Metroid Equis
Chapter 11
A Costly Mistake
“No, Your Highness, we haven’t seen her all day,” yet another Royal Guard answered when Princess Celestia asked where Luna happened to be. It was another late night for the Solar Alicorn, almost one in the morning to be completely honest, and she hadn’t seen Luna in the castle. This last talk with yet another patrol of Guards confirmed that she probably was doing some routine flying around. With that, she strode to Luna’s room and awaited her return… which was almost perfectly aligned with Celestia’s entrance. Right as the elder princess stepped into Luna’s bedchambers, the latter landed gracefully on her balcony, fluttered her wings a bit and strolled inside. A smile graced her face as she spied her older sister.
“Greetings, dear Sister. To what do I owe the pleasure of finding you waiting in my quarters?” Luna asked, giving a friendly nuzzle and embrace to the pure-white Alicorn.
“Just checking up on you, seeing as you’re just as overworked as I am these days,” she replied with a tired but friendly tone. Luna chortled gently.
“I see. I just got done flying around the Ponyville area. I found the Hunter in one of the many parks there naught an hour ago, actually,” Luna acknowledged.
“Oh? And what was Samus doing out at this hour?”
“Partaking in a late dinner with a sandwich,” Luna giggled. For some reason she just found the situation… interesting.
“Indeed. Safe to assume you chatted?” Celestia asked. Luna nodded in response. “Did you extend our offer to her?”
“She said she would consider it. No more, no less. As well, I delivered another bit of technology that I crafted for her use.”
“Yeah? What did you make her? And why don’t you tell me anything anymore?” Celestia joked.
“Oh pray thee, Celestia, you know I would tell you when I was able. Nonetheless, I magically crafted assisted vision that would help detect magic potential. I felt it would be useful in her upcoming part in the Cloudsdale Operation,” Luna explained. Celestia had a thoughtful expression plastered on her muzzle and she voiced her concerns:
“Lulu, do you really feel it’s wise to inject Samus with all this magic so quickly?”
“She shall be fine. The Kinesis Object left behind by The Visitors allowed her physical and mental form to tap into the magical universe. Other than a few side effects, which are quite common to unicorns who are very powerful, I foresee nothing that could be a potential hindrance, even though she may be a human” Luna replied, dismissively waving her hoof before turning towards her dresser and setting her regalia down. Celestia shook her head and approached her younger sister.
"Not what I was getting at. In truth, I'm actually very very concerned about one thing in particular." Luna looked at her sister oddly out of the corner of her eye before turning to fully face her.
"And what might that be?" Luna prodded, her curiosity having piqued completely.
"To be completely honest, and getting straight to the point, I'm worried about Samus... and the Nightmare," Celestia came out completely and spoke her peace. Luna's eyes widened for fractions of a second before she continued with her standard, stoic gaze. Nothing was said for several seconds as the Lunar Princess continued to process the information and formulate a response.
"W-What about the Nightmare?" she finally asked, not particularly eager to discuss "potentials" relating to a rather dark time in her life.
"I'm afraid that Samus will succumb to it. Need I spell it out more?"
"And why do you feel that is the case?"
Celestia looked away for a bit, forming her words. She then turned back to face Luna.
"Despite her remedial skill level, you cannot deny that she has taken remarkably well to magic. Her armor-suit has already completely integrated with it and I can literally feel the untouched magic potential within her once she becomes more skilled in the art... it is within the range of Twilight Sparkle's own abilities should she be able to harness her full power combined with her armor-suit and hybrid augmentations," she began. Luna nodded along.
"Naturally, sister. I could feel her potential as well. My Aura Vision is nearly blinded by her presence."
"Indeed. But I'm not sure if you also have felt it... but her emotions... her feelings and thoughts. I can feel them too. She has so much sorrow... so much anger, bitterness, and hate built up and locked away in her mind... it's completely ripe for the Nightmare to fester." Luna understood completely now. Her ability to read emotions, thoughts, and the like was not as strong as her older sister's, but her ally was in dreamwalking. In Samus's dream, Luna recalled a few very important details.
"I see... and I can concur to some degree. In observing one of her dreams, a nightmare in particular... she witnessed her mother get torn apart at such an impressionable age, as well as the slaughter of the rest of her people. She was the sole survivor."
Celestia looked into Luna's eyes with urgency.
"Luna, you've been through this before... an experience that I still hold guilt for not trying harder to avoid... tell me, do you feel, based on all of our analysis, that Samus could fall to the Nightmare? A new Nightmare created in her psyche?"
Luna thought on her words. Based on her experiences, she could only run through familiar scenarios and look back into her sisters eyes with a deep fear.
"It is nigh certain."
Celestia pursed her lips and sighed in defeat.
"How long would it take?"
"I am not entirely sure, sister. With one who has relatively no physical or mental experience with the art of magic, her potential is essentially nullified. Should the Nightmare fester, it could corrupt her mind in mere days, and that is possibly being generous. Worst case scenario maybe around three days, and I would not be surprised if she started exhibiting and experiencing symptoms."
"We must warn her, Luna," Celestia said resolutely.
"I am well aware of that. I shall take care of that job, seeing as I supplied much of the magic to aid her. The Cloudsdale Operation will require our full attention but with her help, should not last more than a day and night. I'll pull her aside not a moment later, when all the elements are reunited so we may be ready to preemptively cleanse her."
"See to it, Luna. If she exhibits several symptoms on our journey to Cloudsdale, I'll be forced to reveal the information myself. You two are hitting it off somewhat, so I shan't interfere with your judgment and purview on this. Get it done, Luna. The Nightmare cannot take her... she would subdue the Elements if that were the case and all is lost."
Luna narrowed her eyes.
"I'll personally intervene should she succumb. The Nightmare will not have Samus, mark. My. Words."
HOLY!
Samus will have a "Nightmare" form, triggered by her magic augmentations? That sounds pretty awesome!
And I can just bet it will be triggered by her encounter with Ridley on Equis.
Of course, shifting to Nightmare mode will definitely augment her power output and destructive potential. However, it's possible her Chozo warrior training - and the fact that her armor is Chozo design - might in effect give her some control of the "Nightmare Mode". It might end up working a bit like the Phazon Booster system from "Corruption", where she can use the boosts for short times at the cost of energy tanks, but if she uses it for too long, the power starts to go out of control, and if she doesn't vent the power it goes out of control completely, turning her into Nightmare Samus.
Alternatively, Nightmare Samus might manifest as the Equis version of Dark Samus from out of the Phazon, much like the Phazon suit design from Prime 1 became the template for Dark Samus in Prime 2, who then appeared as a major antagonist throughout Prime 3.
Alternatively, the mental scarring left behind by her going Nightmare might actually explain why she has such a strong pure fear reaction to meeting Ridley in "Other M" (which would take place after this). It's not just fear of him, but fear of her memory of how destructive she became because of him on Equis.
...you're filling in the original game makers plot holes now. That's pretty damn impressive.
I'm just gonna throw a guess out there to what this means.
Dark/Nightmare Samus?
EDIT: Missed it by 40 sec. However....
3260410
I believe, like you said, something's going to happen to manifest the Nightmare (either through expulsion and absorption from another being, a pony perhaps?) resulting in a Phazon Suit to Dark Samus transition; I find the Corruption bit somewhat unlikely considering Samus is our protagonist and we've not been introduced to another main protagonist at this point.
I would agree with that last point, but considering Prime 3, Metroid 2 (I know, no Ridley) and Super Metroid would've happened by then, I'm skeptical on that Ridley bit.
Nightmare Samus?!?!?!
A lil' prediction, if you don't mind me making one; although Samus wouldn't turn into a baby in front of Ridley, she might allow her anger to come out while fighting him, and that could certainly have some corrupting effect on her.
3260423 She most certainly will NOT become a baby hahaha
And I expect quite a few predictions as to what will happen. And that is DEFINITELY a VERY VALID possibility ;)
Btw, beautiful reaction video. I laughed too hard.
Oh, ballsack, something like this just HAD to happen, didn't it? Well, nothing for it but to hope and PRAY Dark Samus doesn't decide, "I want a piece of this action,". THAT would be all kinds of horrible.
This could very well create a second dark samus. I csm imagine samus will get a phazon upgrade, and that combined with the nightmare woulde be disastrous
3260435 Lol Dark Samus WILL NOT make an appearance here, but yes, that would be disastrous if she did!
Do I see a potential new form of the Corruption Pack?
*muttering* So that's where all that power went.....
my guess is ridly shows up, *rage occurs* ridly gets the shit kicked out of him from "nightmare samus"
who would win
Nightmare Samus or Dark Samus
WHOEVER WINS, WE LOSE
I see a rebirth of Dark Samus coming, perhaps the particals from Dark Samus from Aether followed Samus to Equestria but wasn't enough for a reformation and now with say the Nightmare she can absorb her and reform
So, it seems that Samus may have something Dark in her... this can only mean one thing...
The Phazon is going to corrupt Derpy's Muffins!
How could you, you monstrous author!
Mmmmm. Now this was something I did not expect to happen at all. Bravo for blindsiding me. You've made it clear Dark Samus won't be appearing, but what's to stop a potential Nightmare / Phazon using mimic of herself from wreaking havoc? After all, while Prime did take place long before Fusion, we've personally as players and fans seen 2 cases of a copy of Samus, that being Dark Samus, and the SA-X. Both of which were utterly frightening in their own ways.
Can't wait to see what else you come up with!
Somewhere deep in space Dark Samus is laughing at this in evil joy. I mean this both in a good way and bad. Good because Nightmare Samus is gonna be awesome. Bad because this will, essentially, make her what Dark Samus wanted her to be in Prime 3 another her.
3260571
freddy vs jason. nice
3260413 My thoughts exactly.
Wait.... Did I just saw a corruption reference? I know as stated Luna May have given a part of the Nightmare to samus, but the discussion to tell about the Nightmare to samus. Isn't that what the federation did when they found out about the corrupt hyper mode(meaning after severall seconds in hyper mode, she can't exit hyper mode without expelling al phazon)?
Dark samus is nothing but a revived metroid prime in samuses shape so nightmare samus is gonna be her 100% dark side and when ridley arrives hell is gonna happen isn't it
It sounds like Phazon/Dark Samus got Turned Up To Eleven.
3260410This guy pretty much summed everything up that I would say. Yes, Nightmare Mode sounds a lot like MP3's Phazon Enhancement Mode (I can't remember the name of it). And yes, it would be lovely to see Samus throw the princesses for a loop if she were to control it in short bursts.
3261585 Fuck that it turned to fricken 20!
Ridley......
3262120 Maybe a little of both?
Luna: So, you might have an evil entity waiting to pop out and claim your body at any second.
Samus: ...Been there, done that, had it over for tea and cookies.
Made this in a couple minutes earlier, please excuse the slightly incorrect font choice, but. . .
This be Flammenwerfer:
fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/v/943354_10151567220256324_40886940_n.jpg?oh=a83082248a18d0927cf4dfd3a1c80da6&oe=52473395&__gda__=1380435764_9713029256af0c2f353387fee30cd664
3261656 In other words: Ridley's bucked. So bucking bucked.
Never before has there been so perfect an opportunity for me to make this reference in regards to Metroid: prePARE for unFORseen conSEquenCES.
If you don't get the reference, how have you not played Half-Life 2 yet?
3264273 Unless, somehow, he himself also manages to get his claws on this shit as well. Mother bucker has a hard time dying after all.
Interesting take but I personally do not buy it.
I believe Luna trapped herself in a self sustaining cycle of negative emotion and dark magic feeding off and reinforcing each other. The Elements, in Luna's own words, stripped her of her dark power. I believe that with that half of the cycle gone she was able to let go of her dark emotions and choose to turn over a new leaf.
This is the same way the power addiction fuels the corrupted personalities of dark Jedi.
So while the magic could definitely corrupt Samus if her emotions joined with it to fuel a cycle, I do not consider there to be a parasitic presence in Luna's magic at all.
3263996
Reminds me of the time I had Phazon coursing through my body.
Really flipped the coin against the pirates.
Until my freinds got corrupted...
Good times, I should tell you the story later.
Any ways...
Here comes a pirate squad.
(Activates Nightmare Samus)
3267827 I wouldn't consider it so much as 'parasitic' as much as it's just the darkness that manifested itself within her. Since there is no true canon as to how Luna's corruption came about (reinforced by the plethora of different takes I've seen of that set of history) I just put the spin that seemed most believable given the situation. You need not buy it, each to their own.
3268027
Sure. Plenty of variations on the subject out there. I don't really mind. I just take my cues from canon inference. But Season 4 will joss quite a bit of fanon in that regard. Heartily looking forward to it.
3262120
Well in Zero Mission after Zero Suiting through the Pirate ship and the Chozo ruins, she gets a golden ring along her body traveling up. In Prime 1 she removes her helmet at the end if 75%+ item collection, Prime 2 she stands near he suit, glows golden and is left in her Zero Suit. Prime 3 she walks to the edge of a platform docking station in Skytown Elysia and taps her helmet with her left hand, head glows golden with light beams then she sits down to reminisce with her memories, her head exposed, after the credits you see her tap her suit, walk to her ship to board and physically watch the suit vanish leaving her in the Zero Suit. End of Super Metroid credits if you clear fast enough you watch the suit vanish and shes left in a black bikini hybrid thing.
Given how much the Zero Suit makes an appearance these days in combination with her disabling or enabling her suit, it very well might be tied to it, though I could swear I read somewhere (maybe the Manga) that the suit was tied to her DNA possibly, or that might have been the intro to Metroid Fusion.
3268926 Quite Possibly!
Either way, it appears she can physically remove single/whole parts, or just unequip the whole thing in general by whatever means. I just draw a compromise and let both happen depending on whatever the circumstances are. Little to no complaints so far!
Besides, I can't imagine that the suit never physically comes off at all... I mean, there's plenty of art, official or not, that shows her with armor damage, and since it doesn't make use of self repair, I just assume that it physically gets cleaned and repaired by some other means. Oh well, lol
3265597 Him controlling it would be interesting, to say the least, but we know he's not gonna die. He's probably going to make some kind of lucky escape and go lick his wounds for a few months before attacking again.
And now I have to start thinking of a Nightmare Samus design... Oh dear. So much to do, so little time.
3284665 Thank you good sir!
I was hoping I could squeeze it in where it could be believable. Glad you're enjoying the ride so far :D
And BOOM! Dark Samus... Though given thought if this particular one works or is the same as the last Dark Samus then I wonder if it will obtain her human image instead of the form of her armor.
EXCITING!
Nightmare Samus... eep.
I'll be, ah, over there. In a bunker. Under a mountain. On a different planet.
...Bye! *bravely runs away*
Nightmare version of Samus......Why does that sound familiar?
Huh... So this fiction takes place BEFORE Metroid Prime Corruption... Yet you are alluding to it by causing a possible corruption to Samus. A Corruption BEFORE Corruption. I like that! XD
Okay, this new idea - that Nightmare Samus is in fact Samus' own Nightmare form given shape by her magic - fits much better.
3290995 Well, I'll just be prepping an inter-dimensional emergency evac thing over here...
3527704 Corupception?
4507675 That's actually in character, RD would laugh and Twi would facehoof
3290995
4507675
I'll just becomes one with the shadows and disappear
Quick question? when int he MLP universe does this take place? Are we past the Royal Wedding/Invasion? Did Discord break free yet? Can I get a season please?
So a "Nightmare" state develops in especially powerful magic users when they dwell on negative emotion? I'd think it would also take a link to dark magic, like Luna's shadow magic.
Why do I get the feeling Samus is about to have another evil clone?