Ed had spent the last few weeks going back and forth between Canterlot and Ponyville just as he'd expected to do in order for things to be setup for his automail shop. Since he had gone to another Equestria he was able to meet another Displaced. The young Fairy Tale mage known as Alexandria Justine had taught him how to use a form of magic known as Arc of Embodiment. Which, in short allows the wielder to creator anything the can imagine in their minds from nothing,and this new magic came in very handy when Ed started to go over the list of raw materials he needed to stock up on for the automail components. He inform Celestia and Luna of his little of this and they were in shock for a while, but then moved on with the fact that Ed might be called on again into the future.

With the help of Dr. Whooves, the shop was up and running with in the month. With this step complete, Ed had started the next face and selected the necessary candidates from the surrounding hospitals with basic engineering skills that he found would be the most trustworthy. As he did with Time Turner he used his alchemy to implant the basics of automail engineering and medical knowledge to these new disciples. The reason he only did the basics was because Ed want them to row as individuals and go on to improve.

It was noon and Ed had finished lunch with Luna and Tia. He bid his wife goodbye with a hug and then proceeded to walk with Celestia to the Artifacts Vault in order to retrieve his sword and armor from his time as the Minotaur King, as Celestia had them brought here from Everfree when the vault was first constructed. To most who saw the sword, the crystal claymore they assumed it was just a pretty showpiece, but Celestia had placed it here for the very same reason Ed had taken those many moons ago. She literally trusted no one, other than Ed, with this weapon, because of its magic canceling ability. Just to get the sword into the vault it took her and three other earth ponies to lift it. The only reason it was leaving was because Ed wanted it back, and this was mainly for him to do research on it. It wouldn't leave to vault otherwise. Besides, Ed was the only being who could properly wield such a weapon, other than a huge minotaur and they still had difficulty.

As Celestia and Edward made their way back to the main halls of Canterlot Castle from the vault they planned to split up at the throne room as Celestia had day court to attend and Ed wanted to get the his workshop and begin analyzing his sword. Ed had plans for a special project, one the was possible thanks to his new magic. As they reach the throne room they were stop by a guard stating that he had a message from Princess Mi Amore Cadenza would be stopping by later on in the evening with a guest and was requesting to have dinner with the Princesses. With this news Celestia clapped her hands together with a soft smile on her face. Ed only cocked his eyebrow upwards at this wondering who this new Princess was. Then Celestia proceeded to reminded him of he about how she had adopted a niece and nephew. Ed immediately face palmed at this as he had been so busy with the setup of his shop, but the recovered for stupor right away and began to look forward to finally meet his niece.

Ed had previously met his nephew, Prince Blueblood, on one of return trips from Ponyville. It was safe to say that Ed had no sympathy for the pompous bastard. After they ran into each other Ed had introduce himself in the usual manner, excited to meet his nephew, who the proceeded to try and have him arrested for merely being his way. As contingent of guard made there way to the them Blueblood had the widest cocky grin on his face as he then looked to the alchemist in front of him. Once the guards reach them he began to speak.

“Guards kindly remove this strange pony from my sight at once.” said Blueblood tuning his nose up at the alchemist.

The guards only ignored the pompous unicorn, as they couldn't either. One guard, the same one that had help Ed when he'd first been revived, began to speak to Ed.

“Good to see you again Sir Edward, how long will you be staying before you must return to Ponyville?” asked the guard.

“About three days this time, but it should be the last trip for a while. Thanks for asking Polearm.” said Edward.

“Will you be going to your workshop, or will you be going to see the Princess first?” asked Polearm.

“I think I'd like to go Princess Celestia first and then to the shop, and if you wouldn't mind leading the way I'd very much enjoy your company my friend.” answered the alchemist.

“Right this way please.” Polearm said as the to continued into the castle while Edward turned his head back toward and pulled down on the bottom of his eye and stuck out his tongue at Blueblood,

Celestia was sitting at the table with two other ponies, an alicorn mare and a unicorn stallion. The alicorn mare was wearing a pink silk gown with a golden embroidery along the chest and a golden tiara similar to Celestia's but closer in size to Luna's adorned her pink, yellow, and purple mane. The unicorn had a blue mane with lighter shades of blue streaks in it. He was wearing a formal red guard uniform shirt with a white sash that was adorned with a dark blue shield with a pink six pointed star on it that was paired with black pants and black boots.

The pink alicorn spoke to Celestia.

“Where is Aunt Luna, Aunt Celestia? You did tell her I was here for dinner, right?” asked the alicorn.

“I'm sorry for the wait Cadance, but as you have brought a guest, your Aunt Luna and I decided we would bring one as well.” said Celestia with a slight snicker.

“I bet you ten bits I know this pony.” said the unicorn pointing at Celestia.

“You've probably seen him around the castle when he was here, if you were lucky Shining Armor.” Celestia said with a smile.

“So, he's been going here and there on business then.” said Cadance.

“Yes, he's been setting up a shop in Ponyville for the past few weeks now. When he's there he stays with your sister at the library Shining, but while he's here he stays in various spots depending on how long his stay is.” explained Celestia.

“I know this colt better keep his hands to himself.” Shining said snorting.

“I can personally guarantee you Shining, that your sister is in no danger whatsoever. I have known this 'stallion' for many years. You can actually say he's more like family.” Celestia couldn't help but giggle at this while saying this.

“May I have the name of this pony Aunt Celestia?” asked Cadance.

“I'm sorry Cadance. You'll just have to wait until Luna brings him in.” Celestia said while winking at her niece.

At this time the door opens revealing the Princess of the night and the 'pony' in question wearing their normal attire. The couple took their seats next to Celestia. Luna sat across from Cadence and Edward sat across from Shining. Cadence decided to steal a glance at Ed. As she did he noticed and simply smiled at her. The alchemist then got out of his seat and began to introduce himself in his normal fashion.

“It nice to finally meet you Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, my name's Edward Elric The Fullmetal Alchemist.” Edward said bringing his arm up to his waist as he bowed to Cadance.

“It's nice to meet you Edward, but please call me Cadance. I might add, that introduction was a bit over the top.” said Cadance with a chuckle.

Ed then walked over to the other side of the table and proceeded to to extended his right hand out to Shining Armor.

“Nice to formally meet you Capt. Shining Armor, I've heard a lot about you from Twilight.” said Ed as Shining to his hand and noticed it had a lit weight to the shake.

“I know the Princess stuck up for you,but I still have to tell you that Twilight is off limits to you.” Shining said while tightening his grip.

“HAHAHAHAHA!” Ed belted.

“I believe I have a right to know why you're laughing, Mr. Elric” demanded Shining as he stood up quickly release the strange yellow eyed colt's hand while trying to look intimidating.

“I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to insult your sister. Don't get me wrong she's sweet, intelligent, a hard-worker, and an extremely talented magic user, but,” Ed said stopping to pull off his left glove and held up his hand to revel a silver band on hi ring finger.

“I've already got my special somepony.” Ed continued, “And please, call me Ed.”

“May I ask who this special pony is then?” asked Shining.

Ed quickly looked at Celestia who was merely whistling to the ceiling. Ed then let out a sigh and looked to Cadance and then back to Shining.

“Celestia I thought you were gonna tell them.” lamented the alchemist.

“I thought is would be funnier if you did.” said Celestia as she chuckled in anticipation.

“Aaa, you know Tia sometimes you really get under my skin.” said Ed with an annoyed sigh.

“Excuse me, but you just referred to Aunt Celestia by one of her personal nicknames. I don't want to be rude, but is your special somepony her?” asked Cadance while tilting her head.

Ed then spun around to face the young alicorn. As he did he had a large grin on his face,

“Nope, but you’re not that far off though.” said the alchemist with a snicker.

Cadance's gaze then quickly darted from her Aunt Celestia to her Aunt Luna. Who quickly looked to the floor with hr face completely flushed with red.

“No; there is no way this kid is married to Princess Luna.” said Shining, who had a brow raised.

“Believed it Shining Armor. Edward has been our husband for over the last thousand years.” said Luna.

“How, are you that old? I mean you look 16 or 17, and you're definitely not an alicorn but an earth pony.” interrupted Cadance.

“Oh my Faust, you’re my uncle!” shouted the pink alicorn as she jumped from her seat knocking Edward to to ground in a crushing hug.

“That took long enough to sink in.” said Ed from the floor.

“ I think that's enough fun for now. Lets enjoy our dinner as its seems the chefs are read to serve it.” said Celestia gesturing for the maids to bring the found as Ed returned to his seat.

This rest of the dinner went extremely well as everyone made idle conversation and swapped stories of their past exploits. As desert was being served Shining Armor decided to pop 'the question' to Cadance and it was safe to say the Edward wasn't the only guy on the ground this time around. The next few hours passed rather quickly with congratulations going around. No one notice the alchemist slip out of the room to the balcony, or at least he thought.

I stood under Luna's stars and moon wondering if that's how the proposal actually went in the show. I then remembered this world was different because of me, but I didn't care, because all that mattered was helping this world and keeping Luna happy. I was then pulled from my thought by the sounds of someone approaching. I thought it was Luna coming see why I had left the merriment. Then I notice these footsteps were heavier, so I turned around and was met with the sight of the captain of the guard standing before me clutching a cutlass in his hand. I simply smiled at him and waited for him to talk.

“I can already tell that family means a lot to somepony such as yourself. That you go to any length just for the ones you, and that even though this is your first time meeting Cadance, that protect her as if she was your own daughter.” Shining said with admiration and determination in his eyes.

“You hit the proverbially nail right on the head, future nephew. And now you're here to prove the you can protect her to by challenging to a duel and beating me, am I right?” I said to the young stallion with admiration in my voice.

“As you said 'hit the nail on the head'.” Shining said as he brought his sword up pointing the tip towards me.

“Look, Shining Armor, I know you love Cadance, because you look at her the same way I look at Luna, and because of this there is not doubt in me mind that you can protect her.” I said as I walked over to him.

“But you'd still like to see what I can do before I have your permission to marry Cadance.” remarked Shining.

“You already have my approval Shining. With that being said, it's not my place to say anything against you marriage. This is our first meeting after all, and I only know what I've been told about you two. I’m hope to get to know you two better.” I said stopping beside him.

“Well then, you'll also know that I can't just stand by and just in trust the Princess's safety to someone I literally just met, even if you've been a part of the royal family for the last thousand or so years.” stated Shining.

“If your serious about wanting to fight to test me then I'll meet your challenge , but know that I'll come at you with the intent to kill you Shining Armor.” I said as we turned our heads to me each other’s gaze.

“I'd have it no other way.” agreed the captain of the guard.

“But the first thing we have to do is let Celestia, Luna, and Cadance know what's going on, because I don't want them to think we're having a fight over some sort of petty disagreement.” I said as we started to walk back into to castle.

Soon after our little talk we met back up with the Princesses who immediately asked where we had wondered of to. So, we both took a turn on the details that soon lead to taking up Shining Armor's challenge. After which, we were both scolded be Tia about going behind somepony's back, but Luna and Cadance took the news of our preemptive fight very well. I also saw Celestia have a slight small smile on her face after she was finished scolding Shining and I. Of course, I was a bit out of shape due to my 2,000 year stone nap, and I'd been to busy to train due to having been setting up shop in Ponyville, but I was looking forward to the fight to shake off the dust. With that we sit the duel to take place tomorrow afternoon.

After we said goodnight to each other we all proceeded to our go to our individual parts of the castle. Celestia went to the solar wing of the castle and then proceeded to her personal chambers to get some sleep. Cadance went to her personal room in the west wing of the castle, and Shining Armor went to the guard barracks to finish up some paperwork before he could head to bed. As for me, I went with Luna to help her with night court until exhaustion caught me. So I told Luna I was going to go get some sleep in my workshop for the time being, and she told me that she'd be in by a few hours. I then kissed her good night and walked to the lunar wing of the castle where the workshop was and called it a night while looking forward to tomorrow main event.

Next Chapter: A Family Dispute Estimated time remaining: 55 Hours, 16 Minutes