//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: BEDLAM // by Gormless Wheaton //------------------------------// "Gemstones are solid magic, huh," I muttered while reading. "Yes, that's why they're so numerous and why flawed or cracked gems can explode, as well as why dragons and diamond dogs can eat them," Twilight confirmed before grumbling. "Now, please stay on topic!" I sighed. "What topic is that?" "You haven't left your room for three days, Eddy. Except to swap out books on magic," she replied and cast a frown my way which I did my best to ignore. "Just cause you lost that job at the school-" "For reasons I still don't get, by the by. Ms. Cheerilee just asked me not to come back." "Right, but that's no reason to just sit in here and sulk." "I'm going to be free-loading off you anyhow, might as well keep out of the way." Twilight grumbled and shook her head. "You're not free-loading, Eddy," she moved beside me and placed a hoof on my leg. "And if you're so worried about that, why not just find a new job?" "Nobody's hiring, even if the signs in their windows say otherwise, so clearly it's a me thing," I said plainly. "Now that is an interesting little tidbit," I thought as I read on. "Why would they-" "Don't know why, don't care why." Twilight groaned, leaned up on my leg, and nuzzled my arm. "C'mon, Eddy, don't be like that." "What do you know about runes?" I asked. She sighed hard and nodded. "Runes are symbols relating to individual specific magical effects that react in magical ways when magic flows along their grooves. Unicorns use them to work higher-tiered spells than they could normally cast," she gave me a grumpy frown. "You can use a 'move' rune to get some extra push out of a levitation spell for a little extra magic than you were already using, for instance." "Right, so, what if you carved runes in a gemstone to let its magic bleed out? Wouldn't you be able to let the gem's magic do some of the work?" No answer came for a moment and I turned to look at her. I blinked upon seeing she was looking at me in wonder. She furrowed her brow and pulled the book from my table. "Hey-" "This doesn't even cover that," she said after looking at the title. She fixed me with a serious glare. "Where'd you read that?" I frowned and took the book back. "Nowhere, it just kind of makes sense. Why? Am I way off the mark?" She blanched and then shook her head vehemently. "No no no! Not at all, you're actually right on the money!" She tilted her head and looked me up and down. "Gem runes were discovered by Ditch Digger and Brass Shoes a few hundred years ago by accident. And they work exactly the way you're thinking; by letting the magic in a gem flow out along rune grooves carved into the gem itself." She frowned and hummed. "It's just.. Did you really figure that out on your own? Cause that's usually something we don't learn about until our second year of advanced magic study." I blinked and looked down at the book. "I guess so?" "Stop." I let out a full exhale as a groan and slid the gem I was etching across the table. Celestia carefully picked it up with jewelry pliers and closely inspected my runecraft. I put my elbows on the table edge and rested my chin on my hand while glaring at her. Once she was satisfied I wasn't making any unnecessary etchings beyond what the shield spell needed, she nodded and returned the gem to me. "Proceed." I gave her a narrow-eyed smile and snatched the gem out of the pliers before taking my etching tool to it again. Picking up where I left off, I chipped three new grooves in and- "Stop." I gave her an exasperated leer and looked at the bucket full of gems on my left, then the comparatively tiny piles of finished ones, neatly organized according to their function in the spell. "The Legion will have ransacked the whole city by the time I'm done if you keep this up," I groused and handed her the gem. I reached over and scratched the side of my leg. "Perhaps," she retorted with a subdued smile as she inspected my work again. "But at least I'll die knowing you weren't trying anything underhoofed and were making a genuine effort to help." She nodded and returned the gem to me. "And look at that! Despite your grumbling, we made it through enough for fifteen talismans," she gave me a bright smile. "Excellent work, Mr. Bed-" I raised an eyebrow and she cleared her throat. "Excellent work, Bedlam." I smiled and then looked at the stack of little stone tablets I'd now have to affix the gems into. I picked one up and carefully inspected the slots each gem had to fit in. "They were a rush job, but I trust they match your-" I tossed the stone to her side of the table. "Too small." I grabbed another and tossed it as well. "Wrong shape." "I-" Another was tossed. "Too shallow." "Edward." I looked up at her. "Rather than complain, hadn't you best just correct the flaws?" I laughed hard. "With this?" I held up my flimsy etching knife and wheezed a laugh. "No. Just use your magic." Her jaw dropped and she furrowed her brow. "I thought they had to be magically sterile so as not to pollute the flow from one gem to another?" I snorted and rubbed my eyes with my palm. "That's my old theory. The new one says magic responds to intent and emotion," I knit my fingers together and rested my chin on them. "That's how my animunculi were able to self-replicate. No emotion, and no intent beyond shaping the material." She blinked and I rolled my hand at her. "Just carefully transfigure the slots to match the gems I've prepped. They need to sit two centimeters in and fit snuggly." She narrowed her eyes but then looked at the stone in front of her. I flicked one gem her way for her to use as an example, and after a moment her horn lit up and the talisman glowed in response. There was a hissing and a crackle as she molded the slots. She held up the talisman with a severe look. "How's this?" I pursed my lips and leaned close. "Perfect," I nodded and waved a hand at the other stones, then slid the whole pile her way. "A factory full of golems would be better, but since I'm not getting one of those, why don't you prep all of those and I'll prep some more gems, hm?" She furrowed her brow and frowned, so I leaned forward with a smile. "Team effort and all." She glowered, but did as I requested, picking up another stone to magically correct. As she did I chuckled and grabbed a handful of gems, making certain to drop them too close to the edge of the table. The noise of the handful clattering masked the noise of two gems falling off the table, which I moved the tip of my boot over. We worked in silence for a few minutes before I reached down to scratch my leg again. As I did, I carefully picked up the pair of gems and- "Thank you for picking that up," Celestia said while still molding a talisman. I blinked. "As hectic as things are right now, even leaving a single stray gem for the staff to sweep up could cause undue stress." I met her smile with a raised eyebrow. Slowly, I sat up straight. As I did, I opened my bootcuff with my thumb and dropped one of the gems in. I smiled and held up the other for her to see. "You know me! Always thinking of the little guy." I studied her reaction closely. She just smiled and returned to her work. I grinned and returned the gem to the pile. "Easy," I thought. I traced my finger along the diagram I'd prepared. It was very rough, but showed my idea of setting gems in a wooden tablet. "So we start with a single effect like any given normal rune, but then we add a 'move' rune like this-" Twilight nodded slowly while looking over what I'd drawn up. "And that sends the magic along the sequence." "Right. Well, I mean, I hope so. Does this even make sense?" "Make sense?" She muttered severely, causing me to grimace. "Well, if it works and I'm right, you could use this method to cast full spells with just gems and-" I squawked as she threw herself at me, pressing her hooves into my shoulders and nearly knocking me off the couch. "IT'S BRILLIANT!" "Wh-" "Eddy, this is completely revolutionary! How did- When did-" She gasped and sat back. "We have to write Celestia." "I-" "Come on!" I was yanked off my seat by her magic as she dragged me from the library.