Venom Rising

by VampDash

Rating: teen
Tags: Rainbow Dash, Other, Crossover, Dark, Alternate Universe, Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 31273

Rainbow Dash has been humiliated far to many times by Mare-Do-Well but now she has a chance. A chance to get back at her... at what cost?

Humiliation and defeat. These are the emotions that Rainbow Dash has felt ever since the new hero Mare-Do-Well showed up. She's better than her at everything, she's stronger, more agile, and somehow she may even be faster than Rainbow Dash herself. At the lowest point in her life Rainbow then visits a place that she never visited much before but she's also not the only one visiting when she comes across a black substance. The creature has promised her power beyond believe, enough to bring down Mare-Do-Well, and also seems to understand her pain. The moment the deal is made Rainbow Dash is gone. All that is left.... is Venom.

Rated teen for mild language usage and blood. Venom and other characters are property of their respective owners.

*Edit 2/5 Hippogriffs have been replaced by horses for the role of the asgaridans and the talk between Dash and Venom as well as her fight with Mare-Do-Well is extended a little.

*Edit 9/20 Coverart made by TP Night. Check him out on Deviantart.

Published 2014-01-19 22:40:05 UTC
Last updated 2017-05-20 02:08:34 UTC

Fall Of A Hero (Re-Edited)

Rainbow Dash, the best young flier in Equestria, self proclaimed fastest there is, sat speechless. She had been outdone by some silent masked pony. How could this have happened? Let’s rewind a bit.

It had all started a couple of weeks ago. Rainbow Dash had suddenly found herself as a resident hero, after pulling off a couple of rather impressive rescues. Needless to say, this went to her head and soon she had droves of fans at her beckon call. Then one day, out of nowhere, a masked pony in a ridiculous get-up swoops in and saves somepony in a crashing hot-air balloon. The Element of Loyalty was clearly peeved, but decided this new heroine everypony started calling “Mare-Do-Well” wasn’t anything special. After all, who could stand up to Rainbow Dash’s awesomeness?

But then it started to get worse. Over the past few days Mare-Do-Well started to beat her at everything, she was more agile, stronger, and now it seemed she was even faster than her. The other times Rainbow pushed aside as mere coincidences but this was the last straw. Nopony is faster than Rainbow Dash. She tried to explain to her friend Applejack as they got together at Sugar Cube Corner.

"Land sakes sugarcube Mare-Do-Well ain't harmin' anyone is she?" The farm mare asked her. Rainbow tried to find a way to counter the statement but continued to just sip her milkshake. "Ah'm sorry that was insensitive of me Dashie." Applejack apologized as she saw the hurt look in Rainbow's eyes. "Now what is it you were sayin'?"

"Well I mean Mare-Do-Well has just done all these cool things and all but she's such a push over. I just-"

"Now look don't you think yer over reactin' just a little?"

"Look it's not.... I mean it is but... this isn't just about Mare-Do-Well okay?" Rainbow said sternly as she left the sweet store leaving a very confused Applejack. That night, after another failed attempt to find out who Mare-Do-Well is, the cyan blue mare decided that a visit to the nearby First Faustian Church of Ponyville would help her clear her mind.

Meanwhile miles and miles above the skies of Equis a meteor was falling and it wasn’t slowing down at all. It’s trajectory placed it not to far from the church.

“Hey there Faust…. you probably don’t remember me, been awhile since I came here after all.” Rainbow chuckled a little to herself as she stared at a mural of a pure white Alicorn with a red flowing mane. “T-the name’s Rainbow D-Dash…. and I c-come b-before you. Humbled…. and humiliated.” Rainbow said as tears started to build up in her eyes. “A-all because one of your subjects thought it would be nice to start a ‘Let’s make Rainbow Dash look like a total loser’ week and i-it’s working.”

The small meteorite crashed into the ground just a few hundred yards away from where the church was. Out of the meteorite trickled a black substance, which to anyone else would look like oil. However it moved on it's own volition and acted as though it were alive. The reason for this was that is was indeed alive. It was an alien being, banished from it's homeworld. The reason being was that it was a mutant among its kind. It rejected its species ways of slowly killing its host organism. For this it was sent off from it's home to spend it's days alone until it died from the lack of a host body.

The symbiote knew not what deity it should thank that its prison had not only been thrown off course from the barren planetoid that was its original destination, but broken upon impact.

The ebony life form didn't want to think of the torment it could have endured if not for its new predicament. As happy as it was to be free it was faced with a problem. It had already been some time since it had been attached to a host and without one it would surely die. As fate would have it, a spider crawled nearby. The alien quickly flowed over to the arachnid and bonded with it. Soon the normally brown spider was now black as night. The symbiote was able to take full control of the arachnid as the animal was not very intelligent aside from instinctual knowledge. It wasn't perfect, but it would do for now until it could find a more sapient host.

The symbiote used its arachnid host to wander around the ceilings of the church, finding itself enjoying the spider's natural abilities. The symbiote decided that it would give it's next host similar abilities, finding them to be most useful. It had seen many potential hosts outside the temple, but none felt right to it. It longed for a kinship of sorts, a being who felt the same pain it did. It suddenly sensed a presence below it. The black nightmarish creature felt something inside the being, a pain that rivaled its own. This was to be its new host. Abandoning the spider, the symbiote quietly trickled down and bonded with its new host.

Rainbow Dash felt something latch onto her and yelled in fright. She backed away from the black slug that tried to grab onto her. She bucked it several times before she tried to fly away from it. She made a mistake, however, by looking back and seeing the slime grab hold of her hoof. She tried yelling out for help but one of it's tendrils had wrapped itself around her muzzle muffling her cries. The being then fully encompassed her and soon her whole world turned black.

The cyan blue pegasus soon opened her eyes to see a black and white landscape before her. All around the mare was nothing but empty space and near desolation. She turned and tried to walk away but found herself unable to move. She looked down to see what stopped her from moving and was shocked to see her hooves held down by the same black ooze from before. And then a raspy voice rang out "Rainbow Dash. We have tasted your anger. Your rage. AND IT IS SWEET! You… are a perfect ally to us." Was what Rainbow Dash heard. At first when it talked to her Rainbow started to panic. "W-what do you want from me?" She asked the darkness in a timid tone to which she heard a demonic laugh fill the strange world.

"What we want Rainbow is for you to have vengeance!" It told her. Rainbow started to think she was going insane but then she saw.... some sort of creature before her. Something that could only be described as a monstrous version of her. She was inclined to avoid it but then saw that it stuck a tentacle on the back of her neck and went through her memories and played them in a way that seemed like a slide show and all that it was playing was.

“Mare-Do-Well.” Rainbow Dash said with the utmost venom in her voice.

“Mare-Do-Well? Yes….. The source of your rage. Remember what she did to you. The shame she brought on to you.” The black voice said as it showed her images of the past weeks. All the adulation and praise the mystery mare got while she was left with nothing. Watching these events unfold again, Rainbow felt her rage grow and build to the point she was grinding her teeth in an all encompassing hatred of the masked mare. It was right she did want revenge. Revenge on the one pony who stole everything from her and ruined her life. One way or another Mare-Do-Well was going down. Her doppelganger was long since gone but the voice remained as it spoke to her again. "Bond with us Rainbow Dash. Mind. Body. And soul!" Rainbow didn't even hesitate when she finally answered the blackness with a dark smile.

"Alright then. Let's make the bitch pay." She replied. The process started off slowly at first as each tentacle latched onto a different part of her body but eventually her whole body was encased in a large black body. With the process finally complete the symbiote fully bonded with the pegasus. "From now on, we are poison to Mare-Do-Well and anypony else who tries to screw with us......... WE'RE VENOM!" A large ebony creature with a mouth full of fangs and large white eyes roared as it crashed out of the church window and escaped into the night.

As the beast left the church, though, the meteor in which the symbiote arrived in suddenly cracked open a little more again and spewed out a red substance that appeared to look like blood. A nearby timberwolf saw the liquid and went over to sniff it. The moment it got closer the substance latched around it’s muzzle and soon took over the creature’s form. Like the other one this symbiote hated using animals but it preferred a sapient host. For now the animals of this forest will do.

Meanwhile in Ponyville Twilight Sparkle was pacing about in the Golden Oaks Library consumed with worry. She knew that what she and her other friends were doing was right but she then started to consider that Rainbow Dash may not have seen it that way. Sure they were doing heroic things now but they hardly considered what she was going through during all of this. After all, she knew the pegasus well enough to know that she didn’t back down easily. Twilight began to wonder if this would even help Rainbow Dash at all or just exacerbate her ego problem even more. She put those thoughts behind her as she heard the sounds of hooves beating on her door. She opened it and four mares were standing outside her library with looks of determination. She nodded as she pulled out a purple and blue outfit with a spot made to fit her hole and she put it on.

“Okay, so let’s go over the schedule. I’ll be uptown from nine o’clock to ten. Applejack should be at the town square from eleven to twelve and barring any incidents Pinkie Pie should be able to swing by downtown from one to three.” Twilight Sparkle said as she showed the time sheet to her friends.

“Okay Twi, just one question. Can Ah switch places with Pinkie Pie? Ah need to be on the farm earlier than that.” Applejack said as she leaned on two legs, eyeing the schedule.

“Um, okay. Lemme see if I can work that around….” Twilight began, levitating a marker to try and rearrange Applejack’s time, but was cut off by Pinkie Pie.

“Wait! I need to be at Sugarcube Corner then! It’s Rumble’s birthday tomorrow.” The pink mare said, earning looks of confusion from everypony else.

“Uh, w-who’s Rumble?” Fluttershy asked, shrinking back a little as she did.

“He’s Thunderlane’s little brother! You remember him right? Little pegasus, grey coat, black mane, no cutie mark?” Pinkie Pie asked, receiving blank stares from Applejack and Twilight while Fluttershy was still trying to place the colt from Pinkie’s description.

“Anyway it’s his birthday tomorrow and I get to be the birthday clown!” Pinkie said, jumping up and down in excitement.

“Okay, I guess then Fluttershy….” Twilight started, but stopped once she remembered Fluttershy was only there for flybys and nothing else. Twilight’s eye started to twitch a little bit. This was not how she planned it at all but she took a deep breath and then changed the time sheet. “Okay so I’ll be out on patrol. The rest of you just…. please make sure you’re in position. All five nodded and then headed out. As the suited mare took to the rooftops, however, a black figure with serrated teeth, long tongue, wicked grin, and a strange spider-like symbol emblazoned on it's chest was watching her.

“We can’t wait to meet you soon Mare-Do-Well.”

Secrets and Myths

Rainbow was really liking her new ally. Not only did it make her faster and stronger than she ever was but she also could stick to buildings instead of using her wings! The latter wasn't as cool, in her opinion, but she thought it would be useful in terms of stealth. Finding and bonding with it was, in her personal opinion, the best thing to ever happen to her and she had some pretty great moments in her life. Not that it didn’t know about them since it had read her memories. In all honesty Rainbow Dash never felt better. She didn’t know where this costume had come from, but she didn’t really care. As long as the feeling of power stayed? It could have come from Tartarus itself for all she cared.

Rainbow decided to fly home and plan her first move against Mare-Do-Well. She had considered just jumping the masked fool whenever she saw her, but decided to put her pranking skills to good use. After all, if Mare-Do-Well was going to humiliate her then she was going to make her defeat all the more damaging. She took out a map she borrowed from Twilight at one point and looked over it. She finally decided on two places that she could humiliate her in public: One place was Town Square where she could call her out and beat her for all to see but that would probably make the fools support Mare-Do-Well instead of Venom, she also happened to like the name despite it being a joke at first, so that only left one last place.

Brilliant idea Rainbow. That little mare can’t possibly fix a broken dam but we can. Her friend said in her head. After picking out when to attack Rainbow folded up the map and then headed up to bed. After all what kind of a fight would it be if she was tired and made it too easy for Mare-Do-Well? Rainbow headed to her bedroom, along the way feeling the costume recede and disappear. Rainbow raised an eyebrow, but disregarded as yet another perk of the costume. After all, it saved time on taking the thing off. As she turned back the covers of her bed and crawled in she sighed in a satisfied tone. Tomorrow would be sweet. Sweet as revenge.

The night was uneventful for Mare-Do-Well but that just made her just more nervous, as usually some form of disaster would have occurred and she would’ve had to stop it by now but so far it was all…. quite. Deciding to call it a night She turned around headed back to the treehouse and take off her costume for now. As Twilight removed her mask she suddenly suffered a sudden chill in her back. She turned to close the window but saw that it was already closed. Any normal pony would’ve shrugged this off as nothing more than a slight chill but Twilight knew better.

The last time she felt this chill something happened either a few minutes later or the very next day…. like when she saw a huge pony, not like it was a foot or so taller than other stallions but what could honestly be considered a honest to Celestia giant of pure ice. It glared at her but other than that it did nothing to her.Her parents on the other hand were a different story. The frost giant, for lack of a better term, charged at them. Her father Nightlight Sparkle fired a few magical blasts, as did her mother Twilight Velvet Sparkle, but they barely slowed the giant. The giant swatted them with its mighty hand, breaking their bodies.

Twilight watched as her injured parents lay helpless, unable to comprehend what was happening. As the giant loomed over them Twilight shut her eyes in fear. However as she did a loud crash of thunder erupted around her. She looked up to the sky, the giant momentarily forgotten. The once slightly overcast sky was now filled with dark clouds, blocking all light from Celestia’s sun. Twilight could see lightning crackling in the clouds as the thunder kept booming.

“HAVE AT THEE FOUL BEAST!” Twilight heard a powerful voice roar, rising above even the thunder. She looked up and could could vaguely make out the strange shape of a huge pony but it looked none she ever saw in the clouds. She then saw a hammer fly down and strike the frost giant down. The gargantuan creature fell to the ground dead, melting into just pure water. Soon the skies cleared almost instantly and there was no trace of the hammer that had saved them. Twilight then passed out from the shock of the ordeal. The moment her memory ended Twilight just sighed and put her mask and costume behind a secret compartment in her room. The nightmare she had was awful. She imagined she and some of her friends were running through Ponyville trying to escape some black creature that seemed to be more like a liquid then a creature that was destroying everything in sight.

“That’s right Twilight Sparkle! RUN! RUN FROM THE INEVITABLE!” It screamed to her. She turned around and tripped over a stone and soon her face met the ground. Her friends stopped to try and pick her up but she knew it was too late. As all hope seemed to be lost, however, another silhouette appeared and tackled the black mass before leaping back to cover her and the rest of her friends. Suddenly the ground around her split open, her friends falling into a burning abyss, leaving her standing on a small column of ground. To her left a large figure began to rise, black as night with large white eyes and a mouth full of fangs. To her right another large figure came up, this one she clearly recognized as Mare-Do-Well. Suddenly both the ebony being and Mare-Do-Well grabbed onto both of her forelegs, each tugging and pulling at her.

The strain began to build on Twilight as the slimy black entity won the tug-of-war and proceeded to pull Twilight to its fanged jaw. A long tongue covered in green slime came from the monster’s mouth, wrapping around her and squeezing her tight as she was pulled into the giant maw of the creature. She then woke up in a cold sweat and realized that it was already morning, though the nightmare still tortured her a little, and soon pulled out her costume.

Meanwhile in Rainbow’s cloudhouse the cyan blue pegasus was also waking up as well and with a demonic grin on her face. She leaped out of her bed and allowed her suit to fully envelop her again as she landed.

“This will never get old.” She said aloud but in a somewhat deeper and menacing tone to her voice. At first she considered flying towards the dam but then her suit… whispered something to her.

“No it will not but now our time has come Rainbow Miriam Dash. Let's try to have some fun today shall we?”

Rainbow Dash nodded slowly, chuckling a bit. Today was going to be fun of that she knew for sure as she flapped her wings and headed towards the dam. She arrived shortly afterwards and found a weakspot. She lifted up her front hooves and proceeded to strike the Dam.

Twilight, geared up in her Mare-Do-Well costume, was skulking around the Ponyville Dam. It wasn’t too unheard of for a worker or tourist to get caught dangling on the side of the dam for whatever reason, be it a genuine accident or just plain stupidity. Still it was as good a place as any to try and rescue somepony she surmised. She was exploring a desolate part of the Dam when she heard a loud CRUNCH echo through the whole place. She pinpointed the sound as coming from the upper level of the Dam. She focused her magic to her horn and soon teleported to the upper levels. She heard the crunch sound again and it appeared to be closer. Twilight heard it yet again, this time louder as she ran to see what it was. She got to the edge of where the dam started and saw a crack in the dam. She was about to cast a spell to fix it, when suddenly she felt a presence behind her.

“Welcome to our parlor said the spider…..”

A dark, almost demonic, voice called out. Twilight couldn’t pinpoint the source of the sound before a "thwiping" noise was heard and she was hung upside down by something. This was then followed by some being slamming her hard against a tree. Before Twilight could react she was struck again and again, each hit landing harder than the one before. One of the hits she received felt like a claw. Twilight tried to stand on her hooves but then felt the same claw slash itself across her mask. Twilight soon realized she could see rather well in the right side of her mask meaning that the creature had torn her mask a little. Whatever it was Twilight knew it didn’t know who she was but anypony would be able to tell by her mane color. So thinking quickly she teleported or at least tried to before feeling something grab her hind hoof. She was soon slammed down to the ground again before being pinned to the tree. The creature turned her head to one side as a tongue with green saliva draped itself on top of her head. She tried to move but her body seemed unable to do so.

“Not so tough now are you Mare-Do-Wrong?” The creature said as it’s tongue retreated back into it’s mouth. “Oh excuse us where are our manners? We are Venom but more important to you… we are your end.” The creature said to Twilight. Still trying to escape Twilight ignited her horn and tried teleporting but Venom violently grabbed her horn and squeezed it tightly. She wasn’t going to break the horn off but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t cause a little bit of pain. Twilight screamed in pain as she felt the surge in her horn but seemingly couldn’t vent it out unless this creature, Venom, released her horn and let the magic flow.

"Oh what’s wrong? Can’t hurt anypony else? Do you actually like it rough? Maybe a horn job is all you needed M-” Venom stopped mid sentence as she saw the exposed portion of Twilight’s mask.

"What….” The beast asked as she realized just who was behind the mask. Suddenly, after letting go of Twilight’s horn which released a giant spell bolt that narrowly missed Venom, she grew to gigantic proportions, rushing around in a frenzy, smashing all in her sight which included some pine trees, a log and several good size boulders.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! WHY YOU?! WHY IS IT YOU?! IT’S NOT FAIR!” Venom roared in anger as she then calmed down, almost as quickly as she flew off the handle. She walked over to Mare-Do-Well, ripping the mask off her revealing Twilight Sparkle who was too stunned to speak.

“Shh, it’s alright. We’ll find the one who did this to you and make her pay!” Venom declared as she carefully stroked Twilight’s mane in a comforting manner, before swinging off. Twilight carefully got back to her hooves and saw that the dam was starting to fall apart. Apparently Venom was so caught up in the reveal of who she was that it forgot to fix the problem it probably started. Using a little bit of her magic Twilight made some boulders fly up to the dam and plugged up the leaks and avoid a huge flood. With the deed done Twilight slipped back to Ponyville careful to avoid anypony who might’ve been watching.

Meanwhile in the Everfree a timberwolf was busy eating the remains of whatever was unlucky enough to meet its end at the maw of it. Suddenly the beast snapped its head up at the sound of a snapping twig, twisting its head around to see a metallic mace heading toward its head which smashed it to pieces.

“Always did hate timberwolves, ever preying on the innocent.” A powerful voice said. The owner of the voice was in shadow, but if one could look closely they would see a lion skin wrapped around the stranger

Venom sat perched on a tree, just barely on the outskirts of the Everfree, in thought. As she thought she heard hoof steps. Odd hoof steps, as if the pony was walking on two legs. Listening closer she also heard the sound of griffon claws scratching the ground as well. That lead to two possibilities. One was that griffon and a pony were walking through the Everfree, or…

“Good morrow dark one!” A booming voice bellowed from below, causing Venom to nearly jump out of her skin… literally.

“Pray tell, I am truly sorry to have interrupted thine leisure time, but it hath been quite a time since I was in these lands. Tell me, which way to the nearest village?” The voice said as Venom finally looked down at the source of the voice. It was a rare sight. A hippogriff, a rather tall one, about as tall as Princess Luna with brown feathers and light brown fur, with a cutie mark of a tan bow and three silver arrows over it. He was also wearing what looked like a lion’s skin with the head draped over his own, almost like a cowl, and the rest blowing behind him like a cape. In his claw was a golden club, propped upon his shoulder.

‘Nearest… Where has this guy been? Ponyville may not be Manehatten, but it’s still pretty known. I mean it’s the only town this close to the Everfree!’ Rainbow Dash thought as she readjusted herself on the branch.

“Uh, about a half a mile that way.” Venom said in Rainbow Dash’s voice, or rather a close approximation, knowing that using her Venom voice could possibly lead to either a scared tourist, or a fight she was definitely not in the mood for.

“Ah, I thank thee cloaked one. Perhaps we shall cross paths again? Thou appear to be most interesting, perhaps an adventurer?” The hippogriff asked as Venom remained silent at the archaic speech of the stranger.

“I see thou art one of few words. Very well, perhaps we may speak again anon. Fare thee well and many thanks for thine assistance.” The hippogriff said he walked down the path to Ponyville. He hadn’t walked a few feet when Venom noticed something odd.

“Hey! Why aren’t you flying?” Venom asked, finally finding her voice. It was odd, since most griffons she knew did prefer to fly to their destinations. Then again she had only met one other hippogriff in her life and that was Gilda’s weird cousin Gordon at a party.

“I hath spent too much time with mine head in the clouds. I prefer to walk as much as possible.”

Heroes, Villains, and Dovahkiins.

Deep in the heart of the Everfree Venom was far from pleased. Her whole plan that day was perfect! The dam would be damaged and Mare-Do-Well would appear. She would try and fix the dam but then she would be attacked by Venom who would then keep her tied to a nearby tree. She would then fly off and fix the dam and nopony would ever care for that upstart little nag. But…. then something happened. She couldn’t understand why it happened or who forced her but she found Twilight wearing a Mare-Do-Well outfit and appeared at the dam meant for her.

No it wasn’t meant for her! It was meant for Mare-Do-Well and by our honor We will find the bitch who forced Twilight into that get up and RIP HER TO SHREDS! She told herself as she tried calming down to no avail. Slash some trees? She’s done enough to make a lumberjack jealous. Fight a random creature? There was no point since her anger would more or less come back tenfold. So naturally she tried some breathing exercises that Fluttershy taught her a while back. Her anger was soothed for a bit but then she and the suit had a little…. chat.

‘We fail to see what the problem is Rainbow. You wanted vengeance on Mare-Do-Well and you almost had it. Why did you stop when you had her in your grasp?’ The symbiote asked in an irritated voice in her mind.

‘That’s because you haven’t met them! Twilight is one of my closest friends in Equestria! I-I can’t just hurt her like I was going to hurt Mare-Do-Well! That’s wrong! It’s clearly Mare-Do-Well trying to mess with me… That’s it! She knew I’d want payback, so she must have forced Twilight to dress up like her! It’s the only thing that makes sense! But, how far does this go? Who else does she have working for her?! I DON’T KNOW WHO I CAN TRUST! EYES ARE EVERYWHERE! EVERYWHERE! Rainbow yelled in her head as Venom roared in pain and grabbed her head with her hooves in an attempt to stop her splitting headache.

‘Have you ever considered the fact that maybe, just MAYBE-

‘Don’t you dare finish that sentence! She wouldn’t do that! THEY WOULDN’T DO THAT TO ME! THEY KNOW ME ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT I CAN HANDLE THINGS ON MY OWN!’ Rainbow said as she cried a little ‘I’m not the helpless filly I was back then…. I can save ponies….. I do it for Blitz. She said as the memory came back to her. Her flying in the sky as a small red colt was staring at her in awe and admiration at what she did. Then the colt was falling. The last thing she remembered was the body covered by a white sheet…. the tiny frail body. She was snapped out of her stupor when she heard the sound of cheering coming from Ponyville. Having raged as she did led Venom near to Ponyville and soon she saw the town preparing to celebrate it’s new hero. Mare-Do-Well. “Well… We hope they brought flowers because today…. today we END Mare-Do-Well. Venom said as one of her tendrils slashed a tree in half. She didn’t even notice that during her little walk she was leaving a small little trail of tears.

Ponyville was all excited the next morning as it prepared it’s parade for their town hero, The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, and everypony was excited…. except for five of them. Twilight Sparkle and her four friends were watching them through her library window and just sulking about. They never wanted this attention in the first place at all. All they wanted to do was to show their friend Rainbow that, while it was great to be a hero, she didn’t need all the attention going to her head either. The plan, it appears, to have backfired on them as not only did the whole of Ponyville practically worship Mare-Do-Well but it seemed to have enraged their friend Rainbow to the point of being a recluse.

Now Mare-Do-Well became such a popular character that any thing they did as her seemed to have been nothing more than a iconic moment to the town. Twilight sighed as she turned towards her friends.

“Alright girls, the parade is going to be in an hour. We’ll all need to be around just in case something happens.” Twilight said as she donned her mask.

“What in tarnation could happen at a parade Twi?” Applejack asked, leaning against the wall.

“A lot of things Applejack.” Twilight said blankly, as recalled the black creature running it’s slimy tongue across her mask. She shivered as she then teleported to a nearby rooftop.

Pinkie Pie quickly made her way to the stage at the start of the parade, waving to the crowd. Suddenly a black tendril yanked her away from her adoring public and into a dark alleyway. Pinkie soon tore the tendril off and tried to see who it was that grabbed her but couldn't so instead she relied on her Pinkie Sense. When her strange sixth sense couldn't pick up anypony she lowered her guard. This was a mistake as she turned and saw a black hoof punch her straight into a wall. She tried getting up but the debris kept her pinned as the form of a huge pony loomed over her with a crooked smile but….. it didn’t seem happy.

"W-We have to be sure." A strange voice told Pinkie before she lost consciousness. Venom slipped the mask off… and a growl of rage vibrated through her.

“How deep does this bucking thing go?! Don’t worry Pinkie Pie, we’ll make sure Mare-Do-Well never hurts you again.”

The citizens of Ponyville were in a panic as they tried to find a trace of their lost hero but what they didn't notice was that two ponies were also looking for the missing pony as well.

"Land sakes alive where is she?" Applejack asked Twilight under her mask but noticed that Twilight seemed to be staring at something. Before she could ask just what she was staring at they heard a loud roar of anger.

“MARE-DO-WELL! WHERE ARE YOU COWARD?!” A loud booming voice called out. Many ponies looked around for the source of the voice before a giant pony landed on the pedestal Mare-Do-Well once stood at. They all stared in utter shock as they saw the giant ebony black creature. It had a strange white spider symbol on it’s chest, it’s eyes were demonic in appearance, and it’s face had a permanent smile with fangs sticking out and a long tongue that was covered in green saliva which lashed every way that it could. “Oh Mare-Do-Well! Where are you?!” The creature asked with anger and hate dripping from it’s voice.

“Come on! OLLY OLLY OXEN BITCH!” Venom roared at nopony in general. When silence was all that answered her Venom just growled and reached a tendril down the same alleyway it appeared from. “Fine but just so you know…. We know what you’re doing. Using our friends against us but We’re on to you.” It growled as the tendril returned to reveal Pinkie Pie in a Mare-Do-Well costume to the whole town. Everypony stared in shock at who the pony in the suit was but Venom was just getting started. “You call yourself a hero? You couldn’t do anything on your own. Instead you used cheap parlor tricks and forced other ponies to do your so-called heroics. But now your lie has been exposed! Pinkie is not the first I’ve uncovered. Twilight Sparkle has also been brainwashed by this lying pony you ALL had the GALL to call a hero!” Venom snarled. Twilight just stared in shock.

That creature actually AVOIDED Pinkie’s sixth sense? I-it doesn’t make sense! Twilight thought to herself.

”Follow that cold shiver running up your spine…” Venom said as she looked at the towns ponies. “Let it be known that as of today. Mare-Do-Well is no longer this town’s hero. WE are. If anypony at all is discovered having harbor this…. deceiver. We will know.” Venom said as it started to walk off only for a rock to hit the side of her head.

Venom looked to see none other than Fluttershy with a look that told her the Stare was about to come out.

‘Okay… maybe I better get out of here now. If Fluttershy’s doing this kinda stuff then yeah, probably crossed a few lines’ Rainbow Dash thought as she quickly beat a hasty retreat.

‘Why did you leave?! We had them enthralled like passive sheep!’ The symbiote hissed from in her mind. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes under the living mask.

‘You can look into my memories, take a gander at Fluttershy when she’s mad’ Rainbow Dash mentally responded. The symbiote did so… And went deathly quiet for a few long moments.

‘You made the right call’ The symbiote finally said. ‘But you do realize this means she has Fluttershy as well correct?’

‘I know but that doesn’t explain why she’s mad. She only gets that way if one of my friends is in danger.’

‘Yet you think that they have nothing to do with Mare-Do-Well?’

The air was moist as the two combatants faced each other. The hippogriff stared down the Hydra as he sliced one head off with a sword, then another, then another. Finally the beast was dead

“That was it? Bah! I was lead to believe this monster t’would be a challenge!” The hippogriff said as he began to leave the swamp. Suddenly a loud roar erupted behind him, causing him to swing around in surprise at the source of the noise. He saw many more snake-like heads twisting around and snarling at him.

“What is that saying again? Careful what you wish for?”

“Hey mister, you alright?” A small voice called out, as a hippogriff wearing a lion skin was snapped from his thoughts. He turned to see three small fillies, a pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony with a large red bow in her mane, looking up at him.

“Ah, yes young ones. I was merely lost in thought.” The hippogriff said as he looked back at the movie poster which read “Night of The Hydra” and depicted the legendary beast attacking a pair of helpless ponies.

As Rainbow Dash trotted through Ponyville she stopped at Sugarcube Corner to get a snack before heading home. As she entered a large muscular stallion, about as large as Big Macintosh, almost immediately appeared next to her.

“Hey there little lady. How’s about we blow this pop-stand and go get us some quality hay burgers? I know of a place down the road.” The stallion said in a voice that sounded very much like the legendary King of Rock and Roll himself. He was a golden stallion with a large blond pompadour for a mane and wore a pair of black sunglasses and a black t-shirt, with his cutie mark being a black comb.

“Look I was just gonna…” Rainbow Dash started, but was cut off when a hoof touched her mouth.

“Shush! I know you want to runaway with me, but it’s so sudden! Then again, I am studly so take me pretty mama!” The stallion said, practically jumping on Dash, who caught him. If it wasn’t for the symbiote increasing her strength they would have both tumbled over.

“Alright creep, hit the road!” Rainbow said as she threw the stallion out of the store. As she turned around the stallion was again in front of her somehow.

“Oh mama! I love a girl with spunk.” The stallion said, completely oblivious to the fact Rainbow Dash had literally just thrown him out of the place as a means to be rid of him.

“I didn’t introduce myself before. The name’s Bravo… HUH…. Jolter Bravo.” The stallion introduced himself, pausing to flex his muscles in the middle of his introduction.

“Look I tried to be nice but…” Rainbow Dash then decked the obnoxious stallion in the face, knocking him over.

“Whatever.” Was all the stallion said as he laid on the ground before losing consciousness.

‘Idiot.’ The Symbiote said in Rainbow’s mind who silently agreed. A moment later she walked into the store when a pair of lavender hooves automatically wrapped around her neck in a tight hug.

“Rainbow! Oh thank Faust you have no idea how glad we are you’re alive!” Twilight exclaimed as she hugged Rainbow.

“Yeah I’m fine, Venom totally saved my flank back there though. Lucky we have such an awesome hero around am I right?” Rainbow Dash said, raising her hoof for a high-hoof, but received a confused expression from Twilight, and the others present.

“Venom saved you? How… and for that matter why? She’s a supervillain isn’t she?” Twilight said as she tried to wrap her head around what the cyan pegasus had said.

“Super… What?! She totally saved me! She… uh… Yanked me down when I was about to hit a helicopter! Yeah, that’s it…” Rainbow Dash said, quickly going over her story in her mind to make sure it made sense. Nodding to herself quickly when she was sure, she looked to see that her friends weren’t really convinced.

“Are ya sure it was Venom? What about that other new hero that’s been runnin’ round town? Uh… Spider-Mare I think her name was? Yeah.” Applejack said as she remembered reading about a similarly costumed character.

“Spider-Mare?! No way! That loser is all the way in Manehattan!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, looking almost insulted at the mix up.

“Whoa there sugracube. Ah was only makin’ a suggestion that’s all.” Applejack said as she threw her hooves up in defense.

“Anyway, all I know is Venom saved me so she’s a hero!” Rainbow Dash insisted for the third time, but she was still met with unsure looks.

“That’s like saying that just because a bee didn’t sting you it did it on purpose. Venom is a maniac at best and a monster at worse. You saw what she did today Rainbow! She may have saved you, but to me all that does is prove she’s incredibly unbalanced.” Twilight said in an analytical tone which seemed to make Rainbow Dash glare at her a bit.

‘Stay cool Rainbow, stay cool. If I put up too much of a fight about this they’ll think something’s up. Just gotta do more heroic stuff as Venom and then they’ll see!’

Meanwhile deep in the Everfree Forest, a sinister slime stealthily slithered across the swampy ground. It flowed from a deceased timberwolf, and searched with a predatory lust for new prey. It came across a chicken and latched on… Quickly discovering it was no chicken but instead a cocatrice, but it was not picky. This would do for the time being… it would do rather nicely. Suddenly it heard a loud rumble from a large cave, sounding very much like snoring, with a small bit of fire coming from it. The creature wriggled in excitement… a fine host this mysterious creature would make indeed.

Deciding to put the unpleasantness of the day behind her, Rainbow Dash swung by the Golden Oaks Library to pick up a few new comic books to do a little unwinding and figure out the best approaches she should take on her heroic endeavours. Before she could begin her search she ran into a young dragon that was very familiar to her. “Hey Spike.”

“Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los varhiin…” Spike sang to himself as he dusted the library.

“Uh, Spike? You okay? What’s with the Martian speak?” Rainbow Dash asked as Spike noticed her.

“Oh, hi Rainbow Dash! That wasn’t Martian, it was Dragon, I picked up a lot of it when I went on the dragon migration last month.” Spike said as he continued dusting.

“Okay… so was that some kinda song or…” Rainbow Dash asked, only having been able to tell that Spike had been singing, but the foreign tongue having caused her to not understand the meaning of the lyrics.

“Yeah it’s a song, The Dragonborn Comes. It’s about this really cool legendary dragon!” Spike said enthusiastically as Rainbow raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“Legendary dragon huh?” The pegasus asked as Spike ran to get a rather old book from the back of the library.

“Here we go, one complete thesaurus of ancient legends of the world.” The drake said as he turned the pages of the book to a particular one. It depicted a rather small dragon, at least small compared to most dragons she had seen, wearing armor with a large sword in its claw and a helmet that went down on its face like a mask with two horns bent downward on either side. In front of it was a gigantic ebony dragon, with piercing red eyes that was breathing fire at it.

“Legend says that the Dragonborn is chosen by the Divine Dragon Akatosh to battle Alduin, the World Eater and his army of Ancient Dragons. The Dragonborn is known for his ability to use the Thu’um.” Spike read from the book as Rainbow stopped him once he reached the last word of the paragraph he was reading from.

“Thu’um, what the hay is that?” Rainbow Dash asked as Spike looked up from the book and at her.

“Thu’um is the Dragon word for shout, but can also be translated as ‘storm voice.’ It’s an ancient form of Dragon magic that takes hundreds and hundreds of years to master, but the Dragonborn is unique in that he can master it in only a few days.” Spike read on, with Rainbow Dash growing more and more intrigued.

“But the Dragonborn has yet to defeat Alduin permanently and so every few thousand years or so, Alduin will return with his army and the Dragonborn will be reborn into a new dragon chosen by Akatosh himself.” Spike finished reading as Rainbow Dash thought carefully about the legend. She didn’t believe a word of it, just chalking it up to a simple fairy tale that dragons probably told their hatchlings, but it did give her the answer she was looking for.

‘If I’m gonna prove I’m a hero… I gotta do something great like that! I gotta be all mythological, find me a big monster threatening some ponies and beat the living crap out of it!’ She thought smiling deviously as her teeth began to sharpen, which Spike noticed.

“Uh, Rainbow? Something wrong with your teeth?” The dragon asked, as Rainbow stopped smiling and rushed out the door.

“See ya later Spike!” She yelled out as she exited in a hurry, leaving Spike very confused.

The past is the past

The darkening sky fit the somber mood of the lone figure who wandered into the cemetery, who wore a dark coat and hat to obscure their identity. They walked through, passing some graves, before stopping at one. The pony stared at it, for the longest time. Just standing there, gazing into the gravestone. Minutes turned to hours as the figure just stood in silence. It was nearly dark before the visitor to the graveyard finally spoke a word.

“Happy birthday, Blitz.” The pony said, reaching into her coat and pulling out a small teddy bear and placing it on the grave. She bent down and kissed the top of the grave before flying off. However as the pegasus flew off she failed to notice several ponies watching her from the shadows.

“Permission to take down the target now sir?” A stallion’s voice asked from a point behind some bushes

“No. Let her go for now. I still may be able to use her. Return to base and report what you saw.” A distorted voice replied to the stallion who raised an eyebrow

“But sir-” The stallion started before being cut off by the voice again.

“Am I not clear?” The voice asked in a tone that stated that arguing against it would be pointless. The stallion sighed.

“Yes sir. We’re returning to base now.” He said as he and the other ponies seemingly vanished.

The night air blew harshly outside the Golden Oaks Library, as the rain poured. Twilight was by herself on this particular night, Spike having headed up to Canterlot on some official business. She would have gone, but somepony needed to be there to watch the library should there be somepony needing assistance. She tossed and turned in her sleep, clearly having an unsettling dream.

“One, two, Sombra’s coming for you. Three, four, better lock your door. Five, six, grab your bats and sticks. Seven, eight, better stay up late. Nine, ten…..”

This was the song Twilight heard as she wandered through the fiery dungeon she found herself in. It seemed to be coming from all directions and sounded as if children were singing, young fillies specifically. Suddenly the song ceased half way through the last verse as Twilight felt a presence behind her. She slowly turned to see a pair of demonic red and green eyes staring back at her from the shadows.

“Never sleep again,” the voice said in a deadpan tone as Twilight screamed, a searing red horn stabbing her in the back hoof as she tried to run.

Twilight awoke with a jolt, panting and covered in sweat. As she tried to get up, she felt a sharp pain rush through her back leg. It was a stab wound. Twilight stood where she was as she came to the realization of what this means. “No…. no no no no. T-this isn’t right. I-it was a dream that’s all. The whole thing was just a dream.” She told herself as she got some bandages from nearby. With difficulty she wrapped a swath of them around her back leg, wincing a little, and soon had it tied down good. She was about to go back to sleep when she saw a dark figure flying outside that looked like it was headed for Rainbow Dash’s house. Disregarding it, she went down to her personal study and began to research.

“This has got to have a rational explanation. One way or another.

The wrath of the storm raged as Rainbow Dash tried to sleep. Suddenly a knock came to her door. She grumbled as she got up.

“Who the buck is knocking at this hour?” She groaned as she fell over onto her cloud floor with a soft smack. She used the symbiote to drag herself out of the room and down the hall to the front door, before getting up. The unwanted guest kept knocking as the pegasus practically growled.

“Alright already! Keep your fur on!” Rainbow Dash said as she opened the door to reveal someone she hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Hey Dash… Can we stay over for a while?” A griffon said, as Rainbow’s eyes went wide.

“Gilda?! Uh… sure.” Rainbow wiped the sleep out of her eyes and shook her head a bit. She reached out and pulled her oldest friend into a hug.

“Yeah, come on in, I’ll get the guest… Wait, we?” Rainbow asked, suddenly realizing what Gilda had said.

“Hm? Oh yeah. Alex you can come out from behind me now. She won’t bite.” Gilda said from behind her. Rainbow’s eyes went wide again as she saw a small, gray and brown, innocent Hippogriff walking slowly towards her.

“Alex? Gilda when did you… you know?” Rainbow asked. Gilda sighed but before she could say anything her son slipped past her and stared at Rainbow with a slightly frightened expression.

“H-hi. I-I’m Alex.” The little Hippogriff said. Rainbow smiled and rubbed his head slightly. He smiled and went into the house.

“Not out here Rainbow…. I’ll tell you inside okay?” Gilda said. Rainbow just nodded and allowed Gilda inside.

“So, kid huh?” Rainbow Dash said as she and Gilda sat in her kitchen, the small hippogriff sleeping soundly in the guest room upstairs.

“Yeah… Never thought it’d happen to me, but there he is,” Gilda said as she sighed thoughtfully. Rainbow Dash had to admit, at least to herself, she was a bit jealous. She wanted foals, not right away of course, but she had always thought about it after becoming a Wonderbolt. She never thought on the how, adoption was the most logical since… she didn’t exactly swing the way most ponies did.

"So... how did Alex.... you know.... come out?" Rainbow asked to which Gilda only rubbed her head before starting a very short tale.

“Well… it’s not like other stories where I found my prince charming.” Gilda said as she gave off a nervous chuckle. “It was a one night stand type deal okay. Nothing really special at all. I met him and he met me. A moment later we got a little drunk and then…. well you saw the results. One awesome and amazing kid of mine.” She said with pride. Rainbow smiled and hoof bumped her friend. But then her curiosity took hold.

“Speaking of, princes… Who’s the dad?” The pegasus asked, noticing Gilda stiffen a bit at the question. The two stayed silent for a while, Rainbow not wanting to pressure her into talking about a possibly touchy subject, and Gilda clearly not sure what to say.

“Alex’s dad… Let’s just say he’s not from around here alright?” Gilda said as she didn’t look Dash in the eye.

“Okay? But he’s a pony right? I mean…” Rainbow Dash started, only for Gilda to fidget uncomfortably.

“No he’s not a pony… or a griffon. Look can we not talk about this right now?” Gilda said as she kept avoiding looking at her hostess. Rainbow Dash could tell it really was a sore subject, though she was indeed curious. Still, her curiosity would have to wait until Gilda was ready to talk. Rainbow again thought back to Alex. She could not believe it, her best friend was a mother.

“You’re real lucky Gilda.” Rainbow said absentmindedly. Gilda gave a dismissive laugh, which brought the pegasus back into reality, and left her with a bewildered look on her face. The look was not lost on the griffon across from her.

“Look, I wouldn’t take anything for Alex, but being homeless, next to no money, and having to bunk with friends for a night isn’t what I’d call lucky,” Gilda said, running her talons through her feathers in frustrated manner. Rainbow Dash could see the lack of sleep in her eyes and hear the desperation in her voice. Gilda and Alex needed her.

“Look, maybe you don’t have to stay the night…” Rainbow started, but a irritated glare from Gilda made her immediately clarify her previous statement. “I mean you guys could stay here for as long as you need. Trust me, it’s no bother. I’m out most of the time anyway, and the house is big enough so no worry about space.” Gilda smiled at this as she went to check on Alex then get some much needed sleep herself. Meanwhile Rainbow had just entered a mental conversation with her ‘partner’.

‘Why are you helping them Rainbow? From what your memories show Gilda is nothing more than a total waste of time.’

‘I was a little ticked at her at the time but I will be honest with you right here and now. If you try ANYTHING to hurt my friends then our deal is off. I WILL get you off me and leave you to rot.’ Rainbow said in her mind. The symbiote just snorted at this as it retreated into her mind. Rainbow smiled as she went to her own bed and crashed on it. Unaware of the torment that tomorrow brings.

Author's Note

Before anyone says that this is a multicrossover I will state here and now that the One Two thing is just for creep factor. Sombra is actually a character known as The Shadow King. What? You don't think Shadow King is a real character in Marvel? Look him up. Ten points to the first person to prove me wrong.

A Dark Secret Discovered

“Alright, Everfree? No big deal. I got a big bad alien suit and nothing's gonna stop me!” Rainbow proclaimed loudly as she strutted into the dangerous forest that was crawling with creatures that would normally tear her apart with ease, but she felt confident that her new ally would be able to handle most of, if not all of, the creatures that tried to attack. As she walked into the forest, she turned around and saw Ponyville and that it STILL had banners up that were celebrating Mare-Do-Well. She felt a rise in her anger but quickly suppressed it.

‘I can’t get obsessive now. That’s just gonna make me a little bit sloppy. I won’t risk ruining my chance because I’m missing out on a golden opportunity to utterly destroy Mare-Do-Well… yeah… totally not regretting this decision.’

“What’s a little darlin’ like you doing out here?” A gruff voice said as Rainbow turned to see who it belong to. It was a Diamond Dog, a rather short one, at least an inch or two shorter than her. He had dark brown fur, and wild hair swept up on either side with mutton chops on the side of his face. He wore a jacket, yellow with blue stripes, and had a cigar clenched between his teeth.

“I could ask you the same question you mangy mutt.” Rainbow slightly growled, remembering the last few Diamond Dogs she ran into.

“Easy there, just trying to make sure ya ain’t gonna get ripped to shreds out here. Not exactly the safest spot for a pony, eh?” The Diamond Dog said, Rainbow catching a slight Caninian accent.

“Yeah, well thanks, but I don’t need your help. And what’s a Dog doing this far from Canineada?” Rainbow shot back, though a little harsher than she had intended.

“Look, I’m just tryin’ to be nice. You wanna get snippy do it to somedog else because I ain’t gonna take shit like this from somepony like you.” The Diamond Dog said as he growled at Rainbow. Normally, Rainbow would just apologize and move on, but with the past few days being the way they were she was a little irritated.

“Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do, huh, shorty?” Rainbow growled back as the symbiote slowly covered her hooves.

“Ooooh. Looks like yer itching for a scrap. Good… So am I.” The Diamond Dog snarled as he lifted his front paws, and the backs of them sprang forth metallic claws. Three on each paw and each claw a foot long. Rainbow was the first to strike as she used a tendril from her ally and grabbed the Diamond Dog. She grinned as she slammed him down into the ground a few times and then tossed him into a tree. The Diamond Dog responded by yelling in a primal roar and start slashing at Rainbow, who was doing her best to not get slashed by him, but failed when one of the claws managed to cut her.

“GAH!” Rainbow roared as she was kicked in the chest. Rainbow growled in irritation as she got back to her hooves and prepared herself for a buck. The Diamond Dog failed to see this and leaped at her. Just as he was about to grab her Rainbow released her buck and nailed him right in the jewels… and sent him flying. As Rainbow turned to leave, thinking she had won, she heard a snarling growl.

“Alright darlin’... Let’s try that again. RRRRRAAAAAAH!” The Diamond Dog roared as he lunged toward her, spinning in a corkscrew-like fashion with his claws outfront. Rainbow dodged and shot a webline onto his back. She then spun him around before throwing him off into the deepest part of the Everfree.

“Good luck in there, you bastard.” Rainbow growls towards where she threw the Diamond Dog. However, as she did so, she felt a pang of guilt towards what she did. However, she put it aside for the moment and continued her trek. She soon came to an area she and her friends have been near before. Froggybottom Creek and it was just as slimy and disgusting as it was last time. “Okay now… time to bring down the big bad Hydra.” Rainbow thought to herself as she tossed a rock into the water…. and nothing happened. “Figures. The one time I actually WANT this thing to show up and it doesn’.”

‘Perhaps We could assist in awakening this… Hydra as you call it.’ The symbiote requested. Rainbow just shrugged and willed the symbiote to go inside the water. Once inside the symbiote looked around in the murky depths and looking for the hydra. It didn’t look far before it found it… or rather what was LEFT of it.

The massive form of the Hydra was…. empty. Devoid of any life. One may suspect at first that this was simply a ruse to lure prey closer to it, but upon further inspection one could see this was far from the truth. The once thick hide was shriveled to the bone. The eyes dead and lifeless, sunken in to the point they looked like dark caves. Smaller predators and scavengers had already begun to feast on what little remained, eating out enough to where the inside of the giant creature was visible. It looked as though all liquids had been drained out of it, absolutely no moisture remaining in the body whatsoever. This caused the symbiote to become concerned… because it’s seen this kind of death before. It has seen it happened before… by it’s own kind. ‘But this doesn’t make any sense. We would’ve seen a Stargate and considering the materials of this world, it would be impossible for them to build one.’ The symbiote thought to itself, completely blocked out from Rainbow’s own mind, as it came forth over her and formed her suit but with a more streamlined appearance.

“Well? Is it going to come on out or no?”

‘It won’t come out Rainbow because it’s dead.’ The symbiote told her.

“Ho there Dark One, we meet again! I knew I had thee pegged as an adventurer.” The booming voice of a certain hippogriff blasted forth as Venom leaped into the air in surprise.

“Ah, my apologies. I did not mean to startle thee, though I can see you were in though about this most peculiar of sights.” The hippogriff said, as Venom came back down. They both stared at the dead Hydra.

“What could have done this?..... Ah who cares, we’re taking credit for it!” Venom proclaimed, as she headed toward the Hydra to take a scale off as proof of her supposed deed. She then started trotting away from the corpse.

“Ah, ah, ah my shadowy companion, ‘tis I who shall lay claim to this victory!” The hippogriff said, following after her.

“Fat chance bird brain! This kill is ours and you can’t prove a bucking thing!” Venom snarled as she picked up her speed to try and outrun the hippogriff

“I will have thee know, I hath slain many a Hydra! How dost thou know I did not merely slay the beast before thou arrived?!” The hippogriff said, matching her speed.

“Unless you found a way to drain the vital juices out in a manner similar to a Araneae then it’s HIGHLY unlikely you killed that beast. Besides it’s more likely WE killed it in our sleep!” Venom snarled as she flapped open her wings and began flying

“MUST I CLUB THEE OVER THE HEAD BEFORE THOU WILL ADMIT I HATH A BETTER CLAIM TO THIS VICTORY?!” The lion skin wearing hippogriff shouted, now using his own wings to aid in his race, gripping his golden mace tightly.

“RIGHT! LIKE YOUR LITTLE TOY STICK CAN HURT US! FACE IT, PUNK, WE GOT FIRST DIBS!”

“VERY WELL!” The hippogriff bashed Venom on the face, sending her flying outside the swamp and all the way back to Ponyville. If not for the symbiote, Rainbow Dash would have been dead from the force of the blow. She crashed into a small haystack behind the library. Looking around, she quickly changed back into Rainbow Dash, her head still ringing from the blow.

“R-Rainbow? Y-you… you’re…. V-Venom?” A scared voice asked her. Slowly turning around Rainbow saw that the voice belonged to none other than Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash just stood, unable to think as she was too shocked. She also slowly realized that Fluttershy would probably expose her should she be given a chance and so, in a moment of fear, she grabbed Fluttershy and flew off towards the church where she and the symbiote first met. Fluttershy would’ve screamed in terror, but she had her muzzle clamped shut by black gunk which Rainbow placed on her. The gunk, however, left enough room for her nostrils to get some oxygen for her. As they approached the church, Fluttershy was curious as to why Rainbow went to such lengths to hurt her and their friends, but this was interrupted by Rainbow opening the doors. She then closed the doors behind her and tore off the gunk around Fluttershy’s muzzle.

“S-sorry about this F-Flutters b-but I… I don’t want my secret g-getting out.” Rainbow said in a panicked voice.

“How did…. I-I…. Wha….” Was all Fluttershy could stutter out before Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her mouth to silence her.

“Sorry Fluttershy… I’m sorry.” Rainbow says in such a soft tone it could give Fluttershy a run for her money, before opening and closing the doors without another word. Fluttershy tried to leave… the doors were webbed shut. She looked around and tried bashing the windows but each one she tried to bash was just like the door. Webbed over. Almost like Rainbow KNEW somepony would find out her secret.

Rainbow was flying as fast as her wings could go back to her house but she was flying nearly blind with the tears running from her eyes. ‘H-how do I even BEGIN to explain this to the others? “Oh hi guys, I saw Fluttershy is missing. Have you checked the old church that nopony goes to?” Faust I’m such an idiot.’ She thought to herself as she almost flew into Derpy Hooves. She narrowly dodged her but as she did so she saw that… Derpy was also crying. ‘What did that asshole do to her this time?’ Rainbow thought to herself as she finally arrived at her house.

“Alright Alex, go get cleaned up. We need to get…”Gilda told her son. Her speech stopped when she noticed Rainbow Dash enter the house. “Oh hey, Rainbow.”

“Hey Gilda… What’re you guys doing?” Rainbow asked, as Gilda packed a small wicker basket with a few sandwiches and some juice boxes.

“Hoped you be back in time for this. I was gonna take Alex out to the park, wanna come?” Gilda asked as Rainbow took a deep breath then released it.

“Uh, sure. Had a kind of rough day today. Could use the distraction really.” Rainbow Dash said, as she thought back to Fluttershy.

‘I gotta figure out what to do with her and quick.’

Storm Makers and Carnage Rising

The morning sky was a bright blue with few clouds to obscure the bright yellow son that laid over the park. The air was nice, crisp, and cool. But the best part was that the wind was hardly blowing in the air. In other words? It was perfect picnic weather. Rainbow took in a deep whiff of the air before exhaling through her nostrils. There was NO WAY her week was going to ruin this perfectly normal picnic…. with a friend and/or ex-friend who has a kid and a black alien slime suit that is permanently stuck with her. Totally normal.

“Alright… Must resist super impulse... “ Rainbow then bucked the front door open instead of simply opening it.

“Not…. Resisting well!”

“Alright… Here we go.” Rainbow Dash said as she slowly trotted up. She saw a dark grey hippogriff kid flying around with a smile on his face and below him, because he was above everyone, was a tan furred and tawny looking griffon which she recognized as her friend Gilda… possibly ex-friend. ‘No. She IS my friend. Nothing about that has changed. One bad experience won’t change that.’ Rainbow thought to herself as she forced a smile onto her face.

“Hurry up, Dash! If you can’t keep up me and Alex might leave you behind!” Gilda shouted with a snarky smile.

“And then the undead hordes came forth, snarling and gnashing their rotting teeth!” Pinkie Pie said as she went into detail about a film she had recently seen… Extreme detail, about a zombie movie she had seen… While at a picnic where everypony was trying to eat.

“Pinkie Pie… Maybe you could talk about something else?” Rarity said as she turned a slight shade of green.

“BLOODY GORY!” Pinkie finished, as Rarity finally fainted from the description of the film. Pinkie Pie then laughed a little, but was soon set upon by Rainbow Dash.

“WHY YOU LITTLE…” Rainbow then began to strangle Pinkie Pie, the symbiote slowly covering the cyan pegasus.

“WE’LL TEACH YOU TO LAUGH AT SOMETHING THAT’S NOT FUNNY!” Venom yelled as Pinkie Pie turned bright red.

“Rainbow? You okay?” Gilda’s voice snapped Rainbow back to reality.

“You kinda spaced out there for a second.” Alex said as Rainbow blinked a few times.

“Uh yeah… Just something on my mind is all.” Rainbow said as she saw where Pinkie was and instead saw three sisters. Roseluck, Lily, and Daisy, the latter of whom was also well known as ‘THE HORROR’ pony. She sighed as she caught back up with the two bird hybrids. They arrived at a beautiful tree that was in the middle of a park but though the tree was amazing to see it also… looked twisted and warped. Like something was making it like this on the inside. As they approached it Pinkie appeared between Rainbow and Gilda… out of nowhere.

“Oh! And I saw this other movie called Alie….” Pinkie Pie started before Rainbow put a hoof over her mouth.

“Pinkie… MAYBE lunch isn’t the best time to talk horror movies?” Rainbow said as she let Pinkie’s mouth free from her hoof.

“Okay Dashie! I’ll just show up at a later chapter where I’m more relevant!” She said as she vanished without a trace. Rainbow just blinked as she looked where her friend once stood.

“Um Dash, I know I got off on the wrong foot here last time but… is that-”

“Normal? Yeah it is, G. Sorry about that.”

“No prob Dash… Just warn us next time. That pink thing thought you were a zombie.” Gilda said. Rainbow just snorted at the thought. Her a zombie? That’s one of the stupidest things she had ever heard. She was WAY too awesome to be a zombie. With that finished she helped Gilda set up the rest of the picnic. Gilda opened the wicker basket and pulled out some food for the group. Rainbow picked out some apples and oranges to munch on while Alex and Gilda had some meat sandwiches… which looked strangely appealing to Rainbow.

“Wait when did I like meat?! That’s just… why?!”

‘Well now… this is a pity. A host who refuses juicy meat. Such a shame.’ The symbiote said as it snickered in Rainbow’s head. This caused her to growl quietly but she retained a happy expression in front of the two meat eaters.

“So Gilda… what made you decide to come back here huh?”

“Oh… The wonderful scenery?” Gilda said with a forced smile. Alex, however, looked confused.

“I thought we left because Grandma was a bi-” The young hippogriff said before Gilda quickly closed his beak with her paw.

“Not now Alex…” Gilda snarled but Rainbow nodded as though she understood. Gilda’s family was a well known and very wealthy family. She’s not royalty by any means but they won’t be broke for a while. One time she went to her home and learned quickly that she REALLY didn’t want to get rich since apparently it made you a major plothole.

“It’s okay G. I remember MY visit to your folks home. Didn't your mom threaten to catapult me out for disrespecting you guys?”

“Actually it was crossbow, but oh well.” Gilda replied with a small snort. Rainbow chuckled at this and so did Alex. The picnic, while short, did fill Rainbow with a small bit of joy… joy that she rarely had anymore in Ponyville.

“Hey G, hate to say this, but I gotta get going. I have a job at the weather station here and it’s supposed to be cloudy for the rest of the day and evening so you and Alex better head back home.” Rainbow said. Gilda nodded as she packed up her stuff. Alex helped as well and soon both mother and son left for the cloudhouse. Rainbow sighed as she felt a familiar black ooze form over her.

Venom skulked around Canterlot, having taking a trip up to the larger city on the assumption that a bigger city meant bigger problems. Sadly she was disappointed to find nothing much more beyond the occasional shady pony. However that was soon to change.

“That’s right come to Hypno Hustler!” A pony with swirling glasses and a boombox cutie mark exclaimed as dozens of ponies gave him all of their bits as his boombox let loose an odd sound. Cocking her head to one side in confusion, Venom slung a webline down and grabbed the boombox, smashing it against the wall.

“Hey… What… Hey that guy has all my money!” A stallion yelled as came to his senses. Others soon joined him as they began to pummel the hypnotist con artist. However the stallion hypnotist escaped the crowd as he tried to make an disappearing act.

“You think you’ve seen the last of me?! Fools! I shall retu-” Before he could say anything he ran into the hulking black mass that was Venom.

“You know… We never understood why you stupid villains monologue even after you lose.” Venom snarled before she picked him up and slammed him to the ground, knocking him unconscious. She tore off the shades… and almost wanted to rip his head off. The stallion almost looked like a carbon copy of a former magician that visited the town once. The magician was called Trixie and the stallion had the same fur color and mane color as well, though the stallion’s fur was slightly darker.

‘On the one hoof, I take him to jail… On the other, I have some fun with him first… Nah I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I did that. Well I would, but there would be too many questions.’

Venom then picked up the stallion, by his neck… with her tongue, and slung him over her shoulder.

“HAVE AT THEE!” Venom heard a thundering voice boom as thunder and lightning filled the air. Freezing, she felt the wind blow all around her as lightning struck right next to her.

“THOU SHALL NOT HARM THE INNOCENT E’ER AGAIN DARK CREATURE!” The same booming voice bellowed as Venom turned to see a magical bolt of energy coming straight for her. Venom dodged and quickly made a hasty retreat into the shadows, trying to lose whoever or whatever that was.

“HIDE ALL THOU LIKE, BUT KNOW THINE PRESENCE IS NOT TOLERATED DEMON!” And with a crack of thunder the storm disappeared.

“Buck us that was close. We think that maybe Ponyville is a better place to be… less psycho storm makers living there.” Venom said as she creeped off into the dark.

“Tick… Tock… Goes the clock… Even for the Doctor…” A stallion said to himself as he walked near the edge of a forest. The woods themselves were dark and seemed to be radiating malice yet the stallion paid it no heed. All his life he knew that life was more or less meaningless so what better place to end his than being near the forest and having a wild animal rip him apart. “Tick… Tock… Goes the clock… Even for the Doctor.” He repeated. He was a few feet away from a big city when he saw…. something out of the corner of his eye.

A flash of red, almost like blood spraying out of some poor thing, lept out at him. He screamed in futility as the red covered him completely. He suddenly stopped thrashing as he then stood again. No sign of the red anywhere on his body.

“Tick… Tock… Goes the clock… Even for dear old mother!” The stallion soon started to laugh insanely as he kept walking towards the city. After all what better place to make a hunting ground than a bigger jungle?

Revisiting the old plan

“Incoming enemy fire!” Star-Lord yelled, shooting Elemental Spells left and right as the advancing Brood soldiers came forth. “These ugly sonsofbitches can’t be that hard to kill!”

“They are smarter than us and they are faster, but oh yes, that can’t be that hard to kill, Pen Stroke!”

“Game over man! Game over! GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BITCH!”

“E… T… Phone… Home!”

“And there’s the punch! It’s all over!” said a stallion as Gilda sighed. She and Alex were just flipping through channels waiting for Rainbow Dash to come home, but sadly nothing they saw was any good. The only one that would seem even close to good was the one about a short brown alien. Other than that, nothing else seemed to be on.

“Mom, when did you say Rainbow was going to be back?” Alex asked for what seemed to be the third time that evening.

“Sometime after the clouds pass on Alex. I know you like her, but she can’t be rushed-” Gilda started before a knock came from the door. Gilda got up and looked to see who it was. She opened the door and saw a soaked Rainbow Dash. “Whoa. Dash did you take a dip into the lake?”

“Something like that.” Rainbow said as she walked in. She looked through the fridge a bit before popping her head up. “Hey, do we have any chocolate milk by any chance?”

“What? Um, we should but why-” Gilda started before she saw that Rainbow picked up a whole quart and chugged it down easily. She knew Rainbow had a sweet tooth before but that was enough sugar to make her active for several hours.

After making short work of the beverage, she went for an entire cake, gorging herself to a sickening level on any form of sweets she could find.

“MORE!” Rainbow Dash yelled, tackling Gilda and forcing her tongue inside the griffon’s beak.

“Um, Gilda?” Rainbow asked snapping Gilda out of that short fantasy. She then saw that Dash was still hunched over the cake.

“Yeah what is it Dash?”

“I just asked if we had anymore chocolate stuff.”

“Oh…. um no. Sorry.” Gilda said rubbing her head awkwardly. Rainbow sighed as she walked away from the cake.

“Ah dang it.” Rainbow said as she headed out again.

“Where are you going this time?”

“Oh…. late night practices.” Rainbow said through a small chuckle before exiting the door and vanished into the night air.

“So… The symbiote is here?” A shadowed figure said, joined by another.

It was not his place to question her. He trusted her and knew him better than anypony. But the creature, especially one as violent as the symbiote, would not take its place in Ponyville. At least, not without reason.

“Yes brother… Fear not… It shall not be much longer.” The smaller of the two said. The smaller one’s stature was evident enough to those who saw it as being a mare’s body.

“Indeed sister, for if it is… You know the price of failing… The Shadow King.” The older one said as it slipped into shadows. The smaller one just sighed.

“I’m sorry Rainbow… but either he gets the symbiote… or he kills you and the others.” She said as she went over the plan one more time in her mind. She did hope the psionic blast didn’t hurt the host or the symbiote too bad when the time came.

“Okay Rainbow get in the zone… Yeah, you’re in the zone… The superhero zone… Okay… Now what?” Rainbow said to herself, in a sleeker version of her Venom form, as she sat on one of the buildings in Ponyville, looking around for something to do.

“Okay… They make this look easier in the comics.” Rainbow said as she leaped from a rooftop and stuck a webline under her. She then turned upside down and hung from it a bit with her hooves. Hours passed as the night remained silent.

There was nothing in this night that would cause her to leap into action. One portion of her was grateful. As for the other…

‘When do we get to prove our worth,’ a slithering voice entered her mind. Rainbow Dash turned behind her trying to find the source of the voice. She nearly face hoofed herself, forgetting about the other half.

“Jeez Venom, don’t do stuff like that when I’m thinking okay?” Rainbow glanced out to the city square of Ponyville. Compared to cities like Las Pegasus, Manehattan, or Canterlot, Ponyville was a mildly peaceful town. At least, in the crime rate. A small town added on top of the fact that everypony was known by Pinkie Pie made it nearly impossible for petty crimes to be committed.

Almost. Crime still happened. And Pinkie Pie wasn’t a cop. Nor did she want to be. Rainbow didn’t exactly blame her. “I’m looking, but crime just isn’t happening.”

‘Unacceptable. Our plan was to devastate Mare-Do-Well! Roaming the city is pointless. We must act.’ Venom replied.

Rainbow raised her eyebrow, tilting her head. She didn’t know why. Venom was unable to see her. Or at least, that’s what she thought. She didn’t think that Venom had any eyes. None that she could see anyway. “Act upon what? There’s nothing happening!”

‘We have played your way. Now we must play our way.’

“And what way is that?”

‘We must attack Mare-Do-Well! Force her to submit!’

Rainbow’s jaw dropped. “I’m not going to commit random violence!

‘It is not random! It is justice! We deserve better! She deserves her heart on a platter!’

“WHAT?! OH COME ON DUDE THAT’S WRONG! I MEAN FIRST OFF THAT WOULD LAND US IN JAIL WITH A LIFE SENTENCE! AND SECOND OF ALL WHAT IF IT’S ANOTHER OF MY FRIENDS?!” Rainbow exclaimed with a fearful tone in her voice.

‘We said they were suggestions and We think they’ll make your life a lot easier… Soon We will bond fully, and by that time things won’t be as they are now. We will be as close as close can be, and you will feel our influence more strongly… So until then it’s in our best interest to make things as easy for that future as possible!’

“Yeah but I mean aren’t we already bonded fully? I… I just don’t want to hurt my friends-”

‘Yet where have THEY been? By your side? Comforting you and helping you? Have they done anything to make you feel special? No. None of them have done this. They only care about MARE-DO-Well. Why…. who knows… maybe GILDA would like her better.’

“Shut, the buck up… You stupid… Sack of… Slime…” Rainbow growled, as Venom smiled from within her mind… She was angry now… And for Venom it was as sweet as the finest wine.

“You mention that again and I’ll take us the to nearest bell tower and see how long you can last!”

‘Why? Are you scared that it’s true? That they would do that? Face it Rainbow. They don’t like you anymore. Not since SHE came in to the picture. They’ll abandon you. They’ll scorn you…. they’ll forget about you. But not us. We will not abandon you. We will always be there for you…. but first there is an obstacle We must get rid of. If you want us and your friends…. KILL MARE-DO-WELL.’

“...... what do I do?”

‘Make her suffer...’

“Yes…”

‘Make her wish she were dead...’

“Yes…”

“FIRST WE ATTACK HER HEART!” Venom roared as she took on her more monstrous form, swinging off as her green saliva dripped down from her salivating maw.

“Hehehehehehe…. hehehehehehahahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Why dating a Griffoness is great

“Alright… What to do… What to do…” Venom said, pacing back and forth. “Maybe we could start messing stuff up and blame her…. no no no. That’s too obvious. Perhaps cause another dam leak…. no We won’t live with ourselves if innocent ponies die…. damn it this is harder than We thought.” Venom said as her mask slid back. “Ah dammit. I think I’m gonna hit the hay. Maybe We can think of better ideas that way okay Venom?” Rainbow asked her partner who purred in her mind a yes. With that said she took off into the night sky towards her home. “Hm… I hope no one is using my bedroom. I would PAY to see if Gilda beat anypony up who did that.”

“Hello fillies and colts… It’s your ol’ pal Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie Pie said, strumming on a banjo, sitting in front of a crowd of children, among them being Gilda’s son Alex.

“This is a song about a whale… NO! This is a song about being happy that’s right!” Pinkie Pie said as she began to strum at a steady pace.

“It’s the Happy Happy Joy Joy Song! Sing along! Happy, happy, joy joy, happy happy, joy joy, happy happy joy joy joy!” Pinkie Pie then stopped strumming and singing, abruptly.

“I don’t think you’re happy enough! I’ll teach you to be happy! I’LL TEACH YOUR GRANDMOTHER TO SUCK EGGS!” Pinkie Pie glared at Apple Bloom who was sitting in the audience. She instantly started strumming again and smiled.

“Come on fillies and colts! Let’s try it again! Happy, happy, joy joy, happy happy, joy joy, happy happy joy joy joy!” Pinkie Pie sang, but before she could continue Rainbow Dash burst through the door, looking panicked.

“Pinkie Pie, Gilda’s kid is missing!” She screamed in terror, her eyes wide. Pinkie Pie got a stern look on her face and glared at Rainbow Dash.

“If’n you ain’t the Granddaddy of all LIARS!”

“No I’m serious I was at my home and he wasn’t there and…. and he’s here…. okay that’s…. okay. Wait WHY is Alex here?”

“Oh silly filly! Gilda stopped by while you were gone to try and make friends with all the ponies she insulted! I was first DUH!” Pinkie said in an obvious tone.

“In the middle of the night?”

“She wanted to get it over with.” Pinkie said. “Oh and speaking of her I think Gilda’s over there!” Pinkie said pointing with her hoof over to Gilda arguing with something but Rainbow couldn’t see as it was covered by shadows.

“Uh.. Thanks Pinks… See ya later.” Rainbow said as Pinkie Pie turned back to her audience.

“Where was I? Oh yeah! The little critters of nature… They don’t know that they’re ugly! That’s very funny, a fly marrying a bumblebee! I TOLD YOU I’D SHOOT BUT YOU DIDN’T BELIEVE ME! WHY DIDN’T YOU BELIEVE ME?!”

“He’s my kid too Gilda, I just want…” The shadowed figure said as Gilda glared, causing him to stop mid sentence.

“No, he’s not. He’s not YOUR kid, he’s mine. I gave birth to him, I raised him, I was there for him, you weren’t. End of discussion.” Gilda said as she walked away. The figure sighed as he spread his wings and flew off. Rainbow walked in just as the shadow figure disappeared.

“So who was that G?” Rainbow asked bluntly. Not wanting to wait longer than necessary.

“A relic from my past that I tried to bury. What’s up Dash?”

“Oh…. nothing just…. wandered why you weren’t home.”

“I tried coming out to make up with the ponies here after what I did. I didn’t know that they were none awake but Pinkie Pie… who SERIOUSLY is starting to scare me Dash.” Gilda said with a shudder.

“Trust me G. She’s a good mare… just a little crazy.”

“Yeah… I guess, but…” Gilda said, as she noticed said pink pony brandishing her banjo at the collection of kids and smashing it to pieces on the ground.

“... I’m not so sure.” Gilda said, before rushing into Sugarcube Corner and snatching Alex out quickly before anything escalated.

“THANK YOU PONYVILLE! GOOD NIGHT!”

“Kirby, Kirby, Kirby, that’s a name you should know! Kirby, Kirby, Kirby, he’s the star of the show! He’s comes’a riiiiiiiiiiight! Back at ya….”

The theme song of a cartoon played as Alex watch TV. Gilda groaned though, having dealt with enough hyper balls of… pinkness for one lifetime.

“Please watch something else Alex…” Gilda said, dragging both paws across her face tiredly. Alex shrugged and did so, turning the channel.

“GOTTA GO FAST! GOTTA GO FAST! GOTTA GO FASTER! FASTER! NOTHING BUT THE FASTER!”

“OH NO!” Rainbow Dash butted in, turning the TV off.

“Lousey Hedgehog getting a TV deal… THAT SHOULD BE ME!” Rainbow Dash ranted, as Gilda rolled her eyes.

“Well Dash, YOU save the planet from some insane, not to mention fat, hairless ape with an army of robots. That’ll get you a TV deal for sure. Oh wait, already been done.” Gilda said, smirking.

“Whatever…. hey guys it’s getting late. Why don’t we all hit the hay? Gilda you can sleep in my room tonight.” Rainbow said with a yawn. Gilda nodded and was about to pick up Alex when she saw that the little hippogriff was already asleep.

“Must’ve fallen asleep when you turned off the TV Dash.” Gilda said as she yawned and picked him up. She walked upstairs and placed Alex in the guest room. She gently placed him in a bed before tucking him in. “Sweet dreams kiddo.” Gilda said as she gently kissed him on the forehead.

“Heh. You really are a good mom G.” Rainbow said outside the room.

“Thanks for the compliment Dash.” Gilda said with a small smile on her face. With that the two friends headed up to Rainbow’s bed room. However before they made it to the other side Gilda accidently knocked over a vase that was inside the house. More out of reflex than anything Rainbow launched out a tendril and caught it… right in Gilda’s line of sight.

“Okay… Explain now or I take Alex and leave.” Gilda glared, as Rainbow froze.

“W-What do you…” Rainbow stammered, but Gilda’s slight growl stopped her.

“Look, I don’t know if you’re a Changeling right now or something else, so you better start explaining and it better a be a DAMNED good one or else you’re getting the beating of a lifetime!”

“Alright…. I am Rainbow Dash though okay Gilda just to get that out of the way. Okay… i can do this… a few days ago I was enjoying being the only hero in Ponyville and I started to let the whole ego stuff get to my head. I REALLY should’ve been more attentive but then… then SHE came into the picture.” Rainbow growled herself. “Mare-Do-Well. I don’t know WHO she is or WHY she wants to be this town’s personal little guardian but I can assure you the only thing she’s done? Is STEAL MY THUDNER!” Rainbow roared at Gilda who actually flinched. “Sorry… I just… talking about her REALLY riles me up. Anyways after she saved some construction workers from a failing structure, something I could’ve been fast enough to do mind you, I… I fell into a bit of a depression. Seriously G. It was a dark time in my life.” Rainbow sighed. Gilda’s beak just dropped to the ground. Who… the BUCK did this… Mare-Do-Loser think she was doing hurting Rainbow like this. If she got her claws on her.

“Okay that’s sad and all but that’s NOT explaining what just happened.” Gilda said sternly.

“Right… anyways I went to an old abandoned church, I really need to go back there soon anyways, and started praying…. yeah Gilda. I PRAYED. Name the last time you heard me pray.” Rainbow asked.

“I… honestly I don’t know.”

“Exactly. I rarely do that Gilda. I was low… really low… so low I…. I really considered…. kicking the bucket early.” Rainbow said somberly. “But then…. fate lead me to this thing. This…. symbiote.”

“What is it?”

“I think I should let it show you the rest of the story.”

“What?” Gilda deadpanned, before the symbiote latched onto her forehead… Images and memories flooding into her mind. Images of her friend turning into a black fanged monster, calling herself Venom, bashing two different Mare-Do-Wells who turned out to be…. her friends? But the way she was talking about her made her seem that Mare-Do-Well was somepony else. A single pony and then she suddenly felt Rainbow’s emotion. Maybe they were forced into wearing those outfits. It made the most sense. By then the symbiote had detached itself from her mind. Gilda then collapsed in exhaustion and got to her knees.

“All of that…. in the four months I’ve been gone?” Gilda asked, eyes wide in shock.

“Yeah… Been busy.” Rainbow said, scratching the back of her head nervously.

“I’ll say…” Gilda sighs as she gets up. She glances over at Rainbow Dash, as if looking for words.

“Look, all I can say is… You got one fucked up life ya know that?”

‘War Journal: Entry 281

I’ve been tracking this thing called Venom for a couple weeks now. Shows up sporadically in this place called Ponyville. Openly attacked resident superhero known as Mare-Do-Well… Hostile intentions? Criminal? Can’t say for sure now. Will need further surveillance to verify.’

“Well…. how can I help Dash?” Gilda asked. The question just happened so suddenly it took Rainbow by complete surprise.

“Um… can you repeat that?”

‘Indeed. We also wish to hear that repeated.’ The symbiote said in Rainbow’s mind.

“You heard me. How can I help? It’s clear that whoever this Mare-Do-Well nag is? She needs to be shown who’s the real hero around here.” Gilda said with a fire in her eyes.

“Well… no. Gilda I’m not asking nor am I wanting you to help me on this. This is between me and Mare-Do-Well. I don’t want to drag you into this…. plus I don’t know how Alex would stand it if you were tossed into jail if this thing goes sideways and I end up being a criminal.” Rainbow said as her suit sprouted tentacles from behind her.

“As long as you don’t rat me out… What could happen?”

“Well we could get booted out of town, be on the run from the law for the rest of our lives, never settling down in one town ever again…. yeah nothing too bad. Now then…. what would you like to look like?”

“Come again.”

“Come on G! This is the thinking part. I don’t want them recognizing you so you need a new face… a new identity. I didn’t stick with MINE when I became Venom did I?”

“Dash… This is stupid.” Gilda said, her face obscured by a child’s Nightmare Night mask, a jack-o-lantern mask to be precise. She was also covered in cheap plastic chains, and had plastic knight armor, with a rubber sword in her paw.

“What’re you talking about? Ya look great!” Rainbow said, as she patted her on the back reassuringly. Gilda slapped her in the face with the rubber sword and ripped off the cheaply made costume.

“I am NOT wearing something you’d get a hatchling for Nightmare Night!” Gilda said as she stormed off.

“Wait! You didn’t see the skull shield it came with!” Rainbow said, chasing after the griffon frantically.

“Is it rubber too?” Gilda asked, glaring out of the corner of her eyes, as Dash shook her head.

“No, no, no, no… Tin?” Rainbow said sheepishly as Gilda huffed away.

“Okay… MAYBE I should try an actual costume shop next time and not the discount section at Barnyard Bargains.”

“Ya think?”

“Well what do you think would be a better outfit then? It’s not like I can just go out and get a REAL pumpkin to just…. wait one second.” Rainbow said as she flew out a nearby window.

“I don’t know if I should be worried or not.” Gilda said to herself. A few seconds later Rainbow came back with a carved and hollowed out pumpkin. A few minutes later said pumpkin was slapped onto Gilda’s head. “Dash… explain…. now.”

“It’s scary!” Dash said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“HOW THE FUCK IS THIS SCARY?! IT DOESN’T EVEN LOOK REMOTELY SCARY! PLUS IT LOOKS MOLDY IN HERE! DID YOU EVEN CUT OUT ANY EYEHOLES FOR THIS THING?!” Gilda yelled and heard Alex moving upstairs. A moment later he was hovering down next to them.

“Something wrong mom?”

“No Alex! Go back to sleep!” Gilda yelled. “Now Dash. Explain WHY this is scary. You have ten seconds…. nine…. eight…. seven…. six-”

“IT’S A JACK-O-LANTERN! THOSE ARE SCARY!” Rainbow snapped, as Alex just looked confused.

“Alex, sweetie… Go to your room.” Gilda said, giving her son a look that told him not to argue.

“Uh… Sorry?” Rainbow tried, but Gilda just plucked the pumpkin from her head… And proceeded to slam it over the pegasus’ own head, smashing it in the process.

“Yeah… It looks better on you.”

Sanity? The Tartarus is this?

“Okay so Dash… remind me WHY you thought a pumpkin on my head was a good idea?” Gilda asked as Rainbow still wiped some pumpkin bits off her head from the pumpkin she tore off her head earlier.

“I thought it would look scary! I mean come on Jack-O-Lanterns are FREAKY Gilda.” Rainbow explained as though it was obvious. Gilda just sighed as she slumped into a chair.

“Look Dash I get why you’re wanting me to have the outfit and everything but honestly? That kiddie outfit was sad and the pumpkin you just… jammed onto my head was just weird.” She said as she felt through her head and pulled out a pumpkin seed before tossing it to the side.

“It’s only weird if you MAKE it weird!” Rainbow said as she looked offended.

“Okay that might have worked in flight camp to get me to kiss you, but that’s NOT gonna change my mind on this.” Gilda said as she tossed the Nightmare Night costume out of the house, it falling the hundreds of feet to the ground below.

“Hey! I paid 11 bits for that!” Rainbow said, looking rather irate, as Gilda just glared.

“You’re telling me you wanted me to wear something that cost 11 bits as a ‘supervillain’ costume?” Gilda said in an almost growl. The cyan pegasus backed up a bit.

“Well… Okay when you put it like THAT it sounds bad, but honestly what was I supposed to do?! Hope that Venom can just spawn another symbiote for you to use?!” Rainbow Dash snapped back.

‘Actually Rainbow Dash…’ The symbiote started, but its host was not in the mood.

“Not now Venom!” Rainbow yelled at her suit. Gilda just rubbed in between her eyes as she sat down.

“Look do you have… ANYTHING at all that can be called a ‘super-villain’ outfit? Maybe you can let me borrow Venom-”

“NO! VENOM IS MINE!” Rainbow snarled as she clutched her body as though Gilda was going to tear off her skin.

“Whoa jeez okay. I won’t take him.”

“Good! Because.. he’s mine and… no one elses…. I feel I’m forgetting something. Doesn’t matter right now okay! Point is you NEED an outfit… and a pumpkin for a mask.”

“Oh come on does it HAVE to be a pumpkin?”

“Yes.”

“Any particular reason?”

“I like Jack-O-Lanterns alright?! Trust me it’s gonna grow on ya!”

“Yeah… Doubt it.”

“Come on! Just go with this!”

“Dash… I don’t even LIKE pumpkins!”

“Hey look Daddy! It’s Mare-Do-Well!” A little colt said excitedly as he noticed his hero walking through the streets.

“WHERE’S THE BLACKSMITH?!” Yelled “Mare-Do-Well” as she lumbered through the streets holding a key in one hoof.

“Why does she wanna know where the blacksmith is?” The colt asked in a slightly afraid tone.

“WHERE’S THE BLACKSMITH?!” Again yelled “Mare-Do-Well” in a demonic voice.

“MAKE HER GO AWAY! MAKE HER GO AWAY!” The colt yelled.

“MY NAME IS MARE-DO-WELL!” Once again yelled “Mare-Do-Well” as the colt hugged his father’s leg.

“WHY IS SHE USING THE KEY ON THE LADDER?!” The colt screamed in terror.

“WHERE’S THE BLACKSMITH?!” Screamed “Mare-Do-Well” as she beat the key she was holding on a ladder.

“WHY IS SHE HOLDING A RAKE?!”

“WHERE DO I USE THIS RAKE?! WHERE DO I USE THE RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE?!”

“Okay Dash…. That is the STUPIDEST plan I have EVER heard of. I mean you’ve had some bad ones in the past but that’s the DUMBEST.”

“Come on! It’s all psychological! Psych them out and stuff!”

“Yeah well that version of it is IDIOTIC.”

“Oh like YOU got a plan.”

“Actually I do. Alex’s dad, an asshole that he is, did teach me a little something though. To hurt somepony you have to RUIN their rep. Your version? Might work in a town full of morons. This town isn’t THAT dumb… is it?”

“Meh. It’s mixed. Trust me it gets confusing but you get used to it.” Rainbow said nonchalantly.

“Riiight. Anyways here’s what I think we should do. You, with your alien buddy, turn into Mare-Do-Well and start doing bad things. You know. Shoplifting and stuff like that. I’ll….. I’ll put on a stupid Jack-O-Lantern outfit to try to increase the fear. Then out of nowhere? WHOOSH! In comes Venom and saves the day! Mare-Do-Well is nowhere to be found but a short fight with Jack shows how much of a coward she is.”

“Alright… But if that doesn’t work Operation: Where’s the Blacksmith is still a go!”

“Okay but you are NOT calling it that. AT ALL.” Gilda said in a deadly serious tone.

“Doubt it…. also you’re not gonna-”

“If you think I’m SERIOUSLY consider killing a pony then you really do have your head in the clouds.” Gilda said. Rainbow took a moment as her brain processed that… she’d heard that before.

“Hey um… G… is your former boyfriend a Hippogriff by any chance?” Rainbow asked. As usual when asked Gilda became quiet and turned her eyes away from her. “Oh… right… no asking about him. Sorry.” Rainbow said.

“Nah it’s fine Dash… hey don’t you have a pumpkin to fetch?”

Manehatten was a city of light. This much was obvious but the title is not as well received as most ponies would believe. Especially to one who just walked into an alleyway.

“Okay… the shortcut was this way right…. no was it the other way? Ah damn it… oh well I’m sure you and I will still get along GREATLY though my little friend.” A stallion said as he rubbed what could only be described as a red tentacle. He walked a little further when he came across a pony who, after walking two more steps, pulled out a knife and held it out to him.

“Hey buddy. Give me every last bit you own.” The pony said in a gruff voice. Holding the knife crudely in his hoof. The stallion only looked at the knife before slowly chuckling.

“Oh dear me! It seems me and my friend are going to be robbed! Too bad…. for you Mr. Mugger!” The stallion said. The pony holding the knife only looked at him in confusion before he felt something… wet grab his hoof. He looked down only to see the hoof he had the knife in was now grabbed by a red tendril. Before he could even react the tendril twisted it into a VERY awkward and painful position and caused the bone inside to splinter and then shatter. His scream was akin to a little filly. “Now now don’t scream. I’ll only be TEN SECONDS and ALL your pain will be gone… I think.” The stallion said as the red tendril receded only to have his body covered by a red and black sludge. His eyes, once brown and cold, now showed empty pale white eyes and razor sharp black teeth. All four of his hooves now sprouted claws that were sharpened to almost sword level sharpness.

“W-WHAT KIND OF FREAK ARE YOU?!”

“Who am I? Hm… good question… I think the best answer is in what I love to cause and that my friend… is pure… uncontrolled… CARNAGE!” The creature roared as it leapt towards the stallion with it’s mouth in a permanent grin.

“Gilda… We need to talk.” Rainbow Dash said, just coming from helping Alex into bed, as Gilda looked up from her costume project.

“What about?” Gilda said, looking at the pegasus. Rainbow sighed as if she was looking for the right words.

“Spit it out Dash.” The griffon said as Rainbow realized she was taking longer than she intended. Taking a deep breath she just said what she had on her mind.

“Did you… Was Alex… Did you get raped?” Rainbow said, closing her eyes and cringing a bit, waiting for the possible tirade of anger to be thrown her way. She knew two things. If she was right, Gilda would be mad that she brought it up. If she was wrong… Gilda would be mad that she brought it up. Lose, lose scenario, but she had to know.

“BWA HA HA HA HA HA!” Gilda laughed, rolling on the floor now, suddenly remembering her son was already in bed so she clamped her paw over her beak and forced back the laughter. After a few moments she got up and looked at Rainbow Dash in the eye.

“You SERIOUSLY think anyone outside an alicorn or demigod could do that to me?” Gilda said as Rainbow facehoofed.

“Secondly… What brought this on?” Gilda asked as Rainbow now looked a bit ashamed.

“You did… I mean the last time you were here it wasn’t the best and then you show up with a kid and I realized that… I missed out on so much with you. I should have tried harder to stay in touch I know, but I was busy and… And then you come here with Alex and now I can’t even THINK about going out with you because you’re into guys now and…”

“Dash… stop.” Gilda said in a very bossy like tone. Rainbow stopped mid-sentence as she looked at her friend’s eyes. “I… I have tried going out with guys and honestly there have been some hot ones out there I won’t lie. Alex… Alex is the one good thing that came out of me being what I am. I’m a hard Griffon to keep up with Rainbow.” Gilda said with a small smirk on her face.

“Wait… so are you… are you wanting to go out on a date sometime?”

“Too soon Dash… I get how you feel and I want to say I feel the same way but I don’t know yet. It’s still… hard for me to admit it but I think I’m slowly accepting what I am.” Gilda said as she walked up and hugged her friend.

Milk or Malk?

“Hey Twilight, you got any malk?” Pinkie Pie asked as Twilight looked at her oddly.

“I don’t have any ‘malk’ but I have milk.” The unicorn said as she poured herself a glass of milk.

“But… That’s what she said.” Vinyl Scratch, Pinkie Pie’s other close friend said as she sat down next to Pinkie Pie.

“No, she’s saying it wrong. You’re saying ‘malk’ which sounds like some kind of disease, instead of the way EVERYPONY else says it… Which is milk. M-I-L-K.” Twilight explained, like she was talking to a grade schooler, as Pinkie and Vinyl began to try and fight back their laughter.

“Yeah like 2%.” Vinyl said as she nudged Pinkie Pie.

“Yep, whole malk!” The party planner said as Twilight growled a little.

“Okay say milkshake.”

“Milkshake.”

“Now say milk.”

“Malk.” Pinkie replied as Twilight facehoofed, before turning to Vinyl with a disbelieving look on her face.

“Are you hearing this?!” She asked frustratedly as the DJ silently snickered before responding.

“Yeah, the lady wants a glass of mulk!” Vinyl said as Twilight stared wide-eyed at both of them.

“MULK?!” The lavender unicorn said in utter shock as Vinyl jumped up on Twilight’s table and stared her in the face.

“IT IS PRONOUNCED MILK DUMB ASS!” Twilight shouted before she heard something loud from on top of the building the trio was in.

“TWILIGHT! POUR ME A GLASS OF MALK!” Pinkie yelled as Twilight backed away from the two.

“You stay right here and we’ll get RIGHT back into the discussion of Milk okay?” Twilight asked.

“Okay!” Pinkie said before Twilight lit up her horn to teleport to the rooftop.

“What was that about Pinks?” Vinyl asked.

“What was what?” Pinkie asked. Vinyl was about to start when she got a blank look on her face.

“Huh…. I don’t remember.”

“We’re here for your malk and/or mulk Twilight Sparkle!” Venom said as she loomed over Twilight, who just screamed… Not in fear, but in a surprising display of anger, as she began to wildly fire at Venom. Very large… Very fast…. Bolts of magic.

“HOLY CRAP!” Venom shouted as she tried to move only to get hit by a grand total of five magic blasts.

“YOU KNOW?! I WAS TRYING TO MAKE A PLAN WHERE THIS WOULD BE LESS PAINFUL BUT YOU KNOW WHAT?! BUCK IT! I AM TEARING THAT THING OFF YOU PIECE BY PIECE!” Twilight shouted as she readied and blasted a bolt that she rarely used. A sonic bolt. The blast hit Venom dead on and caused a high pitched sound that only dogs could hear.

“GAH! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!” Venom roared in pain as the symbiote lashed out before showing the pony underneath but only briefly.

“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight stopped when she saw the tell-tale rainbow mane under the goo for a split second. “No… of course it would be you. I’m sorry but I need that suit.” Twilight said as she readied another sonic spell.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING VENOM?!” A voice called out as Venom looked up to see the all-too familiar form of Mare-Do-Well leaping at her. Suddenly Venom growled as the symbiote changed into a dark and distorted version of the other heroine.

“YOU VENOM! ME MARE-DO-WELL!” Venom said in a sort of broken vocabulary.

‘Whoa! Venom what the hay was that?!’

‘Me am hurt! Bad hurt cause brain hurt!’

‘So you mean that until the sound goes away you’re gonna talk like this?!’

‘Yes am!’

“ME AM SMASH!” The Venom clone of Mare-Do-Well roared as it tackled the original. Twilight just looked at them before readying a sound blast again and launched it at the two Mare-Do-Wells.

“GAH! CITIZEN I’M JUST TRYING TO HELP!” Mare-Do-Well shouted before Twilight bucked her to the side.

“Stay out of this Pinkie!” Twilight growled as she turned to the symbiote and began pulling it away from Dash. Before she could succeed she saw a flash on metal and the symbiote she was pulling on separated and became a small symbiote.

“Boys and girls of every age….” A voice sang out, as beautiful as a trained choirist.

“.... Wouldn’t you like to see something strange….” The voice sang out again, interrupting the struggle as the fighters began to really take notice of it.

“... Come with us and you will see….” They never noticed the being sneaking up behind them.

“.... This our town, of nightmares unseen…” The voice softly sang as Twilight and Mare-Do-Well fell over unconscious.

“Dash you okay?” The figure asked as Venom shambled around like a drunk sailor.

“We are Groot!” Venom said still dazed, before the figure slapped her upside the head and shook her.

“Better?”

“Um… y-yeah it’s better. If you don’t mind us asking… how did you knock out Twilight and Mare-Do-Well?” Venom asked before the figure blushed and stepped into the light. The figure had a armored appearance and orange clawed gloves. It’s back had brown unkempt feathers and it’s head was covered by a freaky Jack-O-Lantern face.

“Um…. don’t think of me differently but… Star Trot.” The figure said preparing to face the worst. Venom’s face peeled back to reveal Rainbow Dash who was just TRYING to contain her laughter… and failing amazingly.

“HA! Nerd, everypony knows Doctor Whooves is the best sci-fi show around!”

Author's Note

I hope everypony enjoyed the little comedy break... because as of the next chapter Venom and Jack take on their first super-villain... and this time Sinner Takes All!

Sinner Takes All

“Okay Dash we got one unconscious unicorn and one knocked out super-hero. What was the plan again?” Gilda, still in her Jack-O-Lantern outfit, asked Rainbow who was pacing back and forth on top of Sugarcube Corner.

“Well… we could unmask Mare-Do-Well and then just leave these two on the roof… make for an interesting conversation between the two later. Or we could just… you know leave them alone…. nah screw it We’re SO taking off MDW’s stupid mask.” Rainbow said with a grin. A black tendril then appeared at the edge of her hoof as it slowly find the crevice where the mask met the skin and then started to lift the mask off.

“HALT! IT IS I! MARE-DO-WELL’S EVIL TWIN HERE TO STOP YOU!” The pair looked to see an identical Mare-Do-Well standing there.

“Uh… Then WHY are you trying to stop us?” Gilda asked as the “twin” faltered a bit, apparently having not anticipated that question.

“Yeah, if you’re her evil twin then shouldn’t you WANT us to beat her? Come to think of it, why are you dressed exactly like her?” Venom asked as the so-called evil twin just stood still, an awkward silence filling the air.

“Because… OH LOOK! IT’S FILLY-DO-GOOD!” The other Mare-Do-Well pointed to a filly wearing a red and white version of the Mare-Do-Well but it was clear from the way she was just standing she couldn’t care less about being here.

“Just so you know, I was promised a tour of the Marecave and I’m pretty sure this counts as child endangerment.” The so-called “Filly-Do-Good” said, and Rainbow Dash instantly recognized her as Scootaloo. She was then grabbed by the Evil Mare-Do-Well, and thrown at Venom. Scootaloo slid off Venom’s face like a pancake lobbed at a wall… And revealed a not so happy Venom.

“ARE YOU BUCKING CRAZY?! WHO THROWS A FILLY AT SOMEPONY LIKE US?! FOR ALL YOU KNOW WE COULD BE SOME CRAZED PSYCHO-KILLER!” Venom growled as she started marching towards the “Evil” Mare-Do-Well. “So on top of taking our thunder… you use FILLIES to fight your battles?! YOU! ARE! A! COWARD MARE-DO-WELL!” Venom roared and with each step her face started to become monstrous as she said these words. Soon Mare-Do-Well saw a giant ebony black figure.

“I think we-” What she would’ve said Venom never heard as she wrapped a tendril around the “Evil” Mare-Do-Well’s throat and began squeezing her neck.

“We’re going to make you suffer every indignity you made Us go through. We’re going to suffocate the life from you and then unmask you for the coward that you really are… and then? We’re… going… to eat.. your… BRAINS!” Venom yelled at the top of her lungs before she opened her jaws to an impossible length. Suddenly a shotgun blasted the face apart. Everyone turned to see… a hockey mask.

“Weird… the 13th came early this year?” Venom asked as she slowly repaired her face.

“Been trackin’ ya for days Venom… Looks like the rumors were true.” A gruff voice said as everyone noticed the skull symbol was on a thick vest, that belonged to a jet-black diamond dog. On his back was were several weapons of diamond dog design. His cold grey eyes sent shivers up everyone’s spine, as if they were looking into his very soul and he into theirs… These were the eyes of someone who had seen and done things that no one but himself or others like him could fathom… he was a killer and he loved it. “If you would be so kind Mare-Do-Well as to move out of the way. This walking pile of trash needs to be taken out.” The Diamond Dog said as he cocked his Shotgun. Surprisingly the mare didn’t move from her spot.

“No can do. This is between me and the filthy little lawbreaker… and Nightmare Night decoration apparently.” Mare-Do-Well said. The Diamond Dog growled and saw how protective the Pumpkin wearing griffon was standing in front of Venom. Grunting he aims a pistol and shoots the griffon in the leg.

“NO!” Venom roared. Faster than a thought she leapt into the air and grabbed the diamond dog and started pounding his head into the ground. Each blow she dealt to him ended up drawing a little bit of blood before she wrapped a tentacle around his neck. Not even thinking she throws him into the building itself before leaping down to pin him. “We’re going to kill you… no not even kill. TORTURE is a better word… and then your brains are going to exit your head and enter our belly.” Venom snarled as her mouth opened up and revealed several serrated teeth. She was inches away when a sniffling sound was heard. She looked behind her and saw that Scootaloo already had her mask off. Looking back down at the beaten and bloodied creature before growling and head butting him and knocking him out. She flew back up and looked at Scootaloo. “We’re sorry you had to see that… but We’re not the bad mares here.” Venom said as she walked over and picked up Jack-O-Lantern. Before she leaves she hears a small voice.

“W-why Rainbow…. I-I know it’s you…. b-but why?” Scootaloo asked. Venom was silent for a few seconds, unsure how to answer this. In the end she just resorted to flying off into the clouds.

W-why Rainbow? The question still bugged Venom as she flew back home. She landed on the front porch, having pulled the bullet out of Gilda’s leg before splinting it herself and having the suit become a sort of first aid super glue.

“You know Dash that thing might be a medical examiner’s big break if you-”

“Why did We do this Gilda?” Venom asked. Gilda just looked at her with a raised eye brow as she takes her mask off.

“What do you mean Dash?” Venom just sighed as her form turned back into Rainbow’s original form.

“I mean why do I try to ruin Mare-Do-Well? I hate her…. I get that I hate her… but why? Is it because she’s a better hero and I’m jealous? Or…. or is it because I see her as a mirror for myself. She doesn’t ask for praise but I do. She could’ve turned down an offer to show up at a parade but I’d perform a Sonic Rainboom at a moments call. Not to save the day but just to show I can. Am… am I the bad guy here Gilda?” Rainbow asked her. Inside her even the symbiote seemed… conflicted. It wasn’t used to different emotions at once like this. Anger was normal and hers was still there… but it tasted… wrong… disgusting.

“Well… what do you think Rainbow? I’d support you either way but this is your call.”

“I know… just… I need some rest. I haven’t had any of it in a while.” She said as she flew up into a open window… before flying back down.

“Hey Gilda you wanna sleep in the same bed? It doesn’t have to be weird but… I don’t want to sleep alone tonight.” Rainbow said with a blush. Gilda rolled her eyes but she had a smile that betrayed her answer early on. “Thank you G.”

The first thing Rainbow noticed was wrong was that she was falling. Not towards the ground but in an endless abyss and for some reason her wings weren’t working. She flailed around aimlessly until she lands on something sticky. Panicking she looks around quickly and tries to summon Venom… and for the first time the symbiote doesn’t flow over her form.

“O-oh Faust no. NO! SOMEPONY HELP!” She shouts. Looking around once more she sees that she’s landed on a web… and soon sees the one that weaved it. While not as big as a building the creature in front of her was a giant red and blue spider. Crawling ever so slowly as it could over to her it snapped its jaws… but each snap was more like an accusation.

MONSTER! SNAP!

FREAK! SNAP!

MURDERER! SNAP!

LIAR! SNAP!

“SHUT UP! I AM NOT A MONSTER OR A FREAK! I NEVER LIED TO ANYONE AND I WILL NEVER KILL ANYPONY!” Rainbow roared as the spider got closer. Whatever effect she thought shouting would do to the spider it wasn’t going to work. Closing her eyes she waited for the spider to bite down.

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!” Rainbow bolted awake just seconds before the giant spider bit down hard. She looked over and saw Gilda snoring peacefully. She turned back over and laid down again… and saw two water drop blank white eyes staring at her.

‘We need to talk.’

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!” Rainbow bolted awake yet again as she felt the cold sweat drip from her body. She looked over to Gilda’s side of the bed and saw that it was empty. Looking around she saw that Venom apparently decided to take residence in the room whenever she slept… as in it covered EVERYTHING.

“Is something wrong Rainbow?”

“No… no it’s fine.” Rainbow said as the symbiote flowed over her and covered her form for a few seconds before slipping away to wherever it is that the symbiote usually hid in. She walked down and saw Alex just sitting and watching TV again. What really caught her attention though was Gilda… and she was cooking. “Hey uh… G? Since… when did you start cooking?”

“Oh about the same time I ended up with a little thing that kept me up at all hours of the night and wouldn’t let me sleep and then grew into something that eats like a dragon with a tapeworm.” Gilda said, motioning toward Alex sitting on Rainbow’s couch. Rainbow chuckled a little as she then heard Alex sighing in frustration, but then suddenly calling them both over to the TV.

“Mom, Miss Dash look!” He said, frantically pointing a little claw at the TV, which showed a picture of none other than Scourge. It was a news broadcast.

“Yes that’s right folks, the serial killer vigilante known as Scourge has been sighted in Ponyville. Residents are in no immediate danger, all known cases state that Scourge only targets those with criminal records. He is a former Diamond Dog soldier known as Nuke, solid white coat, yellow eyes, and stands…”

Rainbow looked at the TV in stunned silence, barely hearing the news anchor drone on.

‘I brought him here… I’m… I’m the bad guy.’ Rainbow thought as she felt tears brimming in her eyes. She then felt Gilda wrap her arm around her and pull her close.

“It’ll be alright Dash... This guy ain’t gonna hurt you or me or anyone else” Gilda said as she tenderly stroke the pegasus’ mane.

‘War Journal Entry 481: Made first contact with Venom… Did not go as smoothly as I hoped. Venom has strength and speed on her side making any form of fighting challenging. Guns just seem to bounce of her. In any case I will need to head off to a different place. Perhaps Manehatten will have some scum that need killing.’

“No… Gilda it’s… it’s not okay.” Rainbow said as she let Gilda stroke her mane. “He came here because of me. He wouldn’t have come here if I wasn’t being the way I’ve been…. I’m the bad mare…. I’m the villain.” Rainbow said as her tears came flowing forth. Before Gilda could say anything another voice spoke.

“No… it’s not your fault. It’s mine.” Both pony and griffon turned around and saw… Mare-Do-Well. “I’m the one who drove you to this. Me and the others. I’m…. we’re so sorry Dash.” With this Mare-Do-Well finally moved a hoof to remove her mask. But surprisingly… Rainbow stops her.

“No. No I don’t WANT to know who’s under the mask anymore. I don’t care WHO it is… I just know that I screwed up and now I nearly got three of my best friends hurt and now…. now I let a psycho find me and nearly hurt someone close to me.” Rainbow said as she finally just fell to the floor crying not even caring that Mare-Do-Well saw her symbiotic tendrils.

“Well… when you get better we’ll be ready to set up a small party. Again… I’m sorry.” Mare-Do-Well said before leaping out an open window. Rainbow just sniffs a little as Gilda and Venom help her up.

“T-thanks Gilda…. you to Venom.” Rainbow said as she patted both claw and tendril. Gilda smiled and hugged Rainbow. Just then the TV showed a news clipping of some pony in a purple and green outfit with a green ski mask aiming a hoof-held shotgun in their hooves just outside town hall. “-and as we warned citizens before stay indoors tonight to be safe. Once more the notorious serial killer Sin Eater is loose-” Rainbow turned off the TV with a tendril before turning to look at Alex.

“Is Aunt Dash gonna stop the bad pony?” Alex asked. Rainbow looked over and was soon struck by a sight almost on par in scale with Fluttershy’s stare… Alex’s puppy dog eyes.

“Well… might as well not wait around. Gilda I’m gonna be out for a bit. Take care of the place while I’m gone?” Rainbow asked. Gilda just smiled.

“No problem Dash.”

The air was hot as a masked mare ran down the streets. A dark shadowy figure followed her from above, but she was unaware of it, too focused on task at hand. Soon the sinners of the town would pay for their crimes. She peaked through the window of her prey… A pegasus filly who could not fly? Such a bastardization of Faust’s law, but this would be rectified soon enough. She readied her shotgun, a modified one taken from Diamond Dog design with a larger trigger guard to allow the use of a hoof, and aimed it at the sleeping filly. Suddenly she was grabbed by some unknown force and dragged through the city at a speed no ordinary pony could muster. She was scrapped along the ground, badly banging her wings on the various rocks and roots sticking out of the ground as she was dragged out of the city and into the edges of the Everfree Forest.

Suddenly the force released her, as she slowly got up, clenching her shotgun. She tried to fly up out of the forest, but the rough ride did a number on her wings. She wouldn’t be flying anytime soon. As she headed back to what she thought was the edge of the forest, she ran into a giant web… It was thick, exceedingly thick. As a passing cloud moved, allowing Luna’s moon to shine down upon the nighttime scenery she saw it… It was a giant corale, webs off in the distance gleaming white. She was trapped.

Suddenly her shotgun was snatched from her hooves, she assumed by the same unknown force who had brought her here. She looked around, eyes in a panic.

”There’s no need for such toys with us… We had plenty of time to think about how to… Repay you for all the ‘good work’ you’ve done.” A dark malevolent voice called out as the masked mare backed up into a tree. She panted, gasping for breath as she removed her mask to breathe better… Causing a surprised gasp to be heard from above her before a dark chuckle echoed from the tree. She looked up as dark green drool came dripping down on top of her. She could vaguely make out a set of snaggletoothed fangs and demonic moving eyes in the darknes above.

“Surprised Raindrops? We used to get surprised, but after you’ve seen what we’ve seen? Not so much anymore.” The voice said as Raindrops ran for her life into the Everfree.

“Oh sorry! Do you prefer Sin-Eater? It’s our first time dealing with a serial killer!” The voice called with slight humor, which made the grounded pegasus all the more terrified. She ran until she tripped over something. She looked down to see it was her shotgun which she immediately grabbed. Suddenly something struck her face, hard. She looked to see nothing there.

“You know, there’s something even monsters are afraid of…” The voice said as another strike followed, this time to her gut.

“That’s losing our family…” Several more strikes followed, sending the so-called Sin-Eater to her haunches as she nursed several broken ribs and spat her knocked out teeth to the ground.

“In other words… You’re going down… Right here… And nopony will ever miss you.” The voice said as Raindrops heard a twig snap behind her. She turned around, aiming her shotgun at a black clad pony.

“I’M WARNING YOU TO BACK OFF!” She yelled, aiming her shotgun and trying to fire it… Only to find there were no shells in it.

“You wanna see something… Really scary?” The black masked mare asked, as her body shifted into a massive hulking form, a tongue flying out of a massive maw of razor sharp fangs that grabbed the serial killer before it by the neck. It lifted her up and began to choke her, bringing her closer to the gnashing maw as she was cut in various places by the teeth of the beast. Suddenly the beast stopped and slowly began to move her out of its mouth… Before stopping and biting off her back legs.

She was then dropped like a sack of proverbial potatoes on the ground, a quivering mess, too afraid to even scream in pain.

“Now, just sit there… And we’ll teach you the ways of the world.” The creature said as it walked up to the terrified mare, looking down at her as its tongue traced along her face.

“You won’t die, we’ll make sure of that.. But we’ve done worse than kill you… We’ve hurt you. And we wish to keep on hurting you for all those who have suffered at your misguided attempts to please Faust… But know this, if you stop right here and now? That will be the end of it. We won’t look for you, we won’t pursue you. But… If we hear of any similar killings? Anything matching your M.O? We WILL look for you… We WILL find you… And we will eat… You… Alive. Slowly, from the stumps up. Are we clear?”

“YES FOR THE LOVE OF FAUST YES!” Raindrops yelled in mixture of fear and excruciating pain as Venom smiled.

“Good, glad to see we could reach an understanding.” Venom then webbed up the bleeding stumps of what used to be Raindrop’s back legs and began to walk off.

“WAIT! YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!” The Sin-Eater yelled as Venom looked over her shoulder.

“Why not? Ya got two legs that ain’t broke.”

“Dash? Dash?” Gilda asked as she realized Rainbow Dash wasn’t in bed. She then felt the familiar weight of the said pegasus on the bed, a hoof wrapping around her.

“Had to take care of something, go back to sleep.” Rainbow whispered. Gilda just smiled at this as she slowly turned over.

“So… how bad did you hurt them?”

“I left two legs still working. They’re okay.” Rainbow said quietly followed by a yawn. As she did this Gilda just closed her eyes and entered the realm of sleep.

A red creature howled in frustration. All these weak pitiful thoughts. Compassion, empathy, right and wrong, it made it sick. Such things had no place being there… Then a smile appeared on its crimson visage… With a mighty effort a large lump of itself was thrown up from its black fanged maw.

“Good riddance to bad rubbish I say.” The creature said as it swung away on a tendril… However unbeknownst to it… The lump began to move.

Of Kings and Monsters

“Rain poured down hard, as if it was trying to wash away the grime of the city. Canterlot looked safe, prim, proper… But that’s just it. Looks safe. Walk down the right back alley or take a wrong turn… And you can find anything.”

A scream shot through the continuous downpour as a being of living shadow sped off in a flash toward the source. Crashing through the window, it saw a burglar standing over a stallion… Either dead or simply knocked out it couldn’t tell. The creature grabbed the masked pony in front of it, lifting it up and slamming his head into the wall before mercilessly punching his face, knocking out several teeth, then going to work on his legs, webbing up his mouth so he wouldn’t alert anyone before it was done… Then it heard sniffling. Not from the filth below it, which quivered in pain, but… It looked over to a closet and saw a young colt hiding in it.

“It’s alright, you can come out…” It called, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible.

“No… You’ll hurt me… You’re a monster.” The colt whimpered, clearly scared to death. The creature shrunk back a little… Then tied up the burglar and left him there.

“We’re not the bad guy kid…” The creature said as it left as fast as it had come. Up on the roof of the building… It’s face retracted as a bright pink mane was revealed… The pure white mare beneath it looked up to the falling rain and sighed.

“I’m not the bad guy.”

“Hey Gilda…. G? You up yet?” Rainbow tried poking and prodding her bedmate several moments before the griffoness wakes up yawning with a mat of rustled feathers.

“Yo Dash?” Gilda asked as she fixed her feathers back into place. “What did ya wake me up for?”

“Because you know what today is.” Rainbow said as Venom began covering her front two hooves.

“Wait… you’re going back today? This soon?” Gilda asked while popping her neck.

“It’s personal… And possibly dangerous…. And I might not come back and…” Gilda kissed Dash right in the mouth.

“Get what you were fishing for?” Gilda smirks, Dash laughing a little as the symbiote formed a black duster over her body.

“I shouldn’t be too long… me and Venom I mean.” Dash said as she hugged her old friend.

Venom sighed as she swung around Ponyville, discreetly, stopping on a nearby ledge. She knew what she had to do, what she wanted to do, and what she absolutely needed to do… The problem being that doing any of these things was that it would make doing the other two impossible or at the very least, very hard to do. Sighing, she looked down and saw a trail of ants crawling on the roof of the building.

“Heh… You guys don’t have anything to worry about do you?” Venom said as she smiled a little at the innocent lives of the industrious ants below her. Suddenly the ants line of motion changed… Spelling something out which read...

“I wouldn’t say that?” Venom read the message out loud, shaking her head then looking back down, seeing the ants back in their straight line. “Huh…. well that was awkward.” Venom said to herself as she jumped off the ledge and landed on the ground in front of Sugarcube Corner. She sighed a little as she walked inside, the symbiote turning into a leather jacket and shirt in the meantime, and saw all five of her friends staring at her. The moment was awkward for at least five minutes before she spoke. “So…. yeah…. I know your secrets now…. and you all know mine….. so…. who talks about it first?” She asked.

“How does that costume do what it does? Where did it come from? Is it some sort of large amoeba or giant single-cell organism? Where does it go when you turn into you?” Twilight fired off questions left and right, her scientific curiosity getting the best of her.

“It’s alive, it’s from space, it’s a symbiote, and… You honestly don’t wanna know.” Rainbow said as she looked at her suit, though that last one is more of an excuse as even she didn’t really know where it went when she wasn’t Venom. “Anymore…. that’s not Twilight? No offense egg-head.”

“Oh…. hehehe…. sorry…. and uh…. sorry about last night I was just a little… eager to see who you were and what that symbiote was.” Twilight says as Rainbow sighs. They went long into the night, everypony asking their own questions and the cyan pegasus doing her best to answer them. It was going well… Until the question she had been dreading came.

“Why Rainbow?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you try and hurt us? I-I mean what we did was bad but…. you tried to KILL us…. you locked me in the church for two days…. I’m claustrophobic and you know that.” Fluttershy said with tears in her eyes.

“The truth…. the truth is…. I hated Mare-Do-Well… I hated her so much because she stole my thunder…. she took away what made me…. well me…. I didn’t mean to hurt any of you…. I might hate Mare-Do-Well… but there’s no doubt in my mind towards the end….. she was the better hero… all I turned out to be was some cheap Anti-Hero who tried to make herself seem like a better hero… I-I’m so sorry girls…. I-I’m so sorry.”

“I-it’s okay Rainbow…. besides Twilight wasn’t the only one who tried to take your symbiote from you.” Fluttershy said. At this Twilight teleported out and back with a tied up purple fured and purple and pink maned unicorn that Rainbow recognized as Derpy’s adopted daughter.

“AMETHYST?! WHAT THE BUCK?!”

“I-I needed it….. he won’t stop torturing me…. S-Sombra is so….. so cruel.” Amethyst said.

“Uh…. who is she talking about?” Rainbow asked and Twilight sighed.

“A powerful shadow creature that invades your mind. Sombra tried to make me one of his but found that my mind was too well guarded…. so he decided on Amethyst… she keeps saying that dreams are what attracts him but and she hasn’t slept in days.” Twilight said as she gently patted Amethyst before turning to Rainbow.

“Okay…. so what do you want me to do?” Twilight only looked sternly at Venom before looking at Rainbow.

“Simple… Rainbow I want Venom to rescue Amethyst from this bastard.”

“YOU HAVE FAILED ME AMETHYST… I WARNED YOU OF YOUR FATE IF YOU FAILED ME.” The giant shadow figure boomed in Amethyst’s mind.

“I-I couldn’t… h-her friends they….. I’m sorry please don’t trap me in another nightmare please!”

The mare was then wrapped tightly into her bed, the heat unbearable from the covers, as a pile of sand began to form at the head of her bed. She closed her eyes when it disappeared, slowly opening one of them to look around the black void that was once her room. She was suddenly thrust into a battlefield, ponies dying all around her, as explosions echoed all around. She then saw a vision… Her mother laying with a stallion not her father… And then her being born. Suddenly a gigantic dragon erupted from the void, it’s breath scorching her as she fell into a whirling torrent of biting mouths of creatures unseen down below her.

A maniacal laugh echoed through the void as she screamed in pure terror.

“Rainbow we don’t have long. She’s going to be consumed by Sombra any second. Can Venom get inside her mind or not?” Twilight asked her.

“Well yeah but…. why should I give her Venom? From what you said she was going to forcefully take him from me anyways to give to this…. Sombra monster. Why should I give him to her?” Rainbow demanded with a little growl.

“Uh… Isn’t it actually genderless?” Twilight asked

“Well… yeah but…. it sounds more like a guy okay? And Venom doesn’t have a problem with being called a him.” Rainbow said quickly.

‘Actually… we’ve yet to actually figure out this gender thing so...’ Venom said, as Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Point is that this crazy nag has tried to steal Venom all for the purpose of giving it to that…. monster. So EXPLAIN Twilight….. why should I give it to her?”

“She’s being controlled Rainbow… I doubt she’s had any control over her actions for a long time. If you don’t… She could end up being a prisoner in her own body for the rest of her life or until Sombra decides she’s no longer useful… If you know what I mean.” Twilight said. Rainbow just looked around for support for her…. but then realized they wouldn’t give it to her and… she kinda saw why…. barely back with them and she’s already acting selfish again…. she lost one pony to her arrogance…. she wasn’t going to let another go that same route.

“Okay…. everypony stand back.” Rainbow said. They all did so as Venom slowly removed itself from her body and covered Amethyst until she was nothing more than a black cocoon. “Now…. we wait.”

Sombra continued to stare down the pathetic mass of pony before him as she writhed in her greatest fears and failures. He couldn’t help but feel a bit of joy at seeing her suffer. After all it’s been so long since he made somepony TRULY suffer. However as he paid attention to her he failed to see the black ooze that was forming right below him.

“I heard you don’t believe in monsters…” The ooze asked as it wrapped around Sombra. He froze… Unable to even move… What was this power? What was this thing that held him in its power.

“Monsters?” He asked as the ooze took form, a colossal black entity, almost like living shadow, with large white eyes that wriggled with a venomous glare, and rows of sharp teeth, towering above him. It cackled as it threw him as hard as it could, the dark king landing right in the middle of the Crystal Empire… Or rather a dark and twisted version of it.

“No such thing as monsters… No such thing…” Sombra said over and over… Trying to reassert control over his realm, but the ooze would have none of it.

“No such thing as monsters? NO SUCH THING AS MONSTERS?!” The ooze roared in pure rage as it slammed him down into the crystal floor, cracking it considerably.

“YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN MONSTERS?!” It roared as Sombra quivered in fear. Suddenly things went quiet. The former king opened his eyes and saw he was in a light grey place, no color… No exit… No nothing. He looked down and saw he was on a black spider-web.

“You want to see something… Really scary?” A pitch black creature said as Sombra turned to come face to face with it, and fell over in shock and terror. It was large, almost like some form of ape, with hands that instead of fingers ended in claws, and walked on two legs, a large white spider emblem on its chest. It’s face, like nothing he had seen before with a long lashing tongue, green saliva dripping from its wide mouth which turned up into a sinister smile full of fangs, and its eyes… Like those of the ooze that had so soundly defeated him.

“Please… NO MORE!” Sombra cried as he tried to cover his eyes. The creature laughed a deep, dark laugh, that shook the entire area.

“Oh, now don’t tell us you’re afraid of good old… VENOM!” It said as it threw Sombra against its web… He slowly opened his eyes, and saw it right in front of him.

“Boo.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Venom rolled back over to Rainbow Dash. After a moment she looked to the rest of them with a nod. Nopony said a word as Rainbow walked away, whether out of shock this… Alien being they had feared did something good or out of respect for Rainbow, she had no idea… Nor did she care.

Overdue Apologies

Just as she was about to leave, Rainbow felt something pull at her tail. Turning around she saw none other than Twilight holding her back with her magic. "Please Dash, please don't leave..." The lavender Unicorn begged, tears threatening to fall. "Please... we-we need to talk..."

"... what's there to talk about? I saved Amethyst and I'm also really tired, I just wanna go back to my home." Rainbow said, desperate to try and escape before she does something really cheesy or something similar.

"It's about you... and us..." Fluttershy said as she approached her. "And what we drove you to..." She explained as she reached out to touch her, only to freeze in fear as the suit itself growled at her.

"Easy Venom..... they're right." Rainbow said as the symbiote still growled but it receded back as she wanted it to. "....no you girls didn't drive me into anything, I'm saying that right now..... I let my emotions do that-"

"DASHIE, JUST LET US APOLOGIZE FIRST!" Pinkie shouted causing all involved to be rather stunned.

“Pinkie, what-”

“Dash… we’re the ones at fault..” Another voice got her attention. Turning around she saw Rarity and Applejack in the doorway, Rarity stepped forward with a guilty look on her face. “We didn’t need to be so… inconsiderate of your feelings...”

“So what?! I’m the one who let my ego get the in the way of saving ponies!” Rainbow retorted angrily. “What the hay do you two have to apologize for?! I’m the one who-”

"We're the ones who didn't approach ya first sugarcube." Applejack said in a sad tone. "We just jumped right on in this stupid hero business."

"Yeah but I caused the DAM to break! I endangered Ponyville!" Rainbow retorted, before the symbiote could stop her from mentioning that.

Everyone was silent for the next few seconds, as if registering what they just heard…

She felt it coming, one of them was going to do it-

*SMACK*

And that’s when she learned that Rarity had a nasty right hook… followed by Fluttershy surprisingly… sending her spiraling over to Applejack, who introduced her to “Kicks McGee”… who sent straight towards Twilight, who delivered the smack, sending her back to the center of the room.

“You could’ve avoided each of those! Why didn’t you!?” Her symbiote screamed, attempting to lash out at the group only to be restrained by Rainbow herself.

“Because I know I deserved it...”

"Ya really do.... ya know Twi was terrified of what you did and she dang-well nearly called it quits!" Applejack yelled.... only for Rainbow to get a chuckle in.

"....y-you said 'dam'."

“Ah’ll introduce yah tah Bucky McGillicuddy if you say that again…” Applejack growled as she slammed her hoof onto the ground. “What were yah thinkin’!?”

“I wasn’t, I let anger cloud my basic logic… I let jealousy and spite fuel my actions...” Rainbow choked out, a few tears escaping her eyes. “I just couldn’t stand the fact that someone was constantly one-upping me, every time I tried to do something right, Mare-Do-Well was right there, waiting to upstage me, like I wasn’t even allowed to be a hero anymore!”

"It wasn't that!" Fluttershy yelled at her causing everyone to stare at her in shock. "Your ego was going out of control! Y-you were starting to go beyond just being a hero and doing things for something s-stupid like an autograph or just simple praise for doing a decent thing!"

“And you were somehow better!?” Venom screamed, breaking free just enough to voice his opinion, but not enough to actually attack them. “I looked into her memories, you praised yourselves behind her back, the very lesson you were trying to teach! And then you planned to attend your own parade in spite of heckling her when she attended her own fanclub!”

Twilight took a step back. “You… you heard us…?”

“Your hushed hecking wasn’t as subtle as you thought it was….” Rainbow chuckled before pulling Venom back. The group winced at this.

“Okay I'll admit, that wasn't exactly the smartest way to make our point… w-we could’ve turned down the invitation to at least show more humility…” Fluttershy mumbled. “But when she started putting her ego ahead of saving others we felt that she was too far gone at that point-” She continued, only for Venom to snap loose once more.

“So why couldn’t you have at least tried? I didn’t see any of you pull a stunt like that on Rarity during the flying competition, or were you taking just as much pleasure in seeing her struggle there as well?!”

Now it was Rarity's turn to feel embarrassed. “Not exactly my most glorious moment.”

“SHUT UP!” Rainbow snapped, trying to hold Venom back, giving it a harsh glare. “STAY. DOWN.”

Venom growled at her but did as she told it to.... though it still felt the need to lash out at them so it settled for a quick smack at Applejack. "We are satisfied."

“OW! Why me!?” The farmpony snapped.

“Mainly because you have less of a moral highground in this situation, little-miss Trophy Queen. Or should we just forget how you gave all of Ponyville food poisoning during your little ego trip during Applebuck Seaso-OW!” Venom hissed in pain as Rainbow slammed his head against the wall.

“SECOND. WARNING.” She growled out. “Though as much a I hate to admit, he’s got a point… why? Why did you all decide to gang up on me so quickly? Did I… did I destroy your faith in me that much? That simply speaking to me wasn’t even on the table?” She asked, turning her attention back to the group.

“It wasn’t that darling…” Rarity began, stepping forwards. “I’ll admit, we should’ve tried that option first...”

"But I told them it was a bad idea." Fluttershy whimpered. "I-I know how bad you get on your ego trips Rainbow..... you shut everyone out.... you don't listen to anyone but your own ego."

“...so that’s a “yes” then…” Rainbow retorted with a pained scowl. “… you didn’t see me as enough of a friend to simply talk to huh?”

As this was going on however, the gang failed to notice a small wisp of smoke escape from Amethyst’s horn, swiftly and silently crawling across the floor and under the floorboard towards a source of negative emotions…

It had to work fast… it needed to feast...

“Th-that’s not-”

“NO no, I get it. I’m not WORTH talking to, I’m just that horrible of a friend aren’t I?” She continued, biting her lip. For a moment she felt a pulse of… something… but quickly brushed it off.

"Dash....remember when you and Billy won that wrestling competition Rainbow...... how everyone was just a blur to you and all you did was brag.... and when I tried to tell you all you did was shove me to the side." Fluttershy said with tears in her eyes. "This felt a lot like that.... so I thought that you would've ignored and pushed us aside..."

“That was different, you KNOW what Billy was like, and I was a naive foal back then. I didn’t know any better!” She fired back, a little harsher than she meant to...

"AND YET YOU'RE MAKING THE SAME MISTAKES, ESPECIALLY REGARDING YOUR BROTHER!" Fluttershy yelled. While most of the group was stunned by the fact Rainbow had a brother…

Rainbow herself looked downright horrified. "Y-you know you're not supposed to-"

"It has to be said Rainbow." Fluttershy interrupted her. "Your brother was a jerk but you can't keep living in fear of him. Just doing that means you're doomed to make the same mistakes."

"....wait why didn't I find anything about your brother?" Venom asked, genuinely curious and concerned for its host.

"BECAUSE IT'S NOBODY'S BUSINESS BUT MY OWN!" Rainbow attempted to pull Venom back, but felt her body getting weaker as a result, there was another pulse, but she ignored it. “But.. it doesn't matter anymore, does it? I… I not worth being treated like a true friend then... am I?” She asked, finally breaking down in tears. “I try to be a hero, and I fuck up so badly that my own friends see me as the enemy, I let my jealousy cloud my actions, and I became a monster… even the mare I loved like a sister couldn’t be bothered to treat me like one… just another jerk to be taken down without a single word…. I-I’m not even worth being reasoned with.... I’m a horrible Element of Loyalty….”

"Rainbow…. I never said you weren't worth being a friend." Fluttershy said as she got close and hugged her gently. The symbiote growled but allowed the hug since it was clear the host needed comfort. "You are brave and strong.... and you are worthy of being the Element of Loyalty....”

“And that’s not to say that we don’t share the blame as well...” Pinkie added sadly. “We should’ve tried the most basic option first...”

“Or at least handled our message better...” Applejack said, taking off her hat in sorrow.

Twilight, who’d been silent most of the time, hesitantly stepped in. “Or at least checked on you and come when you became more reclusive…”

“We should’ve known you’d react more negatively...” Rarity pointed out in shame. “...or at least brought up our own experiences as an example...”

“... and maybe we should have approached you in a different way....” Fluttershy finished. “But we can't change the past.... I'm so sorry,-no, WE’RE sorry..... I hope you know that we all care about you."

"She's right Sugar.... we're sorry about what we did." Applejack said as she got in on the hug.

"We should've talked to you first darling." Rarity then joined in.... Pinkie was already hugging her but that's just Pinkie.... Twilight was the only one really nervous about hugging Rainbow since she nearly killed her at the dam.

Below the group, the entity growled, this wasn't right! The negative emotions were being overtaken by positive! It had to act now!

“Twi.. everyone... I’m… I’m so sorry...” Rainbow weeped, not willing to move from her spot. “I… I was so-AAARRGG!!” She suddenly screamed as she was engulfed in a burst a dark smoke that shot out of the floor around her and throwing her friends back.

"W-what just happened?!" Fluttershy shouted as she and the others backed away from the writhing and lashing Rainbow Dash.

Twilight glanced at the trail of smoke and realized it was emitting from Amethyst's horn. "Oh no!" She screamed, firing a blast of energy from her horn, cutting it off from the unconscious pony. "It's Sombra's magic! This must be leftover from the fight!" She explained as she grabbed onto Rainbow's leg, desperately trying to pull her out of the cloud which was slowly becoming a swirling vortex. Sadly Venom was affected by it as well and lashed out of her, smacking her away from them.

"SSSSSTAY AWAY FROM USSSSSS!!" Venom hissed at the group. Though it seemed more like it still wished to fight against the smoke.

The cyclone of Darkness starts to grow bigger as Rainbow cuddled into the fetal position as Venom itself started spazing out. "It's all my fault... I pushed them away.... I'm just like him... I'm just like him..." The cyan Pegasus mumbled to herself in terror.

"Yes... just like me... I have to say that I'm almost proud of you... but as usual you failed to even measure up to her..." A new voice called, much to everyone's shock the shadow took the form of a pony looming above her...

Mare-Do-Well.

"But never forget one fact one simple fact that she and I both share..." It said in a surprisingly male voice, removing its mask and revealing it's true face.

Rainbow's eyes widened and her pupils shrunk upon seeing the face under the mask. "B-brother!?"

"...you will NEVER measure up to me!"

"NO! GET AWAY! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Rainbow yelled as she backed away from him in fear. "J-JUST GO AWAY!" Suddenly Rainbow wasn't the brave Element of Loyalty.... she was just Rainbow Dash.... the scared little filly from years ago.

"Poor little Dashie, so pathetic and weak..." Stallion continued to taunt. "Too headstrong and STUPID... to the point where her own friends see her as nothing more than a nuisance to be eliminated...."

"SHUT UP YA VARMENT!" Applejack snapped, pulling out her lasso and attempting to snag Rainbow, hoping to pull her out of the creature's grasp, only for it to deflected by the creature itself.

"They just told you to you face that you weren't worth talking to… they couldn't spell it out any other way… and you know they're right… you are a horrible abomination of a mare!" It continued.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Venom roared as it lashed out at the Stallion who yelled in pain and then glared at him.

"And YOU.... the DISAPPOINTMENT of an ENTIRE race."

“S-SILENCE!" The Symbiote roared... however it was evident that it's own bravado was fading...

"A freak even among freaks.... your own kind banished you for not having the guts to simply view life as you should.... merely meat that you wear and toss aside from the moment they cease providing food for you." The stallion snarled as it became a mix of colors and rage. A pair of white eyes and razor teeth. "SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT.... SUCH A FAILURE OF A KLYNTAR."

“STOP IT!!” Pinkie screamed as she pulled out her Party Cannon and firing at the beast. Sadly her ammo was casually brushed it off.

Things started to get worse the shadows started forcefully pulling Rainbow Dash in one direction while pulling Venom in another as it shivered in pain and anguish, forcefully separating them.

".... it's feeding off the negative emotions." Twilight said as she came to a realization and glared. "You're feeding off their darker desires and fears you cowardly monster!"

The beast simply snarled as it turned its attention to her. “Says the mare who played on her insecurities simply to get her way.”

“That's different! We were-”

“Ah, but that's the beauty of all this, if anything you all GAVE me this power!” It interrupted her. “You see, on my way into her inner thoughts, ones that even her “partner” couldn't reach, and for every time you showcased just how much better than her Mare-Do-Well was, she saw this…” It explained, gesturing to the stallion’s demonic face. “...under the mask on some subconscious level. They were both better than her, and they both would never let her forget it no matter how much she wanted to! If anything I should be THANKING you!”

“...the thing is… we know what we did was wrong…” Fluttershy stated, taking a brave step forward. “And we won't let you try to turn our actions against us!”

"And for taking advantage of her fear and sorrow?! You should be regretting that choice because no one hurts our friend!" Twilight yelled as her horn glowed and became bright white. The creature for the first time looked horrified at the magic.

"Y-you don't know what you're doing! What if you hurt her or burn her?! Do you want them to hate you or be scared of you?!" It asked but Twilight clearly saw that the creature was more horrified for it's own safety.

"We've already had to deal with that enough!" Twilight retorted, her horn glowing brighter. "But this isn't for you, it's for our friend!!" She smirked before firing... at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy was engulfed in a pure white glow as she darted towards the demonic creature, diving straight into the swirling mass of darkness that made up it's form before it could react....

Deep within the depths of the dark pit she'd been dragged into. Rainbow Dash hugged herself as she cried, thousands of sinister voices tuanting her, berating her, telling her it was all her fault...

"I-I should've been better. I-I should've been better." She cried as she continued to whimper in her little corner. However she soon felt the darkness around her slowly move away from her as a bright light flew towards her.

As the light died down, she recognized the figure walking towards her. “F-Fluttershy!? What are you doing here!?”

“I came to save you of course.” She said, giving her a kind smile.

Sadly Rainbow didn't seem to return it. Opting to turn away instead. “You're wasting your time, I'm not worth saving… I've ruined everything…” She mumbled, her coat gaining a more gray tint as she regressed to the form of a foal.

"I don't believe that." Fluttershy said as she stood over her and hugged her. "You're my best friend... you're someone I care about." She said gently as she hugged her like a mother hugs a foal.

“But I’m terrible! I let my ego get so out of control…” Rainbow whimpered before gasping in pain as the pulsating magic started to encase her body. “I probably would’ve gone on to claim I beat Discord, and even Nightmare Moon on her own without help and not even bat an eye about it. I'd just push you all away to the point where my Element would stop working for me… I’d have doomed Equestria-”

“NO YOU WOULDN'T!” Fluttershy snapped, holding her tighter. "If you honestly think that, then you no true respect for yourself!"

"B-but Flutters I-"

"Then what about Us?" Another voice called out. Fluttershy turned to see two small demonic white eyes.... looking as though they were about to cry. "We're the real monster..... We made her more angry..... more rage filled..... We are her real monster."

"NO! Both of you listen and both you listen GOOD!” She stated, her tone holding an authoritative edge to it. “You two are many things, brash, headstrong, occasionally egotistical, adorable-yes Dash I know about that plushie you keep under your pillow, loyal, arrogant, brave and unintentionally insensitive at times, but you are NOT. MONSTERS!"

"Stop lying to them." A malevolent and cruel voice said to Fluttershy as it got close to them. It became a mesh of horrifying nightmarish beings... all of whom were smiling.

“You're the only liar here! And I will NOT stand here and let you INSULT everything she stands for, insult everything WE'VE been through together!!” Fluttershy shouted as her light began to shine brighter, repelling the shadows as she turned towards the foal Rainbow and the shivering Symbiote. “You defended me from those bullies, you made the Sonic Rainboom that connected us all long before we became friends, you motivated me to help get water to Cloudsdale, you saved Rarity despite her insensitive actions during the BYFC, and you're the ELEMENT OF BUCKING LOYALTY!”

"They can't hear you.... they can't hear anything but their own failures speaking to them.... they are the only ones who can save themselves.... and they're HELPLESS." The monster said before breaking into a huge laugh.

"...you...."

The beast stopped laughing, glaring at the foal. "What was that!?"

"....you're nothing..." She whispered, getting a proud smile from Fluttershy.

".... you little shit. Do you-"

"DON'T YOU DARE INSULT HER!" Venom roared as it lashed at the creature and gave it several cuts on it.

"How.... how DARE you?!" It roared at the trio and began forming it's own unique body.

The creature was now the size of a Manticore, it's body practically a walking corpse that wore the Mare-Do-Well costume like it's skin, it's face, still uncovered, was now a demonic fusion of her brother and Venom, it's eyes blood red and it's teeth sharper than daggers. "YOU ARE NOTHING BEFORE ME! JUST A PATHETIC LITTLE COWARD!" It roared as it got close.

However Rainbow soon began growing rapidly. As she did Venom began forming over her body and gave her a bipedal form. Soon she had two monstrous feet with claws, a muscular upper body with clawed hands, and a smiling face with sharp yet vaguely normal teeth and two demonic white eyes. On her chest was the white Spider-Symbol she made her own.

Fluttershy flew up to her friend, surprised by her sudden transformation but none the less happy to see that she'd snapped out of it. “Dashie… I knew you could do it…” She smiled, the glow surrounding her body wafting off her and towards her friend further empowering her.

The beast snarled in absolute rage, directing its attention the the shy Pegasus. “YOU THINK. JUST SAYING “I'M SORRY” FIXES EVERYTHING? THAT YOU CAN JUST BE ABSOLVED BY ASKING FOR FORGIVENESS?! YOU DROVE HER TO BECOME A VILLAIN! YOU MADE HER A MONSTER!!” It screamed, attempting to at least tear down the more emotionally fragile one in a last-ditch effort to turn the tables in it's favor...

...only to be slugged across the face by Venom herself. "Shut your mouth! We all made our fair share of mistakes, we shouldn't let the fame go to our head…”

“...and we should've talked with her first.” Fluttershy finished. “But we'll get through it TOGETHER!”

Suddenly, several more bright lights erupted from Fluttershy and landed next to Venom, revealing all of her friends beside her.

“It's true, it'll take more time to fix everything..." Pinkie said as she stepped forward.

Rarity trotted up next to her. "...but we're willing to own up to what we've done..."

"And we're willing to work through it together..." Twilight added, her horn glowing brightly.

"Like true friends should..." Applejack nodded as energy from each of them flowed into their friend.

"Loyalty is tough, and sometimes it's not easy..." Rainbow said, storming towards the beast. "But Loyalty IS WORTH IT!” She should before slamming her fist into it's face.

The creature fell backwards as Venom soon reformed itself over him and formed a sharpened blade. "This is for making her suffer... and for trying to destroy her heart!”

The demon barely had enough time to scream before it was impaled through its chest, several cracks started spreading across that the body as it vainly struggled before exploding in a bright flash of light, finally ending the illusion.

Rainbow panted as she and Venom regained their bearings and were soon surprised at the doors being bashed open and Gilda charging in. "DASH?! DASH ARE YOU OKAY?!"

Rainbow side as she turned around. "It... it's cool Gilda... we worked things out... I just REALLY need some rest right n-OFFFF!" She gasped as she was suddenly given a bone-crushing hug from behind by Pinkie Pie... followed by the rest of her friends.

However just then Venom pushed them all away as a dome and quickly backed down. "She needs time to sleep and regain her strength.... afterwards.... Rainbow who tells them the truth? You or Us?"

The cyan Pegasus sign as she glanced back at her friends."I'll tell them.... but that comes... later..." She said as she slowly drifted into unconsciousness...

As Rainbow slept she saw through a grassy land with an bright blue sky with some small clouds. ".... huh. Never had this kinda dream before."

"I felt it would be an appropriate setting...." A new voice called out. Turning around Rainbow saw none other than the Princess of the Night approaching her. "Hello, Rainbow Dash."

".....okay ha ha Venom. You don't have to take that form. You know I can just talk to you as a gooey blob.... it's actually more comfortable that way." Rainbow said with a bored face.

The Princess arched a brow as she glanced at something behind Rainbow, much to her confusion until she heard a familiar voice. "Dash, I'm over here."

Turning around she saw none other than Venom in his own pony form sitting behind her."....oh I feel stupid now." Rainbow said with a groan before turning back towards Luna. "Um.... s-sorry about our last trip up to Canterlot."

"As they say. Water under the bridge Rainbow." Luna said. "What I am her for however.... is your involvement in stopping Sombra from taking over a body."

"I... I just did what I had to... but it's Twilight you should be talking to... without her magic I wouldn't have been able to save her..." She sighed.

"I didn't mean when he invaded you. I meant with Amethyst. I was so busy dealing with a different nightmare I never noticed hers.... and I thank both of you for it." Luna said with a gentle smile.

".... to be fair it didn't really feel like an awesome moment.... more like We were a giant jack ass bullying someone.... granted said someone was an even bigger jack ass but the point stands." Venom said as they scratched the back of their head.

"Trust me you two, I know what it's like to let anger and jealousy cloud your better judgement." Luna said as she sat down right next to them. "And if you hadn't gone out of your way to do so, Amethyst would have been mentally tortured until she was nothing but a vegetable or worse, dead." She stated firmly. "Believe me, as someone who has faced Sombra before, I can easily tell you that she wouldn't have been the first.... nor the last... I checked her dreams before coming to you, and I can safely say that while it will take some time, with a lot of therapy she'll be able to recover, you saved her life."

"Wish we could've done more." Rainbow said dejectedly.

"She's lucky as is. Nothing I could've done would have helped her mental state." Venom said with a shrug. Rainbow sorta wince at how cold that sounded coming from him.

“And yet your actions saved her from a far worse fate…” Luna reminded them. “You two are giving yourselves too little credit… and I know why…”

"Luna whatever you see in there please do yourself a favor and stay away from them." Rainbow said with a panicked voice, thinking she meant her memories.

"I was referring to your guilt over your more recent actions..." The Princess corrected her, a few screens appearing before her and showcasing some of her more villainous exploits as Venom. "Believe me, I know what it's like to feel unending guilt over your past actions..."

".......oh. Right." Rainbow said with a small chuckle. "I-I didn't mean for that small freak out..... s-sorry." With a gulp Rainbow tried to make herself calm.

"It is fine... but you must not let these doubts drive your every decision. Otherwise you could end up becoming something worse than you were before..." She continued as the screens disappeared and the small dark purple wisp appeared in front of her as it took the form of a bee... or a wasp. "...or bring forth something even worse from within..."

"Uh there's a smokey thing near you and it looks like a.... wasp or something." Rainbow said as Venom soon formed a giant maw and chomped down on it, causing it to dissipate into just smoke.

Luna arched a brow at Venom’s actions, but simply chuckled a little. “That being said, it is time for you two to put the past behind you, if you truly wish to grow into a better pony, a true hero. You and your friends have come to terms with the situation, and now is the time make your choice… and prepare for when Sombra returns.”

"...... um Venom sorta stabbed him in the chest. How do you recover from something like that?" Rainbow asked her. Luna looked at her confusedly.

"She speaks the truth. A blade pierced the monster's heart.... in a sense. Either way it won't be recovering from such a thing." Venom said who then burped not too long after.

Luna could only sigh. "I'm sorry to say, the beast you just faced was not Sombra, but a leftover manifestation of his dark powers. The real Sombra had already fled to recover long after your fight within in the Dreamscape."

"Then uh..... yeah I can tell you RIGHT NOW again that Sombra's gonna be nursing some DAMN nightmares." Rainbow said as Venom chuckled darkly.

"Oh what We showed him.... the sucker." It said.... before Luna glared at him. "..... what? Rainbow said it added.... atmosphere.... We don't understand how it adds Air but it did."

Luna simply chuckled while Rainbow rolled her eyes. "It appears your friend needs to learn more about our worlds customs... believe me, I've been there." She smiled before turning away, noticing that the sky around them had started to fade away. "Your dream seems to be coming to an end... It's time for you to wake up and make your next choice..."

"My next choice?" Rainbow asked. "What do you-HEY DON'T JUST ASK ME AND VANISH!" Rainbow shouted as Luna seemingly disappeared, Venom now just eyes and razor sharp teeth as the dream became a black void.

".... are all elite ponies so ominous?"

“Like you wouldn't believe…” She sighed as her Dreamscape began to vanish around her until there was nothing left...

In another part of Equestria, King Sombra groaned as he held his head. "This isn't right! This was supposed to be easy!! That accursed Symbiote should have been mine!" He growled.

He just growled as he noticed his current mortal body was starting to deteriorate. "I will not..... I WILL NOT LET THIS BE MY END! I REFUSE FOR IT TO BE THE END!" He shouted as he began looking around.... trying to find ANY SIGN of fear.... anything...... a single phobia...... something.

“No, it will not…” A new voice called out to him. Looking behind himself, he saw what appeared to be a mare wearing a cloak. “You need fear? Then by all means, take mine.”

Sombra smiled as he saw her and slowly became smoke. "Aaah.... hello Hope." He said with a chuckle as he circled her. "I've been wondering where my favorite mare has been..... how are you..... in perfectly good condition I hope?" He laughed darkly at his horrid joke.

“As good as one can be…. given the circumstances of our relationship…” She replied, pulling down her hood. “You're not very easy to track down Sombra… then again you had a knack for remaining unseen when you wanted to.”

"Of course.... now then...... I have need of your help..... please..... let me join with you." Sombra said with a calming voice and started circling her. "I need something to heal myself with..... please."

Hope gave him an innocent smile. “Now Sombra, what kind of friend would I be if I left you to perish in your time of need?” She asked as she gazed into his eyes before bowing before him. “As it was before, my body is yours to merge with… my King.”

"That's a good girl." Sombra said with a dark chuckle and fused with her completely. The old body now just a husk with nothing else in it.

Hope gasped as she felt Sombra’s spirit enter her body… and let out a sinister chuckle. “Ah… yes, this power… it feels intoxicating! No wonder you sought it all those years ago!” She laughed as she removed her cloak…

...revealing the Alicorn Amulet around her neck, which now had Sombra's magic aura emitting from it.

"YESSSS. NOW I CAN TRULY RETURN WITH ENOUGH POWER TO CHALLENGE THE GODS!" Sombra yelled. He soon started to laugh with Hope.... only for her to yank off the Alicorn Amulet..... with Sombra trapped within it.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

“Keeping my end of the bargain.” She replied as several wisps of smoke started to around her… eventually merging into one entity right before her eyes, Princess Luna.

“You have done well Hope, now please, hand over the Amulet.” She commanded. Hope nodded in compliance and levitated it towards her.

"HOPE, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS TREACHERY!?”

"Ending a horrid cycle of abuse." Hope said as Luna took the amulet. Celestia soon teleporting in beside her sister.

"I always wondered why mother's old necklace was missing" Celestia said as she summoned a chest. Luna just casually threw the amulet in there.

“I'm actually surprised Hope, I thought you'd at show some resistance before taking off the amulet…” Luna said, ignoring the angry screams coming from the chest.

“Believe me, for a few seconds I did consider taking the power for myself… but one logical part of my mind reminded me exactly who I'd be up against if I tried.” Hope explained, glaring at the Amulet.

"We thank you again for this Hope." Celestia said with a warm smile before she and Luna then vanished into thin air.

As soon as she was alone, she allowed a few tears to fall as she pulled out a picture. "You could have been somepony noble,we could have something great...." She whispered as she stared at the picture a picture of the two of them, back when they were foals...

As she finally regained Consciousness, Rainbow Dash noticed that she was back at her home, with Gilda, her son, and all of her friends watching around her. However they were all sleeping as well. Rainbow looked outside and saw it was dark with the stars outside. She sighed, staring at Luna's Moon as it illuminated the night sky.... only to blink when she felt something hugging her, looking down she saw no the most loyal fan Scootaloo sleeping right next to her.

"Even after everything, she remains loyal to you..." Venom whispered as it formed itself, looking down at her with glowering white eyes. "....your kind confuse us."

"You'll just have to get used to it." She chuckled.

Soon Twilight groaned as she slowly woke up and looked at Rainbow Dash. "Oh. Hey Rainbow Dash."

"Hey Twi... why were you groaning a moment ago and.... are you okay?" Rainbow said as she noticed Twilight had bags under her eyes.

"Oh..... yeah.... just a weird and.... really bad dream to be perfectly honest." Twilight said as she yawned.

"Anything specific?" She asked curiously. "Considering what we just dealt with concerning Sombra you can't be too careful..."

"Sadly no." The lavender Unicorn sighed. "It all became a blur the moment I woke up. I mean it felt like something involving my friends but..." That's when Twilight suddenly realized Rainbow was awake again. "RAINBOW YOU'RE BACK!" She shouted as she tackle hugged Rainbow causing the two to fall over the couch.

Rainbow gasped in pain as she was given another bone-crushing hug. "Tw-Twilight... choking, not breathing...."

"S-sorry Rainbow." Twilight said as she let go. Soon everyone slowly started waking up and Venom formed something of a second skin just in case they all charged headlong to hug her all at once.

"Ok girls, before anyone says anything I have an important announcement to make..." She stated, getting everyone's attention.

"Dash...?" Gilda asked hesitantly.

Rainbow took a deep breath, remembering Luna's words, exhaled, and gave them all a serious look. "I need to leave Ponyvillie for a while..."

Author's Note

The apologies aren't just from Rainbow to the Mane 6 and vice versa. I'm REALLY sorry everyone that this took so long.... and you MIGHT hate me when I say..... this might be the second to last chapter.... BUT FEAR NOT! FOR I WILL RETURN WITH A SEQUEL! ONE THAT FINALLY ISN'T JUST RANDOMLY PUT TOGETHER REFERENCES AND MIGHT HAVE SOMETHING TRULY RESEMBLING A REAL STORY AND... and isn't just world building. Again I applaud you all for staying with this and thank you a TON for the support.

Also FUCK WASPS.

Until we meet again...

Rainbow grabbed a few items from her bedroom, each one a memento of her time here in Ponyville.... both good and bad. "You know... I'm really surprised none of them tried to stop us when we explained why we had to leave."

"I guess they're more willing to be open-minded after everything that's happened..." Venom sighed as he grabbed one of her Daring Do books and chucked it into her bag. "Your race continues to both amaze and confuse me..."

"You mean ponies? Yeah we're.... we're awkward. But I wouldn't have it any other way." Rainbow said as she packed some clothes.

"You know I can copy clothing correct?" Venom said as it raised a white eye... thing.

"Yeah but maybe I just wanna be normal for a day. What about that?" Rainbow shot back jokingly.

"PFFT, you stopped being normal the second you put me on." Venom scoffed "Heck you haven't been normal since your first Sonic Rainboom.”

"I'm not sure if I should be hurt by that Venom." Rainbow said with a mock insulted tone.

Venom and rolled his eyes... or rather his white eye... whatever those were. "Oh don't start with the Waterworks again, we just got Fluttershy and Pinkie to stop."

".... yeah." Rainbow said solemnly. "I...... am I making the best choice?"

"It is up to you in the end. We CAN stay.... make everyone happy.... but would YOU be happy?" Venom asked her.

"No."

"Oh come on Twilight!" Pinkie Pie pleaded. "Just wanted to banners in a few balloons here and there?"

Twilight sighed. "For the last time Pinkie, Rainbow Dash didn't want to make her leaving Ponyville a huge spectacle, so we're not turning this into a going away party."

"But.... BUT SHE'S MY FRIEND!" Pinkie shouts as she hugs her. "I-IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE BIG IT JU-JUST NEEDS TO BE A PARTY! PLEASE TWILIIIIIIIGHT!"

"Pinkie... I think Rainbow Dash would appreciate you just being there for her like the rest of us..." Twilight said reassuringly as she rubbed her back. "Plus just because you're not having a big party for when she leaves doesn't mean you can't have an even bigger party for when she comes back, right?"

"But what if she doesn't?" Pinkie asks as she sniffs her nose. "W-what if she just decides to stay where she's at and n-never come back?"

"This is Rainbow Dash we're talking about." Applejack interjected. "Sure she may be away for a while, but there ain't no way she'd leave Ponyville hanging."

"But that gooey stuff might make her." Pinkie huffs as she shoots Applejack a quick glare. "Might just horde her all to itself."

"Oh please, what do you take me for, a yandere?" Venom scoffed as they decended from above and landed between the group.

"How do you even KNOW that word?" Twilight asked. "Rainbow can't even spell it properly.

"It's true. But apparently it's from a show my parents were watching that I.... sneaked a peek at." Rainbow said with a chuckle.

Twilight rolled her eyes, not wanting ask what that was all about as Pinkie hugged her from behind. "DASHIE!!" She squealed in joy. "I'm gonna miss you SOOOO MUCH! I promise I'll write you every single day and send packages with my new cupcake recipes and-"

"Pinkie... can't breathe..."

"Oh. Hehe. Sorry." Pinkie said as she let her go, causing Venom to shoot her a quick glare.

"Be careful not to do that again." Venom said with a snort.

"I shudder to think of what would happen if a Symbiote bonded with her..." He whispered to Dash, how simply shivered in response.

"Are you sure you have to do this darling?" Rarity asked.

"Yeah... I mean me and Venom are okay now but..... We NEED to be sure we won't go crazy like that again.... plus helping a few ponies who need help doesn't hurt either." Rainbow said with a confident smile.

"Just be careful out there Dash." Applejack said, giving her a friendly hoof-bump. "And if yah ever need us, don't hesitate fer a second to ask."

"What if I just want some of the glory huh?" Rainbow asked jokingly before returning the bump. Just then, however, Gilda walked forward to her.

Rainbow smiled as she embraced her oldest friend. "I'm gonna miss you G... I'm sorry I got you dragged into all of this..."

"... I-I..... it ain't your fault. I chose to help you." Gilda said but it was quiet and just between the two of them. She then let go and looked at Dash awkwardly. "I... I had something I wanted to tell you."

"What is it?" She asked, arching a brow. "If it's about where I'm headed, you don't have to worry. I can-"

"N-no, it's not that, it just..." Gilda stuttered, trying her best to find the a way not to make things awkward...

"What is-"

"Rainbow the train's about to leave." Venom said in her mind. "We must hurry if We are to leave soon. Sorry but this must be cut short for now."

"Oh geeze! I gotta get moving G!" She said as she quickly broke out of her embrace, grabbing her bags and giving her friends one last hug before dashing into the train.

As the doors closed and the train departed, Rainbow sighed as she took her seat... only for something to catch her eye...

On one of the hills overlooking the station, Scootaloo and Alex were holding up large banner that read "WE'LL MISS YOU DASH!", complete with her cutie mark next to her name.

Rainbow could only smile as a single tear escaped her eye...

However in Manehattan a strange stallion entered a strange store and began looking around... as though he was searching for something.

"Now where is it...? If my intel is correct, this should be the place..." He whispered to himself as he looked through the bookshelf.

"TOLD YOU they were worthless. But you REFUSE to believe me. Should've let me eat their brains. I'm fine with guts." A voice in his told him. He just pretended not to hear it as he continued looking.

He growled angrily as he tossed another book aside. "It's here, it HAS to be here."

"I warned you..."

"I thought I told you to keep quiet!"

"And I thought I told YOU that this book is just BS made to get nutcases like you caught. Do you WANT to be caught?" The voice said with a dark chuckle.

"I SAID-"

"Is someone there?" Another voice called out as the storekeeper made his way into the room... only to find the room empty. "H-hello?" The stallion shivered as he walked into the room... only for several webs to descend upon him and yank him up to the ceiling.

Webbing up his mouth before he could scream, the figure glared into his eyes. "I'm only going to ask you once, answer wrong I'll make sure there's barely enough of you to be identified... where is the Book of Chthon!? WHERE IS THE DARKHOLD?!"

Author's Note

And thus the story comes to an end. I know. I know. It's a masterpiece in a hal-

*Dodges soda cans and tomatoes*

OKAY JEEZ SORRY ABOUT THE CLIFFHANGER BUT THERE NEEDED TO BE A SEQUEL HOOK DAMMIT!