BEDLAM III: Quiet on the Set

by Gormless Wheaton

Chapter 14

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"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?"

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Comments

[Gormless Wheaton]

11895239
Bedlam's twisted and hypocritical morals were fun to figure out once he got older. He's always been fine with murder, and when angry enough he's fine cursing an entire species. Despite that, he finds physical disfigurement and transforming living things into machines abhorrent and to be avoided if he can manage it.

And at the same time, it helps as a framework for Badlam(literally his name in my source doc.) Since if Bedlam wouldn't do something, Bedford absolutely would. Especially the more needlessly cruel and petty it is. For that reason he's the perfect antagonist for the final BEDLAM. He's just Eddy at his worst being thrown back in his face. Here's hoping he puts two and two together by the end.

[SleeplessChatter]

11897942
Baring things not shown or I've forgotten about, Bedlam seems generally unwilling to do his worst against those that haven't directly moved against him. Most of citizens in Canterlot are safe, but that cop that ignored him when Starlight was taking Bedlam to Twilight? That guy was headed for a bad time if Bedlam hadn't gotten stoned.

EDIT: That said, this is an extreme under/over simplification of it. And it certainly doesn't give him any moral high ground. And he certainly has never communicated his do's and don't very well since Jury and Tempest seem both seem quiet willing to trod into what he considers unallowable territory.

This Chapter:
I'm not shocked he had something like Balefire stashed away. MAD might not work so hot in the modern world, but Equestria wouldn't be used to such a tactic.

Getting some hints of Bedford/Badlam from Jury, which I imagine is more than a bit of why Bedlam is feeling upset at the moment.

You've got some ugly hints floating in here. That bit about scraping away all machinery, that bit at the very end. Got me pondering some end points you might take this that are giving me some bad feels.