Maretroid: Ridley and the Fall of Equestria

Chapters

Chapter 1: Beginnings (Rewrite)
Chapter 2: Discoveries
Chapter 3: Equestria's Greatest Threat
Chapter 4: Takeover

Chapter 1: Beginnings (Rewrite)

NOTE: I do not own rights to either two of these franchises. Metroid is owned by Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro.

Chapter One: Beginnings

Samus rolled out of the way as another volley of fireballs hit the platform. She looked up again as the beast dived into her. She jumped out of the way, letting the tail of his spike hit the platform and embed itself in it. The hunter jumped at her opponent, the front of the arm cannon swivelled open to reveal a Super Missile sitting in it. She fired, and a streak of blue and orange flew from the device. It hit the creature, sending him careening into the wall. He managed to detach himself before falling onto the stonework.

He stumbled back up, the force of the explosive pulling his tail from the structure. He roared continuously as she kept firing several missiles at him, the concussive blasts pushing him against the wall. He managed to roll out of the way out of the hail of munitions, then checking himself, realizing that his once dull-grey skin was a deep shade of red. He roared again as he prepared to charge into Samus to deal a blow, but one more missile was one far too many.

Ridley had reached his peak of endurance, he screamed and roared in agonizing pain as explosions rained all around him as the hunter continued firing. The echoes of his booming screeches finally created a tremor in the large room. Samus ran out as stalactites and rocks fell onto him, creating an earthly tomb around him. Several minutes later, it stopped.

Dead silence sat throughout the dark caves of Norfair as he lay there, unmoving. Ridley, Samus Aran’s lifelong archenemy, was finally defeated. But something happened, the eyelids of the Space Pirate commander slowly fluttered open. He looked around, the large room was empty, the hunter was no longer present.

He attempted crawling forward, but roared again, he was pinned under the pile of rocks that had brought him to his alleged demise. He tried craning his neck , but he was too weak.

He began moving his body forward. He managed to pull an arm from the pile, but quickly rested it, he tried pulling his other arm from the pile of rocks, but he was sapped of energy. He then slowly tried moving his hand onto the other side of him, and grabbed one of the rocks. It was surprisingly light, and Ridley removed it from its place. He continued pulling rocks from himself until he finally released his hand.

He threw it forward, then, drawing the reserves of all the energy of every muscle in his body, then pulled. He failed continuously as he tried removing himself from the pile of rocks, he pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and finally, he got out.

His last pull threw himself forward, landing on the other side of the platform. He inspected himself, his skin was still a bright scarlet, cuts and burns surrounded his body. He stood up, only to fall back down. He looked ahead, the blue door laying barely more than a few feet in front of him tantalizing him. He reached both his claws out, and pulled himself forward, he continued doing so until he reached the edge of the platform, the lava churning down below.

He slowly moved his body over it, sticking his limbs out to hold himself over. He felt the heat beating against his chest as he faced the shield-like door. One more time, he drew in all the strength within his body, and breathed out. A tiny stream of flame drifted out, and hit the door. The blue dulled out to a dark grey, and it opened.

Ridley looked in the passageway. He examined its size, then placed his arms to his sides. Folding his wings, he slowly slithered through. Barely avoiding the pit of lava below, he crawled in.

He looked ahead of him, a large statue sat in the distance, its hand was outstretched, and a blue aura emitted its palm. Struggling, the Zebesian walked over to it. He reached his hand forward, and grabbed it. Nothing. He rested his head on it in an attempt to use it. Once again, nothing happened.

Frustrated, Ridley put his tail against the glow. Once more, nothing happened. The creature screeched in fury, he turned around in a complete circle, his tail swinging out and hitting the statues head. The bird-like object was immediately decapitated by the blow, but that’s when a flow of blue erupted from it. It went straight in the air for a brief moment before hitting Ridley.

It hit him, planting itself in his body, the hit from the aura sending him back onto his back. He got up, aching from the blast, but he looked at himself, his skin was now purple.

Not completely healed, but I guess it could’ve been worse... he thought to himself as he examined his body. He stood up, and turned around, walking out of the door, he looked up. The slight earthquake created a large gash in the ceiling. Small, fireball-esque bugs were crawling along the sides. He stood directly below it on the platform, then began flapping his wings.

He continued up until getting inside of a small cave, he looked to his left and right where pools of lava, and more of Zebes’ hostile inhabitants incubated. He walked through the tunnel, hopping onto the occasional platform or rock to avoid the stirring magma down below. He kept on walking until he reached a wall.

He looked around the entire area, but there was no way around it. He tried punching it, the wall was very weak, and the blow left a hole. He looked through, a purple cave could be seen through it, more creatures crawling and flying around. He stood back, raised his fists, and forced them down. The collateral blow smashed into the wall, and it crumbled immediately. He looked around, the area was much roomier.

He walked into it before looking up. A large door was at the top of the room. He spread his wings out, and took flight. He only got a few feet off the ground, however, before falling back down. The alien felt fatigued, remembering he wasn’t completely healed from the encounter. He decided to traverse the distance to the wall. Dodging more obstacles until he finally reached the other side of the cavern.

Ridley looked up at the wall, observing its size. He chuckled to himself, and stood on his legs. He took his claws, and planted them in the glass-like bubbles lining the wall. He then raised one up, now putting his feet on it, and began climbing. He continued until he reached a small ledge, he quickly climbed over it before collapsing from exhaustion. He looked at the door, a small, damaged, stone sign on top of it. Etched into it was an interesting writing, but the Zebesian was quickly able to translate the Chozo text:

BRINSTAR-NORFAIR CARGO ELEVATOR

Ridley smiled, he moved his head forward, his long neck extending until he was directly in front of the shield. He then exhaled, another stream of fire flew out from his mouth, hitting the door. It opened, and revealed a dimly lit shaft.

He observed the bottom, the energized elevator plate wasn’t there. He looked up, thankfully, the shaft wasn’t blocked by anything. He examined the walls, they were cracked and dented. He placed his limbs onto the wall once more, and began climbing. He continued said action until reaching halfway, his lack of energy got the best of him, and he let go.

Quickly realizing his mistake, Ridley extended his wings and flared his limbs out in an attempt to stop his fall. Falling a few feet, he finally managed to get a grip. He began climbing again, eventually reaching the top of the room. He opened the door, and was relieved to see the dark-blue caves of Brinstar once more. He walked through, the occasional group of miniscule Zoomers casually strolling past him.

He continued through the caves, dodging the pits of boiling acid lying below him. Finally, he reached an area where a massive hole in the ceiling laid. Zebes’ acid rain passing through in an unrelentless downpour. He looked up, and began flying, trying not to mind the pain as he reached for an edge of the hole. Once he did, he grabbed onto it, and began climbing. The dragon was increasingly confused as the hole seemed to go through several rooms. Requiring him to jump, climb, and repeated. After he did so several times, he finally reached the surface of the planet, and garbled communications began echoing through the back of his head.

“Life-signs seem to be stable, sir, but his locator must have been damaged by the Hunter. We cannot trace him on our systems for some reason...”

“Are you telling me that he’s alive, but we cannot track him?”

“Yes sir.”

A burst of static, sounding something between a grunt and a sigh, then the conversation finished, “Resume your search for Lord Ridley, we’re not going farther than 15,000 kilometres from Zebes until he is found.”

Ridley chuckled, before saying, “Where are you? My locator was damaged, yes, so I’m not able to find a direct route to the Mothership. Can you help me get there?”

“L-Lord Ridley! Yes, we can, once you manage to exit the atmosphere, we should be able to find you.”

“Good, stand by until I do so, then.”

“Yes, My Lord.”

He smiled, and then spread his wings, he began running. After starting into a full sprint, the Space Pirate began flapping his wings, eventually taking off. After the first couple of seconds, it was fine, but his fatigue was coming back, but he persevered.

After getting about a hundred feet of the ground, the strain in his muscles was almost unbearable. His body began cramping from the pulling, he roared in pain as he continued through the thick clouds. After what felt like hours of painful flying to the Zebesian, he began to feel lighter, and he looked down. Clouds covered his distance from, but as he looked up, he saw the muddy-brown sky began to dim.

He finally felt space wrap him in its deathly, black embrace as he breached Zebes’ atmosphere. The thick clouds of the planet’s sky were now replaced by the sparkle of billions of stars. He looked around, then saw his familiar ship. The massive, purple starship was drifting lazily near the planet.

He stretched his wings out and began to slowly move himself over, but something diverted his attention. A harsh, white glow nearby. Ridley thought it was stationary, but that’s when he noticed that it began to move. His eyes went wide as he noticed that it was starting to move in his direction at a blindingly fast speed.

He tried turning, but his efforts came to no avail, the object came too close and it hit him. The Space Pirate commander’s shouts and screams of pain travelled nowhere in the vacuum of space as the energy consumed him. All he saw was a bright flash, then nothing.

“I-...what’s-...what’s going on?” Ridley muttered as he began to regain consciousness. He looked around him, the black expanse of outer space was replaced by blue skies and green fields. Trees, flowers, and more vegetation was spread across a massive meadow. Birds chirping happily as they passed over the creature.

He tried moving his body, but he felt pinned to the blanket of grass below him. He moved his eyes downwards, seeing that his skin had turned into a dull maroon. Soon, he began to get feeling in his muscles, and he slowly rolled over. Several small animals surrounded him, expressions of astonishment and fright smitten across their faces.

He slowly began to stand up, and looked around him. The animals were small and helpless, but, even if they were as dumb as bricks, Ridley thought that he needed to create an imposing figure to scare them off.

“Well...what are you waiting for? SHOO!” he bellowed. A few moved away, but they remained still. The Pirate was too confused to understand. His flabbergasted look distorted into a grimace, and he stamped his hand down. “SHOO!” he screamed.

Several ran away, but several stood still. The Zebesian was enraged, and he turned around, allowing his chainlike tail to swing in the air, and hit the ground. Dirt, animals, and streams of blood were sent in the air as he struck. He began walking up to the few remaining, and was prepared to swipe again when a small squeal stopped him.

He looked around, until his eyes were set upon a small, quivering, yellow-and-pink figure. Ridely stopped in the middle of his attack and walked over to it. “Hello?” he asked.

It slowly removed its limbs from its face to reveal a rounded, equine-like face, the long, curled eyelashes of the frightened creature telling Ridley it was a female. “What is this? An equine? Hm...I’ve never actually seen one for myself...” he observed.

“Oh...oh my...is there a p-problem, Mister?” the creature asked.

“Hm...and you can talk, too? I never heard about that in human lore...Tell me, though, what is this place?” Ridley asked.

“E-Equestria.” she responded.

“Hmph, ‘Equestria’, what an...interesting name for a planet. Equestrian is the word used to describe horses though, no? It’s what you seem to be. So does that make you the dominant race of this planet?”

She was confused of the creatures words. Then she responded, “Well...a-actually...we’re called ‘ponies’...What are monsters like you called?” she immediately put her hooves over her mouth.

Ridley was enraged, he had been called things like “Ruthless Bastard”, “Merciless Beast”, and “Horrific Monster” before, the speakers of that word didn’t last more than a few seconds. “You dare disgrace my ability with words like ‘monster’?!” he growled.

“I WILL SHOW YOU WHAT A TRUE MONSTER IS!” he screamed, he arched onto his back, holding his hands into two fists, then shoved them onto the ground. They hit on either side of the mare, she jumped in the air before the shockwaves of earth could hit her though.

She spread her wings and began flying backwards. She then turned around as Ridley continued swatting at the creature. She eventually flew too far away, though, and Ridley began to give chase.

He spread his wings, and was about to take flight when one of them bent awkwardly. He landed face-first on the ground, grunting in pain as it happened. “You pathetic imbecile...I’LL DESTROY YOU!” he shouted. But the filly was long gone.

He got up, and looked ahead, a small town lay ahead a short distance. More than just this pathetic “pony”, hmph....but I’m weak...I must find a way to heal... he thought to himself. He looked at the patch of woods to his right, and began walking towards them.

His walking slowly turned into a sprint, and he continued on. He eventually reached the woods, silently stalking through them until he was in a clearing, obstructed by a massive, wooden structure.

The building looked deserted to the creature, until he saw who was going through the front of it. The same, yellow pegasus he had encountered before. Ridley bellowed and screamed in fury as he approached it, growling and hissing as he slowly walked up to it.

The pony was startled, unaware whether it was the adversary she had faced before or if it was something else. Then, a phrase was screamed at her that she feared she would soon hear.

“YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!”

Then it happened.

She swung around as a burst of yellow came smashing through the side of the cottage. She ran out of the way as the stream shot passed her, lightly singing her soft flesh. She cried in pain as she felt the burn mark on her flank. Then she turned around, the burst of yellow energy was gone, but a now she looked in horror as flames licked the walls of the building.

She kept on screaming, trying to find a way through the smoke that filled up the dwelling. More distant screams came through the thick soot and fire. But she couldn’t find where it was, instinctively, she looked desperately for a way out. Light seemed to be nowhere to be seen as flames surrounded the filly. Then she found a bright light penetrating the black smoke.

Coughing, she ran as fast as she could to the source. And, within a moment’s notice, found herself in outside. Fresh air greeted her, and she looked around herself, her mane was matted with dust and soot, her flank stinged from the burn. She turned around and saw her cottage. Flames engulfed the structure, no more distant cries, just the crackling of the fire.

She was immediately caught off guard as what felt like a brick wall tackled her to the ground. She opened her eyes, and found herself face-to-face with the beast. His bill open to reveal long rows of razor-sharp teeth. “You...” Ridley whispered.

“YOU WILL PAY!”

He raised a fist in the air to deal a blow, but he screamed in pain. She noticed that his skin was cut, bruised, and burned severely. He grabbed his arm, releasing his grip from the pony, who quickly scooted back as far as she could. Stumbling, she turned onto a gravel path, and sprinted away.

Ridley looked at the direction she was running, “You-...you will pay...” he mumbled.

A/N:

Hey everypony! I decided that, considering how loosely it connected to Ridley himself, that I’d rewrite this. New things you will notice is this:

-Ridley is much more aggressive and observant compared to the original.

-If you haven’t noticed, this is to take place after the Ridley battle from Metroid: Zero Mission (A remake of the original Metroid).

Regardless, I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 2: Discoveries

Chapter Two: Discoveries

A few days later, a small group of stallions donning blue uniforms approached the wreckage of the cottage. A majority of the building had been reduced to nothing but rubble, and the ground around it was scorched.

“Did she say anything about who caused it?” one of the officers asked.

“Well...sort of...she said that the only thing she saw was a large, dull-red dragon.” another from the group replied.

“It was hard to get an answer from her at all, she was cryin’ so much you could barely understand a word she was sayin’. But, judging from the fact that her house, her belongings, and whatever else was in there burned down, I don’t blame her.”

“Poor girl.” another officer mumbled.

They walked through the smoldering remains of the building, several burnt objects from picture frames to furniture were scattered around the floor, as well as...skeletons. “Uh...who was this filly again?” one of the investigators asked.

“Fluttershy, an animal caretaker.” one of the groupies responded.

“Ah, that’d explain the...bodies...”

Immediately after that, a screech echoed through the thick woods surrounding the building.

“What was that?” one of the ponies asked, worried.

“I dunno’, I’m gonna go investigate.” the leader responded.

He nodded his mates off before heading into the woods. He looked around himself, the light of Celestia’s spring sun shining through the leaves, casting an eerie glow on the ground. He continued until he reached another clearing, the canopy of the trees above blocking out most of the light.

“H-hello?” he asked, there was no response. He continued walking until he felt something wrap around his stomach, he yelled as he was pulled up from the ground. Opening his eyes, he saw a massive, maroon, dragon-esque creature staring at him with yellow, glaring eyes.

“Who-...Who are you?” the officer nervously asked.

“Who am I? I’m Lord Ridley, general of the Space Pirate army...but that’s not important, you see, you’ve seen who I am, and probably know that I’m the cause of that building fire, I’m afraid that I can’t let you tell anyone.” Ridley snickered.

“Please! Don’t! I’ll keep quiet, just don’t hurt me! I got a wife and a baby on the way!” he cried.

“Well then, I’m sorry, but that’s too bad!” he exclaimed, laughing maniacally as he finished.

“No, please! You can’t do this to me!”

“Oh, really? Hm...Well, I suppose that I can just let you go, I trust you enough.”

What? No, that can’t be right, he just said he was going to kill me... the officer thought over. He looked as the malicious grin disappeared, and the Zebesian slowly lowered him down. He turned around to the edge of the clearing, and began running. Only if he knew what was to happen.

He heard the leaves above rustle violently before it happened. He felt a massive, foreign object pierce his back, ripping through the soft flesh, and pressing out of his stomach and planting itself in the ground. With blood pouring out of his body, he slowly moved his eyes back and forth until he saw the same creature staring at him with a massive, toothy smile.

“Wha~at? You actually thought I was being serious?” the monster chided.

Ridley pulled out, and chuckled as the stallion fell over onto his side. He walked over to one of the trees, but then collapsed, he realized he had used up what little energy he had to deal with the pony, and looked at him.

The Star Dragon was hit with memories of his stay on K2-L, how he had to eat the flesh of dead human beings to heal his wounds. He looked at the pony one more time, then walked up to him. He stuck out his tongue, and brushed it against the massive wound on his dorsal side.

“Ugh! How foul! But, I may not have a choice...” he murmured as he pulled away. He took one more quickly glance at the body, then ran up and closed his jaws on the corpse.

“Fluttershy, I understand the seriousity of all this, but you need to calm down and let me help you clean yourself, you’re filthy!”

Twilight Sparkle looked at her friend, cradling her while she sat in a semi-fetal position. “T-Twilight, don’t you understand what he tried to do?” the pegasus murmured weakly.

“Yes, I understand, but you at least need to let me clean you up.”

She continued cradling her sobbing friend for a few minutes, looking at her light-pink mane, clinging to the side of her head and neck from perspiration. The librarian then closed her eyes, and focused her energy to her horn. The cusp began to glow a sparkling purple, then a cloud of energy floated forward, surrounding the quivering pony.

After a few seconds, followed by a bright flash, the dirt and soot had disappeared, he mane and tail had regained its long, curly look, and Twilight let go. Fluttershy slowly stood up, raking her hoof through her hair. She sighed with relief, when a horrifying revelation dawned upon her.

“My animals!” the caretaker gasped. She began running, and finally went out and through the door.

Fluttershy kept her continuous, frantic trot for a few miles until she reached the gravel pathway leading to her cottage. She walked onto it, then continued to the clearing. Once she reached it, she shrieked at the damage done to her building. The wood was completely black, half of the building itself was demolished, small streams of smoke drifting from certain spots around the house.

She began running to it when a large, grey-and-blue unicorn stallion blocked her path.

“I’m sorry, Miss, but you’re not allowed into the scene.”

“You don’t understand, Mister, this is my house!” her usual shyness and quiet, high-pitched voice were lost in a feeling of pure fright and worry.

He was immediately silent, then asked, “Miss, do you know what caused this?”

“It was a big, red, mean dragon, it kept on screaming at me ‘You will pay’...Now can I please come in, I need to see if my animals are okay!”

He went silent again, then weakly mumbled, “Miss, I’m afraid that any living creature in your cottage was torched by the ‘big, red, mean dragon’...”

The pegasus’ jaws went slack, she quickly fell to her knees, and began crying. Everything was gone, she was homeless, and all her animals were dead.

Suddenly, another voice broke through the deathly quiet, “Hey, anypony know where the sarge’ is? He’s been gone for quite a while...”

Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing, and turned to the one that question. Fluttershy let everything soak in, and all her fright and worry was replaced with absolute rage. It was him, he’s going to pay for this! she screamed in her head. Determined, she quickly started off into the other path leading from the house.

She continued trotting until she reached the same, dark clearing, and the sight there made her want to lose her lunch.

Ridley was there, standing over a body, it was ripped in two, picked clean of any flesh, the side of the ribcage was ripped off, the top of the skull was bashed open and hollowed out. Fluttershy turned her head away, disgusted by it. Tears had been rolling down her cheeks, and the corpse made for a perfect fuel. She sniffled, a horrible mistake.

The Zebesian monster stopped gnawing on the sergeant’s femur, and turned around. Only one word escaped from his long, toothy beak.

“You...”

He walked away from the skeleton, and began crawling towards her. Hissing and growling as he slowly limped over to her. “You...” he growled again. Fluttershy tried backing away, when Ridley reared up, and shrieked, “YOU WILL PAY!”

With the little energy gained from the sergeant’s flesh, he rushed at her. Even she couldn’t have enough time to react to the sudden ambush, and barely noticed when the outstretched claws reached her. She screamed in pain as they raked through her chest as he tackled her, and he continuously roared.

She kept on screaming and doing whatever possible to keep the monster off of her. But the cries of the pony came to no avail as Ridley continued his rampant assault.

When Ridley was finally about to deal one, final, deadly blow, something happened. He screeched in agony as a burst of magic sent him careening to the ground. Struggling, the bleeding mare stumbled up, and looked at what happened.

The police officers stared in horror at their deceased superior, then focused back on the knocked down creature. The alien slowly got back up, and looked at the stallions, he screamed in fury, and prepared to charge. But another burst of magic from a unicorn was far too much punishment.

He roared in pain as he slowly stumbled to the left and right, and fell into a group of trees. Only if he knew what was down there. He screeched as he fell down a massive hill, and his screams slowly disappeared.

After the incident had ended, they looked at the large clearing of trees where Ridley had fallen, then looked at the quivering, pink, yellow, and red shape on the ground. They dashed over to her, and asked, “Miss, are you okay?”

She looked up, her face soaked in sweat, tears, and blood, and whimpered, “P-please, just let me go back to P-Ponyville...”

Nodding in acknowledgement, the stallions picked her up, and lifted her out of the clearing.

Ridley kept on rolling down the hill. Trees, bushes, and other flora simply flattened or knocked down as he rolled onto them. His groans of pain and suffering were barely audible over the thundering crash of the trees he knocked over. Finally, after about an hour, he finally reach the foot of the hill, and he eventually slowed down to a stop.

Hanging onto the last bit of consciousness, he slowly craned his neck and inspected himself. The bolts of magic had lightly charred spots of his skin, he was covered in scratches and bruises, his wings were broken, and he was covered in flowers, leaves, and lumber.

With his energy slowly slipping away from him, he laid himself down, and began to close his eyes when something was caught in his line of sight.

It was a small, brown cart, looking like it was repaired with nothing more than nails and duct-tape. Clinging to his last bit of awareness, he slowly and painfully crawled his way over to it. Trembling, he asked, “H-hello?”

The top half of the side of the cart opened up to reveal a blue-and-grey unicorn mare. There were bags under her eyes, and her horn glowed a bright magenta, levitating next to her was a brown bottle with a golden liquid in it.

“T-the Great and P-Powerful Trixie does not wish to...to be d-disturbed right n-now...” she slurred, she was obviously drunk.

Noticing the horrific mass of maroon that lay before her, she almost jumped. Her half-lidded eyes went wide with fright, and she backed away. Ridley slowly crawled onto the step of the cart, and forced the door open.

“W-what do you...w-want?” she squealed, dropping the bottle which hit the ground and shattered, sending shards of glass and beer all over the place.

“I-...I just need some help...I have no energy...I’m severely injured...I just need to heal...” he grumbled.

“The G-Great and Powerful T-Trixie is simply an entertainer, she does not k-know any healing spells...”

Enraged, Ridley shot his head forward, his neck extending to bring his face to his. “Look, ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’, if you don’t help me, then I’ll rip your throat out, do we have an understanding.”

Attempting to stand her ground, Trixie slowly lumbered forward, and freshly asked, “What c-can you do to harm the Great and Powerful T-Trixie?”

With that, he roared at her, a pounding vibration of sound, blood, saliva, and the horrible stench of flesh all came her way. The mix of the horrible smells and the toxic alcohol in her system both caused the magician to throw up onto the floor and walls.

“L-look, I don’t h-have any kind of healing spell to help you w-with!” she stuttered, dropping the use of her usual third-person perspective.

“Well, you’re either going to help me, or I will simply kill you right now!” Ridley bellowed.

Any determination left in the drunken filly was quickly diminished. She knew that he was right, and trembled, “O-Okay...Trixie will find you a w-way to heal yourself....”

“Good...” the Space Pirate snickered.

“Though...Trixie d-does not kn-know of any kind of healing sp-spell, do you, perhaps, h-have another way to heal?”

“The flesh of dead mammalians is the only way I can heal my wounds...”

She stared at the beast, scared, and said, “Well...Trixie does not h-have the flesh of ‘d-dead mammalians’...”

“Oh...I think you’ll do as a fine substitute...” he growled. He pulled his head back, and lunged forward. Trixie screamed as she felt the fangs sink into her neck. Opening her eyes, she saw the inside of the monster’s throat. She attempted to pull away, but was immediately ripped out of the cart.

Her muffled screams came to no avail as Ridley began thrashing his head around. Clinging to the last moments of her life. Using whatever energy she had left, the drunk mare diverted all of her magic to her horn, and let it go. The sudden discharge of magic hit Ridley in the roof of the mouth. He roared in pain, and dropped her.

She stumbled up, feeling the new holes in her neck. She attempted to run away, when the Zebesian slammed his fist down, creating a slight tremor. The miniature earthquake sent Trixie into the air and onto her back.

He began crawling up to her, and prepared to hit her again. He raised his fist, the pony constantly pleading for mercy between fits of coughs. But nothing worked, Ridley slammed his hand down, and onto her chest. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as the fist smashed into her ribcage, shards of bone puncturing her lungs and heart. The excruciating pain was far too much for the entertainer to handle, and she gave in.

The Pirate smiled and laughed crazily as he heard her take in her last breath, then nothing. He then lowered his head, and licked the wounds on her neck, cringing from the taste. Ridley looked at the mare’s body, and locked his jaws around it, the powerful bite severed the unicorn in half. And he continued to eat the body. After he finished, the mare’s power of magic not only felt like healing magic when he devoured her body, but it felt like a supercharge, a steroid. He reared back up, noticing that his meal had turned his skin back to a dark purple, and roared.

News of the police sergeant’s demise spread quickly through Ponyville. It’s shock value was awesome in terms of the speed and toll it took on several. Petty crimes like thievery and, on rare occasions, assault were common, murder was unheard of.

Once it reached Twilight Sparkle and her friends, they all decided to meet at her library. Once the four other friends arrived, they saw their friend Fluttershy, on the ground, in a small, quivering ball, covered in bandages.

Greeting them and explaining what had happened to the young, yellow filly over that past couple of days, the studious young equine began explaining what she could to them.

“...And all we know is that if this...thing...isn’t stopped, the PPD sergeant won’t be the only victim...”

“I think the only thing that could be worse than killin’ him would be eating his body, now why the hay would he do that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I have no idea, Rainbow, the only pony that can really help us with this is Princess Celestia...if we have to go all the way to Canterlot and ask her about it, then that’s what we’re going to do...”

“Well, then what’re we waitin’ for? Let’s go an’ get to Princess Celestia!” Applejack declared, stamping her hoof down.

“Um...Twilight...I don’t want to be a problem on this trip...so is it fine if I stay here?” the first sentence that Fluttershy had said in hours. Understanding what she had gone through, the librarian nodded, and motioned her friends outside.

Ridley slowly climbed up the tree standing tall in front of him. Reaching the top of the canopy, he looked at the remains of Trixie.

“Heh...thanks...’Great and Powerful Trixie’...” he joked to himself. With the energy that the body of the filly gave him, he stretched out his wings. The sun passing through his wings, the light passing through the thin, orange skin, creating an intimidating glow upon the ground below him.

Experimentally, he flapped his wings downwards, no pain, and no fatigue. Ridley raised the appendages up, and, much harder, sent them downwards. Leaves and branches rustled violently as the sudden plume of air sent him upwards. Flapping them regularly now, he began moving up and into the open air. Scanning the horizon, he finally locked his eyes on a large town.

That must be ‘Ponyville’... Ridley thought to himself as he observed the area. After staring at it for a few minutes, he straightened himself out, and began flying to it.

The first thing he heard as he began approaching it was an amassed amount of screaming. But he continued flying, he lowered his altitude and kept the current flight path until he found a perch. It was a large rotunda on the top of a large wooden building. He landed on it, and arched his back up to roar. The screams and shouts down below were almost music to his ears. Almost. He looked down, and saw five ponies, pointing their hooves in horror at him.

“W-who are you?” a purple equine asked.

“Who am I?” he responded sarcastically, pointing his finger at himself.

Before anyone could speak, he declared, “I am Lord Ridley! Commander of the Space Pirates!”

She examined the creature for a few minutes, before her eyes went wide with shock.

“Are you the one that-...that-”

“Killed that one equine? Yes!” he bellowed proudly, breaking down into a fit of laughter after saying it. Recomposing himself, he said, “He tasted foul, but managed to provide a decent amount of energy.”

“Y-...You monster!” another from the group screamed in an elegant accent. Ridley simply shrugged her off, then joked, “There was also another one, named ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’, she tasted just as bad, but she managed to provide an amazing source of energy. I wonder what cells she healed me with.”

He began searching himself, checking his limbs and body, periodically asking, “Is she here? Maybe she’s here...Or maybe here?”

The purple one and the others around her turned their heads away in disgust. But then the Zebesian said, “However, I am not completely healed, but I see five sources lying right in front of me!”

Before any of them could react, Ridley moved into an attack position, and leaped.

Chapter 3: Equestria's Greatest Threat

Chapter Three: Equestria’s Greatest Threat

The gap between the five ponies and the alien beast was closed alarmingly fast. As fast as she could, Twilight performed a teleportation spell. Merely moments before Ridley struck, the unicorn’s horn grew a bright purple. Eventually, she and her friends materialized into white glows before disappearing.

The Zebesian monstrosity smashed into the ground. Regaining his composure, he noticed the ponies several hundred feet ahead of him, sprinting away. The Space Pirate was beyond enraged. Repeatedly slamming his fists into the ground, he then arched up and started screaming.

“NO! NO! NO! THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING!”, he bellowed. He began into a sprint of his own towards the equines. His long limbs and aerodynamic shape helped in doing so, and, within a couple of minutes, was no more than 25 yards away, and closing.

Turning her head to see behind her, Twilight Sparkle screamed when they saw that the alien was dangerously close. Laughing, Ridley began flapping his wings up and down, and eventually got airborne. When she turned around again, she saw that the beast was high up in the air, and the next thing to come out of his mouth would mean the foreboding end to her and her friends.

“YOU PATHETIC STAINS HAVE ESCAPED FROM ME FOR THE LAST TIME! AND YOU SHALL BURN FOR IT!”, immediately, yellow light and head began building up in his mouth, and nopony would’ve been able to get away fast enough when he fired. The stream of fiery energy soared through the air at a breakneck speed, exploding on impact, and sending the five friends into the air. The physical and mental strain was far too much for the librarian and her friends, and they passed out.

The black silence was quickly broken by a bright flash and a pounding-loud explosion. She slowly opened her eyes to see a large, white figure battling it out with Ridley like a pair of aircraft in an aerial dogfight. The white figure firing a beam of yellow energy, and the Space Pirate commander answering with his own burst of energy.

Finally regaining full consciousness, Twilight looked and saw that the figure fighting Ridley was actually her teacher and the ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia. Dodging another volley of fireballs from the behemoth, she finally fired one more concentrated beam of light at him, sending him towards the ground with a crash.

Getting up, he screamed something at her unintelligibly, most likely in another language, before flying off into the distance.

The lavender filly hobbled over to her teacher once she landed and began barraging her with questions. “Princess! What just happened? Why are you here? What’s going on?”

Panting, the sun goddess turned to her student, and began explaining. “My dear student, I saw flames and smoke coming from Ponyville all the way from Canterlot. I decided to see what was happening when I saw that...thing attacking you and your friends.”

“Much worse happened, Princess.”

“What?!”

“Fluttershy’s cottage was burnt down, and Trixie and the Ponyville Police Department Sergeant were killed, then...eaten...by him...”

Celestia’s eyes went wide with shock, trembling, she asked, “D-does this monster have a name?”

“Ridley. He said he was the commander of the ‘Space Pirates’...do you know anything about this...?”

“I know very little, as were explained by a group of bird-like creatures deeming themselves as the ‘Chozo’.”

“‘Chozo’? Wait...what?”

“Come with me to Canterlot, I’ll explain everything...”

With that, the Princess’ horn began to glow a bright yellow, and, before any of them could say anything, disappeared.

The regal mare quickly hustled the friends through the brick-lined hallways of the palace. They kept walking through until they reached the royal library, walking in, Celestia quickly levitated two books to herself, and began talking.

“Roughly 800 years ago, I was still very new as a princess, a meteor landed in the Everfree Forest. However, what I thought was a meteor, was really a spaceship-”

“A spaceship?! But that’s just an old pony tale, right?” Rainbow Dash intervened.

“No, Rainbow Dash, this was a real, legitimate spaceship. And its inhabitants were just as strange.”

She opened one of the books up to reveal an anatomical diagram of a bird-like humanoid. “They were called the Chozo, a race of bird-like creatures from a planet in the distant reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy called ‘SR388’. I visited them out of curiosity, luckily, the Everfree Forest was still considered an uninhabitable zone, so nopony was hurt. When I visited them, though, they explained to me that they had run off course and had to find somewhere to land. And they also described two, very dangerous creatures as described in this other tome.”

Opening the other book, she showed a creature very similar in looks to Ridley. “This is what’s called a ‘Zebesian Dragon’, I believe it’s the same type of creature as that one we meet earlier, what was his name...Ridley? Anyways, they are described in here as ‘Very hostile, but has a dominance-based intelligence, persay, the Alpha Male of a group is usually the most intelligent, and the other ones simply follow its leader.’. Piecing this together, I can assume that Ridley may be the last of his species, and he evolved into a highly intelligent creature, even capable of speech.”

She then flipped a few more pages to show a small, green creature, similar to a jellyfish take away the three nuclei in its body as well as the tusks that replaced the tentacles. Almost in unison, the five friends asked, “What is that?”

With a slight, worried chuckle, the princess stated, “The Chozo brought these creatures with them on the ship, and told me they were called ‘Metroids’. They said that they were genetically manufactured to fight off a gelatinous parasite called the ‘X’. Somehow, they escaped shortly before the two creatures left. I fear the worst, as they explained that they can evolve, and this makes me worried about one, dangerous thing. Somewhere, in that forest, there is-”

“-A colony of Metroids...” Twilight Sparkle finished her teachers words, who just solemnly nodded.

The Princess finally finished with one, sullen sentence. “However, the Metroids have not been found yet, so, at the moment, Ridley remains as Equestria’s greatest threat....”

Trying not to mind the pain in his chest and shoulders, Ridley kept on flying, trying to get as far away as possible from any of those ponies as he could. After a while, he noticed he was on a path straight for a massive mountain range. He smiled, hoping that he would find a cave to serve as a hostel where he could rest, meditate, and regain his energy for another encounter.

But the Zebesian seemed to be on a bad luck streak. No kind of cave or crevice in the mountains, only snow, rocks, and the occasional tree or mountain goat. Then he noticed a large mountain, larger than the rest surrounding it. On one side, and on several peaks surrounding it, was a patch of dead woods. On the other side, however, lie a massive, white, mountainside palace.

Knowing the consequences if he was spotted, the alien flew under the castle, dodging the forest of pillars and supports that got in the way. He then got to the other side, and dug his claws into the base. The stonework seemed rough, but easy to pierce. He continued climbing until he was on the wall overlooking a several-thousand foot drop. He continued climbing until he was directly under the edge.

It was eerily silent, and, trying his luck, Ridley poked his head over the edge. There, standing in front of him, was a light-grey unicorn mare, brandishing a white-and-purple striped mane, and shaking rather violently.

“I-...I-...AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!”, her screaming caused the Space Pirate to cringe. She began running away towards the heavily populated city of Canterlot.

No, dammit, I can’t let her get away! She’ll alert everyone else! Ridley thought before climbing over the wall. He began sprinting ahead of her, in the same scenario that had happened merely hours ago, his body structure came to his advantage, and soon was within striking distance of the mare. Then, he pounced.

She squealed in fear as the monster tackled her, feeling the pressure of the beast’s weight as he pinned her to the ground. But pleas of mercy couldn’t come fast enough, before she could say anything, the monster began slashing her rapidly. She screamed constantly as she felt her skin ripped from her body, then she noticed the claws began to puncture the exposed parts of her body. Her helpless screams and wails soon turned into a disgusting, gurgling sound, blood began running from her mouth and nose.

After a few seconds, the screams had stopped, and the pony was finally finished. He looked up from his work to see several, large, horrified eyes gazing upon him. His own eyes widened, swearing under his breath before grabbing the body in his mouth and running away.

“GET HIM!” a guard donning gleaming, golden armour shouted. Several more of the same attire going in the direction of the Star Dragon. But as they caught up, Ridley began swinging his tail back and forth. The spiked appendage flying freely in the air, and smashing into anypony that got close enough.

He flared his wings open and began flapping them as he approached the wall. Still clutching onto the mare’s corpse, he speed up his flapping, and leaped. He fell several feet, but then flew above the wall. Creating an imposing silhouette on the section of the city. Before finally flying far away and disappearing from sight.

Almost immediately, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, and the four others had sprinted over to the group, panting, the lavender filly asked, “W-...what happened?”

A tall, blue unicorn stallion then approached her, the librarian instantaneously recognizing it as her father. “D-dad? What happened?”

Tears were rolling down his cheeks, and his lips were trembling, quietly, he murmured, “Twilight, your mother, that monster...k-...killed her...and...took her away...” Shortly after, he broke down into tears, his daughter following suit.

“Ridley...” a watery-eyed Celestia mumbled.

Ceasing to cry for a moment, the sadness and melancholy was briefly replaced with furious rage, Twilight Sparkle growled, “This just got personal...” But she couldn’t hold onto that rage for long before breaking down again.

Well, that was a complete disaster... Ridley thought to himself as he dove and twisted through the mountains. Realizing that he had nowhere to land at the moment, he slowly swallowed Twilight’s mother whole. Once again, the unicorn’s power healed him, certainly, not as powerful as the Great and Powerful Trixie, but he felt all of his energy restored. Looking at his limbs and body, he saw that all the cuts, bruises, and burns were gone. His skin wasn’t just the normal gun-metal grey, but the shadowy black skin that a fully-grown, healthy Zebesian Dragon has.

He smiled and laughed.Continuously flying when he saw that something was behind him, a grey-and-blonde pegasus. Dammit! It must’ve followed me! the pterodactyl-like creature swore in his head. He quickly banked to the right and took a steep dive, but the pony followed him. He turned around to see that her mouth was moving, but the violent howl of the wind carried all of her words away.

He quickly slowed down, and landed on one of the sides of the mountains. The pegasus followed his lead, but before she could land safely, was swept up into Ridley’s tail. She struggled for a breath as the appendage coiled around and constricted around her like a python would do to its prey. He then swung her over to his face, and asked, “What?”

“I-I was told to follow you, P-princess’s orders...” the scared mare stifled. “Bah!” the monster spat, he quickly raised his tail and forced it down, but before the mare’s face hit the ground, she shouted, “Wait! She told me to give you a letter, too!”

Stopping mid-action, he slowly lifted her up, and demanded that she give it to him. Loosening his grip, the mailmare reached into her brown satchel, and pulled out a single, beige envelope. Clutching it lightly with his claws, he dropped her onto the small cliff face, and held it close to his eyes, and began reading it.

Dear Ridley,

I apologize for the incident that had happened a couple of hours ago, and understand I was just trying to protect their five friends. But, first, let me introduce myself as formally as possible in this letter.

I am Princess Celestia, the ruler of this planet you are stuck on, Equestria. I am responsible for raising and lowering the sun, while my younger sister, Princess Luna, raises and lowers the moon.

“Ha! Does this fool not this fool realize that the planet orbits the sun, and that’s why the sun is raised and lowered?” he declared to himself, laughing in disbelief. Calming down, he continued reading.

I see that you are very hostile towards the denizens of this planet. I just want to inform you that murder is an extremely heinous crime in these parts, the punishment extremely severe: Banishment to the moon. But, I fear you are more powerful than we have expected, all I ask is that you return to Canterlot so we can peacefully negotiate terms. I’m sorry, but you will not be recognized as any kind of ally. But we can still cope in calmly, no?

Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
April 2nd, 1001

He was almost sick to his stomach, he threw the letter onto the ground, and stomped on it repeatedly. “RAAAH! DOES THIS MORON KNOW WHO I AM?!” he screamed. It echoed through the mountain range, he looked down, and saw that the pegasus had began to crawl away. “Oh...you’re not going anywhere...” the monster laughed as he quickly swept her up.

The filly’s screaming didn’t affect Ridley, who simply hopped over the cliff and began flying back from where he had left. He eventually reached Canterlot, where the same group was standing formally by the entrance to the massive castle. Several ran away with screams of fright and angst as he landed in front of them.

“I’m glad that you’re cooperating.” Celestia declared, standing rather adamantly despite what had happened a mere hour ago.

Grunting in response, Ridley slowly lumbered in front of her. Sweeping his tail to the side to reveal the constricted pegasus.

Sighing, the regal alicorn began, “Look, I just want to negotiate some terms with you, but, to begin with...Why?”

“‘Why’ what?” Ridley snapped.

“Why just do away with these innocent souls like they don’t deserve to live.”

He chuckled menacingly, then flared his wings out to cast a blinding glow upon the group. “I am an apex predator! I can do whatever I want whenever I damn-well please! I was severely injured before coming here from Zebes. And you ponies manage to provide an excellent source of energy!” he declared.

Before any of them could respond, he straightened himself out, and coughed something up, a skeleton.

“Here. Have my last prey as a little...present!” before bursting out laughing again. Princess Celestia was disgusted and horrified. A purple filly ran up to the corpse, and began crying.

“Hm? What is this?”

“That...sk-skeleton is her mother...because you k-killed her...you...Monster!” the princess sniffled.

“Really? Oh, then I guess it’s a shame to be her, then!” Ridley laughed.

“Y-you don’t even care that you killed somepony’s parents?!”

“Feh! I destroyed an entire colony of humans! Do you think I gave a damn? Do you think I give a damn now? I’m the last of my species! How do you think I feel about that?!”

Stamping her hoof down, she shouted, “No! Enough! I tried...I tried to negotiate and now I learn of what kind of malicious beast you are. No 1,000 years on the moon will fix this. This ends now!” With that, she moved into an attack position, the cusp of her horn glowing a vicious yellow.

“Hah! You think you can defeat me?!”, dropping the mailmare in his grasp. He quickly moved into his own attack position. He prepared to fire a beam of energy, the heat building up in his maw and pouring out of his beak and nostrils.

The princess fired, but only to have her concentrated light-beam be hit by Ridley’s own beam of fire. Attempting to fight the creature off, but he seemed to overpower her. And the beam of fiery energy channeled itself into her horn. The power was too much, driving into her head and sending her careening into the nearby palace. Her crown separated from her head.

Ridley walked over to the headpiece, everyone running away if they got too close, and picked it up. Placing it on the very top of his head, as far down as it would go, he immediately felt power surge into his body. It was as if the crown siphoned its power from the sun. He spread his wings out and roared, “I AM INVINCIBLE!”

He lowered himself, and looked to the wall, the Princess slowly stumbling up, he slowly craned his neck over to the friends. And snickered, “I’ll give you ‘ponies’ a ten minute headstart to get as far away from here as possible...starting...now!”

The equines quickly ran over to their leader, trying to find an answer. But the fallen princess could say nothing, there was nothing she could do. All she did was motion the others to the nearby train station. They did so, but that’s when they realized that Ridley had kept his word when he said, “Nine minutes...You better hurry!”

They began into a full sprint to the platform, and quickly boarded the idle train. It was packed like a boxcar stuffed full of livestock, but it would have to do. That’s when a horrific revelation came upon herself.

“Luna!” she screamed.

A/N:

I know, I know, I do feel like a real dick with the semi-rushing and ending the past-two chapters on cliffhangers. But I try to work off what I can, please understand that. The Metroids and Samus will most likely be introduced in the next couple of chapters. Also, I finally beat Other M, and I can say that, one thing, for certain, is that I'm not gonna implement Ridley's character model. That thing looked like a cross between a pterodactyl, a gorilla, and Barney's retarded twin. Great game, otherwise, though :P

Still, thanks for all the praise. I understand that it's not very popular of a story, but that doesn't mean it's not fun to write! And I'll continue for a while, I was actually thinking of changing the title to "Maretroid: Ridley in Ponyville", as I could make a series of Metroid-based fics. What do you guys think?

Chapter 4: Takeover

Chapter Four: Takeover

A/N: To bump up emersion, a short sentence will be linked (Some will have multiple links in the chapter) to a song on Youtube to create a more immersive environment. It feels better if you play the song, so please do, and please enjoy!

Ridley was surprised, a whole city, or what he thought was a whole city, evacuated and packed into a small train, and moved away. All in under 10 minutes. But he was curious about the other pony mentioned in that letter, “Luna”.

He turned around to the deserted palace, and laughed. He slowly began walking to the front of it, and observed the massive, wooden gates. He pushed on it, opening it with ease. He walked in, and roared a prolonged call. It echoed quickly through the halls of the building. He smiled, and continued walking through.

He stared almost in awe of the inside of the building, it was stunning. Clean, well-decorated, and fragrant. But he quickly strayed away from the beauty of the thing, and continued walking. Everypony seemed to have evacuated, and then he noticed something catch his eye.

It was a midnight-blue alicorn, her sparkly, sapphire mane flowing elegantly, walking casually down the hallway, her hoofsteps creating an obnoxiously loud clopping noise, humming some kind of tune to herself.

He was about to jump at the pony when he thought against it immediately. The element of surprise was far too great at the moment. He slowed his step to a tiptoe, and began walking stealthily towards her.

He approached the spot where the two pathways intersected, he slowly backed himself against the wall, and peaked his head out to get a better look. She looked very similar to her bigger sister, the only difference was the colors of her body, mane, and wear, and her smaller stature.

He continued stalking her, making sure to keep a safe distance away as he followed her every move. She seemed to turn at every intersecting hallway, with no straight or defined path. She also seemed to swerve and move in a zigzag pattern as she continued walking.

What is wrong with this thing? Ridley asked himself. She kept her erratic pattern until she reached another, massive set of double-doors. She threw the door open, enough to allow the Pirate to easily slip in undetected. He looked around, the pony still walking straight ahead. It was a massive ballroom, two large statues of alicorns, one larger and one smaller, were standing across from each other on their hindlegs.

Curious why this pony is going into an empty ballroom after an entire community has been removed, he slowly crept up behind her. He stopped as her horn began to grow a dark blue, and a soft chair and a small book levitated to her. The title said something like “Daring Do and the Catatonic Crypt.” But he didn’t care about the piece of literature, he looked at the real prize that was sitting in front of him.

He slowly hovered over her, the regal equine seemed to be completely oblivious to his presence. After what felt like a half an hour, her sighed in annoyance, a costly problem.

Luna stopped in her tracks, her eyes went wide, and she locked up. Inhaling sharply, she began nervously speaking in the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Wh-who dare disturb thou at this hour?”

“Take a wild guess...” Ridley hissed.

She gasped, and turned around. The Zebesian arched up and roared at her.

The moon goddess shrieked in terror as he began swatting at her. Barely managing to escape each swipe of the claws. He stopped for a moment, and she quickly exploited her window of opportunity to escape.

She began running towards the doorway of the ballroom. But the alien just laughed as he pivoted on his feet to face his target. But she had already ran out of the door.

Luna stopped to take a breath, resting herself against the wall, trying to understand what had just happened. But she had no time to think as the door was smashed open. The oak panelling instantly turned into shrapnel as it flew in her direction. She frantically used a teleportation spell, and disappeared. appearing in the hallway next to the corridor.

She began running, but turned around to see that Ridley was dangerously behind. She kept on running and quickly dodged into an unlit hallway. It was eerily dark, she quickly darted her eyes to the left and right, trying to get a bearing as she tried navigating the dark room.

But the darkness was pierced as a beam of plasma soared through. Incinerating anything that had come in its path. She squealed in fright as another beam came flying through, quickly lighting the room and giving herself away to the Space Pirate leader.

He rushed at her again, this time catching her under his weight. Luna then noticed the golden crown at the top of his head.

“Wait...that’s-...that’s ‘Tia’s crown! How did you get that?!” she shouted.

“Wow...you must either be deaf or just really oblivious to everything. Your pathetic sister could not stand up to me. And now this crown gives me limitless amounts of power. You ponies really are weak!” he laughed.

“Y-you...MONSTER!” the regal mare screamed.

Her horn began to grow a vicious blue. When Ridley put his claw on it, and began pushing on it with all his might. Luna’s screams of agony didn’t faze him.

“Look, if you are in charge of the moon...you can reach into space past this planet’s atmosphere, no?”

“Y-yes...why?”

“Alright, I will take you to a more comfortable area, and I will introduce myself...are we clear?”

“Yes...fine...”

Luna sat down nervously in her quarters, the massive creature standing against the ceiling. The first thing she noticed about him was his sheer size, he was massive. But he began speaking.

“‘Luna’...that is your name, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good...let me introduce myself...I am Ridley, commander of an intergalactic faction known as the Space Pirates, we are sworn enemies of the Galactic Federation. And I was defeated by a bounty hunter clad in metal named Samus Aran on the planet Zebes. I was about to leave and get to my flagship, when an ominous white orb of energy sent me...here...”

He lowered himself to meet her eye level. “So...what do you want with me?” the dark-blue pony asked.

“Two things, actually. The first thing I need is a tangible link to my flagship. If I am correct, it should still be in orbit above Zebes. Second of all, I can’t let you go anywhere. I have taken over this city, and anyone as or more powerful than I am cannot leave.”

“Wait...so...you want me to develop a steady link to a ‘flagship’ that is orbiting a planet in Celestia-knows-where, and you also are going to keep me from leaving. I do not mind this second demand. Not only in fear of the consequences, but mainly because I do not leave the palace very often. But I don’t know how I can follow your first demand...”

“For every two hours you do not do what I say, another one of your precious ‘ponies’ will die. And I am completely in my ability to do that, are we clear with each other?”

“O-okay...I will try my b-...wait...another?”

“Yes! One...I believe an enforcer of the law. One named ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’. And that purple equine’s mother. And every reaction is just hilarious!” Ridley began laughing, Luna, like her older sister, was horrified.

“You sick, twisted...monster!”

Ridley stared at her, disinterested, “Well, do what I say, or more are going to pay in blood!”

“F-fine...but nighttime is dawning upon us, I musts lower the sun and raise the m-” She couldn’t finish as she was thrown to the ground by a swipe of Ridley’s claw.

“YOU INSOLENT MORON! DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT YOU PATHETIC EQUINES RAISE AND LOWER THE SUN AND MOON?!” he screeched.

She stumbled back up, tears running down her cheeks. She felt the side of her face, it was covered in welts and bruises.

“Th-things work d-differently here in Equestria...R-Ridley...” Luna choked.

“Hmph! Whatever...” Ridley puffed.

He moved out of the doorway to let her pass through, then began following her. They walked for a bit until they reached a massive spiral staircase.

“This was only built for a pony to use. So you will have to wait down here, is that okay?” Luna asked.

“Do you really think I’m that stupid? I’m not going to let you fly away and alert the others. I’ll just back out and fly to the top to meet you.”

She sighed, then flatly replied, “Very well.”

She nodded him off, and he turned around and walked out. Sighing in grief and annoyance, she walked inside and continued up the staircase. She finally reached the top, where Ridley sat impatiently on the edge of the tower.

“Well? Get on with it! I don’t have all damn day!” he demanded coldly.

She faced the sun, drifting lazily as it slowly sunk into the ground. After a mere couple of minutes, it was gone. And darkness began to quickly consume Equestria.

Luna planted her feet and spread her legs. Focusing her energy to her horn, she began concentrating magical energy to her horn. After a few moments, it began to glow a dark, sapphire colour.

The glow was dim at first, then it became a large, bright, violent mass. Lowering her head and aiming he cusp out into the open sky. She fired. The swirling mass of energy quickly left and went into the open. Holding her pose like that, the moon slowly rose from the sky.

Ridley turned to her, impressed, but nothing more.

“Now, my first demand, and, like I said, I will begin killing more of your precious citizens if you do not do what I say.”

“I will try, so we must go to my astronomy chamber...”

“Very well.”

She trotted over to the edge, and spread her wings. The Zebesian Dragon turning around and doing the same. Almost simultaneously, they took off. Leaping from the building and flapping their wings to stay airborne.

They flew for a couple of seconds. Ridley looked at the alicorn, and asked, “Where is this ‘astronomy chamber?’”

“Not too far ahead, in fact, we should probably land now.” Luna nodded, she slowly changed her position into a dive, the alien following suit. They remained in that position until they reached a large, observatory-like building.

They reached the front of it. A massive pair of mahogany double-doors, unguarded, of course. They walked in, and a massive, open space lay in front of them, a couple of nodes which Ridley assumed channeled magic, and a large, open roof that gave way to the endless cosmos.

Princess Luna turned to the monstrous creature, and asked, “Do you know where this...’Zebes’...is?”

“Try ‘Federation-Marked Grophar Galaxy’, if that doesn’t work, bring up a list of ‘Federation-Marked Class XIX planets’.”

“O-...okay...”

She used her magic to lower one of the nodes, and inserted her horn in it. Trying to use what Ridley had just told her to get any information. She was lucky, nopony would die that day. A layout of planets slowly materialized in the middle of the room, each one having a name, but was in a different language.

“Um...I can’t...read...this...” Luna muttered.

Ridley scanned his eyes through the plethora of planets that slowly swirled around, then he saw something. An elongated purple speck with a shorter black one traveling around. But it wasn’t by Zebes like he thought.

“Am I able to communicate to my flagship...that purple speck?”

“You should be able to.”

“Good...”

The black Zebesian Pirate sat hunched over the computer. It was a diagram of the mothership, and a smaller mass of metal and other materials. A monotonous, female voice then came through an overhead speaker.

“Airlocks equalized, docking ports even. Commencing connection with Discovery-class frigate ‘Orpheon’ in three minutes.”

He opened up his claw-like hand for a weapon-like appendage to swivel out. A small node was sitting in front of the layout. He inserted it into the tool, and twisted it. After a few organized boops and bleeps. A hologram of a much different Pirate appeared, standing in a Parade-Rest position.

“We should be docking with your ship in a couple of minutes, is the batch of troops and...precious cargo...ready to be transferred?” the Zebesian asked firmly.

“Yes, do you want me to do an inventory check to see if we have everything in order?” the hologram replied.

"Yes, please do."

“Alright...” he mumbled as he pulled out a touch-screen device.

“Three shadow troopers, three Aerotroopers, three aquatic troopers, two plasma, two ice, two power, and two wave beam troopers. And...four 250-kilogram containers of liquid Phazon...”

“I think that is what we had in order...be sure that the Phazon is moved and placed as safely as possible. You know what kind of damage it can cause.”

“Yes, I am completely aware. Let’s just make sure th-...we c-...it sh-”

The Space Pirate looked in shock, he had no idea what was going on. A bright blue flash appeared before him. He shielded his eyes, the staff in the control-bridge doing the same. After a while, it dimmed down, and two figures appeared in a strange mist. After it cleared slightly, everyone in the room cheered, and the commander of the flagship looked in awe.

“Lord Ridley! We had thought that we lost you in that mass of energy! And...What’s standing next to you?”

He laughed slightly, the blue mare just stared in horror at the creatures. Jokingly, he pointed at her. “This? This is some pathetic creature that’s giving me a link to the ship!” before laughing. Luna turned her head and glared at him. He stopped, and looked at the Pirate, though. “However, I have some questions of my own...”

“Anything, My Lord, what’s the issue?”

“Why are you not by Zebes, and why are you docked with another spaceship doing God-knows-what without my authorization?”

“My Lord, we had deployed soldiers onto the surface, we had sent scouts out to explore, everything in a vain attempt to find you. After a while, we gave up, and we continued from Zebes. We then were caught in a transmission with a fleet from the planet Tallon IV. This black ship docked with us is a scientific vessel named the Orpheon. But we were low on soldiers and ammunition in our search for you, and so they are giving us fresh troops and a...material...to assist in our effort.”

“Material?”

“Phazon, a research team on said planet has classified it as a V-Index mutagen. They’re having limited success with it, and are giving us a half-metric-ton quantity of liquid Phazon to see what we can do with it.”

“Very well, but, that might be helpful here on this planet...what is it called...Equestria?”

“‘Equestria’? I will try to find it in the ship’s navigation computer. But it may take some time. Please try not to have anything happen to you in that time.” Both of them laughed, then the black Pirate moved into a bowing position. Ridley nodded him off, then Luna. With a flash of her horn, the mist disappeared.

The hologram came back into picture, and the Tallon Pirate stared at the Zebesian with confusion. “What happened?”

“Nothing, but I think you should come with us on a short trip...”

He turned to Luna, and began laughing maniacally. Worried, she asked, “W-what is it?”

The cold expression he wore earlier turned into one of a madman. Luna walked around him, and saw a crazed smile on his face.

“R-Ridley...what’s...going on?” she asked nervously. He turned to face her completely. He laughed, then proudly bellowed, “My army is coming! And when they arrive, this pathetic planet will follow under my complete control! There is nothing anybody can do! ANYBODY!”

She was horrified, “Not if there’s anything I can do about it!” she shouted.

“Hah! What can you do?!” he yelled at her. He quickly turned around, coiling his tail around her and around her horn.

“Your ‘precious’ planet and their denizens have thought that I am just some monster! But, now, the Space Pirates will destroy your pathetic citizens. This, ‘Luna’, is the takeover of Equestria!”

A/N:

I hope the music is good, the second link was probably not so great to put at the very end. But Corruption and Fusion are two of my favorite games from the series, Other M, Prime, and Super Metroid follow close (I always enjoy giving a big middle finger to Mogenar, though, fighting that thing was such a bucking chore in my opinion. Yakuza, too, that freaking spider...).

I’m sorry for this being one of the really short chapters. And I hope that involving Tallon IV Pirates and Phazon doesn’t cause much of a problem.

Brohoof for the praise and support, guys, you’re great :P