//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: The Lost Ones // by Arceaion //------------------------------// Authors Note: Hello Everyone; most of you that follow my stories and read the comment section will know that for the past several months I've hinted that I've been working on several stories behind the scenes, stories that up till now I've kept hidden and only hinted at. Well that time has ended. Today I'm announcing officially announcing the first of four new stories that I've been working on for several months. This is the first to be released as it's the most ready for audience viewing. The Second will be released after I have completed the first arc of my story Lost Dreamer. The final two will be released at some point after the second one but I have not yet determined when. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this new story. Sincerely, Walter D. Arceaion Eris growled as she stood in the line of the anime convention; she didn't even want to be here but her brother had gone missing last year and this was the last place he had been. As Eris stood waiting in the line she felt her left eye socket acting up and she rubbed it through the eyepatch she wore, as she stopped rubbing the socket she finally reached the front of the line and she stepped through the entrance immediately heading to the area set up for shops and began walking around. She had spent months looking for her brother till one of her old army buddies sent her a letter explaining where he had gone. At first she thought he was crazy or at least making fun of her but after she contacted him and he explained the evidence she decided to at least humor the old bastard. As she looked around she spotted her target and carefully walked up to him pretending to peruse his wears till she was noticed. "Ah, welcome!" He said with the gruff cheery tone that the Resident Evil Merchant was known for. "I can see from your eye that you're looking for something specific." he said as his tone becoming mischievous. "Where's my brother?" Eris growled receiving a surprised look from the merchant. "I know you know where he is so I'll ask again, where is my brother?" She said coldly and for a moment she felt a flash of heat run through her missing eye. The Merchant looked around however no one was really paying attention to them; after he saw no one looking he leaned to Eris and smiled. "I'm surprised you had the nerve to track me down." He said with a smile. Eris grit her teeth and glared at the merchant. "Just give me back my brother, please." She asked her voice breaking at the end. The Merchant looked at Eris for a moment before sighing and leaning back. "You really love him don't you?" He asked receiving a nod from the worn out woman. "If you were able to find me so easily then I'm sure you know where he went." He said causing Eris to seemingly break, her shoulders slumped and she seemed to deflate entirely in sadness. "He always did want to go to Equestria, 'a world far happier than here', he always said." She replied sadly. The Merchant nodded. "I can't bring him back but, of course, I could always send you to him." He said his trademark smirk returning to his voice. "Of course you might end up in the Equestria he went to or another but it's still a chance." He commented. Eris seemed to ponder for a while before pulling out her card and placing it on the table. "I'll look around and see what you got." She said as she moved away and looked at the merchants wears. As Eris looked she thought about what would be most useful in her potential new world and after considering she moved to the weapons looking at them and finding four items she felt would prove a major advantage in any fights. The first she grabbed was Ea: Sword of Rupture next she took Caliburn: Golden Sword of the Victorious and its scabbard Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia; they were all from the anime Fate/ Series. Finally she grabbed the massive double helix sword of the Fierce Deity from Legends of Zelda Majora's Mask. After grabbing the sword she moved to the ranged weapon selection and smiled as she saw her two favorite weapons in the entire Fallout series; the Hécate II anti-materiel rifle and Ranger Sequoia, both being the most famous weapons used by Veteran Desert Rangers. As she picked up the weapons she instinctively cocked the rifle and pulled the cartridge out to check it and finding it empty reached for a magazine before realizing where she was and quickly placing the cartridge back in its place and sliding the bolt in. "You know, we do have a set of Veteran Desert Ranger Armor in the back." The Merchant called out happily causing Eris's face to go redder and she quickly moved to the counter and set the items down on the counter for the Merchant to ring up. "Will that be all or would you like a few more items?" He asked with a smile. Eris frowned before looking around the shop and seeing a few more things she would like to get. "Yes, how much for that Veteran Desert Ranger Armor you mentioned and the Berserker Armor on that stand?" She asked pointing to the iconic armor that was displayed on a mannequin. The Merchant smiled and went over to remove the armor from the mannequin it was on before bringing it over to her and then disappearing into the back to return with the Ranger Armor and a small jar. "I have one more item that I think you may find useful." He said with a cocky tone as he set down the jar showing what looked like a white marble however it had the ouroboros symbol from Fullmetal Alchemist on it. "Since you are buying so many weapons and that rifle is rather long range I give you, The Ultimate Eye!" He said with a flourish. "Figured that you must have lost your eye or something given you're not wearing a costume and still have an eyepatch on. Eris stared at the eye as she unconsciously rubbed the cover of her left eye. "Yeah, lost it during one of my tours..." She muttered off handedly. "Part of why I was forced to retire." She said before shaking her head and snapping out of it of her trance. "Fine how much will all this be?" The Merchant smiled as he took the card and swiped "It let see here that'll be... 3,009.46$, would you like anything else?" He asked with a smile. "Maybe something to store the extra armor in but aside from that, no I'll be wearing the Berserker armor out." She said. "Ea is the Key to the Gate of Babylon, all your weapons and armor will be stored within its Vault though you still have to manually put the armor on." He said as he placed everything except the Eye and berserker armor in bags and passed everything to Eris with a smile. "Changing rooms are in the back, I hope you enjoy your purchases." He said as Eris took the bags and grabbed the armor and eye with a nod as she went and entered the indicated room. As Eris entered the room she quickly strapped the chest plate and legging on before knelling down and pulling on the boots. As she rose she grabbed the gauntlets and pulled them on before reaching for the jar and unscrewed the lid to it. As she grabbing her new eye and pulled it out she examined it carefully before taking a deep breath and flipped her eye patch up. As she reached for the eye she quickly realized she should have done this when she wasn't wearing the gauntlets and cures herself as she struggled for a moment before finally managing to grab her old glass eye and popping it out with grunt. Before she placed the new eye in she examined it one more time before sighing and lifting it up to the empty socket only for tendrils to shoot out of it and in to her where they dug in to her severed nerves causing her to scream as the eye pulled itself in, small arcs of red lightning shot out of her face like the Homunculus had in the anime when they were regenerating. Eris screamed as she felt the eye enter her socket where the pain began to spread out from just her eye to her whole body causing her to collapse in agony till she finally passed out, the last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was a glowing red transmutation circle that looked like the one for Human Transmutation. Twilight frowned a she walked through the Everfree forest, there had been a massive magic disturbance last night and She had tracked where it originated to the ruined of the Everfree Castle. As she reached the castle she felt the magic from last night thick in the air as well as something else, it was almost a sense of dread. Twilight grit her teeth and pressed on crossing the rope bridge and entering the castle. As she walked through the ruins feeling for the source of the disturbance she began to smell something like wet iron and when she reached the old throne room her eyes widened as she realized what she had smelled, it was the smell of blood. Twilight quickly ran over to the mess and examined it staring in shock at what she found. What looked like an extremely powerful spell matrix had been carved into the ground of the throne room and lying at the center was the body of a woman. The woman was covered in blood however her pale skin and mane seemed to shine through the dried crimson. The woman also wore a suit of heavy armor and around her left eye was an eye patch. Strapped to her waist was a ornately fashioned scabbard with its sword still sheathed in it while on her back was a second massive sword that was made of two separate blades twisted together into a double helix that seemed far too large to be used properly. Twilight paled and ran to the woman kneeling down and looking her over in fear as she felt for a pulse and found one though it was very faint. Quickly she rose and turned only for somepony to grab her, in shock she turned and looked down to see the mare had woken and somehow grabbed her wrist. The woman looked at her with a half focused silver eye before her grip slackened and she closed her eye again as her arm went limp. Twilight knelt down and took a deep breath before grabbed the half dead mare pulling her up and wrapping an arm around her turning back the way she came and heading toward Ponyville.