//------------------------------//
// 34.8 C.M.C.G.F.C.S.E. 
// Story: Metroid Equis 
// by Flammenwerfer 
//------------------------------//


Metroid Equis

 

Chapter 34.8

 

C.M.C.G.F.C.S.E.

 



 

[Cutie Mark Crusader’s Clubhouse | ~3.5 Months After Crater Collapse | 10:34 PM]

 



 
As the months since the conflict passed, life continued on normally… though senses of what “normal” meant were somewhat changing and changing rapidly. Much as Samus had anticipated, a trade agreement between the Galactic Federation as an entity and Equis as a planet was signed with great fanfare, with Equestria as its central hub in what would be a network spanning all participating nations. The demand for new goods and services had already sprung up from both sides: new technology and means of production from the Federation traded for abundant, magically renewable, seemingly inexhaustible resources from Equestria and other nations. Princess Celestia was eager to see new relationships between the humans and her ponies foster and grow, while Luna was itching for the aforementioned new technology, both civilian and military. Both drives would ultimately lead to a stronger nation and a stronger union, after all.  
 
As a result, the backdrop of the last two weeks had been several Federation Ships touching down in the expansive, lush Ponyville Fields to deliver and receive the first batches of traded goods: basic capital stock and metal ores respectively. This resulted in several frigate and cruiser-sized ships from a now solidified fleet presence touching down and returning to orbit in an almost predictable, cyclic pattern. Federation Marines helped to secure the area, though no one seriously thought there would be any true incidents. Marines even held some ‘unauthorized’ tours of the ships and the processes for some of the curious ponies, though no one said anything in protest. It was, however, rumored that a few marines and ponies scored some dates with each other as a result of the seemingly forced mingling.
 
The G.F.S Stratus Light was the latest ship to be currently ‘docked’ in Ponyville Fields, and its presence definitely did not go unnoticed by Apple Bloom. She clearly wished to get inside of it and see what it was like, on top of any new cutie mark opportunities that may arise, but naturally, Applejack would have absolutely none of it. Of course, the young filly was no stranger to disobeying her sister’s orders for the greater good of Cutie Mark Crusading, much like her other two friends. Thus, with a little bit of hasty thought, a tentative plan was devised:
 
Scootaloo would sleep over at the farm, which was a fairly normal occurrence outside of the conflict; what complicated things was that Sweetie Belle would not be able to use that ruse due to things she had to do with Rarity the following morning. Thus, Sweetie would have to sneak out and meet Apple Bloom and Scootaloo at the clubhouse which, according to her assurances, would be little issue. From there, they would all sneak through Ponyville and somehow get inside the ship to have a look around. Where they went from there was still somewhat up for debate, but either way, the two fillies were waiting on the aforementioned third before they could set their plan in motion.
 
“Gosh-darnit, where the heck’s that unicorn?!” an iconic, yet much younger-sounding southern drawl huffed out in irritation. Apple Bloom, clad in her usual red bow was standing on her hind legs and leaning on the windowsill of their clubhouse, looking out for any sign of Sweetie Belle who was supposed to arrive fifteen minutes prior. Scootaloo, who was laying down more towards the central podium where they held their ‘club meetings,’ rolled her eyes.
 
“Please, Apple Bloom, on time for her is like half an hour late. It’s not like that ship’s gonna go anywhere anyway.”
 
“That’s just it, though, if it’s anything like the last few ships!” Apple Bloom rebutted as she pushed herself off the windowsill and placed her hooves back on the floor as she walked over to Scootaloo. “They’ve been here all day and they could be gone any minute!”
 
“I’m not so sure about that. When I walked over here earlier the humans were still working quite a bit. They could be staying the entire night for all we know,” Scootaloo countered. Before Apple Bloom could say anything to that, a few steps coming up the ladder could be heard, and upon turning their gazes to the disturbance, they found that Sweetie Belle was just arriving.
 
“There ya are!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, trotting over to meet the unicorn at the entrance.
 
“Sorry, girls, getting out of the Boutique was a lot harder than I thought it would be,” the curly-maned filly apologized, setting down a little knapsack she was carrying on her back.
 
“What happened?” Scootaloo inquired, also getting up and joining the other two fillies.
 
“Rarity was still up and reading some terrible romance novel, bawling her eyes out. I gotta say, I’m kinda glad we’re doing something because I don’t think I would’ve been able to sleep anyway.” Sweetie explained. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both grimaced slightly at the revelation, completely excusing the unicorn for her late arrival.
 
“So, now that we’re all here,” Apple Bloom spoke up again. “We should probably get going. I don’t wanna get there and find out the ship is gone.”
 
“By how loud those things are I think we’d know if it was leaving,” Scootaloo reasoned.
 
“Yeah you’re probably right, but let’s get going either way. There’s bound to be some cool stuff in there!” Apple Bloom continued, grabbing a bag of tools and strapping it to herself before moving to exit the Treehouse. The others were behind her.
 
“Oh definitely, but was there anything specific we were looking for?” Sweetie asked, descending from the treehouse after Apple Bloom, Scootaloo right behind her.
 
“Not really and that’s what’s exciting to me! Think of all the new ways we could get our cutie marks that we don’t even know about!” Apple Bloom answered excitedly as her hooves made contact with the ground. Her friends seemed to mirror her own eagerness.
 
“Yeah! Heck, we might even get our cutie marks in just exploring something that nopony has explored yet!” Scootaloo also added.
 
“Alright, let’s go!” Sweetie urged, and like that, the three were off. Skirting through a section of the apple orchards, it did not take too long to leave Sweet Apple Acres. The issue now was getting through Ponyville at this time of night without getting spotted. It was not that Ponyville was dangerous (quite the contrary, actually), but that pretty much everypony knew everypony else and as such, the trio would likely be rounded up if they were seen sneaking around. While that provided an obstacle with necessary risk, ultimately the three knew all the shortcuts and figurative back-alleys through the town, and there would not be that many ponies in the town proper, at least, that was the hope.
 
Since it was Friday, there would still be some nightlife towards the center of town, but thankfully the fillies did not have to pass through that portion. Instead they opted to dodge through the residential areas and now-inactive shopping districts while sticking strictly to the shadows. That was all easy enough, but the most difficult obstacle by far would be crossing into Ponyville Fields, dodging Marines, and then actually getting onto the ship.
 
The Crusaders finally reached the edge of the town, peeking out on top of one another from behind a building into the open field. There rested the G.F.S Stratus Light in all of her glory: the massive frigate that aided in the final battle up in the Frozen North. There were seemingly thousands of metal crates containing who-knew-what, and there were dozens of Marines, completely armored-up, all going about their business and diligently working.
 
“Okay this may be a bit harder than I thought,” Apple Bloom conceded.
 
“Pfft. Ya think?” Sweetie Belle retorted sarcastically.
 
“You can go back and listen to Rarity cry over a book if ya want, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom suggested with her own sarcasm, causing Scootaloo to have to stifle a giggle.
 
“Nah, I’ll take sneaking around humans and weird stuff any day.”
 
“Cool, but how are we getting on? I really don’t think they’ll just let us walk in.” Scootaloo voiced.
 
“Well what choice do we have but walkin’ right in? We just can’t let ‘em see us is all,” Apple Bloom replied, which was the truth. It was not like Sweetie Belle could teleport them all inside or something similar. They would figuratively have to ‘brute force’ a solution, but in a clever way. They could easily use their much smaller sizes to their advantage and sneak around, though the Crusaders were blissfully unaware of Federation Marine Armorsuits coming equipped with Motion Trackers. The three would have to navigate what was essentially a maze of supplies in order to reach the ship proper.
 
“Alright… follow me!”
 
Apple Bloom took point and the three dashed across the open road and into a larger knoll of grass which bordered Ponyville Park. Peeking out, they spied two marines, both male, in armor standing at the periphery and making light conversation with each other, most likely a token guard force. They stood without their helmets (which left them without their motion trackers, much to the fillies’ dumb luck) idly chatting with each other. Right next to them, however, was a small wall of the aforementioned metallic crates. A quick dash while the marines weren’t looking would allow them to be unseen.
 
“There!” Scootaloo whispered while pointing to the stack of crates. “Behind those, go!”
 
Moving as almost a single entity, the three made a dash for the first wall of crates. Scootaloo happened to accidentally trip over herself and Sweetie Belle quickly dragged her behind the wall before the marines could even notice, though one turned his attention to that area where he thought there was sudden movement.
 
“Hey, did you see that?” one of them asked the other. 

“No? See what?”

“Huh, that was weird. Whatever. Like I was saying, I really don’t think they’d be up to the whole…” the two began talking animatedly after a few seconds, the first guard dismissing what he thought he saw. The three fillies just on the other side of the crates listened for a few more seconds before Apple Bloom motioned to another, this time ‘L-shaped’ stack of even larger crates, each with the Federation Insignia on them. Right before they were about to lunge into the shadow it created, Apple Bloom spotted three marines about to walk past right in front of them.
 
“Shhh wait for it…”
 
The three fillies hunched down to as low a profile as their little bodies could manage, being obscured by the shadow cast by the stack height and moonlight. They dared not move a muscle, and again, it was a perfect coincidence that they did not attempt to adjust themselves, as the trio of marines that marched past were fully helmeted, ergo motion trackers. Said trackers did not pick up their movements as they strode past, gossiping with each other about nothing in particular. Seemingly in the clear, Apple Bloom ushered Scootaloo and Sweetie across into a makeshift corridor which obscured them from direct vision. The earth filly peeked out, looked both ways, and then bounded across the pathway.
 
The process continued for the next forty-five minutes, figuratively stepping on eggshells across the field towards the Stratus Light. There were quite a few close calls where the three Crusaders had to run away to other cover once or twice when marines actually moved to investigate disturbances and things that they thought they saw. Often times, also due to the luck of the fillies, marines who noticed their motion tracker blip often attributed the anomalies to their comrades walking about, affording the three friends more breathing room.
 
Finally, after navigating the maze of soldiers and supplies, the Crusaders arrived at the Loading Bay, which was just a large section of the ship opened up to the world. Dozens of marines were working inside and once the fillies peeked out and saw what waited for them, they immediately knew there would be absolutely no way of getting inside through there.
 
“Yeah… we’re never getting in there,” Scootaloo voiced; the others silently agreed.
 
“We can’t quit now! There’s gotta be another way inside…” Apple Bloom protested, scanning for any other possible entrances into the Frigate.
 
“Wait, look over there!” Sweetie Belle pointed out a lone, helmetless marine walking towards the back of the ship where its engines would be.
 
“Good catch, Sweetie. Let’s follow him,” Apple Bloom said, Scootaloo leading the three by attempting to navigate a safe path through the supply crates towards the back of the ship. Sweetie Belle did what she could in keeping an eye on the marine to see if anything special happened. He disappeared around the end of the ship, where Sweetie lost track of him, but by the time that they were all able to get a better look, the three fillies spied the aforementioned marine facing towards the expansive Fields while smoking a cigarette. Luck smiled upon the Crusaders even more when Scootaloo silently pointed out that there was an open door leading into the ship, and said door happened to lead into the engine and electrical rooms.
 
“Awesome! Let’s all move in three… two… one… go!” Apple Bloom signaled, all three of them quickly checking that they would be clear in dashing over open ground, and then actually doing so. Attempting to be as light on their hooves as possible, and aided by the acoustic dampening of the grassy field, they were able to scramble inside the lone door without detection and quickly put some distance between themselves and that one marine in case he came back inside. The trio turned wordlessly into the nearest corridor perpendicular to their entrance path, which just so happened to be the Stratus Light’s engine room.
 



 

[Twilight’s Library | 11:17 PM]

 



 
Despite all of the commotion going on in Ponyville Fields right next to the town, it was still peaceful inside the Library where Twilight was sitting on her favorite pillow with a tome in front of her, reading peacefully into the night. Spike had gone to sleep and Samus had come home extra late from the Crystal Empire around nine, refused dinner, and passed out completely. There was not much conversation involved and that was okay; Twilight could easily see that the Hunter was dog-tired. That left her with some peace and quiet to read a tome on magical theory, and she was more than content with continuing until she slumped over in the book, but several seemingly frantic knocks at the front door changed that for her.
 
“What the…?!” she exclaimed with a start, staring back at the door with a glare as the knocking continued. Her quiet was being disturbed and she had two sleeping friends; this would not stand.
 
“Who in tartarus is knocking at this time of night??” Twilight muttered under her breath as she stomped over to the door and opened it slightly. She spied a frantic looking Applejack and Rarity.
 
“You two do realize what time it is, right?” the unicorn asked, clearly annoyed.
 
“We know, sugarcube, but it’s urgent… the fillies’ve gone missing!” Applejack replied, Twilight instantly feeling bad about projecting her irritation outward.
 
“W-What?”
 
“Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo are all missing. They snuck out and wandered off!” Rarity spoke with urgency and fear. Twilight quickly mirrored their concern as she opened the door fully.
 
“Okay, they couldn’t have gone that far… where do you think they could’ve gone off to, because I sure haven’t seen them,” she wondered.
 
“Apple Bloom had been eyein’ up that ship that’s been in the Fields all day; they have to be there!” Applejack reasoned, drawing on the fact that the three Crusaders had explored every nook and cranny in Ponyville, and that the de facto landing field was the only place of interest. Apple Bloom even talked to her about maybe getting on for a tour when AJ had said no; it was no question!
 
“Indeed, but we tried to alert one of the humans but they won’t let anypony on the ship, nor do they say that they’ve seen one filly, let alone three!” Rarity added. Twilight tentatively agreed but was not entirely sure what her friends wanted her specifically to do. She would surely search with them if they asked.
 
“Alright alright… how can I help?” she asked, rubbing her eyes and ready to move out immediately.
 
“Come with us… but we need to get on that ship. Samus can get us on so we have to wake her,” Rarity stated.
 
“Yeah… ummm…” Twilight began with uncertainty, averting her gaze somewhat awkwardly. “The thing is, Samus had a really long week, got home late, and just passed out. I can give you an hour’s worth of reasons why waking her up right now to search for some fillies would be a bad idea… I mean, I can come with you and we can probably get…”
 
“Twilight, she’s the only one who can get us on there as quickly as possible; I’m pretty sure I know her, she’d understand! She can be mad at us all she wants but we need her help. I’m waking her up,” Applejack added resolutely, turning and bounding to Samus’ door. Twilight knew she had a point, and followed cautiously after them. Applejack confidently knocked harshly—but not too harshly—on the bedroom door and awaited a response. The trio could hear sudden shuffling, then a loud thump… then slow, heavy steps getting louder and louder.
 
Then the door creaked open partially.
 
The three mares suddenly lost a bit of their confidence when they happened on Samus, long hair completely unkempt and disheveled, clad in wrinkled pajamas and a sunken facial expression that conveyed pure fatigue. Her eyes bore her normal stoic gaze laced with the far-off stare of just having suddenly woken up.
 
The Hunter did not speak, waiting on the mares to say something since there wasn’t the urgency of battle or invasion, and the trio quickly got the message that they had better start speaking immediately.
 
“Samus!” Applejack took the lead. “We really apologize but we need your help! Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo wandered off and we’re pretty sure they snuck into the ship in the field! The marines won’t let us on and I don’t think they’re looking for ‘em and we need to get them off before something bad could happen, please can you get us on the ship?!” Applejack pleaded, nearly groveling at the dead-tired Hunter’s feet. Samus only looked down at her and said nothing, keeping the same expression for a few seconds before closing the door. After a few odd moments of waiting and the sounds of shuffling around behind the door, Samus re-emerged with her Zero Suit, her hair still completely unkempt.
 
“Come with me,” she spoke softly yet with an air of complete authority, her voice slightly cracking from adjusting from sleep. The three mares sighed in relief and quickly fell into step behind her. Once they exited the library, Samus engaged her Suit sans helmet, letting her un-brushed hair flow down her armored back. Gazing up, Rarity still found Samus’ typical stoic look, she having seemingly ‘woken up’ a tad, but nevertheless, she was most likely annoyed to hell.
 
Samus lead the group with a purpose onto Ponyville Fields and, shrugging off the stares of working marines, they continued on and sauntered up to the entrance of the massive cargo-hold of the Stratus Light. A few marines greeted them as they got close, rifles attached to their backs, and appearing from the sides of the enormous loading bay, as it was a sensitive area.
 
“Samus Aran… and company,” one of the marines greeted as they closed the distance between them. Samus held her hand behind her to stay the mares. “What can we do for you tonight?”
 
“Yeah, I’ve been told by my friends here that they have reason to believe their children have wandered onto your ship. As well, I’ve also been told that you will not let them on to search, nor will you investigate.”
 
“That’s correct. We cannot let them on for security reasons and there has been no report, nor any sighting on security feeds of any wandering ponies within the confines of the ship,” the commanding officer responded.
 
“I can understand the first reason, yet you won’t investigate the possibility of lost children on the ship due to simply not seeing them? Last time I checked my definitions, if you saw them, they wouldn’t be lost,” Samus countered, her voice lowering somewhat and already getting irritated with the marines at the ridiculousness of the situation.
 
“W-Well, it’s a little more complicated than you put it…”
 
“No. No it really isn’t. In fact, I’m pretty sure you’re violating a few statutes for not investigating a missing individual possibly aboard your vessel… but that’s fine, if you don’t want to look for them, I will,” Samus stated and moved to step forward, but realized that the four marines were not moving out of her way. Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity looked on with suspense, not wanting Samus to get in trouble for helping them out, yet they knew they had no place in this conversation.
 
“I apologize, but you’re not getting on this ship.”
 
Samus looked at them stoically, her already fatigued and irritated complexion darkening. She had absolutely no patience for this right now. She was exhausted, somewhat hungry, annoyed, her friends had missing family, and now there were uncooperative troops. None of this would stand at all.
 
“If you don’t get out of my way you’re going to find yourself on medical leave,” Samus threatened impatiently. The other three marines that stood with the commanding officer subtly took half a step back. The scene attracted the attention of other working marines, while the Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity were wondering if Samus was about to start a fight. The commanding soldier moved his right arm behind his back to grab his rifle.
 
“I have orders to—”
 
Samus promptly raised her Arm Cannon to the low ready, her left hand easing atop the barrel, which found itself angled towards the ground separating Samus from the marines. 
 
“I can draw on you first if you need more convincing.”
 
Three of the marines immediately backed off completely, lifting their hands up a bit defensively and abandoning their commanding officer. Any other marines that happened to be watching the spectacle quickly turned and went back to work.
 
“J-Just make it quick,” the officer nervously conceded, losing his spine after perceiving a credible threat from the Hunter.
 
“Thank you kindly.” Samus then turned back to the ponies. “Stay here, I’ll be back in a bit. Let me know if they so much as look at you wrong,” she instructed and walked past the marines into the loading bay. Twilight could’ve sworn she heard a softly muttered ‘pricks’ coming from Samus as she strolled on. The commanding officer turned to his subordinates with an annoyed expression under his visor.
 
“You three assholes are absolutely useless to me.”
 



 
“Whoa…” Scootaloo breathed in astonishment as she and her friends trotted through the seemingly deserted engine room. They were all looking in three different directions, eyes scanning over the massive housings of the Frigate’s engines as well as all the other equipment and machinery surrounding it. They had little idea what any of it was, naturally.
 
“What is all this stuff?” Apple Bloom asked nopony in particular, knowing full well that neither of her friends would have any answers to that.
 
“All I know is that these three giant things are the engines, like the Ponyville Express train,” Sweetie replied, gesturing to the three engine housings above them.
 
“Yeah those look as big as the Ponyville Express,” Scootaloo said, somewhat wary of their size as the group passed under one of them. “But what could we even do to get our cutie marks?”
 
That was a good question. The trio stopped and they all looked at each other as they attempted to come up with some inkling of an idea as to what to do in such a foreign environment. Clearly, the Crusaders had not planned completely ahead.
 
“Oh! What if we tried fixin’ stuff?” Apple Bloom suggested. Sweetie and Scootaloo looked at her oddly.
 
“Ummm… we don’t even know what like, all of the things in here are, how could we possibly fix anything?” Scootaloo replied.
 
“Not huge things, I mean little things! A leak is a leak and a crack is a crack regardless. We could get our cutie marks in working with new technology!” Apple Bloom elaborated and hypothesized, reigniting Scootaloo’s and Sweetie Belle’s excitement.
 
“Yeah, alright! Then where should we start?” Sweetie asked, looking around for anything that could possibly use ‘fixing.’ The three then split up and began searching while they were still alone. There appeared to be nothing of interest at first glance within the engine room, as it was quite clean and nothing looked out of maintenance. However, that was a different story when the gang wandered into the electrical room.
 
“Girls, look at this!” Scootaloo called. Apple Bloom and Sweetie quickly ran to her side, the pegasus gesturing to some weird, glowing, bent, node-looking thing jutting out from the wall, looking almost wilted. Amongst a bunch of neatly organized wires, it was quite an eyesore.
 
“What is it?” Sweetie asked, cocking her head to the left.
 
“I dunno but it sure as sugar doesn’t belong! It even looks worn out and beat up!” Apple Bloom commented, looking it over. “I don’t think we can take it out but maybe we can bend it straight. Sweetie, can ya use your magic for that?”
 
“Sure I can try!” Sweetie stated and lit her horn up. She magically grasped the node and with some exertion, attempted to bend it upward so it would jut outward perfectly straight.
 
“Yeah! There we go!” Scootaloo urged on as the unknown node slowly began to be righted.
 



 

[G.F.S. Stratus Light’s Bridge]

 



 
“What the…?” the comms officer on the bridge questioned as extranet signal strength began deteriorating rapidly. She opened a diagnostic window on her console in attempt to correct the problem, but her outburst had already attracted the attention of the ship’s commander.
 
“Is there a problem, Lieutenant?” the Commander of the Stratus Light asked in a subtle Germanic accent as he walked from the observation window towards the black-haired woman’s desk.
 
“Sir, our extranet connection is wildly fluctuating in strength. What the hell are they unloading down there?”
 
“Can you diagnose it?” the Commander asked, leaning over his officer and observing the connection windows on her screen.
 
“That’s what I’m attempting to do—aaand it’s gone,” the Lieutenant cut herself off as the extranet connection completely flatlined unexpectedly.
 



 

[Engine Room]

 



 
Sweetie Belle was still working on straightening out the stubborn (what they did not know was the extranet) node while Apple Bloom was looking on. Scootaloo had wandered a few dozen feet down the end of the room in order to search for any other possible things to fix.
 
“Nnngh… gah! There!” Sweetie Belle cut off her magic as the node was now perfectly jutting outward… though it clearly appeared to have gone agains its intended bending path.
 
“Great work, Sweetie!” Apple Bloom praised as her unicorn friend continued to work. She then moved to trot elsewhere. “When you’re done there, we can look for other—WHOA!” Her musings were cut off as she tripped on a small mass of wires with her entire weight in motion, completely severing the set from the wall next to the extranet node.
 



 

[Bridge]

 



 
“—aaand it’s gone,” the Lieutenant cut herself off as the extranet connection completely flatlined unexpectedly. The Commander pursed his lips as he stood up, moving to his observation podium and pressing a specific button.
 
“Engineering, can we get a unit down to Electrical to check out the extranet?”
 
No response after fifteen seconds.
 
“Engineering! Get down to Electrical, now!” the Commander ordered. Again, there was no response after twenty seconds.
 
“Ugh, if they’re drunk on the job again I’m having them court-martialed.”
 
“Uhhh sir? I just completed the diagnostic and we’ve also lost ship-wide voice communications,” the Lieutenant called over her shoulder informatively.
 
“What the f…” he ran both of his palms down his face. “Alright, get a message to Engineering to high-tail their asses to electrical and find out what the hell is going on.”
 
“Yes sir. Typing that up now and… shit.”
 
“Oh what now!?” the Commander asked, losing his patience by the second.
 
“The exchange network has been powered off… there’s no text-based communication either.”
 
“Fuck’s sake…” the ship’s leader stomped to the exit of the bridge, slid the door open, and peered to the marine standing guard on the left.
 
“You. Get your ass to Engineering and tell them to make themselves useful in Electrical. The extranet, comms, and exchange network are all down.”
 
“Yes sir!”
 



 

[Engine Room]

 



 
“That should do it,” Apple Bloom said as she reconnected all the wires that she had torn from their sockets. However, what she did not realize was that they were all jumbled, disorganized, and plugged into the wrong ports… all twelve of them.
 
“Did anypony get their cutie marks yet?” Scootaloo called out from around the artificial gravity generator.
 
“Nope!” Sweetie Belle replied instantly from the side of the water purification power supply. Apple Bloom eagerly looked to her flank and still found it as blank as ever.
 
“Nuh-uh!”
 
The three fillies froze in their steps, however, when someone cleared their throat loudly. Said sound emanated from right behind Apple Bloom and she, reluctantly, looked behind her. Staring down at her was none other than Samus who held her usual stoic gaze, though this time it was laced with irritation. The other two fillies looked on and Samus pointed to both of them, beckoning them over with one finger. All three Crusaders’ ears were flattened against their head and Samus pointed to the exit.
 
“Let’s go,” she ordered, and her tone brooked no protest. Apple Bloom fell into step next to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo next to her, starting their trek out the entrance.
 
Samus did not have much trouble finding the three, as she had just inferred their position from a lack of sighting. Since they had not been spotted within the ship’s main decks, chances were that they were on the lower ones, and as such, there were only the Engine, Electrical, and Cargo Decks to choose from.
 
Samus had led the three fillies out the way they had come in, and they left just in time before an engineer had finally come in to investigate what was causing problems throughout the ship. She happened upon the now mangled extranet node and the completely mismatched and unkempt wires, her jaw going completely slack.
 
“Oh what. The. FUCK?!”
 



 
With Samus leading the way out, it was a simple matter of reuniting the three fillies with Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight. The original guard marines that had given them trouble looked on disbelievingly as Samus emerged from their periphery with three little fillies in tow. As expected, AJ and Rarity immediately galloped over while Samus shot a subtle glare at the marines.
 
“What in tarnation is the matter with ya three??” Applejack asked, demanding answers.
 
“S-Sorry sis… we just were trying to get our cutie marks in—”
 
“What could ya possibly want to get a cutie mark of in this here ship?” Applejack cut her off, not wanting to hear it at all. 
 
“A cutie mark should be the least of your worries, girls,” Samus spoke up, addressing the fillies. “You were wandering around in the Engine and Electrical rooms messing with things; consider yourself lucky that you were not seriously hurt.”

“Wandering around in the… Sweetie Belle I’ve taught you better than that!” Rarity took her turn in scolding her younger sister. 

“And Scootaloo your parents will definitely be hearing about this!” Applejack added, addressing the pegasus, who lowered her head in understanding, much like the rest of the fillies who opted to say nothing. They’d be getting a much more dynamic and dedicated earful later. Twilight only looked on and shook her head with some humor at the plight of the Crusaders, this was not the first time that any of them had gotten into danger or wandered off… and she would bet hard currency that it would not be the last. 

“Well, it looks like you three have this covered. So, I’m going to bed,” Samus announced, unequipping her Varia Suit entirely but before she sauntered off, she gently pulled Rarity and Applejack to the side. 

“I had to threaten marines. Please don’t let this happen again,” Samus sternly ordered but in the sense of a friend scolding other friends. Nevertheless, she was completely serious: she did not enjoy having to threaten a fight with Federation Troops (even though they annoyed her greatly anyway). 

“Y-You got it, partner,” Applejack answered softly. 

“Crystal clear, Samus,” Rarity added in kind. The two mares shot another set of glares at the three Crusaders.

Samus then left the six of them to their own devices, lazily strolling through the organized chaos back towards the library so she could resume the sleep she was so irritatingly pulled from.