Mareoid Fusionby SixinthehoodChaptersChapter 1: MeetingChapter 2: Encounter (Rewrite)Chapter 3: TrinityChapter 4: RushChapter 5: OnslaughtChapter 7: DiffusionChapter 6: IdenticalChapter 1: MeetingChapter 1: Meeting This story begins during the Neo-Ridley fight in Metroid Fusion. Metroid is owned by Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. Major thanks to Pissfer for amazing ideas, editing and awesome-ifying it. Samus landed back on her feet and took aim at Ridley. This fight was taking its toll on her energy reserves and she didn’t feel like she could keep fighting him forever. But she also knew there was no way she was going to give up now. Ridley had been there from the beginning; he had killed her parents and had been hounding her since. Each time they fought she would always come out on top, but Ridley just never seemed to succumb to death. She had finally destroyed him in the depths of Norfair, but the body of one of his clones had somehow wound up in the Biological Space Laboratories space station. Now the recently escaped parasite X had taken control of his dead form and was engaging Samus in an all out brawl. The fight took its toll on the room as well. Many chunks of the floor were missing and parts of the wall were scorched, with many holes newly created, either from Ridley’s talons or Samus’ missed missile shots. Exposed wires were occasionally throwing out sparks, while a red light in the corner of the room was giving off an annoying glare. Samus ignored it though; if she didn’t keep her complete focus on this fight, she wouldn’t stand a chance. She sent another salvo of wave beams as Ridley came closer for another strike with his tail. The beams impacted and Ridley screamed in rage, striking the floor with his tail near Samus and moving to her position to impale her. Samus quickly morphed into her ball form and rolled out of the way, but not before leaving a power bomb in her wake. Ridley screeched even louder as the bomb exploded, tearing up some of the floor and blasting the walls in its superheated radius. Samus morphed back into her standing form and readied a diffusion missile, there wasn’t much smoke from the blast, but she wanted to make sure each shot found its way home. Ridley gave a tremendous flap of his wings to clear the air and bellowed with rage before rushing at Samus. His claws outstretched and his eyes were filled with fire, but Samus was too fast. Samus let loose the charged missile and leapt out of the way before Ridley could take hold of her. The missile found its mark and blew up in a shower of deadly ice. Samus didn’t wait to see the results however and sent out a barrage of wave beam bursts before finishing her assault with a charged shot. She heard the beams find their target and took a second to concentrate on Ridley’s current state. He was breathing heavily and tears could be seen all along his skeletal body. He looked as though his body had darkened, devolved to a more primal state, Samus braced herself for the retaliation that would be thrown her way. Just as she anticipated, Ridley screeched and let out a shower of plasma blasts. Each one tear shaped and pulsating with a purple aura. Samus hesitated for half a second too long after seeing this new attack, and was punished with a blow directly to the chest plate by the full force of one of the glowing fireballs. Samus was flung across the room, impacting the opposite wall and grinding her own organic suit against the cold metal and already burnt wires. She looked back up to see that the ball of plasma still hung in the air where it struck her. The ball was joined soon after by the others let loose by Ridley, as they stormed around the room in frantic circles and finally converged into the one spot. It started to expand as it absorbed more plasma, morphing from a simple tear drop to a small sphere… then a large ovoid, until a sizable part of the room was filled with the purple energy. Samus started to feel herself being pulled towards the sphere of plasma. She began to fight it, grabbing onto a plate that was still attached to the wall for support. But the attraction continued to increase, doubling, and even tripling in intensity, before getting to the point where she could barely take the pressure. She looked back, only to see Ridley fly towards the mysterious anomaly. He screeched one more time before entering the field of energy and disappearing, Samus gasped, realizing he had created an escape for himself. But before she could react, the wall she was holding on gave way, releasing her to the portal’s grasp. Time seemed to freeze for the split second while the wall gave way and Samus tumbled towards the portal. Samus’ blood ran cold and her heart skipped a beat as she realized that there was a strong possibility that this could be her end. The chances were slim that the ball of plasma wouldn’t outright kill her. And even if she did make it through, she had no idea what might be on the other side. Not to mention that Ridley would be there waiting for her. She saw flashing memories of her parents before their demise. Of the Chozo who had brought her in and trained her to be the bounty hunter she was today. Of the baby metroid that had adopted her as its mother and then sacrificed itself for Samus to have a chance at killing Mother Brain on Tourian. All the struggles in her life were about to be for nothing if this doorway were a lethal entity. Time sped up again and Samus was pulled into the dark construct, which subsequently imploded after swallowing her; leaving behind the war torn room and that glaring red light. Samus tumbled through darkness for a few moments in time. She felt weightless and could move unrestricted. She frantically searched about, looking for Ridley’s location. But all she could see was the never ending darkness; she could feel nothing around her in this seemingly infinite space. It felt like the first truly peaceful place she had been in for a very long time. But the moment was short-lived, however, as a bright flash of white illuminated the void in which she was residing, and was suddenly thrust onto the ground as gravity returned. Samus looked up from the marble floor that she had crashed down upon to see Ridley waiting a short distance in front of her. He was staring at her intently and seemed to have healed a small amount of the injuries he had received during his fight with her; the parasite was not making things any easier. She pointed her arm cannon at him and brought with it her own glare, if it was a weapon then she might as well have had a second cannon. She couldn’t help but notice something… no,somethings move around her peripheral vision. They didn’t matter to her though; this would be the final reincarnation of Ridley. She needed to destroy him here and now. She needed to hear his death screech as his body ruptured and burned under her beams. She needed to have vengeance for her parent’s death at the hands of this space pirate. But Ridley broke the stare and glanced around the room first before flaring his wings and preparing to take flight. Samus took this opportunity and rolled into a kneeling position, bringing up her arm and firing continuous waves of energy at Ridley’s body. Ridley took the first few hits due to his carelessness, but quickly maneuvered out of the way, landing on some decorated tables and destroying chairs in the process. Shrieking could be heard coming from the creatures Samus had seen. They were still of no concern to her. She continued releasing beams of energy from her weapon, stopping only to send out missiles of ice; the impact from the first shattered half the glass windows in the room, the rest of the windows didn’t survive long after that either. Ridley couldn’t get an attack in on her and was forced to constantly dodge her relentless onslaught. Dipping through the air and diving to the ground only to swoop around and settle near a white pillar. He found his opening when he spotted a statue of gold at the end of the room. It was shaped like a horse, but had wings and a horn. It was also very large, making it quite the deadly catch if thrown, which was precisely what Ridley intended to do. Samus hadn’t let up her assault, she was screaming and firing without hesitation; all her pent up rage being released into waves of pure energy, all her hatred was being fired in the form of ice missiles. Everything she was, and would continue to be, hung in the balance, hung on whether or not she could kill this pterodactyl monstrosity. She didn’t even let up when he rushed towards the statue of some sort of horse and ripped it off its podium. She didn’t let up when he heaved it above his head and sent it flying towards her at breakneck speed. She did let up, however, when she leaped back to lessen the impact that sent her hurtling through the air; smashing through the doors at the opposite edge of the room and rolling uncontrollably before friction stopped her at the bottom of a large staircase. Chunks of wood were sent soaring in all directions from the destruction, along with more screaming from the creatures who saw her fly through the giant doors. She slowly lifted her head, she was in terrible pain and her HUD only sufficed to confirm her wounds. Ridley saw his opportunity and rushed towards her, wings flapping and mouth open to reveal his battle honed teeth, he was about to finally put an end to the bounty hunters life. Even though his life may have already been taken by her, he could exact his revenge here and now. He swooped past the destroyed furniture, dashed over a stage filled with broken instruments and sped towards the immobile Samus Aran. Time slowed for the second time as Samus watched Ridley dive closer and ever so closer to her broken form. One eye closed and unable to open she could do nothing as Ridley screeched once more and extended his claw towards her. But within inches of her helmet he was thrown back by a blast of light. He screamed in utter rage, someone- or rather something had just denied him his revenge. He tried to look towards the source of the blast, but was hit again. Samus slowly craned her head towards where she guessed the attacks were coming from. At the top of the staircase stood a horse… but not a regular horse; this horse had a fur coat of pure white, a flowing mane and tail with radiant colors, a pair of white feathered wings, a horn which was glowing with a brilliant gold and a picture of the sun on her flank. She had a stern look on her face as she continued to blast away at the screeching Ridley; each attack striking home and earning another ear piercing scream. She seemed to radiate a white aura, as if her power was trying to manifest itself in the physical realm. Samus activated her scanner in an attempt to discover some information on this creature’s race, but it came back empty; only giving basic physiological information, and incoherent at that. Samus looked back to Ridley and decided to add her own power to the battle by aiming her arm cannon and charging a diffusion missile. When the weapon was ready Samus fired and the missile flew. It traveled through the air, flames propelling it through the space between its exit point and its new home; Ridley’s head. Ridley was thrown back and landed on the stage full of instruments. Samus let her arm cannon drop, but continued to watch him. Ridley was slowly picking himself up from the destruction and was likewise glaring daggers at Samus. The Unicorn-Pegasus thing had made its way down the stairs and was preparing another blast. But she held it in her horn as if to charge it like Samus’ own beam. Ridley didn’t want to take the chance at another hit, quickly flaring his wings. He turned around and dove towards the opposite end of the room, towards where the statue of gold used to be, before smashing straight through the wall and out into the sky while letting out a final screech. The horse lowered her horn and sighed, knowing that she would have to let him go for now, before turning back to look at Samus. Samus was breathing quickly and screaming in her mind to follow him and finish the job. She was desperately trying to inch her way forward, but all she could manage with her broken body was to slowly raise her free hand up and try to grasp at where Ridley used to be. She kept reaching, hoping for the impossible that she could grab something and pull Ridley back to continue the fight, but her hand found nothing and she clenched it before letting out a rage-filled scream. The scream rivaled Ridley’s in volume and came from the innermost part of her very being; her bitter hatred and utter agony being vented towards the world for what had just transpired. Her soul wept in anger at Ridley’s escape. Samus couldn’t keep it up forever though and let her helmet hit the ground with a final thud. Her eyes couldn’t fight the endless battle against her own depleting energy and eventually closed; warding off the world from her sight. She had earned her rest. A/N Seriously guys, Pissfer is a badass for this kind of thing. And I'm hoping to have some funtastic stuff in the future for this, next stop, ponies! Chapter 2: Encounter (Rewrite)Chapter 2: Encounter This story begins during the Neo-Ridley fight in Metroid Fusion. Metroid is owned by Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. Major thanks to Pissfer for amazing ideas, editing and awesome-ifying it. A/N: This story arc was changed due to the need for a quick resolution and that the other one I had created was entirely a non-option. I am sorry for essentially wasting a weeks time after writing a horrible chapter. Hopefully you can all enjoy this new (and fully planned out) story arc. Silence reigned over the area. Silence itself wanted nothing but peace to hold, and kept its composure through a weightless feeling of ease. Anyone caught in this silence would adhere, for what reason did they have to destroy it? Calmness and tranquility came with silence, and continued to persist throughout this small section of castle. They cast their power over the inhabitants and willed them to be still and professional. The resounding clang of metal broke silence, but kept calm throughout the area. Silence began to return and restore what it had created, but broke again when the metal shriek returned. “Enough,” Celestia ordered the doctors. They stood stock still when they heard the order, but the one with the hammer kept the object levitating in case he could continue his attempts. Celestia frowned at the strange creature that had appeared encased in this organic amor; she didn’t know whether this action could be harming it. Whatever the creature was, it had immediately started fighting its adversary upon arrival, and took part in the destruction of the entire ballroom and the great doors that separated it from the entrance to the castle. Celestia felt lost in trying to make sense of the situation, for all these years she hadn’t encountered something like this. The being seemed focused entirely on its own rage, and went on with reckless abandon as its enemy had apparently “ripped the golden alicorn statue off its pedestal and threw it at the metal creature”, as some ponies had reported. She didn’t forget the dragon-esque creature either, it had screeched like a rabid animal and looked ready to tear this being apart. She didn’t know what either was, but they didn’t seem the type to be allowed free roam in such a peaceful place as Equestria. “Bring it to a cell for now; we do not want a repeat of the Ballroom throughout the rest of the castle.” The doctors nodded in reply and began setting up a stretcher of sorts to hold the metallic creature. Celestia pointed to her head captain who had arrived moments after Celestia drove off the screeching animal. The captain was clad in golden armor and held a stern look on his face. “I want you to begin a city wide sweep for the other creature, it is obviously dangerous and letting it terrorize my subjects is out of the question. But leave two here for protection’s sake.” The guard struck his chest plate with a hoof to show he understood and walked away to rally his troop, “you all heard the princess, we sweep the city and find that monster. Sky Sweeper, Star Gazer; you stay here and protect them with your lives.” “Yes sir,” was the unified response from the ponies as the rest of the guards galloped away. Celestia looked back to the purple and blue being that lay upon the table. As far as they could discern, it was in a suit, but the suit wouldn’t come off. It weighed more than any other creature its size Celestia had ever seen, and one appendage ended in an arm and hand like a dragon yet it didn’t have sharp digits, and on the other was a massive pipe of some kind that just seemed to be semi-hollow. But she knew the strange limb was a weapon after seeing it expel some sort of explosive earlier. The creature just didn’t seem to make sense to Celestia, but she was hoping more tests in the near future could help her understanding. The doctors began lifting Samus into the air with magic; this took the combined efforts of all the doctors present plus the unicorn guard left over. “Careful now, set it down nice and easy,” the doctor pony was attempting to ease the process so nothing would be damaged, but it was of no use. With the suit, Samus was slightly bigger than anything they had could easily handle, and when they set her down on the stretcher and released the magic, she fell through and hit the floor with a loud thud. The HUD sparked to life as if sensing danger, and began to check Samus’ current status. The ponies on the outside winced at the noise but held their attention at the new occurrence. Red letters and symbols seemed to be flaring to life on the surface of what they had assumed was a helmet. Another picture flashed and it looked like an X-ray, which revealed many wounds and broken bones with red highlight before stopping and then flashing a final message. One pony was close enough to read the letters, but could only spell them back out in their backwards form, “what is a enilanerda gniretsinimda?” Samus gasped as she woke up and grabbed at the nearest object for stability. A pure adrenaline shot was a powerful way to jolt one awake, and right now she was in unknown territory after being knocked unconscious during the fight with Ridley. She quickly scanned her location and took account of the number of creatures that were surrounding her, found a weakness in their perimeter and quickly acted to take advantage of their mistake. The object she had grabbed onto was the creature reading her helmet a moment before, and Samus decided to use it as a launch pad. Jumping into a kneeling position, Samus then pushed off of the creature resulting in him slamming muzzle first into the ground while she was given a start in momentum. Samus changed into her morph ball form, using the movement from the initial boost to begin rolling away from the beings encircling her. She reached the edge of the small room and returned to her standing form, arm cannon trained on the group of quadrupeds. She took the second of stillness that resulted from her action to actually look at the location she stood in. There were several structures that were equally separated in the fairly large space that she assumed were used as tables, near the table she was originally close to was a stand that held various different tools. One of these tools was a simple wooden handle hammer, which would shatter into hundreds of pieces before it even dented her armor. She glanced at the walls and noticed they were marble white, with a repeating heart symbol inscribed along the top. The entrance to the room was beyond the group of quadrupeds, at the right side of her vision. As her eyes swept the room, they met what looked to be beds, except each of them was about one and a half feet too small to fit a regular sized human. But that thought halted her wandering gaze and she snapped her head back towards the group of things she had escaped from. Each one looked like a horse; except at the same time they were too small and some of them even had horns. One of the horned ponies was wearing gold armor plating and stood along a similarly dressed pony with wings. She thought for a moment before remembering that usually a smaller horse was called a “pony”… but then what were the ones with horns or wings called? Unicorns? Pegasi? The question seemed ridiculous, although, she had seen weirder things before and she had heard of creatures such as these in old myths. Her eyes focused on the tallest one which had both a horn and a pair of white wings. She began to falter as memories settled back into place from earlier and her eyes shot wide as recognition seeped in; this creature had used its power to drive off Ridley. She studied it for a moment while keeping her arm cannon trained on the group of smaller ponies before pointing her hand at it and attempting to speak. Samus opened her mouth but was interrupted by a call from across the hallway, “Hello?” Samus flung her arm cannon towards the new sound and saw another pony, she steadied herself and made sure nothing else was hiding from her senses. The pony who had called out had green fur and a teal mane that contained both white streaks and a horn. This pony had a picture of a lyre on her flank, and was wearing what seemed like a dress. Samus readied for any of the ponies in the room to attack; the armored and large ones in particular. The pony with the lyre on her flank started to ease her way forward slowly which caused Samus to tense and hold her stance. This action didn’t waver the pony’s movement if she had even noticed it, but the guards did seem to notice and took on an offensive posture. Samus looked back to the guards and took aim, resulting in the start of a fairly painful skirmish. The guards began their attacks in unison. The unicorn guard’s horn erupted in a soft yellow light while the pegasus used a powerful stroke of his wings to surge towards Samus. Samus began her normal evasive actions, strafing quickly, almost dodging the pegasus’ charge, the impact of which was further buffered by her armor and only resulted in a sore pair of hooves for the pegasus. Samus found herself stumbling, however, during the middle of her strafe. She was able to keep her upright position, but found her movement significantly impaired as if rope was tightening around her arms and legs. Samus quickly inspected herself and found that she was coated in a soft yellow light, but felt it was simply meant to reduce her mobility. She countered this through what seemed obvious at the moment. Samus converted into her morph ball and found that her countermeasure had worked as planned, as the restricting force disappeared. She used this opportunity to gain some distance from her assailants. She rolled away from both the group of ponies and guards which ended up bringing her closer to the green advancing pony that had entered the room before. Samus transformed back into her standing form but didn’t count on this proceeding juke aggravating her already present injuries. The first time she had exited the morph ball she had not already strained her injuries through strafing, but now her body was throbbing in pain. She came back standing, but quickly dropped to one knee in front of the green unicorn, and could do nothing but gasp in pain while her HUD flared to life. Her helmet filled with red images and writing to confirm her concerns, an X-ray showing the many sprains and broken bones became the center of attention among the flashes. The green pony was facing Samus when she stumbled upon the failed maneuver, and was able to hear her painful gasp. The pony was also able to see the many graphic images that filled the transparent visor on the helmet; mainly an image of what looked like an odd skeleton covered in injuries. She looked through the creature's visor to see its eyes and saw the deep pain and exhaustion expressed within the blue. Samus looked back into the green ponies eyes as it stared deeply into hers. She saw confusion and sadness, as if it was wondering why she was in such pain. But the golden spheres slowly turned into warm understanding as it laid a gentle hoof on her shoulder and brought Samus’ kneeling form into a hug. Samus could only drop to both knees and lean in; accepting the first friendly gesture given in what she had presumed was a hostile planet. She dropped her weapon to her side and slowly pulled her hand around the ponies mid section to return this sign of acceptance, all the while the HUD glaring red as it flashed through report after report. Charred wings of bone and skin beat across the night sky as the space pirate made his escape from the clutches of the new hostile power he had encountered. Injuries fresh and still bleeding, his body like a canvas, covered in the glistening blood. He continued pumping his battered wings as he sought to gain a comfortable distance from the powerful foe who had aided in the human abomination’s efforts against him, keeping a watchful eye out for any sort of shelter or prey to feast upon. He would eventually lose enough blood to severely weaken himself, but if he was able to consume flesh soon, they would heal and his strength would be regained. He shot a look behind himself and saw that the structure he had escaped was a fair distance behind and decided to instead focus now on finding something to use as shelter. Although he doubted he could stay in this city for long, he had to find a spot to rest for the time being after using as much energy as he did in the fight with his archenemy; Samus Aran. Her name boiled his blood and filled his mind with primal rage. He was close on K-2L, she had been right there, a small child trying to befriend him... but that reckless waste of flesh of a mother had protected her. She had slipped through his claws that day, and he had barely survived the afloraltite explosion himself, only living by consuming the flesh of the fallen humans. Then time and time again she had shown herself as a worthy adversary, her training with the Chozo proving to be valuable through her ever-repeating triumphs over him. He had fought her many times on many planets, he cloned himself, he made mechanized upgrades, but after all that he still fell in defeat. Now here he was, a dead clone, only given life by the damned X parasite. But it was proving to be an asset so far, and it seemed to have evolved his body into a much more efficient state. He noticed his enlarged claws and strong wings along with much more powerful movement; if this upgrade didn’t kill the annoying spawn of metal and fire then he literally had nothing left. He spotted movement below him in an empty street, snapping him out of his reverie. He quickly dove towards a nearby building to investigate. His wings spread out as he finished closing the distance to his soon-to-be prey, slowing his descent and then gently landing without noise lest he scare his probable dinner. He crouched low and spied on the lone creature; a single figure that resembled an equine, walking with his snout in the air and a suit complete with monocle and top hat. It practically personified the image of a snobby rich-man (as if the mark on its flank containing a pile of money wasn’t already a big enough hint). Ridley felt his mouth water and his claws clenched the side of the structure he occupied, leaving behind gashes in the woodwork. He looked for a secluded area along the supposed path of the self-entitled horse-thing and found an alley behind what appeared to be a closed shop, he acted quickly on this advantage and swooped over the street and inside the pitchblack crack between shops. Waiting for the exact moment; Ridley didn’t move a muscle. His senses reached out for what he could not see and found the creature slowly making its way past the various buildings and towards the shop. He heard the gentle, rhythmic pattern of hooves upon ground and reveled in anticipation of the destined kill. Each hoof step striking the set stone brought it closer to aiding the pirate in his endeavour. He practically counted the number of drops. Closer... Closer... The equine stopped. The only sound present in the hollow streets ceasing and Ridley held still, hoping his presence had not been discerned. He did not fear his prey would get away, just that it would cause unneeded commotion. Relief flooded over him as the hoofsteps returned, increasing in volume and proximity. Until a flicker of movement at the alley entrance. He leapt. The night was still young, barely hours old, as the white light of stars and moon alike shone down. Quite similar in color to a meatless pile of pony bones. Small rags of tattered clothing and hat helped indicate that this at least used to be a pony. Retching could be easily heard at the corner of the shop, and the results could easily be smelled at twice the distance. The two senior guardsponies looked at one another and nodded, each sporting a very grim mask; they were at least taking it better than their subordinate. Weak hoofsteps heralded the return of the private who had been brought along on this city sweep. “What could do this to another living being captain? What animal could-” Deep breaths replaced his speech as he attempted to calm himself. After a moment he had recovered his composure, “What animal could possibly do this?” Captain Goldenclad swept his appraising eyes over the pile of white marrow and shook his head. Letting out a heavy sigh, he gave his honest report, “I wish I knew, Private. That thing that Celestia drove out of the castle... it’s truly a monster.” His better-kept Lieutenant gave a nod at this and turned away from the shallow grave; they couldn’t have ever been ready for this. “This is out of our league, we need to issue a city wide alert immediately. Private!” Still pale faced, the private stood at attention as best he could. “Yes, sir!” “You will be going back and alerting the princess of this... event. Tell her a city wide alert is my suggested course of action. We need to drive this thing out of our home.” “Yes, sir!” After a few faltering hoofsteps, the private found enough strength to set off to complete his orders. The captain watched him leave and sighed again. He forced another look at the final resting place of the poor soul, his frown cemented to his face. “We may not be ready,” he looked towards his Lieutenant, “but that creature the doctors were tinkering with probably is. Lets hope the princess can get it on our side.” The Lieutenant gave another solemn nod before speaking. “Golden, I’ll go find the other groups and relay the information. I’m sure they’ll help start the alert.” “You do that Spear, I’ll go warn the guards at the entrance and wall keeps. If we’re lucky, we can find this beast before more ponies are hurt...” He paused and gulped. A second passed and he noticed the Lieutenant staring at him with his usual calm demeanour. “Aren’t you supposed to be doing something Spear?” A final nod and surge of wings signaled the leaving of another comrade; leaving the captain plus one. “Clear!” A surge of electricity passed through the organic suit, but passed unnoticed by the construct and its occupant. The doctor pony looked back to the princess and raised an eyebrow, “are you sure we should continue this? What if it is harmful?” Celestia kept a stern look about her face, but felt comforted by having her sister by her side in this time of crisis. “Desperate times, doctor. It brought a creature of terrible power along with it and destroyed much of our property in the process; a jolt awake is one of the better ways we can deal with this.” The doctor resumed his work with an electrical charge created in his horn, “I’ll up the power... Clear!” This bolt of energy shot through the systems and awakened the suit and hunter alike. Samus awoke with a jolt for the second time in as many hours, her back arched as her muscles tensed and her HUD began analysis immediately. She hated the glaring red lights that seemed to occupy the helmet as of late. This time though, she decided to get a hold on her surroundings and slowly come to terms with what was transpiring, rather than act as though danger was immediate. She found the same group of ponies from before, all dressed in what appeared to be doctor uniforms. She also saw the large pony with both wings and horn accompanied by a similar pony that was a dark blue, along with the two armor clad ponies who had attacked her sometime before. One of the ponies in the group looked as though he had been through something strenuous; she suspected it had to do with the extra electricity that the AI detected coursing through her suit a moment before. Before she could continue her take on the present, the HUD flashed red again, agitating her eyes and causing her to wince at the sight. The tired pony near her craned his head to get a better look at her visor. She didn’t know if they could read her language, but she didn’t contain the energy to bother denying him. She shifted her body and attempted to push herself into a sitting position, but immediately felt a resistance impeding her way; it felt more like a sludge than a wall. She moved her arm and felt towards where she thought the resistance was, but felt nothing, yet at the same time she wasn’t able to lift her body forward. She twisted her head to find the source of this blocking and saw the larger, white pony charging her horn with energy; this action didn’t seem to affect her in the slightest, even though if fully constricted the hunter. The large one was the first to speak. “Greetings, being. I am Princess Celestia. We have met before, but it seems to have been in bad terms. I would like to extend a proposition of peace, as it seems there is a threat that we have mutual interests in.” The regal pony extended her hoof. Samus looked to it for a moment and considered this newfound proposal; she could accept the help from the local demi-god, or attempt hostile actions again. She returned her gaze to the pony’s eyes and didn’t see the kind of sly that hinted towards betrayal, so she decided that hostile actions weren’t going to help anyone, least of all herself. She brought her hand up and took the hoof within it, “Deal.” Chapter 3: TrinityChapter 3: Trinity This story begins during the Neo-Ridley fight in Metroid Fusion. Metroid is owned by Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. Major thanks to Pissfer for amazing ideas, editing and awesome-ifying it. Music added for enjoyment/atmospheric effect. “So we will split into three squads. Celestia will head Alpha squad. I will head Beta squad. Luna will head Gamma squad.” The sun goddess slowly rose to her full height in the bedroom within the ruined house. The limp bodies in the room had been viciously deformed and one was left half-eaten by the assailant. Nothing else should have been here to halt its feast. But halt it had. “And if we encounter problems; Luna or I will send a flare of light into the sky. Orange for myself, blue for Luna. What will you do without magic?” The lunar goddess heard a faint cry. She stiffened and perked her ears up, enhancing her senses with magic to help her discern the faintest glimpse of life within the evacuated streets. She caught the sound again, locking it in her mind's grasp and called the guards to follow in the pursuit. “Yes, I hardly think thee could possess something on that scale. And thine “A.I.” does not communicate to us as it does with thy vessel.” The armored bounty hunter scanned the environment for a second time. An empty warehouse, along an empty street, in an empty city. Her group had encountered nothing along the lines of life or clues since they had departed. She motioned for the captain to follow her out, and he did the same to his men. “Easy. My weapons have long range capabilities, and my rockets have quite the flash and bang once detonated. I’ll Just tinker with my supply to come up with something along the lines of a flare.” Celestia called for her captain and ordered him to send for a recovery crew with twin stretchers. He punched his chestplate in understanding and relayed the information to the squad’s medical field agent. She looked back to the destroyed room and noticed an object half-hidden under the couple’s demolished bed. Her horn glowed a bright orange and commanded the construct out of its hiding spot. Once it was in front of her muzzle, Celestia slowly spun the object until it was oriented properly. What she saw made her cheeks dampen with tears and her eyes burn red in sadness, the still moment of a father and mother with their foal resonated in her mind’s eye as well as with her physical being. She let the picture drop. "We’ll divide the city into three sections; I shall begin in the domestic district. Ponies are the most accustomed to the sight of me, as Luna has returned only as of recent and you are alien to everyone.” Luna galloped as fast as her divine legs could manage. She rounded shops and navigated alleys. The whole time, she reached out with her senses in order to discern the source of the pleading shriek. Her royal guard lagged slightly behind from her incredible pace, and the random twists and turns caused them to falter every other moment. She heard the voice pierce the silent night again, but this time the proximity had increased threefold. "I will take the financial and business districts, they are small and can be grouped into one equal in size to that of thou. That leaves-.” Samus looked to Captain Goldenclad as she readied herself in front of the door. He gave her a nod after making last second check-ups on his men. The unicorns were poised and ready to use the experimental ice magic ushered into use by Samus, while the Pegasi were crouched with wings spread. The bounty hunter turned back to the door and threw her metallic foot into it. The portal exploded back as the kinetic energy surged through its hinges and body; blasting it away from the wall and into a pile of discarded newspapers. “The industrial district. Albeit yours is a bit underdeveloped compared to humans due to you having magic, it says on the map that it is still full of warehouses and mills.” Celestia followed what she believed to be the trail left behind by the creature, “Ridley”. Samus had described his physique and nature, but also stated that a parasite known as “X” could have changed his thought process. A gouge in the street here, a depression in the wall there, literally following a tale of destruction through the walkways of Canterlot. Unicorns were to be near and vigilant at all times, the right shield at the right time could save somepony from becoming infected and, ultimately, killed. “Now for the unicorns. As you have stated, the X parasite seems to have a difficult time going through inorganic physical objects.” Luna vaulted over an upturned kiosk and its upset merchandise before turning into a cluttered alley. She could not only hear the plea for help, but now she could sense the life force of the being. It was near, and it was dwindling. She surged forward with greater purpose at the thought of her little pony dying while she was so close to delivering salvation. The back alley of a shop held what she sought, and it was behind a great heap of stone mixed with crushed wood. Her eyes flared in rage as her gaze flickered over the inanimate wall and its defiance. She lowered a horn as the guard neared and let loose a fiery spell. “Therefore; magical shields that are physically manifested should hold the key to halting such abominations. So unicorns shall be kept on guard to spring at a moment’s notice, and we should saturate the ponies armor with a resistant field. Except thou mentioned something about “absorption”?” Samus exited the warehouse with a disturbed frown set upon her face. Not a sign of life. No X parasite, no Ridley and no ponies who had missed the evacuation. The guard group slowly followed her out of the building when the lieutenant spoke up, “over there! A parasite!” Samus whipped her head in the direction his hoof pointed and sped off in a mad dash towards the yellow blob. The guard followed immediately behind her, the unicorns charging a snare spell in anticipation. Samus caught up to the X before they had finished preparing though, as it had noticed the human and thought she was prey to be possessed. As it entered her suit it had found itself immediately assimilated into her energy reserves; refueling Samus’ suit and giving her a boost from her lingering physical exhaustion. She stood up and experimentally flexed her limbs, the boost from the parasite giving her an artificially-extended epinephrine high. She turned to the ponies and smirked. “After an X parasite attempted to possess me, it also managed to assimilate into my suit itself, attacking the organic connections between it and myself. I almost died from the event following in which doctors had to surgically remove the suit while I was unconscious but had no success saving me from the infection. Thankfully, the Galactic Federation developed a cure before I perished. This left me and my new “Fusion Suit” with the ability to absorb the X in order to alleviate physical exhaustion and refill energy reserves, on top of other things.” Celestia neared a house where the recent talon tracks seemed to end. The wall where the front door should have been was bashed open, leaving a hole the size of an oversized carriage. She slowly approached the entrance and glanced inside; destroyed furniture and torn up flooring welcoming her into the carnage. She empowered her senses and searched for life within the settlement but found her perception distorted as if something was keeping her from being able to see it. “This must be a trick from Ridley!” She looked back to her following guard and gave a nod for the all clear, but gestured towards the stairs with her hoof and pursed her lips in a shhhh motion. The captain behind her nodded and selected two different unicorns from the group and then motioned towards the left and right rooms near the stairs for investigation. Celestia had already begun the trek up the steps in a silent glide, assisted by her magic. She felt the pull of life grow stronger as she scaled the stairs and looked toward a lone door at the end of the short hallway. “So close to death, and you were given a reward. Now, if any of us encounter Ridley, you encouraged the use of Ice magic. Why was this?” Luna’s senses cleared as she held her head within her hoof and the dust settled around her. The world seemed to gyrate uncontrollably while a ringing filled the air around her and began to crescendo. The white noise began to subside little by little as Luna regained her bearings, but the world refused to stop swirling. The princess could command celestial bodies larger than any country on the planet, but her own domain was defying her. As coherency increased she tried to piece together what had happened, her mind eventually settling upon the event leading to her stunned state. She found herself near the explosion that she had utilized to clear the disarray of debris. She had done this to-! Luna bolted to all fours and willed the world to be still under her might. Her limbs surprisingly obeying her commands under the force of her willpower, she set off to find the life source that had been trapped behind the rubble. “From what I remember, thee had said that Ice was thine most effective weapon against such destructive foes. Was it solely for weakness, or dost thou believe there may be more to it?” Samus had questioned Loyal Spear on the parasite he had spotted first, “I saw it enter the street from behind the newspaper mill over there,” he gestured with his hoof towards an old and decrepit factory, “maybe there will be more of them if we check.” Samus nodded in reply, it only seemed logical that if they found one X that there would be more. She took off towards the newspaper mill with the group in tow. The unicorns prepared a charge within their horns; they did not want to suffer a fate of cold death after being taken over by a ravenous parasite. Once nearing the paper tomb, Samus activated her scanner in an attempt to find any other X parasite that might escape the naked eye. She reached a door along the side entrance of the building and motioned for her group to get into position. Each pony set to fill their respective spots and waited for the door to open before they were to rush in and eradicate all threats. Samus kept her scanner active as she slowly eased the door open, revealing the cavernous space inside. Old machines could be seen rusting over and decaying after years of inactivity. Spare newspapers cluttered the floor and random litter joined the fray. But Samus stood stock still when she realized what was at the edge of the room near the office entrance. “From most all of my endeavours it has seemed that my Ice beam is the most lethal of all. Especially considering the X parasite will freeze when hit by an ice missile of mine. So, Ridley should retain his old weakness because of this. Remember that we are here to kill Ridley. He does not play games, he does not fight fair and he most certainly does not leave survivors. If you want to protect your subjects you will have to be ready.” Celestia eased her way through the entrance to the bedroom and swept over the area with her eyes. It was all still intact, it seemed that only the bottom floor had been affected by Ridley’s rampage. As she turned to leave, she heard a sound behind her and immediately enhanced her senses to detect the source. She had found what she was looking for; a lone soul, hiding behind her in fear and in the form of a unicorn pony. Celestia trotted towards its hiding spot within the closet and slowly pulled it open with her magic. Once the door slid open she saw the stallion cowering in the corner with sweat on his brow and a mask of pain on his face. Celestia walked towards him and attempted to ease his pain, “there there my little pony, do not be afraid, it’s just me.” The pony looked up for a moment into Celestia’s eyes before he turned his gaze back down towards his abdomen and grimaced in pain. “Celestia... princess. The parasite we were warned about... one found me.” “Of course, I am ready to protect my little ponies at all costs. Whatever the sacrifice; I will make it.” Luna stepped forth and found what she had been seeking; an overturned dumpster that had been covered in debris from the building. Although, Ridley was nowhere to be seen, they set forth on freeing the pony. Once they had cleared all the litter and destruction, Luna gently used her telekinesis to remove the dumpster and set it aside. A young colt was weeping in the fetal position underneath, his body trembling with each great heave of breath and his eyes bloodshot from the running tears. He had a white coat with brown discolorations on his flank and left eye at immediate glance. He also had a dark brown mane with a light brown stripe in the middle. “I too vow to do what is necessary to destroy this vile fiend. He shall no longer be allowed free reign upon our subjects.” Samus signalled for the guards to stop as she deactivated her glaring red scanner. There, about 40 feet in front of Samus, was the crouched figure of Ridley. And he was feasting on a white bone. “No, no! Please don’t hurt her!” The light grey pegasus struggled against the space pirate who was holding his wife in a death grasp. Ridley’s hand slowly clenched, crushing the earth pony mare inside. His claws dug into her skin and released torrents of blood. He held the stallion in his spiked tail as to not interrupt his kill. The mare screamed in agony as her bones snapped under the extreme pressure. The stallion screamed with her in rage and anguish at seeing his loved one perish in such pain. Tears splattered over the mare’s cheeks, her eyes shut tightly as she waited for the inevitable; which Ridley brought on swiftly. He closed his hand, a sickening crunch filled the room and he tossed aside the ragdoll body for later before bringing the stallion in front of him. “NO! Why, Celestia!? You killed her! Curse you to Tartarus you monster!” A figure approached from the hallway behind Ridley, but he didn’t hear it over the pegasus’ screams. He lifted his tail towards the ceiling before bringing it down like a hammer a moment later. The floorboards smashed as the pony took the brunt of the blow, blood spattered across the wood as the stallion was almost knocked unconscious. Ridley brought his tail up a second time but instead used it to whip the stallion at the wall opposite from them. The pegasus tumbled through the air at breakneck speed for about half a second before striking the wall and hitting the floor with a limp thud. Ridley crawled towards the body and tore into the flesh. As he ate, his ears perked to the sound of a floorboard creaking behind him. He glanced towards the sound and noticed a much smaller pony frozen in absolute fright. They stared at each other for a moment before the little equine screamed and bolted out of the room. Ridley screeched and flung the half-devoured body into the corner where the mare had landed before bursting through the already destroyed doorway and following the young pony’s screams on the first floor. Pipsqueak stared at the hole torn through the front wall of his house. He had never seen something destroyed like this before; the hole itself towered above him and was wide enough for him to take in the entire front room. But when he heard a scream he stopped all wonderment. He recognized the voice as his mother’s and immediately galloped towards the ascending staircase. The woodwork was severely damaged, some sections even looked burnt, but what scared him most was the breach in his parent’s bedroom wall. He slowly trotted forward before hearing another scream and a loud crunch. He stopped for a moment before hearing something thump against the wall inside the room. He swallowed hard and decided to continue the trek forward. As he entered the room he noticed a large, black winged creature holding his dad in what looked like its tail. In the corner he could see the battered form of his mother, but she was completely still. His mind began to set into shock, he couldn’t even fathom the situation his parents were in. But he was wrenched out of his stupor when his father screamed, “NO! Why, Celestia!? You killed her! Curse you to Tartarus you monster!” Pipsqueak felt his eyes water as a torrent of emotions seized him. “Mummy?” But he wasn’t allowed time to grieve over her death, as his father was thrust into the air and then brought sailing back down into the floor with another crunch of wood and bone. The creature lifted his father towards the ceiling and whipped him at the far wall. Pipsqueak’s eyes followed his dad as the pegasus crashed into the wall with a snap and fell limp to the floor. His body heaved when he witnessed his father perish in front of him while his eyes threatened to drown in an onslaught of tears. But he knew he had to leave before he met the same fate. As the creature crawled towards his father’s body, he slowly brought a hoof up in an attempt to get out of the death zone. But when he set it back down, the floor gave way to a wooden creak. The creature stopped in its feasting and looked towards him. He was forced to return the monster’s silent expression with his look of horror; causing his skin to pale under his mottled fur. Its eyes were devoid of compassion and were only representative of demons. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t breathe. The only sound was the slow and rhythmic patter of blood falling from the mouth of the dragon-beast. But adrenaline finally kicked in and he screamed in fear. Turning around, he galloped out of the impromptu tomb and dashed with reckless abandon down the stairs; towards the outside. He heard the creature screech behind him and give chase. He didn’t think, he only acted on instinct. Every muscle in his body trembled in exhaustion and overexertion as he rounded corners and galloped through the cold streets. But no matter how far he got, the creature was always just a few steps behind, screaming in its pleasure of the hunt. Pip saw an open door and dove inside, galloping past furnishings and springing out the back entrance before taking off towards the business district. He didn’t know that’s where he was headed, he only knew that he needed to gallop and never stop. When he chanced a look behind himself, he saw the creature had been slowed. But he whipped his head back forward when he saw an orange blob break itself off from its skin and start floating through the air. Everything was white flashes of painful memories after that. He remembered galloping behind his once favorite store and scampering into the half-filled dumpster. He had braved the smell, cowering under the closed lid while trying to listen for any sign of his pursuer through the open one. He also remembered hearing the screech of the creature following him as it made it’s way past the shop and towards his location. He remembered feeling the dumpster getting overturned, trapping him inside the upside-down bin. The destruction didn’t stop there, as the rage filled being also tore apart the store above him and caused a mountain of debris to cover his hiding spot, burying him in a tomb of trash, metal and stone. Ridley screamed in rage at having lost the little pony snack. It had led him away from the two bodies he had planned to consume, and even outran him through the streets. He focused his anger at the nearest object, tossing aside a lone dumpster like it was a child’s toy. He then raked his claws and tail across the building nearest to him, sending piles of stone raining down upon the overturned container. He ran out of the alley and set off towards a set of warehouses he had recently spotted. Celestia shook her head sadly as the company of guards trotted out of the house with the infected pony in tow. He was covered in a magical shield by one of the unicorn guards. He was obviously depressed and felt no hope for living, but Celestia urged him to come meet Samus in case she could help him. But that sliver of hope was but a small glint of light within what seemed a well of doubt. Samus had explicitly warned them of the parasite, and how it meant certain death to those it infects without the cure. But she had promised to protect her little ponies, she had promised to do all she could. She was dragged out of her swirling mind when the captain of her group yelled, “there it is! The distress signal! Celestia, look!” She craned her head towards the sky and saw it; a lone metal construct propelling itself through the empty night. After a short time the missile stopped its ascent and exploded in the sky. There was a brilliant flash of bright light accompanied by a firework sized bang and a shower of ice. Celestia looked over her subjects and raised her voice above the murmurs, “Samus requires our help!” The princess of night cradled the weeping colt in a veil of violet magic. The rest of the group nodded in understanding at his predicament and kindly left Luna and him alone. She brought him close and spoke in a hushed and reassuring voice, “hush now little one. I am here, and thou art safe. The monster is gone.” His weeping did not falter, but he managed to open his eyes long enough to catch a glimpse of the pony that was comforting him. Though his crying did stop when he recognized the alicorn before him as one of the regal sisters. He was about to speak when his vision was filled with a flash of light and his ears resounded with a terrible impact of sound. He shielded his head with his hooves and yelled in fear, hoping the princess would protect him against the attacker. But when nothing more happened he looked to her and saw that she was gazing at the sky. He followed her gaze and saw a shower of crystallized ice float from the empty night air. The group returned in response to the sign and she gave them a nod before turning back to the colt and talking once more, “I am sorry my dear little colt, but thee will need to go to a safe place. I will have a guard escort thee to the castle.” With that, she motioned towards a guard near the front of the pack to step forward before placing Pipsqueak upon his back. “See that he makes it to the castle safely, and then return to the origin of the signal.” The pegasus beat his chest plate in confirmation then began his rush towards the castle with a few flaps of his wings. Luna looked back over the falling shards of ice and thought of what she was about to encounter. She thought of the horrors the poor colt must have faced, and the darkness that must live inside that monsters soul. “Subjects, follow me, for Samus requires assistance.” Chapter 4: RushChapter 4: Rush This story begins during the Neo-Ridley fight in Metroid Fusion. Metroid is owned by Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. Major thanks to Pissfer for amazing ideas, editing and awesome-ifying. Music added for enjoyment/atmospheric effect. A/N:I highly reccomend you turn on the music linked in the second paragraph. They found Ridley focused on devouring a carcass obtained from his rampage through the streets of Canterlot. Samus wasted no time in pressing her advantage. She motioned for the squad to form a perimeter around Ridley, quickly receiving a multitude of nods in reply as they carried out the order. The pegasi silently floated into position above the space pirate while the unicorns and earth ponies set up a semicircle. The group formed something along the lines of a half-sphere; denying Ridley an easy escape. Breaking away from the wall of ponies, Samus slowly made her way towards Ridley with soft footfalls that weren’t noticeable over the sound of fang on bone. Once she reached her destination, Samus took aim and began to charge a diffusion missile. Ridley stiffened at the sound of the mechanical whirring began and swiveled his head until he was staring at Samus. He tossed the bone aside and shrieked in challenge to the fearsome bounty hunter. Samus met this sound with her own roar, “GO,” and let loose the charged explosive as Ridley sprang forwards. Ridley was struck in the chest by the projectile, halting him in his attempted charge while the explosion proceeded to throw him backwards. The unicorns immediately followed the command, casting a steady barrage of ice themed attacks. The ice effect proved to be useful in slowing Ridley. However the unicorns had never trained to fight such terrible creatures, and thus the spells didn’t cause any substantial damage. The pegasi initiated their battle plan, sailing down one by one for a buck or body blows before vaulting back into the air. Ridley had been caught off guard, this complete surrounding and attack of surprise left him with no chance to dodge. The lieutenant landed in front of Ridley and swiveled to buck an outstretched leg with his hind hooves. Ridley saw his opening. Shooting out his claw, Ridley caught the pony in his grasp. The pegasus guard struggled to free itself, but was unable to break free from Ridley’s clutch. The unicorns stopped their bombardment in fear of hitting the pegasus, and Samus was constantly on the move, trying to find an opening. When she was unable to find one, she instead took the time to interact with her arm cannon, sending a missile towards the night sky. It broke through the metal roof and continued skyward. Ridley threw the struggling pony at Samus in order to buy himself time enough to lunge towards a nearby unicorn. Samus was unable to do anything aside from fall back to lessen the force of the impact of the pony projectile. By the time she hit the ground, Ridley had covered the distance between him and a unicorn guard, now digging his claws into its back. Raking his hand across the unicorn’s body, Ridley found a purchase in the body and he promptly swung the unicorn towards a pack of airborne pegasi. The body hurtled through the air and struck two pegasi. One of the ponies had attempted to evade, but still ended up being clipped by the carcass, and subsequently dragged down the wing of a third comrade with his flailing. Samus shoved the unconscious pony off of her chest and jumped onto her feet, simultaneously taking account of the status of her squad. Ridley had taken out four pegasi and a unicorn, leaving the captain and eleven unicorns still battle-ready. She began to charge a wave beam and vaulted over a nearby newspaper printer to get a clear shot at the possessed pirate clone. The remaining pegasus was currently attempting to gather his unconscious comrades into a safe corner, leaving the unicorns and Samus to deal with the enraged Ridley. Samus could see his head over the machines in the factory, but had to constantly move in order to maintain her line of sight. Although she had to sacrifice accuracy for mobility, she was still able to unleash a wave beam or ice missile each time as Ridley ducked behind one piece of machinery after another. The unicorns had also begun their own maneuvers in an attempt to keep clear of Ridley’s onslaught. His tactic seemed to be simple; close the gap towards any pony that he saw nearby. One unicorn had hidden behind a conveyor belt and was silently heaving from the traumatic events at hand. He didn’t even notice when Ridley crawled over the belt and sweeping him up in his claws with a screech. He might have awoken from his catatonic fright if not for the extreme concussive blow that resulted from Ridley whipping his body into an office doorway. The blast rocked the factory and left him unconscious among slabs of wood and metal. Ridley made his way through the newly-opened portal, destroying pillars as he made his way across the room. Samus followed through just steps behind him as she dodged the debris left in his destructive wake. She kept up a heavy rhythm of wave beams which she noticed were starting to take their toll on the space pirate; his thrashing becoming more and more violent as he continued across the room. Gashes could be seen along his flesh, and there were plenty of visible scorch marks but he kept up his pace, destroying any structure that came close. Samus didn’t take time to think of the results from his destruction, she only kept close proximity to the pirate as he leapt up the stairwell, completely destroying the stairs on his way up. Samus was forced to dodge from the raining metal, but quickly recovered and launched herself into a space jump to cover the ten-foot climb. Grabbing hold of the edge, Samus flung herself over the side and onto the second floor. She had not been prepared for Ridley though. He had been waiting for her and quickly ensnared her with his tail. Samus began struggling and charged a beam, but Ridley had dealt with that kind of blow before and instead snapped his tail behind him, releasing Samus at the end of the motion. Her body hurtled towards final pillar in the facility, demolishing it as she made contact. Samus belatedly realized his plan when she heard him give a satisfied shriek before flinging himself through the thin exterior wall. The roof of the building rumbled as it began to collapse. Samus desperately got to her feet and dove out of the building mere seconds before it imploded into a pile of debris. “Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight hesitated in her writing. Looking up from her loft aboard the train, she smiled as she saw her five friends, and number one assistant, all enjoying each other’s company. Although Applejack was staring out into the great dusty plains that stretched from Ponyville to Appleloosa, the rest of them were engrossed in discussions of their own topics. Rarity was attempting to convince Rainbow Dash of the “coolness” opportunities found within fashion. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were discussing their animal companions, which led to the eventual agreement that Gummy is just as odd as his pink owner. Twilight smiled in her revelry and turned back to the letter she had begun writing. It had become a weekly habit of hers; learn a lesson, write a letter. Every single time it had an inner effect on her thoughts and actions. She always felt she grew from these realizations. Most recently she had learned the lesson of sharing and caring; one that Pinkie was trying to convey for most of the endeavour. She had even already thought out the entire letter during the run the buffalo had done through the apple orchard, and now all she had to do was write it down and get Spike to send it off. She looked over at the dragon and wasn’t surprised at the findings. Spike was asleep in his bed and snoring very loudly. At least that’s what the baby dragon wanted everypony to think, for his real intention was to silence the hyperactive equines. At one point it became too much for him to bear. With a yell and a move to the train car door, Spike left with a final word, “crazy ponies and their crazy sleep schedule. For Pete’s sake; it’s three in the morning!” The door slamming was his final comment on the subject, even if it was only heard by the lavender unicorn. Twilight sighed, shaking her head at her assistant’s poor timing, as she knew the train was going to arrive at the station at any moment... not to mention she was going to need this letter to be sent. Twilight turned back to her work and set off to finish it with the smile still plastered on her face without falter. When she had finally made sure every character was prim and proper with the “t”s crossed and the “i”s dotted, she begrudgingly flopped out of the comfy bed and began the trot to Spike’s newly-claimed sleep zone. As she reached the end of the car the train lurched as it came to a sudden stop. Twilight gave a quick squeal of terror before her muzzle met the car separator and she slowly slumped to the ground in a furry lump. Over her own groaning in pain, she could hear some of the other elements giggling behind her. She knew the only way to keep some dignity in the matter was to stand back up and attempt the process again. This time she was able to successfully get into the passenger car and set about waking up her assistant. However this task actually turned out to be much worse than the door incident, as Spike made it clear that he was only to leave his “pony free haven” if he was promised turquoise cupcakes. Although Twilight could have easily gotten Pinkie to agree to the idea, she did not feel the need to go back into the original car and get the eccentric mare... thus began the struggle of unicorn versus sleepy dragon. Suffice to say, his blanket did not survive, and Twilight’s mane was in such a horrible state she wasn’t sure if Rarity would survive the encounter. The duo exited Spike’s private escape to find that their friends were absent from the train. They exchanged two equally confused looks before cautiously peering through the train’s exit. On the wooden structure stood the five mares facing two stoic guardsponies. They both wore the proper golden armor given to all royal guards and behind them, sitting just outside the station, was a chariot and four more pegasi guards. Twilight quickly darted back into the loft and began the frantic movement that was packing her things. After her surplus of quill and ink were neatly shoved into her standard saddlebags she dashed to the door and out onto the platform. “I’m so sorry I was trying to get Spike to send a letter but he was tired and refusing to get up and then I had to force him out and then I saw you and that freaked me out so I went back in and packed all my things and I’m really sorry and I think I left my quills back in the train maybe I should go get them!” Twilight turned to rampage her way back into the bed she had already decimated in her packing frenzy. A familiar country accent stopped her from moving further, “now hold on there sugar cube. No need to be fussing over little things like that, besides, you probably didn’t leave anything behind anyhow. Now this guard here wanted to speak to us.” Twilight reluctantly let her concerns be put to rest and slowly turned back towards the group. Although she would have liked to start the conversation and ask why there were royal guards waiting for them at the train station, the guard immediately relayed his message to the element bearers. “Princess Celestia needs your immediate presence, with the Elements of Harmony, at the Royal Canterlot Castle. After you are taken there, you shall be guided to the princesses with a host of guards. Please take us to the Elements so that you may prepare, but please do not take longer than you need to... the situation is dire.” Samus felt her head throb in protest as she pushed herself off the ground and onto her feet. The building behind her gave a final rumble that shook the structure before it crashed into itself, leaving all inside either dead or miraculously maimed. She pounded the alley wall with her fist in anger at getting bested by Ridley. She found her bearings before dashing out of the alleyway in an attempt to spot the space pirate. Rounding the corner, Samus caught a glimpse of him perched atop a nearby building. She took aim and began charging a wave beam, but fell to her knees shortly after with a groan of pain. After being thrown into a pillar and then jumping out of a building, Samus had sustained some inhibiting injuries. Her vision wavered for a second as she looked upon Ridley who had begun testing his wings; she wasn’t the only one feeling the repercussions of the battle. Ridley gave a final push with his wings and lifted into the air before setting off towards the nearest city limit, Samus began to panic and attempted to follow him. She did not get far, however, before hearing a regal voice call for her, “Samus! We saw your signal and... what happened?” Turning around, Samus spotted Celestia galloping ahead of her squad. The distance was closed quickly by the sun deity who was on the brink of hysteria, Samus looked back and saw the retreating form of Ridley and decided to press their advantage rather than talk for too long. “We found Ridley in this mill and engaged him, but he destroyed the structures stability in the fight. I dove out from the second floor, but I don’t know about the rest of the squad.” She looked at the crumbling building to see the extent of the destruction: the building was missing its entire roof, the second level was completely demolished, all the support beams were piles of rubble, and what remained of the walls looked to be on the verge of collapse. From her point of view, Samus could see many piles of cluttered chaos that littered the antagonized floor. She also saw bodies. Among the wreckage lay the bodies of ponies, both dead and alive. A few unicorns were fighting a losing battle to stay upright, while one familiar pony in particular was frantically searching. She watched as he darted about the destruction, when he stopped suddenly and gave a shout, “Captain!” His eyes didn’t cease their sporadic movement, “Somepony! Anypony! Help me get them out!” Samus acted quickly to respond. Leaping over a chunk of fallen metal, she sped to where the unicorn private stood. When she neared, he quickly pointed a shaky hoof towards a particular corner of the building that he had been scrutinizing a moment before. Samus nodded in understanding and hastily began dig through the chunks of debris from the pile. It was not long before she started to hear labored panting from inside the miniature cave in, her pace doubling at the sound. Soon after she lifted one last piece of rubble to find the captain and the group of unconscious pegasi he had protected during the fight, large gashes could be seen on his body and he was sweating profusely. He smirked at her and the unicorn, “well, took ya long enough didn’t it? Don’t worry about me; I just had to hold up the roof that’s all.” The pure exhaustion couldn’t have been more evident on the stallion; it was a wonder he was still standing. “Hey, listen private... I’m gonna go speak to the princess then chase that monster with Samus here. You jus-” His voice faltered as his knees bent and he began to fall. Samus was at his side within an instant and caught his body. He hadn’t fainted, but his eyes were fighting for every second. The private spoke up, “Captain, I respect your enthusiasm, but you are in no condition to fight. Get some rest, or at least sit back and let the ones who can at least walk go after Ridley.” The captain was taken aback by his subordinate’s sudden outburst, this was uncharacteristic of him. “Private, what’s gotten into you? Besides I’m fi-” “THAT IS AN ORDER!” The private’s horn was glowing as he stood his ground fiercely. The captain this time actually had a look of fear on him, which gradually gave way to a smile of admiration. The exchange reminded Samus of her military past but she regained a sense of urgency when she heard a screech from the retreating Ridley. All the other ponies looked skyward at the sound of the unearthly scream, while one voice rang out among the silent equine. The voice of the lieutenant. “Captain?! Private? Where are you guys, I’m kind of stuck!” They heard the voice coming from a newspaper printer covered in wreckage on the other side of the mill. Samus rushed to the debris pile that held the lieutenant, leaving the private to steady the captain. Just as before, she tore off the metal and wood that was littered around the machine to find the pegasus had been trapped into the equivalent of a homely cave. “Oh, there you are. Now could you help me out? Stuff is heavier than it looks.” Samus pulled away a final piece of metal and reached into the makeshift cell to grab the lieutenant. The pegasus met her halfway with his hoof and before long was out and back on his hooves. “Good, now, where are those two?” Samus motioned towards the corner that held his companions and the lieutenant sped off to talk with his superior. He didn’t get far before he noticed what was off about the captain. He was too tired to stand by his own. Trotting the rest of the way, he nodded to his unicorn comrade before speaking to the captain about what was on his mind, “sir, if you don’t mind me saying... you can barely stand, I really think you should sit the rest of this out.” The captain looked around anxiously, trying to find a way out of his impending relief of duty, but it seemed everyone agreed on the subject. He finally accepted their judgement and gazed somberly at the ground. “Al-...alright men, I’ll sit this one out. But you return to me in one piece you hear? Spear, you’ve been temporarily promoted. Keep an eye on the private.” His second in command gave a salute before setting off giving orders to rally up those who could still fight. The captain watched him with a pensive smile, seeing one of his men fitting into the role so well. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts, before turning to instruct his private. “Listen here son, you’ve seen this creature, you’ve seen what it’s capable of. You fight for all of Equestria, but don’t be stupid and die for nothing, listen to Samus and Spear ok?” "Yes, sir!" Samus nodded in tandem with the private’s agreement then looked back to where the princess stood just outside the destroyed mill. What she saw next to Celestia made her shake her head sadly. Samus walked over to Celestia, she was about to speak, but the regal princess beat her to the punch. “Samus! I know we have pressing matters, but we found a survivor, can you help him?” Her eyes held nothing but pleading sorrow. One of her beloved subjects was dying, and she knew that if what Samus had told them earlier was true, then there should be only one reason that the pony was still walking. The bounty hunter merely gazed at Celestia for no answer was needed. But when a growling sound manifested itself behind Celestia, along with a few shouts from the guards, Samus felt the need to drive the point home. “Princess, you remember what I said earlier about the X... how about you take another look at your subject?” Celestia froze, not in shock, but in absolute fear. The truth was standing behind her, a glaring flaw in her reign, a mistake by her not being fast enough... she had killed her little pony. Slowly turning, she braced herself for what she was about to see, but no amount of preparation could have spared her the shock of what she saw. Samus had described in detail how the X parasite will sometimes not only take over control of the creature they possess, but they would also mutate to enhance their host’s traits. When she looked upon the infected unicorn, she no longer saw a pony subject of hers in trouble. What she saw was a grinning beast. A grinning beast, that was about to break the containment shield. “Celestia! We can’t hold him!” Samus stepped forward and pushed the princess aside, setting herself directly in front of the monster. The X was trying to use the unicorn’s body in an effort to confront Samus. The parasite had seen Samus as a major threat to its entire species ever since she entered the space station with her recent Metroid vaccine. The medicine was a problem due to the metroid being the natural predator of the X, which also gave Samus the ability to absorb them. Along with taking the body of those the X possess, they also take the knowledge. They could plan defenses against the hunter, make the decision to sacrifice themselves to save their brethren, even hack orbital space stations. This one figured Magic was the counter to the part metroid bounty hunter, and had used that assumption to attempt an assassination. “Move out of the way! He is hostile, and I don’t want to cause friendly fire!” Samus exclaimed as she charge a wave beam. The princess had stumbled from being shoved by Samus, righting herself a few feet out of the way from the enraged biped. Now she could do nothing but watch in silent horror as the creature that used to be her subject broke from its shielded bonds and began charging an immense amount of power into its newly transformed horn. Everything was different about this pony from when she had looked upon him not minutes ago. His body was taller and thicker with muscle. His horn bulged out of his head like an odd appendage and it looked sharp enough to puncture steel. Even his teeth had been morphed into a complete set of canines instead of the usual molars. This was no longer her little pony... but that didn’t help the feeling she got while she watched it burn. As soon as the shield broke Samus unleashed her charged wave beam. The blast hit its target as it attempted to charge its own magic attack. The beam passed through the pony, charring its fur and bringing it to its knees. It managed to hold the spell though, and Samus was surprised both by its ability to survive an attack from such a powerful weapon and that it kept its concentration. She didn’t have time to be surprised though. Bringing herself back to the battle at hand, Samus levelled her aim and fired an ice missile before tumbling to her right, away from Celestia and not a second before the pent up magical energy was released by the abomination. The blast was nothing more than a destructive bomb, funneled forward and directly aimed at Samus. The parasite lacked the finesse of an experienced magic user, as not only had it possessed a domestic unicorn, but artificial knowledge is much different than actual experience. The attack passed harmlessly in Samus’ old location, only managing to scorch the sidewalk and before dissipating shortly after. The ice missile however was not so messily aimed. Penetrating through the cone of magical energy, the explosive found its way unhindered into the unicorn. The explosion rocked the surrounding area, but managed to freeze the infected pony in place completely. Samus recovered from her maneuver then dashed to the newly formed ice sculpture with a wave beam in charge. The pony-pulled vessel was traveling at high speeds over the city of Canterlot, and the guards were still not explaining why they were in such a hurry. The group of royal guard had brought them to her library earlier that day and insisted they grab the elements and leave within the minute. This had left Rarity less-than-thrilled with her mane’s condition, as the rushing had left her no time to restore everything to its fashionable order. The wind wasn’t helping the endeavour either, and she was now curled up on the chariot floor, sucking a hoof and silently shaking. “Be ready to move out, element bearers, we’re nearing the castle. Remember: once there, you will be given a company of guards who will guide you to the princesses while we continue the evacuation.” “What evacuation?! What is going on? Why isn’t anypony answering me,” Twilight spoke up again. She had been constantly interrogating the guards since their meeting at the train station. She was getting exasperated at having been given the runaround ever since she set hoof off the train. The guards did a fairly good job at flying while ignoring Twilight’s shouting, but one of them turned to the leader of the group and spoke, “Captain, I think we’re secure. Shall we fill them in?” The head pegasus glanced back to the ponies in the chariot before returning his gaze to his subordinate. “Yeah, you’re right. Alright listen up back there; I’m only saying this once. Something attacked Canterlot Castle.” A collective gasp could be heard from the chariot at this unnerving news. The captain didn’t want to deal with this; his preference would have been for somepony else to fill them in once they reached Canterlot. “The princess drove it out before anypony could get hurt though. It’s being hunted in the city as we speak by all the guards available, as well as the princesses... and the thing that came with the monster.” Frantic questions immediately bombarded the captain, thinning his patience little by little. But it all stopped when a lone object could be seen propelling itself in the air above the quiet city. The fiery entity sped towards Luna’s moon before sputtering its last breath and detonating. The flash of white blinded the onlookers in the chariot, but their guards had looked away, as they had known the significance of the object. When the gaggle of friends recovered their vision, they looked upon the fallout with mouths agape. The star filled sky was now accompanied by a beautiful shower of ice crystals that twinkled brighter than their celestial brethren. “All questions will be answered at the castle girls... it seems our people have found the beast.” On one side of Canterlot stood a lush land of rolling green hills and dirt roads for incoming visitors. On the other side stood the “Nightmare Woods”, a fragmented collection of foreboding flora that used to be a thing of great beauty and pride for the citizens of the mountain city. But during the “Nightmare Moon” incident over a thousand years in the past, the forest had been caught in the crossfire during the battle, laying a deathly curse on the grove that wrecked the serene image of the regal mountainside. Yet the forest still survived in its reaper state. The towering trees, bare of leaves, stood defiant to the cold sky that offered little rain. Vines, appearing to have a wooden structure, invaded the gargantuas intimately, their thorns piercing the bark. This forest was, if anything, a sign of determination through destruction. The curse still fell heavily on the half-dead woods, but it was survivable. In fact, the land was thriving in its dark conditions. Visitors were scarce, few wished to visit a place of such horrible history and haunting visage. The paths had become overrun in wicked undergrowth, and the area held a ghostly aura along with the silence of an empty void. All this assaulted the rampaging group as they sped their way through the otherworldly woods. A collection of royal guards followed the two generals as they rushed through the haunted wood. Luna had volunteered to help care for those who had been injured in the newspaper mill fight. She was also to be a checkpoint for the six ponies that should be arriving soon. The plan was for the lunar princess to guide them, along with a detachment of guards, to their location. The royal guards that had accompanied Samus through the Canterlot search and battle with Ridley had stayed behind on medical and evac duties for the injured. However, the direct subordinates of Captain Goldenclad (Private Star Enchanter and Lieutenant Faithful Spear) had firmly volunteered to continue the hunt. These two kept pace with the goddess and bounty hunter both. The forest unsettled Samus. Every tree was completely bare, and they seemed to have a watching presence about them. A feeling of unease overcame her as she lost focus on the run, and began to concentrate on the ghastly images the surrounding foliage began to infest her mind with. She snapped back into the real world when she caught her foot on a root. Samus went down headfirst but stuck her hand out to meet the ground, using her momentum to propel herself forward again. She spun in the air for a few moments, keeping up to her running pace, before landing back onto her feet. Something crumbled under her when she hit the ground, and a crackling sound erupted as if she had crushed a large number of twigs. Stopping for a moment, Samus investigated the sound and found that it looked to be exactly that; a very large pile of branches. Except that there was something peculiar about it. Something about the shape and size of the wood just wasn’t right... but she wasn’t allowed more time to articulate. A growl emanated from the trees around her, forcing her to focus on her surroundings as she readied her arm cannon. In her scanning of the environment, Samus noticed the joint squads plus Celestia were staring slack jawed at her. Or rather, staring behind her. Samus quickly swiveled in place, crunching more of the unnatural wood underneath her feet, and bringing up her scan visor to better help vision in the moonlit night. A moment passed before the scanner picked up on the source and it became apparent why the visor was having a problem once Samus saw the origin of the primal sound. Out of the shadows stepped the forms of what appeared to be mutated wolves. Samus began to realize what she had landed on when she saw that each had the appearance of assembled timber. Steadying her arm cannon, Samus heard a slight intake of breath from the guards behind her. Her reaction was to merely smirk. Before anyone else could move, Samus held up her hand and motioned for the princess and company to back away. Not a second passed before they complied with her order. And in the next moment, the wolves took their chance and leapt at her. Taking care to direct the hostiles away from the ponies, Samus morphed into her ball form and sped under her nearest assailant. In her place, she left a single bomb in an attempt to disorient the wolves. She had to make sure to limit her use of abilities, lest she hit one of her allies. The maneuver went flawlessly, with Samus ending up with her back to an empty forest, and her sights set on the entire attacking group and the ponies off to her right. The bomb she had left behind exploded, turning one of the wolves into a pile of scorched lumber while knocking the rest of the attackers to the ground. Samus noticed the downed wolf’s body beginning to lose it’s shape. She knew what this meant, but she needed to focus on dispatching the rest of the wolves first. By the time she had charged her wave beam the wolves had recovered and were encircling here again, trying to overwhelm their prey. But Samus was not going to let this happen. She quickly lined up her shot, releasing the pent up energy from the arm cannon which proceeded to tear through three wolves, each of them disintegrating immediately. These piles began to morph as well, and Samus’ suspicions were confirmed when the remains of the first casualty evaporated completely, leaving an X parasite floating in its place A loud gasp came from the squad, but Samus didn’t let it faze her for she knew the destruction a single X could cause. Dashing towards the wolven group, Samus took aim and let loose a volley of wave beams aimed at the parasitic animal she had previously rolled under. The beams hit and she was rewarded with another pile of disintegrated lumber. Samus reached the parasite before it could manage to disappear into the depths of the woods, grabbing it with her free hand. Her suit immediately assimilated the X, restoring part of her lost energy and clearing her senses. Her smirk only intensified as she charged another wave beam, ready for the next contestant in this brawl. The wolves hesitated, seeing how Samus now clearly had the upper hand in what originally seemed to be a one-sided battle. Taking this hesitation, she dove to her right, Samus closed the gap between her and one of the wolves she had narrowly missed when she had killed the three wolves. Samus grabbed the parasitic creature by its throat then slammed it into the ground with a sickening crunch of timber. She pulled her arm cannon back before ramming it deep within the wolf’s maw and firing. Samus started her battle routine, flawlessly moving about the field like a dancer, reveling in her masterful art and exemplifying her skill to the group of onlookers. She made sure to immediately absorb the golden parasites as the enemies fell. Not long later, she was standing in an empty warzone with full energy tanks and a wide grin on her face. Turning back to Celestia and her entourage, she swung her hand to signal for them to follow. She began preparing herself, awaiting the next shriek that would reveal the parasitic clone. She heard the screeching from the castle. They all heard the screeching from the castle. To say their blood froze in fear would be putting it lightly, for what they heard had been completely alien... and completely bloodthirsty. Their bodies stiffened as their muscles ceased to fulfill their bidding. The monster making that sound had no hope for redemption. Twilight quickly reflected back upon what the guide leader had told them before they began following the princess’ trail. He had told her of the invading beings that had dropped out of what seemed to be a portal that had appeared in the middle of the ballroom. It had been a long night, and there had been few guests remaining at three am when it had occurred, but those who witnessed it could not get the images out of their heads. Two alien beings had dropped out of the hole in space before it closed. One was a dragonesque looking creature with great talons and a blood curdling screech that threatened to deafen anyone within the vicinity, and one was a bipedal figure completely clad in a suit of armor with a mysterious weapon attached to its right arm. Upon arrival they had immediately begun an all out brawl within the ballroom, destroying everything in sight. The bipedal figure seemed to have gone into a crazed state of battle where it continued to fire its weapon without halt, while the much larger one picked up the alicorn statue with ease before flinging it at the first. Twilight still seemed to disbelieve such murderous violence. Within the whole millennia of Nightmare Moon's absence, and even a great time before that, Equestria has had nothing but absolute peace. Petty crimes were the highest of ethical bendings ponies would stoop to... killing was unheard of. The thoughts continued to disturb her further, almost bringing her to release the contents of her stomach, but she shook her head quickly to disperse the images. Another thing the leader had mentioned was that the bipedal being was apparently not hostile towards ponies, but instead had been in a death feud with the monster that had killed her parents while she was just a young child. Twilight had to stop herself again and take heavy breaths to calm the onslaught of depression resulting from thinking of such events. Once she was ready, she returned to the last vital piece of information in her head. The pegasus guard had also told them that the monster had been driven out of Canterlot by the squads led by Celestia, Luna and the alien. But what frightened her was what they were expected to do. As she made her way into the chariot, she looked between her friends and gulped. They were expected to fight a monster that murdered and.... and, ate the carcasses. They were scared of what was going to happen during the altercation, hoping that the Elements would be enough to stop this monster. But they had to try, and Twilight knew that. They had to try for all their families, for all the people who died... for all of Equestria. She caressed the crown atop her head for comfort; the Element of Magic meant power in friendship and harmony. She knew she was safe with her friends there along with the Elements to banish evil. The ride was uneventful, at least until they saw the silhouette of a dragon in the distance, soaring through the air above “Nightmare Woods”, terrible shrieks rending the air. Twilight could barely stand the sight of the murderous creature as it melded into the mottled backdrop of the Nightmare Wood. She glanced at her element-bearing friends with a frightened expression and noticed similar looks about them, even Rainbow Dash seemed far less confident now that she had actually seen the creature they were being sent to fight. She felt much safer knowing that the monster was at such a great distance from them at the moment. Minutes passed by through the chariot ride, each one an agonizing trial for the girls. Fluttershy was a ball of pink and yellow on the floor of the chariot, the shivers of fright racking her body. Rarity was calming herself with deep breaths, her thoughts of sensibility and remaining civilized penetrating through her fear. Rainbow Dash was striking a vicious pose with wings flared and a glare aimed at the last seen spot of the flying monster. Applejack had set herself sitting on the chariot floor with her stetson covering her eyes and legs crossed in what appeared to be a meditative state. Princess Luna had begun to drift silently ahead of the leading guards to the point where she was almost out of earshot. Pinkie Pie was... well she was baking cupcakes, in an oven... that she had snuck aboard. Twilight couldn’t begin to fathom the implications of this, not only was she wondering how Pinkie lifted it in without them knowing, but she also was wondering just how it was lit when the plug could clearly be seen laying on the chariot floor. The unicorn shook her head as she began to remember that attempting to understand Pinkie Pie’s antics was a useless effort that would only end in headaches and frosting. Twilight flailed her legs in a vain attempt to stay upright as the chariot rocked from an unseen shockwave. The lavender pony found her balance and chanced a look forward to try to locate the origin of the explosion. The guardsponies were in a mess, trying to keep the chariot upright and fly straight at the same time. This blocked her vision somewhat, but she was still able to gain quick glimpses of a giant cave mouth in the Canterlot mountainside. Boulders the size of a ponyville house fell from the mountain and crushed some of the ghoulish forest life below. “Is-is the mountain erupting?!” Rainbow Dash had retracted her wings to her sides and seemed to be leaning away from the regal giant. Twilight shook her head quickly as there had never been recorded volcanic eruption from the Canterlot mountain ever. Luna had also looked back at the Element bearers and added her own shaking head to Twilight’s answer. “No, Rainbow Dash. Something else must have caused that explosion... but what could do that, I have no idea.” This wasn’t far from the truth, as Twilight understood the powers of the princesses and how they could produce magical abilities on such a scale. But she had never thought of one of them using them in such a violent manner. “Look alive, Element bearers! We’re approaching princess Celestia and the squad. You’ll know the alien when you see it,” the guide called out, pulling the girls away from their distractions. Once the preparations had finished they stood tall and waited for the moment of touchdown. Princess Celestia could be seen standing near the cave entrance talking to a set of unicorn guards as the chariot set down. Luna immediately sped to her once the group reached the ground. The six ponies stumbled out of the chariot and formed a line, respectfully awaiting the princess’ orders. Twilight spotted the alien creature conversing among a group of guards. The unicorn could barely take the excitement and scientific wonder that came with seeing this new being. It was bipedal, as the guard had said, and covered in a purplish thing she could only assume was a full-body armor. She assumed its two limbs at its chest were arms like Spike’s, she even noticed that the arm on the left had a hand similar to his. But instead of claws, this creature had a set of fingers like a primate. But the most curious feature about the alien was its right arm. Instead of ending in a hand like the other, it ended in something that looked similar to Pinkie’s party cannon, though miniaturized. The creature nodded to a group of guards who set off towards the cave mouth before turning to Princess Celestia and giving a thumbs up. The regal sister nodded, turned to the cave and raised a massive shield of pink to cover the entrance, supplemented by the unicorn guards. The magical energy from the spell caused wind to pour out of the mouth of the cave, sending old layers of dust careering about the clearing. The shy pegasus standing amongst the newcomers couldn’t handle the sudden onslaught on her nose and began the desperate fight against sneezing. The five friends looked at the yellow pony who started to panic, but she eventually succumbed and let out a soft noise that could be barely heard over the maelstrom in the clearing and a rising growl. The alien stopped in its movement and looked behind it to see the six new ponies. It hesitated for a moment before aiming its arm cannon at them and firing. Chapter 5: OnslaughtChapter 5: Onslaught This story begins during the Neo-Ridley fight in Metroid Fusion. Metroid is owned by Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. Major thanks to Pissfer for amazing ideas, editing and awesome-ifying it. Music added for enjoyment/atmospheric effect. A/N: Ok so here is the long overdue fifth chapter of my mentally handicapped series (Mareoid Fusion inc you didn’t know). In here you will see some Samus, some Celestia, some OC and maybe even a tree or two idk it’s not like I wrote this. Also, remember that the music I am linking to in this is for enjoyment only. Do NOT go into the comment section of the video and post “poni poni poni”, I do NOT want to be the reason a person regrets posting this music. The shot filled the silence left by the inanimate ponies in the clearing. As the wave beam travelled from the alien Twilight froze, petrified by adrenaline-fuelled fear. Rainbow Dash reacted to the hostile action differently, immediately blasting off towards the alien like a bullet. She met the shot halfway between the two groups as they continued streaking in their respective directions. Rainbow Dash reached the creature before the beam finished its route, but was stopped short as an armored hand caught her by the throat. Rainbow found herself helpless, only able to look upon the helmet that stared back at her, pleading for release. Surprisingly, her relief came almost immediately as she felt herself being lifted up before being tossed aside. She hit the ground hard, briefly rolling before coming to rest on her back. A lesser pony would have laid there after such an impact and attempted to recuperate, but she was up in a multi-colored flash, expecting to see the alien attacking her friends. Then suddenly her attention was drawn away from the alien. It was the same thing that was currently captivating the rest of the element bearers. A mass of ash that lay next to Twilight Sparkle, the air distorting around it. Something was off about the pile of warping, disintegrated wood. She couldn’t quite determine what it was, but she knew something supernatural was definitely going on in front of her. Then Rainbow realized that the alien had bolted towards her friends and took off towards it again. But as it got within reaching distance of her friends the ash disappeared, replacing itself by a lone, floating green blob. None of the six ponies knew what to think at that moment: One moment they thought they were being attacked by their supposed ally and the next they were witnessing a pile of ash morphed into what looked to be a living creature. She broke out of her shock as the alien, who had shot at them just a moment prior, dove forward and made contact with the blob. The green entity disappeared immediately, almost as if it had been absorbed by the armored assailant. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes fixated upon the alien as it rose to full height after diving for the mysterious creature. The alien clenched its hand in a tight fist before turning to the six ponies and and raising it in a military salute. The cyan muzzle was whipping back and forth, from sun goddess to bounty hunter, as its owner attempted to process the new information that seemed to be arriving much too fast. “Wait, so... you’re saying that this is a pony-” “Person,” the regal sister interjected. “-person that comes from outer space - maybe even a different universe - and is currently employed by a huge empire of other ‘persons’ to hunt down the other alien that attacked Canterlot?” By this point, Rainbow Dash’s face held a mix of confusion and skepticism. She trusted the princess with her life, and she had even been told that the creature they were to meet was an “alien”, but standing here and hearing all of this far-fetched information took its toll on the pegasus’ open-mindedness. Princess Celestia traded a look with Samus Aran for a moment before turning back to the bewildered pony. “Yes. In fact, that covers it quite nicely, if somewhat simplistic.” Rainbow shook her head slowly before turning to face her friends with a raised eyebrow. At this point, all the ponies were attempting to simply process the information. Twilight the most confused of them all, having hundreds of questions flying through her head. She soon found herself spitting them out one after another. “But you still haven’t told us about this ‘Galactic Federation’! Or about your suit! Or what that green thing was! Or what happened to it! Or what that thing that came out of your arm was! Or-!” For the fifth time in as many minutes, Twilight’s mouth became the victim of a hoof invasion, this time being administered by the stetson-wearing apple farmer. “Now hold on there, sugarcube. This nice lady has been attacked by your questions enough for the moment, no need to continue.” Applejack gave a courteous nod in the bounty hunter’s direction as she understood what it was like to deal with the antics of the librarian when access to new information became available. She also made sure to refer to Samus by her actual gender instead of the general indicator used by Rainbow Dash, as she thought it would be quite rude to do anything but that after hearing it from the princess. Samus would have chosen to speak up at this moment to suggest moving along with the hunt for Ridley, but once a pink ball of fur began to appear and disappear at random among the group, she decided it was best to stay silent for the time being. “Yeah! We should be feeding her questions! Not attacking! Like cupcakes!” Samus also decided not to delve too deeply into the logic behind what this pink mare said, as nothing that had come from her so far made any sense. She did find the antics to be quite a relief in contrast to her normally dark and foreboding atmosphere though. Samus understood that missions were missions and were to be handled as such, but it seemed like every mission recently had a somber feel to it that only sent her mood further into depression. Seeing such light and fun in her world of destruction and danger put a smile on her normally stoic face. “Pinkie, darling, you can’t feed somepony questions, you’re still asking them.” This pony gave Samus an awkward feeling as she couldn’t find a suitable way to deal with its constant complaining of her Fusion Suit. Although she respected the white mare’s attempts to uphold civility in all situations, she couldn’t help but feel annoyed at her insensitive criticism. Samus was used to dealing with undue criticism, so she was ready to put this aside to make sure it didn’t affect her performance on the mission. “Well that’s just silly, questions should totally be able to be eaten! I bet they would taste like chocolate covered chocolate cupcakes! And those are good! You aren’t saying I can’t eat chocolate covered chocolate cupcakes are you?” No one had an answer for the pink pony. They all just contemplated in confusion as to how it would even be possible to bring about a logical close to this train of thought.Celesita saw this as her opportunity to step in and cleared her throat to be heard over the encroaching silence. “I understand you may have more questions, but we have more pressing matters. I suggest we return to our objective and deal with this Ridley before delving into inquiries and time consuming talk.” The sun goddess made sure to be straight forward and leave no room for a “no” unless somepony wanted to sound like they would rather talk then apprehend the killer of a handful of ponies. She watched as the purple unicorn visibly deflated at hearing that the answers to her ever-burning questions would have to be delayed momentarily. She quickly received a round of nods from the surrounding ponies, including the forlorn Twilight, as they realized that what she said was true and that they better prepare to engage in the forthcoming battle. There were many openings scattered among the litter of stone that covered most of the cave mouth, but one such impression was different than the rest. Though this one sat like the rest, appearing to be a simple hole that ran merely faded into darkness. But this one gateway between rock instead was the exit to a passageway running through the mountainside straight into the recently sealed off cave. A bulge started to emerge from the portal, marring the picturesque mountain landscape. The gelatinous creature slowly emerged from the near-impassable pathway, gathering itself bit by bit as it hovered over the opening before taking off towards the nearby woods Soft hoof falls signaled the approach of a pegasus guard who happened upon the scene just as the parasite disappeared into the trees. His movement stopped for a moment as he let out a surprised gasp, then it picked back up except this time more frantic and moving back towards the cave mouth where the guardsponies had set up camp. Lieutenant Faithful Spear burst through the thick shrubbery into the clearing in front of the cave mouth, his head whipping around as he tried to locate the princesses and Samus. He spotted the alien talking with the royal sisters and the elements of harmony and dashed towards them, the urgency of what he had seen rushing him along. The human tensed for a moment, apparently sensing him approaching, before spinning around and making eye contact with the frantic lieutenant. It raised a hand for him to stop once he got within speaking distance and then motioned for him to relay his information. “Samus, princesses. I spotted an X Parasite escaping into the forest a kilometer north of here. I think there may be a shaft that leads into the cave in that vicinity.” The aforementioned trio looked to each other in a few moments of silence before Luna gave a quick nod to Celestia and set off towards the shielded cave entrance. The sun goddess turned her attention back to the lieutenant as she addressed him, “Lieutenant Spear, your orders are to lead Samus Aran to the spot where you spotted the X Parasite. My sister is going to send some unicorn guards to go with you. Is there anything else that you need to report before you head off?” Spear shook his head in reply and gave a salute to his princess with a practiced, stoic appearance, but inside he was frantically attempting to fully comprehend the fact that he had been given command of a group of guards. After serving loyally under his captain, he was now stepping up to hold the mantle of leader in a military setting; a high honor that every guard looks forward to in his career. Of course he wasn’t going to let his emotions break through and show his anxiousness, so he maintained a visage of indifference while he waited for the unicorn guards to arrive. Samus smiled in her helmet as she understood what the guard must be feeling at this point. She understood, through her own time in the military, how it felt to be given that promotion... that recognition from a superior. She understood how it felt to be told you were being given power, to understand that you were going to be entrusted with it. Though her experience with the notion was largely secondhand. This didn’t stop her from mentally applauding the guard for rising up in his commander’s place and maintaining a calm demeanour throughout. Although she could not say the same for the group of six supposed “warriors” that sat behind her wrapped in confusion and shock. She had begun to realize that these six ponies were not actually warriors as Celestia had hinted towards, but merely citizens of remarkable power. She could see no other reason for involving them in such a dangerous conflict and it was obvious at this point that they were not desensitized to violence. Looking back to the ponies, she saw mixed reactions ranging from mouths hanging agape to raised eyebrows and even a manic grin. She turned her attention back to the lieutenant. Wait. That pink one was smiling? Samus swiveled on her heels until she was facing where the pink pony had stood just a moment before but now saw only empty space. Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow in confusion as she stood there, wondering how the simple earth pony had evaded her awareness. “Uh, miss Samus? You might wanna look above you.” The orange earth pony snapped Samus out of her confused state only to leave her more reason to question the situation at hand. Deciding that it is best not to ignore advice from companions, Samus glanced upward and received a visor full of bright blue, dinner-plate sized eyes and an impossible grin. “Hi there, I haven’t introduced myself yet, I’m Pinkie Pie! I noticed you weren’t from around here and that got me thinking that you probably haven’t been thrown a party before, or at least you haven’t been thrown one by me before so I tried to think of a way to throw a ‘welcome to earth, alien-thing!’ party but that got me thinking about cupcakes and then I saw that your suit is purple and purple is a really good color for frosting so I thought ‘what could look so much like a cupcake and not actually be a cupcake?’ but then I realized that there is no way you could become a cupcake so I did the next best thing!” Samus stared at the creature. There had not been a single break in that rampage for breath. And the worst part was that it was not finished talking, in fact, it was waiting for Samus to answer her question hidden in a statement. She raised her hand, spinning it in small circles to indicate that she was ready for Pinkie Pie to continue. “I painted a cupcake on your claw-thing!” Samus stopped waving her hand, instead bringing it up to her visor for inspection. On the back rested one of the new spikes that adorned her arm ever since she’d received the Fusion Suit. On the palm rested the remarkably detailed painting of a purple frosted cupcake with sprinkles and a single fizzing candle. The bounty hunter’s eyes slowly slid back up to the pink mare who was still grinning from her perch atop Samus’ head. Except now there was a paintbrush sticking out from the confines of her mouth as if it had been there the whole time. “Samus? Samus Aran? The unicorn detachment is ready and we’re moving out. Please follow me.” Samus took one last look at the cupcake that had miraculously appeared on her hand then another look above her only to notice that the pink pony had disappeared from her head and was instead back to sitting amongst her friends. She had seen weird things happen before, but what had just transpired between her and the physics-defying earth pony was a whole different kind of impossible. She shook her head briskly as she fought to focus back on the mission at hand. As she found her steady mindset once again, she spun around and nodded at the lieutenant, confirming her ability to immediately head to the X Parasite’s last known location. It had been simple enough for the assembled group to locate the deformity in the cave wall. Once they had reached the location at which the lieutenant had spotted the X Parasite, Samus activated her scanning visor, immediately locating the abnormality on the rocky mountain face. A small number of unicorn guards were left at the mountainside to not only seal the hole leading to the cave with a shield spell but to also carefully continue searching along the path in case they might discover any other blemishes. When Spear reached the point where he’d seen the X disappear, Samus had a collection of eight unicorn guards in tow as well as Private Enchanter. Samus quickly divided the force into five squads, four of them containing two unicorns.The fifth was comprised of Samus, Lieutenant Spear and Private Enchanter. Each group set off in a different direction leaving no room for the parasite to escape their sights. Samus, along with Spear and Enchanter, headed off directly opposite the mountainside with hopes that they’ll intercept the parasite before it could replicate or worse. “Bah I hate this forest. It’s all so dead and dense, you can hardly see a thing in here!” It had only been a handful of minutes since they set out on their planned path and Spear’s patience for the forest was already beginning to crumble. Samus was in front of the two ponies, easily able to lead the way as her visor enhanced the perpetual low light setting within the cursed woods. The private had kept silent during the search, presumably in an attempt to remain stoic among his peers and help maintain a sense of professionalism. Samus found this amusing as the private kept his calm demeanor while the lieutenant seemed about ready to buck the next tree in his sight. “Lieutenant,” Samus said without turning her head, “what do you know of the terrain ahead?” Spear stopped his obscene rantings to put a hoof to his chin in thought, obviously needing to think hard in order to surface any memories of the forest. “I actually wouldn’t know, ma’am. Ever since the Nightmare Moon incident, ponies have done their best to forget or ignore this forest.” The lieutenant shifted his eyes around, taking in the gloom ridden atmosphere. “Much of it probably isn’t mapped, and if it is it might have changed in that thousand years. But I would recommend expecting a wide variety of terrain, this place looks like it could contain just about anything.” At the front of the group Samus nodded her head while continuing her visual sweep of the foliage. Samus was unhindered by most terrain as her powered suit and chozo DNA gave her unprecedented mobility. She had asked mostly for the sake of the soldiers themselves so that they would know beforehand what they were about to step into. The private broke his silence at this point with an answer to the still hanging question, “actually I know. If we continue along this direction we’ll reach something similar to the widely known Froggy-Bottom Bog near Ponyville. I’ve heard rumors that this one houses a similar hydra but if that is true then it has been very low profile.” Samus stopped in her tracks to look back and stare at the private, her movement was copied swiftly by the lieutenant, though he was troubled for a different reason. They have a Hydra? “How do you know that?” Private Enchanter looked at the ground for a moment, sighing as he continued, “well Lieutenant, when I was a foal and my father was still around, he would create maps of surrounding areas. It was his hobby.” Enchanter brought his head back up with a sad smile slipping through his mask of professional indifference. “I specifically remember when he brought me here to explore the area while he outlined the map. Of course the dark trees and deathly glow scared the living daylights out of me when I was a kid but that was the first time he and I had really been able to bond. I am sure that farther on this way is a bog... what I am not sure of is whether or not it is also home to a hydra.” Private Enchanter’s information had proven to be correct as the small collection of ponies, along with the human, stumbled upon the mucky flooring that made up what Samus had decided to call “Nightmare Bog”. Looking at the immediate vicinity Samus noticed that the trees were fewer in number in the bog and there actually seemed to be wildlife present. She also noticed everything was covered in the same, opaque muck that abounded in bogs. It was going to be near impossible to navigate as there would be no warning of drops. The team edged its way further into the infested bog with an increased sense of vigilance, now that they had to deal with any refuse that could litter the ground, or possibly even an unseen decline. “Huh, never seen a tree like that before.” Samus turned her head to look at the lieutenant who was currently nodding his head towards a curious object that was protruding from the ground much like the trees around it. The color was hard to tell under the coat of fog and muck, but Samus deduced that it used to be a white or at least grey before the bog covered it. Switching to her scanner, Samus inspected the object and was shocked to find that the tree was actually a very large and fresh bone. She returned to her combat visor as she sighed, not happy with the implications of finding a recently deceased creature of this size. “That’s not a tree, Lieutenant. I think things have gotten a lot worse.” Spear broke his gaze from the bone to stare at the bounty hunter in mild confusion. “Not a tree? Then what is it? And how does it complicate things?” Samus did not need to answer, as the private in the back of the group gave a quick yell and pointed along their path. Samus’ head traced the line indicated by the unicorn immediately, stopping as she spotted the lone X Parasite as it disappeared back into the surrounding foliage. Taking no time to see if her companions were ready to give chase, Samus exploded towards the parasite. It did not take long for Samus to catch the parasite as she ducked and dove around the surrounding flora. As they burst into a clearing, the parasite was just outside of arm’s reach from the bounty hunter. Samus sprang forward one last time, somersaulting through the creature before nimbly landing back on the treacherous terrain. The energy from the newly-assimilated green X Parasite had gone straight to her missile supplies, topping them up to a nearly full state. Now that she’d dealt with the immediate threat, she took another moment to contemplate the significance of the bones that they’d stumbled upon earlier, wondering whether or not they had missed a fight that had been dangerously close to involving her team as well. Her thoughts went back to the fight with the timberwolves. "Those parasites had to have come from Ridley" she thought. The meaning of this was not yet fully understood by the bounty hunter. She scanned the foggy scenery around her, taking in the twisted bark of the local trees and the muck-covered undergrowth that was hardy enough to survive in this environment. She could only shake her head in disbelief, her eyes narrowing as she turned her attention to the ponies who were just now catching up to her. "Good job, Samus. Now we can return to the cave mouth and destroy that mon-" Spear froze in place as Samus raised her hand. Samus changed over to her scan visor as she swept the area again. She didn’t find anything immediately, but she soon felt some subtle vibrations in her feet and legs. A moment later she noticed ripples starting to form on the water and suddenly realized what was happening. She wasted no time in grabbing the pony and leaping back out of the path of the brown head that came flying out of the murky water, her heel getting caught by the head as it flew harmlessly by, sending Samus tumbling through the air. She spotted the ground and turned her tumbling into a controlled spin, hitting the ground and rolling, releasing the pony once she was safely out of the range of the head and neck that had just emerged from the muck. As she took aim at her new opponent, she motioned for the lieutenant to fall back. Two more explosions shook the water’s surface as a set of twin head broke through the bog muck and rose to meet the first. For a moment Samus thought that there were three creatures rising to the surface but immediately suspended the thought when she remembered the private's words, "what I am not sure of is whether or not it is also home to a hydra." She smirked at the idea. She had fought a similar beast before; three separate “necks” and heads connected to a single, central body. She was sure taking this animal down would prove to be much simpler. Finally, after rising far above the tree canopy, the heads stopped in their ascent and glared at the armoured human. Samus kept her weapon trained on the center head that had attacked them beforehand but scanned the other two with her eyes, looking for the subtle movement that would show the beginning of the battle. The head to her left shifted its eyes to the two guardsponies, one of which was attempting to calm the other who seemed to have gone into a state of panting shock. The other two heads began to carefully move away from the left one, centering their attention on Samus. She wasn't oblivious to this change and kept her feet planted firmly, ready to protect the ponies from the strike in the near future. But she also had to keep the other two heads into account who were in the process of setting up an attack of their own on her, probably to keep her busy while their "brother" finished off the two guardsponies. Her thoughts raced, formulating methods and plans of attack, running through scenarios and calculating chances. In the span of a second, the heads finished moving and then gave a roar before striking for the quick kill while Samus settled on a move of her own to counter. The lieutenant stiffened and his world slowed as he turned to see the monster whip its head toward him with disturbing speed. The private began to succumb to the darkness created from his bodies lack of air. But Samus was faster. The heads had underestimated her. They had ignorantly thought that simply bearing down on the armoured hunter with two-to-one odds would work in this situation. But even if they outclassed her in strength, she crushed them in mobility and ingenuity. A Hydra has its heads and only its heads. It doesn't have the claws attached to outstretching limbs of a wolf or the simple girth of a whale to ward predators. Although the hydra is a beast in size, it is still vulnerable and must rely on its almost disposable heads for its offense and defense. So, using this knowledge, Samus morphed into her ball form and left a power bomb in her wake as she made her way towards the two helpless ponies. The first round of actions began and then ended within the blink of an eye. Samus made her way from the path of the two heads to the third unsuspecting offender, morphed back into her standing form and then body slammed it with the force of a freight train; completely knocking it away. Just as she made contact with the skin of the third head, the power bomb she laid behind her exploded in a fiery inferno. The smirk stayed stretched on her face as she heard the satisfying screech of her enemy impale the air. Just as she had planned, one of the hydra heads had chomped onto the spot she had been standing at moments before. Within the time it took to realize what had happened it was already too late. The bomb tore through the jaw and mouth of the beast, burning the inside of its head and rupturing the skull into fragments. The head hit the floor in a lifeless lump of grey matter and torn chunks of meat, unrecognizable from the sheer damage of the most powerful explosive available in Samus' inventory. The second head that had been attempting to attack Samus hadn't been as affected by the blast as the one who had practically swallowed the bomb, but the burn marks were still evident on its face. Time held still for a moment as every creature took in the gruesome destruction caused so swiftly by the fearsome bounty hunter. The two remaining heads rejoined eachother in the sky with looks of horror etched upon their faces while the two ponies at ground level stared in utter awe at the raw power this alien was capable of dishing out. Samus rose to her full height after dealing the body slam and took the slim moment she had to add some flair to her battle stance. Turning to the side, Samus faced away from the hydra at first but swiveled her upper body to aim her arm cannon and head at it all the while charging a wave beam. The twin heads replaced their fear with pure psychotic rage at the loss of their limb. Each lowered themselves to the hunters height and then let loose a deafening roar that could be heard far past the boundaries of Nightmare Wood. Samus felt the vibrations pass by her as the hydra finished its deafening screech but stood her ground without falter. A single thought passed through her mind, "and the fight begins" before she let loose the collected charge into the face of the first hydra head to attack them. The ground shook and rocks tumbled from the cave mouth as the ponies within the clearing heard the monstrous roar from deep within the forest. Wordlessly, everypony stared off into the foreboding wood that held that utterly demonic shriek hoping that whatever it was, the ponies and alien who ventured forth were alright. But one pegasus couldn't just sit and do nothing while something evil like that was in the forest, possibly hurting other ponies. Telling her friends of her idea to go out towards the noise and make sure everypony was ok, Rainbow Dash sped into the air and then out towards the muck filled battleground that held Samus and the hydra. Samus stood with her arm cannon smoking and the hydra thrashing in front of her out of the pain caused by her point-blank range charged wave beam. By this point the private had been brought to a safe spot away from the Hydra and the Lieutenant had made his way back to stand beside Samus. The beast let loose another defiant roar before setting its attack in motion. The twin heads separated into two different attacks meant to divide Samus and the pegasus guard pony with one head attempting to catch the lieutenant in its teeth and the other clamping down onto a close tree and then ripping it from the ground. Samus gave a quick glance towards the lieutenant in fear of him being overwhelmed by the attack but was rewarded with the sight of him nimbly dodging to the side and then continuing to lead the head around the bog lake-side. Turning her attention immediately back to the now armed head, Samus witnessed it lean back slightly before whipping forward and then releasing the tree like a projectile. Leaping to her right, Samus evaded the wooden bullet and brought her cannon to aim directly at the creature which was in the process of picking up one of the boulders that littered the area. An idea came to light in the bounty hunter’s mind and she began to charge a diffusion missile, but did not fire until she knew the opportunity had presented itself. Rearing itself back to full height, the head clenched in its maw a massive and oozing boulder easily the size of a two story building. Samus kept the missile contained within her cannon and the sights trained on the mouth. The head began its backward movement again, attempting to repeat the whiplash maneuver for its deadly speed. This was the moment she had waited for, the second the head began its arc she released the charged missile aimed directly for where she knew the head would be in half a second. The creature came back in its movement, halfway through its attack when the missile impacted the stone in its mouth and ruptured the rock giant. The results were as gruesome as the first, with the boulder acting as a contact point, the “shrapnel” exploded in all directions within the creatures soft and exposed mouth. It died instantly, unable to regenerate like the first as it had not been cut off but instead merely losing large chunks of its brain cavity and jaw. Samus took no time to revel in the victory as she saw the lieutenant still in his own fight trying to just survive the constant onslaught from the lone head. Her eyes widened in fear when she saw the lieutenant make a mistake in his flying, too distracted in his attempts to dodge another attack, he did not stop himself from ramming into a gnarled tree on the opposite end of the lake and slip to the ground in a daze. The head broke into a wide grin and reared back with a furious roar before descending upon the stunned pony. Samus broke into a full sprint, but could not suppress the knowledge that the head was far closer and faster at the moment than she was. A flash of light, a scream of defiance and an opposing shriek assaulted her senses almost simultaneously. She rose a hand to cover her visor for a brief second before lowering it to see the private standing above his fallen comrade, horn still aglow with fierce magic and his face set in grim determination. Samus could see the monster had a new scorch mark etched upon its face, this brought along something new however. Instead of instantly going for an attack again, the head began to rise, but this time it wasn’t straight up and gracefully like was before with the necks stretching to their limit. This time she could feel the tremors as something gargantuan moved beneath the lake's surface. Miniature earthquakes rocked the floor as the head seemed to partially distance itself away from the group, heading towards a different shoreline that would allow its body to rise from the depths. Not keen on allowing the creature to fulfill its plan, Samus took aim and opened fire with her arsenal but stopped soon after as it seemed the head had quickly developed the ability to dodge outright fire. She would have to take it out methodically like the rest, which meant waiting and watching for the mistake that would open a hole in its defenses. Carefully sidestepping to the downed lieutenant and recently arrived private, Samus kept a trained eye on the slowly rising Hydra. The beast towered above the tree canopy, scraping the sky with its vicious head, sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight like ivory windows. After reaching the conscious grasping pegasus Samus activated her scanner and took a quick check up on his vitals. Although he had suffered nothing more than a concussion from the crash, the fact that he was now a dead weight unsettled Samus. The private eyed her expectantly, needing an answer as to his befallen friends status. Giving a nod and a thumbs up, Samus made a point to express how he was to stay with his comrade using familiar gestures. The unicorn froze for a moment, his time already spent on the sidelines filling him with a dreaded guilt; now he was being ordered to repeat it and leave his current commander to fight a possessed Hydra solo. He quickly shook out of it though, his guard training kicking in and obliterating his thoughts of disobeying orders. He may have felt against the action but most of the time spent at any sort of military training is used to drill the undying devotion to ones commanding officer into one's instinct. If he told you to jump off a cliff you would salute, grab your gear then go down like it was your destiny. The unicorn gave a stern nod, turned to face the hostile Hydra then slowly began to edge his way backwards until he was standing defensively over his brother-in-arms once again. Something disturbed the bounty hunter as she studied the defensive stance the giant myth had taken up. The creature had been nothing but completely aggressive in its attacks ever since it first struck. Not a single moment was spared where it wasn’t attempting to beat them with simple, brutal tactics. Now... now it was standing back, almost seeming to wait for its opportune moment. Samus realized with a start that that was exactly what it was doing. Not many times had she gone against something that actually learned from mistakes like that. The Hydra had realized nothing conventual could be done offensively against her, so it opted to try being defensive and maybe take her on in a counter attack. Smart... if it had any chance of working. She had been through more disgusting monsters and their onslaughts then most people have heard about in stories. She was the ultimatum for destruction of evil creatures such as this, nothing stood in her way to protect the galaxy and eradicate beings like Ridley. If it wanted her to make the first move, she was going to give it one hell of a first move. Speeding above the tree canopy with the intensity befitting that of a Wonderbolt-expectant, Rainbow Dash began to feel the air around her condense and actually visually shift into the shape of a cone in front of her. But the velocity of her travel was the last thing on her mind. Her face portrayed grim determination, her sights locked onto the towering monstrosity that was attacking something on the ground level. Nothing, and she would make sure of it if it took her life, nothing was going to hurt anypony while she was around. The Element of Loyalty braced herself as she felt the barrier around her give way, shattering with an earth shaking boom. Prismatic light overtook her and everyone else's world in the area, bathing the land in a multi colored glow. This was all a bare second before she body slammed the head of the titanic beast into submission. The sonic boom and speeding projectile happened just as Samus began her rush to the Hydra with a charged wave beam in store. The wave passed over her body, forcing her to come to a stop if only to regain her disrupted footing. The sight of the Hydra being toppled by what looked like a super-sonic rainbow was, to say the least, confusing for the bounty hunter to take in at first. But not one to let an advantage go unused, she resumed her full sprint with full intent of unleashing the power collected in her arm cannon down the maw of the beast. Approaching the downed Hydra rapidly, Samus took note of the dazed multi-colored pegasus attempting to catch her bearings on top of the remaining head. This garnered further questions in her mind, this time much harder to ignore as she made the final strides towards her destination. Leaping the last of the distance, Samus brought down her arm cannon with full force, jamming it in the Hydra’s mouth with the brain directly in the line of fire. Samus let loose the collected wave beam energy that had built up in the arm cannon, allowing the shot to obliterate the little life left in the battle torn creature. The body began to fade out of existence, phasing in and out of physical being before finally being replaced by a floating orb covered in defensive spikes and holding a green core. When the body finally disappeared, the slowly catching up pegasus fell from her no longer existing flooring, landing on the shoreline with a grunt of surprise. What her eyes first met when she looked back at her last position was the floating parasitic orb and a small collection of X parasites, at first hovering slowly, but then eventually opting to ram the nearest living creature. Rainbow Dash yelped in fear, quickly rolling out of the way as the core parasite sped past her, scraping the ground barely inches from her body. Whipping her head around to once again face the parasite, Rainbow saw the parasite turn and once again make a rush towards her prone form. Almost immediately afterward, Samus stepped in and launched a missile towards the parasite, exploding on impact and even causing the creature to shift slightly in color. The pegasus couldn’t help but stare at the destructive display, the explosive sound wave and brilliant light filling her senses with adrenaline pumping action. Her eyes remained wide and her mouth fixed itself open as Samus set out easily dispatching the orb with a few well timed missile shots as well as absorbing the remaining X parasites. After the final shot, the carapace surrounding the green core shattered exposing it to the outside in a temporary daze. Samus leapt into the remaining upgrade parasite. Samus felt the power course through her suit and body, the upgrade bringing newbound energy and a fiery glow that seemed to erupt in her arm cannon. Feeling the purpose in her new ability, Samus pulled her arm cannon back, allowing the dancing flames to burst into destructive life as she activated her missiles. Allowing the technology to charge, Samus shot a smirk at the still gawking pegasus before releasing the explosives upon five different trees she had already targeted within her H.U.D. The result was a simultaneous firing of five different missiles, all with their own predetermined target. Samus watched as the trees ruptured in a shower of ice and wood, bathing the area in dust and earning a legitimate grin from the lone human. An alien creature floated through the equally haunting forest. Accompanied by none, searching for prey in its quest to overtake all. Recently released from its swamp host, the being silently made its way through the dark wood with single minded thoughts. Hoofsteps began to echo in what was once an area occupied by a lone predator. The yellow blob halted in mid air, searching for the source of this new noise. The steps grew louder, determined and without fear. The ambience of the forest only built up by this addition, almost as if it carried a dark weight, malevolent in intent. The floating creature began moving once more when it located the direction the sound was coming from, reaching out to meet it halfway for assimilation. It was stopped soon after, unable to even twitch. Not only a dark magenta glow surrounded the creature on all sides, but also a power of a different kind, owned by a much more ethereal being. The blob persisted, attempting to move and infect. Attempting to destroy and replicate. And when a body began to match with the now adjacent hoofsteps, its instincts were driving it mad with desire to feast and kill and renew. A shadow loomed over the pony silently watching the immobile alien, only giving a slight gesture before retreating out of sight. The pony immediately began to comply, bringing out a glowing jar and lid before snapping the alien inside it for containment. A dark grin placed itself on the unicorns mouth as it began its trek back into the dark forest. Shadows pulling in on its body, and whatever life around it slowly decaying. “You’ll have fun. You and them. Even with his ice." A/N: Ok so ending comment, I am sorry to my editor/pre-reader but after months of delay I just decided to upload this. Most of this story has already been combed through by him but the last two thousand or so words have not. Sorry if the writing isn't up to par but I really wanted for this to actually see the light of day. Also, the Hydra here has three heads, not four. I don't believe this should cause any major issues considering it seems Hydras can have as many heads as they dang please. Chapter 7: DiffusionChapter 7: Diffusion This story begins during the Neo-Ridley fight in Metroid Fusion. Metroid is owned by Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. Major thanks to Pissfer for amazing ideas, editing and awesome-ifying it. Before you read I’d just like to thank the lot of ya who decided to stick through this half-assed march through sci-fi narrative. I’ll see ya when I see ya... oh, and also, be ready, for I am about to try comedy! “Damn that red light,” Samus entered with a sour thought when the glare of a nearby emergency light illuminated itself through her helmet. The portal collapsed behind her a moment later, leaving her to worry about the rest of the mission. Taking note of her suit’s systems she saw her energy reserves were at full, she even still had the upgraded missile system given to her by the hydra. She glanced upwards as she heard the sporadic sound of something zooming overhead, finding it to be an X-Parasite orb which must have been expelled from the Ridley clone. Just as those before, it moved randomly through the air before it seemed to notice her and came to a stop. The silent being wasted no time in charging her with its spiked carapace on full display. Samus, in return, gave it a smile. She couldn’t take any more of this. The gargantuan claws, tearing and ripping at her. Nothing could hurt it. Nothing could stop it. The Omega Metroid was a beast of utter reckoning, and without her ice beam, she was helpless to fight it. It gave another roar from where it stood before slowly advancing upon her again. Alarms were blaring in the background with an orbital impact warning. She raised her head, peeling her eyes from staring at the cool ground beneath her feet. She saw it inch closer and closer, but she also saw what came next. The X-Parasite, the SA-X to be exact, materialized above them before dropping down into its suit form and standing defensively before Samus. Without missing a beat it began firing upon the Metroid, tearing at its flesh with terrific power. The SA-X stalked forward confidently, a constant salvo of energy spewing from her cannon. However, she got within arm’s reach and the Metroid immediately brought a claw forward and swiped at the parasite, striking it far back and destroying much of its organic armor. The SA-X dissolved into its parasitic form, but instead of running, floated directly above Samus. She knew what it meant, even though she could not understand why. Without dwelling on the puzzling behaviour she forced her legs to obey her, she strained against the exhaustion and vaulted into the parasite, absorbing its abilities and energy in a split second. She hit the ground on her feet, an orange variant of her Fusion Suit materialized around her form and the tiring lack of energy swept away in a torrent of power for the second time in as many hours. She felt everything flooding back into her; her arm cannon held the ice beam, her suit held the resistance, and everything felt right. She looked back up at the Omega Metroid. One of its claws extended, the beast swiped at the air then gave a roar before shuffling forward once more. Samus took one more look over on her suit and noticed the pastry still painted on the palm of her hand; dutifully staying attached despite the literal physical change of armor. She smiled at it before setting to work against one last pest. The explosion was not heard within her shuttle. The blinding burst of light from the colossal impact was her only sign that the collision had occurred. Samus slowed her ship down before setting it to autopilot and sitting back to rest her head. She let loose a collected breath she didn’t realize was there, the sound and feeling reminding her that she was alive. The anxious feeling of getting to her ship while the timer counted down to titanic death had sent her heart racing. Not only had she been forced to wait and watch it come into dock, but then she had to rush inside and manually blast it back out where it came in within the ten or so seconds she had left. Her eyes wandered to the console, the A.I. within bringing her back to her old commander. “That perfect military mind... The wisdom of Adam Malkovich continued to serve even after death. Until today, I had no idea that the minds of leaders and scientists were frequently uploaded to computers. My incredible reunion with Adam may have saved the universe... But how will the beings of the universe view our resolve? I doubt they will understand what we did... the danger we barely averted. They will hold tribunals and investigations. They will hold us responsible. Adam understood this, and he spoke to me in my anger...” A voice spoke up from her memory, “Do not worry. One of them will understand. One of them must.” “I’ve reflected upon his words, and I see the wisdom in them. We are all bound by our experiences. They are the limits of our consciousness. But in the end, the human soul will ever reach for the truth... This is what Adam taught me. Just one detail still bothers me. This ship can only be started manually. Yet, before I faced the Omega Metroid, the ship moved on its own, guided by someone’s hands. Is it possible,” she spoke aloud, “Adam...?” The console lit up as words flared on the screen, “Lady, what’s troubling you? You wonder how I started the ship? Just think about it. They lent me a hand...” Samus shifted in her seat and looked behind her. Seated together, in the corner of the ship, lay the animals she had freed from the space station. She hadn’t realized they were there in her haste. Not only that, but she finally figured out where she remembered them from. They were the same animals she had saved from the destruction of Zebes. She switched back to face the front, her mind frozen from the sheer impact that one act of kindness has had upon her life. Those animals, along with the mind of Adam had been the saviors of both her and possibly the galaxy. She laughed. It was beautiful, laughing for the first time in what seemed like years. Her voice resounded inside the cabin, the waves of it pouring out of her soul in a flow of angelic sound. She laughed until she was curled into her seat and crying. It was done. She killed Ridley, destroyed the X-Parasite, brought the space station down upon the planet and even managed to save some wildlife while at it. Her two reddened eyes found themselves drawn to the cupcake painted on her hand. She hadn’t noticed before, but it seemed to glow with whatever residual magic might’ve been held within. “And,” she whispered, “I made some friends along the way.” She took ahold of the controls and pushed the throttle forward, “mission accomplished.” A/N Thank you all for joining me on this fantastic ride of fantastic...ness. It's been quite the journey hasn't it? Seemed like Samus may have been at the end of her rope a few times but she always prevails, aye? Well, I know this chapter was short but I couldn't have put much more in without it just be useless filler. I like how the ending turned out, but this mostly stems from the fact that I like how I had actually put the effort I should have originaly into this. This story was fully planned out to be the best it could be after the chapter two fiasco. Now that it's done I think I can rightly say, "mission accomplished". Love all you people who stuck through till the end, and I hope you'll join me on my next literary crusade within the lands of equine. This has been Sixinthehood, your friendy, neighborhood wackjob, signing off. p.s. Oh, and I also should probably mention I'm planning on "re-writing" this after I finish my second story (not Memorie's of The Eye of Twilight) so that it doesn't sound so crappy in the first few chapters. Chiao. Chapter 6: IdenticalChapter 6: Identical This story begins during the Neo-Ridley fight in Metroid Fusion. Metroid is owned by Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. Major thanks to Pissfer for amazing ideas, editing and awesome-ifying it. Music added for enjoyment/atmospheric effect. As stated before, by clicking onto the links to music you agree to not mention “poni poni poni” on the persons video. They were nice enough to put in the work of getting the music on Youtube, at least show them respect by just commenting on how the music is good and not on how you got to it. Princess Celestia couldn’t help but feel anxious for the unit’s return. Tracking down the X Parasite was a big responsibility, and the added variables of aliens, homicidal creatures and rampant growth didn’t help the situation any further. But she did find solace in that one being of great power had come out of this on her side, declaring itself the destroyer of things such as Ridley or the parasite, and the bane of evil. Although she did feel slightly apprehensive at this new being’s words, she couldn’t help but feel impressed at how it seemed to live up to them. Everything it did was methodical, tactical and to the point. This was exemplified by its conduct throughout this violent quest to protect her citizens, being nothing less than a mechanically precise hunter. Celestia shook her head, she kept forgetting her own words when it came to the alien. She had a gender and she had a name. The self proclaimed bounty hunter went by the strange name of Samus Aran, and the princess did her best to make sure anypony in on the operation knew to treat her like any other equal being; respect went a long way. Her mind did a double take for a moment when she noticed her sister looking at her questioningly, as if awaiting an answer. She realized that her mind must have been wandering when Luna had begun speaking. “I’m sorry, Luna. I didn’t catch that.” Her sister rolled her teal eyes, then repeated the question, “We asked if thy had any doubts as to this outworlder. We find herquite trustworthy and heroic considering her actions thus far.” Celestia had to stop and think about this question of trust for a moment. This alien being had appeared into their world alongside the vicious and carnivorous Ridley. Although this alone is cause for speculation, she could not rule out the deep hatred that emanated from Samus when Ridley was mentioned. Near the end of the fight in the ballroom when she had finally reached the brawl and intervened, she could sense the solid anger that poured from the very hunter’s soul. This was enough for her to know that Samus was not in league with the shrieking creature. But something still held a nagging doubt in her mind as to Samus’ loyalties beyond “mutual enemy”. She had to wonder, if it weren’t for the fact that they were both fighting against Ridley, would Samus still have been their ally? And if not... then could they stop her? A commotion at the edge of the clearing brought Celestia back to attention along with her sister. Striding out of the dark woods was the bounty hunter in question, two ponies assisting a third just behind. Celestia recognized this limping pegasus as the lieutenant of the group and couldn’t help but wonder at how he had become injured during the search for a single parasite. “Welcome back, I trust you eliminated the parasite and that there is a reason for this pegasus’ injury,” Celestia inquired as she approached the advancing group. Closing in to the group also was the other five Elements of Harmony who had seen their friend enter the clearing. “Yes, ma’am,” came the reply from the unicorn private who was left assisting the pegasus after Rainbow Dash left to talk with her friends, “and Lieutenant Spear was injured during a fight with a Hydra. Hit a tree and got knocked out cold.” “Don’t say it like that,” Faithful Spear harshly whispered into his comrade’s ear, “makes me sound like an idiot.” Celestia on the other hand, was displaying a look of slight horror. “A Hydra. And you fought it? Where? And is it still here,” She exclaimed, choosing to ignore the fact that the Lieutenant had flown into a tree. Spear spoke up, deciding to give the newer guard a way out of being debriefed by a mildly-shocked sun goddess. “Yes ma’am, a Hydra. I know it sounds crazy that there was one here, but it seems the X Parasite found it first and killed it before cloning, just like Samus said they do.” Samus gave a quick nod to confirm. “She also ended up taking it out in its swamp home at least two kilometers north of here.” Celestia grimaced at the idea of killing such a large and rare being, but knew it was for the best if it had just been the ravenous clone of an already dispatched Hydra. “From what we could tell, all X Parasites had been eliminated.” This perked her mood somewhat, knowing that more likely than not, they could continue on their mission to dispose of the bringer of death upon her peaceful land. Turning her head to her lunar counterpart, she gave a nod to confirm the job’s completion. Luna did likewise, then pointed her horn to the sky. Closing her eyes in concentration she slowly built power into her horn, peaking with a blinding indigo aura. Her eyes opened and instead of the teal irises there was nothing but a radiating white glow. Celestia looked to the night sky and saw the change, the majority of the stars remained in their places but a small collection had been brought together and brightened to a remarkable scale. If one were to even glance at the sky they would be awarded with what looked to be a diamond, out of place but shining brighter than possibly even the sun itself. This was the signal for the guards to return, already prepared in case of night operations. "Lieutenant?" Celestia spoke up, distracting everyone from the radiating night sky. “Yes, ma’am?” “Bring the Elements of Harmony here immediately, and while I am speaking to them gather the guards. They should all return momentarily.” With the Lieutenant gone in compliance with the Princess’ command, Samus was left standing near the cave mouth along with the two princesses and Private Enchanter. A question crossed her mind and after a second of contemplation she decided it was the right time to discuss their plan of attack in accordance with the cave and subsequent tunnel. Twilight still couldn’t believe it. Even after hearing it come directly from her mentors mouth she couldn’t fully come to grips with it. Even after rationalizing it as true and necessary she still couldn’t believe that she was being tasked to go with her six friends and the alien creature to destroy the monster Ridley without Princess Celestia by her side. Celestia had given her the reasoning, and she even understood it, “Samus herself requested to travel in small groups to reduce battle confusion and the possibility of friendly fire. From what she has said, she has been in similar situations to this many times in her life and being flagged by high numbers of personnel has only hindered her performance in the past. We will be scouring the mountainside in search for any openings or X Parasites.” The worst part was that it made sense to her. The reasoning and logic behind were solid and as they have had no experience in this sort of thing, it was best to listen to the only creature here who was actually trained. Trained to kill. Alien in biology and customs it seemed. One would never find that kind of training in Equestria, no matter how much the world outside the country begged to differ. Twilight looked to her sides as the barrier flared back to life behind them, casting the small group in a somber pink shadow. She saw her friends, the ponies as close to family as they could be, all standing on the razor’s edge, all wearing masks of grim determination. What terrible lies those masks were. Even she, the shut-in book worm, could tell they had no idea what they were doing. That their mettle would be tested and that the dark thought of possible death hung to their minds. She could almost picture the scythe poised over each of them, ready to slash down and claim a life at any given mistake. It made her want to vomit. To cry in a corner and long for her peaceful library and quiet town. But when she cast her eye over the bounty hunter, she saw something different. She didn’t see a fake mask, wrought with the signs of cowardice. Instead she found herself gazing upon a disturbingly calm face. The look that spoke volumes of expertise, forged through countless days of living in this endless veil of impending doom. It shared its serenity with her and the rest of her friends as they looked upon it, revitalizing them with newfound strength and the willingness to take that first step forward. That first step into darkness. The cave tunnel reminded Samus very much of her battles through the subterranean environments on Zebes. The dark, with just a purple tint playing off the walls from Twilight’s spell, and the bitter foreboding. Down in the depths she didn't know what to expect next. Would she run into The Crocomire and be forced into a barbaric shoving match? Or would she be trapped underwater with the space pirate Draygon? Samus banished these thoughts into the corners of her mind; best not to think of anything that could hinder oneself while on a mission. She took a look behind herself while continuing the trek along the otherwise-plain tunnel. She saw the ponies, all trying their best to falsify a brave face. She didn't think any less of them for it. This was probably their first mission and they had full right to be afraid of the monstrous task ahead of them. Turning her head forward once more, Samus continued the thought. Of course, she knew that she would probably do most of the fighting anyway. One-on-one she could win against Ridley. Of course it took all of her skill and cunning to do so, but after beating him several times in the past it had become routine for her. That didn’t stop the adrenaline from pumping at his sight, however. He wasn't one to underestimate: he became a space pirate leader for a very good reason. Samus felt something soft under her heel and paused to inspect it. "What is it, Ms. Samus." She ignored the question as she quickly switched to her scanner to get a better look at the blue goop underfoot. What the results came back with were shocking to say the very least. As she returned to full height she ordered everyone into a shield by Twilight then blasted the spot with a missile. Rubble sat at the bottom of the small pit created by the explosive. The substance either destroyed or buried. The ponies exited the shield with nothing short of absolute confusion. But Samus immediately charged ahead at a sprint, ignoring all the questions directed to her. Her mind was too busy with her own, "how could that be here?" As they traveled down the tunnel, they found an opening above them that could have also been used by Ridley. After careful consideration, the group decided splitting up was the best way to find him. The Elements of Harmony would continue down the current path and use their superior numbers to their advantage while Samus would take the above path alone. Although they were all reluctant to follow this decision, no-one could think of a better way. Samus rolled as she landed at the top of the shaft. Looking back down she could only see darkness, the ponies having already moved on. She looked back ahead and began carefully making her way forward. Her thoughts dwelled on the fact that once again she was alone, surrounded by darkness and hunting down a monster. Not that it disrupted her mindset too much, but after a lifetime of solo missions, losing families and seeing allies die, she didn't mind company to stick by her side. This conflicted with her own suggestion to battle Ridley in few numbers, something she was acutely aware of, but in her mind the mission came first. Loneliness could wait. Twilight and her friends followed Samus steadily down the tunnel, her horn lighting the path for her friends to see and strengthening the fact that they were together in this. Of course they were still frightened, the cave was dry, dark and held nothing of the fun and love that they were used to. Even Pinkie Pie, the party-going smile enthusiast remained straight haired, sans grin. "T-twilight?" The unicorn barely heard the word, even in the silence. "Yes, Fluttershy?" She glanced back and saw the yellow pegasus with her body threatening to curl up defensively. "Um, I know we already talked about this, and I'm so sorry for asking again, but when we find... find-" "Ridley," She finished for her. "Um, yes, Ridley. When we find... him, will we just use the Elements and it will be done?" She shrunk three sizes as she talked, slowly devolving into a quivering ball of fur and flesh. Twilight let out a sigh at this, if only there was actually a straight answer. She didn't actually know the effects of the Elements on Ridley. No-one did, not Celestia, not Luna, not even Samus could know if they would work. And that's what she told her, truth and all, they were going in blind with hope as their only companion. Eventually they came upon a severed wall, a jagged opening running through it that was easily the size of Ridley. The ponies each gave a gulp as they looked at the thick stone, sliced apart as if made of clay. Looking at each other they silently made their way, one at a time, through the makeshift doorway. It didn’t take them long to gather up on the other side and silently observe their surroundings. The wall had been separating the tunnel from a massive, dome-shaped cavern. The ceiling was shrouded in darkness and stalactites extended just low enough to make out. The ground lay misshapen under various holes and rubble but the most notable feature was the giant cracks which looked as if formed from something gigantic stomping its feet. The six ponies followed the trail with their eyes, and what they saw partially hidden at the end caused Twilight to throw up a silencing spell around them. The action could not have cut it closer, as at the same moment she did, Rarity and Fluttershy had both released glass shattering screams. The ponies inside still heard them, but the crouching Ridley remained unaware of their presence. Twilight was about to turn around and reprimand them for the mistake when an earth rumbling boom shook shook the cavern. All the ponies looked up to see the source of the explosive sound. At first it seemed nothing would come of it, but not even a second later the ceiling above them ruptured, releasing a shower of stone. The grey and motionless tunnel led to nothing more than another grey and motionless room. If you could even call it that. The ceiling was high enough, concealed in darkness with jutting stalactites as decor, but one could barely walk five feet before they hit the opposite wall, and even less for the other two sides. Samus did a quick scan of the room, not even bothering to look at the probably barren cavern roof, and came up with nothing. Not a single exit besides the way she just came in, and not a single form of life. Yelling in frustration Samus kicked at the wall beside the entrance causing a large crack to spring in place. She had left the ponies alone. Against Ridley no less. She felt like dirt. Even worse than dirt, she felt despicable, how could she have been so brainless? Of course splitting up meant more coverage in a search, but how could she expect them to fight Ridley? She turned to leave the area and attempt to quickly find the equines, hopefully before Ridley did. That’s when she heard the tell-tale shriek. Not even able to turn her head in time, she felt a massive object slam into her, pile-driving her into the ground. The rock gave way like paper, allowing the attacker to continue using its weight and gravity to send Samus hurtling through another small cavern before colliding and then tearing through another level of rock. Samus got a quick look at the hostile. Ridley. Of course it was Ridley, she hadn’t even bothered checking the ceiling, and of course he would have hid there. Now, due to her negligence, she was being subjected to a multi-level tumble through space and solid stone with the beast driving her down the whole way. After blasting through the second floor she caught sight of something horribly unexpected: the pony group was now standing opposite another Ridley clone in the large room she was passing through. A moments glance was all she could witness though, as the combined weight of herself and Ridley brought them quickly to the bottom of the cavern and then through it into the black void. The moment Samus hit the ground for a third time she jammed her arm-cannon into Ridleys abdomen and then let loose a quick trio of missiles. The point-blank explosives tore the bounty hunter out of his grip and into true free-fall while the space pirate attempted to swipe at its burning mid-section. Taking a quick look around Samus could see nothing but darkness in their ever increasing decent and the form of her opponent. Taking advantage of her brief moment of escape from his clutches, Samus charged a wave beam and took aim for his maw. Ridley slashed forward in an attempt to disrupt the hunter but missed by mere inches when she flinched to the side. His miss gave her the opportunity to release the beam directly towards his head, tearing away bits of flesh and forcing him to back away into a defensive stance. Samus decided to put more distance between herself and the monster by spreading her limbs and slowing her fall slightly, giving her a height advantage and allowing her to shoot straight down at him. In this position he could only dash the distance between her and him if he decided to make himself vulnerable for the split second it took to bring his wings out. Ridley himself flung his body horizontally so he was facing her as he charged a fireball of his own while she was orienting her own body to face him. Samus saw this and began firing her wave beam rapidly. Unable to get enough hits off, she was struck by his discharged fireball and slammed into the chasm wall by the force. Her body began rapidly gyrating, quickly disorienting her before being caught by Ridley who let out a shriek a foot from her face. With his free claw Ridley began to slash at the metal body, his movement was slowed by the wind resistance but he was still able to get a few hits off before Samus brought herself together and then blasted the hand holding her with a missile. His hand was forced open and Samus followed it up with another pair of missiles to his maw. One of the projectiles sailed past, smacking into the wall and breaking apart giant chunks of rock while the other hit home right between his eyes causing a shriek to ring out and his skeletal body to glow a deep red. Anger seemed to fuel his movements as he immediately retaliated with a ferocious body slam, pinning Samus against the wall where she rapidly grinded out a trail of solid stone from the jagged pit. The Fusion suit systems began blaring red in alert to her rapidly depleting energy reserves, Samus ignored it per usual as it didn’t help to be reminded in a fight that you were losing. However, she realized this meant she had only a few moments to get Ridley to back off before her suit failed. Smashing the wall with one hand, she released a shower of various stones into the fall. Quickly selecting one she grasped it then drove it into Ridleys eye, eliciting a pained shriek and the reflexive defense stance from both his arms. Samus immediately grasped one of his claws and then pulled herself towards him, getting herself within touching distance of his head. Once close enough, she charged a diffusion missile then abruptly shoved it past his groping claws directly into his gaping mouth. The missile tore through his jaw and skin, erupting from his mouth in a shower of crystals and blood. The explosion rocked his body and sent a grand echo throughout the chasm, shaking rocks loose from their foundries along the walls. Ridley’s body went limp, his face massacred and his jaw completely unhinged from his skull, he had no energy left to fight. But Samus didn’t stop there, his body hadn’t disintegrated, he hadn’t died yet. Looking below, Samus caught sight of the floor in the seemingly endless void of darkness. In the middle rested a giant stalagmite, almost out of place in its resemblance to a medieval trap. Grasping his midsection with both hands, Samus flung Ridley’s form between her and the rapidly approaching end of the bottomless pit. Straightening her figure, her feet struck his torso, driving it faster into descent. The blow stirred the space pirate somewhat, causing him to catch a glimpse of the end of their fall. Looking back at Samus he let out a shriek like none she had ever heard. A cry filled with fear, anger, but most of all, pain. It was desperate. But Samus matched it wholeheartedly, the floor not even a hundred feet below them, she screamed with all her might. Putting every ounce of her energy and strength into the battle cry, she kept herself stable upon the horizontal body. The ground approached, less than twenty feet, and both warriors were still screaming. Every pony in the room was stunned, too shocked to speak or even properly think. They had just witnessed another Ridley crash through the ceiling and then floor of the cavern while battling Samus. It didn’t help that the first Ridley was standing not fifty feet away from them. It also didn’t help when he turned his head and noticed the group standing huddled in the sound bubble, mouths agape and thoughts scattered. Twilight’s mind came back to the task at hand, noticing a leering Ridley across the room. “Girls! Move! Quickly!” This pulled the girls out of their stupor, all except Fluttershy, who was still cowering on the cavern floor, mumbling to herself. The space pirate let out a well-known shriek and launched itself into the air, tearing up pony sized boulders in his talons’ wake. The five standing ponies panicked. Within seconds they would be set upon by the beast, and they knew it. Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have this though and gave a quick nod to Twilight before blasting off at Ridley, the afterimage of a rainbow in her wake. “Rainbow, wait!” By the time Twilight had finished calling out her friend’s name, the speedster had already traversed the room and was keeping Ridley busy. Twilight fed off her friend’s bravery, turning to speak to the group, “alright, listen up. We need to use the Elements but we can’t if Fluttershy is quivering on the ground like this. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, you focus on coaxing her out. Applejack, you’re with me.” As another shriek rent the air, the girls looked over to the battle between pegasus and dragon. A blue blur whipped about the alien creature, its erratic swipes getting closer and closer to his target, “I don’t think she can keep this up much longer.” “Alrighty, lets go get this flying, no-good varmint!” “We shall have her up and ready in no time at all!” “Yeah, no harder than baking a cake. Take too long and the cake could get burned! Except here, we’re the cake, and it’s not very funny.” Splitting apart, the group set about their tasks quickly. Pinkie and Rarity attended to the shaking pegasus while Applejack and Twilight galloped towards the fray. The pair arrived in time to watch as Ridley caught Rainbow with a lucky swipe, knocking her out of the air. Catching the pegasus in a magical grip, Twilight charged a bolt of arcane energy, normally meant for powering equipment, but with an improvised twist. The pegasus hit the ground with a puff, but quickly prepped herself to takeoff once again, as the farmer dashed towards Ridley. Ridley landed, with the resulting boom cracking the stones underhoof. But if the miniature earthquake had been felt by the earth pony, she didn’t show it as she swiftly spun around to deliver a powerful buck to his midsection. Bringing his claw up to swipe away the newest combatant, Ridley was stopped by a searing second of pain as he was hit by Twilight’s spell. The distraction gave the orange apple farmer enough time to ram her hind legs into his gut, the blow sent a powerful wave through the aliens body and actually made him rock backwards on his legs. Not given a second’s rest, Ridley took another hit from the airborne pegasus, sending him toppling to the ground in a shower of stone. A whoop was given by farmer and flier alike while Twilight concentrated on readying another bolt. The two athletes took a moment’s rest when suddenly Ridley stuck out a claw and took hold of Applejack. Throwing the pony in his grasp at the unicorn, Ridley bought himself a moment to regain his footing before taking to the air after the pegasus. Rainbow Dash gave a quick yelp before attempting to retreat but soon found the air rammed out of her as Ridley crashed into her flying form. The fallen pegasus landed on top of her friends, eliciting grunts of pain from all three as they looked up in horror at the beast looming over them right when it released a terrifying shriek. The sound sent the cluster scrambling backwards if only to escape the painful sound. Determined to not let her friends down, Rainbow Dash untangled herself from the pile and stood defensively before the space pirate, barring him from her friends. Not missing a beat, Applejack whirled back to face Ridley before speeding forward. Twilight was a little slower to recover, but faced him nonetheless, with a spell on mind and a charge in her horn. With a battlecry the two athletes charged Ridley and began assaulting him from all sides. Utilising their ability to strike in completely different places at once, the duo tag-teamed the much larger creature from any angle that presented itself. Hoof met hardened flesh and claw met air as Ridley was unable to even focus on a single pony. The confusion reached a crescendo when he was struck yet again by the searing bolt of energy from the unicorn, but this time it struck deeper, having been laced with ice magic. The vulnerable skin of the normally rock-hard pirate cut open instantly as the spell hit home on his shoulder. The pain stalled his movements for the briefest moment, allowing both Rainbow Dash and Applejack the time to body slam the beast back into the ground with an explosive boom rivaling even Samus’ artillery. The ponies kept at the brawl, kicking and ramming wherever they had the room too. The fight lacked the finesse of an admirable conflict, but with their lives and those of their friends on the line, they had no quarrel with fighting dirty. The team’s style fell apart as Ridley began slashing repeatedly in any given direction he could, eventually pulling off a lucky hit, knocking Applejack into the nearby cavern wall. Rainbow Dash called out to her in worry, just to get knocked down herself while she was distracted. Rearing up onto his legs, Ridley shrieked down at the lone pegasus and opened his jaw to consume her. Catching a flash of light in his peripheral vision, Ridley spun to his side, narrowly avoiding another energy bolt of ice. Facing the unicorn, he kicked the downed pegasus towards her and managed to strike home, buying enough time to snatch up the dazed farm pony, holding her in a death grip. The two struck ponies lay in horrific silence as Ridley held their friend up in the air, murderous hunger in his eyes and his claws tightening slowly, they were helpless to watch as Ridley brought his maw down around Applejack. Then violently drop her with a shriek and deafening explosion filling the cavern simultaneously. The space pirate whirled on his feet, his body hiding what he was facing from the three ponies. He waited. One second. Two. Then let loose a sound above all the others, a sound of utter hatred and anguish, before streaking towards the offender with claws outstretched in reckless abandon. Another explosion rocked the cavern. The creature’s body was flung back as a purple metallic figure strode towards the downed ponies. Each let out a surprised gasp, they had seen her fall. They had seen her crash into the depths with another Ridley in tow, and yet here she was, clad in her powerful armor and still fighting for the rest of them. Samus gave a quick nod towards the three ponies left out of combat before continuing to rain assault upon the weakening space pirate. Twilight knew what she meant and gathered her friends quickly before setting off to the other three to prepare for the final phase of the fight. The trio galloped immediately returned to the rest of the group, Fluttershy having finally snapped out of her episode of cowering. Rarity seemed to be in shock, the reappearance of Samus taking her by surprise, while they simply found Pinkie grinning from ear-to-ear. Twilight gave an encouraging nod to her friends as she spoke up, “alright girls, now that Fluttershy is back up and ready we can begin our phase of the fight.” She gestured to the jewelry splayed on their respective forms, each representing their power in harmony, untold energy pulsing with the friendship that each pony had for the others. They all nodded in turn. “As Samus distracts Ridley we will get into position and unleash the Elements of Harmony upon him. If all goes to plan, then that will be the end of this.” A look of concern crossed Rarity’s face. “And what, my dear Twilight, will happen if this does not go to plan?” Twilight didn’t skip a beat, “well I’ve developed several contingency plans just in case that one has failed. Plan B in this scenario would be if the Elements only weaken him, which would force us to join Samus into... eliminating him.” This brought about several crestfallen looks from her friends, they were hoping to not even think of that possibility. “Plan C would be if they had no effect whatsoever, then there wouldn’t be much we can do but allow myself and Samus to continue using Ice to try and weaken him, which would in turn lead back to Plan B.” Rarity kept on, “and you have knowledge of spells that will help make this happen, correct?” Twilight gave a solemn nod. Yes, she had studied for this. But she didn’t have to like it. Breaking up the rapidly dropping mood, Fluttershy spoke up for the first time that evening, “girls, I- I’m sorry, but we should hurry.” A few of the ponies looked back at the battle while the others glanced at Fluttershy in surprise, but all got the general idea and snapped to attentiveness. The Elements began to thrum with magic, eager to unleash their powers upon the unjust and wicked among them. Samus took a blow to the chest, Ridley took one to the leg. Each was blown back several feet before skidding to a halt, each began to feel the exhaustion set from the restless night. Samus could tell the suit was on its last legs, but she could also tell Ridley did not have much fight left in him either. A shriek and a yell erupted and the two clashed at one another again. Samus sent out a slew of missiles while Ridley tore chunks of rock out from beneath his claws in a mad dash. The two played cat-and-mouse as they usually did, complete with eruptions of stone and ice, Samus making her last-second evasions while Ridley persisted with constant mobile assault. Both showed their prowess to the utmost degree in the field of battle, dodging, counterattacking then leaping away again; it was nothing short of a spectacularly violent dance. The stone floor their stage and the movements of one another their tempo, each fought rhythmically, gaining and losing ground within moments, every twitch of muscle having profound repercussions on the fight itself. Ridley caught Samus with a sideswipe of his claw, then carried on the momentum with a swing of his tail. Being struck by the first, Samus was knocked over by the second and sent hurtling away and onto her back. Metal scraped on stone while the H.U.D. flashed red. Both Samus and her suit’s systems were dazed by the impact. The space pirate let out a terrific shriek then bounded toward her form. Halfway to the her prone body he was blinded by a flash of brilliant white light that bathed the cavern in a milky glow of radiating purity. Ridley looked for the origin of the light, faltering when he found the six ponies floating above the ground, enshrouded in an unearthly glow. The purple unicorn in the middle wore a tiara upon her head which was violently throbbing with its magic. Her eyes flashed upon and in them he saw more of the same light, only now it was intensified beyond comprehension. But he knew what this meant, this was their weapon, this was their Samus Aran. And he had to stop it. Letting loose a violent roar, Ridley sped forward in an attempt to stop the ponies. He’d barely started towards them when he found himself flying head-over-heels in the opposite direction. Samus was now standing in the spot he had been occupying not moments ago but she looked in no better shape than he. Struggling to stand, he and Samus stood staring at each other for but a moment before another explosion of light filled the battleground. Except this was of many colors, arrayed in a brilliant spectrum. Both warriors looked to the ponies in time to see the rainbow of power shoot out of their forms, join in the middle and then blast off towards them both. Samus watched as the beam sped to Ridley, it’s angle coursing for his torso with no time for him to avoid it. Samus watched as it neared, it’s warmth and thrum of energy accelerating in intensity as it approached. She then watched as it completely veered away from Ridley, and instead struck her body in a technicolor glow. She didn’t even have a moment to gasp before the harmonic magic overpowered her senses. Her body curled up instinctively, the power that coursed through her made it impossible to stand upright, her systems thrown into a panic by the sudden occupation. Inside she felt a stirring, a store of energy welling up within her. It took over her thoughts, driving away the pain and exhaustion from the ongoing battle. The energy transformed inside her, spreading across her like a pulsating wave. She felt it meld with the suit, with her very being, slowly becoming a power that she could not contain. Samus stood as the energy exploded outwards, allowing the energy to release into the air in a blinding crescendo of colors. Every crevice in the dark cavern lit up, every feature bathed in the glow, including the ponies and a stunned Ridley who had been expecting the beam to contact the beast directly. Now Samus stood erect, tall and fully rejuvenated. Her body felt like it was built for this, which wasn’t too far from the case. Her armor had transformed itself, now opting for a variant of her Light Suit, in which colours from throughout the spectrum adorned its shell. Although she did not take on a vibrant, rainbow color effect, they could still see the kaleidoscope of light reflecting off of her in a brilliant display of harmonic power. Samus took a moment to register this information, and found that along with her new suit came a vibrating collection of power within her arm cannon. She felt the warmth of it reach her arm as she looked back upon Ridley who was now taking steps toward her, a shriek rising up from his throat. Raising her cannon, she took aim and began charging the beam. But Ridley seemed to sense what was happening and what lie in wait inside the weapon, and instead immediately turned around and spat out another cluster of violet, plasma fireballs. Joining together a few feet ahead, they formed a portal of identical size to the original one that had brought them here. Turning for a moment to let loose a quick shriek, Ridley faced the portal then sped towards it. Samus met his cry with her own and allowed the charged shot to explode from the weapon in a clustered collection of color. The blast echoed throughout the cave, whipping the manes of the ponies as they stared in awe while the beam traversed the air between Samus and Ridley. The shot struck home in the small of his back, the burst radiating out over his wings and torso before enveloping him in a disintegrating light. As his body slowly fell into the dark abyss they saw it deteriorate into a rippling pile of flesh and gnarled bone before being swept away by the portals increasing current. All heads swiveled to Samus who was in the midst of another transformation. Her suit itself began fading away, as if the color was being sapped. The suit returned to its purple form a few moments later, having discharged all its energy into that one attack. Samus took a second to collect herself before staring into the portal. Through the door to black nothingness she saw her home, she saw all the death and destruction, the lies and corruption. She saw the true evil it had unleashed. And then she saw her parents; smiling, bidding her nothing but to do what makes her happy. What she believes is right. She saw the Chozo race, silent and steady. They had trained her for this. They had seen her through the worst years of her life, and molded her into an evil-hunting machine. Sure her universe was a vicious one, full of strife and everything she hated. But that was just it, it was her universe, and she had a job to do. She gazed back upon the ponies. The lives that had been almost torn asunder by the deeds of the X parasite. She felt as if she understood them, Ridley had done even worse to her, at least they would be able to keep those they love with them from then on. The portal began shrinking back down, slowly counting down to an ultimatum. Giving a salute to the ponies, Samus sprinted into the abyss as it collapsed, spotting a glaring red light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. A/N Sup you lovable Metroid nerds, you. I have returned with the sixth chapter. Now, before you all linch me I have to say one thing: This ending made the most sense! Now, what do I mean by that? Well I mean that considering Samus, the X-Parasite and everything leading up to this point, this ending was the only logical one. Not one where Samus has a sappy "goodbye" and certainly not one where she STAYS. I made a mistake when I made this story where I had attempted to tell My story, when in reality, you are supposed to do what makes sense. Especially with something as precious as this. So, I made the ultimate decision to have the final fight and then give Samus the only logical path home, the way she came in. Honestly, there should be no problem with this. But, I will say this. There is one more chapter, and those of you who have paid attention should come up with a solution to your woes. Now, I leave you guys with a little present, a deleted scene. At the start of this chapter I had REALLY wanted to finally kill somepony off so I tried to do it to the Private. But I found a problem, I had created too good of a failsafe solution for this earlier. I had literally used too much foresight earlier in the story making it so I could not actually murder the Private. I'll let you figure out what exactly this failsafe was. (Oh, and also, I absolutely hate post-editing this thing on FIMFiction, I have to manually go to each paragraph and REINSERT IT. I am literally spending like forty minutes or so just pressing tab on this dang thing.) DELETED SCENE “Tha...That was one of those parasites. Right? Wha-what happened to it? Where did it go!?" They couldn’t stop staring. The private slowly transitioning from horror to a stoic blank stare out into the decrepit wood. He couldn’t find the right words on the matter. Everything drew up blank in his mind, any sort of comforting phrase or even reassuring gesture just evaporated in his mind upon arrival. What could you say after what just happened? It was impossible to ignore it, and the rapidly approaching outcome, yet he could do nothing but stare blanking at the now silent forest. His presence the epitome of deathly quiet. Samus looked upon the two figures, a slight frown betraying her face. She wanted to look brave for this, to not have to show him that even someone like her couldn’t emotionally detach themselves from what was inevitably about to happen. Nothing could come from it though, her emotions broke through, showing to all two ponies within what seemed like the whole world that she was only human. She couldn’t find much to say either, not even a word managing to pass her lips. For her mind was gone, temporarily shouldered to the past, reliving each moment of dread that came before the eventual end. The sorrow. The pain. Everything shattering around her without a glimpse of hope. Why did this seem so frequent? The privates mind at first had raced in pure panic at his action. He leapt without thinking and sacrificed it all. He guessed that after almost losing one comrade, he cracked under the thought of losing another. He wasn’t frightened of the upcoming consequences for his decisions though, if anything he was... content. His mind replaying the earth shattering information all soldiers live one day for war by those around them, “the only way to live is to accept that you’re already dead.” That was it than. He was already dead. This was just the unveiling. Already he could feel it inside him. He could feel the change occurring rapidly, no time to think, no time to talk or even regret the things that had brought him here. For what was he if not another collection of life and tissue for the beast within? He brought his eyes down to bear upon the pegasus prone beneath him, latching onto hers, not pleading but instead just solemnly confirming in his own mind that she was still there. Just bringing the acknowledgment to mind that he had done his job. That the consequences weren’t all so grim. One nod to her. Then one to Samus. Stepping away from the rainbow pony, Private Star Enchanter kept his head high and proudly walked up to Samus with nothing betraying his thoughts. His hoofsteps struck the ground with purpose and his gait didn’t falter even as he approached his comrade-in-arms. Samus, on the other hand, had a hard time hammering down her sadness until her face showed nothing but a grim mask. Loss has come and gone for her before; her parents along with the entire colony on her home world, the baby metroid that sacrificed itself to save her from Mother Brain, Adam who had made the ultimate decision to do what was necessary for others to survive. This came at a new level though, a tribulation that no person would ever wish to carry through. But it had to be done, and not only that but it had to be done soon for neither she nor he wanted to stick around long enough to watch the parasite make its end. Samus switched her gaze onto the pegasus who was still unnerved, laying in confusion where the Hydra once was. Bringing up her hand, she motioned for her to turn around and walk away. The pegasus began to protest but the bounty hunter immediately brought her hand up again and did the same gesture only to add a harsh point at the end to solidify that things were done and she needed to leave. The mare grudgingly began to slowly trot away after picking herself up. She didn’t fully understand what was happening. She didn’t even understand what had happened to the giant monster she had rammed not too long ago. She could see it was gone, but instead of the victorious mood she had anticipated all she got was an atmosphere befitting the grim reaper. Everything pointed to something bad, something beyond her comprehension for the moment. Enchanter kept his eyes trained toward superior, resisting the urge to stare at the one he had saved and sacrificed so much for. He felt a hand slowly come down upon his head, resting there for reassurance, telling him that although they both knew what was going to happen, the best of any possible situation from this was going to be the outcome. He let his eyes waver, bringing them up to stare back into the eyes of his quickly made friend. Although he did everything to halt it, a tear broke free from in its path and ran down the side of his face. Leaning in slightly, he brought Samus in for a hug while looking up at the star filled sky. Memories washed back over him as he looked over a night he witnessed long ago. Just a foal with his dad, making a mark upon their bonding through a family map and an adventure. He remembered the one time he had come to here with his father. The time when he became so scared, he had fled the woods to return home only to be caught by his dad and then brought home properly. He always refused to revisit Nightmare Wood after that, he refused his father and his attempts at bonding through adventurous outings. He always wondered what it would have been like, to see him one last time before he had perished on one of his journeys, to tell him “yes” and bring back the smile that had soon completely abandoned the old stallion for years. Breaking from the embrace, the private closed his eyes and backed up a few paces before standing stock still, at attention and ready to end it before the parasite did. Samus brought her weapon to bear, her mind in overdrive to break through the emotional barriers and mechanize her thoughts. This was for him and this was for the world. The only way she could help him now was to not miss. She silently approached, the only sound warning him of her presence being the energy whirl of a charged wave beam. Samus angled the weapons to the side of his head, taking care to keep the metal from contacting his skin or fur. Before she let loose the collected energy, she heard a single sentence escape the unicorns lips with a choke, “ you think I did him proud?” She couldn’t guess at who he meant. Whether it was his father or his commander. Maybe he even meant for them both to be proud with what he’s accomplished. But it didn’t really matter who he meant specifically, because the answer was instantaneous and without a single doubt in her mind. “Yes.” Laying on the ground in a slight daze, the Lieutenant was forced to watch as his subordinate leapt above a downed pegasus, taking in the parasite that was making its way to her. He was stunned, his initial thoughts just a parade of no’s. His dizziness didn’t allow him to coherently piece together much else. But he still could understand the gravity of the situation in perfect clarity. He knew that the private, his comrade, his... friend. He was a dead pony. And nothing could fix that. His mind couldn’t take much more and blacked out for a few moments, trying to restore a sense of order in the chaos. He came back seeing the private exit an embrace with the alien before slowly stalking his way backwards and then standing still, eyes closed and muscles tensed. The lieutenant knew what he was doing. He knew what he was bracing for and he did not want to accept it. The lieutenant screamed internally for this to end, for it to not be true. But as Samus stepped closer, he couldn’t do anything but slowly accept it. Even his dazed brain could get that far, he just wish he could have last words with him. He just wished that instead of laying here, blacking out among the muck of a mutated bog, he was over there, comforting his savior and brother-in-arms to the best of his ability. But sometimes things don’t happen the way we want them to, and for him, this was one of those times. He slowly slid back to the ground, his head surrendering to the intense weight that seemed to be resting upon it, his eyelids soon following suit, closing just as a blast of energy tore asunder the dark serenity that had enveloped the swamp. Rainbow Dash was the first to make it back to the camp. All of her friends instantly materializing in front of her to receive news of what happened. Everypony clamoured for an explanation of the roar, what had befallen the ponies and human who had ventured into the forest and what she had done in her time. She didn’t give an answer though. Each question bouncing off of her hide as if she had gone deaf. Nothing mattered to her, she just wanted to sit. She just wanted to forget the atrocity she had just witnessed. Even if it was necessary. This unnerved everypony in the clearing. Rainbow Dash, self proclaimed fastest flier in Equestria and Element of Loyalty... was speechless. Not only that, but she seemed completely scarred, as if something terrible had transpired in that forest. The guards themselves at least knew of her and what she had done for Equestria, this alone caused them some worry seeing her in such a state. But for her closest friends and the princesses, it was like seeing a great flame snuffed out. And all they could do was stare as it flickered hopelessly, trying to grasp onto what little life was left. Eventually, the pink party pony decided to take it upon herself to free her “bestest-friend-in-the-whole-wide-world-and-maybe-even-universe-thingy” from whatever funk she had landed in (metaphorically or physically). Bouncing up to the cyan pegasus with extra spring in her bounce, Pinkie Pie took one last leap before slamming plot first in the ground not a foot away from Dash. Now on her haunches and at eye level with the mare, Pinkie Pie stared deep into the red abyss of color that was her friends oval eyes. Slowly, and with careful hoof work, she reached deep into her own mane before finding the object of choice and then dragging it from its temporary home. Never once did she leave eye contact as she took the now visible, red apple from her hair and then placed her other hoof upon it. Once the other appendage made contact, a flurry of movements commenced that would have made a crack addicted Flash jealous. When the almost literal dust settled, the pink mare had three smaller, yet impossibly whole, apples pasted to her flank with what appeared to be frosting. Apparently not finished, she then proceeded to reach down into her tail and then pull her hoof back out, this time with a stetson hat in tow. “Applejack, where is your-” “Trust me Twi, we both know the answer and I would rather just not acknowledge it for now...” This object came to rest upon her head. Checking over herself a final time, the mare looked back into her friend's eyes before grinning wildly and then bursting out, “hey, Dashie! Who am I?” Pinkie Pie suddenly sprang to her hind hooves and gave a great “YEEEEEHAAAAAWW” before touching back down on four limbs and speaking in a heavily accented southern drawl, “well Ah’ll be,” she spit once on the ground, “seems ta meh dat dere treh cood use a gewd buckin’. Workin’ hard and all dat.” Nearby, a pony of similar appearance gave a loud facehoof before turning to the pony adjacent. “I don’t sound like that, do I?” Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, sat silent for a moment longer. Unchanged and completely stoic, but it didn’t hold for long, and before Pinkie lost all hope that her antics didn’t get through to her shocked friend, the cyan pegasus gave a quiet snicker. “That’s Applejack alright... hat and all.” The response was deathly low, as if she was trying desperately not to be heard by anything outside of the two ponies circle. This was enough though. This sent the pink pony into an uncontrollable fit of joy. Leaping forward and scooping Dash into a hug, Pinkie Pie embraced her friend for what the small victory was worth. The widest of all her grins splayed out upon her face, and the happiest feelings danced in her heart. She had just made her friend smile, what else was there to life?
Chapter 1: MeetingChapter 1: Meeting This story begins during the Neo-Ridley fight in Metroid Fusion. Metroid is owned by Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. Major thanks to Pissfer for amazing ideas, editing and awesome-ifying it. Samus landed back on her feet and took aim at Ridley. This fight was taking its toll on her energy reserves and she didn’t feel like she could keep fighting him forever. But she also knew there was no way she was going to give up now. Ridley had been there from the beginning; he had killed her parents and had been hounding her since. Each time they fought she would always come out on top, but Ridley just never seemed to succumb to death. She had finally destroyed him in the depths of Norfair, but the body of one of his clones had somehow wound up in the Biological Space Laboratories space station. Now the recently escaped parasite X had taken control of his dead form and was engaging Samus in an all out brawl. The fight took its toll on the room as well. Many chunks of the floor were missing and parts of the wall were scorched, with many holes newly created, either from Ridley’s talons or Samus’ missed missile shots. Exposed wires were occasionally throwing out sparks, while a red light in the corner of the room was giving off an annoying glare. Samus ignored it though; if she didn’t keep her complete focus on this fight, she wouldn’t stand a chance. She sent another salvo of wave beams as Ridley came closer for another strike with his tail. The beams impacted and Ridley screamed in rage, striking the floor with his tail near Samus and moving to her position to impale her. Samus quickly morphed into her ball form and rolled out of the way, but not before leaving a power bomb in her wake. Ridley screeched even louder as the bomb exploded, tearing up some of the floor and blasting the walls in its superheated radius. Samus morphed back into her standing form and readied a diffusion missile, there wasn’t much smoke from the blast, but she wanted to make sure each shot found its way home. Ridley gave a tremendous flap of his wings to clear the air and bellowed with rage before rushing at Samus. His claws outstretched and his eyes were filled with fire, but Samus was too fast. Samus let loose the charged missile and leapt out of the way before Ridley could take hold of her. The missile found its mark and blew up in a shower of deadly ice. Samus didn’t wait to see the results however and sent out a barrage of wave beam bursts before finishing her assault with a charged shot. She heard the beams find their target and took a second to concentrate on Ridley’s current state. He was breathing heavily and tears could be seen all along his skeletal body. He looked as though his body had darkened, devolved to a more primal state, Samus braced herself for the retaliation that would be thrown her way. Just as she anticipated, Ridley screeched and let out a shower of plasma blasts. Each one tear shaped and pulsating with a purple aura. Samus hesitated for half a second too long after seeing this new attack, and was punished with a blow directly to the chest plate by the full force of one of the glowing fireballs. Samus was flung across the room, impacting the opposite wall and grinding her own organic suit against the cold metal and already burnt wires. She looked back up to see that the ball of plasma still hung in the air where it struck her. The ball was joined soon after by the others let loose by Ridley, as they stormed around the room in frantic circles and finally converged into the one spot. It started to expand as it absorbed more plasma, morphing from a simple tear drop to a small sphere… then a large ovoid, until a sizable part of the room was filled with the purple energy. Samus started to feel herself being pulled towards the sphere of plasma. She began to fight it, grabbing onto a plate that was still attached to the wall for support. But the attraction continued to increase, doubling, and even tripling in intensity, before getting to the point where she could barely take the pressure. She looked back, only to see Ridley fly towards the mysterious anomaly. He screeched one more time before entering the field of energy and disappearing, Samus gasped, realizing he had created an escape for himself. But before she could react, the wall she was holding on gave way, releasing her to the portal’s grasp. Time seemed to freeze for the split second while the wall gave way and Samus tumbled towards the portal. Samus’ blood ran cold and her heart skipped a beat as she realized that there was a strong possibility that this could be her end. The chances were slim that the ball of plasma wouldn’t outright kill her. And even if she did make it through, she had no idea what might be on the other side. Not to mention that Ridley would be there waiting for her. She saw flashing memories of her parents before their demise. Of the Chozo who had brought her in and trained her to be the bounty hunter she was today. Of the baby metroid that had adopted her as its mother and then sacrificed itself for Samus to have a chance at killing Mother Brain on Tourian. All the struggles in her life were about to be for nothing if this doorway were a lethal entity. Time sped up again and Samus was pulled into the dark construct, which subsequently imploded after swallowing her; leaving behind the war torn room and that glaring red light. Samus tumbled through darkness for a few moments in time. She felt weightless and could move unrestricted. She frantically searched about, looking for Ridley’s location. But all she could see was the never ending darkness; she could feel nothing around her in this seemingly infinite space. It felt like the first truly peaceful place she had been in for a very long time. But the moment was short-lived, however, as a bright flash of white illuminated the void in which she was residing, and was suddenly thrust onto the ground as gravity returned. Samus looked up from the marble floor that she had crashed down upon to see Ridley waiting a short distance in front of her. He was staring at her intently and seemed to have healed a small amount of the injuries he had received during his fight with her; the parasite was not making things any easier. She pointed her arm cannon at him and brought with it her own glare, if it was a weapon then she might as well have had a second cannon. She couldn’t help but notice something… no,somethings move around her peripheral vision. They didn’t matter to her though; this would be the final reincarnation of Ridley. She needed to destroy him here and now. She needed to hear his death screech as his body ruptured and burned under her beams. She needed to have vengeance for her parent’s death at the hands of this space pirate. But Ridley broke the stare and glanced around the room first before flaring his wings and preparing to take flight. Samus took this opportunity and rolled into a kneeling position, bringing up her arm and firing continuous waves of energy at Ridley’s body. Ridley took the first few hits due to his carelessness, but quickly maneuvered out of the way, landing on some decorated tables and destroying chairs in the process. Shrieking could be heard coming from the creatures Samus had seen. They were still of no concern to her. She continued releasing beams of energy from her weapon, stopping only to send out missiles of ice; the impact from the first shattered half the glass windows in the room, the rest of the windows didn’t survive long after that either. Ridley couldn’t get an attack in on her and was forced to constantly dodge her relentless onslaught. Dipping through the air and diving to the ground only to swoop around and settle near a white pillar. He found his opening when he spotted a statue of gold at the end of the room. It was shaped like a horse, but had wings and a horn. It was also very large, making it quite the deadly catch if thrown, which was precisely what Ridley intended to do. Samus hadn’t let up her assault, she was screaming and firing without hesitation; all her pent up rage being released into waves of pure energy, all her hatred was being fired in the form of ice missiles. Everything she was, and would continue to be, hung in the balance, hung on whether or not she could kill this pterodactyl monstrosity. She didn’t even let up when he rushed towards the statue of some sort of horse and ripped it off its podium. She didn’t let up when he heaved it above his head and sent it flying towards her at breakneck speed. She did let up, however, when she leaped back to lessen the impact that sent her hurtling through the air; smashing through the doors at the opposite edge of the room and rolling uncontrollably before friction stopped her at the bottom of a large staircase. Chunks of wood were sent soaring in all directions from the destruction, along with more screaming from the creatures who saw her fly through the giant doors. She slowly lifted her head, she was in terrible pain and her HUD only sufficed to confirm her wounds. Ridley saw his opportunity and rushed towards her, wings flapping and mouth open to reveal his battle honed teeth, he was about to finally put an end to the bounty hunters life. Even though his life may have already been taken by her, he could exact his revenge here and now. He swooped past the destroyed furniture, dashed over a stage filled with broken instruments and sped towards the immobile Samus Aran. Time slowed for the second time as Samus watched Ridley dive closer and ever so closer to her broken form. One eye closed and unable to open she could do nothing as Ridley screeched once more and extended his claw towards her. But within inches of her helmet he was thrown back by a blast of light. He screamed in utter rage, someone- or rather something had just denied him his revenge. He tried to look towards the source of the blast, but was hit again. Samus slowly craned her head towards where she guessed the attacks were coming from. At the top of the staircase stood a horse… but not a regular horse; this horse had a fur coat of pure white, a flowing mane and tail with radiant colors, a pair of white feathered wings, a horn which was glowing with a brilliant gold and a picture of the sun on her flank. She had a stern look on her face as she continued to blast away at the screeching Ridley; each attack striking home and earning another ear piercing scream. She seemed to radiate a white aura, as if her power was trying to manifest itself in the physical realm. Samus activated her scanner in an attempt to discover some information on this creature’s race, but it came back empty; only giving basic physiological information, and incoherent at that. Samus looked back to Ridley and decided to add her own power to the battle by aiming her arm cannon and charging a diffusion missile. When the weapon was ready Samus fired and the missile flew. It traveled through the air, flames propelling it through the space between its exit point and its new home; Ridley’s head. Ridley was thrown back and landed on the stage full of instruments. Samus let her arm cannon drop, but continued to watch him. Ridley was slowly picking himself up from the destruction and was likewise glaring daggers at Samus. The Unicorn-Pegasus thing had made its way down the stairs and was preparing another blast. But she held it in her horn as if to charge it like Samus’ own beam. Ridley didn’t want to take the chance at another hit, quickly flaring his wings. He turned around and dove towards the opposite end of the room, towards where the statue of gold used to be, before smashing straight through the wall and out into the sky while letting out a final screech. The horse lowered her horn and sighed, knowing that she would have to let him go for now, before turning back to look at Samus. Samus was breathing quickly and screaming in her mind to follow him and finish the job. She was desperately trying to inch her way forward, but all she could manage with her broken body was to slowly raise her free hand up and try to grasp at where Ridley used to be. She kept reaching, hoping for the impossible that she could grab something and pull Ridley back to continue the fight, but her hand found nothing and she clenched it before letting out a rage-filled scream. The scream rivaled Ridley’s in volume and came from the innermost part of her very being; her bitter hatred and utter agony being vented towards the world for what had just transpired. Her soul wept in anger at Ridley’s escape. Samus couldn’t keep it up forever though and let her helmet hit the ground with a final thud. Her eyes couldn’t fight the endless battle against her own depleting energy and eventually closed; warding off the world from her sight. She had earned her rest. A/N Seriously guys, Pissfer is a badass for this kind of thing. And I'm hoping to have some funtastic stuff in the future for this, next stop, ponies!
Chapter 2: Encounter (Rewrite)Chapter 2: Encounter This story begins during the Neo-Ridley fight in Metroid Fusion. Metroid is owned by Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. Major thanks to Pissfer for amazing ideas, editing and awesome-ifying it. A/N: This story arc was changed due to the need for a quick resolution and that the other one I had created was entirely a non-option. I am sorry for essentially wasting a weeks time after writing a horrible chapter. Hopefully you can all enjoy this new (and fully planned out) story arc. Silence reigned over the area. Silence itself wanted nothing but peace to hold, and kept its composure through a weightless feeling of ease. Anyone caught in this silence would adhere, for what reason did they have to destroy it? Calmness and tranquility came with silence, and continued to persist throughout this small section of castle. They cast their power over the inhabitants and willed them to be still and professional. The resounding clang of metal broke silence, but kept calm throughout the area. Silence began to return and restore what it had created, but broke again when the metal shriek returned. “Enough,” Celestia ordered the doctors. They stood stock still when they heard the order, but the one with the hammer kept the object levitating in case he could continue his attempts. Celestia frowned at the strange creature that had appeared encased in this organic amor; she didn’t know whether this action could be harming it. Whatever the creature was, it had immediately started fighting its adversary upon arrival, and took part in the destruction of the entire ballroom and the great doors that separated it from the entrance to the castle. Celestia felt lost in trying to make sense of the situation, for all these years she hadn’t encountered something like this. The being seemed focused entirely on its own rage, and went on with reckless abandon as its enemy had apparently “ripped the golden alicorn statue off its pedestal and threw it at the metal creature”, as some ponies had reported. She didn’t forget the dragon-esque creature either, it had screeched like a rabid animal and looked ready to tear this being apart. She didn’t know what either was, but they didn’t seem the type to be allowed free roam in such a peaceful place as Equestria. “Bring it to a cell for now; we do not want a repeat of the Ballroom throughout the rest of the castle.” The doctors nodded in reply and began setting up a stretcher of sorts to hold the metallic creature. Celestia pointed to her head captain who had arrived moments after Celestia drove off the screeching animal. The captain was clad in golden armor and held a stern look on his face. “I want you to begin a city wide sweep for the other creature, it is obviously dangerous and letting it terrorize my subjects is out of the question. But leave two here for protection’s sake.” The guard struck his chest plate with a hoof to show he understood and walked away to rally his troop, “you all heard the princess, we sweep the city and find that monster. Sky Sweeper, Star Gazer; you stay here and protect them with your lives.” “Yes sir,” was the unified response from the ponies as the rest of the guards galloped away. Celestia looked back to the purple and blue being that lay upon the table. As far as they could discern, it was in a suit, but the suit wouldn’t come off. It weighed more than any other creature its size Celestia had ever seen, and one appendage ended in an arm and hand like a dragon yet it didn’t have sharp digits, and on the other was a massive pipe of some kind that just seemed to be semi-hollow. But she knew the strange limb was a weapon after seeing it expel some sort of explosive earlier. The creature just didn’t seem to make sense to Celestia, but she was hoping more tests in the near future could help her understanding. The doctors began lifting Samus into the air with magic; this took the combined efforts of all the doctors present plus the unicorn guard left over. “Careful now, set it down nice and easy,” the doctor pony was attempting to ease the process so nothing would be damaged, but it was of no use. With the suit, Samus was slightly bigger than anything they had could easily handle, and when they set her down on the stretcher and released the magic, she fell through and hit the floor with a loud thud. The HUD sparked to life as if sensing danger, and began to check Samus’ current status. The ponies on the outside winced at the noise but held their attention at the new occurrence. Red letters and symbols seemed to be flaring to life on the surface of what they had assumed was a helmet. Another picture flashed and it looked like an X-ray, which revealed many wounds and broken bones with red highlight before stopping and then flashing a final message. One pony was close enough to read the letters, but could only spell them back out in their backwards form, “what is a enilanerda gniretsinimda?” Samus gasped as she woke up and grabbed at the nearest object for stability. A pure adrenaline shot was a powerful way to jolt one awake, and right now she was in unknown territory after being knocked unconscious during the fight with Ridley. She quickly scanned her location and took account of the number of creatures that were surrounding her, found a weakness in their perimeter and quickly acted to take advantage of their mistake. The object she had grabbed onto was the creature reading her helmet a moment before, and Samus decided to use it as a launch pad. Jumping into a kneeling position, Samus then pushed off of the creature resulting in him slamming muzzle first into the ground while she was given a start in momentum. Samus changed into her morph ball form, using the movement from the initial boost to begin rolling away from the beings encircling her. She reached the edge of the small room and returned to her standing form, arm cannon trained on the group of quadrupeds. She took the second of stillness that resulted from her action to actually look at the location she stood in. There were several structures that were equally separated in the fairly large space that she assumed were used as tables, near the table she was originally close to was a stand that held various different tools. One of these tools was a simple wooden handle hammer, which would shatter into hundreds of pieces before it even dented her armor. She glanced at the walls and noticed they were marble white, with a repeating heart symbol inscribed along the top. The entrance to the room was beyond the group of quadrupeds, at the right side of her vision. As her eyes swept the room, they met what looked to be beds, except each of them was about one and a half feet too small to fit a regular sized human. But that thought halted her wandering gaze and she snapped her head back towards the group of things she had escaped from. Each one looked like a horse; except at the same time they were too small and some of them even had horns. One of the horned ponies was wearing gold armor plating and stood along a similarly dressed pony with wings. She thought for a moment before remembering that usually a smaller horse was called a “pony”… but then what were the ones with horns or wings called? Unicorns? Pegasi? The question seemed ridiculous, although, she had seen weirder things before and she had heard of creatures such as these in old myths. Her eyes focused on the tallest one which had both a horn and a pair of white wings. She began to falter as memories settled back into place from earlier and her eyes shot wide as recognition seeped in; this creature had used its power to drive off Ridley. She studied it for a moment while keeping her arm cannon trained on the group of smaller ponies before pointing her hand at it and attempting to speak. Samus opened her mouth but was interrupted by a call from across the hallway, “Hello?” Samus flung her arm cannon towards the new sound and saw another pony, she steadied herself and made sure nothing else was hiding from her senses. The pony who had called out had green fur and a teal mane that contained both white streaks and a horn. This pony had a picture of a lyre on her flank, and was wearing what seemed like a dress. Samus readied for any of the ponies in the room to attack; the armored and large ones in particular. The pony with the lyre on her flank started to ease her way forward slowly which caused Samus to tense and hold her stance. This action didn’t waver the pony’s movement if she had even noticed it, but the guards did seem to notice and took on an offensive posture. Samus looked back to the guards and took aim, resulting in the start of a fairly painful skirmish. The guards began their attacks in unison. The unicorn guard’s horn erupted in a soft yellow light while the pegasus used a powerful stroke of his wings to surge towards Samus. Samus began her normal evasive actions, strafing quickly, almost dodging the pegasus’ charge, the impact of which was further buffered by her armor and only resulted in a sore pair of hooves for the pegasus. Samus found herself stumbling, however, during the middle of her strafe. She was able to keep her upright position, but found her movement significantly impaired as if rope was tightening around her arms and legs. Samus quickly inspected herself and found that she was coated in a soft yellow light, but felt it was simply meant to reduce her mobility. She countered this through what seemed obvious at the moment. Samus converted into her morph ball and found that her countermeasure had worked as planned, as the restricting force disappeared. She used this opportunity to gain some distance from her assailants. She rolled away from both the group of ponies and guards which ended up bringing her closer to the green advancing pony that had entered the room before. Samus transformed back into her standing form but didn’t count on this proceeding juke aggravating her already present injuries. The first time she had exited the morph ball she had not already strained her injuries through strafing, but now her body was throbbing in pain. She came back standing, but quickly dropped to one knee in front of the green unicorn, and could do nothing but gasp in pain while her HUD flared to life. Her helmet filled with red images and writing to confirm her concerns, an X-ray showing the many sprains and broken bones became the center of attention among the flashes. The green pony was facing Samus when she stumbled upon the failed maneuver, and was able to hear her painful gasp. The pony was also able to see the many graphic images that filled the transparent visor on the helmet; mainly an image of what looked like an odd skeleton covered in injuries. She looked through the creature's visor to see its eyes and saw the deep pain and exhaustion expressed within the blue. Samus looked back into the green ponies eyes as it stared deeply into hers. She saw confusion and sadness, as if it was wondering why she was in such pain. But the golden spheres slowly turned into warm understanding as it laid a gentle hoof on her shoulder and brought Samus’ kneeling form into a hug. Samus could only drop to both knees and lean in; accepting the first friendly gesture given in what she had presumed was a hostile planet. She dropped her weapon to her side and slowly pulled her hand around the ponies mid section to return this sign of acceptance, all the while the HUD glaring red as it flashed through report after report. Charred wings of bone and skin beat across the night sky as the space pirate made his escape from the clutches of the new hostile power he had encountered. Injuries fresh and still bleeding, his body like a canvas, covered in the glistening blood. He continued pumping his battered wings as he sought to gain a comfortable distance from the powerful foe who had aided in the human abomination’s efforts against him, keeping a watchful eye out for any sort of shelter or prey to feast upon. He would eventually lose enough blood to severely weaken himself, but if he was able to consume flesh soon, they would heal and his strength would be regained. He shot a look behind himself and saw that the structure he had escaped was a fair distance behind and decided to instead focus now on finding something to use as shelter. Although he doubted he could stay in this city for long, he had to find a spot to rest for the time being after using as much energy as he did in the fight with his archenemy; Samus Aran. Her name boiled his blood and filled his mind with primal rage. He was close on K-2L, she had been right there, a small child trying to befriend him... but that reckless waste of flesh of a mother had protected her. She had slipped through his claws that day, and he had barely survived the afloraltite explosion himself, only living by consuming the flesh of the fallen humans. Then time and time again she had shown herself as a worthy adversary, her training with the Chozo proving to be valuable through her ever-repeating triumphs over him. He had fought her many times on many planets, he cloned himself, he made mechanized upgrades, but after all that he still fell in defeat. Now here he was, a dead clone, only given life by the damned X parasite. But it was proving to be an asset so far, and it seemed to have evolved his body into a much more efficient state. He noticed his enlarged claws and strong wings along with much more powerful movement; if this upgrade didn’t kill the annoying spawn of metal and fire then he literally had nothing left. He spotted movement below him in an empty street, snapping him out of his reverie. He quickly dove towards a nearby building to investigate. His wings spread out as he finished closing the distance to his soon-to-be prey, slowing his descent and then gently landing without noise lest he scare his probable dinner. He crouched low and spied on the lone creature; a single figure that resembled an equine, walking with his snout in the air and a suit complete with monocle and top hat. It practically personified the image of a snobby rich-man (as if the mark on its flank containing a pile of money wasn’t already a big enough hint). Ridley felt his mouth water and his claws clenched the side of the structure he occupied, leaving behind gashes in the woodwork. He looked for a secluded area along the supposed path of the self-entitled horse-thing and found an alley behind what appeared to be a closed shop, he acted quickly on this advantage and swooped over the street and inside the pitchblack crack between shops. Waiting for the exact moment; Ridley didn’t move a muscle. His senses reached out for what he could not see and found the creature slowly making its way past the various buildings and towards the shop. He heard the gentle, rhythmic pattern of hooves upon ground and reveled in anticipation of the destined kill. Each hoof step striking the set stone brought it closer to aiding the pirate in his endeavour. He practically counted the number of drops. Closer... Closer... The equine stopped. The only sound present in the hollow streets ceasing and Ridley held still, hoping his presence had not been discerned. He did not fear his prey would get away, just that it would cause unneeded commotion. Relief flooded over him as the hoofsteps returned, increasing in volume and proximity. Until a flicker of movement at the alley entrance. He leapt. The night was still young, barely hours old, as the white light of stars and moon alike shone down. Quite similar in color to a meatless pile of pony bones. Small rags of tattered clothing and hat helped indicate that this at least used to be a pony. Retching could be easily heard at the corner of the shop, and the results could easily be smelled at twice the distance. The two senior guardsponies looked at one another and nodded, each sporting a very grim mask; they were at least taking it better than their subordinate. Weak hoofsteps heralded the return of the private who had been brought along on this city sweep. “What could do this to another living being captain? What animal could-” Deep breaths replaced his speech as he attempted to calm himself. After a moment he had recovered his composure, “What animal could possibly do this?” Captain Goldenclad swept his appraising eyes over the pile of white marrow and shook his head. Letting out a heavy sigh, he gave his honest report, “I wish I knew, Private. That thing that Celestia drove out of the castle... it’s truly a monster.” His better-kept Lieutenant gave a nod at this and turned away from the shallow grave; they couldn’t have ever been ready for this. “This is out of our league, we need to issue a city wide alert immediately. Private!” Still pale faced, the private stood at attention as best he could. “Yes, sir!” “You will be going back and alerting the princess of this... event. Tell her a city wide alert is my suggested course of action. We need to drive this thing out of our home.” “Yes, sir!” After a few faltering hoofsteps, the private found enough strength to set off to complete his orders. The captain watched him leave and sighed again. He forced another look at the final resting place of the poor soul, his frown cemented to his face. “We may not be ready,” he looked towards his Lieutenant, “but that creature the doctors were tinkering with probably is. Lets hope the princess can get it on our side.” The Lieutenant gave another solemn nod before speaking. “Golden, I’ll go find the other groups and relay the information. I’m sure they’ll help start the alert.” “You do that Spear, I’ll go warn the guards at the entrance and wall keeps. If we’re lucky, we can find this beast before more ponies are hurt...” He paused and gulped. A second passed and he noticed the Lieutenant staring at him with his usual calm demeanour. “Aren’t you supposed to be doing something Spear?” A final nod and surge of wings signaled the leaving of another comrade; leaving the captain plus one. “Clear!” A surge of electricity passed through the organic suit, but passed unnoticed by the construct and its occupant. The doctor pony looked back to the princess and raised an eyebrow, “are you sure we should continue this? What if it is harmful?” Celestia kept a stern look about her face, but felt comforted by having her sister by her side in this time of crisis. “Desperate times, doctor. It brought a creature of terrible power along with it and destroyed much of our property in the process; a jolt awake is one of the better ways we can deal with this.” The doctor resumed his work with an electrical charge created in his horn, “I’ll up the power... Clear!” This bolt of energy shot through the systems and awakened the suit and hunter alike. Samus awoke with a jolt for the second time in as many hours, her back arched as her muscles tensed and her HUD began analysis immediately. She hated the glaring red lights that seemed to occupy the helmet as of late. This time though, she decided to get a hold on her surroundings and slowly come to terms with what was transpiring, rather than act as though danger was immediate. She found the same group of ponies from before, all dressed in what appeared to be doctor uniforms. She also saw the large pony with both wings and horn accompanied by a similar pony that was a dark blue, along with the two armor clad ponies who had attacked her sometime before. One of the ponies in the group looked as though he had been through something strenuous; she suspected it had to do with the extra electricity that the AI detected coursing through her suit a moment before. Before she could continue her take on the present, the HUD flashed red again, agitating her eyes and causing her to wince at the sight. The tired pony near her craned his head to get a better look at her visor. She didn’t know if they could read her language, but she didn’t contain the energy to bother denying him. She shifted her body and attempted to push herself into a sitting position, but immediately felt a resistance impeding her way; it felt more like a sludge than a wall. She moved her arm and felt towards where she thought the resistance was, but felt nothing, yet at the same time she wasn’t able to lift her body forward. She twisted her head to find the source of this blocking and saw the larger, white pony charging her horn with energy; this action didn’t seem to affect her in the slightest, even though if fully constricted the hunter. The large one was the first to speak. “Greetings, being. I am Princess Celestia. We have met before, but it seems to have been in bad terms. I would like to extend a proposition of peace, as it seems there is a threat that we have mutual interests in.” The regal pony extended her hoof. Samus looked to it for a moment and considered this newfound proposal; she could accept the help from the local demi-god, or attempt hostile actions again. She returned her gaze to the pony’s eyes and didn’t see the kind of sly that hinted towards betrayal, so she decided that hostile actions weren’t going to help anyone, least of all herself. She brought her hand up and took the hoof within it, “Deal.”
Chapter 3: TrinityChapter 3: Trinity This story begins during the Neo-Ridley fight in Metroid Fusion. Metroid is owned by Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. Major thanks to Pissfer for amazing ideas, editing and awesome-ifying it. Music added for enjoyment/atmospheric effect. “So we will split into three squads. Celestia will head Alpha squad. I will head Beta squad. Luna will head Gamma squad.” The sun goddess slowly rose to her full height in the bedroom within the ruined house. The limp bodies in the room had been viciously deformed and one was left half-eaten by the assailant. Nothing else should have been here to halt its feast. But halt it had. “And if we encounter problems; Luna or I will send a flare of light into the sky. Orange for myself, blue for Luna. What will you do without magic?” The lunar goddess heard a faint cry. She stiffened and perked her ears up, enhancing her senses with magic to help her discern the faintest glimpse of life within the evacuated streets. She caught the sound again, locking it in her mind's grasp and called the guards to follow in the pursuit. “Yes, I hardly think thee could possess something on that scale. And thine “A.I.” does not communicate to us as it does with thy vessel.” The armored bounty hunter scanned the environment for a second time. An empty warehouse, along an empty street, in an empty city. Her group had encountered nothing along the lines of life or clues since they had departed. She motioned for the captain to follow her out, and he did the same to his men. “Easy. My weapons have long range capabilities, and my rockets have quite the flash and bang once detonated. I’ll Just tinker with my supply to come up with something along the lines of a flare.” Celestia called for her captain and ordered him to send for a recovery crew with twin stretchers. He punched his chestplate in understanding and relayed the information to the squad’s medical field agent. She looked back to the destroyed room and noticed an object half-hidden under the couple’s demolished bed. Her horn glowed a bright orange and commanded the construct out of its hiding spot. Once it was in front of her muzzle, Celestia slowly spun the object until it was oriented properly. What she saw made her cheeks dampen with tears and her eyes burn red in sadness, the still moment of a father and mother with their foal resonated in her mind’s eye as well as with her physical being. She let the picture drop. "We’ll divide the city into three sections; I shall begin in the domestic district. Ponies are the most accustomed to the sight of me, as Luna has returned only as of recent and you are alien to everyone.” Luna galloped as fast as her divine legs could manage. She rounded shops and navigated alleys. The whole time, she reached out with her senses in order to discern the source of the pleading shriek. Her royal guard lagged slightly behind from her incredible pace, and the random twists and turns caused them to falter every other moment. She heard the voice pierce the silent night again, but this time the proximity had increased threefold. "I will take the financial and business districts, they are small and can be grouped into one equal in size to that of thou. That leaves-.” Samus looked to Captain Goldenclad as she readied herself in front of the door. He gave her a nod after making last second check-ups on his men. The unicorns were poised and ready to use the experimental ice magic ushered into use by Samus, while the Pegasi were crouched with wings spread. The bounty hunter turned back to the door and threw her metallic foot into it. The portal exploded back as the kinetic energy surged through its hinges and body; blasting it away from the wall and into a pile of discarded newspapers. “The industrial district. Albeit yours is a bit underdeveloped compared to humans due to you having magic, it says on the map that it is still full of warehouses and mills.” Celestia followed what she believed to be the trail left behind by the creature, “Ridley”. Samus had described his physique and nature, but also stated that a parasite known as “X” could have changed his thought process. A gouge in the street here, a depression in the wall there, literally following a tale of destruction through the walkways of Canterlot. Unicorns were to be near and vigilant at all times, the right shield at the right time could save somepony from becoming infected and, ultimately, killed. “Now for the unicorns. As you have stated, the X parasite seems to have a difficult time going through inorganic physical objects.” Luna vaulted over an upturned kiosk and its upset merchandise before turning into a cluttered alley. She could not only hear the plea for help, but now she could sense the life force of the being. It was near, and it was dwindling. She surged forward with greater purpose at the thought of her little pony dying while she was so close to delivering salvation. The back alley of a shop held what she sought, and it was behind a great heap of stone mixed with crushed wood. Her eyes flared in rage as her gaze flickered over the inanimate wall and its defiance. She lowered a horn as the guard neared and let loose a fiery spell. “Therefore; magical shields that are physically manifested should hold the key to halting such abominations. So unicorns shall be kept on guard to spring at a moment’s notice, and we should saturate the ponies armor with a resistant field. Except thou mentioned something about “absorption”?” Samus exited the warehouse with a disturbed frown set upon her face. Not a sign of life. No X parasite, no Ridley and no ponies who had missed the evacuation. The guard group slowly followed her out of the building when the lieutenant spoke up, “over there! A parasite!” Samus whipped her head in the direction his hoof pointed and sped off in a mad dash towards the yellow blob. The guard followed immediately behind her, the unicorns charging a snare spell in anticipation. Samus caught up to the X before they had finished preparing though, as it had noticed the human and thought she was prey to be possessed. As it entered her suit it had found itself immediately assimilated into her energy reserves; refueling Samus’ suit and giving her a boost from her lingering physical exhaustion. She stood up and experimentally flexed her limbs, the boost from the parasite giving her an artificially-extended epinephrine high. She turned to the ponies and smirked. “After an X parasite attempted to possess me, it also managed to assimilate into my suit itself, attacking the organic connections between it and myself. I almost died from the event following in which doctors had to surgically remove the suit while I was unconscious but had no success saving me from the infection. Thankfully, the Galactic Federation developed a cure before I perished. This left me and my new “Fusion Suit” with the ability to absorb the X in order to alleviate physical exhaustion and refill energy reserves, on top of other things.” Celestia neared a house where the recent talon tracks seemed to end. The wall where the front door should have been was bashed open, leaving a hole the size of an oversized carriage. She slowly approached the entrance and glanced inside; destroyed furniture and torn up flooring welcoming her into the carnage. She empowered her senses and searched for life within the settlement but found her perception distorted as if something was keeping her from being able to see it. “This must be a trick from Ridley!” She looked back to her following guard and gave a nod for the all clear, but gestured towards the stairs with her hoof and pursed her lips in a shhhh motion. The captain behind her nodded and selected two different unicorns from the group and then motioned towards the left and right rooms near the stairs for investigation. Celestia had already begun the trek up the steps in a silent glide, assisted by her magic. She felt the pull of life grow stronger as she scaled the stairs and looked toward a lone door at the end of the short hallway. “So close to death, and you were given a reward. Now, if any of us encounter Ridley, you encouraged the use of Ice magic. Why was this?” Luna’s senses cleared as she held her head within her hoof and the dust settled around her. The world seemed to gyrate uncontrollably while a ringing filled the air around her and began to crescendo. The white noise began to subside little by little as Luna regained her bearings, but the world refused to stop swirling. The princess could command celestial bodies larger than any country on the planet, but her own domain was defying her. As coherency increased she tried to piece together what had happened, her mind eventually settling upon the event leading to her stunned state. She found herself near the explosion that she had utilized to clear the disarray of debris. She had done this to-! Luna bolted to all fours and willed the world to be still under her might. Her limbs surprisingly obeying her commands under the force of her willpower, she set off to find the life source that had been trapped behind the rubble. “From what I remember, thee had said that Ice was thine most effective weapon against such destructive foes. Was it solely for weakness, or dost thou believe there may be more to it?” Samus had questioned Loyal Spear on the parasite he had spotted first, “I saw it enter the street from behind the newspaper mill over there,” he gestured with his hoof towards an old and decrepit factory, “maybe there will be more of them if we check.” Samus nodded in reply, it only seemed logical that if they found one X that there would be more. She took off towards the newspaper mill with the group in tow. The unicorns prepared a charge within their horns; they did not want to suffer a fate of cold death after being taken over by a ravenous parasite. Once nearing the paper tomb, Samus activated her scanner in an attempt to find any other X parasite that might escape the naked eye. She reached a door along the side entrance of the building and motioned for her group to get into position. Each pony set to fill their respective spots and waited for the door to open before they were to rush in and eradicate all threats. Samus kept her scanner active as she slowly eased the door open, revealing the cavernous space inside. Old machines could be seen rusting over and decaying after years of inactivity. Spare newspapers cluttered the floor and random litter joined the fray. But Samus stood stock still when she realized what was at the edge of the room near the office entrance. “From most all of my endeavours it has seemed that my Ice beam is the most lethal of all. Especially considering the X parasite will freeze when hit by an ice missile of mine. So, Ridley should retain his old weakness because of this. Remember that we are here to kill Ridley. He does not play games, he does not fight fair and he most certainly does not leave survivors. If you want to protect your subjects you will have to be ready.” Celestia eased her way through the entrance to the bedroom and swept over the area with her eyes. It was all still intact, it seemed that only the bottom floor had been affected by Ridley’s rampage. As she turned to leave, she heard a sound behind her and immediately enhanced her senses to detect the source. She had found what she was looking for; a lone soul, hiding behind her in fear and in the form of a unicorn pony. Celestia trotted towards its hiding spot within the closet and slowly pulled it open with her magic. Once the door slid open she saw the stallion cowering in the corner with sweat on his brow and a mask of pain on his face. Celestia walked towards him and attempted to ease his pain, “there there my little pony, do not be afraid, it’s just me.” The pony looked up for a moment into Celestia’s eyes before he turned his gaze back down towards his abdomen and grimaced in pain. “Celestia... princess. The parasite we were warned about... one found me.” “Of course, I am ready to protect my little ponies at all costs. Whatever the sacrifice; I will make it.” Luna stepped forth and found what she had been seeking; an overturned dumpster that had been covered in debris from the building. Although, Ridley was nowhere to be seen, they set forth on freeing the pony. Once they had cleared all the litter and destruction, Luna gently used her telekinesis to remove the dumpster and set it aside. A young colt was weeping in the fetal position underneath, his body trembling with each great heave of breath and his eyes bloodshot from the running tears. He had a white coat with brown discolorations on his flank and left eye at immediate glance. He also had a dark brown mane with a light brown stripe in the middle. “I too vow to do what is necessary to destroy this vile fiend. He shall no longer be allowed free reign upon our subjects.” Samus signalled for the guards to stop as she deactivated her glaring red scanner. There, about 40 feet in front of Samus, was the crouched figure of Ridley. And he was feasting on a white bone. “No, no! Please don’t hurt her!” The light grey pegasus struggled against the space pirate who was holding his wife in a death grasp. Ridley’s hand slowly clenched, crushing the earth pony mare inside. His claws dug into her skin and released torrents of blood. He held the stallion in his spiked tail as to not interrupt his kill. The mare screamed in agony as her bones snapped under the extreme pressure. The stallion screamed with her in rage and anguish at seeing his loved one perish in such pain. Tears splattered over the mare’s cheeks, her eyes shut tightly as she waited for the inevitable; which Ridley brought on swiftly. He closed his hand, a sickening crunch filled the room and he tossed aside the ragdoll body for later before bringing the stallion in front of him. “NO! Why, Celestia!? You killed her! Curse you to Tartarus you monster!” A figure approached from the hallway behind Ridley, but he didn’t hear it over the pegasus’ screams. He lifted his tail towards the ceiling before bringing it down like a hammer a moment later. The floorboards smashed as the pony took the brunt of the blow, blood spattered across the wood as the stallion was almost knocked unconscious. Ridley brought his tail up a second time but instead used it to whip the stallion at the wall opposite from them. The pegasus tumbled through the air at breakneck speed for about half a second before striking the wall and hitting the floor with a limp thud. Ridley crawled towards the body and tore into the flesh. As he ate, his ears perked to the sound of a floorboard creaking behind him. He glanced towards the sound and noticed a much smaller pony frozen in absolute fright. They stared at each other for a moment before the little equine screamed and bolted out of the room. Ridley screeched and flung the half-devoured body into the corner where the mare had landed before bursting through the already destroyed doorway and following the young pony’s screams on the first floor. Pipsqueak stared at the hole torn through the front wall of his house. He had never seen something destroyed like this before; the hole itself towered above him and was wide enough for him to take in the entire front room. But when he heard a scream he stopped all wonderment. He recognized the voice as his mother’s and immediately galloped towards the ascending staircase. The woodwork was severely damaged, some sections even looked burnt, but what scared him most was the breach in his parent’s bedroom wall. He slowly trotted forward before hearing another scream and a loud crunch. He stopped for a moment before hearing something thump against the wall inside the room. He swallowed hard and decided to continue the trek forward. As he entered the room he noticed a large, black winged creature holding his dad in what looked like its tail. In the corner he could see the battered form of his mother, but she was completely still. His mind began to set into shock, he couldn’t even fathom the situation his parents were in. But he was wrenched out of his stupor when his father screamed, “NO! Why, Celestia!? You killed her! Curse you to Tartarus you monster!” Pipsqueak felt his eyes water as a torrent of emotions seized him. “Mummy?” But he wasn’t allowed time to grieve over her death, as his father was thrust into the air and then brought sailing back down into the floor with another crunch of wood and bone. The creature lifted his father towards the ceiling and whipped him at the far wall. Pipsqueak’s eyes followed his dad as the pegasus crashed into the wall with a snap and fell limp to the floor. His body heaved when he witnessed his father perish in front of him while his eyes threatened to drown in an onslaught of tears. But he knew he had to leave before he met the same fate. As the creature crawled towards his father’s body, he slowly brought a hoof up in an attempt to get out of the death zone. But when he set it back down, the floor gave way to a wooden creak. The creature stopped in its feasting and looked towards him. He was forced to return the monster’s silent expression with his look of horror; causing his skin to pale under his mottled fur. Its eyes were devoid of compassion and were only representative of demons. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t breathe. The only sound was the slow and rhythmic patter of blood falling from the mouth of the dragon-beast. But adrenaline finally kicked in and he screamed in fear. Turning around, he galloped out of the impromptu tomb and dashed with reckless abandon down the stairs; towards the outside. He heard the creature screech behind him and give chase. He didn’t think, he only acted on instinct. Every muscle in his body trembled in exhaustion and overexertion as he rounded corners and galloped through the cold streets. But no matter how far he got, the creature was always just a few steps behind, screaming in its pleasure of the hunt. Pip saw an open door and dove inside, galloping past furnishings and springing out the back entrance before taking off towards the business district. He didn’t know that’s where he was headed, he only knew that he needed to gallop and never stop. When he chanced a look behind himself, he saw the creature had been slowed. But he whipped his head back forward when he saw an orange blob break itself off from its skin and start floating through the air. Everything was white flashes of painful memories after that. He remembered galloping behind his once favorite store and scampering into the half-filled dumpster. He had braved the smell, cowering under the closed lid while trying to listen for any sign of his pursuer through the open one. He also remembered hearing the screech of the creature following him as it made it’s way past the shop and towards his location. He remembered feeling the dumpster getting overturned, trapping him inside the upside-down bin. The destruction didn’t stop there, as the rage filled being also tore apart the store above him and caused a mountain of debris to cover his hiding spot, burying him in a tomb of trash, metal and stone. Ridley screamed in rage at having lost the little pony snack. It had led him away from the two bodies he had planned to consume, and even outran him through the streets. He focused his anger at the nearest object, tossing aside a lone dumpster like it was a child’s toy. He then raked his claws and tail across the building nearest to him, sending piles of stone raining down upon the overturned container. He ran out of the alley and set off towards a set of warehouses he had recently spotted. Celestia shook her head sadly as the company of guards trotted out of the house with the infected pony in tow. He was covered in a magical shield by one of the unicorn guards. He was obviously depressed and felt no hope for living, but Celestia urged him to come meet Samus in case she could help him. But that sliver of hope was but a small glint of light within what seemed a well of doubt. Samus had explicitly warned them of the parasite, and how it meant certain death to those it infects without the cure. But she had promised to protect her little ponies, she had promised to do all she could. She was dragged out of her swirling mind when the captain of her group yelled, “there it is! The distress signal! Celestia, look!” She craned her head towards the sky and saw it; a lone metal construct propelling itself through the empty night. After a short time the missile stopped its ascent and exploded in the sky. There was a brilliant flash of bright light accompanied by a firework sized bang and a shower of ice. Celestia looked over her subjects and raised her voice above the murmurs, “Samus requires our help!” The princess of night cradled the weeping colt in a veil of violet magic. The rest of the group nodded in understanding at his predicament and kindly left Luna and him alone. She brought him close and spoke in a hushed and reassuring voice, “hush now little one. I am here, and thou art safe. The monster is gone.” His weeping did not falter, but he managed to open his eyes long enough to catch a glimpse of the pony that was comforting him. Though his crying did stop when he recognized the alicorn before him as one of the regal sisters. He was about to speak when his vision was filled with a flash of light and his ears resounded with a terrible impact of sound. He shielded his head with his hooves and yelled in fear, hoping the princess would protect him against the attacker. But when nothing more happened he looked to her and saw that she was gazing at the sky. He followed her gaze and saw a shower of crystallized ice float from the empty night air. The group returned in response to the sign and she gave them a nod before turning back to the colt and talking once more, “I am sorry my dear little colt, but thee will need to go to a safe place. I will have a guard escort thee to the castle.” With that, she motioned towards a guard near the front of the pack to step forward before placing Pipsqueak upon his back. “See that he makes it to the castle safely, and then return to the origin of the signal.” The pegasus beat his chest plate in confirmation then began his rush towards the castle with a few flaps of his wings. Luna looked back over the falling shards of ice and thought of what she was about to encounter. She thought of the horrors the poor colt must have faced, and the darkness that must live inside that monsters soul. “Subjects, follow me, for Samus requires assistance.”
Chapter 4: RushChapter 4: Rush This story begins during the Neo-Ridley fight in Metroid Fusion. Metroid is owned by Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. Major thanks to Pissfer for amazing ideas, editing and awesome-ifying. Music added for enjoyment/atmospheric effect. A/N:I highly reccomend you turn on the music linked in the second paragraph. They found Ridley focused on devouring a carcass obtained from his rampage through the streets of Canterlot. Samus wasted no time in pressing her advantage. She motioned for the squad to form a perimeter around Ridley, quickly receiving a multitude of nods in reply as they carried out the order. The pegasi silently floated into position above the space pirate while the unicorns and earth ponies set up a semicircle. The group formed something along the lines of a half-sphere; denying Ridley an easy escape. Breaking away from the wall of ponies, Samus slowly made her way towards Ridley with soft footfalls that weren’t noticeable over the sound of fang on bone. Once she reached her destination, Samus took aim and began to charge a diffusion missile. Ridley stiffened at the sound of the mechanical whirring began and swiveled his head until he was staring at Samus. He tossed the bone aside and shrieked in challenge to the fearsome bounty hunter. Samus met this sound with her own roar, “GO,” and let loose the charged explosive as Ridley sprang forwards. Ridley was struck in the chest by the projectile, halting him in his attempted charge while the explosion proceeded to throw him backwards. The unicorns immediately followed the command, casting a steady barrage of ice themed attacks. The ice effect proved to be useful in slowing Ridley. However the unicorns had never trained to fight such terrible creatures, and thus the spells didn’t cause any substantial damage. The pegasi initiated their battle plan, sailing down one by one for a buck or body blows before vaulting back into the air. Ridley had been caught off guard, this complete surrounding and attack of surprise left him with no chance to dodge. The lieutenant landed in front of Ridley and swiveled to buck an outstretched leg with his hind hooves. Ridley saw his opening. Shooting out his claw, Ridley caught the pony in his grasp. The pegasus guard struggled to free itself, but was unable to break free from Ridley’s clutch. The unicorns stopped their bombardment in fear of hitting the pegasus, and Samus was constantly on the move, trying to find an opening. When she was unable to find one, she instead took the time to interact with her arm cannon, sending a missile towards the night sky. It broke through the metal roof and continued skyward. Ridley threw the struggling pony at Samus in order to buy himself time enough to lunge towards a nearby unicorn. Samus was unable to do anything aside from fall back to lessen the force of the impact of the pony projectile. By the time she hit the ground, Ridley had covered the distance between him and a unicorn guard, now digging his claws into its back. Raking his hand across the unicorn’s body, Ridley found a purchase in the body and he promptly swung the unicorn towards a pack of airborne pegasi. The body hurtled through the air and struck two pegasi. One of the ponies had attempted to evade, but still ended up being clipped by the carcass, and subsequently dragged down the wing of a third comrade with his flailing. Samus shoved the unconscious pony off of her chest and jumped onto her feet, simultaneously taking account of the status of her squad. Ridley had taken out four pegasi and a unicorn, leaving the captain and eleven unicorns still battle-ready. She began to charge a wave beam and vaulted over a nearby newspaper printer to get a clear shot at the possessed pirate clone. The remaining pegasus was currently attempting to gather his unconscious comrades into a safe corner, leaving the unicorns and Samus to deal with the enraged Ridley. Samus could see his head over the machines in the factory, but had to constantly move in order to maintain her line of sight. Although she had to sacrifice accuracy for mobility, she was still able to unleash a wave beam or ice missile each time as Ridley ducked behind one piece of machinery after another. The unicorns had also begun their own maneuvers in an attempt to keep clear of Ridley’s onslaught. His tactic seemed to be simple; close the gap towards any pony that he saw nearby. One unicorn had hidden behind a conveyor belt and was silently heaving from the traumatic events at hand. He didn’t even notice when Ridley crawled over the belt and sweeping him up in his claws with a screech. He might have awoken from his catatonic fright if not for the extreme concussive blow that resulted from Ridley whipping his body into an office doorway. The blast rocked the factory and left him unconscious among slabs of wood and metal. Ridley made his way through the newly-opened portal, destroying pillars as he made his way across the room. Samus followed through just steps behind him as she dodged the debris left in his destructive wake. She kept up a heavy rhythm of wave beams which she noticed were starting to take their toll on the space pirate; his thrashing becoming more and more violent as he continued across the room. Gashes could be seen along his flesh, and there were plenty of visible scorch marks but he kept up his pace, destroying any structure that came close. Samus didn’t take time to think of the results from his destruction, she only kept close proximity to the pirate as he leapt up the stairwell, completely destroying the stairs on his way up. Samus was forced to dodge from the raining metal, but quickly recovered and launched herself into a space jump to cover the ten-foot climb. Grabbing hold of the edge, Samus flung herself over the side and onto the second floor. She had not been prepared for Ridley though. He had been waiting for her and quickly ensnared her with his tail. Samus began struggling and charged a beam, but Ridley had dealt with that kind of blow before and instead snapped his tail behind him, releasing Samus at the end of the motion. Her body hurtled towards final pillar in the facility, demolishing it as she made contact. Samus belatedly realized his plan when she heard him give a satisfied shriek before flinging himself through the thin exterior wall. The roof of the building rumbled as it began to collapse. Samus desperately got to her feet and dove out of the building mere seconds before it imploded into a pile of debris. “Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight hesitated in her writing. Looking up from her loft aboard the train, she smiled as she saw her five friends, and number one assistant, all enjoying each other’s company. Although Applejack was staring out into the great dusty plains that stretched from Ponyville to Appleloosa, the rest of them were engrossed in discussions of their own topics. Rarity was attempting to convince Rainbow Dash of the “coolness” opportunities found within fashion. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were discussing their animal companions, which led to the eventual agreement that Gummy is just as odd as his pink owner. Twilight smiled in her revelry and turned back to the letter she had begun writing. It had become a weekly habit of hers; learn a lesson, write a letter. Every single time it had an inner effect on her thoughts and actions. She always felt she grew from these realizations. Most recently she had learned the lesson of sharing and caring; one that Pinkie was trying to convey for most of the endeavour. She had even already thought out the entire letter during the run the buffalo had done through the apple orchard, and now all she had to do was write it down and get Spike to send it off. She looked over at the dragon and wasn’t surprised at the findings. Spike was asleep in his bed and snoring very loudly. At least that’s what the baby dragon wanted everypony to think, for his real intention was to silence the hyperactive equines. At one point it became too much for him to bear. With a yell and a move to the train car door, Spike left with a final word, “crazy ponies and their crazy sleep schedule. For Pete’s sake; it’s three in the morning!” The door slamming was his final comment on the subject, even if it was only heard by the lavender unicorn. Twilight sighed, shaking her head at her assistant’s poor timing, as she knew the train was going to arrive at the station at any moment... not to mention she was going to need this letter to be sent. Twilight turned back to her work and set off to finish it with the smile still plastered on her face without falter. When she had finally made sure every character was prim and proper with the “t”s crossed and the “i”s dotted, she begrudgingly flopped out of the comfy bed and began the trot to Spike’s newly-claimed sleep zone. As she reached the end of the car the train lurched as it came to a sudden stop. Twilight gave a quick squeal of terror before her muzzle met the car separator and she slowly slumped to the ground in a furry lump. Over her own groaning in pain, she could hear some of the other elements giggling behind her. She knew the only way to keep some dignity in the matter was to stand back up and attempt the process again. This time she was able to successfully get into the passenger car and set about waking up her assistant. However this task actually turned out to be much worse than the door incident, as Spike made it clear that he was only to leave his “pony free haven” if he was promised turquoise cupcakes. Although Twilight could have easily gotten Pinkie to agree to the idea, she did not feel the need to go back into the original car and get the eccentric mare... thus began the struggle of unicorn versus sleepy dragon. Suffice to say, his blanket did not survive, and Twilight’s mane was in such a horrible state she wasn’t sure if Rarity would survive the encounter. The duo exited Spike’s private escape to find that their friends were absent from the train. They exchanged two equally confused looks before cautiously peering through the train’s exit. On the wooden structure stood the five mares facing two stoic guardsponies. They both wore the proper golden armor given to all royal guards and behind them, sitting just outside the station, was a chariot and four more pegasi guards. Twilight quickly darted back into the loft and began the frantic movement that was packing her things. After her surplus of quill and ink were neatly shoved into her standard saddlebags she dashed to the door and out onto the platform. “I’m so sorry I was trying to get Spike to send a letter but he was tired and refusing to get up and then I had to force him out and then I saw you and that freaked me out so I went back in and packed all my things and I’m really sorry and I think I left my quills back in the train maybe I should go get them!” Twilight turned to rampage her way back into the bed she had already decimated in her packing frenzy. A familiar country accent stopped her from moving further, “now hold on there sugar cube. No need to be fussing over little things like that, besides, you probably didn’t leave anything behind anyhow. Now this guard here wanted to speak to us.” Twilight reluctantly let her concerns be put to rest and slowly turned back towards the group. Although she would have liked to start the conversation and ask why there were royal guards waiting for them at the train station, the guard immediately relayed his message to the element bearers. “Princess Celestia needs your immediate presence, with the Elements of Harmony, at the Royal Canterlot Castle. After you are taken there, you shall be guided to the princesses with a host of guards. Please take us to the Elements so that you may prepare, but please do not take longer than you need to... the situation is dire.” Samus felt her head throb in protest as she pushed herself off the ground and onto her feet. The building behind her gave a final rumble that shook the structure before it crashed into itself, leaving all inside either dead or miraculously maimed. She pounded the alley wall with her fist in anger at getting bested by Ridley. She found her bearings before dashing out of the alleyway in an attempt to spot the space pirate. Rounding the corner, Samus caught a glimpse of him perched atop a nearby building. She took aim and began charging a wave beam, but fell to her knees shortly after with a groan of pain. After being thrown into a pillar and then jumping out of a building, Samus had sustained some inhibiting injuries. Her vision wavered for a second as she looked upon Ridley who had begun testing his wings; she wasn’t the only one feeling the repercussions of the battle. Ridley gave a final push with his wings and lifted into the air before setting off towards the nearest city limit, Samus began to panic and attempted to follow him. She did not get far, however, before hearing a regal voice call for her, “Samus! We saw your signal and... what happened?” Turning around, Samus spotted Celestia galloping ahead of her squad. The distance was closed quickly by the sun deity who was on the brink of hysteria, Samus looked back and saw the retreating form of Ridley and decided to press their advantage rather than talk for too long. “We found Ridley in this mill and engaged him, but he destroyed the structures stability in the fight. I dove out from the second floor, but I don’t know about the rest of the squad.” She looked at the crumbling building to see the extent of the destruction: the building was missing its entire roof, the second level was completely demolished, all the support beams were piles of rubble, and what remained of the walls looked to be on the verge of collapse. From her point of view, Samus could see many piles of cluttered chaos that littered the antagonized floor. She also saw bodies. Among the wreckage lay the bodies of ponies, both dead and alive. A few unicorns were fighting a losing battle to stay upright, while one familiar pony in particular was frantically searching. She watched as he darted about the destruction, when he stopped suddenly and gave a shout, “Captain!” His eyes didn’t cease their sporadic movement, “Somepony! Anypony! Help me get them out!” Samus acted quickly to respond. Leaping over a chunk of fallen metal, she sped to where the unicorn private stood. When she neared, he quickly pointed a shaky hoof towards a particular corner of the building that he had been scrutinizing a moment before. Samus nodded in understanding and hastily began dig through the chunks of debris from the pile. It was not long before she started to hear labored panting from inside the miniature cave in, her pace doubling at the sound. Soon after she lifted one last piece of rubble to find the captain and the group of unconscious pegasi he had protected during the fight, large gashes could be seen on his body and he was sweating profusely. He smirked at her and the unicorn, “well, took ya long enough didn’t it? Don’t worry about me; I just had to hold up the roof that’s all.” The pure exhaustion couldn’t have been more evident on the stallion; it was a wonder he was still standing. “Hey, listen private... I’m gonna go speak to the princess then chase that monster with Samus here. You jus-” His voice faltered as his knees bent and he began to fall. Samus was at his side within an instant and caught his body. He hadn’t fainted, but his eyes were fighting for every second. The private spoke up, “Captain, I respect your enthusiasm, but you are in no condition to fight. Get some rest, or at least sit back and let the ones who can at least walk go after Ridley.” The captain was taken aback by his subordinate’s sudden outburst, this was uncharacteristic of him. “Private, what’s gotten into you? Besides I’m fi-” “THAT IS AN ORDER!” The private’s horn was glowing as he stood his ground fiercely. The captain this time actually had a look of fear on him, which gradually gave way to a smile of admiration. The exchange reminded Samus of her military past but she regained a sense of urgency when she heard a screech from the retreating Ridley. All the other ponies looked skyward at the sound of the unearthly scream, while one voice rang out among the silent equine. The voice of the lieutenant. “Captain?! Private? Where are you guys, I’m kind of stuck!” They heard the voice coming from a newspaper printer covered in wreckage on the other side of the mill. Samus rushed to the debris pile that held the lieutenant, leaving the private to steady the captain. Just as before, she tore off the metal and wood that was littered around the machine to find the pegasus had been trapped into the equivalent of a homely cave. “Oh, there you are. Now could you help me out? Stuff is heavier than it looks.” Samus pulled away a final piece of metal and reached into the makeshift cell to grab the lieutenant. The pegasus met her halfway with his hoof and before long was out and back on his hooves. “Good, now, where are those two?” Samus motioned towards the corner that held his companions and the lieutenant sped off to talk with his superior. He didn’t get far before he noticed what was off about the captain. He was too tired to stand by his own. Trotting the rest of the way, he nodded to his unicorn comrade before speaking to the captain about what was on his mind, “sir, if you don’t mind me saying... you can barely stand, I really think you should sit the rest of this out.” The captain looked around anxiously, trying to find a way out of his impending relief of duty, but it seemed everyone agreed on the subject. He finally accepted their judgement and gazed somberly at the ground. “Al-...alright men, I’ll sit this one out. But you return to me in one piece you hear? Spear, you’ve been temporarily promoted. Keep an eye on the private.” His second in command gave a salute before setting off giving orders to rally up those who could still fight. The captain watched him with a pensive smile, seeing one of his men fitting into the role so well. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts, before turning to instruct his private. “Listen here son, you’ve seen this creature, you’ve seen what it’s capable of. You fight for all of Equestria, but don’t be stupid and die for nothing, listen to Samus and Spear ok?” "Yes, sir!" Samus nodded in tandem with the private’s agreement then looked back to where the princess stood just outside the destroyed mill. What she saw next to Celestia made her shake her head sadly. Samus walked over to Celestia, she was about to speak, but the regal princess beat her to the punch. “Samus! I know we have pressing matters, but we found a survivor, can you help him?” Her eyes held nothing but pleading sorrow. One of her beloved subjects was dying, and she knew that if what Samus had told them earlier was true, then there should be only one reason that the pony was still walking. The bounty hunter merely gazed at Celestia for no answer was needed. But when a growling sound manifested itself behind Celestia, along with a few shouts from the guards, Samus felt the need to drive the point home. “Princess, you remember what I said earlier about the X... how about you take another look at your subject?” Celestia froze, not in shock, but in absolute fear. The truth was standing behind her, a glaring flaw in her reign, a mistake by her not being fast enough... she had killed her little pony. Slowly turning, she braced herself for what she was about to see, but no amount of preparation could have spared her the shock of what she saw. Samus had described in detail how the X parasite will sometimes not only take over control of the creature they possess, but they would also mutate to enhance their host’s traits. When she looked upon the infected unicorn, she no longer saw a pony subject of hers in trouble. What she saw was a grinning beast. A grinning beast, that was about to break the containment shield. “Celestia! We can’t hold him!” Samus stepped forward and pushed the princess aside, setting herself directly in front of the monster. The X was trying to use the unicorn’s body in an effort to confront Samus. The parasite had seen Samus as a major threat to its entire species ever since she entered the space station with her recent Metroid vaccine. The medicine was a problem due to the metroid being the natural predator of the X, which also gave Samus the ability to absorb them. Along with taking the body of those the X possess, they also take the knowledge. They could plan defenses against the hunter, make the decision to sacrifice themselves to save their brethren, even hack orbital space stations. This one figured Magic was the counter to the part metroid bounty hunter, and had used that assumption to attempt an assassination. “Move out of the way! He is hostile, and I don’t want to cause friendly fire!” Samus exclaimed as she charge a wave beam. The princess had stumbled from being shoved by Samus, righting herself a few feet out of the way from the enraged biped. Now she could do nothing but watch in silent horror as the creature that used to be her subject broke from its shielded bonds and began charging an immense amount of power into its newly transformed horn. Everything was different about this pony from when she had looked upon him not minutes ago. His body was taller and thicker with muscle. His horn bulged out of his head like an odd appendage and it looked sharp enough to puncture steel. Even his teeth had been morphed into a complete set of canines instead of the usual molars. This was no longer her little pony... but that didn’t help the feeling she got while she watched it burn. As soon as the shield broke Samus unleashed her charged wave beam. The blast hit its target as it attempted to charge its own magic attack. The beam passed through the pony, charring its fur and bringing it to its knees. It managed to hold the spell though, and Samus was surprised both by its ability to survive an attack from such a powerful weapon and that it kept its concentration. She didn’t have time to be surprised though. Bringing herself back to the battle at hand, Samus levelled her aim and fired an ice missile before tumbling to her right, away from Celestia and not a second before the pent up magical energy was released by the abomination. The blast was nothing more than a destructive bomb, funneled forward and directly aimed at Samus. The parasite lacked the finesse of an experienced magic user, as not only had it possessed a domestic unicorn, but artificial knowledge is much different than actual experience. The attack passed harmlessly in Samus’ old location, only managing to scorch the sidewalk and before dissipating shortly after. The ice missile however was not so messily aimed. Penetrating through the cone of magical energy, the explosive found its way unhindered into the unicorn. The explosion rocked the surrounding area, but managed to freeze the infected pony in place completely. Samus recovered from her maneuver then dashed to the newly formed ice sculpture with a wave beam in charge. The pony-pulled vessel was traveling at high speeds over the city of Canterlot, and the guards were still not explaining why they were in such a hurry. The group of royal guard had brought them to her library earlier that day and insisted they grab the elements and leave within the minute. This had left Rarity less-than-thrilled with her mane’s condition, as the rushing had left her no time to restore everything to its fashionable order. The wind wasn’t helping the endeavour either, and she was now curled up on the chariot floor, sucking a hoof and silently shaking. “Be ready to move out, element bearers, we’re nearing the castle. Remember: once there, you will be given a company of guards who will guide you to the princesses while we continue the evacuation.” “What evacuation?! What is going on? Why isn’t anypony answering me,” Twilight spoke up again. She had been constantly interrogating the guards since their meeting at the train station. She was getting exasperated at having been given the runaround ever since she set hoof off the train. The guards did a fairly good job at flying while ignoring Twilight’s shouting, but one of them turned to the leader of the group and spoke, “Captain, I think we’re secure. Shall we fill them in?” The head pegasus glanced back to the ponies in the chariot before returning his gaze to his subordinate. “Yeah, you’re right. Alright listen up back there; I’m only saying this once. Something attacked Canterlot Castle.” A collective gasp could be heard from the chariot at this unnerving news. The captain didn’t want to deal with this; his preference would have been for somepony else to fill them in once they reached Canterlot. “The princess drove it out before anypony could get hurt though. It’s being hunted in the city as we speak by all the guards available, as well as the princesses... and the thing that came with the monster.” Frantic questions immediately bombarded the captain, thinning his patience little by little. But it all stopped when a lone object could be seen propelling itself in the air above the quiet city. The fiery entity sped towards Luna’s moon before sputtering its last breath and detonating. The flash of white blinded the onlookers in the chariot, but their guards had looked away, as they had known the significance of the object. When the gaggle of friends recovered their vision, they looked upon the fallout with mouths agape. The star filled sky was now accompanied by a beautiful shower of ice crystals that twinkled brighter than their celestial brethren. “All questions will be answered at the castle girls... it seems our people have found the beast.” On one side of Canterlot stood a lush land of rolling green hills and dirt roads for incoming visitors. On the other side stood the “Nightmare Woods”, a fragmented collection of foreboding flora that used to be a thing of great beauty and pride for the citizens of the mountain city. But during the “Nightmare Moon” incident over a thousand years in the past, the forest had been caught in the crossfire during the battle, laying a deathly curse on the grove that wrecked the serene image of the regal mountainside. Yet the forest still survived in its reaper state. The towering trees, bare of leaves, stood defiant to the cold sky that offered little rain. Vines, appearing to have a wooden structure, invaded the gargantuas intimately, their thorns piercing the bark. This forest was, if anything, a sign of determination through destruction. The curse still fell heavily on the half-dead woods, but it was survivable. In fact, the land was thriving in its dark conditions. Visitors were scarce, few wished to visit a place of such horrible history and haunting visage. The paths had become overrun in wicked undergrowth, and the area held a ghostly aura along with the silence of an empty void. All this assaulted the rampaging group as they sped their way through the otherworldly woods. A collection of royal guards followed the two generals as they rushed through the haunted wood. Luna had volunteered to help care for those who had been injured in the newspaper mill fight. She was also to be a checkpoint for the six ponies that should be arriving soon. The plan was for the lunar princess to guide them, along with a detachment of guards, to their location. The royal guards that had accompanied Samus through the Canterlot search and battle with Ridley had stayed behind on medical and evac duties for the injured. However, the direct subordinates of Captain Goldenclad (Private Star Enchanter and Lieutenant Faithful Spear) had firmly volunteered to continue the hunt. These two kept pace with the goddess and bounty hunter both. The forest unsettled Samus. Every tree was completely bare, and they seemed to have a watching presence about them. A feeling of unease overcame her as she lost focus on the run, and began to concentrate on the ghastly images the surrounding foliage began to infest her mind with. She snapped back into the real world when she caught her foot on a root. Samus went down headfirst but stuck her hand out to meet the ground, using her momentum to propel herself forward again. She spun in the air for a few moments, keeping up to her running pace, before landing back onto her feet. Something crumbled under her when she hit the ground, and a crackling sound erupted as if she had crushed a large number of twigs. Stopping for a moment, Samus investigated the sound and found that it looked to be exactly that; a very large pile of branches. Except that there was something peculiar about it. Something about the shape and size of the wood just wasn’t right... but she wasn’t allowed more time to articulate. A growl emanated from the trees around her, forcing her to focus on her surroundings as she readied her arm cannon. In her scanning of the environment, Samus noticed the joint squads plus Celestia were staring slack jawed at her. Or rather, staring behind her. Samus quickly swiveled in place, crunching more of the unnatural wood underneath her feet, and bringing up her scan visor to better help vision in the moonlit night. A moment passed before the scanner picked up on the source and it became apparent why the visor was having a problem once Samus saw the origin of the primal sound. Out of the shadows stepped the forms of what appeared to be mutated wolves. Samus began to realize what she had landed on when she saw that each had the appearance of assembled timber. Steadying her arm cannon, Samus heard a slight intake of breath from the guards behind her. Her reaction was to merely smirk. Before anyone else could move, Samus held up her hand and motioned for the princess and company to back away. Not a second passed before they complied with her order. And in the next moment, the wolves took their chance and leapt at her. Taking care to direct the hostiles away from the ponies, Samus morphed into her ball form and sped under her nearest assailant. In her place, she left a single bomb in an attempt to disorient the wolves. She had to make sure to limit her use of abilities, lest she hit one of her allies. The maneuver went flawlessly, with Samus ending up with her back to an empty forest, and her sights set on the entire attacking group and the ponies off to her right. The bomb she had left behind exploded, turning one of the wolves into a pile of scorched lumber while knocking the rest of the attackers to the ground. Samus noticed the downed wolf’s body beginning to lose it’s shape. She knew what this meant, but she needed to focus on dispatching the rest of the wolves first. By the time she had charged her wave beam the wolves had recovered and were encircling here again, trying to overwhelm their prey. But Samus was not going to let this happen. She quickly lined up her shot, releasing the pent up energy from the arm cannon which proceeded to tear through three wolves, each of them disintegrating immediately. These piles began to morph as well, and Samus’ suspicions were confirmed when the remains of the first casualty evaporated completely, leaving an X parasite floating in its place A loud gasp came from the squad, but Samus didn’t let it faze her for she knew the destruction a single X could cause. Dashing towards the wolven group, Samus took aim and let loose a volley of wave beams aimed at the parasitic animal she had previously rolled under. The beams hit and she was rewarded with another pile of disintegrated lumber. Samus reached the parasite before it could manage to disappear into the depths of the woods, grabbing it with her free hand. Her suit immediately assimilated the X, restoring part of her lost energy and clearing her senses. Her smirk only intensified as she charged another wave beam, ready for the next contestant in this brawl. The wolves hesitated, seeing how Samus now clearly had the upper hand in what originally seemed to be a one-sided battle. Taking this hesitation, she dove to her right, Samus closed the gap between her and one of the wolves she had narrowly missed when she had killed the three wolves. Samus grabbed the parasitic creature by its throat then slammed it into the ground with a sickening crunch of timber. She pulled her arm cannon back before ramming it deep within the wolf’s maw and firing. Samus started her battle routine, flawlessly moving about the field like a dancer, reveling in her masterful art and exemplifying her skill to the group of onlookers. She made sure to immediately absorb the golden parasites as the enemies fell. Not long later, she was standing in an empty warzone with full energy tanks and a wide grin on her face. Turning back to Celestia and her entourage, she swung her hand to signal for them to follow. She began preparing herself, awaiting the next shriek that would reveal the parasitic clone. She heard the screeching from the castle. They all heard the screeching from the castle. To say their blood froze in fear would be putting it lightly, for what they heard had been completely alien... and completely bloodthirsty. Their bodies stiffened as their muscles ceased to fulfill their bidding. The monster making that sound had no hope for redemption. Twilight quickly reflected back upon what the guide leader had told them before they began following the princess’ trail. He had told her of the invading beings that had dropped out of what seemed to be a portal that had appeared in the middle of the ballroom. It had been a long night, and there had been few guests remaining at three am when it had occurred, but those who witnessed it could not get the images out of their heads. Two alien beings had dropped out of the hole in space before it closed. One was a dragonesque looking creature with great talons and a blood curdling screech that threatened to deafen anyone within the vicinity, and one was a bipedal figure completely clad in a suit of armor with a mysterious weapon attached to its right arm. Upon arrival they had immediately begun an all out brawl within the ballroom, destroying everything in sight. The bipedal figure seemed to have gone into a crazed state of battle where it continued to fire its weapon without halt, while the much larger one picked up the alicorn statue with ease before flinging it at the first. Twilight still seemed to disbelieve such murderous violence. Within the whole millennia of Nightmare Moon's absence, and even a great time before that, Equestria has had nothing but absolute peace. Petty crimes were the highest of ethical bendings ponies would stoop to... killing was unheard of. The thoughts continued to disturb her further, almost bringing her to release the contents of her stomach, but she shook her head quickly to disperse the images. Another thing the leader had mentioned was that the bipedal being was apparently not hostile towards ponies, but instead had been in a death feud with the monster that had killed her parents while she was just a young child. Twilight had to stop herself again and take heavy breaths to calm the onslaught of depression resulting from thinking of such events. Once she was ready, she returned to the last vital piece of information in her head. The pegasus guard had also told them that the monster had been driven out of Canterlot by the squads led by Celestia, Luna and the alien. But what frightened her was what they were expected to do. As she made her way into the chariot, she looked between her friends and gulped. They were expected to fight a monster that murdered and.... and, ate the carcasses. They were scared of what was going to happen during the altercation, hoping that the Elements would be enough to stop this monster. But they had to try, and Twilight knew that. They had to try for all their families, for all the people who died... for all of Equestria. She caressed the crown atop her head for comfort; the Element of Magic meant power in friendship and harmony. She knew she was safe with her friends there along with the Elements to banish evil. The ride was uneventful, at least until they saw the silhouette of a dragon in the distance, soaring through the air above “Nightmare Woods”, terrible shrieks rending the air. Twilight could barely stand the sight of the murderous creature as it melded into the mottled backdrop of the Nightmare Wood. She glanced at her element-bearing friends with a frightened expression and noticed similar looks about them, even Rainbow Dash seemed far less confident now that she had actually seen the creature they were being sent to fight. She felt much safer knowing that the monster was at such a great distance from them at the moment. Minutes passed by through the chariot ride, each one an agonizing trial for the girls. Fluttershy was a ball of pink and yellow on the floor of the chariot, the shivers of fright racking her body. Rarity was calming herself with deep breaths, her thoughts of sensibility and remaining civilized penetrating through her fear. Rainbow Dash was striking a vicious pose with wings flared and a glare aimed at the last seen spot of the flying monster. Applejack had set herself sitting on the chariot floor with her stetson covering her eyes and legs crossed in what appeared to be a meditative state. Princess Luna had begun to drift silently ahead of the leading guards to the point where she was almost out of earshot. Pinkie Pie was... well she was baking cupcakes, in an oven... that she had snuck aboard. Twilight couldn’t begin to fathom the implications of this, not only was she wondering how Pinkie lifted it in without them knowing, but she also was wondering just how it was lit when the plug could clearly be seen laying on the chariot floor. The unicorn shook her head as she began to remember that attempting to understand Pinkie Pie’s antics was a useless effort that would only end in headaches and frosting. Twilight flailed her legs in a vain attempt to stay upright as the chariot rocked from an unseen shockwave. The lavender pony found her balance and chanced a look forward to try to locate the origin of the explosion. The guardsponies were in a mess, trying to keep the chariot upright and fly straight at the same time. This blocked her vision somewhat, but she was still able to gain quick glimpses of a giant cave mouth in the Canterlot mountainside. Boulders the size of a ponyville house fell from the mountain and crushed some of the ghoulish forest life below. “Is-is the mountain erupting?!” Rainbow Dash had retracted her wings to her sides and seemed to be leaning away from the regal giant. Twilight shook her head quickly as there had never been recorded volcanic eruption from the Canterlot mountain ever. Luna had also looked back at the Element bearers and added her own shaking head to Twilight’s answer. “No, Rainbow Dash. Something else must have caused that explosion... but what could do that, I have no idea.” This wasn’t far from the truth, as Twilight understood the powers of the princesses and how they could produce magical abilities on such a scale. But she had never thought of one of them using them in such a violent manner. “Look alive, Element bearers! We’re approaching princess Celestia and the squad. You’ll know the alien when you see it,” the guide called out, pulling the girls away from their distractions. Once the preparations had finished they stood tall and waited for the moment of touchdown. Princess Celestia could be seen standing near the cave entrance talking to a set of unicorn guards as the chariot set down. Luna immediately sped to her once the group reached the ground. The six ponies stumbled out of the chariot and formed a line, respectfully awaiting the princess’ orders. Twilight spotted the alien creature conversing among a group of guards. The unicorn could barely take the excitement and scientific wonder that came with seeing this new being. It was bipedal, as the guard had said, and covered in a purplish thing she could only assume was a full-body armor. She assumed its two limbs at its chest were arms like Spike’s, she even noticed that the arm on the left had a hand similar to his. But instead of claws, this creature had a set of fingers like a primate. But the most curious feature about the alien was its right arm. Instead of ending in a hand like the other, it ended in something that looked similar to Pinkie’s party cannon, though miniaturized. The creature nodded to a group of guards who set off towards the cave mouth before turning to Princess Celestia and giving a thumbs up. The regal sister nodded, turned to the cave and raised a massive shield of pink to cover the entrance, supplemented by the unicorn guards. The magical energy from the spell caused wind to pour out of the mouth of the cave, sending old layers of dust careering about the clearing. The shy pegasus standing amongst the newcomers couldn’t handle the sudden onslaught on her nose and began the desperate fight against sneezing. The five friends looked at the yellow pony who started to panic, but she eventually succumbed and let out a soft noise that could be barely heard over the maelstrom in the clearing and a rising growl. The alien stopped in its movement and looked behind it to see the six new ponies. It hesitated for a moment before aiming its arm cannon at them and firing.
Chapter 5: OnslaughtChapter 5: Onslaught This story begins during the Neo-Ridley fight in Metroid Fusion. Metroid is owned by Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. Major thanks to Pissfer for amazing ideas, editing and awesome-ifying it. Music added for enjoyment/atmospheric effect. A/N: Ok so here is the long overdue fifth chapter of my mentally handicapped series (Mareoid Fusion inc you didn’t know). In here you will see some Samus, some Celestia, some OC and maybe even a tree or two idk it’s not like I wrote this. Also, remember that the music I am linking to in this is for enjoyment only. Do NOT go into the comment section of the video and post “poni poni poni”, I do NOT want to be the reason a person regrets posting this music. The shot filled the silence left by the inanimate ponies in the clearing. As the wave beam travelled from the alien Twilight froze, petrified by adrenaline-fuelled fear. Rainbow Dash reacted to the hostile action differently, immediately blasting off towards the alien like a bullet. She met the shot halfway between the two groups as they continued streaking in their respective directions. Rainbow Dash reached the creature before the beam finished its route, but was stopped short as an armored hand caught her by the throat. Rainbow found herself helpless, only able to look upon the helmet that stared back at her, pleading for release. Surprisingly, her relief came almost immediately as she felt herself being lifted up before being tossed aside. She hit the ground hard, briefly rolling before coming to rest on her back. A lesser pony would have laid there after such an impact and attempted to recuperate, but she was up in a multi-colored flash, expecting to see the alien attacking her friends. Then suddenly her attention was drawn away from the alien. It was the same thing that was currently captivating the rest of the element bearers. A mass of ash that lay next to Twilight Sparkle, the air distorting around it. Something was off about the pile of warping, disintegrated wood. She couldn’t quite determine what it was, but she knew something supernatural was definitely going on in front of her. Then Rainbow realized that the alien had bolted towards her friends and took off towards it again. But as it got within reaching distance of her friends the ash disappeared, replacing itself by a lone, floating green blob. None of the six ponies knew what to think at that moment: One moment they thought they were being attacked by their supposed ally and the next they were witnessing a pile of ash morphed into what looked to be a living creature. She broke out of her shock as the alien, who had shot at them just a moment prior, dove forward and made contact with the blob. The green entity disappeared immediately, almost as if it had been absorbed by the armored assailant. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes fixated upon the alien as it rose to full height after diving for the mysterious creature. The alien clenched its hand in a tight fist before turning to the six ponies and and raising it in a military salute. The cyan muzzle was whipping back and forth, from sun goddess to bounty hunter, as its owner attempted to process the new information that seemed to be arriving much too fast. “Wait, so... you’re saying that this is a pony-” “Person,” the regal sister interjected. “-person that comes from outer space - maybe even a different universe - and is currently employed by a huge empire of other ‘persons’ to hunt down the other alien that attacked Canterlot?” By this point, Rainbow Dash’s face held a mix of confusion and skepticism. She trusted the princess with her life, and she had even been told that the creature they were to meet was an “alien”, but standing here and hearing all of this far-fetched information took its toll on the pegasus’ open-mindedness. Princess Celestia traded a look with Samus Aran for a moment before turning back to the bewildered pony. “Yes. In fact, that covers it quite nicely, if somewhat simplistic.” Rainbow shook her head slowly before turning to face her friends with a raised eyebrow. At this point, all the ponies were attempting to simply process the information. Twilight the most confused of them all, having hundreds of questions flying through her head. She soon found herself spitting them out one after another. “But you still haven’t told us about this ‘Galactic Federation’! Or about your suit! Or what that green thing was! Or what happened to it! Or what that thing that came out of your arm was! Or-!” For the fifth time in as many minutes, Twilight’s mouth became the victim of a hoof invasion, this time being administered by the stetson-wearing apple farmer. “Now hold on there, sugarcube. This nice lady has been attacked by your questions enough for the moment, no need to continue.” Applejack gave a courteous nod in the bounty hunter’s direction as she understood what it was like to deal with the antics of the librarian when access to new information became available. She also made sure to refer to Samus by her actual gender instead of the general indicator used by Rainbow Dash, as she thought it would be quite rude to do anything but that after hearing it from the princess. Samus would have chosen to speak up at this moment to suggest moving along with the hunt for Ridley, but once a pink ball of fur began to appear and disappear at random among the group, she decided it was best to stay silent for the time being. “Yeah! We should be feeding her questions! Not attacking! Like cupcakes!” Samus also decided not to delve too deeply into the logic behind what this pink mare said, as nothing that had come from her so far made any sense. She did find the antics to be quite a relief in contrast to her normally dark and foreboding atmosphere though. Samus understood that missions were missions and were to be handled as such, but it seemed like every mission recently had a somber feel to it that only sent her mood further into depression. Seeing such light and fun in her world of destruction and danger put a smile on her normally stoic face. “Pinkie, darling, you can’t feed somepony questions, you’re still asking them.” This pony gave Samus an awkward feeling as she couldn’t find a suitable way to deal with its constant complaining of her Fusion Suit. Although she respected the white mare’s attempts to uphold civility in all situations, she couldn’t help but feel annoyed at her insensitive criticism. Samus was used to dealing with undue criticism, so she was ready to put this aside to make sure it didn’t affect her performance on the mission. “Well that’s just silly, questions should totally be able to be eaten! I bet they would taste like chocolate covered chocolate cupcakes! And those are good! You aren’t saying I can’t eat chocolate covered chocolate cupcakes are you?” No one had an answer for the pink pony. They all just contemplated in confusion as to how it would even be possible to bring about a logical close to this train of thought.Celesita saw this as her opportunity to step in and cleared her throat to be heard over the encroaching silence. “I understand you may have more questions, but we have more pressing matters. I suggest we return to our objective and deal with this Ridley before delving into inquiries and time consuming talk.” The sun goddess made sure to be straight forward and leave no room for a “no” unless somepony wanted to sound like they would rather talk then apprehend the killer of a handful of ponies. She watched as the purple unicorn visibly deflated at hearing that the answers to her ever-burning questions would have to be delayed momentarily. She quickly received a round of nods from the surrounding ponies, including the forlorn Twilight, as they realized that what she said was true and that they better prepare to engage in the forthcoming battle. There were many openings scattered among the litter of stone that covered most of the cave mouth, but one such impression was different than the rest. Though this one sat like the rest, appearing to be a simple hole that ran merely faded into darkness. But this one gateway between rock instead was the exit to a passageway running through the mountainside straight into the recently sealed off cave. A bulge started to emerge from the portal, marring the picturesque mountain landscape. The gelatinous creature slowly emerged from the near-impassable pathway, gathering itself bit by bit as it hovered over the opening before taking off towards the nearby woods Soft hoof falls signaled the approach of a pegasus guard who happened upon the scene just as the parasite disappeared into the trees. His movement stopped for a moment as he let out a surprised gasp, then it picked back up except this time more frantic and moving back towards the cave mouth where the guardsponies had set up camp. Lieutenant Faithful Spear burst through the thick shrubbery into the clearing in front of the cave mouth, his head whipping around as he tried to locate the princesses and Samus. He spotted the alien talking with the royal sisters and the elements of harmony and dashed towards them, the urgency of what he had seen rushing him along. The human tensed for a moment, apparently sensing him approaching, before spinning around and making eye contact with the frantic lieutenant. It raised a hand for him to stop once he got within speaking distance and then motioned for him to relay his information. “Samus, princesses. I spotted an X Parasite escaping into the forest a kilometer north of here. I think there may be a shaft that leads into the cave in that vicinity.” The aforementioned trio looked to each other in a few moments of silence before Luna gave a quick nod to Celestia and set off towards the shielded cave entrance. The sun goddess turned her attention back to the lieutenant as she addressed him, “Lieutenant Spear, your orders are to lead Samus Aran to the spot where you spotted the X Parasite. My sister is going to send some unicorn guards to go with you. Is there anything else that you need to report before you head off?” Spear shook his head in reply and gave a salute to his princess with a practiced, stoic appearance, but inside he was frantically attempting to fully comprehend the fact that he had been given command of a group of guards. After serving loyally under his captain, he was now stepping up to hold the mantle of leader in a military setting; a high honor that every guard looks forward to in his career. Of course he wasn’t going to let his emotions break through and show his anxiousness, so he maintained a visage of indifference while he waited for the unicorn guards to arrive. Samus smiled in her helmet as she understood what the guard must be feeling at this point. She understood, through her own time in the military, how it felt to be given that promotion... that recognition from a superior. She understood how it felt to be told you were being given power, to understand that you were going to be entrusted with it. Though her experience with the notion was largely secondhand. This didn’t stop her from mentally applauding the guard for rising up in his commander’s place and maintaining a calm demeanour throughout. Although she could not say the same for the group of six supposed “warriors” that sat behind her wrapped in confusion and shock. She had begun to realize that these six ponies were not actually warriors as Celestia had hinted towards, but merely citizens of remarkable power. She could see no other reason for involving them in such a dangerous conflict and it was obvious at this point that they were not desensitized to violence. Looking back to the ponies, she saw mixed reactions ranging from mouths hanging agape to raised eyebrows and even a manic grin. She turned her attention back to the lieutenant. Wait. That pink one was smiling? Samus swiveled on her heels until she was facing where the pink pony had stood just a moment before but now saw only empty space. Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow in confusion as she stood there, wondering how the simple earth pony had evaded her awareness. “Uh, miss Samus? You might wanna look above you.” The orange earth pony snapped Samus out of her confused state only to leave her more reason to question the situation at hand. Deciding that it is best not to ignore advice from companions, Samus glanced upward and received a visor full of bright blue, dinner-plate sized eyes and an impossible grin. “Hi there, I haven’t introduced myself yet, I’m Pinkie Pie! I noticed you weren’t from around here and that got me thinking that you probably haven’t been thrown a party before, or at least you haven’t been thrown one by me before so I tried to think of a way to throw a ‘welcome to earth, alien-thing!’ party but that got me thinking about cupcakes and then I saw that your suit is purple and purple is a really good color for frosting so I thought ‘what could look so much like a cupcake and not actually be a cupcake?’ but then I realized that there is no way you could become a cupcake so I did the next best thing!” Samus stared at the creature. There had not been a single break in that rampage for breath. And the worst part was that it was not finished talking, in fact, it was waiting for Samus to answer her question hidden in a statement. She raised her hand, spinning it in small circles to indicate that she was ready for Pinkie Pie to continue. “I painted a cupcake on your claw-thing!” Samus stopped waving her hand, instead bringing it up to her visor for inspection. On the back rested one of the new spikes that adorned her arm ever since she’d received the Fusion Suit. On the palm rested the remarkably detailed painting of a purple frosted cupcake with sprinkles and a single fizzing candle. The bounty hunter’s eyes slowly slid back up to the pink mare who was still grinning from her perch atop Samus’ head. Except now there was a paintbrush sticking out from the confines of her mouth as if it had been there the whole time. “Samus? Samus Aran? The unicorn detachment is ready and we’re moving out. Please follow me.” Samus took one last look at the cupcake that had miraculously appeared on her hand then another look above her only to notice that the pink pony had disappeared from her head and was instead back to sitting amongst her friends. She had seen weird things happen before, but what had just transpired between her and the physics-defying earth pony was a whole different kind of impossible. She shook her head briskly as she fought to focus back on the mission at hand. As she found her steady mindset once again, she spun around and nodded at the lieutenant, confirming her ability to immediately head to the X Parasite’s last known location. It had been simple enough for the assembled group to locate the deformity in the cave wall. Once they had reached the location at which the lieutenant had spotted the X Parasite, Samus activated her scanning visor, immediately locating the abnormality on the rocky mountain face. A small number of unicorn guards were left at the mountainside to not only seal the hole leading to the cave with a shield spell but to also carefully continue searching along the path in case they might discover any other blemishes. When Spear reached the point where he’d seen the X disappear, Samus had a collection of eight unicorn guards in tow as well as Private Enchanter. Samus quickly divided the force into five squads, four of them containing two unicorns.The fifth was comprised of Samus, Lieutenant Spear and Private Enchanter. Each group set off in a different direction leaving no room for the parasite to escape their sights. Samus, along with Spear and Enchanter, headed off directly opposite the mountainside with hopes that they’ll intercept the parasite before it could replicate or worse. “Bah I hate this forest. It’s all so dead and dense, you can hardly see a thing in here!” It had only been a handful of minutes since they set out on their planned path and Spear’s patience for the forest was already beginning to crumble. Samus was in front of the two ponies, easily able to lead the way as her visor enhanced the perpetual low light setting within the cursed woods. The private had kept silent during the search, presumably in an attempt to remain stoic among his peers and help maintain a sense of professionalism. Samus found this amusing as the private kept his calm demeanor while the lieutenant seemed about ready to buck the next tree in his sight. “Lieutenant,” Samus said without turning her head, “what do you know of the terrain ahead?” Spear stopped his obscene rantings to put a hoof to his chin in thought, obviously needing to think hard in order to surface any memories of the forest. “I actually wouldn’t know, ma’am. Ever since the Nightmare Moon incident, ponies have done their best to forget or ignore this forest.” The lieutenant shifted his eyes around, taking in the gloom ridden atmosphere. “Much of it probably isn’t mapped, and if it is it might have changed in that thousand years. But I would recommend expecting a wide variety of terrain, this place looks like it could contain just about anything.” At the front of the group Samus nodded her head while continuing her visual sweep of the foliage. Samus was unhindered by most terrain as her powered suit and chozo DNA gave her unprecedented mobility. She had asked mostly for the sake of the soldiers themselves so that they would know beforehand what they were about to step into. The private broke his silence at this point with an answer to the still hanging question, “actually I know. If we continue along this direction we’ll reach something similar to the widely known Froggy-Bottom Bog near Ponyville. I’ve heard rumors that this one houses a similar hydra but if that is true then it has been very low profile.” Samus stopped in her tracks to look back and stare at the private, her movement was copied swiftly by the lieutenant, though he was troubled for a different reason. They have a Hydra? “How do you know that?” Private Enchanter looked at the ground for a moment, sighing as he continued, “well Lieutenant, when I was a foal and my father was still around, he would create maps of surrounding areas. It was his hobby.” Enchanter brought his head back up with a sad smile slipping through his mask of professional indifference. “I specifically remember when he brought me here to explore the area while he outlined the map. Of course the dark trees and deathly glow scared the living daylights out of me when I was a kid but that was the first time he and I had really been able to bond. I am sure that farther on this way is a bog... what I am not sure of is whether or not it is also home to a hydra.” Private Enchanter’s information had proven to be correct as the small collection of ponies, along with the human, stumbled upon the mucky flooring that made up what Samus had decided to call “Nightmare Bog”. Looking at the immediate vicinity Samus noticed that the trees were fewer in number in the bog and there actually seemed to be wildlife present. She also noticed everything was covered in the same, opaque muck that abounded in bogs. It was going to be near impossible to navigate as there would be no warning of drops. The team edged its way further into the infested bog with an increased sense of vigilance, now that they had to deal with any refuse that could litter the ground, or possibly even an unseen decline. “Huh, never seen a tree like that before.” Samus turned her head to look at the lieutenant who was currently nodding his head towards a curious object that was protruding from the ground much like the trees around it. The color was hard to tell under the coat of fog and muck, but Samus deduced that it used to be a white or at least grey before the bog covered it. Switching to her scanner, Samus inspected the object and was shocked to find that the tree was actually a very large and fresh bone. She returned to her combat visor as she sighed, not happy with the implications of finding a recently deceased creature of this size. “That’s not a tree, Lieutenant. I think things have gotten a lot worse.” Spear broke his gaze from the bone to stare at the bounty hunter in mild confusion. “Not a tree? Then what is it? And how does it complicate things?” Samus did not need to answer, as the private in the back of the group gave a quick yell and pointed along their path. Samus’ head traced the line indicated by the unicorn immediately, stopping as she spotted the lone X Parasite as it disappeared back into the surrounding foliage. Taking no time to see if her companions were ready to give chase, Samus exploded towards the parasite. It did not take long for Samus to catch the parasite as she ducked and dove around the surrounding flora. As they burst into a clearing, the parasite was just outside of arm’s reach from the bounty hunter. Samus sprang forward one last time, somersaulting through the creature before nimbly landing back on the treacherous terrain. The energy from the newly-assimilated green X Parasite had gone straight to her missile supplies, topping them up to a nearly full state. Now that she’d dealt with the immediate threat, she took another moment to contemplate the significance of the bones that they’d stumbled upon earlier, wondering whether or not they had missed a fight that had been dangerously close to involving her team as well. Her thoughts went back to the fight with the timberwolves. "Those parasites had to have come from Ridley" she thought. The meaning of this was not yet fully understood by the bounty hunter. She scanned the foggy scenery around her, taking in the twisted bark of the local trees and the muck-covered undergrowth that was hardy enough to survive in this environment. She could only shake her head in disbelief, her eyes narrowing as she turned her attention to the ponies who were just now catching up to her. "Good job, Samus. Now we can return to the cave mouth and destroy that mon-" Spear froze in place as Samus raised her hand. Samus changed over to her scan visor as she swept the area again. She didn’t find anything immediately, but she soon felt some subtle vibrations in her feet and legs. A moment later she noticed ripples starting to form on the water and suddenly realized what was happening. She wasted no time in grabbing the pony and leaping back out of the path of the brown head that came flying out of the murky water, her heel getting caught by the head as it flew harmlessly by, sending Samus tumbling through the air. She spotted the ground and turned her tumbling into a controlled spin, hitting the ground and rolling, releasing the pony once she was safely out of the range of the head and neck that had just emerged from the muck. As she took aim at her new opponent, she motioned for the lieutenant to fall back. Two more explosions shook the water’s surface as a set of twin head broke through the bog muck and rose to meet the first. For a moment Samus thought that there were three creatures rising to the surface but immediately suspended the thought when she remembered the private's words, "what I am not sure of is whether or not it is also home to a hydra." She smirked at the idea. She had fought a similar beast before; three separate “necks” and heads connected to a single, central body. She was sure taking this animal down would prove to be much simpler. Finally, after rising far above the tree canopy, the heads stopped in their ascent and glared at the armoured human. Samus kept her weapon trained on the center head that had attacked them beforehand but scanned the other two with her eyes, looking for the subtle movement that would show the beginning of the battle. The head to her left shifted its eyes to the two guardsponies, one of which was attempting to calm the other who seemed to have gone into a state of panting shock. The other two heads began to carefully move away from the left one, centering their attention on Samus. She wasn't oblivious to this change and kept her feet planted firmly, ready to protect the ponies from the strike in the near future. But she also had to keep the other two heads into account who were in the process of setting up an attack of their own on her, probably to keep her busy while their "brother" finished off the two guardsponies. Her thoughts raced, formulating methods and plans of attack, running through scenarios and calculating chances. In the span of a second, the heads finished moving and then gave a roar before striking for the quick kill while Samus settled on a move of her own to counter. The lieutenant stiffened and his world slowed as he turned to see the monster whip its head toward him with disturbing speed. The private began to succumb to the darkness created from his bodies lack of air. But Samus was faster. The heads had underestimated her. They had ignorantly thought that simply bearing down on the armoured hunter with two-to-one odds would work in this situation. But even if they outclassed her in strength, she crushed them in mobility and ingenuity. A Hydra has its heads and only its heads. It doesn't have the claws attached to outstretching limbs of a wolf or the simple girth of a whale to ward predators. Although the hydra is a beast in size, it is still vulnerable and must rely on its almost disposable heads for its offense and defense. So, using this knowledge, Samus morphed into her ball form and left a power bomb in her wake as she made her way towards the two helpless ponies. The first round of actions began and then ended within the blink of an eye. Samus made her way from the path of the two heads to the third unsuspecting offender, morphed back into her standing form and then body slammed it with the force of a freight train; completely knocking it away. Just as she made contact with the skin of the third head, the power bomb she laid behind her exploded in a fiery inferno. The smirk stayed stretched on her face as she heard the satisfying screech of her enemy impale the air. Just as she had planned, one of the hydra heads had chomped onto the spot she had been standing at moments before. Within the time it took to realize what had happened it was already too late. The bomb tore through the jaw and mouth of the beast, burning the inside of its head and rupturing the skull into fragments. The head hit the floor in a lifeless lump of grey matter and torn chunks of meat, unrecognizable from the sheer damage of the most powerful explosive available in Samus' inventory. The second head that had been attempting to attack Samus hadn't been as affected by the blast as the one who had practically swallowed the bomb, but the burn marks were still evident on its face. Time held still for a moment as every creature took in the gruesome destruction caused so swiftly by the fearsome bounty hunter. The two remaining heads rejoined eachother in the sky with looks of horror etched upon their faces while the two ponies at ground level stared in utter awe at the raw power this alien was capable of dishing out. Samus rose to her full height after dealing the body slam and took the slim moment she had to add some flair to her battle stance. Turning to the side, Samus faced away from the hydra at first but swiveled her upper body to aim her arm cannon and head at it all the while charging a wave beam. The twin heads replaced their fear with pure psychotic rage at the loss of their limb. Each lowered themselves to the hunters height and then let loose a deafening roar that could be heard far past the boundaries of Nightmare Wood. Samus felt the vibrations pass by her as the hydra finished its deafening screech but stood her ground without falter. A single thought passed through her mind, "and the fight begins" before she let loose the collected charge into the face of the first hydra head to attack them. The ground shook and rocks tumbled from the cave mouth as the ponies within the clearing heard the monstrous roar from deep within the forest. Wordlessly, everypony stared off into the foreboding wood that held that utterly demonic shriek hoping that whatever it was, the ponies and alien who ventured forth were alright. But one pegasus couldn't just sit and do nothing while something evil like that was in the forest, possibly hurting other ponies. Telling her friends of her idea to go out towards the noise and make sure everypony was ok, Rainbow Dash sped into the air and then out towards the muck filled battleground that held Samus and the hydra. Samus stood with her arm cannon smoking and the hydra thrashing in front of her out of the pain caused by her point-blank range charged wave beam. By this point the private had been brought to a safe spot away from the Hydra and the Lieutenant had made his way back to stand beside Samus. The beast let loose another defiant roar before setting its attack in motion. The twin heads separated into two different attacks meant to divide Samus and the pegasus guard pony with one head attempting to catch the lieutenant in its teeth and the other clamping down onto a close tree and then ripping it from the ground. Samus gave a quick glance towards the lieutenant in fear of him being overwhelmed by the attack but was rewarded with the sight of him nimbly dodging to the side and then continuing to lead the head around the bog lake-side. Turning her attention immediately back to the now armed head, Samus witnessed it lean back slightly before whipping forward and then releasing the tree like a projectile. Leaping to her right, Samus evaded the wooden bullet and brought her cannon to aim directly at the creature which was in the process of picking up one of the boulders that littered the area. An idea came to light in the bounty hunter’s mind and she began to charge a diffusion missile, but did not fire until she knew the opportunity had presented itself. Rearing itself back to full height, the head clenched in its maw a massive and oozing boulder easily the size of a two story building. Samus kept the missile contained within her cannon and the sights trained on the mouth. The head began its backward movement again, attempting to repeat the whiplash maneuver for its deadly speed. This was the moment she had waited for, the second the head began its arc she released the charged missile aimed directly for where she knew the head would be in half a second. The creature came back in its movement, halfway through its attack when the missile impacted the stone in its mouth and ruptured the rock giant. The results were as gruesome as the first, with the boulder acting as a contact point, the “shrapnel” exploded in all directions within the creatures soft and exposed mouth. It died instantly, unable to regenerate like the first as it had not been cut off but instead merely losing large chunks of its brain cavity and jaw. Samus took no time to revel in the victory as she saw the lieutenant still in his own fight trying to just survive the constant onslaught from the lone head. Her eyes widened in fear when she saw the lieutenant make a mistake in his flying, too distracted in his attempts to dodge another attack, he did not stop himself from ramming into a gnarled tree on the opposite end of the lake and slip to the ground in a daze. The head broke into a wide grin and reared back with a furious roar before descending upon the stunned pony. Samus broke into a full sprint, but could not suppress the knowledge that the head was far closer and faster at the moment than she was. A flash of light, a scream of defiance and an opposing shriek assaulted her senses almost simultaneously. She rose a hand to cover her visor for a brief second before lowering it to see the private standing above his fallen comrade, horn still aglow with fierce magic and his face set in grim determination. Samus could see the monster had a new scorch mark etched upon its face, this brought along something new however. Instead of instantly going for an attack again, the head began to rise, but this time it wasn’t straight up and gracefully like was before with the necks stretching to their limit. This time she could feel the tremors as something gargantuan moved beneath the lake's surface. Miniature earthquakes rocked the floor as the head seemed to partially distance itself away from the group, heading towards a different shoreline that would allow its body to rise from the depths. Not keen on allowing the creature to fulfill its plan, Samus took aim and opened fire with her arsenal but stopped soon after as it seemed the head had quickly developed the ability to dodge outright fire. She would have to take it out methodically like the rest, which meant waiting and watching for the mistake that would open a hole in its defenses. Carefully sidestepping to the downed lieutenant and recently arrived private, Samus kept a trained eye on the slowly rising Hydra. The beast towered above the tree canopy, scraping the sky with its vicious head, sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight like ivory windows. After reaching the conscious grasping pegasus Samus activated her scanner and took a quick check up on his vitals. Although he had suffered nothing more than a concussion from the crash, the fact that he was now a dead weight unsettled Samus. The private eyed her expectantly, needing an answer as to his befallen friends status. Giving a nod and a thumbs up, Samus made a point to express how he was to stay with his comrade using familiar gestures. The unicorn froze for a moment, his time already spent on the sidelines filling him with a dreaded guilt; now he was being ordered to repeat it and leave his current commander to fight a possessed Hydra solo. He quickly shook out of it though, his guard training kicking in and obliterating his thoughts of disobeying orders. He may have felt against the action but most of the time spent at any sort of military training is used to drill the undying devotion to ones commanding officer into one's instinct. If he told you to jump off a cliff you would salute, grab your gear then go down like it was your destiny. The unicorn gave a stern nod, turned to face the hostile Hydra then slowly began to edge his way backwards until he was standing defensively over his brother-in-arms once again. Something disturbed the bounty hunter as she studied the defensive stance the giant myth had taken up. The creature had been nothing but completely aggressive in its attacks ever since it first struck. Not a single moment was spared where it wasn’t attempting to beat them with simple, brutal tactics. Now... now it was standing back, almost seeming to wait for its opportune moment. Samus realized with a start that that was exactly what it was doing. Not many times had she gone against something that actually learned from mistakes like that. The Hydra had realized nothing conventual could be done offensively against her, so it opted to try being defensive and maybe take her on in a counter attack. Smart... if it had any chance of working. She had been through more disgusting monsters and their onslaughts then most people have heard about in stories. She was the ultimatum for destruction of evil creatures such as this, nothing stood in her way to protect the galaxy and eradicate beings like Ridley. If it wanted her to make the first move, she was going to give it one hell of a first move. Speeding above the tree canopy with the intensity befitting that of a Wonderbolt-expectant, Rainbow Dash began to feel the air around her condense and actually visually shift into the shape of a cone in front of her. But the velocity of her travel was the last thing on her mind. Her face portrayed grim determination, her sights locked onto the towering monstrosity that was attacking something on the ground level. Nothing, and she would make sure of it if it took her life, nothing was going to hurt anypony while she was around. The Element of Loyalty braced herself as she felt the barrier around her give way, shattering with an earth shaking boom. Prismatic light overtook her and everyone else's world in the area, bathing the land in a multi colored glow. This was all a bare second before she body slammed the head of the titanic beast into submission. The sonic boom and speeding projectile happened just as Samus began her rush to the Hydra with a charged wave beam in store. The wave passed over her body, forcing her to come to a stop if only to regain her disrupted footing. The sight of the Hydra being toppled by what looked like a super-sonic rainbow was, to say the least, confusing for the bounty hunter to take in at first. But not one to let an advantage go unused, she resumed her full sprint with full intent of unleashing the power collected in her arm cannon down the maw of the beast. Approaching the downed Hydra rapidly, Samus took note of the dazed multi-colored pegasus attempting to catch her bearings on top of the remaining head. This garnered further questions in her mind, this time much harder to ignore as she made the final strides towards her destination. Leaping the last of the distance, Samus brought down her arm cannon with full force, jamming it in the Hydra’s mouth with the brain directly in the line of fire. Samus let loose the collected wave beam energy that had built up in the arm cannon, allowing the shot to obliterate the little life left in the battle torn creature. The body began to fade out of existence, phasing in and out of physical being before finally being replaced by a floating orb covered in defensive spikes and holding a green core. When the body finally disappeared, the slowly catching up pegasus fell from her no longer existing flooring, landing on the shoreline with a grunt of surprise. What her eyes first met when she looked back at her last position was the floating parasitic orb and a small collection of X parasites, at first hovering slowly, but then eventually opting to ram the nearest living creature. Rainbow Dash yelped in fear, quickly rolling out of the way as the core parasite sped past her, scraping the ground barely inches from her body. Whipping her head around to once again face the parasite, Rainbow saw the parasite turn and once again make a rush towards her prone form. Almost immediately afterward, Samus stepped in and launched a missile towards the parasite, exploding on impact and even causing the creature to shift slightly in color. The pegasus couldn’t help but stare at the destructive display, the explosive sound wave and brilliant light filling her senses with adrenaline pumping action. Her eyes remained wide and her mouth fixed itself open as Samus set out easily dispatching the orb with a few well timed missile shots as well as absorbing the remaining X parasites. After the final shot, the carapace surrounding the green core shattered exposing it to the outside in a temporary daze. Samus leapt into the remaining upgrade parasite. Samus felt the power course through her suit and body, the upgrade bringing newbound energy and a fiery glow that seemed to erupt in her arm cannon. Feeling the purpose in her new ability, Samus pulled her arm cannon back, allowing the dancing flames to burst into destructive life as she activated her missiles. Allowing the technology to charge, Samus shot a smirk at the still gawking pegasus before releasing the explosives upon five different trees she had already targeted within her H.U.D. The result was a simultaneous firing of five different missiles, all with their own predetermined target. Samus watched as the trees ruptured in a shower of ice and wood, bathing the area in dust and earning a legitimate grin from the lone human. An alien creature floated through the equally haunting forest. Accompanied by none, searching for prey in its quest to overtake all. Recently released from its swamp host, the being silently made its way through the dark wood with single minded thoughts. Hoofsteps began to echo in what was once an area occupied by a lone predator. The yellow blob halted in mid air, searching for the source of this new noise. The steps grew louder, determined and without fear. The ambience of the forest only built up by this addition, almost as if it carried a dark weight, malevolent in intent. The floating creature began moving once more when it located the direction the sound was coming from, reaching out to meet it halfway for assimilation. It was stopped soon after, unable to even twitch. Not only a dark magenta glow surrounded the creature on all sides, but also a power of a different kind, owned by a much more ethereal being. The blob persisted, attempting to move and infect. Attempting to destroy and replicate. And when a body began to match with the now adjacent hoofsteps, its instincts were driving it mad with desire to feast and kill and renew. A shadow loomed over the pony silently watching the immobile alien, only giving a slight gesture before retreating out of sight. The pony immediately began to comply, bringing out a glowing jar and lid before snapping the alien inside it for containment. A dark grin placed itself on the unicorns mouth as it began its trek back into the dark forest. Shadows pulling in on its body, and whatever life around it slowly decaying. “You’ll have fun. You and them. Even with his ice." A/N: Ok so ending comment, I am sorry to my editor/pre-reader but after months of delay I just decided to upload this. Most of this story has already been combed through by him but the last two thousand or so words have not. Sorry if the writing isn't up to par but I really wanted for this to actually see the light of day. Also, the Hydra here has three heads, not four. I don't believe this should cause any major issues considering it seems Hydras can have as many heads as they dang please.
Chapter 7: DiffusionChapter 7: Diffusion This story begins during the Neo-Ridley fight in Metroid Fusion. Metroid is owned by Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. Major thanks to Pissfer for amazing ideas, editing and awesome-ifying it. Before you read I’d just like to thank the lot of ya who decided to stick through this half-assed march through sci-fi narrative. I’ll see ya when I see ya... oh, and also, be ready, for I am about to try comedy! “Damn that red light,” Samus entered with a sour thought when the glare of a nearby emergency light illuminated itself through her helmet. The portal collapsed behind her a moment later, leaving her to worry about the rest of the mission. Taking note of her suit’s systems she saw her energy reserves were at full, she even still had the upgraded missile system given to her by the hydra. She glanced upwards as she heard the sporadic sound of something zooming overhead, finding it to be an X-Parasite orb which must have been expelled from the Ridley clone. Just as those before, it moved randomly through the air before it seemed to notice her and came to a stop. The silent being wasted no time in charging her with its spiked carapace on full display. Samus, in return, gave it a smile. She couldn’t take any more of this. The gargantuan claws, tearing and ripping at her. Nothing could hurt it. Nothing could stop it. The Omega Metroid was a beast of utter reckoning, and without her ice beam, she was helpless to fight it. It gave another roar from where it stood before slowly advancing upon her again. Alarms were blaring in the background with an orbital impact warning. She raised her head, peeling her eyes from staring at the cool ground beneath her feet. She saw it inch closer and closer, but she also saw what came next. The X-Parasite, the SA-X to be exact, materialized above them before dropping down into its suit form and standing defensively before Samus. Without missing a beat it began firing upon the Metroid, tearing at its flesh with terrific power. The SA-X stalked forward confidently, a constant salvo of energy spewing from her cannon. However, she got within arm’s reach and the Metroid immediately brought a claw forward and swiped at the parasite, striking it far back and destroying much of its organic armor. The SA-X dissolved into its parasitic form, but instead of running, floated directly above Samus. She knew what it meant, even though she could not understand why. Without dwelling on the puzzling behaviour she forced her legs to obey her, she strained against the exhaustion and vaulted into the parasite, absorbing its abilities and energy in a split second. She hit the ground on her feet, an orange variant of her Fusion Suit materialized around her form and the tiring lack of energy swept away in a torrent of power for the second time in as many hours. She felt everything flooding back into her; her arm cannon held the ice beam, her suit held the resistance, and everything felt right. She looked back up at the Omega Metroid. One of its claws extended, the beast swiped at the air then gave a roar before shuffling forward once more. Samus took one more look over on her suit and noticed the pastry still painted on the palm of her hand; dutifully staying attached despite the literal physical change of armor. She smiled at it before setting to work against one last pest. The explosion was not heard within her shuttle. The blinding burst of light from the colossal impact was her only sign that the collision had occurred. Samus slowed her ship down before setting it to autopilot and sitting back to rest her head. She let loose a collected breath she didn’t realize was there, the sound and feeling reminding her that she was alive. The anxious feeling of getting to her ship while the timer counted down to titanic death had sent her heart racing. Not only had she been forced to wait and watch it come into dock, but then she had to rush inside and manually blast it back out where it came in within the ten or so seconds she had left. Her eyes wandered to the console, the A.I. within bringing her back to her old commander. “That perfect military mind... The wisdom of Adam Malkovich continued to serve even after death. Until today, I had no idea that the minds of leaders and scientists were frequently uploaded to computers. My incredible reunion with Adam may have saved the universe... But how will the beings of the universe view our resolve? I doubt they will understand what we did... the danger we barely averted. They will hold tribunals and investigations. They will hold us responsible. Adam understood this, and he spoke to me in my anger...” A voice spoke up from her memory, “Do not worry. One of them will understand. One of them must.” “I’ve reflected upon his words, and I see the wisdom in them. We are all bound by our experiences. They are the limits of our consciousness. But in the end, the human soul will ever reach for the truth... This is what Adam taught me. Just one detail still bothers me. This ship can only be started manually. Yet, before I faced the Omega Metroid, the ship moved on its own, guided by someone’s hands. Is it possible,” she spoke aloud, “Adam...?” The console lit up as words flared on the screen, “Lady, what’s troubling you? You wonder how I started the ship? Just think about it. They lent me a hand...” Samus shifted in her seat and looked behind her. Seated together, in the corner of the ship, lay the animals she had freed from the space station. She hadn’t realized they were there in her haste. Not only that, but she finally figured out where she remembered them from. They were the same animals she had saved from the destruction of Zebes. She switched back to face the front, her mind frozen from the sheer impact that one act of kindness has had upon her life. Those animals, along with the mind of Adam had been the saviors of both her and possibly the galaxy. She laughed. It was beautiful, laughing for the first time in what seemed like years. Her voice resounded inside the cabin, the waves of it pouring out of her soul in a flow of angelic sound. She laughed until she was curled into her seat and crying. It was done. She killed Ridley, destroyed the X-Parasite, brought the space station down upon the planet and even managed to save some wildlife while at it. Her two reddened eyes found themselves drawn to the cupcake painted on her hand. She hadn’t noticed before, but it seemed to glow with whatever residual magic might’ve been held within. “And,” she whispered, “I made some friends along the way.” She took ahold of the controls and pushed the throttle forward, “mission accomplished.” A/N Thank you all for joining me on this fantastic ride of fantastic...ness. It's been quite the journey hasn't it? Seemed like Samus may have been at the end of her rope a few times but she always prevails, aye? Well, I know this chapter was short but I couldn't have put much more in without it just be useless filler. I like how the ending turned out, but this mostly stems from the fact that I like how I had actually put the effort I should have originaly into this. This story was fully planned out to be the best it could be after the chapter two fiasco. Now that it's done I think I can rightly say, "mission accomplished". Love all you people who stuck through till the end, and I hope you'll join me on my next literary crusade within the lands of equine. This has been Sixinthehood, your friendy, neighborhood wackjob, signing off. p.s. Oh, and I also should probably mention I'm planning on "re-writing" this after I finish my second story (not Memorie's of The Eye of Twilight) so that it doesn't sound so crappy in the first few chapters. Chiao.
Chapter 6: IdenticalChapter 6: Identical This story begins during the Neo-Ridley fight in Metroid Fusion. Metroid is owned by Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. Major thanks to Pissfer for amazing ideas, editing and awesome-ifying it. Music added for enjoyment/atmospheric effect. As stated before, by clicking onto the links to music you agree to not mention “poni poni poni” on the persons video. They were nice enough to put in the work of getting the music on Youtube, at least show them respect by just commenting on how the music is good and not on how you got to it. Princess Celestia couldn’t help but feel anxious for the unit’s return. Tracking down the X Parasite was a big responsibility, and the added variables of aliens, homicidal creatures and rampant growth didn’t help the situation any further. But she did find solace in that one being of great power had come out of this on her side, declaring itself the destroyer of things such as Ridley or the parasite, and the bane of evil. Although she did feel slightly apprehensive at this new being’s words, she couldn’t help but feel impressed at how it seemed to live up to them. Everything it did was methodical, tactical and to the point. This was exemplified by its conduct throughout this violent quest to protect her citizens, being nothing less than a mechanically precise hunter. Celestia shook her head, she kept forgetting her own words when it came to the alien. She had a gender and she had a name. The self proclaimed bounty hunter went by the strange name of Samus Aran, and the princess did her best to make sure anypony in on the operation knew to treat her like any other equal being; respect went a long way. Her mind did a double take for a moment when she noticed her sister looking at her questioningly, as if awaiting an answer. She realized that her mind must have been wandering when Luna had begun speaking. “I’m sorry, Luna. I didn’t catch that.” Her sister rolled her teal eyes, then repeated the question, “We asked if thy had any doubts as to this outworlder. We find herquite trustworthy and heroic considering her actions thus far.” Celestia had to stop and think about this question of trust for a moment. This alien being had appeared into their world alongside the vicious and carnivorous Ridley. Although this alone is cause for speculation, she could not rule out the deep hatred that emanated from Samus when Ridley was mentioned. Near the end of the fight in the ballroom when she had finally reached the brawl and intervened, she could sense the solid anger that poured from the very hunter’s soul. This was enough for her to know that Samus was not in league with the shrieking creature. But something still held a nagging doubt in her mind as to Samus’ loyalties beyond “mutual enemy”. She had to wonder, if it weren’t for the fact that they were both fighting against Ridley, would Samus still have been their ally? And if not... then could they stop her? A commotion at the edge of the clearing brought Celestia back to attention along with her sister. Striding out of the dark woods was the bounty hunter in question, two ponies assisting a third just behind. Celestia recognized this limping pegasus as the lieutenant of the group and couldn’t help but wonder at how he had become injured during the search for a single parasite. “Welcome back, I trust you eliminated the parasite and that there is a reason for this pegasus’ injury,” Celestia inquired as she approached the advancing group. Closing in to the group also was the other five Elements of Harmony who had seen their friend enter the clearing. “Yes, ma’am,” came the reply from the unicorn private who was left assisting the pegasus after Rainbow Dash left to talk with her friends, “and Lieutenant Spear was injured during a fight with a Hydra. Hit a tree and got knocked out cold.” “Don’t say it like that,” Faithful Spear harshly whispered into his comrade’s ear, “makes me sound like an idiot.” Celestia on the other hand, was displaying a look of slight horror. “A Hydra. And you fought it? Where? And is it still here,” She exclaimed, choosing to ignore the fact that the Lieutenant had flown into a tree. Spear spoke up, deciding to give the newer guard a way out of being debriefed by a mildly-shocked sun goddess. “Yes ma’am, a Hydra. I know it sounds crazy that there was one here, but it seems the X Parasite found it first and killed it before cloning, just like Samus said they do.” Samus gave a quick nod to confirm. “She also ended up taking it out in its swamp home at least two kilometers north of here.” Celestia grimaced at the idea of killing such a large and rare being, but knew it was for the best if it had just been the ravenous clone of an already dispatched Hydra. “From what we could tell, all X Parasites had been eliminated.” This perked her mood somewhat, knowing that more likely than not, they could continue on their mission to dispose of the bringer of death upon her peaceful land. Turning her head to her lunar counterpart, she gave a nod to confirm the job’s completion. Luna did likewise, then pointed her horn to the sky. Closing her eyes in concentration she slowly built power into her horn, peaking with a blinding indigo aura. Her eyes opened and instead of the teal irises there was nothing but a radiating white glow. Celestia looked to the night sky and saw the change, the majority of the stars remained in their places but a small collection had been brought together and brightened to a remarkable scale. If one were to even glance at the sky they would be awarded with what looked to be a diamond, out of place but shining brighter than possibly even the sun itself. This was the signal for the guards to return, already prepared in case of night operations. "Lieutenant?" Celestia spoke up, distracting everyone from the radiating night sky. “Yes, ma’am?” “Bring the Elements of Harmony here immediately, and while I am speaking to them gather the guards. They should all return momentarily.” With the Lieutenant gone in compliance with the Princess’ command, Samus was left standing near the cave mouth along with the two princesses and Private Enchanter. A question crossed her mind and after a second of contemplation she decided it was the right time to discuss their plan of attack in accordance with the cave and subsequent tunnel. Twilight still couldn’t believe it. Even after hearing it come directly from her mentors mouth she couldn’t fully come to grips with it. Even after rationalizing it as true and necessary she still couldn’t believe that she was being tasked to go with her six friends and the alien creature to destroy the monster Ridley without Princess Celestia by her side. Celestia had given her the reasoning, and she even understood it, “Samus herself requested to travel in small groups to reduce battle confusion and the possibility of friendly fire. From what she has said, she has been in similar situations to this many times in her life and being flagged by high numbers of personnel has only hindered her performance in the past. We will be scouring the mountainside in search for any openings or X Parasites.” The worst part was that it made sense to her. The reasoning and logic behind were solid and as they have had no experience in this sort of thing, it was best to listen to the only creature here who was actually trained. Trained to kill. Alien in biology and customs it seemed. One would never find that kind of training in Equestria, no matter how much the world outside the country begged to differ. Twilight looked to her sides as the barrier flared back to life behind them, casting the small group in a somber pink shadow. She saw her friends, the ponies as close to family as they could be, all standing on the razor’s edge, all wearing masks of grim determination. What terrible lies those masks were. Even she, the shut-in book worm, could tell they had no idea what they were doing. That their mettle would be tested and that the dark thought of possible death hung to their minds. She could almost picture the scythe poised over each of them, ready to slash down and claim a life at any given mistake. It made her want to vomit. To cry in a corner and long for her peaceful library and quiet town. But when she cast her eye over the bounty hunter, she saw something different. She didn’t see a fake mask, wrought with the signs of cowardice. Instead she found herself gazing upon a disturbingly calm face. The look that spoke volumes of expertise, forged through countless days of living in this endless veil of impending doom. It shared its serenity with her and the rest of her friends as they looked upon it, revitalizing them with newfound strength and the willingness to take that first step forward. That first step into darkness. The cave tunnel reminded Samus very much of her battles through the subterranean environments on Zebes. The dark, with just a purple tint playing off the walls from Twilight’s spell, and the bitter foreboding. Down in the depths she didn't know what to expect next. Would she run into The Crocomire and be forced into a barbaric shoving match? Or would she be trapped underwater with the space pirate Draygon? Samus banished these thoughts into the corners of her mind; best not to think of anything that could hinder oneself while on a mission. She took a look behind herself while continuing the trek along the otherwise-plain tunnel. She saw the ponies, all trying their best to falsify a brave face. She didn't think any less of them for it. This was probably their first mission and they had full right to be afraid of the monstrous task ahead of them. Turning her head forward once more, Samus continued the thought. Of course, she knew that she would probably do most of the fighting anyway. One-on-one she could win against Ridley. Of course it took all of her skill and cunning to do so, but after beating him several times in the past it had become routine for her. That didn’t stop the adrenaline from pumping at his sight, however. He wasn't one to underestimate: he became a space pirate leader for a very good reason. Samus felt something soft under her heel and paused to inspect it. "What is it, Ms. Samus." She ignored the question as she quickly switched to her scanner to get a better look at the blue goop underfoot. What the results came back with were shocking to say the very least. As she returned to full height she ordered everyone into a shield by Twilight then blasted the spot with a missile. Rubble sat at the bottom of the small pit created by the explosive. The substance either destroyed or buried. The ponies exited the shield with nothing short of absolute confusion. But Samus immediately charged ahead at a sprint, ignoring all the questions directed to her. Her mind was too busy with her own, "how could that be here?" As they traveled down the tunnel, they found an opening above them that could have also been used by Ridley. After careful consideration, the group decided splitting up was the best way to find him. The Elements of Harmony would continue down the current path and use their superior numbers to their advantage while Samus would take the above path alone. Although they were all reluctant to follow this decision, no-one could think of a better way. Samus rolled as she landed at the top of the shaft. Looking back down she could only see darkness, the ponies having already moved on. She looked back ahead and began carefully making her way forward. Her thoughts dwelled on the fact that once again she was alone, surrounded by darkness and hunting down a monster. Not that it disrupted her mindset too much, but after a lifetime of solo missions, losing families and seeing allies die, she didn't mind company to stick by her side. This conflicted with her own suggestion to battle Ridley in few numbers, something she was acutely aware of, but in her mind the mission came first. Loneliness could wait. Twilight and her friends followed Samus steadily down the tunnel, her horn lighting the path for her friends to see and strengthening the fact that they were together in this. Of course they were still frightened, the cave was dry, dark and held nothing of the fun and love that they were used to. Even Pinkie Pie, the party-going smile enthusiast remained straight haired, sans grin. "T-twilight?" The unicorn barely heard the word, even in the silence. "Yes, Fluttershy?" She glanced back and saw the yellow pegasus with her body threatening to curl up defensively. "Um, I know we already talked about this, and I'm so sorry for asking again, but when we find... find-" "Ridley," She finished for her. "Um, yes, Ridley. When we find... him, will we just use the Elements and it will be done?" She shrunk three sizes as she talked, slowly devolving into a quivering ball of fur and flesh. Twilight let out a sigh at this, if only there was actually a straight answer. She didn't actually know the effects of the Elements on Ridley. No-one did, not Celestia, not Luna, not even Samus could know if they would work. And that's what she told her, truth and all, they were going in blind with hope as their only companion. Eventually they came upon a severed wall, a jagged opening running through it that was easily the size of Ridley. The ponies each gave a gulp as they looked at the thick stone, sliced apart as if made of clay. Looking at each other they silently made their way, one at a time, through the makeshift doorway. It didn’t take them long to gather up on the other side and silently observe their surroundings. The wall had been separating the tunnel from a massive, dome-shaped cavern. The ceiling was shrouded in darkness and stalactites extended just low enough to make out. The ground lay misshapen under various holes and rubble but the most notable feature was the giant cracks which looked as if formed from something gigantic stomping its feet. The six ponies followed the trail with their eyes, and what they saw partially hidden at the end caused Twilight to throw up a silencing spell around them. The action could not have cut it closer, as at the same moment she did, Rarity and Fluttershy had both released glass shattering screams. The ponies inside still heard them, but the crouching Ridley remained unaware of their presence. Twilight was about to turn around and reprimand them for the mistake when an earth rumbling boom shook shook the cavern. All the ponies looked up to see the source of the explosive sound. At first it seemed nothing would come of it, but not even a second later the ceiling above them ruptured, releasing a shower of stone. The grey and motionless tunnel led to nothing more than another grey and motionless room. If you could even call it that. The ceiling was high enough, concealed in darkness with jutting stalactites as decor, but one could barely walk five feet before they hit the opposite wall, and even less for the other two sides. Samus did a quick scan of the room, not even bothering to look at the probably barren cavern roof, and came up with nothing. Not a single exit besides the way she just came in, and not a single form of life. Yelling in frustration Samus kicked at the wall beside the entrance causing a large crack to spring in place. She had left the ponies alone. Against Ridley no less. She felt like dirt. Even worse than dirt, she felt despicable, how could she have been so brainless? Of course splitting up meant more coverage in a search, but how could she expect them to fight Ridley? She turned to leave the area and attempt to quickly find the equines, hopefully before Ridley did. That’s when she heard the tell-tale shriek. Not even able to turn her head in time, she felt a massive object slam into her, pile-driving her into the ground. The rock gave way like paper, allowing the attacker to continue using its weight and gravity to send Samus hurtling through another small cavern before colliding and then tearing through another level of rock. Samus got a quick look at the hostile. Ridley. Of course it was Ridley, she hadn’t even bothered checking the ceiling, and of course he would have hid there. Now, due to her negligence, she was being subjected to a multi-level tumble through space and solid stone with the beast driving her down the whole way. After blasting through the second floor she caught sight of something horribly unexpected: the pony group was now standing opposite another Ridley clone in the large room she was passing through. A moments glance was all she could witness though, as the combined weight of herself and Ridley brought them quickly to the bottom of the cavern and then through it into the black void. The moment Samus hit the ground for a third time she jammed her arm-cannon into Ridleys abdomen and then let loose a quick trio of missiles. The point-blank explosives tore the bounty hunter out of his grip and into true free-fall while the space pirate attempted to swipe at its burning mid-section. Taking a quick look around Samus could see nothing but darkness in their ever increasing decent and the form of her opponent. Taking advantage of her brief moment of escape from his clutches, Samus charged a wave beam and took aim for his maw. Ridley slashed forward in an attempt to disrupt the hunter but missed by mere inches when she flinched to the side. His miss gave her the opportunity to release the beam directly towards his head, tearing away bits of flesh and forcing him to back away into a defensive stance. Samus decided to put more distance between herself and the monster by spreading her limbs and slowing her fall slightly, giving her a height advantage and allowing her to shoot straight down at him. In this position he could only dash the distance between her and him if he decided to make himself vulnerable for the split second it took to bring his wings out. Ridley himself flung his body horizontally so he was facing her as he charged a fireball of his own while she was orienting her own body to face him. Samus saw this and began firing her wave beam rapidly. Unable to get enough hits off, she was struck by his discharged fireball and slammed into the chasm wall by the force. Her body began rapidly gyrating, quickly disorienting her before being caught by Ridley who let out a shriek a foot from her face. With his free claw Ridley began to slash at the metal body, his movement was slowed by the wind resistance but he was still able to get a few hits off before Samus brought herself together and then blasted the hand holding her with a missile. His hand was forced open and Samus followed it up with another pair of missiles to his maw. One of the projectiles sailed past, smacking into the wall and breaking apart giant chunks of rock while the other hit home right between his eyes causing a shriek to ring out and his skeletal body to glow a deep red. Anger seemed to fuel his movements as he immediately retaliated with a ferocious body slam, pinning Samus against the wall where she rapidly grinded out a trail of solid stone from the jagged pit. The Fusion suit systems began blaring red in alert to her rapidly depleting energy reserves, Samus ignored it per usual as it didn’t help to be reminded in a fight that you were losing. However, she realized this meant she had only a few moments to get Ridley to back off before her suit failed. Smashing the wall with one hand, she released a shower of various stones into the fall. Quickly selecting one she grasped it then drove it into Ridleys eye, eliciting a pained shriek and the reflexive defense stance from both his arms. Samus immediately grasped one of his claws and then pulled herself towards him, getting herself within touching distance of his head. Once close enough, she charged a diffusion missile then abruptly shoved it past his groping claws directly into his gaping mouth. The missile tore through his jaw and skin, erupting from his mouth in a shower of crystals and blood. The explosion rocked his body and sent a grand echo throughout the chasm, shaking rocks loose from their foundries along the walls. Ridley’s body went limp, his face massacred and his jaw completely unhinged from his skull, he had no energy left to fight. But Samus didn’t stop there, his body hadn’t disintegrated, he hadn’t died yet. Looking below, Samus caught sight of the floor in the seemingly endless void of darkness. In the middle rested a giant stalagmite, almost out of place in its resemblance to a medieval trap. Grasping his midsection with both hands, Samus flung Ridley’s form between her and the rapidly approaching end of the bottomless pit. Straightening her figure, her feet struck his torso, driving it faster into descent. The blow stirred the space pirate somewhat, causing him to catch a glimpse of the end of their fall. Looking back at Samus he let out a shriek like none she had ever heard. A cry filled with fear, anger, but most of all, pain. It was desperate. But Samus matched it wholeheartedly, the floor not even a hundred feet below them, she screamed with all her might. Putting every ounce of her energy and strength into the battle cry, she kept herself stable upon the horizontal body. The ground approached, less than twenty feet, and both warriors were still screaming. Every pony in the room was stunned, too shocked to speak or even properly think. They had just witnessed another Ridley crash through the ceiling and then floor of the cavern while battling Samus. It didn’t help that the first Ridley was standing not fifty feet away from them. It also didn’t help when he turned his head and noticed the group standing huddled in the sound bubble, mouths agape and thoughts scattered. Twilight’s mind came back to the task at hand, noticing a leering Ridley across the room. “Girls! Move! Quickly!” This pulled the girls out of their stupor, all except Fluttershy, who was still cowering on the cavern floor, mumbling to herself. The space pirate let out a well-known shriek and launched itself into the air, tearing up pony sized boulders in his talons’ wake. The five standing ponies panicked. Within seconds they would be set upon by the beast, and they knew it. Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have this though and gave a quick nod to Twilight before blasting off at Ridley, the afterimage of a rainbow in her wake. “Rainbow, wait!” By the time Twilight had finished calling out her friend’s name, the speedster had already traversed the room and was keeping Ridley busy. Twilight fed off her friend’s bravery, turning to speak to the group, “alright, listen up. We need to use the Elements but we can’t if Fluttershy is quivering on the ground like this. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, you focus on coaxing her out. Applejack, you’re with me.” As another shriek rent the air, the girls looked over to the battle between pegasus and dragon. A blue blur whipped about the alien creature, its erratic swipes getting closer and closer to his target, “I don’t think she can keep this up much longer.” “Alrighty, lets go get this flying, no-good varmint!” “We shall have her up and ready in no time at all!” “Yeah, no harder than baking a cake. Take too long and the cake could get burned! Except here, we’re the cake, and it’s not very funny.” Splitting apart, the group set about their tasks quickly. Pinkie and Rarity attended to the shaking pegasus while Applejack and Twilight galloped towards the fray. The pair arrived in time to watch as Ridley caught Rainbow with a lucky swipe, knocking her out of the air. Catching the pegasus in a magical grip, Twilight charged a bolt of arcane energy, normally meant for powering equipment, but with an improvised twist. The pegasus hit the ground with a puff, but quickly prepped herself to takeoff once again, as the farmer dashed towards Ridley. Ridley landed, with the resulting boom cracking the stones underhoof. But if the miniature earthquake had been felt by the earth pony, she didn’t show it as she swiftly spun around to deliver a powerful buck to his midsection. Bringing his claw up to swipe away the newest combatant, Ridley was stopped by a searing second of pain as he was hit by Twilight’s spell. The distraction gave the orange apple farmer enough time to ram her hind legs into his gut, the blow sent a powerful wave through the aliens body and actually made him rock backwards on his legs. Not given a second’s rest, Ridley took another hit from the airborne pegasus, sending him toppling to the ground in a shower of stone. A whoop was given by farmer and flier alike while Twilight concentrated on readying another bolt. The two athletes took a moment’s rest when suddenly Ridley stuck out a claw and took hold of Applejack. Throwing the pony in his grasp at the unicorn, Ridley bought himself a moment to regain his footing before taking to the air after the pegasus. Rainbow Dash gave a quick yelp before attempting to retreat but soon found the air rammed out of her as Ridley crashed into her flying form. The fallen pegasus landed on top of her friends, eliciting grunts of pain from all three as they looked up in horror at the beast looming over them right when it released a terrifying shriek. The sound sent the cluster scrambling backwards if only to escape the painful sound. Determined to not let her friends down, Rainbow Dash untangled herself from the pile and stood defensively before the space pirate, barring him from her friends. Not missing a beat, Applejack whirled back to face Ridley before speeding forward. Twilight was a little slower to recover, but faced him nonetheless, with a spell on mind and a charge in her horn. With a battlecry the two athletes charged Ridley and began assaulting him from all sides. Utilising their ability to strike in completely different places at once, the duo tag-teamed the much larger creature from any angle that presented itself. Hoof met hardened flesh and claw met air as Ridley was unable to even focus on a single pony. The confusion reached a crescendo when he was struck yet again by the searing bolt of energy from the unicorn, but this time it struck deeper, having been laced with ice magic. The vulnerable skin of the normally rock-hard pirate cut open instantly as the spell hit home on his shoulder. The pain stalled his movements for the briefest moment, allowing both Rainbow Dash and Applejack the time to body slam the beast back into the ground with an explosive boom rivaling even Samus’ artillery. The ponies kept at the brawl, kicking and ramming wherever they had the room too. The fight lacked the finesse of an admirable conflict, but with their lives and those of their friends on the line, they had no quarrel with fighting dirty. The team’s style fell apart as Ridley began slashing repeatedly in any given direction he could, eventually pulling off a lucky hit, knocking Applejack into the nearby cavern wall. Rainbow Dash called out to her in worry, just to get knocked down herself while she was distracted. Rearing up onto his legs, Ridley shrieked down at the lone pegasus and opened his jaw to consume her. Catching a flash of light in his peripheral vision, Ridley spun to his side, narrowly avoiding another energy bolt of ice. Facing the unicorn, he kicked the downed pegasus towards her and managed to strike home, buying enough time to snatch up the dazed farm pony, holding her in a death grip. The two struck ponies lay in horrific silence as Ridley held their friend up in the air, murderous hunger in his eyes and his claws tightening slowly, they were helpless to watch as Ridley brought his maw down around Applejack. Then violently drop her with a shriek and deafening explosion filling the cavern simultaneously. The space pirate whirled on his feet, his body hiding what he was facing from the three ponies. He waited. One second. Two. Then let loose a sound above all the others, a sound of utter hatred and anguish, before streaking towards the offender with claws outstretched in reckless abandon. Another explosion rocked the cavern. The creature’s body was flung back as a purple metallic figure strode towards the downed ponies. Each let out a surprised gasp, they had seen her fall. They had seen her crash into the depths with another Ridley in tow, and yet here she was, clad in her powerful armor and still fighting for the rest of them. Samus gave a quick nod towards the three ponies left out of combat before continuing to rain assault upon the weakening space pirate. Twilight knew what she meant and gathered her friends quickly before setting off to the other three to prepare for the final phase of the fight. The trio galloped immediately returned to the rest of the group, Fluttershy having finally snapped out of her episode of cowering. Rarity seemed to be in shock, the reappearance of Samus taking her by surprise, while they simply found Pinkie grinning from ear-to-ear. Twilight gave an encouraging nod to her friends as she spoke up, “alright girls, now that Fluttershy is back up and ready we can begin our phase of the fight.” She gestured to the jewelry splayed on their respective forms, each representing their power in harmony, untold energy pulsing with the friendship that each pony had for the others. They all nodded in turn. “As Samus distracts Ridley we will get into position and unleash the Elements of Harmony upon him. If all goes to plan, then that will be the end of this.” A look of concern crossed Rarity’s face. “And what, my dear Twilight, will happen if this does not go to plan?” Twilight didn’t skip a beat, “well I’ve developed several contingency plans just in case that one has failed. Plan B in this scenario would be if the Elements only weaken him, which would force us to join Samus into... eliminating him.” This brought about several crestfallen looks from her friends, they were hoping to not even think of that possibility. “Plan C would be if they had no effect whatsoever, then there wouldn’t be much we can do but allow myself and Samus to continue using Ice to try and weaken him, which would in turn lead back to Plan B.” Rarity kept on, “and you have knowledge of spells that will help make this happen, correct?” Twilight gave a solemn nod. Yes, she had studied for this. But she didn’t have to like it. Breaking up the rapidly dropping mood, Fluttershy spoke up for the first time that evening, “girls, I- I’m sorry, but we should hurry.” A few of the ponies looked back at the battle while the others glanced at Fluttershy in surprise, but all got the general idea and snapped to attentiveness. The Elements began to thrum with magic, eager to unleash their powers upon the unjust and wicked among them. Samus took a blow to the chest, Ridley took one to the leg. Each was blown back several feet before skidding to a halt, each began to feel the exhaustion set from the restless night. Samus could tell the suit was on its last legs, but she could also tell Ridley did not have much fight left in him either. A shriek and a yell erupted and the two clashed at one another again. Samus sent out a slew of missiles while Ridley tore chunks of rock out from beneath his claws in a mad dash. The two played cat-and-mouse as they usually did, complete with eruptions of stone and ice, Samus making her last-second evasions while Ridley persisted with constant mobile assault. Both showed their prowess to the utmost degree in the field of battle, dodging, counterattacking then leaping away again; it was nothing short of a spectacularly violent dance. The stone floor their stage and the movements of one another their tempo, each fought rhythmically, gaining and losing ground within moments, every twitch of muscle having profound repercussions on the fight itself. Ridley caught Samus with a sideswipe of his claw, then carried on the momentum with a swing of his tail. Being struck by the first, Samus was knocked over by the second and sent hurtling away and onto her back. Metal scraped on stone while the H.U.D. flashed red. Both Samus and her suit’s systems were dazed by the impact. The space pirate let out a terrific shriek then bounded toward her form. Halfway to the her prone body he was blinded by a flash of brilliant white light that bathed the cavern in a milky glow of radiating purity. Ridley looked for the origin of the light, faltering when he found the six ponies floating above the ground, enshrouded in an unearthly glow. The purple unicorn in the middle wore a tiara upon her head which was violently throbbing with its magic. Her eyes flashed upon and in them he saw more of the same light, only now it was intensified beyond comprehension. But he knew what this meant, this was their weapon, this was their Samus Aran. And he had to stop it. Letting loose a violent roar, Ridley sped forward in an attempt to stop the ponies. He’d barely started towards them when he found himself flying head-over-heels in the opposite direction. Samus was now standing in the spot he had been occupying not moments ago but she looked in no better shape than he. Struggling to stand, he and Samus stood staring at each other for but a moment before another explosion of light filled the battleground. Except this was of many colors, arrayed in a brilliant spectrum. Both warriors looked to the ponies in time to see the rainbow of power shoot out of their forms, join in the middle and then blast off towards them both. Samus watched as the beam sped to Ridley, it’s angle coursing for his torso with no time for him to avoid it. Samus watched as it neared, it’s warmth and thrum of energy accelerating in intensity as it approached. She then watched as it completely veered away from Ridley, and instead struck her body in a technicolor glow. She didn’t even have a moment to gasp before the harmonic magic overpowered her senses. Her body curled up instinctively, the power that coursed through her made it impossible to stand upright, her systems thrown into a panic by the sudden occupation. Inside she felt a stirring, a store of energy welling up within her. It took over her thoughts, driving away the pain and exhaustion from the ongoing battle. The energy transformed inside her, spreading across her like a pulsating wave. She felt it meld with the suit, with her very being, slowly becoming a power that she could not contain. Samus stood as the energy exploded outwards, allowing the energy to release into the air in a blinding crescendo of colors. Every crevice in the dark cavern lit up, every feature bathed in the glow, including the ponies and a stunned Ridley who had been expecting the beam to contact the beast directly. Now Samus stood erect, tall and fully rejuvenated. Her body felt like it was built for this, which wasn’t too far from the case. Her armor had transformed itself, now opting for a variant of her Light Suit, in which colours from throughout the spectrum adorned its shell. Although she did not take on a vibrant, rainbow color effect, they could still see the kaleidoscope of light reflecting off of her in a brilliant display of harmonic power. Samus took a moment to register this information, and found that along with her new suit came a vibrating collection of power within her arm cannon. She felt the warmth of it reach her arm as she looked back upon Ridley who was now taking steps toward her, a shriek rising up from his throat. Raising her cannon, she took aim and began charging the beam. But Ridley seemed to sense what was happening and what lie in wait inside the weapon, and instead immediately turned around and spat out another cluster of violet, plasma fireballs. Joining together a few feet ahead, they formed a portal of identical size to the original one that had brought them here. Turning for a moment to let loose a quick shriek, Ridley faced the portal then sped towards it. Samus met his cry with her own and allowed the charged shot to explode from the weapon in a clustered collection of color. The blast echoed throughout the cave, whipping the manes of the ponies as they stared in awe while the beam traversed the air between Samus and Ridley. The shot struck home in the small of his back, the burst radiating out over his wings and torso before enveloping him in a disintegrating light. As his body slowly fell into the dark abyss they saw it deteriorate into a rippling pile of flesh and gnarled bone before being swept away by the portals increasing current. All heads swiveled to Samus who was in the midst of another transformation. Her suit itself began fading away, as if the color was being sapped. The suit returned to its purple form a few moments later, having discharged all its energy into that one attack. Samus took a second to collect herself before staring into the portal. Through the door to black nothingness she saw her home, she saw all the death and destruction, the lies and corruption. She saw the true evil it had unleashed. And then she saw her parents; smiling, bidding her nothing but to do what makes her happy. What she believes is right. She saw the Chozo race, silent and steady. They had trained her for this. They had seen her through the worst years of her life, and molded her into an evil-hunting machine. Sure her universe was a vicious one, full of strife and everything she hated. But that was just it, it was her universe, and she had a job to do. She gazed back upon the ponies. The lives that had been almost torn asunder by the deeds of the X parasite. She felt as if she understood them, Ridley had done even worse to her, at least they would be able to keep those they love with them from then on. The portal began shrinking back down, slowly counting down to an ultimatum. Giving a salute to the ponies, Samus sprinted into the abyss as it collapsed, spotting a glaring red light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. A/N Sup you lovable Metroid nerds, you. I have returned with the sixth chapter. Now, before you all linch me I have to say one thing: This ending made the most sense! Now, what do I mean by that? Well I mean that considering Samus, the X-Parasite and everything leading up to this point, this ending was the only logical one. Not one where Samus has a sappy "goodbye" and certainly not one where she STAYS. I made a mistake when I made this story where I had attempted to tell My story, when in reality, you are supposed to do what makes sense. Especially with something as precious as this. So, I made the ultimate decision to have the final fight and then give Samus the only logical path home, the way she came in. Honestly, there should be no problem with this. But, I will say this. There is one more chapter, and those of you who have paid attention should come up with a solution to your woes. Now, I leave you guys with a little present, a deleted scene. At the start of this chapter I had REALLY wanted to finally kill somepony off so I tried to do it to the Private. But I found a problem, I had created too good of a failsafe solution for this earlier. I had literally used too much foresight earlier in the story making it so I could not actually murder the Private. I'll let you figure out what exactly this failsafe was. (Oh, and also, I absolutely hate post-editing this thing on FIMFiction, I have to manually go to each paragraph and REINSERT IT. I am literally spending like forty minutes or so just pressing tab on this dang thing.) DELETED SCENE “Tha...That was one of those parasites. Right? Wha-what happened to it? Where did it go!?" They couldn’t stop staring. The private slowly transitioning from horror to a stoic blank stare out into the decrepit wood. He couldn’t find the right words on the matter. Everything drew up blank in his mind, any sort of comforting phrase or even reassuring gesture just evaporated in his mind upon arrival. What could you say after what just happened? It was impossible to ignore it, and the rapidly approaching outcome, yet he could do nothing but stare blanking at the now silent forest. His presence the epitome of deathly quiet. Samus looked upon the two figures, a slight frown betraying her face. She wanted to look brave for this, to not have to show him that even someone like her couldn’t emotionally detach themselves from what was inevitably about to happen. Nothing could come from it though, her emotions broke through, showing to all two ponies within what seemed like the whole world that she was only human. She couldn’t find much to say either, not even a word managing to pass her lips. For her mind was gone, temporarily shouldered to the past, reliving each moment of dread that came before the eventual end. The sorrow. The pain. Everything shattering around her without a glimpse of hope. Why did this seem so frequent? The privates mind at first had raced in pure panic at his action. He leapt without thinking and sacrificed it all. He guessed that after almost losing one comrade, he cracked under the thought of losing another. He wasn’t frightened of the upcoming consequences for his decisions though, if anything he was... content. His mind replaying the earth shattering information all soldiers live one day for war by those around them, “the only way to live is to accept that you’re already dead.” That was it than. He was already dead. This was just the unveiling. Already he could feel it inside him. He could feel the change occurring rapidly, no time to think, no time to talk or even regret the things that had brought him here. For what was he if not another collection of life and tissue for the beast within? He brought his eyes down to bear upon the pegasus prone beneath him, latching onto hers, not pleading but instead just solemnly confirming in his own mind that she was still there. Just bringing the acknowledgment to mind that he had done his job. That the consequences weren’t all so grim. One nod to her. Then one to Samus. Stepping away from the rainbow pony, Private Star Enchanter kept his head high and proudly walked up to Samus with nothing betraying his thoughts. His hoofsteps struck the ground with purpose and his gait didn’t falter even as he approached his comrade-in-arms. Samus, on the other hand, had a hard time hammering down her sadness until her face showed nothing but a grim mask. Loss has come and gone for her before; her parents along with the entire colony on her home world, the baby metroid that sacrificed itself to save her from Mother Brain, Adam who had made the ultimate decision to do what was necessary for others to survive. This came at a new level though, a tribulation that no person would ever wish to carry through. But it had to be done, and not only that but it had to be done soon for neither she nor he wanted to stick around long enough to watch the parasite make its end. Samus switched her gaze onto the pegasus who was still unnerved, laying in confusion where the Hydra once was. Bringing up her hand, she motioned for her to turn around and walk away. The pegasus began to protest but the bounty hunter immediately brought her hand up again and did the same gesture only to add a harsh point at the end to solidify that things were done and she needed to leave. The mare grudgingly began to slowly trot away after picking herself up. She didn’t fully understand what was happening. She didn’t even understand what had happened to the giant monster she had rammed not too long ago. She could see it was gone, but instead of the victorious mood she had anticipated all she got was an atmosphere befitting the grim reaper. Everything pointed to something bad, something beyond her comprehension for the moment. Enchanter kept his eyes trained toward superior, resisting the urge to stare at the one he had saved and sacrificed so much for. He felt a hand slowly come down upon his head, resting there for reassurance, telling him that although they both knew what was going to happen, the best of any possible situation from this was going to be the outcome. He let his eyes waver, bringing them up to stare back into the eyes of his quickly made friend. Although he did everything to halt it, a tear broke free from in its path and ran down the side of his face. Leaning in slightly, he brought Samus in for a hug while looking up at the star filled sky. Memories washed back over him as he looked over a night he witnessed long ago. Just a foal with his dad, making a mark upon their bonding through a family map and an adventure. He remembered the one time he had come to here with his father. The time when he became so scared, he had fled the woods to return home only to be caught by his dad and then brought home properly. He always refused to revisit Nightmare Wood after that, he refused his father and his attempts at bonding through adventurous outings. He always wondered what it would have been like, to see him one last time before he had perished on one of his journeys, to tell him “yes” and bring back the smile that had soon completely abandoned the old stallion for years. Breaking from the embrace, the private closed his eyes and backed up a few paces before standing stock still, at attention and ready to end it before the parasite did. Samus brought her weapon to bear, her mind in overdrive to break through the emotional barriers and mechanize her thoughts. This was for him and this was for the world. The only way she could help him now was to not miss. She silently approached, the only sound warning him of her presence being the energy whirl of a charged wave beam. Samus angled the weapons to the side of his head, taking care to keep the metal from contacting his skin or fur. Before she let loose the collected energy, she heard a single sentence escape the unicorns lips with a choke, “ you think I did him proud?” She couldn’t guess at who he meant. Whether it was his father or his commander. Maybe he even meant for them both to be proud with what he’s accomplished. But it didn’t really matter who he meant specifically, because the answer was instantaneous and without a single doubt in her mind. “Yes.” Laying on the ground in a slight daze, the Lieutenant was forced to watch as his subordinate leapt above a downed pegasus, taking in the parasite that was making its way to her. He was stunned, his initial thoughts just a parade of no’s. His dizziness didn’t allow him to coherently piece together much else. But he still could understand the gravity of the situation in perfect clarity. He knew that the private, his comrade, his... friend. He was a dead pony. And nothing could fix that. His mind couldn’t take much more and blacked out for a few moments, trying to restore a sense of order in the chaos. He came back seeing the private exit an embrace with the alien before slowly stalking his way backwards and then standing still, eyes closed and muscles tensed. The lieutenant knew what he was doing. He knew what he was bracing for and he did not want to accept it. The lieutenant screamed internally for this to end, for it to not be true. But as Samus stepped closer, he couldn’t do anything but slowly accept it. Even his dazed brain could get that far, he just wish he could have last words with him. He just wished that instead of laying here, blacking out among the muck of a mutated bog, he was over there, comforting his savior and brother-in-arms to the best of his ability. But sometimes things don’t happen the way we want them to, and for him, this was one of those times. He slowly slid back to the ground, his head surrendering to the intense weight that seemed to be resting upon it, his eyelids soon following suit, closing just as a blast of energy tore asunder the dark serenity that had enveloped the swamp. Rainbow Dash was the first to make it back to the camp. All of her friends instantly materializing in front of her to receive news of what happened. Everypony clamoured for an explanation of the roar, what had befallen the ponies and human who had ventured into the forest and what she had done in her time. She didn’t give an answer though. Each question bouncing off of her hide as if she had gone deaf. Nothing mattered to her, she just wanted to sit. She just wanted to forget the atrocity she had just witnessed. Even if it was necessary. This unnerved everypony in the clearing. Rainbow Dash, self proclaimed fastest flier in Equestria and Element of Loyalty... was speechless. Not only that, but she seemed completely scarred, as if something terrible had transpired in that forest. The guards themselves at least knew of her and what she had done for Equestria, this alone caused them some worry seeing her in such a state. But for her closest friends and the princesses, it was like seeing a great flame snuffed out. And all they could do was stare as it flickered hopelessly, trying to grasp onto what little life was left. Eventually, the pink party pony decided to take it upon herself to free her “bestest-friend-in-the-whole-wide-world-and-maybe-even-universe-thingy” from whatever funk she had landed in (metaphorically or physically). Bouncing up to the cyan pegasus with extra spring in her bounce, Pinkie Pie took one last leap before slamming plot first in the ground not a foot away from Dash. Now on her haunches and at eye level with the mare, Pinkie Pie stared deep into the red abyss of color that was her friends oval eyes. Slowly, and with careful hoof work, she reached deep into her own mane before finding the object of choice and then dragging it from its temporary home. Never once did she leave eye contact as she took the now visible, red apple from her hair and then placed her other hoof upon it. Once the other appendage made contact, a flurry of movements commenced that would have made a crack addicted Flash jealous. When the almost literal dust settled, the pink mare had three smaller, yet impossibly whole, apples pasted to her flank with what appeared to be frosting. Apparently not finished, she then proceeded to reach down into her tail and then pull her hoof back out, this time with a stetson hat in tow. “Applejack, where is your-” “Trust me Twi, we both know the answer and I would rather just not acknowledge it for now...” This object came to rest upon her head. Checking over herself a final time, the mare looked back into her friend's eyes before grinning wildly and then bursting out, “hey, Dashie! Who am I?” Pinkie Pie suddenly sprang to her hind hooves and gave a great “YEEEEEHAAAAAWW” before touching back down on four limbs and speaking in a heavily accented southern drawl, “well Ah’ll be,” she spit once on the ground, “seems ta meh dat dere treh cood use a gewd buckin’. Workin’ hard and all dat.” Nearby, a pony of similar appearance gave a loud facehoof before turning to the pony adjacent. “I don’t sound like that, do I?” Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, sat silent for a moment longer. Unchanged and completely stoic, but it didn’t hold for long, and before Pinkie lost all hope that her antics didn’t get through to her shocked friend, the cyan pegasus gave a quiet snicker. “That’s Applejack alright... hat and all.” The response was deathly low, as if she was trying desperately not to be heard by anything outside of the two ponies circle. This was enough though. This sent the pink pony into an uncontrollable fit of joy. Leaping forward and scooping Dash into a hug, Pinkie Pie embraced her friend for what the small victory was worth. The widest of all her grins splayed out upon her face, and the happiest feelings danced in her heart. She had just made her friend smile, what else was there to life?
