//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: BEDLAM III: Quiet on the Set // by Gormless Wheaton //------------------------------// I scanned the map on the table we were gathered around. There was no telling how far he, or they could have gotten, but with just a few rough estimations of what vehicles could have been employed or how far Eddy could have gotten on foot, we could partially guess. All the points of interest that could be reached based on those guesses, as well as those we knew were favorites of Eddy's, were pinned with red tacks. Rainbow scowled and tapped one of the tacks. "Why the heck would he go to the Storm Isle Citadel? Didn't we smash that place up and break the Crystal Brain thing?" "We did, but he wouldn't know that, so he might be inclined to check," Rarity replied, looking up at me and levitating a tack to me. "For that same reason, hadn't we better check the Citadel in the badlands?" I nodded and pinned the tack in place. As we continued looking over the map, suddenly a portal opened in the middle of the room, out of which Celestia and Luna emerged. "Grogar's Bell is still secured," Luna declared. "And the warning spells remain undisturbed." We collectively let out a sigh of relief. "Thing might only have Discord's magic in it now, but still reckon he'd have no trouble making trouble with just that," Applejack huffed. Fluttershy nodded before frowning. "If Discord would just come home, we could just give him his magic back and wouldn't have to worry," she hung her head with a sigh. "And anyway, I still miss him." "Starlight Glimmer managed to find him once," Luna replied as she and Celestia took a seat. "I'm certain, given time, she could do so again." "Time is something we might not have, unfortunately," Celestia murmured. "As many of Bedlam's allies and servants are still at large, there's no shortage of beings who might render him aid." Her eyes locked on the map and scanned the eastern and southern portions. "Well, at least we got the King of Minos and Queen Novo outta Tartarus finally!" Pinkie chirped and stamped her hoof on the Minos region. "Now that mean old minotaur and his weirdo wife have a whole war they've gotta focus on!" I hummed then jolted. "Speaking of Tartarus, the two golems he had guarding the place haven't been seen since we captured him three years ago," I looked at Celestia and Luna, who scowled at the mention of their mechanical doubles. "They might be cheap knock-offs, but if they're anywhere close to your magical talent, they might've been able to free him and whisk him away." "Very true," Celestia murmured before her scowl redoubled. "But that would also mean the range he could have escaped to is practically infinite." My ears snapped back and we all scanned the map anxiously. The door opened and a guard came trotting in. "Princess Twilight, the messengers to our allies have left, and the scouts in Ponyville and the Everfree have reported in," she declared. "They found no sign of him." I nodded with a grunt. "Alright, well-" "Uh," she hesitantly continued. "There's also a message on the castle's console for you." I blinked and shared a look with everypony else before turning back to the guard. "From who?" I asked with a bewildered frown. She wilted slightly and shuffled her hooves. "It's, uh," she cleared her throat. "Automated, I think. Like, a machine sent it?" The skies overhead were overcast as always, a lingering effect of the prolonged magical pollution the Storm King had carelessly dumped into the air above his island. The entire southern coast of Equus was never sunny, and one would have to either go further inland or sail to Mount Aris to escape the constant grey gloom. Tempest, however, was more than comfortable with the atmosphere, especially knowing most creatures avoided the area like a plague due to the depressing skyline. Thus, the caves and cliffs overlooking the sea were the perfect hiding place. As she slowly slipped down to a broad ledge, carefully avoiding putting pressure on her punctured metal forehoof, she quickly turned to scan her surroundings with her one good eye. While the gemstone in her other eye remained broken, after so many years without it, she was confident she could spy out any stalkers regardless. Satisfied she hadn't been followed from the farm stead she'd spent the past few days casing before finally ransacking it, she adjusted her food-laden bags and continued along the ledge, quickly coming to the cave where she and Jury had been hiding for so long. "Good news and bad news," Tempest called in her hoarse, natural voice. "Good news is they had a few cakes of that cornbread you said you liked. The bad news is the farmer managed to stab my hoof with his pitchfork." She held up her twitching and sparking hoof as she dropped her bags to the ground. Jury didn't respond and remained curled up on the little cot against the wall, her eyes still wearily studying the old, steadily decaying Sunshine Post newspaper she'd kept for all this time. Tempest frowned and limped towards her, briefly and unintentionally glancing at the paper as she did. JUSTICE AT LAST. DICTATOR OVERTHROWN AND PETRIFIED. POPULACE CALLS FOR THE LIBERAL APPLICATION OF A SLEDGEHAMMER. Clenching her eye shut for a moment, she took a breath and turned to Jury. "You need to eat, Jury," she pressed. "If you starve to death, I won't have anypony to patch up my parts." "I came up with the design for a bomb that'd be pretty easy to make," Jury replied. Tempest recoiled. "What?" Jury grunted and slowly sat up, still leering miserably at the newspaper. "I think it's fair to say we won't be rescuing him," she muttered. "At least last time he was taken, we had some golems left over to work with. But now? After the Crystal Mind locked me out? We don't have anything." She glanced off to the side of the cave where her portable console and bag of mostly broken tools sat unused. She looked back at Tempest with her head hanging. "So, I was thinking of other ways we could get back at them," a bitter and angry smile formed on her lips. "A few well-placed explosives in some populated areas could be pretty funny. Like an orphanage or something." Tempest regarded her with a wide eye and a stony expression. "You good?" She finally asked. Jury's smile fell to a scowl that melted into a sad frown just as quickly. With a sigh, she looked back at the paper. "I've never been good," she muttered. After a moment of silence, the cot shifted as Tempest hopped up next to her and huddled close. Jury took a breath and looked off to the side. "I was always too nervous to show off the stuff I invented when I was a filly. My parents kept telling me that since so much stuff just uses magic, pure and simple machinery was.. Superfluous." She grunted and frowned. "They said I needed to innovate and come up with something really new, and I," she paused and stared off for a moment. "I never knew if what I'd designed was good enough." Tempest looked her up and down and nodded slowly. "I remember you mentioning you hadn't really built much until you met, Ed," she said, causing Jury to chuckle quietly. "Yeah, that was kind of a lie," she sighed. "I'd built plenty of stuff when I was younger, but I pretty much gave up since, well." She shrugged and stared at the paper again. Just below the headline was a picture of Bedlam, glaring miserably through the bars of the castle dungeon. "When I heard about Eddy's new rune model, my mind immediately went into overdrive, thinking up all the ramifications and applications that came with it," she smiled and blinked slowly, fighting off tears. "That was something new, and I was desperate to get a peek at it. And he.." She closed her eyes and sniffled. "He let me in," she stared off to the side with a sad smile. "We started talking and working together. Building together." Jury shivered and glared at the paper. In the top corner was the old emblem of the sun. "Then she tried to take it away. Them," she hissed and growled. "All of them." Tempest scowled at the symbol before looking at Jury, who glared at the paper for a moment before stifling a laugh and looking away. "It's probably really selfish of me to say, but after Eddy," she scrunched her muzzle and shook her head. "After he snapped." She stared off for a moment before smiling at Tempest. "It was the best thing that had ever happened for me," she said. Tempest tilted her head and Jury smiled down at the paper. "He needed my expertise and justified my inventions. He.." She sighed through her smile as tears began to fall before wiping her eyes with a hoof. "He let me be me." The pair sat in silence for a moment, as Jury leaned against Tempest, who stared thoughtfully at the image on the paper. "Is that why you started baby-talking to the ships and stuff?" She finally asked. Jury laughed aloud and nodded. "Yep. After so many years of validation, I guess I finally started, I dunno," she happily sighed with a shrug. "Finally started living." Her smile vanished. "And they took it all away. Again." Tempest looked off to the side with a thoughtful hum before glaring down at the newspaper. "Ed may have started going through some kind of mid-life crisis or whatever before they stoned him, which is why he started talking all that weird junk about public opinion and all that," Jury continued after a moment and shook her head. "I couldn't have cared less. I was happy. We were happy." Jury smiled again, darker and full of malice. "So, I'm thinking, even if we can't get him back? Even if the spell never breaks and we never see him again?" She giggled and looked at Tempest. "I want to make them regret it." Quiet again held the cave as Tempest digested her partner's words before she shrugged. "I don't know if that's what he'd want," she replied with a chuckle. "But then again, like you said about the public opinion stuff, I guess I never really knew what he wanted either." The two shared a smile that turned to laughter before Jury hugged Tempest and then jumped off the cot and trotted to her tools. "Alright, let's get that hoof patched up," she declared before pausing. "Huh?" Tempest looked back and jolted at the sight of Jury's console, active and with text flashing on its screen. "What's that?" She asked as Jury stepped closer and leaned in. "It's the Citadel. The Crystal Mind," Jury murmured before whirling back to look at Tempest. "It just came online, and it's requesting maintenance."