The Stars are Not Our Friends

by Zangetsu675

Chapter 8: Warning Shots

Captain Shining Armor and five of his best kept under the cover of a small dust storm as they moved across the arid desert by the cover of night. Moving like this was slow, but if they wanted to get Twilight out of there they had to stay unseen. As the dust storm seemed to weaken the group took shelter behind a large outcropping of boulders.

“Two thousand meters to the target, colts. We need to make this in a gallop. I’ve got point. Heavy Plate, I want you to get our six. Blade Shard, Long Shot, I want you to getting ten and two. The rest of you, on me. Now move!” Shining armor whispered his orders. Each stallion responding with a nod of the head.

The talks had lasted hours, but she had learned so much. Humans were amazing. But they were also one of the most brutal races she had ever seen. Legends from the dragon clan wars had never even come close to the pure devastation that humans could reach. The admiral was right. These humans were monsters in their own right.

Twilight and Admiral walked out of the building and into the cool night air as one of the human soldiers ran up to them and saluted.

“Admiral Von Starke, Sir! There is a message for you from Base HQ, Sir!”

“At ease, corporal. What is the message?”

“Sir! There are six of the natives approaching the wall. They have been identified as forces of Equestria.” He said handing the admiral one of those thin pieces of material.

The admiral stared at it for a moment before speaking. “I want warning shots only. No casualties. Light up the sky with flares so we can see them and they know it. Drive them back with the 40mm Magnetic Accelerators. We will not tolerate them sneaking in.”

The soldier saluted. “By your orders admiral!” and ran off to relay the message.

The admiral then turned to her. “It would seem that your countrymen would rather come to us in the cover of night than greet us bearing flags at our gates.”

Twilight was taken aback. “But why? You have not provoked them! Why would they come here like thieves?!”

“I think it is about you my dear. They fear the worst. Tell me, Do you know these ponies?” He said handing her the thin piece of material.

Once she was actually looking at it, the object displayed an image of six ponies galloping through the desert. She moved her hoof right over the item like she had seen the admiral do, and the image changed to a zoomed in version of the same picture. Here she could clearly see something that made her blood run cold. It was her brother. Her brother was coming for her. Her brother had provoked what was possibly the worst enemy that equestria has ever faced and was running headlong into its claws. “By Celestia, no. Please don't let my brother be killed.” she whispered.

“If only they had come bearing flags instead of ill intent.” the admiral said shaking his head. “I think it would be best if you were to spend just one more day here and then head home princess. It would not do to keep those who miss you waiting over long.”

Twilight shook her head to focus once more. Looking back up at him she asked “I agree. But why stay another day? With things as they are, should I not return sooner rather than later?”

“True, but the day you came to us, you were not the only one injured. One Sergeant First Class Maxwell Valencio was also wounded that day. Saving you no less. His treatment will be finalized tomorrow when he is outfitted with a new body, and i believe you would learn much about us if you saw that process.”

Twilight blushed at the mention of having to be saved, but cleared her throat and spoke anyways. “Yes, that being the case, it would not do for me to leave before thanking him. I thank you for that Admiral. Now if you will excuse me, I need to get some rest” In truth, it was taking all her will to not start pacing right there with worry.

“ I will have Chief Warrant Officer MacAlvery guide you back to your quarters.” The admiral responded pressing a button upon a device on his wrist.
As if on cue, Warrant Officer Macalvery moved around the corner of a nearby building to show her back to her bedchambers.

‘More like a cell but I can't be picky right now’ She thought as she followed him away.

Somewhere in the sky just Northwest of her, three balls of flame lit up the area.

Thier group had barely gone a tenth of the way before the night sky was lit ablaze, bathing Captain Armor in its light.

“Oh, luna they see us!!” He called just before the world around him exploded in dust, dirt and noise.

His ears were ringing. His forelegs ached. He had the coppery taste of blood in his mouth and feel something wet on his side. Heavy Plate was shouting something at the others. Shining Armor felt the grip of some ponies teeth on his collar, before he felt himself dragged to his hooves. He could hear it more clearly now. Heavy was shouting something about pulling back. Shining weakly nodded his head. At that, Heavy tossed him over his back and began to gallop in the direction they came. With his hearing coming back, Shining Armor could hear a thunder in the distance. It sounded like a thousand dragons roaring bloody murder. Then, the crash came again as the ground behind them exploded. It took all the strength he had left in him to hold on to Heavy Plate as the group galloped back away from the aliens camp and the sounds of death raining down. After about a minute of that his world became a flash of white light from Long Shot’s horn then it all went black.

He could tell that she wasn’t all there this morning. It was obvious that something was on her mind, but Officer MacAlvery knew it wasn’t his place to ask. So instead, they walked in silence towards the medical facilities. The building was easily visible from any place on camp, being one of the largest structures. It was adorned at every corner and face of the building with large white flags with red crosses emblazoned upon them signifying its purpose of aid and non-aggression. He knew well the doctors stance on warfare and he wished he could live in the world they wanted. A world filled with peace and prosperity sounded like a paradise to him. But he knew that a world like that had to be built on security first. That's why he had signed up. He wanted to make a world like that for all peoples. To protect that dream was his personal aspiration and he would let nothing stand in its way. Silently he wondered if the violet pony next to him might be the key to all of that.

As they reached the front doors of the facility, Twilight seemed to snap out of her funk and began eagerly looking around. Officer MacAlvery envied her. She had the opportunity to learn so much when all the things around him were so mundane. the rooms upon rooms of Gestation tanks housing the next generation of humans he passed without a second thought as she stared in disbelief. Noticing that she was beginning to lag behind, he slowed down and and started to explain what she was seeing to her.

“What is this?” Twilight asked, her mouth hanging open in blatant awe.

“This,” He said gesturing towards the tanks of liquid. “is the Gestation and Nurturing Center. Here we grow the next generation of humans. We are sterile, Princess. We can not have children of our own. So, here we take the DNA of the best humans to have ever graced our species, along with twenty five percent of the current population, and grow the next generation. These tanks house our young until such a time that their bodies have matured enough to handle the full prosthesis procedures. We take about six earth years for the body to be ready for that. Next, they move on to what you are about to see. But, I would suggest we hurry to that, as the procedure is about to begin.” That got her moving a little, as they continued down the white hallways to the Build chambers. Along the way they passed many more doctors, nurses, and treatment specialists. Twilight stared at every new thing as they went, but never overlong.

Finally, Officer MacAlvery pushed open the double doors leading to the control and observation room for the build chamber. Inside, technicians were seated at consoles all about. Dr. Davids stood in the center of the room monitoring the ever changing numbers on the large monitors. “I trust everything is in order for Sergeant Valencia's procedure doctor. I do hope you do not mind but the admiral has asked me to show our guest the procedure so she might understand us better. “

Without ever turning around or even taking her eyes off of the screens the doctor replied “Yes, I received the message this morning. We are all set and ready on our part. Brain casing and primary organ systems are in place, and the new reinforced skeleton has been assembled. We are ready to begin on your word Chief.”
“Then let us waste no more time. I am certain that the good sergeant is itching to stretch his new legs.”

Officer MacAlvery, Dr. Davids and Twilight stood in the center of the room, their eyes glued to the large screens. As the others in the room stared at the stats and numbers displayed on several of the screens, they instead fixated on the one showing a black orb with an odd cord hanging below it. She watched as mechanical arms came down and attached the tiniest of wires between it and a metal frame resembling a human. As the arms worked, more came in as others left the picture, the new ones now spraying thin strands of red fibers to the metal frame. Slowly the threads began to form muscle strands between the metal. More arms came down and bolted coverings over the new muscular tissues, while others injected some kind of clear gelatin over the chest and rear of the body. The object in the picture now resembled the a much more human shape, but Twilight seemed puzzled.

“Correct me if I am wrong Dr., but wasn’t the one that saved me a male of your species?” She asked.

It was then that the doctor first addressed Twilight. “No, you are correct, Princess. The thing is that all humans start out female. A long time ago when we could have children without machines, the child would start female in the womb. Gender would develop after the body had mostly formed. So when we built machines that could create a new body for anyone it was decided that the base for would be female. However, we have long since gotten over staying just one gender or body type. One of the greatest thing about our bodies now is the fact that we can change our forms at will. Yes, many do decide on a default form to use most of the time, but we can all change at a moment's notice. However we still have yet to work out the reason as to why we can not change the amount of pigmentation in our forms. We are all forever stuck on this one color of beautiful caramel.” she finished with a teasing smile.

They continued to watch as the body was moved by many of the metal arms into a tank of yellowish goo. Once fully submerged, the tank was drained and water took the goo’s place. as they watched flakes of yellow washed off in the water to reveal the same caramell, milk and chocolate tone of skin as every other human Twilight had seen thus far. This time instead of the tank draining, a platform was raised from below to elevate the new human body out of the water. one more set of arms descended and began streaming brown hairs from the top of the new head and then retract. Once all of that was complete, a curved panel with bulbous metal protrusions dropped down and began to glow a bright orange. The residual droplets of water that remained on the body were now evaporated as the panel once more returned to its place in the ceiling of the chamber. Then, as the body was released into a kneeling position, it opened its eyes for the first time.

“Ahhhh, so good to be back. Thanks for the care doc.” it said in a feminine voice. “Now to switch to something a little more my style.” before their eyes Sergeant Valencio’s body rippled and changed, growing about 10 cm taller, his shoulders wider, and his waist slimmer aside from other changes.

From beside him Officer MacAlvery heard a whispered “Whoa!”

It had been a restless night. Captain Armor’s mission had not gone according to plan, what with his squad returning carrying him with back with a broken fore leg, bits of rock in his side, and passed out. Once her best medical team has teleported in to heal Captain Armor, she had questioned them about what had happened. They told her of the roar from the aliens camp and then how the very ground had exploded. They had spoken of the three fires that lit up her sisters night as if it were her own day.

Celestia was at her wits end with the situation. She sat in the main corridor of Twilight’s Castle on one of the crystal benches. Though her sun was high in the sky, the five Elements of Harmony slept peacefully just one set of doors over, tired from the long night before. But the quiet around her did not last. A thundering noise could be heard growing louder and louder just outside the castle.

The main doors slammed open as Lieutenant Heavy Plate burst through them at a gallop through the halls. “Incoming! Ten alien flying craft inbound at our six! All hooves, on deck now! This is not a drill! Let’s move! Let’s move!” He barked. ‘He is adapting to his promotion well.’ Celestia thought. Shaking her head to clear it, Celestia stood to her full height and mentally prepared herself for what might come. “Lieutenant, What is our status?”

“We have thirty hooves here and another two units inbound from the local stations. ETA six minutes. Ten flying alien craft inbound from the south. ETA one minute. All alien craft are flying plain white banners. It is the assumption that this is a peaceful group, but we do not know what to expect. To be honest your highness, we are most likely outnumbered and outmatched.”

“Be that as it may Lieutenant, We shall face these intruders with our heads held high and our blades at the ready.” She said as she began to walk down the hall and out of the castle. She could hear rustling in the room behind her, indicating that the elements had awakened with all the commotion.

Celestia walked out of the main gates with a guard of twenty of her finest marching ranks before her. Overhead , ten huge machines slowly descended from the sky. The force of the wind nearly made her falter in her step as the first of the great metal objects touched down. these flying craft were huge. Each one was the size of a home, and produced more wind than rainbow dash’s twisters. It had a large front protrusion as if the machine was wearing a helmet. she could see an odd cylinder attached to pivots on either side of the front. The main body of the craft came to form a diamond shape with two large cylinders spewing visibly hot air from beneath them. In the back, what looked like a dorsal fin was equipped with two pieces of metal that acted like flaps.

A few of the machines did not touch the ground, instead tossing down black cords that strange bipedal creatures slid down, strange staves in each of their clutches. They reminded Celestia of the Minotaurs with how their upper bodies were built, but their lower halves were odd. Unlike almost every race on Equis, these creatures had legs that came down and bent backwards at the knee instead of the other way around. Their hooves were elongated and clunky leaving marks in the dirt wherever they tread. Their balance was also odd. They had no tail to counter their top weight but stood as straight than the towers of her own castle. They all had strange coverings like the shell of a changeling, but an odd fabric showed beneath the plates. They were obviously soldiers with how they quickly formed ranks. Before Celestia knew what was happening more than sixty of these aliens had descended and formed ranks on either side of the side door of the front craft as it slid open and one of the aliens stepped out. It was obviously an elder, showing clear signs of its age with a grey pointed beard, and a missing eye. It stood double every pony else's height as most of them did, and he even stood a full 30 cm The square jawline and beard had her assuming that this alien was male.

The royal guards around her shuffled nervously, obviously intimidated by this show of force. But what came next Celestial had only hoped for. Twilight stepped out behind the male alien followed by two more aliens. once all four of them had their feet on the ground, one of the soldiers in rank began barking orders.

“Attention!” All of the soldiers straightened their postures and snapped to a stance not unlike her own military. “About face!” the two columns of soldiers turned to face each other as the elder and twilight began down the aisle this made, followed close behind. Her guards slowly parted as the four came up to her.

It was just then that she heard an excited gasp from behind her and a collective exclamation of “Twilight!”