It had been a week since Rarity had agreed to let Ed and Al stay at the boutique and things were running fairly smoothly, Al spent most of the day playing with Sweetie Belle and the other two founding members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders , while Ed had been learning to fly with Rainbow Dash and learning simple levitation spells with Twilight, things were looking up for them all in all
That was until now when it had been raining all day, Ed, Al and Sweetie Belle were all stuck inside
"Can't we just..." Began Sweetie
"No" Interrupted Ed
"But, Brother you didn't even wait 'till she finished what she was asking" Said Al
"Sorry, but she's been asking all day if, Applebloom and Scootaloo can come over, and we are not going out to fetch them in this weather" Said Ed
"But i was going to ask if we could play a board game" Said Sweetie
"like what?" Asked Ed
"How about... Marenopoly?" Suggested Sweetie
"What's that?" Asked Al
"It's a game where you have to move around the board by spinning a spinner to find out how many spaces to move, and buy famous streets in Canterlot using this fake Marenopoly money" Explained Sweetie
"OK, fine" Said Ed "I suppose there is nothing better to do"
About half an hour in to the game Ed was winning and Sweetie Belle was a close second, Al was struggling to roll the dice as his hooves were to large and clunky to be able to properly use the spinner, Ed and Sweetie found it easier due the fact they could use simple magic to turn it, Al finally gave up saying that it was too hard for him to spin it, and Ed and Sweetie finished the game off, Ed finally being Victorious
"well now what do we do?" Said Ed, throwing himself on to his back with his hooves in the air
Just then a loud bang and a scream came from down the hall
"that sounded like Rarity!" Shouted Al, and the three of them stood and bolted for the door
The three ran into Rarity's workshop where various designs where hung upon mannequins, before her stood a strange earth pony colt, his coat was black with strange red designs from his back down his forelegs, his head was bald and his tail was black, his cutie mark depicted a snake easting it's own tail
"I'm going to enjoy eating this one" He said, he then stopped and sniffed the air "I smell the Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother"
Realization Dawned on Ed and Al
"Hey, Gluttony!" Shouted Ed
"Funny we should see you here, Fullmetal Runt" Said a Feminine voice from behind Ed
There was a loud crash in the hall, and a muttered curse, then Twilight and Applejack burst into the room
"What in tarnation is goin' on in here!" Asked Applejack looking ready to buck somepony up
"Can I eat them Lust?" Asked Gluttony
"Leave only the Fullmetal Runt and his brother Father has 'special' plans for them" Replied Lust
"Twilight get Rarity and Sweetie Belle and go, we can deal with this!" Ordered Ed
"But..." Started Twilight
"Just do it!" Yelled Ed "I don't want anything to happen to you or Rarity!"
"What's the matter Runt, fallen in love?" Mocked Lust
"Shut up!" Ed yelled and Clopped his fore-hooves together and and threw his Hooves against the solid wood floor and a cannon rose in front of him "Twilight, GO NOW!" and the cannon fired at Gluttony forcing him into the wall opposite them
"OK" Said Twilight, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she lifted Rarity to her feet and put Sweetie Belle across her back and bolted for the door Applejack and Rarity in close pursuit
"All right" Said Al "it's just us four now" and he clopped his hooves together gave the armour hands again, before clapping with the new hands and producing spear which he swung for Lust with
"Dammit!" Shouted Ed "For once I actually wish the Colonel was here, he could use his flames to kill you again!"
"Too bad for you" Said Lust, smiling
"But at least you have me!" Said a voice from the doorway, Ed turned and saw Twilight charging a spell, he sidestepped and a fireball flew from the tip of her horn and hit Lust square in the chest, sending her flying into Gluttony, both of them fell into a heap on the floor
"I thought I told you to go!" Shouted Ed,clopping his hooves again and causing a net to rise from the floor and trap Lust and Gluttony on the floor
"I just could't leave you two here on your own!" She Argued, she heard a clap and saw a blue flash from where Al was, she turned and saw him standing there a spear lay on the floor by his hooves, unable to determine what he had actually transmuted she turned back to Ed "I mean really how can you expect me to leave!"
"I don't know why..." Said Ed, his voice trailing off as he saw Lust raise a hoof and point it in Twilight's direction
"Get down!" Al yelled and leapt towards Twilight knocking her down but having his head knocked of in the process, His body clattered to the floor in front of Twilight, and all she could see inside the armour was a small circle drawn in red on the collar of the armour
"What!" Cried Twilight in horror "where has Al gone!?"
"I'm right here" Said the body, Twilight screamed and ran to the helmet and levitated it towards herself, she look inside it
"But this makes no sense!" she cried "where is your body?"
"Inside the gate" Al stated
"sorry no time for explanations!" Said Ed "we've still got to deal with these two" and with that he clopped his hooves and smashed them against the floor boards, a large hoof extended fro the wall in a flash of blue light and smashed into the point where Lust and Gluttony were tied up, ripping the net, and sending them flying across the room
Gluttony roared and ran towards Ed, mouth wide open Ed clopped his hooves again and swiped his left hoof against his right leg, a large metal blade extended from the original point of contact and extended up the leg, the connection to the plating finished before the knee, Ed raised his Leg tucking the hoof itself under his body and waiting for impact,the spike his Gluttony's chest straight on and Gluttony roared in pain, as the spike penetrated his Philosophers Stone and breaking it clean in two
Gluttony began to turn grey starting at his rear hooves "But I didn't get to eat her" He said as he turned to dust, Lust fell to the floor and raised her hands
"I won't resist, just take me prisoner" she insisted
"How do we know we can trust you on that?" asked Al, having finally put his head back in place
"I promise" Replied Lust "And just as with Greed I never tell a lie"
"Fine, but you've got to wear these" said Ed, as he placed hoof restraints on her fore legs that meant she would be unable to lift her hooves high enough to use her 'ultimate spear'
"Fine, but I just want to say one last thing Fullmetal" Lust said "Father knows where you are and he's coming, there is no way you can stop him from taking over this world and our own, so you may as well give up"
"Never" Said Ed "as long is there is a breath left in my body, I will not let him take over either world"
"Then your end will come faster than you could ever want it to, Runt" She said simply, Ed gritted his teeth at the last statement, but did not attack
Twilight's horn glowed with magic and she and Lust disappeared in a flash of violet light,Twilight Returned moments later in another flash "She is now in the Canterlot Castle dungeons in solitary confinement, She will be muzzled and tied up so that she can only move far enough to eat, drink and do the other necessary things a pony's got to do"
"Right" Said Ed, nodding
"Are you going to explain why the armour is hollow, but Al is still in there?" Asked Twilight "and why you have those metal legs in the first place?"
"OK, but please don't tell anypony else" Said Ed "You got that?"
"Naturally" Said Twilight "Everypony has secrets"
"OK here goes" Said Ed, and together Him and Al recounted the story of the failed transmutation that resulted in their current bodies, as they told the story Twilight's expressions varied between sorrow, anger and empathetic, tears began to build in her eyes and when Ed and Al finished their story, tears were streaming freely down her face
"Hey, don't cry this is our mistake and we must always bear these reminders" Said Ed, gesturing to his metal legs and Al's metal body
"How can you stand there, tell that story, and not cry?" Shouted Twilight "It's such a bad thing to loose your parents in the first place! but to loose your mother twice that's just..." She stopped mid-sentence attempting to choke back more tears
"This metal body stops me from showing any emotions at all, I can't cry" Said Al
"But what about you Ed, You have a body that can cry, but you won't! Twilight wailed
"I just can't" Replied Ed, his head held low
"Why not?" Twilight Said, finally managing to control her crying, but her voice still shaky
"I don't want to talk about it" He muttered
"I suppose we'd better get this placed straightened up, or Rarity's gonna kill us" he said slightly louder and in a clearer voice
"Don't change the subject" Said Twilight
"I have nothing more to say" Said Ed, and he clopped his hooves, and again smashed them against the floor, the walls and floor all re-formed as they were originally, he then walked around the room, straightening mannequins and repairing sewing machines, while Twilight stood watching him, unsure of how to feel, part of her was angry at him, but the rest of her just felt bad for him
"Brother..." began Al, as Ed pushed past him and walked out the front door of the building into the pouring rain...