Mareoid Fusion

Chapter 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.