“You’re just… going back to sleep?” Twilight asked, looking up at him from outside the stasis chamber.

“I’ve a feeling this won’t be the last time… Wake me back up when you need me.”

“Thanks for freeing us… Goodbye.”

Twilight opened her eyes, vision blurred, a constant high pitched whine sounding in her ears. She could see, up through a hole in the ceiling and into the night’s sky, the hundreds of ships that were raining down death upon the planet. Certainly, the teleportation spell did its job, as she was not dead for the time being.

She slowly stood up on all four legs, looking around to find herself surrounded by mossy walls of stone, inside the old Everfree castle. Next to her was Celestia, who had picked herself up as well. They both looked up at the sky, staring at the fleet that had invaded the planet.

“I… I cannot believe the Ubor invaded, not with this scale.” Twilight turned to the former Princess. “We have to contact the USC-”

“Do you not believe the Guard would have already tried doing so?” Celestia said. “This is not like before, when the weight of the world rested upon your shoulders or mine. All we can do now is survive, and help those who are doing the same.”

Twilight fell silent, looking away from Celestia. “I guess you’re… right…” She began to walk, moving over to a large cluster of bricks that lay upon the castle surface. “I had a bunker built here long ago. Maybe that can help us…” Using her magic, she tossed the mound of bricks away carelessly, revealing a metallic hatch with a small number pad upon it. With her hoof, she typed in the correct number sequence, and the hatch popped open, a long set of stairs, barely illuminated, beyond.

Twilight let go of a chuckle as she led Celestia into the depths of the bunker, using her horn to light up the way. “Oh this is just lovely…” She shook her head. “Remember when our biggest problems where love-sucking changelings? Hahah… Now we’re dealing with full scale planetary warfare and invasion…”

“Twilight-...”

“I mean, I’ve almost died like, what? Twice?” She giggled, smiling. “Really, there’s just so much that has changed, and I just can’t deal with this anymore. Nope, I’m just gonna stay here while everyone dies. Haha, remember when we used to say everypony?”

“Twi-”

“Do the good things shadow the bad?” Twilight asked herself. “I just don’t know anymore… everything seems bad.” She looked down. “The Elements of Harmony are useless now. They can’t deal with something this big. I don’t even know if my friends are alive right now. Hah… And I can’t do anything to protect them-”

“Twilight!” Celestia yelled, forcing she purple alicorn to turn to her. They had already reached the bottom of the stairs, finding themselves surrounded by unpowered holoscreens and supply crates. “That is not the student I shaped… It doesn’t matter if things changed this forcefully. Similar changes would have happened, no matter what, and you would have lived through them all.” Celestia continued walking further into the bunker, Twilight trailing behind her. “I understand that this is complicated, no, far more than complicated, but you have to pull through. If the humans taught us anything, it’s to endure whatever destiny throws at us.”

Twilight looked down, sighing. “You’re right… I’m sorry.” Celestia’s expression softened.

“You have nothing to be sorry about, Twilight.”

Eventually and in complete silence, they reached the end of the bunker, Twilight’s magic keeping the darkness at bay. They found themselves looking at a cluster of cryo-tubes placed against the walls, only one of them in use. “Is this…?”

“Yeah,” Twilight replied. “We could use his help now.” She walked over to the tube, over to its control panel, and inserted her horn onto a small hole upon it, bringing the sleep to an end. Gas poured out of a few nozzles, the figure inside beginning to twitch. Shortly after, the tube opened, gas pouring out of it, revealing a massive, armored mix of machine and human. It remained silent, staring through its visor at both the Princesses.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Atlas.”

“Initializing systems…”

He looked down at both the mares, recognizing them both. Slowly, he stepped out of the cryo-tube, landing with a loud thud upon the metallic surface of the bunker. He stretched, the mechanical servos of his body and armor whirring up.

“Hmph… Twilight, Celestia…” He muttered. “How long?”

“A few weeks,” the white alicorn replied.

“What?” Atlas asked. “That soon? What happened?”

“The… Ubor, are invading,” Twilight piped up.

Atlas groaned and looked over to the far side of the bunker. “How bad?”

Celestia stepped up to him. “Very. I counted several hundred ships,” she told with a grim expression.

“What’s your plan?” Atlas inquired, beginning to walk over to the supply creates that lay nearby. He kneeled down and opened one of them, reaching inside.

Twilight and Celestia looked at each other, both of them uncertain. Atlas took notice of this, looking over his shoulder at the two mares. “We gotta get away from Apex, and join whatever’s left of the Guard.” He stood up, taking an autocannon out of the crate he was rummaging through.

“C-Can’t we stay here…?” Twilight muttered, receiving angry looks from the two.

“That’s not the Twilight I know…” the giant muttered in response to her proposal. “Either way, I’m going out, and if I have to drag you with me, I will.”