The true Psychopath

by The Psychopath

Carnifex's hidden knowledge

Pandora sat in the bedroom with Celestia, the other ponies having long since left the two alone per Celestia's request. Pandora rubbed her foreleg and sighed. Seeing Celestia in her massive bed, covered in white, pristine sheets reminded her of the tents of surgeons in her time. It was an unpleasant memory.

"Thinking of the past again?" Celestia asked Pandora. She spoke in a whispered hush.

"I...Yes..."

"I see." Celestia took a deep breath. "Even when he helps me, I'm left a little more wounded inside," the alicorn mused. "I suppose that was to be expected."

Pandora sighed. "I would have imagined that his potion would have healed you fully."

"It did. My body is simply far beyond its limit for exhaustion." Celestia adjust herself under the covers.

"I have a potion for that," Pandora said. "It wouldn't take long to--"

"No." Celestia grinned. "I think it's a good opportunity to take some rest from all the tiresome problems of the country. Take vacation, if you will."

The unicorn chuckled. "As tricky as ever, princess."

"I suppose." There was a long pause before the two resumed speaking. "I'm sure we have much to catch up on, and I will hire some ponies to teach you about the current world and how it works."

"I would appreciate that very much. Thank you."

The alicorn raised a brow, and her smile dimmed. "But why are you still here? Surely, it isn't to catch up on things."

Pandora shook her head. "No. It's not." The mare teleported her journal into reach. "I was trapped in this by Psycho, but I'm not sure why."

"I find it strange that he would only save one pony." Celestia clacked her teeth together. "He would never truly hurt anypony, and he would have saved you all, yet there was nothing but rubble left at the tower, and nopony else was found alive."

"Maybe there are other forces at work here?" Pandora pondered. "Still. When I reached the basement of the tower, I met a golem."

"A golem?!" Celestia repeated loudly. "That is quite curious. No pony has ever successfully made a golem. Are you sure it wasn't being controlled by somepony?"

"I am absolutely sure, princess."

Celestia became distressed. "The 'golems' we found were always being controlled like puppets. You take out the one controlling it and the golem stops."

"It mentioned 'Carnifex'. I was hoping you, who have lived for so long, might know of him."

Celestia frowned. "Are you saying I'm old?" she asked flatly. Pandora was at a loss for words and started sweating nervously until Celestia laughed. "I'm just playing. Don't worry. As for Carnifex...I can't say I've heard of him."

"Oh." Pandora frowned. "That's a shame."

"I MIGHT have some information that could help you, but you would need to go to the protected part of the royal library." Pandora perked up. "I heard of a strange mage who was here in Canterlot before my time. Things were very different back then, but he might have had his own tower." Celestia nodded to herself. "The library SHOULD contain records or notes from him all those years ago. Start your search there."

"Alright." Pandora was about to leave but turned back to face Celestia. "If I find anything of interest, can I take it with me? I'd like to study it thoroughly."

Celestia nodded. "Of course, and please. You may stay here in the castle until you have readjusted and found a home of your own."

Pandora bowed. 'I am honored of the gifts you give me. I shall use them wisely."

The alicorn waved a hoof. "There's no need for those kinds of formalities anymore, Pandora." Celestia smiled. "The nobles might still do that, but..." She frowned and spoke dryly. "It's really just a show they put on in an attempt to get into my good favor."

Pandora gave another goodbye, asked for the direction of the library, and went there immediately. Rows upon rows upon floors of bookshelves were present. Chandeliers dangled at varied heights, and the windows at the highest floor made it truly feel like one was in a tower. The mare walked to the right of the entrance and hurried over, stopping at a barrier distorting the bookshelves further away like a heat haze. Using her hoof, Pandora dispelled the barrier and continued on. He clenched her muzzle immediately. The old books and rows of parchments gave off an acrid smell that burned her nostrils.

"Puah. And I have to deal with this smell while I study?" She frowned and channeled magic into her horn. "No thank you." A brief smell encased her face in a bubble that gradually wrapped around the shape of her head. The mare took a deep breath and smiled. "Much better." She looked at all the old parchments and scratched her head. "Where to start? Maybe with the records so I know which year everything is placed."

Several weeks passed, and Pandora was starting to grow upset. She couldn't find anything substantial. There were bits and pieces of information here and there either vaguely mentioning a 'mage gone crazy' or a mage discovering something new. Most were far too vague to link to Carnifex, but then the unicorn found several books and parchments making more direct references to the mage. Pandora's eyes widened.

"These parchments are insanely old, but this is what I've been looking for." She pondered for a moment. "I'll go to Twilight for this. She knows more about the current world than I do, and with us both cross-referencing the knowledge of Carnifex, I'm sure we'll discover exactly who he is..." She shrugged. "Or at least get closer."

Pandora carefully placed the old parchments into her saddle bags and hurried off out of the castle grounds, stopping only on the hillside on the way to the city. "Maybe I could use this 'train' Princess Celestia spoke of. I do appreciate new experiences."

The mare trotted through the streets of Canterlot, taking in the surroundings and being awe-struck at the lavish mansions dotted all around the city. One such mansion had its owner cleaning up its walls, something that caught the unicorn off guard. The owner, a stallion of pure white, turned around and waved hello to her, and Pandora nodded back. The stallion became upset when he looked at her bags.

"Another one, huh? I thought we took care of that," the stallion thought to himself.

Comments

[The Psychopath]

8783166
I did what?

[watcher1235]

8783202
ya did a featured

[The Psychopath]

8783224
What sorcery is this?!

[ross787887]

ACK

[The Psychopath]

8783331
ECH

[Kryostasis]

Oy vey

[The Psychopath]

8787663
You're the Oy Vey.

What'd you think of the rewrite?

[Kryostasis]

8787687
It's nicely done and has a lot more detail than the original version.

[The Psychopath]

8789039
yay

[Lunaexcelsior]

Good story 10/10 would read again

[Lunaexcelsior]

Now that I've got my joke comment out of the way let's dig into this story proper shall we. Where do I even begin with a beast like this? One of the things that keeps on consistently impressing me with Psycho's work is the attention and level of detail he puts into every scene he makes. It really serves to paint a beautiful picture in my mind of the scenery and really shows off the awesome creativeness of the author.

The comedy in ths work really had me in stitches, especially every time Psycho appeared. The zany antics and the quick slapstick humor really made me stop more than a few times to laugh to myself before resuming the story. It is so rare, even among comedy writers, to find someone who can make me laugh consistently as Psycho does with every single one of his comedic ventures.

However, what really sold me on this story was also the mystery behind the world of Illogic and Psycho himself. Every time we got close to it, it changed, much like Psycho himself, leaving us hungry for more. Psycho himself was amazingly funny (BIG UP FOR THE PUWANDESE! CRUMP DA GUMPS) and he was shown to be able to experience both the highest of joys and lowest of sorrows. The scene where Twilight yelled at him, though justified, really did make me sad for the poor herald of Illogic.

As far as the cannonball characters go, they were perfectly done. Celestia was just as awesome as ever, Chrysalis was perfectly portrayed as a scorn brood queen and Twilight was her usual nervous self (which made for a great straight mare to the illogical Psycho). Of the new characters, I really enjoyed the nefarious duo of Crimson Gaze and Black Cloud as they played off of each other perfectly. I really liked Black Cloud's attempts to remain this suave playboy even when it backfired on him.

Overall this was an exhilirating journey through both mystery and comedy.

[Celestial king turles]

He’s cool this is very awesome. Kinda want to be him a bit.

[pornni789]

nice post great work everything thanks