Star Fox Equestria

by Pronche

Mission Briefing - Revised

Intro - 0:00 to 0:23

2013

Nintendo®/Hasbro®

Presents

A StarFox/My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Crossover

In

Star Fox Equestria

He tossed and turned on the right side of his single bed. His sight fell on the clock, which was placed on his metallic beside table, showing it was barely 6 a.m. Yesh, barely five hours of sleep this time, a new record for him after what happened. With a grunt, the red fox rolled on his back.

Looking at the light grey ceiling with his arms crossed behind his head, a deep sigh escaped his muzzle. How much time has passed since the Anglar Blitz? One year? Two? In all honesty, he stopped to count after the first six months and the fact that he was in space was not helping to keep track of the time. Now, the only remaining members of the team were ROB 64, the robot/A.I of the Great Fox II, and him... just like after the Aparoid Invasion. The legendary Fox McCloud had almost lost everything in the recent war: the vixen of his life, his celebrity, eclipsed by Star Wolf which gave the final blow to the Anglar Emperor, and what remained of his team.

Now, he was completely alone, in his mothership, drifting around Corneria’s orbit. Since Krystal flew away at the end of the conflict, he didn't have any news about her whatsoever from Katt Monroe or Lucy Hare, the daughter of his old mentor, Peppy Hare.

He only pushed her away to protect her, not to hurt both of their feelings. But in the end, his decision was useless because it left the two foxes completely devastated emotionally and she disappeared in the wild.

The ex-leader hated himself for months after this but, ever so slowly; he learned to live with this fact. A small knot made its known in his guts every time his mind wandered to the memories related to her, and to all the other scenarios that could have happened if he had acted differently. A lot of question popped in his mind: where was she actually? What was she doing? Did she was involved in a romantic relationship with someone else?

At the last thought, the vulpine with green eyes felt as if his tongue and mouth were filled with ashes. If there was one thing he hated most than everything, it was to imagine her in the arms of someone else...or those of Panther Caroso. Or kissing him, or even making love to him. Fox almost gagged at that.

However, to this day, what was the most important for him was the fact that his friends were living a happy and peaceful life. Slippy was freshly married to Amanda and had two childrens for the moment; Falco created his own squad with Dash Bowman, Andross's grandson, and his girlfriend Katt, even if he kept refusing to admit it publicly. Finally, Peppy was still working as the General of the Cornerian Army.

The galaxy was at peace, so no one required his services as a mercenary…

Not in the mood to get back to sleep, he stood up and walked in his personal bathroom to take a shower. The hot water against his light orange fur was all he needed to be completely awake. One shower later and with a towel around his mid-section, Fox stepped out of his bathroom. Looking outside, a small grin grew on his face.

From his personal quarters, he was admiring Corneria, the space and Solar. Oddly, stargazing was always something that fascinated him and he never got bored of. It provided him a strange sense of calm and peace. Why? He didn't know. His best guess was he inherited it from his father, just like his flying skill.

“Time to do something productive today… or at least, try.” Putting his pair of pants for flying and a green sleeveless t-shirt, McCloud Junior walked out of his quarters, in direction of the kitchen. The silence present in the corridor was broken by the sound of his boots against the grey and dirty metallic ground.

Arriving in the room, the two fluorescent lights flickered to life, bathing the place with cold, white light just before one them began to vacillate and die. Inspiring slowly, Fox closed his eyes, opened them again and exhaled loudly. “What a great way to begin the day”, he thought.

Fortunately for him, his lack of luck was counterbalanced by a fridge and cupboards filled with enough food to last two weeks. While his coffee was brewing, he occupied himself by making a few pancakes, without any garnishments. Then, when his food and drink were ready, he sat onto one of the four chairs present around the single table of the room, digging in. As his breakfast was slowly disappearing from his plate, the veteran pilot consulted his transparent tablet, looking at the news of the day, the jobs proposed through the galaxy (even if he found nothing that was even remotely interesting for a mercenary) and in the end, his bank account. Another good thing: he wasn’t in the negative but had barely enough to survive until the next job.

Thinking back to a past conversation he had with some higher-ups from the Cornerian Army, a reconversion as a flying instructor at the Cornerian Defense Army Academy, where he himself was a student, almost twenty years ago, began to be a more and more interesting idea. It was nice of them to propose him this work, also unsurprising after everything his team did for the Lylat System.

Unfortunately, his train of thoughts was interrupted the voice of ROB talking through the speakers.

"Incoming transmission from General Peppy! Priority one!"

Standing up, the tan fox rushed out of the kitchen and hurried to his bedroom. What could be so important for the old rabbit to contact him through an emergency call? Entering it quickly, he took a wireless earpiece that was on his desk, put it on his left ear and pressed the single button on it.

"I'm coming ROB, just give me a minute."

He opened his built-in wardrobe to take his old white jacket with the logo of the team on the back of it. Quickly, he left his quarters and ran to the command room, also used as a living/briefing room. ROB was already there, waiting for him. Then, Fox sat on a leather seat, in front of a table with a giant holographic device on it.

[Briefing Theme]

"You can answer now."

After pushing a single button, the screen turned on and the face of a rabbit in his late fifties, with red eyes and glasses, appeared in the middle of the place.

"Long time no see, old timer."

"It's good to hear your voice, Fox."

The vulpine crossed his arms and looked directly in the eyes of his mentor, a small grin plastered on his face. He distinguished the single strands of white fur on his grey coat and the dark circles under his eyes. Time and duty weren’t doing any favor on the dean of the StarFox Team, it would seem.

"So, I suppose you didn't only call me just to see if I was alright, especially with the priority of the transmission. Am I right?"

"Indeed.” replied the General, his tone sounding more serious now. "I need your help. Out of nowhere, Andrew Oikonny had gathered enough people to have his own army and is currently trying to take over Katina! We lost any trace of him after his defeat at Fichina City but it looks like he didn’t stay inactive for long."

The ace pilot chuckled "Again? I hope it will not end with another Aparoid invasion this time. How many are they?"

"Six hundred, at least."

The number surprised Fox, it wasn’t that much. “So few? How can they stand up against a world considered as an outpost of the Cornerian Army?”

"They’re extremely equipped and our army is still rebuilding after the Anglar Blitz. The majority of our ships are currently in Corneria. However, the local forces are standing their ground very well thanks to a friend of you: Captain Bill Grey.”

A faint smile appeared on Fox's face while he nodded.

"And why not sending Falco and his crew, he'll be more than happy to kick that ape's ass."

"I've already dispatched Star Falco on another mission."

"Perfect.” Turning his head to the side, the red vulpine looked at the robot. “ROB, you know what to do."

The latter entered the planet’s coordinates in the computer.

"Affirmative. Opening of the portal in thirty seconds from... now."

"Good luck Fox, and be careful.”

"Don't worry Peppy, everything will be just fine."

The veteran was going to cut the communication when his old friend and superior interrupted him.

"Oh, I almost forgot, is 60,000 credits enough as your pay?"

"Yeah, I could use it to repair ROB and some parts of the Great Fox." The amount in itself shocked; it was a little more than two times his usual fees for something like this. Eh, maybe the old man was using this invasion as an excuse to give his deceased friend’s son enough money to stay afloat. Even with his golden heart, Fox wasn’t going to spit on more money, it would be very useful for the near future.

"Good, I'm transferring the money as we speak. Peppy out."

A simple nod was the only response the rabbit received before the call ended. A large green circle appeared a few kilometers away from the old Cornerian Assault Carrier, which began to move toward it.

"Portal complete. No interference detected. ETOA: ten seconds," informed the robot.

The moment after, the mothership flew through the gate and found itself not far away from a battlefield full of Venomian and Cornerian Carrier. Both followed by smaller ships, just for one pilot, the Venomian/Cornerian fighters. Andrew's ships had dark red/gold colors while the Cornerian Army were painted in white/green.

"Katina's casualties evaluated at 40%. At this rate, and without our help, they'll be all killed."

Fox nodded, acknowledging the situation.

"ROB, keep the Great Fox II away from the battle, I'll take care of everything. Use a few missiles against their Battlecruisers as a support."

"Affirmative, I'll send supply if needed."

The mercenary left the room, rushing to the elevator. He stopped on the device and pushed the down arrow, two times. It began its course before slowing down and stopping two floors lower. The sound of his boots against the ground made of metal echoed in the large corridor leading to the docking bay. When he was in the hangar, Fox rushed at fast as possible and jumped into the only ship present. The fighter itself was one of the legendary Arwings, known to be one of the most powerful, fast and maneuverable ship of its category. It was shaped like a 'Y', also colored in light grey/blue, had three Laser cannons and a Smart Bomb launcher filled with seven of them. A red flying fox was painted on both side of the hull behind the cockpit and above the exhaust for the engine, representing the logo of the Star Fox team. This model of Arwing has the same design as during the Lylat War.

Despite being twenty years old, the Arwing was still one of the best Starfighters ever manufactured. Even the current fighters from the Cornerian Army had some difficulties getting on par with it, just two or three pilots in the whole galaxy were skilled enough to compete with the legendary ships, Star Wolf not included.

The cyan cockpit closed itself, protecting its pilot from the outside world. A few sentences appeared on the green screen in front of the vulpine:

[Twin lasers: enabled

Alpha interface: enabled

All range mode: waiting

Beta interface: waiting

Secondary weapons: waiting

Primary weapons: enabled

Astrogation systems: enabled

Targeting systems: enabled

Nova bombs: waiting

Internal power: enabled

Life support: enable

External power: disabled

Starflight mode: enabled

Deflecting shields: waiting

Good luck!]

"This is Fox, ready for takeoff. ROB, report in!"

"Communications line…green. The lift lock has been released. Arwing primed and ready."

The rail which suspended the ship moved on its own and launched Fox in the space, at high speed. The Arwing made a few barrel rolls before stopping, deploying its wings and flying in the middle of the battle.

"I see ‘em up ahead! Let's rock and roll!"

-------

Meanwhile, on another side of the galaxy…

Tonight was one of the most beautiful nights of the summer. The sky was empty of any cloud, thanks to the Canterlot weather team, and there wasn't a single storm or even rain scheduled for the next two weeks. The current temperature was fresh but not enough to be considered chill.

In the white and gold castle of the capital, where lived the two Princesses of Equestria, a single pony was currently sitting at the balcony of the observatory. The castle itself was built in the side of a mountain, giving the possibility to see a wide part of the country. The mare, with a crescent moon as her Cutie Mark, was staring at the stars…more precisely at the white orb replacing the sun during the next couple of hours. Her blue coat was as dark as the night sky and her flowing mane, despite the lack of wind, as deep as the space itself. Slowly, the smile on her face disappeared and was replaced by a slight frown. Something was wrong with the stars tonight, she could feel it. Her connection to the lunar body was a little strange when she raised it a little earlier.

Just at the moment when she began questioning herself of the reason why it she was feeling like this, another pony, taller than her, with white coat and multicolored flowing mane this time, walked to her side at a slow pace. She sat at her left and raised her head to look at the sky. She had a long horn on her head, wings tucked at her sides and the Cutie Mark on her flanks was representing a picture of the sun.

"Is something the matter, Lulu? You were distracted during the dinner. If you want to talk about it, I'm all ears."

The first pony, which also had a horn and wings, turned her head toward the voice, still frowning.

"I-I don't know Tia. It feels like there is something not right with the moon, a magical disturbance or a malevolent presence like the ‘Nightmare’. It could be nothing but my instincts tell me otherwise. I hope I’m wrong."

The other mare, slightly taller than 'Lulu', raised an eyebrow, "I thought that young Spike had defeated it when he opened his heart to the Element of Generosity, Rarity?" she said, slightly surprised.

"I thought it too, but something's not right, I can feel it in my guts."

Tia lowered her neck to her sibling's level and nuzzled her, with a smile on her face. "Don’t worry little sister, even if the dark mist comes back, we'll face it together and with the Elements of Harmony. But for now, let not this beautiful night you made be a waste because of a dark thought."

"I hope you're right Celestia, I hope you're right." whispered the dark blue Alicorn to herself, but loud enough for her older sister to hear it. The latter winked at her. “Tomorrow morning, let me lower the moon, if I don’t feel anything, it’ll mean that you were worrying for nothing. Are you fine with this?”

The smaller princess thanked her elder. Another opinion on the subject would be greatly appreciated; it could clarify the disturbance she felt: dismiss it as an unfounded feeling or… confirm it. Looking one last time at the sky, the youngest Alicorn left the room, readying herself for her daily duty.

Lunas walked back to the throne room, sat on the single throne, ready for the night court that resumed in long hours of boredom, some paperwork and conversing with the guards.

Comments

[Rokkurin]

I haven't even read this yet but I'm going to give you a thumbs up because this has Fox McCloud in it. My favorite character EVER!!!!!

[-Brutus]

Ooo excellent! I'm reading on!

[Texus]

Awwwww not my favourite pairing Spike X Rarity, and did they talked about Nightmare Rarity?

I thought he would still have Krystal, since you didn´t added a romance tag, does this have romance, or is it just Fox?