23. A Powerful Alliance
Venom hit the floor with a thud that rattled the building. They straightened and galloped through the room, seeing Riot at the far side running down a staircase. He glanced back at them, but kept going, jumping the rest of the way down. Venom was right behind him in seconds, and they were preparing to leap onto his back when the door ahead of them burst open.
A four-legged, grayish-purple monster even taller than Riot surged out, lifting a powerful front leg and decking him so hard in the face it knocked him onto his rump.
Venom froze, staring at the creature. Ever-shifting skin, bright opal eyes…
Another symbiote! they realized together.
Not only that, but there was something very familiar about its stance, the shape of its lithe body, those large wings and long horn…
“Celestia?!” Venom demanded.
The other smiled, opening her mouth to show rows of razor-sharp teeth. “Yes, but for the moment, we are Scorn.”
“Scorn!” Riot yelled, standing up and throwing a fast, wild punch. She easily blocked his arm, not even seeming to flinch at the impact. Then she seized him with bright golden magic and swung him around, easily smashing him through the metal wall.
Enraged by the betrayal, Riot's more primal instincts seized control and he kicked out with his back legs, clipping her in the jaw. She jerked, responding with a stomp that drove him straight into the floor. Venom couldn’t help but pound a hoof triumphantly against the ground, shouting, “Get him!”
“Scorn, what the fuck are you doing?!” Riot demanded. “You’ve turned against me too?!”
Scorn took a step back to allow him to pull himself from the rubble and face her. Once they were eye to eye, she said, “Sorry but the Princess and I had a little talk, and I and the other Klyntar decided… she could offer us far more than you can. We can live here peacefully, without even having to fight for it. We will not be joining your invasion. Give it up and join us instead.”
With a single thought, Riot formed a huge hammer out of the fibers of his arm to swing at her. “Never!”
Scorn gracefully ducked out of its way and responded by charging her horn and shooting him with a concussive blast that knocked him flying.
This is ridiculous! he mentally shouted. He furiously dug through Blazing's mind as he tried to find a spell that could stand up to such power, but found his host to be utterly lacking in more than the most basic of unicorn magic. He could of course enhance the telekinesis and cancel out other basic spells if cast on him, but he couldn't use any spells Blazing himself didn't know how to perform. He didn't even have the energy to block alicorn magic now. It was with contempt that he realized what a mistake it was to agree to bond to this creature. His only experience in battle amounted to little more than mild disagreements and verbal scuffles with subordinates and superiors alike. He had countless others carry out his dirty work for him, as he would rather keep his own hooves clean. Riot might as well have bonded with an unusually business-savvy infant. This wretched equine was no match for an experienced alicorn princess. But he had to do something, and he wrung all the magical ability out of Blazing as he could as he fired telekinetic blasts back at Scorn.
To his dismay, she easily blocked every shot he took, advancing on him slowly and surely. Then she attacked him with her hooves, beating him fiercely. His skin crumpled with each strike and he was constantly having to reform himself, lest her merciless hooves tear him apart. Then long, thin silvery tendrils slid out of her skin and whipped against him as well, keeping him constantly on edge, not knowing where the next strike was coming from. They drew gouges through his body, making him howl with pain and rage. He tried to fight back, but then Venom tackled him, and he went down under their combined weight.
With two against one, Riot just couldn’t keep up with all the attacks. Each time he turned to block one, another would rip into him and tear his attention away. Yet he resisted anyway, his teeth and claws ripping into them, growing out his own tendrils to use as weapons against them. They blocked what they could, but their focus was on keeping him pinned and wearing him out. He shifted tactics to growing sharp spikes out of his body wherever he was struck, which caught Venom by surprise, making them yelp as they drove their fist right through one of them. But the pain invigorated them, and they began smashing the spikes out of the way each time one popped up.
Riot could feel himself running out of steam with each passing moment, the strain of attacking the two combining with the exhaustion of trying to block their powerful assault, until he could barely move and he could feel his host struggling to stay conscious. Keep it together, he growled at Blazing, ducking his head away from the onslaught for a moment.
There was no response from the pathetic equine except a wave of fear and the smallest inkling of regret. Riot snorted, making a note to deal with that nonsense later, and looked back up. Just as Venom took hold of him and started peeling him away from Blazing. Riot tensed and held on tightly to his host. “No!” He managed to stay connected for only a few seconds, until Scorn sank her claws in and pulled as hard as she could. He split away as roughly as a stubborn scab from flesh, his gray skin clinging desperately, but it was no use against his two unrelenting foes. In only seconds he was forcibly separated and dragged away from Blazing, too far to reach back for him.
Unwilling to give up quite yet, he struggled and lashed back against Venom and Scorn, each whip of his tendrils stinging, but it was no good. He had lost and they knew it, and there was no mercy in their eyes.
Scorn threw him a good distance away onto the floor, and before he could even move a few inches, she aimed her horn at him and unleashed a torrent of white-hot flames as hot as the Sun itself, flames that could only be conjured by an alicorn who fully intended to kill her target.
Venom scrambled backward just from the heat of it washing over them, and watched through wide eyes as Riot was incinerated. It only took seconds to kill him, and once his body was limp and charred, Scorn stopped the spell and scraped him from the floor.
“I almost wish we didn't have to kill him,” she admitted, turning the body about. “But we had no choice. He was cruel and dangerous... and he never would have joined us.” She crushed him between her claws, absorbing his body into her own.
Venom began uncovering Twilight, and she gave a solemn nod. “Yeah, it was necessary.”
Scorn receded from Celestia’s body, and she sighed once her head was free, rubbing her face. “That’s a… very odd sensation. Not unpleasant, but strange.”
“Yeah, takes some getting used to,” Twilight agreed. She turned to Blazing, who was huddled on the floor trying to make himself look as small as possible. “Are you okay?”
He blinked, and looked himself over, before looking back at her. At least, he turned his face toward her. His eyes were distant, as if he was focused on something far beyond her. He didn’t speak, just stared.
Twilight moved closer, reaching out to touch his forehead. He flinched but didn’t try to move away. His skin was cold and clammy, yet his coat was drenched in sweat.
“I think he’s sick,” she said.
Venom moved around to touch him too, and said, “Riot overworked his body. He’s going into shock.”
“That can happen?”
“If we force a host into a fight like that without proper rest and nutrition, then just leave them? Yes. The only reason you’re not feeling that is because I’m still here. We should go out to eat by the way, I’m starving.”
“Not the time.” Twilight called for the guards. Shining hurried down the stairs with several of them in tow. “Riot is dead,” she told him. “Blazing is still alive but he needs immediate medical care. Does anypony know how to treat for shock?”
A couple of them came over to help, and Twilight ordered them to get him to a hospital, but make sure he was arrested as soon as he was healthy enough to leave.
They nodded and carried him over to an elevator.
Twilight sighed and sat down, massaging her temples. She was exhausted and starving, but she was relieved. It was over. She- they actually did it. Riot was dead, Blazing was in custody, they'll be able to shut down this whole project.
She looked up and smiled gratefully at Celestia, who smiled back. “Thank you,” Twilight said. “You and Scorn were a huge help. I believe Venom and I could have finished off Riot ourselves, but we can admit it would have been a close match. We appreciate you joining the fight.”
Venom snickered. “Yes, thanks for the help, though we totally could have done it alone, is what she was too polite to say.”
Scorn lifted her head out of Celestia’s body just to roll her eyes and sigh.
Celestia gave a humorous chuckle. “You're welcome. I have no doubt you could have taken care of him, but we figured you could use some help.”
“I didn't expect you to bond with one of the symbiotes, though,” Twilight replied. “Were you nervous?”
“A little. I didn't know what to expect. But the experience was quite thrilling.”
“It is, isn't it?”
Celestia nodded, then said, “The only downside is that I became very hungry, and now it's even worse. Is that normal?”
“Very normal, you'll get used to it.” Twilight stood. “We need to get to the other symbiotes and wrap all this up.”
“They're right through here,” Celestia said, opening the door Riot had been trying to go through. She and Twilight headed in, with Shining right behind them.
They entered a brightly lit lab quite unlike the others set up throughout the building. This room appeared to be well-used, though there were no employees present. Just workstations, and large glass vials containing different creatures that crawled all around the insides, before pressing to the glass and seeming to watch them. The room had a sickly musk in the air that only Twilight noticed, but inhaling it stung her nostrils and sent prickly chills down her spine, along with the unmistakable burn of bile rising in her throat. Then she felt Venom undulate her throat muscles to push the offending liquid back, silently thanked him, and focused back on the task at hoof.
She did a quick count of the vials and said, “Six. There’s six, but… eight left the Life Aura Center, right? And with Riot dead, there should be seven.”
Scorn scanned over the containers before saying, “Yes, one of us was put into that unicorn that was captured earlier. He was taken to that cell over there for holding… and got out.” She pointed to a broken metal door. “We don’t know where he went.”
“Who was it?” Venom asked.
Scorn scowled. “The one we always had trouble with. Carnage.”
Twilight felt Venom’s skin crawl and saw a flash of red. She tried to put it out of mind. “We’ll find him. But as for the others… are they willing to take voluntary hosts and live here peacefully?”
“They are. To tell the truth, most of us were manipulated into serving Riot. I feel like the only one who really agreed with his ways was Carnage.” She stared for a moment at a vial containing an especially energetic orange symbiote. “And Phage, sometimes, but they mostly do what they want.”
“Alright. We’ll get them all out of here.” Twilight walked from vial to vial and Venom introduced her to everyone.
“This blue one here that can’t seem to sit still, that’s Slasher,” Venom said. “The pink, that’s Hysteria. I told you about them earlier.”
“Right, yeah. Hello,” Twilight greeted them. She also said hi to Phage, and went to see the other three.
“This here, this is Scream,” Venom continued, pointing to a roiling yellow symbiote who kept hitting the glass with thin tendrils. “Always liked them. Good to see you, Scream!”
They pounded the glass harder.
Finally, they met a purple symbiote named Agony and a green named Lasher.
“Alright. Some of my friends are willing to share their bodies with you,” she said to them. “But I’ll need to bring them here. We need to make sure they’re compatible.”
“I can send for your friends,” Celestia said. “For now, I’m going to check in on Blazing. Thank you for everything you've done. I will make sure you're commended for your actions here.”
“Thank you, Princess.” Twilight watched her go and went to sit in one of the chairs, sighing. She could still hardly believe it was finally over.
“We still have Carnage to worry about,” Venom pointed out.
“I know. But one thing at a time.”
Shining sat near her. “Doing alright?”
“Sure. I’m just really tired. And hungry.” Twilight curiously rummaged through a drawer near her seat, but it was just full of folders. She wished it was a snack stash.
“I’m sure. Well, that was a really awesome fight. I missed most of it, I was keeping ponies out of the building, but I saw you and Celestia gang up on Riot.”
Twilight idly rubbed her stomach, remembering how she had been stabbed. “Heh. You didn’t miss much.” She could immediately tell he didn't believe that, as his brows furrowed and he leaned in to gaze more closely at her.
“Twily... tell me what happened,” he said. “Please?”
She took a nervous breath, and Venom gave her a reassuring bump to the cheek. “He's your sibling, is he not? We should tell him what happened on the second floor.”
Twilight nodded, gathering her resolve. “Right. Okay, I'll tell you how the fight went on our end. I just hope you have a strong stomach.”
“Heh, I'm a captain of the Royal Guard,” he boasted. “You won't believe the kinds of things I've seen. Nothing can turn my stomach.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.046 seconds
Total duration
764 users online
1,058,012 hits today, 2,364,530 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Sorry so much for the wait on this. But as an apology, please accept this drawing of Celescorn that actually was NOT drawn just for fun a while back and was in fact based on the events of this chapter.
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/intermediary/f/2af45630-c02c-4b04-8473-2becb37b0b56/dcuhn7b-aded1faa-80db-4451-b4a5-4b74f4f700e8.png
Source
9381867
It's all good.
So next chapter starts with Shiny losing his lunch?
Please don't pull a cliché and have Shining sick because of what Twilight told him.
Anyway, nice chapter, and surprising to see Celestia bonded with a symbiote.
hoooooo boy........That ain't good.
First thing next chapter: Shining Armor is throwing up in a bucket.
Nice!
9381886
:) we'll just have to see how well this esteemed Captain takes it. I imagine Venom's descriptions can get quite vivid. Just in case Twilight wimps out on the story of course, he totally isn't out to make anyone puke. of course not
Yay, new chapter.
Yeah boi, suck it Riot you piece of shit!! Now all they have to do is deal with Carnage and they'll be good.
I bet he's actually a little sissy girl. Also, this chapter was pretty good. Have some ears: 👂 👂 👂
“Fuck”
Well at least he won’t have his blood powers. You retconed a bit too much for carnage to keep those
So Riot got what he deserved but now they might have to deal with a bigger threat... sucks for them but awesome for me because I want this story to go on as long as possible
Loved how you had Celestia get a symbiote (did not expect it but that's what makes so great as not only is awesome in general but it offered a great chance to make this final battle vastly different from the movie with Riot getting a huge beat down like he deserved as apposed to the quick death of the rocket exploding)
Can't wait to see what happens, and to finally get that kiss between Venom and Twilight that Riot so rudely interrupted last time (please don't let his be like Inuyasha where we have to wait several years to finally have the main characters officially kiss)
Well, the good news is, I sincerely doubt there's anyone in Equestria as unhinged as Kletus Cassidy to make full use of the Carnage symbiote. The bad news is, in this universe, symbiotes can seemingly overwhelm their hosts with their own desires.
9381918
Before Flurry Heart yes, after helping spawn the abomination I think Shiney is a bit tougher. Why do I have this overt fear of Pinkie and Hysteria bonding? Slasher I could see bond with Rainbow. Of course with Carnage loose the main six not wanting to bond might end up in situations where they must to survive. After all you want to harm Twilight you target the other Elements.
9381867
THIS WAS SO WORTH IT AND...…. they're in so much shit now that Carnage is free.
9381941
Your fear of pinkie bonding is probably justified. She's already scary enough.
I wanna give a big shoutout to Mr. Snarky for helping me out with this chapter! I was a bit stuck and he really helped me look all this over and polish it up, and provided some wonderful lines. If you haven't already listened to his reading of the first four chapters, I'd really recommend you do so because he's great and he's going to be posting more. Thanks again!
Nani the fuck!?
Awesome!!
Last words shining. Lol
Damn! That was awesome!
So how tall was celestia in transformed form? Must be huge I bet. Xd
Famous last words.
And you totally didn't have nausea in that zeppelin episode, did you, Shiny? *sarcasm*
It would’ve been better if there were some people that could actually imitate the the voices of the MLP characters.
of course carnage is loose, it can never be easy can it.
9382002
Probably like twice her usual height. so yea, lorg
9382022
Yeah but I can admire someone who's dedicated enough to read it himself and come up with voices for different characters anyway. Not everyone can get access to character-accurate voice actors :'D Personally I love how he read it and I'm looking forward to more.
😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈
Did someone order a puke pail?
Which one is
butter horseFluttershy getting?9382069
It's a surprise, but I will say there'll be quite a contrast between Fluttershy's personality and her symbiote's, and it's gonna be loads of fun
WOW WHAT A PLOT TWIST ... I LOVE IT ... NEED MORE ...
THANKS ...
I LOOK FORWARD TO READING MORE WHEN THE TIME COMES FOR NEXT CHAPTER
9382069
Scream, no doubt
9381867
Celestia can now truly say : "My little ponies".
Good chapter again!
I wonder who's that unicorn host who was bound to Carnage.
Also...while I’m here I would like to point out that Twilight is going to have to tell her brother that she has, during several points in this timeline, committed acts of cannibalism, murder, and chocolate genocide.
So is Scorn still a cyborg-symbiote here?
9381931
That holds true everywhere else. If the symbiote has more will than the host then it can just puppet the victim, if the host is stronger willed than the symbiote then they can force the suit to act against its will.
!!!! Fuck!! This is not good!
9382122
I think they were talking about the spy that Celestia sent to museum and that was caught.
nice work.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand cue the vomit.
So good to see Celestia actually kicking ass for once, even if it was with help.
9381886
Or raging with brother protectiveness.
i bet what twilight is about to tell him will turn his stomach
And to noone's surprise, once Celestia got a symbiote and went to work, curb stomp. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.
Pretty welcome plot twist, Riot was obviously not a threat compared to Twilight/venom, and so was quickly dispatched. Carnage on the other hand will ba a pain.
Oh really
9382148
I wonder who's that spy. A canon character made spy or an OC?
Take all the time you need. Nice pic.
Now we can have a bet on who gets Carnage right?
My money is on Chrysalis
And next chapter...he's vomiting.
I'm calling it ok?
Not sure what to think about that yet.
I guess I'm atomatically carefull when you mentioned Celestia since I got a bit used to her being written bad half of the time and when she get's even more power.....
I admit in this story I want Venom and Twilight to be the best team in the end.
I get the feeling they are sadly more powerfull than Twilight and Venom.
Okay I have to admit that this was probably just Scorn and Celestia being more active than Venom in the fight this chapter, not exactly being stronger. I mean Twilight and Venom where pretty much stronger than Riot too and it looked like he got a bad host.
I still have my doubts but in the end it's usually a really nice chapter.
I'm a little bit curious about a POV from Celestia and Scorn, I mean a short scene about how they joined and if they maybe saw that Twilight had trouble. I'm not sure why she would have joined one of them otherwise.
I might love to see more of Celestia and Scorn, maybe I'm going to google him now if there are some informations about him.
My first opinion is still that maybe not every combination with the typicall choices like Rainbow Dash will be nice, but I trust you enough with this story to give it a fair chance despite having a bad feeling.
The bad feeling is mostly me expecting it to turn out less than stellar sometimes.
9381893
Yes while I might not have a problem with it this time, I agree that some cliches are just bad.
9381896
ah yes, I forgot that in this story they are more peacefull and Shining might have not seen the most voilent (worst) things happening in the world yet.
9382077
I might expect Fluttershy or Rarity to get Screamer.
I got several translations for contrast but the most sounded like it would be the opposite so Screamer or maybe Slasher for Fluttershy?
It would be maybe still weird if the symbiont would be enough to turn her into some sort of assasin.
I expect the symbionts to have a problem with Rainbow or Raritys personality. Maybe despite being compitable, Fluttershys symbiont will even get a bit frustrated with her.
I don't really know all of them but those are two of which I remember from somewhere or the storie and the other names I forgot or don't know at all. My guesses are mostly based on their names which maybe hint on their personalitys or abilities.
Calling it now: Cozy Glow gets Carnage!
Wow, didn’t see that coming!? Celestia bonded with a symbiote
9382648
my thoughts exactly. alongside you asked for it shinning.