The Stars are Not Our Friends

Chapters

Intro
Chapter 1: Arrival
Chapter 2: Surveillance
Chapter 3: Preparation
Chapter 4: Planet Fall
Chapter 5: Pain and Healing
Chapter 6: Communications
Chapter 7: Something Stronger
Chapter 9: The Past Revisited
Chapter 10: Thundering Guns
Chapter 8: Warning Shots
putting a call out to you all

Intro

“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet.” - Stephen Hawking

Princess Twilight stood on the balcony of her castle and looked through her telescope, feeling like something was amiss. “Spike? Spike?” she called out. “Could you bring me star chart 3A-17?”

“Sure thing, Twilight.” was his response followed by the familiar sounds of shuffling paper. A minute later, a young dragon appeared at the door with a roll of parchment in his claws. “Here you go.”

“Thank you, Spike. Now, let’s see….” Twilight stared at the paper for a few seconds then looked back through her telescope. “No, no, no. This can’t be right… Spike, take a letter to Princess Luna!”
“To Princess Luna? Not Princess Celestia?”

“Yes, Spike.” Twilight said, nodding.

After clearing her throat, she began.

“Dear Princess Luna,

I fear I might be mistaken, but I thought that you had placed the fifth star in the Alpha Quadrant in the upper left corner of the sector, and not in the middle. Have you changed your mind? Shall I remap the star charts for you?

Your Faithful Stargazer,

Twilight”

The little purple and green dragon sealed the letter with wax and sent it in a bright burst of green flame. Not a moment later, Spike’s cheeks puffed up and he let out another burst of flames in a large burp. “Already? Must be a slow night.” he mumbled, as Twilight grasped the parchment in her aura. She broke the wax seal and read the letter. It said one thing very plainly:

“Dear Twilight,

I only place four stars in the alpha quadrant.

Diarch of the Night,

Princess Luna”

-----------------------------------------------Aboard the I.C.S. Maria-----------------------------------------

“Admiral Malcolm!” The Captain stood at attention as he began his report, “We will be within a stable solar orbit in the next 24 hours! Sir!”

“At ease captain. It is good to see our ancestors’ journey finally coming to fruition. This is a cause for rejoicing, not rigid ceremony.” The voice that replied was worn and tired; but it held a trembling anticipation. The three-hundred million humans aboard the Interstellar Colony Ship, “Maria”, as well as the rest of the fleet, had entrusted this momentous task to his bloodline eons ago. 20 megaannus* prior they had set out, the first of the human colony ship, destined for a planet that was then dubbed Kepler-452b. Their mission: to secure a future for the human race among the stars at all costs. Their journey spanned well over three-million generations. But none had forgotten. No, they never forgot. As they remembered the last transmission from Earth, still played every year in solemn remembrance, they pressed on.

The final goodbyes of their home world had been a sad message, as it reported that less than 100,000 members of humanity that remained alive wouldn't make it. The Earth was dead, but they were not. Those of the first colonization fleet would never forget, and so they strove onwards into the stars to make a new life for their race. They had built colonial ships while on the move as the population grew; what was once 3 million people had bloomed to over 100 times that. They had built a military as the threats from space, being the cold, cruel mistress that she is, presented them with too many obstacles.

What was once a single massive ship had become a fleet of 60 ships each the size of a continent or bigger. Each one was armed with mass driver bombardment systems meant to take out entire asteroid fields and chunks of long since desolate planetary debris. Each ship housed no less that 5 million men and women ready and willing to lay down their own lives for the sake of those that their home ship housed.

Inter-ship travel had become common. Now that all ships had united under one banner after a brutal war between three factions that had reduced the population to a mere 50 million. Now, as a united people once more, the journey was coming to a close. But the struggle was just beginning. Admiral Jace Harvey Malcolm knew all too well that things would not be easy for his people after making planetfall. He knew that setting up a new civilization would be tough.

If only he had known the half of it…

*million years

Chapter 1: Arrival

--------------------------------------------The Castle of Friendship-------------------------------------------

“Come on Twilight, let's go to bed already” Spike complained, the small dragon looking sleepy.

“No, Spike, this is too important. A star has appeared that Princess Luna didn’t put there. This could be a huge discovery! What if it's a comet or some other form of debris? What if it's on a collision course with Equis!?” Twilight was starting to get a worried. What if this new star was out of Princess Luna’s control? Was that even possible? Twilight didn’t know but she knew one thing. That star was an unknown, but not for long.

Twilight had set up her largest telescope atop the castle's highest spire. From here she could get a good look at just what that lighted object could be. After finishing the setup, Twilight slipped a ring connecting to the telescope lense onto her horn.

“What's that for?” Spike piped up.

“This is a magic transfer device. It’s meant for me to amplify the magnification of the telescope, and also allows me to project an image of what it’s seeing as an image in the air.” Twilight explained as she began the transfer. What looked like a portal appeared in front of the both of them showing a close up of the night sky. “Hmmm. Spike? Did we double check the trajectory?”

“Actually we triple checked it. It's all right. but all I see is one big bright light.” The little dragon answered.

“Maybe if I zoom in some more…” she said as she strained a little more to output more magic.

The image zoomed in, and what it revealed astounded the both of them “Spike! Quick! take a letter to both of the princesses”

“Already on it!” Spike called out digging in a drawer for more parchment.

-----------------------------------------------------I.C.S. Maria-------------------------------------------------

The fleet had finally achieved a solar orbit aligned with their target. Now the first phase was to begin. “Captian, launch the satellites and have mission control group 1 guide them into position around the planet. Also, have the Ptolemy and the Falcon prep 12 expeditionary squadrons each and hold them on standby.”

“Sir! Yes Sir!” came the captain's response.

Admiral Malcolm pressed a button on the console before him and a small red light began to blink, indicating that the microphone was online. “My fellow humans, long have we struggled to bring our journey to a close. Though none who took the first steps away from our mother earth are still with us, we have finally arrived. The future of the human race is upon our shoulders, and our trials are only now truly beginning. But we must march forward! We must endure! And now, for the first time in twenty million years, we have a home again!”

If the void of space could carry sound, anyone near the fleet at that moment would have been deafened by the roar of cheering that came from every human aboard those vessels. As the cheering carried on though, many of those in charge of the preparations had been busy with the work of launching, guiding, and monitoring hundreds of thousands of satellites. As these satellites came online, one after another, they showed statistics that had not been expected. The atmosphere was indeed made up of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gasses, but it had a much higher iron, and silicate ratio than originally predicted. The planet had liquid water covering about 60% of its surface. it even had vegetation! But what no one had been expecting, was the signs of animal life upon the surface. Not just animal life, sapient animal life! Man-made structures dotted the landscape in some close knit areas, with wide expanses of open land between. extensive forests bordered barren wastes, and clouds seemed to move as if directed in certain areas.

“Captain Valelor, get the the Ptolemy and the Falcon on my com line now!”

Author's Note

Feed Back is always welcome. Let me know how i did and what i can make better. :twilightsmile:

Chapter 2: Surveillance

---------------------------------------------------I.C.S Maria---------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------Orbital Day 1--------------------------------------------------

Admiral Malcolm stared at the monitor without understanding it.“What am I seeing here Dr. ?”

A middle aged man shuffled over from the console displaying the image to explain, “Well this is an image of the particles within the planet's atmosphere magnified by 10,000,000,000 times, And what we have found is just amazing. These are nano-robots, not unlike the ones we use to keep ourselves healthy during this long journey. However we have discovered programming within them that allows the nanites to receive inputs from a nearby subjects own neuro impulses, transmitted by the nanites within the subject's body. They seem to manifest as enhanced strength, some flight capabilities, and telekinetic properties. However extremely high concentrations of the nanites are needed for each given subset that i would seem implausible for one to use more than one of these attributes without further manipulation of the programming.”

“Wait so you mean that the residents of this planet may be able to have super strength, fly, or even have telekinetic powers? Maybe even all three at once?”

“Precisely! If you would allow, Admiral, I would like to study the programming further and maybe even incorporate it into our own nanites systems.”

“Very well! Dr. Framsteg, you will lead a research and development team in reverse engineering these nanites and potentially incorporating them into our own. You are granted access to all weapons research and development facilities, as well as a total of 10 satellites to observe these residents. I will place another 24 men under your command. You have one week.” With this the Admiral and his advisers walked out of the facility.

------------------------------------------------Canterlot Castle-------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------Orbital Day 1--------------------------------------------------

Twilight galloped all the way from the train station to the castle. Both Princess Celestia and Luna had asked her to come to Canterlot after her discovery of the objects in the night sky. Gasping for breath and sweating furiously the newest princess pushed open the doors to the meeting chambers. Already seated inside were all the heads of state and all three of the other princesses. Princess Celestia sat at the head of the table, with Princess Luna seated to her right, and Princess Cadence seated to her left, with her husband beside her.

With a shocked look Princess Celestia asked “Twilight? Why are you so exhausted? Did you gallop all the way here?!”

“Yes, no time for a chariot, and I still need more practice with my wings, but for now we need to get to what I found.” Twilight huffed out. “Ladies and Gentlecolts, we have an unprecedented situation on our hands! It is my firm belief that we are about to have the first ever recorded contact with an extraterrestrial force.” At this a murmur went about the room, before Prince Shining Armor spoke up

“What makes you think this Twilight? I know you’ve never been wrong about this large of a thing before but, I’m a little skeptical at this.”

“I’m glad you asked Shining. Let me show you all what I witnessed last night.” As she said this Twilight's horn glowed with her signature lavender aura as a screen appeared in the air portraying five brilliant stars. “This is the Alpha quadrant of Princess Luna’s night sky, notice what appears to be five stars. Now as princess Luna could tell you, she only ever places four stars in that quadrant.”

“This, I can validate.” Princess Luna spoke up.

“Okay? So what does that mean exactly?” This time it was Prince Blueblood's turn to ask.

“Well first off, it means that it is not a star.” the youngest princess’ aura flared up once more and the image zoomed in to show a fleet of similar looking ships with one enormous one in the center, prompting a gasp from almost everyone in the room. “There are about 60 of these out there. From what I can calculate, each is at least 4 times as big as our entire country. Notice the large spinning bands around each craft. At the speed they are moving I would estimate that the movement of these bands is to produce a force similar to gravity by way of centrifugal force. This leads me to believe that whatever is within those crafts is biological, and with the size and number, we might be looking at a colonization force here.” Twilight finished.

For a moment no pony spoke or even made a sound. Twilight looked around the room and saw many of the faces held a look of fear and confusion. Then Princess Celestia finally spoke. “Twilight thank you for bringing this to our attention. I believe our first priority is for a little research. I want to know where they came from, and just how advanced they are. Twilight I am placing you in charge of this. I want you to lead the Canterlot College of Magic’s department of astrological research and find the answers we need. After that we move on to attempting contact.”

“But what if these being are too far advanced or they are hostile?” asked Fancy Pants.

“Then Mother Faust help us all.” Celestia replied solemnly.

Chapter 3: Preparation

-------------------------------Canterlot College of Magic: Astronomy Dept.------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------Orbital Day 4--------------------------------------------------

Princess Celestia walked into the observatory to the sight of 30 of her brightest Professors and Graduate students working equations and graphs galore on chalkboards. Princess Twilight was running around from Board to board, checking facts and gathering results. Celestia walked up beside Twilight as she stopped moving for just a moment. “How goes the research?” She asked.

Twilight, not expecting any pony, nearly jumped out of her skin. Her papers and clipboard scattering all over the floor in front of her, she stammered out “Oh, Princess, I wasn’t expecting you” as she tried to pick up all her supplies.

“I'm sorry to startle you Twilight, I just wanted to see how things are coming along.” Celestia said as she knelt down to help pick up the papers.

Her supplies recovered, both Twilight and Celestia stood once more, as Twilight began to explain what they had learned. “Well from our calculations, the ships have traveled from a galaxy here.” she said as she pointed to a white semi-circular object on the extensive star map situated on top of the table in the center of the room. “However, we can not identify where in this galaxy they have come from. Due to the shape of the galaxy and the color, we have chosen to name it ‘Pinwheel White’.”

Princess Celestia looked astounded. “How far have they traveled?! No better yet, how long do you think that it would take to get here?”

“Well it is our estimation due to the speed at which they entered our system, that it would have taken them more than 30 million years.” Twilight said, looking a bit astounded at the words that had just exited her mouth. This was a feat that even she could barely fathom.

“Thirty million???? They have been traveling that long???” Princess Celestia almost shouted. “Dear Faust, How can they have lived such a long time?”

“Well considering the size of those ships, we don't think they have; At least not the original ones.” Twilight stated.

“The original ones? Wait, you think that the ones currently on these things are the descendants of those that started the trip?” Princess Celestia just could not fathom this. “to set out knowing that you would never see the results. That is just some grim determination. Just what could have caused theses being to do such a thing? I need to sit down.” Celestia said, sounding overwhelmed.

Princess Celestia walked out of the observatory, leaving twilight to get back to the scientists and calculations.

-----------------------------------------------------I.C.S. Maria-------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------Orbital Day 4--------------------------------------------------

“Admiral Malcolm! Sir!” The captain saluted as the Admiral came on to the bridge.

“At ease captain. How are we progressing?”

“We are right on schedule, sir. Scout teams 3, 8, 9, and 12 have reported back, and Transport Bravo has been settled into the gorge alongside Alpha with minimal detection possibility.” the captain reported.

“Good, good, and have we found a suitable location to begin forward operating base procedures?” the admiral asked as he stroked his long since greyed beard.

“Yes Sir! This desert has an abundance of natural resources, open space and seems to be far enough from any civilizations to be detected for a short amount of time.” he said pointing to a spot on the holographic topical map of the largest continent of the planet. Zooming in to the area the captain continued, “From geographical scans and mineral probes we have concluded that this region also has an untapped abundance of copper, gold, crystal, aluminum, clay, and silica. All of these things would be a large resource boost for us. Not only that, but this location borders on the gorge we currently have drop ships set down in. Our teams speculate that we could get as large of as ship as the Nautilus One down under that fog cover with ease.” as he spoke he moved the map north-west with a swipe of his hand. “This gorge would give us an amazing amount of undetected travel between the desert and this,” he moved the map again “forest so that we might gather bio-matter for the food supply.”

The admiral took in all that the captain had said. “We need to be able to start soon, or resource supplies on metals and plastics may run dry again. How soon could we start gathering these raw materials?”

“Well sir that depends on our subtlety of entry. If we were to just drop a citadel tower and begin FOB procedures we could have supplies back to normal in under three weeks. But, if you need us to be more discreet it may take upwards of two months.”

“Very well, I will think on this and give the order by days end. Carry on captain.” The admiral replied before turning and walking off the bridge towards the main research laboratories.

“Sir! Yes sir!” the captain saluted as the doors shut.

-----------------------------------------------------I.C.S. Maria-------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------Main Research Laboratories---------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------Orbital Day 4------------------------------------------------

Dr. Framsteg was watching the large monitor intensely when Admiral Malcolm walked through the doors of the lab. “Have you made any progress Dr.?”

“Admiral, so glad you came. Yes we have dissected the program but have yet to make it work with our own nanites. From what we can gather, the nanites need to be channeled through some kind of extremity, Satellite surveillance has revealed interesting things regarding this!” the doctor continues to say as he turns back to the monitor and displays several images of odd equine creatures. Some had wings to small to lift their bodies, yet were airborne anyways. Others had an odd lone horn sticking out from the middle of their cranium, some of which were glowing. A third set of images shows equines without either of these attributes. Yet all three sets had one thing in common, every one of these creatures was a different pastel color. “As you can see, all but one set has some kind of extremity that allows for specialized traits. We surmise the third set has the enhanced strength, meaning that it is the default trait given. The question is how do we integrate this into our own systems without the need for mass body augmentations.?”

“What about some kind of glove or wristband?” the admiral interjected. “an object that interfaces with the nanites currently in our bodies from outside the body is already in development down in the civilian labs. We could use that design to attach a control program, thus allowing easy mass production and distribution.”

Dr. Framsteg stared blankly for a second before slapping his hand to his forehead “Doh! Why didn’t I think of that! Occam's Razor! The simplest solution is usually the best one!” the good doctor began to pace in a small line, back and forth as he continued to voice his thoughts. ”Yes! Yes! We could just use the cranial transmitter from the neuro-computer networking implant! This is is brilliant! Hmm…. But the flight controls would need to be hands free….”

“Then maybe we should make motion sensitive straps near the ankles. Would that work?” Admiral suggested again.

“Yes! Genius! This is why we all like you down here sir! Ha Ha! Yes! this should work perfectly! I think that if you could get me those plans by the end of the day, we should have a working prototype in two days!” Dr. Framsteg said as he typed furiously on the console.

“It will be my top priority Dr. .” the admiral said before walking out the way he had entered.

After the door closed, Admiral Malcolm tapped a small implant just behind his ear. “Admiral Malcolm to Bridge. Do you read?”

“ Go ahead admiral. We hear you loud and clear.” came the response.

“Patch me thru to the Head of Dataplex Industries. Priority level one communication.”

“Right away sir!” the bridge officer stated before the line transferred.

Author's Note

I'm really glad you guys are liking this so far! putting out as much as i can, as fast as i can.
Enjoy! :pinkiehappy:

Chapter 4: Planet Fall

-------------------------------------------Canterlot Guard Station 3-------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 7 : 0830 hours-----------------------------------------

Sitting in the confines of a grey stone room normally used for criminal questioning, Captain Shining Armor looked at the teal mare in front of him in disbelief. “I’m sorry Miss Heartstrings, but did you just say you saw them?”

“Yeah, and they were so cool looking too! They were on their hind legs like a Minotaur, and they had this dark grey plating, like a changeling, covering a blue hide underneath. And they had Hands like a Minotaur, to!” The mare rambled on an on.

“Hold on there Ma'am, let me get a sketch artist in here.” Shining Armor said, nodding to one of the guards at the door.

--------------------------------------------------I.C.S. Ptolemy-------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------Main Bridge-------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 7 : 0900 hours-----------------------------------------

Captain Adam Stratos read his orders coming in with a gleeful smile on his face. His crew finally had their orders. Now it was up to him to make sure that everything went smoothly. He stood up and cleared his throat, gaining the attention of everyone on the bridge. “Listen up! We have our orders! The Ptolemy is to be the forerunner of the Forward Operating Base procedures. Helmsman take us down to stationary orbit at 500 kilometers. XO I want all weapons systems trained on the outskirts of the designated drop zone. I want CIC to have the preparation for citadel planet fall completed in the next 30. This is not a drill people! We are now going loud.” As he finished speaking, chatter erupted from the bridge personnel, as they began relaying orders to all personnel around the ship. Captain Stratos turned to his XO after he had finished relaying all orders. “XO relay orders to the recon teams to stay outside both the drop zone and the weapon blast zones. tell them to keep on guard for anything approaching. Have them use warning shots and non-lethal munitions only. We don't want to kill any locals and have a war as soon as we land.”

“Understood sir. Also we were made aware that teams 1 and 5 were spotted.” the XO said.

“That doesn’t even matter anymore. Soon the whole planet will know we are here, if they don't already.” the captain said turning back to the large monitors displaying the drop zone.

----------------------------------------------Ponyville Train Station-------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 7 : 01030 hours----------------------------------------

Twilight walked off the train with her head hung. She had failed. No, they had failed. She and her entire team had been charged with finding out more about these ships, and what little they had found only left more questions. The science was simply too far advanced. How had they made those thing. They were so huge! Just what were these beings capable of? But Twilight couldn't stew in her thoughts for too long as she was greeted by a hyper, pink mare wrapping her up in a hug out of nowhere.

“ OHMYGOSH, OHMYGOSH , OHMYGOSH! YOU'RE BACK! Oh, I missed you sooooo much! Did ya miss me?! Huh, didja?! Pinkie Pie squeed as she bounced up and down while hugging Twilight tight around the barrel.

“Hey Pinkie. It’s good to see you too.” Twilight said, looking up at the pink bundle of joy with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.

“Awwwww! Twi, why are you crying? Come on, don't cry. Here, let's go back to Sugarcube Corner for a sunday. That’ll cheer you up. Plus Spike and all the girls are waiting for us there.” For once pinkie pie looked at her friend in worry.

“Thanks, Pinkie. That might just help.” Twilight said, trying to dry her streaming eyes, as they started the walk from the station into town.

------------------------------------------Planetside Desert Drop Zone---------------------------------------

------------------------------------------(A.K.A. San Palomino Desert)--------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 7 : 01030 hours----------------------------------------

This dessert was surprisingly cool, in fact it was more that it was dry rather than it being hot that had him so thirsty. Sergeant First Class Maxwell Valencio drained the last of his water from his canteen. “Well at least we can get a resupply once the citadel is dropped.” he commented looking longingly at the empty container. The sergeant and his squad of 5 were trekking across the dry, cracked land towards the drop zone. “How far until the target, Evans?”

“According to the GPS, another 1.2 kilometers sir.” Corporal Evans replied, constantly checking the small device.

“Good. We should get quite a show here soon ladies and gents. Drop is at 01100 hours so let's get a move on and get that point secure!” The sergeant said rallying the group's energy once more.

“Sir, Yes sir!” the five Troops behind him shouted, beginning their last leg of the hike.

-------------------------------------------Ponyville: Sugarcube Corner---------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------Orbital Day 7 : 01058 hours---------------------------------------

Twilight sighed, finally having calmed down. Her friends had been there to help comfort her, and the icecream was also helping. Smiling and happy she was content for the moment. Then the noise came. “What is that?! It sounds like the world is burning!”

“Not the world! The sky!” Rainbow Dash yelled, her hoof pointing out the window.

Twilight ran outside and what she saw scared her half to death. A huge object was descending from the sky over the San Palomino Desert. From the looks of it, it was as wide as Canterlot city, and almost as tall as the mountain that Canterlot was build into. Flame shot out of massive ports along the object's body, as large metal plates flipped up from the structure. It trailed clouds of billowing smoke as it seemed to fall in slow motion. Twilight charged her magic as she prepared to teleport to get a closer look. With a determined look on her face she disappeared in a flash of lavender light.

------------------------------------------Planetside Desert Drop Zone---------------------------------------

------------------------------------------(A.K.A. San Palomino Desert)--------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 7 : 01100 hours----------------------------------------

Twilight reappeared well into the San Palomino Desert, much to her alarm. She had over shot. “OH BUCK THIS!!!!!” she screamed as she galloped for her life, the shadow she was in growing ever darker by the second. The ground began to rumble beneath her hooves, the very air growing hot around her. Within the gathering clouds of dust rising from the the earth, Twilight saw a black smudge. She suddenly realized that the smudge was growing closer. “BUCK THIS DAY!!!!” she yelled in equal parts terror and frustration.

------------------------------------------Planetside Desert Drop Zone---------------------------------------

------------------------------------------(A.K.A. San Palomino Desert)--------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 7 : 01100 hours----------------------------------------

Sergeant Valencio was surveying the wide expanse of the drop zone through his rifle's scope as the citadel descended from orbit, when a bright flash of light caught his attention. Zooming the sights in on it he saw on of the equine creatures galloping towards him, and away from the falling tower. “OH FOR FUCKS SAKE!!” the sergeant screamed and bolted off. This was not good. One of the locals in the drop zone? How had this happened? He had to move faster. He had to get there and get that one out! “Limiters off! Pain receptors off!” he commanded, and his bodies neural systems complied. His boots hit the ground again and he was off. His cybernetic functions took over, pushing him farther and faster than any normal being could move. the biological tendons in his legs rupturing, and what few bones he didn't have reinforced powderized. He couldn't feel it but he knew that under the suit his skin was blistering from the heat of the reverse thrusters meant to slow the massive citadel’s descent. He knew that his body would need to be replaced. He had really screwed up this time. First his squad had been seen and now this? He was just another 30 meters out from the creature but, the citadel was only 45 meters up and closing fast.

As he reached it, he scooped it up under one arm despite its struggling and used his old training from his days in boot camp to perform a shuttle and sprint back the way he came. This creature was a purple horse with both wings and a horn. It had a lavender coat with a pink and purple mane. It continued to struggle for about two seconds longer before it looked up in horror. The citadel was only 5 meters up from them and he could tell that the metal beams that made his body move were beginning to turn to slag from the heat. Then the horse in his arms did the last thing he expected. It lit up its horn and they were gone in a flash of light.

Author's Note

Whew! alot of location and time jumping in this one. sorry for all the page breaks that were needed.
but this is how i have been and will be doing time, location and character shifts. i helps me to read it in the old cliche sound effect that movies use when text is scrolling across the screen.

Chapter 5: Pain and Healing

------------------------------------------Planetside Desert Drop Zone---------------------------------------

------------------------------------------(A.K.A. San Palomino Desert)--------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 7 : 1106 hours----------------------------------------

Everything hurt. Her wings felt like they had been broken in twenty different places. Her ribs ached. Her legs felt like a mass of throbbing jelly filled sacks of pain. But worst of all was her hide. She felt as if a million dragons had engulfed her in flames. She could smell the scent of her burnt coat. As she lay there in the settling dust, she knew that she was alive, if just barely.

The sound of a thousand hooves striking the ground droned closer and closer. She could hear them now, these beings who came from the stars. They spoke with muffled voices she could not make out, due to both her hearing being damaged by the roar of the rockets and the strange way their faces were shaped. They had Grey plates all over their bodies with a strange blue hide underneath. Their heads were like a yeti’s, only smaller. Three eyes peered out of those strange faces, one large one in the center and two more angular ones on either side of that. Each eye seemed to glow with a brilliance matched only by the light of the crystal caverns in the northern mountains. These beings didn't seem to have a mouth either. In her semi-coherent state, Twilight wondered if they even ate.

Each one stood tall on two hind legs, taller than even Celestia. Their front hooves, oddly enough, were shaped like that of a Minotaur, only with an extra small digit. Many of them carried objects she did not recognize. Twilight started to panic as they touched her, and one of the creatures responded by placing a tube like object up to her neck. She felt a small prick, and then faded into unconsciousness.

------------------------------------------Planetside Desert Drop Zone---------------------------------------

------------------------------------------(A.K.A. San Palomino Desert)--------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 7 : 1106 hours----------------------------------------

The rest of Recon 1 had seen only their commanding officer run headlong into the citadels drop zone, grab something, and start running back only to disappear in a flash of light. Then he had reappeared fifteen meters west of the group, holding a horse like creature, except they were falling from 20 meters up. As the group rushed over both the sergeant and the creature he had picked up hit the ground with sickening thuds. It was then that the Staff Sergeant stepped up for the first time in the mission.

“Evans, get on comms and get a medivac drop here stat! Jackson, pop a distress beacon and try to flag Recon 7 down for help! Owens, Help me get these two back to the point! We need to stabilize them on the double!” Staff Sergeant Woods barked. Everyone scrambled to do as they were ordered.

The Sergeant and Corporal Owens first lifted their commanding officer and carried him back to the larger stone they were using for shade, and laid him on a bed roll from one of the packs. They then ran back and attempted to do the same with the small lavender horse, but it began to struggle. Owens quickly pulled out one of the tranquilizer needles they had been issued and injected her in the neck. This put the being to sleep almost instantly. By the time they had carried both of them back to the ‘camp’ a drop ship was landing and several medical personnel were rushing over.

With speed that only came with training and experience the medical team moved both of the injured back to the dropship and placed them into large tanks filled with an odd teal gelatinous substance. Instantly, Sergeant Valencio's armor released itself from his form and the blue nanofiber suit dissolved. With his gear out of the way the entire crew could see that the sergeant’s body was covered in angry lesions, blister, and sores. The equine creature was not in much better shape. Most of the coat covering its body was burned clean off, and its wings were bent unnaturally with gaps of feathers missing. Yet before their eyes these were all starting to heal.

“My God! How did these two survive all of this!” one of the medical team exclaimed.

“I don’t know about the horse thing, but Valencio made it cause he’s Valencio.” Woods replied fiddling with the ring on her left hand.

------------------------------------------Planetside Desert Drop Zone---------------------------------------

------------------------------------------(A.K.A. San Palomino Desert)--------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 9, 1246 hours----------------------------------------

Twilight felt like she was floating in the ocean. The pain was gone, her coat felt cool and smooth, and she let herself float there. Then she remembered. She had come back to ponyville only to see the sky burning as a huge thing fell from the the sky. She had tried to teleport closer, but had overshot it. She remembered the pain from the heat, the fear she had at being crushed by such a huge thing. She also remembered the strange creatures. The one that had saved her had moved faster than she had thought possible. With all that momentum, it was no surprise that when he had grabbed her while on the move he had broken three of her ribs.

Only then did Twilight realized that she should have been in pain. Why did it not hurt? She slowly tried to open her eyes and almost freaked out. She was suspended in some kind of liquid, yet she was not drowning. She could see some more of the alien beings outside of the liquid. Were they trying to kill her? Why was she here? Twilight’s might instantly thought of the cocoons that the changelings used and panicked. One one the creatures came over quickly and a drain opened up below her. The next thing she knew, she was out on a cold floor surrounded by these strange beings. Twilight couldn’t take it any more, and she screamed like a filly.

------------------------------------------Ponyville: Castle of Friendship-------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------Orbital Day 9 : 1300 hours---------------------------------------

Princess Celestia sat in the main hall with the five other elements of harmony and spike.

“Why would she just go off like that? It's just not like her.” Rarity said, sounding worried.

Looking around the room Celestia noticed that they all held the same worried look for their friend. “Do not worry my little ponies! I am sure Twilight is alright. Let’s just wait to hear back from Shining Armor and his team.”

“I just don't understand why that egghead would do something so stupid! She’s supposed to be the smart one.” Rainbow Dash looked to be holding back tears of her own while she comforted Fluttershy, who was crying softly into her lap.

Celestia sighed. “That is most likely my fault. I sent her back here once it became clear that we would gain nothing more from plotting the course these alien beings took to get here. I fear that she thought that she had failed me, though.”
"She must have wanted to redeem herself to you." Spike mumbled.

Soon they had all lost the will to even speak, so they sat in silence.

------------------------------------------Ponyville: Castle of Friendship-------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------Orbital Day 9 : 2100 hours---------------------------------------

A loud knocking came from the front gates of the castle. A second later they swung open while surrounded by a golden aura to reveal a coalition of day, night, and royal guards led by Prince Shining Armor. Walking into the main hall the guard troop stopped in front of Princess Celestia and saluted. “Princess Celestia! We believe to have found Princess Twilight's location! She seems to be within the beings camp in the San Palomino Desert, under strict guard.” Shining Armor reported.

“WHAT!?!? THEY DARE HOLD HER PRISONER!!!! I WILL TURN THEM TO ASH!!!!!!” Celestia raged, her aura flaring up around her. Celestia seemed to loom over every pony in the room. Anger flowing from her like heat from a flame.

“LET ME AT ‘EM! I’LL SA------ MHMMFM!” Rainbow Dash began before the other elements pulled her out of the air and placed their hooves over her mouth. Each one held a terrified look at Princess Celestia’s reaction. Every pony in the room did.

Shining Armor shrank back slightly, but spoke up again anyways. “I am not so sure you should do that Princess. We currently estimate over one hundred and fifty thousand of these beings that are already on the ground, and more keep coming in these of flying ships. My men watched a group come in. These are soldiers. And they seem to have a great many engines of war. Each soldier holds some kind of staff, so we can assume that they can all do magic.Not only that, but it seems that they can fly without wings and even their engines of war can fly. And as i said, more just keep coming down.”

Celestia’s aura slowly dimmed as she calmed down. “What else did you learn about them Shining? Do they seem to have any kind of organization?”

“Actually yes. they seem to all hold a few of them in particular above the rest. Unlike the rest who go around in what we can assume to be some kind of armor, these ones wear something akin to our stallions formal suits.They all seem to have been in command for many years and the low ranks follow their every command.” The white stallion said.

By the time Shining Armor had finished speaking Princess Celestia had returned to her normal composure. “Very well. Captain Armor, I hereby order you to find a way to communicate with these beings. Your top priority is to get your sister back safe and sound while avoiding a war. Take however many squads you deem necessary.

“ Yes Ma’am!” Shining Armor and his entire troop said in unison as they saluted and turned to march out the gates.

----------------------------------------------------I.C.S. Maria-------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------Main Bridge-------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 9 : 2200 hours----------------------------------------

“FOB operations are underway and on schedule. All supply ships have returned unharmed; however, the mission was not without some unexpected events. We have one injury from our forces and one civilian injury. Not reported loss of life at this time. Our personnel are caring for both of the injured. Apparently all injuries were sustained when the native appeared in the drop zone and our good Sergeant went out to rescue it. “ Captain Valelor reported.

Admiral Malcolm looked slightly perturbed. “It just appeared?”

“Yes sir. The logs from Sergeant Valencio’s Recon Mk 4 suit clearly show the creature appearing in a sudden burst of light. Our boys in the lab surmise that it may be a form of teleportation or spontaneous wormhole transmission”

“So, these beings have the ability to do such things. Captain relay this to the entire fleet and all ground units : ‘Step up security measures and set motion sensors to detect life forms as small as an earth cat.’” We don't want anyone snooping. Now if you would excuse me, I will be heading down to the surface to personally commemorate and chastise the good Sergeant. Captains Stratos, Riggs and Vance await me; and I don’t like to be late. ” Admiral Malcolm said with a dry smile.

Author's Note

Hey let me know if all the time jumps and character shifts are confusing to anyone.
I welcome feedback. :pinkiesmile:
depending on the feedback the format of the story may change at a later date
Redact: alright. chapter is placed back up. again dont be afraid to give me feedback. :twilightsmile:

Chapter 6: Communications

------------------------------------------Planetside Desert Drop Zone---------------------------------------

------------------------------------------(A.K.A. San Palomino Desert)--------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 11, 0800 hours----------------------------------------

Twilight sat in a room that seemed to be made of metal, yet she could feel their eyes on her. She was a prisoner. No matter how well they treated her, she knew she would not be allowed to leave on her own. Sure they were feeding her well, and she even had a bed in the corner of the room; but the door would not open for her. She couldn’t teleport as she had no idea where she was. and there seemed to be some heavy interference in the detection spell. She had to face it, she was at these beings mercy.

Usually the room was silent except for the sound of her own breathing and an odd rhythmic hum that seemed to reverberate through even the air. As she laid in the middle of the room, books open all around her as she tried to piece together these aliens language. 'At least they gave me a room with some reading material.' she thought to herself. Words she could not make out filled every page. Sighing, Twilight laid her down. She couldn’t make heads or tails of these books and this humming was starting to give her a headache.

Her head snapped back up as she once again heard the sound of the outer door swinging open, then that odd sound before the click of the doors lock. In stepped the same alien as the previous times It was one of the bipedal beings. It wore a blue material she had previously thought to be its hide. But when she had seen the ones after she had dropped from that liquid, she knew that it was some kind of garment. Well , there was something Rarity would love.

The being had smooth hairless skin except the patch of black fur on the top of its head. It’s coloration was like if one were to flawlessly mix chocolate, cream, and caramel together to form a single concoction. It had small, forward facing eyes that seemed to look at her in both curiosity and bated hostility as if not sure whether to consider her a threat. It’s body was covered from the head down in a dark blue garment remiss of the formal clothing that was worn by Canterlot high society members or the dress uniforms of the upper ranks of the military with gold colored embroidery at the end of the sleeves and at other places on the coat. Twilight knew soldiers when she saw them, and these creatures most definitely were ones. They carried themselves with an air of unwavering command that only the Solar and Lunar guards showed. It was as if each and every one of them she had seen was the elite of their society. At this she found herself wondered just how violent these creatures could be. She shuddered at that thought.

Yet again it had come holding several large pieces of paper with strange writing on them. She couldn’t read them no matter how hard she tried, but some were similar to those in the books. Each time the writing was different and the alien seemed to grow more and more desperate. Twilight shook her head whenever she couldn’t read one of the pages, and the alien seemed to understand that at least. When the the being had run out of new papers to show it hung its head. Once it was standing up though, something Twilight didn’t expect happened. It spoke. Instead of knocking on the door like usual it spoke.

“Okay, Corporal let me out. This is hopeless.” The being called through the door. But before the corporal even had time to respond, Twilight spoke up in surprise.

“Wait! Did you just talk? Did you just speak Equis Common?”

With surprising speed, the alien whirled around. “Corporal, belay that order! It would seem we have a response!”

Twilight was dumbfounded. These beings could speak Equis common?! How? This only made her more confused but it made the situation much easier. She could think on this all later but for now she needed to act.

Princess Twilight stood to her full height and held her head high. “That was Equis Common. This means we can communicate right?”

The being looked at her hesitantly before answering. “If you can understand me shake your head again”

Twilight paused for a second and then complied.

The alien let out a sigh of relief. “Well it would seem we have breached communications. You seem to be intelligent from what we can gather. Do you have a name?”

This was it! She could finally get through to them! Oh, the things she could learn! Twilight took a deep breath before proceeding. “My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle of the Royal Union of Equestria. Now that I have given my name, would you please give me yours?”

At the word princess the aliens small eyes had seemed to grow bigger but it otherwise showed no reaction. “I am Chief Warrant Officer James L. MacAlvery of the Colony Fleet Avalon Earth. Please forgive our precautions your majesty, but we must be careful in certain matters. “ the being said with a salute. Yep, definitely soldiers.

“Very well then Officer, I have one question for you. When can I go home? I dare say that I have done nothing wrong by the standards of my country and would like to return to my home.” ‘It’s actually you who are the invaders in our lands.’ Twilight thought, but she chose keep that part to herself.

“That is not up to me. I must convey these developments to my superiors. I would just sit tight were I you.” the officer said before turning around and knocking three times on the door like he had done many times before.

------------------------------------------Planetside Desert Drop Zone---------------------------------------

------------------------------------------(A.K.A. San Palomino Desert)--------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 11, 1300 hours----------------------------------------

Twilight waited what felt like hours but couldn’t tell for sure. Her headache hadn’t gotten any better, but she cared little for that. Now that she knew they had similar languages, she had made some headway on the books in the room. So far she had deciphered the words ‘the’, ‘of’, ‘and’, ‘to’, and a couple of the other most used words and phrases. Now it was all just filling in the other ones. Surprisingly, these beings had a form of writing where everything looked the same, but it left no smudges from the writers or any form of printing press she was familiar with.

She was interrupted by the noise of the door opening but to her surprise not one but three beings stepped into the room. One had on a white garment not unlike her own laboratory coat, with what looked like a two part dress, with the top half being a light grey and the bottom being pure black, underneath. Of the other two, one was Officer MacAlvery, while the other one appeared to be older with a pointed beard and a rather odd eye made of metal and glass from the looks of it. It’s own garments seemed to have a lot more gold embroidery and a good deal of colored bars upon its breast. Twilight could tell that this species, whatever they were, definitely had males and females. The two in the uniforms had much broader shoulders and had a more square jaw line not unlike ponies, so she made the assumption that they were both male. That meant that the one in the lab coat was female. Twilight didn’t know what to expect now but she stood as they entered and waited for one of them to address her first.

The one with the beard was the first to speak “Doctor you may proceed.”

The one in the lab coat came straight for her and Twilight became afraid for a second until she spoke. “Is it okay for me to check if all you injuries are healed properly, Princess?” the woman asked in a soothing voice. Twilight slowly nodded still cautious but not so much now. The doctor moved around her checking her vitals, skeletal integrity, even her feathers. when she finally stopped, she heard the doctor sigh in relief. “She’s clear sir. No problems as far as I or the scans can tell.” the doctor said looking at the older male.

“Good to hear. But, let me ask, do you feel any discomfort Princess?” the bearded one said looking at her.

“Only a slight headache. It is this awful humming, as if the very air around me is vibrating.”

“That would be the extractor. But we can get to that later.” Warrant Officer MacAlvery cut in. “Before we begin with out talk, let me introduce Doctor Harla Q. Davids and Combined Fleet Admiral Krieg Von Starke. Dr. Davids and I will be your guides and retainers while you are here. I am sure you have many questions but I ask that you wait to hear what the Admiral has to say.”

The older male that Twilight could only guess to be the admiral, cleared his throat. “Princess please for give me, but we need to know some things before anything can proceed. I will take a stab in the dark and guess that the title of princess makes you a dignitary of your home country?” he asked looking straight at her. Twilight could only nod in response. “ That makes this all a little easier. I will start by explaining the situation as is. We come from a world called Earth and are here to colonize a new home world for our race. We did not expect life to be here and are willing to co-exist with you so long as you do not pose a significant threat to our continued existence. To further that, we would like to broach peace talks between our people and yours. However to do this there is some required learning. I need to know now that if I let you out of here and return you to you kind that you are willing to try for this.”

That was all Twilight needed to hear. They were not only willing to let her learn about them but were readily going to teach her? And all for the prospect of peace? This was to good to be true. She knew that there had to be a catch but just what it could be she could not put her hoof on. With a wide grin and her head held high, Twilight answered the admiral. “I am willing to do as you ask. Please show me that I can trust you as well, and I would be glad to assist in bringing peace between us.” ‘That is if you let it happen. That and so long as Pinkie doesn’t annoy both sides into starting a fight again.’

“Very well then Princess, I would like to invite you over to my quarters for a longer talk and maybe even a tour later if you would not mind.” Admiral Von Starke said smiling politely.

“Please Admiral, If we are to be friendly to each other, call me Twilight. And I would be happy to join you for a talk.”

“Very well Twilight. I will send Officer MacAvery to guide you there when things have been prepared.” and with that the admiral gave a slight bow and knocked three times on the door to leave.

------------------------------------------Planetside Desert Drop Zone---------------------------------------

------------------------------------------(A.K.A. San Palomino Desert)--------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 11, 1615 hours----------------------------------------

It was hot out here. Almost as if she had stepped right into tartarus itself. Celestia’s sun shone its full disapproving wrath down upon this place as if it were a misbehaving foal. Humans ran, jogged, flew and walked all over this huge camp. Many wore the same armored outfit that the one that saved her life had. Their faces were always covered with helmets as they marched or jogged in formation. Others moved metal containers or barrels while in larger metal suits with huge three pincered hands. Twilight walked with Office MacAlvery across the camp heading for one of the larger buildings near its center. As they went, she saw many things that made her mind spin. Humans at large metal and glass objects that showed images like her ‘mind's sight’ portals. Others tinkered with huge machines while covered in some kind of slick looking black liquid covered them in splatters. Not to mention the huge tower that had almost crushed her mere days before. It was was enormous enough that even Canterlot Castle would be dwarfed in its shade. The closer one got to it the more the very ground rumbled. The structure seemed to be the cause on the humming in the air and her ceaseless headache.

But what caught her attention the most were the humans with those staffs. They passed a large open area with many of the humans lined up at posts with sheets of paper tacked to metal plates at the far end, their staffs pointed at the sheets. Twilight was about to pass it by when she heard extremely loud bangs coming from that direction that nearly made her heart stop in fear. BRRVVVVVT! The sound was so loud! But, what she saw scared her more. Bright flashes came from the ends of those staves for a quick second before stopping just for the humans holding them to jerk slightly and cause them to start again. At the other end was a different story though. These staves caused holes to be punched right through the metal sheets and make dents in a large pile of sand behind them. Every time the humans bodies jerked like that, the same awful noise resounded around her worse than a million of pinkie's surprise party canons. Those could be fun, but these things sounded like death. And everywhere she looked she saw more of them them. Big ones on the walls surrounding the camp. Small ones on the sides of many humans. Soldiers marched and flew through the camp while carrying these staves.

She was so caught up in her fear, that she nearly jumped right out of her hide when Officer MacAlvery laid a hand on her back. “Princess I know this is a lot to take in but the admiral is expecting you. If you would follow me please.” he said beginning to walk forward again. ‘Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I just showed fear! I just showed weakness! Celestia burn it all! I can’t let that happen in front of the Admiral. I must stay strong. I am a Princess of Equestria. I must act like it!’ Twilight mentally chastised herself , following after the Warrant Officer.

As they reached their destination, Officer MacAlvery placed his right ‘hand’ (as the minotaurs called them) on the one of the metal and glass objects. It made that weird noise she had heard back when the door to her room opened. “Warrant Officer MacAlvery here with Princess Twilight Sparkle to see Fleet Admiral Starke. We are expected.” He said aloud. Before she had time to wonder just who he was talking to a voice responded “Recognized. Credentials accepted. Opening doorway.” and with that the metal door in front of them began to move. Each part moved separately away from the others until there was nothing but a large round hole in the structure. This was some tight security.

Beyond the door it was pitch black, yet Officer MacAlvery walked ahead into the void as if it were nothing. As soon as his ‘foot’ (she had learned that one from him) was about to fall through, a glowing metal looking plate appeared below it. ‘They can make mana steps to? Is there anything that these humans can’t do?!?’ The warrant officer continued on through the darkness forcing Twilight to forego her cautionary attitude. It was now or never. She took a single determined step forward and to her surprise touched solid ground. Looking down she saw that there below her hoof was indeed a glowing piece of metal. Her courage renewed Twilight trotted after Office MacAlvery to catch up. Soon they both came to metal door only a little larger than the Warrant Officer. As he wrapped his hand around the knob on the door he stated “This is where I leave you, Princess. From here on you will be within the Fleet Admirals Personal quarters until such time as you desire to return to your own quarters here on base. For all our sakes, I hope your mission of peace succeeds.” He opened the door and she stepped in. ‘I hope the same. By Celestia I hope the same.’ Twilight thought as the door closed behind her.

Chapter 7: Something Stronger

------------------------------------------Planetside Desert Drop Zone---------------------------------------

------------------------------------------(A.K.A. San Palomino Desert)--------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 11, 1615 hours----------------------------------------

Twilight stepped into a bright room with nothing but a table and some chairs inside. The Walls were a dulled yellow that looked like the color of the dress that Rarity made her. Along the walls were bronze oil lamps with small flames flickering inside. The room smelled of Old leather and wood polish with the lingering scent of cinnamon in the air. Around the table in the center of the room were two chairs, one of which was occupied by the admiral who sat looking at a small square of a thin, clear material. At the first sign of her presence he snapped up from the object and stood to greet her.

“Welcome, Princess. I hope I am not being too forward, but I have provided a refreshing cup of tea for you. “ the admiral said as he moved to pull out a large leather armchair for her.

“Thank you Admiral. That was very kind of you.” She responded taking her seat.

“Not at all. We would like to make this as easy as possible; and, you can go a long way with a smile.” Admiral Von Starke said taking his own seat once more.

“Before we begin, I did say that there would be some required learning. We think that you need to know us as a species before you can speak to your government. We are a race called humans. Currently, the average lifespan for us is three hundred years, while the average life expectancy is 45.

We come from a planet more than 1400 light years away. It took us traveling for 20 million years to reach this planet. as it stands now, from one cause or another, there are only 300 million of us. At the height of our civilization on our home world, we numbered in the ten billions. We were the apex predators there. Top of the food chain is a hard place to get to without claws, fangs or armored shells. So being born without those, we forged ours in fire and fashioned them from steel.

Now, let me tell you a few things about humans; starting with a passage written more than twenty million years ago.
‘Human beings are scary.

We breathe a corrosive gas. Drink one of the most potent solvents. Our preferred method of hunting was persistence hunting, where we chased animals until their bodies simply gave up and died. We can eat just about anything we find, so we don't need to stop for food when chasing our prey. If we can't find food, that's fine. Our bodies will simply begin to eat itself so that we don't have to stop chasing our prey.

We walk upright, we sweat, we don't have much body hair, which allows us to radiate away our body heat. This means that excessive time or extreme environments won't stop our hunts.If the animal fights back against us, we can take massive damage to our extremities and lose half our blood, and still live. Our entire existence is owed to persistence, endurance, and determination. When we put ourselves to a task, it gets done, period. And this instinct is still affecting us today.

332 BC: Alexander the Great hits a stalemate with the fortified island city of Tyre. Instead of going back defeated, he builds a kilometer long bridge in order to raze the city.

49 BC: Caesar, after defeating the Gauls and invading Britain, turns a political fight into a civil war by invading Italy with only a single legion. He eventually becomes dictator, starting a world superpower whose engineering feats were only recently being broken when we left earth.

1804 AD:A charismatic French general declares himself Emperor and sets off to conquer much of mainland Europe. He is captured, exiled, and then escapes. The soldiers sent to recapture him instead lay down their arms and join him.

1961 AD: One man decides that we will go to the moon, despite much of the technology to do so not even existing yet. Just eight years later, two humans stand on the surface of the moon and look back upon the Earth.

2003 AD: A group of scientists mapped out the very building blocks of our species and made it possible to replicate it. Their first steps in that field made humans how they are today.

2032 AD: Advancements in the medical technologies came to a pinnacle when full body prosthetics were readily available to any and all persons of earth. Death by any means other than old age was now virtually impossible.

2057 AD: One man rose a corporation to such heights that it literally controlled the world's finances and thusly bought out all the world's governments. The owner forced all nations into one global government, and then just backed into the shadows as it took over and then faded into the shadows of history.

2105 AD: Realizing the impending collapse of earth's ecosystems, the previously uncooperative states that made up the Expanded Earth Government banded together to send the first of three massive colony ships out into space with a mere fraction of the then ten billion humans on the planet.

We made Railroads, Airplanes, Spaceflight,and the Internet. We made ourselves more machine than human and we built homes in the most brutal environments that nature has ever produced.

We are humans.

We fear no monsters or gods.

No, they fear us.’

We have already inherited the Earth and the stars and anyone or anything that stands in our way will be eliminated one way or another.

We forged our path from a dying planet more than 1400 light years away to what we hoped to be our new home.

We are a race of monsters, Princess, make no mistake. We are a violent, warlike race with technology far ourstripping anything your planet has ever seen. And we come in peace.”

When he had finished, Twilight found herself to be a little scared. “I don't mean to be rude or anything admiral but that was quite the intense……. lesson.” She said as she shakily tried to pick up her tea cup. It was then that she noticed that the admiral didn’t have a cup of tea, but rather a glass of a strange reddish brown liquid with a few cubes of ice in it.

“What are you drinking Admiral? That certainly does not look like tea.”

“No, my dear Princess, this is something far stronger. This is a glass of Armagnac Brandy, made in the traditional French style. This is one of the purist alcohols you can get aboard our vessels and is a pure luxury. Honestly, it is my first glass of it in over a century. Why, would you care for some?”

“You said it was alcohol? After what you just told me I do believe that it would help, so yes I will take one if you do not mind.”

“Very well, then let me pour you a glass and we can move on to the better parts of my race.” The admiral said, reaching beneath the table for the bottle.

Author's Note

Sorry this chapter is so short but i wrote it on no sleep and only after playing all night on Star Craft 2 LOTV. But this idea for this chapter just wouldn't let me sleep until i got it out. I am already working on the next chapter.

Next up: lets see how Captain Armors mission is going.

Chapter 9: The Past Revisited

------------------------Deep within a derelict lab of Research Vessel Asimov----------------------------

------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 1406 hours------------------------------------------

Deep within the bowels of the ship, where no one traveled anymore; beneath the hundreds of floors, in the oldest of sectors of the vessel, lay a seemingly failed experimental device. thousands of cords and wires ran from its circular body to monitors all around a room blocked off by the network of pipes and coils outside the doors, suddenly lights up from within with light from the device. the room begins to creak, as the device whirs into motion, a dot not but the size of a pinhead, appears before beginning to expand rapidly and the monitors all flash red before exploding outward as the force that the device exerts begins to draw all surrounding matter into it. Sirens blast a warning all across the ship, but too late; The device imploded upon itself taking the entire 2600 meter ship with it in the blink of an eye, before erupting outward into a swirling vortex of energy, slamming all surrounding vessels with a shock wave of energy large enough to knock those of similar size to the Asimov out of solar orbit and send tremors running through even the hulking 39000 meter I.C.S. Maria.

As all of the other ships recovered, and alarms began to blare across the fleet, the nose of a gargantuan vessel appeared from within the vortex, bolts of energy skipping across its scorched and punctured hull, the name emblazoned upon its starboard bow still clearly read Paimon.

--------------------------------------------The Castle of Friendship-------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 1408 hours-----------------------------------------

MacAlvery stood on the left of Princess Twilight as they the Admiral walked up to a tall, startlingly white equine, with both wings and a horn like the little lavender leader beside him. This one however was almost twice the size of any of the surrounding equines and had a mane all the colors of the morning horizon and the evening dusk combined. He could only guess that this was the Princess Celestia that Twilight had spoken so highly of and at such great lengths during their walks through the camp. This could either go very well or very poorly. The Admiral was not exactly known as a skilled diplomat. For as long as he had served he had noticed the terrifying way that the sole leader of humanity ruled with an iron grasp and yet never let the populace on to that fact. When it was either the lives of his people or their liberty, that man would always toss liberty aside for survival. That was what had kept him where he was. That was what had kept humanity together for so long. The last great war was proof enough of that. And yet like all humans he could surprise you still, this making that evident for as the young Warrant Officer watched the Admiral removed his cap and bowed deeply.

All of the humans watching were shocked. The man who had fired the shot that killed millions was bowing to a being that was not even human. The only thing that Officer MacAlvery could do was to stutter out a command to all the troops behind him “P-Present Arms!”. He was answered with the sound of more than sixty heavily armored troopers snapping to attention and saluting.

But, just as a river must flow, time must as well. Not but a second had gone by when every communicator and ship blasted warnings, screaming “Red alert, Code Zeta One Niner” in a chorus of noise and confusion. Every being present tensed, some of the ponies raised spear and shields in anticipation others cowered from the noise. Human soldiers shouldered Rifles, while other scrambled back to the craft that had landed to stop the alarms and gather information on just what was going on. MacAlvery could hear several of the Hovers above start weapon spin-up cycles. He couldn’t let this happen. Not now. It was in that moment that he snapped.

“Attention!” He bellowed. “All hands stand down! Stand down! Form ranks and report! I want to know what is going on NOW!” For a few seconds those around him looked stunned before snapping back to reality and stepping back into their filed columns. A few of the armored ponies even snapped to attention at his command. ‘Probably out of instinct’ he thought.

“We have confirmation! A vessel has appeared out of a storm in solar orbit and is headed straight for the planet!” Someone called from a landing craft. “I have reports that indicate all life support systems are functionally but all weapon and propulsion systems are malfunctioning across the fleet!” A communications Officer reported over comms. Things were beginning to look grim, and then, the Admiral spoke up. “What is the name of the ship?” Everyone stared as the ruler of humanity began to walk slowly towards one of the comms officer that had spoken. “What is the name of that vessel soldier?” He asked in a calm but grating voice.

“I-Ill get that for you Sir. Right away!” the obviously scared young man stammered out. She frantically began calling into the fleet for answers.

Without another word the admiral turned and began to walk towards the front landing craft. He had gone half the distance before The comms officer called out. “They aren’t making sense Sir! They keep telling me that it’s the Piamon, but that is just not possible Sir. They were the last ship destroyed in the great war.”

“I know that, soldier.” Admiral Von Starke said, stopping dead in his tracks. “I fired that shot myself, but it would seem that I missed. If those 200 legions are active, I will make sure I do not miss again.”

It was at this point that a single annoyed voice spoke up. “I’m sorry but just what is going on here. You all show up in front of me with weapons in hoof and begin to greet me, but stop short and walk away from me?! On top of that you have kept one of my subjects confined, and severely injured another! Do not think I will let you.. you… whatever you are walk away from me without in the least an explanation!” The tall, white equine spoke up.

Without even turning around the Admiral gave us all the last order we would ever get from him, even if we didn’t know it yet. “Listen up! I’m going to deal with this! Officer MacAlvery! You have command here. Do not let me down.” He said and walked to his craft, climbed in, and whatever he said to the pilot was lost in the sound of the rotors coming to life.

MacAlvery saluted as he flew off before turning to the white one. “It would seem that I am to speak on behalf of my race then.” he said turning back towards a cross looking Celestia as all the human troops fell into formation behind him.

---------------------------------Admiral Von Starke’s personal landing craft------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 1411 hours-----------------------------------------

As the wind and sound of Drop-ships flying off died down, and the dust settled around them the two races stared each other down. The Equines held their spears at the ready, some shaking ever so slightly. others glared from under ancient helmets as if a stern gaze alone would stop any aggression. The tall White one stood silent on the crystalline steps of the towering palace. A little over thirty humans stood defiant in front of the little ponies. behind him Officer MacAlvery could hear the sounds of several rifles being taken off of their safeties. Were it not for his artificial body MacAlvery was certain that he would be fidgeting in place right now. all of the sudden he was the highest ranking official on scene, and to top it off he would have to conduct negotiations with the representative of a whole other race without warning.

“If You will not speak up, I guess I will. What do you want? You show up with one of my subjects as a captive not a day after you severely injured another, you make a display of yourselves coming in like you own the place, and then half of you leave before you can say a word. By your gestures I can tell that you can communicate with Twilight so I’ll ask again: What do you want?” The tall white one began.

MacAlvery had no idea what to do, so he put on airs. As he let his posture relax he reached up and turned a port on his helmet. With a hiss of released pressure and the click of gears he removed the head and facial covering, a confident smile found its way upon his lips. “So, we do indeed speak the same language, I have to wonder how that evolved. Anyway, let's start this little meeting with a kind greeting. Hello, I am Chief Warrant Officer James L. MacAlvery,... and if everybody could just relax for one moment,… that would be great.” Several of the rifles behind him began to aim less at the ponies and more at the ground. With a sigh of relief, he continued. “ It would seem that one of your more dangerously curious citizens found herself almost crushed by a falling Terra Extractor. She, along with Sergeant First Class Maxwell Valencio was harmed due to this and they both had to be cared for. Please accept our deepest apologies about that. Her health has now been attended to and we are here to bring her home.” As he said this he nodded to Twilight, signaling her to head back over to her kind. Every being held their breath as the lavender equine walked past them to the side of the tall white one. Not a second had gone by when she was suddenly surrounded by five other ponies of differing colors in a large embrace.

“Please forgive me my assumptions but, you are the Princess Celestia that Princess Twilight spoke so highly of?”

Princess Celestia’s expression softened visibly with Twilight back by her side. “I am. And I would still like an explanation to what this is all about. That, and why you harmed one of my finest guards. Just who are you? What are you?”

“Woah, slow down there. Could you have your people put down their weapons before we get into the pleasantries? I promise you, we mean you no harm.” MacAlvery stated.

“Please Princess Celestia, let’s make this civil. They really do want mean us no harm.” Twilight said as she freed herself from the myriad of hooves and hugs. “And I still have so many questions.” With the way she said the word ‘questions’ MacAlvery wished he could bolt out of there. None-the-less, Princess Celestia nodded and her guards lowered their spears, as she turned and walked into the crystal castle with a motion for them to follow.

--------------------------------------------Ptolemy Touchdown Site------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------(A.K.A. Everfree Forest Gorge)-------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 1426 hours-----------------------------------------

The entire site was alive with activity. The Interceptors had been prepped for launch and were now on the squadron launch rails. Gunnery Sergeant Kain ‘Rumbler’ Jackson braced himself for the moment of launch. His breathing shallow in his flight mask, he tensed as familiar feeling of anticipation hit him at the sight of energy skipping across the surface of his craft. Time seemed to slow around him as he and his wing mates suddenly went from 0 to 2600 meters per second and the ground below him seemed to shrink.

His mind suddenly snapped from the world outside the cockpit to the familiar controls. With speed born from thousands of drills and flight hours, he took to the sky as if he had been born in it. Zero gravity debris clearing was one thing, but this sensation of resistance and drag was somehow so fulfilling. Sadly he did not have the time to take it all in as a dark shadow on the horizon came closer and closer.

“16th Interceptor Squadron to Ptolemy, we have the target in site. ETA to active zone, 55 seconds. Requesting permission to begin attack run.”

“16th Interceptor, this is Ptolemy, you are free to engage. Primary targets are engines and all weapon systems. We are getting readings indicating main particle accelerator is charging and will be ready to fire in approximately 7 minutes. You must shut that cannon down. Admiral Von Starke is in route with the Ichaival. ETA 80 seconds. At 180 seconds clear all airspace from in front of him.”

“Understood Ptolemy. Beginning attack run.”

A wicked smile crossed his lips as he switched communications channels to speak to his squad. “This is Rumbler. We have a go. Weapons free and hot. Target engines, the main cannon, and all weapons. Let's show those damn flesh puppets why they lost the war.”

Even dozens of kilometers away one could hear the sounds of the first shots resounding through the air.

Author's Note

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! I got a new job and am back in the saddle. Updates will still be a bit slow but you should start seeing more from me soon.

Chapter 10: Thundering Guns

--------------------------------------------The Castle of Friendship-------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 1426 hours-----------------------------------------

Officer MacAlvery looked at the clock on his communicators screen and sighed as he leaned back on the cool crystal wall; 15 minutes they had been in there. He, Sergeant Valencio, Dr. Davis, and twin Corporals Luka and Faira Boldain had been asked to wait in the hallway just outside of what seemed to be the main room of the castle. Every now and again he could hear faint sounds from inside but they were indistinguishable. The good doctor was looking at something on her comm screen. The twins had linked up in what looked like a game of Zip-space Mutants Eon 20. But yet, typical Valencio was sitting next to him on the ground field cleaning his sidearm, not that it ever saw much use in real combat anyway.

“I’ve got a question for you chief…” he said without even pausing the now instinctive motions.

“Please don't ask what I think you are going to…” MacAvlery groaned.

“...why do you think they’re candy colored?”

“Thank the void you didn’t make that stupid slag soup joke again.”

“Hey! This is the third time I’ve been slagged! And don’t act like you haven’t busted a chassis! Remember the asteroid fields of Quintorus-129? I still don't understand how you managed to get yourself crushed between those two asteroids, smacked into the Kurugi’s hull and still have enough in you to somehow get magnetized to the ion drives.” he said with a chuckle.

“That only happened once. My port pulsars stalled in…”

The young officer was cut off by the sounds of explosions in the distance.

“Sounds like they’ve started…”

The double doors in front of the group burst open as the concerned looking Princesses Twilight and Celestia rushed through followed quickly behind by those five others and a group of heavily armored soldiers.

“Just what was that?!” Celestia demanded, looking directly at him.

“That would be the sound of 24 mach 7 high impact tungsten shells hitting a ship's hull.” Valencio stated nonchalantly while holstering his side arm once more before standing up.

“Thank you, Sergeant, but I think that I had better handle this.” MacAlvery said “But what the sergeant said is correct, your majesty. We currently have forces battling a formerly allied vessel known as the Paimon. The sounds you are hearing are just…”

He was interrupted by his comms unit suddenly beeping.

“I’m sorry, please give me a second.” the warrant officer said tapping the small device on his wrist. “This is Chief Warrant Officer MacAlvery. Go Ahead.”

“Chief, this is unit 3704. I think you need to see this.” the voice came through clear.

“Can it wait? I have negotiations to deal with right now.”

“No sir. This is a Decimation class threat.”

At this MacAlvery seemed stricken. He was silent for a second until he felt a tug on his uniform pant leg. Looking down he saw the now rather familiar sight of the lavender alicorn staring up at him. “James, what is it? Whats going on?” she asked.

Reclaiming his composure, MacAlvery took action. “I think you all had better follow me outside. It looks like we have an emergency on our hands.

He began walking towards the exit with all the others, human or not, following quickly behind him.

--------------------------------------------Airspace Above Equestria-----------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 1427 hours-----------------------------------------

Rumbler couldn't hear his own thoughts over the sounds of the railguns and particle beams cannons. The cacophony of sound sent tremors down his reinforced spine. He engaged his magnetic polarization generator and fired another volley. Jerking up on the control stick, he took a nosedive only half a second before a 175mm turret shredded the airspace where he had been. This was insane! It was only 65 seconds into the run and yet his 24 wing squadron had been reduced to nine. And where was the Admiral!!?? They were being blasted apart out here and had no backup in sight.

“Ptolemy, this is 16th Intercept! We are being hammered out here. Request immediate fire support.” Rumbler yelled into the comms. To his greatest relief, the exact answer that he was looking for came not two seconds later.

“16th Intercept , This is Ptolemy. We are way ahead of you. Clear Sectors 14 through 19. Bombardment commencing in T-minus 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…”

As Rumbler made an immediate immelman turn and rolled back into attack formation with his wing, the top port side of the Paimon seemed to explode in a shower of sparks, metal, and other debris that quickly subjected to gravity's law. “WOOOHOOOO! That took out the main flak rails! Let’s go get the cannons on the belly boys.”

Yet just as he speaking, the underside of the Paimon exploded. “This is Admiral Von Starke! Belay that order! Take out the forward and lift thrusters.” the comms bellowed at them.

The wing quickly readjusted their heading, accelerating towards the huge ion thrusters keeping the gargantuan vessel from following the way of its lost pieces. “Good to see you Admiral! Now we can really get this party started!” Rumbler called out.

“Can the chatter and let's finish what was started far too long ago. This old warbird is acting up and might not make it back to base.”

Unbeknownst to them, a small glint shined off the scope of a lone legionnaire with the Ichaival dead in its sights.

---------------------------------------------Deep within the Paimon------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 1428 hours-----------------------------------------

Pain…

Why does my skin burn and break….?

Dead…

They are all dead…

Never stopping…

Why will he never stop chasing me…?

Hatred…

They did this…

Made me what I am…

I… HATE… THEM!!!

Must make more…

Must continue with the plan…

Must preserve… The Collective….

I am... The Collective...

Thousands of thundering steps drummed across the dilapidated corridors and passageways with a single goal in mind.
Protect The Collective…. Eliminate those that would harm The Collective.

--------------------------------------------The Castle of Friendship-------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 1428 hours-----------------------------------------

MacAlvery walked out of the castle and down the steps to where recon unit 3704 operative Private Lacey Willard waited for him. “Give me the situation report private!”

“Sir!” she said with a salute. “The battle is commencing, but the problem is with the Paimon’s trajectory. She’s heading straight towards us. Take a look for yourself.” the private stated handing a set of recon binoculars to the commanding officer.

As he looked through the recon tool, MacAlvery could see the enormous 8500 meter vessel with her bow pointed right at them. With its current speed, the Paimon would be upon them in only 8 minutes.

“Your majesty, I think you should see this too.” he said passing the set of binoculars off to the tall white alicorn standing next to him. An iridescent golden glow surrounded them as they were lifted to her eyes.

“That thing is heading for us?!” Celestia exclaimed.

“Yes. We have 7 minutes to evacuate. How long will it take your citizens?”

“Over an hour! There is no way we can get all my ponies out of here in time! We need to put up a shield, but Shining Armor is out of commision thanks to you. Can't you do something?”

“Our current firepower is insufficient, and the satellites won’t be in position for an orbital bombardment for another 12 minutes. There is nothing we can do but evacuate.”

Just then all of the communicators in the area resounded with a singular message. “Attention all ground units. This is the Maria. Guardian systems have locked onto your position and are activating. Clear the landing zone at sector 1197. “

MacAlvery let out a small chuckle at how fate kept jerking him around. “Well damn. We might just be able to do something after all” he said to Celestia as five streaks of fire and smoke hurtled towards the ground not 1 kilometer in front of them.

--------------------------------------------Airspace Above Equestria-----------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 1428 hours-----------------------------------------

For the second time that day, the seconds seemed to tick by so slow. He had seen the flack shell too late. He had gotten most of it to his his interceptor, but the few shards that had gotten past still rendered the Ichaival neigh inoperable. Still, the sensation of falling was exhilarating. And he had one last trick up his sleeve, one thing he could still do for his squad mates, no his race, before this body crashed to the ground and he needed a new one.

Rumbler dug into his flesh on the right arm, ripping the false skin off with a howl of pain as the ground continued to zoom towards him. A long barrel slid out of place from his forearm, the words Last Horizon engraved on it. “This is gonna hurt” he muttered and let the rocket in the tube fly free, the blast back ripping his arm from the shoulder socket and sending him careening even faster to the ground. The last this he saw, was his rocket flying true to the Paimon, before hitting the ground with a sickening KRUNCH.

---------------------------------------------Deep within the Paimon------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 1428 hours-----------------------------------------

My legions fall…

I… Feel… Fear…

Pain unending…

No teeth to bite back…

Long arm ... out of reach…

Danger… approaching…

No escape…

I… will not… die… alone…

He comes… to finish... us both…

--------------------------------------------The Castle of Friendship-------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 1428 hours-----------------------------------------

The noise from the impact was deafening. Though when the dust settled what arose from that crater was far more than Celestia was expecting. She had taken everything in stride that day, but by the Mother Faust! What were these things!? Each stood twice the height of the bipedal beings around her. Massive plates of armor covering them from hoof to head. With eyes like flames they stared at the world like they were watching but never appreciating. Massive double cannons protruded vertically from their backs. just looking at them gave her a cold sweat of fear.

“Just what are they?” Celestia muttered aloud.

“They are humanity's greatest achievement and worst mistake at the same time. They are the Guardians. There was a time when our race believed themselves to be gods. Striving to make immortality possible, we subjected some of our best to an experimental process that would turn their bodies into living solar beings. We succeeded, but not as we would have liked.” MacAlvery answered. “They are now walking fusion reactors. Immortal, but at too high of a cost. Unthinking and unfeeling they serve as protectors of the people in the darkest of times. If that archaic A.I. system sent us five of them, the situation is truly grim. Those suits that they wear can each obliterate a 500 meter area in a single burst. I would suggest staying out of their way. Now you said something about a shield?”

“Your majesty,” a male voice from behind interrupted them. “I believe that we can help with that.”

Turning around MacAlvery laid eyes on two rather determined looking ponies. The first, whom he assumed to be the male voice, was covered from top to bottom in worn but durable looking steel grey armor with an image of a helmet and shield on the rear. Two metal tower shields looking more like slabs of lead hovered on either side of him. The other one was a feminine looking equine with a long spiral patterned horn jutting from her forehead through her silver-white helm and an image of a silver lotus flower with a hydrogen atom in the center on her flank.

MacAlvery looked inquisitively at them before Celestia spoke up. “May I introduce First Lieutenant Heavy Plate and Warrant Officer Nova Burst. If any of my little ponies can help, they can.”

--------------------------------------------Airspace Above Equestria-----------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 1428 hours-----------------------------------------

The admiral was blasted by the noise from the warning signals from all around him. Most of the shrapnel had hit that soldiers interceptor, but a lucky few had hit him in the worst spot possible, the reactor cooling system. Now he had an overreacting solar production unit going critical not 6 meters behind him. There was no way he was making it out alive from this. With a sigh he placed his hands on the firing and acceleration controls. Better make this last one count. With ease he yanked the throttle to max and flicked the charging sequence into place. 9000 meters and closing. 7000 meters... 5000 meters… just then a glint from off to his right. NO!!! He didn’t! That little bastard of a corporal actually got a good shot off! The admiral pulled back the throttle and ran a quick loop back to give that shot a good berth. Now to watch the show… the small rocket went through one of the large belly gaps in the middle of the ship's hull and disappeared from sight… and then reality broke.

At 5000 kilometers up, what had been a brilliant blue sky suddenly warped into a 2000 meter radius black hole. And as suddenly as it began, it disappeared. Within the span of a half second, one man had taken out four thousand cubic meters of matter. Gone just like that.

The admiral smirked, this was one hell of a turn of events. Re-engaging the engines he took off for the last fight of his life. This was the end, and what an ending it was. One last shot. he could feel the heat now. The cockpit was starting to glow an angry orange. He always did like fighting with a star to his back, now it was literal.

The main guns sparked with energy as the particle accelerators spun up to life. He rocketed past falling debris, past falling carcasses of legionnaires, massive falling coolant pipes and circuit boards. the ship's main core was right above him now. This would stop her once and for all. A single tear fell from his one good eye socket as he whispered three words and squeezed the trigger, “Daddy’s back Princess”.

That day both the Ichaival and Paimon fell, heralded by the light of a tiny star winking out of existence.

---------------------------------------------Deep within the Paimon------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 1428 hours-----------------------------------------

Father…

I never got to say I was sorry…

I didn’t want to go…

They made me like them…

To hurt you dad...

The pain ends…

Because of you, I am free now…

Thank you…

Daddy…

And with that, the last of the collective went offline.

The war was over.

Generations of fear and hatred coming to a close.

More than 100 million lives lost, all because three humans enslaved 3 million others.

--------------------------------------------The Castle of Friendship-------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 1430 hours-----------------------------------------

This plan was going to kill him. He just knew it. To be able to redirect that much mass in that short of a time span would take the energy of several solar generators at full capacity. But, then again it wasn’t his place to say how these ponies should react. And they were right, they needed some way to protect this place if they wanted to save lives. But, by the void, did they really just place trust in someone they have barely know for a few moments?

Though he couldn’t deny that this would put them in debt to him and all humans for that matter. Saving two leaders of a nation and over ten thousand residents in the area would make them look much less of a threat. Or possibly more, with the fire power this would take.

Pushing such thoughts from his mind, MacAlvery began barking orders, and preparing all hands for battle.

Celestia watched as these beings scurried about, some climbing back into those flying metal vehicles, others putting together even larger versions of those weird weapons they carried. A good distance away she could see those five glowing metal monstrosities. those things made her uneasy but she couldn't tell why. they had extended the long protrusions from their backs and had them pointed at that incoming shadow. Then she saw a peculiar sight. Several of the humans placed packs taken from those crafts onto the ground and linked cords from them into the back of themselves. They just sat there with their bottom hooves crossed beneath them. That was when she felt it. Magic, these beings were casting some of the most powerful magic she had ever felt. Dust began to swirl around them and take shape, grey lines beginning to form.

Twilight felt it before she saw it. The air around her charged with power. It felt as if the very ground began to move beneath her feet. This was high level magic! Was Princess Celestia casting this? Twilight ran from the castles observatory and lept from the nearest hallway window, snapping her wings open and tilting herself to circle around her castle. as she came around to the front she could see a swirling cloud of dust, sand, rocks, and metals around several humans sitting on the ground. in the center of them a construct took form, fed by the swirling matter. James MacAlvery stood nearby watching these humans as if waiting for them to finish.

She landed next to Celestia just as James walked into the center and looked at what was now a fully formed suit of armor, though it wasn’t like anything twilight had ever seen. not even on that base of theirs had any one of the humans had such an imposing armament. As Twilight and Celestia stood there watching MacAlvery walked behind the suit and fiddled with something just below its head. With a clicking of locks and a hiss of pressure the armor opened and the man stepped inside.

As the armor closed around him MacAlvery could feel the difference terrestrial material could have on a weapon suits design. He had never had one that felt this pure in its construction. Every connected nerve was alight with sensations that he could never have felt in space. Here he could feel the slightest breeze on the metal of the armor, the heat of the solar rays hitting the nano-constructed tungsten carbide microfiber armor plates. Standing up to the suits full height of 3 meters, he could feel the maneuverability if the nanite mesh muscles. This was the reason he dreaded getting promoted again. He hated the idea of not being the one in the thick of things. This was what he had joined up for.

Across the defensive line the same process was being repeated for almost all of the other squad leaders. MacAlvery walked past the onlooking ponies over to where Valencio was just finishing suiting up as well.

“Good to be suited up once again, huh max?”

“I’ll say! These new constructs are amazingly responsive. Can't wait to test out their firepower. What did they put this time? “

“Looks like the 75 mm Stone Throwers. Guessed the tungsten pellets weren't going to cut it anyways. I just hope that the condensers work properly this time. That stint last year with them jamming every third sequence was not fun. Anyway, it looks like the firing line is set up so we had better get in position.” MacAlvery stated nodding in the direction of the three first fire squads waiting for them. “Let’s get this over with.”

MacAlvery and Valencio walked to the front of the formations and signaled for the comms officers to patch them through to all the surrounding units. Receiving a confirmatory signal, he started out. “All right, I think you all know what is happening here. This is no longer just about us. We have been adrift for far too long, come too far, to let what happened to us happen to those around us. We stand here today to make a choice and a point. Humanity is about more than just our genetics, our flesh, or where we came from. No, if that was the case we would never have been human, as we gave those up long ago. Humanity is about will, our will. The will to fight and die in the face of something too big to handle alone. The will to reach out and give aid to all those in need. Well, here we are! Here we stand on the brink of death for the sake of those to whom we owe nothing, from whom we could take everything! It would be so easy to walk away, but to do that would make us cowards! Cowards walk when those with the strength and will fight! So I ask you, ARE YOU A HUMAN OR A COWARD??!! STAND NOW! STAND AND FIGHT! DIE ON YOUR FEET THAT YOU MAY BE PROUD TO BE BORN HUMAN! NOW BLAST THAT THING OUT OF THE SKY!!!!” with that he turned and let the suits main battle sequence take over.

Celestia’s ears rang from the roar of battle the humans let forth once that commander of thiers finished speaking. By Faust’s feathers, how could they march into battle so prepared to die???!!! She was sure that she would sacrifice herself rather than let her little ponies do something like that. “This all has to be a horrid vision.” she said shaking her head until she felt the soft touch of Twilight’s hoof on her foreleg. Looking down she saw the same worry in her students eyes as she had in her heart. At that moment her world shattered. The world had gone and changed over night.

Celestia planted her four hooves into the dirt, and began to chant. The language so foreign yet so familiar to her flowed from her mouth like an ancient well running free once again. She felt the energy swell up around her, flowing through her, gathering. Many centuries had passed since she had last used these archaic spells. She hoped she wouldn’t have to use it for many more to come, as she let the magic fly. The spell hit every pony in the area, her own aura extending to them as well. Feeding them more magic, healing them, caring for them. This she could do. This she would do.

Author's Note

next time....
the first defense of ponyville.

Chapter 8: Warning Shots

----------------------------------------------San Palomino Desert---------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 11, 2200 hours----------------------------------------

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.

------------------------------------------Planetside Desert Drop Zone---------------------------------------

------------------------------------------(A.K.A. San Palomino Desert)--------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 11, 2200 hours-----------------------------------------

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.

----------------------------------------------San Palomino Desert---------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 11, 2204 hours----------------------------------------

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.

------------------------------------------Planetside Desert Drop Zone---------------------------------------

------------------------------------------(A.K.A. San Palomino Desert)--------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 0800 hours-----------------------------------------

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!”

--------------------------------------------The Castle of Friendship-------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------Orbital Day 12, 1400 hours-----------------------------------------

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!”

Author's Note

Sorry mares and gentle colts, no sexy human soldier description for you. I am after all trying to keep it Teen for the most part.

putting a call out to you all

I have something of a problem here. To put it bluntly I'm running out of ideas for characters. With a story like mine that spans a multitude of races and cultures I find that coming up with new characters is becoming a problem. As such I am reaching out to you all for character ideas. they can be any cannon race within the MLP:FIM show, human or one of a few others. If you would like to speak with me about this, please PM me. I will hold all final approval power but I am open to almost anything at this point. This problem will persist and so long as this posting stays up the opportunity is still there. Know that I am still working on this story even if at a slow pace. Characters submitted and approved may be used for either a minor or major role or maybe even both. Characters submitted and approved may not appear for several chapters but know that they will appear.

Thank you in advance and good day.