"Once back in the mapped areas of the Main Deck," Samus continued, "we discovered something rather interesting. The doorway to the area we were trying to get to was covered over by an X Parasite mimicking a creature we'd encountered on Zebes."
"The weird eyeball things that covered some boss doors?" Rainbow asked, consulting her 'game' notes quickly.
"I wouldn't have put it that way, but yes," Samus confirmed. "It could only be destroyed with missiles to the eye...and once destroyed, they would release a Red X Parasite that restored a great deal of suit energy and ammunition...and they always guarded chambers where a Large Core X could be found."
"Large Core X?" Twilight asked curiously.
Smiling, Samus explained what happened behind the door.
Samus and Spike carefully made their way around a few twists in the hallway, stopping long enough for Samus to pick up an energy cell that happened to be compatible with her suit, which - once assimilated - increased her suit's maximum energy. With that, Samus felt much readier to confront whatever awaited them down the pit nearby. Spike, however, stopped her, sniffing the air and briefly detouring through a broken segment of ceiling to grab her another stray Energy Tank, having recognized a similar scent.
With those in hand, the pair dropped down the pit into the chamber below, only to stare at what they saw. A much larger X Parasite, pulsing yellow and green, floated in the air, surrounded by a spiky, translucent barrier and swarming smaller X. It slowly floated to the ground before assuming a mimicked form...a rather large pink creature resembling an armadillo with a dark green shell. As soon as it formed, it roared aggressively.
Samus and Spike wasted no time blasting into it with Missiles and Spike's breath weapons. They quickly discovered that only the pink portions of its body could be damaged, and it became invincible when it curled up into its shell and attempted to roll at them. This assault was easy to dodge. The flames it could spew out and the energy slashes released from its large claws were less so. However, it wasn't very durable, and under their combined assault, the mimicked body eventually collapsed, revealing the Large Core X.
A quick probing attack revealed that the barrier was only vulnerable to missiles, and it resisted impacts more strongly just after taking damage. Three well timed missile hits caused the barrier to collapse, however, allowing Samus to leap up and absorb the X into her system, completely replenishing her energy and ammunition. Once she'd done so, she dropped to the ground as her suit gave her a message.
Morph Ball ability recovered.
Samus smiled, somewhat relieved. "That's good news," she murmured. "I seriously doubt Ghor would have been able to recreate that." Quickly going into Morph Ball, she led Spike out of the chamber.
"Large Core X not only fully restored my resources," Samus explained, "but they also contained enough data for my suit to use to restore my latent abilities, based on the creature the X had been mimicking."
"Useful," Applejack commented dryly.
"Convenient," Pinkie pipped up happily.
"Nice game mechanic!" Rainbow added with a chuckle, resulting in several facehooves around the table.
"With the source of the disturbance eliminated," Spike spoke up, getting things back on track, "we headed back to the Navigation Room to report..."
Adam listened calmly as Samus and Spike explained what had happened. "This is very bad news," Adam grumbled. "If the X have infiltrated the Breeding Environments here, then just about every biological you come across is likely to be an X host."
"The bio-sensors in Sector 1, designated SRX, are already showing several abnormalities," Melissa explained, once more at the controls. "SRX is apparently a recreation of the SR388 environment for the creatures brought up from there. You'll need to investigate. Take the Main Elevator to the Access Shaft and use Elevator 1." As she spoke, the map screen shifted to show the path, as well as the location of the Navigation Room just inside the entrance of Sector 1.
"How did the missiles work?" Ghor asked curiously. "I didn't have the resources to test the modifications..."
"They worked flawlessly," Samus replied. "Good work, Ghor. We'll contact you as soon as we're in Sector 1."
"Be careful," Adam insisted. "I think whoever let the X into the Breeding Environments may have been behind the explosion that released the X in the first place."
"And I was right," Adam spoke up calmly. "Though none of us could have guessed what it was...and when we did learn..."
Noticing everyone's startled looks, Samus spoke up. "On the way down the Main Elevator, we heard a large explosion above us, one that shut down the Main Elevator once we reached the bottom. Spike...said it sounded like a Super Missile."
"W-what?" Twilight asked, terrified.
"We didn't learn what it was until Samus was finished in Sector 1," Ghor explained. "That's when Melissa managed to get access to security video."
"Sector 1 itself was rather straight forward," Samus explained. "The X had infested the atmospheric stabilizers, in order to alter atmospheric conditions to meet their needs. We just had to reach each one and destroy the infestation. The only point of interest was when we found another door blocked by what Spike called the 'eyeball X', and a different variety of Large Core X behind it..."
Inside the large chamber, Samus and Spike made their way to the far end where they saw, of all things, a Chozo Statue holding a Power Up for Samus' suit. Eagerly, Samus fired on the protective cover, revealing the upgrade within...only for the entire statue to shift and warp, revealing a Large Core X. However, the barrier on this one was much thicker, and looked far more durable. Missiles bounced right off of it as it slowly pursued Samus and Spike around the room. Eventually, it opened a strange eye where energy began to gather. A missile impacting the eye caused the barrier to flex in response, as well as release the blast being charged. After the fourth missile, the barrier shattered, allowing Samus to absorb the X.
Charge Beam ability recovered.
"Now that is good news," Samus crowed, charging up a blast in her arm cannon, just because she could.
"The second variety of Large Core X always had beam weapon data for me," Samus explained, "and would use those beams against us. Once defeated, absorbing the X allowed me to regain the Beam ability."
"That made clearing the last of the Environmental Stabilizers much easier," Spike added. He then frowned. "Unfortunately..."
With the atmosphere stabilized throughout the sector, Samus and Spike returned to the Navigation Room to report. Melissa and Ghor both seemed distracted with getting the video data needed to identify the mystery saboteur, and Adam seemed unusually upset as he instructed Samus and Spike to make their way to Sector 2, the Tropical area. Knowing they still had work to do, the pair took the elevators as instructed.
However, as soon as they opened communications in Sector 2, they knew something was wrong. They could see Melissa curled up in the back of the ship, shivering in fear. Ghor looked like he'd encountered a processing error of some sort. Adam...had gone pale. "Samus," he greeted calmly. "We've...identified the saboteur."
"That's good," Samus began. Noticing Adam's almost frightened gaze, she swallowed convulsively. "R-right?"
"Samus, Spike...you should both sit down for this," Adam instructed.
Both took the instruction, Spike sitting against the wall, and Samus sitting on his knee as he was still in his larger size. "You're starting to make me nervous, Adam," he chided jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.
Adam ignored the levity. "Samus...our saboteur is...an X mimicking you."
Samus and Spike both stared, blood draining from their faces as they paled at the very idea.
Discord blinked in surprise as he noticed that Twilight and her friends were trying to hide behind him. He wasn't sure whether to be flattered or freaked out.