My steps echoed throughout the vast halls. The USS Vector, dormant since the end of the war. The quiet hum of her engines and basic life support, coupled with crystalline vapor floating in the low gravity. My routine patrol was near its end, as I was roughly a few hallways away from the Command Bridge. The servos and electronics of my limbs produced sounds that joined those of the steps of my magboots, together echoing down the sleeping ship's halls. Only the emergency lights and the blue glow of my eyes kept the darkness at bay.

Sixteen years, four months, four weeks, two days, eight hours, one minute, five seconds and counting.

So much time had passed ever since Humankind was placed in stasis, waiting to be awakened when needed. After their arrival on New Earth and the conclusion of the war, they had united every known species on the planet, including the distraught Ponies and Gryphons. Finally united, humanity gifted them with the eons of accumulated technological knowledge they carried with them, and assigned the Pony Princesses with the task of upkeeping this newborn civilization as it pushed through the stages of self-evolution. After a few years of keeping a close eye on the newfound dimension, Humankind fell upon the decision of building several holding vessels in order to place themselves in stasis and retreat back into deep space, knowing well enough that getting back in contact with the USC had been deemed almost impossible through conventional means. Before fully entering stasis, the current Admiral issued a few commands...

“The path ahead is filled with challenges, but by every challenge you pass, you will discover ten times as many wonders. You must work together, and break away from the grip of whatever forces each of you believes in, so that someday you will be the forces behind someone else... Send a distress signal if you need us. We will return as swiftly as we can... Peace Through Unity.”

And after that, the USS Vector and the fleet of holding vessels retreated into deep space, ready to heed their call if needed, though hoping that someday, it would be the new species that came to them instead to show them the way home.