Inner Demon

Twilight and Applejack stood silently as Rion finished recounting the events in Peaksedan. For what seemed like an eternity, there was silence. It seemed as though Twilight and Applejack could hardly comprehend what they were told. Peaksedan entirely destroyed, with Rion as the only apparent survivor. Twilight was still a bit suspicious, but figured what he told them made sense. Or at least, what he could tell them, since he was unconscious most of the time. Rion sighed, standing up finally. His snout had become numb from lying on his face while telling the story. Of course, he left out the parts that included that voice in the back of his mind. Though, the more he thought about it, that voice he kept hearing seemed more and more like a completely different pony. He began to wonder if perhaps he was being spoken to with telepathy of some kind.

"Not really, no."

There it was again. Rion wasn't going to try and run from the voice this time. He needed answers and he needed them now.

"Who are you?" he asked the voice.

"That would be telling, wouldn't it?" the voice cackled.

"I don't have the time nor the patience to play games with you. Just answer my question!"

"I don't have a name."

"Liar," Rion growled. The voice really put him on edge.

"You know, we're one and the same, you and I," the voice replied.

Rion was taken aback for a moment, before regaining his composure.

"What do you mean?" he asked. One and the same? It made no sense.

"Never heard of that two peas in a pod analogy? Kind of like that. Kind of," replied the voice.

"Nonsense. You're not real," Rion muttered.

"That's why you're talking to me, right?"

Touché. The voice definitely got him on that one.

"I thought so," the voice said smugly.

"What do you really mean by 'one and the same'?" Rion asked.

"Well now, that would be telling, wouldn't it?"

"You're lucky you're just a voice, or I'd strangle you," Rion muttered, with an annoyed expression.

"I wouldn't push your luck. Or do I need to turn this Ponyville into a Peaksedan replica?"

"So it was you," Rion said, his eyes narrowing.

"More or less," said the voice. "Technically I used your physical body. That is, after making a few...light adjustments."

"...What," Rion said.

"Oh you know, altered your entire physical appearance. I love being able to do that,"

"Light adjustments my flank," Rion muttered.

"I could always turn you pink," the voice laughed.

"Shut up," Rion grumbled.

The voice seemed to yawn. Rion wondered how a voice could get tired.

"Hm,/i]" the voice began. "Wonder when I should begin tearing this little town apart. Seems easy enough."

"I won't let you," Rion mumbled.

"Hm?"

"You're not getting back out. Ever," Rion replied. "I won't let you hurt anypony else."

"Oh, that's all? I was expecting something a bit more intimidating. Then again, you're not very scary at all."

Rion remained silent. Being scary and being intimidating wasn't something Rion cared about, so it didn't very well unnerve him.

"Laugh all you want, but I'm not gunna let you have free reign. This is my body, my life; and you're not ruining it any more than you have already. Buzz off," Rion said.

"I need to rest anyway...Peaksedan took up quiiiite a bit of my energy," the voice yawned again.

"Don't mention Peaksedan, you monster," Rion growled.

"Well, I never," the voice said in a mocking tone. "I found my artwork positively stunning. Well, I guess not everypony appreciates my talents."

Rion was about to respond, but the voice kept going.

"Oh, and just an F-Y-I, you're as much of a monster as I am. We are one and the same, after all."

The voice then broke out into a short fit of maniacal laughter, which faded within a few seconds, leaving nothing but silence. Rion sighed inwardly. Finally, now he could concentrate on what was happening in the real world.

Rion then felt an obnoxious tapping on his head. He blinked.

"Huh," he said. He looked around, seeing Applejack and Twilight staring at him, confused expressions on their faces. Oh, right. Spaced out again.

Today was going to be just lovely.

~~xx~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later, Rion had finally managed to shake off Twilight and Applejack. To his relief, Rion had not seen mane or tail of that pink mare known as Pinkie. As he thought back to his mental argument with the unnamed entity that occupied his mind, Rion once again failed to pay attention to his surroundings. Before he knew it, he was outside the town limits. Rion shrugged. Soon enough, he found a nice patch of grass under a large tree. Seemed like a good enough place to stay, since he hadn't a home anymore.

Rion pondered over the recent events. Twilight's obvious suspicion of him seemed to diminish, but he couldn't help but feel like she didn't quite trust him. Rion sighed, ruffling his mane a bit. He suddenly found himself overcome with fatigue. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep.

~~xx~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A pink pegasus sat upon a log jutting out of a small pond. She gazed at the sky, her lavender eyes fixed on the stars. Everything about her was quite pink. Pink mane, pink coat, her eyes were pink. Hay, even her cutie mark had some pink on it.

A small unicorn foal approached her, rubbing his own lavender eyes tiredly. He yawned, then rubbed his black mane slightly.

"Oh, hey Rion," the pegasus said, smiling a bit. She was only a bit older than the foal was.

"Sis, what are you doing up so late?" Rion said, letting his hooves rub his eyes again.

The pegasus couldn't help but smile.

"Technically, it's very early," she said. "And...I was just thinking."

"About what?" Rion asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"Our parents, and, you know..." the pegasus replied. She looked down in sadness.

"Yeah.." Rion said. His expression then nearly mimicked the pegasus exactly. Their memories couldn't stray away from that day. It was a lovely day, before the incident. The incident which cost them their home, and the lives of their parents and two youngest siblings. Rion couldn't suppress the tears.

"I miss them," he said, tears freely flowing down his cheeks. "I miss them a lot, Cerise."

The pegasus fluttered over to him. She held his chin up in her hoof, wiping the tears away with the other.

"I miss them too, Rion. But you know they would hate to see you like this."

Rion nodded. "I know, but still..."

"No buts, little brother. You're still tired, why don't you go back to sleep?" Cerise said. It was more of a demand rather than a suggestion.

"Okay. But you need to sleep too, sis. I don't think they'd want you to not sleep," Rion said. He seemed to have cheered up. Cerise couldn't help but smile again when Rion trotted away. She turned her back to him, returning her gaze to the sky.

"We'll make it, somehow..." she said softly, before allowing herself to fall asleep.

Rion finally got back to his spot. He sighed, laying down. Sleep quickly overcame him once more. The last thing he heard before he drifted off was a small voice in the back of his head.

"Goodnight, Rion."

The next morning, Rion awoke to find he had rolled a few yards away from where he was originally. Rion rubbed his head, which was throbbing. He didn't often get headaches, but he hated it when he did. He shook his head, trying to focus. Rion was always slightly out of it when he first woke up. An unfamiliar scent brushed past his nose.

"What is that smell?" Rion said to himself. "It's...eww-y."

"Cerise!"

"Cerise?"

"Sis, come on, it's not funny!"

"...Sis?"

Rion wandered around the vicinity of his sleeping space for a few minutes, before remembering she was at the pond. He quickly ran off to find her. Rion became a bit scared for a minute. Cerise, no matter how far, usually responded to his calls instantly. Though, she might have been asleep, considering how long she was up. Rion shook the worry out of his mind. His sister probably just fell asleep near the pond. When he finally reached his destination, he stopped for a breather. He looked up, noticing pink on the ground, behind the log Cerise had been sitting on when he found her before. Rion closed his eyes and sighed, beginning to approach the other side of the log.

"Jeez, sis, you scared me for a minute-"

Rion stopped. He stepped in something. Rion looked down to see what it was. His eyes widened in horror.

Blood.

A slight breeze whisked past Rion, blowing away Rion's finely combed mane into a mess. Rion stared wordlessly, in absolute disbelief, at the crumpled body of his older sister. He tried to scream, but nothing would come out. Finally, he let loose a loud wail.

"CERISE!"

~~xx~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rion jolted awake, standing up. He was sweating quite profusely. After his heart rate slowed to normal, he sat down, sighing loudly. He attempted to brush the sweat off of his brow, but to no avail. Rion punched the dirt. He hadn't had that dream since...Since he was a little foal. Weeks in a row after what he discovered that day. His older sister had been murdered, somehow. He could never find the one responsible. Years after, it had been pushed and locked in a vault in the back of his mind. That's when he moved to Peaksedan. He tried to forget about it there, and the voice too; the voice he heard before he fell asleep on the day she died.

"That old dream again? I thought we got over that."

Rion became furious.

"Shut up!" Rion yelled at the voice. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"''Scuse me?" the voice said.

"You did what you did at Peaksedan, didn't you? Took over my body, and then..."

"Killed your sister?"

Rion said nothing. He couldn't bring himself to say anything more.

"May be hard to believe, but no. That wasn't me."

"...What?" Rion said. How could it not have been...?

"Even harder to believe, I cared about her just as much as you."

Rion continued to remain silent. He was completely caught off guard by that one.

"Yes, that's right, I can care."

Rion didn't say anything.

"It's like I said," the voice continued.

"What?" Rion said. He figured he knew what the voice was going to say.

"We are one and the same."

Rion sighed. Usually, the voice angered him. But this time, the voice seemed to have some kind of comforting presence.

"Do you miss her?" Rion asked. He didn't know why he asked, Rion just felt he needed to know.

The voice was silent for a few minutes.

"Yes. More than anything."