The time was close to morning, the sun waiting to be raised by Celestia. Most ponies were still asleep at that hour, with a few "early birds" around to perform early morning tasks. It was the same in Ponyville, with its citizens enjoying their last bits of slumber. The Palace of Friendship held two sleeping forms withing it at the time: one of them a small drake that loves naps as much as gems, and a human who had a rather unique dream that night. Those two were sleeping peacefully, holding on to the warm embrace of slumber before the day finally would have come around.
There were two others as well, though awake. There was the man's other half, his symbiote; though, it doesn't sleep like most organisms do, its almost always awake . It was watching over the man's mind, and making sure it had plenty of backup locks. The other one awake was the Princess of Friendship herself, Twilight Sparkle. Instead of performing stagnant tasks or activities like the other three in the palace, she was galloping down the hall to Eddie's room as fast as her hooves could take her. She was alerted by Princess Luna in her dreams moments ago about what had transpired, and informed her it would be best to check the palace for any signs of danger and her guest as well. Luna had hoped Twilight wouldn't overwork herself when she awoke, but Twilight is known well for doing just that.
She was panicked as she saw black cinder spread across the hall like some scribbling done by a foal, and even more so when she saw it lead into Eddie's room. On her way, she shouted, "Eddie! Eddie!" She burst through the door into his room of a slumbering Eddie, but either ignored that or didn't notice as she grasped him with telekinetic magic, lifted him off the bed, and rapidly shook him back and forth. "Eddie! Are you all right!?!"
Eddie might have slept in late that day, but unfortunately for him, a certain purple alicorn brought him a rough awakening. As soon as he was pushed an pulled in midair, his eyes snapped open as he sputtered gibberish, still trying to comprehend what was happening and why he awoke so soon. When Twilight saw that Eddie was awake and appeared unharmed to her, she stopped the violent shaking and dropped him back to his bed with a sigh of relief. She spoke with that same relief in her voice, unaware of Brock's startled, tired, and confused state of mind, "Oh, thank Celestia you're all right. As soon as Luna told me what happened, well, I was pretty worried."
Eddie had finally regained coherent thought after the plummet to his bed, and understood what Twilight said. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes with his hands as he groggily mumbled, "I'm fine, I'm fine. Don't need to shake me like a chew toy."
Twilight held an awkward expression on her face as looked away and scratched the back of her neck with a, "Oops... sorry."
Eddie rubbed a hand through his hair and held his other hand up as he shook it. "It's fine." He looked up and saw the black marks against the floors and wall of the room, and a trail that lead to the head of his bed. "What the hell did this?" he muttered to himself.
Twilight shook her head with a sigh as she replied, "We don't really know yet, just that its the same thing that attacked the princesses at Canterlot." her dreary mood changed to a hopeful one with an eager smile working on her face, "However, Princess Luna managed to track it to a small city not far from here, and I've been requested by her to get the girls ready."
Eddie began stretching his arms as he asked, "And how soon would that be?"
"Well, it depends how fast I can get Rainbow to wake up. She can be a pain to wake from her naps and sleep, you know."
Eddie nodded his head as he grabbed the wrangled covers and tried to situate them in the same state before his rude awakening. "Well, good luck on catching whoever or whatever it is, but I'm returning to sleep. I was told to stay here, after all."
Twilight turned and trotted over to the door with a chuckle. "You're just like Spike when it comes to sleep."
Eddie buried his face into the soft and welcoming pillow as he mumbled, "That's because most people don't want to wake up this damn early in the morning." With that, Eddie had begun to gain some extra hours of sleep.
"All right girls, ready to deal with this once and for all?" Twilight had finished gathering the rest of her friends at the edge of Ponyville, and was mentally double checking a list for things to be prepared for, what to do, what might happen, etc. Getting them was a simple task, but she had to take some more time getting Rainbow Dash out of her bed and woken up. They all were a little groggy, but re-energized themselves to prepare to go after the thing that had not only caused the Everfree invasion and attacked Eddie in his dreams, but attacked the princesses themselves. They knew that it was time to take it down.
They had a hot air balloon next to them to take them to their destination. It usually wasn't the fastest method of transportation, but with Twilight's modification of spells and magic, its speed would be tripled. To answer Twilight's question, they each nodded their heads with their own words of confidence to go along with it.
"Time to give this freak the beat down of the year!" Rainbow Dash emphasized her point with a grin and punching her two fore hooves together.
"This varmant's gonna pay fer all the trouble it's caused!" Applejack finished with knitted brows and thoughts of how to repay the thing in kind for all it had done.
"That ruffian will finally get what it deserves!" Rarity finished with a huff.
"How could somepony force those poor animals to go into war?" Fluttershy looked toward the Everfree forest, feeling sympathy for the animals that had to fight against their will.
"Ooh! Maybe after this, I can finally throw that party for Eddie and... still thinking of a name, but the symbiote will have one!" Pinkie finished with her signature grin and reaching a hoof into the infinite abyss that was her mane, and pulled out a steel baseball bat with barbed wire and tacks all over it.
The other ponies looked at Pinkie with wide eyes, Fluttershy asking everypony's thoughts, "Pinkie... w-why do you have that?"
Pinkie Pike stuffed her bat back into her mane as she giggled like a little filly. "Well Fluttershy, sometimes you can't beat 'em with kindness."
After a few moments of awkward silence and staring, Rainbow Dash had decided to move things along. "Oookay... Twilight, didn't you say Princess Luna would be coming with us?"
The Princess of Friendship stopped staring at Pinkie and looked over to the cyan pegasus as she answered her question, "Yes, she said she would be meeting us there to help."
"But what about Princess Celestia?"
Twilight shook her head while informing them, "She can't. Not only is day court about to begin, or already has, its really not a good idea to have both princesses away from Canterlot at once while a threat like this is still loose." Twilight's approached the basket of the hot air balloon, and opened it with her magic, as she waved her friends in with a hoof. "Come on girls, lets finish this."
They all clambered aboard, and once everypony was set, Twilight increased the flame under the balloon to get their transportation to rise. Then, the balloon started floating much higher and increasing speed, starting their trip to find the smoke creature.
By the time Eddie and Spike awoke, the sun had been raised, and ponies had begun to set out daily chores and work. Ponyville wasn't an exception, and ponies had set out their vendors, all prepared on selling daily goods. Being freshly and properly awoken, Eddie sought out breakfast for himself in the palace. By then, the familiar sensation of black strings crawled out of an around him, only to form regular morning clothes like lounge pants and a robe. He and Spike both met in the kitchen, and agreed to make some breakfast together. That time, they had scrambled eggs with green peppers to fill them up. They chatted and ate, nothing special going on during the time. When they finished, Spike said he was going to do chores, and Eddie opted to find some activity to pass time.
Eventually, Eddie figured that a simple stroll outside would help the time pass. He exited the palace after the symbiote re-converged on him with a simple white T-shirt and jeans, both awaiting of what that day had in store for them.
Brock stood at the front of the palace as he took in a breath of the crisp air, scanning from left to right to find a good path to walk down. He decided to head towards the edge of town, as there were less ponies there. He didn't mind the ponies, but he didn't want to amass a large crowd that would follow him around like before. There were some ponies that stopped and stared with various looks in their eyes, but he paid no attention. He was on a walk, and he didn't want it to be interrupted.
His thoughts drifted to Earth, and how he got to Equestria. He thought of all his times on Earth, as Venom, both as the enemy to Spider-Man, and as the Lethal Protector. Though Spider-Man and Venom weren't as big as rivals as they once were, and perhaps could be considered uneasy allies, they still didn't exactly like or trust each other. Only when big tasks called it could they be seen fighting side by side.
Usually web slinging as Venom would help clear both Eddie's and the symbiote's mind, but not only were there too little supply of structures, they weren't all that tall to swing across like they usually would have at their home.
Home.
Eddie lived in a rather poor apartment, though he got a job in journalism not long before that payed well. He lived in a rather large city, always bustling with people and activities twenty-four/seven. There were people there that gave Eddie different impressions all the time. Sometimes he thought they were flat out idiots, others were wise, and some gave him hope for the future, even if they didn't intend it. A lot of the times when Eddie went to sleep, he could swear that the symbiote would slink out of him and turn on the television. Though Eddie didn't think it did that for the entertainment, although it could definitely be amused; when Brock first bonded with the symbiote, beyond the mutual hatred they shared for the webhead, he could feel its curiosity, its desire to learn. Perhaps it watched the television when Eddie slumbered for knowledge.
Where he lived and the area surrounding it, it was in some sort of danger a lot of the times. Whether it would be in the form of simple petty crooks, or some sort of super-human out for his blood. It was a rough place. He didn't have many friends there, his father and sister were about his only family left, though they haven't spoken to each other in a long time, and last he spoke to his father, it ended coldly. Not to mention, the majority of the public saw Venom as a threat, a demon out for blood despite the changes that the wicked webslinger had done or tried to make for good; though, Eddie and the symbiote were thankful that there were at least a few people that appreciated them. Even if the public might have feared Venom or have preferred an 'official' hero, Venom would still defend the innocent.
It might not have been a pleasant place, but it was his place, his city, his home. He didn't think he would ever think it, but at that moment, Eddie was beginning to miss home.
'Sad, Eddie?' Spoke his other half, who could feel Eddie's emotions during that moment.
Eddie sighed as he admitted, "I guess I'm a bit homesick, despite home being a shit hole most of the time."
He could feel the symbiote's emotions correspond with his as it spoke within him, 'Miss it as well. Many opportunities to be a hero, many fun experiences. No Luna there, too.'
Eddie hadn't noticed that they were out of Ponyville and in a flat field with only grass and the train tracks not far behind them. He continued ahead as he asked, "What is it you have against her? I know what she tried that one time, but it was an accident."
'Annoying, coming into your head without permission, also annoying.' Eddie was about to say something, but his symbiote suddenly and firmly said, 'There's something to our right.' Eddie swiveled his head to his right to see something that caused his eyes to narrow and the symbiote to growl. Above the land, high in the sky, floating in the air, was a cloud of black smoke. It was sailing at a fast pace, and soared past the two along the tracks further down.
Eddie watched with a frown as he asked, "Do you think it is what I think it is?"
'Has to be.'
Eddie began to head towards the cloud as he continued, "But I thought that Princess Luna tracked it down into some other place? And where the hell's it going?"
'Only one way to find out.' As soon as the symbiote finished, the false clothing molded into the same black tar-like substance, and converged all around Eddie like darkness consuming light, along with the other features of them becoming one.
Venom sprinted after the cloud, but not only was it surprisingly fast, it was too far above the ground to do much to it. When they were about to curse their luck, they spun their head left as they heard a whistle going off, and to see a train departing Ponyville in the same direction as the black cloud was going.
Venom grinned as his eyes twisted and curved in a way that spoke of pleasure, as he quickly dashed to the train before it could gain too much speed. "At the rate we're riding trains without tickets, we might be considered hobos!" When the train was gaining much more momentum and Venom was only yards away from it, he stuck his left arm out as a line of webbing shot out from the back of his clawed hand and connected to one of the train cars. Venom was immediately yanked off his feet and hanging on the web with both hands as the train's speed kept increasing. He quickly landed on all fours on the side of the train, and crawled to the top of the train. The Lethal Protector narrowed his eyes at the black smog soaring in the air, their speeds matching the other's. "Once we catch you, we're gonna be sure to rip out your insides."
The day had been calm despite what she knew might've gone down. She looked around her to see her dozen Lunar guards she had brought with her. She was sure that she herself and the Elements of Harmony would have been enough to deal with the threat, but her sister implored her to bring at least a few. The Princess of the Night and her guards were at the edge of the city, herself scanning for where the pony or thing that had caused all the smoke might have been at. She didn't know why the pony or whatever chose a city, albeit a rather small one, as a form of hideout; though, she supposed it went a long time without getting caught, so it must have hidden well. Unfortunately for it, nothing could hide from Princess Luna.
The process was slow, but she was beginning to pinpoint where the thing was at. She had already ordered the guards to make sure the citizens were inside their homes for the next few hours. She didn't call an evacuation for the city because the situation was small enough to the point it could be dealt with without a city-wide panic. Luna's activity of tracking down the smokey creature was halted when a guard approached her and saluted with a stoic expression, "Your highness, the Elements have arrived."
She nodded to the guard before replying, "Excellent. Have them come here."
"Yes, your highness." The guard then galloped the opposite direction to retrieve the six mares. Not long after, the same guard came back with the six mares in tow. Luna welcomed them with a soft smile and with, "Greetings, friends. You've arrived just in time."
The six mares returned the gesture as Twilight spoke up, "It was no problem at all." She looked into the city, seemingly scanning the empty streets. She turned back to Luna and asked, "Were you able to pinpoint its location?"
Luna slowly nodded as she began a slow trot into the city. "I'm able to track it much closer to its origin, and it seems to be somewhere in the center of the city."
Many of them became confused, and Applejack voiced everypony's question with, "But, of all the places ta hide, why in the center of a city?"
The ponies, including guards, trotted after Luna as she answered, "I don't know myself, but we practically have them cornered."
They all went forward with Luna up front, stopping once in a while to track the smoke again. Eventually, after about ten or twenty minutes, they found themselves in the center of a street deep within the city. They were the only ones there, as all the citizens were already in their homes. Only them and the couple-story high buildings surrounded them. Luna looked puzzled, as she muttered, "This... this doesn't make sense."
Everypony was also puzzled to as why they stopped, and Twilight approached the Princess of the Night as she asked, "Luna, what's wrong? Why'd we stop?"
"I... the source is tracked directly here, but..." They looked around, but no smoke or abominable monster was in sight. "This can't be--" Luna's eyes immediately widened as she felt her horn tingle, and senses spike up.
The ponies picked up on her expression, and a worried Rainbow Dash asked, "Uh, Princess? What are you doing?"
The slightly panicked princess answered with, "I can sense the source again..." Everypony let out a sigh of relief, "... But it's coming from everywhere, and converging on us."
The ponies slowly looked outward with weary eyes, Fluttershy shaking on her hooves. Twilight looked up, but squinted her eyes when something caught her attention. At first, she mistook it for a raven. But then, a loud hiss was heard, as it came much closer. Everypony looked once they heard, and looked shock to see long, thin, narrow smoke quickly slither across the sky, straight towards them. They all spun around when they heard the noise again, only to see another strand of smoke. They all turned in various directions when they heard and saw another. Then another. Then more. Then much more.
The ponies backed into one another as the sky slowly darkened due to the sea of shadows. Luna lightly gasped as she realized, "We tracked it here... just like it wanted."
One of the guards shouted as he firmly gripped his spear, "It's a trap!" The guards all got in a defensive position before their princess, as the Elements prepared for combat, with Luna charging up her horn with magic. They quickly found the city enclosed by a dome of the smoke, and found their surroundings turning darker by the second.
Rainbow hovered above the group as she asked Luna, "Any ideas, princess?"
Before she could give an answer, a hollow howl of what sounded like wind resonated through the streets. The ponies were in for another surprise when they saw figures approach seemingly straight from the dome of shadows. They were pony-like in sense, with four legs and such. The real difference was the fact that they were made out of the smoke as well, and had no eyes, ears, or tails. The ponies looked all around as the same smoke creatures slowly trotted, almost menacingly, from around the other buildings of the street and around the dome.
To the suspense of everypony, a voice resounded across the city. The voice sounded hollow and dry, almost as if it were a whisper, saying, "Et vos hodie moriar."
Luna's response was to narrow her eyes as she hovered above, ordering the ponies, "It is clear what we must do. We must fight our way out of this." She punctuated her point by having her horn blaze with a neon blue as it fired a streak of raw energy. It impacted the front smoke ponies and released a shock wave effect that shattered the wave of smoke ponies. Despite the large amount erased, those ones were easily replaced by the vast number of more. Twilight joined Luna in the air as she began blasting the creatures to oblivion as well.
"Time to give these suckers on heck of a beat down!" shouted Rainbow Dash as she dove for the ones from the back of the street. Despite being constructed of smoke, she still managed to strike them with her hooves. Whenever they were struck hard enough, they would vanish into slithers and retreat back to the shadowy dome.
The guards and other Elements found themselves in the brawl with the limitless amount of smoke creatures. Though they gave their best, they found that the smoke ponies were replenishing and pushing forward faster than they were being eliminated. The guards were the first to find themselves victims to the smoke ponies' retaliation, as they charged with a gallop instead of a slow trot. They bent their heads down and delivered a painful ram to the guards, despite being just smoke.
Twilight saw the situation slowly tilt against them, and turned to Luna while still firing at their enemies. "They keep coming faster than we can destroy them! There's got to be a way to stop it!"
Luna took a brief pause to look around the city and the dome. That's when she noticed that the smoke ponies were coming from the dome, because they were made from the dome. She blasted more of the smoke ponies as she quickly spoke, "They are coming from this sphere around us, we'll have to take it down. All I need is a few moments."
She hovered in place as she closed her eyes and mentally prepared for a good spell to take down the shadowy dome. As she concentrated, a low chuckle was heard across the city, as the same voice spoke, "Mitterent ad mannalus." As soon as the voice finished, smoke ponies with horns adorned on their heads were born from the dome, and turned their sights to the Princess of the Night. All of the sudden, streaks of steaming smoke shot out of their horns directly at Luna.
Twilight saw the incoming projectiles, and as she shouted, "Luna, look out!" she summoned up a barrier around herself and Luna.
Luna opened her eyes with, "Wha--?" but was cut off as the bombardment of smoke projectiles thundered against the dome. Yet again, despite being smoke, it managed to crack, and quickly shatter the dome, causing both alicorns to be sent flying back. Before they could right themselves in the air, they both slammed against a brick building hard, hard to the point cracks were made and the wall being slightly busted in. With a groan they pulled themselves out of the wall, and glided down to the rest of the ponies.
One of the guards galloped to them and nearly shouted, "Your highness! Are you all right?"
Luna nodded her head with the response of, "Yes, we'll be fine."
The same eerie voice rang through the street as it gave off another command. "Non parcet." With that, the smoke ponies no longer toyed around, and charged with fury like that of hell.
"We've really gotta stop running into trouble." Spoke a slightly annoyed Venom, as he stood before the outside of the smokey dome. Earlier on the train, he spotted the city the ponies were at, but shrouded in darkness. The wisp he was following was accompanied by many others, as they all were seemingly absorbed into the dome of smoke. So he leaped off the train when it was close enough to the city, and ran half a mile to get there.
Before him was the same dome, with the same smoke that he had encounters with in the past. He didn't know what was going on in that city during the time, but he knew that that was where the Elements were. He also knew that the smoke was always a threat, especially to innocents; the Lethal Protector didn't like that.
He placed a hand on the dome, somewhat surprised when the smoke felt like an actual solid instead of like a gas. It did not, however, deter Venom. Instead, he shone another eager grin, raised his right arm and pulled back with a readied fist. He shouted, "Open sesame!" as he drove his whole arm straight through the black barrier. He received the desired effect with a gap just large enough for him to fit through appeared. When he slipped through, Eddie thought, 'Why are these ponies always somehow getting attacked by something?'
The symbiote replied with, 'Not much different from people.'
'Huh, good point.'
When he was on the inside, he quickly noticed an abundance of smoke ponies all rushing further in the city, though they didn't seem to notice Venom. He used that to his advantage as he quickly scaled the nearest building, then leaped from rooftop to rooftop, following the myriad amount of smoke ponies below to their destination. Both Eddie and the symbiote had a bad feeling of where it might have led, though.
It appeared they were correct on their assumptions, as Venom beheld the sight before him on the street below. There were the severely outnumbered ponies, that being a dozen or so guards, the Elements, and surprising to both Eddie and the symbiote, Princess Luna herself; though, despite the blatant difference in numbers, the ponies seemed to be holding up well. Luna and Twilight took to the skies and blasted the smoke ponies too close to the guards, who were using their spears so keep the smoke ponies at bay. At the opposite end of the street, the Elements were holding fairly well against their enemies. Even though they were defending themselves well, the man and the Klyntar knew that they couldn't keep going forever, seeing as how the smoke ponies kept replenishing themselves. They knew it was time to intervene.
The guards on the street were slowly falling back as the smoke ponies kept advancing onward in greater numbers. The guards that were unicorns had to cast barriers in front of themselves and their comrades to keep the smoke ponies back and their smoking shots, but only managed to slow down the barrage. One of them grunted as the managed to speak through the struggle, "We're losing ground here!"
"Geronimo!" was the voice they heard from above. They all looked up and widened their eyes when they saw the wicked webslinger coming down onto the smoke ponies with two raised fists. Venom punched the ground simultaneously with his landing, crushing the smoke ponies under him. The assault didn't end their, as the fists wavered into a puddle like goo that spread in front of him and under the smoke ponies insantly. They might have charged, but quickly found themselves impaled and pierced by the black tendrils-turned-spikes from puddle under their hooves. The guards stood frozen, not knowing what to do or say. The same voice in the dome echoed, though it sounded much more furious than the times before, "Quid tu hic!?!"
Luna heard the aggressive voice like the others, and spun around to see Venom to her shock. "Eddie!?! What are you doing here?"
Venom looked up at Luna as he spoke, "First off, we've really got to stop meeting under circumstances like these. Secondly, we followed on of those smoke things here. Looks like this isn't a simple day after all." The guards calmed down once they recognized Venom. They have not seen him before, but they heard of what he has done. Despite his nightmare appearance, they knew the good he had done at Canterlot, and Princess Luna seemed to know him a bit, so they weren't afraid to go near him and prepare for another defense against the smoke ponies.
Luna hovered a bit closer to the ground, but kept afloat as she continued to fire at the smoke ponies near the Elements as she shouted over the sounds of battle, "Whatever the reason, we're all in some trouble. I need to take this barrier down to stop these things from reproducing, but it requires some time: Time that keeps getting interrupted!"
Venom looked in front of him to see smoke ponies reaching from the edge of the dome to some yards from himself and the guards. He then looked behind himself to see the Elements barely holding up against the persistent dark foes. He looked back at the Princess of the Night as he asked, "So, we have to hold them off of you for a bit?"
"Well, yes, but--"
"Then that is exactly what we'll do." As Venom finished, he turned towards the charging dark foes with his arms stretched outwards. In less than a few seconds, both arms split into multiple tendrils from the elbows, and shot out to the smoke ponies in all areas in front of him. They didn't have a chance to react as the sprawl of thick tendrils rammed into them with enough force to burst through the toughest of metals. The ones in the front were completely shattered by the attack, whereas the ones from the back were sent flying against buildings or others of their kind.
Encouraged by the attack and the gain of a powerful ally, the guards began to charge with grins. The front few couldn't take a few steps before a large, black and muscular arm blocked them. They looked up in surprise to see Venom looking down at them, shaking his head. "Hey, what are you doing? We're trying to help you." said one of the guards.
"We appreciate that, but for this to work, both sides must be kept at bay. You must help the Elements. Me and my other can handle this side."
The guards looked at Venom as though he were a lunatic. "Are you crazy!?! You can't handle those numbers alone!"
The Lethal Protector sighed as he marched out to the army of smoke ponies, as he called over his shoulder, "Have more faith. Besides, those six look like they could use the help."
They would have continued to protest, until their princess spoke up, "Do it." They turned around with confusion etched on their faces when they saw Princess Luna sitting between the Elements and them, eyes clutched shut and her horn building up power. "It's the only way I'll be able to bring down this barrier." The reluctance and concern was clear in their eyes, but they were not going to disobey an order from Princess Luna. So they galloped off to the other end of the street to assist the Elements of Harmony.
Twilight was hovering in the air as she rained down a barrage of purple and lethal streaks from her horn, her targets being the black foes below her. Rainbow Dash zoomed across the street and back, knocking down and subduing the smoke ponies whenever she could with a look of complete confidence upon her face. Applejack was in the center of the brawl, using her applebucking skills and strength to demolish her enemies who thought they could get the upper hoof on her. Rarity stood at the back, firing a sea of gems and rubies at the smoke ponies. Pinkie charged head on like a warrior with her steel bat with barbed wire and tacks covering it, as she slayed her enemies with that grin of hers. Fluttershy helped wherever she could, but she wasn't much of a brawler.
Suddenly, the Lunar guards joined the fight with the Elements to their shock, but they wouldn't refuse it. As the guards pushed the smoke ponies back with a combination of spears and magic, Twilight landed next to the guards to try and asses the situation. "What are you guys doing here? Who's guarding the other end of the street!?!"
One of the guards turned to face her as he answered in a firm tone, "Your highness, Princess Luna commanded it. As for who is on the other end, well..." He decided it was easier to simply point his hoof to the other end of the street.
Twilight turned her head, and her jaw went slightly agape as she saw Venom slashing and tearing his way through the smoke ponies with his clawed hands, as well as chomping down on a few who were unlucky enough to be in range of his vicious teeth. "Wha-- how'd he even know we were here?"
Rainbow Dash hovered down, saw the look on Twilight's face, and looked the direction she was looking at. She had a fairly similar reaction as she sputtered, "Wha-- him!?! Again!?!"
Before the two could continue, the same guard interrupted, "Um, I don't want to be rude..." Once he saw the two look at him, he waved a hoof at the near limitless amount of assailants. "But if you two could continue fighting, I'd really appreciate that." The two looked at each other with looks of determination, nodded, and resumed battle.
Venom continued to battle the smoke ponies on his side without much trouble. They may have had superior numbers, but their strength was not enough to damage Venom, or hardly faze him. He taunted with his usual grin as he crushed one of their heads in his hand, "Haven't we been through this routine before? You try to fight, but end up losing in the end regardless."
It was as if the one heard him, as it spoke with high anger, "Pecus quoque occidite!" As it finished that, the smoke ponies before Venom paused what they were doing. Venom noticed, and watched with confusion. Suddenly, some of them began to join into another, morphing into one. It started with a few, then many, a bunch, and then all. Every time the process was done, a larger smoke pony was created. Venom found himself staring up with large eyes at the three-story tall, smoke pony before him.
"Well... that's new." Venom raised both arms and shot two strands of webbing at the head of the colossal smoke pony. He yanked himself upward and delivered a swift dropkick under the pony's chin, causing its head to snap up and fumble a few steps back. Venom landed in front of it, and continued the attack by leaping on one of its legs and sinking his claws into it. The smoke pony shook its hoof in an attempt to shake the wicked webslinger, but to no avail. So it raised its hoof with Venom facing a building, and before Venom could react, the smoke on the hoof burst at him and launched him off the hoof, causing him to go sailing and crash into one of the buildings.
Venom crashed into what appeared to be the living room of an apartment, and when he picked his head up, he saw a family of ponies at the far end staring at him with wide eyes and shaking. He looked back at the busted wall as he jumped out of it after he told the family, "Apologies for the damage, but all the property damage caused by this battle will probably be covered by your government."
When Venom landed, the enormous smoke pony continued its streak by blasting him with more of the aggressive smoke. Venom grunted as he was forced back down the street. When he looked up, he saw the smokey hoof of his large opponent quickly being brought down upon him. Venom was quick to react and raised both hands to catch the hoof. The large smoke pony applied more force, but Venom refused to be squashed. As he wrestled with the hoof, an idea came to him as he gave off another sadistic grin. He pulled one of his clawed hands back, but quickly thrust it upwards with the arms splitting into many tendrils with spiked ends. He got the intended results and the symbiote's tendrils purged through the smoke, and forced the large smoke pony to stumble backwards, though with a limp that time.
The Lethal Protector then webbed himself to the side of the nearest building next to a lamp post. With an eager grin, he stood on the side of the wall and reached with his hand on the lamp post. With a loud 'Krrch!', Venom snapped the top part of the lamp post off at a degree that would only leave a sharp and deadly point below. He then looked over to the wounded smoke pony as he taunted, "Come on! At least make a fight out it!"
The smoke pony heard, and with a furious charge, galloped straight toward Venom despite the deep wound in one leg. Venom stood still on the wall, his grin never faltering. When the smoke pony was within appropriate distance, he leaped off the wall right as the smoke pony was about to hit him. It rammed into a brick wall, and stumbled out with a hoof to its head. Before it could clear its headache, it found two more strands of black webbing on its head, and was forcefully yanked downward. It might have done something, but unfortunately for it, the large smoke pony, with a resonating 'Slllnk!', found that its head had a broken lamppost straight through the center. With a final twitch, it dissipated as steam, and joined the dome.
To Venom's glee, he heard the same voice roar in rage, and shout, "Satis! Omnes Inter--" It was interrupted by a blinding white light originating from Luna's horn. The ponies had to divert their gaze, but Venom was able to look directly at the display. He saw the light shoot up into the sky and hit the center of the dome, with the magic of Luna eating away at the barrier. Not only that, but the magic started to swarm the rest of the smoke ponies, and instantly vaporize them without leaving a trace of them having ever existed. When the light cleared, all of the ponies looked around, and shouted with glee when they saw the dome having no longer been there.
But while the ponies were celebrating, Venom and Luna noticed a few strands of smoke escaping to different areas of the sky, and leaving their gaze.
He could not believe it. That damn creature ruined his plans, again. He knew he was struck with some kind of tracking spell by Luna when he was in the creature's dream, but decided to use that to his advantage. He led them to a city, trapped them, and had them battle his smoke ponies. They were not all tough nor durable, but so long as the dome was up, they were numberless. His plan was to wait it out, wait until the ponies got tired and lost their stamina and energy. It probably would've worked.
But that's when the creature called Venom came. He realized he was foolish for not taking the creature into account. A mistake he would not make again.
It was a shame, really. There could have been something glorious with Venom serving his every command, the creature would have been a useful asset. But, since there is something guarding the creature's mind, he could not dominate it. He would just have to destroy it, then.
He was watching the battle from the start, but knew it was a loss once Luna activated her spell, so he retreated back to his lair, hideout, place of residence, whatever he would call it when he felt like it. It was night by then, but he was still thinking. He knew he couldn't strike for awhile, and would have to wait a bit for an opportunity. He would also need to find more about Eddie, Venom, or whatever the thing liked to be called.
He would have continued planning, until it sensed something, something entering the air. He would've passed it off, but his instincts and his magical abilities convinced him otherwise. He exited his lair, and went up to the sky, as the source of the signal was strong there. The signal, it was foreign, nothing he had ever felt or sensed before, and that's saying something.
He looked around from left to right, until his sight fell upon something intriguing. In the sky, through the clouds and starry night, he could see a small, yet distinguishable, streak of fire coming down onto the land.
That was when he realized, the reason the signal felt foreign was because that was the thing.
Something had entered Equestria's atmosphere, something large. He didn't dare go investigate on the risk of being spotted. So instead, he used a spell for enhanced vision to at least get better details of what was entering Equestria. He felt his curiosity grow as he he saw what was not an asteroid or meteor like he had expected, but something even larger with what looked to be tentacles from behind it. That was all he could see without getting closer.
He entered his lair with a new eagerness. He didn't know what the tartarus that was, but watching it would be a fun way to pass the time until he could strike again.