//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14: The "One Who Eats" 
// Story: Venomous Uprising 
// by Paco-El-Taco 
//------------------------------//

It was only the afternoon that day, but one city was suffering the aftermath of an attack that had occurred on it. Ponies were reoccupying the streets unlike the hours before and were taking in everything before them. Nothing was damaged all too much, only some cracked walls and small broken bits of buildings. Guards were clustered around as well. They were checking on citizens for if they were injured, or keeping their eyes peeled for another attack. 
The Elements of Harmony were helping out in their own ways as well. Twilight was trying to figure out where the smoke that had retreated went, Applejack and Rainbow Dash joined the guards in keeping the defensive, and Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity helped the citizens that found massive property damage on their homes.  
Sitting on the edge of one of the taller buildings was the only human in Equestria, Eddie Brock. His symbiote had disguised itself as a smooth, caramel-colored leather jacket with a black badge on the right shoulder with a large white spider on it. The other part of its clothed appearance was a pair of black jeans, with some boots to go with it, all covering Eddie as if it were a real set of clothes. As for the man himself, he was watching the ponies below him, but his mind was in another place. He found himself thinking about that smoke, the same one that he first encountered in his dreams. It became apparent to him that whoever or whatever the smoke was had the intention to kill the princesses. He didn't read or know anything of Equestrian history up to that point, so he had no idea if stuff like that happened regularly or not. 
His thoughts came to a halt when he heard the alien within himself let loose a low growl only audible to him and one other. He picked his head up and looked to his left when he heard wing beats followed by a set of hoofsteps landing and making a trot towards him. He quirked a brow in some interest when he saw Princess Luna trot to him with a crestfallen face. As she approached, Eddie was the first to talk, "Not that it isn't nice to be confronted by royalty, but shouldn't you be down below or trying to find that thing, wherever it went?" 
Luna sighed as she sat down next to Eddie as she shook her head. "I'm afraid to say that I can't track the one responsible for this to a set destination, not as of yet, at least." She looked at the street below them as she continued, "How could I have let myself be tricked like that? It is my responsibility as the Princess of the Night to ensure my subjects' safety, and by failing to stop the trouble, this pony -or whatever it may be- is out again, and can cause more harm to the ponies, or even other nations as well." She dipped her head some, not taking her gaze off the ponies below.
Eddie didn't know how to properly respond to that, but he tried nonetheless. "Princess, if it's any consolation, you have our backing to stop this thing. We're willing to help with this." 
Luna was waiting for the symbiote to negate that statement, but perked her head up when she heard no refusal. "Even your symbiote is fine with this?" 
'Can tolerate you for a time...' she spun her head to her left to see a projection of a scrawny, humanoid symbiote staring down at the street with large and unreadable eyes. It then looked over to her with a scowl plastered on its face as it pointed a sharp talon at her, '... but don't push your boundaries.'
Luna merely rolled her eyes as she replied, "You have nothing to worry about, I'd rather do various other things that deal with a whelp." 
Before the symbiote could come up with a comeback, Luna turned her head to Eddie, who watched the two with a small frown. She spoke in a tone brighter than her disappointed one moments before that as she asked, "You know, I never did ask. What are your relatives back on your world likely reacting to your disappearance?" She saw Brock wearing a stoic face, but saw a flicker of something in his eyes, what it was she couldn't exactly pinpoint it. He looked off below saying nothing, but Luna didn't let up. "Surely there are your family or friends? What about your wife?" Luna backed her head up with surprise when Eddie quickly swiveled his head to hers and nearly shoved it in hers. 
His brows were furrowed and he spoke with clenched teeth, but she also saw his eyes were widened, as well as a hint of pain in them. "How do you know about her?" His voice was low, but the tone was that of barely suppressed rage. 
The princess was startled, for she had never seen Eddie so angry before that, especially if it was just something that was supposed to be an alright topic, his wife. She stammered as she managed to get, "I-I didn't mean to provoke you, Eddie. I saw her in one of your dreams, the one where I first had contact with your symbiote." 
Eddie's face softened as he backed away. He rubbed a hand to his forehead as he sighed, and spoke calmly, "Sorry, princess. It's just that... what you said brought back some certain memories." 
Luna frowned slightly as she heard that, but tried to lighten him up with, "Well, surely your wife misses you. I know it was only a memory, but you two looked so happy together in it," she smiled lightly, "she seemed quite lovely." 
Instead of merriness or some positive reaction Luna was expecting, Eddie looked away with misty eyes and straight lips. He spoke with what sounded like a longing for something, nearly in a whisper, "Yes, yes she was...."  
The princess tilted her head a bit and adopted a look of confusion of her face. "Was? What do you mean...?" Eddie remained silent along with the symbiote. Luna stared about him as she thought about his choice of words, and why he seemed so upset. It didn't take the princess long to figure his meaning on "was", and released a loud gasp as she brought a hoof to her muzzle. "You don't mean she is...?" Luna didn't finish that question in fear for the answer she would receive. 
She stared at Eddie with a pair of sad eyes, until his finally and let loose a long and tired breath. He then spoke in a quiet and soft voice, "Dead? Yes, she's been gone for awhile now." 
"I... I'm so sorry that had to happen to you, Eddie." The princess wanted to say more, but nothing came to her mind to help at least soften the mood.  
"Don't be. It's not your fault my Ann is gone." Neither Eddie or Luna noticed, but the symbiote looked at the street below them with many battling feelings within it. The symbiote had been alive for a long time, possibly longer than the princesses themselves, but it didn't have much experience with emotions. The Klyntar generally learned through their hosts of new emotions, languages, and various other topics. They could be influenced by their host on how they acted, just like they could do the same for their host. Most of the Klyntar learned the basics with their first host; however, the Venom symbiote's first host, and many after for that matter, were not normal and quite unique in one way or another. It learned basic emotions during its early life: sadness, anger, joy and such. 
But when it arrived to Earth, the emotions became more complex. Like right then for example, after hearing Eddie speak of his deceased wife, it recalled what happened to her, and it felt an odd emotion called guilt. 
While it was thinking more on that odd emotion, Brock stiffened up and looked over to Luna with some confusion when he felt her lay her right wing gently across his back. He saw her looking at him with a sad expression, and he took a guess that what she was doing was the equivalent of someone wrapping their arm around another. Eddie usually didn't take or receive physical contact like that, as the moments when they felt alright were rare. During that moment, though, he allowed it. 	
The trio were silent for a time, until Luna brought her wing back and asked "Eddie, is it all right if I ask you a question that might be personal?" she hesitantly asked. Eddie furrowed his brows in thought. He didn't know what she would ask, and he really wasn't all too comfortable sharing personal information. As he was about to decline, a thought came to him, something that would make the question fair. 
He looked over to the Princess of the Night with a slight smirk as he said, "Only if I get to ask you a question that's also probably personal." 
Luna was taken aback by the negotiation at first, but smiled as she said, "Deal." 
Eddie nodded as he waved his hand at her with a, "Ladies...mares first."
Luna giggled a bit, then started speaking, "The night in which that thing entered your dreams, and you two fought it, I could tell a few things about your dream before having entered." Her tone became concerned as she continued, "I could tell instantly that something was manipulating it, and I doubted it was the symbiote. I could feel strong emotions essentially radiating from it, that of depression and sadness; and though I didn't notice it at the time, I could tell your dream was a memory, a memory that thing used against you." She shook her head at that prospect before continuing, "So I must ask, if it is alright, what exactly was that memory of yours?" 
Eddie didn't know if that was something he was fine with sharing, but he supposed it was his only way of getting an answer to his question. So, he took in a breath as he began explaining, "Well, princess, I used to be a journalist. Still am, but different company. I worked for one of the greatest ones, the Daily Globe. Keep in mind that I worked my way up to have become a journalist, and I loved the job. I could go into detail about it, but I'll keep it short. Sometime there, a serial killer known as the Sin-Eater..." Eddie paused as he looked at Luna in puzzlement. As soon as he said serial killer, Luna's breathing abruptly paused as her eyes widened and her pupils shrunk to the size of nails. She looked like a deer staring into the headlights of an approaching car that would bring about its death. 
One of Eddie's brows raised as he asked, "Princess, are you okay?" 
At hearing Eddie's voice, Luna shook herself out of her stunned state as she mumbled, "Yes, sorry about that." She then looked over to Eddie with shock clearly plastered across her face. "Equestria has had some murderers in the past," she spoke that last part like it was the most hated thing in the land before she continued, "but serial killers are especially rare, thank goodness. It's just hard to imagine something as large as that just simply popping up." 
Eddie scoffed as he said, "Keep in mind that were I come from, it isn't a magical utopia with rarely any threats. Always at somewhere at some point is something big going on, probably bad as it is most of the times." 
"But surely it can't be all that bad. I'm sure those criminals and killers are stopped before they could go on some spree." 
Eddie huffed as he replied, "Unfortunately there are some pretty insane and almost unstoppable forces out there that want nothing more than utter chaos. If you ever want to know what a mass murderer is like, I could tell you all about Carnage." Before the princess could voice anything in, Eddie waved of the sidetracked conversation with his hand. "But we're getting off track. Anyways, a serial killer called the Sin-Eater started showing up and going on an erratic killing spree. Well, one day, I got a letter from a man who claimed to be the Sin-Eater. I didn't believe it at first, but after talking to him, he convinced me. He wanted me to write 'his side of the story' and such. Cut forward a few days later, nearly everyone wants me to publish the news, and I do. Once I do, it becomes a hit immediately. One of the highest selling articles, I felt like the happiest man alive for those few hours." 
He then frowned as his tone shifted to a more solemn one. "But then, my boss called me to his office. At first I thought it was gonna be something nice, like a congratulations. Instead, he laid the news on me that the guy who contacted me was the delusional neighbor of the real Sin-Eater. As a result, I was fired and had to pack up my office." He sighed as he continued his rant. "I know it might not sound that bad, but that was my career that I enjoyed. Not to mention, everything else just went downhill from there... as well as papers being printed all over of 'Eddie Brock something something wrong'." 
Luna just sat there, staring at Eddie with a sympathetic look. "That does sound terrible."
She tried to think of something else to say, but Eddie looked back at her as he said, "Alright, my turn." Luna was hesitant, but nodded her head for him to go ahead, and without hesitation, asked, "When I was in that thing's grasp in my dream, it told me a couple of things. It said something about you being committing treason at some point," it wasn't lost on Eddie on how Luna's face contorted into one of an anxious one, but continued nonetheless, "so I have to ask. What is it that you did, if the thing was telling the truth?" 
The princess was silent for some moments, as she repeatedly opened her mouth to speak, but shut it as if she thought what she was going to say would not suffice. The princess gave in with a sigh, and looked back at Eddie as she began, "I suppose it is only fair." Eddie awaited, and even the symbiote gave its attention to her as she began her explanation. "I don't know if your planet's sun and moon work similar to Equestria's, but here, my sister and I control them. Celestia is responsible for raising and lowering the sun, and I am responsible for raising and lowering the moon, as well arranging the stars of the night." She stopped when she saw both of Brock's brows shoot up his face and look at her with a dumbfounded look. She looked at him with puzzlement and tilted her head as she asked, "What?" 
Eddie shook his head as he mumbled, "Just magic." He waved her hand at her as he said, "Sorry about that. Please, continue." 
She nodded her head as she did just that, "Well, my sister and I have been doing this for a long time. But it wasn't until roughly a thousand years ago that problems started surfacing from me." Eddie and the symbiote were both shocked to hear of her age, but remained silent to hear the rest. "Ponies back then adored my sister and her day, but it wasn't so with me and my night. I always tried to make beautiful nights with the stars and moon, but the ponies then always saw the night as something to fear, to hide from, to resent. Since I am the bringer of night, they began to resent me for that as well. It was a slow process, but I began to grow jealous of my sister and how the ponies adored her. So I tried to get the ponies to love the night like they did the day.
"At first I was rational about it. I tried to convince my sister to have the nights last longer, made the nights even more magnificent, things like that; but, it still didn't change much. My sister only saw me as jealous, and the ponies still feared the night. So instead I tried to suppress the feeling, bury it down. I managed to do it at first, but over time, the feelings became stronger, and new ones were introduced. I began to feel anger and rage towards my sister and all the ponies who resented my night.
"At one point, those emotions just became too much, I developed hatred towards my sister, and I did something I still regret to this day." She took in a large breath as Eddie and the symbiote remained silent. They figured they knew where the story was going to head, but they didn't want to interrupt. "I was able to develop a powerful form of magic, magic that changed me into something else. My sister came to the throne room the day I didn't lower the moon, and before her I transformed into another entity: Nightmare Moon.
"I... I attacked my own sister, tried to destroy her. She didn't fight back, she tried to tell me that I wasn't myself, that we could fix this, but I didn't listen. I gave my sister no choice... she used the Elements of Harmony on me, and I was banished on my own moon for the next thousand years." She closed her eyes and took in a few more breaths, and Eddie was about to tell her she could stop if she wanted to, but continued before he could. "It was only a few years ago I came back. My sister and I embraced each other with open hooves, and we swore to each other to not let something like this happen ever again. The rest of the ponies, however, still saw me as Nightmare Moon, the bringer of eternal night. I was practically rejected by my own kind. Thankfully, they saw that I was not the same mare as those many years ago, and they even embraced my night." She spoke the last part with a bit of warmth, but her crestfallen face quickly returned. "There isn't a day that I don't regret what I did, and I wish I could take it all back, change it." 
Luna looked down at the street below, lost in her memories. She was brought out of it when she felt a hand placed on her shoulder, and looked over to Eddie in slight surprise when she saw his face had a slightly stoic face, but was soft and understanding. "Princess, I don't know if I can exactly relate to that experience, but I do know what it feels like to do something you heavily regret. That is something me and my other can both relate to." 
The symbiote was trapped in its own thoughts as a new odd and complicated emotion introduced itself to it. As soon as Luna said that she was rejected by her own kind, it felt an odd connection to her. Memories were brought up of how the Klyntar race banished it because it wasn't a lethal parasite that killed its hosts like all the others. It thought it was better to grow a bond with a host, to keep them alive and work with one another. Because of that, the Klyntar race banished it in order to keep the gene pool clean. That day and recent times, though, the Klyntar race were more of a peaceful race that kept their hosts alive, but in the Venom symbite's time, they were parasites that drained their host's adrenaline as a food source, killing them in the process. The hosts never rejected them because the powers were like a drug, something they just couldn't give up because they were addicted to it.
The symbiote felt a similarity of the situations. Luna was rejected by her own kind for awhile just like it was. The symbiote felt it could understand the pain Luna went through, and felt bad for her because of it. Then the symbiote got really confused. How could it feel bad for a pony it doesn't even like? It figured that with all those complicated emotions going on, it could figure them out a time after that. 
The princess looked to Eddie as a small smile adorned her face. "Well, at least there are some who know what that feels like." She stood up and began to trot off, but not before looking at the silent symbiote and speaking, "And a worst of wishes to you, whelp." 
The symbiote exited its thoughts with a scowl and glared at Luna. It really didn't care about names, but being insulted by one it definitely didn't like was something it didn't enjoy. 'Stop.' 
Luna giggled as she feigned confusion with a tilt of her head. "Stop what, whelp?" 
'Stop calling me whelp!'
Luna rubbed a hoof to her ear as she barely held in her laughter, as she continued in mock confusion, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear, could you repeat that, whelp?" She snickered as she saw one of the symbiote's eyes twitch, as well as raising one pointed talon at her. 
'Stop. Calling. Me. Whelp!' 
"Oh, sure thing... whelp!"
Luna fell down in laughter from the look of frustration that was on the symbiote's face. The symbiote didn't like Luna before, but it really didn't like her then; but, as if a light bulb lit up above the Klyntar's head, it grinned as a plan came to its mind. It spun to Eddie, who watched the whole ordeal with bemusement, and spoke over Luna's laughter, 'Eddie! Females sensitive to age, right?'
Eddie looked to his other half in puzzlement, but answered regardless, "Usually, yeah, wh--" 
Before he could finish, the symbiote spun to the laughing Luna as it shouted, 'Stop laughing, grandma!'
The effect was instantaneous, as Luna abruptly stopped laughing and her eyes snapped open. She looked over to the symbiote and clarified what it had said, "What did you say?" 
'Age finally caught up to your hearing?' Despite the symbiote's limited emotions and topics relating to it, there was one thing it gained from Earth, and it absolutely enjoyed it, especially to its fullest extent. 
Revenge.
It's scowl had transformed into a grin at the sight of the baffled Luna, and took advantage of her silence with, 'Old people tend to have slower thought process, must be what's taking you so long to respond.' 
Luna could start to feel a burning feeling within her, as well as to choke out the symbiote if it was possible. She could've let the first dream encounter go and to have forgotten about it. She could have moved past the locked door prank. Perhaps even have tolerated the symbiote to a certain degree. But when it called her old, that is where it crossed the line.
There are things you never say to a mare, and calling her old, even is she is, is one of them. 
She narrowed her eyes as she spoke in a low tone, "You have done something no sane pony or thing would. Prepare yourself, symbiote, for this... means... war." 
The Klyntar grinned at her like a little devil, as it said, 'Fine, but could I go first? Oldies take too long.' 
Eddie looked between the two with a tired look and a sigh, as he lowered his head into his hand as he muttered, "You two bicker more than an old couple," After a couple seconds passed, his eyes snapped open, and he looked over to see the Princess of the Night giving him a harsh glare, though the symbiote chuckled at Eddie's unintentional insult. He raised his hands in front of him in defense as he clarified, "Now, I didn't mean it like that." 
The symbiote snickered as it spoke with blatant amusement, 'Good comparison... because pony princess is very old!' 
The princess turned her glare to the blasted alien, as she shoved her face into its own, speaking with contained wrath, "You are going to find yourself in a bloody mess one of these days. You should prepare for then."
'Fight me!'
"Whoa, whoa, hang on a minute!" Eddie stood up as he shook his head with furrowed brows and a heavy frown. "I just got an attack in my dream last night! Hell, I barely had any uninterrupted sleep since I got here! And I have a feeling my mind is going to be your little battleground or something, so could I get a couple of nights as a grace period, please?" 
Luna looked over to Eddie as she rolled her eyes. "Relax, Eddie. Nothing that bad is going to happen." She began to trot to the edge of the building as she glared at the alien with a "Take these days to prepare, you'll need it." 
'Take the days to get a good cane, helps travel for elders.' 
She chose to ignore that comment as she spread her wings to take off, but heard Brock say, "Farewell, princess."
She turned back to Eddie with a smile as she spoke, "Please," she flapped her wings as she took off from the building, leaving the two, but not out of earshot as she finished, "call me Luna."





It was well into the night at the city of Fillydelphia, to the point at when almost all citizens were in their homes and sound asleep. The streets were small in capacity of ponies when compared to daylight hours, and only restaurants, pubs, and bars were occupying a sufficient amount of ponies to stay open that late. It was quiet all around as well, only with the tips of hooves connecting to the ground making any noise. 
In one of the many apartments, in one of the higher floors, were two mares within the living room of it. The room was quite spacious, it held a sofa, a coffee table next to it, a television mounted on the wall, and various other furniture pieces one would expect to see in an average home. One of the mares was a steel grey colored unicorn with a flat purple mane and tail to accompany it. She was sitting on the sofa, reading the papers with a cup of coffee next to her. Another mare entered the room from the kitchen, bringing out a tray of hay fries on her back. She was a light yellow pegasus with a curly black mane and tail. 
She hopped onto the sofa next to her friend as she placed the tray of food between them, grabbed a remote and switched on the television. Her friend thanked her as she picked up some of the hay fried with her magic and began to chow down on them. 
They sat there doing their own activities for a few minutes, until the unicorn peeked over the top of her papers to her friend, and spoke, "Hey, Lantern?" 
Said pony diverted her eyes from the television and onto her friend as she replied, "Yeah?"
"What do you think of that thing?" 
The pegasus rose a brow and looked at her confusedly, something that was not lost on the unicorn. She showed her the cover of the papers as she pointed her hoof to it, "That thing. I think it's called Venom or something." Sure enough, the pegasus saw Venom on the front page, all with his carnivorous teeth and that lashing tongue of his. 
"What do you mean?" 
"I mean, what do you think of it and all that stuff." 
"Well first off, I'm pretty sure that thing is human, but I don't know about the other part. And from what I've heard, he sounds pretty good to me. Why do you ask?"
The unicorn shrugged as she looked back to her papers with a, "I dunno, just something that's becoming big." 
The pegasus hummed and returned to watching her television for the time. Sometimes, the unicorn would peek over her papers to glimpse at the television to see what was on. At the third glimpse, she noticed something odd out of the corner of her eye. She put her papers down as she looked to her left, only to see a wardrobe against the far end of the wall, sitting next to all the other furniture. 
That would seem like nothing at all, but that wardrobe wasn't something she had seen in her friend's home before, and she had been there enough times to memorize the layout of it. It didn't concern her, she figured that her friend had likely gotten a new wardrobe some time before that day. She looked back to her friend as she asked, "Hey, Lantern?" 
The pegasus looked over to her friend again with a, "Yes?"
The unicorn pointed to the wardrobe with a hoof as she asked, "When did you get that wardrobe?"
"What?" The pegasus was puzzled, but puzzlement became bafflement when she looked over to where her friend was pointing to see a large wardrobe. "Uhh... I never got a wardrobe... especially for a living room."The mare hopped off her couch and slowly approached the wardrobe with weary steps.
Her friend called out from the couch, "Well, do you think somepony got it for you as a surprise present or something?"
The pegasus didn't divert her gaze from the wardrobe, as she mumbled out, "I don't think so...." She couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but something about that wardrobe, other than the fact she had never seen it before, felt wrong. It was as if every instinct in her told her not to go near it.
She paused as she stood only a meter away from it as she narrowed her eyes. Even her friend seemed slightly worried. But with the raising of her hoof and one push, she pressed her hoof against it, and to her relief, nothing happened. She exhaled a breath she didn't even know she was holding in as she looked back to her friend with a chuckle, "Honestly, I don't know why I was so cree--" Her sentence was cut off when she felt something slithery and tight wrap itself around her throat and yanked her back, causing her to gag. Her friend gasped and could only stare with wide eyes as she saw what they thought was an ordinary wardrobe suddenly shift into a great many purple tendrils that sprawled around the floor and in the air. She would have screamed, but one of the appendages shot out and wrapped itself around her throat and pulled it to her friend in the mess of wavering tentacles. 
When the tendrils unexpectedly loosened around their throats, they both screamed at what they saw and what was happening. They couldn't see all the details, but what they could scared them even more. A number of the same, dry, slithery, dark purple tendrils, both big and small doing various motions across the room. A pair of large claws that were hovering dangerously close to them. The scariest to them, something that looked like a face, but was so alien at the same time. It looked almost like it was made of bone, but below it was a large, gaping maw that was supplying amounts of a dull golden liquid that was drooling out of its maw. 
The beast was still for only a few seconds, until it started to bring its claws down on its victims, the talons shredding into their skin of their midsection. The mares cried out in agony even more, but the beast didn't let up. 
The prey struggled against it, but they always did that. The alien enjoyed it a bit, actually. It could have killed them right there on the spot, or have gone for a more silent approach to keep the indigenous sapient creatures away from its meal. The point was only proven when there was a rapid knocking on the door opposite of it, as a male voice shouted, "Hey, what's going on in there!?! Are you all right!?!" 
The alien let one of the suffering animals call out, "Please, Help! T-t-there's something in here and it's killing us!" 
The alien wanted the ones outside the door to hear, but didn't want them in. It used one of its smaller tentacles to wrap around the knob of the door, keeping the ones from coming in, even if they slammed themselves against it. 
One might have wondered why it bothered to do all of that and instead dig into its meal. The thing about that alien is, is that it is not just a mere brute like most predators are. It is clever and crafty, and even had brute strength to accompany it. Like it had just done, it could assume the form of harmless objects such as furniture, and wait for its prey to bring themselves to it. It had done the same technique on many other worlds, and it never failed. 
Its kind could almost instantly learn the languages of other worlds through unknown methods, giving them the advantage in tactics. Its kind didn't have a name or label like others, just that they were known apex predators; however, most races called them whatever their language would translate to of "One Who Eats". 
They were given that name because they could eat any animal or plant, nothing was poisonous to them, and they rarely dealt with threats. That certain one, as well as many of their kind, had certain tastes in food, just like any other creature. Most of them, however, enjoyed one food the most. 
Symbiote meat.
Something about the flavor was just so excellent, so fresh, so unique, especially accompanied with a symbiote's host. That one had eaten many symbiotes with their hosts, and it was the alien's favorite meal without a doubt. The taste was even greater if it was a symbiote that was bonded with their host for a long time. 
So when the alien was wandering the depths of space for its next meal, it was surprised when it sensed a symbiote on the planet it was close to so far out from most star systems. The alien was quickly eager, though. Even if it was just one symbiote, it would breach that planet's atmosphere for its favorite food. 
Despite how large the alien was and how easy one like it could be spotted, it easily crawled along the rooftops with the cover of night without having been spotted. The first thing it did was assume the form of common furniture as it prepared itself for learning the world's language. 
After it did, it had learned through news and the indigenous race that the symbiote and its host had taken the role of a hero. Some of them didn't like it, others trusted him, but the alien didn't care. If the symbiote and its host saw themselves as heroes, then it would be simple to get them.
It turned its sight back to the animals below it. They were a bloody mess, they couldn't scream simply because they didn't have the energy to. The alien could hear many concerned voices on the other side of the door, and could feel them trying to break it down. Obviously, they wouldn't be able to with it holding the door up, but it would let them in soon after that. The prey below it weren't symbiotes, but the alien hadn't had a good meal since it had arrived on the planet, and decided the two animals below it would be a sufficient meal. 
As for the mares, they were battered, slashed, bruised, and nearly broken. They had lost the ability to scream at some point when the thing above them continued to shred them with its claws. They did, however, have enough energy to widen their eyes when the beast brought its jaw to their faces, and opened its mouth to reveal to them their terrible fate.
The ponies on the outside of the apartment door were in the dozen by then, most of them confused and scared by the screaming they heard, the odd noises from the inside, and how the door wouldn't come down, even when the strongest of them gave it their all to bust it down. They all stopped with wide eyes and labored breaths when they heard a sickening crunching noise from the other side, followed by a loud crashing noise like 'Kttrrshhh!' Finally, the ponies were able to bust the door open and take a look inside. The first ponies to have entered immediately regretted their choice, as they brought a hoof to their muzzle to try and hold down their meal. 
Some weren't so successful at that, and released vomit at their hooves. Before them was broken furniture sprawled out, but that wasn't what caught their attention. Across the room were the two mares, shredded into to the point they could hardly be recognized, and what looked like their heads completely torn off and nowhere in sight, the fresh blood spilling out of and around their bodies. The ponies screamed and galloped back out, but the ones who stayed and diverted their gaze from the bodies dropped their jaws when they saw the far end of the wall completely busted through.
As the ponies immediately rushed for help, one pony on the street below the apartment wobbled down the empty road until it heard the loud crash. The stallion was a green earth pony. A green, very drunk, earth pony. He looked up with bloodshot and blinking eyes as he saw something that made him question if he had too much to drink that night. Above the buildings and in the cover of the night, was some large creature. The back was made of a number of tentacles and tendrils, the midsection had two skinny arms out of it with large claws that were being used to grip the edge of the skyscrapers, and what looked like odd horns on the head that were curving. The pony stared a bit longer at the disappearing form, until he shrugged and wobbled his way back home.  
The alien continued to slink across the rooftops without a sound. It had to admit, those animals, ponies, tasted great. Not symbiotes, but still something to remember. It didn't need to crash out of the wall, it could have found a quieter way out. It could have enjoyed its meal without the ponies screaming or others trying to converge on it, but that was the point. 
If the symbiote and its host were protectors like the alien heard, then it would not have taken long at all for the heroes to come and clean the mess when word would get out. The alien was sure that its prey would try to fight it, just like all the others. That was fine, it had a way of easily dealing with symbiotes. The alien did not know how long it would be until its meal arrived, but it could wait. A predator like itself was a patient one. 
Soon after, the "One Who Eats" would have its meal.