Fox and Twilight were actually talking about how politics and administration worked on Corneria, compared to Equestria. The mare was surprised that even with the technology's help to work faster, there were still some things like paperwork which couldn't be taken care of quickly. She couldn't wrap her mind around the concept of electing a ruler every five years but Fox didn't blame her. All her life, she lived under the same reign, she couldn't understand even as open-minded as she was. It was very interesting for him to see all the differences and similarities between the two worlds. The laws of physics were not applied the same way as in Lylat, thanks for the magic and the fact the sun and the moon were raised by two ponies.
Spike had left the library ten minutes ago to retrieve all Twilight's friends, except Fluttershy, of course. The duo was now debating about how artificial gravity was working when they heard a very loud gasp and moved the upper part of their bodies in direction of its source.
A pink head was stuck against one of the windows and the pair of blue eyes which accompanied them looked at the fox and the purple mare, wide open. "I knew it!" said a high pitched voice, belonging to the head.
The mercenary blinked.
"I knew there was a new pony in town! My Pinkie Sense told me so."
"What the-Slippy?" whispered Fox, completely paralyzed by the scene in front of him.
That voice…the orange vulpine didn't know how but it had some familiarities with the amphibian's one. It was, at least, very disturbing. The second after the strange pony said this, she disappeared.
"Hi!"
This time, the voice was coming from behind them. Instinctively, Fox jumped from his seat, withdraw his blaster from his holster and turned around. The barrel of his gun was directly pointed to her head.
"Pinkie! Don't scare us like that!" replied Twilight, breathing rapidly and with a hoof on her chest. "Fox, she's a friend, there's nothing to fear."
When the mercenary saw that the Earth Pony wasn't a threat, he lowered his arm and put his weapon in its place.
"I'm Pinkie Pie! You must be new here because it's the first time I see you! I mean, it's not every day you meet a fox on two legs and I never saw you in town before. What's your name? Wait, let me guess… something related with 'fox' I suppose? *gasp* silly me, it's Fox, isn't it?"
He stayed completely silent, looking at her as if she had something on her face.
"Helloooooo?" The party pony waved a hoof in front of him but he didn't react. "I have some cupcake on my nose or something?"
"I think you broke him….Fox, you alright?"
The mercenary blinked a few times, regaining his senses. "Yeah, I think I'll be fine. I'm sorry for my reaction, it's just, you remind of an old friend of mine."
"His name is Slippy, isn't it? You mentioned it when Pinkie appeared at the window." asked Twilight.
His head nodded 'yes'. "He's used to be the mechanic of the team. We went to school together and he was the first person I asked to join me when General Pepper wanted Peppy to form a new StarFox Team. His father, Beltino Toad, was one of the creators of the original Arwing."
The sound of a door opening resonated in the living room, quickly followed by Spike's voice.
"Twilight, I'm back!"
The trio could also hear the sound of other hoofsteps, meaning that the young dragon correctly did his job.
"Hey Twilight, Spike said you wanted to se-" A cerulean mare with wings, rainbow mane and tail stopped flying when she saw the librarian and the baker in the company of the vulpine. The other two stayed silent but had a surprised and frightened look on their faces. They were obviously afraid of this new creature, which was something Fox could understand, but they had the courtesy to not treat him as a monster. Or maybe they were too mentally broken to have any kind of reaction at the moment.
"What the heck is that?!"
'This girl sounds exactly like Falco, interesting'
Twilight made a few steps forward.
"Girls, I present you Fox McCloud. He's the captain of the StarFox Team, a group of mercenary, and ambassador of the Lylat System during his stay here. He's our ally."
The orange fox slightly bowed his head in respect.
"No need to present yourselves, Princess Celestia gave a little briefing about each of you."
The blue one, who was named Rainbow Dash, flew to him with a slight frown on her face. He instinctively tensed, with his paw on his holster and ready to unsheathe his gun if she showed the slightest sign of hostility.
"Scoots told me you saved her hide in the Everfree but I didn't believe her until now. I think I owe you one buddy."
He raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"You're her sister?"
She shook her head. "Nope. Just her idol, she's… she's an orphan."
Fox cringed when he heard this. He had become an orphan himself when the last member of his family died when he was fourteen. Fortunately, Peppy took him under his wing and trained him to be the man he was today. In his eyes, he considered the rabbit as his step-father, assuming this role after the tragedy on Venom. The ex-leader's heart ached in sadness because he remembered clearly the pain he felt when the old pilot told him the news about his deceased father.
"Oh, well... send her my regards, I lived the same fate. My mother was killed by a car bomb and my dad was tortured to death… both by the same person."
Seeing the look in their eyes and feeling the now cold atmosphere in the library, he gave them a sad smile.
"But it's in the past, no need to bring back bad memories again."
"You're right, we should concentrate on the current task."
During the twenty minutes which followed Fox's introduction to the trio of mares, Twilight resumed the recent events, with the orange vulpine adding his own version and the purpose of his presence in Equestria and more precisely Ponyville, at the moment. It wasn't hard to tell that Rarity was the most shocked by this, the mere idea of Nightmare's return was enough to prevent her for sleeping for the next few days. Spike was at her side, trying to soothe her mind by gently stroking her barrel with a claw but Rarity's brain was set in a panic mode.
"What am I going to do? I can be in danger if I stay here or I'll have to close the Boutique if I seek refuge at the Castle! But I don't want to let Sweetie Belle behind."
Her train of thought was interrupted by a southern voice.
"Ah think it wouldn't do any good if ya leave Ponyville, Rares. If ya stay here, we can confront it together!"
"I know! I know!" yelled Pinkie, bouncing. "We could all live at one place and the fog will leave us alone!"
"Applejack and Pinkie are right, it's not going to do anything against us if we are with each other. Besides, we have Discord if something bad happen."
"You can count on me, too. At the second my Arwing will be fully repaired, I'll be able to fly from Canterlot to here in less than three minutes."
Twilight and Rainbow Dash turned their heads to him, surprised.
"It's impossible! The record for this distance is twelve minutes and belongs to Spitfire, the captain of the Wonderbolts."
"What is the maximum speed your best flyer can reach?"
"Rainbow can break the sound barrier, she's the fastest."
A cocky smirk grew on his face.
"I can do it….four times. Well, exactly, 4.2 times."
The purple mare's eyes light up. The cyan mare's jaw dropped on the ground.
"How?"
He shrugged.
"It's technology. I ain't gonna explain it!"
"Plea-"
The blue pegasus interrupted her unicorn friend.
"Prove it!"
"Give me a few days or a week and I'll give you the race of your life."
"I'm in."
He shook her hoof, vigorously.
'Wow, Falco would have so many things to share with her.' he thought. 'In a way, it's perfectly normal, they're both brash and competitive. Wait a minute.'
Fox looked at all the ponies in the room before concentrating on four of them.
'Pinkie Pie sounds and act like Slippy, Rainbow Dash is a copy of Falco, this Applejack think the same way as Peppy and Twilight is their leader, guiding them as best as possible. Just like me. Now, I have a reason to believe that some things can exist on two planets even if they don't have anything in common. Another StarFox but on a pony planet… they should call themselves StarPony *chuckles*'
"Something's wrong, darling?"
"Huh…no, I was thinking about something funny."
"Oh, care to share with us?"
"Nah, it's nothing. Just a little comparison between our worlds."
The purple mare frowned, lost by the meaning of his words. "What's funny in this? I don't understand."
The mercenary sighed.
"Well, you, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash act a lot like me and my old team. In fact, I was comparing your personalities to ours."
He put his right paw in one of the pocket of his flying jacket and let out a picture of him and his friends, taken just after the Lylat Wars. Then, Fox pointed an index on each member and at the same time, voicing who was the Equestrian counterpart.
Needless to say, the group of ponies was interested by this fact, Twilight more than the others, of course.
"I suppose you don't share my love of books, don't you?"
"I'm not against a book from time to time but not to the point of buying one each week."
"So, what are ya' goin' to do now?" asked Applejack, curious about what he'll do next.
Fox looked at her, a small smile on his face.
"My mission here is complete and I've met my co-workers so, I'm going back to Canterlot. The scientists need my help to repair the last part of my ship."
Pinkie looked at him, eyes wide open.
"No 'Welcome to Ponyville' party?"
"There're some higher priorities for the moment. Arwing in first, everything else later." Her smile faltered a little. "But we'll have one if you really want."
The orange vulpine turned his head in Twilight's direction.
"Could you send a letter to Princess Celestia saying I'm ready to leave Ponyville and that I'll wait here."
"Sure."
She grabbed a letter and a quill with her magic before writing a quick note. Then, she gave it to Spike who blew his green fire on it. The four mares left the library leaving the fox, mare and drake alone. Finally, after twenty minutes of waiting, they heard the sound of flapping outside and a knock at the door. Fox rose from his seat and opened it. In front of him were two pegasus guards, in full armor, looking impassively.
"Sir McCloud?"
A chuckle escaped his lips when he heard it.
"Yes, it's me."
"We're ready to take you back to the Castle, the Princess wish to speak to you with about something really important."
He raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the fact the guard told him implicitly to not waste time. "No problem. Let me just say goodbye."
Fox gave a brofist to Spike with a wink and a smile then, he nodded to Twilight before jumping in the cart. The duo began trotting before quickening the pace. They opened their white wings wide and leaped in the sky, flapping fast to gain altitude and stay airborne.
------------------------
Meanwhile
Location : Unknown
The dark blue fog was flying. It wasn't worried of being spotted, thanks to the black void and the stars around it. Nopony could see it even if they had to look up in the sky. Finally, the gloomy mist landed on a cold and grey ground. Only silence greeted it. Floating in the direction of a cave, it saw a lot of holes in the soil and long trail of sand with it. They all pointed in the same direction, inside the grotto. If there was air in this place, the silence would have been replaced by the sound of metal clanking.
Once inside, it could see a lot of ponies with blank eyes and working on steel birds. There was a few of these strange things which were completely intact, except for the glass part, on top of the creature. The equines working on them were coming from the three races, each one of them using its natural ability to repair them. The ponies were guarded by changelings, all in their natural forms. Sometimes, a mare was stopped in her work and escorted to a room by two bug-ponies. The fate for them was far worse than just working on a flying metal bird; it was to become a broodmare for the love-thieves.
The cavern in which all those kidnapped and brainwashed ponies were working was lit by torches infused with magic. They only needed to be refueled once every month.
Finally, the fog arrived at the end of the cave, in front of two thrones with another fog on one of them. The second mist was black, as black as the darkness. Both of them took a pony appearance, each one corresponding to its color.
"I have some news for you, master." said the newcomer, with a hollow and strange voice, belonging neither to a mare or a stallion.
"Pray tell, I'm all ears."
The second pony's tone was deep and echoed in the room, proving it was a male.
"While I was searching for the Timberwolf nest, I've found a very exotic creature. An orange fox walking on two legs and talking. This mere fact was more than enough to remove it from this world, and this is what I tried, but I underestimated it. It used a weapon similar to those on the birds."
"You think they're coming from the same place?"
The pony with dark blue and violet coat smirked.
"Probably. Anyway, it's just a thorn in the hoof, nothing else. It will not last more than a few seconds against our combined power."
"And what about the old castle? Did you find what you wanted?"
"Yes. We have to keep the bearers alive if you want your whole body back. I can't wait to see their faces full of fear when they'll see us."
"Soon, Celestia, Luna, the dragon and their friends will perish by our hooves." The black pony licked his lips. "With our powers, nopony would dare to challenge us. Then, we'll be able to conquer the rest of the universe with those metallic creatures!"