Mareoid Fusion

Chapter 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.