Cold, so cold…

A snake slithered through the forest as the sun hung over the horizon, the last hours of light upon the land. Cookie stopped moving, a flake of snow landing on her head. A sudden realization hit her: she would not survive the night without shelter. She pondered for a minute or two whether or not she should bother at all. Father was long gone, and all she’d had to eat was a dead rat about seven suns ago.

She felt out of place in this land, as all the other creatures scurried away when they realized her presence. Cookie had never seen small critters similar to herself in years, so she wondered: are they pets, too? Did they lose their families like she did? Why didn’t they talk to her? It was at that point that she noticed—several tree branches up—a sizeable, wide-eyed and feathered being who had just landed upon what appeared to be a nest. She tilted her head to the side, curious, watching as it offered a small dead rodent to other tiny creatures inside the nest.

Babies?

She stared for a moment, then closed her eyes: she needed shelter, or someplace warm. So, she kept slithering through the forest, noticing a lingering smell that was seemingly spreading through the air with each flick of her tongue.

A clearing could be seen—a field of sorts. Meanwhile, the smell kept getting stronger, only for another scent to follow:

Smoke… something burning.

“Fire!” she thought, slithering faster towards the clearing, her only chance to survive perhaps near.

Then, she could finally start to decipher the smell: like meat left out in the air for too long, and blood, lots of blood. Cookie stuck her tongue out in the air, remembering the taste of blood from that time she nibbled too hard on Father’s finger.

At that point, the smell had simply become too much. It was everywhere: coming from the air, the ground… she raised her head, seeing fires burning in the distance. She slithered faster, bumping into something metallic.

She looked down and reeled back at the sight. It looked like Father, but he was bloody and cold. She looked into his eyes, and they stared back, motionless, nothing but a dead stare. The smell was overwhelming, and she slowly realized that the figure on the ground was the source. Carefully, she prodded him in the nose, only to get no response.

Why wasn’t he moving? Was he asleep? Why so much blood? Why did he smell like rotting meat?

Cookie realized that the man was in trouble. She used her body to prop herself up so she could perhaps get help for the bloodied man.

Then she became aware of her surroundings.

There were dozens—no, hundreds of men just laying in the bloodied fields, all motionless. Dead, she came to realize. Her mind raced with thoughts, noticing other creatures lying dead, alongside them. They had four legs, some had wings and some had horns, and others had lots of feathers. She wanted to cry, just for the thought of Father’s body being lost along with the rest.

Cookie shook her head, looking at the nearest fire, and began to awkwardly slither between the bodies. She could hear something else: voices.

Voices!

She hurried up, noticing a group of small figures grouped around a campfire.

She slowed down, getting as close as she could without being noticed, then laid low on some grass, listening.

“I can’t stand the smell…” a voice, male, muttered.

“I...” a far more quiet, female voice muttered back. “I never thought I’d see so many… dead...”

“We volunteered for the cleanup,” another female said. “Corpses aren’t just gonna get up and walk to the burial sites, right?”

Cookie watched as the three figures sat by the fire. They were short. And colorful, too. Her attention was drawn to the yellow one with wings. She seemed like the nicest of the three. And so, she slowly slithered out of the grass, heading towards the yellow person.

“Just one more week of—” One of them froze, looking at Cookie from over the yellow one’s shoulder. “Snake!” she yelled, jumping up and taking a few steps back.

“I knew the smell would get some of these darned predators in here!” another one yelled. “Get a stick or something!”

Cookie closed her eyes, curling up into a ball in terror.

“Stop!” the formerly quiet one yelled out.

Everything fell silent again, nothing but the crackling of the fire. Cookie opened one eye, looking at the yellow creature, sitting on her haunches and smiling down at Cookie with a motherly expression.

“Awww…” she cooed, slowly and carefully lifting Cookie off the ground

The snake, in turn, nuzzled against her chest, desperately seeking warmth.

“You’re lost, aren’t you?”

The snake nodded.

“I’m Fluttershy,” the creature said, hugging Cookie.

“Don’t worry, I’m here for you,” Fluttershy said, smiling down at Cookie.

Cookie closed her eyes, cuddling against Fluttershy, feeling safe for the first time in weeks.

Celestia trotted through the metallic halls of the Vector, accompanied by Twilight. They ducked under a collapsed beam being repaired by a team of human engineers. Every now and then, they would make their way past some damaged wall panel or blast door, though what made her more uneasy were the occasional bullet holes or explosion marks. Humans could be observed walking to and fro, repairing the damage on their ship—damage that they, themselves, had caused.

She found it odd that the humans had made amends with each other so quickly, although she did observe that they were still tense. One moment they were shooting gauss shells at each other, and the next, they were working together to repair the damage on their vessel.

“... As I was saying,” Twilight continued, “signing this pact will allow us access to knowledge far beyond any of us!”

“Twilight…” Celestia sighed.

“True, Silverback’s decision to detonate the bomb behind the moon—”

“Twilight,” Celestia said, frowning. “He almost killed my sister, and none of us know if she will ever be the same, let alone the damage he did to the moon.”

“Yes, yes,” Twilight continued. “It was a brash choice, but like Becker said, the blast would’ve blown away the atmosphere!”

“What I’m saying, Twilight,” Celestia said while rounding a corner, almost bumping into a group of guardsmen, “is that if all humans make brash decisions like this, with such drastic outcomes, I can’t expect them to play nice and help us form a ‘New, unified government, and a better way of life with every race working as one,’ like Becker said.”

“We have to try!” Twilight retorted. “The pony way of life is to accept everypo—I mean, everyone, no matter their differences! Well…” Twilight looked down. “Unless they’re undeniably evil.”

“Humans are not evil. I understand that,” Celestia began, slowly coming to a stop along with Twilight in front of a large set of blast doors. She looked down at her student, raising an eyebrow. “But they are very unpredictable, and that can be dangerous.” The blast doors hissed as they began to part. “Either way, the future will be decided during this short meeting.”

With the blast doors opened to their full capacity, a large chamber was presented to both Celestia and Twilight. In the center was a round, metallic table. Around it sat ambassadors from each country and race, including Docaro, the zebra ambassador; Arcturus, the changeling ambassador; and Gabriel, newly appointed ambassador of the Gryphon kingdom.

Observing the table, as silent as could be, were dozens of spectators from every race. Celestia cleared her throat, approaching the center along with Twilight and calmly sitting down at their designated spots. At the other end of the table, wearing a full suit of armor, stood Supreme Admiral Becker. He placed his hands behind his back and looked at every single one of the people sitting at the table.

“This meeting is now in session,” he spoke up. “As you all know, both the people of this planet and my own are currently at a crossroads. At the end of this final reunion, the future fate of each of our species will be decided… We have been arguing the terms for far too long. A resolve needs to be put forth!”

Celestia sighed, calmly standing up. “Admiral,” she began, “do you not think that perhaps this... ‘solution’ is being set forth too quickly?”

“Celestia,” Becker began, nodding at her. “You could not be nearer to the truth, but the planet—its people—are in pain. Humanity wants to help repair the damage it itself has done, but the help needs to be officialized, and we need to secure a stable relationship with all of you, because a way back to our home is not even yet on the horizon. Silverback understood that… He did so much damage, and it cost us so much, but in the end… he understood.” Becker placed his hands on the table. “And what we need right now is for all of you to understand as well. We’re looking at the future here…”

Gabriel stood up, placing his claws on the table. “What we understand is the irreparable damage humanity has caused to my people!”

Docaro was next, standing up. “Your people began the original war in the first place—and it was not all of humanity, but those who succumbed to the fear of losing everything. If they had been offered hope to start with, if all of us had handled the situation better, perhaps we could have avoided the war.” He looked straight into the Gryphon’s eyes. “We did not do it at the beginning, but we can do it now, and hopefully save ourselves more pain.”

“Entire Gryphon cities were leveled!” Gabriel exclaimed. “It’ll take decades to reclaim our former glory!”

“With our help, Gabriel,” Becker said in a stern tone, “it will take a fraction of that.”

“Am I supposed to make peace with the aliens who devastated my people!?”

Celestia opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut off by Twilight, “We need to forgive them! I understand it’s hard to let go over so many lives, but I have seen the knowledge humanity has to offer! We could be reaching the stars in a couple years, tops!”

Arcturus stood up. “The arrival of the humans is the event that finally dragged my people out of a dark age! The Changeling Republic stands with them!

Becker sighed. “Gabriel… My people are devastated, too. You have a place and a history to rebuild over, but we… we only have what we carried with us. There’s no home as of yet, only a ship and a shortening amount of supplies.” The admiral leaned over the table, frowning. “Like Twilight Sparkle said: we have an amount of knowledge and technology that could slingshot the people of this planet into the space age! All we ask is for a place to call home!”

The people around the table fell silent as the spectators whispered to each other. Gabriel frowned, sitting down along with the others. Becker waved a hand over a small console on the table in front of him, prompting a holographic display to appear in front of himself and for every ambassador.

“This needs to be decided now... “ he began. “Everyone who signs this document will take part in the newly formed ‘United Species Coalition’. Trade routes will be built between each agreeing nation, with the use and knowledge of our technology being granted to those who prove worthy, and doled to the rest as to not cause a technological clash. The military of each nation will be assimilated into the Colonial Guard, trained and equipped to be the first, best, and firmest line of defense the new USC will have against any external or internal threats. Each nation’s agricultural and industrial processes will receive aid from us and boost their production twentyfold. Apex, our colony, will begin to accept the citizens regardless of their race, and will provide dignified housing for those who need it, while continuing to expand.”

“And to finish,” Becker continued, “free medical and psychological aid will be granted to anyone affected by the conflict, soldier and civilian alike…” He looked over at the people around the table. “Wave a hoof, or claw, over the display to show your agreement. If you choose to not sign, you are in your full right not to do so.”

Arcturus was the first to wave his hoof over the display, prompting it to turn blue. He looked and smiled at Becker, who nodded at him.

Celestia looked over at Twilight, who was sitting with her eyes wide open. She sighed, looking straight at Becker’s eyes while she waved her hoof over the display, prompting Twilight to release a sigh of relief.

Gabriel was breaking into a cold sweat, slowly extending his claw to wave it over the display, then stopping. Everyone in the chamber had their eyes set on him in complete silence. He closed his eyes, waving his claw over the display, then looking down, defeated.

Afterwards, all eyes were set on Docaro, who sat completely silent. “My people are the ones least affected by these past conflicts,” he began, looking at Becker. “As much as we appreciate the offer, we are not ready to join this… new world order. All we ask is for soldiers to be kept out of Zebrica while we observe how the world changes… Like I said, we do not deny your offer, but neither do we accept it.”

“I understand,” Becker said, nodding. “Humanity has naught to fix in a country where it has done no damage. We accept your terms, and hope to be allies in the future…” He placed his hands behind his back.

“As of now,” Becker stated, “Equestria, the Gryphon Kingdom, the Changeling Republic, and humanity, are one! I welcome forth the United Species Coalition!” The spectators remained silent for a second, then began applauding.

And so, the new USC was born.