//------------------------------// // The First Conversations // Story: The Fifth Holy Grail War: A Pony's Perspective // by Evowizard25 //------------------------------// Twilight couldn’t help but twitch slightly as she stood in the throne room of the crystal empire. After last night’s event, she couldn’t sleep a wink. Staying up and playing scenario after scenario over in her head, each getting increasingly worse then the last. That didn’t do anything good for her nerves. She was just thankful she got a few hours of shuteye before then or she’d be even worse right now. It didn’t help how impassive Celestia looked at this moment. For all of her life, Celestia had a motherly warmth to her. She was basically Equestria’s mom, shielding it from harm in her large wings. Just as she did with Twilight on her bad days. She looked up to the solar monarch. She wanted nothing more then to please her and yet now she felt as if Celestia was disappointed with her. She refused to think of the visions Sombra’s mirror showed her. She had to at least put up a strong front. She could take what was thrown her way. She hoped. The throne room was simple but elegant. Fitting for Princess Cadance who sat in the highest chair. The other two princess, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, stood by each side of the tall crystal throne. Twilight’s friends all stared up at them. Well, all but one. “What in tarnation is taking that gal so long?” Applejack grumbled as she adjusted her stetson on her head for the tenth time solely out of boredom. “I’m sure she has a good reason,” Fluttershy interjected to try and diffuse some of Applejack’s tension. “Probably powdering her nose,” Rainbow Dash scoffed as she scuffed the ground. “Why can’t we just hear what the princesses have to say and tell Rarity afterwards? There’s no time to lose. That pony could do who knows what to the Element of Magic.” “I would rather you all be present when I explain the situation,” Celestia responded. “I don’t want to go through with this twice. Besides, we already have a solution to this problem.” She smiled, which alleviated some of their concerns. When Celestia smiled, it was like gazing into the warm sun. Minus harm to your eyes of course. Just then, the door’s of the throne room burst open. Rarity huffed as she trotted inside, “I’m sorry everyone. My hair was giving me all sorts of trouble.” “Should have guessed it was her hair,” Rainbow grumbled quietly to Applejack, who let out an amused snort. “Now that you are all present,” Celestia said, garnering all of their attention. “I think you all are deserving of an explanation.” The ponies gathered nodded, letting out little ‘uh-huhs’ and ‘yeah’. Celestia closed her eyes slowly and took in a deep breath. Twilight could tell that whatever she was dredging up from her memory wasn’t a pleasant one. Then she opened up her eyes, “The culprit you are looking for is none other then Sunset Shimmer, my former pupil.” The mares gasped. Twilight took a step forward, “But she didn’t look that much older then me.” “That is correct,” Celestia nodded. “She was my prize pupil right before I found you. She was a promising star, like yourself. Had she not fled when she had I had every hope she would have become the Element of Magic. Unfortunately, that was not meant to be. Sunset Shimmer led greed and temptation plague her heart. She wanted nothing more then to gather more and more power and become like me,” she spread out her wings. “An alicorn.” Twilight ruffled her feathery wings, “So she wants to use the Element of Magic to make that happen.” “Yes,” Celestia said. “I tried to dissuade her. She was not ready. She did not have the right mindset to ascend and even if she did, she would be a danger to everyone around her. Thankfully there were few ways to achieve this and most of those are closely guarded by hoof picked soldiers and other creatures. The Element of Magic on the other hoof might just be her ticket to achieving her goal.” “So you want us to go over there and kick her butt, right?” Rainbow smiled and puffed out her chest. “I think we can manage this.” “No,” Celestia firmly spoke, slamming a hoof into the ground hard enough to shake the room. The main six let out little yelps of panic at that. “You are not to enter that realm. Not yet. There are… some things you must know. The world that my precious former student entered is not as kind as ours.” “Starswirl had visited this world shortly before I became Nightmare Moon,” Princess Luna spoke up. “So I remember this one clearly. He was both fascinated and terrified by the creatures on the other side. Humans as he called them. They are not to be trifled with.” “Can’t we just be friends?” Fluttershy timidly asked. “I mean, they can’t all be bad.” “And I’m sure most of them aren’t,” Celestia nodded. “However, we can’t take any risks on this venture. If they are peaceful, perhaps we will open a channel of diplomacy. If they are hostile, the portal will be destroyed so they can never threaten our homeland.” “Let’s hope for the former,” Cadance smiled. “And I think we all know the right pony for the job.” “Twilight,” Luna looked down at her with a stern gaze. “We have decided to send you and you alone to this world to retrieve the crown and my sister’s pupil.” “Why can’t we go with her?” Pinkie Pie raised a hoof. “I mean, how else are we supposed to establish good will if I’m not there to throw a party!” Celestia raised a hoof to silence her, “We must be discreet about this. If they learn about our world before we are ready, or if they think we are a threat, they could do something drastic. We may be strong, but we have no idea what they are currently capable of.” Luna nodded, “Exactly. It would be foolhardy for us to engage them this early.” “We talked about this, auntie.” Cadance sighed. “We are not fighting the humans.” Luna pouted, “Perhaps later.” “I trust in you, my shining pupil.” Celestia smiled down at Twilight which alleviated some of her concerns. “I know there was some good in my former pupil and knowing how well you did with my sister and even Discord, no doubt you will perform well on this venture.” Twilight stood there for a moment, mulling over all of this. Should she really brave this human world all alone? However, her doubts were swept away when she looked at Celestia. She had never steered her wrong. Not once. She was always there for her. So she nodded, “I’ll do it.” Celestia nodded, “Very well. We shall meet at the mirror within the hour to see you off. We musn’t wait much longer. Who knows what Sunset Shimmer is up to.” ___________________________________________________________________________ “So FREAKING CLOSE, CELESTIA CURSE IT!” Said mare turned human was stomping around in circles inside her current living abode. Given that she could still use her magic, she opted to using her druidic spells to create a wooden house for herself. This saved her from having to worry about rent and the lonely location in the forest meant she could experiment without worrying about anyone seeing her perform magic. Caster was peacefully sitting on the floor, sipping from a small tea cup. She watched quietly as her master raged and fumed again and again over what had transpired. She was very thankful that her master could teleport so readily. While she was confident in her own abilities, Lancer had proven to be an opponent she would need to be wary of. Next time she would not fight on unknown territory. She’d draw him in to her own and smash him to pieces there. For now, she waited for the chance to calm her furious master. Sunset stopped and held out her hands in front of herself, looking at her palms. “I had it with me. It was right on my side and now it’s gone! How the buck does that happen? The hay did I do to deserve this?!!” “Master,” Caster spoke up, drawing her attention. “I think you need to calm down. While we may have lost the crown, we can still find it later. Besides, we have more important things to worry about?” “More important?” Sunset looked at her as if she had grown a second head. “More important? There is nothing more important than this! I deserve that crown. Not that purple dunce! I worked myself to the bone.” She moved closer, “I studied harder than everyone. I am the rightful owner of those accursed wings, not her. I should be an alicorn!” “And you will be one when we win this war,” Caster sternly stared her down. The servant of magic stood up and placed a hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “You must trust me on this, Sunset. We will find that crown but the other servants aren’t going to let us do so easily. If we take them out, it will make the search that much easier.” Sunset huffed and her shoulders slumped, “I know. I know, but I had that crown in my hands-” “Hooves.” Sunset blinked in confusion before narrowing her eyes, “Don’t be smart with me.” Caster smirked, “Oh? Would you rather an imbecile for a servant? I’m sorry if I can’t play the part.” Sunset sighed, “Oh shut up.” Caster chuckled and patted her cheek, “You are too adorable not to tease, my master.” Sunset blushed lightly as she rolled her eyes, “Yeah, whatever.” She rolled her shoulders, “Now however, I’ll have to get ready for school.” Caster let her go to gather her things, “Why ever do you still go to that place? You are far too skilled to learn anything there.” “It’s a great place to learn about human history and habits,” Sunset said before smirking. “Besides, there’s a certain boy there. He will work on anything for free.” She cackled, “So very useful.” _____________________________________________________________________ “In other news,” the news reporter spoke clearly. “Another riot has sprung about in downtown Fuyuki. This is the sixth one this week and further testimonies of citizens have noted increased levels of aggression elsewhere. Experts on the matter have attributed this all due to gas leaks that have dispersed chemicals into the air that agitate our senses and lead to heightened levels of aggression.” “How charming,” a golden haired man said with a cocky grin. The young handsome young man was splayed down on top of a luxurious red chair. A few bottles of wine were strewn about him as he kept watching the television. The basement he had to live in didn’t offer much for him to do so getting watching television was his only real outlet. This was all just another slight against humans. He would kill a good number of people for creating this so called ‘reality tv’. That being said, he was honestly intrigued by what this mongrel of a reporter was talking about. A gas leak? No doubt this was due to a servant’s actions or something of the kind. It was far too close to the Grail War’s beginning to be a coincidence. He couldn’t wait till they were all summoned. Then he could finally show these mongrels who was the true king and get his wish. Anyone who looked upon this man would know that he was no ordinary human. He was much more than that. So much more. It would be an insult to say differently. For this man was none other then the Archer of the previous Holy Grail War, Gilgamesh. King of Heroes. “In other news, the new hit sensation ‘The Dazzlings’ have decided to extend their stay in our fair city. Many fans have started to flock here-” “It would seem that these gas leaks are becoming a nuisance,” a stern voice spoke up with a hint of mirth. Gilgamesh turned to see a catholic priest start walking his way. “Truly those people are misfortunate to be effected in such a way.” “Truly,” Gilgamesh smirked, knowing how Kirei Kotomine truly felt about this. “It would seem we are blessed by an interesting train of events leading up to this next Holy Grail War. Perhaps I shall find them entertaining. If not, then I shall certainly punish these fools for getting my hopes up.” Kirei bowed his head, “Oh I’m sure you’ll enjoy what is to come.” “So what servants haven’t been summoned yet?” Gilgamesh asked. He took a sip from the wine glass in his hand, noting how poor the wine of this era tasted. Another slight against these humans. They needed to be taught a lesson. “So far only Berserker, Caster, and Lancer have been summoned.” Kirei explained. “Assassin, Archer, Saber and Rider have yet to be revealed.” Gilgamesh groaned, “Four servants have yet to show their faces? What disrespect. They should come forth at once and get this war started. I am growing impatient and they wouldn’t like to see me impatient.” “I’m sure those servants will be summoned within the next few days,” Kirei did his best to assuage Gilgamesh. His temper was something of legends. “Perhaps some entertainment would help you?” “Oh?” Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow. “Are you referring to those three women? What were they called? The Dazzlings?” “A simple band but I have heard wonders,” Kirei’s grin turned vicious. “It helps that anger and pain seems to follow in their wake. Such happy coincidences.” Gilgamesh could already tell what creatures he was dealing with. All the clues were right there in front of him so he chuckled, “To think I would live long enough to see another siren, let alone three. I thought they were wiped out.” “You know of them?” Gilgamesh raised his glass, “I dare say half of them are related to me. Such beautiful creatures. I couldn’t resist.” “Shall we take care of them?” Kirei asked, gesturing to the reporter talking about the band. The picture on the screen showed three beautiful women. Only their faces and shoulders were shown but each had a strange hairdo of different colors. “They aren’t important,” Gilgamesh rolled his eyes. “Let them have their fun with the mongrels. If they amuse me, perhaps I shall take them under my wing~ Until then, I shall focus my attention on this war.” Kirei bowed, “As you wish.” ___________________________________________________________________________ In another part of the city, a boy awoke. To the mortal eyes, he was nothing special. Just a regular japanese student, like thousands other like him. Of course, his red hair made him stand out a bit but he was nothing to speak of. He was just a normal teenager. A normal teenager with a desire to aid others. Which is why he had made his way to school hours earlier than everyone else. Every day, he would be called to help someone in need. Whether it be with their homework or with a machine. He would stand up and make sure they never despaired. That was his mission in life. He would help everyone. It was just this morning that the boy was called in to fix a heater. The area was getting rather warm so some cool air was needed to make the students comfortable. It was obviously broken so he was called in to fix it. Why? Because he didn’t ask for payment of course. That was fine with him. As long as he got to help, he was happy. This boy’s name was Shirou Emiya. And he was about to find this very morning wasn’t going to go about like all the others.