Chapter 1: Intro
This is a story in which the bonds of friendship are torn asunder. The moral of the story is that the cost to open a portal to Equestria is simply too much for any brony.
After the fifth Holy Grail war it was thought that that Holy Grail had been dismantled for good, but little did anyone know that due to the meteoric rise in popularity of a certain little girls cartoon, the Grail would persist, but would move to a new location. This new grail is more limited than the Holy Grail of Fuyuki, however. Instead of any wish, it can only grant one: to let one person be transported to Equestria to live out the rest of their days in friendship and harmony. And no longer was the Grail connected to the heroes of the world. Instead, the Grail could only summon 7 ponies, and only once. There would be no Seventh Holy Grail War.
Truly the Grail is more limited in scope now. But the passions of bronies are more than enough to fill the Grail in pursuit of that one wish.
***
In the city of Vancouver, Leth stood up from his work. On the floor of his hotel room he finished painting the summoning circle. Several weeks prior, hundreds of bronies the world over had dreamt the instructions to draw the circle, and the incantation to summon the pony most aligned to themselves. Then, for the rest of the night, those bronies had dreamt of slaughter and blood and murder; brutal nightmares detailing the battle royale necessary to grant every brony's one wish: to live in Equestria.
Most bronies couldn't stomach the brutality of their dreams, and so had not traveled to Vancouver to seek their fortunes. Some, though, had posted their dream online and inspired the braver bronies to travel to Vancouver to risk their lives in pursuit of the Dream. Leth had been one of those who read of the Dream online.
Leth pondered just what the fuck he was doing for a minute, gazing at the arcs and lines of the summoning circle. He'd left his cozy basement to come to this foreign land in pursuit of an impossible dream, one that more than likely couldn't be fulfilled anyway. After seeing it spammed on 4chan's /mlp/ board for weeks, he had finally read about the Dream and was unable to get it out of his mind since. The allure was simply too great to pass up. But...
Putting that out of his mind, he girded his loins and prepared for the incantation. He checked the time and was sure to account for Daylight Savings Time. As the clock reached exactly midnight, he began to speak the new words of power that would summon his Servant for the upcoming battle. That is, if this wasn't some stupid meme hoax.
For just a moment, as he sang the song of summoning, he thought he could smell fresh spring air...
(song)
MY LITTLE PONY
DA DADADA DA DA
MY LITTLE PONY
FRRIIEEENNDDDDD
And then the power went out in the whole hotel. "Shit" swore Leth. "Can't see anything. Where's the window..." As he moved toward the window he managed to take one step before bumping into something soft at waist height.
"Oof. What..." Before Leth could finish his thought the hotel's power came back on. Good old Canadian engineering. And suddenly he was looking down into a quiet yellow pony's eyes.
"Are... you my master?" She broke his gaze as she said this, mumbling at the end. Leth stared at her for a full minute, before remembering to breathe. The whole time she just looked at the floor, occasionally sneaking peaks at the strapping young man towering over her.
"Ah, I guess. I didn't think that would actually work." Leth took a step back and sat on the bed, causing the springs to squeak a bit. Things were now suddenly much more complicated than explaining to the hotel manager why he'd felt the need to paint on the hotel room floor. There were secrets to keep, and a war to win.
"Master." The yellow pegasus gathered her nerve and forced herself to look Leth in the eye. "My name is Saber. And I'll be fighting for you in this Holy Grail War."
"Yeah, yeah I know." Leth sighed. "So you say your name is Saber?" He had to be sure. If she knew, if she knew what she would be doing over the next two weeks, he was prepared to drop out of the War right now and pretend nothing had happened.
"Yes, you can call me Saber. I've been summoned to fight in the Holy Grail War as the Saber class Servant. I don't currently remember my life outside the War, but I've been promised that my wish will be fulfilled if I win."
Again, Leth sighed. "Alright then. Saber. You can take the bed for tonight and I'll just sleep in the chair." He got up, walked past Saber, and sat down in the chair.
"Oh, Master, you don't have to do that, I can just sleep on the floor. Or even better, I should secure the hotel in case there are other Servants nearby."
"Don't worry about it, F- Saber. Nothing's going to happen tonight. Just, take the bed. I have some thinking to do."
Saber reluctantly hopped onto the bed, uncomfortable with the idea of forcing her Master to spend the night in the chair, yet unwilling to contradict his wishes. She settled in for the night, pulling the covers over her flank with her teeth. “Goodnight, my Master” she said as Leth reached over to turn off the lights.
“Goodnight... Saber”
***
On the other side of the city !SMILe stood on the rooftop, gazing out at the lights of the city spread before him. Although his face was covered in shadow, one could just make out a smirk on his handsome face. He bent down and put the finishing touches on his own summoning circle. As he did, he missed the lights of one hotel flicker out.
“Yes...” !SMILe muttered as he straightened his back, turning away from the circle and towards the city. “Time to smile smile smile...”
He took a deep breath and
MY LITTLE PONY
DA DADADA DA DA
MY LITTLE PONY
FRRIIEEENNDDDDD
The song of summoning echoed over the city, fading into the normal noises of Vancouver. As the last echoes died, !SMILe heard a snicker behind him.
“Hahaha, are you my Master?”
He turned to look at the bouncing pink pony before him. She could barely contain her energy as she bounced up and down inside the summoning circle.
!SMILe smiled at that. “Yeah, I guess I am. And you are?”
“I'm Archer. Let's get this party started!”
Peals of laughter echoed over the city as Master and Servant formally sealed their contract.
***
“No, Master, please! Stop!”
There was nowhere left to back away to for the white pony as her back bumped against the wall. She flinched at her master's rage.
“RIDER! How could you be RIDER! That is the LAST Servant I wanted to summon! Why are YOU Rider?!” The angry man continued to throw anything in his reach about the room. Chairs, boxes of DVDs, figurines, anything he was strong enough to lift.
She yelped as the corner of a book hit her in the head. She was more confused and scared than worried for her physical well-being. After introducing herself to her Master and revealing her class for the upcoming Grail War, her Master had flown into a rage.
“You've ruined EVERYTHING! I'll never win the Grail with RIDER. I'll be lucky if you don't get me killed! Dammit!”
The poor Servant started to shiver as her Master burned through his rage. It would be a long Grail War for Rider.
Chapter 2: Morning of the first day
Chapter 2: Morning of the first day
Chapter 2
“Uh, uhm... Master, I- it's uhm, the sun's, that is, it's morning, I think”
Leth slowly opened his eyes. He was still in the chair from the night before, but now there was a yellow pony looking up at him expectantly. She looked down once she saw that he was awake.
“Oh, you're awake, I'm sorry, I hope you got enough sleep.” She continued to stutter her way through the morning's greetings, too shy to look Leth in the eye.
“Yeah, I got enough.” Leth stretched as he stood up, and looked out the window. The sun was just barely rising, drawing long shadows on the ground from the Vancouver buildings. “Lets take a walk.”
Saber flipped her pink mane to the other side of her head as she followed Leth out of the hotel. They made their way down the street in the cool Canadian air, appreciating the freedoms that simply didn't exist down south. In what other nation could a young man walk in the open, followed by a yellow pony with pink hair and-
“Ah, F- I mean, Saber?”
“Uhm, yes?”
“Are you wearing armor?”
The sound of clinking metal was unmistakeable as Saber clop clop'd down the boulevard. And yet, the native Vancouverians didn't give her a second glance. They must have assumed it was just another cosplayer heading to a brony meetup. Leth wasn't surprised nobody was making eye contact with them this morning. Saber was wearing a kind of metal breastplate with a metallish skirt thing to cover her haunches. And on her head was a spanish conquistador helmet made of the same material.
Saber stopped trotting behind Leth, who walked on for a few more steps before he realized. He turned to look at her.
“Master, I'm Saber, the Servant who fights with swords. Now that we're walking around, I'm wearing my armor in case we're attacked at a moment's notice. There is a war on you know.”
“Doesn't that helmet mess up your hair, though? I'm pretty sure nobody's going to attack us in the daylight.”
“Uhm, yes, it does mess up my hair a bit, but it's better to have maximum protection even so.”
Leth continued walking, and Saber followed. Leth now knew where he was headed, whereas before he was just walking for the sake of getting out of the hotel before the manager found his summoning circle.
“So, Saber, how do you even fight with a sword? You, uh, don't have hands.”
Saber lifted a hoof to her face in that way only cartoon ponies can. “Ah, yeah, it's a little hard. I actually don't like fighting, partly because of how hard it is to swing a sword held between my teeth. My friend Lyra used to talk about different ways of holding swords all the time-”
“Lyra? Who's that?”
“She, uh, huh? Who?”
“Lyra. You just mentioned someone by that name.”
Saber looked confused for a minute, then responded “Uh, I don't know anyone named Lyra. Anyway, the trick to using a sword is...”
Saber is surprisingly open about her role as a Servant. But, as the dream explained, that's to be expected. Saber is Saber. Currently, for as long as she can remember she's been a swordspony.
For a few minutes she explained the finer points of swordplay until Leth suddenly stopped in front of a Toys R Us. She bumped into his back, booping him with her nose. Leth looked over his shoulder at an angle that would make the animators at Shaft jealous.
“I'll be right back, you just wait here. And before you say anything, I'll just be a minute so you don't need to protect me in the store.”
Saber swallowed her planned protest and sat heavily in front of the store. “Then I shall wait here, my Master. Uhm, if that's okay with you.”
Leth turned to walk into the store before Saber could see his grin. She had been so close to sounding serious and noble before her innate shyness shone through again. It just made his heart flutter to see her so shy when she was likely the strongest fighter in a five block radius.
Saber waited outside, trying to stay out of shoppers' way as they headed in and out of the store. A few kids came up and tried to pet her before their parents shooed them away from “another one of those bronies”.
Tears started to well up in her eyes at this. Sure, she was wearing armor and mentally prepared to fight to the death at a moment's notice for her Master, but she didn't understand why parents would try to keep their children from her. She made up her mind to find out what a brony was from her Master once he got back.
Leth came out of the store carrying a bag to find Saber sniffing back tears in a corner near some shopping carts. He walked over a bit faster than he had been.
“Saber, are you okay?”
“sniff Yeah, sniff, I'm okay. I just, uh, nevermind...”
She shook her head and got up to follow Leth again. “Where are we headed now?”
Leth found it interesting that she didn't even ask what he was doing at a toy store of all places. She must really trust me, he thought.
“Let's head out of town for a bit”
About half an hour later Saber and Leth were heading into a Canadian forest, full of maple trees and Mounties. Soon they came to a meadow near a pond and settled down for a rest.
Leth sat crosslegged in the grass and motioned for Saber to sit next to him. She did so, putting her head at about his shoulder's height and just within reach. He pulled a giant pink brush from his bag, startling the yellow pony.
“Take off your hat”
“Uhm, like I said, the hat is protection in case-”
“Saber.”
“Uh, uhm, yes?”
“Take off your hat. And put your head here.” Leth patted his thigh.
Saber made a few unintelligible noises before doffing her helmet and resting her chin on Leth's knee. Leth could see that the helmet had caused her hair to form all kinds of knots. For the next hour or so Leth just brushed through Saber's pink mane, trying not to pull too hard and make her squeak.
“Saber”
“Yes, Master?”
“Saber, you can call me Leth.”
“Oh, uhm, are you sure? I'm sure you only let your friends call you by your first name like that.”
Leth let that odd statement pass uncommented. The Holy Grail must still have a bit of Japanese influence left.
“Uh, yeah, well, we're friends, right? So just call me Leth, Saber.”
“Okay, Mas- uh, Leth.”
“Anyway, do you mind if I braid your main? That way your hat won't mess up your hair anymore.”
Saber looked up at Leth, their faces about a foot apart. Her eyes sparkled and she broke into a smile. “Oh, thank you Leth! That would be much better! It's been so hard to take care of my mane since...”
At this Saber trailed off, a blank look on her face.
“Since what,” Leth prompted
“Since what what?” Saber looked at him quizzically.
“You just, uh, nevermind,” Leth started to weave Saber's mane into braids and let the conversation peter out into the silence of the meadow. Eventually Saber dozed off in Leth's lap and he sat there, looking down at his little pony.
“She really can't remember, huh.” Leth muttered.
Suddenly, Saber's head shot up and she had her helmet on faster than the eye could see.
“Master, get down!” She cried as she turned her head away from Leth, and sprung into the air as she drew a sword that hadn't been there a few moments ago.
CLANG
Her sword knocked aside an awkwardly thrust lance, burying it in the ground to Leth's side. Leth immediately dodgerolled away and headed into the forest, where the trees would limit the effectiveness of the lance. He barely missed a sweeping blow from the lance before he made it to the tree line.
“Aw darn it! I almost had you, get back here!” A blue pony with a rainbow mane and tail was tilting her head, trying to counterbalance the weight of the lance she held in her mouth. The newcomer spread her blue pegasus wings, about to lunge forward again, when Saber appeared in front of her, swinging down her sword at the blue pony's exposed neck.
WHOOSH
Saber's sword buried itself in the soft earth.
BOOM
The force of the strike sent earth flying everywhere and left a crater 5 feet deep. But the blue pony was unharmed and currently flying above the scene.
How did she get up there so fast thought Saber, whipping around to block the lance thrust. She hadn't seen the strike coming, it was so fast. Only her swordspony training had given her the wherewithal to expect the strike at her exposed back.
“Oh, you're good.” taunted the Rainbow pony as she dashed through the air to reach a comfortable altitude out of reach of Saber's... saber. “You must be Saber, then.”
“Yes...” Saber hesitated. “And, uhm, you must be Lancer, right?”
“THAT'S RIGHT!” bellowed Lancer, swinging the lance in a complicated motion around her still flying body. “I'm Lancer and I'm going to win the Grail for my Master!” She did a quick loop in the air, leaving a rainbow after image.
Leth watched this from behind a tree. The sheer speed and power of these ponies would have led many to collapse on the spot, but Leth was made of tougher stuff. He knew that as long as Saber was standing and he stayed in the dense trees, Lancer wouldn't be able to skewer him.
Well, at least it'd be harder for her. Leth moved back a few meters just in case.
“Uhm, no, you can't do that, you see, I'm going to win the Grail for Leth” mumbled Saber awkwardly.
“What? I can't hear you muttering way down there.” shouted Lancer, cocking an ear towards the armored battle pegasus still on the ground.
“I said, I'm going to win the Grail” Saber spoke a little louder this time, but still below normal speaking volume.
“Eh? What?” Lancer was looking annoyed now.
“I SAID I'M GOING TO WIN THE GRAIL FOR LETH” Saber shouted. Suddenly the forest, which had been peaceful before, fell dead silent. The only sounds were Lancer's wings flapping as Saber glared defiantly up at the blue pegasus.
“Oh, you think so huh? Have at you!”
A rainbow streaked towards the ground, seemingly appearing all at once completely formed. Almost before the Leth could process the image a shockwave blew through the meadow and into the forest.
CLANG
CRASH
SHING
The two pegasuses swung their weapons at each other dozens of times per second. Lancer thrust, searching for a weak spot in Saber's armor, while Saber swung at the, by comparison, lightly dressed Lancer. Lancer wore only a leather breastplate around her forelegs, to leave maximum maneuverability for her wings. Saber's armor left room for her wings as well, but would probably hinder her flying capabilities.
“Are you even trying?” taunted Lancer. “You'll never hit me if you keep swinging so slow.”
And it was true, all the sounds of their fight were made by Lancer striking Saber's armor or by Saber blocking the lance with her sword. She hadn't landed a singe blow in 4 seconds and 50 attempted strikes.
They continued this fighting for another 7 seconds before Lancer took a powerswing at Saber's face and Saber swung her sword as hard as she could at the oncoming lance. The force of their impact once again flattened the meadow with their shockwave and they both took advantage of the strike to spring back. Suddenly 15 meters separated the brightly colored Servants.
“Aw, you guys started the party without me!”
Leth froze. Not 3 meters away a bright pink pony was walking past him into the meadow. She winked at him as she started hopping once she left the trees.
“Come on everypony, I'm gonna make you SMILE!”
