//------------------------------// // Ch 7: Swordsman's Patience // Story: Equestrian Swordsman // by PrincessMoonzilla //------------------------------// Chapter 7: Swordsman’s Patience ===[???]=== I was running. Running as fast as I could. I dared not turn back, as I would see the face of the monster. The one monster that I couldn’t bring myself to face. My feet were running faster than what should’ve been physically possible, but I could still feel his breath on my neck. That putrid, nauseating breath that carried with it the stench of stale alcohol and tobacco. The filthy halls surrounding me, once a pure white, were now soiled yellow in color, both disgusting to see and touch. I just needed to keep running. But I wasn’t fast enough. I felt glass shards erupt against my back, flaying the skin that covered me. I could feel the warm liquid seep out, the pieces of glass wedging themselves deeper into me. I wanted to cry out in pain. Wanted to just keep it all away. I wanted to fight. But I couldn’t. He now had his hands on me, pressing me down into the ground to force me into submission. I tried squirming, but nothing I did could stop him. I screamed loudly while he was laughing at my pointless struggle. I was afraid. ===[Zoro’s POV]=== It was an hour before the sun was to rise when I shot up in my bed. I covered my face to attempt to stop the flow of tears, to take all the fear away. That was one of the worst ones that I’ve had. No matter how many times I have it, it is always as terrible as the first. My usual nightmares were caused by guilt of those who met their end by my blades. This one was created by one of my fears. I… won’t inform you of the details. Let’s just say that there’s a reason that I don’t care if I ever go back to Earth. I got up and did my routine, but I made sure that the other two occupants had breakfast ready. I wasn’t that great a cook, but it would fill them up. Damn, when did my inner monologue get to be so depressing? “Come on, Zoro,” I told myself. “They’re just nightmares. Nothing to get depressed about.” This wouldn’t do. No, I needed to be my chipper, sarcastic self. That’s right, just keep wearing my mask. The one that says ‘Come at me World, I’ll take you down with a witty comeback!’ WIth that in mind, I did my jog around the town, focusing myself with what I found out last night. Which was jack shit. The book had nothing in it about Devil Fruits or anything remotely similar to them. Same could be said in almost every book on fruits and plants I could get my hands on. As much as I hate it, I’m going to have to ask someone for help. I wasn’t the type to usually request assistance, for anything. I was much more of a do it yourself kind of person and didn’t want to involve others. And since I was probably one of the few people on this planet with an understanding of Devil Fruits and their weaknesses, I held myself responsible for when anything involving them got out of control. I know, I know, stupid reason, but I was holding myself to that standard because I can. Devil Fruits are simply tools, immensely powerful tools that could make the right person akin to a demi-god, but tools nonetheless. I will admit that if given the chance, I'd probably eat one, so long as I knew exactly what it was. Ice Ice Fruit, that T-Rex one, definitely. Chop Chop Fruit… not so much. My inner monologue was interrupted when that blasted ball of plasma that they call the Sun decided to rise. Bad thing about having one eye is that when you get blinded in one eye, you can't see nothing. My point was proven when I then tripped and fell onto the gravel path that I was previously jogging on. I could have sworn I heard a certain whorse chuckling at my expense. That brought me onto another part of my thought process that was bothering me. The Sisters. Keep in mind that it wasn’t unusual for them to lose against me, but it never took that short of time. Needed to question that when Sunny comes by. Thirty minutes later and I stumble on something… unusual. Egghead was rushing around, looking like she was about to explode. Walking away very slowly, I decided to make my way towards my usual spot before I was blamed for something that I may or may not have done. That was, once again, violated by those fillies. Or at least one of them. Zoe was using a stick in place of a sword, swinging it around like what you’d find them do in anime. I sighed. “You’re posture is all wrong and those forms won’t do shit against anyone with half a brain.” She stiffened and laughed nervously. “H-hey Mister Zoro,” she said. “Just wanted to, um, play swordsmare! Yep, that’s it!” Uh huh, definitely not being a stalker. “The art of the sword isn’t a child’s game,” I deadpanned. “It takes commitment and perseverance. One does not simply swing a sharp piece of metal and declaring themselves swordsmen.” All too often it lead to an untimely fate… I turned and proceeded to do the previous training I was yesterday, with a new voice asking me all sorts of inane questions. I gave her a few pointers, showed her the correct forms, and told her of my advice. It was a good time, really was. Then training somehow turned into her telling stories about all the crazy stuff that happens here. “... and then she left all of them in the dust like they were nothing,” she ranted on, telling me a story of how Rainbow had beaten four other stallions in a race. “Sounds like you really admire her.” “I do! She’s, like, the coolest pegasus to ever live! She even told me she’d help me learn to fly!” I stopped mid swing and looked at her. It wasn’t unusual for pegasai to not be able fly in their early years, but she seemed around eleven or twelve. Well past the age they learn. “Mind showing me how you do it, kid?” She nodded and proceeded to flap her wings. Hard. It was like watching a bumble bee, her wings were going so fast. It was interesting to see on my end, especially with me focusing my Observation on her. And now I saw the problem. “Well here’s the thing, you’re flapping your wings wrong.” She was very shocked to hear my diagnosis. “What are you talking about? Rainbow said to flap my wings as hard and fast as I could, and she’s the best flier there is! What am I doing wrong!” “You’re flapping them straight up and down when you should go in an O shape. Here, watch.” I stretched my arms out wide and mimicked the action that I see birds and other pegasai do when flying slow enough for her to watch. Bring it up at an angle, straighten them out, and bring them down, and back up. “Your way pushes just as much air up as it does down, so it just cancels each other out.” The girl looked as though her mind was just blown from the sheer simplicity of the problem before her. “So the only thing keeping me from flying the way my wings move! You’re a geneious!” Gee, why can’t everyone else learn that lesson? Probably because it’s false… “Don’t they have flight school or something here?” Shrugging, she told me that she had another two years before being old enough for it to be mandatory, but she figured that she’d be able to do it before then. I swear, these ponies and waiting until the last moment for everything… Remember kids, complacency leads to problems coming back to bite you in the ass. Learned that lesson all too quickly. And thus began a very, very quick crash course on her techniques for just about everything. When did my training lead to teaching. I swear it’s just like with Baskerville… ===ooo000ooo=== An hour later and Pinks found us, grabbed me and ran, yelling about a picnic. I actually forgot about that! It was a nice little place to hold a picnic, picturesque hill with a large oak tree that provided the perfect amount of shade for the red and white checkered blanket laid down on the ground. By Lao Tzu all of these cliches were going to give me an aneurysm at some point. I set myself up against the tree all broody style, and closed my eyes until the food and other guests arrived. Me and Sunny were going to have a few words when- “Heeey, Zoro, buddy ol’ pal! How ya been” a familiar voice said in a sickly sweet voice. To all males present, when women talk like that, they usually want something from you. I cracked open my eye to see Egghead, who really hadn’t improved since I last saw her. Twitching smile and crazy mane, the pupils were just pinpricks on her widened eyes. She honestly looked as though she was about to go on a murder spree. “What do you want, Egghead?” I noticed that Apple was a little annoyed at my nickname for the unicorn, but said nothing. “Weeell, maybe I just want to get to know my friend better, hmm?” “We aren’t friends, so go. I’m just here to ask Sunny some questions.” Speaking of which, where is she? Was I on time for once? Was she late? Probably still laughing over this morning. “Before that, maybe there’s something I can do to help you! I mean, you are the most problematic po- person I know.” I’m just going to ignore the little insult there and move to the opposite side of the tree. I was then interrupted by Miss Purple again. “Well, maybe we could do something before the Princess gets here, yes? Anything you want to share!” Of all the things I am, I take pride in my patience. Be it waiting for anything exciting to happen or just dealing with idiots, I am very patient. But, add on a week of constant questioning, observation, and testing of everything I do, nightmares that keep me from a decent sleep, plus the fact that I f***ing can't find shit on something I know exists, and you've got one upset anime character. So now I'm almost at my limit when she suddenly decides to invade my personal space, acting like a freaking bomb is about to go off if I don't do something, anything with her. But I manage to keep my cool, and do one of the more sensible things. I grab her horn. That automatically shuts her up and has her staring at her protrusion. It didn't help when I slowly brought my hand up on her horn, or when I brought it back down. Some of her hairs went back in place, and a ferocious blush showed. I thought I heard a few wings stiffen up, but meh. I used my new handle and brought her to my face. And I vented. “Listen to me and listen good. We are not friends, nor will we ever be if you keep this up. I know that, to you, I'm just a little side project. A thing to poke at until you understand how it functions. Something for you to show Sunny that you befriended and hope that you get a gold sticker, a pat on the head, and a compliment from your beloved sun goddess. Afterwards, you’ll forget about me until something else big comes up and you need my help. You’ll thank me for maybe a day or two, sure, but then you’ll go back to the same pattern as before. Trust me, I've seen it happen before, and I won't play into it. So we. Are. Not. Friends. I am sick of the shit that you pull, like strapping me to a f***ing shock chair to figure out how my ‘magic’ works or watching me at every moment of the day. So go back to your picnic and enjoy your actual friends, and leave me alone. I'm going for a walk.” I pushed her with just enough force to send her on her ass and walked off towards the White something Woods. I needed to cut something desperately. ===[3rd POV]=== The six girls were frozen as the human walked off. All were shocked at what they had just witnessed. Zoro was dangerous, true, but in the short time they’d known him, the most violent thing he had done to them was the occasional sarcastic remark or breaking Applejack’s trees. He was almost the face of calm. But what they saw was his mask almost crumbling off. He was downright scary. Now, they all knew how bad Twilight could get when she wanted to figure out something. Hell, ask Pinkie of the extents she went to figuring out the mare’s Pinkie Sense. But they were all wondering what she did that had set him off like that. The silence that encompassed the area was interrupted by a blinding flash of gold and a popping sound, the trademarks of teleportation. Celestia had arrived, wearing her usual Roaman style toga with a sun amulet on the shoulders. A few of them calmed down at the sight of their Diarch. “Hello, my little ponies,” she said with her usual motherly tone. “I hope that you haven't been waiting long?” Pinkie was the first to recover, followed by four others. The purple unicorn was still frozen in place, staring at where her charge had wandered off too. “Twilight, what's the matter,” the alicorn asked her student. She had bent down and had one of her hands on her shoulders, a concerned look on her face. It wasn't like her to just flat out not acknowledge Celestia’s arrival. “He was right,” she heard Twilight mutter before looking in the same direction her student was. She saw nearly an acre of forest cut down, and heard angry shouting. Looking back at Twilight, she saw tears forming in her eyes. “He was right…” Zoro, she thought, what did you do? Elsewhere, over a certain clubhouse, one of the many fruits that adorned the tree shook. It shook again, and with each one it changed before it resembled a purple fruit with a swirly design all throughout. A Devil Fruit was reincarnated.