A breath of nothingness. The cold air, snow falling onto her coat, further decreasing body temperature. Her wings were tightly wrapped against her body. Above, the moon cast soft light across the land. Three different sets of steps: the dainty clippity-clop of two mares, and the loud thuds of a titan’s feet. They were on an open field, having walked several miles on their way to what they believed was the nearest resistance outpost.

Twilight sighed. She could feel the cold snow under her hooves with each step she took. “Tired already?” Atlas asked. Twilight shook her head.

Celestia, on the other hand, was as silent as ever. Her mind rambled through options as to what course of action they should take. She looked up at the titan, his face hidden behind an armored faceplate. With a smile, she recalled all the good deeds he had done, and how impressive it was to see him continue to walk despite all of the hardships he had gone through. Definitely something to admire.

She then glanced over at her former student, whose head was hanging low, looking at the snow below. Celestia could only wish for Twilight to keep holding to faith, as it was something the young alicorn should learn by herself. She hoped that the purple mare would look up to Atlas and realize.

In a way, Celestia longed for the past, but after a few millennia, she learned not to put too much weight on what had come and gone. Instead, she looked at the future, and made sure to help shape it for the best. Recently, there was little she could do with such a massive amount of people living on the planet at that point, with how everything was connected and what was before secret was now common knowledge. Things had changed, and she needed to adapt.

She looked at both Twilight and Atlas as prime examples of adaptability and strength, in such a manner that she accepted that even herself was unable to be as good as them at what they did. The avatar of magic and the avatar of endurance. They both coped with the weight of a planet upon their backs.

“Look alive,” Atlas called, placing the autocannon on his shoulder and pointing ahead with his free hand. Celestia followed, looking up to see a large building approaching amidst the snow and fog. “Heat signatures inside… friendly.” He grabbed a hold of the weapon once again, taking the lead towards the facility.

Celestia rectified her thoughts once more, going back to the list of options she and the group had once they reached the tram station. For one, they could stay there, protected, and have Atlas join the militia. But, Celestia and Twilight would have none of that. The most plausible option was to stay with Atlas, but where to go from there? An idea popped into her head, one that she had to voice.

“Atlas, Twilight,” Celestia said, causing both of them to look at her, not halting their walk. “We need to take a tram to the ruins of Trottingham.”

“Why’s that?” Atlas asked, looking back ahead.

“Becker…” Celestia muttered, images of the past human Admiral sliding into her mind. “After the Vector war, Becker had a bunker built under the ruins to store the remaining androids… We need them, if we want to survive before outside help arrives.”

“Princess,” Twilight piped up. “Are you sure about this? To use machines against machines?”

“Fight fire with fire,” Atlas chuckled. “And I can vouch for them, they’ve done good.”

“I guess…” Twilight sighed. “Alright.”

Through the refugee camp, Atlas walked, leading Twilight and Celestia towards the tram. He looked around, surrounded by moribund people who grasped to what little hope they still had. Militia guards had been stationed sporadically through the camp, which in and of itself, was a large tram station. Holoscreens, most of them broken, served to represent the comfort of the tram station from before the Ubor invasion.

People looked up at him, and he felt as if he owed something to them. True, there was nothing, but regardless, he felt a need to stay and protect them, even if his plan was to take the tram.

With a glance to make sure the Princesses were still following him, he suddenly found himself facing a long line of people who were in waiting to get on the tram. Without hesitation, he began pushing through them, ignoring their complaints. Time was not to be wasted.

The tram itself was above the ground, hooked to strong metallic rails. Each tram box was already filled with people of all species, giving little hope for him to join.

Once he pushed his way to the start of the line, in front of a metallic elevator that was meant to take people to the tram itself, he was stopped by a Colonial Guardsman, who looked up at him, expression hidden behind the faceplate. “Sorry buddy, tram’s full.”

“Trottingham, right?” Atlas said, stepping to the side to reveal both of the Princesses. The Guardsman nodded. “I’m escorting them there, so I’m sure you can make some space.”

The guard hesitated, looking down for a moment before facing Atlas once again. “I can get them in, but you’ll have to ride on top of the tram, and give it some protection while you’re at it.”

“Right,” Atlas muttered. The Guardsman stepped aside for the giant and the Princesses to step onto the elevator.

“How long is this gonna take?” Twilight said, tapping her hoof nervously on the elevator’s floor.

“Not too long, I think,” the giant answered.

The elevator reached the tram, opening its doors for Celestia and Twilight to walk in. Atlas watched as they cramped themselves in, people whispering to each other upon seeing the two figures of leadership. Meanwhile, Atlas opened the elevator’s top hatch and squeezed himself through, then jumped on top of the tram, his boots leaving dents on the metallic surface.