Saber
Dear Twilight Sparkle
I recall that you once asked me about the nature if the Alicorns. At the time I probably didn’t answer you, but in light of upcoming events, I believe I owe you an explanation. Below, I have compiled my recollections of the events that transpired nearly three thousand years ago that led to me and my sister becoming who we are today. I would like to warn you ahead of time that what happened was violent as it was a very different time. I debated about leaving out the more violent aspects to my past, but found that this would only serve to sugarcoat the truth, something I do not wish to do. So without further ado, allow me to tell you the story of the Holy Grail War, and my partner Saber.
“It’s far too cold this winter.” I spoke through chattering teeth.
“Perhaps, but that doesn’t excuse you from your duties, in fact that simply makes them more important, or do you want the rest of us to freeze?” my mother said in a harsh, uncaring tone. My mother was an older unicorn mare, a light blue coat and a darker shade for her mane, and on her face she always wore a pair of reading glasses.
“Fine, I’ll chop the bloody trees down.”
“Celestia, we have taught you numerous times how a proper noble member of the Eclipse household should speak.” she yelled.
“Can you really call me a ‘noble member’ of the house when I’m essentially unpaid help?”
“Celestia!”
“Fine, I shall cut the trees to make lumber and fetch father the animal he wanted.” I said through a smile just as fake as my ‘noble’ tone.
“Much better, now go and hurry up. You should be finished with your chores by supper.” My mother didn’t seem to notice my blatant sarcasm as she settled back into reading by the fire.
Resisting the urge to knock her book into the fire, on accident of course, I walked back outside. I wasn’t joking; the winter’s chill was far too biting. It must have been at least thirty degrees colder than it normally would be so early into winter. Our house, the house of the noble Eclipse family, stood tall and proud against the countryside we built it on. The house was made of hardened cobblestone; the stones were colored dark black so that the house stood out against the hills and forest around it during the day. But at night the house almost seemed to disappear against the starry sky.
I also wasn’t kidding about essentially being a member of the help either. While my younger sister was reading ancient equine dialects, I was plowing the fields. Whilst my sister was learning the proper way to curtsy in the presence of nobility, I was chopping down wood for the fire. My sister would learn to sing while I would learn to keep my bloody mouth shut when company was around. Despite this, my dear mother would still try and give me something close to the same education that my dear sister got.
Despite all this, I still loved my dear sister Luna. I would take Fathers insults and mothers condensation if it meant that she was happy. Keeping this in mind, I worked my way down to a collection of oak trees that was close to our property. Father was very particular about what kind of trees he wanted as decoration and what he wanted for the firewood. Already there was my trusty axe, that I often called Schism, set into a tree stump. Grasping her in my mouth, I set upon the nearest tree with a vengeance. I forgot every single bloody rule about how to ‘properly’ chop down a tree, I just attacked it. Finally the tree fell to the ground with a large concussive slam, scaring away the woodland animals nearby.
“Sister, tis far too cold. You should be back inside.” a small voice called.
That voice belonged to my sister Luna, “Luna, what are you doing back out here? Isn’t this normally when you have your, oh what are they called ‘linguini classes’?” I wasn’t stupid mind you. I knew what they were, but it was always fun to let Luna explain it. She was proud of her education.
“Linguistics, Tia. My Linguistics classes.” She laughed as she huddled up against me for warmth, “And for some reason, mother said that they were cancelled today and that I just need to get some bedrest as tonight I have to do something for father.” She beamed proudly at the announcement. Unlike me, the tasks Father designated for her were usually dignified, almost princess like, such as meetings or dinner parties. While of course anything that Father told me to do was something he didn’t want to pay the help to do around the house.
“Ooo, Father wants your help with something, I wonder what it could possibly be.” I put a hoof to my chin in a mock expression of deep thought. Luna simply giggled as I went back to demolishing the tree in front of me.
“Tia, why don’t you use your magic to use the axe?”
I stared at the axe in my mouth then up at the horn on my head and scoffed. “I think it lacks a certain… physicality that helps put some force into each swing so that the wood comes apart easier and cleaner.” I smiled a little as Luna ate up my blatant lies and just shrugged and snuggled back up against me for warmth.
While I was born a unicorn, I didn’t use my magic very often. Part of it was the fact that I wasn’t taught magic when I was young, another piece of education that my sister had that I did not. Thus when I did use my magic it tended to have far less… finesse than when my sister would use the same spell. My sister’s teacher in the art of magic was the great Clover the Clever, the apprentice of the even greater Starswirl the Bearded. My instructor on the art of magic was an old war veteran that we had enlisted as a gardener. I’m not badmouthing my old friend as he did teach me quite a lot about magic. He taught me various ways to set an opponent on fire in the heat of combat. He taught me CQC when he had the time, and I learned numerous spells for enchanting weapons, which was one of the reasons why my old axe survived for so long. But my sister was taught grace and poise with her magic, she was someone who could raise the moon and the stars; she would be in charge of something that required precision and study. I was more of a sun pony. Something big and requiring a single movement of one big enormous thing.
The other reason was that my family was ashamed of me and my magic to a certain extent. My family was always skilled in darker magic. Not outright evil magic, but dark. They praised the phases of the moon and worshipped the stars, while they also shunned the day and the sun. I was born with skill in light and fire based magic, the opposite of the dark and ice-based magic that my family was well known for possessing. This is, of course, the reason that my family almost immediately had another child following my birth, to try for the daughter that could carry on the name of the Eclipse family.
“Tia, are you ok?” I snapped out of my reverie and looked back at my hooves where my little sister was still snuggling for warmth. “It’s really cold out here; I think we should go inside.”
I smirked, “So the ice mage is cold huh?” I pressed my face against Luna’s “Wittle Woona wants to go back inside under her blanket.” I used my magic to float Luna off the ground in place and rock her back and forth, “Rock a bye Woona.”
“Stop calling me that. I’m not little anymore, Tia.”
“Enough.” A voice called to the two of us, a gruff and throaty voice.
I dropped Luna from my magic and looked over to see my father standing nearby wearing a thick robe and an even thicker scowl. “Hello Father.” I said silently, making sure not to make eye contact.
Luna jumped up from the pile of snow that she fell in and looked back at our father. “Father, it’s far too cold out. Tell Tia to go back inside and cut more firewood tomorrow, please.” Luna said this while standing boldly upright with a commanding tone in her voice.
There were sometimes where I cursed my sister’s kind heart. “I’m fine, really Luna, I’ll be fine…”
“Is that so?” My father glared in my direction, “It’s too cold outside? I hadn’t noticed.”
“No it really isn’t; that’s just Luna’s opinion. You know she’s just a kid, take what she says with a grain of salt and all that.” I smiled lightly at my father hoping to perhaps save myself from his oncoming wrath.
His eyes narrowed in my direction, “Luna go back inside. You must have your bedrest for the ceremony tonight.” Luna’s eyes gleamed as she trotted back to the house, stupidly believing that she had won the argument. As she got out of sight his deep blue eyes narrowed in my direction once again. “Too cold? Barely nippy weather for a proper Eclipse.”
I gulped, if I didn’t choose my next words very carefully I would risk fathers hoof. “Oh yeah, it’s just fine, balmy almost.”
“I never said it was hot you stupid girl; simply that it wasn’t ‘too cold’ to use your words.” Venom oozed from every word he spoke, yet his tone never shifted. My father was a calm unicorn stallion. Even when he insulted or hurt me, his tone never shifted. His coat was a dark brown and his mane a dark blue. He was strong, well built, and smart, needless to say that he was considered a ‘true noble’ by the rest of Equestria.
“I merely voiced my concerns. I’m chopping down the bloody wood.” I realized my mistake far too late though as he struck me with his hoof.
“I believe that your mother had warned you about your little language problem many times before, Celestia.” That last word he spoke as though it were the name of a griffon he had killed, like saying the name itself was giving the creature more respect than it deserved.
“I apologize father, but I mean it. I’m chopping the wood right now.” I gestured to the fallen tree that I had been chopping at. Father started looking over the fallen tree like he was a teacher inspecting a school report. Upon finding the tree cut to his liking he looked back at me.
“You do realize that your language wasn’t the only mistake you made tonight.” I shook my head nervously, “You questioned your sister, claimed that she was ‘just a child’.” I mentally facehoofed at the mistake, Father treated her like a gift from the eternal herd itself, even if what she said was wrong, I was to accept it as fact until she changed her mind.
“I’m sorry, Father.” I bowed and stared at the ground hoping that if I couldn’t see him he would leave me alone. “It won’t happen again.”
Suddenly the air around me became cold, well colder, and only continued to freeze. The hairs on my coat became coated in ice as my father spoke, “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, child.” The temperature receded, I had never been so happy for the weather to be at zero degrees. “This will be fine for today, get some sleep. Even you should be present for the ceremony tonight.”
“What ceremony?” I looked back at my father, a dangerous glint in my eye.
“Tonight your sister will become far greater than a simple unicorn; tonight she rises to godhood.” Father’s words sent shivers down my spine. He smiled and began walking away back to the house. I waited for a while, not wishing to be near my father for the walk home. Him coming dangerously close to freezing me to death wasn’t exactly something that I could imagine talking about on the way home. I sat in the stillness of the winter chill for a few minutes before heading back to the house.
The day became night without further incident and the family was woken up and led to the basement for the ceremony. Luna was dancing feverishly around as she excitedly gabbed about the possibilities for the ceremony. “What do you think the ceremony is about, Tia?” She said looking to me expectedly.
I sighed, “Something to amplify your magic maybe?” I was grasping straws. Father had never really been one to be cryptic. Usually when he wanted something he would say so. And whenever anything involved Luna, he would be very explicit to make sure that everything would go according to plan. But before I went to bed, I asked the help at the house what ‘the ceremony’ was and none of them knew either. Not a single pony in my house knew what this would entail except my father and mother.
My father was almost smiling as he led the company down the stairs into the basement. I cannot stress how strange it was to see my old man with a spring in his step. My mother was clinging to him like they were a pair of newlyweds in the first weeks of marriage. I sidled up to my magic teacher; Floral was his name, to ask if he knew anything. “Can’t say that I understand any of this bloody pomp and circumstance, Tia. It could be a bucking birthday party for all I bloody know” was his response. My mentor’s harsh language had something of a calming effect on me; it was the closest to a lullaby I ever knew. Finally, father led us to the basement where I finally saw the pieces of this ‘ceremony’.
In the center of the room was a large symbol etched onto the floor in what seemed like blood. All around, candles were lit and spread along the circle; incense filled the room with smoke and fragrance. The members of the help were shocked at the display; all I could do was stare. Father led Luna near the circle and mother began chanting some sort of spell. Suddenly one of the ponies that manned the watchtowers above the house ran in. “Sir we are under attack, some sort of creature.”
My mother didn’t stop chanting but my father’s face turned from one of possible happiness to visible fear. “The war has begun. Quickly, Luna.” He held a blade in his magic and pulled Luna forcibly closer to him, “You shall be our champion, little Luna.”
“Stop.” I knocked the knife from his magic, cutting myself in the process. “What do you mean ‘war’, what do you mean by ‘champion’?” My father, beginning to lose his considerable patience punched me in my face.
“I do not have time to explain minor details to you child, Luna must become our champion in the Holy Grail War, and she will become a god.”
“What do you mean? She’s a child she can’t fight a war.”
“She will fight what she needs to, the fate of Equestria hangs in the balance.”
“Surely someone else, someone older, can fight your bloody war for you.”
“Celestia!”
“Oh what is my bucking language unbefitting a ‘proper lady’, well too bad. What is this bloody Holy Grail War?”
My father looked as though he would show an emotion in my direction for once in his life, unfortunately that emotion looked to be anger. “This war is the most important thing in all of our recorded history child; it is through the Holy Grail that the eternal ruler of Equestria will be chosen.” He paused to look at Luna, “One who will become immortal and rule Equestria forever.”
Luna’s eyes widened as she hid behind my back, “No, I don't want to keep living after all of you die. Please daddy stop, I don't want to be immortal.”
My father looked at her with a crazed look in his eyes, “You must. It’s your purpose, the reason that we raised you. Your fate is to rule the world, Luna.” He picked up the knife off of the ground, “Now come here child, we need only draw a drop of blood to complete the seal.”
A group of four guards crept up behind me and Luna grabbing at her, “No, stop I don’t want to be immortal. Help me Tia.”
Floral stepped up and stood defiantly before my father, “Stop this Eclipse, you’re hurting your own bucking child. Surely there could be someone else, someone who wants this curse that you wish for.”
“It is not a curse, tis a gift.” He looked to my sister once again, “Now come to me child, please; that monster outside needs to be fought and you still haven’t received your servant.”
I dug my hooves into the ground, causing pain in my hoof and reminding me of the cut I got from batting away father’s knife. I gave a sharp glance to Floral and wrapped my unharmed hoof around Luna. “You aren’t gonna bloody touch her.” Father’s slight glare turned into genuine anger as he motioned for the guards to attack me. Just then mother finished her chant. I reared up and bucked one of the guards whilst Floral blasted the other two with a flame wave. I pushed Luna to the side and dove for the circle, “I’ll fight, I’ll fight to protect my little sister.” I raised my bloodied hoof above the circle, words filled my head and my heart as I spoke them, “Become my blade, cut through my enemies, be the sword who wins this war.” With those words, I stamped my bloody hoof down onto the circle, completing the ritual.
The world around me seemed to slow. My mother stood back, a look of horror adorned her face. The guards behind me were now back up and were rushing towards me. My mentor, Floral, lay on the ground, a spear of ice jutting out of his skull. My father wore a look of both absolute horror and terrifying anger, shattering his normally cool-headed demeanor. My sister’s face was the worst however. She was scared, really scared, scared of immortality because of the loneliness it would bring. She would live eternally with all of Equestria as the only family she would know. She would lose all of us; she would live while we would die. I decided that this was wrong. That she wouldn’t be the one who would be lonely throughout time and space. She was too good for that, someone needed to be with her, help her when she was feeling lonely. I decided, against the normal rules of the Holy Grail War, that the two of us would rule together. I think that part of my reasoning was that I perceived my sister as more regal than I ever could be, a true Queen or a Princess. But she needed someone to be there for her, and that someone was going to be me.
As the world seemingly unfroze, I looked around to see my fathers guards dead. At first I thought that I was dreamed that four of my fathers best guards were killed in seconds. Next to them, wielding two curved blood-covered swords was a tall creature. That thing was bipedal and wore a long brown hooded robe that covered him entirely. The creature pulled back his hood revealing a mess of long black hair and eyes red as rubies. The male looked to my sister and bowed slightly, causing her to faint. He then looked to me; his ruby eyes glistened as a smile drew across his lips.
“Are you the one who summoned me?” he asked.
I could barely form the words to respond. Here was a creature of ancient lore and mythology standing in my basement. Not only that, but I was the one who brought him here, and if my father’s wording was correct, he now served me.
“I will ask again since you seemed not to hear me. Are you my master?” This time he pointed one of his curved blades at me.
“Yes, yes I did. I am your master, Celestia.” I stood tall and proud as I said this, causing my father to become angrier, which only caused me more glee. I looked to the only remaining guard who was cowering behind the help in the back of the room. “You said that there was a creature outside guardsman, does this creature.” I motioned to my new servant, “remind you of it.” The guard nodded and motioned for the two of us to follow him. “Well then it appears the first battle of this ‘Holy Grail War’ is upon us, what shall I call you, servant.”
My new servant smiled as scraped his blades together, “You may call me Saber, dear Celestia.” He began to follow the guard upstairs. I scooped up the unconscious body of Luna, placing her on my back and turned to my father. “We’ll have words about you killing my friend later father, but for now I believe that I have your home to save.” My mother collapsed on the ground as my father’s dark brown coat gleamed a bright shade of red.
I followed the guard outside, to where I was greeted with another strange sight. The creature before me seemed human like my servant but at the same time he was quite different. In place of a head on his shoulders was a bright orange pumpkin with two curved eyeholes and a wiry mouthpiece, but behind those holes wasn’t a normal head. He wore a long black coat that covered his entire body and he rode upon a creature that also resembled a larger pony. But the large pony he rode upon was also black in coat and his eyes burned an insidious black, radiating smoke outwards.
While this sight frightened the guard and me, my servant seemed rather amused. “The Rider is our first opponent, an interesting matchup.” He twirled his blades in his hands, attracting the attention of the Rider. Behind the Rider was a small earth pony filly with an orange coat and a small carrot for a cutie mark. One of the filly’s eyes was malformed, its forehead skin covering the eye. And on that spot where the eye should be was a strange red mark made of three small arrows.
The filly stared in my direction with a sad expression on her face. A sad lump formed in my throat at the sight of a child preparing to fight me. It hurts to know that my family wasn’t the only family that decided to try and bring a child into this war. The Rider turned towards my servant and me.
“So one of the masters finally shows themselves; my master’s family said that there would be one here, but they did not say that the servant would be a Saber class.”
‘A Saber class? That’s his name though.’ I stood my ground staring back at the ominous Rider.
My servant simply chuckled and readied his blades, “You would perform a sneak attack against the family of a master; clearly you lack honor, Rider.” Saber rushed towards the ghastly Rider, jumping into the air and slashing his blades. Rider pulled a large serrated blade from his black jacket and used it to block Saber’s strike. Saber landed on the ground and turned, slashing along the body of Rider’s mount. The large pony screamed in pain as it disappeared in a thick cloud of black smoke. “Now we’re on even ground.”
The Rider cackled as he swung his huge blade at Saber who blocked his strike. “I had heard that Saber’s were supposed to fight fair.”
Saber swung his blades one at a time repeatedly at Rider, “You had the poor luck of facing a Saber who cares more for winning than he does honor.” He continued to swing his blades in arcing and twirling motions at Rider who blocked almost every strike. The strikes that did land didn’t even seem to phase the monster as he took each graze and cut in stride, almost as if he wasn’t even cut.
“Saber, cut him again!” I screamed.
“You make it sound simple dear master.” He was on the defensive now as Rider swung his massive knife repeatedly one time after the other. I looked back to the filly that was now being flanked by several unicorn archers. “Master if you wouldn’t mind please take care of the archers, I’m a tad busy.”
“Alright, just cut the bastard when I’m close enough to see.” I turned my attention back to the archers and charged my horn. I thought back to when Floral would tell me stories of wartime and the proper spell for dispersing several enemies at once. I charged a huge fireball and hurled it towards the archers. Despite the impending doom, they didn’t dodge, rather they dove in front of the earth pony filly to protect her. The fire engulfed them, burning them to death. Their screams alerted Rider who turned his attention back to me.
He broke off from his fight with Saber and charged in my direction, “To attack a defenseless master in such a way, you two really are a perfect pair.” He lifted his huge blade and readied it above his head. As he brought it down ready to slice me in two Saber ducked underneath the two of us. He blocked the strike with one of his blades while the other cut a small ways into Rider’s side.
“This close enough, master?” He joked.
“Perfect." It had seemed that despite Saber's blade clearly damaging hitting him, it hadn't damaged him. The wound was smoking the same black smoke as the large ponies eyes. Using my magic, I realized that something was protecting the Rider from Saber’s attacks. “He’s got some kind of barrier protecting him.” I yelled.
The earth pony filly gasped and Rider chuckled, “Well they may be dishonorable attempted child-killers, but they are smart.” He jumped back readying his blade once again. “So now you see that I have you dead to rights, Saber.”
“How exactly?” My servant spoke while sheathing one of his blades.
“You cannot cut me, death is my friend and my shield, so you cannot pierce me.”
Saber smiled, “Physical attacks may not pierce you but I never said that I was restricted to my blades.”
The Rider seemed startled and backed away, “You would unleash your Noble Phantasm?”
Saber laughed, “No, I have other ways of dealing with an opponent I cannot cut.” He raised his free hand and spoke, “The dark does not side with one man.” A swirl of dark energy covered his hand as he shot it in Rider’s direction.
Rider blocked the blast with his blade, but didn’t manage to block the next blast, which landed square in his chest knocking him back. Saber prepared another blast of dark magic, but this time drew his blade with the magic-covered hand, surrounding his blades instead.
“A Saber who wields magic?” The Rider righted himself and prepared his blade. “An enigmatic foe, I would say that I’m impressed but this battle still isn’t over.”
Saber twirled his blades again, this time with the dark swirls making arcs in the air. “I would hope not dear Rider.” The two began to circle each other as a voice called out from the direction of the filly.
“Rider, we should leave.” The little filly was now shaking, “We need to learn more about them; without the name we won’t know how to fight them.” The Rider looked in our direction and grumbled as he ran to meet back with his master.
“We’ll retreat for now Eclipse.”
“NO” I shouted, “You attack my home, my family, coming here for some stupid war to kill my damn sister. Oh no, we are taking you down…”
“We should allow them to retreat, master.” Saber spoke up, having already sheathed his blades.
“WHAT, whose side are you on, Saber?”
“While I applaud your bloodlust, master Celestia the same detriment for which they are retreating affects us.” I looked at Saber quizzically causing him to roll his eyes, “We also do not know the true name of this Rider class. Without that information, we don’t know what his Noble Phantasm is nor how to combat it, nor any other nasty surprises that he may have in store for us, aside from that near imperviousness thing.”
I clenched my teeth in anger. The entire point of this war was to kill other ponies, and here one was, at my doorstep trying to retreat after wrecking my home. And my servant, one who is supposed to serve me unconditionally, refuses to kill her!
“If you truly wish for me to face them, master, then you will be forced to use a Command Seal.” Saber looked to me with a daring glint in his eyes. Clearly, whatever he was talking about would be bad. I didn’t have to know what a ‘Command Seal’ was to know that if he wanted me to use one for a simple order it would be bad. “Good, then we shall allow your retreat for now Rider, on one condition.”
The Rider clenched his hands together, squeezing the blade in his hand. “What would that be, Saber?”
“Tell me the name of your master.” Saber declared.
“My name is Carrot Field, so can we leave without incident now?” The child responded.
“Well considering the fact that I killed your escort, it wouldn’t be quite fair to send my troops after you now, would it.” I said, a hint of superiority creeping into my voice.
Saber smiled in my direction, “My master speaks the truth, we shall allow you to leave without her forces giving chase.”
Rider grumbled as the little filly tapped her hoof on his jacket. “Come on, we shouldn’t have rushed in without any knowledge of the opponent to begin with.” The Rider looked down to his master. She was pleading to leave, she was genuinely scared, anyone could see that.
The Rider waved his free hand, conjuring that large shadow pony from nothing.
“We shall leave for now.” He hopped on his mount, grabbing the little filly and placing her on the mount as well. “We shall finish this battle later, Saber.” With that he galloped off into the distance leaving the flaming bodies of their escort behind.
“If the name of this Rider is so important, why not ask what that was?” I asked.
“Because that’s something that they would not give, no matter the circumstances; they would rather run and risk another confrontation if it meant protecting his true name.”
“A name is really that devastating?” He looked at me again with that same look of disbelief when I was confused as to why their handicap was ours. Saber stared into my eyes, “What, I’m asking a bloody question.”
“You don’t know much about the Holy Grail War do you?” He struck gold with that one, “Tell me, do you know what a Command Seal or a Noble Phantasm is?” I shook my head he sighed, “How in the hell did you summon me without even basic knowledge of the war?”
“Because she didn’t.” I turned to find my father standing behind me with my mother by his side, and the remaining guards of our house, nearly sixty-five of them. “I did the summoning ritual with my wife, you were meant for my other daughter.” Saber looked at the unconscious Luna on my back.
“I was meant for a child that fainted upon my arrival?” My father nodded solemnly, “frankly you should be thanking miss Celestia if that’s the case, at least she has combat experience and no qualms about murdering people.”
“NO.” my father shouted, “Luna was meant for the throne of Equestria and that bastard child of mine screwed it up.” My father’s normally calm light blue eyes teemed with anger. He started for me, growing angrier and louder with each step. “Now Celestia, you will use one of your Command Seals to give control of Saber to your younger sister. And then you will be hung for your insolence.” Just as my father came within hoofs length of me, a blade found its way to his throat. “You would threaten me, Servant?”
“I would threaten anyone who threatens my master. Since you summoned me, you must know a great deal about the war and its servants.” My father nodded, “Well then I shouldn’t have to explain that I do not follow the rules of any nobleman in this land, only my masters.” He looked to me, “And if my master wished for her parents deaths, then I would have no choice but to comply.”
My mother gasped, the guards readied their weapons, and they slowly started to approach us. My father spoke, unhindered by the blade at his throat, “She WILL use a command seal to transfer her control of you to Luna, or I will kill her.”
“You aren’t making a very good case for me to not slash your throat, Sir.” He nodded at me, “Its your call Celestia. Know that even if you transfer your power I will protect you from him, as a final gift for your performance during the previous fight.”
I laughed, “My performance? I did nothing, you were the one who took on Rider.”
“You were the one who noticed his protection and killed those guardsmen. With proper knowledge of the Holy Grail War you would be a fantastic participant.”
I gulped and looked to the sleeping form of Luna on my back. She was an innocent child, not a soldier in some war. But still he was asking me to kill my family, could I do that? “Well I cannot, as a noble lady, ask my servant to kill my mother and father.” My mother breathed a sigh of relief and the guards backed away a little. “But as Celestia, the child my family didn’t want, I would say that if my servant was to kill my parents, I wouldn’t hold it against him.” With that, my servant smiled and slit my fathers throat.
My mother screamed as Saber charged at her, his blades slashing through her throat. The guards began to charge him as he looked to me and said, “Master, witness the power of a devil.”
As he said that my servant began tearing into the pile of guardsman attacking him. He would turn and twirl like a tornado. He would block with one sword and slash with the other. He would use his superior height to kick another pony in the throat while he slashed at two other throats. At the end of the battle of sixty-five well-trained, well-armed, and armored pony guards versus one human man whose only armor was a long robe, he stood unharmed and they lay dead. I could barely believe my eyes, my entire household was slain in what seemed like only a moment. I could only gawk at the sight.
“While I appreciate your clear appreciation of my little workout here, Celestia, we should leave. If others know of your household then we should head on the road.”
“I think we should burn the house to the ground.” He looked to me quizzically, “If any others come here they’ll be thrown off by the completely destroyed house.”
Saber smiled at me, “I told you that you would make a good master.”
“Yeah but I still don’t know all that much.”
Saber sheathed his blades and sat in the bloodied snow, “Well I suppose I should start at the servants; there are seven of us during the Holy Grail War, Rider, Archer, Berserker, Caster, Assassin, Lancer, and of course your humble Saber.”
“So I only have to kill six ponies and you have to kill six weirdoes huh? Seems far too easy to be worth offering immortality for.”
“There may only be seven servants, but we are the strongest men, women, ponies, what have you, in all the world.”
“This is related to that whole name thing, isn’t it?”
“Yes, we are characters from your literature, we are figures from your history and mine, we are the monsters you tell your children about at night, and we are given even more power than we had in life.”
“The Noble Phantasm, right?”
“Sort of. The Noble Phantasm is the symbol of our fame, what made us famous or infamous amongst the annals of history.”
“And that’s why he was confused as to why you would use it so early, it would give away your name.”
“Hence why I didn’t use it.”
“And why we’d be screwed up a creek if he used his and we weren’t prepared.”
He chuckled, “For a supposed ‘noble lady’, you certainly have a colorful vocabulary.”
I scoffed, “Well despite what my parents wanted all the other families to think, I was essentially just the help.” The thought struck me and I ran back inside and down the stairs back to the basement. Still lying in a heap on the floor was my friend and mentor, Floral.
“A friend of yours?” I nodded, “Killed by your father?” I nodded again, tears welling in my eyes. He placed his hand on my head, “I can understand dying to protect those you love; he died braver than most Noble Souls I’ve met.”
I stood up from the ground, still fighting back the tears. I looked over to Saber. At my full height, I was about up to his ribcage. Perhaps it was his height that initially made me feel like he was safe; as though he could always protect Luna and I because he was big and strong. “Alright, I’ll grab some food and other sundries, take Luna off my back and take her into the forest near my house, I’ll meet you there soon.” He nodded and lifted Luna gently off my back and cradled her in his arms.
“Alright, though I won’t go too far. I’m supposed to stay nearby to you.” With that he left, and as soon as he did the tears came. I must have lain over the body of Floral and the other help for a few minutes crying my heart out at them. They were my real parents, my real mother who would help me when I fell, and my real father who would teach me how to act.
Eventually, I recomposed myself and set about gathering materials. I grabbed sleeping bags, bags of food, and clothes to keep Luna warm. I also raided father’s books for anything that may be useful combating the servants of the Holy Grail War. I found a few books of ancient mythology and one book that was a guide to the Holy Grail War, probably father’s introduction to it. Once I had finished collecting our survival materials I brought them outside and started my attack on my childhood home.
I would be lying if I said that it wasn’t cathartic to blast the house my father spent so long building to the ground. To destroy the towers where my friends would guard. To blast into smithereens the living quarters they were stuck in. Demolish the kitchens they slaved in. It felt good. It was revenge of the pettiest kind, but it felt good. I sat there watching my home burn under my assault, and after a while Saber crept up behind me.
“I found a cave just a ways up, Luna’s sleeping there soundly now.” I just nodded, not once letting my eyes wander from the flames. “Tomorrow I’ll tell you anything you want to know about the Holy Grail War, and Luna as well.” Again I simply nodded. “I would say that I wish I knew how you felt master, but the truth is I cannot imagine burying my past as thoroughly as you’re doing now.”
“It was his fault, all his fault.” All I could think about was how much I hated my father, how much I still hated him. Even after witnessing his death and destroying the house he had worked so hard to build, I still hated him. “I’ll win, and I’ll rule Equestria alongside my sister with fairness and kindness. I won’t let what happened to me happen to anyone else.”
“It’s good to have a goal in mind, masters with a reason to fight are more likely to win the Holy Grail War.” He motioned towards the forest, “Come on, you need your sleep.”
“We’ll guard the cave in shifts.”
“No, I’m fine I can sleep later, you and your sister are the important ones here.” I looked straight at him, and realized there was no use arguing the point. I nodded and followed him into the woods
The cave was wet and cold. It was dark and probably filled with horrid animals just waiting to gobble us up. I won’t lie; I liked it. It felt like an adventure, like the ones in storybooks that I used to read Luna before she could read them herself. I lied down next to Luna and Saber stood guard at the entrance. He just sat there, his swords in his hands.
“What kind of swords are those anyway?” He perked up before laughing to himself. “What?”
“They’re sabers.” I started laughing right along with him. “A Saber who wields sabers.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Alright, go to sleep Master Celestia. Tomorrow we’ll begin the Holy Grail War.”
As I drifted off to sleep. I thought back to Rider and his child of a master. They were all I knew about the Holy Grail War. “Yeah, and we’ll win it too.”
“You see, Twilight, my journey had only just begun. The Holy Grail War’s purpose was to choose an immortal ruler for all of Equestria. I had decided that Luna and me would be the rulers of Equestria and, well you probably know how this story ends. But you of all ponies should know that the ending isn’t as important as the journey there. My journey truly began the day after receiving Saber as my servant in the War; that was the day I fought Rider again.”
The sound of a screaming unicorn filly woke me from my sleep the next day. Luna had wrenched herself free from me and was cowering in the corner of the room. Saber was at the entrance of the cave, seemingly unperturbed by the screaming of a scared child just behind him. “What’s going on?” I muttered groggily.
“Your younger sister seems to assume that I’m a dream.” Saber dryly commented.
“Tia!” Luna rushed over to me wrapping me in a bear hug, “Tia, he’s the man from the dream!”
“What are you talking about Luna?”
Rather than calming down, Luna only became more hysterical. “I had a horrible dream where Mommy and Daddy tried to make me immortal and you tried to stop them and then this guy came out of a portal that Mommy and Daddy had put in the middle of the basement and now I’m awake but I can’t be because he’s still here and he should just be a dream shouldn’t he Tia?” I put a hoof to Luna’s mouth to stop the gibbering and try to wake myself up.
“Saber, do you know how to boil vegetables?”
“Not a veggies person myself.”
“Fruit then?”
“Meat usually.”
My face became as white as Luna’s, “You’re a cannibal?”
“All humans eat meat, Celestia, or did that part get left out of the history books?”
Luna spoke up again, “You see, even he thinks he’s real.”
“Luna,Mother and Father were trying to enter you in some tournament called the Holy Grail War, and I stopped them,” Luna hugged herself closer to me, “by becoming a member in your place.” She looked up at me, her eyes begging me to say that I was just joking and that we just went out to play and fell asleep in a cave somewhere. She knew what was coming next. “Then we were attacked by another contestant and they destroyed the house.” Saber’s eyes snapped to me before falling back to the entrance to the cave. “Everyone’s dead Luna, I’m so sorry.”
Luna burst into tears. She wept, and her tears stained my coat as she begged me to say that I was lying. She wept and cried until she tearfully fell back to sleep. Once she was fast asleep, I stepped outside the cave to speak with Saber alone. “You know what I will say, master,” I nodded, “but I will not say it, we have too much on our plates as it is. Worrying about you and your sister’s trust will only exacerbate the problems we already face.”
“Rider.” I uttered.
“Yes, we know only basic details; we know his class is Rider.”
“We know that he has a pumpkin for a head.”
“We know he rides a horse shrouded in darkness.”
“So that’s what your people call a large pony like that.” He nodded, “Well I suppose we also know that he calls death his friend and that death shields him.”
Saber nodded solemnly, “Not too much to go on, I’m afraid.” He grabbed one of the mythology books that I had grabbed from father’s collection. “Your father was preparing for the War from the beginning.” He sifted through all of the books, eventually coming across the book that spoke specifically about the war. “He went so far in his research, yet he chooses a child to be his magus, and to use such a strange summoning circle.”
“What do you mean ‘strange summoning circle’?” Saber pointed at the page he had opened the book to. Upon examination, the circle looked like the one on my basement floor, “Yeah, why is it so strange?”
“This summoning circle is very specific. Rather than calling for a specific servant or class, it forces a connection between the servant and someone else.” He poured over the words of the summoning, “In all the Wars I’ve been in, I’ve never seen this kind of circle. This might be useful only to a society that doesn’t possess natural magic.”
“Well some ponies don’t have magic, only unicorns do.” Saber cocked an eyebrow, “I mean you saw that Rider’s master, Carrot Field, didn’t have a horn like me, right?” He nodded, “Well that’s because she’s an Earth Pony, she has no magic, but stronger levels of endurance and natural strength.”
“I see.”
“Yeah, there are also ponies that can fly, called pegasi, who also don’t possess natural magic.”
“I see, clearly both of us have things to learn.” I nodded.
“Yeah, so why is that so terrible?” I asked, causing Saber to grimace.
“Well, it means that my magical reserves are connected to Luna, not to you.”
Part of me was scared for Luna when he said that, scared that she was still involved in this. But another part of me was confused, confused as to how this mattered at all. “Can we fix that, in fact should we?”
“Well it’s probably safer to your sister if you’re my source of magic. I’ll look into it as much as I can. If I think of anything, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks Saber.”
“By the way, I guess I never went into specifics on the various classes of the Holy Grail War yesterday, did I.”
“No.” I said, “And it probably would be a good idea for me to know as much as I can, particularly about you and Rider.” I giggled, remembering last night’s joke, “Do Sabers always wield sabers?”
Saber laughed, “No, A Saber class has a slightly higher magic resistance than most classes. Most Saber’s are knights from history, so we are more physically capable, but often the trade-off is a lack of magical prowess.”
“That’s why Rider was so confused that you could use magic!” I was elated, I got a super-strong servant and he could even break his own rules! “And that must be the reason that it’s so dangerous for Luna to remain the source of your magic, you actually use it.”
“No, that won’t be dangerous until the time when I have to use my Noble Phantasm. Until then, the amount I use should be minimal.” He flipped through the book until he came to a page that featured the strange arrow marks that were on Carrot Field’s eye. “This mark, the command seals, give the master some extra magical reserves and control so that they could survive the servant taking their master's magic combined with their own reserves to use the Noble Phantasm.”
“Yeah, I saw that on Carrot Field’s eye. Is that where mine is?” Saber chuckled and pointed to my flank, where my cutie mark would normally be. “No, It can’t be.” I turned around and, sure enough, in the place where my non-existent cutie mark would appear were the command seals. “Great. Well anyway do Riders and Sabers normally have some sort of grudge, cause that Rider seemed desperate to make you dead even when you started chucking dark blasts at him.”
“No, in most societies that utilize the Holy Grail War, the Saber is considered to be the best of the classes since they have the second highest physical strength and combined with a strong mage…”
“Right, cover all the bases. But if that’s the case, then why isn’t the Berserker class, which I assume is the strongest physically, even more wanted?” Saber smiled a little.
“Well the Berserker may have greater strength, but they sacrifice their mind. They can’t think, only fight.” he sighed, “They lose every shred of their humanity in favor of more brute strength.”
“All right, then what about Rider?” I asked.
“Well Riders tend to be pretty balanced, but they usually have a mount of some kind that they can summon, like the horse that Rider used yesterday.”
“So what about the Archer, Caster, Assassin, and Lancer classes?”
Saber laughed, “Well are you sure that you want to continue along this when we have Rider to find?”
I sat back and thought about what we knew about Rider. “What do you think he meant by ‘death is my friend and my shield’?”
“Maybe he's a ghost?”
I gasped, “That must be it!” I mentally kicked myself for not coming to the conclusion sooner. “Death is my friend and shield. If death shields him, then he’s dead already, well I mean deader than you already are. That would explain why he wasn’t hurt by you repeatedly slashing him in the side.”
“So we’re looking for a ghost rider. That certainly narrows it down some.” He pulled out what looked like a dead rabbit that had been burned some and began chewing it. “There has to be something in these books of your father’s that explains about something that odd.”
I grimaced as he continued to eat the dead creature. “Yeah, so what’s the plan for finding Rider again anyway?” As Saber continued eating, I grabbed some of the vegetables from my pack and started snacking on them. They didn’t taste very good raw, but it was better than starving. “Do we just march up to the front door of his master’s house and demand a rematch?”
Saber inhaled the rest of the dead animal. “We’re probably better off going into town and waiting for him to show up.” he said licking his lips, “We’ll also have the chance of running into other masters and possibly getting a look at their servants.”
“It sounds more dangerous, but the payoff for success is higher.” I looked over to the sleeping form of Luna nearby. She was still Saber’s magic source, something we had to fix and fast. “Maybe we can trade information on Rider to another master in exchange for figuring out how to make me your source of magic.”
Saber smiled one of those smiles that meant he was impressed. It was a smile that said that he hadn’t thought of that and was thankful for getting me as his master. “Interesting strategy, I’ve never heard of a master trying to do that before. I guess we could most certainly try it. So where’s the nearest town?”
“Near the edge of the forest.” I responded. Mother told me that Father used his wealth to have entire fields of trees and land plowed away so that he could have his castle far enough away from the town where he wouldn’t be connected to them completely, but close enough where the townsfolk could always see and admire the symbol of the Eclipse family. “The town probably saw the fire yesterday and probably recognized it as unicorn magic.” Saber gave me a troubled look, “But they won’t connect it to me. No one but Floral and Luna knew that I specialized in fire magic, or magic at all, for that matter.”
“That’ll be a good surprise if any other masters know who you are. If everyone assumes that you don’t use magic and was just given me on accident, then they’ll be more likely to underestimate you.”
I silently thanked my father, others underestimating me was the closest thing to an advantage I could have. It would at least even things out, considering that others probably still had a home to go back to or guards to throw at me. “Alright, let’s head to town then.”
Saber nodded and threw hood over his face. “Should we wake your sister up?
Every time I looked at Luna’s sleeping form, my heart ached. I had torn her from the home where she was given anything she could ever want, whenever she wanted it. I didn’t need to kill our parents, I could have left Luna with them and gone off with Saber myself. Her eyes were puffy and red from all the crying and she stirred only slightly at the noise of me and Saber conversing. I walked over to her and stroked her mane softly, “Luna, me and Saber are going to go into town for a little bit ok. Don’t you worry, we’ll be back but we need some supplies.” Luna nodded and curled herself into a ball in the corner of the cave. I threw a blanket over her and tucked her in before leaving with Saber.
The walk through the forest with Saber was quiet. My thoughts drifted to Luna sleeping soundly in the cave, unaware of the true reason for me and Saber’s leaving. Finally we reached the small town, Outskirt, at the end of the forest. The town was small, only a couple hundred people in total. The dwellings were crafted from hardened mud with thatch roofs reinforced by magic to keep out the snow. The snow from last night’s storm lay strewn in the town square. This didn’t surprise me, as the townsfolk mostly kept themselves indoors during the winter, as there were no crops to farm in the winter. For the most part they would stock up on materials for living through the winter long beforehand.
I shivered in my cloak. All I could find in the house that was fitted for me was my simple work cloak for the winter. It was simply a layer of mild fabric which barely provided any warmth. I didn’t complain largely because my companion was also just dressed in a simple cloak that covered him and nothing more. It didn’t seem to be very warm or provide much armor; something you wouldn't normally expect a knight to wear.
As we walked through the snow into the town, we noticed that there were fresh hoof tracks leading into the center of Outskirt. Following them, I noticed that in the middle of town was a large memorial, dedicated to my family and all who worked for them. Upon noticing the symbol of the Eclipse family on the banner, I motioned for Saber to hide with me behind a nearby house a few feet away from the memorial service. “How could they have already figured out that all of them were dead?” I was panicking now. I hadn’t expected to be marked dead already. They shouldn’t have known about the deaths of all who worked there unless…
“Someone saw the fight.” Saber spoke what the both of us were thinking. If someone did see the fight yesterday, then it had to be one of our opponents based on the lack of panic about a pumpkin-headed monster fighting a human. And it was safe to assume that whoever saw the battle stuck around for the encore where I torched my home and my servant killed everyone who worked there. “We should probably head back. Grab Luna and head further out, somewhere that wouldn’t have heard the news yet.”
“Could Rider have done this?” I asked.
“That's unlikely. He seems more of a frontal assault type of Noble Spirit, not the kind to engage in sneaky tactics like this. This is more of an Assassin or a particularly nasty Archer thing to do.”
“There is still the possibility that they don’t know it was us.”
“More likely they don’t know it was you, I’m probably a prime suspect.”
I grunted in anguish. The one possible element that I had to level the playing field, the lack of knowledge of my or my servant’s talents, crumbled before me. “Now we’re engaged with two servants, fantastic.”
“Like I said, Sabers are largely considered to be better servants, so everyone aims for them if at all possible.” Saber stated rather matter-of-factly. “If we want to move around I suggest that I use the servant’s shroud: an ability that will make me invisible to any non-masters.”
“How much magic will that consume?” I asked causing him to frown.
“A bit more than my simple dark blast attacks yesterday.” He responded
“Then no deal, either hide on the roofs and in the alleys or head back to the cave while I scout around.” He gave a glare, “I’m not letting you take any more magic from my sister than at all necessary, and I can handle myself to a certain extent.”
He scoffed, “Yes, when we’ve already encountered one servant whose identity still remains unknown, and we’re clearly being targeted by another servant, you want to go off on your own.” I gave him a stern look, which he returned with that smirk of his. “Alright then, I’ll hide myself as best as possible, but the second things look bad, I’m jumping in.” With that, Saber climbed his way up to the roof of the building we were next to and out of sight.
With Saber hiding somewhere, I walked out to the memorial. Many ponies there were placing roses or prayers for those who died. Below the imposing dark blue banner were pictures. The pictures were of fathers and their sons or daughters; pictures of the people that Saber and I killed. A lump formed in my throat at the sight, until I saw the picture in the middle. The picture in the middle of a memorial regarding a noble family would normally be of the head of that family or who would’ve succeeded him. But instead, in the center, surrounded by roses and a green wreath, was Floral. I broke down into tears in front of his picture, sobbing uncontrollably as ponies around me questioned if I was an Eclipse.
Just then a group of six guard ponies came into view, wearing the insignia of the Earth clan. The Earth clan was, like my family, a noble family recognized by Equestria. They were a group of powerful earth ponies and, at least in the main family branch, only earth ponies. The clan was well known for abandoning or murdering a child born unto them that wasn’t an earth pony. Any assistance that they required from a pegasus or unicorn was done by hiring commoners from the nearby town and working them to the bone with the promise of food and wealth. The guards walked up to the memorial service, thankfully without noticing me.
“What is the meaning of this, who is in charge of this service?” One screamed.
A calm older pegasus stallion walked over to the group of guards, “I am.” His voice was soft but deliberate and commanding. He wore armor from the wars of the noble families. The insignia of the storm on his plating was worn and faded, implying many years of service. On his back was a crossbow and a small dagger adorned his hoof. Many in the crowd seemed intimidated by the middle-aged pegasus, but not the guards in front of him.
“You have arranged a service for those lost in the fire of the Eclipse household yesterday, yet you appear to have the wrong picture in the center.” One of the other guards analyzed calmly.
The old stallion answered, “No, I’m fairly certain that the picture is correct.”
The guard directly in front of the stallion looked about ready to stab him to death right there, but the other, calmer guard spoke first. “Well, old one, the picture in the middle isn’t of the head of the Eclipse family, it seems to be of a common worker.” I bit my tongue, not wanting to incite trouble. I wanted to stand defiantly with the old stallion, and give Floral his due for protecting my sister to the very end of his life.
The old stallion replied, “Well that is true, the one in the middle is an old friend of mine named Floral. He and I were in the wars together and I felt that he was the one who deserved honor.”
“You little insignificant…” The angry guard began but was again silenced by his calmer friend. This time however the angry one fought back, “This senile imbecile is trying to argue that some common worker deserves a better spot on the memorial tablet than the leader of the family he worked for!”
“Yes, he was truly an honorable stallion.” The old man replied.
The calmer guard began to lose patience with the old man and stood beside his friend with his hoof dagger ready. “Whatever you may think, there are certain rules when honoring the noble dead. The head of the Eclipse family is the true hero here…”
“No he wasn’t.” I screamed. Off in the distance I could almost hear Saber wince as I got myself involved in the coming fight. “My father wasn’t a ‘hero,’ nor is he even close to as deserving of the honor of being placed in the centerpiece as Floral.” I stood beside the old stallion causing the crowd to step forward and stand near us. “This isn’t an official burial right, the old man put this together. He should be able to honor whoever he wants with the centerpiece.”
The guards surrounded the two of us, murderous intent radiating from their eyes. “Well then I suppose we’ll have to make it official, won’t we, take down the picture now or else.” The calm guard said. The angry guard gave a glare at the two of us and smiled.
“I’m with you, old man.” I said.
“No need child, I don’t fight alone.” He snapped his neck to the side, flipping his hair back. In doing so, he revealed the command seals that adorned his neck. He motioned towards one of the guards, and then something whizzed through the air. With that, two of the guards dropped dead, arrows sticking out of their necks. As the calmer guard looked around to try and identify the position that the arrows came from, the old man sprang up and dug his hoof-mounted dagger into his throat. The blood that spilled from the injured guard sprayed into the eyes of his angry friend, causing him to stagger backwards. A blast of dark energy sailed through the air, blasting another guard backwards into the one next to him, knocking them both to the ground. The angered guard rushed forward at the old man, but I turned to the side and bucked him as hard as I could, knocking him back far enough for me to use my magic to set him ablaze. As he burned like a light and the old man withdrew his blade from the calmer guard’s neck, the two remaining guards scrambled to their hooves. Two more arrows whizzed through the air, striking the two guards in the center of their heads, killing them.
It had only taken a few seconds for the old man and his servant to kill six Earth Clan guards. Even if Saber and I didn’t help, they probably would’ve been fine. I stood at the ready, waiting with horn charged, in case the old man’s servant decided to take a shot at me. The old man simply wiped the blood off of his dagger and turned to face me. “You fight well child, Floral must’ve taught you that spell.”
I retained my combat stance. The old man seemed as though he didn’t want to attack me, but the rules of the Holy Grail War would force a confrontation eventually. “Yes, he was the one who taught me magic, I consider him far more of a father than my birth father.”
He smiled at me, a warm smile. The kind of smile one would not expect on the face of a pony that had just killed several guards. “Yes, I thought I recognized it. No need to be so nervous child I do not wish a confrontation with you and your servant yet.”
I slowly relaxed myself. Saber was still watching from afar, and, knowing him, was probably trying to pinpoint the location of the old man’s servant. Based on the arrows, I could logically assume its class. “Your Archer seems pretty capable of killing me at a moment’s notice, I’d hardly call that a confrontation.”
The old man laughed. “Yes, well I suppose that your mysterious servant is hiding to protect you just as mine is me.” He reached out his hoof to shake, “My name is Storm Cloud, I worked with Floral in the wars.”
I hesitantly shook his hoof back. “Celestia Eclipse, me and my sister are the only two survivors of the Eclipse clan.”
“Yes, Archer and I saw.” Storm Cloud said softly. Panic gripped me for a brief moment before he continued, “Relax child, if I wished to make that little fact common knowledge, I would have done so.”
I relaxed again as Storm Cloud didn’t seem the type to lie. “Well I just want you to know that I wasn’t the one who killed Floral, my father did when I interrupted the ritual; my servant was meant for my sister.”
Storm Cloud seemed to tense up at my words. “A tragedy to be sure, but I thank you for standing up to the Earth Clan's thugs, possibly making you a target, albeit more than you already would be.”
My interest was piqued at the way he said that last bit. “What do you mean, I’m a target?”
Storm Cloud’s smile changed from that of a kindly old man to that of a serious business pony. “Perhaps an exchange of information is in order, you tell me a little bit about yourself and your servant and I’ll give you knowledge.”
I inwardly cursed myself for asking. If Saber were next to me he’d probably say that I was stupid for even considering. But if Storm Cloud knew who the other masters were then that would give us an edge. We’d know who to avoid and possibly even be able to deduce an attack plan. “Well I can’t honestly be expected to just outright believe you about knowing information about the other masters, can I?”
Storm Cloud whistled. “Well that is true, so as a show of trust, I’ll tell you one you should already know, Carrot Field, master of Rider.”
‘Damn he’s good.’ “Well then does the information have to be about me, or can I trade information about the others as well?”
Storm Cloud motioned to follow him as we trekked away from the memorial service. All around us, broken down houses lamely sheltered the families inside from the biting cold. Storm spoke in a low whisper, “What kind of information about the other masters are we talking about here?”
I gave one of Saber’s smirks, I had the upper hand. “Well me and my servant just so happen to have fought Rider yesterday and may have discovered a clue to his identity.” Storm gave an interested look. “I’ll say it first since you were so kind as to showcase your knowledge earlier, he said that ‘death is my friend and my shield’. We believe this to mean that he’s a ghost.”
Storm seemed to mull over the information carefully. I quietly reveled in my victory, albeit making sure to never take my eyes off of Storm. Eventually, he seemed to come to a quiet consensus and entered into a local bar. I followed in behind him, and my senses were immediately assaulted.
The bar smelled of sleaze and sadness. Many at the front of the bar sat in sullen silence, nursing each beer as though it were a dear child. Many in the seats near the entrance spoke in hushed tones and traded various pieces of contraband back and forth. “Surprised, child?” Storm Cloud asked me.
“I may have lived a life in a mansion, but I know about the dealings of the outside.” I retorted. It really pained me to think about what had befallen the ponies in this bar, why they seemed so broken. “So I gave you information, now you give some to me.” Storm Cloud sat down in the seat in front of the bartender, motioning for me to sit next to him. Once I was sitting, I made sure to adjust my cloak so that it covered the command seals on my flank. Storm Cloud brushed his hair to side to do the same for his command seals.
“Well child, considering that you had fought with him yesterday, I’ll tell you what I think that you’re dealing with.” He made a motion to the barkeep who rushed over with two fresh beers, setting them in front of us. “The Rider you fought yesterday was human, right?” I nodded, “Well humans don’t have as much magic as we do in their world; some magic, but not much.” He took a swig of his beer, drinking half of it in one gulp. “So if you’re dealing with a ghost, which it sounds like you are, then he ain’t some historical figure. He’s got to be fictional.”
Mentally I jotted that information down for later. “Alright, thank you, but what about the Earth Clan? Why would they be after me?”
“I gave you as much information as you gave me. You got to up the stakes if you want some more.” He said as he finished his beer, ordering another from the bartender. “Come on, drink up. The first few are on me.”
I grumbled as I swigged my beer. He was right, he gave me more information, and it was probably more immediately relevant than what I wanted. But still, here I was having a few cold ones with one of my enemies, and all the info I could squeeze out was cutting the list of possible suspects to Rider’s identity in half. I finished the beer in one gulp, not wanting to be outdone by some old pegasus. “Alright, name your price.”
“Your servant’s class.” He said as he chugged the second beer.
I sighed. I should have known that I wouldn’t be able to keep that secret. Mentally, I weighed the risk against the reward. If I told him my servant’s class, then he would have a foundation for guesswork on who he is. But I would know something about the Earth Clan and why they were after me. The gears finally clicked in my head, “A member of the Earth Clan has a servant!”
Storm Cloud chuckled as he started his third beer, “Took you long enough kid, but yes and I happen to know who and his servant’s class.”
Finally, some sense returned to me and I started to ask some more intelligent questions. “How do you know that, and why did you need to tell me this in a seedy bar instead of outside where we were on an even field?”
“What are you talking about. A pony can’t want to get out of the cold?”
I finished my second beer and pronounced my discovery. “Out there, we both had our servants watching from a distance, protecting both of us from attack. The second one of us made a false move against the other, our servant would be able to easily rescue us.”
Storm’s expression began to sour. “Now that ain’t the whole truth, in here we don’t have any servants watching our backs, you really so afraid without your servant?”
He was baiting me, trying to get me to slip up now that I figured it out, but I wasn’t falling for it. “Of course, you have the advantage: you’re a decorated war hero, I‘m a sheltered little teenager. It isn’t difficult to guess the winner in a one on one fight.”
Storm recovered quickly. “What, you think that I’m gonna start a fight here? Besides, your servant would come in rushing to your aid. You ain’t got nuthin to worry about.”
His accent was showing through now, I realized that I had him pinned. “Except that, according to Floral, you were trained in CQC and, more importantly, assassination techniques.” His expression soured greatly, “Both of our servants are out there ready to interfere in case one of us makes a move. But then again, all you need is one move; in fact, you’re probably using this as an excuse to try and see my servant up close and personal, you probably don’t know what he looks like and are using this as an excuse to find out since you don’t want to get in a fight yet!”
Storm slammed his drink back onto the bar, silencing the room. He let out a low growl as he stared at me. His expression was no longer that of a kindly old man, there was hatred and a killing instinct in those eyes. “Well, little one, as much as you think you know, you still don’t know who the Earth Clan guy that’s after you is.” My face fell slightly causing Storm Cloud to laugh. “Oh yeah, I didn’t mention that before did I. He’s specifically after the Eclipse master cause' you and your family are the only other noble family in the war.”
“Well now I guess I do know something.”
Storm Cloud blanched. His face went red with embarrassment, which quickly turned to anger. He stood up from his stool, causing me to do the same. He started to breathe quicker as he backed me into a corner. “Well if’n you wanted a blind fight then you should have just said so.” The dagger on his hoof gleamed in the soft light of the bar’s lanterns. He looked just about ready to jump me when the door to the bar slammed open.
A pony in a small brown cloak walked proudly into the room, following close behind her was a human man. The human wore a long white coat of pure white with splatters of red along the front. The shirt and pants beneath his coat were black with matching boots. His jet-black hair was messy and unkempt, and he wore a smug grin upon his lips. But what was stranger was that I knew the pony he followed.
“Clover?”
“Hello Celestia, of all the ponies in your father’s house, you are the one I least expected to bear command seals.” Clover spoke in a smug tone. Clover the Clever, the apprentice of Starswirl the Bearded, was not the average pony. She had a coat of lilac with a mane of sky blue. She often dressed like a commoner in small robes like the ones she was wearing; causing many to think that she was a noble with the heart of a commoner. Instead, it was because she could use her magic to keep herself at whatever temperature she wanted. I suppose I should have guessed that a great mage like her would be a master in the War.
“Shit, what do you want?” Storm was backing into the bar, even he would be afraid of facing off with Clover, servant or no servant.
“I’m not here for either of you, although if you want to start a fight with her, I’ll gladly join in.” She smiled triumphantly at him; “You may think that you could take one master in a fight with no information, but how about two?”
Storm looked to me with fire in his eyes. “This ain’t over little girl, no one makes a fool o’ me.”
Clover’s smile grew wider, “True, your down-south accent does it for them.” Storm ran out of the bar, tail between his legs. Clover walked to the front of the room, her servant trailing behind, and turned to face the majority of the patrons. “Now listen to me, you hicks.” Clover never was a good public speaker. “As you probably are unaware seven of us, the pegasus who just left, this unicorn, and myself are engaged in something called the Holy Grail War.” Murmurs washed over the crowd until her servant slammed his fist to the bar, silencing them.
“Madam Clover is speaking.” His voice was very aristocratic in nature. He sounded like Father or Mother, someone very learned and well read.
“Thank you, Caster.” she said nonchalantly, despite the fact that she just gave away her servant’s class to an opponent. “Now this War is to decide the fate of Equestria, but I do not believe in allowing such a trivial thing to, ‘rule’ one’s life.” She chuckled to herself, probably over the non-joke that the crowd wouldn’t get since she left out the part about becoming an immortal ruler. “So Caster and I are going to be running some medical experiments that will possibly revolutionize life in Equestria, and we are looking for volunteers.” The crowd seemed like it wanted to back away after she said that. “Don’t panic, we shall not force anyone, however we are offering one thousand gold pieces to anyone who agrees.”
“One thousand!” A voice said.
“She’s kidding right?” Another voice called.
“Just for doing some tests?”
“I could move out of this hole.” Voices continued rising from the crowd as all of them walked up to Caster and Clover.
“Um… Clover?” Clover turned to face me. “Not to try and pick a fight, but is it really ok for me to know your servant’s class?”
She laughed, “Of course, it’s not like you are a serious threat.” I glowered at her. “But I suppose that you certainly could make things easier for me, how about a deal?” I kept staring, hoping that I could put a dent in her ego just through sight alone. “It should be simple enough even for the unwanted bastard-child of a noble family.” Needless to say it didn’t work. “If you kill Rider and his master, then I will allow you to stay at my villa near Starswirl’s grave until the time when we must face each other in combat.”
I raised an eyebrow at her proposal. “You’re offering lodging…”
“And food and such as well, I’m no trickster Celestia.”
“You’re offering food and lodging for me to defeat someone that, by your logic of me being lesser than you, you could just as easily defeat?”
“Just because I could doesn’t mean it would be very easy, you’ve already faced Rider in battle from what I’ve heard, and therefore you know far more than I when it comes to his identity. Besides I have tests to run.” Of course I assumed that the last bit was her real reason. Clover wasn’t just some braggart; she could back up every condescending insult with sheer magical talent.
“Well even though I have fought him, I still don’t know his true identity, just that he’s a ghost and probably comes from fiction.”
Clover pondered for a second before responding. “Well then I’d check some children’s literature, perhaps ask your sister if she ever had to read anything of that sort in her education. Just know that if you do defeat him for me you just need to bring me his master’s command seals and I’ll offer you a safe place to stay, and plenty of warning before our showdown.”
“Yeah. I’ll consider it, I guess.” With that, I left the bar behind. As soon as I stepped outside I could see more ponies gathering around the entrance, ready to pledge themselves to Clover for a thousand gold. I started walking a ways out of town when Saber jumped out from the shadows. “AHHH! By the herd you scared me.”
Saber didn’t seem to care. “You told me to stay out of sight, I assumed that meant that you would stay in sight so that I could protect you. But no, you walk into a bar where I can’t see you, with another master.” He laughed to himself, “Were you trying to get yourself killed, Celestia?”
“For your information I was trying to figure something out, Storm Cloud said that someone from the Earth Clan was planning on attacking me. I wanted to know who and why.”
“So someone is planning an attempt against you and the first thing you do is attack some guards, would it really have been so difficult to lay low? What if his servant had seen me or had shot you in the confusion?” Saber was screaming by this point. I knew that he had good reason to chew me out. It was his purpose to protect me, and while I thought I was fine with Storm Cloud, he clearly didn’t show his true colors outside.
“I get it ok, I wasn’t being safe, but I did find some stuff out.” Saber halted his verbal assault. “First of all, Storm Cloud’s servant is Archer.”
“Not difficult to assert based on his precision with arrows.” Saber smugly added.
“Also, the one who went in there after him was named Clover the Clever, she’s the master of Caster and she offered us a safe place to stay if we beat Rider for her and bring her the command seals of his master.”
“Oh good, let’s blindly trust another master.” His sarcasm was starting to grate by now.
“Clover is an honest pony, she’s one of the most famous ponies around. Besides she helped me to decode some of the information that I got from Storm.” Saber looked at me with an annoyed expression. “He said that human’s don’t have much magic in their world, your world, so that means that the Rider has to be fictional, and Clover suggested that he’s probably from some children’s story, so we should ask my sister.”
Saber sighed before answering, “All right, I said I would listen to your judgment, master.”
We walked back to the cave in silence. Partly I was angry at Storm Cloud for trying to trick me into revealing Saber’s class. He was a war hero, same as Floral. The fact that he would resort to such underhanded tactics angered me. Once we got back, Luna was awake, and she seemed less scared of Saber as well. All around her were the empty and scattered food bags; all of our supplies were gone.
“Luna, are you ok?” I rushed over to my little sister and embraced her, Saber looked around the cave.
“They came…” Luna muttered, “The Horseman…. He came for you both and destroyed the food.” Saber walked over to her and me and patted my sister’s head. At first she tensed up, but as he kept patting her head, she became less frightened.
“You were very brave to stay here despite all that, Luna.”
She sniffled and cuddled up to the two of us. “The horseman said that he would be waiting at the carrot fields near the brook.”
I finally realized that my sister hadn’t been calling him Rider, “Why are you calling him that?”
“Because he’s the Headless Horseman from Sleepy Hollow.” Luna said, “That’s his name.” Saber and I exchanged looks and smiles, “What?”
I kissed Luna on the head, “Thank you. Listen we’re, going to go after them, then when we come back, we're going to stay at Clover's for a while ok.” Saber gave me that icy look. “You trust Clover, right Luna?” She nodded, “All right then, we’ll come back later tonight, ok?” Luna nodded again. I grabbed the book that she mentioned, Sleepy Hollow.
Saber and I trudged through the snow, heading to the carrot fields. I read through the book, looking for anything that might give us an edge against the Horseman. “I don’t see anything here!” I snapped the book shut with my magic and shoved it into my saddlebag. “Why can’t these books just flat-out tell us how to beat him?”
“Well we know some things, for example that ghost imperviousness is probably his Noble Phantasm.” I looked at him quizzically, causing him to laugh. “Not all Noble Phantasm’s are big flashy attacks, some of them change the user or create whole new worlds. There aren't many things that the Noble Phantasm’s can't do.”
Eventually, we reached the fields where Rider, the Headless Horseman, was waiting. Behind him was Carrot Field, shivering and scared. The Horseman was atop his shadowy mount and held his blade in his hand. “So you have arrived, Devil of the sands.” Those words made Saber tense, “I assume that you know who I am, you don’t seem like the kind to run into danger without knowing who you face.”
I stood up head high, facing Rider. “Yes Headless Horseman.” Carrot Field seemed shocked that we knew, “So this time is to the death, only one master and only one servant leaves here alive.” I prepped a spell in my horn, a weapon-enchanting spell aimed at Saber’s blades. Saber unsheathed his swords and I let loose the spell. His blades were surrounded by a blazing fire, “And you’re right, we did come prepared.”
Saber charged at Rider, jumping up and slashing at him in midair. Rider managed to block the initial strike, he backed away and started riding at Saber. I charged a fire spell and lobbed it at Rider, causing him to change course. Saber slashed at his horse and cut its legs off with the flaming blades causing Rider to tumble to the ground. He lifted off the ground and charged once again at Saber, parrying Saber’s blades and slashing at his chest.
Saber managed to back away to avoid being cut in half, but the blade still pierced his chest. The cut wasn’t too deep, only about a half-inch by the looks of it. Saber bounced back, leaping forward he slashed at Rider, managing to hit him. Blackened, smoking blood leaked slowly from Rider’s wound. “Rider!” Carrot Field called out.
“So you were prepared, I didn’t think that you had it in you.” Saber stood at the ready while I charged another spell. “Well then, I suppose that this means that the fight’s in your favor.” Saber nodded in response his stance unchanging. “Well devil of the sand, let’s see what you can do against my real power.” The area around Rider was swallowed by darkness, creating a hole in ground.
“That wasn’t his Noble Phantasm?” I screamed. Tendrils shot out of the darkness and grabbed Saber and me dragging us inside.
As my sight returned, I noticed that we were no longer in the frozen fields. All around us, a thick fog covered the area. Saber and I were standing on what seemed to be a bridge, albeit one in considerable disrepair. Aside from that, I couldn’t make any other landmarks out in the fog. “Where are we?”
Saber lifted himself off of the ground and muttered. “A Reality Marble, very interesting for a Rider.”
“What in the herd is a ‘Reality Marble’?”
“Good, you’re ok, Celestia. A Reality Marble is a type of Noble Phantasm where the legendary soul creates a representation of a world or place in time that was important to them or allows them to utilize their magic more powerfully.” He tried to walk through the fog, but couldn’t pierce it. “He’s trapped us in here.”
“This is Sleepy Hollow.” Saber gripped his blades tighter; “This is the bridge from the story, right before he disappeared…” Saber and I came to the realization at once, but it was too late. Rider burst from the fog, slashing downwards at Saber. He barely managed to avoid losing his head, but he was still hit. Rider’s blade dug deeply into Saber’s shoulder, coming away with blood spilling along the ground. Almost as quickly as he retracted the blade, he rode through the other edge of the fog and disappeared. “SABER!”
“Don’t… wor…worry I’m.” Saber choked out. “I’m ok.” I tried to think of any healing spell that would be powerful enough to seal his wound. But I had never used healing magic before, that was more of Luna’s thing. Whenever I was hurt, Luna would heal me since Floral didn’t know any healing spells and my parents certainly wouldn’t heal me.
“This is going to hurt, Saber.” I said
“Celestia, I’ve been through worse.”
“Ok, just clench your teeth.” I lit my horn aflame and pressed it to the hurt skin. The flesh seared and crackled as it burned together. Those few moments felt like hours as I tried to get the skin to stay sealed, all the while watching as Saber’s face contorted in pain. Eventually, I had sealed the wound. Saber got up and raised his blades. Just then, the ghostly Rider sprang through the fog once again and slashed at Saber’s head. This time he managed to get a proper block in, but was still knocked to the ground.
“He’s stronger now too.” Saber muttered.
“There has to be someway of beating him.” I looked all around us. The fog was seemingly all that existed in the universe beyond the bridge we stood on. ‘We can’t run, and fighting is a bad idea.’ I stood in the middle of the bridge and grabbed one of Saber’s blades with my magic. “You probably shouldn’t use the bad arm.” He nodded keeping his hurt arm close to his chest.
“Celestia, watch out!” I heard him just early enough to raise the blade in defense behind me. Rider had jumped out not from the bridge, but from the part of the fog that intersected the bridge. I blocked the attack, but the force from it sent the dull side of the blade into my neck, bruising me and flinging me towards Saber. I crashed to the ground in a heap, the sword clanging to the ground next to me. Rider once again disappeared into the fog. “He’ll wear us out soon enough, we have to come up with a plan.”
“I noticed.” I said with a wheeze. The blow had seriously injured me and gave me a real taste of how much stronger Rider was in this dimension, given that he had just knocked a sword, held aloft by unicorn magic, around like it was nothing. Unicorn magic could hold a falling tree in place while another tree fell on top of it if the caster was strong enough, and I was not a pushover. ‘He can strike from anywhere, he can disappear just as quick, and he’s strong enough where he’ll wear us out soon enough from just blocking him, not to mention he’s too fast to get a bead on for a spell or a counterattack.’ The more that was revealed about Rider, the more it looked like we were doomed. A thought rose to my head, a thought that would either let us win or kill us faster. “Alright Saber, do you trust me enough to put your life in my hooves?”
“Like I’ve said before, Celestia, I’m all yours.” Saber replied.
“Good, cause this is going to look stupid at first.” I charged my horn with a fire spell and let loose at the other end of the bridge. The flames began to greedily consume the wood away from us. We both raised a sword to protect us from a surprise entrance from Rider and waited. Rider burst in from behind us and swung at our heads. We managed to block the blow but the blade in my magic again didn’t hold this time. The blade slammed into my face as a result. Rider started to charge away only for the fire to scare his mount stopping him in the middle. Saber grabbed my blade with his other hand and jumped for Rider, piercing him through the back.
The illusion dissipated, leaving me on the ground nursing the bruise on my face. In front of me, Saber stood; his blades jammed through Rider’s chest. The shadowy horse upon which Rider rode disappeared as he clattered to the ground.
“NOOOO!” Carrot Field cried out rushing to her servant’s side. Saber pulled his blades from Rider’s chest and raised them again for the killing blow, but Carrot Field stepped in front of them. “You can’t kill him, he’s the only reason that Mommy and Daddy still love me!”
“Kid, get away from him. If we don’t have to kill you, we won’t.” I replied.
“NO.” She stood her ground, lying on top of Rider’s barely moving body. “I’ll die with him, then Mommy and Daddy won’t be mad.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked
“Mommy and Daddy always hated me, called me a bastard, called me half-formed, called me a monster.” Carrot Field’s voice started to crack as the words left her lips. “But then I summoned Rider, and Mommy and Daddy loved me. They said that they would love me forever if I won the War, so I have to win and I can’t without Rider.” She started to cry into Rider’s jacket.
With a gasp Rider spoke, “Foolish master, we cannot win.” Carrot Field looked at him, confusion and sadness in her eyes. “They defeated my Noble Phantasm without even unleashing their own, they are far and above our level. The best we can do is die with honor.” He laughed as he draped one hand over his master’s body. “Yes, the honorable death that I never received in life.” He looked over to Saber who still stood above him with swords drawn. “We aren’t so different devil of the sand, the one thing that separates us… is the way we died.”
Saber looked away, and for just the briefest moment, I saw sadness in his eyes. “That isn’t true, history would beg to differ about the honor of my death.”
Rider laughed, a heartbroken laugh. “That is only because it is the winners who write the history books, any who would read the whole story would know you as an honorable man, a true Saber.”
Saber shook his head. “I don’t deserve that classification. I’m not a knight, I didn’t die to service the royal family of some land.”
“No.” Rider responded, “Your death was much more than that. You died killing those same knights that history holds in such high regard, you died slaying knights of God. If a man like that doesn’t deserve some recognition, then I don’t know…” Rider grunted as he clutched at his still burning injury. “Kill us, give us the same death that you’ve bestowed so many times before… Devil of the Sand.”
“As you wish.” Saber replied, “You will be given the death that haunted the dreams of so many others.” With those words, he plunged his blades into both Rider and Carrot Field. “Perhaps we shall meet again in another War.”
With his last breath, Rider laughed, “For the sake of my future master’s I certainly hope not.” Rider shattered like glass; dissipating into black smoke. Carrot Field slid off of Saber’s blades and landed on the ground.
“I’ll cut off the command seals.” Saber said, leaning down and tearing the malformed skin off of Carrot Fields eye. He pocketed it in his cloak and walked over to me. I barely comprehended what I had seen. Carrot Field was the same as me, hated by the people who should have loved and cared for her. But she didn’t rebel; she stood by and took it, loving them back despite all they did.
“We should get back, we'll need some rest, we've got to go through the farming town of Ponyville tomorrow so we'll reach Clover's Villa in a few days.” To my surprise, Saber wrapped his arms around my neck, hugging me close to him.
“The first kill is always the hardest.” He uttered, “You did great, Celestia.” I sniffled as I tried to hold back the tears. A little filly, we had just killed a little filly. “If you want to… talk or something… I don’t really know what I’m supposed to say.”
“It’s alright…. I’ll be ok.”
“I was trained since I was a child to be a killer, Celestia. Just because I had no problem with this doesn’t mean that you should feel weaker for having an issue with taking a life.” Saber’s words reassured me, and his warmth comforted me.
“I have killed though: even though I never gave the order, I wanted you to kill my father and my mother.” I was crying now, the hatred and the fear gripped me.
Saber hugged me closer as he said, “I would have done it regardless, you were in danger and so was your sister. It's my job as a servant to protect you… and the only way I know how is with killing.”
I kept crying as I asked him, “Is that why he called you that… Devil of the Sand?” Saber’s face fell at my question. He wore a pained look upon his face as he tugged me closer to him, wrapping his head around the back of mine, possibly to hide his own tears.
“It’s my legend… that name is the reason that I became a legendary soul… I’m not a knight that people Worshipped, Celestia. I’m the demon that they feared.” I could feel his tears against my coat now. The two of us just stood there for a while, our tears chilling each other when coupled with the cold air.
Eventually, we went back to the cave to retire for the night. Luna was in a tizzy for a while over my injuries, but I simply told her to go to sleep. The pain from my bruises had long since faded, now only the scar left by Carrot Field’s corpse was left. Once again, Saber stood by the entrance, looking just as vigilant as ever despite his injuries. This time however, I walked up and took my place by his side.
“Master, you should be sleeping.” He said.
“Call me Celestia, and I can sleep just as well from up here.” We stood watch together for a time. Neither said a word, we simply sat in silence, awaiting an enemy that wouldn’t come. Eventually sleep found Saber. He slept with his hands over his blade's sheaths, ready for a battle to begin the second he awoke. I laid my head upon his shoulder as I drifted off to sleep myself. I was one step closer to winning the War. One step closer to becoming immortal, and to ruling Equestria in the peace and harmony it deserved. Just me, Luna, and our protector Saber.
