After this rather disturbing incident, the group broke up and we followed Twilight and Spike as we walked toward the crystaly treehouse of awesomeness that was shining above all of Ponyville. Twilight told that she herself still hadn't explored the castle in its entirety yet and started telling a story about some guy name Tirek and another tree when something aquamarine and soft crashed into us from the side, throwing us to the ground before either of us understood what just happened, but Verso instantly came to the front anyway.

To discover a pair of gigantic golden eyeballs scrutinizing our face with a frantic and somewhat joyful spark inside. An unstoppable blabber was escaping its mouth in an high pitched voice that we both somehow associated with a documentary about an overly bad singer in the beginning of the millennium and its fan-base. That wasn't really doing any good to Verso's idea of this pony's mental health, and his growing anger wasn't auguring anything better for her physical health either. Thankfully, a call prevented him from trying to do anything.

"Lyra!" a feminine voice shouted. "What do you think you are..."
"I've never seen a creature like this before, Bonbon!" the aquamarine pony, who turned out to be both a mare and a unicorn, answered. "And look!" She said, catching our hand in her telekinesis to show to someone. "It has fingers! Isn't that great?"
"Get off me this instant or..." Verso tried before he was interrupted by the mare's gasp.
"It can talk! This is just so awesome!"
"Lyra get off him now, please!" Twilight intervened. "I don't think he likes..."
"It's a he? Amazing!" She waved a hoof in front of us. "Hello mister! I'm Lyra!"
"And I'm pissed."

Lyra blinked and blushed, her smile faltering for an instant. But she quickly got ahold of herself and smiled brightly.

"Well, your parents gave you a silly name, Pissed, but that's not a problem. We can still be friends!"

Verso blinked, his mind refusing to process the most greatest pun in History, leaving him with our jaw hanging, and I think I heard both Twilight and the other mare groaning. I laughed hard, and Spike tried (and failed) to suppress his giggling.

I like her!
She is clearly crazy. Crazy people are dangerous. And besides, you like everyone.
She's not crazy, she's hilarious! Plus, she wants to be our friend!
That would be a clear sign of insanity where we come from.
It's not like we're there anymore.

Verso didn't reply and just pushed Lyra away from us to stand up. She was staring at us, fascinated, particularly at our hands. In fact, I'm pretty sure she was drooling when she was looking at them. Then, before Verso could try and be mean to her, an earth pony with a cream-colored coat and blue and pink curly mane, punched her behind the head, seeming kinda angry.

"Ouch!"
"You promised me you would stop pouncing on everypony you see, Lyra!"
"But, Bonbon..."
"No buts, young mare!" she stopped Lyra, making me snort. "Now say you're sorry to mister... whatever it is!"
"I..."
"No need to say anything, mister," the mare said. "She is sorry. Say it!"
"You can't be doing this to me in front of someone like him!" Lyra hissed back. "You're making me look like a fool!"
"You already made a fool out of yourself, my love. Now, I still haven't heard you saying you're sorry."
"Fine! I'm sorry!" Lyra exclaimed.
"See? Was that so difficult?"
"I hate you."
"I love you too, honey."

Lyra looked pretty frustrated and refused to look at Bonbon, who looked pleased with herself. It took the unicorn at least two whole seconds before she realized that we were still here, and she then immediately traded her pout to a excited smile.

"Huh... apology accepted?" Verso hesitantly tried.
"Fantastic!" Lyra exclaimed. "So, Pissed, what exactly are you?"
"First of all, I'm not 'Pissed'."
Yes you are.
Are you serious?!
Nah, I'm Recto. You've known me for, like, forever!

Verso shouted some words he made sure I never learned how to write, many of them implying a superior being having strange relations with a whale. But back to the much more mature and pun-deprived conversation occurring outside of our head.

"I knew you weren't angry at me!" Lyra exclaimed with an oblivious smile.

I swear Verso was about to try and strangle the poor unicorn when I forcefully took the commands back, laughing all the way.

"I swear, if you keep getting him angry like that, I'll be too busy laughing to stop him!" I told the funny unicorn.
"What do you mean?" Lyra asked, confused. "And you have a funny voice. Is that normal?"
"I'll start with the beginning," I said, extending a hand for her to shake, which she gladly did. "I'm Recto. The guy you talked with until now is Verso. We share this body together."

She blinked again. I kinda like how everyone always have that reaction when they learn about us. Next to her, Bonbon was looking a bit worried, but that may have been because we stood nearly twice as high as she did. I mean, that would intimidate me. And I'm the second bravest guy I know!

"That sounds... strange," Lyra carefully said.
"Well, so does being all alone in your head for us. Must feel lonely."
"That... makes sense, I guess..."
"Of course it does! Now, why did such a funny unicorn jump on us like that? Not that I'm complaining, but I'm curious."

She blushed and opened her mouth, only for Bonbon to answer instead.

"She has a thing for exotic creatures, no offense," she said, and Lyra's face turned into an interesting shade of crimson.
"None taken. And we're human, by the way."
"I don't mean to press you or anything," Twilight intervened, "but I'm kinda carrying a rather heavy bag, so if we could continue, that would be great."
"Oh, yes, I'm sorry!" Lyra said without glancing in her direction. "I'm guessing Pinkie's welcome party will be held for you?"
How did that crazy pink monster tell her already? We just left her and she went the other direction! This makes no sense!
"Yep," I simply answered.
"Well, I'll be sure to be there. See you at the party!"

She waved a hoof saying goodbye and continued on her way, chatting excitedly with Bonbon, who just looked plain exhausted.

"I like her. She's funny."
"Don't you mean crazy?" Spike asked, and Twilight smacked him in the head with a wing.
"Well, we should be glad our first encounter with the townsponies went so smoothly," Twilight remarked. "It could have been a lot wor..."
"AH! A MONSTER INSIDE THE TOWN!" someone screamed.

I turned our head just in time to see a pink pony with a golden mane and tail galloping away, screaming in terror. Verso sweared, and I'm still not allowed to repeat what he said. But it was kinda offensive against most species of horses.

"Is she going to cause any trouble?" Verso asked to Twilight when he finished his rather descriptive swearing session.
"I don't really think so," the purple princess replied, resuming her pace. "Lily freaks out about nearly everything. You should have seen how she was because of a bunny stampede."
"Excuse me?"
Twilight giggled. "Long story. I'll explain it to you later. Right now, we have more pressing matters to attend. Like getting you a bedroom, addressing your residence with the mayor, asking Rarity to make you new clothes and giving you a tour of the town!"
"We're getting new clothes?" I asked.
"Of course!" she said, looking at us as if it was obvious. "You arrived in our yesterday with what you're currently wearing and nothing else. You'll need some more clothes to live with, don't you think?"
"Well, I guess so. It's just... We weren't allowed to have more than one set of clothes before..."
"Really? That's weird."
"Spike!" Twilight yelled at him, glaring at the small dragon for a second, before she turned her curious gaze to us. "Why is that? I know you didn't have a lot of ressources to spare, but..."
"You misunderstood. We weren't allowed to have more than one," Verso intervened. "It had to do with one of my escape plans."
"Really?" Spike said, curious. "What did you do?"
"I hanged myself."

Well, that definitely made the conversation kind of awkward, with Spike looking at us, pupils shrunk, and Twilight paling a bit. Of course, Verso being himself didn't care a bit about it. In fact,judging at how he was chuckling at their expense, I think it amused him. Thankfully, I'm not a meanie-pants with a terribly bad and dark sense of humor.

"What he meant," I continued in his stead, "is that we got the guards a good fright on an Halloween night. He was actually levitating us the whole time, and we ran out of our room when we had the chance. We used to play with the guards all the time then, with the exit being the prize. But they caught us at the end of the second hall and got us back in our room, and the clothing rules started."
"That's... messed up," Spike said first. "Like, a lot."
"I know, right? Who in their right mind would remove our sets of clothes, since it obviously didn't work?"

They just kept switching between staring at us like we were stupid and giving worried looks at each other until we arrived at the bottom of the cristal tree/castle/ultra-awesome-shiny-treehouse that we saw earlier. Twilight opened the gigantic doors with a wave of her horn and we entered. As soon as I put a foot inside, however, Verso groaned in annoyance.

What's the problem?
Nothing, just a small headache. I bet the design of the castle is so completely improbable that my subconscious can't take it and is trying to shoot himself.
"Welcome the Palace of Harmony!" Twilight announced with great pomp. "I'll show you around."

The Palace's interior felt surprisingly warm for a place built entirely out of crystals. Twilight and Spike quickly showed us an entire floor filled with comfy bedrooms that each had a personal bathroom putting Canterlot's ones to shame, a kitchen that would probably need at least twenty ponies to operate correctly. But the heart of the Palace was one gigantic library filled with books old and new. Some of these tomes even looked likely to turn into dust the instant anyone touched them!

Verso and I were drooling.

"Wh... How many..."
"A lot," Spike said with a mysterious thousand-miles stare. "A whole lot."
"I assume you like reading?"
"Of course! Books are awesome! I love stories!" I exclaimed.

I ran to the nearest shelf and took the first book I happened to find. The cover depicted a brownish pegasus with a grey mane wearing a stereotypical adventurer set of clothes. But what surprised both Verso and I was the title : it was written in plain old english!

What the heck is that? Everything was written with that strange language yesterday!
That's weird. You also read "Daring Do and the sapphire stone", right?
Yep. Open it, maybe it's completely written in english.

I did so, only to be disappointed when our eyes met the gibberish that covered the pages.

"Is there a problem?" Twilight asked, walking next to us to glance at the book herself.
"Yeah! It's not the same language on the cover and inside the book!"
"What do you mean?"

I quickly explained her the problem and she took what I learned to be her 'thinking deeply' expression.

"Well, it may sound strange to you, but it's normal. The alphabet on the cover is used mostly to highlight important points, but the other one is the most commonly used in Equestria. It's easier to write when you have to use your mouth to hold the quill. Still, it's strange that your people had the same writing system where you come from..."
"But anyone could read what we write with the highlighting one, right?" Verso said, interrupting her thought-process.
"Yes, but why would you..."
"Just curious. But it does mean we're going to have to learn another alphabet here..."
"Oh, I'm sure it won't be too difficult," Twilight told us with a smile. "I will teach it to you. In fact," she added with stars in her eyes, "You will have to learn just about anything about Equestria's history and culture!"
"Yeah, right. Just have to forget around five thousand years of documented human history while we're at it. It's not like it would mean much around here."
"What?!" the purple princess screamed in horror. "No you won't, mister! You're the only contact we've ever had with your kind, and I'm going to keep track of everything you can remember about your species!"
"Oh, I think we found ourselves an egghead, Recto," he said with a smile, while Twilight harrumphed. "Kinda like it. Fine by me. It would be too much trouble forgetting everything anyway."
"Thank you!" she told us joyfully. "Now, we have to get to the mayor quickly. We wouldn't want to let Lily make the entire town panic once again."
"I thought you said she wouldn't make trouble?"
"Better safe than sorry."

We swiftly made it out of the castle and walked in the direction of a wooden tower in the middle of Ponyville. I was chatting with Twilight about the way to introduce ourselves to the mayor when Verso noticed something strange.

Why isn't there anyone?
What do you mean?
Look around. Do you see anybody except for the purple duo and us?
No...
Don't you think it's strange? It's nearly the middle of the day and there's not a soul to be seen.
"Don't be distracted!" Twilight scolded me. "It's important!"
"Sorry, it's just... Where's everybody?" I asked.

Twilight returned me a confused look before she looked around herself, a tumbleweed crossing the road with a non-existing wind adding some comedic effect. Spike looked worried.

"Twilight, you don't think it could be... zombies?!"
"Not this again!" she growled, annoyed. "For the last time, Spike, a zombie outbreak in Ponyville is highly improbable!"
I don't really like how she said that...
"But, then, where is everypony?"
"I'm not sure, Spike. Maybe it has something to do with Pinkie's party? Anyway, we should continue. The discussion with the mayor won't make itself! As I was saying..."

We soon reached town hall and encountered the aptly named Mayor Mare, an clay colored with a grey mane earth pony wearing glasses. I dunno why, it just seems weird to me to see a pony wearing glasses.

As you may probably imagine, Our meeting didn't have the luxury of beginning in the smoothest manner imaginable. In fact, when we entered her office, she raised her head from the paper she was reading, glanced at Twilight, switched her gaze on us and didn't move a muscle for a solid ten seconds. Then, she just said "Nope" and got back to her document.

Around a second later, she raised her head to look at us with such speed I was worried she could break her neck, startled, and jumped to hide behind her chair.

As I said, smooth.

"Aah!" she screamed. "What is that thing?!"
"So much for the good first impression," Verso snickered.
"It talks? It talks!"
"Miss Mayor, I assure you, there is no..." Twilight tried.
"Princess Twilight! Help!"
"I think she is panicking, Twilight," I said. "What should we do?"
"Mayor Mare, please..."
"Would you look at this! It's even uglier than Lily described it!"
I don't think I will like her too much.
"Maybe we should just wait outside?" I proposed to the purple princess.
"I... It may be a good idea. Spike, go wait with them, please."

We stepped outside and closed the door. I glanced at Spike, who gave me my look back. Then, we started to laugh. A few minutes later, the door opened and Twilight told us to get back inside, where we discovered Mayor Mare with the brightest blush I had seen all day, but still somehow able to look at us in the eyes.

"I'm sorry I reacted this way, mister Recto. It was really uncouth."
"Oh, don't feel bad about it," Verso unexpectedly said with what I knew to be his mean joke smile. "I'm sure it will be fun to write about it in our first letter to Princess Celestia."

The mayor stopped blushing, her face turning fairly pale and her jaw hanging, trying to form an answer. Ignoring her completely, Verso turned to Twilight.

"So, what did you tell her exactly?"
"Just that you weren't a monster of any sort and that Princess Celestia said it would be good for you to live in Ponyville for some time."
"So nothing about me, just said Recto's name and rolled with it?" He took a falsely wounded expression at her nod. "How could you forget to mention me, Twilight? That's just plain mean. You're so inconsiderate!"
"I... But..."
"Don't worry about him, Twilight," I said, pushing a chuckling Verso to the back of our head. "He's just playing with you. Anyway," I continued, turning to face the other mare, "I'm Recto, nice to meet you, miss Mayor."

I gave her a hand to shake and a smile to reassure her, but it seems she was too confused to return the favor, her eyes switching between ours and Twilight's in demand of confirmation.

"Okay, awkward..." I grumbled when I finally retracted our hand. "So, let's start with the thing that gets most people to look at us with the 'are you kidding?' kind of stare: I'm Recto, and the mean guy that talked to you when we got back inside is Verso." Say 'hi'.
"Hi," he reluctantly said with a wave of a hand.
"We both live in the same body," I continued. "Yes, it's a bit weird."

She gave Twilight the 'are you kidding me?' stare. I knew it! Everyone does that the first time I explain our situation! Well, to be fair, I'd be worried if someone didn't. Our condition is not exactly common.

"Let me get this straight," she said slowly. "You're saying that there's in fact two of you inside your head?" I nodded and she turned to Twilight. "You know, Ponyville's Hospital does have a mentally ill section. Maybe we should..."
"Oh, this is just grand," Verso said. "Do you know you're actually the first pony to even consider putting us in another 'Mental Institute' or whatever? I'll be sure to also write about that to Celestia, to tell her that not all of her ponies lack common sense. And after that, I'll probably tear you a..." he said, his anger making our blood boil.
"Okay, stop!" I intervened, getting the controls back. You are not going to scare her again!
Why wouldn't I? She is trying to imprison us, just like we were on Earth!
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you are a lot meaner than necessary! Twilight wouldn't let her do that! Princess Celestia and Luna wouldn't either! Mister Discord said we were safe here, and so far, you're the only one that got us hurt!

His half of our soul froze, and he didn't reply. It was like he couldn't even form an answer, and he finally decided to shut me off and went to sleep without a word. I redirected my attention to the real world and saw the mayor looking at us with her pupils the size of pinpricks, hiding behind her desk. Next to us, Twilight and Spike were looking at us with their jaw just asking to fall all the way to the ground.

This was going to be one difficult meeting.

"He is wrong!" I screamed uselessly across the room, my voice muffled by the roaring of the thunder. "I... I was justified each time I got us hurt! That Luna-bitch was trying to convince the others that I was something to get rid of! It... It would have been a lot worse if I hadn't attacked! I was not wrong! And she tried to invade our mind right after that!"

Behind me, he was still laying down in his bed, as always, free from the hell that is this place. Unable to hear me, no matter how loud I was. Unable to understand my motives.

"We can't trust them! They'll just abuse us, just like last time! They're always trying to get something from us! I am not wrong! I am not WRONG!"

I fell to my knees, my vision troubled by rage-filled tears, that soon turned to silent sobbing, as I faced the bed, the thing behind me.

"I'm not hurting us... I'm protecting us..." I cried, sobbing. "I'm not hurting you... I'm not... I just... I can't let it happen again... I can't risk to let you be hurt... Not this time..."

Only the roars of the thunder heard me crying. As always.

Author's Note

And another one! Well, this one did take some more time than last few to write, but I just had to publish something someday. Anyway, tell me how it was below!