The Logician's Recovery Log [Reworking]

by ChucklesMcJingleberry

Rating: mature
Tags: Adventure, Tragedy, Human, Sad
Length: 8340

Lestrade's attempts to protect Alpha have failed. Now Lestrade must work in the background to uncover Limelight's secrets and find the way to restore Alpha to power.

Lestrade's attempts to protect Alpha have failed. Now, in this story of suffering, betrayal and journey into one's self, Lestrade must work in the background to uncover Limelight's secrets and find the way to restore Alpha to power. In this sequel to The Manic Journals, Alpha will write his thoughts as he follows the guidance of the Greater Logician, Lestrade. However, this time, Lestrade faces a greater enemy than Limelight ever had to cope with. Can he hold his ground against the will of Insanity?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-11-24 19:15:09 UTC

Up To Speed (1/2)

After Le`Vanna found herself  corrupted by the influence of Insanity, and after her failed attempt to hunt down the child who escaped her at the train, she moved to Baltimare and began systematically breaking down the population. She began by spreading her influence among the children. This was a slow and arduous process. It took almost three whole years, it would have taken longer but, thanks to the extended time she could spend isolated with the children, she brought them to shed their social identities and moral standards, and fashioned them into murderous rapists who still haunt Baltimare, even in during the events of this story, LRC.

Even as she corrupted the children, she continuously worked to find ways to influence Baltimare directly. She ambushed and stole from ponies on their ways to and from Baltimare. She would let them walk away, thinking they had escaped with their lives, and then chase them down and rape, torture, and slaughter them. Some of them she brought into her lair in the forest, so that she may either amuse herself with them, use them as emergency food sources, or use them to further her research on magic and to discover a way to grant herself access to magic. Her research was ultimately successful. However, she never fully perfected her potion. She could not take too much of it before purging her system of it, or she could be at a risk of short term organ failure and hallucinations.

She set herself up as a provider of medicine among the poorer districts of Baltimare, as her servants in the forest vandalized the northern district. Occasionally, she would mix in some poisonous contaminants among her medicine, and then return to rob the home of the now dead ponies and take their bodies for food. She accumulated a small amount of wealth, which she used to acquire more implements to use against Baltimare, things like fuel with which her slaves burn down houses in northern Baltimare.

As time passed, Le`Vanna found her stability of thought breaking down. In the back of her mind, from the very beginning, there lurked a subtle click noise that simply faded into the background of the forest sounds. However, as years passed, it began to amplify. It thundered at her like a storm drum, pounding at her stability like a battering ram attempting to break a door down. It followed a rhythm. One light tap, two deep booms, and another light tap. Then it would repeat this day and night: it was there when she dreamed and when she ate, when she spoke and when she ran. It never ceased. In the clicks, she felt she could hear words, like they were some kind of hidden message.

The day came when she was nearing her goal of traumatizing all of Baltimare, there was a subtle tension in the air as not a single pony felt they could look out their window without something happening behind their back. However, while paranoia was just making its roots in their minds, Le`Vanna found herself unable to close her eyes to sleep anymore as she could practically hear the words muttered beneath the clicks. They said, or so she believed, that the moment she turned her back she would die. Finally, after many mental breakdowns and failed attempts to look to her own prisoners for comfort, she began to try listening to the clicks. She begged them, what did they want? They spoke, and she listened.

At the will of the clicks, LeVanna set out on a journey to Ponyville, for there the clicks claimed they would finally be appeased. However, in an effort to outsmart the clicks, she brought along her two most trusted servants: Yarn Spinner and Kinos. A brother and sister pair. On the train ride to Ponyville, LeVanna went out to the walkway between two of the carts so that she could gather some fresh air, and a young mare followed her out. As Le`Vanna leaned over the railing to watch the ground pass, she became aware of the young pony behind her. She ignored her presence, as she felt that the universe was just toying with her, and she would not give it the satisfaction of seeing her terrified.  Here is how it turned out.

"I can't do this!" LeVanna burst out, sweat rolling down her brow. The children Yarn Spinner and Kinos looked up at her in worry, her insecurity was worrying them greatly, for she had always acted confident and in control when around them. However, months of torment without rest were crushing her structure of thought. All the ponies in the cart looked at the strange creature in surprise. Everypony had avoided eye contact with this obvious predator up until then. "I... I need some air. Wait here, my children." LeVanna rose and moved out the door, which she closed roughly, and settled herself onto a railing on the walkway between the two carts. She heard the door she had walked through open with a grittiness, but she paid it no mind. A full minute had passed before she was aware of a menacing presence behind her: she could feel the aura of hate and fear emanating from somewhere behind her, and it was beautiful.

Seconds passed, and LeVanna's paranoia began setting in. *Whose behind me? Why are they still there? Should I turn- No! That's what they want! It's all part of their plan... They think they can toy with me... I won't play along, I will just ignore them.* LeVanna sat there, cold sweat flowing down her neck like a river, pooling atop her shoulders and between her breasts. And then, in the sound of the clicks, a voice spoke. Execute function! A sudden rush of pain rocked Le`Vanna's entire world as something sharp pierced her back and popped out of her right breast: it was a blade. Much like the one Fluttershy had used while hunting with Herbert in the Everfree.

LeVanna tried to gasp and scream, but she found herself temporarily unable to breath: she worried maybe the blade had punctured her lungs, but it was not so. A whole five seconds passed while LeVanna stood there with a knife in her body, and then it slowly drew out of her with a popping noise. Blood had not even begun flowing out of her back and chest before she fell over the railing and crumpled herself against the ground. She tried to shout out in her suffering, but the pain was choking the breath out of her. As her heart pumped the blood out of her body, she used her left arm to roll over onto her back to try getting as much air as she could. Am I going to die? As she looked at the sky, she saw how the sky had took on an orange and yellow hue. She didn't know how long it had been like that, but she knew the sun should have still been high in the sky. She also found it odd that she focused on such a trivial detail when her life was being ended. As she lay there in absolute suffering, she heard the sound of the ground crunching beneath a pair of hooves. She raised her head to look at the pony who approached her, and was a tad insulted to see it was a child. With Le`Vanna glaring at her the entire time, the child made their way with a casual slackness next to the crippled monster.

"Well then..." The child muttered as she made her way over, "It certainly is a... pleasure." Le`Vanna quivered as she tried to process what was happening. Three seconds passed, and then she spat out blood at the child. It did not touch her. "Oh come now, there really is no need to be so unpleasant... Don't you think you do enough of that?"

"Fuck you! I'll kill you?" The child held an air of silence for a short time as she walked calmly around the wounded animal. She took a seat right above her heard and looked down. Once she was seated, she began to speak.

"You know, I've fantasized about this for years now... But this is not how I expected it to go." LeVanna tried to reach up at the girl, who flinched when she saw LeVanna's right arm move up, but then LeVanna found herself sorely regretting that choice as her wound sent blinding pain through her. "Oh... I don't think we have long left, do we? I've watched you kill plenty ponies, and not many of them lived through a wound like that. That's good, I certainly wouldn't want you to suffer too long." Another short silenced passed, and then LeVanna spoke.

"...Why not?"

"Why wouldn't I want you to suffer?" LeVanna nodded. "Because that would make me like you, silly." LeVanna took note in her mind that the child had called her silly. "Hmm... Yes, if there is anything I want to avoid, it is becoming like the monster I seek to destroy... Hey, does the sky look weird to you? I think it looks stupid." The child muttered as she looked up, away from LeVanna. More silence passed, and LeVanna felt her body slowly becoming numb. "So... Were you ever a baby? I'm trying to imagine you a a child, being all happy and cute... But I look at you now, and I can't think of a way anything cute could have become something like you..."

"You're a fucking weirdo." Le`Vanna said with a matter-of-factness.

"Oh, don't worry about apologizing to me. I was weird before you killed my mommy and brother." Le`Vanna chuckled to herself.

"Do you really think... What is wrong with you?" Le`Vanna found the anger seeping out of her as the numbness spread up her neck and around her head. She was starting to get dizzy and tired. She yawned.

"Try not to fall asleep. I don't think I was supposed to murder you. Just defeat you."

"Hm? How come?" Le`Vanna asked as a sense of passivity came over her.

"I dunno. I just do what the clicks in our head say to do."

"Oh, you hear those too, huh? They're so mean, right?"

"They aren't mean, they just don't understand emotions."

"How come?"

"Ask them yourself. They're here."

Le`Vanna blinked and found the child looking at her with an angry and pained expression.

"What?" Le`Vanna asked, not understanding why the child was so upset when, just a moment ago, she seemed so indifferent to the entire situation.

"What? How dare you even ask that!" The child shouted at her. "You murdered my life! You took away everything I care about! You've haunted me forever, why? You don't even have an excuse! you go around taking whatever you want, and not thinking about other- No! You don't even that. You purposefully hurt others! You are a monster. Die, monster!" The girl lifted her hoof over Le`Vanna's face, and the beast flinched.

"Something wrong?" Le`Vanna's eyes opened again, and she saw the child looking at her impassively. "You are in pain."

"...Yeah, I am..." The child nodded.

"Acknowledged... Your time is almost up." Le`Vanna nodded. "What do you think will happen afterwards?"

"...When my time is up? I'll die, of course..." Le`Vanna found that speaking to the girl seemed to give her a kind of calmness, a clarity. It seemed to put a structure over her mind, and make her thoughts go straight and the pain nothing more than a thing to be acknowledged.

"Do you really think I would kill you?" The child looked at her inquisitively.

"You already have."

"Hmm... You must really care about control, if you compare losing control to losing your life..." Le`Vanna found her entire world falling apart around her as a coldness began to seep into her and fill her mind inside and out.

Up To Speed (2/2)

To LeVanna, it appeared that she was dying as her vision cut black and a black and white fade in of the last thing she saw was all that remained. The child looking down on her with inquisitive eyes, picking her apart like a book. The fact was, the child had never said a word during those minutes. As blood pooled at the child's feet  hooves, she watched with mute horror and a slight bit of satisfaction as LeVanna babbled and thrashed in place,  her words coming out incoherently. The pony she had spoken to was a representative of an internal force within her. It was the force that drove the clicks, that functioned with the sole purpose of protecting Atwente. This entity was Lestrade, a patient, calculating, and efficient servant to the preservation and flourishing of logical thought. During the short moment, when her vision of the child burst out in anger, this was Atwente being slowly dissected  from LeVanna. Once he was removed entirely, Lestrade gained almost full control of the situation. The final force keeping full control away from Lestrade was the force of Insanity, which was fueling LeVanna with an energy to keep Lestrade from exerting power over her.

In an instant, Atwente regained his self awareness and sense of being an individual. Ah... What is this? What's going on? He was in a temporary state of calmness as his faculties turned on one after another. He then became aware of LeVanna's insidiousness in his brain, and was greatly upset. *God damn it! Are you serious? Can I not even commit suicide correctly?*  He was essentially shouting at nothingness, Lestrade was occupied with keeping LeVanna sedated so that she would not move to take back control and attempt to assimilate Atwente. If they were all going to die, he wanted Atwente to take the last breath.

As Lestrade and LeVanna were dead locked, Atwente simply sat in thoughtlessness, unmotivated to do so much as try to open his eyes, which he believed were closed. They lay there like this for quite some time until a burning sensation came over the body. It wretched the Insanity away from LeVanna and into the void, and it wiped away all it's influence from the body. The body went through a swift and painless transformation back into the original body: except bald because hair takes time to grow and stuff...

Gilchrist lifted his head suddenly, and looked in all directions. The sky was bright, and in the distance he could see a rainbow slowly moving out of his limited field of view. All three personalities were able to see once again, thought they all were at first impassive to the world around them. The child had run away, and now they were all alone. Execute function. Lestrade, now finally in control, assaulted the still numbed LeVanna. He performed what was known to the Greater Enemies in Gilchrist as an Isolation. In an Isolation, the one who is isolated retains their own identity and ability to think, but they are trapped in a loop that is usually infinite unless an external force interferes. This could be anything from a strong memory to a sensory input. Lestrade expected that LeVanna, assuming there were no mistakes made in it's hasty construction, would be repeating the same thought process for the rest of Gilchrist's life.

Function complete... Self assessment in progress. Atwente, unsure what was going on, moved to get to his feet.

"... Ouch. My shoulder kinda hurts." He reached his hand up to rub his shoulder, while pondering his current situation. I'm alive... But why? What's even going on? I really don't understand. You request information? 1221... Uh... Yeah, I do. First, who are you? I am subject number 3: the common name for me is Lestrade. How may I serve? You want to serve me? How come? I live to... It would seem an error has occurred. Error tolerance is sufficient. Loop. I desire to serve you because... I'm afraid I do not know why. I will suppress that question to prevent me from harming myself. How may I serve? ... So, where are we? Wasn't that Le`Vanna I heard a little bit ago? That is correct. Le`Vanna has held you as a component within her personality matrix for approximately... three years? I'm afraid I have not seen a calender once, so I am uncertain. I am sure, however, that we are much older than before. As for our location... We are in Equestria, along side the rail path from Baltimare to Ponyville. Why are we here? Le`Vanna was on her way to Ponyville because I influenced her to go... There is a problem. What? Why did you want her in Ponyville? She could have hurt Twilight, Spike, or any other pony there! Perhaps your logic is deficient? I shall correct if so: Le`Vanna is incapacitated. There is no way she can hurt anyone, currently. My logic? Maybe your English skills are deficient! She COULD have hurt them! Why would you put them at risk like that? LeVanna has been murdering ponies, molesting and raping children, and experimenting on the innocent for years... Some of it, she did under my influence. Oh, by the way, I have a gift for you when we return to Baltimare. Anyway, considering what her goal was, and the necessity of our memories of Ponyville to cause LeVanna to willingly expunge you, I felt that if I wanted to protect you, as is my primary function, I would need to risk the lives of the ponies you attempted suicide to protect. Now, as I wanted to say before, there is a problem I must inform you of. Many problems, in fact. But there is a more immediate threat we must address. The ponies of Ponyville are involved.

What is it? Le`Vanna, anticipating her defeat, brought along side her two most corrupt slaves. They will blend in among the populace and, over time, commit many acts of... bad stuff. ...Bad stuff? I cannot think of any words that encompass everything they would do. Murder, rape, arson, thievery, other bad stuff. They will likely be agitated due to the absence of their... mentor: Le`Vanna. Well then... Let's get going... We need to hunt these kids down. Alright, but there are a few parameters I must set in place. First of all, we must kill them. No attempts at reforming. They have been corrupted for years, there is no salvation for them. Secondly, you must avoid any ponies that would know you, such as Twilight or her friends. I do not think she would let you go, and she likely grieved over your absence for quite some time. She would probably hold a grudge. This is going to be a quick in and out. I recommend smashing their temples, Le`Vanna has found that it causes extreme pain in adult ponies. Likely for children as well, who never survived long enough for her to hit them there. Hold on a minute, why would I not want to leave? Let me list the reasons you seem to be neglecting: You have been gone for years, they probably either hate you and never want to see you, or have some other complex emotion that a manic like you would not handle well. Secondly, you have been-

Hold on a second! "A manic like you"? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Past analysis of manics informs me that you are easily influenced by emotions... If they lashed out at you, you would likely either be unable to handle it and shut yourself down emotionally while they berate you, or you would get angry right back, as manics tend to do, and then everyone would be angry at everyone and they'd probably elect to kill you. Oh come on, they wouldn't... want to kill me. I disagree. However, there is more to things than that. You have the blood and suffering of a good... I lost count, but you have a LOT of ponies' blood on your hands. You owe it to Baltimare to make up for your past sins. Alpha paused for a few moments. I thought Logicians didn't have a sense of morals or things like that. Why do you care about the suffering of others. I am the only perfect Logician. The others are all sociopaths. A moral code is a strong portion of logic, and it is in fact almost the same as Logic. I don't get it. Why don't all the other Logicians have morals then? As was previously stated, they are sociopaths. It is a short coming of my children that I do not possess. Now then, we owe it to Baltimare to undo all the suffering we have done, even if it takes the rest of our lives. ...You're absolutely right... I guess... Le`Vanna seems to find a way to make me suffer, even in her death. You brought all of this on yourself, Atwente. ...I'm pretty sure that's called victim blaming, and you ought to check yourself before you Shrek yourself.

After Atwente was led to Ponyville by Lestrade, he hunted for the children all through the area. The children were easy to find, as they were the only ones not singing in front of a giant tree made of crystals. Gilchrist remarked briefly about how ugly the thing was, and hoped the artist of it got a good smack in the face, and then set to finding the children. They weren't hasrd to find, they were actually still waiting at the train station, seemingly terrified of not having LeVanna around. Gilchrist ran straight up and beat the living shit out of them. It was absolutely brutal, and he found it hard not to laugh as he did it. He just slammed just feet into their heads repeatedly until their snouts broke straight off. *...They're probably dead...* **Our presence here is no longer required. Now, we have a duty to Baltimare: correct?** *Yeah, I know. LeVanna probably super fucked that place up. We need to fix all the harm that she caused. I don't know how we will do it, but we will find a way.*

Atwente went back under the pseudonym of Herbert Dashwood. He did not once bump in to the large cult of children in the forest, despite taking residence in Le`Vanna's sanctuary. He worked to make his medication affordable to the ponies of south Baltimare. Enough time passed that he held enough money to afford an establishment of his own. However, a year passed as he was stuck in the horrible thing known as paperwork. Construction of a small facility on the sea side of Baltimare was finally set in motion. This facility was devoted to the treatment and rehabilitation of ponies suffering from mental ailments. As time passed, the building was expanded, room was made for long term patients, a gated in area was cleared for the patients to have access to the outdoors. Ponies were trained to treat these illnesses, experiments were conducted, psychology was established as an official sience in Equestria, and Gilchrist, working day and night, spending all his time with his patients, was working to publish a book on classifying mental disorders.

In a short time, however, he would find himself as a patient in his own asylum.

Prologue

One day, Lestrade called out to Atwente as he was organizing the taxes for Dashwood Asylum. I really wish I could get this place to be funded by the Equestrian fucking government... But then I'd have a bunch of extra regulations and I can't risk having myself monitored. If they realized that my behavior matches a good number of my patients, I may end up incarcerated... I request input. Huh? Lestrade, what can I do for you? I'm afraid there is a problem. As you know, Le`Vanna still retains some of your components, as I had too forcefully remove you from her in a short time. Well, I've been attempting to splice these components from her for integration with you so that you may attain your original identity, and there is a problem with the loop. Oh... So what does that even mean? I'm not really so familiar with this stuff. Le`Vanna's loop that I have trapped her in is flawed. Over time, her behavioral patterns will start emerging in you. You will feel her influence on your thoughts, and actions. I do have a theory for how we can attempt to stop this. Yeah, I'd like to hear it, what is it? I can't allow Le`Vanna to fuck my life up again. I already had you write it down. Damnit Lestrade! Why did you do it on these forms? Now I'm going to have to get new ones. Do you have a clue what a hassle this is? I think you can deal with the short comings of the bureaucratic government of Equestria in exchange for the preservation of your mental stability. Now then, take a read of it and see if you approve. I cannot act without your say-so.

The following is subject No. 3's ("Lestrade") plan on experiment ("Le`Vanna Circumvention. Attempt No. 2 Step 1")

Title: Le`Vanna Circumvention. Attempt No. 2 Step 1.

Purpose : To prevent the unstable personality Subject No. 4 ("Le`Vanna") from overtaking and assimilating subjects No.1 and No.3 ("Atwente" , "Lestrade")

Procedure :

Establish anonymous communication system with Alpha via the hospital staff. This will consist of notes to be delivered to my cell when a predetermined stage of progress is reached. Should I need to alter the system in any way, I will set a number of key words that either I or Alpha may say to acquire some form of assistance from the staff.

Disperse this plan to key members of the staff. I must not name them here for fear Le`Vanna may acquire this.

Accelerate destabilization of mental links between personalities numbers 5-38 from subject No. 41 ("Quantum")

Remain undetected by way of Thought Perversion.

Monitor Alpha's recovery from the predicted shutdown in response to the presence of numerous unstable personalities.

When the appropriate stage of recovery is reached, introduce communication via his dreams. I don't have the appropriate understanding of dreams to explain how I will communicate to him, but I have done it before and know it is possible.

Introduce emotional memories to stimulate him. Stress him out until he involuntarily forces me out.

Wait until he neglects me, reestablish communication and explain my methods to him.

Now, with him consciously on my side, I may focus on cataloging one personality after another. I am uncertain if these personalities will retain their original behavioral patterns and traits. Reaffirm old notes.

Establish control over subject No. 41 ("Quantum")

Notes : Once this step is complete, and I have cataloged the personalities, I will need to look for information on Limelight's method of assimilation, the only recorded attempt at assimilation that resulted in long term stability. I am relying on the possibility that one of the personalities may be one of the original forty personalities, hopefully one that willingly assisted Limelight in the creation of Quantum. Detour permitted.

         End

End

Why does it say end a bunch of times at the end? The way I think is modeled after a particular computer code. In this code, you must end each of the script's functions as well as the script, individually. Oh, so... I'm going to forget all about everything? Theoretically, yes. So... This stuff about Limelight. Where would that be? It must be somewhere in our brain. It's a maze in here, in case you weren't aware. And how will I be able to help with this plan? I theorize you will be largely incapacitated with the distraction of the many other personalities. They will likely be observing you, especially Le`Vanna. She wont want us to get away with this again. Okay, then lets get started. I'll call up some of the staff, do you have any of them to name?

Atwente and Lestrade called up one pony after another, and then spoke to them all at once so that they all know who they would be working with on this project. These were ponies who had worked with him from the beginning. These ponies respected and trusted in his judgement. In total, there were five staff members assigned to interact with him directly. Two of them were assigned to pass precious information between them all.

There was a unicorn orderly standing by Gilchrist's side at all times, being informed that at any moment he may break down and potentially assault him. When it finally happened, the unicorn was surprised to see his employer jumped  on bookshelves and shouting that enemies were in his head. He screamed and clawed at his own chest and attempted to assault the orderly. In a rush, he was brought to a crisis stabilization unit, where he was sedated and put into a  straight jacket modified for his anatomy. Day and night, Atwente was bombarded by hallucinations. Over the next few weeks, he shut down internally and went into a dormant state. He was moved into a long-term care unit where he would be isolated until Lestrade reached out to the staff with a preset code.

Scratching The Surface (Part 1/2)

Dashwood Asylum was a strangely sterile place, even for a hospital. It's color scheme was based entirely around that of a hospital Gilchrist had gone to as a child when he needed stitched in his forehead. The floors were tiled white with a turquoise green boarder along the bottoms of the wall. The walls themselves were all a clean white. Unfortunately, Gilchrist didn't have enough money for custom made windows thick enough that a manic patient wouldn't be able to break them in a hysterical fit. So he had to make do with less than tall windows lining all the way along the top of the ceilings. He hated that he couldn't be more generous with the view of the outside, but he agreed with Lestrade that the fewer uncontrolled variables in the patients' lives, the better. Unfortunately, Equestria's supposed 'solution' to the darkness of the night was to provide candles. Gilchrist was hoping he could acquire magic lights over the night if not electrical, but it was later explained to him that magic is actually an expensive resource, and the reason places like Canterlot and larger cities like Manehattan have 24 hour lighting is that they either have access to more advanced technology, in the case of Manehattan, or they have a magic tax that goes towards the maintaining of many functions, as in Canterlot.

Not all the hallways held care units. There was one wing entirely for Unicorns, and one for both Earth Ponies and Pegasi. Herbert would be held in the unit with the Earth ponies, though he had an entirely individualized schedule to keep his contact with ponies to a minimum. Here is the time for his first scheduled sedation periods to give Lestrade some freedom to work.

Perpetual Wonder stood at the door to a long-term care unit. She was still unnerved by what she had heard of her employer's outburst. She had never thought of Herbert as the kind to actually hurt a pony, but she had indeed been told many times that the mind was a fickle thing and just the tiniest imbalance could unhinge it. Two pegasi orderlies stood at her side. She opened the door with her magic, as Gilchrist wanted this door specially designed so that it could only be opened with magic by sliding a lock mechanism within the door. He received some minor rebuff about the idea, as any unicorn whosoever could open the door with magic if they knew how, but as the highest authority figure here, him and his massive ego were gifted with the ability to say whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. However, Lestrade's cold self awareness provided Gilchrist with a kind of electric collar. It didn't stop him from saying stupid things, but it did give him a good kick in the head afterwards. He learned over time to be careful with how he treats his staff and to pay close attention to all of their opinions, but this time he needed everything to be exactly as he desired if his plan was to  be successful.

The lock moved out of place with a clunk sound, and Wonder pushed the door open and let it hit the wall lightly. From where Gilchrist sat on the floor, his head resting on his hands, he could only see the mare. He greeted her formally, just the slightest strain showing in his voice as he held it at a monotonous low pitch.

"Well good afternoon, young lady. I'm so glad someone has finally come to let me out. I can assure you, the problems I've been having are all resolved." He began getting to his feet, but then the nurse took a step back so the orderlies could make their way in. Gilchrist looked at them both for a short moment before shrieking. "You think you can keep me trapped in here? I'll kill all of you fucks!" He attempted to rush the orderlies, but the one on his left flapped his wings to give him a burst of speed to drag him to the ground.

A number of personalities glowered within Gilchrist's mind, among them LeVanna. *This is ridiculous... You all can't even keep up a simple act? I'll need to get creative to punish you.* They did not look to her as a figure of importance, and so disrespected her thus when spoken to like that. Screw you, you vile whore! You think you have any- No one questioned the fact that the Oboli who spoke out at LeVanna was ushered into silence as LeVanna began assaulting the naive thing. Somewhere in there, Lestrade attempted to avoid detection by the smaller beings. LeVanna was so focused on toying with them that she did not think to search the depths for her analytic enemy.

"Come now, Mr.Dashwood, hold still for the medicine now, alright?" Perpetual Wonder's voice came out soft and shyly, she had never dealt with a violent patient before. She wasn't frightened, but she did find it unnerving. The glare she received from the feral man being restrained wasn't very helpful. She administered to him a sedative by shoving the thing up his ass. They then left him there to adjust to the thing in his butt. It would dissolve slowly, meaning that he would be having sedative slowly absorbed into his bloodstream.

Less than an hour passed before the medicine began to take effect. Gilchrist found himself not getting very worn out. Not so much sleepy, but he felt no energy to do anything. He just lay there on his back and the personalities took on a sort of slackness. Lestrade held his place as a neutral presence in the mind until he felt himself  having difficulty to think.

...Print message: ... Holy shit dude, I'm so fucking tweaked. End. ...Proceeding with the bullshit, yo. Stereotyping complete. Proceeding with objective fulfillment. Lestrade began branching out through the mind. His slackened progress did not dissuade him, though it did result in some redundancies. He picked through memories, as the actual matrices would likely have been pruned due to lack of use. In there, he found a number of memories of Alpha's. It is not easy for a Logician to understand and read into the memories of a Manic. Here was his attempt.

Access: "New Buddy" As Lestrade read the points of data, line after line, he attempted to construct the memory in the form of a matrix. What he had not anticipated was the effects of the sedative interfering with his ability to construct and maintain the visual structure for analyzing. He had hoped he would retain the focus to support a matrix, but this was not the case. ... It would appear that, in hindsight, I made a miscalculation... I cannot store this information, due to the impairment set upon me by Limelight during the Pre-Quantum Period... I cannot simply call out to the medical staff, and ask for a weakening of the sedative... Activity on my part would appear suspicious. I must acquire these memories... If I cannot remember it, someone else can. New plan formulated. I wiill gather these codes piece by piece and spread them among any Logician personalities I can find floating around... Lestrade plan was to gather tiny bits of the code at a time, and implant it in the memory of the other Logician's in Gilchrist's mind. This way, he wouldn't need to compromise himself in order to construct this memory. He was uncertain how he would be able to establish a matrix without interference, but he knew better than to try planning too far ahead. That's a way to only stress one's self out.

Lestrade drifted through the soup of minor personalities, but slowly found that they were all becoming more and more active. Lestrade began to perceive his predicament, and so he rushed to withdraw from the area. As he drew into himself, he put himself into a loop. 1221,1221. 1221-1221. 1221,1221. 1221-1221. Lestrade did to himself what is the metaphysical equivalent of taking deep breaths to slow down your heart rate so that predators will not find you. He made himself into a static presence, alike to a dormant tree.

In short time, personalities began bumbling about. They immediately went into a torrent of agitation, fearful that if they allowed themselves to rest they would fall back into thoughtlessness. A couple childish Manics were toying with the Logicians, ones who lacked the ability to decide who to and who not to talk to. They would ask them paradoxical questions in an effort to frustrate them. The Oboli found themselves feeling starved for attention, Le`Vanna especially, being both Manic and Oboli.

Scratching The Surface (Part 2/2)

Perpetual Wonder returned much later in the day. She opened the door, and found Herbert sitting in a corner looking disheveled.

"...I thought you only got a hair cut just last week..." She muttered, peering at him.

"Oh shut up..." It was a collective statement from many personalities, a number of Oboli found conversation generally unpleasant and did not like hearing a pony speak. She paid the insulting statement no mind.

"Well, are you hungry? It's time to come eat." She motioned down the hallway with a smile. He got up silently off the floor, and walked rigidly to the doorway.

"... I can come out?" She nodded.

"No running, keep your hands at your sides, and no teasing our buddies here, okay?" When she said buddies, she tilted her head to her left, then her right, gesturing to the two orderlies at her side. They took a Y shaped position, with Herbert in the middle and the two pegasi behind him. The doctor lead the way down the hallways to the cafeteria. As they walked, Gilchrist found himself torn between a partial calm, and a subtle sense of paranoia. The quietness of the hallways was a tad unnerving to him.

"I am hungry!" He suddenly shouted, then immediately covered his mouth. Who the heck was that? Can you please not yell? I don't like loud noises. But I must eat! Must eat... Must eat... Must eat... The oboli kept repeating that he must eat as they walked. It irritated the other personalities, and LeVanna decided to vent. *You know, fuckers, we had a solution for this little problem we are having... Way back long ago, we had a bunch of places in the head.* **That is correct. The term is matrix, and they are collections of patterns set by the personality in control. They can be modified by any personality, but the creator tends to have the most power as they know the supporting pattern of the matrix.** The unknown Logician fell silent. **Acknowledged. Diffusion of knowledge complete.** Resounded all the other Logicians. *Who was that? Who was that?!* LeVanna rushed her presence in search of the Logician who had let out this information. There were two reasons this was bad: firstly, if a peprsonality knew this then this meant this personality was an original personality from before. That meant they may be able to create a matrix, and she could not allow anyone to threaten her position as the superior personality. Secondly, the knowledge of matrices may drive the Logicians to seek to create on of their own, and that may put them slightly out of Le`Vanna's reach.

LeVanna finally isolated the personality. It was a minor, with an off putting rigidness about it. LeVanna dismissed it as the common feeling of a Logician. You! What is your name? ...Information request denied. ...You really think that was a request? Le`Vanna did not have an opportunity to follow this up, as her attention was pulled to the real world.

"And here we are. Are you ready to get some food in you?" Le`Vanna did not like the childish playfulness in the mare's voice.

"...Yeah, sure." Le`Vanna, among others, took in a lay of the room. It was eerily quiet: the other patients were all probably elsewhere. "So... Am I ever going to see other patients?" Who the fuck asked that? She was only met with utter silence, it was almost like there was no one in there with her.

"Maybe some day." Perpetual Wonder said elusively. "Come on now, food is this way." They walked with the wall to their right, down the ways there was a couple of ponies putting away food. They stood behind metal food, but the food was blocked from view.   Must eat! An Oboli attempted to jump forward, but he was stopped by the guards before Le`Vanna could even react.

"Stop right there, patient scum!"

"You were told not to run." The two guards stood tense and coiled, prepared to jump after him if he continued running, but he just stood there rigidly. Le`Vanna took a deep breath. Gilchrist's voice came out cold and forced.

"My... apologies. I had a bit of a panic there. I'm better now." The guards narrowed their eyes.

"Come on now." Wonder lead Herbert over to the lunch servers, and set up a tray and plate for him. She brought LeVanna over to a table and they sat while LeVanna ate in their presence. It felt awkward to her that she was the only one eating: in fact she didn't like being around others. These were obviously her enemies, having them around while she ate seemed almost insulting: unless of course she was eating them. That would make their presence excusable.

"So... Do you like your cell?" Le`Vaanna looked at her in bewilderment. This enemy dares try to bond with me? Fuck you!

"You shoved a big, itchy pill up my butt hole... I don't want to talk to you." Le`Vanna went straight back to eating. Perpetual Wonder held her silence out of politeness. It's inappropriate to speak to people when they want to be left alone, unless it is necessary.

LeVanna ate her food, and took note that the multitude of personalities seem to fall more silent as she ate. When she finished, she was immediately escorted back to her room. They spoke twice on the way there. The first time, LeVanna started it.

"So..." Le`Vanna trailed off. She had a question she wanted to ask, but she was reluctant to speak to this mare.

"Hm? Want to talk now sir?"

"Yeah... I just have a question though. How many patients are there here?"

"What do-"

"Wait! That came out wrong..." Le`Vanna didn't want to seem suspicious, so she quickly wanted to fix what she said. "What I mean is, it is apparent you are keeping me away from the other patients, but I feel like I would have at least heard a noise. This place is full of crazy people and all."

"Mister Dashwood! You yourself are the one who- I mean... The word crazy is a really mean. Some people might feel hurt about them thinking differently than other people."

"So? Just get the fuck over it I say. There's too much fun to be had to waste time feeling bad about having short dicks or whatever it is that's wrong with them." Wonder looked over her back at the orderlies, and took note of their faces, expressing a major lack of interest.

"Some people just don't think that way, sir..."

"Sir? Am I your superior?" Le`Vanna wanted to gather information about the situation and how she came to be where she was then. Perpetual Wonder paused for a moment, thinking.

"My older brothers are both officers here. I get some mannerisms from them." LeVanna had completely overlooked the fact that Wonder had not actually answered her question directly. Next time they spoke, it was just as LeVanna was entering her room.

"Well, here's the anti-suicide room." Le`Vanna muttered as she observed the soft floor. "You guys do know I'm not suicidal right? I- Er... "Actually, I think Gamma is..."... Never mind, this is the perfect room." Perpetual Wonder was taking pleasure in Herbert's seemingly more talkative mood.

"Well then, before you go to sleep, I would just like  you to check in."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"Tell me how you're feeling today? I know it's been very stressful, what with being alone most of the day."

"And you shoved a thing up my butt." Herbert noted. Wonder sighed.

"Yes... And I shoved a thing up your... butt. But this is for the best. Things will get better with time. You've obviously made some level of recovery, as you aren't acting nearly belligerent as you were described to be earlier. But now, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. Goodbye then... Can you close this?" Holy shit, I'm being super fucking cooperative! They must have drugged me... Perpetual Wonder nodded and bid Herbert goodnight. She closed and locked the door, then she and the orderlies left.

Le`Vanna took a good look around her tiny cell, and then came to a conclusion. ... I don't even have a bed... Well, anyway, I suppose now is the time to address you, my silly Logician. Silence still met her. ... Why are you all still silent?

Le`Vanna, and all the personalities, found themselves unable to communicate with one another. This was Lestrade's plan. Every day, at this final feeding time, Gilchrist would have his food drugged. This was fashioned to nullify the personalities' capability for intercommunication. Before the drugging, Lestrade would structure his intelligence around a personality, and observe their behavior. This was so that he could sift through them all one at a time to find any personalities that might be useful in accessing Quantum. The ones he was most interested were Gamma, Beta and Omega. These were core components to Quantum, and were, coupled with Alpha, keys to reaching it. Lestrade would have looked for Zeta and Delta, but according to Alpha they no longer existed. Somehow, magic had wiped them out. Lestrade did not find this hard to accept. He knew that Atwente had the capability to obliterate any given personality if able to focus through his manic influenced thoughts, so it seemed probable that an external force could do the same.

Here was what Lestrade observed.

It's such a sweetness when I find myself alone like this. To drift through mania and for mania to drift through me. Some time away the pesky ways of the Oboli is always a welcome respite... Though I... Lestrade? Is that you out there? The personality remained silent. Oh come now, I know you don't like interfering with your test subjects, but this is a new age for us. Certainly you can leave your old ways behind and benefit from some socialization... Another silence passed. Hmm... Or maybe you can't. Perhaps your simply a Logician, and nothing more. Just a machine, weak and flimsy without someone to operate you... I suppose I shouldn't hold other logicians to my standards... Then again, there's probably a reason I can't hear a sound... Maybe you want to talk to me, and can't. Oh who am I joking, Lestrade doesn't have desires. All you are is-blah... I had a thought there but then I thought the word blah.  Do you even know who I am? I don't think you do... I wasn't one of your test subjects. I didn't have any matrices to call my own... I suppose there is no way you can know who I am, without having a concrete definition for me. But now, I've talked to you too much, I'm going to change my topic of interest... The Logician-Manic that Lestrade had isolated was obviously not one of his targets, as all core components to Quantum were either base-manic, base-logician, or base-oboli. The only two manics he wanted were Beta and Alpha, and this was neither. He patiently listened to her thoughts, and accepted that he did not know who this was, but this was one of the few elder personalities. When the drugs wore off, he wrenched himself from her, drawing the attention of a few personalities. Thankfully, not Le`Vanna. He successfully blended in as a minor Logician, and then slowly retreated to his own little corner of isolation.

He attempted to reflect on what the Logician-Manic said, but found it too difficult to decypher. Unable to hold data in long term, he decided he would pick the logician-manic apart later and look for what she had said. Maybe then, he would have a means of understanding. This was a triumph... Loop stabilized, I am prepared to adapt to variables. End.