The crew of nine rode the elevator to the top, seeing Gol and Maia already at work on the silo in the distance when they disembarked. Grabbing some nearby clusters of Blue Eco, they activated a mobile platform to carry them over to the primary silo.

Daxter glanced around, trying to come up with a plan. Looking around, he saw a Red Eco vent, a large metal pipe with a pointed end, and several clusters of explosive Yellow Eco. That's when brilliance struck.

"Twi! Can you cast your shield like a ball around yourself and roll it around?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just do it and trust me!" Daxter then turned to Jak and Ben. "Jak! You and Ben hit that Red Eco vent and get ready to play golf!"

"Oooh! What about us?" Pinkie asked excitedly.

"You, Rares, AJ, Dashie, and Flutters are with me!"

"You're too late!" Maia proclaimed from the robot as everyone raced to work on Daxter's plan. "Soon, the silo will be open, we will have all the Dark Eco we need to complete our research, and there's nothing you can do to-"

"I LOVE YOU, MAIA!" Daxter loudly proclaimed at the top of his lungs.

The robot froze where it hovered in the air, the Eco Beam it was using to try and open the silo shutting down as it swiveled to look at Daxter, followed by everybody else as Ben almost dropped the metal pipe he and Jak were using to hit the Red Eco vent.

"Why are you not moving to destroy the giant robot?" Daxter demanded in a stage whisper. "That won't work twice!"

Maia suddenly screamed in rage. "You miserable, lying rodent! Why I-"

"FORE!"

Racing from the Red Eco vent, Jak and Ben drew back the metal pole and, putting the Red Eco they were both filled with behind the swing, struck Twilight's shield as hard as they could.

Upon the impact, Twilight's shield ball flew through the air, slamming into the side of the robot's face with a massive Yellow Eco explosion, eradicating the emitters it had been using to fire the Eco Beams.

As Twilight fell back, her shield still charged with Eco, both Jak and Ben pulled the pole back and struck again. They repeated this process to blast bits of the Precursor Robot apart with each explosion, at one point sending Twilight through a Yellow Eco vent that activated to one side of the silo to recharge her.

"Nice!" Daxter crowed, leaping into the air. "I didn't think my makeshift plan would work this well!"

"Why should they get all the fun, though?" Pinkie whined as she readied her Party Eco Destruction Cannon. "EAT THIS, SUCKAH!"

Firing a supercharged blast loaded with all four types of Eco, Pinkie blasted the center of the robot, causing the entire thing to explode. Daxter let out a scream as he tumbled off the side of the silo, just barely managing to catch hold of two side indentations.

"Daxter!" Fluttershy gasped as she ran over to help him.

"I'll be fine, Flutters!" The Ottsel reassured before noticing the indentations. "Hmmm...I think my brain is working."

Meanwhile, Twilight tumbled as she deactivated her shield spell, her eyes spinning around dizzily before shaking her head.

"Did we win?"

"I think so..." Jak sighed, managing to catch his feet.

"Mommy...my train went swimming in the piano..." Ben slurred as the Red Eco boost wore off.

Gol and Maia fell out of the head unit of their robot, the only part still in one piece.

"You fools!" Gol proclaimed. "Without the Dark Eco, our research can never be complete! We'll never find the secrets of creation!"

"We'll never find a way to cure your little friend!" Maia added.

"Hey, guys!" Daxter called out as he and Fluttershy came in, Samos and the other three Sages arriving on a floating platform powered by Chios. "There's something you outta see! Jak, you and Ben bring that pole if it's still in one piece!"

"Gol, Maia, you both should come too," Samos instructed.

Confused, everyone boarded the platform before being brought to the indentations that Daxter had grabbed ahold of.

"These are of interest, wouldn't you say?" Samos asked.

"This is a...pressure gauge?" Gol asked in shock as he inspected the first one.

"And from the looks of these Precursor runes, the silo's under...incredibly high pressure," Maia muttered. "If we'd succeeded in opening it all the way..."

"You would have flooded the entire world with Dark Eco," Samos finished for her. "Rather than perform any successful experiments, you would have killed everything, including yourselves."

"It's true. We lack the genetic markers...to achieve evolution via...the Dark Eco..." Gol murmured.

"And there was no need!" Daxter pointed out, holding up a jar of Precursor alloy. "Observe. Jak, please put the pointed end into the other indentation!"

Nodding, Jak inserted the pointed end. Dark Eco flowed down the pipe steadily into the jar, which Daxter promptly capped once it was full and Jak had removed the pipe.

"Whoa!" Rainbow exclaimed. "That was pretty cool!"

"The Precursors obviously expected the study of Dark Eco, and provided means to access it safely," Samos explained. "Meaning this entire ridiculous farce of an endeavor was pointless from the beginning!"

Gol and Maia glanced back and forth between each other, feeling incredibly foolish.

"Awww, it's okay!" Pinkie said. "Just say you're sorry and I'll throw you two a 'We Forgive You For Almost Destroying The World Because You Didn't Know Any Better' Party!"

While the Sages discussed how best to handle careful Dark Eco studies, Jak and Keira were watching the sun rise together while the Mane 6 and Ben talked with Daxter.

"Sorry, we couldn't find a way to change you back, Dax." Rainbow said.

"Well, I think things will work out. After all, you look positively adorable this way." Rarity giggled.

"Hey, I'm a super-evolved warrior, sis! When my powers kick in, I'm gonna bite and scratch!" Daxter countered as he struck some kung-fu poses.

"Still, I wonder why the next step of your genetic evolution was...well, an Ottsel, as Pinkie put it." Twilight noted.

"Eh, the world may never know." Ben shrugged. "Thousands of years from now, our descendants will all be like Daxter."

"Come to think of it, any of y'all wonder what that big ol' door is for?"

Sure enough, everyone looked to see a massive Precursor door, ancient and engraved with endless runes. Since it was stationed above the silo, it was plainly important.

"I saw it earlier but I don't know how we should open it." Pinkie said.

Jak and Keira, having also noticed the door, came over as the latter looked it over.

"It looks like there are indentations for placing Power Cells. I count...100 of them."

"Holy Yakkow!" Samos called out, coming up behind the group. "That's a lot of Power Cells. You won't be getting that door open any time soon-"

"But we have 101 Power Cells," Jak pointed out logically.

"Oh. Of course, you do," Samos replied, looking away. "Of course you do..."

"Yeah, cuz we're AWESOME!" Rainbow boasted, only to get bonked by Samos' staff.

Working together, Jak, Ben, and Keira placed the Power Cells into the slot, their Eco Power drawing them into the points on the door until every single one was filled. The group stared at the door for a time, waiting for a response.

After a time, a crack appeared down the middle of the door, and the two halves swung forward slowly as it opened.

Behind the door was a massive ring of Precursor metal filled with light, and a strangely configured vehicle. Twilight had noticed that Samos seemed to be looking at the vehicle with distaste, his hand stroking his chin as he slowly shook his head.

"Already? Why so soon? ...They're so young...so young..."

"Samos...?" The Alicorn girl asked her teacher worriedly.

"I had hoped that you would have more time before this would happen," Samos said cryptically. "But I fear time has run out after all...or perhaps caught up to us. Even hearing the whole story, it never made sense to me..."

"Um...what does that mean?" Fluttershy nervously asked.

"Don't think about it for now, children. Simply enjoy the time you have while you can."

A solemn silence filled everyone, unsure of what to make of Samos' words...until Ben broke the ice.

"WELL THAT'S (BEEP)-ING OMINOUS."

Next, we begin where the heavy stuff really picks up...in a new horizon...

Sorry if Ben hasn't had much presence, I promise there's a reason I added him other than just to add an extra character. Let's just say that Jak 2 will mess him up in a different way compared to how Jak went through it.