The Symbiote

Chapters

1. Twilight Investigates
2. Symbiosis
3. Discussions
4. Shopping
5. Strength Testing
6. Cardio Testing
7. Letter to Celestia
8. Trip to Canterlot
9. Preparations
10. Confrontation
12. Secret Tunnel
13. Telling the Truth
14. Advice and Concerns
15. Trouble in Fillydelphia
16. Regrets
17. Headmare Duties
18. Chat with Starlight
19. The Meeting
20. The Escape
21. Sorrow
22. Battle
23. A Powerful Alliance
24. New Friends
11. The Arrest
25. Confessions

1. Twilight Investigates

It was no secret that Twilight Sparkle was curious.

Everything new was an opportunity to expand her knowledge, and she always researched the latest discoveries in Equestria. Even if she was just out walking and heard something interesting, she would stop to listen and see what she could learn.

So when Celestia quietly asked her to investigate a research company based out in the ocean near Manehattan, she was more than happy to do so.

“Be careful,” Celestia said, touching her shoulder to stop her from just immediately running off. “I have a bad feeling about this company.”

“Really?” Twilight asked, tilting her head. “But I’ve kept up with the Life Aura Center’s work for years, they’ve done so much to advance health science in Equestria.”

“I know. But I have reason to believe their methods are unethical. I just can’t prove it. I’ve visited many times, as has Luna. They always take us to certain areas that are clearly set up for our arrival, while saying the rest are off limit. There’s a threat of contamination. They don’t want us getting sick, as they experiment with different biologicals. But something about their attitude while we’re there… we’re sure they’re hiding something.”

“Well, I always believe you should trust your gut feelings. Why not insist they let you go into other areas? Have you don the necessary protective gear if needed, but you really want to see everything? I mean, you're a princess, you can order them to.”

Celestia sighed. “I could do that, but how does it reflect on me if I order them around and then find out everything is fine? At best I'll look paranoid and at worst, tyrannical. That's not the kind of impression I want to make. It could shatter their trust in me.”

“I see. Well, you've always been really good at reading ponies. If you feel like they're hiding something, they may be. I can look around for you.”

“Thank you. But be careful.” Celestia hesitated, looking toward the door, then leaned in and said, “There’s a reporter from Canterlot that asked them a few too many questions, tried a little too hard to get into the restricted areas. They died in a house fire a few days later.”

Twilight swallowed. “Oh. Surely that’s just… a coincidence?”

“Maybe. But maybe not.” Celestia paced. “They have their own police force. Their own doctors and lawyers. They’re a powerful company. Please, be careful while you’re out there.”

“Of course. I’ll see if they’re up to anything illegal. You can count on me.”

“Thank you. And good luck.” Celestia watched her head for the door, and said, “One last thing.”

Twilight glanced back.

“Don’t let them recognize you.”

Twilight nodded. “Got it. I’ll get back to you with everything I learn. See you soon.”

She left, and Celestia sank into her throne, sighing. “I just hope my suspicions aren’t correct…”

Twilight wasn’t going to check out the center yet, though. She was going to wait until night, when it’ll be easier to hide. Until then, she was going to research their latest discoveries and see if she could find anything questionable.

She collected various old newspapers and magazines, and the latest scientific journals. She cut out everything relating to the company and organized it by date, reading through. The company rose to fame rather quickly, but that wasn’t unheard of. They quietly worked on pharmaceutical production, until their small research department made a sudden breakthrough that effectively doubled the chances of survival for late stage cancer patients. After that, they poured more resources into research and shifted their focus to finding cures for all of the chronic illnesses that plagued the world.

They’ve made great progress in both scientific and magical fields, providing a variety of medicines and spells that could treat illnesses that were once considered a death sentence.

Twilight didn’t want to think of such a great company as behaving unethically, but if they were, she was going to find out.

She pondered over a recent news article. Life Aura often took volunteers to test their experimental procedures. There have been deaths, but each volunteer signed up with the understanding that they may not survive. The ones who recovered helped the company refine their treatments, and once they had enough success they would pass along the new treatment to hospitals.

Twilight understood the necessity of pony test subjects. You could only get so far using mice and pigs. Eventually they had to test their procedures on ponies to make sure they would work. As long as the volunteers were willing and weren’t being coerced…

She picked up another article, about a mother who tried to sue the company over her daughter’s death. She claimed her daughter was confused, didn’t fully know what she was agreeing to and the risks hadn’t been properly explained before she signed. The mother had lost the case. All the details were in the paperwork, her daughter had signed saying she understood, and there wasn’t much more to it.

Twilight frowned. It was true, sometimes they recruited ponies who were desperate, perhaps not in their right minds. But at what point did an adult pony's agency end? Who got to decide who was incapable of understanding a waiver and who could? It was a decision only the individual themselves should really be able to make. Even someone who was confused could certainly understand a document telling them they might die, right? The company intentionally targeting the sick certainly sounded bad, but then, what would they accomplish by testing on the healthy?

Well, she probably wasn't going to learn much more like this. She stood, stretching and carefully filing everything away in a binder. The Sun was setting. She might as well head out now.

She left the library and found Spike, telling him she was going for a walk around town. Then she pulled on a hooded coat that covered her wings and headed out.

She teleported to Manehattan, and pulled the hood up. To passersby she would look like just another unicorn. Though her cutie mark might give her away. She glanced back at it, and went into the first clothing store she saw, buying pants. She really didn’t care for these, but they would cover her flanks and that’s what mattered.

Once better disguised, she headed for the ocean.

Manehattan had several huge piers that ships were constantly pulling in and out of, many of which were closed to the public. She chose to walk out onto one that was open, squinting into the distance. She could just barely see the island off the coast that the center had been built on. The building only seemed to have a few stories, but she’s heard that it had underground labs. Its lights gleamed just bright enough to be seen, but if she was just casually looking at the horizon it would be easy to miss.

She trotted back to land. There was a small port that was built solely to ferry employees out to the island. It was her best bet.

She approached it slowly, sticking to dark areas and checking her surroundings every so often. A few times she considered just teleporting over, but she didn’t like trying to teleport to areas she hasn’t seen in detail. She didn’t want to appear in front of a security guard or get stuck in a tree or something.

Once close enough to see the guard shack for the port, she stopped to examine the area. A small pier with a few boats, and the shack, which was manned by one guard in tactical armor who seemed to be holding a firearm.

Twilight couldn’t help but tense. Very few ponies used guns. Maybe Celestia was right, maybe they were up to something illegal.

She watched as a few ponies in scrubs walked up to the shack, and the guard sat forward, alert. They showed him ID cards, and he nodded, gesturing for them to go to one of the boats. Twilight now realized it had already had a driver, who had been dozing in his seat. He sat up now, greeting the passengers and starting the boat. It drove off across the water, and the guard went back to relaxing.

So the employees had badges. And from her understanding, guests were only allowed in during the day and left from a different port.

Perhaps she could just use an invisibility spell and hop onto the next boat out. Or levitate over to the island. Starlight has taught her a lot about self-levitation and she was confident she’d be able to get across to the center.

She watched for more employees, but no more showed up. From her research, she knew that the center had a night shift, but very few ponies worked that shift. That was likely the last stragglers heading in.

Levitation it is. She looked around to make sure she wasn’t being watched, then closed her eyes and focused, casting an invisibility spell. She opened her eyes, checked herself over, and nodded. Now for the difficult part. She lifted herself with her magic.

It was still strange floating without using her wings, but she’s practiced this enough to be confident with it. She flew over the water, and soon she was over the boat. She followed them in, considering whether or not she wanted to disguise herself to look like one of them. She could swipe one of those badges, maybe. But she would need to change her own appearance. She was far too recognizable.

Twilight decided to just stay invisible and explore that way. She flew past the boat, going to the dock and landing gently. She looked around, checking where all the guards were. Then she hurried up the road toward the building. It was surrounded by a high fence, and judging from the wires going along it, it was electrified. The road led to a reinforced gate with a guard shack right outside it, manned by a single stallion. The road was lined with bushes and flowers, and there was a sign boasting a large logo of a leaf surrounded by a halo of light, with 'Life Aura Center' written under it. She decided to stop near the guard shack, waiting for the employees to show up so she could follow them in.

She was waiting for a while. That boat was going slower than she expected. She watched the shack for a while, but the guard was uninteresting, just sitting in his chair reading a magazine. After several minutes, she went back toward the water to watch for the employees. They were nowhere to be found.

Twilight stared. They should be right there, she could see the dock they left from! Where was the boat?

She levitated back up, looking around for them. She finally saw them going around the side of the island, disappearing into a tunnel she hadn’t paid attention to.

Twilight flew down to it, but a grate was swung shut before she could get to it. She stopped, hovering there as she examined it. So the employees came in through here. Was the gate a decoy, then? Or perhaps it was just for visitors.

She went back to the fence. She could fly over it, but she got the feeling it was protected against that. Time to test it.

She grabbed a rock and threw it. It got partway over, then slammed into an invisible forcefield and bounced off. Okay then, she wasn’t flying in. Teleporting, maybe?

She tried to teleport the rock just past the fence. It disappeared, but instead of appearing on the road inside the fence, the rock just reappeared shooting toward her. She narrowly dodged it, and gave the building a much more interested look. They had anti-teleportation magic in place too. They really didn’t want anyone sneaking in.

Maintaining this invisibility spell was starting to tire her out. She needed to get in, fast. She examined the guard station. Perhaps if she distracted the guard, she could hit the button to open the gate. Or she could just be more direct and pull him out, hold him a safe distance away, and then hit the button. But that would probably be reported the moment she set him down. No, a distraction would be better.

Twilight retrieved that trusty rock, and bounced it off the station. The guard sat up, staring outside.

“Is somepony there?” he asked.

Twilight looked around, then rustled one of the bushes with her magic.

The guard aimed his gun out the window. “Hey! I know you’re there, come out!”

Twilight almost laughed. Only a young pony could actually hide in such short bushes, but she got the feeling these guards were trained to not take any chances.

The stallion got up and came outside, grumbling with irritation. He clearly didn’t think there was anyone there, but had to follow procedure.

Twilight hurried past him, going into the guard shack and looking at the panel he had sat in front of. There was a huge red alarm button, and near it were the controls for the gate. She clicked the open button and heard the gate move.

She didn’t waste any time, sprinting back outside and through the gap.

“Ugh, again?” The stallion groaned and turned around, after giving the bushes a few kicks to make sure nothing was hiding. Then he headed back to his post, and Twilight waited to see if he suspected anything. But instead he just closed the gate and then grabbed his intercom, saying to someone, “The gate’s broken again, somepony needs to get out here and fix it! It keeps opening on its own!”

Well, that was lucky. Apparently the gate has acted up before. She quickly went the rest of the way to the building, stepping out of the way so a couple ponies in vests and hard hats could pass her, going to examine the fence.

She began to realize just how high tech the company was as she approached the door. You needed a key card to get in, and the windows and doors all seemed hooked to alarm systems. She wouldn’t be breaking in, and she wasn’t going to risk teleporting. She was already lucky they didn’t have an anti-invisibility magic spell up. Then again, very few ponies were proficient in that sort of magic. They probably didn't see a need to devote energy to a detection spell for it.

Twilight decided to just sit down and wait for the construction workers to come back. She did her best to watch the proceedings through the window in the meantime.

Ponies in scrubs and lab coats walked around, going in and out of different rooms, most of them going downstairs while the first level seemed dedicated to offices. The employees who weren’t walking around were simply wearing lanyards with badges and working at desks.

Twilight leaned in closer. They all had typewriters, but some were using a much newer sort of technology, consisting of a sort of screen on a box. Were those… computers? She thought those were still experimental!

Then again, if anywhere had managed to perfect them, it would be a research center like this. Interesting.

Twilight really wished she could write some notes, but doing it out here would be too risky. She’ll get inside, find a place to hide and drop her spell, and then take some notes. Then she could keep exploring.

One of the construction workers was coming back. She snuck behind him, matching her hoof steps to his as he approached the door. When he unlocked it and went in, she quietly slipped through after him.

Okay. Time to investigate.

2. Symbiosis

The first thing Twilight realized was that the floor was tiled, and her hooves clicked loudly on it. She froze, and the pony she had followed inside paused, looking around. Then he rubbed his ear, shrugged, and kept going.

Twilight took a breath, then took a cautious step forward. She had to move very slowly to keep quiet, but she managed it. She crossed the room, examining the doors and finding that they led to different labs, and not offices like she had thought.

Allergy and immunology. Emergency medicine. Diagnostic radiology… that caught her interest. It wasn’t anything suspicious, she was just very curious about the field. It always fascinated her that ponies have learned to use radiation to scan for injuries and disease. She quietly opened the door and slipped in.

Her entry was unnoticed. Only a few ponies were working here right now, and they seemed focused on various experiments. She walked through the room, and stopped to watch as a device was leveled at a mass of tissue sitting on a dish.

She realized with mild disgust that it was a pair of lungs, but understood that this kind of research was best done on actual samples.

The device’s operator pulled a lead shield in front of the dish and got behind it, then pressed a button to activate the machine. A few seconds of humming, then she lowered the shield and went to check out a screen.

Twilight’s ears perked when she realized it showed a scan of the lungs, separated out into layers. And the employee located a dark splotch on one of the images and circled it, looking satisfied.

Technology capable of taking such clear, detailed scans of organs would definitely benefit Equestria. Twilight was excited to see that machine reach the public.

She kept looking around, but nothing here was suspicious or unethical. All the testing was being done on organs or cadavers.

She briefly examined a magnetic imaging machine, then headed back out.

She checked out some other sections of the building. Emergency medicine was testing new and improved ways to save lives in an emergency, as the name suggested. How to quickly stop bleeding, set bones, and tend to burns and other severe bodily trauma.

There were also a couple doctors writing out updated procedures, complete with graphic depictions, and Twilight decided she wanted to keep her dinner down.

She kept exploring. The ponies working at the desks weren't doing anything too interesting. Mostly finances and public relations work. She only watched a few of them before moving on.

There was so much going on in the center, but nothing stood out as questionable. She wondered just what Celestia had picked up on that made her worry.

Twilight took a quick break in a bathroom, hiding out in a stall and lowering the invisibility spell. She sighed and wiped sweat from her brow. Maintaining that took a lot of effort, and it didn’t help that she had her body covered. She was so tempted to just get an ID and walk around visible, but so far she hasn’t seen anypony dressed like her. She would stand out. She had vastly underestimated what it would take to sneak into this place, let alone actually explore.

Though, if she were to get both an ID and a lab coat…

Twilight got up, pulling off her clothes and tentatively trying to teleport them home. They disappeared, and she sighed with relief. It seemed you could teleport out of here, you just couldn’t teleport in.

Now considerably cooler, she turned herself invisible again and walked out. She looked around, then trotted up to the second floor, where the security offices were. There were signs to the office that issued badges, and she headed there.

There were hours of operation, and she found that they were closed. Badge pick-up was during the day only. That seemed inconvenient for the night shift employees. She tested the door. Locked. But it didn’t require a card. Instead, there were six numbered buttons for a passcode lock.

Alright then. Plan B. She went down the hall to the employee locker rooms. She would borrow some supplies from the day shift. It’ll be fine, she’ll give everything right back.

She found that none of the lockers were actually locked. She supposed they were confident in the security and the trustworthiness of their fellow employees. Then, upon opening one, she discovered why they weren’t secured. There was very little in it. A lab coat, some goggles and other PPE, and a lanyard with no badge on it.

Okay, maybe that pony just didn’t bring much to work. She tried the next locker.

This one had scrubs, a face mask, and a box of nitrile gloves. Along with some mane bands and a mirror.

Twilight closed it.

Finally she found a locker with a badge stored in it, and she took it, along with the coat. She turned visible and pulled the coat on. It didn’t belong to a pegasus, so there were no wing holes, but that was fine. It was much easier to hide wings than a horn.

She pulled her mane and tail into buns, and put the lanyard on. She examined the mare on the badge. She had blue fur and a white mane with a streak of gray.

Twilight found a mirror and took a deep breath, then began casting her magic. She was glad the mare whose identity she was assuming was a unicorn. She watched her appearance shift, her fur and mane changing color.

The last step was arguably the most difficult. Her eyes. She checked the picture again, then changed her eyes to an intense blue.

She gave herself a final examination. “Okay. Your name is Dr. Blue Bell and you work for pathology. Now, what part of that you work for, I’m not sure. But hopefully nopony questions you.”

She headed out. She was very nervous, but no one gave her a second glance. She passed the pathology department, heading for one of the staircases that led to the basement levels.

But just as she was taking the first step, a voice called, “Dr. Bell, is that you?”

Twilight paused, then turned around. “Yeah, it’s me.”

The pony approaching her paused and tilted her head. “Are you feeling okay? Your voice is weird.”

“Oh, um…” Twilight coughed against her foreleg, and used a hoarse voice as she replied, “Just got a little bug, I’m okay.”

“Oh dear, you don’t think you got sick from that influenza sample you were studying, do you?”

“I hope not, I used all the standard precautions.”

“Well…” The other mare awkwardly shifted, then said, “I did see you handling a sample the other day without gloves on, remember I had to write you up?”

Twilight sighed internally. Of course she was impersonating a pony who made dumb mistakes like that. “Oh, right. I’m sorry again about that. Yeah, that could be it.”

“Well, be careful and take some cold medicine. By the way, why are you here? You’re not scheduled to work tonight, you were moved to days.”

“Oh, well…” Twilight hurried to think of a lie. “I couldn’t sleep, I’m still so used to being awake at night, haha. I just wanted to come here and see if anypony needed my help.”

“Hm, well I doubt anypony down in the restricted research section needs you. You don’t even have the clearance to work down there. Why don’t you go talk to public health, they’ve been looking for input, something to do with mosquitoes and malaria? I don’t know, but go talk to Dr. Buzz.”

“Dr. Buzz, right, I’ll go see her.”

“...He’s a stallion. Seriously, you feeling okay?”

“Fine,” Twilight squeaked. She hurried past, toward where she remembered public health being.

The mare shook her head and went back into her lab.

Twilight slowed, and checked that she was gone. Then she turned and went back toward the stairs, trotting down. Restricted research, huh? That sounded promising. Of course it could simply be military research, or something a princess asked for. But if there was anything shady happening, it would be down here.

She noticed there were cameras on the walls. She looked at them out of the corner of her eye but tried not to stare. That was cutting edge, especially if they were transmitting live to somewhere. Did they develop that technology themselves, or did they get it from somewhere? And if the latter, who provided it?

Twilight decided to put the cameras out of mind and watch her surroundings. It was very quiet down here. There were several hallways and doors, with hardly any labels. She wasn’t sure where to start. She decided to just pick at random.

She was just starting to open one of the translucent glass doors when a stern voice called, “Doctor!”

Twilight tensed and turned around, seeing a stallion in a suit marching toward her. She straightened. “Yes, sir?”

“I don’t know what you’re doing but I need you to come with me immediately.”

Twilight recognized him as Blazing Aura, the unicorn who spearheaded the Life Aura Center as the leading research center it was today.

Several possibilities went through her head. Did he recognize her as an intruder? Did she act suspicious upstairs? Was this place so restricted she was in trouble just for coming down here?

“Yes, sir,” she replied. It’s okay, she told herself. If things went sideways she knew she could teleport out.

She followed him down the hall, and he said, “I was just running to get somepony, we need a doctor immediately. One of our patients is going into cardiac arrest and our usual doctor is upstairs in a meeting, and none of my scientists know how to handle this.”

Twilight’s blood ran cold. She didn’t know how to handle that either. “Sir, should we call for additional help?”

“I can once I get you working on him, but if he doesn’t get immediate medical attention he will die.”

Twilight’s breathing grew shallow. She tried to scrape together what she knew about cardiac arrest, but there was very little. Stabilize their heart rate. Keep the heart beating. A well-timed electrical shock could do it. Unless the heart has already stopped. Then she’d just be zapping meat, as horrible as that was to say. She did know CPR though, so she hoped the patient’s heart was still beating, so she could at least do that.

“You don’t have clearance for down here, so I’ll need to up your clearance once this is done,” Blazing said. “But hey, possible promotion.”

Well, at least Blue Bell might get something out of this.

Blazing shoved open a set of doors, and Twilight was stunned as they entered a huge lab ringed by glass cells, all of which contained ponies. Many of whom looked sickly and pained. But she didn’t have time to look too closely, because then they were approaching one of the cells and the door was flung open.

“Here, this is Rock Break,” Blazing said, pushing Twilight in. “Save him, he’s too valuable to lose.”

She looked back, but the door was closed and locked behind her. She stared, wondering why she was being locked in, then turned and got down next to the stallion. “Sir?” she asked him, rummaging through her pockets before finding gloves and pulling them on. “Sir, are you alright?”

He was laying on his side, breathing hard with a crazed look in his eyes. He was clutching his chest.

“It’s in here, it’s killing me!” he gasped.

“Okay, just remain calm.” Twilight tentatively felt his chest, and found that his heart was thrumming to a very offbeat tempo, his breathing ragged. She rolled him onto his back and began compressions, trying to get his heart’s rhythm back to normal.

“Get away, it’ll kill you, get-” Rock abruptly passed out.

“Sir? Rock? I’m losing him!” Twilight shouted. She kept up the compressions, then sat back, horn sparking as she prepared to shock him. She might not know how to do this properly, but he was already dying, so she had to try. She made sure she was clear of his body, then fired a bolt of electricity into his chest.

He jolted but remained unconscious, and she kept going, tears welling up in her eyes as she tried to force his heart to keep beating. This wasn’t what she wanted, she just wanted to look around, and now she was struggling to save a life and nothing was helping! What was with this place, why wouldn't they have more doctors assigned to work down here?

She heard Blazing talk to the scientists around him, and glanced back to see most of them disperse but one.

She looked back at the dying stallion, finally noticing how weak and emaciated he was. He was an earth pony, but all his muscles seemed to have been eaten away, leaving his skin sagging off his bones. What have they been doing to him? Or did he come in this way?

She took a breath and prepared her magic for another shock. “Clear-”

Then a stream of black goo erupted from Rock’s forehead and slammed into hers, covering her horn, and a deep voice roared, NO MORE.

The substance completely blocked her magic. She reeled back with a surprised shout, and something black and slimy emerged from the stallion, rolling and shifting in an unnerving, alien way.

Twilight tried to back away, but it caught all her limbs and pulled itself against her, stretching itself across her body.

“No, get back!” she shouted, struggling. But as suddenly as it appeared, it seemed to fade away, leaving only black crawling across her before that too disappeared. Her skin itched for a few moments, but the sensation soon stopped.

Breathing hard, she felt her face. There was nothing there. What was that? Was the panic making her see things? But there was that voice, and the thing that grabbed her...

The stallion gave a final gasp and went limp. When Twilight felt his neck, she couldn’t find a pulse. Nor was he breathing. “No. He’s…” She sat back, chest aching. “He’s gone.” She looked through the glass, standing. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t save him.”

“Oh, no matter,” Blazing said, while the scientist next to him took notes. He gave her a strange look. “You’ll do just fine in his place.”

“What?”

Blazing looked at something on the wall next to her cell. “Vitals are normal. Heart rate nominal… oxygen intake is down, though. Keep an eye on that.”

Ugh, who needs oxygen.

Twilight whipped her head around. “Who said that?”

Blazing just lifted a brow. “I’m the only one talking. Ms. Atom, please note confusion in the subject, and possible auditory hallucinations.”

“Like many of our subjects,” Ms. Atom said, writing that down.

Twilight banged on the glass. “Let me out of here!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Blazing replied. “You’ve become a valuable research subject. Far more valuable than you were sniffing petri dishes or whatever you do up in pathology.” Blazing kept reading the wall, and Twilight assumed there was some kind of monitor there. “I'm glad I found you. Truth is, I have doctors here who could have perhaps saved Rock. But I didn't want to sacrifice them, they're all very hard workers.” He was quiet for a bit, then said, “This is odd. We took your DNA when you started work here. But this is failing to identify you.”

Twilight swallowed. “Oh? That’s weird.”

“It is. It’s almost as if… you aren’t Blue Bell. You’re an impostor.” Blazing’s horn glowed, and he gestured to a couple guards, who immediately ran to his side. “Atom, open the door.”

“But sir, the symbiote-”

“It won’t want to leave her, she matched with it far better than Rock did. Open the door.”

Atom didn’t argue, opening the door while the guards aimed their guns.

Twilight’s legs shook with fear, and as soon as the door was open, Blazing hit her with a spell. Her fur colors began changing back.

“No!” She cast a counter-spell to keep the disguise up, but then the guards stabbed at her with the barrels of their guns, making her lose her concentration. She closed her eyes tight and blasted them backward, and they went flying, crashing into tables and knocking lab equipment over.

Twilight struggled out of the cell, tossing off her coat and lanyard and making sure she was still disguised. Can’t let them change me back, they can’t see my face!

Why didn’t you say so?

Twilight gasped as a viscous black fluid flowed across her entire body, coating her and completely obscuring her appearance. Her wings flew open, slime dripping from them.

Now this is more like it!

Twilight had no idea what was going on, what that voice was or why she was suddenly coated in this strange substance. But she did feel more powerful than ever before, and the fear melted away, replaced with a smug confidence.

She charged across the room, her legs seeming to move on their own, and she plowed into one of the guards. He tried to lift his gun, but she grabbed it in jaws that suddenly felt much bigger and stronger than before. She ripped the gun away, and as she opened her mouth wide, the other screamed.

Next thing she knew, she had bitten down on his entire head and pulled it off with a sharp twisting motion. Her teeth crunched through his skull, blood and brain matter flooding her mouth. It tasted both disgusting and delicious, and she yanked herself away, feeling like she was going to vomit.

What am I doing?! she demanded of herself, wondering where that sick hunger had come from.

Fuel! that deep voice yelled, and she finally realized it was in her head.

She remembered what Blazing had said. Something had matched with her, something the scientist had called a ‘symbiote.’ As in… something that formed a symbiotic relationship with a host?

That’s it, sweetheart, now let me get us out of here! They moved, tossing the guard’s body aside. They turned to roar at the other guard, who began shooting at them. Twilight flinched, but then she realized the bullets were bouncing right off and she didn’t even feel pain.

Her body moved, crossing the room in an instant and knocking the guard out cold with his own weapon. Vicious claws grew from her hooves and she sank them into his neck, lifting him and opening her mouth wide. Then she stopped, growling, “No, don’t eat him!”

“But why?” a deep voice whined from low in her throat.

“He’s just doing his job, don’t hurt him!”

“These ponies go far beyond just being security guards. I’ve watched them beat the patients here. Kick them around, humiliate them, abuse them. They do not deserve your pity.”

Twilight swallowed, but firmly said, “Leave him.”

The being sharing her body groaned, but dropped the guard.

Twilight turned. “Now, where’s Blazing?”

She got her answer when high-pitched alarms blared around them.

Sounding the alarm, the voice replied, back in her head and sounding pained. We need to get out.

But I need to find out what’s going on here, this is so much bigger than-

Out! Their wings opened and they were suddenly in the air, slamming through the ceiling as if it was tissue paper. They landed on the first floor, their hooves scrambling against the floor as they ran through the building.

There were dozens of guards waiting for them, and Twilight began preparing to teleport out, but the voice said, It won’t work, they would have cast a barrier spell by now. No teleporting in or out.

Twilight stopped the spell. So how do we-

We fight our way out.

Before she could argue, they were being shot at, and her body moved faster than she ever thought possible. Her wings flapped and launched her straight up. Black appendages shot out from her sides, latching onto the walls and swinging them through the room, so quick that no one could land a hit. Then they flew back down, back legs first and slamming right through the line of guards.

They landed and began kicking out, their legs moving so hard and fast they sent their victims flying. They never stopped moving, leaping from pony to pony, snarling as they punched and threw them. Nothing the others did seemed to even hurt. It was just a rush of adrenaline, as Twilight cooperated with the strange being to take down every single guard.

Next thing she knew, she was standing near the door, panting with a room of unconscious ponies in front of her. She realized she was much taller than usual, and when she looked at herself in the glass, she was shocked to see that her entire body had grown huge and muscular. The black liquid seemed almost solid now, and there were hideous white eyes over her own.

Hideous??

Twilight opened her mouth. It was filled with sharp teeth, and a long tongue lolled out of it. She shuddered and slammed through the glass, running as fast as she could to get away. An even louder alarm sounded from the building, and she winced, finally feeling pain.

Here, this way. Their wings opened and they took off. More guards poured out of the building, chasing them, the pegasi taking to the air and aiming their weapons. But before any of them could catch up, Twilight was off the island and diving into the water, swimming so fast and deep their pursuers lost track of them.

They resurfaced miles away, jumping up onto the shore a good distance south of Manehattan.

Twilight gasped for breath as she dragged herself through the sand, the goo seeming to sink back into her body. She hadn’t breathed once while underwater, but now she couldn’t seem to get enough air.

“What… what, the hell, was that,” she gasped.

Hm, I didn’t think you ponies knew how to swear.

She pushed herself up, looking herself over. She looked like herself again, her mane and tail no longer in a bun but now very messy. “Okay, who are you?”

The liquid emerged from her body in strands, before forming into a sort of head and twisting around to look at her. It was horrifying, looking just like she did when she had caught her reflection earlier, but somehow, she wasn’t afraid of it. “I am Venom.”

3. Discussions

Twilight stared. “Venom?”

“Yes.”

“What are you?”

The being seemed to find that amusing. “We call ourselves the Klyntar, but your species has, fittingly, dubbed us symbiotes.”

“Right, that scientist said something about that. But, I’m still not exactly sure what you are. I’ve never seen or heard of anything like you before.”

“You wouldn’t have. We’re not from this planet.”

Twilight needed a moment to take that in. Then she said, “You’re an alien?”

“You got it.” The being seemed to circle her, though it remained attached to her body by that thick liquid. Despite its unnerving appearance, those creepy eyes and toothy grin, she still didn’t feel threatened. Somehow, she could feel its emotions, and it was more curious about her than anything. It looked her over, then came back to look at her face. “Some of my people landed here months ago. We were a scouting party, looking for new worlds to conquer. But we crash-landed, and were found by Blazing Aura of the Life Aura Center. He trapped us. We can’t survive in your atmosphere and he took advantage of it. We were imprisoned and used as test subjects in that lab, as his scientists tried to determine if we could cure your kind of chronic illnesses.”

Twilight stared at it. “You can’t survive here? But… you seem okay. Actually, you’re very strong.”

“Because I have a strong host. You. We can survive here with compatible hosts. As long as we feed regularly.”

“And… what do you need to eat, exactly?” Twilight asked, though she got the feeling she already knew.

“Meat! All my brethren are dying in there because they feed us pony diets! They refuse to listen to our calls for meat, which contains chemicals we need! So we must turn to eating our hosts, which inevitably kills them. As you saw in Rock Break.” At Twilight’s questioning stare, he explained, “I was eating his heart when you showed up. Maybe a little bit of his brain. Don’t blame me for jumping ship.”

Twilight began pacing, resisting the urge to gag. “So Blazing is using ponies as test subjects for his experiments, and infecting them with your people. And as each of the ponies die, a new one has to take their place, to keep the symbiotes alive.”

“Yes.”

She sighed. “I see. So, what exactly do you mean when you say you were looking for worlds to conquer?”

“Exactly how it sounds. Conquer, take over, control. Many of my race say this is wrong, but they're fools who waste their time spreading peace, instead of being the great conquerors we were meant to be! So I'm part of a feared team of Klyntar who travel the universe in search of new worlds to inhabit. And this one has so many people to take over, it's perfect.”

“I will never let that happen,” Twilight said firmly.

“Luckily for you, unless we manage to send for help, we won’t be able to do it anyway. But you could free my people. You could help us get our ship back! Listen, Twilight-”

Twilight’s fur stood on end. “How do you know my name?”

“I’m part of you, I’m in your mind, I know everything about you. Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship. How adorable.” He clearly didn't think very highly of such a title. Twilight could feel his disdain. “Think about how you felt when we fought out of that lab. We are powerful together. All of your kind can feel that way. You can be joined with my people, all of my people once we convince them to join our side, and we can give you strength and technology beyond your imagination. We’ll become a perfect symbiotic race. We’ll have harmony. You like harmony, right?”

It almost sounded beautiful. But Twilight shook her head. “There will no doubt be ponies who want nothing to do with that. I won't let you force them into it.”

“Bah. Whatever.”

“You know, I didn't expect you to be this..." She cast around for the right word.

"This what?"

"I don't know... honest, I guess? Helpful? Talkative?"

“I don't gain anything from lying to you. We're one, now. Being honest benefits us both.”

Twilight couldn't argue that. She looked back toward the city, and shook herself off, walking away. “So you have to eat meat.”

“Yes! Preferably pony meat! Your brains are so soft and full of nutrients!”

“Not happening. We can’t just go around killing ponies.”

“Not even the bad ones?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “It’s not up to me to judge who’s bad enough to deserve death.”

“You creatures are so kind and sentimental. It’s frustrating. Listen.” That head whipped around in front of her. “Either I eat meat, or I eat your liver. And don’t even think about trying to get rid of me. We’re bonded at the molecular level and if I don’t want to go, I won’t.”

Twilight groaned, then muttered, “I’ll eat poultry and fish occasionally. Maybe pork. Will that make you happy?”

She felt satisfaction from the creature. “Very happy!” The head disappeared, and she shivered as the liquid sank back under her coat. She could still feel the other as a sort of presence in her mind, cool but not uncomfortable.

She had so much to tell Celestia-

No, you can’t tell her!

Why not? It was strange just how used Twilight already was to talking to the creature in her mind like this.

If Blazing finds out you know, he will kill you. He’s been tormenting us into giving up knowledge to his scientists, he will not let it get out that all of his company’s success is due to aliens. Remember when Celestia told you about that reporter that died in the fire? Blazing arranged for that. I heard him talking about it to one of his guards.

Kill me? Twilight laughed out loud at that. I'm an alicorn princess. I don't know how much you know about us, but it'd be very difficult to just up and murder one of us. I doubt even Blazing's security force could pull it off. Celestia trusts me, if I tell her what I saw in there, she and the other princesses will be totally ready to blow the lid off the place. We are not going to sit back and let him keep torturing ponies. His company has done great things, sure, but progress on the backs of the innocent is no sort of progress I want.

How sweet. Well, if that’s how you feel, then go ahead. Tell Celestia, and hope that word doesn't somehow get back to Blazing, because if it does he WILL take you out first. I say we should kill him ourselves. Sneak in, track that bastard down, and eat him alive.

Twilight shook her head. No. We're getting Celestia's help and that's final.

Ugh, why did I have to get stuck in such a goody-two-hooves creature like you? Well be my guest but if you get your fellow princesses gunned down in cold blood don't come crying to me.

Twilight rolled her eyes. There was no way that was going to happen. The three other princesses of Equestria were powerful and would have no problem with this threat. She just needed to decide exactly how she was going to explain all this to Celestia, and then they would likely need to meet up to plan out their strategy before actually going after Blazing. In the meantime, she was going to try to focus on her normal duties, and get used to Venom. If she really wouldn't be able to get rid of him, she would learn to handle him. At least he seemed willing to let her control their body now. He just rode shotgun, watching everything calmly through her eyes.

Twilight really hoped the center didn’t manage to track that fiasco down to her. They would no doubt be wanting their symbiote back.

If they send anyone after us, we’ll eat them, Venom said casually.

She sighed and closed her eyes, teleporting back home.

Venom took great interest in her castle, and she ended up spending several minutes just walking around and letting him take a look at everything. While he could just access her memories of the layout, he wanted to see it all for himself. She was still hesitant about this, but she was already growing used to his presence. At least there were benefits.

They lingered in the kitchen for a while, Twilight's stomach growling loudly when she opened the refrigerator. All of a sudden she felt like she was starving, and she grabbed for a bag of whole carrots, but Venom ended up taking over control of her forelegs and just shoving them back in.

Meat. MEAT!

I don't have meat!

Then go buy meat! A few omnivores live here now right? And the supermarket now carries meat! Like chicken! Go buy some!

They're closed by now!

GAH. Then first thing tomorrow, we go shopping!

Twilight rolled her eyes and took out a carrot, chomping on it to try and quell the hunger anyway. She went over to her cabinets, searching through them before picking up a bag of chocolates and going to sit down with them, needing something sweet after today's ordeal. Once she finished the carrot, she picked out a chocolate and popped it in her mouth.

There was an immediate, fascinated reaction from Venom. Oh, that's good. Chocolate? It's... strangely satisfying.

Yeah, chocolate usually has that kind of effect on people.

No, I mean I'm not as hungry now. Strange, perhaps this could be a substitute for meat. Though I still like the taste of meat. Especially ponies.

Twilight chose not to acknowledge that last statement. Did they let you have chocolate at the center?

No. They fed us the healthiest diets they could. Perfectly optimized, they claimed. Yet their brilliant scientists failed to realize we need protein, and a particular chemical you call phenylethylamine. None of those things were in all that plant garbage. Though I'm starting to suspect this chocolate has it. Anyway, they gave us none of it. But you sense it, don't you? You can sense how much I need it.

I have to admit, you're kinda making me want meat too. I could only really tolerate certain fish before, but... chicken is starting to sound good right now.

She felt a kind of chuckle deep in her chest. Perhaps if you give some of my favorite foods a try, you'll learn to love them. And I may learn to love your favorite foods as well.

That was agreeable. Twilight went back to eating the chocolate, and Venom's eagerness may have gotten to her, because she had her face shoved all the way inside the bag when Spike walked in.

“Oh Twilight, just popping in for a snack, didn't expect-” Spike stopped, staring at her. Twilight stared back, the bag still stuck on the end of her muzzle. He slowly backed out. “Never mind, hope you enjoyed your walk.”

She dropped the bag once he was gone, licking her lips off with a tongue that was much too long. She quickly shoved it into her mouth. Do you mind not shapeshifting me like that?

Buzzkill.

Twilight stood, throwing away the now-empty bag and yawning. She really wanted to start drafting the letter to Celestia, but all that fighting had taken a lot out of her. She decided to just do it tomorrow and headed up to bed.

Venom seemed in agreement that she needed sleep, and her eyes drooped the moment she was under the covers. Still, as much as she wanted to sleep, memories of the Life Aura Center kept flashing through her head. All those miserable ponies in that underground lab. Rock Break dying under her hooves. The guards trying their best to kill her, until she fought back. She killed one of them.

She shook slightly, gathering the blankets closer to her chest and wringing them anxiously. At least one pony died as a direct result of her snooping around. Guilt flooded her, she never wanted things to go that far, why didn't she just turn around the minute she saw how heavily guarded the facility was?

If you hadn't been there, some other pony would have been taken to try and save Rock Break. Their efforts would have been in vain. And I would have bonded with them instead of you. They may not have been compatible. I may have died in their body. You were strong enough to allow me to fight our way out. You saved me from weeks or perhaps months of being tortured. But I wouldn't waste time worrying about what-ifs. What happened, happened. Now we must look forward.

Twilight swallowed, relaxing slightly. Right. Look forward. I'll try. I just can't help but think about how I could have done things differently.

Yes, I noticed that about you. You think too much. You analyze everything. Sometimes you need to just go with the flow.

Liquid crawled across her coat, and she started to shiver, but then it began to feel strangely warm, and she found herself relaxing into it like it was a blanket. Go with the flow. Hard to do when I killed somepony. When I... She lifted a hoof to her mouth. Ate him. And the worst part, he actually tasted...

Good? Mm, yes. He did, didn't he? That satisfying crunch, followed by rich, soft brain matter... Twilight's gut churned, and Venom huffed. But I see your kind frowns on that sort of behavior. You feel bad because society tells you to feel bad. I say you should stop thinking about it. Move on. One less pony to torment the Life Aura Center's victims... and more fuel in our tank.

She was just too tired to keep talking about it tonight. She needed to mull things over. “Goodnight,” she said out loud. She sensed Venom's relief at no longer needing to talk to her. He seemed annoyed at all the explaining she had made him do. But there was no real hostility toward her.

In fact, it almost felt like he was embracing her as she drifted off, and the last thing she was aware of was Venom whispering back, as if in her ear, “Goodnight.”

4. Shopping

When Twilight woke up, she felt more well-rested than she has in weeks. She couldn’t recall what she had dreamed about, but that was fine. She was so warm and comfortable, and when she opened her eyes, the morning sunlight seemed far too bright.

She winced and closed them, trying to sink into that heat surrounding her. It was the weekend. School wasn’t open today. She could sleep in.

Excellent idea, Princess.

Her eyes flew open, and she sat upright. “Venom.”

The alien extended a head out of her neck so he could look her in the eye. “Yes?”he asked, sharp teeth glinting in his wide maw, a few strings of saliva dripping out.

She looked herself over and realized why she felt so warm. His skin(?) had completely coated hers. It was a sort of connection that was so deep and intimate it made her blush. She cleared her throat and said, “So, I guess all that crazy stuff did happen last night. I’m bonded with an alien parasite.”

“Parasite?!” he demanded. Their hide twitched and she felt him bristle with anger. “Parasites take and take and give nothing in return! I am a perfect symbiote in a MUTUALISTIC bond with you! You breathe and allow me to survive in this atmosphere, and in turn I share my strength with you! You eat to fuel me, I repay you with the ability to fight and move like never before! We make each other better! If I was a parasite, trust me, you would not be breathing right now!”

Twilight was taken aback, but didn’t let him intimidate her, getting in his face. “Okay, so we are in a mutualistic relationship, not a parasitic one, whatever! This is still really freaky and gross and I don't know how Celestia is gonna react to the truth about the Life Aura Center, not to mention what happened to me, and ugh!” She turned and threw herself face-first into a pillow.

She felt surprise radiate through their connection. She tried to pry into his thoughts, but he masked them from her, and she was briefly satisfied that she had made him speechless. He watched her silently for a few seconds, and she kept her face against the pillow. Then she felt a gentle stroking between her wings. Looking over, she saw Venom resting his chin on the pillow next to her, having formed a neck and shoulders to go with his head, and he was petting her with a human-like hand. It was surprisingly cute, and she resisted the urge to giggle. He was making it really hard to remember he was a vicious space alien.

“I'm only vicious toward our enemies.”

“I noticed.” Twilight let him coax her into sitting up, curiously examining his current form. His skin had uncovered her body, and his usually-liquid form had become more solid as he rested next to her, muscular and large, though it was only composed of a torso and everything above that point. The rest just flowed back into that strange biomass and bonded seamlessly to her.

He looked her over too, apparently interested to see her in the sunlight, and even lifted one of her hooves to look at closely, comparing it to his hand.

Twilight was already thinking of how she was going to explain the differences between ponies and these aliens to Celestia. They were so unlike anything else in Equestria, this could be a fascinating field of study-

“Your thoughts are so loud!” Venom complained.

She stared. “My... thoughts?”

“We share the same mindscape!” He gave her skull an unnecessarily hard tap, though at the same time, it didn't really hurt. “You're just in there shouting everything that goes through your brain to the void! I hear all of it!”

“So uh, how do I keep you from hearing everything?”

“Don't overthink it. You somewhat pulled it off yesterday. If you want me to hear, then intend for me to hear. If you don't, keep it private. I can't explain much simpler.”

Twilight's brows furrowed, but she gave it a try, quietly trying to sing one of Pinkie's cupcake recipes to herself without wanting him to hear. Judging from the lack of response from Venom, he didn't catch it, though he did smirk at how she bobbed her head slightly to the tune. Then her thoughts wandered again.

So if you had to write a- OH, sorry!

Venom looked more exasperated than angry. “Look, fluff face. Stop thinking about how to talk to Celestia. Write later. Go do something else to distract yourself. Then we'll get to it when we're ready. But it does need to happen soon. I need to free all the Klyntar so we can go home. They’ve suffered long enough.”

“Go home, huh? Why, so you can bring back enough of your kind to take over every sapient being in the world?”

“That would be ideal, yes.”

“What if I don’t let you?”

“Let me?” He laughed. “You think you could stop me? I’m part of you. In essence, I am you. I can move without your permission.” To demonstrate, he opened and closed their wings.

Twilight tried to stop them from moving. It was a struggle, as she felt his will trying to overpower hers. After a few moments, she groaned and gave up, but so did he, instead just blanketing himself around her body.

“Hm, your will is strong. Which means anything we do, we must cooperate on. I could take a weaker-minded host, but you've got a fire to you I quite enjoy. Plus, it would be a shame to lose this body…” He posed a bit as he examined their body more. “It’s really quite impressive. An alicorn. The things I could do…”

“Yes, well, if you want to move to somepony else, go for it. You won’t hurt my feelings.”

“Oh? Would you be okay with that?” Venom sprouted his face back out so he could stick it in hers. She was so used to it by now she didn't even flinch. “Would you truly allow another pony to feel the shock and horror you did when we bonded? Allow them to have their mind and body controlled into doing my bidding? Risk them not being a match for me, resulting in me eating away their organs and flesh as I struggle not to die? Is that really what you want, Princess of Magic?”

Twilight hesitated. “Well… no, I don’t want anypony being harmed…”

“And speaking of being harmed, even if my new host were to be compatible, what if we get discovered for what we are by Blazing and his team? Taken back into that lab? Locked up, experimented on, starving to death. You want that?”

“No!”

“Of course not. But you’re powerful and clever. We won’t be captured if we stay together.” Venom ran his hand from her back, up along her neck. Twilight tensed when his claws elongated, but didn’t try to move away. He touched her face, stroking through her cheek fur. He was surprisingly gentle about it. “Besides, I’ve already taken a liking to you.”

She wasn’t sure what to make of the emotions he was projecting through their mental link, so she elected to just ignore them and instead focus on the conversation. “Flattery will get you nowhere. I am a princess of Equestria and I will not let any harm come to it. So, while I will let you stay with me, I cannot and will not allow your species to take over. That is final.”

“So you’re leaving them to suffer.”

“We’ll rescue them. Get them… I don’t know, get them into willing hosts. You can become part of our society. But I can’t allow your entire species to come here. I know most of them are peaceful, but since there are those who just want to conquer other worlds... I can't. It’s just too dangerous.”

“Hm, my brethren in the lab would accept hosts… but many of them are very loyal to our team. They will want to bring others like us here. Stopping them from doing so will be difficult.”

“I’ll figure something out.” Twilight burrowed under the covers.

You’ll figure it out under here?

She sighed. I’m going back to sleep.

Again? You already slept for eight hours.

Hmph. Tired.

You’re not tired, you’re hungry. Let’s go shopping!

Can’t I do it later?

You promised you’d buy chicken!

Right. Twilight finally rolled out of bed, going over to the mirror and looking herself over. Venom had vanished back into her, and she leaned in close, trying to find any hint that she was sharing her body with an alien. But there was nothing.

Beautiful, aren’t we? We can look like this, and we can look like this. They bulked up, the dark goo covering them in an instant, and Twilight turned a few ways to stare at just how muscular her legs had become. She looked very unsettling with her body concealed like this. She couldn’t even recognize herself. Her mane and tail had become a flowing mass of liquid, her eyes were sharp and milky white, and her smile was far too wide. Her wings and horn were still visible, but if she saw a creature like this without knowing what it was, she wouldn’t connect it to any of the alicorn princesses at all. She would just see it as a grotesque monster.

Oh, so now I’m grotesque?

No! I mean… you, or I guess we… Twilight spun in a circle, looking at herself from all angles. We look unstoppable. You make me look strange, there’s no doubt about it, but I like it. Nopony would recognize me like this. I could really do anything. I could be a vigilante. Be a superhero, almost.

Don’t get ahead of yourself. How many superheroes do you know like eating brains?

Well… there’s a first for everything, right? But seriously, we could do amazing things together.

Yes, yes we could. I’m glad you recognize it. I feel the yearning for power inside you. You’ve been satisfied with your progress as an alicorn but you’ve always wanted more. I can give you more. We’ll improve together. We’ll get stronger, and soon nothing will stand in our way.

Twilight turned away from the mirror, silently asking him to return them to normal, which he did. Well, I think first I want to get a baseline for your- our current power.

Fantastic. But if you expect me to perform my best, you need to get me that breakfast you promised.

You’re still on about-

One chicken. Preferably raw but I'll cook it for your sake. Then you can do all the tests you want on me. And you by extension.

Okay. Breakfast it is. But you better blow me away when I test you.

Challenge accepted.

Going to the store was an adventure. Venom seemed interested in trying anything and everything, including products that weren’t even food.

She had to carefully explain to him why she couldn’t drink laundry detergent, no matter how nice it smelled. He also dragged her through the coffee aisle, pretty much plastering her face against one of the coffee bean dispensers and inhaling deeply.

She pulled back, but not before a filly walking by with her mother gave her a confused look.

“Uh, just… trying to decide what coffee to switch to,” Twilight said, laughing nervously.

The two kept going, and she heard the filly say, “The princess really loves coffee, just like Daddy!”

Okay, that was adorable.

Twilight quickly told Venom that the coffee beans didn’t exactly taste good in their current state, and he told her to buy some and brew them then.

She sighed, filled a bag with her favorite brand, and tossed it in her cart. It’s a good thing she needed to go shopping anyway, she supposed.

Then they were hurrying to the tiny meat department, where a griffin worked.

He seemed surprised to see her. “Ma’am, just so you know, this is all actual meat. But we have a vegetarian line down that way that tastes like the real thing.”

“Oh I know, I want real meat.”

“You do?”

“Mhm.” She browsed the selection, and felt Venom’s hunger. She licked her lips when she got to the pile of whole chickens, bound and ready to be cooked.

“Huh, don’t meet many ponies who eat meat. But alright, what can I get you?”

She let Venom take over, and he gladly did so. “I’ll have two of these chickens, a pack of pork chops, oh these chicken nuggets would make a delicious snack, aand get me those sausages! And this pack of salmon!”

The griffin bagged everything for them, weighing the bags and putting price labels on them.

They put everything carefully in their cart, thanked him, and headed for the front.

He scratched his head as he watched them go. “That princess is weirder than I thought.”

I thought we were just getting chicken, Twilight thought as she stalked toward the checkout line.

We were but I figured we should stock up.

She greeted the cashier and began unloading her cart. The other scanned through with little comment, though raised a brow at the sight of all the meat, looking up at Twilight.

“Um… I got curious,” she replied nervously.

He shrugged and went back to scanning.

Twilight paid and got out of there as quickly as she could, teleporting back home with her bags. She went right to the kitchen, horn glowing and everything floating into the air. She put it all away, though left one of the chickens out.

I don’t know how to prepare this.

Then allow me. Venom took control, and she just mentally took a back seat, letting him trot around the kitchen collecting what he needed.

They pulled the strings off the chicken, and plopped it into a tray. The oven was set to preheat, and Venom went through the spices, sniffing them before settling on a few he liked. He found a brush and used it to wipe just the smallest amount of water along the meat, then sprinkled on his spices.

It’s almost good enough to eat now, but I don’t want your body to reject it.

Thanks.

They kept preparing the chicken, getting it nice and spiced, arranging some broccoli and carrots artfully around it. And once the oven dinged, they put the pan in and closed the door.

Venom was impatient, taking to pacing the room, until Twilight reminded him that they had bought more chocolate. He decided to munch on a caramel-filled piece, but wanted to save his appetite for the chicken. The scent of it soon filled the air, and Venom’s hunger made their mouth salivate.

The smell soon attracted Spike, who had apparently slept in. He rubbed his eyes and stared into the kitchen. “Are you… making chicken?” he asked.

“Yeah,” they replied.

“Since when do you eat meat?”

“Since um… I was curious. I mean, I know quite a few griffins and hippogriffs now, and other omnivores, I wanted to try foods they like.”

“Huh. Well, okay, but don’t eat too much, you wouldn't want to get sick.” He went to open a cabinet, taking out his stash of sapphires and tossing one into his mouth.

“You want some?” Twilight asked.

“Sure, it smells really good.”

Spike hung out while they waited for the food to finish, and they chatted about their plans for the weekend. Then Spike settled into reading a comic.

He’s very nice for a dragon.

He was raised by ponies, but other dragons are learning to be nicer too, thanks to my school.

Cute. Good luck with that.

Once the chicken was done, Twilight used magic to pull the hot tray out of the oven and set it on the stove. She carefully cut a leg from it, which Spike claimed. She had to resist the urge to just shovel the entire chicken into her mouth. She instead cut some slices out, and scooped some of the vegetables onto her plate, then went to sit down.

She spent a few moments just looking at the food in front of her. Meat. She was really going to eat meat. She’s never had chicken before. She sniffed it.

Come on, you’ve been smelling it this whole time. Let’s eat!

Before she could protest, her hooves were moving, grabbing a slice and tossing it into her mouth. Spike stared at her, and she silently yelled at Venom, Fork! We eat with a fork, not our hooves!

Whatever you say. Their horn lit up and they picked up the fork, spearing a piece and lifting it that way.

“Are you alright?” Spike asked. “You’re acting kinda funny.”

“Oh, you know,” Twilight laughed nervously. “Totally fine.”

“If you say so, but if you want to talk, I’m here.” He slid the chicken leg into his mouth, gnawing off the rest of the meat as he left the room.

Everyone around here really trusts you. None of them are really questioning your odd behavior.

I haven’t done anything too weird yet. They might just think I’m having an off day. It happens.

This must be that love and tolerance I’ve heard so much about.

Twilight focused more on how the chicken tasted. The texture was strange, the flavor even more so. It was different from anything else she’s ever had, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. But it wasn’t bad. Her stomach coiled with brief nausea at the thought of what she was eating, but she pushed past it. Better this than brains, right?

Brains are so good though, you really should try it again, it’s an acquired taste.

No thanks.

She felt Venom’s dismay. But he was content with this meal. They brought the entire pan over to the table. Now that they were alone, they ate more messily, diving in face first and tearing soft strips of meat away from the bone. Twilight was mildly disgusted, but somehow it was very easy to just let Venom take over and follow his instincts. This really wasn’t so bad. In fact it was starting to taste pretty good. The meat was so tender and juicy, rich in flavor, and she thanked the other for talking her into eating it.

See? Delicious. You herbivores have been missing out. We’ll prepare all sorts of meats, you’ll love them all, just wait and see! Maybe I can even get you to let me eat this stuff raw!

Don't hold your breath.

A few seconds later and Venom was extending their jaw and chomping down on the rest of the chicken, using their tongue to slurp up the juices and draw the body all the way into their mouth.

Twilight shuddered as they crunched through bones, but they had little trouble swallowing, and she began to wonder just how much this symbiosis had changed her body.

Quite a lot, I’d imagine, Venom replied, and they wiped their mouth off, before munching on the vegetables still in the tray.

Changed my body, changed my tastes… this is the last thing I expected when I snuck into the Life Aura Center. But I guess it isn’t too bad.

Of course not. I mean, you could have been killed.

...Yeah.

When they finished off everything in the pan, they took it over to the sink to rinse out. Then they headed to the castle gym, so Twilight could test just how strong Venom has made her.

He stretched a couple arms out of her, cracking his knuckles. Let’s do this.

5. Strength Testing

Twilight pushed open the doors to the seldom-used castle gym, looking around at what she had to work with. “Okay, first test, physical strength.” She began picking weight discs off their racks and setting them out in the center of the room.

You have everything here, don't you?

“Pretty much. There’s also a pool a few rooms over.” Twilight wrote the first weight amount she was going to try. Forty pounds. She lifted the disc with magic and walked over to set it on her back. She needed a few moments to get it balanced, but it wasn’t heavy at all. She put another forty pounds on. Still no issues.

Venom reached out with an arm, picking the four remaining weights and tossing them onto the first two.

“Wait, don’t-” Twilight’s legs shook slightly at the impact, knees bending instinctively to brace, but then she realized she could still lift this much. It was starting to feel heavy now, but not unbearably so.

240 pounds. Hah, that’s nearly your own weight! And here you are, carrying it around on your back.

She walked in a circle, and made notes in her notebook. Then she returned to the weights and began stacking the lighter ones on herself. She soon ran into the problem of not being able to balance them very well, but she was still at 300 when she stopped.

Why don't we actually put these on a machine? Or on a bar, at the very least.

That would be a better idea. Twilight agreed and checked out the machines, then began stacking weight onto a barbell. Once there were 300 pounds of metal on it, she slid under it and pressed her back up to the bar, lifting it from the bench and taking a few steps forward with it. Using her wings to help balance it, she did some squats.

Venom grabbed a few more weights, adding them to the sides. Then he stretched his head out to watch her. “You know, the bar itself is fairly heavy. We’re lifting around 350 pounds right now. True, you’re using your back and not your forelegs, but it’s very impressive. Think you can handle more?”

“Oh yeah,” she said confidently.

Venom ended up stacking nearly every weight disc they had onto the bar, until it ran out of room. And as Twilight began to struggle, his strength flowed through her, and she felt her muscles bulk up, body growing taller as he wrapped her in his skin.

“500!” they exclaimed, putting the bar back and doing some stretches. “See how amazing we are? And we can keep improving! We’re both strong, if we keep eating good and working out, I bet we could lift a tank!”

The skin receded, and Twilight shook her head, still trying to get used to the tingling. It felt like ants under her skin, but she wouldn’t call it uncomfortable.

She cleared her throat, still intrigued by how deep and guttural she sounded when Venom was sharing control. She wrote more notes, and said, “Yeah, I’ll probably work out more with you. So, that was overall leg strength… but I want to see how strong my hind legs are.”

“Of course! And we should definitely focus on those, because there’s nothing more satisfying than kicking your enemies across a room and hearing their spines shatter.”

“...I don’t know, you ever had a chocolate milkshake?”

“...That does sound very satisfying as well.”

Twilight loaded weight onto a leg press machine, deciding to start at 300 and go from there. She sank into the seat and put her back hooves against the press, pushing forward. It moved easily, and she did a few sets just to test how quickly her muscles would become fatigued, but this took almost no effort. She added another fifty pounds and continued.

Venom shared control of her body, and she was very aware of how he helped her stay on beat, pushing slowly and steadily. She didn’t mind his casual influence over her muscles, though. She sensed no ill will from him. He just wanted them to be stronger.

Well, she didn’t have anything better to do while she was exercising, so she decided to get to know Venom better. He was surprisingly open, filling her mind with images of his planet and people. While on Equus they were mostly shapeless and desperately sought hosts to survive, on their own planet they could live on their own, taking different appearances mostly based on personal preference. But some symbiotes still bonded with other animals on their planet.

He told her of the history of his race, how an ancient being once used them as conquerors before they fought back and overthrew him. But now their species was divided. The majority of them promoted peace throughout the universe. The rest, including Venom, remained conquerors and were constantly at odds with the rest of their species.

Why? Twilight asked.

Why? All this strength, and you don’t want me to use it for greatness? My race can do anything we put our minds to, we could rule the universe!

Right… but what do you gain from ruling the universe?

What do we… He seemed confused for a moment. Then he claimed, Power! Respect! We’ll own everything!

Okay, but you’ll be feared and hated. And everyone you conquered will no doubt conspire to defeat you. You’ll become just like that creature that controlled you. Imprisoned forever. Do you want that?

We won’t let ourselves be overthrown. If my whole species comes together as one, we’ll be unstoppable.

I see. So, let’s imagine you won, and you all rule the universe. Great. Then what?

He was quiet for a bit, then said, I hadn’t really thought about what I would do after. Explore, perhaps. See all my new planets, meet the local species and see what there is to do.

Then let’s cut out the middleman. Just go right to exploring. You’ll definitely be more accepted wherever you go if you haven’t taken over anyone’s planet, and they'll be much more willing to show you around, I bet.

He thought about that, and Twilight decided she was done exercising and hopped down, retrieving her notebook.

Perhaps. But my species is still naturally very… violent. Those peacekeepers are suppressing their natural instincts. I don’t believe in doing that. I want to be who I am, without having to rein myself in!

We all have instincts we have to control. Sometimes I get frustrated with somepony and have to resist that age-old instinct of just turning around and kicking them. Sure, it sounds like a good solution, it’ll feel good and shut them up, but it doesn’t actually solve anything. It’s better to work together and actually find a real solution. That’s something to be proud of. Attacking somepony is just gonna make me feel bad later.

Your kind does seem to prefer conflict resolution above actually fighting. And your society is fairly peaceful and happy. Except for the random villains you keep having to deal with. Seriously, can no one else on this planet fight?

Ponies can be very hesitant about fighting. My friends and I have gotten used to it, plus we’re bonded to the Elements of Harmony so we tend to get called on to solve problems. But I’ve seen my fellow ponies fight, if necessary.

I see. Well, your kind needs to be better prepared for conflict, so you don’t have to rely on six particular ponies that everyone knows about and thus can be taken out of commission first.

Right. I’ll get right on that. Twilight headed for the door.

You did make one good point though. Perhaps my initial plans were flawed. Having my people conquer and control yours would be fun, but I can’t see it doing much for us in the long run. Being friends with you, though, would be much more interesting.

Heh, I have always seen friendship as being one of the strongest magics in our world.

Please, I’m going to puke. Though… I will concede, friendship seems… nice. While I’m loyal to my brethren, we aren’t friends. In fact, they’re quite rude to me and just order me around. And I always just saw it as normal, but… being around you creatures has shown me there’s a different way to treat those around you, and it intrigues me. I’ve seen the things people will do out of fear. And I’ve seen what they’ll do out of affection for one another. Guess which has better results.

I don’t need to guess. I’ve seen what amazing things can be done when ponies have love for each other. And how awful it is when they’re ruled by fear.

Indeed. Being here really has opened my eyes. And your memories are filled with so many conflicts, solved with friendship. Very interesting. Though… not all were completely fixed by being nice. So, is the Storm King dead?

Uh… Twilight awkwardly rubbed her foreleg. Yeah. Yeah, while being turned to stone itself doesn’t kill you, he was shattered shortly afterward. Unfreezing him would have let him die an agonizing death as all his… body parts bled out. So Tempest, who understood how the spell worked, approached the pieces and used her magic to drain the life out of him, while he was unaware. If we could have saved him, we would have, but there was nothing we could do.

He was cruel. You did what you had to and now he can never hurt anyone again.

I guess. I just can’t help but be compassionate toward everyone though, no matter how evil. Except Tirek. Fuck him.

Whoa! Princess, language! Venom was laughing, though. All that hate just because he, what, burnt your old library?

It’s not just because of the library, though that pissed me off too. No, he nearly killed Owlowiscious! His blatant disregard for the lives and safety of others told me that there was no reasoning with him. He needed to be stopped, and I was willing to kill him to do it.

Mm, your hatred is delicious. Such a powerful emotion, isn’t it? Remember how strongly it pushed you to fight? I know your people see hate as a bad emotion, but it isn’t. It’s natural, and its purpose is to protect you from those that would harm you, both physically and emotionally. Let yourself feel, Twilight. Remember when you mentioned becoming a hero? We could do it. We could crush injustice. Destroy criminals. What do you say?

The possibilities flashed through her mind. She could see herself, one with Venom, fierce and proud as they protected countless ponies from evil. She wouldn't have to hold herself back. They could destroy those who sought to do harm, without any hesitation or risk of being caught. She could let herself fight dirty. As much as she appreciated being able to use the Elements of Harmony against those that were merely misguided or corrupted, she's always felt that some people were just beyond saving. They were truly evil and the best way to deal with them was to seriously hurt or even kill them. Which wasn't a very popular opinion in Equestria, hence why she kept it to herself. But Venom understood. And now she could take care of criminals as violently as necessary without anyone knowing it was her. She could be the greatest vigilante Equestria has ever known. But she couldn't yet. She still had her duties as a princess, and she still had to deal with Blazing Aura.

Right, yes, we'll deal with him. But after? I spent much of my life as a warrior, you know. I would hate for all that skill to go to waste, and you have such glorious plans for us...

Twilight sighed. After we're done with Blazing? Then yes, maybe we can use our power for good. Until then, we have more important things to focus on.

Of course. You want to test our cardiovascular endurance now, don't you?

Yes. You've enhanced my physical strength by an astounding degree. I want to see how well we can run, and as soon as we're done with that, we're going to write to Celestia.

Very well. Then let’s run.

6. Cardio Testing

Twilight limbered up each of her legs, looking at the track that stretched ahead of her. A single lap was half a mile long. A very determined, well-conditioned pony could gallop at forty miles per hour. But such a speed couldn't be maintained for long. When it came to distance running, ten miles per hour was much more manageable.

She would take the first lap at a comfortable pace. She checked the watch she had worn for the occasion, then took off running. The wind blowing through her mane was refreshing, and she sped up after the first curve, going faster. She galloped down the straightaway, amazed at how fast she was going, and she didn't even feel tired! Another two turns and then she was on the final stretch to the finish line. She took long strides, seeming to fly over the track, and next thing she knew, she was past the line.

She lifted her foreleg to look at her watch, and could barely believe it. Am I reading this right?

It has been thirty seconds since you started running, Venom confirmed.

That means... Twilight quickly did the math, and exclaimed out loud, “I just ran at sixty miles per hour! For an entire half mile, without slowing down!”

You sure did. Good for you! And you weren't even giving it your all!

You're right. I could have run even faster than that, I'm not even winded, I feel great. This is incredible... you're incredible!

That got a very pleased reaction from him. Thank you, but I'd be limited by a weak host. The fact that we're capable of this speaks highly of your own strength, Princess.

She blushed. I wonder what our top speed is. Even if it means we have to stop a few seconds in, what's the fastest we could go?

Only one way to find out. They walked back to the starting line, took in a breath, and did a few more stretches. Then they ran again. This time, they poured everything they had into it. The air rushing past them quickly dried out their eyes, and they had to squint, starting to pant now, but not slowing down. They ran so fast their hooves tore up asphalt, and they cleared several feet between each hoof beat. It seemed like no time at all before they were running for the finish line again, and they ran even faster, sliding past it seconds after turning the last corner.

Breathing hard, Twilight took control and walked over to the grass, flopping down and looking at her watch. “Amazing. That was... that was fifteen seconds. Venom, we just ran a hundred and twenty miles per hour. That's insane. There are few pegasi that can even fly that fast, and we just ran it.”

After checking their surroundings, Venom stuck his head out and said, “We're awesome. So, got any more running tests for me?”

Twilight shook her head. Her legs were aching now. “I think I pushed myself a little too hard on that last lap. I've figured out what I needed to.” She wrote down her run times in her notebook, looked around to make sure they were alone, and then patted Venom's head. “I know we're alone out here but I don't think you should be uh, showing yourself in public.”

He grew shoulders just to shrug with and sank back into her body.

Twilight had planned on testing her endurance, but now decided she could do that later. Her legs may be tired, but her wings were fine. Which meant it was time to see how her flying has improved. She had flown very fast and hard last night, but she had mostly been panicking so it was difficult to remember the details. Now she could test it more thoroughly.

She took her notebook home, not wanting to lose it while flying. Then she went up to the roof and spread her wings, gazing into the nearly cloudless sky. She gave a few slow flaps to make sure all her feathers were lined up and ready to go, then took off. She rocketed upward, and with only a few flaps was over the clouds and on eye level with Cloudsdale.

Twilight hovered for a moment, impressed with herself. Then she kept going, wanting to get high enough to be out of view. Once she was a couple miles up, she took a moment to make sure her breathing was still okay. The air was thinner here, but so far she seemed to be doing okay. Then again, she thought with amusement, Venom can probably help me breathe in places I shouldn't be able to as well.

You've got that right.

Venom began sharing control after that, and they soared through the sky, occasionally dipping through clouds, and then shooting back up, fur glistening with water. They did flips and barrel rolls, doing spins straight up and spiraling straight down. They spent several minutes doing tricks, and were soon laughing together, discussing what other tricks they may be able to do with practice.

Then Venom dared her to do a sonic rainboom. Twilight informed him that she did one a few years ago during a Summer Sun Celebration, and while it looked different she still broke the sound barrier. She also told him about the second time she flew faster than sound after gaining all the magic of the other princesses of Equestria.

Okay then, do a double rainboom! All the way across the sky!

That sounds dangerous and irresponsible. Let's do it! Twilight inhaled, and shot down. She flapped her wings hard, leading with both forelegs, and Venom helped her determine the best angle to use to reach the required velocity. Wind whistled in their ears and they could feel resistance growing around them, but they kept driving their wings down, forcing themselves to go faster and faster. The ground rapidly approached and tears streamed from their eyes at the sheer speed.

Alright, here we go... now! They broke through the sound barrier at last, with a massive boom and a wave of violet and magenta magic. They used the momentum to soar back up, laughing wildly. They slowed down slightly and then sped back up to create a second sonic boom.

They spun to watch the waves of energy flowing across the sky, grinning as ponies everywhere lifted their heads to watch curiously.

“Wow,” Twilight said. “Well, that settles it. I... we can pretty much do anything.”

“Now that's what I like to hear.” Once they had lost some of their speed, they glided back toward Ponyville. “We can do anything. I wouldn't be surprised if we could fly into space with our combined strength.”

“Would we be able to go to space?” Twilight asked. “I want to see other planets. Other creatures.”

“Perhaps one day. Equestria doesn't really have the technology to get into space yet, but I may be able to help with that. Perhaps if we free the other symbiotes at the Life Aura Center, they can take scientist hosts, and kick Equestria into the space age. We can use the ship we came in to get things started. You deserve to see the universe beyond your planet.”

“But we might not be able to trust them.”

“That's a risk you'll just have to take if you ever want to get into space.”

“Why not just teach me what you know, and I can teach the scientists? I mean, I like to consider myself a scientist as well, I'm sure I can figure out all the necessary technology.”

“Do you have nuclear fusion reactors?”

“No-”

“Do you know how to travel faster than light?”

“Is that even possible-”

“Do you even have metal capable of withstanding the extreme heat and forces it would be put under while escaping the atmosphere? An efficient means of storing and circulating breathing air for an entire vessel for weeks or months? Communication devices that can reach between planets in an instant? You are nowhere near learning all this yourself. And I don't know all of it myself. We'll need the other symbiotes.”

Twilight mulled that over. Then something occurred to her, and she smiled. “Well. Luckily, I happen to own a very convenient portal into another dimension where the sentient race has already figured out space travel, at least to their moon. I can easily gather information from there and bring it here to get us started.”

Venom snorted. “Right. The human world. Now that would have been a nice place to end up. So much more advanced technology. And their bodies have fingers! Not that I can't just make fingers of my own, but if I have to remain hidden, using these hooves is so frustrating.”

“I have magic, you know.”

“Right, but sometimes I just want to use my hands for things, actually physically handle stuff, and I can't! Anyway. Yes, I suppose you could modify technology from that other world. But it won't be easy. You wouldn't believe what sorts of calculations go into space travel, and you barely have computers. Oh sure, a few cutting-edge industries have invented them, but I mean such things need to have reached the point of being so efficient and easy to produce that they're a common household object. Of course, I'm not saying it can't be done by hoof, the first humans who got into space relied on hand-calculated trajectories, but that's months of nonstop work... it may be tough finding someone who's willing to do it. Multiple someones who can do it. You'll have quite a task ahead of you if you want to get ponies into space without my people's help.”

Twilight sighed, angling her wings for the final descent to the roof of her castle. She decided to start talking to him with thought now, just so no one wondered why she was flying around seemingly talking to herself. I won't try to do it any time soon. I understand it will take a lot of work, and there are much more pressing matters to attend to. But it may be something for me to look into one day, once I feel that Equestria is ready for it.

Of course. Though, it may interest you to know that Blazing Aura is already researching space travel.

He is?!

Yeah, he wants to get to my planet and take more of my people for his stupid tests. We told him that would be a suicide mission, whoever he sends will be crushed. He claims to be working on that too. I don't expect him to get anywhere with it, you creatures have barely figured out motorized vehicles such as trains and airships, and he thinks he's going to get into space any time soon? Hah! And the other symbiotes have so far refused to help him in that regard. He has our ship in storage and has a small team working on it but none of us will help him. We've kept him appeased with medical advances, but I don't know how long my people can hold out against his torture. They might just cooperate with him, especially if he figures out what to feed them and offers it...

Twilight entered the castle and went to get her notebook, greeting Spike, along with Starlight. They both seemed to want to talk to her, but she told them she needed a moment and barricaded herself in her room to keep talking to Venom.

So then, we need to stop Blazing Aura. Soon.

Yes.

Stop him, have the research center free the symbiotes, get them into hosts, and ensure that whoever takes over in his place runs things in an ethical manner. I can't stand by and let him continue torturing our people. There are better ways to do research, I know pony test subjects will still be needed but they can change how they approach it. They can explain their waivers better, explain all the possible outcomes, give them the chance to leave if they want... instead of locking them up and tormenting them. Ugh. Twilight finished writing her observations on her flying skills and slapped the notebook shut. And to think, everything happening on the first floor was so wonderful... why couldn't they just stick to that kind of work? But no, they just had to cross the line into experimental treatments on ponies, using ALIENS. Aliens they don't even fully understand and thus just harm their patients! Brilliant. Just brilliant.

You're clearly very passionate about this. Okay. Then we'll talk to Celestia and take on the Life Aura Center as soon as you and the princesses are ready. We'll take down Blazing Aura, completely reform the system there, and everything will be happy rainbows and sunshine, just like you creatures like.

Twilight stood, deciding to go see what Spike and Starlight wanted. Okay. Then I'll talk to Celestia right away.

Good. You and her are both very intelligent, as are the other princesses. I just know you'll come up with the perfect plan. Plus, you have me to help you out.

Twilight felt his confidence, and couldn't help but agree. Right. This will all be over with before you know it.

Absolutely.

7. Letter to Celestia

It turned out that Starlight and Spike just wanted to know about the wave of magic that had resulted from Twilight’s flying earlier. She simply explained what she had done, to impressed stares.

“Wow, you think you could teach me to fly like that?” Spike asked.

With that wing surface area to body ratio? Yeah right.

“Heh, just keep practicing and I’m sure you’ll be able to do it one day too,” Twilight replied.

“Rainbow is going to be so jealous,” Starlight said. “I think she’s training with the Wonderbolts today but I’m sure she saw that. She’ll probably be bursting in to ask you about it any minute-”

The front doors to the castle burst open and a multicolored blur shot in. “Twilight!”

“Called it.”

Rainbow Dash, still clad in her full Wonderbolts uniform, slid to a stop in front of Twilight and lifted her goggles. “Twilight, was that you? That burst of purple and the sonic booms?”

Twilight laughed. “Yeah, that was me. Just felt like pushing myself.”

“You did two sonic rainbooms in a row?” Rainbow grabbed her shoulders, grinning. “Dude, that’s awesome!”

“We- I was pretty awesome, huh?” Twilight replied.

“Yeah! Think you could do that again? I want to see it up close.”

“Sure, I should be able to. Whenever you’re available.”

“Great. I’ll get with you, but uh… I need to get back to training, haha. Just, that was so cool! Okay, later!” She flew back out.

I like her, Venom commented.

“Well, since that was just you and not some weird magical explosion, I guess there’s nothing to worry about,” Starlight said. “I’m gonna head back to my room, I gotta organize some of the notes from my last few counseling sessions.”

“Alright, let me know if you need help,” Twilight replied. Starlight nodded and headed back to her room.

Spike, meanwhile, apparently had an Ogres & Oubliettes game to get to and today it was being hosted at the castle. Things were getting pretty intense, but once their current campaign was over, perhaps Twilight could make a character and join the next one. Apparently, they could really use a sorceress in their party.

“Maybe,” she replied. He grinned, hugged her, and headed for the library to get things set up. Twilight followed him, wanting to grab some books.

It wasn’t long before Big Mac came in, and Twilight greeted him before returning her attention to the shelves.

What are we looking for? Venom asked.

We're going to take down Blazing, right? Well, even though we'll have the other princesses to back us up, I still want to improve our physical and magical strength. Just in case things really get nasty, I want to be able to protect all of us. So I’m going to put together some workout routines.

Sounds good. But I think there’s more to it. Amusement came from Venom when Twilight lingered at a storybook. You’re trying to come up with a cool superhero name for us, aren’t you?

...Yeah, she admitted, blushing.

Just call us Venom. It’s a good, powerful, frightening name that our enemies will fear.

Will Blazing recognize it though?

Nope. Never told him my name. I don’t think he realizes we have names.

Hm. Guess that’ll work. And there’s no real need for a costume since you can completely disguise me. Twilight flew back down to a table a good way away from where Spike and Big Mac were discussing their upcoming game, stacking her books out of the way and unrolling a length of parchment so she could write to Celestia. But she found herself just staring blankly at it, not sure where to even begin.

Try, Dear Princess Celestia.

She snorted, and started writing, mentally narrating to herself as she went.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Please make sure you're alone before you read this.

Per your request, I investigated the Life Aura Center. And what I found was more than I ever expected. On the surface, they seemed great. They have cutting-edge technology, things I haven't even seen make it out to the rest of Equestria, like computers! To say nothing of the amazing things they were researching in their labs. I disguised myself as one of their scientists and went to look downstairs, and that's when I realized just how horrible the center really was.

She stopped to collect her thoughts, idly scratching at her chin with the feathered end of the quill.

You want to talk about Rock Break dying or do you want to dive right into all the ponies infested with aliens?

Twilight kept writing.

They have patients kept down there in horrible conditions. Venom helpfully flashed his memories through her mind. His view of other ponies through the clear glass of his host's cell. Watching them pace or bang themselves against the walls, crying or screaming until finally succumbing to depression and falling silent. The ones that were successfully matched with a symbiote would seem to become healthier, their illnesses disappearing... only for them to die when their symbiote turned to consuming their organs for nutrition. It was horrific, and Twilight's horror at the memories even seemed to make Venom uncomfortable.

Yeah... it's pretty disgusting, and I don't say that often. Fuck, your sympathy for others keeps rubbing off on me.

Twilight continued with, There's a very experimental procedure Blazing Aura puts them through. He has been trying to cure them of life-threatening illnesses by bonding them with aliens. She set the quill down, furrowing her brow at just how ridiculous it sounded. And she was there.

Okay if you're going to keep stopping just give me control of your horn, I can make sure she knows just how urgent this is.

No, you're gonna scare her is what you're going to do.

So? Being scared is a great motivator.

I don't need her to teleport over here screaming and ready to go full commando on that place.

Why not? That sounds like fun!

Have you seen Celestia angry? It's very not fun!

I'm looking at your angry Celestia memories right now and I'm loving what I see! Tell her that we're all gonna die if she doesn't destroy Blazing Aura right now, haha!

Okay now that's way too dramatic, I'm not-

“Wow, whatever you're arguing with yourself about must be a doozy!” a familiar voice exclaimed.

Twilight shook her head and looked over to see that Discord had shown up for O&O as well. She gave him an awkward smile, casually covering her letter. “Haha, yeah, just thinking about some stuff.”

“I can tell! Anything you want to share?”

“Uh…” No! “No, just personal stuff.” Twilight idly moved some of her books around.

“Any other time I'd insist you tell me, but I really need to get to my game. But know that you can always confide in me, because that’s what friends are for.” Discord patted her head and flew over to join Spike and Big Mac.

Twilight uncovered the letter and looked back at what she's written so far.

So that’s Discord. What an interesting creature.

Yeah, he is.

A reality warper. Hm. Now that can benefit us.

Twilight looked over at where Discord was already using his powers to make him and his teammates look like their characters. She could see the possibilities going through Venom’s mind. Yeah, he could help us. If we can convince him. He tends to only do what he wants.

Just frame it so that he feels like Fluttershy is threatened, and then he’ll do whatever you say.

Twilight smiled at how true that was. Then she got serious and got back to the letter. She needed to get this sent out as quickly as possible.

These aliens were part of a scouting party that crashed here and were captured by Blazing. I'm not sure how he did it, or how he kept anypony else from finding out, but he did. And since they have remarkable regenerative abilities, he's using them in his tests. I was caught and taken to save a stallion who was dying from cardiac arrest due to one of the creatures cannibalizing him. When I was unable to save him, the alien left his body and joined with mine.

I know it sounds crazy, and I'm afraid I don't have any pictures. But I saw all of it, and the alien is still with me, right now, as proof of everything I'm saying. Luckily I was able to escape from the facility without being recognized, but I did a lot of damage to the building and hurt several guards in the process. I don't want to describe it all here. Please, I would like to meet with you to talk about this in more detail, and would like for you to keep this just between us. Luna and Cadance should also be informed, but we can't let this get out to the public yet. We have to approach this carefully. Ponies' lives are in danger and we may be the only ones who can save them.

Please respond soon.

Your friend,

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight signed her name, and sat back. That would have to do.

Looks good to me. So what do you want to happen to Blazing Aura exactly? I take it you don't want to kill him despite the horrible things he's done.

I really don’t want to kill him, no, but I don’t mind imprisoning him. Tartarus is the perfect place for scum like that.

Tartarus? Boring. We should tie him to a wall somewhere and keep him on the brink of starvation. Maybe break his horn off to keep him from doing magic.

That’s awful! Also, breaking a horn doesn’t entirely stop a pony from using magic.

Yeah but it will certainly hinder them. But if you don’t want to do it the fun way, there are those rings that block magic. Put one of those on him, haha.

I will certainly see to it that he’s punished. But the main thing I want to do is free his victims. Both the ponies and the symbiotes. Then we can reform the company. And you and I… Twilight hesitated. Part of her wanted Venom to leave and go back to his planet. But the other part wanted him to stay with her.

Warmth glowed in her chest, and he said, Me and you can…?

We can… She sighed. I don’t know. If your people are freed, what are the odds they’ll change their ways? Be like the rest of your kind, and be peaceful?

Unlikely. Many of them have been in this sect for their entire lives. But perhaps, after being stuck in pony hosts all this time, some of that kindness has rubbed off on them. Perhaps you could convince them to be peacekeepers. But I can’t say anything for the other groups like us.

It’d be a start. I’d like to rescue them, and let them either stay here, or help fix their ship so they can go home. And if you want to go with them, you can.

What if I want to stay with you?

You’d stay with me, even if you were able to leave?

There’s nothing for me back home. I’m not well-liked, in fact I’m a bit of a loser. So… I’d rather be with you. You actually like me.

Oh. Twilight found it odd that he was so attached to her already. But then again, she was starting to like him too. Well, then… you can stay as long as you want.

Yess, thank you.

Alright, so it’s settled. We work with the princesses, and maybe Discord, get Blazing arrested and out of the way, tell everypony what the Life Aura Center has been up to, and then reform the place once we’ve freed the symbiotes. We may need to move the center and give it a new name to distance it from its crimes, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it. Still, it’ll be easy, right?

Of course. Or, we can easily fight our way in, neglecting all this stuff about getting the princesses to help you, and grab Blazing by the throat and choke him until he does what we want. No problem!

Uh… doesn't choking seem a little... barbaric?

Listen, threats are the only language he’ll understand. Plus, come on, a direct frontal assault, just the two of us taking down an entire corporation ourselves? Imagine how epic that would be!

I’d like to get in with as little collateral damage as possible. The facilities can still be useful.

You’re no fun. Come on, imagine Blazing screaming as we burst in through his office window, doesn’t that sound fun?

Twilight had to admit, that did sound fun. She may be overthinking things. She had Venom, she could easily just break in and get this taken care of. But she still wanted to make sure Celestia and the other princesses knew, and letting them help her was a far more rational choice.

She levitated the scroll up and teleported it to Celestia. Venom accepted it, albeit begrudgingly.

Very well, we'll do things your way. But after you talk to Celestia and we get this taken care of... how do you feel about trying that superhero thing?

I would love to.

8. Trip to Canterlot

Twilight and Venom had hoped to at least be able to relax for a bit and do some reading, but that plan was quickly ruined. Because it was only minutes later when the O&O game was interrupted by Spike belching out a letter amid green fire.

He caught it and gave it a curious look. “Oh, Twilight, you got a letter from-”

Twilight dove across the room and snatched it, doing a roll when she hit the ground and sprinting out with it.

“Great hustle!” Discord yelled after her, while Spike and Big Mac exchanged bewildered looks. “Now where were we? Oh yeah, I rolled a twenty.”

Spike sighed. “Of course you did.”

Twilight didn’t open the letter until she was in her room with the door safely locked behind her. Her heart was pounding as she unfurled the scroll, and Venom stretched his head out to read along with her. They could tell it was very hastily written, with stray splotches of ink along the paper.

Dear Twilight,

Your letter about the Life Aura Center deeply shocks and concerns me. I would like to speak with you immediately. Meet me in my study in Canterlot as soon as you can.

Your friend,

Celestia

Twilight turned it over a couple times just to make sure that was it, then stuffed the letter into her saddlebags and pulled them on. She then grabbed her notebook and the binder full of info about the center, stowing them too. “Alright, Venom. We’re going to Canterlot.”

“Field trip!”

“Yeah, now could you please hide until we get there?”

“You got it, oh I can’t wait to see the look on her face when I pop out. You think I should pop out from between your eyes? Or maybe from inside your mouth. Oh! I could burst screaming out of your chest and you could scream too! Haha!”

“Or we could do anything else. Seriously, just don’t come out until I tell her about you.”

“And you’re sure she won’t tell anyone about me?”

“Quite sure, I’ve entrusted many secrets to Celestia. It’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.” Venom sank back into her body, and Twilight teleported to Canterlot and trotted into the castle. The guards let her in, quickly showing her the way to Celestia’s study, though she’s been to it so many times she could probably get there blindfolded. She thanked them for their help anyway, and waited for them to return to their posts before pushing the doors open and hurrying in.

“Celestia?” she asked.

Celestia stood, using her magic to close the doors and lock them. She pulled the curtains across the windows and lit several lanterns to provide light, then gestured for Twilight to come over. Twilight nervously approached the desk, and Celestia came around to hug her. “Are you alright?”

Twilight relaxed and raised a wing to hug her back, nodding. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“Your hornwriting was really shaky, I just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay. Now please, have a seat so we can talk about what you found out.” Celestia sat in her large chair behind the desk, and Twilight sank into one in front of it, sighing and resting her elbows on the desk.

“It was. A lot,” Twilight admitted.

“Sounds like it. Aliens? I’ve never heard of anything like that before. But you say Blazing Aura is using them in experiments, and not only that, but you’re bonded with one of them?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes. The stallion I tried to save, Rock Break, was infected with one of the aliens, named Venom. Venom knew his host was dying, so he jumped to me to save himself. It’s only because of him that I wasn’t found out, and I was able to escape.”

“I see. And you said…” Celestia looked down at the letter, which she still had spread out on her desk. “This creature is still with you?”

“He is. Would you like to meet him?”

Celestia blinked, then said, “Well, if he’s really responsible for saving you, I want to thank him.”

“Alright. But please don’t panic, he can look a little creepy when you’re not used to him.” Twilight silently told Venom it was okay to show himself. But do it slowly and carefully-

Venom surged out of her body, forming an entire torso, arms, and head in seconds. “You’re welcome, Celestia!”

Celestia scrambled backward, horn lighting up as she tensed, and Venom burst into wild laughter.

“Hah, that’s the second princess I’ve scared the shit out of! Two more to go!”

Breathing hard, Celestia sat forward, clutching her chest. Twilight rarely saw her so frazzled. Annoyed, she admonished Venom. “Was that necessary?”

“No but it was fun.” He moved to hover next to Twilight’s shoulder, connected to her by the usual strands of liquid, and Celestia looked between them. She took a breath and composed herself, the magic disappearing from her horn.

“You’re… Venom?” Celestia asked.

“I sure am.”

Celestia stood, moving carefully around the desk so she could get a closer look. “I see what Twilight meant now. You are bonded to her, aren’t you?”

“Down to the cellular level. Molecular, actually.”

“And you’re not hurting her?” He shook his head, and Celestia looked over at Twilight. “He isn’t, is he?”

“No,” Twilight confirmed. “In fact he’s able to keep me from feeling pain I normally would. He’s enhanced my muscular strength in several regards, such as lifting weights, running, even flying. He helped me escape the Life Aura Center through sheer strength alone. We fought our way out and didn’t get a single injury.”

“Incredible. This is unprecedented. Mind if I?” Celestia held out a hoof, and Venom gave her a suspicious look, but Twilight reached over to touch his arm and nodded. So he did too, and Celestia curiously felt his chest, and down to where he connected to Twilight. “Do you have to stay in contact with Twilight?”

“Yes. I need a host to survive here. Otherwise I can’t breathe the air here. I can certainly form my own body separate from hers, but I must remain connected by at least a small strand. I could separate completely for a while, perhaps. A few hours, maybe a day. But I would quickly lose strength. Luckily, Twilight has been a very accommodating host!” Venom wrapped himself around her and nuzzled the side of her face. She grimaced at his slimy texture against her cheek, but gave him an affectionate pat anyway.

“Hm.” Celestia sat in the chair next to Twilight's, picking up another sheet of paper. “I actually got a letter from Blazing Aura telling me about a break-in they had last night, but nothing of value was stolen. Guess he didn't want to be honest, since then he'd have to explain about Venom. No wonder this letter is so vague... he wasn't vague about wanting more guards though. I was just about to follow up with him when I got your letter.”

“Wow.” Twilight accepted the letter from her, but it wasn't very specific about what happened. It just advised Celestia to keep an eye out for a pony with impressive shapeshifting and other magical capabilities, along with the aforementioned request for more guards. She set the paper aside.

“I'm glad you wrote when you did. So, how exactly did you two escape?” Celestia asked.

“That’s an um…” Twilight cleared her throat. “Interesting story. So, when Venom bonded with me, he was able to completely cover my body in his… skin, I guess, I still don’t fully understand what he does. But we basically became like this.” She got up and stepped back, and in seconds had grown into that monstrous creature they had become back at the center. Celestia’s eyes widened, and she clearly had to resist the urge to back away.

Twilight smiled at her in an attempt to show that she meant no harm, then remembered how wide her mouth was now, just how many sharp teeth she had. Perhaps smiling wasn't a good idea right now. With a guttural voice that was as much Venom as her, she said, “We turned into this. I was completely unrecognizable. We fought off the guards, Blazing got away, and we went to the first floor. They put up a barrier spell to keep us from teleporting out, so we had to fight. And like I said, Venom makes me stronger. So we physically fought our way out. Kicking, throwing ponies, it was… it was a rush!” Venom began speaking along with her. “We took down all those armed guards! Just us, no one else, we were badass! And then we broke through the window and hauled ass down to the ocean and swam to shore! They weren’t able to chase us and so far they have no idea it was Twilight, hahaha!”

Celestia stared at them for a few moments. Then she nodded and tapped the floor anxiously with a back hoof. “I see. Wow. Sounds like it was quite an adventure.”

“It was, you should have seen us! We showed them what a symbiote with a strong, healthy host can really do. They’ll regret ever imprisoning the Klyntar.”

Uh, Venom, I think you’re freaking her out.

Really? I would expect your rulers to be less pathetic than that.

Twilight huffed and wrestled control back, changing back to normal. “I’m sorry if I worried you, but I’m okay.”

Celestia looked her over, and said, “No, I wasn’t worried. I’m just trying to get used to all this. You’re bonded to an alien that can change your body, and Blazing Aura is using more of those creatures in his tests, it's a lot to be concerned about.”

“I understand. So, the symbiotes can heal ponies, but in return they need food. And Blazing’s patients are fed pony diets. Which are lacking in certain chemicals the symbiotes need. So they end up starving and having to eat the organs inside their hosts to survive. Which inevitably kills the host, and they just get moved to a new one and it starts all over. Blazing is not only torturing his patients, he’s torturing the symbiotes themselves. We can’t just stand by, we have to put a stop to this.”

Celestia nodded in agreement. “Yes, of course. So this is what Blazing has been hiding. No wonder he didn’t want me looking around.” She looked Twilight over, and Venom poked his head out. “Venom. Your people are actually aliens? As in, from another planet?”

He smiled. “Yes, Princess.”

“How did Blazing get a hold of you? How did he even discover you could heal ponies? I want to know the whole story. Then we can start working on taking him down.”

“Oh, it’s quite the story. You see, I’m part of a team that came to Equus as part of our routine scouting of possible new planets to... inhabit. But the solar system here is quite different from what we expected, the magical control over the celestial bodies actually threw off our ship’s guidance, and we crash-landed. As soon as we opened the doors and let in the outside air, we realized we wouldn’t be able to survive in this atmosphere for long. And our environmental regulator had been damaged in the crash. We were prepared to call for help and hope whoever came to get us from our planet would be merciful. Let’s just say we aren’t well-liked.”

Twilight couldn’t help but snort at that.

Venom continued, “But then Blazing showed up. We had crashed near your city of Manehattan, and some of his scientists had seen us come down with that big telescope they have on the roof.”

“Right, the Life Aura Center used to have a section for astronomy research before they devoted themselves entirely to medical work. They felt like they would get more done if they narrowed their research.”

Venom nodded. “Yes. So they sent their security and some scientists out to see what happened. And once they saw what we were, they decided to keep us to themselves. They were very quick, didn’t even leave time for the public to figure things out. They just roped off the area and ran everyone off, said it was a meteor and they would be taking it in for study. A few weeks later they released false studies of a meteor as a cover, but that’s not important.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that,” Twilight commented.

“We had no idea what to make of you creatures at first. But we knew we would need to bond with you to live, and we went for it, planning to use hosts long enough to fix our ship and get out of here. But we were already so weak from trying to survive in this atmosphere. The first of us to try a bonding ended up picking an incompatible host and killing them. We desperately seized whoever we could, but there were only ten of us and fifteen of them. Those who remained quickly captured us via magical means we didn’t understand. We had never encountered magic, had no defenses against it, could barely figure out how to work our host bodies, which fought back against us and made it even more difficult. We were all placed in solid, unbreakable containers and taken to the Life Aura Center. I’m proud to say we did a lot of damage along the way. But in the end we were subdued and they figured out how to hold us. Blazing, having seen the way our hosts healed from injuries, was intrigued and decided he could use that. And so, he began testing us on ponies afflicted with various diseases, and many of us just gave in, doing what we could to survive until we could escape.”

Twilight frowned at the memories. “I’m sorry. Though… heh, they really caught you that easily?”

Venom gave her an annoyed look. “Normal technology, we could fight back against. Magic? We had no clue what to do. Seriously, I had managed to get a decent host, this big stallion that was part of their security detail… and before I could even attack, I was being shocked by this magical… thing and picked up off the ground, held completely immobile! Tried to stretch out my body to attack, they put a bubble around me! Ugh, didn’t help that my host didn’t want to attack his friends so he was resisting everything I tried to do. The whole thing was just a clusterfuck.”

Celestia made a face at the language, and Twilight shrugged. Celestia began pacing. “So, Blazing was able to bring in your entire party. What did you come here for, exactly? You said you were looking for worlds to inhabit, but in what way?”

Venom started to answer, and Twilight said, “Be honest with her. If you aren’t, I will be.”

He growled, and said, “My team’s mission is to find new worlds and conquer them. But not all of my race is like that!” he said quickly, when Celestia looked concerned. “My group just has a different ideology from the rest of the hive mind. And well, Twilight here has sort of convinced me that I don’t gain much from conquering this place. But I don’t want to leave the rest of my brethren to suffer. I still want to free them. And their hosts, I guess.”

“So you came here to try and take over the planet, and got defeated by magic?” Celestia smiled. “That’s adorable.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. So, here we are. Needing your help to take down Blazing.”

“The center still does great work,” Twilight said. “We just need to free the symbiotes and get rid of Blazing, so we can make sure they’re conducting research in a legal, ethical manner. They don’t tell any of their subjects what they’re going to do to them. They just infest them and hope for the best, and even if their illnesses are cured, they suffer and die anyway because their symbiote starves and turns to eating them. The Klyntar are very different from us. They’ll do anything to save themselves, even if it means killing innocents.”

“You’re not wrong but way to make us sound like the assholes.”

“Considering why you came here, you kinda are,” Twilight replied.

Celestia picked up a piece of paper, spreading it out on her desk. “I’ll need to summon Cadance at once. Then we’ll talk to Luna. We’ll get this taken care of. It may be a few days, we want to strategize and be sure of exactly what we’re up against, but then we’ll go in, arrest Blazing, and let the symbiotes go. Provided, of course, that they leave quietly without hurting anypony.” She gave Venom a sharp look.

“After what we went through here, I doubt they’ll argue with that. Though our ship’s busted so we gotta hang out until it’s fixed.”

Celestia stared, then sighed. “Of course. I’ll make sure you get what you need to fix your um. Ship.”

“And we’ll need compatible hosts in the meantime,” Venom added.

Celestia began writing her letter to Cadance. “Fine, if you find ponies willing to host you, and you promise not to completely enslave them, or eat them, you can stay in them as long as you need.”

“Awesome. My teammates will be thrilled. But you know, I doubt the Life Aura Center will let us just walk in and arrest Blazing. They might attack us.”

“Attack four alicorns? I doubt it.”

“You may be powerful, but any of you can die. They have guns. And there are a lot of them. They seem willing to do anything to keep the center going. Some might be swayed by loyalty to the crown. Others are more loyal to the money. So, if they do attack, Twilight and I will be ready to fight. I hope you are too.”

“I don’t like fighting, but I will if necessary. We’ll be fine. I and the other princesses have been through far worse.”

“Sure.”

Twilight was quiet for a bit as she watched Celestia write. Then she said, “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more while I was there. I was just so overwhelmed trying to save that stallion, then Venom bonded with me and next thing I know they’ve got me at gunpoint trying to figure out who I am… we just kinda panicked and attacked them.”

“You panicked maybe, I was completely sure of what I was doing.”

“It’s okay, I’m sure it was stressful,” Celestia replied. “Thank you for going in there though. Now we know we need to take action, and I’ll be justified in demanding to see all of their facilities.” She looked at Twilight more closely, and said, “Did something more happen? You seem upset.”

Twilight took a deep breath, and Venom rubbed between her withers to reassure her. She met Celestia’s eyes and said, “Before I started better cooperating with Venom, he had a lot of the control. He… we killed somepony. It was awful, we… bit his head off.” She shuddered.

Celestia looked at her silently for a bit. Then she came around to wrap her into a hug. Twilight nestled her face against her chest.

“I’m sorry, I never wanted to kill anypony, we were just so desperate to escape and Venom was hungry and it just happened before I got control. I didn’t kill anypony else, but that one…” She shook her head. “I know he was cruel, has hurt the patients there, but… I don’t think he deserved what I did to him.”

“I do,” Venom said.

“It’s okay,” Celestia replied. “You’re so pure of heart, I know you would never harm anyone who doesn’t deserve it. But… sometimes, regretfully, you have to use force. You were saving yourself from ponies who wanted to hurt you. You did what you had to. Obviously I don’t want you and Venom to go around attacking random ponies, but if you’re defending yourselves, I can’t judge you too harshly.”

Twilight nodded, sniffing as she tried not to cry.

“If it’s any consolation, once I got my teeth around him he died pretty quickly,” Venom said. “I did it fast. Instant annihilation of his brain, haha.”

Celestia glared at him, and he just gave her a toothy grin. But then he began glancing at Twilight, groaned, and sank back down to hug her too.

Her ears perked and she gave him a surprised look.

“Don’t read too much into it, your misery is making me miserable, so stop it,” he said.

She wiped her eyes off and straightened. “Okay. I’m okay.”

Celestia stroked between her ears, making sure she was okay before going back to her seat. She finished the letter and sent it with magic. “I marked this as urgent, Cadance should be here soon. Let’s go get Luna.”

Twilight stood, and Venom disappeared back into her as she followed Celestia out. They were just reaching Luna’s room when Cadance ran in, out of breath.

“You called, Princess?” she asked.

“Yes, thank you for your quick response,” Celestia replied. “This requires all of our attention.”

Cadance looked at Twilight curiously, and turned her attention to Luna’s door as Celestia knocked on it.

It took a few moments for Luna to answer it, and she was in pajamas when she did. “Mm, what is it…” She trailed off when she noticed Twilight and Cadance, who gave awkward waves. She looked back at Celestia, much more alert. “Sister?”

“Sorry to wake you, but there's a serious situation we need to discuss.”

9. Preparations

The four princesses gathered in a private conference room, making sure the doors were locked and insisting no guards remain inside. Once they were alone, Celestia sighed and said, “Twilight has learned something very unsettling about the Life Aura Center.”

“The Life Aura Center?” Luna asked. “Hm, I always did get a bad vibe from that place.”

“But they've done such great work and saved so many ponies' lives,” Cadance said. “Surely we can forgive some... minor unsettling practices?”

“This is definitely not minor,” Twilight replied. “In fact, this is one of the most horrifying things I've ever encountered, and that's saying something. So...” She took a breath. “First, I'd like you to meet Venom.”

Understanding the seriousness of the situation, Venom presented himself much more carefully than he had to Celestia, simply sliding his head and neck out from one of Twilight's shoulders and raising his head to about the same height as hers.

Luna stared and Cadance looked both disgusted and intrigued.

Twilight held up a hoof, briefly rubbing it against Venom's chin, though also using it to turn his head about so they could get a better look at him. “Venom, I'd like you to meet Luna, the princess of the night, and Cadance, the princess of love.”

They awkwardly waved, and Venom said, “Yes, the other two princesses, fascinating. Twilight thinks highly of you.”

“It talks?” Luna wondered.

“Yes, he's quite capable of equine speech,” Twilight replied. “From my understanding, he can learn any language his host knows.”

“What is he?” Cadance asked.

“In one word? An alien.” That got surprised gasps, and Venom smiled smugly. Twilight continued, “He's from a distant planet. His race is called the Klyntar, but when on planets like ours they need hosts to survive. So right now, I'm letting him live in me. Don't worry, he's not hurting me, it's a mutualistic symbiotic relationship.”

“Mutualistic, not parasitic,” Venom emphasized.

“Yeah, don't call him a parasite, he doesn't like that.”

Luna sat forward, her gaze intense. “Are you sure you can trust him?” Pain and regret flickered in her eyes, and Twilight realized she was thinking about how she was possessed by the Nightmare that turned her into Nightmare Moon.

“I can,” Twilight said softly, wanting to put her at ease. “We share my body and he likes me, he's not going to take control. He can't make me do anything I don't want to do.”

“I was told that too, by the darkness that warped me all those years ago.”

Twilight nodded. “I understand. But Venom isn't like that. I can see into his mind, I can feel his motives. He means me no harm. He's devoted to protecting me now. He relies on me after all, and if he tries to take control, he knows I can fight him. Here, let me show you just how much we trust each other. Venom, can you leave my body?”

He gave her an incredulous look, and she could hear him thinking that he would greatly prefer not to.

“Please?” she asked. “Just for a few moments.”

He sighed, and his body moved through her and out along a foreleg, gathering at the end of her hoof. He glanced back at her, then stretched out some tendrils and latched onto the table, pulling off of her and plopping rather suddenly to the table.

“Oh, that's attractive,” Cadance remarked.

Venom looked like little more than a big pile of black goo in this state, and he twisted himself around to look back up at Twilight. Even without being connected to him, she could just feel his exasperation.

Luna leaned in to examine him, and said, “Can he talk like this?”

A tremble went through Venom's body, and he lifted a pseudopod out, seeming to shake it back and forth.

“Not in any way we can understand,” Twilight said. She felt strangely cold without having Venom joined with her. Her mind was almost unbearably quiet, and despite having the other three princesses with her, she felt lonely. Has she really grown so used to the alien's presence after only a day? She looked at Luna. “So, he has entirely removed himself from my body. He has no influence over me like this. And I will still say I trust him. That he won't hurt me, and that I am fine with him sharing my body. You can be assured that if he ever did try to take over, I would make sure he regrets it.”

Venom reached up an arm, forming a hand and flipping her off. She stared at him with outrage while the others just exchanged confused looks.

“I only saw that gesture a few times in the human world and you already figured out its meaning?” she demanded of him. “Rude!” She batted at the hand, pushing the finger down, and he booped her nose. “Okay, come on, before you suffocate.”

He gladly leaped back into her skin, and warmth flowed through her veins as he connected back to her mind and his weight pooled around her neck, his head popping out and taking on its usual shape.

“Isn't it fascinating, the things humans can say with their hands alone?” Venom commented. “My kind could learn a thing or two from that.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, and explained to the others, “The gesture he made is one humans use to um. Let's just say, insult each other.”

They nodded, and Luna said, “If you trust him, I trust him. I just want to make sure you're okay. I don't want him doing to you what the Nightmare did to me.”

“I'll be okay,” Twilight assured her. “Now, where were we...”

“Perhaps you could tell them what you told me,” Celestia said. “About where he came from, and what the center is doing.”

Twilight began pacing. “Right. A small team of his people crash-landed here months back and were captured by the Life Aura Center. And what they've been doing with them is horrific.”

With Venom's help, she explained what Blazing has been using the symbiotes for, how they wanted to be able to use them to cure all that ailed ponykind, yet the symbiotes kept killing their hosts out of hunger.

They told the princesses everything they had told Celestia and then some, and once they were done, there was silence for a good several seconds.

Then Luna jumped up, slamming her front hooves on the table. “So then what are we waiting for?! We need to get to Manehattan and put a stop to this immediately!”

“Patience, sister,” Celestia said gently. “I understand, it's awful what's happening in the center, but we need to be careful. Blazing Aura is very dedicated to his mission and if Venom is to be believed, he's willing to do whatever he has to to keep experimenting with the symbiotes. He will kill anypony who interferes. We'll need to bring our guards with us. And unfortunately, we'll need to arm them with guns. Make a show of force, and tell Blazing to step down. We need to do this quickly, but we need to do it right. We have to follow the laws ourselves, after all.”

“So when can we get out there?” Cadance asked. “The longer we wait, the more ponies are suffering in that horrible lab. Our subjects, who we swore to protect, are dying in there.”

“I know,” Celestia sighed. “We'll save them. Them, and the symbiotes. I need to get some guards together, do some research, but then all of us can go to the Life Aura Center, likely early tomorrow morning. We'll go in, arrest Blazing, and search the facility. And when we find the underground lab, we'll have all the evidence needed to convict him and everypony involved with the experiments. It's just... heartbreaking to imagine what his test subjects must be going through. Scared, alone, with these strange aliens that are slowly killing them.”

“And Blazing's scientists don't always watch us the best they should,” Venom said. “One of my brothers ended up having to separate from a host after its body rejected him, but I guess everyone was out for coffee or some shit, because no one came to move him into a new body or one of the low oxygen containment chambers they had made for us. So he asphyxiated right there on the floor, unable to get out of the cell. It was disgusting. An agonizing way to die.”

Twilight frowned and patted Venom's head. He growled, and she saw his memories of the event. Though he wasn't exactly attached to the others of his species, he was still upset to see one of them die like that. He slid into her hooves, letting her hold him.

“We'll do whatever we need to,” Cadance said, standing. “I'm so sorry for what you had to go through in there, Venom. Maybe your motives for coming here were deplorable, but that doesn't mean you deserved to starve and go through all those tests. I want to help you. We all want to help all of you, and get you back home. And maybe, if along the way you decide you don't want to conquer our planet, that would be great.”

Venom snorted, and Luna said, “I'm not worried. If Twilight already managed to convince him not to conquer us, I'm sure we could convince the others not to.”

“At the very least you'll be able to get them to never want to come here again, so I suppose that's a win,” he replied.

“It's sad that the first aliens we've made contact with have been treated so terribly,” Cadance said. She approached Venom carefully, and while he first leaned back from her, he allowed her to pet his head and down his neck, curiously feeling where he joined with Twilight. “But we'll make things right. I promise.”

He looked at her curiously, then took her hoof. “Thank you.”

Talk turned to planning out the arrest of Blazing, and subsequently, how they were going to tell Equestria about all this and apologize for letting it go on right under their noses.

Why do you need to apologize, you had nothing to do with it, Venom said privately to Twilight.

I know, but ponies trust the princesses to protect them from harm. So if it's found out that something bad like this is happening, we just apologize anyway. No one truly blames us but it's sort of a custom. It shows our compassion.

That's fucking lame.

They finally decided to go their separate ways, after agreeing to meet up at the Manehattan docks early tomorrow morning. All four princesses would show up to the Life Aura Center with their best royal guards, and Blazing would be brought to justice. They had hope that he wouldn't even try to fight when he realized all of them knew the truth.

He's not going to give up that easily, Venom whispered as Twilight said goodbye to the others and headed out.

I know, but we need to have confidence anyway. Even if he does fight, we can stop him.

That appeased the other, who seemed to purr. Of course we can. We decimated his security yesterday, though I really wish you would have let me kill them. But no matter. They'll be weak tomorrow, and we'll take them down. We'll free my brethren, get them home, and we can focus on more important things.

More important things huh? Like what?

Like building strength. Becoming more powerful. Becoming a superhero like you wanted, perhaps? Really, whatever you want.

I'd like that.

As would I. Now, since we still have the rest of the day before bed, what would you like to do?

Twilight considered. Then teleported back home. I kinda want to spend more time getting used to that muscular form you can cast around me. Think we could practice with it, do some exercise, maybe, I don't know, fight some criminals?

That got Venom's interest. I'm up for any of that. As long as we eat to keep our strength up for tomorrow, of course.

Of course. Well, why don't we start with going out into the Everfree and working on our strength by breaking trees down, then we can perhaps find a bad guy or two to take down, alright?

Now you're speaking my language. Let's go.

They flew out to the Everfree, and once they were alone, far out in the forest, they transformed, becoming huge and muscular. Birds took to the air and bugs scattered trying to get away from them, and they laughed.

They bounced through the forest and tested their strength by first stomping through trees that have already fallen. Their hooves smashed through easily, and then they slammed their body through a living tree. They broke the trunk apart, and even when the tree fell on top of them, they were able to easily kick it aside and watch it roll, before it came to a stop against a few other trees.

They laughed, and Twilight wasn't sure how much of this was Venom and how much was her. But then, she didn't need to know exactly. They simply moved as one, throwing tree trunks and ripping boulders out of the ground, seeing how far they could kick them. They ran and flew, never seeming to tire. Twilight listened calmly to Venom's thoughts the entire time, and he did the same, communicating with her quickly and silently as they worked together to move their massive, dangerous form. Their conversation wasn't entirely focused on what they were doing, though. They also talked about how tomorrow might go, and their future plans together.

They ran more slowly, and looked down, growing sharp claws from their hooves. Then they jumped up and latched onto a thick oak tree, running up it and settling onto the highest branch that could hold their weight, surveying the forest.

Out loud, they said, “We truly are the perfect symbiote. Both of us are strong, but together, we are unstoppable.” They ran a hoof against their chest, sighing with content. “We are so glad to have met Twilight.”

Twilight was touched by that confession. And it made her realize that she felt the same way. Despite the strangeness of the situation, and the horror of their meeting... she was happy to know him. With some effort, Twilight shook her mind free of his, though she still spoke through their shared mouth. “And I'm glad to have met you. It's crazy, but I'm glad you bonded to me. We're going to do such great things together.”

“That we are, Princess.” Venom gathered their legs up under them, eyeing the ground far below, then jumped. They hurtled downward, using their wings only to control the fall, and crashed through branches before landing with a thud that seemed to shake the ground. There was no pain at all, and they were soon running again, jumping up and down with joy.

Twilight realized with some surprise that he was happier than he could ever remember being in his life. All because of her sharing this with him. So she smiled, and shared in his happiness, the two of them gallivanting through the forest without a care in the world. Everything might go terribly wrong tomorrow, but today was good and they were going to enjoy it.

They used their tail to obliterate a log, and upon leaping over a hill they came upon a stream. Immediately their thoughts went to food, and they trotted up to it, leaning down to watch as fish swam just below the surface.

They licked their lips and dove in. It only took a few seconds to grab a huge trout and swim back up, using their tendrils to pull themselves out of the water and rest on the shore, examining the wiggling fish.

“We're going to eat this, aren't we?” Twilight asked.

“Yes,” Venom replied immediately, and crammed it into their mouth headfirst, taking off half in one bite. “Finally, something alive!”

Twilight briefly felt bad for the fish, but Venom needed to eat too. She still teased him, though. Really, we ate an entire chicken and you're still hungry?

The chicken was great but it was dead, he explained, having to use thought since their mouth was occupied with tearing huge strips of meat from the fish. Which was definitely dead by now, as Twilight pointed out. Yes, well, it wasn't when I took the first bite and it's still super fresh, which is the best way to eat!

They laid back as they ate the rest of the fish, eyes closed as they just savored it.

Once they were done, they kept resting there for a while, sprawled out on their back with their wings open, enjoying the warm afternoon. Even with all that running and ripping things apart, they were wide awake and full of energy.

“You're happy here, aren't you?” Twilight said, though she knew the answer.

He wrapped their forelegs around themselves, sighing out. “Yes. Very happy. Your world is beautiful. I want to stay here more than ever. With you.” After a few moments, he said, “Our heart just started beating faster. Twilight?”

“Oh, nothing. Just uh, thinking about tomorrow.”

“Yes. Tomorrow we'll take down Blazing Aura, hopefully have a nice battle with his guards, and then we can free the symbiotes for good.”

“Right. Everything will go smoothly. We have nothing to worry about.”

They nodded. They idly turned the fish's tail fin over in their claws a few times, then dropped it into their mouth and sat up. Venom spoke to Twilight with thought, I get the feeling you would rather rest than go after any criminals tonight.

Yeah, she admitted. We can do that one day, but right now, we shouldn't make any rash decisions. Let's go home.

Very well. Flight or teleportation?

Let's fly. But um, not like this.

I know. The black slipped off of them, fading back into Twilight's body, though Venom remained as much in control as he has been. They spread their wings and headed home.

10. Confrontation

It was a couple hours before dawn when Twilight got up and headed to Manehattan. Venom was buzzing with barely contained excitement as she teleported, arriving near the docks. The area was already bustling, ships pulling out piled with cargo or coming in to be unloaded, ponies rushing about calling orders to keep each other on schedule as they moved supplies.

Twilight approached one of the empty piers, which was cast in darkness due to its lamps being either off or broken.

As she got closer, she began to see rows of patiently waiting royal guards, standing quietly. She nodded to them, and they acknowledged her with salutes.

“Princess Celestia is waiting for you,” one of them said.

Twilight walked past them, finding Celestia on the pier, gazing out toward the distant island. “Celestia?” she asked quietly.

“Good morning,” Celestia replied. “Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Twilight felt a sort of fluttering in her stomach and giggled. “Though Venom’s rearing to go.”

“I’m sure he is.” Celestia smiled. “How are you doing, Venom?”

He stretched his neck out. “Wonderful, Princess! I’m ready to give Blazing what he deserves and free my people!”

“Good. We’re just waiting on Luna and Cadance now.”

“I’m here, sister,” Luna called, landing next to her. A dozen of her own bat pony guards flew in with her, lining up next to Celestia’s.

Celestia nodded. “Alright. Have you seen Cadance?”

“She should be here soon, she's traveling with some of her crystal guards,” Luna replied.

“Very well. We'll wait for her.” She continued looking across the water. “I was able to find the blueprints for the center. It consists of three stories. The two above ground are for labs and offices, including where their security officers report to. Blazing Aura has an office on the second floor as well. But the underground level is our target. The original plans said it would be used for storage and additional testing areas if needed. But according to Twilight, they've retrofitted it with cameras, holding cells, and their most advanced scientific equipment. That is where the symbiotes are being kept, and that's where the most vulnerable ponies are being tested on.”

“I see.” Luna stepped up next to her, resting a wing over her. “You had the area watched all night, right?”

“I have. I made sure it was monitored, just in case Blazing decided to move his patients. But there was no activity but the usual employees entering and leaving.”

“Alright then,” Twilight said. “Everything I saw should still be there. This all ends today.”

A few minutes later, Cadance arrived with her guards. She greeted them, and after briefly gathering to discuss their plan, the princesses headed to their waiting boat. It was fairly large, as they had to be able to transport everyone across in one trip. Luckily they had been able to secure a military boat to get the job done.

“How are you doing?” Cadance asked Twilight, who was sitting toward the starboard side with her forelegs crossed over the rail.

Twilight shrugged. “I'm alright.”

“This is all pretty crazy, huh?” Cadance sat next to her, watching as they approached the island. “Aliens, unethical experiments... it's pretty wild. But you know what? We've dealt with plenty of bad situations, and this is just one more. We've got this.”

“Yeah, we've got it,” Twilight agreed. “I just wish we had found out about all this sooner.”

“I know. But better late than never. Now we know, and now we can finish this.”

They didn't talk much more, just waiting for the boat to reach the Life Aura Center's dock. Even Venom was fairly quiet, just keeping to his thoughts. But despite his silence, she knew he was there. He was a steady warmth somewhere in the back of her mind, a kind of gentle sensation pooled in her spine, and his presence was comforting.

The boat bumped gently along the pier and its driver hopped out, going to tie it off and then gesturing for everyone to disembark. They got out and headed up the path. The princesses took the lead, and their guards marched in orderly lines right behind them.

Twilight found it strange being back here without being invisible. She glanced at Celestia and Luna to her right, and they gave her curt nods. She looked left, and Cadance smiled, then looked forward at the guard shack.

It was a different stallion on duty this morning, and Twilight hoped the one she had gotten by wasn't punished too severely. He quickly aimed his gun at them, then paused when he recognized them and lowered it. “Oh, what can I do for you, Princesses?”

“We would like to enter,” Celestia said, reaching back to accept a scroll from one of her commanders. “We are here to make an arrest, and by order of the crown, you must allow us through.” She unfurled the scroll, and he scanned it. His brows knit together, but he nodded and hit the button to open the gate.

“This is quite the force for an arrest,” he commented. “You expecting trouble?”

“It doesn't hurt to be cautious,” Celestia replied. They kept going.

The guard watched them all go through without a word, and closed the gate behind them once they were through. Then he picked up his radio. “Life Base, this is Alpha Post.”

“Go ahead, Alpha Post.”

“We've got four crowns, I repeat, we have got four crowns, over.”

“Copy that, Alpha Post.”

Twilight began to feel unsure as they got closer to the door. “You need a keypad to get in, do you think they'll unlock it for us?”

“If they don't, we have alternate ways to unlock a door,” Luna replied. Twilight didn't miss how she limbered up one of her back legs, and smiled.

But once they were close enough, a security guard stepped out and held the door open for them, letting them all through. He watched them with sharp eyes but didn't speak.

Once all of them were inside, he closed the door and stepped away. Everyone stopped their work, staring curiously at the princesses and the small army they had arrived with. Despite how early it was, every desk had an employee and the door to nearly every lab was open, scientists peaking out inquisitively at them.

Celestia stepped forward and cleared her throat, before spreading her wings wide and calling, “Blazing Aura, please step forward.”

For a few moments, there was no response. The building's security stood tensely nearby and no one dared get back to work. Then a calm voice replied, “My, what is going on here?” Blazing Aura descended the stairs, looking at them curiously.

Everyone parted to let him through, and once he was in front of them, Celestia said, “Blazing Aura of the Life Aura Center. You are under arrest.”

He lifted his brows. “Under arrest? Why?”

“For your illegal and callous disregard for proper medical practices, for torturing those you claimed to be helping, and for the abduction and subsequent wrongful imprisonment of no less than ten individuals.”

Murmurs spread throughout the crowd of watching employees. Several scientists began to look uncomfortable, and the security members began shifting their guns ever so slightly into a more ready position.

Blazing looked around, his posture tense, and for a moment Twilight thought he was going to order his guards to shoot or make a run for it. But then the tension was gone and he chuckled. “Excuse me? That is quite an accusation, Princess Celestia. My company has done nothing of the sort. I won't deny that we've had some unfortunate injuries and even deaths, but all of our test subjects sign up for our treatments with the knowledge that they may not survive. They're willing to make those sacrifices in the hope that we'll find effective cures. I assure you, we cause as little pain as we can to our patients. As for abduction and imprisonment, I'm afraid I don't know what you're referring to. Everypony here, whether they're an employee or a patient, is here willingly.”

Twilight marched forward. “You can drop the charade, Blazing Aura. We know what you've been doing here. Do the symbiote experiments sound familiar?”

She could see flickers of anxiety on some of the employees' faces, but Blazing just gave her a befuddled look. “I can't say I have.”

“Really? Symbiotes?” Twilight pressed. “Creatures from another world, which you brought here to use in experiments to cure ponies due to their healing abilities?”

He just gave her a polite smile. “That'd be quite marvelous, but we have nothing like that here.”

“You wouldn't admit it if you did, since they're sentient creatures and you're imprisoning them. But we know they're here.”

Celestia stepped up next to her. “We sent an agent to investigate some rumors,” she said. “What they found was very disturbing.”

Blazing stared. “You sent somepony to snoop around?”

“Don't take it personally, your company isn't the first we've had scoped out,” Luna said. “Think of it as more of... an unannounced inspection. We've all heard of businesses sweeping things under the rug before announced visits, after all. Sometimes, snooping is the best way to get the truth.”

Blazing looked between them, and said, “I see. So, you say they saw something. Something that prompted all four princesses, and their guards, to come after me. And this something, if I'm understanding Princess Twilight, was aliens. Then where are the photos? Videos? Documents taken from us, perhaps? I mean, surely you have physical evidence if you're going to arrest me.”

“The agent only witnessed things, sh- they didn't have time to collect evidence,” Twilight said. “That's why we're here.”

“Seems like a strange way of conducting business. But fine. If you find proof of your accusations, I'll come quietly.”

Twilight wasn't expecting that. She glanced at the others, and Cadance said, “We're going to search the entire building. All three floors, including the basement. Along with interviewing some of your employees.”

“Be my guest,” Blazing replied. “If it'll put you at ease, and let us all get back to work, do what you need to.”

“I don't see why our agent would lie,” Celestia said. “So if you have anything to confess, we would prefer you did so now.”

He just sighed. “I have nothing to confess to. At least, nothing relating to your accusations. As for your agent, maybe they have an agenda. There are still ponies who cling to the old ways of using magic to cure all our problems, and they don't trust the advancements of science and technology.”

“Your work speaks for itself, I doubt anypony would have a problem with you choosing science over magic,” Celestia said. “Any experienced magic user would tell you the two go hoof in hoof. Well, Twilight? How should we proceed?”

Twilight frowned, wondering how Blazing could remain so calm about this. But it didn't matter if he didn't want to confess. They weren't walking out of here without getting the truth. “I want to check the basement,” she said. “Cadance, how are you with computers?”

Cadance glanced at the desks and nervously said, “Not at all?”

“Ask some employees to help you, but I would like if you checked some computers for anything suspicious. Ask to see financial spreadsheets, product orders for incoming and outgoing supplies, interoffice memos, anything like that pertaining to their operations here.”

“Alright, I'll see what I can do.” Cadance approached the nearest desk, and its employee helpfully gave her the mouse and showed her how it worked.

“I'll search the labs on this floor and talk to some workers,” Luna said.

“Sounds good,” Twilight replied, and Luna headed for the first lab she saw, which she was politely invited into. Twilight turned to Celestia. “Could you go talk to some of those guards? Maybe ask to see security footage from two nights ago? See what you can find out about that break-in they told you about.”

She nodded and went to do so.

Finally, Twilight asked the guards to stand watch in the atrium and make sure no one entered or left. Then she turned to Blazing. “Please come downstairs with me.”

“Certainly.” He led the way.

“Celestia will be able to check the footage from those cameras, right?” Twilight asked as they went down the stairs, pointing out said cameras.

“They're transmitting live at the moment,” Blazing replied.

“But you save the footage, right? In case something were to happen?”

“We maintain up to a month on tapes in our building, before sending them to storage. We've been having problems saving them lately though, we're using this new software that-”

“How convenient. Either way, I wanna see those tapes.”

“Of course.”

They stopped once they were in the main hallway, and Twilight took a closer look at the doors. The one she had tried getting into before was open, but it only seemed to contain boxes of extra lab equipment and supplies. She explored the room anyway, looking through cases of vials and packs of hypodermic needles. Nothing stood out as particularly egregious.

Venom hissed quietly in her mind. Don't like the needles. Sharp.

Twilight assured him that he was okay and they'll never hurt him again. Once he relaxed, she kept looking around. She picked up a microscope and noted it seemed to be the same brand as the ones in the symbiote lab. She placed it back and gave the room a final scan. This really did just seem to be storage.

But there was one room she knew would contain all the evidence she needed. She smirked and walked back to the hallway.

“Is everything to your liking, Princess Twilight?” Blazing asked.

“For now. But there's one more place I want to check.” She trotted past him, heading for that large lab he had unwittingly dragged her to two nights ago. Unaware of who she was and how he had incriminated himself. This was it, she was going to find her proof and he was going to be leaving this facility in hoofcuffs.

She swung the door open, shouting, “Everypony stop what you're doing-” She immediately closed her mouth with a startled squeak, staring into the room in shock. The lights were low, but she could tell the cells were empty, their doors open and monitors off. The tables were stacked with supplies and a faint scent of disinfectant hung in the air, but there were no scientists or symbiotes to be found. “What the...”

“Ah, we're expanding into this room soon so we've been getting it ready,” Blazing said. “Quite spacious, isn't it?”

Twilight walked in, going to search through the few folders on the tables, but they were all empty. “This is where everything was.”

“Princess, we haven't done work in here since building the facility. It was used as storage until recently, but it'll be a while until we're ready to use it as a lab.”

Twilight felt anger rear up in her. Mostly Venom's, but it incensed her too. Another piece of evidence occurred to her, and she spun around, searching the ceiling until she found where she had broken through to the first floor. “Hah! What happened there?” She pointed to it. It was boarded over and marked with a tag, and she could see a pile of new tiles waiting nearby. So it wasn't fully fixed yet.

“Roof caved in, we had a leaking pipe that caused enough water damage that, well...” He whistled as he mimed the roof crashing down.

“Uh-huh... we can check the cameras for that one too. And it sounds like a safety hazard so you no doubt wrote up a report on it, which I expect you to show me later.” Twilight looked around at the vacant cells, and found herself drawn toward the one Rock Break had been in. Venom hissed again, and she comforted him as she ran her hoof along the monitor. “What'll these be used for?”

“Oh, it's a state-of-the-art system! It emits this sort of... aura, I suppose I could call it, that interacts with your body and returns information on several vitals. It works with a spell of my own design, I think you'd be quite interested in it actually, being practically a connoisseur of the magical arts.”

Twilight was somewhat interested, but she had more pressing matters to attend to. She could find his notes on that later. “Really? So then, they're scanners. Not meant to keep anypony in.”

“Theoretically we could hold somepony there for extended monitoring, but they would of course be provided a bed and other necessities and can open the door from the inside. They won't be trapped.”

“I see.” Twilight touched the door, giving it a firm tap. “This doesn't seem to be glass.”

“Well, no. It's a much stronger material.”

“Why does it need to be so strong?” Twilight closed the cell and turned her back to it, giving it a harder test kick. It rattled loudly but still didn't break. “Seems like it is meant to keep somepony in. And why wouldn't you use glass in a laboratory setting? Biologicals are best held in glass containers after all, and that's what you primarily deal with here.”

“Patients can get violent, if somepony starts kicking while in one of these, we wouldn't want it to shatter on them, now would we?”

Twilight snorted and turned around, opening the cell again and leaning down to examine the obvious hoof scuff marks on the door. Meanwhile, Venom seethed, his body seeming to broil just under the surface of her skin. Excuses! All excuses! Twilight, what are we doing? No one came down here with us, let's eat him!

We can't, she replied. There are cameras! Plus, now we need to find where he took everyone! If they're not in the facility somewhere, and we dispose of him, we might not ever find them!

The other employees can tell us! But fine! Interrogate him then!

What should I ask him?

You're the smart one, now ask him where he took them!

Twilight took a calming breath, and said, “I'm going to be honest with you. We know you're conducting research with creatures you call symbiotes. You've used them to advance your technology and come up with all these breakthroughs. While I'm sure we all appreciate the contributions you've made to the medical community, I can't let you continue with your current methods. You're infesting patients with aliens against their will and then letting them die painfully when the aliens start eating their organs to survive. Don't deny any of it.” She stepped up close to him, staring into his bold yellow eyes, daring him to argue.

His eyes widened, and he took a cautious step back. “This is ridiculous, we aren't-”

“I told you not to deny it!” Twilight shouted, wings flaring out. He tripped over his own hooves in his haste to get away from her, landing roughly on his back. She stepped over him, keeping him on the floor as she kept yelling. “Our agent saw everything and they've always been reliable! We'll get our evidence one way or another, so you better confess right now! Tell me where you took the symbiotes!”

She realized she was letting too much of Venom's anger affect her, and told herself, and him by extension, to relax. But it was no good. Her teeth were bared and her back itched as he caused the fur to rise all along her spine.

“I have no idea what you're talking about!” Blazing insisted. “You're losing your mind!”

“All this lying is going to come back to bite you in the ass when you're on trial and we prove what you've been doing!” she yelled. “Not only are you an immoral monster who tortures ponies in the name of progress, but you've also lied to a princess on top of that! I can't wait to see you in prison!” Twilight had to struggle to keep Venom from covering her, sensing how much he wanted to join in with her screaming.

Blazing scrambled out from under her and ran for the door. “That's it, I'm talking to the other princesses about your attitude, this is so unprofessional!”

“I don't care about being professional, I care about getting the truth out of you!” She used her magic to slam the door shut and keep him from leaving, advancing toward him. “And the other princesses will back me up! You can't hide all this forever!” She began to feel a familiar pressure behind one of her ears but didn't think too much on it, just giving it an annoyed flick. “We won't leave until we find proof!”

He abruptly stopped trying to open the door and stared at her. Or rather, at her ear. “What the...” He stepped closer, brows furrowing, and she realized the pressure was Venom manifesting from her skin. She quickly slapped her hoof over him, ordering him to hide. He growled but did so.

“What?” Twilight asked, scratching the spot until she was sure Venom had disappeared, at which point she put her hoof down.

Blazing kept staring at her. “I thought I saw... Never mind.” He shook himself and turned away, trying the door again. Twilight released her magic, and he swung it open. “I'm going back upstairs.”

“Go ahead,” she replied. “I'll be up there soon.”

He hurried out, and Twilight stood there until he was out of sight. Then she asked Venom what he was doing.

I'm sorry but he was pissing me off and I really wanted to yell at him myself!

He saw you!

I doubt he recognized me!

He's been working with your people, he probably did! But ugh, whatever, we can deal with that later. Let's keep searching this level. There's got to be something left behind, there's no way he moved everything that quickly.

Hell yeah. Lead the way.

12. Secret Tunnel

Twilight explained how she found the tunnel as she led Celestia and Luna downstairs, and they were impressed by her quick thinking.

“But this just further incriminates Blazing,” Luna said as they took their first steps into it. “He had no reason to hide it so thoroughly, unless he was using it to sneak around.” She leaned down, examining the hoof prints.

Celestia shone light down the path, tilting her head as she looked at the prints as well. “Judging from how many of these prints overlap, I'd say nearly a dozen ponies came through this way, along with guards. Many of them seemed to be carrying things. How many symbiotes are there besides you, Venom?”

Venom stretched out of Twilight to answer her. “Let's see, assuming no more have died since the one I saw who suffocated... there should be eight left in Blazing's possession. But I doubt he moved them in hosts. They would have tried to escape. He likely made all of them leave their hosts and stored them in containers, and moved them separately from the hosts.”

“I see. But they all would have been taken to the same place, right?”

“Certainly. He would want them to be quickly returned to their hosts so his experiments could continue.”

Celestia nodded. “Right. Then let's see where this goes.”

They walked through the tunnel. Mud clung to their hooves, and it was so cool they kept shivering.

Except for Twilight, whose metabolism was kicked into overdrive thanks to Venom, driving up her body temperature. She invited the other princesses to lean against her for warmth, which they gladly did so, letting her drape her wings over them.

They spent most of the walk in silence. If there was someone waiting for them at the other end, they didn't want to alert them.

But Celestia was clearly deep in thought, and finally she said, “I just can't believe he would do something like this.”

“Hm?” Twilight glanced up at her.

“Blazing. When he first started this company, he was so kind, so charitable. He wanted to better Equestria. He regularly sent me reports on what the center was getting done and there was nothing to be worried about. Then things changed. He became aloof. He invited us over less and less. He narrowed his research to medical fields and started producing cures and treatments at an almost alarming rate. I imagine this was when he captured the symbiotes. I just don't understand why. Why did he lock them up instead of telling Equestria about them?”

“If he told Equestria, there would be outrage,” Twilight replied. “They're sapient, after all. Nopony would want to hear that they're being held captive. So he just kept it secret.”

Celestia was quiet for a bit. Then she said, “Venom, did he ever talk to any of you? Like, directly speak to you?”

“He certainly did a lot of bragging,” Venom growled. “Talking about how we were going to propel ponies into a new era... lots of self-righteous nonsense like that. He's a narcissist through and through.”

“I'm just wondering if maybe one of you said something to him that made him think that way. The Blazing I knew isn't like this.”

“Sister, with all due respect, you've always seen the best in ponies,” Luna replied. “And that's very admirable, but everypony knows you're like that. They know to only show you their good sides, and you'll trust them. Blazing has likely always been this way, he merely tricked you.”

Celestia sighed. “I really don't want that to be the case. But... perhaps you're right. Still, I can't shake the feeling that he might have been influenced by one of the symbiotes.”

Twilight sensed an uncharacteristic silence and tension from Venom. She gave him a curious look, and he said, “When we first arrived in the lab. I was still panicked and not paying much attention to things, but when we were put into those cells, I did my best to keep track of Riot, our leader. I knew he had grabbed the biggest, strongest stallion he could find. He put up quite the fight too, banging on the cell door, screaming. Didn't do any good though, he couldn't get out. But he got Blazing's attention. Blazing went to talk to him first. I couldn't hear from where I was at. But... I remember Riot's host collapsing. Blazing opened the door, and Riot grabbed him. He was halfway into taking over his body when those wretched guards pointed their guns at him, and Blazing told him to stop, or he would be shot. Riot had backed off, and was moved, in his natural form, into a container. Eventually he was moved into a new host. I'm thinking... perhaps that brief connection he had with Blazing did it. Maybe he made a direct mental contact, and... showed him things. Riot has always been persuasive. And we affect our hosts just as much as they affect us.”

Twilight stared at him. “So Riot messed with Blazing's mind?”

“Possibly. Or, as Luna suggested, perhaps Blazing was always like that. We won't really know unless we talk to Riot.”

“Would such a brief connection really cause a change in personality, though?” Celestia asked. “You've been with Twilight for a few days now and she's still herself.”

“Other than being more aggressive, she hasn't changed much,” Luna agreed.

“I approached Twilight differently from how Riot would have,” Venom explained. “When I first bonded with her, I didn't try to impose my way of thinking over hers, didn't mess with her personality, all I did was link into her nervous system so I could help her escape. But Riot completely overwhelms his hosts with his mind, forces them to conform to his way of thinking, and takes total control. So even though he wasn't fully connected to Blazing before having to retreat, I can guarantee he was already pushing his thoughts around, making him see things like he did, preparing him to be just as malicious as he is.”

Twilight snorted. “I'm surprised he didn't just manipulate Blazing into letting them all go while he was in there.”

“Would have been too impulsive. The planet was still a wild card at that point. And Riot is patient. By now I'm sure Blazing has used whatever he saw to justify keeping them all locked up, made worse by how Riot affected him. But if Riot gets back in contact, I have no doubt he'll use his control to free everyone and resume the invasion.”

“I see. We'll have to keep that in mind.” Twilight looked forward. “I know you said he likely got them out of their hosts before moving them, but we should be careful. I think we're almost to the end of the tunnel, it's starting to slope back up.”

Venom slid back into her body, but she could feel his senses on high alert. They broke into a trot, eager to get out of the mud, and came upon some stairs leading up to a closed hatch set in a concrete foundation.

It seemed to be locked from the outside, but that was only a minor inconvenience. The princesses focused their magic onto the screws holding the hatch in place and removed them, allowing them to lift the entire piece of metal up and toss it aside. Celestia lifted her head up first, looking around. “It's an empty room.”

The other two climbed up after her. After a few moments of searching, they found a light switch and flipped it. They were in a small room with a concrete floor and plain metal walls. Ahead of them, leading to the only door, were several muddy hoof prints.

Twilight checked in with Venom, and he reported that no one was near them. She crossed to the door and found it unlocked, pushing it open.

“Huh. A... store?” she asked, confused. It let out into a generic-looking convenience store. Though she quickly realized it was closed, its windows boarded up and door locked. She could hear hoof beats and the rumbling of carriage tires outside. So the tunnel did take them all the way back to Manehattan.

Celestia and Luna followed her as she explored the room. Expired products lined the shelves, but despite its abandoned appearance, there was no dust. And the cameras up in the corners of the room were far more advanced than what you'd usually find in a convenience store.

Twilight looked back down, where the hoof prints continued, though it seemed an effort had been made to clean them up. She followed them to the door, which had a simple tumbler lock. She didn't have the key, but it was easy enough for her to use her magic to manipulate the pins inside, until they were all pushed up and she could unlock it. She opened the door.

They were on a crowded street not too far from the ocean, and plenty of other businesses lined the road. Did Blazing really move things out this way? This was far too conspicuous.

“I don't know if they came out this way,” Twilight said. “Somepony would have seen. Even at night, this city doesn't sleep.”

“There are far fewer ponies out at night, however,” Luna replied. “Maybe they were able to close off this area while moving everything out. All it would take is declaring it a crime scene and nopony would come close.”

“Hm, maybe. Let's go talk to the other businesses around here.”

They stepped out, closing the door behind them and locking it. They immediately drew attention, and they greeted the curious Manehattan citizens and explained they were doing a private investigation. They were left alone long enough for them to hurry across the street to a bank. It wasn't open yet, but a security guard inside recognized them and let them in.

“Princesses?” he asked curiously, closing and locking the door behind them. “We weren't expecting you, this is such an honor.” He shook their hooves. “My name's Laser Sight.”

“Thank you, Laser Sight,” Celestia replied. “We weren't expecting to come here either, but we're carrying out an investigation. Perhaps you could help us?”

“Of course. What do you need?”

Twilight pointed to the store. “Did you or anyone else who works here happen to see anything suspicious at that store these past couple nights?”

“I don't believe so, that place has been closed as long as I can remember. But I work the morning shift. If anything happened, the night guard would know about it.”

“Do you have cameras?” Luna asked.

“Yes, we have one outside camera that points in that direction. Would you like to check the footage?”

“Yes!” Twilight said quickly.

He was taken aback, but led them through the bank and to a side room, inviting them in. His office was fairly crowded with all four of them in it, but they made do, watching as he sank into his chair. In front of him were several screens showing different views of the interior and exterior, all live. He clicked on the outside view that showed the store and began rewinding it.

“I'm surprised Blazing didn't think about coming over here and getting them to turn off their camera,” Celestia said.

“He probably wouldn't have been able to,” Twilight replied. “They're a bank, they're not going to just turn off their security for him, no matter how famous he is.”

Laser kept rewinding until it reached about midnight, at which point he paused it, staring at the multiple armored ponies on the screen. “Alright, there's definitely something weird going on here... let me go back further.” He had it skip back about an hour, then played at normal speed. All traffic in the area had stopped, and police officers filled the area, along with some of the Life Aura Center's guards. A few large covered wagons pulled up next to the store, and several ponies filed out. They looked worn out and skinny, a few of them limping. “What in Tartarus...”

“The patients!” Twilight exclaimed. She counted as they were pushed into one of the wagons. “Six, seven... eight! That's eight of them, one for each symbiote!”

“Ma'am, with all due respect... the hell is going on here?” Laser asked.

“If we tell you, would you be willing to testify in court about this video?” Celestia replied.

“Yes, Princess, of course. Wouldn't be the first time we've caught something on tape and I've been brought in to talk about it.”

“Very well. We're currently investigating the Life Aura Center. You know about their facility off the coast, right?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“We found a tunnel leading from it all the way to that store. They use it to move their restricted research out of the building. That's what we're seeing. Eight of their patients being taken away, and...” Celestia leaned in and pointed to solid containers that were being brought out next. “Venom, are those the symbiotes?”

Most likely, he replied, and Twilight relayed his response.

The wagon with the patients was hauled off, and a few minutes later, the one with the symbiotes left, after also being packed with several boxes and pieces of equipment. They left the camera's field of view, and slowly the guards dispersed, locking the store and moving on. Ponies began walking through the area again, carriages following soon after.

“We need to find out where those wagons went,” Luna decided.

“Right,” Celestia agreed. “Laser Sight, thank you so much. You've helped us out a lot. Could we get a copy of this footage?”

“Sure, let me see what I can do.” He turned and picked up an unmarked tape, sliding it into a slot below the monitors.

“Unfortunately cameras like these aren't very widespread yet,” Twilight said. “We can check along this street for more but we'll probably only find them on banks and government buildings.”

“It'll at least give us some leads.” Celestia stepped out of the room, pacing while Laser finished saving the video. Twilight accepted the tape from him, thanked him again for his help, and left the room too.

“Of course,” he said. “If you need anything else, I'm here.” He escorted them from the building, waving goodbye as they stepped out.

Celestia looked up at the sky, saying, “Hard to believe so much has happened before sunrise.” Her horn glowed as she began lifting the Sun, and the city became even busier as morning dawned.

“And I'm confident we'll have found the patients before sunset,” Luna replied. “The wagons went that way, let us see if anypony else caught them on video.” They headed down the sidewalk, keeping an eye out for any other cameras. But they were constantly being stopped by their subjects, all of whom seemed to have something to say to them, asking questions and seeking advice.

Finally Twilight said, “We're too obvious, I think we need to send somepony else to do this.”

The others regretfully agreed, and they decided to head back to the center and meet up with Cadance. While they were gone, she had finally gotten hold of documents explicitly referring to the symbiote experiments. The employees who had offered to be interviewed were still available as well, and the first would be meeting with them tomorrow. Even if they didn't find the patients that exact day, they were confident they would be finding them before the end of the week.

“I think we're done here, then,” Celestia said. “We can send in some detectives to take things from here. Let's head back to Canterlot. I want to make sure Blazing got there safely.”

13. Telling the Truth

Luckily, the royal guards had no problem getting Blazing back to Canterlot, where he was given a cell in the palace dungeons. He apparently hadn't even spoken the whole way, just sitting quietly in the transport wagon and looking out the window.

The princesses ensured that the guards knew to keep a close eye on him and screen any visitors. He could talk to any of his lawyers and employees, but he was not to be left unattended with guests under any circumstances. All the collected evidence was turned over to the palace legal department, and after briefing them on everything and telling them what they would need to investigate, Twilight was finally able to go back to Ponyville.

Though she had just woken up a few hours ago, she was so exhausted that she didn't even teleport, simply taking a train back and napping along the way. Venom got her up when it reached Ponyville station, and she headed back to her castle.

Things went well, huh? she asked, going into the kitchen to make an early lunch.

His head and neck formed, and he gave her a light headbutt. “Well enough, although I wish we had found the others.”

“Me too, but don't worry, I'm sure they'll get them tracked down soon.”

After lunch, Twilight got to thinking that Blazing's arrest was going to be all over the news soon. Along with the usual misinformation and hearsay that went with such a well-known pony getting arrested. She needed to get her friends together and tell them the truth before they got the wrong idea about what happened. She was not just going to talk to them about the center, though. It was time for her to come clean about Venom himself.

He was hesitant, but he could see in her memories that she could trust them, so he agreed to talk to them. They set out to get all of Twilight's friends together. Starlight and Spike were easy to find, as they lived in the castle. Starlight went ahead to the map room while Spike flew out to gather Fluttershy and Rainbow. Meanwhile, Twilight went to find Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack.

Applejack was right in town browsing the market, and she offered to run and grab Rarity while Twilight went for Pinkie, which would save some time. Twilight agreed, and soon was returning to the castle, with Pinkie bouncing along beside her.

“How are you today?” Twilight asked just to make conversation.

“Super duper!” Pinkie replied. “I spent all night foalsitting Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake, and got today off!”

“Oh, sorry to interrupt then, but this is very important.”

“No problem! You're my friend and I always have time for friends! I was just gonna rearrange the rock candy display anyway and then read comics, so...”

“I still don't want to take up too much of your free time. But this shouldn't take too long.”

They entered the castle, going into the map room. It was several more minutes before all of Twilight's friends were gathered, but once they were, she closed the door and approached the table.

“Sorry for calling you all together on such short notice,” she said.

“Ah don't sweat it, Sugarcube,” Applejack replied. “Somethin's clearly on your mind.”

“Oh yes. Something very big is on my mind. In my mind, you could say.”

Venom snickered quietly.

“What is it, darling?” Rarity asked.

“Alright, so... does everypony here know about the Life Aura Center?”

They all did and nodded in agreement.

Twilight continued, “Alright. So, I snuck in there a couple days ago and found out a lot of really disturbing stuff.”

“Dang,” Rainbow said. “I mean, awesome, but that seems a little unlike you.”

“Celestia asked me to,” Twilight explained.

“Ah, that makes sense.”

“So what'd you find?” Fluttershy asked.

“Okay, so, everypony knows they do experiments with pony subjects, right? But everypony thinks that the patients fully understand what they're going through, they've signed waivers that explain everything, and they can still walk away if they don't want to go through with it. But the truth is, they can't. Some of the sickest, most desperate ponies... are imprisoned there. They aren't told everything that's going to happen to them, and then they're locked up. And the scientists there have been infesting them with these creatures that can supposedly heal them.”

“What kind of creatures?” Fluttershy sat forward, very interested now.

“Aliens,” Twilight replied.

The others exchanged glances, and then looked at her, most with disbelief.

“Aliens?” Starlight stated. “You're kidding.”

“No, I'm not. They're called the Klyntar and they seek to bond with other creatures in a sort of mutualistic symbiosis. They benefit their host by giving them enhanced strength and endurance, and they can even heal them from serious injuries or illnesses. And that's what Blazing has been testing.”

“I want to believe you, but I hope you understand that aliens is quite an outrageous claim to make and one that needs a lot of proof,” Starlight started.

“Is this proof enough for you?” Twilight interrupted. “Venom, come here.”

Venom flowed out from her shoulders, wrapping himself around her middle and lifting his head up to the same height as hers, giving the others a toothy grin. “Hello, ladies. And Spike.”

Rarity fell out of her chair, Fluttershy gasped, and Pinkie bounced up and down in her seat. “Cool, a real live space alien! Hi!”

“Hi,” Venom replied.

“That is so awesome!” Rainbow jumped up and came over to look more closely, along with Spike.

“This is so creepy,” Spike commented, curiously prodding Venom's cheek. Venom narrowed his eyes but allowed it. “Is it uh... painful at all?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, he's not hurting me. As long as I keep him fed. Otherwise, he's likely to start eating me from the inside out to keep from starving.”

Rarity, who had been helped up by Applejack, made a face at that. “Ew, he would do that?”

“Obviously it would be a last resort,” Venom replied. “But yes, I do need certain foods. My species requires a chemical that on your planet is usually found in the brains of living beings, though it's also conveniently found in chocolate. Which I'm sure Twilight appreciates because she thinks chocolate tastes better than brains.”

“I'm gonna have to agree with her on that one,” Rainbow said.

“Well how would you know, have you eaten brains?” Pinkie questioned.

“What? Of course not, gross!”

“Then how would you know chocolate tastes better?” Pinkie sang.

“I mean, I don't have a basis for comparison but I'm just gonna assume-”

“Ooh, careful, you know what they say happens when you assume! It just makes an-”

“And that's why Blazing's patients die whenever he tests a Klyntar, or symbiote, on them,” Twilight said, trying to get the conversation back on track. “They can't get that chemical they need so they start cannibalizing the host, mainly their brain though they go after whatever other organs they find tasty too.”

“I'm especially fond of livers, so chewy,” Venom said. “But hearts are good too.”

“So... the Life Aura Center has a bunch of these guys imprisoned and has been testing them on ponies?” Rainbow asked. Twilight nodded, and she let out a whistle. “Freaky. So what are you doing about it?”

“That's the thing, I actually just did something about it. Me and the other princesses went in there earlier this morning and arrested Blazing, and got a bunch of evidence. Now he can be convicted.”

“Alright! Way to go!” Rainbow clapped, prompting the others to do the same.

Twilight waited for them to settle down, and said, “Unfortunately, he moved all the symbiotes, along with the patients he was testing them on. We're still looking for them.”

“Oh, my,” Rarity said with a frown. “I hope you find them.”

“Me too. We found out how Blazing got them out but it may take a while to find where he took them.”

“So how in the hay did you end up with one of them varmints?” Applejack questioned. Venom whipped his head around to glare at her, and she said, “Ah, sorry, not varmint, um... creature?”

“No, he's totally a varmint,” Twilight laughed.

“Rude!”

“When I snuck into the center the other night, I disguised myself as one of their employees, a doctor named Blue Bell. But Blazing saw me and ended up dragging me off to try and save one of the test subjects who was going into cardiac arrest. A stallion named Rock Break. I did what I could, but I'm not a doctor, I just know CPR and your typical first aid stuff. I couldn't save him, and Venom, who had been in his body, jumped to mine. Rock died and Blazing was planning on holding onto me as a new test subject, but then realized I wasn't actually Blue Bell, since they have DNA scanners.” Twilight scuffed the ground lightly with a hoof. “My memories are um, a bit blurry after that, since Venom took over.”

Venom scoffed. “Yeah right. Then I'll tell them what happened. Blazing tried to use a spell to force Twilight to drop her disguise, and she resisted. A couple guards attacked her to try and distract her, so then I took over. Not entirely, mind you, but I gave her a small nudge to use her magic and blast those bastards across the room.” The others seemed taken aback by his language, except Rainbow, who grinned.

Twilight nodded. “Right. So I pushed them all back and got ready to run, while telling myself I had to keep them from lowering my disguise. I couldn't let them recognize me. And that's when Venom really started helping me. By making us look like this.” The transformation felt completely natural by now. Venom coated her body with his own in seconds, lifting them higher into the air and sharpening their vision.

Fluttershy and Spike scrambled backward, Starlight tensed, Rarity clutched Applejack with a frightened squeal. Even Pinkie seemed surprised, though she soon went back to smiling and pranced around them.

“Whoa, that's so cool, that'd make an awesome Nightmare Night costume!” she exclaimed.

“Twilight, darling, are you... okay, under there?” Rarity asked.

Venom smiled widely. “Twilight's fine. But this form... well, consider it a physical manifestation of our combined strength.” They considered that for a moment, then commented, “Seems we have much of Twilight's vocabulary now as well, haha.”

Spike opened his wings, flapping up to their head so he could cautiously touch their face. “So... it's still you in there.” He turned their head about, then hugged them. “Oh, Twilight, no wonder you've been weirdly into eating meat lately.”

“Into what?!” Rarity demanded.

“Huh, so that's why the freezer has so much meat in it now, I was starting to wonder,” Starlight said.

“Well, as long as you're not in any pain, I'm okay with this,” Spike continued. “In fact, now that I think about it, this is kinda cool.”

“She does look pretty awesome like that,” Rainbow agreed.

“Definitely a pony I wouldn't want to mess with,” Applejack said.

“You're just so... goopy,” Rarity said with a frown.

Venom turned to her, reaching out a hoof. “We may look that way, but don't worry, it doesn't stick.” They rubbed a hoof across her cheek, and she flinched back, but upon touching her cheek she found that it was still dry and soft.

“Huh. Alright then.”

“Thanks for being so understanding,” Venom said, looking around at each of them. “We really appreciate it. But you can't tell anyone else about this. We have to introduce the symbiotes to Equestria carefully, likely whenever we hold Blazing's trial. So keep this quiet for now.”

They all agreed to keep it secret, and Venom receded back from Twilight's body, manifesting himself into the usual head at the end of that long, slimy neck.

Fluttershy hesitantly approached him, and he watched her closely. Then she rubbed a hoof under his chin, and his eyes widened slightly, before closing, and he leaned into the stroking. “Mm, that's... that's rather pleasant.”

“Heh, guess we aren't so different,” Fluttershy said. “Even creatures from other planets like getting scritches, huh?”

“Scritches? Is that what you call this? Marvelous! Twilight, why haven't you given me scritches?!”

Twilight couldn't help but laugh. “I didn't think a powerful, vicious space alien like yourself would like something as gentle as scritches.”

“Well you thought wrong, didn't ya, Princess?!” With that, Venom returned to rubbing his head happily against Fluttershy's hoof.

That seemed to greatly relax the others, and they all came closer, chatting with Twilight about what she went through at the center and how she's learned to get along with Venom. They were shocked to hear that she bit a pony's head off, though slightly appeased by the fact that he deserved it. They were fascinated by how powerful they were together, how they took down dozens of armed guards by themselves and got out without a single scratch.

“Kinda makes me want a symbiote,” Rainbow said.

“I gotta say, I can see the benefits,” Applejack agreed.

“I'm sure the others would have no problem bonding with willing hosts like you,” Venom said. “However, we can't go bonding with ponies all willy-nilly. First, the host will have to be willing to provide us with the nutrition we need. And then, even more importantly, they need to be compatible. Much like receiving a blood or organ transplant, the host must be a match. I got very lucky with Twilight, that she matches with me so perfectly. We can stay together for as long as we want with no ill effects. Meanwhile, I could bond with one of you, and end up being rejected by your body after a couple days. Which is a very unpleasant affair, let me tell you.”

“Can you tell if you're a match immediately, or does it take a while?” Twilight asked curiously.

“We can usually tell within minutes of connecting. But it takes around forty-eight hours to know for sure. Because that's about when an incompatible host's immune system will start attacking us. Not fun.”

Twilight nodded. “I see. Well, I'm glad I was a match then. So, girls... would you be okay with taking on the other symbiotes? If any of them can match you? I only ask because once we free them, they'll either go back to their planet, or they'll stay here. And if they stay on Equus, they'll need hosts.”

The others discussed it, and Twilight weighed in on the pros and cons. After a few minutes, she had assurance that Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, and Spike were all on board with taking a symbiote if needed. Fluttershy was more hesitant and said she needed time to think about it, and Rarity and Starlight refused.

“But Rarity, whatever happened to that generosity I've heard so much about?” Venom teased.

She stared, then groaned and said, “It's nothing against your species, and I'll do anything else to help you, but... I simply do not want to share my body with another creature. I like the privacy of my mind, thank you very much.”

Venom shrugged. “Can't argue that I suppose.”

“Same for me,” Starlight said. “I'm really happy that you and Twilight get along so much, and I hope the other symbiotes are rescued quickly and are able to find ponies to share a body with, but I just don't want to have someone else in my head like that, able to tap into my memories, control my body... it just gives me the creeps. Sorry.”

“That's fine, the best host is always one that's willing,” Venom said.

“So, you need to find where Blazing hid the rest of the symbiotes, and then you need to rescue them?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight nodded. “Yeah. I'll let you know once I have more information but right now, all we know is that Blazing managed to move all of his symbiote experiments somewhere else and we're trying to track them down.”

“Well, if you need anything, we're here,” Rainbow assured her.

“That's right, we're here to help,” Rarity agreed.

“Here, here,” Applejack said.

“I second that!” Pinkie said.

Twilight smiled and wrapped them into a group hug. Helped by Venom's tendrils, which had quickly but respectfully reached out to pull them all in. “Thank you, everypony. Thanks for being so understanding.”

“Of course,” Fluttershy replied, giving Twilight a nuzzle. The others all did the same, and she giggled, beaming at their affection.

“So this is friendship,” Venom observed, cocking his head as he watched them. Then he moved in so he could join the crowd, allowing his own lips to curl into a smile when the others slid forelegs around him. “I think I like it.”

14. Advice and Concerns

Twilight's friends spent several minutes just hanging out and talking to her and Venom. They wanted to know everything about him, and he was honest with them just like he was with Twilight. But all too soon they were having to leave, as they all had chores or work they needed to do, but they enjoyed the visit and were glad Twilight was open with them about her situation.

“Yeah, of course,” she said as they prepared to leave. “You're my friends, there was no way I was keeping something this big from you. I'll let you know if we find out anything about where the other symbiotes were taken. See you later.”

They bid her farewell and headed out, except for Spike and Starlight, who stayed in the room to keep chatting with her and Venom.

“So what are you two gonna do once you find the symbiotes and Blazing's trial is wrapped up?” Spike asked curiously.

“Oh, you know, probably the same things I always do,” Twilight replied. “Though... Venom and I have talked about it, and we decided we should use our combined strength for good. By... heh, well basically by becoming a superhero.” Venom gave a toothy grin and nodded, and she smiled back.

“A superhero? Whoa, awesome! Do you need help coming up with a name? Or a costume?”

Twilight shook her head. “Spike, we already have a costume.” They transformed, and while Starlight pranced back, still unused to that, Spike stayed where he was.

“I know, but maybe you could do more with this! Like, hm...” He flew around them, rubbing his chin as he considered their appearance. “You could have a cape!”

“No capes, capes are fucking lame,” Venom replied.

Starlight giggled, and Spike said, “Um, alright then. No cape. Then how about... oh, you can change your shape, right? How about...” He grasped their shoulders, seeming to massage them, before tugging their skin upward. “How about big, intimidating shoulder spikes?”

They tilted their head, then formed their skin outward into spikes as if they were wearing a sharp collar.

“Yeah, there you go! And, hm...” Spike flew down to their hooves and pulled on one. “How about claws?”

“We can grow claws if they're needed,” Venom replied, extending them to demonstrate. “Unless you are suggesting we always keep them out.”

“Yeah, keep them out, that looks cool!” He flapped back up, examining them. “You already look scarier. The bad guys will really be afraid of you now.”

Venom smiled but smoothed their skin back down into its usual shape. “We appreciate the advice, but trust us, we look fearsome enough like this. And we won't need a name. We already have one. We are Venom.”

Spike tapped on his chin as he considered that. “I don't know, sounds kinda evil.”

“Well we certainly won't be doing things like most of the heroes in your comic books. We're willing to hurt and even kill dangerous ponies. So, Venom is a very fitting name for us.”

Spike's eyes widened in realization. “Ohh, so you're like, chaotic good!”

Venom chuckled. “Yes, Spike. We're chaotic good.”

“Wait, hurt and kill?” Starlight asked, walking up to them. “How does killing ponies make you any better than them?”

“You're kidding, right?” Venom demanded, turning toward her. “We'll fight to defend those who are being harmed. If that means we kill the one doing the harming, it'll be no big loss for Equestria. Sometimes, Starlight, it's not as easy as singing a little song and the bad guy becoming good. There are real villains out there, real nasty fuckers who torment others with no remorse. They will never change. They'll never become good. So the only way to protect others from them... is to destroy them.”

Starlight swallowed, ears laying back. “Please tell me that's all Venom talking and not you, Twilight.”

Part of Venom's face shifted aside, revealing half of Twilight's face underneath it. She gave Starlight a serious look. “Sorry, but... I do feel that way. I have for a while and just didn't really talk about it because I knew ponies wouldn't like it. But... while I know ponies as a people are good, and kind, there are still those who do nothing but hurt others. I've read about them, seen them in the news. They cause harm, get arrested, spend time in prison... get out and get right back to it. Plenty get rehabilitated, sure. But there's still that small percentage that just doesn't change. It's like they were born bad. What would you have me do? Let them keep going out and hurting people? Or do what nopony else wants to lift a hoof to do and get rid of them myself?”

Starlight gave her a long, hard look. Then she said, “At one time, I was one of those ponies you would have seen as beyond redemption. You had reached out to me once and I refused it. It took multiple tries for me to finally understand your side and join you. I'm glad you didn't have Venom back then, or I probably wouldn't be alive right now, huh?”

“What? Starlight, that's not-” Twilight started, but the other had already turned and walked away, and all Twilight could do was stand there and watch her go. She slammed the door behind her.

Venom sank back into her skin, and she abruptly sat down, feeling cold.

Spike patted her shoulder. “It's okay, I'm sure she'll come around. I agree with you. Somepony's gotta do the dirty work, you know?”

“What if she's right, though?” Twilight said quietly. “If I was with Venom way back when I was first dealing with her... would I have killed her?”

“If you had, I'm sure you would have done it believing it was the right thing to do.”

“But it wouldn't have been. Look at what an amazing, inspiring pony she's become. In fact, if it weren't for her, my friends and I might not have ever been rescued from the Changeling hive. She's the one that rallied Discord, Trixie, and Thorax to come save us. Maybe they could have done it on their own. But maybe not. Her leadership is what allowed them to come together and save us. I'm glad I kept reaching out to her and finally became her friend.” Twilight gazed into space. “What if we kill ponies who could be like her? Who, yeah, have done bad things, but they have potential to be greater?”

Venom huffed, resting his head on top of hers. “It's not like we're going to eat everyone we catch robbing a convenience store or roughing someone up in an alley somewhere. We're going to go after those who truly deserve it. Rapists. Murderers. Thugs. I would have understood what you saw in Starlight, that there was good deep down inside that you just needed to bring out. There are ponies who don't even have that, and we'll know when we see them. And they will be our meals.”

Twilight sighed. “Right. I guess so. You think we should talk to Starlight?”

“I'd give her some time to cool off,” Spike said. “I'm sure if she spends some time thinking about it, she'll realize she's different from the kind of ponies you'd go after. After all, aside from some cutie mark stealing, some brainwashing, did she really do anything that bad?”

Twilight barked out a laugh. “Hah. No, not really. Okay, I'll give her some time alone.” She stood, and while part of her wanted to go lay down, another part of her was greatly motivated by that argument with Starlight. “In the meantime, Venom and I are going out.”

“Oh? Out where?”

She gave him a sly smile as she stepped past him. “To be the hero only we can be.”

“Alright!” He clapped, and she put an extra pep in her step as she opened the door. Maybe Starlight didn't agree with her, but she was glad she had Spike's support.

They headed for the train station, and Venom said, So where are we going?

I'm thinking Fillydelphia. The crime there is pretty high, I guarantee if we spend some time just walking around, we'll find somepony doing something disgusting and can take them down. You can feed and Equestria will be just a little safer.

He purred. Marvelous. Also, I'd just like to say you have good friends. They care about you. They take the time to understand you, and they support you. It's more than I ever had back on my planet.

We have good friends, Venom. We.

She felt him coil warmly in her chest, knowing he was smiling even while hiding below her skin. She trotted the rest of the way to the train station and checked to see when the next train to Fillydelphia would be arriving. The next one was going to Baltimare, but the train after that would go to Fillydelphia. It should be about twenty minutes until it arrived. She thanked the station employee and sat down to wait.

She passed the time talking to Venom, who asked her about various aspects of Equestrian society, wanting to understand the kingdom better. She explained that taxes paid for all the rail systems and travel by train was extremely cheap and mostly went toward paying the conductors. He scoffed at the trains being steam-powered and straight up laughed at Twilight telling him trains in more rural areas were even pulled by ponies.

So what would you power a train with? Twilight inquired.

Magnetism, obviously. Magnet-propelled trains can go hundreds of miles per hour. Specifically, ones that use magnetism to levitate them and also move them forward. Without friction from the ground, they can obtain incredible speeds. Though of course, the technology is quite complicated and expensive. Running a track through a vacuum tube would also have promise.

Huh. Well then, maybe you can help us create all this complicated technology. You and the other symbiotes could really help us advance as a species. As a planet, really.

That is the usual modus operandi of my kind. The peaceful ones, that is. We ally with other planets, help them with their problems, bring them gifts of knowledge. Carefully, of course. We don't want to overwhelm anyone. Too much change too fast can be a dangerous thing. But I'm sure the Klyntar would love to ally with Equus. They would prefer if you gave them something in return, but it's not a requirement.

Something in return. Like what?

Usually something of yours that we don't have. Like all that magically powered tech, we would love to examine that and figure it out. We don't have magic on our planet. Or at least, if we do, our kind has never sensed it and, I will assume, are not adapted to manipulate it. But an Equestrian style of art, or music, or things of that nature would also suffice as a gift.

I see. Hm. I feel like a meeting between our planets would be very interesting.

That's one way to put it. Beneficial for both of us, though.

Yeah.

They talked a while longer about the differences in technology between their planets, and Twilight made a lot of notes on things she could possibly try to bring about in Equestria. Apparently, the symbiotes had a form of Internet just like the humans did! Twilight definitely needed to get computers on the market, and then they could have their own version of the Internet.

I don't think you want that.

Why not? Imagine how great it would be if everypony had ready access to libraries of information!

...That's not all such a network would be used for. Trust me.

What do you-

They heard the loud whistle of their train arriving, and got up to move to the edge of the platform, watching as it came around the bend and slowly came to a stop.

You don't want to know. Or perhaps you do.

Twilight waited for people to stop leaving the train, and went in, finding a window seat and sitting down. I kinda do.

Alright. The Internet is great for the exchange of information, sure. It's also full of porn. So.

Twilight blinked. Oh. She thought back to some of the unfortunate images she had come across while exploring the Internet in the human dimension and sighed. Right. It is.

Oh yes. You could save ponies from that horror, he teased.

Well, who cares. I think the learning opportunities more than make up for it. Not to mention, we can finally share cat videos across the world!

I approve.

Twilight looked out the window as the train started to move again, heading northeast. Only a couple hours until she and Venom could hunt together. Until they could fight like they did when they escaped the Life Aura Center. She was actually pretty excited for it.

As am I, Princess.

15. Trouble in Fillydelphia

Once they arrived in Fillydelphia, Twilight and Venom got off the train and surveyed the city. Skyscrapers stretched in every direction and it was bustling with activity. Twilight wasn't too familiar with this city, so she just chose a random direction and started walking. She got a lot of interested looks, ponies nudging each other and pointing her out, and she began to wonder if she should have worn a coat. She always seemed to get attention when she went places she didn't normally visit. Then again, she supposed she was a minor celebrity these days. She cast a smile at a group of giggling ponies that walked by her, waving at them.

Then she said to Venom, Alright, so here's the plan. We’re just going to walk around Fillydelphia until something happens.

Sounds good to me. This place seems great on the surface, but looking at your memories, it’s a hotspot for criminals. I guarantee that if we stay here long enough, we’ll run into some kind of crime we can stop. Ohh I can't wait to sink my teeth into some juicy ponies.

I can't believe I'm basically becoming a cannibal for you.

You have such a weird aversion to this, on my planet cannibalism is perfectly normal. I mean we usually only eat dead symbiotes but still.

Twilight’s stomach rolled. Oh, lovely.

They browsed some shops, and paused to look at a newspaper. There was nothing about the Life Aura Center yet, but she had no doubt Blazing's arrest would make tomorrow's headline. She kept walking.

Hey, you hungry? Venom asked.

Not really, we just had lunch-

Let's get food! A little appetizer before the main course, haha.

Alright, I'll grab you something.

She headed for a convenience store, much to his delight. You are so good to me.

Yeah, yeah. Twilight noticed the moment she walked in this place was dingy, a few of its lights broken and several of its products dented. She considered going to a different place, not liking how the mare at the counter stared her down, but Venom gave her confidence and she moved along to the snack aisle.

As she was picking out some chocolate raisins and a bag of trail mix, she heard the bell over the door ding, and heavy hoofsteps.

There was a small gasp from the clerk, and Twilight froze, ears perking as whoever entered spoke in a low voice.

“You got our money?”

“Please, sir…” There was a sudden thunk of metal on wood and a small squeal.

“No more excuses, where’s our money?”

Twilight slowly peaked over the shelf and saw a large pegasus stallion with a knife buried in the counter, as the clerk hurried to get the register open.

“The boss is getting tired of your excuses,” he said, retrieving the knife and digging the tip against the mare’s cheek as she fumbled with the register. “If I gotta come down here and ask you again, you won’t get another chance, bitch.”

Twilight’s blood boiled as he reached into the register and began sweeping bits into a bag.

Food? Venom inquired.

Twilight took a breath, and set down the bags of food, crossing the room. Maybe, but let me try and talk this out.

Lame.

“Excuse me,” Twilight said firmly.

The stallion whipped around, pointing the knife at her. Then he paused, looking her over. “Y-you’re… Princess Twilight.”

“Yeah, I am,” she said, spreading her wings as she advanced toward him. “Who are you?”

He swallowed, then narrowed his eyes and said, “None of your business. This is between me and Doll here. Go back to your prissy little castle.”

Twilight glared at him. “I have just as much a right to shop here as anypony. Now, you better drop that knife, give her back her bits, and get out.”

“Or what?” he challenged.

Twilight’s horn lit up, and she wrenched the knife away and yanked him toward her, slamming him on his back and shoving a hoof into his chest. “Or I’ll do things to you that will make you wish you had never been born!” Some of Venom’s roughness slipped into her voice, and the stallion flinched, before scrambling to get away.

“Y-yes, Princess, of course!” He tossed the bag of bits down and ran out, not even taking his knife with him.

Twilight sighed, composing herself, and Venom whined, Oh come on!

Well, being a princess has its perks. She picked up the bits and returned them to Doll. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah, thank you,” she said, shakily gathering the money and sorting it into the register. “They come here nearly every week, saying I need to pay if I want their protection, but I don’t want it! The only thing it’s protecting me from is them. It’s how they work, they go to new businesses asking if they want to buy insurance, and if you say no, they wreck the place. So then you do pay them just to keep them happy. It’s… it’s extortion is what it is.”

“I’m so sorry.” Twilight levitated her snacks over, setting them on the counter. She also grabbed a bottle of water from a fridge. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Short of taking down the entire gang of Fillydelphia Gutbusters, I’m afraid not, Princess.”

Gutbusters? Great idea, let’s bust their guts!

“Gutbusters? Bleh, what a crude name.”

“Most of the gangs around here have names like that. Oh, no charge, you can have whatever you like.”

Twilight shook her head. “No, I want to pay. If those guys come back, I want you to be able to pay them.”

“Well, alright. That’ll be ten bits, please.”

Twilight paid and leaned in, whispering, “Though if you could tell me where I might find the Gutbusters, I’d really appreciate it.”

Doll looked nervous, checking her surroundings before saying, “Well, I’m not too sure if they have a particular base, so to speak, but a lot of them seem to hang out at the bars near Seventeenth and Willow. You can’t miss them, they all wear some kind of bright purple bandanna or wristband or something, and usually have knives on them. For, well, cutting guts open.”

“Explains the name. Well, thank you.” Twilight put the snacks away and headed for the door.

“Thank you, Princess.”

Twilight nodded and stepped out, going to find a bench to sit on so she could eat.

Are we going to take down a gang? Venom asked excitedly.

Something like that. Twilight tossed a few of the chocolate-covered raisins into her mouth and felt her symbiote’s delight.

I love chocolate!

Heh, so do I, Twilight replied. She let him share control, finishing off the raisins and then digging into the trail mix between gulps of water.

You should buy me chocolates more often.

Twilight smiled. She had no problem with that. Once they were done eating, they got up and threw away their trash, and got back to walking. They made their way toward the intersection Doll had mentioned, ears perked and alert for danger.

They began to notice fewer pedestrians as they got closer to the area. Those who were around moved quickly and didn’t make eye contact with anyone. Many were dressed in coats and kept their faces hidden.

I don’t trust this place, Twilight thought.

You’d be a fool to. Keep your eyes out. You’ve probably already made yourself an enemy of the Gutbusters.

Twilight nodded. She glanced down every alley she passed. At one point, she thought she saw movement, but then she looked back and saw it was only a bird.

You’re being a little too jumpy. Calm down.

Twilight took a deep breath, held it, and let it out. She didn’t want to look skittish, but this part of the city gave her bad vibes.

I see what you mean. It looks fine at a glance, but it just feels wrong.

Twilight stopped to examine the street signs. She was only a few blocks away from Seventeenth and Willow when something made the fur on her back rise.

What was that?

Easy, Princess. Don’t look now but we’re being followed. Just keep walking, and I’ll keep an eye on things.

So she kept going, but glanced around often, not wanting anyone else to sneak up on her.

A few minutes later and she was checking out the row of bars, many of which were open despite it only being a little past noon. The buildings here were marked with graffiti and neon lights shone from the windows, some of which advertised rather unsavory services.

Hey Twilight, want a massage with a happy ending?

Uh… pass.

She began to notice ponies wearing purple like Doll had said, and avoided their eyes as she walked down the sidewalk.

They are definitely following us.

Don’t tell me that.

She kept a lookout for anything that could be a base of operations, determined to find the gang’s leader and… talk to them.

I don’t think you plan on talking. I think you plan on shooting them with magic. Or choking them. Possibly stabbing. Eating, if I’m really lucky.

She gave a sly smile. I’ll see how I feel.

Okay, but better think quick because we’re about to be ambushed.

What?

Something hard suddenly collided with Twilight’s head, and everything swirled wildly as she fell onto her side. She grunted, and quickly pushed herself back up, but a ring was clamped around her horn and suddenly she was unable to use her magic. She growled and flared her wings out, stomping a hoof as she faced the several ponies who had surrounded her.

“You’re outnumbered, Princess,” a stocky mare said, jabbing at her with a knife. Twilight immediately kicked her, knocking her into a light pole. She groaned, and Twilight got ready to fight the others, only for them all to tackle her, slamming her to the ground with their weight. She started to push herself back up, Venom’s strength filling her, but then a bag was put over her head, distracting her long enough for them to flip her over and tie her legs together, before picking her up.

“Hey!” she shouted, struggling. She tried to kick, but the way they tied her legs made it impossible to get a good angle. She thrashed, charging up her magic, but it felt like it just couldn’t get past her horn. “Let me go! Do you know who I am?!”

“We know exactly who you are. A princess who messed with the wrong squad.”

Several of them beat their hooves against her ribs, making her wince. They just laughed in response.

“So we’re taking you to have a little chat with the boss.”

“Who?”

Pain exploded across her muzzle as one of them punched her in the nose. She grunted, sniffing as blood streamed from her nostrils.

“Shut up, you’ll find out soon.”

Venom’s skin covered Twilight’s nose, and she took a slow breath through her mouth as he healed the damage. The pain faded, and she gave some curious sniffs. Thanks.

Don’t mention it. You know, we can easily snap these ropes and kill all of them.

Tempting, but… they’re taking us right to their boss. I say we wait for them to take us right into wherever their base is… and then we kill their boss and everypony else.

Laughter rang through her head. Excellent! I love it! Then let’s put up enough of a fight to make them think they need everyone to restrain us. And once we’re surrounded and they feel all safe and secure… we raise hell.

So Twilight put up a fight, but always stopped short of actually breaking free, and she heard more and more hoof beats as more of the Gutbusters came to keep her subdued. She wasn't worried about being outnumbered. She knew she and Venom could take down all of them. Though she did ask him why he let her get caught in the first place.

I knew they were coming but I thought the same thing you did, we could use them to find their leader. Though I'll admit I didn't think they would manage to hit us that hard, and suddenly there were a ton of them I hadn't heard, and I definitely wasn't expecting the magic blocking... thing.

...Thanks.

Twilight stopped talking to him when she heard a door open, and the temperature changed, growing warmer as she was carried into a building. Even through the bag, it smelled musty, and she wrinkled her nose.

They seemed to go through a few more doors, and then she was dropped roughly to the floor, and several of them stood on her to keep her pinned while another yanked the bag off.

She looked up, blinking and letting her eyes adjust to the dim room. She was surrounded by gang members, and right in front of her, lounging in a recliner behind a table, was a unicorn mare with countless scars all over her body and stormy gray eyes. She was picking one of her hooves with a knife, those dark eyes staring at Twilight.

“What is the meaning of this?” she said quietly, looking away to glare at the others. “Why did you bring a princess here?”

“Thunderclap, ma'am, this is the one who threatened Scourge,” one of the gangsters said.

“Is that so? Well, that changes things, doesn't it?” The mare sat forward, embedding the knife into the table and surveying Twilight. “Hello, Princess Twilight. I'm Thunderclap, leader of the Gutbusters.”

16. Regrets

Thunderclap gazed down at Twilight with mild amusement, moving along to trimming her hooves. “Tell me, are you comfortable? If I knew you were coming I'd have put down a pillow for them to throw you on.”

The others snickered and Twilight scowled. “I don't know what kind of operation you're running here, but you need to let me go, now.”

“I'd love to, but there's just one small problem. See, you interfered with one of my friends. He was working, on my orders, to collect a debt we were owed. So by threatening him, you threatened me.”

“He threatened that shopkeeper first,” Twilight replied. “I can't just stand idly by while another pony is in trouble. So I ran him off. I didn't know he was with your... group. I'm sorry.”

“You're sorry. Ah, well, that fixes everything, doesn't it?” Thunderclap asked.

Twilight glanced around uncomfortably at the others. “Um, yes?” she said hopefully.

Thunderclap gestured to someone, and one of Twilight's wings was stretched out and sharp pain radiated from the wrist. She cried out, instinctively trying to yank it away, only to find it immobile. She looked back and saw that it was pinned to the floor with a dagger. Her breath caught, mind struggling to process the sight.

“Guess again,” Thunderclap replied.

That bitch! Let's kill her! Venom screamed.

Wait, hold on, let me talk to her for just a while longer!

Ugh, okay but she's going to die slowly and painfully once I get a hold of her!

Twilight looked back up at the mare, taking a steadying breath. Venom helpfully blocked her from feeling the pain of the blade, but she was still aware of it there, sticking straight through her wing. “Okay, it doesn't fix things. So what should I do to apologize?”

“Now that's more like it. Listen up, Sparkles. You need to stay out of our way. I don't care if you're a princess, I wouldn't even care if you were Celestia. No one messes with my gang. Those who do rarely live to brag about it. If you were anyone else, I'd slit your throat without hesitation and string your carcass up in the street as a warning. But since you're a princess, well, I guess I can let you live. But I'm going to make sure you never forget how much you fucked up.”

“Surely we can settle this without violence,” Twilight said.

Thunderclap pointed, and Twilight's other wing was stabbed to the floor. She winced, Venom's influence the only thing keeping her from screaming. “I don't think we can. We didn't get to be the roughest, most feared gang in Fillydelphia by being nonviolent. When we have a problem with someone, we get rid of them. You're no different.”

“What do you think this'll accomplish?” Twilight demanded. “You hurt me, and I'll bring the wrath of every alicorn of Equestria on you. We can easily wipe out your pathetic gang.”

“No you won't. Because when we're done with you, you may be alive, but I'll guarantee you'll never speak of this. We're going to break you, Sparkles. Break you into so many pieces you'll beg for death, and we won't give it. And when you go crawling back home you'll be so shattered you'll never want to talk about this to anyone. Besides... your fellow princesses won't know where to find us if we never let you find out where we are.” Thunderclap stood, walking out from around the table and motioning for the gangsters to back away. They did, all except for two large stallions that kept Twilight pinned.

Thunderclap tilted her head as she examined her, before commenting, “Maybe I'll even cut off your tongue and gouge your eyes out before letting you go.” Then she stomped down hard on Twilight's face, making her cry out. “With that magic-nullifying ring around your horn, you're completely powerless. How pathetic, that even a mighty alicorn can be so easily overpowered by us regular ponies.” She shoved Twilight's face into the floor, rubbing it harshly into the wood until fur was torn out and her skin was raw and bleeding. Then she backed away and sat down, watching her closely. “Alright, I think I've said enough. Why don't the rest of y'all take care of her for me.”

“You really don't want to do that,” Twilight warned as she was slowly surrounded. Venom once again kept her from feeling any pain, and despite the blood trickling down her face, she lifted her head and stared them down with a smug smile.

They paused, glancing at their leader, who barked, “She can't use her magic and she's tied up! Fuck her up!”

Gaining confidence, they came closer, smirking and twirling their knives, looking her over like a piece of meat.

“No, you really don't want to do that,” Twilight repeated, narrowing her eyes and focusing all her magic into her horn. It glowed vividly, and she felt the ring around it start to crack. The others stopped again.

“Ma'am, what if she breaks the ring?” one of them asked.

“She won't be able to break it if you hurt her badly enough!” Thunderclap yelled. “Now get to it, I wanna see those pretty eyes in a vase on my desk!”

Twilight was kicked over onto her side, and she screamed as one of her wings was dislodged from the floor, the knife slipping and cutting a wider gash into her wing arm. Okay, she's played victim long enough.

She snapped the ropes on her hind legs apart and slammed her back hooves into the closest attacker, so hard he was thrown straight up and hit the ceiling. She twisted out of the way, and he hit the ground with a sick thud and passed out. She overcharged her magic to the point that it was painful, but it broke the ring, allowing her to shoot out a wave of magic that threw them all back.

Panting, she pulled the knives out of her wings and threw them, putting them right through the skulls of the stallions who had held her down earlier. They collapsed, and she picked herself up. She felt a pang of regret, but at least it had killed them instantly. She surveyed the rest of the room.

Thunderclap had been thrown through the table, and she clutched her shoulder as she got up. She stared at Twilight. “You're stronger than I thought. But no matter. There's still only one of you, and dozens of us.” She slammed her hoof into a button on the wall, and an alarm started blaring.

Twilight reeled back, clutching her ears as Venom screamed in pain in her mind. Black tendrils shot out of them, and they pulled themselves up toward the roof, finding and smashing the speaker until the noise stopped.

What was that about? Twilight asked.

High-pitched noises like that are... very painful for me.

Really? Huh, that would have been helpful to know.

Before Venom could reply, there were shouts from down below, and several blades were sunk deep into Twilight's hind legs and used to pull her down. She shouted, but with Venom's power flowing through her, it was more out of anger than pain.

“That's it, I warned you.” They dropped to the floor, and Venom took over. They grew in size, all the blades being ejected from their body, and several tendrils erupted from them, seizing everyone in the room and disarming them. By snapping their forelegs and horns off.

Cries and screams of agony filled the room, and Venom grinned savagely. They brought all the gangsters together, their tendrils binding them tightly, and Venom opened their mouth wide, letting them see their glinting teeth and hungry tongue.

“What the fuck are you?!” Thunderclap shouted, finally showing fear.

“We are Venom.” Venom brought her close, reveling in the horror and regret in her eyes. “And you are one tasty-looking snack.” Then they snapped their jaws over her head, tearing it from her shoulders with an easy twisting motion. The others began screaming and begging for release, promising to go straight, they would never hurt anyone again just so long as they were spared.

“Pathetic!” Venom roared once they had swallowed. “You're only begging for mercy because you've been caught! You know what you've been doing in this gang is monstrous but you stayed anyway, and many of you...” They jabbed tendrils into the others' heads, soaking in their memories. “Many of you enjoyed it! You're all filth and you deserve to die! You had your chance to leave but you didn't, and now you will pay the price!” They pulled the tendrils out and began tearing through heads and bodies, swallowing all the juicy bits and drinking the blood, grinning with a manic glee the entire time.

More gang members poured into the room, but they froze upon seeing the carnage Venom was leaving. A few of the braver ones charged forward, but they were quickly slain and consumed as well, causing the rest to lose their nerve and run.

We can't let them get away, Twilight said, mind almost gone in an unfamiliar yet intoxicating haze of bloodlust.

Right you are, Princess. Then let's get them. Venom charged after them. Their hooves grew claws as they ran, and they used them for traction, pouring on the speed as they chased down the gangsters. They vaguely realized they seemed to be in an old apartment building, but it seemed to have been completely taken over by the Gutbusters. The wallpaper hung from the walls in tatters, and cigarette butts and beer bottles littered the halls.

Venom used their magic to slam the front door shut and deadbolt it, then seized the remaining gangsters and pulled them all back toward them. Then they tackled them, tearing their throats out with their jaws while driving their claws deep into their stomachs.

It wasn't even a fight, it was simply a massacre. All the knives glanced harmlessly off Venom's skin, and the few that had managed to get guns found that the bullets bounced off as well.

Venom tore them all apart in minutes, and then piled up the bodies, before laying across them and tearing chunks of meat off. Every so often a stray gang member would make their way toward the door to escape, and Venom would pick them off too and add them to the pile.

But finally, no one else approached them and Twilight pulled her mind away from Venom's, staring in horror at what they were doing. She had thought she was mentally prepared to kill bad guys, but she hadn't expected to brutally attack and rip apart dozens of ponies like this.

Oh, dear Celestia, I... we totally went crazy back there.

I suppose you could call it that. But admit it, that was the most satisfying thing we've ever done. We just took down an entire gang, by ourselves. Or at least, if this wasn't all of them... we took down their leader and decimated their forces. They won't be able to carry on, they will collapse, and Fillydelphia will be just a little bit safer. Plus... this is probably one of the most delicious meals I've had since getting here. Venom broke a skull open and chowed down on the brain.

Twilight shuddered. Yes, but... look at what we did to them! Oh, I'm... I'm gonna be sick.

Don't you dare!

Twilight retched, and Venom covered their mouth firmly with a layer of slime, growling. Bile rose in their throat, but with some struggling, they were able to swallow it and keep their food down.

They gulped, and Twilight said, Okay, I think I'm okay. Can we just... leave now, please?

Venom nodded, and they turned, breaking the front door down and heading out. They did a quick loop around the building, but all other exits had been blocked off except for a single fire escape. They flew up to it, noting that the ladder was down. A few ponies had escaped out this way.

“No matter,” they muttered. “After what we did to the rest of their gang, they're probably running right to turn themselves in.”

They started to fly away, then paused, and went down to street level to check the building's address. Then they walked over to the nearest payphone and dialed the emergency number.

They waited while it rung, and when the operator asked them what their emergency was, Venom said, “Please send someone out to 23896 Willow Street. We're right next to it and some sort of massacre seems to have happened, there are dead bodies everywhere.”

“Yes, sir. We're sending a squad out now, but can you give me any more information? Are there any survivors? Is the perpetrator still nearby?”

“No, no, it's just the bodies. Any survivors made sure they got far away from us. You really should hurry, I think you'll find the victims to be very interesting.” Venom hung up the phone before the operator could say anything more, opening their wings and flying to a building across from the apartment, setting down on the roof. Venom's skin sank back under Twilight's coat, and she gave herself a small shake once she had full control back, looking herself over. They had no injuries, just like when they had fought out of the Life Aura Center. Even the gaping holes through her wings had closed up and there was no pain at all.

All that meat allowed me to heal everything those bastards did to you, Venom said. You're welcome.

Thank you. I still feel bad about doing that to them though...

Why? We saw their memories. They were monsters. They've hurt countless ponies. They've tortured, raped, killed. They deserved what we did.

Twilight sighed but nodded. This was what she had set out to do, after all. She knew it wasn't going to be clean. But thanks to her and Venom, Fillydelphia will be just a little safer. Perhaps their actions would even scare other gangs into disbanding as well.

And if they don't, we'll kill them too.

Right, but we'll need to be much more careful than that... We were seen coming here, and while I doubt we'll be suspected this time, we don't want these sorts of deaths to become a pattern.

I suppose you're right. We'll work on it.

Twilight knelt down, resting her forelegs across the ledge and watching the street below, waiting for the police to arrive. She wanted to make sure this was all cleaned up.

It took several minutes, but finally several armed officers trotted up, a few of them pulling armored wagons. But they wouldn't be finding anyone to arrest today.

They announced their presence, and while a couple went to check out the phone booth, the rest went into the building. Twilight's ears perked forward, and soon she heard cries of alarm. Several ponies hurried back out, one finding his way to the side of the building and throwing up, and a few of the others got on their radios to call for paramedics.

Paramedics? We didn't leave anyone alive, Venom said.

Yes, but it's protocol. They need medical professionals to determine causes of death. And possibly to collect the bodies, but with the mess we made they'll probably need a dedicated biohazard team out here.

Venom snickered. Indeed.

They waited around for a while, watching as the area was roped off and more emergency responders showed up. It quickly became a huge ordeal, as the cops recognized the victims as Gutbusters and identified the body of Thunderclap, which they could only do via her cutie mark, as her head was gone and so far has not been located.

Twilight uncomfortably rubbed her stomach and decided she's seen enough. She crept over to the other side of the roof and flew down, hurrying through alleyways until she was back in a much more well-lit part of the city, and she could find a bench to collapse on, sighing.

Want me to take us home?

Yes, please. She felt exhausted, and thankfully let herself drift off while Venom took control of their body and had them stand up, heading for the train station. She was somewhat aware of everything, but mostly just hovered in a state somewhere between awake and asleep, thoughts off in a cloud.

They seemed to be back in Ponyville within minutes, and Venom took them home. Once he had laid them down in Twilight's bed, he spoke. Are you alright?

Sure, she replied.

I only ask because you seem to have, well. Mentally shut down, is the best way I can describe it. I'm feeling very little from you.

I'm just trying to adjust to the reality of what we just did. If I let myself feel too much, I might start crying.

Then cry if it will help. You shouldn't try to turn off your emotions. I can sense you trying to block off your memories of what we did. But that won't change that we did it. You should be proud of what we accomplished. Yes, we. You wanted to do that just as much as I did, remember?

Twilight sighed and shifted to get more comfortable, laying on her side. Then she reached out a hoof and tapped the pillow next to hers. Understanding, Venom manifested a body so he could lay across from her, gazing at her with clear concern. He was so alien and strange, but Twilight felt safe with him next to her.

“I know we did the right thing,” she said, deciding this deserved to be said out loud. “But it's still so hard, knowing I took so many lives. I'm a murderer. I can't help but think I could have changed some of those ponies. Made them better. I've helped change countless other lives, why I couldn't I do the same with them?” She closed her eyes, tears finally streaming down her cheeks. “Starlight was right. I was too quick to judge, too quick to decide they all deserved death.”

Warm hands grasped her face, and she opened her eyes, startled to see that Venom had leaned in closer. He gently wiped the tears away, and said, “Maybe you could have changed them. But then, maybe they wouldn't have listened. Maybe they were just bad. Rotten to the core. Like...” She could feel him combing through her mind for an appropriate comparison, then said, “Like diseased branches on a tree. And what do you do when the branches can't be saved?” He came even closer, mouth inches from Twilight's. “You prune them.”

Twilight swallowed and pulled away, rolling onto her other side. “Maybe. But ponies aren't branches on a tree. Maybe some of them were beyond redemption, but I doubt all of them were.”

“Then think of it this way. They knew exactly who you were. Princess of Friendship. An alicorn, a being with godlike power that could have destroyed them even without me being there. They had to have known of your feats. You tried to talk things out. They refused. They refused, and they were going to do awful, unspeakable things to you just because you chased off one of their buddies. Who you didn't even know was with their gang. You acted in self-defense. Tell me, do your 'almost anypony can be redeemed' beliefs apply to those who are actively trying to mutilate you?”

Twilight's ears laid back. “No,” she said firmly. “They don't. I fought back to save myself.”

“Exactly. We fought back. And we won. And we ensured no other pony will ever suffer at their hooves.” Venom crept up behind her, wrapping his arms around her barrel. She almost pulled away, but he was so warm and comforting, and she let herself lean back against him. His body seemed to melt around hers, enveloping her. “We did the right thing.”

Twilight looked over her shoulder. His large opal eyes met hers, and after a moment, she pressed their foreheads together. “Right. I guess so. I still kinda regret it though.”

“Of course you do. You're a pony, and your kind simply detests violence. Well, most of you do, anyway. We saw today that there are exceptions. In fact, I'd wager that there are more exceptions than you like to admit.”

“We promote a culture of love and understanding, but yes, there are definitely those who want nothing to do with that, who are cruel and manipulative and will do anything to get what they want.”

“Yes. But we know how to deal with those sorts, don't we?” Venom continued wrapping around her.

“We do.” She closed her eyes, sinking into his embrace. He felt almost liquid as he covered her head and pulled it to his chest, but he wasn't smothering at all. He felt like the world's greatest weighted blanket. Despite everything they ate giving them plenty of energy, she wanted nothing more than to fall asleep like this.

“Then sleep, Princess. I've got you.”

So she went to sleep, comfortable in her symbiote's embrace.

17. Headmare Duties

Twilight opened her eyes to find that the room was still dark. She was briefly confused, until realizing she had fallen asleep in the afternoon yesterday.

How do you feel, Princess?

Twilight rubbed her eyes and yawned. “I’m okay. Still a little tired. What time is it?”

Venom stretched his head out of her and checked the nearest clock. “It’s shortly past 3 AM.”

“Mm. Guess I should go back to sleep.” She stretched out, but now that she was awake, she didn’t really want to go back to sleep.

“Still upset about yesterday?”

“I’m starting to come to terms with it. It was pretty scary, thinking of what we did to all those ponies, but… it’s over now. It’s over, and now they can never harm anypony.”

“Right. Do you think you’ll ever be able to do it without regret?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? It depends. What would it say about me if I got used to killing, or worse, enjoyed it?”

He hummed as he draped himself around her, pressing close. “It won’t say anything if we’re the only two who know about it. Sometimes heroes have to make hard choices. Sometimes, the only way to save someone is by killing someone else. But only you can decide if you can handle that.”

She sighed. “I’m sure I can handle it. But what if it… changes me? Actually, I’ve already changed after only a few days of being with you. Luna was right, you’ve made me aggressive. Impulsive. You don’t just amplify the good parts of me, you amplify the bad too. I can usually control my temper. But then I feel your anger and it feeds into mine and then I’m yelling. Making threats. I don’t like being that way. And I’m somewhat worried to think how much more I’ll change due to being your host.”

Venom regarded her silently for a few moments. Then he said, “That’s how it always goes with us. We give and take. Yes, I’ve influenced you to behave slightly more like me. But it goes both ways. Already you have made me more thoughtful, more compassionate, more intelligent even. Of course I was already pretty smart-”

“Of course,” Twilight said with a snort.

He bumped his nose against her snout, and continued, “But you’ve taught me things I never really considered before. We change each other by being together. It’s natural. But I can try not to influence you as much if it bothers you.”

“It’d be hard to tell you not to, since it feels so natural most of the time I can’t tell I picked up a certain feeling from you. But alright, we’ve both changed each other’s thoughts slightly. But I’m going to hold onto my morals. I don’t want us to turn into what we hate.”

She felt an annoyed swirl in her chest. “First Starlight, now you? Can none of you tell the difference between someone who just goes around torturing and killing because it’s fun and they get off on it, and someone who eliminates that guy and saves countless lives? It’s murder in both cases but with vastly different consequences.”

“Yeah, but… well, maybe. It’s definitely not a black and white, killing is always bad thing. There are cases where we as a society see it as justified. You’re defending yourself. Or somepony got sentenced to death, or even, as much as I hate it, the country is thrown into war and we have to fight to defend it. But killing criminals on the street? Maybe they deserve it. But maybe not. Agh, it’s all so complicated.”

“Clearly. You just keep going around in circles with this.”

Twilight gathered a pillow over to press her face into. “I know. I think too much, you probably find it ridiculous.”

“Oh, no, it’s a very admirable trait.”

She looked over at him. “You know, I was wondering something.”

“What?”

“Why exactly did you decide to bond with me? Sure, Rock Break died, but they probably would have given you another host once I got out of there.”

“At first I only grabbed you to keep you from zapping me because all it was doing was hurting and it didn’t help at all. But once I made that connection, I realized how powerful you were. I could sense that you were more than the unicorn you appeared to be. Plus, I knew of Blue Bell, even if she wasn’t previously allowed in that lab, and she would never be that incompetent when it comes to defibrillation.”

“Wow.”

“Anyway. I could feel the power in your body, and well, I did need a host since Rock kicked the bucket. So I did what comes naturally, and bonded to you. Spent a couple minutes just getting comfortable, tapping into your thoughts, linking into nerve endings. And then came your panicked thoughts about needing to stay disguised, and I knew just what to do.”

“Hm. Alright then. I mean, I’m glad you joined me, because I would have had some trouble getting out otherwise.”

“Highly likely.”

Twilight definitely wasn’t getting back to sleep. She rolled onto her back, watching the ceiling. “Now we just have to find the rest of your people.” She looked at the other. “Any ideas?”

The surface of his skin rippled as he thought about it, and then he said, “No more than I did when we first walked down that tunnel. All I can guess is that once they got on those wagons, they were taken to a different facility.”

Twilight got out of bed. “Then we need to see how many facilities they own and investigate them. Would you happen to know that?”

“I don’t know all of them. But my previous hosts had memories of learning about them, even visiting a few. But that building you went to is their main center, and now that it's being investigated, there's no way the patients will be taken back there. There's another place that’s more of a science museum. Public relations and whatnot. The museum is open so the common creature can get an idea of what work they do.”

Twilight considered that as she opened her notebook and jotted down some notes. “Does the science museum have any labs?”

“Don’t know. Never been. If they do it’s probably to demonstrate things like blood typing and so on for the foals to learn about.”

“It’s worth looking at. It’s in Baltimare, right?”

“I think.”

Twilight tapped on the paper as she thought about what else she knew about the center. “I think they also work at a few hospitals and universities. I wonder if any of those places would have the facilities to house the experiments.”

“It would be very risky. Blazing isn’t the type to keep his valuable property on someone else’s land. Wherever he took them, it’s somewhere he owns and has full control of.”

“I see. So the museum's our best bet?”

“Basically.”

“Okay, but school’s in today so it’ll have to be after. In the meantime, I'll write to Celestia and let her know to check out the Baltimare science museum.”

He groaned but accepted it. She hoped he wouldn’t be too bored throughout the day.

She spent the next few hours before school started relaxing and writing a brief letter to Celestia about the museum, sending it to her with the usual dragon flame spell.

Then came time for them to head out. Twilight stepped into the bathroom, and while she brushed her teeth, Venom stretched out a tendril to grab her hairbrush, smoothing down her mane. She smiled at him and leaned down to spit out the toothpaste. Venom moved to straighten out her tail, and she checked her hooves, then used a pick to gently scrape some packed-in grass and pebbles out of them.

Once groomed, she headed out.

Hungry, Venom complained as she flew across town.

Again? After that huge meal?

Fast metabolism. I had to heal you too. Food.

Twilight sighed. Good thing she left early. She made a detour to the market so she could grab something microwavable. After browsing the frozen section, she grabbed a small bag of tater tots and took those with her.

Once she paid, she continued to the school. She was still one of the first to arrive, as usual. She greeted the few early birds and made her way to her office. She wanted to check what she had to do today.

She scanned over her agenda. Nothing too big. She would be here to talk to Starlight and any students that needed to see her. She would also need to review some new lesson plans from her teachers and conduct a couple meetings with parents.

“Oh yeah, Silverstream’s parents are coming over. She’s a hippogriff,” she explained for Venom’s benefit.

“Her father’s name is Sky Beak?” Venom asked. “Hahaha, names here are so quaint! Oh, and her mother is Ocean Flow, how cute.”

Twilight shrugged. “I guess. So they pretty much just want to talk about their daughter’s progress, though they’re also interested in enrolling their son, Terramar.”

Venom picked up a quill. “Here’s something you forgot to schedule.” He found the seven AM slot and wrote in unnecessarily large letters, FEED VENOM.

“Venom,” she admonished, taking the quill. He snickered. “Look, the bag of tots is right there, the microwave is over there, go nuts.”

“You have your own microwave? Oh aren’t you special.” Venom scooped up the bag and launched himself across the room. Twilight laughed at how comical he looked with so much of his body stretched out like that. He read the instructions on the bag, then the ingredients, and said, “These are made of potatoes!”

“I know it’s not meat or anything but it’s just to hold you over. I’ll get something better for lunch.”

“Fine.” He poured them out onto a plate and tossed it in the microwave, turning it on.

Twilight went back to reading the agenda, and Venom returned to hovering at her shoulder. “Alright, what else… Oh, disciplinary hearing for one of our newer students, a dragon named Pyro. That won’t be fun. He’s coming with his parents to talk about him threatening to, well…” She pulled over the report Starlight had given her. “Torch a fellow student’s rump.”

“That doesn’t say rump.”

Twilight scanned the rest of the report. “He’s also gotten into fights with other students, despite nearly everyone around him trying to talk him down. He’s got a super short fuse. And dragons have thick hides that resist magic and physical attacks so it’s hard to stop one once they get mad.”

“Let me guess. His parents won’t be very helpful because they’re dragons.”

“Actually his fathers adopted him when his egg was abandoned by his birth parents and they’re actually very nice, you racist.”

“Whoa, slow down there, Princess. Just figured his parents would be similar to him. So shouldn’t the meeting go well if his parents are nice?”

“It’s not the first time I’ve talked to them. They’re nice, but they tend to downplay the stuff Pyro does. See, around them he mostly just acts like a moody teenager, but he listens to them for the most part and never threatens them. Then at school he’s totally different because they aren’t around. They just can’t believe he would ever fight anyone like that. But I’m going to have one of the last creatures he fought, a pony named Violet Dream, join us to tell her side of the story. She still has the wounds from his claws, we can prove he attacked her.”

“I see. Well, I hope it goes well.”

“Me too. Also, I’m going to need you to stay hidden. I take my open door policy very seriously, in that the door stays open unless conducting private meetings. Classes start soon and we’re going to start getting traffic past the area, so please hide.”

“Fine. But let me eat first.” Venom reached a tendril out, and a few moments later the microwave dinged. He grabbed the plate and pulled it over, tossing a few tots into his mouth. He paused, then beamed and crammed several more in. “Mm, Twilight, these are great!”

“They are pretty good, huh?”

He nodded, leaning his head back and pouring the tots off the plate and into his mouth, munching loudly. Twilight got a faint sensation of taste in the back of her throat, and her stomach rumbled. She grabbed a couple tots for herself, but Venom quickly finished off the rest.

“Food is so tasty here! We need to get these more often!”

“Sure, I’ll buy a bigger bag for us later. Now could you please hide?”

“Well, since you said please…”He melted back under her skin. She tossed the plate into the trash and sat behind her desk, opening a drawer to get into her snack stash.

She rifled past various candies and wrapped pastries, considering the options. Lots of sweets. Pinkie kept her well supplied. Then she picked up a chocolate muffin. It was breakfast time, after all.

She could feel Venom’s delight as she took bites from the muffin, continuing to get things organized. She wouldn’t be meeting Sky Beak and Ocean Flow for an hour, so she decided to start reading Rarity’s lesson plan, as she was the most organized and succinct of all her teachers.

In order to better demonstrate generosity, Rarity was going to teach about the importance of charity, and encourage her students to find at least one creature to help out every week. She wanted to stress that while monetary donations were fine, sometimes a kind presence and providing specifically what the person needs goes a lot further.

On top of that, Rarity was planning a volunteer event to provide toys at a local foal’s hospital and spend some time entertaining patients.

“Aw, Rarity, that’s so sweet,” Twilight said. She signed the plan and set it in her done box. She picked up the next submission. “Okay Rainbow, your next lesson on loyalty will be… Alright, when loyal to two friends but they disagree, how do you decide who to side with… that’s a good conflict to cover-”

You’re talking to yourself. Unless you’re talking to me.

“Feel free to contribute. But talking to myself helps me think.” Twilight continued reading. “Obviously you side with whoever’s cooler… ugh, Rainbow.” She shook her head, but luckily Rainbow was just joking and began listing out her actual tips for that situation.

There was also a doodle of Rainbow doing a rainboom.

Twilight made some notes on the plan, but also signed off on it. Along with attaching a sticky note with a drawing of herself sitting on a cloud, knowing how entertained Rainbow was by doodles.

A few people came by to greet her, but mostly she was left alone. She was just starting to decode Applejack’s hoofwriting when Silverstream’s parents came by for their meeting.

Twilight invited them in, closing the door behind them for privacy.

“Hey, good to see you,” she said as she returned to her desk, inviting the two to sit down. They did, and she took out Silverstream’s file. “So, you wanted to talk about Silverstream?”

“Yes, she’s graduating soon and we just wanted to discuss some things,” Sky Beak replied.

“Alright, like what?”

“Job prospects!” Ocean said excitedly.

“Oh?”

“We’ve been talking and we want to know what she can do with everything she’s learned,” Sky explained.

“I see. Well, I wouldn’t say there’s a job specifically for friendship, but it can make her very successful at any job she does choose. The lessons she’s learned here can help her with networking, for one. And being friendly can improve morale in a workplace, which is very important. Did she have any particular jobs in mind?”

“My sister Novo offered her a job as an ambassador,” Ocean said. “But we’re not so sure she’s ready for that sort of responsibility.”

“Why not?” Twilight asked. “She’s kind and understanding and great at conflict resolution. If you’re going to introduce your kingdom to anyone, she’s probably one of the best you could send.”

“Our daughter would definitely make a good first impression, but we’re worried she’ll get stressed out,” Sky replied. “She can also be easily distracted, so we were wondering if you had any ideas for a less high visibility job that would make use of her talents.”

“Honestly, in the end it’s her choice,” Twilight answered. “I know you care about her and want the best for her, but you have to let her live her life. That includes making her own mistakes. Let her be an ambassador. And if it doesn’t work out, encourage her to follow her dreams. She can use what she learned here for pretty much anything.”

“I told you she’d say that,” Sky said to his wife. “There isn’t a specific friendship job.”

“It was worth asking,” Ocean replied.

“It’d be nice if you could pay someone to just hang out with you for a few hours though,” Sky mused.

You can, they’re called hookers, Venom whispered in Twilight’s mind, and she laughed, before quickly covering her mouth and pretending to cough instead.

The others still gave her curious looks, and she said, “Just remembered a funny joke, sorry.” She cleared her throat, then said, “Maybe she could pursue a career that will let her help others? Then she could do it with a smile, which will definitely go a long way. She could be a doctor, or a nurse, or therapist, or even work at a zoo or some kind of educational center. Seriously, it’s all up to her.”

They nodded in agreement. Then Ocean said, “So, can we also sign Terramar up while we’re here? He’s really been wanting to attend.”

“No problem, let me get you the sign-up sheet. We have plenty of spots open for next year so he should be able to get one.” She led them through filling it out, answering their questions, and several minutes later was finally saying goodbye to them.

She walked to the door with them and saw them off, waving and watching them until they were out of sight. Then she left the door open and returned to her desk, sitting down and picking up Applejack’s lesson. She chatted with Venom about the hippogriffs, who found them to be very cheerful, but that sort of attitude was growing on him.

Twilight was looking forward to having a peaceful morning, as the meeting with Pyro’s parents wasn’t until the afternoon.

Then Starlight poked her head in. “Hey, can we talk?”

“Sure,” Twilight replied, not thinking much of it as she looked up at her.

Then Starlight came in and closed the door, and Twilight’s heart sank when she saw her carrying a morning newspaper from Fillydelphia. Oh boy.

18. Chat with Starlight

“So,” Starlight said conversationally as she set the paper down on Twilight’s desk.

“So,” Twilight replied.

“Notice anything interesting about this paper?”

Twilight looked down at it. “Beet prices are gonna be up this season? That kinda sucks but I’m not that into beets anyway.”

Starlight sighed. “Not the column, Twilight. The headline.”

Twilight read, “Fillydelphia massacre. Twenty-three found dead in apartment building. Aw, that’s depressing.”

“Well, they were all identified as gang members. Including the gang’s leader.”

“Oh? Well that’s not as sad.” Twilight pulled over the paper to read the article more thoroughly.

“Lots of them were missing heads. Nearly all of them had parts ripped off. Police say it looked like a huge animal mauled and then ate pieces off of them. Have any idea what sort of creature would do that? And could actually get that deep into Fillydelphia to do it without being caught?”

Twilight put the paper down. “I know why you’re bringing this up. We both know it wasn’t a wild animal. It was Venom and I. So let’s get to whatever you wanted to say about it.”

Starlight hesitated, then said, “I’m worried about you. This…” She tapped the paper. “This isn’t you. I’m worried that that thing is warping your mind.”

Venom popped out of her. “Thing?!”

“I understand your concerns, I really do,” Twilight said. “Under other circumstances, I would never do that sort of thing. But Venom gives me the power and the camouflage to fight evil without being hurt or recognized. Those gang members have been terrorizing Fillydelphia for years. I met one of them in a shop threatening the owner and ran him off, without hurting him. His gang later caught me and dragged me to their base. So I did what I had to to escape.” She looked down at the article again, which claimed one of the survivors had come forward about what had attacked them, but his claims were dismissed as panicked hallucinations, as no one else in the area saw such a thing. “They were going to torture me for interrupting their work. None of them lifted a hoof to save me. So I destroyed them.”

Starlight opened her mouth, but Venom interrupted with, “And don’t say we should have talked it out, because she tried, and she got knives in her wings for it. They didn’t want to talk. They wanted to hurt. Should have heard them. Talking about gouging her eyes out. Cutting her open. So we fought. And we won.” He settled back, growing arms just so he could cross them.

Starlight was silent for a few moments. Then she said, “I can’t fault you for fighting in self-defense. But twenty-three… twenty-three of them?!”

“They kept coming after us,” Twilight replied. “Look, these were very bad ponies. They were murderers. They’ve tortured and raped without remorse. They deserved it. And honestly, once we got going we killed most of them pretty quickly. None of them suffered. Long.”

Venom nodded in agreement.

Starlight collected the paper, reading through the article again. “I guess the police have been too afraid to go after these guys themselves… but what you did just doesn’t sit right with me. I still consider you my friend, but I can’t support this.”

“You don’t have to,” Twilight replied. “Friends don’t have to agree with each other on everything. You have your views and I respect them. All I ask is that you respect my right to choose my own views as well.”

“Of course. I just don't want you to go down a slippery slope to hurting, maybe killing everypony who slights you. Remember who you are. You're Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. You've turned countless 'bad guys' to good through your words and deeds. Remember that when you're writing somepony off as hopeless and deserving of death.”

Twilight was quiet for a bit. Then she said, “There's something I wanted to tell you yesterday, but you left before I could. About if I would have killed you if I was with Venom. And I wanted to say no, I wouldn't. I could see the good in you, could see that you just needed a friend. If I had Venom, he would have seen that too. We still would have helped you.” She reached across the desk to touch Starlight's hoof. “But I've also met creatures that I don't see good in. Who step all over others to build themselves up, who manipulate and hurt, who feel no remorse for it. And if I can remove them, well... I'm going to.”

“I see. Well... be careful, okay? Don't just immediately write ponies off as hopeless. I want you to still try getting through to them, just as you did for me, and Stygian, and countless others. As for you.” Starlight leaned across the desk, slapping one hoof down on it while she stuck the other in Venom's face. “I've got my eye on you. You better not hurt her, and you better not force her into anything she doesn't want to do. If I suspect for even a moment that you're taking advantage of her, I don't care what it takes, I will rip your squirming black carcass right out of her.”

Twilight felt a twinge of worry, but Venom didn't show it, just smoothly saying, “Whatever you say, Glim Glam.”

Starlight got up, picked up the newspaper, and headed for the door. She glanced back at them, then opened it and swept out, closing it behind her.

Twilight stared, and Venom said, “So she's a beacon of moral superiority all of a sudden? Okay then.”

“She's just worried about me,” Twilight said. “I've done a lot for her, I'm one of her best friends, she doesn't want to lose me.”

“Isn't that sweet. But she's not going to lose you. You're going to live a long, happy life, aren't you?” He curled around her, hugging her head close to himself. “We both are.”

“Of course. So uh...” Twilight pressed him back. “About her threatening you...”

“I'm not worried. But if I did ever hurt you, well, I'd deserve it. You mean so much to me, I never want to hurt you.”

“We haven't known each other that long. You really feel that way about me?”

“Yes. I'll admit, I saw you as just a tool at first, a way to escape Blazing and his tests, but. You quickly grew on me. You're different from anyone else I've ever bonded with. And I plan to never give Starlight a reason to try and take me away from you.”

Twilight's cheeks grew hot. “Oh. Wow, I um... well, since we're in each other's heads anyway, I'll be honest. I really like you too. And I don't want her trying to separate us.”

He smiled, nuzzling her.

“Though I doubt she could,” Twilight continued. “Wouldn't you have to choose to leave my body?”

“Usually, though there are a couple things that would probably encourage me to flee just to get away from them. Like if you were to be set on fire. I'm sorry but I'm probably going to run.”

“Wow.”

“Hey, I'd do everything in our power to put us out! But if we keep burning anyway I'm out of here! Also, loud, high-pitched noises. I'm not sure of the exact frequencies in your language but luckily Blazing never discovered that one. I can only imagine what he'd do to us if he did.”

“So fire and high pitches. Hm. Well, I'll try to stay away from stuff like that. But other than those sort of things driving you away, nothing could separate you from me against our will?”

“Nothing that I know of but I wouldn't be surprised if you could do it with magic, even going through your knowledge I still don't fully understand it. Oh, and another symbiote would be able to pull me out, but that's seen as rude.”

Twilight snorted and stood, crossing the room to the door. “Understandable. Okay, I'm gonna open the door, you mind?”

He hid, and she opened the door and checked the hall. No one was waiting for her, so she went back to her desk. She talked to Venom in thought while she read through and approved Applejack's lesson plan. But soon he quieted, retreating further to the back of her mind to indicate he wanted to be left to his thoughts. So she agreed and focused on her work.

It was nearly time for lunch when he finally spoke to her again.

I've got a crazy idea for how we could figure out where Blazing took the rest of the symbiotes, he said.

Oh? What's that?

Remember when we tapped into the memories of those gang members we were fighting? Here's what I'm thinking. We go talk to Blazing in the dungeons, and I shove a tendril right into his brain and drag the information out.

Oh, great idea! We can go do that after school instead of going to the museum, though if it turns out the symbiotes are there, we can head over there and get this all wrapped up!

Perfect!

Soon it was lunchtime, and Twilight met up with her friends and had lunch with them. They chose to eat in a corner of the library, a good way away from the students. They talked about what happened in Fillydelphia, with Twilight admitting she was behind all of it, to various reactions. But no one objected too strongly, especially once she explained what they were going to do to her. She also told them about her plan for finding the symbiotes, and they wished her luck.

“Seriously, when you're looking for hosts for them, I'm totally available,” Rainbow said.

Twilight chuckled. “Heh, I'll definitely let them know which of you are interested in helping them out.”

I feel like Slasher would like her, Venom whispered. He's into powerful hosts, and he'd be into Rainbow's strength and speed.

After a moment, Twilight said, “And according to Venom, one of the symbiotes might actually like bonding with you in particular.”

“Really? Awesome!”

“Ooh, what about me?” Pinkie asked happily.

Twilight consulted with Venom. She's so bubbly, so unlike many of my comrades, but I can think of one who has been frequently reprimanded for not taking things seriously and fooling around. Hysteria. She'd probably like her.

“One named Hysteria might like you,” Twilight said.

“Hysteria! Cute name, I love it!”

I'll be impressed if any of them manage to interest Riot though. He's old and serious and I've never heard him laugh. In fact he's probably going to be the most devoted to our mission. I'm not sure we'll be able to get him on our side. As soon as we free them he'll probably immediately start telling everyone to get back to the mission. Fix our ship, go home for reinforcements, and conquer the planet. Honestly, he's an ass.

Twilight mulled that over as conversation turned to plans for the second half of the day. She idly stirred her salad around, and said, But we'll try to talk to him anyway, right?

If you want. I'm just saying, don't expect to convince him. We'll probably just have to kill him. Because this? What we have going on between us, sharing your body instead of me just crushing your free will and using you for my own gain? This isn't how my team operates. I'll be seen as weak for this. He's always seen me as pathetic. Too sympathetic, too gentle. Hmph. You've seen me at work, I am not gentle.

True, you're not gentle to the bad guys. But with me? You're very gentle, she teased.

She felt mild embarrassment from the other. So I believe in treating my host well, so what? It's proven that the stronger the emotional bond between symbiote and host, the stronger they are physically. We're at our best when we work together. A miserable, controlled host will just weaken me. Besides, I like talking to you. I like hearing your voice in my mind, and feeling your happiness at what we can do together. If that makes me pathetic then fine, Riot, I'm pathetic!

Twilight chuckled. Her friends gave her confused looks, and she explained, “Sorry, just talking to Venom about something. Hey, you guys looking forward to the end of the year dance?”

Rarity and Pinkie's eyes lit up, and both of them launched into overlapping plans for the venue and what they were going to wear and how they were going to decorate. Twilight listened on in amusement, occasionally offering input but mostly just letting them talk. She couldn't wait until the end of the school year. Being headmare was a rewarding job but she was looking forward to summer break, when she'll have much more free time.

And judging from that eager swirling all down her spine, Venom was looking forward to it too.

19. The Meeting

Blazing Aura really couldn’t complain about the cell itself. Despite being in the dungeons below the Canterlot palace, it was surprisingly comfortable. He wasn’t yet a convicted criminal, after all. And Equestrians saw even criminals as worthy of basic amenities such as a bed, private (if small) bathroom, and a desk where they could write letters or read. But the floor under his hooves was still cold rock and the temperature was just high enough that he wasn’t shivering but wasn’t particularly warm either.

To say nothing of how a locked harness held a cover over his horn that completely prevented him from using magic. He hasn’t held a pen with his mouth since he was a foal!

But no matter. He could deal with this. He always knew it was a possibility, and he was going to face it with his usual confidence and charisma.

At least his charm has already won over the guards. Though they’ve heard hints of what his company was doing, they didn’t know the whole story, and so far have treated him as a minor celebrity. Well, they didn’t yank him around quite as roughly as some of the others, anyway.

He turned from his desk at the sound of hoof steps, and the guard for his section of the dungeons got his attention by tapping the bars. “Hey, Blazing, you got a visitor. A Miss Atom came to see you. Says she wants to talk to you about getting a pay raise since she’s filling your spot, haha!”

Blazing gave a humored chuckle. “Oh does she? Go ahead, bring her over.”

He went to get her, and soon the scientist was approaching the bars while the guard took a seat further away, giving them some privacy but nonetheless watching them.

“How have things been?” Blazing asked, going over to the bars.

“They’ve been better. But we’re still conducting business as usual.”

“And what of, ah, the project?”

Atom lowered her voice. “It isn’t safe to resume yet, the princesses have detectives all over the place.”

“I see. Well then, carry on like we discussed. We’ll get everything back on track soon.”

“About that. Many of the others have turned in resignations. They don’t want to work on the project.”

“Have you offered to reassign them for now?”

“Yes. A few accepted. Others still want to leave.”

Blazing frowned, beginning to pace. “Unfortunate. Very unfortunate, with what they know…”

“Indeed. So, should we begin Protocol Renegade?”

“Not yet. It would be too suspicious, considering the circumstances.”

“Understood.”

Blazing glanced around her at the guard, who was now reading a magazine, though occasionally glanced over it at them. He looked back at Atom. “Now then. I am not giving up on this project. Equestria can benefit so much from what we’re doing, and I’m not letting the Princess Ethics Committee stop me,” he said mockingly. “Some may suffer now, but we both agree it’s for the better good, right?”

Atom hesitated, then said, “Yes, sir.”

“Good. At least you still agree with me. I always could count on you. So, did you bring what I asked for?”

“Yes, but are you sure it’s safe?”

“You’ve had it the entire time, yes? Do you feel safe?”

She considered, then admitted, “Not really. Luckily it has been very quiet.”

“Alright. Now, give it to me. Quickly. Just slide one hoof through the bars.”

Atom casually shifted her weight and slid one front hoof ever so slightly between the bars. Blazing looked her in the eyes, continuing to talk to her while touching his own front hoof to hers.

“Now go ahead and get back to the center, they’ll need your guidance,” he said, feeling a warm flow of slime across his hoof, spreading up the inside of his foreleg and through his body. “And go ahead and take that pay raise. You’ve earned it.” He sensed that the transfer was done, and pulled his hoof back. “Thank you for coming.”

Atom shook herself, and nodded, turning away. “Of course. Goodbye.” She walked away, the guard getting up to lead her out.

“Goodbye!” Blazing called after her. And once he was alone, his lips curled into a smile. “And hello, new friend.”

You better have a damn good reason for me to not tear you apart.

Don’t worry, I think you’ll be very interested in what I have to say.

Twilight put on a smile as the three dragons walked into her office. “Good afternoon, Mr. Scorch and Mr. Blaze! I'm glad you could come in. Please, have a seat. You too, Pyro.”

The three sat down, the teenager already crossing his arms and scoffing.

“Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice,” Twilight said, setting out her notes.

“Of course,” Scorch said. “Now, what’s this about our son getting into a fight?”

“Well, it’s pretty much what Starlight wrote in her letter to the two of you. Pyro got into an argument between classes and lashed out at another student. She came very close to needing stitches.”

“Are you sure?” Blaze asked. “That doesn’t sound like our little Pyro at all.”

Pyro groaned.

Twilight just smiled patiently. “Very sure. In fact, the student is here today to give her testimony.” She pressed a hoof onto the intercom button. “Violet Dream, could you come to the headmare’s office? Thank you.”

Pyro began to look nervous, though when his fathers looked at him, he slouched back in his chair and put on a bored expression.

“Pyro is such a nice boy, why would he want to fight anyone?” Scorch asked. “Especially at a school where he’s been learning so much about friendship!”

“I don’t know,” Twilight replied. “Ask him that.”

How can his parents be in so much denial? Venom asked. Look at him, he just radiates guilt.

Parents never want to think of their children doing wrong. This is all too common, Twilight thought back. But we’ll prove what he did soon enough.

As if on cue, the door opened and Violet Dream walked in. She hesitated when the three dragons turned to look at her, but Twilight gestured for her to approach the desk.

“Thanks for coming, Violet,” Twilight said. “Could you tell us about your fight with Pyro?”

Violet’s ears flattened. “Oh, um, with him right there?”

“Yes, please. Don’t worry, you’re safe.”

The young mare swallowed. “Okay. Well, it was a few days ago. I was just leaving one of Fluttershy’s classes and Pyro was coming in for the next one. We bumped into each other. Which isn’t really a big deal, I said sorry but I guess he was having a bad day, because he yelled at me.”

Pyro sank into his chair, smoke curling out of his nostrils.

Violet shifted slightly, glancing at Twilight, who nodded. Violet continued, “I just apologized again and went out into the hall, wanting to just get away. But he followed me, telling me not to ignore him. I asked what he wanted. And he roared at me! Something about staying out of his way. I was shocked. I just tried to say sorry again, I didn’t know what to do, but I guess he didn’t want to hear that. Because then he kicked me. Right here.” She turned and showed them the long gashes across the back of her right hind leg. They were scabbed over but looked painful.

Blaze and Scorch gasped, and Twilight gave a solemn nod. “See the shape of the marks?” Twilight asked. “That’s not from a pony. They’re clearly from a dragon’s claws, and in the exact arrangement to indicate they’re from a foot. She was kicked. By your son.”

“Then he said he was gonna torch my ass,” Violet added, then gave Twilight a shy glance. “Pardon my language.”

“It’s alright, if that’s what he said, it’s what he said.” Twilight smiled at her. “Could you tell us a little more, please? What happened after that?”

“Well, I’ve learned a lot from Fluttershy about settling things peacefully,” Violet said. “But I’ve also been taught not to be a doormat. As soon as he kicked me, I kicked him back. It was more of a reflex, but I got him good. Knocked him into the wall, heh. Don’t think it hurt him, though.”

“As if,” Pyro said. “None of that happened, I never laid a claw on you.”

“Pyro, we’re hearing Violet’s side of the story,” Twilight said firmly. “You can tell yours once she’s done.”

“Rr.” With a growl, Pyro crossed his arms again. His tail lashed impatiently, and even his parents were starting to give him suspicious looks.

“He got right up and tackled me then,” Violet said. “I uh, don’t remember much after that. We were both screaming, he kept hitting me with his claws, here and here and here…” She indicated a few places on her body where smaller lines cut through her fur, revealing scabs and bruises. “I just kept hitting him with my forehooves, trying to get him off, blocking him from hitting my face. Then he got a hold of my mane and he was starting to pull on it when Counselor Starlight showed up and pulled us apart. She came out of nowhere, one second I’m trying to kick him off and the next we’re floating in the air with her magic around us. I was glad though, I wasn’t really winning that fight. Dragons are tough.”

“And then Starlight separated you, got your stories, and sent you home while we figured things out.” Twilight sighed and got up, pacing while she thought things over. Then she said, “Blaze, Scorch, I’m not gonna mince words. Violet’s parents are furious. They want Pyro sent back to the Dragon Lands. Despite our work here, there’s still a rampant anti-dragon sentiment in Equestria. This didn’t help matters. I know there’s so much your people can teach us, but when a dragon attacks a pony like this, word gets around. It fuels prejudice. It isn’t right, I know, but that’s what happens.” She returned to her seat, sighing. “We’ve warned Pyro about his temper multiple times. We’ve tried counseling. Tried to show him how to solve things without getting violent. But he keeps getting into fights. I don’t want to expel him, but if he’s endangering the rest of my students, he can’t stay.”

“Pyro?” Scorch asked, turning to his son. “What’s your side of the story?”

“Why bother, she’s already made me look like a total psychopath,” Pyro muttered.

“Pyro,” Scorch said firmly.

Pyro groaned and restlessly wrung his tail between his hands, then said, “I wasn’t in a good mood, okay? And she totally saw me, she looked right at me before running into me. Not my fault ponies have terrible reflexes.”

“Whether she did it intentionally or not, attacking her was uncalled for,” Twilight said. “You seriously hurt her. Please, I want to help you. What’s really going on? Is there anything I can do to help with your mood?”

“I don’t want to be here,” Pyro replied. “I like the Dragon Lands, I like how we fight to solve our problems, I like how things work back home! All this pony stuff is just… bleh.”

“But we don’t need to hurt each other to settle things,” Blaze said. “That’s what Dragon Lord Ember has been teaching us. We sent you here so you could learn more about friendship and bring it back, like that girl Smolder did. This pony stuff as you call it is important. It can bring us all together. Ponies, dragons, hippogriffs… even yaks and griffins are bonding thanks to this school! And changelings! Imagine what we can do if our whole world is united, instead of every creature keeping to themselves.”

“Exactly,” Twilight said. “Harmony between the many creatures of our world will only make us stronger. I want you to be part of that. Is there a way we could teach you that won’t stress you out? Or are you just completely unhappy here?”

Pyro was quiet for a while. Then he said, “It’d help if I could at least roughhouse some more around here, ya know? Us dragons have a lot of energy, I gotta get it out, otherwise I just get mad.”

Twilight rubbed her chin. “Roughhousing, huh… you know, Rainbow has been wanting to get some sports teams started. Would you be interested in boxing?”

“Boxing sounds awesome!”

“Boxing sounds like a great way to get some of that energy out,” Scorch agreed.

“So, think that’ll work?” Twilight questioned. “If you can work some of that energy off through sports, can I trust you to stop picking so many fights?”

“Yeah, I guess that might work.”

“Good. But I still want you to apologize to Violet.”

Pyro looked like she had just suggested he take a bite out of a lemon. He glanced at his parents, rubbed his arm, and sighed. Then he looked at Violet and said, “Look, Violet, I’m sorry. I just, ya know, back in the Dragon Lands I was never really the biggest or strongest so no one respected me, but here I am pretty strong so I keep wanting to take advantage of it. A dragon running into another dragon like that is usually trying to start a fight, so I just…” He gestured vaguely, then folded his hands in his lap and looked down. “I didn’t think. I just hit you, you hit me back, I got mad and did what comes naturally. But I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry I hurt you. And if you want to stay away from me, I don’t blame you.”

Violet frowned and stepped closer to him. She waited until he looked up, then said, “Thank you for apologizing. And I don’t want to just avoid you. I think we can be friends. You just have to control your temper.”

“Control my temper, yeah, I’ll try.” Pyro nodded, looking at Twilight. “I miss home but I get why it’s important to attend your school. I… want to try and graduate. So, can I have one more chance? Please?”

Twilight considered, and said, “Well, Mr. Blaze? Mr. Scorch? Would you like for Pyro to stay enrolled here, or do you want to take him back home?”

The two looked at each other, then placed their hands on their son’s shoulders. “We’d like for him to stay,” Blaze replied. “I know he can do it. He really is a good boy. He just… has some anger problems. I’m sorry we didn’t believe you about it before, maybe we could have done something.”

“It’s okay,” Twilight said. “You love your son, you don’t want to think that he’d do anything bad. But now that we’ve gotten to the heart of the problem, we can work with him. But Pyro? I don’t want to hear about this happening again. I still want you to go see Counselor Starlight after this. Tell her what you told us about your frustrations, and she’ll probably have some anger management advice. I want you to at least try to do what she says, okay?”

Pyro nodded. “Okay…”

“Good. I know you can do so much better. If there’s anything we can do to help, let us know. And I’ll see about starting up some school sports, alright?”

He perked. “Sounds good.”

“Good!” Twilight beamed. “Do any of you have any questions?”

They shook their heads.

“Alright, you three can head out. Violet, stay here.”

The dragons left, Pyro apologizing one more time to Violet. She just gave an awkward shrug, thanked him, and waved as he left. Once they were out of the room, she turned to Twilight. “Should I have said I forgive him, or…”

“That’s up to you,” Twilight replied. “If you have forgiven him, you can let him know. But you shouldn’t lie to make him feel better. He said sorry, and you accepted his apology. If you had said it’s okay, it might make him think it’s okay to do it again. So your wording was fine.”

Violet nodded, and said, “Do you need anything else from me?”

“I just want to make sure you’re really okay. If you want me to move your classes around so you don’t run into him, I can.”

She shook her head. “No, I’ll be okay, really. I think he wants to change. If he gets control of his temper, I think he’ll be very nice. I’ve heard dragons are naturally violent, but I don’t think that’s true. They’re just raised that way. They can be nice, if they want.”

“True, I mean my friend Spike was raised by ponies and he’s very friendly. But we still don’t know enough about dragons to know how much of their behavior is from nature and how much is from nurture. I hope it’s just cultural, and that they’ll become more peaceful. But it’ll take work. And I’m sure at least some of them are naturally aggressive and won’t, or can’t, change. But I wouldn’t worry about that. I can see the good in Pyro. He just needs a little help changing how he deals with stress, and we can help him. Well, if you’re okay with attending classes alongside him, then I’m okay with it. But let me know if he bothers you again, okay?”

“Of course. Thank you.”

“Of course. Now you should probably get back to class.”

“Yes, Headmare.” Violet checked the time and headed out, leaving the door closed behind her.

Twilight sighed once she was gone, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the desk. “Ohh sweet Celestia, that could have gone so much worse.”

Venom peeked his head out of her shoulder. “How were you expecting it to go?”

“I don't know, I guess I was expecting his parents to be in denial again, but they finally listened to me. I was even somewhat expecting Pyro to try to hit Violet or me. I'm glad that didn't happen, I really didn't want to have to get the police involved in this. But now his parents know what happened and he's gonna try and change for the better. Hopefully he can.” Twilight got up and went over to the window, glancing up toward the Sun before looking out across Ponyville. “Just a couple more hours and then we can go talk to Blazing.”

“I'm sure he'll be happy to see us.”

20. The Escape

Twilight was ready to go as soon as school let out for the day. She wrapped up her work and then checked in on Starlight to make sure there was nothing else she needed to do. Starlight had nothing for her, though she did let her know that she made a lot of progress talking to Pyro earlier.

“Glad to hear it,” Twilight replied. “I'm heading out to Canterlot to see Celestia, I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Sounds good, have a nice afternoon.”

“Haha, of course!” Twilight waved goodbye and left the school. She dropped some stuff off at home, had a quick snack (did Venom ever shut up about food?), and then headed for Canterlot. She elected to teleport to save some time, and met with Celestia once she arrived.

“Good to see you,” Celestia said. “So, you want to talk to Blazing?”

“Yes, and I’d like if you came with me.”

“Of course. Follow me.” Celestia led the way to the stairs, and as they walked, she told Twilight that she had some investigators gathering information on the Baltimare science museum right now, and she had also sent an agent ahead to do a more in-depth search of the building.

“His name is Light Touch, he’s a unicorn that specializes in stealth,” she explained. “In fact I first met him as he was sneaking into my private library. Not really to steal anything, he was just challenging himself. I was impressed, so I offered him a job.”

“Really? Wow, that’s pretty funny.”

“Indeed. He’s done excellent work for us. If the symbiotes are being kept in Baltimare, he’ll find them.”

They entered the dungeons, and a guard led them to the back, unlocking the thick metal door and opening it. They stepped into the high-security area, where a second guard greeted them.

“Good afternoon, Princesses,” he said, bowing his head. “What can I do for you?”

“We’re here to talk to Blazing Aura,” Celestia replied.

“Of course, he’s right over here.” The guard showed them to the cell and they thanked him. He returned to guarding the door and the two addressed Blazing.

“We need to talk to you,” Twilight said, tapping the bars.

The stallion just smiled at her from where he was stretched out on his bed reading a book. “What, I don’t even get a good afternoon?”

“Good afternoon,” Twilight said dryly.

“And to you as well! Always nice to get visitors. So nice of you to allow me that courtesy, even with all the accusations against me.” Blazing closed the book and walked over to the bars. “What can I do for you?”

“I want you to tell us the truth,” Twilight said. “You’re hiding the symbiotes somewhere and you need to tell us where, before we take the information by force.” She leaned in, whispering, “You know I have one of them. Venom and I won’t hesitate to do to you what we did to your security.”

“Threats, Princess?” he replied, appalled. “I’m certainly not going to tell you now. You don’t understand, these creatures can advance life as we know it. You’re ruining everything I’ve worked for!”

Twilight shook her head. “If advancement comes at the cost of torturing ponies, I want nothing to do with it.”

“That’s cute coming from somepony that slaughtered nearly two dozen gang members in pursuit of a better world.”

Twilight froze, and Celestia said, “Twilight?”

Blazing waved the day’s print of the Fillydelphia newspaper. “This has your hoofprints all over it.”

Twilight’s heart sank, even as Venom gave a very proud purr inside her mind. She couldn’t meet Celestia’s eyes. “I um… yesterday, I was in Fillydelphia and stopped a gang member from harassing a store clerk. The gang ended up catching me and were going to hurt me, so I… attacked them. Venom and I did. And we lost control.”

Celestia frowned, and gently stroked between Twilight’s withers. “I won’t say I’m happy about you killing so many ponies, but I know you, and I know you only would have done it if you thought you had to. I’m not mad at you. We can talk about it later, but right now let’s focus on the matter at hoof.”

Twilight nodded. “Right.” She looked at Blazing. “Talk. Tell us where the symbiotes are.”

He just stared at her. “No.”

“She’s not bluffing, she will use force if she needs to,” Celestia said sternly. “She has my permission.”

Blazing shook his head. There was something unsettling in his eyes. Twilight ignored the chill it sent down her spine and called the guard over.

“Could you step out for a few minutes, please?”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “He’s a high-security prisoner.”

“We’re sure,” Twilight replied. “Just keep an ear out, we’ll call you if we need you.”

He nodded and headed out.

Once they were alone with Blazing, Twilight turned back to the bars. “Alright. We warned you.” She silently asked Venom to do what he needed to.

Finally, something interesting. He waited for Twilight to seize Blazing with her magic and pull him closer to the bars, then shot a tendril out and into Blazing’s forehead.

Blazing jerked, squeezing his eyes shut.

Twilight tried to see what Venom did, but there was only dark silence in Blazing's mind. He was puzzled for a moment, then quickly grew alarmed as a familiar sensation swirled around where he had connected.

Venom yanked himself away, and before Twilight even had time to ask him what that was, a silvery mass exploded from Blazing’s body and slammed into them. They grunted, flying across the room before managing to reach tendrils out and stop themselves, inches from hitting the wall.

Venom lowered Twilight to the ground, and she stared at Blazing’s cell, seeing what seemed to be a silver liquid flowing along his body. But the way it moved was all too familiar. It was deliberate, living, aware.

“You recognized me, didn’t you?” Blazing asked. It was still his voice, but it seemed distorted somehow. Deeper, as alien flesh surrounded his throat. He smirked. “Venom.”

Venom manifested his head and neck, staring at the other. Trepidation flowed through his link to Twilight, making her nervously scuff at the floor with a hoof. “Riot,” Venom replied.

Twilight returned to the cell, on edge now. Celestia trained her horn on Blazing, a bright aura surrounding it as she stared him down. “Stand down,” she ordered.

Blazing sighed with irritation, and Riot pushed his head out of his body. He looked similar to Venom, but his eyes were sharper, his features more rugged. It was hard to pinpoint how she knew, but Twilight could just see how much older he was.

“Shut up,” Riot growled at her, and he whipped a tentacle through the bars. It moved lightning-fast, striking Celestia across the head before she could react. She immediately dropped, and Twilight gasped when she realized it had knocked her unconscious.

She rounded on Riot and fired a blast of magic at him. A shield of flesh slid in front of him, harmlessly absorbing it.

Riot lowered the shield. “So this is what has become of you, Venom,” he said, voice dripping with derision. “Helping these pathetic little equines. You always were weak. Too emotional, too sympathetic to lesser races. I should have known you’d betray me the second one of these creatures showed you kindness.”

“Kindness is not weak,” Venom growled back. “I’m stronger thanks to my bond with Twilight!”

“Bullshit!” Riot pounded the bars, making them bow out slightly. “Stop with this nonsense! You are going to let me out of here, and you are going to do your job and continue our invasion plans!”

“No,” Venom replied, Twilight echoing him.

Riot snarled, covering Blazing entirely and lifting them up high. Riot’s form was incredibly muscular, and he formed claws over his forehooves, ripping the cover from Blazing’s horn and charging it with magic.

Venom covered Twilight in a second and dove aside, the energy glancing past them. They turned back to the cell in time to see Riot grab two bars and pull them apart. The metal groaned, scraping the rock where it connected, before snapping free.

Riot tossed the metal down and shoved through the gap, stepping toward them.

They gulped, and Twilight asked, We can beat him, right?

She saw brief flashes of Venom’s memories of Riot, information about the other’s strength and age, then Venom replied, Unlikely. He has got shit you wouldn’t believe.

What does that mean?

Riot reared onto his hind legs, towering over them and holding out his forelegs as they transformed into huge, double-edged axes.

Venom’s ears flattened. Like that.

Riot flung one of the axes at them. They leaped out of the way. He swung the other, and they rolled aside.

“Come on, we know you can hit harder than that!” Venom shouted.

What are you doing? Venom asked Twilight in thought.

Her response came in the form of an image, and their mouth curled into a smile as Venom understood.

They taunted Riot, dodging his attacks. Though Riot was strong, Venom was faster. They led him around the room, jumping away from each of his swings, making him put more and more force into it as he tried to land a hit. Finally he swung so hard that one of his axes stuck firmly into the rock and he wasn't able to immediately retrieve it. He paused, struggling with it for a moment. Only a moment, but it was the opening Venom needed. They launched forward, slamming their horn into him and pinning him to the wall. He cried out in pain, and the room rattled from the force of the impact.

The door opened and the guard from earlier looked in. “Princesses, are you- what the?!”

Venom spun to look at him, seeing him raise his spear. Venom pulled part of his face out of the way so Twilight’s was visible.

“Guard, Celestia is hurt!” Twilight shouted, pointing at her. “Don’t worry about me, get her to safety! Quickly!”

The guard was very confused and concerned, but he listened, sprinting in and lifting Celestia onto his back.

Riot tried to grab him, but Venom tackled him, ramming him against the wall again. Riot punched them, and they rolled across the floor, both growling and swinging at each other. Venom grew out long claws to grapple with the other, and Riot responded with his own dagger-like claws.

As they wrestled, Twilight tried to reason with him. “Riot, please! You don’t need to invade Equestria! We can be friends, just stop this!”

“I don’t need friends!” Riot roared. “What I need are all your useful little bodies as our hosts!”

“And some of us would let you! But we deserve the right to choose whether or not we're hosts, not just be forced into it!”

“Too bad!” Riot punched them in the mouth. They jerked back, and he grasped their jaws, tugging them open as though trying to snap them apart.

Pain flooded their skull and Venom struggled, wings flapping and claws scrambling for purchase. Then they got their back hooves up against Riot’s chest and kicked as hard as they could.

It threw him back, and they rubbed their jaw as they stood.

Riot growled, but then paused, as Blazing took just enough control to address him out loud. “Wait, I thought we had a deal! You would work with us, help us with our research and we would share control!”

“I lied,” Riot said bluntly. “You creatures are so trusting, it’s disgusting. You’re so stupid you deserve to be our slaves.”

“Well I won’t release your fellow symbiotes unless you follow my terms.”

“It doesn’t matter what you want! I know exactly where you took us, I'll release them myself!” Riot seized control back, and Venom watched his body shudder as the two mentally fought, but it was only seconds before Riot was advancing on them again.

His will is strong, Venom said to Twilight. He can make Blazing do whatever he wants. We need to take him down.

“Venom!” Riot shouted. “I will tell you one more time! Get over here and help me conquer this miserable ball of dirt or I’ll kill you!”

Venom just lowered their head, pounding a hoof against the ground. “Fuck you,” they replied with a savage grin.

With a fearsome snarl, Riot charged toward them. Venom waited until he was right in front of them, then uncovered Twilight’s horn, so she could safely blast him with an intense fire spell.

Riot immediately reeled backward, tripping over himself in his haste to get away. The flames rolled across his back, making his skin bubble and peel away from Blazing’s, and he screamed in pain.

Venom chased after him, hitting him again. He swung a foreleg around, knocking them over, and hurled himself at the door. He had it torn off the hinges and was galloping toward the exit by the time they got up. They followed, launching fireballs at him as they tried to slow him down. He dodged most of them, though the ones that did hit had him shouting angrily and stumbling. He slashed at the guards who tried to stop him, throwing them aside, but he was in too much of a hurry to kill any of them.

Venom ran faster, horn lighting as they attempted to grab him, but his own magic surged through his body and threw off the spell. They tried lunging at his ankles instead, but he slipped through their claws and kept going. As soon as Riot reached ground level, he turned and slammed into the wall, tearing it down and taking off through the streets of Canterlot. Ponies cried out in alarm and dove out of his way, and Venom began hesitating, as Twilight’s reluctance to shoot magic in the crowd distracted him.

Riot immediately picked up on their hesitation and spun around, scoffing at them. “You’ve grown soft, Venom. And do you know what I do to Klyntar who grow soft?” He reached out a clawed hoof and grabbed the nearest pony, yanking her over.

Venom’s eyes widened as the unicorn mare struggled, screaming for help.

“I rip them apart,” Riot continued, opening his maw wide over the mare’s head.

Twilight took control, bounding forward. “Wait!” She had Venom pull back from her head, so she could plead with her own voice. “Riot, please, don’t! Let her go!”

“See how weak this kindness makes you?” Riot replied. “You have me on the run, injured, and yet you stop and beg for me to let this one, insignificant waste of flesh go.”

“Just put her down, and you can go,” Twilight said, slowly walking toward him.

Venom snapped, “What are you doing? We can’t just let him go-”

“If you don’t, I’ll kill her!” Riot threatened, giving the mare a vicious shake. She struggled, pounding at his hoof with her own, but he didn’t let go.

Twilight’s ears drooped. She swallowed, and despite Venom yelling no in her ear, she said, “Okay.” She stepped back, all of Venom’s skin receding from her body as she gave up. “Go.” We can catch him later, we just need to let him get out of Canterlot so he doesn’t hurt anypony.

What! Why the fuck would we... I thought you were smart, but this is probably the stupidest thing you’ve done since I-

Riot opened his mouth again, cramming the mare right inside and snapping his jaws shut with a sickening crunch.

Twilight screamed and scrambled backward, and several of the other ponies panicked and ran. She stared with horror at the other, who just snarled at her, blood dripping from between his teeth. “Weak,” he repeated, before spinning and running away.

Twilight was too shocked to move. All the noise around her faded into a drone as she just stared at his rapidly shrinking form. Even Venom yelling at her couldn’t move her from her spot. Her breathing grew ragged, her vision swirling.

Venom’s tone went from furious to concerned. “Twilight?”

She blinked. Took a numb step forward… and then blacked out.

21. Sorrow

Twilight woke up feeling nauseous. She lifted her head, trying to figure out her surroundings. She was laying on a bed in a well-furnished room, and she recognized the architecture immediately. She was back in Canterlot Castle.

Then Venom’s face was in front of her, his warm hands cradling her cheeks and drawing her closer. “Finally, you’re awake. I was beginning to worry.”

“Um, how long was I asleep?”

“Thirty minutes. But it felt much longer than that.” He moved aside, and Twilight realized Celestia was also in the room. She stepped up to the bed.

“I’m glad you’re awake,” Celestia said. “Some of my guards brought you in, they said you passed out in the street. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just… what about you? Riot hit you pretty hard.”

Celestia rubbed her temple. “I’m sore, and a little woozy, but I’ll be okay. It's strange, the doctor who looked at me said I had no significant head trauma so he wasn't sure why I lost consciousness. I think perhaps Riot did it by connecting to me for that brief moment... but never mind that. I want to know what happened after that. Where's Riot, did you…”

Twilight’s eyes filled with tears as she remembered what happened, and she turned and threw herself face-first into a pillow, crying.

Celestia stared at her, then gently rubbed her shoulder. “Twilight?” she asked softly. “What is it?”

Twilight just shook her head, chest aching so bad she felt sick. She could still see the fear on that mare’s face, the horror as Riot closed his mouth over her… and she could still hear the crunching of bones, like firecrackers in her ears.

Venom protectively wrapped himself around her, and she pressed her face to his body, but she still couldn’t speak. So he addressed Celestia instead.

“After you were knocked out, Riot broke out of his cell and we fought,” Venom explained. “We did what we could but he’s very old and thus very strong. Much stronger than us. But we managed to hurt him. We got him on the run, and we left the dungeons. He got outside and took a random pony hostage. Twilight… our compassion made us hesitate. It was mostly her though. She didn’t want us to attack with so many other ponies around, and she didn’t want Riot to hurt an innocent bystander. So we let him go, planning to go after him once he’s away from the city. But then… He killed the hostage anyway. Ate her right in front of everyone. The shock and distress overwhelmed Twilight’s system, and she passed out. I couldn’t do a thing to keep her awake. So I hid until we were brought here, and have been trying to wake her since.”

Tears rolled down Celestia’s cheeks. “Riot killed one of my citizens?”

Venom gave a solemn nod.

Twilight jerked her head up at the heartbreak in Celestia’s voice. “I’m so sorry!” she cried. “I should have stopped him faster, it’s all my fault, if I hadn’t hesitated maybe I could have taken him down and she wouldn’t have died such a horrible death! I’m a horrible princess and I don’t deserve my title!”

“Twilight, relax, you did what you could,” Celestia said, but Twilight shook her head.

“No, it’s my fault, I said Blazing could get visitors and that must be how he was able to get Riot, somepony brought him to him, if we had just locked him up tighter none of this would have happened! Or if I… if Venom and I had just fought a little harder…”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, you tried to stop him. We’ll find him, and we’ll make sure he pays for what he’s done.” Celestia stood, trotting to the door and calling one of her captains over.

While she gave him orders to send a detachment after Riot, Venom kept trying to comfort Twilight.

“I know you’re upset, I am too,” he said, rubbing her back. She shifted, leaning more into his embrace, and looked up at him. The glistening of tears in her eyes made him frown, a very similar pain to her own radiating through him. It had happened subtly yet quickly, how he had grown to care so deeply for her. He wasn’t just feeling her pain, knowing she was upset was causing its own agony. He’s never felt this way for a host before. He didn’t even know what to call it. But it was comfortable despite how much it hurt. He liked sharing such an intimate emotional connection with her.

And judging from her expression, she was hearing those thoughts, and she cared just as much. He continued, “We’ll get through this. We’ll track down Riot, destroy him, and avenge that mare. It’ll be okay.”

She sniffed and laid her head back down. “Even if we stop Riot… we can’t undo what happened. I’m not sure I can ever forgive myself for that.”

Venom sighed and just stroked behind her ears, hugging her close.

Celestia came back into the room. “I just sent a detachment of my best royal guards after Riot, and I made sure they know to use fire against him.” She sat next to the bed, opening a length of parchment. “I’ll inform Cadance of this as well.” She looked at how Twilight was glumly curled up in Venom’s arms, head down and eyes distant. She sighed sadly, and said, “I’ll also ask her to send Shining Armor over. I think you could use his company right now.”

Twilight didn’t answer, but her ears moved forward for a moment.

Celestia stayed with her, only stepping out briefly to answer questions from guards and other employees of the castle, and to tell Luna what happened. Luna snapped her teeth in anger when Celestia told her about the pony who died, and took off running down the hall.

“Where are you going?” Celestia called after her.

“I’m going to find that monster, and I’m going to end him,” Luna growled, pushing open a door that led to a balcony.

“Sister, wait!” Celestia ran up to her. “I know you want revenge, but I need you here. I've already sent guards after Riot and Twilight and I will likely search for him as well. For now...” She sighed, looking away. “Somepony needs to go inform the family of Riot's victim what happened.”

Luna slowly closed the door, ears laying back. “I see. Well, I have made those sorts of visits before... I'll take care of it.” She touched Celestia's shoulder. “What was her name?”

“Honey Dew.” Celestia told her where Honey's family could be found, and Luna nodded and headed out.

Then she returned to the bedroom, where Venom had gotten Twilight to sit up, but she still felt too miserable to climb out of bed.

“I just keep thinking about everything we could have done different,” she said.

“I know how you feel,” Celestia said. “Every time tragedy strikes, I blame myself. I spend days wondering what I could have done, how I could have stopped it. How I could protect my ponies. But those thoughts don’t help anypony. I can’t change the past. We just have to move forward, focus on what we can do now.”

“I know I need to move on, it’s just… I can’t stop thinking about it. I don’t even know that mare’s name, but her face is burned into my mind. I see her, I hear her. She was right there, I could have saved her… but I didn’t. I couldn’t. Maybe Riot’s right, maybe I am weak.”

“You’re not weak,” Venom said firmly. “And we’ll prove that to him the next time we meet.”

Celestia agreed and leaned in to pull Twilight into a hug.

They lingered in it for a while, fresh tears streaming down Twilight’s face, and it made Celestia cry too. She couldn’t stand seeing her friend in so much pain. Riot needed to be taken down. Celestia was almost always willing to give creatures like him a second chance, but Riot crossed a line few beings have. He was beyond forgiveness. If Twilight and Venom didn’t kill him, she would.

The three were still holding each other when someone knocked on the door. Twilight sniffed and nudged Venom, and he slinked out of sight while Celestia went to open the door.

A familiar stallion poked his head in. “Hey, is Twilight in here?”

Celestia nodded. “She is. Please, come in.” She stood aside, and Shining Armor walked in.

He beamed at Twilight, rushing over to hug her. “Twily, there you are! So good to see you again!”

She couldn’t help but smile at her brother’s affection, wrapping a foreleg around him. “It’s good to see you too.”

Venom poked his head back up. “Yes! Finally, she’s smiling again!”

Shining scrambled backward. “What the heck is that thing?!” he demanded.

Venom narrowed his eyes, and Twilight draped a hoof over him. “Shining, this is Venom. Venom, Shining Armor.”

“Venom,” Shining stated. Venom nodded. Shining crept closer. “So it’s…” He cautiously lifted a hoof toward the other. “What are you?”

“I’m a member of a race called the Klyntar, from a planet far away from here,” Venom replied, reaching an arm out. He formed a hand to shake Shining's hoof with. “Your kind has called us symbiotes.”

“Symbiotes.” Shining examined him, utterly befuddled.

“He’s in a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with me,” Twilight explained. “He can’t survive on our planet by himself, so he’s bonded with my body so he can stay alive. In return for me keeping him alive, he gives me enhanced reflexes and strengths, and keeps me healthy.”

“Wow. That’s really weird. So, you’ve got an alien in your body?”

“Yeah. And before you ask, he’s not hurting me. He cares about me, we’ve grown very close.”

“How did you even meet him? And what happened today? There’s a lot you haven’t told me.”

“I’m sorry.” Twilight told him everything. About her first trip to the Life Aura Center. Bonding with Venom. How they fought their way out, and how they later grew to like each other, learning from each other.

Venom didn’t speak much, just letting Twilight explain everything, though he sometimes provided her with a memory to help her with the details.

Then Twilight got to her story about fighting Riot and broke down. Shining’s eyes widened in concern as she started crying, and he wrapped her into a tight hug. Through sobs, she told him about Riot getting away, after eating an innocent pony who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, nuzzling her. “You’ve been through so much… and I’m sorry you had to see that. Riot sounds like an awful creature.”

“He is, I should have taken him down while we were still in the dungeons, but he was just so strong and I let him get away.” Twilight leaned back, wiping her eyes off. “But we’re going to stop him. We’re going to make him suffer.”

“Whoa, calm down.” Shining grasped her shoulders. “That’s not like you. Suffer?”

Twilight sighed. “I’m sorry. Ever since I bonded with Venom, I’ve been more violent. More merciless toward those who hurt others. I… really want to make Riot regret what he’s done. And so does Venom.”

“I need to pay him back for being such a shitty boss anyway,” Venom muttered.

Shining glanced at him, then looked back at Twilight. “I understand, you’re upset. But don’t lose sight of who you are. Think about how much you care for your fellow ponies. Think of how many bad guys you’ve turned to good. Don’t let hate consume you. I don’t want it to turn you into something you aren’t.”

“Riot needs to go down,” Twilight replied. “Painfully or not, I am not letting him live. He doesn’t care about others. He just wants to bring more of his people here and have them enslave us. He wants to use us to become stronger. I won’t let him. He will die, one way or another.”

Shining frowned but didn’t argue. “Just don’t lose control. I don’t want you turning into a monster. You're better than that.” He gently booped her nose. “But no matter what, I’ll always love you, lil sis.”

“And I’ll always love you too,” she replied, smiling. It felt wrong to smile after what happened, but she told herself she needed to feel this. She couldn’t let herself drown in the sorrow. There was still work to be done.

“And you,” Shining said sternly to Venom, who stared at him. Shining hesitated when those alien eyes stared into his, but gathered his resolve and said, “Just how close are the two of you?”

Venom slid tendrils all around Twilight’s body. “So close we might as well be one organism. Why?”

“You like her?”

“Of course I like her, she cares about me like no one ever has before. For fuck’s sake, I betrayed my leader for her.”

“Then you better behave around her,” Shining growled. “She’s my LSBFF, little sister best friend forever, and if you do anything to hurt her, I’ll hurt you tenfold.”

Venom was taken aback by just how harsh his tone grew, and said to Twilight, “What is it about you that makes ponies so protective?”

Twilight just smiled. “That’s what happens when you love someone. You’ll do anything for them, even fight for them.”

“Hm.” Venom thought about that, then looked at Shining. “I will never hurt her. You have my word. I care about her, I only want to protect her, as she has protected me.”

“Good.”

Someone knocked on the door, and Celestia went to get it. She was met with the guard who had been down in the dungeons, who was flanked by two higher-ranking guards.

“Princess Celestia, we were going through a post-incident briefing with Lt Valiant here when he gave us some information you might find useful,” one of them said.

“Oh? What is it, Valiant?” Celestia asked.

He nervously shuffled his hooves, but stood at attention when his superior gave him a sharp glare. “Ma’am, a few hours before you and Princess Twilight came down to visit Blazing, he had a visitor. An employee of his company who has been in charge during his absence. She called herself Miss Atom.”

That got Twilight’s attention. She finally jumped down from the bed. “Miss Atom? I know her, she definitely works for Blazing. Did you see her carrying anything in?”

“No, Princess,” Valiant replied. “It was just her.”

“She must have hosted Riot and then transferred him to Blazing during their meeting,” Celestia said.

Twilight nodded. “Right. We need to go talk to her. Find out what she knows.”

“We’ve already searched for her, our records turned up a unicorn mare matching her description who lives alone in Manehattan.” He handed over an address. “Full name is Selenium Atom.”

“No wonder she just goes by Atom,” Twilight commented. “Okay then. We’re going to Manehattan.”

Celestia nodded in agreement. “Right. We need to talk to her as quickly as possible. The longer we wait, the further away Riot gets.” She thanked the guards for their work and sent them away, with orders to contact the guard squadron in Manehattan and send a detail ahead to Atom’s house.

“Do you think she’s home?” Twilight asked while Celestia checked the address.

“Assuming she works a day shift at Blazing's lab, she should be by now,” Celestia replied. “If not we’ll wait for her. Are you ready to go, or do you need more time to recover?”

“I’m ready,” Twilight replied.

“Are you sure? You've already been through so much, if you need some time I can go by myself.”

“No, I can go,” Twilight insisted. “I need to be there, I... we need to destroy Riot.”

“I want to see him broken at our hooves,” Venom growled.

Celestia nodded and said, “Shining, do you want to come?”

Shining agreed without hesitation. “Of course.”

“Alright then. Let’s go.”

Twilight asked Venom to hide, then stood next to Celestia, while Shining took her other side. Celestia spread her wings over them and closed her eyes, teleporting them all to Manehattan.

22. Battle

In a flash of magic, Celestia and her group arrived at the Royal Guard station in Manehattan.

“Good evening,” the squad leader, Captain Archer, greeted them. “We received your orders and have already sent a few guards ahead to the address.”

“Thank you,” Celestia replied. “Is it far from here?”

“No ma'am, in fact it's quite close. Would you like me to show you to it?”

“We would appreciate that, thank you,” Celestia replied, following him out.

The group walked briskly, not quite fast enough to look suspicious but still moving with a sense of urgency. It only took a few minutes for them to get to Atom's house, and she was already outside, with guards surrounding her and anxiety clear on her face. She tried to put on a neutral expression when she saw Celestia, but didn’t succeed, instead looking like she was grimacing in pain.

“Relax,” Celestia said once she was close enough. “We just have some questions for you.”

“This is a lot of guards for just some questions,” Atom replied.

“Just a precaution,” Celestia said. “Now then. You visited Blazing Aura in the Canterlot dungeons earlier today, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did.”

“And during that time, did you bring him one of the symbiotes the Life Aura Center has been experimenting with?”

Atom started to answer, paused, and shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Twilight stepped forward. “Yes you do. You know exactly what we’re talking about, because you were right there when I met Venom!” Venom extended out of her shoulder, giving Atom a toothy smile. “Remember him?”

“You…” Atom stared. “So you’re the one who disguised yourself as Blue Bell!”

“Yep. Now, talk. We know Blazing has the symbiote named Riot, because they just broke out of the dungeons and escaped, after hurting several guards and killing a civilian out in Canterlot!”

Atom froze. “He… he did what? Oh, no…” She sighed, adjusting her glasses. “I knew it was dangerous. I knew he wouldn’t be able to handle the symbiote…”

“Tell us what you know,” Celestia said, firmly though not unkindly.

The other was quiet for a bit. Then she said, “It was always a backup plan. If we were found out and he was arrested, he always planned for me to bring him the leader of the symbiotes so he could escape. But I never actually let the creature bond with me until today. And everything about it felt wrong. Riot is… very cruel, and very reluctant to let hosts have control. It took a lot of pleading for me to keep him quiet. I told him that I needed to take him to Blazing, who had a deal for him. I promised he would be freed very soon, along with the rest of his troops. He agreed. But I could feel his hatred during the entire trip. He finds us disgusting. He wants to wipe out everything beautiful about our planet and rebuild it after his own planet. I can only imagine what he did once he bonded to Blazing.”

“He has no intention of doing what Blazing wants,” Twilight replied. “He’s going to resume the invasion. Please, we need to know where all the other symbiotes are. We have to free them. And we have to stop Riot.”

Atom lightly kicked at the ground, staring down. Then she said, “I’ve… said too much already, I’ll probably be killed for this.”

“We’ll protect you,” Shining assured her. “Just tell us what we need to know.”

Atom looked up. She was silent for a bit, but finally said, “They’ve all been moved to the Baltimare science museum.”

“So we were right!” Twilight exclaimed. “Celestia sent an agent there, he should be finding them any moment now, if he hasn’t already!”

“Light Touch?” Atom questioned, and Twilight’s blood ran cold. “They already captured him. He’s good, but security has been on high alert. He was caught sneaking into an employees only area, tried to use an invisibility spell but the museum has defenses against that.” She rubbed her chin. “Probably experimenting on him by now.”

Twilight spun toward Celestia. “We need to get to Baltimare.”

“Blazing will probably be heading back there with Riot, it’s where we’re keeping the ship we recovered from the symbiotes,” Atom said.

“Then we’re going to Baltimare. Guards, take her somewhere she’ll be safe,” Twilight ordered. “Thank you so much, Atom.”

She nodded. “You’re welcome. But can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“If you can, please spare Blazing. I just know this project has corrupted him. Right from the start, since that first time Riot got hold of him, he’s been off. He’s so focused on the future that he doesn’t care how many ponies he hurts in the present. And now that Riot is controlling him, who knows what could happen to his mind?” Atom gave Venom a pointed look. “You would know. Your kind can absolutely break a creature mentally, can’t you?”

“If we want,” Venom replied. “I personally wouldn’t do it. But Riot has probably already beaten Blazing down. It’s how he always treats his hosts.”

“Well, if you can save Blazing, please do,” Atom said. “I… I really care about him, I know he never wanted to take things this far.”

“If we spare him, he’ll still be arrested, and put on trial like any other criminal,” Celestia said.

“I understand. Just don’t kill him.”

“We’ll try not to.” Twilight turned away. “Let’s not waste anymore time.” She couldn’t wait to get all this over with. She felt like she could sleep for a week. Leaving Atom to the guards, she joined Celestia and Shining for one more quick teleportation.

They landed right in front of the museum in Baltimare, and huddled up for a quick discussion of what they were going to do.

“I’ll gather up all their security, hopefully enough of them are loyal to Equestria and not Blazing,” Shining said. “Either way, I’ll keep the guards from interfering.”

“Sounds good, Celestia and I will head in and find Riot,” Twilight said. “We’re going to take him down first, get him out of the way, and then save the symbiotes. Shining, if things go sideways, get all the customers out. It’s getting kinda late so I’m sure they’ll be leaving soon anyway, but still, watch out for them. I don’t want them getting hurt.”

“Got it,” Shining replied.

They split up, Shining running toward the nearest security guard while Celestia and Twilight went inside. They broke into gallops, and the employee at the ticket counter started to get in front of them, before apparently thinking better of it and getting out of their way. They ran past and slid to a stop in the main room. There were staircases to their left and right going up three levels, with walkways crossing the room. Exhibits and displays were everywhere, many of them interactive.

A few more steps forward and they saw that the ground floor only went halfway across the building. After that it opened out to show a huge display of various viruses and bacteria hung over the level below them. A long walkway connected to the far wall, where a door led out to a balcony.

“This place is huge, where do you think their labs would be?” Twilight asked.

“Probably away from the customers,” Celestia replied, going over to the walkway and looking over the rail. “There aren’t as many exhibits down there, but they seem to have labs with big windows where customers can watch them work.”

“I bet that’s all for show, and their actual labs are in the employees only areas Light Touch was trying to get to.” Twilight started for the stairs.

They were just starting down them when a familiar orange stallion marched up toward them.

“You just don’t know when to quit, do you?” Blazing demanded. His eyes were crazed, hair all frazzled. “If you don’t get out of our way, we will destroy you!”

“You need to stop this,” Twilight said. “Riot is messing with your head. Remember how much you wanted to help ponies? This isn’t-”

“This will help ponies!” Blazing yelled. “Don’t you see? This is the next step in pony evolution! Riot has shown me the possibilities! Our race can bond with his and make both of us powerful beyond our wildest dreams! We can expand out into the universe! We can do anything!”

“But at what cost? You’ll be enslaving ponies! This will only lead to war, you know Equestria won’t just stand by and let it happen-”

“Bah, we’re no strangers to war! We’ve taken over many planets, and this one is nothing compared to them!” Blazing advanced on them, eyes glazing over as Riot’s influence overwhelmed him. “Slavery is a small price to pay for long lives and perfect health! Now get out! We have a ship to fix and a war to start!” He turned around, and Twilight growled.

Venom wrapped around her, and they charged forward, planting a front hoof into Blazing’s side and hurling him out over the stairs. He threw out his hooves to break his fall, but all his legs buckled with audible snaps when he hit down, then he was rolling the rest of the way to the floor.

Venom took a few cautious steps down, watching him. He was still for a moment, then snarled and rolled onto his back. His legs were broken, bones sticking out of the skin and blood pouring out. But as they watched, they straightened out, silver flesh sliding across them.

“Have it your way.” Riot finished covering Blazing, then jumped up, no worse for wear. “But this time, we’re finishing this.” He sprung up, clearing the stairs in a single jump. Venom met him head on, and they tumbled over each other, both roaring and tearing at each other with teeth and claws.

Celestia flew around them, shooting at Riot with her magic every time she got a clear shot, but he was soon lashing back at her with his tendrils. When she showed herself capable of dodging them, he squared his shoulders and then launched a volley of razor-sharp spines toward her. She gasped and twisted out of the way in a steep dive, but several of them still got her in the wings and back legs. She shot at him one more time, knocking him forward, allowing Venom to grab him and slam him through one of the exhibits. It contained several glass objects that fractured and embedded in his skin, making him roar. Celestia glanced at her bleeding legs and dove down toward the lower level, disappearing from sight.

Venom wondered what she was doing for a moment, then focused on Riot as he separated from the exhibit and went for their throat. They gouged their horn into one of his eyes in response, making him howl with pain, and kicked him into one of the railings. It crumpled like tissue under his weight, sending him plummeting over the edge.

Twilight found herself wishing she had had time to develop a better plan than just attacking with brute force, maybe come up with a sound-based spell that Riot wouldn't be able to block, but she supposed fire magic would work for now. She let her thoughts mingle with Venom's again, preparing to jump down, but Riot wasn't as stunned as they thought he would be. A huge hoof shot up, grabbing onto the floor, and several more tendrils joined it, pulling Riot back up to their level. Their fight continued, and the museum guests quickly ran for the exit, being corralled by Shining and several security members. Venom had to grab Riot's wrists several times to keep him from attacking the civilians, and once Shining shouted that the upper floors were empty, Venom grabbed Riot and flung him through the ceiling and onto the second floor.

Riot scrambled backward, and Venom leaped up through the hole, stalking toward him.

“You have a strong host,” Riot admitted, still slowly backing up, until he was on one of the walkways, at which point he ran into a rail and had to stop.

“A strong host... and a stronger relationship,” Venom replied. Their tail lashed with barely contained fury, and they began showing their teeth, saliva dripping down. Magic flowed along their horn as they prepared to attack again, this time to kill.

“But not strong enough,” Riot said. He charged at them, slamming them roughly to the floor and using his teeth to tear at their face, ripping out slivers of skin that Venom had to quickly yank back into place. They fought back, but the attack distracted them enough for him to cover their horn with a massive hoof, claws curling out of it and locking their head in a vice grip.

Fear shot through them, and though they writhed and kicked at Riot, he still managed to sink his claws deep into their skin, then gripped the back of their neck and pulled his claws in opposite directions.

They screamed, clawing wildly at him, but he just grunted and took it, continuing to pull them apart. Venom immediately knew what he was trying to do, and clung as tightly to their body as they could, but to no avail.

With a sudden tearing sensation, Twilight found herself yanked entirely away from the other. Riot threw her to the ground, and she looked up, heart beating hard as she saw him holding a large, black mass of skin.

“Venom,” she whispered. She had never realized just how comforting his presence had been until now. When they were together, she had spent most of her time feeling warm, confident, capable of anything. Even after her earlier fight with Riot, when she was lost in despair, he was an anchor she could hold to. But now he was gone, and she felt cold and alone. It was even worse than when he had briefly left her to show the princesses he meant no harm. That wasn't even that long ago...

Riot smirked at her. “Not so tough without him, are you?” He carelessly tossed Venom over the rail and walked toward her.

Twilight's breath caught, terror stabbing at her as she wondered if the fall would kill him, but she made herself focus on Riot, narrowing her eyes. Fine. She could do this on her own. She stood, bracing herself and firing a beam of pure fire magic at him, focusing it until it was practically a laser stabbing through his body.

He howled as it cut a gash through him, his skin boiling around it. Several extensions shot from his body and arced toward her, and her stomach dropped like lead when she realized just how much Venom had improved her reflexes. With him, she could track speeds like that... and now, she couldn't.

She opened her wings and flapped hard, throwing herself backward and up. He stood high on his hind legs, forming a foreleg into a huge whip and slapping her out of the air. She cried out as it drove her into the floor hard enough to crack it.

Pain raced from her skull down her back and she winced, staring at the other through blurry vision. She wasn't giving up that easily. She shot at him again, but though the magic could cut through him, he was so large it wasn't doing enough damage to stop him. She widened the beam back out into flames, which made him reflexively jerk back.

Twilight pushed herself up, stumbling as her legs threatened to give out on her. It felt like at least one of them was broken, but that didn't matter right now.

“Ponies are capable of a lot more than you think,” she said, steadily pushing him back with her fire, preparing to take her own shot at separating him from Blazing's body. If she could just get him away, he would be practically harmless-

Agony twisted through her gut and she gasped, everything coming to a grinding halt. Her magic abruptly cut out and she found herself unable to take another step. She struggled to process what just happened, trying to focus through the maelstrom of pain, but it became crystal clear as Riot lifted the arm he had turned into a stake and driven through her body. “But compared to us, you're little more than a nuisance,” he said.

Twilight looked down, staring at the flesh piercing through her. That stake was sharp as glass and had been stabbed all the way through her, straight through her stomach and out her back. He lifted her higher, letting gravity push her harder onto the stake, and she screamed. He stabbed her with his other arm, this one just barely missing her heart but instead going through a lung. She jerked, blood flying from her mouth.

“You should never have challenged me.” Riot stared into her eyes, and for a moment she could feel just how much he hated her. How much he wanted her to suffer. Then he flung her to the floor, not even giving her a backward glance as he trudged away.

Twilight swept a wing under her stomach and pressed her forelegs to her chest, but it did very little to stem the bleeding. And with the exit wounds, there was no way she'd be able to put pressure on everything. She stopped trying, instead just trying to drag herself after him. Intense nausea rolled through her, along with pain so bad she almost threw up. She could feel her insides starting to fall out through the stomach wound, and quickly moved a foreleg down to hold them in.

“Riot,” she coughed, then wheezed as blood filled her burst lung. Her vision darkened, and she gathered up her strength, trying to shoot one last fireball at Riot. He ducked to the side and looked over his shoulder at her. Then he smirked and went downstairs.

“You're finished, Princess.”

She would have screamed if she could. She ordered herself to move, or call for help, to just do something... but she couldn't. It was taking everything she had just to stay awake, but she was hemorrhaging blood and everything was fading.

Then she heard a wet slapping noise and turned her head toward it. That drained the last of her energy, and her cheek flopped down to the floor. Her chest heaved as she struggled to get enough air, but it was a hopeless battle. She was dying. Yet she still kept her eyes on the nearby ledge, and she saw a familiar black mass pull itself over it, crawling toward her.

She exhaled almost too quietly to hear, “Venom?”

The creature stopped in front of her. It had no eyes she could see, but she knew it was watching her. Then a thin tendril lifted up and gently stroked her nose. Her eyes slid shut, the pain fading. She accepted her swiftly approaching death.

But Venom had other plans. He pressed more tendrils to her, connecting his cells to hers and forcing the needed oxygen into her bloodstream to keep her alive. She gasped as sensation returned, and he wrapped around her, embracing her as he swiftly bonded to her skin. His flesh covered her wounds, pulling them shut and healing them in seconds, and she let herself just collapse against him. He kept his face separate from hers so he could watch her, and as her vision cleared, she saw that his usual smile was gone. His mouth was pulled into a sharp frown and his eyes were wide and horrified.

Twilight shook her head, able to focus her thoughts again, and she started breathing hard as she realized just how close she was to dying. “Venom, I... I almost...”

“Almost died, yes. But I'm here now. We're together again, and I won't let you go.”

She felt him withdraw his tendrils and knew he had completely healed her. Yet he still stared at her with such worry that it melted her heart. She ran a hoof against his neck. “I know you won't. And I'm okay now. You got to me in time, it's okay.”

He held her hoof close, expression softening. “You were very brave to challenge him like that. Even without me, you're a formidable opponent. But now that I'm back, and Riot is injured... we can finish him.”

“Yeah. Together.” Twilight couldn't help but rub her stomach, still remembering the pain of being stabbed, and the other seemed to shiver.

“Don't think about it. He won't hurt you again. We won't let him hurt either of us. We're going to end this. Together.”

Twilight smiled at that, nuzzling his cheek. “I missed you,” she said.

“I missed you too.” He ever so slightly drifted his mouth against her, and she started to lean in, but then the moment was over and he looked away. “We need to stop Riot.”

“Right. Let's...” Twilight's face felt hot, her heart fluttering like a caged bird. “Let's go get him. And kick his sorry ass. Suit up.”

He covered her and they jumped over the railing, opening their wings and soaring down to the lowest level.

23. A Powerful Alliance

Venom hit the floor with a thud that rattled the building. They straightened and galloped through the room, seeing Riot at the far side running down a staircase. He glanced back at them, but kept going, jumping the rest of the way down. Venom was right behind him in seconds, and they were preparing to leap onto his back when the door ahead of them burst open.

A four-legged, grayish-purple monster even taller than Riot surged out, lifting a powerful front leg and decking him so hard in the face it knocked him onto his rump.

Venom froze, staring at the creature. Ever-shifting skin, bright opal eyes…

Another symbiote! they realized together.

Not only that, but there was something very familiar about its stance, the shape of its lithe body, those large wings and long horn…

“Celestia?!” Venom demanded.

The other smiled, opening her mouth to show rows of razor-sharp teeth. “Yes, but for the moment, we are Scorn.”

“Scorn!” Riot yelled, standing up and throwing a fast, wild punch. She easily blocked his arm, not even seeming to flinch at the impact. Then she seized him with bright golden magic and swung him around, easily smashing him through the metal wall.

Enraged by the betrayal, Riot's more primal instincts seized control and he kicked out with his back legs, clipping her in the jaw. She jerked, responding with a stomp that drove him straight into the floor. Venom couldn’t help but pound a hoof triumphantly against the ground, shouting, “Get him!”

“Scorn, what the fuck are you doing?!” Riot demanded. “You’ve turned against me too?!”

Scorn took a step back to allow him to pull himself from the rubble and face her. Once they were eye to eye, she said, “Sorry but the Princess and I had a little talk, and I and the other Klyntar decided… she could offer us far more than you can. We can live here peacefully, without even having to fight for it. We will not be joining your invasion. Give it up and join us instead.”

With a single thought, Riot formed a huge hammer out of the fibers of his arm to swing at her. “Never!”

Scorn gracefully ducked out of its way and responded by charging her horn and shooting him with a concussive blast that knocked him flying.

This is ridiculous! he mentally shouted. He furiously dug through Blazing's mind as he tried to find a spell that could stand up to such power, but though Blazing had several unique and practical spells, none of it measured up to Celestia's power. Riot could enhance the basic unicorn telekinesis and cancel out other basic spells if cast on him, but he couldn't use any spells Blazing himself didn't know how to perform. He didn't even have the energy to block alicorn magic now. It was with contempt that he realized what a mistake it was to agree to bond to this creature. His only experience in battle amounted to little more than mild disagreements and verbal scuffles with subordinates and superiors alike. He had countless others carry out his dirty work for him, as he would rather keep his own hooves clean. Riot might as well have bonded with an unusually business-savvy infant. This wretched equine was no match for an experienced alicorn princess. But he had to do something, and he wrung all the magical ability out of Blazing as he could as he fired telekinetic blasts back at Scorn.

To his dismay, she easily blocked every shot he took, advancing on him slowly and surely. Then she attacked him with her hooves, beating him fiercely. His skin crumpled with each strike and he was constantly having to reform himself, lest her merciless hooves tear him apart. Then long, thin silvery tendrils slid out of her skin and whipped against him as well, keeping him constantly on edge, not knowing where the next strike was coming from. They drew gouges through his body, making him howl with pain and rage. He tried to fight back, but then Venom tackled him, and he went down under their combined weight.

With two against one, Riot just couldn’t keep up with all the attacks. Each time he turned to block one, another would rip into him and tear his attention away. Yet he resisted anyway, his teeth and claws ripping into them, growing out his own tendrils to use as weapons against them. They blocked what they could, but their focus was on keeping him pinned and wearing him out. He shifted tactics to growing sharp spikes out of his body wherever he was struck, which caught Venom by surprise, making them yelp as they drove their fist right through one of them. But the pain invigorated them, and they began smashing the spikes out of the way each time one popped up.

Riot could feel himself running out of steam with each passing moment, the strain of attacking the two combining with the exhaustion of trying to block their powerful assault, until he could barely move and he could feel his host struggling to stay conscious. Keep it together, he growled at Blazing, ducking his head away from the onslaught for a moment.

There was no response from the pathetic equine except a wave of fear and the smallest inkling of regret. Riot snorted, making a note to deal with that nonsense later, and looked back up. Just as Venom took hold of him and started peeling him away from Blazing. Riot tensed and held on tightly to his host. “No!” He managed to stay connected for only a few seconds, until Scorn sank her claws in and pulled as hard as she could. He split away as roughly as a stubborn scab from flesh, his gray skin clinging desperately, but it was no use against his two unrelenting foes. In only seconds he was forcibly separated and dragged away from Blazing, too far to reach back for him.

Unwilling to give up quite yet, he struggled and lashed back against Venom and Scorn, each whip of his tendrils stinging, but it was no good. He had lost and they knew it, and there was no mercy in their eyes.

Scorn threw him a good distance away onto the floor, and before he could even move a few inches, she aimed her horn at him and unleashed a torrent of white-hot flames as hot as the Sun itself, flames that could only be conjured by an alicorn who fully intended to kill her target.

Venom scrambled backward just from the heat of it washing over them, and watched through wide eyes as Riot was incinerated. It only took seconds to kill him, and once his body was limp and charred, Scorn stopped the spell and scraped him from the floor.

“I almost wish we didn't have to kill him,” she admitted, turning the body about. “But we had no choice. He was cruel and dangerous... and he never would have joined us.” She crushed him between her claws, absorbing his body into her own.

Venom began uncovering Twilight, and she gave a solemn nod. “Yeah, it was necessary.”

Scorn receded from Celestia’s body, and she sighed once her head was free, rubbing her face. “That’s a… very odd sensation. Not unpleasant, but strange.”

“Yeah, takes some getting used to,” Twilight agreed. She turned to Blazing, who was huddled on the floor trying to make himself look as small as possible. “Are you okay?”

He blinked, and looked himself over, before looking back at her. At least, he turned his face toward her. His eyes were distant, as if he was focused on something far beyond her. He didn’t speak, just stared.

Twilight moved closer, reaching out to touch his forehead. He flinched but didn’t try to move away. His skin was cold and clammy, yet his coat was drenched in sweat.

“I think he’s sick,” she said.

Venom moved around to touch him too, and said, “Riot overworked his body. He’s going into shock.”

“That can happen?”

“If we force a host into a fight like that without proper rest and nutrition, then just leave them? Yes. The only reason you’re not feeling that is because I’m still here. We should go out to eat by the way, I’m starving.”

“Not the time.” Twilight called for the guards. Shining hurried down the stairs with several of them in tow. “Riot is dead,” she told him. “Blazing is still alive but he needs immediate medical care. Does anypony know how to treat for shock?”

A couple of them came over to help, and Twilight ordered them to get him to a hospital, but make sure he was arrested as soon as he was healthy enough to leave.

They nodded and carried him over to an elevator.

Twilight sighed and sat down, massaging her temples. She was exhausted and starving, but she was relieved. It was over. She- they actually did it. Riot was dead, Blazing was in custody, they'll be able to shut down this whole project.

She looked up and smiled gratefully at Celestia, who smiled back. “Thank you,” Twilight said. “You and Scorn were a huge help. I believe Venom and I could have finished off Riot ourselves, but we can admit it would have been a close match. We appreciate you joining the fight.”

Venom snickered. “Yes, thanks for the help, though we totally could have done it alone, is what she was too polite to say.”

Scorn lifted her head out of Celestia’s body just to roll her eyes and sigh.

Celestia gave a humorous chuckle. “You're welcome. I have no doubt you could have taken care of him, but we figured you could use some help.”

“I didn't expect you to bond with one of the symbiotes, though,” Twilight replied. “Were you nervous?”

“A little. I didn't know what to expect. But the experience was quite thrilling.”

“It is, isn't it?”

Celestia nodded, then said, “The only downside is that I became very hungry, and now it's even worse. Is that normal?”

“Very normal, you'll get used to it.” Twilight stood. “We need to get to the other symbiotes and wrap all this up.”

“They're right through here,” Celestia said, opening the door Riot had been trying to go through. She and Twilight headed in, with Shining right behind them.

They entered a brightly lit lab quite unlike the others set up throughout the building. This room appeared to be well-used, though there were no employees present. Just workstations, and large glass vials containing different creatures that crawled all around the insides, before pressing to the glass and seeming to watch them. The room had a sickly musk in the air that only Twilight noticed, but inhaling it stung her nostrils and sent prickly chills down her spine, along with the unmistakable burn of bile rising in her throat. Then she felt Venom undulate her throat muscles to push the offending liquid back, silently thanked him, and focused back on the task at hoof.

She did a quick count of the vials and said, “Six. There’s six, but… eight left the Life Aura Center, right? And with Riot dead, there should be seven.”

Scorn scanned over the containers before saying, “Yes, one of us was put into that unicorn that was captured earlier. He was taken to that cell over there for holding… and got out.” She pointed to a broken metal door. “We don’t know where he went.”

“Who was it?” Venom asked.

Scorn scowled. “The one we always had trouble with. Carnage.”

Twilight felt Venom’s skin crawl and saw a flash of red. She tried to put it out of mind. “We’ll find him. But as for the others… are they willing to take voluntary hosts and live here peacefully?”

“They are. To tell the truth, most of us were manipulated into serving Riot. I feel like the only one who really agreed with his ways was Carnage.” She stared for a moment at a vial containing an especially energetic orange symbiote. “And Phage, sometimes, but they mostly do what they want.”

“Alright. We’ll get them all out of here.” Twilight walked from vial to vial and Venom introduced her to everyone.

“This blue one here that can’t seem to sit still, that’s Slasher,” Venom said. “The pink, that’s Hysteria. I told you about them earlier.”

“Right, yeah. Hello,” Twilight greeted them. She also said hi to Phage, and went to see the other three.

“This here, this is Scream,” Venom continued, pointing to a roiling yellow symbiote who kept hitting the glass with thin tendrils. “Always liked them. Good to see you, Scream!”

They pounded the glass harder.

Finally, they met a purple symbiote named Agony and a green named Lasher.

“Alright. Some of my friends are willing to share their bodies with you,” she said to them. “But I’ll need to bring them here. We need to make sure they’re compatible.”

“I can send for your friends,” Celestia said. “For now, I’m going to check in on Blazing. Thank you for everything you've done. I will make sure you're commended for your actions here.”

“Thank you, Princess.” Twilight watched her go and went to sit in one of the chairs, sighing. She could still hardly believe it was finally over.

“We still have Carnage to worry about,” Venom pointed out.

“I know. But one thing at a time.”

Shining sat near her. “Doing alright?”

“Sure. I’m just really tired. And hungry.” Twilight curiously rummaged through a drawer near her seat, but it was just full of folders. She wished it was a snack stash.

“I’m sure. Well, that was a really awesome fight. I missed most of it, I was keeping ponies out of the building, but I saw you and Celestia gang up on Riot.”

Twilight idly rubbed her stomach, remembering how she had been stabbed. “Heh. You didn’t miss much.” She could immediately tell he didn't believe that, as his brows furrowed and he leaned in to gaze more closely at her.

“Twily... tell me what happened,” he said. “Please?”

She took a nervous breath, and Venom gave her a reassuring bump to the cheek. “He's your sibling, is he not? We should tell him what happened on the second floor.”

Twilight nodded, gathering her resolve. “Right. Okay, I'll tell you how the fight went on our end. I just hope you have a strong stomach.”

“Heh, I'm a captain of the Royal Guard,” he boasted. “You won't believe the kinds of things I've seen. Nothing can turn my stomach.”

24. New Friends

Shining was gripping his own stomach in empathetic pain and looking quite green when Twilight and Venom finished their story.

“So, need this?” Twilight joked, levitating up a trash can.

He chuckled, then covered his mouth and visibly swallowed. Then he said, “N-no, I'm alright. But... dear Celestia, I can't imagine what sort of pain you were in.”

“It was pretty agonizing,” Twilight replied. She leaned a bit into Venom, who had formed an arm to rest around her several minutes ago. “I'm sure I was seconds away from dying. If Venom hadn't gotten back to me, I wouldn't be here.”

“Yeah. Thank you, Venom.” Shining held out a hoof. “Thank you for taking care of my little sis.”

Venom grasped his hoof. “Of course. She's not dying on my watch.”

“You're just saying that because you need me to live,” Twilight teased.

“You and I both know that's not true.” Venom was quiet for a moment, then bumped his head into hers. “Alright, that's one reason to keep you alive. But also I like you and I'd miss you if you were gone!”

“Heh, you're such a softie.”

Venom scowled at her. “I'm the softie? You want to talk soft, let's talk about how tender your skin is and how soft and tasty your liver's looking right now.”

“Go for it, it regenerates anyway.”

Venom couldn't help but snicker and Shining smiled, shaking his head. “You two really are good for each other. Anyway, I'm glad you're both okay, and that you gave Riot what he deserved. If you hadn't killed him, I'd be killing him myself right now.”

“Wow. And you were worried about me being a murderer?” Twilight said.

“Heh, yeah, guess that is a bit hypocritical of me,” Shining admitted. He rubbed his neck. “But I'll admit I can go a little crazy when it comes to protecting my family. Obviously taking a life would be a last resort, but with what he did to you... oh yeah. If I had seen that I would have fucked him up.”

Twilight gave a scandalized gasp and Venom exclaimed, “Watch your fucking language, Captain!”

Twilight grabbed a random notebook from the desk and flipped it open. “Hold on, I'm writing to Mom right now. Dear Mom, Shining Armor finally dropped an F bomb!”

“Twily, no!”

Venom roared with laughter. “I love this family!”

They stayed there in the lab while waiting for Twilight’s friends, Twilight mostly just resting while Venom chatted with Shining. They were discussing various military tactics, comparing how their respective societies handled war, when the door opened and Twilight's friends hurried in.

“Twilight!” Spike flew forward faster than any of the others, tackling her in a hug. She toppled from her chair, and was soon jumped on by Rainbow. Then all the rest followed suit, all holding her close and nuzzling against her.

“Princess Celestia told us everything!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Are you okay?” Fluttershy fretted.

“That Riot guy is definitely dead, right?” Starlight asked.

Twilight pushed herself up, gently pushing them back. “Yes, definitely dead. And I’m okay.”

Celestia entered the room next. “Twilight and Venom both did an amazing job fighting back against Riot. Working together, the four of us were finally able to defeat him and ensure Equestria’s protection.”

“Four?” a confused chorus replied.

Scorn’s head emerged. “Hi.”

“You have one of them too?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes. She helped me defeat Riot, as well as helped me tell everyone else here that we’d like to be friends.” She gestured to the other symbiotes.

“A shame it’s temporary, this is a very nice body,” Scorn sighed, curling around Celestia’s neck a few times. “So big and strong. And with wings!”

“You know...” Celestia said slowly, giving the other a smile. “Symbiotes often struggle finding a perfectly matching host, don't you?”

“Oh yes, rejection is very common.”

“But you've already matched with me. So if you'd like, you can stay.”

Scorn stared for a few seconds, then gave a wide, toothy grin. “I can?” Celestia nodded, and Scorn hugged her neck tightly. “Thank you, Princess!”

“You're quite welcome. I think we can be very good friends.”

“I do as well.”

Twilight nodded. “Well, alright. Let's take care of the others, then. Who’d like to help our new friends out?”

Most of her friends exchanged unsure glances, but Pinkie bounced forward. “Ooh, me, me, I’ll take one!”

Venom had said Pinkie would probably get along with Hysteria. Twilight picked up Hysteria’s container. “Okay, try bonding with Pinkie. I’m uh, sure you can tell who she is.” She twisted the top off, and it hissed as the air pressure equalized, oxygen flooding into it. Hysteria wasted no time, reaching out to touch Pinkie’s face.

“Hi there, new friend!” Pinkie greeted. Hysteria pretty much flopped onto her, and their body stretched out along her back and up into her mane. “Haha, that tickles! Oh look, it’s like silly string!”

The others laughed. It did kinda look like she had been sprayed with silly string. Until Hysteria sunk all the way in, and Pinkie took a few curious steps.

“Oh yeah, she’s… or uh, they…” Pinkie paused, ears tilting as she listened to something only she could hear. Then she said, “Okay, she doesn’t mind being called she. She says she’s all settled but wants to relax for a bit and uh… get to know the place?”

“That’s normal,” Venom said. “It’s crucial to really learn your host’s body before you start going crazy with it.”

Rainbow picked up Slasher’s container. “I’m really feeling this guy, look how fast they’re moving around in here.”

“Good choice, that’s Slasher, the one I told Twilight would probably get along with you. Go on and let him out.”

Rainbow struggled with the lid for a moment, then figured out how to unlatch it and tossed it aside. “Alright, hi Slasher, I’m Rainbow Dash- gh!” She grunted when he sped out and hit her right in the throat, knocking her onto the floor. She coughed, feeling at her neck, but he had already disappeared into her skin. “Oh. Um, okay, that wasn’t so bad.”

Slasher was quick to emerge back from her body, revealing that he preferred a much more streamlined appearance than the other symbiotes Twilight has seen so far. He grew some arms and crossed them. “These creatures are a bit too colorful for my liking, but at least they’re nice.”

“You got a problem with colorful?” Rainbow asked, running a hoof through her rainbow mane.

Slasher just smirked at her. “No but it doesn’t seem very tough.”

“What? What does that have to do with anything? I’m super tough!”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Oh yeah? Get back out of me and fight me, then we’ll see who’s tough!”

“Don’t fight with him, it’s what he wants!” Pinkie called.

“Slasher picks on everyone, don’t take it personally,” Hysteria said, finally showing herself.

“Ooh, you’re so bubbly!” Pinkie said happily. Her symbiote’s skin seemed to continuously form bubbles, though rather than popping once they rose, they would simply sink back down and be reabsorbed.

“Thanks! And I love your mane, it's so curly!”

“Thanks!”

“Applejack, were you still wanting to help one of them?” Twilight asked.

“I reckon so,” Applejack replied. She looked between the remaining vials. “Nice to meet y’all, I’m Applejack.”

None of them answered, and Twilight explained, “They can’t talk to us while in this form.”

“Oh. Can they hear us? Or see us?”

“Yes, they can see and hear us. They just can’t talk.”

“Huh. Never thought I’d meet aliens like this, but… well, I never thought I’d meet aliens at all, actually. Suppose I can’t expect them to be like ponies. Okay, um. What are their names?”

Twilight pointed out each of them. “Phage, Scream, Agony, Lasher.”

“Whew, they sure got some unsettlin' names, don’t they? Well, Phage doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Phage is short for bacteriophage, which is a type of virus that infects bacteria and uses them to replicate and often leaves them for dead,” Venom said brightly. When everyone stared at him, he added, “Fun fact.”

“Well, at any rate…” Applejack opened the vial. “Howdy Phage, I’d like to be friends if that’s alright with you.”

Phage stopped jumping around, instead just laying curled at the bottom of the container.

“Phage?” Applejack slid a hoof in, gently prodding them.

“They’re tired of getting tossed from pony to pony as each of their hosts dies,” Venom said. “I don’t blame them. But that won’t happen again, Phage. You get to stay with her! As long as you’re compatible, anyway.”

Phage finally reached out to wrap a tentacle around Applejack’s hoof and allowed her to lift them out. After a few seconds, they enthusiastically climbed up her leg and flowed through her coat.

A shiver went down Applejack’s spine. “Whoa, that’s weird.” She looked herself over. “Feels like they’re all stretched around me, but… I don’t see them.”

“You’ll probably be hearing them soon enough,” Twilight said.

Applejack looked unsure, then perked, staring into space. After several seconds, she said, “Yeah, I hear ‘em. They’re saying something about… okay slow down Phage, I can’t understand half of what you’re talking about. Okay.” She listened quietly, and commented, “They said I’m compatible.”

“That’s good. Also, you can talk to them in thought,” Twilight said. She got interested looks, and she explained, “When you’re bonded with one of the Klyntar, you can talk to them in thought and they can talk back. You’re sharing a body, after all. That includes the brain.”

“Oh, right.” Applejack walked back to join the others, and Fluttershy slowly walked over.

“I’ll um, take one if I can,” she said.

Twilight gave her an encouraging smile. “That’s the spirit. Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you. Let me see…”

“Give her Scream!” Venom laughed.

Twilight watched as that bright yellow symbiote flung herself around in the vial, and shook her head. “Um, I don’t think so. How about Agony?”

“I mean, sure, but I just think Scream would be fun.”

“And I’m looking at your memories and Scream is way too wild. Agony seems more reasonable, I bet she’ll get along good with Fluttershy.” Twilight opened Agony’s vial and let her out. She crept over to Fluttershy, who stood perfectly still.

Agony spent a few moments patting at Fluttershy’s legs, paused for a bit, and then dove into her. Fluttershy let out a startled squeal, and looked herself over. “Okay, uh, this isn’t… so bad… I feel kinda dizzy though.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Twilight replied, wondering what that was about.

Mere seconds later, she had her answer. Agony jumped back out, landing on Twilight and pushing a tendril against Venom’s skin.

Venom was quiet for a bit, then laughed and said, “Agony can’t fully bond with Fluttershy. It has to do with Fluttershy’s blood type, her antibodies immediately attacked her and she couldn’t trick them into accepting her. Sorry, Fluttershy.”

“Oh, no big deal,” Fluttershy replied.

Agony remained on Twilight for a bit, not fully bonding but connecting just enough to be able to breathe. Twilight looked at the other two symbiotes and picked up Scream. “Okay, Scream… if I give you to Fluttershy, will you be nice?”

Scream stopped moving for a few moments, then seemed to nod.

“Be careful with her,” Venom warned Fluttershy. “She’s very unpredictable.”

“I think I’ll be okay.” Fluttershy waited while Twilight let Scream out.

Scream latched onto Fluttershy and pulled herself over to her, spreading out over her body and sinking inside. Fluttershy trembled, then said, “Whoa, she’s… hm.”

“Is everything okay?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, she’s just very energetic. And…” Fluttershy awkwardly rubbed a foreleg. “Aggressive.”

“She’s not making you uncomfortable, is she?”

“No, this is fine. I’m sure she’s real nice once you get to know her.”

In response, Scream emerged from her and covered half her body. Everywhere she covered Fluttershy’s mane, it changed into constantly waving tendrils. She shrieked, “Is that what you think? Just wait and see how nice I am!”

“Don’t be like that,” Scorn scolded.

“Yes, please relax, Scream,” Fluttershy said gently, touching the other half of her face. “I'd like to be friends with you and the others-”

“I don't need friends, I only agreed to all this to get out of that boring tube! And now that I have your body, I can do whatever I want! And what I want to do is feed!” Scream strained to make them walk, but Fluttershy jerked back against her control, taking her by surprise. “Quit fighting me, or I'll make you regret it.”

Venom growled and started to move forward, but Twilight stopped him. “Hold on. She can handle it.”

“I know you think highly of your friends,” Venom said. “But like me, Scream is a ruthless, highly trained-”

Fluttershy's visible eye narrowed and she lifted a hoof, digging it against the yellow flesh covering the other half of her face and peeling it back, forcing Scream to look directly at her. “Alright, now you listen here!” she shouted. “I don't care if you're an advanced alien with decades of experience in intergalactic warfare! You are going to calm down, and you are going to play nice! Or so help me I will tear you right back out of me and put you back into that tube until you learn to behave!”

Everyone stared at them. Scream actually seemed to blink, her hair-like tendrils falling limp for a moment. Then she glared at the other. “You wouldn't dare.”

“Try me.” Fluttershy pressed her muzzle up against Scream's face, locking her eyes on her, and the others gasped as they recognized the famous Stare. No one spoke as the two stared each other down, and finally Scream broke eye contact and sank back into Fluttershy's hide.

“Fine, whatever. I guess you're tougher than I thought you were,” she muttered before disappearing from view.

Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief, and the others came forward to pat her back.

“That was awesome,” Rainbow said.

“That's one way to earn a Klyntar's respect,” Venom commented. He gave Twilight a small push to the shoulder. “I would have expected that sort of thing out of you, rather than sweet little Fluttershy.”

Twilight chuckled. “Well, it's the sweet ones you have to watch out for. Fluttershy may be the Element of Kindness, but she's no pushover.”

Scream reemerged, but this time it was only her head at the end of a shifting mass of flesh. “Yes, she just showed me her training with Iron Will. I think we can get along.”

Fluttershy beamed and lifted a hoof, and with a sigh, Scream formed a hoof of her own and bumped it.

“That just leaves Agony and Lasher,” Twilight said. “Rarity, Starlight? Are you two sure you don't want to help them out, at least for a little bit?”

Starlight nervously rubbed her foreleg. “I'm sorry, I want the best for them, but the thought of having something bonded to me, it just... gives me the creeps.”

“Well, your body is your own, I won't make you.” Twilight looked at Rarity. “How about you? I know how much you like talking to yourself while you're working, well, perhaps you'd like someone who talks back?”

Rarity giggled. “As pleasant as that sounds, I don't think having an alien companion is quite what I need. What if they don't like fashion? I don't want them to be bored.”

Agony touched Venom again. He listened to her for a few moments, then said, “Good news, Agony has an interest. We don't tend to wear clothes on our planet but she considers herself a creative type.”

“Oh?” Rarity perked at that, approaching Twilight. “Are you sure, darling?” she said to Agony. “I do spend a lot of time working on dresses and such.”

After a few moments, Venom spoke for Agony. “She says it sounds way better than sitting around in a vial.”

“Well, in that case, let's give this a shot.” Rarity carefully lifted a foreleg. “So do I just...” Agony jumped over onto her, making her shriek in surprise, and Agony paused. Once she relaxed, Rarity said, “It's alright, you just startled me. Go ahead.”

Agony finished bonding, and Rarity gave herself a little shake as the other got settled. Agony soon reappeared, humming. “There we are, a much better match than Fluttershy was.”

“This feels very odd,” Rarity commented, looking herself over. “It feels like there are little bugs on my coat, but... I don't see anything.”

“You'll get used to it,” Twilight assured her. She looked at the final vial. “So, Lasher. Are you ready? Because I've saved the best for last.” She smiled at Spike. “What do you say, want to help him out?”

He stared, then grinned and clapped his hands together. “Oh! Yeah, Lasher, I'm totally up for bonding with you! You know, if you want.”

The green symbiote lifted up a pseudopod, giving it a curt nod. Twilight let him out and carried him to Spike, who held out his paws to take him. Lasher seemed to take his time, circling a few times before sinking completely under Spike's scales.

“That is so weird,” Spike said. “But… wow, I feel really strong all of a sudden.” His stomach growled and he chuckled, “And hungry.”

“Symbiotes like to eat,” Twilight laughed.

“Lasher, how are you?” Venom asked. “Is he a match?”

There wasn’t a response at first, but then he lifted his head out. “Yes, he’s a match. And he's very different from a pony.”

“I'm glad to hear that,” Twilight said. She looked around at everyone, focusing mostly on their symbiotes. “I'm so sorry for what Blazing Aura and his company did to all of you. I hope you all recover from his tests, and that you're able to live happy lives here in Equestria.”

“You don't need to apologize, you had nothing to do with all this,” Scorn replied.

“I'm just glad to be done with those ridiculous tests!” Hysteria agreed.

“You all will feed us correctly though, right?” Slasher asked. “I'm sure you noticed with Venom but we can't survive with herbivorous diets. We need... well, I don't know what it's called in your language, but it's a chemical produced primarily by the brains of-”

“Phenylethylamine,” Twilight said. “Yes, our brains produce it. You theoretically can get it by eating the brains of living ponies-” She was interrupted by several disgusted gasps, and continued, “But I don't advocate for that!”

Venom snorted. “Uh-huh.”

“Ssh. Don't um, don't go around eating heads. The chemical is produced naturally in your own heads as long as you're experiencing friendship and love, and you can also get it from chocolate and beans, lentils, foods like that. It's also in meats such as seafood, if you can stomach that. Just get with me later and I can get you a list of non-brain sources, alright?”

The others nodded in agreement.

Rainbow lifted a hoof. “Question.”

“Yes, Rainbow?”

“Could one of us, entirely hypothetically, get it from brains if we want?” she asked. The others stared at her, and she said, “Hey, it's not like I want to kill anypony, I just. Er, Slasher wanted to know.”

“Don't pin this on me, own your curiosity,” Slasher said.

Twilight looked at Shining, who answered, “If any of you are discovered killing ponies to feed your symbiotes, the law will handle you accordingly.”

“Don't get caught, got it,” Rainbow replied.

Shining slapped a hoof to his face in exasperation and Twilight sighed, giving a helpless shrug. “I can't control you. You all can decide for yourselves how you're going to keep your new friends safe and healthy. I would rather you provide for them with food. But I'm also not going to shadow you all to make sure you don't become vigilantes. You're all such good people. Don't be tempted into doing something you'll regret.”

They nodded in understanding. Twilight hoped they didn't go down the same path she did. She was still torn on whether or not she was going to give up being a vigilante, but she didn't want the others getting wrapped up in it too. If the symbiotes were going to be made known to Equestria, they had to be seen as peaceful, or they would never be accepted. Her rampage with Venom could be passed off as a one-time monster attack. Any more attacks like that and ponies would probably start making some connections.

“Now that that's settled, we need to come forward with what we've found out,” Celestia said. “We'll need to reach out to the families of the many victims of this company. The living patients must be found and released. The Life Aura Center may need a complete overhaul, as this could shatter trust in the company. It's a shame, it did so much good... but that's no reason to let it go on like it has. And we'll need to arrange for Blazing Aura's trial.”

“If he's even fit for trial,” Twilight said. “He didn't seem to be in good shape when we got Riot separated from him.”

“We'll have him evaluated to see if he can handle it,” Celestia replied. She turned for the door. “I know it's been a long day, but we should get this taken care of as quickly as possible. Could you accompany me back to Canterlot, Twilight?”

“Of course,” Twilight replied.

“Wait, before we go,” Venom spoke up. “Our ship is being kept here. Are we going to retrieve it?”

“Are repairs possible?” Celestia asked.

Venom paused, and looked at the others, asking them their opinions. They all answered with varying degrees of confidence, and Venom said, “Possible, yes. With the technology on this planet, it may be difficult. The ship itself contains many supplies that could help but there's no guarantee it will be enough. But if we do repair the ship, we can contact our planet to tell them the situation, and potentially reach out as friends. If you would like to ally our races.”

Celestia considered it, then said, “We can discuss it in time. For now, we need to deal with the Life Aura Center and inform the public of what has occurred.”

“Understood.”

“We'll check on the ship for you,” Phage said, gesturing to the others.

“We'll catch up with y'all later,” Applejack said, and she went with a few of her friends further into the lab.

Twilight followed Celestia out, accompanied by Shining, Spike, and Starlight.

“I'm not looking forward to having to report on all this,” Shining commented.

“Me neither,” Celestia sighed.

11. The Arrest

Twilight left the lab and examined the hallway. Okay, Venom, you've spent months here. Any idea where I should look?

Annoyance radiated through their bond. I spent very little time outside that room until you got me out. I know very little of the layout.

Well, how did your previous hosts get down there? Did they see anything useful along the way?

Hold on. He was quiet for a while, and Twilight saw flashes of memories as he went through everything he's gathered from previous hosts. Then he said, Each of them was brought along with other patients by boat, to that dock outside. They were led in, straight through the atrium and down the stairs to that lab, where they were checked in and pretty much imprisoned in the cells. We would be introduced to a cell via the door while a guard held the patient back, and quickly locked in. So of course, we would immediately latch onto the only living creature we could reach.

Hm. So you didn't get to look around much. Did you hear anything from the scientists? Like... oh, what about your ship? You said Blazing is working on repairing it.

It's not here. He didn't want both projects in the same place. I don't know where he took it. Just like I don't know where he took the rest of my people. Although... Venom began moving their body, and Twilight let him take over control. Those employees get in here through a tunnel. Perhaps there's more than one tunnel.

Of course! Let's check it out.

They explored the hallway, opening doors until they found one that led to a cement tunnel. They lit up their horn and shone the light down it, and Twilight said, Assuming I haven't gotten all turned around down here, this is where that ocean tunnel should lead to. Come on.

They trotted down it, looking along the walls, but there were no more doors. Soon they heard the gentle sloshing of water and came upon a dock. It was big enough for one boat to pull into it, with stairs along both sides that joined into the tunnel they were currently standing in. They directed their light across the water, but all they saw was featureless cement that led outside.

Hm. Let's keep looking.

They turned around and headed back to the hallway. They checked every room to no avail, and briefly considered going back upstairs to join the others, but Twilight got an idea.

I know a spell that might be able to help us. Can I?

Go ahead.

She was given control back, and she turned to the nearest wall, focusing and casting a spell that turned it transparent.

You have a spell for everything, don't you? Venom was definitely impressed, though.

Twilight smiled as she ran the spell along the wall. There was only dirt behind it, but if there were any hidden rooms or tunnels, this would reveal them. She swept both sides of the hall as she walked down it, keeping an eye out for anything out of place. But then the transparency suddenly revealed a huge circular opening, and she stopped, examining it. It went on for further than she could see, and she stopped the spell so she could look at the wall itself. Nothing set this particular panel apart from the rest, but perhaps it was enchanted to respond to a certain spell, or the touch of a certain individual. She was quite knowledgeable on several locking and camouflage spells, so she was confident she'd be able to figure out this one.

She tapped the wall a few times with a hoof, listening to the sound it made. It didn't sound hollow, but when she moved over a few feet and tapped there, there was a noticeable difference in tone. She returned to the hidden tunnel and inhaled, then covered her horn in magic and leaned forward, gently touching the metal and willing it to move aside. In response, it zapped her.

“Yowch!” She reeled backward, falling onto her rump as she clutched her forehead.

Ouch, Venom said bluntly. Did you really think he was going to make it that easy?

It was worth a shot. But now I have a better idea of what kind of spell this is. She stood, rubbing her head and testing her horn. It still worked, so that wasn't a disabling spell of any sort. It was simply a warning. She altered her magic as she touched the wall again, carefully navigating the aura stretching across it like a web. She would have to apply energy to it in certain spots to unlock it. The order was likely known only to Blazing, but she's dealt with these before.

She closed her eyes, letting the web light up in her mind as she examined it for weak points. There were spots where multiple strands came together, and she knew those were the spots where magic should be cast in order to unravel them. But she would be taking a slightly different approach.

Why untie the knots when one could simply cut them?

She used swift surges of magic to disable the web, wincing when energy snapped back against her horn, but while the average unicorn would be disoriented by it, it was a mere nuisance to an alicorn.

Finally the aura faded, and she was able to use her normal magic on the wall, sliding it to the side. The panel was heavy, and once she had it open enough, she wedged her shoulder against it and shoved it open the rest of the way. She was hit with a dank, musty smell and wrinkled her nose, gazing into the tunnel. It was dark, and she examined the walls for a light switch of some sort, but couldn't find one. She instead cast a beam of light down it. Unlike the concrete tunnel from the ocean, this one was roughly carved from dirt and clay, supported by thick wooden beams spaced evenly down its length. It sloped down slightly and then leveled out into a straight path, and she shivered as cool air wafted from it. Where does this go?

I don't know. Wanna go see?

Not really. This has to go under the ocean. Hm... Twilight examined the ground and saw hoof prints. She shone her horn's light over it. Look!

Ahah! Someone went this way recently. Lots of someones, look how the prints overlap. And see, these ones... Venom urged her forward into the tunnel, leaning down. They're heavier, and quite flat. Like...

Boots. Like metal guard boots.

Venom curled their lips into a smile. Now we're onto something.

Twilight got her bearings, then said, This tunnel seems to go toward the mainland. Do you think it's actually long enough to reach it?

Possibly. It's worth asking Blazing about. I bet this is how he got everyone out without being caught.

They returned to the hall and headed up to the first floor. The royal guards were still guarding the doors, though a few were cautiously mingling with Blazing's guards and chatting with them. Twilight saw Cadance sitting in a cubicle going through a filing cabinet, and went to talk to her.

“Find anything interesting?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, hi,” Cadance greeted her. She gave her some sheets of paper. “The computers didn't have much we could use, but I did find one that had access to the death records of everypony who's died while in the center's care. The employee made me promise not to tell you who she was, but look. Some of these deaths...” She pointed to an entry she had circled in red.

Twilight read it carefully. “Transferred to redacted project... expired five days later... heart failure! Autopsy revealed significant organ trauma, comparable to approximately eleven other test subjects for... ugh, project name redacted again. But this has to be it, these are the ones dying to the symbiotes. We need to get these records without the redactions.”

“I'm looking for the hoofwritten records now. But I'm not having much luck...” Cadance leaned in and whispered, “I think they got rid of them all after you got in. They probably expected us to come investigate.”

“Keep looking,” Twilight said. “I'm sure something else will turn up. But thank you, I'll see if I can get any more info out of these.” She picked up an empty folder and slid the records into it.

“Alright. I also talked to some of the employees out here. They're real nervous. Apparently, they've signed some pretty serious nondisclosure agreements. I asked about the symbiotes and they all said they didn't know what I was talking about. Though two of them said they would be willing to meet with a princess outside the office to discuss things. We've already worked out a time for the interview.”

“That's great news, thank you. If Blazing won't talk, hopefully one of this employees will.” Twilight looked around. Most of the employees were just sitting quietly in their cubicles making small talk, though some had taken advantage of the interruption, going to the break room for coffee. “I found something too. There's a tunnel down in the basement that was hidden behind a wall panel. It had a pretty complex shielding spell on it too.”

“A tunnel? To where?”

“That's the thing, I don't know. It's incredibly long and seems to go all the way back to the mainland. I couldn't shine a light far enough to even see the end of it.”

“Hm. That's worth checking out.”

“Oh yeah. But I'm not going down there alone.” Venom huffed, and she said, “Well, of course I'll have Venom, but I'd also want you or one of the other princesses with me. Just in case.”

“Of course. If you need me, just let me know and I'll be happy to go with you.”

“Alright. I'm going to go talk to Luna, you know where she is?”

“Mhm, she went into the um...” Cadance looked around, reading the various signs before saying, “Pathology lab, I believe.”

“Thanks.” Twilight headed that way. She didn't see Blazing anywhere, and wondered where he had gotten off to.

Probably went to his office to panic, Venom quipped.

She laughed, and started to open the door to the lab when someone else opened it from inside, walking out. Twilight jumped back to avoid getting hit by the door and the other pony dropped her mug.

“Whoops!” Twilight managed to grab it with her magic before it hit the ground, laughing as she lifted it back up. “That could have been bad. Here you are...” She trailed off as she looked at the mare in front of her. Bright blue fur and a white mane, with deep blue eyes.

Dr. Blue Bell coughed into her elbow and awkwardly smiled, her horn lighting up as she took the mug. “Thank you, Princess Twilight.”

“No problem. Um, how are you?”

Blue sighed. “I've had better days. Got written up yesterday, but oh, I'm sure you don't want to hear about my problems.”

“Actually, I'd love to talk to you. Do you know anything about-”

“As I told Princess Luna, I've never heard of these... aliens you're going on about. If you say some agent of yours found something, cool, but most of us never get to see what's in the restricted area downstairs so we don't know anything.”

“About the restricted area... I was just down there and everything just seemed to be storage.”

“Not surprising. They do that when we get visitors, there's a whole system for- oops.” She quickly covered her mouth with a foreleg, and Twilight glanced over her shoulder to see a guard glaring daggers at them.

Twilight narrowed her eyes, and hurried Blue back into the lab, leading her over toward the side where no one was. She leaned in, fanning her wings around them to grant privacy. “System for what? Did all the restricted stuff get moved somewhere?”

“I'm really not... at liberty to discuss that,” Blue said in a strained tone.

“Listen, we know Blazing is doing illegal stuff here,” Twilight said quietly. “If you know anything, please tell me. I promise, I'll protect you from any repercussions.”

Blue swallowed, eyes darting up toward the nearest camera. Twilight glanced at it, and spread her feathers even wider apart, until the camera's view was blocked too. She looked back at Blue, who trembled, before saying, “All the secret stuff is moved to another location, there's some kind of tunnel somewhere, I heard the guards mention it once but that's all I know. But we get the bodies of the patients who die, we have to write reports on all of them and make sure they're cleared to be returned to their families for burial, and all of them show the same patterns of atrophy in their organs. I don't know what those experimental treatments are doing to them, but it's not good, and it doesn't seem to be improving.”

Twilight lowered her wings and wrapped Blue into a hug. “Thank you. You've helped me out a lot.” She turned and looked for Luna, only to find that she was waiting patiently nearby.

“Twilight, what did she tell you?” Luna asked curiously.

Twilight gestured for her to come closer, and then cast a veil around them that rendered them invisible and inaudible to everyone else, before repeating what Blue had said and also filling her in on what she had found downstairs.

Luna was silent for a few moments as she absorbed that, then she said, “It's troubling how fast Blazing was able to clean up the evidence of what he's been doing, but a few of the others here have given me similar reports. They were reluctant to talk at first, until I reminded them I could manipulate their dreams into giving up the information.”

“Wow, that's hardcore,” Twilight joked.

Luna smiled. “I'm glad it didn't come to that. Come, let's find my sister. I believe if we arrest Blazing now and dismiss his guards, his employees will feel safe enough to come forward and tell us everything.”

“Perfect. Once he's arrested, would you join me in exploring the tunnel I found? I'm certain he had the patients taken out that way, so if we can find them, that'll be all the proof we need of his guilt.”

“Of course I'll accompany you.”

Twilight lowered the veil, and they thanked the scientists for their patience before leaving the room and heading upstairs. They asked about Celestia and were directed toward Blazing's office. They called a couple of their own guards up and quietly told them to prepare to make an arrest. Then they walked down the hall to the office.

Celestia was arguing with Blazing when they walked in, though the two quickly quieted once they realized they had company.

“Ah, Princess Luna and Twilight,” Blazing said, nodding to them. “Are you done with your investigation?”

“Not quite,” Twilight said. She looked at Celestia. “Did you find out anything interesting?”

“Oh yes, I found something very interesting. Those tapes you wanted me to look at? Apparently everything from two nights ago got corrupted by a new software they used to save it to the tapes. They also have nothing from the underground lab you mentioned. They claim everything down there is storage.”

“Nonsense,” Twilight replied. “They do work down there. But they also have an emergency protocol to move all the important stuff out of the building and somewhere else to hide it. Which is what they're doing now.” She turned to the desk, slapping her hooves onto it. “I found your tunnel down in the basement. Just stop trying to hide it. You can make all these excuses, try to scrub all the evidence away, but we know everything. Confess.”

He sat back in his chair, pressing his hooves together under his chin as he regarded her. Then he said, “As I said, I have nothing to confess to.”

Twilight wanted to tear her mane out with frustration. She pushed back from the desk and paced, glaring around the room. After a few seconds, she realized there were no cameras in here. She stopped, and smiled, turning back to the desk. “Guards?”

The guards straightened up. “Yes, Princess?”

“Could you leave the room, please? Celestia, Luna, and I would like to talk to Blazing Aura in private.”

The guards exchanged unsure looks but did as told, walking out and closing the door behind them.

Blazing sat forward. “What are you doing?”

“What I've been wanting to do since getting here.” Twilight took a deep breath, planting her hooves as she told Venom what he's been waiting to hear. Suit up.

With pleasure!

His skin surged out of hers and wrapped around her, lifting her up to nearly twice her previous height, and she felt Venom's calm, predatory mind mingle with hers, sharing control of their body as they stepped forward.

Blazing fell out of his chair, backing up and hitting the wall. “So I did see what I thought I saw! You have my symbiote!”

“Yours? No! Venom was not yours to own!” they roared. “None of the symbiotes are! We are not lab rats you can poke and prod to your liking, we are magnificent, intelligent creatures and we demand freedom!”

“Then this means... there was no agent, it was you who snuck in!”

“Exactly. Which means you remember exactly what we're capable of, don't you?”

To Blazing's credit, he managed to hide his fear, instead just trying to sneak around them. They quickly seized him in several tendrils and pinned him to the floor. His horn lit up in preparation for a spell, but they covered it and blocked it from using magic. Breathing hard, he said, “So I'm keeping some of you slimy creatures captive, so what? You were going to attack us anyway! Yeah, I know all about your invasion plans! Me keeping you locked away is keeping Equestria safe! And! And, the research into your regenerative abilities is helping ponies! I'm not the bad guy here!”

“Yes you are! You're still tormenting the symbiotes, letting them starve in their hosts, letting them eat their hosts alive! You're making ponies sign away their lives to be test subjects, not telling them what they'll be subjected to, not letting them leave! No more excuses, Blazing Aura. You are under arrest!”

Celestia stepped up next to them, giving Blazing a disappointed look. “I know you meant well, but the ends do not justify the means. Infesting ponies with these aliens, letting them die, all in the name of progress... I simply can't let it continue. With Twilight possessing one of the symbiotes, we have all we need to convict you. To say nothing of how there are spells to let us play our memories of your confession to a court. But if you just tell us where you took the others, and hand over all your files on the experiments, I'm sure we can work out a lighter sentence.”

He struggled for a while against Venom's bonds, but couldn't break free. He finally stilled, and growled, “I'm not telling you anything.”

Celestia sighed. “That's too bad. Twilight, you've done enough. Please change back.”

She did so, replacing Venom's tendrils with her magic. Celestia called for her guards, and they ran back into the room.

“Arrest him,” Celestia ordered.

They marched up to Blazing and cuffed his front legs together, then the back, and one of them slipped a horn cover on that would nullify his magic.

“Take him away,” Luna said. “We have some more work to do here, we'll join you shortly.”

They nodded and pushed Blazing along. He glared at them, and silently walked from the room, staring straight ahead and not acknowledging the guard that was reading him his rights.

Twilight was quiet until they were gone, then she said, “Was transforming a bit too much?”

“No, it got him talking, which is just what we needed,” Celestia replied. “But we still need to find the patients.”

“Right. I think our best bet is that tunnel I found.”

Celestia agreed, and they headed out of the office and down to the first floor. They dismissed the rest of their guards and called Cadance over, filling her in on everything that happened in the office.

“Whoa. I'm glad he told the truth, but wow, Twilight.” Cadance playfully bumped her hip. “You're pretty badass, huh?”

Twilight chuckled. “Heh, yeah. So, Celestia, Luna, and I are gonna go check out that tunnel we found. Would you mind staying here and interviewing a few more employees? Now that Blazing is gone, they might be more open about what's been going on here. Oh, and here's those documents you found. Keep looking for the originals.”

“Absolutely. Good luck, and stay safe.”

Twilight looked outside, watching a few guards lead Blazing away. He looked over his shoulder back at her, giving her an unreadable look, before disappearing from sight down the hill. She turned away and headed for the stairs. “Alright, let's go.”

25. Confessions

As Celestia predicted, the following days were not enjoyable. But she and the princesses did what needed to be done. They told Equestria everything.

Well, perhaps not quite everything. While Twilight was honest with her subjects about being bonded to Venom, she didn't tell them that they were responsible for the massacre in Fillydelphia. But she was honest about everything she could be. How she met Venom. What the Life Aura Center has been doing to its patients. Who the symbiotes were and how Riot's team planned to move forward and live in Equestria with their new partners.

There were countless questions to answer. There were reports to fill out and investigations to supervise. Celestia and Twilight were both often being asked to talk to the families of the victims, and it was emotionally draining on both of them. But they would be kind during such meetings, offer their condolences, and wouldn't argue against any of the accusations or insults thrown their way. It was understandable that so many ponies were hurting after this. They would be there to listen, apologize, and promise that this will never happen again.

Celestia ended up taking over the bulk of the administrative and legal work, as she was very experienced in handling these matters. She only asked that Twilight help get Blazing Aura ready for his trial and that she take some time to herself as well.

Blazing, however, was in no state to appear before a court. And it seemed that he wouldn't be for a very long time.

With only a few hours in Blazing's body, Riot had managed to severely atrophy several of his organs and a good amount of his muscle tissue, consuming as much as he could to keep up the strength to fight back against Twilight and Venom. The battle with Scorn pushed him to the limits. Blazing was absolutely starved and dehydrated by the time Riot was separated from him, and was delirious on top of going into shock. He was stabilized at the Baltimare hospital and would be kept there until he was deemed fit enough to move to one in Canterlot. But though he wasn't at immediate risk for dying, he seemed to have lost the will to live.

He didn't eat or drink anything offered to him. He didn't move to clean himself or use the restroom. He ignored everyone who attempted to talk to him. He just laid in his bed, alone in a room with guards posted outside 24/7, and stared up at the ceiling, mumbling to himself.

Twilight tried to talk to him, but he was lost in musings, talking about what-ifs and how great the world could have been. Occasionally he would whisper Riot's name and beg him to come back. Venom called it a serious case of host dependency on a symbiote. It often happened when one of his kind forced another creature into subservience to them. The host's broken mind coped by clinging desperately to the idea that their Klyntar partner appreciated and relied on them. Tearing the symbiote away only breaks the host further. Venom wasn't sure Blazing could ever come back from his condition.

Even with Twilight hovering right over Blazing's face, touching his shoulder and trying to speak to him, he looked right through her. So she made the decision to have him moved to a mental health hospital as soon as he was able to, and hopefully the doctors there would be able to get him the help he needed. If he recovered, then a trial could be held. Until then, she didn't feel comfortable making him defend himself in court.

She wrote a letter to send to Celestia, sitting beside Blazing as she did. When she was done and sent it off, she stood and gave the other a final examination. Since he wouldn't eat, he was being fed and hydrated intravenously. It was already taking its toll on him. He looked thin and pale.

“I'm not forgiving you, but I hope you come back from this,” she said, brushing a bit of his mane out of his eyes and adjusting the pillow under his head. Then she walked away.

“We aren't alone.”

Twilight paused at the sudden clarity of his words. She turned and looked back at him. He had turned his head toward her. His eyes were still wide and troubled, but they were aimed at her. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“The others may have betrayed us, turned against their glorious leader, but one. One is loyal. One will always be loyal. And he got away. And he'll come for you.” Blazing broke into frenzied laughter, and Twilight tensed when she saw his heartbeat spike on the monitor. She hurried over to him, making him lay back.

“Calm down, you're going to hurt yourself-”

“You'll be sorry when our most dedicated soldier comes back for you!” Blazing shouted, grabbing her around the neck. She could have easily broken out of his hold, but she didn't, staring into his manic eyes. “Carnage will make you suffer!” Her blood ran cold as Venom seemed to shiver. Then the guards rushed in and quickly got on either side of Blazing, yanking him away from Twilight and lifting their spears.

“I'm okay, he didn't hurt me,” Twilight said hastily, backing away. “Don't hurt him, he's harmless. Just... having an outburst.”

She couldn't deny how ruffled her feathers were after that, though. While the guards got Blazing to lay back and calm down, she moved quickly toward the door. As soon as she was through it, she took off running.

Carnage won't be a threat, will he? If he does come after us?

Riot may have been old and physically powerful, but Carnage was bred to be the perfect soldier. He's taken hosts on many different worlds and used them to become stronger, and throughout all our battles, he always had the highest death count. He's ruthless, savage... and smart on top of that. He's manipulative and cruel. If he were to confront us, it would be a difficult battle. He fights dirty. I dread having to face him. But you know what? Venom slid some tendrils out of their body to wrap affectionately around Twilight's neck and across her withers. He still won't be a match for us. Me and you, we... we can do anything. When the time comes, we'll find him, and we'll destroy him like we did Riot.

So I take it he won't be into the friendship thing?

Heh. Not at all. He has no capacity for love or sympathy. In a way, he's even more dangerous than Riot. It was only a matter of time until he overthrew Riot anyway, as he found Riot's methods to be poorly planned and slow. No, we likely won't be able to get through to him. We can try, but if we fail, we'll do what we have to do.

Twilight nodded in understanding and slowed to a trot, but she still wasted no time getting out of the hospital. Now that she had written to Celestia about Blazing's condition, she supposed she needed to follow the next part of Celestia's instructions. Take some time to herself.

She and Venom agreed to fly home, and she opened her wings, taking to the air. Up high, with only the clouds around them and no one to overhear them, Venom showed more of himself, draping his head across Twilight's face and giving a deep sigh.

“Finally, some time to ourselves,” he said. “What will we do with it?”

“I'm thinking we just go back home... and go to my spa room,” Twilight replied. “So I can just dunk myself into a hot tub and stay there all day.”

He chuckled. “Sounds pleasant.”

They were quiet for a while, just watching the ground pass far below, content with each other's presence. But Twilight was also lost in thought, and finally she said, “So um, I've been wanting to talk to you about something.”

“Yes?”

“A few days ago, back when, you know, I had just been stabbed by Riot and you bonded with me again. There was this moment, when you were holding my face and looking at me...” She started blushing, ears laying back in embarrassment.

“No need to be shy, say what you need to say.”

“It's just... well, I think we both felt it, didn't we?”

“Felt what?”

“How much we care for each other.” She smiled when she felt the tiniest coils of apprehension from him. But he didn't shirk away, instead moving his face in front of hers and subtly moving their wings in a different direction.

She followed, landing on the closest cloud and sitting. He formed more of his body outside hers, cupping her cheeks in his palms. “You mean when I was looking at you like this, thinking about how happy I was that I had gotten to you in time?”

“Yeah. And I nuzzled your cheek, like this...” She leaned in, softly brushing her lips along the side of his face. His skin shifted under her touch, pressing ever so slightly back against her.

“And I felt a connection with you I've never felt for anyone.” He tilted her head a bit as he gazed at her. “And I felt what you wanted to do, but we had business to finish with Riot, didn't we?”

Her blush spread. “We did. So we suited up and got to it. But... I think we had unfinished business too, didn't we?”

He wasn't able to blush, but she could feel the heat in his body, how it glowed in his face and hands. He gave her a wide smile. “Did we?”

There was no doubt in her mind what she had been hoping for that day. So Twilight set aside her reservations and closed the distance between them, kissing him. She was worried he wouldn't feel the same way, but then he gathered her close, kissing her back. It was electric, tingles going down her spine that echoed through Venom's own body, and they felt each other's pleasure in a feedback loop that intensified it further. The world around them stood still and all they were aware of was each other. But as much as she liked it, Twilight soon moved away, needing to catch her breath. She stared at the other, surprised that she had done that. He stared back, then slowly licked his lips off.

“You're delicious,” he teased.

She lightly smacked his shoulder. “And you taste like death.”

He smirked. “Oh, you don't mean that. You seemed to rather like my taste.”

She giggled and looked away. “Heh, well, you certainly taste... unlike anything else in Equestria.”

“Alien. You mean I taste alien.”

“...Right.” She pulled him in for another kiss, and this one was much slower and more intimate, as they explored each other's lips and just enjoyed the warmth between them. And even when they leaned apart to let Twilight breathe, she would rest her forehead against Venom's and just smile at him. His hands moved down to clasp her hooves, and she felt all his emotions across their bond. He was actually a little nervous, experiencing completely new desires and feelings, but she reassured him that he could feel however he wanted to. She felt his admiration for her, his trust, and finally...

Twilight's heart beat faster, both of them realizing at the same time how much they really meant to each other. It may not have been that long since they met, but they both felt it... they were meant for each other.

“If you'll have me, I want to be with you for the rest of our lives,” Venom said, more serious than she's ever heard him.

“And I want to be with you too,” she replied softly. She leaned forward and he embraced her, running his fingers through her mane. “I love you.”

She knew it was the first time someone had ever said that to him. For a brief moment he was confused and anxious, also fearful. Then he felt her sincerity, a wave of relief and happiness sweeping through him. “You sure? I am an alien after all, a creature far different from you, one who has done horrible things... you would really love someone like me?”

“Without hesitation,” she replied. “I've seen who you really are, I've seen your kindness and passion... and I want to be with you. I love you. Unconditionally.”

He grinned and snuggled against her, nearly coating her with tendrils as he hugged her tight. “I love you too. And I will never let you go. You are mine.”

She laughed, raising a hoof to pet the back of his head. “You're such a big sap.”

“But I'm your big sap, and you love me,” he said smugly.

“Yeah, I do. But as much as I'd like to just sit here and kiss you, I still wanna take that bath.”

“Right. I do too. Then come, let's keep going.” Venom opened their wings and picked their body up, hurling them off the cloud. Twilight laughed and shared the control with him, leveling out and soaring toward Ponyville.

She may have gone through a lot over the past several days, seen things that would haunt her dreams, but at least she had made a close friend and confidant along the way. And now their relationship has taken a step further, and she had a devoted partner that would always be there to comfort her when she needed it. She still thought of the mare who died, Honey Dew. She thought of the distressed patients in the Life Aura Center and how Rock Break had died under her hooves. It was all painful to look back on, but now she and the other princesses were doing what they could to right those wrongs, and if the memories ever became too overwhelming... Venom would help her get through it.

“Things will be better going forward,” Venom assured her. “We saved so many ponies from ever having to suffer what Rock Break and the others did. I too regret that so many died, but we can't change it. We can only move on.”

“Right. I know. And I'll try not to dwell too much on what I can't change.” Twilight checked where they were and changed paths ever so slightly, not wanting to get off course. “So, I don't think I want to do that vigilante stuff like we were before.”

“Oh, come on!”

“Hold on, you didn't let me finish. I don't want us to just run around catching bad guys and eating them... not unless we see somepony actively hurting somepony else, I guess. I mean, if we happen to be walking around, and see like... a serious mugging, we can act however we need to in order to save a life...” Venom snickered at that, and Twilight continued, “But we need to work with the law. I'm sure if we talked to Celestia about it, she'd have no problem setting us up with a police force. We can still get criminals off the streets. But we won't just be some unknown monster running around eating ponies. They'll figure out who we are, and what'll that mean for the other Klyntar? We want you and your friends to be trusted to live peacefully in Equestria, and that won't happen if we're biting heads off all the time!”

Venom considered that, and gave a dramatic sigh. “Well when you put it that way, I understand. We of course want to maintain a good relationship with Equestria. But, when we can get away with it, I would still like to do like we did to that gang in Fillydelphia. We'll just be sneakier. No witnesses. No survivors. Come on, I know you liked that.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, then said under her breath, “Maybe on rare occasions.” Louder, she said, “But we shouldn't make a habit of it, okay? Seriously, we can deal with crime in a more organized, reasonable fashion.”

“You're too kindhearted! All of you creatures are! It's ridiculous!”

“And yet, you've taken a liking to us, haven't you?”

He purred. “Unfortunately, yes. I have.”

Twilight gently bumped her head against his, then said, “Anyway, different subject. When do you think Scorn will have your ship repaired?”

While Twilight has been handling legal matters, Scorn and some of the other symbiotes had recovered their ship and moved it to a secure area in the Canterlot Royal Guard base, where it could be hidden while they worked on repairing it.

“It mostly sustained structural damage while crashing to the surface. As long as she can recreate the alloys used in the hull, and update our guidance system to handle your weird magical solar system, she should be able to get it fixed soon. Might take a few weeks though.”

“And once it's done, will we be contacting your planet?”

“I think we should. We need to let them know Riot has been taken down and that our squad is no more. I mean, we're alive, but we've given up our mission. I'm sure the rest of the Klyntar will be happy to know that. And then you or Celestia or whoever can handle all the diplomatic stuff because I suck at it.”

“That's fair. Well alright. I can't wait to see how much our people can learn from each other.”

“Me neither. I think we have a bright and exciting future ahead of us.”

And with that, they continued their flight home, both thinking about what their future together held.