19. Regrouping
Metroid Equis
Chapter 19
Regrouping
Evening was quickly approaching and the disabling of the Space Pirate Frigate was a perfect culmination to the last rays of sunlight. Pony soldiers were en route to try and contain the crash site as best as they could, although they were advised to keep their distance, as it was not known how many Pirates survived. That could be dealt with in time, as well as with the fact that almost all major cities near the impact site had been evacuated completely, and as a result, reports of infection from Phazon had dropped off significantly. It wasn’t quite the tipping point yet, as the Phazon was still spreading and Pirate troops were continuing to make landfall. The Galactic Federation would ensure the balance tipped in favor of the Equines, and with a fleet less than a day out, there might have been something to look forward to in these darker times.
Nevertheless, the Frigate was knocked out and morale had a definite increase. All the ponies and Samus had to do was hold out just a little longer. But on that note, it was time to ask questions. The whereabouts of Samus and Luna were unknown. Rainbow Dash was able to circle back around and had just landed by her friends and ruler outside of the Library, receiving a hero’s welcome amongst friends. They all piled on her laughing and cheering, but ultimately just happy that she was safe.
“Rainbow I don’t know how ya pulled it off but ya did!” Applejack congratulated her cyan friend.
“Thanks AJ… I really didn’t think it would work when I saw that thing up close…” Rainbow admitted, her cheeks flushing a bit as she swallowed her pride.
“Gotta say though, watching that fateful moment will be something I’ll never forget,” Twilight admitted. Fluttershy draped a hoof over Dash’s back in a friendly and caring gesture while Pinkie was bouncing with glee. Princess Celestia stepped forward with a motherly smile on her face.
“And you’re right. That may not have worked. But when Luna and even Samus could not come up with a plan in such a turn of events, you were quick to step up to the plate and advise a course of action. That took some courage in its own right, on top of spearheading it of course. Well done, Rainbow Dash. You, along with Samus and Luna are a hero to Canterlot and ultimately Equestria,” she congratulated. Rainbow Dash could only bow her head in thanks, having really nothing to say in return. But those words sparked thought in a certain alabaster mare.
“On that note, where are Samus and Luna?” Rarity asked sincerely, placing her hoof to her chin as she gazed around. The same thought immediately entered everypony’s heads.
“Wait… you mean they didn’t come by and check in? I thought Princess Luna and Samus would’ve come back and went to check out the crashed ship…” Rainbow Dash expressed, under the impression that the two individuals in question’s whereabouts were known.
“Oh my… oh my…” Fluttershy muttered, fearing the worst.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions, my little ponies… let me try something…” Celestia spoke, closing her eyes and concentrating, attempting to establish a mental link with Princess Luna. She wasn’t getting anything. It was analogous to getting nothing but static on a radio comm. This started to worry Celestia quite a bit. She and her sister shared a deep mental connection that allowed them to communicate with each other confidentially at moment’s notice and have conversations lasting fractions of a second. Celestia ceased trying to reach Luna and opened her eyes, a worried look overtaking her features.
“Princess…?” Twilight asked, stepping forward.
“I need to find Luna,” Celestia softly responded, her sister becoming top priority. She shuffled a bit in place and ruffled her wings, prepping for flight.
“We’ll come with you!” Rainbow Dash stepped up, ready to fly once more.
“No!” Celestia said a bit more forcefully than she would’ve liked, making Rainbow recoil just a bit. “You’ve done more than enough, Rainbow Dash. You’ve risked your life for thousands and your loyalty is unchallenged, but I don’t want to risk your safety anymore. The same goes for all of you. If anything happens to one of you…” Celestia trailed off, not really keen on finishing that conjecture.
“What about Samus?” Pinkie finally spoke up, greatly worried for the blonde-haired Hunter.
“Samus can handle herself,” Celestia said with great confidence.
“How do we know if she’s even alive?!” Twilight asked nervously.
“I have full confidence that she’s alive and well. We didn’t have to baby her when she arrived, nor do we have to baby her now. Samus will return in due time. As for you six, I want you to stay locked up in the library. Understood?” She explained and then asked, almost authoritatively.
“Yes, Princess,” they all conceded in chorus. Celestia then turned to the Royal Guards stationed by the Library.
“Defend them as you would me. There’s a garrison of troops nearby if you need assistance with anything.”
“Yes, Princess!” they saluted to her, returning to their posts in concealment. She looked back to the Elements, nodding at them in a silent order. The six filed inside the library one after the other. Twilight was the last inside, but she looked back at her mentor, and essentially second mother, with a questioning gaze. Celestia only returned a soft smile and a gentle nod… one that said “I’ll be okay.” Twilight grinned back and shut the door after her. With that out of the way, Celestia furrowed her gaze and took off into the sky, flying low to avoid detection by any other Pirate fighters that might have been in the area. She also magically cloaked herself with active camouflage for safe keeping. Her search began, and with Luna’s mental signal cut off, it would make her search even harder.
Ponyville fields were as expansive as they were beautiful. An endless plain of lush grass for at least ten miles in every direction from its center. Everything had perfect symmetry and elegance against the setting sun from the point of view of the Equine nation. The wind blew gently as it created figurative waves along the blades of grass, a warranted calm after a crisis expertly averted. However, something didn’t belong: a pony-sized depression within the decently-sized grass approximately twelve or thirteen miles from Ponyville cradled the Lunar Princess in its gentle grasp, sans battle armor.
As soon as Luna stirred, murmuring and grunting as her eyes focused and refocused, she immediately remembered what happened after she took that leap of faith. She took flight into the open world right as Rainbow Dash’s rainboom hit, so she ended up violently losing control of her flight, which culminated with her being able to stabilize somewhat before crashing into the ground.
And so there she had lain for at least an hour… she really couldn’t keep track of time at the moment. She and Celestia had magically automated the rise and fall of the moon so they could deal with more pressing matters and emergencies, so there was no fear of not letting the moon fly its course. Still, these thoughts did nothing to alleviate the pain in her shoulder. The magical effect had worn off, and the impact with the ground had served to break new blood vessels in her wound, so she was bleeding; slowly, but enough to notice slight lightheadedness. As well, with all the stress she had been under for the past few weeks, she was magically exhausted. Her magically regenerative properties would speed up once the moon came into view, but until then, she could effectively classify herself as Wounded In Action and in need of some help.
With what little energy she could, Luna could have re-established connection with Celestia, but she dared not do that. She explicitly undid their connection temporarily lest Celestia find out about the Magickakorps, which she didn’t feel was an appropriate time, at least by her view. Either way, help was on its way as she laid there and thought to herself. In fact, it had actually arrived about ten seconds prior.
Six long range teleportation spells of various colors flashed simultaneously and instantaneously, revealing the same number of familiar black-armored unicorn troops. They immediately rushed to her side.
“Identification confirmed. We found her,” one of the troops spoke through a helmet-radio with an authoritative voice. Two other troops checked her over; Luna didn’t put up much resistance, as evident by her droopy eyes and magical exhaustion slowly working in conjunction with her wound. The remaining troops branched out farther and looked in every direction to ensure they were alone.
“Sir, she’s wounded and suffering from Magical Exhaustion. I’ll need to provide on-site medical attention before we can teleport her out,” the female soldier by Luna’s front relayed to her superior.
“Do what you must, but move as fast as you can. The less time we’re out here the better.”
“I assure you… I am in decent health, soldiers. Let us leave...” Luna finally spoke, raising her head a bit to get a better look. The last rays of the sun had been eclipsed by Canterlot’s mountains and the seven of them were now overlooked by nothing but the night and the stars above. The commanding officer shook his head.
“Sorry, Your Majesty. Protocol dictates we cannot do that if it is found your wounds need immediate address—”
“Luna?!” a surprised voice sounded off, close to them. All six troops jumped and stood in battle formation out of reflex, aiming their horns at the new entity, only to find someone equally as regal as their Supreme Officer in their sights. Princess Celestia wore an expression of pure confusion.
“Princess Celestia…” The commanding officer spoke bowed down, not knowing what to do in this situation in all honesty. The others followed and bowed to their ruler, leaving Luna completely unobscured in Celestia’s view. She only laid her head back down on the grass and muttered one word:
“Fuck.”
Back in geosynchronous orbit, The Space Pirate Fleet’s flagship still lay suspended in the atmosphere with several ships by its side, only lacking a distinct space where they were missing a particular Frigate. Ridley lay on a large, metal slab in his lair while over a dozen instruments worked on repairing his cybernetic form from the confrontation with Samus. Sparks were flying as broken pieces of metal were soldered together and foreign shrapnel was removed from any organic parts of his body. His eyes stared upward at the ceiling, only twitching in the lightest pain when the repair process hit a particularly painful point. Soon, the sealed door to his lair opened, revealing a familiar Pirate Officer.
“Lord Ridley…”
“If you do not have any information for me on the loss of our Frigate I’ll have you shot where you stand,” the large dragon spoke through his own language, interpreted by Pirate translators. He’d slice him in half himself, but his current situation prevented that.
“Y-Yes, My Lord, I come bearing news,” the somewhat adorned officer spoke, some of his nervousness spilling over.
“Well…?! I’m waiting…” Ridley grew impatient by the moment.
“It appears the anomaly that brought Frigate Siriacus down was caused by a supercharged magical sonic boom. It completely overloaded the ship’s electronics and disabled the engines. It crashed over thirty miles from its intended destination. We have not been able to establish contact as of yet but we are continuing to try to do so.”
“Send a strike team or two to salvage what they can from the ship, as the Siriacus had very high priority research and development on board as well as some elite troops. Regroup with survivors if any.”
“It will be done, My Lord.”
“Anything else, Commander?” Ridley asked.
“I thought you might be interested to know that we were able to trace the source of this anomaly. There were reports from the beginning of the mission of the Hunter’s ship being sighted and escorting one of the winged equines. Scans and radar indicate that this particular specimen originated from the town in which Siriacus passed over.”
“You thought correctly. Take a strike team or two to this town and capture any of the horned equines, alive if at all possible. Massacre any and all other inhabitants, especially the winged ones. Then, wipe the town off the face of the planet,” Ridley ordered coldly.
“Two teams have been en route as we speak. I’ll add the extra addendums to their mission brief,” the Commander replied.
“Your competence is the reason you hold your position and I keep you by my side. Do not disappoint me, Commander.”
“Yes, sir,” he saluted to his superior and left without another word. Ridley turned his gaze back towards the ceiling as the instruments continued their work on him, his mind slipping to other matters.
Samus’s vision slowly cleared as she groggily came to her senses. Upon sensing her alert state, her Astral Suit powered up and her HUD lit up brilliantly, forcing her eyes closed at the brightness amongst the lightless sanctuary she held during her unwilling trip to dreamland. She fumbled with her hand and pulled up a suit diagnostic.
[Core Diagnostic Initiated. Scanning…]
[Suit Integrity: 65%]
[Defensive Shielding: 41%]
[All Suit Systems fully operational. Suit Repair and Energy Tank Recharge recommended.]
I’ve been knocked out more times on this planet than anywhere else. This can’t be healthy.
Samus undid the harnesses that held her strapped to her pilot’s seat and looked around. It was nighttime, that was for sure, but she couldn’t see a damned thing. She didn’t really feel like seeing in different shades of blue and orange through her Thermal Visor either. Fumbling with her ship controls, she was happy to see that the interior lit up. What she wasn’t happy to see was that the interior had sustained considerable damage in the crash.
“Shit.”
Her suit was still damaged, but if her luck favored her, the ship’s repair bay could still function. Moving back to that area, she noticed there was indeed damage to the controlling console and several instruments were out of place. Scanning, it was revealed that the antigravity was still functioning, as well as the other tools needed for repair. Unfortunately, the energy recharge property was offline.
“Better than nothing.”
Samus keyed in the necessary console commands and stepped into the antigravity well. Once she was suspended, the arms of the station came to life and began to repair the suit’s exterior as she had done many times before.
[Suit Integrity: 100%]
Her suit was now like-new. However, her depleted shielding could cause a problem. But, that’s when another notification popped up on her visor:
[Your Astral Suit has the ability to replenish energy and magical potency in direct moonlight.]
That’s right! Thanks, suit.
The hatch to the outside world was jammed in the crash, so Samus had to release it manually. Once it opened, she hoisted herself up and stood on the top of her downed home, laying eyes on nothing but field for miles. In the distance, she could see Ponyville, Canterlot, and large plumes of where she believed the Frigate went down… which reminded her
So it worked… Good job, Rainbow Dash.
Moonlight hit the Hunter directly and soon enough, her whole suit began to light up a tad, becoming noticeably brighter to a certain extent. Samus felt pure energy course through her being as her energy tanks refilled themselves over the minutes. Once the process was complete, her suit returned to its normal dark colors.
[Energy Fully Replenished.]
Samus stretched her arms out and curved her spine backwards a bit in a stretch. Her suit and energy were repaired and recharged respectively, but she was still on the lower side of Missile Ammunition, about forty percent capacity. That didn’t matter too much at the moment, as her first order of business was to return to Ponyville. Looking to her left, she spied the small town ten miles away in the distance.
This field is massive… Jeez.
Samus lightly jumped and fell comfortably to her feet on the ground, the lush grass embracing her form. She looked towards the mountains, and found Canterlot as it was before this incident: safe, for now. She turned her gaze back to Ponyville and was ready to start walking when she noticed movement on the outskirts of town.
Huh?
Samus applied an optical zoom function to her visor, only to be greeted with the sight of two Space Pirate drop-ships, each unloading four Commandos and twelve Pirate Troopers each. The Commandos gave a gesture towards the town and they followed down the first street of houses.
“No…” Samus muttered out, shaking her head at the revelation. She had to get to Ponyville now. Her speed booster would take her there in a few minutes of total travel time in retrospect, but the occasional Space Pirate fighter was patrolling the area. Since it was night-time, they’d easily see her glowing speed-boosting form on the ground and that wouldn’t bode well. She’d have to sprint whenever she could, but stop when there was a danger of fighters passing over.
With that, Samus took off sprinting towards Ponyville, her speed booster activating shortly after. Unbeknownst to her, her form carried a more distinctive rainbow hue to it, as well as a noticeable rainbow trail behind her.
Twilight and the rest of the Elements plus Spike lounged around the common room in the Library, door locked and candle-light dimmed down to a minimum. Twilight was reading up on whatever information Samus shared with her about Phazon, Pinkie and Spike were eating cake that the former somehow had managed to store in the Library… something about ‘emergency cake stash around Ponyville,’ Fluttershy was just resting on the sofa, Rarity was gazing through some designer magazines, and Rainbow plus Applejack were talking amongst the two of them.
“You think Samus and Princess Luna are alright?” Rainbow asked the farmer pony.
“I’d like to think so…”
“They have to be!” Twilight reasoned. “Princess Luna and Samus are so much stronger than that. They’re alright, I’m sure of it,” Twilight worked up the courage to say. She wasn’t entirely sure before, but something told her that both of them were alive and well. Just… regrouping. Besides, she hadn’t received any notice, good or bad, from Celestia.
“All we can really do is hope at this point,” Fluttershy softly spoke out with her eyes closed. Before anyone could respond to her, all their ears perked up at the sound of an explosion in the not-so-far-off distance.
“What was that…?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Sounded almost like my party cannon!” Pinkie blurted out, almost seeming happy… but then the sound repeated itself and she quickly grew more concerned.
“Twilight, are there other ponies left in Ponyville?” Rarity directed her question to the lavender unicorn, hoping to shed light on the situation.
“About a little over a hundred, maybe. Celestia couldn’t get them all out before the Space Pirates took over the skies,” Twilight responded. Another explosion sounded… much closer this time and the candles swayed as a result. At that moment, there was a harsh knock at the door, but a specific ‘code’ knock that indicated it was one of the Royal Guards. Twilight ran to the door and peeked out, hearing more explosions as well as weapons fire close by. The Guard who knocked had an extreme sense of urgency when he spoke:
“Miss Sparkle, get yourself and the rest of the Elements into the safest room you can! Whatever you do, whatever you hear, DON’T open the door!”
Twilight nodded frantically, moisture beginning to make itself known on her brow line, before the door was closed and locked tightly. The others had heard what the Guard had said.
“We need to hide! Now!” Twilight shouted. The others, naturally, agreed. Spike took his place next to Rarity.
“We shouldn’t all be in the same place…” Applejack reasoned. While there was strength in numbers, being spread out was also not a bad idea.
“I’ll hide up in the observatory. I can also be your girls’ eyes,” Rainbow volunteered.
“I’ll take Fluttershy down to the basement,” AJ quickly added.
“Pinkie and I will go upstairs,” Rarity suggested.
“Spike, with me in the guest room. Everypony go!” Twilight ordered. The candles were put out and all the mares all scrambled to their places; once they were secure, they gently peeked out their doors to see each other. Once they were in position, they began to play the waiting game.
The explosions and weapons fire only continued to get closer and consequently, louder. The mares all heard yelling and the occasional scream of agony as well. The Space Pirates were advancing quickly through Ponyville and it would only be a couple minutes, if that, until the Library was reached.
“Rainbow!” Twilight whispered up to the Element of Loyalty. “Can you see anything?”
Rainbow Dash then gently snuck onto the balcony, prone, and had a look through the railing. There wasn’t much and as soon as she was about to turn back, a blood curdling scream erupted and was then silenced to a gagging sound, forcing Dash’s ears to fall against her head. The source: a pegasus mare who was being dragged out of her house by the throat. The Pirate Trooper who held a tight grasp on her began speaking in a deep, guttural language that Dash couldn’t hope to understand without a translator. He then threw the mare onto the ground and press his heel into her side, aiming his weapon at her head.
“Gob’ulat nohch wutal MEINHIG”
“No...NO! PLEASE! SOMEPON—”
She was silenced as the Space Pirate executed her with three energy rounds to her head, not leaving much of a decent sight to behold. Rainbow’s eyes widened in horror at what she had just saw, mouth agape… and her body was frozen. She began hyperventilating…
The Space Pirate perked up at the faint sound of heavy breathing and looked upward towards the source, but Dash had ducked back a moment before, his silver armor reflecting off the moonlight as he moved. He snorted once and moved on, kicking in the door of the next house.
Back inside the library, Twilight was still waiting for an answer.
“Rainbow!!” She whispered out harshly. Applejack was also looking to Twilight for answers, as was Rarity. Moving to get a better look, Twilight found Rainbow slowly fluttering down just a little bit. The unicorn was legitimately scared when she saw the scarred look on her friends face, one that said ‘I’ll never forget what I just saw...’
“T-They’re outside…!!” Rainbow whispered back, pointing towards the outdoors frantically.
“Okay! Hide, everypony! Don’t open the doors!” Twilight ordered with another whisper, and all doors shut immediately.
“Twilight…” Spike said fearfully, looking to his older sister.
“We’ll be okay… I promise,” Twilight responded softly, trying her best to put on a brave face. She was completely terrified by every definition and synonym of the word. But by any power she had, she would not allow her friends, especially Spike, to come to harm. There was a problem though: as powerful of a unicorn as she was, she had not studied much in the ways of self-defense spells nor spells intended to take the life of another. She had absolutely no desire nor need to do so! So, as of right now, her best defense was a shield if anything, and her best offense was levitation, and she knew it. Any experimentation with any spells that she knew to try and weaponize them could have disastrous results. She was quickly running out of ideas.
That was… until she spied a familiar metallic case under Samus’s bed.
“It’ll be alright sugarcube, I swear it, ya hear?” Applejack softly cooed to a distraught Fluttershy. The two could barely see each other due to little light filtering into the basement. Before AJ could continue, there was a loud bang on the front door, a bit muffled by all the walls in between them but nevertheless, extremely loud.
“Sh-sh-shhh...” Applejack shushed her cream-colored friend, who gently nodded through her frightened tears. In a daring move, she climbed the stairs and slightly opened the door, just enough where her pupil could see out. There was no movement in the common room, and it was completely silent. That was shattered when the door was thrown off its hinges inward, forcing the farmer pony to recoil just a bit. Nevertheless, she continued observing.
In walked an armored biped even taller than Samus, left hand and arm covered by a large scythe and right covered by what Applejack assumed to be a shooting-weapon. The Pirate Trooper stopped in the middle of the common room and gazed around.
“Volek’am tyusteb nactyet…”
As soon as it spoke, Applejack’s fur stood straight… and it took a lot to do that. This was the first time she had felt true fear for her life in a long, long time. She continued looking, but one of her hooves misstepped, and came down on one of the steps harder and louder than she expected.
“Rrrah!” he spoke in surprise, looking straight at the basement door. AJ’s eyes widened considerably as she cursed herself. The Space Pirate walked over with a purpose, but the mare had already come to the conclusion that if that door opened and she did nothing, she was dead… which meant that Fluttershy was dead. So she got into position and waited for just a couple of seconds.
Right when the Pirate was in front of the only barrier between life and death, AJ bucked with all her might. The door exploded off its hinges and crashed with incredible force against the Space Pirate, making him stumble as the large slab of dense wood hit him head on. Applejack sprang into action while he was stunned.
“APPLEJACK, NO!” Fluttershy called out fearfully, believing that was the last time she saw her friend.
Applejack, however, jumped to the Pirate’s Side and bucked his knee sideways, or at least that’s what she was hoping to do. Her hooves collided with the hard composite armor, hurting her in the process, but she felt the Pirate’s knee give slightly as it bent in a way it wasn’t supposed to.
“AAAARRHHHG!” he yelled out in pain as he fell on his left hand. Applejack moved to strike but he swung his right arm fully out, smacking her hard in the face, sending her flying and hitting the ground with a loud thud.
“NOO!!” Fluttershy wailed. The Pirate ignored the other voice as he got to his feet, painfully putting weight on his right foot. He then looked back to the writhing Applejack on the floor, revenge in his eyes.
“Regyop m’wevt zolt’esk do exut...” the Pirate Trooper spoke in his native tongue, extending his energy scythe completely. His words dripped of malice… one that spoke of a horrible death about to come. Right as the Pirate got to Applejack’s side (with a noticeable limp), his inevitable killing strike was stopped when he heard another door open behind him.
*click!*
The Trooper craned his vision over his shoulder, only to find a floating GF Assault Rifle aimed right at him, a lavender unicorn right by its side with an… interesting expression on her face. His eyes widened and he growled, immediately turning on his feet and aiming his Quantum Assault Cannon straight at Twilight. Without any hesitation, her magical grasp squeezed the trigger, sending a hailstorm of directed hard-light into the Pirate’s entire torso, the projectiles ripping through his armor and causing him to convulse and cry out before slumping down and to the left, completely lifeless.
*click!**click!**click!**click!*
The rifle was completely emptied of ammunition and smoking at the barrel. Twilight’s mouth was slightly agape, her eyes wide, and she was breathing very labored breaths. The other mares plus Spike began to emerge from the already open doors, ready to spring into action after AJ was smacked across the room. The aforementioned pony got herself up off the floor and joined the others by Twilight.
Silence reigned supreme for just a few seconds after the deed had been done, and all eyes were on Twilight. The rifle was still in her grasp, but starting to shake and waver a bit when the whole gravity of the situation took over.
“Twi…” Spike spoke out softly.
No one got to answer when another loud growl sounded at the completely open front entrance of the Library. There stood another Pirate Trooper, dropping in with the entire Elemental congregation in front of him. He raised his weapon and the lives of all the Elements flashed before their respective eyes within the split second of this occurrence.
Right when the Pirate fired, his knee buckled, sending the first shots sailing off into the ceiling and startling the mares out of their stunned stupor. They then witnessed an armored hand grip the Pirate from the top of the head and forced hard onto his back, revealing Samus as the savior, before she used the same hand to grip her energy knife and plunge it into the Pirate’s neck. She looked up and found all the ponies plus one dragon staring at her. She then noticed a dead Pirate Trooper and her GF Assault Rifle in the magenta-aura of Celestia’s student.
Whoa… now I really wasn’t expecting that.
Before Samus could step in or say anything her suit’s comms patched through a radio signal:
“Samus Aran! If you can hear this, respond immediately!”
Samus placed her hand on her helmet.
“This is Samus, identify yourself.”
“Glad we could reach you. This is Admiral Justin B. Forest of the Olympus-Class Cruiser G.F.S. Vogl. We made much better time than predicted,” a medium-pitched, commanding voice spoke.
Samus perked up and looked outside at that moment, noticing an equally large (or even larger) fleet of warships enter the upper atmosphere of the planet, the moonlight reflection off their build making their arrival that much more beautiful.
“We have launched fighters and are preparing to engage the Space Pirate Fleet in orbit. I picked up your presence in what appears to be a small town and I’ve dispatched several drop pods of Marines to your position just in case,” Admiral Forest continued. The mares were by Samus’s side finally, gazing up at the second majestic fleet of ships that arrived. At that moment, several loud impacts near their position were heard over the resounding gunfire, revealing large drop pods. They broke open and immediately, four Federation Marines exited from each, silver armor encasing their bodies and teal blue visors eclipsing their faces. They all equipped their rifles and began barking orders at each other as they expanded outward into town, meeting Pirate resistance immediately. Samus couldn’t help but smile under her visor.
“Thanks for the assistance, Admiral! Pirate presence on the ground is still widespread and we’ll definitely need more boots on the ground,” Samus replied.
“That won’t be an issue, Samus. Help the Marines clear this town and get any of these… ponies? Right… get any of these remaining ponies to safety. I’m sending more troops down in drop ships and I’ll personally meet with you to discuss logistics as well as meet with the Pony leadership once this town is void of Pirates.”
“Understood. Samus, out.”
She then looked back to the ponies and took her helmet off, revealing a small smile to all of them. That’s all it took to brighten their spirits a bit. That look on the Hunter’s face had spoken volumes to them.
They were gonna be alright.
“Ma’am?” an accented male voice sounded behind Samus. She turned and found two Federation Marines, rifles aimed downward. They were merely checking if she needed any help at all. The Elements all looked on with awe, finally seeing more than one human.
“I’m gonna help clear the town. Guard these ponies with your lives, Marines.” Samus then turned to the mares. “I’ll return soon.” She then set off to help the rest of the Marines recapture Ponyville, eager to truly fight back against the Pirates.
Edited by Tatsurou
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Okay, we've seen the Speed Booster, but what are the new tricks for the Shinespark?
3872640 As per last chapter, using either speed booster OR shinespark, she can collide with something solid to release a powerful rainboom shockwave. I couldn't find an appropriate place to put such an action in this chapter though, but it will definitely be used.
half way done? already?
3872771 I'm afraid so! haha. Regular chapters plus .5s plus bonus scenes that have and have not been release, we're looking at a bit over 30 chapters. Now that the Feds are here, things can speed up a bit
Okay, Twi is definitely going to have SOME sort of trauma from this… she just killed something… and you know how emotionally fragile ponies are. She will KNOW it was the only option to survive, but she'll still suffer from it… I mean, even the best of us humans feel trauma after killing someone else… and we've been doing it for thousands of years. She is gonna feel a boat-ton of PTSD sooner or later...
3872802 Hit the nail RIGHT on the head, good sir! She will definitely have some issues to sort out lol
3872663
The perfect moment to use it would have been when the second pirate came to the door. When the element's lives were flashing through their heads, the pirate would lift his gun, then *Flash*, he's gone and then a familiar shockwave would come out of the nearby alley, revealing Samus with a very smooshed Pirate. In other words, she tackles it the hell away from them.
-Missy
3872849 Hmmm, yeah that could have worked beautifully! I guess I was in the mood for her entrance to be like some Halo assassination lol. That's pretty much how she'd use it, but the rainspark will have its WONDERFUL uses in the future, you'll see
I hope it ends up being more like the shinespark functionality from super metroid. Speaking of which, maybe you could take some power cues from that - her ultimate 'rainbow' beam at the end, or the Crystal Flash move to recharge her systems in an extreme emergency.
Good to see this is still going strong. All the chapters have been epic so far.
Preditions:
Honesty = X-Ray/Dark-esque Visor upgrade
Magic = Smash Ball/Giant Fuck You And Everything Behind You In Particular Beam
Laughter = warp
And Spike either imbues her arm cannon with his flame, or goes Godzilla on Ridley's ass: "THIS is what a REAL dragon looks like, BITCH! NOW GET AWAY FROM MY PONIES!"
3874009 hahaha the elements themselves haven't really been aiding Samus in any power up sense, aside from having side-effects from their magical absorption. Kindness makes Samus show a softer side once in a while, while Loyalty gives her somewhat of a protective complex, as demonstrated. As for a powerup, wait until she gets all six... then the fun begins ;)
With Spike, I actually heavily considered (and later dropped due to conflict) using Spike to do something interesting. I would have had him, on his own accord, horde everything he could so he could grow monstrous in size, and then confront Ridley and initiate the greatest smackdown the galaxy had ever witnessed.
3873171 Thank you, good sir! :D
3872849 Yo; http://bobandgeorge.com/comics/metroid/41/10 (comic 403-408)
I'm hoping it isn't who i think its referencing
3874138 Lol I don't think so. I just grabbed my friend's phone and took a random contact out of it because I was too lazy to think of a decent name
Who did you have in mind?
3874138 OH GOD I THINK I JUST GOT THAT! NO!
NO!....
.
.
.
.
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
Justin B. Forest
3874354 just for you hahahahaha
The Calvary has arrived
3874033 True. True.
Mostly, I just wanted a scene where Hulk!Spike jumps on Ridley's back (in flight) and rips out his wings.
THat would be awesome.
Wonderful chapter! Celestia's reaction to Luna's army is going to be interesting. In the library-tree, a moment between friends is in order.
I think it'd be really cool if there was a Rear Admiral Dane involved in this story too...
images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121010204524/epicrapbattlesofhistory/images/a/a2/Just_Saiyan.jpg
3875522 I considered using Admiral Dane instead of what I chose, but I felt it would have been a bit unoriginal, and that would also mean he would probably have to get assigned a new fleet and lead to a whole bunch of other technicalities that I didn't want to write in. The rear admiral portion may be doable in the near future, but I think Castor Dane's bio may conflict with it as well
I have the feeling the Marines are going to be doing double takes quite a bit as they get used to interacting with ponies. I can also totally see ponies freaking out when they realize their rescuers are eating meat.
Oh yeah, are the Cutie Mark Crusaders going to want to get their cutie marks in space ship exploration???? I can just see them wandering into the depths of a federation spaceship and having to be tracked down via magic, ship sensors, and Samus in Morphball since they are small enough to fit into places humans and ponies couldn't get.
Aahh, another amazing chapter! The flashback was good, but this was better. Keep em comin, cuz I want MOAR!
...
3875602
I just did some research, and we may have a serious problem. There is evidence that Dane had already been Fleet Admiral for at least four years by Prime 2, and there can only be one Fleet Admiral in the Navy at any given time. You might want to retcon Forest's rank to Admiral. You only have to change his introduction, though; he's referred to as just Admiral after that.
Also, just a tidbit I wanted to point out; the Olympus-Class Cruisers are all named after heavenly places in various religions. I wasn't able to find anything about a religion that has Vogl as such a place, but I didn't really look that hard, so I'm probably mistaken. However, if I'm not, and if you feel like it's worth changing, here are a few that you could use; G.F.S. Aaru, G.F.S. Arcadia, G.F.S. Asgard, G.F.S. Eden, G.F.S. Elysium, G.F.S. Empyrean, G.F.S. Fólkvangr, G.F.S. Paradiso, and G.F.S. Utopia (or Eutopia, if you want to get technical). There's also G.F.S. Celestia, but I wouldn't suggest that one, for obvious reasons.
Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm not trying to influence how you write your story, just making suggestions. If you disagree with them, please don't use them.
3875839 that CMC bit my friend. That was the work of a pure genius. Flammenwerfer please include this in the story. It would be out right hilarious and completely in character for them.
On another note. Brilliant work as always.
3876293 Well, since we've already seen some ponies die on screen, we need CMC antics to cheer us up. And it would make sense for the Federation to relocate some civilians to some ships to keep them safe.
3876162 Hahaha I'm glad you think so! See you next chapter ;)
3876183 Say WHAT? Interesting... the way I see it, the Federation has SEVERAL fleets. They can be merged and separated at will, but nevertheless the admiral of the fleet could be the fleet admiral. Meh, if that's how its done, then that's an easy fix. I'll do that right now actually.
As for the names, I researched those cruisers and they didn't say a damn think about their nomenclature lol. If they just updated that Imma be annoyed haha. Meh, the name Vogl was used for a couple of chapters so we'll say this: it shall get renamed when it leaves from Equis eventually.
Thanks for that though! I'm making the change to pure Admiral right now.
3876293 Haha thanks!
3876335 3876293 You magnificent bastard lol. As much as I'm not so good at writing the crusaders, that's a golden opportunity. Before the last chapter of this story, I intend to push out a ton of bonus scenes which include random shenanigans. How does a bonus scene for this one sound? :)
3876590 YAY!!!! Just have them wander into some ducts and get lost, no other ponies or humans would be able to follow them except Samus in morph ball mode. Bonus points if they stumble across a pirate saboteur and defeat him without Samus's help.
3876577
Actually, this is where things get complicated. You see, a fleet is the naval equivalent of an army in the Army. One nation can have multiple fleets, just as it can have multiple armies. That being said, the highest pre-mortem rank one can hold is five star ( that is, General of the Army or Fleet Admiral). The reason for this is because the ranks of GotA and FA were invented before the concept of multi-army and multi-fleet nations. When some nations did get to the point of having multiple armies and naval fleets, they decided it would just be easier to say that a Full-Bird Colonel is in charge of everything than to promote every Commissioned Officer.
With the ship names, that's more of an educated guess. The G.F.S. Valhalla and the G.F.S. Olympus are the only Olympus-class ships that are named, and ships of the same class tend to follow naming conventions. For instance, seventeen of the eighteen contracted Virginia-class submarines are named after U.S. states, with the exception of the U.S.S. John Warner, which is named after a Virginian Senator of great esteem.
3876878
I can see it now; an experimental crawl tank with it's cannon swapped out for probes, drills, and other espionage doohickeys being kicked to pieces by Applebloom and Scootaloo while Sweetie Belle keeps lookout.
I haven't been this eager to see the GF troops since the end of Prime 3
*snort*
The A/N reminded me of one of the bloopers in the Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood gag-reel:
"Chimera's huh? Fuckin' sweet!"
wtf is justin bieber doing?
The overall quality of the story has improved a lot since chapter one. And I have plenty more chapters still to read!
5822166
Lmao
Reinforcements have arrived.