Metroid Equis II: Duality

Section 7

Venator Caelestis

[G.F.S. Faust | Equis Space | High Polar Orbit]

With the Gamma Facility situation under control, Crusader-Vector Joint Task Force was due to rotate off of active duty and be recalled to the Faust to await their next deployment… whenever that happened to be. It had already been two and a half weeks of lounging around, so they would probably get their next orders sooner rather than later. The capital ship’s accommodations were certainly better than Gamma Facility’s, and reminded the human component of the task force of their previous station, the Vogl. Commandeering an empty common room with a nice view of the planet below, all eight members of the squadron occupied themselves in their own ways, all just happy to be out of the constant rain and muck of the Everfree Forest and out of their armor.

The humans were in their long-sleeved PT uniforms, while the ponies just lounged around in their own coats, as expected. Radiance and Windfire were huddled up together, completely knocked out on one of the couches, which was fairly standard for the two of them after long deployments. Constance had her face buried in a book, snuggled up against Arianna’s leg, her normally well-regulated mane freed from its ponytail. Arianna, for her part, also rested a book in her hand, her eyes following the words intently as she reclined into the back of the couch.

Directly across from them, on an identical couch, Starry sat with her back to Nathan, the latter dragging both of his hands in neat, even lines up and down her back, digging his fingers into her coat and skin. Jacob had left to go find Sydney for a very important reason, which explained his noticeable absence.

“Hmmmm…” Starry hummed, eyes closed with a shameless, dreamy smile plastered on her face as she took in the wonderful feelings of her human coltfriend’s touch. Nathan did well to run his fingers methodically through her thick, silken mane, treating her once in a while by massaging her ears between his fingers, an action that garnered a humorous coo of sorts from the mare.

“Enjoying yourself a bit too much there, Corporal?” Constance asked stoically, but obviously in jest while never tearing her eyes away from inside her book. Arianna smirked and chuckled without looking up from her book, and Nathan as well felt compelled to join in. Starry, however, was unfazed.

“With all due respect, Captain, fingers are incredible…” the grey-coated mare replied honestly, continuing to enjoy Nathan’s lavishing.

“Oh I’m sure they—OOooohh...” Constance’s words failed her, replaced with an involuntary coo when Ari suddenly let her left hand fall to the back of her neck, making firm gripping motions through her coat. Starry nearly burst out laughing at the sound that she had never heard her commanding officer produce. Radiance was nearly startled awake by the sudden onset of laughter.

“Heh… well then,” Nathan voiced, in similar straits to his significant other in front of him. Constance’s face colored significantly, visible even underneath bright-pink coat at her unbidden outburst, but never took it upon herself to stop Arianna’s ministrations.

“Works every time,” the dark-haired girl commented victoriously to no one in particular, a sly half-smirk etching that prominent dimple into her right cheek as she continued reading.

“Thought Jake and Syd would be back by now,” Nathan spoke up again, this time switching his tactics and kneading his thumb into Starry’s lats. She had never been closer to falling asleep sitting up.

“Well, we know Dittmar went to find Syd, and my guess is she’s having some trouble in the pissroom. Considering the hell of a time yesterday’s chow gave me last night, I wouldn’t be too surprised.” The offhandedness of Ari’s remark earned a brief snort from Nathan. Starry, however, was somewhat less partial to the remark’s crudity.

“Good news, everyone!” a new, yet familiar voice entered the unusual lot’s ears, and turning their attention to the common room’s entrance revealed the fresh-faced Captain Jacob Dittmar, hefting Sydney bridal style in his arms. “Found the birthday girl!” Sydney held onto his neck for dear life while those who were awake gave their own enthusiastic ‘happy birthday’ greetings at the arrival of their friend. Jacob also carried a small backpack slung over his shoulder.

“Jake! Put me down already, this is harassment!” she joked when her commanding officer and friend refused set her on her feet at any point since they met up.

“Yeah, you’d like that wouldn’t you?” the blonde-haired captain shot back challengingly, shooting her an exaggeratedly lewd smirk before finally setting her down.

“You’re hilarious, you know that?” Sydney added sarcastically, though the giggle that accompanied the remark robbed it of some of its bite. She then smoothed her clothes out and stretched her shirt back down over her midriff. Arianna waved her over and patted the spot on her right, which Sydney gladly took, and without even looking up from her book, the dark-haired girl pulled Syd into a one-armed embrace.

“Also,” Jacob announced, joining the rest of his squad whilst setting the backpack down. “Mail call!” With that, he unceremoniously emptied the contents onto the floor, which happened to be a few packages and some letters. With the advent of more direct and instantaneous electronic communication which allowed soldiers and their families to remain in near constant contact, perhaps unsurprisingly, the frequency of physical mail calls dropped precipitously. However, there are just some things that remained undeliverable through the extranet, and the sentimental value of a physical piece of mail was irreplaceable by its electronic counterpart.

“Alright!” Nathan exclaimed, patting his marefriend’s side and kissing the top of her head before parting with her to sift through the mail pile. Jacob did his part to pick up what he could and distribute them out so the others did not have to get up.

“Okay… Constance…” Jacob began reading off the names, handing the appropriate letters and packages over to each individual in turn. “...got a few here, Sydney… ummm… Radiance and Windfire…” Jake looked over to where the unicorns lay sleeping and lightly tossed the envelopes over to them, the stationery plopping on their bodies. They barely flinched before drifting off to a deep sleep again. Nathan took his and Starry’s together, and the captain slid his own mail to the back of the pile. He still continued to sift through for something that he hoped was there.

“Sorry, Ari… th-there isn’t anything for you.” the Captain sighed a tad dejectedly. Arianna, however, was unfazed, and continued reading her book regardless.

“That’s what happens when you have no surviving family,” she replied, unemotionally turning a page in her book. Regardless, Constance felt a sharp pang of sadness for the girl, and gave her a short, sympathetic look. “Don’t have to apologize each and every time.”

Jacob decided not to say anything else to avoid any awkwardness, wordlessly nodding. Arianna was long past grieving for her lost loved ones, and had no trouble talking about her experience quite candidly. Of course, it was not something she always wished to bring up willy-nilly. Memories were still painful en masse, after all.

“Oh shit!” Starry exclaimed, a bright smile appearing on her face at the opening of her care package. “Parents sent me a damn industrial supply of my favorite chocolates!” Her eyes lit up and she rubbed her hooves together with an eagerness of a young foal receiving their favorite toy… a look that Nathan absolutely adored.

“You’re saying this out loud because you’re sharing… yes?” Sydney joked, but only in part. Seeing the first pack of sweets that Starry magically lifted out of the box made her suddenly crave chocolate, and Sydney was one who would go out of her way to sate her cravings when they were upon her.

“Duh! There’s no way I’d be able to finish these by myself in the next year. Besides, we gotta take care of the birthday mare,” Starry replied knowingly, tossing the first box Syd’s way which the latter caught in her lap. “Also, these just go straight to my haunches.”

“I bet Nathan wouldn’t mind that,” Radiance, whom everyone thought was fast asleep, remarked from beyond the veil of the sofa like it was her job.

“Shut your whore mouth and go back to sleep,” Starry quipped without missing a beat, unpacking a box of chocolate for herself while Nathan shook his head and grinned at their exchange, continuing to run his fingers through his mare’s mane.

“You should do the same when you two’re together; at least tone it down,” Radiance shot back, making quite the obvious allusion to certain events. Starry’s jaw dropped; Nathan averted his gaze, finding the couch much more interesting at the moment, and the others had to feign coughing at the same time.

“Lock it down, Radiance,” Constance warned over the top of her book. Though the captain had no issue with the squad’s horseplay, she had no tolerance for squadmates airing each other’s private matters. While Starry and Radiance may have been foalhood friends, it was just plain rude in her eyes.

“You know what, you little bitch…” Starry muttered under her breath, tearing out of Nathan’s embrace and bounding over the seat of the couch. She tackled Radiance on the next couch over and dragged her onto the floor, where the two proceeded to pin each other. Windfire only shifted his sleeping position and the rest went about their business as the two mares playfully duked it out.

“So, what’d you get, birthday girl?” Jacob asked, sitting on Sydney’s other side and patting her leg. The young woman examined the small package she held in her hands, finally finding the small bit of writing on the label; she instantly smiled at the familiar handwriting.

“It’s from dad! He usually sends me electronic messages and stuff, so I wonder what this could be…” Sydney mused out loud. Everyone turned their eyes to her as she fished out a multitool from her pocket and neatly sliced open the top of the box. Pulling the inner lips of the package out and apart, she removed the first item which was wrapped up in bubble wrap, finding that it was something she was craving, but could not buy in Equestria.

“Aww hell yeah! Sweet Tarts!” Sydney exclaimed, holding a pack of sixteen individual, smaller packs victoriously in the air with a beaming smile on her face. While all the humans in the room gave a combined ‘whoop!’ at the reveal, the ponies looked at her curiously.

“Sweet Tarts?” Starry asked, she and Radiance having finished their little bout of wrestling. The two sat next to each other on the couch and Nathan placed his arm around the former.

“Here, for the chocolates,” Sydney said, removing one of the individual packs and tossing it over to the unicorn, compensating her for her previous generosity. The unicorn caught it in her magic and studied the tube-like candy pack. “They’re tangy candies.”

“Looks like you got something else,” Jacob commented, pointing into the box and drawing Syd’s attention back to the other heavily-wrapped object. Taking it out and unwrapping it revealed said object to be a modest-sized chrome picture frame, and the picture that it held elicited a gentle gasp from the amber-haired girl. She cupped her hand over her mouth, veiling her smile, though her eyes betrayed her emotions to her comrades.

Staring back at her was a black and white, formal picture of Sydney and her brother Andrew in full ceremonial garb. They both sat, arms on their laps, at an angle to the camera and held similarly stoic gazes over their somewhat-more youthful complexions, though the visorcaps transformed their expressions from blank to slightly intimidating. In this picture, Sydney’s rank was that of a Corporal, while her brother’s was still that of a Captain.

“Awww look at that…” Arianna cooed. The others did their best to crowd around and see the picture, but Sydney made it easier on everyone and showed them; there were pleasant reactions all around. “How long ago was that taken?”

“Almost four years,” Sydney replied with a soft, whimsical smile. She was already wondering where she was gonna hang or place this treasure, and she also made a mental note to contact her father as soon as she was able.

Before more conversation could get underway, the sound of a throat being cleared drew everyone’s attention to the doorway. Turning their gazes to the entrance, CV caught sight of someone they were always happy to see.

Jacob, who had leaned over to catch a glimpse of the photograph, stood ramrod straight and barked, “Officer on deck!” Sydney was the first to leap to her feet, dropping the photograph on the couch as she assumed the position of attention. Everyone else followed suit, Windfire the last and slowest owing to the corporal having been asleep.

“I thought I might find you all here,” the neatly-combed, gray haired officer spoke, taking his cap off his head and looking at the assembled troops.

“Please… At ease, ladies and gents,” he said, chuckling as an easy smile spreading across his features.

“Brigadier General Borsig,” Jacob greeted, an equally easy smile blossoming on the younger officer’s face. He shook his hand on behalf of everyone. “It’s good to see you again, sir!”

“Likewise, Captain,” he chuckled. “You’re the first who hasn’t called me ‘Colonel.’”

“Congratulations on the promotion, sir,” Sydney added, the rest of the squad gathering around their commander.

“Thank you! However… I’m afraid I didn’t come here just to wish Lieutenant Exeter here a happy birthday; happy birthday, by the way,” Borsig quickly added, trying to take off some of the edge for what he had to say to the squad.

“So...what’s going on, General?” Constance’s voice came. “Is it something bad?”

Borsig shook his head. “No, no… just a little bit of a downer is all. I wanted to see you all in person to deliver your next set of orders,” he followed up, and made the appropriate gesture to cue the imminent, simultaneous groaning.

“Damnit… I was enjoying doing nothing,” Windfire spoke his first words of the hour.

“Believe me, I don’t agree with this; you’ve been stuck in the mud for a good while and I didn’t want you going anywhere for at least another week, but…” He shrugged helplessly. “Joint Command needs an extra, highly experienced squad on the ground at Fort Trottingham, and like it or not, you’re the best we’ve got. It’s right next to the Crystal Mines,” the General elaborated, retrieving the formal orders from his coat pocket and handing a copy to both Jacob and Constance while reviewing his own.

“True, and I can drop by my place on leave,” Starry immediately noted, already making plans to see her parents in the city proper. Nathan scratched behind her ears out of habit, and she immediately leaned into his hand.

“Understood, General.” Jacob nodded. “We’ll gear up and deploy in two days, as this says.”

Borsig nodded slowly, clearly impressed at the alacrity with which the group received their orders.

“You’re all taking this a lot better than I expected, honestly. But then again, I guess that’s why you’re all the best the fleet has, huh?” he asked rhetorically.

“Indeed! Very well, meet me in the conference room on this level in three hours and I’ll brief you more formally. This should be an easy ride for you all.”

[The Everfree]

Samus, in her usual Zero Suit, typed the last characters of her log entry on her wrist-console and exited out of the application. Before she could relax again, her console vibrated, and Adam’s eye made itself known to her, text silently spilling onto her screen:

Samus smiled softly, wiping away some grime and dust from the corner of her console with a fond gesture before typing up a response.

Sending off that last message, Samus then reclined in her seat and looked over at Twilight who sat across from her in the back of a comfortably drifting Federation Dropship… and she looked positively brimming with excitement.

“You have no idea, Samus!” Twilight replied giddily. “In all my time living in Ponyville, I always knew that mysterious magical areas and temples existed because of my research, but I never had the chance to explore them myself!” she explained, speaking animatedly with her hooves and darting her eyes around. “Thank you! Thank you for taking me!”

“Heh, no problem. Thanks for coming, actually. Since I can’t do magic anymore, it’s probably not wise for me to enter an undisturbed magical place,” Samus added. There was a tiny bit of turbulence outside the ship and the pilot notified the both of them that they were one minute out from the drop zone.

“Don’t wanna get your flank kicked again?” Twilight asked, unable to suppress the cheeky smile forming on her muzzle, a look to which Samus replied with a deadpan expression and a cocked eyebrow. Twilight was getting pretty good at this.

“You’re never gonna let that go, huh?” Samus asked sarcastically as the dropship began shedding altitude over a tiny clearing. It wasn’t large enough for it to land though, so the hatch dropped and the two were greeted with the open air over the Everfree.

“Alright, you two, we’re at the drop zone,” the pilot called back through the ship’s comms. Samus nodded to Twilight and the both of them stood up and glanced down at the well-lit… yet still rainy, forest ground below.

“We’re heading out now,” Samus replied through her console. “Thanks for the ride. Pick us up in a little while.”

“Don’t you worry; I’m tasked to you for the next five hours. Command wants me and my bird back on the Faust after that; take longer than five hours, you’re walking,” the pilot joked.

That was more than enough time for their purposes. Samus curtly nodded and shot a sideways look to Twilight, who had spread her wings in preparation to take flight out of the dropship. The Hunter hunched down and let a grin tug at the edge of her lips.

“Let’s go!” Twilight echoed. With that, the alicorn took flight and Samus took a leap of faith. The Hunter somersaulted in midair and, as she righted herself, a sheet of golden light encapsulated her, replacing the sensation of rain on her skin with the sound of rain impacting metal as her Unnamed Suit was called to action. Her environmental regulators appeared just as she hit the ground, her weight compressing the soppy earth under her feet. She stood up and took in her surroundings, HUD coming online as Twilight landed next to her with considerably less force. A spherical cap of energy lay suspended above the alicorn, shielding her from the rain.

Both, however, turned their attention to the fact that, while there was certainly a steady downpour, the sun shone through the thick cloud layer beautifully and illuminated the general area, giving rise to the ‘sunny rain’ phenomenon. Moreover, Celestia’s rays, at their current angle, seemed to shine down prominently on a certain area up ahead, one which was veiled from their view.

“Always gotta make a grand entrance, hmm?” Twilight teased. With Samus being back the last four months, the lavender alicorn and the Hunter had picked up their relationship as if Samus had been gone merely a couple of days, and gentle banter was now common between the two… that was, assuming they weren’t reading, of course.

“Been a tradition since my first day on the job; and who the hell am I to let tradition die out?” she replied. Checking her map, the area they were supposed to investigate was directly ahead through the forest veil, much like her previous trek to Starfall Fortress those couple years ago.

“It’s beautiful out here… with the rain and the sun together,” Twilight observed, drawing her enamored eyes across the top of the forest line and taking in the calm, innate beauty that the depths of the Everfree held. Samus glanced over her shoulder and, after allowing herself a smirk, beckoned Twilight behind her before taking the leading stroll onward; Twilight quickly fell into step, but her curious gaze never faltered. “It reminds me of those pictures of Tallon IV you showed me.”

Samus nodded at the alicorn’s frame of reference while clearing away some bushes with her hand. She aimed her cannon out and proceeded onward with Twilight right behind her.

“Yeah, the planetary surface always had some deep sense of soothing that would just…” Samus tried to find the words for it, gesturing with her hand trying to recall her memories of that mission. “...I always felt at peace, despite what was happening. That place is partially the reason why rain is my favorite weather, actually. That, and it was never as common as I’d have liked in Chozodia and Crateria back on Zebes.”

“I can see that,” Twilight agreed, nodding gratefully to the Hunter as she swept aside another patch of vegetation in her path, allowing her to step through. They could both see some sort of clearing up ahead. “You may just convert me.”

A comfortable, easy silence fell upon the duo, both of them stepping to the edge of the forest clearing together and bearing witness to the imposing structure in front of them… one which still held sway over its surroundings, dominating its clearing. Twilight was, naturally, enraptured by the sudden appearance of the edifice in front of her; Samus merely gave it a cool, assessing gaze, sizing it up.

This structure was not as imposing as Starfall Fortress, nor did it possess the natural majesty of the Great Temple or the gravitas of the Sanctuary Fortress. Though she could not draw an exact parallel to any other places she’d visited, Samus keenly felt that peculiar mixture of belonging and foreboding that so often characterized her travels. In fact, Samus’ systems were not forthcoming on what exactly this entire structure was, save for the fact that they needed to venture to a circular chamber in the center, which her map dubbed the ‘Ascendance Chamber.’ As for the monolith of a structure itself, it had an overall look of a place of worship rather than a fortress.

“Wooooow!” Twilight finally spoke, her eyes having seemingly widened to eclipse half of her face, a trait which Samus always found mildly amusing, and faintly disconcerting. “You didn’t tell me we were headed for the Gateway Temple of Caelestis!”

“Hey, I had no idea what it was called. I just knew the direction we were going,” Samus pointed out, shifting her gaze back to the mysterious, imperious structure. If Samus had to estimate, it was about half the size of Starfall Fortress… which still made it fairly large, though this place seemed much more uniform in its construction. What the pair could see of the structure looked to be a regular pyramid, such as might be found on Earth. Towards its apex, light struck stone and set it aglow, to the point where it was difficult to tell where stone ended and sunlight began. Despite the perpetual rain blanketing this stretch of forest, the pyramid’s construction showed little to no signs of erosion, its pristine surface marred only by the encroaching foliage. A few apertures were interspersed throughout the structure’s ‘levels,’ acting as windows to which any insidious beings could be using to tactically observe the duo… though that was just Samus assuming the worst, as she tended to do.

Celestia’s luminous Sun combined with the Everfree’s constant rain and mist to lend a peculiar, quiet majesty to the whole affair.

“Caelestis Temple, also known as ‘the Gateway Temple’ or just ‘the Gateway,’ was a temple that conducted rites of ascendency among Solar Alicorns,” Twilight explained so succinctly, the rapturous look in her eye fading, replaced with one of bemusement. “But… the practice died out when modern Equestria was formed after the collapse of the Alicorn Empire. Why would we be coming here?”

Samus ushered her forward out of the sea of lushness, and the two approached the first set of stairs leading up.

“What ‘practice?’” the Hunter asked. The two began ascending the stairs two at a time. Their boots and hooves respectively splashed in the small waterfalls that the stairs created, courtesy of the rainfall.

“This was where Solar Alicorns were granted their connection to the sun, where they ascended. They had to pass through a series of trials meant to assess their magical prowess and dedication,” Twilight explained as they continued to climb the massive flight of stairs. The rain was bogging them down a bit, and even though Samus didn’t need it on account of her suit, Twilight extended her magical umbrella over the Hunter. Although she was never known for expressing her emotions openly (she was getting better at it), it was little things like this that Samus loved about her friends.

“Any idea what those trials might’ve been?” Samus asked. After what seemed like fifteen minutes (in reality, it was closer to three), Twilight had to stop and catch her breath from all the stairs they had ascended together. They were about halfway up to the main entrance, and they were close enough where Samus’ map highlighted her general area as ‘Gateway Entrance.’

“Heh… Nope… hah… ah, Celestia, I didn’t think I was this outta shape,” Twilight chided herself lightly. Her recently-gained appendages quickly rose to the front of her mind. “Mind if I fly the rest of the way up?”

“Oh yeah,” Samus remarked. “It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea for the both of us to, actually.”

“Huh?” Twilight blinked in confusion, cocking her face to the right and scrunching up her brow. “Since when can you fly?”

“It’s not flight per se, but it’s close enough,” Samus replied, crouching down and launching herself into the air head over heels with a majestic somersault. Twilight was startled to see the Hunter not only jump that high, but her spinning form become instantly surrounded by a bright, coruscating green light. Every time Samus started to fall, the light surrounding her flared and she bounced upwards again. She hopped up the stairs in this manner, eventually coming to a perfect rest at the top of the stairs.

“Uhhh… yeah!” Twilight answered, beating her wings and taking flight over the stairs. After about a minute of easy cruising through the humid air, she landed comfortably next to Samus, who beckoned her to enter into the temple.

“Okay, since when could you do that?!” Twilight demanded, trotting alongside Samus as the two passed under the arch above the main entrance. The first feature that both parties noticed was the placement of two reared-up, hulking alicorn statues bracketing the doorway, adorned with solar marks on their elegant yet intimidating armor. They appeared to be composed of the same material as the rest of this section of the temple: beige stone that had held up to time unnaturally well, save for the occasional vine or moss that grew upon it.

“Since a long while actually,” Samus replied nonchalantly. “I’ll let you examine my Suit later; let’s get some exploring done.”

“Alright,” Twilight agreed readily, especially at the prospect of her eyes and hooves wandering over the schematics of Samus’ enigmatic armorsuit. “Any idea where we’re supposed to go?”

Samus stopped her trek for a moment to call up her map. While Samus was thusly occupied, Twilight decided to have a proper look at her current surroundings. Light still permeated their hallway rather well, which revealed the design language of the Alicorns who built this temple; built in familiar styles, with arches and pillars throughout that certainly influenced methods of nations that came after. Given that this was a magically-inclined location, Twilight was able to naturally tap into the surrounding aether. The structure around her bore an aura of peace that was almost tangible and, though the temple was certainly ostentatious, it felt as familiar to her as her own home.

“‘The Ascendance Chamber,’ apparently,” Samus read off, studying the depiction of the circular room; the highlighted question mark that rested above it called to her, and Samus’ natural desire to explore intensified. “And based on our current position, we may have a little ways to go.”

“This is gonna be so amazingly scientific!” Twilight pranced around Samus with an enthusiastic smile and attitude overtaking her entire demeanor. “I can’t wait to write to the Princess after this!”

Samus chuckled and gestured onward for Twilight to begin walking, and the two quickly fell into a friendly, synchronized step with each other. Holding her hand passively on her cannon, Samus led the way, starting their little journey…

That was something interesting for Samus to admit to herself as the two of them set about meandering through the corridors of the Gateway, searching for some route that would allow them passage to their destination. The Hunter never allowed others to accompany her unless she either had no other choice, or the other parties involved were able to take care of themselves. She wasn’t so sure exactly which category this particular circumstance fell into, but it began mattering less and less as their mini-adventure progressed. Like Twilight, the Hunter felt that the energy that seemed to flow freely and voluminously through the entire area bore an air of tranquility. As such, Samus allowed herself to relax, if just a bit, to point out all the things that she found as they continued their journey.

The duo traveled through what seemed like kilometers of expansive corridors, beautiful courtyards, and rooms the purpose of which neither could ascertain. As Samus had come to expect, Twilight’s style of investigating involved her sticking her muzzle into every nook and cranny, eyeballing every unknown object; Samus followed behind, giving everything Twilight found the once-over with her Scan Visor to provide her with any other tidbits they might find interesting. It was a wonder Twilight was able to see anything when she fell into her habit of taking notes, as her face became almost constantly buried in parchment. Samus took pleasure in pointing things out that Twilight missed, and offering new insights. Occasionally, Twilight’s curiosity bore ill fruit; on a couple of occasions, Samus had to yank Twilight back and explain that the guardians of this place had left traps behind.

However, Samus’ original purpose for Twilight’s presence went unfulfilled; there were no hostile Alicorn Spirits to be found in the halls, and so it became more of a field trip for the pair.

Samus could not recall the last time she talked so much while on a mission, though to be fair, she almost never had anyone to talk to.

Twilight would, every now and then, nuzzle up against Samus’ leg, which the Hunter found a bit peculiar, though she never questioned it. It may have bothered her three years ago, but certainly not now; she was used to the ponies’ intensely physical society, and she herself had adopted that philosophy in some regards.

Although Samus found herself relaxing somewhat, she maintained her vigilance: she was always the first into the room, cannon leveled. Though she knew Twilight could take care of herself just fine when remembering their initial adventures together during the Phazon Conflict; she was a ‘big girl,’ after all. Still, she’d rather not have to answer to the rest of their friends and the Princesses should Twilight somehow get hurt in a manner she could have prevented.

There was no shortage of scannable stuff, and Samus would always read aloud everything that came up on her visor. The process ended up taking much longer than she would normally have liked, since Twilight asked—no, demanded—that the Hunter scan everything. She wanted this all transferred to her own logbook for later research, and Samus would be more than happy to oblige that request.

“I’ve been all over Equestria and seen things that nopony else will ever see… but I think this is probably the most beautiful!” Twilight exclaimed as she glanced all around her. The duo’s current position was about a few hundred feet from their objective, having made excellent progress over the three hours that they had been exploring.

“I gotta admit, it’s pretty nice. Seems a little bit too... elaborate for a place that hosted rites of passage,” Samus commented, letting her scan visor roam over anything that might have provided more information.

“Shouldn’t rites of passage be beautiful ceremonies? So this would make sense, yeah?” Twilight questioned.

“Not for the Chozo, heh,” Samus fondly, if sardonically, recalled. She never thought those bruises or cuts would heal, but alas, she had no scars to show from that time.

From her perspective, they were in some transit capillary, considering its shorter width and the lack of much in the way of visuals. Outside light still filtered into the stone passageway through regularly-placed slits lining the upper corners of the room. This hall seemed to be exposed to the outside, as evident by the sound of the falling rain which could be faintly heard, at least for Samus. Her suit amplified both her hearing and vision; her body on its own also had hypersensitivity with her senses due to her own DNA augmentations.

What’s more, clear water flowed through irrigation slits at the lower corners of the room, leading into the next hall which was suspiciously locked by a door of sorts. Samus would have to take a look at that in a moment.

“Okay, I have got to hear that story,” Twilight said, giggling into her hoof at the thought of Samus getting her young ass handed to her in some ritualistic ceremony.

“Sure… but what I’m curious about now is this door,” Samus remarked. On closer inspection, it bore a passing similarity to the hexagonal doors seemingly in use everywhere in the galaxy. Instead of an energy shield, however, it was secured by a physical lock; a strange stone puzzle. Engraved in the lock was what looked like a maze, surrounded by flowing script. As Twilight drew closer to examine it herself, Samus brought up her Scan Visor.

“Huh, what kind of door is this?” the alicorn asked, pawing at it curiously.

Samus’ visor beeped, and she raised her fingers to her temple. “I’ve got something…”

With that, the entire temple began to shudder, and the odd door which was erected between the duo and their destination slowly receded into the ground, much to their surprise.

Suddenly, Samus became hyper-aware of all the statues they passed… which, she now realized, all looked exactly the same. Memories of a certain triple-eyed Amorbis began to trickle into her forethoughts.

“Okay then…” Twilight remarked as there was virtually no sign of the foreign barrier, and the road into the Ascendance Chamber lay open.

“Well, that’s not foreboding at all,” Samus added, sarcasm dripping from her mouth at her words, and Twilight couldn’t but agree. The Hunter entered into the gargantuan room first, cannon drawn for anything that might jump out at them, but she saw nothing… and her motion tracker was blank thus far. Not even a quick cycle through her visor suite revealed anything. Deeming the area safe for now, Samus lowered her cannon and took stock of where they stood for the moment while Twilight rallied by her side.

The door they just passed through shot back up and closed smoothly, with no readily apparent means of opening it. Twilight jumped in surprise and ran over to it, while Samus merely looked over her shoulder.

The two stood on a high entrance ledge above the main body of the room, which was a giant circular arena-like affair as highlighted by her map. Small canals of flowing water lined the perimeter of the entire room. The same building material used throughout the temple was here expertly crafted to have smooth, concave walls surrounding the arena itself and providing little in the way of escape or shelter for those trapped below. Natural light poured in through more slits much like the rest of the structure, and rain could still easily be heard from the outside. Small patches of moss and vines grew at random intervals around the entire chamber, but what unnerved Samus the most was that this room, other than its size and intricate structure, held nothing out of the ordinary.

Before anyone could say anything, Samus’ systems instantly picked up that same thermomagical energy spike, though it was massive. As for Twilight, who was magic sensitive, she simultaneously flinched.

“No, but my systems did. It was an enormous thermal spike… but there’s nothing here that could have caused it.”

And despite the idea of ‘thermal,’ the two felt as if the entire room’s temperature dropped ten degrees. Angling her canon upward and drumming her fingers on its body, Samus hunched low and had a quick look around before she gestured for Twilight to jump with her.

Both bounded off the high ledge, though Samus landed on her feet, crouching low to absorb the impact while Twilight touched down gracefully with the aid of her wings.

“Stay close to me,” Samus spoke, quietly and solemnly. Her senses were practically screaming at her that something was incredibly wrong; they were being watched. “I don’t like this…”

“Samus… what’s going on?” Twilight asked, her heart rate having increased exponentially. She was no stranger to feelings of dread and ominousness from her adventures around Equestria… but that didn’t mean that she had to like those very feelings. Seeing Samus go so tense didn’t allay her feelings in the slightest.

“I don’t know, okay?” the Hunter shot back, just a little peeved. Her cannon was outstretched and she swung her gaze around, trying to take in as much of the room as much as possible as they advanced towards its center. What she didn’t tell Twilight, however, was that the peculiar mix of anticipation, fear, and dread rising from her core matched how she felt as she dropped into Nightmare’s lair on the BSL station.

Something suddenly whooshed behind them, crossing to the right, and both of them instantly turned to face...nothingness. Samus charged her Power Beam and held it, her arm cannon bloating with golden light, an ethereal hum filling the air as the charged golden orb held fast at her cannon’s muzzle.

“What the hell was that?!” Twilight gasped, voice threaded with panic, but before Samus could reply to that, a blood-curdling scream tore through the silence. Twilight covered her ears and withdrew slightly from the noise, while Samus leveled her arm cannon at its source, an imposing spectre began phasing out of the ground. The entire room seemed to shake something hellish as this looming figure’s appearance quickly became much more apparent. This spirit bore only passing resemblance to the Alicorn Spirits that Samus expected to face here; this spirit was four times the size of Princess Celestia, its form wreathed in and composed of a dusky, vaporous mass. It was clad in pieces of dark, imperial-looking armor, which when coupled with the inchoate nature of its body, prevented specific features from being identified.

“The Sunfire Vigilant…” Twilight breathed respectfully, eyes widening in a profound sense of majesty and admiration for the rising figure before them.

Samus had already gotten a head start on scanning and Twilight had recovered, instantly rallying to the Hunter’s side as they fell back, putting distance between them and their unknown adversary.

“Twilight,” Samus said, keeping her eyes on the Vigilant as it flared its wings, loosing another bone-chilling cry. Samus backed up, leveling her cannon at what she assumed to be the spirit’s face. “Ummm… you can sit this out if you want.”

“And trust you alone with a magical enemy? You couldn’t take on a classroom of unicorn fillies by yourself!” Twilight scoffed, flaring her own wings, charging her horn, and preparing herself for battle. To her, this felt little different than when she and her friends met various threats around Equestria, and as such, she would see to check this threat accordingly.

A voice filled the air around them, layered over itself, dark and twisted: "Thou who wouldst challenge the Sun... who wouldst seize our power for thine own… Prove thyself against me, mortal!"

The Vigilant reared, then slammed its hooves on the ground challengingly, wasting no time in living up to its name. Its horn flared and sent a golden bolt of magic towards its two opponents, who broke in opposite directions. Twilight two-stepped to the side, and Samus dove into a roll. As she came up on a foot and knee, she responded by releasing her held round and following it with a quick volley of fire. The charged shot impacted the helmet at a broad angle and splashed off, while most of the rest sailed harmlessly through its incorporeal form. Casting her eyes to her comrade, she noted Twilight circling the other way rather than dashing straight to her. Samus was forced to recall that Twilight was not entirely green anymore; she had served admirably in the northern campaign. Quickly, she sketched battle plans in her mind.

The Vigilant charged its horn again, and Samus prepared to evade. However, instead of another bolt, the Vigilant discharged a concussive wave that bowled Samus over, dumping her to the ground and flat on her butt. The Hunter was still by no means defenseless; regardless, Twilight stepped in before the Vigilant could press its advantage, and peppered its helmet with rather ineffective fire.

“Hey! Over here!” she baited her enemy, and the Vigilant took it without hesitation, allowing Samus a straight shot at its torso and flank armor. As the behemoth of an alicorn warrior beat its ghastly wings and turned on its new opponent, Samus charged her Power Beam, intending to discharge a Super Missile into the exposed flank plate.

That is, until a certain notification ballooned up on her visor when she armed her missile launcher.

“You have got to be shitting me!” Samus cursed, slapping her cannon as if she could induce it to create missile ammunition out of sheer ire, recalling that she had not found a way to resupply after her ‘disarmament.’ She abandoned her attempts, resigned to using charged shots to chip away at her foe in a slightly less-efficient manner.

Twilight, meanwhile, evaded an electric attack directed straight at her while still doing her best to pepper the Vigilant with magical rounds which did little but graze the surface of its armor. Noticing that Samus was charging her beam, the alicorn did her best to hold the massive spirit’s attention.

“That’s right! Keep on me!” she yelled out, willing to draw their adversary’s fire for just a little longer while charging her own horn. Delaying no longer, Samus took aim at her original target and released a charged round, and this time the impact was noticeably damaging if the spall coming off the armor was anything to go by.

Growling at the sudden damage, the Vigilant faded even more noticeably into existence and trained it’s soulless sights on the armor-clad Hunter. This time, it reared up completely and flared its wings outward, punctuating with another hellish scream as it slammed its hooves on the ground. A shockwave spread in concentric circles from the point of impact, throwing up dirt and stone as it expanded. The speed at which the ripple approached Samus caught her off guard, but she was easily able to somersault over the debris wave. Twilight attempted to mimic Samus’ maneuver, but unfortunately lacked sufficient mass to stay airborne; the shockwave knocked her out of the air.

“Talk to me, Twi!” Samus called out when she witnessed her friend take a spill. To the alicorn’s credit, she took only a second to shake herself off and get back to her hooves, fluttering into the air in preparation for their next course of action.

“I’m good!” she called back, charging her own horn and firing a powered-up blast straight into the second section of flank-plating which was exposed to her. The amplification of magical force behind dealt more damage than Samus’ charged Power Beam round could, and it cleanly broke that section of armor in two, rendering it effectively destroyed, much to the readily apparent chagrin of the Vigilant.

“Good shot!” Samus called, dodging three more super-heated hard-magic projectiles and returning fire with another well-placed charged round, but before the Vigilant could face Twilight down again, the alicorn noticed something glowing in the wake of the armor’s destruction in the corner of her eye: a missile ammo pickup.

“Samus!” she yelled, grabbing the Hunter’s attention. The woman turned, and found the alicorn cradling the coveted ammo recharge in her magical grasp, one which her missile launcher was starving for. The problem was their enemy between them, however. The pickup was too far away to be grabbed her her Charge Beam’s tractor, but the Hunter was struck with another bout of genius as she faced down the imposing Vigilant, which was ready to strike yet again.

“Launch it at me when I say!” she ordered, attempting to land another charged round on the Vigilant’s helmet, though it threw up a magical barrier and absorbed it harmlessly. Twilight nodded and watched, helplessly, as their foe homed in on her human friend, anxiously waiting for her cue. Charging its horn brightly, the Vigilant let loose five massive projectiles, bright as the noonday sun, that launched into the air and suddenly homed in directly on Samus. Adrenaline surged, instinct took over, and Samus leapt to her left, her boosters cutting in briefly to aid her.

Samus’ intuition was proven correct when the blazing projectiles slammed into the ground with explosive force, spraying rock and dirt, clipping Samus’ shielding as she fled from the punishing assault. Twilight launched the ammo refill towards her with a grunt of exertion. Samus charged her power beam in the middle of her flight, and grinned to herself as the beam caught the pickup in its intangible grip. Rolling and getting to her feet, Samus absorbed the missile ammo and her cannon whirred to life, her missile launcher priming and ammo counter climbing until it displayed ten percent capacity.

“Got it!” Samus exclaimed when her cannon’s barrel opened up and the internals spun, accepting the ammunition and preparing it for use. Heart racing, Samus began charging her cannon anew and prepared to fire. Of course, she’d have to be a bit more conservative until more ammunition pickups made themselves known, but that was a virtue that Samus had learnt over the course of her adventures.

Samus began charging her cannon, but was cut short when she felt a familiar constriction around her torso. The Vigilant, with its tendrils of magic wrapped around the Hunter, hoisted her bodily into the air. Samus turned her head to call out to Twilight, but the alicorn was already on the scene, closing the distance and harassing the Vigilant from the rear. A powerful blast destroyed the remainder of its croupiere, drawing its attention, ire, and its magic. Samus fell out of the air as the Vigilant turned, ready to crush its meager foe.

Samus hit the ground roughly, cannon already charged, with motes of energy circling and coalescing. She gritted her teeth, calmly took aim at the ghastly alicorn warrior’s torso plating and discharged her first Super Missile since she was last on Equis, the mighty warhead, the iconic embodiment of Samus’ arsenal exploding out of her cannon and sailing directly into its intended target: the main plate surrounding its torso.

As her Scan Visor had predicted, the Vigilant’s magically-charged armor was no match for the force of a Super Missile. If Twilight’s attack cracked the armor in half, Samus’ shattered it into a dozen pieces, provoking a scream of rage from the affronted spirit. All it had left was its peytral and helmet anchoring it to the spiritual plane. It leveled a hateful glare at both Samus and Twilight, then faded from existence entirely.

Both Samus and Twilight knew better than to believe the Vigilant had forfeited the fight.

Still, the girl took the opportunity to collect the two ammunition drops that the destroyed armor had left behind in its wake, which refilled her ammo count to thirty-three percent; hopefully, enough to last her the remainder of this battle. Holding her cannon at the ready, she and Twilight caught their breaths, hearts racing as they attempted to find their enemy anew. A quick cycle through her visor suite revealed little, and this was one of the times that Samus would have loved to have kept the Aura Visor.

Low-grade seismic activity shook the entire chamber, and out of one of the walls appeared the Vigilant once more, screaming insanely while tearing up parts of the ground. Suspending massive chunks of fractured stone weighing at least a ton each, the Vigilant reared up and and hurled all four pieces at the duo.

Twilight easily dodged the first one, but she failed to account for the second gargantuan projectile. With a frightened gasp, she suddenly disappeared under the massive weight of the monolithic stone. Samus had little trouble dodging the incoming rocks, slipping past the first and bounding off the second as it flew past, but she had clearly seen what looked like the lavender alicorn getting crushed.

“Twilight!” she called out, but her call was answered by a bright, magenta flash of light as the mare in question teleported back into existence.

“I’m here,” Twilight called, squaring her stance and recharging her horn. “What’s the plan?” Likewise, the Vigilant stomped both hooves on the ground angrily and lifted its helmeted head up high, encasing itself in an aetheric barrier while its horn charged brightly. Clearly it was preparing another strike, but the sudden lull in battle afforded Samus the opportunity to further her battle plans.

“The chest plate,” she pointed out, gesturing to the gigantic armor-piece that bore a gleaming, familiar insignia of the Solar Alicorns. “We survive this attack, then counter by hitting the center of the armor at the same time. Then, I’ll draw its fire and you fly up behind it and destroy the helmet. We’ll figure out what to do after that.” Samus quickly rattled off, spilling her plan out for Twilight to process.

“Right, let’s do it!” she affirmed, though with heavier breath… and that’s when she realized she was sweating. “Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?” At the same time, Samus’ HUD began notifying her of a sharp rise in local temperature. Both looked to the ever-brightening horn charge that the Vigilant was sporting.

“You may wanna shield yourself in some colder temperature if you know a spell for that… because it’s about to get really hot,” Samus warned the alicorn. Her suit started beeping a strident alarm due to the slow exponential increase. Trusting the Hunter with her life by this point, Twilight wordlessly heeded her warning and encapsulated herself in a climate-control spell which served to keep the temperature in her little magenta bubble constant. Samus didn’t have to do anything nearly as overt; the capabilities of her Varia suit that she recovered on BSL shielded her from temperature extremes.

Of more immediate concern were the thermal readings coming from the tip of the Vigilant’s horn, which continued to spiral out of control; Samus’ systems couldn’t get a precise fix on the electromagnetic flux, but approximations showed a temperature that were far higher than Samus felt comfortable with.

Like an erupting volcano, Samus and Twilight were faced with a two-pronged attack, a twinned blast from the Vigilant’s horn, one for each of them. Twilight was able to simply teleport away, but Samus wasn’t afforded such a luxury. She leapt clear, her suit’s jets kicking in to help her move clear. The closeness of the beam, even without a direct strike, ate a chunk out of Samus’ shielding strength as it was. The floor where the two combatants had stood had been converted into a pool of glowing magma from the intense heat.

The speed of Samus’ evasion had unbalanced her, and she hit the ground on her side, her armor skipping and sparking off the stone as she ground to a halt. She leapt to her feet, charging her cannon in earnest. A flash of light across the chamber heralded Twilight’s reappearance; Samus caught her attention and nodded. The Vigilant reared onto its hooves, screaming its challenge, an exhortation echoed by its two foes as they launched their respective attacks. The Super Missile and charged magical round slammed home at the same time, pulverizing the armor plate and leaving its torso bare.

The Vigilant either could not or would not stop its attack, slamming its hooves into the ground. This time, the shockwave was a bright, angry red, and Samus and Twilight both leapt over it, unwilling to experience its effect.

Successfully drawing the Vigilant’s ire again, Samus peppered its transparent form with a torrent of Power Beam fire to take its attention away from Twilight as she got herself into position. Time was of the essence, even if Samus was more than capable of holding her own in almost any situation. The Hunter was expertly keeping the Vigilant distracted, evading any attack it threw at her while Twilight found the target she was looking for: the back of the helmet.

“Anytime today, Twilight!” Samus yelled, getting back to her feet after taking a direct hit from an energy shot. She continued dodging the Vigilant’s hooves attempting to crush her where she stood.

As if cued, Twilight fired a powered magical blast at the flattest part of the Vigilant’s helmet, annihilating it and leaving the spirit completely unarmored, removing its last piece of protection.

The Vigilant threw both Samus and Twilight back with another force wave, clearing its immediate area and generating distance while it rose into the air. Transparency turned to opacity as the massive Spirit assumed a corporeal form: a dark-gray coated alicorn with soulless, abyssal black eyes and a mane of pure hellfire.

Realizing that the battle had moved into a new phase, Samus brought her fingers to her temple, invoking her Scan Visor anew.

Its chest filling with air it didn’t need to take, the de-armored Vigilant let out a keening wail, mimicking the screams of the damned straight from tartarus. Lesser beings may have cowered in fear, though admittedly, Twilight’s ears drooped slightly at the most frightening cacophony she had ever heard. She rallied quickly, however, neither she nor the Hunter wasting any time in pummeling the Vigilant with overwhelming firepower. Under Samus’ tactical direction, cannon shots, Super Missiles, and magical bolts marred its once-pristine form. The Vigilant waged a valiant effort, but it stood little chance fighting on two fronts, a task it was never supposed to perform.

With Twilight holding the beast’s attention, Samus evaded another flare, slid to a stop in front of the Vigilant, and brought her charged, pulsating cannon to bear on the spirit’s wounded chest. One final Super Missile delivered the fatal blow. The energy burrowed into the Alicorn Spirit’s chest, suspended there for an eternal moment. The Alicorn Spirit looked down, an almost comical look of surprise spreading across what passed for its face before the munition exploded, rending the Spirit’s chest.

The dying screams of the Vigilant, worse still than the previous, clawed at their ears. The darkness fled from the Spirit’s body, chased by a bright light that grew more intense, more luminous until suddenly, it burst out from the Vigilant’s husk like a supernova, causing Samus’ visor to instantly polarize, and Twilight to avert her eyes.

When they were able to see again, what they saw standing where the Vigilant had just stood surprised them both. A Solar Alicorn Spirit, whole and pure, stood regally amidst the chaos and destruction that had just been wrought, her coat as golden as the sun now beaming down into the chamber. Her mane and tail were as fire, burning fiercely and wafting in an invisible breeze. Her eyes, now a piercing, radiant blue, sought those of Twilight and Samus.

Silence reigned as the two combatants brought their breathing under control, Samus and Twilight exchanging an odd glance. Twilight’s gaze held a deep admiration, almost a reverence for the sheer majesty of the sight before her. Five seconds became ten, ten became thirty, and time lost meaning as the Alicorn Spirit stood, motionless. Slowly, regally, the Alicorn Spirit smiled, looking between the Hunter, clad in metal, and the lavender alicorn...

...and then, she bowed her head. She spoke again, her voice layered on itself, light and harmonious: “Thou hast done well, my children, in proving thyselves against me. However, I cannot grant ye ascendancy. Thou,” she said, turning her gaze to Samus, “are not of mine kind, though I can sense a powerful, warrior spirit burning within in thee; verily, worthy of our Sun.” Her gaze shifted to Twilight, and she sounded confused. “Thou art an alicorn...but I cannot sense a solar connection. Thou, however, are more than worthy to bear the name of our once mighty society.” Her eyes narrowed slightly, then relaxed.

“Thank ye both, and may ye find harmony everlasting.” She bowed her head again, and her form began to lose cohesion as, freed from the Temple, she returned to her hallowed rest.

Twilight and Samus shared a sideways glance, and the two felt a simultaneous emotion well up within, a kindredness of sorts that manifested in a sense of joy, tempered with pity for the fate of the Vigilant, confined here for countless years.

That was quickly set aside, however, when in place of the friendly Alicorn Spirit, the remaining magic coalesced into what looked like a floating, miniature sun. Curiously, this sun appeared astronomically correct, complete with sunspots and the occasional prominence. It didn’t take very long for Samus to divine that this was meant to be their reward.

“Well, as she said, you’re not an alicorn, and I’m not a solar descendant, so we don’t get to ascend and connect ourselves to the sun. But… it looks like there may be something for you,” the Princess explained, gesturing to the power-up idly holding its place in the center of the now-ruined chamber. Needing no further invitation, Samus took her first, tentative steps towards her latest prize, Twilight close behind her. The chamber was now deathly quiet, and their combined metallic footfalls and hoof-falls served as the white noise while approaching the magical object, one which Samus wasted no time in grasping with her hand when she was sufficient distance away.

Familiar with the general routine, Samus allowed a familiar, warm feeling to diffuse throughout her body as the magic that absorbed into her spread out to the farthest extremities of her armor-clad body… and it all wormed its way back to her arm cannon, which pulsed brightly with an extraordinary amount of energy.

And that energy abruptly died out completely, causing Samus to blink in confusion. Where was her new beam weapon that she was so eager to try out?

“...what happened?” Twilight inquired, noticing that nothing really interesting happened once Samus absorbed the magical object.

“Don’t tell me…” Samus interjected, ignoring Twilight’s question as her suit went to work in seeing what it had just modularized.

“Oh COME ON, really?!” Samus protested after reading out-loud what her suit returned, continuing to press that special button on the side of her helmet as if it would yield a different analysis from her suit. “After that battle, you’re really gonna gimme this shit??”

“The fuck… seriously?” Twilight blurted out, and her precise choice in words startled Samus out of her annoyed stupor, throw a questioning gaze at the lavender alicorn.

“Picked up some good habits from you before you left,” Twilight replied with sarcasm faux-innocence. “But seriously, is that all your suit says?”

“So, from the way that sounds, you need to be able to use magic again to access whatever it is you just got,” Twilight confirmed, and Samus nodded glumly.

“Yeah, but I’m not going there again; I have absolutely no desire to deal with a potentially resurgent Nightmare Hunter,” she mentioned.

“Well, now that that’s over, we’ve still got a little more time before we need to head back. Wanna check a few more areas out?"

[Ponyville | One Week Later…]

Evening had come to Ponyville once again, and under the usual, breathtaking night sky unmarred by the passage of any errant clouds, there was little going on in the way of out-of-the-ordinary. What little there was was embodied by six foreign troops that had called the town their temporary home in secret for the last month or so. Perched on a small, grassy knoll surrounded by a patch of trees, the deathly black-clad troops lay low and out of sight, lying prone and observing a specific structure in the heart of Ponyville: The Library. Their leader, Captain Butenko, concealed himself the most as he gazed through a pair of binoculars, scrutinizing every little detail of the Library and its inhabitants. As for the rest of his squad, his two Lieutenants lay back and gazed up at the heaves that were slightly veiled by their tree cover, and the remaining three corporals were either cleaning their weapons or just idly standing by.

All maintained the strictest silence imaginable, and no features from any of them could be discerned through their haunting armor.

“Anything, Igor?” his executive officer, First Lieutenant Melissa Dragicevich asked as she crawled up next to him. She cast her gaze towards the Library and could see somepony was definitely home considering the lights were on, easily visible through the open windows. Occasionally, a figure would pass by but that had been common over their tenure here.

“No joy,” Igor replied, disappointed. “We haven’t seen Aran all day today… and we’re seeing her less and less,” he complained.

“She may’ve gone to the capital city today; we weren’t able to listen in on communications this time around” Dragicevich remarked, attempting to allay her commander’s concerns, but the latter only shook his head.

“It’s been a month, Melissa; we’re running out of time. From the first week we got here you saw how Samus went on heightened alert. She’s nearly spotted us three times already, and it’s only a matter of time before she does, and if she gets the drop on us, we’re gonna have a fight on our hands,” he added coolly, but his second in command could easily hear through the voice that exuded confidence, instead hearing that tinge of urgency in its place.

Before Melissa could respond to his concerns, however, she spotted movement out of the corner of her eye through the binoculars. Training them on one of the main streets that intersected directly with the Library’s path, she found their target… and then some.

“Target spotted, confirmed Samus Aran along with one winged-equine and…” her words abruptly ceased and Igor looked to her for answers, hanging on the sentence that she had not finished yet. “...that’s… that can’t be.”

“I’m about ninety-nine percent positive that that’s a metroid floating around the two of them.”

“Metr—what?! Bullshit, lemme see.” The Captain yanked the binoculars out of Melissa’s grasp, but at the mention of a specific word, the other Lieutenant joined the pair, nestling herself to Igor’s left.

“Did I just hear the word ‘metroid?’” Lieutenant Tori Irvine butted in incredulously. Sure enough, she could make out Samus, a cream-colored pony, and some creature floating around the two of them energetically. Most peculiarly, if concerning, was the fact that neither Samus nor the pony seemed at all afraid for their lives.

“That… is a metroid,” Igor confirmed, sighing out. “Jesus, I thought Samus destroyed them all… why the hell is there one just floating around like it’s no big deal? Where did it even come from??”

“I’ll prepare a report for Conway,” Melissa piped up, manipulating her visor controls accordingly as well as taking screenshots from her in-helmet recording device. “Establishing secure extranet connection; this may take a little bit.”

“Unbelievable…” Igor spoke again, as if speechless. “Tori, look at this; it’s like the metroid’s tame!”

Sure enough, when Tori took a hard, studious look through the binoculars, they found the lone metroid cozying up to the pegasus, though Samus herself did not seem to mind. In fact, she seemed to encourage the spry behavior that the aforementioned creature exhibited. She also noticed that the Zero Suit-clad Hunter was carrying a bottle of wine in her left hand… and by her flushed complexion noticeable on her cheeks, it was safe to assume that Samus may have had a few drinks in her.

“Someone’s been drinking tonight. And woof… metroid is something I didn’t expect to see on this mission. How we could be here nearly a month and not see this is my question, actually,” Tori added in disbelief. “Did we really miss a floating metroid for a month? Clearly they’re on good terms with each other.”

“No matter, but we may have an opening here…” Igor commented, laying his chin on his knuckles as he weighed his thoughts and plans.

“Cap?” Melissa asked. Samus and her companion plus the metroid reached the door of the Library and promptly let themselves in… but not before Samus stiffened and shot her suspecting gaze behind her, sensing that she was being watched, as she had for the last few weeks.

“Engage active camouflage,” Igor ordered, and at an instant, the entire squad was rendered invisible and undetectable across the entire EM spectrum. Spectre Squad had been outfitted with the best experimental stealth tech that the Federation could provide, and so far, it had worked flawlessly. The Hunter dragged her gaze side to side, studying every nook and cranny of the environment behind her but seemingly assuaged her own concerns, if for the moment, and shrugged before heading inside.

“We have a tame metroid that clearly identifies with the winged pony and a slightly inebriated Samus; this may be the edge that we need. If things go well, we can capture the docile metroid. What do you two think?”

“Samus is deadly, even if she’s allegedly tipsy. Any action against her would have to be instant and decisive, but we can pull it off. I recommend we move now, or within the next few minutes,” Tori stated her opinion confidently. Nodding, Igor then turned to Melissa.

“I’m all for a quick strike; it’s what we do… but I highly recommend letting me establish an extranet connection to report these developments to the Admiral before we move. This could take upwards of two hours to ensure no disruption and no potential interdiction by Equestrian or friendly outsiders,” she weighed in.

“Sir, if we lose track of Samus’ whereabouts within the structure we’d lose our opportunity and open ourselves up to a counterattack. We’re days away from being discovered, at best. I recommend we move immediately; catch her in the disarray amongst her companions,” Tori added, drawing the Captain’s gaze back to her.

“We need to report this metroid finding first,” Melissa objected. “This is huge!”

“It is! But it’s being kept as a pet, essentially. We breach, put a round in Samus’ head, and pepper the metroid with enough freeze rounds to stun it and haul it away. It would look a lot better if, when we make direct contact with Conway, we’ve not only terminated Aran, but also have a live metroid under our arms. We’d get medals of honor for this!” Tori countered, both of the lieutenants attempting to sway their captain’s opinion and eventual orders on the matter.

“I agree with Tori this time,” Igor voiced. “We’re running out of time, we need to move quickly, and we can’t squander any opportunity given to us. We’re pressing forward with the assault.”

“Yes, sir,” Melissa and Tori said simultaneously, though one was understandably more unconvinced than the other.

“Alright everyone, lock and load. That includes you, Hannah, Malcolm, and Jamie.” the Captain ordered to everyone. “Make sure your suppressors are on tight; we’re moving out in thirty seconds.”

“Igor,” Melissa called. “It’s my obligation to let you know that I firmly oppose—”

“I know, Melly, and I normally agree with you on most things. But we’ve been hiding for a month with little to show for it; it’s time to act before Conway deems our mission not cost-effective and recalls us.”

“Alright guys…” Igor addressed everyone. “Remember, this is not a capture-or-kill operation; this is a straight up termination. You know the plan, we’ve discussed it before. Three teams of two, we attack from three sides. Go for Samus and the metroid; ignore the ponies if they don’t resist. They’re not our problem. After they’re dealt with, secure her equipment and find the BSL data. I’d like to get her ship, too, but we have to assume it’s under the control of the ponies; it’s lost to us. Remember, there is a metroid in play; don’t drop your guard because this seems like a milk run, okay? Syncing mission chronos...now. Dropship’s on its way, ETA fifteen minutes.”

“Breaching charges are ready to go,” Tori added. “Ready to move out on your order.”

“Right… everyone form up and follow me. We are go; let’s move!” Igor ordered, getting to his feet and leading his squad in a lighting-fast sprint across the road and directly towards the inhabited library, the tranquility of the spring evening disrupted by rapid, metallic foot-falls against gravel.

¹ Editor’s Note: For the purposes of this story, the Galactic Federation is assumed to have been established in the mid 2300s, and Samus’ birth fixed at ‘around’ 2400. We attempted to reconcile the approximation of “cosmic year” with a projection forward from the common era, which allowed for only two possibilities: either the current year by Gregorian reckoning would be in the 41st century, or the GFed must have been established in the first half of the first millennium. The latter is ridiculous on its face, and the former offended Flammen’s sensibilities. Ultimately, we decided to scrap the concept entirely, and render the timeline in purely Gregorian terms.

Metroid Equis II: Duality

by Flammenwerfer

7. Venator Caelestis