The Silver Pocket Watch

Chapters

A Glimmer In The Shadows
Getting Adjusted
Dreams And The Truth

A Glimmer In The Shadows

The nights of Canterlot were cold and bitter, it was like this all year round. But, it didn't deter the princess of the night from going on her nightly stroll. The night sky was just too beautiful from the castle grounds to spend it sitting indoors, alone. As much as Luna would love the prospect of having a friend to enjoy it with, alas it was not possible... for her anyway.

Luna was antisocial, and hard to get along with for most ponies. It was almost as if she wasn't a pony at all, personality wise, that is. She was kind, and benevolent... but unlike her sister, she was stubborn and very old fashioned. But, in the many years Luna has spent on her lonesome, she has honed her duty of creating the night sky to a fine art. She had an eye for detail. Each night as she would lie awake, staring at the stars, she would set to work making the Equestrian sky look even more beautiful.

As Luna made her way around the Canterlot gardens, a glimmer in the shadows of a nearby shrub caught her eye. Curious, she made her way over to the source. Reaching out with her magic, she pulled the shrub back to make clear view of what was hidden beneath. It was a pocket watch! Luna was mildly surprised to find such a thing here, surely the ponies of Canterlot would be more careful than to let a precious looking item such as this, disappear from sight.

Luna lifted the small device up in her magical grip, turning it around to inspect it fully. The design, which seemed to be a dragon of some sort, was unlike anything Luna had seen before. It must be an original piece. It was made of silver too, quite a rare substance in Equestria. Whoever owned this was surely of high stature, "Hmm..." she hummed softly to herself, "I should take this fine piece with me, surely somepony will reclaim it..." with a brief snort, she whipped around and trotted back towards the Castle entrance.

Unbeknownst to the night princess, there was a low moan, that of agony coming from the tree above the shrub.

______________________________________________________________________________

Princess Luna shuffled uncomfortably around in her bed,’ugh, mornings… how I hate you so...’ she thought to herself, groaning as she pulled the duvet over her eyes to shield them from her sister’s accursed sun.

“Wakey, wakey Woona…” came a small whisper in Luna’s ear, in turn causing the dark blue pony to shriek and jump in the air, “Hehe, oh Luna, how I love your tendency to scare easily!” Princess Celestia jested with her sister, with a smirk.

Luna looked at her sister, and with a huff shot her a vicious glare, to which Celestia burst into an even bigger fit of giggles, “Sister, must you be so energetic in the mornings? I honestly do not know how you do it.” she sighed, and looked at her sister, who still sat with a goofy smile on her face.

“Now, now Luna dear. You know that we must look our very best for our subjects, and that means you should get a good night’s sleep!” she bopped her sister’s nose playfully. Luna scrunched her nose, and rubbed it.

“Okay dear sister, just give me a moment as I get ready.” Luna stated, giving her sister one last look of faux anger. Lighting up her horn, and with a flash, her mane and tail looked immaculate as usual. She made her way across to a glass case, in which held her regalia, taking off the security spells, and swiftly gliding it off it’s pedestal and placing it upon herself.

As she placed the chest piece on, Celestia noticed something hang out from behind it. Curious she trotted forward, and with a swift glow of her horn, pulled whatever it was out. It was a silver pocket watch, “Luna, what is this?” Celestia asked, confused.

“Hmm? Oh, yes… I found that in the gardens last night, whilst on my nightly stroll.” Luna watched over as her sister examined the watch, “Quite the work of art, is it not?” she asked, smirking at her sister’s sudden interest.

“Yes… I must say, Luna, I have never seen a pocket watch quite like this before. It’s quite marvelous.” She hovered the watch back over to her younger sibling, “You should continue holding on to this, in the case of somepony wanting to reclaim it. We certainly wouldn’t want something such as this going ‘missing’ in the lost and found.”

“Our thoughts exactly, dear sister.” Luna took the watch and tucked it behind her chest plate once again, “Now then… off to breakfast?” she looked questioningly over to the sun princess.

“I can not, no. I have received report of some creature being captured in the gardens. I was told to come urgently. The heavens only know what the guard has dug up this time.” Celestia giggled.

Luna nodded softly, “Alright then, sister. I shall speak with thee later.” with a brisk trot the two sisters left the room, Luna quickly locking it behind her and they went their separate ways.

______________________________________________________________________________

“Princess Luna!” came the faint echo of a shout from the hallway, outside the dining area, “Princess Luna!” the shout became clearer as the pony closed distance between themselves and the dining area. There was sound of hooves clopping against the ground, getting louder and louder, before they reached the dining area’s doors, and with the faint fumbling of the pony outside pushing the door open, “Princess Luna! I have urgent news from Princess Celestia!”

A day guard stood at attention in front of her, his breath ragged and face frowning, “What is wrong, my subject?” Luna asked, annoyed that her breakfast had been interrupted.

“Your majesty, the creature we had seized earlier has awoken… and it-he speaks Equestrian!” the guard answered.

Raising an eyebrow in suspicion, Luna spoke with a skeptical tone, “Are you sure what you are saying is truthful?”

“Indeed, your majesty. Princess Celestia ordered me to retrieve you right away!”

“Hmm, all right. You may take your leave, I will make my own way to my sister.”

“But your majesty, I didn’t tell you w-” the guard was interrupted by a bright, dark blue flash, the night princess was gone, and the guard sighed.

Luna appeared in another bright flash by her sister’s side, “Oh, Luna! You gave me a fright.” Celestia stated in a light tone.

“Sister, what is the meaning of this interruption? What is it I have heard of this captured being? It has spoken in Equestrian tongue?” Luna still held her skeptical look, but Celestia just nodded and looked over to an iron door, which led to the dungeon.

Celestia trotted towards the door, and suddenly the sound of shouting caught Luna’s ear, “Loud, isn’t he?” Celestia grimaced, and opened the door for her younger sibling.

Luna slowly walked into the room, the lighting was dim, but otherwise the dungeon was a clean environment, unlike those from her time before Nightmare Moon. She scanned the surrounding area, and spotted two guards standing by a wall, staring into the far end cage with stoic expressions.

The sounds of shouting, and some rather… disturbing profanity came from the cage. Her curiosity piqued, Luna made her way over to where the guards stood, from this vantage point she saw what at first she assumed was an ape. But this creature was rather hairless, except for the long golden hair which sat atop his head.

But the one thing that stood out the most to the princess, was not the fact this creature was wearing clothing… but his golden eyes, those were eyes that have seen far too much sorrow, and death in their lifetime. They were the same eyes, she, herself had.

Luna was knocked from her thoughts as the creature aimed some of his abuse towards her, this time, “Hey you dumb moon horse let me go!” he said angrily.

Luna blinked, her thoughts processed what had been said ‘Did… did he just call me… moon horse?’ Luna giggled, how such a statement would be offensive to anypony, especially to royalty… but Luna couldn’t help but feel very amused at the creature’s antics.

“Creature, what is thy name?” she asked in a commanding voice, trying to cover up her giggles.

The thing behind the bars seemed to calm slightly, although he now seemed confused as to how the creature before him spoke in the same tongue, “Uh… why should I tell you anything!?” he exclaimed, looking at Luna with anger.

Luna giggled once more, “My, my you have such a short temper.”

“Hey! Who are you calling short!?” he was absolutely furious now, and this was the last straw for Luna… she finally burst into a rapid fire of giggles, she couldn’t contain her amusement with this strange being. But her laughing seemed to only annoy the creature further, as he screamed really loudly in anger, before finally flopping onto the cell’s bed and pulling the blankets over his head before giving out a long groan.

“Now, please forgive me for my rather rude introduction, friend.” Luna said calmly, as she approached the bars, “Can you tell me what you are?” Luna asked, looking to the creature with curiosity.

“Human…” He mumbled, before turning around in the bed to face the wall.

“Come now, we are not here to hurt, or upset you. I am sorry for our actions, I just haven’t had myself a good laugh in quite some time.” the ‘human’ turned back around, and sat up in the bed. He scanned Luna’s face, looking her up and down.

“Are you a chimera ?” he asked, although his temper had seemed to cool down more, by this point.

“Why, sir I am a pony.” she huffed, a chimera? She was nothing like those mismatched evil beings, “Why would you think we were a chimera?”

“Oh… uh, no reason!” he said awkwardly, smiling sheepishly and rubbing his neck.

“Hmm…” Luna hummed, as she scanned the human, “What is your name, human?” she asked softly.

"I'm the Fullmetal—" the human stopped itself mid-sentence. "I'm Edward, Edward Elric…” he said, although a look of brief sadness adorned his face.

Luna caught what he was about to say, ‘He is the Fullmetal? Fullmetal what?’ she thought to herself, “Well it is good to meet you… ‘Edward’. My name is Princess Luna, co-ruler of the land you are now in, Equestria. The pony with the sunbutt over there, is my elder sister, Princess Celestia.”

Celestia looked at her sister with utter shock, here she was greeting a new and intelligent species to Equestria, and she was referring to her as ‘sunbutt’ “Now, Luna—”

She was about to scold her sister, but was interrupted by the loud laughter from the human, Edward. Perplexed by this, she looked helplessly to her guards, who struggled to keep straight faces.

Edward grinned and went to fist bump Luna, but the guard took this as a sign of aggression and were about to attack, but Luna responded in kind and bumped her hoof to the human’s fist… unbeknownst to the world, a famous friendship had just begun.

______________________________________________________________________________

Hours had passed since the first meeting with the human in the dungeons, Luna had let Edward out and ordered the guard to bring him to an empty guest room. Celestia had a messenger invite Edward to dinner, once he had settled into the room. Luna, on the other hand was just excited to see her new, and rather odd friend.

The time was half-past seven, around the time Edward was invited down for dinner. He left his temporary quarters, and into the wide, and decorated hallways. He looked up and down the long halls, “Uh… I wasn’t told where to go.” No one was around, and he was in a castle, “Well, I might as well let myself get lost...”

He turned to the right and walked up the hallway, hoping he could find any sign of the dining hall. ‘I have to be careful what I say around these… ponies, as much as I like the blue one, I don’t know enough about them.’ He thought as he walked the same direction, looking up and down smaller side corridors, and increasingly getting frustrated, “This place is far too big! Gah!” he shouted in anger, stomping a foot to the ground.

“What a ruffian!” Edward heard a voice exclaim, from behind him, “I say, you ghastly beast, what hole did you come from?” the voice said in disgust.

“Who are you calling a beast!?” Edward shouted angrily, his face was absolutely seething with rage, he was about to hit the white stallion when a voice shouted from behind.

“Blueblood, how dare you insult a new creature to our lands, and an honorable guest to our castle?” Celestia looked down upon the white stallion in disappointment, “Come, now, Edward. I am sorry we did not send guards to retrieve you from your room.” Celestia said, and motioned to a door on the left hand side of the hall.

“But, Auntie I barely said a word to that thing!” Blueblood looked horrified, Celestia, though, just rolled her eyes and turned around and trotted back towards the dining hall. Blueblood was left sitting on his haunches, with a look of confusion, “Bwah?”

Celestia and Edward made their way into the huge dining area, and sat near the end of the table, where Luna waited patiently with a small smile adorning her muzzle, “Thou art rather late, wouldn’t we agree?” she giggled softly, to which Edward just laughed and nodded.

“I didn’t know where to go, so I kinda walked around for a bit.”

“That is quite alright, Edward.” Luna said, as she and her sister smiled to the human.

“Please, call me Ed.” He replied, and sat down at the side of the table, facing Luna. But as he sat, his leg hit the chair with a loud clanking sound, Ed just blushed and settled himself down.

“What was that?” Princess Celestia asked, confused.

Ed laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck,’Ah, shit… I have to be more careful, I can’t let them know too much about me.’ He panicked internally, and replied sheepishly “Yeah, that’s my automail leg…” he pulled up the trouser of his left leg, and showed the mechanical limb.

Luna gasped, but Celestia’s eyes widened, and stared at the limb, intrigued on how such a thing was possible, “Pray tell, how is your limb mechanical? Wouldn’t your body fail to accept such a foreign object?”

“Well, there’s a bunch of wires and stuff that connect to my nerves, and the stump where my leg ends was modified to attach the limb on with ease… but I don’t really know how it works, I always had my mechanic to fix it up and stuff…”

“Interesting…” Luna said quietly, “Please, tell me… what would happen if your limb was to break?” she asked.

“Well, normally I’d have Wi— My mechanic fix it up, but since I’m here… I dunno.”

Celestia looked intensely at the limb, before speaking up “Well, I could attach a spell to your limb and make it invulnerable… but it would be rather painful because of the nerves attached to it.”

Ed seemed to be in thought for a moment, “Well, I’m kind of used to it… it was practically unbearable having my automail attached in the first place… but why would it hurt?”

“It would hurt, because this spell is never to be used on living beings, as it would most likely kill them because of the pain. But, because your limb is ‘automail’ it doesn’t actually feel anything, but the pain would come because of the nerves attached to it, which give you the ability to move the limb.”

“Ah, yes. Okay, yeah sure… but maybe later, dinner’s here.” he pointed to the flood of ponies coming from the kitchen, each holding trays and bowls of different sizes. The ponies quickly and neatly set out all of the food for the two sisters and human. With a quick ‘thank you’ from each of them, the ponies went back to the kitchen, leaving the odd group to converse amongst themselves, again.

______________________________________________________________________________

“Edward, aren’t you going to drink that?” Celestia asked, looking to the human who sat glaring at the glass of milk in front of him.

“No.” He said, and turned his head away in disgust, folding his arms in a huff.

Luna saw this and laughed, “Come now, Edward… don’t you want to grow big and strong?” she joked, sticking her tongue out at the moody teen.

“Are you calling me small!?” he shouted, and the two sisters burst into loud fits of laughter at his expense. Edward just grumbled, crossing his arms again, looking down at his lap in embarrassment.

Luna lifted the milk in her telekinetic grip, and lifted the glass closer to Edward, unbeknownst to the annoyed boy, and she brought it up to his nose. Noticing this, Edward fell backwards off of his chair, to get away from the floating glass of milk.

“Gaah!” he screamed in terror, and ran to the far end of the room, but the milk followed him. He ran in circles around the room as the glass of milk followed closely behind.

He tripped over a bump in the carpet, but in time Celestia saved him from hitting the ground with her magic and the trio all laughed merrily at their own antics. Ed walked back over to his seat, and sighed tiredly, ‘Maybe I can get some information about their abilities.’

“Hey, I was meaning to ask… how do you do that stuff, with your horn… and the ‘spells’?”

“Hmm, yes, I can see why this would be odd to one such as yourself. You see, Equestria has an ambient magic surrounding the entirety of the world. Unicorns, and alicorns, such as I can harness this magic via our horns. Thus we can create spells, such as the common telekinesis spell you have surely seen us use many times by now.” Celestia explained.

“So, these ‘spells’ can you do anything with them? Like… oh, I dunno, Create something, out of nothing?” Ed asked,

To Luna, he seemed to be beating around the bush a bit, but she allowed him to keep whatever it was on his mind, to himself for privacy’s sake, “Well, yes we can. Although it takes a very powerful magic user, even one such as me or my sister find it hard to do. When we do create something, however it really does exhaust our magic reserves for a while.” Celestia continued.

“That’s… wow.” Ed looked down, he seemed to be deep in thought.

“Why the sudden interest, Edward?” Luna asked, cocking an eyebrow skeptically.

“Uh, no… it’s nothing, I just had a theory about something. But, ah forget it, it’s not important.”

He clearly looked troubled because of something, so for that the two sister glanced at each other and in silent agreement decided to drop it… for now, anyway.

______________________________________________________________________________

After dinner the trio went their separate ways, Celestia went to the throne room to finish up with the last of her work, and Luna had gone to her quarters to relax for a while to read, and Edward decided to go to sleep.

Celestia was rather worried with Edward’s sudden fascination with magic, but she decided to drop the subject for the mean time, and have her guards keep an eye on him. She didn’t want to offend the lovely teen, but she didn’t fully trust him, yet.

With that in mind, though, Edward was quite bright young man and he was wonderful to be around. She would have to spend more time with the young human, to get to know him more. Luna and Celestia made it one of their goals to find at least a bit of his background, for securities sake.

But that was for another day, for now they had opted to allow Edward to settle in and become comfortable around the two rulers. Luna was certainly warming up to him, this was a good sign as Celestia wanted to keep him close. She would like to learn more of his species, because to her knowledge he was the only of his kind in the country. Maybe the entire planet!

______________________________________________________________________________

Far from Canterlot, in the deepest reaches of the draco mountains, a dark presence was forming, it was weak and almost powerless… the one thing it needed to regain its form was the strange hero it stole from it’s home. But before the hero’s time came, it needed to gain some allies.

With that thought, the dark presence faded, and got to work, spreading its influence in the nations surrounding Equestria, ‘This victory, shall be magnificent...’

Getting Adjusted

As the rest of the evening went on, Celestia had finally finished with her royal duties and returned to her room. She wrote a quick letter to Luna, to tell her the day court had ended, and that she was going to sleep. Luna, however was far too busy with some very pressing matters to notice the scroll. Edward was having a nightmare, and she was looking into it, to see if she could stop it.

But something disturbed her as she entered into Edward’s dream realm, “This is no dream… a memory, perhaps?” She looked around her, she seemed to be near some farmland, it was nighttime and there was a rather loud storm brewing. She scanned the immediate area for any sign of Ed, but soon spotted a light in a nearby barn.

Curious, Luna glided on her wings, to get a closer look. She heard to very young voices, perhaps foals of the age of ten, or so. She opened the door and slipped in quietly and unannounced. Luna was finally going to find out something from the human’s past, so she stood back, blending with the shadows and let the events in front of her play out.

She watched as two young foals, one she had assumed to be Edward, but the other she wasn't so sure of. The two boys were drawing something on the ground with chalk, and as it became larger and more elaborate, it seemed to Luna that it was some sort of rune, ‘Are they trying magic?’ she thought to herself. But that couldn't be, because Edward didn't have a magical signature when she had met him, so this is surely impossible.

She decided to continue watching for now, to see what they were up to. They had put a basin in the center of the circle, and it seemed one of them was calling off a list, “Water, 35 liters. Carbon, 20 kilograms. Ammonia, 4 liters. Lime, 1.5 kilograms. Phosphorous, 800 grams. Salt, 250 grams. Saltpeter, 100 grams. Sulfur, 80 grams. Fluorine, 7.5, Iron, 5, Silicon, 3 grams, and trace amounts of 15 other elements.”

They continued to place and pour these substances into the basin and when they were done, they talked, before turning to the circle. The two humans, now sitting on their knees, kneeling before the circle, had grins on their faces, ‘What in Equestria is going on?’ Luna thought, as she watched with interest.

The two boys placed their palms on the circle and it began to light up, there seemed to be a bright flash of lightning, and… a giant eyeball opened up in the centre of the circle. Luna was slightly horrified at the sight, but things made a turn for the worse when small hands began protruding from the… thing, and it was pulling at the presumably younger one’s body.

There was a lot of screaming, and Luna watched as the hands pulled away limbs from the younger one. She saw Edward screaming for the other, and for help, and then his leg was taken too along with the rest of the other.

Now, Ed, who was left alone without a leg let out a cry of despair, ‘This is how he lost his leg? This seems like a dark magic to me...’ Luna thought, and forced herself to continue observing, as much as it hurt her to see her new friend like this. In the center of the large rune, where the basin once was, lay a sick, and twisted creature. It was bony, and it’s skin was charred, ‘Such a pathetic looking… thing.’ she thought.

Edward lay staring, horrified at the thing in front of him. Obviously whatever it was that him and the other child were attempting, had failed. With the cost of the life of the other, and a leg of his own. Luna stared on with sympathy, there was nothing she could do about what happened. But if she could, she wouldn't of hesitated, even for a moment.

Just when she thought it was all over, Edward began screaming again, and dragged himself over to an empty suit of armor, he drew a symbol in the neck whilst screaming about his ‘brother’, ‘So they are brothers?’

Ed clapped his hands together, and with another bright flash, similar to that of the circle, although smaller, came from his hands as he slammed his palms onto the armor. She then witnessed as Edwards arm was then taken, another look of pure horror raced across her face. How could one so young have to go through something as… evil as this!

But when she thought everything was over, the armor stood up quickly, looking around the room confused, until it saw Ed lying motionlessly, “Brother!” the dream, or rather memory ended there. Luna awoke lying in her bed, there were tears streaming down her face in shock, and sadness of what she had just witnessed.

“But, Ed’s arm… it’s not ‘automail’ like his leg! M-maybe, everything got better!” she convinced herself, ‘I must speak about these… turn of events to my sister, but she must be at rest now’ she noticed a scroll laying nearby, “Just as I thought.”

Luna had continued to lay motionlessly on her bed, still in shock of what had happened, “Oh, Edward… you must have been through so much. No wonder you are burdened with the eyes of one such as I.” Pain, and death, that was what one could see if they were to truly look into Luna’s eyes.

Morning came quickly for Edward, he had a decent sleep and he was ready face another day in the world. But what was he to do while he was here? Somehow look for a way back home? If it wasn't impossible he could do that… then again these ponies had magic, so perhaps it isn't.

“At any rate, I need to know as much about these ponies as I can. I’ll play along, and see if I can get anything out of them.” He pondered quietly sitting at the edge of his bed.

He decided to take a slow walk around the castle, and make it to the dining hall in his own time, there was no point in rushing, it’s not like he had much to do… not like the old days. So he took a stroll around the twisting corridors of the castle, admiring the architecture, and antiques which lined along the walls every now and then.

Maybe he could help the princesses, or something. He wasn't a fan of standing around and being useless. He reached the dining hall about an hour later, and the time was around ten in the morning. He walked into the large open dining hall, and saw Celestia and Luna sitting together and chatting over a coffee as Celestia read a paper.

They hadn't noticed him yet, and as he entered he caught the tail end of their conversation, “... it was a dark power, I am telling you sister.” Luna was looking at her elder sibling with an intense gaze, Celestia, however remained neutral in expression as she scanned the paper.

“Well, Luna, I am sure whatever it was is nothing for us to worry about for the time being. As we had agreed, we’ll have our guard keep an eye on him, but that is all we will do for now.” Celestia finished, and looked from her paper, “Oh, good morning, Edward, it is lovely to see you up and about!” she said happily.

Edward smiled, but was frowning on the inside… what could they have been talking about? He decided to play dumb, as if he hadn’t heard a thing, and ate his breakfast while chatting with Luna, who seemed to be a bit off, but he shrugged it off for now. They made plans to go into the city today, to let Ed get a feel for the area, and perhaps do a small bit of shopping.

It would also be a good way to introduce him to the ponies, so they do not become afraid of the human. After they finished breakfast, Luna and Edward were about to leave, when they heard a soft cough from behind, “Edward, would you like me to put your mane into a braid, like it was before?” Celestia asked, his rubber band had broken during the night, because he had left it on.

“Eheh, yeah sure… I just don’t have an elastic band.” He replied sheepishly, Celestia smiled back sweetly and beckoned him forth.

Celestia’s horn glowed, and there was a small popping sound as a black hair bobble poofed into existence. Edward’s gaze was intense, he studied the object in Celestia’s hoof, as his mind made some alchemical calculations, trying to figure how it was done.

Celestia gave a knowing smile, ‘Just as I thought...’ she just chuckled, and motioned him to turn around, so she could fix his hair.

Ed and Luna made their way down the long stairway, leading down to the Canterlot high street. They walked close by each other, as Luna held a wing around his shoulder chatting loudly with the boy. The two were laughing over stories from Luna’s childhood.

“Then our Mother came running past, and stole back the cookies, while dressed like a ninja! We chased her through the halls, and finally cornered her… that was when our Father saw her and we just could not contain our laughter!”

“Aah, it’s good to have a good laugh every now and then…” Edward looked down for a second with a frown, but he quickly covered it up with a smile, again. The two reached the bottom of the steps, and continued on in a comfortable silence until they reached the market district.

“Where shall we visit first, Ed?” Luna asked, as they scanned the area around them, ignoring the stares from the upper class ponies.

“Hmm, why don’t we have a look over there.” He pointed to a blacksmith’s, Luna gave him an odd look, but walked over to the shops entrance.

“Why would we need to come here?” Luna asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Eh, I guess I’d like to have a sword… I used to have one, but that’s long gone. I have to say I was in need of it a lot.” Ed said, in a rather distracted voice as he looked around the shop, ‘Well I guess that wasn't technicallya lie...’ he thought.

‘Why would he have been in need of a sword?’ Luna pondered quietly, and let Edward walk on ahead.

“Oh, your majesty! I certainly wasn't expecting royalty! I woulda’ cleaned th’ ol’ place up a bit more!” a cheery, middle aged stallion exclaimed from the counter.

“Oh, it is no problem, sir. I am simply showing my… strange friend around Canterlot, and he wanted to come have a look.” Luna smiled at the stallion.

“Aye, he’s a strange one. I ain’t ever seen a creature like him before!”

“Yes, quite… he is visiting from a far off land.”

The stallion smiled and nodded. Luna walked up to where Edward was examining some swords, he seemed to have found one he liked. The sword in Edward’s hand had a fairly flat handle, and the bottom of the blade seemed to curve a bit, before straightening out to shape the blade. There was a curious design on the blade itself, making it quite a beautiful, yet deadly piece.

“Ah, yes that is a rather curious piece, right there.” The stallion mused, “It was foun’ by a wee pegasus back in the days before Equestria was founded. See, the thing is… the sword can’t be wielded by anypony… ponies, griffons and heck, even dragons have tried to wield it…”

“What’s it called?” Edward asked, looking up from examining the blade.

“Ah, we’ve been callin’ it tha Sword of Pegasi, since it was found by a pegasus ‘n all.”

Edward grabbed the handle of the sword, and swung it in the air a few times, “Well I can use it just fine…” he said slowly, he looked to the stallion, who stood stock still with his jaw practically on the ground.

“B-but, it… nopony, an’ I mean nopony has ever been able to!”

“Quick question, do you actually recognize this type of sword?” Edward inquired, Luna, who stood by idly observing raised an eyebrow.

“Nah, it is one of a kind!” he replied.

“Well, I recognize this style… it looks to me like a sword that was once common in an ancient empire from… where I am from.” Edward continued to scan the sword, “Although, it’s design is certainly unique.”

“An’ where jus’ are you from, lad?” the stallion asked skeptically, shooting a questioning look in his direction.

“That is none of your concern, I am afraid, sir.” Luna stated simply, in which the stallion had no right to question. Even if his curiosity was piqued.

“Ah, no matter. So, yah lookin’ t’ buy?”

“Yeah, how much is it anyway?”

“Aye, that’d be eight thousand bits!” he said cheerily.

“I am sorry good sir, but that price is simply outrageous.” Luna stated, “Surely for a sword that nopony, but Edward, here can wield mustn't cost such a high amount?”

The stallion pondered for a moment, “Well, since he’s your guest, your majesty, I’ll lower the price to six thousand, five hundred. How’s that sound?” he gave a small smile.

Luna hesitated for a moment, it’s not like such an amount really mattered to her, but she didn't want to pay more than it was worth, “We have a deal, sir.” the two ponies shook hooves, and the stallion went behind the counter, as Luna handed him the correct amount.

“Thanks!” Edward said loudly, waving to the stallion as he and Luna left the store, “Luna, thanks a lot for the sword!” he said happily to the alicorn, who smiled and wrapped a wing around him in a hug, which he happily returned.

Edward examined the sword more, now that he was outside. He swung it around a few times, demonstrating his sword skills. To him the sword felt perfect, but something about the sword felt weird to him, although for now he decided to keep quiet about it and try figure out what secrets this piece of weaponry held at a later time.

Attaching the scabbard to his belt, and sheathing the sword, Edward took a big stretch and yawned, “So, where to next, Luna?”

“Well I believe there is a nice park to have a stroll in nearby.” Luna said with a smile, as she trotted off in a random direction, in which Edward quickly followed behind.

As they walked the cobbled streets of Canterlot, more and more ponies seemed to stop and stare at the two, many of which seemed as though they were going to speak up. It was not until they reached the entrance to the park that somepony decided to ask what was going on.

“Excuse me, if you will your majesty.” came a friendly, rather posh voice from behind the two. Luna and Edward turned their gaze around to see a white unicorn mare, with a pink mane. Her cutie mark was that of the Fleur De lis, and Luna instantly recognized her as a well known Canterlot model.

“Yes, my subject?” Luna queried, smiling at the mare.

“If I may be so bold as to ask, who… and what your… unique friend is?” the mare kept a friendly tone in her voice as she spoke.

“Ah, yes Edw—” Luna was interrupted.

“Hey, the names Edward Elric, I’m a human.” Edward said, as he put an arm out to shake her hoof, the action startled the mare a bit, and Luna looked rather offended at the interruption.

“Ah, you’re certainly friendly!” the mare laughed nervously, and shot Luna curious glance, the alicorn in turned just chuckled slightly.

The human and mare shook, hand and hoof, “I don’t suppose you could tell me where you come from, just to sate my curiosity.”

Luna intervened before Edward could blurt out an answer, “He is from a very far off land, and has arrived here under certain circumstances…” she said mysteriously, although though the unicorn left it at that, not wanting to bother her highness with her nosy questions.

“Well I have to say it has been lovely to meet you, Edward. We simply mus—” there was the sound of shouting coming from the distance, the group looked toward the source in curiosity. Up ahead, coming down the hill at high speeds was a cart, it had ponies sitting in the carriage screaming for dear life.

It seemed as if it had broken away from it’s drivers and left to roll down the hill. Edward watched as it neared them, he heard screams coming from behind him, and saw that there was a large group of foals crossing over the road. He could tell not all of them were going to make it out of the way in time, and in a moment of panic out of instinct, he clapped his hands together to try transmute.

He quickly placed his hands onto the ground, as he did there was a blue glow as lightning began to spark around the area. A chunk of concrete rose from the ground, curving around so that it pointed down a side street. The cart reached the new addition to the road, just as it finished moving. The cart seemed to take a sharp turn as it hit the curve of the concrete and the cart then flew down the side street.

Without so much of a thought, Luna quickly reached out with her magic and grabbed the cart, to stop it from then rampaging down the smaller side street.

“Edward… what did you just do?”

However, everything went black for the boy as he fell back and fainted. Caught only inches from the ground by the other white unicorns magic.

Dreams And The Truth

The soft light of the moon was spilling through the curtains of the room, shining down onto the unconscious face of the human, Edward. Luna sighed as she sat by the bedside, looking down on him. Earlier that day Ed had done something impossible, raising more questions than answers about the strange boy.

There was a light knock on the door of the bedroom, and it opened swiftly, revealing Celestia bearing a rather hardened look, “What has he done, Luna?” she asked worriedly, as she rushed over to her sister’s side.

“He didn’t do anything wrong, dear sister. In fact he saved the live’s of a class of foals.” Luna replied, wrapping a wing around her sister’s side, “Although the method of which he did it has me concerned…”

“How so?” Celestia inquired, tilting her head to the side.

“He pressed down to the ground, and the stone just… raised from the surface.”

“But I thought he didn’t have any magic? There was no magical signature about him at all, could he have been suppressing it somehow?”

“No… this wasn’t magic, it was something completely different. I haven’t seen power such as this ever in my life.” Luna sounded exasperated, still trying to wrap her head around what had happened.

“Not magic?” Celestia quietened to think for a moment, “Well at any rate he will have a lot of questions to answer when he awakens. No more deception.” Celestia sighed, “Go to bed Luna, I’ll send a guard to stay by the door tonight.”

“Alright sister, thou are correct. I will sleep, but if he awakens during the night, I must be notified.” Luna leaned into her sister and embraced her.

“Duly noted. Now off to bed, for both of us.” They ended the hug and exited the room.

“Ed!” A voice shouted from the shadows, around him. Edward had found himself in a dark room, not knowing where he was, as he sat and listened to the familiar voices call his name.

The last thing he had remembered was attempting to transmute to save the pony kids, but the rest was a blur. But now the voices were laying heavily on his mind, it was a girl’s and a boy’s… Al and Winry.

“Ed, where are you!?” He could hear Winry shout to him, but was this just a part of his imagination, or was she really trying to contact him? Ed looked around the darkened room from the corner where he sat, trying to gather his thoughts.

“Winry, I’ll find a way back…” He sighed heavily, the weight of his situation beginning to hit him. He wasn’t on Earth anymore, “I just need... some time.” He covered his ears and curled up against the wall.

There was a sudden rumbling sound, and a loud cackling laugh reverberating throughout the darkness, “Time is something you lack, Edward Elric,” a deep voice announced, ominously.

Startled, Ed jumped to his feet, “Who’s there!?” That voice… no that can’t be right, he’s dead, “It’s just a dream Ed… just a dream.”

“Dreams don’t pull you from your world, hahaha!” The voice retorted, laughing at the helpless boy.

“Father…”

Luna was sound asleep, curled up in the covers of her bed. After the day’s events she was exhausted. While she slept peacefully she began scouring the dream scape, trying to locate Edward’s dream realm.

But something was wrong, she couldn’t shake the dark feeling in the recesses of her mind, “Where is his dream?” she was panicking, a strong feeling telling her to find the boy quickly. Luna powered up her horn, and spread her light throughout the realms, desperately searching for him.

“Something’s wrong, I know he’s here somewhere… every time I get close, it moves. It’s not possible.” In a fit of frustration, she focused her mind on the light. Her light, began to move at impossible speeds in it’s desperate search for Edward. Luna began to feel the human’s dream getting closer, her light moving faster than his dream.

“There you are…” She mumbled as she caught up with the rogue dream… but what she saw troubled her deeply. Edward was having a nightmare… but it wasn’t normal, the dark clouds which covered his mind were not natural, as if they were created from something evil, “He’s being targeted.” Luna’s eyes shot open in an expression of shock.

There was an outside, alien force attacking Edward’s sleeping mind, “Not in my world!” Luna snarled, as she shot a beam of moonlight at the dark clouds. As if the clouds had a mind of their own, they retreated hastily from the light and scuttled away into the depths of the dream realms.

She was about to give chase, but as the clouds dispersed, she saw Edward curled up against the wall of a darkened room… ‘His dream is so… empty.’ she thought as she looked down upon the human. Deciding to give chase to the clouds another night, Luna descended upon Edward’s dream.

“Edward.” Edward heard the sound of a motherly voice call to him, looking up from his crouched position, he saw Luna land across the room from him.

“Luna? Where are we?” He asked the moon princess, as he pushed himself off of the ground.

“This is your dream, Edward. Although, I am concerned; the nightmare you were having, what was it?” Luna inquired, watching the boy as he steadied himself against the wall.

“It wasn’t a nightmare! It… it was, nothing. It doesn’t matter now, I can deal with it.” He sighed heavily, rubbing his temples as he tried to clear his head.

“No, Edward!” Luna shouted, “You will no longer hold back anything from us! You are a guest in our land, and shall abide to our laws. We, as royalty are demanding that you relinquish any and all information that may have our subjects in danger!” She scowled down on the boy, who flinched at the outburst.

“We are sorry, Edward… but you must understand our concern, it is not that we believe you would cause our subjects any intentional harm; but Celestia’s and I must keep out subject’s safety priority.” Luna breathed out a heavy sigh as she finished her rant.

Edward nodded, and looked the princess in the eye, “I understand.” He paused for a moment, “Wake me up and bring Princess Celestia to my room with you, let’s talk there.” He continued staring Luna in the eye, awaiting her response.

Luna merely nodded and with a flash of her horn was gone, allowing Edward to wake up. When she was gone, he simply slumped against the wall and looked to the ceiling, “Al… I think I need you here.” He whispered quietly and closed his eyes.

Luna awoke with a start, as soon as her eyes had opened, she flinged the duvet off herself and bolted towards her bedroom door. She slammed the doors outwards, and ran across the hall towards her sister’s room. She nodded to the guards standing by Celestia’s room, and pulled the doors open with her magic.

“Celestia!” Luna exclaimed, as she trotted to her sister’s bedside, “Sister, you must awaken!” She nudged her sleeping sister’s side, who merely moaned and turned over. With a frustrated grunt, Luna pushed Celestia off of her bed and onto the cold marble floor.

Celestia let out a yelp, and struggled with her duvet on the ground “Ugh…” She groaned and pushed herself up to a kneeling position, “What.” She said quietly as she surveyed her room, and saw Luna standing by her bed, “What is it, Luna dear?”

“Tia, we must make haste to Edward’s room, something happened in his dream. I’ve finally gotten him to open up, he told us to come to his room and he will explain more.” Luna exclaimed urgently, in a hushed voice.

Celestia’s eyes widened a touch, and pulled her duvet off her with a glow of golden magic, quickly she stood up and made her way to the door, “Let’s go, Luna. We mustn’t spare another moment.” Luna noded and quickly followed her elder sister out the door.

The two made their way down the hall, to Edward’s room and knocked on the door softly. There was a soft rustling sound within, and the tired voice of Edward answered, “Come in.” The two princesses, opened the door and swiftly made their way into the room, locking the door behind them.

Celestia was the first to speak as they stood across the room from Edward, who sat hunched over at the end of his bed, “What is it you have to say, Edward?” She asked patiently, letting him go at his own pace.

“Well, obviously I haven’t been completely honest with you. But that doesn’t mean I’ve been lying… just, well avoiding certain things. Not that any of it really seemed too important at the time.” He sighed and cleared his throat.

“Go on…” Luna encouraged quietly.

Edward lifted his head from his hands and looked at the two princesses, bearing a serious expression, “I’m obviously not from the world.” He said, stating the obvious, although confirming it for the princesses, themselves, “Where I’m from, I was what you called… an Alchemist.”

“An alchemist? Alchemy is the speculative philosophy, which aimed to achieve the transmutation of base metals, into gold and silver… and if I am correct, also to achieve the creation of the magus stone which supposedly held great power and prolonged life. It’s a purely fictional practice, thought to be legitimate during the early eras of pony and gryphon society.” Celestia replied, wearing a slight frown.

“What? No, okay well maybe that’s what it’s like here. But where I’m from Alchemy is a legitimate science. Although what you’re saying about transmuting base metals to gold, that’s outlawed, due to the law of equivalent exchange and the fact it’d be a disaster for the economy. The magus stone? Sounds a lot like the philosopher's stone, they do greatly improve an alchemist’s strength, but they’re not all powerful, and… I don’t think I’ll tell you how they’re made.” Edward silenced for a bit, and looked to the ground.

Luna was about to ask why, but was stopped by a hoof on her shoulder. Celestia looked to Luna, as if to say stop, so she kept her queries to herself, “Please continue what you were about to tell us, before we were side tracked.” Luna said softly.

“Uh, oh yeah… I’m gonna keep it brief for now. Well something happened when I was young, which as you could have guessed, led me to lose my leg. My brother and I both lost something that day, and we thought the only way we could get it back was to become alchemists and join the army.

When we were in the army, my brother and I had to help destroy these… ‘fake humans’ called Homunculi, and well they were controlled by this man named Father, he was the original Homunculus. Well, we destroyed him and I lost my alchemy in the process. But… earlier when that cart was about to hit those kids; what happened?”

Luna glanced at Celestia, who simply nodded, “Well, going by your explanation, Edward… it seems, you used alchemy to save those foals.” Edward fell silent at Luna’s statement, earning a worried look from Celestia.

“That can’t be… but then again, my whole situation is impossible.” Edward fell silent again, in thought. The two princesses merely stood by, awkwardly as he sat staring to the ground. Celestia was about to speak up, when suddenly edward dropped to his knees on the floor, and clapped his hands together.

There was a huge flash of electric blue light, and he slammed his palms to the floor. He stood up and watched while the stone began to rise with his movements. When the light had faded, the princess saw Edward standing shocked, as he stared at a… full scale replica of Luna.

“Oh my…” Luna said quietly, half in shock and half in admiration as she stared at the sculpture, “This is your alchemy, Edward?” She asked, cocking an eyebrow at the silent boy.

“Uh… yeah. I wasn’t really expecting that to work, I guess this means I can use my alchemy again. It doesn’t explain the why, though.” He scratched the back of his head and frowned, but deep inside he was grinning madly, happy for the fact he could use his alchemy once again.

“I don’t mean to kill the mood, but we can get back to this… issue later, for now I wish for you to continue your story, Edward.” Celestia spoke up, over the silence; knocking Edward back to reality.

“Oh, sorry. Um, well after we destroyed Father… things were normal. Sure, I lost my alchemy, but I didn’t have a hard time in life because of it. I left the army, and decided to explore half of the world. Somewhere along the line I ended up here, but that’s part of what has me confused and worried. I think Father was the one who sent me here, because before Luna woke me up he was in my dream.”

Celestia and Luna’s faces filled with worry, and Edward fell silent, “What we need to know, is are we in any danger?” Celestia asked, breaking the silence.

“I’d say so, yeah. I don’t think he’d have brought me here for no reason, so yes… you’re in danger. A lot of danger, I’m afraid. Father, when he tried to destroy us, had literally consumed God. Although he couldn’t contain it’s power, it didn’t stop him from succeeding for a time.”

Celestia’s face darkened and she lowered her head to the ground, in anger, “Well then… we best prepare, shouldn’t we?”

Edward and Luna flinched at Celestia’s tone, and watched as she stood to attention and marched out of the bedroom.

“She does not blame you, Edward.” Luna said, looking at the boy with concern, “But I do know that we shall be needing your help in the days to come.”

“You have my full support, Princess.” Edward bowed, and looked up once more “We’ll kill that bearded bastard, don’t worry, Luna!”

“I shan’t too much, for now though… off to sleep, we will be rather busy in the days to come.” She smile slightly to the boy and made her way out of the room.

Edward slumped back onto his bed, “Oh boy, this isn’t going to be easy…” Edward groaned, and pulled the duvet over him tightly and closed his eyes, to try sleep again.

‘This is going to be quite the challenge. Well, let’s not waste time… I must get stronger.’ A whispered voice spoke from the shadows, ‘Although for now, I would appreciate it if you were to keep an eye on the boy for me, Chrysalis’

“Hmph, I’ll send a detachment of drones to keep tabs on him. I can’t get them anywhere near Canterlot Castle though, they have strong defences against my kind.” Came the echoed feminine voice of the Changeling queen.

‘I… appreciate the effort, my dear.’