As Samus and Spike paused in their story to take a drink, Twilight was the first to speak up. "Before you continue, I was wondering something." Once she had Samus' attention, she continued. "You mentioned gathering data from Space Pirate computer logs. What sort of things did that data cover?"
Samus shrugged. "Any number of things. The progress of various objectives, rules and regulations regarding a specific activity, the behavior of their higher ups, observations of wildlife... Most commonly, anything considered a threat to the Space Pirate mission."
"I bet that means there were a lot about you, weren't there?" Rainbow asked with a chuckle.
Samus shrugged. "I did manage to be quite a threat, I admit."
"Did they talk about Spike as well?" Rarity asked curiously.
"Nearly as much as me, actually," Samus replied.
"Can...can we read them?" Twilight asked eagerly.
Smiling, Samus tapped out a sequence on the data pad Spike had brought with him. "I've got them all in chronological order here, though the Pirate dating system doesn't really make very much sense. But I was able to put them in some sort of order based on content."
Everyone present crowded around the data pad to look at the entries.
An unusual creature has been spotted on Tallon IV. All signs point to it not being native. However, we did not bring it with us. It appears to be a predator based on its behavior, as it was witnessed in several locations attempting to eat things, generally with negative results for the creature. However, it took no damage from biting a Sap Sac and being blasted across a cave, despite the Sac being larger than it.
While at first merely a curiosity, the creature stumbled across two Phazon canisters. It was witnessed devouring the contents of one, growing rapidly as it did so. Unlike every other creature exposed to the material - including our own soldiers - it showed no negative side effects of mutation. As best our scientists are able to determine from second hand accounts, the Phazon acted as a growth accelerator, enhancing natural development.
All Pirates are to keep an eye out for this creature. If it can be tamed, it will be an excellent addition to our forces. If it can be cloned, our Phazon research will possibly create an army of unstoppable killing machines, depending on how far Phazon can make the creature grow.
"Unstoppable killing machines?" Twilight despaired, looking up at Spike worriedly.
"Well, if you take away everything that makes him such a nice guy, I'd say that's pretty accurate for how he is now," Rainbow pointed out, deciding - for whatever reason - to sit on Spike's head.
"He's certainly impressive, isn't he?" Rarity agreed, fluttering her eyelashes at Spike. The dragon blushed, scratching at his chin, not entirely sure how to respond.
"But...but Spike's not a monster like that!" Twilight whimpered.
"Course he ain't, Twi," Applejack pointed out. "It's like Rainbow said. Physically, Spike is pretty close to unstoppable by our standards now, and he would'na let nothin' stop him if'n his friends and family were in danger." She chuckled. "Ah shudder ta imagine what he'd do ta anything that tried ta hurt any o' us now, just rememberin' how protective he used to get when he was a wee lil' guy."
Rainbow Dash glanced away, blushing a bit, glad she already had her wings extended to balance on Spike's head.
"The Space Pirates don't think of other creatures as creatures," Samus explained. "They see all that lives as resources, tools, or obstacles...even their own numbers. For the Space Pirates, referring to something as an unstoppable killing machine is the highest compliment their mindset can give."
"Those poor crawdad people..." Fluttershy whimpered softly.
Discord stared at her. "You...you actually feel sorry for these Space Pirates?"
"It's not their fault their lives are so bleak that all they know is conquest," Fluttershy pointed out. "Not on an individual basis, anyway. If they had a leader that respected friendship and individuality, maybe they wouldn't have turned out so bad..."
As many stared at Fluttershy in disbelief, Celestia smirked at Luna and Discord. "And that's why I picked her to rehabilitate Discord," she pointed out smugly.
As Luna blew a raspberry at her sister, Discord chuckled. "Because she would see and find the good in even someone like me?" he asked. "Touche, Princess. Touche." He tousled Fluttershy's mane affectionately, making her giggle. He then stared in consternation as her mane landed naturally in its perfect arrangement as it always was, making Rarity turn a little green with envy.
"Next entry!" Pinkie called out eagerly, as she and the CMC were the only ones still gathered around the data pad.
The reptilian creature shows remarkable adaptive capabilities. It has been seen to breathe fire, climb walls, swim faster than an Aqua Trooper's hydropack, and break our hardest metals in its bare hands. Magma gives the creature no harm, and it consumes everything in its path.
Scientists have determined that it is a nymph form of a creature similar to Lord Ridley. However, given the capabilities it has shown so far, and the amount of Phazon and other things it consumes to build and maintain its strength, projections indicate that it will surpass Lord Ridley's current abilities by a wide margin once it reaches adulthood.
Once this was reported to Space Pirate High Command, the directive came down. This data is not to reach Lord Ridley. The subject is to be captured if possible, to be trained to serve the Space Pirate Empire. If this is successful, Lord Ridley may prove obsolete.
"Wait!" Spike snapped out, hearing that part. "They...they wanted to replace Ridley with me?"
"Apparently," Samus replied. "Something tells me Ridley would have been very unhappy when he heard about that."
"Maybe that's why he was so aggressive with me back on Zebes when we went there the second time," Spike mused thoughtfully.
Giggling, Pinkie brought up the next entry.
The creature serves the Hunter!
The creature began putting out a massive amount of energy, drawing our troops from all across the planet to investigate. When they arrived, they found the creature in a comatose state as it underwent metamorphosis, an ideal time to capture and contain it. However, when our troops moved in, the Hunter stood in their way and attacked with intense ferocity. Always before when attacked by such large amounts of forces, the Hunter would focus on a mobile strategy, evading fire while firing back. This time, however, she remained steadfast between our troops and the creature.
Realizing this, we seized on the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: eliminate the Hunter and acquire the creature. We sent in our newest troops, who utilized reverse engineered weapons that the Hunter had used against us. The Hunter's equipment was limited, and the Plasma Trooper should have been able to finish her off...
The Plasma Trooper's log was recovered. The creature awoke and slew the Trooper, and then obeyed the Hunter's directives. With the creature at her side, the Hunter's threat has now exceeded SSS level. Directive to capture the creature remains, however.
Scootaloo whistled in appreciation. "They were certainly scared of you two," she stated, beaming up at Samus and Spike.
"With good reason!" Spike preened.
Sweetie Belle eagerly called up the next entry.
Lord Ridley has fallen!
Projections have proven accurate. Once the creature gained wings and the ability to fly, it engaged Lord Ridley in the air. While they seemed evenly matched, the other dragon eventually proved the mightier.
Lord Ridley was recovered, and has demanded many augmentations to make himself superior in midair combat for next time he faces the dragon. These augmentations will take some time to complete.
"Well, they certainly have a one track mind," Apple Bloom pointed out.
"Say Scootaloo, did you ever check to see if you got a flying Cutie Mark?" Pinkie Pie asked.
Gasping, Scootaloo spun in the air to check her flank. "...nuts," she pouted, staring at her still blank flank.
"No Dragon Riding Cutie Marks for us, either," Sweetie Belle pouted, checking her own and Apple Bloom's flanks.
Several of the mares giggled at their antics. Luna reached forward and called up the last Pirate Log entry on Spike.
The Hunter's Dragon is not invincible. It has been seen to take serious harm from acid, high intensity Phazon radiation, and the atmosphere of the dark shadow of Aether. Investigation is underway as to why these particular hazards threaten the creature, and - should we be able to capture it - how they might be used to tame it, and then circumvented once we have a cloned army of it.
"Yes," Samus told the Crusaders as she closed the data pad. "The Space Pirates have a very one track mind..."