The wind whistled gently, brushing the endless fields of corn. Planet Yiluxa, haven for the worn, tired, and those seeking rest after years of merciless service, provided courtesy of the USC. Never attacked, never touched by war, never influenced by ruthless corporations. The image of beauty, the image of tranquility, the bed for those who earned it. No fears, no tears, no worries. The outline of a nearby planet, a gas giant, could be seen in the sky. So far, yet so near. So dangerous, yet so harmless. A few clouds graced the sky above above, neither tainting the calm of the sun, nor overpowering the blue of the sky.

In the field, a little girl ran. Wearing a small, pink dress, with her feet exposed to the ground, she feared nothing, for the planet and the fields were pristine... one could almost say perfect. She continued to make her way through the field, laughing. Behind her, a large snake pursued, yet she laughed and felt no worry. This peculiar snake, behaved more like a dog than anything, it would never bite, it would always love.

As the young girl, of no more than ten years old, ran through the field, a large, metallic house came into view. Painted red, the color her father liked, and accompanied by a barn, made of the same material, strong, reliable, house of many animals. Cows, chickens, pigs.

A single man, sitting on a chair set on the porch of the red house, looked on with a warm expression as the girl broke away from the field. His face, was scarred, yet fatherly and comforting. His eyes, a blue as deep as the widest of oceans, gazed out over the vast and seemingly endless span of his farm, earned with his sweat, blood, and tears. Meritocracy. Decades of continuous service had granted him this, his very dreams come to fruition. Peace, quiet, redemption.

The door of his house slid open. A woman, young and beautiful, walked out, holding a glass of wine in her hand. “Here you go, Jack,” she said, holding it for the man, who looked up to her with his blue eyes.

“Thank you, honey,” he replied, accepting the glass with his left hand. He sipped on it, before turning back to his wife. “Feels nice to come back home after all these years.”

The woman smiled and leaned down, giving him a peck on the lips. “More than nice; it’s amazing.”

Jack sighed in content, looking back at the fields. His wife sat on his knees, and they both proceeded to watch their daughter as she played with Cookie, their recently adopted snake.

“I never thought that snakes could be so... friendly,” Jack muttered.

“Well, she’s an ObenTech Cyber, so she’s bound to be more than just an animal.”

The man chuckled. “At least Laury’s having a great time with her.”

His smile remained unchanged as the small holopad on his pocket began to vibrate. His wife looked on with a raised eyebrow as he retrieved it, staring at the screen.

“Who is it...?”

Jack Silverback stared at the screen for a few seconds before muttering, “CG High Command...” He tapped the pad with his finger, and a message began to play.

“This is a pre-recorded message,

“Commander ‘Silverback’, ID: 0091735-BCE, this is a message from High Command, you are being recalled for service, effective immediately. We have already sent a vessel to retrieve you, which should arrive in thirty seconds. Drop everything you are doing and prepare to serve.”

Jack stared at the screen, unmoving, stoic. Seconds passed before he reacted. Fear, crawling into his heart like a spider hunting for prey. He looked up to his wife, only to see a pile of ashes spread on the floor. “Jenna!?” he hastily got up from the chair, gazing down at the ashes with fear. “No... No no no... Laury!” he called after his daughter. The sounds of joy that had been coming from her had already ceased, leaving only a deep growl that shook the ground with the intensity of an earthquake. He looked up at the sky to see a monstrous ship break the sky, the words “USS Vector” engraved on it. The massive vessel shone a light onto him, forcing Jack to shield his eyes and ears as a high-pitched hiss began to rise.

And it all stopped.

Silence. Everything but the wind had faded away. He opened his eyes, only to see a clouded and gray sky looking down grimly upon him. He craned his neck downwards, finding himself surrounded by nothing more than barren lands extending as far as the horizon. He looked down at his body, clad in a full suit of armor, synthetic muscle for skin, covered by plates of the hardest metal. Wrong, in every way.

Jack slowly turned around, where his house used to be. His armored feet broke the built up silence, echoing throughout the endless land. Broken, rusty, pitiful. His house, only a shade of what it used to be, stood amongst the wasteland.

“You miss them, do you not?” a somewhat familiar, yet intriguing voice sounded off. The man, filled to the brim with fear and uncertainty, spun around to come face to face with the inquirer.

In the middle of the endless land stood an iconic figure. The man’s mind flooded with information that was being damned by his own subconscious, revealing what was both true, yet false. What was real, and what was unreal. His expression contorted from one of fear, to one of anger.

Princess Luna of Equestria.

“You...” he snarled, looming over the alicorn, while gazing down upon her with eyes of fire. “What are you doing here, in my mind? You think you can just walk in here!? Are you gonna try to kill me or something!?” His foot stomped loudly on the ground, causing a small quake.

“I am the ruler of the night, of dreams, and nightmares,” the pony said, her voice calm and forgiving. “I will admit that it was difficult to reach you; the human mind is incredibly complex.” Jack clenched his fists as she began to pace around him, taunting him. “Your minds are not as strong as your bodies...”

“What do you want?”

Luna stopped moving, looking over her shoulder. “Let us see what it is that you want, first.”

The man growled as the Princess trotted slowly, moving inch by inch towards his broken home. He closed his eyes, trying to stop it, to try to wake up, to try and make her disappear. But nothing. His eyes shot open to see her motioning towards the door, prodding him to enter. He had lived through the same experience countless of times; he knew what lay ahead, but she did not.

He frowned and looked at the ground, releasing a sigh of defeat. Hesitantly did he begin to walk forward, his footsteps and shaky breathing were the only things to break the smothering silence. Jack shook his head, wanting nothing more than to wake up.

Reaching the rusted door, he extended his hand to open it, then glanced over at the Princess next to him. He threw an elbow bash to her face, only to be stopped by an ethereal field. She did not even flinch.

“Once again: shall we enter?”

Saying nothing, Jack, defeated, slid one of his armored hands into the small opening between the wall and the door. His strength, even more with the help of his suit, made the task of opening the door into something trivial. It creaked loudly as it slid into the wall. He gulped, fearsome to see what lay inside.

They both entered the house, to see the ashes inside. Nothing but that covered the floor. Furniture gone, melted, destroyed. It reeked a scent of pain and suffering. Jack leaned down, his face worrisome, to pick up something from the piles of ashes. He dusted it off and looked at it, memories flitting through his mind. Depicting himself and his family, the picture was burned, their faces gone, except for his. Luna stared in silence.

“Is... This is your home, is it not?”

“It used to be.”

“What happened to them...?”

The man crushed the picture with his hand, letting it fall back onto the ashes with a few tears following it. “Ubor... One year ago.”

Luna looked to the side. “And they...?”

“I don’t know...” Jack said. “I lost contact with them. High Command said they were evacuated but...” He clenched his fists, shaking. “Now I’m stuck on your damned planet...”

“And that is your reason to damn us all?”

“Everything would have gone much smoother if you hadn’t interrupted me.” He shot a furious stare at Luna. “None of this would have happened, but you had to slow me down...”

The world surrounding them began to shake, fading away, dreamscape degenerating into a void of absence. Luna took flight, yelling after the man, “We can still help you! There is no reason to continue this!”

“No... I have to finish what I started.”

Father woke from his deep slumber with a gasp, managing to bring Cookie out of her rest as well. She watched with concern as he got out of the bed and turned on the lights. Once her eyes adjusted, she could see a full view of Father’s armored figure, breathing heavily. She prodded the air with her tongue, sensing the smell of his sweat. Much obvious to her: Father was having nightmares again. She looked over the edge of her home and gently hissed at him, prompting him to sigh and approach her.

His eyes, screaming the tension he was living through. Beads of sweat that trickled down his exposed forehead, giving the skin a reflective cover. Cookie was picked up, she then gingerly coiled around her Father’s neck. She nuzzled against his chin, not managing to bring a smile for once. The snake warily settled down, and the man did as well, placing himself on the chair in front of the machine. Cookie watched as he did a few motions with his hands, bringing up the holographic display. He was going to talk to the machine; she knew not to interrupt.

“This... This is it...” he muttered. “I’ve lead countless assaults before, but this... This matters so much more.” Father wiped a bead of sweat off of his forehead. “It’s personal now... Not to sound selfish, but it is.”

“We’re quickly losing ground, but we’re gaining time. I never expected Becker to actually pull it off, but... He got every single known race on this planet to help him... How foolish of me.”

Father sighed, “Standard protocol states that when an extremely promising race is found, they must be assimilated into the USC at once... Mostly because we haven’t found many other species than the Lakuran or the Gektar. The rest of the sentients we’ve found tried to kill us, or are still fighting.”

The man shook his head and laughed. “Becker did it! Not only with one species, but a whole planet of them... This may as well save him the execution if I don’t kill him first, and if I don’t, then I’ll be the one with the noose around my neck... If I live, that is...”

“The only option is to go all-out. Millions of men and women have placed their trust in me, and I’m not going to give up until...” he trailed off, looking down at Cookie. A wave of fear washed over her body as Father continued, “Until I die...”

“I... I never wanted for this to happen, but... I have to. I need to finish what I started...”

“Jenna, Laury... Wherever you are... I love you both.”

Father?

Cookie could not help but to be concerned. She watched in silence as Father carried her through and out of the metallic city. Men and women looked in silence, saluting as the man made his way. She simply wrapped herself around his neck and closed her eyes.

Father’s footsteps changed from metallic thumps, to something else. Cookie opened her eyes to see the metal city getting smaller as more distance was put between it and her. Concerned, she nuzzled against Father's chin, then looked up at him to see tears streaming down his face. What happened? Did she make him sad? She continued to show her affection in vain hope of making the tears stop.

Eventually, the big biped came to a halt near a forest. Cold, unwelcoming. He kneeled down and gingerly unwrapped Cookie from his neck. What was happening? She was placed onto the ground, as several tears from Father fell down. “I’m so sorry...”

Father...? Please, no...

She coiled up around his arm. Please, Father!

“Cookie... You have to find someone who will love you... I... I don’t know anymore...”

No... Please... She strengthened her grip around Father’s arm. I don’t want to go! I want to see Mother and Little Mother again!

“For months, you’ve been my only friend... But you need to find someone else... I don’t know if I will live, but I promise that I will find you if I do...”

Father...

Slowly, the man unwrapped Cookie from around his arm. She could not do anything but to look up at him, wishing she could cry. Gingerly she was set upon the cold ground, already wanting to be back in her warm home. Why was Father going to die? Her only desire was to die with him, not alone.

She turned to the cold forest, sensing the danger awaiting her. The concept of being alone was already terrifying; why did she have to live through such a thing? She turned back to Father, only to find an empty vastness of land all around her. Defeated, she slowly rolled up and rested her head upon the ground, closing her eyes and managing to shed a single tear.

Why...

“Everything is ready, sir. We’re just waiting for your go ahead.”

“Good. We start now. And remember, we’re only bringing the package so Becker knows we can use it.”

“Yes sir!”

A tremor shook the transport vessel he was in, interrupting his mental review of the last conversation he had before joining the final assault. Jack could not help but to instinctively open his eyes, finding himself looking at the faceplate held in his hands. He drew in a deep breath, sighing it out as he placed the piece of armor over his face. Ready, concerned, filled to the brim with fear. He got up and held onto the railings above, carefully walking over to the cabin of the small craft, observing the view the holoscreens provided. The Vector, in all its massive size, getting closer. All around it did ships soar in every direction, battling each other with ruthless perfection.

“Status?” he asked, leaning over the pilot.

“Green, sir. The infiltration team has cleared the landing zone, and our escort is in nominal status.”

“What about the package?”

“Ready to be deployed at your orders.”

With a single nod, Jack watched as the small escort approached one of the hangars. He reached behind his back, taking the rifle set on his powerpack, checking the magazine, and gripping it tightly. Turning around to face the currently closed ramp, thoughts of his family and Cookie flitted through his mind. No more than images, gone from their physical form, into a void. He armed himself with confidence.

“Flight Lieutenant... I want a no-bullshit status report.” The pilot fell silent shortly after.

“Y-yes sir...” the man muttered. “We’re not gonna last long unless we get Becker to cease fire.”

“Copy that...” Jack sighed. “He’s on the bridge, isn’t he?”

“Affirmative... We’ve got all of our forces assaulting the bridge. The androids are coming by the hundreds... This is our last chance.”

“Get the package ready, but don’t trigger it yet,” Jack muttered, still facing the ramp. A few minutes were spent in silence. He heard the ship’s engines slow down. It was time. He gripped his rifle tightly.

“LZ clear, lowering down...”

Without a hitch, the small vessel landed. The ramp opened, making way for Jack to exit into the bowels of the Vector. Calmly, he looked around, soldiers running to and fro. Friendlies. Bodies of damaged androids blanketing the metallic floor of the hangar. A heavy ran over to him, giving a quick salute, yelling and pointing towards a direction he cared not to go. Jack continued to walk, ignoring his surroundings.

“Move, move!”

“Cover the Commander!”

Fear washing over her, Lieutenant Demia dragged herself deeper into the storage room deep in the vastness of the Vector, where all the critical systems were set. The last one of her squad, and already fading away. Her suit, malfunctioning, unable to communicate with anybody else. The room was safe, none knew she was there. Her last strength used to approach a single object, pressing a single button before sighing out her last breath.

He slid to a stop, panting. Soon did the remaining troopers of his escort follow. This was it. The only thing standing between him and Becker, a single blast door. Time running out. Enemy reinforcements soon to arrive. Jack reloaded his rifle.

“Remember,” he said, “We want him alive...”

“Yes sir!”

A single combat engineer approached the blast doors, tossing a magnetic breach charge onto it before walking back to the group. “Behind me!” Jack aimed his weapon at the door, everyone else following his actions.

Silence... The ticking of the charge getting faster.

This is it, old man...

The charge went off, blowing off a large chunk of the metallic door. Immediately, a heavy rushed over to it and forced it open the rest of the way. Once done, Jack and the rest of his squad followed, into the command bridge of the Vector.

Nothing but consoles greeted them. The lights, off. The viewscreens, off. Jack tossed his rifle to the side.

He yelled out, “Stop hiding, old man!”

“I’m right here, Commander.” Jack and his team turned to see Becker appear from a dark corner, his arms behind his back, unmasked. Jack unholstered his pistol and aimed it at him, the troopers aiming their weapons as well.

“Becker...” Jack stepped closer to the man, keeping the pistol aimed on his head. “You knew we were coming... You didn’t do anything about it. Why?”

“Is there a point to it?” the old man said. “I’m not afraid to die, neither are you. There’s no reason for more bloodshed.”

“You’re gonna give up? Just like that?”

“No. I’m only giving up once you understand.”

“Understand what!?” Jack yelled. “All I want, is for us to go back home. Why in hell do you want to stop that!?”

Becker looked to the side. “It’s not that... This is much bigger.” He began to pace around the room, all weapons following his trace. “Why do you think they speak Terran? The so called ‘magic’? This isn’t as simple as a failed hyperjump. Nor is it a corporate experiment. We’re much deeper in this shit than you can imagine.” He gestured towards the consoles. “The long-range comms are working, but we're not receiving any signals... not a goddamn thing... Do you see it?” He stepped over to Jack. “We’ve mapped the stars, Commander! All the anomalies, including the damned orbital pattern of this hellhole!” Becker pointed his finger at the Commander. “Why haven’t I told this to the crew? Do you think they can handle it? This is some fucked up shit, Jack! We’re not getting out of here any time soon, and all I’m trying to do is to set us up a nice place to stay on until we can finally find a way!”

“You’re lying!” Jack pointed his pistol at the Admiral’s head. “Even if all that bullshit you just spouted is true, it’s still your fault that most of us got recalled back into service!”

“Damnit, Jack! I was given orders, and I followed them! Would you have done any different?! You’re not even thinking straight anymore, are you?” Becker sighed and turned around. “You can try and find a way, but you'll only leave this world and its people in ruins, and you’ll be stuck in uncharted space for the rest of your life, and you'll take the rest of the damned crew with you! Is that what you want!? Even if you go back to the USC, High Command will hang you for what you did to the people of this world...” Becker looked over his shoulder. “Would your family be okay with all that you’ve done?”

"Damnit Becker!” he yelled. This is about my damn family! I signed up to be protecting them, not aiding and abetting a deserter!"

"Then tear out the black box! Even I can't doctor that!” Becker gestured towards the bridge. “Go on, I can't stop you. We're lost, Jack. We're lost in a graveyard. I know how it sounds, but think about it Jack. Is that really the best I could do? I could have locked us down on radio silence, claimed we were evading Ubor patrols. I could have said anything, and an entire galaxy of dead planets is the best I could do?"

Jack huffed. "So I'm just supposed to buy that? Just accept that every, single, planet from here to god knows how far is a dead rock? And that you'd go back, and be hanged willingly?"

“Am I armed Jack? Do I look like a man who's afraid to die?"

The Commander shook his head, breathing heavily. “Damnit!” He spun around and shot a console, sending sparks flying across the bridge. The troopers behind him lowered their weapons. “Why didn’t you tell me before!?”

"I saw you, Jack. You were already unstable, anxious, dangerously homesick. You wanted to go back, to go back and look for your family, fix your LIFE. The very fact that we were UNIVERSALLY lost would have set you over the brink. As it doubtfully would have with many of the crew. I needed more time to come up with a solution. To build relations with the only link we could find in this whole galaxy!"

Silverback growled. "I was one of your top officers, I should have been informed despite ANY personal issues I may have had with the situation" His teeth had clenched, tears had formed, His eyes widened with realization, rage, and sadness.

"If I..." His voice wavered for a moment. He steadied it."If I had known..." He built up to roar of regretful anguish. "Anything about this, then-" He flailed his arms about, in a general reference to everything that surrounded them "All of this would have been avoided! Brothers would not be killing brothers on some forsaken world, the Vector would not be shooting down her sister ships, and I..." Silverback relaxed; his arms falling to his sides, his head bowing. "I would never had pointed a gun at an old friend."

Becker shook his head. "You think that this hadn't crossed my mind? I too wish that none of this had happened, but look at yourself! Look at how angry you are and ask yourself, Would you have been any more rational if you had just learned, out of the blue, that the likelihood of ever reestablishing contact with the USC was practically zero? That you would never learn if your family was safe?"

"I had a duty... I wouldn't have let my personal feelings get in the way of that."

"I had several psychological evaluations that disagreed with you, Jack. I was doing my job to the best of my ability. Anybody who was to learn of the true extent of our predicament had to be carefully selected. This ship had 5 billion people on it, over half of them with situations similar to your's, and not many as strongly willed. Just imagine If I had made the information public! It would have been mass hysteria. As the admiral of this ship, I couldn't have allowed that."

Silverback had gone completely silent. The Heavies behind him were shifting awkwardly and looking at each other, each one reviewing what they had just heard. The silence was broken by Silverback. "What are you going to do now, Becker?"

"Help me end this needless war. Gather your men, let them reunite with their brothers, help the poor inhabitants of this planet to recover. Maybe someday we'll even make it back to the USC. All you need to do is calm down and grasp hold of hope."

Jack leaned over the broken console, sighing and shakily bringing a finger to his helmet. “This.. is Commander Silverback to all forces... Retreat. I repeat, retreat back to home base.” He glared at Becker. “We have the Vector under our control, no need for more fighting. Stop at once...”

“Error: long-range comms, unavailable.”

“Shit...” he muttered, turning to the Admiral. “I can stop the fight on the ship, but not on the planet...” Becker nodded in response.

“Do what you can.”

The Commander pressed a finger against his helmet. “Package escort team, do you read me?” he asked, receiving static as a response. “I repeat: do you copy?”

Jack slowly turned to Becker. “Adam... We need to get to one of the supply rooms on the next sector. It’s only a few hundred meters away, so we have to go. Now.”

The old man turned around and raised an eyebrow. “Why is that?”

“I’ll... I’ll tell you on the way.” He stood upright and gestured for Becker to follow, then looked over his shoulder at the concerned troopers. “Stay here.”

Jack briskly walked out of the bridge, Becker trailing behind. “Keep up, old man!” he yelled as he began to run through the metallic hallways.

“What did you do, Jack!?” Becker yelled as he ran after him.

“We brought a bomb in here!” Jack turned around a corner.

“What!?”

“I don’t think it’s triggered, but we have to make sure!”

He skidded to a halt in front of a closed blast door, Becker following the same action. Jack turned to him. “Open it.”

Without hesitation, Becker stood next to the door, typing in a small console next to it. With a loud hiss, the set of doors parted open, allowing both of the men to walk in.

“Shit...” Becker muttered, rushing over to the corpse of a Raider, lying right next to a beeping object displaying a set count of numbers. “Ten minutes... Why the hell did you bring this in here and why did you trigger it!?”

Jack walked over to him and kneeled down. “I lost contact with the team in charge of this thing... They must’ve gotten desperate.”

“Five minutes until detonation...”

“I can’t get a tech team here! They’ll take too long!” Becker yelled.

“Then let me do it,” Jack replied, grabbing Becker by the collar and pulling him away. “We have to get it out of the ship.” He crouched down and picked up the bomb, setting it on the magnetic locks on his back.

“Jack-”

“I’m finishing what I started, old man...” He walked over to the exit and looked over his shoulder. “Don’t waste this chance, ‘cause you won’t get another one.”

No hesitation, no fear. Jack looked on ahead and began a walk that slowly turned into a sprint. His powerful legs combined with the syntex muscle accelerated him into a ludicrous speed as he ran through the damaged halls of the Vector. Dumbfounded troopers stared in silence as he ran past them. He followed the broken signs set on the ceiling, into a tram station, where no cart awaited for him. Jack unholstered his pistol and shot the control console, prompting the hatch that separated the empty vacuum of the tram system from the rest of the ship to open.

With a loud grunt, he took a running jump into the tram system and fired up his suit’s thrusters. No air to provide resistance, he kept accelerating through the ship.

“It was a decisive moment for all of us...”

Jack dodged an incoming tram, then grab onto another one and pushed himself up to achieve even more speed.

“Even if he didn’t realize...”

He neared one of the critical points of the ship: a service hatch right in the middle of the tram system. He grabbed hold of his pistol and shot the small console next to it, forcing it to open, revealing a passage that cut all the way through the hull of the ship.

“It’s been too long since they arrived... So much has changed. We built cities, some that swallowed others. Buildings that scratched the heavens. All of these amazing things, thanks to them. I like to think that we would have never achieved all of this without them.. without him.”

Silverback fired up his thrusters once again as he sped through the passage, out into the void of space. He manually diverted energy from all of his systems into the ion accelerators, making his way through the cloud of debris outside the Vector.

“He started it all, he ended it all. With the weight of thousands of souls upon his shoulders, he didn’t even look back. He knew what he had to do. The very fate of us all, right on himself. Some think of him as a hero, raising statues in his honor. Others antagonize him...”

The man maneuvered out of the combat zone, heading towards the moon.

“The changelings were right: he was just different, but not bad. He could have ended us all that night, but he chose to sacrifice himself for us... all of us.”

Everything but the sound of his own breathing was gone. The moon getting closer after each blink.

“I can’t even begin to imagine what his thoughts were at that time. We can only speculate. All I can say is that he knew what he had to do. He was driven to finish what he started, one way or another.”

The timer kept shortening. His speed kept increasing.

“I do know what the last image that crossed his mind was, though...”

Arcturus charged, gunfire all around. The friendly heavies behind him fought to cover him and the other changelings as they charged forward. One of his kin was hit by a gauss shell, covering him in their remains.

“For that single moment, everything seemed to stop as the sky caught fire.”

A bright flash interrupted him. He skidded to a halt, looking up at the moon to see a massive aura forming behind it. The gunfire died out. Everyone looked up.

“I guess he saw what he most wanted to see...”

“Family...”

“Luna!?” Celestia yelled out, rushing through the palace halls. The ground quaked with tremors that reached the foundation of the very planet.. Busts fell off of their stands, paintings crashed to the floor, which already was cracking open itself.

“LUNA!” she screamed, bashing through the broken doors of the main hall to see a bright light enveloping her agonized sister.

“But sometimes, we just have to let go...”

“Luna...”

“Sacrifices have to be made, and sometimes you don’t even know when.”

“Oh my...” News Flash dropped her microphone as she looked at the sky. The riot she was reporting on fell silent, everyone forgetting their differences for just one moment.

“But it happens so our fate can remain true...”

“They united us, he divided them. But it was ultimately him who united everyone as a whole. The ‘United Species Coalition’ rose.”

I dropped my quill as the flash entered my room. I stopped what I was doing to look through the window, seeing the same as millions of others.

“The last words he said, directed to Becker, were ‘Don’t waste this chance, because you won’t get another one.’”

“T-Twilight...?” I turned around to see Spike, his little legs shaking in fear. I briskly trotted over to him and hugged him, fearing for my own life as well.

“Truer words were never spoken before... He lost everything, so he could give us another chance. We learned to appreciate what we already had.”

Both Atlas and Torres opened their eyes, seeing a bright flash emanate through the broken windows of the small building. The troopers, ready to fire at them, lowered their weapons to see the same.

“Now we are the new USC, and our history is marked in steel and fire... It’s hard to think that I was one of the very first to interact with the humans... And every event after that led towards this single event...”

“W-what’s happening, Twilight?” Spike muttered as he hugged me as hard as he could.

Ignoring my fear, I hugged him as close as possible. “Just close your eyes, everything’s going to be fine...”

“And after that, we rose from the ashes. With their help, we now touch the heavens... But we couldn’t help but to see the end of the world for just one second; enough for us to be reborn.”

“All thanks to the man of silver...”