BEDLAM Minus One

Jury impatiently paced the lounge floor, casting a grumpy glare at Tempest who was lying across my lap as I inspected the binding agent keeping her new horn attached. Following the initial procedure, she'd stayed pretty close to me during testing and adjustments, to Jury's maintained chagrin.

In fact, it was shortly after we'd agreed to relax in the lounge after half a day of testing that she'd suggested something that added to Jury's annoyance.

"Like I said, the horn was just to get you to leave me alone," I explained, gently swabbing the excess glue from her horn. "I really wasn't expecting you to join up with us in exchange, you know." She hummed a laugh and adjusted her posture slightly.

"Even if you don't believe me that I'm just feeling grateful, let's be realistic," she explained as Jury narrowed her eyes. "If this thing gets dinged or chipped, you're the only one who can fix it." I leaned close to inspect my work before humming with a nod.

"Hm, true. And I think we're set here," I replied, setting aside my cleaning tools. She and Jury looked at me expectantly as I leaned back with my arms folded. Smirking, I nodded at Tempest. "Well, I suppose that settles that." Tempest offered me a warm smile before snarling as Jury jabbed a hoof into the side of her mouth.

"Welcome to the team! Scoot," she chirped in a tone that flowed from sweet as sugar to abjectly venomous and pushed Tempest off of me. The pair wrestled against each other for a moment before I held a hand between them, shooing them apart. They glared at each other before one of the serving golems approached and offered them each a drink.

They maintained their glares as they each took a cup and gently sipped from them; Jury using her hooves and Tempest using her magic. Considering the two, my attention was again drawn to the latter when she hummed a quiet laugh.

"I have to wonder how long before the buffoon realizes I've betrayed him?" Tempest asked, drawing a malicious snicker from me. However, as I considered her words, inspiration struck.

"You know, you raise an interesting point," I said, tilting my head back and bringing a hand to my chin. "I've had an inclination to get rid of him for a little while, and you might be perfect for making that happen." Both unicorns shared a look before looking up at me, so I gestured to Tempest.

"You go back and keep him running in circles while Jury and I make some preparations, and then once we're ready," I snapped my fingers with a chortle. "We kill him." Jury hummed with interest at my proposition while Tempest blinked and stared into her drink.

"I could kill him for you now," she retorted as her ear twitched. "Especially since, if I'm following your line of thinking, I need to keep working for him." She shot a firm glare my way.

"Meaning I need to ditch my new horn so he doesn't suspect anything," she added with a low tone. I hummed and glanced at Jury who looked off to the side with a sad frown.

"Unfortunately, yes, that's right," I replied, gently patting Tempest's back, drawing a grunt from her before I held a hand out. "Even if we kill him, I don't think that's the end of our issues with his operation." She grimaced and her ears pressed back as I explained my thoughts.

"I want to be sure we can round up and deal with any other commanders he's got on his payroll as quickly as possible, and we're just not ready to make that happen," I said with a sigh. She held her sour expression for a few moments before closing her eyes and grumbling.

"Alright," she huffed. Offering her a sympathetic smile, I gently patted her back again.

"Excellent."

A few days later, Tempest was on her way back to her patrol while Jury and I were back to scheming. To that end, as I sat examining some of the scout drones' recordings on a handheld tablet, Jury came trotting into the workshop with a team of golems hauling alchemical supplies. As the machines set down our supplies, Jury hopped into a seat beside me and leaned over, looking at my screen.

"So! What exactly is the plan?" She asked with no small amount of glee in her voice. I snickered as the feed displayed one of the drones zipping through the Everfree.

"Remember how we were sending drones back to Equestria to check up on things?" I asked, earning a humming nod from her. I tilted the screen to give her a better look. "Well, for old time's sake, I checked up on the old hideout and found these two shacked up inside." She watched the video for a brief moment before gasping.

"Hey! That's Flim and Flam!" She cried, furrowing her brow as the two sang a song while hammering parts of machinery together. "The heck are they doing?" I considering the recording.

"Fucking around some of our machinery it looks like," I replied, gesturing to some familiar parts they had piled up nearby. "I wouldn't be surprised if they scrounged some scrap from one of our confrontations with the Elements." I frowned and tilted my head in thought.

"Or maybe they just snatched some stuff from the mob," I hummed before waving a hand and tapping the screen. "Anyway, look at this." The screen showed the wagon-shaped thing the pair had been tinkering with was now floating in the air completely unaided by either of them. The brothers laughed and shook hooves in delight at their work.

"It's-" Jury stammered and leaned closer to the screen. "It's flying? There's no propulsion!"

"No mechanical propulsion," I corrected, wagging a finger before gesturing to the underside of the machine. "But do you see that glow?" Jury narrowed her eyes before humming at the very faint blue light visible under the machine.

"Magic?" She mused, shaking her head. "I don't see any telekinesis runes or anything. How-"

"I intend to ask them myself. They've been working out of the old castle for a little while it seems," I declared, cutting the feed. "I think they're trying to fill the underworld void I left." Setting the tablet aside, I offered Jury a nod and a smile.

"So! While you stay here and keep in contact with Tempest, I'll be heading up to the Everfree," I concluded. She considered me for a moment before frowning.

"Are you sure that's safe?" She asked before her expression darkened. "What are you going to do about, you-know-who and her friends if they bump into you?" I waved a hand with a laugh, drawing the tablet again.

"I'll bring some drones and tools to help me, just in case," I said, sweeping through to another video file. "But more importantly, I want your help to see if we can do something with this." I presented the new recording to Jury, at which she tilted her head.

"Discord?" She murmured, drawing a snicker from me.

"I've got literal days worth of footage of him, captured while he was bumming around Ponyville," I explained, tapping the screen as he conjured up a chorus of singing apples for Fluttershy while the pair had a picnic. "Plenty of shots of his magic at work, too." She considered the image with a blank expression for a moment before nodding.

"Neat," she mused. Afterward, she fixed me with the same blank stare. "But what I meant by 'plan' was what we're doing next." I recoiled slightly.

"What?" I huffed, at which she shrugged and tilted her head back and forth.

"You were talking about killing the Storm King," she murmured, continuing to rock her head. "I get that's for you know, dealing with an enemy but." She paused, looking off to the side with an uncertain light in her eyes. After a moment, she fixed me with that uncertain expression.

"What are we doing once he's gone?" She asked. I furrowed my brow and leaned back in my seat, drumming its arms with my hands as I pondered her question. Of course, I already knew the answer. I'd known since shortly after Tempest stopped bawling into my shirt. The only issue was how to put it to Jury.

All over the world, there were creatures like Tempest, if the census Verko'd given me was to be believed. Creatures who, like me, were given a raw deal by life or those above them. And here I was, with the power and proven talent to improve things for them. It would take a lot of time and no small amount of effort, but how was that any different from the rest of my recent affairs?

And then there was Twilight.

I hadn't thought much about her these past few months, but once all these gears set to spinning, she popped up. Specifically, I finally understood what she meant.

Please, just come home.

She wasn't asking me to give up anything. She wasn't asking me to surrender or turn myself in at all!

She'd seen what I could do! What I did for that little rat and wanted to steer me in the right direction! It all made too much sense. What other reason could there be?

But there remained the splinter in her desire and our relationship. The 'right direction' involved kneeling before someone like Celestia. It can't be helped, since even as brilliant as she was, Twilight was still thoroughly indoctrinated to believe Celestia was all but perfect. Flawless. Practically divine and therefore worthy of worship.

A sad lie, obviously, and thus the one thing genuinely keeping me from taking her up on her offer.

But that wouldn't matter, I don't think. Not if I did this on my own! Well, with Jury's help anyway. Then she'd see we don't need Celestia. We can fix what's wrong with everyone ourselves. I smirked at the thought before considering Jury and taking a short breath.

"I'm going to take over the world," I finally replied. Before I could justify my declaration, she squeaked.

"Oh! Okie-dokey!" She chirped before giggling. I stared at her in wonder for a moment before realizing she was being serious.

"That easy?"

"I figured we'd be doing something like that eventually. You've been escalating everything ever since Stygian betrayed you," she said, before clapping her hooves with a giddy look in her eyes. "I'm excited! We finally have a direction and a super huge goal to work on!" She paused and fixed me with this strange blank smile before suddenly leaping up and wrapping her legs around my neck in a tight hug. As I squawked and stumbled, she nuzzled my neck.

"Together," she hummed. Pausing, I huffed before returning the gesture, wrapping my arms around her back.
"Together," I repeated as a warm smile washed over my face. You, me, and Twilight, Jury. The three of us, mastering this world and setting it all right.

Nothing like a period of research with Jury in peace without fear of assault by one of the deadliest unicorns on the planet. Half a month was all we needed to come to a few conclusions about a certain draconequus and his unique power set.
Discord's magic seemingly worked in an 'all-or-nothing' state. It's a bit like a tide where the magic rolls over its target and then drags the target under. However, if you can 'ground' yourself against the pull, it washes around you, mostly harmlessly. Like a big rock in the middle of a raging river. With these ideas set, we fashioned a new specialized warding talisman like the ones we'd made for protection against lightning. This one would oscillate the magical field around itself, keeping it unstable and therefore, hopefully, unable to be completely pinned down all at once by Discord's magic.

Assuming I ran into him during this venture. Honestly, I was hoping this would be a quick trip and then we could deal with Iggy. To that end, I clicked a sequence on my glove and sent my small band of drones whirring through the mostly abandoned Everfree castle. I eyed the halls as I followed their lead, noting that despite Flim and Flam's presence, the lighting I'd installed way back when remained inactive. We'd ripped out all the power-supplying bits when we made our exodus and it seemed like the brothers either hadn't bothered to replace them or they hadn't thought to. Either way, it meant that the only illumination through the castle came from the magical currents pulsing through my drones.

Which of course explained the startled scream that suddenly split the night from further down the hall.

"Brother! I told you!" One of the pair cried over the sound of hooves retreating further inside. "Bedlam's machines are alive!" I paused before smirking with a snort and striding after the frightened pony. Sending out another signal, I recalled all the drones who were exploring other parts of the castle to join me and the batch who were now pursuing Flim and Flam. As I did, I turned a corner and saw one of our old workshops which was actually lit by lamplight.

"I'm telling you, you're just paranoid," another voice said from inside, drawing closer to the doorframe in tandem with myself and my swarm. "Everypony knows no matter how good at tinkering the fellow was, he-" The mustachioed brother poked his head right through the door and locked eyes with me. The other leaned out before wilting and sliding back out of view.

"Ah, I see what you mean," the first brother murmured. More drones began filling the hall, at which he dove back into the workshop and slammed the door shut. Chuckling, I drew my spell sword and sliced the door in half. Pushing through, I found the pair hugging each other with terrified expressions in the middle of a workshop filled with all sorts of redesigned machinery Jury and I had invented. As my drones slowly filled the room behind me and I considered their work, one of the brothers moaned at the sight of me.

"Good grief!" He quailed. "You're- You're HIM!" I tilted my head upon spotting the wagon-shaped thing I'd recorded them working on sitting on a raised table, allowing access to its underside.

"Very astute," I replied, approaching the vehicle.

"We thought you were dead!" The other brother wailed.

"Obviously not," I said, inspecting the machine. Just as we'd assessed, there were no obvious gem runes along the bottom. As I hummed at the sight, the brothers shared a look and slowly separated.

"So, ah," the one with the mustache began, clearing his throat while the other one nervously considered my drones which were now hovering quietly above all of us. "How er, can we help you, fellow inventor?"

"I'm curious about this," I explained, tapping the wagon and still searching for any sign of how it worked. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is cobbled together from parts of my machinery, isn't it?" When no answer came, I turned to the brothers and found them both white as a pair of sheets. When they saw me staring, the second brother swallowed hard.

"Well! You've been gone an awful long time so, er," he coughed into his hoof and offered an anxious smile. "I hope you can understand we came to the conclusion you weren't using these bits of scrap anymore." I hummed and nodded slowly.

"I might be in a forgiving mood depending on whether or not you're willing to part with this thing," I explained, offering the pair a toothy grin. "I'd love to have a closer look to see how you managed this clever design for levitation." For some reason, that caused them both to perk up, if only slightly. Sharing the look the second brother cleared his throat.
"Well, how much are you offering?" He asked. I recoiled and my jaw fell open.

"You expect me to pay you?" I huffed, before pounding my fist against the wagon, causing the pair to shiver. "This is based on my technology." The pair hesitated for a moment before the first brother spoke up.

"But the innovation is all ours!" He argued, sweeping a hoof at the machine. "You said yourself the design's quite clever!" The second brother nodded vehemently.

"And surely this is just the first transaction in a lengthy and profitable partnership!" He offered a wide smile and a hoof. "Best to get started on the right hoof, right?" The pair show me their best showman grins which only held for a moment in the face of my unimpressed glare. I took a breath that rumbled out in a growl.

"Here's an innovative idea: I'll pay you for the machine and your designs. How about that? Save me the time and trouble of having to take this apart later," I finally retorted. They shared a look before nodding at me.

"That seems fair," the second replied.

"Agreed!" The first added. I rolled my eyes.

"How much?"

"Two million," the mustachioed little bastard quipped without skipping a beat. I clenched my eyes for a moment before fixing them with another unimpressed leer. This time, however, they both wore confident grins.

"That's highway robbery," I dryly declared.

"And a criminal mastermind like you can surely appreciate that fact!" He chirped in response. His brother nodded along and then a silence followed, during which time I considered the pair and my swarm of drones above them.

"Two million for this? Lucky I didn't skin them alive, those rotten little," I grumbled and hissed as I sat inside my new hovercraft, attempting to get a better understanding of its intricacies, pulling open metal panels and replacing them as I searched for anything familiar to my designs. The controls and seating would need to be completely redone to comfortably accommodate me, and despite the fact I'd gotten it airborne after nearly bringing the entire castle down on Flim and Flam's heads with the drones, I still didn't really get how it was able to fly on magic alone.

To my continued shock, the hovercraft was handling beautifully. No propellors or visible means for stability, and yet it didn't jostle or rock even as I tossed and turned from side to side pulling panels open. It was like it rested upon an invisible flat plane at all times. Whatever those two had managed, once I let Jury have a crack at it with a wrench, I was confident their secrets would be mine.

"Ah-hah! That's a gem!" I declared with a low cackle, having found a magically charged gemstone embedded beneath one of the panels. It was, however, completely bare, further confusing me as to how they'd pulled this off.

I sighed hard and sank into my too-small seat before hucking the panel I'd just pried loose off the side of the hovercraft, nailing one of my drones in the process.

Even if we pulled this whole machine apart, since we only had the one, if we failed to reverse engineer it, well.. That was that.

I had to face facts: We needed their designs, and more importantly to my frustration, we needed them on friendly terms. After all, maybe I would need their talent in the future if they pulled something like this off. Groaning, I reclined in my seat and drew my hands over my head, mulling over what to do. As blatantly thieving as their demanded price was, I'd have to meet it to smooth things over with them.

"Thievery, huh?" I murmured, before glancing off to the north. Humming, I set the craft to fly in that direction as an idea began to form.