It was simultaneously everything she'd dreamed it was, and utterly disappointing. Her ears swiveled in tune with her uncertainty as she slowly trotted down through the cavernous bay where Bedlam's fleet must have docked. A few of his ships were still here, though they sat on the ground, creaking occasionally after years of disuse following her aunt's invasion.
"Dumb guards, goin' around breaking stuff they don't understand," Flurry grumbled as she scanned one of the ruined vessels. It was riddled with pockmarks and scorched spots, implying dozens of unicorns had blasted it with their magic at some point. Somepony had even burned a crooked smiley face onto the side.
Tearing her eyes from the sight with a sigh, she looked up at the steep staircases leading to the upper walkway and the rest of the facility. Drawing her console with her magic, she turned it and activated its light. While the bay was open to the outside, the rest of the Citadel was still dark. After fluttering up to the walkway, she was faced with a choice of sixteen corridors, all with convenient labels and directions that had been ruined by graffiti.
Shifting her attention from each corridor with an annoyed glare, she sighed and began trotting down the hall directly in front of her. To her continued frustration, the further she went the worse the place looked. Dust and grime painted the floors, and the crude drawings left behind by the guards stretched on as far as her light could reveal.
After a short walk, the hall she'd chosen came to an intersection which, to her immense relief, had a directory that was mostly untainted, only bearing a big ugly crack across its screen. The only problem was it was out of power. Humming, she lit up her horn as she began carefully attempting to jump-start the device with her magic. As she worked and saturated the machine, the hall suddenly flickered and lit up, causing her to yelp and then slap a hoof over her mouth.
"Whoa," she quietly gasped as she scanned the corridors, before smiling and tapping her horn. "Guess I don't know my own strength!" She returned her attention to the directory, which buzzed and flickered but still displayed the destinations of each corridor. Flurry rubbed her chin before gasping.
"The Crystal Mind!" She squealed before galloping down the hall. As she sped along, at each intersection was another directory that pointed her onward through the labyrinthine facility. Her smile grew wider as she zipped down the halls before she passed into a corridor with a partially broken glass wall that overlooked a vast dark chamber, and she slid to a stop.
"Oh. My. Gosh," she gasped, rearing up and leaning on an unbroken segment of window to get a better view of the countless glowing crystals far below. She grinned as her eyes studied the chamber. "The power supply!" She brought her hooves to her mouth and fell back on her rump with a giddy giggle. After her brief laughing fit, she leaned against the glass again before recoiling in surprise.
"A minotaur?" She tilted her head at the sight of a female minotaur down on one of the catwalk intersections who seemed to be talking to somepony. Turning in the direction she was talking, Flurry gasped quietly. "Those're Bedlam's friends!" Her attention darted between the minotaur and Tempest and Jury-rig, the latter pair being at the end of a hall that connected to the catwalk.
As she pondered the situation, she jumped as there was suddenly a commotion down by Tempest. Glancing back, she brought a hoof to her mouth as Tempest and Jury were fighting off another minotaur who'd suddenly appeared out of the darkness. She blinked and shook her head, as suddenly the first minotaur was right on top of the pair.
Flurry's jaw dropped at the speed of it all, and her heart began pounding as the three struggled against each other, and blood began to fly. Then an explosion rattled the entire area and the lights went off, causing her to cry out.
She fumbled in the dark to try and pull her console out but then recoiled with her eyes shut as the lights clicked back on. Blinking, she scanned the hall before flinching and looking back down at Tempest and Jury-rig. They seemed fine, but there was no sign of the minotaur.
"What the heck just happened?" Flurry muttered with a frown. She watched as the pair below returned down the hallway they'd come, and hummed in thought. Turning back, her eyes darted around, and she slipped her gemstone glasses down over her eyes.
Then she squawked in pain as her eyes were immediately flashed by the sheer amount of magic pulsing along through the entire facility. After a moment, the pulses took on proper shape, roughly matching the lines and channels hidden inside the walls and ceiling. Flurry slowly studied the area before narrowing her eyes.
Somewhere, further ahead, there was a huge blot of magic that seemed to be mobile. Then, a second, larger blot appeared and fell on top of the first one. A weaker and quieter explosion roared out.
Swallowing hard and steadying her breath, she flipped her glasses back up and slowly made her way in the direction the blots seemed to be.
"Keep close ranks," Gallus ordered, jabbing a talon at the soldiers. "Yaks take point, unicorns just behind, and be ready to provide light."
Leaving him in command, I continued scanning the plaza with my horn. Something had caused a momentary surge in the Citadel's magical power, which killed the lights briefly. It wasn't too huge a leap to assume whatever that something was also caused the explosion we heard.
I turned to Celestia and the girls. "Whatever that was, I don't think it was deliberate."
"I believe there may be a skirmish occurring further inside," Luna said as she glared at the broken statue of Eddy that used to be the centerpiece of the plaza. Now, as its upper body lay smashed against the ground, his sneering face leered up at us as if he was here, egging us further inside.
"You think someone's fightin' round here?" Applejack asked as she studied the two steep stairs that sat on either side of the statue and led to the high natural stone platform and the rest of the Citadel.
"The Citadel has sat dormant for so long, its machinery may be more sensitive to magic than usual," Celestia replied, her eyes locked on the foggy skylight above. "So, if two magically capable individuals were exchanging spell fire, it could have caused that blackout just now."
"So, someone else is here trying to knock his teeth out, huh?" Ember chortled, beating a fist into her claw. "Hope they're down to share."
"We still don't know for sure if Bedlam's here or not," Thorax replied, eyes firmly locked on the platform above us. "It might just be two of his old administrators having a falling out."
"Very possible," I huffed and turned to Gallus. "But there's only one way to know. Let's move." He saluted, gave the order, and the troops followed us as we ascended to the rest of the facility. Celestia, Luna, Ember, and I flew up first and scanned the area before I gasped.
"That's new," I declared. The upper platform was still littered with trash and debris from when we first cleared the Citadel out, but the huge metal wall that formed a cylinder around the entire plaza and at one point prevented anypony from passing through unauthorized, now had a smoking hole through where its reinforced door had sat ajar.
The two pieces of the door itself were flung a few dozen feet inward and were still smoking at the point where a spell had blasted them. I shared a look with Celestia and Luna before scanning the rest of the wall. Higher up near the skylight were the dark windows in which anypony passing through the maze of corridors might be able to spy down on us.
I hummed and glared down the open corridor before us before recoiling. "Look!" Further in, at an intersection, a pair of shapes stepped into view. One was much bigger than the other, but as they turned towards us, they paused and then bolted back the way they came.
"Oh no you don't!" Ember yelled and took off after them.
"Wait!" I cried before turning to the rest of the team. "For crying out loud, come on!"
The magic was moving fast. It seemed pretty obvious that the two blots were fighting, as the larger blot seemed to be throwing the smaller one further and further down the path she was following.
"This is such a bad idea," Flurry thought as she anxiously galloped toward the sources. "But if it's a pair of his animunculi going haywire, I might be able to finally take a peek inside one!" With that thought in mind, she grinned despite herself and beat her wings to pick up speed, paying little mind to the fact she was being led almost in a complete circle back toward the main entrance.
As a result, it never occurred to her that she might be dangerously close to anypony else wandering the halls. Thus, it was a total shock when she was clotheslined by an outstretched metal leg at one intersection. Flurry let out a choking gasp as the mechanical appendage struck her in the throat and she crashed into the ground, coughing and sputtering.
Before she could recover, she found her wings pinned and her face crushed against the ground.
"It's an alicorn!" A slightly nasal voice cried as she struggled, too bewildered and stunned to work her magic.
"It's Cadenza's!" Another harsher voice replied, seemingly coming from the figure that had her pinned.
"Why's she dressed like that?" The first voice asked after a moment before Flurry was released and allowed to scramble to her hooves and whirl around to see her attackers.
"'Cause she's still Ed's biggest fan," Tempest chortled with a smirk. Flurry gasped and struggled to catch her breath, her eyes darting between Tempest and Jury, the latter of whom looked at her in bewilderment and had dark circles around her eyes and a red patch on her coat under her nose.
"What, seriously?" Jury huffed. Tempest laughed and nodded, causing Jury to recoil slightly and look at Flurry again. "Wow! You'd think her mom woulda beaten that outta her by now."
Flurry coughed and glared. "Believe me, it's not for lack of trying." Jury blinked and looked between her and Tempest before humming.
"Are you the one who reactivated the Citadel?" She demanded with a severe look. Flurry wilted and shook her head.
"N-no! I just," she stammered and swallowed. "I never got to even see the place and, uh, y'know." Jury scowled and narrowed her eyes, while Tempest just laughed.
"Wouldn't matter if she was," Tempest said and nudged Jury. "Don't you remember? Poor lil' thing just wanted to work with Bedlam's machines and her mom wouldn't let her." Jury blinked and a smile formed on her face.
"So, she ran away from home," Jury replied with a hum and rubbed her chin. She turned back to Flurry who's ears twitched with anxiety. "Is that right?"
Flurry scrunched her muzzle and slowly nodded. "Y-yeah, pretty much." She blinked and wilted as Jury looked her up and down.
"Neat," she chirped and her eyes lit up. "You wanna help us out, then?" Flurry's eyes widened and she gasped.
"Help you? With what?" Tempest and Jury shared a look before Jury nodded.
"We're trying to figure out who switched this place back on, then we're gonna see about reclaiming it," she explained trotting up beside Flurry and nudging her. "It'd be a good opportunity to get your hooves on some of Eddy's machines. What do you think?"
Flurry's eyes shimmered with wonder and she smiled. "YES!"