"So, how was the trip to collect the Power Bomb data?" Twilight asked curiously.
"Rather straightforward," Samus admitted. "Sector 5 hadn't really changed much since we were there last, so it was a straight run to the Data Room to download the data. The only real point of interest was a strange shadow we could see in one of the non-cold rooms, flying about in the background. I didn't recognize it, but something about it was familiar to Spike-"
"The Nightmare from Bottleship?" Scootaloo asked curiously. "I mean, if everything here was designed to fight and kill Spike, it makes sense they've got an upgraded version of that."
"...note to self, never underestimate ponies," Samus murmured, startling several giggles around the table. "As I was saying, going in was simple. Coming back out, we had to take a detour. Along that path, we...heard the SA-X coming up behind us."
"Fortunately, we were able to rush ahead before it caught up, so there was no confrontation that time," Spike hastened to reassure everyone as he saw their nervous expressions. "As we made our way back out, we took a few side trips to pick up a few expansions for Mom's Power Bombs. Since they were going to be quite useful, Mom wanted to be sure to have as many as possible."
"And it was rather helpful that Melissa had provided a tweak for Spike's armor programs, so his energy shields could completely filter out the heat damage of the Power Bombs," Samus added. "Although it did take a while for Ghor to translate it for transmission as Federation Data Room file."
"That must have been a relief," Twilight spoke up with a pleased smile. She had been worried about that for a while.
"It was," Spike agreed. "Especially since it meant I was also immune to the SA-X's Power Bombs."
"So what was your next objective?" Rainbow asked curiously.
"We had to head back to the ship after that," Samus explained. "Adam had gotten an alert from the ship that didn't make sense, so we went to investigate. I couldn't check remote because...the tech for that interface was part of what was surgically removed while I was infected."
"You mean...the SA-X could access your ship?" Luna asked worriedly.
"Thankfully, no," Samus countered. "Once I realized I couldn't use the function anymore, I disabled it so it couldn't be used against me."
"On our way back, though..." Spike began.
Halfway up the main elevator shaft, power cut to the entire station, stopping the elevator there. A quick scan showed Samus that the wall to one side was structurally weak, allowing her to blast a narrow path to get them out of the shaft. This led them into the ventilation ducts in the walls again, through a short path that dropped them into the sub-zero quarantine chamber. Seeing her opportunity, Samus got ready to smash the frozen Ridley...only for it to crumble before her eyes. A red X Core floated away before she could grab hold of it. She considered blasting the wall with a Power Bomb to follow, but she could see the doors were inactive again, leaving no way to actually leave the chamber that way. Since the floor near the Ridley corpse crumbled, she dropped down that path to move on.
Noticing Spike did not immediately follow her, she paused to wait for him. When he did eventually arrive, however, he simply pushed past her, a sorrowful frown on his face, plainly not wanting to talk about whatever was bothering him.
"I never did get a straight answer about that," Samus murmured softly, turning to Spike. "Though I get the feeling it's something I'd have trouble understanding."
"It's just..." Spike began, plainly struggling for words. "Despite how much I'd fought Ridely, how fiercely I'd tried to kill him...it hurt to see him like that, and not in an 'the mighty have fallen' kind of way..." He shook his head. "I couldn't even explain it to myself..."
"I can," Ember spoke up. "For a dragon of our world, it's unnatural to hate another dragon. There can be some incredibly fierce rivalries, and some intense squabbles over territory or treasure...but not real hate. As much as you fought Ridley, wanted him dead, hated the things he'd done, wanted to avenge those he'd hurt or killed...you never really hated him, did you Spike?"
Spike glanced away, not meeting anyone's eyes. "...no, I didn't," he said finally. "No matter how much I knew I should...and knew he hated me...I just couldn't bring myself to hate him. And..."
"And you couldn't help but respect him as a fellow dragon," Ember finished for him. "It's inbuilt into us. No one knows why." She shivered slightly. "Just the idea of seeing a dragon in such a state...I can't imagine how you dealt with it..."
Spike turned back to his thoughts and memories, ones he'd shared with no one, and would not share...
Spike stared down at the crumbled form of Ridley. To see his foe so reduced was painful, pitiful. He wanted to turn away, not see it...but he could not. Something was forcing him to look closer and examine it.
His eyes widened as his senses told him something that was beyond belief. Ridley was still alive! There was no trace of X infection left inside him, as the X Core had used him up and tossed him aside...but some part of him was still clinging to life, struggling to keep moving, keep living...to not die like this.
Spike stared down at his longtime foe in such a state. He knew he couldn't turn his back on this and leave him like this. At the same time, to kill him when he was helpless...that would make Spike no better than he. But what other option was left?
Something deep in Spike's mind spoke to him...a voice from before his hatching, from another life, memories locked away...
"...everyone deserves a second chance..."
Sighing, Spike did the only thing he could accept of himself to do. Gathering some of his inner energy, he breathed it out, infusing it into his fallen foe, giving him enough energy to hold flesh and bone together. Turning, he pried the containment door open. With the power off, the Sub-Zero conditions were already failing. Ridley now had a fair chance of survival and escape. More than enough for one as clever as he to survive. Spike would do no more than that.
As he saw his foe take a labored breath, he dove down the path of the crumbling floor, giving no more thought to the one he left behind.
"...I dealt," Spike answered finally.
And now we know how he survived the BSL incident.
..... Spike..... this is either gonna bite you in the ass....... or......... you possibly just showed Ridley enough mercy to make him finally move on from being a monster.
7320209 It's RIDLEY. The chance of it being the latter are almost in the negatives they're that low.
7320211 You'd be amazed.
7320212 It's much more likely that Ridley hates Spike even more now, because he was shown mercy.
7320232 Meh.
7320211
This is true; this is the same guy who, in the manga, mocked Samus about eating the bodies of her family to recover, and wondered, out loud, which part of his body was made up of her mother's cells...
7320211 But at the same time, this is the author who was able to make Other M good, reform Sombra-twice, mind you- without his own story. It would surprise me if that didn't have some sort of impact on Ridley!
7320209
Gonna have to go with 7320211 and 7320232 on this one.
This is from Tallon IV: Aftermath, by the way.
7320254 .... well shit. Then Spike made a stupid mistake.
7320256
Yup.
Spike just literally pulled a Goku.
7320277 .... there needs to be a Samus button for Ridley now.
7320281
...huh?
7320302 Vegeta has a Goku button that you should NEVER press unless you want to be brutally beaten up.... Ridley basically goes feral at just MENTIONING Samus's name.
7320209
7320211
7320232
7320254
There are two kinds of monsters, that I am aware of.
The first is the type we most readily associate with the term. Animals acting out on instinct to kill, feed and reproduce like any other creature of nature, but are so damn efficient at it, or simply have nothing to check their destructive influence that they become too dangerous to allow to live, such as Metroids and the X-Parasite. They cannot be blamed for their nature. It's simply the way they are, but it does not make what they are capable of any less monstrous...
Then there's the second kind... The Kind that's even more terrifying than the Monsters Nature creates through Evolution... The Monsters that Choose to be like they are... Beings like Ridley...
Though Heroes may be chosen, So too can Monsters. Just as Circumstance "chooses" heroes, and Heroes in turn choose to rise to the call, So Too are Monsters "Chosen" by the courses of their lives, and in turn, so do they choose to become the monsters they are. Their original intentions don't matter, weather they were "Noble" or Selfish. Eventually, all they know is hate... Hate and rage and the urge to destroy everything around them that opposes their twisted goals... But at the same time, their intelligence and cunning make them a thousand times more dangerous than the animals. They see Mercy and notions of Fair-Play as "weaknesses" to exploit, if only to prove to their enemies how foolish they are, so Spike saving Ridley's life may well only make him hunt him even harder, because until Spike and Samus are dead, Ridley's continued existence is validation to Ideals that are anathema to his own...
7320307
He pretty much already does...
7320307
Ah, that's what you meant.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good work.
Ridley just wants to watch the entire world burn at this point... I just realized that this is the first time an actual enemy from the main character's past has entered Equestria. Ridley gave Spike a lot of trouble during his quest and that was before he got all of those equestrian upgrades he's been acquiring... Is this going to be a first? Are you actually incorporating an enemy that might give them a challenge into the end of the story?
...Wait... I forgot about Discord... Nevermind...
7320209 If you read Ridley's arrival in earlier chapter's you would realize that idley decided to pull a frieza... a delayed one but still a stupid and stubborn move none the less.
7320360 YES. I ALREADY KNOW.
Wait until Ridley finds out he's still alive because his "rival" spared him...
Ah crap...
7320256 Big time
7320209
Yeah, Ridley is already in Equestria, and if I remember correctly, somehow merged with Sombra, the Emperor Ing, AND Dark Samus. That decision has ALREADY bit him in the ass, he just doesn't know it yet.
7320367 Though in all honesty it would be nice if Ridley did indeed become their ally after realizing it was Spikes fault that he still lived.
I have to wonder if Spike changed Ridley somewhat with that move. Nothing big like redemption or the like... but something like Ridley's perception of Spike becoming more in line with Spike's perception of him. Instead of hate, Ridley would have a rival-like view of him.
And oh the doors such a thing would open up. I've seen a story or two where Ridley helped Samus for a variety of reasons, usually something along the lines of Samus being his prize, and his alone.
Like I said, I don't see any kind of redemption for Ridley, but I can actually see some Spike and Ridley tag-teaming. That would be cool to see.
Nice chapter, and nice world building regarding dragons.
7319801 they were listing story order, trying to correct me, when I was referring to production order.
Make sure you read through more of the comment chain before trying to correct someone, AGAIN, after they had responded to another miscorrection.
?!?!?!
WHAT?!
WHAT?!
WHAT?!
After all he's done, all that he's destroyed, Spike goes and pulls that kind of thing?!
... Clever girl.
And thankfully, you didn't use your Power Bombs which would have caught it's attention.
I can imagine.
Phew.
Ah yes, I figured it was this.
Yeeesh...
You pulled a Goku. YOU PULLED, A GOKU. Spike you had better frickin hope that Ridley remembers this, because or else you screwed yourself over big time. And considering that dark spirits have come to his aid, and he's now fused with the Emperor Ing and Dark Samus, you have essentially f^cked yourself over unless you and the others can kill him, or if he's vulnerable to Discord's reality warping.
Well, was not expecting that. I feel a sad moment for Spike will come in the future.
7320277 "God dang it Freezer, now I have to give you more!"
only 1 boss before the sa-x sprint, geez that part was freaking anoying.
If I wasn't certain this ship is going to go boom, I'd question the wisdom of sending weapon data over channels that might be able to copy and store it for the Federation.
I like the way Spike doesn't hate ridley he respects him
Well, I can't say it was the smartest choice, but it was the morally right choice.
Sure, Ridley's out for Spike's head, but Spike did the honorable thing rather than stoop to Ridley's level.
That's what's important here. I'm sure Twilight's proud of him right now for doing that.
7323072 While I'm sure she's proud... Ridley is going to torment Spike a bit for sparing him and inadvertently giving Ridley the ability to come to Equestria and torment Spike's loved ones.
7321577 Pretty sure the Federation's already got full technical data on Samus' previous suits/weapons - and will probably get updated data as a matter of course next time she checks in.
Of course, there's a big difference between knowing the specs of a technology and being able to manufacture it yourself - just ask any of the Space Pirates who tested their attempts to duplicate Samus' morph ball technology...
All the Federation needs in order to take advantage of the data Samus has handed them is to reproduce the Chozo tech base - at which point they'll no longer need the data because they'll be able to invent their own home-grown equivalents. Meanwhile, letting the Federation have copies of her technical data means they can hack together upgrade data for her, and have a decent shot at field maintenance of her Chozo gear...
7323301
Of course, the base of Chozo tech is the bio-tech interface, which is genetically hardcoded to only work with someone who has Chozo DNA...so they'd have to recreate such a thing from scratch to build their own Chozo style Power Suits.
7323301 The GF has had access to Samus' tech for FAR longer than the Space Pirates. Direct access even unlike the SP's indirect. Their own power armor is BASED on Samus' design , at least in canon. And yet they still CAN NOT recreate something as powerful as Samus' Power Suit. Samus' design is actually based on an older model the Chozo no longer used, and yet it's tech is still beyond anything the GF or the SPs can produce. What do you expect from a species that mastered science, psionics, and outright magic. There is a reason that the surviving Chozo transcended reality. To use Babylon 5 as a great example, the Chozo were as far beyond the younger races as the Vorlons were beyond humanity.
7323540
Wait...
You're saying that as advanced as Samus' Power Suit is compared to Federation tech...the Chozo considered it obsolete?
...eeyikes. Can you imagine what Samus would be capable of if they'd given her the latest model?
7323593 Assuming they had a latest model - I get the impression that the reason Samus is running around in a museum piece collecting ancient relics is because the Chozo transcended the requirement for a physical suit...
The Chozo ghosts encountered in the Prime trilogy are hardly prime specimens of living Chozo capability, being both dead and insane, but they can generate something resembling charge beam blasts without any sort of equipment. A creature with that sort of native ability isn't going to need an arm cannon...
7323609
I suppose that's a logical conclusion...
I still like the idea that the reason they're constantly able to leave her upgrades is that they're waiting until she's ready for the mil-spec model.
7323609
7323630
The origin comic references that the suit is an older model. Whether or not that's because the Chozo themselves just evolved past the need for such things, or because the Chozo don't feel that anyone is ready/worth for their best hardware is unknown. Consider that the Chozo in their prime were supposed to be comparable to, if not even stronger than, the Luminoth Sentinel from Prime 2, U-Mos. U-Mos had enhanced reflexes, durability, psionic powers, and could generate and manipulate energy at will according to his scan data in said game. We do know the Chozo did have a proud warrior tradition, even if they had long since given up aggressive tendencies. This leads me to believe that their warriors should be at least as good, if not better, than the Luminoth's own. Prime 2 is FULL of scans about how single Luminoth warriors took down HUNDREDS of Ing before finally succumbing, sometimes even while wounded/caught unprotected in Dark Aether. This leads evidence that the Chozo really didn't need powersuits to be awe inspiring badasses.
Zero Mission retcons the lore slightly and makes it that some of Samus' best toys, Plasma Beam, Gravity Suit, and Space Jump (the kind with unlimited jumps) were all ANCIENT Chozo Technology. As was the new powersuit she gained that could use such devices. The Chozo have shown that they had a great deal of knowledge about what was coming, and made preparations for it. Samus was their choice to guard, and guide, the galaxy. This makes it likely that they KNEW about Samus well before her actual birth, and her rebirth by the Chozo. That being the case, and combined with the Chozo's ability to predict the future, it IS possible that there is a 'modern' powersuit waiting for Samus. And if that really is the case, Goddess help whatever forces Samus to collect such a weapon. Samus Aran's powersuit is one of the most powerful scifi creations that doesn't outright destroy planets. A 'modern' Chozo made powersuit could very well be the kind of weapon that makes actual deities tremble...
Oh lordy, Spike.
E'yup, Spike is more Pony than anything in his D.N.A.
7324501
Does Ridley & Friends count as a sufficient threat, do you think?
Soooooo spike goku'd the freiza? Neat
10191190
That is the single greatest analogy ever.