaller dragon into the spectral sword, only for Spike to evade him, stabbing every part of his limbs with his diamond weapon. After an intense and gruesome duel the two dragons were in, Spike managed to succeed, thrusting his halberd straight into Bahamut's heart, shoving out Faust as the aeon roared, disappearing before them.

Fluttershy grew weak, having to summon so many aeons left and right to lure Faust into fighting them instead of hiding inside of her temporary shields that were the aeons. She continued on, desperate to save Spira, not wanting to give up so soon. She then summoned Yojimbo, the mercenary aeon stepping in through a flurry of petals. Once he and his canine companion were taken over, Rarity stepped forward to duel the aeon, Yojimbo pulling out his sword from its scabbard.

The two stared each other down, the aeon's pet growling as it looked like it was ready to pounce. The warriors finally moved, both of them rushing forward and clashed blades, their strikes shooting sparks as their swords were a blur. Even though Yojimbo was a fayth whose expenses to use him are too pricey just to obtain him, he had the skills that paid that expensive bill. The aeon was good with his swordplay, but Rarity had more strength in her katana and abilities. Rarity parried Yojimbo's thrust and slashed her katana through the aeon, the mercenary went still for a moment until he dropped his sword.

The unicorn thrust her katana through the aeon, shooting Faust out yet again. As soon as Yojimbo disappeared, Fluttershy called Anima, bringing the depressing aeon from the depths of the void of darkness. The spirit took control of Anima, her shriek more painful than ever as Blueblood's mother was manipulated by the ex-summoner. The aeon attacked, shooting its deadly beam from its eye, hitting Rainbow Dash and sending her flying across the giant sword. The Auto-Life activated itself as the pegasus was killed by it, the halo reviving her as the healing light levitated her back on her hooves.

"Ok. Now I'm glad we didn't get hit by that," Rainbow said, looking up at the halo still resting over her head.

"That's not possible," Twilight said in disbelief. "That halo is supposed to disappear once it's been used...How is it still on Rainbow's head?"

"Maybe Faust wants us to kill her?" Pinkie asked. She was soon struck by the same instant killing beam from Anima, falling over dead, the Auto-life reviving her automatically and remaining over her head. "...Was that a yes or a no?"

"Whatever's going on, it doesn't matter!" Rainbow said. "We have to be tiring Faust out! We have to keep fighting!"

It took everyone's effort to take Anima down, all of them getting hit by her devastating death beam at least once. Since it was trapped where it stood, it didn't take long before everyone used their combined powers to end the aeon and free her from Faust's control. With one last aeon to defeat, Fluttershy summoned one last time, bringing the Cutie Mark Crusaders out to finally irritate Faust enough to have her fight them with her own power. The summoner keeled over, panting heavily as she exerted so much energy summoning several times in a row.

The dangerous spiritual being flew into all three of them, splitting into three clones of herself in order to control the mares. Their dark appearances were a lot more threatening than the previous aeons, their coats hair a grim, pale color, pupil-less eyes, and their capes and scarves in tatters. With how powerful these three were after Fluttershy had used a majority of her aeons to take them down, it was going to be difficult fighting them without any of them. At least they can't really die while in this specific void inside Sin, otherwise their efforts would be all for nothing.

Each of the guardians split into three groups of two to easily take down each aeon: Rainbow and Pinkie against Scootaloo, Applejack and Twilight against Apple Bloom, and Spike and Rarity against Sweetie Belle. Under Faust's control, the Cutie Mark Crusaders didn't work as one unit, only trying to kill her intruders and use their powers on their own to defeat them, which would only easily bring her final vessels down to the last of their energy.

Rainbow Dash kept up with Scootaloo's incredible agility, both pegasi exchanging blows in the air while Pinkie used elemental objects she found from fiends or from her long travels before reuniting with Rainbow and joining the others on Fluttershy's pilgrimage. Apple Bloom's defenses against Applejack's blitzball kept the aeon distracted while Twilight shot spell after spell at her, weakening the earth pony aeon further as she was hit with every elemental spell.  Rarity and Spike charged forward, avoiding Sweetie Belle's magic as they took advantage of the unicorn aeon's weakness in close quarters combat, attacking with their diamond weapons and dropping Sweetie Belle's focus to cast her spells.

With the lack of mental communication between the trio, they were bested by the party. Rainbow slammed into Scootaloo, Applejack slammed her blitzball hard in Apple Bloom's face with her hind legs, and Rarity smacked Sweetie Belle with the blunt side of her katana, making the three aeons ram into each other as they crumbled in a heap, disappearing and rendering the last aeon useless for Faust to control.

With all the aeons now defeated, all that was left was the spiritual being, now deciding to take care of matters on her own. Rainbow Dash helped Fluttershy up, the summoner still woozy from both the physical exhaustion of calling the aeons and feeling their power sucked out of her as Faust possessed them, bringing her back to the rest of her guardians as Faust hovered between the pillars, charging the destructive spirit's power. Though the spiritual summoner didn't seem to do anything, being more docile than it was controlling the aeons, Rainbow Dash took this momentary break to look at everyone, now being the perfect moment to tell them she was leaving.

"...Guys...I need to say something," she said.

"Can it wait until Faust is truly gone?" Twilight asked, chugging down a couple ethers to restore some of her mana.

"It's important." Rainbow took in a deep breath and exhaled. "...After this, I'm...gonna disappear. After Faust is killed."

While most of them stared at the pegasus in confusion, Rarity looked like she seemed to understand, but Fluttershy looked depressed. "...Dashie, you're kinda loco in the cocoa! We're not dying today, remember!?" Pinkie said.

"...I'm just warning you guys..." Rainbow looked down at her sword, staring at her reflection in the aquatic steel. She then pulled out a sphere from her pocket, not her father's sphere, but a recent one. "I know I'm sounding selfish and I'm not explaining everything...but I don't even know how to tell you all everything face to face...Once I'm gone, I want you guys to watch this." She gave the sphere to Fluttershy, the summoner staring at it in confusion. It wasn't her sphere, seeing Rainbow throw hers off the ship earlier. "This is my story. And it's going to end here, with Spira finally at peace!"

She turned to face Faust and charged in, leaving the others to look at the sphere Rainbow gave Fluttershy. They cast their confusion aside and joined the pegasus, the summoner putting the sphere away in her sleeves. Sadly, the final fight against Faust was uneventful, only when it came from the spirit. With no aeons to use as armor, Faust was constantly healing herself, her injuries slowly healing with each attack dealt to her, along with the aide of her pillars. The guardians didn't let up though, putting their all in to end Sin's revival and rid Spira of its never-ending spiral of death.

It felt like hours had passed as the party chipped away Faust's health, her healing spells always healing a majority of her injuries. They had to stop the pillars beside the spirit several times, finding them as a nuisance along with Faust's annoying healing and no attacks. For something that caused destruction by pure accident in the past and constantly bringing Sin back because of an impulse, she didn't even try to do anything to stop her opponents from killing her. Maybe some part of the spiritual deity knew the end was near and was only delaying the inevitable for as long as possible, but it was going to end after a thousand years.

Rainbow Dash dealt the finishing blow, speeding forward into Faust and thrusting her sword deep in its body. There was no sound that came from Faust. No screams of pain. No roar of defeat. The dangerous deity was slain, falling to the ground as the pegasus pulled her blade out. The spirit shuddered as small explosions wracked its amorphous form, slowly disappearing from existence as thousands of spirits flew out from it.

The cause of Spira's true misery was finally gone. Soon, the realm around them disappeared as everyone saw visions of the world, everypony celebrating in each of the towns and villages as Sin was finally beaten. There were glimpses of some of the ponies they met on their journey: Vinyl Scratch looking up at the sky in besaid, wearing a new pair of purple tinted sunglasses, Trixie and Bulk Biceps down in Kilika, the latter of the two celebrating more than the former, Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Soarin from the Chocobo Knights in the Calm Lands, with their new flock of chocobo prancing around in celebration at Sin's defeat, even Fancy Pants, Fleur de lis, and Pipsqueak down in Bevelle, though the stallion still seemed down, having told his wife and adopted son his crimes some time ago when they escaped Bevelle. Along with the world cheering for their permanent Calm, they even caught site of the fayth in each of the temples, turning into nothing but stone as their spirits were going to finally rest, seeing Bahamut's fayth grinning at them before he faded away.

They soon found themselves back in the same realm where they fought Jet Stream. Fluttershy performed the sending, wanting to make sure that all of Sin was truly sent to the Farplane, including Faust if she was still here. As the guardians watched her dance, Rarity closed her eyes as she was now ready to finally pass on. Twilight noticed some spirits floating around them, looking over at the white unicorn and gasping in shock.

"Rarity!?" She alerted everyone to the veteran guardian, Fluttershy stopping her dancing as she and the others were surprised to know Rarity was an unsent. "W-When were you an unsent!?"

"You knew what happened," Rarity calmly said. "I just didn't show you how stubborn I was trying to stay alive. Keep going, Fluttershy. I'm ready to be sent."

"B-But..." Fluttershy was conflicted, not wanting to send somepony she knew when she was a filly.

"It'll be alright. I've been alive for far too long. I stayed to see Sin finally be put to an end, and now I can finally rest." Rarity held up her katana, magically transforming it back into the original, sparkling gemstone it was. She then grabbed Spike's arm and placed it in his palm. "Thank you for granting my request ten years ago, Spike. You did a much better job keeping Fluttershy safe than I had in my state of mind."

"Wait...What request?" Spike tried to remember when he ever made a request to Rarity, but the only time he ever met her was back in Luca.

"Back on Mt. Gagazet, ten years ago. I know it was hard for you to see me in that harsh blizzard that day, my coat blending in with the snow." It took the dragon a moment, but he now realized what she was talking about. Rarity was that mare he met that was dying, granted her request to find Kindred Heart's daughter and protect her. He was with her as she died, and now she was alive again, as an unsent. What's worse was the fact that he actually had a crush on the older mare, and she was going to finally leave again, only this time for good. "I thought you would have recognized me, but I almost didn't recognize you with how much you've changed."

"...I don't believe it..." Spike fell to his knees, staring at the diamond Rarity had given him.

"I'm sorry, Spike." Rarity gave the depressed dragon a soft kiss on the cheek, gently closing his fingers around her gem she gave him. "My story ends here." The unicorn stepped away and approached Fluttershy, nodding her head to the summoner, wanting her to continue her sending. "This world is yours now. Farewell, everypony."

Fluttershy continued performing the sending, disheartened to lose the mare who traveled with her father, Rarity disappearing as the spirits inside her dispersed, her soul finally able to rest now that Spira would no longer suffer under Sin's power, nopony else will be sacrifices to keep this pointless cycle from going, and peace may finally come back to the world. While Rainbow Dash was glad to know Rarity was finally at peace, the other guardians were confused and heartbroken, having lost a friend and a reliable ally in their cause.

"...I thought nopony was gonna die...and Rarity WAS dead..." Pinkie scratched her head, her brain unable to process what had just happened. "...I don't even know anymore!"

"Ah can't believe Rarity was unsent...How did she die?" Applejack asked.

"Celestia," Rainbow answered. "She killed her trying to get revenge for all the ponies who gave up their lives to stop Sin, destroying the false hope she gave, including both my dad and Fluttershy's...Her injuries were fatal, but she struggled to stay alive and make it back to Bevelle." The pegasus looked back at the grieving ponies and dragon. "She showed me what happened when we were leaving Zanarkand."

"...What else could possibly make our victory feel like a loss?" Twilight asked herself, though Rainbow knew they were going to lose more when she finally disappears, especially for Fluttershy. Next Chapter: Chapter 53: Goodbyes Aren't Forever Estimated time remaining: 35 Minutes