The Element of Perseverance (Venom Crossover)

by PlasmaBolt305

Chapter 9: Bridle Gossip

“When was the last time you clean this place?” Venom asked me “It is in a mess.”

“It’s not my fault, I haven’t been here for a while.” I replied while I swept up some dust underneath the living room couch and put it in the dust pan.

“Well get cleaning then.” Venom said and sometimes I wish I could just rip him out of me and dump him in the fire just to solve my problems. I cleaned the place up a little bit more and dusted out the pictures on the wall until my eyes rested on a family photo that had been taken when I was a filly, with my parents and some… zebra?

“I don’t remember her from my childhood.” I said confused at the reason why she was in the picture and Venom pitched in with his opinion.

“Could be a family friend perhaps? Because she must have been really close friends with your parents to be with you in that picture.” Venom noted and that gave me an idea.

“What if she knows something about their disappearance, I could finally get answers!” I exclaimed but Venom had to ruin it.

“So you’re telling me that you have been living in this house for goodness knows how long and you never bothered to check your pictures and put two and two together.” Venom said slowly as if wanting my brain to process his words.

“Hey its not my fault, I don’t even have a good memory of my childhood.” I defended myself and Venom decided to drop it and ask another question.

“So we have a suspect but where do we find her?” Venom asked and it made me think hard before I looked at the picture, turns out the picture was taken in front of the one and only… Sugarcube Corner.

“I think we know where.” I said and Venom nodded, “First, finish the job.” he said which made me look at the dusty place and groaned out loud.

“You have a healing factor, it will be awhile before fatigue kicks in.” Venom ordered me to suck it up and clean my house up.

After thirty minutes, everything looked flawless and clean with the bathroom sink shining, the mirrors clean and the couches spotless, I grinned at my work.

“Well that was good.” I said and wiped the sweat off my head before putting the broom up, opening the door and made my way to Ponyville.

“So how are you gonna do this? You can’t just walk up to her then strangle her for answers although I would like to do that.” Venom noted and sounded amused

“She will most likely know my name since I was in the picture so all I have to do I guess is to tell her my name and hope for the best.” I replied and was hoping my prediction for the encounter went something like that.

“I’m gonna bet five bits she will ask you who you are before you introduce yourself.” Venom said happily as they strolled out of Everfree Forest and wandered into Ponyville.

“I’m not going to take that bet.” I said and walked into town finding it… empty.

“Where is everypony?” I asked aloud and looked around finding not a single pony in sight.

“Mmm walk around for clues and watch for anything out of the ordinary.” Venom suggested and I decided to go with that and began walking around town until I arrived at the town square near The Carousel Boutique. I was about to ask something else until Venom spotted something, “There!”

I looked in the direction Venom forcefully put me to look at and saw a pony in a hooded cloak, pawing at the ground as if he or she is looking for something.

“Let’s ask that pony what they are doing.” Venom suggested and I took a deep breath and began walking towards the mysterious figure who didn’t seem to notice my presence until I was right behind the pony.

“Hi.” I greeted and I was greeted back with yellow eyes which made me flinch a little but composed myself, the pony took off their hood to reveal… a zebra!

“Beware, Beware pony folk for those leaves of blue are no joke.” She warned us which made me confused but nonetheless introduced myself to her.

“My name is Manny and I-” I started saying until I noticed the zebra’s eyes widened dramatically in size.

“M-Manny? Is that really you?” She asked in awe which I nodded and I received a bone crushing hug which my healing factor got me out of.

“I can’t believe it after so many years…” She muttered as she released me and grabbed my face and began looking over me like I was a trophy. “You have grown!” she exclaimed
“I recognize you from a family photo, who are you?” I asked and the zebra introduced herself, “I am Zecora.”

“Well, nice to meet you Zecora.” I said politely then looked around to see the place still empty “Where is everypony?”

Zecora sighed, “They are all afraid of me, everytime I stroll into town, they hide from me as if I am the disease in this crowd.”

“Well that’s messed up.” I said angrily and Zecora noticed this and put a hoof on my shoulder to comfort me.

“You can’t blame others for what they think, the best you can do is move on.” Zecora said in a soothing tone which made me calm down and I took a deep breath before talking again.

“Do you know what happened to my parents?” I asked and Zecora looked around before responding, “Not here, too many eyes and ears, come follow me back to my home and I will tell you there.”

“Alright.” I said and followed Zecora who began talking about her life and how she managed to deal with my parents disappearance.

“We are being followed.” Venom said which made me look back to see a little filly with a cream colored coat and a cherry colored mane with a big red bow in her mane. She froze when she saw me looking at her but I gave her smile, “Hello there little one, what’s your name?”

She looked extremely nervous when I asked the question but she introduced herself, “Mah name’s Applebloom.” she said

“Well my name’s Manny, nice to meet you.” I said and I held out my hoof and she shook it with a smile before gasping out loud.

“You are the one who defeated Nightmare Moon with Venom!” She exclaimed happily and then looked at my flank and gave me a confused look.

“You don’t have a cutie mark?” Applebloom asked which made me look at my flank to see a just a normal coat of chocolate fur so I shook my head.

Zecora stepped forward, “So Applebloom, why were you following us?” She asked and Applebloom started sweating nervously and probably in fear.

“Well Twilight said if anypony would approach you, they would find out the truth about you so I came to find out the truth.” Applebloom explained
“So the girls are afraid of Zecora, that is not a good thing much less to-” I said but stopped when I saw a tree in the distance that had something carved on the bark and started walking towards it.

I stepped through a field of blue flowers and Zecora yelled me a warning but I was walking in a trance as I continued on my way to the tree as if it was speaking to me. Venom was speaking to me either because he seemed to get why the tree looked so… unusual.

I reached the tree to see a carving of a triangle with an eye in the center of it as almost if it was staring at me, within the eyes seemed like a hole in the shape of a circle almost if its a keyhole.

“Interesting, let me see if I can pick it.” Venom suggested and out from my body came Venom’s tentacle that inserted into the keyhole and began working on it but after about five minutes, nothing happened and Venom retracted the tentacle.

“Blasted, its well made.” Venom cursed and I looked at the mysterious triangle closely.

“I wonder who made it? Much less made it impossible to pick.” I observed and Venom agreed with me on that mainly he wants to throttle the pony who created this because its the one thing Venom can’t do.

“Let’s leave it for now and come back another time.” I suggested and began walking back to where Zecora and Applebloom should be but they were gone.

“Where did they go?” I asked and Venom responded with something totally irrelevant to my question.

“What are you standing on?” Venom asked which made me look down to see I was standing in a field of blue flowers.

“I have no idea.” I said “Didn’t Zecora warn us about these or something like that?”

“Beware Beware pony folk for those leaves of blue are no joke.” Venom recalled “Do these flowers make us laugh or something?”

“We’ll figure it out later but now let’s head to Zecora’s home and get some answers.” I said and began running deeper into Everfree Forest until I came across some strange totems that had a scary aura to it but somehow I wasn’t affected by it. I kept on going until I came across a tree that was surrounded by totems and had strange flowers surrounding the trunk of it.

“Very odd place to live in I’ll say.” Venom noted as we approached the door and I knocked on the door and waited. A couple seconds later, the door opened to reveal Zecora and she smiled when she saw me then got a serious look on her face.
“Where did you go?” Zecora demanded me and I explained to her the strange symbol on this tree and how it gave me a familiar feeling. Zecora thought to herself for awhile before replying, “Probably the aura of it, they are many strange things in this forest.”

“Tell me about it.” I said and then looked at the setting sun which was disappearing behind the trees.

“You can sleep here for the night.” Zecora offered which I accepted and was led inside to see brews, potions and totems everywhere, also the giant cauldron in the center of the room.

I looked at Zecora for an answer and she simply said, “I am an enchantress, Manny.” which I responded with an intelligent “Oh.”

I looked around and decided to make myself comfortable as Zecora went upstairs to sleep, I walked around until my eyes rested on a couch and last night’s memories came back with a vengeance.

I plopped down on the couch and stared at the ceiling and let myself drift off into the dream realm.

The Next Day

I woke up to the sound of a pot stirring which made me sit up and rub my eyes only to find Zecora stirring the cauldron with a giant spoon.

“About time you got up.” Venom said impatiently with his same annoying attitude.

I got up from the couch and approached Zecora who turned and greeted me, “Good morning, Manny! Did you sleep well?” she asked

“Ya, no dreams for some reason.” I replied and my stomach growled loudly, which made me wonder when was the last time I ate something.

Zecora laughed when she heard my stomach grumble, “You must be hungry, here I made some soup for you.” She went to a table that had bowl on it and gave it to me.

“Thanks.” I said and began drinking it while Zecora looked at me intently which was starting to creep me out a little bit.

“Who is this Venom?” She asked me and before I could respond, Venom came out of my body and faced with his scary face.

“I am Venom.” He said and Zecora shrieked in surprise before examining me and Venom with wonder.

“So how did you and Venom… meet?” Zecora asked in wonder and we both took turns explaining the experiment, my healing factor, my enhanced abilities and the fights we had together.

Zecora was still trying to soak in the fact that I am basically not the average Equestrian Citizen but suddenly her eyes lit up, “I have to test something on both of you!” she yelled and ran into a room to get goodness knows what. Venom returned back into my body and asked, “What do you think the test is?”

“I don’t know.” I replied and finished my soup just as Zecora came back from the room she was in and was carrying a strange set of devices that I have never seen before.

“What are those?” I asked and Zecora responded immediately, “These are devices the doctors use to scan a patient’s body otherwise known as an MRI scan.” she explained

“Why are you going to give me an MRI scan?” I asked confused

“So I can see the cells that contain your enhanced abilities and further research it.” Zecora said excitedly as she began setting up the machines in different corners of the room.

“Hmmm an MRI scan, never heard of it.” Venom said which made me roll my eyes.

“We’ve been in the hospital, idiot.” I whispered which made Venom snarl and made me smirk.

“Okay! I need you to stand right here.” Zecora said as she pointed it out with her hoof so I went and stood where she wanted me too and she scrambled around her device.

“Now what?” I asked and Zecora replied with a reassuring, “Give me a second!”

Third POV

Outside Zecora’s hut was Twilight, Fluttlershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity but they were different than usual. Twilight’s horn was droopy and coated in blue spots, Pinkie Pie’s tongue was stuck outside of her mouth and it was orange with blue spots, Rarity’s coat was like a shaggy dog and Fluttershy had a stallion’s voice instead of her own.

“Oh my, that is horrible.” Rarity said when she looked at Zecora’s hut.

“Indeed it is.” Twilight agreed with her as she passed a creepy totem and the others followed her as they headed towards one of the windows of Zecora’s hut and peeked in. They saw a giant cauldron that was boiling and steaming and saw Zecora setting up some strange devices all over the place.

“Dou dee Twahlit!” Pinkie Pie spat out but her messed up tongue ruined what she said but it meant ‘Do you see Twilight!’

Pinkie Pie then went to Fluttershy and pleaded her with childish eyes which made Fluttershy sigh and in her male voice she said,

“She’s an evil enchantress,
She does evil dances,
If you look deep in her eyes she put you in trances,
What will she do,
With her fancy new brew,
She’ll gobble you up in a big tasty stew,
So watch out.”

As Fluttershy sang the song, Pinkie Pie emphasized it by dancing to it and after they were done they both looked at Twilight.

“Do you see, Twilight, she’s evil.” Rarity said and the girls looked through the window and gasped because they saw… Manny.

“What is Manny doing here?!” Twilight asked

“That explains why he wasn’t here this morning!” Rarity exclaimed in realisation

They watched as Zecora directed Manny to a spot and she went to a screen and hit a button and all they heard was Manny’s scream.

Back to Manny

I waited in my spot for a little bit until I saw Zecora standing near a button and she looked at me and said, “Ready?”

“Yes.” I replied and prepared to see my results but all of a sudden, extremely loud sounds began hitting me with full power and I began screaming in pain and Venom was screaming in pain and I could feel him messing with my face as me and him began clutching our head and yelling for her to stop. The noise continued and my legs went numb and I fell to the ground screaming for her to stop until finally the noise stopped and I laid there, sweating and panting.

“MANNY!” a voice yelled and I clutched my ears and groaned in pain, as almost if somepony was shouting in my ears, I rolled in agony and I could hear crashing noises and yelling but I was in too much pain right now.

“AAAARRGGHH!!!” Venom groaned in pain as he shifted and clicked in my head which made me feel like a clock.

I slowly began to get back into reality and I sat up to the girls confronting Zecora and they did not seem happy at all. Everything around me like it was moving as if I were in jello, the sounds and my surroundings all looked like it was coming from miles away. I stared at the ceiling and felt myself lose consciousness and the last thing I remembered was the girls yelling my name.

A couple of minutes later

“Manny, wake up!” Venom said over and over again until I felt my mind reboot itself and came back into the world, I opened my eyes to reveal that I was lying on a bed and was in a room filled with candles and totems… had to be totems of all things. I got up and felt no pain but the memory was still fresh and I shivered a little at the feeling.

“That MRI scan was based on high frequency sounds.” Venom growled “But it was technically our fault since we didn’t tell her our weakness at the time.”

I got out of bed and headed to the door and felt a little light-headed after the ordeal but still in one piece.

“I mean I know sound is deadly to me, but I didn’t realize how deadly.” I said as I opened the door and went downstairs.

“Now you know, sound is more dangerous to you than before, what do you think fire will do to us.” Venom said and I have to admit, I shivered a bit when I actually took it into consideration.

I reached the first floor to see that nopony was here and the devices were taken off the walls and set on a table where a screen was displayed showing my body but x-rayed and showing all the cells in my body which was a little freaky.

“I have no idea what I am looking at.” I said cluelessly and Venom agreed with me on that before we heard some talking coming from behind a door to our left. I steadily approached the door and opened it, and what I saw was the girls taking a bath. They stopped what they were doing and stared at me in which I hastily said, “Sorry! My bad!” and shut the door.

“Real smooth genius.” Venom grumbled and I was busy trying to calm myself but somepony had to check if my heart was functioning properly.

“Manny, are you alright?” Zecora asked coming into view

“Ya, I’m okay.” I replied and she gave me a hug and sobbed a little.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry if I hurt you!” She apologised and I gently patted her back to calm her down.

“It was technically our fault because we didn’t tell you our weakness so don’t worry about it.” I said to her and she nodded before asking, “Anymore weaknesses I should know about?”

“Fire.” I replied and Zecora nodded in response, just then the door to the baths opened and the girls came out and began hugging me.

“We thought you were gone, partner!” Applejack said as she gave me a hug

“Ya! You were all screaming and Venom was screaming too so we thought you were in trouble!” Pinkie Pie said

“No, I’m fine it was just an MRI Scan which happens to be a sound-based test so.” I shrugged

“Well, I’m glad you’re okay.” Twilight said with a smile which I returned before asking, “Why were you all taking a bath?” I asked confused

The girls explained to me the poison joke problem that they had and they thought Zecora had cursed them.

After the long explanation I looked at Fluttershy, “So you had the voice of a stallion?”

Fluttershy looked down in embarrassment but nodded in response.

“Well that was… unexpected.” I concluded and everypony nodded at that then I turned to Zecora.

“So what are my results?” I asked and Zecora replied, “I will have to look into it and determine the outcome but it should be soon.”

Everypony was quiet before Rainbow Dash broke it, “So now what?” she asked and Twilight answered her question, “We best head back to Ponyville, it’s getting dark.”

We all said our goodbyes to Zecora and she gave me one last smile before closing her door and we exited out of Everfree Forest. Slowly the girls wished each other goodnight before heading home until it was just me and Rarity left.

“Don’t ruin the moment.” Venom warned me and I took his word for it.
“How worried were you when you didn’t see me this morning?” I asked Rarity and she looked at me and replied, “Very worried, I thought you disappeared again.”

We continued walking until we reached The Carousel Boutique and I opened the door for Rarity who blushed at the kind gesture and she looked into my eyes while I lost my focus in her beautiful sapphires, “Goodnight.” she said and I wished her a goodnight before heading home but sadly it had begun to rain… heavily.

“We better get back before this gets worse.” Venom said and I couldn’t have agreed more. Venom gave me his symbiotic wings and we took to the air, wobbled a little bit but nonetheless flew home.

Author's Note:

Sorry about the one day delay, had to visit some old relatives of mine so I couldn't upload anything for yesterday but I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and got awesome presents!!!

Question: What did you get for Christmas? COMMENT DOWN BELOW!!!

Comments

[WhalenJP]

MOAR PLEASE!

[PlasmaBolt305]

Don't worry amigo! There's a lot more where this came from!