The Silver Pocket Watch

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.’