The Incident.

Twenty Years Later...

Vivien Boudreaux

Vivien groggily opened his eyes and sat up. An alarm was going off, to which he promptly unholstered his silenced M1911 pistol and fired blindly towards the sound. He probably hit it, because the annoying whine stopped.

"Fuck..." he muttered, then holstered the pistol. Vivien stood up and did his morning stretches, then looked out of the window.

He, was in the terminal, which, he had single-handedly barricaded, and still protected it. Across from him, were the destroyed or partially buried husks of planes, covered in bright green. The airfield was submerged in a foot-or-so deep water, as always, and shrubbery was still growing over everything. He stumbled over to his dresser and got out his outfit for the day.

Vivien slid on a pair of gray jeans, a T-shirt that had a rainbow with a cloud on the front, then slid on a winter jacket. It was light gray, almost white in color, and had several pockets, and a few smaller ones that he used for carrying extra clips for his weapons. He put on his combat boots along with a beanie and an old American-Made Gas Mask from WWII. He pulled up his hood, and swiveled on the filter.

Vivien walked over to his desk and sat down. He picked up a toolbox that was resting underneath the desk and placed it on top of the desk, and got to work repairing his weapon, a KRISS Vector. Vivien yawned and finished up, then turned to the left.

Sitting there, was a military-grade Alice-pack, leaning against the old wooden desk. Vivien pushed his chair back and stood up, stretching his arms. He walked over to the backpack, then picked it up slung it over his shoulders and strapped it to a set of buckles on his jacket, so it didn't get lost.

He picked up his Vector and pulled back the charging bolt. He slid out the magazine and stashed it into one of his jacket pockets, in exchange for another magazine, of similar size, except, it was containing 7.62x39mm Armor Piercing Magnum Rounds.

Vivien carefully planted the magazine into the rifle, then clicked the bolt forward into place. He clipped on a strap, then slung the rifle onto his back. He grabbed the silenced M1911 pistol from the desk and pulled out the empty magazine, then stored it in one of his pockets in exchange for a fresh magazine.

Vivien slid the pistol into a holster clipped to his right thigh, and slid on a pair of leather gloves that fit tightly over his hands. Vivien tightened them further and walked over to a shattered eight foot tall window, then carefully stepped out and hopped down from the window.

He landed in a knee-deep stream, and promptly rolled, then stood up quickly to prevent his mask from being damaged. Vivien shouldered his Vector and began trudging through the muddy water.

The shattered husks of old-world planes were scattered about, providing a platform when the water was too deep, or cover, were Vivien to engage an enemy on his front.

Vivien climbed up into one of the husks, shaking some stray water from his boots, then pulled out a flannel cloth from his jacket, and swiped it across his mask's screen. Vivien stashed the cloth and began tip-toeing through the rusted and weakened shell of a plane's storage deck. Vivien walked into the entryway hull door, and stared in awe at the sight before him.

Water was flowing freely from the compartments beneath him, while he stood over the edge of a newly formed cliff, caused by something similar to the ODIN Orbital Weapon.

He stared at lush green fields, with roads and red-brick buildings dotting the area, along with the long rusted and destroyed husks of cars and trucks. The lowered areas were flooded with a few deer lapping up water from the area, while birds flew overhead, migrating to the north. Winter was coming soon enough, and with winter, came snow, and with snow, came a famine, as most game would be hidden deep within the caves of the New World, seeking shelter from the Infected.

Vivien slung his rifle and climbed onto the lip of the door, and grabbed a handle resting above him, then pulled himself up and began carefully moving to the right, being careful to avoid the occasional patches of rust amongst the chipped paint and thin steel sheeting that covered the large steel bird.

The young soldier slowly lowered himself down once he reached the the back end of the plane, where the ground was raised enough that the water hadn't flooded his pathway. Giving him the leeway to move downhill towards the ruins. He, evidently, had picked a spot at the edge of New Alexandria to settle down. The Airport was built close to the beach, which was littered with tank traps, the destroyed husks of M1 Abrams tanks, humvees, and ruined concrete structures built into the hills, allowing minimal protection, as time hadn't been good to any of the ruins of this sector.

Vivien climbed down a few hills, then reached a separation in the ground. In between, was a faded orange hatchback, rusted and nearly destroyed, acting as a bridge. Vivien carefully climbed onto the destroyed vehicle. It let out a groan of protest for a moment, then settled a bit. Vivien didn't hesitate and closed the gap between him and the end of the vehicle, and was at the other side of the separation moments before the Hatchback fell down into the crevice beneath it. The young survivor shouldered his Vector and began carefully moving towards the ruined town. He glanced up at the sky, and almost swore he saw a cyan blur that appeared for only a split second, then disappeared just as quickly.

Vivien shook it off, and kept moving.

Meanwhile.

Rainbow Dash let out a sigh of relief and began flying back to the old brick structure. The human had almost spotted her, which likely wouldn't bode well, according to the stories Princess Celestia had told them before they had entered this world.

"Humans are carnivorous, lying, deceitful creatures, that will try and harm or trick you every chance they get, but this specific human, may not be, so I would like you to try and approach him first. If that is unsuccessful, follow the provided map. It will lead you in the right direction." Celestia's words rang out in her head.

The cyan pegasus began her descent as the old apartment complex came into view. Applejack, was sitting on the roof, while Fluttershy was outside on one of the untouched areas of land, helping a family of what appeared to be foxes, into the husk of an old motor vehicle. There were a few trees on the front lawn, which now had grown into the complex's third floor.

Rainbow Dash landed on the roof and sat down next to Applejack.

"So? What'd ya find out?" the orange earth pony asked.

"The human almost spotted me, but, I managed to avoid him... barely." Rainbow Dash said.

"Anythin' important? No offense." Applejack repeated.

"Oh! The human looked to be moving towards that old town that loops around and connects to this street." Rainbow Dash stated. Applejack nodded and sighed.

"Let's just hope he's not like the others..." she said to nopony in particular, then trotted back inside...