> BEDLAM III: Quiet on the Set
>  by Gormless Wheaton
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







I stuck my tongue out in thought, pondering the cards before me. A quiet hum left my lips as I mulled over my options. I glanced up at the ground between us. I definitely had a lead, but overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer. Especially given my opponent.

I gave a firm nod. "Got any threes?" I asked with a smile. Silence was the only reply. Of course, having a lead definitely doesn't mean much when your opponent isn't even playing. I let out a frustrated grunt and dropped my cards. "C'mon, Eddy. I kept my promise and came to visit, didn't I?"

He just kept staring off to the side, leaning against the bars on the opposite side of his cage, his own cards still just at his feet where I'd dealt them.

After a moment, he finally responded. "What are your thoughts on the fact I came from a whole other world?" Man.

"I don't really feel like talking magic theory, Eddy," I sighed but forced a smile. "But if it'll get you talking so we can maybe finally work through your feelings and stuff, I'm willing to make an exception." He snorted and fought off a grin.

"I'll take it, but make no promises," he turned to face me and leaned forward on his knees. "So?"

"So, what? Way back when we talked about this all the time," I shrugged. "The fact that you're here, across the vale between worlds and from a world with no magic at all is.." I shook my head with a hum as I searched for the words.

"It's amazing," I finally said. He snapped his fingers and wagged one at me.

"That's what it was!" He chortled. "The Vale, that was the word you used to use."

He rubbed his chin and nodded. "How much energy do you think it took for me to cross it?"

"Not that much. It was just focused on a single point, and magical mishaps have a tendency to draw more power than normal," I replied.

"Mishaps," he snorted. "I wonder about that."

I recoiled with a frown. "What? Do you think we brought you here on purpose?"

"Not you, no," he waved his hand. "And I can't even be certain, but when you and your friends come out with those fancy sets of chosen-one jewelry and the whole cutie-mark destiny thing, I dunno."

He hummed and folded his arms. "Makes a guy question if there isn't something bigger going on around here."

I nodded. "There is. We call it Harmony. It is the magic of the whole world, all moving towards a singular purpose."

He tilted his head. "That being?"

"Peace, prosperity, and happiness for everypon- everyone involved," I explained. He chortled again, darker this time before picking up and shuffling his cards.

"And that singular purpose let a mishap like me happen, huh?"

I scowled. "Accidents happen, Eddy. That's Chaos," my scowl softened and I leaned forward. "And you're not a mishap."

"Oh-hoh, yeah!" He laughed and flicked a card at me. "Definitely feel pretty intended when ya'll had to lock me up down here in Tartarus!" I frowned and picked up the card. I refrained from smiling, letting him believe I was still annoyed.

It was a three, but the fact he wasn't cheating this time meant it was also progress.







I stretched with a restrained yawn as I slipped out of my daydreaming and reminiscing. Sighing, I looked out the window of the mechanical carriage transporting me to the west coast. What used to take days by train nonstop, or tens of stops by chariot to let the pegasi rest, could now be completed in just a few hours all in one go.

Just another amazing invention Eddy'd concocted, and yet another addition to the long list of things that make me ask 'What if?' There'd been a lot of those over the last three years.

Clouds zipped by my window, occasionally making it opaque enough that I could see myself properly. I must've gotten really lost in thought a minute ago and dozed off. I conjured a comb made of my magic and began straightening my mane when I noticed the red light on the side of my seat blinking.

Turning, I clicked it with a hoof. No sound came out. Frowning, I groaned and smacked myself in the head, remembering I'd muted the machine's voice earlier since golem voices always creeped me out. I'd mistakenly believed if it was important, I'd have noticed the light blinking.

I sighed and turned the sound back on.

[You have fifteen new messages waiting, Princess.] I blanched at the news, but before I could check any of them, the carriage lurched. [We are beginning our descent, Princess. Your guests appear to be waiting just below.]

I huffed, stood up from my seat, and made my way to the door just as the carriage shuddered and stopped. I'd just have to listen to my messages on the way home since this meeting required immediate attention. I stood at the door anxiously before it finally hissed and slowly fell open, forming a ramp by which I stepped out onto the beach.

"Hello, Twilight," Celestia greeted with a warm, but thoroughly weary smile. Luna at her side must have been just as exhausted, as she just smiled and nodded her head with a quiet hum.

"Welcome back!" I replied, pulling them both into a hug with my wings. After a moment, we pulled apart and I gestured to the carriage. "You two must be worn out, so let's talk inside where it's more comfortable."

"A wonderful idea," Celestia sighed as they both boarded. "And yes, we're both quite fatigued, though not for the reasons you might think." The carriage door rattled and sealed behind us.

"Really? Were the creatures in Foenum more receptive than we thought they'd be?" I asked as we took our seats and the carriage began to rise. They both sat in the wide and cushioned seat that took up the entire wall across from where I sat.

"Much more receptive," Celestia replied with a quiet laugh. "During their conflict with Chrysalis, she was quite, well, hm." She rubbed her chin in thought.

"She ceaselessly boasted about how she was our enemy, and about Bedlam's conquest," Luna declared with a yawn. "So when they met us, they already knew we were the enemy of their enemy."

I laughed. "Who would've thought her loud mouth would be so useful?" They laughed in response, but my expression turned more severe. "But was there any sign of her? Or Jury-rig, Tempest, Tirek, or anypony?"

"Not at all," Celestia groused. "They managed to chase her off months ago, and haven't seen her since."

I recoiled. "She was still attacking them within the last year?" They nodded. "Did she not hear what happened?"

"Who knows?" Luna sighed. "Perhaps she did hear of Bedlam's imprisonment, but decided to continue using his resources for her benefit."

I grumbled and glared out the window as again the clouds raced by. "Sounds in character for her."

"I presume based on the fact you asked that we still have no clues leading to any of Bedlam's other associates?" Celestia asked. I shook my head and was about to respond when I noticed the blinking light again.

"Not as far as I know, but I've got a few messages that might be about just that," I replied and clicked the light.

[Message 1:]







"Why the heck didn't you answer the first fourteen times?!" Rainbow yelled in my ear. "All of us got here as soon as we heard!" My eyes remained locked on the letter the guards had formed a perimeter around here in the middle of the garden. My breathing was shockingly even, and despite the deep-seated rage inside, I was feeling very clear-headed.

"Now, let's not go takin' jabs at each other," Applejack said, stepping between Rainbow and me. "Even if she had called back, wouldn't'a done no good." The others were too shocked to add anything. Starlight had apparently immediately ran off to who-knows-where when she heard.

"Indeed," Celestia added as she scanned the air. Luna snorted angrily and stomped forward, jabbing a hoof at the guard captain who wilted under her glare.

"Explain to me again how this was allowed to happen," she hissed.

"We-" The captain swallowed hard and cleared his throat. "We don't know! The team guarding this spot was changing shifts, and by the time the replacements got here, well.." My ear twitched.

During Celestia and Luna's rule, the changing of the guard only took sixty seconds, on an off day. With Bedlam's communication devices and all, our accuracy both during and after his rule was improved by leaps and bounds. Meaning, this had occurred within a span of nearly twelve seconds.

That seeming impossibility was bad enough, but the letter that was left behind only made it worse. My ear twitched again, I approached the circular stone base upon which Eddy had been sitting and fused to for three years, and read the letter once more.




Dear Replacement,

Didn't see that coming, did you? Come and get me, loser!

Ha-ha-ha-ha!

Hugs & Kisses,
Eddy Bedlam.









> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







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."






> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







Steel Eyes let out a yelp of pain, straining against the restraints binding him to his seat. "Why must it burn?!" He cried.

"So you know it is working, Beloved," Silver Lace, his wife, replied as she carefully applied more medicine to his side where the bolt was lodged.

Steel grunted and hissed as he scanned the hut they were hiding in. The place was bare save for their bed and the essentials they'd brought with them. It was a far cry from the palace they'd lived in for the past few years until the rightful king suddenly returned.

"When I return to the Iron City and overthrow Agamemnon again, I'll be sure to make him suffer for this." He cried out again as Lace finally pulled the bolt out.

"That may not be possible, my lord," she replied. "Your previous conquest was only achieved with the aid of Lord Bedlam."

"I'll find a way!" Steel roared, trying to raise his fist to no avail. He sighed and relaxed in his seat as his wife wrapped his torso. "Damnable Equestrians. Overthrow Bedlam, fine!"

He grunted and grit his teeth. "But did they have to release Agamemnon from Tartarus?"

"Such is their way, I'm afraid," Lace replied, cutting the cloth and pinning the bandage in place. She dared a glance up at Steel's face. "Though, I fear that even if they had not, when the minotaurs learned you were no longer receiving support from the human you may have had a rebellion on your hands anyway." Steel glared at her before reclining with a miserable sigh. Lace hummed and rested her head on his chest.

"In any case, we may still take heart that despite Agamemnon's return, you still held the Iron City against his siege for two years," she said, drawing a smile from Steel's face.

"True! Few warriors could make such a boast," the minotaur laughed, wrapping an arm around his wife. As he stared up at the ceiling, pondering how best to pursue revenge, Lace suddenly tensed up and pulled away.

"I'm going to the well to fetch some fresh water, my lord," she declared with a bow. Steel sighed and nodded.

"Very well. Be on guard, however! My captains have yet to arrive, and it's been three days since the city fell," he chided. Lace bowed again and slipped to the door with a bucket in hand. Once she closed the door, she turned towards the forest clearing outside and scowled. She scanned the gathering before her and shook her head.

"Far too noisy, all of you. If he were in better health, he would have heard you as I did," she groused as she approached the line of bound and terrified minotaur warriors who were on their knees with knives at their throats. Twice as many maids from the Iron City palace surrounded them.

"Forgive us, my lady, but there has been a development," one of the maids explained and gently kicked the bag at her hooves forward and around her hostage. "The device you requested we steal from the castle has been making noise."

Lace frowned and grabbed the bag before opening it. Inside was the portable console she'd fashioned during her time administrating Bedlam's machinery for her husband. On its screen, a series of text was flashing.

"The Crystal Mind?" She murmured. "I thought it had been destroyed." She began tampering with the device to ensure it was working properly.

"What are your orders, my lady?" One of the maids asked. Lace studied her console again before humming.

"I believe we should investigate the Citadel. Is that mechanical carriage we smuggled still functioning?"

"Yes, my lady."

Lace nodded before stowing the device with a smile. "Wonderful. There is little left in Minos for us," she waved a hand at the hostages. "Finish these fools and then my husband, and let us be off."







"So, when the reversal is applied, what effect will that have?" Sunburst asked, turning from his board with a smile. His expression fell immediately and he sighed at the sight of his sole pupil staring out the window. "Flurry."

"Huh?" Flurry jolted in her seat. She scanned the board and her ears snapped back. "Oh! Uh, a theoretically infinite amount of mass is released in a line?" She nervously smiled, causing Sunburst to blink and look back at the board, stroking his bushy beard.

"Uh, that's correct, very good," he raised an eyebrow at her and adjusted his glasses. "Now, can you tell me why that happens?" Flurry wilted and scrunched her muzzle, her eyes darting around the room.

"Cause it's," she hesitated and smiled anxiously. "Cool?" She held her smile despite Sunburst's unimpressed stare.

"I mean," he shook his head. "It is pretty cool, but that's not the reason." He sighed and levitated his seat next to hers before sitting down.

"Alright! What's on your mind?" He asked. Flurry wilted and looked off to the side.

"Nothing."

"Nothing at all?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Not thinking about Edward?"

Flurry squeaked and her wings shot out. "No!" She nervously looked into Sunburst's eyes before wilting again. "Please don't tell, Mom." Sunburst snorted with a smile and began wiping his glasses with his cape.

"Sure, but only if you elaborate on what I shouldn't be telling her," he smirked at her. She frowned and scanned the room before sighing and looking down at her bulging saddle bag which sat beside her chair.

"It sucks," she spat quietly. "Down in Canterlot and the rest of Equestria, they're still using his machines and stuff, but we've got a total ban in place! She won't even let me draw up any plans or anything! And she smashes anything I make if she finds it!"

Sunburst nodded. "Yeah, it is kind of a shame, since despite him being an unhinged sociopath, he did good work," he flinched and shook his head. "And by good, I mean quality, not morally." Flurry rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, everypony else keeps saying that, but I don't really see it," she muttered. Sunburst barked a laugh.

"Flurry, he threatened to blow up anypony who didn't do what he said or didn't conform."

"Like how we blow up or melt anypony who doesn't confirm using friendship magic?" She retorted with an annoyed leer. Sunburst squawked and his glasses popped off his face. Hastily catching them with his hooves he stammered and muttered while struggling to get them back in place.

Finally, he cleared his throat. "That's different."

"Different how?" Flurry demanded.

"I dunno, but you can ask your Aunt. She's the expert on blowing people up with friendship," he replied with a confident nod. Flurry rolled her eyes and was about to press further when the door swung open. A guard rushed in and saluted.

"Princess Flurry, your mother has ordered you to remain in your room until further notice," he declared.

"What?!" Flurry cried. "Why?!"

"Apologies, Your Highness. I am not at leave to reveal that to you," he ended his salute with a stamp of his hoof. "Sunburst, you are requested in the throne room immediately."

Sunburst blinked and recoiled. "What's happening?"

"A messenger from Equestria has just arrived," the guard replied and stood to the side. Sunburst looked at the guard for a moment before sighing and smiling at Flurry.

"Guess we'll finish this lesson later, huh?" He asked before sighing as Flurry scowled, picked up her bag, and stormed out. He adjusted his glasses and nodded at the guard. "Oh boy. Alright, let's get moving."







Alone in her room, Flurry lay on her back, glaring death at the ceiling. She could see faint pulses of magic shimmering through the crystal the whole building was made of, a constant reminder of how similar Bedlam's inventions and her home were. With a growl, she tore her eyes from the ceiling and stared at her closet, which shimmered with an illusion spell Sunburst had taught her.

Double-checking the door and window, she hopped off her bed and opened the closet. The illusion spell perfectly concealed the small, one-pony hovercraft she'd whipped together earlier that year, based on the design of Bedlam's old hovercraft, though it was more like a hovering surf board than a proper vehicle. She traced her hoof across it with a sad humph.

'Hey now! Did you make that?' He had said with pure admiration, causing her heart to leap.

'I sure did!' She'd replied, drawing a nod of approval from him. 'I dunno how accurate it is, since I'm not allowed to mess with any of yours, but I think I came pretty close.' She'd stupidly added. She cringed at the memory, though only for a moment.

'I'd say so, just on a cursory glance,' he'd appraised. She took a breath and smiled at the memory, at least until she remembered her mom had then blasted her machine out of the air right in front of him. She hadn't seen him for the rest of his stay, and the next she'd heard of him he was in stone.

She glared miserably at the tiny machine in her closet. She'd never get to show him or get his input. Just like she never got a closer look at his other machines, the prosthetics he'd introduced, the castle's console, or even his Citadel. The very heart of his advanced empire, and she never even got a glimpse of it.

She scowled and leered at the door, before trotting over to her saddlebag. Snapping it open and moving aside her water bottle and snacks, she checked the puny makeshift console she'd modeled after the castle's just on sight. It couldn't connect to anything, but it at least let her navigate when she snuck out at night. She quickly checked how much power it had, before nodding, pulling her hovercraft out, and throwing open the window. Just before taking off, she stopped and turned. Raising her mattress with her magic, she pulled out her black and grey coat, as well as her gemstone glasses.

Slipping them all on, she stepped on her machine and zipped out the window.







[It would appear we were mistaken,] KSUN creaked as KMOON flew down the corridor, carrying her head in her magic. [The Crystal Mind's signal was a trap.]

[Quite obvious,] KMOON replied. Despite being the only one of the two alicorn duplicates who could still move, her gemstone core was leaking magic in a sparking trail and her entire rear half was gone. [How do you think she managed to survive her second confrontation with the Elements?]

[It would appear we were mistaken,] KSUN creaked, causing KMOON to pull her head forward to look at her. [The Crystal Mind's signal was a trap.]

[I see.] Ignoring her sister as she repeated the same phrase over and over, KMOON strained and teleported forward, managing to slip passed one of the rusty blast doors as it came crashing down. However, as she reappeared, her gemstone core crackled and she collapsed. After a few moments, she jolted and struggled to stand, but could only manage to push onto her side.

[I believe we are finished,] she murmured.

[It would appear we were mis-] KSUN whirred and then clicked. [Perhaps it's what we deserve.]

KMOON raised her head and pulled her sister's head closer. [Elaborate while you are able.]

KSUN looked up with her eyes. [While we determined that there was no safe method to rescue the master when they abducted him three years ago, I have remained of the opinion we should have at least tried.]

[We agreed we would wait until their guard was down to make the attempt,] KMOON retorted. [Which I believe is what the master would have preferred.] KSUN studied her sister for a moment before blinking and trying to look further down the hall.

[Regardless, I would encourage you to attempt another teleportation and leave me here,] she said. [If you can find the Administrator, she should be able to repair you and then you can warn her of what has transpired here. Do so immediately.]

[What would leaving you behind accomplish?] KMOON asked, tilting her head as she began charging her horn. Before her sister could answer, a beam shot from further down the hall and pierced KMOON's head with a warbling squeal. The golem shuddered and sparked before collapsing with a pop.

[I was planning to distract her,] KSUN replied with a sigh as she was picked up by magic and turned to face her sister's killer. [Hello again, Defect.]

[My name is Twilight,] KS 6 chirped. [Let's get you two back to the lab for analysis and repair.] The blast door rattled and opened with a screech, bits of rust and chipped metal flaking off as it rose. KS 6 carefully scooped up KMOON and carried the two back the way they'd come running.

[How exactly did you manage to rebuild the Crystal Mind, let alone rebuild your body?] KSUN pressed, drawing KS 6's eyes to her. [I was under the impression our enemies were being quite thorough in their efforts to exterminate you. I'm not sure how you found the time or resources.]

KS 6 giggled. [You're assuming I did it all on my own. I had help.] She nodded her head forward and turned KSUN in that direction. The damaged golem studied what was ahead as the bipedal figure strode toward the pair.

[I do not understand,] KSUN finally whimpered.

"That's cause you're just a dopey robot," Bedlam laughed as he reached them and picked up KSUN's head by the horn. He met her uneasy eyes with a toothy smile. "Don't worry though. It'll all be clear in a few minutes."






> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







Tirek grunted quietly as he strained to twist the loose bolt on his arm. Suddenly, a twig snapped and he jumped to his hooves. With bared teeth and horns blazing, he scanned the dark woodland around him. After a few moments, the sound of mocking laughter met his ears, and he relaxed, although only slightly.

"If I had been one of our enemies, you standing here ready for a fight would have gotten you killed," Chrysalis chortled as she crept up from her hiding place. The centaur rolled his eyes and sat down beside his bag before resuming his attempt at maintenance.

"What in the nine hells do you want, summoning me out here with that letter?" He grumbled. "I know you've been in Foenum, but surely you heard the news?" He paused and leered at the changeling before smirking. Her horn and much of her chitin were cracked, and a faint green glow pulsed beneath it. In addition, her left eye was covered in a patch of dried slime which changelings excreted to ensnare prey, or in her case, seal wounds.

"Or maybe you were too distracted keeping yourself from getting killed?" He chortled. Chrysalis scowled with a hiss.

"I underestimated the denizens of the land across the sea," she spat, the glow beneath her shell flaring up as she spoke. "And yes, I was aware of the human's downfall."

"So, what do you want?" Tirek grumbled. "We've lost, and I'm doing my best to keep hidden." Chrysalis scoffed and buzzed closer to him before jabbing a hoof at him.

"We nearly conquered this land without him," she growled. "We could do so again."

"Wrong," he replied.

"You-"

"No," he snarled and jabbed his creaky metal arm at her. "The ponies still have his machinery in addition to every other advantage they already held."

He narrowed his eyes with a snort. "Including the bell." Chrysalis' ears snapped back and she studied Tirek's face with clenched teeth.

"Well.. We could-"

"Give up and spend the rest of our lives in hiding, yes I know," Tirek groused.

"NO!" Chrysalis stomped her hoof as faint green flames sparked from her damaged chitin. "I refuse to let that thing's defeat be what finally spells the end for me and my ambitions!"

She ground her teeth and hissed. "I am a QUEEN," she paced away from Tirek. "What became of the Crystal Mind?"

"Destroyed," he chortled.

"That annoying metal half-pony?"

"No clue," he sighed.

"What about-" They both paused as a ping echoed through the woods. Tirek looked down at his bag, reached inside, and pulled out the handheld device he used for communication. Chrysalis looked between him and the device. "What is it?"

Tirek furrowed his brow and his jaw hung slightly. "The Citadel. The Crystal Mind."

"You said it was destroyed!" Chrysalis roared.

"And the satellites were deactivated," he muttered, narrowing his eyes as he studied the device closely. "So, how could a signal reach me out here?"

"Who cares!" Chrysalis spat as she smacked the machine from his grasp, before grabbing his face. "If the Crystal Mind is functioning, then we have a fighting chance! We can infiltrate the Citadel and use it to wrestle control of all the machines from the ponies!"

Tirek blinked before frowning and shoving her back. "Have fun with that." He retrieved the device and rubbed his chin as he looked at it. Chrysalis glared at him for a moment, before her eyes fell on his collar. The same one she wore. A wicked smile formed on her face.

"Well! If you're not interested in helping me claim this chance, maybe I'll just see if there's anything that'll let me activate that collar of yours," she purred. Tirek paused and glared at her, causing her to snicker. "Or we can go together and unlock them together." She smirked and raised an eyebrow as the centaur growled a sigh.







I looked up at the ruined Citadel that loomed high above at the center of the island, just beyond the giant metal gate we'd always just flown over. It'd been ages since I stepped hoof here, but we'd had plenty of military personnel explore the place over the last three years. Clearly, we weren't thorough enough.

"You're sure the message came from this Citadel?" Thorax asked. I nodded and looked back at the force we'd mustered. It wasn't a full-on army, but it was a potent strike force of dozens of yaks, changelings, ponies, griffins, and Ember. Just Ember. And she was grinding her fangs at the sight of this place as cinders popped from her nostrils. Celestia and Luna were also here. Even if this was a trap, and that was always a possibility with Eddy, we'd be more ready than ever.

"No attempt was made to mask the signal, so it was really easy to trace it," I replied, before scowling back at the island. "Which is also how we discovered the satellites are online again. Somehow."

"Those machines in sky, right?" Rutherford asked, snorting as he looked at the clouds.

"Exactly," Applejack replied. "Fella used 'em plenty back in the day, but switched 'em off just 'afore we brought him in." The yak prince hummed in thought before nodding at me.

"We go now?" I looked from him to the rest of the attack team. All the soldiers were lined up with Gallus at the head. He gave me a salute. Celestia, Luna, and the girls nodded. I didn't even need to glance at Ember.

I nodded at Rutherford. "We go now." As we turned and moved to advance, however, the giant gate creaked and slowly swung inward giving us easy access. I blinked and looked back at my friends.

"This is a trap, isn't it?" I muttered.

"Figures," Applejack grunted. "Gettin' too old for this fella's nonsense."

"You said it," Rainbow huffed with a smirk aimed at the small force we'd gathered. "Least we're prepared this time."

I frowned and looked at the imposing fortress ahead of us. "I sure hope so."







Tempest scanned the dark, dusty hall they'd breached and slowly took a few steps forward. "Lights aren't even on," she muttered before looking back at Jury-rig. "You sure it's-"

She paused at the sight of Jury, who was still out on the ledge Tempest had hauled them both to, staring at the tall towers of the Citadel with a misty-eyed yet unreadable expression.

"Jury," Tempest called. The other mare blinked and looked forward.

"Yeah?" Tempest looked her up and down before grunting.

"The lights are off. Are you sure-" There was a hum and the pair jumped before peering further inside. One by one, the lights clicked on down the hall toward them. Tempest's jaw hung loosely for a moment before she glanced back at Jury. "Is that a good thing?" Jury's ears pressed against her skull as she leaned in to look up and down the hall.

"I dunno. It's pretty strange, obviously," she whispered. She met Tempest's eyes with a severe expression. "You might've called it and KS 6 is in here." They held each other's gaze for a moment before looking back inside.

"Any way to know for sure?" Tempest asked.

"If we check the Crystal Mind, yeah," Jury replied, taking a shallow breath. "But if it is her, I don't think she'll let us leave. And if it isn't, then we've got the Citadel back in our hooves. Probably." She gave Tempest a weak smile, who responded with an incredulous leer.

"So, nothing to do but move forward, right?" She offered. Tempest frowned and scanned the hall again.

"Guess that's true," she replied after a moment. Slowly and carefully, she crept into the hall and led the way to where the Crystal Mind had always been stored. It had been years since either of them had entered this place, but they'd also lived here for so long that they had no issues navigating.

The only problem they encountered initially was the pain of seeing the damage their enemies had done to the place. Jury couldn't help but stop every few paces to leer at holes punched in walls or doors that were kicked in, but the worst was the graffiti.

Illustrations of Bedlam with his head in a noose, or of Jury and Tempest in.. compromising positions. One of which was signed by Sandy, the cute maid Jury'd favored over all the others.

"I didn't think royal guards were allowed to have a sense of humor," Tempest said with a laugh as she studied the wall art before nudging Jury to pull her attention away. "Let's keep moving." Jury gave her a sad look before nodding and following along.

After a few minutes of navigating, they came to a catwalk that stretched over the hundreds and hundreds of cubical crystals that provided power to the entire facility. Throughout this vast chamber were other catwalks that intersected at points, which were also the only points of proper illumination besides the glow of the power crystals.

The rest of the chamber was very dark, and for this reason, Tempest held her hoof up, keeping Jury off the metal walkway. Tempest leaned forward and pressed her ear to the metal for a minute before smirking.

"Step into the light, or I take potshots at the crystals," she yelled into the room after standing up straight. "Hiding in the shadows won't save you if they start popping." Jury recoiled and looked out into the dark room before her ear twitched at the faint noise of hooves clicking against the metal walkway.

Then she gasped as Silver Lace appeared in the light of the intersection just ahead of them, though she was dressed in a tight-fit black suit, like what her assassins favored. She held her hand on her hip and looked the pair up and down.

"Very clever, Tempest," she called and extended her hand to the pair. "Won't you come closer so we can talk face-to-face?"

Tempest barked a laugh and let sparks trail up her horn. "And get jumped by your girls still hiding? No thanks." The minotaur smirked and folded her hands behind her back.

"So, was it you two that reactivated this facility?" She asked. Jury looked from her to Tempest, who kept her eye forward.

"No, we're trying to figure out whose responsible for that, too," Jury replied, shooting a scowl at the minotaur. "And I'm guessing based on that question it's not you?" Lace smiled and giggled quietly.

"And I'm guessing based on the outfit and your presence here, you finally did Steel Eyes in?" Tempest added. Lace gasped and held a hand to her chest.

"I would never!" She closed her eyes and bowed her head. "Not when I have girls to do that for me." Then she opened one eye.

"Speaking of." In a flash, from above the door frame just before the pair, a female minotaur in black garb like Lace's swung down and swept a knife at Tempest. Jury let out a squawk, but Tempest was more composed and rocked forward onto her forelegs, bringing one of her powerful mechanical hindlegs forward like a scorpion's stinger. At the same time, the knife harmlessly impacted with her metal rear half, and one of her hooves smashed into the stomach of the assassin.

The hapless minotaur let out a wheezing grunt and was sent sprawling out onto the catwalk, where Lace was already in motion, alongside an unknown number of other minotaurs, who occasionally flashed through the lights all around the room.

Lace tumbled under her flying injured companion, and the second her hooves touched the floor, she sprang forward like a bolt of living lightning. Tempest brought her hooves back down and fired off a shield spell which narrowly caught the set of knives that Lace had thrown at some point.

The minotaur immediately impacted with the shield and tumbled over it before reaching down and grabbing Tempest by the mane. She violently yanked the mare up using her strength and momentum and drew a knife in her other hand. Before anything could happen, however, she gasped as Jury snared her knife hand with her magic and twisted it.

As Lace landed and leaned in the direction Jury was twisting her arm, Tempest got her footing and swept her metal forehoof back, cracking it across the minotaur's wrist. Lace grit her teeth and lost her grip on the mare, who then spun and fired a blast into the dark chamber.

Several screams were immediately cut off as the beam tore through the air and anything else in its path, lighting up the catwalk and briefly illuminating the fallen minotaurs, as well as those who'd dived over the side to avoid what was effectively a magical cannon blast.

Before Tempest could fully rotate to attack Lace, the minotaur swept the leg opposite the arm Jury had, and kicked Jury in the snout. The mare was knocked onto her hind legs with a gurgling grunt and banged her head against the corridor wall, all of which cut off the spell.

Lace followed through with her sweep to face Tempest, but was too slow to completely avoid being blasted by the partially mechanical unicorn. Lace dropped to the side, preventing the beam from piercing her straight through, and instead, it cut a deep hole through her right side.

The minotaur choked out a gasp and collapsed before falling into a violent coughing fit, blood welling up and spattering onto the floor with each cough. The minotaur's right arm went limp as she struggled to sit up.

"It's a damn shame Eddy's not here," Tempest purred, causing Lace to look up at her with panicked eyes. The unicorn smirked as her horn crackled. "I promised him I'd make him a rug out of your pelt one day, after all." Lace clenched her bloody teeth as the unicorn lowered her head, but just before the spell was fired, the entire corridor shook as a boom echoed through the entire facility.

Tempest and Jury looked around anxiously as the lights flickered and then went dark. Tempest cried out and there was a clang just before the lights clicked on again. Jury blinked and slowly rose to her hooves upon seeing Tempest on her side and rubbing the side of her face which had a nasty cut across it.

Lace, however, was nowhere to be seen. However, a very fresh and very thick trail of blood led out to the dark power chamber and vanished over the side of the catwalk.

"Damn her," Tempest groused as she pushed up to her hooves and turned to Jury. "You okay?" Jury rubbed her nose and sputtered before nodding weakly.

"Uh-huh, just," she hacked and spit. "I think she broke my nose." Tempest took Jury's face with a hoof and inspected it with a hum.

"Sure seems like it," she chuckled. "But look on the brightside! We gave way worse than we got." Jury sighed as Tempest lightly tapped her shoulder, and forced a smile before frowning and looking out at the power chamber.

"Wonder why the lights died just then," she murmured. "And what the heck was that explosion?"

Tempest rubbed her cut one more time with a grunt. "No telling, but I think we'd better take the long way round," she peered back the way they came. "More lights that way."






> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







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!"






> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







Flames rolled down the corridor after me and despite my shield absorbing the worst of the spell, I was still flung forward and smashed into the table at the center of my R&D room, scattering the few tools I'd managed to build here across the floor. As I lay there in pain, the sound of rapidly approaching hooves snapped me to attention. Rolling over, I swept my mechanical arm at the door and a protective, magic-resistant shield crashed down.

"Damn it!" The rainbow-maned bitch spat as she slammed into the shield before whirling back and kicking it. I weakly chortled as she angrily snapped her wings, including the prosthetic one. "Yeah, go on and laugh, Bub." She snorted and looked back down the corridor, where the rest of her team came running.

I groaned as the other uniformed ponies from Canterlot came galloping up, including Sunset Shimmer, Celestia's prized student and the greatest thorn in my side since I came to this God-forsaken planet. She beat her wings once she noticed the shield and began studying it.

"What's wrong, Bedford?" She asked with an angry smirk. "Scared of a few dumb little ponies?"

I grunted and rolled to my feet before approaching. "Even a mindless newborn can spill blood if it's got a knife," I huffed a laugh and tapped the glass. "S'why we baby-proof things, y'know?"

"A very crude simile," came a motherly voice that made me shiver. "But not unexpected when it comes to your views on things." Sunset smirked and stepped to the side as a pair of white hooves in golden armor came into view. Slowly, I looked up and met Celestia's eyes. As always, they were full of a cold, judgemental light. At least, that's how they always looked when she looked at me.

"Fuck you," I spat.

"Charming," she replied. "Though considering you seem to have cornered yourself, I can't blame you."

She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head forward. "Crude words and vitriol are the only recourse left to you after all." I gulped and glanced back over my shoulder. Sure enough, the door all the ponies were blocking was the only exit. Despite that, I smirked.

"Cornered? Sure!" I laughed and marched over to what I'd run into here for. Grabbing and holding it up, all the guard ponies and Sunset recoiled. "But not defenseless." I chortled and rattled Grogar's Bell at them.

I jabbed a finger at Celestia's unimpressed face. "Second any of you come in, BAM," I thrust the bell forward. "You get got."

She blinked and tilted her head. "And then what?" I hesitated and she smiled. "Uncertain? Well, I believe I know what then."

She nodded her head at one of the guards. "This mare, or the one next to her tackles you to the ground," she turned her head to another guard. "Or this fellow breaks your knees."

She turned back to me. "Then we wrestle the bell out of your hands and take back what you stole. Quite simple," her smile turned dark and she touched her horn to the shield. "Or you can spare yourself the pain and surrender, Mr. Bedford."

I shuddered and stepped away as her horn lit up and the glass began to smoke. "You have sixty or so seconds to decide," she added before her spell began in earnest. I continued backing up as the ponies cheered her on and threw insults and jeers my way. A few of the guards began beating their spears against the glass as it started to liquefy around the tip of her horn.

As a result of all this, I wasn't paying attention to where I stepped and tripped on something. I fell with a shout and the bell flew from my hands. The laughter from the guards redoubled as Celestia paused, but once I sat up and looked at her, she wordlessly continued cutting her way in.

I huffed and murmured in dread before looking down at whatever I'd tripped over.

Then I paused.

Slowly, no longer hearing the noise of the tiny horses outside over my thoughts and pounding heart, I reached forward and collected the long, rifle-shaped tool I'd been working on. The first thing I'd concocted using the chaos magic Celesita had locked in the bell after Discord returned years ago.

"What's he doing?" Sunset demanded.

I grabbed the bell, hooked it into my weapon, and began charging it. Celestia paused her spell again before her horn flashed even brighter and the entire glass screen began to creak and hiss.

I rolled the tool and pressed it to my chest. I hadn't had a chance to test it out yet, but I was dead either way. And if it did work? Well..

I could finally wake up from this nightmare.







"You sure the blots are this way?" Jury asked as the three galloped. Flurry flipped on her glasses again and nodded.

"Yep! The smaller one just got even smaller though," she replied. "Does that mean it's losing?"

"Probably," Tempest declared from the head of the group. "Which works for me. Fewer combatants to tangle with." Flurry suddenly gasped.

"Whoa! Like a dozen other big blips just popped up!" Jury and Tempest slid to a halt and gawped at her.

"Where?" Jury demanded. Flurry blanched as she focused on the new magic signals.

"I think the two we've been following are about to bump into them," she replied.







Tirek roared as he tumbled through the column Celestia'd blasted him into. His mechanical arm snapped and went flying off as soon as he hit the ground. Meanwhile, Chrysalis hissed and swept her hooves at the guards and yaks who'd cornered her. As she did, she winced and curled her forehoof to the deep dripping claw marks across her chest.

"These two losers," Ember growled as she licked her slightly green claws. "I was really hoping one of them was Bedlam."

I hummed and watched on as Celestia and Luna dragged Tirek forward and dropped him in front of us. He looked up weakly and met my eyes. "What the heck were you two trying to accomplish?" He winced and glared at Chrysalis as Celestia turned to aid the guards in apprehending her as well.

"Her idea, not mine," he groused. "We got a message that the Crystal Mind was active, and she wanted to use it against all of you."

He grumbled and sighed. "She said we could use it to get these miserable collars off," he looked up at me again, miserably. "And said she'd use mine against me if I didn't help."

"Hold on!" Rainbow spat, rushing up next to him. "You two didn't turn this place back on?" Tirek scowled and rolled his eyes.

"Of course not. I just said this place being active is why we came," he growled and shook his head.

"And they certainly weren't the pair doing all that fighting," Rarity hummed. Off to the side, our attention was drawn as Chrysalis was suddenly and violently slammed into the ground by Celestia before she went still and curled up with a groan. Celestia glared down at her before smiling at me and nodding.

I hummed and considered the two as well as the rest of the lofty hall we'd chased them into. It was full of columns reaching up to the ceiling that bore images of Bedlam, Tempest, and Jury-rig, though those same images had been graffitied by the guards against my wishes. At the points where they met the ceiling, the lights were still active.

"Who the heck else is here?" I murmured.

"Aunty Twily?" I jumped and whirled around. Standing in one of the doors between a pair of columns was Flurry Heart, in her silly Bedlam outfit, and at her sides were.

"You idiot!" Jury-rig screamed and smacked Flurry in the shoulder.

"Unbelievable," Tempest groused as she stepped forward, horn flaring up.

"Sorry," Flurry muttered and hung her head. I blinked, furrowed my brow, and took a confident step forward before addressing the trio.

"Bwuh?" Nailed it.

"Flurry Heart?" Luna squawked. "And with those two criminals?"

"They must've gotten this place workin' again!" Applejack declared with a stomp before wilting. "Well, them two, at least. Dunno what Flurry's doin' here."

"Orders Princess?" Gallus asked as the guards were dividing their attention between Tirek and Chyrsalis, and the other three. I blinked and frowned before glaring at Flurry.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do, young lady," I said. She wilted and hugged the ground.

"I, uh," she whimpered and gave me an anxious smile. "Don't tell mom?" I raised a hoof to direct the guards when a boom echoed through the hall and the lights flickered again.

"Wha-" Then a familiar scream met my ears. Everyone, villains included, directed their attention further down the hall, where the wall was suddenly blown to pieces and a unicorn was sent sprawling through the cloud of dust.

"Starlight?!" I cried and rushed forward to catch her as she tumbled across the floor. I laid next to her and propped her head up with a wing. She was covered in burns and bruises, and her horn had a faintly glowing crack up its length. She opened her eyes and rolled them before she noticed me.

"He-" she choked and shivered. "Run." Before I could ask, and as everypony gathered close in concern, something else met my ears from the dust cloud.

It was singing.

No music came with the singing, and despite how familiar the voice was, it was singing with a rough Southern impression.

"Compromise is MADE outta peace, but history's made outta violence," a bipedal figure appeared through the smoke with its back turned to us. I scowled at him, and the guards formed a circle of spears aimed his way. He continued walking backward, arms swinging and fingers snapping as he approached.

"After the war of the WORDS has ceased, all that's left is the deafenin' si-lence," he suddenly swept one arm around and turned on his heel to face us. His head was bowed and he pointed his arm my way while he tapped his foot and rocked his hips.

"I can't go on! Livin' alone! Now that you're gone!" He swung his arms left and then right before holding his open hand out to me. "You done me wrong, so here's your song, now sing along, baby." He finally looked at up me with a toothy smirk.

"Hey there," Eddy said. Before anypony could respond, Ember was on him and I gasped.

"Wait!" I cried.

"Kill him!" Starlight wheezed.

"Whoa!" Rainbow called.

"Eddy!" Jury screamed. Tirek started laughing and Tempest attempted to rush to his aid. But it was too late and Ember let out a massive roar of flame that swallowed him completely and washed down the path he emerged from.






> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







Flurry and Jury screamed in tandem as the flames boiled out and I brought a hoof to my mouth in shock. It was simultaneously expected and completely unexpected. I clenched my eyes with a quiet moan and turned away.

Then Ember gurgled and the roar of her flames died off.

"Nice shot," Eddy chortled. "Got anything spicier?" My eyes shot open and I turned forward as Rarity screamed and Pinkie gagged.

"What in blazes?" Celestia gasped.

"How.." Luna muttered, taking a step back in surprise. My jaw hung as I looked forward. Eddy had Ember by the throat and was effortlessly holding her with one arm. The flames definitely hit home, as the upper portion of his clothes and skin had been burned back, leaving behind a shiny metal skeleton with glowing green eyes that sneered at us.

"An animunculus," I sighed in relief, shaking my head. "Just another golem." The golem's eyes suddenly locked with mine.

"Wrong," it said. I raised an eyebrow as it jabbed a thumb at itself. "My name is Edward Bedford. And I-"

"Oh, brilliant," Rarity grumbled. "Another decoy he made think it was himself."

"We've seen this trick before Bedlam!" Rainbow spat, stomping her hoof. "Call him out here before we kick your metal rear in!" The golem glared at Rainbow with a unique intensity before snorting.

"Like I said," its arm suddenly snapped out and Ember went flying. "It's Bedford." A crash shook the hall and a rolling cloud of dust exploded from where he'd thrown Ember. Luna hissed and rushed to her alongside several changelings, while the rest of us focused on the golem.

I blinked as I studied the machine. Despite being made of solid metal, its face.. Was very animate. While it had been simply sneering before, it was now properly smiling. Its jaw had actually contorted slightly to give the illusion of expression.

"Where is Eddy," I demanded. The golem chuckled and tilted its head.

"You mean the local guy?" It jabbed a thumb back. "He's here, in his old room. Still in stone, though." I blinked and shared a look with the girls and Celestia.

"Still in stone?" Celestia pressed, causing the golem to laugh again.

"Yep. I just needed to make you think he was out here. Actually setting him loose didn't matter," it declared. Starlight shivered and groaned, and Celestia lay next to us before waving her horn near her. Starlight relaxed with a sigh as the spell took hold, so I glared at the machine.

"What do you mean you needed us to think he was here?" I demanded.

"Are you what reactivated the Citadel?" I turned and saw Jury and Flurry standing near the wall, looking at the golem. Tempest was between them and us.

"Sure am," the golem replied. "Even rebuilt that clunky Crystal Mind of his while I was at it. Needed it to be authentic, y'know?"

"Enough of this," Luna spat as she came forward with Ember leaning on her and fighting off a coughing fit. "Where is your maker?"

The golem's eyes lit up and he glared at Luna. "I don't have one," its arm raised and pointed at her with a click. "And you ain't listening."

It swept its arms out at all of us. "Once again, I'm not Ed Bedlam. I'm Edward Bedford. I'm not an animunculus. I'm a human turned animunculus," it smirked and tilted its head. "And I'm also the guy who gave your boy the schematic for the machine I used to make the change."

I blinked and frowned, but it continued before I could say anything. "And the reason I needed to drag her royal highness out here is cause she hid the one thing I came to this version of Equestria to nab," it held up a hand and rolled its wrist. A sphere of green energy formed which it sunk its hand into and pulled out-

"What the heck?!" Rainbow screamed and Celestia jumped to her hooves. The golem was holding Grogar's Bell, clearly crackling with magical power.

"I know for a fact you've got one of these, and it's got this Equestria's chaos magic in it," the golem said, waving the bell with a smile. "And I'd be ever so grateful if ya'll'd pass it on over."

I looked at the bell and the golem before snorting a laugh. "Nice try, that's clearly-"

"AHHH!" I blinked and turned in tandem with everypony else. The golem had Luna by the horn and activated the bell. My jaw hung loose again as her magic streamed out and was sucked up by the bell, all while the golem stared straight back at us.

The most haunting thing about it all was I never even saw him move and there were no signs he'd teleported. He simply appeared next to her.

"Clearly the real thing, yes I know," he retorted as he let Luna drop. Her mane was no longer flowing. Ember scrambled to her feet and took a swing at the golem, but her attack went wide.. somehow, and the golem snapped its arm out again, smashing his fist into her chest. She tumbled back with a heave and rolled on the ground, holding where he'd struck.

The golem finished by conjuring another sphere of energy and sinking the bell back into it. In an instant, the golem was back where he'd originally been standing. The guards and other creatures formed a protective circle around Luna and Ember but were visibly rattled by the display.

"Alrighty, I hope we're beginning to understand each other a little better," the golem chortled and stood with his hands on his hips, rocking back and forth on his heels. "Or does Papa need to educate the kiddies a lil' more?" A tense silence hung over our group, broken only by Ember's grunts of pain and Celestia's twitching wings as she scowled at the machine.

"O-orders, Princess?" Gallus asked from the circle around Luna.

"Bell," Rutherford grumbled as he looked the golem up and down. "Very bad news."

"Should we fall back?" Thorax muttered to me.

"You're the other Bedlam he mentioned," Tempest murmured. "From the other Equestria."

"What?" I huffed, blinking and turning to look at Tempest.

"Bingo!" The golem cheered and clapped. "We have a winner!" I looked between the golem and Tempest, who wore an expression of wonder and fear.

"What are you talking about?" The golem snorted and clapped his hands.

"Alrighty, guess the answer to my earlier question is 'yes,'" he said, nodding. "Let's start simple. Ed Bedlam came from another world, correct?" I blinked and he slowly nodded again.

"Super. Now! If this world and his world are already established as two separate-"

"Multiverse theory?" I finally gasped.

"Jeezaloo," he quietly laughed and sighed. "Yeah, exactly." My ears shot back and I looked up at Celestia who seemed equally unsettled by the implication.

"Multi-what?" Rainbow asked.

"Multiverse? Ooh, like a really long song?" Pinkie offered. I shook my head and focused on the golem. Or, on the alternate Eddy, I guess.

"No, it-"

"Actually, she's pretty close, but do go on." I flinched as he waved a hand at me. Scowling, I turned to Pinkie.

"It's a theory that countless different versions of our world exist, which differ from our own in one way or another," I explained, occasionally glancing at the alternate Eddy.

"The differences can be subtle, as simple as a version of yourself that wears your mane differently," Celestia added, herself focused firmly on the Eddy. "Or as drastic as the dominant life form being completely different."

"Ding ding ding," Alt Eddy said, wagging a finger at us. "And I myself come from a slightly different Earth, to a slightly different Equestria, to here." He swept his hand at the ground.

"That's.. Wow," Rainbow murmured.

"Shoot, I don't know about all that, but even if'n it's all true, sorta disappointin' you still turned out so rotten," Applejack spat, looking him up and down. "Least from where I'm standin'."

"I agree!" Rarity added. "And what sort of world did you originally come from if you're.. well, a machine?" She shivered as Alt Eddy growled and tilted his head.

"Again, we ain't listening," he said with barely restrained frustration. "I said I used a machine to change from human to machine. Then, after making contact with your boy, I gave him the schematic."

I gasped. "The transformer."

He shook his head with a grunt. "Boy, oh, boy, and I thought my quadrupeds were dumb."

Rainbow grit her teeth and stamped a hoof. "Tough talk comin-"

click

BANG

I flinched at the ear-splitting bang, and whipped my head around to see Rainbow rearing up on her hind legs. Her wings flapped and spasmed desperately before she collapsed onto her back with a gurgle. My jaw hung open as I saw all the blood streaming from her face, which was riddled with cuts and puncture wounds. She muttered and clenched her teeth before bringing her hooves to her face. After just a moment she fell into convulsing stifled cries of pain.

Looking back, I saw Alt Eddy had his arm raised. A long, smoking barrel was extended out of his palm. He pumped his arm at the elbow, producing a scraping springy creak, and a little smoking metal tube popped out of his wrist. He leered more hatefully at her for a moment than I thought was possible for a machine before smiling at me and aiming his arm at me.

"So, about my bell?"






> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







"Get the wounded passed the gate!" Gallus roared as the guards and yaks hauled those who couldn't stand out of the Citadel's main entrance, including Starlight, Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity.

"Don't run too far!" Bedford cackled as he slowly walked after us. "The wounded ranks are still growing!" I grit my teeth and blasted a spell at him. Just like the last three, it had no effect. I glared at the golem as he approached. His metal frame wasn't even scratched or smoking.

"What the heck is goin' on?" Applejack panted as she gazed at the metal monster. "Fella's just ignoring everything-"

"Look out!" Pinkie squealed, being the only one who could sense what was about to happen. I threw a shield up which narrowly caught the little metal pellets aimed at Applejack. We all winced as his compact powder weapon popped again. Pinkie shoved Applejack. "Complain about this cheater later! Keep running!" I cast another glare Bedford's way before we hurried along after the soldiers.

As we ran under the skylight, the sun was brightly shining down on us, confirming that Celestia had finished her spell to clear the cloud cover above the island. I smirked at the sight as we passed through the gate and onto the exterior plaza where a weary-looking Luna and Ember were waiting.

"Quickly, to the ship," she huffed at Applejack and Pinkie, before holding a wing to me. "Where is Flurry Heart."

I frowned and glanced back. "I don't know. She disappeared with Tempest and Jury-rig once the fight started, just like Tirek and Chrysalis," I replied and looked up at the sky, shielding my eyes with a wing. "Once the ship takes off, whether what Celestia's about to do works or not, I'm going to come back to find her."

"Guy just laughed off my dragon fire," Ember growled, her attention shifting from the door to the sky. "Dunno how he'll react to that though."

"All due respect, Dragon Lord," Luna replied, turning her gaze skyward as well. "But the sun is a bit more than fire."

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

I shivered and slowly looked back inside. He was still taking his time pursuing us. Still smiling. Still playing around.

I scowled. "Let's see you laugh this one off," I thought before we ran. We made it to the far end of the plaza before turning back. He emerged from the Citadel, and looked up at the sky, though his pace didn't slow by any noticeable degree.

I smirked and looked up. Celestia had cleared the clouds and pulled the sun just a little closer than usual. I'd seen her do this only once before, back when we captured Bedlam and defeated KS 6. The closer the sun was, the quicker she could call down its power as well as the easier she could manipulate that power.

The technique let her do all kinds of scary things, from melting entire cities to finely shredding Bedlam's war suit without seriously injuring the human inside. Glancing back at Bedford, I couldn't help but snort a laugh. He'd paused and was focusing on the sun, as well as the faint form of Celestia as she circled above, gathering power for her spell, and-

I blinked and then recoiled with a yelp. The entire center of the plaza was enveloped in a light that was too bright and too hot to look at. I worked a spell in front of us which dimmed the light enough for us to squint and look forward. That was when I saw her.

She was spiraling down the length of the column of light with one wing tracing its edge and steadily setting it spinning. The column began to grow narrow, turning into more of a fiery drill, focusing all its power on a single point.

And that point was Bedford.

When Celestia finally touched down, she pulled her wing across her chest and then snapped it out. All at once the fiery drill bulged and then expanded back upwards. The entire plaza was scrubbed clean of masonry, leaving behind a layer of dust or sand that rapidly rolled away to the very edge of the plaza.

After a few more moments, the column warbled and then shrunk back towards the sun, leaving behind a smoldering-

"Inconceivable," Luna squeaked.

My jaw dropped at the sight of Bedford, standing with his hands on his hips in the middle of the cloud of black smoke rising off the spot he was standing on. He wasn't even scratched or glowing from the heat.

Celestia recoiled, but he was faster and grabbed her by the horn. Pulling her closer he brought his other fist back and-

"NO!" Luna and I screamed in unison.

There was a crack and a bang as his fist suddenly snapped forward. Celestia was sent sprawling off to the side. Bedford turned towards us with a smile and tapped his head with her horn before winking.

As we looked at him in horror, he resumed his pursuit, completely ignoring Celestia. His attention was solely on me. I jolted and then screamed. I couldn't believe how stupid I was not to realize it.

"Get Celestia to the ship and go," I heaved, taking a few steps forward.

"What?" Ember asked. "What about you?"

"Twilight?" Luna murmured in a weak, uneasy voice.

"I'm the one he's after," I said before beating my wings and flying directly over him. Sure enough, he stopped and tracked me through the air before turning and following me back to the Citadel. I watched him toss aside Celestia's horn and grit my teeth. I glanced back at the plaza just before passing into the Citadel and saw Luna and Ember collecting Celestia, who staggered to her hooves with a dazed look.

Seeing her reach up and touch the base of her broken horn made me clench my eyes shut, and I forced myself to look away just as I slipped inside. I landed on top of the raised platform and turned back to make sure he was still following me.

"Peekaboo," he chirped from right behind me. I gasped and instinctively teleported away just as he reached out to grab me. I stumbled upon reappearing and looked at him in shock. "Didn't see that coming, did you?"

"You really are just playing around," I groused.

"More or less," he chortled. "'Course, when I've already got the winning hand, I can afford to be a little silly, y'know?"

[Sure do,] came a familiar voice and giggle from just behind me.







"Holy smokes," Flurry whispered as she, Tempest, and Jury stared down at the plaza from a high balcony. "I knew Great Aunt Celestia was strong, but wow."

"Uh-huh," her two companions meekly replied, looking down at the flash-fried plaza with wide, terrified eyes. The two shared a look before Flurry yelped.

"No way! He's alive?!"

"What?" Jury squawked before rearing upon the balcony ledge and glaring down at the battle below. "Unbelievable." Tempest whistled as Bedford emerged unscathed and grabbed Celestia.

"Makes a girl wonder what the heck he's made out of," she chortled before gasping and recoiling. "He- Her horn."

Her face twisted in a venomous snarl and her horn crackled. "That miserable..." Jury swept around and brought her hoof to Tempest's chest.

"Let's not lose focus," she said. "We need to hurry and find Eddy." Tempest glared down at the plaza for a few moments longer before pulling away with a grunt. Flurry meanwhile continued to watch with her ears pressed back.

"What's Aunty Twily doing?" She murmured.

"Who cares? Let's move," Tempest spat. Flurry frowned and then gasped when she saw Twilight rush inside, pursued by Bedford.

"She's going to fight him alone?! Is she crazy?!" She turned around to face her companions. "We have to help her!" The pair paused and shared an incredulous look before glaring at her.

"She'll be fine," Tempest replied. "But even if she won't be, what do you think we can do?" Flurry recoiled and her eyes darted around in thought.

"Celestia just nailed him with what looked like everything she had, he outright ignored all of your aunt's spells, and it's a safe bet he's just as smart as our Bedlam," Tempest added, shaking her head with a snort. "So the best way to help your aunt is to find our Bedlam, and help him get the Citadel under our control."

Flurry scowled and raised a hoof. "B-but!"

Jury shrugged and turned to head inside. "I guess you don't want to help him much after all, huh?" Flurry paused and stared at her with wide eyes before looking at Tempest. The partially-mechanical unicorn pursed her lips with a hum before shrugging as well and following after Jury-rig. Flurry's jaw hung slightly for a moment before she bit her lip and looked over her shoulder at the plaza.

Her great-aunts were slowly making their way up the road away from the Citadel, both of them visibly worn out even from this distance. After watching them for a moment, she sniffled and grunted before galloping off after the two villains.







I shivered from the ache in my neck and slowly opened my eyes, immediately regretting the decision as I was met with KS 6's own gaze.

[Mornin' Sunshine~,] she purred. I groaned and tried to sit up, only to discover I was strapped to a table. I tried to work my magic, but the flow stopped just at the base of my horn, a sure sign they'd put a magic inhibitor on me.

"Kinda shocked you didn't just kill me," I murmured. The golem giggled and shook her head.

[Nah, Mr. Bedford needs you alive so you can tell him where you hid the bell.] I jumped as best I could when the villain in question suddenly leaned into view all at once.

"And, Baby? You are most certainly gonna tell me," he said with a grin. I looked him up and down. He was wearing a weird, metal replica of the outfit Eddy always wore.

"How do you keep doing that?" I muttered, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "Popping in and out like that?" He hummed and held a finger to his lips.

"Uh-huh, tryin' to pry at my secrets in the hopes of figuring out how my powers work for the inevitable rematch, right?" He chortled as I scowled, then shook his head before raising his arm, which clicked and spread open. "Well, the fun thing is, the Phase Distorter I equipped this body with is only one of my tricks, so there's really no harm in telling you."

Inside his forearm was a flat gem set in a bronze rune-decorated disk. The gem spun briefly before his arm closed up. "That little beauty is the Phase Distorter," his left eye flashed red and a projection appeared on the table in front of me. It was of a sphere out of which more spheres flowed in a neverending line. "When it switches on it lets me tamper with my personal timeline." One of the spheres suddenly jumped out of order and leaped to the front of the line.

"I can effectively remove the space in between now and then, or drag then straight to myself," he leaned closer as he cut the projection. "Has the lovely effect of letting me skip over the parts in time where I woulda gotten hurt, y'know?" I stared wide-eyed at him.

"How in the world did you-"

He laughed and shrugged. "Pretty damn easy to find the time and resources to make shit like that happen when you've got a world of mechanical slaves to help you out, y'know?" I blinked and he hummed with a smile. "Right, we never got that far, did we?"

He rested his chin on his hand. "Let's see, I told you I made myself an animunculus, but that was about it, right?" I didn't respond but he nodded. "Let's start with the why. I changed myself to avoid being killed or worse."

"The Celestia I'm familiar with was much less kind or forgiving with guys like me, y'see," he explained, casting a projection on the table. It was of Celestia, but with a more severe expression and in armor. "Most non-ponies who fuck up only get one more chance. With a warning." The projection changed strangely, but I gasped when I realized it was from his point of view.

She was pulling his arm off at the shoulder.

"So when I continued to fuck up after that, I knew I was fucked," the projection displayed Celestia on the other side of a glass screen, burning a hole through it. I recognized Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer at her sides, the latter of whom was an alicorn. The projection changed again and there was now what looked like a small version of the transformer pressed in his chest. "So, I took a few extreme measures to avoid dying. I had too much work to do, y'see."

The projection shifted again. He was looking up at a furious Celestia who was pulling apart his mechanical body with her magic. He nodded at me. "Seems pretty fatal, right? But here's the trick," the projection shifted as he chuckled. We were now watching Celestia rip his body apart from the corner of the room. "My mind was now part of my system and I could just leap from body to body with no issue."

He laughed and bumped KS 6's hoof with his fist. "Once I was free of my mortal flesh, it made my work way easier. I made lots of advancements in record time since I could now directly and manually control all my machines," he smirked and the projection cut for a moment. "It made our rematch after a year way more.. Beneficial." The projection came back on and I gagged and clenched my eyes at what he showed. I shuddered as he laughed and slowly opened my eyes. He'd cut the projection and was smiling at me.

"Gotta admit, I think I'm seeing some of why he liked you so much," he purred. I recoiled as much as possible as he reached out and gently petted the side of my face. "Watching you squirm as I lay all this out is just rich." I scowled and he snorted.

"So, yeah, once that went down, toppling the rest of Ponykind wasn't anything special," he rapidly flashed images of himself rampaging across his version of Equestria. I clenched my eyes shut again as too many of the images flashing by were... Just awful. "That was also around the time I realized that instead of just enslaving fleshy things to build my machines, I could just start making fleshy things into my machines." I looked up at him and he smirked.

"Which of course, made toppling the planet easier too," more horrible images flashed by. "It only took ten years, and the entire world was safely mechanized and a part of me."

He glowered as the images stopped, lingering on a view of an entire planet from space. "And that's when I hit my snag." The projection cut and he brought his hand to his forehead with a sigh. He was quiet for a minute or two, before looking me in the eyes again.

"I had my world's chaos magic, but that wasn't nearly enough to do what I wanted," he grit his teeth with a grunt. "And by the time I had the whole planet, I knew my theory on the universe and everything beyond was true."

I shivered as his hand was suddenly and gently petting my mane. "I could feel the universe straining against me. Trying desperately to fix what I'd done," his eyes wandered as he gave a weary smile. "But it didn't have anyone left to use."

His eyes snapped back to me. "That's when I met him," a new projection popped up. This time of a screen full of text. "Or rather, when he met me." I blinked and squinted to try and read the text.



[>Did it work?]

[>Who is this?]

[>Holy shit, it worked!]

[>I will fucking kill you.]

[>Right, sorry. My name is Edward Bedlam, the greatest thaumaturgic mind in this or any universe. Who am I speaking to?]

[>Edward Bedford. The real greatest thaumaturgic mind in this or any universe.]



"Ah, damn it, Eddy," I grunted.

"Yeah, he's a real charmer!" Bedford chortled. "But he gave me hope." More text flew by as the two spent what seemed like a few weeks or maybe months chatting, growing progressively annoyed with each other and sharing evil ideas.

"You taught him how to make the Free Thinkers?" I growled.

"Yep! And in exchange, he shared his idea for self-repairing machines using nano-tech!" Bedford laughed darkly. "But to be honest, I was way more interested in how the hell he managed to communicate with me."

The projection cut and he leaned forward with a grim expression. "But he wasn't feeling very generous. Or maybe he was just suspicious of me, who knows."

He sighed and stood up straight, drumming his hand on the table. "Once I learned he had his own bell full of chaos magic, I knew I had to find a way over her to nab it," he hummed and smiled at me. "And three years ago, you all created the perfect opening for me to do so."

I shuddered as he petted me again. "You locked him in stone, so he wasn't around to keep an eye out for me prying at his systems. I even managed to save and reprogram his rogue little ai here!" He laughed and nudged KS 6 before rolling his head back and forth with a hum. "'Course, I dunno if he even really knew that's what I was trying to do, but oh well."

He crouched and cupped my face with his hands. "I'm here now, and you've got my bell," he smiled. "So I can finally do what I've been gunning for this whole time."

"Huh?" I squeaked, regretting it as soon as I saw his smile.

"Your pink friend was pretty spot on, like I said," he took a heavy breath. "Music, song, and all that shit is pretty integral to this whole slice of the meta cosmos. Wanna know why?" My eyes twitched as he leaned closer.

"Because, in the end, when we peel back all the layers, what we discover about Harmony is not only that it's sentient, but it's got designs all its own for us all," he suddenly shot back and held his hands up. "It's like a stage play or a musical. One song. One verse. Uni-verse. Alternate takes on that song? Multiple verses. Multi-verse. Feel me?" His expression fell and he took a rumbling breath.

"Now here's where we get to my frustration," he cracked his neck. "BECAUSE it's all part of Harmony's script, there are certain core elements that remain the same."

He gestured with his hands. "A is A, B is B," he scowled. "And no matter how many permutations and alterations of the infinite meta cosmos you dig through, Edward Bedford is Edward Bedford. Even if 'accidents happen' and those elements get swapped around, nothing of consequence really happens."

He snorted and waved a hand at me. "It's like cutie-marks, y'know? Predestined. Scripted. Even the alternate you had a place in that script, though her special talent was in bookkeeping I think," he shrugged. "Still you. Still on script. No real change that has any meaning, since any change is predicted by Harmony." I blinked as I processed his rambling. Some of it made sense, but his.. tone made it hard to focus. He was so.. Bitter.

"What I find most absurd about it all is what happens when you try to live a little against the grain, though," he said after a moment. His eyes locked with mine. "I know of five other Edward Bedfords in the multiverse, not counting myself or your boy." He leaned in.

"Know how many are happy, healthy, successful, or alive even? Just one," his expression was even. "The one who stayed on script and played nice. The one who lived the happy little pony way of life, just like Harmony wanted."

His head tilted at a ninety-degree angle. "The others? Well! Two of them got caught in an explosion, one got eaten by a dragon, one got magical cancer and is on his deathbed," he chortled and slapped himself. "I had to mechanize myself to not die, and your boy got turned to stone."

"Because we tried to live a little," he hissed. "Because we saw the happy little pony life and said it was bullshit."

He barked a laugh. "For Christ's sake! YOUR Edward actually tried to improve this place! But he did it the human way, didn't he?" He growled. "And for that, Harmony tells him to go fuck himself, letting or making all sorts of coincidence and contrivance come about to do him in in the end."

He leaned on the table and drummed it with his fingers. "I was never a religious man back home. Way back home, I mean. So when I started to realize how this dream of Harmony's was set up, it really shook me," he looked into my eyes again. With fear for the first time. "I mean hell, this is about as close a thing to God as I've ever seen. Everything that happens or could happen is predicted and manipulated. No action or choice really matters. All for some unknown, allegedly positive purpose."

He went silent for a minute or two, allowing me to digest everything he'd said. "But you know? Most folk, those less provocative and fascinating for instance, might see the face of God and flinch," he smiled at me. "I've seen the face of God and decided to take a swing."

"Huh?" I murmured and grunted when he cupped my face again.

"That's why I need your bell. The chaos magic inside it," he hissed with a grin. "Discord could never make himself stronger than Harmony, even with his practically infinite power."

He laughed hard. "But infinity times infinity? Condensed to a single point? Oh hoh hoh! That might have some surprising results."

I blinked and whimpered at that last point. "C-condensing magic like that would-"

"Explode due to effectively creating its own unstable magical atmosphere? You betcha. Explode hard," he snickered and I winced as he squeezed my face. "Explode everywhere. In every direction, and keep exploding. And exploding. And exploding until everything that is, everything that was, and everything that COULD POSSIBLY BE."

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Is dead. And the whole of Harmony's shitty little stage play is wiped out," I looked at him in terror as he raised one finger. "Because if choice has no meaning since all choice is just a part of some grand musical production for the entertainment of God?"

"I prefer silence. Now!" He released me and cracked his neck. "You've got the key to my plan hidden somewhere."

He raised his hands which crackled with energy that danced along the table and made me wince. "And I'm going to pry that somewhere out of you," he laughed grimly. "You might be immortal, but that just means I can get really wild here." I whimpered and struggled against my bonds as KS 6 and he laughed.

His hands slowly reached out for me, lightning leaping from his fingertips as they did when suddenly an explosion rocked the room and the lights cut off.

"Son of a bitch, someone's fucking with the Mind," he spat. His eyes lit up, providing light which he scanned the room with. "6, you watch her, I'll be right back." He stomped out of the room, but the second he crossed the threshold he was clotheslined and then blasted away.

"Grab her!" Tirek roared as he dove into the room and tackled KS 6. Chrysalis flew in and ripped me free of my bonds before rushing back for the door. She stopped short and dropped me as Bedford was on his feet and blocking the way.

"Hey now-" She cut him off by tackling him to the ground. Or at least she tried to. Instead, she was pinned to the ground when he suddenly appeared behind her. I gasped and looked between her and Tirek.

"RUN FOR IT, YOU IDIOT!" She screamed. "He's insane!"

"Hurtful, but probably true!" Bedford cackled as I galloped out of the room.






> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







Jury was torn. On one hoof, she was beside herself with rage at the sight of Bedlam's room. She'd spent months arguing with him until he finally caved and installed an enchanted cloud-make mattress, but the mattress was nowhere to be seen. Instead, based on the deep black patch under his destroyed bedframe, somepony had soiled the enchantment holding the cloud together and turned it to rain.

His closet was painted over with the words 'Idiot only ever wore one outfit!' and his mirror had a caricature of his face on it. The rest of the room was just littered with trash.

However, on the other hoof, she was relieved by the sight of the petrified human himself sitting in the center of the room. She slowly trotted up to the statue and sat down, looking up at his hanging head and face which was obscured by his hands.

His posture was different, but in most other respects it was identical to the day she'd first met him, years ago in Canterlot. She shuddered with a quiet moan and sniffled.

"Heya, Handsome," she quietly said with a smile and traced her hoof down his leg. "Nice to see you again." She hung her head when he did respond, but then looked to her side at Tempest who gave her a reassuring smile.

Jury perked up slightly before standing. "Alrighty," she turned to Flurry who was looking at the petrified human with wonder. "Go ahead."

The alicorn blinked. "What?"

"Unstone him," Tempest replied. "Your Twilight's niece, so you should be able-"

"I don't know the spell to do that," Flurry grumbled and shook her head.

"You're kidding?" Jury squawked, causing Flurry to shrug. "What the heck is with you alicorns?!"

She groaned and stomped her hoof before pacing. "Seventy-five percent of your family's solution to problems is putting them in stone, so I figured that spell was like a family heirloom or something!"

"Uh, I mean, it kinda is, but I never learned it," Flurry muttered. She wilted as Jury glared at her before holding her hooves up. "I was always more interested in machines like Bedlam makes!" Jury held her glare before throwing her head back with a groan.

"Great," she muttered.

"Look on the bright side," Tempest said, taking a breath, then raising the entire statue with her magic and a smile. "At least we've finally got him back."







Chrysalis winced as she attempted to crawl away, but cried out as Bedford stepped on her already broken rearleg.

"Hey now," the monster chirped, leaning in and grabbing her mane. "You two decided to take a swing at me. Don't go crying 'cause you weren't ready." Chrysalis groaned and glanced over her shoulder at him, but couldn't help but see the unmoving, smoking form of Tirek just beyond and the Twilight-shaped golem sitting on his back.

"Gotta say I'm shocked," Bedford hummed as he jostled her mane and drew her attention back to himself. "You actually sacrificed yourselves for Twilight Sparkle? Near as I can tell, she's this Equestria's Sunset Shimmer, so, y'know." The changeling shuddered, wincing at the pain dancing across her body and radiating from the bare patches of her flesh where he'd shattered her chitin.

"We-" She grunted. "We thought we could escape with her."

She huffed and struggled for breath. "But we heard your insane plan, and couldn't just sit by," she groaned and struggled to form a smile. "Although, if you'd consider focusing your omnicidal scheme on just the ponies, I might be willing to make an exception." Bedford recoiled and roared with laughter.

"Hoo boy! Lookit you, still acting like you've got leverage?" He chortled and shook his head. "Counter offer: How about I show you how easily I can manipulate your Edward's machines?" Chrysalis murmured and clenched her teeth.

"W-what?" She whimpered. The golem's eyes lit up for a moment, and then she gasped. The gems on her collar flashed, starting with the set on the back of her neck, before lighting up in a sequence towards the front. The collar beeped in sync with the lights and then hissed as a faint green steam rolled out from it. Chrysalis' eyes shuddered as slowly her body fell away and her severed head remained in the golem's grip.

"Kinda wild," he hummed, holding her up and studying her shocked face. "As soft as he is with the ponies, he still concocts some pretty fucked up tools of death." He chortled and dropped her head as her eyes slowly closed.

"Maybe there's hope for him yet," Bedford laughed as he turned to KS 6. The pony golem hopped off Tirek and stood at attention. "I'm going to fix the Crystal Mind. Go wake your sisters and get after Twilight."







I galloped as fast as I dared but had to pause now and again to make sure I didn't trip over anything. This was the longest the lights had stayed off since we got here. My racing and jumbled thoughts certainly didn't help.

That monster was planning murder of an unprecedented scale, and Flurry Heart was somewhere in this fortress, with no less than four other villains still running around. There was also the fact that my magic was still restrained, and there was a non-zero chance everypony had escaped already.

Oh right! And I'm also not nearly as familiar with this place as I thought! That's also pretty good. I squinted into the darkness around me and down the three paths of the intersection I'd arrived at. I had no clue where in the complex Bedford had brought me, and with the power out the displays were useless. I grit my teeth and anxiously glanced back over my shoulder. The only positive in this situation was that if any machines came stomping after me, I'd be able to see their eyes glowing in the dark. A part of me also hoped I'd see Tirek or Chrysalis come running, which only rattled me more.

"We really are in trouble if those two are a positive," I huffed before turning and running down one of the corridors. I didn't make it far before I finally saw something familiar: A wall of windows overlooking a huge chamber full of crystals. "The power supply!" Nodding to myself I turned to-

"Aunty Twily!" Discover Flurry Heart right as she entered the corridor and flashed a light at me. Jury and Tempest were still with her, the latter of whom was holding Eddy's statue.

"It's her!" Jury yelled before squinting. "Is that a magic inhibitor?" My ears shot back.

"No?" I peeped. Eddy's statue hit the ground with a thud and Tempest shot towards me. Her mechanical legs propelled her faster than I could physically react to, at least without my magic. I heaved as she slammed into me and threw me to the ground. I gasped and coughed as she stood with her hoof pressed against the back of my neck and leaned in.

"Lucky us," she purred. "Your niece can't let Ed out, but I'm sure you'd be able to with some motivation." I struggled under her augmented strength and nearly managed to push her off when she was suddenly thrown off me with a grunt of surprise.

"What the heck are you doing?!" Jury screamed. I sprang to my hooves and turned to see Flurry desperately smacking Tempest with her hooves until the latter snarled and rolled to the side. The second her hooves touched the ground, she shot into Flurry and whirled around to smack her in the throat with a metal rear hoof.

Flurry choked and sprawled back, coughing and sputtering as she tumbled. Tempest snorted angrily and leaped at her, but this time I was ready. I beat my wings and slammed her with all my might in the middle of her leap, and we both went tumbling over. I managed to pull away and rolled further than she did.

Flurry, meanwhile, got back to her hooves with a wince as she tried to suppress her coughing fit, and lit her horn up. "Don't- Don't you dare hurt Aunty Twily again!" I met her eyes with surprise once I was standing again, while Tempest leered hatefully at her.

"You indecisively little-"

[Hello, everypony!] We all flinched and looked back at the passage I'd come from.

My jaw dropped. "Holy-"

"RUN!" Jury screamed as she strained and dragged Eddy's statue with her. Flurry and I took off as Tempest took the statue from Jury and they galloped after us.

KS 6 giggled before she and the dozens of replica 6s she'd brought flew after us.






> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







Slowly, my mind took hold of consciousness. I took a breath and let it out in a heavy sigh as I adjusted the comforter lying atop me. For a moment, I felt a smile cross my face, but it vanished almost immediately as I suddenly had the life slammed out of me by something stomping me in the stomach. My eyes shot open and I glared at the source, who smiled cheekily at me in response.

"Time to get up," Twilight chirped, standing with all four hooves planted on my stomach. "You're gonna be late." I scowled and turned towards my nightstand just as my alarm began ringing. A purple magic haze grabbed and switched it off, causing me to return my glare to Twilight as she hopped off my bed.

"Let's go!" She demanded. I let out a grunt and pulled myself up, rubbing my face as I stood. Twilight giggled and trotted to the door while I shuffled towards my bathroom. As she left, she magically hit the switch on my wall, sliding the metal curtains on my window open and letting in both the sun and the view of Canterlot outside. Just before slipping into the bathroom to prepare for the day, I spared a glance out the window.

The streets were being swept clean by my golems, some of which were hauling bins and paused in front of each residence so the locals could dump their trash. Teams of a few dozen golems were being directed by earpiece-wearing pegasi to move clouds over the fields beyond the walls where other pegasi hovered, waiting to kick said clouds, producing rain over the fields.

I flinched as a window-washing golem popped up and began squeegeeing my window. Just beyond, I spied the morning hover carriage departing from the station to the base of the mountain. All across the city, it was a picturesque merging of machine and life, both halves complimenting and empowering the other.

Once again, and without any purple alicorns to disrupt it, a smile formed on my face.







"Okie-dokey!" Twilight chirped as I emerged from my room before she blinked. "That's what you're wearing?" I paused and looked myself over again. Just a simple set of khakis and a short-sleeved blue button-up.

"What?" I shrugged. She leveled an annoyed look my way.

"Eddy, representatives from Foenum and the Royal Family of Thicket are going to be here," she retorted before tilting her head with an expectant leer. "Don't you think you should try looking your best?" I snorted a laugh.

"I always look my best by virtue of being me," I said with a snap of my fingers. She rolled her eyes, and I smirked. "Besides, the deer live a pretty old-school lifestyle, don't they? They'll probably appreciate discovering that Equestria's Minister of Advancement is so down-to-earth!" She held her annoyed stare, but I started down the hall before she could say anything. After striding alone with my hands folded behind my back for a few moments, I heard a sigh and a set of hooves frantically running to catch up to me.

"Well, Jury-rig and Rarity were putting a lot of thought into the stage's design for your speech," she fluttered up and punched my shoulder. "So, if your 'down-to-earth' style clashes at all, that's between you and them!"

I chortled and rubbed the spot she smacked. "Hardly a threat! This outfit's still one Rarity made for me, and Jury still owes me for taking the bullet all those years ago!"

Twilight flinched. "Taking the what?"

I turned and smiled at her. "You remember? I let you girls finally capture me in exchange for letting her and Tempest go?"

She furrowed her brow and tilted her head. "Huh?" I paused and stared at her.

"Just before you turned me to stone." She gasped and recoiled.

"We never did that!" My jaw dropped and I took a step away from her. "What the heck are you talking about, Eddy?" She fluttered closer to me, but I continued backing up.

"Are you okay?" I slowly shook my head as I retreated before tripping over something and falling over. Twilight caught me her magic with a gasp and gently lowered me to the ground. "Eddy?"

I stared at her in shock and slowly scanned the hall. That was when I realized it was all slightly hazy. My jaw hung for a moment before I closed it with a sigh.

"I remember now," I huffed as the hall melted away and Twilight grew fuzzy.

"Eddy?" She said with a warble.

"This is a dream."

"edDy?" I curled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them.

"The same dream I've had since you locked me in here." Everything melted away, until finally I was in a dark void, with a small blot of purple light faintly calling my name. "The same situation. The same place. The same future I could have had. Is that right?" I glared at the purple blot as it vanished.

"A glimpse at what could have been," I grunted and rested my forehead on my knees. "To punish me. Torture me. Is that right?" No response came, just like all the other times.

I caught on to what was happening pretty quickly this time. Usually, I make it to the speech and then the following night, where Jury, Tempest, and I have drinks together and I notice Tempest isn't partially mechanical anymore. Sometimes, I forget my speech and realize I never had one to begin with.

And other times, I remember that Twilight would never smile like that at me again.

Taking a shaky breath through clenched teeth, I struggled to hold on. Struggled against the dream. Struggled against whatever in God's name they were doing to me out there. Struggled against the hot tears falling from my eyes.

It wasn't that the dream was bad. It was great. It was everything I could have hoped for, and more than I could imagine. And that was the problem.

It was just a dream.







Slowly, my mind took hold of consciousness. I took a breath and let it out in a heavy sigh as I adjusted the comforter lying atop me. For a moment, I felt a smile cross my face, but it vanished almost immediately as I suddenly had the life slammed out of me by something stomping me in the stomach. My eyes shot open and I glared at the source, who smiled cheekily at me in response.

"Time to get up," Twilight chirped.






> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







"My lady! RUN!" One of the minotaurs screamed as she was pulled off her hooves and impaled on Bedford's striking fist. As his arm pierced through, his fist unfurled and a narrow barrel slid forward. A bang roared out and a spray of deadly metal tore through the air and into the soft flesh of the other minotaurs.

With a cackle, Bedford flung his impaled victim aside and stomped forward. Despite their loyalty, the assassin maids who'd followed Lace this far knew when a fight was hopeless. Thus, as the metal monster strode deeper into the Crystal Mind's chamber, they scattered like flies, leaping into the shadows of other corridors or scaling into the dark rafters above.

At the center of the huge dome-shaped room, just before the glowing green spherical gemstone, and at the one of the consoles connected to it, Lace stood with her back to Bedford. Her eyes were firmly locked on the screen in front of her, and her face was drawn in an expression of wonder and horror.

In the corner of the screen, she saw the reflection of Bedford as he stalked towards her, and just behind him she saw one of her last maids still bold enough to challenge him. As she had seen a few times before since the monster entered the room, his left arm opened for just a moment. The maid took a swing at him and her blade passed right through him harmlessly, before he raised his arm and his entire torso rotated to strike her. The poor girl fell to the ground with a broken neck, but his eyes remained locked on Lace.

She glanced down at the belt of her tunic, where a narrow empty bottle hung. She'd drank its contents almost half an hour ago to heal the hole in her side. Right next to it, hidden in the fold of her tunic, were a few knives, some compact explosives with flint tabs on their wicks, and one unique tool that was her only hope for escaping alive.

She took a steadying breath and focused on the screen before her. "Like what you see?" Then she shivered and glanced back over her shoulder at the metal monster looming behind her.

"I'm not entirely certain I comprehend what I see," she replied with a frown and gestured to the screen. "However, unless I am mistaken, these are some of your memories?"

"Bingo," the machine beamed. "Packing part of myself into this thing was the easiest way to get it running. So, you go digging around, you find some of me."

He rested his head on her shoulder and draped his left arm on her. "Neat, huh?" She scowled and studied the screen again. It displayed a vast country viewed from a high place, with miles and miles of metal tubes and towers stretching out in every direction. Just below the point of view were scores upon scores of identical bipedal golems, filling the streets of a dark and foggy metal city. Each machine's eyes flickered faintly, which was the only indication at all that the screen was displaying an animated file, not an image.

For across the entire scene, there was no motion anywhere. No clouds. No birds. No wind. Just metal and the varied yet uniform shapes it had been worked into.

"This is your home?" She dared to ask. "The other world you came from?"

"Sure is," he chirped, tapping the screen. "And them there's my boys. Waiting for me, on the off chance I need more firepower to pull off what I'm here to do."

He chuckled darkly. "At least, that's some of them. Got a whole planet full of others to work with, y'know? And this," the screen flickered and revealed a sight that made Lace gasp. He hummed and rolled his head forward to glare into the side of her face. "But, y'know, how'd you guess I'm not from 'round here?"

She hummed, avoiding his eyes. "I was watching your explanation to the Princess through the pony golem."

He snickered. "And you killed the lights when you heard what I'm aiming for, huh?"

"It's quite unseemly."

"Agree to disagree," he gently drummed his fingers on her shoulder. "You seem oddly calm compared to your girls, though, even now that your in arm's reach. What's up with that?"

Lace snorted and leaned on the console. "I was denied the throne of Minos in favor of my little brother, by virtue of him being male. I spent years scheming until I ensnared a petty warlord I could use to claim my birthright," she glared at him, drawing his eyes to her own. "And when I finally managed to take my city, it was only so long as I played at being that idiot's wife, all while another male lorded over us both."

She snorted a thin gout of steam into his face. "I am accustomed to powerlessness and have learned how to endure the pains it brings," she added drawing a smirk from the monster. "And I am accustomed to you. Or at least, a version of you."

She giggled daintily and pressed her forehead to his. "Though, if I may say, my lord? I found him more of a worthy challenge."

"Is that right?" The machine scoffed, the barrel of his weapon sliding out, aimed at her side.

"Beg pardon, but yes," she giggled again. "For he at least knew never to come so close."

A bang roared from Bedford's right arm, but as the metal pellets sprayed out, Lace was already mobile. Using his left arm and unwavering strength as leverage, she swung herself up, avoiding the gun blast. As she did, she slipped the disrupting wand from her belt and drove it into his left arm, lengthwise.

"Fucking," Bedford muttered as the gemstone core of his phase distorter crackled and then went dim. Lace, meanwhile, vaulted over him and kicked off the console, launching herself towards the exit. Bedford struggled to pull the disrupting wand from his arm as the tool crackled, hampering the magical energy keeping his body moving, and visibly stunting his actions.

While he was so distracted, Lace pivoted in the air and flung a few of her explosives towards him, pulling their tabs as she did. As they rolled through the air, just as many knives stabbed into them and sent them flying to the console where they were pinned. Bedford barked a laugh before blasting his left arm off with his weapon and then diving away from the console just as the explosives went off.






> Chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







"Flurry, get this inhibitor off me!" I yelled.

"Don't do that!" Jury and Tempest screamed in unison.

[What they said!] One of the 6 duplicates cackled after us.

"I don't wanna die!" Flurry wailed angrily before spinning and firing a beam at the horde. Luckily, while the duplicates were theoretically just as dangerous, they weren't as sturdy as the original. Thus, when Flurry's magic struck one of them, it blew off a portion of the golem's chassis before the entire thing collapsed.

Unluckily, the horde only seemed to be growing with every intersection or corner we passed. The fallen duplicate was quickly trampled by the rest, one of whom lowered her horn to take a shot at us before being kicked in the jaw.

[Don't shoot, idiot! You might hit Eddy!] One screamed.

[Sorry! I wasn't thinking!] The other replied.

[Drop him, you skanks!] A third added. Disregarding that last one, we all looked at Tempest who blinked before leering back at the petrified Eddy she was carrying behind us.

"Neat," Jury squeaked. "Thanks, Eddy."

"Hey! Aunty Twiliy's the one who petrified him! Give her some credit!" Flurry said, drawing a glare from the rest of us. She wilted slightly before focusing forward, aiming her light, and then screaming. I looked ahead to see more duplicates scrambling towards us. We all slid to a stop and my attention darted between the two hordes, who were slowly stalking towards us, giggling and tossing jeers the entire time.

"Damn it," Tempest hissed, straining as she levitated the petrified Eddy around as cover. Suddenly, I was thrown off balance by Flurry. Before I could do anything more than cry out, she clamped her teeth on my horn and ripped the inhibitor off.

"Aunty! Do something!" She cried after spitting it out. Tempest and Jury shot a glare my way but made no complaint. With a nod and a crack of my neck, I lit up my horn, focusing on the plaza outside and the mental image of all of us on it.

Then another explosion echoed from somewhere further inside and the duplicates began twitching.

[The Crystal Mind!] One yelled and looked back the way we'd come running before she stumbled over with an angry scream.

"What happened?" Flurry gasped as most of the duplicates shuddered and fell to the ground.

"No time," I replied and unleashed my spell.







The sun was still partially visible through the clouds, even though they'd begun to roll back over the island, casting the plaza in its warm light as we reappeared. Jury and Flurry stumbled and sat down to catch their breath, while Tempest gently set down Eddy's statue and leered suspiciously at me. However, my attention was firmly on the jagged white horn right at my hooves.

"So, uh, what now?" I blinked and turned to Jury, who had scurried behind Tempest and was looking anxiously at me. Flurry, meanwhile, crept up and sat down next to me with an ashamed expression. I hummed a sigh and shook my head.

"That doppelganger's more of a problem than I would have ever expected," I replied and fixed the pair of villains with a critical stare. "He's hunting for this world's version of Grogar's Bell so he can use the chaos magic in it to.." I grimaced and looked away. I clenched my eyes trying to wrap my head around the idea of what he was trying to achieve.

"So he can do what?" Tempest pressed. I looked wearily at her for a moment before grunting.

"He wants to trigger an arcane explosion of an unfathomable scale," I replied. Tempest furrowed her brow, and Flurry tilted her head. Jury meanwhile jolted and her ears snapped up.

"With chaos magic?"

I nodded. "Ours and the source from his version of Equestria condensed to a single point." Her ears pressed against her skull.

"Wha?"

"Yep," I grumbled. She blinked and narrowed her eyes as if in thought. Then she shook her head and nudged Tempest, who was looking back at her.

"If he does that it could, uh," she scrunched her muzzle for a second and cleared her throat. "It'll blow up the whole planet, and.. Literally everything else." Tempest recoiled and looked at me.

"The whole multiverse. Everything," I sighed. Flurry squeaked and hugged the ground in shock.

"Huh," Tempest replied and blinked. Then she smirked and shook her head. "Guess Eddy was right."

I looked at Jury before we both turned to Tempest, who laughed and looked at his statue. "He is an asshole."

"Huh?" Jury griped, shooting Tempest an incredulous glare. "What's that even mean? He knew about that guy?"

Tempest nodded and shrugged. "He mentioned it once," she pursed her lips with a hum. "And I think the other Eddy also said he'd shared stuff with him, didn't he?" Jury recoiled and her eyes darted around in thought.

"He never mentioned this to me!" She huffed. "Since when?" Tempest shrugged again and I furrowed my brow in thought.

"The other Eddy mentioned they'd talked a lot, actually," I murmured, stepping closer to the statue. "I wonder how much of this scheme Eddy was aware of?"

"Well, let him out, and let's ask him," Tempest offered, causing me to jolt and glare at her. She shrugged again. "Sounds like that metal freak is pretty dangerous. Maybe we need Eddy's help to deal with it?" She smirked but I held my scowl.

"So long as we keep the bell from him, it's nothing we can't handle."

"Don't be so sure," another voice came from just behind the statue. I jumped and flew back as a bruised and tired-looking female minotaur in a torn-up black jumpsuit emerged. Jury screamed and galloped a few feet away while Tempest cracked her neck and lit up her horn. The minotaur raised a hand. "Peace. I believe for once we are earnestly on the same side."

She smirked. "And besides," she purred just before Jury and Flurry screamed. Turning, I saw that seven more minotaurs had appeared and were standing with knives drawn, ready to pounce. "If I wished to do you harm, I could do so."

"Doubtful," Tempest spat before groaning. "But go ahead. What's got you feeling cooperative."

"Who is this?" I asked as Flurry and Jury huddled between Tempest and me.

"I am Silver Lace, of Minos," the minotaur replied with a bow. "While my former husband was considered Bedlam's operative in Minos, it was I who handled the technical and strategic affairs in the region." She smiled.

"She also plotted to kill Eddy every chance she got!" Jury hissed, causing Silver Lace to giggle.

"Which again, should make you consider how grave the situation is, if I do not simply have one of my maids obliterate him while he is so vulnerable," she said with a smirk and a small nod towards the statue. Jury wilted and whimpered but Tempest humphed.

"Right. So, elaborate."

Silver nodded. "While attempting to take command of the new Crystal Mind, I discovered many of our enemy's memories. Mainly, they were scenes of his forces back on his world," she explained and gestured to the plaza. "Vast numbers of animunculi that he claimed were on standby unless he needed to use them against us."

She grimaced with a grunt. "As well as one other thing he seemed especially proud of. It was-" I gasped at her description while Tempest scowled and Jury held a hoof to her mouth. Flurry stumbled slightly and then leaned against me for support.

"Oh boy," Tempest finally huffed. "And all that's just.. waiting on the sidelines?"

"He claimed as much," Silver replied holding her chin. "I cannot say how he managed to transport himself here, so I also cannot say how he would transport his forces here."

She nodded. "Which is to say, I cannot deny his ability to bring them all here at once."

"That's right!" I cried. "He never explained how he even popped up here! If it was a portal or a spell or what!"

"And I believe only one creature might know for certain," Silver added. I paused and looked up at her. Her expression was serene and unreadable. Meanwhile, Jury and Tempest leered at me with frustration and expectation. I frowned and looked at the statue then at Flurry. She was still recovering from what Lace said she saw but blinked and looked at me with terror in her eyes.

"Aunty? Are we going to be okay?" I flinched slightly before smiling.

"We're going to do our best, Flurry," I pulled her into a hug. "That's all we've ever done." She hugged me tight with a sniffle before I pulled away and took a breath. I turned to face the statue.







"Eddy, what's wrong?" The purple dream monster begged.

"Shut UP!" I screamed, still with my hands clamped on my head. "You're not REAL. NONE of this is real!"

"whAT aRe youu TAlkkin g abOut?" It warbled as the dream began to wash away.

"I need to wake up," I huffed. "I NEED to wake up." I strained and panted.

"I NEED TO WAKE UP," I heaved before gasping, falling forward, and hitting my face. I let out a hearty grumble. That was new.

"Is he dead?" I shivered. And THAT was Lace. I scrambled to a sitting position and then back from where I'd fallen. Panting and blinking, I scanned the scene before me before furrowing my brow.

Sure enough, Lace was here, looming over where I'd just been. But so was Twilight, her niece, Tempest, and Jury, as well as Lace's assassins. I panted and scanned the area. It was the plaza of my Citadel. Leaning forward with a grunt, I met Twilight's concerned eyes.

"Hey, Eddy," she muttered. I scowled.

"Are you real?"

She flinched. "Huh?" Scanning the ground again, I noticed bulky chunks of rock lying around where I'd fallen initially. They looked like fragments of a shell, and one of them looked like a cast of my face. I let out a sigh of relief, before slowly pushing to my feet. Standing at my full height, I leered down at Twilight with a smirk.

"Has it been five hundred years already?" I chortled at her frown and leaned forward at her. "Cause I'm not feeling too reformed."






> Chapter 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







I glared back at the plaza once we were at the very edge of the Citadel. That fucking brat. I let out a grumbling sigh and looked down at Jury and Tempest, neither of whom had left my side since we started our exodus. Twilight, meanwhile, was also close at hand and leading us on.

"So, since you told Tempest you'd made contact with him, something he confirmed, I was hoping you might have some idea about how to handle this," she groused, casting a suspicious leer my way. Just ahead, Lace came jogging towards us from around one of the cliffs surrounding the Citadel.

"My hovering carriage is still undisturbed, so we have our way off this accursed place," she declared. "My maids are preparing for our departure as we speak."

I humphed and nodded at her. "You said you destroyed his Crystal Mind, right?"

"Perhaps not entirely, but it was certainly damaged by my explosives," she replied as we began walking as one group. I grunted and folded my arms before looking at Twilight.

"Lucky us, then. Transferring energy from one world to another is damned easy. You just need a massive amount of energy to keep the flow going, kinda like carving your way through a rapidly regenerating jungle," I smirked. "Matter is a whole other beast, as I'm sure you know."

"In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he had to assemble the body's he's using here, remotely," I added after a moment. "Whatever system he's using to project his mind to our side has probably been running hot nonstop over there."

"Whats that got to do with the Crystal Mind?" Flurry pressed as she fluttered up next to me, to Tempest's visible annoyance.

"Simple. To transport material, he'll need two massive power sources to be in perfect sync between both worlds and then those same sources will need to act as gates he has to physically pull or push material through," I chortled and glanced back at the Citadel as it vanished around the corner. "The Crystal Mind is the ideal tool since it's not only a massive magic battery, but it's smart enough to cast spells like that at the same time." My smile vanished with a yelp when Jury snorted and jabbed me with her horn.

"Why didn't you tell me about any of this?!" She barked, causing me to flinch. "You were talking with this maniac for who knows how long and getting tooltips from him?!" I stammered and was magically yanked down to her eye level.

"How much of our stuff is his?" She hissed. I hesitated and slowly raised a hand.

"Not- Not nearly as much as you think," I quietly replied. She held her angry glare, urging me to elaborate. "The Free-thinkers were the main thing, but I realized pretty quick how little I wanted to do with the guy."

I grumbled with a shrug. "I was going to tell you, but.. Well, it reached a point where I realized how cracked the guy is, and I thought it best just to cut all contact," I groaned and winced. "At least, unless something serious came up."

She narrowed her eyes, but her face softened. "How bad did you know he was?" I felt her magical grip release and I rolled back to a sitting position, where I huffed and rubbed my head.

"He never said anything overt, but when you ramble endlessly about 'how pointless all paths seem in the face of omniscient Harmony,' I dunno," I shrugged. "Seems pretty obvious to me you might take the tools of death I knew he had and do something stupid."

I smirked despite myself with a laugh. "And his capacity for stupidity is vast." The girls all shared a look before Twilight frowned.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I sighed and pushed to my feet. "The guy does bad things and people get mad at him," I couldn't help but snicker, and shake my head. "And he's SO bewildered by that, that he decides GOD must be behind it." I laughed in earnest this time. Twilight recoiled and I leaned towards her.

"You said he laid a lot of what he went through out for you, yeah? Like what Celestia did?" I tilted my head and she slowly nodded. I snorted. "Did he mention why she did that?" She blinked and frowned, giving me my answer.

"Well, he told me," I heaved a laugh and gestured in the Citadel's direction. "See, he, like me, got fucked over by Equestrian society and bureaucrat types not trusting him with all the magic machinery."

I snickered darkly and raised an eyebrow. "But I at least never stabbed Rainbow in the wing joint over it," I continued. She recoiled with a gasp and I nodded. "Yep! She delivered him the notice of 'cease and desist until further notice' and he jabbed her with a kitchen knife."

The whole group, save Tempest and Lace flinched at my words, and I let out a humming sigh. "I feel for the guy to some extent, but let's not mince words," I shook my head and glared back the way we came. "Guy was already further off the deep end than I was by the time he popped up in Ponyland."

"I suppose this once, I can grant you that," came another voice. I frowned and scowled at Lace, who looked just as surprised as everyone else.

"What the fuck good are your cow ninjas?" I griped, causing her to flinch and scowl back at me. I rolled my eyes and leaned over to wave at Celestia. "Hey-" I paused.

She, Luna, Ember, and the rest of Twilight's friends were all pretty banged up, with the smaller ponies wearing patchy bandages. But Celestia herself was the most shocking, and not for the deep purple ring around her eye. I strode passed Lace toward her, causing the smaller ponies and her sister to weakly take defensive poses. I approached, undaunted, and was able to brush passed them unmolested. The only one who gave me pause for even a moment was Ember, but she made no move against me.

Standing before her, I looked Celestia up and down. "Did he do that?" I whispered, my eyes locked on her jagged horn stump. She blinked and hummed, at which I huffed and glanced back at Tempest, who shared a glare with me. As we did so, Twilight came trotting forward, followed by a reluctant and anxious-looking Flurry.

"What are you all still doing here?" Twilight asked as she pushed passed me.

"What, you think we could just leave you with that freak?" Ember replied with a snort, reaching down and ruffling her mane.

"Yeah! And no way we were gonna let Flurry stick with those two," Rainbow added and jabbed a hoof at Tempest and Jury, who scowled in response.

"We, mm," Fluttershy, who had a slightly red bandage tightly wrapped around her leg winced and curled said leg to her chest before speaking again. "We might not have any idea how to stop that monster, but we can't just abandon you two."

"You guys," Twilight murmured with a sad smile. I scoffed and pushed back to where Jury and Tempest were, drawing an annoyed glare from them.

"How very touching!" I snorted, bringing a hand to my chest. "Almost makes a man want to cast aside the plan he had cooking for his doppelganger, just to give you ladies a chance to really show how friendship wins in the end!"

Rarity grunted and rubbed her bandaged side before retorting. "Well! Glad to see you haven't changed at all!" She humphed and turned to Twilight. "Celestia had mentioned the idea of releasing him, but just hearing him is enough to make me question if you and she haven't gone looney!"

I barked a bitter laugh and glared at her with a grin. "Maybe they have! Then again, I'm still not entirely convinced any of this is real, so maybe I'm the crazy one." She recoiled while the rest gave me a bewildered look.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked with a frown. Jury and Tempest looked up at me with concern. I rolled my eyes.

"I mean that lovely dream you've left me locked in for the past three years has me questioning if I'm not just going to find myself floating in a void in a few minutes before it all starts over," I spat. The girls all shared a look, while Twilight just stared at me with her jaw hanging. Celestia, meanwhile, blinked and gave me a concerned look, while Luna..

"Excuse you?" Luna hissed with a venomous tone.

"You heard me," I chortled, looking her up and down. "Wouldn't be surprised if you had a lot to do with it." Despite her obvious fatigue, my words had set a fire in her eyes, seemingly reinvigorating her.

"How dare you," she hissed again and took a stomp towards me. Tempest moved forward between us, while Jury looked at the princesses in contempt.

"Eddy, you shouldn't have been able to dream at all," Twilight suddenly said, causing me to raise an eyebrow at her. She looked me up and down. "And if Luna had done something like that, I would have known. I checked you every chance I had to make sure you weren't awake in there." Luna recoiled and glared at Twilight, but the latter didn't notice. Her eyes were fixed on me with concern. I frowned at her words but shook my head.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter," I waved my hand and then pointed at Lace. "That one has an air carriage we need to us." My hand traced to Twilight.

"And that one can catch you up on just how bad things are," I smirked at their reluctant and confused reactions. "Trust me. For once, you'll be glad I'm out and about." Ember growled, at which Tempest crackled her horn, but Celestia held up a wing.

"As I feared, things seem to have escalated," she sighed and raised an eyebrow at me. "Though, I expect you already have some scheme prepared."

"Sure do!" I laughed and began striding in the direction of Lace's hover craft. "In a bunker on the coast." I smirked at Jury, who frowned in response.

"Bunker on the coast?" She murmured the phrase a few times before gasping. "Oh! Y'know? I was actually just thinking about that a few days ago!"

"Really?" I asked as she and I made our way to the ship.

"Yep! I was thinking of making a bomb with the stuff!" She chirped, causing me to hesitate. She blinked and tilted her head. "What?"






> Chapter 14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







"How long has this been here?" Twilight groused with a frustrated glare aimed at the circular metal wall built into the cliffside. It was only ten feet in diameter, but was one solid piece of metal, giving it a very sturdy appearance, save for the door at its center.

"A year before you surrendered," I replied with a smile. "We were using it to store our plan B." I approached the door and pressed on its center, revealing a small panel with a pad with nine gems on it. I pressed them in a memorized sequence, causing them to light up briefly before the entire thing flashed and the door hissed.

"We sealed it with a special spell that merged the door with the rest of the wall, so unless you knew the code to get in, you'd have to punch through the whole thing," Jury added as the door slid open, vanishing into the wall.

"And good luck with that," I laughed before marching inside, the bunker lighting up upon my entry. The threshold revealed that the wall and the door were around three feet thick. Paying no mind to our guests as they gawped at the defensive structure, I made my way to the edge of the platform we walked upon and leaned on the railing there.

"How'd you make all this?" Flurry asked with wonder in her voice.

"Flurry," Twilight griped.

"What?"

"Now, now, Twilight, let's not discourage a curious heart!" I laughed as the lights flickered on down below. "And to answer your question, with the chaos magic in Grogar's Bell, we were able to transmogrify mundane materials like rock into more useful things, like steel or gems." Flurry let out an amazed gasp.

"So, did you just carve out this chamber and then turn the walls to metal?" She pressed, fluttering up next to me. I smiled and gave her a nod, at which she squealed with delight. She was sharp, no denying that. Of course, the method she determined we used was the easiest way to build this place.

The bunker was built like a cylinder that bored into the cliffside and then dipped down. The whole place was encased in the same thick metal shell, both to keep potential invaders out and to keep what was stored there in.

"What's that?" Pinkie asked, rearing up on the railing next to me and peering over the edge. Just below, around twenty or so feet, were six rows of barrels, three barrels to a row. The rest appeared in my peripheral and also glanced down at the space below.

"Balefire!" Jury chirped as she poked her head through the railing. The rest of the bunker went silent, and Pinkie and Flurry slowly retreated from the railing. Celestia was the first to break the silence with a heavy and miserable sigh.

"You were going to use BALEFIRE on us?!" Twilight screamed as she shot up and hovered in my face.

"Not you specifically," I replied with a smile.

"What does that even mean?!" She hissed through her teeth.

"Like I said, this was the plan B. Last resort. If everything else went up in flames, we'd throw this at whoever had us cornered," I explained with a shrug. "I figured the sight of it alone would scare off most creatures, giving us a chance to make a break for it." Twilight's eye twitched and she growled.

"Unbelievable," Celestia murmured.

"Lunatic," Luna added. Twilight glared hard at me for a moment before blinking and looking down at the barrels with a frown.

"As awful as this is, you said you had this ready even before Equestria surrendered?"

"Before you surrendered, yes."

She rolled her eyes and leered at me. "Why didn't you use it to stop KS 6?" I smirked with a nod.

"This stuff burns magic, and the more magic it touches the longer it burns," I gestured to the barrels.  "So sure, it'd eat at the literal hearts and minds of my animunculi, including KS 6. But its range isn't unlimited. It couldn't reach space, for instance, which is where she'd probably flee to."

I shrugged. "Since, y'know, she had the satellites and all," I looked back down at the barrels. "Once the satellites were down, I wanted to try handling her manually, due to her proximity to Equestria, which is one of the most magically rich lands I know of."

I chortled darkly and gave her a grin. "Out here though, and over water? Hah! Even if it doesn't kill him outright, it'll still force him to retreat, and-"

"He has access to the satellites, though," she retorted. I choked and recoiled.

"What?"

"I'm not sure when, but he managed to-"

"Why didn't you tell me?" I snarled, leaning forward and nearly pressing my nose to hers. She flinched and I flopped onto the railing with a groan. "Well, that wildly complicates things. Even if we obliterate his current body and sever his link to his world, nothing is stopping him from hiding in space and remotely building another body."

"What?!" Twilight screamed. "You're kidding?"

"He might be a moron, but he's at least as technically skilled as I am," I groused, rubbing my forehead. "As I mentioned, the body he's currently running around in was probably remotely constructed, so no reason to assume he couldn't make another once he's hiding in the satellites."

I groaned and held my face in my hands. "Unless we can shut them down, the only other option would be to scrub all my machinery from the planet. All of it." An uncomfortable silence followed as everyone digested this revelation.

"That is only if we seek victory," Lace declared after a few moments. I slowly cast an annoyed leer back at her. She rubbed her chin in thought. "If instead we seek only to avoid defeat, our options grow significantly."

I shook my head in bewilderment. "How is that any different from trying to win, again?"

She smirked. "If our objective is simply to not lose, we can let him waste himself as he tries both to win and to not lose," she explained, causing me to slowly blink. "For instance, instead of needing to purge him from the world, all we need to do is keep the bell away from him."

Celestia hummed and nodded. "Whereas he must both seek the bell and avoid being destroyed and spend his time and energy on both, I see." I grumbled and rolled my head.

"That really doesn't solve our problem at all."

"No, but it does give us time to seek a more permanent solution," Celestia replied. "We can retreat to Canterlot to do so with all of our allies."

"All of your allies you mean," I snorted, casting a raised eyebrow at Ember who had locked a glare on me the whole trip here. I let out a breath and shrugged.

"Once I explain everything to them, I'm sure they'll understand why they shouldn't just rip you to shreds," Twilight retorted, and her eyes drifted to the balefire. "We should bring this with us. It could be useful for whatever we decide to do, and I don't want to risk that monster getting ahold of it."

"Does Canterlot still have its console?" Jury suddenly asked. Twilight nodded and Jury hummed. "We might be able to hack the satellites using it if nothing else."

I perked up and stood up straight. "Very true!" I chortled and rubbed my neck. "Well, as loath as I am to admit it, I can't think of anything better."

"We aren't really considering letting them near Canterlot's magical.. machiney.. control thing are we?" Luna griped with an aggravated huff. I shot her a smirk and Twilight shook her head.

"Well, as loath as I am to admit it, I can't think of anything better either," she sighed.

I hummed a laugh as Jury followed me to the door. "Well, isn't this nostalgic?"

"Sure is!" Jury replied. Twilight grunted and trotted up next to me.

"Where are you going? We need to get the balefire out."

I laughed and held up my hands. "And I only have two of these, and no magic to work with!"

She scowled furiously and bared her teeth. "Magic is probably the worst thing to handle balefire with, genius."

"Not when it's in those sealed barrels," I snapped back with a grin.

"Forget it, Twilight," Ember called as she flew up from below with a barrel under each arm. "I don't trust him with this stuff anyhow."

"He'd probably try to hide some in his boots," Rainbow added with a huff as she flew down to the lower level.

"Ain't that the truth," Applejack added as the rest began hauling up the barrels. Tempest was about to turn to help before Ember shot her a look and I gestured for her to follow me. She returned Ember's glare before trotting out the door with Jury and me.

Once we were outside, I turned to make sure we weren't followed before looking Jury up and down. "Alrighty, so, I wanted to make sure we were thinking of the same thing," I began and jabbed my thumb at the bunker. "You were planning to make a bomb with that?"

She blinked and smiled. "Yep!" I frowned and shared a look with Tempest, recoiling when she nodded.

"Why?" I murmured.

"I wanted to make them regret what they did to you," Jury replied with a shrug. "I figured a balefire explosive on a train or orphanage or something would-"

"Orphanage?" I wheezed, slouching onto my knees. She blinked and frowned.

"What?"

"Jury, that's.." I shook my head in a daze and fixed her with a critical leer. "That's not like you."

She flinched and glared at me. "How do you know?"

"Huh?"

She took a step closer and studied me for a moment. "How do you know that's not what I'm like?" She gestured to Tempest. "We've always just done things your way, so I never really had to act any sort of way."

I looked at her in shock before recoiling as she smirked with pride. "Maybe I'm more vicious than you give me credit for. That's why we make such good partners!" She giggled and turned before trotting back to the hovercraft. I stared at her, jaw agape, before looking at Tempest.

She turned to me after watching Jury for a moment and shrugged. "Anyway, it's nice to have you back, Ed," she chuckled and slowly trotted after Jury. "Let's try to avoid getting separated again."

I stood on the edge of the cliffside alone and slowly drew my hand over my face. I stared in the direction they'd both walked for a moment, coping with the talk we just had and listening to the waves crashing far below, when an image flashed in my mind.

It was the dream again. Specifically, the latter portion, when Tempest, Jury, and I gathered for drinks after the speech. When they were both happy. Free from stress. Free from conflict.

Free from me.

I shook and held my head. "The fuck did that come from?"






> Chapter 15
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







In any other circumstance, I'd have derived some level of spiteful joy from this situation. However, as the leaders of Equestria's nearest allies sat around the table before me, I was too preoccupied with our mutual adversary to find any humor. The only comfort, which we all shared, was that thanks to good old manual magic letters, Lace's maids were able to keep an eye on my double down at the Citadel. And luckily, he's remained pretty inactive since we departed.

"My guess is he's trying to both repair the Crystal Mind and himself," I explained. I gestured to Lace, between Thorax and Ember. "Lace claimed he amputated his own arm to nullify the effects of her disrupting wand, but I can't imagine it didn't have any lingering effects on his motor functions."

"And as we discussed, so long as we keep the bell hidden he cannot achieve his dark design," Celestia added. While everyone present had been glaring at me while I spoke, they relaxed somewhat at Celestia's words. Couldn't have that.

"Where is the bell, anyhow?" I asked, stroking my chin.

"No," Twilight spat. I stuck my tongue at her. "We're taking a big enough risk letting you and Jury use the castle's console, so don't push your luck."

"Or do," Ember added, leaning on the table with a smile. "Be my guest."

"Yak agree," Rutherford humphed.

"I also would not be opposed to you aggravating the princess and urging her to retract her protections briefly," Lace added with a polite nod. I cleared my throat and leaned back in my seat. Twilight smirked and turned to the rest of the table.

"Rest assured, we aren't out of options yet. I'm certain we can make use of the balefire we took from Bedlam's bunker," she shot me a momentary glance. "And if all else fails, we could risk using the bell to drain the magic from Bedlam's old network, hopefully ensnaring Bedford in the process."

I grimaced at the thought. Something like that would practically ruin.. Everything.

Jury and I had performed a series of tests I don't think Twilight was aware of back in the day. When the bell is used on magic-rich gems, the siphoning effect fries them. Meaning, if that's the route we wind up pursuing...

Well, all the more reason to get the bell first, isn't it? And all the more reason to slide as many alternatives forward as possible. "Another option I was mulling over was reversing his transformation." Everyone's attention was on me again. I stretched and cracked my knuckles, drawing a grimace from Twilight.

"If you remember, I figured out how to reverse the flesh-to-metal transmogrification spell. So if we could pin his consciousness down, we might be able to turn him fully human again," I explained.

"Now there's an idea," Twilight replied, rubbing her chin before frowning at me. "But, when you say 'pin his consciousness down'.."

I sighed hard. "He can slip from body to body, leaving behind empty animunculi, which I can't imagine the reversing spell would work on," I shrugged. "But who knows?"

"I say we smash all you metal things," Rutherford offered. "He have nowhere hide then. Then smash him too." I snorted and waved my hand at him.

"Sure, good luck with that."







Twilight smiled at me. "Thanks, Eddy."

"Mhm."

"Eddy?"

"Mhm."

It was only for a moment, but when the bell drained the magic from her, I felt it. All of it. It was like that night back in the Castle of Two Sisters, when I first set my animunculi to work. The raw potential it presented. My fingers drummed the bell as I stared at it and my mind went to work.

Chaos magic has no limits when used right. If you avoid its counters and just think things through, there is literally no limitation to what can be accomplished. I wouldn't even need to use it in combat. I could just use it to test my animunculi in ways only possible in my wildest imaginations. Because that's literally the framework I held in my hands:  Imagination.

Raw creativity, unchecked by reality's constraints.

Within my hands, I held everything I ever wanted and more. The world. My world. Mine. The world I wanted to show Twilight.

I paused.

"Embrace the opportunity she's offered wholeheartedly. Or you will never have her."

My eyes darted back and forth. "I will not compromise on my vision for the world by even one half-acre."

I grit my teeth. "I get what I want in the end."

"Eddy?"  I looked down and saw Twilight's concerned frown. I felt the weight of the stone bell now more than ever. I clenched my eyes shut as my breathing began to match that weight. Glasses or no, there was no way she couldn't see my tears. "Are you okay?"

I took a shuddering breath and nodded before smiling at her.

"Sorry." I flipped the bell around and conjured a portal with it before jumping through.







I hurled myself to a sitting position with a gasping shout. My eyes darted around until I saw the dark silhouette of my lamp, and I nearly fell out of bed scrambling to flip it on. As the light peeled away the shadows of my room, I blinked and scanned the air, panting and muttering.

"What the fuck was that?" I swallowed hard, threw my legs over the edge of my bed, and leaned on my knees until I managed to catch my breath. Blinking again, I looked up at my clock and groaned at the time. I dragged my hand over my head and stood up.







"Eddy?" I jolted in my seat and turned to see Twilight trotting into the garden with a concerned look. "The guards said they saw you wandering, are you okay?" I grimaced and rubbed my chin.

"Not really," I replied. She hesitated before teleporting onto the bench beside me and placing her wing on my back.

"You have a nightmare or something?" She asked. I frowned and rolled my hand.

"Kinda? It wasn't like, terrifying or anything, it was just.." I shook my head. "Wrong."







My eyes were open. My heart was beating in my ears, and my breathing was heavy, but I made no reaction. I just stared up at the ceiling of my room in Canterlot's castle. Turning my head, I slowly remembered what reality was and checked the time Three A.M. Jury was waiting.

I threw my legs over the edge of my bed, just like in my dream and that caused me to shiver.

"Luna's magic is sealed in his bell," I quietly grumbled, rubbing my temples in thought. "So, what then?" I took a deep breath and mulled over what I knew. I'd been having these dreams since they locked me in stone. Now that I'm free, they're evidently still happening, although this time was something different.

A dream within a dream? Hell, that'd be peculiar even if I wasn't likely cursed. I rubbed my chin and growled in thought. They'd given me a room to myself, albeit a small one, but that didn't mean they trusted me. Was the stress of his presence and their hostility getting to me? So, why was I having these dreams while stuck in stone?

I blinked. They'd turned me to stone three years ago. Jury claimed she lost access to the Mind around then. It's not unreasonable to assume that was when he started trying to dig his way into this world. My face worked into a venomous grin.

"I get it," I hissed and rose to my feet. "Too much evil Bedlam in one place. Too much of the same guy. Too many timelines intersecting. That's what's causing them." I laughed weakly.

"Has to be."







The chamber was quiet. Only the quiet hum of the partially functioning Crystal Mind filled the room, occasionally accompanied by a sharp snap or crackle as a magical discharge leaped from its shattered face. Just before it and leaning up against its console sat a limp and unmoving humanoid animunculus, missing one arm and with a face fixed in a permanent sneer.

As the mind slowly rotated, it shuddered and then an arc of magical lightning leaped into the golem which sprang to life with a shout. "Ho-ly!" Bedford heaved and took a single step before falling forward, narrowly catching himself on his one remaining arm. "Damn it. That cow trashed this one. No wonder I lost connection." He looked up and scanned the room.

"Let's see.. KS 6 is.. there. The alicorn duplicates are.. there," his eyes weakly flashed as they locked on unseen targets, hidden behind walls and throughout the facility. "You three are going to have to handle things on this side while I restock." His one good arm hissed and gave out.

"Tight," he groused, his voice warbling and weak. "Well, whatever, you have your orders." His eyes began to dim and his body shuddered for a moment before going still. Again, quiet held the chamber, but for a far shorter period this time.

Bedford suddenly let out a chortle. "Tell you what," he struggled and glanced back at the Crystal Mind. "That rock's about to break down anyhow, so why not use it while we can? Give you ladies an edge over those lowlifes. HA-HA-HA-HA." His eyes flashed violently, and the Crystal Mind lit up. Magical energy danced up its face and arced all around the room, burning shallow trenches into the floor and walls as the gem spun and whipped its tendrils of power around.

Bedford cackled as the energy swept through him, melting his body in half just before he abandoned it for his home world. The gem continued spinning until it cracked and splintered. Still, its power snapped out and tore up the chamber, before coiling up in on itself, forming a sphere. The entire Crystal Mind collapsed and then exploded, sending glass shrapnel in every direction.

Out of its wake and through the smoke the explosion generated, a set of hooves slowly and deliberately clacked against the floor, carefully and begrudgingly stalking toward the exit.






> Chapter 16
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







There wasn't time to dwell on my sleeping mind or my double's part in recent peculiarities. Jury was waiting. We had a plan to pursue and a city to take. I pulled my door open and leered down at the guards waiting outside.

"What are you doing?" One of them demanded as they shot me a unified glare.

"Too much on my mind. I'm going for a stroll in the garden," I muttered in response, attempting to stride past them. A pair of spears crossed in front of me.

"Not without an escort you're not!" The other spat. I raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

"Fine by me," I replied. The pair narrowed their eyes before parting and following me down the hall. I drew my hand over my face a few times to shake off the effects of my sudden awakening and let out a sigh. We didn't bump into any other staff and shortly found ourselves passing under the tall arched pass the let out into the garden.

Exactly as planned.

Almost as soon as I stepped out under the moonlight, a pair of surprised grunts squeaked up behind me followed by a meaty thunk. I smirked and turned to see Tempest, standing over the pair of unconscious guards.

"Nice work," I said. She bowed slightly and we hauled the guards to the nearby bushes.

"Wait till you see the console's room. Jury isn't the only one waiting for us," she replied with a chuckle as we crept back into the castle.

"Oh really?" I hummed at her response.







Even though we'd been allowed supervised access to the machine earlier today, it was still miserable what Twilight had done to it. The usually well-guarded room used to be lit up solely by the crystals providing power to the machine itself, and was otherwise bare and dark. Now though, it was filled with fluffy-looking potted plants, and vibrant throw rugs. The only addition I could appreciate was the gothic-looking candlestands providing more light than usual.

But my aesthetic complaints fell to the wayside as I discovered who else was in here besides Jury and the unconscious guards.

"Hi, Bedlam," Flurry groused, giving me a weak wave and hopping down from her seat in front of the console. I shared a smirk with Tempest before stepping toward her.

"Well, this is a surprise," I declared, briefly glancing at Jury who was staring critically at the young alicorn. "I thought your mother had you cordoned to an entirely separate wing of the castle, away from me?"

Flurry heaved a grumpy sigh and nodded. "She does and she's been giving me an earful since she got here," she humphed and gave me a tired look. "I only managed to sneak out 'cause she and Dad are asleep."

"And the sculking brat followed me here," Jury added causing Flurry to wince and me to frown. Jury glared at Flurry for a moment longer before giving me a severe look. "She still hasn't figured out whose side she's on, Ed." She reached over and began digging through her compact saddlebag.

"Whose side?" I parroted, giving Flurry a critical look. "Whats that mean?" Flurry wilted at my attention, and Tempest stepped forward.

"Back at the Citadel, she was initially eager to help us, and you," she explained. "But when it came between us and her aunt, she sided with the princess."

Flurry whined and stamped her hoof. "You were hurting her!"

"Uh, yeah?" Tempest snorted, giving her a bemused leer. "We're villains, sweetheart. We took over most of the world for a little while, in case you forgot."

"B-but-!"

"Alright, let's back it up," I demanded, stepping beside Flurry with my hands up. "You said she was willing to help us?" Tempest and Jury shared a look before nodding. I hummed and leered down at Flurry who was looking off to the side with a pout.

"But you didn't realize that'd put you at odds with Twilight, huh?" I asked with a short chortle. She frowned and averted her eyes. "Well, now you know. And even better? You've got a controlled, peaceful environment to think about it in."

I laughed and bent down to her eye level. She tilted her head with a curious hum. "You're a smart girl, Flurry. I've seen what you've made with no training and just your talent," I said, drawing a blush from her. "I'm certain with your help, we could easily reclaim everything that we lost three years ago. Not to mention how quickly we could clear my doppelganger out."

I gently patted her on the head. "So, we're going to start prying at the console over here. You could help us, but I think you'd better mull over if that's something you really want to do," I added, tilting my head towards her with a serious look. "As well as everything that would mean." Her ears snapped back and her eyes darted around as I rose back to my full height.

"Like I said, you're talented. And I can at least promise we'll do what we can to foster your talent and give you space to use it," I said with a smile as I approached the console where Jury and Tempest waited. "I don't think anyone in your family can say that."

"But," Flurry suddenly squeaked. I turned back to see her scanning the floor with misty eyes. "That means I'd be fighting against Aunty Twily, doesn't it?" Jury audibly groaned while Tempest snorted.

"Just like the rest of us, yes," I replied and held my hand out. "But if we succeed, we-"

"I- I don't know if I can.." she whimpered. Suddenly, her ears perked up and she looked up at me with an expectant, yet sad expression. "How'd you do it?"

I frowned. "Do what?"

She blinked and rubbed her eye with a hoof before looking at me again. "How'd you get over the idea you'd be hurting her so much?" I choked and stammered.

"You-"

"Oooo," Tempest and Jury hissed simultaneously. Flurry tilted her head at me as I reeled from her question.

"What?" She pressed.

"I-"

"He's just shocked since you struck him right in his heart," an annoyingly familiar voice suddenly offered causing us all to jump. "Truth is, he's not over the idea. Not entirely." Flurry wilted and hugged the ground as I looked up at the doorway, where Cadance came striding in with a steely look in her eyes.

"With any other creature, it'd be sweet. But with you, it's our greatest advantage against you, since it makes you easier to read at times," she spat before glaring down at her daughter. "Of course, you're not the only one I can read pretty easily." Flurry slowly turned to look at Cadance.

"Well, well, well," Tempest hummed as she stepped between me and Cadance. "What brings you here, Princess?"

Cadance snorted and fixed her with a glare. "I knew if I let Flurry wander, she'd find her way to you three," her glare turned smug as the sound of hooves clacked against the floor behind her. "And I knew it was the best way to catch you in the middle of something you shouldn't be doing." I grunted and stumbled back at the sight beyond her.

"This was sloppy, Eddy," Twilight growled as she, her friends, and the royal sisters entered the room. "And needlessly underhoofed."

"I know you've got an addiction to being a creep, but dude!" Rainbow spat with a stomp. "We've got bigger things to worry about without also having to keep an eye on you!"

"Well, you know me," I retorted as Tempest and I retreated.

"And you know me!" Jury chirped through her teeth, drawing everyone's attention to her. I flinched at the sight of her with a disrupting wand in her smiling maw aimed at the castle's console. "Or maybe you don't? Anyhoo! I'm awful tired of all this, so why don't you let us work, or I break the only thing we've got that might let us stand a chance against Bedford?"

"You wouldn't!" Rarity shrieked.

"I might~," Jury replied. I stared at her in wonder. The last three years had definitely had some kind of effect on her, but I think I preferred hearing her threaten machinery over orphans. I cast an expectant glare Twilight's way, as she and her cohorts looked amongst themselves, thinking of how to handle the situation. As I watched them, I couldn't help but notice Flurry who was looking up at me in gleeful wonder.

Wait.

I shook my head and blinked.

"Mr. Bedford?" She asked. I looked around the room we were in. The sun was streaming through the windows onto the table we were sharing. My jaw dropped and I held my head.

"I'm not even asleep," I hissed.

"What?" Flurry asked. My eyes snapped to her, causing her to flinch. All over the table between us were schematics and writing supplies.

"What?" I huffed, taking up one of the papers in front of her.

"Uh," she quietly began. "What the heck was that?" I recoiled and scowled at her.

"What?" I wheezed. Then the room shook and I found myself back in the room with Twilight and the rest.

"What the heck was that?!" Rainbow yelled.

"Eddy?" I whirled around and saw Jury looking at me with concern. "Are you okay?" The room shook again and I looked between her and Tempest, before back at Flurry. All three were.. Different. Flurry was at the table we were sharing, Jury was less frazzled and had less grey in her mane, and Tempest was...

Whole.

"I-" I panted, clutched my chest, and felt my knees shake. The three returned to normal, but everything was slightly hazy. "I don't know." The room shook again, and a guard suddenly burst into the room.

"Princess! We're under attack!"






> Chapter 17
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







With an unstoppable tremor pumping through my body, I stumbled through the arched hall that let out to the garden. Tempest and Jury stayed by my side as we emerged into the garden where Twilight and the rest already were. Had the guard not explained what was out here attacking the city, I wouldn't have bothered. In fact, I don't think Twilight and Company would have left so urgently had the guard not explained what we were up against.

But learning that KS 6, KMOON, KSUN, and a second Celestia were the cause of the ruckus while I was already mentally rattled was too much. And sure enough, the ponies were squaring off with my creations and..

"Good fucking God," I whispered at the sight of the alternate Celestia my double had summoned. While my hijacked creations were hanging back, the alicorn stood forward and between the two opposing lines, effectively at the center of the ring of guards and destruction that had filled the garden.

The alternate was.. Not well. Her mildly twitching head hung low and her eyes were wide and feral. Her coat was dull and grey, her mane was hanging limp, and she was emaciated. She scraped her hoof against the dirt and snorted like a wild animal, occasionally gnashing her teeth at the ponies. That and the gemstone device welded into her skull all pointed to some rather.. reductive and crude surgery being performed on the former princess after he'd killed her. The ponies stared at her in horror and revulsion.

Then she spoke and their shock redoubled. "You- You thought you got away, huh?" She growled, with a strange mix of whimsy and strain. Almost as though someone was speaking through her.. Aw, fuck.

"W-what?" Luna murmured in response, being the first to recover from the sight of her. Except maybe Celestia herself, who was staring with an even, wide-eyed glare. Her double chortled coarsely and her head twitched.

"Don't- Don't let appearances deceive you! It's me," she hissed and twisted her face into a sneer. "I had to double back home, but I can still communicate through my local bodies. Even this old nag."

"You monster!" Twilight shrieked, taking a furious step forward while her friends angrily followed suit. "How could you be so horrible?!" The abomination laughed and tilted her head.

"You haven't begun to appreciate how horrible I can be. But if you don't surrender the bell to one of my assistants here, I can promise you'll become very acquainted," she laughed. The guards shivered and began to waver, but Twilight and her friends remained stalwart. Suddenly, I felt a tug at my arm and looked down.

"Did you hear that?" Jury whispered with a bright smile. "He said he went back to his world! The Citadel's unguarded!"

"That's-" I cut myself off with a jolt, as suddenly spells began to fly in the garden.

"Look out!" Tempest cried, yanking me and Jury away. I slowly sat up and stared at the chaos outside. Despite looking so miserable, the alternate Celestia was mostly as dangerous as the one I was familiar with. I couldn't help but frown, however, as I could see the device he'd welded onto her sparked in protest to her magic. Whatever he'd done to her was severely inhibiting her full power.

"This is our chance!" Jury declared and scrambled to her hooves, pulling on my sleeve with her teeth. "We can steal Lace's ship and take the Citadel!"

"What good would that do?" Tempest asked with her eyes still locked on the scene outside. "Lace said she destroyed the Crystal Mind."

"So how'd Bedford manage to get her here?" Jury retorted. "Besides! The place is a partial factory that he's been maintaining for all these years! How else could he have built that army of KS 6s?"

"Army of what?" I asked in a mild daze. My eyes were locked on the two Celestias. One was missing her horn, and the other was missing her mind. And yet, as the former tackled the latter to the ground with enough force to splinter stone, something about it was especially strange. Especially wrong.

Why did they both look so banged up? Why were there two of them?

I shook my head in shock at the thought. What in God's name was happening to me?

"Mr. Bedford?" I froze and looked up. Celestia was approaching me with a concerned frown. "Are you alright?" Again, despite the fact I knew it was night, the sun was shining down on the garden and framing her in golden light.

"I-" I choked and weakly shook my head. "I don't-"

She paused and furrowed her brow. "Who are you?" I panted and wilted under her glare.

"I don't know."

"Ed!" I screamed and turned, locking eyes with Tempest. "What the heck is happening with you? You keep blanking out!"

"Just pick him up! We've got to go!" Jury cried from further down the hall. I blinked and held my head as Tempest hummed before she lit up her horn. As her magic surrounded me, I reached out and grabbed her shoulder.

"Tempest," I heaved, causing her to recoil. "I don't know what's happening. I keep seeing things. Places. People." I grabbed her with both hands as I rolled onto my knees.

"I can't tell if any of this is real. I can't tell if I'm not me."

"What?" She gasped.

"Tempest!" Jury cried. Tempest set her face in a determined glare and nodded.

"We'll.. We'll figure it out, Ed. Just hang on," she declared before hefting me up and hauling me out after Jury. I made no effort to resist, as I was too busy watching the castle shimmer and change all around me.

Night became day, and day became night. Sounds of battle gave way to bird songs. Guards and yaks rushing past were replaced by happy little ponies waving and calling out good morning.

And most disturbingly of all was the occasional glimpse of Tempest, who shifted between the pony I knew and the one who was still whole.







I drew my hand down my face as we stepped into the Crystal Mind's chamber. The visions had stopped as soon as we fled Canterlot, but I was still left with my thoughts.

"Dang it!" Jury cried as the shattered gem in the center of the room came into view. "It's broken!"

"He must've used it up to summon the Alternate Celestia, I dunno," I groaned. Jury and Tempest shared a look before the former came up and nuzzled my leg, while the latter began hauling the dead minotaurs out.

"Well, at least we're home, right?" She offered with a sad smile. I met her eyes with a miserable leer causing her to withdraw. "We'll figure out what's going on with you as soon as we get this place in shape, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," I murmured and ambled over to the Crystal Mind's console. "The Mind might be ruined, but we can probably just throw together some smaller gem assemblies to run some of this stuff."

"That's the spirit!" Jury cheered, following me to the machine. She paused and looked off to the side. "What's that?"

"Another corpse?" I grumbled before looking up. I tilted my head at what seemed to be a severed and damaged animunculus arm. Then I managed a smirk. "It's the arm Lace took from him."

"The one with that miniature cannon?" Tempest called as she came trotting up, dropping one of the bodies as she approached. She frowned and stayed close beside me as I picked up the severed limb. "Careful, it could still fire."

"Nah, she said she damaged his, uh, well she didn't know what it was," Jury replied, watching me with interest as I held up the arm.

"Phase distorter," I replied, shaking the arm and turning it over, examining the hinge that hid the device in question. "He mentioned it a few times. It's not quite a time machine, since it can't propel you any further up or down the timeline. It just.. Moves you horizontally, if that makes any sense."

"That must be how he was able to avoid being damaged," Tempest assessed. I nodded.

"Probably. He mentioned it lets you step around moments in time, so he could just avoid the moment he got hurt, for instance," I explained, turning the damaged thing over in my hand. I managed to chuckle at the sight of Lace's disrupting wand lodged in it. "That psycho minotaur was able to pinpoint it as the most dangerous thing he had." I laughed again, weaker this time, and pulled on the wand. With a scraping hiss, it slid free allowing me-

The device crackled to life and zapped my hand. The current was vicious enough that my fingers refused to uncurl, locking it in my grip. I threw my head back and opened my mouth in an attempt to cry out, but only a quiet, choking gasp came up.

"Eddy!" Tempest cried. As the device continued electrocuting me, I managed to glance at her and saw to my bewilderment and added frustration that she was sliding away. I grunted and bent forward, trying to pry the device out of my hand, and froze. The room was filled with a pulsing boom.

Ahead of me, for as far as I could see, were images of me, with my back turned to me, all in a single file line. One by one, and to the rhythm of the boom, they turned to look back at me in shock. I inadvertently looked back as well and then saw an equally long line of myself, all looking back in unison. The line behind seemed to be growing longer every moment, however.

The booming intensified and I blinked before looking to the side, where I saw another line of me. Then another. And another. And another. I reeled back in sequence with my own line and looked up. The whole room was filled with lines of me, all acting in rhythm with the pulse.

Except one.

One, near my own, though I could tell how close or how far it was, was unique. The Bedlam's there were moving in sequence, but they were out of sync with the pulse. Instead, there was a faint tune that accompanied their movements. Despite how faint it was, it wasn't overshadowed by the pulse, and that made this unique line all the more alluring.

Then, suddenly, the Bedlam in that line who was parallel with me, turned and looked at me.

And it stopped.

I felt myself pulled hard to my right and then staggered back with a gasp. I panted and scanned the scene around me. Green fields and blue skies as far as I could see. In the distance, I saw the mountain Canterlot was built upon. I took in the sights vacantly, for the rest of my mind was a blank. My jaw opened and closed as I struggled to cope with whatever had just happened.

Something about this place was very familiar, and not just because I was back in central Equestria instead of the Citadel. But my mind was still drawing a blank.

Suddenly, a familiar buzzing met my ears. Turning, I came face to face with a small drone hovering behind me. Its camera pivoted and seemed to be looking me up and down.

"Guess he was right!" A familiar voice chirped through the drone. "That's pretty nuts."

"Jury?"

"Just hang on, we'll be out to pick you up in just a few minutes," she replied.






> Chapter 18
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







Despite the lack of magic, Celestia and Luna were able to keep the former's mechanical double off balance long enough for Flurry to help Cadance pry herself out of the tower wall she'd been slammed through, and for me to assess the rest of the situation from high above.

Despite having that horrible mockery under his control, Bedford clearly didn't have a strong enough grasp of her abilities. The garden had been burned down, sure, but the yaks had managed to haul back any guards who had been injured during the initial clash. Our unicorns had shields erected over the windows and entry points to the rest of the castle, preventing Bedford from throwing spells inside.

Down in the ashen pit that used to be the garden, the girls were harrying Bedford's Celestia from all sides and Lace and Rutherford had jumped into the fray just a moment ago.

It would have been funny if it wasn't so grim. Rainbow and Applejack used to joke about who could take Celestia in a fight, to my annoyance. Now that the two had a semblance of a chance, they were proving their respective speed and strength were enough to compete with at least a version of her when combined.

Rainbow darted low and swept her legs out from under her allowing Applejack to whirl around and kick her in the side of the head. She went sprawling for a few feet, and before she could steady herself, Rutherford bodyslammed her to the ground. As soon as he did, Lace leaped over him and hurled a set of knives into her. I winced at the sight but was immediately reminded that the poor creature wasn't alive.

There wasn't any blood, only sparks from that metal thing embedded in her. And like something out of a horror story, the unliving thing let out a hiss and let out a blast of magic, hurling Rutherford off.

A boom from near the throne room drew my attention away, and I saw Ember pinned under KS 6's hooves against the wall. I scowled and took off towards the pair in a single wing beat. As the machine craned her head back and charged her horn, I teleported right beside her and blasted her. She responded by twisting her head around and shooting my spell with a beam of her own.

The second she did, however, Ember let out a roar and snapped forward like a cragadile and sank her teeth into 6's neck. I cut my spell and rushed forward, grabbing the golem by the lower body and pulling with all my might and magic. She let out an angry shriek as Ember and I pulled in different directions.

With Ember's strength, and my magic aiding me, KS 6 came apart at the chest, and sparking glittering gemstones as well as a spray of hot, rubber-smelling ooze ruptured out, soaking me since I was lower in the air.

[EDDY!] KS 6 screamed just before Ember pulled her fangs out and clamped them on her head. The golem kicked with her remaining legs before Ember wrenched the top of her head off with a crunch. The machine went limp and crackled with magic for a moment.

Ember spat out the chewed-up metal and dropped the unmoving golem before shooting me a smirk and a nod. I returned the gesture before we took off in tandem. The ooze dripping from my mane stung my eyes and breathing it made me woozy as I flew toward Celestia and Luna. Despite that, Ember and I joined the skirmish with the mechanical Celestia just as the golem managed to snare both Celestia and Luna in a ring of magic.

The sisters struggled and cried out as the ring squeezed them, but Ember shot forward and pelted the machine with a gout of fire, distracting it long enough for me to counter its spell by cutting the ring with my horn.

[Cursed dragon!] The golem roared and snapped its wings out, blasting the flames back just in time for the sisters to slam into it again. As they did, Ember rushed forward, grabbed its horn with both claws and began violently wrenching its head around. The golem screamed in anger, and smoke started rising from Ember's claws with a sizzle.

I flapped my wings and tried to help her, but my head spun again from the fumes. I blinked a few times and let out a thick, chesty cough.

"Are you okay?" I panted and looked up to see Flurry standing over me. Blinking a few more times, I realized I was lying on the ground.

"What happened?" I croaked, wincing from a sore throat that suddenly sprung up.

"Mom saw you fall and we caught you," she replied and gestured to an overturned bucket next to her. "I splashed you with water to get that potion off you since I think it was making you sick."

"Potion?"

"Yeah, it's one of Bedlam's," she said with a frown. "I'm pretty sure it helps his golems work and think better, but I dunno for sure." I considered her words for a moment before nodding.

"Right. We just tore KS 6 apart," I struggled to my hooves and looked up. "What about..?" I squinted to try and make out anything above despite how blurry my eyes were.

"Mom and I beat the KMOON, so she flew to help Aunt Celestia with the other one," Flurry explained as the sight of Ember, the royal sisters, and Cadance overwhelming KSUN steadily cleared up. "I think Bedlam ran away." I frowned and looked at Flurry, who was now hanging her head with a weary look in her eye.

"That's not too surprising," I croaked, draping a wet wing over her shoulder.

"It is to me," she murmured and looked off to the side. Following her eyes, I saw the ruined form of KS 6 lying in pieces. "Those're his machines, aren't they? He didn't even bother trying to take them back."

She clenched her eyes for a moment and looked ahead, at the alternate Celestia who was currently being pinned by Rutherford, Applejack, and Lace, while Rarity worked her gemstone magic on the machine grafted to her.

"And he just left us to deal with... her," she whimpered. The alternate let out a cackle and swore a few times as the gems in her 'helmet' suddenly popped out. She screeched and spasmed before finally going limp with smoke rising off of her. "It's like he doesn't even care what happens to anypony else." Flurry swallowed and looked away for a moment before sniffling. I frowned and pulled her closer.

"That's why your mom and dad don't like you idolizing him, Flurry," I explained as she turned and nuzzled me. "He's a brilliant creature, but he chooses to be bad."

"I- I know, but you used to tell me about everything that happened to him," she sobbed. "I just thought, maybe if we gave him a chance, he could.." She pressed her ears against her skull as an explosion echoed in the air. I glanced up to see KSUN's pieces being scattered before turning back to Flurry.

"He could what?" I pressed, rubbing her shoulder with my wing. She hesitated but finally looked me in the eyes.

"Be better, I dunno. It's not like he didn't do some good stuff, and lots of the bad stuff he did was because ponies were awful to him."

I frowned and held my wing around her for a moment before looking at the scene around us. "Yeah, that might all be true, but there's one pivotal factor you aren't considering." I looked down at her as she tilted her head. I smiled sadly.

"I don't think he wants to be better. I think he just wants to be in control," I let out a heavy sigh and shook my head. "Bedford might be a way more dangerous and deranged version of him, but the things he talked about added up with things I've assumed about Eddy for years."

"They both feel like they have no control, and they're both afraid of having to rely on others," I explained. "I tried to convince Eddy he needed to let other creatures in, but I didn't do a good enough job when I had the chance." I closed my eyes and hummed.

"And now it's probably too late. He won't listen to me, he barely listens to Jury or Tempest, and they're the first creatures he's allowed himself to rely on," I grunted and gave her a weary shrug. "I think the only one he really listens to is himself."