Edward and Celestia awoke in their base forms to find themselves in a massive crater in what had once been the Badlands of Adam Taurus's Equestria. They both looked around wondering what had happened. The last thing they remembered what that they were both holding back the other’s final attack with neither side show any signs of backing down. They spent the next few minutes to recompose themselves as they got off the ground. Then Edward walked over to Celestia and started to speak.

“Do you remember what happened? Because I don’t,” said the alchemist raising his brow in confusion. “Sorry to say this Edward but I’m in the same boat as you are currently. I remember holding back your attack and pouring all my magic into it and then there was this bright flash and the next thing I know is I’m waking up in this, crater, across from you,” explained Celestia in her stated of confusion.

“I think we might’ve really started getting into warrior mode in the last moments of the battle. I’m like you. I remember pouring all my power into that attack and just keeping it going and then there was a flash of bright light and poof. Here we are,” Edward says as he raised his shoulders. “If I had to guess what happened, then I think either Nat, Lex, my wife, or your sister intervened somehow. My money is Lex, as she’s the only one on par in terms of power with us. She’s also the only one with enough magical power and knowledge to combine several spells need to contain so much power.”

“Is Adam older sister really capable of this?” asked Celestia she examined the crater walls. “Oh, yea. Lex gain all knowledge of the world of Fiore and she has the power to back it to boot. I’m guessing that she used the Grand Spell, Fairy Sphere,” Edward explained as he knelt down to get a closer look at the ground.

“What is exactly does it do? You used the term Grand Magic. So that means it has to be an extremely strong spell if that’s the type of magic it is, right?” Celestia says as she crosses her arms with worry.

“Your right, Celestia,” Edward says standing back up. “It’s one of the three Great Fairy Tail magics. It’s an absolute defense spell that draws on the user's bonds with their friends and converts them to magical power. A downside is that the sphere is that it acts as a time suspension chamber. So there’s no way of telling how long we were in it before our power ran out.”

“You're saying like had to stop the flow of time in order to stop our fight,” Celestia says in shock as she stopped in her tracks. “You’re half right about that. Time stops for those inside the sphere while time flows normally for those on the outside of the sphere. My guess is that we used up all the magic inside of the Sphere that we had access to. That’s why we stopped fighting. After that, we took the full brunt of both attack until they were completely burned out. We reverted back into our base forms as our bodies used up whatever energy we had left to protect and heal ourselves during and after this.” Edward says as he helped Celestia out of the crater.

“If we’re out of the spell doesn’t that mean the Lex has dispelled it or run out of magic?” Celestia says tilting her head. “Yea, I think it’s the first one seeing as how she’s running at us with some pretty pissed off Moon Princesses to back her up right now,” Edward said as he looked to the group of spectators that had come with them.

“OH CRAP!” exclaimed the alchemist.

Before he could anything else Edward was nailed dead in the center of his chest with a beam of blue magic. Not strong enough to put a hole in him like earlier with Celestia but strong enough to knock him off his feet. He was then sent tumbling straight back into the crater rolling the whole way to the bottom. His wife now standing at the edge of the crater staring daggers at the alchemist as he got up off his back.

“Now, Luna. Let’s not do anything too brash,” said Edward as he started to back up.

“OH, WE’RE FAR BEYOND THAT, EDWARD ELRIC! WAY BEYOND THAT!” yelled Luna in her Royal Canterlot Voice. She quickly flew down to Edward and shot another beam of magic at him.

“OW! LUNA HAVE MERCY, PLEASE! TIA, SOMEONE, HELP ME! AHHH!” Edward screamed as his wife began to physically assault him. The alchemist undid his seal of Sloth and tried to outrun his angry wife as best he could at this time.

“GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT EDWARD! WE’RE FAR FROM DONE WITH YOUR PUNISHMENT!” yelled the fuming Lunar Princess.

“OWOWOWOW! I’M SORRY LUNA! I DIDN’T MEAN TO GO OVERBOARD! PLEASE! MERCY! SOMEONE HELP ME! YAH!” screamed the terrified alchemist as Luna continued her rampage.

Meanwhile, at the top of the crater, the other Luna was busy chewing out Celestia with Lex next to her. Celestia could only look at the ground the whole time. She knew her sister had every right to scold her. She had put her ponies in danger over a mere chance to have some fun at her own expense. That’s when Edward, lying on the ground next to Celestia, and his wife were then next to the others. That’s when Lex stepped in to say her piece.

“Jeez, you two are lucky that I was able to contain your power. I was forced to undo all of my seals. I had to put everything I had into that Fairy Sphere. Luckily, I view you both as friends. I know there was no way I could’ve contained you both if I didn’t,” I said shaking my head in disappointment.

“You, Celestia, are incredibly lucky that Edward didn’t take the fighting with weapons seriously from the start. If he had then you could have been seriously been hurt,” says Luna as she looks to in dead serious manner. “What do you mean, Luna? Edward did fight me seriously the whole time.” Celestia said as she scrunches her face not believing her sister's word.

“Well, not entirely. See when Edward fights he can use multiple weapons as you’re already aware, but what you didn’t know is how dangerous everyone of those weapons actually is,” said Ed’s Luna sternly.

“The keyblade alone can allow it’s wielder to destroy worlds if they know how to use it and seeing as how Ed does know how to use it you could’ve been in serious trouble if he was evil. And that thing wasn’t something that he made either but was earned,” I interjected looking to the burnt and grungy alchemist still laying on the ground by his wife.

“We’re extremely lucky that Ed didn’t recreate Ea. I thought he did when he pulled out that key,” I say with a sigh. ‘Man I didn’t think Ed could use Arc of Embodiment to create actual Noble Phantasms. He did say since he came back from Truth that his Alchemagic was much stronger and if he can use it with Arc it makes sense. Especially if he really focused and if he used those magic weaving skills of his. Sheesh.’

“So what you’re saying is that Edward was taking the match serious enough to use devastating weapons on me but not using them serious enough to where I would severely be wounded,” Celestia says in both and honored and horrified manner.

‘Can’t blame you for that tone Celestia. I’m glad Ed’s Luna didn’t tell them about the Void Stone and I’m glad Ed has it sealed so its magic absorption isn’t active either. My gods this place would be nothing but ash if it wasn’t.’ I look down to Ed to see he’s starting to stir.

“Come on Ed you got a few ‘fans’ that have a lot of question and I think you owe it to them to answer a few,” I say bending down to help the Baka of an alchemist. ‘To think your willing to fight Celestia to help out Sora and Nat. I’m proud to call you my family. Thanks, Ed. But you are a serious Baka.’

“Allow me to help you out, Lex. It’s my fault he’s in this state anyways but he deserved what he got,” Luna says as she supports the other side of her husband.

“So Ed, how long have you had that keyblade of your’s?” I asked as we walked over to our friends.

“I got over a thousand years ago Lex. I have no idea where it came from. It just showed up in the gardens one day after I’d wished I could help Luna in the dream realm. I’ve used it to help her ever since then but I have to unlock it from its bindings first. And before you ask yes I can perform the Inheritance Ceremony. But there is a drawback for you guys if you want the Keyblades,” Ed explained as he started to walk on his on but still rested his head on his wife’s shoulder.

“And what would that drawback be?” I ask raising my eyebrow.

“The same drawback that all keyblade wielders face of course,” Ed says with a smug grin. “You can only use them when needed or to be a little more precise. You can only start to use them after they present themselves to you at the right time. Keyblades are fickle things. The can be wielded by anyone they deem worthy of them. Which is why I have the Baku. The blade chose to be with me. I never went through the Inheritance Ceremony myself or the Mark of Mastery. I simple wield the blade because it wants me to. Nothing more, nothing less,” Ed says as we reach the other.

“Edward, that was so awesome. What was the name of that last weapon you used? How’d you summon that shadow army? How many weapons can you use? How many weapons do you have?...” Rudy immediately bombarded Ed with questions. This went on the whole rest of the day.

We got Dusk to bring us back to Adam house. The Princesses had the Royal guards bring the Elements by while we were out. Ed went to work right away downstairs. Ruby was right on his coattails the whole time as he hadn’t yet answered her questions. They both stayed in the basement for quite some time. Ed came up and called me, Nat, Sora, and Adam down. Ruby was then promptly kicked out, quite literally at that. We all came down and saw Ed was working on what looked to be some of the others outfits. Then we looked over to see Sora’s body floating in its tank. She no longer looked like a four-year-old but a seven-year-old instead.

“Ed, does this mean Sora’s body is completely aged up and ready to go?” asked Nat in glee as she ran over to see our little sister body. “Yes to the aged up part Nat but no to the ready to go part,” answered the alchemist as he moved over to the tank.

“I thought as much,” I say as I make my way to the machinery we set up. “Why isn’t it ready yet Lex?” asked Adam with a look of confusion. “Sora’s body might be ready age wise but it’s not biologically and magically stable yet. You have to realize Ed is doing everything he can as fast as he can while still trying to keep things in the green for Sora’s sake in the long run. He is literally working with several components that have an unknown number of effects.”

“What Lex is saying, Adam is that Sora’s body is half ready. Now we're just waiting for its biology to stabilize from all of the components that were used in its construction. Then we’ll be able to perform the Soul Transmutation once it's finished,” explained Nat as she looked to our brother.

“There was another reason I called you all down here, though,” I said as I crossed my arms.

“I told you guys a few days ago that I consider all of you to be family. Hell after what all of you have done for me in my times of need how could I not. I know I won’t be able to completely make up for what I’ve put Nat and Sora through but as part of it I wanted to give you four your own Keyblades. As you know they’ll only appear when needed, Adam I think yours will appear sometime shortly after I return to my own world. Seeing as how the Grimm a fairly similar to the heartless. But for you three, the blades will only appear when you’re about to face a great evil or any enemy that only you can overcome through the friendships and connections you made on your journeys,” I explain as I turn around and place my hand out in front of me as I start to recite the release chant for the Baku.

“I RELEASE YOU FROM YOU CHAINS.

DEVOUR THE KNIGHTMARES TO BRING FORTH THE SWEETEST OF DREAMS TO MY FRIENDS.

SHINE THE LIGHT IN THE DARK AND UNLOCK THE DOORS TO THE KINGDOM,

THE KINGDOM HEARTS!”

I finished the release chant causing the Baku to appear before the five of us. The keyblade still wrapped in chains of light. As I grasped the handle the binds on the sword faded away. I quickly tossed the massive key into the air spinning it so that I caught it by the blade. I then held out the handle to the four standing before me as I recited the Inheritance oath.

“In your hand, take this Key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder, you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend. No ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love,” I say hold the Baku out to my interdimensional family.

The one by one, take the Baku’s handle into their grasp. Each time this happens I can feel a new power in their hearts. A power that connects us all and that will grow in each of them as they make new bonds.

“Ed, what were you doing over there when we came down here?” asked Adam while pointing to the table I’d been standing over earlier.

“I was making a few modifications to your team's clothing and armor. Ruby, I add fire threads to the red areas and to her cloak that way she can use fire in tandem with her semblance. Pyrrha has ice filaments embedded in her armor, spear’s blade, and shield. Penny has lightning threading in her dress and in the wires in her backpack and filaments in the swords. They’ll help with a much smoother control of the blades,” I explain as I walk back to the table and pull out a few books and place them in front of Nat and Lex.

“Nat, these are an entire set of manuals on Twilight’s arm model. They detail how to make everything. Even the amethyst parts should they need to be replaced. If can even apply this to other gems to create varying effects of elemental magic,” I say pointing to the stack of books in front of me. I then turn slightly to face Lex. “These are a set of manuals on alchemagic and magic weaving. Lex these are for your eyes only. Literally, no one else will be able to read these not even your Celestia and Luna. I had my wife use a special type of dark impression magic that Dark Light took of you from the Dark Library. These manuals also detail how to make the element clothing.”

“ Back to the clothing, Adam, I infused your clothing with obsidian and black moonstone threads to promote the flow of your dark magic. Oscar was a little bit difficult as I had to you a few more of the uncommon gemstones in his clothing. I used a bit of everything but mainly focused on light magic type gems with a few that deal with mind, also to help him and Ospin have A better balance mind-body connection while the switch,” I said as I walk around to the other side of the room as I go up the stairs leaving the others to converse amongst themselves.

“So,” said Qrow as he downed his latest glass of cider. “Ya got Sora’s body all to put together and all you gotta do now its put her soul in it. Have to say though.” he took another hit from his glass and continued. “you’re one hell of a guy to go as far as you have to try and fix a something that was only half your fault.”

“You’d be better off saying it was all my fault Qrow. I was the one the summoned Nat and Sora in the first place,” I say taking a drink of my own. “Being able to drink in public without being judged is certainly one of the few things I’ve missed.”

“What, can’t you in public drink back home?” asked Qrow with a puzzled look. “Not exactly, when you're married to one of the lands two rulers. Not to mention you can only sell alcohol if you own the means to make it. Like the Apple family. They make cider but only deal it out on special occasions.”

Qrow asks for another glass and tells the barkeeper to leave the bottle. He simply shrugs and leaves it and pulls out another putting it next to the other.

“Yea, I definitely won’t be visiting your version of reality anytime soon,” he said pouring us both another glass of spiced cider.

“Don’t blame ya for that my friend. The time I’ve been here is the most I’ve had to drink in many moons. Sure Luna and I have the occasional glass of wine but nothing more than half a bottle between the two of us. Even when I was still human I still did drink very much,” I say look to my glass.

“Trust me as your friend and a drunk. Don’t start down the path of the bottle Ed. It’s hell. We all have our reasons and I’m sure you have more than your fair share from what you’ve been through Ed but it only dulls the pain, not stop it. Even with the pain dulled it’s still there and after the booze wears off it hurts all the more,” Qrows says with another gulp.

“Good thing that booze never really held any sway over me then. It still nice to have access to though even if it’s just for pleasure,” I say taking another long swig on my glass this time.

“Speaking of pleasure-” burp Qrow. “No, not going there man. Luna and mine’s love life in the bedroom is our business and no one else’s,” I say cutting him off slamming my glass down as I stare daggers at him.

“Relax, I just wanted to know if you to had any plans to try and start a family now that you have everything in your lives pretty much straightened out,” he said as he rested his head on his hand.

“Oh, sorry about that. I can’t say we haven’t thought about it lately, but it’s just that we’ve been really busy since the Cadance and Shining’s wedding. I had planned on taking her on a honeymoon and then this crap happened,” I said as I downed the contents of my glass in one go. “I’m still gonna do it of course but I’d be happy if we could just spend a few weeks, just us no guards no paperwork or crisis, having a quiet getaway.”

“I hear ya, but back to the family thing. You two never had any kids before you were entombed in that stone prison of yours?” the Huntsman asked as he poured me another glass.

“Tried, whenever we would have the time but it was always rare that we got to spend more than an hour together due to our duties we were just too tired. And we were just happy to be with each other. We did, however, adopt a few of the war orphans of the times. Talk about taking flak from every noble under Tia’s sun,” I laugh then take another hit. “Turns out my assistant Polearm is a descendant of one of the ponies we adopted. He the head of The House of Aries.”

“Hahaha… You’re a… hahaha… grandpa…hahaha. How many … hahaha… times over… hahaha,” Qrow managed to blurt out as he fell out of his seat laughing.

“Yea I’m a grandpa, but who’s the one on the floor flailing around laughing looking like a jackass,” I say with a smirk while pouring another glass of cider.

“Yea, ya got me there Ed. It’s still no funnier than if I was talking to a guy nearly twenty times my age. Oh wait, that’s exactly what I’m doing. In fact, that’s something I do on a daily basis now that I think about it. Heh,” Qrow says as he gets back to his seat.

“You know Qrow those kids really depend on you. Adam especially looks to you for guidance, when you're not hammered. I doubt Ruby would be able to stay sane if you weren’t here,” I say taking a large gulp of my liquor. “I’m pretty sure the others of your group will be showing pretty soon too. It’s not just the arrival of so many Displaced in a world at one time but my fight with Celestia and what will be done in the next couple of days are definitely going to throw the balance of this world out of whack. Adam is a good leader but he’s young and can get carried away like when he saw my transformation the other day. He jumped into my shadow and almost got himself eaten by it.”

“You're saying I need stop drinking and get serious about training these kids. If something that bad is coming then why don’t you stay here and take care of it, Mr.Demon of Alchemy?” he asked while he opened the second bottle and poured another glass.

“There are rules that we Displaced must adhere to Qrow,” I say interlacing my fingers in front of my face. “Interference outside the reason we’re summoned isn’t totally out of the question as our contract can be very vague when we’re summoned but the contracts can also be verbally changed at any given time. We also have to be careful on how long we stay in a world as our presence can start to change that world if we stay too long. And the definition of ‘how long’ can vary too. As Nat only lived in my world for a week before she started to affect it. Now I have to watch out for pokemon showing up back home.”

“So basically what you’re saying is that you can’t do too much without causing some big ripples in a small pond,” Qrow said putting down his glass without even taking a drink. “Is that why you're doing all of the extra stuff for those kids while you’re here? You’re telling me that you want me to prepare these kids for something that could possibly overwhelm them and maybe even kill them if it wanted to without even trying.”

“That’s precisely what I’m saying Qrow. Yes, I’m trying to give them the best edge I can. But, I can only do some much for your friends and family Qrow. I can do more for Adam and his family because they're Displaced. But there one more thing I could possibly do for you as my friend, but only if your willing to accept the consequences that come with this boost in your power,” I say pouring another glass of cider.

“If it’ll help me protect Ruby and the other’s I don’t see any reason to say no. You’re a good guy Ed and I trust you. You’ve been doing everything you can to help Sora and on top of that, you’ve been doing what you could to help the people I care for deeply. So, I’m more than willing to accept a gift of power from you,” he said as he stared into his drink.

“Okay, the last thing you should know is that you will no longer be human after the process is complete but a being called a homunculus. I’m going to make it so that you’ll still age like a normal human if I can. There are a few powers you’ll have access to. You have the ability to heal from normally grave injuries like losing your head. Your six senses will be heightened beyond a normal human, more specifically your speed, strength, and reflexes. But most of all you’ll have the Ultimate Eye.” I say putting down my empty glass as I stood up from my seat. I undo my seal of Wrath and activating it in my right eye changing my golden iris to the oroborus and allow Qrow to see it.

“Cool, trick. Guessing that’s one of the powers you used in your fight with Celestia. What exactly does that thing do Ed?” Qrow asked.

“The Ultimate Eye does exactly what the name says. It allows you to see anything and everything in its line of sight. You’ll be able to see how your semblance affects the environment around you. It even has the ability to see through lies and deceit. Not even spatial distortion can hide from this eye. But in order to possess it, you’ll have to be bonded to a Philosopher Stone, ” I say picking up Qrow glass and pour a half a glass of cider.

I release the rest of my seals and open my main eye on my chest and it begins to cry a tear of what looks like blood. This wasn’t blood but a small colloid Philosopher Stone. I caught the stone in the half-full glass of cider and twirled the glass while using a bit of alchemy to mix the stone and the liquor together. I then place the beverage in front of the Huntsman. Qrow pours cider into my glass till it was full and hands it to me. He then picks up his glass and holds it out towards me.

“Here’s to friends and family. Cheers,” we say in unison as we clink glasses and down our drinks.

As soon Qrow finished his ‘Hell Writher’ as I called it he hit the floor as his body started to deconstructing and reconstructing itself while cursing and writhing in pain. I did try and warn him of the consequence but his stubbornness won outright. Hopefully, that’ll be enough to get him up off the floor. I sat back down at the bar and continued to enjoy the drinks the keep kept severing me. After around an hour and a half, the screaming behind me stopped. I then moved my eyes to look to my left side and saw Qrow pulling himself back into his chair.

“Keeper, your strongest drink that’ll anything on it ass,” I say to the bartender, whose name was Peace Keeper come to find out, ironic.

“Ed those things knock me on my ass after just having two of them,” Qrow said in shock.

“Sorry to tell you this Qrow but as a Homunculus, you can no longer get drunk as easily as you use to. In fact, you could drink all the booze Keeper has in stock and still barely have a buzz,” I say taking one of the drinks Peace Keeper brought and quickly downed it before I left some bit to cover the drinks of tonight. I then head toward the door but stop and look into Qrow’s new considerably horrified eye. It was the Oroborus of the Ultimate Eye.

“I’m sorry Qrow. But, I did tell you that you would have to face the consequences of accepting this power. One of them is that you will no longer be the drunken bastard that you were. Ozpin was always telling you that drinking would kill you someday. Looks like he was finally right.” I say as I leave the bar to join my group at the town hall. I turn my head looking back over my shoulder to see my friend, or former friend, sitting at the bar staring at the drink I had ordered for him. I could have sworn that he was crying.

“You can’t run from the truth Qrow. I know that better than anyone and with that Eye, it will always come to you no matter what. Again, I’m sorry if this has caused you pain, my friend, but I did warn you. Before I leave Qrow, I’ll tell you one of my favorite quotes from my homeworld that pertains to your new power,” I say turning around where I’d stopped.

“A knight is sworn to valor.”

“His heart knows only virtue.”

“His blade defends the helpless.”

“His might upholds the weak.”

“His word speaks only truth.”

“His wrath undoes the wicked.”

I recited the old code but said one last thing to help him understand why I said this. “Truth often leads to Wrath and in turn wrath reveals the truth. This power will make clear all paths you can take Qrow, but I know you can take the true path to what must be done,” I say my peace and then walk through the door of the bar.

Next Chapter: Breaking Ties Estimated time remaining: 44 Hours, 44 Minutes