"I can't put up with playing it safe.
... I've got nowhere to go home to."
Lyra promptly ran away after into another part of the train when I let her go, it was fun while it lasted, to talk to someone who isn't an insane god of chaos, I did have a feeling I wouldn't have to see him again though, from what I could tell from the orbital rainbow cannon that came down on where his capital of chaos was supposed to be anyway.
The rest of the train ride went by smoothly, watching the passing landscape from the window of a moving train is quite relaxing actually, this probably has something to do with being Edward Elric now or something. I had discovered other changes during my forest escapades with Luna such as, automail is a bitch to fix...
I mean seriously, doing a patch job on a prosthetic metal limb while hiding from a moon goddess isn't exactly the easiest thing to do, but neither is fixing automail in normal conditions. The whole process is insane unless you can figure out exactly what's wrong and how the to fix the damn thing. Like, I not going to find a automail engineer in ponyland either.
As the train finally pulled into the station I quickly jumped from the side of the coach as ponies began filling into the coach. I decided my best option was to wait out in the nearby forest until I can make a solid plan to either avoid being turned to stone again or somehow prove to them I wasn’t using dark magic, destroying their castle when I escaped probably wasn’t going to help my case either.
As I continued my way towards the forest I noticed a golden pegasus carriage flying away with what looked like a statue of Discord and the two princesses. As I entered the forest I began observing my surroundings, ponies were always afraid of places like forests for some reason, something about them controlling stuff themselves or something. After an hour into the forest I found myself at the base of a mountain range.
Using my alchemy I created a large cave a short distance into the mountain rock, I had started making when I wondered about those weird items I had given to Truth, despite my short time with him he seemed almost too happy to have them, grabbing a piece of chalk I began drawing out a human transmutation circle to open a portal to contact him.
As I finished I began to have my doubts about the circle, human transmutation or not, this thing could kill me or serve my body up to Truth on a silver platter in place of a bunch of knowledge.
Nothing ventured nothing gained I guess…
Kneeling down I placed my hands on the edge of the circle, a wave of power made its way through me. Sparks of energy flashing from the runes as miasma of darkness flowed from the center of the circle forming a dark eye. Breaking away from the circle as the eye opened, a familiar figure of white rose from its centre slowly.
“You called Edward?~” The gleeful timbre of Truth’s voice echoed inside the cave.
Holding a shudder back at his voice “Have you learned anything from those items I gave you?” I asked.
“Not even a hello after all this time Edward? for shame young Alchemist, for shame,” Truth said with an unsettling grin, seeing my unamused face he pulling out a finely cut diamond “Fine, each of the items seems to be a summoning token of sort, I’m not sure what each will summon nor where they will be summoned from, but I am sure they are not of this realm.” he said before tossing the gem into my awaiting hands.
“That’s all you learned… One thousand years to prod this thing and that’s all you learned…”
“The tokens did not respond to me…” Truth replied softly “But I know someone who can make them work.”looking up at me with a little smile.
Looking at the diamond in my hand for a second I took a deep breath before bringing it up to my chest “Uh… Gravity Shifter I summon you?” I said sheepishly looking at Truth as I waited for something to happen.
A black and red portal swirled into existence a little ways away, a voice echoing from within. “Wow, that has to be the weakest summon I've ever had.” A moment later, a girl walked through, smirking at me. “What’s up, kid?”
Looking between Truth and the girl for a moment hoping I could make this less awkward for me than it already was. “Uh hi… I wasn’t really expecting that to work…” I said rubbing the back of my head “I was just kind of testing the summoning tokens or whatever they are for Truth here.”
She quirked her eyebrow. “Well, can’t say I’m not disappointed.” She lifted up her legs and actually laid down while floating in mid-air. “I was hoping to have some fun. Name’s Kat, by the way. Edward Elric, I presume?”
Looking back at Truth as he studied Kat silently before responding “Yeah… Can’t exactly provide anything fun at the moment.” I said briefly waving my hand around the room “So how do these tokens work? Truth has been poking these things for a good part of a thousand and a half years and hasn’t really figured out a single thing from them.”
“Hmm? Oh, you must be relatively new to it all then,” Kat said as she began to stand upside down. “Let me explain a little bit then. You are a Displaced, one of thousands throughout the multiverse who were once normal humans until being gifted with incredible powers. That much you’ve probably figured out. But the totems are the calling cards of each Displaced and can be used to request their aid or just to have some fun. Most of us are equipped and ready for battle. Fairly easy to figure out and can be used by most any living creature with the right amount of heart.”
Truth’s grin grew with each word Kat spoke “So were you sent here by some creepy guy cos-playing as the Merchant from Resident Evil or is this some random thing that happens?” I asked trying to glean any amount of information hoping I might be able to go home instead of avoid the princesses the rest of my life “I’m not exactly liked around here since I crashed a party a thousand years ago… So anyway to get back to earth would be appreciated.”
Kat put a finger to her chin in thought. “Hmm, if I remember right, another Displaced sent out an instruction folder some time ago with detail steps on how to get home for a Displaced. However, the usage requires Discord from what I remember. But don’t worry so much about the princesses. Believe it or not, that’s a recurring theme, even among heroes.”
“I don’t remember any folders dropping from the portal I got the totems from, and I haven’t seen or heard of anymore appearing since getting free. But Discord just got turned back into a lawn ornament by the princesses so I haven’t exactly got a chance at getting home do I?” I said wistfully.
Kat looked apologetic. “Sorry, but most of us are stuck like this. I never had any reason to go home, but I don’t know about you. However, if you've been stoned for a while, at this point… well I know it’s dark, but most everyone you've ever known are long gone.”
Even Truth looked saddened by what Kat said before he turned to me “She is right Edward and you know it, since you were petrified you never had a chance at going home and seeing your family again.” Truth said pointedly “Denying the Truth will only make it worse.”
She pointed at Truth. “You, shush,” she put her finger to her lips. “That’s not helping.”
“No… He’s right,” I said looking at both of them “Accepting it and moving on is the only way, Millstone would probably sit me down and slap me across the face until I accepted it, and then reminded me I'm part of his family.” I held back a small laugh.
Kat smiled fondly. “Well then, perhaps that should be your mission.”
“He probably has great great grandchildren by now, I doubt I’d be able to find them, even then, there is the chance they don’t even know about me,” I smiled “You know seem to know about Equestria a lot more than me… Do you know any Apples?”
“Wait… this Millstone was an Apple?” Kat said with a look of surprise.
“He was married to Honeygold Apple, Why?” I asked wondering what Kat could be thinking.
She smiled with a small laugh. “Talk about your coincidences. I actually know of a family of Apples who live not too far from Canterlot. It’s a small town called Ponyville, and it was actually founded by the Apple family.”
“Wow… That was easy then, guess I’ll have to visit them some time and see if they know about me.”
“Word of warning, however. You need to be extra careful in Ponyville. The six bearers of the Elements of Harmony all live in that one town, the Element of Magic being Celestia’s personal student. The place you’re looking for is called Sweet Apple Acres, and is run by the Element of Honesty, Applejack Apple. Don’t even try to lie to her because she can see through it in a heartbeat. If you’re tactful in your approach, then maybe she won’t report you to the princess who they pretty much have an instant messaging system set up with.”
“Well this just made things interesting. The only ones I could call my friends and family are also one of the things that will turn me back to stone… I guess I’ll have to either give myself up to them and hope I can explain myself before they can use their elements on me, or hope they will be as kind as Millstone was and let me stay even though I am a wanted criminal.” I said as I thought over the choices laid out to me.
“If my versions could put up with me, I'm sure you’ll be fine. Enfer, I've done a lot worse than crash a party.” Kat smiled. “I nearly destroyed the world in a bitter and revenge filled rage.”
I looked at her dumbly before responding “Well I can’t say I'm even on the scale compared to that, kinda makes me look like a Saturday cartoon villain compared to you,” I smirked. “Well… if you could manage to turn that around for yourself and still come out clean I guess I’ll have only a little trouble. Hopefully.”
Kat scratched her cheek with one finger, looking away with a nervous laugh. “Yeah… clean… ha ha. Anyway,” she shook her head, refocusing. “Just be careful. Both here and with other Displaced. For every good one, there’s another that isn't quite so good. Some will only see you as a pawn or a means to an end. So make sure who you’re dealing with is the right kind of person you want to associate yourself with. In a nutshell, don’t go making deals with devils.”
I grinned widely “I'm Edward Elric now, I've lost one of my arms and legs to a deity with an ironic sense of humor, you already know the consequences of that deal, so you can be sure I won’t be making any other deals soon.”
She smiled. “That’s the spirit. I can tell you’re gonna be fine. Just keep up your spirit and never let it die. Be true to who you’re representing. Unfortunately, I need to be going. Typhon’s gonna get mad if I miss date night… again. It’s awful when he’s mad because you can never tell when he’s mad and he’ll never even admit to being mad. And then he makes you think it’s all in your head and… I got off on a tangent there, didn't I?”
“A tiny bit… but anyways, thanks for the help. Now is there something I need to do to send you back or can you just come and go as you please sort of deal?” I asked.
“To send most back, just say that your contract is complete. That forces a Displaced back to where they came from. For the more experienced like me, I can just port in and out on a whim. But before I go, just know that whenever you need a hand, just give me a call, even if you just need to talk. You can always count on your Aunty Kat,” she said with a chuckle. “Oh and if you ever come across a Plumber Badge, ya know, from Ben 10, destroy it. My brother isn't very fond of other Displaced and it would just cause problems you don’t need.”
“Okay… I won’t pry,” I said a little unsure “I deem our contract complete Kat Shifter.” I smiled.
The portal reappeared, but before I could stop her, Kat hugged me before moving over to it. “Good luck, Ed. Just give Aunty a ring soon, okay? Bye!” She jumped through, it closing behind her a moment later.
“Edward?~” Truth said in a low voice.
“What is it Truth?” I asked noticing the look on his face.
“You forgot to ask how to make your own summoning token~” Truth smiled widely before disappearing back into the transmutation circle.
Fuck...