Shortly following the defeat of Dark Samus, Samus was piloting her ship through a particularly nasty ion storm while on her way to a nearby planet resort for a well-deserved rest. Things took a turn for the worse when what appeared to be a miniature black hole opened up before her with a gravitational pull too powerful for her to escape. Her ship was sucked into the hole which, promptly closed up afterwards.
Shortly following the defeat of Mother Brain and the death of the baby as well as the events aboard the Bottle Ship, Samus was piloting her ship through a particularly nasty ion storm while on her way to a nearby planet resort for a much needed rest. Things took a turn for the worse when what appeared to be a miniature black hole opened up before her. She was shocked to see what appeared to be an exact copy of her ship fly out of the hole, which promptly closed up afterwards.
The storm subsided shortly after and Samus hailed the other ship, wanting to get to the bottom of this. An even greater shock overcame her when she saw the face of the other pilot: herself. A younger version of herself but it was undoubtedly herself. Was this some new form of Dark Samus? Perhaps a clone created by space pirates? She grew less suspicious when she saw the shock on the other Samus' face. It seemed like this other Samus wasn't here looking for a fight and was just as surprised at this encounter as she was. It was a younger version of herself that had come through a hole in space in an exact copy of her own ship and was clearly shocked at this turn of events. Samus' best guess was that this was her past self and that the hole had somehow sent her forward in time.
Past Samus regained her composure and asked cautiously, "Who are you? Why do you look like me?"
Present Samus had to find a way to defuse the situation; she couldn't be sure her past self wouldn't open fire if necessary. "I think...that I'm you from this point in time and that you came through that hole in space and went forward in time."
"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"
Not really but she had to try. She needed to find some piece of information that only she could possibly know. Something about the Chozo? No, it wasn't unreasonable to think that one of her enemies might have acquired knowledge about that. Perhaps a more... traditional method was in order. "Alright, think of a number between one and two thousand and make a mental note to keep it stored in your ship's data banks."
Past Samus didn't seem very compliant but Present Samus checked the data banks just in case. Fortunately, there it was: '86'. "Alright, the number you chose is eighty-six."
Past Samus looked stunned. It looked like the 1/2000 guess had proven it. She recomposed herself and replied, "That's right. Maybe you are me. Perhaps it would be better to continue this conversation in person. Say...on the planet?"
"What a coincidence, I was just thinking the same thing."
Both Samuses landed their ships at the resort and booked a room in the hotel. They avoided suspicion by posing as sisters since, while very similar, there were a good few years between them, making the story quite plausible. Over the next few days, Past Samus got to know her future self quite well. She hadn't learned anything that had happened between their times but she had discovered the kind of person she would become. And she wasn't impressed.
Her future self was over-emotional and thought a lot about Adam Malkovich; someone she herself hadn't thought about very much in a long time. She was sure something would happen down the line to make her like this but she knew that it was detrimental to her work to be like that. She could easily say 'I'm not going to become like that,' but there was no way to be sure she could stay true to that since it must have been something major and unforeseeable.
She would try to prevent herself from becoming like that but she had to come up with a plan to change her back in case she couldn't prevent it. She spent a while thinking up a few ideas but none of them were feasible or likely to work. She eventually saw a poster for a magic show that was being performed at the resort. One of the tricks listed was 'hypnosis'. If it was real, it might be just what she needed: she could hypnotize her future self to make her more independent just in case she couldn't avoid becoming like her.
She attended the show and was quite entertained. Most of the other tricks were quite impressive but it was the hypnosis portion that she was there to see. After he brought up a few volunteers, the magician took out an old pocket watch on a chain and swung it before their eyes. They were all quickly put to sleep and given a variety of commands: from becoming animals to believing their shoes were phones to seeing the audience naked.
Once the show was over, Samus returned to the room she and her future self were staying in. The only room available had only one bed that the two had to share. It wasn't too bad but she would have preferred her own bed. She'd searched the stores in the resort for a good focus object. She'd eventually found a necklace that wasn't too pricey but cost a fair amount of money. If this worked, it would be well worth the price.
By the time her future self returned, Samus had planned out how to trick her. She greeted Future Samus and invited her to sit at the foot of the bed with her. She then set her plan into motion "I was going through my things before and I found this." She held out the necklace in front of Future Samus' eyes and gently began to swing it.
"Oh, I remember that," Future Samus said, her eyes glued to it as it swung. "I bought it when I came here a few years ago."
"Do you still have it in your time?"
"Yes...I do." Her eyelids began to flutter. She was starting to look a little tired.
"Good. Because I really like this necklace. I especially like how reflective of light it is. Surely, you still feel the same way."
"Y-yesss...I do."
Samus put her hand under her future self's chin. "I find that the light reflecting in my eyes makes me sleepy. Sleepy. It makes me want to just close my eyes and sleeeep." Future Samus' eyes slowly closed and her head dropped. Now was the time to reprogram her. "Samus, can you hear me?"
"Yes," she replied in monotone.
"I want you to open your eyes but remain in your trance." Future Samus' eyes slowly opened until they were halfway open. Samus kept swinging the necklace in front of her eyes and continued. "I want to test your trance. I want you to hold out your arms before you like a sleepwalker." She did so. "Now I want your arms to become rigid like a board. So rigid, they cannot be moved. Do you understand?"
"Yes." Samus noticed that Future Samus' arms became slightly straighter at this and she tried to push them downward. She could barely move them. It seemed she was ready.
"You can lower your arms now." She did. "In a moment, I'm going to snap my fingers and when I do, you will awaken but you will no longer be dependent on others, you will no longer be so emotionally weak and you will not remember being hypnotized. Do you understand?"
"Yes." Samus snapped her fingers and her future self's eyes opened fully. "Sorry, I guess I dozed off. You know how the light reflecting off the necklace makes you feel sleepy."
"Yes. Yes, I do."
For some reason Samus had been feeling much better over the last few days. Her emotional weakness brought on by the death of the baby had mostly gone away and she felt confident like she hadn't since her younger, more reckless years. Perhaps meeting herself from back then and remembering how she used to be had given her this strength. She'd have to thank her. She'd also have to find a way to make her forget this encounter to prevent a time paradox from occurring. It was for this same reason that, while she would love to warn her past self about the death of the baby, which she undoubtedly would have a few days ago, she had no way of knowing the ramifications of such an act and felt it best to accept the baby's death and move on.
She saw a poster for a magic show that had been performed the previous night. One of the tricks listed was 'hypnosis'. If it was real, it might be just what she needed: she could hypnotize her past self and implant a trigger to forget their encounter once she returned to her own time through the next ion storm that would occur in the next few days.
She searched the shopping mall and eventually found a golden pocket watch that looked perfect for her purposes. She observed that it reflected light similarly to that necklace she had from years ago. Staring at it, the reflected light started to make her sleepy. She looked away and knew this was exactly what she needed. She purchased it and returned to her room to wait for her past self.
Once her past self returned to their room, Samus invited her to sit at the foot of the bed with her. "I found this nice pocket watch today," she explained, holding out the watch in front of her counterparts eyes, swinging it gently back and forth. Her eyes were instantly glued to it. "The way the light reflects off the watch reminds me of that old necklace I have. You know the one, right? Past Samus nodded. "And I find that, like that necklace, the reflected light makes me feel sleepy. Sleeeepy." Past Samus' eyes began to flutter; she was clearly struggling to keep them open. "You are feeling sleepy, so sleepy that you want to just let go and fall into a deeeep sleeeep. Doesn't that sound nice?" Past Samus nodded. "Then all you need to do is close your eyes. Close them." She did and her head dropped.
Samus smiled as her past self went into a deep trance and knew that her plan would work. "Samus, can you hear me?"
"Yes," she replied in monotone.
"I want you to open your eyes but remain in your trance." Past Samus' eyes opened slowly until they were halfway open. Samus kept swinging the watch in front of her eyes and continued. "I want to test your obedience. I want you to hold your arms out in front of yourself like a zombie." She did so. "Now, I want you to walk around the room like that." At these words, Past Samus stood robotically and walked around the room, arms outstretched just as she had been instructed.
After a minute or so, Samus felt that it was okay to give her her new commands: "Okay, sit back down and let your arms become limp and loose." She obeyed. "Soon you will return to your own time through the upcoming ion storm. Once you are back home, you will believe this entire trip was at the resort in your own time and you will forget all about time travel and your encounter with me." A thought occurred to Samus: back in this Samus' time, she'd become very independent after having lost a lot of friends and loved ones and didn't work with others often. During her time with the baby, Samus had felt a true bond with it, as if it were her own child. She wanted her past self to feel that too. "Also, you will be a little more dependent on others and you will have no trouble accepting help from them. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Very good. Now, in a moment, I'm going to snap my fingers and when I do, you will awaken but you will not remember being hypnotized. Do you understand?"
"Yes." Samus snapped her fingers and her past self's eyes opened fully. "Sorry, I guess I dozed off. It really is like the necklace, isn't it?"
"Yes. Yes, it is."
As the next ion storm began, the two Samuses left the resort in their identical ships and headed toward it. Both were satisfied with the commands they'd given to their other selves and felt safe in the knowledge that their futures were secure. Future Samus bid farewell to Past Samus, who headed straight through the hole that opened up the second she saw it. Little did she know, she would soon forget all about time travel and her future self's initial co-dependence and would eventually become just like her. But her future was bright as she too would meet her own past self, who would set back on the right path.