Episode 1: The Summoning of the Seven
Fate/Lunaverse
Episode 1: The Summoning of the Seven
Princess Luna Equestris, Sovereign of the Three Tribes, Ruler of Equestria, Custodian of the Night, and a number of other titles that sounded impressive on paper, was restless.
It was getting close to morning and she was standing upon one of the many balconies that spread across the Canterlot Palace, one of the highest available. Soon it’d be time to raise the sun, and much like had been the case for every day since the Longest Night Celebration and the return of…the mare that had once been her sister, Luna felt a stab of trepidation. Corona’s power had been damaged badly by her brush with the Elements of Harmony and the sun was still Luna’s to take hold off, but how long before Luna would feel another pony tugging upon the sun other than herself? How many more days would it be until, when Luna began to guide that fiery orb into the sky, that she’d feel the influence of Corona directing it instead?
Pushing the thought away from the forefront of her mind she began to reach out with the core of her power, the ancient magic that suffused every facet of her being, and felt out the waiting presence of that massive golden orb of flame. To move the sun was no simple feat. It was never truly hers, even after her sister’s fall, and while she had long since become accustomed to the of taking hold of and coaxing the sun to rise and fall in its proper cycle it never ceased to feel somewhat…wrong.
No matter how many times I do this I will be reminded of the fact that somepony else should be standing here, performing this act, bringing forth light, warmth, and hope to the ponies of Equestria…
And that pony was no more. Consumed by malice, madness, avarice, and an overpowering need to control. A thousand years may have been sufficient for Luna to come to accept what had happened, but forgiving herself for allowing it to come to pass? That might take another thousand years…or two.
Luna refocused her attention on the sun. It was being somewhat stubborn this morning. It felt like her power was slipping along the orb’s essence, rather than taking a proper, firm hold of it. For a second Luna felt a rising fear that this was the day she’d been dreading since Corona’s return, that the alicorn of fire and madness had regained her power sooner than expected and was taking the sun once more for herself…but no, Luna didn’t sense any other presence but her own attempting to take hold of the sun. What was going on?
A pulse of magic, deep rooted into her soul, screamed through her like a twisted, sickened heartbeat. It caused Luna to stagger, though she kept her footing and shook herself. What was-
The pulse came again, twice as strong, and pounding through her heart, soul, and mind like a wave of noxious shadows. For a moment confusion clambered through Luna, but the mind of a eons old alicorn is a disciplined thing; she reigned in her confusion and even while the third, then fourth pulse of dark, sickening magic coursed through her she mentally went over a checklist of possible things it could be.
It was coming from something that was inside her, but also she sensed a connection to something vast and distant…the magic pulse was coming from an outside place but it was connected to something rooted at the core of her own magic. That removed a lot of possibilities from the list.
By the fifth pulse the magic had changed. Rather than just a buildup of raw, corrupting magic slamming through her body it was now starting to pool and take shape. Luna could see motes of black and violet rimmed magical energy coalescing into the air around her, and traces of similar magic forming a large and grand circle of symbols on the balcony she stood upon. Symbols she recognized. Symbols she hadn’t seen for…how long ago was it? Beyond the point where Luna could even grace with a number within a millennia of accuracy. But she knew them. Knew what they meant. Knew now exactly what was about to happen and that at this very moment Celest…no, Corona would be experiencing the very same events.
It had been so long ago, from such a time where the two sisters were still in many ways just children playing with their powers, but at the dangerous moment where they were just getting to the point where the childish games they used to play for decades on end had lost their appeal. She and Celestia had wanted to try a different kind of game back then. Innocence plus god-like power plus an adolescent willingness to ignore signs of danger was not a good combination. There were times Luna theorized the reason neither she or her sister had been able to conventionally bear foals was because the world would be torn asunder by too many alicorns running around with no regard for what their power could do. Much as she and Celestia hadn’t understood what their power could do, what it could create when combined as one.
They’d created something, eons ago, an artifact. They made it just to see if they could, to see what would happen if they poured all of their magic into forging one item of power. They’d never tried to create anything together like it before, and at the time it was such an exciting endeavor just to see how far they could push their magic; to really try to find their limits. Well…they had. The item that was born from that experiment was in no way normal. It took the form of a chalice, but that was just a physical shape, it wasn’t in any way the true nature of Grail.
Luna felt the ritual taking place around her begin to reach its culmination. She tried to fight back against the magic, to do anything to even slightly disrupt the strands of power flowing into the world around her, but there was little she could do. The magic wasn’t just the outside influence of the Grail, it was Luna’s own magic that was helping it, coaxed by the rules of the eons old pact formed to at once seal away the thing she and Celestia had made but also aid in the conditions of its return.
Still, there was always the slight chance that, if she and Corona fought back against the ritual at the same time then just maybe they could disrupt what was about to happen. By now the magic was visible as a growing dark and violet aura that was covering both Luna and the balcony she stood upon, also causing a rumble to reach all through the castle and the city of Canterlot itself. Several members of her Night Guard had already arrived on the scene, but a single command from Luna for them to stay back was enough for them to keep their distance. They recognized powerful magic when they saw it and if their Princess commanded they stay away, they would obey.
As the shaking intensified and the large magic circle she was now standing at the center off began to pour out light like an upward charging waterfall Luna could feel among the torrent of energies…her sister. She felt Corona’s magic suffused with the magic of the ritual. The heated energy was tearing and roiling around, fighting against the ritual every inch of the way and Luna could almost feel out the righteous indignation of Cornoa as her power was being made to bend to the will of the ritual just like Luna’s was.
Then the magic reached its peak, an overwhelming tide of power rushing through Luna and exploding upwards in a physical pillar of violet rimmed black energy that pierced through the mild cloud cover of the pre-dawn sky. At the same time, in the distant north horizon, another pillar of energy shot upwards, one of red rimmed white light. The two pillars of energy curved through the sky, distorting the atmosphere as they went, until the two beams collided at a space above the inner sea that was to the west. There the two beams, light and dark, swirled around one another and blended together to form a massive sphere of light rimmed with flickers of flame light black…that then collapsed in on itself until it became a single small pin prick of energy that descended into the water.
At the end of it Luna was left amid a few lingering arcs of magical energy as the circle of symbols faded away. However the midnight blue alicorn’s right foreleg as now covered in blood red symbols of the same manner, and she could feel pulsing in her aura, in time with her own heartbeat, the sensation of ‘it’, the Grail. It wasn’t free. Wouldn’t be until the culmination of the pact, if thing went the way the Grail desired. Luna knew the terms of the pact bound her from interfering directly, and restricted what she could do indirectly…but she wasn’t going to let this proceed without doing something.
“My Princess, are you…alright?” asked one of the Night Guard, a pegasus who’d kept clear of the balcony but had strayed closer than most the others.
Luna controlled her features, not showing any of the anxiousness or fear that she was feeling, instead projecting the confidence and calm a ruler ought to.
“I am as well as I must be to do what needs to be done. First and foremost ensure that this incident has caused no damage to the city and that our populace is safe. Send for Shining Armor, and tell him to meet with me in the throne room immediately.”
She would need to organize the Royal Guard to begin a search as soon as possible. Somewhere in Equestria seven ponies would be bearing markings similar to the ones that now covered her leg. She imagined Corona bore similar markings on her left foreleg. Luna wondered, if only for an instant, if this event might help break through Corona’s madness, somehow reach some part of her mind that still cared about the ponies of Equestria…
…Luna didn’t dare let that hope distract her from her duty. Civilians all across the land would have seen that light show. She’d need to release a formal statement to try and assuage any fears that might be spreading through the populace…but right at this very moment the battle might already be starting. She’d need to act fast.
As of this moment, the Second Grail War had begun.
----------
Just a short time ago…
Trixe was not a morning pony. She liked her luxuries. Sleep being one of the top luxuries she enjoyed indulging in. But sometimes the demands of a Representative of the Night Court overrode the desire to sleep in. She had to purchase an alarm clock just for the purpose of getting up early this morning.
It was so early the sun hadn’t even been risen yet while she showered, too tired to even get much into singing as she did so. Levitating a brush to start straightening her mane and tail after drying off Trixie stumbled, eyes half open, into her office. It was exceedingly inconvenient by she, as Ponyville’s Representative to the Night Court, had to draft and personally send the acknowledging letter of Ponyville’s selection for that month’s water transfer to Cloudsdale. She’d have Pokey do this but he’d taken a week vacation to take care of a ‘family matter’, which he hadn’t really elaborated on, but given he’d actually gone above and beyond the call of duty lately Trixie allowed him the week off.
Which unfortunately meant being up at this unpleasant hour to mail paperwork.
The paperwork she needed was already on the table. She’d gotten it sorted last night to make sure she didn’t have to waste any time. Just go to the post office, drop of the papers, go home, climb back into bed. She snatched up the envelope and threw on her signature purple magician hat and cape and headed out.
Ponyville’s post office wasn’t a long walk, and it was a mild night. Trixie figured the sun would be getting raised by Luna any minute, though there wasn’t any indication of pre-dawn light yet. Ponyville was quiet, only a few vendors getting their stalls set up in the market square for those early bird shoppers, Carrot Top among them. Trixie tiredly waved at the carrot farmer in the distance, who spotted her and returned the wave.
Yawning Trixie got to the post office, which was alright lit up with the morning shift getting ready to start the day’s deliveries. There was a drop box for mail like what Trixie was sending, but she felt a sudden whim to pop in and see if Ditzy was working today, so Trixie walked through the front doors. Inside Silver Script was speaking with Ditzy Doo, both of them looking up as Trixie entered.
“Ah, Miss Trixie!” Silver Script looked a tad bemused to see her, “Have to admit I never thought I’d see you trotting through our doors this early. This some kind of emergency?”
“Morning Trixie,” Ditzy said with a happy smile. She was already suited up in her blue post worker’s outfit, mail bag slung on her back, “how can Equestria’s best postal office help you?”
Ditzy was rather chipper, though Trixie imagined that might be because the gray pegasus mare was used to being up at this hour. Trixie tried to match her friend’s smile though it was probably a wan ghostly imitation of the one Ditzy had on. She levitated up the envelope.
“No emergency, just the official confirmation being sent back to Cloudsdale that yes, they can feel free to drain our water reservoir to make clouds,” Trixie said, yawning again.
“Oh, that,” Silver Script shook his head with a light laugh, “Always a fun week for us pegasi. Wonder if Rainbow Dash will put us all through the paces like last time?” he stretched his wings, “Mare’s got a lot of enthusiasm. Maybe a little too much.”
“I think it’s fun,” said Ditzy, “It’s not often all of Ponyville’s pegasi get together.”
“Yeah, well, you all have fun, I’ll be rooting comfortably from the sidelines,” Trixie said, rather glad that unicorns didn’t have any odd get-together obligations that forced them into a week of sudden extreme exercise to create tornado. She wondered if, in Equestria’s long history, if anypony had thought of a more…well…efficient way to get the water to Cloudsdale’s factories. Like regular shipments via sky carts?
Ditzy chuckled as she took the envelope and moved it to the proper bin in the office, “Trixie, while you’re here I might as well tell you I’m going to be working a double shift today, so I won’t be able to make it to ‘game night’ this time.”
Trixie nodded in understanding. The game night idea was a relatively new addition to her weekly schedule anyway, so a few hiccups was to be expected, and Trixie understood Ditzy walked a financial tightrope, so the pegasus needed to grab what hours she could.
“That’s fine, we’ll miss you, but-“
She didn’t get to finish her sentence as an intense feeling that was almost pain, but was more like an unimaginable heat on her right hoof caused her to gasp and nearly fall down. At the same time Ditzy let out a squeal and hit the floor from where she’d been previously floating, her left wing getting shrouded in a blood red glow. Trixie saw that her own right hoof was glowing in a similar fashion.
“W-what’s going on!?” Ditzy said in clear shock and fear, her usually drifting eye now focused on her glowing wing.
Trixie lit up her horn, channeling a magic sight spell so she could try and figure out what was going on with her hoof and Ditzy’s wing…and in doing so she felt the blood drain from her face. There was magic, foreign magic, seeping into her body from an outside source. She could see the crimson tendrils snaking in from the walls and stabbing into her and Ditzy, not just at the points where they were glowing, but all over.
“I…I…” she didn’t know what this was, the magic didn’t correspond to any kind of school or type she was familiar with, and it felt…dark, and powerful, “I don’t know!”
She found she could stand, and Silver Script was helping Ditzy up, though he was eyeing his employee’s glowing wing warily, “Ditzy, something’s appearing on your wing.”
“What?” Ditzy turned her head and stared as strange sharp arcane markings began to form along the feathers of her wing, crawling up it like a growth.
Trixie noticed the same thing was happening with her right hoof, only the markings were…much smaller, a three part runic pattern that formed on the front of her hoof that was the color of blood. She gulped, because the magic sight was showing her that these red tendrils of magic were coming from outside, and were starting to coalesce.
Without a word Trixie went outside, not sure at all what was going on, but wanting to find out.
The red tendrils of magic were gathering at two points on either side of Ponyville’s town square, forming into pools of magic that were getting larger and more intense by the second. Trixie noticed that there was a separate number of magic tendrils that were flowing towards the north end of Ponyville, somewhere up in the sky. The few ponies who were setting up their stalls in the market were now all gathering together, many of them pointing to the north as well. At first Trixie wondered if the red tendrils were visible to ponies without magic sight active, but then she realized those ponies weren’t looking at the tendrils, which while strong were still probably invisible to normal pony eyes, but instead were looking towards the distant Canterhorn Mountain and the barley discernible view of Canterlot.
Trixie felt her mouth drop. There was a pillar of black and violet rimmed magic firing into the sky from Canterlot, arcing through the air, impossibly fast, streaking to the southwest. With her magic sight active she was almost blinded by the amount of magic in that bolt of black energy that tore across the skyline. She fell back on her haunches, the now tingly feeling her hoof forgotton.
It was only when Ditzy came up to her, followed by Carrot Top, that Trixie was able to break out of her stupor. Carrot Top was looking between her two friends with a serious and confused look, one hoof hesitantly poking Trixie.
“Trixie? Trixie are you alright? What’s going on?”
Ditzy was looking at her wing as if it were a strange animal that’d grown out of her side, the entire limb now looking like it was covered in oddly symmetrical wounds, though that was just due to the fact that the symbols covering her wing were the same blood red as the ones on Trixie’s hoof.
“I don’t know what’s happening.” Trixie admitted fearfully, “I’ve never seen or even heard of magic like this!”
“You don’t think its Corona, do you?” Ditzy asked nervously.
Trixie briefly considered it, but shook her head, “I don’t think so. This may be flashy enough for her, but if she were trying some kind of attack then I don’t think she’d do it without bringing the sun into the sky. You know, so all could see her ‘glory’ or some such.”
She pointed up at the still black night. Which wasn’t a good sign. If Princess Luna was alright, then wouldn’t the sun be up by now? Well, she was probably fine, Trixie mentally amended, but was probably too busy dealing with whatever emergency this was to raise the sun right now. Which wasn’t a good sign, either way.
“We should get everypony together,” Carrot Top said, “I could go get them, meet you two at Trixie’s place?”
Trixie was about to say that that sounded fine, but there was a number of yelps and shouts nearby and she looked over at the commotion. She hadn’t been paying attention to the two pools of magic energy that had formed in town square, and now noticed that they’d visibly taken the shape of two massive magical circles, lined with symbols similar to the ones she and Ditzy now bore. These magic circles had to be visible to normal pony sight because the market ponies were backing away from them, and they circles were casting a crimson glow over the square.
As Trixie watched, those circles of magic flared brightly and she felt the runes on her right hoof tingle. Something was emerging from the circles, raising up as if being pulled by a levitating force.
From one circle a massive creature rose that it took Trixie a second to realize was a griffin. The feather’s of the griffin’s eagle head were a stark white, tipped with a crest of larger feathers that were a darker snowcap gray. The lion body of the griffin was thick with muscles beyond the normal lithe form of a griffin, the coat of coppery red fur. The griffin was a male, Trixie though, and was wearing a suit of archaic iron gray armor, segmented bands of metal cover the chest, back, and flanks of the creature and tooled with intricate designs of that looked like vast mountainscape. Most notable were the griffin’s gauntlets, huge affairs with metal shod claws as large as swords, and which glowed with a fierce orange light.
The griffin opened its eyes, which were two pools of pure orange fire, and threw its head back, screeching a roar that sent a primal fear straight into Trixie, and just about every other pony in earshot. It was the screeching hunting call of a pure predator that elicited in Trixie ancient engrained pony instincts to run and hide from the thing that would eat her.
The only reason she didn’t run was that she was equally transfixed by the other form that had emerged from the circle opposite the griffin’s.
This was a pony, a unicorn mare with a brilliant white coat and shining golden mane of hair, carefully arranged in an intricate bun against the back of her head. She stood tall and proud in gleaming gold armor, with a cerulean blue knight’s surcoat draped over her chest and back. Her shining blue eyes were taking in the scene around her with a calm, proud gaze. At her side was a sword sheathed in a scabbard the same shining gold as her armor. Her cutie mark was covered by her armor.
There was a second of silence as ponies stared at the strange scene…then utter chaos as the griffin screeched again and leaped at the unicorn in gold armor. Ponies scattered, screaming, Trixie and her friends starred.
The griffin’s gauntlets slashed in at the unicorn mare, leaving trails of fire in the air as the gauntlets lit up. The unicorn for her part frowned and with grace and speed Trixie had only seen in the best of the Royal Guard drew her sword with a blue glow of her magic and brought the blade up in a sweeping arc into the gauntlet’s path.
The resulting clash was with force beyond the means of mortal muscle power, creating a shockwave that Trixie could feel from dozens of yards away. She saw the ground indenting from beneath the clawed feet and hooves of the two combatants. The unicorn mare jumped away, her sword flashing through the air next to her as she charged in to swipe at the griffin, shouting of all things, “Have at thee cur! Thy lack of manners in failing to introduce thyself properly before blades cross shows you for a cad!”
…What?
“Trixie, we should go,” said Carrot Top next to her, “We don’t want to be anywhere near this.”
The unicorn’s attack didn’t deter the griffin in the slightest and it slashes wildly at the golden armored mare as her own blade sided across his dark iron armor, sending a shower of sparks and a small spray of crimson blood across the grass. The unicorn, shocked at the enemy ignoring her attack, had to roll away to avoid those flaming claws slashing her side. Instead the claws went right through one of the market carts, demolishing it. Carrot Top groaned.
“That was your cart, wasn’t it?” asked Trixie.
“Never mind, we just need to go! Find the others-“
“What’s going on!?” Raindrops smashed into the ground next to Trixie, Carrot Top, and Ditzy, her wings still flapping as she looked at the scene before them.
“There’s a lot of noise for a weekday morning,” Cheerilee said as she trotted up from the direction of the schoolhouse, “I was trying to get today’s lesson prepare…oh, well, I suppose that would explain all the screaming.”
“Hey guys!” Lyra was last to arrive, looking a little haggard, “Tell me, is it possible for our town to go a week without some crisis occurring?”
“I think this goes way beyond Ponyville,” said Trixie, mesmerized by the battle taking place in the town square.
The griffin had chased the unicorn mare across several more stalls, sending them flying every which way as it slashed again and again with its massive gauntlets at the nimble mare. She moved like liquid silver, never in the same place for more than a split second. Her sword, a strange, crystalline clear broadsword with a gold hilt, wove through the air under her blue aura of magic, stabbing and cutting at her relentless opponent. Each time the griffin ignored the attacks, taking the wounds on its armor as if they meant nothing. If anything each wound seemed to spur the griffin onward and Trixie could see a dark orange glow emanating from the wounds, like flickering fire.
The mare made a leap that would have been physically impossible for the best of mortal pony athletes and jumped on top of the town hall. The griffin spread its wings and barreled up the town hall after her, dragging its gauntlets through the building as it did so and cutting a massive gouge in the side of the structure.
“Okay, those two need to be stopped, otherwise we’re going to need a new town,” said Raindrops, frowning and flexed her wings.
Trixie looked at her in shock, “Are you out of your little pony mind!? Those two are not normal! Just charging in there could get you hurt, or worse!”
“We have to do something,” said Lyra, “Raindrops is right, we don’t’ do something, then Ponyville won’t be standing for long.”
“Maybe we can lead them away somehow?” suggested Ditzy, still giving her red rune shrouded wing nervous looks with one of her eyes while the other wandered.
“How? We don’t know who they are, where they came from, or what any of this is about!” said Carrot Top, “Not like we can just ask them nicely to leave.”
“We could always ask them not nicely,” suggested Cheerilee.
“ Wouldn’t recommend that civilians,” said a deep baritone, commanding voice above them.
Trixie looked, as did her friends, to see two pegasi flying in the air above them.
One was Rainbow Dash, looking like she’d recently woken up, mane disheveled, and giving the pegasus stallion next to her a somewhat annoyed look before she saw the fight taking place on top of the town hall, to which she pointed, “Whoa! You weren’t actually kidding! There really is a fight going on. Hey! They’re messing up my town. We gotta stop them!”
As Rainbow Dash tried to bolt off the other pegasus snatched her tail with his teeth and pulled her back with surprising strength, giving the rainbow speedster a small smack on top of her head.
“Not so fast solider! Engaging the enemy without a tactical plan is guaranteed to fail. Private Dash, you are to stand to until otherwise directed.”
“Hey old guy, don’t go bossin’ me around! You’re the one that called me your Master, so what gives with the orders?”
“Hmph, I may be a Servant, and you may be my Master, but by the chain of military command I am still your superior officers Private Dash.”
“I didn’t agree to enter your Grand Pegaus Army anyway!”’
“Didn’t have to. Conscripted you. As Commander of the Grand Pegasus Army of Pegasopolis I can conscript any civilian as I see fit into the glorious ranks of my military.”
The pegasus stallion who was arguing with Rainbow Dash was a sooty black, with a mane and tail of gray and dark blue. His eyes were amber, flashing with pride. His armor was simple studded leather and he wore a helmet that styled his mane into a straight mohawk. His cutie mark was exposed, a blue swirling cloud with rain sheeting out from beneath it. He carried a large steel spear with a long leaf shaped blade. Hanging from the spear was a banner, one that held a series of white stars on a dark blue field, the emblem of a pony’s head flanked by wide flared light blue pegasus wings.
“Rainbow Dash, who the heck is that guy?” Raindrops asked, glaring up, “What’s he jabbering about!?”
As Raindrops asked Trixie finally noticed that the cyan pegasus mare had a trio of crimson arcane symbols on her chest, not unlike the ones on her hoof or Ditzy’s wing. A pattern was starting to form in Trixie’s mind. Three mares with weird runes appearing on them…three new arrivals, none of which seemed like they belonged in Ponyville. Two of them had been clearly summoned. Trixie suddenly didn’t doubt this new pegasus had also come from a magical circle.
“This joker?” Rainbow Dash jabbed a hoof at the pegasus stallion, “He says he’s some big shot pegasus army guy. Just came out of nowhere, gave me this crazy speech about being a Servant and me being a Master, wasn’t paying much attention to it, then drags me over her saying he’d show me proof he was right.”
There was a crashing sound from behind them and Trixie looked, suppressing a wince as the griffin, still chasing the unicorn mare, had smashed right through the top of the town hall and fallen inside. The unicorn mare hopped right in after the griffin and before long they could all hear the sound of smashing walls and furniture from inside the town hall. Ivory Scroll was not going to be happy.
“I am no joker, Private! I am Commander Hurricane, leader of Pegasopolis. Or I will be again, once we win this war and get our wish!”
“Okay…crazy much?” Lyra make a little ‘coo-coo’ circling gesture with her hoof at her head, “Anypony else following this?”
Cheerilee was looking thoughtful, and Trixie noted she had been looking at the runes on Trixie’s hoof and Ditzy’s wing, not to mention the ones on Rainbow Dash, “Right now I’m going to say everything seems a tad crazy. But Commander Hurricane is a name I recognize. He was the leader of the pegasi tribes during the time of unification.”
The self-proclaimed Commander Hurricane snorted, “Not the brightest time in my military career, but good to know my name’s survived to this era. Now then, I’m noticing we have a couple of other Master’s down there in the crowd.”
He pointed his spear at Trixie, then at Ditzy. The two exchanged glances. Trixie looked up, “Masters?”
“Oh yes, probably tied to those two Servants dueling it out over there. Which is unfortunate for them, because they’re so busy with each other I don’t think they’ve noticed me. Which, consequently, leaves the two of you quite vulnerable!”
He began to spin his banner spear around in his hooves in an expert fashion few ponies without a great deal of hoof practice could manage. Rainbow Dash looked shocked as he pointed the spear once more at Trixie, clearly ready to charge.
“The heck you doing man!? You said we were coming here for a fight, but I figured that it was to stop those jerks over there from smashing up Ponyville!”
“We are here for a fight Private Dash. Those Servants are distracted, leaving their Masters out in the open. This is the perfect shot to take two Masters out at once and make taking the Grail that much simpler. Tactics, Private; take advantage of every opening your opponent gives you!”
With shocking speed Commander Hurricane shot down at Trixie and she recoiled, instinctively turning herself invisible and throwing herself to the side. She felt the spear tip glance past her, cutting her flank, and she cried out.
Raindrops all but roared, “You crazy jerk!” and dove at the armored pegasus hoof first, throwing a punch at him. He spun his spear around and blocked the punch with the haft, grinning in approval.
“Good spirit on you, civilian. You’d make a fine addition to the Grand Pegasus Army! Consider joining?”
“I’ll considering breaking your face in. Trixie, you alright!?”
Trixie didn’t answer, not because she didn’t want to let her friend know she was okay, but because she didn’t want this insane and armed pegasus figuring out where she was. Her other friends had leapt into action, forming a circle around Commander Hurricane. Lyra had summoned her lyre to her hooves with a soft glow of her own magic. Cheerilee and Carrot Top were standing shoulder to shoulder, hooves stamping in readiness to charge. Ditzy flexed her wings, ready to jump in as well.
Commander Hurricane grinned in a cocksure manner, pushing on his spear and spinning it, planting the back end into the ground.
“Bravery is commendable in anypony, even more so in prospective conscripts. You mares might give me a little workout.”
“Oh we’ll do more than that,” said Lyra, hooves ready on her lyre, “Nopony hurts our friends or threatens them. Not even if they’re some old legend come to life!”
“Hm, legend, huh? I like the sound of that. Familiar with my legend, then?” Commander Hurricane said with his cocky smile not going anywerhe.
“I’m a storyteller, so I know more than a few about Commander Hurricane. Not saying I believe that’s who you are, but I know the tales,” admitted Lyra.
“I don’t care who he is,” growled Raindrops, “He’s backing off. Now.”
“No can do ladies. Not while two Masters are here just so open for my spear to skewer!” Commander Hurricane said and with speed like a flash of a shooting star dove at Ditzy.
None of the Elements of Harmony had the natural speed or reflexes to stop that spear thrust.
A certain rainbow colored pony did, however, and she zipped right down and kicked the spear aside before it would’ve have went through Ditzy Doo’s throat.
Commander Hurricane grunted in annoyance, “Private, you’re in some serious need of some disciplinary measures.”
“Can it old guy, you’re the Servant here! So here’s my first order as your Master. Come help me stop those jerks from smashing up more of my Ponyville! You got all that?”
Commander Hurricane met her eyes for a second, then cracked a wide grin, “Oh, I think you and me are going to get along just fine, Private. Alright, fine, let’s do this!”
And just like that the two pegasi were off towards the town center, leaving Trixie to slowly drop her invisibility and look at her side. A light cut, but it was bleeding quite a bit. She wasn’t really used to seeing her own blood, and she gulped.
“Wow…this is turning into one crazy night…” said Cheerilee as she came up and started examining the wound, “I got a first aid kit at the school.”
“Its fine, I’ll be fine. We…we should make sure Ponyville is evacuated, then I need to get in contact with the Princess-“
The wall on the bottom floor of the town hall exploded before she finished her sentence. The griffin barreled out of the hole, now trading blows with both the white unicorn mare and the flitting about Commander Hurricane. Rainbow Dash was in the mix as well but she got batted aside rather quickly by a backpaw from the griffin, which then resumed trading blows with the two ponies. The three wheeled about in a brazen, fast storm of thrusting spears, spinning blade, and slashing gauntlets. Entire swaths of the ground were ripped apart by the clash.
Commander Hurricane’s spear thrust at the unicorn mare, who swatted the thrust aside with her blade.
“Thy weapon marks thee as a Lancer. Well met, I am Sungleam of Princess Celestia’s Royal Guard. To whom does my honor grace with the clash of my blade?”
“My, aren’t we the fancy one? Commander Hurricane, Grand Pegasus Army, little lady. And keep the honor, I’m after victory! Going to guess you’re…a Saber?”
“Hmph, perhaps,” Sungleam ducked aside as the griffin pounced between them, whriling about and slashing with both gauntlets at the ponies, “A discussion for another time, mayhaps? This brutish thug is no doubt a Berserker. We shall fail to have ourselves a proper duel while trifling with this savage!”
Commander Hurricane glanced over to where Rainbow Dash had fallen against one of the broken walls of the town hall, looking unconscious from the blow she’d taken from the griffin.
“I usually don’t like to engage then retreat, but since my Master doesn’t seem quite up to speed on how this Grail War is going to work, maybe we ought to call it for now? We can have ourselves that duel later, when we don’t got the big growly bird here in the way.”
This was all said while blocking a vicious series of slashes from the griffin, its body now covered in flames that seemed to come from its own seeping blood from the wounds it’d taken from Sungleam. Sungleam herself jumped back, looking towards Trixie, and said “We have an accord then,” she bowed at Commander Hurricane, “Until our next meeting, may thy spear remain sharp!”
Like that she was off in a mighty leap, bounding across the distance to Trixie just as Commander Hurricane broke away from the griffin and flew with equal speed towards Rainbow Dash, scooping up the unconscious pegasus and flying off into the sky. The griffin roared at his retreating form, but didn’t pursue. Instead he turned his head towards the Elements of Harmony.
However there were only five of them there now. With speed that none of the others could react to Sungleam had jumped in, snatched up a confused Trixie in a wreath of golden telekinesis, and jumped away with such speed that the wind force made Trixie have to hold onto her hat to keep it on her head.
----------
Trixie was yelling for the unicorn to stop, throat almost hoarse, before Sungleam did instead stop her speedy, bounding gallop. Trixie was dropped gently to the ground and, dizzy, she looked around to see they were several miles from Ponyville. Sungleam had taken them into some of the foothills to the north of the town and they were now standing under the branches of small copse of trees.
“I…what…who are you!? What. Is. Going. On!?”
Trixie wasn’t feeling patient or articulate at the moment as she yelled at the golden clad unicorn before her, who was sheathing her blade and smoothing out her surcoat.
“First I must ask a question of thee…er…you. My apologies. Knowledge of this era still settles in my mind, including proper speech. But I must ask you this question, and I must have your answer; are you my Master?”
Trixie blinked. Was she her what now? Yet even as she felt the confusion, it began to fade from her mind, as if being washed away by a heavy rain. Her right hoof pulsed. She looked at the runes on her hoof; three blade like shapes arranged in a star burst pattern. Somehow these runes felt…connected, to the mare, Sungleam. Trixie could almost feel a link between her and the other unicorn, as if her own aura of magic was pulsing in turn with Sungleam’s own aura.
“I…” she began to say that she had no idea what Sungleam was talking about but then, as if driven by a deeper force than her own logic, said “Yes.”
Sungleam smiled, a small, barely visible expression, and nodded her head, “Then I am your Servant. My name is Sungleam, but you may also call me Saber, for that is the class I was given by the Grail upon being summoned into this world. The Pact is formed between us, and until our deaths or victory is achieved in the Grail War, I shall be your blade.”
“That’s…er…nice. Now, how about you start from the beginning, with answering my previous question. What the buck is going on!?”
----------
“Inexcusable!”
Zecora hid her discomfort and a healthy dose of fear behind a stoic mask as her Goddess, the Sun Incarnate (she refused to think of her by the short-sighted pony’s term ‘Tyrant Sun’), Corona was throwing a…tantrum.
“This shall not stand!” the brilliant white alicorn decreed loudly as she flared her massive wings and kicked at an offending golden statue of herself that was sitting next to her throne. The statue reverberated with the kick, but was otherwise unaffected. Which was unusual, given Zecora had seen her Goddess’ physical might crush rock into powder before…but then Corona seemed somewhat…diminished, since being wracked by that odd event of magic that had struck her this morning.
An event which was clearly tied to the ‘stallion’ standing next to Zecora.
“Seriously? Is this supposed to be one of the Princess’ that took down Tirek? She’s acting like a foal whose toy was taken away.”
“SILENCE!” Corona rounded upon the stallion, face a twisted mask of rage, which was somewhat ruined by her tone which was borderline whining, “I am Celestia! You’re sovereign and only ruler! Insult me and you shall feel the full wrath of the Sun, specter of the past!”
“Mayhaps we should cool our heads,” Zecora said, “And focus on what we must now do, instead?”
The stallion next to her chuckled, which was odd given he lacked a head to do so with. Yet his smooth, twanging voice could be heard clearly, and Zecora thought she might’ve seen a faint smoky outline of a horse’s head cracking a wise grim at her. He wasn’t all that tall, but was incredible lithe. His body was a dark gray, covered in tattered black leggings and a cloak that twisted and flowed like a shadow around his body. A thin haired black tail flicked and wished behind him, and Zecora couldn’t tell if he had a cutie mark or not, his hide seeming to shift with unusual inner shadows. But perhaps more disturbing was the head, or lack thereof. At the base of the neck there was nothing, just an empty space, where occasionally that smoke like black aura formed a faintly head like shape, but never for more than a second.
“Hey,” said the Headless Horse with a small shrug, “I’m all for getting down to business. You’re the one who wanted to ‘confer’ with your crazy boss here, Master. We can go and get down to killing whenever you’re done playing doormat for the whining alicorn.”
“I said CEASE YOUR INSULTS KNAVE!”
Corona lowered her horn and Zecora flinched, wanting to back away but holding to her inner discipline. A jet of flame shot forth from the horn, but Zecora noted it was significantly less than what she’d seen Corona produce before, even after being weakened by the Elements of Harmony. Whatever that magic ritual had been that had shot that pillar of light straight through the roof of their hidden mountain fortress, it had weakened Corona even further.
The Headless Horse vanished down into the stone floor as the flames passed over, his form going opaque like a gray cloud. When the fire passed he floated back up, sighing, “Touchy aren’t we, Princess? Fine, fine, I’ll spare you’re sensitive self-esteem. Seriously though, can me and my Master here get going? I’m itching to get things going.”
“Your haste is ill placed,” Zecora said, frowning at him, “From what you have said this ‘Grail War’ is not a race! We must plan and take things slow, lest our impatience lay our efforts low.”
The Headless Horse’s shoulders slumped, as I hanging his non-existent head, “You’re going to keep that rhyming thing up the whole time, aren’t you?
“How I speak is of no concern, only that for now my advise you do not spurn. These marks,” she touched a hoof to her left shoulder where a swirling red eye series of symbols had appeared on her, “you say between us form a Pact, so through that bond I ask you behave with some tact.”
“Right, so rhyming isn’t going anywhere, got it. So then, oh great Master, what’s our first move?”
Zecora looked to Corona at that, looking pensive, “Great Goddess of the Eternal Sun, I ask you now what you think must be done?”
Corona’s nostrils flared, stamping a hoof and slowly returning to her golden throne, the massive edifice made to resemble a huge effigy of Corona herself holding up the sun. Zecora’s eyes slowly trailed to the thick, twisting series of magical crimson runes that were now covering the white alicorn’s right leg. They’d appeared there just after the explosion of magical energy from the ritual that had struck Corona, and Zecora was still too nervous to really press the Sun Incarnate for information on what this was all about…
…mainly because Corona had started having a violent episode of lighting half of her throne room on fire immediately afterward, ranting about how the ‘time wasn’t right’ and she ‘would not allow this violation’ and those were the more coherent sentences.
“What shall be done,” Corona intoned with some recovering of her regal bearing “Is that you, my servant, shall make use of this…tool,” she waved a hoof vaguely at the Headless Horse, “To find and destroy the others who bear markings as you now do. You shall do this, and when you finish the last of your opponents…I shall take care of the rest.”
----------
Notary suppressed a small yawn. Normally morning was the time for the Night Court to be wrapping up its business for the night and many nobles and hence their immediate aides and employees would be turning in for the day. However the castle had been stirring well beyond its normal time to be quieting down due to the…events an hour or so ago.
Notary hadn’t seen anything with her own eyes, she’d been taking care of some important paperwork to finalize an ‘employee transfer’. She’d merely heard about the incredible magic display. If she wasn’t one to generally stay calm and focused on her work she’d be more worried, but she still had decided to stop by Greengrass’ office to check in on him. If he didn’t already know what was going on he’d probably appreciate an update, and she’d taken the time to query a few of her contacts on the way to his office to get as full a picture of events as possible.
When she got to the door to Duke Greengrass’ office she’d raised a hoof to knock, but paused, head tilting slightly, an ear flicking. Was that a…mare’s voice?
“Ooooh, don’t be like that! We’re meant to be-“
Next was Greengrass’ voice, sounding quite…exasperated, even panicking. Which was not a tone Notary was used to hearing in her employer’s tone.
“No, stop that, stop that right this moment! I demand you explain who you are!”
Again the mare’s voice, a high lilting sound like a flute, “But Greeeeny, I already told you! I’m you’re Servant, you’re devoted, lovely, very, very eager Servant.”
“That doesn’t explain anything. And I said stop doing that…that thing with your hooves!” Greengrass was clearly tryingto control himself.
Notary briefly considered walking away. What Duke Greengrass decided to do in the privacy of his own office was rally none of her business. However he sounded more distressed than anything else. Getting some guards might be an option…but if this was somehow tied into the Duke’s private business or private matters he’d likely not appreciate getting the authorities involved. With a sigh, she pushed open the doors.
Duke Greengrass was sitting behind his desk, red tail flicking irritably and his face screwed up in a look of extreme distraction and possible horror. He was leaning back away from a peasus mare who’d all but draped herself on the desk, idly tracing a hoof over his chest, which he kept trying to move away from. She was a deep rose coloring, with a straight and well groomed blond mane. She was thin and well shaped, like a professional model, and her vermillion eyes had a twinkle to them as they looked at Greengrass…a look Greengrass was not sharing. The strange mare wore a light, form fitting white dress, embroidered with rose patterns, and was cut to expose her cutie mark of a golden bow with a heart-tipped arrow.
Greengrass, upon Notary entering, looked up and his eyes widened, “Notary, close the door, quickly!”
Notary did so, looking bemused, an expression that deepened when she noticed the pegasus mare glaring pure daggers at her.
“Greeny-poo, whose this mare?” asked the pegasus.
Greengrass grit his teeth, letting in and out a slow breath, “She is supposed to be here, unlike you. Notary is a very valued assistant to my work. And my name is Greengrass…what was you’re name again?”
The pegasus sniffed, adjusting her position on the desk so she was all but laying on her back as she traced a faint heart shape in the air with one dainty hoof, “You’re words wound me so my dear heart. I told you my name is Viola! You’re humble, willing Servant.”
“Viola, yes. In any case, Notary I am very glad you’ve arrived. It seems I have a…” he gestured with a hoof at the pink pegasus on his desk, “…situation on my hooves.”
“I see,” said Notary, raising the small stack of papers she’d brought with her, “Should I put on hold your other business for the day, sir?”
Viola started rubbing a hoof again on Greengrass’ chest, puffing out an indignant huff, “I’d say he should. We have so much to do together…” she glared back at Notary, “Alone.”
Greengrass was seeming to do a better job controlling himself with Notary present and gave the pegasus mare a calm, collected look, carefully nudging her hoof away with one of his own. Notary couldn’t help but notice the rose-like crimson runes glowing on the front of his left hoof. She recalled one of the Night Guard she’d managed to speak to before coming here had mentioned, in a quiet whisper, that he’d heard that similar runes had appeared on Princess Luna.
“Viola, I am open to hearing the details concerning this ‘Grail War’ you mentioned before, but I require Notary’s presence and also require that you keep your hooves to yourself.”
Viola pursed her lips, huffing again as she rolled off the desk with an oddly…flexible twist of her legs and strutted around so that she was firmly between Greengrass and Notary.
“Oh fine then! Business before pleasure. I’ll start from the top. I, Viola Rosa, have been summoned into this era by the power of an artifact called the Grail, to be a Servant to my Master in a battle between six other chosen Masters and their Servants. With me so far? Yes? Now then-“
----------
“-the Grail War is something I, unfortunately cannot interfere with,” said Luna solemnly to Shining Armor, eyes downcast.
Shining Armor had rarely seen the Princess look so…burdened. He’d seen her tired, even melancholy. He’d served as Captain of the Royal Guard long enough to know that the living Goddess of the moon was still a flesh and blood pony, mighty alicorn or not. Yet now her posture was drained, and her brow creased with worry he hadn’t seen since Corona first returned from her banishment in the sun.
His eyes trailed the blood red runes of magic coursing up and down her leg. Runes that were quite similar to the mystical swirls of crimson he knew covered the left half of his face now.
“My Princess,” he said, maintaining a formal tone, belying, hopefully, not too much of his unease, “Why are you unable to do anything? Surely having seven…figures from history have it out in some battle royale around Equestria is something to be avoided!”
“Do understand my eager young knight,” said the mare who was standing next to him, “This is not the Princess’ choice. She is bound by magic as ancient as she and her sister, magic that cannot be opposed through sheer force.”
Shining Armor glanced sidelong at the mare. She was a unicorn of incredible beauty and carried herself with a royal stance, head straight, chin up, shoulders squared. She was a light gray in coat color, with a near impossibly long and silky smooth mane and tail of light violet on one half, and cherry blue on the other. Her magenta eyes swam with pride and knowledge and confidence and her face held a coy smile as she looked at him. Her cutie mark was like a heart shaped purple necklace with a single blue gemstone clasped at the bottom. She wore a regal purple cloak trimmed in white fur with purple wave like patterns upon it. On her head, just behind her horn, sat a platinum crown studded with purple gems.
“I don’t understand how that can be,” said Shining Armor, “In fact, I still don’t understand what this Grail War is!”
“It is a…old mistake come to unceremoniously bite me and my mad sister in our flanks,” said Luna flatly, “No doubt Corona has had her power drained by the ritual, as mine was. She is now bound by the same Pact, to not directly interfere in the battle between Masters and Servants. As for the Grail…it is an artifact. An item forged by two foalish alicorn sisters who were too young in the world to realize what damage their power could cause if combined frivolously. My sister and I forged the Grail in a foal’s game of seeing just how much power we could put into a single object. It was done for…fun.”
The Princess of the Night hung her head, “The Grail, at first, seemed a miraculous thing. It could grant the heart’s desire of those that drank from its waters. It soon…changed, however. It became corrupted, and the miracles it granted turned wrong, twisted. The Grail gained a mind of its own and it sought to manifest itself in the world more directly, bringing its corruption to the land and living things around it. My sister and I were forced to resort to magic older and more potent than our own to defeat the Grail.”
“The Elements of Harmony?”
Luna shook her head, “This was so long ago it was before we even knew of the Elements of Harmony. No, this was a different power, one we had stumbled across in our journeys to lands beyond the continent you know as Equestria. The magic of the Pact. A way to create primal binding promise through fundamental magic runes of creation. Runes you see upon my leg, and upon your own body as well, Shining Armor.”
“Princess Luna,” said the gray unicorn mare, “While the history lesson may be good for giving my young Master context, perhaps we can summarize faster? The other Servants may be coming into conflict with each other as we speak and time is of the essence.”
A ghost of a smile crossed Princess Luna’s features, “You’re much the same as remember Princess Platinum. Very well, a quicker summary. The Pact was used to seal the Grail away, but Pact magic requires a balance to be struck in its use. The Grail would be sealed, but only if it would be given a chance to return. The method of this return would be a battle between summoned beings from the realm of death and myth. Seven Servants to fight beside seven Masters. The resulting battle would determine if the Grail would indeed return.”
Shining Armor had to shake his head a bit, trying to take this in, “I still don’t understand. How does this…battle give this thing a chance to return from wherever it was banished to?”
“That I do not know,” Luna admitted, her expression somber once more, “Only that when a victor in the Grail War is decided, the Grail will appear from whence it was banished, and it will be the choice of the victor…what will happen after.”
“Which is why it is imperative that we ensure we are the ones to win, my knight,” said Princess Platinum, lifting her head high, “Only we who feel the burden of duty to the citizens of Equestria can be trusted with the task of ensuring the Grail does not bring harm to it. That, and have our wish granted.”
“Wish granted…?” even Luna seemed surprised by this.
Princess Platinum coughed politely, “Oh, yes, well, we Servants were granted knowledge with our summoning through the Grail’s power, and part of that knowledge is knowing that the victors of the Grail War will be granted a wish to be fulfilled. It is possible this wish ties into whether or not the Grail fully manifests in the world again.”
Even while all of Shining Armor’s numerous instinctive warning bells starting ringing at those words, he couldn’t deny a part of him also immediately thought of his sister, Twilight Sparkle. She’d been missing for far too long, and his worry about her, his desire to see his sister again and know she was alright, was a powerful desire. If the Grail could grant any wish…
“Twily…” he murmured.
----------
“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Really!? Any wish we want? That’s amazing! That kind of magic is very rare. And you said the Princess’ made this Grail? Fascinating! I wonder if that means they too could grant wishes? Do you think it’s because they combined powers to make it?”
Twilight Sparkle was bouncing about excitedly around her small camp in the middle of the forest by a small pond. As she did so she noticed her flectiong in the pond and curiously poked her head over it, “Wow, these look nothing like any ancient runic text I’ve seen! And I’ve seen a lot of ancient text! They’re not Andalantian, or Ibixian.”
She was referring to the swirl of curved crimson runes that were now covering the right side of her face. She put a hoof to them, poking at her face experimentally, “So these are ‘Command Seals’?”
The pony she was speaking to was an old unicorn stallion with a dark gray coat and frizzy white mane and tail, a similar long swirling beard dropping from his kindly old face. He was sitting back on his haunches, his cloak of blue shades marked with symbols of the crescent moon and stars marking it covering his back. He wore a tall wizard’s hat of similar shades of blue, dark blue with a single light blue band near the brim, covered along that brim with golden bells. The cloak was held on with a gold collar with a sapphire stone.
This elderly stallion watched Twilight Sparkle with kind gold eyes and when he spoke it was with a patient understanding, “Indeed I did young lady. The Command Seals are magical links between our magical essences. My body, made up of phantasmic metaphysical particles, is directly tied to your magic. I have my own supply of mana, but it is supplemented through the Command Seals by your own magical energies. Furthermore the Command Seals act as a sort of control device and utility tool; allowing you to give me instructions I cannot disobey, or the ability to summon me over a great distance, were we to be separated.”
“That’s amazing! How did they end up on me though? Oh I have so many questions! I mean, you really are Starswirl the Bearded!? I want to ask you so many things!”
“Such as?”
Twilight Sparkles eyes were wide with pure academic euphoria, “Everything!”
Starswirl nodded slowly, smiling patiently, “Well, as it happens young lady I do not feel we should be in any rush to get into the nitty-gritty of this unfortunate affair we’ve both been pulled into, so by all means, ask away. I’ll answer as best I can.”
As it turned out Starswirl the Bearded was going to slightly regret saying that, as it would be literally hours before the energetic and enthusiastic young unicorn mare before him even relented for a moment. Yet even as she asked an endless supply of questions ranging from the many spells he’d invented to the nature of the Grail War, Starswirl became gradually more comfortable.
“So the classes the Grail War uses for these Servants are; Archer, Beserker, Assassin, Rider, Lancer, Caster, and…Saber?” Twilight Sparkle confirmed from her latest bout of questions.
“Correct. I am of the Caster class; my specialty is using my mana to create any number of spells, much as any unicorn would, but those spells are…augmented because I essentially have two pools of mana to draw from, my own and yours.”
“That’s perfect!” cried Twilight happily grinning, “We’ll have no trouble then with the other Servants.”
“So you truly wish to fight in this Grail War?” Starswirl asked, “I thought perhaps you might be upset being dragged into such an unpleasant affair.”
Twilight cocked her head, putting a hoof to her chin, looking thoughtful, “Well I’m not keen on the idea of all this fighting, but with the magic you and I have I don’t doubt we can win without having to hurt anypony. Besides from what you’re saying it’d be pretty bad if the wrong kind of pony won and got a wish from the Grail. I mean, who knows what kind of damage could be done if some crazy-pony” she waved her hooves around her head and made google eyes to emphasize her point, “won and made a silly wish like ruling to world or something. Better I win and make sure the wish is used for a good cause!”
“Hm, a good cause. May I ask then, what you would wish for, if you were to win the Grail?”
Twilight crossed her hooves, sitting back as her eyes closed in consideration, “Hmmm…to be honest? I don’t know. I want to learn magic. I’ve always wanted to learn everything I could about magic. As long as I can do that, there isn’t much else I really want…except…”
“Except?”
“…There’s a pony who…who I want to prove something to. I need to prove to her what real magic is. I don’t think I need the Grail for that, but maybe having a chance to go back and do a certain thing over again; do it the right way. Maybe that’s what I’d want.”
“I see. Well then young lady, I will be happy to serve you during this difficult time ahead of us. I think you and I shall have much to learn from each other.”
Twilight blushed, waving a hoof, “As if there’s anything I could teach a living legend of magic like Starswirl the Bearded.”
“Oh, on the contrary, there’s always something new to learn, Twilight Sparkle. I look forward to both teaching you, and learning from you in turn.”
----------
Ponyville had quieted down somewhat. Lyra was with Bon Bon, the pair working with Carrot Top and a number of other ponies to clean up the market square. Raindrops was still out flying, searching for Trixie. Cheerilee had returned to the school long enough to post a sign that classes were canceled for the day before going to the town hall to help Ivory Scroll with coordinating the clean-up efforts, and generally fill in the mayor on what had happened…and why there was a giant armored griffin sleeping outside Ditzy Doo’s house.
Ditzy Doo poked her head out the door, her eyes managing to focus on the griffin for a moment before one of them slide off to the side.
It was just too…too strange. As soon as Trixie had been carted off by that weird golden armored unicorn the griffin had took to flight to chase them.
On impulse Ditzy had thrown her way in its path, holding her hooves out, determined to try and stop the rampaging beast.
To her shock and the surprise of her fellow Element the griffin had halted mid-flight directly in front of Ditzy. She’d gulped, shaking, but meeting the griffin’s unnaturally glowing eyes with her own firm stare.
“Stop this…please. Nopony needs to be hurt. Just stop,” she’d said, trying to get through the griffin, unnerved by the way its body burned with fire, the way its gauntlets glowed as if heated by inner fires.
And the griffin had stopped. It breathed heavily, and as Ditzy had watched its wounds had healed as if under a healing spell, the fires around its body fading away. The griffin had slowly floated to the ground and Ditzy had followed. The griffin didn’t speak, didn’t seem to be able to, but he had lowered his head to her, as if kneeling.
That had been that. The griffin had simply followed Ditzy around, growling at anypony else that got too close until Ditzy scolded it and the griffin, with an indignant ruffle of its feathers, went silent.
Ditzy had been about to name the griffin ‘Grumpy’ when Lyra, examining the griffin’s armor, had brought up, “These markings, these look like they’re from the old Griffin Empire. The one that existed before it got broken up into all those smaller countries that make up the Griffin Kingdoms.”
“That’s great, but does anypony have any idea why this big fellow is following around Ditzy like a lost puppy?” Cheerilee had asked.
“Probably the same reason that unicorn carried of Trixie,” Carrot Top had said, “We really need to get word to the Princess somehow, find out what’s going on.”
“In any case, I remember these symbols from a picture I saw. A portrait that was next to a ballad I studied in college,” said Lyra, “I think this is the armor worn by Yuri, the last Emperor of all the Griffs.”
“What, like this guy’s wearing a replica?” asked Carrot Top.
“Or maybe he really is the Emperor?” asked Cheerilee, not entirely seriously.
Ditzy had taken the information in stride, “Sounds better than Grumpy I think. Yuri it is.”
She’d returned first to the post office, to see if Silver Script had returned and still needed mail delivered. Mail carriers code didn’t really cover what’d happed that morning, but she didn’t feel right leaving her boss hanging. Silver Script had been more than a little relieved to see Ditzy was unhurt, but understandably freaked a bit by the griffin following her around. Given the circumstances Silver Script gave Ditzy the day off, but assured her it would be a paid vacation.
So Ditzy Doo had gone home, telling her friends that as soon as they knew what was going on to feel free to let her know, but she wanted to spend time with her daughter Dinky and relax. She was worried about Trixie, though. But given the aggressive griffin following her she wasn’t comfortable to go searching with Raindrops. No telling what Yuri might do. For now he just seemed content to sleep outside her house…but she kept checking to make sure he was still there and not doing anything…destructive.
“He’s a really pretty griffin,” said Dinky as she poked her head out next to her mother.
“He’s really angry all the time though,” said Ditzy, frowning, “He did so much damage to town hall, and he could’ve hurt somepony.”
“Why’s he following you around momma? He’s not a new pet, right?”
“Griffin’s aren’t pets honey. I don’t know why he’s following me, but I think it has something to do with these,” she wiggled her rune covered wing.
“Oh, those funny symbols?” Dinky frowned at them, “Do they hurt?”
Ditzy smiled at her daughter and put a hoof around the tiny unicorn filly, “No dear, they feel fine. I just have this…feeling that they’re why Yuri is here. Come on now, my friends will figure out what this is all about and then they’ll tell me. But for now, it’s muffin baking time!”
Dinky shouted her full hearted approval of that idea and they both went back inside. Whatever crazy magical events were occurring, whatever crisis had fallen upon her and her friends, Ditzy Doo wasn’t going to let herself worry. She’d take these precious moments with her daughter as they came and let the future sort itself out later; she had no other wish to fulfill.
Outside her door the huge griffin called Yuri snorted and shifted, not asleep as one might think, but deadly alert for any danger that would approach his Master.
----------
Trixie finished penning the letter and dropped it into her hat, sending it away to Princess Luna’s desk.
“Princess Luna,” said Sungleam speculatively, “I admit I have a hard time imagining her ruling the nation. She was so reclusive, so shy. The Night Court was all but empty in my day. Celestia was a far more suitable ruler.”
“Well, a lot has changed since your day,” said Trixie, “Princess Luna has protected and guided Equestria for a thousand years since Corona fell to madness.”
“That name does not suit nor match the wisdom and kindness of her highness. I still do not quite believe this story of her fall. She went mad, simply as a result of too much time defending the realm? I simply do not, as the modern phrase would be, ‘buy that’. The Princess wouldn’t have fallen without some outside influence.”
“Believe what you want, but she did. I’ve seen the final result with my own eyes. Not a pretty sight,” Trixie said, then stretched her aching hooves, “In any case, we should return to Ponyville. I need to regroup with my friends and await the Princess’ instructions. Surely she must have an idea of how to put a stop to all this Grail War insanity.”
“That would not be wise,” said Sungleam, coming around to Trixie’s front and gesturing at the distant town, “I still sense that Berserker is there. His bloodlust is…palpable, even to a class like mine that does not specialize in sensory powers. And no doubt Lancer remains close, waiting for a chance to strike again. We should find a place more defensible and work out as strategy for winning the war.”
Trixie frowned, “ I don’t care about winning this dumb war. I care about my friends. I left them there, and I’ve seen Raindrops flying around, probably looking for me. I want them to know I’m alright before I do anything else.”
“If we go to that town, I assure you Berserker will attack us. It’d cause more danger to the residents. Your friends are safer if we remain away for now.”
Trixie put a hoof to her face, tired of the argument, “Then you stay here! I’ll go alone.”
“Unwise, Berserker may still attack, and Lancer would take-“
“I’m not just letting my friend’s think I’m missing. Now you said these Command Seals can be used to issue you orders. Do I have to resort to that?”
Sungleam’s expression soured, and she turned away, closing her eyes, “That would be foolish to waste one of your three Command Seals on such a pointless order. I shall…comply willingly for now. I must protect my Master, after all, no matter how stubborn or foolish she is.”
“Good Servant. Now let’s go,” Trixie straightened out he that and began the long trot back to Ponyville.
However just as she started to trot she noticed a strange smokey gray mist covering the ground at her hooves. She barely had a second to react and was shoved aside by Sungleam as a flash of metal flew up from the ground, a dagger that would have stabbed right into Trixie's chin if she hadn't been moved aside.
Sungleam drew her crystal clear sword and took up a fighting stance as a voice laughed, the smoke like mist thickening around them.
"Whoo, heh, fast reflexes there. Color me impressed. Fancy armor too, nice sword. Let me guess, Saber?"
Sungleam scoffed, "And from you're cowardly attack and the fact you haven't shown yourself let me guess, Assassin?"
"Correctomundo. Now then, that was just me giving you and your master a friendly hello," from several meters behind Trixie a shadowy form emerged, the Headless Horse rising up and over a dozen gleaming daggers appearing floating in the air at his side.
"But with intro's out of the way how about we get down to the real business at hoof, eh?"
Trixie turned just in time to see the daggers flash at her face.
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MOAR LUNAVERSE
Dear gos, the whole frontpage is a clusterfuck of originality.
Oooooh, Fate crossover! As you can probably tell by my username and my avatar, I'm kind of a fan of the Fate series.
...It's kind of sad that these are always crossovers of concept, and never actually involve the fate characters.
Very, very, very sad.
hmm, Twi has calmed down a bit after meeting Star Swirl the Bearded. maybe this will be a good thing...
1791664
More Lunaverse is always a good thing in my book.
1791815
I'll agree it'd be kind of cool to use some of the characters from the Fate series, but I think crossing over concepts just makes the story feel smoother overall. Though throwing Gilgamesh in there just for the fun of seeing him and Corona in the same room was very, very tempting.
1791840
Twi be fangirling over her favorite wizard. My hope is that Starswirl will have a...positive influence on her L-verse craziness.
1791850
I don't even know what the Lunaverse is and I'm tired of it. IT'S EVERYWHERE!
1791850
Ye gods, just imagining Gilgamesh and Corona in the same plane of existence...
Unlimited Ham Works!
Commander Hurricane is voiced by a Sontaran in my head. This is a good thing. Hmm...I've never read or watched any of the Fate series, but if I recall correctly the Lancer is Cú Chulainn, of Irish myth fame. Does he ever warp-spasm? Seems a waste if he doesn't warp-spasm.
...and now I'm at the part with the headless pony. Is that Celty?! Or Celty's horse, at least?
...aaaand Greengrass has one too? That...could be bad.
...and Shining Armor...and Twilight Sparkle.
This could get very interesting indeed.
1791904
Hi, I'm RainbowDoubleDash, creator of the Lunaverse, and this comment here? This made me happy. Because something needs to reach a certain level of fame before people can say "I don't even know what it is, why is it everywhere?"
Yes indeed.
Oh, short version of the Lunaverse: Celestia went mad and became Corona the Tyrant Sun; Luna has ruled for 1,000 years; and the Elements of Harmony are Trixie (magic), Lyra (Loyalty), Carrot Top (Generosity), Cheerilee (Laughter), Ditzy Doo (Kindness), and Raindrops (Honesty). Also, unlike the normal FiM universe, Corona was not cured of her madness at the end of the first episode of the Lunaverse, that she might instead become a recurring villain.
These are the worst Servants I have ever seen. I mean, Saber and Lancer INTRODUCE THEMSELVES.
Then again, so did Iksander, so they might all be amazing.
Either way, this is a combination of two amazing things, so I am looking forward to it's continuation.
Oh, my. This is going to suck. Star Swirl is definitely going to do something not cool and tell a literal-minded jerk that she's full of crap.
Yawning Trixie got to the post office
extreme exercise to create tornado
and the barley discernible view of Canterlot
The griffin was a male, Trixie though, and was wearing a suit of archaic iron gray armor
I am still your superior officers Private Dash
You’re sovereign and only ruler
clearly tryingto control himself
1. I feel like there should be a comma here...
2. Missing an A.
3. Barely.
4. Something missing here?
5. Officer.
6. Your.
7. Forgot your spacing.
Time for nerd rant... now lets see...
Sweet mother of... I can now see it, Rainbow will have no problem fighting Trixie and the same goes for reverse while Ditzy will have trouble fighting both of em except Zecora... maybe.
Twilight and Trixie will face off in a duel and... huh... Saber can beat Caster but Twilight can beat Trixie... unless Caster uses up too much of Twilight's magic...
Zecora... fits here personality to a T. Speaking of personalities, with Trixie having Saber as her class, does this mean that she has a noble soul under all that ego?
Wait a minute... what am I saying? Of course she does! Only problem here would be how she would break the news of having Celestia's Royal Guard under her command.
As for Shining... I can't imagine Princess Platinum ride anything... then again... I have no idea
Sibling rivalry... no... this is practically going to be a sibling massacre what with Starswirl... but then again, he seems too good natured to kill his masters brother and vice versa for rider.
Greengrass... absolutely no idea
MY HEAD!!! TOO MUCH... THINKING...!
1792145 The lancer can be just about any mythic hero that used a spear. in Fate/zero Lancer was Diarmid O'Dyna (a famous Irish hero) and in Fate/Extra one of the Lancers was freaking Vlad the Impaler.
That said, it's now time to sort
Commander Hurricane: Lancer
Sungleam: Saber
Yuri the grumpy Griffon: Berserker
Starswirl: Caster
Headless horse: Assassin
Viola: either Archer or Rider (I'm banking on Archer)
Princess Platinum: Archer/Rider (I'm betting on Rider)
I would like to mention some disappointment that Viola didn't end up being Assassin. Greengrass getting the Assassin class would have made a lot of sense. On the other hand, considering how much speed chess he plays with Xanatos, perhaps we should be thankful.
1793440
You beat me to it.
1793440
Remember that Trixie in Longest Night, Longest Day was willing to sacrifice her life to save the life of Ivory Scroll. At least in the Lunaverse, she does have a fundamentally good and noble soul.
1793586
Fair enough, but I'm just wondering if in Fate/stay night the Lancer would warp-spasm. It's kind of Cú Chulainn's thing, and not having him perform it is kind of like getting Herakles but not having him be particularly strong.
(The warp-spasm made Cú Chulainn, in battle, become an unrecognisable monster who knows neither friend nor foe and just kills and kills and kills until the battle is over).
1793622 His warp-spasm is why in the type-moon universe it's possible to summon him as a Berserker, he does have Gàe Bolg though.
1791850
True... but an easy way to justify it would be that ponies don't have a Throne of Heroes, and have to piggy-back off the human one. Wouldn't be that big of surprise, as Akasha only bothers recording "Primate" souls in Nasuverse canon. Divine-Spirits, and any sentient species that isn't human or at least descended from them can go get screwed, because Akasha cares not its accomplishments. Hence why Hercules only gets summoned in his Demigod form, despite his normal "prime" being considered as after he ascended to full godhood.
Also, yes, I know the Moon Cell does not care about the normal rules, but then, it doesn't interact with the throne of heroes at all. It's its own thing and it does whatever the hell it wants, and nobody can tell it not to.
Of course, doing so would change the relative strengths of the Servants, because fame is now meaningless for a strength boost. It also makes it a lot more difficult for Masters to be useful in a analysis role, because they actually can't know what the hell their Servants powers are unless another Servant figures out that Servants identity. A pony Master would have to fill out the stat sheet for an enemy human Servant the hard way; namely, watching said enemy Servant using its abilities to beat their own Servants face in, because their true name is meaningless for getting that info as a pony who knows squat about human legends.
...Sorry, I'm just going off on a tangent, aren't I?
Apocryphon - The Sword
This should be good. So is Spike with Zecora or Twilight in this story?
this looks intresting, I'll admit that I've only watched like the first 20 episodes of the anime and nothing else so I'm mostly going into this blind.
man Shining must be drowning in princesses, he just can't keep them off. he has to get a hold of that swag sometime, he is engaged after all.
I can't help but feel that in the inevitable Twilight Vs Trixie fight that they are both are going to tell the Servants to back down as they duel.
1791904
You can't stop the signal.
1791912
Like I said its a very tempting prospect. Their combined narcissism alone would punch a hole in the fabric of space/time.
1792145
That voice probably fits better than my original thought, which had him talking like a slightly calmer version of this guy.
1792513
Sungleam and Commander Hurricane both are prone to be more open in declaring who they are, one out of a sense of honor, the other out of pride.
1792784
Starswirl is certainly going to be having his hooves full with Twilight, and that's all I'll say on that for now.
1793440
Argh, the typos, I never escape them. Heh, thanks though, I'll get to correcting those.
All I can say is I'm looking forward to writing the scene where Princess Platinum reveals the Noble Phantasm that gives her her class type.
1793586
I did seriously consider giving him Assassin, but I felt it somehow fit Zecora better. Greengrass is kind of the odd pony out in this line up, being the only OC Master, so he got the Servant I hadn't thought of who to give to by the time I was done working out everypony else. My take on how Archer fits him is because he's a guy who often works through others, and the Archer class has the highest capacity for independent action due to their ability to function for a long time without needing mana from their Master.
1793780
Its a good tangent though, one I could learn from. I'm the first to admit that while I like the Fate series, my knowledge of the finer details of it is limited because I've watched the animes, played Fate/Extra, but never got to into the details. There's a lot in this I'm altering or making up fresh to better fit the Lunaverse.
1793943
I now hear this song as the semi-official intro to this story.
1794136
A Chance Enounter isn't finished, so I don't know wht his and Twilight's relationship is like if/when they end up sticking together, so it might be easier for me to assume this is taking place before his splits off from Zecora and Corona.
I kind of left that point vague because I hadn't decided what to do with Spike yet.
1794172
Heheh, I can see them doing that.
Sparkle.
Lulamoon!
*epic magic duel ensues*
Sungleam: "Shouldn't we be...I don't know...helping them? Battling one another?"
Starswirl: "Oh, let the young ladies work out their differences in their own special way. Tea?"
Sungleam: "...Well...it'd be rude to decline such a kind offer."
*the two sit having tea as magical expositions go off in the background*
1794925
Well, I'm knowledgeable about Fate mechanics at this point, mainly due to spending a large amount of my time lurking on Beast's Lair, a Nasuverse site that takes the mechanics very, very seriously. They tend to get irritated when somebody gets them wrong, and considering how complex the rules of magic are in Fate, that's pretty easy unless you know what you're talking about.
Getting on to wat's gone already, I see you gave Ditzy the Berserker class... Ouch. Berserker's, while obedient, are not good for their Masters. At all.
Kariya was going to die anyway, so he had come to terms with the fact that that whenever Berserker fought, he was going to be in horrible agony. Ilya could deal with it, because Ilya is a homunculus, which aren't mages so much as walking bundles of magic circuits with stupidly huge reserves.
Before Ilya, every single Master with a Berserker servant died during the war due to it giving them magical exhaustion. This is because the "Mad Enhancement" ability of Berserker class is forcing the Servant and Master to disregard the concept of "safety" when powering said Servant. Remember when unicorns overchanneled a couple of times during previous Lunaverse fics, and it was treated as potentially fatal? What Berserker class does to the average magus is essentially drain them into that state and then keep taking more mana, without regard for the fact that they're killing their Master in doing so. And they ended up dead for it. Ditzy and her friends are gonna have to figure out a solution to that problem, fast. Especially considering she's not even a unicorn who is used to magic leaving the body on a regular basis.
Anyway, looking forward to what you're doing for Noble Phantasms.
I like this! I think you did a great job with all the characters. Esp. enjoyed Greengrass and Notary dealing with Viola. (I wonder how the Duke will react when he learns he'll need to beat both of Night Light's children to win this thing:
Viola: Well, maybe this Night Light won't mind if you destroy his children?
Greengrass: Let's assume he's not going to go along with that.)
I know nothing of Fate, so I have a couple worldbuilding questions:
1. Do the battles have to be 'to the death?' Do they have to be physical battles at all? If both participants agreed to some other challenge, for instance, would that be valid?
2. Are the participants required to use their Servants for the final blow? For the competitions at all? Would the Trixie/Twilight duel joked about above be valid, without the Servants assisting in some way?
3. Is getting proxies involved legal? I.e., to help with the battle, could Shining Armor enlist the Royal Guard/Trixie and Ditzy use other Elements/Duke use Notary?
ditzy doo? DITZY DOO??!?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! HER NAME IS DERPY! i dont care how 'right' or 'socially correct' you're trying to be. her. name. is. DERPY!
1795942
chill, this is a alt verse and since its start her name was Ditzy, with Derpy being sort of a teasing name. its not about the author trying to be socially correct its how the character is defined by the alt verse canon
1795154
Heheh, yeah, I feel kind of embarrassed about how little I grasp the actual details of the mechanics behind the worldsetting, but I love the story concept and premise enough to use it anyway.
Just be gentle with me, but feel free to point out stuff you think I might not be getting quite right.
*reads following comments* Ah, yes, this is good example of what I mean in my above comment. I knew Berserker's affected their Master's in some way but I wasn't sure the details on exactly how. This is good stuff to know because now I got all sorts of things I can do with the story knowing this info.
1795480
I'm going to enjoy writing all of Viola/Greengrass/Notary.
1. As I understand it battles need to be to the death of the Servants only, not the Masters...but Masters are often targeted in battle because its highly advantageous to eliminate the Servant's supply of mana, as few Servants outside the Archer class can last long without a Master to supply the mana for their existence. Also, a Servant whose Master dies can make a new pact with another Master, so some Masters will seek to kill enemy Masters to then try and make deals with the now free Servant. They generally have to be physical battles because ultimately in order to be valid, there has to be only one Servant left alive by the end of it. However there are no guidelines or rules governing how Servants and Masters fight. Alliances can be formed, cordial talks can be had, they can do as they wish...as long as, in the end, only one team remains.
2. A Servant doesn't have to deliver the final blow. Servants tend to be vastly more powerful than Masters, so its often them that do the brunt of the fighting and killing, but its hardly unheard of for Masters to mix it up, fight other Servants, or fight each other. However the rule still stands that its the Servants that must be killed, though how that comes about is essentially moot to the Grail. Twilight and Trixie could duke it out, and if one defeated the other, either via killing (highly unlikely as neither one would want to use lethal force) or by some means remove the others Command Seals they could then neutralize the respective Servant.
3. Anything goes. Shining Armor could throw the entire Royal Guard at an enemy Servant if he wanted to. The key is that the enemy Servant be defeated and killed. There was a scenario in Fate/Zero where one Master blackmailed another Master to order his Servant to commit suicide, and that is a perfectly valid way to win as far as the Grail War is concerned.
1795942
Eheh...yeah...well...she's named Ditzy Doo in the Lunaverse canon, so that's her name here. I'm not all that invested in what to call her either way and consider the names interchangeable.
1796190
Removing the command seals doesn't neutralize the Servant, it just means the Master can't actually enforce orders anymore. The Master will continue supplying the Servant with mana even if the command seals are removed. Sure, generally ends up with a screwed Master if their Servant doesn't like them, but if that Servant was personally loyal(Zero Lancer, for example, was still loyal to Kayneth even though Sola-Ui had the command seals now instead. Or Karna, in any theoretical scenario for him, considering he made Rainbow Dash look disloyal in comparison in his legend.), then you've still got a functioning Servant-Master pair.
That's not to say that removing command seals doesn't make life a fair bit harder for that team, because they've got other uses than just enforcing orders. Theoretically, you can pull all kinds of shit with command seals. And if the Master even needs the Servant near them right now, then Command Spells can make distance irrelevant.
i know a little about the Fate series. And I'm liking this so far.
1796369
Ah, okay I see. Good to know. Yeah, Command Seals seem to be able to do a lot more than just enforce commands.
1796499
Glad to hear you're liking it. Wouldn't worry too much about lacking Fate series knowledge, given I'm using a lot of the concepts...loosely, and making a lot of adaptions to fit the Lunaverse. Might be some weird terminology that get bantered about between the Servants, and some creative license taken to fit Fate-verse stuff to the L-verse, but since this is all non-canon anyway I figure its all gravy,.
1797997
I am a little bit curious if this particular cross fusion has more Nasuverse elements hiding in the background than just the stuff that is directly related to the Fate series part of it.
There is some absolutely terrifying stuff hiding in the background of the Nasuverse(particularly in the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors), and the Fate series is only a tiny part of what's going on in the shadows.
But then, Equestria is a shiny bright universe, so it's unlikely that the planet actively wants all sentient life to die screaming in this universe.
1792145 Keep up the good work, and you'll be able to reach Nyx-ian levels of irrational fan-hate!
No Trollomine or King of Heroes?
Because a pony analogue of Gilgamesh would be absolutely hilarious.
1799993
I'm still lacking confidence that my Fate series knowledge is up to the task of writing this fic properly, let alone trying to including anything additional from that universe.
1803690
I find myself more and more tempted to try to fit in a Gilgamesh style character into the narrative, but with what I have planned I'm not sure how I'd pull it off without it seeming very random.
Some typos. Especially your/you're confusion. But otherwise, I'm interested.
Twilight is naturally fangasming. I tend to prefer to interpret Commander Hurricane as a mare, but that's hardly a bg deal. As has been said, announcing your name is a little suicidal if you're a servant, but that hardly stops some of them. I notice that we have at least three servants from the same tim period, but that's understandable. Poor ponies. Grail wars are typically vicious.
I look forward to the results.
On a command seal related note, while we've only seen it done in the case of Kotomine and Kariya, it's possible for a Master to take Command Seals from another Master, though this is unlikely to come up for most of the cast. There was something else I wanted to say here but i've forgotten it. Sorry folks.
Wait what Anime is this Based of?