Chapter three: First Day of School
Twilight followed Ed up to the apartment, stumbling a little as she continued to try and get used to not having a horn or two front legs anymore. Once inside, Ed offered some coffee to the young girl noting her quite unusual hair color.
“So, care to tell me who you are and how did you perform that little trick down there?” Hands her a cup of coffee, taking one for himself. He stands by the window, leaning on the wall as he listens to his new occupant.
As she looks into the drink, her mind begins to think of everything that has happened, “My name is Twilight Sparkle.”
“Oh no.” Ed moaned
“WHAT? Is something wrong with my name?” Twilight asked, looking a little angry that this guy was annoyed by the name.
“Sorry, its just that I have met more than my fair share of fans who will have weird names like yours, dye their hair to look special, and will come to me with a back story that is supposed to move me to tears.” Ed puts his coffee down on the window sill.
“It’s a perfectly normal name where I came from. For me, Edward Elric sounds weird” She said, chuckling. She liked to have conversations about differences between worlds if she found herself in somewhere new, after all it was just a new chance to learn for her.
“However, they all can’t do what you just did, at least not without a trick up their sleeves.” Ed had only a few seconds to study the area where the transmutation happened, but he knew for a fact that it was real. Which can mean only one thing, please let me be wrong
“What did I do?” She looked up at Ed.
“Alchemy without a circle, not very many people can actually do it.” Ed, looked at her, noticing that she had a look of weirdness at hearing the word alchemy.
“Alchemy? So that’s what that magic was!” Twilight tried to say under her breath but her excitement made her say it out loud.
“Magic? You mean that fairy tale power that doesn’t exists at all and has no connection to real life?” Crossing his arms, not believing what he had just heard.
“No, magic is real and where I come from all unicorns can do it!” Twilight exclaimed, not know how to prove it.
“A unicorn, really? And I suppose that there are Pegasus and dragons in your world, and the sun, against all know science and math as we know it, is controlled by the most powerful unicorn, right?” Throwing his head back and laughing a bit.
“Alicorn, actually.” Twilight said with seriousness in her voice. “ She is a winged unicorn princess and my teacher. And the correct plural term is pegasi. Dragons also exist, I know, I have baby dragon as an assistant. You also forgot to mention that the moon is controlled by the princess’ younger sister who is also an Alicorn.”
“Oh, you are serious about that. In some far away world, you are actually a unicorn that performs ‘magic’. Oh, boy” Ed puts his face into his palm, starting to wonder about the sanity of this girl and if he should start running. This girl must be from a country where they encourage this type of thinking, or she is brainwashed by an evil cult, either way she needs help. “ So how did you get here from your little ‘magical’ world?”
“It was…while I was helping a friend of mine. You see this pony that he loved very much had died.” She said, the memory of Rarity dead making her sad a little.
“YOU DIDN’T!” Of all the things in the world that he had been through, one event in his mind still haunts him- his greatest mistake, one that cost his little brother his body and him a leg. That one little incident that put his brother in the aim of a madman who wanted to use the brothers to get in touch with god and got him to where he was, few things in this world are left that can actually set him off like the knowledge that someone was stupid enough to perform that taboo, “HUMAN TRANSMUTATION IS SOMETHING THAT SHOULDN’T EVEN BE THOUGHT OF MUCH LESS ATTEMPTED!!!”
“That’s why I stopped him, I couldn’t let a guy that was like my little brother sacrifice himself like that.” Twilight looked up at the angry Ed, her mind now thinking if she was successful or not.
“ You stopped him? But…” Ed was now less furious, more curious. Never before had he heard of someone stopping a transmutation and starting one on her own.
“As it was happening, I pushed him out of the way, completing it myself as I had casted a spell to revive her and bring her back to life,” Twilight then had a revelation, what if that spell failed and what if her efforts were wasted. She did she just ruined more lives than save? She pushed those thoughts as far away as she could, I am Celestia’s best student, and there is no way I would allow myself to fail something that important! “Then I saw this door with a blank thing in front of me.”
“Truth,” Ed said very solemnly, This clinches it, she’s telling the truth. No one would know about that thing unless they went through the gate.”
“It told me that in exchange for the three years of my life I gave up for the spell, I needed to go on a journey and find a way back home,” She finished her cup as she watched Ed uncross his arms and sighed.
“So, how are you planning on doing this?” Ed, may not have believed the whole story, but he could see she was hurting and needed help to get home. He then walked to her, and hugged her.
Twilight looked shocked, “What was that for?”
“You looked like you needed one, and besides its proven that hugging can relax someone.” Ed smiled, after all he could remember the times it would’ve felt good to have someone comfort him once in a while.
Twilight got off from the embrace and stood up, “Well, I better get to the library. They should have some clue or something that could tell me how to get home”
“You aren’t going to find it here, the library is too small and has nothing on dimensions or alchemical theory I checked.” Ed turned to Twilight who was about to leave.
“Then do you have any better ideas?” Twilight looked at Ed, a little annoyed that her lead was just shot down in flames.
“You would have far better luck in a place like Central; they have a huge library on a ton of subjects. You might find something there, and luckily I can help you get in to the more restricted areas.” Ed then brought out his old watch, remembering when Roy gave it back.
“Here Ed,” Roy threw Ed his watch “You might need it again, and it will allow you to see the central library any time you need to.”
“Thanks colonel.” Ed gave a thumbs up to Roy as he walked out of the office.
“No problem, Fullmetal, and congratulations by the way. I think its great that you finally have a family member tinier than you are.” Roy smiled as he dodged the incoming trash bin thrown by Ed.
“As a former State Alchemist, I kind of have perks that not many people can have. It comes in handy once in a while.” Ed said, putting his watch away. The girl does need help and, to Ed, there is no one better qualified than him.
“A State what now?” Twilight asked,” Is that like a royal guard?”
“You could say that.” Ed answered back as he opened the door.
“Oh, okay,” Twilight walked out the door,” Thanks by the way.”
A few moments later, the two walked toward the train station. Twilight spent most of her time trying to conjure up any spell she could think of. Even a basic telekinetic spell would be like a breath of fresh air to her at that point. However, nothing came to her. It was as if she was looking at a treasure chest and she had no key to unlock it. She knows the spells, she knew how to make them work, but still she couldn’t summon up anything. She sighed to herself, her magic would be no use to her here and she had no idea how to use this alchemy that she gained in exchange. The last time was an accident and was unsure of how to do it again. “I guess the library will also have a few books on alchemy.” She said out loud to herself.
“ Good idea, but in the meantime…I’ll help you perfect your alchemical skills.” Ed said, turning to her and pointing to himself with his thumb.
“Really, you’ll help me? You’ll teach me how to be an alchemist?” She skipped up to Ed, excited. She may not have her magic, but the idea of learning something brand new excited her to no end. For her, it was like she was going to relearn magic all over again.
“Of course, you got potential and you are going to need to know how to be one if you plan on going any further with your little journey.” Ed said, turning to pay for his and Twilight’s tickets.
“Private car please.”
“Private car? Why?” Twilight asked, following Ed into the train.
“Because you need the concentration in order to be able to do what I want you to do. Got it?” He said as he guided Twilight into the car. He then pointed to the seat and had her sit down, he then looked down at her straight into her eyes. “Now, before we get to central I want you to answer this question. IF you can’t by the time we get to central then I won’t teach you.”
“All right.” Twilight smiled confidently, any question that he had she would be able to answer easily.
“Tell me the meaning of this statement: All is one and one is all. Good luck” With that Ed left Twilight to her machinations.
“WHAT?” Twilight looked behind her, trying to figure out what in the hay that meant.