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The Arrival of a Madman1,602 words
Discoveries3,460 words
Exploration and Exploitation4,251 words
When shit hit's the fan6,380 words
Welcome to Canterlot!6,617 words
A better love story for Twilight2,090 words
Meet the Music5,442 words
Reunions7,184 words
My New Apprentice6,233 words
Maddening Revelations6,104 words
Beer, Armour, Music and Magic7,130 words
Date Night12,142 words
Welcome to the Madhouse11,185 words
Diaries of my Madness3,907 words
Meanwhile...4,798 words

Meanwhile...

"RELEASE MEEEE!!!"

Celestia slowly backed away from the microphone to the intercom, a sad expression strewn across her face. She turned her head to Shining Armour, who stood beside her, and let out a sigh. "This is not something I wish to do. I do not want to lose such a valuable friend," she lowered her head, "again."

Shining Armour stared at her. "I understand," he agreed, "however, we cannot allow a pony to run amok and kill who he pleases. Yes, Mad Mind is my friend," he quickly turned his gaze to a screen that showed the insane stallion in his cell, thanks to an invisible camera, who was weeping over himself, "but this is for what's best. He must be taught that his actions have consequences."

Celestia raised her head and gazed at the screen. "He does raise a good point though," she stated, catching Shining Armour's attention, "while my guards may be very good at their duty of protecting and serving my little ponies, I do not think they are capable of killing beings, unless it came down to it." Celestia turned her head towards Shining, "You, on the other hoof Shining, seem to be rather capable at killing, and based off the countless things you have seen in the past, I'm not surprised. But I cannot rely off of one of my many guards, even with the Elements of Harmony, to fend off an army of changelings AND dragons. We need a pony like Mad Mind on the battlefield."

Shining nodded in agreement. "Let's all just hope that Mad Mind can recover and learn his lesson fast enough before this war."

Celestia nodded and sighed. "Yes. Let us hope."

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Celestia stood at the front doors of the shiny white doors of the mental institute. It was midday, and the sun was arched high in the sky. The birds happily chirped to one another, as a gentle breeze blew past, blowing through Celestias shimmering mane and tail, causing it to shimmer like the sun itself (and, as the ruler of the sun, this all made perfect sense.) . It was a very peaceful day in Canterlot, as ponies went about their business left and right. She smiled and made a quick glance to her left, where she saw all six element bearers, who all seemed rather eager to see Mad Mind once again.

It had been a full two weeks since Mad Mind had been locked inside the institute, and doctors have all agreed he had been making a rather quick recovery and should be ready for release in less then four days. They also said that she was welcome to drop in and say hello to Mad Mind quickly, before he had to continue undergoing treatment. She turned to the six mares. "Are you ready to see Mad Mind again?" She asked.

Rainbow Dash grinned. "Oh heck yeah! The castle has been so BORING without him," she noticed Applejack giving her a glare, "Oh, well... not that you guys or boring or anything!" She quickly added, saving herself at the last second.

Rarity smiled. "While we might have had our differences in the past, I feel I could use his company again every now and again." She agreed.

Celestia noticed Twilight was remaining quiet and simply staring at the pearly white doors of the asylum. She raised an eyebrow at her pupil. "Twilight?"

Twilight quickly shook her head, bringing her back to earth from wherever her mind had wandered off to. "Oh! Yes! Of course I'm looking forward to seeing Mad Mind again!" She said, flashing a smile.

Rainbow Dash put Twilight into a headlock. "Yeah! Of course YOU'RE looking forward to seeing him! You're probably gonna give him a BIG kiss, aren't ya, Twily?"

Twilight's face flushed crimson. "R-Rainbow! That was COMPLETELY uncalled for!"

Rainbow stuck her tongue out. "Well, it's true! You've done nothing but talk about him and how much you miss him for, what? A week?" She glanced at her friends, who all nodded in confirmation.

Celestia couldn't help but let out a small laugh as her student became completely flustered. "Alright, that's enough Rainbow Dash." She said, drawing the attention of everypony, "let's go see how our friend is doing."

As they entered the white doors, they quickly noticed something was wrong; nurses were rushing around frantically, talking with each other, a panicked look in their eyes as they rushed from place to place. The seven all glanced at each other in confusion before making their way to the front desk, where a clearly stressed and worried receptionist sat, talking to a panicked, pink mare

"Are you sure that she's safe?" The mare asked fearfully, "I mean, she's not hurt? That... psycho didn't hurt her, did he?"
The receptionist gave her an odd look. "Yes, I can assure you that she is, indeed, safe. There is no need for alarm. And, could you be so kind as to not refer to our patients with that word?" She asked politely, "It's rather offensive."
The mare brought her front hooves on to the desk. "Well, what else am I supposed to call him!?" She yelled, causing the receptionist to back away slightly, "he straight up murdered another patient! Not only that, but he-"

Princess Celestia let out a small cough, causing the mare to turn around, and instantly bow before her. "Princess Celestia! What an honor it is to see you here." The mare said.
Celestia sighed, and cast a warm smile. "Thank you, my little pony. Now..." she turned her head to the receptionist, "did something happen here?"

The receptionist, a middle-aged earth pony mare with a brown coat and yellow eye's, gave the Monarch a sigh, "As much as I wish something DIDN'T happen," she said it with a hint of worry in her voice, "yes; something did occur in the middle of the night involving two patients, one of them dead..." the receptionist gulped, "but, I'm sure that everything will be just fi-"

"Take us to them." Celestia was no longer wearing her mother-like expression; a new expression bore across her features that displayed many emotions; anxiety, doubt, and hints of fear and anger. If something happened to Mad Mind, then she had to know immediately. She couldn't keep him here for too long; war was approaching, and she needed every able bodied pony to help fight. Especially Mad Mind, as he was a natural killer, which while frightening, would be effective on the battlefield if everything went south.

The receptionist was taken aback from the Princess' firm tone. "I apologize you're highness, but we can't allow you to enter the ward itself... there's still..." she trailed off, her fear becoming increasingly obvious, "a bit of a mess..." she finished.

Celestia was becoming increasingly infuriated by the second. This was not the time nor the place for something like this to occur. She cast a glance at the group of mares beside her, which only built up her anxiety that much more.

Rainbow Dash was standing perfectly still, a look of disbelief plastered upon her face, as if she simply couldn't believe that a murder could have taken place. Seeming to forget Mad Mind's somewhat violent nature for a moment, she simply stood there, mouth agape.

Poor Fluttershy looked almost pale white, as she cowered behind Rainbow, trembling in fear. Her wings covering over her eye's as she let out soft whimpers of terror.

Rarity, was lying upon her red couch, fainted over. This, however, was not a dramatic faint in the slightest; Celestia could see where her mane was standing on end, and her tail, normally well maintained, looked much like an old straw broom. Rarity would probably faint again at the sight of her self once she wakes.

Pinkie Pie's mane had deflated like a balloon, and a grim expression was upon her face. There wasn't a single trace of the normal, bubbly, pink pony left, as she had to sit down and actually think about what was currently happening at this point. Murder wasn't something to be taken lightly, and this put Pinkie into a state of disarray.

Applejack, much like Rainbow Dash at this point, had a look of pure shock on her face. However, she also had maintained the ability to move around and talk, which was beneficial to the final pony in the room, who looked the worst out of all of them;

Twilight Sparkle, once positively beaming before the entered the ward, was reduced to a pile of sobs and tears, as possible thoughts of what could have happened filled her mind. Celestia flinched at the sight of her prized pupil in such a state of mind. Applejack was reassuring her that the murder might not have involved Mad Mind at all, which was also a likely scenario, however a feeling deep within Twilight was telling her otherwise.

Celestia turned her gaze back to the receptionist, "I completely understand, however I feel that, since we also have a friend within this place, we should at least be able to check up on him," she said that with utmost honesty; they had come here to give Mad Mind a check up anyway, might as well use it to their advantage.

The brown mare leaned in close to the princess, "this... 'friend' you're talking about..." she whispered, her voice trembling slightly, "he wouldn't happen to be... the alicorn?"

Celestia tilted her head slightly, "unless there is another alicorn, I believe so. But please, tell me why you won't call Mad Mi-"

The receptionist brought a hoof to her mouth, "don't say his name!" She said in a loud whisper, her eyes as wide as dinner plates, "if the patients hear it, they'll panic, and..." she trailed off and began to fidget with her pen.

Celestia raised an eyebow, "and...?"

The mare looked back up at the Princess, "that name is considered bad luck here. The other ponies who work here... they believe that saying his name is a curse. An omen, that something bad will happen if you say his it." She turned to the rest of the mares, "hence why he's simply been labeled 'The Alicorn'."

Twilight, after hearing this, broke out of her slump and moved Applejack to the side. She strode up to the desk and put her hooves on the counter, "that's a lie!" She shouted, the aggravation clearly showing itself within her, "even though he's done some bad things, there's no way that simply saying Mad Mind's name could be considered bad luck!"

The brown earth pony met Twilight's gaze for a solid ten seconds before arising from her position behind the desk. "Very well. If you want proof of what I mean, then I guess I have no choice to show you what's he has done." She started moving quickly down the hall, the six mares and Celestia following closely, "so," Rainbow Dash was now the one to break the silence, having been too shocked to speak back in the foyer, finally finding her voice again, "is this the only reason you can come up with as to why Mad Mi-" the brown pony shot her a glare, "right, why 'The Alicorn's name is considered bad luck? Because I'm getting a feeling that you're hiding something from us as well."

The receptionist sighed, but didn't turn around, "first off, since we're in in the main part of the facility, I'd suggest exercising much more caution as to not say his name, since the other patients will panic. And, secondly, no this is not the first time something bad has occurred here. Ever since his arrival here, patients and staff alike have had nothing but terrible things happen to them. A stallion who volunteered here for a few years left only a couple of days ago because he didn't believe the rumors were true as well... that nopony's name could cause bad luck,"
she said as she turned around, "at the end of his work day, he went home and found that his home was ransacked and his child was being held hostage. It turns out that he had a bit of a gambling addiction and couldn't pay off all his bills and wounded up in some shady business... loan sharks, and all that." She turned back around, "thankfully, he managed to scrape together the bits to pay off the ransom, and after he did, his wife felt she couldn't risk being a stallion who was in that type of lifestyle, and she left him and took his son with her. And... that's what I know. He never came back after that."

The group fell silent after that story, letting it all sink in. The shear thought of something like that occurring... surely it was just a horrible coincidence?

They turned the corner, "we're here." The receptionist said grimly.

Celestia's eyes widened. She had lived a long life, and she had seen many things in her lifetime, but this was something she did not expect at all. The entire hallway seemed to have a dramatic color shift from white to bright crimson. It coated the walls, the floor, even the ceiling was not spared the horror's of the dreaded color. Small chunks of blue fur and flesh could be seen scattered across the floor, as if torn off the back of a pony, and not with any tools, or even magic; it all looked like it was ripped out, as if forced off, but there was no sign that anypony could have damaged the flesh itself. The stench was enough to make anypony's snout curl in disgust, as the deep scent of death lingered in the air. There was also an odd feeling in the air... something that a pony wouldn't feel within these walls, especially since it was considered forbidden within the ward.

Celestia could detect faint hints of magic within the air. An unusual occurrence, especially since all patients were forced to wear magical restraints at all times, however she also knew Mad Mind's incredible power as a whole was probably more than enough to shatter a restraint. Then, her thoughts started running a mile a minute; if the chunks of flesh were of any indication, it doesn't look like it was done with magic... so why could she still detect magic in the air?

Determined to not lose her composure, Celestia turned to the receptionist, "has a body been found of the stallion?" She asked, somehow knowing the possible answer.

The mare shook her head, her face continuing to stare at the gruesome scene, as if she had seen it before but no matter how many times she looked at it, she just couldn't take her eyes off of the bloody display. "No body has been found yet. I'm also starting to think that one might not show up..." she finally managed to avert her gaze from the hall back up to the princess, "you see... it was MUCH worse earlier... I honestly think that he somehow managed to break out of the magic restraints and... 'disposed' of the body." She said it, her voice nearly breaking. Her fear was obvious now; she was sweating, and was taking shallow breaths.

Celestia looked into the brown mares eyes, "where did he dispose of the body?" She asked, her motherly tone coming out again, and letting the receptionist to manage a good, healthy breath of air before she spoke again, "t-the body..." her voice broke and she started to scream, "the body wasn't teleported or brought to another place! It wasn't incinerated, or what most ponies would consider an 'appropriate' way of disposing of a body! All we could here was the boom and... what you're looking at..." she took a deep breath as she was now crying out of fear, "is all we could find."

The realization hit the monarch like a train. This wasn't the location of a brawl, or even Mad Mind's traditional method of killing, based off what she knew. No, this was something else entirely. An approach Mad Mind had fumbled around with, yes, but...

Incinerating Changelings was one thing.

Making a pony implode... was something else altogether.

She turned away from the disgusting scene, unable to look at it any longer or think of the disturbing thoughts Mad Mind had left upon her brain. Several thoughts were running through her mind: she was mad, and disappointed in the stallion. Had he not pull a stunt like this, then he would have been released sooner rather than later, and then he could have assisted with the coming war. Had he not done this, Twilight would have been able to tolerate the thought of war, but not with this on her mind; there's only so much one pony can take, and Celestia knew that. Had he not done this, maybe... just MAYBE, the ponies could have stood a chance against the Changelings and Dragons. While that hope wasn't lost entirely, the lacking of the insane stallion put them at a severe disadvantage.

The Monarch made an attempt to shove these thoughts aside; she currently had more pressing matters to deal with, and the many negative thoughts that swarmed her brain were not helping her case in the slightest. She needed Mad Mind out of this place as soon as possible, yet her duty as Princess forced her to have to keep him here. She could either pull him out early, and cause widespread civilian panic and possibly riots, or leave him and risk losing the battle against the Changelings and the Dragons. It was a question with no correct answer; either way, it would either cause Canterlot to crumble from the outside or the inside, no matter which option she chose.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Time. She needed time. Time to think. She desperately wished there was more of it at her disposal, but the march of war was fast approaching; she had to make the decision, and fast.

"Princess Celestia...?" A voice from behind her snapped her out of her thoughts. The voice belonging to one horrified, and trembling Twilight Sparkle. "What can we do?"

Celestia let out a sigh. She wasn't ready to make the call just yet. She'd have to sleep on it. "Come, my little ponies," she said soothingly, her motherly composure returning to her in an instant, easing some of the tension in the air. "We are leaving."

The six mares gave her a look of half shock and half confusion. "But, Celestia!" It was now Rainbow Dash's turn to intervene, her anger slowly building up, "we NEED to get Mad Mind out though! You know; war, Changelings, Dragons... remember all that? If anyone can handle this sort of battle, it's him! He NEEDS to get out!"

Applejack came to Rainbow's side, "I have t' agree with RD on this one, yer highness," she said, her voice slightly calmer than that of the others, "as gruesome as he is, Mad Mind is th' only stallion we know of who can handle this sort of situation! He'd be pretty darn useful if we pulled him out now."

Celestia gave them a look, " I understand that, and I completely agree with you two; Mad Mind must get out as soon as possible," she lowered her head, " however, imagine how the rest of the city will react; a stallion who had just murdered another pony, in cold blood, set free. The ponies will panic; riots will happen and we'll tear ourselves apart from the inside." The mares' eyes all widened as the realization hit them. "I only need a bit more time. I must think this over..." she turned her gaze to the receptionist, "thank you for assisting us today," she spoke with a gracious tone, "you have been truly helpful. We shall take our leave for now."

The receptionist returned her look, having calmed down somewhat, "w-why, thank you, Your Highness..."

And, on that note, the group of mares left, all except the receptionist, who remained behind.

The receptionist turned back to the gruesome carnage that Mad Mind had created. The large mess of blood and flesh that remained behind that was once the stallion Rushing Rain...
And she started to giggle.
Which evolved into laughter.
Which then became full on maniacal cackle that echoed ominously through the halls, and rang throughout the rest of the institute.

'Well done Mania! I've always known you were a great actor, but this far exceeded my expectations...'

The brown mare's features slowly shifter and morphed until she turned into a scrawny, orange alicorn stallion with a chaotic mess for a mane. His laughter slowly subsided as he calmed down. "Why, thank you, My Lord! I'm going to be honest with ya for a sec: I honestly thought that Celestia would be MUCH more difficult to trick!" He let out another cackle, "oh, but I was wrong! SO wrong! Bring me an easy button, because that's what it was! Totally easy!"

'And you, Dementia, deserve praise as well! We should have just blown up Rushing Rain anyway instead of incinerating him... it would have made this whole operation much easier. But, I digress; it takes REAL effort to disguise as a pool of blood!'

The large pool of blood slowly came together to reveal the sight of another alicorn, whom was slightly more muscular than his orange companion. He gave his purple coat and mane a shake, out of discomfort, "it always feels like I'm covered in the stuff after I do that," his voice was much darker than Mania's, "Not that being covered in blood is anything new to me." He let out a small laugh at that thought.

Mania turned his gaze to Dementia in shock, "did you just laugh!? You!?" Mania conjured a fan and began waving in front of his face dramatically, "oh, bring me a doctor! I think something is wrong with our dear Dementia!"

The purple pony's stare suddenly turned cold, "what! Am I not allowed to laugh every now and again? You laugh at everything, you orange punk!" Dementia, roared.

Mania let out another laugh, "Dementia; calm yo shit! I'm just playing around with ya! No need to get in a twist about it!"

Dementia growled at him, "I swear to god, I'd kill you so much more often if we weren't always sealed off in Mad Mind... damaging him is bad for Lord Madness, but damaging YOU..." he conjured a long, silver sword, "is much more enlightening, in my opinion."

The orange stallion frowned at his companion, "well! I see at least ONE OF US has their priorities in order... while the other is trying to kill the other, for enlightenment! Hmph!" A monocle and top hat appeared upon him, "good sir! I do personally believe you are, pardon my language, a little fucked up!"

Dementia's eye twitched once, and then he dashed straight for the laughing Mania, sword in his magical grip. "WE'LL SEE WHO'S FUCKED UP AFTER THIS, YOU UNORIGINAL SHIT!"

Now, it was Manias' turn to be pissed off. "Don't... call... me..." he blasted a column of flame at the purple stallion, "UNORIGINAL!!"

Madness let out a sigh as his two henchmen fought each other. Sure, that was there duty; to constantly battle amongst each other and break down their host, slowly. However, their constant bickering proved to be difficult to deal with; Madness had plans to deal with, and didn't have time for nonsense, unless his plans were accomplished; which meant nonsense for all. Dementia was cold, dark, and always fearful; Mania was his polar opposite; bright, cheery and unpredictable. Their opposing personalities meant bickering, and that meant more time wasted. He watched as Mania slowly pulled the sword out of his chest, while Dementia was healing his burnt flesh, and decided this was the best opportunity to intervene.

'Alright, that's more than enough you two! One; we're still in the same building with as many insane ponies as there are sane, so we need to watch how loud we're being. Two; Mad Mind will soon be noticing our absence; we have to move back to him immediately. We wasted enough time here as is.'

Dementia and Mania both cast one more hateful glare at each other, before bowing their heads. "Yes, my lord," they both said in unison. The two slowly arose from their positions and began to move back towards Mad Mind's cell. Mania let out a grin three steps in, "race ya there!" He shouted with a laugh to Dementia, as he raced past, galloping at full speed. The purple stallion sighed, and kept his guard up, constantly on the look out for oncoming guards, spies, nurses, and security cameras.

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Twilight was a wreck. And that was putting it lightly.

She had stayed up in her room for a full day, not coming down for meals and not letting anyone come in to visit her. Not even Spike was allowed in her room, which was incredibly unlike her.

She had her face buried in her pillow, silently screaming about Mad Mind. He was an idiot. A psychopath. A deranged stallion with voices in his head.

Yet she loved him just the same.

She pulled up her head from her pillow, revealing tear stains from where she had been crying. She couldn't cry anymore however: she had simply cried herself dry. She looked around her room; it looked exactly how it did yesterday, and the day before; clean and spotless. Not a single thing was out of place. She sighed, and looked back to her pillow. She felt like she was in a limbo; she didn't know what to do at this point, or, rather, what she should do. But, something in her mind told her she couldn't keep lying down with her face in her pillow all day and constantly be upset with herself. She got up from her bed slowly, her bones letting out small cracks as she did so, and gave another quick glance around the room, until her eyes fell upon the desk near the back of the room.

Suddenly, an idea entered her brain; she would write a letter.

To Mad Mind.

Without hesitation, she got up and hopped into the chair in front of the desk. She levitated a quill and a piece of paper in front of her and began to write.

About how the war was beginning.
About how everything was changing quickly.
About how she was... upset with him.

She quickly finished writing the letter and let out a sigh. She felt much better after writing the letter, like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. In a quick flash of magic, the letter vanished to the institute's office.

As she did so, she got up out of her chair and made her way out of her door.

Everpony else was getting ready for the coming war: she had to play her part as well.

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Author's Note:

NOW, this is much better.

It took me a bit of time, but I got it done, and I'd say it's a vast improvement in comparison to last time.

The ending is now something I can work with for the last chapter. Enjoy this while I get to work on the final part!
Commander Ice.

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Commander Ice

Commander Ice #1 · Sep 21st, 2015 · 1 · ·

Next chapter is out. I hope you guys like it!

Johnny Bravo

Johnny Bravo #2 · Sep 21st, 2015 · · ·

"You know, that reminds me of a funny story. I was washing my head in the toilet the other day, when--
So when the battery ran out, I realized I had my underwear over my head, the whole time! Hahahahahaha!"
-Johnny Bravo

The Shade

The Shade #3 · Sep 21st, 2015 · · ·

You did It! You updated! I'm so proud of you! Now, to read this chapter, or to write on my essay...

rikusorasephiroth

rikusorasephiroth #4 · Sep 21st, 2015 · · ·

I wonder... If LUna went into his dreams, would she find the aggressive aspect that's not part of his ascension?

Commander Ice

Commander Ice #5 · Sep 21st, 2015 · · ·

6445522 Sorry. I just got back, and still need to get back into the swing of things as well. If I lost you, than there isn't much I can actually do about it. I don't mean for my comment to sound rude or anything, and I hope you take no offence to it, but I'm still trying my best to get back on the horse. Just give me some time and check up every now and again and let me know if I've recaptured your interest again.

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