Week One

The Princess and The Servant

Part Two

[Rooftop]

Trying to keep a low profile isn’t working when you’re walking through a school as a mythical pony. The humans here kept on staring at me as Saber and I made our way to the rooftop. I mean, I guess I can see why they would be interested in getting to know me. But given the fact that I’m in a war and information is key from what Saber told me, I have to be careful when it comes to giving out answers to certain questions they ask me if I end up having a conversation with them later on. But for now I’ll just enjoy my food, and see if I can get some of my questions answered.

Sakura said that this SE.RA.PH. thing was the reason why my memories haven’t come back yet. Maybe I can ask Saber who SE.RA.PH. is and see if she could help me with this issue?

“Saber, do you know what SE.RA.PH. is?” I asked as she made herself visible next to me.

“SE.RA.PH. is….well, it’s an artificial environment within the Moon Cell we’re in right now.” Saber said as she pointed at the sky. “SE.RA.PH. is pretty much responsible for the summoning of Servants during the Holy Grail War we’re in. It also restrict the exit until the tournament participants are reduced to one, as per the Moon Cell’s rules.” She said, scratching the back of her head in annoyance. “I’m not good when it comes to stuff like this. I mean I know bits and pieces of it. But when it comes to going into great detail like that is not my strong suit to be honest. If you want to know more about SE.RA.PH. and the whole Moon Cell Grail stuff, the library is a good place to start for researching stuff.”

“Okay, I guess that’s a good place to start. Thanks Saber.” With that, she disappears into bits of….something as I open the door to the rooftop. Once I was there, I notice a girl with black pigtails wearing a red long sleeve shirt with a white cross on the front, a black skirt, and a pair of long black shoes.

“I’ve investigated this school from top to bottom, but there’s nothing unique about it.” The girl said, murmuring something to herself as she patted the walls and floors of the rooftop. I continued to watch her in both confusion and interest. Is she trying to find something that she lost? No, then she wouldn’t be patting the walls or floor for a lost item. I was about to take a step forwards, only for the sudden realization to hit me. I’m in the Holy Grail War. As such, everyone is my enemy now. Like the laws of nature itself. It’s kill or be killed. I have to acknowledge that as the truth, no matter how hard I don’t want to. “Huh? Hey you over there.”

“Y-Yes?” Her eyes soften as she looks at me as she walked up towards me.

“Yeah, you. Hmm, I haven’t checked the NPCs out much yet.” She said before looking at me up and down as I notice a grin on her face appearing. “Aha, I know a simple way. Don’t you move.” Unexpectedly, her fingers reach out and touch my cheek. To my surprise her fingers felt so soft and delicate. I never knew that humans can feel like this before, especially from a girl that look like she could knock somepony out if you cross her bad side. “Imagine that. You’re warm and surprisingly soft, though you shouldn’t be.” She said before I felt myself blushing a bit from that comment for some reason. “Huh? That’s weird, seeing a red cheek flush like that…”

Her face is just three centimeters from the tip of my nose. I could feel my heart racing from the closeness. Her breath exhales warmly against my cheek and her hair tickles my bare neck. Her pat-down of my shoulders and stomach seems playful compared to her harsh gaze from earlier. Transfixed by this, I’m unable to move as her pale fingers slide over me.I tried to pull myself away from her...but...those eyes….those strong yet scary eyes she had prevented me from doing so...why do they remind me of somepony I know….but who?

“Interesting. You’re more well-built than I had expected. You look and feel real given how you look like something from out a anime show or manga. Maybe more real than most people.” She said before looking behind herself, scowling. “Hey, what are you laughing at? It’s to our advantage to look into everything, even the NPCs.” Given how she’s talking to someone behind like she can see then, I’m gonna guess that she has a Servant with her and is talking with her. “Huh? She’s a Master too? No...A Master should be more...W-Wait. That means when I felt up-” She must be thinking about it now, because she’s blushing. As am I. Doesn’t really help that Saber is busting out laughing from all this which made me blush even harder.

“Um...yeah…um.” I said as Saber laughed even harder before holding her stomach to our reaction to one another.

“Ugh, how embarrassing.” She said before turning back to her Servant. “Shut up! I can make mistakes too, you know! Don’t call me a pervert!” I’m pretty sure she was addressing an off-color comment coming from her servant just now. “It could have been my imagination. Or a hacker-such a detailed NPC would rarely exist otherwise.” She said before turning her attention back at me. “Anyway, you’re to blame for looking like something out of the ordinary! How can a horse like you become a master?”

“Okay, I take offense to being called a horse. I’m a pony. PONY.” I said pointing at my ears, tail, hooves, and other pony like features that I have. “Also, how is it my fault that you couldn’t tell the difference between a pony and a NPC...speaking of. What is a NPC?”

“It’s short for none playable characters. Think of them as AI, some of them do give you stuff if you help by giving them stuff from time to time.” Saber said as she whispered it into my ear.

“I-I don’t know, it just is!” The girl said before point a finger at my face. “I mean, look at yourself. A black shirt, navy blue colored jean, and black lines under your eyes. I mean really. Were the prelims too boring to jog your memories?” I flinched a bit from that remark as I look down at the ground and gripping my arm before shaking my head to her question. “Uh...No way. Your memories still haven’t returned? That’s...really not good. Once you enter the Holy Grail War, the only way out is to win. Leaving prematurely isn’t allowed. Even without memories, or previous battle experience, you still have to fight.” She said before looking at me again as she shrugs. “Oh well. It doesn’t matter. You’ll be defeated in the Holy Grail War soon enough.”

As the concern disappears from her voice, I glimpse at this girl’s true self, my opponent in the Holy Grail War. I know it isn’t personal. She might considers everyone in the war her enemy depending on who they are. Before I can say anything, I felt Saber appearing behind me as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

“As expected from Rin Tousaka. Though she does piques my interest. She will be an interesting foe, should we have to fight her in the tournament.”

“How did you know her name?” I asked as I made my way to the other side of the roof away from Rin.

“I overheard some of the students talking about about how they find Rin so pretty and beautiful. Personally I don’t see the appeal to what they’re talking about. But given the features that they were talking about, I can see why a lot of people find her attractive. Even you when she felt you up like that find her attractive~”

“T-That’s a lie and you know it you jerk!” I yelled before covering my mouth to how loud I was. I quickly looked over at Rin to see if she heard me. To my surprise, she appears to not have heard me when I said that. I sighed in relief before looking over at Saber with a glare as she snickered.

“Oh relax egghead. I’m just messing with you.” She said before patting me on the head. “But in all seriousness. What she said were fighting words. When we meet her in battle, I will give my answer to her and her Servant.” Unlike my Servant, I have no witty response to my future rival. Now that I know what’s at stake. I have to win.

“Well...I guess I pity you. We’re not cracking into the system and destroying it, we’re hacking. I don’t know what’s on the other side of the SE.RA.PH’s wall once it goes down. Didi your soul get jarred after you made it to the main event? If it’s lost or unreadable, then how about you investigate later?” Rin said before shaking her head and sighs. “Well, in any case, you don’t look like you’re cut out for fighting. Even if you are some kind of mythical beast from a child’s story book, having no memories will not excuse you from fighting in the war.”

So I have lost my memories. Who am I? What’s my story? What am I even doing in this Holy Grail War in the first place? All I know is that I’m a Master, with a Servant at my command. With a sigh I decided to make my way to the otherside of the roof, leaving Rin to what she was doing, to eat in peace.

[Evening]

During the morning and midday of school. I spent most of my time brushing up on some culture stuff in the library. Despite having the feeling of some of the student’s secretly looking at me from either behind their books or the bookshelves, I felt a bit relaxed and comfortable within that library. It did sorta help me try not to let the fact of the holy grail war get to me, but that still didn’t help me to remember who I was. With that in mind, I decided to find this Father Kotomine that the teacher suggest I go see if I need to know what to do next. What was her name again? I know she gets angry when you call her a tiger and try to bit your head off both figuretivly and literally the way her name was pronounced was weird. While walking down the hallway lost in my thoughts of how to pronounce the teacher’s name, I accidentally bumped into somepony as I was brought back from my train of thought. Looking up as see a man with brown short hair who was wearing a uniform that was close to a pastor of a thing the humans called a church.

“Congratulations. You have been deemed worthy to be a participant in the Holy Grail War.” The man said as he bowed to me. “You may call me Father Kotomine. I am an NPC assigned the task of supervising the Holy Grail War. As of today you and your fellow magi have been given the honor of fighting in the Arena up ahead.”

“Arena?”

“This war is run as an elimination tournament, with the Grail being awarded to the Last person standing. In other words, the participating Masters will kill each other until there is only one person left. Simple enough to understand, yes? Even a complete idiot should be able to understand the rules.” He said before chuckling a bit. “Masters get a six day preparation period before Elimination Battles, which occur on the seventh day. I’d advise you to use the time given to devise the most efficient means of slaughtering your foe. On the seventh day, you and your foe will fight. The winner lives, and the loser is...deleted.“ By deleted he means dead...I’m really hoping that the Master I’m fighting doesn’t make it on the seventh day. I….just don’t think I can go through killing somepony. “If you wish to make a query, speak now. The right to ask about the rules is given to all.”

“Who will be my first opponent in the first round?” Might as well ask seeing how Kotomine is offering to answer my question.

“You have not yet been informed of your first round opponent?” He asked as I nodded. “Hmm...Wait just a moment…” he said before pulling up a digital screen and began to type on it. “...Strange. There seems to be a system error. I will locate your opponent by tomorrow.” Darn, guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get my answer. Just as I was about to leave, I heard Kotomine telling me to stop as I turned around to face him “One last thing before you go. Masters that continue to advance will be given a private room.” He said before handing a card with the letter PR on it. “Your room will be located in classroom 2-B. Please use this card and enter it into your terminal so that you can access your room.”

I nodded as I entered the numbers on the card into my portable terminal. A chime went off as I did so as the card that I was holding disappeared.

“Well, the time for conversation has come to an end. The door at the end of the hallway behind you will lead you to the Arena. For today, concentrate on becoming accustomed to the inner workings of the Arena. Good luck.” With that, Kotomine makes his leave as my Servant makes herself visible for me to see her.

“Haha! Finally! I get to bust some heads in the arena!” Saber said with a grin on her face while cracking her knuckles. “It’s been a while since I got the chance to test out my skills in this place.”

“You’re saying that like you've been in a Holy Grail War before.” I said as her grin widens even more. Judging by the expression on her face, I’m gonna assume that she has. “You have haven’t you?”

“Maybe, maybe not. Like I said about my name, that also applies to other information about me history wise.” She said before I saw a helmet begin to form around her head piece by piece. “Now come on. Let’s go to the arena and see what it looks like.” With a sigh, my Servant disappeared in a flash and I began to make my way over to the arena.

Arena Level 04
First Chimieric Lunar Sea

[Greed and Lust combine to burst into Brilliance. And lead onward to the sepulcher of the sea.]

Word cannot describe how I felt when Saber and I entered into the Arena. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This place looks like we’re inside a video game from what I read in the library. The weird glowing circuit lines on the walls of this place, the solid visible see through floors and walls, my word this place is amazing...Why am I so excited about seeing something like this is beyond my understanding, but who cares. This place is amazing!

“The Arena is where we are allowed to do battle whenever we feel the need to fight and train. Enemy Programs created by the SE.RA.PH roam the Arena, but don’t worry about them. You have me by your side to deal with them...so long as you stay close to me that is. Otherwise we’re fucked if you die.” Thanks for the boost of confidence Saber. You always have just the right things to say. “Since this will be your first time in battle, let’s just deal with the square looking enemies here today.”

“You sure you’ll be able to handle them?” I don’t doubt that Saber can’t handle herself, but I prefer not to have her overconfidence get the better of her in battle. Faust knows that would lead to us getting killed...wait a minute...Why did I say that name?

“Pfft, as if I don’t know what I’m doing. Compared to you, I’m more likely to survive then you would.” She said as I deadpan at her for that comment. “Relax, I told you before that I’ll protect you didn’t I? Have a little bit of faith in me would you?”

“It’s kinda hard to do that when you keep saying sly remarks like that. But I guess I have no choice in the matter seeing how I’m stuck in this place until we can win this war.” I said as I felt her pat me on the back, which caused me to stumble forwards a bit. Geez, for a girl she sure does have a lot of strength to back up the class of Servant she is.

“That’s the spirit Master!” She said before taking the lead and motions me to follow her. “Now watch as I show you just how strong I am!” As we continued to make our way through the beginning part of the Arena, I saw what appears to be three cube like enemies stretching themselves like a spring floating around blocking our path.

“So that’s one of the enemies in the arena? It looks kinda cute to be honest.” I won’t deny that it does look kinda cute with it’s moving around like that. Makes me wonder if I can get one as a pet?

“Of course you would say that.” Saber said as she summoned her sword into her hand as it gives off sparks of red energy like electricity. Before I could give her a command or order, Saber vanished from my sight before bolting off towards the enemy. Once she was close to one of the cubes, she lifted up her sword and brought it down onto it as it soon bounced off the ground and sent it flying into the arena wall. The cube soon fell to the ground as the crack in the arena wall patched itself up.

“One down, two to go.” Saber said as she quickly avoided the second cube coming at her in a spinning motion. She tried to attack the metallic like string part that kept the cube together, but her sword soon bounced off it as she staggers backwards a bit from the recoil. “Tsh, seriously? Talk about making things difficult in this place.” She said before the third cube tried to attack her with a spring jump like attack, only for Saber to knock it back with her sword and counters with a vertical slash to its frame. As the hit landed onto the third cube, it soon split into two before disappearing into nothingness.

All I could do was stare and do nothing as I watch Saber fight the cube monsters on her own. I’m at a lost for words with what I’m seeing. I mean I kinda assumed that Saber was good, but I didn’t think she was this good. As I was watching Saber fight, I notice the cube that she sent flying into the wall pick itself up and quickly spin toward Saber from behind.

“Look out behind you!” I yelled which, hoping that would get her attention and caused her to move...but that didn’t turn out so well as she was hit from behind by the cube and sent tumbling forwards a bit. She quickly recovered from the tumble before turning around and tossing her sword at the cube’s box like head. Once the sword was impaled into the cube’s head, Saber quickly lunge herself towards it as she punched the pummel of the down causing the sword to cut through the cube’s body.

“Bastard! You thought something like that would hurt me!?” She yelled as she heard the second cube coming at her. She gritted her teeth upon hearing that noise as she balled up her fist, and delivered a strong powerful punch to the cube’s frame causing it to burst into black bits of….whatever it was made of before disappearing into nothingness. Saber took in a deep breath before her helmet came off once she exhaled. When her helmet was off, I noticed a trail of blood going down her head as I quickly rushed over to her.

“Are you okay?” I asked as she simply nodded.

“Yeah I’m fine.” She said before wiping the blood away from her forehead and looked at me with the same cocky smile on her face. “I was not expecting this place to reduce my strength to that of a weakling. Guess you were kinda right about me being careful?” She said before scratching the back of her head. “Dammit, how embarrassing.” Huh, this is a side I would never expect her to have….humility with oneself when their overconfidence gets the better of her...why do I get the notion that I learned it from somewhere or somepony.

“Is there a way to patch up that head injury?” I asked before noticing it healing by itself. “Oh...um...never mind.”

“Small wounds like that are nothing to worry about. Though we do need to stop by the store so you can get some healing items for when I do get seriously injured during battle.” She’s right about that. In my absent mindedness, I forgot to ask the girl behind the counter if I could get some items of healing for Saber. When we go back to the school, I’ll be sure to stock up on some supplies before we come back here to the Arena tomorrow.

“Y-You’re right....sorry for not getting some when we had the chance.” I said as I lowered my head in shame, only to feel her hand rub the top part of my head.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just explore this area a bit before we head back.” Saber said as I nodded in agreement with her. “We should be able to find some treasure around here if we look really hard. That and most of them might be protected by enemy programs so that will help in me getting stronger.”

“This place has treasure?” I asked as Saber shrugs. “You know you could always say yes or no you know?”

“I know. But seeing how you understand most of what I’m saying, I figured you’d do okay with how I respond to most of your questions.” She said before taking the lead again through the arena. I simply rolled my eyes before following after her while keeping an eye out for any enemies nears us.

Night

After a few hours in the Arena, we decided to make our way back to our private room given to us by Father Kotomine. Once we entered into the room, I was kinda disappointed at the fact that there wasn’t much in here bed wise. In a fit of inspiration, I decided to use the desk to make somewhat makeshift beds for us by pushing the desk around with Saber’s help.

“I hate to tell you this egghead, but I gotta say this. While we were in the Arena, I found I couldn’t access my full power. Mostly because of your deficiencies, I’m unable to fight to how I was during my time I was alive.”

“I kinda figured it'd be the case...I mean I’m still trying to get the hang of this war fighting thing. Sorry for not being that helpful to you.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. As time goes by, we’ll get stronger and stronger together. Having my original abilities available for use isn’t important. There’s is no shame in being a novice; in fact, the possibilities of what you may become kinda excites me a bit.”

“You have a lot of confidence in me?” I asked as she nodded and gave me a thumbs up.

“Tomorrow we’ll make another effort in the Arena, and we’ll improve together little by little.” She said before walking over to the closet of the room and tossing me a blanket and pillow perfectly right beside me. “It’s a trivial matter. As long as you have me, we’ll keep going.”

She’s right about that. Today was just the stepping stones to lay the foundation of my goal. Tomorrow will be when I’ll have to take things seriously once I know who I’m fighting against. I can’t afford to buckle under the pressure of killing somepony. I have to know who I am and I won’t stop until I get this question answered. Even if it means I have to kill them in order to exit the Holy Grail War. I looked over at Saber with a nod as she could see the determination in my eyes. Her smile soon turned into a grin as she nods.

“That’s the spirit pony girl. Now get some rest. Tomorrow is gonna be a whole lot busy.” She said before leaning against the wall with her helmet on. I blinked in confusion as to why she was over there, but I simply shrugged and reached for the pillow and blanket. Once I placed them in the appropriate place on the desk, I quickly wrapped myself in the blanket as tiredness took over and caused me to fall asleep.

Author's Note

Matrix Status:

HP: 400/400
MP: 120/120

Strength: 20
Defense: 20
Agility: 15
Magic: 13
Luck: 15

Class: Saber
TRUE NAME: Unknown
NOBLE PHANTASM: Unknown
KEY WORD: Clarent: Radiant and Brilliant Royal Sword

Strength: (E) Defense: (E) Agility: (E) Magic: (E) Luck: (E)

Anti-Magic: (B) ???: (?) Mana Burst: (A)

Database

01: Unknown

02: Clarent: Radiant and Brilliant Royal Sword: (C)

The sword denoting the right of succession of the throne that was stored in King Arthur's armory. It is described as "more dazzling than any silver, and is a treasured sword with worth excelling or at least not inferior to "The Golden Sword of Promised Victory." Because Mordred stole the sword without acknowledgement, the rank is lower than the original.

03: Secret of Pedigree: Helm of Hidden Infidelity: (C)

The helmet her mother Morgan gave to her along with the words "You must not remove." Within the Status, personal skills, Noble Phantasm and anything connected to the True Name is masked. However when Clarent: Radiant and Brilliant Royal Sword is released, the helmet must be removed.

Database 2:

01: Anti-Magic: (B)
Cancel spells with a chant below three verses. Even if targeted by High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals, it is difficult for her to be affected.

02: Unknown

03: Mana Burst: (A)
Weapons and body are infused with magical energy, this instantaneous release elevates ability. In other words, magical energy as jet propulsion. With this is able to fight equally with the King of Knights.

Master's Status:
Name: Twilight Sparkle
Age: Looks to be 18, actual age is unknown
Gender: Female
Species: Alicorn

Mastery Level: 3
Equipment: None

Command Seals: 3

Magic Level: Unknown