“So you want me to be the judge of a horseshoe throwing challenge?” I clarified, still confused as to why these two wanted me for this.
“Well yah partner, so everypony plays fairly.” Applejack said and looked at Rainbow Dash who rolled her eyes, “Puh lease! I play fairly, trust me on that!” she said and warmed herself up with stretches.
“That would make a terrible set of last words.” Venom said amusingly and I smirked at the thought of a tombstone engraved with those words even though the one who said that didn’t mean it.
“Well, I suppose you both are ready to begin.” I said and Rainbow Dash went first and she tossed the horseshoe which landed a few inches behind the metal pole.
“Hoo wee! Not bad for a pegasus whose head is always in the clouds.” Applejack said and playfully nudged Rainbow Dash while she just has a smirk on her face, “Let’s see if you can do better than that!” she boasted
“It would have been more interesting if we were playing.” Venom commented and we watched as Applejack took the horseshoe in her mouth, aimed and tossed it only to come up a few inches behind Rainbow Dash’s horseshoe.
“Ah horse feathers.” Applejack said angrily while Rainbow Dash just fell to the ground laughing, I managed to maintain a poker face but was slowly failing. “HAHAHAHA!!!” Venom laughed in my head, rattled my skeleton and gave me a short headache.
“Alright, so best two out of three?” I suggested and Rainbow Dash shrugged, “Sure, it’s not like Applejack is going to win.”
Applejack glared at her but she looked at me and I nodded a message loud and clear, ‘You can do this.’ Applejack smiled at me and nodded back then watched as Rainbow Dash took the horseshoe in her mouth and tossed it at the metal pole but it went over it by a couple feet.
“Darn it!” She yelled and Applejack smirked as she took her horseshoe and aimed at the metal pole, “She better makes the use of this opportunity.” Venom said while I silently agreed with him.
Applejack tossed her horseshoe and it landed right on the metal pole with a satisfying DING! Which signals that Applejack won the challenge.
“Yeehaw!” Applejack yelled in victory and Rainbow Dash just looked stunned and shocked that she lost, “Well, better luck next time Dash.” I told her and she grumbled out, “I hate losing.”
Applejack nudged the pegasus, “Oh cheer up Rainbow Dash, everypony loses every now and then.” But Rainbow Dash didn’t want to hear, instead she got an idea, “How about a competition between you and me, to see who is The Iron Pony!”
Applejack looked confused at this before Rainbow Dash continued, “A series of athletic events to see who is the best athlete in Equestria once and for all!”
I was confused as to why Rainbow Dash would want to do this but Venom seems on board with the idea, “Ooo this just got interesting.” Applejack looked unsure at first but then her face hardened with determination, “You’re on!” They both spat on their hooves and shook on it while I just shook my head and sighed, “This is going to be one long day for sure.”
An Hour Later
Sweet Apple Acres was now set up to let these two ponies face off to see who is more better than the other. Applejack’s family was sitting on the bleachers cheering for her while I had to be the judge for some lame reason.
“Cheer up already before I smack the depression out of you.” Venom scolded me while I just told him to shut up so I can concentrate but then Twilight and Spike appear to see what is going on.
“Hey Manny, what’s going on?” Twilight greeted me with a smile which I returned before answering her question, “Rainbow Dash challenged Applejack to an athletic competition to see who is the most athletic in Equestria.”
Twilight nodded and was about to say something until Spike perked up excitingly, “Can I be the moderator?” he asked and I blinked because I wasn’t sure if that was necessary.
“Umm sure?” I replied unsure but Spike immediately began his commentating on the action which was currently nothing of course. Twilight looked at me with a smile, “How’s Venom doing?”
I was going to reply but Venom surprised me again by talking through me, “Finally somepony asks about my presence but to answer your question, I am okay.” I shut my mouth and Twilight’s eyes were wide open but she laughed, “Okay...wow you’re species are really advanced!” she exclaimed
“You have no idea.” Venom said through me and I snapped out of the trance I was in and scowled, “I am going to have to get used to that.” I mumbled and Twilight laughed at that before our heads turned to Spike who began commentating, “Let the games begin!”
Applejack’s family and some of Rainbow Dash’s other friends sat in the stands cheering for their friend or family member. I looked around and saw Pinkie Pie and Rarity sitting in the stands, Pinkie saw me and waved happily while Rarity looked at me but then looked away without even waving or anything which confused me.
“There is something wrong with her.” Venom observed obviously concerned about Rarity's change in behaviour and I agreed with him then looked at the first event for the two competitors. A line of barrels filled with flowers were set on the track and Twilight stood at the side with Rainbow Dash.
I took a spot on the other side while Fluttershy was keeping score on the scoreboard, “Ready. Set. Go!” Twilight exclaimed and Applejack began running through the barrels but tipped a barrel at the end and crossed the finish line unaware of what she did.
“Time Spike?” Twilight asked and Spike held up a timer, “17 seconds!” he announced and Applejack looked proud, “That was faster than my last rodeo!”
But that wasn’t her final score because Spike continued, “Unfortunately you tipped a barrel at the end which is a five second penalty so your time is twenty two seconds.”
Applejack sighed and kicked a rock before looking at Rainbow Dash who was sweating like crazy, “I hope she makes the use of that penalty.” Venom said
“I hope she does.” I agreed with him and Rainbow Dash went to the starting line and prepared to run and when Twilight gave the word, she zoomed through the barrels leaving a rainbow trail which was very mesmerizing to watch.
Rainbow Dash raced across the finish line and looked at Applejack who said, “Dang, that was some fancy hoof work, Rainbow.”
“Thanks, but I don’t think I did as good as you though.” Rainbow Dash said before Spike called out her time, “18 seconds!” he announced and I gotta admit even I was speechless.
“Good thing that Applejack was penalized otherwise she would have won by a second.” Venom noted
“Nonetheless it’s a friendly competition, Venom.” I reminded him which he grunted in response and Fluttershy put a cardboard apple that said the number 1 on it under Rainbow Dash’s name.
“Let’s see whose patience is going to break.” Venom said evilly which I rolled my eyes at his tone since I have gotten used to it.
The next event was to knock a bell off a tower by kicking a ball with all of your strength, child’s play for me because I would knock the tower right off the foundation but for these two, I would go with Applejack for this one.
“True, she does buck apples off of trees everyday.” Venom agreed with me as we watched Rainbow Dash take a kick at the ball and it rang the bell.
Rainbow Dash trotted to Applejack who was laying underneath a tree with a line of wheat in her mouth, “Mighty Respectable, but this is how it's done.” She spat the wheat out of her mouth and with no hesitation, kicked the ball which launched the bell off its hinges and into the future of goodness knows where.
I was impressed and but not surprised that Applejack basically left Rainbow Dash in the dust with this event, even Venom saw it coming from a mile away.
“Years of applebucking.” Applejack kicked the tree Rainbow Dash was under and several apples fell on her head while she stared at the scene dumbstruck.
Next, was a little rodeo event to see who can shake off Spike the fastest, much to his annoyance. Spike mounted Applejack who began trying to knock him off while he held on for dear life then after a couple more seconds, she succeeded and threw him into a haystack which had Rainbow Dash underneath it as she emerged from the hay with Spike on her back.
“Ready for another round?” Rainbow asked with a grin and Spike couldn’t even give his response but Rainbow began trying to buck him off and the dragon didn’t stand a chance as he went sailing and would have slammed into Fluttershy if I didn’t reach out and caught him.
Venom shot out a black tendril which wrapped around Spike and gently set him back down, “There you go dude.” I said and he looked at me with a smile.
“Thanks guys.” Spike thanked us with a smile and only then did I realize that Spike thanked the both of us, me and Venom, “I suppose this is progress.” Venom said and I’ll admit even I’m surprised that Spike decided to thank not me but the both of us.
“Alright, let’s continue shall we?” I said and the games continued.
Let’s just say it was pure craziness until it came to a tug of war over a pit of mud, the most embarrassing thing is that these two had a whole crowd of ponies looking at them and cheering for the pony of their choice.
“Ready, Set…. Go!” Twilight said and Applejack and Rainbow Dash pulled with all of their might and Venom chuckled, “Imagine if we were in it and pulled Rainbow Dash.” I imagined her sailing into a building… that thought made me happy.
Applejack was pulling and she was winning… until Rainbow Dash cheated and used her wings which made the earth-pony get a mouthful of mud.
She got out and glared at the pegasus but I got the hose and watered her down, “Thanks, partner.” she said and yelled at Rainbow, “You cheated!”
Rainbow looked at her, “How?!”
I interfered, “You used your wings, that doesn’t count unless Applejack was a pegasus.”
Applejack nodded in agreement and Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Whatever, I still won!” as she pointed to the scoreboard which showed Fluttershy putting the final point for Rainbow which broke the tie.
Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity and Spike trotted up to us and apparently overheard our arguing, “Alright you three settle down! There is another way to settle this.” Twilight said
I looked at her, “Really, how?”
“The Running of the Leaves.”
I just looked at her dumbly, “Uhh do we pick a leaf and pray to Celestia it will grow legs and run?”
Venom made a tendril and slapped in the head which made the girls laugh.
“No, it is a running competition between ponies to see who is the fastest.” Twilight explained and Pinkie Pie jumped up in excitement, “Oh, you three should race to see who is the fastest!”
“Isn’t that what Twilight just suggested?” Venom clarified since his alien brain couldn’t process it.
Rainbow Dash didn’t seem to care as she looked at me and Applejack, “Ya, I will smoke both of you!”
“Why am I a part of this?” I asked in confusion and Rainbow Dash looked at me, “You have powers Manny, me beating you and Venom will be spectacular!”
“Alright then, we will compete in this competition and we will win.” Venom said through me which made everypony except Twilight and Spike look at me in shock.
“So when does it start?” I asked Twilight and she replied, “In an hour, we better head over to the track then.”
We started walking until Venom got impatient, “We will meet you there.” he said through me and he covered me until I was in my new alien form. We looked at the girls who looked at us with wonder but we caught Rarity looking at us with… sadness.
We were about to jump when Spike hopped off of Twilight and onto our back, “I’ve always wanted to try this!!!” he said and Pinkie Pie jumped on as well, “YAY APPLEJACK COME ON!!!”
Applejack looked at us and shrugged and climbed on as well until our back was literally covered with three colorful bodies and we looked at Rarity who sighed and climbed on. We ran at unbelievable speeds and jumped into the air, our passengers were shouting at the top of their lungs.
Venom revealed my head so they could see my face as I turned around, “How are you guys doing?!” I shouted over the wind and saw Pinkie Pie with a big smile on her face, Spike had his eyes bulged out of his head and his mouth swallowed probably a swarm of flies, Applejack was holding onto her hat and her face was pale and Rarity was screaming at the top of her lungs.
We landed and jumped again but this time even higher than before, so high that we touched the clouds. Our friends used their hooves to touch the clouds with Pinkie and Spike laughing in joy and Applejack whistling loudly in happiness.
We turned our head and saw Rarity touching the clouds with both of her hooves and we saw how beautiful she was, her elegant body and flawless mane that blew in the wind and her eyes were sparkling with humor and joy but she leaned too far back and fell off.
She was screaming and Venom created wings so we dived after her and once we were in range, we shot a tendril and held her in our hooves with a couple of tendrils from our belly wrapping around her hindlegs and stomach securing her since our front hooves held hers.
Rarity looked up at us and Venom splitted his face so that she saw the both of us, her cheeks were a deep shade of red and so were mine and probably Venom’s. Soon we arrived at our destination and we set Rarity down in the soft grass and our friends hopped off our back.
“That was awesome!!!” Pinkie Pie said and gave me a hug as soon as I turned back to normal which squeezed the oxygen out of me, “B-breathe.” I choked out and she released it and gave me a big smile before hopping off.
Applejack and Spike gave me a hug as well and said thanks even though the earth-pony looked shaken and traumatized from the experience. I looked at Rarity who smiled as she approached me and was about to say something but she stopped and was about to walk away but I jumped in front of her which made her stop and look at me.
“Alright, what’s wrong?” I obviously had enough of her being in such a sad state and she shook her head, “There is nothing wrong.”
“You have been avoiding eye contact with us, didn’t even greet us or anything, now what is wrong, why are you acting like this?” Venom spoke through me forcefully and Rarity practically yelled out her answer but luckily there wasn’t anypony around to hear what she had to say.
“It’s you Manny, ever since you saved me from Nightmare Moon I had a crush on you! But when Fluttershy spoke to me privately about you she said it in a way that made me forget that if I liked you then I like Venom too! I spoke to the girls about it and they agreed they were weirded out by the realisation! You were perfect for me before Venom came along and ruined it and what’s worse is that you still accepted him, I can’t deal with this anymore!!!” She yelled out and silence was enveloped in between the both of us.
Millions of thoughts were scattered through my mind and it all led to one emotion, DEPRESSION.
I was just shocked and heartbroken, I mean I was heartbroken before but this is worse, the mare that I saved countless times and put my life on the line for… didn’t like me. The worst thing is that she yelled it in my face, it dealt so much pain to my heart and my body that I don’t think my healing factor can repair it.
Venom was shocked too, he was surprised to hear that Rarity liked me but not him, he and I made a great team and protected our friends but now it was like that was all for nothing. Venom felt something that has not surfaced in him for a long time, a feeling that was nagging him for a long time but he pushed it down for years until now, I felt it too and it was pure rage.
Venom made eyes appeared over mine and gave me his teeth and we both spoke with anger, “All those times we put our life on the line, all those times we went to defeat enemies, the only reason that we kept doing it was to protect you because we liked you but it was for nothing at all. We both lost loved ones along the way and we mourned for them because we loved them with all our heart but if we lose you… we would be destroyed.”
Rarity’s face was in shock and tears appeared in her eyes but when she tried to say something, we said something that we thought that would never come out of our mouths, “Stay away from us, every single one of you and hear our words, if anypony should scream for trouble we will help them but if you or any of the girls scream for trouble don’t expect us to come and help you… you are all not worth our time, especially YOU!” We spat out with disgust and Rarity broke down crying but we didn’t care as Venom enveloped me and we jumped away and the last thing the citizens of Ponyville heard was our roar of pure anger, rage and heartbreak.
We jumped into the air and sprouted wings as we flew to some random location which I don’t even know where but we landed on the top of the castle and I just looked down in pure anger but tears welled in my eyes but I forced myself not to cry, Venom appeared next to me connected by a tendril and he looked angry.
“Why do we have to suffer so much?!” Venom said in anger and I just let my tears fall and it soaked the ground beneath me but I didn’t care.
“I… I don’t k-know.” I said as I cried for the pure heartbreak that has been set on us, for real I cry too much but you understand my reasons.
Venom looked behind us but I was still looking down and crying out loud and failed to notice that somepony was watching us. Venom gave me a nudge and I looked behind me to see Princess Luna looking at us in shock, “What happened to you?”
In Ponyville
Rainbow Dash and Applejack were set and ready to race along with other competitors but the eager pegasus was waiting for a challenger who will never arrive.
“Come on, where are they?” Rainbow Dash said impatiently as she stretched her wings, eager to start this race.
“Oh they’ll be here and ah will beat both y’all.” Applejack said with a smirk and Twilight trotted up to them which made them both look at her, “Twilight what are you doing here?”
“I am racing of course.” Twilight said showing her number and they started laughing until five minutes later they realised that Manny still hasn’t showed up which was weird.
“Where is Manny and Venom?” Twilight said as she looked around hoping to see him but he wasn’t here.
“He probably chickened out.” Rainbow Dash said and Applejack nodded, “Ya probably realised that I would win nonetheless.”
Twilight sighed and looked around and saw Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity sitting on the stands but Rarity looked… sad as the purple unicorn saw her suddenly break down into tears much to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie’s surprise.
The racers were prepared to take off but then they heard the roar of Venom and it was full of heartbreak and rage. Everypony looked around in fear for the source of the roar but nothing happened, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked at each other in shock before running to the others to comfort Rarity.
“Rarity what happened?” Twilight asked and she continued sobbing until she choked out, “It was m… my fault.” and continued crying.
The girls looked at her confused but kept comforting her.
In Canterlot
Princess Luna brought me into the castle and we sat in her chambers talking about why I was here unexpectedly.
“It’s best if you look at my memories.” I said miserably and Venom nodded in agreement while Princess Luna’s horn glowed and I could feel her looking at my most recent memories and what’s worse is that she saw what my friends did… they betrayed us and saw us as monsters so we swore that we would help anypony except them and let them suffer.
Princess Luna lost all control of her legs and she looked at us in shock, she looked at us, ‘He is just like me.’
“Princess Luna are you okay?” I rushed to her side and helped her up, “I can’t believe they would…” I put my hoof on her back to soothe her, “Hey, don’t worry about it.”
“How can I not worry for you, you experienced betrayal just like… me.” Princess Luna said as she began crying since the memories of Nightmare Moon are coming back to her which led to her sister banishing her to the moon.
I couldn’t stand seeing her like this so I gave her a hug which she stiffened but nonetheless accepted it and cried on my shoulder which I didn’t mind one bit.
“Shh it's okay, it's alright.” I said which comforted her and we released it just as Princess Celestia came in still tall as ever.
“Manny what are you doing here?” Princess Celestia asked and Princess Luna showed her my memories since I was too sad to answer the question and the white alicorn immediately spoke, “We must take you back, you have to-”
“No, what I said cannot be taken back, I don’t want to go back.” I said and Princess Celestia sighed, “Manny, they’ll forgive you, you have to-”
This time Venom interrupted and spoke through me, “NO, WE WILL NOT GO BACK SINCE THERE IS NOTHING FOR US THERE AND IT SEEMS TO US THAT THERE IS NOTHING FOR US HERE!!!”
Venom enveloped me and we busted through the wall and flew away into the unknown with The Princesses shouting at us to return but now I was convinced, there was no way I was going back.