Day soon turned to night as the village was busy to celebrate Fluttershy's feats at becoming a summoner. A variety of food was cooked, a large bonfire was set up in the center of the square, and ponies were already giving her gifts as if she was already a worldwide celebrity. While the village partied, Rainbow Dash stood in front of the Besaid Aurochs with Applejack, the pegasus realizing that the whole team were earth ponies.

"Alright, everypony, we have ourselves a new teammate!" Applejack announced to the stallions. "This is Rainbow Dash. She was so desperate to join, Ah couldn't say no." She grabbed the pegasus into a headlock, Rainbow breaking out of her hold while lightly punching her in the foreleg. "Don't mind her if she says somethin' stupid, even though she did run into the temple without the proper authentication."

"Ok, I get it. The whole town is constantly reminding me I shouldn't have done that. I don't need to be lectured while I'm being introduced to the rest of your team," Rainbow said, falling to the ground as Applejack slapped her back hard.

"She has a mouth, but she's got the skills to prove she's pro blitzball player material." The pegasus got up, feeling like her spine had been dislocated with how much strength the earth pony had. "So, what's gonna be our goal this year?"

"To do our best!" they shouted with enthusiasm.

"Wrong," she corrected. "Our goal this year is victory! We're gonna win every single match and take the cup, show the other teams what for! Our previous years of losin' will be forgotten when we score more goals than any of them! So, what's our goal!?"

The stallions were a little skeptical at first, but their captain's speech was so moving that their uttering "Victory!" grew louder and louder, turning into chanting as they pumped themselves up for the next tournament. While the team cheered, Rainbow took a glance at Fluttershy, who was sitting with an elder couple and a few foals. She noticed the young summoner was looking right back at her. Slinking away from the celebrating Aurochs, Rainbow approached her, only to get struck in the face by a pebble thrown by one of the foals.

"You heathen!" the elder stallion insulted.

"Stay away from the summoner!" the elder mare warned.

"You're a bad mare!" one of the foals shouted, ready to throw another rock at the pegasus.

"Wait, don't be mad at her," Fluttershy said, keeping them from hurting Rainbow Dash further. "It was my fault I worried you all. She only did what she thought was right." She stood up, assuring the overprotective villagers that she was fine and walked over to Rainbow. "Sorry about their hostility."

"Eh...I kinda deserve it, I guess," Rainbow said. "I mean, I thought you were dying and nopony wasn't doing anything. So, I thought 'screw rules' and ran right in."

"I'm sorry," the summoner apologized.

The two were met with awkward silence, looking away from each other. Already, Rainbow was doing a crappy job trying to be friends with the shy pegasus, and disobeying the world's religious rules was only making things more awkward.

"...Uhh, that aeon thing was pretty cool," Rainbow finally said after a few minutes of silence. "What was its name? 'Vale-fort'?"

"Valefor," Fluttershy corrected. "She looks scary, but you can tell she's not such a bad aeon."

"So it is a girl. I thought Applejack was joking about that." While the two talked, one of the foals grabbed Fluttershy's dress, tugging on it to get her attention.

"Lady Fluttershy, come and play with us some more!" she said, leering at Rainbow Dash to try and keep her away from the summoner.

"Ok, just give me a few minutes." Slightly disappointed, the filly blew a raspberry at the cyan pegasus, running back over to her friends giving her the same look.

"Boy, everypony sure loves me, don't they?" she joked.

"I'm sorry," Fluttershy apologized again, Rainbow finding her constant apologies getting a little annoying. "Tomorrow, we're going to be on the same boat, right?"

"Boat?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes. You're on the Besaid Aurochs, right?" She nodded, the blitzball player having no clue what she meant. "We're going on the same boat together, to start my pilgrimage. We can talk more tomorrow." She turned around to head back to the group of foals, stopping for a moment to turn her head back to Rainbow. "Maybe...you can also tell me about Zanarkand, too."

That caught Rainbow Dash off guard. She stood there, paralyzed, wondering how Fluttershy knew about Zanarkand as she watched her leave. Before she could try to ask her, she was nudged by Applejack.

"She's kinda cute, huh?" she asked, throwing the pegasus into a stammering mess.

"W-Whoa, hey! I-I don't swing that way!" She tried to avert her eyes from her new captain, but the sudden bashfulness was easy to tell. "...Ok, maybe a little...just out of curiosity. Not for real or anything."

"Just don't get any ideas, sugarcube." Rainbow grumbled, trying to calm herself and keep her blush from growing out of embarrassment.

"She probably won't like me anyway. I mean, I'm a 'heathen', breaker of very important rules of the temple because I actually cared about her well-being." Applejack chuckled, smacking Rainbow's shoulder hard, making her wince.

"Ah'm just messin' with ya. Let's head on off to bed. We got a long day tomorrow." Rainbow Dash rubbed her sore shoulder, wanting some more rest after all the chaos that occurred today.

Rainbow rested in the Crusader's Lodge, which had also served as an inn for visitors or tourists. As she slept, she kept tossing and turning, her dreams and memories of the past haunting her yet again.

In her dream, Rainbow sat at the docks on the shores of the island where she woke up next to earlier today. She stood up and walked further down, spotting Fluttershy waiting for their ship.

"Where's that boat at already?" she complained

"Everypony else is gonna be here soon." Fluttershy turned to face Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash, will you take me to Zanarkand with you?"

"Dashie!" Pinkie suddenly appeared, popping into Rainbow's sight upside down. She yelped as she backpedaled away from the pink earth pony, wondering how she even got here. "You said we were gonna go together! Are you cheating on me!?"

"W-Wait, Pinkie, we didn't say anything about us being together! Where did that come from!?" she asked.

"You fooling around with some fillies!?" Rainbow's ears pressed against her head, recognizing that masculine, rugged voice. She turned around, finding her father, Jet Stream, standing on the shoreline, leering at her with a smirk on his face. Pinkie and Fluttershy stood behind him as they watched. "Hah! I knew you would be a fillyfooler! Though you pick up dates worse than you can catch balls!" Rainbow had suddenly shrunk to the size of a filly, trying her hardest not to cry as her father's words echoed in her ears. "What's the matter, crybaby? You gonna cry, like you always do!?"

"...I hate you," the filly muttered.

"What was that?" Jet asked, holding a hoof to his ear.

"You have to speak up, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said, encouraging Rainbow as she stood up, glaring at her father.

"I hate you!" she said louder.

"Didn't quite catch that," Jet mocked, digging out his ears to hear better.

"Yeah! Just like that, Dashie!" Pinkie cheered, waving pom poms while wearing a cheerleader's outfit from out of nowhere.

"You can do it!" Fluttershy encouraged further.

"I HATE YOU!" Rainbow shouted, waking up from her strange nightmare.

Realizing it was just a dream, she was afraid she woke up anypony else sleeping in the tent. Thankfully, she didn't, groaning in frustration. Her father just couldn't stay out of her head, always taunting her and making her hate him even more.

"He's dead, Applejack. Get it through your head." Rainbow's ears perked up as she heard somepony talking outside.

She crept up to the tent's flaps, peeking through them and seeing Applejack and the purple unicorn talking. "Twilight-"

"Just stop, Applejack. I'm sick and tired of hearing this." The doll resting on Twilight's back seemed to glare at Applejack with the same intensity as her, making the pegasus wonder how it was able to move like that. "There is no way Big Macintosh is still alive or reincarnated as a mare. Whatever you see in that blasphemous pegasus, there are no similarities between them at all. You shouldn't have even brought her here in the first place!"

"But...she needed our help, Twi," Applejack said. "Ah know ya miss him too, but-"

"No buts. I'm sick and tired of your excuses. Learn to face the facts instead of tossing them around like a blitzball." Applejack wilted as she was scolded by her fellow guardian and friend.

"But-" She was silenced when the stuffed doll leapt off Twilight's back, slapping the earth pony in the face.

"Shut up. No more, Applejack." Twilight stormed off to Applejack's tent, her doll running after her on two legs.

Sighing in defeat, Applejack rubbed where the doll hit her. Though it wasn't exactly painful, it still hurt her on the inside. She headed toward the Crusader's Lodge, gasping in surprise when she found Rainbow Dash wide awake, having overheard their conversation.

"You two have a pretty abusive relationship. I thought that dragon was going to be the angry one, but wow were you right about her." The upset earth pony trudged off to the beds, sitting down on one of them while Rainbow sat on hers. "So, who's Big Macintosh?"

"...Mah older brother," she said. "He had the same stubborn attitude ya'll had, especially when it came to other ponies' safety." Applejack looked down at her hooves, feeling tears well up in her eyes. "...He died last year, joinin' the Crusaders to try and stop Sin..."

Rainbow understood Applejack's feelings, now knowing why she quit playing blitzball the previous year. "I'm sorry," she said, offering her condolences. "...So, did you want to be a guardian to avenge him?"

"Mhmm." The mare took off her hat, laying it down next to her pillow. "Now Ah'm too focused on beatin' this year's tournament than Sin...I'm gonna be a guardian full-time after we win." She looked up at the pegasus, feeling a little guilty. "Ya probably think Ah'm just usin' ya cause I'm desperate to win just one match before retirin'...but Ah ain't. Honest."

"...Don't worry about that, AJ." Applejack looked up at Rainbow, who held her hoof out to her. "I owe you a lot for helping me out today. As soon as we get to Luca and play against the other teams, I'll help you win that cup with my eyes closed."

A moment passed between the two mares, Applejack finally grinning and bumping her hoof with Rainbow's. "Ah know we'll win with ya on our side."

The next day, Rainbow woke up fully rested, only needing another day with her bandages on her wing for it to feel better. Applejack and Twilight were already up, the former hiding something behind her back. Twilight kept her icy glare on the pegasus, the doll pounding its felt hooves together.

"Morning." Rainbow looked around, Fluttershy nowhere to be found. "Where's Fluttershy?"

"Still in the temple, getting some of her things. But hey, Ah got ya a little somethin'." Applejack pulled out her gift to her, a blue sword that shimmered like the surface of the water gleaming under the sun.

"Whoa. Cool!" Discarding her older sword, getting rid of the one given to her by Rarity from her father.

She gave it a few practice swings, which was far lighter than the other one, and felt stronger. "That's the sword you were going to give Big Macintosh."

Rainbow looked over at Twilight, who looked miserable as she stared at the blade. "He didn't use it," Applejack said.

The pegasus felt bad, given something that was supposed to be for her friend's brother. "A-Are you sure I should take this? I mean, I can just use my old sword."

"That thing is rusted and its durability won't last for much longer," Twilight said, examining the old weapon. "I'm surprised you actually fought fiends using this thing."

"Besides, that's still pretty brand new. Go on and keep it." Reluctantly, Rainbow accepted the gift, though she wished Applejack didn't have to. They kept waiting a while longer for Fluttershy, but their boat was going to leave at any moment. "Where in sam hill is that mare at?"

"We are taking the same boat, right?" Rainbow asked.

"Eyup. Ya see, Fluttershy came to this village about ten years ago when the last Calm started." Rainbow wondered what the Calm was, but decided not to ask if she was going to tick off the moody unicorn standing next to Applejack. "She's kinda like a sister to us."

They soon heard Fluttershy yelp as she tried to carry a suitcase with her. She picked it up, trying to keep it from falling over.

"Fluttershy, you don't need that much luggage," Twilight said.

"I-I know," the pegasus said, the suitcase moving on its own slightly as she kept it still. "T-These are just gifts. For the other temples." Suddenly, it fell over and opened up, releasing a few birds and some small critters native to the island, skittering or fluttering around her as she sheepishly grinned in embarrassment. "Oops..."

"Flutters, we know ya like animals, but ya can't bring your friends everywhere with you," Applejack said. "Ya need to leave them here."

"But they'll be lonely," Fluttershy begged. Unfortunately, they wore her down with their stares as she let her friends wander off. "Oh...I guess you're right."

She left her now empty suitcase behind and walked along with the others, leaving Besaid. Before leaving the entrance, Fluttershy turned to the village and bowed, offering a prayer as they began her pilgrimage. As they walked down the path, they were suddenly attacked by canine-like fiend, barking at them as it prepared to attack them.

"A Dingo. Guess we're gonna be fightin' while we get to the docks." Applejack said as the others prepared their weapons.

"I think I can take this thing out." Rainbow ran toward the fiend, slashing through it and killing it instantly. "Aww yeah! This sword is perfect. Just as awesome as yours truly."

Twilight rolled her eyes, but the group was met up with a strange avian fiend. "A Condor? Perfect for me. Flyin' enemies are mah kind of target."

Applejack threw her blitzball hard into the Condor, smacking it so hard in the face that it plummeted to the ground. After taking care of them, they were met with another fiend, only this one seemed gelatinous and creepy looking.

"A Flan," Twilight said. "This one is mine."

"Uhh, why don't you let somepony with an actual sword kill something this flabby, Twilight? You can play with your little doll while you let AJ and I do all the work." Twilight's eye twitched at the brash pegasus's ignorance. Rainbow Dash ran toward the Flan, but as she tried to slash at it with her sword, it got stuck in its body, unfazed by the blow. "W-What the-!?"

She struggled to pull her weapon out of it, getting some assistance from Twilight as she used her magic to pull it out of the fiend. Her doll leapt off her head and began pummeling its soft hooves over her muzzle.

"You are such an idiot. Do you have any idea what a Flan is?" she asked as Rainbow grabbed the stuffed toy, holding it away from her.

"...A dessert?" she answered.

"Oh dear sweet Faust." Growing irritated, she dragged the pegasus over to her, taking back her doll while keeping Rainbow Dash sitting next to her. "First of all, do not make fun of Smarty Pants. And before you even ask how she moves, I cast an animation spell on her, making her a second pair of eyes and ears and emote the same feelings I do." To prove her point, Smarty Pants smacked the pegasus on the nose. "Second, Flans are elemental fiends. Many fiends in Spira tend to have magical properties, and they have elemental attributes and resistances to certain status ailments.

"The four main elements well known are fire, water, ice, and lightning." Rainbow groaned as she was lectured, not really caring about how to fight when she can't use magic in the first place. Though, strangely enough, as Twilight kept talking, the Flan was just sitting there, biding its time as if waiting for someone to make a move. "Fire and water oppose each other, as does water and lightning. What we are facing right now is a Water Flan, so tell me, which element do you use to deal more damage?"

Rainbow scratched her head as she thought, trying the unicorn's patience, Smarty Pants tapping her leg as they both waited for her answer. "...Uhhhh...Grass?"

"...That's not even one of the elements I said!" Twilight groaned, ignoring her lesson plan and struck the flan with a Thunder spell, killing it as it melted into mush as it disappeared. "The answer was lightning! It's so simple! Have your brain cells deteriorated completely when you got hit by Sin's toxin!?"

"Hey, I'm not dumb! I'm not used to knowing all of this!" Rainbow argued. "I had a different life compared to all this, so why don't you cut me some slack and just chill!?"

"Do you want to know what it's like to be frozen in a block of ice?" Twilight threatened.

"Ok, cut it out, girls!" Applejack quickly stopped the fighting before things got worse like yesterday. "Twi, ease up on Rainbow Dash. Rainbow, please listen when Twilight's tellin' ya somethin'. She's real book smart, and knows how to deal with all kinds of fiends." The two looked away from each other, not likely going to apologize anytime soon. "Now, we gotta hurry and get to the shore. Our boat's gonna leave without us."

Despite the momentary setback, they continued on their way down the path up the hill. Since the path Applejack and Rainbow Dash took yesterday was nothing but a lake with no way of climbing up the cliff, they were all going to take the other fork to reach the beach. As the pegasus was about to head off, she noticed the others had stopped at a strange looking monument, her captain/teammate and Fluttershy praying to it.

"What are you guys doing?" she asked.

"Prayin' for a safe travel," Applejack answered. "It's a custom for anypony who's gonna leave Besaid."

"Pth. Kinda superstitious, don't you think?" Rainbow received a glare from Twilight as Applejack and Fluttershy looked over at the pegasus. "...Ok. Uhh, I'll just go on ahead and see if I can keep the ship from leaving. Take as much time as you need."

She headed off down the path, wanting to get as far away from the moody unicorn as much as possible. She was never going to get used to this world's ideas for customs and overly superstitious religious methods. She began to walk under some more ruins of the old cities that once existed on this island, unaware that she was being watched by something stalking her from above. Suddenly, leaping down from the ruins, the purple dragon slammed down on the path, making Rainbow leap back in surprise as he growled.

"Whoa!...Wait, you're that dragon from inside the temple." He dug his sharp claws into the dirt, his growls growing louder. "Uhh, w-what are you doing?"

The dragging slammed his fists into the ground, stood up, and expelled green flames out of his maw as he roared at her. He then pulled out a spear, aiming the sharp point at the frightened pegasus. He lunged at her, making Rainbow evade as she pulled out her sword to defend herself.

"Hey! I'm not your enemy!" She kept dodging and blocked his thrusts, amazed at how agile and powerful the dragon was. "What's your problem!? Is it cause I called you scaly!?"

Rainbow flipped back after nearly being pummeled by his fist. He backed up and leapt up high in the air. Rainbow squinted in the sunlight, unable to see him, only to be flung hard into the wall of the nearby ruins, knocking the wind out of her and losing her grip on her sword. She tried to stand back up, watching the crazed dragon staring her down, her weapon too far from her to defend herself. He rushed at her yet again as the pegasus cringed, awaiting her inevitable death.

"Spike, that's enough!" The dragon stopped after hearing Applejack, the tip of his spear mere inches away from being thrust in Rainbow's face.

Spike grunted, pulling his spear back. He stomped off down the path, confusing Rainbow Dash after he just attacked her out of nowhere with no warning. As she picked up her sword, she felt her previous injuries begin to heal up, courtesy of Fluttershy and her healing magic.

"What the hay was his problem!?" she complained.

"That's Spike. He's from a tribe of dragons that live further up north of Spira," Applejack explained.

"He's another of my guardians," Fluttershy said. "He doesn't talk much, but he seems to have a close bond with me and Twilight. He actually watched out for me ever since I was a filly."

"That doesn't explain why he just attacked me for no reason!" Rainbow watched the silent dragon disappear around the corner. "He could have killed me!"

"Maybe he just hates ponies who are ignorant to surviving against fiends on the road." Twilight shoved past the pegasus, Smarty Pants taunting her by shaking its rump at her.

They continued on down the long pathway around the other side of Besaid, the scenery peaceful with flowing waterfalls flowing from the cliffs above. That moment of peace is ruined when they heard the screech of a large avian fiend flying toward them.

"Whoa. We're gonna need a huge cracker for this big bird," Rainbow joked as they prepared to fight. "You can take that thing out, right, Applejack?"

"True...but these big fiends can be troublesome." The earth pony had an idea, looking over at Fluttershy. "Why don't we let our summoner handle this Garuda?"

"Fluttershy!?" Rainbow exclaimed. "You're supposed to protect her!"

"Ah know, but that don't mean she can't fight." Fluttershy nodded, stepping forward with her staff at the ready.

Glaring intensely, she summoned Valefor, the aeon screeching as it flew down and began attacking the Garuda. Both avians pecked and clawed their talons into each other, the others watching the battle up close. Rainbow's jaw dropped as she was witnessing one of the most epic monster fights she had ever seen. Eventually, Valefor successful vanquished the Garuda, letting out a victory screech as it was dismissed.

Struck with awe, Rainbow turned to look at Fluttershy. "That was awesome! Those aeon things can easily get us through roads if it's that easy!"

"Don't count on it." The pegasus looked at Twilight, who was about ready to give her another lecture. "Summoning an aeon is used as a last resort. They aren't immortal creatures a summoner can call every single time. They can be defeated in battle, but they don't die. In order to revive them, you'll have to wait several hours for them to regain their strength, or use one of the Save Spheres located all across Spira." Rainbow just stared at her blankly, most of the information going over her head. "...You do know what a Save Sphere looks like, right?"

"...Applejack might have mentioned them yesterday?" she said, completely unsure.

Twilight sighed in irritation. "If I were to give you a test on traveling across Spira, you would fail in a heartbeat."

Before Rainbow Dash could argue with the unicorn further, another Garuda appeared, but Valefor was already too weak from the last one to fight it without being defeated. "Another one," Applejack said. "Ah think we can take this out."

Taking out her blitzball, Applejack, to Rainbow's surprise, was able to use some kind of magic, watching the blue and white ball emit a dark aura. The blitzball captain threw it at the Garuda's face, landing a direct hit to its face as it screeched in pain. It began looking around, trying to find where its prey was, flapping erratically as if it became blind.

"What the hay?" Rainbow questioned as they watched the fiend slam its head into the side of the cliff.

"Like I said before: fiends can be susceptible to elemental spells and status inducing attacks," Twilight said as she cast Fire spells at the fiend. "The one thing you never want to do is think everything can be taken down by a simple swing of a blade. Strategy is key to survival, and you lack that aspect."

As the Applejack and Twilight kept attacking, the former using her Dark Attack skill when the blindness on the avian wore off, Rainbow Dash was growing more irritated as she was constantly scolded by the unicorn. Spike had appeared from the top of the cliff and ended the Garuda, thrusting his spear through its head as it disappeared in a flurry of lights. After dealing with the second Garuda, they continued on their way down the path, Fluttershy and Rainbow taking the rear.

"What is wrong with her?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I mean, seriously, I don't know what the hay's going on, and she assumes I'm supposed to know everything. Does she hate me like that dragon?"

"Twilight gets very serious when it comes to being a guardian. I really don't know that much about her. She always stays quiet and studies a lot." They safely made it off the pathway and headed down to the shore, where several villagers miraculously made it through the fiend infested road without running into any, just to see Fluttershy off. "She's nice once you get to know her."

"Yeah right," Rainbow scoffed. "The day Twilight ever becomes nice to me, I'll give up playing blitzball, or flying."

Fluttershy giggled as they spotted their boat waiting at the docks. The villagers all gave Fluttershy some last minute gifts, either being Gil, some healing items for the road, and even a special ring the summoner can use to help defend her in a dangerous battle. Rainbow was admittedly jealous, never really given gifts by her fans, but it didn't really matter much to her as long as everypony noticed her.

They boarded the ship, along with a few other travelers and the rest of the Besaid Aurochs. The crew pulled up the ramp as they were ready to shove off to the next island, which Rainbow heard was somewhere called Kilika. As the crowd waved goodbye to Fluttershy on the docks, many of them teary-eyed as they watched them leave, the young summoner offered a prayer to them all.

"Goodbye," she whispered as the island got smaller, their ship heading off to the start of her pilgrimage. Next Chapter: Chapter 8: Sin Strikes Again Estimated time remaining: 11 Hours, 42 Minutes