A red light exploded at the border of our sight, but Verso ignored it completely. Even though I wasn't actively connected to our body, I could feel through our mutual connection that he was in a terrible pain, our nervous system completely overloaded by the sudden energy influx. Never before had I ever felt so much energy inside our body, actively consumming us.

He wasn't paying even the slightest bit of attention to what was probably a rather bad feeling.

Our hands lit brightly in his newly acquired yellowish aura, effectively shining bright enough to cover the other red light, and a strange pulse emanated from us. Celestia's horn lit in a pretty golden aura, creating a bright force-field around Luna and herself. She did right, as the three guards didn't react in time and screamed in pain before passing out the instant the yellow pulse touched them. The pulse continued moving far behind the alicorns and mister Discord was left with smoke coming out of his ears, dissipating only fifty meters away from us.

It took me a second to recognize the spell he used to be his sensory-field. I didn't know it could have such effects! I hope mine didn't hurt anybody back home... Back to Verso, he seemed slightly relieved of part of the pain our body was currently experiencing, but his rage was still clouding his mind. With extreme difficulty, he stepped forward.

"How dare you to even think that I am the result of a... an illness, you freakishly difformed horse!" he growled. "Come and see what the 'infection' thinks about it!"
"Verso, please, calm down! This isn't what you think it is!" Celestia called through her glittering shield. So shiny~
"This is exactly what it thinks, Celestia!" Luna grunted, her horn glowing in a turquoise aura.

She exploded in light and I gasped, worried, until another flash of light on our right reassured me when we saw her reappearing next to it, an angry snarl on her face.

"It knows that I am right and is trying to escape while it still can!" she continued. "It is showing us its true face!"

If it was even possible, Verso's anger went up another level. He roared again and expanded his telekinesis to try and catch her, but she somehow evaded it. A ball of light formed at the top of her horn and a bright beam shot out of it toward us, hitting us in the chest and sending us to encounter a tree behind us. I heard creaks with our ears and winced at the probable surge of pain Verso was probably experiencing.

Verso coughed blood and our vision blurred a bit. He put a hand on our ribs and tried to use his magic to move them back into place, but only succeeded in breaking them further with his overpowered grip. He screamed in pain before coughing more blood. He hesitantly got up and turned his bloodshot eyes to the blue alicorn.

He emitted another pulse, a spell I didn't recognize immediately, and Luna was hit unprotected this time. Verso's yellowish magical glow surrounded her and I felt him doing something with this strange spell. It kinda looked like the time when he used our powers to spook a couple of guards into unconsciousness. Yes, he told me he played with their senses a bit, showing them halloween-themed hallucinations. he said it was very complicated and that he wouldn't teach it to me.

She backed away, confused, fear in her eyes for a second, quickly replaced with good ol' anger and determination. Her horn flickered and her blue aura surrounded her for a blink of an eye, pushing against Verso's yellow magic glow, that was soon disbended. He gritted our teeth.

"You... You cockroach! I won't die! Not again!" he shouted for some reason. That's a pretty strange sentence.
"I will free Recto from you!" she replied, shooting another beam at us.

This time, though, Verso stepped quickly enough to evade it and extended a hand, a energy ball similar to Luna's forming in his palm. With another roar - he tends to do that often when he is angry, doesn't he? - he shot his own yellowish ray to the alicorn, wich she blocked by creating her own glittering shield.

This is starting to look like an anime battle.

Verso continued to shoot beam after beam at the fairy godmother, each ray getting more powerful. When he realized that it wasn't going anywhere, he instead levitated the tree we had been sent against, effectively crushing it into a wooden ball covered in terribly painful splinters, and hurled it against her shield with all of his might. The shield broke and a wide-eyed blue winged unicorn encountered mister Oak - hehe... - when she was hit and sent a few meters further.

This was getting out of hand.

Verso, I don't think I like this game. I said. You're getting hurt and you're probably hurting her too.
This is not the time for that, Recto! He nearly mentally shouted back. This is not a game!
Oh. I guess it makes a lot more sense. But why are you fighting with her?

I think he stopped thinking or feeling pain for a heartbeat.

Are you serious?! He definetely shouted back mentally, sounding hurt. She... She thinks I'm controlling you, that I am a disease!
Okay, she was pretty mean, but you look like you are trying to hurt each other really bad. Maybe you could...

I was interrupted as Luna shot out in the sky, enraged, her eyes glowing in white light.

"ENOUGH!" she shouted, her voice deformed the volume of her voice. "I am Luna, Princess of the Night! Ruler of the Dreams! I won't be defeated by the likes of you, scrounger!"

As she was talking, thunderclouds were accumulating above her, darkening the sky. Verso inexplicably shivered when the thunder roared a few times, his burning rage momentarily replaced by his freazing fear. It came back soon enough though.

"I don't care who you think you are!" he shouted back. "You have no right to treat me as a parasite!"

He moved both our hands to face her and created a much bigger energy ball than he had before, putting more and more energy into it every second, succesfully draining out his magical overload into what was to be a very powerful attack. Luna, on her side, was tracing strange circles covered with runes, floating in the air. Whatever they were, it probably wasn't anything good for us.

Verso's magical ball reached some kind of critical mass and fired a yellow beam at least as large as we were tall to the... wait a minute, did she say she was a princess? Well that changes everything!

Either way, Luna's runic circles shone brightly and created what looked like a true rain of cyan beams, all aimed at us. We were definetely in an anime battle. Cool!

Verso's gigantic beam was about to encounter Luna's rain of magic when a golden screen appeared out of nowhere and deviated Verso's attack, sending it getting lost in the sky. That alone would have been a pretty bad news, as it left us mostly alone in front of an impending shiny doom, but Luna's attack was unexpectedly turned into a flight of chickens.

Well, that's convenient.

Celestia landed heavily in front of us, her horn glowing and her eyes disapproving. I kinda missed the warm smile during that particular moment. She opened her mouth to say something, but our brain suddenly told Verso he wasn't very approving of his latest actions by turning off in protest for the terrible treatment he was the tiniest bit responsible for.

I kinda hope someone caught us before we hit the ground like a bag of potatoes.

Gosh the grass is comfortable, I first thought when we 'went back online', with me on the commands.
What happened? Verso kinda panicked. Where are we? Is that blue witch near us?
To quote someone I know pretty well, you do realize I've there for as long as you've been, don't you?
Well, open our eyes to get the answers!

I did so and was awestruck by the most unexpected sight: branches! What a great discovery, when we remember falling uncounscious under a tree! Truly, opening our eyes did grant us the answers we needed! While Verso turned on his mute mode and started to scream insanities and bad words at the great everything, my genius mind decided to try and move a little, mainly sitting up.

Our ribs didn't agree with this decision. Like, at all.

"Argh!" I cried in pain. "That wasn't such a great idea..."
"He woke up!" Celestia's voice rang at our ears.

Her white horse head got in our sight field, hiding the beautiful branches, her features mixed between a worried and relieved expression. Her horn was still glowing and I suddenly realized a strange heat was entering our ribcage. But that wasn't what disturbed me.

"Why are you upside-down?" I asked.

She blinked.

"You do know you are currently lying on the ground, don't you?" she asked, confused.
"Hehe... Of course I know," I answered, trying to avoid her stare. "I was just... testing you." I glanced at her with my serious face on. "You passed."
"I'm beginning to think his brain also got hurt too, Discord," she said, glancing at something I couldn't see;
"Nah, that's just Recto being himself," mister Discord's voice replied.

His head popped above us. Alone. He smiled.

"Well, well, well, it seems your friend is pretty hot-blooded, isn't he? Can't say I blame him, I would be angry too if the first pony princess I crossed immediately thought that I was a dangerous monster that messes with minds and has great magical powers." I heard a muffled sound coming from somewhere. Mister Discord's grin deepened. "She'd be right, though, but that it just sounds so ominous, doesn't it?"

How long have we been asleep? What is Celestia doing? Where is that blue witch? Verso asked.
"Where are the chickens?" I voiced. "I remember seeing chickens."

Celestia glanced at mister Discord again, the same worried and interrogative stare as when she thought I had problem with our brain. What a ridiculous idea. The flying head winked at her and answered.

"About a minute, trying to keep your organs from failing, a meter away from us, sent to a friend," he said.
WHAT?!
"Oh..." I sighed, disapointed. "They looked like they were funny..."
"I wouldn't mind if you gave me a hoof on the 'failing organs' part, by the way, Discord!" a distressed Celestia said. "I know next to nothing of his anatomy and I cannot heal him!"
"Sounds bad," I nodded.
Heal us now! Verso over panicked voice shrieked.
"I don't know if I should, Verso," mister Discord mused. "You would probably just attack Luna on sight if I did that."
I won't! Heal us!
"He would," I said. "Probably without thinking twice."
Recto, this is no time for your nonsense! We're in serious danger!
"Well, it's not like I was lying. You're still angry at her, and you're mean when angry."
She is planning to kill me! She... She treats me as if...
"You still attacked first, didn't you? We could have told her she was wrong and simply continued learning about the outside if you didn't."
She wouldn't hear...
"And you hurt the guards too," I continued. "You didn't even apologize for that. Hurting people isn't funny."
I... I...

He screamed for no particular reason and cut off all our connections, isolating himself in a corner of our mind. I blinked for a moment, his near-absence being pretty strange for me. I glanced at mister Discord.

"I think I upset him. He won't come out for a moment." I stopped for a second, thinking. "Oh, and could you heal us, please? From what little I remember of our biology classes, organs are pretty important."

The flying head grinned and I heard his claw snapping... somewhere... and I was now standing up, wounds absent, ogans working, ribs obeying me and, more surprisingly, dressed with normal clothes. Which was kinda sad, because I liked our toga. And I had a lollipop in the hand! Yay!

Oh, and I was also standing next to a giant chewed-looking bubblegum that had Luna's head popping out of it, her mouth and horn covered in gum. I think she was glaring at me.

"Hi, Princess Luna," I said. "Sorry for your big fight with Verso. He was really angry that you insulted him like that." Her glare softened and she looked elsewhere. "I figure it was a pretty mean thing to say about him. He tends to be touchy about certain things. Like me being an airhead or him being, well, kinda mean with me, I guess..."

She was completely avoiding my eyes now. Maybe I was staring? Celestia walked next to her, still worried. How can someone be so worried all the time? Maybe it has something to do with her fairy godmother job? Was she Luna's godmother? That would make sense.

"Are you okay, little sister?" she asked.

Or that. Makes a bit more sense, in fact. She was a fairy sister? That doesn't even make sense! Or... Or maybe she was the queen, as she was the older sister of the princess? Nah, queens are evil, Celestia definetely isn't. Maybe another princess?

Luna nodded, avoiding her sister's eyes too. Celestia sighed in relief and her stare hardened a bit. She asked mister Discord to free her and poof! no more bubblegum, just a blue alicorn that was looking a little battered.

"Luna..." Celestia began.
"I know what I am talking about sister!" Luna interrupted her. "You saw how dangerous he is! Verso is..."
"Older than you can even imagine, princess," Discord intervened. What's up with everybody interrupting everybody? "And I can assure you no 'brain leech' existed around the time of their life on Earth. It may looks pretty much alike, but Verso isn't a manifestation of your so-called 'Nightmare'."
"That doesn't excuse him! He assaulted us first! He is still a dangerous being!"
"Luna!" Celestia hard tone stopped the smaller alicorn. "You threatened to destroy somepony that comes from what he described as some kind of Tartarus and was assured to be safe here!" Her voice and stare softened a bit. "He is afraid, little sister. That's all."
"Verso? Afraid?" I whispered. That doesn't sound like him at all. But since we were given that funny box, he had been a bit strange. And I definetely felt something that taste like fear a couple of times coming out of him...
"But..."
"Let me put it this way, princess," Discord said, slithering around her. Since when did he have his body back? "He is someone that was feared and rejected for most of his life because of his talents, that comes from another time and place, that is still hated for what he is even though he did nothing wrong. Ringing any bell, Princess Nightmare Moon?"
"Don't call me that way!" Luna shouted at him, furious. Was it some sort of nickname she didn't like?
"You are just more alike than what you thought, Princess Moon Butt," mister Discord concluded, making me giggle.

That's funny because she has a moon tatoo on her flank.

Luna looked a bit guilty, looking at the ground with intensity. She turned her back to us.

"I'll be in my bedroom. I..."

She didn't finish and exploded in light again, probably teleporting like she did before. I hope. Celestia sighed again and turned to face me, staring into oblivion. Her eyes slowly focused on me, still thoughtful.

"Is your friend listening?" she asked. I shook my head.
"He is still upset and retreated away from our senses. I think he is trying to sleep."
She stayed silent for a second before continuing. "Luna is right on certain aspects, Recto." I tilted our head. "Verso is dangerous, and even though Luna was being... uncouth, he still attacked first, as you stated yourself. He is currently guilty of assaulting royalty, Recto.'
"And that's... not a good thing, is it?" I asked.
"It is supposedly one of the greatest crimes in Equestria's law, usually punished by long-term imprisonment or banishment."

I whistled, impressed. Well, Verso got us into trouble rather efficiently. I knew he had it in himself.

"Oh, give him a break, Celestia. We both know you won't act on it," mister Discord said, appearing on her right shoulder, small and dressed like an angel.
"Oh, but you are worried about such a dangerous being escaping punishment so easily, aren't you?" another small mister Discord said, poping on her left shoulder, wearing fake little devil red horns and holding a... fork in his paw? "Who knows what he could do?"

The older princess glared at them.

"Enough, Discord." She stared back at me. "Such a behavior isn't acceptable, Recto. I know you come from a... dark place, but you are in Equestria now."
"Hey, I didn't do anything," I protested. "Verso took the commands by force, even though he was agonizing from the very instant he did. Chocolate overload and everything."
"I know, Recto, but I count on you to make him understand that he is in a safe place now. But if he acts that way again, I would have no choice but imprisoning you both. Do you understand that, Recto?"
"I'll tell him to stop being such a meanie." I smiled at her. "And he'll apologize to Luna. And to the guards. He knows I don't like it when he hurts people."

She stared into my eyes for a moment and smiled back, nodding. We started talking again, as I was curious about all these princessy titles Luna had shouted a bunch of minutes ago, and Celestia - wait, Princess Celestia - was working to wake the guards up.

This was definetely the best day ever.

"This is the worst day of my life..." I whined, curled in a corner of the room, eyes red from all the salty liquid that kept escaping them.

I shrieked as the thunder roared again, making the very room tremble in its fury. The lightning created terrifying shadows all over the place, as it always does. I braced myself a bit harder and resumed my crying session, as it looked like it was all I was worth anymore.

I failed. Not once, not twice, but three fucking times! I could have escaped from the Institute if I hadn't use so much energy eviscerating these guards right after we exitted our room! I shouldn't have panicked just because it... because it appeared in front of me outside of here! And, worst of everything, Recto was most likely disppointed in me now that I assaulted someone over something nobody could know how insulting it was to me!

Another roar of thunder, another shriek from me. I glanced briefly at the bed not so far from me to check if... No he was still asleep. I glared at the mind-shattering attrocity and its annoying silver lock in front of me. It was still covering the entire wall, as always. Why would it look like a small box outside of here? Well, I figure a gigantic door would be a lot harder to move around.

The chains rattled as I got up and limped to the bed. I always felt better next to it. Makes me remember why I don't give up and let him win. I sat next to it, my back resting against the somewhat fluffy mattress. The Gate was still in a corner of my sight field, but I didn't care anymore. It wasn't responsible for the last problem I had.

"You won't hold me back forever, traitor."

I shuddered and looked away from the door, placing my hands over my ears. I won't listen to him, never again. It always ended badly. I won't listen, I won't listen, I won't...

"Cower as you please, it doesn't change anything."
"I won't listen, I won't listen..." I started to recite, painful tears coming back in my eyes.
"Poor, poor kiddo, all alone in the dark. And our little friend isn't that much of a support, is he?"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up..."
"You get deeply affected by the insults of that blue horse and what does little brother do? He scolds you, as if you were wrong."
"Shut up... Stop talking..." I pleaded.
"You know what? It looks like he doesn't even care about you, when you get well out of your way for him."
"Stop... please..." I cried.
"Can you blame him? You're a monster after all. I wonder how he would react if he knew about your crimes? He would probably hate you."
"No... He wouldn't..."
"Yes he would. You lied so many, many times to him. And you betrayed his trust so much more."
"Shut up..."
"Maybe he doesn't even like you. You're both trapped inside the same body, it's not like he could get away from you."
"Shut up."
"After all, the horse was mostly right. You are nothing but a para..."
"Shut up!" I screamed.

The chains rattled, metal screeching against metal, howling like pack of starved hounds. The metallic racket reverberated across the room for far longer than it should have. Maybe the door was more ajar than I thought it was? It would make sense, as he so rarely talked that much in a row. But how?

I dawned upon me. Discord said we had a different potential with magic. Maybe... Maybe he got stronger too?

"Oh no, no, no..." I cried again. "Why?" I shouted. "Why can't I just beat you? I thought that me getting stronger would mean that I could win..." I sobbed. "But it looks like we're in more danger than ever... I'm sorry, Recto," I said, turning to face the sleeping form on the bed. "But I'll find a way to save us both. I promise"

Author's Note

Hey, told you I had another one in the starting blocks. I was hoping to release it yesterday though... I blame Spike.