Applejack screamed, gripping her hat tightly, not letting the wind take it away. Looking around, she saw the rest of the non-pegasus ponies flailing and screaming like she was. Taking out some rope from her saddlebags, she twirled the lasso and threw the rope onto an edge of the rocky wall. Acting quickly, she grabbed two other ponies, and held onto the rope tightly.
“You two alright?” Applejack asked the two guards, her eyes filled with concern.
The shorter guard smiled gratefully, and nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”
Applejack smiled. “That’s good to hear, so what’s your name?”
“Tiger Lily,” the short one, a mare, replied.
“Officer Might,” the gruff stallion responded.
“Well greetings Officer, Tiger,” Applejack said, tipping her hat a bit. “Hope you don’t mind, but it seems like we’re going to stuck here for a while.” She laughed dryly. The other two grumbled.
“It would appear so,” Might said.
“Applejack!”
The three looked down and saw Rainbow Dash, along with two other pegasi flying behind her.
“Rainbow, up here!” she yelled, waving her hooves.
"Hey AJ! So, how's it hanging?" Rainbow asked, chuckling.
Applejack rolled her eyes. "Oh ha, ha, ha. Just get us down from here!"
Rainbow flew up towards the three, grabbing Applejack while the other two pegasi grabbed the two other ponies.
Reaching the cavern’s floor, the three pegasi placed the ponies on the ground. Applejack sighed in relief, seeing everypony from her group alright. “Is everypony alright? Nopony’s hurt?” Everypony around shook their head, saying they were alright.
“Well that’s good.” Applejack smiled, then briefly paused and scanned the area around them. “This place is pretty big for one critter.”
Fluttershy looked around the cave and frowned, “Maybe he has some friends living here as well?”
“Well I’m not going to stick around and find out,” Rainbow declared. “Just because this thing didn’t attack us doesn’t mean the others won’t! Let’s just grab my stuff and leave!”
The others nodded in agreement. Slowly the group started walking deeper into the cavern, all of them dreading what they might meet at the creature’s nest.
Applejack stopped, looking at the group of ponies, her eyes widening when she noticed one of them missing. “Where’s Willow?”
The group stopped, all of them looking around to find the missing pony.
“Um… right here!” Everyone turned around, finding the missing pony hiding behind a rock. “You guys don’t have to wait for me… I’ll just wait here until you guys come back!”
“Willow, get over here!” Might yelled, stomping his hoof.
“B-but!” she stuttered, poking her head from behind the rock. Seeing the look on Might’s face, she hesitantly complied, walking away from the rock. Applejack trotted closer to her, seeing if she was hurt, she sighed in relief seeing that she was alright.
Willow was a short, green unicorn mare. She wore an old dirty lab coat that only partially covered her magnifying glass cutie mark. The coat held a notebook and a pencil in one pocket, and in her other pocket was a case for the glasses she wore and a bottle of water. Her black mane was tied up into a ponytail.
Willow’s legs shook as she stood next to the group, Applejack, seeing this, decided to go comfort the researcher.
“Hey, it’s alright.” She patted the unicorn’s back. “I know you’re scared, but don’t worry, if anything tries to come after you, these guys will be sure to get them off your back,” Applejack said, trying to comfort her. “Just stay close to us and we’ll be sure to keep you safe, okay?”
Willow nodded nervously, following the group deeper into the cave.
Alex grunted, plucking some of the new sprouts the Onion spat out. He sighed, taking a small break from plucking the sprouts. Reaching behind him, Alex took out the Koppad he found on the ship. Tapping the screen, he checked the area around him, noticing the red dots moving around the map.
Alex stood up, plucking a few more sprouts and heading towards the area where he left the Pikmin to build the bridge. Noticing that the ground was starting to shake, he took a step back and grabbed the nearest Pikmin.
Bursting from the ground, a swarm of Sheargrubs crawled out, immediately heading towards him. Alex threw the Pikmin at the nearest male Sheargrub, crushing its back and killing it instantly. Dispatching the Sheargurbs with no Pikmin deaths, Alex sent five Pikmin with the carcasses back to the Onion while he crossed the stone bridge deeper into the forest.
Spotting some Pellet Posies, Alex threw some Pikmin at them to bring back some nectar. Feeling that one more would be sufficient for his army of Pikmin, Alex went to grab one when he noticed it was not there any more. Seeing some drag marks on the grass, he started following them to find out where the nectar vanished to. Alex’s short walk led him to a Breadbug carrying the pellet towards what looked like a mound of dirt.
Seeing the Breadbug crawl into the dirt pile, Alex took a closer look and realized it was a hole in the ground. Looking down he saw the two blue eyes quickly vanish into the inky darkness of the cave. Alex gave some thought to it. Circling the cave, he looked back to his squad of Pikmin. Returning his gaze to the cave, he shook his head. Before he could take another step, the Koppad started beeping. When he pulled out and looked at it, his eyes widened.
“There’s a signal coming from that cave…” Alex whispered in shock. He immediately thought back to yesterday, when the ship had picked up two signals coming from the island. “Maybe this was a signal the ship picked up on?” Alex asked himself, debating whether he should risk going in there. “There could be a chance that the signal could be another human…” Taking a deep breath, he called the fifty-five Pikmin over and jumped into the hole.
“I really wish I’d brought a better flashlight…” Alex grumbled, shaking the flashlight violently in an attempt to get it to work. After a few seconds, Alex gritted his teeth in frustration, throwing the flashlight ahead of him.
“Moo!”
Looking down, he noticed a red pikmin trying to get his attention. “Hi?” The Pikmin pointed towards the a small patch of grass, pulling on his suit to get him to go there.
“Mmm!”
Alex stared at the Pikmin with a confused look. Walking towards the patch of grass, he spotted a bright yellow file. “Huh?” He picked up the file, examining it. “What’s this…?” His eyes widened. Reaching onto the small backpack the suit had, he pulled out a handheld device with a screen on the middle of it. “Hopefully the Koppad will be able to read this data file.” Inserting the file onto the Koppad, he waited patiently for it to load.
“Pikmin Habits:
Walking near a patch of grass will cause them to start plucking it, this grass may also contain nectar which will aid them in maturing into flower Pikmin.”
“A patch of grass?” Alex stared at the screen. Seeing the Pikmin begin to drink some of the yellow liquid that came out of the grass, his eyes widened when he saw the leaf in his head turn into a flower. “That’s right! With nectar, leaf Pikmin will turn into flowers!” Alex gripped the whistle, signaling the Pikmin to charge at the grass and drink any nectar there was. A few seconds later, Alex smiled at the sight of his whole army having flowers instead of leaves.
Looking back at the Koppad’s screen, Alex continued to walk towards the narrow tunnel, following the flashing light in the middle of the screen. As he kept walking with his Pikmin, he noticed a light at the end. Seeing that his Koppad was alerting him the signal was nearby, he started sprinting, his Pikmin picking up speed as well. When he reached the end of the tunnel, the surroundings opened up and he stood shocked at what he saw.
“Hmm… wooden floors, wooden train tracks, and wooden toys. So their nests really are built this way…” Alex thought aloud, impressed at the size of his surroundings. He looked at the large wooden toy train with a sense of unease, his thoughts drifting to the reason to why there would be an oversized children’s toy in this island. “Now why would someone come here?” Alex pondered to himself while looking for the origin of the signal.
Seeing a few Anode Beetles blocking the fastest path, Alex launched a few Pikmin to flip them over and ordered a swarm to finish them off. Just when he started to move forward, he heard a loud hissing sound from above. He quickly looked up just in time to see a Volatile Dweevil fall from the roof, and dodged out of the way. Getting up from the close call, he watched the bomb rocks, meant for the Pikmin and himself, obliterate the Dweevils instead. Checking to see if the Pikmin were alright, Alex carried on, exploring the area. Even though he was starting to shiver in fear, he never once looked back at the Anode Dweevil carrying what looked like the Shock Therapist.
Carefully avoiding the wooden train tracks and the occasional Dwarf Bulbear, Alex did not expect what was happening before his eyes. All over the floor were scores of Dweevils and Breadbugs stealing remains of bugs, treasures, and fallen bugs of the opposite side. Noticing a Volatile Dweevil to his right, Alex started rounding up Pikmin in preparation to retreat when it exploded right next to a Breadbug. Alex looked on, confused, when he saw another Dweevil take the carcass and scurry the same way it came from. Looking to his left allowed him to see a Caustic Dweevil flail around as two Breadbugs dragged it into their nest.
“Well… this is certainly new.” Alex accidentally said aloud before covering the helmet part in front of his mouth.
These few words that slipped caused every creature to stop dead silent, and look over towards Alex and his merry Pikmin. Even the Breadbugs carrying live Dweevils stopped and stared at the human. Seeing Dweevils of all colors charge at him replaced the fear with adrenalin, and he started to sprint away, hopefully to find the entrance to a sublevel.
“I just had to open my big mouth!” Alex cursed while running. He heard a high pitched whine before hearing a soft thud.
An explosion rang out not too far behind him and a Pikmin death was heard from the body of the tripped Pikmin. When Alex was in sight of the entrance to the next sublevel, a screech of distress was heard. Turning around confused, he noticed that the Breadbugs started stealing the items the Dweevils had ‘obtained’. None of the greedy Dweevils payed attention to either the captain or the Pikmin as they escaped deeper into the dungeon. Falling into the darkness towards the next sublevel, the sounds of explosions and cries were starting to be drowned out by the whines of Pikmin.
Looking at his Koppad, Chris, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and thirty blue Pikmin trudged along through the forest, the signal getting stronger the further they moved. Seeing that the signal was close he put the Koppad away and started to look around. With a confused expression, Sweetie looked towards Chris as he was moving bushes and searching the few clearings narby.
“So what exactly are we looking for, Mister Chris?” she asked in confusion.
“Well I don’t see a big metal rocket ship here,” Apple Bloom said, looking behind a boulder.
“I don’t see anything over here either,” Scootaloo shouted, slightly hovering out of some nearby bushes.
Seeing that no work was getting accomplished, Chris found some nearby weeds and decided to let the Pikmin have a break. Dismissing them over towards the weeds, he called the trio of fillies over to discuss what they are going to do. Hearing some whining from the Pikmin, Chris dismissed it as them having fun and focused back onto the topic.
“So… how are we going to find this ship? The Koppad is saying there is a signal nearby and I’ve got a feeling that it’s the ship. Without the ship I will be unable to eat or drink anything before I suffocate,” he stated, gloomily looking at the ground.
“Well, let's not worry about it, we will find your ship. If not, then we can ask Twilight to help out, since she can fix anything!” Sweetie tried reassuring Chris.
“Yeah, if we asked Twilight, I’m sure she’d help you out,” Scootaloo nodded, agreeing with her friend.
“Moo!” a Blue Pikmin hollered next to Chris, trying to get his attention. Chris turned and looked at the Pikmin carrying a small shiny object. Becoming more interested in the shiny object, Chris thanked the Pikmin and looked closely at it. Seeing a zigzag of an ‘s’, he instantly recognized the symbol and started to feel better.
“What is that thing?” Sweetie Belle confusingly asked, her own attention being drawn towards the device.
“Well, this thing is the symbol of the main character in a game series called Metroid.” Chris replied confidently. “Though I do wonder what such an object is doing all the way out here?” he pondered, looking at it more. Remembering what the small expedition was about, Chris changed his focus back to the three fillies, still trying to figure out where the ship could be.
“Okay, so according to the Koppad, the ship is in our general area. Let’s head north since-” Chris was interrupted by a voice while trying to stop the three fillies from fighting.
“I am a bounty hunter, known throughout all of space.
I have done jobs deemed impossible.
I have slain dragons, and wiped out entire species, all to save innocents.
I have killed, and I have saved.
Call upon me if you wish for a powerful ally, but be warned, I will not tolerate unnecessary bloodshed.
My name is Samus Aran. And I am the Hunter.”
Hearing the random robotic voice the group jumped from being shocked and started, eyeing the treeline. With Blue Pikmin surrounding the group, each member started backing up until they were facing each direction, not knowing where the voice came from or if they were being stalked. With the tension increasing every second, Chris and Sweetie Belle each grabbed a Pikmin. Unable to withstand the pressure any longer, Chris shouted, “Show yourself!”
Not hearing anything after shouting, Chris felt a vibration in his suit pocket. Pulling out the item distracting him, the source was the Metroid medallion glowing with a faint light and shaking. Unable to hear anything else except the voice he heard from before, all Chris could say was “Hello?”
Chris heard a sound of something humming behind his head. “Turn around slowly, and no funny business,” the same robotic voice spoke.
Hearing this, everyone felt a chill go down their spine as Chris slowly turned around, remembering that in all horror movies he has seen before; the character who faced the monster died off first. The whines of his Pikmin comrades brought him out of the fear, giving him enough courage to grab a Pikmin and comply with the voice. All he could see was something that looked like long yellow and orange armored legs connecting to a thin, almost hourglass shaped waist. Tilting his head further up showed a rounded triangular chest piece with glowing green lines. On top of the chest was a red helmet with a ‘v’ shaped green visor staring back menacingly. To the right was a bluish-green hand-held cannon glowing bright yellow at the end.
The figure lowered the cannon, it’s energy disappearing. “I thought so. Care to tell me who you are? Is it Alph, or someone else?”
Shocked and with Chris’ brain trying to comprehend the figure before him, all he could manage to whisper was “It’s really Samus. Is she really standing before my eyes, or am I hallucinating from lack of nutrients?”
The figure rolled its helmet slightly, as if rolling their eyes. “Yep. I’m clearly not real. How can someone from a game series ever exist? I mean, a bounty hunter who fights aliens? Impossible. Plant-like beings that you can pull out of the ground? Impossible. Talking anthro animals that pilot ships to take down a monkey’s floating head in space? Impossible. And don’t get me started on the angels and plumbers who eat shrooms.”
“Oh… well my character’s name is Alph. Even though you look like a character from my favorite video game, I don’t quite trust you just yet. Although I thought this was a pleasant dream, until I found a Fiery Bulblax chasing me, nasty creatures,” replied Chris, having conflicting feelings towards Samus.
“Of course you don’t trust me. You ever hear of a story where a person instantly trusts someone they just met? Neither have I, and I’ve lived for about half a century!” the figure retorted.
“Well we are not getting anywhere with increasing tensions, so what is your name?” Sweetie Belle asked.
The figure looked over at the small unicorn. “Well, I go by many different names. The Hunter, the Chosen One, that one person who keeps blowing up my evil bases, Hero, but I usually go by Samus, so you can just call me that.”
“Okay Samus, do you think you can help us look for Alph’s ship?” asked an awed Scootaloo.
Samus shrugged. “Meh, I got nothing better to do. But I don’t really know what it looks like. And my ship is being repaired so we can’t rely on its weird yet useful timing.”
“That’s fine. My Koppad has given us the general area and we have yet to explore the northern section,” Chris replied.
“Is this northern area cold? Like ice everywhere? Because I just had to deal with a planet of ice, and that was really annoying,” Samus asked.
“Not that I know of, my friends and I just washed up on this island yesterday. Then we met Alph after he saved me. Right Scoots and Sweetie?” Apple Bloom reassured.
“Right!” they both yelled with excitement, remembering the moment they were reunited.
“Actually this whole area is one large forest, so there should not be any change in the weather,” Chris stated matter-of-factly.
Samus thought about it for a moment. “Can’t wait to see how everything goes wrong on this little adventure. The forests in games like these are never pleasant. In Legend of Zelda it’s always a forest temple, and those skull kids are annoying, my forests are usually being destroyed by poisons, and Kirby gets attacked by a tree.”
Noticing that the sun was slowly starting to lower, Chris turned towards Samus and CMC with worry starting to show. “We better get moving before the sun sets, I’d rather be in the safety of my ship as soon as possible than be out here.”
“Can you even survive at night? I hear that night’s pretty brutal in Pikmin. And with Olimar’s Final Smash in Smash Bros, I’m not sure if I want to be out here at night either.” Samus asked.
“Well knowing the game is more realistic now, I do not want to be wandering out here. Every Pikmin left behind in that game was never seen again, regardless if they can fly or swim… Let’s get moving.” Chris stated, starting to move north along with Samus, CMC, and the Pikmin.
Traveling through the forest, many creatures were seen scurrying about towards shelter while the rain started to fall. Groups of Honeywisps were seen carrying nectar off, their bodies shining in the rain. Passing under a group of plants caused multiple Spectralids to fly away, leaving the three fillies awestruck at their beauty. Traveling deeper into the forest, a group of Dwarf Bulborbs were spotted searching for food around a sleeping Bulborb. Passing by a lone Dwarf Bulborb spotted the Blue Pikmin and started approaching, hoping for a quick snack. As it was getting closer, Chris grabbed a Pikmin and aimed for its back, when a red hot ball of magma splatted against the ground a foot in front of its face.
“I suggest you find your snack elsewhere. I’m pretty sure you don’t want to be burned.” Sam suggested, pointing the arm cannon at the Dwarf Bulborb.
Seeing a predator much bigger than itself, the Dwarf Bulborb promptly started running back towards its kin. “Thanks for that, though they aren’t much of a problem alone,” Chris replied, looking at Samus. “How exactly did you get here?” he asked, not remembering where Samus was before.
“My token. The Metroid symbol?” Samus pointed out.
“I’ve never heard of a token that could do that.” Chris said, watching a pretty Iridescent Glint Beetle pass by.
Samus was silent for a moment. “Have you ever heard of the term, Displaced?”
Chris pondered over the word walking “I have heard of it before, but I don’t think either of us are thinking of the same meaning.”
“Well, Displaced, that’s displaced with a capital ‘D,’ is basically what I am a part of. Since you found a token, you’re most likely like me, a human who was sent to a world filled with ponies, along with the powers of a certain character, in your case, Alph from Pikmin. I hear that it happens in different ways, like for me, I bought something from a merchant, and woke up in Twilight Sparkle’s house, as Samus Aran.” Samus spoke, while still walking.
Thinking back to his first day on this dreaded island “That’s interesting, was this merchant cosplaying as some guy with a dark hood and a scratchy voice?”
Samus’s head shook. “No, the merchant I came across looked relatively normal. I think they were wearing some cosplay from some other video game, but they didn’t look like how you described.”
Chris was thinking of a response when he felt the ground start to shake. Remembering which creature made these small tremors, all he was able to get out was “Sheargrubs!” Just after saying their name, a multitude of Sheargrubs of different genders burst out of the ground and approached the Pikmin. Chris and Sweetie both grabbed Pikmin, preparing for a fight. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both had looks of determination to help their newest friends.
Samus walked forward, taking a position between the Sheargrubs and the Pikmin. The arm cannon was brought forward, and was pointed at the creatures. “I can’t scan them. Care to tell me any useful info?”
Throwing Pikmin at the dark colored ones, Chris calmly replied, “Go for the males. They are dark colored and have mandibles. The females are the lighter colored ones and can’t hurt Pikmin.”
Samus nodded, and with one swift movement was running forward, then jumped into the air. The second Samus jumped into the air, they flipped, pointing the arm cannon at the group of Sheargrubs before firing several precise shots at each of the males. Samus landed on the other side of the group of Sheargrubs before turning around and making sure all males were destroyed.
Seeing that their attack was fruitless, the remaining Sheargrubs retreated back into the ground. Chris looked at Samus, impressed with how quick she destroyed the bugs. Noticing the sun was slowly going towards the horizon, Chris thanked Samus and the group continued on.
Looking at the Koppad, Chris could see that his ship was in the clearing just ahead of them and relayed the information to the rest. Stepping into the clearing, there was nothing but grass and two large trees on each side. Looking around then back at the Koppad, Chris looked to Samus. “Ok, so my Koppad says the ship is in this clearing, but I don’t see it anywhere.”
Samus sighed. “You ever play Legend of Zelda?”
“Only Hyrule Warriors, other than that. Nope,” replied Chris.
“Because whenever there’s a situation like this, it’s usually solved by looking up, at the huge spider hanging on the ceiling.” Samus looked up, to indeed see a huge spider.
Looking up and following the two large trees, all Chris could do from showing his fear was to grab a Pikmin. Pointing towards the bug all he could say was “That’s one big Arachnode, and there’s my ship! Along with an Onion!”
As everyone looked to where he was pointing, seeing the huge black spider and yellow stripes, they all knew this would be a long fight. Next to the spider was what looked like a large metal oval with four windows and a satellite on top. Below the oval were four legs slightly moving along with a sputtering engine. On the other side of the web was the pink Onion surrounded in webbing, slightly twitching to get free.
“So that’s what your ship looks like. It looks cool,” Scootaloo said, staring at the metal ship.
“I’m more worried about that big critter sitting on that web,” Apple Bloom fearfully voiced.
“What about those poor Pikmin that could be trapped in that Onion?” Sweetie Belle asked with concern.
Chris grabbed a Pikmin and aimed at the spider. While throwing it, he explained the creature. “This thing is an Arachnode, they build webs on trees and trap anything in them. The only way to remove the web is to kill the spider.” Seeing that the first Pikmin did not even get close, Chris tried a few more times only to get the same results. Turning towards Samus, he said, “I can’t even get a Pikmin on the web. Do you think you can get him down?”
Samus looked down at Chris. “I have lots of ways to get it down, I think I’ll go easy on it.” A small panel opened up on Samus’s back, and Samus pulled out two pieces of metal. Quickly firing a plasma shot at each tree, Samus then threw the metal pieces at the trees, and fired an ice beam to freeze them to the tree. “Now watch this.” Samus’s arm cannon made a whirring sound as it morphed into a green arm, and Samus quickly thrust both arms at the metal panels. The second that happened, twin grapple beams flew out, and latched onto the metal.
“Time to look cool.” Samus jumped backwards, causing the grapple beams to pull Samus at the spider at high speeds. Samus deactivated the grapples, and reactivated the arm in time to kick both legs into the spider, knocking it off the web, sending both of them flying to the ground. While in midair, Samus fired super missile after super missile into the spider, until it slammed into the ground, and curled up, seemingly dead.
“Well, that went a lot better than I thought it would,” Chris said, never thinking one of those bugs would go down that fast.
“What do you mean?” Apple Bloom asked, confused. “It is twitching, see?”
Samus, who was walking back over to the group, turned around. “Figures, Nintendo never makes a boss that goes down that easily.”
“Who’s Nintendo?” Sweetie Belle asked, looking to Samus for help.
“Nintendo is the company that made both Metroid, where I’m from, and Pikmin, where he’s from.” Samus pointed at Chris. “It also made games like Mario and Pokemon.”
*SCREEEEEEE*
“There’s the sound I was waiting for,” Chris proclaimed, throwing Pikmin onto the advancing spider.
Having never fought an Arachnode on the ground before, Chris used the one successful strategy that never fails, throwing Pikmin. Sweetie Belle joined in on throwing Pikmin, but their efforts backfired when the large spider started eating the Pikmin coming at it. Hoping to salvage something from the situation, both called the remaining Pikmin off the Arachnode.
“Don’t worry, I got this,” Samus said, running back at the spider and jumping into the air. Once in the air, Samus charged up the arm cannon and was about to fire, but was quickly gobbled out of midair.
Chris and the CMC both looked on in horror as they heard an audible gulp from the Arachnode. Trying to think of a way to kill the creature and save their newfound friend, they failed to see a faint light come from the creature.
A huge explosion ruptured the spider’s stomach as an orange figure jumped out, landing on the spider’s head. “NO ONE EATS ME! NOW TASTE PHAZON!” Samus’s suit glowed blue and black, as she fired huge beams of Phazon directly into the spider’s brain. The spider couldn’t handle the mutagenic substance and let out a scream of agony.
Before too long, the spider curled up, and Samus jumped off, the suit turning back to its normal colors while walking up to the group. “Yuck, this suit takes forever to clean.” Samus wiped the stomach acid and Pikmin body parts of the visor.
“Wow… Remind me to never get on your bad side,” Chris replied, trying to forget the brutal death of the large spider.
Two loud crashes were heard shortly after along with several thuds. Chris looked over and was filled with joy when his ship landed itself on the ground along with the Pink Onion. Walking over, a single seed was shot out of the Onion and a sprout started to grow. Chris walked up to the sprout and tugged on it. A Winged Pikmin flew out and started flying around Chris. Several ‘daww’s were heard from the trio of fillies and the curious Pikmin flew around them as well.
Samus ignored this and walked up to the Phazon pooling around the giant spider’s body, pulling it back into the suit. “There you go, wouldn’t want Phazon left in a world like this.”
After informing Sweetie Belle on what to do with the new Winged Pikmin, and pointing over to the Pellets that came out of the beast, Chris turned to Samus.“Thanks for that save, I thought you were a goner for a second.”
“I’ve been in worse situations,” Samus said, wiping more of the stomach gunk off the suit.
Chris looked over the CMC working together to produce more Winged Pikmin and shaking Samus’ hand. “Well Samus, you have earned my trust. My name’s Chris.”
Samus shook it back. “My real name’s just Sam. I go by Samus more often than not, though.”
Noticing that the sun was setting, Chris blew his whistle and all the Pikmin started returning back to their respective Onions. Sweetie Belle came over to Chris and asked, “Will the Blue Pikmin make it back to their Onion safely?”
“They should, we didn’t go too far away from where we started. Would you guys join me in my ship before the locals find us?”
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, SPACESHIP PILOTS, YAY!!!!” the fillies shouted with surprising volume.
Samus looked at the interior clock of the suit and responded. “I have to get back home soon, Fluffles is probably getting hungry. I can stay for a bit longer if you need me to help repair anything wrong with your ship.”
Chris pondered about problems the ship could have, then he remembered. “You think we could fix up some space in the ship to allow oxygen? I know I can’t breathe it, and I don’t want to leave the fillies out here compared how I first met them.”
“I have some oxygen tanks.” Samus pulled three small boxes out of a hidden compartment on the suit’s side. “Should be good for about a day's worth of oxygen each.”
“Thanks for the help. How do I make my own token?” Chris replied, not knowing how to do that either.
“Well, you take something important to you. For me it was a Metroid medallion I bought. For you, it can be about anything,” Samus answered.
Chris gave some thought about what the token should be. Reaching into his pocket he took out a copy of the Koppad, identical to the one on his waist. Facing Samus he asked, “Okay, what is the next part?”
“It’s kinda hard to explain, and I doubt I’m the best one to explain it,” Samus pointed out. “But, if I remember correctly, it’s like you push some innate magic that we all have into it, and speak a phrase that others will hear from the token.”
“Okay, here goes. I am Space Explorer Alph. If you need some help with technical devices, or just want to hang out, send me a message,” Chris spoke into the Koppad, thinking of what to say.
Samus nodded. “Good, now, hand it to me, and I’ll send it into the multiverse. I figured out how to do this a while back.”
Chris nodded and handed his Koppad copy to Samus, unsure of what would happen next. Samus’s armored hand glowed purple, and the token disappeared in a flash.
“That’s taken care of, now how do I send you back?” a confused Chris asked.
“Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve done this… I think it was something along the lines of ‘Our contract is complete.’” Samus tried to remember.
Looking up at Samus and waving, Chris said, “Good luck on your adventures, maybe we can hang out another time when the both of us aren’t busy. Our contract is complete.”
A tear in reality appeared behind Samus and the armored hunter walked over to it. “Sure, that’d be nice. Maybe next time it’ll be in my universe. See ya.” Samus waved goodbye while walking through the portal and it closed off, reforming back into the Metroid medallion.
Chris grabbed the medallion before it could hit the grass and looked at it. The sunlight rays disappearing brought him back to reality and each of the CMC opened the boxes, curious as for what is inside. Upon trying to open the boxes, a robotic voice spoke up.
“To use these specially designed oxygen tanks, place them upon your back, and the science will come to life.”
Realization dawned on each filly as they each put the box on their back. After each box was placed, a mechanical buzz was heard before the boxes grew and covered each face, leaving a visor to see out of. Each filly felt a relaxing burst of oxygen flow over their face before looking at Chris and yawning.
“Okay, let’s get on the ship and sleep,” Chris answered, feeling drowsy as well.
Chis and the CMC each approached the ship and a beam sucked them inside. Once inside, the fillies were amazed at what the ship was like. Windows looking outside of the dark landscape, quickly replaced by the canopy line, then further up until they were seeing stars and the whole island. Chris’ stomach decided it was hungry and he noticed a fridge to the left of the ship. Taking off the suit and helmet and hanging it next to a bed, he realized he was wearing a plain white shirt and shorts. Looking inside showed two shelves full with bottles of juice.
“I don’t think you three had anything to eat, so enjoy a bottle of juice.” Chris said before downing an entire bottle. Seeing a drawer with a sink nearby, he opened it up and found dozens of empty bottles, Chris cleaned the bottles and stored them.
Chris laid each filly onto the bed and tucked them in before heading to the last bed and pulling out his Koppad before ignoring the sounds of the engine and noticing both Blue and Pink Onions following.
Day 2
Well today has been an interesting day so far, these ponies are helpful and caring compared to some people I have interacted with back on Earth. Oh, how I miss my family already, if only I could fly into space and search for my home planet. It’s best not to think about that, I feel like I will go into a depression I may never come out of if I dwell on those thoughts. The problem with that idea is that the ship doesn’t seem to have a cosmic drive key slot so I am trapped on this planet. If the locals are like these three fillies, then I think I won’t have too many problems.
I finally figured out that me being here was no accident, that someone, or something that I have dubbed ‘The Merchant’, until someone corrects me, has sent me here. More than likely for an entertainment purpose. Though I found some great help in the most unlikely ways ever. Accidentally summoning Sam proved to be very helpful with finding the Drake. I think I would be spending another night hungry inside that cave with that giant Arachnode guarding my ship.
Seeing the two Onions merge is fascinating. Remembering that Sam said others are Displaced gives me hope that someone else actually got sent to this… Equestria. With only having about two weeks worth of food left, I will have to start collecting fruit.
Remembering the crazy adventures I had in this area, I shall name it… Tropical Wilds. For some very odd reason my ship has detected two strange life signals moving about on the island. I should begin the search for at least one of the signals, and since I have to conserve food supplies, maybe I could even find where these three fillies came from? Possibly they could have come from the light source I can see on the edge of the island? Wherever they came from, there is no point in worrying about it now.
-Chris-
Alph...