//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14 
// Story: BEDLAM II: Heart of Glass 
// by Gormless Wheaton 
//------------------------------//







Twilight, Starlight, and Sugar peeked out from the bushes they were hiding in and scanned the field between themselves and the edge of Ponyville. Starlight's ears shot back at the sight.

"Dear Celestia, I heard he renovated Ponyville, but what the heck happened to this place?" She groused. The sky was hazy and overcast by thin, pale clouds that seemed to crawl up from numerous metal towers littering the town. There were hardly any of the old cottages or cozy homes that had once comprised the place, and now there were uniform brick and metal blocks, with levels of windows that hinted at uniform dwellings within.

Twilight scowled. "Ponyville's proximity to the Everfree is what happened. I'm not sure when or why it started, but the monsters living out there started getting really agitated after Bedlam took over," she let out a hearty sigh. "They caused so much damage we were forced to let Bedlam rebuild the place."

"I heard Bedlam had that scary robo-mare of his set the monsters loose," Sugar added with an angry frown. Twilight hummed and withdrew into the bushes.

"I'd like to believe you wouldn't sink that low, but-" She paused and her eyes darted. "Are you bucking kidding me?"

"What?" Starlight asked as she and Sugar slipped back in. They gasped in unison when they saw no sign of the human. "Sneaky son-of-a-! How'd he do that?!" Twilight scowled and with a beat of her wings was airborne and scanning their surroundings.

"I see him!" She cried. "He's running right into town!"

"Really?" Starlight huffed. "Good! Maybe the ponies will kill him."

Twilight landed and groaned. "That's a very real possibility, I have to admit. But we still need to go after him."

"Why?" Sugar asked as she and Starlight emerged.

"Because with all these machines lying around, there's no telling what he could be up to," Twilight muttered.









I darted into the dark alley between two multi-level housing units and fell to my knees, catching my breath. Ponyville had always been a touchy subject with Twilight, but after the Everfree went wild she and the locals didn't have much choice but to let me remake it. As a result, I knew if I could just get to Townhall, I could use the mayor's console.

It might've only been set to contact Canterlot, but I could easily rewire and repurpose it. I built the thing after all.

Crawling to the end of the alley between the trash cans, I leered out at the streets. No golems in sight, but plenty of ponies and griffins were milling about, barely sparing a moment's glance at each other as they trudged on. Occasionally, I spied a diamond dog or minotaur hauling heavy carts down the road, but they, too, kept to themselves.

I blinked and scratched my chin. This place had always been so friendly. Well, not to me, but at least to its natural-born denizens. What gives? Even in the face of the crisis KS 6 presented, my mind was pressed upon this problem.

Was it the air? Once things were back in order we could throw up some purifiers. Maybe it's a communal case of post-traumatic stress from having the old village get torn down by the Everfree's beasts?

Or-

"Who the heck's scrounging around back here?" Came a gruff but feminine voice through clenched teeth. I jolted and scrambled to my feet before whirling around to see a purple-maned mare with a faint pink coat with a bat in her teeth stepping out into the alley from a side door. "I swear if it's another dang raccoon, I'm gonna-" She recoiled at the sight of me and dropped her bat.

"Mr. Bedford?"

I turned my head in confusion. "Excuse you?"

She flinched and shook her head. "Right, sorry, Mr. Bedlam, I forgot," she huffed and looked me up and down with a frown. "What the heck are you doing here? You digging in my trash?"

I scowled. "I'm performing an inspection on the province, but that's none of your business," I folded my arms. "Who are you?"

She winced but held her frown. "Inspection, huh?" She narrowed her eyes. "So, what'd'ya think of the place?" She placed a hoof on her bat and began rolling it back and forth, which immediately launched me back to reality. Besides being an earth pony and having magically augmented strength, she was armed and I wasn't.

I hummed and nodded my head back. "People seem standoffish, which-"

"That's shocking?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Excuse you?"

She snorted and scowled at me. "That's how things are now. I mean, Princess Twilight managed to keep everypony from fighting, but lots of creatures still don't like each other," she cast a bitter smirk at me. "Guess you wouldn't know that, huh?"

I flinched and scowled right back. "Watch it. Now, elaborate."

She rolled her eyes and sat down. "After Princess Twilight surrendered and her friends split up, pretty much everypony gave up, too," she cast a weary, frustrated stare at the ground. "Everypony just silently agreed to keep their heads down and do what you said, hoping that'd be enough to keep you from.."

She grumbled and shook her head. "Well, Dad had always said that if you ever won, it'd only be a matter of time before you burn this place down," she leered up at me angrily. "Cause of what he and Mom did to you." I furrowed my brow. As I mulled over her words, a more pressing realization hit me and I recoiled.

"I had nothing to do with what the Everfree did to this place," I spat.

"Yeah, sure," she snorted. "You're literally the only one who believes that."

I grit my teeth. "You-"

"Zecora said that even if you didn't tick off all the monsters, all your machines and junk messed with the magic in the air or something," she continued. "The Elements splitting up was the final straw or something. I dunno."

She narrowed her eyes with a huff. "I just know one way or the other, it's all your fault. The town getting wrecked, Spoon losing her leg and having to get one of your lame metal ones, Mom and Dad taking off," she snarled. "It's cause of you."

I wilted at the venom with which she spoke and recoiled again when she stamped at the end of her bat. It flipped into the air and she caught it in her teeth. "Hey now," I murmured, raising my hands.

"Pull out something and blast me," she jeered. "I don't care anymore." I froze and then shivered as she turned and wandered back to her door. She hurled the bat inside and turned to glare at me.

"I heard from some friends up in Canterlot that you and a bunch of other creatures are convinced you're making the world a better place," she looked me up and down. "Well, I hope you're enjoying it at least." She stepped inside and pushed the door shut behind her. I stared at the door in a mix of relief and bewilderment.

"Who was that?" I thought and after a moment held a hand to my chest. "And why.. Why'd what she say hurt?"