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The Great Fire of Yanhoover3,097 words
New Beginnings2,125 words
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Siege Fire2,208 words
Links2,021 words
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Links

The Sword that is the Scabbard

Chapter 6: Links

A explosion of flame. It engulfs the entire city block. The whole part, filled with houses, stores, and city buildings, surrounded by a sea of fire. The air, thick with the pillaring smoke and ash, is like the poisonous fume of a volcanic eruption.

Screams, crying out...

Save me... Save him... Save her... Save them...

Keep walking... Just keep walking... Don't look back... Save yourself...

Help him... Help her... Help them... No...

Help... Help...

So much death.

A endless spread of orange and red...

The burning husks of the dead and dying...

Once beautiful buildings, flora, and decor turned into charred black remnants.

They reach out... Their cries echoing through the destruction...

A pour of rain... Distilling the fires... Drowning them down into small cinders and broken pieces.

A few more steps... Forward... Nothing remains... Falling... Dying...

A face.

One who found something.

A look so happy... Why... Why does He smile? Why can't... Smile like that?

Twilight's eyes opened, her body's drowsiness fading as she awakened. The purple unicorn groaned due to the discomfort of having slept in such a crude place. Both Shirou and herself had taken shelter from the changeling forces in a pony-built safe house of sorts. However it had appeared on arrival that the place lacked certain luxuries like bedding, it had few blankets in which they improvised.

However, the student of Celestia didn't have much, if any, experience sleeping on the bare floor with nothing but a thin sheet of wool between herself and solid wooden plank. To make it simple, her muscles ached.

"Good morning master," A male voice said while the sound of something pouring echoed in the background.

Twilight smiled, disregarding what she assumed to be a bad dream related to the recent incident at Yanhoover, she sat upright.

"Shirou... You know I said you don't have to call me that," Twilight replied as her eyes took notice of a small tea set sitting on the floor, one cup filled near her while the other being poured at her Servant's side.

A small smirk graced his lips, "I know," He replied simply.

A faint aura of lavender enveloped the steaming tea-cup, "How did you even find this tea set in this place?" Twilight asked as she raised it to her lips and blowing gently before taking a sip. 'Mmmh... Might not be coffee but it's the next best thing...' She thought to herself.

"I was rummaging through the place and found a faucet that still worked, as luck would have it, I also found some tea bags." Shirou began as he took a drink of his own tea before continuing. "I didn't find the rest. I just projected them, they'll disappear after a bit."

Twilight paused, 'I'm drinking store-bought tea from a magical construct?' The unicorn could barely wrap her mind around it. 'So... His Tracing abilities can do more than just bladed weaponry. How far does it extend?'

"I know what you're thinking, 'Just what else is he capable of?' you must be asking?" Shirou voiced Twilight's exact thought. "Well, not much really. Remember I said I was a third-rate magus. This is all projection, honestly, the tea set costs me more prana than a regular sword does." He answered.

"That doesn't make any sense! A sword should have far more of a magical cost than a tea set!" Twilight said.

The red-haired human shrugged, "Again, my body's speciality is swords and only swords. Trust me, even Rin gets a headache from it." He began before finishing it off, "Sure I can trace other items, but swords will always cost less."

Before Twilight could start firing questions faster than the speed of light on the nature that made Shirou Emiya's abilities, the Servant stood up, his tea empty, and looked toward the direction of the exit.

"We should get going," Shirou said. "Can't let your friend keep waiting for you!" He said happily like all would be right in the world.

It was a contagious feeling.

The unicorn couldn't help but smile in agreement, even if she had to face the consequences of meeting her friends again.

Shirou Emiya has seen quite the many mysterious in his life, both of wonder and horror, but the spectacle before him gave him a long pause in the sheer awe and impossibility that it presented. He might be a third-rate magus, but even he could understand that the sight before him ran into the realms of absurdity.

"Twilight..." His voice escaped from his lips.

"Yes?" The lavender unicorn answered him with a smile, clearly enjoying his awed expression.

"You never told me half the city was on clouds," The summoned 'servant' finished.

"Oh, and you're ponies- people don't have cloud cities?" Twilight corrected herself.

"... No," Was all Shirou could say in reply.

"Well Shirou," Twilight began, pointing a hoof toward the city's direction. "Welcome to Las Pegasus!"

It occurred to Shirou that perhaps his and Twilight's world had much more in common than anticipated, for it now clicked to him that there was an american state titled 'Las Vegas'. It had only visited the States once or twice, having mostly stayed within the European nations and its Asian counterpart. He briefly wondered if it had any similarities outside of the name, but the red-haired man wouldn't know as he never visited or had the cultural knowledge of the famous city.

Still, as both Twilight and Shirou approached and entered the confines of the Las Pegasus, he couldn't help but be in awe at how the city seemed to practically glow with activity. The previous two Equestrian cities, Yanhoover, and Seaddle, couldn't really show him the highlights of the pony civilization's golden days. Of course, that didn't mean the half-cloud city didn't suffer from any changes, there was a clear and notable military caution within its borders.

Shirou Emiya briefly noticed a large portion of the city's defenses were aerial combatants, those net siege weapons of the Changeling forces would've devastated them if the Servant hadn't burned the machines to ash.

But his heroics were unknown, and this pony-filled city quickly caught wind of his presence.

He didn't mind, he had saved them indirectly, that's all that mattered.

Twilight, however, looked so obviously anxious she might have been an open book.

"Aren't you suppose to be greeting someone?" Shirou asked the purple unicorn that is his master.

This shocked Twilight Sparkle out of her stupor, "Oh! Sorry about that Shirou... Just, no pony has seen anything like you before... So I'm a bit nervous."

He could understand where she was coming from, the recent events didn't make things easier for something new to make an appearance.

"Fluttershy should be near the park," Twilight said. "She rarely flies high so we wouldn't find her on the city's clouds."

The trip to the park went without incident, though there was a certain number of guards that seemed to trail them just outside their vision. But they left them alone for the most part. Arrival at the large area of greenery yielded an unexpected result.

"All the animals are in one place..." Shirou trailed off in a confused expression, animals never did that normally.

Twilight nodded, "That's Fluttershy's work, her talent is taking care of animals."

"So she's a zoologist?" Shirou questioned as they approached the large number of small critters, his eye spotting a lone yellow form in the midst of them.

"Of sorts..." The unicorn's voice became wary of something.

With every step, Shirou began to notice a different side of Twilight, one of doubt, fear, and desperation.

It was unlike her.

"Twilight?" He said in concern for her.

She didn't answer him, for the unicorn took a few steps forward, catching Fluttershy's sight as the yellow pegasus caught her own.

"Fluttershy...?"

The petite looking pegasus got up on her hooves, her mouth trying to form words, large eyes failing to hold back tears.

"Twilight?" A small shy voice spoke.

The animals parted, making a pathway between the two ponies. Shirou himself remained quiet, this was not his conversation, it was Twilight's. Both unicorn and pegasus slowly walked up to each other before joining in the middle. Twilight and Fluttershy were at the edge of tears before they suddenly enveloped each other in heartwarming hugs.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." Twilight apologized again and again. "I didn't... Tirek... He just... I'm sorry..."

"I know it's not your fault..." Fluttershy comforted her.

The unicorn sniffled, "I didn't know what to do after we all broke apart... I tried helping ponies, but it was useless... I needed you, all my friends..."

"We needed you too..." Fluttershy softly spoke, "Tirek did some awful things... But I realize that we should have stood together... I'm sorry to Twilight, for leaving you."

"N-No you should apologize... It's my fault."

Fluttershy broke the hug, looking Twilight in the eyes with an expression of happiness, "I forgive you, even if it wasn't your fault, I forgive you."

"You... Forgive me?" The words stuttered with uncertainty out of the unicorn, "I... I'm so lucky... To have friends like you."

The yellow pegasus, holder of Kindness, handed her a handkerchief, allowing Twilight to wipe her face of the tears she had shed.

"Do you feel better?" Fluttershy asked kindly.

She nodded, "Yes... I feel much better now that we're friends again." Twilight Sparkle smiled, before realizing that she wasn't alone. "Oh, Fluttershy, let me greet you to a friend I made at Yanhoover," The unicorn started pointing toward her summoned Servant. "This is Shirou, Shirou this is Fluttershy."

The red-haired human waved with a kind smile, "Hey, I'm Shirou, Shirou Emiya. It's nice to meet one of Twilight's friends."

The yellow pegasus seemed to recoil into a smaller version of herself, "Hi... I'm Fluttershy... It's nice to meet you too..." She spoke very softly, like a whisper.

Thankfully, Shirou heard her, even if he had to reinforce his own ears to do so.

This seemed to make Twilight happy, "Great, we're all friends!" She turned to Fluttershy, "How about we go get some lunch together? Catch up and chat? I think I remember a restaurant around here somewhere that I heard in a magizine."

Fluttershy nodded in agreement, "That sounds nice..." She spoke in what Shirou would now guess would be her usual tone, as Twilight seemed to be fine with the whisper-like speech.

"Wait," Shirou stated as he placed one hand in another as a idea came to him, "How about I cook something? All I need in a few ingredients."

It's been such a long while since he's cooked something, it'll be nice to do so again.

"That sounds great Shirou, you did say your cooking skills were greater than the tea making," Twilight answered. "Fluttershy, you have to try his tea, it's the best ever."

"Oh... Yes, please do. Tea sounds nice. I have a room at a hotel..." Fluttershy replied.

"Then it's settled," Shirou finished. "Now... Which way is the marketplace?"

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