//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7: Let's Get Going! 
// Story: Venomous Uprising 
// by Paco-El-Taco 
//------------------------------//

Night was beginning to shroud the land in its darkness, the last rays of Celestia's sun sinking below the horizon of Equestria. Ponyville was in much better condition then it was but only earlier that day. Some of the town residents came back, while others stayed in hotels or with family in other cities or towns until they were sure the whole mess was cleaned up. There were guards still stationed in case the Everfree creatures decided for another ambush, and to help clean up the mess that was made. The town overall looked pretty decent. Only some broken windows, small fires that were quickly extinguished, and some busted walls caused by the more heavy-set animals. Most of the ponies were either cleaning the messes on their property, shopping for replacement, or just enjoying the night sky, scattered with white specks, and one shining moon. 
It had only been an hour or so since the attack, and six mares in particular, after having finished helping clean up and chase off any remaining creatures, were thinking about what to do about the creature. The one who took down, and controlled, one of the greatest hydras. The creature that called himself Venom. 
"Since he keeps running off, can't we just trap him and bring him in or something?" Asked the cyan pegasus with not as much brain capacity as others, Rainbow Dash. The ponies were on their way down the trail of Sweet Apple Acres, heading to Applejack's home to check on the CMC. They tried the clubhouse, but saw it empty with only black webbing holding it up, (something that worried some of them). 
Twilight shook her head with a sigh, responding with irritation, "Dash, we haven't even had the chance to ask him about it. And you saw what it could do, what trap do we have available now that could contain him?" Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, but closed it when she realized she didn't have a good answer to that question. Pinkie was hopping as usual, but with a heavy frown on her face and furrowed brows. 
She spoke in an irked tone, "He could've at least stayed a bit for a party, but noooo, he has to go somewhere for something not-so important!" Rarity was more concerned about the fillies, specifically her sister, Sweetie Belle. While Venom did save them, and presumably the CMC, she wasn't one-hundred percent trusting as of yet. 
"I just hope that the girls are all right, I still can't believe that timberwolves were on their tails."  Applejack nodded, also having been concerned for her sister, Applebloom. 
"I hope so too, Rares. But if I know 'em, they probably found someway outta there." Fluttershy didn't say anything, but her face spoke her feeling of worry and concern for her, worry for the CMC just like the others. Eventually, they came to Applejack's house, where her dog Winona came running up to them, tail wagging and barking in joy. Applejack chuckled as Winona came and started running circles around her. "Hey, howdy Winona. Did you defend the farm from any critters?" Winona barked even more. "Well good girl!" After the other girls gave their greetings to the dog, they each went inside the house. 
"Granny Smith! Is Applebloom and her friends home?" 
An elderly voice which belonged to a mare called out, "You mean them littleuns? Just in here." The six heard her voice come from the living room, and came in to see, surely enough, the CMC on the rug playing with Granny Smith watching over them. The six shone smiles of relief, as Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash came up to the fillies who dropped what they were doing to go meet them. They greeted each other joyfully, the pairs of sisters hugging. Applejack was the first to pull back, looking down on her sister with concern etched all over her face. "Y'all didn't get hurt now, did ya?" 
Applebloom shook her head, a smile still on her face, and told her, "Nope! not a scratch!" 
Scootaloo chose that moment to add on to that, "You're not gonna believe this! We got saved by a real-life super hero!" The six mares, excluding Granny Smith, took a gander, and all guessed, "Venom?" 
The CMC collectively gasped, smiles morphing to grins. "So he did save ya then!?!" Applebloom practically shrieked out. 
While Rainbow was hesitant on using that, Applejack gave a firm nod. 
"I dunno 'bout the others, but he sure as tartarus saved me from some nasty manticores!" 'Don't know about the whole killing part, though.' She finished the last bit in her head. 
Twilight scoffed with a light smile, "Not to mention he took on one of the largest hydras I've ever seen. Heck, he probably could've taken it down without our help."
The CMC screamed out, "He fought a hydra!?!" 
Scottaloo finished that with an, "Awesome!" The mares continued to describe what happened, the fillies enthralled and entertained by the epic battle that took place only hours ago. Granny might have listened, if she hadn't dozed off to sleep. One of the fillies' eyes would light up at a feat their sister had done during the recounting, with the other three content on just listening or adding on what happened. 
They had just gotten to the part of Venom having vanished, when Sweetie Belle frowned. She asked with a bit of disappointment, "Aw, why'd Eddie leave?" The other two fillies quickly shot her a look, one of panic and the other of anger. Sweetie quickly caught her mistake with a light gasp, "Venom! Why did Venom leave?" She then tried twisting her lips into an innocent grin, though the worriment was clear from her eyes and some sweat coming off her face. It was, however, too late. The six mares in the room already heard, and looked at her curiously. 
Rainbow was the first to voice the other's thoughts, "Whose Eddie?" The other mares nodded, also curious at who Eddie was. 
Applebloom tried to handle the situation, and piped up for the other fillies, "Eddie? haven't heard of a name like that for a pony before..." She finished with some unconvincing chuckles, she too was sweating with a false grin. The mares weren't convinced, as Applejack narrowed her eyes with a frown, her gaze boring into the fillies. 
"Now that's a lie if I've ever I heard it. C'mon now, why do y'all need to hide this 'Eddie' pony?"
Rainbow Dash had joined in the interrogation, specifically trying to pry answers from Scootaloo. "Yeah, we wanna know, who is Eddie?" The fillies tried to avert their gaze, having started to shake a little from the interrogation. 
Scootaloo, without thinking from the pressure of the stares, blurted out, "Venom asked us not to tell!" When she finished, she slammed her hooves on her mouth, eyes wide. The two crusaders gave her firm glares, as the mares all processed what she had just said. 
Applejack spun her head towards Scootaloo, and asked in a stern tone, "What did Venom not want you to tell anypony else?" The crusaders tried to salvage the situation, but realized they had already dug themselves in a hole too deep to get out. 
Still, the crusaders had pinkie promised Eddie that they would not tell. Besides, breaking it would result in Pinkie's wrath, something nopony wanted. So in a desperate last attempt in keeping the promise, Sweetie muttered just loud enough for everypony in the room to hear, "But Venom asked us not to tell... and we pinkie promised him." The crusaders looked to the ground, as Applejack sighed. She knew how important the pinkie promise was, and was thinking of how to get this information from them gently. After all, if it came from Venom, it was likely something important. 
Pinkie, having watched from the sides, sighed and trotted up to the crusaders with a gentle smile. Being the creator, in a way, of the pinkie promise, she of all ponies knew how valuable and precious it was the the ones who made it. It was a guarantee from one friend to another, almost sacred in a way. But in that moment, she knew how important finding out this Eddie could be. "Girls, could you look at me?" The crusaders slowly turned their heads to the pink mare, still worried about breaking the pinkie promise. She continued in a knowing voice "You all want to keep this promise, don't you? Its important to both you and Venom, isn't it?" The fillies slowly nodded their heads to confirm what Pinkie Pie already knew. Pinkie continued on gently, "And that's good. You should never break a promise, especially a pinkie promise. I'm so proud that you're trying to keep this promise." 
The crusaders looked at her surprised, they thought for sure some stern lecture would have been thrown their way instead. Applebloom asked, "You mean... yer not mad?" 
Pinkie shook her head with a giggle, "Of course not, silly-filly! You should always keep a pinkie promise! But this... is one exception." All the ponies looked at pinkie with wide eyes. The one who cherishes pinkie promises the most of ant pony, is the one to have suggested breaking one? Pinkie saw all the looks of disbelief, and sighed, though still having a small smile. "Venom is really important right now, as is the human. If this Eddie is related to him in any way, we need to know. Right now, this is more important than that pinkie promise. So for one time, and one time only... It will be alright to break this pinkie promise." 
The ponies in the room all collectively gasped, having never thought they'd see the day Pinkie Pie would give a pass on breaking a pinkie promise. The fillies were looking to one another with nervous looks, still not sure about breaking their promise to Eddie. Eventually, with silent looks of agreement, Applebloom spoke with hesitation, "Eddie... is the human." 
"What!?!" The six mares shouted, with Granny Smith still having somehow managed to be sleeping. 
Before the mares could bombard the fillies with questions, Twilight asked loudly and quickly, "Where was he when Venom was around?" The mares paused to think about that as well, wondering why they haven't once seen the human. 
Sweetie mumbled just barely, "I think Eddie is Venom." The mares had yet another surprise reaction for that day in a short amount of time, and turned their sights to the small unicorn. 
Rarity decided to go up and ask, "Whatever do you mean, Sweetie? A human and whatever Venom is don't even look the same." 
"That's the thing!" Sweetie was now motioning her hooves in the air, getting ready to describe what she and the crusaders saw. "We saw Venom at first, but when we looked again, we saw Eddie's face instead!" The mares were really confused by then, having been dealt so many reveals in a short span of time.
"So what... it was like a mask?" Asked Rainbow, who was having a headache from all this new information and twists. "But it can't be a mask! It's just too... real." The others were thinking the same thing, knowing what they saw was a face, and definitely not a mask. 
"Well, I don't think it's exactly a mask." The mares looked over to Scootaloo, the one who had spoken up. "I mean, masks are something you just pull off and on. This though, just... molded on." Seeing the confusion of the ponies, she tried to look for a better way to describe it. 
Applebloom chose that moment to better describe the transformation, "It was like this black stuff from his suit started covering his face, and gave him bigger teeth, bigger and white eyes, and a heck of a bigger tongue." 
While the ponies were imagining what that would have looked like, Twilight asked another question on her mind, "But why didn't he want you to tell any other ponies about this?"  
Scootaloo rolled her eyes, and spoke blatantly, "Uh, duh! It's his secret identity! Nopony can know it!" Twilight knew that  was a lie. If you were the only human in Equestria, what need would there be for a secret identity? Having received this new and valuable information, she decided on what to do. 
"All right girls. I'm going to head back to the palace." 
As she was trotting to the door, Applejack asked, "What do ya plan on doin', Twi?" 
She looked back at Applejack and the others. "I need to write a letter to the princesses, they're going to want to know about this. And I'm going to have to wake up Spike." 





Princess Luna was waiting patiently in her chambers. She was lying on her bed, passing time by until she felt him dreaming again. Last time, she underestimated the thing in the human's dream, resulting in a humiliating defeat. During that time, she thought that it was just part of the human's dream, but she learned the hard way how wrong she was about that. The previous times on visiting the human's dreams, she detected another presence there, one that was not her own. And after her defeat, she thought that, perhaps, that scrawny and black thing was the presence that was not originally from the human's dream. 
If that was the case, she was coming prepared. She hadn't dealt with other dream intruders in a long time, but had experience with them regardless. She reread some spell books about dreams, specifically with dream intruders. She would come prepared, ready for battle. Though, she would try to communicate with the thing if it showed up. Her original plan was to simply get rid of it, but her older sister reminded her how she was the one who not only shot first, but basically ignored its questions. Though Luna was upset, she agreed to at least try to talk to talk to the odd thing. Though, she was almost hoping it would be hostile; she really wanted payback. 
Some time had passed, before she finally felt it; the human, the human was dreaming. With a small smile, she closed her eyes and concentrated. When she opened her eyes, she was in the vast dimension that was the dream realm. Normally, she would be helping ponies who were having nightmares, but the human and the dream intruder was her number one priority. She performed the same procedure as last time: searching for the signal, finding the general direction, and getting to the dream. After a while of tracking, she found the dream of the human. It was the same door as all the others, though it wasn't moving like last time. She trotted up to the door, more slowly in case she were to feel something from the outside like the other times. She felt two feelings: pain and agony. 
Luna wore a concerned look on her face, for if she could feel the pain and agony from out of the door, then what would it be like inside? Perhaps that time, the human was having a nightmare. With a determined look, she used a hoof to open the door, and trotted in. What she saw made her jaw almost hit the floor. 
The background was blank and black as usual, and the human was not too far off. But what had her in the shocked state, was the thing that held the human in a claw. It was relatively skinny, large and tall, making the human look mouse-sized to it.It stood on two legs, with two arms that ended with long, thin claws, that any predator would be jealous of. It was a deep blood-red, with some black streaks across its torso, arms, legs, and some on the face. A massive jaw, vertically long,  that was also black, two rows of long, sharp, black teeth that looked like it could tear into an ursa major. Eyes -that she could've sworn she saw something like before- that were large, white and jagged with sharp edges. There were also black, red, and skinny tendrils coming of its back and twisting madly in the air above the monstrosity. What really freaked the Princess of the Night, was despite the oddities of the face, it was contorted into a malevolent grin, the eyes shaped in a way she could only describe as evil.	
Then, to the surprise of the princess, it spoke. "Aw, what's the matter, Brock? Did I cut too deep?" The voice was male, a bit higher than others, and sounded like croaking. Luna's large eyes hovered into the monster's one arm that hung in the air, claw just in front of and slightly below the face. The claws stuck out, with more of the small, red-black tendrils going down, and were wrapped around each of the human's limbs. The human was thrashing around, but the tendrils proved to be too strong. The human grunted, sweat sliding down his almost-naked body, only the black boxers covering him that time. As Luna looked closer, she gasped as she realized that the tendrils were cutting into his flesh, slowly and painfully. Suddenly, more tendrils came and began cutting the human across the chest and back. When one begin to dig in, he yelled from the pain. 
What truly sickened Luna, was that the red monster was laughing and grinning during the whole thing, enjoying the agony of the human. How could something enjoy the misery and pain of another like that? How could one cause said misery and pain with a smile on their face?  
"You got them muscles, Brock. But that ain't gonna mean a thing when you're a corpse." The whole display sickened Luna, and was about to step forward to eradicate this awful nightmare, when she noticed something from the side. She barely noticed it due to it being just as dark as the background, but the bright white eyes stuck out. She gasped as she recognized it as the thing that had humiliated her so much. With narrowed eyes, she was about to confront the thing, to give it a piece of her mind, until she noticed the expression on its face. The dream intruder was watching the whole ordeal as well, but the eyes and mouth were curved in a way that suggested it was...sad? 
She saw the thing watching with a sad look, slightly wincing every time the human was introduced to a new form of pain. She was enraged at first, almost of accusing it of letting the human endure the terrible dream, but curious, as she wondered why it looked so sad. She was still plenty upset for what it had done, but she needed answers; plus, Celestia would lecture her for a whole day if she up and attacked it again. With a steady trot, she approached the dream intruder, the thing still watching, not noticing the Princess of the Night. She didn't want to get too close in case it was hostile, so when she was only a few yards away, she coughed in her hoof to gain its attention. 
The scrawny thing's head snapped up, and spun its eyes on Luna. As soon as it noticed her, its eyes narrowed, a mouth forming into a heavy frown, with all the teeth still showing. "You!" It growled. It then got down on all fours, ready for combat. 
As much as Luna would have loved to have had her revenge, she knew she had to at least try being civilized about this. She raised her hoof up and quickly spoke, "Calm yourself. I am not here for a fight." The black creature didn't look convinced, but didn't attempt an attack either. Luna took that as a sign of it listening, and continued, "I only wish to communicate with the human." She flinched as she heard said human shout in pain, as the monstrosity continued to torment the human. She cast a quick glance, her eyes having gone wide yet again as she saw more of the tendrils beginning to impale the human. 
She had seen enough, and started to gallop to the monstrosity and human to eliminate the nightmare. She would have, if a black tendril hadn't wrapped around her back hoof, causing her to stumble and trip with an 'omph'. She shook her head and looked back to see the odd creature, with a tendril sprouted out of the shoulder, similar to the monstrosity tormenting the human, wrapped around her hoof. Luna was really beginning to get irked with the dream intruder, and nearly shouted, "What are you doing? We can't let him suffer in this dream when we can stop it! Unhoof me at once!" 
The dream intruder did not release her, however, and with narrowed eyes, asked sternly, "Who are you? What are you doing?" Luna really didn't want to discuss that during the time, but would do it if it meant being able to speak to the human. 
With a small sigh, she rapidly answered, "I am Princess Luna, and I am trying to stop that thing from giving the human anymore of a nightmare!" 
The dream intruder looked at her a little surprised, then asked with what Luna assumed to be a bit of hope in its voice, "You can stop nightmare? Can stop Carnage?" Luna looked at the dream intruder confused. What carnage was it talking about? 
"Yes... can't you?" 
The thing looked away, almost guilty, and mumbled, "I can only watch dreams. Can't interfere or manipulate." Luna hummed in thought on that. An odd creature that could enter and watch dreams, but couldn't directly manipulate them. It was interesting, but she was getting distracted. 
Luna tried persuading it, "I can rid this human of the nightmare, but bickering with each other won't help." Luna saw the dream intruder look back and forth between her and the nightmare that went on. She had no idea what was going on in its mind. 
As for the symbiote, it was deciding whether to trust the pony that tried to break the bond or not. It didn't trust her, but she said she could rid Eddie of the nightmare that was Carnage. Plus, she claimed to be a princess. She must have been related to or was one of the rulers, and so not being on her bad side would be beneficial to Eddie and itself if there were to be any chance at getting back on Earth. So with a nod of its head, it begrudgingly granted her permission. 
Luna was relieved, but relief quickly turned into annoyance, as instead of the dream intruder releasing the tendril, it extended the tendril. She was practically a dog on a leash. While she wanted to argue for the tendril still remaining on her hoof, she needed to speak to the human before the dream ended. With a heavy sigh, the princess walked over to the monstrosity, as she charged her horn, causing it to glow white. The dream intruder followed a few yards back, looking at the horn curiously as it glowed. The monstrosity noticed a bright white light glowing from below, and stopped its toying with the human to take a look. It looked at the princess in confusion, before bursting out in laughter. 
"Well how 'bout that, Brock? Pretty little horses!" Angered at the insult that was thrown at her, she finished her spell with a blinding flash. She heard the receding wailing of the fading nightmare, and when the light cleared she saw the human on the ground, all wounds having been healed by the spell since it was caused by a nightmare. 
The symbiote was stunned, the odd pony had actually managed to get rid of the nighmare. It still didn't trust her, though, not completely. 
The princess slowly approached the human, who was on his knees and taking shallow breaths. She gently spoke, "Excuse me." The human tilted his head up, his eyes going wide at the sight of the princess. He slowly looked her up and down, confusion clear all over his face. 
He slowly asked in a near whisper, "Who...who are you?" 
The princess was thankful for finally being able to talk to the human, and replied, "Greeting, human. I am Princess Luna." An awkward silence passed in the empty dream, none of the three speaking once. After a while of silence, Luna decided to ask her next question. She leaned closer to the human so the scrawny thing wouldn't hear her, and whispered to the buff man, "Do you know what that is? Is it in here against your will?" 
Eddie looked to the growling symbiote, knowing it had obviously heard. He looked back at the pony that was revealed to be a princess. He had no idea how or why she was in his dream, but if she was a ruler, he really needed to not screw up. He thought hard on how to avoid the truth, but realized he had no choice. She was in his mind, seeing him and the symbiote separately. So she knew of the symbiote, or at least that there was something inside himself. Not to mention that he exposed himself and, though not directly, the symbiote to those fillies earlier. They promised not to tell, but children could go back on their word as easy as they could make them. He came as Venom to other ponies, but hasn't once showed himself to them, only to those fillies, and now that princess in front of him. 
With a sigh, Eddie reluctantly admitted, "It's my symbiote." 
The princess rose both eyebrows at that, she hadn't heard of a symbiote before. "What is a...symbiote?"
Eddie knew that might have taken a while to explain, so simply with, "It is a part of me. Its my other half." 
Before she could ask about that, she felt the devastating feeling she did not want to experience at that time. The dream was coming to an end. She sighed, before explaining to the human she assumed to be Brock, "It appears as if your dream is coming to an end, you will soon wake up." She was getting ready to exit, not wanting to be roughly kicked out like the first time. She notice the symbiote giving her a firm glare, one she returned as well. The two still did not quite trust each other. Before she left, she turned back to the human, who was still somewhat confused on what she was doing. "It would be important for us to meet in the waking-world. Though, I don't know where you are dreaming this time." That was true, for Luna was far too focused on finding the dream, she did not keep track of where she was at relative to the waking-world. 
To her surprise, Brock chuckled. Before she was removed from the dream, he said, "You can expect us at Canterlot." 
Luna went wide-eyed, but was suddenly kicked from the dream. She grunted, as she proceeded the same process of entering the waking-world. When she found herself in her chambers again, she got up and over to the door. The human and its... symbiote... coming to Canterlot. The symbiote being an entity of which neither she nor her sister have ever encountered before. Celestia should know about this. 





Twilight was pacing back and forth at the train station. It was early in the morning, and she was waiting -impatiently- for her friends to arrive. She had received a letter not too long ago from her mentor, explaining what Princess Luna had encountered in the human's dream. Not only had she found out that the other presence in the human was something known as a 'symbiote' (which sounded really odd to her), but that the human, apparently called Brock according to Princess Luna, was going to come to Canterlot. Though the letter never said when he would come, it was safe to assume it would have been that day. So, the elements were requested to come as well, to meet the human, and if things got nasty.
Spike was sitting on a bench, for he wanted to have come to Canterlot as well. Not only had it been awhile since he went to the capitol, but it would have been interesting to meet something thought to have only been mythology, or from the mirror world.  
Eventually, they both noticed five familiar figures approaching from the distance. When the other mares came to the station, Twilight greeted with some irritation, "Well, took you all long enough." 
"Twi, we are literally two minutes late, cut us some slack." Responded the Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash. 
"C'mon Twi, the train just got here, but it ain't goin' nowhere yet." 
Twilight wanted to argue more, but dropped it with a shake of her head. The mares, as well as Spike, went in the train, into their own private section. Spike quickly went to sleep again, having woke up too early for him to get to the train. The others were conversing among themselves on what do do when they encountered the human, Eddie Brock. 
Twilight was the first to speak up her thoughts, "This human, Eddie, told Princess Luna that this symbiote was 'his other half', any ideas on what that could be?" 
They all thought about what that could be. Rainbow also being confused, asked "What the hay does he mean by 'his other half'?"
They all shared ideas, until Twilight recalled something. "Hey, Princess Luna described this symbiote looking just like Venom, but smaller and skinnier." 
"Yeah, so?" 
"Do you think that might have anything to do with Eddie's 'suit'?" They each thought more on what Twililght Sparkle had said, and found themselves thinking more and more about the prospect.
While the mares were discussing in one train car, the train car in the back was occupied only by a certain human and alien. Eddie Brock was in the luggage car yet again, using various items for pillows and blankets. "They know about you now, but at least they will be expecting us to come. Better to have them informed than completely surprise them." 
'Do you think they might try to ambush us?' 
"If they do, we could always go seek help elsewhere."
'Think they can send us back?'
"If they have the magic to look into my mind, then they might have some mass-teleportation spell, or however magic works." As they finished, they heard the train creak, as it began accelerating towards their destination, Canterlot. 





They had failed the simplest of jobs. How could those beasts from the Everfree get defeated so easily? The whole thing enraged it. No matter, however. It had been watching and waiting. It saw the Elements of Harmony, the six mares on a train to Canterlot where the princesses were at. It found joy again. Two birds, one stone. It exited its activity of stalking, to resume its project. It floated near its almost complete creation, almost ready for use. The creation looked almost like a pony, but larger, larger than Celestia. It was made of steel, except it was only a skeleton. The rib cage, the skull, all the steel bones exposed. It also had large, folded, metal wings at the side, where the artificial feathers came to a sharp edge. The hooves were pure titanium, strong enough to easily shatter bones. 
The creation was almost complete, and it planned to finish the project. It muttered words of an ancient and forgotten language, creating an orange spark in front of it. When it finished with its chanting, the spark grew into an orange, barely stable sphere of orange energy the size of a softball. It hovered the sphere of energy into the interior of its creation, where the heart of a pony would be. When the sphere was set, it muttered more ancient words, and all at once, its creation went ablaze. It was not worried or afraid, it was happy. When the flames receded, there was fire surrounding the interior and exterior of its creation. The flames filled the entirety of the inside, even causing the eye sockets to glow an intense orange from the flames. Cinder was exerting from the creation, enough to choke a pony. 
It brought some finishing touches to its creation, and tested it out. The creation then moved on its own, like an organism. The creation obeyed its creator's will in testing itself out. It was pleased with its creation, it was everything it had designed the creation to be. But every creation needed a name. After a moment of thinking, it came up with an appropriate name. 
The Ignis War Horse. 
Satisfied with its creation and name, it commanded the Ignis War Horse to go off to Canterlot to do its master's bidding. It also came, but at a leisurely pace. If a pony, griffin, or anything tried to look, they would not notice it. It stalked towards Canterlot. After all, the princesses would need to be kept busy.