//------------------------------// // Ch. I: Rise of a Hero/Birth of a Monster // Story: Devil in Me // by Phoenix Heart 27 //------------------------------// Devil in Me By: Phoenix Heart 20 The dark shadows underneath a boardwalk at night in Haywaii cast an ominous feel about them as a mare puffed on a vapor pen. Her long, slicked, ruby red mohawk rustling in the breeze as she pulled her leather  jacket closer to her. The mare was in every sense of the word, stressed. It wasn't due to her vacation, no far from that. When she and her partner decided to spontaneously book a 2nd class zeppelin trip to Haywaii, she’d been all for it! Eager to get away from the mundaneness of her small farming village near Canterlot. So why was she feeling so stressed to the point where she had to vape and get back to a state of calm? Well it could be the fact that she just killed two ponies in cold blood. Blowing a puff of vapor out into the surprisingly chilly night air, she suddenly felt a wave of nausea and dizziness overcome her while she doubled over in pain as her mane changed its length and color, her tail doing the same as she proceeded to groan in pain as she righted herself before slumping down into the sand. Her wavy molasses mane and tail blowing slightly in the wind as she leaned over and emptied the contents of her stomach into a small hole she absentmindedly dug with a hoof. “W-What happened? W-W-Where am I? Why am I on a beach at night? The last thing I remember was being at that restaurant with Flipper and Cosmic Streak. Then...then we left afterwards to walk down the boardwalk and…”, She fell off as her left eye started to twitch slightly. “...And I came on the scene and made mincemeat of those bumbling idiots! Ha! Oh you should've seen the looks on their faces when I was coming at them with that sledgehammer! Priceless! Oh how fun that was! Let's do it again!” “Let’s NOT! In the name of Faust, NO! You--You can't. Keep. Doing this stuff Santana! They're gonna catch us and it's the guillotine! Final curtain call stupid mare!”, The stressed one griped. “Nope! We, I mean I  have been doing this for the last 8 years. Not once has anypony gotten wind of the ‘mysterious disappearances’ of quite a number of ponies who's bodies were found mangled in various spots! Trust me when I say, we’re good Halo.”, Santana Steele Strings reassured her sane counterpart and ‘head mate'. “You don't know that for sure. Just…*sigh* Why do we do this? Seriously? I don't see how we ‘help’ each other. Mainly it's me trying to keep up appearances that I’m completely sane while I'm really struggling with you! The only 2  ponies that knows the truth are my own wife and my fucking therapist. Even then,  Mr. Ink Blot is honestly scared of you! He loves me and tries his damnedest to help me with your crazy ass. Then there's you. You are a monster! You take a sick pleasure to hurting others. You laughed and just acted like we just saw a funny movie when we fell down the stairs in 6th grade and broke our left forehoof. I was in horrible pain, but you had that sick grin plastered on our face.”, Halo Rays ranted to her insane persona. Having been diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder at age 9 after Santana sent them both to a mental hospital in Baltimare for allegedly nearly killing a classmate over a stolen lunchbox. It was with that 3 month stay that Santana and Halo really started to struggled for power over the shared body. It wasn't for another year after that that Halo received an award for saving the live of a runaway dog that Santana tried to drown. The whole town was grateful and thought of her as an angel sent from Paradise, as she was known for her abundant kindness and generosity as well as her unprecedented sense of morality. That's simply how Halo was. It came to be that ponies swear they’d seen a double of her only the total opposite of Halo in every way. A little filly with a cropped red and blue mohawk and tail walking around in the exact same clothes that Halo wore did nothing for suspicion. Anyways, it came that as a teenager that the pair of them found some common ground. The one thing that both of them could agree was a good thing: Art. Together, they lost themselves in countless art projects. Ranging from simple pictures and paintings, to the most complex of sculptures and craft projects. Eventually they began to sell their works and by the time the mare was in her early 20s, she had more than enough to buy a decent sized apartment for her and her special somepony (a more than intriguing discovery at age 16 revealed that she prefered mares to stallions). By the time she was 28, however is when Halo started having more severe headaches and blackouts only to wake up completely unaware of anything that happened previously. Of course, that is also when Santana started becoming more assertive in her control of their shared body. Afterwards, when she’s release her control, she also relinquish the memories of what she'd done to Halo in an effort of torture (considering Halo has a weak stomach for violence and death, may be an added bonus). In example as to their current situation. “You know how much I hate you right?”, Halo asked the voice in her head. Only silence was her reply as she finished up her vape pen and put it away as she trotted off back towards the hotel she and her wife were staying at. Unknown to her that somepony was watching from the shadows. Waiting and observing for the right time to strike, but lost that chance once the mare changed her mane and tail. Once she began to talk to herself though is when the masked figure decided that this night wouldn't be the night for it's plans to come together. As quickly and as silently as it appeared, the masked figure slunk back into the shadows.