The Sins of Our Father

....."Ugh."

Greed was astonished by his ability to groan, let alone actually feel things. Considering that the last thing he remembered was being reabsorbed by Father he should have been dead. Nevertheless he found himself shifting around on coarse ground as a light scent made it's way to his nose. The fragrance of fresh air combined with flowers and wood made him think of some days he'd spent in a forest.

"I never thought I'd wake up again."

"Neither did I."

Greed's eyes snapped open upon hearing the familiar feminine voice of his once, long ago, companion. However the form that entered his sight in front of him was most certainly not that of Lust. What stood in front of him was a rather lanky horse covered in deep royal blue fur sporting a lush black mane.

"Why the hell is a horse here?"

The aforementioned horse opened it's muzzle to presumably let out a whinny, but what came out instead shocked Greed to his very core leaving him dismayed and speechless.

"Hello to you too Greed."

Greed found gurgling sounds to be the only things to make their way out of his mouth as he tried to figure out whether he should laugh or scream at Lust's current predicament. Finally he just settled on the most obvious course of action available to him at the time.

"Lust why the hell are you a horse?!"

"Pony." She corrected.

"Whatever. What the fuck happened? How'd you get turned into a chimera?"

Lust's brow furrowed as she thought of the best way to respond.

"To be honest I don't know what happened. The last thing I remember is being killed by Mustang, then I'm here." Lust paused before continuing, "I suppose it would be best to tell you now that it appears as though you have also become a chimera."

Greed's eyes widened.

"I WHAT?!"

Lust had flinched at the volume of Greed's shout as her ears instinctively flattened against her head. After a couple of seconds she returned to her usual calm collected self, however Greed hadn't. Said homunculus had taken to wildly inspecting his slate gray body with wide eyes and hitched breathing.

After a thorough inspection of his own body Greed turned his attention, once again, on Lust.

"What the hell's going on here?!"

"I do not know, but I do know that questioning it will not help right now. I suggest we take a moment to regain our wits and decide upon our next course of action."

Upon delivering that Lust gave her hair a quick flip, revealing something to Greed that just made the situation even weirder.

"Lust you've got a horn! You're not a horse, you're a goddamn unicorn!"

Lust raised a questioning eyebrow before bringing a hoof up to touch her forehead and feeling up the strange appendix that grew out of her skull.

"So it seems I do."

Greed was somewhat annoyed at Lust's seeming lack of reaction at the strange events they found themselves in, but he had known her long enough to understand that that was only a facade she put on. She was probably freaking out just as much, if not more, as him, but she was still trying to think things through rationally.

"Alright, fine, what is it that you suggest we do?"

"Well, since we are here I don't think it would be much of a stretch to assume that the others are here as well. Perhaps they are close, I suggest we look for them."

Greed let out a snort.

"Sure, fine, things are weird enough as is I could see those bastards here as well. But what do we do if we don't find them?"

"Then, Greed, I suggest we set up camp for the night and try to figure out where we are in the morning. If we're lucky we may be near civilization."

"Yeah, sure, let's just waltz into town as horses. That'll go over well."

"Ponies."

"Whatever, my point still stands."

"Actually I believe we may not be in Amestris any more, in fact we might not even be in our world any more. For all we know this world could be completely inhabited by other ponies."

Greed snorted again.

"Yeah, sure, and I bet there are other chimeras as well, like gryphons."

"You never know."

"Whatever," he sighed, "Let's just see if we can find the others."

Greed finally got his hooves under him and pushed himself into a standing position, finally allowing himself to glance around at their surroundings. Every which way he looked they were surrounded by a countless number of trees, only a bit of light being allowed through the canopy.

I was right, we are in a forest.

"So we just wander around and hope we just waltz into the others on happenstance."

Lust allowed a frown to grace her features.

"Well when you put it like that-"

She was interrupted as the nearby foliage rustled and the two found themselves assuming defensive positions. What came out, however, defied their expectations.

"OW! God damnit I hate this place already!"

"Envy?!"

The light green pony that had stumbled out of the bushes was most certainly the homunculus once known as Envy. He was easily recognizable by the large palm-like hair that sat atop his head. Upon hearing his name he looked up at the two as he frowned.

"Great, more fucking horses. Who are you and how do you know my name?"

"It's us Envy." Lust spoke.

Envy blinked as his brain registered the sight in front of him. When it did he let out a long groan and put a hoof to his face.

"God damnit! I just can't catch a break can I? First it was the pipsqueak, then it was being turned into a horse, now I gotta deal with you two."

Lust frowned.

"I understand that you don't like us Envy, but right now we don't have any clue as to what's going on. We need to stick together and try to find the others."

Envy let out an annoyed grunt.

"Since I woke up with Greed, and you found us, I can only assume that the other four are somewhere close by. It would be best if we looked for them and grouped up."

"Great, we gotta search for those pricks."

"Please just don't cause any trouble right now. We have no idea what's going on yet, we don't need more problems to deal with."

"Fine, whatever, just don't expect me to cover your asses."

With that Envy turned away in annoyance and Greed took note of one feature that the homunculus held.

"Envy, you've got wings!"

Envy rolled his eyes before addressing Greed.

"Yeah? What gave it away dumbass?"

Greed was about to respond when he found himself frowning thoughtfully.

"Hey wait! How come you have wings and lust has a horn but I'm just a normal horse?!"

"Maybe because you're worthless."

"Hey! You take that back!"

"Or what? You gonna fight me?"

Greed found himself taking an offensive stance, staring angrily at Envy.

"Get over here and you'll see!" he spoke, his voice now tinged with a sort of metallic noise making it seem as though it echoed.

"Why don't you come over here then."

"Too scared to face me palm tree?" Greed took a step towards Envy.

"What was that you horse face?" Envy took a step towards greed.

"Stop."

"Who are you calling horse face you pissant?" Greed continued towards Envy.

"I'm calling you horseface you dumbass!"

"Stop!"

"Oh, that's rich. Don't forget you're a chimera as well horseface."

"Oh yeah, well-"

"Stop!"

Lust hadn't so much shouted the word, but it still had the desired effect. Greed and Envy found themselves staring in surprise at Lust, having rarely ever seen her loose her cool. Lust took a minute to compose herself again before staring at the other two homunculi and speaking.

"Do either of you notice anything strange about Greed?"

"What, you mean those tattoos on his ass?"

"No, well yes, I suppose that is strange, but since it's the ouroboros and we all have it I think it's just a homunculus thing. No, what I'm talking about is his ultimate shield."

"My ultimate shield? What's so weird about that?"

"Yeah Lust, I don't get what's so weird about that."

"Just stop and think about it for a moment. We're in the bodies of chimeras right? So how is it that Greed is still able to use his ultimate shield?"

Greed and Envy looked at each other for a moment before turning their attention back to Lust.

"I still don't get it."

"Me neither."

Lust just let out an annoyed sigh before running a hoof down her face.

"Just... Let's just find the others okay? And no more fighting."

Envy and Greed each stared at the other before answering in tandem.

"Fine."

"Good, now Envy did you happen to see anything on your way here?"

"Actually I did see a couple of other horses on my way here, though I didn't get close enough to take a look at them. Coulda been some of those assholes we're lookin' for."

"Very well then Envy, lead the way."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going."

With that Envy took off in the direction he had come from as the other two homunculi trudged behind, making sure to keep an eye out for any clues as to the whereabouts of their comrades. After traveling through the dark, dense forest for a few minutes Greed found himself growing impatient at the wait. Eventually he decided to speak up.

"Are you sure you know where you're going Envy?"

"Shut up! Of course I do! We've only been walking for five minutes!"

"I'm just saying that we haven't found anything yet."

"Of course we haven't! Did you expect to find them just like that?! Now shut up and keep walking."

"Whatever you say palm head."

Envy let out an annoyed grunt but chose not to rise to the bait and instead focused on continuing searching for the others. Thankfully for them, and for Greed's short attention span, the air was suddenly filled by the sound of a bestial roar. All three of them paused as the roar faded away before a grin made its way onto Greed's face.

"Finally, a little action!"

"Greed wait!"

However the avarice homunculus either didn't hear her or ignored her as he continued to rush headlong into what would probably be trouble. Letting out a sigh she turned and spoke to Envy.

"Let's follow him and make sure he doesn't cause too much trouble."

"Why should I have to babysit his ass? If he wants to get himself killed then I say let him."

Lust glared at Envy for a few seconds before he relented with an aggravated huff.

"Fine we'll go help his dumb ass. But if I die again I'm blaming it on you."

"Duly noted."

Without any more prompting the two galloped off after Greed to try and ensure that he would not cause them undue problems by getting them into something they weren't ready to handle. After a minute or so they finally caught up to Greed whom had paused upon reaching a small clearing in the forest created by the several felled trees surrounding them.

The two stared at him for a second before following his gaze to see...

"Is that a manticore?"

"I believe it is Envy."

"And are those who I think they are?"

"If they aren't then they have some explaining to do."

Fighting the manticore were what appeared to be a rather small deep violet unicorn colt bearing a deep brown mane and tail as well as a much older maroon pegasus stallion bearing a light black mane and tail as well as the addition of a mustache. The older stallion's left eye was covered by an eye-patch and he appeared to be easily avoiding the swipes the manticore made at him using both its claws and tail.

The young colt, however, appeared to have shadows writhing around him, coming up to block any attempts the manticore had made to prey on the 'weaker' of the two. As the manticore's barrage paused the colt took the chance to swipe at it with his shadows, but the manticore was too fast and dodged the incoming blow as it sliced through yet another thick tree as if it were nothing.

"This pest is too stubborn for it's own good." The colt spoke in a familiar voice, "It doesn't know when to give up and die."

"So it seems Pride, but now it seems we have reinforcements. Perhaps this beast will think twice about wanting to finish this battle."

The colt dubbed as Pride glanced over in their direction with a frown before speaking as he effortlessly parried yet another blow.

"Oh, it's you three."

"Yeah, glad to see you too runt. And you as well old man."

"Can it Greed, you're older than me and you know it."

"Yeah, but I don't age like you so it doesn't count."

"Whatever you say. We'll settle this later, for now I would appreciate it if you would give us a hand. This creature has become a nuisance and I don't have my swords to deal with it."

"Fine but you owe me for this."

Without any hesitation Greed's body was coated in his ultimate shield and he charged towards the large chimera nearly twice his size. Once he was close enough Greed reared up on his two back legs and lunged towards the manticore who leapt easily out of the way. Within a split second the manticore had sprang towards Greed and raked its claws over his body to no avail.

The manticore appeared to be in confusion as to why the homunculus was not currently a bloody lifeless hunk of meat unlike any other prey it had torn through. Upon seeing this chance Pride's shadows wreathed before lashing out towards the creature who had neglected to pay attention to the other combatants.

However the manticore would not be so easily killed as it noticed the attack and pounced out of the way just in time to avoid a fatal blow, though it was not fast enough to escape unscathed. The attack glanced the creature's front let leg, easily tearing through the muscle leaving behind a large gash that started bleeding profusely causing it to roar in pain and rage.

"Damn, this chimera's tougher than I gave it credit for. I think you might have to give us a hand Lust."

"And how, Greed, an I supposed to do that? I don't have anything to use for my ultimate spear."

"Use that horn of yours! It's gotta be good for something."

"Ah yes, I suppose I could do that. However this beast is more intelligent than it appears, once it learns of my ability I will not have a second chance so I need you to keep it busy for me."

"Can do!"

Without another word Greed once again launched himself into the fray, doing his best imitation of Sloth as he charged bodily towards the bulky beast. Without any considerable effort it pounced out of the way, though its movements were noticeably more sluggish than earlier due to its wound.

Pride was hasty to take advantage of this development as he went on the assault again, the shadows striking towards the manticore like rain. The manticore continued to evade the attacks enough that it wasn't seriously wounded, but small nicks started appearing over its body as they glanced it.

Wrath glanced at Lust before giving her a nod as he galloped forwards, planning on using himself as a decoy to distract the manticore while Lust got in a shot. Once he was within striking range the manticore made to swipe at him but he easily danced out of the way. Greed and Pride immediately capitalized on the opening and struck at it, once again forcing it to retreat back.

Lust closely watched the battle continue repeating for the next few minutes as she bid her time, waiting for a window of opportunity in which to strike. At last an opportunity presented itself to her and she lowered her head before charging towards the monster who noticed her at the last second and made to jump back.

Perfect.

At her whim her horn rapidly extended outward and pierced the creature's chest before it burst out its back in a spray of blood. As her horn retracted from the beast's body it let out a feeble mewl and collapsed. Its struggles grew weaker and weaker as it fought against its inevitable end before the light finally vanished from its eyes and it went limp.

Greed sighed in annoyance.

"Finally, I thought the bastard would never keel over."

"You're telling me. You guys couldn't have taken him out faster?"

"What are you complaining about Envy?! You didn't even help!"

"Please I could've stomped that thing flat in ten seconds."

"Sure, that's why you just stood there!"

"Calm down, the both of you."

At Wrath's statement the two of them quieted down, but continued to glare at each other.

"Now, would any of you mind telling us what's going on?"

"To be honest Wrath we don't know either."

"Yeah old man, we just woke up here."

"I see, so you don't know either. This is certainly a conundrum."

"Have either of you seen Gluttony or Sloth? It's rather likely that they're nearby."

"Sorry, can't say that we have Lust. The first thing we ended up running into was that damned chimera."

"I see, well then we'll have to bring them to us."

"Just what do you have in mind?"

Lust smirked at Wrath's query before turning to face Greed and Envy.

"Envy I need you to gather up some of the wood around here and stick it in a pile."

"Why me?!"

"Because you didn't do anything while we were fighting the chimera."

Envy grumbled in annoyance but didn't protest as he set out on his task. After a few minutes of wood gathering Lust deemed that they had enough wood piled up for what she held in mind.

"Alright Envy that's enough, you can stop now."

Envy grunted in acknowledgement before speaking once again.

"Okay, so what now miss bright idea?"

"Greed I want you to use your ultimate shield to make a spark and start a fire."

Greed's eyes hovered over the mound of logs and the manticore before widening in understanding.

"I get it! That's pretty smart Lust."

"Indeed it is." Wrath agreed.

Trotting over to the accumulated mass of firewood Greed allowed his front hooves to be covered with his ultimate shield before striking them together to produce sparks. It took a couple of tries but eventually the pyre burst into flames before turning into a raging inferno.

"Okay so what do we do now?"

Lust felt a grin worm its way onto her face.

"Now, Envy, we roast a manticore."

--

It had been little over an hour since the assembly of homunculi had tossed the body of the beast onto the bonfire to cook. Finally they got a response in the form of resounding thumps forging a path towards them. The five of them all took up a defensive stance as they awaited whatever it turned out to be.

After a couple of minutes they were able to make out two easily recognizable voices and allowed for themselves to relax.

"Hurry up Sloth, the good smell's coming from over here!"

"Ugh, such a pain."

From the thicket appeared a fairly chubby pony covered in light tan fur and lacking a mane or tail of any kind. Behind him emerged the bulkiest of ponies they had seen yet, easily the same size of the manticore they had fought earlier. The pony's fur was on offset white that accented his bulging muscles and his mane and tail were darkened brown, almost black, in color.

Gluttony stared in confusion and hunger at the group of ponies, then the creature roasting on the fire, then back to the ponies. As the slender unicorn mare trotted forwards and opened her mouth to speak recognition lit in Gluttony's eyes.

"Hello Sloth, Gluttony."

"Lust!"

As Gluttony excitedly galloped over towards the other homunculi Sloth instead sat down with a resounding thump.

"Can I rest now?"

Gluttony happily latched onto Lust, nuzzling her as she brought up a hoof and gently rubbed his head. After a little while Gluttony finally released the homunculus from his embrace and allowed his gaze to roam across the other four members. Once he noticed Pride he let out a whimper and sidled closer to Lust.

"What's wrong Gluttony?"

"I don't like Pride, Lust," he admitted, "He ate me."

Lust's eyes widened slightly and she glared at Pride before turning her attention back on the frightened, child-like homunculus within her grasp.

"Don't worry Gluttony, he won't hurt you again."

"Promise?"

"I promise Gluttony."

At Lust's reassurance Gluttony noticeably calmed down before his attention was once again taken by the manticore.

"Can I eat that? It smells tasty."

"Of course Gluttony. We made it for you after all."

"Hold on a second," Greed interjected, "Before this bottomless pit eats everything I want to grab a bite as well."

"Yes," agreed Wrath, "I would not mind having something to eat as well."

"You do know that we homunculi don't need to eat right?"

"Speak for yourself Envy," Wrath told him, "As you may remember I was born from a human."

"Same, or at least a part of my life was. I kinda got used to eating when I traveled with the brat."

"Hmph, do as you like I won't stop you. Just make sure fatty doesn't beat you to the punch."

"Don't worry I'm sure he'll share, won't you Gluttony?"

"Uhuh, I'll share Lust."

"See, nothing to worry about. Now time to eat!"

Lust swiftly used her ultimate spear to slice off a small portion of meat for the two homunculi before Gluttony ravenously dug into the monster. For a little while the only sounds filling the camp were that of chewing and crunching as Gluttony scarfed down the beast, bones and all. Eventually he finished and the camp once again descended into silence until Greed finally broke the monotony with a question.

"So what do we do now?"

Everyone appeared to consider the answer to that question when Wrath glanced up at the sky and spoke.

"It's getting late, I suggest we set up camp for the night and then set off tomorrow in search of civilization."

"I agree with Wrath," Lust spoke, "It seems like the most logical course of action."

"Alright you pissants! Any objections?" When no one spoke up Greed continued, "Then it's settled, we'll wait til tomorrow and then head out."

"I can rest? Good."

"Very well then," Wrath announced, "Everyone get some rest, we move out at first light!"

"Who died and made you leader?" Envy questioned.

"Everyone." was Pride's curt reply, "Any objections?"

Envy mumbled in annoyance but kept any complaints he had to himself. Even he knew not to get on Pride's bad side.

"That's what I thought."

"So tired. Feel sleepy. Need rest."

"Welp," Greed declared, "For once I actually agree with the big guy, I'm going to sleep. Wake me if you need something."

"I suggest we follow his example." Lust said simply before laying down herself.

"You guys can do what you want, but I'm going to stay awake."

"Suit yourself Envy. Come on Gluttony let's get some rest."

"Anything for you Lust."

"Pride," Wrath addressed the small homunculus, "Will you be joining us?"

"No f- Wrath, I'll keep watch for the night."

"Very well then, wake us if anything happens."

"Will do... Wrath."

With a nod Wrath settled down before laying his head on his forelegs and closing his eye.

--

Greed found himself awakening, feeling much more rested than he had in quite a while.

"I don't know about you guys," he yawned as he stretched, "But I am feeling pretty good right about now."

"Good for you. Now can we please wake up Sloth so we can leave?"

"What crawled up your ass and died Envy?"

"Sorry we can't all be as happy about this as you Greed."

"You just need to learn to let go and have some fun."

"That's rich coming from you!"

"Quite, the both of you. There's no point in fighting, what's happened happened. Right now we need to focus on finding out where we are."

"I concur, let us wake up Sloth and be on our way." Wrath agreed as he made his way over to Sloth.

"Lust I'm hungry."

"I know Gluttony, we'll find you something to eat later."

"Hey big guy! Wake up!" Greed had trotted over to the mound of unmoving flesh and kicked it, "C'mon we gotta go."

"Uuuuuuuugggggghhhhh, what a pain."

"I know, everything's a pain. But look at it this way, the sooner we find somewhere the sooner you can rest."

"Walking is a pain."

Lust turned to face Gluttony.

"Okay Gluttony, we need your help."

"What do I need to do Lust?"

"I need you to see if you can smell anything that might tell us where to go."

With a nod Gluttony closed his eyes and raised his muzzle as his nose twitched. Everyone silently awaited results as Gluttony continued to sniff around when he finally opened his eyes and beamed.

"I smell something! It's that way!"

Lust smiled and pat his head as he used his leg to indicate the direction in which to go.

"Good job Gluttony."

"Alright everyone, you heard him!" Greed declared, "Let's move!"

Surprisingly enough no one protested as they all set out in the direction Gluttony had indicated, well almost no one.

"Such a pain."

Other than that the trip was distinctly unremarkable as nothing out of the ordinary seemed to happen. After a good half hour of nothing but hush Greed got fed up and took it upon himself to start up a conversation.

"Thing's have been awfully quiet around here. You think that chimera we fought was the only one of its kind?"

"It's rather unlikely," Pride said, "I sensed several creatures last night but they all seemed to stay away from us. Perhaps they're afraid they'll suffer the same fate."

"Heh, cowards."

"You're one to talk Envy."

"What'd you just say Greed?!"

"You heard me! I know all about how you ran from your fight with Mustang."

"Why you!"

"Greed! Envy!" Wrath barked, "Stop your bickering, it seems like we're almost out of this forest."

Greed raised an incredulous eyebrow.

"Really? How can you tell?"

"Do you notice how the trees are thinning out? That indicates that we're getting close to the edge of the forest. Hopefully there's a settlement nearby."

"Huh, I guess you're right. Well then come on, let's pick up the pace!"

"Wait up Greed!"

"It's not my fault you're slow old man!"

Wrath merely sighed in annoyance as Greed ran ahead.

"At least he's staying in eyesight." Lust noted.

"He always was trouble."

"You have no room to talk Envy. You're just as bad as him."

"What was that Wrath? You wanna fight?!"

"Calm down," Lust told him, "Look, we're at the exit."

"Finally!"

With that exclamation Envy galloped off to join Greed past the border of trees within their sight causing Lust to sigh in annoyance.

"Come on Gluttony, let's join them."

"Coming Lust!"

As the two ran off the remaining three homunculi remained quiet as they forged forwards at a slow gait.

"Can I rest now?"

"Almost Sloth, just a bit further." Wrath assured him.

"What a pain."

Finally they caught up to the rest of the group as they exited the forest. Upon noticing all four of them staring at something they turned their gaze to the small village not too far off in the distance.

"Finally! Civilization!" Greed exclaimed, "Let's go!"

--

Somewhere outside the borders of Equestria lay a cave, and within this cave sat a grand alicorn stallion coated in light gray fur with a lustrous golden mane and tail. Upon his flanks the alicorn bore the symbol of the ouroboros which radiated with a dim red light, and set in his face was a scowl.

The stallion slammed his hoof down in fury, cracking the stone beneath him.

"Damn that Truth! Does he think he can make a fool out of me?!"