WAY Out of place

In the cracked remnants of the mirror I could see that same monster I saw too often. The cloudy, white, wind blown mane with reddened tips, his grey coat, his sharp wings folded and tucked at his sides. He smiled a broad and toothy smile, his crimson eyes gleaming at me in a vicious leer. "Hey, Buddy," He said very cheerily in a voice that was a little on the gravelly side, "How ya doin'?"

I could hardly move from my place. I began to feel cold and I shook in my spot on the floor. My eyes stung even harder and my face felt hotter. Something warm and wet ran down my cheeks, soaking into my short beard. I took a seat on my haunches, no longer able to feel the cold of the tiles. I began to shake my head. "No, no god dammit, no. You're not real. You're just in my head. You're not real. Get the fuck out of my head!" I weakly cried. I was crying. I really was.

I lost all support from my forelegs. I just didn't have the strength. I felt sick to my stomach. My front hooves slid out from me on tile slowly until I was lying on the floor, my face buried in my forelegs, wanting it to end. To wake up from this nightmare. It was the nightmare I kept waking up to. "Just leave me alone, god damn you! Just leave me alone..."

Kian's eyes burned as they opened from his sleep. He shut them tight and rolled over, ignoring the morning light shining in through the small window from his given room, trying to take back his sleep. He buried his muzzle into his pillow, pulling the covers over his head with a groan.

Mornings weren't any fun. Least not most of the time.

There was something weird about this morning. He could hear something. His ear twitched as he caught it. Muffled talking and yelling. It sounded like it was coming from the next room too. He gave a curious hum, wondering what the commotion was about. Letting out an agitated sigh he scooted out of his comfortable bed and onto the unforgiving wood floor. He shuddered as the cold ran up his legs. His teeth chattered, not used to cold like this.

It was cold in Michigan sometimes, but that's something you adjust to as the seasons go by. but when you're not ready for the cold, well, that when it really gets you.

He groggily made his way to the door, moving inch by inch in the chill of the morning. He pushed on the handle to his bedroom door gently, easing it open. Kian peaked out, looking around to see no one in the whole of the library. He let out another sigh and slipped out, taking a few paces to his left to the bathroom. He could hear more ramblings and sounds behind the door.

Growing curious, he pressed his large ear to it, listening in.

"Please...just leave me alone." He heard being sobbed weakly.

The tone it was being used in was definitely of sadness and the voice...it sounded familiar enough...but it couldn't be...could it?

Hot tears rolled down my cheeks, soaking into the coat of my forelegs. My breathing was ragged with the addition of fluids. I just wanted him to go away and never bother me ever again. I wished he could just die and never haunt me ever again. I sobbed loudly, gasping and mumbling random thoughts and pleas aloud. I kept on for what felt like ages. I felt like I'd never stop. But something out of the corner of my eye pulled me from it. I steadied and breathed normal, wiping my eyes to look clearly at something...something that glinted on the floor.

It was a shard. One from the mirror. I swore I remembered picking them all up. I looked down at it, my vision clearing of it's hazy tear filled cloud to look at the image in the shard. My reflection...at least it should've been. I saw him in it instead. A grey stallion, red eyes, a wind blown cloud like mane with reddened tips...tears streaked cheeks.

I stared at it with befuddlement. The stallion in the reflection was me. It couldn't have been. It wasn't possible-- I didn't look like that, that wasn't me, it could'nt be me! "No...no...no, no, no, no, no, no," I refused to accept it. It wasn't possible at all. "no, no, no, no, NO!"

I started backing up, saying it over and over again. No, I couldn't be him. That's not me. That wasn't me. I refused it all. I denied it all. It wasn't true, it couldn't be true, it had to be fake. I started shaking my head in refusal as I kept repeating it. "NO, NO, NO!"

My world darkened as I was myself surrounded by it. I was somewhere familiar...the dark space, the cold cement floor I sat upon, my form back into that of my human self. Flesh and blood. But looming over me was an equally familiar form. Grizzled and young with a dark lengthened mohawk that was slicked back and a growing in beard. Eyes that were a cold slate and had no emotion or remorse whatsoever. An expression that was blank and harsh and a very small scar on the end of his left eyebrow that went diagonal to the right.

His strong hands wrapped around my throat, gripping tightly and convulsing with rage. His expression changed to mad happiness. The toothiest of smiles broadly smeared across his face. "I am you. We're the same person. But you're weak. You're too weak to exist anymore. I'm done holding back. I've been in the dark for too god damn long. I want out. I want to live. You're my puppet. My plaything to enjoy torturing how I please. My bitch!"

I gagged and choked as he continued to strangle me. My face grew hot as the blood tried to flow, cut off. My throat felt dry and I couldn't let out a single breath or make intake. It all hurt so much. I gasped for air but was unable to take in anything under his grip. My own arms held tightly to his in an attempt to pull them away, but I couldn't do it. I didn't have the strength. Was it true? Was I really weak? Was I going to die, only for him to takeover and fill in? Was I never going to love Twilight and let this monster do as he pleased with her?

...No.

I wasn't going to let that happen. I wouldn't. I couldn't. I'd never let him near Twilight. That would never happen. Not if it meant losing her. That's not something I was willing to let come close to happening.

I used all my strength, gripping tightly around his wrists and pulling at them, trying to force them apart. My muscles flexed and convulsed, veins visibly popping up as I fought back. My face ached and my lungs screamed and begged for air. I just couldn't do it. Our arms convulsed, resisting each others, but I couldn't seem to get past his. My life was fading as what little blood flow I had left pumped. I could feel the beat of my heart in my neck as it painfully pumped hard. I shut my eyes in the stress, a tear welling up...I didn't think I was gonna do it...I lost...

With my last bit of energy I had I mouthed out what words I could. I'm sorry, Twilight.

My arms grips loosened and dropped down limply, no longer having the strength to resist. Hope became lost as my eyes peaked open to view the hateful eyes of the beast that would soon take my place. The tear finally rolled down my cheek as I began to fade. But...just as I began to...I could feel something in my hand...Light, wooden, and faintly glinting...all my remaining thought told me what to do and I did.

Elsewhere, inside the royal chamber of Canterlot Castle, Celestia stood by, watching the ethereal cloud of dark smoke. It rumbled and groaned loudly, growing larger. The wispy darkness of it started to become unstable and thunderous growls were emitted from it as it's chaos grew.

Celestia's eyes widened as she looked on with horror. "No. His mind is growing unstable. What's happening?"

A skull shaped form pressed through the veil of darkness, jutting out before Celestia, roaring loudly in her face before receding.

Her eyes narrowed as a golden glow of magic encompassed her horn. The same aura surrounded the cloud of smog, restricting it. Her eyes glowed bright white as it opened to reveal what was happening. The scene before her was in his mind. Two similar men before her, one gruff and grizzled and the other more sincere in appearance. The very life was being throttled from the other. The very essence of evil could be seen from the gruffer one wearing a dark jacket. This was the evil she had sensed in it's true form. She needed to intervene. A weapon similar to that of both worlds formed in the hand of the other one, hold around the grip being taken.

Her horn ceased and the view of the film of insanity ended, the cloud of pure evil being released from it's grip. The cloud began to weaken and dissipate, growing smaller and smaller as a loud shriek was let out. It faded with the smoke, no longer present.

My arm jut forward, stabbing the mental blade into his side. His grip loosening as his face melted into one of shock. He staggered up from me, dropping me to lie on the floor, choking and gasping, rubbing my bruised throat. He looked down to his side, blood reddening around the knife and dripping down. With new found strength I stumbled to my feet, tackling him to the ground and gripping the handle. I ripped it out as I slammed him down, an arch of blood trailing after and splattering wetly across the floor. I knelt over him, flipping the knife around and bringing it down with haste.

The blade pierced the skin of his chest, sliding past his ribs and into the vital zone. His mouth gasped out as blood began to form at the corners of his mouth, a weak gargle forming. I pulled the knife out and stabbed it back down into his chest, the gargle growing louder. I pulled the knife from his chest again, stabbing back with growing force. I did so again, and again, and again. My fury growing. I stabbed faster and harder, tearing away at his chest. The soft gargle was all that was left as his head looked off, his eyes glazed over and looking off.

He was dead, but I continued to stab away, my berserk of madness slowly dissipating with every postmortem stab. Once I finally stopped I was left there, panting and twitching in weak muscle spasms. My hands opened and the knife dropped to the ground, loudly clinking. My hands were spattered and covered in blood, myself not so far off... The knife itself was a dark stained red to the hilt, lying a few inches away.

Everything brightened and I was blinded, shutting my eyes tightly. It noticed it then weaken to a comfortable level through my eyelids, easing them open to look around. Twilight was standing in the doorway to the bathroom, looking at me horrified, tears forming in her eyes. Her lip quivered as she attempted to make a sound. I looked back down to see myself as a pony, my chest decimated with stab wounds and my head looking off lamely, eyes glazed over. There was blood splatter all around and my own hooves were covered in it too. The knife laid on the floor in the same position it had been, blood to the hilt. I looked down to where the shard was to see myself as the grey monster I'd seen before, small flecking on my face.

I began to panic. "What's happening?! What is this?! WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

James!

James!

Wake up!

Please, wake up!

My eyes slowly opened. The blurred image of Twilight was before me, looking down just as horrified. A few tears dripped down as her saddened expression began to brighten. A smile came across her face as she hugged onto me, kissing at my cheeks. "Don't scare me like that!"

I couldn't help but ask, "What's going on?"

"We found you in the bathroom, on the floor convulsing."

I looked up to see Kian over me, holding me down.

My breath eased as I looked back down to Twilight as she hugged onto me, looking down to me with heartfelt eyes. She looked up from me to Kian, "You can go now." She sighed.

He nodded and backed out, unloading the pressure he'd applied from my shoulders. He left the bathroom quickly, leaving off with a long, drawn out sigh.

Our gazes went back to each other, she smiled softly, her head resting on my chest.

A question formed in my head that needed answering. "Twilight?" She gave a curious hum in reply. "...Am I a bad person?"

"No, of course not."

I looked off, sadly. "You're just saying that. You'll tell me anything."

"Well of coarse I will, because I love you." The statement was a little discerning, "I love you because I know you're not." I looked back to her, a soft and sincere smile spreading on her face. There was a glimmer in her violet eyes that helped prove her honesty. "I know you're good. I know you're good."

The corners of my mouth rose a little. I sighed, feeling a little bit better. I hadn't had such a feeling since I last talked to Celestia. A lot lighter and more relieved. I began to wonder just how long it would last. Perhaps I should try to make the most of it I can?

In the darkness a lone figure knelt on the floor, gripping at a handle that jutted out from his ribs. He pulled hard, the knife coming out with a loud groan on his part. His hand held over the wound as his teeth gritted. "I was so close. Dammit..."