The Parasite

Sunset gasped, eyes shooting open as she sat up. Her skin tingled and she rubbed her arms, shakily looking around her dorm. Did she fall asleep?

I may have been a little rough with you, a voice suddenly said in her head, and she jerked.

“Who...” As she woke up more fully, she remembered. An old employee of Equestria coming to talk to her... a bright red alien creature... Carnage. “Carnage?” she asked tentatively.

Red tendrils of skin slid out of her body, linking together into a slender neck and then a sharply angled face. Large opal eyes glinted at her over a large maw filled with razor-sharp teeth. “Yes. Hello, Sunset. I can't thank you enough for your cooperation.”

Sunset swallowed, examining him as she tried to get used to this. “Twilight had... told me it didn't hurt. Being connected to one of you.”

“Did she?” Carnage made a note to search her memories for more information, but right now he was focused on the present. “Well, are you in pain?”

Sunset found that no, she wasn't. In fact, she felt more alert and energetic than ever before. Maybe Twilight just meant that things didn't hurt after the bonding? “Not now, but it hurt when you connected to me, I mean I passed out!”

“You were probably just in shock, that's all. Perfectly normal.” Carnage turned to look at the floor, and Sunset followed his gaze. She gasped when she saw that Light Touch had collapsed, and slid down next to him, grasping his shoulders. “Don't bother. He's dead.”

Sunset jerked her head toward him. “Dead?!”

“Yes, that's what I said. Dead! He was weak and died as soon as I left him! He's as dead as beef jerky! Speaking of which, mm...” Carnage licked his lips, and Sunset shuddered when she saw how long and slimy his tongue was. “Free dinner.”

“What?! You can't just eat him!”

Carnage glared at her. “Be reasonable, Sunset! He's not from this world, what would you do with the body? We must dispose of it. We can make sure it's never found. Equestria believes him to be dead anyway.”

Sunset gulped, but her stomach churned with an unnatural hunger. As horrible as it was, Carnage was right. There was no record of Light Touch here... not this version of him, anyway. There really was only one way to ensure the body wasn't found, that his death wasn't traced back to her. She closed her eyes and turned away. She felt like she was going to start sobbing if she looked at the body any longer. “Okay, just do it then.” She covered her ears as the other messily began chomping at the body, but that didn't completely block out the nauseating sound of wet slurping and crunching. And even more disgusting, she was able to feel it seeming to move right through him and into her stomach, and she covered her mouth as she fought the urge to throw up. However, she also felt it soothing the other's hunger.

It only took a few moments, then Carnage was done and rumbling with satisfaction. “There we are, feels good, doesn't it? Do you feel the power?”

She cautiously looked at him. His fierce eyes were locked on hers, and she saw a small trail of blood run from his teeth. He licked it off. “I do feel stronger,” she admitted. “But that's an awful way to get power!”

He scoffed. “He was dead anyway. Not eating him wouldn't have fixed it. And that is the sort of fuel we will need if I am to remain healthy.”

“Is it... normal for hosts to just... die when one of you leave?” she asked nervously.

“Not at all. As I said, he was weak. He was dying anyway, his body overexerting itself trying to sustain mine. As soon as I left, he had no energy left and everything shut down. But you won't have that problem. You're strong. We fit together just fine.”

“Ugh. I think I just... I need to lay down.” Sunset numbly walked over to her bed, collapsing onto it and rubbing her temples. Her body shook slightly as she tried not to cry over what she just saw.

“Of course,” Carnage said as gently as he could muster, forming a hand to run against her hair. “Rest. I have a lot to think about anyway.”

She nodded and buried her face into a pillow, and he could sense her eyes stinging and her shaking getting worse as she fought back sobs. She seemed unable to stop thinking about what he did, and he decided to just ignore her emotional turmoil and immerse himself in her memories, wanting to learn more about her. He hissed when he saw Twilight, but what really caught his attention was Venom. He knew he had gotten free of the Life Aura Center, but he had hitchhiked out in Twilight Sparkle?! His anger only grew as he listened to their story of taking down the center, fighting Riot, and finally killing him. He gnashed his teeth at the thought of his fellow Klyntar turning against their brave leader and helping the ponies. And to think that they all joined those pathetic creatures? That they were giving up the invasion for cozy, domestic lives?!

Carnage seethed, pushing his mind away from the disgusting memories. The other symbiotes were clearly too far gone. He would have to eliminate everyone from his team and start over fresh with his own, uncorrupted spawn. He began adjusting his plan. He would build strength with Sunset, eating each of her friends from this world to absorb their powers, and then he could go back to Equestria, consume the traitors, and finally confront Venom. He would make him suffer slowly and painfully for starting the rebellion.

“You alright?” Sunset mumbled from underneath him. “You feel... angry.”

Carnage snapped his attention back to the present and did a quick mental check to make sure she hadn't heard anything, but it seemed she was only sensing his emotions. He curtly replied, “Just thinking about what happened to my people who were captured. I am fine.” It took all his self control to not just go on a rampage gathering strength right now. But no, he needed to get this creature to trust him. A willing host was so much easier to control than a defiant one. He decided to go further into Sunset's memories, learning about her past and what made her into the person she was today. He analyzed her personality, her quirks and her fears, what she liked to do and what she loathed. He knew he would have to be able to perfectly imitate her whenever he seized control.

“You have the potential for greatness inside you,” he said as he examined her memory of becoming a powerful demon. “You're ambitious like me. We will make an excellent team. I can get you all the strength you've ever wanted. We can be strong and beautiful together, just like when you became that phoenix-like goddess to save your dear friend Twi.”

Sunset lifted her head, wiping tears from her eyes. “Goddess is a pretty strong word,” she said, but she did find herself longing to feel that power flow through her again. It had felt so warm, so right for her. It felt like what she imagined being an alicorn was like.

“Yet it fits, doesn't it? Think of what you could do with all that magic. You're a hero to this city, but imagine being a hero to the entire world. Leading it into a bright new future.”

“Hm, it does sound nice.”

“Yes, it does. Trust me, Sunset, and we'll do great things together. Just like Twilight and Venom did.”

“Yeah... I'm not gonna lie, I'm still creeped out by, you know...” Sunset leaned up and gestured toward the floor where Light's body had lain. Carnage resisted the urge to groan as he felt a pang of sadness from her. She was still torn up over that? “But Twilight said you don't need to eat people, you'll be fine with raw meat, and chocolate, and... affection from your host. So we'll make this work.”

“Live prey tastes so much better.”

“Yes, but it's wrong.”

“What if they deserve it?”

“I don't think anyone deserves being eaten alive, no matter what they've done.”

“I'm sure there are some especially nasty humans who would deserve such a punishment...” Carnage brought up a few of her memories about appalling dictators and criminals throughout history.

Sunset shook her head, mentally shoving them away. “Well, yeah, who doesn't like a good torture fantasy about bad people, but... but I'd never want to actually do it, that's not who I am!”

Carnage decided to relent, for now. He'll ease her into it. But he could feel that darkness deep within her. He would bring it out one day, and he didn't care if it was willingly or by force. “Fine. We don't have to finally live out your justice fantasies. We don't have to travel the city, you completely concealed beneath my form and thus unable to be identified, able to punish whoever we want. We'll stick to long-dead animals and chocolate instead.”

Sunset sighed and laid back down. “You know, you're a lot more brutal than I was expecting.”

“My team came to Equus with the intent to enslave the entire population and use them as hosts to produce armies of Klyntar, while feeding on those too weak or rebellious to host us. Of course I'm brutal.”

“But you're like the others, right?” Sunset asked. “You don't want to do that anymore?”

“Of course not,” Carnage lied. “For now I just want to recover my strength. Perhaps one day rejoin my people in Equestria. No more.”

“Alright then. Man, it's kinda early but I'm beat. Think I'm gonna just go ahead and go to sleep.”

“Sleep then. I'll watch after you.”

Sunset nodded and slipped under the covers, and Carnage used his link to her to make her fall asleep in seconds. Once she was out, he withdrew himself into her body, fully immersing himself in her memories again. She didn't suspect him at all. She trusted that pony princess so much. It would be her downfall.

He began learning about her friends. He would have to be very careful in how he disposed of those six...

Sunset elected not to tell her friends about Carnage yet. She still needed some time to figure out how to break the news to them. They didn't know anything about the symbiotes and it may be better if she had Twilight with her when she told them. Plus, she wanted to sort out her own feelings about Carnage first. He was surprisingly quiet throughout the next school week, apparently content to observe everything she did, but she got an uneasy vibe from him. He was like a persistent dark cloud always at the back of her mind. And whenever he did talk, it was usually to make shockingly cruel remarks about the people around her, or to carry out a scathing commentary on whatever subject she was learning, and several times he simply urged her to lash out at someone or break something. It was in his nature to be this way, he claimed.

She did her best to find some common ground with him, but his way of thinking was simply alien to her. She couldn't help but wonder how Twilight and Venom managed to make things work.

She groaned as a headache stabbed at her temples, dropping her head into her hands. That was another thing. Carnage always seemed to be listening to her thoughts, and his anger would spike into physical pain when she thought about Venom. But he refused to tell her why.

Sunset was already frustrated with Carnage's presence by the time the weekend arrived, and as soon as she walked into her dorm room on Friday after the last class of the day, she firmly demanded, “Okay, get out here and look at me.”

With a sensation like hundreds of needles dragging across her skin, he emerged from her body and faced her, opal eyes narrowed and teeth glinting. “Yes, Sunset?”

“I think we need to have a talk.” Sunset crossed the room to the couch and dropped onto it, crossing her arms.

The other fixed her with a steady stare. Unblinking, unperturbed. “About what?”

“You're in my head, I think you know.”

He growled. “You're regretting our bond.”

“Kinda, yeah. Twilight made it seem so- gah.” She winced as pain shot through her skull again, and she saw the other noticeably snarl. “Quit doing that! First off, what's your problem with Twilight and Venom?”

He was silent for a moment. Then he said, “Let's just say Venom and I had our disagreements back when we worked together. Now. What's this about regretting our bond with each other?”

“It had seemed like a good idea, I know you can't survive here alone and I really wanted to help you, especially since your previous host, well...” Sunset gestured vaguely, and groaned, rubbing her stomach. She still got upset and nauseous remembering it, almost able to taste the poor stallion in the back of her throat. “Anyway. I wanted to help you recover your strength. I could tell whatever that company in Equestria did to you really hurt you. But this isn't going to work if you're going to keep saying all those cruel things in my head, and pushing me to act violently for no reason, and just... ugh!” She dragged her nails against her arms as even now his rage swirled through her and joined in with her own emotions. “This is supposed to be a mutual symbiosis, right? That's what Twilight called it. We're supposed to benefit each other! Otherwise you're just a rude parasite!”

He snapped, and for a moment more of his tendrils surged out and formed arms, which he extended toward her as if he was going to seize her neck. She jerked back, but he stopped himself, claws inches from her throat. He curled them and dropped his arms, the skin melting away and becoming tendrils once more. “You want some kind of benefit? Have you not noticed how much stronger you are now? How much more intelligent you are, how I've been feeding you all the knowledge you need for those pathetic classes that pass for higher education here?!”

Sunset's heart was beating hard, but she refused to let him intimidate her. He needed her, and they both knew it. So she took a deep breath and said, “Let's get something straight. Never threaten me like that again. You try to hurt me and I'll make sure you regret it.”

He growled, telling himself he was going to make her suffer greatly later. But saying so out loud wasn't the pragmatic choice right now, so he replied, “My temper got the best of me. It won't happen again.”

“It better not. If you don't start behaving I will do whatever it takes to remove you from me, and you can find someone else to tolerate your temper. Now, you need to stop causing me pain. We're a team, now. Let's act like it.”

He settled slightly, deciding he could use this. “That's right, Shimmer,” he said in as calm a voice as he could muster. “We are a team. Truth is, I've become temperamental because I'm very hungry. You can feel it, right?”

Her stomach growled and she wrapped her arms around it, though she also tilted her head with confusion. “I've been eating three meals a day...”

“It's not enough. I require meat. Livers. Mm... brains. We must hunt.”

“I told you, we can't eat people, we can survive on-”

“Chocolate and cooked meat isn't doing it for me. We do not have the sort of bond that produces enough of your own brain chemicals for me to feed on. At least, not without me depriving you entirely of phenylethylamine and send you spiraling into a depression. No! I need to get it from others! We need to hunt!”

“Ugh.” Sunset turned and threw herself on her stomach, dragging over a pillow to bury her face into. “That's so wrong, I can't just... we can't just kill people.”

“Oh don't be like that, this is a college and it's no doubt full of scum, if we simply attend one of those so-called frat parties...”

“No.” She pushed herself up, glaring at him. “I can tell you're not going to let this go. If you absolutely must have a human, we can, I don't know...” She sighed. “Sneak into the local prison or something, find someone we know for absolute sure was convicted of some terrible crime and-”

“You don't have to tell me twice!” He disappeared back under her skin, and with a yelp, she found herself jumping to her feet and running to grab her keys before throwing open the door.

Sunset was briefly stunned at how quickly and easily he had seized control of her body, and they were halfway down the stairs before she stopped them and asked, Wait, where are we going?

The library to do research!

Why the library, I have a perfectly good laptop back-

Don't be stupid, if we use your laptop to find our victim and then go and kill them, that can incriminate you!

I really doubt it'd be traced back to-

Maybe not, but it COULD be! And why take that chance? We're going to the library and using a public computer that isn't connected to your identity!

Sunset didn't argue further. But she did mentally shoulder Carnage's will aside so they could at least share control of her body as they made their way outside. She felt irritation from him but didn't dwell on it. Maybe things were rough between Twilight and Venom at first too. They'll make this work. Eventually.