Phonyyx flipped back to the beginning of the tale and began to read.

I was horrified at the sight that laid ahead. An army of three hundred warriors, all clad in armor. My knees wobbled. But my friend (or Lone, as he liked to be called) told me that this was going to be fun. He was clad in only a brown cloak that obscured his entire face from my gaze. But I could tell, he was laughing. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard that sinister, maniacal laughter pour out from his voice. He was going to enjoy this. I looked behind us to our army of about three dozen ponies.

"We are going to die!" I heard one of the ponies say. I could hear the fear in his voice.

"Not today." I looked back to Lone, the source of the voice. He had unsheathed his sword, it was about as long as my foreleg, double-sided blade with a crystal in the center of its cross guard. There were runes etched into the blade. Lone muttered something in an archaic language and a rune appeared in the air in front of him. A blast of fire emerged from the rune, spreading forward towards the army and scorched the front lines. Burning them alive. "CHARGE!" Lone yelled as he took to the skies and dive-bombed the army. Our army soon followed into the fray. Lone torpedoed to the ground, stopping mere centimeters from the icy snow terrain, and unfurled his wings, spouting fire from the tips of them, flying towards them with a grin on his face. Then Lone stopped and engaged in melee combat. He swung left and right. Bodies piled up around him, with him on top. When his enemies removed the cloak from him, they were petrified at the sight of him: silver colt with blood-shot eyes and no cutie mark. Lone turned over to the warrior that removed his cloak and kicked him square in the chest, knocking him into the spears of his allies. Lone then dashed into the army and sliced through his enemies splattering blood all over his body and face. A series icicles tore from the ground and impaled every pony around Lone. Blood ran down the icicles and their guts fell and hung in the air. Their foul stench already filling the air around them. Lone flew back to my side. He and I put our backs together an impenetrable defense. I threw my spear at the commander, with Lone placing a rune directly in the path my spear traveled, catching it on fire. The spear flew true, impaling the commander in the face. Then Lone sent another wave of fire towards the remaining enemies, scorching them. Their horrid screams filled the lands as the rest of the enemy army burned alive. I looked over to see that Lone no longer had a silver coat. His coat was now a vibrant blood-red. Lone walked over to his cloak and retrieved it. Blood seeped from the thousands of battle wounds he recently acquired.

"We survived. We won!" one of the ponies on our army shouted in triumph.

"No. I survived. You won't." Lone then dashed into each of my allies and murdered them all. Lone looked at me. He slowly stalked over to me, swishing his sword gleefully as he did. I grabbed a spear and pointed it at Lone just in time. He dashed at me and right into the spear, killing himself. His body turned to ash. I looked all around me.

"This wasn't a battle, this was a massacre."

Phonyyx closed the book, looked up and saw Starlight's tear-filled eyes.

"Why?" was all Starlight could say. This is what Phonyyx was afraid of. Them finding a story of himself. One of his massacres. Why does it hurt so much to see Starlight like this? "You were just a foal."

"Starlight, there is no explanation or excuse that I can give for what I did,-" Phonyyx looked to his right and out the window "-but I did it because I could. Not because I wanted to, no. Because I could."

"But what made you think of doing it?" Starlight was still sobbing. Her mug of cider empty.

"When I was younger, before I learned I was immortal, I believed that I would be killed because of the powerful magic I could control. I felt as if I could take on the entire world. So I did. I started and ended wars. I fought in wars to keep them going. All I wanted to do was fight. With all that power, I could beat any pony. That battle changed it all. I died. It was then and there that I learned I was immortal. But when I die, I don't know how long it will take to be reborn. The first time took a year. In that year, I learned the hard truth. There is no heaven or hell, there is only The Plane. There you experience all the pain you wrought upon others. Worse still, I relived the final five minutes of my life. When I murdered my friends in cold blood. I also re-evaluated my life and the choices I made. Once I was reborn I vowed to never fall to the insanity inside me. I had to fight the urge to continually kill everything. The urge became greater once I realized I was immortal. I still have to fight that urge every single day of my life." Phonyyx shut his eyes and bent his head down. Sobbing as he felt all that he had inflicted on others. Phonyyx felt two hooves wrap around him. He looked back and saw Starlight hugging him.

"I'm shorrie." Great. Now my speech is slurred.

"There is nothing for you to be sorry about. I'm accountable for everything I do. Not you." Starlight simply moved closer to Phonyyx, burying her face in his coat.

"Can wi gou back to Twilzighs's Kasiile?"

"Sure." Phonyyx stepped down from the corner booth and levitated Starlight onto his back. Making sure to leave a few bits too. He had way too many encounters with angry bartenders he forgot to pay. "Now don't fall off." Phonyyx walked outside and unfurled his wings to fly.

"No friing. Pleaze." Phonyyx furled his wings back up. "Brrr." Starlight shivered uncontrollably. Phonyyx lifted her up, untied his cloak; he had been wearing a temporary cloak while waiting for Rarity to finish repairing his torn cloak, he merely wore this cloak for aesthetic purposes; put it on Starlight, and laid her back down onto his back. Starlight felt Phonyyx's warm body up against her underbelly. The two reached Twilight's Castle and Phonyyx, too tired to do anything more, put Starlight in his bed and got in the bed with her. He was too tired to think of anything other than sleep.

Phonyyx woke up the next morning and was surprised to find himself and Starlight in bed together. Frantically he thought back through the previous night. He remembered laying Starlight in his bed and plopping down beside her. But didn't remember being so close to her when he did so. During the night, Starlight and Phonyyx had snuggled closer to one another until finally ending up in each other's hooves. Phonyyx got out of bed and walked to his shower. He stopped looked back at Starlight. He had to admit, she looked really cute asleep in his cloak. Then Phonyyx went to a different shower. He cleaned himself off and stepped out of the shower, flamed up, drying himself. Then walked to the kitchen to start making breakfast. Twilight walked in then and started talking about what she found in her books. But Phonyyx wasn't really listening, he was still thinking about the previous night. Did me and Starlight actually? Na. Could we? Starlight woke up and stood up and realized that she was in Phonyyx's bed. She put a hoof up to her chin and felt something. Starlight looked down and saw she was wearing Phonyyx's cloak. What happened last night? Starlight walked out of the room and saw Twilight talking to Phonyyx. Twilight looked over and saw Starlight wearing Phonyyx's cloak. Twilight then noticed that Starlight came out of Phonyyx's room. She shot glances between both Starlight and Phonyyx.

"Do I even want to know what happened?" Twilight looked at Phonyyx and then at Starlight. Starlight blushed a little. Twilight shook her head and walked back into the library.

"Cough,"

"Ohh, Starlight, I didn't see you there. Want some breakfast?" Phonyyx looked back at Starlight. She levitated his cloak and put it back on him. "Ohh, thanks." Phonyyx looked down at his cloak. He handed Starlight some pancakes.

"Uhm, Phonyyx, what happened last night?"

"Uh, I don't know. All I remember was bringing you back here and going to sleep." Phonyyx had finished eating, walked into his room, came back out with a bag filled with the ores and metals that he had collected yesterday. was heading towards a staircase.

"Um, where are you going?"

"Down to the forge and armory."

"Wait. There is a forge and armory here?"

"Yep, downstairs. I'll be down there if you or any pony needs me." Phonyyx walked down the stairs and started up the furnace. Phonyyx started smelting the ores he collected, making sure to add the limestone later.

Twilight was walking out of her room, after trying to wrap her head around what she saw, when she saw Starlight.

"Starlight, there you are." Twilight ran up to her student.

"Oh, hey Twilight, what is it?"

"Well, the others and I were going to go and hang out over at Sugar Cube Corner. Wanna come?"

"Sure." Twilight and Starlight headed over to Sugar Cube Corner. Phonyyx was tempering the metals when he realized it was lunchtime. Phonyyx set the metals to temper and went out to eat. He went and got a sandwich from a food stand in Ponyville. When he passed a jewelry store, an idea struck him like a freight train. He raced back to the mountain he was at yesterday and going back through the tunnels he used to retrieve the ores and metals, he collected some gold and returned to Twilights Castle, being careful not to run into Starlight on his way. Phonyyx went down to the forge and went to work. This metal would need to be smelted with precision. He removed the other metals and cooled them, and took them into the library, picked up some books and read off enchantments from them. The runes etched patterns into the blades and armor. Phonyyx walked to his room and put the products into the closet wardrobe. For later. Phonyyx walked out of his room and realized that he hadn't paid attention to what Twilight was telling him earlier. Realizing this, Phonyyx ran to find Twilight and Starlight walking back into the castle.

"Twilight, there you are. I was about to go look for you. What did you find on Elemental Magic?"

"I told you that already."

"Oh, I don't remember."

"When you were making breakfast?"

"I must've blacked out then."

"Okay then." Twilight explained to Phonyyx what she had found on Elemental Magic and Starlight went to bed. The clock dinged nine times. "I think its time for me to go to bed."

"Yeah, I th- Yawn -ink you're right." Tired and slightly sleep-deprived, Phonyyx went to his room, laid his sword up against the wall, and went to bed. When he woke up, he smelled waffles. He picked up his sword and walked out to find Twilight cooking. "Are those waffles I smell, or is my nose playing tricks on me."

"Nope. There are waffles here. Courtesy of yours truly." The waffles were slightly burned but still smelled delicious.

"Morning. Yawn." Starlight rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Starlight had to bite her lips when she saw Phonyyx.

"What is it? Is it something on my face?" Phonyyx strained his eyes in an attempt to see the imaginary mess on his face.

"No. It's just that your mane looks like a rats nest." Starlight let out a small giggle. Phonyyx attempted to brush down his mane but failed. Starlight walked up with a brush and combed down his mane.

"Well if you two lovebirds are done. Breakfast is ready." Twilight turned around with three plates of waffles. Handing one to each of them.

"Thanks," then Phonyyx thought to himself for a second and said, "Wait, what do you mean by lovebirds?" When Phonyyx looked up, both Twilight and Starlight where gone. Phonyyx walked into the main chamber and saw Twilight and Starlight eating and joined them.

Wake up.

"What?"

"Hm," Starlight and Twilight looked up at Phonyyx.

"Did either of you hear something?" Phonyyx was rubbing the inside of his ears.

"No. Are you okay?" Starlight asked Phonyyx.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Starlight had finished eating.

"I'm going to be in the library if you need me." Starlight looked back at Phonyyx with a smile. Phonyyx couldn't help but smile back.

"Well. I have to go to Canterlot. Celestia wanted to talk to me about something." Twilight got up and put the plates in the sink and was off to Canterlot. So it'll be just me and Starlight.

Phonyyx got up and walked to the library.

Starlight was lying on the couch.

With a book in front of her.

Phonyyx unsheathed his sword.

Wait, what am I doing?

He stalked closer and closer to Starlight.

Clop

His hoof steps echoed.

Clop

He tried to warn Starlight, but couldn't speak.

Clop

Yes, yes. Do it!

His heart beat faster.

Who are you?

A drop of sweat trickled down his face.

I'm you.

No.

Then why are you allowing this to happen.

I'm not!

Wake Up!

Kill Her! You know you want to!

All of the voices were screaming in his head altogether.

They were all hushed and ringed in his ears at once.

Phonyyx didn't know which voice was his own.

He was just behind Starlight.

He raised his sword and...

"Aaahhh!" Starlight's screams echoed through the castle. Her head fell down and rolled along the floor. Blood dripped on the couch, the floor. The blood was everywhere. On Phonyyx, and his sword. Starlight's screams had long since stopped, but they stilled ringed through Phonyyx's ears. His maniacal laughter filled the castle. Echoing everywhere. His eyes were blood-red.

Yes.

No!

WAKE UP!

The voices were all his.