//------------------------------// // Storm Makers and Carnage Rising // Story: Venom Rising // by VampDash //------------------------------// The morning sky was a bright blue with few clouds to obscure the bright yellow son that laid over the park. The air was nice, crisp, and cool. But the best part was that the wind was hardly blowing in the air. In other words? It was perfect picnic weather. Rainbow took in a deep whiff of the air before exhaling through her nostrils. There was NO WAY her week was going to ruin this perfectly normal picnic…. with a friend and/or ex-friend who has a kid and a black alien slime suit that is permanently stuck with her. Totally normal. “Alright… Must resist super impulse... “ Rainbow then bucked the front door open instead of simply opening it. “Not…. Resisting well!” “Alright… Here we go.” Rainbow Dash said as she slowly trotted up. She saw a dark grey hippogriff kid flying around with a smile on his face and below him, because he was above everyone, was a tan furred and tawny looking griffon which she recognized as her friend Gilda… possibly ex-friend. ‘No. She IS my friend. Nothing about that has changed. One bad experience won’t change that.’ Rainbow thought to herself as she forced a smile onto her face. “Hurry up, Dash! If you can’t keep up me and Alex might leave you behind!” Gilda shouted with a snarky smile. “And then the undead hordes came forth, snarling and gnashing their rotting teeth!” Pinkie Pie said as she went into detail about a film she had recently seen… Extreme detail, about a zombie movie she had seen… While at a picnic where everypony was trying to eat. “Pinkie Pie… Maybe you could talk about something else?” Rarity said as she turned a slight shade of green. “BLOODY GORY!” Pinkie finished, as Rarity finally fainted from the description of the film. Pinkie Pie then laughed a little, but was soon set upon by Rainbow Dash. “WHY YOU LITTLE…” Rainbow then began to strangle Pinkie Pie, the symbiote slowly covering the cyan pegasus. “WE’LL TEACH YOU TO LAUGH AT SOMETHING THAT’S NOT FUNNY!” Venom yelled as Pinkie Pie turned bright red. “Rainbow? You okay?” Gilda’s voice snapped Rainbow back to reality. “You kinda spaced out there for a second.” Alex said as Rainbow blinked a few times. “Uh yeah… Just something on my mind is all.” Rainbow said as she saw where Pinkie was and instead saw three sisters. Roseluck, Lily, and Daisy, the latter of whom was also well known as ‘THE HORROR’ pony. She sighed as she caught back up with the two bird hybrids. They arrived at a beautiful tree that was in the middle of a park but though the tree was amazing to see it also… looked twisted and warped. Like something was making it like this on the inside. As they approached it Pinkie appeared between Rainbow and Gilda… out of nowhere. “Oh! And I saw this other movie called Alie….” Pinkie Pie started before Rainbow put a hoof over her mouth. “Pinkie… MAYBE lunch isn’t the best time to talk horror movies?” Rainbow said as she let Pinkie’s mouth free from her hoof. “Okay Dashie! I’ll just show up at a later chapter where I’m more relevant!” She said as she vanished without a trace. Rainbow just blinked as she looked where her friend once stood. “Um Dash, I know I got off on the wrong foot here last time but… is that-” “Normal? Yeah it is, G. Sorry about that.” “No prob Dash… Just warn us next time. That pink thing thought you were a zombie.” Gilda said. Rainbow just snorted at the thought. Her a zombie? That’s one of the stupidest things she had ever heard. She was WAY too awesome to be a zombie. With that finished she helped Gilda set up the rest of the picnic. Gilda opened the wicker basket and pulled out some food for the group. Rainbow picked out some apples and oranges to munch on while Alex and Gilda had some meat sandwiches… which looked strangely appealing to Rainbow. “Wait when did I like meat?! That’s just… why?!” ‘Well now… this is a pity. A host who refuses juicy meat. Such a shame.’ The symbiote said as it snickered in Rainbow’s head. This caused her to growl quietly but she retained a happy expression in front of the two meat eaters. “So Gilda… what made you decide to come back here huh?” “Oh… The wonderful scenery?” Gilda said with a forced smile. Alex, however, looked confused. “I thought we left because Grandma was a bi-” The young hippogriff said before Gilda quickly closed his beak with her paw. “Not now Alex…” Gilda snarled but Rainbow nodded as though she understood. Gilda’s family was a well known and very wealthy family. She’s not royalty by any means but they won’t be broke for a while. One time she went to her home and learned quickly that she REALLY didn’t want to get rich since apparently it made you a major plothole. “It’s okay G. I remember MY visit to your folks home. Didn't your mom threaten to catapult me out for disrespecting you guys?” “Actually it was crossbow, but oh well.” Gilda replied with a small snort. Rainbow chuckled at this and so did Alex. The picnic, while short, did fill Rainbow with a small bit of joy… joy that she rarely had anymore in Ponyville. “Hey G, hate to say this, but I gotta get going. I have a job at the weather station here and it’s supposed to be cloudy for the rest of the day and evening so you and Alex better head back home.” Rainbow said. Gilda nodded as she packed up her stuff. Alex helped as well and soon both mother and son left for the cloudhouse. Rainbow sighed as she felt a familiar black ooze form over her. Venom skulked around Canterlot, having taking a trip up to the larger city on the assumption that a bigger city meant bigger problems. Sadly she was disappointed to find nothing much more beyond the occasional shady pony. However that was soon to change. “That’s right come to Hypno Hustler!” A pony with swirling glasses and a boombox cutie mark exclaimed as dozens of ponies gave him all of their bits as his boombox let loose an odd sound. Cocking her head to one side in confusion, Venom slung a webline down and grabbed the boombox, smashing it against the wall. “Hey… What… Hey that guy has all my money!” A stallion yelled as came to his senses. Others soon joined him as they began to pummel the hypnotist con artist. However the stallion hypnotist escaped the crowd as he tried to make an disappearing act. “You think you’ve seen the last of me?! Fools! I shall retu-” Before he could say anything he ran into the hulking black mass that was Venom. “You know… We never understood why you stupid villains monologue even after you lose.” Venom snarled before she picked him up and slammed him to the ground, knocking him unconscious. She tore off the shades… and almost wanted to rip his head off. The stallion almost looked like a carbon copy of a former magician that visited the town once. The magician was called Trixie and the stallion had the same fur color and mane color as well, though the stallion’s fur was slightly darker. ‘On the one hoof, I take him to jail… On the other, I have some fun with him first… Nah I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I did that. Well I would, but there would be too many questions.’ Venom then picked up the stallion, by his neck… with her tongue, and slung him over her shoulder. “HAVE AT THEE!” Venom heard a thundering voice boom as thunder and lightning filled the air. Freezing, she felt the wind blow all around her as lightning struck right next to her. “THOU SHALL NOT HARM THE INNOCENT E’ER AGAIN DARK CREATURE!” The same booming voice bellowed as Venom turned to see a magical bolt of energy coming straight for her. Venom dodged and quickly made a hasty retreat into the shadows, trying to lose whoever or whatever that was. “HIDE ALL THOU LIKE, BUT KNOW THINE PRESENCE IS NOT TOLERATED DEMON!” And with a crack of thunder the storm disappeared. “Buck us that was close. We think that maybe Ponyville is a better place to be… less psycho storm makers living there.” Venom said as she creeped off into the dark. “Tick… Tock… Goes the clock… Even for the Doctor…” A stallion said to himself as he walked near the edge of a forest. The woods themselves were dark and seemed to be radiating malice yet the stallion paid it no heed. All his life he knew that life was more or less meaningless so what better place to end his than being near the forest and having a wild animal rip him apart. “Tick… Tock… Goes the clock… Even for the Doctor.” He repeated. He was a few feet away from a big city when he saw…. something out of the corner of his eye. A flash of red, almost like blood spraying out of some poor thing, lept out at him. He screamed in futility as the red covered him completely. He suddenly stopped thrashing as he then stood again. No sign of the red anywhere on his body. “Tick… Tock… Goes the clock… Even for dear old mother!” The stallion soon started to laugh insanely as he kept walking towards the city. After all what better place to make a hunting ground than a bigger jungle?