Fate/Extra: Equestria

Week One

Powering Up

[Day Four]
Midday

Walking through campus before classes start, I can see various NPCs, who appear as busy students, among the Masters. Not only do the NPCs look slightly different, but their behavior seems a little...off. Maybe it’s their lack of a soul or them being nothing more than data created by this place. To them, this battle is just a string of data variables. Within a small group of gathered Masters, one of them stands out like a sore thumb. Mainly because of that bright orange he has on.

“Oh, it’s you. The one that I’ve been hearing about around the campus.” The boy said as he walked up to me. “I must say, it’s hard to imagine a phantasmal beast to be in the Holy Grail War. They usually remain myths of legends or part of a Servant’s phantasm. No offense to you or anything if I come off offensive.”

“None taken...I think?” I said as I looked at the boy with a raised eyebrow. “Not to be rude, but mind telling me who you are?” I asked as the boy reached for my hand.

"Leonardo B. Harwey. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you my fair lady.” Leo said as he kissed the back of my hand. I can feel my face burning bright red upon him doing that. My attention was soon drawn to a shadowy figure radiating the aura of strength as Leo’s was. The figure is clad in armor and armed with a sword. His aura marks him as his Servant from what I can guess. Leo took notice to me looking behind him as he turns his head to see who I was looking at “Oh, Gawain? Ah, how forgetful of me.” He said as he quickly looked back at me. “Gawain. Introduce yourself.”

“I am his servant, Gawain. I am pleased to meet you, and hope you will be a worthy foe.” As the armored figure nods in greeting, an enigmatic smile forms on his lips. He’s like the exemplar of knighthood and, though a Servant, has the same bearing as his Master...If only I had him as a Servant then Saber….but that’s a dream that’ll never happen anytime soon. Though this is a plus side for me in meeting them both. I’m sure Leo is aware of how much information he’s given me, but he seems unconcerned. It’s obvious that he chooses not to concern himself with much things as subtlety or tactics. I’m guessing for him, if something is destined to be revealed, so be it. From his point of view, his victory is all but assured; his superiority over others reinforced every day since he was born...Why do I have a weird feeling of anger towards this person.

“I must take my leave now. I hope to see you again. Please fight with honor and pride.” With a polite bow, Leo and his Servant turn and depart. Leaving me somewhat dumbfounded for the moment until a familiar voice appeared right next to me.

“Leo!? I knew one of the Harways would be here, but the scion of the family himself.” With that murmured comment, the murderous glare Rin shot at Leo was almost palpable. “The power of the Holy Grail...I guess the plutocrats of Europe see a threat in the SE.RA.PH. But still, to risk him...Oh well, what was borrowed on Earth will be repaid in Heaven...Things just got more interesting, although my powers as a magus are far superior to his!”

“I get the feeling that Leo person has little concern for those like us.” I said, I notice Rin not noticing me to her right. Guess she must be lost in thought and thinking of a way to plan out her attack if she has to fight him later on. Without so much as saying hi, the now fired-up Rin almost seems to stomp away. I should spend some time looking into Gawain’s background...Maybe Saber might know a little bit of him? I’ll ask her once class is over.

[Evening]

“Sorry Master, can’t tell you who Gawain is due to revealing who I am.” Saber said while we were making our way out of the classroom and into the hallway. I kinda figured as much to be honest. The less I know about my Servant, the harder it would be to trust her. But that also means that it’ll be harder to get information out of me seeing how I have little to go by, and I won’t accidentally slip out some information to my opponents. “That and I prefer to tell you when the time is right, and right now isn’t the right time.”

“I...guess that makes sense.”

“Though if it’ll help, I will tell you later on once I see how you do in this war that we’re in. Can’t have a weak master die in the first week of this war. That would suck and be pointless to tell you if that’s the case.”

“You’re not very good when it comes to rallying up ponies. You know that right?” I said as I felt her flick my nose. “Ow! Will you stop doing that!?”

“Stop using horse puns, ya nerd. It’s a bit annoying.”

“I am not going to do that.”

“Then I’ll just keep flicking your nose until you do~” She said as I simply glared at her for a moment until I heard a chuckle from the stairway. Leaning against the wall of it was Rin. Which kinda took me by surprise to see her standing there like that.

“How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to hear your conversation with your Servant. It’s always funny hearing you argue with your Servant. Makes me wonder how you two can stand each other to be honest.”

“It’s...complicated…” Complicated is an understatement if I’m being frank about it.

“I trust you’re doing well, all things considered?” Rin asked as I hesitantly nodded to her question. “You will never catch even a glimpse of victory if you insist on always running away.”

“Hey, we haven’t been running away from anypony!” I yelled as Rin raised an eyebrow at me.

“So you avoiding Shinji for the past two days isn’t you running away?”

“T-That’s so I can get more information on him. You can’t expect somepony to be ready to fight somepony on the spot like that.” I said as she stared at me more for a moment before shaking her head. I’m guessing it’s because of what I just said or something else that I don’t know.

“Running away won’t solve anything. However, facing a foe you know nothing about is lunacy. In this war, information is everything. To defeat your opponent, learn all you can about them. Their class, skills, even their history. The more info you have, the easier it will be to create a plan and predict your opponent’s actions.”

“Rin does make a valid point. We don’t want to go into battle without know what we are facing. That’s just begging for trouble in itself.” Saber whispered.

“You don’t think I know that? What do you think I’ve been doing during this time?”

“For now, why don’t you go to the library? There’s a treasure trove of information there.”

“Well we were going to go find information, but why are you telling me this?” I asked as a sly grin appeared on her face.

“No reason, really. I just have a feeling that you’ll somehow come out on top. Matou is an idiot, but he has won before. It’ll make things easier if he gets defeated early on. Anyway, do your best.” I might learn a few things about Shinji’s and Leo’s Servants. I’ll take her advice and go poke around the library for what I need...I just hope I can find more on them and not find the pages pulled out of them like before. As I made my way down the hall and to the entrance of the campus library, the door to the library opened as a unpleasantly familiar person was standing in front of me.

“Hey, look who the cat dragged in. I never expected to run into you~” Shinji said as I glared at him. “Oh, who am I kidding?! Ha ha, I’m just messing with you. The library is the best place to find info. A nerd like you is easy to read, so I expect you to go all out against me.”

“Believe me, I won’t hold anything back.”

“But enough about me. It looks like you’re having a hell of a time finding the book you want. Unfortunately for you, I’ve thoughtfully taken every book about my servant and hid them!” I can feel my left eye twitch upon hearing that as I took in a deep breath and glared at him more intensely.

“Is there a reason why you would do something like that?”

“I thought you’d have more fun this way. Especially after seeing your expression yesterday. Totally worth it. I hid everything somewhere in the Arena. I wonder if a weaksause Master like you will be able to find them. By the way, what does your Servant want in return for helping you? Money, right? I knew it!”

“What the hell are you talking about-”

“Do your best...while you still can. Hahahahahaha!” He said while cutting me off from my question. “Whelp, see you around. Good Luck. I hope you’ll put up a little more of a fight next time we meet in the Arena. You’re starting to bore me!” He said as he walked passed me down the hallway.

“Arrogant asshole.I am now even more tempted to run my blade through that squany little neck of his!” Saber said as she made herself visible to me.

“I was kinda hoping he hid them around campus, but to hide them in the Arena...hate to say it, but it was a smart move on his part.”

“You’re actually praising that weasel?”

“No, I’m just saying it was a smart move. But he also let slip some information about where they are. On purpose or not, we need to go there so we can get it before he changes his mind and moves them.”

“Agreed, let’s not waste any time and go there.” I nodded as I began to make my way to the Arena. Once I reached the first floor of the campus, a familiar fatherly voice caught me off guard from behind as I jumped a bit from that.

“Greeting my child, I heard you already have a cipher key...excellent. You’ll get the other one at this rate.” Kotomine said with a melancholy smile on his face. “The second floor is where you’ll find the secondary trigger.”

“The second floor is available?”

“Not yet, but you should get a message saying that the second floor will be available. Once you hear that, you should be able to go to the new floor. But before I forget, have you set foot in the chapel yet? The system’s jurisdiction doesn’t penetrate that far, but you can strengthen your Servant there.”

“You make your servant stronger than how they are now?” I asked as Kotomine nodded. “Care to explain why you didn’t tell me this Saber?”

“Cause you never asked.” Saber said as I deadpan at her before looking back at Kotomine.

“Thanks for telling me about that Father Kotomine.”

“I’ve said my piece, Go and slaughter to your heart’s content.” Kotomine said as he went back to standing in the middle of the hallway.

“Is he always like that?

“From time to time he can be, but for now we have a new objective. First we go to the chapel, then to the arena.” Saber said as she lead me down the hall. “The chapel is down the hall though the double doors.”

(Chapel)

I push open the heavy door to the chapel and go inside, where it is dark and eerily silent...I get the strange feeling that this place is completely cut off from the rest of the world. There’s no one in the pews As I get used to the dim light, a flash of colors hurt my eyes. As my vision came back, two women appeared in front of me. One had red long hair wearing a black hoodie and white jeans, while the other had blue hair wearing a purple dress shirt and dress pants.

“Hey there, welcome to the chapel. My name is Aoka Aozaki, and the girl next to me is Touko Aozaki. You’ve here to perform an Alteration of the Soul?” The red haired lady said looking at me.

“Ah you must be the new Master that everyone’s been talking about.” Touko said as she looked at me up and down. “I must say, it’s quite interesting to see something that you would see on a children’s cartoon show to be in this place. Well whatever, welcome to the Eden of the East. I assume you’re here for an Alteration of the Soul?” Alteration of the Soul? What is that supposed to mean? Realizing I have no clue as how to answer, she continues talking.

“Um...what does that mean?” I asked as Aoko stared at me in disbelief.

“You don’t know what the Alteration of the Soul is, but you came here anyway? Amateur.”

“Alteration of the Soul? What is it, you ask? Hmm...Simply put, you link your soul to your Servant’s. When a Master’s strength increases, we can strengthen the link. That’s done by hacking into each soul and choosing what to improve.” Huh...that’s very interesting to say the least...why do I have the sudden urge to take notes about this?

“Well, it’s like my sister said. My job is to perform Alterations made possible by various events.” Sister...Are these two really related? I was about to ask if they were really sisters, but a sudden wave of hatred from the two stops me. “You get the gist of it, right? If you want to do Alteration of the Soul, let me know. As for that creature over there, she’s totally useless, like 8-track tapes or the C:/ prompt.”

“And you’re lower than dirt. Don’t screw up or the Moon Cell will come down on you...again.”

“Gah! How many times do I have to tell you that the Master was at fault...that time! They specifically told me to do quasi-legal Alterations, so I added a few...extra skills.”

“Laugh now, but it wouldn’t be funny to the one who lost because of your towering incompetence. Listen well...pony girl. If you value your life, do not put any trust in that -thing’s- abilities. If I were you, I’d go about regaining the spiritual statuses your Servant may have lost.”

“Whatever you prick. Anyway, what do you say we try Alternation right now?” Aoko asked as I nodded. ““Alrighty then. Let’s alter your souls!” She said, pulling up a screen in front of me. “Just select the ones that you want to increase, and I’ll do my magic.” I looked over the screen to see Saber’s status. Have to say, she’s pretty impressive for a Saber class...which makes me wonder why she’s a Saber class servant and not a Berserker class servant given her monstrous strength.

“Hm, well I guess I can increase her Agility, magic and luck a bit.” I said as I typed onto the digital screen for a moment before finishing. “There, that should do it right?” Aoko took the screen away from me as she looks it over with a nod.

“Okay, just have your servant step into the cube on the table, and we can get started.” She said as Saber made herself visible and stands on the table as ordered. From what I could tell, it looked like she was floating in mid air once the cube surrounded her. With just a press of a few buttons, the cube began to glow as the room was filled with a blinding light causing me to cover my eyes. Seconds later the light faded away as it revealed Saber float back down onto the table. “There we go, done.”

“How do you feel Saber?” I asked as she flex her hand with a grin on her face.

“Like I was back in the days of training with the other knights. I feel like I can take on an entire army!” She said as sparks of crimson color lightning escaped off of herself. “I even got back some of my skills too! This is going to make fighting even better!”

“The power of being able to Alter a soul between a Master and Servant. That’s Alternation of the Soul for yeah in a nutshell.” Aoka said, smiling at Saber and I. “If you need your souls Alternated, just stop by the chapel and I’ll work my magic.”

“We will, thanks for the help.” I said as Aoko smiled and waved me off as Saber and I made our way out of the Chapel. As we left the chapel, there’s something going on in the garden. When I go to look, I see Shinji causing trouble...again. It appears that Shinji is being thrown out of the chapel after angering that old colt.

“A chapel is for quiet reflection. I do not know who your god is, but you should know that much.”

“Sorry, my bad! I’m an atheist. Swear to god!” I’m not surprise that he would reply with a comment like that to be honest.

“...Hmph. I have always believed that the Japanese were polite. I guess I was misled. Leave this place at once. The gates of heaven will remain closed to the unbeliever. It appears that in your haste to learn how to fight, you forgot to learn dignity and respect.” With that, the old man walked past me and returned into the chapel.

“I really hate old geezers like you, always talking down on me! When it comes time to fight, you can bet your ass I’ll be teaching you a thing or two!” Shinji said as he walked off back into the school.

“You think that guy wouldn’t cause trouble as much. But then again with an attitude/personality like that, I’m surprised no one hadn't punched him in the face yet.” Before I could reply with a comment to that, I heard a beeping sound coming from my Portable Terminal. As I pulled it out, there was a message on it.

: : The second cipher key has been generated on the second floor. : :

“The second key have been made. Let’s get going to the Arena before Shinji tries to stop us like before.” I suggested as Saber nodded before making herself invisible.

The second key has been created. Looks like this gives us another reason to go into the Arena. Three days left until the final fight with Shinji and I still don’t have enough info to think of a plan to fight him. I hope that we can get the books that Shinji hid in the Arena before he goes in and change their location to someplace else.

Arena

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

“Dear Celestia! Look at this place!” I said as I looked around at the Arena layout. “It’s like we’re underwater or something and….is that a giant pirate ship!?”

“That's the holy grail war for ya. They always keep things interesting.” Saber said as she drew out her sword. “ But do try to stay focused Master. I sense an unpleasant aura. They must be lurking somewhere nearby. It’d be a catastrophe if they attack us from behind while we return to the campus. We should head-on now.”

“Knowing Shinji, he must have hid the book in a hidden area of the Arena. We should get a move on before they suspect what we’re up to.”

“Smart plan egghead.” Saber said as she took the lead. “Just stay behind me Master, and I’ll take care of dealing with the enemies.” She said as we began our search through the second floor of the arena. During their search for the key and books, we came across a wall that was blocking their path to the rest of the arena. “Dammit, something tells me that Shinji placed this here just to screw around with us.”

“There must be a switch or something nearby. Let’s look around and see if we can find one.” I said as I notice a strange looking crystal standing on a pedestal a few feet away from them. “Hey, there's something over there. It might be the switch to get us through.” As I quickly ran over to the switch, I quickly stopped halfway to see an enemy program in the shape of a blocky snake appear near it.

“Um, Saber! A little help please!?” I yelled as I slowly backed away from the digital monster.

“On it!” Saber said as she batted the program back with the butt of her sword. As Saber took up a fighting stance, the program soon recovered as it started to charge toward us. Saber blocked the oncoming attack by parrying it’s charge attack, and counters with a straight jab to its body following with an upwards vertical slash to its face. The program quickly backed up away from the Servant as it starts to move around in a circle at top speed heading toward her. Saber quickly ducked out of the way as she slid behind it hoping to attack from behind. Only for the program to return by bouncing off the Arena wall and hits her in the back. This caused Saber to be pushed forwards and hit the wall face first.

“You okay Saber?”

“Yeah, just didn’t expect for it to hit me from behind like that.” She said, pulling herself up from the wall as she glared back at the enemy program. The program began its spinning attack again as it headed towards Saber. Saber ready her sword as she waited for the right moment to counter it’s attack as her sword began to glow crimson. As the program came close enough to Saber, Crimson like lightning discharged from it as the Servant quickly spun around to perform an upwards slash causing the program to stagger back. In its stunned state, Saber quickly jumped into the air and brought her sword down cutting it in two as it disappeared into ones and zeros. “Ha! Too easy.”

“Can’t believe I’m saying this, but nice work Saber.” I said while walking over to the switch and touched it. Upon touching the switch, the path that was blocked was unblocked.

“Next time when I say I’ll take the lead. Try not to rush off without a care in the world, okay? I prefer not to have you die on me before we can get out of this place.”

“Right, sorry. I’ll make a mental note of that.”

“Just stay behind me and don’t wander off like that. Come on, let’s go find the book that idiot hid inside here.” Saber said as she took the lead and headed down further into the arena as I followed after her. As we continue our way deep into the arena, I took notice of our surroundings. Mostly because from what I could tell, it looked like we’re underwater, but we’re not.

“Interesting…”

“What’s interesting?” Saber asked as I notice her looking over at me from the corner of her eyes.

“I just have never seen something like this before. The underwater theme Arena, swimming fishes going pass us, and the sunken ship. All this is just interesting to the point of this being something out of a dream.”

“What, you think you’re dreaming or something?”

“No, the fact that you can hurt me each time a say a pony pun is proof enough that I’m not dreaming...But all this might give me some idea of how to plan out the strategy for when we fight Shinji. We just need to get the books so I can go over them tonight. That’s if we can find them. Seriously, how hard is it to find them in a place like this?” I said as we continued walking down the arena floor, only to stop as Saber looked over to her left. “Something wrong Saber?”

“Master, there is a suspicious hidden passageway here.” Saber said as she pointed over to my left. “What do you say we see where it leads, shall we?”

“Lead the way Saber.” I said as we went down the hidden passageway. As we walked down the hidden passage, we come across a platform with an orange digital cube floating in the middle of it. “Looks like we found where Shinji hid the book.”

“What makes you say that?” Saber asked as I walked over to the orange cube and tapped on it to cause it to open.

“Because of the color on the boxes we find in the Arena. Blue usually have a consumable item, green would be the key card, and orange would be something important. So seeing how we’re looking for the book of Shinji’s Servant, an orange box would have something like that in there.” I said before turning my attention to the box. As I looked into it, all I could find was a somewhat faded journal.

“That’s what Shinji’s been hiding from us? A torn up looking journal!?”

“It’s a diary.”

“And you know that because?”

“Because it says diary written on the sheaves of parchment.” I said, showing her where it was written as she stares at me with a dumbfounded expression. While she was staring at me, I quickly open the book to see if this was the real thing. To my surprise and relief, it was. “Look at this. This book pretty much has everything written about his Servant. The name of her ship, The Golden Hind, names of several islands, hijacking ships, and date logs of her time out at sea.” I said as I closed the book. “Without a doubt, this must be connected to that Servant in some way. It’s a pity her true name isn’t legible, but this book should prove a useful clue as to her identity once I read completely.”

“Damn! I didn’t expect you to find it so easily, freak.” My ears perked up a bit from that familiar voice, as I turned around I could see Shinji and his Servant standing behind us. Buck me sideway, I was kinda hoping he wasn’t in the Arena. “And I went through all of the trouble of bringing it down here...Oh well, I’ll just have to take it back now.”

“Well look who finally comes out of his hole. Been awhile since we’ve seen you Shinji.” Saber said as she readies her sword.

“Heh! You must be getting really desperate if you’re searching for it in a place like this! Anyway, too bad for you. You came all this way just for me to take that book away from you.”

“You think we’re going to just hand over the book to you? Not a chance.” I said before quickly putting the book in my pocket.

“Well then I guess we’ll have to do this the hard way then. Servant, you know what to do.” Shinji said as his Servant pulled out one of her pistols and fired a bullet at me. Only for Saber to move in front of me and deflect the bullet off to the side.

“Oh, someone has improved since the last time we fought.” The Servant said as she blocked an oncoming charge attack from Saber with her pistols. “Think you can stand on your own little girl~?”

“.....What did you just call me!?” Upon hearing that question, I get the sense of anger and rage coming from Saber as sparks of Crimson colored lightning started to expel from her body. I slowly began to back away from Saber as something tells me that Shinji’s Servant just hit a nerve on Saber.

“What, little girl-” Before she could finish, Saber quickly lifted up her foot as she pushed Rider away from her, and dashed towards her ready to strike at her chest. Rider quickly moved out of the way as a cannon shape door opened up from where she moved, and fired a cannon ball at Saber at point blank range. I was not expecting her to be able to do something like that.

“Haha! Serves you right for thinking you can beat me you little freak. With your Servant dead, you won’t be able to fight me at the end of the-” Before he could finish gloating about his win, Saber appeared from out of the smoke caused by the explosion from the cannon and quickly punched his Servant in the face sending her flying backwards. As the smoke cleared up, it revealed that Saber was not hurt in anyway from the blast to the face as I could hear her coughing due to the smoke.

“Fucking cheap ass fucker! How dare you hit me with a hidden weapon!” Saber yelled as she quickly bolted after the flying Servant with her her sword. Once she was close, she delivered a downwards slash to the Servant’s chest as she was sent falling onto the Arena floor. Just as Saber was about to run her sword through the pirate’s chest, she quickly rolled out of the way as she fired another cannon ball at Saber causing her to be pushed backwards back to where I am.

“You okay Saber?” I asked as she looked over at me. Kinda hard to tell how she’s looking due to the helmet she has on, but I can guess she’s angry. “Right, stupid question. Sorry.” Before Saber could reply to what I just said, the same loud air horn sound echoed into the arena causing Saber and Shinji’s Servant stop. But not before Saber landed a surprise sucker punch to Rider’s face by throwing one of her gauntlets at her face.

“N-No way...how can you two be this strong in less than three days?”

“While you were off goofing around, we've been training in the arena and looking up information on your Servant.” I said giving off a triumphant pose. “We won’t lose to somepony like you who looks down on others.”

“D-Don’t start getting cocky now freak! You’re lucky the SE.RA.PH is watching. I’ll be victorious in the end!” Shinji said as he and his Servant exited the arena

“Coward. Get back here and fight!”

“Let them go Saber. We got what we needed and then some. Thanks to that battle I’ve reached a number of conclusions of what class of Servant Shinji has.”

“Really? What are they?”

“Well only one would do as a conclusion to my guess. Mainly her attire. Given the fact that it’s more towards somepony that could be a general or pirate. And given how she fancies gold over anything else, I’m going with Pirate. Second, her weapons. You said that she was an archer. But given how she isn’t using a bow or a weapon that can hit far away, we can scratch that off the list of Servant class. And her weapon that she used to blast your face with is part of a ship. So the only thing that her class can possibly be...”

“Is a rider class Servant!”

Matrix Level: 3
Enemy Servant Information Obtained!

“Now that we’ve obtained the book that idiot man-child tried to hide, we can leave this place without any problem. Should we go after the trigger key now or go after it tomorrow?”

“Let’s get the key now so we won’t have to worry about it tomorrow. Something tells me that Shinji might have something planned for us tomorrow if we go into the arena to get the key.”

“Fair enough.” Saber said as she took the lead again. “Let’s go.”