//------------------------------//
// Chapter 42: The Filly And The Bounty Hunter 
// Story: Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers 
// by Lucar 
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Samus looked down from her ledge at the little alien that looked like an equine in curiosity. It looked so out of place in this mostly dead planet and, frankly, it looked like it couldn't hurt a fly. But Samus knew better. Through her missions, she encountered her fair share of beings that looked innocent only to have a mortal weapon hidden somewhere. Poisons that could kill huge animals in a few seconds. Claws and fangs that could go through metal like through butter. Spores. Fire breathe. Acid spit. She had seen it all.

With this new lifeform, she had to keep her guard up and not assume anything beside what she could already see, like this horn that looked sharp enough to be used to gut someone even thought it was rather small. Thankfully, she may not have to fear it thanks to her Suit. But beside it, the equine could very well hide something, anything. It was standing beside a freshly-beheaded Reptilicus after all. The head wasn't teared off by pure strength, but cut as if by a sharp weapon. So, if the equine was responsible of this kill, then it meant that it had a mean to cut other creatures into pieces.

The equine alien also had wings, curiously. They looked too small to let it fly. Their origin could be from any reason. Mutation (with Phazon around, it could very well be it). Birth defect. Vestigial limbs slowly disappearing from generation to generation by the process of evolution. No matter their origin, it didn't look like Samus would have to worry about the creature flying. But again, no assuming. Bumblebees can perfectly fly despite their wings being too small. And Samus did encounter alien creatures on her missions that could fly despite their wings being too small, or even despite the total lack of such limbs like a certain species of life-sucking nuisances.

However, the creature remained docile, not moving as Samus studied it. It simply stared back at her with eyes that showed intelligence. To what degree, she wasn't sure, but she could read curiosity.

Should she fire before the creature decides to take hostile action, or should she wait? With Phazon present in this planet, everything was potentially hostile. And again, this creature was beside a dead Reptilicus. But with it not brutally attacking her and actually showing intelligence instead of mindless blood thirst like most creature infected by Phazon, it may just be a local fauna not yet infected that just defended itself. Samus knew that Reptilicus these days, known as Bryyonians too, were dangerous, and the Phazon certainly didn't help.

Tragic tale, the Bryyonians... With a lesson that the Chozos made sure to transmit to her.

After a few more seconds of the two simply staring at each other, Samus eventually decided to scan the creature.

Surprisingly, the scan couldn't give a name to the creature. The Suit had a huge database of creatures that the Chozos gathered plus a few others that Samus encountered on her missions like the Ings, but that creature was a total unknown.

However, it had a lot to say from what it could gather.



This creature has a morphology very close to equine animals from Earth, but doesn't compare to any of them. Beside the presence of wings and a horn, its legs, especially, are much more dexterous, able to bend in ways that Earth equines can't. The wings are too small to carry its weight by themselves, and its brain suggests sapience.



Sapience? Uh...



Deeper scan reveals the presence of a network of filaments not unlike the nervous system spreading all the way from a core near its heart to everywhere in its body, more importantly in its legs, wings, flanks, and horn. Unknown energy detected in them. Other unknown energy detected in its flanks, in the mysterious black marks. These black marks are very slowly spreading.



Intriguing. Two unknown energies? And one that was in these strange black marks? Which were growing? Samus wasn't sure what to think of this, but it was even more reasons for her to keep her guard up. A sapient alien creature with unknown energies was potentially bad news for her if it revealed to be hostile like the totality of the creatures she encountered in her missions.

But again, it remained docile. It had the perfect occasion to attack Samus while she was reading the results of the scan, but it remained beside the body of the Reptilicus without moving, simply looking at the Hunter patiently.



While it looks like nothing known, this creature's appearance can be compared to the one of the mythical alicorns from Earth's tales. Thus, for lack of anything better, this creature will be referred as such.
This individual is female and has not reached maturity.



That was all the scan was saying. The rest were minor information about the body of the creature such as the height, the weight, the structure (giving her the exact location of this core, a potential weakness to use if needed), and so on.

And not a single trace of Phazon in her.

In the end, she received a lot of useful information from this scan, but she still didn't know what to do. She was still waiting for the creature to act, but the creature also seemed to wait for her to act. So one of them had to act first.

The problem was that Samus wasn't really the social type, and she didn't even know if the creature could understand her, so she didn't know where or how to start.

Thankfully for her, the creature eventually decided that they lost enough time staring at each other and, after faking a cough to break the moment, talked.

"You can lower your cannon. I'm not going to hurt you, miss."

This took Samus by surprise, but at least, it answered her question about whether or not the creature could understand her.

Wait. How could she tell she was a girl under her Suit? Most people who didn't know about her assumed that she was a guy when she wasn't in her Zero Suit.

Or maybe this creature heard about her. After her exploits on Zebes, her reputation rapidly spread all over the galaxy, so it was possible.

Anyway, Samus decided to not follow the alicorn's words and kept her cannon pointed at her.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I am Sweetie Belle. Nice to meet you. And, uh... If you want to know, this guy over there tried to kill me despite me saving it from the ice, so it left me no choice..."

"Ice?"

Samus focused a bit more in the room and spotted some broken ice a bit everywhere on the ground beside the alicorn and the corpse and some chunk on the wall.

And where there was ice, there was Rundas. He must not be far.

"I see..." she said before she fully focused back on Sweetie Belle. "I'm Samus Aran." Even if the alicorn already knew about her, it was good manner to correctly present yourself when your interlocutor just did so.

"So..." Sweetie Belle began after a few more awkward seconds. "I'm not from around here. Can you tell me where I am, please?"

"You don't know?" Samus asked. At this point, she finally decided to lower her cannon, understanding that the little one really didn't seem to want to harm her.

"Short story, someone very powerful led me here. I literally came out of a rift in this room, like, two minutes before you came. I have no idea where I landed."

A rift? Led by someone very powerful? There was clearly more to this, and Samus was curious to hear the full story, but now was not the time. She still had a mission.

"You are on planet Bryyo, inside an ancient temple of the Bryyonian civilization. If you wonder what is a Bryyonian, you are just beside one." She nodded at the beheaded body at this.

Sweetie Belle looked down at it, having a hard time believing it after the Reptilicus' earlier actions that were more akin to a feral beast. "Reeeally?"

"They weren't always feral like this one. Once upon a time, they were a great civilization. But civil war led to them losing themselves to the point of becoming savages. I guess that the Phazon achieved to turn them into beasts. We now call them Reptilicus."

To be certain of what she was saying, Samus scanned the body. Beside the indication of the frostbites caused by the ice and of the cause of death by beheading (with the wound cauterized, indicating that whatever had been used was very hot), the scan did reveal the possibility of Phazon corruption leading to the total absence of higher thought process. The Bryyonians now really were nothing more than bloodthirsty savage beasts. A sad end to what was once a great civilization.

"Phazon?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Sams sighed. "Hear my words. Get out of this planet as quickly as possible. Phazon is a substance that is very radioactive, extremely mutagenic. If you are exposed to it too long, it will turn you into something like this Reptilicus, if you don't die first. And right now, Phazon is spreading all over the planet, poisoning and corrupting what is left after the civil war. It's a matter of time before you either die or become a mindless beast."

Sweetie Belle gulped, understanding the threat she was exposed to. But then, she began to think, tapping her chin with her hoof as she looked up.

"So, to be clear, this Phazon emits energy?"

"It's one of the most energy-producing substances known in the galaxy," Samus agreed. "Despite all the bad it causes, many try to use it as fuel for spaceships and other stuff." Which she thought was foolish. Even that PED technology, despite its usefulness she can admit, she didn't trust at all.

"Mmmmh... Well, I think that that won't be a problem," Sweetie Belle said. "I can manipulate any energies as I will. I should be able to ensure that Phazon won't hurt me."

...

"You serious?"

"Yep! And now that you talked about this, I can sense a big quantity of an unknown energy here and there, especially in this direction." Sweetie Belle pointed toward where Samus knew the Leviathan was. "And I can sense some from you."

Samus shook her head in disbelief. An actual being that could sense and manipulate energies? All energies? Well, she had seen a lot, so she guessed that it wasn't impossible for such a being to appear in the immensity of the universe.

"Long story. And in this direction is the Phazon seed at the origin of all the Phazon spreading on Bryyo, called a Leviathan."

"Let me guess. You are about to go and destroy this Leviathan?"

Samus nodded. "It's my current mission. Destroying the Leviathan and save Bryyo from the Phazon."

Sweetie Belle smiled brightly. "Great! So I guess this is now my mission too!"

"What?"

"Let me help you! Strength in number, right?"

"Sorry, but I'm more used in working alone."

"Then you will learn to work with someone. Sorry, but now that I know the situation of this planet, I can't just leave. I will tag along whether you want it or not."

Samus groaned. She could see in the way that Sweetie Belle was smiling that she was serious. And that she knew that she was being an annoyance but didn't care, in the contrary. She was clearly amused by this and Samus' reaction.

"Can you even fight?" Samus asked.

To this, Sweetie Belle pointed at the corpse of the Reptilicus without saying a word.

"Right... But this was just a simple beast. There will certainly be Space Pirates heavily armed."

Sweetie Belle gasped. "Space Pirates?! Oh my gosh! Scootaloo will SO be jealous! Don't worry Samus, I can defend myself against some space jerks."

Damn, the filly actually looked eager to fight pirates instead of scared like she hoped she would be.

"I think you aren't realising how dangerous the Space Pirates are..."

Sweetie Belle giggled and said, "I think you aren't realising how dangerous I am."

Then, some cylindrical device appeared out of nowhere in the air beside her, and out of it came a sword made of light. Some green aura was surrounding it as it remained floating in the air, and a similar aura was around the filly's horn. Then, another green aura appeared around the corpse of the Reptilicus and it began to levitate too. The sword then promptly slashed at it faster than Samus could follow.

In not even one second, the Reptilicus was turned into little cubes. And before they could start to fall all over the ground, Sweetie Belle blasted them into ashes with her horn.

Finished giving her demonstration of power, Sweetie Belle looked back at Samus and smiled smugly, cocking an eyebrow waiting for a reaction.

Samus stared at the ashes that were once the Reptilicus and said, "Point taken."

She had been right to not judge the filly by her appearance, the little one had been hiding her game. And she was glad that she was friendly.

At least, she had her answer for how the filly beheaded the Reptilicus.

Without saying another word, Samus jumped down from the ledge, and after traversing the destroyed part of the ground, passing beside Sweetie Belle, she jumped to enter the circular passage at the end.

The filly followed her.



The passage rapidly led them into a small room with another Reptilicus trapped in ice. The two didn't mind it as they turned left to face an opening leading to the exterior, on a bridge entirely made of ice leading to what seemed to be another part of the temple they were in.

Sweetie Belle let out an impressed whistle.

"Between that and the Reptilicus in ice, I'm guessing that we will encounter someone that can manipulate ice."

Samus nodded. "Rundas. He's also part of my mission. He's a bounty hunter, like me, but we lost contact with him a week ago. I must find out what happened to him."

"So you are a bounty hunter?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Yes. And right now, I'm working for the Galactic Federation, assisting them in their conflict against the Space Pirates."

"Woaaaah."

Space pirates. A galactic organisation. That was the jackpot!

She just hoped that the current adventure wasn't just limited to the planet they were on. That she will be able to see more.

They walked on the ice bridge, dealing with some flying insectoid creatures that Samus' scan called Gragnols. Young ones not fully developed yet, but they were clearly victims of Phazon corruption because they were not only very hostile (which seemed normal because their hive was just above the entrance of the next part of the temple at the other side of the bridge), they were firing pulses of Phazon energy.

Any creature using Phazon as a form of attack was condemned. The Gragnols had to be killed.

They also spotted a Reptilicus looking different from the ones they saw trapped in ice until now, standing in a hole in a destroyed part of a wall of the temple at the other side of the bridge, but it quickly disappeared upon being seen.

Once all the Gragnols were killed, Sweetie Belle was able to take the time to have her first look of Bryyo.

There wasn't much to see, sadly. The area they were in was mostly made of rocky cliffs with ruins and, here and there, giant thorny trees and vines that dwarfed even Flowery Sectonia's vines in thickness. The sky was orange-colored and lots of dark clouds covered it.

The only point of interest she could spot was a large mountain almost totally hidden behind the temple, in the distance. The particularity of the mountain was that it had blue glowing parts, and a shield surrounded it. It was from this mountain that Sweetie Belle could feel all that Phazon energy coming.

"So, this mountain over there is the Leviathan?" the filly asked.

"Yes, it is," Samus answered. Some seconds of silence followed as the two looked at the Leviathan before she continued. "I guess that I should tell you what happened, and the full scale of this mission."

"If you don't mind," Sweetie Belle agreed with a nod.

"One month ago, GF Time, I was called along with three other bounty hunters into the G.F.S. Olympus where we were briefed for our new mission. An unknown virus of Space Pirates origin had suddenly appeared and had spread in the Aurora Units networks of the Federation, and we were to help curing it."

"Aurora Units?"

"They are organic supercomputers that look like giant mechanical brains. They are sapient and supervise everything wherever they serve in, be it in spaceships, government facilities, business, and so on. So you understand how catastrophic it would be for the Federation if the AUs were destroyed."

"Isn't it risky to leave everything in the metaphorical hands of sapient computers? More of all computers that are linked? What if they decide to rebel?"

Sweetie Belle saw Samus' left hand tightening into a fist. After a few seconds, she calmed down from whatever she was reminiscing and answered, "After a... similar supercomputer went rogue and caused the quasi-extinction of a whole civilization, I'm certain that the Federation thought of a way to ensure that this would never happen to them. The best I can give right now is that if a AU decided to go rogue, the others would warn the Federation and the rogue AU would be quickly destroyed. But if the whole network decided to go rogue..."

"Well, I hope that you are right about the Federation thinking of a solution."

"Anyway, before we could start our mission, the Space Pirates suddenly unleashed a huge assault on Norion, a planet hosting an important base of the Federation. Me and the others were immediately dispatched to help in the defense of the base. But then, not far of the planet, a wormhole opened and out of it came a Leviathan. With the orbital defense cannon offline because of the pirates, there was no way to stop it from crashing on the planet, so we had to hurry to put it back online, and we ultimately succeeded, destroying the Leviathan in time. However... just before I reactivated the cannon, Dark Samus came, attacked us, and defeated us. I was barely able to activate the cannon before I lost consciousness and entered a coma that lasted a whole month."

"Darn. Who is this Dark Samus? An evil twin who is coincidentally the leader of the Space Pirates?"

"I wish it was that simple, but no. Dark Samus is an entity made of Phazon that used a Suit that I previously had to take my appearance. I encountered her on a planet named Aether, another planet that was victim of a Leviathan. On Aether, she was obsessed with absorbing as much Phazon as possible, and killed everyone that stood in her way, Space Pirates and others."

"But now, she seems to be working with the pirates," Sweetie Belle remarked.

"Yes... and I have no idea of how this happened. Back on Aether, I was able to kill her. She disappeared in particles of Phazon. But it seems that the pirates screwed up and somehow brought her back. And now, they are working together..."

"And somehow, they are able to send Leviathans. But... I understand why the pirates targeted Norion, but why Bryyo? It doesn't seem to have a strategic importance."

"Bryyo has a lot of Fuel Gel, the fuel used for spaceships. This makes the planet one of the main sources for the Federation. If the Federation was to lose Bryyo, it would cripple a part of their armada."

"Ouch... Yeah, not letting Bryyo fall to Phazon."

"Anyway, so I woke up one month later to discover that my body is now self-producing Phazon with no negative effects on me. I was also told that two more Leviathans had crashed on other planets. One here on Bryyo, and one on Elysia, a planet with an important research station of the Federation. The other Hunters had woken up two weeks earlier and were sent to deal with them, excepted Gandrayda who was sent to find the pirates' stronghold, but the Federation lost contact with the three of them one week later. So the Federation fitted me with this Suit possessing the Phazon Enhancement Device technology to be able to use the Phazon in me and sent me to destroy the Leviathans and find out what happened to the other Hunters."

"So I guess this is everything? Destroy the Leviathans, find the lost Hunters, and on the way, possibly deal with the Space Pirates and Dark Samus?"

"Pretty much. Still up for this?"

"You bet I am! No way I will miss a galactic adventure!"

She was answered by a sigh from Samus before the Hunter moved toward the other side of the ice bridge, quickly followed by the filly. They entered the second part of the temple where they found yet another Reptilicus in ice before they had to jump to a lower level. There, Samus used a grapple made of energy to pull a statue and create a platform that they could use to return to the ice bridge. They then approached a door with a blue shield and Samus fired at it, opening it.

"Why put these shields on doors?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"To ensure that the doors wouldn't be opened by creatures or by people simply passing beside them. Original Chozo technology that spread all over the galaxy. Even Space Pirates use them. Practical."

"I see..."

They passed the door that closed behind them, the blue shield returning.

They were now on a platform above a pit surrounded by other parts of the temple. In front of them, in the center of the pit, was a tower-like structure connected to the passage they came from and to another passage at the left by what seemed to be cables, ending into circular nodes that respectively glowed green and orange. On the platform they were, Sweetie Belle and Samus saw a small circular pedestal also glowing green with the symbol of two snake-like creatures facing each other mouth open, one of the creatures being upside down compared to the other.

They had to pass by another platform on the left, Samus revealing that she could do double jumps, to reach the passage with the orange circle which also had a pedestal with a similar symbol in front of it, this one glowing orange. From there, a badly damaged path passing above the pit was leading to a door had the same colored symbols than on the pedestals, only the creatures in them were touching each others.

The passage under the orange node led to a ledge with another shielded door, but the path didn't go far before it ended in a chasm from which they could see a crashed spaceship.

Samus pointed at the ship. "This is my current objective. In this ship, I may find informations on how to destroy that energy shield around the Leviathan."

"I can transport you if you want," Sweetie belle proposed.

"No need," Samus said as she eyed some object with a yellow diamond that glowed above the chasm. "I think that I know what I need to traverse it, and I don't want to pass beside it. Let's continue to search the area."

Sweetie Belle nodded, and they returned to the pit with the tower structure. They continued to the door with the two symbols (the damaged path partly crumbling under them) and, after some jumps, reached a platform on the central tower where there was a small hole leading into the cables to the orange node. It was too small for Samus, but Sweetie Belle could perfectly enter it.

But much to Sweetie's wonder, Samus turned into a ball and was able to enter in the hole. She then followed the path in the cables to the orange node and was able to insert herself in it where she let out some blue light that exploded. The explosion activated the node, and some yellow liquid (which was Fuel Gel) came out from the ledge into small canals that passed around the orange pedestal before flowing into the pit. The pedestal began to turn, and this made the corresponding symbol on the door spin, its two creatures separating from each other. This also lowered several platforms that would obviously be used to reach a higher platform in the central tower that would let Samus reach the green node to do the same.

Instead, as Samus was dealing with groups of small flying creatures called Phazon Nightbarbs that had been disturbed by the moving platforms, Sweetie Belle flew to the platform and entered the small path to the green nod where she unleashed an explosive energy ball that activated it. Like with the orange node, yellow liquid came from under the door they passed to come here and this ended up unlocking the green lock/symbol on the big door. However, this also caused some structure at the right of the green node to rise, unlocking a new platform for them to jump on, and a similar structure broke and fell on the platform at the left, rendering it unusable. Two creatures called Gel Puffers also came out from behind the raised wall, and Sweetie Belle dealt with them as Samus had to deal with more Nightbarbs that came.

Once all hostile fauna was dead, Samus used the unlocked platform to reach the unlocked door while Sweetie Belle simply flew to it.

"How are you still alive?" the filly then asked to the Hunter. "After turning into a ball, you should be just a mess of flesh and broken bones!"

"Chozo technology and genetic modification," Samus simply answered. "I don't know the details, you would have to ask one of the few Chozo survivors. All I know is that Chozo are able to transform into spheres, and I was given this ability when they modified me with Chozo DNA. I can't do it by myself however, so I need my Suit with the Morpho Ball upgrade."

"You were genetically modified? Wow. I would like to hear about this."

"Long story. This can wait."

"Alright."

The room behind the unlocked door had another small passage where Samus had to use her Morph Ball to continue. The passage actually separated into two, one going left and the other right, but according to Samus' map of the room that she got upon entering it, the door at the end of the left path was locked or blocked. So they decided to explore the right path first, but not before they got rid of some metal orb blocking it. After the passage, they had to kill two insectoid creatures named Hoppers that moved by jumping, attacking either by using their talons or by firing venom. Real pests that were easily killed.

A Reptilicus in ice was blocking the entrance of a tunnel for Samus' Morph Ball, so they went toward the door that had been behind the Hoppers, entering a small room with what Samus called an Energy Tank to make her armor resist longer and some mural containing data telling about the Golden Age of the Bryyonians before the Civil War.

They then returned in the previous tunnel and, this time, took left toward the locked door which revealed to be blocked by a metallic shield with red parts. After avoiding some Bryyonian Shriekbats that dive-bombed them, Samus fired a missile at the red Blast Shield (thus was called these red metallic shields), destroying it. She then fired at the blue shield to open the door so they could finally continue.

In the following hallway, they had to kill some roaming insects named Shelbugs while avoiding their propelled spines as they jumped onto ledges on the way. At the end of the hallway, the exit was blocked by Phazon vines with blue glowing growths that were invulnerable to all attacks excepted Phazon-based ones. Speaking off, Sweetie Belle felt Phazon in some ice beside them. Also, when she flew to an alcove slightly up, she found something that revealed to be a Missile Expansion so Samus could stock more missiles in her Suit.

Once she came back and gave Samus the Missile Expansion, the Hunter activated the PED and went Hypermode, her Suit, more particularly the device on her chest, beginning to glow blue and to release particles of Phazon. She then fired blue beams of Phazon energy at the growths of the vines to destroy them.

"So this is the PED technology? That's powerful!"

"Yeah... But I still don't trust it. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop."

At this moment, a Hopper came from the unblocked path. Sweetie Belle pointed her horn at it and fired a blue beam that exploded it.

Samus' jaw dropped. "Was that a beam of Phazon energy?!"

Sweetie Belle smirked back at her. "Yup! Told you I can manipulate all forms of energies! So firing beams of Phazon energy without risking negative effects on myself? No problem. I will avoid using it around people however. Actually, reassure me, your Suit protects you from Phazon radiations, right?"

"A-as long as I don't touch them," Samus answered, staring at the filly in awe. "So avoid firing at me with these and we will remain in good term."

"Noted."

They followed the path again, passing a blue shield door leading to a court where, after jumping from a ledge, Samus destroyed some plates with her grapple to reveal a Morph Ball tunnel to return on said ledge. Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle stared in awe at the huge destroyed golem that was on the ground in the middle.

But then, as they began to traverse the court, two Reptilicus like the one they had seen earlier from the ice bridge came, one of them literally appearing out of nowhere. Samus quickly scanned one, revealing them to be called Reptilicus Hunters and that they had, thanks to the Phazon corruption, a cloaking field turning them pretty much invisible. Adding to that, they could use energy whips and chakrams. With their two pairs of arms, this made them very dangerous predators. Also, they resisted heat.

Despite this, Samus made short work of the one she targeted with charged beams, and Sweetie Belle killed hers by catching its thrown chakram before throwing it back at it with a lot of strength, horizontally cutting it in two at the waist.

The chakram then embedded in the stone wall behind.

Samus chose to not comment on this as she went toward the exit, Sweetie Belle following her. At the left of the Bryyonian statue, they found suspicious stone plates that Samus scanned, revealing them to be a locking system requiring a specific input to open. So Samus fired at the big plate that glowed red, and three of the smaller ones lit up in a certain order. Following the order, she fired at them, opening them only to reveal another mural behind them.

It talked of the Age of Science where the Bryyonians entered in contact with other civilizations, receiving their technologies and knowledge and giving wisdom in return. However, the titled Lords of Science lost more and more their traditions, not listening to the ones that mourned them. Thus the seeds of the Civil War were planted.

"Here you have it. The reason of the Civil War. The Bryyonians weren't able to find the balance between their future and their past, and this destroyed them. A lesson that the other civilizations must remember if they want to avoid a similar fate," Samus recounted.

"And I will make sure to remember it," Sweetie Belle said seriously.

They then passed the door at the right of the statue and followed the path down the cliffside only to be stopped by another chasm with some Gragnols. No way to pass it at first sight, but they eventually spotted a small tunnel in the wall at the left. Some scans revealed the presence of insects in the tunnel, Snatchers and a Korba. Apparently, the Snatchers swarmed like ants their prey and levitated it to the Korba to be devoured by it. The Korba then expelled what it couldn't digest for the Snatchers to devour.

Great...

But first, they had to find the entrance of the tunnel, which was nowhere to be seen. But another scan revealed a section of the cliffside that, to put it simply, could be destroyed with an explosion.

An explosive ball from Sweetie Belle later and they entered the tunnel.

Some Snatchers and a Korba dead later and they were out with a Missile Expansion.

But again, they found themselves with nowhere to go until Samus scanned a statue with an ornamental panel that could be ripped. So she used her grapple on it and revealed that the statue contained unstable Fuel Gel that she fired at to make it explode.

In the room after the door that had been hidden behind the statue, Samus smiled when she saw what was in it.

"I knew it."

"What is it?" sweetie Belle asked as she stared at the floating capsule.

"An upgrade for my Suit. The upgrade that will let me pass these chasms," Samus answered before she took the capsule and opened it, letting her Suit absorb the upgrade in it. A light then appeared around her left hand, and once it was gone, she showed the back of her hand at the filly. "The Grapple Swing. Remember these yellow glowing diamonds we saw above some chasms and other places? They were targets, and I will now be able to attach my Grapple Beam to them to swing."

"Oooooh. So we explore around and search for upgrades so you can reach new places? Huh. Reminds me of my adventure with Link. And, since you expected this, I understand that this isn't your first dance?"

Samus let out a sigh at this. "Sometime, when I start a new mission, I somehow lose most of my upgrades and I have to find them all over again. And one way or another, I always end up getting them back during said missions."

"Uhuh. Alright, another reason to play along," Sweetie said amused.

"Play along?"

"Yes. If I had wanted, I could have flown around to find whatever creates that shield around the Leviathan and destroy it. Heck, I could probably destroy the shield directly without passing by the generator case or whatever. And the Leviathan would have been memory before you know it. But not only it would have been a lack of respect toward you who is working so hard to accomplish this mission, I would have missed all the fun of adventuring with you to accomplish it. Exploring the world, fighting together, solving puzzles, and now, finding these upgrades to make you whole again."

Samus remained staring silently at Sweetie Belle for a good moment, shocked by what she heard. In the end, she could only say, "That's... nice... Thank you..."

Sweetie Belle giggled. "You're welcome. Now, let's go. We have a mission to complete. I can't wait to kick some Space Pirate butts."