//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Call of the Cutie and The Unknown // Story: The Element of Perseverance (Venom Crossover) // by PlasmaBolt305 //------------------------------// I was up and at the day early due to Venom’s ranting about me having to exercise and I thought it was a stupid idea until I realised that my healing factor blocks out any sign of fatigue. This was pretty useful with the exercises I was doing and Venom beside me, encouraging me to do more. “Give me twenty more!” Venom ordered and I was pushing my body up and down since I was doing push-ups and honestly I felt great. “Alright, ok.” I said to myself and then after fifty more push-ups, Venom spoke, “Now do a hoof stand and lower yourself to the ground three hundred times!” he ordered and I took my position and began and little did I know was that Venom was glancing at somepony who was watching us from a distance. Third POV Fluttershy and Rarity were on their way to the spa for a day of relaxation and tranquility, both were chatting about girl stuff. “Darling you must be a little more open minded with yourself.” Rarity said to the shy pegasus, “You can’t just be cooped up in your house all the time.” “Well… you see I’m not good with… talking.” Fluttershy said timidly as they walked through town. “Why I don’t see anything wrong with you talking?” Rarity questioned, “Just relax.” she assured her friend as they passed a pony who was working out but then they stopped when they recognized a voice who was talking, “Come on, Manny it’s not that difficult!” “Did you hear that?” Fluttershy asked Rarity and she nodded in confirmation and they both hid behind a building and peeked to see Venom encouraging Manny to push himself and exercise. “Ok ok ok.” Manny said as he continued doing push-ups with Venom yelling at him to keep going. “Good, good keep up that pace!” Venom complimented and Manny chuckled, “You are starting to sound like Rainbow Dash, you know.” Fluttershy smiled at her big brother since she saw Manny as a sibling to her, somepony to help her and support her whenever she struggled. She glanced at Rarity and saw that cheeks were the color of cherries, Rarity was staring at Manny with love in her eyes but she has still yet to confess her feelings towards him and Manny has to do the same. “Rarity, you’re staring at him.” Fluttershy chided and Rarity snapped out of her daze and they both saw Venom look in their direction and gave them a toothy smile, one that Fluttershy has gotten used to. “Sorry, it’s just that…'' Rarity trailed off and found herself staring at Manny’s well toned muscles which forced Fluttershy to gently pull her away from the scene, “Come on Rarity, we have an appointment.” and she guided the lovestruck unicorn to the spa where she planned on making her spill the beans. Manny’s POV After countless sit-ups, push-ups and rock lifting… yes rock lifting, I decided to take a break and head over to Sugarcube Corner to get something to eat. Venom can be a good coach when he has to which makes me feel a little nervous when I have to do something that I never I asked to do in the first place. “Phew, that felt good.” I said honestly since I felt loosened up and stress free as I walked through town. “Trust me, it was worth it.” Venom said which made me wonder what he meant. “What do you mean ‘it was worth it’?” I asked confusingly as we approached Sugarcube Corner, “Why Rarity was looking at us while you exercising.” Venom said and I blushed a little as we entered Sugarcube Corner and approached the counter to see Pinkie Pie standing behind it with a big smile. “Manny! Nice to see you again!” She said happily as she hugged the life out of me, “Ya… good to see you too.” I squeezed out as she released the embrace and looked at me, “So what can I get you!” she asked and I looked at the counter. “Five vanilla cupcakes and five chocolate cupcakes, please.” I ordered and Pinkie Pie saluted, “Okie dokie lokie!” and she zoomed into the kitchen to make my order while I sat down and waited. “So Rarity saw me huh?” I asked Venom and he confirmed, “Yes, she was hypnotised.” I was glad to hear that but my thoughts wandered back to the ungrateful Prince Blueblood, the one Rarity’s heart was pounding to. “How do we explain to her about Prince Blueblood?” I asked Venom, “I mean, she will be ruined.” Venom thought about it and said, “We’ll tell her soon, we just have to know the right moment.” “Here you go!” Pinkie Pie said and gave me the box of cupcakes which I gratefully accepted and gave her the bits for payment and exited the store but not before Pinkie Pie called to us, “So when are you two going to ask Rarity out huh?!”  I stopped and looked at her with a thoughtful expression on my face, “Soon Pinkie, soon.” and she gave me a wink and a smile as I exited the shop. I walked around trying to figure out where to eat my treats and decided to go to Twilight’s library to pass some time, only to realize that I wasn’t hungry at all. I sighed, “Well that’s just great.” Suddenly the box of cupcakes melted into me which made me gasp, “What the-!” and Venom explained the situation, “We have the ability to cloak objects along with ourselves making us invisible for a short period of time.” “So you're telling me we could have gone invisible this whole time.” I grumbled and Venom replied in a tone I had never heard from him before, “It’s all coming back to me little by little.” Venom said in a sad tone. I wanted to question him but then I heard a noise to my right and we looked to see Applebloom getting taunted by a purple filly with a crown on her head, we walked to them and heard what she was saying, “Blank flank, blank flank, blank flank!” the purple filly shouted at Applebloom and the farm filly looked to the ground in shame. I decided I had enough of this nonsense and approached them, “What’s going on here?” I asked and Applebloom’s ears perked up at the sound of my voice and she rushed and gave me a hug and much to my surprise, she cried. “Who are you supposed to be?” The purple filly demanded and I replied, “I am Manny and you are?” “Diamond Tiara.” The filly said and I looked Applebloom then at Diamond Tiara, “So you are making fun of her because she has no cutie mark.” I concluded and she just snorted, “She is a blank flank just like you.” Venom must have gotten tired of her arrogance because he gave his eyes, teeth and his voice, “If you ever call her that name again, I will show you what happens to those whose egos get the best of them.” Venom said and Diamond Tiara paled and ran away screaming while I returned to normal and looked at Applebloom, “Are you alright?” I asked Applebloom looked at me with those adorable eyes, “Ya I’m fine.” I could tell she was not fine so I decided to pry the truth out of her, “You are not fine Applebloom, what’s wrong?” Applebloom sighed and looked in the direction Diamond Tiara ran, “There is a cutie mark party happening this weekend and all the fillies at mah school are invited, but I don’t have my cutie mark yet.” she said sadly I thought about this carefully because I don’t wanna say ‘Then don’t go’ otherwise I will be hurting her feelings… there must be something I could do. “Well, you just have to wait for your cutie mark…” I started to say but Applebloom began complaining, “I don’t want to wait! I want my cutie mark now! Now!” she jumped up and down to emphasize her point. I sighed knowing that this was going to be a lot harder than I thought so I decided to let her go her own way, “Okay, well go ask your sister Applejack, she has more connection to you than me.” I said honestly but Applebloom was looking at my flank and gasped, “You don’t have a cutie mark!”  I looked at my flank and all I saw was my coat, “Ya I don’t, I never got out much in my younger years.” Applebloom then ran in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres which left me alone.... Again. “A cutie mark is ridiculous.” Venom huffed as I continued walking around, “What do you mean?” I asked and Venom replied, “Ponies shouldn’t have a mark that distinguishes one talent that they possess when they can do much more than that.” he sounded very serious about this. “A cutie mark is something to be proud of, not because it represents the one thing you can do.” I explained and Venom just huffed in my mind and all this cutie mark talk got me thinking, what will my cutie mark be? “I bet your cutie mark will be the word wimp.” Venom chuckled and I rolled my eyes at the joke and walked around town a little bit, trying to figure out what to do. I decided just to go to Zecora and see how she is holding up and ask her about my parents which is something I have been dying to learn about. “Let’s go to Zecora and ask her about my parents.” I said and Venom agreed, transformed in his form and we jumped our way to Zecora’s hut in the middle of Everfree Forest. We landed just outside her house and we shook the area around us a little bit which made Zecora come outside instead of us going to the door, she looked around, “What was-AAHHH!!!” she screamed when she saw us. Venom returned me to my pony form and approached her, “It’s ok, it’s ok! It’s me!” I assured her and Zecora calmed down and she looked at me, “What are you doing here?” she asked “I was wondering if you could tell me about my parents since we never got to talk about it last time.” I told her and Zecora widened her eyes and she beckoned me to come inside, still the same old enchantress stuff in it. “Come and sit.” Zecora gestured to a chair which I sat down on and she sat across from me and began her tale. At the Spa Fluttershy and Rarity were sitting in a sauna, soaking up the heat that the coal released, their manes were wrapped in towels and they were panting drastically. “Aahh this is magnificent.” Rarity said as she relaxed and let the sauna do its job, “Yes I agree.” Fluttershy replies and her mind wandered to Rarity’s behavior whenever she was around Manny and what happened earlier when she caught Rarity hypnotised by Manny’s exercising. “Rarity, can I ask you a question?” Fluttershy asked timidly and Rarity looked at her, “Why of course, ask away.” Fluttershy thought about this opportunity and decided to go the long way and build up to the question she wants to ask, “Are you excited for the gala?” Rarity looked at her as if she was joking. “Why of course I am excited darling!” Rarity exclaimed and got a dreamy look in her eyes, Fluttershy saw this and asked her second question, “What do you plan on doing?” “Why I intend to catch the attention of a certain stallion!” Rarity said dreamily and she sighed by just thinking about it. “Who is it?” Fluttershy asked and she already knew what Rarity would say because she replied, “Prince Blueblood.” “Well… are you sure that is the stallion you dream of?” Fluttershy clarified and this time Rarity hesitated before putting back on a smile and nodded, “Why absolutely darling.” Fluttershy noticed her sudden decrease in enthusiasm and took advantage of it. “You sure it’s not… somepony we know?” Fluttershy pressed and Rarity blushed a little before composing herself, “N-no! Wha-what makes th-think that?!” she stuttered The shy pegasus replied, “Well… what about earlier when you were staring at Manny?” This time Rarity blushed crimson at the sound of his name but got rid of it, “Oh me and him are just friends.” she said steadily Fluttershy pressed on, “Are you sure you’re not falling for them?” she asked and Rarity looked at her confusingly before realisation came to her like a lightning strike. Fluttershy made her realise that Rarity had a crush on not just one pony but two beings that share the same body which when she says it out loud… it's kinda weird. Rarity looked kinda grossed out at the idea which wasn’t the reaction the shy pegasus was expecting, “Nonsense dear, I don’t have feelings for those two.” Fluttershy knew she was lying but decided to stop pressing on the topic because their spa session was over. They both exited the spa and Rarity turned to Fluttershy, “Well, see you later.” and just like that she left Fluttershy alone to return back to the Carousel Boutique. Fluttershy sighed and flew back to her house wondering where Manny and Venom were right now. Back to Zecora’s Hut “Elizabeth and Ryan… they both were kind folks to me, they were the only two ponies who ever respected me for who I was instead of fearing me. Your parents were a happy couple until you came along and their lives got a whole lot better, you were instantly the most precious thing to them and I was happy for them and you of course. Everything was great until your parents got a letter from Canterlot saying that they had to attend a meeting with the Princess, your parents were skeptical at first because they were wondering why would the Princess request for their presence but it had the royal seal and everything. Your parents didn’t want to leave you like that but at the time they had no choice, they went and bought you a lot of food just in case you got hungry. When they left, they stopped by to inform me that the Princess had requested their presence and that they were needed, I just nodded and went their way, I wanted to visit you but the storm blew in and kept me indoors plus did some serious damage to my home. I got the letter days after and…” Zecora sobbed softly and wiped her tears. I snapped out of my shock and hugged Zecora as she cried on my shoulder, I was trying to hold it in but tears came out of my eyes as well, Venom obviously wasn’t going to cry but he was silent… really silent which meant he was sorry for me. “It’s okay, it’s okay.” I told the zebra and she released the embrace and wiped her tears, “I was heartbroken that day, I’m sorry.” Zecora apologised but I just shook my head, “It’s not your fault Zecora, it never was.” Zecora wiped her tears and looked at the table when her eyes brightened, “Oh I almost forgot! I got your results!” Zecora ran to the table and handed me a sheet of paper which I took and read over it, said that I have an organism in me blah blah bl- hold on a minute. “What do you mean ‘Body is adapting to host’?” I asked Zecora and she looked at me, “Venom is adapting to your body structure, that’s as far as I can explain, you will have to ask him yourself.” This got me worried a little bit because I don’t want this adaptation to ruin my appearance which will decrease my chances with Rarity. “Alright, thanks for the info.” I thanked Zecora who smiled and gave me a hug before I exited her hut, then Everfree Forest and was on my way to Ponyville. “Venom, you there?” I asked my Jello like friend inside my head. I didn’t get a response which confused me for a second but Venom replied, “Yes.” “What did Zecora mean you are adapting to my body structure?” I asked him and Venom sighed before he responded, “I am adapting to your body because you are my first host as a four legged creature.” That got me really confused now. “I thought your other hosts were ponies.” I said and Venom replied, “No that is not true, my other hosts were… completely different. My two legged form was to comprehend and match the host’s body structure.” I thought about what he just said and came to the realization, “Your other hosts stood on two legs?” Venom hummed his response which I assumed was a yes, so if the other hosts stood on two legs then they must be… minotaurs right? Venom must have read my mind because he replied, “No… you wouldn’t understand.” Before I could press on that subject further, I felt a change in me like something was moving in and making itself at home. Suddenly I felt stronger and faster than before, Venom then spoke to me, “Finally, my presence has now adapted to you, we are stronger than before.” he said in a power-hungry voice which  made me shiver and look down at myself and gasped in surprise. My legs had more muscle than before which is now visible, since I saw the muscle bulge out of my legs, also my stomach had little bulges on it which meant I had abs… weird. I was hyperventilating now since I didn’t know what to do now but Venom spoke again, “Sorry about my change in tone but now I have gotten used to your body shape… now we are better than ever.” I took in deep breaths to calm myself down before asking the question, “So what’s the change?” As if waiting for this moment, Venom enveloped my body with his black ooze except this time I was a giant black earth pony with razor sharp teeth, same white curly eyes and long slimy tongue, based on height, I was a foot taller than Princess Celestia! “Wow…” That was all I could say as I looked over myself, gazing at the protruding muscles that bulged out of our legs, I felt more in control and more familiar than last time. “Now we are more sync than before, nothing will stand in our way.” Venom said hungrily I felt like I could do anything I want but suddenly my inner conscious was telling me something, ‘What are you doing, this isn’t you!’ I snapped out of the trance and Venom retracted to my body before I gave him a proper scolding, “What is wrong with you, huh!”  Venom spoke in my mind, “My past… who I was and what I was capable of… still haunts me to this day.” I never heard him speak with so much sadness in his voice so I decided to press on the topic. “What happened in your past?” I asked and Venom decided to pour out his troubles, “I was more deadly in the past, carnivorous and terrifying. All beings feared my name, my reputation and they deemed me a villain. None of that mattered to me, I killed for the sake of the innocent, I plagued the minds of countless hosts… except for one.” I was in shock at what I heard, I am sharing my body with the mind of a murderer… that’s messed up, “Who?” I asked curious to know who resisted Venom’s insistence. “You wouldn’t understand but he was unlike the others, he had powers himself… the powers of a-” Venom got cut off as we heard the sound of hoofsteps running towards us and we looked to see Applebloom running towards us with a smile on her face. “Hey Manny! I got my cutie mark!” Applebloom said happily as she showed us her flank which had the cutie mark of a horseshoe which I felt happy for her but then my face had the look of confusion when I saw another and completely different cutie mark on the other side of her flank, it was the mark of a bell and a feather. “Uh… why do you have two cutie marks?” I asked Applebloom and she looked confused then she looked at both sides of her flanks and then looked back at me, “Ah have many talents?” she replied with a forced smile but we already knew she was lying. “Hmph, probably or just got tattoos or something.” Venom huffed and I don’t know what tattoos are but that’s a topic for another day. I gave Applebloom a look that clearly said ‘Tell the truth.’ Applebloom swallowed hard and decided to come clean, “Ah may have umm… gone to Zecora and asked her to… make mah cutie mark appear… quicker.” she stuttered out and looked at me to see that I had a smile on my face. “Oh Applebloom, why did you do that? Don’t you know the right way to get a cutie mark?” I chided and Applebloom looked at me with shock, she wasn’t expecting me to be calm about it. “You're not mad?!” Applebloom asked still in shock and I just shook my head, “Why would I be mad?” Applebloom thought about that and conceded this with a nod then looked at the two different cutie marks on her flank, “So what do I do?” she asked sadly and I sat down to her level and looked her in the eyes, “I think you already know what to do.” Applebloom’s smile returned, “Yah… yah ah do, come on you guys!” she ran back into the Everfree Forest with me right behind her, “At least she didn’t forget me.” Venom said happily as we ran to Zecora’s hut and bursted through the door like the good friends we are… nearly giving Zecora a heart attack. “WH- oh don’t do that next time please knock!” Zecora scolded us and I just smiled and gestured to Applebloom to tell Zecora what she wants and the zebra looked at her, “Well, how is the new talents coming along dear?” “Do yah have a cure for this?” Applebloom asked and Zecora raised an eyebrow, “May I ask why?”  “Ah want to discover it by heart, ah want to get my cutie mark from doing a talent that ah love to do and ah will keep trying to find it… no matter what.” The young filly explained and Zecora smiled at the adorable filly and gave her a bottle, “This is the antidote, drink slowly.”  Applebloom drank the liquid and the cutie marks disappeared and she smiled, “Yay!” she ran and hugged Zecora tightly while the zebra returned the embrace… honestly I felt like crying. “You better not or I am going to make you do push-ups for ten hours straight.” Venom threatened and I sucked up the tears and looked to see Applebloom coming towards me and gave me a hug. “Thank you… both of you.” Applebloom said as she snuggled deeper into my coat and I hugged her back as well trying not to cry. After awhile though, she began to snore which meant she was sleeping soundly. Zecora looked at the sleeping filly, “You better take her home.” she said and I nodded, Venom gave me his new pony form and Zecora reeled back in shock, Venom and I gave her a wink and gently wrapped Applebloom in black tendrils and jumped away to Sweet Apple Acres and snuck her into her room, it was nighttime and the moon shone brightly among Ponyville. We tucked her in and she muttered something but thanks to Venom’s hearing, we picked it up, ‘I love you brother.’ We jumped out of the barn and I’ll admit that last one got me choked up, we landed on a hilltop just outside of town and I returned to my normal form, Venom came out of me with a tendril still attached and both of us gazed at the moon, I looked at him and let out a yelp! Venom’s face now looked more pony-like, he had black ears and a much narrower face but still the same monstrous look, “The bond is now complete, I am now more accustomed to your form.” He said “I will have to get used to this then.” I concluded and Venom just grunted, “You better or I will make you.” He said evilly and I shuddered a little before my stomach began to growl loudly, speaking of which I hadn’t eaten for the whole day. “Luckily, we kept those doughnuts.” Venom said and the box of doughnuts appeared in my hooves and I opened the box and began munching on a chocolate doughnut. I was savoring the taste of the doughnuts in my mouth in a trance-like state that I didn’t even notice that somepony snuck up behind me, Venom turned around and saw Twilight trotting towards us but recoiled when she saw Venom’s strange appearance. “Long story.” I said and explained everything that happened to us during the day. Twilight looked impressed and looked curious, “Wow…I need to study your kind, there is so much stuff that shouldn’t even be possible!” she sounded so happy, I smiled at that and offered her a doughnut. “Oh… thanks.” Twilight blushed at the kind gesture and took a doughnut with her magic, “Don’t expect me to do that again.” Venom grumbled and me and Twilight shared a laugh. Together the three of us sat on the hill, staring at the moon, eating doughnuts and enjoying each other's company, but unaware that somepony was watching us. Unknown Location In a dark room, lit by a green light bulb, sat an elderly woman on a chair with a strange device covering her head and eyes, webs were covering the entire room but they were constantly being woven and changing, different emblems and symbols scattered across the web. The woman was observing the web but mainly the symbol of a black spider centered in front of her, the symbol showed her buildings that towered over the innocents as a red and blue hero web battled six of the most deadliest villains to him. This young hero has done a lot for his home but he will face his end at the hands of this sinister team unless he forms an alliance with an unlikely candidate. Across from her stood another woman, she wore a yellow hooded cloak and radiated pure magic, she was observing a magic timeline spark that glowed a dark black color and images were being shown, a black gooey monster fighting for the innocents on a world full of ponies, taking on beings from an evil alicorn to a deadly war machine, the beast was ferocious and had razor sharp protruding but a new image arose and it shown a red monster similar to him but he had sharp protruding spikes and an army of similar creatures each bloodthirsty for vengeance. The host has taken a great risk to share his body with the alien but so far it has been going according to plan. Together both of their minds showed one dreadful image, two planets burning and innocents screaming for their lives only to be silenced by the raging army of aliens and rogue villains. Two beings stood in their way, one a hero in red and blue with a black spider emblem on his chest and two beings in one body, covered in black ooze with a white spider emblem and a long slimy tongue. “The fate of the web is at stake.” The elder lady in the chair said and the sorceress agreed, “The strings of the timeline is at risk of collapse unless these two put aside their differences and work together.” “No… not yet, the exchange cannot happen yet.” The elder woman said as she observed the image that showed the alien fighting the spider hero, “The timing… must be perfect.”