Equestria's First Pilots

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She could hear the princess talking from the other side of the curtain, using a lot of big, important sounding words that Slipstream's brain couldn't process at the moment. She was way to nervous about not messing up what she was going to say when she and Updraft went onto the stage. Updraft smirked at the blue mare with the midnight black mane who was rocking in her chair, getting her to flash him an annoyed look.

"Ten years of intense training to become a space pilot, being two of the first ponies to go into the great unknown, and you're worried about flubbing what you're going to say on stage?" Updraft asked Slipstream with disbelief in his voice, getting Slipstream to stick out her tongue at him. The greyish pony with the white mane smirked even wider at her response before he shifted his space suit, getting Slipstream to glance down at hers.

The suits they wore were blue and simple, not overcomplicated like some of the suit designs that they had seen. Since they were ponies, they had forgone the use of gloves and boots, opting for their hooves instead. Her suit had holes in the side of it to accommodate for her wings, while Updrafts was a size too small. She hated the little flight caps that they were forced to where forced to wear with their uniforms, but Updraft assured her they made her look cute. That made her hate it all the more.

"We are the first two ponies to be selected in the history of ever to be selected for the Cornerian army, yet you can't take this day more seriously!" Slipstream snarled to Updraft, who gave a shrug before he sat back in his seat. "If I embarrass myself here, I will never live it down. Do you know who is sitting out there in the crowd?"

"A lot of attractive mares?" Updraft asked.

"Commander Parsley, one of the most important figures in the Cornerian Army!" Slipstream practically shouted, lowering her voice when she heard Princess Twilight pause for a moment. When Twilight started talking again, Slipstream let out a sigh. "He will be the one dictating our future in the army, so I want to make a good first impression! So please, for both of our sakes, act like a regular pony!"

"Ugh, you're so boring. I don't know what you're worried about, you're the better pilot of the two of us and that's with the crappy, older model they loaned us," Updraft said, glancing through a hole in the curtain to see the massive crowd that had gathered in Canterlot. "You're future is set in stone. You're going to be an ace pilot, stop every threat that you come across and then die by flying into a black hole because those five bits somepony bet were way too tempting for you."

"...set in stone, huh? That's something I haven't heard around these lands in a long time," Slipstream said with a smile as she leaned back in her chair as well. "One hundred years ago this year. Can you believe it? That's how long Equestria has been apart of the Cornerian Alliance. What I wouldn't give to have a time machine and go back to that day to see the looks on ponies faces."

"What are you talking about? All that happened was these giant spaceships showed out of nowhere, landed on our planet and a bunch of anthropomorphic dogs walked out with laser guns. Sounds like a normal Saturday to me."

"I swear you can't take anything seriously. And considering we're going to Corneria today, I'm worried that you're taking things too lightly," Slipstream continued on.

"Relax, I'm just handling things like I normally do. Chill on the outside, losing my freaking mind on the inside," Updraft said to "comfort" her. Slipstream wanted to answer, but at that moment the curtains began to open and the both of them snapped to their hooves. One wore an expression of nervousness, the other had a cocky smile that hid his real thoughts.

"Beings of Equestria, I give you our pilots: Slipstream and Updraft!"

The roar given off by the citizens of Equestria nearly blew the two ponies off of their hooves. Slipstream nearly froze in place when she saw all of the sets of eyes that were upon her, including the violet eyes of the princess of Equestria. Updraft kicked her in her back legs and snapped her out of her trance, giving Updraft a grateful smile as he walked by.

Slipstream joined Updraft at the front of the stage, looking around at the sea of ponies while doing everything in her power not to freak out. Cameras flew around the both of them, recording this moment for the news stations across the land. Slipstream kept her eyes glued forward, while Updraft gave his best smile and a wave to the camera. Princess Twilight stepped forward, turning both of their attentions to the alicorn that towered over the both of them.

"I will say that I am proud of the both of you. I have watched the training that the both of you have gone through and I will say that no other ponies in the history of Equestria, aside maybe Rainbow Dash, could have done what you did," Princess Twilight said with a proud smile as she saluted the both of them. They both saluted back, some of the worry fading away as they heard the pride in Twilight's voice. Twilight then turned back to the crowd, silencing the roar of the crowd with her mere presence alone.

"As all of you know, these two will be heading into unfamiliar territory. I have been the ruling princess of these lands for one hundred and fifty years now and even I cannot say that I've been to any of the inhabited planets that are out there," Princess Twilight told the crowd, who hung onto her every word. "These two will be the first. The two will go as Equestria's first ponies to see the stars, to see what lays beyond our world. And honestly, I'm a little jealous."

The crowd gave Twilight a polite laugh, before Twilight motioned for the both of them to say something. Slipstream's heart froze at the idea of having to say anything before the crowd, but fortunately for her Updraft walked forward with his winning smile upon his face.

"Friends, family and those I wish I could get to know, today is a monumental day! For today is the day that I ascend this mortal realm and take my place among the stars!" The crowd laughed at that statement, getting Updraft to look back at Slipstream with a cocky smile on his face. "Oh, and I have to bring Slipstream with me. Part of the deal. But worry not! I promise that we will do everything in our power not to mess this huge opportunity. But we most likely will. Don't hold your breath."

Another ripple of laughter spread out across the crowd. Updraft gave Slipstream a look asking her if she wanted to talk, but she shook her head and he took hold of the situation once again. He cracked a few more jokes that got some laughs and one groan out of the crowd, before he bowed to Princess Twilight and moved aside so that she could finish up.

"Now I know that normally we would open the floor to questions and allow photos to be taken with our pilots here, but I have been informed by Commander Parsley that time is of the essence," Princess Twilight told the crowd, getting most of the to groan in disappointment. "Commander, would you like to say a few words?"

The commander, who looked like a bipedal Yorkshire Terrier, nodded to the princess and with the aid of her magic made his way up onto the stage. He ruffled his uniform a few times before grabbing a microphone that Twilight floated to him, clearing his voice before he began to speak.

"Thank you for this opportunity, Princess Twilight. To think that it was a hundred years ago that you and your allies signed the agreement that allowed Equestria to join the alliance," Parsley said with a chuckle that shook his mustache. "Sad that Princesses Celestia and Luna couldn't be here today. Remind me again what it was that was so important that they couldn't be here?"

"They said that there was something going on at a five star hotel that sat near the front of the most beautiful beaches in all of the world," Twilight replied with a smile, getting the crowd to laugh. "I assume that whatever needed their attention will require plenty of hours of sitting on the beach and numerous drinks."

"Well I can't say I blame them. I've been to many a planet, but none of them are quiet as beautiful as Equis," Commander Parsley laughed before he sized up the two new pilots. "But these two are the most amazing thing I have seen since I've come to Equis. To think that this world managed to produce such fine, young pilots so quickly. This is truly the land of magic."

"Thank you, Commander," Twilight said with a small bow, getting the commander to laugh. "We like to think that it was skill and practice that produced them so quickly. Of course, Updraft here might have just flirted his way to success." The crowd laughed once more and Updraft shrugged in response with a good natured smile on his face. Slipstream chuckled as well, but that only drew the commander to look at her.

"And you, young Slipstream. You have one of the most impressive records that I've seen in a cadet in all my years of being in this army," Commander Parsley said to her, getting her to stand up straight and salute. "In fact, only two or three other pilots have managed to get better scores than you. I am interested to see how you fair in this new frontier."

"I will perform to the best of my ability," Slipstream responded, getting a nod out of the commander.

"Excellent. That is all we can do, is it not?" Parsley asked Twilight, who nodded with a smile. A low roaring sound could be heard and Parsley looked to the sky, smiling when he saw a massive spaceship descending towards them. The crowd and the two pilots on the stage let out gasps of amazement when they saw the colossal cruiser that was lowering towards them, while Parsley let out a laugh at their amazement. "What? Did you think that we would force the first two pilots of one of our greatest allies to fly in anything less? Come you two, time to introduce the both of you to the stars."

Slipstream and Updraft both shared a look with each other and there was nothing in their faces but unbridled happiness. The two of them then turned towards Twilight and bowed respectfully to her, getting the Princess of Equestria to bow to the both of them with a smile on her face before she waved them over.

"Excited?" she asked the both of them, laughing when they nodded their heads excitedly. Twilight then gazed at the massive ship flying overhead, a look that neither of them could read upon her face. "I have no advice to give the both of you on what to do out there. Out there is a place that even I've never been to. You will have to rely on your training and skill to make it. But I don't doubt either of you for a moment."

"But while I can't give you advice on what to do out there, I can give you some advice that was shared with me when I became to sole princess of the land. Always remember where you come from. Always remember what makes you you. And remember that with friends on your side, you can overcome any trial," Twilight told the both of them, who listened to each of her words intently. "Also try not to show off. That never ends well for anypony."

"We will remember your words, princess," Slipstream said as she bowed to the princess, Updraft doing the same without one of his usual remarks.

"Excellent. Now go say goodbye to your families and friends. The two of you have quite the journey ahead of you," Twilight instructed the both of them, before giving the both a warm smile. "So what are you waiting for? Go off into that great unknown. Show the stars the magic that we of Equis have within us."

S |>

The cruiser was even bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. As Slipstream and Updraft were lead through the halls of the massive war ship, they couldn't help but be amazed at all of the different things that were inside the ship. Screens were everywhere, displaying news and information going on in different places of the universe. Sometimes they walked by windows and got to look inside to see all sorts of beings training with one another, be it target practice or hand to hand combat. And every once in a while an autonomous machine would walk by them, making both of their eyes go wide.

"Can you believe it? We're actually standing on a Cornerian Cruiser," Slipstream whispered to Updraft, whose wonderful way with words failed him for the first time since he could remember. Parsley chuckled at the stallions silence, before he cleared his throat and regained the two's attention.

"Get comfortable you two, as you'll be stationed on a ship similar to this one once you're set straight on Corneria," Commander Parsley said to the both of them, getting both of the ponies to nod to show they understood. "You'll be on Corneria for about a week getting properly registered with your ships and equipment. In the meantime, you will use what we order for you. You personal belongings that you brought with you have been moved to your quarters. You rooms are side by side in section E-7. I hope you know where that is?"

"Seventh level and the fifth hallway," Slipstream answered immediately, having more book knowledge of the Cornerian army than any other pony in her land, even the princess. Updraft nodded in agreement, even though Slipstream knew he was flying blind.

"Excellent. I see why you are the head of your class," Parsley applauded, getting Slipstream to swell with pride. "If you are knowledgeable about where your rooms are, then I am certain that you know where everything else is as well. If that is the case, I will leave you for the time being. There are still many things that need to get done after all. Any questions?"

"Just one sir. What is it that is so urgent that we had to leave Equestria so suddenly?" Updraft asked in a carefree many, but his words made the terriers eyes narrow slightly.

"What do you mean, pilot?"

"Something big is going on, isn't it? Everyone we've passed has been on red alert, we constantly have ships patrolling each new area we go to and I've heard passing conversation," Updraft said with a smile, one that made the commander chuckle slightly.

"You don't miss anything, do you? Yes, we've recently had some issues with marauders that have been attacking our ships. We don't why their doing it, but we're taking precautions just to be safe. Now given how big this cruiser is I doubt we'll be attacked, but never get caught with your leg up, as my granddad used to say. Now go on, both of you to your quarters."

Both ponies saluted and nodded their heads, getting their commander to do the same before he walked off. Slipstream and Updraft waited until he was gone before the both of them smiled to each other and began to walk quickly down the halls, taking in all of the sights with wide eyes and smiling faces.

"So do you want to head straight to our quarters or start to explore this massive chunk of awesome?" Updraft asked Slipstream, who thought about it for a moment before she smiled.

"I want to check the hangars, actually. We've only gotten to fly old crappy models and do flight simulators. I want to see the real deal."

Updraft smiled in response and a moment later the both of them headed towards the hangars, both of them having large smiles on their faces. The two of them gathered a few looks as they walked by other members of the craft on their way, quickly becoming aware that they were slightly smaller than most of the other soldiers. One dog soldier waked by with a rifle in his hands, making Slipstream and Updraft eye the weapon with interest.

"Can't wait till we get our own blasters. Shame that they had to be special made for us," Slipstream sighed.

"Well, we don't have fingers. And I don't think that bludgeoning something with that would do much of anything," Updraft added with a shrug. The two talked with each other until they reached the entrance to the hangars. As neither of them had access to the hangars yet due to their statues, all they could do was look through the glass at the ships on the other side. But for them, that was enough.

"Right there, second from the left on the far side," Slipstream told Updraft, who followed her gaze to see the ship that hung from the launch rails. The ship had a long body with bent, seagull like wings that stuck out on either side of it. Beneath the wings were twin sets of high powered laser cannons, while on the back was a shock space accelerator.

"Oh yeah. That's the model that I've heard about," Updraft said with a wicked smile as he stared at the ship. "Can't wait until I get me the chance to fly around in one of those bad boys. A few days on here, a week in Corneria and then finally I can fly the ship I was always meant to be in. I can almost taste it."

"So why'd you ask that question to the commander? About what was going on?" Slipstream asked Updraft, who gave her one of the coy smiles that she often found so infuriating.

"First rule of surviving out in a new place: always know what's going on," Updraft told her, getting Slipstream to raise an eyebrow. "The second rule of surviving in a new place is never hit on anything that might hit back. Dad learned that one the hard way."

"I don't know why I talk to you."

"Because there's no other experience like talking to me," Updraft said with a wink, one that earned him a whack with a cap a moment later. The two then spent ten more minutes watching and naming the different craft that was in the hangar, before they decided that it was time to head to their quarters. The two walked in silence as they headed to where they'd be staying, each of them thinking about the future and what it would hold for the both of them.

"Do you think we'll work together? Or will they split us up?" Slipstream asked Updraft once the two of them reached their rooms, getting Updraft to stop and glance over at the pegasi, who was leaning her head against the door.

"Where did all of this come from?" Updraft asked her, his tone unusually calm.

"It's just...we're in space now. We're Faust knows how far from our home, our family and friends, and we're in uncharted territory for ponies. And you're the only being on this entire ship that I can call my friend," Slipstream added with a hint of fear in her voice. "I'm just...not ready to cut all of my ties yet."

"Oh, is that all you were worried about?" Updraft said with a laugh, getting a nasty glare from Slipstream in response. "Look Slip, even if they do separate us, we're still friends. And with the abundant amount of technology that these guys have, we'll have plenty of ways to communicate with each other even if we are split up. So quit worrying, it makes you look ten years older."

"Wow, way to make me feel better."

"I live to serve," Updraft said with a sarcastic bow. Slipstream rolled her eyes at him, but gave him an appreciative smile anyway. "Now come on, let's hit the hay. I don't know how time works in space, but I do know that I'm tired and I need to sleep. Not to mention they'll probably are going to wake us up soon and then we'll have to actually start working. I need my beauty sleep if I'm to look my best."

"Yes, because Faust knows that you can't get any more vain," Slipstream added.

"Oh, I can always get more vain. I'm simply not trying," Updraft said as he opened the door to his room, giving Slipstream one last smile. "Sleep well, Slip. Try not to get yourself so wound up that you can't fall asleep. I can't keep coming up with excuses for every time you sleep in."

"You can't?"

"Well I could, but then you wouldn't learn your lesson...see ya," Updraft said with a wave before he entered into his room. Slipstreamed stared at his door for a moment before she entered into her room as well, finding it simple, but tidy. All that was in her room was her bed, a desk with a floating chair, a screen at the end of the room and a bag filled with her things that was tucked away in a corner.

Slipstream hopped onto her bed and closed her eyes, able to still hear the sounds of soldiers yelling at each other despite her room supposedly being able to muffle noise. She shrugged and took comfort in the sound, which reminded her a bit of boot camp on Equestria. She spent some time thinking of her home, but after a while her thoughts turned towards the future and where she would take her place in it.

'Corneria, then to the stars,' she thought to herself as she could only imagine what the main home of the Cornerian army looked like. She had seen it in pictures and descriptions, but she had always dreamed of going there. 'Tomorrow is the first day of a brand new adventure. It's what I've been training for so long to be apart of. I have the princesses blessing, I've got a good, if not irritating, friend and I've got my whole life ahead of me. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.'

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The blaring of alarms snapped Slipstream's eyes open. In a moment she sat up in bed and glanced around to see that everything was flashing with red lights, shaking the sleepiness off of her instantly. As she shot to her hooves and donned her uniform, she could make out that the ship had come under attack over the intercom in the hallway. Once she had slipped into uniform she kicked open her door and raced out into the hallway, where dozens of others were racing around, each of them heading in different directions.

"What's going on?" she asked one of the soldiers that ran by her.

"We're under attack! A bunch of ships just came out of a wormhole in the middle of nowhere!" he replied before shouldering his rifle and racing off. Slipstream glanced around for a moment, wondering what to do, before over the intercom she heard the call for all pilots to head to the hangers. She flashed a quick glance at Updraft's door before she turned and full on sprinted for the hangers.

'Who would have the guts to attack a full blown cruiser and one from the Cornerian army at that?' she thought to herself as she ran, pushing past technicians and other workers that got in her way. 'Andross's army is long sine gone and the apparoids are no longer a threat. So who else is out there?'

An explosion rocked the cruiser, tossing Slipstream off of her hooves and driving her head first into a wall. Her vision went black for what she believed was a few seconds, but when she opened her eyes again she slowly realized that everything had changed around her. A rabbit doctor was kneeling over her and was bandaging her head.

"Easy there, you took a nasty spill," he told her before another explosion tilted the ship. The doctor gritted his teeth as sparks flew down from overhead, while Slipstream struggled to push herself up to her hooves. "You should stay down. You need to rest."

"I need to get to the hanger. They called for all pilots to defend the ship," she told the doctor, whose eyes narrowed before the ship groaned from another assault. "If I don't get out there, then maybe nobody makes it out of this. Let me go."

The doctor sighed before waving her away, allowing Slipstream room so that she could spread her wings and fly down the hallways towards the hanger. She reached it within a matter of minutes, long enough for her to gather a little information from other army members she passed by.

'Unknown assailants. Ships the likes of which they've never seen before. This isn't good,' she thought to herself as she raced through the open door and into the hanger. A quick sweep showed that there was only one standard fighter left in the hanger, while through the force field she could see the battle that raged in the stars. 'Need to get out there and help. Everyone else is already out there.'

She flew over to the Cornerian fighter, pressing a button on the control panel next to where the ship hung to open the cockpit. One of the ground crew raced over, giving her a thumbs up as she hoped into the pilots seat. Slipstream tossed off her cap and donned the helmet that was rolling around on the floor, jamming it onto her head and flicking down the visor.

The cockpit closed over her head as she ran a quick diagnostics, finding everything to be in working order. She nodded to the ground crew, who pressed a few buttons on the control panel which got her ship into motion. She tightened her grip on the flight stick before in a blur of motion her ship was rocketed through the force field and into the battle among the stars.

Immediately she saw violet lasers flash by her head, getting her to snap her neck around to see that two of the strange craft she had heard about were already behind her. The ships were designed to be similar to birds, with large wingspans and the cockpit jutting out from the center. Twin accelerator packs were tucked underneath each wing and the main guns were next to them, allow for both precise and rapid fire. But what drew Slipstream's eyes was the strange energy that seemed to be radiating off of the crystals that lined their craft, something that she had never seen before.

An explosion next to her head snapped her back into the battle and she pulled back on her stick, looping into the air in an attempt to get behind the enemy fighters. She glanced over her shoulder once more to find that the both of them had followed her motion, getting Slipstream to grind her teeth as she pulled out of the loop and started evasive maneuvers.

'Whoever these pilots are, they're not rookies,' she realized as she snapped the stick to the left, whipping her craft down at an angle. Once more she saw the two craft follow her, laser fire just narrowly missing her tail. She tucked and rolled, spinning as she did so to throw off their aim. Another glance over her shoulder showed her that they were keeping up with her, but the two's formation flying was falling apart. 'But they're flying is a little wild. It's not like army flying, more like mercenary flying. Which means I can do this.'

She cut power to her main engine and instantly activated the small thrusters in the front of the craft. All the thrusters did was give of a small burst, but without any resistance that small burst was enough to stop her long enough to allow the two strange craft to fly by her. Slipstream fired the engines again and tore after the two ships, unloading with her twin cannons.

One of the ships was fast enough to roll out of the way, but the other craft took three shots to its engine and exploded into a ball of plasma and fire. Not wanting to let up the attack, Slipstream yanked on her stick and rolled after the other ship, firing at its engines even though she wasn't lined up. She pulled her turn tighter and lined up the shot for a brief second, allowing her to fire two shots into the engines and turn the ship into scrap metal.

"Two down," Slipstream muttered before she looked at the battle up above her. The Cornerian Cruiser was surrounded by the strange ships that had engaged her, while a massive ship half the size of the cruiser was firing bombardments into her main ship. The cruiser fired back with its massive cannons, doing far more damage to the attacking ship than the ship was to them.

"You going to sit there and stare Slip or are you going to get back into the fight," a voice said over her comms, snapping her back into the battle.

"Updraft?" she asked in reply.

"The one and only. We need you to get back into the fight. Whoever these guys are, they're not the same mercs we were trained to fight," Updraft replied before he cut off his communications. Slipstream focused herself and pulled back on the stick, angling her craft up and flying back into the main battle.

Explosions rocked around her as she flew into the fray, with so much going on that she was having trouble keeping track of the battle. Off to her side an explosion took out the side of the cruiser, while off to her front she watched as one of the Cornerian fighters went down in front of her. She pulled to the left just in time to avoid a missile that was launched at her, while at the same time giving her a target.

"Alpha leader, come in," Slipstream said as she followed after the enemy craft, firing her cannons at the back of it. it weaved to the side to avoid being hit and Slipstream snarled as she kept up the chase. "This is Equis one, Slipstream. I am engaging the enemy and require backup. Over."

"This is alpha leader. We don't have any backup for ya, newbie," the gruff voice of the leader replied. "We're being attacked at every angle and we're doing our best to just keep the enemy back. You need to put those fancy flying skills of yours to the test and do the best you can. Out."

"Yes sir," Slipstream said with a sigh as she lined up her sights, waiting with held breath until her foe was lined up right in her sights. Yet right as she squeezed down on the trigger, the ship vanished in a flash of violet light. Slipstream's eyes went wide as she started to glance around for her target, only to spy them reappear off to her side in a burst of light a moment later. "Okay, did anyone else see that?!"

"These things can teleport?!" one of the other pilots cried out before his comm was consumed by an explosion. Slipstream felt her blood boil at the lost of a comrade before she yanked up on her stick and ascended to where she could see the remains of the Cornerian craft. She came up underneath of one of the enemy craft and fired her cannons into its underside, turning it into a ball of fire within a few moments. Slipstream was about to start her victory cry before a violet blast tore into her wing.

"What the hell?!" she roared while glancing over her shoulder, finding that she had a chain on her tail. Her eyes went wide with worry as she started to roll out of the way of the laser fire, only for a few more shots to strike her craft. Alarms started to blare as she checked her ship's status, eyes going wide when she saw that her shields were practically at zero. Another shot tore into her wing and a glance out of the cockpit showed exposed wires along her wing tip.

'This is it,' she thought to herself as she realized that the next shot would take out her shields. 'My very first combat mission and I'm going to die in it. I don't know what's worse. That I've failed the army so early. Or how much Updraft is going to hound me when he finally dies.'

Explosion rocked the enemy ships behind her, turning three of the four into balls of plasma and death. She whipped her head around to see what was happening, giving her just enough time to see the fourth ship try to break off before a rain of laser fire blew it to pieces.

"What the...?" Slipstream asked herself before glancing up to see another Cornerian fighter ship flew over her head.

"Now how often do I get to save you?" the mocking voice of Updraft said in Slipstream's ear, getting her to groan with a smile as she realized who had saved her. "In fact I recall a time during training where you told me that I would never save you ever. My goodness, you must be so embarrassed."

"You just couldn't let me keep my pride and die, could you?" Slipstream asked with a relieved chuckle, before she took up a position behind Updraft's craft and formed up. "How many more of these things are there?"

"There's a lot of them. We're managing to fend them off for the most part, but they keep coming out of wormholes to continue the attack," Updraft informed Slipstream before he banked to go after a group of enemy ships, forcing Slipstream to turn to keep up with him. The both of them unleashed a hail of laser cannon fire upon their foes, blowing them apart.

"What are the losses?" Slipstream dared to ask as they flew through the burning remains of the enemy craft.

"We've lost thirty percent of the fighters within the hangers," Updraft said after a moment of silence, long enough to shake off a pair of crafts that had tried to attack them from behind. Slipstream let out an angry sigh at the loss of all of the pilots before she cast a glance at the cruiser down below them. There was plasma burning off of the side of the cruiser and bits of the ship looked terribly damaged. Slipstream glanced over at the enemy frigate, which had been joined by two more crystal frigates, which had begun to open fire as well.

"We need to bring down those frigates," Slipstream told Updraft before she turned towards the frigates and engaged her thrusters. Updraft let out a curse before he followed after her. The frigates defenses recognized their approach and began to open fire with their defense cannons, forcing the incoming craft to weave in and out of the fire to avoid being hit.

"I hope you realize that this plan is pretty much suicide," Updraft told Slipstream as he launched a bomb from the end of his craft, hitting the frigate closest to them in its main guns. He let out a cry of victory as the bomb took out the defensive guns, giving the two an opening to attack. "Any idea where this things weak point is?"

"Go for the engines. Even if we can't blow it up, we can still cripple it," Slipstream told him as she rolled underneath of the frigate. Enemy fighters began to chase after the pair, forcing them to put all of the skills to the test as they ducked and weaved through enemy fire, while firing in reply.

"Careful there, Slip. You're crafts pretty banged up and one more shot might get rid of you," Updraft informed her before he flew in behind her, taking a shot that might have hit Slipstream's craft. "And as much as I would love to be known as the greatest flier in Equestria, I'm not ready to get rid of the only pony that can hope to match my skills."

"You really know how to push my buttons, you know that?" Slipstream smirked in reply as the two of them turned around to see the engines of the craft floating in front of them. "These...don't look like any engines that I've ever studied. You know what they are?"

"They almost feel...magical," Updraft said in a serious tone, a tone that told Slipstream that things were really serious. "I don't like this. We need to bring these things down as soon as we can. Come on!"

Updraft hurled his ship towards the engines, with Slipstream following after him. The both of them charged up their cannons to full power and unleashed every last ounce of laser energy that they had into the engines. The combined efforts of their shots was enough to overload the violet engines, getting them to burst into plasma and fire. The two broke off their attack right before they crashed into the engines, letting out victory cries as they did so.

"One down, two to go!" Slipstream told Updraft.

"Equis one and two, come in," a voice said over the two ponies communication systems. "Whatever you did to that frigate really knocked off its aim. Think you can do that two more times? We've almost cleaned up all of the fighters out here."

"Roger that, we'll begin our second attack," Slipstream replied as she cranked her stick to the left and angled her craft towards the next frigate. "Updraft, I need you to keep the enemy fighters off of me. One more hit and I might not make it out of this battle."

"On it," Updraft replied before his ship broke off of her side and turned around to engage the fighters that had formed up behind them. Slipstream let out a tired sigh as she locked onto the engines of the second frigate, doing her best to ignore the explosions that rocked the space around her ship.

'You've trained for this. You've been shot at by lasers, missiles and even the freaking princess of Equestria. You can do this,' Slipstream thought to herself as she lined up a perfect shot on the engines. A quick glance at her ships setting showed that she had one bomb in her craft, which was to be used in emergencies. 'Well, I'm fairly certain this counts as one of those.'

Slipstream fired the bomb right into the center of the engines, watch with a large smile as the bomb detonated and decimated the shops propulsion. Slipstream sighed in relief as the frigate began to tilt to the side, allowing it to be fired upon by the guns of the Cornerian cruiser. She pulled off her run and rejoined Updraft, who had a daisy chain on his tail.

"Thanks for getting them off of me. Seems that everyone wants a piece of me," Updraft said with a laugh, getting Slipstream to shake her head with a smirk at his words. "Okay, we've got one more of these bad boys left. Let's line up with a few of our fighters and-"

The two snapped their heads to the side as a black vortex appeared in the space over the cruiser, a wormhole the likes of which the pair had never seen. From within the wormhole burst out a single, black craft. The craft was designed like a vulture and mimicked the designs of the other craft. But what drew Slipstream's eyes was the strange, almost tribal style markings that were carved into the ship, markings that glowed in a dark light.

"What the hell is that?" Slipstream asked before the ship that entered through the wormhole began to get work. it dove with a precision that made the pony pilots jaws drop, before it began to open fire on the Cornerian fighters. Three of their fellow pilots were turned to balls of fire before Updraft and Slipstream turned their craft towards the black fighter and chased after it.

"Whatever it is, the pilot behind those controls is like nothing I've ever seen," Updraft snarled as he began to open fire upon the black craft, which began to weave with a precision and speed that made every single one of his shots miss. Slipstream locked onto the engines and fired a charged missiles towards the black craft, only for her eyes to go wide when the ship did a roll and generate red energy around it that disintegrated the blast.

"A particle barrier?" Slipstream asked in disbelief as the ship pulled up and rocketed into the fight going on overhead. "But the only ships that have particle barriers are the Star Fox and Wolf teams! What the hell is that ship doing with one?!"

"I don't know, but things just got infinitely worse for us," Updraft said with a growl as the both of them pulled up and went after the black craft. That was until Slipstream noticed a vortex opening behind the final frigate.

"The pilots the distraction!" Slipstream roared as she rolled her craft down and sliced towards the escaping frigate. Her movements gained her the full attention of the pilot of the black craft, who rolled his ship and dove it straight down after her.

"You're not going to touch her!" Updraft roared as he unleashed a barrage of laser fire into the black craft, but it spun once more and activated the particle barriers to deflect his shots. While it spun it opened fire upon Updraft, blasting one of the wings off of his craft and sending him into a spiral. The black craft placed itself behind Slipstream, unloading violet and red laser fire into the back of her craft.

"You're not going to get away!" she seethed as she weaved in and out of the shots, knowing that she couldn't allow the frigates and the other craft to get away. She was rapidly gaining on the frigate, which had turned to get away from the bombardment of the Cornerian Cruiser, while all of the fighters that hadn't been blown up were flying into the vortex behind the frigate to escape.

A perfectly aimed shot caught her craft right in the wing and tore it from his ship, sending Slipstream into an uncontrolled spiral. With no way to control where her ship was heading she wrestled with her stick to try and pull out of the spiral. But even though she was spinning she slowly realized that her craft was heading right for the vortex, the same vortex that all of the other ships had escaped into.

'Got to pull out! Got to-'

Another shot to her other wing put an end to those thoughts, as she lost all control of her craft. With no way to steer her ship, all Slipstream could do was watch as her fighter spun into the vortex. She felt her body shake as she was thrown through the vortex that traveled across space and time, before a moment later she was shot out on the other end.

Her ship stopped spinning as she was shot out of the wormhole, allowing her to take in the full terror of where she was. Flying high above her was a massive ship, one that was three times the size of the cruiser that she had been on. Much like the black craft that had shot her down, there were strange, red markings all along the hull of the colossal monstrosity that made her eyes shrink.

All around the ship was dozens of other frigates and cruiser, none of which had the markings, but were all equally as terrifying. She couldn't count the number of fighters that flew around the ships, but she knew that the number could have probably rivaled the Cornerian army. It wasn't just a group of mercenaries she was looking at. It was a full fledged army.

But there was one finally item that sunk her soul to a new levels of horror. There was a black cube floating close to the main ship, a cube that was hardly bigger than a frigate. But when she laid her eyes upon it, she knew that it was something to be feared. She could see from the way it pulsed and moved that it was something to cause destruction. It was a weapon to kill. Her only question was how many would it kill.

Then she turned to the side to see the black craft floated across from her, resting in neutral just to the side of her. She pulled once on her stick, only for her ship not to respond. The grim realization sunk in and she turned to look at the cockpit of the craft to her side, unable to look into the cockpit to see the pilot. But she was certain that the pilot could see her, so she made a gesture commonly found as rude in Equestria before she closed her eyes and waited for the end to come.

Then the lasers struck her ship and everything went black.

Great Fox

View Online

"Had to be magic. That's the only way."

Slipstream slowly felt her senses begin to return to her, well before her sense of what was going on did. Her body hurt, but not in a that was a bad idea kind of hurt. For her it was more of a "I almost didn't survive that and it was thanks to dumb luck that I did" kind of feeling. She slowly moved her head to the side to feel pain lance through her neck, getting a small groan out of her.

"Hang on a moment, she seems to be coming to."

She didn't recognize the voices that she heard, but she assumed that's because her ears were making everything sound distorted. Slipstream knew why she was like this. The wormhole, the fight in space and getting blown up by the black craft. What she didn't know was where she was or how she survived. Slipstream cracked open on of her eyes to see herself face to face with the beak of a blue bird that was standing over her.

"GAH!" she yelped before upeercutting with all of her might, snapping the birds head to the side and sending him tumbling to the side. Slipstream shot to her hooves, despite the pain it caused her, and glanced around the room while preparing herself for the fight of her life.

"Whoa there, you're not in danger," an elder looking hare said to her, extending his hands in an effort to and calm her down. Slipstream narrowed her eyes at the hare before she glanced around the room. She was in a medical bay and was now standing on one of the beds. The bay looked different than the standard procedure ones. Slipstream then gave the hare another look, slowly beginning to recognized him.

"Wait a moment...Peppy Hare?" she asked, figuring it was a long shot. "The legendary fighter pilot turned mercenary?"

"Yep. The one and only," Peppy said with pride as he pushed up the glasses on his face. "You've heard of me before?"

"Of course I have! You're a legend in the Cornerian army," Slipstream said with amazement as she lowered herself off of the bed, saluting the hare. "Pilot Slipstream, sir. It's an honor to meet you."

"At ease, kid. There's no need for any of that on board this ship," Peppy said with a laugh before he looked over at the blue falcon who was getting back up to his feet. "I see that you've already introduced yourself to Falco, but perhaps the two of you can try once more with less physical contact."

"She punched me in the beak. Nobody gets to punch me in the beak," Falco growled while rubbing the side of his face with his feathered hand.

"Drop it Falco, she reacted in a way I think any of us would have if we found ourselves in her situation," Peppy said to Falco, who didn't lose the anger in his eyes but did back off slightly. "Sorry, he hates it when his pride gets wounded. Nice uppercut by the way. You're from the Cornerian army, huh? Strange..."

"What's strange about that, sir?" Slipstream asked while making sure to keep an eye on Falco. Now that she wasn't prepared to fight for her life, she took a moment to take in the two beings she was in the room with. Peppy Hare was a legend and he looked like one. He was an elderly hare, but still held himself in a professional manner. Falco was a little more unnerving. He wore a red flight suit that covered ninety percent of his body, except for his hands and head. Twin blasters hung from each of his legs, while Slipstream could see from the way he held himself that he was a cocky guy.

"What are you looking at?" Falco asked Slipstream with a look.

"Apparently not much if one punch is all it took to bring you down," Slipstream shot back with a smirk.

"Heh, think you're tough stuff because you caught me off guard? How bout we head down to the training room and see just how tough you really are?" Falco asked as he began to stretch his fingers, but before Slipstream could say anything Peppy moved between the two of them.

"Alright you guys, cut this out now," he said in a bit of an annoyed tone. "Falco, it's a miracle that Slipstream here is alive, so try to be nice. I know that might be hard for you, but for the mean time she's stuck with us."

"Um, what do mean by that, sir?" Slipstream asked, not liking the tone in the elder pilot's voice. "Actually, where am I? What sector of space am I in and where is my ship? I need to get back to the Cornerian army as soon as I can or they're going to worry."

"Woo boy, she has no idea, does she?" Falco asked before a look from Peppy shut him up. Peppy the moved Slipstream back to her bed and got her to sit down, before he removed his glasses and began to clean them.

"We found you floating in space in an uncharted part of the cosmos," Peppy told her before wiping off his glasses with a wipe. "No ship, except the few remains of one that might of been yours."

"Wait...I was just floating in space?"

"Yep and with none of the usual signs of freezing, suffocation or the other dozens of things that happen when somebody is in space without a suit," Peppy informed her. "Nothing except for a layer of violet light that covered your entire body. When we scooped you up the light vanished, but we have no idea what it could of been. For all we know it was magic."

'Violet magic...Princess Twilight,' Slipstream realized with a thin smile, realizing what the princess must have done for her. Then her eyes widened as the realization that her ship was gone sunk in. "So you found me floating by myself, right? Darn it all, that means they got away!"

Falco and Peppy shared a look. "What do you mean they got away?"

"Before you found me, my cruiser was attacked by a group of unknown ships. Bird like designs with strange crystals on them," Slipstream told the two, never seeing how their faces darkened at her words. "We managed to fend off most of them, but then one showed up that changed the course of the battle. A black craft with red markings on the side."

"Go on," Falco said in a serious tone.

"They tried to escape into a wormhole and I went after them, trying to cut off their escape," Slipstream said as the memories came flashing back. "But the black craft shot me out of the sky. I tumbled into the wormhole and came out in front of what I assume was their entire fleet. They have a massive main ship that's three times the size of any cruiser, as well as dozens of smaller battleships."

"But there was something else. A massive, cube looking object that held within it a power the likes of which I've never felt before," Slipstream said with uncertainty, but the looks of Falco and Peppy's face made her begin to sweat. "I...only got to see it for a moment, before I was shot down. Then I woke up here. That's...all I've got."

"She's seen the weapon. Hell, she's seen their entire freaking fleet," Falco said to Peppy with disbelief on his face, sighing as he rested his head against the wall. "Things just got a whole lot more complicated."

"What do you mean?"

"I knew that they were growing in power, but to think that they already had a ship of that size," Peppy added onto Falco's words, neither of them seeming to remember the pony that was in the room. "But if the weapon is already operational..."

"It can't be or else they wouldn't be hiding it," Falco cut him off with a shake of his head. "This is the fifth Cornerian craft that they've gone after. They hadn't gone after the colonies, nor any planet with living beings on it. Only the Cornerian bases and ships. They have a target."

"Wait, the ones that attacked me have been attacking other Cornerian ships and bases?" Slipstream asked, getting the attention of the two again. Falco and Peppy shared a look and a silent conversation went on between the two, before Falco held up his hands and sighed.

"Fine. We take her to Fox. See what he thinks of this whole mess," Falco agreed, getting Peppy to chuckle before he looked at Slipstream.

"What's going on?" Slipstream asked in a nervous tone, the stress of the situation finally starting to get to her.

"You've come across something that we've been hunting for three months now and you are our first lead to finding it," Peppy told her before Falco opened the door to the med bay, motioning for Slipstream to follow him. "He'll take you to our captain. Don't worry, he's a great guy and-"

"Fox McCloud? Yeah, I've heard of him. Everyone has heard of him and the StarFox team," Slipstream said with a small laugh. "Andross, the Aparoids and the Anglar Empire...who hasn't heard of those exploits?"

"Well, then that makes this a lot easier," Peppy said before he followed Falco to the door, with Slipstream tentatively following after him. "Come on, kid. Time to meet the legend."

S |>

As the doors opened to the bridge Slipstream found herself looking over her flight suit, making sure there weren't any spills or stains on it. She normally didn't fuss so much over her outfit except for military meetings, but this was a different situation. While the Cornerian forces did consider StarFox a mercenary group, they had saved the Lylat system plenty of different times. They were a big deal. And she was going to meet their leader.

Falco and Peppy stepped out onto the bridge first, with her tentatively following after them. She was too nervous to look at the captain's seat right away, so she glanced off to the side. Near one of the control panels stood a small frog in a yellow jumpsuit, who seemed to be hard at work trying to get the thing working again and having issues doing it.

'Slippy,' Slipstream thought to herself before she glanced at the other side of the bridge to see a large, goldish robot at work near the navigation controls. 'Rob.'

She then dared a glance at the captain's chair, only to find that the captain wasn't alone at the helm of his ship. Standing to the right of the chair was a being that looked similar to a fox, but had an aura about her that made Slipstream slightly nervous. Her fur was blue with white along the face, while her eyes were a piercing blue. She wore a skin tight blue body suit, with a white jacket over her torso along with white grieves on her boots that went up to her knees. Attached to her back was a rod of some sort, with a strange looking gem in the top of it.

'Krystal. The last Cerinian,' Slipstream thought to herself, only for her eyes to go wide when Krystal nodded with a smile.

Then there was the legend himself. The captain's chair turned around to face her and instantly Slipstream was able to recognize him. The light brown fur, the white jacket over the green body suit and the metal grieves designed to keep the blood flow to the legs at minimum when in a dogfight. There was no doubt in Slipstream's mind that the being that sat before her was the legendary Fox McCloud. For a brief moment all Slipstream could do was stare in awe, before Fox smiled and crossed his arms.

"So, you're finally awake," he said with a small laugh, one that snapped Slipstream out of her awe. "Got to admit, you caused quite the commotion when we brought you on board. Heck, if it wasn't for Krystal we never would have found you at all."

"I-is that so? Then thank you, Krystal," Slipstream said with a nod to Krystal, who nodded in reply.

"Honestly we were surprised to find a crashed ship so far out in the middle of nowhere space like this," Fox continued on, but Slipstream slowly became aware that he was studying her. "Unless you didn't crash and got shot down, like Rob said you did by looking at the remains of your ship."

"You're correct, sir," Slipstream said as she regained her composure. "I was shot down, by the forces that attacked my cruiser on our way to Corneria." After she said this, Fox flashed Peppy a look.

"Yep, that's right. She was shot down by the same guys that we've been hunting these past three months," Peppy confirmed for Fox, who let out a sigh as he slid down his chair slightly. Krystal placed a hand on his shoulder and Fox sat back up while placing his hands together.

"Anything else?"

"She also says that she saw their fleet as well, including the weapon," Peppy finished, getting Fox's eyes to widen with shock. Slippy and Rob walked over to the rest of the group and stood around Slipstream, who was suddenly aware of how many eyes were on her.

"Are you certain of what you saw?" Fox asked her in a dead serious tone, one that made Slipstream's throat dry up. "You didn't think you saw it or mistook a group of mercenaries as a possible fleet?"

"She saw those who we are hunting," Krystal cut in before Slipstream could answer, turning all eyes to Krystal. "Her memories of the ships and craft that attacked her match the information that was given to us by General Pepper. And yes Fox, her memory of the weapon is a perfect match to what we've been told. Including the sense of fear that Pepper felt when he first saw it."

"Um, how do you know that?" Slipstream asked, but Fox took control of the conversation once more.

"Slipstream, right? You're one of Equestria's first space pilots?" Fox asked her, waiting until she nodded before he continued. "Alright, so you're a bit out of the loop. If you haven't heard, there's a new evil threatening not just the Lylat system, but all of the systems in the galaxy."

"Of course there is," Slipstream replied dryly, getting Fox to smirk.

"I feel the same way. Only difference is this isn't an army of monkey's trying to take over the planets or an army of bugs just trying to assimilate everything. These guys have a single target. Anything related to Corneria and their forces is their target. They're smart, they're fast and they're almost impossible to track. In fact, no Cornerian force has survived contact with them...until now."

"Wait, so my cruiser was the first to survive an encounter with these new enemies?" Slipstream asked, only for Fox's face to become clouded.

"No, I meant that you are the first Cornerian pilot to survive an encounter with them. We don't know the fate of your cruiser," Fox told her, getting Slipstream's face to fall. "Right now we're way out of range to communicate with Corneria or our allies. We're in uncharted space and have to be ready for an attack at any time."

"Updraft..." Slipstream whispered to herself, before her fear was taken over with her rage and she stood up straight with a glare in her eyes. "Alright, I'm in. I'll do whatever I can to help you guys out a stop to this threat!"

The entire StarFox team gave her a look after she said this, but Slipstream didn't back down at all. After a moment passed, Fox let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair and placed his hands together. "Are you sure you know what you're getting into? The reason we take missions like these is because the Cornerian forces realize that it could be a suicide mission. Only our raw skill and teamwork has gotten us through some of these missions."

"Fox McCloud, sir, may I speak freely?" Slipstream asked.

"Go right ahead. Everybody else on this ship seems to," Fox said with a look at Falco.

"I signed up for the Cornerian forces not because I wanted to make my way up the ranks or anything like that. Is signed up because when I read about the worlds beyond my own and all of the tragedy that has faced the stars, I wanted to do something to put an end to that evil. I am out her to fly, to fight and to stop those who want to harm others. That is my duty," Slipstream said with conviction.

"And right now I am far from my squad and my friends. But I am also with the greatest team of miracle workers in all of space. If there are forces attacking other Cornerian forces, my family, then I want to be with the team that I know can bring them down once and for all. I am not asking to help you guys. I am demanding it."

"Heh, not bad," Falco muttered under his breath while Fox pondered over her words.

"You've got conviction, I'll give you that," Fox said with a nod. "But I don't know that you can keep up with us in an actual battle. You say you're a pilot, right? Well then how about before I agree to letting you temporarily join with my team, you show me just how good you are? Because if I don't find your flying skills up to our level, then I can't have you watching our backs against a foe like this."

"I am perfectly fine with that, sir," Slipstream said with a nod.

"And even if I find your skills satisfactory, I'm going to need each member of my team to sign off on the idea as well. you won't just be out there watching my back, but all of ours. If they're not okay with you, then I can't be either," Fox continued on.

"I am also perfectly fine with that. But I promise that I won't let any of you down," Slipstream said to the entire group. Peppy nodded with a smile on his face, while Falco just shrugged. Slippy gave Slipstream a smile and thumbs up, while Krystal simply nodded.

"I hope you don't. Falco, show Slipstream around a bit before we take her to the simulation chamber," Fox instructed Falco, who groaned as he rolled his eyes.

"Why do I have to babysit her? Can't you get Slippy or Peppy to do it?" Falco asked.

"Slippy needs to prepare the simulator and I want Peppy up here with me and Krystal as we go over this new information," Fox instructed with a smirk. "Besides, you're both fliers, right? Birds of a feather and all that. I'm sure you'll get along just fine."

Falco cast a glance at Slipstream, who extended her wings and flapped them a few times. Falco rolled his eyes once more before motioning for Slipstream to follow her, which she did so along with Slippy. Fox waited until all of them were out of the room before he glanced up at Krystal, who was still looking at the door where the group had left.

"Well?" he asked her.

"Her story, along with her motivations, all check out," Krystal informed Fox, who let out a small sigh of relief before he turned his chair back around and faced the forward screen. He pressed a few buttons on the controller on the arm of his chair and brought up what few images they had of the forces they were hunting, which the StarFox teamed had called the "Ghosts". "She truly wishes to stop these forces and bring honor to both Equestria and the Cornerian army."

"Well it's nice to finally pick someone up whose completely honest with us," Fox muttered before he stopped on a blurry image of a black craft that was firing upon a Cornerian supply depot.

"That's the one," Krystal confirmed for Fox, reading his thoughts. "That's who shot her down. The same pilot who knocked your foolish rear out of the sky."

"If she went up against him then it's a miracle that she's still alive," Fox said with an impressed tone.

"It's a miracle that you're still alive, you idiot," Krystal replied, getting Fox to smirk as he shook his head.

"I went in a little cocky. It won't happen again."

"Good, because Falco's tired of cleaning up after all your messes," Krystal informed Fox, who looked up at her. "Well, he was thinking it."

"Ugh, I get no respect. How come it's only to Cornerian pilot that calls me sir and shows me some respect?" Fox asked Krystal, who let out a laugh as she rested her arms on Fox's shoulders.

"She just hasn't been here long enough. Trust me, after a few weeks she'll be mocking you like the rest of us."

The Team

View Online

"Okay, Slipstream, since you will seem to be staying with us for the time being, I have been unceremoniously tasked with showing you around our ship and all the neat little things about it," Falco said as he pulled up a hologram of the blueprints of the Great Fox. "Here's the quarters, here's the training area, and here's the hanger. There, everything you need. Now if you excuse me..."

"Falco," Slippy said in an annoyed tone, getting the bird to let out a sigh as he cut off the hologram. He started to walk off and Slipstream followed after him, with Slippy walking beside her. "Don't take his aloof attitude personally. Falco seems to think that the more of a jerk he is the cooler he'll look. All it does is make him come off as a arrogant jerk."

"Don't worry, I've dealt with somepony like that back when I was in flight school," Slipstream replied with a nod to Slippy. "Slippy Toad, right? The engineer of the StarFox team?"

"Wow, you actually know who I am? I'm flattered," Slippy said with a smile as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Of course. StarFox is essentially the heroes of space at this point for all the good they've done," Slipstream explained to Slippy, whose smile grew even wider.

"So why didn't you recognize me, then? Because I'm fairly certain that you didn't punch any of the other members of the team in the face when you first met them," Falco asked in an annoyed tone.

"To be fair, I punched before I thought. You have a very punchable face," Slipstream replied with a thin smile, getting Falco to scoff before he turned around.

"I was looking over what was left of your ship and I've got to say that I'm amazed you managed to survive contact against the Ghosts in that piece of junk," Slippy told Slipstream, who gave him a baffled look.

"Piece of junk? What I flew was one of the most advanced ships in the Cornerian army," Slipstream said with some heat, getting Slippy to put up his hands with an apologetic smile on his face.

"I didn't mean to insult you. Again, the fact that you could fly so well in one of those shows just how skilled you are. But by our standards here at StarFox, those ships are a piece of junk," Slippy informed her, getting Slipstream to look at him curiously. "Well, even if you don't believe me now, you will after you get a chance to pilot a simulation of one. Good thing you were telling the truth earlier, though."

"Why is that?" Slipstream asked, but before Slippy could answer Falco walked between the two.

"Because Krystal can tell when you're lying, so if you were a spy or anything like that, we would have blasted you back into space," Falco told the mare bluntly, getting Slipstream to raise an eyebrow. "Krystal is our residential master of the martial arts and telepath. She's not only the best fighter out of any of us, but due to her mental abilities she's great at discerning if someone is friend or foe."

"Hard to imagine that there would come a day when you'd admit there was somebody better at you then something," Slippy prodded Falco, who shrugged in resignation.

"What can I say? If it was straight martial arts alone, I might have a chance, even with that staff of hers."

"I thought that was a rod. And what do you mean straight martial arts?"

"Collapsing staff. It's one of the few things she has left of her home world," Falco explained. "And again, Krystal is a telepath. You ever try to fight someone that knows your every move? It's practically impossible to fight her one on one. Also I think she's developing telekinesis, but I'm not certain."

"Wow, that doesn't sound anything like I've read about," Slipstream muttered before looking up at Falco. "Would you mind telling me more about the team? I only know what I've read and that was a few years ago."

"Alright, but there ain't much to say. I'm the most handsome out of the group, the best flier and all around the greatest shot in any world. Fox is alright, Krystal is Krystal and Slippy does machines. Peppy sometimes yells at me, but I've learned to tune him out."

"Wow, you weren't wrong about him," Slipstream said to Slippy, who nodded with a smirk. "That is full blown arrogance."

"Who's being arrogant? I was just giving you a brief idea of our team," Falco said defensively before he sighed in frustration. "Fine, I'll explain in full detail, so get out your notebook and write this stuff down."

"Fox, as you know, is our leader during combat. It's what he does best. I'm a better pilot, Krystal's a better fighter and Slippy can drive a tank like nobody else, but Fox can do all of them exceptionally well. He's also great at making the right decision in the heat of battle. But he's all both a great guy and somebody I'd trust when everything's gone to hell. I'd probably follow him into hell if that's what it came down to."

"What do you mean leader during combat? Isn't he your leader all the time?" Slipstream asked, getting Slippy and Falco to share a look and laugh.

"Well, he used to be. But recently, whenever we're not in combat, we have kind of a...dual leadership," Slippy admitted with a small laugh.

"What Slippy means is there's only one force in all of the galaxy that can make Fox bend over backwards and that's the blue vixen you met earlier," Falco said with a smirk. "She's his second in command, but sometimes we forget whose supposed to be in charge."

"Not that it's bad though, Krystal's a really nice person and can often tell when we're getting too emotional in our decision making for our own good," Slippy added on.

"Then of course you've got old Peppy Hare, who's SUPPOSED to be on retired leave right now, yet here he is back in the thick of things with us hoodlums," Falco continued on, opening a door for the group and leading them onto an elevator.

"I know about Peppy. He was a legendary pilot back in the day and still continue to be one of the greatest navigators and tacticians in the galaxy," Slipstream added on, getting a nod from Falco.

"And he still is. Don't let his age fool you, if you lower your guard against him in a dogfight he will shoot your ass out of the sky," Falco said with hints of respect in his voice. "His daughter is a teacher and is constantly trying to get him away from us. Nowadays whenever she calls it's just to yell at us for endangering him."

"But the only time Peppy says he feels alive is when he's being shot at," Slippy added on with a laugh, which managed to get Falco to crack a smile.

"I'm the ace pilot around here, as I already said. Not to mention that I'm pretty good with a blaster as well, if I must be humble," Falco continued on. "I've been Fox's best friend for who knows how long and only recently have lost my status as his most trusted ally. Thanks, Krystal."

"Ah don't be like that, he still trusts you more than anyone else," Slippy replied, getting Falco to shrug. "Slippy Toad here and if you broke it, I can fix it. I've repaired everything from ships to tanks to the heart of a dying star. Don't ask. Aside from my dad, there's nobody in the stars that can match my engineering skills."

"Yeah, just don't expect those same kind of skills to show up if you're every in an aerial battle," Falco butt in, getting Slippy to give Falco a look. "He's always the one with a daisy chain on his tail, screaming for one of us to save him. Honestly I've lost count of the number of times we've had to save you."

"Shut your beak, Falco," Slippy said with some heat before calming down as he looked at Slipstream. "But yeah, I'm not the best flier. But I can hold my own in a ground battle, especially with a tank. You have to come by the hanger later and check out all the cool stuff we've got."

"I will. Thank you for the offer," Slipstream said with a kind smile.

"Krystal...what's to say about her that we already haven't?" Falco asked himself as the elevator opened and the ground stepped out to the ships sleeping and living quarters. "She's smart, tough, able to read your mind and incredibly capable in a fight, be it with a blaster or her staff, which is magic by the way. Something you two have in common."

"Cool."

"Like you mentioned, sole survivor of a doomed world, so don't bring that up around her. She can stop Fox from acting stubborn, which normal would take an act of god, but she's not quite accustomed with an arwing or landmaster yet," Slippy added on. "She's learned incredible fast, but the unfamiliarity is still there."

"And then there's Rob, our navigator and robot best friend. He doesn't do much," Falco wrapped things up with a shrug. "Did I forget anyone?"

"No, I think that's the entire team," Slipstream replied as she thought out the members in her head. "Unless there's a secret member that you guys are keeping from me."

"Nope, I think we're good. So welcome to where we live, relax and bug the heck out of each other when we've been cramped up in here for too long," Falcon moved on, walking past a door and banging on it with hand. "This is our "guest" quarters, where you will be staying. It has a bed and that's it. Nobody ever uses it except when we have family on the ship. And by we, I mean Peppy or Slippy."

"You don't have family, Falco?" Slipstream asked, getting Falco to look off into the distance without answering. "I guess Krystal wouldn't either and I think I read about the betrayal of James McCloud...geez, I'm sorry to hear that."

"How bout we move on?" Falco said, changing the topic as he moved onto another door. "This is my room. Don't go in there, don't touch anything if you do go in there and don't break anything if you do touch anything."

"Why would you warn me about those other things if you don't want me going in there?"

"Because since I'll kill you for going in there, I figure you'll want to touch my stuff before you die," Falco said with a smirk before moving on. Slipstream cast a glance at Slippy, who rolled his eyes with a smirk.

"This is my room here. Careful if you do come in, there's a lot of parts and spare pieces laying around," Slippy warned Slipstream. "I'm always tinkering with things. Helps me to calm down whenever we're in a bad situation or Falco tries to cook something again."

"Why you little...you'd said that you'd never tell the team," Falco said in an angry whisper.

"Slipstream isn't part of the team yet, is she?" Slippy replied with a coy smirk, one that made Falco seethe.

"Moving. On," Falco said as he slammed a fist into the next room. "Peppy's. Filled with books, charts and dust. Nothing special. Krystal's room. Has a pond for meditation within it as well as sand. I wouldn't go in there. She will find out."

"Mind reader. Right."

"Fox's room. Few trophies he's one. Pictures of his family. Pictures of us. One of him and Krystal that he doesn't know I know about," Falco said in a bland tone. "Oh and sometimes it's also Krystal's room when he get's really down. Warning you in advance."

"So wait, they...sleep together?" Slipstream asked nervously.

"Well way to say it out loud and make it awkward for everyone!" Falco said in mock disgust as he threw his hands up. "Look at poor Slippy, you've scared him for life."

Slipstream looked over at Slippy, who was not only not scared for life, but from his expression was starting to get tired of how Falco was talking.

"Okay Falco, thank you for the tour and all, but I think it's time that I take Slipstream to the simulation room," Slippy said to Falco while placing a hand on Slipstream's shoulder, leading her away from the bird.

"Are you sure? I've still got plenty of stories about all the times you guys needed me to save you," Falco called after them, but Slippy pressed a button to open the elevator and helped Slipstream inside.

"So...what did you think?" Slippy asked after a moment of silence.

"I think you guys are really interesting and that Falco has a few screw loose," Slipstream replied honestly, getting a laugh out of the toad.

"Yeah, he does. But his skill is undeniable, so that's why everyone puts up with his attitude," Slippy said before glancing at Slipstream for a moment. "I'm still amazed by the fact that not only are you the first Equestrian pilot, but that you also survived an encounter with the Ghost forces. Pretty busy couple of days out in space, huh?"

"Yeah, its been...something," Slipstream replied with a small sigh. "Trying to not let it all overwhelm me."

"That's kinda what you have to do out here. Buckle down and not let everything get to you," Slippy agreed as the elevator dinged and the door opened. "You know I've only read about Equestria myself, but have never had the chance to visit. From what I hear it's so different than any other world out there. Filled with magic and strange beings the likes of which can't be found on other worlds. I bet it's amazing."

"That's funny. I said the same thing when I learned about other worlds and planets out there," Slipstream replied with a smile, remembering the days back in school when she had to learn about the life out in space. "I wanted to be apart of them, to see them for myself. And now, with the Cornerian army, hopefully I can."

"Haha, well you've chosen then faster route by being picked up by us. We visit new places all the time," Slippy said as the pair of them walked into the hanger. "It's just that most of the places we visit try to kill us ninety percent of the time."

"Sounds like exactly what I signed up for," Slipstream said with a smirk, getting Slippy to roll his eyes.

"You sound just like Falco. Alright, you've flown in...a decent ship, but let me show you the top of the line," Slippy said as he pressed a button on the side of the wall and turned on the lights to the hanger, allowing Slipstreams eyes to go wide with amazement. The arwings hung from the launch rails above her head, allowing her to get an upclose look at the ships.

They were like nothing she had ever seen before. Their propulsion system was beyond anything she had seen or read about in a Cornerian craft, allowing the ships to fly just as fast in the vacuum of space or through rough atmosphere. With a glance she could tell by the wings that the ship was capable of making incredibly tight maneuvers, ones that she doubted she could pull off in her Cornerian fighter.

"You get it, don't you?" Slippy asked Slipstream after watching her stare over the craft with an amazed look in her eyes. "You can tell right away what these bad boys are capable of and how much they outclass what you used to fly, can't you?"

"I...yeah, you were right. Just from a glance I can already tell these arwings far surpass anything I've seen in the Cornerian army," Slipstream admitted with a sigh of defeat, before her eyes hardened. "But they're not the best craft I've ever seen fly. That belongs to that black fighter that shot me down. I've never seen anything like his ship or his flying."

"You're not wrong. In fact, we ran into that guy and some of his forces a few weeks before we found you," Slippy admitted, getting Slipstream to look at him with surprise. "And that black fighter was there. Fox went to engage him while we told him otherwise and Fox got shot down."

"What?" Slipstream asked in disbelief.

"We got lucky that we were battling close to the ground, so Fox was able to eject, but it was a cold realization of what we were up against," Slippy said with a shake of his head. "You should have seen it when we picked him up. Falco was ready to never let Fox live it down, but then we had to save Fox once again from Krystal's wrath. Never seen her so relieved yet so angry at the same time."

"I'm not surprised."

"But anyway, yeah. That black craft is like nothing I've ever seen. It's like it's a mix between metal and magic," Slippy finished as he entered in the instructions for the simulator. "So we've been practicing almost non stop against the data we gathered from it during Fox's fight. But you won't be doing any of that. You'll just be going up against standard enemies, though if you do well enough we'll have you go up against data of some of our scarier foes."

"Thanks for doing all of this, Slippy," Slipstream said as the cockpit to one of the arwings opened up. "It's nice of you guys to give me a chance. I know that I kinda was dropped on you guys out of the blue, but..."

"Hey, this is the StarFox team. None of us here are professional or follow any guidelines. We fly by the seat of our pants and never look back," Slippy said with a smile. "And not to mention with how good these guys are, Fox has been talking about possibly recruiting another pilot to aid us. But you didn't hear that from me."

"My lips are sealed," Slipstream said as she flew up to the cockpit, letting a smile cross her face as she grabbed hold of the flight stick, getting herself familiar with the buttons and controls for a moment before she let the cockpit close around her.

"Now don't worry, I'm not here to see how well you know where everything is or anything like that. I'll talk you through those parts," Slippy said over the comms as the ship came to life and darkness filled the glass around her. "Once you feel you've gotten familiar with everything, let me know and we'll start the trial."

"Alright Slippy," Slipstream said with some anticipation as a wicked smile crossed her face, instantly starting to get a feel for the ship. "Let's see what this ship can do."

S|>

"Geez, that's a big ship," Fox muttered to himself as he, Krystal and Peppy gazed up at the image upon the front screen of the colossal ship with the red markings on the sides of it that the group had pulled from Slipstream's downed fighter. "Not the biggest I've had to fight, but definitely the most menacing."

"You think the ship is big? I'm looking at the fleet that they've got," Peppy said with a whistle. "They have more than enough ships to match the firepower of the Cornerian army and that's without that weapon they've got there in the center."

"And that weapon is what concerns me," Krystal said in a nervous voice as she crossed her arms. "Any other force with a fleet that big would believe themselves to be invincible, but the Ghosts feel the need to have something like that on their side, then they must be far worse trouble than we realized."

"Any idea on what the weapon does? Did her ships cameras get an more data on it?" Fox asked Rob, who shook his head a moment later.

"Pilot was shot down moments later. No more images recorded."

"Curses. Even with these new images and data we have little to go on," Fox muttered as he sighed and leaned back in his chair, his eyes gluing themselves to the black craft moments before it destroyed Slipstreams ship. He began to think back to their battle and how the ship had outmaneuvered him, but he also thought that if he had the chance to battle with it again...

"Absolutely not," Krystal said, breaking Fox out of his thoughts and getting him to look back at her.

"Reading my thoughts again?" Fox asked with a smirk.

"I don't need to to know what you're thinking about. Didn't you learn anything from your last encounter?" Krystal asked him with a tone in her voice that Fox hated to hear.

"I learned that when I attempt to get behind him he likes to roll before cutting his engines to get behind me," Fox replied, only to get a glare from Krystal in response. Before the two could continue their conversation, Peppy walked up to the screen with his eyes narrowed.

"Hey wait a second, I recognize some of the markings on that smaller ship," he muttered while stroking at his moustache. "Yeah, those markings belong to a group of mercs that hang out in the Nebulan system. There's an old outpost that they've turned into a place for scum and villainy."

"Then we have our heading," Fox said as he sat up straight in his chair, grateful that Peppy had cut off his argument with Krystal. "Krystal, go get Falco and Slippy, as well as Slipstream. Finally, after weeks of nothing, we finally get a chance to get back into the action."

"Fine Fox, but we're not done having this talk," Krystal informed Fox as she left the room, getting a chuckle out of Peppy.

"She doesn't let anything go, does she?" Peppy asked.

"Nope. And now that we've got a lead on these Ghosts, I don't plan to let it go either."

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The ship turned at a thought. Boosted when she needed it to. Performed every single action she ran it through without so much as a moment of delay. Slippy was right. This starship was far beyond anything she had ever flown before.

"How's it feel?" Slippy asked over the comms.

"It flies like a dream, except even my dreams don't fly like this," Slipstream replied. "The handling's incredible, everything is state of the art and you somehow managed to get the right balance between speed and power. I've never flown anything like it!"

"Glad you like it. Try not to get it blown up," Slippy said.

Slipstream put on her game face as the simulator came to life...and immediately threw her in the middle of a raging war. Gunships everywhere, lasers painting the sky and enough explosions to illuminate all of space. She had a moment to take in the scope of the battle. Then the lasers started flying at her.

"Here's your mission, Slipstream. Those ships are guarding something on that planet down below. Get down there and figure out what they're trying to protect," Slippy ordered.

"On it boss," Slipstream replied. She pushed the Arwing forward and flew into the battle. Slipstream was confident in her reflexes but even they were being pushed to the limit from the sheer scope of the battle. Needing a target, she focused on one of the bigger gunships that had taken the center of the barricade. The Arwing unloaded with its canons, a laugh escaping her lips when the ship went down in a short barrage.

"One down," Slipstream muttered. Lasers whipped past her head and brought to her attention that she now had a daisy chain on her tail.

"This is what Falco calls the Slippy special," Slippy chimed in. "As much as I loathe the name, it is an apt description of a situation we find ourselves in often. How are you going to get out of this?"

Slipstream smirked before she whipped the ship around one eighty and fired a short burst into the oncoming fighters, tearing them to shreds.

"Smart. Practically no G's in space, so you can perform moves like that without issue. You're clever."

"I've had a lot of practice," Slipstream replied.

Now every fighter was focused on her and came raining down. Even with her skills, she couldn't avoid all of the laser fire that rained down upon her. Alarms started screaming that she was close to screwed and Slipstream knew she needed to do something quick.

"Do a barrel roll!" Slippy suggested.

"What? How would that help me in this situation?!" Slipstream asked.

"Spin! Just do it!"

With nothing to lose, Slipstream spun the ship and found to her amazement that as she spun a barrier formed around the Arwing that deflected all of the laser fire. Now that she had the fire off of her for a second, she kicked in the thrusters and raced ahead of the spacecraft.

"See? Spin to win."

"That was not a barrel roll. That was an aileron roll," Slipstream pointed out.

"What? No. Peppy's the one who came up with that move. Are you telling me that he doesn't know the difference between an aileron and a barrel roll?" Slippy asked. Slipstream could practically hear the smirk Slippy had before a laser nearly caught her engine, snapping her back into the fight.

A red circle with a B on it caught her attention and she knew what to do. With the last of her thrusters she raced ahead to snatch up the bomb, before glancing over her shoulder at the sea of starfighters that were on her tail.

"Got a power bomb, huh? Wonder if that will be enough?" Slippy casually said.

Slipstream knew he was right. Power bombs were strong, but not destroy all those fighters strong. Then she looked forward at the blockade of flagships that were moving to block her way. And a smile crossed her face.

"Hey Slippy, what's the average IQ of your standard henchmen?" Slipstream asked.

"About negative six. Why?"

"Watch."

Slipstream gunned it and rocketed towards the flagships, with the sea of starfighters still on her tail. Dodging the fire from both the starships and the gunships was tough enough, but then she realized that the gunships were trying to ram into her as well. But that suited her needs just fine.

She turned her ship sideways and flew dangerously close to the side of one of the gunships, a passing glance confirming that most of the other craft had followed her. The other gunships were still firing at her, and in turn their own ship, meaning that all eyes were on her. But more importantly, they were all closing in on her. Slipstream took aim at the gunships engine, smiled and flicked the trigger.

"And away we go."

The power bomb flew out of her ship and struck the gunships engine head on. The explosion detonated the engine of the gunship, which in turn detonated the gunship, which in turn created a colossal explosion that decimated everything nearby. The Arwing Slipstream was flying was fast enough to get away. All of the ships that had been chasing her were not.

"I cannot believe that worked," Slipstream chuckled as she looked back at all of the destruction that she had caused.

"I wondered where you were going when you asked about their IQ but wow, even I wasn't expecting that," Slippy added.

"Like moths to a flame," Slipstream said. The remaining gunships started to fire upon her once more, snapping her back into the fight. "Welp, time to go."

Slipstream fired the thrusters and headed down towards the planet, ignoring the other gunships. While she could take the time to destroy them, that wasn't her primary mission. And she had a feeling that she was being graded not just on how many ships she destroyed, but on her time as well.

"Pretty good flying out there, Slipstream. You dealt with the blockade far better than I thought you would," Slippy said. "But don't get too comfy. This is where the real mission begins. See that giant, bottomless chasm that extends into the heart of the planet?"

"Yeah?"

"That's where you're going."

S |>

"Did the clearance go through alright?" Fox asked.

"No, but the cloaking system is holding up, so we've made it into the Nebulan system without being detected," Falco replied.

"I'll take it," Fox said.

This wasn't his teams first tripped to the Nebulan system. The Star Fox crew had come here many times over the years. Once upon a time, they had even been welcomed here. But with assisting the Cornerian army repeatedly as well as the galaxies tightening down on crime, the Nebulan system had become a far more hostile and unwelcoming place. Especially to the group of heroes that had helped to clean the galaxy up.

"So where we heading, captain?" Falco asked in a mocking manner.

"The Pit," Fox replied. "If there is any place in all of space that would hold any clues about our mysterious fighters, it'll be here. All information eventually sinks down to this place, and there are plenty of loose lips."

"The Pit. Wow, there's a name that takes me back to the old days. Illegal races, smuggling and fights from day to night. Man, that place used to be so much fun," Falco chuckled. "So are you going to go down all by yourself, because I bet you'll be real popular down there."

"He makes a valid point, Fox. You cannot go down there. They will tear you apart on sight," Krystal agreed.

"You think I couldn't fight my way through the Pit?" Fox asked.

"Hardly, but we are not here to fight, we are here for information. And if we go down guns blazing, there is a chance that whoever is holding the information we need will slip out while you're wrecking the place," Krystal stated. Fox nodded in agreement. "You cannot go down."

"And neither can you," Falco added. "Sorry K, but you're just as recognizable as Fox is at this point. More so, considering that you're the last Cerinian. And if they see you, they'll know that Fox can't be far behind."

"Okay Falco, so if both Krystal and I are sitting this one out, does that mean you'll be going down alone? Or are you going to take Peppy or Slippy with you?" Fox asked.

"As if. Both of them would just hold me back. I'll go down, find your guy, find your info and be back before anyone has a chance to recognize me. Though that could be pretty tough, considering I'm the greatest and most handsome flier in the galaxy."

"Unless you trip over your massive ego," Krystal muttered. Falco shot her a look.

"Falco makes a valid point. You and I can't go down and I'm hesitant to send Peppy or Slippy down. Especially after what happened last time," Fox muttered. He crossed his arms and lowered his head for a moment, thinking it over. Then a smile crossed his face as he glanced back over at Falco.

"No way in hell," Falco cut him off.

"Come on, Falco. We're not sending you down there alone and nobody else can go down with you..."

"I'd rather have Slippy watching my back in a dogfight than go down there with her," Falco snarled.

"Fox makes a valid point. Slipstream is an unknown. Not only as a member of Star Fox, but in general. The lowlifes of The Pit would never suspect her to be a member of the Cornerian army, let alone a member of Star Fox. She would be a valuable teammate," Krystal added.

"Hell. No," Falco replied.

"Falco," Fox said seriously. Falco raised an eyebrow at Fox's tone, but said nothing. "We're running out of options. More and more Cornerian ships are being taken out. The death toll is rising and we are no closer to stopping these guys than we were when they first showed up. Right now they're attacking soldiers, but how long until they go after bases? Go after civilians? We need to stop them now, before their skirmishes turn into a full on war. Please."

Falco leaned back, started at the ceiling for a bit before letting out a snarl as he sat back up. "Fine. I'll take the brat. But make it abundantly clear to her that I am in charge of this mission. She will be following my lead and my orders. Any lip and I'll send her back to the Great Fox in a flying dumpster."

"I can agree to that," Fox said. "Go get ready. I'll grab Slipstream. And Falco...thanks."

"Yeah yeah. Can't believe that I went from being the best pilot in the galaxy to having to babysit a magic horse. Can't see where the rest of today goes," Falco grumbled. He got up and walked off to the armory while Krystal placed a hand on Fox's shoulder.

"Fox...while I agree this is tactically the best decision, are you sure it is the right one? Slipstream is an amazing pilot, but she knows nothing of space, of how cold this galaxy can be," Krystal warned. "Sending her into the Pit for her very first mission...is that a good idea?"

"No, but like you said, it's the best option we've got," Fox said bitterly. "If we had more time or more information on these guys, there are a dozen different ways we could go about this. But we're short on both. They have a massive advantage over us and we need to close that gap as quickly as possible. This is the best way."

"Very well. I trust your judgement."

"And besides, she's with Falco. She'll be perfectly safe," Fox said. Krystal gave him a look. "Come on, we both know that Falco would sooner try to fly a turtle than mess up when we're all counting on him. He's cocky, but he'll get the job done and keep Slipstream safe. That I know."

"You place a lot of faith in Falco."

"And with good reason. I trust him with my life. I trust him with all of our lives," Fox said. "He'll get us the information we need."

"But can you trust him to not shoot his way out after he gets that information?"

"Look, no one's perfect."

S |>

Slipstream was getting ticked off. It wasn't the meteors being thrown at her that was doing it. It wasn't the unfair amount of lasers and blasts that were being hurled her way. It wasn't even the black hole that sometimes tried to suck her in when she really wish it wouldn't. Not even who she was facing. She could handle all that.

It was the mocking laughter. The laughter that sounded every time she got hit or made a mistake. And Faust knows she was making a lot of them.

"Just stay calm and focus. It's not that big a deal," Slippy suggested.

"I'm fighting freaking Andross! How is that not a big deal?!" Slipstream screamed in reply.

More meteors exploded around her and the alarm system blared to life, informing her that she had lost a chunk of her wing. Her engines were basically on fire as she had been pushing them past their limit and she had missed every single bomb that she fired. Or rather, the bombs were having no effect on the giant, bodiless monkey being.

"We've fought Andross a couple of times now. Trust me, he's not that big a deal."

"Not that big a...Slippy, you are not helping!" Slipstream snarled.

She whipped the Arwing to the side and fired into the eye of Andross, a dark smile crossing her face as one of his eyes exploded. That smile turned into a look of horror as two, giant hands, which started to shoot even more lasers at her. Her other wing went and the ship started to death spiral, while Slipstream fought with everything she had to keep herself from crashing. To add insult to injury, Andross opened his mouth and started to suck her ship in one last time. Slipstream noticed she had one bomb left and narrowed her eyes.

"You hungry, big guy?" Slipstream asked, waiting until she was directly in front of Andross's mouth before pressing the trigger, firing her last bomb into his mouth. "Choke on it."

The bomb exploded and everything went black...before the cockpit opened back up, letting Slipstream out. Slippy held out a hand and helped her out of the ship, chuckling as she crashed onto the floor.

"Thank you for riding the Arwing experience. You can pick up your photos at the ticket booth. We hope you enjoyed the ride."

"That...wasn't fair," Slipstream managed to spit out.

"Of course it wasn't. Andross never plays fair. That's why it's the hardest test we have," Slippy pointed out.

"Has anypony every passed it?" Slipstream asked.

"Well, it's based off of when Fox faced Andross, so obviously he could do. Falco also managed to pull it off and he did it quicker, but he was so busy celebrating his record that he got caught by Andross's final desperation attack. That was a good day," Slippy said with a chuckle. "But don't feel bad. No one else besides those two have managed to do it. Not Peppy, not Krystal and certainly not me."

"...one day. One day I'll beat him," Slipstream swore.

"I'm sure you will. But until then, looks like you're going to be getting some on the job training," Slippy said. Slipstream followed where he was looking and glanced over to see that Fox was approaching. She snapped up to her hooves and saluted him, getting Fox to chuckle.

"I told you, there's no need for any of that here," Fox said. "Slipstream, I know you haven't been here long, but we need-"

"I'm in," she said. Fox raised an eyebrow, but couldn't hide his smile.

"Really? Just like that? Not even going to hear what I have to say?"

"Knowing team Star Fox, it's likely insanely dangerous, has a near zero percent chance to work and will most likely involve all of us fighting for our lives. I'm in," she repeated with a smile.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far, but you are right about one thing. It is extremely dangerous," Fox agreed. "But if you're sure..."

"I am."

"Alright Slipstream, then time to get ready. You're going on your first mission as a temporary member of Team Star Fox."

Beyond the Stars

by Onomonopia

Equestria's First Pilots

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