By: Hyze
As expected, she was early.
Not that it was anyone else’s fault that she found herself alone in the barren Throne Room at this hour of the morning—local, ‘adapted’ time according to her console was about five in the morning. Her mind was running competitively through her head, and what sleep she was able to get was a rather uneventful, dreamless catnap. A sleep that merely served to recharge her physically, rather than mentally.
That same, sullen morale and mental fatigue still plagued her, bringing a tiredness that no sleep could really cure. As such, she became an early riser out of reluctance.
But as she leaned up against the adjacent wall of the doorframe she entered through, the silence let her thoughts roam to more personal ones. Mainly of how this whole thing never seemed to end.
Samus let her back slide down the smooth, crystal door frame as she let her legs buckle and fold underneath her. Sitting down in a lotus position, she further rested her eyes a bit while her mind drifted. The first thought was a regular in the tavern of her daydreams. Namely, why Gray Voice and Old Bird felt that she was completely ready to just… take on the entire galaxy on her own.
She had plenty of successes. Major ones… which got all the attention. But what often killed her sense of worth and let the self-doubt spring up were the lesser-known defeats: The civilians she never got to save; the Pirates getting away; arriving to a catastrophe just too late to stop the worst of it.
Combined with the ever-present assault on her mind from the unfathomable horrors she had witnessed in her short career… Samus sometimes felt she was barely hanging on. That her fight was truly never-ending. That it was for nothing appreciable in the end. Surely if she was making a difference, things would visibly have gotten better in the galaxy at large, right?
Because everything seemed to just get worse and worse… with every mission more daunting, with ever higher stakes.
Would there really be an end to this? Would this galaxy truly know peace?
Little by little, after each mission, Samus questioned just exactly what she was fighting for.
Hell, she didn’t even get to keep any of the tech that she borrowed from the Luminoth. A few of those upgrades definitely would make this mission that much easier.
She could feel her thoughts meandering in a couple different directions at the same time, using her low morale as a figurative springboard to further stew in her self-doubt. Thankfully, things were prevented from getting too bad when Samus could hear some steps from the other end of the room, just behind the double-door entrance.
Guess it’s time.
Samus rose from her lotus position and got to her feet right when the aforementioned double doors were quietly opened. Wiping her hands, Samus approached from the other side of the blank canvas of the Friendship Map as Twilight and Spike strode towards her. She could see that they certainly had a lot more pep in their steps that she didn’t remember from yesterday.
And those were certainly hopeful, confident smiles.
Twilight giddily greeted the gallant girl with a rather beaming smile, followed by Spike who was a bit more level-headed in his salutations.
“Gooooood mooooorning, Samus! You’re up early!”
“Good morning, Samus.”
Samus huffed, smirking as she gave a somewhat placid wave.
“Good morning, you two. And yeah… woke up earlier and just couldn’t go back to sleep. The bed was super comfy though, so thank you!”
“Of course!” said Twilight, smiling warmly. “Again, it’s the absolute least we can do.”
“Now,” she began anew, getting right to the order of the day. “Before we have some breakfast and head out to get a power crystal… there’s one thing I wanted to test.”
Samus nodded once.
“Right… as you said I wouldn’t really know exactly what I was looking for… or something to that effect because… magic,” she reiterated the talking point as best she could.
To a normal person, it would likely sound ludicrous and an excuse to cover something up, but in Samus’ experience, such words used in a sentence constituted something extremely believable.
Again, she had seen weirder things in her travels.
“Exactly! Now, you said your armor can adapt to foreign technologies. I have an overarching idea of how this can all work, but first I need to test your adaptability with a simple spell,” said Twilight…
...and promptly followed up by the unicorn charging her horn.
“So, this won’t take long. Would you mind equipping your armorsuit?”
As Samus witnessed her magical appendage light up a bright magenta color, a reflexive uneasiness briefly took over. She managed to rein that in, and then nodded as she flipped that mental switch in her head. In a bright, golden flash of her own, she felt her entire body enveloped in her Varia Suit once more… and she now viewed the world from the eyes of her visor.
She lay a hand atop her cannon passively.
“Okay. I don’t think I need to fully ask ‘please be careful,’ but…”
Twilight smiled knowingly.
“Definitely—which is why I’m choosing this particular spell in the first place. It’s completely benign, so it’ll either have the intended effect, or it’ll just dissipate and have no effect at all. So, without further ado…”
Samus braced herself… not that she was expecting anything cataclysmic to happen, but she understandably got a bit nervous whenever new tech would be introduced to her Suit. It was the same way when she picked up those first Unknown Items, and it was just like when she happened upon the Energy Transfer Module back on Aether.
This would be little different.
Should be little different.
Twilight’s horn brightened even more before Samus felt herself being enveloped in magic once more. This time, there was an air of calm and caring as the semi-transparent, magenta field warped around her and cradled her like a blanket. Even more than that, without the sounds of battle overloading her senses, she could hear a distinct, ‘energetic twinkling’ as the field held some sort of charge. After a couple seconds of maintaining no coherent shape, it suddenly all coalesced into her helmet before it vanished from existence.
Her Varia Suit’s reaction was immediate, and Samus put two fingers to the side of her helmet.
[New Data detected. Protocol: Unknown]
[Running security scan…]
[No security threats detected. Initiating Data Transfer…]
[Data Transfer successful! Translator Update Identified]
[Installing…]
[Applying…]
[Optimizing…]
[Translator Module Updated!]
[Equestrian written text can now be fully translated and recorded to your logbook.]
Sweet.
“Looks like it works!” Samus commented, dismissing all the notifications. She then smirked under her visor, and gave Twilight a thumbs-up.
“Thanks for the translator update.”
Twilight was certainly intrigued.
“Huh… so that’s how the spell manifests on you? That. Is. So. Cool!” she beamed. “And of course! You should be able to read everything that’s Pony-written now without any issues. This’ll really help when we’re out and about.”
Twilight’s particular use of a word piqued Samus’ interest.
“When we’re out and about?” she inquired.
That’s when Twilight truly started bouncing on the tips of her hooves. Her eyes went wide with excitement as to what was—apparently—to come next. And based solely on that childish glee, Samus wasn’t sure whether or not she should be concerned as to what the ultimate plan was.
Twilight glanced at Spike for a moment, before clearing her throat to explain fully:
“So, the spell that I just cast on you shows that your suit—and I guess to some lesser extent, you—can handle magic. That means that you should be able to fully intake an Element of Harmony, even if it’s not bound to you!” she put forth.
Samus blinked a couple times from behind her visor.
“I’m not sure I fully understand… wanna run that by me again?” she asked.
“The Element is literally my anchor. In essence, I’m one with the Element of Magic, acting a two-way pseudo isomorphic projection in this weird limbo I’m in. So if your suit can work with the Element, then that means I can effectively come with you, while my magical essence is masked through your own aura!”
I… know some of those words.
“I… okay look, the Chozo kinda prioritized my warrior training so I’m definitely not as educated as you—especially in terms of this whole ‘magic’ thing,” Samus admitted.
“So what I’m hearing, is that I’ll be able to somehow integrate you into my suit in a way that you’ll be able to come with me. But in such a way that we won’t get assaulted nonstop by Tempest’s Storm Beasts because your magical signature is masked through me. That sounds about right?” she asked.
Twilight blushed as she giggled all sheepishly.
“Y-Yeah… more or less. Unless we stumble across them. They’ll attack anything that’s not their own.”
Samus shrugged.
“If this is really the only way forward, then I don’t have a problem with it—this absorption won’t kill me, right?” she thought to ask.
Extra clarification and assurances weren’t always a bad thing when it came to new technology, after all.
Twilight shook her head.
“Not at all. In fact, if for whatever reason the intake doesn’t work, the Element—and myself—will just pass harmlessly through you without incident…”
She then glanced elsewhere with a hoof to her chin.
“At least… I think,” she added.
Samus had to stifle a proper giggle at that one.
“Heh, right. Well at least you’re honest. And if I’m being honest, I’ve lived… a life. Screw it, let’s get this over with and see how it turns out,” she said, bracing herself anew.
Twilight nodded, smiling widely and turning to Spike.
“Okay then! Spike? You got the Element?”
The drake pulled a small box from behind him—Samus likened it to a simple, brown, wooden jewelry box. She didn’t know if he had it with him this entire time, but what she was certain of was the rather stoic, uneasy look on his face.
And then he opened it and revealed the smooth, lavender, crystalline six-pointed star that glinted in the natural light—what Samus ostensibly figured was the Element. Twilight now seemed to pick up on his body language, too.
“Spike… is everything okay?” she asked.
Samus watched as the dragon refused to look at anyone in the room while he was clearly contending with some internal deliberation and crisis. After a few moments of silence though, he closed his eyes, sighed out, and locked his gaze right through her visor.
“Samus…” he began, taking easy steps with the Element securely in his grasp.
“Twilight’s only here because a freak of magical nature… and this Element right here. If anything happens to it… she’s gone for good. And there’s nothing we’d ever be able to do to bring her back.”
Now standing in front of her, Spike’s expression hardened with resolve, yet that pleading, almost desperate look in his eyes remained.
“She’s all I have left. We can’t lose her. I can’t lose her!” he declared, and finally spared a glance over to his best friend in the world.
She only stared back in stunned reverence, just listening to him.
“Before I hand her to you… I need your word: will you protect and safeguard her with your life, as I have?”
Twilight cut in before Samus was able to even say anything:
“Spike…”
He shot his gaze to her and added softly before turning back to the Hunter:
“I need to hear her say it!”
Samus in no way could blame him for what he had asked. It was a simple request, really… but she knew how much it would mean to him. He was putting a lot of likely reluctant trust in her—no one had any choice in the matter if they wanted anything to get better.
She understood, and nodded.
“I promise, Spike, that nothing will happen to her without going through me, first.”
Seemingly satisfied, Spike glanced at Twilight again and nodded once, presenting the Element of Magic in its warren directly to Samus.
“Alright. Thank you, Samus.”
It was the Hunter’s turn to glance at the alicorn, who gladly began relaying instructions:
“Okay, carefully take the element and hold it in your hand. When you’re ready, I’ll start the spell.”
Tentatively, Samus reached forward, hanging her hand in mid-air as if she was anticipating any resistance from the duo. Like any artifact that she had encountered in her travels, whether it be Chozo, Luminoth, or whatever else, the way it glowed in the ambient light through her visor seemed to call to her.
Samus never understood what this feeling was. She was never able to properly explain it, but she always silently thanked it whenever she needed guidance on her missions.
She glanced up at Spike through her visor as her armored fingers were mere millimeters from the crystalline Element… and then she ultimately touched it. She gripped it firmly—but not too firmly, judging its structural integrity—just enough to have a secure hold on it.
Spike spoke up once more:
“Do you have her?”
She nodded.
“Please, say it.”
“I have her.”
He nodded once, and as Samus pulled the Element of Magic away from its container, Spike closed the box and watched the some-way ceremonial spectacle. Samus held the six-pointed star up to her visor, examining its seemingly perfect creation in front of her. She couldn’t detect any flaw from age nor wear… despite all she had been told about the magnitude of power Elements like these wielded.
Even more than that, as she held the back of the pendant to her palm… she again couldn’t place the feeling, but she could feel the aforementioned power radiating off of it. There was no field around it that she could detect, but something about it lent her both a comforting, and foreboding, sense of warmth.
Twilight cut in again, lighting her horn.
“Alright… let’s do this…” she said, and then closed her eyes as she brought her full power and concentration to bear.
The intensity that her horn brightly shone seemed to amp up accordingly. Samus kept here eyes glued to Twilight as her horn became a miniature sun, shrouding the room in a once-lavender glow that became pure white. And as the exposure of the rest of the room became less and less visible, Samus focused all her attention to the Element she had in her hand. Slowly, its corporeal form seemed to wither away.
Pink particles no bigger than specks of dust were carried away on a seemingly invisible wind… a wind that ebbed and flowed in a spiral helix up Samus’ arm. As the rest of the Element faded away with the particles, Samus found her entire armored body covered in some pseudo crystalline dust storm. The ambient sounds of her surroundings were supplanted by the gradually intensifying electric whining of whatever spell Twilight was casting.
And then she felt the surge.
Like the many, many power-ups and suit upgrades she collected over her journeys, Samus felt a sudden surge of energy through her. What was interesting and different about this one in particular, is that she could feel that sudden excitation in the deepest recesses of her mind.
And she could’ve sworn that she saw the reflection of her eyes—glowing—against the inside of her visor.
Suddenly, it ended… and there were no more residual, magical specks remaining. The Element of Magic that had once lay shining and shimmering in her open, armored palm now ceased to exist. Samus confirmed this when she curled her hand into a fist, and nothing prevented her from doing so in the slightest.
The Element was gone. And she had a pretty good idea where it was. Considering Spike only showed a morbid curiosity to the after-effects, rather than looking horrified, it appeared that the spell might’ve just gone well enough.
Samus turned back to Twilight… who was no longer standing in the place that she was before. A quick, wordless glance around the room and behind her confirmed the fact that the lavender unicorn was now missing.
However, the Hunter didn’t have much time to dwell on that, as her system began responding to the spell:
[Unknown Item Acquired!]
[Running security scan…]
[No security threats detected.]
[Aetheric force “Magic” detected. Varia Suit compatibility confirmed.]
[Analyzing…]
Twilight’s voice suddenly cut in—as if she was standing right next to her and speaking normally and clearly—while Samus watched the stream of info scrolling up her visor, breaking her concentration.
“Maybe this’ll help…”
[Element of Harmony Acquired!]
[This is the Element of Magic. The first of six. Each Element—a tenet of Friendship—brings with it a bonus to you. Gather all six Elements to unlock the Harmony within.]
Samus dismissed the somewhat cryptic notification as Spike spoke up.
“So… did it work?”
From what was shown to her after the rather dazzling display, and an odd dissociation of Twilight’s voice from her lack of physical presence… Samus wasn’t so sure what could be classified as ‘success.’
“Uhhh… I think so?”
In a small, sudden, spiraling display of lavender light, Twilight re-materialized where she once was with a beaming smile.
“YES! IT WORKED!” she cried out, bouncing high off her hooves and splaying them out midair in the finest exuberance Samus had witnessed from her yet.
Samus was about to reply, but then she noticed something at the bottom of the fringes of her vision through her visor when giving herself a look-over: sitting right atop her breastplate was a golden necklace-like piece of metal that seemed magnetically woven to her armor, which held the Element of Magic right at its apex.
“Huh… Interesting.”
“And congratulations! You’re now a proud bearer of the Element of Magic!” Twilight added…
…and then promptly, sheepishly amended:
“…actually more like ‘borrowing’ it but… semantics!” she punctuated with clapping her front hooves together.
Samus shared a look with Spike, who—despite not having a face shrouded by a visor—returned a similar glance of unknowing, but intense curiosity at the alicorn’s display.
“Right… so, I have some guesses, but my systems didn’t really tell me much. Wanna fill me in on what the changes are?” she asked.
And Twilight was all the happier to answer:
“Of course! So… the Element has been bound to you temporarily via the use of the spell I just cast. Its magic and subsequent signature now run through you—and your own personal aura. Which means that since I’m bound to the Element to even exist, I can now come with you completely undetectable to Tempest by traditional means. My aura is masked by yours, and runs through you concurrently!
“And don’t worry, you can take off the Element at any time with a little finagling.”
Samus cocked her head.
“Is that how I was able to hear you literally in my ears as clear as day without you being physically in front of me?”
Twilight perked up even more and nodded.
“So you did hear that! But yeah! I’ll demonstrate again!”
Twilight put forth her right hoof.
“I can exit you at any time, but I can’t ‘come back in’ without your permission. This permission is granted when you meet my hoof with your hand and ‘mentally’ allow me in.”
After a second of contemplation, Samus kneeled a little lower and opened her hand to Twilight’s hoof. She could feel the alicorn place her appendage in her palm, and after ‘okaying’ the connection, the alicorn’s corporeal form vaporized in a magical steam right in front of Samus’ eyes.
She watched as the dust-like particles all found their way back to the Element adorned on her chest, coruscating through the air all the while. After a couple seconds of silence, Samus knew what she meant when Twilight began speaking as if she was speaking all around her—but directly at her.
Like she was inside her head.
“Testing… can you hear me?”
Samus glanced around her, as if Twilight was gonna magically appear somewhere to explain the phantom voice. But again, she was nowhere to be found.
“Loud and clear. So… with me having the Element, it’s like you’re sorta in my mind? Beyond that, I’m not sure how I feel about having you directly in my systems, too… technically,” she voiced.
Spike—amusingly—seemed completely left in the dark since Samus looked like she was having a conversation directly with herself.
Twilight giggled.
“While you wear the Element, I can access anywhere that your own aura runs through, which includes your armor systems and your head… somewhat. If you’re wondering if I can read your thoughts? I can’t… well, not really at least.”
“Y’know… I’m less concerned about you reading my deepest thoughts as opposed to you having access to all my systems… of which you know how none of them work. I assure you, my thoughts are a lot less interesting.”
“Hmmmm…” said Twilight. “Maybe for now, but that doesn’t mean it’s not exciting! I mean… I know you can’t see this, but whoever put your armor system together is an artist! It’s so… beautifully put together in how everything works! How your energy just flows through it! How the machine melds with the organic components. And how… organized it all is!”
Samus cocked an eyebrow under her visor.
“...what are you doing?”
Her reply came with an air of mischief to it.
“Getting a feel for this sensation that’s new for the both of us…”
Samus stood straight, glancing her eyes up as if she would somehow see Twilight winding her up somewhere.
“I swear to god I’ll yank you if you touch anything…”
“Don’t worry! I’m not gonna mess with this natural order here! I’m just trying to see what my limitations are… now… what if I do this…”
Samus didn’t have time to react when her visor suddenly began rapidly switching back and forth from Combat to Scan. She also watched as the barrel of her cannon opened and closed so erratically that she thought it was gonna break. Stunned and horrified at the sudden onset of nonsense on her HUD and Suit, Samus staggered in place at the visual overload and held her hand to the side of her visor.
“FUCKING! STOP IT! GODDAMNIT TWILIGHT!”
“Huh, so that’s what those do…”
“TWILIGHT!”
Samus’ map began opening and closing upon its own volition, and she placed her hand on the ‘embedded’ Element on her chest. Spike’s jaw was slackened and his eyebrow was cocked so massively that it looked like half his face was going to be sent to the stratosphere.
The unicorn seemed to get the message immediately.
“Okay okay! I’m sorry… I’m done. I promise…”
Once Samus confirmed that nothing else was happening to her systems, and everything was functioning as normal, she let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Calming herself down a bit—especially concerning her lifeblood equipment she relied on—she shook her head and huffed sarcastically.
“‘No security threats detected’ my ass… should’ve known my Suit’s anti-virus was shit.”
“Hey! Did you just call me a virus??”
“Look… can you please just not fiddle with shit while we’re in this predicament?”
Samus got serious again.
“My Varia Suit is the only thing that’s gonna give us a fighting chance right now in a lot of situations. I can’t help you without it… which is why I can’t afford to have you accidentally ‘touch’ something in the middle of a goddamn firefight and get us killed. I’d reject this outright if we had any other options, but clearly we don’t.
“So… I’m asking nicely. Please don’t touch anything. Okay?”
The silence lasted for another couple seconds before Samus heard a sigh.
“Okay, Samus. I’m sorry… b-but what if I can help? Can I at least ask, first?”
“Yes to the last question… though now you’ve got me a bit curious as to your first question considering this demonstration you pulled,” said Samus.
“Remember how your Suit wasn’t registering the Element at first? I was able to kinda… ‘nudge it in place,’ in a manner of speaking,” the invisible alicorn replied.
Samus glanced off to the side in thought, staring off into the void as she considered those words.
“Hmmm… can you actually ‘see’ out my visor as well?”
“Mhmm! It’s not exactly like looking through your eyes or my eyes, but rather through the eyes of your systems… which includes your visor. Based on this, it looks like I can also mark points on your map, and I can point things out directly,” Twilight explained.
“Huh… show me.”
“Okay, how about… this.”
Right as Twilight said her final word, Samus heard the tiniest electronic ping in her ear. And as that registered, Samus immediately noticed a circular point being suddenly highlighted right on Spike’s chest via her visor. Almost like if someone was literally touching her visor to show her what they were seeing.
Samus nodded, impressed.
“Alright… I’ll admit, that’s pretty cool. So you’re kinda like a Support AI of sorts… You seem the observant and detail-oriented type. So, fine. If you see something important that you know, or that you think I might’ve missed, ping it on my visor. Just don’t spam it unless we’re literally about to be killed if I don’t act.”
Spike finally voiced, shrugging:
“I have no idea what’s going on… but since you stopped screaming I’m gonna assume it’s pretty good?”
“Definitely,” Samus confirmed. “Just… working out some of the kinks in our new setup here. Again, I’d rather this not be the case, but we don’t have any other options to protect Twilight adequately.”
Twilight ‘slithered’ her way out of Samus’ chest plate via the Element and rematerialized physically.
“Agreed. Besides—I kinda prefer being somewhat useful anyway if you’re gonna ferry me around.”
She then turned back to Samus.
“And when we leave the castle, there’s a couple things that I see your system didn’t update you on yet. I think I need to ‘coax’ them into place again, but you bearing the Element of Magic gifts you a couple abilities that’ll be essential to our work,” she noted.
Now that piqued her interest.
“Alright. So… do we head out now, then?”
Twilight shared a knowing look with Spike, who nodded brightly.
“How about a quick breakfast, first?” she suggested.
Samus’ stomach growled a bit at that mention.
“Yeah… that might actually be a good idea. From what I had last night, beats an MRE, that’s for sure.”
And with those words, Samus unequipped her suit with the usual flair, though rather than just her being left in her Zero Suit, there was a distinctly new addition to her body. One that was in the form of a rather opulent-looking golden necklace chain that seemed to fit her just perfectly. Right at its front–just resting atop her chest–was the Element of Harmony just as it was, having survived the de-materialization of the suit demobilization process.
“Hm. Interesting...”
"You got everything you need?" asked Spike as he walked with Twilight and an un-armored Samus towards the main entrance of the castle.
The alicorn smiled.
“Yeah… I think so! I mean, there’s not much that I can really pack. I’m kinda just hitching a ride, as it were,” she said, giggling.
Though Samus had heard the question, she was a bit busy running some quick diagnostics on her systems to make sure all was functioning and in-order for the mission today. No ‘complaints’ were raised by any of her sensors, her missiles were at full capacity, her energy was fully charged, and for once everything looked to be in order.
And all without a sudden, inexplicable loss of the majority of her native abilities that she’d have to subsequently retrieve. Based on that current standpoint alone, Samus could tabulate a couple wins compared to other missions.
“I’m all set here. Thanks again for the food, Spike,” she said, right as the trio arrived in front of the hulking doors of the main castle entrance.
Samus had one more thing to say to Spike:
“By the way, I moved a bit of equipment in from my ship into the map room. There’s a communications node in there that’s connected to my systems. You don’t need to worry about how it works, but if you want to monitor our progress, there’s a big blue button there that you can press that’ll hail me.
“But I’ll also let you know via that channel that we got what we need and when we’re headed back. Beyond that, you can let us know if anything… weird comes up back here. Use it wisely,” she cautioned.
Spike smirked, then nodded.
“You got it. I’ll probably hang out in the area then—just in case. How long do you think you’ll be out?” he asked.
Samus looked to Twilight for that answer, and the alicorn was more than happy to speculate to that:
“Well, assuming we don’t run into any trouble out there—and that’s kind of a ‘big if’ these days—I’d say it’s about a two hour trek through the Everfree to the Castle of the Two Sisters. Maybe an hour or so to search for a crystal… then two hours back?” she said whilst looking back up to Samus for confirmation.
To which the Hunter just shrugged.
“Hey, you know the area and planet better than I ever could. Don’t look at me!” she quipped.
Though she did have one thing to add:
“But that seems like a ‘fine day out.’ Though I’d recommend that we don’t take our time with this. The less time we take wandering, the less chance we’ll run into any major trouble,” she said.
Twilight nodded.
“Agreed.”
Spike seemed more than satisfied with the answers from both of them.
“Sounds good to me…” he began, though he, of course, added one last stipulation:
“...but please be careful, as always. I trust you know where you’re going, and I trust Samus knows how to defend herself and you… but still… get back here in one piece, alright?”
Twilight’s warm smile returned, and she got up on her hind legs to nuzzle the drake just as warmly.
“You know we will, Spike. Samus’ll communicate back when we’re heading back,” she said.
And then looked back up at Samus.
“Alright, I’m all set!”
Samus nodded curtly, and gave the smallest, lopsided smirk.
“You got it. Let’s go,” she said, and presented her open hand.
A simple gesture that was somehow starting to have a lot more significance and weight for the two of them, and one which Twilight reciprocated with an equally determined face as she lay her right hoof in Samus’ hand. After the briefest moments, Twilight fizzled out of her corporeal form, and the ‘magical dust’ that remained all coalesced over Samus’ form, centering around the Element of Magic.
And from there, the Hunter re-equipped her Suit, preparing for the day’s events. She spoke out to Twilight:
“Can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear! Let’s go!”
Samus turned to Spike and gave a thumbs up.
“Alright, we’re all set and heading out. See you soon,” she said.
“Sounds good! Let me get the door for you,” Spike said, stepping forward and undoing the extensive bolting locks and other various, magical security mechanisms.
Mechanisms that in no way looked like they were added when the castle was built. Those were definitely created after the fact. Her thoughts on the matter were waved away when Spike finally got the left side of the double-door inward, letting the cool, rain-caked air of the heavily overcast day blow inward.
Spike then returned the thumbs-up that Samus had given him just a moment earlier.
“First mission, Samus. Get the power crystal and we’ll install it right away when you get back. Then we should know where everyone else is… if they’re alive. Good luck, you two!”
Samus gave him a firm pat on his shoulder as she walked past him and through the threshold of the now-open front entrance.
“Thanks. We’ll report in soon. I’ll contact you first on the comm when we’re back here. If anyone else knocks or calls out for you without that… it ain’t us.”
Spike nodded.
“Understood. I’ll look forward to it,” he said.
And with a final nod exchanged between the both of them, Spike sealed the door closed once more, leaving Samus out in the rainy day as the precipitation bathed her suit once more.
Holding her cannon at the low ready and idly flexing her fingers of her armored, left hand, she just… listened to her surroundings. Only the sound of the falling rain and the occasional, distant boom of a thunderclap interrupted the natural ambience. Her motion tracker only displayed one blip: that of Spike from just inside the castle entrance… before it faded off of the range of her systems. Nothing else stirred in the immediate area around her.
Just as planned. And just as she hoped it would stay.
But as Samus continued to just listen and breathe for a few extra moments, Twilight cut into her thoughts with a soft voice:
“Okay. Let’s get going. Start heading in this direction,” she said, and promptly highlighted an area of the overgrown Everfree Forest entrance just to the west.
Samus spared a couple-second look at where Twilight had indicated, studying the entrance into the dark, foreboding forest that apparently was ‘full of magic and wonder,’ per her own paraphrased version of Twilight’s words from yesterday. Steeling herself anew, she began an easy power walk in that direction.
“Alright. Something about a ‘Castle of Two Sisters,’ or whatever, right?” she asked.
“Mhmm!” Twilight replied. “Though I guess it’s sorta more of ‘what remains’ of the Castle of the Two Sisters. It’s been in a state of abandonment and disrepair since well before the catastrophe. Hell… it’s been that way for as long as I can remember. Probably at least a thousand years.
“There’s… a lot of history around it,” she mentioned.
“Sounds like it,” Samus replied as he reached the first bushes of the periphery of the Everfree forest.
She reached forward and ran her fingers through the first leaves of the bush, and gazed beyond into the depths of the lush abyss thereon. Right when she was about to just throw herself into the wilderness again, she remembered something that Twilight asked her to remind her of.
“By the way… before we go on, you said there were some other ‘abilities’ or something you wanted to ‘activate’ or whatever?”
“Oh, right!” she said. “One second…”
And after a few moments of silence, the Hunter’s Suit immediately reacted:
[Magicae Acquired!]
[Integration with the Element of Harmony has allowed the magical channels of Twilight Sparkle to flow freely through you. The result is proper sensitivity to magic and the magical realm. Certain magical abilities and spells are now open to you. Further abilities will build upon this foundational sensitivity.]
Samus was definitely interested in that, and she cocked an eyebrow.
“Huh… so based on this, this means I can use magic, right? Much like I’ve seen you and the Storm Beasts use?” she asked.
Twilight’s response was shorter than usual, as she was apparently still working on something on the back-end.
“Short answer, yes. Long answer: it’s complicated. Hold on… I just need to...”
[Oculi Magicis Visor Acquired!]
[Integration with the Element of Magic has opened up access to further magical abilities, one of them being ‘Oculi Magicis’–a unicorn and alicorn ability to ‘see’ through the magical realm. This ability manifests as the ‘Oculi Magicis’ visor, or the ‘OM’ Visor. The OM Visor can be used to peer into the magical realm and find objects and targets of magical significance.]
Again, Samus was impressed.
“Well… you’re definitely spoiling me today, Twilight. Wanna give me a quick rundown?” she asked.
“Absolutely!” Twilight exclaimed.
She then pinged the lower valley of Samus’ visor—once Samus focused, a new selection matrix suddenly appeared which looked identical to her beam and visor ones. It was fairly barren save for a single selection front and center: a sprite of the Element of Magic.
Her ‘teaching’ tone was front and center:
“So… congratulations! You can use magic now. I’m kinda massively downplaying how enormous this is, but there was really no way around it since you’re bearing the Element of Magic. ‘Selecting’ Magic in this matrix here will allow you to channel magical energy through me and perform spells and harness power as your ability and stamina allows. A lot of it is just practice with use cases, which I’ll walk you through when the opportunities present themselves.
“And before you ask, yes, when you ‘collect’ the other Elements when we find them, they’ll likely have their own set of abilities that manifest. You’ll be able to select ‘em in an identical manner.” she explained.
Samus pondered her words.
“Hmmm… I’m guessing that’s a long-winded way of saying ‘a whole new world was opened up to you so we’ll take it step-by-step,’ right?”
“Pretty much, yeah. Sorry I over-talk.”
“Nah, again: too much information when it concerns things like this is never a bad thing for me,” Samus replied. “But what about the OM Visor?”
“Right!” Twilight sprung right back into discourse:
“‘Oculi Magicis’ is a technique as old as the Alicorn societies that walked Equestria millennia ago. Those adept at magic, namely alicorns and unicorns, can see into a different dimension where magic manifests itself freely. This is super useful to locate and interact with magical artifacts, gauge one’s aptitude and power, bypass magical traps, and loads of other use cases,” she said.
She then pinged Samus’ visor-selection matrix, and in one of the empty slots next to the Combat and Scan entries, was a foreign entry that looked like a twinkling star shrouded in a veil of fog.
“Go ahead and give it a try?” she suggested.
With zero hesitation, Samus swapped out her Combat Visor for the new OM Visor, and was greeted with a very similar setup to her previously used Dark Visor back on Aether. The entire, lit, rainy world was now shrouded in a dull black, with vague highlights of her surroundings when she got close enough. However, certain elements within her environment had a the softest, lavender glow to them… a glow that only seemed to pulse and intensify at odd frequencies.
Twilight spoke up again:
“The trees in front of you glow softly as this particular species of tree is known to collect the residual magic that flows naturally over this world, and hold it for its own uses. The higher the magical content of an object—and the closer you are—will determine how intensely they glow, and, of course, how large,” she explained.
Samus nodded.
“Okay… does that extend to potential enemies, too?”
“It definitely does!” Twilight affirmed. “Hypothetically, if a unicorn or some other magical entity teleports or in some other way fades out of existence, you can track them through OM.”
“Awesome. Thanks, Twilight,” said Samus, and then took her first steps to formally re-enter the Everfree.
“Mhmm! Again, the least I can do, Samus. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get moving,” she said.
Twilight pinged Samus’ map section on the top-left of her HUD.
“I’ve marked the approximate position on your map, and applied a directional heading to help keep you on track—hope you don’t mind. I only say ‘approximate’ because your system really doesn’t have any map data to work with. That should change once we activate the Map back at the castle,” she noted.
Samus brushed past the first tree layer and entered into a light jog.
“Works for me. Thanks, Twilight,” she replied, pivoting course on her heel and making straight for the target indicator.
“No, thank you. You don’t know how much you’re helping right now…”
“I’m sure I have an idea…”
The words fell quiet and Samus was able to focus fully on the sounds of her environment once more. Her motion tracker still read fairly clear, though there was an occasional small blip that was marked as non-hostile: likely from some local animal that was scurrying around or trying to avoid contact with her. Nevertheless, she kept her easy pace up, her breathing consistent and easy, as she flicked her eyes around her forested surroundings. There were no weird Phazon hazards nor Space Pirate outposts to consider either (that she was aware of), so she felt this would be a rather standard trek through the forest.
Of course, unless the Storm Beasts showed up again. That was certainly a possibility high on the list. Though she felt that she had more than enough equipment (with the additional goodies Twilight provided her with the Elemental integration), she would prefer that they leave her alone.
The threats of her missions rarely abided by her preferences, though.
Samus cleared her path of some massive leaves in her way and entered into a tiny forest clearing. Almost instantly, dozens of little rabbit heads poked out of the grassy clearing and scattered in all directions, leaving the Hunter on her lonesome once more.
She broke the silence as slowed her pace momentarily to an easy walk, then lay her hand atop her cannon as she trod forward:
“Any dangerous wildlife I should be on the lookout for?”
Twilight offered up an answer:
“You may find some curious timber wolves—literally made of wood and animated by magic, by the way—or the occasional manticore, though the latter will likely keep its distance. Off-chance we may find a cockatrice, but I wouldn’t bet on it unless you’re actually looking for them.”
“Got it,” replied Samus as she bounded through the other end of the forest clearing.
She then resumed her easy jog, cataloging a few species of the local flora via her Scan Visor before posing another question:
“What can you tell me about the Castle of the Two Sisters?” she asked.
Twilight’s answer began as Samus hopped herself up onto the carcass of a massive, downed tree… and continued as she then somersaulted back to earth.
“It was the first castle that was built for Princesses Celestia and Luna, the two royal alicorn sisters I mentioned yesterday. It was essentially the former seat of power for Equestria.”
The ground in her path elevated somewhat over a small forest plateau… one that Samus could easily ford with a jump and the aid of her power grip. After a quick stop and looking up—being met with rain droplets splattering on her visor—the journey forward continued.
“What caused the move to uhhh… ‘Canterlot?’ Right?”
“Mhmm! Canterlot. And that’s… kind of a story in it’s own right. The short of it is that it was destroyed, hence its dilapidated condition that you’ll see first-hoof.”
Samus reached the end of this little forest plateau, which had quite a precipitous drop in elevation should she have taken a dive right off the edge of the pseudo-cliff edge. After sparing a quick glance through her OM Visor to confirm nothing weird around her, nor any threats being detected on her motion tracker, Samus hunched low and launched herself into a leap of faith off the edge. After the initial feelings of adrenaline coursing through her systems, and feeling her stomach rise up into her chest as gravity began pulling her back to the earth below, she went heels-over-head once… and then landed right on her armored feet.
She hunched low to disperse the impact, then righted her posture before continuing on.
“Was… was that in any way necessary?” Twilight asked.
“No.”
“Then, why?”
“Because I can, really.”
“Amazing.”
“On that note, why was it even destroyed in the first place? Context might help in the future…”
“Sure! Keep an eye out though, as this’ll probably take a while…”
Twilight started talking as Samus checked their progress relative to their destination. There was still a good two-thirds of the way to trek, and with the forest being as quiet as it was, Samus didn’t mind that Twilight rambled on at her request. In fact, Samus barely had to talk, as the moment that any question regarding Twilight’s history lesson came up, the now-ethereal alicorn in her head intercepted them with appropriate context and answers… almost like she was reading her mind.
Oh, right.
Nevertheless, Samus learned more of the Princesses of Equestria, Celestia and Luna, and how they controlled the path of the sun and moon, respectively. More interesting to her was their combined history as sisters... and how the latter rebelled and attacked the former after envy and jealousy got twisted into darkness and contempt, corrupting the younger sister into the entity known as Nightmare Moon. Samus learned how such entities—Nightmares—fed off of particularly, magically powerful individuals’ dark thoughts, and twisted their feelings and amplified perceptions of reality in order to take hold.
Twilight regaled that Luna’s corruption forced Celestia’s hand (or hoof) to banish her own sister to the moon for a thousand years, before she returned on the prophesied night. That’s when the newly-anointed Elemental Bearers combated her and used the Elements themselves to vanquish the Nightmare, purging it from the Night Princess.
Luna was promptly freed and was re-integrated into society, and welcomed back to her throne.
“Whew…” said Twilight, exhaling, as if she needed to breathe in her current state. “That was a lot of talking.”
By now, a good hour had passed, and the situation in the forest had changed little at this point. Samus continued to keep a diligent look at her motion tracker, and started forming a habit of checking her OM Visor for any anomalies—of which none made themselves known.
The only constant of note was the continued, pouring rain.
“Interesting story. Sounds like Celestia also bears a lot of blame for… what happened. Not that Luna’s actions are exactly excused,” she commented.
“Oh definitely,” Twilight replied. “The two worked out their issues together in a more… responsible manner after that. I think they both grew from the experience.”
Samus nearly giggled at that comment.
“‘A thousand years’ is one hell of an ‘experience,’ I’ll say.”
“Heh, never thought about it that way, actually.”
Twilight ended that line of conversation as Samus waded through another layer of flora, passing through another small clearing. Their destination was just up ahead.
“We’re coming up on the castle now, careful when peeking through this last forest layer…” she warned.
Samus hunched low as she melded into the tree-line, brushing aside tall grass and branches that dipped low from the trees above.
“Oh? Expecting something to happen?”
“Gosh I hope not. But I haven’t been out this way in a couple decades. I honestly have no idea what’s become of the ruins… or if Tempest and her forces did anything with it. I just don’t know, but doesn’t hurt to be prepared.”
“Fair. And I can’t say I disagree with you.”
As Samus crept through the thick underbrush, she could make out something… distinctly different than her surroundings through the flora. Once she understood that she reached the start of what appeared to be another clearing, she hunkered low and brushed some final tall grass and leaves aside, revealing to her…
...not a clearing in any sense.
Rather, it was a damn hole in the forest where the canopy completely opened up. While trees and unkempt bushes, moss, and grass still ruled her vision as far as she could see, despite their lack of maintenance, the massive height of the once imposing canopy of the Everfree was distinctly lacking here: she could see the sky in all its glory as it continued to pour limitless rain on her path before her.
The distance held even more forest on the hills and mountains beyond, and standing in her path between the ruins of the castle itself—about half-a-mile away—and her current hunkered-down position was a massive chasm where the earth looked like it was quite literally split. Samus could see two potential points of crossing, but no immediate means to do so, at least from this distance and the veil of the rain.
Samus brought her fingers up to the side of her helmet and activated her comms.
“Spike. Can you read me?”
A few seconds of tense silence seemed to blanket their little area of the forest before some random noise preceded the reply on the other end.
“I… think it’s working? Loud and clear, Samus! How’re y’all doing over there?”
“No problems going through the forest. Just reached the outskirts of the Castle and are about to try and find a way in. How’re things over there?”
“Nice and quiet, just how I prefer it. Thanks for checking in.”
“Sure thing. I’ll let you know when we’re on our way back.”
“Sounds good! Talk to you soon.”
Samus dismissed her communications overlay and lay her hand back on her cannon once more, still comfortably kneeling within the underbrush.
“Alright. Let’s go find our power crystal,” she said, getting back to her feet.
“Okay… I’ll keep looking out for anything weird. The first order of business will be actually finding a way inside,” Twilight mentioned.
Samus brushed aside the last bits of concealment she was using, and cautiously took her first steps out into the open. She watched her motion tracker like a hawk, as well as relying on proper sight as she scanned over the surrounding forests she was leaving behind, leery of any potential ambushes waiting for their opportune moment to pounce on her. She also occasionally engaged her OM visor to check for any more magical anomalies… with the only thing she was spotting was a dim illumination in the distance—right on the castle.
Interesting…
Samus answered rather sarcastically:
“Yeah… and I’m guessing we can’t just go up and knock, right?”
Twilight giggled.
“Not really, no. Though the bigger issue is… kinda this…” Twilight figuratively gestured as Samus closed ranks with the first obstacle in their path: The massive chasm that stood between her and the castle grounds.
Samus halted right at the edge and dared to peer over and down. She saw nothing but the rain disappearing into a white veil as low-level fog seemed to meander through the rock like an atmospheric river. A little curiosity got the better of her, and she brushed a few pebbles and dirt clean off the edge, and watched as they plummeted into the white abyss below. Satisfied that she couldn’t hear anything impact some sort of ground, she drew her gaze back up to the other side, where the Castle of the Two Sisters stood tantalizingly… goading her forward.
Samus nodded.
“Yeah… I can see that,” she said, then noticed the wooden remains of what was clearly a support for a bridge.
She shrugged, shaking her head.
“And I don’t think we’re gonna build a bridge any time soon. And I can’t jump that far… even with the aid of my space jump boots.”
“Huh…” Twilight called out, interested. “Look at that!”
Twilight promptly drew Samus’ attention straight ahead with a ping to the flat cliff-face on the other side… and the Hunter spotted it immediately: the bridge. Or rather, what remained of it. Clearly, the supports had been severed on their side, and it was now hung lifelessly, the individual wooden walking boards in various states of disrepair, and the entire remnants of it dancing slowly in whatever wind happened to blow at the moment.
And quite frankly, the Hunter wasn’t so sure where Twilight was going with this.
“Okay… it’s the bridge that existed to ford the chasm. It’s kinda cut, as you can see.”
“Duh!” replied Twilight, who promptly continued in her now-familiar teaching tone:
“So we can use your ‘newfound abilities’ to ‘reach across’ both the chasm and the magical plane to help get it secured again,” she said.
Oh right. Magic.
“Right… okay, sure. Then what the hell do I need to do? Just… think it? Say a magic word or a spell? Do something with my hand, or…” Samus prattled on, punctuating by tentatively reaching forward with her armored hand.
Hell, she tried to even remember some of the more… mystical aspects of Chozo science to see if she could call up any inspiration from there.
Again, Twilight giggled.
“Well… it’s hard to describe to someone whose never used magic before. It’s a little bit in between all of those, I guess,” she said. “Each unicorn and alicorn is a little different in the casting regard.
“At any rate, you can definitely do this. You know I’d gladly take care of this if me materializing on the grass and dirt here wouldn’t attract every Storm Beast in the forest. I’ll walk you through it.”
Samus spared another glance around her—nothing in the forest stirred, and the rain remained her ever-close company. Things looked safe… for now.
“Alright,” Samus said. “Ready when you are—let’s see if we can make this quick. I’d rather not stand in the same place for an hour.”
Twilight replied:
“It’s always hardest the first time. So… close your eyes.”
“...do I have to?”
“Normally, no. But it does help you concentrate. I recommend it for your first spell. Don’t worry, I’m watching the motion tracker… so go on!”
Her voice dipped much softer.
“Close your eyes and just listen to my voice.”
One last glance side-to-side via her peripheral vision was all she needed to placate her better senses for a little bit. She did as she was told, and shut her eyes… replacing the information-laden HUD with pure, peaceful blackness.
“Communicating with the magical plane is like getting in touch with a force of nature. Slow your breathing… hear your surroundings. Feel them. Exist within them. Hear the rain as it falls to the earth, and as it strikes your armor. Feel the cool, but filtered air entering your lungs with every breath you take.
“Let it all flow together… let it blend as you become one with it.”
Easily done, at least for Samus. The Chozo taught her no small amount of meditation techniques to help center herself and control her emotions when it counted.
And in just listening to Twilight’s voice… as she concentrated further, all other sounds around her gradually waned and fell away. Samus exhaled slowly, containing her mild surprise, as all her senses were met with a stony, eerie ‘sensory blackout.’ Only she existed now.
Along with Twilight’s soothing voice which seemed to echo off the softest parts of her mind.
“Touching the magical plane is like using any of your limbs. It’s another sense, another appendage you can use to reach out and feel beyond the physical world. You don’t have a horn, so we’ll use your hand.”
Twilight’s voice seemed to drop to barely a whisper that continued to echo in the back of her mind.
“Reach forward, Samus. See the bridge through the eyes of the magical realm. Touch it.”
Samus still couldn’t see anything by virtue of her closed eyes… not even the fact that her own eyes were beginning to glimmer a brilliant lavender. With her arm outstretched in nothing but what she thought was the cool air of a rainy day, and in heeding Twilight’s advice, her breathing hitched when she noticed something… different: In her hand, she could feel something… it was cylindrical in nature, course, fibrous… almost like a rope.
The rope of the bridge that would tie into the supports on either side of the chasm.
And why was her brow a little damp?
“Excellent… notice you’re not physically holding it. Your magical grasp is holding it. Now, through your mind and the magical realm, will it up here. Command it.”
Samus could feel it secure in her hand, and as she tried to ethereally pull the remnants of the limp end of the bridge to her it suddenly became… difficult. Her outstretched palm began to move on its own accord with the instructions from her mind, and her palm slowly started turning counter-clockwise. The silence that she had so enjoyed was gradually replaced by a low rumbling that she could hear all inside her head.
Her mind started to strain—seemingly physically as if it were a muscle—against the ethereal resistance. As her concentration broke for a split second, she could feel her ‘connection’ with the magical realm flicker, and her hand movements faltered. Samus could feel sweat dripping down her face, despite her Suit’s environmental controllers quickly moving to cool her off. She briefly ‘lost hold’ on the rope.
“It’s okay. Try again.”
And so she did.
Re-establishing her connection through the magical plane, Samus ‘grasped’ the bridge from a distance, and met the now-familiar, ethereal resistance once more. As her hand slowly turned, her palm gradually beginning to turn inward, and then up, the low rumbling continued to increase in intensity. It also sounded like some of the real world was breaking through her concentration, as if she were somehow ‘emerging’ from her meditative state.
The resistance suddenly intensified to an impossible level, as if she was coming up against a wall. Samus opened her eyes, and immediately inhaled a deep breath that she didn’t know she needed.
Such a deep breath became a halfway-hyperventilation, and she barely had the time to marvel at her achievement: The limp end of the bridge was now lying on their side of the chasm, ready to be secured for use once more. Samus’ vision didn’t get to focus properly before she got a good look at the lavender hue that slowly dissipated away with the completion of her spell.
“Hah… W-Whoa…” she managed through calm, but fatigued breaths. Her suit was also getting a rein on her temperature, drying the sweat off her face.
Twilight’s giddy giggling came through as clear as a sunny day, however:
“Well DONE, Samus!”
Samus paid the words no mind at first, as she rushed in to secure the ropes around the wooden posts, which rendered the bridge fully usable. Dilapidated and quite unstable looking with its frequently broken support beams and parts of the rope that looked like they were on the verge of collapse…
...but usable nonetheless.
“Jesus…” Samus finally remarked, still trying to ease her breathing a little bit. Her mind hurt.
“Thanks, but that took a while. Does magic take that long consistently?”
“Nope! The first time is always the hardest, especially for someone who never grew up with magic sensitivity. You did a lot better than I expected you to… you definitely have some training in the meditative arts which really helped you,” she noted.
She then added:
“You’ve just taken more steps into that much larger world. It’ll only get easier from here. Channel that same state of mind that you just experienced, and you’ll be more than proficient in no time!”
Samus chuckled.
“Easy for you to say, Element of Magic.”
“Hey! The point still stands! We all start from somewhere… and it’s not like I can really criticize you anyway. You’re kind of our only option, so your magical development is important to me!” Twilight noted.
Samus stood in front of the now-reestablished bridge and noted its rather unstable state. She tentatively placed a foot on the first board, and immediately noticed more give than she was in any way comfortable with.
“Fair enough,” Samus answered. “But on to the matter at hand. This bridge ain’t gonna hold me in my Suit.”
“Oh? Then what do you suggest? It would be unfortunate if you went through all that effort for nothing…” Twilight voiced.
“We’ll be fine. I’ll just disengage my suit while I cross it. No big deal.”
“Wait…” Twilight cut in, and began rambling.
“How does that account for the difference in weight? If your suit adds a lot of weight, how does it not apply when it disappears off of you? Where does it go? Conservation of mass and all…?”
Samus rolled her eyes as a bit of nostalgia washed over her.
“My caretakers figured that out and aside from following some mental triggers, it’s connected to my Zero Suit… the blue jumpsuit looking thing that I wear. I asked the same question once, and the Varia Suit technicians gladly explained it to me… in such a way where I could feel myself getting an aneurism by the second.
“Suffice to say, it doesn’t violate any laws of physics that I can tell. But on that note… stay put, I’ll be right back,” she finished.
“Oh what’re yo—”
Samus promptly disengaged her Varia Suit with the usual flair, with the only thing of note being the necklace chain with the Element of Magic resting squarely atop her chest. She took a moment to take some fresh breaths of the rainy air, and wiped her face… though there wasn’t any time to enjoy the weather.
She stepped on the first board once more, and there was much less flex… to the point that her comfort level in the probability of not falling to her death on a planet on the fringes of Federation Space was tolerable. Samus then stepped onto the next board that she figured could support her bodyweight, and her intuition proved correct when it held… even with an agonizing creaking and the breaking of a few wood fibers.
Keeping her grip tight on the ropes, and ready to bound back onto solid ground in case the bridge boards failed, Samus began to map out her path forward. She noted the boards that were completely broken, and the ones that she was suspicious that they could even hold her big toe.
Alright… let’s make this quick and try not to die an embarrassing death.
Samus committed her entire weight and bounded to the next board… and then the next, the next, and then the one after. She landed just beyond the middle of the bridge, and decided to commit to a proper sprint. Two more sections of the bridge were cleared before Samus hunched low and launched herself into the air. Sailing through the rain and the wind, she cleared the remainder of the bridge and landed on solid, grassy ground on the other side.
Hunched low, Samus re-engaged her suit, and stood tall once again, glancing back at the still-usable bridge that swayed in the gentle breeze.
Twilight’s voice broke through the silence.
“Well… that’s one way to go about it I suppose.”
Samus smirked.
“Are you complaining?”
“Heh, not at all! But on that note, we should probably keep moving. The castle’s open to us now.”
Samus turned to face the entrance and began a slow jog over, picking up the pace.
“Alright… guessing the front entrance is wide open? And where are we even headed?” she asked.
“Yup! And there’s a crystal quarry in the rear of the castle. We’ll have to make our way through the remains of the throne room to get there. It was used to power a lot of things at the time, and since this place hasn’t been inhabited for at least a millennium, it’ll probably be overgrown and we’ll have the pick of the crystals,” Twilight explained.
“Cool. Let’s see what we can find.”
“Then I’ll leave you to it. I’ll keep an eye out for anything weird, and I’ll ping points of interest if we pass any.”
“Roger.”
Twilight went silent as Samus made her way through the tall grass and small trees that had grown over the years.
She brushed aside the last bit of flora when she came to face the steps at what once was a fairly hulking castle. The Hunter drew her gaze up the stairs, the front door, and traced all the lines and curvature of the ruins, juxtaposing Twilight’s story with her current perceptions. Many of the missing chunks of the castle were certainly consistent with explosions and non-natural damage, especially towards the top where it seemed like something exploded upward. Beyond that, the stones and metal of the castle had been reclaimed by nature long ago, if the overgrown, lush-green moss and trees were anything to go by.
Samus put her right foot forward on the first step tentatively, and drew her cannon over her surroundings… just in case. Satisfied that there was nothing lurking just beyond the periphery of her vision, and that her motion tracker was still barren, she was about to continue her journey towards the mighty double-doors of the castle…
…until she spotted an overgrown plaque just off to the side of the stair-set.
Curiosity got the better of her, and Samus faced it fully so she could brush away some of the moss, revealing ‘familiar’ Equestrian writing engraved into the stone.
She brought her hand to the side of her helmet.
[Scanning…]
[New Pony Lore has been translated and recorded to the Logbook]
[Translated:]
[Upon the completion of this castle, the symbol of our unity is complete. Let this castle stand as the union of dark and light, of night and day, of living and dreams. Upon this beacon, Equestria shall build, expand, and modernize. And under the leadership of our myself and my sister, may all of Equestria prosper. May nothing come between us and a nation of harmony.]
Samus dismissed her scan visor and turned away to start ascending the stairs. She barely made it up a few of them when Twilight’s voice cut in again.
“Sorry to interrupt but… what’s that thing you’ve been doing? With your Scan Visor?”
“It performs a bunch of functions, but mainly gives me information about my surroundings. It can also translate foreign texts like that—thanks to your translator module update—and is good at attacking and toying with other systems: like Space Pirate systems,” she explained.
“That is SO COOL!” said Twilight. “Do… do you happen to have an archive of all your scans over your travels?”
“I do. You probably have access to it in my databanks that you can crawl around in,” Samus noted.
“Right, but we’re kinda busy right now. When we get back to the castle, is there any way for me to do some reading… if you’re okay with that?”
“Sure. I’ll set you up with a tablet or something. All the more reason to get this done as quickly as possible, right?” Samus offered.
“Yes! And yeah, let’s finish up here first.”
Samus ascended the last stairs and was greeted with the double-doors of the castle entrance. She had the pass under a waterfall of rainwater that had been collecting on the overhang above. Passing through the water curtain, the double-doors—lacking any form of upkeep since, as long as Twilight mentioned—were free for her to find a way through.
Though, Samus didn’t even have to try any of the knobs, as the right-most door was fairly ajar.
“Looks like we don’t have to break in. Someone kindly left the door open for us,” said Samus.
“Hmmm…” Twilight replied. “That’s a little interesting.”
“Understood. I’ll be on guard.”
Samus lifted her cannon and led with it, fully aimed, as she opened the loose door a little wider. Slinking inside, she quietly closed it as best as she could behind her… and was greeted with pure blackness.
Well, mostly. The foyer looked mostly intact, and was illuminated in places thanks to some holes in the roof. Water diligently poured through, and Samus could hear a wetness beneath her slow footsteps, as well as a consistent dripping. Another light source would be helpful… as well as her Thermal Visor, which she lamented its absence.
“Can’t see shit,” she said, and flicked an internal system switch.
A small flap at the bottom corner of her visor flipped open, and out shined a potent beam of light in her path, which gave her more than enough light to see in front of her. It was no replacement for the Thermal Visor or any equivalent, like the Dark Visor, but it worked nonetheless.
Samus was greeted with a wholly destroyed floor, with only small pieces of marble in any way still identifiable. Stone supports for busts and statues remained, but whatever they were holding had long since been removed or destroyed, leaving only twisted rock-faces in their wakes. It looked like holes had also been blown into the wall from… some source, and Samus also discovered a second floor, where railings from balconies looked down upon her position.
As she continued about halfway through the massive foyer hall, Samus stopped cold when she shone her light against the left-most wall to her position.
“Twilight?” she beckoned.
She heard a deep, but soft gasp of revulsion.
“Oh no…”
And she could’ve sworn she heard some type of retching.
Samus deviated from course and made her way to one of the walls, where a massive hole was blown through it. Stacked and slumped against the still-solid parts were the mutilated remains of ponies. Most of them were skeletons by this point, but oddly enough, a few of them looked fairly well preserved… as well as they could be at least. Mouths wide open in a silent death scream, they were all contorted in clearly-unimaginable pain up to their their final breath. Many of their necks and stomachs were sliced open.
A few of the bodies, however, caught Samus’ attention. Particularly, some that looked a lot fresher than the rest.
She knelt down and ran her finger over the muzzle of what looked like a young mare with a dark purple coat. Her mane was still a bit intact, and what remained of her blood had ended up as a massive stain beneath her. Her throat had a gargantuan bite taken out of it, and Samus could still see some of the fibrous interiors of her decomposing muscles. Her organs—spilled out from the gaping hole in the side of her abdomen—were still fairly ‘identifiable.’
“What the hell happened here…?” Samus asked.
Twilight’s voice was a lot shakier than earlier.
“I… I don’t know. These must’ve been ponies who weren’t able to get evacuated. And they maybe sought refuge in the forest and then the castle? It clearly w-wasn’t safe for them. Looks like the Storm Beasts got to them.”
Samus nodded, but drew her attention to the much less-decomposed kill beneath her.
[Scanning…]
[Scan Complete.]
[Morphology: Equis Earth Pony. Life-signs: Terminated.]
[Death caused by catastrophic blood loss from tearing out the esophagus and rupturing of the abdominal cavity. Magical residue detected on the wounds. Trace Phazon DNA also detected. Full decomposition measures have not been completed. This body has not been here for very long.]
“The skeletons coincide with when disaster struck. These here… these look really fresh. Like, a week at most, fresh.”
“A lot of ponies didn’t get evacuated. It’s not implausible to think that many of them formed societies on their own as they fought to survive Storm Beast attacks. Maybe they tried to seek refuge here also? I…”
Samus was about to reply when Twilight pinged the obliterated neck of the unfortunate victim under Samus’ hand.
“Look at the bite. That mouth is way too big for a typical Storm Beast. Even for the under-mouth.”
“Could it be just a larger one? Or another Phazon-infected predator?”
“Maybe… but this isn’t good. It means whatever got these poor ponies might not have left. And I think it might’ve been a—”
Samus noticed nothing on her motion tracker that she would deem as unusual. But her senses suddenly screamed for her to turn to her right. She gave into her rather unusual reflex that had saved her life on many occasions. Her light illuminated the pitch-blackness…
…and was instead met with a hollow blackness of two massive eyes, a snarling pony mouth, and a gargantuan, drooling, lower mandible. All were connected to a proper warhorse-sized ungulate.
Samus felt adrenaline shoot up her spine as her eyes widened, and her pupils constricted… all while she also understood at an instant that this entity that had so suddenly appeared without warning was alive, its breath easily seen in the chilly air.
Twilight’s voice cut in shrilly, finishing her sentence as she, too, lay eyes on the monstrosity before them:
“STORM BEAST ALPHA!”
Samus immediately bounded backwards, launching herself into a sudden, rearward roll before righting her now-hunched posture. Cannon squarely aimed at their unknown visitor, Samus got a proper look at the massive Storm Beast in front of her, its mouth salivating at the prospect of more prey. It had a horn—completely covered in Phazon veins—and its entire body was covered in rather distinct, blue-hued tumors atop of what looked like decomposing skin. Hulking muscle was exposed just beneath patches of torn skin, interwoven with more pulsing Phazon veins.
“Jesus that’s a big fucker…”
Twilight replied meekly.
“I hope you’re as good in a fight as you say you are…”
“Watch me work.”
By: Hyze