Aether: Safe and Sound
The following morning, shortly after Celestia raised the sun, the group gathered once again around the large table, breakfast piled high. Spike had made waffles, and the scent of them had drawn most of the group to the table before they were even all the way awake. Pinkie, for example, was still snoring even as she ate her way through the first waffle, mumbling about how Spike's waffles were, "Almost as yummy as Spike's frosting...creamy creamy frosting..." Spike made a mental note to bake a cake sometime soon.
Once everyone was more awake - coffee made with dragon fire was much tastier than the ordinary kind, in Samus' opinion...unless that was just the much higher quality coffee beans grown in Equestria - Samus decided to start the storytelling over breakfast. "I'm going to try to finish telling you about our mission on Aether today," she began. "There's not that much more to tell-"
"Four more chapters..." Pinkie mumbled sleepily.
Seeing the others shrug, Samus decided to let it go with a roll of her eyes. "At any rate, once Spike got back with everything he'd gathered, we returned to Aether, allowing me to collect a new upgrade: the Echo Visor. It let me see things like a sonar system, as well as interface with sound based security systems."
"This allowed Mom to explore quite a bit more of both Sanctuary Fortress and Hive Fortress," Spike explained. "And since these new paths were large enough for me to follow, I was able to help her up to areas where she couldn't reach normally, allowing more direct routes(1)."
"At least until we got to one of my most useful upgrades ever," Samus explained. "The Screw Attack."
Once in the Sanctuary Vault, Samus and Spike glanced around, looking for the best way to approach unlocking it to get the tech that was plainly visible...one that would prove most useful for Samus. There were four platforms scattered around the vault with Spinners, which Samus would have to rotate in order to get the locks into position to be opened. However, there was no way for her to reach them by jumping...on Aether.
Examination of map data Spike had provided indicated that there was a path available via transferring back and forth between Aether and Dark Aether, and Samus was on the verge of taking that approach...until Spike picked her up and flew her over to one of the platforms, and she realized just how linearly she had been thinking.
With the locks in position, Spike flew Samus back to the center platform, allowing her to trigger the lock mechanism to open the Vault...letting her acquire the Screw Attack.
The Aether variant of this upgrade was far more limited than the Zebes variant she recalled, which - with the Zebes variant Space Jump - allowed her to jump infinitely in a whirling cyclone of destructive energies. This variant only allowed her five destructive leaps through the air before the energies ran out. Then again, this was a Luminoth reverse engineering of Chozo tech, so it was understandable if it was somewhat limited by comparison.
Samus paused, noticing several of the ponies staring at her. "...what?" she asked.
"Can we see it?" Scootaloo asked eagerly.
"That 'Screw Attack'?" Rainbow added.
"Please?" Pinkie pleaded petulantly.
Rolling her eyes, Samus glanced at Spike, only to see him smirking. "Alright," she relented, "but keep your distance everyone. I've yet to find a substance that doesn't crumble somewhat under the energies of the Screw Attack...and organic substances might as well be tissue paper."
Stepping back from the table, she put her helmet back on before leaping into the air in a somersault. Energy immediately began to arc around her, causing her to flash with a rainbow spectrum of light, bouncing up and down in midair as her flips were accompanied by an oscillating shriek of the very air being torn apart by her movements.
Curious, Twilight extended her quill towards Samus, only to leap back with a yelp as the top half of the quill disintegrated and her fur stood on end from the outer edge of the energy aura.
Samus landed easily, dispelling the energy. "I told you to keep your dis..." Her voice trailed off as she started to snicker. With Twilight's coat standing on end, she looked quite fluffy...to the point her wings were no longer visible.
"Ha ha," Twilight snarked as everyone else burst into giggles, chuckles, or guffaws, as was their wont. She started to struggle to get her fur under control, only to be caught off guard as Spike slunk over to beside her and started to groom her rather effectively with his claws.
"Just relax, Twilight," he said softly. "I've got this."
As Spike helped Twilight relax and look normal again, Samus continued. "After that, I had to do a bit of backtracking to get two of the Hive Temple Keys that were in interior segments which Spike couldn't access...and after that, we confronted the Hive Guardian."
"A giant robot based off the mechas we'd been fighting throughout the Fortress...Quadraxis."
Samus and Spike stared upwards in awe as the massive mechanical monstrosity began to move, several Ing having visibly infused its circuits as it activated. It stood on four massive legs with only a large, bulbous head at the top, which wasn't all that intimidating in appearance...except for the fact that Samus and Spike barely came up to its ankles.
It moved about slowly, relative to Samus and Spike, but the missile salvos, blasts of charged sonic blasts, and shockwaves when it stomped its feet would take their toll rapidly if they hit. Beyond that, there were no safe zones for the pair to take a breather in and replenish their energy with.
Samus attempted to slow the behemoth down with charged shots and missiles, but it was difficult locking onto a point that was vulnerable at any given time. Spike's own attempts with flame breath deflected off its armor, and he wasn't able to hit it hard enough to break through the armor.
Without warning, the behemoth brought its feet together and began to spin, creating a tornado that dragged both of them towards the center. Caught off guard, only Samus was able to brace herself, since Spike had been about to unleash an aerial attack. Unfortunately, he was dragged in, his wing dislocated as he was pulled through the spin. His bellow of pain spurred Samus to attack much more ferociously.
Watching the machine work, Samus noticed that the armor wasn't as heavy on the feet and at the joints. She began to formulate a plan.
"I've got it!" Spike called out, his armor having reshaped around the dislocated wing to hold it in place until it could be seen to. "I know how we can beat it!"
"Right!" Samus agreed. "If we aim for the joints-"
"We just have to hit it really, really hard!" Spike barked out, charging forward.
Everyone turned to stare at Spike with a raised eyebrow.
Spike managed to look sheepish. "Well it worked!" he pointed out defensively.
"Seriously?" Rainbow asked Samus, her voice torn between excitement and disbelief.
Smirking, Samus continued telling of the battle.
Charging forward, Spike clung to one of the legs at chinks in the armor with his claws and began to climb. Quadraxis attempted to shake him off frequently, but he clung doggedly, eventually managing to climb all the way up to the head unit.
There, an electrical shield caused him problems, but dragons are incredibly durable. Clenching his teeth, he kept climbing through the pain until he could use his tail and hind claws to brace himself on the head. Lacing his front claws together in a double fist, he lifted them high and brought them down hard.
The entire machine staggered from the impact, and a cracking sound could be heard. Spike repeated the maneuver several more times, Samus backing him up with carefully aimed Super Missiles. Before long, the casing of the head unit of Quadraxis shattered, revealing two points of sensitive circuitry.
Drawing one hand back, Spike plunged claws first into one of those points, tearing circuitry out as Quadraxis staggered and fell. The movement dislodged him, causing Spike to fall to the ground, forced to tuck and roll for safety. The head unit, presumably for greater maneuverability while it self repaired, disengaged from the rest of the body.
"Damn," Spike snarled, looking up. "Can't get high enough now..."
Samus, however, noticed something in her scan visor. The level of data being processed by the head unit meant that the entire surface revealed by the broken casing was magnetized...and the remaining weak point looked a lot like a morph ball bomb slot. "Throw me!" she commanded, going into Morph Ball mode.
Taking the order, Spike hurled Samus at the floating head. She attached to its surface with Spider Ball, moved into the slot, and detonated a Power Bomb.
The head unit, damaged beyond repair, crashed into the main body, causing both to explode.
Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Pinkie Pie all cheered the battle's conclusion. Several of the others were applauding as well.
"I want one..." Luna muttered.
"Which?" Celestia asked teasingly. "The giant battle robot, or the warrior capable of taking it down?"
"Yes," Luna replied simply.(2)
"Quadraxis left behind the Annihilator Beam," Samus continued, "a beam that used both light and dark ammo...and had all sorts of useful functions..."
(1) Yes, Spike did just let Samus skip the Sanctuary Fortress Miniboss.
(2) This part is a reference to a scene from Metroid: Equis, a story by my good friend Flammenwerfer. Those who've read it probably know the scene being referenced.
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Ah yes, the Screw Attack. That special weapon that allows her access to the bonus fight against Boba Fett. I remember it well.
ah, yes the old hit a machine until it does what you want trick.
work every time
Oh cool, you know of his story. I would say I found you via him, but that would be a blatant lie. Though I did discover the both of you thanks to the feature board. Now that I think about it, I should go check and confirm I am tracking that story...
6432535 Tv Tropes calls it 'Percussive Maintenance'.
The More You Know!~
Crystal Empire flashback.
Then how did she recover the Spider Ball? Did Spike just fly around and smash through the walls to kill the Spider Guardian himself or something?
Nice explanation of a game mechanic that prevented the Screw Attack from being too overpowered.
6432617
She already had the Spider Ball. The miniboss I'm talking about is the one you had to fight to access a Spider Ball track to get to the path to the Screw Attack.
6432540 Talking about Flammenwerfer's Metroid: Equis? Tatsurou was one of Flammen's editors or pre-readers for that story.
6432628 OHHHH that Security Drone thing? The one where you have to unlock a door with the Echo Visor, then travel back and forth between Aether and Dark Aether? That guy was ANNOYING. Anyways, my bad.
Holy crap! I just watched the Team Fourstar reference in here a few hours ago! Loving the story so far
6432650
And that's what Spike let Samus just skip.
Just so anyone who hasn't seen the source knows, this section:
Is from TFS's Dragon Ball Z Abridged, The Return of Cooler's Revenge: the Reckoning
6432637 Huh. Turns out, I am so far behind on its not even funny.
I'm a big fan of your crossover stuff, but this one seems to be dragging a bit. Maybe the metroid games just don't have as much plot or as many characters to work with.
"Four more chapters..." Pinkie mumbled sleepily."
1. Just an extra closing quotation mark.
6432729
Not the first two Prime games, certainly.
Things should get more interesting come Prime 3 and the rest.
6432579 Not just TvTropes. It's a legitimate term in repair shops.
6432719 You're not behind, I just pay stupid amounts of attention to which authors know and work with each other on this site
6432741 Really? Huh. Well, the more you know...
6432524 Is that a fight that I missed, or is that a joke?
6432855
I believe it's a reference to the Samus Aran/Boba Fett Death Battle...produced by Screw Attack.
6432860 Wow, how did I miss that. Thanks for the context I guess.
6432579 I prefer the term "Impact Technology" that I found in the Outernet books.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
Seen the new episode yet?
I love the play on words Vegeta used.
Sure you can - Shoryuken.
6432934
Yup, saw it.
AAAAAAAAAYYY
s22.postimg.org/ooodwceox/Asking_a_friend_out_later_either_tonight_or_tomo.jpg
6433068
Yo!
You caught which part of your story I was referencing, right?
6433090 The Warhorse
Right?
Ah yes, I LOVE that attack.
Fair enough.
Oooh, that thing.
Did, you just reference Cooler 2 The Return Of Cooler's Revenge The Reckoning?
Best response ever.
6433093
Eeyup!
Very Nice chapter, I can't wait to see what comes next. I can also just picture the skipped miniboss going crazy waiting for Samus to show up and she never does... or she comes into it's room at full Speed Booster and just splatters it everywhere without realizing it was a miniboss.
2.bp.blogspot.com/-AreLoKiD6ho/VdXDiPVM9HI/AAAAAAAAAMg/UzS74DWOKoU/s1600/Vizzini%2B%2526%2BInigo.gif
Pinkie breaks the fourth wall even when she's half-asleep, apparently.
...Tat, this is a teen story, not a mature one. Bad Tat. No. Bad Tat.
Goodnight, everypony!
Twilight and Luna were adorable
6432762 The story finished, and I had only gone through the first five chapters. Yeah, I was behind.
6432900 I say "percussive engineering", sounds real official and fancy that way
Let's see now...I see an adorable fluffed up Twilight over there....I see a TeamFourStar reference over their(which I laughed at), I see a sex joke over their and I see overall awesomeness in the entire chapter, keep up the good work
6433559 oh and the 6 flying scootaloos. With various flight methods what will the town look like after THAT race?
6433797 Impact Technology sounds like a feature of the piece of tech in question.
ak-hdl.buzzfed.com/static/2015-04/29/1/enhanced/webdr07/anigif_enhanced-32566-1430287118-3.gif
Sighs Innuendo
i noticed a DBZ abriged reference in this chapter, intentional or not? *X-Files theme suddently plays.
You seem to be a fan of the phrase "I want one"
Gotta say, Spike's idea was definitely... Cooler.
6433300 Woof.
Echoing Voice: SCREWATTACK!!!!
Samus: Dammit, not again!!!
7583770 You took that from Some Call Me Johnny, didn't you?
6605544
Have a Snickers...
"I think I'm missing some context-"