Inner Conflict

Moonshine groaned as he trudged down the street. He had been on the road for days since his banishment from Trottingham. He also hadn't eaten since then, save for a patch of grass here and there.

"Let's stop here. Looks like they've got all kinds of food!" Said a voice in his head.

"Please, this place is so rustic I bet they don't even have running water!" Said another, more sophisticated, voice.

"Shut up..." He grunted. He heard an angry snort from beside him and instantly regretted speaking up.

"Well, if ya'll are so sure ya can find yer way around, then ah guess ah will!" He smiled innocently at the orange mare, who had now strapped herself back to her cart of apples. Moonshine felt his mouth water.

"Sorry, I was...talking to my stomach." He forced himself to look away from the piling fruit. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to be selling those, would you?"

"Mah apples? Shoot, here!" She handed him a shiny red apple with a warm smile. "Free apples for the newcomer!" He smiled and levitated some apples into his saddlebag.

"Gee, thanks." He said, immediately gulfing down one of them. He licked his lips and ate another one. "Man, I forgot how hungry I was for a sec!" He trotted off and waved goodbye.

"Thanks miss!" Applejack's face twisted in confusion. Strange...she could've sworn the tone of his voice changed.

///

Moonshine found himself in a yoga position in the middle of a field. No doubt it was Terra's doing. He twisted himself out of his entangled legs and fell to the ground. He lifted his head to see a pink mare smiling at him.

"Hi! I don't think I've seen you before! Are you new? Wait, are you from Trottingham? You look like you are! Are you nice? Hey, do you like cupcakes? I love cupcakes! Maybe you like muffins! Or cake, or cookies, or ICE CREAM!" She emphasized Ice cream with a bounce into the air.

"Uh..." The pale lavender unicorn couldn't make heads or tails of what the earth pony was saying. The only thing he understood was Trottingham.

Everything after that was a blur.

DIAMOND'S P.O.V.

--

"Why yes, we are from Trottingham. Nice to meet you, ma'am." I held out my hoof, expecting a gentle, business, hoof-shake. Instead I got an onslaught of rainbow confetti in my mane.

TERRAIN'S P.O.V.

--

"Hi! My name is Pinkie Pie! What's your name?" The pink pony wore a broad grin that I could barely make out through the confetti still floating through the air.

"Terrain. My name is Terrain." I said through gritted teeth. I sweeped confetti off of my coat before turning to walk away. She stopped me before I could escape.

"Wait! I still need to throw you a party! What's your favorite color?" I turned around to face her, a scowl on my face.

"Black." I then trotted off.

REGULAR P.O.V.

--

Moonshine found himself sitting in a ditch. He yawned and lay back against the dirt. He didn't care for the ground, but where else was he going to sleep? He wasn't going to stay here in this town, that was for sure. He was headed for Canterlot. Diamond's idea.

"Canterlot, here we come."

///

Twilight levitated books through the air and set them on their respective shelves. As it was every Friday, it was reshelving day. Spike held his broom in his claws as he sweeped across the floor. He whistled a familiar tune as he worked.

"Spike?" He looked up when he heard Twilight call his name.

"Yeah Twilight?" The purple alicorn pursed her lips as she thought about what she was going to say.

"Uh, nevermind. I forgot what I was going to say." She smiled innocently as Spike rolled his eyes. "Hey, what happened to my book on psychology?" Spike shrugged before pointing to a stallion in the reading corner.

"I dunno, but maybe he does. He's been reading that kind of stuff all day." The baby dragon said before going back to work. Twilight trotted up to the unfamiliar unicorn, not expecting him to speak first.

"Yeah, I have it." He said, thumping the book he was reading. "Saw this place and thought we might as well read up on it." Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I suppose it's not a big deal." Her eyes widened at the several large books littering the floor around his hooves. "You really have an interest in it, huh?"

"You could say that."

GEARS' P.O.V.

--

I was busy reading up on psychology and other medical problems similar to ours when a mare walked up to me. I didn't see her, but I heard her. I remembered overhearing her conversation with the small dragon from earlier, and I quickly answered her question.

"Yeah, I have it." I knocked on the book in my hooves. "Saw this place and thought we might as well read up on it." I could hear the confusion in her voice. She probably didn't expect me to know what she came to me for.

"Well...I suppose it's not a big deal." I saw her look at the books scattered around me. "You really have an interest in it, huh?" I laughed in my head.

"You could say that." I finally looked up and saw her face. I recognized her as Princess Twilight. I could barely remember seeing her in a newspaper Moonshine read. I couldn't get a good look since he was still in control.

She was actually really pretty, in a nerdy kind of way. I shook my head. No way was I going to let Red Heart take over. I was too busy studying. Moonshine would probably reward me for reading up on our split personality problem. He would probably let me come out more often.

"I couldn't help but notice," I looked up at Twilight as she started talking again. "You said 'we' instead of 'I'." I cringed. Referring to ourselves as multiples was a habit we all had to break. Moonshine was the only one who didn't do that. I sort of envy him.

"Um, yes...I did." I tried to go back to my book, but she pressed on.

"Did you not notice? It was pretty obvious." I felt myself growing frustrated, but quickly calmed myself down. Only one of us could handle this situation properly, and that was Moonshine.

REGULAR P.O.V.

--

Moonshine looked around curiously at the large number of books scattered around him. He growled, not noticing Twilight standing in front of him.

"Sorry, did I press a nerve? It's okay if it was a mistake, or if it's a habit. I didn't mean to be rude." He looked up at the purple mare in front of him. He smiled innocently.

"Would you please explain to me what we were talking about?" Twilight's face grew confused.

"Wha-I... You said 'we' instead of 'I', and I was pointing it out." Moonshine laughed.

"Did I? Oh, well, my mistake!" He lifted the psychology book from his lap and stretched out his legs. "Stupid Gears...bringing me to the library...ditching when he runs into a problem..." He muttered as he trotted out of the library. Spike turned to Twilight when the door shut completely.

"Did that guy just...?" Twilight nodded. She quickly trotted back to the reading corner and began picking up the abandoned books. She noticed one with a peculiar title. She brought it to her face and read it aloud to herself.

"Living with and taming multiple personalities." She glanced back to the door where the stallion was no longer. "Multiple personalities... Spike! I need to find that stallion!" Spike's expression grew confused.

"What? Why?"

///

Moonshine sat on a bench in the park. It was a beautiful place, and he was growing fond of it. He rarely got a chance to just relax ever since the incident in Trottingham. He shook his head. He wasn't going to think about it.

"Excuse me, sir?" He opened his eyes and looked down to see three fillies looking back at him. There was one of each race, an orange pegasus, a yellow earth pony, and a white unicorn.

"Uh, yes?" The earth pony and pegasus glared at the unicorn, urging her to step forward.

"Um...could you get something for us?" Moonshine smiled.

"Sure, what is it?" The filly smiled and pointed a hoof towards the bridge.

"We dropped our tennis ball in the water and need a unicorn to get it out." She turned back to face him. "You're the first one we've found."

"The first one that would help..." The pegasus filly grumbled. Moonshine quickly found a problem in the filly's explanation.

"You're a unicorn. You couldn't get it?" She blushed and shuffled her hooves.

"I'm not really good with magic..." He let out a good-natured laugh before getting up. He followed them to the bridge and leaned over the edge. He could just barely make out the green fabric of the ball underneath the water.

"How did you even manage to get it in there?" He asked as he pulled it out rather easily.

"We were trying to earn our cutie marks!" The white filly said with a squeak. The three gathered together before shouting in sync.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER TENNIS PLAYERS!!" Moonshine chuckled before handing them the ball.

"Good luck getting your cutie marks, girls." Two of them ran off, but the unicorn stayed.

"What's your cutie mark?" Moonshine turned to look at his flank. It wore a mark of mystery. He wasn't there when he got it. A full moon with a strange black flicker. He didn't know what it meant, never did.

"Uh... it's not important. What is important is yours. What do you think your cutie mark will be?" She paused and thought hard for a moment.

"I dunno." Moonshine smiled and rubbed her mane.

"Maybe you should pause your crusading until you do. Maybe then you'll get it quicker." He then trotted off to his park bench.

When he was sitting back in his spot he had time to think about what he had said to that filly. She looked like she thought her crusading was all for nothing. It kind of made him regret saying anything. Oh well, he said it and he couldn't take it back.

///

Twilight ran through Ponyville, still searching for that strange stallion. He had just up and left, and the books he was reading... She shook her head. She was going to think about it later. She skidded to a stop when she came across a crowd of angry ponies.

"Please, calm down! I can fix it!" Twilight's ears twitched. She recognized that voice, it was the stallion from the library! She made her way through the crowd and saw the lavender unicorn on a makeshift stage.

"You!" His eyes focused on her and it didn't take much time for him to start panicking.

"Please don't banish me! I didn't mean to! I didn't have any control, he just took over!" Twilight climbed onto the stage to talk with him face to face.

"What are you talking...?" She trailed off as the sight of Sugarcube Corner in flames. Pinkie was crying as Mr. and Mrs. Cake held Pound and Pumpkin. She spun around to face the perpetrator when she remembered what he said. "Who did this?"

"It wasn't me! It was Legend! It wasn't me! I thought he was gone! I don't even know what happened!" Twilight hummed in thought before one of the ponies in the crowd spoke up.

"Well Princess Twilight? What are you going to do to him?"

"Yeah! He needs to be punished!" A blue stallion spoke up.

"He burned down all of the muffins!" A grey mare shouted.

"Sugarcube Corner is gone because of him!" Another mare shouted.

"Be quiet!" Twilight screamed, flaring her wings in frustration. She nodded in appreciation when everypony went silent. "I don't believe he did this."

"But I saw him! He lit the place on fire!" An orange stallion shouted.

"Eeyup." Affirmed Big Macintosh.

"And it won't happen again. I take this stallion under my wing so I can teach him to behave." Moonshine tapped her shoulder gently.

"Um...Princess? Are you sure you wanna do that?" Twilight nodded before turning to him.

"I know what's going on." She whispered to him. He stared down at his hooves shamefully.

"Are you certain it won't happen again, Princess? I would hate to have something terrible happen while he's under your care." Mayor Mare said with a concerned frown. Twilight nodded.

"I know exactly how to handle it." The brown mare hesitated, but turned to the crowd to address them.

"You heard her! The situation is under control! Everypony return to their normal day!" The large crowd of ponies grumbled before dissipating.

On the way to the library Moonshine spoke up.

"Look, I want you to know how much this means to me. Nopony's ever really been there for me." Twilight turned to him, and it was only a moment before a soft smile graced her lips.

"I'm happy to help." He smiled back before the voices started echoing in his head.

"Don't even think about it, Red Heart!" Gears shouted.

"Come on, we can so woo her! Look at her! She probably hasn't had a stallion in forever!" The suave stallion replied.

"How ungentlecolty. Red Heart, you must stop that habit of yours immediately!" Diamond commented.

"Will you all just SHUT UP!?" Moonshine screamed, getting Twilight's attention.

"At war with yourself?" She asked with an amused smile. It hadn't been ten minutes and she had already gotten a preview of what was to come.

"I'm guessing you know about them?" She nodded, but kept a curious face.

"I noticed that you don't refer to yourself as 'we', like you did in the library." He nodded.

"Yeah, it was a habit that a lot of them got used to. Gears the most." He didn't speak again during their walk to the library. When they arrived Twilight offered some snacks, but he refused.

"No thanks. We can never agree on anything." He laughed suddenly. "Sorry. You said earlier that I didn't refer to myself as 'we', but I just did."

"You mentioned a pony named Gears. Is he a personality?" Moonshine nodded.

"He was the one you met at the library." He was silent as Gears started to speak up in his head.

"Yeah, I guess." Twilight sat down, never taking her eyes off of him.

"What?" Moonshine smiled before tapping his head.

"Gears says you're cute."