Aquatica

Twilight Sparkle

Aboard The A.A.C George H.W Bush, 10 Miles Off The Coast Of Virginia

February 13th, 2019

What...what the fuck are you?"

I stood there, frozen, as I found that we had been captured by tall, ape-like beings. The one that had addressed me was in a similar state as we simply stared at each other. The others were all holding long, black, stick-like devices that were aimed at our ship. They suddenly jerked the devices back at the door as I turned and saw Rainbow climb out.

Her jaw dropped as she looked at our captors. "Uh...Twi?"

"Yes Rainbow?"

"What the hay are those things?"

"I could ask the same of you."

We turned to see that the first being had stood back up and had also trained its device on us. Several more took a step forward, but were stopped with a wave of its...appendage. It then stepped forward and addressed us again.

"My name is Sergeant Nathan Vargas, Aquatica Marine Corps 1st Battalion, C Company. Who, and what, are you?"

"I-I am Twilight Sparkle, and this is my friend Rainbow Dash. We're called ponies from the country of Equestria, on the planet Equiis. What are you?"

"We are humans, of the planet Earth. Many of us hail from America. What is your purpose here?"

"We were trying to escape the Incident..."

"Incident? What is the incident?"

"I-it was a horrible plague. Nopony knows how it started, but soon enough, whole cities had fallen. This plague caused ponies to die slow, painful deaths. But the worst part is, they would be walking again within an hour or two. Walking! After they just died! Trying to eat other ponies! These...'undead' ponies became known as 'anomalies'. We thought we could hold them off, at least until we could find a cure, but..."

Nathan spoke again, his voice (I think it's a he) much softer than when we had first met as he crouched down to our level. "Then what happened?"

"Our rulers, Princess Celestia, ruler of the day, and Princess Luna, ruler of the night, were taken by the plague. We were trying to escort survivors through one of the forests on the way to our capital city of Canterlot, but were swarmed by anomalies along the way. Celestia told me to take the survivors and run while Luna and herself covered us. We hadn't even been gone for five minutes when their screams tore through the air. We ran for Canterlot as fast as we could, and luckily made it back alive. But I can never forget the last thing I saw before closing the gate. Princess Celestia, turned by the plague like all the others, standing at the edge of the forest, with blood and clumps of blue fur stuck to her teeth..."

As Rainbow gave me a comforting hug, Nathan sighed, then lowered his stick device and stood up. "Believe it or not, I know what you went through."

His comment took me off guard as I looked up at him. "You do?"

He nodded. "We all do. Your 'incident' sounds similar to our 'Day 0'."

I was too confused to speak as Rainbow finally decided to say something. "Wait, similar? That would mean that you went through all that."

Nathan nodded. "We did. That's why we're here; we are the survivors of the apocalypse. A while back, something similar happened in a small coastal town in a country known as England. When the disease started out, it seemed harmless enough. Mild fevers, some coughing, headaches, things like that. But when it started to spread, it got worse. People developed bloody sores and organs began to fail. The death toll grew by 75 percent. Like you, we began trying to find a cure. All of the world's top scientists began its development while the rest of us shut ourselves inside of our homes in an effort to avoid infection. Personally, I had lost my younger sister to the plague. My father and I mourned her for months.

“After a while, we began hearing reports of 'walking dead'. We didn't believe any of them... Until we saw my sister stumbling through our front yard. I almost ran out to meet her, before she attacked our dog. She leapt on top of it, sinking her teeth into its neck and twisted until it broke. I threw up all over myself as she began digging in while my father grabbed his military pistol. Shortly after we re-buried her, he was called back in. My father was, and still is, the Admiral of the United States Navy. When he got called in, he received permission to take me with him in exchange for my service.

“After a while, these 'zombies' grew to be too much for us to handle. So my father spearheaded an operation known as 'Aquatica'. Its purpose was to gather as many survivors as possible and board them on military ships. The flagship of which was the George H.W Bush, the ship you are currently aboard. We don't go ashore much anymore, not with those...things getting stronger. We only go for supplies.

“ Amazingly enough, some of the zombies seem to be...evolving. We aren't really sure of the cause, but we do know that it is a recent occurrence. Although, now that I'm seeing you two,  I'm starting to remember some old reports regarding a 'strange white zombie horse'...We dismissed them as crazy until we saw it ourselves...a white horse with some sort of horn and a mangled set of wings... if you looked, it even seemed to have an ever flowing mane and tail, moving as if it was always in a breeze. The colors were a distorted combination of pink, blue, and green, yet also splattered with blood. Not many combat groups have actually survived an encounter with it, not with all their men at least. Its mere presence seems to drive all zombies near it into a blind rage, so long as they remain in the sunshine. It's only seen during the day as well, and because of this, the men call it the 'Sun Horse'."

Rainbow and I stood there, mouths agape as we tried to comprehend what we had just been told. Neither of us could believe it. That description, it sounded too much like her...

"It can't be... That description... it sounds just like her..."

"What do you mean?"

Before I could say anything else, a black box on Nathan's upper body began to crackle. "Knight 2 this is Warlord, do you copy?"

Nathan brought a couple small digits up to the box and spoke. "This is Knight 2, I copy. What is it? Over."

"Hunter Squad has requested immediate reinforcements, and you’re our only combat ready squad at the moment, over."

"What?! But they're supposed to be getting more medical supplies!"

"They can't Sergeant. They're running desperately low on ammunition and are surrounded by bogies on all sides. We’ve also got reports of the Sun Horse."

"Oh shit..."