//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Friendship is...Alchemy? // by ShinigamiOkami //------------------------------// She tore down the dirt trail, kicking up all she could. Unfortunately, she wasn't built for running; rather, flying was her first language, but it seemed she'd have to go with the latter for now. Her wing had been bent by that manticore's harsh attack, leaving her hooves to be her only hope. Her friends were right by her, wondering what in Equestria was going on. They take their first steps into this new, awe-inspiring world of buildings and odd machines, and the next moment they end up being struck down by some lion-lizard hybrid. They assumed it to be like on of the creatures of the Everfree forest, but this beast was far more aggresive, far more powerful than they had assumed. "Hurry it up, girls!" Twilight egged them on, namely to Rarity trailing in the back, Fluttershy second. Pinkie, Dash, and AJ were up in the lead, being the fastest there. However, for Dash and AJ, this was no race like the Leaf Running contest; it was one for survival. Suddenly, their attacker ceased its pursuit, but not out of will. One of the bipedaled creatures, this one dressed in uniform, held a shaky, metallic, black...something. They had no clue what it could be, but it had stopped the manticore-type monster. The ponies collectively sighed, taking a moment to catch their breath. "Thank you, sir," Twilight stepped over to the being, which jumped at her approach. "Wh-What the...? S-Stay back! I'm warning y-you!" He pointed the weapon at the purple pony, who took a step back. "Whoa, easy there...We don't mean any harm..." Another of the officers, this one grinning, interrupted. "Hey, you got it! Great!" He placed an arm around around his comrade's shoulder. "And on your first day, too! What luck!" He seemed to finally notice the six others close by, namely the one standing nearest. "Hmm? There's more? Well, even better! Whaddya say? Ya wana take 'em back? I bet it'll be a bonus~!" Dash jumped into the conversation, a bit less friendlier than Twilight. "Now wait, I think we need some answers here! Who--and what--are you guys, anyways? Where are we?" The two males gave her a blank look, to which she stomped her hoof. "Well? Tell us," she snorted, "Or else!" A pause passed betweent them all, then the cheerier officer clapped. "This is AMAZING! Talking chimeras! Man, wait'll the colonel sees you all." "Wait, wha-" Dash was cut off by a zap to her hind leg. She craned her neck around to see a small dart there, then back to her assailant. The man did the same her friends, who could only do so much to fight back. AJ's bucking managed to keep one at bay, but another quickly roped her and stuck one of the missed darts into her, Rarity was easily overpowered by the males, and Fluttershy could only run so far until surrounded and subdued. Twilight deflected most with her magic, but one lucky shot and her horn lost its glow. Pinkie bounced around all of them; however, her spastic jerks ended in her accidently sticking herself with one. The blurry frames of the figures were the last that Rainbow saw as she slipped into a dark world. ~///~ "Colonel! Hey, Colonel!" Hughes burst into the office, more delighted than usual. "You'll never guess~!" He grinned and strode over to the man in question. "Look, I know your daughter's birthday was a few days ago," the raven-haired higher-up replied, "But could you please stop prancing around like that? It's not a big deal." Hughes nearly fainted as some invisible dramatic light fell over him. "N-Not important?! My little girl is the most important thing in the world!" He quickly recovered and got back to the matter at hand. "But that's not it at all. It's about what I and one of my new recruits found today~!" Sighing, Mustang decided to humor him with a semi-sarcastic "whatever could it be?" look. Hughes paused for an inaudible drumroll, then announced, "We caught six talking chimeras!" Mustang showed a genuine expression of surprise, eyebrow raised in query. "Talking chimeras?" He grinned. "Show me." ~///~ Dash bumped her head on the bars of a cage as she stood, her multi-colored mane getting caught for a moment before she tugged it free. She glanced over at the others, who seemed to be waking up as well. "Ahh, mah back..." AJ groaned, stretching as best she could, "Now Ah know how Granny Smith felt after fallin' asleep in that cider barrel..." "Oh, no...o-oh my..."Fluttershy's frantic voice startled everypony. "W-we're...i-in c-c-cages..." She started hyperventalating. "D-Do you know what they do with a-animals in c-cages like this?! They take them to th-the pound, o-o-or some t-testing lab...o-o-o-or worse..." She nearly fainted. Pinkie started to panick as well, bouncing her cage up and down. "What if we never get out?! I mean, I have a lot of stuff to do today! I think..." Her trailing off was picked up by Rarity. "Nevermind that! Oh, my mane is even worse than earlier!" "Is everypony alright?" Twilght asked, ignoring their comments and getting shaken affirmitives from all. "Yeah, my wing's still broken, and we're all stuck in cages, " Dash added wryly, "But other than that, we're just peachy!" Rarity piped up, "Yes, do you think you could help us out there, Twilight? You are the magic expert here, so I'm sure this is nothing...right?" The violet unicorn concentrated on unlocking the cages, bending the bars, making them vanish, anything to get them fre...but her magic had been drained by the sedative. "No use...sorry, girls." She sighed, sitting down, then pricked an ear up at the approach of their captors. She glanced over at Rainbow. "Don't get any ideas, hotshot. Let's just ask them nicely about what's going on." Dash rolled her eyes but complied to Twilight's plan. The doors to the room opened up, revealing the gleeful officer before, along with a new one. "See? What'd I tell ya, colonel!" The male known as "colonel" kneeled down to their level, head cocked and resting on his arm. "You said they talk, didn't you?" "Ugh, why is everypony so surprised that we talk," RD groaned, "Of course we talk! Now, can somepony please tell us what the buck is going on here?!" The higher-up raised an eyebrow, then smiled. Without bothering to look back at his colleague, he instructed, "You can go now, Hughes. I'll deal with the rest." Mr. Hughes seemed to hesitate, but wasn't about to disobey an order. "Alright, Colonel. They're all yours~!" He left carefree, talking to himself about getting more time with his sweet little girl now and leaving the six ponies to their fate with Mustang. ~///~ "Excuse me, sir, but you wouldn't mind telling us where we are, would you?" The purple pony attempted once more at conversation. "Yeah, nopony seems t' wanna do anythin' with us," the pale orange one chimed in, "Well, nothin' 'cept fer prod us and corral us like cattle." The man took a moment to respond, ignoring them and instead asking, "Do you have names?" He waited for his answer first, getting none. "Alright...look, if you don't want to talk to me, then that's fine." He stood, shrugging. "After all, I only have so much authority here, so if I can't get any info outta you, then, well..." He saw they were getting worried, and went on. "I'll have to hand you over to the experts. I'm sure they'll be able to make use of you. Y'know, it's pretty convenient that you come in pairs..." He paced in front of them now, using his intimidation skills. "That means I'l keep you, you, aaand you..." He randomly pointed to the purple unicorn, the more rustic earth pony, and the rainbow pegasus. "And I'll send you, you, and...YOU..." He picked out the white one, the pink pony, and the cowering winged mare, "Get to go to the labs." The last one of the group caught a dizzy spell at his threats, to which the first of them decided enough was enough. "My name is Twilight Sparkle." Mustang accepted her answer with a nod. "Good. It's a pleasure to meet you, miss." Following up was the hyper one of the group, her mane pink and fluffy. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie! Say, are you an alien? Oh, oh, or maybe you're like some kinda monkey! I mean, I've seen monkeys before, but not ones that walk on just their back legs, so maybe you're some kinda mutant monkey, like outta the Everfree forest!" She gasped, but, before she could continue, the one in a cowboy hat put a hoof in her mouth. "Sorry 'bout that. Ah'm Applejack. Nice t' meetcha." She tipped her hat, letting the next pony go. Another unicorn, this one pearly white with a curled mane of violets, spoke up. "I am Rarity. Delighted." She extended a hoof through the bars, which Mustang took cautiously and shook. "U-Umm..." a quiet, hushed tone went next, "I-I'm..." The second pegasus, pale yellow with a creamy pink mane, took a shaky step out of the far corner of her cage. "I mean...My name is...F-f-fluttershy..." Mustang offered her a calming grin, but it must've come off as scary because the timid pony backed up with a squeak. "Ain't y'all gonna introduce yerself?" Applejack turned to the sky blue pony, who huffed in return. "Rainbow Dash," she muttered, "Now answer our questions, Mr. Colonel." The man chuckled at the mare's rebellious response, then situated himself more comfortably. "My name is Roy Mustang," he informed, "And I am a State Alchemist." ~///~ Twilight had read of alchemy before, but it was more of a myth, definitely not factual science like magic was. "I'm sorry," she corrected, "But there's no such thing as alchemy." She saw the look of confusion on the creature's face and brushed it off with a nervous chuckle. "I mean, maybe you just have it confused with magic. You don't have a horn, but your kind must use it a different way than us, since you're clearly not ponies." Now it was Mr. Mustang's turn to laugh at her logic. "Well, if by 'my kind', you means humans, then no, we don't have horns or magic. That's all fiction and fairy tales. Alchemy is our science." He demonstrated by snapping his fingers, instantly creating a flame that entranced them all. "I'm known as the Flame Alchemist here, and you can see why. Of course, I'm beginning to think that you're not from here, anyways. You all could be chimeras, but no chimera would be able to do what you did to some of my men with that 'magic' horn of yours." Twilight decided to get on the same page with him, opting to go along with the whole "alchemy is real" bit. "Okay, let's go with that; we're not chimeras--whatever those are---and we're absolutely not from here, since we have no clue what 'humans' are...Yes...yes!" She lit up like a light bulb as her mind kicked into overdrive. "This is incredible! I had been reading about the possibility of other dimensions and times, alternate worlds, different planes of existance ful of unknown creatures and wonders beyond all of comrehension!" She took a big gasp to catch her breath, continuing, "So maybe we somehow got teleported here! But who would bring us here....?" She stopped, going through a mental list of enemies, which Dash voiced. "Let's see....Nightmare Moon, Trixie, Discord, the Changelings, and, oh, just about every other foe we've faced, plus anything else in the Everfree forest--no, in Equestria--that wants to bring Disharmony to us and everypony in the world!" "Sounds like you all have had quite an adventurous life." Roy commented, then got an idea. "How about we exchange some intel about our...eh, worlds...And about how you got here, too." Twilight nodded in agreement, "Good call. But, well, we're not too sure how we got here...we woke up in a cell...but none of us remember what happened before..." Dash jumped in with her part of the story, too. "Yeah, except that horrible, shocking feeling we all had. Remember that?" Mustang perked up at that. "Shocking? Like, electrical, maybe some kind of limb-from-limb ripping sensation?" With an eager nod from the rainbow mare, the man pressed further. "Tell me everything." And so, Rainbow recalled their tale... ~///~ The jolts of electricity shooting through her were of indescribable pain. She hadn't felt this much strain on her since that time Derpy had accidently shocked her with a nimbostratus cloud, or when Pinkie decided to test her new Super-MEGA-spledifer-whatever joy buzzer. This felt like every shred of fur, flesh, and fiber was being stripped off at once. It was unbearable, but she only had to put up with it for a few seconds before she lost all consciousness. "Rainbowdaaaash! Hey!! Wake up, silly-filly!" A squeaky voice belonging to only one pink prankster brought Dash back to her senses. The silhouettes of her other friends were fuzzy, but she recognized them all there. Pinkie, despite the circumstances, was bouncing around and examining anything. Rarity was, of course, tending to her slightly frazzled mane. Over in the corner, Fluttershy was curled up in hiding from some invisible force of terror. Trying to kick the walls of their cell down was AJ, muttering and wondering where the buck they were. Twilight appeared to have the same question as she paced, then she turned to see Rainbow was awake. She helped the cyan pegasus to her hooves. "Oh, good. So, we're all up, then?" She glanced around to address her friends, who were now looking eagerly to the smarter of the six for an answer. "Any idea what's goin' on here, Twi?" Applejack trotted up, followed by the others. "I'm not too sure...but...well, does anypony remember what happened before we got here?" Twilight looked arond, waiting for an answer. Dash spoke up first, "I remeber there was this shocking feeling...and...Idunno...next thing I woke up to was Pinkie." She gestured to the pony trying to scale the brick wall. Hearing her name, the party pony jumped in. "Oh, oh, oh! I remember something like that, too! It was all like buzzzzy, but not in the joy buzzy kinda way or a sugar rush, more like the ouchy kind! And I was all, 'aaaahhh!' "She flailed around randomly to emphasize her painful experience. "Then I leapt up, but I hit my head on the ceiling, and thought, 'why is there a ceiling? I was just outside!' Although, now that I think about it, I don't know where I was exactly, so maybe I was inside and--" Her eyes went wide. "I'm dreaming!!! That explains it all!" Twilight caught the hyperactive mare by her tail, stopping her from trying to wake herself up by slamming into the wall. "Whoa, whoa...alright, so is this...'buzzy' sensation true for everypony?" They all nodded, to which Twiilight smiled. "Great! So we know that there's a connection here. Maybe we can ask somepony if-" She was cut off by the sound of somepony approching them. "Yes, they're right down here. They really, talk, too! Oh, man, these new ones are a huge breakthrough, I promise!" An enthusiastic male voice piped up, added on by a companion with a gruffer tone. "Well, we'll see about that. If you're right, though, this could be what we've been looking for all these years...this could be the coupe de grace of all our transmutations..." The ponies reached the cell doors, only they were definitely not ponies. They were much taller, probably about the height of the princesses, but they probably only looked that way because they stood on their hind legs. The first one leaned down to the cell door, keys in...well, not hooves, more like some odd appendages, the likes nopony had ever seen. "And they're not, uh..dangerous, are they?" The heftier male asked as the assistant opened the door. "Don't worry, they should still be sedated. Why, when I was talking to them earlier, it seemed they had no clue what was even going on. So it's fine; come on in." The man stepped in warily into the cell, looking at the fillies. "Hmm...well, a couple of these look...normal." He pointed to the two earth ponies. The assistant corrected him, "Although they seem to have no obviously abnormal traits or mutations, they are still capable of speech." The man waved his colleague off, changing his direction to the rainbow-maned pegasus. He bent down so he was eye-level with the mare. "Lovely, isn't she?" He reached his hand around to one of the wings. "Oh, so perfect! So, do these wings really fl-" The moment his finger touched the feathers, he got a front hoof to the face. He backed up, scolding his subordinate. "You said they weren't dangerous! That one just hit me!" Rainbowdash smirked, then gave a glance at the others. "I know you had another plan in mind, Twilight, but I think just rushin' outta here works better!" She galloped forward, unfurling her wings and zipping out into a hallway. "Wait, Dash," Twilight hollered, "Maybe we can just ask them to-" "Lookie here, sugarcube, ah want answers as much as the next pony," AJ interjected, getting ready to charge, "But ah'm with RD on this 'un. Let's skedaddle!" She darted out, pushing past the two creatures and causing them to fall. Following up, Pinkie bounced past, hopping on the two on her way out. Rarity gracefully leapt over as well, then Fluttershy, who apologized for all the trouble. Twilight sighed, using her magic to levitate the half-conscious beings into the cell and shut the door. "So much for just asking somepony..." She caught up woth her friends, who were facing a large, center room with some odd symbol on the ground. They scanned for an exit, but the language was unrecognizable, far from their standard Equestrian. Pinkie began twitching, then shouted, "Oh, ooooh, run! Quick, everypony! Another one of those..thingies, they're coming! Run! Uh, th-that way!" She pointed a shaky hoof in the leftmost door. They all followed, not about to doubt the Pinkie Sense, and busted through the double doors. ~///~ "Then, after we broke out, we came face-to-face with one of those freaky-deaky manticore-looking thingies! Uh, I think you called 'em...chimeras...?" Mustang nodded, sastified with the story. "I wonder...I wonder if that lab..." He dragged his sentence into his thoughts, saving it for later. "Well, in any case, I don't hink I can keep you here in Central HQ. I'll have to make arrangements to keep you with someone else...someone..." Dash huffed, "Will you quit going off and ending your sentences all...weird and stuff...?" She mocked his speech, then Twilght added on, more gently, "Ah, yes, where are going with this?Do you know somepony--I mean, eh--someone who we can stay with?" "Yes. Ladies," Mustang stood, addressing them with a thoughtful grin, "It looks like it's time for you to meet a friend of mine...The Fullmetal Alchemist."