Venom was so surprised by her sudden appearance that it instantly retracted its tentacles and released the girls. Once freed, they tried to cover their injuries with anything they could find (including pieces of their own clothing) in order to stop the bleeding.

"Sweetie Belle? What in tarnation are you doin' here? Where's Apple Bloom and Scootaloo?"

"I managed to sneak out of the house without alerting them, but I think they've figured it out by now and are on their way here. I'm really sorry, but I just wanted to know what was really going on. Now that I do, I'm actually even more confused and a little bit scared."

At that moment, both girls suddenly arrived with Apple Bloom carrying medical supplies and Scootaloo holding a baseball bat. Once they did, they began to attend to their sisters and friends.

Venom, meanwhile began to approach Sweetie Belle who, despite being pretty intimidated by its appearance, was nevertheless standing her ground.

"Well, this is certainly a delightful surprise. Rarity's younger sibling wishes to talk to us. Now, don't be shy, little one. You may ask of us anything you desire and we will do our very best to help you."

"I... I want my sister back. Can you please help me with that?"

"Then, we are sorry, child. She belongs to us, now and forever. Giving her back is the same as ripping us apart. We hope that you can understand."

"What? No, I don't understand! I don't even understand WHAT you are!"

"That's easy enough to explain. We are Venom, dear, and we were born from the bond between your sibling and a symbiote from another end of the known universe."

"Another end of the universe? Wait, the meteor shower last week... It brought that thing here that night."

"Correct."

"And it somehow got inside Rarity."

"Correct again."

"And made her hear voices in her head and act really weird for a whole week."

Venom's attitude suddenly changed from impressed to furious.

"What? You dare insult the Symbiote?! He was the one who gave your sibling the very strength she needed to recover from her emotional breakdown and take revenge on her enemies. Plus, it allowed her to become the absolutely perfect version of herself. She tolerated no insults from anyone and severely punished those who dared to cross her. You actually have the audacity to call these gifts 'weird'?!"

Just then, a determined expression appeared on Sweetie Belle's face as she took a few steps towards Venom.

"Yes, I do! In fact, I call it 'ridiculous'! The Symbiote may have tried to help my sister sort out her latest problems and I really appreciate that. But, I've known her my whole life and she is definitely NOT someone who bullies anyone who makes her angry. Instead, she takes her time to process criticisms and comes up with creative solutions for her problems. That's one of the many things I admire about her. Heck, it can take a full hour to list all the others. But the most important one, and also the reason why I've always looked up to her, is her undying desire to please everyone around her. She always uses her creativity for the good of everyone, and never lets her friends and family get the short end of the stick. I haven't seen any of it since the Symbiote got in her head. He may have helped her with an emotional breakdown, but he also suppressed the thing that defines her. Right now, I want him to leave Rarity alone and never come back! I am not leaving until he does! Do you hear me?!"

Despite her tone, Venom just stood there unfazed.

"I hear you and what I hear irritates me. If silencing your vexing voice means tearing you apart, so be it!"

As it raised one of its claws to strike her, she fearfully ducked for cover and everyone else gasped in horror. Just before it brought the claw down upon her, however, the claw suddenly stopped moving. No matter how hard Venom tried to move it, the claw was simply stuck.

"What is going on? Why can't I move?!"

Just then, the claw moved on its own and along with the other claw, began to tear open his face to reveal Rarity struggling inside. Needless to say, everyone (especially, Sweetie Belle) was overjoyed by this revelation. However, a sudden exclamation from Rarity snapped them back to reality.

"Well, don't just stand there! Help me with this! He's still too strong!"

After hearing that, they gave each other determined looks and nodded in unison before heading for action.

Sunset, Fluttershy, and Twilight quickly grabbed their flamethrowers and fired at the Symbiote from all three sides in order to assist Rarity with getting it off of her. During all of that; Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie rushed inside the house and came back a minute later carrying speaker and guitars. The CMC, meanwhile, were watching all the action from a safe distance and Scootaloo was holding that baseball bat like their very lives depended on it.

By the time Applejack, Pinkie, and Rainbow came back with the equipment, the others had managed to get every single part of the Symbiote off of Rarity's body. While the whole ordeal had left her exhausted and weakened, they caught her just before she could collapse.

However, the time for rest ran out too quickly as the Symbiote not only put himself back together, but also transformed into a giant ooze monster. Everyone shrieked in horror when they saw this.

"Why do you insist on destroying me? I did nothing wrong!"

Despite being severely weakened, Rarity managed to stand up and take a few steps towards the monster while furiously glaring at it.

"We had a deal, remember? You have violated it!"

"I did not! I made your life better than ever!"

"Right before you made it worse than ever!"

"Please, just think about this! I'm the only friend you can depend on!"

"Sorry, darling, but I have better friends right here by my side."

Inspired by that declaration; Twilight, Sunset, and Fluttershy also took a few steps forward and pointed their flamethrowers right at the monster.

"Do you honestly think you can be rid of me this easily? Even with the combined power of your friends, you are still no match for me. And I simply WILL NOT allow myself to be rejected by another host!"

Before the girls could fire any more flames, the Symbiote grabbed all three flamethrowers with his gigantic tongue and tore them apart with its huge razor-sharp teeth. Realizing that they were in serious trouble, Rarity worriedly looked back at Rainbow and Applejack, and was instantly relieved to find out that they were done wit setting up the equipment. Therefore, she loudly shouted at them.

"Go, Rainbow Dash! Play the loudest song you can think of!"

Hearing this, Rainbow quickly grabbed a guitar.

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Wait, what are you doing? Are those-"

Despite this confusion, however, it was too late as Rainbow played a theme that only true heroes deserved. While her friends were successfully covering their ears, the Symbiote was suffering greatly. Then, a couple of minutes later, he exploded in spectacular fashion and everyone, despite being covered in dead alien slime, happily cheered. Once she wiped some of the goo off of her, Rainbow joined the celebration too.

"Oh my gosh! This was so awesome! Can we do the same to the other one after making it bigger?"

Everyone gave her confused looks.

"Gotcha!"

She began to laugh hysterically, but stopped when she realized that the others were unamused.

"Yeah, too soon."

Just then, Sweetie Belle tearfully ran up to Rarity and gave her the biggest hug in the history of hugs.

"I knew you'd come back! I've missed you so much, sis!"

Rarity also teared up and hugged her back with equal strength.

"Oh, darling, I've missed you too. Thank you so very much for reminding me why I should come back. You're a true hero in my eyes."

Sweetie chuckled a bit.

"No problem. Just doing my job."

They continued to hug for a good number of seconds while the others watched with smiles on their faces. A while later, Rarity turned her attention towards her friends.

"I'm terribly sorry about everything, girls. I should've never listened to the Symbiote in the first place. Instead, I let his influence make me hurt the very people that I work incredibly hard to please and are closest to my heart. If you're not willing to forgive me for all the pain I caused you, it's totally fine. I honestly wouldn't forgive myself either."

To her surprise, everyone joined in for a group hug around her.

"We're just glad that you're yerself again, sugarcube."

"Oh, thanks, Applejack. It IS good to be back."

Once they released her, she exclaimed one more time.

"Now, come on, everyone! Let's clean this mess up as soon as possible so that we can have a victory celebration at my place!"

Everyone cheered for these news and immediately got to work.

Author's Note

One more to go!