As Samus and Spike paused in their story to take a drink, Twilight was the first to speak up. "Before you continue, I was wondering something." Once she had Samus' attention, she continued. "You mentioned gathering data from Space Pirate computer logs. What sort of things did that data cover?"
Samus shrugged. "Any number of things. The progress of various objectives, rules and regulations regarding a specific activity, the behavior of their higher ups, observations of wildlife... Most commonly, anything considered a threat to the Space Pirate mission."
"I bet that means there were a lot about you, weren't there?" Rainbow asked with a chuckle.
Samus shrugged. "I did manage to be quite a threat, I admit."
"Did they talk about Spike as well?" Rarity asked curiously.
"Nearly as much as me, actually," Samus replied.
"Can...can we read them?" Twilight asked eagerly.
Smiling, Samus tapped out a sequence on the data pad Spike had brought with him. "I've got them all in chronological order here, though the Pirate dating system doesn't really make very much sense. But I was able to put them in some sort of order based on content."
Everyone present crowded around the data pad to look at the entries.
An unusual creature has been spotted on Tallon IV. All signs point to it not being native. However, we did not bring it with us. It appears to be a predator based on its behavior, as it was witnessed in several locations attempting to eat things, generally with negative results for the creature. However, it took no damage from biting a Sap Sac and being blasted across a cave, despite the Sac being larger than it.
While at first merely a curiosity, the creature stumbled across two Phazon canisters. It was witnessed devouring the contents of one, growing rapidly as it did so. Unlike every other creature exposed to the material - including our own soldiers - it showed no negative side effects of mutation. As best our scientists are able to determine from second hand accounts, the Phazon acted as a growth accelerator, enhancing natural development.
All Pirates are to keep an eye out for this creature. If it can be tamed, it will be an excellent addition to our forces. If it can be cloned, our Phazon research will possibly create an army of unstoppable killing machines, depending on how far Phazon can make the creature grow.
"Unstoppable killing machines?" Twilight despaired, looking up at Spike worriedly.
"Well, if you take away everything that makes him such a nice guy, I'd say that's pretty accurate for how he is now," Rainbow pointed out, deciding - for whatever reason - to sit on Spike's head.
"He's certainly impressive, isn't he?" Rarity agreed, fluttering her eyelashes at Spike. The dragon blushed, scratching at his chin, not entirely sure how to respond.
"But...but Spike's not a monster like that!" Twilight whimpered.
"Course he ain't, Twi," Applejack pointed out. "It's like Rainbow said. Physically, Spike is pretty close to unstoppable by our standards now, and he would'na let nothin' stop him if'n his friends and family were in danger." She chuckled. "Ah shudder ta imagine what he'd do ta anything that tried ta hurt any o' us now, just rememberin' how protective he used to get when he was a wee lil' guy."
Rainbow Dash glanced away, blushing a bit, glad she already had her wings extended to balance on Spike's head.
"The Space Pirates don't think of other creatures as creatures," Samus explained. "They see all that lives as resources, tools, or obstacles...even their own numbers. For the Space Pirates, referring to something as an unstoppable killing machine is the highest compliment their mindset can give."
"Those poor crawdad people..." Fluttershy whimpered softly.
Discord stared at her. "You...you actually feel sorry for these Space Pirates?"
"It's not their fault their lives are so bleak that all they know is conquest," Fluttershy pointed out. "Not on an individual basis, anyway. If they had a leader that respected friendship and individuality, maybe they wouldn't have turned out so bad..."
As many stared at Fluttershy in disbelief, Celestia smirked at Luna and Discord. "And that's why I picked her to rehabilitate Discord," she pointed out smugly.
As Luna blew a raspberry at her sister, Discord chuckled. "Because she would see and find the good in even someone like me?" he asked. "Touche, Princess. Touche." He tousled Fluttershy's mane affectionately, making her giggle. He then stared in consternation as her mane landed naturally in its perfect arrangement as it always was, making Rarity turn a little green with envy.
"Next entry!" Pinkie called out eagerly, as she and the CMC were the only ones still gathered around the data pad.
The reptilian creature shows remarkable adaptive capabilities. It has been seen to breathe fire, climb walls, swim faster than an Aqua Trooper's hydropack, and break our hardest metals in its bare hands. Magma gives the creature no harm, and it consumes everything in its path.
Scientists have determined that it is a nymph form of a creature similar to Lord Ridley. However, given the capabilities it has shown so far, and the amount of Phazon and other things it consumes to build and maintain its strength, projections indicate that it will surpass Lord Ridley's current abilities by a wide margin once it reaches adulthood.
Once this was reported to Space Pirate High Command, the directive came down. This data is not to reach Lord Ridley. The subject is to be captured if possible, to be trained to serve the Space Pirate Empire. If this is successful, Lord Ridley may prove obsolete.
"Wait!" Spike snapped out, hearing that part. "They...they wanted to replace Ridley with me?"
"Apparently," Samus replied. "Something tells me Ridley would have been very unhappy when he heard about that."
"Maybe that's why he was so aggressive with me back on Zebes when we went there the second time," Spike mused thoughtfully.
Giggling, Pinkie brought up the next entry.
The creature serves the Hunter!
The creature began putting out a massive amount of energy, drawing our troops from all across the planet to investigate. When they arrived, they found the creature in a comatose state as it underwent metamorphosis, an ideal time to capture and contain it. However, when our troops moved in, the Hunter stood in their way and attacked with intense ferocity. Always before when attacked by such large amounts of forces, the Hunter would focus on a mobile strategy, evading fire while firing back. This time, however, she remained steadfast between our troops and the creature.
Realizing this, we seized on the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: eliminate the Hunter and acquire the creature. We sent in our newest troops, who utilized reverse engineered weapons that the Hunter had used against us. The Hunter's equipment was limited, and the Plasma Trooper should have been able to finish her off...
The Plasma Trooper's log was recovered. The creature awoke and slew the Trooper, and then obeyed the Hunter's directives. With the creature at her side, the Hunter's threat has now exceeded SSS level. Directive to capture the creature remains, however.
Scootaloo whistled in appreciation. "They were certainly scared of you two," she stated, beaming up at Samus and Spike.
"With good reason!" Spike preened.
Sweetie Belle eagerly called up the next entry.
Lord Ridley has fallen!
Projections have proven accurate. Once the creature gained wings and the ability to fly, it engaged Lord Ridley in the air. While they seemed evenly matched, the other dragon eventually proved the mightier.
Lord Ridley was recovered, and has demanded many augmentations to make himself superior in midair combat for next time he faces the dragon. These augmentations will take some time to complete.
"Well, they certainly have a one track mind," Apple Bloom pointed out.
"Say Scootaloo, did you ever check to see if you got a flying Cutie Mark?" Pinkie Pie asked.
Gasping, Scootaloo spun in the air to check her flank. "...nuts," she pouted, staring at her still blank flank.
"No Dragon Riding Cutie Marks for us, either," Sweetie Belle pouted, checking her own and Apple Bloom's flanks.
Several of the mares giggled at their antics. Luna reached forward and called up the last Pirate Log entry on Spike.
The Hunter's Dragon is not invincible. It has been seen to take serious harm from acid, high intensity Phazon radiation, and the atmosphere of the dark shadow of Aether. Investigation is underway as to why these particular hazards threaten the creature, and - should we be able to capture it - how they might be used to tame it, and then circumvented once we have a cloned army of it.
"Yes," Samus told the Crusaders as she closed the data pad. "The Space Pirates have a very one track mind..."
Nice chapter. Huzzah space pirates!
EDIT: FIRST!!
I think we should have more of these chapters every once in awhile.
Ridley is so going down hard when he makes the mistake of threatening the ponies.
Nice chapter, can't wait to see how the rest of Aether goes!
I'm not sure if the second Samus is supposed to be Spike or if the him should be a her. Either way, very nice chapter and I look forward to more.
So I assume Prime 3's story is next?
Thinking about it, it makes sense they have a literal one track mind. They grew up with the metroids on the same planet, and still became known as the de facto space pirates to the point that it is commonly how they are referred to by species. When in fact, they are Zebesians. AKA, local life of planet Zebes.
6362335
No. Prime 2's not over yet.
Maybe by the time Samus & Spike finish talking about Aether, Shining Armor and Cadence will show up. I'm sure they and the crystal ponies would be thrilled that Spike's back, safe and sound. Besides, being a nerd himself, I'm sure Shining would love to hear about Spike's sci-fi adventures. (Then again, not telling him would probably be Twilight's revenge for not being told about the wedding. But then, Cadance would be an unfortunate casualty. Oh decisions, decisions...)
6362346 Oh goodie.DAMMIT!!
6362337
Had to delete my earlier post to your post, as later thought made me realize that I'm not sure if Zebes was the origin of the Space Pirates or not.
Not the Metroids though; they are a genetically-engineered- by the Chozo- race of creatures originally found on SR-388.
Why did the Chozo create such a monstrous race? Likely to keep the X in check, as they are the natural predators of that species.
Hmn. For whatever reason, eh?
Ooooo.
Clearly, the CMC aren't the only ones who want a dragon riding cutie mark.
6362441 thats exactly why Metroids were created.
MUST. HAVE. MOAR. CHAPTURZZZ!!!
I must binge read.
Ridley is going to be the tirek of all your other crossovers, isn't he? Can't wait to see the awesome/hilarious way spike destroys him.
Good call, Celly! you get a gold star!
Another enjoyable chapter. Good work.
Translation: Woof!
6362337
6362441
No, despite the claim by Other M, the Space Pirates are NOT natives of Planet Zebes. Series director Yoshio Sakamoto has said that the Pirates that invaded Zebes took "Zebesian" as a general name for themselves after the conquest of the planet, comparing it to most "Americans" actually being descended from Europeans and only calling themselves Americans after conquering the true Native American tribes. However they are not all native of the 'Space Pirate Homeworld' from Prime 3 either. The Metroid Prime Trilogy art booklet states that it is one of several homeworlds.
6362773
Yeah, that's where the confusion comes from. I have the Metroid Prime Trilogy myself, and it clearly states there that Zebes was one of the first in a long line of worlds conquered by the Space Pirates.
Makes you wonder if they are in fact another race that came from the stars themselves, like the Chozo and the Luminoth.
6362441 I could of sworn SR-388 was Zebes. Probably wrong information on my end.
6363033
There's a basic synopsis of the games, and the worlds they took place.
Tatsurou actually listed them in an earlier post. Look through the chapters; I think it's nearer towards the beginning of the fic.
And that's a common misconception; just how I always thought that Fusion took place after Super Metroid, but before Metroid Prime.
And that bit was because of the feature that the original Metroid Prime for the GC had; basically, if you had a completed Fusion file, you could carry over Samus' Fusion suit into Metroid Prime.
6362773 I really should broaden my comments phrasing. Hi, I am a member of the USA, or an American. We use that term because most of the U.S. is made of immigrants, or descendants of immigrants, and the native population is actually lower than the population of Chicago, at least going by pure bloodlines any ways. I, my self am fourth generation removed Native American. So some thing like one eighth native to the shores I call home.
I feel that there was a bit of foreshadowing in this chapter based on the logs and what some of the ponies said inbetween
6363067 Ah, then it's not only wrong, but out of date as well. Probably should go double check that list before too much longer.
6363078
Well, as of right now, I'm not sure if Nintendo has any plans to make any more Metroid games, though there's rumors flying around that they are in the process of making one for the Wii U.
Lemme check something...
*peruses the internet*
Ah, found a link to a wiki that gives the full details. If you follow some of the data found there, I'm sure that you'll see the proper placement of each game on the timeline.
Like Zelda, the game release order doesn't match the timeline. Which is just a piss-poor excuse for shoddy writing. Too bad nearly every author has used it at some point.
Even me...
*Ahem*
Hope that helps.
Samus, you're armed to the TEETH, and every time you encounter Space Pirates, you leave only destruction and corpses behind you. That counts as FAR more than just "quite a threat".
Well, it's not every day you have to deal with not just Samus Aran, but a goddamn DRAGON as well.
Oh, they, they think that they can, BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAA! Oh that is HILARIOUS!
Wee? AJ's southern, not Scottish.
I see.
You actually feel SORRY for them?
Perhaps...
Well played Celestia, well played indeed.
Yep. Guess if you're so much stronger than him, why bother with something weaker?
I suspect you would too in his position.
True. That, and it's not unlikely that he just doesn't like you.
Over Triple S threat level, no wonder Samus is considering the Intergalactic Queen of Badassery.
Considering they're armed to the teeth, literally in Spike's case, they should be.
Hello Kettle? This is Pot. You're black.
Even more so than the CMC, which is impressive as it is.
6363123 Thanks for informing me of the wiki, saves me watching a bunch of let's plays.
6363203
Oh sure.
Though I find Let's Plays to be fun to watch every now and then.
6363281 Agreed. Also a good way to confirm a game is what you want to spend money on, or something else.
6362305 He is going to be turned to lunch.
YUM!
6363068 Congratulations, you missed the damn point. Space Pirates did not evolve/grow up/get raised along side metriods. They literally stormed the place and butchered the inhabitants of the planet just to steal the damn things. Also because Mother Brain, who like Samus actually DID grow up on Zebes, was a Crapshot AI that determined the best way to maintain galactic stability was to rule everything. Since she determined that the Galactic Federation wasn't going to obey her, she chose to make the pirates her tool/weapon of choice. She was the one to organize the pirates into an effective and seriously dangerous force. She also disabled the defenses on Zebes during the space pirate invasion. Thus my reason for my post, to point out that, despite Other M, the WORST METROID GAME EVER, starting the "They are called Zebesians" thing, they were in no way, shape, or form actually from Zebes at all. They're just giant assholes who were originally organized by Massive Bitch, the organic AI who would probably get along great with things like Skynet and Hal.
While Yoshio Sakamoto's comment, which I simply copied a paraphrase of, might be a shot at US, I simply don't care. History is written by the victors and the reality is Native Americans lost HARD. While this statement is incredibly dickish, it's the truth. That being said the US has been shown to kinda sorta regret its more dickish moves in regards to Natives, which is a MASSIVE difference from the Metroidverse Space Pirates. Those things commit genocide all the time and never give a fuck. The US at least tried not to commit mass genocide, most of the time.
Off-topic notation- Other M, mechanically speaking, is actually a decent game. Which is partly why I am actually looking forward to your take on it Tatsurou. If it were not for the shittastic voice acting of Jessica Martin, a script that makes Samus seem like she has the emotional range of Bella Swan, (whiny emo teenager or emotionless robot, nothing else) and a plot that seems like my 7 year old wrote it, it wouldn't actually be all that terrible. I own and have 100% complete the game, and will admit there are plenty of times I had fun while playing it. It's just every non-action cutscene needs to be skipped or it will make you want to destroy the disk and murder the people responsible for this travesty. Except the ones with Anthony Higgs. You just got to love a man who never takes anything seriously and has enough balls to call a one-woman-genocide "Princess".
6363430
Other M never stated that the Zebesians were the Space Pirates.
It stated that the Federation was trying to use Zebesians to recreate the Space Pirates as a weapon under their control. The things you fought there that looked like pirates but not quite? They weren't Pirates. They were cybernetically augmented aliens of a different race, using the Space Pirates as a template.
6363430 Check my other comments. Also, did you really have to go for a full paragraph of insults to my intelligence?
Fun fact about the Metroid Prime series (at leat metroid prime 1).
The lore from the original versions of the games is different from the lore of the method prime trilogy.
6363666
You wrote method prime
Something all readers should consider: the logs haven't said if they succeeded in cloning Spike. so, what if their are clones out there?
6363687
.... Crap. This is what I get for trying to read something and write at 4 in the morning.
6363417 Pretty sure (assuming we're following canon at least this far) that happened when they went to Zebes after Spike hatched (not sure why he said "the second time" since he was still an egg when the Zero Mission / Metroid 1 mission on Zebes happened.) if at all.
6367089
Zebes is also the setting of Super Metroid.
6367107 I know this, however that would have been Spike's first time going to Zebes outside of his egg since IIRC he hatched at some point between the end of the Zero Mission / Metroid 1 mission and the beginning of Frigate Orpheon mission.
6367118
It would still be Samus' second time on Zebes.
6367121 That I can agree with, partially (it would actually be her third time on Zebes), however Spike was the one that referred to the Super Metroid (I'm assuming) mission as a second time going there despite never having consciously been there before that mission.
6367128
But he spoke 'our second time' as plural.
6367183 I'm pretty sure even with the use of a plural it's a falsehood as if he is a part of that plural and that's his first time there it couldn't be the group as a whole's second time there.
6363417 I think Spike will rip him apart... I'm fairly sure Ridley is 90% artificial and all those preservatives can't be good for Spike to eat.
6367190
Except Spike was there, in the Egg.
6367216 Considering the fact that he AND other dragons eat stuff like rubes, topases and other bloody gens for a snack I say it may not.
6367332 There's a difference between good minerals and bad stuff.
6368331
True, metal is highly refined compound made by taking all impuritys of the ground so as to reach maximum hardness, gems like ruby and others are a combination of impuritys plus heat ad what not.