//------------------------------// // Astrology 101 // Story: Friendship is Eternal // by Alchemystudent //------------------------------// Chapter 8: Astrology 101                     Twilight awoke the next morning, some tears in her eyes, “Morning Twilight.” Ed said as he looked at the young lady as she came down the stairs, noting the tears, “Dreaming about someone important last night?”                     “Yeah, my mother.” Said Twilight, not even not even noting her faux pas.                     The mention of her mother stuck up some memories in Ed’s head, most of them happy, he smiled in understanding.                                         As the four companions walked to the train station, Twilight took the time to look around and observe the bustling center of the city. However, this was soon interrupted by a small bump by a fair young lady, “Oh my! I am so sorry…I didn’t mean to bump into you like that, please don’t be mad.” The young  woman quietly said, her pinkish hair over one eye as she backed up a little.                     Twilight blinked, then she sighed.“Of course there is a Fluttershy here, why wouldn’t there be a Fluttershy here. I bet she even has a” She then took a quick look at her hairpin, “of course, butterflies.” It’s perfectly alright, miss?” “Andrea.” She said, but to the untrained ear it came off as, “  Andrea.” Luckily, Twilight was versed in Fluttershy, “ Please to meet you ma’am.” She said, a smile on her face as she walked away. As she followed Ed and company, she almost ran into a woman selling carrots on the road. “Carrot top.” Twilight chuckled to herself as she walked to the train station, watching as Ed and Al said their goodbyes. “Bye Big brother, see you at Port City.” Al said, hugging Ed tightly, a small tear in his eye. “And tell Hohenheim and Trisha I said hello. And give Winry a hug for me.”                     “Bye Al,” Ed said as he hugged Al a little more, a tear also coming to his eye “ And don’t get into too much trouble on that train.”                     “Big brother…what kind of trou-” Before Al  took a good look at Ed’s face, which reminded him of the frequency of train jacking that goes on in Amestris, “good point.” Al chuckled as he began to get onto the train. He then turned from the train door to look at Ed, “And you be careful too.”                     “Of course, who do you think you are talking too?” Ed, a smirk on his face.                     “That’s what I am saying.” Al laughed as the train began to drive out of the station.                     Twilight watched all of this in amusement, the memories of her BBBFF playing in her head, “Not really too different, is it?” Twilight said to herself as she got onto the train with Ed.                     The train ride from Xing, was relaxing for the most part, with the exception of the continuation of Twilight’s alchemy lessons. The training,however, was interrupted by a sudden stop of the train, “ATTENTION PASSENGERS, WE HAVE TO STOP FOR A BIT DUE TO AN BLOCKADE SET UP BY THE AMESTRIAN MILITARY!” Said the Conductor. “A sudden stop that we didn’t have a hand in!” Said Phil as he looked at the giant stone hand in the middle of the railway tracks. “CONSARN IT PHIL, WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THOSE PUNS?” The Conductor said, getting mad.                     “A military blockade?” Ed asked to himself and then turned to Twilight, “Come on Twilight, let’s check it out.”                     “But Ed, shouldn’t we stay behind and allow the military to handle it?” Twilight asked as she got the jacket that she had bought from Xing.             “And why should we do that when we’re right near the middle of the action?” Ed said as he and Twilight walk out of the train and to the giant hand. “But what if it’s not important!?” Twilight yelled as she was dragged away.  As they neared it, they saw several soldiers dressed in blue walking around and talking to one another, “WAIT RIGHT THERE, CITIZENS!!!!” Said a very large, muscular, and sparkling bald man as he stood in front of them, “ This area is off limits to all civilians by order of the…WAIT! Can it be? WHY IT IS! OH EDWARD ELRIC IT IS SO GOOD TO SEE YOU AFTER SO LONG!!!!!” At this the large man reached over and gave the former state alchemist a big bear hug. “Hello…Major…Arm…Strong.” Ed said in between gasps of air as he could feel the life being squeezed out of him. “It is General now, Edward. And I see that your travels has brought you some new companions.” Said Armstrong as he saw Twilight standing next to Ed, trying her best to see if her teacher was all right, “And who is this young woman that you have teamed up with Edward?” “My name is Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight looked up at the hulking man, “I am his student.” “Oh Edward! You have decided to pass on your overwhelming knowledge of Alchemy onto a new generation and to help GUIDE THEM TO THE FUTURE! OH! It warms my heart to see such a young mind learning from an experienced master such as yourself.  Giving a new generation of alchemists the means to grow into stupendous new people is such a beautiful task! I WISH YOU ALL OF THE BEST OF LUCK IN THIS GRAND UNDERTAKING EDWARD ELRIC!!!” Armstrong said, posing all the while. “He  reminds me of someone...” Twilight said, thinking of Snowflake. “Thanks,” Looking past Armstong Ed took note of all of the soldiers walking around and conversing with one another, trying to make sense of what they were saying, “So what’s with the blockade Armstrong?” “I was hoping you could fill me in on that as well General.” Said Roy Mustang as he walked to the big man. “Brigadier General Mustang!” Armstong said as he saluted the black haired flame alchemist, “The situation is still the same as was reported by Havoc and Falman, sir. We are currently searching for the woman as we speak.” “Good, keep me informed.” Turning to his left, Roy took note of a blonde Alchemist and his purple haired companion, “ Ahh, Fullmetal. Its good to see that I was right in my assumptions of you seeming to have the ability to get involved in these incidents.” Looking to Twilight, he gave a kiss on her hand. “And who is your lovely friend?” “Hitting on another girl, how does Riza put up with you?” Ed said, shaking his head. “Me and my fiancé have an agreement, I am still free to hit on young ladies, such as yourself…miss?” “Twilight Sparkle, Brigadier.” Twilight said, blushing. Roy shot daggers at her and Ed,“Sparkle? Fullmetal, what I have been telling you about bringing in these Mary Sue civilians to these areas! Don’t you remember what happened during the last time?” Roy remarked looking at Ed. “She’s not a mary sue, Mustang. She’s my student.” Ed said, just starting to realize how many Mary Sues are in his life and what happened during and after his alchemist days. He coughed, “Now what is the situation here?” “Brigadier, oh Brigadier!” Said a very energetic man as he ran to Roy. “Yes, Straight Arrow?” “We have cornered the lady at the cave sir. She thought that she could blind us with a solar flare but I used my archery Alchemy to block her way out and lay some traps and,” Straight Arrow then looked to Ed. “Oh, Edward, so you decided to show your pretty face on the frontlines again. OH that is so grand, you know that HQ got a whole lot less cuter without you there. You know if you and Winry ever…” he said trailing a finger along Ed’s chin. “Forget it, Rupaul. I am straight it ain’t gonna happen.”  Ed said as he followed Roy, Twilight in tow, “Now, what’s going on Brigadier?” “It all happened about 8 hours ago. I received reports a strange woman with multicolored ethereal hair had appeared. A few minutes later, she began to make demands of the people to bow down and submit to her or else. When the people refused, she got mad and used some sort of Alchemy to burn all of the people alive. We have been able to attack her at times, but she seems to be overwhelming the military.” “ Multicolored ethereal hair, but that would mean…it can’t be.” Twilight thought to herself. “Which is why they called you in. They needed the backup.” Ed said. “And luckily for me, you had arrived as well, Fullmetal. Now we can see if your retirement has made you soft.” Roy said as he led Ed and Twilight into the cave. The cave was dark, damp, and yet still warm as the trio walked down the cavern. Their footsteps being the only sound any of them could hear as they walked down the  dank cavern, the stone pillars looking more and more like teeth ready to clamp down upon any of them. This would be of interest to Twilight, if her mind wasn’t on other things, “A multicolored ethereal hair, and can use flame alchemy- no, magic. The power set and the description would match her perfectly. But that would be impossible.” “HALT INFIDELS!  THOU TRESPASS UPON THE VISAGE OF CELESTIA VAS SOLARIS! GODDESS SUN!” Said a booming voice. “Oh, no.” Twilight mumbled under her breath as she took a step back. “Goddess? Right, and pull the other one.” Confidently Ed took a step forward. “Thou dare question my divinity? Behold!” In Celestia’s hand a fireball forms, “The power of the sun as controlled by the living embodiment of the sun itself. Doth Thou think you can weild such power! Thy think not! NOW FALL FOR YOUR INSOLENCE” However,  when she threw her fireball, nothing happened. “WHAT?” “That was me.” Roy said, standing with his fingers snapped, “ I used my flame Alchemy to create tiny explosions around your fireball to suck all of the oxygen out. No fuel, no fireball. I am impressed by your fire alchemy but you lack control and precision.” A smirk came across Roy’s face, “ So much for the Goddess.” “You continue to mock me? CELEST-,” her words were interrupted by a multitude of stone fists slamming into her from Twilight. “YOU ARE NOT CELESTIA! STOP STEALING HER FACE YOU MONSTER!” Twilight’s scream that was filled with rage pierced through the cavern as she used her Alchemy to create some stone spikes to try and impale ‘Celestia’. ‘Celestia’ dodged some of the spikes and burned some of the others with her fire magic,”YOU INSINUATE THAT I’M AN IMPOSTER!?” She said, a sneer creeped onto her crazed face as she launched two fireballs at Twilight, one of which managing to lightly burn Twilights right arm. Moving to the side, Twilight clapped her hands and placed one onto the side walls and creating small stone steps. Ed used those steps to run up the wall and jump kick Celestia in the face as she was fighting Roy, fire for fire. Wiping some blood off her face, Celestia threw a wave of fire at Ed and hitting his leg but not fazing it. Rolling away from the fire, Ed joined up with Twilight behind some cover that she had created, “So, I take it you know that girl?” Twilight growled, “ She, in another world mind you, was my teacher. However, the Celestia I knew was loving, kind, sweet, a bit of a prankster. Although she was frightening when she got mad, she was never like this thing!” Roy jumped to the cover that Twilight had made, launching some fire strikes of his own. Some of them managing to hit Celestia on the back and sides while another blocking a large fireball and as he patted his shoulder to help with the partial flame of one the lucky shots he turned to Twilight, “Well, whatever happened to her in that world has clearly ruined her mind. Now, what are we gonna do about it?” “ If we only find a way to stop her flame alchemy, we could also know her out at the same time.” Ed said, looking at the woman in white. “I’ve got it!” Twilight said, smirking, “ Ed I need you to distract her. While you do, I am going to enclose her in several walls. Brigadier, you start using your flame alchemy to suck up the oxygen as she attacks Ed. This will hopefully  use up enough of her oxygen so she will faint after too long.” “You sure you won’t kill her?” Ed looked at Twilight, his face stern. Twilight paused, she thought about that thing, how it seemed to insult her mentor, and secretly, was the culmination of all her worst fears. She realized, however, that this Celestia should not die because of her fears and hatred. Twilight sighed,”No, I won’t.” “All right then, let’s go.” Roy commanded as he let loose a barrage of flame strikes at Celestia. Ed, meanwhile, found a way to vault himself up to Celestia and planting both of his feet into her stomach. The queen yelled in pain as sent a wave of flames Ed’s way, hitting his back. Ed screamed in pain as he began to run from Celestia’s flames. Each time that she lashed out a new stone wall appeared before her while the fire attacks continued. Soon, Ed was backed into a corner and with only one wall remaining. Celestia growled as she sent one last fireball Ed’s way, hitting his left leg causing Ed to collapse. Ed spent a few minutes screaming in pain before smirking and rolling away as the final wall closed. Enraged, the solar queen let loose more fireballs in tandem, until soon she collapsed and fainted. ________________ A few hours later,   Celestia woke to find her hands bounded by stone manacales, “What? Does thou think that thy can bind thee so easily? I will melt these in but in an instant.”  With a growl, the sun queen began to concentrate hard getting the fire ready and then, nothing. “What? But but how?” She then looked at the back of her hands and saw “YOU BURNT MY HANDS?!” “Just enough to remove the flame circles on them. You’ll still be able to use them, but you will be in pain each time. Have to say, I am impressed that you tattooed the circles into your hands.” Roy said, looking down at his captive. “No, that was magic, but how? I can’t do magic in this world...unless in return for learning alchemy, Truth removed my magic for three years!” Twilight then looked at the former goddess, “ All right, I have some questions. One! How did you get here? TWO! What happened to you to turn you into this? What happened to Luna?” “LUNA! I haven’t seen her in…so long. Not since…she…died.” Celestia began to cry as she started to fade away through a  shimmering portal. “Oh god…Luna…I am so…s…” Twilight reached her hand out to the fading goddess, desperate to stop her, “No, wait come back!” As she reached her hand through the portal, her hand once again turned into a violet hoof. “Twilight, it sounds like you know what is going on here.” Roy said, looking down at Twilight. Twilight turned to Roy,“Yes I do. I have had some suspicions when I heard about the creatures from my universe popping in and now that there are alternate versions of the people I know, I am sure of my theory.” Taking out two slips of paper, she cut out a small hole out of both, “Remember how I said I was from another dimension. Well, the way I came in was via that gate thing when I stopped a transmutation from being completed. Now according to most multiversal theory, dimensional travel is very difficult but not impossible IF you know what you are doing. However, this would be like going through a door or a curtain, when I got sent through it was a rock through glass.” Twilight then began to put the papers against each other, pushing one through the hole, “This caused a hole to pop up in your universe that linked to mine and sadly opened up a few weaknesses in some of the other universes. Now, our two multiverses are trying to fix this mistake slowly by mixing our multiverses together; however, there is one small problem.” “And that is?” Ed asked. “Since I came in here like a bullet, I weakened the barriers that protect both our worlds. Eventually, the universe’s are going to fuse more and more until.” To empathise the point, Twilight pushed the papers to their limit until they tore. Ed’s face looked very serious, “How much time is left?” “I guess about two weeks from now, once I get the Fraternity Stone I’ll be able to get home and fix all of this.” Twilight said. “When we get the Stone, student of mine. anyway, that should be plenty of time for us to head to Risembool and have Winry work on this.” Ed said, lifting up his partially melted leg. “I am going to get HQ to keep an eye out for anymore disturbances. Sparkle, any chance of these incidents getting worse?” Roy asked. “I think that the length of  time that each being stays in this world depends on how intelligent they are..” Twilight said, “The Ursa vanished quickly because it was mostly a monster, Celestia stayed for 8 hours because she was a being like me.” “All right. Fullmetal, its good that you are on top of things. It was good to see  you again.” Roy saluted at Ed. “It was nice seeing you too, Colonel.” Ed said, smiling at his old friend as he and Twilight made their way back to the train and off to Risembool. ______________________________ Applejack walked ahead of the group through the woods, keeping an eye on their direction to make sure that they were heading the right way. Turning her head slightly behind her to check on the others, she noticed how Rarity was walking a little closer to Pinkie Pie for some reason. She then reminded herself of the recent nightmares that Rarity have had been having since their adventure began. “Maybe she just needs a way to get her mind off of those nightmares.” Applejack thought to herself as she looked up to the sky overhead to watch Rainbow dash flying ahead a little, “Y’all see anythang RD?” “Nothing, just more and more trees. I thought I might have seen an opening about a few miles south, but that’s it.” Dash said as she flew back, landing next to Applejack. Meanwhile, Fluttershy turned to the rustling of a small bush. “If you are a monster in there, then could you please stay in there, but if you are a little critter please come out. We won’t hurt you at all.” Timidly, she looked towards the bush but also ready to run if it was a monster. “Ok.” Said a soft voice from the bush. Stepping out from within the bush was little green colt with a messy blonde mane, “Hello there. To tell you the truth, I am kind of glad that you aren’t monsters.” “Oh hello.” Fluttershy said as she looked at the young colt in front of her, noting the seed cutie mark on his flank. “And what is your name?” “My name is Fletcher Tringham and I’m very lost and I miss my brother.” “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. How did you get lost?” “I was working with my big brother in our lab when suddently this portal opened up in front of me and sent me here. Now I have no idea where I am or how to get home.” “HEY Flutters, who are you talking to?” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing towards Fluttershy and Fletcher. Upon seeing the little colt, Pinkie ran to him in a blur, “heytherenevermetyoubeforemynameisPinkiePiepleasetomeetyou.Sowhatisalittlecoltlikeyoudoingherealllone?” “Pinkie, what on Earth are you and Fluttershy doing. Oh, hello there little colt. My, what a nice hat you are wearing, tough I could touch it up a little.” Rarity said, looking at Fletcher’s hat. “His name is Fletcher, and he got separated from his older brother. I want to take care of him until we can get him together with his older brother.” Fluttershy said as she heard a voice call out from the woods. “Fletcher! Fletcher!” Said a green stallion as he walked through the woods, his blonde mane covering one eye. A big smile came across his face as he had heard the voice, “BIG BROTHER!” Turning he ran to the stallion. “Fletcher, there you are little guy.” Russel said as he nuzzled his little brother. “Are you all right? You didn’t get hurt while you were out here did you?” “No, these nice ponies talked to me and kept me company.” Russel turned to the mares in question, “Thank you both for keeping an eye on my little brother.” Turning around with his little brother in tow, one could note a red tree cutie mark.  As they walked off, the all too familiar shimmering light passed through them. Leaving behind, nothing. “What in the hay was that?” Applejack asked, catching up with the girls and watching the brothers disappear. “I don’t know, those brothers appeared and then just had just…disappeared.” Fluttershy said. “Do you think this could be related to what happened with that weird bald pony we met?” Rarity asked. “Ah don’t know, but right now Ah am too tired to focus on that stuff. Come on, Rainbow found us a place to rest for a bit.” Applejack said, leading the girls on. __________________________ “Rarity Belle, You have been found guilty of being selfish, an abomination against your element, and pure murder!” Celestia said in front of Rarity looking down upon her. “M…Murder?But I have never killed anypony!” Rarity began to look around to see all of her friends and family staring down at her in disapproval. “Yes you have. You have murdered the most important pony to me. My faithful student Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia then pointed to the bloodied and mutilated corpse of Twilight, hanging by her hooves. Rarity took a step back in horror, “But I didn’t, she sacrificed herself for me. I was just…” “And what makes you think you are more important to anypony than HER!! You are just a dressmaker, what are you compared to Twilight? What are you?”” “ An an important part of Sweetie Bell’s life!” Rarity said trying to defend herself. “NO, you aren’t! You just ignored me and treated me like dirt for most of my life. Now, thanks to you, the only pony who could’ve trained me is dead and its all your fault. Celestia, please kill her!” Sweetie bell said. Panting, Rarity began to look around as flames began to rise up around her, coming ever closer.” “NO! I am so sorry, I am so sorry.” Rarity began to cry into Applejack’s shoulders, “What, Applejack?” “Shhhh, quiet now Sugarcube. I had been hearing you cry and whimper all night,” Applejack wrapped her hooves around Rarity and held her closer, “Now, you are an older sister and don’t have anypony bigger than you to comfort you or to chase the bad dreams away. I’ll be here for that, I will be your sister for now to protect you. Got it?” Applejack watched as Rarity nodded, “Good, now go to sleep. I will buck anymore bad dreams from your mind.” With that Applejack held Rarity closer as the night began to fall. Fluttershy had her head on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder, draped under the wing of her dear friend and was sleeping peacefully. While Pinkie Pie slept in the middle of all of them, warmed by their spirits and love. _________________ The next morning, the peaceful slumber of the four ponies was greatly disturbed by a large explosion, “What in Tarnation was that?” “More importantly, where’s Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked, getting up in fear. Moving quickly, Dash flew up in the sky and saw Pinkie, “Over there, and she is with some weird white pony.” “Ohhhhhh, do it again!” Pinkie yelled as she jumped up and down. “Certainly my dear,” The white unicorn said, tipping his hat to reveal his black mane. “It is so rare that I get someone who appreciates my art.” “Pinkie Pie, what are you doing and who on Equestria is that?” Rarity asked. Pinkie pie turned, an apple pie in her hoof, “HI Girls. This is Zolf Kimblee” Pinkie pointed to the White unicorn with the bomb cutie mark, “He likes to make explosions. I heard him talking about making some fireworks nearby and I wanted to see them. He agreed and he has been showing off his really cool explosions. He also agreed to make us all breakfast.” “Yes, not only am I a great bomber, but an excellent cook. It’s a shame that the idiots on the Baratie don’t seem to get that.” Kimblee said as he brought out some cooking supplies for the girls. Not ones to ignore a free breakfast, they accepted. Afterwards, they watched as the pony began to fade away from existence. Deciding to continue on their journey they walked further on through the woods until they reached a sign, “Coltonville! Hey girls, we made it!” Pinkie said as she eagerly ran forward. “Good, cant wait to get there and finally get Twi…OH BUCK ME!” Dash Exclaimed, at the sight of... To Be Continued!