"Alright, where were the Metroids?" Rainbow Dash asked blandly.

Samus paused. "...okay, I know it was pretty obvious in hindsight that this was another Bottleship all over again, but why are you asking that now?"

"Duh!" Rainbow countered. "The Metroids were made to kill the X. The X were getting tons of power on the station, and the only things that could hurt them with all that power would be you guys or Metroids, and they seemed perfectly happy to hunt you down. Only reason they'd be trying to blow the place up is if they learned there were a bunch of Metroids somewhere on the station." She shrugged her shoulders, giving her wings a flap. "Simple logic, really. After all, if those Metroids got off station, X everywhere would be in danger."

Samus stared at Rainbow for a time before turning to glower at Spike's smug smirk. "Fine!" she growled out finally. "I admit it, video games are good practice for missions. Now stop harping on it already!"

As several of the listeners burst into giggles, Spike continued the tale. "We had a similar discussion back at the Sector 3 navigation Room on our way out, though we didn't put together the bit about the Metroids yet. We thought destroying the station was directed at us. However, the crewman the X were controlling - that's right, controlling, not imitating - hadn't shown any signs of starting to decay, meaning he'd been infected only recently. Between that and bio-signs on the habitation deck, we thought there might be survivors. So we went back to the main deck to investigate..."

---

The Habitation Deck was, unfortunately, on security lock down, forcing Samus and Spike to make their way along a roundabout path in order to get past the security doors and to the control panel so they could open the Enviro-Sphere at the top. By the time they reached it, both were frustrated with it. "There better actually be some survivors in here," Spike grumbled irritably.

"Agreed," Samus confirmed as she activated the controls. As they watched, the door opened...and four familiar furry forms and one unfamiliar clambered out.

---

Fluttershy gasped excitedly. "The Etecoons and Dachoras?" she squealed happily.

"Yup," Samus confirmed. "No idea what they were doing there, but we were able to confirm they had no X infection. That was also the first time we saw the baby Dachora." She sighed nostalgically. "So adorable..."

"Chirrup?"

At that noise, everyone turned, only to see the three Etecoons gathered around Flurry Heart grooming her, with the baby Dachora nestled in her mane, the mother Dachora preening her wings as the infant alicorn giggled. The sound had come from the curious infant Dachora.

Discord clutched at his chest. "Hnng...the only way that could be more adorable is if-"

Gasping happily, Fluttershy rushed over and began nuzzling the creatures and baby pony.

"HNNNNNNNNNNGH!" Discord cried out, clutching at his chest as he fell backwards, daisies popping up from his clutched paw and claw.

After the laughter and cooing faded away, Spike spoke up. "While it was certainly a pleasant surprise...I took a minor detour on our way back to Sector 5, the only Data Room available to download the Power Bomb data Ghor had just finished." As Ghor nodded happily, Spike sighed. "What I discovered..."

---

Spike paused as he came across the door labelled 'Sub-Zero Containment'. He'd noticed it previously as they'd passed by, but he had a feeling this would be the last time for a while before they would be back there, so he decided to take a peek inside.

As soon as he entered the room, he found the entire chamber kept incredibly cold. Also, there was only the one containment chamber, and he'd expected more. Curiously, he approached the large chamber and read the plaque on the front.

Subject was found on a piece of space debris later identified as part of planet Zebes after its destruction. Subject had suffered massive damage as a result of exposure to lava, as well as the destruction of the planet. However, enough living cells were found intact for cellular reconstruction.
Alert: Subject's danger level is in excess of SSS. Do not release under any circumstances. Subject is to be kept in absolute zero containment at all times. As soon as all information regarding subject's capability to combat 'target entity' has been acquired, subject is to be immediately terminated.

Spike furrowed his brow, wondering what could have been found in the wreckage of Zebes that could have survived and been of interest. The worrying part was that the dates showed it had been found after the shut down of the Bottleship. Reaching up, Spike wiped the glass wall of the cell clean...

...and found himself staring at the frozen form of Ridley.

---

"That fucker was still alive?" Rainbow gasped out, stunned.

"Language!" Cadence barked out fiercely, her eyes on Flurry Heart.

"U-ka!" Flurry Heart called out happily, making everyone wince.

"Sorry about that," Rainbow apologized sincerely. She then turned back to Spike. "But seriously, what's it take to keep that guy down for the count?"

Spike looked away. "No idea..." he muttered softly.

"I actually had to go in there to get Spike, he'd stood there so long staring," Samus explained. "When I saw Ridley in there...I admit, I reacted much the same way you did, Rainbow."

"The only thing that kept you from blasting the door open to tear him apart was the fact the door was only vulnerable to Power Bombs," Spike shot back teasingly.

"Which just became one more reason to go get those Power Bombs," Samus proclaimed cheekily.

Next Chapter: BSL: Power Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 5 Minutes