With the end of the tale of the events of BSL station, those gathered for stories turned in for the night, with the promise that the story would continue - and conclude - the next morning. As the new guests were shown back to their guest rooms, the ponies once more took their preferred sleeping positions, with Twilight and the others arranging themselves over Spike while Celestia took the Crusaders under her wing for cuddles. Gandrayda had dragged Ember into joining her in curling up in Spike's lap, overriding Ember's protests much to the amusement of others.
However, as sleep and night descended upon Ponyville, something darker was rising out in the Badlands, in the cavern where Ridley was learning a tale long forgotten of ancient Equestria.
When I first arrived upon this world, the Emperor Ing began, I was greatly weakened. Only by embedding my essence in a large crystal could I survive. However, the magical fields of this planet were strong, strong enough for me to begin crafting servants to aid me. At first it was slow going, and I despaired of ever rebuilding my Empire...but hope arrived. A fragment of Mother Phaaze descended from the heavens to impact the world. And lo and behold, an entity arrived, one who should have been claimed by the Leviathan to become its Guardian.
But he was too powerful, and kept his distance from the Leviathan's influence. He studied it for a time, and found it to be problematic for the world he was overseeing. He took great delight in chaos, but the Leviathan promised only an invading Order, and he would have none of that. As such, he gazed into the very fabric of time to find a way to contain and neutralize the Leviathan...and found it in my own past.
"Spike..." Ridley growled out angrily.
Indeed, the Ing Emperor confirmed. Seeing a dragon that could devour the product of the Seeds, he remade the dragons of this world in his image, and loosed them upon the Seed. I could only watch as they devoured my only hope of resurrection...and did the only thing I could. Sending out all of my servants, I managed to extract the Seed's core and crystallize it, rendering it dormant so I could hide it away, making it so the dragon's hunger could not scent it. But that blasted chimera saw my plan, and he added a tweak to the dragons, making them crave gemstones so they would even hunt the dormant Core. I thought myself lost...but he seemed to reconsider. Apparently, he was making things too orderly for his own taste. He found his greatest entertainment by not knowing the outcome of events...and so he let me escape and hide the Core away...here. And now, the Core has become active again...and the one known as Dark Samus, the last survivor of Phaaze, has risen within it.
Ridley snarled under his breath. "Fine," he grumbled. "A very interesting story. I suppose that explains why there's Phazon here, and something that looks like Samus. But how does that help me?"
Patience, Ridley, the Ing Emperor began. You've only heard half of the story. You see, I wasn't content to simply wait until I could act. I made my moves against the races of the world, just as I did against the Luminoth. My people are The Shadows, but we have had many names. The Luminoth called us Ing. The dragons called us Dark Spots. The minotaurs called us The Slenders. The griffons called us The Hungry Dark. ...the ponies called us Umbrum.
The ponies were the greatest threat to my plans, as their magic was able to tap the power of light to destroy us, much as the Luminoth could. However, I crafted a new plan. Half pony, half Umbrum, I created my living weapon and left him where I knew ponies would tend to him, because he was left alone. I watched as they played into my hands, keeping him where their Artifact of Light would give him chronic agony, until eventually he was forced to seek answers. And when he did, I turned him against those he felt had wronged him, and he became my vessel as I brought a kingdom to my heel, ready to begin rebuilding my Empire...only to be forced to seal it away for over a millennium because of those two Princesses! And then, when I'm able to bring it back, Spike the Dragon - different than when I last fought him, but still recognizably the same dragon - again destroyed my plans as he was able to deliver the Artifact of Light to the ponies so they could use it to purge me from my host and destroy him, leaving me only this horn fragment to anchor to!
Ridley ground his teeth. "While all of that is very interesting, how does that apply to the now?"
You poor naive fool...as I've said, I have been preparing. As the Ing Emperor spoke, Dark Samus stepped out of the Phazon Core and made its way further into the back of the cave. Curious, Ridley followed, and found a Changeling trapped in magic. After all, my Shadows do better with hosts to possess...and it took a great deal of time to master some of the more unique aspects of this world's magic.
"I don't think a single Changeling will give us an army, since I can tell that is your intention," Ridley growled out.
And normally it wouldn't, the Emperor responded. But now that Mother is here...
Reaching up, Dark Samus caressed the horn embedded in Ridley's forehead, then turned and ripped open a rift in space-time.
There is enough magic here to draw one last resource that the Hunter and her pet think they have conquered, the Emperor Ing concluded as Dark Samus reached through, and pulled out a Blue X Core and several smaller X. The last remnants of Phaaze' sister world, another living planet destroyed by the Hunter and Spike. As he spoke, Dark Samus absorbed the X Core, and the smaller X infested the Changeling. We shall soon have our Dark Army of parasites...and then I will show you that even the ponies' strongest magic can be turned against them...that even Heartsong can be twisted to darkness...
Ridley grinned widely, beginning to enjoy where this was going. "Excellent..."
CALLED IT!
Well, sorta...
They're about to get destroyed. An angry combination of Samus, Spike, four Princesses, a dragon lord, a two Federation soldiers who are uncle and grandfather to Spike, a living embodiment of chaos, Ponyville's most destructive trio, and the Element Bearers is not a combo I want against me.
I get the feeling I've said this before.
well shit this gonna be an all out warzone real soon better call in the lumi's and federation quick
Ok, Equis... you guys are REALLY fucked!
I suspect Dark Samus will absorb Ridley in the future and look something like a mix of Dark Samus and Transmetal 2 Megatron from Beast Wars.
.......................................... shit.
I love how the Ing are the Umbrum in this story...Headcanon accepted!
I wonder what the last story to cover is...
Hoooooooooooooo... boy...
X-lings... Not good... But at the same time, why do I get the feeling that the last "Mission" is somehow going to involve Metroids again, and that it's going to give them the means necessary to counter this new twist?
On the other Hoof... Half the purpose of the Emperor Ing's story was explaining that the Dragons could sense its Core-Crystal before it went dormant, so... shouldn't the Dragons be sensing it now that it's active again, and be starting to get twitchy, even if they don't know why?
(Rhetorical Questions are Rhetorical)
Oh shit, Ridley + Sombra + Emperor Ing + Dark Samus + SA-X. That can only equal very bad things. The only way it could be worse is if they broke Tirek out of Tartarus. Hopefully the Chozo saw this coming, as they did with a ton of other things, and left little gifts around the planet for a certain someone.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
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7409805 Yeah Beast Wars. It hasn't been forgotten.
So when did Dark Samus gain the ability to absorb X-parasites?
7409928 Don't give them Ideas!
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Dark Samus is the new form of Metroid Prime, a heavily Phazon mutated Metroid from Phaaze. It always had the ability to absorb X Parasites.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Oh My God! I don't have any idea how this is gonna play out, but I can already see how it'll end! Oh, more! More! I want to see this story run!
....
*Clears throat*
Right. Gilgamesh moment over.
Actually... there's an interesting idea. Gilgamesh raising a pony in the years before the last Holy Grail War. Only question is... who? Flurry Heart? Currently lacks a definitive character to work with. Maybe Zecora? No, he'd kill her in a heartbeat the moment she started rhyming.
Oh! Starlight Glimmer!
Oooooh! Hold on! Muse Senses... tingling!
What if Kiritsugu found a toddler Starlight Glimmer with Shirou in the fire, and had to somehow split Avalon between them to save them? Can you imagine how Shirou might change her, how the holy Grail War would change her? Can you imagine a Stalright Glimmer with similar ideals to Shirou Emiya? That would be about as different as you can get from her pre-Cutie Re-Mark persona, and yet her redeemed self would probably easily accept it.
Of course, I just want to see Starlight Glimmer kicking flanks and taking names with about every sword you can imagine, but still, certainly an interesting idea.
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...I have no idea what you're talking about.
7409996 Catchy! *Bobs head to the music*
7410245 Well... crap. You don't know about Fate/Stay Night? I would suggest going to Youtube and watching a movie called Unlimited Blade Works. It's basically a very shortened version of the series. Make sure you see the Ufotable version, as it covers details far better than the Kenji Kawaii version. Better yet, here's a link.
Anyways, it's a story about a brutal war fought every sixty years for the ultimate prize, the Holy Grail. Believe it or not, it's not about religion. The Grail is just what the Magi call the system that allows the granting of a single wish every sixty years. In order to fight in the war, you must be chosen as one of seven Master by the Holy Grail system, and in turn summon a Heroic Spirit as a Servant to fight for you. Heroic Spirits are those icons of legend in history and myths that are so famous, that it's strange if a person doesn't know of them. People like King Arthur, Medusa, Heracles, Media of Colchis, those kind of figures. And each spirit has what is called a Noble Phantasm. For Arthur, they're Noble Phantasm would be Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory, or Rule Breaker for Media, a dagger that can break any magical contract.
A fun series to make fan-fiction for, as it's magic system is very well developed and balanced. The world building is top notch as well in the series, but not touched on much in the movie.
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My thoughts exactly. I get the feeling that these fools will catch our heroes off guard but they will simply overpower them and Tirek will hopefully be gaining some new cell mates.
7410300 That's if they don't end up dead.
7410245 If you decide not to do anything with that idea, may I have your permission to write a PWNY-verse story around this? I can't get the idea out of my head now. I can't promise it'll get started now, as I'm currently working on two projects already, but I can promise it'll get worked on.
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Sure, go ahead.
7410245 I take it you aren't familiar with Fate/Stay Night?
If not then don't worry, while I was barely able to follow the chain of thought myself, you aren't really missing all that much ().
Cliff Notes Version:
Emiya Kiritsugu is a Magus Assassin with a reputation for being brutally effective and pragmatic. His hopes and dreams of doing good and protecting people were mostly crushed by a fairly tragic childhood and early life, leaving him jaded and cynical, but that doesn't stop him from passing said dreams on to his adopted son before his early demise from exposure to a slow-acting curse.
His adoptive son Shiro is a selfless Idiot that's broken in the head and as a result can use magic to generate (almost) Any weapon (and a couple shields) he's ever seen, especially swords. Said weapons range from mundane to Mythic, and include such notable mentions as Caliburn, Excalibur, Gae-Bolg, Heracles sword, Durandal, and Hector's Rho Aias. Later on in life upon completion of a specific incantation he can use an illegal ability to superimpose his sword filled mindscape over reality from which he can control every weapon he's ever seen simultaneously to either hurl them at his enemies or battle them more conventionally without the normal costs applying to use the magical abilities of his most powerful weapons.
Gilgamesh is The King Gilgamesh from ancient times, and is more than a little bit of an arrogant A hole who will as likely kill you as look at you depending on his mood.
The "Holy Grail War" is a magical gauntlet Battle Royale where Magus' summon "Heroes" and "Villains" straight out of Legends and Myth to duke it out for the chance at a wish for almost literally Anything, but most of them either don't realize or don't care that the thing that's supposed to grant said wish was corrupted by literally "All the World’s Evil" sometime in the past, and would curse and/or otherwise corrupt the "wish" should it be granted.
And yet... Emperor Ing forgets about the one individual who could completely derail all of his plans...
Seriously... If Discord was that much of a problem back then, than what's stopping him from being that much of a problem now? ...Seriously... like, get something to counter Discord before you launch your suicide mission. Otherwise you'll be leaving yourself open to him opening a rift in space and time and just flooding the world with friendly metroids.
...Of course... This won't end with Discord saving the day, because while he might play a major role in how they get displaced throughout the multiverse, he's not the main character. No, Spike, Samus and the rest of the gang will do something that will utterly annihilate the X, Dark Samus, Ridley, and the Emperor Ing to a point where they will probably be erased from existence.
It sadens me that there are monsters in this world that take great pride in causing others pain. I sense dark times ahead. Spike, Samus and the rest will be needed more than ever. They'll have to never give up, even when the outcome looks bleak.
I was expecting a curb stomp at first, which progressed to a good battle as the series went on. Now I'm fully expecting a good amount of ponies to die with this development... It's turned from a battle to a war. Hell, might even be able to get away with making a 2nd new adventure, this time on Equis... This can only end well.
7410219 see? tatsu knows his lore!
Well... That looks... bad.
Oh man, we're coming up on the end here, huh? Maybe I'm mistaken, but wasn't Fusion the last game, canonically?
7410712 Outside of if Federation Force happens after Fusion ended then yes. Though now we're on the last adventure before Equestria, Tats' original story adventure for them.
7410283 I would actually suggest either playing all three routes of the VN (AKA the original source material, be warned however that there are a couple of adult scenes contained in it they can be skipped with minimal lore missed basically sex is used to form arcane contracts and transfer mana ) or watching the DEEN version of the Fate route, uFotable's 26 episode series of the Unlimited Bladeworks arc, and (once it's/they've been released) the uFotable movie/s of the Heaven's Feel route. All three routes are canon (as are both the good and true endings of the UBW and HF routes) so to fully understand the lore going through all of them is necessary.
7410413 Archer is actually unable to duplicate divine constructs and other things made of unidentifiable materials. Two examples of these are Gilgamesh's Ea/Enuma Elish and Saber's Excaliber. The only famed sword that belonged to Saber that Archer can duplicate is Caliburn. Even Avalon is only possible to replicate by collecting it's power from within his body and putting it back together outside it never to be returned to where he got it.
NOTE: Weapon names spoilered as they give away the identities of their wielder/owner.
This should be interesting. I wonder if Sombra will somehow free himself though? If Radiant Hope shows up it might be enough, and would stick it to Ing as the only Shadow/Umbrum to choose good eventually.
7410769 Hence why I said "(almost)", though I could have sworn he was able to re-make Excalibur but generally didn't because A) he personally feels that it would somehow dishonor Saber, and B) The Prana cost to actually make/use it under normal circumstances without going into Unlimited Blade Works is so freaking high that it's effectively beyond his abilities unless he gets some kind of boost.
7410797 I assumed you were referring to his inability to trace firearms or other varieties of weapons that are nothing like a sword at all with that almost.
7410797
7410835
As this discussion has nothing to do with the story at hand and is not to my interests, I would ask you both take it elsewhere.
So Discord DID stop the Emperor Ing to an extent.
Ooh!
I figured he was connected to Sombra.
An SA-X...
This should be fun!
Holy crap I love how you mixed in the ponies history
Seems like this last adventure might be the key to victory.
7410219 D'oh! I should have remembered that Dark Samus is a Metroid + Phazon + Samus' Phazon Suit.
Well, the Apocalypse is Neigh.
If we go by the comics the ponies were a bunch of will sadistic maniacal monsters at the behest of celestia. The Umbrum were sealed off but one colt got left out so they tried to "wean" and draw out his magic to replace it with "good" magic. A viable example would be to strap someone down hook them up to a IV drain them of blood and pump in cyanide, while having them live in a ammonia based environment. All for the betterment of what ever species is dominant of course and if it doesn't work "Oh well, at least he gave his life for science and if nothing else, we are free of the little shit." This is the reason I really don't have any sympathy for the comic crystals and if this is the way it was supposed to have played out in the cartoon "Go Sombra!"
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Lol, now I feel really stupid, seeing as I've both read the book and seen the movie for Ender's Game.
Excellent use of the Sombra fiendship issue backstory.
Fun explanation for the dragon Phazon connection, too.
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