Four weeks since the liberation of Trottingham. Four weeks since the end of the war. She had thought that everything was going to be normal again, just like it was before. Of course, she was mostly wrong. The memory of her brother returning; how she never noticed the limp on his trot until it was too late, how he entered the house without even greeting her. That day would be forever etched in her heart.

Her days consisted of harvesting apples. No more, no less. She did find time to go crusading with her friends, but it was never truly the same. There was simply not enough time.

She looked down at the road, focusing on pulling the apple cart that was attached to her and her two friends.

There was something to look forward to, though. It was that day of the week, the day she was to join the caravan to supply the humans. Their colony, dubbed “Apex”, was certainly something to marvel at. Every hour she spent there was an hour of adventure. Mechanical wonders their suits were, and that was not even the surface of what the bipeds held.

“So, uh...” Scootaloo began, breaking the silence and looking at Sweetie Belle. “Why did Rarity want to ground you?”

The white filly chuckled sheepishly. “I kinda... blew up her oven”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo broke out in laughter, continuing to pull the cart along the dirt road. Soon, the ground began to transform and was instead replaced by metal plates. Apple Bloom knew that they were not far from Apex, though it seemed that the human colony grew even bigger as each day passed.

She found it impressive just how quickly they built, shaping the land around them for their own benefit. The mere concept made shivers run down her spine. Part of her education explained how one was supposed to love nature’s ways, and always leave ground for somepony else. It just seemed that humans were strangers to such a concept.

Apple Bloom and her friends watched silently as they approached the tall metallic wall that surrounded Apex. Columns of smoke rose up from beyond the barrier, whose watchtowers observed silently as the caravan moved closer. Apple Bloom could not help but gulp as the so called “turrets” locked onto them. She looked around, remembering the tree stumps that used to litter the outside of the colony, now with only metallic plates in their place.

The whole area had a synthetic aura to it: there was nothing natural to it. As an earth pony, Apple Bloom had a special connection to the ground, but whenever she was near Apex... it vanished, leaving an empty space in her heart.

She had talked to a lot of humans. They acted almost like a pony: they were friendly and welcoming, but the way they interacted with nature, it was just alien.

The caravan slowed to a halt upon reaching the wall, waiting for the humans to open the gate. The turrets watched them with unnatural patience. Apple Bloom knew they would do nothing to them, the humans had explained as much, but that did not excuse the feeling they caused, knowing that you could be obliterated in less than a second were you to do something out of place.

The filly looked around once again. It even seemed that the air was thicker, and the sky had taken a yellow hue to it. Smoky had said that it was just part of the process, and that they would cleanse the area once they got their “purification” equipment working. She certainly hoped so.

The gates of the monstrous wall parted open, and with a deep growl they began to slide. The caravan proceeded moving, entering Apex for the first time in a week. Apple Bloom’s senses were overwhelmed by the sound of heavy machinery and chatter. Industrial saws, jackhammers, almost every single tool was being used for one purpose: to build.

“We are drill machines, drill machines feel no pain!” a group of humans chanted as they trotted through the colony, going past the caravan.

The noise of the machinery was almost like a song. For a moment, it all seemed to convey and form a rhythm worthy of a marching tune. Apple Bloom closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, taking in the dust and the air of hard work. She listened closely to the sounds coming from every direction, and smiled. Perhaps it was not as bad as she had originally thought. The industrialized nature of the humans was something truly unique.

She opened her eyes, and watched as a heavy trooper walked over to an area were digging was taking place, probably to make place for another building. He made his way over to a large set of rocks, holding a massive jackhammer in his metallic hands. Revving it up, he stabbed the rocks with it and they were turned into small pebbles in mere seconds. She grinned widely, enjoying the display before being distracted by an old, familiar voice.

“Howdy!” Smoky said as he walked over to the fillies, who were broken out of their trance by his voice. “How’re you girls doin’?” he asked, crouching down and looking at them with his traditional warm smile.

“Hey there, Mister Smoky!” the fillies replied.

The man in question chuckled. He looked over to his side, where he spotted another trooper walking by. “Hey! Can you get them apples into a crate? You ain’t gonna make an ol’ man exhaust himself, are ya?” He smirked.

“No, sir,” the trooper said as he walked over to them. “I’ll handle this.”

“Thank ya’ kindly!” Smoky exclaimed, looking back down at the fillies. “Hey, I’ve gotta fix some armor. Mind helping me out with that?”

Apple Bloom and her friends looked at each other, with wide grins on their faces.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ARMOR FIXERS! YAY!”

The grass under her hooves, the trees all around her, the chirping of the birds. It was so beautiful, so perfect. So much effort had she put for her world to be like this. For her little ponies to be happy. Celestia could not ask for more.

She looked up into the sky, smiling as she saw the sun. The very thing she represented. Warmth, calmness, harmony... Perfection.

A whisper reached her ears, like a million lost souls calling out to her, “Your life... is a lie.”

Celestia craned her neck backwards. “Who... Who said that?”

“What you call harmony... is a lie.”

A sense of dread filled her heart, and she spun around to try and find the source of the voices.

“The gears are turning... I am your salvation, through extermination...”

“What do you mean!?” she yelled, and immediately a bright flash lit up behind her. She turned around to see a wall of fire advancing towards her. It consumed everything: the trees, the grass. Everything she had so painfully worked for, gone in an instant. Nothing was left but smoldering dirt.

“YOUR SOUL IS MINE!” a demonic voice came just as the fire began to consume her. She cried out in pure agony as her flesh was torn from her bones, and fought hard to keep her stance.

“Celestia,” another voice said as she dropped to the ground, barely managing to keep breathing. This voice was feminine and calm, in contrast to the other. She opened her eyes to see a bright light amidst the fire approaching her. “....You have to trust them.”

Celestia woke up from her slumber, gasping as her eyes shot open. She looked around, finding herself in her room, sitting next to her desk. The pain was still being felt, but it was fading away. It had been long since she had experienced any sort of nightmare.

Taking in a series of deep breaths, she stood up and walked out into her balcony, looking over Canterlot. She focused on the distant columns of smoke rising up from Apex.

“You have to trust them...”

“What do you mean, ensign?” Becker asked, looking over at the console with his arms folded.

“I don’t know, sir,” the man working on the terminal said. “Some systems are going haywire... Shutting down and then going back up. It has to be manual...”

The Admiral grumbled, “Keep looking into it...”