//------------------------------//
// BSL: Unexpected Varia-ble 
// Story: Another Hatchling 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	"So, unintended nightmare scenarios aside," Velvet cut in, "what was Sector 6 like?"

"Dark," Samus replied readily.  "Sector 6 (NOC) was specifically for the study of nocturnal creatures, and as such large portions of it were kept in absolute darkness.  Only the light our armor gave off even let us see."

"That and my flame breath," Spike added.  "I...admit I went a little overboard with it..."

"A little?" Samus countered with a raised eyebrow.  "Spike you roasted anything that moved, and half the things that didn't!  I had to dodge a panicked discharge five times."

As Spike rubbed the back of his head nervously, Twilight spoke up.  "Well, you can't really blame him for being cau-"

"In the first dark room," Samus added in a growl.

Twilight froze, her hoof raised and her mouth hanging open.  "...sorry Spike," she admitted as she unfroze.  "I've got nothing for that."

"Well, what else was I supposed to do?" Spike demanded.  "I couldn't see the X in the dark!"

"But you could still feel unusual heat sources," Fluttershy pointed out.  "Why not use that to sense any unusual cold spots to aim?"

Spike stared at Fluttershy for a time, then brought his claw to his face with an audible smack.  Several listeners stifled giggles.  Ember laughed openly.

"So other than almost being roasted, how did things go in Sector 6?" Rainbow asked once the laughing stopped.

"Pretty straight forward, actually," Samus replied.  "In addition to being completely dispersed by Spike's flame breath, the Blue X could also be stunned by my beam weapons.  Although...there was one point..."





Samus and Spike raced along the corridor they'd entered, only to find the path blocked by a solid wall.  Scans showed that it could only be broken down with a Power Bomb.  They started to turn back, only to hear the approach of footsteps.  "What do we do?" Spike whispered desperately.

Looking around, Samus noticed that the floor was vulnerable to ordinary bombs and quickly dropped one.  Finding a passageway underneath, she dropped into it, Spike quickly shrinking down and following.  As they hid, they could hear the footsteps directly above them, making their way to the wall.  Hearing a familiar beeping, Samus rolled as far down the passage as she could, Spike racing after her just ahead of the blast of a Power Bomb.

When the blast passed, Samus and Spike carefully made their way forward, the entire floor above them missing.  They could see the SA-X walking ahead, simply marching, behaving very differently than it had when last they'd seen it.  It stepped on one of Spike's shed scales without even noticing before leaping down to a lower level, making its way through another door.  Samus and Spike waited a while to let it move ahead, before leaping down to make their own way through.





Samus paused, glancing worriedly towards Pinkie, remembering how discussion of the SA-X had affected her earlier.  Pinkie, for her part, was munching popcorn.  "You okay, Pinkie?" Samus asked softly.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Well...last time the SA-X came up..." Samus began.

"That was then, this is now," Pinkie countered.  "Completely different issue."  She tossed more popcorn into her mouth.

Chuckling, Samus turned back to the others.  "Well, the Data Room wasn't long after that, and we didn't really encounter much in the way of dangers beyond the Blue X...but the Data Room was covered by an Eye Door."

"Wait...a Large Core X was in the Data Room?" Shining asked, stunned.

"What was it doin' in there?" Applejack demanded.

"Something that was rather frightening..." Spike murmured softly.





As Samus and Spike burst into the Data Room, they found the Large Core X settled in the download capsule, information transferring from the device into the X.  Before either of them could fully react, the download finished, and the X destroyed the download capsule as it phased through the opposite wall.  Realizing the X had stolen the Varia Suit data, Samus and Spike raced after it into the next room.

The chamber was quite tall, filled with water at the bottom with only a few platforms above it.  As they entered, a massive, bulbous creature flew in, covered in spikes and surrounded by smaller versions of itself.  It was like no creature they had ever seen before.  "What is that?" Samus demanded.

Spike sniffed at the air as the creature passed.  "I...I think that's the biological components of your Varia Suit," he explained.  "It downloaded the data...and used it to create a form to fight us with."

Growling, Samus charged her beam.  "I'm taking my suit back."

Nodding, Spike focused his attention.  Varia Suit...that's resistance to temperature extremes, so my ice and fire breath aren't going to be helpful...  Shifting his focus in his glands, he took a deep breath and unleashed his electric breath.  As he'd expected, it tore through the smaller spheroids surrounding the main creature, pushing it back as it took damage.  Samus took advantage of the opening created to fire off a few charged shots.

After a few volleys, the bright green creature began to dim towards orange, and then red, before the beast finally crumbled away.  The Large Core X revealed had a thinner outer membrane, like the ones that had restored Samus Morph Ball and Jump-related abilities.  Like those, missiles were able to damage the membrane at any time, and Spike was able to grasp the membrane to hold it in place for Samus to fire at.  Before long, the membrane collapsed, and Samus was able to reclaim her Varia Suit effect, which changed her suit from a pale blue to the bright green the creature had originally been.