As the Concordiat and the Melconian Empire clashed, both sides began to secretly send out colonizing expeditions, to ensure their species' survival. The Concordiat's first attempt, Operation Seed Corn, occurred during the late 3360s, as expeditions were sent out to go as far away from the fighting as possible. Despite the success of at least one expedition, the ultimate success of the endeavour remained unknown, as policy specifically forbid any contact between the Concordiat and the expeditions - and the Concordiat specifically declined to keep any records of where the expeditions were headed - and did not even choose their destinations.
Operation Ragnarok and its Melconian equivalent continued on with horrifying slaughter, but neither side would - could - let up for as much as a week in the decades that followed.
As part of the last desperate effort (Operation: Diaspora) to ensure humanity's survival in the decade before the Concordiat and Melcon wiped each other away forever, one human colonization mission onboard the aged transports Far Horizons, Mandela, and Washington Irving settled in a remote star system known as Redoubt, which looked promising to the colonists for a number of reasons. First of all, it was a long distance away from the fighting. It was also surrounded by a hyperspatial anomaly caused by a shroud of dark matter that made entering or leaving the system rather difficult, as the anomaly prevented one from jumping straight into the system from any distance greater than 37.5 light-years away. Even that close was risky, and one had to approach to 5.4 light-years before the typical Melconian military drives' safety parameters were met.
Finally, the system's star was remarkably similar to Sol. It was slightly larger, and about four million years younger, but otherwise identical.
It had a single inhabitable planet, which was very similar to Earth. The planet was bigger than Earth, being 8,129 kilometers in diameter, but was slightly less dense, which resulted in a gravity of 1.01 G. It had a single moon, which was smaller than Earth's moon, but was more dense, making the mass approximately the same.
The world was named Refuge, and swiftly colonized. Since both sides were severely strapped for resources at this point of the Last War, unlike at the time of Operation Seed Corn, which had been mounted for the same purpose as Operation Diaspora over a century earlier, the Concordiat did not send any warships to escort the colonists to their destination. As partial compensation, a Bolo Mark XXXIII Model E was sent with the expedition.
During that time of horrifying slaughter, Humanities' Bolos were the ground weapon system par excellence. A direct descendant of the pre-space tank, the Bolos had at that time long since made the transition into being genuinely self-aware beings outside of combat, and had already made their mark as both Humanities' vanguard, and as its final line of defense. Despite the innate advantages of space over ground combat, not even starships could operate against Bolos with impunity, due to the weapon known as a Hellbore: a weapon that accelerated a sliver of cryo-hydrogen to 60% of the speed of light. Powered by cold-fusion reactors, equipped with contra-grav flight capabilities, slews of weapons of varying types and capabilities, and equipped with dual-ply battle screen that ripped apart solids and siphoned off some of the energy of all energy-type weapons for its own use, the Bolos, in addition to being super - ultra, even - computers, had also received a neural interface, which allowed the strengths of Human and Bolo to meld and become one at last.
But the Bolo unit was to be used only if Melconians or other hostiles attacked the system, since the Concordiat didn't want what could possibly become the sole world of humanity to be destroyed by the Bolo's Hellbore blasts. It was placed on low alert status and hermetically sealed in a vacuumized container - which was then buried under the surface of Refuge.
Shortly after the Refuge colonization expedition left, Earth was razed by the Melconians. At some point (the precise date has been lost, but it is believed to have occurred around the same time), Melconia, the homeworld of the Melconians, was also destroyed. The Final War raged on, but it eventually guttered out, as the Concordiat and the Empire were completely destroyed as political entities. Throughout the shattered remnants of both interstellar nations, survivors - both human and Melconian - struggled to rebuild, entering the centuries-long period known by humans as The Dark/Long Night.
But the colonists of Refuge, unaware of the changing interstellar situation (though some feared the worst), continued to live peacefully on Refuge, eventually settling all of the planet.
Then disaster struck.
A hundred and fifty-seven years after the landing, civil war broke out, engulfing the planet. Weapons of mass destruction were used, and human civilization was effectively destroyed. The survivors were scattered across the world, and nearly all technology was lost.
The Bolo lay beneath the ground, forgotten. It had not been used in the civil war, and the survivors were unaware of its existence.
The planetwide technological level regressed to the Stone Age. Millennia passed, and human civilizations began to appear, as the humans inhabiting the planet began to rediscover technology. Believing Refuge to be the homeworld of humanity, they progressed through the Ages of Bronze, Iron, and Steel. Eventually, the planetwide technology level was approximately equivalent to the early 21st century of Earth.
Then a different reality began to become involved with Refuge: a land known as Equestria, which was inhabited by magic-using quadrepeds that somewhat resembled Earth's ponies. In addition, all the pony inhabitants of Equestria appeared to be alternate versions of the human inhabitants of Refuge.
First, about a thousand years before the events of our story, three magical beings were banished from Equestria, being exiled to Refuge. It was believed that their magic was lost, but it was eventually discovered that not all of it had been. They used their magic to create anger and resentment, feeding off the negative energies that ensued. Fortunately, with most of their power lost, they were unable to progress beyond a certain point in terms of magical strength.
Then, about five and a quarter years ago, a unicorn named Sunset Shimmer passed from Equestria into Refuge. She struggled to adapt at first, but once she entered high school, she quickly consolidated power over the other students.
A few months ago, during autumn, an Alicorn, Twilight Sparkle, came into Refuge, intent on reclaiming her magic crown from Sunset Shimmer, who had passed back into Equestria the previous day in order to steal Twilight's crown. She quickly reunited the human versions of her Equestrian friends - who had been divided by Sunset - and became Princess of the Fall Formal, all within the space of two days. Sunset Shimmer was confronted and defeated, and Twilight passed through the portal - which was only open for three days every thirty moons - back into Equestria.
Just a few months later, the Sirens - the three magical beings banished from Equestria a thousand years before - entered Canterlot High, intent on regaining their lost Equestrian Magic. The human versions of Twilight Sparkle's Equestrian friends - and Sunset Shimmer, who was now reformed - managed to get a message through to Equestria. Twilight created a magic-using device, which allowed her to open the portal at anytime she wished, and crossed back across the dimensional divide to Refuge. The Sirens were eventually defeated, with Sunset Shimmer playing an integral role. Overnight, her popularity soared, catapulting her from social pariah to school heroine. The Siren's power lost forever, Twilight Sparkle returned to Equestria.
However, the effects of the magic released during the battle had an unanticipated effect. For deep underground, underneath Canterlot High School, the Bolo still resided, powered down and hermetically sealed within its armocrete container.
The residual magical energies traveled through its mighty war hull, and Unit of the Line 33/E-967-THR began to awaken...