//------------------------------// // 4. Shopping // Story: The Symbiote // by SpyroForLife //------------------------------// When Twilight woke up, she felt more well-rested than she has in weeks. She couldn’t recall what she had dreamed about, but that was fine. She was so warm and comfortable, and when she opened her eyes, the morning sunlight seemed far too bright. She winced and closed them, trying to sink into that heat surrounding her. It was the weekend. School wasn’t open today. She could sleep in. Excellent idea, Princess. Her eyes flew open, and she sat upright. “Venom.” The alien extended a head out of her neck so he could look her in the eye. “Yes?”he asked, sharp teeth glinting in his wide maw, a few strings of saliva dripping out. She looked herself over and realized why she felt so warm. His skin(?) had completely coated hers. It was a sort of connection that was so deep and intimate it made her blush. She cleared her throat and said, “So, I guess all that crazy stuff did happen last night. I’m bonded with an alien parasite.” “Parasite?!” he demanded. Their hide twitched and she felt him bristle with anger. “Parasites take and take and give nothing in return! I am a perfect symbiote in a MUTUALISTIC bond with you! You breathe and allow me to survive in this atmosphere, and in turn I share my strength with you! You eat to fuel me, I repay you with the ability to fight and move like never before! We make each other better! If I was a parasite, trust me, you would not be breathing right now!” Twilight was taken aback, but didn’t let him intimidate her, getting in his face. “Okay, so we are in a mutualistic relationship, not a parasitic one, whatever! This is still really freaky and gross and I don't know how Celestia is gonna react to the truth about the Life Aura Center, not to mention what happened to me, and ugh!” She turned and threw herself face-first into a pillow. She felt surprise radiate through their connection. She tried to pry into his thoughts, but he masked them from her, and she was briefly satisfied that she had made him speechless. He watched her silently for a few seconds, and she kept her face against the pillow. Then she felt a gentle stroking between her wings. Looking over, she saw Venom resting his chin on the pillow next to her, having formed a neck and shoulders to go with his head, and he was petting her with a human-like hand. It was surprisingly cute, and she resisted the urge to giggle. He was making it really hard to remember he was a vicious space alien. “I'm only vicious toward our enemies.” “I noticed.” Twilight let him coax her into sitting up, curiously examining his current form. His skin had uncovered her body, and his usually-liquid form had become more solid as he rested next to her, muscular and large, though it was only composed of a torso and everything above that point. The rest just flowed back into that strange biomass and bonded seamlessly to her. He looked her over too, apparently interested to see her in the sunlight, and even lifted one of her hooves to look at closely, comparing it to his hand. Twilight was already thinking of how she was going to explain the differences between ponies and these aliens to Celestia. They were so unlike anything else in Equestria, this could be a fascinating field of study- “Your thoughts are so loud!” Venom complained. She stared. “My... thoughts?” “We share the same mindscape!” He gave her skull an unnecessarily hard tap, though at the same time, it didn't really hurt. “You're just in there shouting everything that goes through your brain to the void! I hear all of it!” “So uh, how do I keep you from hearing everything?” “Don't overthink it. You somewhat pulled it off yesterday. If you want me to hear, then intend for me to hear. If you don't, keep it private. I can't explain much simpler.” Twilight's brows furrowed, but she gave it a try, quietly trying to sing one of Pinkie's cupcake recipes to herself without wanting him to hear. Judging from the lack of response from Venom, he didn't catch it, though he did smirk at how she bobbed her head slightly to the tune. Then her thoughts wandered again. So if you had to write a- OH, sorry! Venom looked more exasperated than angry. “Look, fluff face. Stop thinking about how to talk to Celestia. Write later. Go do something else to distract yourself. Then we'll get to it when we're ready. But it does need to happen soon. I need to free all the Klyntar so we can go home. They’ve suffered long enough.” “Go home, huh? Why, so you can bring back enough of your kind to take over every sapient being in the world?” “That would be ideal, yes.” “What if I don’t let you?” “Let me?” He laughed. “You think you could stop me? I’m part of you. In essence, I am you. I can move without your permission.” To demonstrate, he opened and closed their wings. Twilight tried to stop them from moving. It was a struggle, as she felt his will trying to overpower hers. After a few moments, she groaned and gave up, but so did he, instead just blanketing himself around her body. “Hm, your will is strong. Which means anything we do, we must cooperate on. I could take a weaker-minded host, but you've got a fire to you I quite enjoy. Plus, it would be a shame to lose this body…” He posed a bit as he examined their body more. “It’s really quite impressive. An alicorn. The things I could do…” “Yes, well, if you want to move to somepony else, go for it. You won’t hurt my feelings.” “Oh? Would you be okay with that?” Venom sprouted his face back out so he could stick it in hers. She was so used to it by now she didn't even flinch. “Would you truly allow another pony to feel the shock and horror you did when we bonded? Allow them to have their mind and body controlled into doing my bidding? Risk them not being a match for me, resulting in me eating away their organs and flesh as I struggle not to die? Is that really what you want, Princess of Magic?” Twilight hesitated. “Well… no, I don’t want anypony being harmed…” “And speaking of being harmed, even if my new host were to be compatible, what if we get discovered for what we are by Blazing and his team? Taken back into that lab? Locked up, experimented on, starving to death. You want that?” “No!” “Of course not. But you’re powerful and clever. We won’t be captured if we stay together.” Venom ran his hand from her back, up along her neck. Twilight tensed when his claws elongated, but didn’t try to move away. He touched her face, stroking through her cheek fur. He was surprisingly gentle about it. “Besides, I’ve already taken a liking to you.” She wasn’t sure what to make of the emotions he was projecting through their mental link, so she elected to just ignore them and instead focus on the conversation. “Flattery will get you nowhere. I am a princess of Equestria and I will not let any harm come to it. So, while I will let you stay with me, I cannot and will not allow your species to take over. That is final.” “So you’re leaving them to suffer.” “We’ll rescue them. Get them… I don’t know, get them into willing hosts. You can become part of our society. But I can’t allow your entire species to come here. I know most of them are peaceful, but since there are those who just want to conquer other worlds... I can't. It’s just too dangerous.” “Hm, my brethren in the lab would accept hosts… but many of them are very loyal to our team. They will want to bring others like us here. Stopping them from doing so will be difficult.” “I’ll figure something out.” Twilight burrowed under the covers. You’ll figure it out under here? She sighed. I’m going back to sleep. Again? You already slept for eight hours. Hmph. Tired. You’re not tired, you’re hungry. Let’s go shopping! Can’t I do it later? You promised you’d buy chicken! Right. Twilight finally rolled out of bed, going over to the mirror and looking herself over. Venom had vanished back into her, and she leaned in close, trying to find any hint that was sharing her body with an alien. But there was nothing. Beautiful, aren’t we? We can look like this, and we can look like this. They bulked up, the dark goo covering them in an instant, and Twilight turned a few ways to stare at just how muscular her legs had become. She looked very unsettling with her body concealed like this. She couldn’t even recognize herself. Her mane and tail had become a flowing mass of liquid, her eyes were sharp and milky white, and her smile was far too wide. Her wings and horn were still visible, but if she saw a creature like this without knowing what it was, she wouldn’t connect it to any of the alicorn princesses at all. She would just see it as a grotesque monster. Oh, so now I’m grotesque? No! I mean… you, or I guess we… Twilight spun in a circle, looking at herself from all angles. We look unstoppable. You make me look strange, there’s no doubt about it, but I like it. Nopony would recognize me like this. I could really do anything. I could be a vigilante. Be a superhero, almost. Don’t get ahead of yourself. How many superheroes do you know like eating brains? Well… there’s a first for everything, right? But seriously, we could do amazing things together. Yes, yes we could. I’m glad you recognize it. I feel the yearning for power inside you. You’ve been satisfied with your progress as an alicorn but you’ve always wanted more. I can give you more. We’ll improve together. We’ll get stronger, and soon nothing will stand in our way. Twilight turned away from the mirror, silently asking him to return them to normal, which he did. Well, I think first I want to get a baseline for your- our current power. Fantastic. But if you expect me to perform my best, you need to get me that breakfast you promised. You’re still on about- One chicken. Preferably raw but I'll cook it for your sake. Then you can do all the tests you want on me. And you by extension. Okay. Breakfast it is. But you better blow me away when I test you. Challenge accepted. Going to the store was an adventure. Venom seemed interesting in trying anything and everything, including products that weren’t even food. She had to carefully explain to him why she couldn’t drink laundry detergent, no matter how nice it smelled. He also dragged her through the coffee aisle, pretty much plastering her face against one of the coffee bean dispensers and inhaling deeply. She pulled back, but not before a filly walking by with her mother gave her a confused look. “Uh, just… trying to decide what coffee to switch to,” Twilight said, laughing nervously. The two kept going, and she heard the filly say, “The princess really loves coffee, just like Daddy!” Okay, that was adorable. Twilight quickly told Venom that the coffee beans didn’t exactly taste good in their current state, and he told her to buy some and brew them then. She sighed, filled a bag with her favorite brand, and tossed it in her cart. It’s a good thing she needed to go shopping anyway, she supposed. Then they were hurrying to the tiny meat department, where a griffin worked. He seemed surprised to see her. “Ma’am, just so you know, this is all actual meat. But we have a vegetarian line down that way that tastes like the real thing.” “Oh I know, I want real meat.” “You do?” “Mhm.” She browsed the selection, and felt Venom’s hunger. She licked her lips when she got to the pile of whole chickens, bound and ready to be cooked. “Huh, don’t meet many ponies who eat meat. But alright, what can I get you?” She let Venom take over, and he gladly did so. “I’ll have two of these chickens, a pack of pork chops, oh these chicken nuggets would make a delicious snack, aand get me those sausages! And this pack of salmon!” The griffin bagged everything for them, weighing the bags and putting price labels on them. They put everything carefully in their cart, thanked him, and headed for the front. He scratched his head as he watched them go. “That princess is weirder than I thought.” I thought we were just getting chicken, Twilight thought as she stalked toward the checkout line. We were but I figured we should stock up. She greeted the cashier and began unloading her cart. The other scanned through with little comment, though raised a brow at the sight of all the meat, looking up at Twilight. “Um… I got curious,” she replied nervously. He shrugged and went back to scanning. Twilight paid and got out of there as quickly as she could, teleporting back home with her bags. She went right to the kitchen, horn glowing and everything floating into the air. She put it all away, though left one of the chickens out. I don’t know how to prepare this. Then allow me. Venom took control, and she just mentally took a back seat, letting him trot around the kitchen collecting what he needed. They pulled the strings off the chicken, and plopped it into a tray. The oven was set to preheat, and Venom went through the spices, sniffing them before settling on a few he liked. He found a brush and used it to wipe just the smallest amount of water along the meat, then sprinkled on his spices. It’s almost good enough to eat now, but I don’t want your body to reject it. Thanks. They kept preparing the chicken, getting it nice and spiced, arranging some broccoli and carrots artfully around it. And once the oven dinged, they put the pan in and closed the door. Venom was impatient, taking to pacing the room, until Twilight reminded him that they had bought more chocolate. He decided to munch on a caramel-filled piece, but wanted to save his appetite for the chicken. The scent of it soon filled the air, and Venom’s hunger made their mouth salivate. The smell soon attracted Spike, who had apparently slept in. He rubbed his eyes and stared into the kitchen. “Are you… making chicken?” he asked. “Yeah,” they replied. “Since when do you eat meat?” “Since um… I was curious. I mean, I know quite a few griffins and hippogriffs now, and other omnivores, I wanted to try foods they like.” “Huh. Well, okay, but don’t eat too much, you wouldn't want to get sick.” He went to open a cabinet, taking out his stash of sapphires and tossing one into his mouth. “You want some?” Twilight asked. “Sure, it smells really good.” Spike hung out while they waited for the food to finish, and they chatted about their plans for the weekend. Then Spike settled into reading a comic. He’s very nice for a dragon. He was raised by ponies, but other dragons are learning to be nicer too, thanks to my school. Cute. Good luck with that. Once the chicken was done, Twilight used magic to pull the hot tray out of the oven and set it on the stove. She carefully cut a leg from it, which Spike claimed. She had to resist the urge to just shovel the entire chicken into her mouth. She instead cut some slices out, and scooped some of the vegetables onto her plate, then went to sit down. She spent a few moments just looking at the food in front of her. Meat. She was really going to eat meat. She’s never had chicken before. She sniffed it. Come on, you’ve been smelling it this whole time. Let’s eat! Before she could protest, her hooves were moving, grabbing a slice and tossing it into her mouth. Spike stared at her, and she silently yelled at Venom, Fork! We eat with a fork, not our hooves! Whatever you say. Their horn lit up and they picked up the fork, spearing a piece and lifting it that way. “Are you alright?” Spike asked. “You’re acting kinda funny.” “Oh, you know,” Twilight laughed nervously. “Totally fine.” “If you say so, but if you want to talk, I’m here.” He slid the chicken leg into his mouth, gnawing off the rest of the meat as he left the room. Everyone around here really trusts you. None of them are really questioning your odd behavior. I haven’t done anything too weird yet. They might just think I’m having an off day. It happens. This must be that love and tolerance I’ve heard so much about. Twilight focused more on how the chicken tasted. The texture was strange, the flavor even more so. It was different from anything else she’s ever had, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. But it wasn’t bad. Her stomach coiled with brief nausea at the thought of what she was eating, but she pushed past it. Better this than brains, right? Brains are so good though, you really should try it again, it’s an acquired taste. No thanks. She felt Venom’s dismay. But he was content with this meal. They brought the entire pan over to the table. Now that they were alone, they ate more messily, diving in face first and tearing soft strips of meat away from the bone. Twilight was mildly disgusted, but somehow it was very easy to just let Venom take over and follow his instincts. This really wasn’t so bad. In fact it was starting to taste pretty good. The meat was so tender and juicy, rich in flavor, and she thanked the other for talking her into eating it. See? Delicious. You herbivores have been missing out. We’ll prepare all sorts of meats, you’ll love them all, just wait and see! Maybe I can even get you to let me eat this stuff raw! Don't hold your breath. A few seconds later and Venom was extending their jaw and chomping down on the rest of the chicken, using their tongue to slurp up the juices and draw the body all the way into their mouth. Twilight shuddered as they crunched through bones, but they had little trouble swallowing, and she began to wonder just how much this symbiosis had changed her body. Quite a lot, I’d imagine, Venom replied, and they wiped their mouth off, before munching on the vegetables still in the tray. Changed my body, changed my tastes… this is the last thing I expected when I snuck into the Life Aura Center. But I guess it isn’t too bad. Of course not. I mean, you could have been killed. ...Yeah. When they finished off everything in the pan, they took it over to the sink to rinse out. Then they headed to the castle gym, so Twilight could test just how strong Venom has made her. He stretched a couple arms out of her, cracking his knuckles. Let’s do this.