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.
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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....”
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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.
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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?