//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Fate/Twilight // by moguera //------------------------------// Fate/Twilight Prologue: The Summons "Okay, just a little bit more...there, perfect." Twilight Sparkle grinned eagerly as she looked down at the latest product of her research. The floor of basement laboratory of her library home was clear of clutter. All of Twilight's usual instruments and lab equipment had been pushed to the sides of the chamber to make room for the impressive circle that now filled the center of the room. Taking a moment, the lavender unicorn checked her work over, carefully going over the arrangement of runes and glyphs, looking for any sign of error. If she was going to try this potentially risky procedure, she wanted to make sure that everything was perfect. From his position near the stairs leading up to the library, Spike looked up from a thick book and inspected the circle from his angle. "Everything looks set from here," said Spike, "Are you really sure you want to test this on yourself first?" "Oh, Spike, you worry too much," said Twilight, humming cheerfully as she came over to inspect the book herself. Everything was lining up with her calculations so far, but she wanted to be doubly sure before she fired up the array. Spike was only slightly reassured by Twilight's placating comment. When it came to trying out new kinds of magic, she tended to rush forward with an eagerness and, dare he say, recklessness that would have been more fit for a certain rainbow-maned pegasus of their mutual acquaintance. He was even more concerned because personal experience had taught both of them that there was a difference between working magic out on paper in the form of careful calculation and theorizing and actually shaping that energy with one's will. The fact that this spell necessitated a physical array to act as a device in addition to Twilight's own horn did not put the little dragon's mind any more at ease. This was unfamiliar territory to them both. Spike turned his nervous gaze to the circle itself. He did have to admit that the elegant curves and angles that filled it made the entire construct a thing of beauty. But he wasn't sure that Twilight was ready to try her newfangled long-range teleportation spell. It was all very simple according to the theory. Twilight was something of a master of teleportation magic already, even if she did occasionally forget to use it during important moments. It was an advanced application of magic that few unicorns were able to master. Even then, using teleportation for anything other than relatively short distances was virtually impossible. Even Twilight Sparkle, possibly the most powerful unicorn in Equestria and Princess Celestia's personal student had a maximum range of a couple of miles at most. Anything more than that was beyond the reach of even the most powerful ponies. Even the Princesses Celestia and Luna didn't use teleportation for anything more than short hops. But after who knows how many months of research, Twilight had apparently found an answer to the problem. She had done so by practically redefining the concept of space. Spike didn't fully understand all of the terminology that his adopted older sister had used in her explanation, but he got the basic gist of it. Basically, Twilight's new spell would use the circle that would open a door of sorts into a separate space that, in some way, was equidistant to all other points of space and then travel from there to her destination. According to this theory, teleporting from Canterlot to Manehatten would have the same demands on the spellcaster's energy as teleporting from one end of Ponyville to the other. In theory, it was brilliant. But Spike was terrified of all the possible ways that this spell could go wrong. To be able to exit the other-space accessed by this spell, one needed to have exact knowledge of the coordinates of the intended destination. At one point, Twilight had mentioned some mumbo-jumbo about "11th-dimensional calculus" or some such thing. Fortunately, Twilight's solution to such difficult calculations had been elegant in its simplicity. By creating a second circle at her intended destination beforehand, all Twilight had to do was use the spell to link the two circles and she would appear in the preset location without having to do the slightest bit of extra work. For the purposes of this experiment, the destination circle for her spell had been inscribed in Princess Celestia's private study, where the Princess was eagerly awaiting the arrival of her student. If this spell worked, then similar circles could be established across the width and breadth of Equestria, allowing for the movement of ponies and goods across the country instantaneously where previously, such journeys would have taken days at best, or even weeks. Twilight Sparkle's research would revolutionize long-distance travel for ponies everywhere. That reason, the fact that his beloved caretaker's name would be entered into the history books for some reason other than just having the luck to be Princess Celestia's personal student or being the Bearer of the Element of Magic, was why Spike was keeping his fears in check. While both of those distinctions were important, Twilight had never truly felt that she had actually earned either, feeling that some amount of predestination had factored into her obtaining both those honors, prestigious as they were. But here was something that Twilight had created through her own efforts, the product of her studying, all the sweat, blood and tears, something that was truly her creation and hers alone. Spike just wasn't sure if he was ready to let Twilight take that risk. "Okay then, it's all set," said Twilight, moving to the center of the circle. Technically, she didn't need to be in the circle to activate the spell. All she had to do was channel her prana into the circle itself, with minor adjustments to set the destination, and the spell would activate on its own. This way, a moderately talented unicorn could send objects or even other ponies to different destinations. That was what made this spell so potentially useful. But since she was sending herself, Twilight stood in the center of the circle as she prepared to activate the spell. "Are you absolutely sure about this, Twilight?" asked Spike again, for good measure, "I mean, shouldn't we test it on an inanimate object before you try this spell on yourself, and then maybe on a small rodent of some kind for good measure." To his surprise, Twilight broke out laughing. "Oh Spike, I didn't know you were worried about that," she said after a moment, "The Princess and I already ran those tests." "Really?" asked Spike, raising an eyebrow and wondering when this had happened. "Yeah. But you weren't here fore either of them. You were on that date with Sweetie Belle when I tested the spell on Mrs. Smartypants." "Huh? And it worked?" Twilight nodded. "Yep. And then Fluttershy let me test it on Angel Bunny." That made Spike's eyes widen. "She let you do that?" Twilight nodded again. "And it worked?" Another nod. "When the heck was this?" A grinning smirk graced the lavender unicorn's face. "That was while you were on your date with Apple Bloom you little Casanova you." Spike's face flushed. "You uh...you knew about that, huh?" Twilight's eyes narrowed. "That's right, so you'd better watch your step. If you break either of their hearts, I'll let Rarity or Applejack, whoever's sister it turns out to be, handle your punishment." The little dragon gulped nervously at the prospect. "Um, okay.". He felt it wasn't the time or place to tell Twilight that he had been out with Scootaloo too. In actuality, dating all three of them in turn had been the Cutie Mark Crusaders' idea. But that was neither here nor there. So he decided to change the subject. "Were there any problems with Angel Bunny?" Twilight shook her head. "Nope. Fluttershy gave him a clean bill of health so I approved the spell for pony testing." Again, Spike gulped nervously. "Okay then. Good luck." Hesitating for a second, he jumped down from his step and ran across the floor to Twioight and threw his arms around her neck in a tight hug. Twilight blinked in surprise before leaning down to return the embrace. "Be careful," he whispered. Twilight smiled, "I will." "Okay then," said Spike, slowly backing out of the circle, "Go and make Equestrian history...again." "You've got it Spike." Twilight's horn began to glow. Beneath her hooves, the runes and lines of her magical array began to shine as she poured her prana into the circle itself. She could feel space beginning to distort and shift around her. Then, the library was gone. Twilight's senses couldn't process what was happening, which was fine. For better or for worse, the spell had been cast and the rest of it was out of her hooves. All she could tell was that she had no idea of where or when she was. She couldn't be certain how long she would be in this space or that she could be appropriately cognizant of the passage of time itself. She just had to put her faith in the fact that she would end up where she was supposed to. There...she could feel the distortion around her again. This must be the second part of the spell, she thought as the the feeling of the warping fabric of reality enclosed her once again. Then she heard it. "A foundation of iron and silver. Gem and the archduke of contracts are the cornerstone. And above them is the great master Schweinorg." Twilight blinked, wondering what this was. It was a low chant that was thundering through the void, as though being spoken by many voices across many times. Now the distortion of reality around her was changing. In her eyes, she could see the beginnings of her arrival in Princess Celestia's study. She could even barely make out the shape of the princess amongst the mystic energies that swirled between them. "The alighted wind becomes a wall, The gates of the four directions close, The three-forked road leading to the the kingdom bursts forth from the crown." Twilight felt panic rising in her gut. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Even as she felt her own spell nearing completion, ready to deposit her in the study, she felt something else grabbing at her being and pulling her back. Twilight could make out the expression on Celestia's face and see the worry in her eyes. Neither of them understood what was happening. "Shut shut shut shut shut. It is repeated five times. Once filled, is shattered." The world was fading now. Twilight couldn't see her mentor at all. She was being pulled back to that space outside of space. And she knew she wouldn't be able to return. She opened her mouth to scream. "I hereby announce, Your soul is under me and my fate rests on your sword. In accordance with the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer." The chanting was growing louder and louder. Twilight Sparkle knew that she was getting closer and closer to the source. And she dreaded finding out just what that source would be. "This is my oath. I am the one who embodies all that is good in creation, And I shall become the sword that destroys all that is evil. You who hails from the seven heavens and clad in the three great words, Come forth and heed my call, GUARDIAN OF THE SCALES!" And Twilight's world was engulfed by brilliant light. With a loud thud, she found herself dumped unceremoniously on the hard ground...or was it a floor of some kind? She shook her head to clear it as she tried to get her bearings. After that overwhelming assault on her senses, she suddenly realized that everything was very dark and very quiet. Oh no! I haven't gone blind and deaf have I? Then she realized that she was neither. It was simply dark around her. As her eyes began to adjust, she even began to pick out details of the world around her. For the most part though, everything was slightly obscured by some sort of mist that was probably a result of the spell that had brought her here...if indeed it was a spell. She was in a room of some kind, but all the lights were out. In the distance, she could hear faint rumbling noises, different from that of thunder. Looking around, she could spot all the usual accoutrements of a living space, a lamp here, a table there, a couple of couches. Twilight stood up unsteadily to get a better look around and felt something wet and slick under her hooves. Looking down, she saw a circle that was virtually identical to the one she had devised for her spell. It had apparently been inscribed with some kind of dark liquid, which was now running slightly. Looking up, Twilight suddenly noticed an unfamiliar figure looming over her. Whatever it was that stood before her, it was clearly no pony. Aside from Spike and the diamond dogs that she and the others had encountered once, she knew of precious few creatures that stood up on their hind legs. He was dressed in strange garments. Where they didn't cover his form, she noticed bare skin with only the slightest suggestion of a coat of fur. Its forelimbs ended not in hooves, but in strange spider-like appendages consisting of a central appendage and five smaller appendages spreading out from it. Aside from that, she couldn't make out any other particular details of the creature in this low light. And then...it spoke. "Well, this is unexpected." "Hmm. Shut shut shut shut. It is repeated four times...oops, five times. Let's see...Shut shut shut shut shut. There we go." The young, red-haired man finished his work drawing the circle with blood. He had had difficulty the other times he had tried this. The other times, his attempts to get a perfect circle had resulted in him running out of blood before he could finish. Therefore, this time, he decided to kill a little extra to make sure that he had enough. Standing back, Uryu Ryunosuke admired his handiwork. Turning, he smiled as he surveyed the living room. It had been easy to sneak into the house and murder three people in their sleep. But there were four people in the house, which was perfect, as he wanted at least one other person alive. His eyes came to rest on the television in the living room, which he had turned on to kill his boredom while he worked on the tedious task of drawing the circle. An amused grin came across his face as he saw that the news was talking about him again. The infamous Fuyuki City Serial Killer. Ryunosuke had to keep himself from chuckling as he thought about that. Continuing his survey of the room, his eyes settled on the sole other living occupant. A small, grade-school aged by lay in the corner, bound and gagged. The perfect offering. Smiling, Ryunosuke made his way over to the boy. "Hey, do you believe in demons?" The boy didn't answer, couldn't answer, as he was gagged. That suited Ryunosuke just fine. "You know, the people on the news keep calling me a demon, but that's kind of silly. I mean, a stick of dynamite could kill more people at one time than I could." He paused and tilted his head slightly before returning to his usual grinning self. "Nah, that's all right. I don't actually mind being called a demon." Lunging forward suddenly, he put his grinning face mere inches from that of the terrified child. "'Sup? I'm Uryu Ryunosuke and I'm a demon. How's that for an introduction?" Standing back up, Ryunosuke continued to beam down at the child. "I'm trying to find out if demons are real or not. Anyway, if this works and a real demon comes out of that thing..." Ryunosuke lifted his hand in a gesture of supplication, as though he were asking a favor of a good friend. "...Let him eat you, okay." Naturally, this did not go over well with the child. Even with the gag over his mouth, he shrieked with all his strength and struggled against his bonds. It was futile, of course, but his mind was driven by little more than pure panic. Meanwhile, Ryunosuke was dancing around with glee. "I wonder how a demon would kill. What would it be like? Oh this is gonna be so cool!...Ow!" The pain flaring up from Ryunosuke's hand prompted him to look down. He saw the formation of a strange pattern on the back of his hand. At the same time, he felt something cold slip between his ribs. "Eh?" "If you're so eager to meet a demon, then why don't you go to Hell and see for yourself whether they exist or not." The strange voice barely registered to Ryunosuke. Right now, his attention was taken up by a simple knife, one that might be found in any kitchen and was probably plucked from the kitchen of this very house, that had been thrust through his ribs and straight into his heart. The burning feeling on his hand subsided and the pattern faded, as did all other feelings. "Huh?" The confused serial killer toppled over. The child's wide eyes gazed up at the figure in a mix of confusion and terror. The man standing over him was considerably older than Ryunosuke. His wavy hair would have been dark brown, had the lights been on. Dressed in simple clothes, he was the kind of person who would be unnoticed walking along the street. He looked down at the boy with disinterested eyes. "Seems you got lucky," the man observed blandly. He knelt down. The child tried to recoil but was unable to. The man reached out and slowly began to undo the child's bonds. "Are you able to stand?" The confused boy nodded and slowly got to his feet. The man nodded down at him. "Wait for a moment and I'll call the police." The man moved to reach for the phone but stopped short as a burning pain flared up from the out reaching hand. "What? No! Why?" Looking down, he saw a pattern burning itself onto the back of his hand, looking like a simply drawn eye. "Is it because I interrupted the summoning?" The man turned to regard the circle, just in time to see it flair with light. A gust of wind swept the room, knocking over objects and knocking loose the television, causing it to turn off. The boy recoiled from the sight in fear while the man looked on, his face colored by a mixture of confusion, curiosity and despair. The sound of something heavy dropping on the floor echoed through the room. For a moment, a cloud of steam and mist filled the air, obscuring what had appeared in the circle. His curiosity overcoming him, the man stepped closer to the circle and looked through the steam to try and get a glimpse of what had appeared, while the boy cowered as far away as he could. Finally, the clouds cleared enough to reveal that in the center of the circle was...a small, purple pony? The pony (it looked maybe like some kind of unicorn) lifted its head up to gaze back up at the man. It's expression was much easier to read than any earthborn equine, easily revealing that the pony was just as confused as he was. For a moment, the two of them simply stared at each other. The man could only find one thing to say. "Well, this is unexpected. Welcome little one, to the Holy Grail War." And so begins my great crossover between MLP:FIM and Fate/Zero. May Celestia have mercy on my soul. This is more in the spirit of a preview than anything else that I decided to get off my chest. I probably won't be updating much at first as I want to get further along on my other story before I really get cracking on this one. Also, I still need to map put the plot of this story a little more. I know how I want it to end, but I'm still working on how to get there. This is mainly because Twilight is, of course, replacing the original Fate/Zero Caster, who was the main source of conflict for the better part of the series. I have some idea. Of what I want to do, but like I said, working out the details is gonna take some time. So I hope that this whets your appetite and you can all hold on long enough for me to put sme work into figuring this out. Enjoy.