BEDLAM III: Quiet on the Set

by Gormless Wheaton

Chapter 17

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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.

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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.

---

Comments

[SleeplessChatter]

Interesting. An uncontrolled sideways step. Uncontrolled by Bedlam at least, Interesting that there was a faint tune he associated with it.

I'd assume that the effect disappearing when he was away from Canterlot having to do with proximity, but can easily think of several things he's close to there that could be root cause, intentionally or not.

And Badlam continues to impress with how bad he is.

[TheronActs]

Inconclusive perception acquired.