Chapter Two: An Act of War

They're Savages! Savages!

Barely even human!

Savages! Savages!

Drive them from our shore!

They're not like you and me, which means they must be evil!

We must sound the drums of war!

"Well this movie took a dark turn" Star pointed out as she and the other teens continued to watch the movie on the mirror

Marco could help but let out a muffled chuckle at Star's blunt comment, but she did have a point. Pocahontas may have been one of the boy's favorite movies, but yet even he had to admit that this moment in the animated films suddenly took this movie to a rather dark place. For the past few hours now, Marco, Star and the other teens had gathered together in the princess's room to watch some Marco's favorite movies from when he was a kid. Aside from Pony Head constantly talking and Tom's brooding in the back as he tried not to show how much he actually loved 'A Goofy Movie', movie night was going off without a hitch. Marco couldn't help but occasionally glance over to the Mewman princess reactions to each movie, which ranged from the brightest of smiles to looking as though she was going to sob her eyes out at any given moment.

After everything that had happened with Toffee and the fallout following his demise, Marco decided that it would be best if everyone just took a bit of a break and had a movie night like he and Star had during her time on Earth. The movies they watched with their friends ranged from fun family animated films o old kung-fu films that inspired Marco to become the martial arts fighter he was today. Despite being in a magical world, the boy couldn't help but feel a sense of normalcy as he watched each movie with his best friend. While he did not regret his decision to leave earth, there were still some things he missed, and movie nights with his parents was one of them.

"This is so predictable" Tom spoke in a bored tone "the settlers are clearly going to slaughter the natives"

"Uh, that's not what happens at all, Tom" Marco replied, slightly taken aback by Tom brutal theory

"Well, that's what should happen" the demon prince stated adamantly "they have the superior weaponry and armor—how could they not lose?"

"Besides Marco, that's what really happened in history" Janna added on "he who carries the bigger stick, gets to kill a whole lot of people"

"Yeah, didn't you Earth turds, like, kill each other to take one another's land and junk?" Pony-Head agreed

Marco let out a defeated huff at that. The teen always knew the capacity for violence humans had, even he had a knack to put his fist into some poor monsters face every now and again, but he always wanted to solve his problems with words instead of combat. Having said that though, he was well aware that not every human shared his pacifism, but he always held the hope that peace could prevail over the path to war.

"Well, it's not like Mewni's any better" Star chimed in "I mean, my family's the reason for centuries of hate and prejudice"

The other teens sadly couldn't argue with that. It was because of the Butterfly family that monsters like Buff Frog and Ludo were treated like second-class citizens throughout the multiple worlds. One could even make the argument that had it not been for the Mewman royal family that had occurred recently with Toffee would've never happened. Star had done everything in her power to change her family's past sins and help build new bridges between Mewmans and monsters and hopefully create a new future in which both races would live in peace. sadly however, there were some on both ends of the spectrum who didn't quit share the princess's views on this new attempt at peaceful coexistence. Not only did the Magical High Commission and Mewni's fallen hero, Mina Loveberry, stand against her plans for unification, but her own mother did not care much for the idea either.

It wasn't just her own family that Star had to combat against, but other forces as well. After a recent failed party in which Star attempted to bring together the youth of the two races due to a surprise attack by Mina, the young girl made a startling revelation that MS. Heinous, the recently deposed head of Saint Olga's school for wayward princesses, was in fact a member of the Butterfly family and the daughter of the returned queen of darkness, Eclipsa. Heinous escaped into the night and hasn't been seen since. After the party, Star and her friends wanted to tell Eclipsa that her long lost daughter was still alive and wanted to know the truth from Moon as to why and how Heinous had her family history kept from secret, not to mention the fact that she was over a thousand years old. But the Magical High Commission forbid the teens from divulging any and all information about Heinous, or as she was once known as, Meteora, to Eclipsa since the Queen of Darkness had an upcoming trial and was not permitted to any information that would sway her judgement.

Star and her friends tried to argue against this order, but it was useless. It was upsetting to the princess that she had to lie to someone she was beginning to like, it only deepened her anger toward these thousands of years of racism that had been forged by her own people. Star swore to herself that when she finally took the throne she would do everything in her power to repair the damage done between Mewman and monster relations no matter how long it took. She knew that she wouldn't be alone in this endeavor either, for she knew that Marco and her friends would stand behind her every step of the way until a new era in Mewni's history was finally forged.

"Don't be too hard on yourself Star. If it makes you feel better, humans have committed way atrocities than your people ever have" Janna nonchalantly mentioned "famine, war, killing millions on a daily basis on the grounds that we can—we've done it all!"

"My worlds got the damned souls to prove it" Tom furthered

"It's not a contest!" Marco protested in defense of the princess

"Yeah, 'cause we win automatically" the fellow human said with a smirk "face it Marco, when it comes to being killers, humans wrote the book on it"

Marco grimaced at where this conversation was headed. He only wanted to sit and watch some old movies with his friends, not discuss the acts of horror the human race had committed over the centuries. But there was no stopping this group when it got into a discussion such as this one.

"Hey, who'd you think would win in a war between Earth and Mewni?" Pony Head pondered

"We're not discussing this!" Marco denied sharply

"What Marco said" Janna added "besides, earth wins"

"What? Your crazy, girl!" the horse princess shrugged off "Mewni's got, like, magic and stuff like that. What's earth got?"

"Hmmm, let's see: a vast military force armed with state of the art weaponry, superheroes, giant alien robots…" Janna began to list off "oh and nukes, can't forget about nukes"

"Ok, enough!" the martial artist demanded as he shot up from his seat "We're not talking about whose better at committing mass genocide!"

With that, Marco stormed out of the Star's room. While Tom, Pony Head and Janna were unfazed by the boy's outburst, Star however, followed her friend out of her room and found him standing in the hallway as he leaned up against a windowsill as he looked up into the night's sky.

"You ok?" she asked gently

"Yeah…" Marco breathed out "it's just that those three really know how to get under my skin"

"Well, you make it to easy" the Mewman offered, earning her a look from the fellow teen "But don't let them get to you. I mean, it's not like a real war would really break out between Earth and Mewni"

"I know" her friend admitted "I just don't like talking about that stuff. War's not a glamorous thing"

"You don't need to tell me twice" Star agreed "one war with Toffee was enough thank very much"

Marco couldn't help but smile at that. even at his lowest, Star could make the boy feel better with just a few simple words. True, the princess of Mewni of Mewni could be a handful in her own right, but Marco would gladly take the all the bad that came along with her if it meant he could still be at her side. No matter what, they had each other's backs and would stand at one another's side even in the direst of situations, and no monster, mad Mewman or whatever else laid ahead of the them in the future could tear them apart.

"Come on, let's go back—" Star attempted to say before she was cut off

What had interrupted the princesses sentence was a bright, blue light flashing in the nights sky over the castle, nearly blinding everyone who look directly at it. The flash of light dissipated as quickly as it came before another flash occurred only seconds later. Thankfully, this one wasn't as bright as the first flash was and allowed those who saw it to look directly at it, thus giving them a chance to see something within the flash. It was a brief image of a face, only it didn't appear Mewman, human or any other type of creature throughout the magical realms of the multiverse. From the quick glimpse of the face, it looked as though it was more metallic than a face made of flesh. The flashes of the face in the sky happened every few seconds, as if something, or someone, was trying to reach out to the people of Mewni. Star and Marco's friends rushed out of the princess's room in a hurry, clearly shocked by what they had witnessed as well.

"We saw it to!" Tom confirmed in a surprised voice "What's going on? Is Mewni under attack?"

"I don't know!" Star replied, clearly panicked by what was going on

"Princess!" a guard's voice called out as two royal guardsmen ran up to the group "Your parents are in the royal courtyard, they wish for us to escort you there at once!"

Rather than try to argue with them, Star immediately agreed to follow the guards, but when Marco and the others tried to do the same, one of the guards held out a hand in from them to keep them from going any farther.

"I'm sorry, but you come with us" the guard said

"Oh yes they are!" Star protested "I'm not taking a single step more unless my friends come with me!"

"But princess—" the second guard tried to reason

"Not a single step!" the Mewman princess firmly repeated

To emphasize her point, Star crossed her arms and stood at attention, making herself rigid in the process. The guards looked at one another in confusion, obviously unsure what to do with the now pouting princess. Knowing that time was of the essence, the guards were forced to relent and give into the girl's demands.

"Of course, your highness" the first guard finally accepted

With that, the group of teens followed the guards to the royal courtyard, all the while looking back up at the sky as the flashes of blue light became more rapid and frequent. While the others had no idea as to exactly was trying to reach Mewni, Marco on the other hand had an odd sensation of familiarity everytime the images of the face appeared in the sky, like he had seen that image somewhere on earth. soon enough, the guards brought Star and her friends to the royal courtyard where they found not only Queen Moon and King River looking up into the sky, but also the Magical High Commission as well, along with the castle's royal staff and a few visiting nobles as well.

Everyone's expressions ranged from fearful, shocked and confused, or in some cases a combination of the three. No one in Mewni had ever seen this sort of event happened before, and it was safe to say that they were on edge by what was occurring right over their heads. Was it another attack on the capital? was it some stranger from another world? no one was certain. What was certain, however, was that tonight the people of Mewni were afraid.

"Mom! Dad!" Star called out to her mother as she and her friends up to her parents "What's going on?"

"We don't know" her mother answered, "we thought it was Eclipsa's doing at first, but she's as equally as confused as we are"

Star looked over to the Queen of Darkness's tower and saw Eclipsa herself looking up at the sky in a state of wonder. Suddenly, another flash streaked across the sky, however after it vanished, the face that the people of Mewni could only catch glimpses of had fully materialized before them all in the skies above them all. Upon finally being able to fully see the face, Marco gasped in both shock and amazement. It was the face of Optimus Prime, the legendary leader of the heroic Autobots and stalwart defender of the earth. as a young boy, Marco would watch old documentaries on the Autobots past adventures to stop their long-standing enemies, the Decepticons, from conquering the earth. Yet despite the excitement the boy was feeling from seeing one of his childhood heroes, it still confused him as to why a giant image of his head was currently floating over Mewni's capital.

"What in blazes is that metal monster?" King River demanded

"His name is Optimus Prime" Marco explained "he's an Autobot from Earth"

"An Autowhat now?" Star questioned

"It's a long story, but he's a hero from where I come from" the human furthered "We don't have anything to worry about from him"

"But why is he here in the first place?" Moon questioned "and why does he look like a giant head in the sky?"

"I, uh…have no idea" Marco admitted sheepishly "but I think were about to find out"

"Greetings, people of Mewni" Optimus began "My name is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots"

"See, told you" Marco mentioned before being elbowed in the ribs by Star

"Do not be alarmed by my appearance, I am speaking to you via a dimensional holographic projector that my fellow Autobots built so that I may speak to you" the alien robot continued "but I wish that this was under better circumstances, for the planet I represent, Earth, is facing a grave danger that has come from your world. In the past few weeks, the earth has fallen under attack by a terrorist cell that call themselves the Mewman Liberation Army"

"Uh, come again?" Pony Head said, dumbstruck by what she just heard

Like Pony Head, everyone else who was watching Prime's message to them was equally confused by that statement. There was no record of a group like this so-called Mewman Liberation Army, and furthermore, why attack Earth at all? They bared no grudge against them, so why would any Mewman in their right mind attack a planet that Mewni has had no problem with in the first place?

"While I do not believe that you are responsible for what is happening, there are those on Earth who wish declare war on your world if this matter is not settled quickly" Optimus further explained "I come to you all in the hopes that we can solve this brutal mystery as to why some of your people are attacking Earth together and keep the peace between our worlds"

A collective, fearful gasp spread out throughout the crowd, even the royal family was taken aback by that sudden revelation. The idea of war with Earth was frightful thought if they had creatures like the Autobots allied with them. In a cosmic sort of way, it was almost funny to Star and her friends considering that this was the very subject they were playfully discussing, but in reality, the thought of a clash between the two worlds filled them with dread. Feeling the fear well up in both her subjects and her own family, Moon stepped forward to speak with the stranger.

"Optimus Prime, I am Queen Moon Butterfly" she began "I do not know of these terrorists who are attacking Earth, but I can assure you that these monsters act without our knowledge or by our orders. I swear to both you and the people of Earth that I shall do everything in my power to help you and your stop these acts of violence and bring those responsible to justice"

Watching her mother speak made Star well up with pride. True, the mother and daughter had their share of differences, especially regarding on how to handle monster/Mewman relations, but Star held nothing but respect for her mother regardless. Every word she spoke was filled with a combination of sympathy and authority, a clear sign of her strength as a ruler of Mewni. Though the princess would never admit out loud, there was a small part of her that secretly hoped that she would one day grow up to be at least half the queen Moon the undaunted was.

"Thank you, Queen Moon" Optimus replied with relief clear in his voice "I will tell my allies this news and we will attempt to reach out to you once we have a better means of communication"

"That won't be necessary" Moon assured "I will come to Earth personally and discuss our options on how best stop these attacks you and your allies"

"That would be greatly appreciated, your majesty" Prime said, "By showing yourself in person, it will better ease the tensions among the others by showing that you truly are not in league with the Mewman Liberation Army"

As the two leaders spoke, Marco noticed a brief image of something gliding through the sky before being covered by the clouds. At first, he assumed that it was a small flock of birds or even just his imagination, but his instincts told him to be on guard for whatever was to come next. Marco continued to keep his eyes on the skies overhead as he tried to figure out what exactly he saw. Suddenly, he caught another glimpse of what he had seen only moments ago and instantly felt a surge of panic well up inside him. It was a predator drone, a military weapon designed for either for recon or to deal out death on a massive scale, and upon seeing the missiles that were equipped on wing, it was clear which it was here for.

The boys mind raced with a thousand questions. How did the drone get here? Why was it here? And most importantly: did Optimus know about this? It made no sense to the teenager, but what did make sense to him was that needed to raise the alarm.

"Everybody run!" he cried out to the others

Before the crowd could mentally register why Marco was panicking, the drone glided down low enough for everyone, including Optimus, to see what the teen was referring to. Just as everyone began to run for cover, the drone fired two missiles directly through Prime's image, causing it to short out, and toward the crowd below. The missiles struck the ground with a devastating force that sent Marco and his friends flying in all directions. As Star flew through the air, the last thing she saw was the fire from the missiles consume her parents in a ball of flames before her face collided with nearby pillar, knocking her unconscious upon impact with it.