Ponyville, Realm of Equestria

Castle of Friendship, 6:00 AM

As Princess Twilight Sparkle's eyes flickered open, and she roused herself from her slumber, she was immediately caught off guard by the sound of pots and pans clattering from downstairs, which was coupled with the aroma of a hearty breakfast being in progress.

"Spike!" Twilight called out. "Where are you? What's going on?"

Hearing no response, she slipped out of bed and descended the azure crystal staircase that led to the ground floor of her new castle. Now that she was closer, the voices of her friends and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony could be heard.

Except…something was off about their voices. They seemed…exhausted…maybe even sleep-deprived, Twilight thought to herself.

"Something odd is going on here…" she said quietly. As she opened the door, she was immediately swept up into a tight embrace by the last pony she'd expected to see in Equestria at the current time.

"Sunset?" Twilight dropped her jaw as she looked her student over while quickly returning the hug. "What happened? Why are you back in Equestria?...and why do you look like you just tumbled down a mountain?"

"That's a long story." Sunset sighed, motioning to the other occupants of the room, which after a few seconds, Twilight recognized them as the Elements of Harmony's human selves, which included her own doppelganger. "I wanted to come back alone, but they all insisted on going whether I liked it or not."

"Well, I'm glad that you all came nonetheless." Twilight smiled. "What's wrong? Did something happen back at Canterlot High?"

"Yeah, something did happen, and as a result, the world pretty much ended about seven months ago." the human Applejack said in a dire tone of voice. Twilight did a double-take as the words "the world ended" processed through her mind.

"What exactly do you mean by "the world ended"?" Twilight said after a few moments.

"We'll tell you, but not just yet. Can you get Princess Celestia and Princess Luna here as soon as possible? They'll want to know as well, I'd bet." Sunset replied. "Look, it's a really long story, and none of us have had school, a square meal, or a hot shower in months."

"Is it that bad?" Twilight asked, not sure what else to say.

"Yeah, and it's worse in some places." the human Rainbow Dash called back. Twilight nodded gravely, and as she set off to find Spike, Sunset returned to her chair and gave off an exhausted, long pent-up sigh of relief.

====

About twenty minutes later, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and the Equestrian Elements of Harmony were now sitting across from Sunset, the human Elements, and Princess Twilight, outside on the castle's expansive back patio.

Sunset and Princess Celestia had exchanged some much needed words of forgiveness earlier, while Princess Luna had helped the human Elements come up with new names for themselves. After all, it would certainly be tough to explain why there were two separate versions of Applejack or any other Element Bearer all of a sudden to anyone in Ponyville.

It didn't take as long as Princess Luna had thought, as the humans had already made a few changes to their appearances to help themselves stand out. Applejack had kept her stetson, but added a ribbon around the brim. Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie had cut their hair short, and Rainbow Dash had tied her hair back into a short tail.

They had also come up with some ideas for names; eventually, they settled on Rainbow Burst, Gentle Breeze, Apple Jay, Elusive, Diana Pie, and Eventide Sparkle for the human Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, and Twilight.

"So, now that names are squared away,..." Princess Luna said as Celestia and Sunset returned to the patio. "What exactly happened on Earth that you need us to know about?"

"Well…it started about seven months ago." Sunset began. "In New York City, there was this new bug starting to spread during Black Friday weekend."

"What kind of insect was this?" Princess Luna asked, then it clicked. "Oh, you're referring to a disease. My mistake. Is this normal on Earth?"

"Not really, or at first it seemed like that." Sunset replied. "We thought it was a new kind of the flu, but…from what we saw on the news, people started dying really fast from it, and it wasn't just in New York. Whatever it was, it was spreading in over twenty-two cities in the US and in twelve others internationally."

"Manhattan soon went under quarantine, and that's when everyone found out it wasn't the flu. It was a form of smallpox that we'd never seen before. This wasn't an accidental release, either. This was an attack on a global scale."

"Smallpox?" Princess Celestia asked. "I'm not familiar with that disease."

"It's the deadliest disease in mankind's history." Eventide Sparkle clarified. "It was supposed to have been eradicated back in the 1990's. It's killed more people than AIDS, Ebola, and the list goes on."

"From what the CDC could tell, this "Dollar Flu" or "Green Poison" was lethal in ninety-eight percent of cases, and it could spread while incubating. Essentially, it spread far faster and killed a lot quicker than normal smallpox." Sunset continued. "The government formed the JTF, the Joint Task Force, to try and keep order, but things went to hell pretty fast."

"Countless gangs of thugs roamed the streets, the federal prison at Rikers Island experienced a mass breakout, this PMC group called the Last Man Battalion took over the United Nations, and sanitation workers armed with flamethrowers and firebombs started burning anything they thought was infected, people included." Sunset said, making all three Princesses drop their jaws. "People started turning on each other to survive. Central Park had to be converted to a mass burial ground, there were gas line leaks, power went out across the entire island of Manhattan…it was not a good time from what we saw."

"And that's all that we know from what happened in New York, because the internet, TV, and cell service went out not too long after that." Sunset sighed. "Things weren't looking good in Canter City either."

"At least two-thirds of the apple trees died over christmas." Apple Jay sadly reported. "Both Canterlot High and Crystal Prep closed down, and basic supplies were hard to get. Food, water, raw materials, everything started to run out quickly. We were able to use our magic to keep going for a few months, then it started to stop working as well."

"Things were starting to look up recently, since the apple trees started growing fruit again, a few convoys of travelers were able to give us a bunch of supplies, and then some off military-looking folks came through a few weeks, though they didn't stay long." Gentle Breeze said. "After that, we came here."

"The military came to Canter City?" Twilight asked, surprised.

"Well, we're not exactly sure who they were." Rainbow Burst replied. "There were only three of them, and they all wore this weird orange wristwatch. Not only that, they had guns and body armor galore. This one guy had a crossbow, another had a grenade launcher, and the third had a giant sniper rifle."

"Plus a bunch of sci-fi gadgets." Diana Pie added. "They were really cool, because they helped us out with a bunch of stuff, until their gadgets stopped working. They left the next morning."

"They said they were heading to Washington DC, and they needed to be there ASAP." Elusive added. "Strange thing is, they said that others were doing the same, and that if DC fell, the rest of the world would go with it."

"Funny thing is…" Eventide said, drawing everyone's attention. "I talked with the guy with the crossbow before he left. I asked if he was in the US Army or something like that. He just smiled and said "I'm SHD", and after that, he and his friends left."

"SHD?" Twilight asked,confused. "I've never heard of that before, whatever it might be."

"From what I could hear over the radio, the SHD, or Strategic Homeland Division was responsible for restoring peace to Manhattan alongside the JTF." Sunset replied. "Apparently these Division agents were like knights in shining armor for practically everyone they met. Ever since they retook Manhattan from all the bad guys, they've been working with communities and settlements nationwide. I don't know much else about them, unfortunately."

"What about the President?" Twilight asked.

"President Waller died of a heart attack, his VP committed suicide a few months after that. Speaker of the House Andrew Ellis was sworn in, but he was aboard Air Force One when it was shot down over DC." Sunset replied. "I also heard rumors that even Ellis is dead now, but I'm not sure."

Princess Celestia nodded, and was silent for several minutes. Twilight could tell that she was in a state of deep thought, and weighing her words carefully. Then, she turned to her Sunset and the human Elements.

"Thank you for telling me all of this." Celestia in a resolute tone. "Now, in light of this calamity on Earth, I must return to Canterlot and mobilize our Guards. Rest assured Equestria will come to the aid of your world. For now, we must prepare ourselves."

"Sister, are you certain of this course?" Princess Luna asked. "We haven't mobilized such a force in many years. Not to mention that we don't have the supplies or logistics to support it at this moment!"

"Leave that to me, sister." Celestia replied. "I already have a few ideas to remedy that problem. For now, Luna, please alert Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor that I need to speak with them. Sunset, as for your and your friends, you are welcome to make arrangements to stay here in Equestria."

"Thank you, Princess." Sunset smiled, with the human Elements showing joy and relief clear in the eyes and expressions. "We'll do whatever we can to help."

"I know you will." Celestia replied. "Come, Luna, it's time we get to work."

As the two sisters teleported away, both sets of Element Bearers, Sunset, and Twilight headed back inside Twilight's castle to get some much needed rest.

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed!