//------------------------------// // The Past of the Elements // Story: The Sword that is the Scabbard // by Boyzilla //------------------------------// The Sword that is the Scabbard Chapter 7: The Past of the Elements Shirou Emiya initially had minor problems in purchasing the necessary ingredients for the dish he had in mind. The problem didn't relate to finances, as his little purple master provided an ample amount of the local currency. his issue was related to the fact that stalls and stores close unexpectedly upon his approach or general proximity to anywhere near them. It briefly reminded him of those cartoons where a stranger arrives and everyone closes shop due to nonsensical notions of xenophobia. That... Actually, now that he thought briefly about it, it is exactly what happened. However, as luck would have it, a male minotaur waved at him to come into his store. "I noticed your predicament," the orange-coated minotaur stated as he closed the glass-panned down behind Shirou as the magus stepped inside. "Yeah, everyone seems afraid of me," Shirou replied. "Don't mind them, ponies have always been suspicious of things they've never seen before. Though this is a bit excessive, probably with all that's going on in their nation it has them all on edge." He said while escorting the human through the shop. "I don't blame them," The red-haired man said. "I'm Shirou." "Copper, now..." The minotaur began as he went around the counter, "What can I help you with?" The human Servant's eyes browsed through the store's stock and goods, determining that is sold imported items through the various sales pitch and tags. It was a miracle in itself that he could read the words, he thanked his past self for deciding to learn the English language. "Do you have rice?" He asked. "Rice?" Copper questioned, "Hmm... That's a Griffon Empire import... That crop isn't grown by many farmers..." The minotaur began flipping through a notebook. "I'll go look in the back." Shirou Emiya nodded and stood in wait. A loud slam echoed through the building as a sack of uncooked rice lay on the countertop. Copper patted the bag with a hand, "I don't know what you can possibly make with rice, not many recipes for it," Copper commented. It took a considerable amount of willpower for Shirou to resist countering that sentence with a barrage of different recipes and combinations that rice could be used for, in, with, and out of. But he managed to hold it in as he then to ask a simple question. "How much?' Twilight Sparkle had spent the past hour enjoying the conversation and company with her friend, Fluttershy. The unicorn felt more at ease since they had made up after the unfortunate incident that still plagued her mind to this day. What could possibly separate the two friends in the first place? "Twilight, I know you're anxious but I forgave you," Fluttershy said to the purple unicorn. She nodded, "I'm aware..." Twilight trailed off, "It's just so hard." Fluttershy pressed a hoof against Twilight's own; her face lifting to meet her friend's own. "We can do this together..." "It's dangerous," The holder of magic replied. "We might not even get all together before something horrible occurs!" "But we have to try... Twilight, I always looked up to you as a leader of our group, where is my friend and leader now?" Fluttershy questioned. A silence occupied the room. Then the door opened wide, causing the two ponies to looked towards its direction. But all that came through was Shirou Emiya, Servant of Twilight Sparkle, who carried a few bags full of various cooking ingredients. He smiled sheepishly, "Ah... My apologies, I got a little lost." "Don't worry about it, it's okay..." Fluttershy whispered quietly. "Shirou..." Twilight trailed off. The red-haired human tilted his head, "You look down, Master." he said. "Master?" Fluttershy questioned curiously. "I'll prepare a dish," Shirou smiled with an optimistic attitude, "That I'm positive will cheer you up." Twilight vaguely noticed her Servant move towards the petty kitchen that made up Fluttershy's hotel room. She moved only a small bit to re-seat herself for a better look at Shirou's actions. A small bit of her natural curiosity rising in interest as the human conjured forth cooking utensils that the kitchen lacked from his shopping bags. "What's he doing?" Fluttershy asked. "I don't know, why is he pouring- Is that rice?" Twilight said puzzlingly. "Yeah," Shirou absently answered. "But rice is very plain," "Trust me, I know what to do." A few minutes passed, Fluttershy and Twilight conversed about peaceful days as Shirou Emiya cooked in the background. When the magus finished, placing numerous dishes about on the table, he completed his duties by handing out silverware before sitting down himself. "This looks..." Fluttershy began as her eyes scoured the table filled with different unidentified recipes. "Amazing..." Twilight finished her friend's sentence, her sense of smell completely overcome by the cooked meals. The human waved it off, an embarrassed expression on his face. "Thanks, but you haven't even tried it yet." An lavender hue of magical energy enveloped the silverware given to Twilight, striking one of the many dishes before bringing it to the unicorn's mouth and devouring its contents. Soon after, the magic dropped, the fork falling back onto the table. "Mmmm..." She moaned. "Master?" Shirou questioned with a smile. "Mmmmm!" Twilight only continued. "Do you like it?" He questioned again. "Mhmm!" She nodded. Fluttershy took a bite soon after, only to find herself in the same position as Twilight Sparkle. "Mmm..." Fluttershy moaned as the taste exploded in her mouth. Shirou began to eat casually, taking small humor to himself. When his small petite unicorn master finally recovered, she exclaimed. "Where did you learn to cook like this, Shirou?!" She asked in awe, stealing a few more bites after saying the sentence. "Self-taught, friends, recipes, all the above honestly. My old man couldn't cook so I took the reigns." He answered her. "Old man, Your grandfather?" Fluttershy questioned. He shook his head, "No, father." The magus replied. "Self-taught..." Twilight trailed off in disbelief, "No way..." Shirou chuckled at his master's reaction, "Believe what you will." Following lunch, the three began to discuss while having tea. "Twilight, I couldn't help but be curious but why are you all separated from your companions?" The red-haired hero of Justice questioned this particular flaw. The purple unicorn gave an anxious expression. "I can't help you if you don't let me," Shirou said, though when has that ever stopped him from trying beforehand. Twilight Sparkle glanced toward Fluttershy for a brief moment before sighing in resignation. She finished her tea before taking a deep breath and starting her long-winded tale. "It was a rather hectic day in Ponyville, I dearly wanted to attend my brother's wedding but a message from Celestia stopped my friends and I from boarding the train..." There, within the train station, six ponies and a small bipedal dragon prepared to broad the train that leads between Ponyville, their hometown, and Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria. Twilight Sparkle, along with her friends: Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Spike. All of them were just about too broad, speaking with the excitement of their upcoming roles at the wedding about to take place when suddenly... Spike covered his stomach, before burping loudly, the sound occupied by a small burst of green flames escaping his mouth as a scroll appeared within the air. Twilight Sparkle caught it with her magic, unfurling it to read out loud. "What is it, Twi?" Pinkie Pie exciting questioned, bouncing up and down while inner planning the various of objects for the wedding's reception. "Probably my brother finally deciding to apologize..." Twilight answered with annoyance, after all, she was invited to the wedding by a letter, not her brother, Shining Armor, in person! But the first sentence caught the unicorn off guard, it didn't display the formality of Princess Celestia or Shining Armor's usual form of address. Which was odd in itself. "Do not broad the train?" Twilight read in confusion. "Huh?" All her friends commented, merely hooves away from entering the train. "A dangerous problem has arisen, I've discovered that Tirek had escaped when news from Appleloosa came in... All the ponies in Appleloosa had their magic stolen?!" Twilight exclaimed in alarm. Her friends begin surrounding her as they were eager to know more of the predicament, she continued, "I believe he is heading to Ponyville next and may have allies that have also escaped from Tartarus as well. I do not wish for you to be harmed if they target the train on its departure. Stay safe!" "This... This is bad," Twilight finished as she put down the letter. "Bad? This is astoundingly horrific!" Rarity exclaimed in response. "Many uncouth barbarians have escaped a dreadful prison such as that and now they're all coming here?" "I say bring it on!" Rainbow Dash said, bumping her front hooves against one another while hovering with her wings above the ground. "We can take them all and still make it in time to do the wedding!" "Now hang on a second," Applejack interrupted Rainbow Dash, "We're dealing with possibly a lot of baddies, we should prepare and make some traps to slow them down." Pinkie Pie nodded in agreement, "Yeah! I already got a few pranks about that can be used!" Twilight Sparkle smiled, then a face of determination appeared from her, "Alright girls... Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie, you all go set up some prank traps to slow them down. Rarity and I will try to see if we can set up some spells. Spike, I want you to begin evacuation of Ponyville to the town hall. Fluttershy, you can help Spike with that." For the next half an hour, the heroes of Equestria prepared to engage Tirek and any other villains he had mustered up from the depths of Tartarus. It was really all for naught. Despite best intentions, the villains the Bearers were facing were those who had little qualms with causing suffering. Their past foes were those who delighted in causing mischief and sought to rule without bloodshed. But these new opponents were of a different league of villainous plots. They were inside the town hall, the group of friends discussing what the next course of action would be while the opponents outside attempted to break through the fortifications that were created by them to shield the residents of Ponyville from Tirek and the dozen other enemies. The citizens of Ponyville were afraid, as they huddled up in the corners of the hall's room. "I never expected them to be so brutal..." Fluttershy commented. "I think it caught us all off guard," Applejack said, shaking off the disturbing feeling that tempted to invade her body. "Darn," Rainbow Dash said as she rubbed her aching wings, "That one stallion really got a hard hit on me. But I'll be fine!" The pegasus stated. "Do you got a plan, dear?" Rarity asked Twilight. The purple unicorn banged her head a few times with her hooves, "Um... Hm... I might be able to do a mass teleport for all of us to Canterlot or at least part way... But it'll take way to long for me to charge the spell and the slightest provocation could start a disaster." Bang! "I don't know bout you guys," Spike commented on the situation, "But I don't think we have many other options." "..." Twilight remained silent, "Alright, I'll do it." She said. "We'll cover you!" Pinkie Pie said with an optimistic attitude. "They won't get past us!" Dash replied. Twilight closed her eyes, muttering in the inner magical energy within her and running a series of calculations in her brain. Everything needed to be timed right, a single mistake, a single miss in the spell formula, and everything will go completely haywire. She wasn't a Alicorn, she couldn't 'skip' steps by merely flooding the spell formula with magical energy. A talented unicorn, taught by Celestia herself, still had to run step by step in a delicate inner assembly line. Bang! 'Focus...' Twilight thought to herself. Bang! 'Focus...!' Bang! "Here they come!" 'Focus, Twilight!' She screamed to herself as her mind became enwrapped by a series of tubes spreading out from a single pipeline, already she could feel the drain from her reserves being devoured at an alarming rate by the advanced spellcraft she was conjuring. Starting Spellcraft Formula Accessing Required Mana Estimating Number of Selected Targets Building Equation Answers... She opened an eye, a single glance at what was going on. It was all that was needed. A villain was swinging a blade at the neck of one of her friends. She snapped. She had to save them! Error! Spell Interrupted! Misfire! "Leave her alone!" Twilight yelled, the energy diverted, the sheer mass collected at her own fired forth in a single beam, impacting against the villain stallion that was completely incinerated by the blast. She had just killed somepony, and everypony had seen it. Executing Teleportation. Her vision was encased in a flash of light, her friends also being enveloped by the bright shine... But none of the other residents were taken. She had failed. Twilight Sparkle found herself halfway across Equestria, with none of her friends around her. She had teleported herself far away. And she had killed somepony. The following vomiting on the grass was an appropriate response. "I think that's enough for now," Shirou said, concerned for Twilight's emotional wellbeing. "You should rest..." Fluttershy said. "Y-Yeah... You're right..." Twilight trailed off, getting up from the couch and placing the empty cup on the table. "I'll... Goodnight..." She said as she excused herself and enter the bedroom. Shirou began picking up the tea set, "So... That's why she refuses to speak of it before..." The red-haired magus stated. "It's not her fault either... It was Tirek and the others... Everything after Ponyville just seemed to escalate so quickly..." Fluttershy responded. "I understand... It's happened to me before," Shirou said, remembering the times that occurred when he, Saber, Archer, and Rin were fighting in the Fifth Holy Grail War. "You should rest too, I'm sure we have a big day tomorrow." Fluttershy nodded in agreement, and she left for the beds as well. Shirou found himself on the couch, but he didn't mind. The only thing on his mind that night was saving Twilight.