As the first rays of sunlight gently filtered through the curtains, the sleeping pink hedgehog’s eyes fluttered, the sunlight stirring Amy from her slumber. Slowly, she picked herself up from the bed, letting her eyes wander around the room, she recognized the crystal architecture and decorations.

Amy sighed, her expression downcast as she stared at the bedsheets before her. Her hands clenched as her eyes began to sting from unshed tears. “I guess it wasn’t a dream after all…” She quickly rubbed her eyes as her vision blurred, clearing the tears away. Suppressing a shiver, she shakingly sighed, “But why… why am I still here then?”

“We couldn't bring ourselves to do it yet,” she heard a very familiar voice say to her.

Amy’s eyes widened in surprise as her head snapped to her side, spotting the human waiting by the closed door with his hood on, concealing his face. Seeing him wait for her, Amy’s ears flattened against her head as she hastily looked down, “O-oh.” She said in a small voice. Sighing, she brought her knees closer to her chest wrapping her arms around them, “So… why didn’t you do it then? Is it… something that you need me to be awake for?” She asked apprehensively.

The guy tilted his head. “Huh. You know, while I knew he was wrong about how you actually felt about him, I didn't expect fear of all things.” He then shook his head. “But no. The whole curing thing is simple. And even if there was a risk, I could've taken care of it myself while you were unconscious. It's like I said. We, or more specifically my “father”, couldn't bring ourselves to do it. Especially when he learned how scared you are about possibly being erased.”

Amy raised an eyebrow in confusion, “Father?”

“Ah. Right. Never did introduce myself, did I?” After a moment, he did a double take. “Wait, I… I don't think you were ever actually told his name. I guess yesterday was more hectic than we thought…” He shook his head again. “Sorry about that. Simply put, my name is Venom. I'm something known as a symbiote. I'm the “sentient slime” made by Dark's DNA that he mentioned yesterday.” After a moment, he then continued. “Dark is the…chosen name for the human you interacted with yesterday.”

“Sentient slime?” Amy tilted her head, looking at him more closely. “So you’re not the same guy from yesterday?” Her eyes suddenly widened. “Wait, are you that black goop that trapped me at the lake?”

Venom nodded. “Yeah. Must say, it was actually a clever move he thought up, considering how thoroughly you were kicking his ass. We knew, at his current level at least, there was no other way to put you down. So I bonded to you and knocked you out. And ended up sharing your thoughts with him when I returned.”

Amy sighed, recalling the events of the night before. Suddenly realizing what the goop had said, she gave him a rather apprehensive look, “Shared my thoughts?” Amy repeated, leaning forward.

“The reason you're still here now? I ended up accidentally sharing your last thoughts with Dark when I returned to him. Your fear of being erased from existence, like your friends from the Super Genesis Wave. When he felt that, he decided to postpone his original plans and chose to help you.”

Wincing at the reminder of the reality warp, she shook off the shiver that was threatening to show. Taking a deep breath, she held onto the last words the symbiote said, looking up at him with a cautious look, “You mean it?” She asked. “He’s really not going to erase me, he’s going to help?”

“Well yeah.” Venom shrugged. “Why else would you still be here? The cure is simply taking a bath with special herbs. So if he truly wanted to just ignore your feelings and cure you, he'd have done it last night.”

“So I would’ve been gone by now if the cure was going to be used…” Amy looked down, as a sigh of relief escaped her, while her smile didn’t return, she was noticeably less tense to the symbiote. “I could get to go home after all…” She whispered to herself.

Venom winced at that, but since his face was underneath the identical cover of his original host, Amy failed to notice. “For now, I believe we should focus on what he has planned. Dark asked Twi… He asked a friend of his if we could separate you and Cece. That way, when we cure her, you won't be affected at all and can go your separate ways.”

“How would your friend be able to separate us in the first place?” Amy asked, tilting her head. “That doesn’t sound like something simple.”

“I wouldn't think it is. But we have magic and the multiverse at our disposal. So I'm certain we'll manage to find something to help.” He then looked towards the door. ”Come on. I believe it's about time you get a tour and actually meet the others.”

Amy winced, “Are you sure that's a good idea?” She said, looking away from Venom. “I mean, this is the body of their friend, wouldn’t they react badly about me taking their friend’s body?”

“Twilight and Screwball already know, and they've certainly informed Spike and Starlight. So it should be fine.”

Pushing her hesitation aside, Amy gave a small sigh before pulling the bed sheets away. “Well, if you say so.” Getting off the bed, she was careful not to wake the sleeping fox curled at the foot of the bed. Upon spotting a long mirror at the side of the room, she walked towards it, narrowing her eyes as she took in her messy appearance, her quills were sticking out in every direction and had a sheen of sweat that clung onto it, her dress was wrinkled and messy. Frowning, she placed her hands on her hips and turned toward Venom. “You wouldn’t happen to know where the shower is, would you?”

Amy smiled to herself, patting down her quills, as she walked down the crystal hallways, besides her, Venom’s avatar guided her along the castle’s paths. “You know, I wasn’t sure what I would find in Cece’s wardrobe, but I’m so glad I was able to find copies of my favorite dress!” She said rather chipperly, her mood having improved from the morning.

“She apparently doesn't care to switch things up,” Venom said, walking beside her. “So she only has 2 kinds of outfits, and she’s barely ever used the other one. Though I'm sure most ponies would be more surprised you aren't wearing the cloak.”

“Cloaks aren’t really my thing.” She answered, shrugging her shoulders as the two walked. After a moment of silence, Amy’s lips thinned as she looked to the side, “Hey,” She started, gaining the symbiote’s attention. “Just thought I should ask, but did you guys do anything to my memories?” At Venom’s confused look, she continued. “Ever since I woke up here, all of my memories have returned, including memories that I’ve forgotten about regarding…” She paused, looking away, “The old world, of how Mobius used to be. Those memories faded away a while ago, and I completely forgot about how much things had changed.”

Venom shook his head. “Can’t say we did. We didn't know about your situation until you told us your name yesterday. And before I bonded with you at the lake, I knew the same amount of things about you as Dark. And that is to say, almost nothing. I didn't know about the Freedom Fighters, about the two different worlds, or about your cousin,” he finished, in a sympathetic tone. After a second, he said, “While my sister and I are capable of sharing memories with our hosts, I'm not entirely sure if I can revive lost ones like you have.”

“Oh, I see.” She sighed, “I guess it was that plants doing too.” She said with a frown, “These memories… I guess you wouldn’t know if they’ll disappear like they did for me before? As much as it may hurt… I don’t think I want to forget all about it like the others did.”

Venom shrugged. “I'm unsure. I'm no fortune teller, as much as people think spider-sense gives us that. So I have no idea what will happen once you gain your own body and leave.”

“So they could disappear… Well, even if it's only for a bit, I’m glad I was able to remember Rob and the others again.” She had a bittersweet smile, coming to a stop as she faced a large double-sided door, pushing it open she found herself in a dining hall. On the other side of the room was a purple dragon setting down plates, and a purple-ish pink unicorn already biting down on her pancakes.

Upon noticing the hedgehog, Starlight hesitantly waved her over. “Hey, so you’re Amy, right?” Noticing the surprised look, she gave her a gentle smile, “Twilight filled us in. Sorry about the rough day you had. Name’s Starlight.”

“Amy.” She replied, sitting down across from her. “And thanks. Yesterday was…” She paused as she mulled over her words, “A lot, to say the least.” Amy ended with a weak chuckle. She leaned back as a scaly arm placed a plate of pancakes in front of her, Amy’s smile came back as she noticed the strawberries and whipped cream on top.

“I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I thought I’d play it safe and go for pancakes!” The drake said, offering his claw to the hedgehog, “Name’s Spike!”

“Word of advice, don't mention Rarity around him,” Venom said, appearing to sit on an empty chair, his hand rubbing his temple. “I'd rather we just get along with the tour after you’re done and he'd probably spend an hour talking about her…”

Raising an eyebrow at Venom’s annoyance, Amy turned away from the symbiote and gave Spike a small smile, shaking his claw. “Amy Rose, it's nice to meet you! And thank you so much for the pancakes!”

Spike smiled at her enthusiasm, “Well if you ever want more, there’s plenty to go around, so don’t be afraid to ask for seconds.” He said, placing a syrup bottle down near her. “By the way, when you’re done, Twilight wanted me to tell you that she’ll be at the library if you want to talk to her.”

“Twilight?” Amy asked.

Besides the drake, Starlight nodded, swallowing the bit of food in her mouth. “She’s looking for a way to solve your…” She hesitated, waving her fork at her for a second, “Problem. Though she also said that it can wait till after you get a tour of our town. After all, if you’re gonna be staying with us for a bit, you should at least get to know the place.”

Venom looked at Amy. “To further explain, Twilight Sparkle is the friend that I said Dark had asked for help regarding separating you. She's one of several princesses of this kingdom and a brilliant magic user. Only Starlight here has been known to match her, despite Twilight being an alicorn.” After a moment, he added, “Don't ask. I'll explain what those are when you see her. But anyway, this is her castle. And she and her friends are basically the closest thing this world has to the Freedom Fighters. Minus the combat skills. I'd say only Rainbow and maybe Applejack actually have that.”

Amy blinked before giving a small smile, just as she was about to speak, the dining room’s large doors creaked open, allowing a blonde pegasus to walk in. “I still don't know why you talked me into this…” she said, not actually looking at any of the occupants in the room.

Following behind her was what appeared to be a small human girl, half her size, with medium-length red hair, that shifted to black halfway, wearing a red jacket and black jeans. Even her eyes matched, with one being blood red, the other black. “Well come on. I always wanted to see how large this place truly is.”

“Can't you just ask your brother or-” the mare then noticed the others in the room. “Oh. Hey guys. Mind if I join? Toxin won't stop bugging me about that tour the princess offered.”

Spike nodded, “Go ahead and take a seat, I’ll have some more pancakes out in a second!” The drake said, rushing back towards the kitchen.

“Add chocolate please,” the pegasus requested. “She loves the stuff…”

Amy tilted her head at the sight of another human, "Who are those two?" She asked, turning towards Venom.

Before he could respond, the pegasus’ ears perked up at the voice and she turned to Amy. “So you're that chick who's possessing his sister's body?”

Amy winced, her ears drooping. "Yeah, I guess that's me. It's not like it's on purpose, though. I'm not really sure how it all even works."

The girl sighed. “You could've said that nicer, Lightning…”

“What, that's literally what they said. Not my fault.”

Placing a plate in front of the pegasus, Spike shrugged. "There's a bit more to it than that. From what I heard, it was poison joke that caused that mess. I didn't even know it could do that."

“Yeah yeah, a magic plant that plays jokes on people, yada yada,” Lightning said, waving her arm. She then looked at Amy. “Anyway, name’s Lightning Dust. I'm a… friend of Dark's. We've worked together a couple of times now and I decided to pay him a visit yesterday. Apparently, while he was in the middle of his chat with you.”

"I'm Amy," She replied with a wavy smile, hesitantly bringing her hand up to wave, "Sorry that I got in the way between you two, yesterday really hasn't been my day."

“Just be happy you didn't have to fight a ton of Heartless like we did. That was exhausting…”

"Heartless?" She tilted her head.

“Long story. Just be happy the biggest workout you apparently had yesterday was wiping the floor with Dark. We had to deal with a bucking army and a set of living armor.”

Amy winced in sympathy, "Those type of days always are the worse. Especially when you wake up sore and exhausted." Looking to Lightning's side, she smiled at the human girl, "Hey there, don't think I got your name."

The girl blinked before looking behind her. She then looked at Amy. “Wait. Are you talking to me?”

Tilting her head, the pink hedgehog was confused by the reaction. "Well of course. Who else would I be talking to?"

The girl stared at her with wide eyes for a moment before looking at the cloaked figure beside Amy. “Venom?! Is that you?”

Venom chuckled. “Surprised it took you so long to notice me again.”

“Well with the hood and scarf on, you look exactly like our dad!”

“Oh trust me, sis, he won't be so comfortable around this one for some time,” Venom stated, gesturing towards Amy.

Amy looked between the two in confusion before her eyes lit up, “Oh! So this must be your sister?” She asked Venom. “Guessing that means the others don’t see her either?”

“I can,” Lightning stated. “I'm her host. Have been since we saved these 2 from some crazy cult a couple of weeks ago. Apparently, they have some kind of hive mind thing that allows us to see and hear the other when within range.”

“It can be weird at times to see,” Spike spoke up, sitting down. “Sometimes we see Dark talking to himself even though we know he’s actually talking to Venom directly.”

Venom chuckled. “Yeah, he sometimes forgets that only he can see and hear me. Hell, last night he was straight-up talking to me in front of a friend. And yes Amy, this here is my younger sister, Toxin. We were being transported by some loons when Dark, Lightning, and a third pegasus saved us. I bonded to Dark, Toxin bonded to Lightning.”

“Huh,” Amy tilted her head, “So is she a blob of slime too?”

“We're called symbiotes, Miss Rose,” Venom said with a sigh. “While what you said is an accurate enough description, it's the same as if I called you a small mutated hedgehog.” He then looked at the clock. “Anyway, you and Lightning should get to finishing your breakfast so we can have that tour.” With that, his avatar vanished.

Lightning shrugged. “He isn't wrong. So come on, let's eat.” With that, her symbiote’s avatar vanished too as she started to eat her pancakes.

Amy hummed, turning away from the spot Venom had disappeared from, glancing down at her pancakes, she couldn’t help but sigh, cutting a piece and eating. ‘Well, at least the food is good,’ She thought to herself.

Author's Note

Howdy everyone. Finally managed to finish a chapter.

Hello loyal minions! Star709 here, short chapter for you all, we originally planned for it to be longer, but decided to cut it in half so that people will have less wait time. Please let us know what you think so we can improve! Your feedback fuels us!

Nothing much to recap. Any met Venom and a few of the others and now knows she's not going to be erased. Next up is her having a tour of the town.

-Dark

Star

PS: This was done about a week ago but I kept forgetting to upload it. So... Happy Halloween 🎃