"Fall back!" The Guard Captain roared as the Crystal Empire's guards fled from my ship's dark cargo bay towards the city itself, trampling the golems Cadance and Shining had destroyed clearing a path here, just after narrowly bringing down the ship itself. With a smirk I pushed forward and strode after them, my armored feet clanking against the deck as I did.
"What's happening in there?" Shining Armor called as he peered in from the threshold. Raising a hand, I blasted him in the face and sent him sprawling.
"Shiny!" Cadance screamed before whirling around to glare into the ship. "Bedlam!"
"In the flesh," I responded, my voice amplified by my recently completed armor.
"Wha-" Cadance gawped and recoiled as I stepped forward, the joints and limbs of my suit clanking and whirling as I approached. "What is that?"
"The War Suit," I replied. "Something I've been working on." I stood up straight, and a loose stream of air hissed out around me from my armor's joints.
"Figured I'd break it in by breaking this city down," I added. In my armor, I cleared seven feet, and this meant I easily towered over the pink alicorn. Despite that, Cadance snorted and beat her wings before launching herself at me. I raised a hand to blast her, but she teleported.
My suit immediately alerted me of a magical signature behind me, and I whirled around and threw a punch. My fist collided with her hoof as she bucked at me with all her might. A burst of air rocked out from the point of impact and she rolled back, landing on her hooves and rushing me again.
With a click and several jets of magical blue fire, my suit flew backward away from her. I fired a few blasts at her as she kept pace and weaved around them. We rapidly cleared the host of retreating guards and found ourselves in the city proper.
Halting myself, the lenses of my helmet's eyes locked with her eyes and flashed. She grunted and froze, allowing me to teleport above her. I clutched a hand at her and pulled, causing the gemstone street below her to rumble. Sharp spikes of rock shot up to cage her, but she flew forward out of the way. I slammed down, shattering the crystals, and glared up at her.
She tumbled to a stop and turned to glare at me. "What the heck was all that?" She panted.
"I managed to build a set of animunculi that perfectly mimicked your sister-in-law, and her friends', in ability, magic, and talent," I rushed up to her at supersonic speed. As I turned to meet her shocked face, I saw a black and grey ring shimmering through the air where I had been."What? Did you think I'd just ditch those breakthroughs?"
She clenched her teeth in a determined glare and fired a beam point-blank at me, which I caught in my hand and crushed. As the light faded, she was nowhere to be seen. I hummed and began scanning the area, almost immediately spotting her huge, bright-pink aura.
"Magic's fine, Princess. Heaven knows it got me to where I am now. But there's so much more that can be accomplished beyond just spells," I began stalking towards the alley she was hiding in. Switching to heat-sensitive sight, I saw her crouch low to the ground. "My machinery is constantly advancing, constantly evolving. You should see what we did for Tempest after.. Anyway, Equestrian society hasn't had any notable improvements in its core science in ages. Unless I'm mistaken, before Twilight ascended there hadn't even been new magic for hundreds of years. Longer than that, if we don't count gem-craft."
I strode passed where she was hiding and swept my arms out. "Just look at this city compared to Equestria! For God's sake, half the stuff here could pass for something I built!" I scanned the area around me. The Crystal Ponies were cowering in their homes, but a few dared to peek out to stare wide-eyed at me. "And rather than take this gift and soar, you chose to settle under your aunt's shadow. Honestly, this city might have escaped the limbo Sombra thrust it into, but you haven't done much better for it." My helmet alerted me that she was charging a spell.
"You don't have to worry though," time for the big finish. My suit shuddered and creaked as it prepped for what I was about to do. I clenched my teeth and held my breath, as the world spun around me in a dizzying splash of color. When it faded, I burst up out of the trashcan just behind where Cadance was hiding as a set of black and grey balloons and streamers erupted around me. She whirled around and cried out. I exhaled and smiled. "Bedlam's here, and he's in control."
"Bedlam's here!" Flurry Heart cheered as I entered the Crystal Palace. However, as she came galloping towards me, with wide, eager eyes fixed on my golem guards, she was yanked back by her mother's magic.
"He sure is," Cadance griped as she held her daughter back. "So, let's just stay out of his way so he can leave. Quickly." I shared a smile with Jury and Tempest as I looked over the pair, as well as Shining who leered venomously my way in the threshold of the palace door. While the older ponies hadn't changed much, save the gem-decorated collar that Cadance wore, their daughter was a riot.
At some point, she began mimicking me and now galloped around in her own grey-fringed black coat, with gem-lens glasses resting just under her horn. More shockingly, as she struggled against her mother's grip, I noted a hovering pink drone buzzing just above.
"Hey now! Did you make that?" Cadance glared hellfire my way, which gave Flurry an ample enough distraction to finally wrench herself free and gallop up to me.
"I sure did!" She chirped as the drone came hovering up, giving me a close look at it. "I dunno how accurate it is, since I'm not allowed to mess with any of yours, but I think I came pretty close."
"I'd say so, just on a cursory glance," I hummed. I studied the drone for a moment as Flurry squealed with joy when suddenly a thin beam of magic shot out and fried the tiny machine. As it crumbled from my view, I locked eyes with a thoroughly annoyed Cadance.
"MOM!" Flurry cried, whirling around to whine at her. Tempest, meanwhile, took a threatening step forward, and her gemstone eye flared up.
"Like I said. Let's just stay out of his way so he can leave as quickly as possible." She and I held each other's gaze for a few moments as Flurry whined audibly before I smiled.
"Just some simple maintenance, administrator," I said, causing the former princess' eye to twitch. "Won't be more than a few minutes."
I glared at the projection in the center of the bridge with folded arms. "The Kirin Grove, huh?"
"Yup, our drones followed her fight to the edge before she noticed them and shot them down," Jury replied while studying her console. "All signs point to them being allies with Equestria, so I wouldn't be surprised if they're harboring her."
"I hope for their sake that's not true. I've ignored them this long since they're so secluded and pacified," I grumbled before turning to the pilot golem. "Bring us directly to the border, then set the ship to hover and wait for me to return."
Jury blinked and looked up at me. "We're going down ourselves?"
"No, I'm going down with a kill squad. I want you to stay with Tempest," I replied before leering back at Jury. "The potion still has a lot of damage to undo, so she needs someone to keep watch and keep the IV filled."
"We can set an animunculus to-"
I whirled around and thrust my pointing hand at her. "I nee-" I growled and she recoiled. "I'm telling you to do it." She furrowed her brow and looked me up and down.
"I'm worried about her too, Bedlam. But I don't want you getting ambushed or hurt."
I winced and drew a sharp inhale. "I.. Appreciate that," I exhaled with a shudder. After a moment, I approached Jury and knelt to one knee before her. "But I.. need to know she's being taken care of. Please." Jury recoiled again and looked me hard in the eyes.
She took a breath and sighed, but nodded. "Alright."
"Then there were fifteen instances of 'Bedlam you are an ass' which got deleted," Jury reported with a giddy snort.
I frowned and looked at Tempest, who was resting on my lap. "Isn't that a slur?"
"Could be," she laughed. "Anything else?"
"Nope!" Jury chirped. "So that's another suspect out the window."
I took a deep breath through my nose and smiled. "Leaving only one culprit. Only one creature who could possibly be so crafty and clever to crack my system like this."
"The mare you've known is responsible this whole time," Tempest added with an unamused leer.
"Who we could've gone after first, beaten some sense into, and then been back to snuggle one of the cute maids by now," Jury griped, jabbing me in the shoulder.
"All true," I replied as I rubbed my chin. "But as I said, Jury, I wanted to leave her no wiggle room. No scapegoats. No possible places to lay the blame."
I grinned maliciously at them. "Oh she might try to concoct some excuse or other, but the past three weeks have all but solidified the truth in ways she can't hope to thwart," I chortly darkly before clicking the communications pannel on the arm of our seat. "Captain."
[Yes sir,] the buzzing voice of the pilot golem immediately replied.
"Set course for Canterlot."