This is just going to be a nice trip to the human world to visit a friend, Twilight thought as she headed to the mirror room. Sunset’s been attending university and a lot of her other friends are busy with their schoolwork, so she wanted me to come hang out for a while.
Sounds like fun. And she’s feeding us? Very well, I’ll behave.
Sure, she’s feeding us, if you like ramen noodles.
What are ramen noodles? Venom asked curiously.
Twilight laughed. Oh, only one of the best foods humans have ever created. At least in my opinion.
Mm, I’m gathering from your memories that they’re very salty. And meaty! I look forward to it.
Twilight approached the crystal mirror, checking its augmentations and making sure it was still powered properly. It was working fine, so she walked up to the surface.
She felt a coil of apprehension from Venom. I will be able to go through, right?
Of course. Anyone can go through it.
She looked at her reflection, then walked through it. She kept her eyes closed as she passed through dimensions, much more elegantly than the first time she stumbled into the portal. Soon she was stepping out onto concrete, bright sunlight shining down on her, and she straightened onto her back legs. Which were now just legs, as her front ones had become jointed differently and were now arms.
She held her new hands up, opening and closing them as she got used to having fingers again.
Venom purred with delight. There we go, that’s more like it. Oh, we’re wearing clothes? He spun them around, checking out their outfit, and said, Cute.
Twilight blushed and went around to check the street. A bright red car with a phoenix decal on the front, a ‘1967 Firebird’ according to Sunset Shimmer (who had been quite ecstatic to get it judging from their previous journal correspondence), was waiting nearby. Its roof was down and Sunset leaned over to wave. “Twilight!”
Twilight jogged over. “Hey!” A little of Venom’s influence clouded her judgment, and rather than open the door, she simply vaulted over it and into the passenger seat.
“What is this, Dukes of Hazard?” Sunset asked.
“What?”
“Never mind.” Sunset started driving. “How have you been?”
“Oh, things have been great! Though… there was a little something that I didn’t really get to tell you about, it all happened so fast.”
Sunset cast her a concerned look. “What was it?”
“Ah. Well...” Twilight checked their surroundings, and said, “There was this research company, the Life Aura Center, that was conducting really unethical experiments on sick ponies… using aliens.”
“No kidding? Aliens?”
“Yeah, I know it’s pretty crazy, but they captured these aliens that can bond with a host and make them stronger, and even heal them. But the aliens didn’t want to be there and they were putting the patients through a lot of stress and torment, especially since the aliens weren’t being fed right so they kept eating their hosts from the inside out.”
Sunset made a face. “Ew. So, you took down the company, I take it?”
“Yes. It was a lot of work, and I nearly died.” Twilight unconsciously felt her stomach. Even though Venom had healed her completely and there were no physical side effects from being run through by Riot, she still remembered the pain. “But I pulled through and took down the leader of the center, with Celestia’s help. There was a lot of work to do afterward, but things are settled now and I’m moving past it.”
“Wow. Well, I’m glad it all worked out and that you’re okay. Still, the aliens part? That’s pretty cool.”
“It is. And don’t freak out, but during my first trip to the center, I was bonded to one of them.”
Sunset glanced at her. “You look normal to me.”
“Well yeah, they can hide under your skin. But if they want, they just kinda… drip out of your body and take a form. It’s hard to explain, you’d have to see it.”
Sunset considered, then said, “Show me.”
“Maybe not while you’re driving. He’s kinda creepy when you’re not used to him.”
“Him?”
Twilight shrugged. “Well, they don’t quite have gender like ours, but he was in a lot of stallions before me and got comfortable being called he. It doesn’t really matter to him though.”
“Ah. Well, I’ve seen a lot of weird stuff, I think I’ll be okay.”
“If you say so.” Twilight tapped her left shoulder. “Come here, Venom.”
A tickling sensation crawled across her side and shoulder, and then Venom stretched out of her and looped his neck around her, resting his chin on her shoulder. “Hello, Sunset,” he said.
Sunset stared, though she quickly had to look back at the road. Her brows were furrowed and she seemed mildly nauseated, but she was clearly trying to remain polite. “Well then. You really do have an alien, uh… parasite thing.”
“Symbiote!” Venom yelled. “I’m not a parasite!”
“He’s not a parasite,” Twilight emphasized.
“Okay, sorry.” Sunset kept her eyes on the road, driving in silence for a while, then said, “So you’re sharing Twilight’s body with her?”
“In a sense. It’s as much my body as hers now. We are one. We are Venom.”
“Ookay. Creepy.”
“Told you,” Twilight said.
“No, it’s fine. It’s just so weird. Like, that he talks and he just melts into your skin like that, and eats… what does he eat exactly?”
“Well, at first he was really into eating ponies' brains…”
Sunset gagged.
“…But he also likes chocolate and raw meat,” Twilight continued, scratching under Venom’s chin.
“Raw meat… so raw it’s alive,” he said.
“Right, but you can handle me eating cooked stuff, right?” Twilight teased. “And any chocolate is good.”
“Sure,” he replied. “Milk chocolate is my favorite. I also just…” He wrapped himself partly around her neck and bumped his head against hers. “Adore cuddling your brain when it produces phenylethylamine, haha.”
Twilight chuckled and nuzzled him.
Sunset pulled up to her dorm building and gave Twilight and Venom a puzzled, slightly disturbed stare.
“Cuddling your brain…?” Sunset asked.
“Ah, yes.” Twilight opened the door and got out, checking out the other cars in the parking lot with mild interest. She was still fascinated by the vehicles here. “He requires a specific chemical that’s produced by brains, specifically when you experience feelings of happiness and love. So, the best way to take care of your symbiote? Love them.” Twilight gave Venom’s cheek a small kiss, and he wiggled happily.
Sunset blinked. “Oh wow. So um, are you two… together?”
“Of course we’re together, we’re bonded down to a cellular level,” Venom said.
“No, I mean like… romantically together. Dating.”
Twilight giggled and rubbed the back of her head, and Venom smiled smugly. “I guess you could call it that.”
“We love each other,” Venom declared.
Twilight blushed. “Yeah.”
Sunset shrugged and headed toward the door. “Hey, I won’t judge. As long as you're happy, I'm happy.”
“It’s really quite terrific,” Venom said. “Ever since Twilight truly started to love me, I haven’t felt hunger. It’s wonderful. Though we do still eat, as she needs nutrition and it helps me become stronger.”
They followed Sunset into the dorm building.
It was a weekend so many students seemed to be out spending time with friends or studying, but according to Sunset, there were still those who preferred to stay in their dorms and chat with friends in the common areas.
“Venom, you need to be a little more inconspicuous until we get to Sunset’s room,” Twilight said. “You can stay out, but uh… maybe make yourself look like a snake?”
He considered, then thinned out his body, wrapping himself more around Twilight’s shoulders and concealing the parts where he still had to connect underneath his body. But the rest of him took on a very recognizable viper shape.
“Viper, huh?” Twilight asked, looking at his face.
“Pit viper to be specific,” he replied.
“Whoa, cool, you can shapeshift?” Sunset asked.
Venom nodded. “Within reason. If I know what it looks like, I can imitate its appearance. Though I can’t change my color.”
“I think you’d be cuter as a ball python,” Twilight commented.
“You’re just saying that because they have little puppy faces.”
“I know, they’re adorable.”
Venom rolled his eyes and subtly shifted his face, imitating a ball python instead. He was pretty convincing, though his eyes stayed the same color and he didn’t bother with tongue flicking. Luckily they didn’t pass many people along the way, and those they did didn’t really pay attention to him, except to maybe smile or shift away.
Soon they were in Sunset’s room, which reminded Twilight of a small apartment.
“It’s not bad, I guess,” Sunset said. “I mean I am a freshman so I’m expected to be here, but I think I’ll try to get an apartment somewhere when I’m a sophomore. Or I might move in with Twilight. Er, the human Twilight, heh. She’s actually already been here for like a semester longer, she graduated high school partway through the year since she had already completed all the required classes so there was no point sitting around doing electives.”
“Oh wow, what degree is she working on?” Twilight asked curiously, going to sit on the small couch Sunset had.
Sunset pulled over the computer chair from her desk and sat nearby. “Heh, try degrees. Plural. She’s nuts, she’s just like you, she wants to learn everything she possibly can. She’s doing this combined physics and computer science degree, it’s going to be an associate’s of science but she says that’s just a springboard to more serious majors. I don’t even know how she juggles all her classes but she’s doing it and her grades are awesome. But… then there’s me.”
Twilight frowned at the other’s downhearted tone. “You’re going for a degree too, right? For music?”
“Yeah, a bachelor’s of art in music, but music was always more of a hobby for me. I mean, I like to think I’m really good at singing and playing guitar, and the classes have been interesting, but I’m not sure I can make a good career out of it. Twi suggested I take some STEM classes too and I’m looking into it.”
“STEM?”
“Science, technology, engineering, and math. Basically those are fields that have a lot of job opportunities and apparently not enough people are getting degrees in them these days. But I’m not surprised, they can be pretty tough, and I don’t think they’re right for everyone. I might be interested in some kind of engineering job some day, but I’m not sure. I spent so much time studying magic in Equestria, I kinda want to get back to that.” Sunset gazed at her own palm. “My friends and I still have Equestrian magic, and we’ve incorporated it into our daily lives, but surely we can do more with it? See just how much magic has reached Earth? There’s so much untapped potential there and I’m pretty sure Twi plans on researching it more.”
Twilight nodded in understanding. “Yes, I can definitely feel low levels of magic in this dimension. Not near as much as Equestria has, and it’s very subtle, but it’s here.” She relaxed back, and Venom shifted into his usual appearance, sliding himself down to curl up on her lap. She idly ran her fingers against his head. “So what are the others up to?”
Sunset was quiet for a moment, distracted by watching Venom. Then she tore her gaze away. “Sorry, I’m still trying to get used to him. I mean, you have an actual alien bonded to you, it’s probably one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen Pinkie Pie eat an entire can of whipped cream in one sitting.”
“Oh, that’s alright. But don’t worry, he’s very kind to me and I’m pretty used to having him here. It’s comforting knowing that there’s always someone right there next to me to talk to.”
Sunset nodded, then said, “Anyway, so our friends. A lot of us ended up coming to Canterlot University. It’s huge, there are so many different programs and there’s pretty much something for everyone. They even do classes for those who just want to get certified in a trade in a few weeks or months. Rainbow got here with a sports scholarship, she plays for CU’s soccer team and she’s really good. It helps that her magic gives her a bit of a speed boost, though it took her a while to learn to reel it in enough to be reasonable. She’ll raise some eyebrows if she goes shooting around the field at light-speed, you know.”
Twilight laughed. “Haha, yeah.”
“So she’s on the soccer team, but part of the conditions for the scholarship says that she needs to also be maintaining a passing score in all her classes. Now she could have picked some easy stuff, but get this. She’s really been looking ahead, she said that she won’t want to do soccer forever and she has higher aspirations. Much higher. Her wings?” Sunset gave her hands a few small flaps to emphasize. “They’ve pretty much made her fall in love with flying. But there’s only so much she can do with her own wingpower. She wants to be a pilot. So she’s part of the ROTC and going for a bachelor’s in aerospace engineering, and once she gets her degree she’s going to commission as an officer in the Air Force.”
“Whoa!” Twilight was pleasantly surprised to hear that. “That’s pretty awesome. But um, what’s the ROTC?”
“Oh, right, we don’t really have that in Equestria. It means Reserve Officer Training Corps. Basically it prepares college students to go right into the military once they graduate. So she kinda skips the basic training part and starts off going to school for her specific career. Becoming a pilot takes a lot of work though so I hope she’s able to handle it.”
“Yeah,” Twilight agreed. “But I think she’s got what it takes. The Rainbow Dash in Equestria is an active duty member of the Wonderbolts and she’s doing great there. I get the feeling she’s going to make it a lifetime career.”
“That’s good to hear. Hm, let me think… Rarity is also here, she’s majoring in Fashion, big surprise. It’s pretty intensive though, she’s been learning about all these different styles of clothing, how to manufacture them both by hand and with machines, there’s even history involved. She’s also been taking business classes, learning how to manage a company because she wants to run her own shop one day with her own line of dresses and accessories.”
“Heh, I’m not surprised. How’s she handling college life, though?”
“Oh, you know Rarity. She’s making connections everywhere and everyone wants to be friends with her. But she’s not letting the popularity go to her head at all. She has this very confident, dignified way of going about her day, nothing really bothers her. She helps people whenever she can but doesn’t let anyone take advantage of her. I really admire that.”
“She is very admirable.”
Sunset continued, “Fluttershy is probably going to be here longer than anyone. She’s working on becoming a veterinarian.”
“Oh wow.” Twilight thought about what all pony veterinarians had to learn. “That probably takes longer for human vets than pony ones, huh? Since this world is much more advanced medically, there’s a lot to learn.”
“Oh yeah. But she’s really passionate about it and with her ability to understand animals, she can actually talk to her patients about where they’re feeling pain. She’ll do good as a vet.”
“Lots of good,” Twilight agreed. “How about Applejack? She isn’t coming here, right?”
“No, her family’s farm makes plenty of money so she’s happy to just work there. She does a lot of the management now, budgeting and such, but she said even farms have been changing and she might just take a few classes to learn more about agriculture and business. She doesn’t want to be left behind, but huge commercial farms are starting to affect her profits. You should hear her going off about all the unnecessary automated systems people are using now.”
Twilight giggled. “I see. I’m glad she’s doing good though. How about Pinkie?”
“Pinkie's got a pretty good job working at this bakery downtown, but she comes here to take culinary classes. I think she's working toward a degree in culinary arts but with only doing the classes part-time it'll take her a while to actually finish them. She doesn't care though. You know Pinkie, she'd rather do things the fun way.”
“Haha, yeah. I'm so happy for you guys! You’ve been learning and preparing for the future and it’s great to hear. Meanwhile I’ve just been running my school and spending time with Venom, and of course helping the other symbiotes adapt to Equestria.”
“There’s more of them?” Sunset asked.
“Yes, lots.” Twilight filled her in on the whole story, telling her about all the others that were used in the experiments, and how the survivors now had permanent hosts and were very happy.
“So all of them are fine with their new life?” Sunset wondered. “Seems kinda weird they would switch sides so quickly.”
“The Klyntar tend to adapt to the ideals of their hosts. But not all of them are totally satisfied. Scream, who’s with Fluttershy, is pretty aggressive and misses the old days, though she’s learning to channel her energy into more constructive hobbies. She still picks fights a lot, though. Then Phage, with Applejack, gets bored easily and keeps trying to encourage her into dangerous situations just for entertainment.”
Sunset nodded. “I see. Well, as long as they don’t get out of control, I suppose.”
“They won’t,” Twilight replied. “Even if certain things about Equestria bother them, they like having strong, willing hosts and want to stay with them.”
“That’s good. So, on a slightly different subject, when you took on Riot for the last time. That must have been awful, how he just stabbed you like that… I’m so sorry you went through that. Through all of it.”
Twilight gave a half shrug, chuckling. “Hey, Riot had to be taken down. We had to stop those experiments. The pain was worth it.”
“So brave for someone who got their lung punctured,” Venom cooed, nuzzling her cheek. “And so strong-willed, how you held on and kept fighting until you simply couldn’t keep your head up. You were amazing.”
Twilight blushed and gave his face a quick kiss. “I didn’t really feel amazing bleeding out all over the floor.”
“I’m sure you didn’t. But you’re amazing nonetheless.”
“Aww, you two are so cute,” Sunset said, smiling. “I mean, you’re also the weirdest couple I’ve ever seen, no offense. But you’re cute.”
“No offense taken,” Twilight replied. “And thank you. You know, when I first bonded with Venom, I never imagined our relationship would develop like this. But he really grew on me, we became fast friends and I realized how much he cared about me, and I’m just… comfortable, you know? He’s someone I can just sit here with, completely quiet, and be content.”
“I’ve never felt so happy to sit around and do nothing until I met her,” Venom confessed. Then he groaned. “I’m such a hopeless romantic.”
Twilight smiled and rested an arm around him. Though he could be fearsome, even when serving Riot he was always more cautious compared to his teammates, more sympathetic. For countless years he had to hide it. But with Twilight he could open up, and she appreciated him trusting her enough to show his true feelings.
Twilight and Venom ended up spending a few hours with Sunset. They talked for a while about the Life Aura Center situation and the legal proceedings that were still in progress, then just settled down to watch a movie while eating chicken-flavored ramen. Venom immediately fell in love with it and ended up eating three packets of it before Twilight got him to stop.
“It’s okay, you can get dozens of these for like two bucks,” Sunset said.
“Still, I don’t want him to eat all your food, because he will if you don’t watch him,” Twilight replied.
Venom huffed. “If you don’t want me eating all your food then stop making it so delicious.”
When the movie was over, Sunset confessed to needing to finish an essay, and Twilight decided to get out of her hair. Sunset drove her back to Canterlot High, and got out of the car to walk to the portal with her.
They exchanged a hug, and Sunset said, “Promise me you’ll find time to write next time you have to battle space aliens? I’m always happy to come in there and help you.”
Twilight chuckled. “Of course. But until I have another battle with space aliens, I’ll just write to you about other things.”
“Sounds good. See you later.”
“See you.” Twilight waved and Venom lifted a tendril to wave as well, and then they jumped through the portal.
Sunset stood there for a few moments to make sure no one had noticed their departure, then headed to her car. She wasn’t gonna lie… it would be pretty cool to have a symbiote.
Musing about everything Twilight and Venom had told her, she drove back to the university.