Runes and Mercenaries

Three knocks  are heard above.

Vulsegardt shakes her head and looks up, realizing that she fell asleep on the ground. "Uhm..." She mutters as she didn't know how to respond. "Hello?"

The hatch opens and light enters the small room. From the entrance, Vulsegardt sees an Unicorn staring down at her. It was the mare who saved her and Fedor the day before.

"You two must be hungry," the mare said as she climbed down the small staircase, while levitating a tray of food behind her. She puts down the food next to Vulsegardt. "You should really eat darling," she says.

Before answering, Vulsegardt turns around and steps to Fedor, checking his well being. He seemed to be unconscious, breathing in a slow manner.

"Thanks for the help..." Vulsegardt stutters, she didn't know her saviours name. "I'm sorry what's your name?" she asks with slight embarrassment.

"You're welcome," the mare responds with a smile. "My name is Rarity and the filly upstairs is my sister Sweetie Belle," she introduces.

Vulsegardt smiles. "My name is Vulsegardt and my friend is Fedor, thank you again for saving us," she says. "But, why did you help us, if I may ask? You don't exactly know us," Vulsegardt asks.

"Well, since Brian Matthias, EarthGov isn't exactly welcome in Ponyville you know. And seeing them barge in here shooting at Twilight's castle made everypony panic. That's when I saw you dragging you friend out of there, makes sense that the only right thing would be to help," Rarity answers.

"So you helped us, because you don't like EarthGov?" Vulsegardt asks.

"You can say that," Rarity smirks.

Vulsegardt gently shakes her head and turns back to Fedor. She begins to faintly shake his head in attempt to wake him up, but nothing happens. In worry, Vulsegardt begins to shake in a faster manner, with again, no success.

"Is he alright?" Rarity asks with slight doubt.

"Yes, he's fine! He's still breathing, he's fine," Vulsegardt answers with worry.

Rarity quietly cringes as she approaches Fedor, observing his recently replaced limb. "Why were those soldiers shooting at you in the first place?" she asks.

"EarthGov tricked us into doing something, then they beat us," Vulsegardt answers with a slight delay.

Rarity looks at Vulsegardt with wide eyes. "Why would they do such a horrible thing?" she asks with disgust.

"I don't know. Princess Luna got us out. We came here, because we thought it would be safe here, guess we were wrong," Vulsegardt says and sighs.

"Yes, I've seen you with her yesterday. Were you headed for the castle?" Rarity asks with curiosity.

"Yes," Vulsegardt answers. "We were trying to find Princess Twilight but she wasn't there. Next thing you know EarthGov was right behind us, shooting," she says.

Rarity thinks for a moment, examining Vulsegardt and Fedor for a second time. "You're looking for Twilight?" she asks.

"Yes," Vulsegardt answers with a nod.

"I'm sorry to say but, Twilight isn't in Ponyville. She left to Baltimare due to this, disease," Rarity says with a frown.

Vulsegardt sighs and sits down. The fear in her head was overwhelming, a week ago she was happily trotting down Canterlot with no worries and now she was running away from the government.

"You can stay here until she comes back, if you want," Rarity offers.

Vulsegardt takes a deep breath and shakes her head. "Celestia is dead," she says with a dark tone.

Rarity looks at Vulsegardt with confusion. She wasn't certain if she was crazy or not, but seeing Vulsegardt with Luna earlier made her think again. "So it's true. How could this have happened?

"An UNEE representative killed her," Vulsegardt answers. "They were holding me and my friend, beating us, they even took his arm," she goes on as she points to Fedor.

Rarity quietly gasps, "How vile!"

"He tried to replace it with a metal hand of some sorts, but he got injured in the process and he hasn't woken up since," Vulsegardt says with a sad tone. She was angry and scared at the same time. "What would grandpa think if he knew what I got myself into," she thought to herself. "I hope he's safe..."

"Darling," Rarity begins to speak while looking at Fedor. "Not to be rude or anything but, can we trust him?"

Vulsegardt gets up and looks at Rarity with a slightly agrivated face, "Of course we can! He saved my life! I'd be dead if it wasn't for him!" she responds loudly.

"You're right, I'm sorry," Rarity apologizes. "It's just that humans can be so aggressive, just look what they did to you," she says.

Vulsegardt pouts and turns back to Fedor. Although Rarity had a valid point, she couldn't ignore the fact that he saved her more than once. "Not all humans, it's only one that's corrupt," she says back. "And our luck just has it that the corrupt man has power," she says with a slightly angered voice.

"What if he turns?" Rarity asks.

Vulsegardt looks at Rarity with slight shock. Up until this point she hasn't realized that the dead transform to the monsters that have been chasing her and that she also could turn, if she was killed by one of them. "No," she said. "He is still breathing and his hearth is beating, he isn't dead," she says as she pouts.

"Then..." Rarity begins to speak. "When is he waking up?" she asks.

Vulsegardt thinks for a moment. She has no idea when Fedor will be waking up, the machine in the Crystal Empire seemed to have damaged him very badly. "I don't know, but you are not throwing him out," she responds with slight hostility.

Rarity looks at Vulsegardt slightly insulted but takes a deep breath and puts on a faint smile. "I don't want to throw him out, he's defenceless. But he isn't safe here, I have a friend where he could stay with until he wakes up."

"But he could wake up any moment!" Vulsegardt says as she slightly raises her voice.

Rarity cringes to Vulsegardt's statement pointing to Fedor's makeshift arm. The casing that connected his arm with the metal replacement seemed to be dripping blood.

Vulsegardt approaches Fedor and cleans the blood away with her hoof. "Well, he needs to see a doctor then!" she says loudly.

"With the Government looking for you? No, no, you can't have that, we have to get him out of town, you can stay here and tell Twilight what you need to say." Rarity insists as she declines Vulsegardt's request.

"Out of town?" Vulsegardt asks with a raised voice.

"I have a well protected friend not too far from Ponyville, we can take your friend there and have a doctor check him away from the soldiers," Rarity explains.

Vulsegardt thinks for a moment. This mare was being suspiciously nice. She looks up to her and asks, "And what do you gain from this?"

Rarity doesn't answer right away. She slowly tilts her head down, which sends Vulsegardt into worry.

"This happened before..." Rarity says as she stares at the ground. "EarthGov barged into Ponyville looking for a human. I saw him but didn't help him." She pauses and takes a deep breath before continuing, "If I would have helped him then, many bad things could have been avoided..."

Vulsegardt slightly shakes her head. She wasn't sure if this was just some story to cover up something she's hiding or that she's telling the truth. "She probably wouldn't take us in just to turn us in, that's stupid considering she attacked a soldier," she thought to herself. She looks up to Rarity, "I'm sorry, I should be thanking you, not act ungratefully," she apologizes.

Rarity smiles. "Don't worry, you're welcome. But I'll be honest, if I didn't see you with Luna yesterday, I would take you for a criminal and knocked you out," she says with a faint chuckle.

"Hmph, fair enough I suppose." Vulsegardt answers. "Where will you be taking him?"

"I have a friend who owns a farm a bit away from Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres, if you ever heard of it," Rarity explains.

"Sweet Apple Acres?" Vulsegardt thought to herself. "Isn't that the farm with the electric fence around it? Applejack's farm?" she asks.

"You know Applejack? You aren't from around here are you? Cause I've never seen you before, " Rarity says as she looks at Vulsegardt with slight surprise.

"Yeah, me and Fedor stayed there not to long ago. Applejack and her brother saved us actually," Vulsegardt answers.

"Ah," Rarity nods, "That's good then, I had plans to visit Applejack for a while now, maybe I can convince her to smuggle your friend out," she explains as she begins to climb the stairs out of the room.

"Thank you Rarity," Vulsegardt repeats herself with a smile.

Rarity stops on the middle of the staircase. She looks down with a worried expression on her face.

"Are you alright?" Vulsegardt asks with worry.

"You're Saegward's granddaughter aren't you?" Rarity asks without making eye contact.

Upon hearing this Vulsegardt widens her eyes. Saegward was the guardian of the Canterlot royal archives, as well as her grandfather. "How do you know him?" she asks.

"Well," Rarity looks at Vulsegardt, "He is the guardian of the royal knowledge. But I've met him personally. He was here often, ordering dresses," she answers in a slow matter.

Vulsegardt looks at Rarity with confusion. "Dresses? He never was into fashion, so this kinda confuses me," she replies.

"He had a project with a human some time ago, they mentioned you too..." Rarity says.

"Is that why you helped us?" Vulsegardt says as she interrupts Rarity.

The white unicorn faintly smiles. "You really should eat," she says as she leaves the room, closing the hatch behind her.

Vulsegardt sighs and picks up the tray of food with her magic. She begins to eat, but stops after a few chews. She lays on the ground and stares at the ceiling. "What is going on?" she asks herself. "So much for those archives..." she sighs and looks at Fedor. After a few seconds of watching she sighs again and shakes her head.

A sound of the front door opening and closing can faintly be heard. "Probably Rarity leaving for Applejack," Vulsegardt thinks to herself, "Second time we'd be storming there, I wonder what they are going to think... Then again, I wonder why this Rarity is so much willing to help us." Upon thinking this she becomes worried. "No, selling us out would be stupid after attacking a soldier, ugh, what is happening?" she thinks with frustration.

After ten minutes of moping Vulsegardt notices a faint light coming from above. Someone opened the entrance hatch, but it wasn't Rarity. It was her sister, Sweetie Belle. She opened the hatch and put her head through the entrance.

Vulsegardt moved her eyes to her. They both stared at each other until Sweetie began to speak, "What happened to your friend?" she asks.

Vulsegardt for a few seconds, looks at Fedor then shifts her head back at the curious filly. "Shouldn't you be upstairs? I bet Rarity wouldn't like you speaking with us."

"You're not bad are you?" Sweetie asks after a short pause.

Vulsegardt faintly snickers. "If we were bad, then your sister probably wouldn't have taken us in," she answers.

"Well, that human was here before," Sweetie says as she points at Fedor. "I think..." she begins to doubt.

Vulsegardt looks at Sweetie with slight surprise. "Could be, do you know him?" she asks with curiosity.

Sweetie thinks for a moment. "I saw him on TV once too," she says.

Vulsegardt frowns as she stops taking Sweetie Belle seriously. She thought to herself that it would probably be best not to tell someone her age things that she went through, since she seemed to be of age fifteen or so.

The young mare goes curiously down the stairs to check her sister's visitors. She stops at the end of the stairs and looks at Vulsegardt with a worried expression on her face. "Is he going to be alright?" she asks.

Vulsegardt doesn't answer right away. "Your sister is going to get a doctor for him," she explains.

"How did he lose his hand?" Sweetie throws out another question.

Vulsegardt pouts. As she didn't have enough on her mind, now she has a filly reminding her of the problems she was trying to shake her mind of. But before she could say anything, she hears the front door open and close. Keeping her mouth shut Vulsegardt moves to the edge of the room, as she didn't know who entered.

"Sweetie Belle?" Rarity calls.

"I'm here!" Sweetie yells as she retrieves back upstairs.

Vulsegardt with relief slowly follows her. She needed a second for her eyes to adjust to the light again, but as soon as she regained vision, she noticed Applejack, Rarity and Big Macinsotsh standing in front of her.

The group silently stare at each other until Rarity begins to speak, "They came in with Luna and Celestia's right hoof yesterday looking for Twilight. That's when the shooting began."

Applejack's expression becomes less judgemental as she begins approaching Vulsegardt. "You alright?" she asks with concern.

"...No," Vulsegardt answers.

"It's alright, you're safe now." Applejack tries to reassure Vulsegardt.

"They beat us..." Vulsegardt says very quietly and looks on the ground.

"Sweetie darling, go upstairs, would you?" Rarity says as she turns to her sister.

Sweetie Belle nods and slowly goes away.

"Vulse, where is Fedor?" Applejack asks.

Vulsegardt doesn't answer.

"Downstairs, over there," Rarity says and points towards the hatch.

Applejack nods and looks at her brother. He nods back and heads downstairs. A few seconds later he returns with Fedor still unconscious on his back.

"We're gonna take care of your friend here, why don't you stay and tell Twilight what's going on when she comes back?" Applejack says with a faint smile.

Vulsegardt nods. Coming from Applejack, the offer seemed much more sincere than it did from Rarity, since she already found Applejack trustworthy. "That would be nice," she says.

"Rarity here will take good care of you, ah promise," Applejack says with a positive voice. "But you have to stay out off of sight until you can see Twilight."

Vulsegardt raises her head and asks, "Why?"

"Ponyville is full with EarthGov soldiers, best keeping a low profile til Twilight comes, she'll probably throw every single one out herself with what they did at the castle yesterday," Applejack explains.

Upon hearing this Rarity sighs and sits down on a nearby sofa.

"They seriously injured Twilight's right hoof and a couple of her guards. She probably won't take that lightly," Applejack continues with slight worry.

Big Macintosh interrupts the conversation with a cough to gain attention as he begins to speak, "AJ, we gotta go before those soldiers come back, they're swarming."

Vulsegardt becomes worried, "You're leaving already?"

"It's best to. Me and Big Mac hid a cart of fresh fruits and vegetables behind the boutique. We can hide  your friend and smuggle him out of Ponyville. Then we can call the doc up to the farm," Applejack explains with haste.

"And why would so many ponies be interested in helping us? After we were declared murderers?" Vulsegardt asks cynically.

"Nopony in Ponyville likes EarthGov. And most seen you with Luna, the word spread faster then an infection of Parasprites. If you get Twilight's support, which you probably will it will be only a matter of time before she goes to a dimensional transporter and storms on Earth's government," Applejack replies.

To Vulsegardt it felt like a huge burden being removed from her mind. Once its proven that Ryan has had Celestia killed, she could finally wake up from this nightmare and get some peace. "Thank you, you're saving my life here," she says with a grateful smile.

Applejack nods and smiles back. "You take care now, probably best if you stay inside," she instructs.

"Alright," Vulsegardt replies.

"Okay, let's go Big Mac," she says as looks at her brother. "Take care Rarity," she says and leaves out of the front door.

Rarity stays silent.

"Eyup," Big Macintosh replies and follows.

As the front door closes Applejack and Big Macintosh quickly move behind the boutique where a wagon was placed. It was big enough to hold a large number of fruits and vegetables and probably a human. As Big Macintosh places Fedor in the half full wagon he looks at him with slight concern.

"He isn't dead right?" Big Mac asks.

Applejack sighs and moves to Fedor. She puts her hoof next to his face. "Well, he's still breathing, so I reckon he's okay. Come on, throw groceries on him, we ain't got much time!" she says quietly.

Big Mac nods and both he and his sister begin to place fruits, vegetables and empty sacks on Fedor to cover him up.

After Fedor is buried under all the groceries Applejack looks at her brother and asks, "He can still breathe right?"

"I think so," He replies as he attaches the wagon steer to his back.

"Alright, now move slowly and casually we need to blend in," Applejack says as they begin to move.

They begin walking down a road away from Rarity's boutique. They entered the village, passing what mostly seemed like a dead town. Most houses were closed down and had a black flag above their entrance door, probably to show grief to the recent events. "Everypony is hiding inside terrified, no wonder we haven't sold much today," Applejack complains.

Just when it seemed like an easy path to the gates a small group of EarthGov soldiers appear from the corner heading towards Applejack and Big Macintosh. Since they didn't seem alarmed, both Apples remained calm and stopped.

One of the human soldiers pulls out three small photos from his pocket and almost shoves them into Applejack's face. It were pictures of Fedor, Vulsegardt and Bright Judgement. "Have you seen anyone in this town that matches the description on these photographs?" He asks.

"They were here yesterday," Big Mac jumps in before Applejack could say anything.

The soldiers turn their attention to the brother. "And have you seen any of these people recently?" one of the soldiers asks.

"Eenope," Big Mac responds.

"Make sure to report to the nearest EarthGov station or officer if you do. Have a nice day," The soldier grunts as he leaves along with his group.

"Phew, that sure went better than expected. Thanks brother," Applejack says with relief.

"Well, you are a terrible liar," Big Mac jokes as be begins moving again.

Applejack smirks, "Ha. It wasn't called the element of honesty for nothin you know."

After a small chuckle they moved on trying to act as casual as possible to avoid getting attention from the big number of EarthGov soldiers that were constantly around them. They reach one of the Ponyville wall gates. Surrounded by Ponyville guard they are again halted by authority.

A friendly looking earth pony guard approaches Applejack and Big Macintosh. "Hey guys, done for today?" he asks.

"Yeah, gotta get home before dark. I hate leaving Apple Bloom alone," Applejack says with a worried voice.

"Of course," the guard says with an understanding voice. "Krater! Open the gates!" He yells to a guard in the watchtower.

A few seconds later the gates begin to rise.

"Be careful out there guys. Things are getting crazy, its almost every town for themselves. You're lucky you got a fence protecting your farm." the guard says as he escorts Applejack and Big Mac through the wall.

"Thanks Caramel, we will." Applejack replies with a smile.

"Halt!" A voice is heard and not long after an EarthGov soldier follows. "You haven't inspected these people guard," he says to the wall guard named Caramel.

"Inspection?" Caramel asks. They are just merchants.

"Top order from EarthGov. All Ponyville residents must be halted for inspection and questioning about the criminals that arrived here yesterday," The soldier explained.

"Hey! What's taking so long?" A yell is heard from the watchtower.

The EarthGov soldier turns around and focuses his attention to the watchtower. "These people are being halted for inspection," he says.

A human looks out of the watchtowers windows and begins to yell,  "Inspection? How about you Canterlot assholes go from where you came from and stop bothering us, opening the gates attracts the dead. But I'm sure you wouldn't know anything about that."

"Krater, not again!" Caramel shouts.

The soldier looks up to the human guard staring down at him. "Are you disobeying a direct order from EarthGov?"

"You sure as shit I am! Just who the hell do you think you people are coming here shooting at us good folk? The gates are going down, there ain't no time for your bullshit. Keep stalling and these merchants ain't getting home alive," the guard named Krater insists.

As the two soldiers begin to argue Caramel approaches Big Macintosh. "Great, Krater is at it again." He says and sighs.

"Ugh, not to be a drag, but we really should be going," Big Mac says being slightly nervous.

"Ah, we should wait to see what they want," Caramel reluctantly says and leans against the cart.

As Caramel leans on the cart he notices something that wasn't a food product in the wagon. With curiosity he moves a few products, noticing Fedor's fingers sticking out. With shock, Caramel turns to Big Mac and begins to silently speak, "Big Mac, what the hay is this?"

Big Mac turns to the confused guard. "Caramel, you have to let us through, EarthGov killed Celestia and now they want to blame it on Luna!" He answers quietly.

"Is this the man that came with Luna yesterday?" Caramel asks as he stares at Big Mac.

Big Mac nods. "He can speak with Twilight when she comes back," he says.

"How can you even be sure of this?" Caramel quickly asks.

"Rarity said she knows him. And they were with Luna yesterday trying to find Twilight. Who are you gonna trust, our protectors or some humans with guns?" Big Macintosh answers with a question.

"I will come down there and beat your ass if you don't get the hell back in right now! We already got enough wounded from your stupid ass shoutout, we don't need the dead on our walls again!" Krater shouts back at the EarthGov soldier.

"You won't be screaming like that when I report this to your officer!" The EarthGov soldier threatens. After a grunt he turns to Caramel and asks, "Do these people have any connections with the criminals reported from yesterday?"

Applejack's and Big Mac's hearths were beating like they just ran a marathon, Caramel's word could practically end their lives.

After a little while Caramel shakes his head and answers, "No, just simple food merchants. Locals."

The guard pulls out the photographs of Vulsegardt, Fedor and Bright Judgement. And just like the guard before, he asks the same question, "Have you seen anyone on these pictures in the past twenty-four hours?"

"We already said we didn't to the last soldiers," Applejack says with a slightly nervous voice.

"Very well then. If you do, be sure to contact us," The soldier says and leaves back into Ponyville.

"Thanks," Both Applejack and Big Mac say as they begin to distance away from Ponyville.

Caramel sighs as he re-enters Ponyville. Shortly later the gates come down, closing the way.

"Would you believe that asswipe Caramel? They come here acting like we shit in their cereal or something," Krater complains as he climbs down the ladder.

"Hey Krater, do you really think  Luna killed her own sister?" Caramel asks with a calm voice.

"What?" Krater asks with slight surprise. "Not really, it doesn't make any sense, sure raised a big storm though." he answers.

"How so?" Caramel asks.

"I heard they killed the royal dragon, when Twilight comes back home, shit is gonna hit the fan.

"Good," Caramel replies. "At least now I know I haven't done a mistake."