Legacy of the Past

Ditzy tapped her hoof impatiently as she stood in front of the desk as the old unicorn looked over her notepad.

"Friend or family?" She asked.

"Friend," Ditzy replied, even though she didn't know Fluttershy very well, she was still on good terms with her.

The unicorn nodded slowly (oh Celestia, was it slow!). "She's in room 113, just down the hall." She said, gesturing down the hall. Ditzy nodded with a smile.

"Thanks!"

The grey pegasus walked down the hall, carrying a small but wide box with her as she counted down the doors. 110, 111, 112... ah! 113!

Humming a little tune, she opened the door slightly and poked her head in, seeing five mares sitting around the bed that Fluttershy lay in, a smile on her face as they all idly chat. Upon seeing Ditzy, the shy mare shrank in her bed and brought her blanket partially over her face. They all turned to see who had arrived.

"Hi everypony!" Ditzy exclaimed. "Is it alright that I-Woah!" Apparently someone was pushing a trolley or something through the hall and didn't notice Ditzy standing there. The trolley kept pushing on, knocking the pegasus to the ground. In the moment of desperation, she instantly had both her forehooves brought up to keep the box from landing on the ground, she couldn't let the box be damaged in any way! Even if it meant her head had to suffer.

"Oww..." The wall-eyed pegasus groaned as she got up and rubbed her sore head with a hoof.

"Oh my..." Fluttershy squeaked. "Are you alright?"

Ditzy beamed. "I'm fine!"

Then her smile dropped as she looked at Fluttershy with a worried expression.

"But what about you? Lyra told me that you were in the hospital, hay, the whole town is talking about it! What happened?"

Fluttershy looked down and Twilight Sparkle stepped in. "We were in the Everfree Forest last night, Fluttershy said she needed our help to calm some... 'unique creatures' as she put it."

"Unique!?" Rainbow Dash called out. "They were giant spiders! Emphasis on giant!"

The pegasus was nudged rather hard by Applejack, who glared and glanced at Fluttershy who looked like she was about to break down.

"I'm sorry..." She muttered. "I was worried you wouldn't want to help if I told you what they were... they are, after all, intimidating creatures..."

"Not want to?" Twilight asked, confused. "Fluttershy, there's very little I wouldn't give to see a Gigas Spider! They're so rare!"

"What happened?" Ditzy asked and Dash snorted.

"We were ambushed by several of those things, one managed to get Fluttershy pretty badly, hence why she's here. They had us surrounded pretty quickly..."

Then Pinkie Pie jumped up. "Ooh! Ooh! But then this guy showed up and totally saved our flanks!"

Rarity groaned. "Pinkie, for the last time, that wasn't a stallion. Didn't you hear her voice?"

Pinkie gave the white unicorn a disbelieving stare. "What? Have you seen how bulky that armour was? No, it was a stallion, had to be..."

Ditzy's left eye twitched, for some reason, being thought of as a guy in her suit really irked her, but she feigned surprise. "Somepony saved you? Who was it?"

"We don't know," Twilight answered, shaking her head, "and I didn't recognized the armour she-

"He!" Pinkie shouted.

"-that she wore. It was very strange but very powerful, I could tell. There was some sort of cannon at the end of her right forehoof that she used to fire something at the spiders. She held them off while we got Fluttershy out of the Forest."

"Oh wow..." Ditzy said, looking amazed. "Are those things normal in the Everfree?"

Twilight shrugged. "I never knew there were any in the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy nodded. "They only come out in the winter months, but even then they're not very active, they're shy and timid creatures that are easily frightened."

Rainbow scoffed, so did Ditzy but inwardly. Those things? Shy? Gimme a break they would've ripped me apart if I didn't have my suit on.

"But something disturbed their home and scared, they were running wild out there."

Twilight nodded. "Gigas Spiders have a huge impact on whatever ecosystem they inhabit, that's probably why they're so timid." Her eyes suddenly widened. "Oh my gosh! They're still out their, rampaging across the forest!"

Fluttershy gasped. "Oh no! The whole forest will be covered in webs by now!"

But Ditzy and Dash shook their heads. "I didn't see any webs this morning." The wall-eyed pegasus said,

"Yeah," Dash said. "I did flyby this morning over it, there was no webbing whatsoever."

"Well, what if the spiders are still out there?" Twilight asked, but Fluttershy shook her head.

"If the webbing isn't there, then they must've gone back to their nest, which means whatever scared them is gone."

All the mares visibly relaxed, but Applejack stared out the window.

"Something on your mind, Applejack?" Ditzy asked.

"Something's wrong..." She muttered. "Ah don't get it, what could'a scared those critters and then suddenly calm 'em? And who in the hay was that pony who saved us?"

"Yeah, that's bothering me too..." Rainbow said, Twilight nodded.

"I've never seen a suit like that before, and I highly doubt there's anything in the library that could tell me about it."

"You know what ah think?" The cowpony turned to face her friends and Ditzy, who stared at her. "Ah think that pony had somethin' to do with scaring those spiders."

"What?" Rarity, Pinkie, and Ditzy all said simultaneously.

"Think about it, girls..." She continued. "Somethin' mysteriously spooks the spiders, and a strange pony in even stranger armour comes in at the same time, ah don't think that's coincidence."

Dash nodded. "That pony just gave me bad feelings all around..."

"And a lot of strange things happened that day... Ah mean, the manticore that came to Fluttershy's with that mysterious burn, something fallin' from the sky and making a huge boom... Ah can't quite explain it, but something's up and that pony has something to do with it all."

"Something fell from the sky?" Ditzy asked, she didn't recall anything falling or making a boom, the other six ponies nodded.

"Not to mention a star being extra bright on one night a few days back." Twilight commented. "But I think that's just an isolated event, I sent a message to the Princess, but she said she had everything under control."

"And then, mah big brother Macintosh said he saw strange lights and flashes in the storm that appeared over the Everfree last night, and he swears he heard screams."

Twilight shook her head. "There's been too many strange things happening last night to be coincidences, I say we take a look around the forest later today, are any of girls in?"

Rainbow and Applejack nodded eagerly, but Pinkie and Rarity and Fluttershy shook their heads.

"I've got to prepare the party for when Fluttershy gets better!"

"I've fallen behind on some of my orders for the boutique and I've got to catch up."

Twilight nodded, then looked at Ditzy. "What about you Derp-I mean- Ditzy..."

The wall-eyed pegasus blinked. "Wah? You want me to come?"

"Sure, it'd be great to have you."

"Yeah!" Dash said. "With your eyes, you might see something we don't."

"Rainbow!" AJ warned.

"What? She's not offended or anything..."

Ditzy shook her head. "Thanks, and I'd love to but Dinky... injured her head last night and I've got to keep an eye on her."

"Oh? Is she okay?" The lavender unicorn asked, concerned.

"She's fine, but I'd like to keep her close by, it was pretty scary when it happened."

"That must be why you look so tired." The cowpony commented.

"Huh? I look tired?"

"You look like you hadn't slept at all, Ditzy."

"Oh... Well, uh, yeah, that was why actually, but I kept my little muffin safe and sound."

"All those strange noises from the forest probably didn't help, either... Ah hope yer daughter gets better soon."

Ditzy smiled. "Thanks Applejack, she'll be fine, it's Fluttershy I'm really worried about."

Fluttershy smiled slightly. "Oh, I'll be just fine after a few days, you really don't have to worry about me."

"Heh, well, I brought you muffins to make your stay here a little easier. Let me tell you, I've tried some of the hospital's food before and it is not at all pleasant." She shuddered briefly and placed the box on the table next to Fluttershy's bed. She turned and noticed Twilight in thought and looking at her strangely.

"Hey, Ditzy? You wouldn't happen to know anything about last night, would you?"

Ditzy stared at Twilight, giving her a confused expression, along with the other 5 mares looking at the unicorn confused, while her mind panicked. "What do you mean, Twilight?"

She looked at Ditzy as if trying to figure out a puzzle, before shaking her head. "Nevermind, forget I said anything."

She then turned to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. "Come on, girls, let's go to the Everfree and see if we can find anything."

The two nodded and made their goodbyes before leaving the room, with Ditzy leaving through the window, not wanting to remain with them for much longer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nathaniel Caster ran a hoof through his mane as he looked at Celestia, who didn't seem happy and Luna who glared at him suspiciously. He had spent the last half hour explaining what had happened above involving the Space Pirate ship. But he was thankful that they didn't seem aware of his incursion to their planet last night.

"These Space Pirates..." Luna began. "What do they want?"

"Whatever makes them more powerful..." Nathaniel answered. "They will go to any lengths to achieve absolute domination of the galaxy."

Celestia nodded. "Well, it seems you acted how you should have. I can't quite stop you in matters that involve your dimension and only your dimension."

"Is there any chance more will come through?" The night princess asked.

Nathaniel hesitated. "It's... possible more will come through, I can't say for sure, it could've just been that one ship got too close or it could've been a scout of a much larger army... Maybe the area on the other side of the Tear is still under friendly control, I really can't say."

Luna sighed, and glanced a strip of cloth wrapped around Celestia’s leg. “Sister, what is that?”

“Hm? Oh...” Celestia looked down at the cloth. “It’s nothing, your medical doctor, Captain, wanted to take a sample of my blood in case there was any anomalies that could harm the rest of the crew.”

Nathaniel raised his eyebrows, once again, Zeb was working behind his back, apparently. Luna gave Celestia a look that she knew translated as are you crazy!? Celestia rolled her eyes and gave her a quick glare. Her sister relented, but she knew they weren’t done discussing this issue.

“I see...” Nathaniel said. “Well, is there anything else you would like to discuss with me?”

“There is one other thing...” Luna said, slowly turning back to the Captain. “After much deliberation, my sister and I have decided to allow you to have one shuttle to gather plant samples at the time and location of our discretion.”

Nathaniel smiled gratefully and saluted slowly. “Thank you... this will very much help our scientific research of this place.”

Luna nodded, before turning around. Taking the hint that it was time to go, Celestia followed her younger, but only after she said goodbye to the Captain. The walk through the hall to the Hangar was tense as the two royal pony sisters walked next to each other.

“What were you thinking?” Luna bitterly asked in a whisper. “Giving them a blood sample!?”

“The Doctor’s reasoning made sense, Luna, and I’d rather we take actions to get everypony to trust one another. While I doubt there is anything in me that could unintentionally harm the crew, it doesn’t hurt to be safe.”

“How did he extract the blood?”

“He used a simple needle procedure, something that is commonly used in Equestria and, no, Luna there was nothing strange about it.”

Luna growled slightly. “I thought you had said you’d leave me to do the talking!?”

Celestia looked at her sister worriedly, she had seen this behaviour and attitude in her before, but not in a thousand years... “Luna? Are you alright?”

The night princess took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m sorry sister, I’m not sure what has gotten into me...”

“It’s alright, you’re probably just stressed, that’s all...” Yes, it’s just stress... not jealousy or bitterness... just stress... but I had told myself that before... before she had changed into... She shook her head, trying to chase away the terrifying thoughts. No! Nightmare Moon is gone and isn’t coming back! She was defeated for good by the Elements!

She looked at her sister again, who looked very uncomfortable.

“Is something wrong, Luna?”

“I’m not sure... It’s almost like there’s... something here... something dark... something sleeping...”

“Sleeping?”

Luna blinked, that was when Celestia realized her younger sister had been staring off like she was in another world. Her horn glowed a gold aura slightly as she tried to magically reach out and see if-

Darkness... Black swirling clouds everywhere as a dark shape moved slightly, it’s form tired and resting... suddenly, it felt the disturbance, and the shape formed into a sort of V-shaped visor that glowed a ghostly blue/white and stared into the core of Celestia...

Celestia gasped and pulled her magic away.

“Sister!? Tia!?” Luna rushed to Celestia’s sighed as she knelt, panting and wide-eyed. What she saw... so dark... so evil... so corrupt... it felt like Nightmare Moon but far, far worse... and she had seen a brief reflection of that visor when she stared Nightmare Moon down over a thousand years ago.

“There’s something on this ship...” Celestia said, panting, and struggling to get up. “We have to get off of this ship!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nathaniel jammed his hoof into the intercom after he made sure Celestia and Luna had left the ship, they seemed almost like they were rushing. He ignored the thoughts, he had bigger issues to worry about, like Doctor Zeb working around him again. The now human form of the doctor appeared on the screen. He looked at the Captain wide-eyed.

“Captain! I was just about to call you!”

“We need to talk, Zeb.” Nathaniel said, his voice brimming with authority. “You took a DNA of one of the princesses?”

“What? Oh yes, well, just a precautionary method, we should have done it the first time they came on here. Look, I know you’re upset about me commanding your troops and working against you, but it was for the greater good of the Confederation. But we can talk about it later!

“Listen, do you remember those probes I had asked for in gathering those strange particles a few days ago?”

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow. “Yes? What about them?"

"They've finished gathering them and I just had them scanned..." That was when Nathaniel noticed that Zeb was sweating and on the verge of hyper-ventilating, and he was looking off screen at the canister that held the dark blue and white particles, which floated around aimlessly. "Captain... these particles contain trace amounts of... Phazon."

It took a second for it to register in his brain, when it did, Nathaniel's eyes widened and he felt his face go pale. "T-that's not possible, all the phazon was destroyed in the Phazon Conflicts! By Samus, no less!"

"I know Captain!" Zeb replied, not noticing that the particles flashed at the name. "But I double, triple-checked the scans! There's no doubt, but these particles contain Phazon..."

Nathaniel placed his hoof on his chin, trying to think. "Phaaze was nowhere near the Belasi Tear... how could particles with small bits of Phazon managed to get to here?"

"It may be possible a Leviathan seed survived the conflict and fell here."

But Nathaniel shook his head. "I don't think so, we'd know, a Leviathan seed isn't exactly hard to spot, and if it were anywhere on the planet, we'd know..."

"Would we, sir?"

Nathaniel didn't answer and they were both silent for a moment, before Zeb cleared his throat.

"Do you think Samus should be warned?" Again, the particles flashed at the mention of the name and Zeb did not notice.

"No..." Nathaniel replied without a second's hesitation. "We've already caused her enough problems as it is... I think we should just leave her and her family be on the planet."

"Alright, I'll- What in the name of-!?" Zeb stared wide-eyed as the particles inside the canister began spinning and spinning as a glowing white orb appeared in the centre.

"Doctor Zeb!?" Nathaniel's voice shouted through the comm. "What's going on over there!?"

"Oh my god..." Zeb merely said, his voice suddenly quiet as he saw a shape take form as the particles flew together, merging with the orb. Suddenly, black clouds burst from the canister, shattering it and sending the Doctor to the ground and shrouding the entire room in black mist.

"Zeb! What is happening!?" The Captain shouted. "I've lost sight of you!"

Zeb coughed and looked around, and saw a glowing outline of a humanoid forming where the canister once was. Zeb could see a left hand form, it's fingers slowly clenching into a fist as if they hadn't moved in a long, long time. From what he could tell, the right arm ended in a cannon, similar to the one Samus had. Zeb was suddenly flashed with a disturbing image he saw in the archives.

"No, it can't be..." He muttered as a white V-shaped visor flashed where its face would be, it stood, staring down at Zeb, somehow seeing perfectly in the dark mist. "Oh my god, it is..."

Suddenly the humanoid twitched and a dark, twisted scream was heard as it changed.

"Zeb!? What is happening!? Answer me!" Nathaniel's voice kicked Zeb out of his stupor.

"Captain! Warn Samus!" The Doctor shouted a glow suddenly appeared from the cannon. "Warn her-" he never finished as a large blast suddenly vaporized him and blew a large hole in the ship.

The whole ship shook as an explosion rocked it, Nathaniel nearly lost his balance as the screen to the lab suddenly caught static and he lost contact with Doctor Zeb.

"Hull breach in the Medical Lab!" A bridge officer called out. "Sealing all nearby sections!"

Nathaniel blinked, suddenly realizing that Zeb was now gone. "What the hell happened!?"

"Looked like some sort of explosion from within sir, I can't-"

"Sir!" Another crewman called out. "Look outside, sir!"

Nathaniel looked and his face paled even further. A pegasus in pitch black armour with a suit disturbingly similar to Samus' but far more intimidating, with black wings looking like they were made of dark clouds, and a terrifying white glowing visor adorning her helmet, flew by, stopping to see the whole bridge staring at her. The pegasus suddenly spread its wings out, far wider then should be possible for a normal pegasus, and briefly glowed in Phazon energy, a twisted, maniacal shouting into everyone's head, causing them to shake where they stood. Then, she flew up, a trail of two dark blue strings following her as she flew over the Fallen Star and towards the planet.

"Track her!" Nathaniel called out, stirring the crew into action. "TRACK HER NOW! WHERE IS SHE HEADING!?"

Nathaniel deep down in his terrified heart knew the answer, but he had to be sure.

"Sir! She heading to Samus' location!"

"Get her on the line now and tell her Dark Samus is alive and heading straight for her!"