Inner Demon

Rion's POV

I stood outside this Sugarcube Corner place. It looked like a giant candy house, especially with the top floor shaped like a cupcake with candles sticking out of the top of it. I could hear voices inside. I'm really not one for noisy places, especially with these recent migraines, so you can justly assume that I was having some second thoughts about actually going inside. Noise combined with the fact that I don't like sweets? Sugarcube Corner didn't really seem like an ideal hang-out spot for me. Twilight opened the door, beckoning me inside. I hesitated. Part of me wanted to apologize for being rude to Pinkie Pie despite my mind-splitting headache, but the other part of me was screaming to run like mad to save myself from another. I glanced around awkwardly, hoping I wasn't attracting any unnecessary attention with Twilight holding the door open for me and whatnot. I was just about to attempt to offer some kind of excuse and scram before two pink forelegs extended from the door and dragged me inside. Resistance was futile. My eyes met with cyan ones. Pinkie was one tough pony, I'll admit. Had some vice grip type-stuff going on there. I rubbed my shoulders with my hooves for a moment.

"...Hi," I said meekly.

I hated it when I got nervous. I really didn't like how all the attention was on me. I glanced around nervously, dragging my forehoof across the floorboard. The entire shop was pretty silent. For about three seconds, probably. If even that.

"Well hi! I'm glad to see you're okay, and boy your jacket is really dirty! You better hope Rarity doesn't see you like that, she'll have a fit! And oh, now we can have your super duper Welcome to Ponyville Party!" Pinkie exclaimed, her voice bubbling over with excitement. She bounced around while talking.

I groaned inwardly, before remembering why I agreed to come to Sugarcube Corner in the first place.

"Look, Pinkie," I began. "I'm sorry about running off earlier. It was pretty rude of me, even if my head felt like it was about to explode."

I felt a nudge in my side. I looked up and saw Twilight roll her eyes and shake her head. I simply shrugged. It was true, my head seemed ready to burst. There was definitely a connection between the voice and the headaches, that much I could put together. I really hate that voice...It's creepy. No, it's more than creepy. That's too light of a word. It's horrifying. I can't think of another way to properly describe it. Sometimes I think it's just memories resurfacing. I mean, the voice sounds familiar, but I can't put a face to it. My thoughts were very jumbled. Trying to make heads or tails of this whole issue was making my brain hurt. Not that I'm stupid or anything! It's all just so...confusing. I don't know what to do, and I don't feel like I can exactly tell anypony about it either. Faintly, I heard murmuring. I figured Pinkie Pie was rambling about stuff I don't care about, but no.

That's not what it was. Vaguely, I remembered days from Peaksedan. The strange thing about these memories was that it all seemed to be from around the time I woke up in that crater. But that seemed like it wasn't the only one. When I woke up before arriving in Ponyville, I noticed everypony in Peaksedan was...no longer among the living. Not the case in this particular memory. Ponies were alive. Dirty, thin and terrified, but alive. The especially worrying factor? They were terrified of me. They all ran whenever I came into view. It was so strange...It was like I was watching a movie of myself in my mind.

I could never see my own face, though. I could hear voices through windows and from behind doors. At least, coming from the buildings that were apparently still standing at the time. I wondered how long ago this actually happened, in relation to my waking in that particularly massive crater.

"Uhm, hello? Rion, you okay?"

I snapped back to reality. Who in the hay was talking to me?

"Oh, uh, hey Twilight," I muttered, after realizing who it was.

"You were spacing out. Is something wrong?" Twilight asked. She seemed concerned.

"I'm fine," I lied. I wasn't fine, not at all. Twilight seemed to catch on to my fib. I wasn't a very good liar to begin with anyway.

"You're not a very good liar."

Stay out of my head. Seriously, that's not fair.

"Why don't you tell me what's wrong?" Twilight asked.

Because I will probably either be obliterated or exiled. Neither of which sound very pleasant. Though, given the choice, I think I'd rather be obliterated. At least that stupid voice would leave me alone then.

"I don't have anything to tell, because nothing's wrong," I said, doing my best to put on a fake smile.

I don't think it worked all too well, because Twilight gave me a very displeased look. I looked around nervously. Slowly, I glanced at the door, which was, for whatever reason, still hanging wide open, despite the lack of a door stop. I looked back at Twilight, the door again, and then Twilight. I inched my back leg back slightly, and the door closed.

"Don't even think about it," Twilight said, frowning a bit now. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me what's bothering you"

Oh for the love of...This wasn't going to be easy. Wait a minute. I'm a unicorn too, duh. I mentally kicked myself for forgetting I could do magic as well. I started to focus a bit, attempting to be discreet with my collection of energy.

"Well, I'd love to stick around and chat, Twilight Sparkle, but I have uh...stuff to do. Yeah."

With that, I teleported out of the bakery. I was just winging it with the teleportation spell, so I had no idea where I was going to end up. Sure enough, I was teleported to yet another unfamiliar place. I looked around, taking in my surroundings. There were a lot of apple trees. I shrugged, turning to walk around. Almost immediately, I managed to trip over a fence and faceplant in the grass on the other side. I sighed. This whole faceplanting in the dirt thing was getting old, fast.

"Having fun?"

You've gotta be kidding me.

I looked up, staring straight into the rather annoyed face of Twilight Sparkle. She found me pretty fast. I wondered for a moment if she somehow traced my teleportation spell. I also really hoped this wouldn't become a common occurrence. I didn't like ponies pestering me, which Twilight was doing a good job at.

It took me a moment to notice she was with somepony else, though. It was another mare, an earth pony with a light-ish orange coat and a golden-blonde mane and tail, both of which were tied off at the end with a red band. She wore a brown stetson and had bright emerald eyes. Her cutie mark was three red apples. So she was good at doing...something with apples. It was a bit vague, there's a lot of stuff you can do with apples.

"This the pony you been tellin' me 'bout, Twi?" the earth pony asked, looking down at me again.

Twilight nodded.

"Yes, Applejack, his name is Rion, and..." she stopped at the last part. It seemed like she didn't know how to continue with it. It took me a moment but I figured it out. She was trying to find a way to explain where I came from, without making herself sound like she was suspicious of me, like I'm sure she was. I didn't blame her, I was suspicious of myself. Not that I was going to say it out loud, of course.

"He's...He's a survivor from Peaksedan," Twilight concluded finally.

Applejack's eyes widened in surprise.

"From Peaksedan? Ya sure about that Twilight?" Applejack said. Twilight nodded in response.

I sighed.

"Actually, I think I'm the only survivor. I remember waking up once, I didn't see a single pony around. I don't know how long I was awake after that, but I passed out on the street and woke up again laying on grass. I then proceeded to pass out once more, and that's when I woke up in your library, Twilight," Rion said, looking up at them.

Twilight and her friend exchanged concerned glances.

"Why don't you tell us what you remember?" Twilight asked, sitting down, Applejack following suit. I sighed and gathered my thoughts before beginning my retelling of that fateful September day.