Chapters It has been several weeks since ‘The Incident.’ That’s what all ponies call it, since the word ‘zombie’ seems a bit too silly. We’ve been calling them ‘anomalies,’ creatures who don’t seem to exist within natural or normal boundaries.
I, Twilight Sparkle, have taken control of the situation. Sort of.
I’m heading up the construction of a teleportation device. I want to take any survivors as far away from this planet as possible. Unfortunately, most of my friends have already perished. They were grounded and vulnerable, and I didn’t reach them in time. I still have awful nightmares about them coming back... half dead, calling out to me in pain and torment. It’s enough to make me want to give up, but I can’t do that. Not when there are still survivors looking for an escape.
The only one left is Rainbow Dash, a pony comfortable enough with flying to remain on a private cloud for several days. I found her yesterday, starving and sleep deprived. She seemed barely able to recognize me in her exhaustion, but I convinced her to come with me to Canterlot.
It is from here that I am supervising the construction. It’s nearly finished. Just a bit more programming.
According to my calculations, we should arrive somewhere within 100 light years of Equestria. But, of course, this is the first time this type of travel has ever been attempted. There is no way to assure the survival of our refugees.
“Twilight?” the quiet, familiar voice jarred me from my deep thoughts.
“Y-yes?” I turned quickly, seeing the now meek face of Rainbow Dash peeking through the door.
“Um... it’s ready.” Rainbow Dash murmured, barely audible.
I drew in a sharp breath. This was it. We were escaping this hell and starting over. “I’m coming. Just a moment.”
“Hey, Twi?” Rainbow’s voiced slipped into it’s normal, unofficial tone.
I chuckled. “Yeah?”
“Do you think we’ll land someplace... nice?”
I sighed. “I’m not sure we’ll land anyplace at all. We might just be drifting around. I mean, there aren’t many planets in the area. That’s why I made sure to pack enough supplies to last a few days. Hopefully it’ll be enough to get us to the nearest planet.”
“Oh... hey, Twi?”
“What?” I demanded, the old, friendly tone creeping back into my voice.
“Do you think they’ll have hay fries there?” Rainbow laughed loudly. It was good to see her happy. Happiness was a rare feeling these days.
I giggled, trotting to her side. “Gosh, I hope so. I’d miss ‘em.”
~~~~~~~
The machine was rickety, to say the least. It’s plating and control panel were Frankensteined from random pieces of metal, and it’s levers and knobs seemed to be recycled orange juice caps and pencil stubs.
I knew this already, of course, but it still seemed like a terrible way to travel. I was afraid it would sooner rattle it’s way to pieces than take us through space.
I helped Rainbow Dash through the small hatch, her wings causing a fair amount of trouble. With a final pop, she landed on the floor of the craft, sprawled awkwardly across the grating.
“You alright?” I asked, attempting to spread my own wings in the claustrophobic space.
“Fine. But... how is this going to carry a thousand ponies?” Rainbow asked.
“This is the pilot fish.” I said simply.
Rainbow shook her head to clear it. “Sorry, what?”
“Pilot fish. It’s the little fish that goes ahead of the shark. We’re going to work together to move this part, and it’ll tow the larger ship,” I explained.
“Like a tug boat?”
“Exactly. Theoretically, this ship will create an energy wake strong enough to actually throw the larger ship out into space. Like a slingshot effect.”
“Gotcha. Can we get out of here? I feel like I’m in a can of sardines!” Rainbow said hurriedly.
I chuckled. “Sure. You first.”
Rainbow shuffled to a position under the hatch. She used her front hooves to pull herself up through the small hole. She managed to get her shoulders through the hole, but her back legs struggled for grip on something.
“I’m stuck!” She shouted.
“Use my hoof!” I called back, holding my front hoof against her back one.
Rainbow gave a mighty shove. The rest was a blur. I fell with her force, slipping and hitting the floor of the small craft.
Rainbow seemed to have gotten out, but her last hoof missed the edge of the porthole, and she fell on top of me. I heard a smack, then the sound of machinery powering up.
“SHUT IT OFF!” Rainbow shrieked, scrambling to her hooves and pressing random controls as fast as she could.
“Stop that’s the--” I was cut off by a loud zap. The hatch clanged shut, and the control panel made some sick sounding beeps and warbles. “RAINBOW!” I accused.
“W-what?”
“You set the radius to 100,000 light years! Celestia knows what’s out there! Not to mention the thousands upon thousands of refugees who were abandoned on Equestria!” I babbled.
“Well, let’s just change the setting back!” Rainbow stood and hit a few more buttons. And the control panel died completely.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I lost consciousness at some point I have no idea when or how. But I woke up to the sound of droning machinery, and something else... I couldn’t place my hoof on it, but it sounded a bit like the flapping of several hundred wings, the sound’s volume multiplied a thousand times.
I noticed a flashing button on the control panel. I reached over to press it, glancing over the label stating ‘hail receptance.’
Static buzzed over the speakers, followed by a fuzzy voice:
“You have entered waters owned by the Aquatica home fleet. State your business, or you will be declared hostile and fired upon.”
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..."
Rainbow Dash
Aboard the USS George HW Bush
(ThunderChaser)
“So… what do you mean exactly when you say ‘Knight 2?’” I asked, gliding beside the ‘human.’ Twilight trotted below me him, her purple hair bouncing with each step.
“It’s called a callsign,” Nathan explained hurriedly, not really paying attention.
“So… it’s like a code name? That is so cool!” I quickly got excited, my voice rising in pitch. “If I had a code name, it would be… erm, Wonderbolt 7!” My voice cracked loudly.
Nathan made some sounds of dismissal, picking up a bit of speed. He ran across the deck near the edge, making the ground sway just the tiniest bit. Twilight had to gallop to catch up with him. “So… wait, are we rushing into battle here? Is that what this is? Are you going to attack?”
Nathan nodded stiffly.
“But why? Why would you do that? Just move the ships!” Twilight panicked. “That’s why you’re on these, right? So you can move away from any sort of danger! Isn’t that correct?”
Nathan stopped. He knelt down, gripping Twilight by the shoulders. “Miss, Sparkle, I am doing this for the future of my people. It is my duty as a Sergeant in the Aquatica Marine Corps.” He stood again, continuing his jog along the deck.
“That is… messed up.” Twilight said, starting to lose her breath.
“I’m not going to let you insult me!” Nathan fumed.
I scoffed. “I think you already did.” I had to dodge a punch thrown at me.
Nathan screeched to a halt, seeing a long metal box, hovering a small distance above the water. It had two sets of blades spinning infinitely fast, and the sound from it was deafening.
“What the hay is that?” I strained my voice over the sound.
“An MH-60S Seaknight!” Nathan called back, flagging down the vehicle.
“That literally went right over my head.” I said, honestly. “Isn’t it just a floating box? Why does it need such a long name?”
Nathan sighed. “Yes, it’s just a floating box.” He mocked. “But it’s a very specific model of a floating-- a helicopter!” He interrupted himself. “It’s called a helicopter. Now, with all due respect, shut the fuck up.”
I held up my hooves defensively. “Jeez. Didn’t mean to… piss you off. Just asking an honest question.”
Nathan grunted.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where do you think you’re going, young man?” came a gruff voice from behind us. There was a tall human standing there, his shoulders square and his frame demanded. His jaw was square, and the fleshy bit on the front of his face was rather large and crooked. His hair was brown, but dusted with grey, and his small eyes were a light blue. He was dressed all in white, with an odd little hat that looked a bit like he was wearing an upside-down bowl on his head. He was accompanied by a second human, wearing a grey and black dappled coat and pants. He also he a cap, but his had a small brim that shaded his eyes.
Nathan sighed dramatically, although it sounded a bit like a frustrated growl. “My duty. So leave me be to do it.”
“I don’t think so. I don’t want you out there with the Sun Horse just so you can… can throw your life away on childhood fantasies.” He fumbled for an appropriate reason.
“I’m a soldier, dad.” Nathan muttered.
For the first time, the human looked my way. “What the hell is that thing?”
“It’s a horse, dad. What does it look like?”
“It looks like a friggin six-year-old’s imaginary friend. What are you doing with it?”
“Well, we found it in a ship just over--”
“And you didn’t bring it in?” The man intervened.
“I just found it about a minute ago! Now would you please--”
“Hey!” Twilight stepped out from behind Nathan’s legs. “We are not ‘its!’ We are ‘shes,’ and we demand respect! I happen to be royalty.”
The man stared at us for a moment, then began to laugh heartily. “Is this for real? Son, did you really capture to little horsey queens?”
“We are ponies, first off, and second: I’m a princess.” Twilight corrected.
“Uh, Twi--” I murmured. “You might wanna--”
“Even better! Two pony princesses! Ha!” His laugh wheezed on and on, until the man next to him tapped him on the shoulder.
“Erm, sir? Regulation mandates they be taken in for questioning.”
“Do we have rules for pastel ponies?” The man asked again, laughing even harder at his own joke.
“Well… not specifically, Admiral, but they are intelligent beings, which means they could pose a threat, and are capable of defending themselves.”
“Oh, fine.” The Admiral agreed, coming down from his laughing spell. “Take ‘em in.”
The man next to the Admiral came at Twilight, grabbing her around the midsection and hoisting her to his shoulder.
“Hey!” Twilight screamed. “Lemme go!”
The man made a grab at me, but I dodged. “I’ll come with you. Nopony colthandles me like that.”
The Admiral laughed again, slapping his knee. “By god! It’s like they have their own language!”
I flew close to Twilight. “I-it’s gonna be fine. Don’t worry.”
“Rainbow, how can you say that?” Twilight hissed. “This is NOT FINE!”
Chapter 4: Death From Above
Mark Rescroc (Callsign “Hornet 1”)
Aquatica Air Force
Home Fleet Close Air Support Group, 2nd Squadron
Off The Coast Of Virginia
February 13th, 2019
“Hunter Squad, this is Hornet 1. I’m entering your airspace, and am on standby to support, over,” I announced over the radio as my F/A-18E Super Hornet soared towards Norfolk.
For me, my one day off from duty had been rudely interrupted with orders to remain on standby. Apparently, an unknown ship had been detected by the fleet, and as one of the best pilots of the fleet, naturally they would fall back on me to save the day—if anything tried to attack. In the end, the object had been declared ‘Dealt with’ and new orders were relayed to me to provide CAS to a Special Ops team that had been surrounded by zombies at Norfolk.
The radio was silent for a few moments before a crackling voice came over the speaker. “Good to see ya, Hornet 1. We’re holed up in the Air Traffic Control tower here at the Naval Air Station, and we got zeds coming in every direction. Lazing first target now, over,” announced one of the soldiers on the other end.
I smiled to myself, then quickly flipped the switch to arm my aircraft’s weapon systems and adjusted the bearing of the aircraft a tad bit so that it was heading towards the Naval Air Station. Soon, a laser designation confirmation popped up on my HUD as the NAS came into view, and I quickly locked onto it with an AGM-65 Maverick.
“Alright, I’ve got confirmation of your laser designation. Maverick away, over.” I announced, pressing the button to launch the missile.
The rocket shot forward, taking only a few seconds to hit its mark on the field before exploding in a brilliant fireball. I looked down to see a large amount of bodies go flying, before returning my attention to the controls. The radio crackled, before the soldier from before came back on the radio.
“Good hit, zed horde neutralized. We’re designating another target, an old fire station near the runway. Hit it with a GBU-12, and that’ll deal with another horde, over.”
I took a mental note of the soldier’s orders, and then started banking to line myself up for another attack run. Soon enough I was in position, quickly finding the designation, and locking on the signal with a 500 lb GBU-12 Paveway II bomb.
“GBU away, over,” I announced as I pressed the button, releasing the bomb. A few seconds later, the fire station was obliterated in a huge fireball. The blast sent chunks of bricks and other building material flying in every direction.
There were a few moments of silence until the radio crackled to life again.
“Good effect on target, nice hit. There’s another horde near an old fuel tank just south west of the Air Traffic Control tower, we’ll laze it for a Maverick, over,” exclaimed the soldier.
I took another mental note, and then started to circle around. A few minutes later, I received confirmation of a lock, and then switched to my remaining Maverick.
“Maverick away.”
The Maverick smashed into the fuel tank, causing the tank to detonate, engulfing the nearby area in a massive fireball, scorching any unlucky horde that had been close by.
I smiled to myself as I waited for the guys on the ground to congratulate me, only to receive a burst of static, and a panicked voice.
“The fucking Sun Horse! It’s on the runway! We’re lazing it, drop a GBU on its ass now!” shouted the soldier.
I quickly pulled my aircraft into a sharp bank, lining up with the runway. Within moments, I got the lock notification, and dropped the bomb. However, as soon as I had released it, something completely unexpected happened. Something hit my aircraft hard, causing a loud bang to ring out, and damage alarms go off. I swore loudly as I checked my instruments to see what the damage was. Whatever had hit me had destroyed both my engines, rudders, and had severely damaged my tailerons. I quickly looked up, and noticed that I was still aiming for the runway after my bombing run.
“Shit, going to have to put this puppy on the ground.” I said quietly to myself, before flipping the switch to lower my landing gear.
After my landing gear had been lowered, I deployed every speedbrake that was left on the aircraft, and braced to hit the runway. The aircraft hit the runway hard, causing the landing gear to snap violently from the impact. I let out a string of curse words as the aircraft shot down the runway on its belly, sending sparks flying everywhere.
The aircraft continued to skid down the runway for a few moments before it went over the edge of the crater that my final GBU-12 had made in the runway and stopped moving. I felt incredibly dazed, but otherwise fine. After taking a few moments to recover, I tuned my radio to fleet frequency, and cleared my throat. “Aquatica Control, this is Hornet 1. I’ve been shot down by unknown persons, and have crash landed in Norfolk Na-” I began, just as something tapped on the cockpit.
I looked over, and saw a white horse’s muzzle up against the glass, its eyes were red and mane tattered. I screamed as the thing shattered the glass with a hard bash from it’s head, and frantically reached for my pistol. “Shit, not the sun horse!” I shouted, before the thing growled. Then to my surprise, the thing talked. “Twilight… I’m coming for you”
Sergeant Nathan Vargas
Aquatica Marine Corps
1st Marine Battalion, A Company
Aboard USS Yorktown, 10 Miles Off The Coast of Virginia
February 13th, 2019
“Alright pilot, take us to the unknown craft!” I shouted, as the MH-60S Knighthawk that I was in slowly lifted off the deck. After receiving word from the U.S.S Wisconsin that a small anomaly was detected near the Home Fleet, I was ordered to gather a fireteam, then head over to investigate the unknown craft. None of us knew what to expect, so naturally we were nervous about being deployed.
After the fleet left Virginia in June of 2018, life had finally began to return to normal for the survivors aboard. No longer did we have to worry about zombies breaking into our houses while we slept. Aquatica was a triumph, having managed to save a little under 26,000 people from the zombie apocalypse.
The helicopter ride was virtually silent except for the obnoxious helicopter engine, with nobody speaking at all. The air was tense with a sense of burning anticipation and nervousness, which clearly showed on all our faces. I clutched my weapon closely, which was a black M16A4 with a foregrip, Aimpoint sight, and a side mounted flashlight. Finally, the silence was broken by the pilot. “We’re approaching the craft now. You boys best be ready.”
I nodded, then slid open the right door to the heli, and peered down onto the ocean below. It took a few moments for the strange craft to come into sight, and I couldn’t help but be taken aback by it’s appearance. The craft strongly resembled the command module of a 1960s era spacecraft, and the whole thing seemed like an arts and craft project, with patchwork metal pieces all over it. On the top of the craft was a small hatch, and a strange seal that nobody recognized. I just stared at the craft for a few minutes in amazement, then stuck my head back into the heli. “Hail them, see if they answer. If they don’t, then we’ll have to drag that ragtag raft back to the fleet, that thing is too small and unstable to stand on.” I shouted, keeping my voice as serious as possible.
The pilot nodded, then hit a few buttons on the console. “You have entered waters controlled by the Aquatica home fleet. State your business, or you will be deemed hostile and captured.” Announced the pilot. There came no reply.
Convinced that whoever was in the craft wasn’t going to answer, I sighed deeply, then slung my M16 over my shoulder, and secured a harness mounted on the floor to my combat armor. Sure that I was secured, I nodded to the pilot, then jumped out of the aircraft. Thanks to my harness, I lightly swung under the helicopter, where I quickly pressed a button and deployed the chopper’s lift rope.
With lift rope in hand, I gave the order for my men to lower me down to the craft, and looked for a hook to attach it to, quickly found one, and secured the heli’s lift rope to it. Making sure the cable was nice and secure, I gave it a tug before looking up at the heli, and gave a thumbs up. A marine that was watching me returned the thumbs up, then started to pull me back to the chopper. Within 5 minutes, I was back in the chopper, and on my way back to the fleet.
Breathing deeply, I unsecured myself from the chopper’s rappelling system, then motioned to the copilot to open a channel to the fleet command. Once the channel was open, I waited a second, then cleared my throat. “Aquatica Command, this is Knight 2. We’ve recovered the foreign object, and are bringing it back to the fleet to investigate it, over.” I announced, making sure to keep my voice professional. There was a brief moment of silence, then a burst of static.
“Roger that Knight 2. Take the package to the George HW Bush, then investigate. Teams will be standing by, in case something happens, over and out.” Replied the radio operator at the other end. I smiled, then leaned back in my seat. “Well, this is going to be fun.”
///
“George H.W Bush Control, this is Knight 2. We are requesting permission to land with unknown package, over.” Announced the co-pilot, as our helicopter approached the titanic aircraft carrier. The sight of the Bush was a sight to behold, a key symbol of the power of Aquatica. The deck was filled with various aircraft, all stowed away and compacted. There was a brief moment of silence, before the familiar hum of static cut through the radio. “Roger Knight 2, you are cleared to land. Two teams are on standby to assist with the package if needed.” Came a different radio operator, a hint of tiredness in his voice.
With permission to land granted, all of the Marines on the helicopter all tensed up, ready to jump out and deal with whatever came out of the recovered vessel. The heli came closer and closer to the deck, then pulled into a hover when it was right above the deck. With a loud click, the lift cable below the helicopter was released, and the strange craft dropped onto the deck below. As soon as the craft was dropped, the heli veered forward a bit, then landed, allowing us to finally disembark.
We quickly got into a tight box formation, then advanced toward the strange craft. Stopping right before it, I turned to my men, and motioned for them to stand back while I opened the hatch. Then, without waiting for their reaction, I jumped onto the craft, then looked down at the hatch. Taking a deep breath, and opened the hatch on the top.
The first thing I saw when I peered in was two glowing lavender eyes, just staring straight at me. I stared back at them for a few seconds, then found my voice. “You! Come out now or I’ll shoot!” I shouted, trying my hardest not to display the nervousness in my voice. The eyes just blinked, until a voice emanated from the darkness of the craft. “Alright, just don’t hurt me.”
Suddenly, a purple appendage reached out from the darkness, and grabbed the edge of the hatch. I panicked a little, then fell backwards of the craft. Another purple appendage grabbed the side of the hatch, before a strange creature climbed out of the craft. The thing reminded me of a small horse, except this one had two folded wings and a horn. The creature hopped down on the deck, then looked at the 4 other marines pointing their weapons at it. The deck went silent for a few moments, until I found my voice. “What… what the fuck are you?”