The Venom Inside

Lightning Dust paced in her apartment, locked in an internal struggle.

‘When we bonded with you we promised you vengeance upon Rainbow Dash,’ growled the symbiote.

“I know! But, she offered me a job! Working in the clouds, with other pegasi…” said Lightning.

‘Who will reject you once they find out what you’ve become!’ The symbiote roared at her causing Lightning to flinch a little.

“Well, that’s what a secret identity is for right? I mean it’s not like anypony knows who we really are," pointed out Lightning. Before the symbiote could argue more, Lightning said, "Look, I'm tired and I want to go to bed. We'll discuss this in the morning."  She then got back into her bed and pulled the covers over her and slipped off to dream land. However the symbiote had very different plans that evening as it slowly covered Lightning’s body and snarled a little.

“We promised you vengeance and we will not be denied. Not this time.”

~

That night, Venom swung through the streets of Los Pegasus, hunting for Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow wuss! Come out and play!" hissed Venom, before making snoring noises. It wasn't long before Venom found what she was looking for.

"Now, if I was a big black monster, where would I be?" muttered Rainbow Dash.

"How about here?" said Venom before plowing into Rainbow. Before the cyan pegasus could recover she was punched several times and was even thrown by the black mass of muscle and teeth into a building.

“What the-” Was all Rainbow could say before she felt a hoof being placed over her mouth and another beginning to constrict her throat.

“We promised her payback and we always keep our promises.” Venom said to her victim as the hoof receded from Rainbow’s neck and mouth only to be replaced by a tendril which slowly wrapped itself around her throat.

“W-who’s her?” choked Rainbow.

“That doesn’t matter… not where you’re going,” growled Venom as a second tendril developed a pointed end, like a knife. “To quote Jekyll and Hyde, good night from the both of us, Rainbow Dash!” Venom said with a crazy sounding laugh following. However deep in the mind of the beast another figure was just starting to wake up from the commotion.

Much to Rainbow’s surprise and confusion, Venom blinked in confusion, as if she just realized what was going on.

“What in the name of Tartarus is going on?” said Venom, but not in her usual demon’s voice, but rather in the voice of an ordinary mare… and the voice sounded very familiar to Rainbow, who was starting to turn bluer than usual.

What are you waiting for? Finish her! Acquire your vengeance! said the symbiote in Lightning’s head.

Venom looked down at Rainbow Dash. She was slowly choking to death. A tendril of hers was pointed like a knife. She could finally put Rainbow in her place for ruining her life.

But, somehow it felt… wrong. After all the lives she saved fighting Killerwatt, Beetle, and the other agents of The Doctor just to lure Rainbow into her proverbial parlor… it was as if she’d found her real purpose in life. Not a Wonderbolt, but rather as a guardian angel… a lethal protector.

Venom removed the tendril from Rainbow’s throat.

What are you doing? We thought you wanted her dead! said the symbiote.

“I didn’t want her dead… I wanted her beaten. I wanted to prove I was better than her. And I finally got what I wanted,” explained Venom, still in Lightning’s voice. “Now, we can move on to more heroic endeavors.”

“Uh… who are you talking to?” asked Rainbow.

Venom turned to face Rainbow and smiled. The face of the suit receded, revealing the face of Lightning Dust.

“Lightning? You’re Venom?!” said  Rainbow in total disbelief.

Lightning smiled wider. The fangs that were part of the suit her were still in her mouth, but were much smaller. “Ta-da,” she said.

Rainbow started babbling like an idiot. “What- how?- Huh?” she said.

“I’ll explain everything when we get to where you and your pals are staying. I’m sure Princess Twilight has some geeking out to do,” said Lightning. Rainbow nodded and with one quick flap of her and Lightning’s wings both pegasi were flying right towards a hotel in the distance

~

Lightning’s prediction turned out to be very true. Princess Twilight couldn’t stop pestering Lightning about running tests to classify the creature she now wore. Rarity, meanwhile, couldn’t stop muttering fashion advice under her breath. Fluttershy, meanwhile, point blank period refused to be in the same room as Lightning. The others weren’t quite sure what to think.

After Lightning told her story, or, at least a modified version of it, Twilight said, “So, you bonded with an alien life form just to prove you were better than Rainbow Dash?”

“Yep, pretty much… although, I think the suit kinda misunderstood what I wanted. Then again, I was asleep while it tried to kill you,” said Lightning.

“Wait, you were asleep while that monster tried to kill me?!” cried Rainbow.

“Yep,” said Lightning. “All right, now that I’ve told you my story, maybe you guys can help me with something. Any of you ever hear of a Kalin Maris?”

Everypony drew blank looks… except for Twilight.

“You wouldn’t mean Dr. Octopus, would you?” she asked Lightning.