Fate/Equestria: Fragmented Memories

by ElementBrigade

Chapter Two: The Princess and The Servant Part Two

“Berserker, do you know what SE.RA.PH. is?” Twilight asked as Berserker made herself visible next to her.

“SE.RA.PH. is an artificial environment within the Moon Cell we’re in right now,” Berserker said as she pointed at the sky. “SE.RA.PH. is pretty much responsible for the summoning of Servants during the Holy Grail War we’re in. It also restricts the exit until the tournament participants are reduced to one, as per the Moon Cell’s rules.” She said, scratching the back of her head in annoyance. “I find it quite annoying that my powers are reduced by half. If I had my full power at my disposal, I would have taken over the mooncell in less than a day or two. Though I suppose if I did that, then I would quickly lose interest in it.”

“This place has a library, right? Would it have more information about this SE.RA.PH. system or more importantly, the Mooncell itself?”

“It does, but it doesn’t go into that much detail about the Mooncell or SE.RA.PH. Only just the basic information.”

“Okay, I guess that’s a good place to start. Thanks, Berserker.” With that, the servant disappears into bits of ones and zeros as they make it to the roof. The moment Twilight opened the door, she quickly closed her eyes due to the digital sun and from being inside the school for quite some time. Once her eyes were adjusted to the light, her vision began to become clearer as she noticed a girl with long black pigtails wearing a red long-sleeve shirt with a white cross on the front, a black skirt, and a pair of long black thigh-high shoes searching around the area as if trying to find whatever it is that she lost.

“I’ve investigated this school from top to bottom, but there’s nothing unique about it.” The girl said, murmuring something to herself as she patted the walls and floors of the rooftop.

“Is she trying to look for something?” Twilight thought as she watched the girl out of curiosity. It was only when the girl noticed Twilight was when she turned her focus off the wall and onto the humanoid pony girl.

“Hey, you over there.”

“Y-Yes?” Twilight asked as she noticed the girl walking up to her.

“Yeah, you. Hmm, I haven’t checked the NPCs out much yet.” She said before looking at Twilight up and down as a grin appeared on the human’s face. “Aha, I know a simple way. Don’t you move.” Unexpectedly, her fingers reach out and touch Twilight’s cheek. To the pony’s surprise, the human’s fingers felt so soft and delicate. Then again, humans don’t have hair on their bodies, so it shouldn’t be a surprise for her. “Imagine that. You’re warm and surprisingly soft, though you shouldn’t be.” She said while noticing Twilight blushing even more. “Huh? That’s weird, seeing a red cheek flush like that…” Her face was just three centimeters from the tip of Twilight’s nose. She could feel her own heart racing from the closeness of this human invading her personal space. To make matters even more awkward, she felt the human doing a pat-down from her shoulder to her stomach. A normal person would quickly stop this from happening, but given the slightly harsh gaze she was receiving from the human, she didn’t want to risk getting into a slight altercation with her.

“Interesting. You’re more well-built than I had expected. You look and feel real given how you look like something from an anime show or manga. Maybe more real than most people.” She said before looking behind herself, scowling. “Hey, what are you laughing at? It’s to our advantage to look into everything, even the NPCs.”

“I can only assume that she’s talking to her servant given how she’s talking to someone behind her.” Twilight thought.

“Huh? Is she a Master too? No...A Master should be more...W-Wait. That means when I felt up-” A blush appeared on the girl’s face as she slowly looked over at Twilight who had a sheepish smile on her face. “Ugh, how embarrassing.” She said before turning back to her Servant due to him laughing at her. “Shut up! I can make mistakes too, you know! Don’t call me a pervert! It could have been my imagination. Or a hacker-such a detailed NPC would rarely exist otherwise.” She said before turning her attention back to Twilight. “Anyway, you’re to blame for looking like something out of the ordinary! How can a creature like you become a master?”

“Okay, I take offense to being called a creature. I’m a pony. PONY.” Twilight said, pointing at her ears, horn, and tail. “Also, how is it my fault that you couldn’t tell the difference between a pony and an NPC...speaking of. What is an NPC?”

“It’s short for non-playable characters. Think of them as data with the same level of human intelligence but a bit different. Some can communicate with you, while others are kind of in their own little world programmed by SE.RA.PH.” Berserker said as she whispered it into Twilight’s ear.

“I-I don’t know, it just is!” The girl said before pointing a finger at my face. “I mean, look at yourself. A sweater shirt, lab coat, black pants with boots, and bags under your eyes. I mean really. Were the prelims too boring to jog your memories?” She asked which caused Twilight to look off to the side while chuckling awkwardly.

“I…wouldn’t know. Considering how I don’t have any memories containing that.”

“Uh...No way. Your memories still haven’t returned? That’s...really not good. Once you enter the Holy Grail War, the only way out is to win. Leaving prematurely isn’t allowed. Even without memories, or previous battle experience, you still have to fight.” She said before looking at Twilight again as she shrugged. “Oh well. It doesn’t matter. You’ll be defeated in the Holy Grail War soon enough.”

“I get the feeling this girl’s going to be an oddity during the coming trials ahead…I’m hoping I don’t have to fight here in the upcoming fight.” With that, the girl returned to her investigation of the rooftop. Before the humanoid mare could say anything, she soon felt Berserker’s presence behind her as she placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder.

“As expected from Rin Tohsaka. Though she does pique my interest as a fellow mage, she will be an interesting foe to face, should we have to fight her in the tournament.”
“How did you know her name?” Twilight asked as she made her way to the other side of the roof away from Rin.

“I overheard some of the students talking about how they find Rin so beautiful. I don’t see the appeal to what they’re talking about. But given the features that they were talking about, I can see why a lot of people find her attractive. Even you when she felt you up like that find her attractive~”

“T-That’s a lie and you know it you jerk!” Twilight yelled before covering her mouth due to how loud she was. She quickly looked over at Rin to see if she heard her. To her surprise, she appeared to not have heard her when she said that. Twilight sighed in relief before looking over at Berserker with a glare as she snickered.

“Oh relax. I’m just messing with you.” She said before patting me on the head. “But in all seriousness. What she said were fighting words. When we meet her in battle, I will give my answer to her and her Servant.”

“I’m kinda hoping we don’t, but we’ll have to worry about that later,” Twilight said before hearing her stomach growling. “Right now, I need to eat something before I pass out.”

“Yes, yes, go on. Eat while I keep watch over our opponent so they don’t try anything suspicious.” Berserker said as she made herself disappear and Twilight moved over to the side of the rooftop to eat in peace.

During the morning and midday of school. Twilight spent most of her time brushing up on some human culture, history, literature, and miscellaneous stuff in the library. Despite having the feeling that some of the students were secretly looking at her from either behind their books or the bookshelves, she felt a bit relaxed and comfortable within that library. It did sorta help calm down a bit from not letting the fact of the holy grail war get to her, but that still didn’t help her to remember who she was.

“There has to be a way to regain my memories somehow. Maybe the person by the name Father Kotomine could shine some light on this problem.” Twilight thought as she made her way down the hallway of the school. While walking down the hallway lost in her thoughts of how, she accidentally bumped into someone, which brought her back from her train of thought. Looking up she saw a man with brown short hair who was wearing a uniform that was close to the pastor of a thing the humans called a church.

“Congratulations. You have been deemed worthy to be a participant in the Holy Grail War.” The man said as he bowed to Twilight. “You may call me Father Kotomine. I am an NPC assigned the task of supervising the Holy Grail War. As of today you and your fellow magi have been given the honor of fighting in the Arena up ahead.”

“Arena?”

“This war is run as an elimination tournament, with the Grail being awarded to the Last person standing. In other words, the participating Masters will kill each other until there is only one person left. Simple enough to understand, yes? Even a complete idiot should be able to understand the rules.” He said before chuckling a bit. “Masters get a six-day preparation period before Elimination Battles, which occur on the seventh day. I’d advise you to use the time given to devise the most efficient means of slaughtering your foe. On the seventh day, you and your foe will fight. The winner lives, and the loser is...deleted.“

“...By deleted…you mean dead…right?” Twilight asked as Kotomine nodded.

“If you wish to make a query, speak now. The right to ask about the rules is given to all.”

“Who will be my first opponent in the first round?”

“You have not yet been informed of your first-round opponent?” He asked as I nodded. “Hmm...Wait just a moment…” He said before pulling up a digital screen and beginning to type on it. “...Strange. There seems to be a system error. I will locate your opponent by tomorrow, but for now, you can relax until then.”

“Okay, suppose that’s a good thing to relax a bit.” She said before turning around and was about to leave, only to stop upon hearing him call out her name.

“One last thing before you go. Masters that continue to advance will be given a private room.” He said before handing a card with the letter TS on it. “Your room will be located in classroom 2-B. Please use this card and enter it into your terminal so that you can access your room.”

“Huh, didn’t know we could get private rooms,” Twilight said as she placed the card into her portable terminal. Within a matter of seconds, the card vanished as it gave off a small chime indicating that it was integrated into her terminal.

“Well, the time for conversation has come to an end. The door at the end of the hallway behind you will lead you to the Arena. For today, concentrate on becoming accustomed to the inner workings of the Arena. Good luck.” With that, Kotomine makes his leave as Berserker makes herself visible for Twilight.

“Perfect, this will be a golden opportunity to see the inner workings of this mooncell’s version of a battle arena,” Berserker said as she summoned her spear-like staff into her hand. “It would be nice if this place didn’t restrict my strength, but nothing can be gained without putting in the work.”

“You’re saying that like you've been in a Holy Grail War before,”

“I wouldn’t say I’ve been in a Holy Grail War before, but I have had my fair share of combat and wars. Now come along, subject. Let’s go to the arena and see what it looks like.” Berserker said as she motioned for Twilight to follow after her.

Words could not describe how Twilight felt when they entered the Arena. It was a mix between godstruck, fearful, amazed, and shocked by how this place could exist. This place looked like they were inside a thing called a video game that the humanoid pony looked up at the library. The weird glowing circuit lines off in the distance and the solid visible see-through floors and walls, this was making her feel all sorts of excitement inside…yet she didn’t know why she felt this way.

“So this is the Mooncell’s Arena. I’m a bit disappointed by this. I was expecting more than something so…bland and simple.” Berserker said before noticing Twilight taking a step forward.

“Are you kidding me!? Look at this place!” Twilight yelled as she spun around in excitement. “How can you not find this place amazing!? We’re in a digital place where it should be impossible for something like this to exist! Can you imagine how anypony would feel if they could study something like this-” Before the mare could finish, she felt Berserker flick her nose as she quickly covered her nose due to the pain she felt.

“You keep saying those improper puns that are horse related, I’ll keep flicking or hitting you on the nose or head,” Berserker said before moving in front of Twilight. “Now please focus. This may be a free day for you, but this will be a test to see what my limitations are in a fight.” She said before noticing some enemies wandering around in the distance. “In this place, we’re allowed to do battles whenever we feel the need to fight and train. Enemy Programs created by SE.RA.PH roams this place and will attack us on the spot. So long as you stay close to me, I’ll keep you protected, but this is for the first round. Afterward, I will be putting you through the wringer and training you to be a proper master/knight of my caliber. So don’t mistake my kindness as a weakness.”

“Thanks for the boost in confidence.” Twilight thought but nodded regardless.

“Since this will be our first time in battle, let’s just deal with the square-looking enemies here today.”

“Are you sure you’ll be able to handle them? I mean, I know you can handle yourself on your own, but you seem to be taking this kind of casually like there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Your worry is considered, but worry not of me,” Berserker said before noticing a cube-like enemy off in the distance from them. A smirk appeared on her face as she lifted her spear-like staff and thrust it into some kind of portal of shorts. Within a matter of seconds, a spear made out of her magic appeared out of nowhere and impaled itself into the top part of the cube’s head as it instantly vanished into ashes. “I can manage for myself despite being a Berserker class servant. You should have some faith in me.”

“It’s kinda hard to do that when you keep saying sly remarks like that. But I guess I have no choice in the matter seeing how I’m stuck in this place until we can win this war.” Twilight said as she noticed Berserker motioning for the pony to follow her. As they continued to make their way through the beginning part of the Arena, Twilight noticed three cube-like enemies stretching themselves like springs coming around the corner. Upon seeing her and Berserker, they began to charge at them with the intent to kill.

“Try not to think of it like that,” Berserker said before changing her weapon out with a sword and slicing the air in front of herself. Within a matter of seconds, one of the cubes was sliced in two as it fell to the ground and turned to digital ashes. “Suppose that’s the limit to how many I can take down from a distance.” She said before transforming her sword into an ax and quickly dodging the oncoming spin attack by the two cubes.

Off to the side, she quickly launched herself at the cubes with her ax raised, brought it down upon the second cube, and cut it in two. She quickly spun around like a spinning top as she tried to cleave the other enemy program in two, but missed as the cube quickly dodged it and tried to counter with a spinning attack of its own. The servant quickly brought the shaft part of her weapon up to block the oncoming attack. Once it makes contact with her weapon, she quickly parries the attack and counters with a quick upward slash causing the cube to collide with the arena ceiling and then the floor.

“Hm, supposed being a berserker class isn’t so bad,” Berserker said before turning her back on the cube she knocked down and focused on Twilight. “Never been the type to fight in close range, using magic from a distance to take out my enemies is more of my specialties. Less of a pain and time-consuming.”

“...I…Don’t know what to say other than I am amazed at how fast you were.” Twilight said as she examined Berserker up and down. “Are all servants able to perform feats like you just did?”

“More or less, though they can do more, were it not for this weakening us.” She said before making her weapon vanish. “But I’ll manage for the both of us.” Just as she turned her back onto the cube, Twilight took notice of the creature slowly pulling itself up. The humanoid pony’s eyes widened upon seeing this as she saw the cube launching itself at Berserker.

“Look out behind you!” Twilight yelled as she quickly tackled Berserker to the ground as the cube collided with the arena wall. The cube staggered from the impact before looking over at them and attempting to attack them, only for pale blue-colored spikes to appear from out of its body. Twilight blinked in surprise at this as she looked over at Berserker, who was glaring daggers at the enemy program.

“You dare,” Berserker said before carefully pulling Twilight off and teleporting in front of the cube. The moment she was within range, she grabbed the cube by the string part of its body and began to violently slam it against the walls of the arena. “You dare attack me while my back is turned, force my subject to risk her life for mine, and have the gull to think you can just attack us again!?” She yelled before slamming the cube onto the ground and proceeded to stomp on it with a sadistic grin on her face.

“Um…I think that’s…enough?” Twilight said as she watched the cube turn into dust within a matter of seconds.

“I’ll say when it has enough!” Berserker yelled before feeling Twilight pulling on her shoulder.

“I’m saying that because there’s nothing left of it.” She said as Berserker looked down to see the cube reduced to nothingness.

“Ah…I see…” She said before quickly turning away from Twilight for a good few seconds before her grin was replaced with a warm smile. “W-Well, I suppose I should thank you for risking your life for me…even though it wasn’t needed, and I could easily dodge it without any problems whatsoever.”

“...Are you okay?” I asked as she simply nodded.

“Of course I’m fine. Just a slight moment of anger is all.” She said before wiping the dust off her boot. “Pay it no mind. Just…be more careful from now on.”

“I’ll try…but I make no promises.” Twilight answered.

“Good, now come along. We have more exploring to do before we head back.”

After a few hours in the Arena, the duo decided to make their way back to the private room given to them by Father Kotomine. Once they entered the room, Twilight was kinda disappointed at the fact that there wasn’t much in the room. Then again, they were inside of a school, so having something like a bed or a place to sleep was out of the question. The idea to make a makeshift bed out of the desk was something that Twilight was about to do, but it was soon interrupted by Berserker as she tapped the bottom part of her staff against the ground. A burst of light filled the room as Twilight quickly covered her eyes. Within a matter of seconds, she could feel the light fading away as she opened her eyes. To her surprise, the room looked more like a modern/medieval-themed bedroom than a classroom.

“Wow, I didn’t know you could do something like this.”

“The perks of having territory creation. Though I can’t spread it throughout the school, this room will work as a workshop/bedroom for us to sleep in. Consider it as a thank you for what you did in the arena.”

“Oh, um, thank you?” Twilight said as she made her way over to the large bed in the middle of the room. “This is surprisingly comfortable.”

“Of course, it’s supposed to be comfortable. It’s made out of the finest material within the lostb-” Berserker paused upon catching herself in the mistake she almost made. She cleared her throat for a moment before continuing. “Within the mooncell. Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I hate to admit it, but because of this place and your loss of memories of being a mage. We’re at a serious disadvantage. If it wasn’t noticed in the Arena today.”

“I kinda figured it'd be the case...I mean I’m still trying to get the hang of this warfighting thing. Sorry for not being that helpful to you.”

“It’s not your fault. This sort of thing happens, although a bit different than expected. But it’s no excuse for us. I have slight faith that we’ll be able to make it through the week.”

“Do…you have that much faith in me?” Twilight asked as Berserker waved her hand to the side a bit.

“Not so much, but I have a feeling there’s a lot more to you than meets the eye. Especially given how much mana you’re giving off that could rival that of a caster class servant.”

“Should…I take that as a compliment?”

“Take it however you want. Tomorrow we’ll make another effort to explore the Arena, just to see what it has to offer.” She said before walking over to the closet of the room and tossing over a blanket and pillow perfectly right beside Twilight. “It’s a trivial matter. As long as you have me, we’ll keep going.”

“I suppose she’s right. Today was just a preview of what to expect in this war. Tomorrow is when the real thing will happen. There are a lot of questions that I need to have answered, and this place might be the key to getting them back…I hope.” Twilight thought before looking over at Berserker with a nod.

“Nice to see that you understand the situation. Do try not to disappoint me, subject.” Berserker said before vanishing into bits of ones and zeros. With her gone, Twilight let out a small yawn as she was about to reach for the pillow and blanket but soon fell to her side due to how fatigued her body was. She pondered how this would be possible, considering how she didn’t feel tired during their exploration of the arena. But all that could wait once she woke up, for now, she let herself fall into slumber as her vision faded into darkness.