A unicorn is found guilty of the crime of High Treason, under dubious circumstances, he is sent to be executed by firing squad, his request. His crimes were viewed as against harmony, unity, and above all, the interest of nations.

He will not bear witness to the dawn of a new horizon, but he'll witness something else; the setting of a new flame for something new. He believed he was the spark for that new flame, and when the harshest lights cast down the darkest shadows, so too do those shadows conceal many things in their darkness.

[The entire story happens after "The Final Problem."]

The cover art is by the same friend (who remains anonymous)

Speaking of which...
I'm sorry for the first couple of chapters being first-person... but the later chapters switch to a third-person pov, so there's that.

After recent events that had transpired, Equestria was at a time of peace and prosperity. Reforms had been made, the Diarchy ruled with a just hoof, and life, in general, was great for the ponies and equine race as a whole.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the rest of Equis, a time of prosperity masked the internal conflicts within the nation, one with seeds that had been implanted long before Equestria went into one of its many golden eras.

Now, an asset from many, many, worlds apart has been set loose and has gone rogue, expansion was one of its goals. Though they would prove to be a testament that even the seemingly most powerful could lack in certain aspects, there is no such thing as perfection in a constantly inconsistent world of imperfections.

Regardless of the predicament, a certain bureaucrat is sent to minimalize both this rogue asset's reach and abilities to the best that his employers wishes, even alleviating some of his restrictions if it meant him doing the job.

Now, a single man may not seem much, even for the standards of a certain Freeman and his achievements, but there are plenty more things that this specific “man” could do.

After all, as he said, “The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference... in the world.”

He is... A bureaucrat or Employer to the few, an Employee of sorts to the numbered.

The story happens before the events of any Half-Life canon (around the time of the Combine's inception) and before Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon.

The Crystal War is about to end, the era from which King Sombra ruled the Crystal Empire to its height is coming to a close, with the Kingdom of Equestria at his nation’s doorstep, he plans to make one last stand on the Frozen North Valley path.

As fate would have it, the Royal Sisters also had a plan, one to ensure a victory that would save as many lives as possible.

But when the night rises, and on the first break of dawn is in sight, a new era for Equus, and especially for Equestria will come forth.

Unfortunately, the Shadows of a Bygone era still stood at the position, guarding the Frozen Valley pass like the souls that have reawakened them, just like they have done from worlds gone by. Truly, tonight was going to be a long night, one that wouldn't be easily forgotten.

Some heads-up:
The story doesn't "necessarily" have humans in it, but they are related to the plot of the story. Their souls serve as the "Shadow of Bygone Era".

And I provided some video “references” for you to enjoy.
Said “references” are just that, references. (Its “Union of Salvation”).
I personally enjoyed the sound design and acting of the film.

Clearly, it is not one of my best stories, I think there are a lot of things I could have improved and ironed out, but I’d leave the story as is, I did what I came to do with this story, and it was both fun and painful trying to “research” some of these topics, and since I am really tired from just writing this, I’ll just... leave it as is.

Anyways,

Later!

Equus... peace and prosperity, the advent of a new era, one whose effects would last eons on end. And yet amidst it all, amidst an entire world's known history and apparent approach to its golden age, out there in the stars there are beings with ambition born out of ingenuity.

Once creation themselves, humans have become creators of entire galaxies, of entire lives. Defining and building up entire worlds who, like them, built nations and empires under their care. Gods they are not, creators they most certainly are.

But like gods who look down on their creation, so too did humans look down on them, whether it be to observe what their own creation had done, and maybe, just maybe... even learn from them.

All of these events happened before Twilight’s ascension as Ruler of Equestria, sometime after the defeat of the Legion of Doom.

Like my other story, I am doing this on my own and for fun, this was an older story I had written a while back, might improve on it, plus I'll do minuscule edits from time to time.

Edit 1: Did a bit of cleaning up for the short and long descriptions, hopefully, It doesn't look clustered now (IMO).