Torn

Have you ever had that voice in your head… a tiny little whisper telling you to do the wrong thing? A sudden push to stab your friend in the back? Or a sudden urge to push your friend off of that ledge? I could say I've had a bit of a problem like that… Except it’s much, MUCH worse…

‘Oh come on, we've been together for years now. I've always had your back and you’ve always had… well technically we share a back… but you get the point.’

Yeah that’s him, the voice that isn't so tiny.

‘I have a NAME!’

Oh, I forgot names, well if I'm going to tell you a story I might as well start off with our names. I am Red Jekyll, and HE is Acid Tongue. Im a unicorn, grey coat, silver hair. Me and Acid, we have a very… special, relationship.

‘We kinda hafta share a skull.’

You see when I was a really young, just starting out at preschool, I started hearing him. At first I had thought it was somepony playing a prank on me, but unfortunately, it wasn’t.

‘Oh the two of us had been chums ever since, don’t you remember all of the good times we had together?’

He’s talking about all of the times he’s gotten me into trouble. Right from the start he tempted me to get into a whole mess of trouble. At first it was small stuff, like stealing candy from other fillies while they weren't looking. Eventually it got out of hoof though.

And then, later I met a girl, unicorn with a white coat and beautiful purple mane, who had brought in a few gemstones. She was showing off that she had just found her cutie mark, and everypony else was getting hyped. Acid told me to steal the gems; I didn't want to do it at first… I mean she was probably my first and only childhood crush. However he finally coaxed me into his little plan.

She put them down and during the few seconds she wasn't looking I made my move. Things didn't go as planned…

‘And then she handed you your own ass on a silver platter like the little wuss you are.’

Any and all chances between me and her were instantly flattened, rolled up, and thrown out the window. It was from that point on that I decided I wouldn't do anything else that he told me to. For a while, I managed to hold out. I talked to my parents about it, and they were worried. They sent me to psychiatrists, doctors, Anypony that might be able to help.

‘You weren't getting rid of me that easy.’

As you could probably tell, he didn't 'go away' like everypony said he would. In fact, he kept on getting louder and louder, and he tempted me to do worse and worse things. But no matter how much he yelled at me, I ignored him. And I became more and more glad that I was the one in control. The things he would do if he had a body… frighten me.

‘You're leaving out the part again.’

It’s a part I would praise Celestia to forget.

‘You're on a trip down memory lane; you shouldn't leave out a stepping stone like that.’

…

‘Go on’

I… wasn’t always in control. I slipped up once, ONCE… and my life was ruined forever.

Acid Tongue wasn't taking kindly to the fact we were trying to get rid of him. He would keep me up at night, yelling at me to do something… HORRIBLE. I shouted back at him in my mind. I would suffer agonizing headaches, one night was worse than the rest. His shouting was becoming deafening; I fought back with all of my power but I blacked out. My body started moving without me telling it to, he had gotten control. No matter how much I yelled and screamed I didn't make a sound. I tried to kick but I couldn't move my own limbs. He made me watch what he did next…

In full view I watched him use my body to…

I won't go over the details… but when he finally gave me control back, I had to leave town.  I ran away, far away. I tried to run away from him, but how can you run away from your demons when they live right inside your head. I ran for a day and he kept on taunting me. I had made it into the Everfree when I finally ran out of breath; I plopped down and was in all honesty ready to die, right then and there. He realized that I was really going to go through with it.

‘Let me take over for a second here, it was here that I realized that hey… me and Red, we share the same body… and if he kicks the bucket, I'm going to be shooting up daisies as well. So me and him, we struck a deal; I wouldn't take over, EVER again, and we would fight to live.’

So I found the strength to fight on, and that’s what we did. I managed to survive around three months, until I found a witch. She lived in a hut all the way out in the Everfree, and she took us in as if we were family.

‘She had a really annoying thing about rhyming, always ticked me off.’

I told her about my… predicament… and she said she could give me a little insight. I don't quite know what she did, what magic she used, but she looked deep into my soul, and she saw the conflict deep within me. She said that I was the good half, the soul of light. And that Acid was the evil, a demon of blight.

‘Do you have to do that rhyme every damned time?!... Shit now you've got me doing it!’

Anyways, she told me that the two of us, were in fact separate entities. No amount of medicine or psychiatric work was going to change that. Sadly I was going to have to live with him for the rest of my days. However she would be able to prevent me from losing control… and as much “trust” as I put into Acid, I took her offer. We did the spell… and whether it worked or not, I have not been taken over since.

It’s been years since then, and I've been wandering from town to town. Sure my “relationship” with Acid makes life difficult sometimes, but it’s not all that bad. I settle down doing whatever odd jobs I can and make enough money to eat a good meal, and eventually move on to the next town. Acid Tongue has been getting better recently. Sometimes, if he’s been really good, I let him decide where we go next.

And that leaves us where we are now… We're in line at the train station and about to move to the next city.

Would you like to do the honors Acid?

‘Oh? Have I been a good little demon Red? Do I get to choose where we go?’

Yes, yes, we’re almost at the front of the line. Hurry up and pick already.

‘Fine~Fine, how about the least expensive one, eh?’**

Sounds good enough…

I walk up to the mare at the desk, purchase the ticket, and board the train.

‘Heh…’

What are you so smug about?

‘Just excited that were going back home.’

You… this is the first time we've been there in years. I’m sure they stopped looking for me, but… how will I face it?

'In your stride, you pussy.'

...Fine…

The train finally leaves the station and we head off… next stop, Ponyville.