Out in the vast fields of District Thirty Six, one of the many farm districts set on the changeling lands, Kim Lone pushed hard with her hooves to drag her old toy box out of her home. She looked around her porch, seeing her mother sitting on a chair by the edge. “Hi Mom...” she called out.

Her mother looked over at her, smiling. “Hello, pumpkin. Why are you out here so late?”

“I can’t sleep…” the young changeling muttered as she reached into her
old toybox, pulling out a figurine of a human Guardsman.

“Dreaming of your father, I assume?” Her mother sighed, getting off of the chair and walking over to her, sitting down on the floor.

Kim placed the figurine against her chest as she began to pout. She looked up at her mother. “Are you, too?”

Mother looked away. “I… I am.”

The two spent a moment of silence, then Kim began to analyze the toy she held in her hooves, remembering when her father gave it to her, as it was the only thing she had to remember him. “When is he gonna be back…?”

“I don’t know, pumpkin.” The older changeling muttered. “He’s just out in space, like I’ve told you.”

“Is he…?” Kim set the figurine on the floor, sighing. “So many years have passed now… Why isn’t he coming back?”

“I wish I knew…”

The sky flashed with white light, the ground quaked. “Woah!” Kim yelled, getting up and looking at the night’s sky, just as dozens of ships began to emerge above from hyperspace, followed by the behemoth that was the Vector. She bit her right hoof and shed a tear.

“Daddy…”