//------------------------------// // The Grail is Used // Story: Equestrian Singularity // by Evowizard25 //------------------------------// Over the years, Twilight Sparkle had to get used to a lot of things. With the power granted to her by the princesses, she was not the defacto solo ruler of Equestria. Oh she had help from Spike and her friends, but she was the princess. Everything rested on her shoulders. So she had to get used to being calm. Well that and the increased height. Now that was still odd to her.  However her increased height wasn’t something that was taking precedent in her mind right now. For the last several years, there had not been a case of a large villain attack. Not since the defeat of the villainous trio. She was honestly thankful for that. While the adventures she shared with her friends were amongst her most cherished memories, she really didn’t want her citizens to go through more of them. Neither did she. Many of them almost ended in failure, if not death. She wished it would be centuries before she would have to face that again.  It would seem her wish would go unheard. Thanks to a number of scouts and soldiers in the area, she had learned that Grogar had returned. This was rather troubling. With just a portion of his magic, Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow had been on par with the alicorns. Imagining what he could be at full strength was nerve wracking. The bell itself was in storage, safe and sound. However, just like with what happened with Tirek when he was hit by the elements, the magic wasn’t present. It most likely went back to the source: Grogar. Yet without the bell, Grogar could not continuously add to his power and most likely, his power was diminished from all this time in imprisonment and the possibility that some of that magic hadn’t gotten back to him. She could only hope he was that weak.  So she had formed a contingent of guards and marched towards Grogar’s location. A part of her thought about getting the Element Bearers together, but decided against it. Grogar may be ancient, but she was prepared to face him. She had to show Equestria that she was a strong monarch. As well, her friends weren’t able to make it as quickly as they used to. Life had taken them elsewhere. So it was just her and over a hundred guards.  Finally, they found his lair. It was the old cave that Discord had used to hide the villainous trio years ago. It was fitting for him. He would fall here. She even had prepared a nice place in Tartarus for him. Hopefully he would see reason. Of course she doubted it. Most villains didn’t go down without a fight.  She stopped near the entrance. She used a spell in order to enhance her voice, “GROGAR!” The Royal Canterlot voice allowed her to bellow far beyond her area, “COME OUT PEACEFULLY! WE DO NOT NEED TO FIGHT!” Sinister laughter was her answer.  “Twilight Sparkle,” an elderly, gruff voice spoke to her from within the cave. “Forgive me for not coming out. I’m a bit weak in the knees these days so it’s hard to walk.” “Then I shall come inside then,” Twilight narrowed her eyes.  “Oh that won’t do either,” Grogar said, “Of course, I can always send out a few friends I’ve made or how about the ones I’m about to make? I’m planning for quite the party.” “I’ll be going inside,” Twilight took a step forward. “Guard the entrance. Don’t let anyone leave.” The soldiers gave her a salute.  “Well I’ll be right there with you.” Twilight turned her head and her eyes widened, “Rainbow Dash? What are you doing here?” The rainbow haired pegasis chuckled as she shook her head, flying just above the large alicorn. She was none other than Captain of the Wonderbolts these days, the fastest flier in Equestria. “You didn’t think I’d let you go into this alone, did you? Before you ask, no. The others aren’t coming, but between you and me, we can beat any old goat.” Twilight smiled, “Hopefully you’re right.” With that, she teleported them further into the lair.  Before them was none other then Grogar, the elderly goat. He smiled down at them, glancing away from the golden cup before him. “Ah, I see you’ve decided to skip my introduction. How rude of you, princess.” “Can it, goat.” Rainbow Dash scowled. “We’re taking you down so why don’t you come quietly.” “Just because you took down a bunch of fools, doesn’t mean you can stop me.” Grogar scoffed as his magic flickered. The golden cup started to emit a noise as it glowed, “But why don’t I give you a demonstration of what’s to come.”  “No,” Twilight fired a bolt of magic, to which Grogar blocked with a magical shield.  The cup let out a golden light as something materialized in the room. Both Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash gasped as they saw who it was. Before them was a dark, armored stallion with a red horn. His hateful gaze burned into them as he grinned.  “Servant Caster, King Sombra, has returned!” The stallion cackled. He rolled his shoulders, “It’s so interesting to be awake like this, but I shall adapt.” “How?” Twilight Sparkle looked him over, “But he’s dead. We blew him up.” “The Holy Grail you see before you allows me to summon beings of this world and another,” Grogar smirked, “And given the amount of energy I can omit, I can summon quite a few to do my bidding. Sombra. Get rid of them.” “Gladly,” Sombra, the newly summoned Caster servant, lit his horn as he fired a bolt of magic.  Twilight brought up a shield around herself and Rainbow and grunted as she felt it hit. Just from that attack alone, she could tell he was stronger then he was last time. Perhaps being a ‘servant’, whatever that was, gave him a boost. Either way, she turned to Rainbow Dash. “We’ll have to retreat.” “What?” Rainbow looked at her as she idly saw Sombra smashing away at Twilight’s shield. “We can take him.” “We can’t fight Sombra and Grogar at the same time,” Twilight said. “We’ll fall back and gather the rest of the elements.” “Sombra,” Grogar snarled. “Break that shield now.”  Sombra snarled before forming a tendril of dark energy. Just as Twilight powered up a teleport spell, the tendril smashed through the shield. The duo jumped to the side to avoid the strike, forcing Twilight to cancel the spell. She fired three bolts of magic, to which Sombra turned into a shadow. His cackles filled the air as the shadow charged. Twilight flapped her wings and took to the air.  As Sombra manifested himself again, Rainbow charged. Her strike thanks to her speed landed true but Sombra wasn’t thrown aside. He took two steps to the side with a slight gasp, before glaring at her. His magic seized her. He grinned as he slammed her into the ground twice before throwing her away.  “Rainbow!” Twilight landed right beside her, looking over her bruises. She winced. Even if it was only twice, the strikes were pretty bad and Rainbow wasn’t as young as she used to be.  “It looks worse then it is,” Rainbow huffed as she stood up. “Guess a teleport would be a good idea.”  Twilight nodded and lit up her horn. Before Sombra’s next attack could connect, they were gone outside. The two would have sighed with relief, if they weren’t agape at the brutality in front of them. The hundred soldiers she had brought with them were dead. Slaughtered. Blood and body parts were thrown about as if done so by a wild beast.  In the middle of them stood a young human woman. She had shoulder length white hair done up rather prettily. Her lithe but muscular body shone in the daylight, especially since a lot of it was on display. She wore a tight silver armor piece over her chest and intimidating, spikey gauntlets. As were her lower legs and feet also armored with a spike at her foot. The only thing covering her private area was a small black ‘bikini’ piece of sorts. She held a large chain with spiked balls at the end that she was twirling around.  “Is that all?” She scoffed as she stared down at the dead soldiers, “The grail was right. Only servants can offer a servant a real challenge.”  “You…” Rainbow seethed. Seeing all of these dead ponies, ponies with families and lives of their own, dead and the killer scoffing at them made her furious. “You monster!”  The woman turned to them and grinned, “Now you two look like you can fight. Bring it.” Twilight put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder to stop her, “We’ll stop her later. We can’t take her on with Sombra and Grogar behind us.” “Fine!” Rainbow snarled and shook her hoof, “This isn’t over!” With that said, the duo vanished in a teleport.  __________________________________________________________________________ Meanwhile, back in Chaldea. Another Twilight was engrossed in an important task. Of course this Twilight was in her human form and had not the years that her princess Ruler self had. So she was a bit smaller than her other form. A Caster was what she was. Yes, this Twilight Sparkle was none other than a Servant Caster. She had been summoned to Chaldea not long ago and couldn’t be happier now that she was with her beloved Shirou again. Of course, the whole thing with Atalanta and Artoria, for different reasons, still confused her.  That didn’t mean she didn’t have important things to do here. She tapped the board to her left, “And you see, this is how photosynthesis starts.” Before her were none other then her daughter Jack the Ripper, servant Assassin, and Jack’s bestie, Nursery Rhyme, servant Caster. She had taken it upon herself to teach them as best as she could.  “Ummm,” Nursery Rhyme raised her hand, “Why can’t we hear a fairy tale instead? You’re a unicorn. So you’ve got a lot of them.” Twilight sighed, “Education is just as important as fairy tales, Nursery. Soon enough, you’ll be taking a class with the rest of the child servants, so you need to prepare for the upcoming tests.” “Mommy,” Jack stuck out her tongue in disgust, “We don’t want to take tests.” “It’s good for you,” Twilight waggled her finger. The school idea had been partially her idea, given how many child servants were being summoned. She was not going to let her child go without a proper education. She knew how schools worked and the construction was well on the way so it wouldn’t be long till she could start teaching. She was still thinking on who to aid her in the endeavor. She doubted she could do it all like Cheerilee could.  The door opened and it was none other then Rachelle who poked her head inside, “Am I interrupting something?” Twilight smiled, “Not really. I’m more or less practicing for when the school finally opens.” Rachelle was none other then the second and only active master in Chaldea. They hadn’t spoken much, but Twilight found her a nice person and was glad to call her a friend. “I’m glad that’s going on well, although it’s not much of a school with only two students.” “A school can function with only one student,” Twilight held up a finger, “However, we both know that more kids could be summoned in the future. I might as well get it started. That and I don’t think some adults here would hurt from going back to school for a bit.” “Oh Romani definitely would benefit from another year or two of school,” Rachelle smirked, “Maybe it would help him grow up.” Twilight rolled her eyes, “Must you tease him so much?” Rachelle shrugged, “He’s cute when I tease him. If he wants me to stop, he has to stop being so cute. Simple as that.” Twilight sighed and chuckled, “Well I can’t argue too much with that. Shirou is pretty cute to tease.” “It’s the opposite way from what I heard,” Rachelle poked her teasingly as Twilight blushed.  “Not in front of the kids,” Twilight shushed her.  “What are you talking about, mommy?” Jack quirked her head to the side.  “Sounds like romance,” Nursery Rhyme’s eyes twinkled.  Twilight was thankful Rarity hadn’t been summoned yet. She’d sweep up Nursery Rhyme in her dramatic love ideas in a heartbeat. It didn’t help that both of them still had a romanticized vision of romance, even if Rarity had curbed some of it in later years.  “You can learn about that later,” Rachelle patted their heads, much to their delight. “Now I came to check up on you and let you know the school’s almost done. Should be done in a day or two.” “Thank you,” Twilight smiled.  The door opened and in walked a small, long pink, twin tailed haired girl. She wore a pretty pink dress. This was Mine, servant Archer. She had a piece of paper in her hand, “Okay, I was sent for. What do you want?” Twilight smiled and clapped her hands together, “Thanks for coming. I’ve been setting up a school for the children of Chaldea and seeing as you’re a child, I-” “I’M SHORT!” Mine shouted as she stamped her foot. “I’m not a child!” “Mommy,” Jack spoke up. “Am I short?” “No, you’re child sized.” Twilight rubbed her head, “And you’re the perfect size.” “So does that mean Mine is the perfect size?” “Exactly,” Twilight bowed her head, “I’m sorry. It was an honest mistake.” Mine put a hand over her heart, “Gah, why can’t I stay mad with you people around?” She sighed. “You are forgiven, just remember it for future reference.” “I’ll be sure to ask you if I need help with the school,” Twilight said.  “I’ll be happy to help.” Rachelle smiled, “Now this is just lovely.” It was always nice to see the servants getting along. In coming Singularities, this would really help them. That and made Chaldea a wonderful place to live in.