Runes and Mercenaries - Chapter 1 - The Deal

A man was sitting on the ground, stricken by grief. He was alone, in a dark room. The place seemed like a large storage area, Humans and Ponies running around consumed by fear. The atmosphere faded to black, and not a sound to be heard.

Many events have happened after Twilight's coronation, the big decision came to propose to the Humans of Earth to unite with Equestria to live a life together. At first the Humans only entered in small groups through the mirror in the Crystal Empire
but as time passed they became anxious to come over in larger groups. And they have. With the help of Unicorn magic and Human technology, much larger and more effective portals came to existence. And so, Ponies started to live their lives on Earth, as Humans started to live their life in Equestria.

The first years were difficult, Humans felt confused and threatened by the Equines, since they had similar creatures to Ponies but much more primitive, but as years went on things have become at ease on both sides.
Since their worlds interact together, there was a need for a Government, one that would represent and control one world.

And so the UNEE or United Nations of Earth and Equestria was established having two councils. One was the Pony Monarchy that had Princess Celestia in charge, the other was the human side, which functioned on an electoral system that has a man named Ryan Atlax in the lead. It was a simple system. Equestria supplies Earth with magic and Earth supplies Equestria with technology. But after time both worlds became spoiled and dependant on the other. Humans stored magic in machines that functioned on a principle that used magic like it was a battery while Ponies used technology to make their everyday life easier, though it was mostly for the Earth Ponies and the Pegasi since they could not perform magic on their own. And the need for both magic and power grew from day to day to a point where they couldn't sustain themselves.So, Earth's Human government began researching into ways to produce more power, when they stumbled upon an obelisk like object that seemed to posses great quantities of power. The artifact was discovered on Earth by a man known as Michael Altman. The man's fame grew after his discovery, soon he began exploiting the obelisk for its properties. He dubbed it the Marker. Everything they needed they received. Good and Bad things. For some reason the so called Marker project was shut down, due to events that happened in some facilities which details were not told the public, the only knowledge that the public gained was the fact that Michael Altman was forced to shut down every facility that was involved with the Marker project and the project was ceased by Celestia herself.

Not much was known what happened to Altman after these events. Some say he died, some that he went insane, which was the reason that he failed his project, the rest say that he changed his name and body and started a new life to get away from his failure,
but no one knew for certain. Years after the project was shut down one would think that the whole thing was forgotten. On the contrary, it was just beginning.

-----

A Unicorn walked in a long hallway, on each side there were flags and paintings representing either the Human or Pony race. The Unicorn reaches a desk where there was a woman writing something in a book. "Excuse me, my name is Vulsegardt, I was called here," the Unicorn asks.

The woman looks at her. "Ah yes, Miss Vulsegardt, representative Atlax will speak with you shortly. Take a seat." The woman points to the benches that were at the wall nearby.

Vulsegardt sits down and observes the hallway around her, she was at the Government centre in Canterlot, where both Human and Pony representatives did their business, so not to a big surprise it was always full of commotion.  

After a little while, a man approaches Vulsegardt. "Miss Vulsegardt I presume? My name is Ryan Atlax, Lead Representative, I understand you are an expert in runes and old magic?"

"Why yes, I am,"  She points towards her cutie mark, which was a a Futhark F rune crossed by a blue quill. "I don't not understand why I was called here, surely you have staff that can do any translating for you." She asks with a bit of confusion in her voice.

The man looks at her with a neutral face. "I need someone out of the Government staff for a favour, if you may. But I'd rather continue this conversation in a bit more private place." He starts leading the way, wearing a serious face until reaching a office in the back end of the second floor in the building.

Vulsegardt sits down on a chair. "And what is it that you require my help with?" She asks.

Ryan also sits down and looks Vulsegardt in the eyes. "I am almost certain that you know of the facilities that exported a high amount of power five years ago?"

Vulsegardt thinks for a moment. "Yes, there were shut down by Celestia's demand, something about the facilities being to dangerous?"

The man starts to search for something in the desk, while saying: "Yes, well, they actually weren't that much, but that is not important. We gained that power from obelisk like objects that were covered in ancient runes, you see."

Vulsegardt looks closer to what Ryan is looking for with interest. "Really? I heard that they fused some unstable stones with magic."

Ryan puts a folder of documents on the table. "No, it was something that was discovered on Earth but was not Human or your Equine origin. What those runes have to say is my interest and that's why you're here."

Ryan opens the folder showing a picture of a short bald man wearing goggles. "This is Fedor Conhanger, engineering prodigy--"

"Who discovered the mineral which could contain more magical power that anything your Government would make up with, yes. With that he created larger portals for our worlds, making our combined life much easier," Vulsegardt finishes Ryan's sentence.

Ryan smiles. "Well, looks like you have our history in check. But this man later also worked in one of the facilities which provided power through these obelisks along with Michael Altman, the man who discovered them. He lives in the Crystal Empire and works for Princess Cadence, as a portal maintainer. I want you to hire him, he used to be a simple mercenary, so he will be interested."

Vulsegardt thinks for a moment with a intrigued expression on her face. "If I may ask, would it not be more simple to ask Mister Altman for assistance?"

Ryan slightly frowns. "Michael Altman is missing. After his project was shut down in Celestia's court, he disappeared. That is why you are going to find Mister Conhanger, go to this shut down facility and examine the...Obelisk"

"If all of this was shut down by Celestia, shouldn't she also be here, since I'm going to examine runes that were locked away by her?" Vulsegardt asks with interest.

Ryan's face becomes a bit more serious. "Princess Celestia has more important tasks to attend to and so do I for that matter. I understand your grandfather worked as a Guardian of the Canterlot archives?" He changes the topic.

"Yes, I always listened to his stories of what they kept in there," Vulsegardt answers.

"Alright Miss Vulsegardt, do this favour for me and I will grant you full access to all the archives that are in Canterlot, would that interest you?" Ryan offers.

Vulsegardt becomes very interested, since she always wanted access to the knowledge that was located in the locked places of the Canterlot castle. It didn't take long for her to agree to the favour. "Alright, for that I think I may do this for you, Lead Representative Atlax."

"Please, call me Ryan, no need for big name," Ryan smiles.

Vulsegardt already smiled and imagined all the knowledge she will receive after she would gain access to the archives, but her daydream was short, as she was interrupted by Ryan. "Even though you are not part of the EarthGov, I want you to keep this task to yourself, you will report to nobody else but me. Then you will get your archives."

Vulsegardt looks at Ryan with slight confusion. "Would it be a problem if I reported to anypony else?"

"This was closed years ago and I do not wish to see people or ponies worrying about dangerous facilities, this is a EarthGov matter and you will report to me, do you understand?" Ryan explains.

In worry that Atlax might change his mind about the archives Vulsegardt agree to his demand and leave the office with the files that contained Conhanger's picture and some other documents about the facilities whereabouts.

"I'm going to get the archives," She says as she chuckles to herself. "But first, I'm off to the Crystal Empire!"