Legacy of the Past

Dinky sighed as she flipped another page of her coloured colouring book. Her mother had told her to wait at home and miss school while she went to the hospital to visit Fluttershy. and she was bored. Undeniably and completely bored. She had never had to miss school other then when she was sick. But she wasn't sick, and she was told that her injury wasn't bad and that she was fine. But after what happened last night, Dinky didn't argue in not going to school.

A feeling suddenly came to her, like an itch at the back of her head. She reached a hoof back and scratched, but it did absolutely nothing. It began to irritate her a little. Suddenly, a beeping sound was heard and the little filly turned her head to see the object Nathaniel had given her mother on the small table, a blue light was flicking on it as the object frantically kept beeping.

She stood up and, before she realized it, levitated the object toward her, it's glow a translucent gray. She gasped when she realized what she was doing and the object dropped in front of her.

"Oh my Celestia..." She muttered. "I levitated something! I levitated something! Hehehehe!"

The beeping object knocked her out of her stupor and she walked up to it, looking at the flicking blue light. With a curious expression on her face, she lightly tapped the light with a hoof and a rectangular screen appeared over the object, where she looked at the face of an unfamiliar but scared stallion.

"Sam-! Huh!?" He blurted out, but stopped when he realized he was looking at Dinky. The two stared for a moment, neither saying anything before Dinky spoke.

"Hello!" She said cheerfully, waving. "I'm Dinky Doo! Who are you?"

"Uh..." The stallion tugged at the collar of his uniform, unsure, before he was roughly pushed aside.

"Let me handle this, ensign..." Said a familiar voice, his face appearing in the holographic screen,

"Hi Captain!" Dinky greeted.

"Hello Dinky," He replied urgently, that was when Dinky noticed his eyes were wide and sweat was coming down his forehead. "Listen, I need to talk to your mother, where is she?"

"She went to the hospital to see somepony, is something wrong?"

Nathaniel hesitated before he answered. "Listen, go find your mother, tell her Dark Samus is coming for her!"

"Dark Samus?" For some reason, the itch became more irritating and the filly reflexively scratched her head.

"Just do it! She'll know what it means! Hurry, you don't have much time!" With that, the screen disappeared and the object shut down. Dinky stared at it for a moment, before the itch returned, this time stronger, she flexed her neck, trying to get rid of it, before she was reminded of the terrifying image of Ridley and the urgency in the Captain, and ran out the door.

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Ditzy flew through the town, her panic starting to calm. There was very little chance Twilight and Applejack and Rainbow would find anything in the forest and if they did, there was nothing that would point them to her. Still, the fear remained, she had spent years in Ponyville creating a new life and she didn't want it destroyed because of anypony finding out about who she was. She had no reason to worry, the Confederate ship would leave her alone most likely and Ridley was gone... for now. There was no one else to worry about, that much was-

Heat and Light and Burning and Pain... but it was it's hatred that carried it through and it would strike, retaking the world and bringing darkness and corruption as it had tried a thousand years ago... and it would not be stopped, not by the Sun Princess, not by her vulnerable sibling, not by the mysterious energies that defeated her twice... for she was now back to her full and complete strength, she would not need to corrupt and possess just one native anymore... and she would win, and become a slave once more... and make the cursed murderer and hunter pay!

A brief flash of a ghostly white V-shaped visor and Ditzy crashed to the ground, screaming as pain shot through her head. She rolled and remained motionless for a moment as she heard frantic and worried voices and hootsteps running to.

"Derpy!"

"Are you alright?"

"What happened?"

"Somepony get help!"

Was just a few of the phrases Ditzy managed to decipher amongst the crowd. She slowly stood up, panting, her vision blurry.

What happened? Her groggy thoughts managed. What was-

"Mom!"

Ditzy ears perked and her head jolted up and turned to the direction of her little muffin running toward her, the crowd of worried ponies stepping by to allow the filly to pass.

"Dinky?"

"Are you alright!?"

"I'm..." She hesitated as her daughter hugged her. "I'm not sure..."

Suddenly, a loud boom was heard, followed by several more. Ponies looked around and muttered worriedly at the strange and frightening noises. Ditzy looked up, seemingly drawn to a spot in the cloudy sky and feeling something familiar fall... something dark... something that she had felt before during that Summer Sun Celebration that Nightmare Moon returned...

and in the Phazon Conflicts...

"No..." She muttered, her heart starting to beat. "No, it can't be..."

"Mom, the Captain wanted me to tell you something! He said that Dark Samus is coming for you! What does he mean?"

Dark Samus... Ditzy felt her face go pale, she wanted so badly to deny this. But the evidence was too much to deny. She turned to her daughter.

"Dinky, we're going inside..."

"But-"

"No buts! Now let's go!" Ditzy grabbed her daughter and flung her on her back, flapping her wings and taking off for her house. I need to get the Zero Suit... I need to stop her before she destroys everything!

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"What was with that sudden question, Twi?" Applejack asked as the three mares entered the forest.

"What do you mean?"

"Ah mean back at the hospital, you asked Derpy that question, how was she supposed to have any idea about what was going on in the forest?"

Twilight hesitated. "I'm not sure... But that strange pony's voice. It sounded familiar..."

Before Applejack could ask more questions, another boom sounded in the sky causing the three ponies to jump

"There's another one." The cowpony said. "Rainbow, do you know what the hay's going on?"

The cyan pegasus merely shrugged, but she could easily see her unease, something was wrong and it sent shivers up all three of the mares backs.

"Come on, girls..." Twilight said, her face looking up at the sky. "Let's keep-" She gasped at what she saw.

A bright glowing blue object fell to the sky, tracing smoke and twin trails of some magical aura behind it and Twilight got an immediate disturbing feeling. Something that she hadn't felt since Nightmare Moon. One look around told her that Rainbow Dash and Applejack had that same feeling. The object crashed into the forest very close to the three mares and the ground shook.

"Come on, girls!" The unicorn said as they all charged into the foliage. Although Twilight didn't know if it was somehow Nightmare Moon, she knew that it was most likely not friendly and had to be dealt with.

It didn't take them long to reach a small clearing, where a small smoking crater stood and at the centre...

"That is most definitely not Nightmare Moon..." Applejack muttered, wide-eyed with fear at the strange suited pegasus before them. The dark form turned, facing and staring at them and Twilight suddenly remembered seeing a brief flash of its visor in the Mare in the Moon's eyes, she had thought it was her imagination but now... Could this be the very thing that turned Luna into Nightmare Moon!? The form stared at the three of them, for she recognized them as well. Twilight snorted and pawed the ground aggresively, challenging the dark pegasus. The form stared and the unicorn was given a disturbing memory when she fought Nightmare Moon.

You're kidding... You're kidding, right!?

Suddenly, the pegasus lifted its arm cannon and fired a shot, knocking Applejack into the foliage, her hat flying off. Rainbow Dash immediately took to the air to dive down at her opponent, but the dark pegasus flew and rammed her in the chest, where a point-blank shot knocked her to the ground behind Twilight, whose horn charged up with magical energy. The dark pegasus landed on the ground and fired a shot at the unicorn, but a purple shield appeared, deflecting the shot and protecting the three mares as they regained their composure and glared at the dark form defiantly.

The pegasus stared, hit with a sense of deja vu, it had been in a similar situation on Norion years ago... and that was when it had got a cruel and evil idea. It laughed maniacally as it lifted in the air, calling up all the Phazon in its body...

The three mares stared as the dark form laughed and rose a few feet off the air, her dark cloud wings outstretched as her whole body glowed a ghostly blue and a charging sound was heard.

"Brace yourselves, girls!" Twilight yelled as she poured all her magical strength into her forcefield and prepared for the attack just as the pegasus unleashed a massive blast of electrical Phazon that broke through the shield easily and enveloped the three mares and sent them flying back, unconscious.

The pegasus landed on the ground and stared at the unconscious bodies of the three ponies, before it raised its left hoof and slowly waved it over them. Small particles flew to each of them and formed into three objects, all looking vastly different but with the same purpose. To Applejack it formed around her stetson, changing its brown colour into a bright silver. To Twilight it changed into a necklace, blue energy wrapping tightly around her neck. To Rainbow Dash, it was her wings, which had been surrounded with a dark-silvery material and a small object formed in between them on her back. All three had the visors of PEDs... A little present for when her rival arrived...

The dark pegasus outstretched her wings and flew off towards the castle...

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Ditzy shuddered involuntarily when a different sounding explosion was heard and she was given a very bad feeling, for some reason being reminded of her encounter with Dark Samus on Norion... the last time she saw Rundas, Ghor, and Gandrayda... She shook the thought, confused and worried that she was reminded of them, she had deliberately put all memories of them behind her so the guilt of killing them wouldn’t return. Why did it show up now and so suddenly? She finished putting on her Zero Suit and looked to see Dinky looking out the window worriedly.

“Who is Dark Samus, Mom?” Her daughter asked, not turning away from the sight of the forest.

Ditzy sighed. “She’s me... to an extent, she was a powerful creature I had encountered and defeated a long time ago... but it returned with a stolen and corrupted version of my suit, and it was much stronger and still growing stronger when I encountered her. I defeated her again and thought she perished for good... but she returned, at full strength and had corrupted me and...” She stopped as their memories flashed by her. “...and three others I had grown attached to. I was fine after a period of recovery, but my three allies turned and I was forced to kill them... all of them... But I had also defeated Dark Samus and what I had thought was the source of her power... that was over 12 years ago and now it seems she’s back.”

“Why are you going?”

“Because she is incredibly dangerous and cruel... I have to stop her before she harms somepony.”

“But... if you’ve beaten her so many times, what’s going to stop her from coming back?”

Ditzy didn’t answer. If Dark Samus could survive Phaaze’s destruction, the homeworld and source of her power and life blood, Phazon, then it was probably impossible to destroy her for good.

“I’ll just stop her again and again until she gets the message...” She soon answered with a smile that may or may not have been convincing.

“Like Ridley?” Her daughter asked

“...Like Ridley... Just stay here Muffin, I'll be back... I promise..."

With that, she turned and flew out the window, leaving her daughter behind just as she did last night. As she flew towards the forest, she began having a strange feeling, an almost tingling sensation at the back of her head, there was something in the forest, and the feeling grew stronger as she came closer to it.

Landing in the nearest clearing, Ditzy concentrated, bringing her eyes together and having her suit form around her. When her HUD came into display, she flexed her arm cannon, bringing it to bear and mentally testing herself like she always did when activating the suit. She looked over her suit status and saw that her Plasma Beam and Spider Ball were still in working condition and decided to have the suit begin restoring another power. After a short time, she settled on the Ice Beam and immediately felt the suit became heavier as a portion of her suit's life energy drained. Feeling as ready as she was ever going to be, she began her trek through the forest.

She looked at the corner of her HUD and saw something new, it seemed her suit had figured out enough of the Everfree Forest to create a map of sorts, highlighting out points of interest that she had been to, such as the Abandoned Castle and the Gigas Spider Nest as well as the location she had fought Ridley. There was also a flashing section of the forest that she had not been to yet her suit highlighted it as a point of interest. She brought up a closer diagram of it and saw that there was a concentration of Phazon in that location and it wasn't far from her. Seeing as that was probably where her Dark doppelganger had landed, it seemed to be the best place to start her hunt.

It didn't take long to reach the location, where Ditzy saw a small crater as well as small portions of dirt that glowed a ghostly blue. Although she had a feeling she knew what it was, she scanned the ground.

Anomaly: Phazon Energy

This small portion of Phazon has been self-produced in an equine body

host is likely highly corrupted and hostile

Equine body? That doesn't make any sense, what other equines could- Ditzy was then flashed with the memory of Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack leaving for the Forest to investigate and a horrible thought rose in her mind.

"Oh no..." She muttered. If they're corrupted, then that means... Helplessness and anger threatened to overtake the armoured pegasus as she realized that they may already be dead, like Rundas, Ghor, and Gandrayda were... But then, defiance took her mind's reins. No! I failed with Rundas and the others, but not with Rainbow and her friends, I'll find a way to destroy their corruption without Dark Samus destroying them, I swear it!

Ditzy blinked when she got the feeling she was being watched. Instantly, she turned around, her cannon aimed at the foliage. Something was there, she knew it.

"Show yourself!" She called out. Then, a rustle and a branch snapping, before Applejack revealed herself. Only, she wasn't Applejack, something was horribly wrong. Ditzy first noticed her hat, it was silver and had a disturbingly familiar shaped object, she recognized with horror that it as a Phazon Enhancement Device, merged into the top of the stetson. Her orange coat was grayer, with black lines pulsing throughout, conglomerating around her Cutie Mark, which now depicted three rotting apples, a twisted and dark mockery of her original Mark. Her mouth was twisted into a sneer as she pulled her hat back, revealing her green eyes now replaced with an evil blue and, deep down in the blackest part of her eyes, was the visor of Dark Samus, watching her intently.

"Well, well, well..." Applejack said as she sneered at Ditzy. "Ah recognize that voice now... hard to believe that it's you, Derpy..."

Ditzy continued having her weapon trained on the earth pony, not sure what to do.

"Well, that suit can't just be fer show so..." Suddenly, before she could react, a lasso was wrapped around Ditzy as Applejack jumped on top of her suited form, suddenly, the lasso glowed and Ditzy was shocked with pain as her suit's life energy began deteriorating. "Giddy 'long lil doggie!" Applejack cried out, sneering as if she had already won.