Runes and Mercenaries

"What do we do now?"

"Luna?"

"Luna, you have to talk to me!"

Luna silently looks at Bright. The group seemed to be on a grass field near a forest.

"She's gone..." Luna mutters in a sad manner.

"What the hell happened?" Fedor asks.

"I... Was called by Bright... We entered the castle and... He just shot her," Luna replies with a slightly angered voice.

"Atlax?" Vulsegardt asks.

Luna looks at Vulsegardt with an aggravated face. "He killed her!" she shouts.

"We should rather think of what our next course of action should be! Atlax is putting this on us, we will be wanted for Celestia's murder!" Bright says.

"We should find somepony we trust." Vulsegardt suggests.

"We can go to The Crystal Empire! We can trust Princess Cadence and Prince Armour," Fedor agrees.

"No," Luna answers. "We are close to Ponyville, we will go there to Princess Twilight."

"But we can go to the Crystal Empire from there, all Royal buildings have transporters of my creation in them." Fedor says.

"Transporters?" Vulsegardt asks.

"Yeah. One of the experiments with the Holder Crystal after the big gates were opened. Small teleporter pads that are stationed in Ponyville, Canterlot and The Crystal Empire. They are able to transport anyone or anything from one to another, we can take them and warn Cadence and Armour." Fedor explains.

"Seems like a reasonable plan," Bright agrees.

"Bright." Luna turns to him, "What exactly is going on?" She asks with a sad tone in her voice.

Bright doesn't answer at first. "I'm not sure..." he says after a few moments.

"How can you not be sure?" Luna asks with a raised angry voice.

"Ryan and Celestia were arguing because Ryan ordered marker related activities without her's or EarthGov's consent, Celestia was on to him and Ryan probably didn't like that," Bright guesses.

"Of course," Luna mutters as she hits the ground with one of her hooves. "He has that cursed stone with him." She says.

"Stone?" Vulsegardt asks with curiosity.

"Tirek's stone," Luna answers and sighs. "It all makes sense now..." she whimpers.

"Sense?" Fedor raises his voice. "They chopped my damn arm off, where the hell is the sense in that?!" He asks.

Bright slightly coughs. "Do you remember Brian Matthias?" He asks.

"The first human to represent Earth?" Vulsegardt asks.

"Yes. He was removed off his position because of treason. He tried to kill Celestia," Brian explains.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Fedor asks.

"It was because of that cursed stone..." Luna adds.

Bright nods, "Yes, the stone... When Tirek's hand came to Brian's possession he slowly went mad. He killed for it. Until..."

"Ryan killed him," Luna finishes Bright's sentence. "He saved my sister's life and thus he took Brian's place. We thought the stone was lost after that but, it seems we were wrong."

"And what's the deal on this, stone?" Fedor asks.

"The deal..." Bright says. "Is that this stone is far more powerful compared to the Marker. The only Marker influence found in Equestria."

"Where was it found?" Vulsegardt asks.

"The badlands," Luna answers. "Brian went too far and killed a Changeling town there to get it. The stone poisoned his mind and turned him mad with power," she says.

"A magical stone that is more powerful than one of you Alicorns? I thought your kind was top with power." Fedor asks with surprise.

"It can absorb magic from any kind of being with magic. That's why it's called Tirek's stone." Luna answers. "I could not do anything against it," she says.

"If he wants you dead, then what does he want with me and Vulse?" Fedor asks.

"We don't know," Bright answers. "But I do know we aren't safe." He looks at Luna. "We need to find Twilight," he says.

Luna nods and gets up. "We aren't far from Ponyville."

"We should be quick," Bright says. "It's only a matter of hours until we are declared as enemies to Canterlot."

Luna doesn't say anything, she begins to move in a straight line in the grass field. After a moment Bright begins to follow her.

Vulsegardt helps Fedor up. "Are you alright?" she asks.

Fedor extends his right arm and looks at it with a frown. "No, I'm not," he answers. "I feel tired, I lost alot of blood back there."

"It will be alright," Vulsegardt says as she looks at Fedor with pity.

"We just need to get to The Crystal Empire, it's gonna hurt alot but I can get my hand back," Fedor says.

Vulsegardt looks at Fedor with confusion. "What?" She asks.

"Remember when I said I had a mechanical limb replacer? Fedor answers with a question.

"Yes, but are you sure you can just do this like that?" Vulsegardt asks with worry.

"Yeah, uhm... Maybe. Never tried the hand. Takes a few minutes to put it on, the adjusting when it's on takes forever though. If we could just go there..." Fedor explains.

"We will, but not right now," Luna interferes Fedor's speaking.

Vulsegardt slightly frowns. "Can you hold until then?" she asks Fedor.

"I'll need a hand along the way," Fedor answers with a slight smile.

Vulsegardt smirks. "You shouldn't joke like that, I was scared that woman would kill us," she says.

Fedor frowns without saying anything.

"Come now," Bright says. "Let's go."

Vulsegardt and Fedor both nod and begin to follow Luna. They walk for a few minutes until Luna stops. In the distance Ponyville could be seen. A large crystal wall was surrounding the village with a small crystal castle in the corner. The group stands still and observers.

"Let's not waste time," Bright says. "We don't have much of it," he says as he begins to approach the wall. Shortly after, the rest follow him.

On the path towards the entrance a dozen of dismembered monster bodies were laying on the ground, all in a blood pool of their own.

The group reaches a steel gate, behind it there were several guards with purple armour. As the guards notice Luna, the gate quickly begins to rise up, allowing the group inside.

"Princess Luna," a Guard greets her and bows.

The group quickly move forward to the small crystal castle, past several humans and ponies. As they passed groups of villagers, many gave them strange looks, to why they are here, but most looked away after a few seconds of staring, going on with their business. Since there was no major reaction the group speculated that the news hasn't hit Ponyville yet.

Upon reaching the castle doors, Luna begins to knock on them. A few moments later the door opens. A dragon, about Vulsegardt's size stands behind it.

"Princess Luna?" The Dragon looks with surprise. "What are you doing here?" He asks.

"Hello Spike, I need to speak with Twilight, it's very urgent," Luna quickly answers.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Spike apologizes. "Twilight isn't here, she is dealing with the monsters in Baltimare, seemed pretty serious."

Upon hearing this Luna slowly turns to Bright with a great deal of worry on her face.

"Then let's go to the Crystal Empire already!" Fedor slightly raises his voice.

Spike turns to Fedor and notices that he is missing a hand, blood dripping out of his wound. "Whoa, what the heck happened to you?" He asks with shock.

"Spike you have to let us in the castle!" Luna urges the worried dragon.

"Wait, what's going on?" Spike asks with concern.

Luna ignoring spike she fully opens the crystal door with her magic and enters the castle. Fedor, Vulsegardt and Bright quickly begin to follow.

"Wait!" Spike raises his voice and jumps in front of Luna. "I can't just let you in here, Twilight isn't home."

"Don't worry, we only need to use the personal teleporting transport to the Crystal Empire. It's quite urgent," Bright explains to Spike.

"On what business?" Spike asks.

No one answers.

Looking with a suspicious face Spike raises his hand, shortly after a couple of guards come the way.

Upon seeing the approaching guards Vulsegardt panics. "EarthGov wants to hurt Princess Twilight!" She lies.

Spike looks at Vulsegardt with worry. After a few moments he raises his hand again to send away the guards. "Wh-What do you mean?" He asks.

"As I said, we need to use the personal transport to go to the Crystal Empire. Princess Candence and Prince Armour might be in danger too," Bright says.

"What about Twilight?" Asks.

"We will get to her, we need to get to Cadence and Shining fast," Luna answers.

After a thought Spike nods and begins to lead the way down a hallway. The group begins to follow. Upon reaching the end of the hallway Spike opens a metal door which had a staircase leading down. After reaching the end they find themselves in a big room which contained two terminals and five small machines on the ground.

"There they are!" Fedor says with slight cheer.

"We shouldn't waste time then," Bright states.

Fedor slowly walks towards one of the terminal.

"Easy now," Vulsegardt says with worry.

Fedor pouts. "I'm fine," he says with a calm voice. He steps to one of the terminals and begins to push buttons on it with his left hand. After a short while the teleporters begins to glow.

"Alright, step on them, we should pop up at my workshop," Fedor instructs.

"We?" Bright asks. "You're in no condition to go anywhere," he says.

"I'm going," Fedor says with a slightly insulting voice. "I can get my hand back, I-I will get my hand back!" He says with a raised serious voice.

"Your wish," Luna says as she steps on one of the machines. "Come, we don't have much time."

"What should I tell Twilight?" Spike asks.

"Tell her to meet me at the meeting place," Luna answers as her body disappears.

Slowly after Luna's transport, Fedor, Bright and Vulsegardt follow.

Just like Fedor said all of them appear in his workshop stationed in the Crystal Empire.

Fedor with relief quickly approaches a machine on the other side of the room. It was white and had what seemed to be a medical table in it. "Yes! I can get my hand back!" He says with joy as he begins to operate the machine.

"Can you stop worrying about your hand already?" Luna asks with a raised voice. "Do you have any idea what is going on?"

"It will only take a few minutes," Fedor answers.

"EarthGov has a very strong presence here, do you think we can take time for an operation?! My sister died and you want to stop because you got maimed?!" Luna says with anger.

"EarthGov can't get in here," Fedor replies.

"We can do this later!" Luna also shouts.

"No we can't! It's going to be the damn apocalypse out there and I won't die because I'm missing a limb!" Fedor shouts back.

"And what if soldiers come storming down this place, will you ask them to just stop too?" Luna asks angrily.

"No! Computer!" Fedor calls as he hits the nearby machine with anger.

A big screen in the middle of the workshop lights up. "Computer online. Welcome Fedor Conhanger. System standing by." A robot voice is heard across the workshop."

"Activate personal defences, shoot to kill anyone that isn't resident of the Crystal Empire or in this very room right now!" Fedor says.

"What are you doing?" Luna asks.

"Pending..." The computer answers. "Password is required."

Fedor pouts and approaches the computer on the other side of the room. He types in a password and all the lights in the room turn red. Three big metal boxes in the room open, inside each revealing what seemed to be a tripodal machine with two turrets on each side. Upon their activation they begin to spin left and right observing the workshop.

"Whoa," Vulsegardt says with an impressed voice.

"Sentry defences Princess. You think I'd let anyone harm me in my very home?" Fedor asks as he turns back to his first machine, with a press of a few buttons it lights up. "Limb Replacer active, welcome, Fedor Conhanger." The machine says.

Luna shakes her head and looks at Bright. "Bright, stay here." She looks at Vulsegardt, "You, come with me."

"Shouldn't I go with you Princess?" Bright asks.

"No, with my sister gone and me being accused of her murder, you will be in control of Canterlot and our side of the UNEE. I can't risk getting you taken," Luna answers.

"I'm not expendable am I?" Vulsegardt asks with a worried voice.

"No," Luna answers. "Nopony is. You two have no idea what value you have to Ryan, but I can't go up there alone," she says as she begins to walk towards a staircase.

Vulsegardt gulps and looks at Fedor. "How long will you need?" she asks.

Fedor sighs. "Activate operational procedure mode," he says.

"Select operation," the machine answers.

Fedor pushes some buttons, this makes the medical table switch with a small hole, presumably where Fedor will put his right arm. He walks away from the machine, returning with a chair to it. He thinks for a few moments as he sits on the chair. "Not long, I hope..." He answers.

"I'm worried," Vulsegardt says and sighs.

"I'll... Be okay." Fedor mutters with uncertainty.

Vulsegardt frowns and begins to follow Luna. She follows her up several stairs.

"You just stick your hand in and you get a new one if I understand this correctly?" Bright asks Fedor with slight confusion.

Fedor smirks as he removes the bandages from his hand, revealing a bloody wound. He cringes puts it in the machine. "Not really, a ton of things have to be done before an operation, but since we don't have the time, I'll have to risk it," he replies.

"You said something about an apocalypse?" Bright asks another question.

"Well... I hope not," Fedor says. "But if I'll have to fight, I want to have my both hands. Computer, begin procedure."

"Please select damaged areas to be repaired." The machine asks.

"Human. Below right Humerus." Fedor instructs.

"Pending..." The machine answers. "Beginning procedure..."

For a few seconds the machine made electrical noises. Fedor's right arm gets pulled deeper in, making the machine light up. Fedor begins to pant and after a few moments he begins to moan and curse from pain.

Vulsegardt follows Luna until reaching a metal door. "Why didn't we take the elevator?" Vulsegardt asks.

"Just making sure," Luna answers as she opens the metal door with her magic. They find themselves in a long empty corridor.

"Cadence?" Luna calls with a raised voice.

"Over here!" After a few seconds a familiar voice is heard in the distance.

With relief Luna and Vulsegardt begin to run towards the direction from where the voice was coming from. They end up in what looked like a empty throne room, with Princess Cadence sitting on the throne.

"Cadence! Thank goodness you're here, where is Shining?" Luna asks.

"Luna..." Cadence says with a sad voice. "Is it true what they say?" She asks.

Luna looks at Cadence with anger, "No! You don't believe their lies do you?"

"They said they saw you do it," Cadence answers with a saddened voice.

"Princess!" Vulsegardt says with a raised voice. "They kidnapped me and maimed Fedor!"

Cadence looks at Vulsegardt with wide eyes. "I remember you, you were here days before this happened," she says with a slightly surprised voice.

"Yes! Atlax tricked me into going to Ares and now he's trying to blame Luna for Celestia's death!" Vulsegardt explains.

Cadence thinks for a moment, but before she could say anything the doors on the other side of the room get knocked open and several armed EarthGov troopers enter. They aim all their weapons towards Luna and Vulsegardt.

A high ranking soldier steps out of the crowd. "Princess Luna, you are under arrest for sororicide." He says.

Luna steps back and spreads one of her wings, blocking Vulsegardt from vision. "I did no such thing!" Luna states with a raised voice.

Cadence looks at the soldier outside of the crowd. "Is there any proof to this accusation?" She asks.

"The accused was seen by Representative Atlax himself Princess," the soldier answers to Cadence.

"Ryan Atlax is a lying snake!" Luna shouts. "Cadence!" Luna turns to Cadence, "You can't believe their lies can you? I would never!"

Cadence doesn't answer. She stares at Luna with a mix of confusion and worry on her face.

"With two attempts so far, you might think the third one would be the charm?" The soldier raises his voice as he looks to Cadence.

Everybody stays silent.

Luna slightly tilts her head to Vulsegardt's direction. "Get out. Get Bright and your friend and leave," she says quietly.

"What?" Vulsegardt asks with worry as she looks at Luna. "What about you?"

"I'd advise you surrender Princess Luna," the soldier interrupts. "We outnumber you," he threatens.

"I will not bow to snakes such as yourself!" Luna answers to the threat.

The soldier looks at the troops behind him and nods, making everyone aim their weapons towards Luna. "Then we will have to take you by force," he says.

"You will need much more than a dozen humans with guns to take an Alicorn down," Luna replies with a smirk.

For a moment the soldier stares at Luna. He notices that Luna's horn begins to glow, he quickly turns to his troops and yells, "Take her!"

The troops begin to fire at Luna, she responds with creating a shield in front of herself, protecting her from harm, she dashes forward and uses a magical force to knock down most of the troopers, those who were still standing continued with their fire.

Vulsegardt stunned with the battle displayed before her, she slowly turns her vision to Princess Cadence. She notices that the Princess is staring at her, barely being able to stay still in the throne. "Run," Cadence mimics with her lips.

Vulsegardt turns around and begins to run back to the metal door. Upon reaching it she turns her head to check for Luna. Instead of the expected Princess she sees several soldiers running in her way. Vulsegardt gasps and opens the door, beginning to run down the stairs.

As she runs down she hears a metallic bang not to far from her, the soldiers were after her, she begins panting with fear as she is trying to escape her pursuers.

While running, Vulsegardt accidentally skips one of the steps and falls down, rolling down the stairs. Before she could get up, she felt that a heavy mass hitting her back, making her unable to stand up. She notices that a EarthGov soldier is on top of her. The soldier punches Vulsegardt several times, but is pushed away by magic. Vulsegardt whimpers and regains her stand, continuing her run. The soldier does the same.

Vulsegardt notices the end of the staircase, with fear she jumps forward as much as she could, hitting a few stacked crates in Fedor's workshop.

The soldier entering the workshop, still headed for Vulsegardt is suddenly showered in lead, Fedor's sentry defences puncture the soldier's body with several bullets before the soldier falls down and dies in a blood pool.

Vulsegardt looks towards the machine Fedor and Bright were standing by. She quickly gets up and runs to them. "EarthGov attacked, Luna said we have to leave now!" She says as she is panting.

"We can't leave now, your friend is still under operation!" Bright points to the screaming Fedor.

Fedor still had his hand in the machine and by the looks of it, he was in severe pain.

Behind them an explosion occurs, the soldiers who followed Vulsegardt were hiding behind sentry eyes, trying to destroy them.

Bright quickly pushed Vulsegardt behind Fedor. "We have to go!" He shouts.

"No!" Vulsegardt replies with a raised voice. "We can't leave Fedor behind!"

Bright shakes his head and steps near one of the sentries that were observing the staircase. He generated a shield to cover himself and the machines. "We can't wait forever!" He shouts.

Vulsegardt nods and steps behind the machine controls. It did not make much sense to Vulsegardt, only the big number eighty-seven with a percent sign next to it.

"Fedor, how much more do you need?" Vulsegardt shouts.

Fedor doesn't answer. He keeps shouting swears, probably of all the pain the machine was giving him.

Sentry defences begin to fire on the oncoming soldiers with no success, the soldiers used magical stones to conjure a shield to block all incoming fire. Slowly approaching the group the troopers fire on the sentry defences, destroying two out of three machines.

Bright unsuccessfully tries to break the enemy shield with magic bolts. With no results he panics and turns to Vulsegardt. "We have to go now!" He shouts.

Before Vulsegardt could answer she notices a grenade land not far away from where she was standing. With a horrified face she jumps back, trying to avoid the expected explosion. She conjures up a small shield around her to protect herself. The grenade pops out a strong electrical field that shocks the machine Fedor was using. The machine begins to emit error warnings before shutting down due to the damage received. A part of the machine explodes, sending a strong electrical shock into Fedor's body.

Fedor begins to scream as his entire body is being swallowed by electricity. He collapses losing his consciousness.

As the last sentry defence is being fired on, Bright steals a grenade from a soldier's belt, setting it off and throwing it into the crowd. It destroyed their shield from the inside, making the sentry defence effective again.

Vulsegardt begins to smash the machine with her magic, separating Fedor from it. She begins to pull Fedor towards the teleporter. "Bright!" She calls.

Bright turns around and jumps on a pad. "That won't hold them forever, let's go!" He shouts as he teleports.

Vulsegardt places Fedor on a pad and jumps on another. Both teleport and the group appears back at the Ponyville castle.

As Vulsegardt and Fedor return, Bright begins to smash the teleporter controls with what seemed to be a candle stand. Upon damaging the controls the pads shut down.

A few moments later Spike enters the room accompanied with two guards. "Hey, hey, what are you doing?" He asks with a raised voice.

Bright quickly steps to Spike and leans very closely to him. "Listen here boy, you must tell Princess Twilight to meet me at the meeting place, our very lives depend on it!" He says with a raised commanding voice.

Vulsegardt steps close to Fedor, looking at his right arm. Whatever Fedor was doing, something worked. His missing limb was replaced with a metallic hand. The fingers seemed to be thinner than before and above the palm there was a pressure gauge connecting Fedor's palm with his lower arm. Fedor's cut was replaced by a metal casing with a small hatch on the top. Above the casing, Vulsegardt notices blood coming out. She whimpers and tries to clean the blood.

"Wait, what happened? I thought you were off to warn Princess Cadence," Spike asks with confusion.

"They already got to the Crystal Empire," Bright answers as he begins to levitate Fedor's body. "I need to get these two out of town," He points to Fedor and Vulsegardt.

"I can give you a car," Spike offers.

"Yes, we need to leave immediately," Bright says. "You have to inform the Princess of this. They blamed Luna for doing something she hasn't done and they will use it against us."

"What did they accuse her of?" Spike asks.

Bright doesn't answer. "Just do it!" He raises his voice as he begins to leave the room with Fedor and Vulsegardt following.

Spike nods and follows Bright. The group walks down the long crystal hallway, upon reaching the exit door they notice several EarthGov soldiers already waiting for them aiming their weapons, blocking the exit.

Bright gasps and drops Fedor.

"By the order of the UNEE, Bright Judgement, Fedor Conhanger and Vulsegardt are to be returned to Canterlot," One of the soldiers says.

"This is the home of Princess Twilight Sparkle, EarthGov military is is not allowed in here!" Spike says with a raised voice as the accompanied guards aim their weapons towards the opposing group.

"Surrender the criminals or we will open fire!" the commanding soldier shouts.

Spike turns to the soldier, "Until the return of the Princess nothing wi-" Spike is cut of by fire from EarthGov's side, he gasps as he notices blood coming from his waist. He gasps and puts his hands on his wound and begins to shout, "Fire!"

Bright conjures a shield around the group as the two guards begin to fire back.

Vulsegardt begins to panic to the violence displayed to her, she grabs Fedor with her magic and begins to pull him in the opposite direction, away from the fighting. She opens a nearby window and throws Fedor through it. She quickly jumps through herself. Vulsegardt looks up and begins to examine the area where she is, she seemed to be on the left side of the castle not away from the village. Slightly relieved she begins to pull Fedor towards where she presumed was the town square, away from the castle.

"Help! Somepony please help!" She yells.

Several villagers stop and look at Vulsegardt with confusion.

In the crowd, Vulsegardt notices an human EarthGov soldier stepping out with a shotgun in his hand. The soldier quickly points his weapon at Vulsegardt. But before the soldier could pull the trigger, Vulsegardt attemtps to steal the weapon from the his hands with her magic. Unsuccessfully, she only manages to make the soldier miss, his grip was too strong to disarm.

Upon shooting, most villagers begin to scream and run away.

Suddenly in the ongoing struggle, a pot was thrown at the soldier, shattering on his skull, knocking him out.

Vulsegardt gasps and looks to the direction from which the pot flew from. She notices an Unicorn accompanied by a younger Unicorn.

"Oh thank the Godess, thank you!" Vulsegardt says with cheer. "I need help, please!"

The older Unicorn turns to the younger one. "Sweetie Belle go to the Boutique and wait there," She orders.

The younger Unicorn nods and runs away. The older one turns to Vulsegardt. "Is that human with you?" She asks as she is looking at Fedor.

"Yes, please, can you hide us?" Vulsegardt asks.

"Why did that soldier fire at you?" The Unicorn asks.

"They want to blame me for something I didn't do! We wanted to get help from Princess Twilight, but she wasn't here and they attacked the castle and I just... please..." Vulsegardt says as she is panting.

The Unicorn thinks for a moment. "Alright," the Unicorn replies. She steps next to Fedor and begins to drag his body with magic. "Help me with him, you can hide in my boutique," she says.

Vulsegardt nods with a smile and assists in dragging Fedor's body away from the small battle. They went around the city, behind the houses to avoid detection as several EarthGov troopers seemed to be entering Ponyville.

A few minutes later the group reaches a building that seemed to resemble as the mentioned boutique. The Unicorn opens the door and drags Fedor in. As Vulsegardt enters the Unicorn quickly shuts the door and closes the curtains.

"You just helped us, without even knowing who we are... Thank you." Vulsegardt says with an exhale.

"EarthGov isn't exactly welcome here and seeing them attack Twilight's castle, I'm more than wiling to help somepony get away," The Unicorn answers.

The Unicorn leads Vulsegardt, while dragging Fedor to the corner of the building where there was nothing but a small desk and a lamp on it. She moves the desk along with the carpet under it to reveal a small hatch on the ground.

The Unicorn opens the hatch and looks at Vulsegardt. "You can hide here," she says.

Vulsegardt nods and carefully moves Fedor down the small wooden stairs, the given hiding spot was a small room under the floor, similar to a basement but much smaller. It was full of fabric holders and other clothing accessories.

Vulsegardt lays Fedor on the ground and sits by him as the hatch slowly closes, taking the light away.