I woke up to the still new and amazing, if somewhat painful feeling of having the sun shine directly in our face. It was nice. And what was even nicer was that this time, our room was still in the pristine condition we left her last night. I stretched a bit and scratched some annoyingly itchy spot in our back.

"Good morning, Verso," I said between two yawns.
Hi. You slept well?
"Yep." I nodded with a goofy grin. "And you didn't destroy the room this time. Definitely an improvement."
No nightmares to be had, I guess.

I would have continued to talk, but a loud growl coming from our stomach interrupted me. We wisely decided to go get breakfast, dropping the topic. I quickly went downstairs, finding miss Twilight looking absolutely terrible, a steaming cup of something in front of her. I was about to ask her if she felt alright before Spike jumped in front of me, carrying a plate with several pancakes.

"You don't want to talk to her before coffee," he ominously said. "You really, really don't."
I shrugged and sat down, levitating delicious pancakes to our plate. "Thank you so much for making these, Spike. And what's coffee?" It sure smells pretty good.
"Some sort of miracle drink," Spike answered as he bit a chunk out of some shiny blue rock, making Verso and I both flinch. "I don't like remembering Twilight waking up before she discovered it."

Miss Twilight vaguely grunted something and sipped the mysterious brew in her cup. I giggled when I realized she looked pretty much like what I had imagined of a zombie pony. Only, less dead and without missing parts. And definitely not preying on the living. Yet.

I devoured the pancakes in a matter of minutes, finishing it long before miss Twilight had returned to her senses. She had when we got back down after a quick trip to the bathroom, though, and she was smiling brightly to the world.

"Good morning, you two!" she happily said when she saw us.
"Uh... Good morning, miss Twilight."
"The weather is just perfect today," she said as she looked through a window. "I think we should continue your lessons outside. Plus, it'll let ponies see you, and Verso won't have a headache!"
Well, talk about mood-swings.
I wonder what's inside this 'coffee' thing...
Miracles, Verso vaguely answered with a chuckle.

I followed miss Twilight through the small town, noticing a lot of ponies staring at us, surprised. Which was strange, since I thought most of them saw us at the party the day before. We finally reached our destination, a small green hill with a tree on top. She sat down and I imitated her, resting our back against the tree. Her horn lit up and a small book with a large picture on its cover popped in front of her, before she caught it in her telekinesis. I gave her a look.

"Verso told you we couldn't understand magic books," I stated.
"I know, that's why this book doesn't have anything to do with magic at all," she said. "That's filly book. I'll teach you how to read!"
Oh, boy, I grunted inwardly.
Don't worry. Just let me outside.

I quickly did so, happy that I didn't have to learn to read again. Personally, that is.

"That won't be necessary, Princess Purple Horse," Verso said.
"Of course it is!" miss Twilight scoffed. "Everypony needs to be able to read, and you're no exception."
"That's not what I meant. I meant to say that you didn't need to teach me how to read. I already know how."
"But, yesterday..."
"Was yesterday. I learned during the night."

While miss Twilight was trying - and hilariously failing - to form a coherent answer, Verso floated the book to us. It still looked like gibberish to me, but I could feel that Verso understood perfectly what it meant. Still, it was annoying that I still couldn't read it myself. Thankfully, he quickly realized that he forgot me, and I found myself with his understanding of the two alphabets imprinted in my mind. And that's when I realized that miss Twilight intended to teach us how to read with a pony equivalent of the three little pigs.

"How..?" she asked when she finally succeeded at talking. I'm proud of her. "You don't simply learn how to read in a single night!"
"I didn't have to. Just had to recognize the corresponding symbols, since it's the same language. It's more of a matter of decoding than learning, really."

Miss Twilight sighed and teleported the book away, muttering something about annoying humans forcing her to go over the checklist she had prepared. She floated a notepad from somewhere and checked something with a marker.

"Well, since you already know how to read, we'll just move on."
"More magic?"
"Not this morning. Right now, I want to do some sort of cultural exchange," she answered, making a few scrolls appear out of nowhere, alongside with a bottle of ink and a few feathers.
Verso sighed. I could feel he would have enjoyed the magic courses a lot more. "How's this going to work?"
"Simple: I ask one question, you answer it and you get to ask one. Equivalent exchange works rather well, I think."
Verso leaned back against the tree. "That's okay with me. We'll answer the best can," he said as he slipped to the back of our mind, leaving me on the front.
"I'll start then," miss Twilight said. "Are there female humans?"
I looked at her as if she were stupid. "Well, yeah. Of course."

She silently nodded and wrote something. I glanced inwardly at Verso.

You want to ask something?
Not for the moment. Have your fun.
Yay! I grinned, as my mind immediately found the most important question I had asked in quite some time. "How do you make chocolate milk?"
Miss Twilight looked rather dumbly at us. "I... I think you put some chocolate powder in some milk?" As I was nodding in satisfaction, she shook her head, wrote something else and asked: "How do Humans reproduce?"
I blushed, something fierce. Who asks this kind of questions?! I was trying to get coherent when Verso took over, chuckling. "Pretty much the same way horse do. Our gestation period lasts around nine months. And before you ask, yes, the females carry the baby."
She nodded again and Verso got back to watching things from behind our eyes. I got ahold on myself and asked: "Where can I find chocolate powder and milk?"
"In a general store, or you could ask Pinkie Pie to get you some, I guess. Now, what other species are humans genetically compatible with?"

WHO ASKS THESE SORT OF THINGS?! Seriously? I was halfway between turning into a tomato and calling miss Twilight weird when Verso took over, and answered.

"Are you coming onto me, miss Twilight?" he said with a sly grin.
Miss Twilight blinked before she blushed at least as much as I was before Verso took over. "N... No! I..."
"Then, I'll answer a more important question: are humans open to talk about sexuality? Answer: no. Not at all. You're making Recto uncomfortable."
She gulped and adverted her gaze. "I'm sorry..."
"Oh, and for your question: no, humans were not compatible with any other species on Earth. Besides, just the thought of it is pretty disgusting. No other species was intelligent. It was a crime in several countries to just think about having sexual intercourse with animals. Does this answer satisfy you?" Miss Twilight nodded, still blushing. "Then I'll leave my place to Recto. If you want to talk about sexuality and Humans, ask when I'm in command and Recto is sleeping."

And he left, putting me back to the front. Miss Twilight and I stayed silent for some time, not even daring to look in each other direction. I must say, the ground look pretty fascinating, so I wasn't that bored. Thankfully, she broke the awkward silent.

"It's... It's your turn..."
I blinked a few times before I remembered what my question was. "Where is Spike?"
"He is helping Rarity with an order. Why did you come to Equestria?"
"Mister Discord brought us. He said we would be pretty free and out of danger. And he offered chocolate milk."
"I'm guessing the chocolate milk part is what convinced you?" she asked with a grin.
"Of course," I answered with a nod, putting on my serious face -which always makes Verso giggle like a fool. "Now, you're an alicorn, right? So why isn't you mane ultra-pretty like miss Princess Celestia's or Luna's?"
"I... Don't know, actually. I'll have to ask Princess Celestia! Maybe Cadance knows too..."
I have a question next.
Okay!
"So, you said you lived in an underground facility. Why?"
"Because our species destroyed the surface," Verso answered. "We used powerful weapons to fight each other, and we went too far. The aftermath made the surface impossible to live on."
"Uh..."
"My turn. Why isn't there much documented History dating further back than a thousand or so years ago?"
She blinked. "How do you know that?"
"It's your turn to answer, not to ask."
Miss Twilight growled. "When Discord reigned, it is recorded that he made most books come to life and leave the libraries. Also, some ancient books are still stored in Equestria's old capital."
"Where?" Verso greedily.
"Your turn to answer, not to ask," miss Twilight said with a grin. "Now, as much as I'd like to know just how exactly you know anything about our History records, I'm more interested in your History. Why did humans fight each other with such weapons?"
"Because they were efficient in killing people, of course," Verso answered, smiling widely at miss Twilight angry reaction. "So. Where is the ancient capital?"
"That's not what I meant!"
"That's what you asked. Now, where's the ancient capital exactly?"
Miss Twilight gritted her teeth. "Deep within the Everfree forest," she reluctantly answered. "Why did your people even fight with each other?"
"For dominance, and out of fear. And before you ask," he quickly added while miss Twilight's face was turning red with frustration, "I'm not going to answer anymore question concerning the Swan Song, and Recto didn't listen at any of our lessons, so he doesn't know a thing. That's not a pleasant topic."

Miss Twilight gritted her teeth again -she does that a lot, I found- and asked a lot of question about our living conditions back on Earth, we answered them, and I asked her about food, flowers and whatnot. It was mostly boring, honestly. Thankfully, she stopped soon enough and she resumed her magical training until lunch, and then some.

We had to stop when Spike came to ask us to go meet miss Rarity at her shop. We followed him and met the white unicorn, who had an excited smile on her face. She also looked pretty happy about herself. Oddly enough, she had dressed up and was wearing a dress of her own.

"Ah, Recto! Just the human I wanted to see."
I guess I can just go fuck myself, then.
"Come in, I have most of your order taken care of."
"Already? Thanks! Can we see them?"
"Of course. Come this way, dear."

She lead us to a pile of neatly folded clothes further inside the shop. When I took the first one in our hands to get a better look at it, I can honestly said I squeed like a girl in some kind of cartoon. They just looked perfect! And they were gifts! I love gifts! Verso rolled his figurative eyes, though.

Come on, they're just clothes. No reason to be that excited about it.
"But they look so great!" I replied aloud. I turned to look at miss Rarity. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"That's nothing, dear," she kindly replied.
"Can we try them on?"
"Of course."

She pointed at a random screen and I ran behind it, grabbing the rest of our new clothes with telekinesis and taking them with us. I quickly changed from our Earth-looking shirt and pants to those miss Rarity made us and looked around for the closest mirror. There was thankfully one nearby and I gazed happily at our new set, a green and beige shirt and matching pants. And Sky, were they comfy too! I giggled happily and walked back to the main room. Miss Rarity nodded in approbation.

I was about to thank her again when a trio of high pitched screeches interrupted me. And then, we were unexpectedly surrounded by three dwarves ponies, one of each race. Two of them were watching us with curiosity while the third one, a little white unicorn, seemed angry about something.

"Rarity! Are you going to let a giant ape-monster ruin the weird clothing you were making all day?" she adorably squeaked in disbelief.
Well, fuck you too.
"Sweetie Belle!" miss Rarity huffed. "Don't be rude!"
"That's not a problem," I told her, startling the three little ponies. "She's too adorable for us to be offended."
I am, and not amount of cuteness will change that.
Yeah, but you're grumpy. Like, always. So it doesn't count.
"Gah! It talks!" another one of them, an orange pegasus, cleverly reminded us.
"Scootaloo!" miss Rarity yelled.
"First, we're a 'he'," I told the small ponies, kneeling to their level. "And second, my name is Recto. Nice to meet you."
If they continue being this rude, it will be nice to 'meat' them. Hehe... Oh, Skies, that was awful...
And frankly scary.

The last small pony, a yellow earth pony with a giant pink ribbon somehow attached to her red mane stepped forward and raised a hoof in our direction for us to shake.

"Ah'm Applebloom," she said. "This here is Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo," she told us, pointing at the unicorn and pegasus respectively. "You were the one Pinkie Pie made a party for yesterday, right?"
"Yep. Well, Verso and I."
"Verso?" Scootaloo asked, confused.
Hey, come out and say hello.
Fuck no. I hate children.
I blinked. They're children?
Wha... Of course they are! They're smaller and they don't have their Sky damn butt-tattoo!
I thought they were just, like, really small!

While Verso was repeatedly bashing his head against something hard in our mind, I gave a closer at the three ponies. And indeed, I realized that they looked a lot like how I imagined ponies children would look like. Basically, smaller and cuter. I beamed. I like children! The few times we were allowed to get near some of them in the Institute, mainly while we were a child ourselves, they were a lot more fun than the adults! Then, something happened and Verso told us we weren't allowed to get near anyone anymore. Bummer.

"Who's that 'Verso you're talking about?" Scootaloo repeated.
I blinked a few times, refocusing on reality. "Well, kinda like another me, but different. He's being grumpy right now and doesn't want to come out."
"Ah don't think I understand," Applebloom said. "There's another ape-thing like you around?"
"We're not an ape. We're human. And as far as we know, we're the only human around."
"I'm confused..." Scootaloo commented.
Miss Rarity sighed and shooed them away. "Will you girls stop harassing poor Recto? Give him space to breath!"
"Thank you really really much for the clothes, miss Rarity!" I said, surprise-hugging her, carefully not messing her dress and mane. "I don't know how we could ever repay you," I continued releasing her.
"Don't be silly, you don't have to."
"But..."
"No but. I wouldn't accept payment for giving somepony what they need."
"That's really generous of you."
And a fucking bad business plan.
She giggled. "Well, that is to be expected," she mysteriously declared. "Now, I don't want to rush you out, but I have to clean this awful mess."
I looked around. It was probably cleaner than miss Twilight's library. "Can I... help you?"
"Oh, that wouldn't be proper. Plus, Spikey-wikey has already volunteered to help me! Didn't you?" she asked, turning to face Spike with half-lidded eyes.
"Of course. Anything you desire, Rarity," he said while Verso snickered at his nickname, a goofy smile on his face, little pink hearts replacing his eye balls.

The girls and us were quickly thrown out of the shop, myself carrying the clothes we weren't currently wearing. I decided to drop them in our room at the palace and started to walk that way. The three little ponies quickly decided to followed us.

"So, what was that about that other hoo-man?" Scootaloo asked.
"'Human'," I corrected. "And it's a bit complicated. Especially if he's being a meanie head by not showing up to prove my point."
I'm not hearing anything.
"Let's just say that I am not alone in here," I concluded, tapping our head to accentuate my words.
"That sounds like something somepony crazy would say," Applebloom noted.
"Yes it does," I nodded, happy they understood.
They blinked a few time and shook their head. "Anyway, what are you doing in Ponyville, mister Recto?"
"Verso and I are studying magic with Princess Twilight. And please don't call me 'mister'. We're way too young for that."
"You can do magic?" Sweetie Belle adorably squeaked.
"Yep," I confirmed, levitating our new clothes to demonstrate. "Verso's way better at it, though."
"That's awesome!" Scootaloo said. "Can you do anything else?"

I did my best to put on a little show while we walked, and it sadly ended when we reached the palace. They still followed us inside, though. I quickly reached our room and carefully set our clothes on our bed. I turned around and faced the girls.

"What do you ponies do for fun?" I asked. "I don't think we have more magic lessons with miss Twilight today."
We could probably ask her to keep going, you know?
Yep, but all work and no play makes me a dull boy.
Verso mentally shrugged. Do as you want. I'll just organize our new spells in our memory. I'll still be around, but I won't watch actively. Be careful. I felt his presence nearly fade away as he started to do his thing.
"Your eye changed color," Sweetie Belle pointed out.
"It happens," I told her, not in the mood to explain our body functions anymore. "So? What do you do for fun?"
"Well, we mostly try to find a way to get our cutiemarks. That usually doesn't work, but it's always good fun."
"Cutiema... Oh, the butt-pictures." Heh, don't even need Verso to remind me that one. "Why do you mean, find a way to get your marks? I thought they kinda appeared on you when you get old enough or something."
"If only..." Applebloom muttered.
"Of course not! Why, did yours appear overnight?" Scootaloo asked.
"I don't have one."

You know these moments in movies when one character says something and the music and background noises suddenly stop? Well, there weren't any music playing when I said that, but I still felt it stopping. I actually walked a few meters before I realized they weren't following me anymore. And when I finally turned around to see what they were doing, I found them staring into the space between spaces, jaw dropped.

"Huh..."
"He... doesn't... have a mark?" Sweetie Belle whispered.
"Girls, are you okay?"
"Does that mean we could get as old as he is without finding our cutiemarks?" Scootaloo said barely loud enough for me to hear.
"We're not old!" I said. "We're eighteen!"
"That would be horrible..." Applebloom continued.
"Besides, I'm pretty sure humans don't get cutiemarks at all!"

That made them react. Mainly, that they all looked at us as if I had just insulted their grandmothers.

"You don't get cutiemarks?" Sweetie Belle shrieked in horror.
"But how do you know what you're best at?" Scootaloo asked.
"That's simple: I don't." When they had finished gasping in horror, I continued. "I simply do stuff I like doing. I don't really care whether or not I'm the best at it: if I like it, that's good enough for me."

They blinked a few time, apparently trying to answer something. They suddenly turned to face each other and discussed something, making sure I couldn't hear a word. When they finally finished, they turned toward us.

"Ah'm mighty sorry, Recto, but we have tah go. We have something tah do right now."

And just like that, they sprinted away before I could even as what they were going to do, leaving us alone. I decided that since Verso was busy, I'd let him work and I just went to the park to find a tree to sit under. That way, I'd have been able to just watch all these new things that happens on the surface. I quickly found a place and let the sun's rays do their work.

Around half an hour after I sat down, a strange unicorn with a dark coat and seaweed green mane came by. I say she was strange because of her way she was looking at us: she seemed almighty angry and didn't look all that friendly, while other ponies were definitely either curious or scared when they looked at us. Maybe I had taken her usual spot to sit?

"It is done, human," she spat. "All the others are going away, and I'm staying because of you."
I blinked. "I'm sorry, but do I know you? And what are you talking about?"
She narrowed her eyes even more, somehow. "If you think I wouldn't attack you if you keep making fun of me, you're wrong."
Huh, Verso? Are you here?
I felt his consciousness awaken quickly. What is it?
There's a strange unicorn talking nonsense saying you know her.
Huh. Well I don't... Wait a sec... He spent a second searching through my memory. Okay, I'm going to need you to give me the reins and to go to sleep. You're sleepy anyway. I'll handle it.
So you do know her! Who's she?
Someone I may have angered a bit yesterday. I'll handle it, go to sleep.
Okay. Try not to get things worse!

As soon as I took the commands, I casted my sense field, confirming what I thought: the unicorn was a changeling. The Princess Nymph to be precise. I grinned at her.

"So you're the one the petty Queen decided to leave behind, Princess?" I smugly said, her anger visibly increasing. "I guess your mother really wants me to blow our contract up."
"Don't you dare insult the Queen, you filthy ape!" she growled. "I volunteered to stay behind. I don't trust you, and contrarily to the other changelings, I don't fear you. I'll keep both my eyes on you."
"Oh, I'm so scared," I said. "Now, it's not that I don't trust you or anything, but I'm going to check if what you're saying is true. So, just go a few steps farther away from me, thank you very much."

When she was far enough for me to react in time if the cockroach tried to do anything funny, I closed my eyes and casted my city-scan spell, grunting as it tried to fry my brain. I quickly searched for the other changelings and pleasantly found out that there wasn't any left in Ponyville, except for Nymph and Ly... Thingy. I like this name.

I interrupted my scan and opened my eyes to see the changeling snarling at me, still in disguise. I just knew that she was just waiting for any excuse to jump at my throat and try to rip it open, but with my new spells, I knew she definitely didn't have a chance. I got up and stretched my back. I let my eyes fix the sky a second -it's hard to get used to seeing it for real in only two days- before I watched the little changeling in front of me.

"Now, you're all alone in hostile territory. Explain me how you're going to feed yourself?"
"Same way independent changelings do. I'll just find a lonely pony to comfort."
"Suit yourself. Try not making too much trouble. I'd hate to have to kill you when we obviously get along so well."

She hissed but didn't reply as she turned around and walked back into town. I looking at the sky, I knew the sun was about to set. I glanced at the nearby tree and decided that it would probably look rather nice from there. Using a bit of magic, I climbed the tree with difficulty -living twelve years in the same room not doing much sport does that- and I was officially on my knees when I reached the top of the damn tree. I swear my sight was narrowing and my blood was pumping fast and hard in my ears.

"I... Have... To... Exer... Cise... Oh, Skies..."

Honestly, I was about to throw up from the effort. It was kinda funny too: I was probably able to crush a house with but a thought, and just climbing a small tree had me begging for air. Pathetic.

I waited a bit to catch my breath before I awakened Recto. No reason to force him to be in this state after all. When I didn't feel like emptying my stomach of the fucking vegetarian regime we were forced into, I woke Recto up.

Hey, I'm finished with that unicorn. Wake up!
Five more minutes... I groaned.

It's kinda funny how mind sleeping can be addictive. I bet that's why Verso always spends his time asleep when he can. Either way, he somehow forced me awake and I took a quick glance through our eyes.

Where are we?
In a tree. I thought we would have a better view on the sunset.

It was true. The orange sky looked simply amazing from up there. I took the commands back, careful not to slip from the branch Verso had us perched on, and we watched silently until the sun was finally below the horizon. That's pretty much when I realized that I had absolutely no idea how to climb down a tree.

"Maybe I could just jump. We're not that high, are we?"
About six or seven meters above the ground, actually. Even if you manage to fall on our legs, they'd likely break.
"Oh. Forget about that one." I glanced at the branches below. "It mustn't be that hard to go back the way you got here."
Yeah, about that... We really need to get in shape. I don't think doing any kind of intense physical effort is a good idea right now.
"Are you saying that you got us stuck here?"
If we were a normal human, yes. But we do have magic. Maybe we can shape a force field to make a slide?
"You mean you don't know?"
Hey, I've never done it before! Of course I don't know!
"You look hilarious stuck there, you know that?" Rainbow Dash's voice said, cracking up.

I quickly found her flying a few meters above us, giggling at our misery.

"Could you help us, please? Verso got us stuck up here!"
Hey!
"Yeah, I could. And I probably should, giving that Twilight is searching for you. But first, I'll have to go borrow Pinkie's camera. That's just priceless!" she said, flying away in a rainbow-colored blur.
Oh, fuck no! There's no way I'll let her do that. Give me the reins, I'll get us down.

I gave him the commands and retreated behind our eyeballs. He popped our hand joints, casted his sense field and muttered something I should not repeat. Our hands lit with his yellow magic and a magical wall of solid yellowness appeared out of thin air. Verso forced the wall to incline itself, turning it into a gentle slope. He touched the magical force field to feel its texture -it was perfectly smooth.

"Well, here goes nothing," he said as he jumped on his creation.

Thankfully, not only did it hold on as we slided to the ground, but it was extremely fun too! I was giggling in excitement in our head the entire way and begging for more when it stopped. But Verso reminded me that it would mean that we would have to climb the tree again, and that just wasn't a good idea. He also made us wait for Rainbow Dash to return so that he could laugh at her face, though. We heard her flying above us soon after we got down.

"...You wouldn't believe how hard it was to... Where are you?" She flew around the top of the tree for a handful of seconds before she gasped. "Oh my gosh! Maybe he fell!"

She rocketed downward, searching for our unconscious body only to find Verso standing there, our arms crossed and a smug smile on our face. Rainbow Dash somehow slowed down before she hit the ground at breakneck speed, and look relieved to find us safe and sound, if somewhat angry.

"Oh, thank Celestia, you're okay!"
"Not thanks to you, Skittles," Verso said. "I could have very well failed my attempt and hurt myself because you were more eager to get a good laugh than to help us."
Rainbow blushed and adverted her gaze. "... Why are you calling me 'Skittles'?" she asked, changing the topic. "I don't really like that name."
"And you've just earned a silly nickname that I will use until the day I die. Congratulations."
"What?!"
"That'll teach you."

He left the commands and put me on the front, making me deal with the pegasus frustration, who asked me to at least tell her what Verso's nickname meant. Problem was, I don't have the slightest idea why he chose "Skittles". Like, that's not even a word I know. Of course, Rainbow Dash didn't settle for that and just continue to try and force me to reveal the hidden meaning of Verso's punishment for her on our way to miss Twilight's Shiny Treehouse of Awesomeness.

She finally left us alone when we entered the big shiny tree, though it was only to let miss Twilight have her turn at lecturing us about telling her where we go, as she technically was in charge of us. She decided that we had studied enough magic for today and left us alone after her half-an-hour short lecture. We unanimously decided to go for the balcony with a book to read, which apparently lessened Verso's strange headache he continuously has in that place.

So, we started to read under the light of the moon and stars, a magical light coming from inside the palace helping us. It was pretty nice. The air wasn't too cool, the sky was beyond beautiful and we had a nice story book about not-so-nice vampire ponies trying to drink ponies' blood. Verso eventually went to continue to organize our memories about the spells miss Twilight taught us that day.

So I can honestly say I was rather surprised when I heard a pony coughing to get my attention. Of course, when I raised my eyes, it happened to be a night guard that looked positively bored, if a bit tensed. Of course, since he startled me -and was looking a lot like the vampony my book was talking about with his bat wings- I may have screamed a little and hid behind the chair I was sitting on.

"Please don't drink our blood! I'm pretty sure it isn't tasty!"

He blinked a few times, his mouth opened as if ha was about to say something. Verso felt the sudden scare and jolted awake.

What happened? Are you okay?
Vampony!
He blinked too, read up my last memories and mind-palmed. For the love of... Recto, that's one of Luna's guards, not a vampire!
It was my turn to blink. Oh.
Yeah. Now, if you could see what he wants...

I got out of my hiding place to see the guard waiting passively. I levitated my book back to the chair and looked at him, feeling a bit awkward.

"Hum, hello. Sorry about screaming and everything. I was reading a scary book and you startled me." No I wasn't. It was more of a children book.
"Princess Luna wishes to see you," the pony said, not giving one bit of attention to my apology. At least, hearing that Luna wasn't feeling down anymore and wanted to see us was nice. "I am to guide you to her."
"And if we refuse to see her?" Verso aggressively asked, taking control.
Why would we? Luna is nice!
I don't like being forced to do anything.
"Well, I would transmit your refusal to her. The Princess expressively told me that trying to force you to do anything would be a bad idea."
Huh.
I wanna see her! We couldn't say goodbye when we left Canterlot! Verso didn't answer. He just gave me the commands back. "We'll come with you. Is it far away?"
"Just put your hoof on my back, sir."
I looked at him funny until Verso groaned and told me he probably meant our hand. As I did, I couldn't help but saying: "I don't see how that..."

And I was interrupted by the world exploding in light for an instant, before it reformed as the Throne Room in Canterlot, with Luna sitting on the throne. Our stomach and inner ear apparently didn't like that so much, because we immediately felt dizzy and likely to puke our dinner. That wasn't the most enjoyable experience of all time. And that's discounting how confused I was.

"Excuse me for the discomfort, Recto," Luna said, worried, walking in our direction. "I tend to forget how disorienting long-distance teleportation is for those who aren't used to it."
Verso growled internally but kept quiet. "It's... It's alright," I said. "I'll just... sit down until it passes." I carefully sat on the floor while I said that, our head spinning. "What happened? How are we in the Throne Room?"
"I kept a link with Shadow Blitz here," she explained, pointing at the night guard who nodded at the mention. "When you touched him, I teleported you both back to me."
"You can teleport with magic? Cool! We must get Twilight to teach that to us next!"
Sure would have been useful earlier...
"Thank you for your help, Shadow Blitz," Luna said. "You are dismissed." The guard bowed silently and quietly left the room. Luna turned to us, a smiling. "Are you getting used to to Equestria, Recto?"
"It's been wonderful so far!"

I started to tell her about our last two days in Ponyville. Verso tensed up a bit when I mentioned how he scared everyone with his talk about changelings invading the town, probably because he still felt bad about it, but Luna didn't say a thing, instead just listening to me. Then, I asked her about her own day, which looked like it surprised her. I don't see why it would; she was sick when we left after all.

"Is your... friend unwell?" Luna asked at some point. "I would have thought he would have intervened by now."
"Who, Verso? Nah, he is feeling fine." Right? As he didn't answer, I realized he had been awfully silent since Luna and I started to talk. Maybe he was feeling under the weather? Hey, are you alright?
... Yeah, he growled back, surprisingly.
Are you sure? You don't sound too well.
I just don't want to talk to her.
Why not? Luna's nice! And she visibly worries about you too.
Are you serious?! He replied loudly. She... He sounded like he was about to say something, but he kept it for himself, grunting instead.
"He... is fine," I told the blue princess, probably sounding about as puzzled as I felt. "He just doesn't feel like talking for some reason."
Luna bit her lip and adverted her gaze for a second. "He can hear me, right?" I answered with a nod. "Well, I would like to talk to you, Verso." She furtively glanced at me for an instant. "Alone, if that doesn't bother you, Recto."
Verso exploded at that. She has no right to ask you to disconnect at all! he roared. That blue...
"If Verso wants to, I have no problem with it," I said, interrupting his angry rant with a yawn. "I am feeling rather tired after all. I wouldn't mind going to sleep."
You don't have to...
Oh, come on! She wants to have a private talk with you and I'm tired anyway! If you don't want to talk to her at all, just say it and I'll ask her to send us back home.
Verso hesitated for a few seconds before he answered. I'll talk with her. Sleep well.
Okay! Good night!

The very instant I felt Recto falling asleep, I lit my hands with magic and showed that blue bitch just how angry I was with what she had just done. Did she think she could just go and ask him to go unconscious and force me on the front?! She doesn't even know the consequences of me being alone here! When she realized at least a bit of the extent of my anger, she jumped back and lit her own horn.

"You bitch!" I yelled at her. "Don't you ever dare to ask him to do that again!"
"Wha... Why?" she asked, clearly confused. "Recto said that it was fine with him! And I thought you wouldn't want him to know what we would talk about!"
"That isn't for you to decide!" I quite literally roared in her face.

I was breathing loudly, my blood felt like it was boiling in my veins and I honestly don't know why I didn't attack her. I have killed many, many people for a lot less. Maybe I thought that it would be difficult to kill her and get away with it. Maybe I thought that Recto wouldn't like me killing one of the few people he had ever thought of as a friend in our life. Maybe I still have more of a moral than I think I do. I guess I'll never know.

After a few long seconds of silence, during which that lunar princess of my ass visibly looked like she was prepared to defend herself, I closed my eyes, emitted a small but dense sense field around and inside me, and manually slowed my heart rate to a more normal level.

Don't try this at home, kids. I almost fucked up and gave myself a heart attack.

When I opened my eyes again, I was a bit calmer. Still mighty angry, but I wasn't about to go and try to rip her head off anymore. Besides, stopping her heart would be more efficient and a lot less messy. A glance in her direction showed that she was still in combat position, her wings raised to look more imposing. I snickered when I realized that. The big, powerful, scary princess was acting like a common pigeon.

"Calm down, princess. I'm not going to attack you," I forced myself to say calmly, holding my hands up and cancelling my magic.
"You certainly looked like you would have a moment ago," she commented, slowly folding her wings to her sides and turning her horn off.
"You have no idea how offending what you asked of him is. And that's probably why I'm not currently repainting this room with your blood, princess."
"Duly noted," she said dryly.
"I'm sure you would understand. What you just did was basically like I asked you to leave total control to Nightmare Moon so that I could have a chat with her."
She narrowed her eyes, getting angry too. "I didn't know you knew of her. I trust that Twilight Sparkle told you of this story."
I nodded. "She did. But enough of that," I said, walking to look at one of the scenes depicted in the stained glasses. "You wanted to talk to me about something. Alone. Without any guard that might overhear. And since none of them tried to prevent me from attacking you earlier, I'm willing to bet that you soundproofed this room, hinting that you really don't want anyone else to know of it. Which means that it is either shameful for you or that it would change how your own guards would see you." I turned back to look at her, smiling darkly. "What did you want to talk about, Princess Luna?"
She adverted her eyes. Funny how ponies tend to do that when they're flustered. "I wanted to apologize to you," she finally said after a couple of seconds. "For invading your dream and jumping to conclusion two nights ago."
"And?"
"... And for fighting you inside and outside of your dream just after that."
"And?"
She blinked, visibly concentrating, searching what more she could be guilty for. "I believe that is all. Did I forget something?"
I gave her a plain look. "Wow, you have such a terrible attention span. I was about to kill you because of it seconds ago and you already forgot."
She blushed intensely. "And for asking Recto to give up his control so that I could talk with you," she quickly added. "It was so much in front of my muzzle that I didn't even think about it. I am truly sorry for everything, Verso. I would hate our relation to be defined by the errors I made in my fear of seeing another Nightmare Moon."

I hesitated for a long time , not knowing whether or not I should forgive her. She had been the only one here to treat me like a monster, after all. And she did endanger Recto and I once already, when she intruded in that horrid place. Well, twice if you counted what she had just done, but that wasn't nearly on the same level. Besides, I could be sure that someone with her history would always try to find out what exactly I was, which could eventually become problematic.

But at the same time, her problem with Nightmare Moon made her somewhat protective of Recto, I had to give her that. And Recto liked her. Being openly hostile with her presence would probably make him sad. Besides, she was an old and powerful magic user. And she was one of the Duarchs of the ponies. There is no way that being in open war with her could end well.

I sighed and put my self-esteem away.

"I forgive you, Princess. That's water under the bridge." She smiled happily when she heard that. "I'm doing it because I think it's better for Recto, not because I like you."
"A shame," she said, deflating a little. "Maybe you will change your mind some day"
"I guess we'll see. Did you want to talk about anything else?"
"I suppose we could just have a bit of small talk. I can't fairly say that I know you all that well," she said, blushing a little.

I considered it for a moment. It would have probably been a good idea, but my outburst earlier had already took its toll on me, and I wasn't going to risk waking the other bastard up.

"I would be... ready to have a talk later, but I can't do it today." Before she could ask, I continued: "I'm not supposed to be alone in control, Princess. I'm not meant for that. Let that be your first lesson about me."
She narrowed her eyes, clearly interested. "Very well then. I shall not take more of your time. Until we meet again, Verso."
"Goodbye to you too, Princess Luna."

Her horn lit up and I was teleported back to that horrid crystal tree's balcony I was residing in. Naturally, with it came back the nausea from the spell and the headache from the location. Of course, it couldn't have been that simple, because I could already hear Princess Purple Horse calling our. She probably had been searching for us for a moment now, because she really sounded distressed. That, and I could hear her pony friends calling for us too.

"I'm here!" I shouted as I entered the palace.
"Verso?" someone called back from somewhere. "Where are you?"
"The balcony next to our room!"
Twilight appeared in front of me, probably teleporting from somewhere. "There you are! Where were you? We've been searching for you for an hour already!"
"Princess Luna wanted to see me," I told her as I walked downstairs to let her friends see me. "I would have thought she would have warned you."
"Well, she didn't! And you should have make sure of that anyway! We were worried sick!"
"Oh, come on, I'm fine. You know there's probably nothing out there that could be dangerous for me."
"That's not the point! Princess Celestia placed you in my care and..."

I zoned her out. She was only going to repeat her earlier lecture, and I wasn't really up to hearing it again. Besides, I was just going to say hi to her friends to reassure them and then go to sleep. With Recto sleeping already, I didn't have much of a choice. I sighed in comfort. Everything was going fine: I wasn't trapped anymore, Recto was making friends for the first time, which could only be beneficial for him, I made peace with the crazy blue princess and had contacts with another intelligent species. Pretty much everything was going rather well. The only problem was the other's power gain, but I could probably hold him off long enough for me to learn enough to find a better way to seal him away.

We finally arrived in one of the bigger rooms of the palace, where the other five ponies -and Spike- were waiting for you. Most of them seemed pretty upset with me, which was probably understandable since it was rather late. In fact, the only two that really smiled when they saw me were that pink abomination and the yellow pegasus, Buttershy, I think.

"You sure get lost frequently, Recto!" the rainbow one said. "I've been searching for you twice already!"
"Your correspondent is unavailable for the moment, please leave a message after I've slapped you because you keep mistaking us, Skittles" I replied, crossing my arms.
She blinked and blushed, flying a bit further away from me. Rarity took her place. "We were so worried about you, dear!"
I rolled my eyes. "Oh, none of you need to worry about us. We're fi..."

I was interrupted by the most painful thunderous roar I had ever heard coming from there. I immediately fell to my knees, screaming in pain as I felt as I felt like my very brain was boiling and my skull was covered in painful sandpaper. I think some of them gasped and rushed to my side, but none of them reached me before another roar, even more powerful than the last one, knocked me unconscious.

He was breaking free.

Author's Note

And that was the seventeenth chapter. I hope you liked it.
Please point out even tiny errors or weirdly said sentences: it would help me greatly improving my English.
Now, I'll get out of your hair.
See you in the next chapter : Freedom.