With a gasp, Celestia woke up, thrashing in her large bed and looking around her room. The darkness encased her, filling her heart with even more fear. She concentrated, her horn lighting up the room as it glowed with magic, and the yellow torches around her bedchambers sparked up, burning the darkness from the room, killing it. Beyond their light, however, the shadows remained, for she lay in the blanketing night. An embrace she both loved and hated.

The nightmare were gone, at the very least. Every night, they repeated themselves: her body consumed in fire, her soul taken away by a hungry devil, and the voice that told her to “trust them”. It was maddening, almost. Often had she tried to come up with answers, but only ended up receiving more questions. Was she to trust the humans? The changelings? She could not bring herself to trust any of them, not completely.

Her time of slumber, replaced with pain, and nothing else. Why? The night had not even started on the right hoof. First the changelings meeting the humans, then the million falling stars. Exhausted, she had put her sister in charge, only to have her sleep bring her further misery.

She shook her head, sighing. “Changelings...” she thought, grimacing. Why would the humans even accept such creatures? They were but a sign of evil and war, but perhaps, that is what the humans admired, to an extent: war.

Unsteady and tired, she slipped out of her bed and trotted over to her desk. She sat down by the table and lit up her horn, grabbing a hold of a stack of papers: notes. Every dream, no, nightmare was slightly different, and so she wrote them all down: for it could perhaps be of help some day. She stared blankly at the stack of papers, and let them fall. Why bother anymore? Her world had gone mad, both waking and sleeping, and no amount of analysis could fix that.

Once, she had caught a glimpse of her sister’s notes about the humans. Among the reams of speculation, there was one phrase that stuck with her: "Sometimes I feel I've gone from a player to a pawn, in the game of my own life." It haunted her even now, as she trotted to her bathroom. It was painful to see her little sibling like that: thinking of herself as a pawn on a massive chess board. Worse still, she could identify perfectly with the feeling: millenia spend guiding her ponies, only to have these humans tear her plans asunder. Even her student had been pulled from her, if only slightly. Given time, that gap could well grow.

She walked over to the sink and turned it on, waiting for it to fill up.

How were they happy, knowing that their place in the universe was utterly insignificant? Perhaps it was simpler than she thought: her ponies lived happily, their destinies clear and bright with their purpose marked upon their bodies. Why would anypony, or anyone, want to ruin that? She dipped her head into the water once the sink filled up, , letting the cold chill clear her thoughts. Somewhat relaxed, she pulled her head out and let the water disappear down the drain.

“Of machine and might...” She grabbed her brush and began to pull it against her mane, looking at herself in the mirror. Why trust them? They outlawed nature, molding it as they saw fit, killing the beauty it possesed. They had chosen a twisted path, and it showed in the blood they'd shed.

A knock came from her door as she placed her golden shoes and crown on. “Princess Celestia?”

“Yes?”

“We—uh, we have visitors at the courtyard.”

Her eyes widened for a moment. “I will be there in a minute, thank you.”

No, it could not possibly be them. They promised not to bother Equestria anymore, not like this. It was enough that they had established the so called “Apex”: a permanent scar on the beauty of her land.

There was only one way to confirm it was them. She finished brushing her mane, dried her face with a towel, and pushed open the doors of her chambers, entering the hallways of the palace.

There was such an overwhelming silence. The palace seemed to be in a deep slumber, something which she had not achieved in weeks. Why? There was something wrong, that much she could tell, but what exactly? There was no way her sister would let anything happen. The sound her hooves made as they hit the marble floor echoed constantly, shattering the silence.

Whatever visitors these were, she had to keep her poise: millennia of training helped her with that. It was almost hard to frown anymore, as she spent most of the time smiling. Her wild chain of thoughts distracted her from hearing the loud, thumping steps coming from around the corner, which she rounded only to crash in a metallic mountain. She fell down to her rump and rubbed her snout with one of her hooves. For a moment, there was silence, a calm silence, unlike the previous one. It felt like ages since she had just laid down, or felt pain, for that matter.

“Sorry,” came a voice from far above. She opened her eyes, trailing them from the muscular, bipedal legs of the creature she had crashed into, to its comparably diminutive head. Her fears were confirmed, they were back.

She noticed the damage on the human’s armor. Burnt areas and holes. What had happened to him? It must have been catastrophic if his armor had suffered.

“Ah, sister!” Luna said, smiling as she trotted over to Celestia. “As you can see, Commander Atlas is visiting us.” Celestia looked behind the giant, spotting two more pseudo-metallic bipeds, one with wings, and the other one staring into her very soul. Each of them seemed to have suffered from external damage.

Celestia put on a smile, despite her feelings. “Oh, welcome.” She stood up, looking up at Atlas. “May I ask what the purpose of this visit is?”

The man looked around. “I’d rather discuss it in private...”

“Yes,” Luna piped up. “Let us head to the reading room, as always.”

What did they want now? Celestia could sense it, and it was not good. Their damaged suits were a sign of such a thing. She thought back to the falling stars, remembering her sister muttering that it was not natural, a sign of danger. Something must have happened to them.

The two sisters led the trio of humans into the reading room. Luna held the door open. “Please, do come in.”

Atlas looked at his companions. “Stay here, I’ve got this.” They both nodded as he walked into the room, followed by the Princesses.

Celestia shut the door behind herself, standing still as Luna and the giant walked over to the table and sat down. They both looked at her as she remained in place. A feeling began to boil up inside of her, one that she had not felt in ages.

“Is everything alright, sister?”

“No...” she muttered. “No.” Celestia trotted up to the giant, still having to crane her neck upwards despite the fact that he was sitting. “What do you want now? Is it not enough that you are destroying Equestria!?” She snorted, narrowing her eyes while the man continued to give her a stoic stare. “Apex keeps expanding with each day, swallowing everything around it! My ponies are not happy anymore, all because of you! And now you are here, ready to ask for more! What. Do. You. Want!?”

“Sister...” Luna muttered, looking at her with a worried expression.

A low growl faintly shook the floor under Celestia’s hooves. She and the giant continued to glare at each other as he stood up, his eyes narrowing and his face contorting into a scowl. “We need—”

“You need? Are you not satisfied with everything that we, and the changelings, have given to you?”

The giant grunted. “No, we just want to warn you.”

“Oh?” Celestia tilted her head to the side, giving him an inquisitive look. “Warn us about what? Does this have anything to do with the falling stars?”

“Yes...” Atlas sighed. “There was a mutiny, and now we’re split...”

“A mutiny? You truly are uncivilized hairless monsters, are you not?” She took a step towards him. “Not only are you slowly invading us, but you are fighting between yourselves!”

A small crackle was heard, the voice of the human Admiral could be heard from Atlas’ headset as he released a visceral growl.

“Atlas... listen to me. Calm down.”

“Look,” he said, shaking his head. “We want to make sure you are all safe, but we also need your help.”

The alicorn huffed. “Now you need our help? You seem so advanced, but you cannot solve a simple internal scuffle?”

Celestia gritted her teeth and scowled. In return, the man clenched his fists. He spoke up in an almost feral voice and showed his teeth. The Princess’ stare broke away from his eyes, attracted by the pronounced canines he possesed.

“I’ve eaten bigger things than you...” he growled. “And before I got here, I almost died several times. Now, you’re going to listen to me very carefully, you got that?”

Celestia snorted in response.

“There’s nothing stopping us from wiping your entire species outta existence... we could just glass this planet from orbit and get done with it, you pompous bitch. We don’t care if you can move a star. But we’re better than that, and you’re better than just telling an entire interstellar civilization to go fuck itself because you just can’t deal with change.

“We’re lost here, and even then, we pulled your ass out of a war you were losing. We saved your lives, and you’re telling us to get the fuck out? We could just siege the planet, get all of the supplies we want, and leave you starving and broken. We’ve given you a second chance.”

“You...” Celestia snarled. “You overgrown ape!”

“What did you just call me?” he scoffed, before being interrupted by Celestia leaping up at him and kicking him in the face. He staggered back, chuckling. “It’s on now...”

Steam shot off from his suit while Celestia hovered in place. The ground began to shake as he released a bestial, distorted battle cry. The doors to the room were pushed open by the other humans, who aimed their weapons at the alicorn. Luna stood up, confused. “Sister, stop!”

Atlas charged at Celestia, who had begun to empower her horn. A blast of magic ripped into the ceiling as he hit her, piercing the castle and going into the heavens. He gripped her tightly and continued to charge, hitting a wall and breaking through it, followed by another, and another.

As much as she struggled, they eventually broke through the entire castle and fell off of Canterlot mountain. While in free-fall, she broke away from his grip and bucked him in the chest, sending him away from her. Celestia spread her wings open and stalled her fall, then looked under herself to see the titan flying upwards and towards her. Unable to dodge in time, she was hit by him, and brought to a firm grip again. Her bones cracked as he squeezed her, while she continued to hit him in the head with her forehooves.

She pressed hard against his chest and charged her horn, releasing a blast of magic that separated the both of them. They both spun through the air, Celestia hovering in place while Atlas fell for a few seconds before lighting up his thrusters. She began to speed up towards him, and he did just the same. They collided in mid air, with Atlas delivering a skull-breaking punch to her head while grabbing her chest with his other free hand. She retaliated with a beam of magic that blazed against his shields, along with a few swift kicks to his head.

The two began to fall again, Celestia desperately trying to free herself from the titan’s grip. He began to laugh as she repeatedly kicked him in the face, and she began to laugh with him as they both fell freely and shared hits.

They crashed down into the Everfree forest, Atlas still having a firm grip on her. The collision mowed down several trees and left a large trail. Eventually, their movement halted. Celestia’s eyes closed as she breathed deeply, making a quick damage assessment on herself. She reached up and re-adjusted her jaw, prodded a broken rib, and adjusted a dislocated shoulder.

She was fine.

Shakily she brought herself back to her hooves, looking over at Atlas, who lay a few meters away. She walked over to him, giggling as he adjusted his broken nose. The man looked over to her and smiled, breaking out in a laugh with her. They exchanged one last hit to the face and hugged, still laughing.

“Oh, man,” Atlas said, groaning. He wiped off a bit of blood from his face and spat into the ground. “I really needed that.”

“As did I,” Celestia giggled, spitting out a broken tooth.

Out in the cold lands of Gryphos, down at the south of the nation, smoke could be seen rising amongst the trees. Amidst the forest was the last remaining camp of the Gryphonic army, reduced to less than a quarter of its original numbers. Every gryphon that was not in the camp was either far out into other lands or under the harsh rule of the humans, who forced them to work for hours on end in order to supply food and other materials. These remnants were heading south, hoping to escape into the no one’s land between Equestria and Gryphos.

Gilda slowly walked between the many tents set around the camp, hauling a bag of birdseed over her shoulders. The light produced by the various campfires was enough to illuminate her path. She moved over to one of said fires, and sat down next to it, joining a few other gryphons who were engaged in casual conversation, all while watching the dancing flames.

“Hey Gilda, how’s it going?” one of them asked.

Gilda opened the bag of seeds and shoved her beak into it. “I’m fine,” she said through a mouthful of food. She looked to her right and discovered another gryphon eyeing her. “What do you want, dweeb?”

The gryphon chuckled, “You’ve got a nice—” he was interrupted by a swift punch to the face by way of Gilda.

“You were saying?” She smirked and shoved a few more seeds into her mouth, while the rest of the gryphons around the fire laughed at their companion, who was busy making sure his beak was still in the right position.

She continued eating, watching as another soldier brought a freshly hunted rabbit to the fire and began to cook it. She had never gotten used to eating meat, perhaps because most of her life had been spent with ponies. It was usual for her to eat more vegetables than anything else.

Conversations began to die out as a steady thumping boomed in the distance, getting closer as each second passed. Gilda stopped eating and looked around, her gaze unable to reach farther than the nearby trees.

The thumping got considerably louder, making the ground shake under Gilda’s paws. She stood up and traced the sound to somewhere among the trees, and was able to make out a few of them getting crushed under whatever it was that was causing the noise.

“WALKER!” a sentinel called out. Immediately, a metallic roar quaked the ground and a set of artificial lights turned on, blinding the gryphons and revealing the shape of a massive, mechanical monster walking towards the camp.

Gilda stood up and reached for her sword, while taking a few precautionary steps backwards.

Several tall, bipedal figures broke from the tree line, assaulting the gryphon camp. The loud explosions of the humans’ weaponry were all that could be heard besides the cries for help of other gryphons. Gilda’s eyes widened and she dropped her sword, turning around and running back into the maze of tents.

Explosions surrounded her as she ran. The projectiles fired by the humans pierced the flesh of the gryphons that were running with her, making them fall, either dead or unable to move. She saw as the explosions ripped some of them apart, leaving nothing more than a mess of burnt innards spread on the ground.

A massive figure landed in front of her, blocking her path. The human stood up and looked at her, giving off a laugh that was distorted due to its mask, then aimed its weapon at her. She dodged and leapt into the air while spreading her wings, flying as fast as she could manage to in order to avoid the wrath of the human. She continued flying, unsure as to where she was heading, the only thought in her head being escaping.

Her wings flapped with all of their strength, pulling her away from the camp. She glanced back to see the smoke of the burning tents rise into the sky. The metallic monster stood in the middle of what used to be the last camp of the Gryphonic army, firing its arm-cannons at those brave, injured, or stupid enough to remain in the area, reducing them to nothing but a mess of bone and flesh.

Gilda kept flying, only thinking about escaping, only thinking about survival....