My Little Homunculi: Alchemy Is Magicby Lionblaze103ChaptersVolcanoMysterious FigureEncounterVoiceDecisionThe Journey BeginsManticoreConfrontationKidnappingThe Strange PonyAmnesiaMemoriesRevealedVolcanoIt was another day of walking for Twilight, and Ed. Twilight was levitating the book that had information on alchemy. "I've been wondering this for a while." Twilight said. "What is it?" Ed asked her. "Well, this book says you need a transmutation circle to make an alchemic reaction, but you do it without one. How's that?" she asked. Suddenly Ed stopped. Images of the gate went through his mind. "I don't know." he told her. "Oh. Okay." she said, and continued walking. Ed stood there for a little bit, then continued walking too. They walked for another 4 hours until they reached the edge of the forest. "Well here we are. We're officially in Dragon territory now." Twilight told him. "Let's go." he said. She nodded and left the forest, followed by Ed. Suddenly he stopped, and gasped in amazement. A ways away from them was a giant volcano with dragons flying around it. "This is amazing." he said. "I know." Twilight said, "I've been here once before, but the dragons I met weren't too friendly, so be careful." "Will do." he said. They walked the rest of the day in silence until it was time to set up camp. "We'll reach there tomorrow, so be prepared." Twilight told him. He nodded, and they went to sleep. The next morning they woke up, and ate. After they were done they packed up, and started walking. "We're almost there." Ed said. Twilight nodded, and they started walking again. Soon they reached the base of the volcano. Unfortunately for them there was a red dragon there also. "Well, well, well, look at what we have here." he said, "Ponies." Mysterious FigureTwilight gasped. "You!" she said. The red one narrowed his eyes. After a moment they opened in surprise. "It's you!" he said, "I remember you. You're that pony." "You know him?" Ed asked Twilight. "Yeah, and he's a jerk." Twilight told him. "Is that so?" he said. "Yeah, about that. Sorry." said the red one. "What?" asked Twilight, surprised. "You're right, I was a jerk." he said, "But I've changed." Twilight wasn't sure wether to believe him or not. "And why should I believe you?" she asked. "Don't. I don't really care. I'm just saying." he told her. Twilight stared at him a moment longer, then sighed. "Fine. I believe you." she said. "In that case could you help us find something?" she asked him. "Sure. What is it?" he asked. "We need to find the library here. We're here to do some research on alchemy." she told him. "I'll bring you there." he said, and started walking up the volcano. They followed him. "I haven't properly introduced myself yet, I'm Garble." he told them. "I'm Twilight, and this is Ed." Twilight told him. "So why do you want to research alchemy? And why here?" he asked them. "Ed here is an alchemist, and we can't learn about alchemy in Equestria." she told him. Unluckily for them someone else heard that too. A large orange dragon took flight, headed towards the capitol. The dragon landed in front of a bar just outside of the dragon capitol. He entered the bar, where there were a fair number of dragons. He walked up to the counter, and sat down. "Can I help you?" the bartender asked him. "Greed consumes all." he told the bartender, the pass code. The bartender nodded, and led him into a passageway, which he followed until he reached a large room where a dark figure was standing. "I see you're back." said the figure. "Yes." he said. "So what news have you brought?" the figure asked him. "I've found a pony alchemist." he said. The figure's eyes widened slightly. "Really now? Bring him here." the figure told him. "Very well." he said, and left the bar. He started flying back towards the other town. Encounter"I guess I have no choice." Ed said. "Great! We'll go now then." Twilight said, and started walking back the way she came, and Ed started following her. "But really though, I'm very interested in your automail was it?" Twilight asked. "Yeah." he said. "I hope you'll let me take a closer look at it." Twilight said. "Hah. You remind me of my friend Winry. She-" he cut off as a surge of pain went through his head. He collapsed on the ground, and he heard voices. "Are you sure about this brother?" "Yeah Al. We haven't been training all this time for nothing. We'll get Mom back for sure." another voice said. A voice that he recognized as his. Before he could hear anything else he was shaken out of it. He opened his eyes to see Twilight standing above him with a worried look on her face. "Are you alright?" she asked. "Yeah I'm fine." he said. "What happened?" she asked. "I don't know. I just suddenly heard someone, and then I heard my own voice. I don't understand what it means though." he said. "You remembered something?" Twilight asked. "I don't know. It seems like it." he said. "Well we should get you to my house so you can rest." Twilight said. Just then they heard, "Watch out!" and then a multicolored blur suddenly crashed into Ed. He was sent skidding across the grass along with the other pony."Get off." he said pushing the other pony off. "Hey Rainbow Dash." Twilight said. "Oh hey Twilight. Whose the shrimp?" Rainbow Dash asked. "SHRIMP? WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHRIMP?" Ed yelled. "You shrimp." Dash said. Ed jumped at her, and yelled, "I am not a shrimp!" Before Dash even had time to react they were both on the ground wrestling for dominance. "What's wrong shrimp? Am I too strong for you?" Dash taunted after she pinned him down. "I'll show you whose weak!" he yelled, clapping his hooves together, and then hitting the ground. Suddenly there was a bright light, and a pillar of earth came out of the ground, and rammed right into Rainbow Dash knocking her off. Ed, and the other gawked at what just happened. "What the hay was that?" Twilight asked. "I-I don't know. I just did it on instinct." he said surprised himself. "Well whatever it was it was cool. You have to teach me how to do that." Dash said. "I told you I don't know how I did it. It was just an instinct." he said. "Well whatever it was I want to find out. Maybe it has to do with your memories." Twilight said. "His memories?" asked Dash. "Oh yeah, you don't know. This is Edward Elric, he has amnesia." Twilight explained. "Amnesia? Isn't that like what the doctors give you to knock you out?" Dash asked. Twilight sighed. "No that's anesthesia. Amnesia is where you can't remember anything." she explained. "Can't remember anything. So like, he doesn't know who he is, or what his special talent is?" Dash asked. "Precisely." Twilight said, "I'm hoping that we'll find a way to unlock his memories." "Well good luck with that, I gotta get back to practicing." Dash said before flying off. Just then Ed's stomach growled, showing how hungry he was. Twilight let out a small laugh and said, "You sound hungry. Come on I know the best place to get snacks at. It's a bakery called Sugarcube Corner." VoiceAs Twilight walked through Ponyville, she noticed that the streets were unusually empty. When she reached Sugarcube Corner she found out why. As soon as she opened the door she got a face full of confetti. "Surprise!" they called. "Ah!" exclaimed Ed, rearing back, and falling on his butt. Suddenly a pink pony zipped up to him. "Did you get surprised? Huh? Did ya?" she asked. "What?" was all he could get out. "I saw you walking down the street, and I was like 'I know everyone in Ponyville, and if I haven't seen him then he must be new, and if he's new then he doesn't have any friends', and that made me sad so I threw you this party." she said, all in one breath. "Huh?" he said again. "So were you surprised? Huh? Huh? Huh?" she asked, shoving her face right into his. "Get off me." he said, pushing her away from him. "Come on, let's party!" she said, bouncing back inside. "What just happened?" Ed asked Twilight. She shrugged. "I've been trying to figure that out for a while." she told him, "Come on, I'll introduce you to my other friends." She dragged him inside, and over towards a group of five ponies, which included the pink one, and the one he'd met earlier, Rainbow Dash. "Hey shrimp." said Rainbow Dash. "Who are you calling a shrimp!" he exclaimed. "You shrimp!" she said. They glared at each other, until an orange pony broke them apart. "Woah. Simmer down there sally." said the orange pony. "She (He) started it." they said at the same time. "Ah don't care who started what. This is a party. Yall need to lighten up." she said. "Fine." they huffed, turning away from each other. "Anyways, my names Applejack. This here's Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, and I recon you already know Twilight, and Rainbow Dash." she said, "What's yours?" "I'm Edward Elric." he told them. "Nice ta meetcha Ed." she said, offering her hoof. "Nice to meet you too." he said, shaking her hoof. "That's some weird armor you got on." she said. "It's not armor, it's automail." he told her. "What's automail? Is it like normal mail? Is it faster? How does it work?" Pinkie flooded him with questions. He shook his head. "No. Automail is a mechanical replacement for my leg." he told them. They all gasped, except for Twilight, who'd already heard this. "A replacement? You mean you l-lost your leg?" asked Fluttershy. "Yeah. And my back leg too." he told her, showing them his left back leg. They all gasped again. "But how could you loose your legs?" Applejack asked. "That's the strange thing. I can't remem-" he cut off as a wave of pain hit him. He clutched at his head as he heard his voice again. Alphonse, no! No, dammit. You won't take him too. Give him back! He's my brother! Take my leg. Take my arm! Take my heart, ANYTHING, YOU CAN HAVE IT! Just give him back! He's my little brother, he's all I have left! Then as suddenly as it came, the voice stopped, and he sat up panting. He saw the others all staring at him. "What the hay was that?" asked Applejack. "I-I don't know." replied Ed, a little shaky, "I just heard my voice. I was yelling, but I don't know about what." "You think it has something to do with your memory?" asked Twilight. "Probably." he said. Everyone tried to think of a way to lighten the mood after that, when Rainbow Dash remembered something. "Hey, show the others what you did earlier." she told him. "What do you mean?" he asked her. "You know, when you made earth shoot out of the ground." she told him. "But that was an instinct. I don't know how to do it again." he said. "Just do what you did earlier." she told him. "What the hay are you two talking about?" asked Applejack. "Come on let's show them." Rainbow said. "Alright. I guess it doesn't hurt to try." he said, walking outside, closely followed by six others. "Alright here goes." he said, clopping his hooves together, and slamming them onto the ground. DecisionEd followed Twilight to the door. She opened it to reveal a white pegasus in gold armor. "Miss Sparkle?" he asked. "That's me." she said. "Right this way." he said, walking away. They followed him to a cart where there was another pegasus strapped to the front of it. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ed asked her as they got on, "Wasn't the Princess the one who banned alchemy?" "Don't worry, I'm sure she'll understand. She's the kindest Princess there is." Twilight told him. "So my little pony, what brings you here?" asked a large white unicorn with wings. "I wish to inquire something Princess Celestia." Twilight told her. "Of course Twilight, you can ask me anything." Celestia said. Twilight gulped. "I would like to learn more about alchemy." Twilight told her. Suddenly Celestia's expression changed. "NO!" she boomed. "But-" Twilight tried to say. "NO!" Celestia boomed again, "You shall not learn about that monstrous conduct!" "But." Twilight wanted to argue, but she'd never seen Celestia this mad. She sighed. "Very well Princess." she said. Celestia's face changed again. "I'm sorry about yelling Twilight, but you must understand that I'm only trying to protect you." Celestia said. "I-I understand Princess." Twilight said. "Why don't you stay here for the night, and then you and your friend can head back to Ponyville." Celestia told her. "Thank you Princess." Twilight said. "Come, let's have dinner." Celestia said, walking out of the throne room with Twilight, and Ed close behind her. At dinner they met Celestia's sister, Luna. Afterwards Celestia showed them to their room in the castle. "Well that was pointless." said Ed as soon as they were alone. "Not necessarily." Twilight said. "What do you mean?" Ed asked. "I've never seen the Princess that mad before." Twilight said, "There's definitely something she's not telling us, and we need to know more about alchemy." "Where are you going with this?" Ed asked her. "If she won't tell us, then we'll have to find out for ourselves. That book said the origins of alchemy went back to before Equestria, so we're going on a journey." said Twilight. The Journey BeginsTwilight had gotten a map out. "Listen." she said between the pointer in her mouth, "Tomorrow we'll head back to Ponyville, and pack. Then the next day we'll leave, and head to the Dragon Kingdom here." She poked a large piece of land that had Dragon Kingdom written on it. "Okay, so why are we going there?" asked Ed. "The dragons are one of the oldest races. There's bound to be something on alchemy there." Twilight explained. "Okay, that makes sense." Ed said. Twilight nodded her head. "And if we don't find anything there, we'll go to other lands such as the Griffon Kingdom, and Zebrica." Twilight told him. He nodded. "We should get to sleep now, we'll need our energy soon." she said. "Yeah." he agreed, and they went to sleep. The next morning they were woken up by a knock at the door. Twilight opened it to find a royal guard. "Breakfast is ready Miss Twilight." he said. "Thank you." she told him. He nodded, and left. "Come on, let's go get some breakfast." she said to Ed. He got up, and followed her to the dining hall. During breakfast Twilight realized that Ed wasn't drinking his milk. "You should really drink your milk." she told him. "I hate milk." he said. "You should drink it. It'll help you grow." Celestia told him. "Who are you calling small?" he yelled. Twilight sat there with her mouth open, while Celestia chuckled. "Sorry if I offended you." she said, still chuckling. Ed huffed, and went back to eating. "Your friend is quite amusing." Celestia told Twilight. "Yeah." she said, relieved that hadn't gone worse. "Goodbye Twilight. Tell your other friends I said hello." Celestia called to them as they flew off in a chariot. "Will do." Twilight yelled back. Soon they had reached Ponyville, and landed in front of the library. "Spike!" Twilight called as she opened the door. "Coming!" Spike yelled, then appeared a moment later. "Spike I want you to get the others." Twilight told him. "On it." he said, giving a salute before walking out. That reminded Ed of when he used to be in the military. Soon the other 5 he'd met yesterday had entered the library. "So what's this about Twi?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Yes darling. It's not like you to just call us all up." Rarity said. "Me and Ed are going on a trip." Twilight told them. "Really? Where to? For how long? I'll throw a big going away party!" Pinkie said. "No!" Twilight yelled out, causing the others to look at her. "I mean, no thank you. I don't want a party." Twilight told her. "Anyways we'll be leaving tomorrow. I just wanted to tell you girls." Twilight said. "Alright. Bring me something cool back." Rainbow Dash told her. "And you must tell me about the clothing you see." Rarity said. "And I'd like to hear about what kind of animals you see." Fluttershy said. "Oh! Oh! Me next! I wanna know about the deserts they have." Pinkie said. Applejack just shrugged. "Ah'm fine with anything." Applejack told her. "Alright then. We should pack now." Twilight told them. They nodded, and left. Throughout the day they packed two backpacks. Soon nightfall came. "We should get some rest now if we want leave early tomorrow." Twilight said. "Yeah." Ed agreed. He laid down on an extra bed, and wondered what kind of madness would he run into this time. Hopefully not homunculi. Soon he fell asleep, his mind in turmoil. "Wake up." Twilight said, shaking Ed awake. "Huh? What time is it?" he asked. "It's 5:30." Twilight told him. "Why'd you wake me up so early?" he asked her. "Because we have to get an early start." she told him, "Now let's get some breakfast." By the time they had finished breakfast, Spike had woken up. "Hey guys." he said. "Hey Spike." Twilight said. "We're leaving now. Take good care of the library while I'm gone." Twilight told him after she got their bags. "Don't worry Twilight. The library is in good hands." he said. "I'll write to you. Bye Spike." she said, leaving the library with Ed close behind. With that, their journey started. Manticore"Alright." Twilight said, walking with a map in front of her. "We'll follow this trail almost straight through the Everfree. We'll spend the night here." she said, pointing towards a small clearing next to the other side of the forest. "So where do we go after that?" Ed asked her. "From there we'll travel to over here, and camp out a little ways from the foot of this volcano." Twilight said, tracing their path out, "Then we'll walk to the top of the volcano where a small dragon village is, and we'll find some info. Then we'll head towards the capitol." "What's at the capitol?" asked Ed. "There is a large library there. Maybe they have something on alchemy there." Twilight told him. "I see. And if they don't?" Ed asked her. "If they don't then we'll go to the Griffon Kingdom next." Twilight told him, pointing to another large spot on the map. Deep in the forest, in a large cave a dark figure was smirking. "A pony alchemist. Master will find that interesting." she said. It was about four in the afternoon when it happened. They had sat down to rest, and to eat when suddenly a manticore jumped out at them. Ed clapped his hooves, and put them to the ground, making a column of earth ram into it, and send it flying. The manticore landed on it's feet, and started circling them, more careful now. Ed clapped his hooves, and pressed the left one against his metal one, making a blade come out of it. Suddenly it lunged at him. He dodged it, and sliced it's side with his arm. The manticore roared in pain, and lunged over Ed, and ran off back into the forest. Ed let out a sigh, and looked back towards Twilight, who had been cowering in fear. "That was a close one." he said, "We should get going." "Yeah." she stuttered, still shaking. They walked again until it became nightfall, and they reached their camping spot. "We'll stay here tonight, and we'll continue on tomorrow. We'll reach the town the day after tomorrow." she reminded Ed. "Right." he said. ConfrontationGarble, who'd been watching the whole time, jumped out from the shadows. "I'll help." he said. "No!" Ed shouted. Garble recoiled, taken aback. "But why?" he asked. "Homunculi are damn near immortal. You won't be able to take him on. Just make sure Twilight's safe." Ed told him. He wanted to argue, but he knew Ed was right. "Fine." he said, stepping in front of Twilight. "Now let's go!" said Greed, running at Ed. Ed clapped his hooves together, and rammed his blade through Greed's chest. Greed jumped back. "What the hell?" he yelled. Twilight, and Garble watched in horror, and surprise as Greed's wound started to heal. Greed laughed. "Wow kid you're something else!" he said. "W-What just happened?" asked Twilight. "I told you a homunculus won't die. They have amazing regeneration capabilities." Ed told her. "You seem to know more about me than I thought. I'm not ready to fight you just yet. I'll see you later!" Greed called out as he ran away. "Wait!" yelled Ed, "Who's your master?" Greed stopped, and laughed. "I have no master. I'm Greed." he said. "But who's the one that taught you?" Ed asked, "There had to be someone!" Greed laughed again. "Yes there is. But I'm not telling you." he said, and then ran off. "Wait dammit!" Ed yelled, but he was gone. He slammed his hoof into the ground. "Dammit!" he yelled again. "We should get out of here." said Garble. Ed nodded, but Twilight didn't. "Just how do you know so much about him?" she asked. Ed sighed. "I was hoping this wouldn't happen." he said, "Fine I'll tell you. I regained my memories some time back." "What? How long?" she asked. "About a week ago, when I told you I was an alchemist." he told her. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked. "I didn't think you'd be able to handle it." he said. "What's that supposed to mean?" she yelled. "I'm sorry. You're right, I should have told you earlier." he said, "I'll tell you now. First you should know I'm not really a pony." "What do you mean?" she asked. "I'm a human." he told her. "A human!" she said. "What's a human?" asked Garble. "A human is a creature of myth. They stand on two legs, are technologically advanced, and are omnivorous." Twilight told him. "Right." Ed told them. "But that still doesn't explain anything." Twilight said. "It all started when our mother died." Ed began. KidnappingGarble led them to a large cave entrance. "Is this really the entrance to a library?" Ed asked him. "Yeah. We make caves for everything." he told Ed. "Alright, thanks." Ed said, walking in, followed closely by Twilight. The passageway was lit up by torches, and soon they walked into a giant cave filled with bookshelves. "Wow." said Twilight, amazed at all the books. "We should get started." Ed told her, "Let's ask where the section on alchemy is." She nodded, and walked up to the counter where a dragon was standing. They talked for a few seconds, and Twilight came back. "Well?" he asked "There's no alchemy books here. There's only some in the capitol's library." Twilight told him. "What do we do now?" she asked. "Hmm. There's no alchemy books. Well that doesn't mean we can't learn about the history." he said. "Right! There might be some important information in the history of this land." Twilight realized. She walked over to the counter, and talked to the dragon again. She came back, and led Ed to the history section. "So where do we start?" he asked. "Why don't we start with the history of the kingdom, and how it was established." she said. He nodded, and they started looking through books. After a while Twilight threw down one the many books she'd read. "I don't understand this at all!" she yelled. "What?" Ed asked. "These books! They make no sense." she said. "What do you mean?" he asked. "These books keep talking about a huge war between a bunch of different nations, and it keeps mentioning Equestria. But I've never heard of any such war, nor one that Equestria participated in." she said. "Your government has been hiding things from you." Ed realized. "B-But Princess Celestia would never hide anything." Twilight objected. "This goes deeper than just alchemy." he said. "W-What do you mean?" Twilight asked him. "There's something bigger that went on, and Equestria is hiding it's history from it's citizens." Ed told her. "N-No that's just not possible." Twilight was starting to break down. She realized Ed was right. There was something going on. "We need to get to the capitol's library, and the other nations too." Ed told her, "We have to find out what happened, and what Equestria's hiding." It took a little while, but Twilight calmed down. "You're right." she said, "We'll stay the night here, and then we'll leave for the capitol. We have to find out what happened." "Let's go. I promise we'll get to the bottom of this." Ed told her, "We should find that dragon again, he can help us find a place to stay." Twilight nodded, and followed him out. Unfortunately for them there were two dragons waiting for them outside. As soon as they walked out the dragons jumped down, and landed behind them. They were just starting to turn their heads when they were knocked out. "Let's get them back to the boss." said the black dragon, picking up Twilight. The other one just nodded, and picked up Ed. They then flew off towards the capitol. Luckily Garble had seen the whole thing, and flew off after them. The Strange PonyIt was a bright sunny day in Equestria. A perfect day. But the law of equivalent exchange states that you can't get something without giving something in return. As Twilight was about find out, her life would be completely flipped. A strange pony was walking down a road. He had a tan coat with a yellow mane, and a metallic right foreleg, and left hind leg. He had awoken just a few minutes ago, and was unable to recall where he was, or why he was there. Or anything else for that matter. Likewise a pink party pony was walking the exact opposite way on the same road. Suddenly she heard a metallic clinking, and hoofsteps. She hopped towards where the noise was coming from to find a pony with weird clothes on. He also seemed to be wearing armor, but the weird thing was that it was only on his right foreleg, and left hind leg. Pinkie let out a gasp because she had never seen this pony before, and if she had never seen this pony before then he must be new, and if he was new then he must be lonely, and that made her sad, so she decided she would throw a party for him. He noticed Pinkie, and started to ask her where he was, but it was too late. She was already gone. He let out a sigh, would he never find out where he was? At town Pinkie wasn't watching where she was going, so she ran into Twilight which sent all of her papers flying everywhere. "Pinkie! What's wrong?" Twilight asked, worried about her friend's frenzied state. "Well I just saw a new pony, and if he's new, then he doesn't know anyone, and if he doesn't know anyone then he must be lonely, and if he's lonely, then that makes me sad, so I'm off to organize a party for him so he can meet some new friends." she said without taking a breath. "Wait. A new pony? What did he look like?" Twilight asked. "He was tan with a yellow mane, and he was wearing these strange clothes. He was also kinda short, and he had armor on, though it was kinda weird since he only had it on two legs." Pinkie said. "Hmm. That does sound weird. Well by Pinkie." Twilight said to empty air, because Pinkie had already left. She shrugged, and chalked it up to being Pinkie. As she used her magic to organize all her papers again she decided to go and meet this strange stallion Pinkie saw, and she walked off in the direction Pinkie had come from. It didn't take long for her to find the pony Pinkie had described to her. A little ways away from town he was walking on the road head down, looking a little depressed. "Hi there!" she called out to him, making his head shoot up. She trotted over to him, and stuck out a hoof. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, you must be new here." she said. He took the hoofshake, and said, "My name's Edward Elric." Amnesia"It's nice to meet you Edward." Twilight said. She noticed something weird about the hoofshake. His hoof was cold. Even with armor on it should have been at least relatively warm, but it was completely cold. "What kind of armor is that?" Twilight asked, curious. Edward looked at his leg, and back at her, and said, "Oh. That's not armor." "Then what is it?" Twilight asked, her interest rising steadily. "It's automail." he said raising his leg, so she could get a closer look. "Automail?" she asked. "Yeah. It's a mechanical replacement for my real arm." he said. "Replacement? You mean?" Twilight couldn't finish her sentence. "Yeah." he said sadly, "I lost my real one a while back." "How?" Twilight asked. Ed tried remembering, he really did, but it just wouldn't come to him no matter how hard he tried. "I'm sorry, I don't know." he said finally. "You don't know? How can you not know?" Twilight asked. "I can't remember. Actually I can't seem to remember much of anything." he said, only now realizing how much of his memories were coming up blank. "Amnesia?" Twilight pondered. "Well I can't just leave you here. Do you at least remember if you have a place to stay?" she asked, and he shook his head. "Then it's final, you'll stay with me, until you can get your memories back." Twilight said. MemoriesNothing happened. "What? Why didn't anything happen?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I told you I don't know what I did earlier." Ed told her. "But you did the same thing as earlier. Why didn't it work this time?" Rainbow Dash wondered. "Enough about that, what's your cutie mark mean?" Pinkie asked him, bouncing up to his right flank, and staring at the strange circle. Ed strained to look at what she was talking about. Just then he got a glimpse of it, and he clutched his head as another wave of pain hit him. "What are you trying to accomplish by learning alchemy anyway? Just tell me that." asked a female voice. "Well, um, we wanna help others out." Ed heard his own voice. "Do you have your parent's permission?" asked the voice. "Well, um." he said. "I'm afraid they have no parents." said another female voice, "I've been taking care of them since their mother passed on." There was a moment of silence, then the first woman let out a sigh. "It always happens, I'm just too nice. I'll give them one month, do you mind if I take them with me for that long?" she asked, "I'll test them to see if they're even worth teaching alchemy to in the first place. See if they have the right talents." "And what happens if you find out they don't?" asked the second woman. "Then I'll send them back right way." the first woman told her. "And what happens if we pass? What'll happen then?" asked another voice. "Then we'll begin your alchemy training." she said. Alchemy. Alchemy. Alchemy! Something snapped into place, and all of Ed's memories suddenly came flowing back. He reared up, clopped his hooves together, and slammed them onto the ground. There was a bright light, and the others shielded their eyes. When the light faded, they gasped at what they saw. Made from earth were perfect copies of all 6 of them. He remembered who he was. He was Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist! RevealedThe flight took about half an hour. When he landed Garble was tired. He watched the two dragons walk into a bar just outside of the capitol. He followed them, and watched them sit at the bar. He took a seat a little ways away from them. "Greed consumes all." the orange one told the bartender. He nodded, and led them to the back. Soon he came back, and walked up to Garble. "What can I get you?" he asked. "Greed consumes all." Garble said. The bartender nodded, and led Garble to the back. The two dragons walked into the large room where a dark figure stood. "We brought you the alchemist, and his accomplish." the orange dragon told him. "Good." he said, "Set them down." They nodded, and put Ed, and Twilight down. "You may leave now." he said. They nodded again, and left. The figure walked over to Ed, and kicked him. "Wakey wakey." he said. "Huh? What? Where am I?" Ed asked. "Hm? Where are we?" Twilight asked groggily. "Good, she's awake too." the figure said. "Who are you?" Ed asked him. As his vision cleared he saw a green dragon with black spines. A red line ran from the tip of his tail, to the base where it split into two, and ran up to his head, and there were circles along the lines. "I'm glad you asked." he said, raising his hand, and showing Ed the back, "I'm your worst fear." Ed let out a gasp. "You're a homunculus." he said. "Oh, so you know what I am." the homunculus said. "Yeah I do." Ed told him, "But what homunculus are you?" The homunculus started laughing. "What? What's so funny?" Ed yelled. "Nothing." he said, still laughing, "But it seems you know a lot about us. Fine if you must know, then maybe this will give you a hint." Suddenly a dark gray started to spread along his body. "You're greed!" Ed realized. Greed laughed again. "Yes, I am." he said, "And I suppose you know what I want right?" "No, I don't." Ed told him. "Well in that case I'll tell you." Greed said, "I want the gem that's said to give you an infinante amount of power. The red gem that's supposed to be the most delicious of them all. I want the red stone!" "You want the Philosopher's Stone!" Ed realized. Greed started to laugh again. "So people still call it that do they?" he asked, "Yes! What I want is the Philosipher's Stone, and you're going to make it for me!" "W-what's the Philosopher Stone?" Twilight asked. "It's a stone that grants you amazing power!" Greed said. "Do you even know what a Philosopher Stone is made from?" Ed yelled. "Yes. I do! It's made from the lives of people!" he said, laughing. Twilight's eyes widened in disgust. "You're a monster! I'll never make a stone for you!" Ed yelled. "Oh, you will, or else." Greed said, picking Twilight up, and holding a claw to her neck. Twilight's eyes shone with fear. "Bastard!" Ed yelled, "Let her go!" "Come and fight me then!" Greed yelled, pushing Twilight. Ed clapped his hooves togeather, and made a blade come out of the metal one. "Gladly." he said.
VolcanoIt was another day of walking for Twilight, and Ed. Twilight was levitating the book that had information on alchemy. "I've been wondering this for a while." Twilight said. "What is it?" Ed asked her. "Well, this book says you need a transmutation circle to make an alchemic reaction, but you do it without one. How's that?" she asked. Suddenly Ed stopped. Images of the gate went through his mind. "I don't know." he told her. "Oh. Okay." she said, and continued walking. Ed stood there for a little bit, then continued walking too. They walked for another 4 hours until they reached the edge of the forest. "Well here we are. We're officially in Dragon territory now." Twilight told him. "Let's go." he said. She nodded and left the forest, followed by Ed. Suddenly he stopped, and gasped in amazement. A ways away from them was a giant volcano with dragons flying around it. "This is amazing." he said. "I know." Twilight said, "I've been here once before, but the dragons I met weren't too friendly, so be careful." "Will do." he said. They walked the rest of the day in silence until it was time to set up camp. "We'll reach there tomorrow, so be prepared." Twilight told him. He nodded, and they went to sleep. The next morning they woke up, and ate. After they were done they packed up, and started walking. "We're almost there." Ed said. Twilight nodded, and they started walking again. Soon they reached the base of the volcano. Unfortunately for them there was a red dragon there also. "Well, well, well, look at what we have here." he said, "Ponies."
Mysterious FigureTwilight gasped. "You!" she said. The red one narrowed his eyes. After a moment they opened in surprise. "It's you!" he said, "I remember you. You're that pony." "You know him?" Ed asked Twilight. "Yeah, and he's a jerk." Twilight told him. "Is that so?" he said. "Yeah, about that. Sorry." said the red one. "What?" asked Twilight, surprised. "You're right, I was a jerk." he said, "But I've changed." Twilight wasn't sure wether to believe him or not. "And why should I believe you?" she asked. "Don't. I don't really care. I'm just saying." he told her. Twilight stared at him a moment longer, then sighed. "Fine. I believe you." she said. "In that case could you help us find something?" she asked him. "Sure. What is it?" he asked. "We need to find the library here. We're here to do some research on alchemy." she told him. "I'll bring you there." he said, and started walking up the volcano. They followed him. "I haven't properly introduced myself yet, I'm Garble." he told them. "I'm Twilight, and this is Ed." Twilight told him. "So why do you want to research alchemy? And why here?" he asked them. "Ed here is an alchemist, and we can't learn about alchemy in Equestria." she told him. Unluckily for them someone else heard that too. A large orange dragon took flight, headed towards the capitol. The dragon landed in front of a bar just outside of the dragon capitol. He entered the bar, where there were a fair number of dragons. He walked up to the counter, and sat down. "Can I help you?" the bartender asked him. "Greed consumes all." he told the bartender, the pass code. The bartender nodded, and led him into a passageway, which he followed until he reached a large room where a dark figure was standing. "I see you're back." said the figure. "Yes." he said. "So what news have you brought?" the figure asked him. "I've found a pony alchemist." he said. The figure's eyes widened slightly. "Really now? Bring him here." the figure told him. "Very well." he said, and left the bar. He started flying back towards the other town.
Encounter"I guess I have no choice." Ed said. "Great! We'll go now then." Twilight said, and started walking back the way she came, and Ed started following her. "But really though, I'm very interested in your automail was it?" Twilight asked. "Yeah." he said. "I hope you'll let me take a closer look at it." Twilight said. "Hah. You remind me of my friend Winry. She-" he cut off as a surge of pain went through his head. He collapsed on the ground, and he heard voices. "Are you sure about this brother?" "Yeah Al. We haven't been training all this time for nothing. We'll get Mom back for sure." another voice said. A voice that he recognized as his. Before he could hear anything else he was shaken out of it. He opened his eyes to see Twilight standing above him with a worried look on her face. "Are you alright?" she asked. "Yeah I'm fine." he said. "What happened?" she asked. "I don't know. I just suddenly heard someone, and then I heard my own voice. I don't understand what it means though." he said. "You remembered something?" Twilight asked. "I don't know. It seems like it." he said. "Well we should get you to my house so you can rest." Twilight said. Just then they heard, "Watch out!" and then a multicolored blur suddenly crashed into Ed. He was sent skidding across the grass along with the other pony."Get off." he said pushing the other pony off. "Hey Rainbow Dash." Twilight said. "Oh hey Twilight. Whose the shrimp?" Rainbow Dash asked. "SHRIMP? WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHRIMP?" Ed yelled. "You shrimp." Dash said. Ed jumped at her, and yelled, "I am not a shrimp!" Before Dash even had time to react they were both on the ground wrestling for dominance. "What's wrong shrimp? Am I too strong for you?" Dash taunted after she pinned him down. "I'll show you whose weak!" he yelled, clapping his hooves together, and then hitting the ground. Suddenly there was a bright light, and a pillar of earth came out of the ground, and rammed right into Rainbow Dash knocking her off. Ed, and the other gawked at what just happened. "What the hay was that?" Twilight asked. "I-I don't know. I just did it on instinct." he said surprised himself. "Well whatever it was it was cool. You have to teach me how to do that." Dash said. "I told you I don't know how I did it. It was just an instinct." he said. "Well whatever it was I want to find out. Maybe it has to do with your memories." Twilight said. "His memories?" asked Dash. "Oh yeah, you don't know. This is Edward Elric, he has amnesia." Twilight explained. "Amnesia? Isn't that like what the doctors give you to knock you out?" Dash asked. Twilight sighed. "No that's anesthesia. Amnesia is where you can't remember anything." she explained. "Can't remember anything. So like, he doesn't know who he is, or what his special talent is?" Dash asked. "Precisely." Twilight said, "I'm hoping that we'll find a way to unlock his memories." "Well good luck with that, I gotta get back to practicing." Dash said before flying off. Just then Ed's stomach growled, showing how hungry he was. Twilight let out a small laugh and said, "You sound hungry. Come on I know the best place to get snacks at. It's a bakery called Sugarcube Corner."
VoiceAs Twilight walked through Ponyville, she noticed that the streets were unusually empty. When she reached Sugarcube Corner she found out why. As soon as she opened the door she got a face full of confetti. "Surprise!" they called. "Ah!" exclaimed Ed, rearing back, and falling on his butt. Suddenly a pink pony zipped up to him. "Did you get surprised? Huh? Did ya?" she asked. "What?" was all he could get out. "I saw you walking down the street, and I was like 'I know everyone in Ponyville, and if I haven't seen him then he must be new, and if he's new then he doesn't have any friends', and that made me sad so I threw you this party." she said, all in one breath. "Huh?" he said again. "So were you surprised? Huh? Huh? Huh?" she asked, shoving her face right into his. "Get off me." he said, pushing her away from him. "Come on, let's party!" she said, bouncing back inside. "What just happened?" Ed asked Twilight. She shrugged. "I've been trying to figure that out for a while." she told him, "Come on, I'll introduce you to my other friends." She dragged him inside, and over towards a group of five ponies, which included the pink one, and the one he'd met earlier, Rainbow Dash. "Hey shrimp." said Rainbow Dash. "Who are you calling a shrimp!" he exclaimed. "You shrimp!" she said. They glared at each other, until an orange pony broke them apart. "Woah. Simmer down there sally." said the orange pony. "She (He) started it." they said at the same time. "Ah don't care who started what. This is a party. Yall need to lighten up." she said. "Fine." they huffed, turning away from each other. "Anyways, my names Applejack. This here's Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, and I recon you already know Twilight, and Rainbow Dash." she said, "What's yours?" "I'm Edward Elric." he told them. "Nice ta meetcha Ed." she said, offering her hoof. "Nice to meet you too." he said, shaking her hoof. "That's some weird armor you got on." she said. "It's not armor, it's automail." he told her. "What's automail? Is it like normal mail? Is it faster? How does it work?" Pinkie flooded him with questions. He shook his head. "No. Automail is a mechanical replacement for my leg." he told them. They all gasped, except for Twilight, who'd already heard this. "A replacement? You mean you l-lost your leg?" asked Fluttershy. "Yeah. And my back leg too." he told her, showing them his left back leg. They all gasped again. "But how could you loose your legs?" Applejack asked. "That's the strange thing. I can't remem-" he cut off as a wave of pain hit him. He clutched at his head as he heard his voice again. Alphonse, no! No, dammit. You won't take him too. Give him back! He's my brother! Take my leg. Take my arm! Take my heart, ANYTHING, YOU CAN HAVE IT! Just give him back! He's my little brother, he's all I have left! Then as suddenly as it came, the voice stopped, and he sat up panting. He saw the others all staring at him. "What the hay was that?" asked Applejack. "I-I don't know." replied Ed, a little shaky, "I just heard my voice. I was yelling, but I don't know about what." "You think it has something to do with your memory?" asked Twilight. "Probably." he said. Everyone tried to think of a way to lighten the mood after that, when Rainbow Dash remembered something. "Hey, show the others what you did earlier." she told him. "What do you mean?" he asked her. "You know, when you made earth shoot out of the ground." she told him. "But that was an instinct. I don't know how to do it again." he said. "Just do what you did earlier." she told him. "What the hay are you two talking about?" asked Applejack. "Come on let's show them." Rainbow said. "Alright. I guess it doesn't hurt to try." he said, walking outside, closely followed by six others. "Alright here goes." he said, clopping his hooves together, and slamming them onto the ground.
DecisionEd followed Twilight to the door. She opened it to reveal a white pegasus in gold armor. "Miss Sparkle?" he asked. "That's me." she said. "Right this way." he said, walking away. They followed him to a cart where there was another pegasus strapped to the front of it. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ed asked her as they got on, "Wasn't the Princess the one who banned alchemy?" "Don't worry, I'm sure she'll understand. She's the kindest Princess there is." Twilight told him. "So my little pony, what brings you here?" asked a large white unicorn with wings. "I wish to inquire something Princess Celestia." Twilight told her. "Of course Twilight, you can ask me anything." Celestia said. Twilight gulped. "I would like to learn more about alchemy." Twilight told her. Suddenly Celestia's expression changed. "NO!" she boomed. "But-" Twilight tried to say. "NO!" Celestia boomed again, "You shall not learn about that monstrous conduct!" "But." Twilight wanted to argue, but she'd never seen Celestia this mad. She sighed. "Very well Princess." she said. Celestia's face changed again. "I'm sorry about yelling Twilight, but you must understand that I'm only trying to protect you." Celestia said. "I-I understand Princess." Twilight said. "Why don't you stay here for the night, and then you and your friend can head back to Ponyville." Celestia told her. "Thank you Princess." Twilight said. "Come, let's have dinner." Celestia said, walking out of the throne room with Twilight, and Ed close behind her. At dinner they met Celestia's sister, Luna. Afterwards Celestia showed them to their room in the castle. "Well that was pointless." said Ed as soon as they were alone. "Not necessarily." Twilight said. "What do you mean?" Ed asked. "I've never seen the Princess that mad before." Twilight said, "There's definitely something she's not telling us, and we need to know more about alchemy." "Where are you going with this?" Ed asked her. "If she won't tell us, then we'll have to find out for ourselves. That book said the origins of alchemy went back to before Equestria, so we're going on a journey." said Twilight.
The Journey BeginsTwilight had gotten a map out. "Listen." she said between the pointer in her mouth, "Tomorrow we'll head back to Ponyville, and pack. Then the next day we'll leave, and head to the Dragon Kingdom here." She poked a large piece of land that had Dragon Kingdom written on it. "Okay, so why are we going there?" asked Ed. "The dragons are one of the oldest races. There's bound to be something on alchemy there." Twilight explained. "Okay, that makes sense." Ed said. Twilight nodded her head. "And if we don't find anything there, we'll go to other lands such as the Griffon Kingdom, and Zebrica." Twilight told him. He nodded. "We should get to sleep now, we'll need our energy soon." she said. "Yeah." he agreed, and they went to sleep. The next morning they were woken up by a knock at the door. Twilight opened it to find a royal guard. "Breakfast is ready Miss Twilight." he said. "Thank you." she told him. He nodded, and left. "Come on, let's go get some breakfast." she said to Ed. He got up, and followed her to the dining hall. During breakfast Twilight realized that Ed wasn't drinking his milk. "You should really drink your milk." she told him. "I hate milk." he said. "You should drink it. It'll help you grow." Celestia told him. "Who are you calling small?" he yelled. Twilight sat there with her mouth open, while Celestia chuckled. "Sorry if I offended you." she said, still chuckling. Ed huffed, and went back to eating. "Your friend is quite amusing." Celestia told Twilight. "Yeah." she said, relieved that hadn't gone worse. "Goodbye Twilight. Tell your other friends I said hello." Celestia called to them as they flew off in a chariot. "Will do." Twilight yelled back. Soon they had reached Ponyville, and landed in front of the library. "Spike!" Twilight called as she opened the door. "Coming!" Spike yelled, then appeared a moment later. "Spike I want you to get the others." Twilight told him. "On it." he said, giving a salute before walking out. That reminded Ed of when he used to be in the military. Soon the other 5 he'd met yesterday had entered the library. "So what's this about Twi?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Yes darling. It's not like you to just call us all up." Rarity said. "Me and Ed are going on a trip." Twilight told them. "Really? Where to? For how long? I'll throw a big going away party!" Pinkie said. "No!" Twilight yelled out, causing the others to look at her. "I mean, no thank you. I don't want a party." Twilight told her. "Anyways we'll be leaving tomorrow. I just wanted to tell you girls." Twilight said. "Alright. Bring me something cool back." Rainbow Dash told her. "And you must tell me about the clothing you see." Rarity said. "And I'd like to hear about what kind of animals you see." Fluttershy said. "Oh! Oh! Me next! I wanna know about the deserts they have." Pinkie said. Applejack just shrugged. "Ah'm fine with anything." Applejack told her. "Alright then. We should pack now." Twilight told them. They nodded, and left. Throughout the day they packed two backpacks. Soon nightfall came. "We should get some rest now if we want leave early tomorrow." Twilight said. "Yeah." Ed agreed. He laid down on an extra bed, and wondered what kind of madness would he run into this time. Hopefully not homunculi. Soon he fell asleep, his mind in turmoil. "Wake up." Twilight said, shaking Ed awake. "Huh? What time is it?" he asked. "It's 5:30." Twilight told him. "Why'd you wake me up so early?" he asked her. "Because we have to get an early start." she told him, "Now let's get some breakfast." By the time they had finished breakfast, Spike had woken up. "Hey guys." he said. "Hey Spike." Twilight said. "We're leaving now. Take good care of the library while I'm gone." Twilight told him after she got their bags. "Don't worry Twilight. The library is in good hands." he said. "I'll write to you. Bye Spike." she said, leaving the library with Ed close behind. With that, their journey started.
Manticore"Alright." Twilight said, walking with a map in front of her. "We'll follow this trail almost straight through the Everfree. We'll spend the night here." she said, pointing towards a small clearing next to the other side of the forest. "So where do we go after that?" Ed asked her. "From there we'll travel to over here, and camp out a little ways from the foot of this volcano." Twilight said, tracing their path out, "Then we'll walk to the top of the volcano where a small dragon village is, and we'll find some info. Then we'll head towards the capitol." "What's at the capitol?" asked Ed. "There is a large library there. Maybe they have something on alchemy there." Twilight told him. "I see. And if they don't?" Ed asked her. "If they don't then we'll go to the Griffon Kingdom next." Twilight told him, pointing to another large spot on the map. Deep in the forest, in a large cave a dark figure was smirking. "A pony alchemist. Master will find that interesting." she said. It was about four in the afternoon when it happened. They had sat down to rest, and to eat when suddenly a manticore jumped out at them. Ed clapped his hooves, and put them to the ground, making a column of earth ram into it, and send it flying. The manticore landed on it's feet, and started circling them, more careful now. Ed clapped his hooves, and pressed the left one against his metal one, making a blade come out of it. Suddenly it lunged at him. He dodged it, and sliced it's side with his arm. The manticore roared in pain, and lunged over Ed, and ran off back into the forest. Ed let out a sigh, and looked back towards Twilight, who had been cowering in fear. "That was a close one." he said, "We should get going." "Yeah." she stuttered, still shaking. They walked again until it became nightfall, and they reached their camping spot. "We'll stay here tonight, and we'll continue on tomorrow. We'll reach the town the day after tomorrow." she reminded Ed. "Right." he said.
ConfrontationGarble, who'd been watching the whole time, jumped out from the shadows. "I'll help." he said. "No!" Ed shouted. Garble recoiled, taken aback. "But why?" he asked. "Homunculi are damn near immortal. You won't be able to take him on. Just make sure Twilight's safe." Ed told him. He wanted to argue, but he knew Ed was right. "Fine." he said, stepping in front of Twilight. "Now let's go!" said Greed, running at Ed. Ed clapped his hooves together, and rammed his blade through Greed's chest. Greed jumped back. "What the hell?" he yelled. Twilight, and Garble watched in horror, and surprise as Greed's wound started to heal. Greed laughed. "Wow kid you're something else!" he said. "W-What just happened?" asked Twilight. "I told you a homunculus won't die. They have amazing regeneration capabilities." Ed told her. "You seem to know more about me than I thought. I'm not ready to fight you just yet. I'll see you later!" Greed called out as he ran away. "Wait!" yelled Ed, "Who's your master?" Greed stopped, and laughed. "I have no master. I'm Greed." he said. "But who's the one that taught you?" Ed asked, "There had to be someone!" Greed laughed again. "Yes there is. But I'm not telling you." he said, and then ran off. "Wait dammit!" Ed yelled, but he was gone. He slammed his hoof into the ground. "Dammit!" he yelled again. "We should get out of here." said Garble. Ed nodded, but Twilight didn't. "Just how do you know so much about him?" she asked. Ed sighed. "I was hoping this wouldn't happen." he said, "Fine I'll tell you. I regained my memories some time back." "What? How long?" she asked. "About a week ago, when I told you I was an alchemist." he told her. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked. "I didn't think you'd be able to handle it." he said. "What's that supposed to mean?" she yelled. "I'm sorry. You're right, I should have told you earlier." he said, "I'll tell you now. First you should know I'm not really a pony." "What do you mean?" she asked. "I'm a human." he told her. "A human!" she said. "What's a human?" asked Garble. "A human is a creature of myth. They stand on two legs, are technologically advanced, and are omnivorous." Twilight told him. "Right." Ed told them. "But that still doesn't explain anything." Twilight said. "It all started when our mother died." Ed began.
KidnappingGarble led them to a large cave entrance. "Is this really the entrance to a library?" Ed asked him. "Yeah. We make caves for everything." he told Ed. "Alright, thanks." Ed said, walking in, followed closely by Twilight. The passageway was lit up by torches, and soon they walked into a giant cave filled with bookshelves. "Wow." said Twilight, amazed at all the books. "We should get started." Ed told her, "Let's ask where the section on alchemy is." She nodded, and walked up to the counter where a dragon was standing. They talked for a few seconds, and Twilight came back. "Well?" he asked "There's no alchemy books here. There's only some in the capitol's library." Twilight told him. "What do we do now?" she asked. "Hmm. There's no alchemy books. Well that doesn't mean we can't learn about the history." he said. "Right! There might be some important information in the history of this land." Twilight realized. She walked over to the counter, and talked to the dragon again. She came back, and led Ed to the history section. "So where do we start?" he asked. "Why don't we start with the history of the kingdom, and how it was established." she said. He nodded, and they started looking through books. After a while Twilight threw down one the many books she'd read. "I don't understand this at all!" she yelled. "What?" Ed asked. "These books! They make no sense." she said. "What do you mean?" he asked. "These books keep talking about a huge war between a bunch of different nations, and it keeps mentioning Equestria. But I've never heard of any such war, nor one that Equestria participated in." she said. "Your government has been hiding things from you." Ed realized. "B-But Princess Celestia would never hide anything." Twilight objected. "This goes deeper than just alchemy." he said. "W-What do you mean?" Twilight asked him. "There's something bigger that went on, and Equestria is hiding it's history from it's citizens." Ed told her. "N-No that's just not possible." Twilight was starting to break down. She realized Ed was right. There was something going on. "We need to get to the capitol's library, and the other nations too." Ed told her, "We have to find out what happened, and what Equestria's hiding." It took a little while, but Twilight calmed down. "You're right." she said, "We'll stay the night here, and then we'll leave for the capitol. We have to find out what happened." "Let's go. I promise we'll get to the bottom of this." Ed told her, "We should find that dragon again, he can help us find a place to stay." Twilight nodded, and followed him out. Unfortunately for them there were two dragons waiting for them outside. As soon as they walked out the dragons jumped down, and landed behind them. They were just starting to turn their heads when they were knocked out. "Let's get them back to the boss." said the black dragon, picking up Twilight. The other one just nodded, and picked up Ed. They then flew off towards the capitol. Luckily Garble had seen the whole thing, and flew off after them.
The Strange PonyIt was a bright sunny day in Equestria. A perfect day. But the law of equivalent exchange states that you can't get something without giving something in return. As Twilight was about find out, her life would be completely flipped. A strange pony was walking down a road. He had a tan coat with a yellow mane, and a metallic right foreleg, and left hind leg. He had awoken just a few minutes ago, and was unable to recall where he was, or why he was there. Or anything else for that matter. Likewise a pink party pony was walking the exact opposite way on the same road. Suddenly she heard a metallic clinking, and hoofsteps. She hopped towards where the noise was coming from to find a pony with weird clothes on. He also seemed to be wearing armor, but the weird thing was that it was only on his right foreleg, and left hind leg. Pinkie let out a gasp because she had never seen this pony before, and if she had never seen this pony before then he must be new, and if he was new then he must be lonely, and that made her sad, so she decided she would throw a party for him. He noticed Pinkie, and started to ask her where he was, but it was too late. She was already gone. He let out a sigh, would he never find out where he was? At town Pinkie wasn't watching where she was going, so she ran into Twilight which sent all of her papers flying everywhere. "Pinkie! What's wrong?" Twilight asked, worried about her friend's frenzied state. "Well I just saw a new pony, and if he's new, then he doesn't know anyone, and if he doesn't know anyone then he must be lonely, and if he's lonely, then that makes me sad, so I'm off to organize a party for him so he can meet some new friends." she said without taking a breath. "Wait. A new pony? What did he look like?" Twilight asked. "He was tan with a yellow mane, and he was wearing these strange clothes. He was also kinda short, and he had armor on, though it was kinda weird since he only had it on two legs." Pinkie said. "Hmm. That does sound weird. Well by Pinkie." Twilight said to empty air, because Pinkie had already left. She shrugged, and chalked it up to being Pinkie. As she used her magic to organize all her papers again she decided to go and meet this strange stallion Pinkie saw, and she walked off in the direction Pinkie had come from. It didn't take long for her to find the pony Pinkie had described to her. A little ways away from town he was walking on the road head down, looking a little depressed. "Hi there!" she called out to him, making his head shoot up. She trotted over to him, and stuck out a hoof. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, you must be new here." she said. He took the hoofshake, and said, "My name's Edward Elric."
Amnesia"It's nice to meet you Edward." Twilight said. She noticed something weird about the hoofshake. His hoof was cold. Even with armor on it should have been at least relatively warm, but it was completely cold. "What kind of armor is that?" Twilight asked, curious. Edward looked at his leg, and back at her, and said, "Oh. That's not armor." "Then what is it?" Twilight asked, her interest rising steadily. "It's automail." he said raising his leg, so she could get a closer look. "Automail?" she asked. "Yeah. It's a mechanical replacement for my real arm." he said. "Replacement? You mean?" Twilight couldn't finish her sentence. "Yeah." he said sadly, "I lost my real one a while back." "How?" Twilight asked. Ed tried remembering, he really did, but it just wouldn't come to him no matter how hard he tried. "I'm sorry, I don't know." he said finally. "You don't know? How can you not know?" Twilight asked. "I can't remember. Actually I can't seem to remember much of anything." he said, only now realizing how much of his memories were coming up blank. "Amnesia?" Twilight pondered. "Well I can't just leave you here. Do you at least remember if you have a place to stay?" she asked, and he shook his head. "Then it's final, you'll stay with me, until you can get your memories back." Twilight said.
MemoriesNothing happened. "What? Why didn't anything happen?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I told you I don't know what I did earlier." Ed told her. "But you did the same thing as earlier. Why didn't it work this time?" Rainbow Dash wondered. "Enough about that, what's your cutie mark mean?" Pinkie asked him, bouncing up to his right flank, and staring at the strange circle. Ed strained to look at what she was talking about. Just then he got a glimpse of it, and he clutched his head as another wave of pain hit him. "What are you trying to accomplish by learning alchemy anyway? Just tell me that." asked a female voice. "Well, um, we wanna help others out." Ed heard his own voice. "Do you have your parent's permission?" asked the voice. "Well, um." he said. "I'm afraid they have no parents." said another female voice, "I've been taking care of them since their mother passed on." There was a moment of silence, then the first woman let out a sigh. "It always happens, I'm just too nice. I'll give them one month, do you mind if I take them with me for that long?" she asked, "I'll test them to see if they're even worth teaching alchemy to in the first place. See if they have the right talents." "And what happens if you find out they don't?" asked the second woman. "Then I'll send them back right way." the first woman told her. "And what happens if we pass? What'll happen then?" asked another voice. "Then we'll begin your alchemy training." she said. Alchemy. Alchemy. Alchemy! Something snapped into place, and all of Ed's memories suddenly came flowing back. He reared up, clopped his hooves together, and slammed them onto the ground. There was a bright light, and the others shielded their eyes. When the light faded, they gasped at what they saw. Made from earth were perfect copies of all 6 of them. He remembered who he was. He was Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist!
RevealedThe flight took about half an hour. When he landed Garble was tired. He watched the two dragons walk into a bar just outside of the capitol. He followed them, and watched them sit at the bar. He took a seat a little ways away from them. "Greed consumes all." the orange one told the bartender. He nodded, and led them to the back. Soon he came back, and walked up to Garble. "What can I get you?" he asked. "Greed consumes all." Garble said. The bartender nodded, and led Garble to the back. The two dragons walked into the large room where a dark figure stood. "We brought you the alchemist, and his accomplish." the orange dragon told him. "Good." he said, "Set them down." They nodded, and put Ed, and Twilight down. "You may leave now." he said. They nodded again, and left. The figure walked over to Ed, and kicked him. "Wakey wakey." he said. "Huh? What? Where am I?" Ed asked. "Hm? Where are we?" Twilight asked groggily. "Good, she's awake too." the figure said. "Who are you?" Ed asked him. As his vision cleared he saw a green dragon with black spines. A red line ran from the tip of his tail, to the base where it split into two, and ran up to his head, and there were circles along the lines. "I'm glad you asked." he said, raising his hand, and showing Ed the back, "I'm your worst fear." Ed let out a gasp. "You're a homunculus." he said. "Oh, so you know what I am." the homunculus said. "Yeah I do." Ed told him, "But what homunculus are you?" The homunculus started laughing. "What? What's so funny?" Ed yelled. "Nothing." he said, still laughing, "But it seems you know a lot about us. Fine if you must know, then maybe this will give you a hint." Suddenly a dark gray started to spread along his body. "You're greed!" Ed realized. Greed laughed again. "Yes, I am." he said, "And I suppose you know what I want right?" "No, I don't." Ed told him. "Well in that case I'll tell you." Greed said, "I want the gem that's said to give you an infinante amount of power. The red gem that's supposed to be the most delicious of them all. I want the red stone!" "You want the Philosopher's Stone!" Ed realized. Greed started to laugh again. "So people still call it that do they?" he asked, "Yes! What I want is the Philosipher's Stone, and you're going to make it for me!" "W-what's the Philosopher Stone?" Twilight asked. "It's a stone that grants you amazing power!" Greed said. "Do you even know what a Philosopher Stone is made from?" Ed yelled. "Yes. I do! It's made from the lives of people!" he said, laughing. Twilight's eyes widened in disgust. "You're a monster! I'll never make a stone for you!" Ed yelled. "Oh, you will, or else." Greed said, picking Twilight up, and holding a claw to her neck. Twilight's eyes shone with fear. "Bastard!" Ed yelled, "Let her go!" "Come and fight me then!" Greed yelled, pushing Twilight. Ed clapped his hooves togeather, and made a blade come out of the metal one. "Gladly." he said.
