//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Pride is Forever... and so is Gluttony // Story: My Little Alchemist: Friendship is NOT Science // by AppleJack96 //------------------------------// Ed and Al soon tracked down the group they had been travelling with prior to the incident with Father, the group consisted of: Hoenheim, Scar, Greed/Ling, May Chang, her pet panda Xiao Mei, Yoki, and the four human-chimeras: Zampano, Jerso, Darius and Heinkel Upon arriving May performed an amazing flying tackle at Al and sent the suit of armour flying, Ling greeted Ed with a hearty 'hello'while still stuffing his face, Yoki and Scar showed no emotion towards the pair, while Hoenheim greeted them warmly, Ed refused to warm up to him, still giving him the cold shoulder "Hey Dad!" Shouted Al, getting up from the floor "Hello Alphonse, hello Edward" Replied Hoenheim Smiling Ed just huffed and walked in the opposite direction, to lost in thought to pay much attention to Hoenheim Twilight lay on her bed crying, Cadence sat by the bed trying to comfort her while Spike sat over in the corner looking worried and unsure of what to do "He will come back, I know it" Soothed Cadence "How can you be so sure?" Twilight demanded "You forget I can sense love as well as spread it, he truly loves you, he will return" Cadence replied It had been a few days since Ed and Al's return to Amestris and everything was going fine, It was early evening and Al had gone searching for a train the group could sneak onto to get to central, he heard a sound above him and looked up, there was Gluttony "I smell him! I smell the Fullmetal Alchemist's brother! He's here!" He shouted and pounced down from his vantage point onto Al, and pinned him down, Al could have sworn he saw the shadows moving towards him but then his body pulled at his soul and he lost 'conciousness' Ed had been sitting in the village, eating, Heinkel sitting on one side, Darius on the other and they were both lecturing him on how he had been treating his father "If I could have one more moment with my fath..." Began Darius "JUST SHUT UP!" Shouted Ed "You should at least ask him why he..." Started Heinkel "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK LION KING!" yelled Ed Just then Ed stood up and walked away from them into the nearby woods, he saw Al standing there, but something seemed off to him "Hey Al what are you doing out here" Asked Ed The armour turned to face him, but instead of seeing the usual glowing white orbs behind the eyeholes, Ed saw strange purple eyes, which he was sure he had seen before Ed smiled and looked towards 'Al' "Hello there.. Pride" "Hello Fullmetal, how was your trip?" Mocked Pride "Pretty good actually..." Said Ed, to Pride's Surprise "I was actually thinking about going back when this is all over" "Well then I will just have to make sure you don't get that chance, a spear of solid shadows flew towards Ed, he clapped and tapped his arm before bringing it up in front of himself for defence, the hand and lower forearm were as black as coal, but around twenty times harder, the spike Pride had sent flying for Ed, collided with the arm and was reflected in the opposite direction "It's him Pride, It's the Fullmetal Alchemist!" Shouted Gluttony, who was hanging from a tree "Hmm, I see you have picked up a few tricks from Greed, Although it won't be enough to keep you alive for long" Mocked Pride "I don't plan on fighting you for that long!" Shouted Ed, quickly dodging to one side as more spikes flew in his direction "Nor I you" Replied Pride, casually "You have to give me my body" Argued Ling, "I can detect their presence!" "Tough call kid, but since I can see them I don't need your help" Replied Greed, cockily Just then a blue flash appeared in the trees ahead of them and all of the lights in the village went out "Ah Jeez, Just when I was starting to have some fun" Said Greed "Now can I take control?" Asked Ling "Sure but just don't go running off with MY body" Replied Greed "Ha, now you can't use your shadows" Laughed Ed "Don't think you have the upper hand just yet, Gluttony can still sense you" Said Pride There was a dull thud behind Ed, and he felt warm breath on the back of his throat. He swung a blackened blade behind himself, he felt it slash through something and felt the warm feel of blood on his skin "GAAAHHHH!" Cried out Gluttony "He cut me Pride, please let me eat him!" "NO GLUTTONY, Father needs him alive!" Shouted Pride "GAAAHHHH!" Gluttony cried out again as a blade, connected with his back this time "Ed, were here to help" Said Heinkel's voice, It was gruff which Ed took to mean he was in his chimera form "You go with gorilla-man and get to safety" Said Ling "We'll handle this one" "No wait, Pride I have one question" Said Ed "Which is?" Said Pride, bored "How did Gluttony survive? I killed him in Equestria, but here he is now fully healthy as though it never happened" Demanded Ed "I can answer that one" Said a new voice, it was Hoenheim "When you defeated the Gluttony in that place, it was simply a clone, produced from a single soul extracted from Gluttony's philosopher's stone" "So that means that Lust is alive too?" Asked Ed "No, your commanding officer in the military made sure of that" Replied Hoenheim "But there was a lust there" Said Ed "Ah... I suppose it is possible that homunculus kept at least one copy of each of his children" Said Hoenheim "of course not including Wrath or Greed, since they are human-homunculi" "Right makes sense" Said Ed, A thought suddenly clicked "Say the Lust from the other world found a way to break free of her bindings what would she do?" "I suppose she would head for the point that the gate touches that world, why?" Asked Hoenheim "Dammit, Is there anyway to get just a message through to them?" Queried Ed Hoenheim paused and thought "No, however If your friends in that world are as strong as you say, they should have no trouble at all defeating it" "Princess Celestia!" Shouted Twilight, crashing through the throne room doors, she skidded to a halt, there, standing before the princess was brilliant white alicorn pony however a dark shadow seemed to constantly emanate from him "Hello Twilight Sparkle" Said the pony, despite it's distinctively effeminate body, it had the voice of a colt "Hello my faithful student how can I assist you?" Asked Celestia "Do you have any books on alchemy?" Queried Twilight "Try asking at the Royal Library" Replied Celestia "Alchemy you say?" Asked the pony, turning to Twilight, a large grin evident on it's face although no eyes were visible "Who are you!?" demanded Twilight "It's OK my student, this is the one Ed referred to as Truth" Said Celestia "Some call me God, others call me the World, some even call me the Universe, but I am the All, this of course means that I am you" Truth said, the large grin still visible on it's features "Run along to the library my dear student" Ordered Celestia "wilight made her move toward the Library when a tall black earth pony mare crashed through the doors and charged Twilight down Twilight clattered to the floor before Truth Truth looked down at her and the smile instantly disappeared "I'm sorry princess but I cannot be involved in the affairs of the mortal, so I must take my leave" Said Truth, and then it disappeared Princess Celestia raised herself to her full height and stood in front of Twilight "If you wish to harm my student, you must go through me!" Said Celestia, he great horn charging with an arcane mystical type of magic Twilight had seen Celestia perform only once before, but Twilight had attempted it several times before, It was dark magic Black flames tinted with green and purple flared from Celestia's eyes "GO BACK FROM WHERE YOU CAME FOUL CREATURE!" Shouted Celestia, the room echoing with her rarely used Royal Canterlot voice Lust fell to the floor and rolled, the magic blast missing her by an inch, a maniacal laugh escaped her lips as she raised a fore-hoof in the direction of the two princesses when a bolt of blue fire knocked her to the floor and Princess Luna swooped down to the floor by Celestia "Oh this fight just got more interesting!" Said Lust, grinning