//------------------------------// // Explain & Fix // Story: Star Fox Equestria // by Pronche //------------------------------// "What's exactly your problem? I suppose it should be something quite difficult if the rulers of this country can't take care of it." The older of the two sisters was going to answer when she was interrupted by the other Alicorn who blinked and turned her head to look at the white pony, dumbfounded. "What? You told him about…—" "Let me explain Luna… I hired Mr. McCloud to help us if your fears are confirmed to be true." She seemed unsure for a few seconds before sighing. "I see." The dark blue mare moved her head in the direction of the pilot. "Well, would you care to tell me who or what you are? You're the first creature with fur walking on two legs we ever seen. The foxes we have here are not bipedal and don't talk." Fox smiled before coughing a little to clear his throat. "Basically, I come from another galaxy called the Lylat System. Thirty years ago, I was born on its fourth planet: Corneria. All the inhabitants of the system are anthropomorphic like me but there are different species: foxes, birds, wolves, cats, dogs… Your sister wanted me to do a job because I only work for money and I'm the ex-leader of a famous mercenary team which was once lead by my father. Oh, and if you want to know, I arrived here by pure accident, thanks to a black hole, and can't fly back to my world. My ship is damaged for the time being. This is why I'll stay here, at the castle, for the next weeks. Want to know anything else, Princess?" he finished with a faint smirk, emphasizing the last word with a hint of sarcasm. Said hint of sarcasm she completely ignored…or didn't heard. "No, that would be enough. But I have a last question: can we trust you? I mean, if we're fighting a powerful foe, would you stay loyal to us even if we're losing or would you turn your back to us?" The fox directly looked into her teal eyes, a very serious look on his face. If there was a topic he never joked about, it was this one. "Ma'am, with all the respect I owe you, I'll never do such a thing. Despite the fact the Cornerian Army was losing during the Lylat Wars, which opposed them to Venom's forces, we helped them. It never was the policy of the StarFox Team to betray the original bidder for the counterpart who tries to offers more money. I stick to the contract until the job is finished." At this moment, all doubt left Luna's mind and face. This honest answer was all she needed to hear to soothe her worries. This Fox McCloud was really somepony trustworthy. "Alright, let's get down to business. I think there's possibly something wrong with our moon, as if a strange or vile force was emanating from it. We already had a problem with it one year ago and that's why I'm suspicious we could have another invasion coming from 'The Nightmare'. If what you're telling is true and my fears are confirmed then, you're the only one who can go on the moon and defeat the potential threat…except us and the Elements of Harmony, of course." The ex-leader leaned back on his chair, tilted his head in confusion and raised an eyebrow. The Nightmare? Elements of Harmony? What the heck were those things? "I think you have some things to explain to me if I want to fully understand the situation." Hearing this, Celestia smiled. "I guess you're right. We can do this while eating." For the next hour, both of the sisters told the fox about Nightmare Moon, the Elements and their bearers, Discord, Sombra and more recently, Nightmare Rarity. Needless to say, it was difficult to Fox to believe them. But heck, he had lived a crazy adventure with talking dinosaurs, SpellStones, a magical staff to fight the local foes and he saved the life of a telepath. "Honestly, I'm not sure if you're telling the truth or if you're crazy but the simple fact I'm actually talking to a pega….corn, is enough to think all of this is true." "Alicorn is the right term, for your information." He scratched the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly. "Well…sorry if I insulted you by saying this. So, let's just say I trust you. You shared some information about your world; I think it's time for me to do the same. Nothing military or else, I don't have the authorization to tell anything about our weapons and technologies. You're only going to know why me and my team are known all around the Lylat System." Fox resumed the main battles during the different events like his encounters with StarWolf during the war of Lylat, Andross, the Saurian Crisis with General Scales and his triceratops friend, the Prince Tricky, the Aparoid Invasion and finally, the Anglar Blitz. It took him almost half an hour to resume everything. When the fox finished his tale, the two sisters looked at each other before looking back at the pilot. Celestia was the first to speak. "I think I made the good choice by hiring you, Mr. McCloud." Luna smirked. "I agree with my sister, your help is more than welcomed." A single light brown muffin was disposed in a silver plate, on the table. Fox licked his lips before deciding to take it and bite into it. Despite the fact the mercenary was careful about his diet; he never was the kind of man to say no to a little sweet from time to time. Needless to say, the muffin was very good…almost too perfect for him. He finished eating it and crossed his arms, looking serious again. "Now, what I'd like to know is…how are we going to repair the Arwing? All the tools needed for this task are on the Great Fox." "The Great Fox?" asked the Princess of the Night, confused. Fox moved his eyes in her direction. "It's the name of my mothership. This is where I keep the Arwing when I don't use it. You can consider it as my home since I'm on my own and don't live on the ground anymore." "You live in the space? Fascinating. How can you breathe there?" Celestia looked at him too, curious and waiting for an answer. "Basically, The Great Fox is like the Arwing….it's a flying ship but bigger. A lot. There's enough place for five Arwings and eight people to live in it. A mothership has the same properties as a livable environment: gravity and breathable air." "Well, our scientists at the C.I.T will be more than happy to work on a project like this one." This time, it was Fox who was confused. The Princess of the Night answered before he could open his muzzle to ask what it was. "The C.I.T is the name used for: Canterlot Institute of Technology. We can thank them for all the improvements in the different fields of science and magic: alchemy, astronomy, healing spells…all those kind of stuff. Only the best scientists work there." He nodded and stood up. "Okay but I must warn you before we do anything: the G-Diffuser is a very powerful power system and gravity's reducer. It releases vast amount of energy when we use it and its core is really fragile. If it's not properly configured or manipulated, the G-Diffuser can blow up and the consequences for the people around it would be serious. A few engineers and scientists died when they created it because of a few things they didn't take in account or a miscalculation." "We completely understand your worries and we're going to proceed with extreme caution. But before we repair anything, the best would be to estimate the extent of the damages." "Yeah, you're right." The two ponies and the fox left the dining room and walked in direction of the Royal Gardens. The guards he met on his way looked at him strangely, as if he was some kind of freak or threat, but didn't say anything because of the presence of the two Alicorns. "For the moment, your presence in Equestria is only known by us and the staff at the castle but soon, all the ponies living in Equestria will know there's an alien in their country. There's also a possibility the other rulers of our world would want to learn more about you. It's the first contact we have with an unknown species since the creation of our world: Equis." "Great." he growled. "I always loved politics, that's why I prefer to be in my ship, fighting Wolf and his friends rather than be behind a desk!" The two rulers slightly laughed when they heard this. Looking ahead of them, Fox saw that his spaceship was at the place he left it and completely intact. Except for the light grey smoke coming from the engine. A few guards were poking it with the wooden part of their spears. "Hey guys, if you could try to not damage my ship with what you dare call weapons, that'd be great!" The guards turned their heads in the direction of the voice to see the bipedal fox and the two mares. They immediately stopped what they were doing and walked away, muttering a quick apology with their heads low. The vulpine pushed a button on his wrist communicator to open the cockpit, jumped in his seat and began typing on a little keyboard. A long list of all the important elements of the ships began displaying. When it stopped, Fox swore. The two sisters looked at each other, a little worried, before looking back at the fox. "So?" asked Luna, more curious than worried now. A sigh escaped the vulpine's muzzle and he closed his eyes for a few seconds. "The cooling system is down. I can't dissipate the G-Diffuser's heat without it, the left wing was weakened by the gravity created by the black hole and the bombs' launch system is a little damaged. The Arwing can live without a weapon but not if it can't fly. I hope someone from Lylat will hear the S.O.S." He stopped talking for a few seconds before putting a microphone in front of his muzzle. "This is the captain Fox James McCloud of the StarFox Team. This message is an S.O.S. My Arwing was seriously damaged during a battle and I landed in an unknown world. The local inhabitants are sentient, civilized and friendly. I'm completely safe. Unfortunately, I can't fly back to Corneria so if you're not far from my position and can help me or even give this message to General Peppy of the Cornerian Defense Forces…that would be really cool. This message will be sent every hour to help you find my exact location. Fox McCloud out." Immediately after the recording was stopped, the computer of the ship sent it in every direction in the space. The mercenary really hoped he could find a way to go home. In the meantime, he had a mission to fulfill. First advantage: he didn't have to waste his time to search any source of information about his potential foe because the local leaders gave him all he needed to know. His main objective for the moment was to help the scientists in repairing his Arwing by giving them as much as possible knowledge on the G-Diffuser. Fox jumped out of his seat and closed the cockpit. He activated an alarm to warn him if someone was trying to open his ship without his authorization. "Now that I've take care of this, we can continue." Celestia nodded. "Well," She moved her head in the direction of her sibling. "Luna, could you go to the C.I.T and inform them of the situation? I'll give Mr. McCloud a tour of the castle and accompany him to the room where he'll stay during his time here." "Not a problem Tia, I'll see you later. I bid you a good day Fox McCloud." Before the vulpine could respond, her horn glowed cyan and she disappeared. There was a look of shock on his face. Celestia answered his silent question. "Teleportation spell, I'll tell you more about it later. For the moment, follow me." "But what about—" The Princess of the Sun began to walk in direction of the castle and looked at her right, locking her eyes into those of Fox. "You'll work with the scientists on your ship tomorrow; let them take a look at it first. Don't worry, they're not going to lay a single hoof on it until you say so. I promise." Despite the soothing words he was hearing, the mercenary was unsure. This Arwing was in his possession since the beginning of the war against Andross. He had lived many adventures with it and wasn't very fond of leaving it to ponies who could unintentionally destroy it. A sigh escaped his muzzle. "Okay, I trust you." "Perfect, we can continue." she said with a reassuring smile. After fifteen minutes of walking and talking, the Alicorn and the fox stopped in one of the many corridors of the castle, in front of a brown and golden door. "This is the room where you'll sleep during your time here. Everything you need is inside, except clothes because we don't wear them all the time and we don't have any for somepony….or should I say 'someone' like you. There's even a private bathroom." "Don't worry for the clothes, I'm used to only have what I wear on me during some missions." "I understand but this isn't an excuse for us to let you without any spare clothing. Our best tailors will be happy to work on a unique character like you. The dinner will be in six hours, I'll send a guard to your room to accompany you to the dinner room. If you need everything, don't hesitate to call for the maids." Fox scratched the back of his neck. "Thank for your generosity Princess." "You're our guest Mr. McCloud, it's the least we can do. See you later." Then, Celestia trotted away, in the direction of the throne room, leaving Fox completely alone. The latter opened the door and entered. The chamber was colored in red and orange. There was a king-size bed in the middle of the room and a nightstand on each side. The door to the bathroom was on his left and two closets on his right. When Fox looked up, he could see a picture of the sun and the night on the ceiling. There was also a large window leading to a balcony. From said balcony, Fox could see the city of Canterlot and the landscape behind it. The orange vulpine crossed his arms and smiled. "It's seems that StarFox is back into action again. I wonder where this adventure will lead me…"