21. Sorrow
Twilight woke up feeling nauseous. She lifted her head, trying to figure out her surroundings. She was laying on a bed in a well-furnished room, and she recognized the architecture immediately. She was back in Canterlot Castle.
Then Venom’s face was in front of her, his warm hands cradling her cheeks and drawing her closer. “Finally, you’re awake. I was beginning to worry.”
“Um, how long was I asleep?”
“Thirty minutes. But it felt much longer than that.” He moved aside, and Twilight realized Celestia was also in the room. She stepped up to the bed.
“I’m glad you’re awake,” Celestia said. “Some of my guards brought you in, they said you passed out in the street. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, just… what about you? Riot hit you pretty hard.”
Celestia rubbed her temple. “I’m sore, and a little woozy, but I’ll be okay. It's strange, the doctor who looked at me said I had no significant head trauma so he wasn't sure why I lost consciousness. I think perhaps Riot did it by connecting to me for that brief moment... but never mind that. I want to know what happened after that. Where's Riot, did you…”
Twilight’s eyes filled with tears as she remembered what happened, and she turned and threw herself face first into a pillow, crying.
Celestia stared at her, then gently rubbed her shoulder. “Twilight?” she asked softly. “What is it?”
Twilight just shook her head, chest aching so bad she felt sick. She could still see the fear on that mare’s face, the horror as Riot closed his mouth over her… and she could still hear the crunching of bones, like firecrackers in her ears.
Venom protectively wrapped himself around her, and she pressed her face to his body, but she still couldn’t speak. So he addressed Celestia instead.
“After you were knocked out, Riot broke out of his cell and we fought,” Venom explained. “We did what we could but he’s very old and thus very strong. Much stronger than us. But we managed to hurt him. We got him on the run, and we left the dungeons. He got outside and took a random pony hostage. Twilight… our compassion made us hesitate. It was mostly her though. She didn’t want us to attack with so many other ponies around, and she didn’t want Riot to hurt an innocent bystander. So we let him go, planning to go after him once he’s away from the city. But then… He killed the hostage anyway. Ate her right in front of everyone. The shock and distress overwhelmed Twilight’s system, and she passed out. I couldn’t do a thing to keep her awake. So I hid until we were brought here, and have been trying to wake her since.”
Tears rolled down Celestia’s cheeks. “Riot killed one of my citizens?”
Venom gave a solemn nod.
Twilight jerked her head up at the heartbreak in Celestia’s voice. “I’m so sorry!” she cried. “I should have stopped him faster, it’s all my fault, if I hadn’t hesitated maybe I could have taken him down and she wouldn’t have died such a horrible death! I’m a horrible princess and I don’t deserve my title!”
“Twilight, relax, you did what you could,” Celestia said, but Twilight shook her head.
“No, it’s my fault, I said Blazing could get visitors and that must be how he was able to get Riot, somepony brought him to him, if we had just locked him up tighter none of this would have happened! Or if I… if Venom and I had just fought a little harder…”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, you tried to stop him. We’ll find him, and we’ll make sure he pays for what he’s done.” Celestia stood, trotting to the door and calling one of her captains over.
While she gave him orders to send a detachment after Riot, Venom kept trying to comfort Twilight.
“I know you’re upset, I am too,” he said, rubbing her back. She shifted, leaning more into his embrace, and looked up at him. The glistening of tears in her eyes made him frown, a very similar pain to her own radiating through him. It had happened subtly yet quickly, how he had grown to care so deeply for her. He wasn’t just feeling her pain, knowing she was upset was causing its own agony. He’s never felt this way for a host before. He didn’t even know what to call it. But it was comfortable despite how much it hurt. He liked sharing such an intimate emotional connection with her.
And judging from her expression, she was hearing those thoughts, and she cared just as much. He continued, “We’ll get through this. We’ll track down Riot, destroy him, and avenge that mare. It’ll be okay.”
She sniffed and laid her head back down. “Even if we stop Riot… we can’t undo what happened. I’m not sure I can ever forgive myself for that.”
Venom sighed and just stroked behind her ears, hugging her close.
Celestia came back into the room. “I just sent a detachment of my best royal guards after Riot, and I made sure they know to use fire against him.” She sat next to the bed, opening a length of parchment. “I’ll inform Cadance of this as well.” She looked at how Twilight was glumly curled up in Venom’s arms, head down and eyes distant. She sighed sadly, and said, “I’ll also ask her to send Shining Armor over. I think you could use his company right now.”
Twilight didn’t answer, but her ears moved forward for a moment.
Celestia stayed with her, only stepping out briefly to answer questions from guards and other employees of the castle, and to tell Luna what happened. Luna snapped her teeth in anger when Celestia told her about the pony who died, and took off running down the hall.
“Where are you going?” Celestia called after her.
“I’m going to find that monster, and I’m going to end him,” Luna growled, pushing open a door that led to a balcony.
“Sister, wait!” Celestia ran up to her. “I know you want revenge, but I need you here. I've already sent guards after Riot and Twilight and I will likely search for him as well. For now...” She sighed, looking away. “Somepony needs to go inform the family of Riot's victim what happened.”
Luna slowly closed the door, ears laying back. “I see. Well, I have made those sorts of visits before... I'll take care of it.” She touched Celestia's shoulder. “What was her name?”
“Honey Dew.” Celestia told her where Honey's family could be found, and Luna nodded and headed out.
Then she returned to the bedroom, where Venom had gotten Twilight to sit up, but she still felt too miserable to climb out of bed.
“I just keep thinking about everything we could have done different,” she said.
“I know how you feel,” Celestia said. “Every time tragedy strikes, I blame myself. I spend days wondering what I could have done, how I could have stopped it. How I could protect my ponies. But those thoughts don’t help anypony. I can’t change the past. We just have to move forward, focus on what we can do now.”
“I know I need to move on, it’s just… I can’t stop thinking about it. I don’t even know that mare’s name, but her face is burned into my mind. I see her, I hear her. She was right there, I could have saved her… but I didn’t. I couldn’t. Maybe Riot’s right, maybe I am weak.”
“You’re not weak,” Venom said firmly. “And we’ll prove that to him the next time we meet.”
Celestia agreed and leaned in to pull Twilight into a hug.
They lingered in it for a while, fresh tears streaming down Twilight’s face, and it made Celestia cry too. She couldn’t stand seeing her friend in so much pain. Riot needed to be taken down. Celestia was almost always willing to give creatures like him a second chance, but Riot crossed a line few beings have. He was beyond forgiveness. If Twilight and Venom didn’t kill him, she would.
The three were still holding each other when someone knocked on the door. Twilight sniffed and nudged Venom, and he slinked out of sight while Celestia went to open the door.
A familiar stallion poked his head in. “Hey, is Twilight in here?”
Celestia nodded. “She is. Please, come in.” She stood aside, and Shining Armor walked in.
He beamed at Twilight, rushing over to hug her. “Twily, there you are! So good to see you again!”
She couldn’t help but smile at her brother’s affection, wrapping a foreleg around him. “It’s good to see you too.”
Venom poked his head back up. “Yes! Finally, she’s smiling again!”
Shining scrambled backward. “What the heck is that thing?!” he demanded.
Venom narrowed his eyes, and Twilight draped a hoof over him. “Shining, this is Venom. Venom, Shining Armor.”
“Venom,” Shining stated. Venom nodded. Shining crept closer. “So it’s…” He cautiously lifted a hoof toward the other. “What are you?”
“I’m a member of a race called the Klyntar, from a planet far away from here,” Venom replied, reaching an arm out. He formed a hand to shake Shining's hoof with. “Your kind has called us symbiotes.”
“Symbiotes.” Shining examined him, utterly befuddled.
“He’s in a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with me,” Twilight explained. “He can’t survive on our planet by himself, so he’s bonded with my body so he can stay alive. In return for me keeping him alive, he gives me enhanced reflexes and strengths, and keeps me healthy.”
“Wow. That’s really weird. So, you’ve got an alien in your body?”
“Yeah. And before you ask, he’s not hurting me. He cares about me, we’ve grown very close.”
“How did you even meet him? And what happened today? There’s a lot you haven’t told me.”
“I’m sorry.” Twilight told him everything. About her first trip to the Life Aura Center. Bonding with Venom. How they fought their way out, and how they later grew to like each other, learning from each other.
Venom didn’t speak much, just letting Twilight explain everything, though he sometimes provided her with a memory to help her with the details.
Then Twilight got to her story about fighting Riot and broke down. Shining’s eyes widened in concern as she started crying, and he wrapped her into a tight hug. Through sobs, she told him about Riot getting away, after eating an innocent pony who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, nuzzling her. “You’ve been through so much… and I’m sorry you had to see that. Riot sounds like an awful creature.”
“He is, I should have taken him down while we were still in the dungeons, but he was just so strong and I let him get away.” Twilight leaned back, wiping her eyes off. “But we’re going to stop him. We’re going to make him suffer.”
“Whoa, calm down.” Shining grasped her shoulders. “That’s not like you. Suffer?”
Twilight sighed. “I’m sorry. Ever since I bonded with Venom, I’ve been more violent. More merciless toward those who hurt others. I… really want to make Riot regret what he’s done. And so does Venom.”
“I need to pay him back for being such a shitty boss anyway,” Venom muttered.
Shining glanced at him, then looked back at Twilight. “I understand, you’re upset. But don’t lose sight of who you are. Think about how much you care for your fellow ponies. Think of how many bad guys you’ve turned to good. Don’t let hate consume you. I don’t want it to turn you into something you aren’t.”
“Riot needs to go down,” Twilight replied. “Painfully or not, I am not letting him live. He doesn’t care about others. He just wants to bring more of his people here and have them enslave us. He wants to use us to become stronger. I won’t let him. He will die, one way or another.”
Shining frowned but didn’t argue. “Just don’t lose control. I don’t want you turning into a monster. You're better than that.” He gently booped her nose. “But no matter what, I’ll always love you, lil sis.”
“And I’ll always love you too,” she replied, smiling. It felt wrong to smile after what happened, but she told herself she needed to feel this. She couldn’t let herself drown in the sorrow. There was still work to be done.
“And you,” Shining said sternly to Venom, who stared at him. Shining hesitated when those alien eyes stared into his, but gathered his resolve and said, “Just how close are the two of you?”
Venom slid tendrils all around Twilight’s body. “So close we might as well be one organism. Why?”
“You like her?”
“Of course I like her, she cares about me like no one ever has before. For fuck’s sake, I betrayed my leader for her.”
“Then you better behave around her,” Shining growled. “She’s my LSBFF, little sister best friend forever, and if you do anything to hurt her, I’ll hurt you tenfold.”
Venom was taken aback by just how harsh his tone grew, and said to Twilight, “What is it about you that makes ponies so protective?”
Twilight just smiled. “That’s what happens when you love someone. You’ll do anything for them, even fight for them.”
“Hm.” Venom thought about that, then looked at Shining. “I will never hurt her. You have my word. I care about her, I only want to protect her, as she has protected me.”
“Good.”
Someone knocked on the door, and Celestia went to get it. She was met with the guard who had been down in the dungeons, who was flanked by two higher-ranking guards.
“Princess Celestia, we were going through a post incident briefing with Lt Valiant here when he gave us some information you might find useful,” one of them said.
“Oh? What is it, Valiant?” Celestia asked.
He nervously shuffled his hooves, but stood at attention when his superior gave him a sharp glare. “Ma’am, a few hours before you and Princess Twilight came down to visit Blazing, he had a visitor. An employee of his company who has been in charge during his absence. She called herself Miss Atom.”
That got Twilight’s attention. She finally jumped down from the bed. “Miss Atom? I know her, she definitely works for Blazing. Did you see her carrying anything in?”
“No, Princess,” Valiant replied. “It was just her.”
“She must have hosted Riot and then transferred him to Blazing during their meeting,” Celestia said.
Twilight nodded. “Right. We need to go talk to her. Find out what she knows.”
“We’ve already searched for her, our records turned up a unicorn mare matching her description who lives alone in Manehattan.” He handed over an address. “Full name is Selenium Atom.”
“No wonder she just goes by Atom,” Twilight commented. “Okay then. We’re going to Manehattan.”
Celestia nodded in agreement. “Right. We need to talk to her as quickly as possible. The longer we wait, the further away Riot gets.” She thanked the guards for their work and sent them away, with orders to contact the guard squadron in Manehattan and send a detail ahead to Atom’s house.
“Do you think she’s home?” Twilight asked while Celestia checked the address.
“Assuming she works a day shift at Blazing's lab, she should be by now,” Celestia replied. “If not we’ll wait for her. Are you ready to go, or do you need more time to recover?”
“I’m ready,” Twilight replied.
“Are you sure? You've already been through so much, if you need some time I can go by myself.”
“No, I can go,” Twilight insisted. “I need to be there, I... we need to destroy Riot.”
“I want to see him broken at our hooves,” Venom growled.
Celestia nodded and said, “Shining, do you want to come?”
Shining agreed without hesitation. “Of course.”
“Alright then. Let’s go.”
Twilight asked Venom to hide, then stood next to Celestia, while Shining took her other side. Celestia spread her wings over them and closed her eyes, teleporting them all to Manehattan.
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Forgot that shining didn't know yet
Looking forward to more
Go Twilight! RIP AND TEAR RIOT TO SHREDS!!!!
Yes, I forgot about that, now her parents next.
Do Twilight or venom realize already that Shining seems to think they are together?
Oh nice, now Shining still has to see Twilights Venom form, even if they told him about it, I bet the real thing is something else to him.
I like this and the movie was better than I could have hoped for it to be. I somehow expected them to mess up one way or another.
9351411
ƧĦѲѴЄ Δ ƆΔƆƬƲƧ ƲƤ ĦƖƧ ƧƤĦƖИƆƬЄЯ!
Riot should start counting his days, for Twilight and Venom now know what he can do.
Rebuilding tension I see. Very excited to see more. Hope shinning burns Riot at least a little bit.
Poor twilight.
RIP honey dew.
Vemon needs to experience the rage that comes from kindness. That rage that swells up when we see others treat life so callously.
The friend shipping here is so strong i had a big dopy grin while reading this chapter
Love it
Moar plz
Riot is not getting away this time, he will be destroyed just like in the movie
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9351563
9351446
9351411
Demons run,
When a good Mare goes to War.
Night will fall and drown the Sun,
When a good Mare goes to War.
Friendship dies and true love lies.
The Night will fall and the Dark will rise,
When a good Mare goes to War...
Amazing like always, I should really be sleeping right now cause I have finals but whatever.
9351446
Shove a cactus up his sphincter? Damn dude.
Btw Venom release date is the 18th in the US, im not sure about other countries though, you might want to check.
9352154
Thank you. I was scratching my head at what he typed
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np
9351446
You forgot the fire, acid, bullet ants, and that the cactus must be horizontal and rapidly rotating. Oh yeah, also salt, lemon juice, Carolina Reaper juice, bear spray, and pure, magical, pain.
Personally, I would very much like to flay Blazing and Riot, bandage the wound with salt and ethynol, the slowly, carefully, fillet off a millimeter at a time, starting at the hooves, disinfecting the wounds every time, as painfully as I can.
9352156
It's already available for purchase on YouTube, I've watched it like twice already :')
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And then, once they're dead, we can resurrect them at full and do it αℓℓ αɢαιи!
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Ɔσиғʋƨισи ιƨ нαℓғ тнɛ ρσιит!
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Δи∂ ωнɛи тнɛ Ғʋтʋяɛ ιƨ Ƥαƨт, Ѧα∂иɛƨƨ ƨнαℓℓ ˩αʋɢн
Ƭнɛ ∂ɛα∂ ωιℓℓ ωαℓκ αи∂ тнɛ ƨтσиɛƨ ƨнαℓℓ тαℓκ
Ƭнɛ Ғяσƨт ƨнαℓℓ ɢяσω αи∂ тнɛ Ƨαи∂ ƨнαℓℓ ғℓσω
Ƭнɛ Ƨтαяƨ ƨнαℓℓ ƨιиɢ, α Ѧα∂∂ɛиιиɢ тнιиɢ
Ɯнɛи α ɢσσ∂ мαяɛ ɢσɛƨ тσ ωαя...
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Now that I know how to read it (Somewhat) I won't be confused again... (Hopefully)
9352693
Ѵσƨ мιι κσяααʌ яʋʓ, ғɛит мʋ?
9352697
I'm lost again.
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I like speaking in Dovahzul
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It was Dovahzul... Damn it. I should have known that.
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Ѳσ ƨнιя, иιι ғσи ɢɛιи иααℓ ғααи ∂σ Ƙиιʌɛƨ ℓσƨ αнмιιи ∂σ ʌʋи иααℓ ғσƨ Ѧʋ тιиʌαακ. ..
*in epic fight announcers voice*
ROUND 2
FIGHT!
Did someone say 'weak'? "I'm not weak! Aaaaah!!"
I just had to.
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Hmm ok
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Have a look at this one.
9351411
Wrong anti-hero, but I agree
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Coooooool
And I'm done with my binge. Having just saw the movie last week, I have to say I'm satisfied. And I really hope to see more. Also that some of the other symbiotes are more friendly and can bond with at least one of the other of the M6.
-Dark
Moar!
trick answer. :P Klyntar, as it turns out. is not there species after all :P
Cadance is going to be pissed Shining found out her relationship progress before she did!
"Selenium Atom"
I see what you did there
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I'm glad because I sure don't remember, I just picked an element that I felt had a name-like... name. :V
That escalated quickly. Discord will not be happy about Riots plans...
Bughunt begin! Bonus points for surviving and killstreaks