Inner Demon

The sky was a dreary, depressing gray. Once proud buildings lay in shambles. Every once in a while, there would be a small fire that eventually extinguished on its own. Emptiness. No signs of life whatsoever. The entire town was abandoned, so it seemed. Only the trails of blood could account for what truly happened...

Suddenly, screaming. The screams of fathers, mothers and children alike. Screaming while fleeing from sadistic, maniacal laughter. Fire sprang out, engulfing everything. Through it all, there was only one survivor. A lone unicorn sat in the middle of the once shining town, nothing but remnants of what used to be.

The red-coated unicorn awoke suddenly, jolting into an upright sitting position. Cold sweat ran down his face, past his lavender eyes, which where nearly as wide as saucers. His breathing was sharp. Finally regaining his composure, he looked around the room he found himself in. He didn't remember any of this. All he could remember were the sc-

His thoughts were soon interrupted.

"Finally, you're awake!" a voice shouted. The unicorn cringed at the sudden noise. He turned slowly and awkwardly. When he did, he was face-to-face with a purple unicorn with eyes that nearly matched his own. The unicorn looked at this other pony, remaining silent. He could tell this unicorn was a mare. Her mane seemed particularly well-kept, unlike his, which he rarely combed or brushed because it never stayed the way he wanted it anyway. Her cutie mark seemed to be stars. Simple enough, so she was really good at magic, just like he was. Of course, their magical talents were no doubt different. He sat contemplating this when the mare spoke again.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle," the mare said. "What's yours?"

The unicorn suddenly stared at his own hooves.

"Red..." the unicorn mumbled.

"Uhm...Your name is Red?" Twilight asked, confused.

The unicorn in question perked up, out of his trance.

"No..it's not...it's uh..." The unicorn paused.

"You don't remember your name?" Twilight inquired.

The unicorn paused again. He seemed confused. Twilight was confused also. She wondered if he had amnesia, but it didn't really seem like it. He just seemed...confused. Like somepony who couldn't decide between one thing or another.

"Rion," the unicorn finally responded. Twilight blinked, she was too caught up in her thoughts to actually hear his response.

"Huh?" Twilight said lamely.

The unicorn sighed.

"My name...It's Rion," the unicorn repeated.

"Oh..." Twilight began. She couldn't finish her thoughts, because the unicorn, who claimed to be Rion, spoke up again.

"I can see your special talent is magic," he stated.

Twilight's ears perked up.

"Y-yes," she said, a bit nervously. That uneasy feeling she had was still there...Something was not quite right with this unicorn. Twilight hoped the feeling would pass. It was becoming too much. She hoped this Rion character wouldn't notice her begin to break out in a nervous sweat.

Rion did notice, but he didn't bring it up.

"I guess that's one thing we have in common," he continued. "We both excel in magic..."

He seemed to trail off at the last part. Twilight remained silent. She heard him, of course, but she was too nervous and uncomfortable to respond. The atmosphere seemed crushingly heavy.

"So, do you specialize in a certain type of magic, or are you one of those 'jack-of-all-trades' types?"

"Uhm...I...I don't really know..." Twilight replied. She knew she wasn't specialized in any one certain field of magic. She was just too uncomfortable to formulate a proper response.

"I see..." the unicorn said. "Myself, I specialize in...energy magic."

Suddenly, Twilight's curiosity overcame her uneasiness and fear.

"Energy magic? I've never heard of that," Twilight said. The thought of learning something new intrigued her, as it always did.

The unicorn pondered for a moment.

"Where am I, exactly, Miss..uh...Sparkle?" Rion questioned.

"Uh...The Ponyville Library. I live here with my assistant, Spi-"

"And where's that?"

"...Ponyville?" Twilight was really confused. Did this unicorn hit his head really hard or something?

The unicorn remained silent for a few minutes. Suddenly, he spoke up again.

"And where's Ponyville?" he asked simply.

Twilight had to try her best to not look at the colt like he was crazy.

"It's in Equestria of course, how could you not know that?"

"Oh," was all the unicorn said. "That explains a lot"

Twilight was confused for the umpteenth time that morning.

"What explains a lot?" she inquired.

"My magic is a form of combat magic," the unicorn explained, suddenly deciding to jump back on topic.

"I've never heard of anypony in Equestria teaching...combat magic," Twilight said.

Realization hit Twilight. Rion wasn't from Equestria. Now things were starting to make sense. But of course, just as she got answers, she got more questions. Like the easy one, where did he come from, then? And how, if he didn't live anywhere in Equestria, did he end up in Everfree Forest the night before? Twilight racked her brain for any recent happenings elsewhere in the world. She searched her memories for anything odd, maybe something magic-related. She either turned up blanks or merely remembered some political debate in some random country. Then, she remembered, out of the blue. The headlines from the latest paper from Canterlot. A small town in a country called Esker was completely wiped out. She tried to remember the name of the town, but it just wouldn't come to her. Oh wait, that's right, she remembered. A small, quiet town, a lot like Ponyville, called Peaksedan. From what she read, supposedly overnight, the entire town was practically wiped off the map. The newspaper claimed an accident, and failed attempts at covering up blood streaks here and there showed what actually transpired. Twilight become suddenly even more uneasy. Her mind filled with doubt and self-conflict. She half believed that somehow, this unicorn was somehow involved.

"Do you know about a town in Esker named Peaksedan?" Twilight asked. She had to confirm at least part of her suspicions.

Suddenly, the unicorn's expression became unreadable. His head was lowered, that messy mane of his covering his eyes. It was silent for quite some time. Nearly five minutes had passed, and yet neither moved.

"Yeah," Rion said, not looking up. "I know all about it."