"Hold it," said Circuit, who stepped forward. "Crimson, I know you feel on top of the world right now, but remember what happened to Sunset? She was in the same position you're in now. Please, snap out of it."
Crimson tried his best to snap out of it, and the look in his eyes said it all. But it didn't work, as Crimson shot a spark of lightning near is feet to scare him. "No.....Never again...."
Circuit dodged quickly. "I was hoping it didn't have to come to this," he said, dusting himself off. His body suddenly began to change. His skin whitened, as lime-green wireframe in the shape of a suit of armor surrounded his body. The spaces in between were filled in with grey polygons, as his eyes glowed green. Pixelated wings sprouted out of the back of the armor, and a glowing green sword descended from the sky. Circuit grabbed the sword and rose into the air. "If you won't listen to reason," Circuit said, "then perhaps you'll listen to this." He aimed his sword at Crimson and shot out an energy beam.
Crimson just raised his hand at the energy beam, just blasting around him like it was nothing. With the same hand, another sword materialized around him as he grasped it with his hand. The crowd below him tried to flee in terror, but something was happening in Crimsons mind. It was fighting over control. One half of him was fighting against the corrupted side, all Circuit had to do was let him fight himself.
Circuit's eyes widened. Crimson struggled against himself, as Circuit realized that the magic had gone to his head, but there was still a part of him that was good, and that it was fighting to get out.
The corrupted Crimson roared as he swung his sword at Circuit, charged up through a strange arcane spell that sent an entire wave of ultra powerful energy across the city. The moment it made contact with downtown, half of Canterlot was leveled. "DIE!" Crimson roared loudly before going to attack Circuit again, only stopping mere inches from him to prevent his death as his good side fought for control.
Circuit moved aside. "STOP!" shouted an anguished female voice. "Don't kill him!" Circuit looked to his left. It was Sunset Shimmer.
Crimson couldn't move, looking at the faces of all his friends who remained behind. Crimson's eyes widened as he looked at the tearful expression that Sunset had on her face. His evil side wanted nothing more then to be done with all this and proclaim itself a god, but the real Crimson was doing everything he could to stop this. One of his eyes was his normal eye color, while his other corrupted eye was bright red. Almost glowing. Crimson began to feel himself take control again, but it was difficult. His corrupted side tried to fight back with everything it could.
Circuit flew down and watched as Crimson slowly got a grip on himself. Rainbow Dash looked at Circuit. "Dude, why aren't you attacking?" "Because, as you can see," Circuit explained, "beneath the monster's veneer is a man, wanting to escape."
It wasn't over yet, but Crimson lowered himself to the ground. Much to the corruptions displeasure. The good part of him planted his feet firmly on the ground, while the demon inside of him tried to at least fly away. He looked at the others, the good part of him having a tear go past his eye.
Circuit watched as his friend continued to struggle against his inner demons. Suddenly, he remembered that his current form allowed him access to the minds of others. "Stand back, girls," he said, "I'm going in." "Where?" Rainbow Dash asked. "You'll see." And with that, he dematerialized into a stream of green pixels and flew into Crimson's ear.
Crimson's subconcious looked like heaven and hell, and it wasn't surprising in the slightest. What was surprising however, was two different Crimson's fighting for control over his spirit and body. One of them was his normal self, the other one was a negative corruption. This was a fight to the death.
"Here, let me help you," Circuit said as he ran Crimson's twisted fascimile through the chest with his sword. Almost instantly, the vile doppleganger disintigrated as the darker portions of Crimson's subconscious dissolved.
The real Crimson collapsed inside of his own subconscious to the 'ground'. He took a deep breath of exhaustion and gratitude as he looked up at Circuit and just had this grin on his face. The expression had it all, Circuit saved Crimson and he was forever grateful.
Circuit simply smiled and said, "Least I could do." He then left Crimson's subconscious and returned to the real world. He powered down as his armor, wings and sword vanished and his skin and eyes returned to normal. As Crimson's body returned to normal, Circuit walked up to him and hugged him. "Good to have you back, old friend," he said.
Crimson just looked in exhaustion at the two of them, the same smile on his face. Now back in the real world. Crimson felt to the ground, fast asleep like a baby. Completely exhausted.
----- It had been two months since the Friendship Games incident. Repairs had completed on Canterlot High, and classes had resumed. But not all was well. Circuit was now sitting alone at the lunch table, trying to think of how and when he got his abilities.
Crimson went over to the table, sitting down across from him with his lunch tray. "Hey man, what's up?" He asked before noticing his expression. "Feeling okay?"
"I'm trying to remember where I got my abilities," he replied, "but all I remember of my early childhood is the orphanage, and how miserable I was there." Circuit had spent his first five years of life in an orphanage in Detroit, downtrodden and miserable. How he got out and turned to street crime, he couldn't remember. This was long before he realized his life of crime was a bad idea and hitched a ride on a bus to Canterlot at eleven to start a new life.
"Geez, that's heavy." Crimson told him. "Is something blocking your memory for the reason on why you can't go back? Or is it that you can't remember at all?"
