The Parasite

Sunset had tons of reservations, but she said nothing as she and Carnage selected a computer toward the back of the library, where they could have their back to a wall and no one else was nearby. They sank into the chair, and she let him take control for the search. He immediately sent their fingers flying across the keys, and she heard him grumble darkly in his thoughts about how primitive Earth computers were. He brought up Google and began searching for the nearest prison. He found that Canterlot had one, on the outskirts of the city and surrounded by razor wire according to the photos. There was only one road in or out, and it passed a gatehouse which would no doubt have armed guards.

Carnage didn’t seem concerned with the security, just noting it and moving on to a new search for people who have been convicted and sent there. Luckily, arrest records and court cases were all very public and anyone could find them if they just looked.

What about this? he asked Sunset. This man beat his wife so severely she was hospitalized. Lots of evidence. He confessed. Very cut and dry. I can eat him, right? Is he bad enough for your delicate sense of justice?

Sunset hesitated. Sure, there was no doubt the person was cruel, but… I don’t know, what he did was bad, but I think he could change, you know?

Ugh. This isn’t some children’s cartoon, not every bad guy just changes for the better. We can get rid of him right now! That poor wife of his will have nothing to fear if we do. What if he gets released and attacks someone again? Don’t you want to prevent that?

I don’t want to kill him, Sunset thought, narrowing her eyes and slapping the table in her annoyance.

She felt the familiar coils of disdain from the other, a drawn out growl echoing in her mind. She could almost feel his urge to sink his claws into her. But he didn’t act on it, just moving their hands back to the keyboard. Fine! You want bad? I can see in your mind what you really consider unforgivable… here! In seconds he had pulled up a new record and even made her move her face closer to the screen. Is this unrepentant rapist bad enough for you?!

Sunset’s eyes widened a bit as she took in the information. Out loud, she whispered, “How can anyone treat other people that way? Eight confirmed victims and testimony from even more… and the way he abused them…”

I bet I could find the pictures the docs took. Show you all the cuts and the bruises… oh, one of the poor darlings was burned. Needed skin grafts. Now is that a human that needs to be left alive?

Sunset shook her head, feeling sick as she scrolled back up to look at the name. Brass Knuckles.

Who would name a kid that? she wondered.

You’re not one to talk, you equines have a ton of stupid names.

Yeah but I’ve never heard of anyone naming their foal after a brutal gang weapon.

Meh. Well? We killing him or what?

Sunset looked at the man’s face. Even for a mugshot, his blue eyes seemed unusually blank, like he was looking past the camera. His lips were curled slightly into a smile, and he was clean-shaven. His hair was short but styled nicely. He didn’t look dangerous. But Sunset knew from experience you couldn’t trust people on appearances alone.

Yeah, she answered. If you must eat someone… eat him.

Finally! Carnage straightened their arms and stood them up. He took a few moments to erase their Internet history, and after a second of thought, also opened the command prompt so he could flush the DNS cache.

That probably isn’t necessary, Sunset commented.

Probably not but why make things easy if someone snoops on this later?

I’m also surprised the IT department or whatever hasn’t blocked that feature…

Carnage didn’t seem interested in discussing that further. He had gone quiet in her mind again, but she could feel his determination and hunger. They walked quickly out of the library, and once outside broke into a jog.

Sunset considered herself fairly athletic, but she was no Rainbow Dash. Spending more than a few minutes at a time running easily tired her out. At least, it used to. Now, she found herself feeling fine even as Carnage sped from a jog into a normal run.

Sunset just surrendered control over to him, keeping to her thoughts as he ran toward the prison. It would take a while, but there was no way they could take a car as recognizable as hers over that way without becoming a suspect.

They left the campus and Carnage pushed them into a full sprint.

Calm down, we’re going to look suspicious! she complained.

Nah, we’ll be fine! Stop worrying so much!

Sunset paid attention to how other people were looking at her, but none seemed too concerned. Sometimes other pedestrians would shoot her puzzled glances, and a few even commented on her speed, but they mostly just seemed to assume she was late for something and then moved on with their lives.

It occurred to her that they really were moving fast. She wasn’t sure she’s ever run like this before. At least, not as a human. They had to be going seven… no, maybe eight miles per hour? And still she didn’t feel tired. It seemed to take no effort at all to move like this.

This is the power we have together! Carnage bragged. Isn’t it great? We make each other strong! And I can make us stronger.

It is nice, she admitted.

Even at their speed though, it took them a while to get to the prison. They slowed down before they got too close, scouting out nearby buildings and then just stopping near the road that turned off and led toward it.

It was then that Sunset really got to appreciate how powerful Carnage’s senses were. Even through her eyes, somehow he was able to pinpoint where all the cameras were, and she could tell he was analyzing the locations of the windows, where doors were at, he even managed to pick out where a guard was patrolling outside with a dog and estimate how long the pair would take to make a lap of the compound.

It was with a chill that Sunset realized he was using memories from his time spent with Light Touch to thoroughly case their target and determine the best way in. It was obvious though that technology here was far better than in Equestria and he was looking at security that his last host had no experience with. So with what could only be described as a mental shrug, he decided to take a more direct route in.

Carnage abruptly turned them away from the prison and walked toward a nearby gas station. It was small, with only four pumps and a tiny store. Even so, there were customers.

What are we doing? Sunset asked.

Finding a suitable hiding place to get ready. Carnage went behind the building and dove out of view of the parking lot. Then, without any warning, more of his body than Sunset has ever seen at once exploded out from under her skin. The vivid red flesh completely coated her like a second skin, covering her clothes, her face… it was like being smothered in tar, and she yelped and instinctively flinched. Though she quickly realized she felt okay and could still breathe.

A warning next time would be nice, she thought.

Carnage chuckled, making them stand up tall. And oh, were they tall. Sunset guessed they were at least two feet taller now, and their body was coated in muscle. Big arms, powerful thighs, a toned abdomen. What she could see of them looked monstrous too, their fingers and toes tipped with sharp claws. She took control of their arms just so she could run their hands up toward their head. Her hair wasn’t there anymore, and she assumed it must have gotten slicked down under Carnage’s skin. Her ears and nose were similarly missing. Her entire face was hidden by the alien one.

“Holy crap,” she whispered, and her voice came out low and guttural, through a mouth with far too many teeth. It was the voice Carnage spoke to her with.

Impressive, yes? he thought smugly to her. No one will recognize you, no one will be able to punish you for what we are about to do. Now let’s eat. They began running. Sunset thought they were fast before, but that didn’t compare to this. They easily hit fifteen miles per hour, blowing past the customers at the gas station, many of whom leaped back and cried out in fear.

They paid the humans no mind, sprinting toward the road leading to the prison and tearing down it.

A vehicle was currently heading toward the gatehouse. They sped past it, and the driver slammed on their breaks and beeped.

Carnage turned and snarled against the driver side window, and the driver instead threw the car into reverse and got out of the way.

Everything was happening so fast Sunset could barely keep up with it. She was swept up into Carnage’s energy, enjoying the raw power in their body, even feeling a strange glee at how easily they intimidated that driver.

The door to the gatehouse opened and a man stepped out, looking shocked at the creature approaching him but nonetheless readying his gun.

Carnage kept running toward him, and Sunset felt a strange shifting on their back. Then a large tendril surged out of them, its tip forming into a sharp hook and shooting toward the other. He had little time to react before it had wrapped around him, stabbing his wrists until he dropped the weapon, at which point Carnage bound his hands too.

He struggled, and Sunset did her best to share control of their body as they approached him, telling Carnage she didn’t want to hurt him.

He’ll be fine, Carnage thought dismissively.

“What the fuck are you?” the man demanded, still trying to get away from them.

Bored, Carnage picked up the gun in a hand, and the other tensed. But instead of using it, Carnage simply disassembled it and tossed everything to the ground. Except the firing pin, which he snapped in half and then swallowed.

The man paled, freezing in place and just staring at them.

“I’ll be accessing this facility now,” Carnage said. He ignored Sunset’s thoughts and looped the tendril further around their captive, before squeezing until he yelped in pain. “You’ll give me a map of the inside.”

“I d-don’t…” He gasped for breath. “Have a map.”

“Sure you do. In here.” Carnage formed a second tendril, thinner but with the same hooked end. He plunged it into the other’s forehead.

Sunset cried out in their mind, but realized Carnage’s skin seemed to just meld right through the other without truly harming him, though it still seemed to cause him severe discomfort.

Then she sensed a third mind briefly join with hers and Carnage’s. A mind full of panic and distress, and then she suddenly knew the full layout of the prison, who ran it, even the names and locations of some of the prisoners.

Carnage smirked and withdrew the tendril, and the third mind disappeared. Sunset almost expected there to be a gaping wound left in the guard’s forehead, but there was nothing there. Even so, he groaned and wavered in their grip, before passing out.

Carnage dropped him carelessly to the ground. We know where we’re going now. Let’s go.

Did we just read his mind?

Yes. I found that you had quite the knack for doing so with your magic, but I took a more entertaining route of getting the info we needed.

Will he be okay?

He’ll wake up in a while if that’s what you’re wondering. Now come on.

They ducked into the gatehouse, finding the controls to open the gate.

“A stealthy infiltration would have been boring anyway,” Carnage mused as they watched the gate move aside. He casually ripped the door of the building off as they walked back outside, and they ran through the gate as soon as there was room to.

Though Sunset had the feeling they could just rip through the chain-link if they wanted to.

The prison consisted of a large main building with a few smaller ones that seemed to be used for storage and administrative purposes. Their target would be in the main one, likely already done with dinner and going back to his cell unless he had an appointment or activity of some sort. They had a pretty good idea of the prison’s schedule thanks to looking at the guard’s memories. There were plenty of programs in place that aimed to rehabilitate and teach valuable life skills to the inmates, to give them something to fall back on once they get out. But it was entirely a choice whether anyone participated, and they had no way of knowing if Brass was among those who did.

By now, their presence was apparent to the rest of the facility. Alarms began going off as they reached the entrance and tore their way in. Carnage winced and Sunset noted with mild interest that he seemed unusually annoyed with the sound. But he pushed through it, and she figured it was nothing, and began sharing control with him again.

They worked together as they rushed inside. Unarmed employees got out of their way while those with weapons demanded they stop, then shot at them when they refused to.

The bullets harmlessly bounced off them. Sunset had expected it, but she was still amazed by how resilient they were. She felt Carnage’s satisfaction that human weapons were as weak as he thought. Several tendrils emerged from their back to begin ripping away and destroying weapons, and they heard emergency announcements that the facility was going into lockdown as they headed further in.

They ignored the people who ran and tossed aside those who tried to block them. Sunset got the feeling it was only her will keeping them from just eating everyone around them. Carnage was ravenous.

They eventually dropped down onto all fours, loping through the building with their head down and crashing through doors in their way. Occasionally Carnage would grab someone at random and use a mix of Sunset’s magic and his own natural abilities to glean information from their heads, searching for their target. They finally figured out exactly which cell he was in, and headed that way.

By this point, most of the inmates had been directed back to their cells and locked in, while those who couldn’t get back as quickly were likely doing their best to shelter in place.

Carnage looked hungrily at the different cells as he passed them, but didn’t stop, going up a set of stairs and finally making it to the person they came here for.

The cell wasn’t actually bad as they were expecting. It was a small room with a barred door, offering a decent amount of privacy. Brass was sitting in a chair near the bed, reading a book, apparently not concerned with the alarms. But he quickly looked up when Carnage slammed against the door and began bending it open.

He jumped up, backing away. “Hey, someone?” he shouted. “Someone, help!”

Carnage just smirked. “No one’s coming to help you. You’re gonna be meat, human.”

Sure enough, every guard that tried to stop them was just shoved aside. Their weapons were destroyed. Several were injured and willingly backed off, retreating and calling for help.

We really need to hurry up before more serious forces get here, Sunset warned. National Guard or SWAT or something.

Stop worrying, Shimmer. We have it under control. We’re unstoppable. Carnage succeeded in ripping the door off and throwing it aside, where it clattered noisily to the floor.

Brass scrambled back until he hit the back wall, where he looked around for anything he could use as a weapon, but finding nothing. There was no trace of that mildly smug expression he had in his mugshot. He was terrified, and Sunset felt a sick pleasure at his fear.

“Now you know how your victims felt, huh?” she asked, grinning and hearing Carnage encourage her in thought. They spoke together, “You are going to die today. No one will be hurt by you again.”

He started to protest, but was cut off by their hand seizing his throat and squeezing so hard he immediately began choking. This level of raw power was intoxicating, and Sunset was swept along into her symbiote's blood lust as they lifted Brass to their face and tore his head off. He didn't even have time to scream before their jaws were shredding his skull to pieces, and the taste of hot blood and shockingly creamy brain matter was hitting their tongue. It was both disgusting and exhilarating, and they soon devoured the rest of the body. Bones easily snapped apart, savory muscle and soft fat sliding down their gullet, the various organs rich in flavor, all marinated in the irresistible blood that poured out around their teeth.

It only took them moments to devour the man, and once they were done, they spun around and left the cell, mouth gaping open and tongue lolling out as they hungered for more.

There was screaming now, the smell of blood and the sight of their face making it obvious what just happened. They lunged for the nearest person, a guard who had been trying to shout them down, and ripped him apart.

They lost all rational control, their minds mingling into one and screaming for meat. They ate the guard and ripped the door from the next cell, attacking the hapless inmate within. His face was nothing but a brief flash of horror before he was disappearing down their throat.

Carnage roared in pleasure and ran out, and the next several minutes were nothing but a red-tinged haze of destruction. They lost count of how many inmates and prison employees they devoured or simply killed painfully as they charged through the building. None of the weapons shot at them did anything except make them angrier.

Then, abruptly, it seemed like they were alone. No one approached them, there was just the sound of the alarms and an almost eerie stillness to their surroundings.

They looked around, senses on high alert as they headed toward the front of the building. Then they heard it. Large vehicles pulling up outside. Doors slamming, the sound of heavy boots. They turned a corner and were immediately met with a flash bang going off, momentarily blinding them and making them growl as they shook their head, trying to orient themselves. Footsteps approached, and once their vision cleared, they found that they were confronted with nearly a dozen SWAT team members, all in body armor and aiming high-powered rifles at them.

Carnage's eyes swept across them in seconds, analyzing their gear. They were certain the team was no match for them, but they decided to pause nonetheless and see where this was going.

The member in the center, a tall woman with a fierce expression, yelled at them to stand down. Carnage gleefully replied, “No.”

The woman signaled to her team, calling, “Masks!”

“Copy!” In unison, the rest began pulling on gas masks, and then one threw in a tear gas canister. The smoke billowing up stung Carnage's eyes and throat, but it wasn't enough to incapacitate them as they were clearly hoping. They snarled and charged forward, wincing as a few other canisters hit them and went off, but not stopping. They scattered the line of SWAT members, and while a few managed to shoot them, the bullets were only slightly more painful than the ones they were shot with before.

Sunset began managing to clear her head as they ran, pulling her thoughts away from Carnage's with some difficulty and pleading for them to just get out of here, they've done enough. With a grunt, Carnage agreed, saying he was quite full now. They ignored everyone around them as they broke through a wall and escaped the building, leaping clear over the fence rather than try to get through the barricaded gate, and then galloping on all fours back toward the city.

They didn't stop until they were miles away and had found a suitable place to hide in a random alleyway, and as soon as Carnage's skin receded from Sunset's, she began hyperventilating and sank back against the wall.

“What?” he snapped at her.

“We just... we killed so many people!” she cried, feeling her face to make sure she was back to normal before slipping down onto the ground, trying not to break into tears.

“They all deserved it! Especially the ones in the cells!”

“No!” she yelled back at him. Despite her best efforts, tears began flowing down her cheeks. She briefly choked up, but swallowed and managed to keep shouting, “A lot of those people probably weren't even violent offenders! How many people did we kill who were just... just drug users, or maybe they held up a convenience store... or wrongful convictions altogether?! And the guards who were just doing their jobs!”

“Ugh.” He groaned and rolled his eyes. “I bet many of them abused their positions. And the ones who didn't were complacent to the ones who did.”

“That's not-”

“And the small amount of innocents who could have been in the cells? Who cares! We probably killed off a lot of scum! Think of how many future lives you've probably saved by getting rid of all that filth! We did a good thing! That's what you're into, right? Justice? We did what few others would dare to do! And it felt incredible.”

Sickened, she shook her head and began walking out of the alley, angrily wiping her eyes off as she went. Carnage quickly hid back under her skin, but they kept arguing in thought as they headed back toward the college.

It wasn't worth it. We really lost control. I didn't like feeling like that.

Don't lie to me. I felt your joy as we tore apart those weaklings. None of them could stand against us. And you liked it.

That was your influence making me think like that. That's not... that's not who I am. Look, let's just stop talking about it. I just want to go home. Sunset wrapped her arms around her stomach, feeling like she was going to puke. But whether it was her own self control or just Carnage clamping down on that reflex, she didn't. She was in a bit of a daze as she walked back, thoughts drifting off. Yes, the strength was incredible. But not all the deaths. The deaths were absolutely not worth it.

Eventually she made it back to the campus and into her dorm. It was past sunset and she was exhausted both mentally and physically. She fumbled with her key for a while before managing to unlock her room and go inside, and she barely remembered to lock the door behind her before she was just dropping her key ring on the nearest surface. She kicked her shoes off and crossed to her bed, collapsing onto it and letting out a long groan.

Why don't you just sleep on things? Carnage suggested, feeling her already drifting off to sleep. She mumbled something and then passed out. Annoying bitch. He had to convince her to stop feeling shame over dominating the weak. If one is unable to fight back against a predator, one becomes prey. How hard was that to understand? Too hard for his host, apparently.

Still feeling wide awake, Carnage used the nutrition from their many victims to begin strengthening himself. It was refreshing, and he thought to himself that a few more massacres like that would be more than enough to give him the strength he needed to take on Sunset's friends. And once he had consumed them, he'll easily be able to go to Equestria and take down the rest of his traitorous gang.

Once he had his fill of just reveling in his new power, he decided to rest as well. As he did, he engaged in his usual hobby of reading through his host's memories. She had a long and fascinating life and he was still learning things about both humans and ponies from her. He wanted to know as much as he could, wanted to know how to best control her. He had been unsure at first when he learned that she had the ability to read minds, concerned that she may be able to determine his intentions, but it seemed she either couldn't or wouldn't use the power on him. Perhaps it was because he wasn't of this world. Or perhaps her power simply didn't work on herself, and he was part of her now. Or maybe she was just that trusting. Whatever the reason, he was glad for it. The less she suspected him, the more helpless she would be to fight him later.

After a few hours, once he was finally bored of looking through her mind, he dropped off to sleep as well. He already knew they would have much to discuss in the morning.