“...and that’s why I tend to just completely disregard the briefings at the beginning of my missions, as they never tell the full goddamn story. And usually by the time it’s all over, everything I’ve been through and had to do bears fuck-all to the original job I was contracted for.”
Samus finished her rather succinct summary as to why going into new missions or areas completely blind never really fazed her anymore… all while she took her first steps through the monstrous trapezoidal entrance into the Lunar Ascension Temple. Her first metallic steps echoed off the entirely hollow interior, a rather familiar omen of discovery that harkened back to each of the ruins she had explored in her travels thus far, Chozo or otherwise.
Twilight’s own response to that seemed to need a bit of processing:
“I… wow. I’m so sorry, Samus. I really have no words. I don’t even know what I’d do without even the tiniest semblance of a clue…”
She then quipped:
“I guess that’s why you’re here, huh?”
Samus smirked.
“I suppose so. And yeah, ‘no words’ is a good description. Because that’s exactly what I offer when I’m told what’s supposed to go down. No sense getting annoyed anymore—comes with the job description.”
Much like the grandiosity of the exterior, the interior was entirely similar in that, what she had seen so far, the entrance never changed material nor color other than what was elementally and environmentally standard from the outside. The same aged, precisely carved and gradient-smooth stone further lended credence to the fact that the whole structure was likely carved into the cliff itself. Even more than that, Samus was still struck at how the Chozo—and now, the ponies—had managed to construct such megaliths that seemed to defy the laws of light and shadow, as her Visor nor eyes didn’t need to adjust to any lack of light exposure from the outside thanks to perfectly-placed, barely-visible skylights.
She wasn’t sure she should’ve been surprised, though. Literal magic existed in this universe—anything was possible.
The lack of darkness didn’t necessitate any form of augmented vision nor the use of her helmet light, which she was thankful for.
Nevertheless, Samus didn’t stand to marvel. She still made forward, leading with her cannon and drawing her aim idly wherever her vision took her. Careful precision accented the hollow footfalls that echoed off the ancient walls, ready for anything to assault her or attempt to ensnare her in its trap, especially since the first massive room she was met with just through the entrance hall had opened up into a vertical cylinder.
What immediately stood out to her was that there were no grand, ornate structures greeting her, unlike her first foray into the Castle of the Two Sisters or even Canterlot Castle… hell, not even like the entrance just outside.
No grand foyers with pillars nor worn busts and flags.
No opulent top floors and balconies to overlook her approach.
Nothing… just a seemingly lightly decorated, barren, high-ceilinged and domed room.
Spanning from the center outward of said domed ceiling, Samus took in what appeared to be a mural of sorts that overtook its entirety: an expansive painting of the night sky with a full moon shining down on the landscape. She noticed a perfect depiction of the temple itself buried in the cliffside. A collection of ponies—unicorn, pegasus, and earth ponies—were scattered along the beach, gazing up into the firmament as an androgynous-looking alicorn flew above, wings and legs all splayed out directly in the center of the full moon. The skillful painting belied its clear age and deterioration with what time had passed since the Crisis…
…or really, whenever this Temple was even last used.
Silence reigned as Samus stopped in her tracks and continued to analyze her situation. The girls gave her plenty of breadth to think in her own head, and ultimately she lowered her cannon to her side after yet another check against her motion tracker that remained as desolate as the area appeared.
With no immediate threats, Samus gazed ponderously around the room, immediately noting that there were three ovular exit-ways out of this foyer-like ‘starting’ room, if she could even call it that. Further, interspersed between these exits into undoubtedly deeper parts of the Temple, there were other murals and what stood out to her as engraved text.
A closer investigation upon looking up directly at the center of the domed ceiling felt warranted once it loomed large over her. She traced an imaginary line from the ceiling down to her feet, where she noted that she was standing atop a textured, circular plane a fourth the size of the room that revealed a rather detailed, carved, two-dimensional surface of the moon itself.
Such a line, from the massive moon embossing on the floor, to the moon on the ceiling, seemed almost too convenient in her mind.
Hmmmm.
Twilight spoke up again:
“This is the Hall of Ascendance. Whoever was next in line to receive their connection to the Moon and the non-solar celestial bodies around the planet would first come here and perform the appropriate ritual, surrounded by other esteemed alicorns.”
Samus nodded as she further memorized her surroundings. Even so, she couldn’t shake the significantly larger moon depiction beneath her boots and how they possibly related to the drawn moon and alicorn directly above her. In all her years of adventure thus far, true coincidences were as hard to come by as a mission brief that gave her all the brass tacks.
“Makes sense.”
“Mhm. But with Celestia’s and Luna’s ascendance to their respective mantles and the continued declining of Imperial Alicorn presence up to that point, this process and the ritual, naturally, haven’t been repeated since, which was well-over a millenia ago.”
Samus hummed in acknowledgement. She had never been one to travel with partners since her policing days, but even she had to admit that with her short time here, Twilight had wrangled away many barriers of the fog of war…. Maybe in the future, she’d actually consider one of those AI programs that the Federation had been practically shoving into her face if they happened to be even half as helpful as Twilight was.
If they didn’t force it upon her at some point by contract condition.
“Right. Anything else? You’re spoiling me for clues—ironic, considering our last talk.”
Twilight giggled.
“Like I mentioned earlier, I can’t really attest to what this process of ‘restoring’ Luna is like. However, I do know that to get access to the Ascendance Chamber, which is above the Ascendance Hall, we’d need to activate the lift that you’re standing on right now…
“...which, needless to say, proved your initial intuition correct. I’m impressed you saw it before I even told you.”
Samus took another gander at the ‘lift’ beneath her feet, and it now made sense why there was proper embossing of the moon depiction here versus anywhere else on the floor. Now with some form of end-goal in mind, Samus was ready to move out.
“You wouldn’t happen to know how to do that? It’s okay if you don’t…”
“Yeahhhh, I don’t. And unless Rarity or Fluttershy know anything, the field trip I took didn’t cover any of the specifics of the ritual itself. We were only allowed to explore for a little bit, marvel at the architecture, ask a few questions… that kind of stuff.”
Rarity and Fluttershy likewise added:
“Sorry, Darling… don’t think I’ll be much use beyond moral support and my element. You do look fabulous, if that helps, Samus.”
“N-No I don’t know anything. I’m—I’m sorry…”
Samus nodded.
“No worries. Blindfold’s on, then.”
Having gotten all the intel she’d get from first-party sources, Samus stepped off the center lift ‘moon’ plate entirely and headed to her direct left. She ambled towards the nearest mural on the wall that caught her eye, all while a sudden rush of coastal winds began to flood in and create some sort of vortex thanks to the geometry of the room… all accompanied by an eerie, lonely moan.
Through it all, as Samus stepped just in front of her target, it turned out that what she thought was another mural painting was just a rather ornate wall of text. It was in no way dissimilar to the various blocks of text, familiar and foreign, that she had seen in various Chozo Ruins or other ruins across her travels.
She readied her scan visor, but simultaneously asked Twilight:
“This mean anything to you?”
Twilight sheepishly replied:
“It's an older Alicorn script. It bears a lot of similarity to modern Equestrian, but it would take me a lot more time to decipher it. You’d be much better off just going by your Scan Visor and instinct from now on, if I’m being completely honest. From what I remember, a lot of the stewards of this place were a little cagey with some questions.”
“Works for me.”
[Scanning…]
[Scan Complete.]
[New Pony Lore has been translated and recorded to your logbook.]
[Translation:
She had finally arrived, brought here in haste for what might very well have been the last ritual of our dying, Alicorn Empire.
We gazed upon her, and noted how small she was. She was but a child in stature compared to her elder sister, yet her age and supposed inexperience was belied by her ability and sheer magical prowess. Even we could feel the hunger within.
She expertly found and activated the glyphs, and upon presenting the remaining, unused three Elements of Harmony, she ascended into the Chamber above, only for her to return stronger than ever, faster than had ever been recorded. With her gift of the Moon and Stars safely nestled in her hooves and bosom, our remnants and all of future Equestria may relish in her majesty.
May her rule be long, her Moon and Stars bright, and may all dreams be pleasant and all Nightmares be vanquished under her graceful, humble touch.
Long Live the Princess of the Night!]
After Samus (and girls, she assumed) all finished reading the time-capsule of a passage, every single one of them muttered the same word simultaneously:
“Glyphs!”
Samus would never be able to understand why the preferred cryptic communications of ancient civilizations happened to be through glyphs, but at this point, she was thankful. She had a multitude of experience with Chozo and Luminoth Glyphs in the very recent past, and they often held the literal and figurative keys to moving onward through her missions.
It seemed like this would be no different, and now armed with a general idea of what she was on the lookout for, Samus immediately began to throw her gaze around the main room, flipping to her OM-Visor as well. In doing so, the same magical currents and specks returned, dancing around her darkened vision.
Twilight cut in:
“Okay, from what I recall… I remember seeing one of these glyphs in the room just beyond the exit here,” she said, and pinged the exit-way that Samus was standing next to, right by the text they just finished reading. Never got an answer as to what it was at the time.
“It’s a small walk, but I vaguely remember it looking like a metallic plate embedded into the wall next to some similar text like we just read. That was a while ago, though… so, not sure if anything changed but given the state of everything, I have no reason to believe it did.”
That sounded fine to Samus, and with those figurative marching orders, she stacked up against the left side of the exit arch to properly peer in with her cannon and visor.
“Welp, might as well check it out and see where it gets us. Thanks, Twilight.”
“Of course! Thank you!”
Light was still ample through the next corridor, and with nothing else of note popping up on her motion tracker, Samus rounded the corner and strode forth into a power-walk, all while she kept her cannon at the low ready. First glances revealed everything she had expected for the most part: a thus-far straight hall carved out of the same, beige-cliff-side, dusty rockface.
Much dustier than the main room, though, as Samus figured coastal winds that managed to worm and meander their way through the area likely kicked up a lot of it over the centuries. Walls were expectedly cracked from disrepair, dereliction, and ultimately, erosion and rock shifts. The latter was likely fueled by the presence of coastal fauna, whose vines weeded their way into the spider-webbing cracks along the ceiling, floor, and both walls. These same plants all sprouted forth in Samus’ path in a colorful display of various, random-colored flowers.
Samus wondered how there possibly could’ve been enough direct light from the outside for such a floral ecosystem to maintain itself… but clearly, as always, life found a way.
Her march forward continued, and she noted a few crumpled, collapsed walls and cave-ins that framed her path… notably blocking off other potential capillary exits off her route. Further, Samus had to stop for a moment when a massive amount of tiny blots began to dot her motion tracker. That’s when she witnessed a line of some of the tiniest crabs she had seen skitter in single-file from crevice to crevice.
A quick scan revealed them to be simple ‘Equis Crabs.’
Samus’ attention and march resumed forward with the arrival of another round of eerie moaning from the galeforce winds jetting through. Interestingly though, rather than feeling a burst of winds throwing her forward, and expecting the need to anchor herself accordingly, she was a bit bewildered to instead be met with the winds coming at her head-on. She nearly lost her balance as the invisible current buffeted against her whilst moving forward.
Hmph. Cross-ventilation. Multiple entrances to the temple?
But if so, what did that mean for potential, hazardous wildlife?
Beyond a small bush that managed to spawn from a massive hole in the floor, Samus came face-to-face with the results of another cave-in… one that, this time, had taken the entire right-most wall with it, leaving nothing but a small opening on the lower left of her path with which to proceed onward.
She wasn’t fazed in the slightest, and as she continued her easy walk to her next obstacle, Twilight mentioned:
“First glyph should be just beyond here. The obstruction is not very sturdy, so you should be able to blow it open pretty easily, I’d think.”
“No need,” answered Samus.
She had already determined by trained eye-measurements that it was easy enough to just roll right underneath. One mental command later, Samus engaged her Morph Ball, rolled through the opening, and phased back to her feet all within the span of a couple seconds.
Though there was silence once she regained her full standing form, she could sense the mild anxiousness from Rarity and Fluttershy… all but confirmed when they spoke their minds themselves:
“Ahh! Samus, do warn a lady before you do that again! I’m still not over the first couple times!”
“Wh-Whoa… that always feels like an out of body experience… wait… am I allowed to talk?”
Twilight, however, was much less surprised this time around.
“Oh. Right, I keep forgetting you can do that.”
“Ya know? Me too, sometimes,” said Samus.
Indeed, just as Twilight had predicted, Samus’ path forward ended in a hard stop at another wall. However, embedded therein was a circular, metallic plate that bore normal resemblance to any plate metal that Samus had seen… practically anywhere. What was different about it was that it appeared to be just some plain-steel plate.
“This is it,” Twilight confirmed. “Exactly how I remembered it.”
Samus leaned in for a closer look, and she could see that, with a better view, not all was as it seemed. In the right light, visible now were the markings of textured metallurgy… and the surface of the plate itself was fashioned into what the Hunter could make out to be a fully-textured, circular moon… much like its larger version back in the Ascendance Hall.
The main difference didn’t stop at its size, but rather, the entire surface was completely blacked out.
And also like Twilight had mentioned, right next to the glyph was a similar wall of text, engraved a layer deep in the wall on smoother stone.
[Scanning…]
[Scan Complete.]
[New Pony Lore has been translated and recorded to your logbook.]
[Translation:
The Moon appears high in the sky as she always has, familiar in sight, feel, and presence. Yet, tonight it truly feels like a New Moon… and as the time for her Ascendance approaches, it truly is likewise a time of new beginnings.
Luna, as brave, headstrong, young, and lively as she is, in her current state, represents such a high-potential unknown. She embodies this pivotal moment… one for a time of introspection for a whole nation and planet as new foundations are laid.
And once those foundations have been laid, a new future shall be forged.]
It suddenly clicked for Samus.
“The glyph… the New Moon. Or Dark Moon or whatever the fuck it is. I think I have an idea of what to expect.”
Twilight agreed.
“Excellent eye! Now, let’s see about ‘activating’ it…”
Samus switched over to her OM-Visor, and the vision she was subjected to was nothing short of mesmerizing. The glyph plate itself seemed magically charged, as an incalculable number of those characteristic, magical flakes, specks, and motes—all pink in color—were seemingly generated directly from it. They flew and jettisoned off of it, carried away on an invisible current with both magic and the winds from outside. As for the plate itself, it glowed dimly and pulsed regularly like a resting heartbeat. The silhouette of the new moon shone with a dim, deep indigo, much in contrast with the pink plate and magic it birthed thereof.
As for activating, unlike the lock to Luna’s Observatory back in Canterlot Castle, there appeared to be no option to interact with it by ‘scanning.’ Samus spamming the lone button on the side of her helmet further reinforced this point, as it simply did nothing.
Twilight, once again, came in clutch and remarked:
“One suggestion, if I may…”
“Go on…”
Her tone was almost challenging, like a teacher would a promising student:
“I have a sneaking hunch that this’ll likely work out like the power crystal we had to get to reactivate the map. Maybe try channeling that usual state of mind, then reach out through the magical realm? I think you can do it yourself without me this time~.”
Samus went expressionless for a moment.
She’s enjoying the teacher role a bit too much. Probably getting off on this somehow.
When Twilight didn’t remark back with anything snarky or protesting, she took this as infallible, if tacit proof that the alicorn couldn’t, in fact, read her mind… and thus far every instance was just extraordinarily coincidental.
Samus then regarded her hand with some implicit questioning on her magical ability, flexed her fingers, and then reached out towards the glyph. She did not physically touch it nor the plate itself, but rather was getting into a proper position to interact with it magically, much like she had with many other objects up to this point.
In another spur of the moment decision, Samus did not close her eyes this time, as she opted to observe the happenings through her OM-Visor. She initiated her mental blackout and entered into a familiar, zen-like trance where all the noise around her faded out entirely into nothingness. She began constructing mental images of herself reaching out into the heart of the glyph itself, and while she was becoming familiar with how magic intertwined itself with her mental state and reacted with her will accordingly, she was still surprised to see the actual results of such will.
The once idle pulsing of the glyph became much more frequent, beating and pulsing more like a particularly fast drumbeat with a deep, accompanying rumble with each pulse. She could see what she likened to spindly fibers sprouting forth from her fingertips and lacing themselves atop the glyph.
All of this happened as she thought about reaching out to said glyph and ‘activating’ it, manifesting it all in her mind as turning a dial or switch from one position to another.
She could feel the connection become ironclad, as Samus felt a firm tug against the depths of her mind that was in no way painful… but felt like flexing a trained muscle just under its limits. That feeling, as if she could ‘connect’ no stronger, was when she understood the magical connection with the glyph to be accepted. Upon this revelation, a pink flurry of specks, flakes, and a sudden, tendrillic current of magic all blanketed and enveloped her arm.
In keeping the connection active, her arm might as well have been welded in place.
Her hand continued to slowly rotate counter-clockwise, as had been custom during intensive magical procedures.
More than that, a reverse, lavender counter-current flowed down her arm, which ultimately broke upon the face of the glyph plate. The mental pull and exertion still literally weighed heavily on her mind, holding her ‘muscle’ firmly in a static position even as if it felt like she was on the verge of beginning to over-exercise or risk ‘tearing.’ Her brow dripped sweat, and her breathing deepened and quickened in kind.
Without any warning, the connection severed itself in a brilliant, brief, if technicolor explosion of magic. Her arm was flung back, though she caught it. All the while, her OM-Visor was suddenly overwhelmed, and had flashbanged her with pure white to such intensity that her Suit automatically failed back to Combat Visor to protect her eyes in that instant.
Even so, after recovering from a half-stumble, Samus switched right back to OM to find the surrounding magic at previous, ambient levels… though the main change was the glyph itself:
The New Moon was still dark, but was bathed in the gentlest, solid iridescence from activated magic. This held true even when defaulting back to Combat Visor a second time. Likewise, through the cracks and building lines that surrounded its placement on the wall, a contrastingly bright current of solid, cyan-blue magic, easily visible to her normal vision, shone through a predetermined path up the wall, over the ceiling and headed back in the direction of the Ascendance Hall.
Samus wordlessly followed its path upward and back, and commented:
“Looks activated to me.”
Twilight was much more enthusiastic in her confirmation:
“YEEEEEEEESSSS FILLY! DAMN fantastic, Samus!
“And based on what I can sense, I think I definitely agree. There’s residual magic flowing off the glyph to where we can see it with our own eyes. I guess all that’s left is to figure out how many there are, and then activate them all.”
Samus was already en route back.
“Yup!” she said just before she re-engaged Morph Ball to pass back under the previous obstruction.
It was simple enough, and yet as she righted her posture back into standing form, Samus stopped all her motions dead. Hand atop her cannon and with one leg stepped in front of the other mid-stride, Samus knew something was instantly wrong.
The winds fell silent. The idle sounds of rustling fauna and plants were gone. The hollow, idle ventilation was not to be heard. The tension in her blood vessels probably went some way towards her echoing heartbeat. All other sounds died out entirely, but more than that, Samus felt like even her headspace had ‘hollowed out.’
A chuckling voice intruded and echoed throughout her mind… so similar to her own, yet so foreign, even though she recognized it from the previous night’s terrible dream.
Samus remained frozen as her eyes went wide and she could feel every hair on her body stand straight. She thought she’d leave dents in her Arm Cannon with how that chuckle made her fingers curl, she felt like no matter how hard, nor how fast she breathed in, she simply couldn’t get enough air.
It was as if she was right behind her when the words flowed over her shoulders.
“Did you truly think I was defeated?”
Another chuckle and the voice faded into the returning winds, along with whatever trance Samus found herself in. All other sounds from her environment faded back in over the next couple seconds as if she had only tuned out for that brief moment.
“...mus?”
“...amus?!”
“Samus! Are you okay??”
“Samus talk to us, filly…”
“What’s going on?!”
Or… so she had thought. Samus shook the rest of her ‘daydream’ from her mind and ran a quick diagnostic on her systems to see if all was as it should have been. At the same time, she calmly moved to reassure her panicking ‘headmates.’
“Yeah… just got lost in thought for a moment. I’m fine, what the hell was all the commotion about?” she asked.
Twilight, sighing with relief, quipped:
“That was a hell of a long moment, Samus. You were completely unresponsive for an entire minute!”
Samus flinched so hard she stood ramrod.
“...what?”
She could practically ‘feel’ everyone nodding in her head.
“Y-Yes, Darling…”
“Twi’s right…”
Twilight, rather than confirm what she had said originally, instead asked a more pertinent question:
“Was it the voice again?”
Samus paused, but only for a couple beats as she reasoned there was no point in hesitating to admit this… not since she spilled everything thus far back on the ship.
“Yeah. The same one…”
Twilight hummed.
“Understood. All I can suggest right now is to ignore it or endure it as best you can… but I don’t think you needed me to tell you that. We still need to press onward though… I’m sorry…”
“No worries. I’m fully aware.”
It wasn’t like Samus had any other options, but with that swift kick in the ass of her urgency, Samus opted to throw herself into an easy run for the entire route back to the Ascension Hall.
Interestingly, the entire way was accented with that same, thin current of magical light which snaked a path through natural cracks in the walls and ceiling. Though her path only took her straight back to the main Hall, she still used this light as a true north to guide her back, fueling her anticipation and suspicion as to what she might actually find once she was back where she started.
And upon coming to an easy halt back in the Ascendance Hall, Samus smirked at seeing that very same stream of hard magic light cut a swathe through the center of the exit-way arch. It then split in two down either side, only to reform at her feet where it further snaked towards the central, massive depiction of the moon’s surface on the floor.
The teal-blue light pooled and bathed the entire northeastern quadrant, and what was once a blank canvas of what she now recognized as another New Moon was replaced by a dimly lit depiction of a crescent. More specifically, Samus knew it as the Waxing Crescent.
Perhaps she smiled a bit more than that. With how much had changed from the activation of a single glyph, her being on the right track was rather obvious.
“Nice. Looks like there’s four glyphs that we’ll need. Seems reasonable,” she wagered.
Morale swelled amongst the girls.
“Makes sense to me! One down, three to go! You got this, Samus!”
Samus peered around, and noted that there were two other exits out of the Ascendance Hall that she had yet to explore.
Checking her options with the help of her OM-Visor, she noted how the route she had just taken did not produce nearly as much free-flowing magical phenomena as when she first entered. As she had further expected, wisps of magical current and specks heralded her forward from the other two possible routes, beckoning her to take her next steps forward into whatever lay ahead deeper in the Temple.
Samus wagered that, by that logic, at least two glyphs (or all three, if the remaining paths were connected and merely looped around into each other) would be found through one of these paths.
In the end, she decided on the northernmost exit, directly opposite of the grand entrance to the temple.
The path forward, though nearly identical in scenery to her first, was much darker this time around. Samus kept a steady hand on her cannon as she plod along… all while eyeing up any nook or cranny that could possibly hide any enemies in an ambush. The grip on her weapon was a little tenser than she normally would afford, but with her most recent ‘episode’ manifesting in the waking world, Samus was not particularly keen in taking the most chances.
Her mind was taken off of processing what had happened earlier when the hall opened up entirely in the blink of an eye. Gone were the claustrophobic ceiling and crumbling walls on either side of her, where instead she was suddenly greeted with a monstrously open room… one which housed an equally monstrous, jagged canyon-like chasm at its center, obstructing her path forward.
The winds from the outside, now unconstrained by tiny-by-comparison tunnels, flowed freely and lashed at her from every angle.
After sparing a few seconds to admire her new surroundings, and double-checking her usual systems to make sure that she was sufficiently alone, Samus drifted forward and made her way straight to the edge of the chasm. Much like what had been the first obstacle of her magical career in her goal of getting to the Castle of the Two Sisters, another canyon stood in her way, though most rudely without any semblance of ability to cross normally.
The need to roll her eyes was powerful, near biological. Samus silently hoped that ‘fording canyons’ wasn’t going to be the theme of her journey on this planet.
No bridges, nor supports could be seen on either side of her, and in a testament to the cliché that even she had to admit to, the Hunter kicked a small rock off the edge, and listened for any impact over the howling winds.
Such an impact did sound… but only after a few unnerving seconds later.
Twilight popped in:
“Hey, check it out! The glyph! It’s on the wall on the other side!”
She pinged Samus’ HUD for good measure, and a scan through OM-Visor indeed confirmed the telltale, dim, pulsing glow of an unactivated glyph. Further, her visor also confirmed that this was the second source of the magical energy that she had seen previously. Armed with this second confirmed observation, Samus surmised that the inactive glyphs produced a magical signature that aided others in finding them, but only if they were sensitive to magic enough to know that the clues were there.
What was more interesting to her was that these same specks and motes floated not only from the glyph in front of her. Further, albeit weaker, magical signatures were carried on windy currents from deep inside the chasm itself, which likewise confirmed Samus’ suspicion that there were likely two glyphs in some closer proximity to each other.
She could tackle that one as the time came, but for now, she turned her full attention to the chasm itself.
Surveying the scene, a quick glance already told her that she wouldn’t be able to jump over it by any measure… even with the help of her Space Jump boots and boosters. There were too many smaller obstacles in her path from back in the hall whence she came to safely use a Speed Booster-enhanced jump.
More than that, even though the rock she sacrificed proved that she wouldn’t fall to her inevitable death (doubly so, based on where she figured her supposed future path was supposed to lead her), the walls of the chasm were chiseled completely flat. Jaggedness aside, further investigation yielded no handholds, ladders, nor steps of any kind.
The mere distance between both sides meant that a wall-jumping strategy was likewise not in the cards.
“Hmmm. Wouldn’t be fun if it was easy…” she thought to herself.
Twilight, again, had some observations.
“Normally this wouldn’t be much of an obstacle… if you were a pony. An alicorn undergoing these trials would simply fly over, which isn’t really an option for you right now, unless there’s something else you’re hiding from me?”
Samus shook her head.
“Nope. Can’t fly… Well, not technically. Don’t have that equipment anymore.”
“...Right. Though, you could technically Flash Teleport to the other side? It’s well-within suitable distance, and you’ve teleported farther.”
That was an option for sure, but that’s when she was reminded of the lingering, low-level pain that had been idling over ‘center’ of her mind since she had activated the first glyph.
Even so, she dealt with significantly worse when she was put in a much more desperate situation like when she needed to break out of Canterlot lest her presence be broken to the Space Pirates. But she was brought back to that visceral, hellish pain… the pain that felt like the deepest parts of her brain were being carved and cored out when she realized too late that she had overexerted her magical ability to the point of nearly burning out.
Samus would rather not get to that level again unless their lives were in danger.
“Honestly, the glyph activation was kinda taxing. I’d rather make sure I’d have enough stamina left to actually do so. And from what I remember, teleportation took a lot out of me…”
Twilight understood immediately.
“Ooooooooh… right. Good point. Then I guess… now what?”
A rather obvious question, but it was one that allowed Samus to zone out for a bit and consider her surroundings.
With other methods of traverse out of the question, the Hunter paid some closer attention towards the walls that lined the edges of the chasm and the gargantuan, open chamber at large. Much like the sides of the chasm itself, both ends of the room were completely smooth, marvels of engineering in their own rights. Further, there were no obvious grapple points, which was most unfortunate and inconsiderate, if Samus was being completely serious.
Though, in flicking her gaze between the wall and the other side of the chasm that met the wall… Samus deduced that maybe there was indeed an acrobatic way over her hurdle.
Samus shrugged to herself. At the very worst, she would plummet to the bottom of the chasm in a most unpleasant fall, but she’d survive no worse for wear… and that would mean that she’d simply pursue the other glyph waiting for them further down the line.
She had a plan.
“Okay… let’s try… this,” she declared.
Samus began backing up a few paces, gauging how much of a running start she’d actually need to do what she wanted to do.
Twilight, however, had questions.
“Oh? What’re you—WHOA!”
Samus took off sprinting at an angle towards the chasm, right where the edge of the drop met the wall of the chamber at large. Legs in tune, and eyes noting the perfect jumpoff point at the last possible moment, she then leapt as far as her Varia Suit-enhanced legs would carry her.
Employing a burst from her Space Jump boosters and somersaulting mid-air, her second action and requisite, expertly practiced timing carried her just enough where her armored feet made contact with the side-wall at an angle. She rode the kinetic energy from her jump as she sprinted along said wall for as long as gravity was willing to put up with her shenanigans… which wasn’t for very long.
But Samus was faster on her feet. Loose wall particles chipped and cascaded off into the void in the wake of her armored stomping, and though she felt her entire body slipping and being welcomed earthbound to the chasms maw, she had one last act to perform.
By the time her feet could no longer run at such an angle without slipping, Samus jumped off the side-wall as hard and far as she could. Another assisted Space Jump and somersault later, she cleared her obstacle entirely when felt her feet made perfect contact with the solid, flat edge of the other side. So close was she that she teetered backwards once, but ‘controlled flailing’ was quick to right her balance.
Samus hopped forward to more secure ground, and unceremoniously made her way towards the second glyph, the spoils of which were now entirely hers for the taking.
“Hah! Now that was pretty cool, I have to say,” Twilight giggled.
“Undoubtedly, Twilight,” commented Rarity. “Speed. Elegance. Precision. Rainbow Dash would certainly have more than a few things to say about that performance.”
Samus smirked, though if she was being honest with herself, she was just happy that Rarity was talking more and more.
“Yeah? Well, I look forward to meeting her very soon when the time comes.”
“Oh you will. You most certainly will. And I think she’ll like you a lot, Samus.”
The second glyph stood distinct on the wall in that there was literally nothing else on the blemishless, aged expanse of stone.
It, however, bore no significant difference in appearance, and from what Samus could see upon first examination, it was exactly as she had anticipated: The same steel, magically charged plate, adorned with the clear depiction of a waxing crescent. The sliver of the moon hummed a brighter, yet gentle pulse of pink hued magic through the symbol itself while the rest of the glyph remained shrouded in darkness.
Samus flicked her eyes just to the left of the glyph and found yet another, beautifully engraved wall of text. Her hand was already on its way to her visor to begin the scan before she even sized it up.
[Scanning…]
[Scan Complete]
[New Pony Lore has been translated and recorded to your logbook.]
[Translation:
Her journey has been a long one. From a frail, skittish Alicorn foal barely worth the figurative weight of the future crown to be placed on her head, she has emerged as a force of nature to be reckoned with. With a hitherto unseen energy and an inferno of determination in her eyes, she has every intention of claiming the mantle over Our Moon and all that surrounds her Lunar Majesty.
From merely the ‘Younger Sister,’ she has formed herself into ‘Luna,’ willing to sacrifice anything and everything to achieve her goal.
For better, or for worse.]
Twilight spoke:
“These texts… We're essentially reading excerpts of Luna’s history from the eyes of the remnants of a fallen empire. It’s so fascinating, if more than a bit surreal.”
Samus agreed, but didn’t acknowledge verbally, opting to get right on with the show. She reached forward and lined up her arm and hand to interact with the glyph, again, without physically touching it. Opting to also keep her eyes open and observe the process through the OM-Visor, Samus got underway, and went through the exact same process and mental manifestations to will the glyph to ‘activate.’ That same concept of a ‘dial’ loomed large in her mind, and she ‘turned’ it by force of magic.
The one thing that was different this time around was that her head had started to ache beyond just passively.
And by the time the process was complete and the second glyph was fully activated, the pain subsided… but didn’t fully dissipate like a normal pressure headache would. Samus slouched upon exhaling, reeling more from this iteration as she could feel her legs shaking, as well as her stomach clearing out like she was over-hungry. She was in-tune enough with her abilities to know that she was beginning to run on fumes for magic, and a burst of intensive magical exertion would likely put her in a similar situation as she was back in Canterlot.
That meant coming to terms with possibly not having enough magical stamina left to activate the remaining two glyphs without some form of rest.
“Alright!” exclaimed Twilight. “Two down… two to go! Well done, Samus!”
The Hunter observed another thin, bright spider web of hardlight magic illuminating a predetermined path up the massive chamber wall, over the jagged ceiling, and ultimately back towards the Ascendance Hall.
“Thanks. Slight problem,” Samus began. “I’m getting fatigued… magically. I can literally feel it in my bones. Any ideas? Otherwise I’ll probably need to take a breather for a few hours.”
“Oooh, yeah we don’t want a repeat of what happened the other day. Luckily, there are ways to ‘recharge’ one’s magic on the fly. Remember the crystals we grabbed the first time around?” she asked.
“Yeah…”
“You, too, can technically siphon off the stored power from any magical crystal you find to replenish your magical stamina.”
“Huh. That’s actually pretty handy.”
Twilight had some caution, and added rather ominously:
“Just be a bit careful, okay? The feeling of instantly getting all your magical reserves topped off is… a rather lovely feeling, and it’s pretty easy to overindulge. Don’t replenish more than you need, or there could be consequences.”
Samus cocked an eyebrow.
“Right…”
Samus walked to the edge of the chasm and peered over the side as Twilight had something else to add:
“Also, crystals themselves may not be necessary. There were designated ‘recharge points’ that were pretty common amongst Alicorn Society and can still be found in pretty much all remaining structures of theirs. In fact, similar technologies are used today, all powered by the power crystals themselves!
“Soooooo… with this being a major Alicorn holy site, along with the sheer magnitude of magic that flows freely, crystal production or some form of recharge ability is all but guaranteed.”
“Thanks, Twi. I’ll keep an eye out. Like I said, I’m not even sure I’d have the energy for another activation sequence.”
“No worries. I’ll monitor in the background.”
With the culmination of that conversation, Samus took a leap of faith and dropped into the black void of the chasm below.
The moment her boots slammed into the ground with all her weight, and she hunched low as her Suit dispersed the massive amount of kinetic energy, she realized that things had gone completely silent once more.
The howling wind that had buffeted her fall somewhat from its sheer power had completely and utterly died out—she was alone in a world hollowed out of sound, shrouded in darkness with only a small amount of light beckoning her from straight through the lane of the chasm. Samus understood that ‘straight ahead’ was likely her next destination… but she knew what was coming next.
She stood tall, regardless.
Even so, how that voice, whom she assumed to be Prime, layered itself over the folds of her brain and seemed to emanate from within her skull, still continued to raise the hairs on her body.
She spoke to her through an air of contempt:
“But did you not end me in my cradle?
“Did you not scatter me to the winds in the collapsing world of darkness?
“Or did you merely fail to end me, time and time again?
“I must admit… this predicament, and our connection eludes me… but it is a gift, nonetheless. Or maybe it isn’t? Is this voice in your head nothing but the ramblings of a mind shattered by the weight of her failures?
“Or perhaps because of those same failures…
“I am very…
“...much…
“...alive.”
Samus’ mental fog subsequently dissipated, and all ambient sound returned to the world as she had expected.
Though, she didn’t give anyone a chance to ask any questions when she preempted with:
“How long was I spaced out?”
It was Fluttershy that brought her up to speed:
“About another minute or so… s-sorry…”
“Thanks, Flutters.”
Samus didn’t hesitate and instantly bounded into a jog from a standstill, and headed straight towards the light of the next area which she expected would lead her out of the bowels of this chasm.
All the while, she noted to herself that Prime wasn’t exactly telling her anything new. Or rather, any underlying thoughts she hadn’t already tortured herself with since she began this line of work in the first place.
She then mentioned out loud:
“Ya know, this is gonna get really annoying if these mental intrusions are gonna become more frequent and last longer. Adding to the list of things to tune out.”
Samus really only meant those words as a bit of a vent of frustration rather than anything else. She wasn’t exactly a complainer… but Twilight’s response to that was more wholehearted and borderline pleading for forgiveness than she was prepared for:
“Maybe for the short term, yeah, that’s all you really can do. Even so, you shouldn’t have to live with this… especially since you’re essentially carrying water for this whole mission. If it weren’t for you, none of this would even be possible! I’m so sorry…”
Samus didn’t get the chance to respond, as Twilight picked right up with a rather pointed declaration.
“I swear to you, personally, Samus… that we’ll figure it all out. We’ll rid you of this once we get Luna back, or at least find a way to mask it until you don’t need to hold onto the Elements anymore. On what remains of my life, I promise we’ll see to this.”
Even so, Samus gave a lopsided smile at her sincerity.
“Don’t worry about it, Twi. I’m sure we’ll sort things out soon enough. Let’s get through this first.”
A good minute of following the only path forward did indeed lead her out of the chasm, following the light through another barely-lit tunnel, until it opened up into another cylindrical room.
Very cylindrical, as when Samus gazed up, not only were the perimeter walls a perfect circle much like the central Ascendance Hall, but she couldn’t even see the ceiling above, at least from her current angle.
No aesthetic features were afforded to her, either, much unlike her starting room—just drab, featureless walls without adornments nor care paid to its appearance. At least the Chozo, in Samus’ mind, still managed to decorate even the most unassuming rooms of their ruins, whatever functions they might’ve played host to in the past.
But this room, which her map affectionately dubbed the ‘Lunar Tower?’ An aesthetic deadzone, with only one defining feature she would come to see.
Advancing further into the interior of the roughly few-meter-wide silo, the one thing that was instantly clear to her was the single pathway afforded to her: up.
Many-a memories flooded back into her mind, harkening back to the days of her return to Zebes when she practically had to scale silo-like caverns much like this one that lead upward using only platforms and cliffsides… as well as the hostile fauna themselves.
No such critters were available, easily confirmed by her motion tracker, but she did notice a few thick platforms available to her to get her started. Platforms which were made out of the same rock and stone as the entire temple were thus far… even the methods of traverse had been carved out of the same cliffside.
Samus didn’t exactly envy the engineers that had to plan, construct, and chisel away everything to this degree of meticulousness.
A glance through OM further directed her upward by way of the ever-beckoning, magical current.
With her path still laid out for her, Samus got a running start towards the closest platform and lept for it. With the aid of her Space Jump boosters, she was able to grab ahold of the ledge of the first platform with her armored hand.
Now hung off the ground at least a good couple meters, Samus’ Power Grip enhancements began engaging, ready to assist. Satisfied that her weight could be easily supported atop these platforms since it hadn’t crumpled and sent her on a rather inconvenient fall back to the base of this tower room, she hoisted herself up.
Her first hurdle out of the way, Samus’ path still continued upward, and she took stock of how many platforms existed. She noted their relative positioning from this new angle, and mentally calculated what would ultimately be the quickest way to clear the area. Another scan through OM confirmed that there weren’t any pesky, invisible platforms that she could make use of, or that would block her path upward.
At least in that particular spectrum.
It was an easy Space Jump to the next platform, which had Samus clear the entire diameter of the silo. The moment she landed, however, the Hunter—a small lifetime of experience in traversing massive heights through platforming under her helmet—bounded straight upward to the platform just above to hoist herself to even newer heights.
And yet another Space Jump to again clear the diameter… and from there, she was greeted with another platform high above her position but in no way out of reach. The catch was that this platform was not a part of the wall structure in the slightest. In fact, it seemed to be the only piece of this temple that was not left where it was milled, and instead was suspended in midair by a metal chain.
It was a smidge too high for her to be able to reach for after a Space Jump, but she had other options available.
Samus glanced over her shoulder and back at the wall that her current platform was attached to. A quick calculation of distance was all she needed, and she charged said wall. Half a second later she was airborne executing a perfectly timed wall-jump. She bounded upward at an angle off her vertical springboard, and with the extra help of her Space Jump boosters, the final platform that she had seen was summited without issue.
Even so, her landing perfectly on her feet had rocked the whole chain-bound platform a little more than she would’ve preferred.
Samus sighed and surveyed her newer surroundings.
Where to go from here?
There were no exits on any part of the perimeter of the tower, even at her current altitude. Her OM-Visor showed no seemingly invisible magical platforms, nor exits hidden behind any other elusive magical trickery. It also further confirmed that the magical currents were active, more intense, and still originating from straight up above her. A cluster of magical specks seemed to gather somewhere in the distance the further she looked up, providing even more of a figurative ‘come hither’ in her quest for the third glyph.
Twilight mentioned:
“I suspect that this is probably where an alicorn would simply fly… or even long-range teleport. If I had to guess, it’s these simple barriers that are meant as a check against non-alicorn beings from getting into places they shouldn’t.”
Samus nodded, but she was much more transfixed with the chain that was holding up the entire platform she was standing on.
With some help from her Power Grip, and happy to note that the chain was narrow enough for her to get a better working grip, she test-lifted herself a couple inches off the platform. The result was rather mundane, as she didn’t even end up disturbing any debris from wherever the ceiling was, shrouded beyond some moisture and a swirling, haze-like veil.
Nothing fell, nothing rattled, and nothing jostled nor slackened. It was a boring result, but it was the best result Samus could’ve hoped for. Even so, she wanted to be a little on the safer side—this was potentially over a thousand years old, and as such, she took a rather abundant heaping of caution.
“Mkay. Sturdy, but if this breaks halfway up, we’re fucked. I’m gonna do this a little more manually. Please hold.”
None of the ponies were able to get a word in before Samus disengaged her Suit. The biting cold air from the consistent winds chilled her face and neck, and further overwhelmed what warmth her Zero Suit provided without the environmental controllers of her Varia Suit. It wouldn’t kill her, but she’d be more than a bit uncomfortable if she had to remain exposed like this for longer than she needed to be.
Both her hands found a secure grip around the chain, and she unceremoniously began the arduous climb upward. She engaged all the muscles that she had honed and chiseled since she was a child, doing similar drills that had her scale entire sides of Chozo structures. Her breathing remained steady and her eyes remained honed just above her as she pulled herself up through modest exertion.
By virtue of using both her hands, she quickly found herself well-passed the point where she could jump off and land safely back on the platform without a decent injury, lest she re-engage her Suit beforehand.
As she ascended into the foggy veil that swirled entropically through the currents of the winds, she wasn’t worried in the slightest. She had been up at much higher altitudes in previous missions without any version of her Power Suit, but she could always call upon it in emergency if she lost her grip—all par for the course.
She pressed on with one hand in front of the other like a well-oiled machine until she ascended another forty-feet or so vertically. By this point, her face had gone numb from the cold… but she was finally through the musty, atmospheric veil and was now met with the moss-covered ceiling of the spire-like room, which heralded the end of her climbing journey.
Breathing heavier, her face held a new layer of dampness to it, and as she surveyed how far she had made it, Samus couldn’t help but break another smirk. Since she was a kid, this was the type of activity she lived for… seeing just how far she could push her body when she had some time to herself.
Samus then made a note that she’d need to go for a proper, aimless run and gun through the Everfree when this was all over, and see what else there was to climb, blow through, or just see.
Back in the present, Samus surveyed her new surroundings and was afforded two choices of exit: one on either side of her on opposite ends of the silo. To her left was an archway typical of what she had seen in the temple so far… one that could easily accommodate her height and offered nothing else to the imagination but a way out of here.
To her right, by contrast, looked more like an entrance to some ventilation shaft rather than a proper exit. Whatever it was, it was carved in such a way where it was perfectly circular, which told Samus that it was not in any way done through erosion or time—it was completely intentional, like pretty much everything else she had experienced here thus far.
What made it a little more interesting, and counter to her rather coincidental experiences over her many travels, was that it was even too small for her morph ball to pass through… at least, just by eyeballing it.
So she either had to choose a decidedly normal path, or she’d have to remain armorless for a little bit longer.
If she had her OM-Visor available to her right now, Samus could make a much more educated guess on which path to take. She didn’t feel comfortable re-equipping it, lest worst happen and this chain, in fact, couldn’t handle a sudden weight increase commensurate with her armorsuit.
Ergo, with her Suit disengaged, her magical ability was not available to her.
Samus blinked, and then brought one of her hands up to eye-level.
Or is it…?
It made sense that she couldn’t hear any of the girls in her head right now. It felt oddly empty, yeah, but that was also because Twilight and company were integrated with her systems, proper… not just magically attached to her. But the magic flowing from the Elements of Harmony themselves?
She reasoned that her systems didn’t exactly specify any limitation to her sensitivity so long as she was still holding onto the Elements.
Still clinging to the support chain with one hand, Samus leveled her right arm and hand outward. She concentrated as if she were casting any spell thus far, just to get some sort of sign.
Her entire hand flared alight, having come alive with a neon-luminous, purple lightshow before dissipating once Samus cut the dummy spell.
She huffed, victorious.
Perfect.
Having confirmed that at least a basic magical sensitivity and function was available to her without her Suit being engaged, she then wondered if she could use some equivalent to OM without the visor itself? She knew there was really only one way to find out, but if she had to guess, it would be more difficult to do so since her suit was doing most of the heavy lifting by just allowing her to ‘select’ abilities at will. Without that crutch, how much would it strain her mind?
Samus closed her eyes and channeled the usual state of mind she always had. She envisioned her will through the magical plane as Twilight had taught her, and after a couple deep breaths, she re-opened her eyes.
To some surprise from her, she was greeted with a world of dull darkness that she had become more than acquainted with when gazing through her OM-Visor. All that stirred were the flakes, specks, and general, transparent currents of dull magenta magic that she had likewise been all too used to seeing. She did notice a gentle, background tug on her mind most characteristic of any complex spell she’d cast, as this was actually taking some effort for her to maintain.
She now felt unnaturally hungry… and was getting hungrier.
The most intriguing part of the experience was when Samus, as she drew her gaze around, focused on the darkened chain when she noticed an errant reflection… one that became more prominent as she leaned in, and softer when she pulled back.
Her eyes were glowing.
…okay that’s kinda cool.
Mind back on the mission, Samus looked to the larger exit, and saw a rather conspicuous amount of magical flow and aura emanating from beyond the threshold… which to her, was a pretty telltale indicator of the right path forward. And yet, as she gazed in the opposite direction, Samus was thrown for a loop when she was greeted with a dull, solid, pulsing light… one whose frequency was slower than that of the two glyphs she worked with, yet still called to her like a moth to a flame.
And Samus felt stupid acknowledging it as such. But in the end, this exercise didn’t really help her make her case. Both paths could be correct. Most recent experience told her that she should follow the magical currents, as the glyphs gave them off.
Yet, as she turned back to the smaller tunnel, she couldn’t deny that it truly did play the right notes to her more adventurous side. In the end, it was all still towards completing the mission, right?
Goddamnit, fine.
Samus made her choice, and either way, she knew she’d need to use a bit more of her abilities regardless.
Channeling some extra focus via a few deep breaths to further steel herself, she braced her feet on the chain and lept towards the tunnel as far as the awkward angle would let her springboard. From there, she timed herself and manifested all necessary conditions to instigate a single Flash Teleportation. With the literal blink of an eye, she had rematerialized a split second later…
…with her hands gripping the circular edge while she hung limply off the side.
Samus had to admit, though: the stretch to her shoulders and back was phenomenal, and she had exactly zero qualm with remaining here for a few extra seconds to relish in the feeling.
She spared a single glance over her shoulder and down below, where she couldn’t even see the ground from whence she ascended. If anything, it fascinated her rather than churning her stomach—years of training and real-world experience made sure of that.
Up and at ‘em!
She finally, shakily, hoisted herself up, but the size of the tunnel opening meant that she needed to immediately insert herself on all-fours… only to then flatten her form further. Even so, she found her back scraping up against the high wall as she crawled through practically prone, further confirming that her Morph Ball would in no way fit through.
Focusing forward with heavier breathing from the awkward positioning, she pushed further, occasionally needing to press errant locks of her hair back behind her ears when they came loose… all while she flicked back and forth between her magical sight to confirm that she was still on the right track.
Indeed, something dead ahead was continuing to give off a gently pulsing light, though rather than a heartbeat as Samus would liken the glyphs, whatever this was…
…it seemed like it was breathing.
Even so, how the magical light tickled at a biological center in her body was a feeling she wasn’t used to. She attributed it fully to the sixth sense she gained through magic, and Samus felt that there were some foreign feelings to her that would manifest with her abilities. Being drawn to magic like this, at least through her rationale, made some form of sense… even did not like it in the slightest, and she knew such a sense and its inherent compulsion could be manipulated.
Possibly like how it was, right this moment. Or maybe it was simply this ‘magical hunger’ that was having this effect on her?
She soon had her answer though, as once she forded the tunnel with her Paralyzer Pistol drawn, Samus rose to her feet and checked all corners…
…though she quickly found that there was not all that much to actually check.
It was a small, blocky room no larger than an average bedroom and not at all dissimilar to any of the capillary rooms that she would end up finding that held occasional abilities, map rooms, save stations, and anything else she might end up finding useful on whatever mission she happened to be on at the time.
There was a single statue, however—significantly different from the rest of the cliffside temple material, but made to look like it was sprouting out of the floor like a tree—bore the appearance of some nameless, featureless alicorn from the torso, up. Its hooves reared up and its wings splayed outward, its featureless head was dutifully tilted towards her in some form of stony reverence, with an oddly large horn.
Unsure of what it might be exactly, Samus re-engaged her Suit… though she didn’t get to remotely engage her Scan Visor before she received a sudden tsunami of heaping of praise from Twilight:
“OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH THAT WAS AMAZING, SAMUS! THE INGENUITY!” she excitedly rambled.
“You’ve gotten SOOOO good in such a short time! So many unicorns take years to combine acrobatics with magic! I just… I don’t know what to say!”
The Hunter chuckled, and sarcastically added:
“Careful now, you’ll get me all red in the face with praise like that. Besides, it helped that I had a great teacher.”
Twilight giggled in kind before she intercepted Samus’ next question, and promptly launched into such a teaching mode:
“Hah! As if! But before you ask… I knew I was correct when I told you: In front of you is one such Magic Recharge Point, or MRP. The bust is made of pure Magicite with a crystalline interior. This allows it to collect the excess magic that runs off from the environment, as well as facilitate a donor-like ability.
“Alicorns and unicorns can simply tap their horns against the MRP’s horn or whatever the recharge key happens to be. With a mental handshake, it’ll replenish all their magical energy and top off their stamina. This is done by both direct infusion and passive recharge, like a battery… in addition to soothing the aches and general wear and tear that come from consistent magical use.”
“So, like muscles from exercise?” Samus asked.
“Yes! Great analogy! And as for how to recharge… clearly you don’t have a horn but you’ve been getting by just fine using your left hand as the main point of contact. Grasping the horn should do the trick, I’d think… though realistically? I don’t think it really matters,” explained Twilight.
Samus, for her part, was more than amicable to the simplicity.
“Oh… that’s it? Okay then.”
Ever the woman of action, Samus wastes no time in pondering and instead reached forward and grasped the middle of the stony horn with abandon… gently, but firmly as Twilight had instructed.
Unlike with other magical happenings, Samus did not have to wait for any other cues, as the once lifeless, carved eyes of the bust lit up a brilliant blue the mere moment her magically-sensitive digits made contact. The horn was likewise suddenly awash in a field of magic that blanketed Samus’ entire, armored hand.
The Hunter could feel the telltale tingle of the foreign magical touch even through the armor of her palm… but even more than that, she was graced with the inexplicable feeling of a light, feathery, nurturing, caressing touch to the deepest reaches of her mind. It felt almost exactly like when she was wordlessly asked to mentally ‘allow’ Twilight or the girls into her systems, and it felt utterly unthreatening.
And so, she let ‘it’ in, and Samus stiffened, startled, when she felt the sheer surge of magical energy ingress through her hand… an influx that energized and electrified her entire body from her core to the fringes of her fingers and toes.
Any and all magical fatigue… hell, even physical or imagined, was washed away at an instant in a torrent of re-energizing magic that flowed both into and over her entire form. The entire act produced a pseudo, brief overshield-like effect that flickered a dull blue around her Varia Suit for a couple, lingering seconds.
Her hunger had been sated.
The whole process itself had lasted not more than five seconds, despite the considerable change Samus felt through her body and mind. All then fell silent and lifeless again as the Magic Recharge Point finished its job admirably. With no further input from Samus, the foreign magical connection with her mind had been gently severed.
Samus unceremoniously pulled her hand back and let it fall limply by her side as she normally would, then pivoted on her heels and turned back to the tunnel from which she arrived. Her HUD confirmed everything she had suspected from the experience:
[Full recharge complete. All Weapons and Energy have been replenished. Magical Stamina has been restored.]
As for how she felt?
Samus couldn’t remember when she felt this physically great in the last couple of days. If she had to liken it to anything, it was like waking up from the most efficient sleep… with an energy that she could literally bound out of bed with the highest morale and take on the day.
“Huh. Goddamn I feel more fuckin’ alive than I have in a long time. You weren’t joking, Twi,” she joked.
The girls all giggled.
“Well, looks like this was the best outcome. Looks like there’s only one way forward, then,” said Twilight
“Yep…” Samus said as she got to her knees, and before she disengaged her suit to crawl back through the tunnel, she added.
“Back to work.”
It was easy enough to crawl back through to the silo-esque tower, but it was a little more difficult sliding somewhat sideways and over the edge to properly hang without suffering a precipitous, fatal restart to the ground.
She was able to manage it with a little bit of extra effort, nonetheless… and after reversing her previous strategy in using her powerful legs and a Flash Teleport, she re-materialized with some kinetic energy still in play by the time she made contact with the central chain she had been clinging onto previously.
This time, she rode said kinetic energy, swung her weight around, and expertly springboarded off the chain itself to enter a second teleportation spell. This time, she landed squarely on her feet, low in a fighting stance, just beyond the threshold of the exit across from the MRP tunnel entrance.
Samus victoriously re-engaged her Varia Suit, again, to Twilight’s continued heaping of praise, though this time much more measured in temper:
“You really are getting good at this. Gosh, if you continue at this pace, I’m gonna run out of things to teach you!”
The Hunter smirked, but opted not to respond but with a gentle shake of her head as she continued down the next hall.
She rounded the next corner with her cannon in the lead, but rather than any enemies waiting to ambush her and meeting the business end of her mainstay… she was met with just another hall that ended rather abruptly. Shuffling forward whilst keeping a continued eye on her motion tracker, Samus also found the third glyph bolted to the same wall that put an end to her continued advancement forward.
The whole endeavor to hunt for the third glyph of four now seemed rather… anticlimactic, if Samus was putting the whole Temple arc into perspective.
She had not even the slightest pleasure of needing to fire her weapon yet.
Samus examined the glyph in front of her—the same moon, but in Waxing Gibbous—all too ready to claim it and get just that much closer to restoring, reconstituting or resurrecting Luna.
She wasn’t sure which one was technically true. Perhaps a little bit of all columns?
“Seems… abrupt,” Samus spoke such thoughts succinctly.
“Agreed,” said Twilight. “I also expected more winding and general deathtraps awaiting us in the depths of the Temple but… then again, this is technically only part of a larger story.”
Like with the other glyphs, it came bundled with another set of text in the wall just off to the right side for her reading pleasure.
[Scanning…]
[Scan Complete.]
[New Pony Lore has been translated and recorded to logbook.]
[Translation:
Everything is falling into place. All the preparations have been finalized and Luna now has all she needs to take the mantle of ascension. She goes forth with a zeal not seen since her sister took up the mantle of the Sun… and arguably, even moreso.
In our eyes, she is the physical manifestation of a new, Fuller Moon. Victory is hers to achieve. She only need grasp it… and by the will of the Gods, the Moon, and the Magical Universe at large, she will undoubtedly seize it.]
Dismissing her HUD, Samus then repeated the same activation sequence for the glyph, and noted this time that her head and mind felt perfectly up to the task, unburdened by any residual pains nor fatigue from wear and tear.
Successful a third time, Samus watched as the now-active glyph projected, like its predecessors, a line of hard magic across the ceiling and back down the hall and out presumably all the way towards the Ascendance Hall.
Even with her third objective sectured, Samus still braced herself and took pause. She steadied her breathing and glanced from side to side while keeping her ears peeled for any changes in the environmental sound around her… she fully anticipated the telltale sign of Prime’s mental intrusion to begin in earnest with the usual time distortion.
And yet, nothing out of the ordinary seemed readily apparent. Through the pause, Twilight seemed to whisper her concerns in a confirming tone:
“Samus? Another episode?”
The Hunter shook her head, though the ability to even hear Twilight as clear as day further confirmed to hear that no mind tricks were being played on her at this time.
“No. Not right now… was kinda expecting it, though. I’m fine, but uhhh…”
Samus scoured her line of sight in front and behind her, puzzled if she was missing something.
“There’s nowhere else to go? And we know there’s one more glyph to grab. Guessing I missed something on the way here?”
“I don’t think so…” pondered Twilight. “Girls, did you notice anything interesting we might’ve missed?”
“None, dear.”
“N-Nothing that stood out to me? I might’ve not been paying the best attention… I’m sorry…”
Twilight again built upon those answers with her own frustration:
“And I’ve been really putting feelers out there, monitoring constantly. If you missed some major magical clue or something, I would’ve let you know immediately and routed you elsewhere!
“But either way, there are options available to us… but they’re rather precise, so we’d need to have an idea where to look or we’d be here for years trying to figure this out.”
A quick glance around revealed nothing of interesting note. Everything was where she had expected it to be, nor had the glyph changed in the few seconds of deliberation. The same whooshings and tormented moanings of the wind system remained alive and active. Samus even jogged back towards the edge of the tower she scaled to see if anything new happened as a result of the glyph’s activation.
Yet, other than the spider-webbing line of magical hardlight trailing down the edge of the chamber, that was it.
Samus idled back around the corner, content with waiting by the glyph until she either got bored, or Twilight figured out something else.
“Well… if you’re saying there’s no need to do a more thorough search, then I got nothing.”
That was, until her entire body was overcome with a foreboding anxiousness and toe-curling paranoia… the same exact, visceral feeling that she experienced back in Canterlot Castle.
Samus’ gaze pierced straight forward and she drew her cannon as Twilight simultaneously detected the magical aberration:
“Entity! It’s… wait—oh…?”
Samus took stock of the appearance of teal-blue streaks of magic that suddenly lingered between her and the glyph. Idly glowing, flashing, and floating, a tangled web of ethereal magic coalesced into an incomplete, hologram-like apparition that Samus would entirely liken to a ‘ghost.’
Samus watched as by unknown means, more defining, feminine features sprouted in the form of mane, tail, wings, and a horn. The formerly androgynous, now feminine-looking alicorn took on a still-incomplete, yet much more familiar form… one whose gaze she could feel at the periphery of her battle-hardened senses.
A gaze that compelled Samus to soften her guard when she felt an inexplicably nurturing touch to her aetheric center, quelling her unease in an instant.
The Hunter lowered her canon a couple inches, then cocked her head as she softly called:
“Luna?”