05. Ignite
Samus remained hunched low for a few moments, bracing for any potential, immediate follow-up from their unexpected visitor. It didn’t come... though, the massive Storm Beast made its intentions known as it stomped aggressively on the floor. It breathed deeply, almost with a sadistic desire as its saliva continued to dribble and pool on the floor beneath its razorwire lower mouth.
She righted her posture as the hulking creature stomped one last time, and unleashed a feral, foundation-shaking roar from its massive mouth… promptly followed—and oddly layered—by an anguished, horror-filled death scream of the ‘pony’ mouth. A scream that chilled Samus’ bones. Like with the other Storm Beasts that Samus had encountered, it had no eyes that she could see beyond the veil of those demonic, hollow spheres of darkness. Even so, she knew full-well that they were trained squarely on her.
And then, it began slowly advancing on her. Samus could feel the smallest vibrations through the massive room with each step it took… and it’s lower mouth hung perpetually ajar, hyperventilating at the prospect of satiating its extreme hunger. She kept her cannon jutted out, locked squarely between her to-be attacker’s eyes as she also kept her distance, for now. She brought her left hand to the side of her helmet, all the while she began to strafe in an arc around her enemy.
With some words that probably shouldn’t have surprised her, Twilight spoke uneasily:
“I don’t suppose your ‘Scan Visor’ can give us any tips…?”
“Trust me… way ahead of you.”
[Scanning…]
[Scan Complete]
[Morphology: Storm Beast Alpha. Phazon Corrupted apex predator.]
[The Storm Beast Alpha is an unfortunate pony—a unicorn—that was taken and corrupted by the Phazon much like their lessers. Alpha’s are usually formed from the largest, and highest ranking soldiers of the Equestrian Army. Having undergone catastrophic corruption and near-terminal levels of mutation and growth, Storm Beast Alphas grow to gargantuan sizes on par with proper Earth stallions, steeds, and draft horses.]
[Phazon infection has not fully compromised inherent martial nor magical training of the host. Hyper-aggressive, and possessing superior alacrity and strength, it will use its host’s memories to its advantage. It will strike out with magic and physical attacks with its hooves, and predatory jaws that can shear through steel.]
[Phazon needed to support this life-form is terminally massive, resulting in many larger deposits and growths over its body. Scans indicate propensity of these to grow over vital organs and zones. Exploit its hyper-aggressiveness to attack these targets.]
Samus swapped it back to her Combat Visor, ready to begin firing wildly.
No sooner did she do this than did her adversary suddenly rear up and charge her. Like a bullet train ready to slam into someone who had no business being on the track, Samus knew better than to be in its path. She fired off six Power Beam bolts—all having struck the Storm Beast Alpha’s chest and face—before she made haste in diving out of the way.
She launched into a roll, and righted herself into a kneeling position to target the first Phazon tumor she could find: right on the knee of its front left leg. It seemed to pulse and glow a bright, Phazon-blue. Her targeting systems highlighted it immediately, and Samus locked on, charged Power Beam bolt at the ready.
The deadly ball of energy sailed forth when she fired…
…and was then promptly swatted away towards the ceiling as the Alpha lit its horn and generated a local shield over its leg. It snarled and lit its horn again, preparing to attack once more... but not before sending a burst of magic toward Samus with enough force to knock her off her feet had she not had proper balance. It was, however, enough to send her skidding backwards on the flats of her boots… and needing to hunch low in a three-point stance.
She kept her vision trained squarely on the Alpha while Twilight cut in quickly as the scene unfolded:
“It’s an Alpha… much more adept at magic and a lot more intelligent! I don’t think just the basic tricks will work…”
Samus pursed her lips, as that display just made her job a bit more annoying. Her response was one of resigned acceptance:
“Right…”
Samus kept her distance from her foe, strafing around it and firing off a salvo of Power Beam rounds directly at its face and chest… which the Alpha promptly seemed to just take like a champ. If anything, each successive strike on it seemed to annoy and inconvenience it rather than do any lethal damage.
But… still doing damage, as it seemed to be flinching with every strike, and not feeling the need to call upon any magical shielding like with the charged round. Samus devised a slightly more complex but still-dead-simple plan:
Overwhelm it with firepower until it drops dead.
Samus began a steady walk around the Alpha, whose horn was getting much too bright for her comfort. In an effort to thwart whatever it had planned, she just began opening up. As fast as she could reliably fire her weapon, Samus unleashed a torrential rain of Power Beam rounds upon the Storm Beast… who promptly began faltering in its steps and unleashing more hellish, feral roars in her direction.
Its horn dimmed somewhat, but what concerned Samus was when it had started ‘absorbing’ each consecutive round into its horn. Much like when she fought the Sheegoth back on Tallon IV, every single bolt she sent its direction got neatly pulled into its horn… a horn which was quickly regaining its luminance from whence it lost.
No matter. It could absorb her entire arsenal if it wanted. Ideally, Samus would overload the damn thing before it got anywhere close to her. It wasn’t the most elegant solution but it was one that got the job done over and over again in the past.
An invisible wall—a shockwave, emanating from the enemy’s horn—burst forth and slammed into Samus, forcing her to stumble and lose her footing for the briefest moments. Unfortunately, the briefest moment was all that was needed for a sudden, massive energy burst to explode outward towards the briefly disoriented Hunter.
Samus pushed through the sudden bout of vertigo when Twilight cut in shrilly:
“Samus watch out!”
Like a cannon firing canister shot, what seemed like hundreds of Power Beam rounds shot directly at her like a wall of golden yellow. Samus did all she could, which was to simply brace for the impact of all her shots coming right back at her. Not all of them hit her, but in shielding her face with her hand and bracing her pauldrons towards the front, the attack still shredded a substantial twenty percent of her defensive shielding.
“Fuck!” Samus exclaimed once the onslaught ceased, but the Hunter had exactly zero time to take a breather.
The moment she moved to aim and come up with her next plan, Samus felt a familiar vice-grip around her entire body. Her arms were clamped tightly to her torso, courtesy of that brightly lit horn on the Alpha’s head. Only her upper body and shins seemed free from the magical force enveloping her. A quick glance through her OM Visor showed this giant, magical tendril that had snaked around her, emanating directly from the Alpha’s horn.
But things went from bad to worse when Samus felt her legs scraping against the ground: the Alpha was pulling her right towards its waiting jaws… and taking easy steps to ‘meet her halfway.’ This was much different—and more potent—than when the ‘standard’ Storm Beasts held her firm, with the biggest difference being that Samus actually couldn’t wiggle out in any manner.
And the fact that she was going to be face-to-face with massive jaws that could probably tear right through her armor was starting to concern her a bit. Even more so because she knew for a fact her shielding would likely not offer full protection from a bite, like any melee strike.
Solace came from the softness of Twilight’s voice, so calmly and matter-of-factly:
“Relax. Control your breathing. I’m going to teach you to break the binding,” she said.
In normal circumstances, Samus would outright reject any ‘moral support’ in combat, as needless words that cluttered her thought process during battle were a liability. But as she continued to struggle, no amount of strength she put into her thrashing, nor employing any of her other systems was dislodging her from the iron, ethereal grip.
Though, oddly enough, it felt as if time was slowing down somewhat.
Twilight’s voice continued with no input from Samus:
“Channel the same state of mind that you had when lifting the bridge. Cast away the physical realm…”
Samus sighed out, and trusted her physical self to her own instincts… falling back-first into the magical realm. With that one breath, reality fell away—except for the grip around her torso—and she was met with a familiar silence.
She shut her eyes for good measure, despite the very looming, very real threat.
“Feel how the Alpha’s magic wraps around you. Really feel it. Understand it,” she continued.
Samus channeled all her mental energy into just isolating the feeling around her body. And in a way she couldn’t place, she could feel the grip around her. It suddenly felt as clear as day, like someone taller and larger than her had wrapped their arms around her from behind and held her in a vice-like bear-hug.
“Ahhh, you do understand it! You feel how the Alpha holds you in place. How it manifests itself to you.
“Now… break it!”
If someone had come up behind Samus and held her just like that, it would be a simple manner of using her superior and augmented strength to literally break their arms—and subsequently, their hold—on her. Channeling the same thought process through the magical realm, she could feel the current of magic flow through her veins as she thrust both her arms out and down violently.
At an instant, she was brought right back to the physical realm mere feet from the Alpha, and bore witness to its magical aura around her literally shredding to pieces. With how utterly violently Samus obliterated its hold over her, a magical shockwave was created that completely stunted the Alpha’s advance on her, forcing it to stumble and hyperventilate in place.
Despite the taxation of… whatever she just did… took on her mind, Samus immediately seized upon the opening.
She bounded forward, and after planting her right foot forward, she carried the momentum of her position change through her fist as she decked the Alpha squarely in its cheek. It didn’t even get the chance to cry out, nor completely trip over itself at the hit before Samus followed up with a horrendously powerful cannon-punch right to its chest.
She could’ve sworn she heard something crack under the barrel of her cannon. But as the Alpha continued to even attempt to collect itself at a distance, Samus eyed the first bulbous Phazon tumor that she had the clearest shot on: right on its front-right knee.
Following up from her quick one-two punch, Samus leveled her arm cannon, locked onto the tumor, and fired three precision Power Beam rounds. All three pierced right through the thin layer of skin and promptly exploded the growth in a grotesque shower of pure Phazon, blood, muscle, and other bodily bits.
The reaction from the Alpha was instant as its once ferocious roars had morphed into desperate-sounding, shrill cries of agony. Its knee had essentially ceased to exist, and its hoof hung limply below the joint… dragging on the ground as the Alpha made to retreat.
Twilight’s voice cut in anew:
“With ‘counter-spell,’ knowing and understanding is more than half the battle. The speed that you can undo a spell acting on you will only get faster with experience. Now, I think you can deal with the problem in front of you a little more expeditiously…” she then alluded.
Samus glanced to her open palm, and with some mental tuning, she flared her magical aura, enveloping her hand in a bright lavender. Just like Twilight’s. Once again, she didn’t notice her eyes flaring in kind, but her response was a bit more confident than a mere two minutes ago.
“Right.”
[Counter-Spell Acquired!]
[You now have the ability to counteract offensive magical effects against you. Speed, efficiency, and elegance of your countermeasures will become more refined with experience and technique.]
The Hunter swung her cannon forward again and took aim squarely at the now-seriously wounded, retreating Alpha. But before she could advance forward, its pained roars became much more… direct and precise. With an air of desperation that she could read on the ‘intact pony’ face, it cried out to the balconies above.
Samus glanced at her motion tracker to confirm her thoughts: it had lit up red all around her, and a cursory glance upward towards said balconies was greeted with a bunch of ‘lesser,’ animalistic screeches. Ones that sounded identical to the Storm Beasts that Samus had fought the previous day.
It had called for backup.
She then held fast as six earth pony Storm Beasts dropped like cast stones from the balconies, placing themselves squarely between her and the Alpha. All of them pawed at the ground aggressively, loosing even more feral roars before charging her all at once.
Samus charged forward as well, not wanting to give the Alpha much breathing room to potentially heal itself while she was busy. Much like when fighting the Omega Pirate back on Tallon IV, the plan would be to dispatch the underlings as quickly as possible… and for that to happen, she brought herself in danger close.
Samus swung hard with her cannon, seeming to cave in the skull of the first Storm Beast that dared approach her. As it fell under her hit, the second one moved to attempt to take a chunk out of her Suit pauldron, though with some quick thinking and channeling a small bit of magic, she thrust her hand forward and sent the Phazon-corrupted pony sailing backwards and sliding on the floor in a magical push… but in no way out of the fight.
All the while, she had charged her cannon, and let the Power Beam round swell her weapon to the point of bursting. She fired it at the third Beast that launched itself at her with its teeth ready to gnash at her visor. There were no teeth left to assail her. Nor a face. Nor a head. Nor a full body, really, as the ball of energy grotesquely tore it apart.
Two quick missiles fired one after the other made short work of the two farthest from her—felled well before they could truly threaten her. While she was occupied, the sixth one did manage to close into her guard and slammed its head into her core. That hit definitely registered, and forced Samus to stumble backward before she could properly counter…
…by seizing the Storm Beast’s neck and tightening her grip on its windpipe. She heard stirring from the second one that she had flung aside with magic. She watched as it attempted to stagger back to its hooves and bellow out at her aggressively, ready to lash out yet again.
Samus put a stop to that with four well-placed Power Beam rounds, where it then collapsed like a rag-doll with four neat holes in its forehead. The Hunter then turned her attention back to the struggling earth pony Storm Beast in her armored grasp. She didn’t even give it a chance to struggle for life as she tightened her grip, feeling every pop and crackle as she summarily crushed its windpipe.
The Hunter tossed the now-lifeless corpse aside and made straight for the Alpha…
…though, Twilight had more than a bit of pleading protest to add:
“Samus… please! Was… was that at all needed?! Have some compassion!”
Samus was not wanting to have this discussion right now, and she spat her response through gritted teeth as she locked onto the Alpha’s head… whose horn was lit and its magical aura enveloping its destroyed knee.
“Are you really complaining right now, Twilight?!” she asked.
All the while, she switched lock onto another massive tumor on the Alpha’s left-front leg and fired a single missile at it. However, the precision strike was in vain when the projectile sailed right through the Alpha’s form, as it had phased out of existence.
Samus drew her gaze—and cannon—over her surroundings in any effort to locate the massive ungulate that just suddenly vanished.
“I know… I know… but…”
“I’m sorry, but they’re not ponies anymore. They haven’t been for some time. It’s us, or them.” Samus hammered home the point as she switched to her OM-Visor.
The magical world seemed relatively silent through the eyes of her newest visor, and the only ‘anomalies’ she could see in snapping her gaze all over was her own self. Her own body glowed a modestly hued lavender. What was even more interesting was that Samus couldn’t seem to pinpoint the massive Alpha even in the magical plane. For a moment, it seemed that she could see some impossibly bright mass coalescing in random areas, but it would vanish as soon as she even locked eyes on it.
Even so, she kept hunched in her battle stance, cannon straight out… ready for the slightest provocation because she knew fully that her foe likely didn’t forfeit the fight so soon.
“SAMUS! DIVE!”
Twilight hadn’t been wrong yet, and the Hunter launched herself horizontal and into a roll just in time to miss a massive, neon-blue magical blast that came from one of the balconies up top… one that instantly seared and irradiated the ground where she once stood in a sizzling layer of Phazon and magic.
Samus exited from her roll and hunched low, aiming up to where the blast came from. Through the eyes of her OM-Visor, she saw this supermassive, luminous-blue entity that definitely stuck out from the dull surroundings… standing atop the highest balcony overlooking this foyer-turned-arena. The view wouldn’t last, though, and Samus felt no need to resume firing on the Alpha as suddenly her visor was overwhelmed by pure light.
Samus swapped back to her combat visor… only for the Alpha to instantly materialize from a teleport right next to her. Adrenaline shot through her entire body once more as she tracked its lower mouth… which lunged right at her midsection, trying to ensnare her in its jaws.
With that adrenaline spike, she threw all her energy into her legs, and with the aid of her Space Jump boosters, went horizontal in midair. The Alpha’s teeth sank into nothing as the edges of her suit brushed against its ragged mane during her half-somersault…
…culminating with Samus slamming the side of her cannon into its cheek by the time her boots touched the ground again.
The Alpha stumbled… and then reared back by slamming the side of its head into Samus’ face and sending her straight to her back onto her ass.
She didn’t have any time to gather her bearings either, and in leaving everything to her instincts, Samus rolled right out of the way just in time to have the Alpha’s massive hooves slam down onto the floor where her face once was… an attack which sent remnant flooring and gravel in all directions like shrapnel.
She keenly noticed that it only struck with its uninjured hoof, and in so doing, it wobbled uneasily in place. With its advantageous base of support now weakened, it appeared to her that the tumor strategy was a winning one.
Having put some measure of distance between her and the Alpha, Samus flipped back up onto her feet and took notice of the second tumor that she was able to see: the one on the side of its left-hind leg.
She raised her cannon to aim... but was forced to disengage almost immediately.
She had to throw her back near parallel to the ground to avoid a world-ending buck from the Alpha. The rather unorthodox position she found herself in did thrust a rather prominent weakness of her adversary’s right in front of her: its already-wounded knee.
Samus devised a quick plan… one that would probably elicit strong questions from Twilight.
The Hunter triggered an internal switch as she hunched low, and phazed down into her Morph Ball, her spherical form now suddenly halfing her height. She then rolled right under the Alpha’s abdomen and left a crackling, staticky bomb in her wake… which then promptly exploded in a pulse of energy that took the Alpha completely off balance.
Like clockwork:
“What the hell?! You can do that??”
Samus phased back into her standing form without answering, just close enough to see the Alpha cry out, and collapse suddenly to the floor with its legs splayed out. Without any further hesitation—as her enemy was quickly charging its horn through its hyperventilation—Samus brought her whole power down onto its wounded leg in a stomping kick, growling at the exertion when her boot-clad heel seemed to slam the ground through the corrupted ungulate’s leg.
The shrillness of the cry was gut-wrenching, and it responded by pushing her back through magic. It was successful, but Samus kept her balance much like last time. From there, she drew at its right hind leg which was splayed out behind it, and again fired three precision power beam rounds right into the bulbous tumor. All three rounds hit their mark, and the growth erupted with its contents spilling out onto the floor in a sea of red and blue, meaty chunks.
With two legs now essentially useless, Samus dove in for the killing strike, charging her power beam and ready to take the Alpha’s head clean off.
She was a little too late though… as all it did was scream out to the heavens before disappearing in a flash of magic. Samus skidded to a halt on her heels, keeping her hand to her helmet to pull up her OM-Visor once more. She continued to draw her aim over her surroundings. All that remained of the existence of the Alpha was the pool of soupy blood, guts, and Phazon on the floor.
Twilight asked quickly:
“More backup?”
Samus kept flicking her gaze all around her so fast and so frequently she’d probably develop diagnosed paranoia. Her motion tracker had not reported anything unusual, either.
“Doesn’t seem like it…”
Her OM-Visor was quick to dispute this, as three massive, magical vortices made themselves known before they appeared in the real world… right atop where the Alpha once lay. Samus braced herself for more battle.
“Nevermind!”
And in three familiar spirals of neon-blue magic, three Storm Beast unicorns phased into existence, ready to defend their Alpha. This time, having learned from the past, Samus attacked immediately, and used the charged shot she had saved for the Alpha against the center-most target.
She fired, and with the unicorn still preparing its horn for battle as it came out of its teleportation spell, it had no chance to react. The ball of energy slammed into its neck and chest, cratering it in a spray of blood as the unicorn sailed back on the floor, deceased.
Following up on her success, Samus charged forward, deciding to bravely thrust her arm forward, channel her magic, and use her enemies’ abilities against them.
Channeling what she could, she gripped the left-most unicorn around its neck through magic, and Samus felt emboldened when her efforts bore fruit: she could clearly see her aura having wrapped around its neck, lifting the heavy creature just off the ground and strangling it.
Samus’ confidence was suddenly shaken when her victim’s horn almost instantly flickered to life, and in a burst of magic, Samus’ hold was suddenly shredded. The sheer force of the thunderclap headache that struck her was almost crippling, and Samus lost all control of her magic as she stumbled backward.
“Aghhh! Fuck!” she cried out, subconsciously putting her hand to her forehead as if it would relieve the sudden pain…
...a pain that felt like her entire brain was being squished in someone’s hand.
So great was the pain that Samus barely dodged a burst of magic bolts fired her way… though she didn’t get to dodge the powerful beam blast that the second, remaining unicorn had also fired. She caught the beam full-force and cried out as she was thrown back a good fifteen feet through the air. She fell back to the once-pristine floor and did well to quickly pull herself together, one limb at a time.
That little move cost her thirty percent of her suit’s full shielding reserves—now down about half—and Twilight was quick to admonish her:
“What in Tartarus is the matter with you?! These are unicorns! You’re still barely learning magic! You can’t get overconfident with it, or they’ll counter you like that!”
Samus groaned as she got to a kneeling position, the sudden blood rush back to her head seeming to cure most of the headache, though the mental fatigue that came with it was taking its sweet time ebbing away. With a little extra effort, Samus picked herself up and stood upright, cannon aimed and ready to fight back once more.
Her response, pained as it was, seemed like a staple with Twilight’s ‘lessons.’
“Right…”
Samus sprinted forward, leveling her cannon off at the unicorn who dared counter her spell and cause her the worst headache she ever had in her life. The hail of Power Beam rounds she unleashed would make a light machine gunner blush in embarrassment, and her shots only got more and more accurate as she closed the distance between her and her target.
The second unicorn attempted to lob more and more magical fire in her direction to intercept her course, but only a fraction of their shots managed to even graze Samus’ shielding, which still lit up her surroundings when she got so much as tagged with foreign energy. To her, it was a small price to pay in energy units when she got to see how many times she managed to actually shoot her target, even as it tried to erect magical shields to deflect her own fire.
By the time Samus closed the distance, the unicorn was barely clinging on to effectiveness. She readied a missile and fired… the unicorn countered right away with a shield that caught the blast—just as planned. Samus used the time she gained to sail over her target, and whilst mid-air, aimed her cannon squarely at the back of her enemy’s head.
A single power-beam round executed it where it stood, and the Storm Beast was dead before it could even cry out, or crumple to the ground like an unstrung puppet.
Samus swiveled on her feet and was ready to finish off the final unicorn before she felt a familiar hold on her torso—much smaller and less powerful this time than the Alpha’s. She didn’t get the time to properly counter it as the Storm Beast forcefully beckoned her a good dozen feet towards it, with the fall being broken with her suddenly on all fours.
As Samus regained her bearings, the unicorn stormed her, firing the entire way over to close the gap, and keep her right where she was. In trading more energy shielding for time, Samus was able to dive out of the way and again regain her posture with her cannon trained on the enemy.
It disappeared in a blinding flash, and before Samus could switch visors to track it, it immediately reappeared behind her, and delivered a punishing buck to her lower back. Samus forcefully planted her front onto the floor, grunting through her teeth as she felt that impact a little more than she would’ve preferred.
The Storm Beast above her, however, put her in a precarious situation that she needed to move from immediately. Only… she wasn’t able to. The Beast held her right in place against the floor. Vulnerable. But, Samus remained perfectly calm and collected.
She channeled her magic.
And with a little exertion on her part through her still-present headache, she tore through the spell that bound her unwillingly to the floor. The magical ‘tearing’ that she heard, and the accompanying, cacophonous roaring from the Storm Beast signified success, and Samus quickly got to a kneeling position.
She decided to put a recent, simple addition to her arsenal to good use, and she unsheathed her combat knife on her left thigh. Through a simple judge of positioning, Samus put her entire weight in ‘punching’ with the knife, the blade slicing through the Beast’s neck with morbid grace. As the blood dribbled below the wound, Samus quickly finished it off, stabbing it at the base of the neck and forcing it to the floor, where it quickly stopped struggling.
Samus pulled the knife from the death-wound she inflicted with a wet squelch, wiped it once against the top of her cannon and sheathed it again in its special place on her thigh. She then raised her cannon and was ready to meet the Alpha that once more teleported back into existence in yet another attempt to kill her.
Twilight offered encouragement:
“Almost there, Samus! I can’t imagine the Alpha can take much more punishment…”
Though she could immediately see that it had lost whatever confidence it had against her… as it refused to charge her outright, it continued to shimmy from side to side in any attempt to likely find an avenue of attack. But in so doing, Samus was able to see that its balance and posture was shaky at best. Like Twilight said, she figured if she could land one more serious blow, the fight could end rather quickly.
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t take any more after this,” she proclaimed.
Samus unleashed another fusilade of Power Beam rounds right at its face, with the first volley of hardlight peppering its muzzle and forcing it to screech as it retreated further. Just as expected though, it then lit its horn brightly and began to ‘catch’ all further fire that Samus lobbed its way.
And just as planned.
With its horn clearly busy, Samus sprinted forward, keeping up the fire and attempting in any way to time properly when the Alpha would release all her fire back at her.
Just… about…
Samus never let up. She knew the stakes. If this was timed even a fraction of a second wrong, she’d be in a world of hurt, and possibly on reserve energy. But to her, at this point, she was done with this Storm Beast Alpha.
This fight would end here.
She had just about completely closed ranks to melee distance when Twilight seemed to get the idea of what she was trying to do, and gladly lent a helping hoof with a single word:
“NOW!”
At Twilight’s word, Samus lept at an angle from her head-on attack to the left of her target, and—as if a cannon shot had gone off right by her ear—the Alpha fired all Power Beam rounds back at her in a punishing wall of hardlight. Thanks to Twilight’s expert timing, they all missed her, just barely.
Coming out of a roll right beside it, Samus again employed her combat knife, and sliced through its left-hind leg as she got to her feet. Though she didn’t cut straight through it, the loss of critical tendons to her blade crippled the Alpha’s only good hind leg entirely. It’s reaction was instantaneous…
...if horrifying.
It’s ‘pony mouth’ wailed to the heavens in a feminine, piercing, blood curdling cry that shook Samus to her core. And it was intelligible.
“AHHHH! PLEASE! HELP ME! HEEEELP MEEEE!”
Twilight was first to react:
“HUH?!”
Samus couldn’t stop. She wouldn’t stop. And she’d end this before the Alpha tried any more perverted tricks.
Having righted her posture after slicing its leg open, Samus raised her arm cannon over her head and came down on the screaming Alpha’s horn, catastrophically fracturing it with a snap that echoed off the walls of this once-grand royal foyer. Any magic that it had queued up to cast had flickered and died with the appendage’s destruction.
Letting her momentum gracefully carry her, and almost twirling precisely on her feet, Samus found herself directly in front of the Alpha. She then plunged her cannon straight up against the underside of its mammoth jaw with an armed missile.
She pulled the trigger, and the concussive projectile shot straight through its jaw, and exited out its skull with an explosive rain of blood, Phazon, and brain matter. The missile continued its journey to the ceiling, and blew open and outward some more stone.
Both mouths were locked open in a haunting caricature of what was once a noble pony, and the dead husk gradually slid backward, and fell into a tangled heap.
Samus held her cannon outstretched, even as the corpse’s eyes drained of what little life remained of them… as if there was any life in them to begin with. Even so, that final, haunting scream that came from the ‘pony’ mouth continued to replay in Samus’ head… one that sounded so innocent. It was a sound that the Hunter knew well. A cry of desperation that she could do naught but listen to. An individual she couldn’t save.
A cry that, like the rest of them, would haunt her dreams for the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless, it was a simple task of using her Scan Visor to confirm the lack of vitals from the very much dead Alpha… as if the hole Samus blew through its chin and out its skull wasn’t convincing enough. Another cursory check at her motion tracker revealed nothing—any lesser Storm Beasts had scattered at the loss of its leader. She was alone once more… for now.
She lowered her weapon, and re-sheathed her knife.
“Welp, that was… something,” she said, and took some easy steps towards her initial, intended destination:
Through the foyer and into the throne room. At first glance, apparently the threshold between the two had been sealed off completely by way of rubble and destroyed building materials.
She stepped by the corpse without a second glance and continued on her merry way while Twilight sighed out.
“Yeah… it’s just… just a shame it ended the way it did.”
Samus cocked an eyebrow as she listened out for any other unusual sounds in the dank foyer, and a little more than surprised Twilight didn’t mention the haunting words.
“Did you really expect that battle to end some other way? That you can just beat the Phazon outta someone and they’ll shrug it off?” she asked.
The silence returned for a few moments, and Twilight’s forlornness sounded through prominently.
“I guess it doesn’t hurt to wish, sometimes.”
If there’s one thing she never wanted to snuff out in others, it was ‘hope.’ While she had become quite the realist and pessimist over her travels thus far, a little bit of hope and dumb luck never really hurt her chances in prevailing. Why try to explain it all away for Twilight?
“That’s… very fair,” Samus conceded.
Samus was ready to move onto the destroyed archway that led into the throne room, and find a way through it… but as the darkness returned after the battle ended, something seemed different. Samus noticed an odd shimmering and glinting off the stone and marble surfaces that she didn’t notice before. One whose dim light source seemed to emanate from behind her.
She glanced over her shoulder and indeed found the source of the odd light.
And it seemed Twilight caught it, too.
“Whoa… what is that?”
Samus could hazard a guess at what it was—it had been a staple of her travels thus far, through some mystical force that deigned to seemingly reward her for each of her triumphs.
So the trend continues…
She answered with a rhetorical question.
“I dunno. Why don’t we find out?”
With her cannon held passively in front with her hand atop, Samus turned on her heels and made for the mysterious, glowing orb that had coalesced above the Alpha’s corpse. As she drew closer, it’s luminous blue became much more apparent… and what looked like magical essence collected off of the body in striking currents of energy that fed into the floating artifact.
With her entire visor lit up, and the item overexposing her HUD, she could now see her own reflection from behind her visor.
And Samus could now make out the shape of what almost looked like Twilight’s cutie mark… a bunch of stars that seemed to twinkle in a rotating sphere. If Samus stared for long enough, she could also ascertain that the ‘star’ would gradually morph into the sprite of her missile… and then back again. As it gently bobbed and hovered in the unseen breeze, the edges of the residual magic that flowed off called to her, and a quick check through her OM-Visor indeed confirmed that this object in front of her was composed purely of the magic of this world.
Twilight, for her part, seemed quite enamored.
“Interesting~! Maybe it’s been a while, but I don’t recall ever seeing magic just… spontaneously coalesce into some artifact like this. I wonder what it could be?”
Samus chuckled softly.
“In my travels, the universe can work in mysterious ways,” she said, then promptly reached forward and ‘grasped’ the kaleidoscopic sphere before her…
…which then promptly fizzled away into magical specks that seemed to float on an unseen breeze. A breeze that gingerly wrapped itself around Samus’ arm cannon, cradling it and bathing it in a soft light as it all gradually absorbed into her cannon.
And then came the surge.
[Pulse Missile Acquired!]
[Your standard missiles have been augmented with a magical warhead. On top of their usual destructive power, the concussive blast is amplified by a magical charge, allowing it to become much more effective against magic-sensitive enemies and more resistant to magical countermeasures. Your missiles can now destroy objects composed of Magicite.]
[Additionally, a pseudo Charge Beam Combination is now available to you: Pulse Charge. With the use of one missile, your Charge Beam will emit a powerful magical pulse upon impact, disabling all magical abilities of your target for a short time. This will work with any beam weapon selected.]
Samus didn’t get time to process her new ability, nor react appropriately before Twilight managed to convey her feelings with a little more flair than she personally would’ve:
“That is… SO. DAMN. USEFUL! Ohmygosh… that potentially opens so many doors for us! Literally and figuratively! ‘Magicite’ is incredibly abundant here, and is used in a lot of construction, shields, and sometimes even full crystals are composed of them!” she noted.
Samus was more of a woman of action than words. She aimed her cannon at the nearest, blank wall, primed a missile, and fired it straight off. The first thing she noticed as the projectile left her barrel was that the normally dark-blue trail it left in its wake as it sailed forth had changed to a familiar lavender. She continued to watch as the missile impacted the wall, exploding in a spherical concussive blast that expanded outward several feet… with the distinct addition of a lavender, magical ‘pulse’ that burst out even further in all directions.
What remained of the spent missile were a few magical specks that floated in the softest breeze of the foyer, until they, too, fizzled out of existence.
The Hunter then repeated the exact same process with her Charge Beam, letting it swell her cannon before loading a single missile into the chamber as well. The golden, sun-like orb at the end of her barrel instantly turned a translucent lavender color right as Samus fired it off towards the same wall. The glowing orb slammed into the wall, but instead of a massive blast radius that Samus had expected of a typical Power Beam charged shot, it ‘popped’ with a rather electric-sounding fizzling. A lavender, smokey pulse burst forth, leaving naught but continued sizzling and ‘sparkling’ residue in its wake.
Samus dropped her cannon to her side. Now she felt safe in being a bit more enthusiastic toward the newest addition of her arsenal.
“This sounds great to me! Should make the Storm Beasts—and especially Alphas—a little easier to deal with…” she surmised.
And as Samus turned back towards the obstructed, rubble-filled former archway, Twilight seemed to agree.
“Mhmm! Though large swarms or much larger or more cunning enemies might still be some form of problem…”
“Agreed. Don’t worry, I won’t get overconfident.”
Twilight was too quick on the draw with her quip:
“Like you tried to magically hold a Storm Beast unicorn after you just barely learned how to counter?”
Though Samus smirked, her reply was quite deadpan.
“Don’t make me yank you.”
Twilight giggled, but Samus made sure to add one more important thing:
“Thanks for the help back there, by the way.”
“Heh, of course! We’re kinda intertwined at this point… so I can’t really afford to not help when it comes to magical matters. Still… you’re welcome. I hope I wasn’t too annoying...”
“Not at all.”
Samus finally made her way to what was once a perfectly good archway, only to have it fairly blocked off by the ruins of statues and the loss of a load-bearing pillar. The rubble and stones of various materials and sizes seemed to fit together like a puzzle, albeit loosely… and imperfectly.
Samus activated her flashlight so she could get a better look. The light appeared to be shining through the pseudo wall well enough where she could see just beyond it. But there wasn’t anywhere large enough for her to crawl through, nor use her Morph Ball to negotiate.
Twilight picked up on her intrigue:
“Looking for something?”
“A way through. A super missile isn’t gonna bust this shit down and there’s no pathway large enough… or structurally sound enough… to go in through via Morph Ball. Unless…”
Samus brought her hand to the side of her helmet and scanned the blockage.
[Scanning...]
[Scan Complete]
[Rubble and debris block your path. Large traces of Magicite are present within these materials.]
Samus smirked.
“Knew it. Bunch of this ‘Magicite’ stuff here. Should be able to blow it open with a pulse missile. Please hold…”
She then took a step back, placed her hand atop her cannon and aimed at the obstruction. The end of her barrel twisted open, revealing a single warhead of a missile, primed to fire. Samus quickly scanned to see where she could ‘deal the most damage’ before firing it right into the center.
The missile exploded without much fanfare… though the magically charged concussive blast seemed to quite literally dissolve the Magicite within the stone, of which its remnants scattered to the wind. What remained of the material simply crumbled before her into much smaller rocks and a fine dust.
Twilight seemed pleased.
“Excellent! Takes care of that! Now… let’s keep going. The throne room is just past this threshold, and beyond it, the castle opens up into a massive courtyard with its own crystal quarry. Once we get there, I’ll mark some crystals of interest.”
Samus started forward again in another easy walk, stepping over the unstable pile of rubble and passing into the throne room proper.
“‘Crystals of interest?’ Thought you knew what you were looking for…?” she questioned.
All the while, Samus was able to take in the mighty throne room, courtesy of the blown-open ceiling, which let in more than enough ample light… and rainfall. Thankfully the rainwater collected in little rivers on what remained of the thousand-year-old marble floor, and flowed into various holes and cracks in the wall base, mitigating the danger of any sudden flooding.
It was… mostly empty. No fancy decorations like marble busts were present, nor their remnants. The walls were as barren and lifeless as Ponyville itself, its contents likely destroyed or looted over the passing centuries. Vines and moss had made their way in from the outside world, having supplanted what splendor and grandeur once existed within these walls… especially regarding the two thrones that sat at the head of the room.
Lifeless. Empty. Yet, imposing.
“I do… but that doesn’t guarantee that the first crystal we come across is any use. Could be burnt out, too large, too small, not powerful enough, and so on. So this could take thirty seconds. It could also take ten minutes. Don’t know until we check ‘em out.”
“Got it,” she replied, and let their conversation fall silent again.
As Samus continued her easy trek across the throne room, she kept her eyes glued to her motion tracker, having planned for the lesser Storm Beasts to return with a vengeance. One thing she did notice the farther she looked up, was what was lining the periphery of what remained of the ceiling. Stone busts of what looked like unicorn or alicorn heads did well to eye Samus’ trek forward with less-than-lively gazes. She also noticed that there seemed to be two distinct faces—in various states of surprising resilience and dereliction—present, and gazing inward.
She could hazard a guess as to who they were, what with ‘Two Sisters’ and Twilight’s historical accounts.
Also much like when passing through the many Chozo Ruins in her travels, Samus felt like she was being… observed. Not necessarily keenly watched, but a familiar tingle ran through her core that was reminiscent of being casually surveyed.
As if her surroundings, or the ‘magic’ of this very castle were keeping passive, interested eyes on her.
In a way, with what Twilight had been telling her over the last day, that might’ve been more right than not. Not to mention that the Chozo had always found a way to keep tabs on her movements, whether through time or through direct observation through dimensions and space… wherever they now wander.
Perhaps the ponies weren’t so different. Hell, her caretakers were once very prominent in the galaxy at large. They were an empire. With how similar things seemed at a surface level, Samus wondered if the Chozo had ever found this place in the farthest vestiges of the Galaxy.
And if so, did they meet ponies? Or anyone?
Samus brought her thoughts back to the present, right as she passed before the high seats of the dual thrones. Even in their decrepit state, she found the design to be alluring… perhaps, a little too alluring.
And as she passed in front of one of the only pillars that remained standing by a massive hole blown in the wall leading to the outside, that allure turned into something that Samus in no way expected: familiarity. She let a knowing, lopsided smirk form on her face.
Speak of the devil...
She traced the hulking pillar with her eyes, following the stone road up to the ceiling, where a ceiling still existed.
Twilight’s attention was certainly garnered.
“Something wrong, Samus?”
“Nope. Just admiring the… construction.”
The now-ethereal alicorn, for her part, seemingly caught wind that there was more to the story than just admiring the view.
“What’s so interesting about a castle pillar? If you find them neat, then filly, do I have a treat for you when we get back to our castle…”
Samus huffed, amused.
“Heh, not like that, smartass. But… who built all this?”
“...the pillar?”
Samus rolled her eyes.
“The castle in general, so sure, I guess.”
“Well… the Princesses and the volunteer labor forces, of course!”
Samus didn’t respond right away, but rather pressed her armored hand to the pillar. More interestingly, she was focused on these particular notches that were engraved in the stone at odd frequencies. She thumbed one of them as she stirred her thoughts… and then finally let them be known.
“These are Chozo construction signatures.”
Twilight went quiet for a few extra seconds.
“...I’m sorry? Whose construction signatures??”
That’s when Samus realized that she hadn’t really divulged much of the Chozo race themselves to Twilight… which would also somewhat necessitate her delving a bit more into her past. She pondered the best course of action for a few moments, beating on the drum in her mind that controlled indecision before finally deciding on a compromise.
“Remind me to tell you when we get back to the Castle. All that to say, I think this planet just got a little more interesting.”
“I see… Now I’m dying to know just what you mean by this! The quarry is just beyond this wall. And thankfully, it looks like the battle a thousand years ago took care of the path for us, so we don’t have to go a longer route,” she said.
Samus hazarded a glance to where Twilight had pinged her visor. Indeed, the wall in front of which the thrones had been seated had been completely blown out from the inside. From the looks of it, given its position relative to the entire castle interior structure that she was able to make out, it seemed load-bearing… which made it all the more impressive that this castle lasted as long as it did from this level of damage and nature.
With her cannon at the low-ready and her left hand tentatively at her side, Samus moved forward, passing this second threshold which opened up into a monstrous, elliptical courtyard. She was welcomed once again by the omnipresent embrace of this eternal rainfall, which fell upon the area that distinctly reminded her of a greenhouse… without the ceiling. All the brush therein had long since been overgrown or taken over by nature’s own choices…
...but what distinctly stood out to her was the rectangular plot of land about the size of several competitive swimming pools put together. The dirt and gravel therein held what Samus could only describe as a veritable ‘garden’ of crystals.
The relief in Twilight’s voice could be felt through the rain.
“They’re still here,” Twilight confirmed whilst Samus inched forward, keeping an ever watchful eye on her motion tracker. “Just as planned. This should be pretty straight forward, then.”
As Samus brushed aside more flora, revealing more of the little quarry to her, she had one rather pressing question.
“Why the hell is there just a literal crystal farm in the middle of the castle?”
“For the same purpose that we need ‘em,” Twilight answered. “Special plots of land are dense in magic and collect it more than other parts. When combined with the natural processes of the earth, crystals will form and grow over time that are more or less magically sensitive.
“Essentially, you have a renewable power supply for anything that runs on magic.”
“So… like a magic battery then.”
“Precisely!”
Samus took her first, tentative step into the dirt, and in between the first rows of crystals.
“Alright… so, which one do we grab?”
“That’s part of the fun,” Twilight answered. “We’ll need to do a little bit of vetting before we yank one out of the ground. Go ahead and equip your OM-Visor, please?”
She did just that, and nearly recoiled at how much magical energy was being registered around her. While the vague outlines of the crystals remained around her in the dull blackness that now blanketed her vision, the brightest lavender ‘cores’ could be seen within the crystals themselves. Even more interestingly, those ‘magical specks’ made another return, forming rivulets of magic that dissipated into the air and back into the ground beneath it.
Some crystals were giving off much brighter signatures than others, and said power signatures didn’t seem to correlate with the physical size of the crystals themselves. That was, as far as Samus could tell as she continued her stroll down the ‘crystal corridor.’
Samus also noted that her map referred to the area as ‘The Crystalline Courtyard.’
Neat.
“Stop for a sec… let’s take a look at this one,” Twilight mentioned, and punctuated her words with a ping on Samus’ visor.
The target was a hexagonal crystal that grew to about knee-high—turquoise in color. Now, Samus had an idea why Twilight asked her to use her newest visor: this crystal gave off a markedly different magical signature than those around it: it pulsed at an odd frequency of three.
Samus knelt in front of it to get a better look.
“This our power crystal?”
“Let’s find out. Gonna need to run my magic through you. Hold your hand before it, please, and channel your state of mind?”
The Hunter held her hand out in front of the glowing crystal, her fingers mere inches away as she then let her eyes fall shut once more. Much more rapidly, the sensations of her world around her fell away and left her with a much less eerie, and rather, much more familiar silence. The only difference now was that instead of her doing the magical work, she could feel a foreign force flowing through her mind and manipulating her magical abilities without any of her own input.
Her hand began to rotate counter-clockwise in kind, her palm slowly beginning to face upward, per usual, with concentration-heavy spells like this.
That same deep, ever-loudening rumble affiliated with such actions quickly displaced the silence… and right when it seemed like it was to become a deafening roar, it abruptly ceased.
Twilight apparently had some high standards.
“Damn… it’s too strong. It’ll blow out the map if we try to use it. Let’s try this one,” she said, and pinged another crystal further ahead.
The rain had picked up, and veiled Twilight’s selection at first, but Samus navigated through the ‘curtains’ of rainfall to the next crystal, which was much stumpier and yellow in color. It’s magical signature through the OM-Visor also seemed rather different from the first crystal: it looked like it was beating like someone’s heart.
Samus preempted Twilight’s command by placing her hand appropriately close upon kneeling down.
“Let’s see if we get lucky…”
She let Twilight take hold once more, and after the same process finished, Twilight’s voice cut back in with much more excitement.
“Yeah… Yeah! I think we’ve found it!” she exclaimed.
Samus smirked, exhaling that lone breath she was holding in.
“Good to hear it! Then let’s get it outta the ground and head back to Ponyville,” she said.
“Couldn’t agree more! Go ahead and reach out with your magical grasp and give it a little tug. It’ll be a pain in the haunches if you tried to pull it out of the ground with raw strength. A little magic will nudge it out nicely,” she suggested.
Samus nodded, and after taking a second to breathe, she—without closing her eyes this time—reached forward through the magical plane and felt her ethereal hand wrap around the crystal rather uneventfully. She curled her fingers into a soft fist and heaved backwards with a little effort… which bore fruit when she heard the distinctive suction of sopping-wet ground giving way beneath the crystal.
And encased in her lavender, magical aura, it floated out and hovered above the ground. Samus then did well to grasp it physically in the air before cutting the connection.
“Got it,” she said.
Twilight was impressed.
“Well done, Samus! You’re learning quickly! But remember… don’t push yourself too hard if you don’t have to. Magical burnout is a very real thing, and like any wound you suffer, it’ll take time to ‘heal’ if you do,” she further cautioned.
“Duly noted,” Samus replied, then stood up tall before cradling their precious cargo in the hold of her left arm.
She then pivoted on her heels and proceeded back through the ruins.
“Alright. Let’s get out of here.”
“Mhmm! I’ll guide us back.
[Castle of Friendship]
Samus burst through the final foliage layer out of the Everfree, and drew the aim of her cannon all around her, just to be sure. Her motion tracker still remained peacefully barren, and with that, she lowered her cannon and made her way through the rain veil towards the now-familiar sanctuary of the Castle of Friendship.
Twilight sighed.
“Home sweet home.”
Samus didn’t respond, but instead put her hand to the side of her helmet, bringing her comms to life.
“Spike, we just got back from Two Sisters. We’re approaching the front door of the Friendship Castle now.”
Samus never broke her stride as she heard a few seconds of fiddling with the comm controls on the other end of the line.
“Awesome! Coming down now. Knock twice after I knock… just to be sure.”
The Hunter took an extra second of mental processing to understand that, but she’d figure that out in the next minute or so.
“You got it.”
The ‘distance veil’ of the rain that shrouded the front entrance to the castle cleared up as Samus approached. Before they got the chance to step foot and hoof inside sanctuary once more, Samus thought she’d have a couple more words:
“Moment of truth. What happens if this doesn’t work?” she dared ask.
Twilight seemed resolutely refusing to entertain that, at least at the moment, with her rather curt, determined response.
“We’ll play it by hoof.”
“You got it.”
Now directly in front of the door she had set off from a few hours ago, Samus pounded three times to signal their arrival. An air of understanding washed over her when she then heard two distinct knocks from beyond the thick double-reinforced-doors… to which, per instructions, she struck back twice with her armored fist.
The clicking, clacking, and metallic creaking from just beyond signalled that their simple ‘code’ had been accepted, and the door swung open inward, with Spike beckoning Samus inside. The Hunter strode right in, and did well to unequip her Suit as fast as possible in the usual fashion so the rivers of water flowing off her armor didn’t collect too much on the floor. Thankfully, most of it was vaporized in the process, and right as Samus felt fresh air on her face and the rest of her body, Twilight materialized right next to her.
Spike sealed the door, beaming as he finished.
“Welcome back, you two! Some good luck, I hope?”
Samus didn’t feel the need to respond with words, and only smirked as she held up the modestly weighted crystal for all to see.
“NICE!” the drake exclaimed.
She was about to add to that when a lavender field of magic enveloped the crystal and swiped it right out of her hands. With the most excitement that Twilight had ever displayed, Samus watched her tear down the hall, doubtlessly making her way to the Map Room.
And her urgence was… amusing, to say the least.
“Come on!” she exclaimed at the end of the hall, before disappearing in a teleportation spell.
Samus and Spike shared a look as they, too, started making their way after Twilight, though in a much more relaxed fashion.
Spike opened up with the conversation:
“So… how was the trip?” he asked.
“Interesting, to say the least. Twilight’s certainly got a head on her, that’s for sure. I don’t say this often when travelling with someone else… but she was good, intelligent company. She’s well suited to the ancilla roll, that’s for sure,” she mused.
Spike chuckled.
“Hopefully she didn’t drive you too crazy with how much she can ramble… and I take it there wasn’t too much trouble from the Storm Beasts?” he asked.
“Oh no there was definitely Storm Beast trouble. In fact, we ran into an Alpha that made its home in the Castle of the Two Sisters… as well as some of its more recent victims,” she explained.
Spike’s expression chilled at that statement.
“Wait… r-recent victims?”
Samus gestured forward.
“I’ll let Twilight explain when we’re done here. Let’s go catch up with her, first. We should probably find out if this was all worth it in the end, huh?” she suggested.
“Right!”
It was a short trip up to the Map Room, where Twilight was already busy fiddling with one of the supports underneath the circular map itself. Samus and Spike stepped closer as Twilight—through sheer desperation—was trying to remove a rather particular crystal panel, though her emotions were breaking her concentration.
“Come on… come on damnit…”
Spike was quick to rush in and assist.
“Easy now… here Twi… let me do it.”
Samus took a small step back out of both respect, and so she could have a good view of the happenings under the table. She watched as Twilight shimmied to the side and Spike knelt down in her place. Though she couldn’t get a full view due to their bodies blocking exactly how they were going about this, she did catch the drake putting both his hands on what Samus guessed was some panel of sorts… and with a bit of grunting and effort on his part, he pried off an entire section of the crystal support.
What then followed was Spike carefully reaching his hand inside, and his tongue pinched between his lips as he felt purposefully for… something. Samus watched his expression upturn when he seemed to grab what he was looking for… after nearly putting half the side of his body under the map.
She then observed Spike tossing what looked like a charred, burnt-out crystal towards the side of the room, where it promptly fell to the floor and skidded until it hit the wall… and then shattered.
Spike reached out to Twilight, open-palmed.
“Alright… can you hand me the new crystal, Twi?”
She lifted it with both her hooves and placed it right in his hand.
“Here you go!”
“Thanks! Don’t know if any of you two know any prayers… but if you do, it might be a good time to start chanting…”
Spike inserted the crystal back under the map, and was busy about securing it when Twilight replied:
“Don’t worry, it’ll work…” she said.
And then averted her gaze pensively while she softly added:
“It has to…”
Samus crossed her arms and took a couple steps forward again.
“Need any help?”
Spike shook his head, though he pinched his tongue between his lips again as he was, ostensibly, attempting to align the new crystal properly.
“Nope… just… need…”
Something audibly clicked into place, along with a sudden magical pulse, and his expression upturned immediately.
“Hah! Alright, it’s in! Here we go…”
Samus inserted herself between two of the thrones for a better view, while Twilight and Spike also backed off to see the results of their handiwork after re-affixing the panel. Her arms still crossed, she watched intently at the map for any sign of change… so far, nothing seemed different. Just the same, blank slab of flat crystal reflecting her image back at her.
The silence said more than any words could at the moment.
As nothing continued to happen while the seconds passed by, Samus could not remember a time when silence was so loud… and that she hoped someone would say something to slice the tension that was as thick as frozen butter. But as she glanced to either side of her, she could see both Twilight and Spike staring intently at the map… an intensity that gave way to desperation.
Then, Samus heard something. Much like the first time she ever experienced the touch of Twilight’s benign power, a ‘magical’ whirring began to stir. It was subtle… and Samus wasn’t even sure she ‘heard’ it per se, but rather it echoed in the deepest chambers of her heart. As if she could sense it.
Twilight was as hopeful as she could be:
“Yes… come on… please…”
But that sensation gave way to actual sound as a high-pitched, ‘twinkling’ whine began to make itself more and more prominent. Samus could’ve also sworn she saw the reflections in the flat crystal flicker for fractions of a second… and then again…
...and then, nothing. All sound and sensation ceased. The silence had returned.
But then, the map was suddenly rendered. Samus blinked and her head recoiled gently at the instantaneous change.
Spike audibly sighed, and Twilight squealed:
“YEEEEEES!!!” she cried out, jumping into the air and fluttering her wings… but Spike was quick to bring her back down to earth literally and figuratively.
“Hold on… we’re not outta the woods yet. If the map doesn’t show us where everypony is…”
Spike didn’t need to finish that sentence, and Twilight nodded in understanding, bringing herself the rest of the way back down. Samus understood. While the map is good to have online—and she was already studying the features of Equestria and beyond that were now laid out for her—they could be searching several lifetimes without having a direction of where to start looking.
They’d be left with little more than what they started with if that were the case. Samus silently hoped that Twilight’s now-penchant for ‘miracles’ would hold firm… otherwise her job would be made essentially impossible.
And the longer the seconds passed without any of… whatever the two were looking for, the more agitated and downtrodden their features seemed to become. Samus decided to step in:
“Relax guys… look at the map. It looks like it’s still trying to render things out properly. Not sure what’s processing all this, but you may need to give it a minute or so to—”
A floating, turquoise trio of diamonds made itself suddenly known above some geographic figures that Samus didn’t have time to study yet.
And then a prismatic lightning bolt over another.
Spike sighed once more, his expression now one of… pleasant fatigue.
“There they are…”
Suddenly, a trio of pink butterflies.
Then a trio of apples.
Twilight, equally, seemed stunned at the success. Eyes wide in pure joy, she softly added:
“It worked…”
A multi-colored trio of balloons.
And finally a six-sided star—Twilight’s ‘cutie mark’—right atop of Ponyville and the Castle of Friendship.
Samus let her smirk etch a little higher than normal, this time. Clearly, Twilight’s plan had worked wonders, and based on how she was reading this map, they’d have ample direction into where to start their searches for the remaining Elements. Logic would tell her that as a result, her job would be a lot easier now.
However, even she knew that she couldn’t lie to herself fully on that front. The path forward would have many hardships ahead, if any of her past missions were anything to go by.
But… Samus had to remember a little lesson from Old Bird and Gray Voice: relish in the small victories when you can.
She spoke up once more:
“Great thinking, Twilight! Guess we got the best outcome we could hope for, so far.”
Twilight glanced back at Samus, and the Hunter saw how damp her eyes were, despite her bright smile, shaking her head.
“We couldn't have done this without you, Samus… so, from the bottom of my heart already… thank you.”
Spike also cut in, placing a hand on her shoulder, to which Samus glanced back at him. He nodded with his own smile.
“Thank you.”
Samus nodded to both of them.
“You’re welcome, you two. Now, who’s closest?”
Twilight supported herself onto the table with her front hooves and stared down at the map, studying it, while Samus joined her by her side. The unicorn then pointed directly into the forest to the first cutie mark that Samus silently agreed seemed closest.
“Fluttershy. Element of Kindness.”
Samus nodded again—it looked like they had their next mission. But before she could add anything onto that, she saw Twilight blink… and shake her head.
“What the…”
She leaned in.
Samus cocked an eyebrow, and Spike decided to ask the probing question.
“What is it, Twi?”
“She’s in the Everfree but… she’s in an area that looks unexplored. But, heck, I remember us passing through here! The map for this area just seems... weird. I’m tempted to say that the map doesn't even fully reflect the reality on the ground for this little section...”
Samus lay her hands on the table to study it further from an eagle-eyed view.
“Doesn’t seem like we have a choice.”
Twilight shook her head again.
“Oh definitely not… it’s just interesting, is all. And it may just make for an interesting trip! The good news is that it looks like there’s also a downed Space Pirate vessel in that area. We can probably go find it after we collect Fluttershy, what do you think?”
Samus definitely liked the sound of that. She nodded once.
“Perfect.”
Twilight followed up:
“We’ll set off tomorrow morning then, alright? In the meantime… I think a small celebration is in order~,” she said.
Spike perked up and immediately pivoted on his heels.
“And I think I know just the thing!” he said, marching out with a purpose.
Samus watched him go as Twilight giggled, but the unicorn then turned back to the map and regarded it—especially the floating cutie marks—with a warm fondness… one not dissimilar to how Samus felt about her Chozo caretakers.
It was… nice to see.
“Just a little longer girls… I promise. I’m coming for you. We’re coming for you.”
Some notes from Flamm:
- I didn't realize 'Magicite' was actually a thing from Final Fantasy until after I had finished this chapter lmao. It works for this story, and I'm too lazy to conjure up a suitable replacement, so Magicite it shall be (magic-infused stones. It makes sense ffs!)
- Bringing in a standard combat knife for basic melee stuff aside from her fists, feet, and cannon. Never understood why the Prime games never had something like this as it makes perfect sense, tbqh. Hope that's okay with y'all, but it makes for some interesting interactions going forward, in my opinion.
- Harmony of a Hunter Returns is based AF as are the other remix albums. Many of the soundtracks will make their appearances here.
- I'm a day late. Better than a week late lmao, had more editing and more to add actually, so yay! More for y'all.
Hope y'all enjoyed! The adventure really expands now, and I got some... interesting things planned for next chapter. Stay tuned 
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Really enjoyed Samus having more melee options. That’s part of the reason why I’m happy Dread has the melee counter/counter dash.
Thier is a reason knifes are a standard equipment for all militarys. It is a realy good muti-tool.
Oh and keep em coming!
I have a theory about this. We know from Fusion that Samus's armor is at least partially biological. So I think that when Samus kills a particularly powerful enemy, the suit can use that enemy's genetic material to clone part of its anatomy to replicate its abilities.
Nice chapter and good to see this still lives.
-me, a Prime veteran-: "Scan everything! Even the things you've scanned before! You don't want to missed that the wasps in this one boss fight are different and miss 100% completion!"
Yeah, that part where you're trying to figure out which one of your weapons will hurt the enemy and keep having none of them working is the worst part of Metroid.
I would have tried the Morph Ball here myself, but then again I try that way too often...
Satisfying, but also extremely gross.
Yeah, horse bucks be dangerous.
Okay, so Counter-Spell works both ways. Another rule in video game rock-paper-scissors...
Did you mean "blast that caught the missile" by any chance?
...wonder how many of their former comrades the Alpha caught with that trick.
I always thought it was Chozo precog myself...
Metroidvania rules strike again.
Oh, is there a Chozo statue there?
Hey, if it's still prioritising "friendship problems", that might be useful in its own right... it'd at least show you where people are.
That...was a fantastic boss fight. Great showcase of the threat on this planet, as well as Samus's abilities. Always fun to have more abilities, too. And while I agree in theory about the combat knife, in practice I don't know what button it would map to on the Gamecube controller. Maybe in Prime 4 we can get something like that since the Switch controller has a lot more buttons.
...was that just Samus's down-aerial from Smash?
10948301
Fug I mistyped that missile. Should’ve been shield. Fixed that right up, thanks!!!
First of all, those remix Metroid tracks are awesome.
This boss fight was intense and it was the tutorial boss. Nice implementation of the counter strike, not sure how I feel about the combat knife. I do recognize the utility of melee weapon for close combat, though. I think I just prefer the energy blade you introduce in Equis.
Anyway, first objective cleared. Now on to Fluttershy.
There is magicules from "That time I reincarnated as a slime"
Amazing writing! Loving and in awe of how you're able to mix the game physics and make them fit over in teh story so it flows naturally.
10948855
Best anime ever
For all the Glory kills in DOOM, remember,
Samus did it first in Other M
‘Looks when the last chapter was posted… month apart…’
Btw, great chapter definitely sad to hear the creature cry for help. Can’t wait to see what has happen to fellow ponies we know and love… I wonder if the Crystal Empire is ok?
This was welll worth the wait, I’m so excited for this aaaaa!
Nice boss battle.
Weirdly emergent geometry on the map in the vicinity of a phazon meteor strike? Fluttershy may be hanging out in an especially bad bit of spacetime...
Gonna lol real hard if she's been befriending Ing or something.
10948082
Thanks! And SAME, honestly it just makes sense!
10948173
100% agreed. And you got it, boss!
10948193
Interesting thought... I never really considered it that way. It has its implausibilities but then again, so does every other theory when trying to explain away game mechanics I suppose lol.
10948218
Hell yeah, boi! Thanks!!
10948301
Agreed to all! Haha. Thanks for your thoughts on that one thing btw, very helpful! Gonna hear from me again super soon lol
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Thanks a lot! I was hoping people would enjoy it, and it looks like that's the case, so huzzah! And no idea... that's probably why they didn't map it in the Prime games lol. Though even if they didn't, a way to just bash enemies with the cannon would've been awesome. Zero idea how they'd implement this though.
Also pretty much yes, lol. Good eye!
10948504
Hell yes they are!
And I'm glad you enjoyed the boss fight! As for the knife, I did think about bringing back the energy blade... which during Equis I admittedly pulled that one out of my ass. Didn't seem to fit here for whatever reason, so I'm thinking of maybe bringing it back as an upgrade of some sort. Haven't decided yet, but excellent thinking on the callback haha. Onward!
10948905
Thank you SO much!
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/531/356/49a.png
10949237
LOL that's certainly one way of putting it
10949784
HEY NOW! LMAO
And thank you!! Yeah I thought that would be a nasty little addition. I guess we'll just have to find out more!
10951346
YUSSS! I was hoping it would be! I'm trying to be faster I swear lol
10952683
Thanks bruv!! :D
10954821
Not necessarily in the vicinity of the Phazon crater. I'm gonna go more into locations next chapter to make that clear though. Flutters is apparently in an area that Twilight doesn't recognize... around area she's already been through. Guess we'll have to see what awaits them when they make the journey
And so the first boss is defeated, AND SAMUS STILL HAS ALL HER GEAR! I'll take that as a very good sign.
But this is only the beginning, and Samus knows the road ahead will be difficult. But also knowing Samus, she will save the planet in the end.
It's what she does after all.
10957394
Indeed she does! As much as I was tempted to have her lose all her shit again through some fluke with the Alpha, I thought whatever basics she has right now is a perfect jumping off point. I think there's more interesting abilities I can write in that can either be brand new to work in sync alongside what she already has, or just other abilities (e.g. Pulse Missile/Pulse Charge) that build on top of what she has in a pseudo-stacking mechanic.
And yes, I certainly hope she succeeds lmao! Since this fits neatly into canon before Prime 3, it's completely illegal for Samus to die
After years of not being on this site, I all of a sudden had a random memory draw me back to this place. And the first thing I see is this in my feed. I remember your writing from way back so screw it- lets see how things have been going.
10960683
LOL welcome back! Stella’s done save for some bonus stuff and Metroid is back in full swing. It’s like it’s 2014 again lol
Given that Twi hasn't commented on the mare voice coming from the Alpha (as noted by Samus), I surmise that the Storm Beast in question was in fact a stallion, and that she realizes that she was hearing the last words of one of the Beast's victims. Vocal mimicry without understanding.
Cool boss fight. Now, the quest begins in earnest!
Why donyounkeep calling Twilight a unicorn? With the castle around means she is an alicorn.
10977973
If I call her a unicorn then that’s a mistake so I’ll fix it. Thanks.
"Never understood why the Prime games never had something like this as it makes perfect sense, tbqh."
No, it does not. Alot of Samus's enemys in the games wouldn't be damaged by a knife other than small ones. And the fact alot of the tougher enemies fight long range or they've got a tough hide. Or its impossible to get close enough to the more faster agile enemys.
11656785
Speak for yourself lol, I was squaring up at close range all the time! But fair point on the hides and what not. That's true
I'm still in the first third of this chapter as I type this, but I wanted you to know:
The boss fight was written VERY well, but I have to say the sheer number of elipses (three-dot "pauses") was quite a bit much. It makes the fight seem way slower and more unpredictable than it probably would have been to Samus by this point, since such elipses are usually saved for surprises. It's like constantly saying "Samus did a flip and clocked it in the head, BUUUUUT it smacked her with its head and made her stumble. She then took aim to fire at its leg, BUUUUUUT the creature shook the ground and threw off her aim. She regained her footing and compensated for the shaking by rushing closer, AND THEEEEENNN clocked it in the head again, BUUUUUUT it promptly threw her, hard, AND SURPRISE SURPRISE, she hit a wall."
Might be me nitpicking, but I think elipses are meant to be used much more sparingly. Action scenes feel more active when their descriptions aren't pausing or lingering on details all the time, and characters like Samus feel more experienced and capable when actions are implied to be normal and expected (such as getting headbutted while two inches from the head of a wild horse in the middle of a freakout, or hitting a wall after being thrown across the room).