“Ed why’d you go and do that?” Celestia asked in a pout. “We were all enjoying ourselves.”

“Because Me and Shang still have work to do and the others do also,” Edward explained as he moved passed the others. “I want to see if we can create those portals. My master can do it but his are a bit more accessible by just about anyone wherever they’re setup unless someone puts a seal onto like I did when I set his up.” Edward went over to a nearby closet and grabbed a few clothes and went behind a blind to quickly change. “So what do you say? Wanna see if we can make some a portal to your world?”

Shang smirked. “As you said, a mirror is technically the ‘easiest’ medium to use in terms of ease of access and runic sealing, but at the same time, it is the easiest to destroy, as a simple impact push spell at the right angle could destroy it. Therefore, we need something resilient to impact, yet malleable for the runic sealing,” he commented.

“What about quartz? It's a stable crystalline stone for channeling energy and easy to access. Obsidian would work for amplification,” Alexis commented wryly.

“What do you think my key to the Dark Library is made of?” Edward deadpanned. “I can make any form of gemstone or material we would need but I find homegrown materials are much more stable for use,” Edward said as he came out from behind the blind and let Celestia and Luna use it. “Also, instead of a portal, why not make a key to make a portal instead? Like what Starswirl and I did with the Library keys.”

“Hmmm. Perhaps make the keys unique… either in color, composition, or appearance to tell which world which goes to?” Shang commented. He noticed Alexis covering her body with her neutral bodysuit. He also noticed, for just an instant, her eyes flickering a deep hunter green, Jade's eyes. He noticed Jade's eyes widening for just an instant before her presence retreated from his awareness.

“Someone else have something to say, Alexis?” Edward asked as he sensed a shift in Jade’s soul. “You’ll have to do some meditation in order to get along with her at first.” he pulled over a blackboard to jot down ideas as they came to the group.

“I think she's just curious. Though, I think she's intrigued by what she can see. I think she likes the fact that my Durga Glaive which I've found can be wielded as dual kama, dual combat staves, a combat staff similar to a quarterstaff, scythe, and naginata or spear as needed,” Alexis commented.

“So it changes into various polearms based off what you need or want,” Edward was drawing a few pictures of random items on the chalkboard. “Hm. I wonder?” He looked back to the board and then pulled out his key to the Dark Library flipping it in between his fingers.

“I guess. The games, which I’m guessing, as with those ‘Devil May Cry’ games, to some extent is true at a certain point in time from a certain perspective, only had the Durga Glaive as a naginata,” was the Displaced hybrid's reply.

“Are either of you familiar with Orichalcum?” Edward asked as he raised a single eyebrow.

“Heard of it, but it's extremely rare,” Shang commented.

Alexis shook her head.

“Well you see Alexis,” Edward started to erase the board and draw several odd pictures. “Orichalcum is a mystical precious metal said to be higher than platinum and second only to gold. It was originally thought to come from Atlantis and was said to have first been mentioned by Plato back on Earth,” Edward began to explain as he drew a picture of an island on the board. “It’s also mentioned in many other Greek and Roman Homeric Hymns. They mention how the Goddess of Love. Aphrodite would often adorn herself with Gold and Orichalcum.” Edward then drew the picture of a woman coming from the foam of the ocean waves. “So you could say it’s a godly metal, kind of like Uru. It’s mentioned in a lot of other media back home too, but mainly ones that deal in many and various forms of magic or used in magic rituals.” He made a few mangas, animes and other well known and unknown shows that he knew of from his Earth that had mentioned the metal from when he lived there. “I know that this is the one come link between in all of the myths, legends, books, shows, etc. It is also supposed to be extremely malleable which why you never hear of a weapon or item, outside jewelry mostly, made strictly of the metal. But there is also the fact that there no mention of Orichalcum occurring in nature.” Edward drew a mountain and other various natural wonders. “From what I’ve read that it’s the hybridization of a bronze alloy made primarily from of zinc and copper while also have other small percentages of nickel, lead, and iron.” Edward wrote out the Elemental formula. “Now if you want to go off Plato then Orichalcum is made of a Brass and Chalcopyrite, which is still a copper and iron-based metal. There’s also a gold-copper version and this one it the more believable as far as mysticism goes.” He continued to go down the board writing tangents and various facts. “From all of these factors, I think we have the right formula and means to create our own version of Orichalcum that we can then use to make our keys.” He looked down the board and called off the things he’d thought we relevant. “First we need the metals and they’re pretty common and easy to get, except gold if we want to use natural stuff, but we can always ask Tia or sneak some from a dragon. Second, we need is the ocean which is probably the quenching tank and something to do with the blessing of the ocean or the Goddess of Love, which we can call Cadence if need be. Third, we need a live volcanic island with an entire ecosystem on it that we can use as a foundry.”

Edward stepped back and examined his breakdown. It had been a while since he’d went a breakdown and theory binge. He was stroking his chin completely lost in his thought and then he realized he was missing a key component. It was the living volcanic island. Edward turned and looked at the others who’s mouths were on the floor at this point.

“Oh,” Edward looked at where he’d started writing on the chalkboard at the other in of the lab to his current position. He had written nearly a hundred feet of information, theories, instructions, list, etc.

Shang blinked, cocking an eyebrow.

Alexis’ eyes were wide, a bit glazed at the abrupt information dump.

“Sorry about that,” Edward said rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

Shang shrugged. “No real surprise to me, though you have gained my counterpart's interest. Apparently forging and metalwork is a hobby of his… who knew?” he deadpanned.

Edward pulled out his other arm from his vault and began to replace the sapphire model with the original one from before. “This thing has Uru in it. Uru can only be forged in the heart of a dying star. Very hard to do and I could only forge out the metal thanks to my Elemental immersion and Solar Magic.” He made a few adjustments to the arm before attaching it. “Aaaahh. There we go. Like I was saying, if we want Orichalum we need several things and they won’t be extremely hard for us to get in their natural states but the only one we don’t have is an active volcanic island paradise.” Edward pulled down a map to show them there were no outlying volcanic islands with active ecosystems. “And that’s the most important part. If we don’t have it then we might as well not even bother.” Edward then paced back and forth looking at his notes and list then to a door in the corner. “Hmm… We may need to use metals from all three of our worlds in the Orichalcum so it will be tied to all three worlds. That way we can go to the others’ worlds at will and which world can we go to. That or make several keys.”

“There is an area within the Shokan territories that resides very near the heart of a volcano. We call it the Dragon's Heart. It is not unusual for young Shokan to attempt to imbue their Dragon Claw gauntlets with fire from the Dragon's Heart, but it is far rarer for them to succeed,” Goro rumbled.

“Interesting. I wouldn’t mind seeing this some time,” Edward thought as he tapped his foot on the floor. “Hm. I wonder if we could the main volcano in the Dragonlands? It’s technically a thriving ecosystem but we need to be close to the sea in order to quench the crucible while not teleporting in any way the would infuse the metal with magic or energies of any kind. In order to infuse the keys, the Orichalcum must remain in a pure blank slate for what we are going to use it for.”

Alexis looked thoughtful. “Any preferred metals from a particular world?” she said thoughtfully. “I do know of a ruby tinted form of copper, which is known as ‘Blood Gold’, though I've found it to be a bit denser than copper, roughly a 3.2 on the Mohs Scale,” she commented. That made it a bit tougher than Earthly copper.

“Nothing is specified on what types of the core metals we could use should be,” Edward said as he pulled a few books from a nearby shelf. “Personally I think we should use the gold-copper variant if we want to get a good conductivity on the magic we’re going to use.” Edward slammed the book shut. “As I said before, we want Orichalum that is completely untainted be outside energies or magics. Because once a certain magic finds its into the metal then that’s it and the metal is attuned to that one magic for good. Unless it’s purified and that’s the hassle of reforging it.” Edward was thinking. “You guys need to go back to your respective worlds and gather enough of each of the metals for at least six keys for each of us. So a total of eighteen will be made. I’ll be in the Dragonlands setting up. Once you have the materials call me on the watch and I’ll summon you both back at the volcano.”

Alexis smirked. “When I found the Leg Parts of the Onyx Armor… within the Canterlot Mines, after I got back from meeting Yang… found a vein of Blood Gold as thick as my forearm… a good three inches thick and, I'd guess… probably a good six feet in just the area I found… so it could go who knows how deep,” she commented. “Silver and platinum are extremely good magical conductors, but they are extremely rare in Equus,” she said thoughtfully. “Perhaps we could place gemstones in the keys? Not necessarily as foci, but to tell them apart?” she said with a shy, sheepish look.

Shang chuckled. “I don't see why not, personally. And I have an ample supply of potential materials for this ‘Orichalcum’ if needed,” he said, his voice shifting to a weathered drawl with a clear Chinese-American accent, the voice of the sorcerer's elder counterpart.

“It’s a good thing that Silver and Platinum have nothing to with Orichalcum,” Edward said looking at the map. “No gems either at least not until we have the keys finished to the point they can create stable portals to at least one world.” He pulled out a few sheets of paper and listed what the others needed to get. “You’ll need ample supplies of copper, iron, nickel, gold, and zinc. If you have a special type you’d like to use, like Alexis’ Blood copper, then bring it and a back of the normal metal to just in case we can’t use the special ones you each bring.” Edward played with a lock of his hair. “Hm. I think I’ll use Rose Gold. Maybe I can my hand on some Black Silver.”

Alexis grinned. “Does Luna brush your hair? It looks a tad messy,” she teased half-jokingly.

“Look who’s talking,” Edward shot back.

“Nickel and Iron will be easy to access, whilst gold may be a bit harder. Zinc, we aren't even sure if that exists in our Equus,” Shang said in a calm, precise tone.

“Do you have batteries in your world?” Edward deadpanned.

“Which one?” both of the other Displaced commented simultaneously.

“Urah. Both of you, obviously. Zinc is common in all batteries. Hell, you wouldn’t have batteries at all without it,” Edward draw a diagram of a battery on the chalkboard. “See most common alkaline batteries rely on the reaction between zinc and manganese dioxide to derive their power. You can find the zinc in the core of these batteries, Which can be bought at any dollar store or goes station.” Edward point to the core of the diagram. “See zinc is actually a very common metal and can be found anywhere but it can’t be found in veins like copper, iron, platinum, gold, and silver.”

“So it could be found in boulders or structures similar to boulders?” Elder Shang muttered.

“I have no idea how to find zinc. And to my knowledge, as far as I know, there aren’t any ‘alkaline’ batteries in my world. I think I remember my mother mentioning something about solar panels transmuting solar energy into magical energy which is then used in common devices,” Alexis sighed, shrugging.

“Like I said Alexis, zinc is a VERY common metal. It can be found pretty much anywhere there’s rock or stone.” Edward explained as he grabbed the bridge of his nose. “The easiest place you can find zinc is in the sand of shorelines of lakes or deserts.”

Alexis nodded slightly. “So if I know of a gray sand beach that reflects the sun like a mirror, it’s likely zinc sand?” she said curiously, opening her hand to project a hologram of what appeared to be a long, broad beach of bright silvery blue sand. “It’s about a half a day’s journey south of Manehattan,” she commented.

“Well, it’s more like there’s just a lot of metals in the sand their but this could work,” Edward pointed at the picture. “Zinc only has a small percentage for the Orichalcum we want to make anyway. So it’s not like you need an extremely large amount of it.” He twirled his finger in the air. “While you guys are away I’ll be clearing out the Dragonlands and setting up an aqueduct and the volcano.”

“So… potentially leather pouches would work for transporting the metals. If necessary, I can access chests for the more ample amounts of metal,” Shang sighed, tilting his head. He exhaled softly, his hand rising before the SSoC shone a soft luminous reddish golden color as a pair of leather satchels, not quite backpacks, but larger than hip pouches, dropped from a rift in reality, the edges flickering in chaotic colors before it sealed in a ripple of luminous emerald flame a shade or two darker than that of a certain purple dragon assistant.

“Let’s see here,” Edward picked up a nearby pouch. “Hm. Iron Dust. High quality too.”

“It is from my island,” Elder Shang said regally, a small, secretive smirk crossing his face.

“I wonder?” Edward thought. “Alexis do you have something of your mother’s I could borrow?”

Alexis’ eyes narrowed. “Why?” she said warily, her tone suspicious.

“I want to see if I can trace her to your world with a sample of her energy using my Rinnegan.” Edward point to his right eye as it changed to a ripple pattern, “I can open portals across the Omniverse to a specific world, especially when I have something to look for. I can find your world by tracing your void signature but if I have another energy signature and one that’s already there it won’t take nearly as much time and energy for me to find.” Edward explained. “Once I find it then I can give you the location via Telepathic Transfer. Then you use the Aevitèrnus or Sparda can use the Yamato to cut a path there. Or I can send you back by ending the contract. Best if Sparda stays here for now though. We don’t want your mother freaking out over a demon walking around and we don’t want Sigma catching wind of anything either. Anyway, once you have the materials cut a path back or I can give you a special one-time use item.” Edward looked to Alexis with an understanding look. “I just need something she’s touched recently. Once I’ve held it long enough to get a feel of her energy signature I’ll give it right back. I swear I only have to hold it.”

Alexis blinked before blushing a bit as she pulled out a barrette. “Admittedly, in my male form… such a thing felt a bit awkward, but I think she noticed I feel… more comfortable like this,” she said shyly.

“Pretty, Mystic Fire Topaz. A very rare gem by Equestrian standards.” Edward smirked as he leaned over to look at the piece of jewelry. “One the represents your mother very well.”

Shang cocked his head, his eyes narrowing fractionally. He could feel something radiating from the fire opal, but didn't recognize the spell matrix signature. Clearly, Alexis was unaware of the magic fairly radiating from it.

Specifically, the spell matrix tracked her location as well as her health, relaying it back to whomever the spell was linked to… being a particular overprotective aunt-mother.

Edward could feel the very strong tracking spell coming from the ring. The spell was strong enough to even keep track of Alexis over the void. It also had a secondary dual recall-transport spell under the first enchantment that could transport Alexis to her mother, or bring Celestia to Alexis if the need should arise. Edward knew how Celestia thought, and she probably didn't trust Alexis’ fate to any outside protectors. He suspected it had a lot to do with he being her only family and daughter but also had a lot to do with what had happened to Sunset Shimmer.

Edward stretched out his hand. “Let me see it please.” Alexis nodded and reluctantly handed the ring over to the alchemist. “ Yes, this will make things very easy thanks to the spells on it.” As soon as he said that, Alexis’ eyes shot wide open. “ They’re simple but powerful. Exactly what I’d expect from an alternate version of Tia.” Edward winked at Alexis before his face turned serious again. “Now as soon as I look through the void and find her she’ll know that I’ve looked for the world’s path because she’ll since my presence and she’ll know it was due to the spell she placed on this or she’ll at least figure it out. But she might not. Either way, she can’t stop me. So it’ll be best if you got through the portal and explain things. Take this,” Edward flipped a coin with his face on one side and his coat sigil from his coat on the other side. “It’s a return coin Toss into the nearest pool and jumps in but just know it’s a one time use.”

Alexis sighed softly, shaking her head slightly. “Somehow, her overprotective side doesn't surprise me that much. After all, nopony is perfect. We're all fucked up in one way or another,” she sighed, catching the coin between her middle finger and forefinger.

“She is your mother and you’re also the only family she has right now,” Edward deadpanned. “Got her.” He said as he gave her back the hair piece. “How do you want to go back? End the contract or sword? Oh, forgot to give it back to you.” Edward held up his hand and the Aevitèrnus popped into it. “Catch.” He tossed the sword over to its rightful owner.

“Sword, I'm thinking. I have to master her abilities, though her ability to assimilate and redirect energy based attacks, especially demonic energy attacks, is really useful. Not to mention assimilating demonic weapons,” Alexis commented, her hand flashing up as her Devil Bringer caught the hilt, spinning it fluidly in a few rapid arcs before letting it settle, noticing the golden runes, for just an instant, were flickering a shadowy black. “I wonder if she can assimilate this ‘Void Magic’ too,” she mused. That didn't mean she'd attempt using such power.

“It’ll eat you alive Alexis,” Edward said mentally as he transferred the information to get her to her home dimension.

Alexis blinked several times as she shivered. “That feels strange, though I'm definitely going to brush up on mental defenses,” she commented as the edge of Aevitèrnus shimmered a soft sapphire as she drew upon the Yamato shard's power.

Shang blinked, noticing how the soft sapphire aura clung to her almost protectively. “Do you think her brothers can sense if she uses the talents of their bonded blades?” he commented thoughtfully.

“Most definitely,” Edward nodded. “But they shouldn’t be able to travel here unless they follow her through her portal.” He then thought of another detail. “Alexis make sure to reassure your mother that you're alright and don’t let her follow you here.”

Alexis snorted softly. “I obviously intend to do that on both counts. Besides, though she'll be tempted to follow me, I'm going to make it very clear that she’ll meet you both in due time,” she deadpanned with a smirk. “And I have a feeling she won't be alone… Father,” she deadpanned, meeting Sparda's gaze. She saw his eyes widen as he shifted his weight.

“I don’t mind if you want to bring her but ask her she’d like to come first,” Edward shrugged but the talked in a heavy tone. “Just let her know that I won't stand for any sort of violence when or if she does decide to accompany you.” He then lightened up. “Handling my nephew’s Celestia was a more than enough to let me dust off some of my real power at the time but it was still a pin when she didn’t want to stop. Claiming she had endless magic thanks to the Sun. Even I know here body would last longer than a week in a fight with me at her level.” Edward cracked his knuckles. “Alright. Remember, no hitchhikers and gather the materials as fast as you possibly can.”

“Please, don’t push your body too much. You’re still not used to your new powers and don’t rely too heavily on the Devil Trigger and definitely no alicorn magic,” Sparda stepped forward and placed his hands on his daughter’s shoulders. “I know it’s a simple job but I worry for you. I mean, I get to be your father again. So it’s kind of my job.” Sparda smiled as he pulled Alexis into a warm bear hug. “Be safe my child.”

Alexis snorted a laugh. “I intend to be. And I do intend to break Sigma’s hold on not only my mothers but Sombra as well. Though I have a sneaking suspicion the latter might have been more than willing to do so for Sigma,” she said wryly. She thought about Edward’s comment, humming softly. “So, copper, gold, brass, and zinc? The first two, I know how to get to easily, the third, I may be able to find, and the last, if I’m right, maybe at that beach,” she commented to make certain what she needed to find.

“Good Luck,” Edward gave Alexis a thumbs up.

“And be cautious,” Sparda added with a smirk.

Alexis smirked as she twisted the Aevitèrnus into a reversed grip before slashing at a sharp downward angle, a rift of glowing sapphire fire forming as she spun on the balls of her feet as she slashed upward, forming an ‘X’ shape which widened into a rift that shimmered with hints of pale blue, royal blue, deep cyan, deep amethyst, and luminous stars. Her form faded into the colors, her aura flaring a bright opalescent ruby tone before fading as the rift closed behind her.

“So, who wants to help me at the volcano?” Edward asked. “There are bound to be a few dragons in it that need to be cleared out.”

Shang shrugged. “I can access our Island from anywhere with a portal or two, and I have a suspicion that Goro may well intercede in that ‘clearing out’ with the dragons. Hopefully, none are like Onaga,” he said dryly, rolling his shoulders.

“Remember what I said before Shang. We can’t let the metal become contaminated by outside energies and magic. If we use portals then it’s become unusable when it passes through them,” Edward explained.

Various Equestrian Guards of the Solar Diarch tensed as a sudden pair of rifts opened before widening, Princess Celestia tensing as her son had been missing for just under sixty hours, two and a half days. The Solar Diarch gasped as a form resolved within the gateway before stepping out, revealing a silvery-haired young woman as the rift closed behind her. The bodysuit, she recognized immediately as she gasped.

“Alexis!! Where have you been?” she said with a hint of sternness and worry.

“Got summoned by another Displaced. Been training to get stronger… much stronger,” Alexis said with a smirk.

“What have you been doing and … What is that in your hand?” Celestia pointed to the Aevitèrnus with a little twinge of fear in her voice. “That’s a demon blade. Why do you have it? Does this have something to do with that powerful presence I felt looking at me a few moments ago?”

“This is my personal blade the Aevitèrnus, it is both a seal and key to a major part of my powers,” Alexis explained a bit with a bit of a nervous chuckle before she looked her mother dead center in the eyes. “I’ve actually found out a lot of things and uncovered a lot of truths, but I don’t really have the time to go into detail right now. If you want to come with me then I can give you a summary as we go along the way.”

Lieutenant Shining Armor blinked where he stood a few yards away. “Doesn't that word mean ‘Imperishable’ in Old Equish?” he questioned.

Alexis cocked her head curiously. “It means that in an old language…” she started.

“Called Latin… as well,” a calm, controlled voice finished, the cloaked stranger holding something that barely peeked from beneath the dark blue cloak. Dark blue eyes surveyed the young woman before him.

Alexis did notice that the guards tensed at the stranger's appearance before she snorted, rolling her eyes. “So we meet again, Vergil… or should I say… tuakana?” she quipped, using the Maori term for ‘older brother’, where ‘teina iti’ would have been the term for her.

“So this is what he looked like when he gave you the biometals?” came a tiny voice. Suddenly silver dust came from Alexis and started to cluster together. The dust shifted into a form that Alexis knew very well. There was a quick pop and then Mini-Ed was sitting on Alexis’ shoulder. “Ed sent me along since you’ll need his knowledge.”

“Alexis what is that sitting on your shoulder and how do you know the person in the cloak?” Celestia said in shock as her vision went back and forth between the two newcomers.

Alexis rolled her eyes as she clasped her hands for a moment, discreetly releasing her gravity seals. “Pretty much. Essentially, I said that I didn't remember anything of my past, which at the time of you adopting me was true… though I have to wonder if my brother knew that would happen… that I would lose almost all of my memories,” she said to Mini-Ed, turning her head. The soft clinking sound told her, that if her guess was right, Vergil's grip had tightened upon the Yamato although from what she saw, he didn't seem to react at all. “But those parts I said I had to find… I've found two of them; with them… regained some of my memories… but at the same time… the ones I have regained make me question if I shouldn't leave the rest buried,” she said softly.

Celestia frowned slightly at that. “Is it connected to why you haven't been sleeping well?” she said, the flinch from Alexis giving away that detail was part of it. Clearly, she had hoped her adoptive mother slash aunt by blood hadn't noticed that.

“It’s okay Alexis,” The chibi alchemist told as he placed a hand on her cheek. “She needs to know. She is your family and she loves you very much. I can tell just from seeing her reaction to all of this.” He stood up and then began to float. “As for what I am your highness, I am the independent manifest of nanomachines created by the alchemist that summoned Alexis. He is also the one that you sensed earlier.” The Mini said with a bow to the Solar Princess before returning to his spot on Alexis shoulder.

The Solar Diarch cocked her head, clearly waiting. “So why haven't you been sleeping well?” she said after a moment.

A snort came from the cloaked Vergil. “Here I thought Dante was the bluntest person ever,” his dry tone was quite sarcastic.

“Says the guy who tries to be as subtle as a silent but deadly fart in an enclosed room? Simply put… it was a nightmare… a recurring… I can't call it a nightmare… although that's the form it took,” Alexis said dryly to Vergil before shifting her attention back to the Solar Diarch.

“Why can't you call it a nightmare? Clearly..” Celestia started before she noticed Alexis looking away.

“Because it wasn't a nightmare… but a memory… one I worked for nearly two years to get rid of… almost the entire time…” Alexis said, her voice choked with emotional agony and pain which made her adoptive mother’s eyes widen.

“Easy Alexis, remember who you are and that they weren’t really your family,” Mini-Ed said in a calming tone. “They were demons using and torturing you for their own sick pleasures. Then they were Shadow Fragments trying to corrupt you. You beat them.”

“Not really… I never saw them after that night and waking in the hospital… but the Shadow Fragments… I just scared the ever-lovin’ shit outta them,” Alexis admitted. To her, at that time, escaping had been the priority. Now, however, she wanted to ensure they couldn't do to another what she'd endured.

“Speaking of demon,” Mini-Ed looked to the cloaked older brother. “I’m guessing you finally showed yourself because; One. You sensed her sword when she returned here. And Two. You sensed she awoke her dormant abilities she’d inherited from her mothers and your father.” At the mention of these detail both the cloaked man, aka big brother, and Celestia attention were full on the young woman and the miniature on her shoulder. “Hate to cut this short but we really don’t have time to sit around here and explain.” Mini-Ed’s tone got serious. “We need to get moving Alexis. Ed and the others have started to set things up back home. The at the volcano making the necessary preparations now.”

“Right. It's a very good thing I already know where I need to go,” Alexis nodded fractionally as she exhaled softly as the gemstone flickered upon her forehead before she vanished in a gust of deep amethyst smoke. “Guess I know now why I stashed satchels around just in case,” she mused, grabbing the satchels as she caught the hilt of Stonekong's blade where it was embedded in the wall and swung off, sliding down the wall before spotting the thick vein of Blood Gold, a muted reddish copper ore she suspected could have some ruby embedded or fused into the copper. “This is first, and I found veins of bronze nearby as well as gold. Luckily I found that I have a scanner that will make sure whatever sand we acquire is as much purely zinc as possible,” she said softly, slicing a chunk that was a good eight inches in height and around four and a half inches in width. To her mild surprise, it was a good two inches in diameter. She quickly stored that in the satchel and quickly acquired the gold and bronze, storing that in the other satchel. She used a couple of belt pouches to quickly store the zinc sand, which she found was roughly 87% pure zinc.

“I’m picking up a large demonic power quickly approaching from above,” Mini-Ed looked up from his spot on Alexis’ shoulder. “Alicorn magical power is flowing through it. My guess is it’s Vergil and Celestia coming for you.”

“Then it's a good thing that I'm relying more on my natural strength than magical strength, isn't it?” she quipped with a giggle.

“Just an FYI too. My code and nanomachines have been spliced into yours. It’s the only way I could exist here without being in the vicinity of Edward.” The chibi chuckled as he explained. “In other words, you’re stuck with me now. The downside is I have none of his powers or abilities. I can only replicate myself if I have enough material to do so, but if my body is destroyed I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Hmmm, so I kinda have a more permanent link to him through you, eh? I don't mind that. And I know you kinda have his thought patterns, thus, I know you wouldn't think of any embarrassing or dirty jokes at my expense, eh?” she quipped, smirking slightly.

“Only if you permit me to. My parameters only go as far as you’ll allow me to,” Mini-Ed placed his hands behind his head. “Once I’ve had enough time with you I may be able to attain more of an independent other than just the small chibi on your shoulder.” He smirked. “Dirty jokes were never Ed’s forte either but he was a pervert when it came to certain things when he was younger. Safe to say it was well before Luna and Celestia's time with him.” He snickered at this thought.

“Everyone has a perverted streak, in my experience… it's just a matter of finding it. Why do you think that Dante tried to pick up on anything female? Though between you and me, if he tries that with me, I'll do the same as the last time I saw him,” Alexis quipped.

“Demon and Alicorn auras detected. Eta to convergence is two minutes.” Mini-Ed’s said as his eyes lit up in an emerald green. “We need to move now if we want to stay ahead of your mother and older brother.”He held his hand up to the side of his face. “Incoming message from Ed’s team.’ We’re finished in the Dragonlands back home. Ready when you are. Use the coin and you’ll return to the chamber where we’ll be waiting’. Sounds like everything’s done on their end.”

Alexis smirked, crouching as she glanced skyward. “Hold onto your thongs,” she quipped before she pushed off hard as she deactivated her hover boots to glide over the ground. “I’ve got a return message for ‘em. ‘Got the supplies. Suspect my ‘Mother’ is looking for a certain Red Blade. Met Vergil, too’. Clear enough?” she said with amusement before she heard the roaring of a motorcycle. She glanced over her shoulder before smirking, seeing both long blonde hair and short, messy silver hair.

“Message sent,” the little alchemist confirmed. “Ed says bring them on. Oh my. He’s going to trap them in Black Silver chains.”

“I assume that the silver thing isn't just for werewolves, but TTGBITN in general?” Alexis deadpanned.

“Black silver cancels out the flow of any incoming or outgoing mana, energy, and aura,” Mini-Ed explained. “It’s the perfect trap for an alicorn like Celestia. Vergil, I don’t know what’ll happen. Ed will probably have something else in place along with the chains.”

“I have an idea in mind for that… something that should humble him a bit to boot… now, let's get their attention,” Alexis said with a smirk as she twisted, not slowing down as she stuck her tongue out at Dante and smirked at Trish before she twisted and pushed off, her wings surging out and flapping hard, a sudden gust of air launching her like a bullet skyward before she spotted her mother. Her eyes widened at the sight of the form Vergil had taken.

Alexis whistled softly, lightly dragging the nails of her Devil Bringer along Vergil's back, giggling as he flipped, barrel rolling but barely missing her as she saw him shiver. “Who knew you were ticklish?” she laughed as she tapped her ‘Mother’ on the horn, startling the Diarch. “Tag, you're it,” she chuckled. She saw Celestia grin before double-taking, her eyes widening at the second set of wings as she paused to hover. “Ready to meet Eddie?” she said with a smirk.

“Everything is ready. When you go through the portal immediately drop down so you won’t be caught in the chain but make it look like you’re flying full speed. I’ll retreat inside your body for the time being,” Mini-Ed turn into dust and went back into Alexis’ body.

Alexis nodded fractionally as she pulled out the portal coin. “Let’s Wronski Feint this bitch,” she whispered, knowing neither Vergil nor her adoptive mother would get the reference. She noticed a flare of reddish-orange light before something shot their direction as she spun, flicking the coin outward as she spotted Dante’s Sin Devil Trigger Form flying their way before the coin widened into a swirling vortex of light that formed into a tube. She turned and shot into the portal, the Scan Lenses forming over her eyes to block the bright light. She sensed rather than saw the demonic twins, her older brothers, as well as her adoptive mother following.

Alexis shot out of the spiraling vortex ten feet off the ground and pulled up with a little over a foot to spare, her armored boots and hover jets letting her skid and slide to a stop, steam rising from the speed of her travel along the ground. She heard curses and dull thuds before she smirked, fairly sure what had happened. She turned to see Dante on top of Vergil, sapphire tinted ash and embers rising as they both dismissed their demonic forms. “Damn, boys, nice to see you so close to one another,” she drawled with a smirk, letting her wings fold down over her shoulders before fading into their tattoo forms. She snorted, trying hard not to laugh as both her brothers leaped up as if they’d been burned, leaping apart and pointedly not looking at one another.

“These are your idiot brothers? They feel strong but look like idiots,” Lucario commented, crossing his arms over his chest. His partner snickered, amused.

Shang cocked an eyebrow at the trio, his eyes rising to Celestia, who hung from one hoof, looking both embarrassed and a bit annoyed with a triple braided loop of darkened silver that looked like it’d been dipped in oil holding her up from a trio of thin lines held up by crimson glints of light. “Pretty obvious you didn’t know about that, kid, did you?” he drawled. He saw Alexis look up at her ‘mother’ before blinking with a confused look on her face.

“What the Hell Man?!” Dante retorted. “I sense you show upon finally awoken and then I see princess here and Vergil chasing you down. Now you put me in chains for trying to talk. Kinky, but not my style.”

“Alexis, release me now,” Celestia demanded. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

“There’s one problem… I haven’t done anything to ya… besides, I don’t even know what that is,” Alexis said honestly. “Though… as to what I was doing….”

“I merely wanted an explanation as well but you shot off like Dante when he finds a reason to ditch something for a job or to make money,” Vergil calmly remarked causing Dante to roll his eyes at his brother. “We must return home.”

“No one goes anywhere unless I say so,” Edward voice echo from everywhere as he stepped out from the shadows.

“Very dramatic,” Dante smirked. “I think I’m gonna like this guy.”

“Shut up, smartass,” Edward shot a death glare at the Demonslayer before he turned his attention to the others.” I knew once Alexis stepped back into her home reality, you’d sense her changes, which is why I gave her the portal coin to make a quick getaway. While I also thought she might want to bring her mother along, too. First off,” Edward cleared his throat. “Hello, my name is Edward Elric and this is my reality of Equus. I’m a Displaced very much like Alexis, in short, I was once a normal human from an Earth somewhere in the known omniverse. Now I live here.”

“Oh, and we do have a surprise for you, Dante, Vergil… something you won’t ever guess,” Alexis sing-songed, giggling.

“You were the one watching me,” Celestia said, the statement obvious in her voice.

Dante looked at Edward with a bit of weirdness in his eyes as he motioned his eyebrow up and down. Vergil only cocked one eyebrow up in confusion a the Solar Princess’s Statement.

“As to what we are doing… we’re linking worlds,” Alexis said with a flourish, smirking as she deposited the belt pouches and the satchels of metal, the belt pouches rasping softly while the satchels clunked audibly. “Suffice to say, the changes… have to do with what I was born as… though I was raised, human… I found out that I’m not human… though the reason I look human, I’m pretty certain… is my father’s bloodline,” she said nonchalantly. She saw Dante’s eyes narrow while Vergil snorted a bit.

“We know there are more demons here,” Dante said with an exhale. “So if you want revenge on us you might as well come out.”

“About that,” Edward crossed his arms. “You're looking at one right now.” He smirked at the twins while they looked on in disbelief. “Hey, believe me or not. I just now that I can kick both your asses any day of the week up and down the street till Monday morning. As for the other Demon.” I microphone popped into Edward’s hand while the room went dark and then a spotlight showed on the alchemist. “Now put your hands together. He fought Mundus and sealed him away. He’s the father of the half-demons here tonight.” Dante and Vergil eyes were wide open as more spotlights were dancing around the room before coming to rest on a tall silver-haired man. “The Dark Knight himself, SPARDA!” Edward finished as the light came back on. “He is your father, you two. His soul was bound here looking after Alexis. I simply use my alchemy and magic to clone him a body based off of Alexis’ DNA. I filled in the rest with some other demons and then used my magic to place the soul in the cloned body.”

Alexis snickered, managing to snap a picture of their shocked faces for amusement value later. “I’m pretty sure what happened was that he partially bonded his soul to my blade so he wouldn’t potentially end up a Devil Arm for someone else which made his soul inaccessible for that,” she said with amusement. “Sheesh, dude… and you claim you have no sense of humor… much like Ninja Smurf over there. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that was almost Discord levels of humor… cheesy, twisted, corny,” she quipped, smirking. She heard Dante snort a laugh at the nickname for Vergil.

“Hey, gotta get my licks in when I can,” Edward snickered. “Not every day you get to roast Dante and Vergil. Anyway. It’s up to you now. Want to let them down?”

“Let them down how? Preferably not on their heads, they lack common sense already,” Alexis quipped, smirking at the deadpan humor. “Though as for my mother… I doubt she’ll be like that Celestia whom you had to fight before…” she sighed. “I hope I can fight Berial again at some point… I suspect he’ll remember me, even if I didn’t kick his ass… because, no doubt, he’ll have more than a few scars from me,” she said with a smirk.

“I fought with her as payment for materials I needed when I making a body for my niece,” Edward brushed off the comment saw Celestia shudder a bit at it. “She was in solar form. It was actually really fun.”

“You fought Berial?” Sparda said with mild surprise.

“Not quite like Trigger Happy over there, but I have little doubt he will remember me, as I didn’t go ranged on him… but blade to blade,” Alexis said with a shrug, noticing Dante smirking. “The fight forced my own Devil Trigger to awaken… I might have lost control a bit, though,” she admitted sheepishly.

“I bet she’s stronger than you two,” Edward pointed at the brothers as he leaned against the wall. “Also, she didn’t mention that I ramped up Berial’s power to match your Sin forms,” Edward added as the brothers looked to one another.

Alexis saw both brothers trade startled looks. “He was damn tough… I can say that much,” she said wryly.

“I doubt she could handle both of you at the same time though. She’s strong but raw and emotional,” Edward added as he looked to Celestia who had gotten to her feet. “You should know we also figured out a lot about your daughter’s past as well.”

“Please, tell me what it is you found out, Alexis. You called those two over there your brothers.” Celestia worriedly looked at Dante and Vergil. “ Does that mean, you’re... part demon too?” She said in shock. “And You,” She raised her hoof to Edward. “What are you? I’ve never known of any being that is or was able to look through dimensions as you did. You’re not normal, even for someone known as a Displaced. Also, where are we? It feels familiar,” she commented cautiously.

“I just have that ability, your highness, ”Edward smirked with a bow. “I’m pretty sure that there are more with similar or the same power out in the omniverse that have as much great understanding and control over the power than me. My master is an example. As for what I am, I’m mean things,” He said cryptically. “It feels familiar because we’re technically in Canterlot Castle. We’re just in my lab underneath the main structure.” He looked to Celestia in a serious manner. “My timeline is ahead of yours, so if you want to talk with Luna you can, but here, Nightmare Moon wasn’t your sister. She was born from Luna’s hatred, jealousy, and above all else loneliness from not being understood by you and her thinking her subjects didn’t appreciate her night. Here, it was also my fault for not being able to be there for her.”

Celestia’s eyes began to tear up from what the alchemist had just told her and the fact that she’d be able to see her one of her sisters again.

“You should know that the ponies here aren’t like you,” Edward explained. “The look like humans but with horns, wings, and tails. Another thing is that Luna is about five months pregnant with our twins.” Edward went over to the nearest open area and made a few chairs for everyone to sit and a pillow for Celestia to lay on. “First things first, Alexis you need to explain what’s happened over the last week you’ve been here.” He then pulled out a book and began reading and Alexis looked at him unsure of his time frame. “Yes, outside the chamber it’s been at least five days inside it’s been about two to two and a half weeks.”

Alexis sighed softly. “Essentially, I've been training to get stronger to save Luna and Nightmare. Though, doing so meant I had to confront things about myself which weren’t easy for me, such as facing the fact that, though I was born looking human… my true nature is not human at all… well… I suppose you could say that I'm a half-demon from my father's bloodline… a third Alicorn from both Luna and Nightmare… and the rest is human. As a result, physically speaking, I won't have a horn or.. horns... unless I let my Devil Trigger go active or if I were to gain a Sin Devil form like those idiots. But I do have Dream Magic, though I'm more of a novice with that than Eddie is with a stand-up comedy routine,” she deadpanned, poking fun at the alchemist's dry sense of humor.

Sparda smirked at that joke.

“You won’t gain a Sin Form unless you merge with some type of highly powerful Devil Arm like Dante did with the Sparda or use some sort of forbidden fruit as Vergil had done with the fruit of the Qliphoth,” Edward explained causing Sparda to look toward Vergil in disappointment. “And I don’t see why you’d need it right now anyway. Like I’d said before, you’re already stronger than numb nuts one and numbnuts two over there.” He looks to Alexis. “Alright then, We have what we need and everything is set up at the volcano. You ready to head out?”

“Doesn’t mean I won’t run across a strong Devil Arm at some point. Unlikely, it’ll be the Sparda if Dante-baka merged with it, but that one I sensed when fighting Berial… something about it felt almost familiar, like something I remember, yet… can’t quite remember,” thought Alexis as she shrugged. “I guess, though if our theory about Sigma is true, there's no telling how strong he's gotten. I mean, feeding off two Alicorns and, potentially, whatever Sombra is… for possibly as long as a thousand years? Never hurts to have an ace up your sleeve… or four aces,” she deadpanned. “What was in that other pack, anyway?” she deadpanned.

“Quartz and diamond dust,” Elder Shang spoke. “Diamond blended with gold and copper not only strengthens the resulting compound but makes it to where it will hold a strong magical charge if necessary, such as, a recall spell if it were, for some reason misplaced or stolen, though I doubt that would be likely on any of our accounts,” he continued. “Binding the first keys to our own use with Blood Runes would make them useless to all but us even if they were stolen,” he finished.

Alexis noticed the suspicious look her mother was shooting Shang. “Different world, different rules, mother,” she said softly but firmly. She saw her adoptive mother's gaze darted to her.

“I won’t put up with your intolerance for Dark or Shadow Magic here Celestia,” Edward looked up from his by slightly to the pony princess. “A heads up. My world allows and even encourages the use of Dark and Shadow magic.” He paused a second and turned a page in his book. “However, we do not allow the use of Black magic such as Necromancy, even though I can use it,” Edward turned another page before looking up to Shang while he noticed Sparda heavily scolding Vergil. “I’m planning to tie my key to me is through Void energy manipulations.”

“Shadow Magic both myself and Alexis can use, though I don't tolerate such magicks as Flesh Magic, Sin Magic drawing upon those Chaotic Sins, or most forms of Blood Magic,” Celestia said regally, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

“I do not care what you allow,” Edward looked up from his book. “Here your choices don’t mean jack shit to me. This is my world and my Kingdom. I may not to much stock in my title as the prince, but I won’t let somepony else put their two cents in.” He closed his book with a snap and stood up and looked Celestia dead in the eyes. “You have no pull whatsoever and I will do what I have to in order to protect my family, friends, and subjects from any force I deem threatening to them. You will follow my rules while you're here. Am I clear, Princess?”

Alexis blinked cocking an eyebrow. She saw her adoptive mother roll her eyes.

“I have no intention of threatening anypony in any way, shape or form unless I am threatened first,” she said firmly.

“Good,” Edward smirked. “My land is peaceful right now and I want to keep it that way.” Edward opened his book back up. “Not that you’re a threat anyways. Spike could kick your ass up and down the street with one arm tied behind his back.”

“You mentioned something called the Qliphoth. What exactly is that?” Alexis said carefully.

“The Qliphoth is an ancient tree that has existed before the birth of the Underworld, and when sufficiently nourished, it grows a fruit that imbues any demon that consumes it with an extreme of demonic power. Only one fruit can grow every few thousand years,” Edward explained in a dark monotone voice. “Its roots grow up from the Demon realm into the Mortal world so therefore it is an interdimensional existence but most of all is it requires on open Hell Gate in order to grow,” Edward paused for a minute looking Vergil in disgust before continuing. “Like any carnivorous plant, the Qliphoth, well usually find nourishment for itself in living beings. Though it only finds that nourishment in the blood of mortals and living beings except demons and I mean it takes giga-tons of blood to create just one fruit. Then you have ant-like demons that live off the plant and will bring living creates to the roots to feed the tree.”

“The Empusa demons… yeah… already saw those… ugly bastards,” Alexis said with a shiver.

“Alexis! Language!” Celestia admonished.

Alexis shrugged. “Don't tell me you wouldn't say the same, Momma,” she deadpanned, projecting an image of said demon as she spoke.

“That's the Queen Empusa,” Vergil said dryly.

“You would know all about them,” Edward said giving Vergil a dirty look. “Before we leave for the volcano.” He held up his hand and a red spell matrix appeared in front of his palm, Soon red spell circles moved up and down everyone in the room. “There you go. Now everyone can freely walk around inside or outside without getting burned, Just don’t touch the lava.”

Alexis snorted, struck by a very stupid pun.

“You’re coming too, Celestia,” Edward pointed to the pony. “I don’t allow anyone to remain in my lab that I don’t know.” Edward then teleported everyone and the raw materials for the Orichalcum to the foundry that had been built in the heart of to volcano. There was a massive hollowed out stone block in the center, the smelter. One side had a hole with a pouring shoot on it that was being held up, so the heated liquid metal already in the smelter didn’t come out. The room was light by a massive pool of lava that was in the center of the room that was being you to liquify the metals in the smelter while also keeping the container warm. On the far side of the room, there was a large tank of seawater the fed into the cavern directly from the ocean by pipes with a hand-pump system on it to flush in fresh cold water in a manner of seconds. “Told ya we had it done. All natural and no magic. We should have the Orichalcum mixed up in no time at all.” Edward smirked as he looked at the foundry that the group had built in the heart of the volcano. There was a small area with an anvil, various hammers, and other odd tools. “The forge is for the keys is what that place is for.” Edward pointed to the area with the anvil. “Once we’re done here I plan on moving this setup to the Time Chamber. It'd be a waste to destroy such a beautiful arrangement. The volcano will be left intact of course.”

“It'll give us a way to ‘beat out’ any frustrations, no dirty joke intended,” Alexis quipped. “Sorry… a side effect of that Biometal Armor Y is a tendency to make ridiculously bad puns… but you can't say that humor isn't a weapon in itself,” she sighed.

“It’s fine, Alexis. We all have a dirty side and bad jokes,” Edward smirked at the young woman as she blushed. “Intended or not, some things need to be said out loud. Now,” Edward clapped and rubbed his hands together. “Goro, you work the bellows for the smelter to keep it hot. They’re on the other side of the smelter. Shang and Alexis, you two will put the ingredients in the pot as needed. Sparda, Dante, and Vergil, you three will be managing the pour spout. Celestia, you can take care of making sure we have plenty of cool seawater in the tank. Simply pull the chains on either side of the tank to drain and then refill it. Left to drain and right to fill.”

“And what are going to do? Other than bark orders at us,” Celestia snapped at the alchemist.

Suddenly two giant silver fiery skeletal arms and ribcage from around Edward.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” Celestia shouted in horror and shock.

“Mother!” Alexis scolded her mother but internally she was saying ‘Told you so.’

“Sweet. Those look like they come in pretty handy,” Dante smirked at his own joke.

“Your sense of humor never changes,” Vergil scoffed.

The arms reached around and grabbed a few of the bags of materials and lifted them into the box-shaped smelter, dropping them in a bag at a time. After he was done with dropping in the first batch of materials Edward used the arms to reach into the ceiling and bring out a long metal pole. He then jumped up to the box as the arms and ribs faded away. Edward used the pole to start to stir the solid materials he’d dropped in into the molten metal already in the smelter.

“I’m head chef, princess. Basically, I’m the one that does the cooking here. Shang is the only other being here with knowledge of Orichalcum and it’s properties so that makes him Vice Head chef,” Edward stirred the molten materials. “The rest of you are the cooks and just need to listen on what needs to be done. I’m sorry if I sound like a total ass but just deal for now.”

“Meh, I wouldn’t worry too much about that, Gordon,” Alexis quipped. “At least we’re working with something that’s most definitely inedible… for the moment,” she deadpanned, holding the satchel of iron dust and diamond-quartz dust in each hand, ready to pour them as needed. She would have dumped the metal out into the foundry rather than drop the bags, though clearly the bags were completely incinerated with no residue remaining. She could hear the low whuff-whuff-whuff of the bellows being worked, forcing air into the foundry to keep it hot. She smirked as she rolled her shoulders. “Heard you had a baby boy, V…” she quipped, gaining an annoyed look from Vergil.

“Yeah, then you cut off his arm for more power and get your sword back, “ Edward added. “Look at how well it all turned out. Was it all worth it in the end, kid? You couldn’t even beat your own son, whose power you stole by the way, at the end of the day,” Edward chuckled. “Next bag. Make it gold.”

Shang poured the gold chunks, which were no larger than a baby’s fist, into the foundry.

“Technically, I pulled his arm off, not cut it off, and I needed his power to get the Yamato back from that damned….” Vergil muttered before he cut himself off, clearly embarrassed by what happened. It had been a demon with peculiar shadow abilities that had been able to ‘shadow walk’ at will.

“Why not finish enlightening us Vergil?” Mini-Ed appeared in front of the older of the twins. “I’m sure everyone here would like to hear from your own lip. Especially your father,” He pointed to the older demon as he moved to his spot on Alexis’ right shoulder that he’d taken earlier in her world.

“Yes, do tell, my boy. Apparently, I’ve been out of the loop for some time; to the point that you have made several bad decisions,” Sparda giving Vergil the disappointment glare.

Alexis smirked slightly. “Seems to me he isn’t too big for a spanking,” she whispered to her father, smirking.

“It was a demon I have never encountered before. I had lost the Yamato and this demon… could manipulate shadows like an extension of himself. His horns were tipped with blood red and his irises were a dark…. Bloody red,” Vergil said in a low voice.

Alexis noticed her adoptive mother staring at Vergil’s back, eyes wide and unless she was mistaken, haunted. Her gaze flicked to Edward. ‘Sombra?’ she mouthed.

“Couldn’t be anyone else,” Edward said still stirring the molten metal. “Shang, Alexis, time to add in that quartz-diamond dust.” the alchemist called out as he wove a few hands signs creating a shadow clone to stir as he joined the others at the pour spout in order to give them a few pointers on their task when it was time to perform it. “He’s the only one I can think that would match Virgil's description. Of course, this is going off my memories I have left from my time back home as I’ve never met the guy here. He’d look incredibly different here anyhow.” Edward leaned against the foundry putting his hands behind his head as he looked upwards. “Still not many demons have the power over shadows and blood colored irises and horns.”

Alexis’ eyes narrowed as she poured in the crystalline white dust in steadily.

Shang smirked. “The girl has a remarkable natural talent in metalwork. I must admit I am curious how she would do when given free rein and unlimited resources,” his Elder counterpart murmured thoughtfully.

“So, it’s possible that what Vergil went through… setting up the Qliphoth… splitting himself into the pure human, pure demon halves… all that… could have been set up by a certain asshole Shadow Fragment who’s been fucking with all our lives?” Alexis said dryly, her voice gaining a raspy growl near the end that sounded almost vulpine in nature. She didn’t notice that Sparda blinked, staring at her with surprise on his face as there was a group of demons… that were infamous… known as stories or myths even to devils and demons as they hadn’t been seen in nearly six millennia… the Bijū.

“Calm down Alexis,” Mini-Ed said as he patted the back of her head. “Looks like Zero’s influence is getting the better of you. Sit down with your mother for a bit.”

“Yea, take a break for a bit. We have all the materials in the smelter now,” Edward said as he jumped back up top the foundry and took back over the stirring. “Besides, I don’t need Kurama loose here.”

Alexis blinked, cocking her head in confusion. “Kurama? Who's that?” she said blankly.

“The Nine-tailed fox sealed inside Zero and you. If you concentrate hard enough you’ll meet him through meditation sessions,” Edward explained as he stirred the molten metal. “He’s basically a mass of sentient power. But he does have feelings so don’t piss him off or I’ll have to seal his power back inside Zero and you. Not fun for anybody but me.”

Alexis blinked once, then twice before facepalming. “Why does that not surprise me? Ugh… that explains why Zero's immune to it… because it isn't a virus but can react like one,” she muttered.

“Hmm? What are you talking about?” Mini-Ed asked tilting his head slightly.

“The so-called ‘Nightmare Virus’ or 'Zero Virus’ that infected and subsequently corrupted Sigma was never a virus at all... but this Kurama's energy…” Alexis said quietly.

“Youki is what Kurama's energy is,” Zero said quietly.

“You’re a fool if you think it was only energy that corrupted Sigma,” Edward said as he leaned on the stirring pole. “Think about it. It just wasn't the energy itself but the years of rage, hatred and every other negative emotion the fox held on to from being treated like a monster instead of an intelligent being. And Kurama’s energy is called chakra, not Youki. The Youki are the creatures that are born from being infused with the negatively affected chakra.” He pulled the pole from the foundry and jumped down. “Let’s bring those key molds over to the pour spout so we can start casting the keys.”

Alexis grunted softly, lifting the heavy molds with one under each arm, not even thinking about it as they were pretty heavy, but infusing her muscles with Earth Pony magic and strength made moving them fairly easy.

Celestia smiled fondly, sensing the way Alexis was using her magic. She tilted her head at the red-clad swordsman, curious who he was.

“If you really want to know then you should ask your question,” Mini-Ed landed on top of the pony princess’s head. “That’s what Starswirl once said to Tia before he disappeared.”

Princess Celestia tore her gaze from the unusual swordsman. “It is not my business to pry,” she said softly, her tone reluctant.

“You seem to be drawn to him, princess,” Mini-Ed mentioned as he slid down Celestia's neck to her back. “You should ask him. He would be more than willing to share some of his past with you. Just know that he does have many things that we’ll keep to himself, but he’s actually a very friendly guy. He wasn’t treated the best because of Kurama but he still chose to rise above the spite. Talk to him. It’ll you some good too.” He then moved back over to Alexis but took a spot on her head this time.

Everyone was busy placing the key molds in place in front of the pour spout of the smelter. Edward made sure that of the molds were all in place and interlocked with one another so the molten Orichalcum would flow through them as seamlessly as possible into each of them. There was a total of eighteen molds as Edward had specified. Only three of the keys were going to be linked to the three worlds at the current time. Edward planned on splitting the other fifteen in between himself, Alexis, and Shang while still leaving them blank in case the came across another Equus they like and where the Displaced would allow them to come and go as they pleased or otherwise. This is why Edward wanted Black Silver. The Black Silver was to make boxes to store the keys in so they’d be protected from outside energies and magic or anything else that would affect the Orichalcum. Edward directed Sparda, Vergil, and Dante on how to use the pour spout as the bright yellow, almost white, liquid metal flowed from the smelter down the flow as it poured into the molds. The molten metal filled all eighteen key molds very quickly. Everyone stared at the keys they’d all had a hand in making with satisfied smiles.

“It’s gonna take a while for the metal to cool down enough for it to harden into a solid state where we can dunk it in the sea water.,” Edward explained stretching a bit. “Why don’t we take a break and head back to the chamber. I need to make some more clones for late duties and it’ll so be time to set the sun and raise the moon. Tia wants to do it today, but I still have things that need tending to, and I need to check on Luna.” As he said this last part Celestia’s head turned to him wondering what he meant and also wanting to help so she could meet this Luna.

Everyone but the Displaced landed on their faces, this time when Edward teleported them back into his lab. He took a quick headcount to make sure that everyone was there. He added up one Shokan, three demons, three Displaced, one chibi, one pokemon, and lastly one alicorn princess. As everyone got to their feet Edward went behind his blind and changed into a navy blue sleeveless shirt black denim pants and a pair of slip-on tennis shoes. He then let his hair out of its usual braid but tied it back up into a ponytail that hung just above his shoulders.

“Okay here’s the deal.” Edward pointed a finger at his guest. “You have free rain over the time chamber, but not my lab. I have a lot of research and experiments in here that can not be touched.” Dante raised a hand and Edward looked at him. “You aren’t allowed outside because your void energies will corrupt my world. And I don’t want to deal with a mess right now. Now then, Alexis and Celestia, please follow me.” Edward gestured to the lab doors.

Alexis glanced at her adoptive mother slash aunt by blood. She shrugged.

“I noticed that you're instinctively tapping into each aspect of your Alicorn nature, Earth Pony strength, and durability, as well as your growing skill with your Unicorn magic. Your Pegasus flight is… very impressive. You said something about a ‘Wronski Feint’?” Princess Celestia murmured, amused as her niece's cheeks darkened.

“Ah… yeah… I guess you could call it a move in aerial tag…” Alexis said shyly. She wasn't going to mention she couldn't remember where it had come from, though.

“Hnhnhn. Ya know, it’s adorable when you’re embarrassed like that,” Edward chuckled motioning to Alexis as he led the two out of the lab and up a flight of stairs into the main palace passing several golden armored guards and dark metallic blue armored guards along the way.

“Where exactly are you taking us, Edward?” Celestia asked curiously as she looked around here and there while occasionally glancing at the passing guard only to get the usual forward facing monotonous stare from each one she saw. Now that she was on the receiving end of the stares in a different land she found them quite creepy. “I recognize some of this place as Canterlot Castle but the layout is still quite different from the one back home.” Celestia still looking around as she and Alexis tried to keep pace with the alchemist.

“Just keep following me. The Castle is always changing thanks to me,” Edward said as he waves a hand in the air. “I have to either repair a wall or put in a new wing or room every other day or so. Polearm brings Nyx up here for alchemy lessons every few days, and if I’m not there something usually goes boom,” He huffed. “Poor thing, she has an innate talent for alchemagic, much like her mother, but she can’t control it and it’s worse because she’s an alicorn.”

Alexis snorted softly. “I hope she never stumbles across lighting a fart if that’s her ‘average’ magic. Though knowing Discord, I wouldn't be shocked if he's subtly mentioned it when Nyx's mother's back was turned,” she deadpanned, hovering slightly over the stairs as she moved.

Princess Celestia cocked an eyebrow before the corners of her mouth curled upward slightly. “So this… Nyx…” she started.

“Think of it like our Nightmare, but as a foal,” Alexis deadpanned, rolling her shoulders.

“Let me explain a bit. Nightmare Moon in most continuities of reality is Luna who was taken over or transformed in some way usually by her own jealousy, hatred, and other various negativities toward Celestia when she thought her night went unnoticed and unappreciated,” Edward explained with a saddened tone while biting on his lip. “Anywho, in some realities there comes into being the alicorn filly known as Nyx. She is usually the result of a ritual going unfinished due to it be interrupted from an outside force. The goal of said ritual is to reconstitute Nightmare Moon back into a singular form without Luna being apart of her but with the ritual being incompleted she only partially forms. Usually, Twilight’s blood along with whatever remnants of Nightmare’s armor and or clothing from her confrontation with Twilight and the other Elements are the main catalyst for the ritual and later when Nyx is born its Twilight that finds her and raises Nyx as her daughter.” Edward sighed a bit. “Nyx was born into this world this way but instead of her being raised by just Twilight, she’s also being raised by my personal assistant/apprentice Polearm. He’s also Twilight's coltfriend, which is why Nyx’s calls him daddy. If you want to meet her we can go to Ponyville after while or they might come here today. Polearm should be off until dusk and Nyx’s will be out of school in a few hours. The keys won’t be ready till nightfall anyways.”

Celestia frowned. That was troubling information.

“Nyx is a very good girl, Celestia. Seeing as how she has none of the negativeness of that the original Nightmare Moon was born from. She’s taken quite a shine to Alexis to,” Edward smiled as Alexis blushed a bit.

The trio walked down a hallway till they came upon a vast oak door. Edward walked to it and pushed it open to reveal his Celestia in the mild of court listening to a bunch of whining nobles, as per the usual. They were the standard complaints. This one wanted statue because his family could trace his root back so far, this one said he need more land because his family lost it to the Minotaurs in the was, but then there was one, a pegasus, that caught Celestia's attention as soon as he walked in, Golden Shoe. He was one of the more stuck up nobles but with more pull and backbone than the other average noble. Golden walked up to the front to the stand as everypony else moved out of his way. Edward, Alexis, and her mother stayed at the back of the room to see what happened. It was harder to stay unnoticed due to having a pony with them. Even Edward’s Princess noticed her counterpart as soon as she was in this world.but knew who she was with so she didn’t say anything. She knew Edward wanted to hear what Golden Shoe had to say because he was often here to complain about having the Alchemist around and is the one who often flows through with his threats.

Golden Shoe cleared his throat causing everypony to stop their gossiping. “Good afternoon Princess,” he said with the usual bow.

“Good afternoon Golden Shoe. How may I help you today?” Celestia said putting on her regal mask. She tried not to let her subjects see her vast annoyance with the noble in front of her.

“Your Highness, myself and many of the other nobles are still wondering when you’re going to banish the ‘Crimson Butcher’ from our fair city. He has caused nothing but trouble for our people.” Golden Shoe slammed his fist down on the podium. “Attracting changelings, allowing their queen to live, and then trading with them, the filthy bug. These are only the first of his many offenses that I have on this list,” He held up a scroll that unfurled itself into a twenty-foot long sheet of parchment. “Now, he has even taken over the role of our other ruler, your sister, Princess Luna. He must be punished for this transaction.”

Celestia was doing her best to keep her rage in check but everypony in the room could see the little twitch under her eye as she spoke. “Tell me Golden Shoe. What exactly are some of the other charges? Could they be helping the ponies who have missing limbs without charging them a fee for their prosthetics? Helping the weather pony teams get some of their best back in the air? Could it be that he has taken to teaching at my sister’s recently re-established school? Or could it be that he also trains the guards to be competent? As for the Changelings. It was I who said they should have many of the chances they had, and I know Edward does not justify the taking of life unless absolutely necessary. Chrysalis has also been very helpful in trading as her Changelings have provided many amenities that you and many of the others here take pleasure in.” Celestia stood up off her throne and walked down the steps. “As for my sister’s duties, Edward has taken them over only temporarily in order to to help take off stress off of her while she is carrying their children.” She had made her way over to Golden Shoe now staring the pegasus down. He still would not back down.

“I can see no other points in having children with that thing other than the fact that it would provide a powerful heir to you and your sister,” Golden stepped out from behind the podium and looked the princess directly in the eyes. “I do not care for what he has done. I do not care for the commoner he provides for. I do not care that he trains the guards. He is a monster that should not be here. Have you not heard the truths I have found. The truth is that he more than likely buried. I will not have him here any longer.” He got right in Celestia's face and whispered. “Or do I have to take matters into my own hands and, say, visit the little ones after they’re born.”

Edward heard that and everything went silent at that moment. He was spewing out murderous waves like no other time he had before. One could almost say the room was shaking. Many of the ponies that hadn’t fainted were shaking and looked as if they were about to shit their pants. Edward walked up as everypony gave him enough birth to stay plainly clear of him. He made his way to Golden Shoe who was barely standing in front at this point. Edward simply put on the mask of a bright smile and spoke in a murderously-sweetly sickening tone.

“Please, Golden Shoe, tell the court what you just said to my dear Princess. And yes Celestia and I have started to see one another, with Luna’s permission,” Edward leaned on the podium leisurely still smiling while Celestia's face went bright red.

“I… I… I… I threatened... the unborn … children of… Princess Luna … and Prince Edward.” Golden Shoe managed to stammer out.

In the next second the stallion was sent flying through the throne room doors straight into the courtyard be a metal fist.

“GET THIS THROUGH YOUR PRISSY, OVER INFLATED, EGOCENTRIC, HOLIER THAN THOU ATTITUDES!” Edward roared in anger shaking the room with his dragonic Thu’um. “ANYONE, AND I MEAN, ANYONE! THAT DARES THREATEN MY FAMILY WILL BE SEVERELY PUNISHED! AS FOR GOLDEN SHOE, HE IS HEREBY STRIPPED OF ANY AND ALL TITLES HE HELD HERE IN EQUESTRIA. AND AS FURTHER PUNISHMENT HE IS BANISH TO THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE BADLANDS.” He took in a deep breath before speaking further. Court, is hereby closed until Princess Celestia says otherwise. Now be gone.” Edward waved and every pony stumbled to get out of the palace.

“Ed you shouldn’t lose your temper like that, but I think I was about to do worse if you hadn’t stepped in,” Celestia embraced Edward from behind. She looked to Alexis and her mother still standing against the wall. “Is it okay to speak with her?”

“Go ahead. We were on our way to see Luna.” Edward commented as the hug had calmed him quite a bit. “Let’s go,” He took Celestia by the hand and met with the others.

“I was half tempted to see how skilled he was at hand-to-hand combat… full contact,” Alexis said softly, cracking her knuckles. She paused, glancing down at the bracer as her eyes widened fractionally, seeing a BioMetal logo pulsing in a creamy white edged with gold near the top and a dark sapphire near the bottom on a small screen.

“What does that mark symbolize?” Alexis’ aunt said curiously.

“Not what, but whom. Biometal Model A… codenamed Axl. He was designated as the Astral Armor when I awoke. Most likely due to his talent to physically mimic anyone once he has a genetic sample,” Alexis commented. She swiftly tapped the marking twice, letting it flash gold, then pale blue, a ring of pale golden white flame forming before engulfing her as her Neutral Bodysuit shifted forms, the aura fading in moments.
Pistols were holstered at either hip.

“He’s lucky I didn’t punch his damn head right off his bucking body,” Edward growled. “No one threatens my family. Let alone, my children.” Alexis could feel a sadness underneath the anger in Edward’s voice. It then that she remembered that he’d said something about having already lost a son not too long ago.

“Then he should consider himself fortunate merely to lose what he supposedly held most precious, the fool,” Alexis’ aunt muttered.

Alexis’ irises were a rich, warm amber with Biometal A active. “Stupid to consider a title, gold, or houses precious over your family or friends. But then, that would make most nobles about as cunning as a dead tree,” she muttered, missing the proud look her aunt shot her as well as the smirk Edward's Celestia gave her.

“Still, it was wise to strip Golden Shoe of his titles. He’ll still have money but not nearly as much pull as he had as a noble. Some of the others will still back him as well but no more than a fourth of them,” Edward’s Celestia looked at the ceiling. “One rarely finds one of Golden Shoe’s tenacity. He is one of the bravest ones of his kind. But to openly threaten my unborn niece and nephew,” She growled.

“I would call him stupid, but that would be extremely generous. Perhaps suicidal would be more appropriate?” Alexis said wryly, shrugging. “Perhaps we can make certain that his…. Nobility… and I use that term with the utmost sarcasm… is shown in the most humiliating… for him… way possible,” she said wryly, her eyes narrowing as she drew one of the pistols, spinning it fluidly before reholstering it. She noticed the look her mother shot her. “Hey, you can’t say you wouldn’t be a little vindictive if someone threatened your family too… you know that just as well as I,” she said wryly.

“Stupidity and bravery are often the same thing in many situations,” Edward remarked as the entered a dark blue area of the castle. “Golden Shoe is still one not to give up very easily. He’ll be back to his scheming in about a week after he has his face fixed. Bastard's luck I only knocked out most of his teeth and fractured his jaw.” The came to a pair of dark satin blue painted wooden doors.

“Shall I assign a few stealth guards to him?” Celestia asked in concern.

“It would be a good idea,” Edward agreed. “Celestia, please try and keep yourself under control. I know this is going to be quite an emotional time for you,” Edward looked to Alexis mother reaching for the doorknob.

“Heck, if you can’t find any quickly, I’ll keep an eye on the idiot, just to make sure he doesn’t try anything stupid, and no doubt he’ll try something very stupid, I think. And ‘Mother’, we have to be cautious, as I have no desire to repeat that incident with those Minotaurs, even if it isn’t Minotaurs a second time,” she said dryly, noticing her mother’s movements.

“The elite Thestral guards excel at stealth. They’ll keep an eye on Golden Shoe,” Edward open the door to the room. “Come on.” He gestured to the others.

“We thought the same. Our Blueblood claimed that Alexis was a threat to me and some stupid unicorn tried to attack her and nearly blasted me with a force burst spell,” Alexis’ mother muttered wryly.

“And they showed up after the fact… though they weren’t pleased that Blueblood had pulled the wool over their eyes,” Alexis sighed as she stepped through the doors, her eyes widening fractionally as she noticed the deep indigos, purples, navy blues, and rich sapphires in color tones.. She hadn’t forgotten that, as filly Twilight and young foalsitter Cadence had been with them at the time which would have made more of a mess not only of the meal but potential injuries as it was later found that the stallion in question was one of Blueblood’s brown-nosing minions trying to curry favor with the imbecilic Prince, not seeming to realize that where his own bloodline might have been descended from Celestia’s own, Alexis’ claim to said throne, if she so desired it, was far stronger being direct from not one, but two of the three Princesses of her world.

“Luna, you up?” Edward called out softly.

“Edward. Is something wrong?” The Night Princess answered back with a bit a soft worry.

“Nah, Just had someone who wanted to meet you,” Edward motioned for Alexis and her mother to come forward. “I’ll leave introductions to you,” he went back to a nearby table and began to fix tea.

“Alexis who is that cute pony next to you?” Luna tilted her head curiously.

Alexis took a deep breath, unsure why she felt nervous all of a sudden. “I know this is technically not one of my mothers, but well… I’m still getting used to feeling the Dream Realm… though I’m not sure why the word Tel’aran’rhiod is stuck in my head… somehow, I know it translates the same either way,” she thought. “It’s my adoptive mother…. though if Edward’s theory about my own bloodline is true… then she is, by blood, my aunt. I think you can guess what that would mean, hai?” she spoke aloud.

“Oh,” Luna realized who the pony was after that and getting a better look at her. “You’re the Celestia from Alexis world. Nice to meet you. I’m sorry I’m not in a more presentable state but I’m about five months along with twins,” Luna trying to smooth out her hair with her hands as Edward brought over a tea tray and put it on the table next to her bed. “You should be very proud, Alexis, you know. She’s very strong,” She took a teacup and sipped on it. Luna set the cup down and smiled warmly at the mother and daughter.

“She’s also quite stubborn, not telling me things that concern her,” Princess Celestia quipped.

Alexis rolled her eyes. “We all are stubborn about different things. I had little choice but to grow up the hard way… too fast for my liking, frankly,” she muttered.

“It runs in our family,” Edward Celestia added as she looked to Luna causing her to blush a bit.

“I have to agree with you there Tia,” Edward nodded fixing himself a cup of tea. “Would you like some?”

“Which one?” Alexis said blankly.

“Okay smartass,” Edward eyed Alexis. “I call your mother by her full name and my princess by her nickname. So, you tell me who I agree with,” He remarked as the three princesses giggled at his reaction.

Celestia eyed her niece, her eyebrow rising slightly. The very slightest up curl for not even a blink gave away that she was yanking the Alchemist's chain.

“Smartass? I don't see how my ass is smart… maybe a butt large in this armor, perhaps,” Alexis said nonchalantly as she half turned. The ‘butt’ pun was rather deliberate, though.

“Urah,” Edward rolled his eyes deciding to just ignore the prodding from the young girl. “Celestia would you like a cup of tea?” He looked to the pony.

“Of course. Don't mind her, though… I sometimes let her on the nobility just to see them go crazy trying to figure her out,” Celestia said with a smirk.

“So she’s told us,” Edward poured a cup of tea and passed it to Celestia who took it in her magic.

“So,” Luna said with a soft smile. “What can I do for Celestia?”

“In our world, it is still a little under seven and a half months until a certain return,” Celestia said quietly.

“You mean your sisters’ return,” Luna tone turned sad. “Nightmare Moon and Luna. It’s very strange talking about oneself in the third pony. Even if it is another version we’re talking about.”

“Strange is a word I have discarded. I would consider walking into a bar or restaurant and seeing nothing but versions of myself strange,” Alexis commented.

Princess Celestia shivered. “I wouldn't give Discord any ideas. He may well try it,” she said.

“Bastard already showed up here in his astral form from your world.” Edward huffed. “Then Faust showed up in the Dragonlands, our Faust. She’s been back a little over one or two months.” Edward took a sip of his tea. “She passed away here not long after Luna was born. She got very sick and her body couldn’t handle the strain of the disease.” He looked to his Celestia as she looked out the window.

Alexis saw her adoptive mother slash aunt stiffen, her gaze on Edward as if she'd seen a ghost. That bothered her, as that could imply that her mother could have died violently. “And you're sure that Alicorns can be ‘reborn’?” she said cautiously.

‘Why can’t we be reborn?’ A Rainbow Ninetails enter Luna’s room. ‘If I’m not proof enough then look to daughter, pony Tia. She’s obviously part alicorn and has bot of your sisters’ magics, The proof is on her back.” Faust said as she jumped up on to the bed and snuggled up to Luna side. ‘Good Afternoon, Alexis. Hello Pony Princess Celestia.’

“Speak of the troll and she shall arrive,” Edward smirked as Faust blew a raspberry at the Alchemist. “Just an FYI Celestia. Alicorns don’t truly die but merely lose the physical forms. They can stay in the astral plane, which if they do they usually travel throughout the various versions of reality. If they want to rejoin the physical world then they must do so in a new form. Our Faust did so as a Pokemon. It should be noted that most alicorns retain a majority of their powers from when they were alicorns. That’s Faust looks like a walking rainbow.”

Alexis cocked her head. “I suppose Granny Faust is why they came up with that Trollestia meme… kinda hard to miss those,” she commented.

“Faust is the reason for a lot of stuff Alexis,” Edward deadpanned.

“Pretty sure she's not the reason your sense of humor is like a silent but deadly fart in a can,” Alexis said with a slight smirk.

‘She’s got you there Ed,’ Faust chuckled.

“Let's get back to the topic,” Edward coughed. “So Celestia what is it you want to know?”

Celestia sighed softly, shrugging fractionally.

‘Come on now dear.’ Faust smiled at Celestia softly. ‘I know it’s hard but we want to help and Edward has a lot of knowledge on what will happen. Even if it’s a little different.”

“I don’t know how much I can Celestia. Your world has Nightmare Moon and Luna as two separate Princesses but I’ll try and help where I can,” Edward said pour himself some more tea. “Alexis and I have actually started on a way to help your sisters,” He smirked as Celestia perked up at this mention. “If it’s Sigma like we think then all we have to do is use the Harmony Nanites on them. They’re the machines that Mini-Ed is made of and the Alexis has in her body but these have harmony magic infused in them.”

“Harmony Nanites?” Princess Celestia said blankly. It was rather obvious that the pony Princess counterpart was utterly confused.

“Nanites or nanomachines are extremely small robots Similar to the larger robots Alexis has fought. They're what allow her to incorporate new metals into her armor,” Edward explained. “Harmonized nanites are nanomachines that have been infused with Harmony magic.”

“I'm guessing that the measurement system is in inches?” Alexis commented.

Her aunt nodded.

“Approximately 39.4 inches goes into a single meter. However, where a meter is the standard metric unit, a nanometer is precisely one-billionth of one meter. In other words, there are approximately 25,400,000 nanometers in a single inch,” Alexis quipped.

“So basically, there are a lot of the little suckers in one of these six-inch vials,” Edward popped open his arm and pulled out a vial of moving shimmering rainbow colored slime-like material then setting it on the table in front of the pony Celestia. She was astounded by the amount of Harmony Magic that was sitting in front of her. The vial was practically saying ‘Here I am, Love me.’ from the Harmony waves radiating from it.

“And I used some of these in this,” Alexis said as she drew the Harmonized Sharktooth blade, holding it in a reversed grip. The energy that pulsed from the weapon practically yelled ‘I will protect the innocent’. The mother-of-pearl ‘shark teeth’ rippled with the same rainbow shimmer. “If I'm right, and Sigma has encased them in a ‘viral shell’ to absorb their power… which he'd have to remain linked to in order to absorb said energy… this will no doubt be able to damage said shell which no doubt would distract Sigma, as the Harmony Magic would disrupt his Shadow Virus shell,” she said softly.

“Thus giving The Elements of Harmony enough time to do their job and purge Sigma,” Luna added.

“You know, now that you have Mini-Ed's core programming incorporated into your own nanites you can make them into anything you want as long as you have enough of them to spare,” Edward pointed at Alexis. “And I know a included some Harmony Nanites in his design. His makeup should be at least a fourth of them actually.”

Alexis tilted her head thoughtfully. “So it's possible that he could use himself as a weapon, then reform after,” she said thoughtfully. It also made her curious if she could infuse Harmony Magic into her energy based weapons. “Though I wonder if the combination of both the Harmony Magic and Eclipse Magic could simultaneously weaken Sigma and strengthen his prisoners,” she said softly.

“So you found out what the type of magic you use is to,” Pony Celestia looked at Alexis then to Edward. “Please tell me, Edward. You call yourself an Alchemist first and foremost but you a very very well versed on magic and many other artforms other others. Yet your token, when I touched it you refer to yourself as a sage. Why? Sages are often a form of extremely skill mage in nature magic of one who has lived an extremely long time. Why then does your body not even appear to be over twenty-six years old?”

Luna, Celestia, and Faust all giggled at this question.

Edward set his teacup down while crossing his legs. He leaned forward while interlacing his finger and looked at Alexis with a look of pride. “First. Yes Alexis Mini-Ed can do that and your theory has merit but if you do this I highly recommend using this technique in the form of two separate weapons as Eclipse Magic has never played well with other magics,” Edward then turned to the pony princess with a smirk. “Second. Celestia, I am over fifteen thousand years old, in fact, if Faust was still in her original body I’d be a little younger than she’d be.”

“True dat,” Faust confirmed with her own sly grin.

“Yes, will… Thirdly. When I came to this world I was solely an immortal alchemist. Over the years, I studied magic but it was mainly to see if I could find a way home. It was after the first one hundred and fifty to two hundred years I gave up on that pipe dream and decided to refocus on trying to learn about this world and help those I could while I lived here.” He paused for a moment to looked out the window at the mountainside. “ I live in a cave on the Mt. Cantehorn just outside Everfree not far from three or five settlements. Many beings came to see me and after another hundred or so years I was given the name ‘The Golden Eyed Sage’. So, I wandered around for many years. Learned many things, met ponies and left to wander some more.” Luna and Edward’s Celestia down at their hands in a downtrodden gaze before they felt Edward embrace them. “Then I returned to my home and my princess. I studied with Starswirl and then the rest is a need to know basis.” He released the two princesses and moved his chair to sit in between them. “I amassed other powers and magics from other Displaced much like Alexis has done here. The difference is I wasn’t born with mine.” Edward snicker as Luna poked him. She held out her hand and gave her his as she then places it on her stomach.

“It won’t be too much longer until they’re ready to meet their daddy,” Luna happily hummed before letting out a tired yawn.

“We’ll let you get some rest Luna,” Celestia said as she pulled the blankets over Luna.

“I’ll stay with her a while longer. I could use a nap too.” Faust made a few circles at the end of the bed before curling into a rainbow ball.

“You three come with me,” Edward motioned the group to follow as they left the room down the hall.

Alexis sighed softly as she tilted her head. “Are my birth mothers really like that?” she thought curiously. Admittedly, the only one who knew that, presently, was her blood aunt. She followed Edward, though, missing how both her aunt and counterpart were watching her. What she hadn’t told Edward about her blade, however, was that it was hollow within.

The group came to a door with a cross and moon behind it. Edward opened the door and lead the others into his workshop. This is where most of his personal automail and other automail prototype were developed and tinkered with. Various arms and Legs of different lengths lined the walls. There were a few wing models on some nearby tables. None of the automail was designed for combat other than Edwards but there were a few that had a few specialized equipment installed in them. He then turned to the Pony Celestia.

“Welcome to my workshop,” Edward motioned around him. “Sorry if you that was a bit uncomfortable. Luna is like that when no one but family is around but she’s a little more touchy-feely due to the twins. Anyway, I think you held out on Alexis long enough, Celestia” Edward leaned against a table behind him. “And the same goes for you Alexis. What haven’t you told me about your sword?”

Alexis cocked her head. “I already knew before you mentioned the Eclipse Magic ‘not playing well with other magic’ so when I formed it… I created a narrow, twisting channel through the hilt and widened it into a barrel through the center of the blade body. I lined it with a layer of quartz and inverted the crystalline structure so that it'll act like a tube. Essentially, I pop the end off…. and I can fire either elemental magic, or form a dart of those Harmony Nanites and fire it,” she commented.

“A Harmony dart gun?” Edward’s Celestia tilted her head in a little bit of confusion. “I’ve never heard of this type of weapon?”

“They’re not really common Tia. I’ve seen them used mainly in hunting parties in a lot of the thicker jungles or open plains where hunting is more common amongst the indigenous populous,” Edward explained as he created a wooden hollow tube. “They’re used in hunting due to the range, silence, easily carried, and reusable ammo. You insert a needle like a dart with some form of buffer at the blunt end of the dart in one end of the tube. Then blow shooting the dart through the other end.”

“Not only that but if you're a stealth specialist and can get close to a target, they wouldn't know you're there until you've already tagged them. There are also certain natural elements that act as sedatives,” Alexis commented.

“I prefer the more up close and personal approach.” Edward held up his right hand as and his fingers morphed into syringes with needled tips similar to Scarecrow's injector claw from Batman Arkham Knight. “Anywho, back to you Celestia. I think you need to tell Alexis a little about her who her mothers’ are.”

“Such as?” Princess Celestia commented carefully.

“Pretty much anything. I don’t remember them very well as their human form. I remember it vaguely, though. Lustrous silvery blue hair with violet tips and indigo bangs and crystalline deep aquamarine eyes, that’s pretty much all I really remember clearly,” Alexis commented.

“Like their personalities for one,” Edward’s Celestia added. “Our Luna is very smart and outgoing when it comes to learning or teaching at her school. She is also very adamant or even outright scary when it comes certain matters such as court.,” She looked to Edward who was nodding in agreement. “But some of her more well-known qualities are her practical jokes and her shyness when meeting new ponies on a personal level.”

“She’s right. Luna can be very reserved about a lot of her feelings to.” Edward sighed. “It’s one of the reasons it took me and her so long to find out we had feelings for one another. In fact, this is pretty much why Nightmare Moon was formed in the first place. She wouldn’t share her feelings with. I couldn’t be there for her either,” He said with a bit of reserve. “I was trapped in my stone tomb piecing back together my fractured mind,” Edward looked at his shaking hands before balling them into fists.

Celestia quickly embraced him. “Ed if anyone’s to blame for Nightmare Moon it’s me. Look at the bright side though,” She smiled at him in reassurance. “We have Nyx now,” She turned to Alexis and her Ponyself. “I think you two should speak for a bit while I comfort him for a few minutes.”

Next Chapter: An All Around Trip to Town and Back Estimated time remaining: 27 Hours, 47 Minutes