Author's Note

This story is a crossover between the world of MLP: FIM, the show we all know and love, and Dying Light, which is a first person narrative, zombie combat/parkour game(and does contain spoilers).
This chapter is mainly to establish the events after the end of Dying Light’s main campaign, and does contain gore and vulgarity. It might be harder to follow if you’ve never heard of the game, or played it, but important aspects from it will still be explained, to avoid confusion, and the journey of Kyle Crane(the game, and this story’s main character) being in Equestria will begin in the next chapter.

Expulsion(Prologue)

“Rais is dead. Finally. Fucker got what he deserved. Same with those assholes at the GRE. Thanks to Camden and Zere’s research there might actually be hope for a cure one day, we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m not sure what’ll happen next, but I do know one thing; this is where I’m supposed to be.”

Kyle wrote his final entry into his journal, as he sat against a small mound of neatly stacked bricks, on top of the crude skyscraper where he‘d fought Rais, as a comforting wind caressed his face gently.

He smiled as the pencil in his hands finished with the last few words, before he looked up from the pages, getting a good view of the city in front of him.

It was late noon, and the sun covered the vast expanse of the quarantine zone with a blanket of bright orange light.

Kyle shut his eyes, and inhaled a deep breath of air through his mouth and nostrils, as he felt the impact of everything he’d done, everything he’d been through, all coming together in this moment. It was all over, and now a cure for the virus was finally within reach.

As Kyle thought of the potential cure, his eyes opened, and he looked down at his side, at the small package of research left over from Dr. Zere.

Dr. Zere was an old scientist who wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, so to speak, but he had a big heart. Kyle just wished that Rais hadn’t cut such a sweet man’s life short, and that the Doc could see things now, and how much hope there was for the survivors of Harran.

Kyle picked up the small package, holding it tightly in the safety of his hand, along with his journal, before he took of his backpack and held it in front of him, and zipped it open.

Kyle stuffed the package and journal inside, and took one more look at the view of the city, before he closed his bag and secured it on his back.

Kyle then used his arms to help his legs, as he slowly pushed himself up onto his two feet.

Hot pain emanated from Kyle’s left shoulder as he used his arms to help him stand, which made him hiss in pain slightly.

Rais had left a nasty wound in his shoulder with a throwing knife during their fight, and while it was said knife that gave Kyle the perfect opportunity to kill Rais in the end, it still hurt like hell.

Kyle searched through his pockets for any leftover Medkits, but was surprised when he came up empty.

He sighed, before he turned his head to the ladder behind him, which led downward, and made his way to it, to leave the tower of despair.

After some time, as Kyle was finding the best and safest route down from the skyscraper, he found a red door and pushed it open, finding that he was finally at ground level again.

He then shut his eyes and took in another deep breath, as he felt relieved that Rais, the psychotic warlord, was finally gone.

Without Rais, the survivors of Harran wouldn’t have to worry about him and his soldier’s burning down their safe houses, or exploiting them for food and Antizin.

Antizin…

Kyle looked back at Rais’ tower, at the large, orange banner that flopped in the wind, with it’s three horizontal black stripes, almost like a claw mark, before he thought of something.

He climbed up on a nearby bus, and looked over in the direction of Rais’ Garrison, where Rais had stored everything he’d taken from survivors.

Kyle then looked in the direction of The Tower, in the distance, which was the safe haven for him and his newfound friends.

After a moment of thought, as he tapped his foot, Kyle looked East, and began running in the direction of the nearest Safe Zone.

Rais’ Garrison had to wait until tomorrow. That way he wouldn’t have to worry about the Volatile’s hunting him during the night.

Kyle was skilled, and he did make brash choices sometimes, but nighttime was almost certainly suicide, even for him, and he knew better than to be completely reckless.

His friend Rahim sure showed him the dangers of doing that…

He ran along a dirt road that stemmed from the industrial zone, that moved like a winding line on its way to a corner of the Slums.

As Kyle was running, he turned his head to the side, and then swiftly jumped the road barrier on his left, before he slid down the dirt and stone of the escalated plot of land that formed the foundation of Rais’ Tower, in the direction of the Safe Zone he was after.

The industrial zone that Rais had taken control of, during his reign, was on a steep, undulating plateau.

The dirt road that Kyle just strayed from was a safe, easier way up and down it, but Kyle really didn’t have to take many ‘safe’ paths these days, with how adept he was at moving around by now. He had Brecken and The Tower to thank for that.

When Kyle was nearing the ground, he jumped off the slope of the plateau and did a safety roll, breaking his fall, as he landed, unharmed, despite him landing on solid pavement.

In front of Kyle was the back end of a small coffee shop. He was going to run around it, knowing that the Safe Zone was right behind it, before he heard the sounds of a struggle coming from inside.

Kyle approached the backdoor in front of him, eyeing it up and down.

He turned the handle, only to find that the door was locked.

He pressed his ear against the steel door, hearing the struggle of a survivor going on almost right behind it, before he stepped a few feet back.

He then took a deep breath, before he looked at the door intently, and swung his foot into the door with a determined grunt, which caused the hinges to give out, and the door to slam to the ground.

Inside the shop’s empty kitchen, Kyle saw that a Biter was… well… biting a screaming survivor, who didn’t seem to have the strength to push it off.

Kyle acted immediately, and pulled his secondary machete out of his custom made holster that was attached to his belt, and threw it through the air.

The machete then flew right in front of the survivor’s face, as it pierced through the Biter’s skull, before the monster’s body flopped to the ground lifelessly.

The survivor bent over, putting a hand to his chest, as he slowed his breathing.

Kyle stepped into the shop, and patted the survivor on the back.

“You ok?” He asked.

The survivor waved a hand at him.

I… I’m fine,” he said between gasps.

The survivor composed himself and stood erect, as he met Kyle’s eyes.

“Thank you for that,” he said tiredly, his voice sounding dry and raspy.

Kyle nodded.

“Do you have anywhere you need to be?”

He looked up at the sky, as the sun’s warmth was being replaced by the chills of the sinister moonlight.

“It’s getting dark. We can spend the night in that Safe Zone.”

Kyle pointed to the kitchen’s half boarded up window, at the fenced off Safe Zone, just as the purple, Ultra Violet lights came on around it.

The survivor looked out the window, and then back at Kyle, and nodded.

“Yeah, let’s hurry.”

Kyle and the survivor then ran out of the wrecked, gore filled front entrance of the coffee shop, being wary of any infected that might have been shambling in the streets, before they ran across the street to the Safe Zone.

Kyle hopped the metal fence with ease, and stood on top of the rooftop of a small building in the Safe Zone that was adjoined and level to the fence, as reached an arm out for the survivor.

The survivor jumped up a second later, grabbing onto Kyle’s left hand, as he tried to climb the fence.

Kyle strained to pull him up, but the burning pain in his shoulder pulsed and stung, until Kyle accidentally let go, which caused the survivor to fall down on his shoulder to the concrete ground, as Kyle’s knife wound felt like it was on fire.

The survivor had his eyes squeezed shut in pain, before he looked back up at Kyle with desperation.

Kyle looked down at him, and positioned himself to jump down to help him up.

But just then, he heard the echoing, eerie howls of Volatile’s in the distance, as his eyes widened.

Night was here.

Kyle looked to his right, and saw a herd of Volatile’s shambling into the streets from a nearby street tunnel.

When one Volatile coming from the tunnel noticed the survivor, it howled loudly, alerting the rest of its herd, before they all ran toward the survivor with terrifying, inhuman speed.

Kyle’s head snapped back to the helpless survivor, as he gritted his teeth.

“COME ON!!” Kyle yelled.

The survivor shakily stood himself up, and hopped onto the hood of a nearby truck, before he braced himself to jump to Kyle.

Kyle had his arms reached out, his eyes pleading for the survivor to jump.

The survivor did just that, as he jumped through the air, towards Kyle.

But one of the Volatiles grabbed onto the survivor’s ankle with it’s sharp claws during his leap of faith, and slammed him down onto the pavement as the rest of the herd of monsters surrounded him.

Kyle squeezed his eyes shut, as he briefly hesitated to get involved with this many enemies. Volatiles were the most dangerous form of infected, and fighting just one at a time was a struggle, even for him.

Multiple thoughts and past memories flew through his head, before all his hesitation left him, and he snapped his eyes open.

With lightning speed, Kyle reached into his backpack and pulled out a UV flare, looking down at the several Volatiles who were about to pile on top of the survivor.

“God DAMN it!!!” He yelled, before leapt down and bit into the tip of the flare with his teeth.

The flare then activated, and Kyle threw it down to the ground beneath him, creating a safe circle of UV light around the survivor, which caused the Volatile’s to immediately jump back and shriek in pain as their skin was set ablaze, before Kyle landed on the ground, standing over the survivor protectively.

“That’s right! Get back, you bastards!!” Kyle said quickly, before he looked down at the survivor, and pulled him to his feet.

Kyle then ordered the survivor to climb onto his shoulders, as he stood against the wall of the Safe Zone, which the survivor didn’t hesitate to follow.

As the survivor stood on Kyle’s shoulders and struggled for a few seconds, as the flare that Kyle threw down was beginning to die out, the survivor managed to pull himself into the Safe Zone, and looked back down at Kyle worriedly.

When the flare died out with a weak fizzle, Kyle looked to his sides, to see the Volatile’s rushing toward him from all directions, before Kyle ran up the hood of the nearby car, and used as much strength as his legs could muster to jump to the edge of the gate.

The survivor extended a hand out for him, but Kyle just grabbed the ledge, and quickly pulled himself up, narrowly avoiding the Volatile’s deadly claws.

Kyle walked past the survivor, who was frozen, with his hand still reached out awkwardly, as he looked at Kyle with a blank expression, before Kyle jumped down to the ground of the inner area of the Safe Zone, and looked back up at the survivor.

“I appreciate you trying to help,” Kyle said, his deep voice as smooth as butter, as the survivor looked down at him. “But I didn’t want to risk pulling you down with me if I didn’t make it in time.”

The survivor blinked, before shook his head quickly, and scratched the back of his head.

“Ermm, yeah… okay…”

The survivor then hopped into the inner Safe Zone with Kyle, and the two of them entered the small building, which had some basic accommodations, and got ready to go to sleep.

As Kyle slipped into his blue sleeping bag(with his backpack on, as he still wasn’t sure if this survivor would loot him if he had the chance), which was planted on top of a decently comfortable mattress, the survivor rested on a musty couch on the other side of the room.

Kyle then looked up at the ceiling, as the bland, white light of the room flickered once, as he thought to himself.

He hadn’t acted that recklessly in a quite some time.

Kyle was glad to have saved that survivor, of course, but even he knew, as he jumped into action and threw a flare down to protect the survivor, that it was a real gamble.

Kyle rolled over to the side, resting his head on top of his hands, before he slowly shut his eyes.

Despite the monsters prowling in the darkness of the night, a part of Kyle was at ease, as he knew that a cure for the infection, for all of this, was within reach, and that all he he had to do was bring the research he had to Dr. Camden in Old Town.

The next morning, Kyle wasted no time, as he pulled himself out of his sleeping bag, taking a few seconds to stretch, before he winced in pain from his left shoulder.

He looked down at the source of the pain, and noticed that his shirt was stained red with the blood of his wound.

“I need a Medkit…” he muttered to himself.

Kyle looked over to the couch, and saw that the survivor was already gone, and in his place was a small object, which, upon closer inspection, turned out to be a wallet.

Kyle looked inside and saw that it had eighty nine dollars in it.

He then looked around, trying to make sure that the survivor had really left him this, before he shrugged, and tucked it into his back pocket.

As weird as it might sound, it wasn’t unusual by now for Kyle to save a group of survivors and be ‘rewarded’ with a few hundred dollars.

Every survivor in the quarantine should be fighting together against the infected, without seeking out a reward, like the people at The Tower.

Whether the rest of the survivors of Harran realized it or not, they were all in this together.

You’d think that would be the case, for any intelligent group of people, but in most cases, they would just end up fighting and competing against each other for food and power.

See, sometimes, zombies were the least of Kyle’s troubles.

Kyle had thought of why this was one a few different occasions, and eventually came to the assumption that it was the fear of the infected, and fall of societal structure, that prompted so much violence.

People do crazy things when they’re scared. It’s human nature.

As these thoughts filled Kyle’s brain, he bent down to his Stash Bag, which was laying next to his mattress, and searched through it.

He didn’t have any Medkits in his bag, either, but he did find a few packs of gauze that he’d kept stored for emergencies.

He just wished that he’d stored some alcohol, too.

Gauze and alcohol were the main two components for creating Medkits. They were the first thing that Kyle learned to craft since he dropped into the quarantine zone.

Kyle stuffed the gauze into his backpack, before he made his way out of the Safe Zone and ran in the direction of Rais’ old headquarters.

On the way, Kyle was careful to not alert too many infected, as he used his parkour skills and agility, along with his grappling hook, to stay on the rooftops of the rows of buildings, as he looked to the Garrison that he was approaching, as he narrowed his eyes.

In The Tower’s infirmary, Lena, The Tower’s best doctor, stood, looking out a window at the chaotic mess of the city, Harran, with a hand to her chin, as worrisome thoughts of The Tower’s future flooded her mind.

Aman, her assistant, tapped her shoulder, snapping her out of her slight trance, as she looked at him.

“What’s bothering you, Lena?” He asked delicately.

Lena blinked, before she looked back out the window and sighed.

“We can’t keep this up,” she said, before she turned her head toward her several patients, who laid tiredly on the many rows of beds, as one of them coughed. “We need Antizin.”

Aman put a hand to his head.

“I know. But our Runner’s are doing all that they can.”

Aman put a hand to Lena’s shoulder, which caused her to look at him, anxiety clear in her expression.

“The best we can do is hope,” Aman said with a smile. “We have a great group of people here, fighting their hardest, day in and day out. I believe in them, and you should, too!”

Lena couldn’t stop a small smile from forming on her face, as her eyes watered slightly.

She then stepped a bit closer to Aman, and found her arms slowly pulling him close, into a hug.

“Thank you… Aman,” she said simply. “…I, suppose that we do have some real hero’s out there...”

After a moment of them embracing, Lena sighed, as her smile faded.

“But… hope won’t bring us more Antizin, Aman,” she said with a bit of firmness, as she let go of him, and looked at him with sadness. “I just… wish that one of our Runner’s could find some-“

“Le… a… in… L… na!”

Lena was cut off, as the radio she had in her pocket was picking up static, as she faintly heard a familiar voice.

Aman recognized the voice, too, and tilted his head, as he looked down at her radio, confused.

“Is that Kyle? I haven’t heard from him in weeks.”

Lena immediately pulled the radio out of her pocket and tuned it, so she could hear him clearly, before she spoke.

(A Few Minutes Earlier)

As Kyle rounded Rais’ large garrison, he found the side entrance, and climbed onto an orange van, before hopping the fence.

Inside the Garrison’s walls, it was far more desolate than he expected. There weren’t any of Rais’ soldiers, or even the infected.

As Kyle looked around, his eyes landed on several crates piled up on top of each other against a wall on the back of the building’s front entrance.

He ran to them, flicked the two latches of the first large crate, and threw the lid up, as he viewed the contents.

This first crate he opened contained food rations and explosives.

Kyle took the food, placing it in his backpack, but only stared at the explosives, which reminded him of Jade, Rahim’s older sister.

Before any repressed memories could fully resurface in his mind, he shut the crate, as he tried to focus on something else.

On the second crate, Kyle had already found what he was looking for, Antizin! And a lot of it!

Kyle smiled, before he pulled out his radio and contacted Lena.

“Lena! Come in! Lena!”

The radio picked up static for a moment, before he heard Lena’s voice a couple seconds later.

“Kyle! Is that you? What’s going on? You’ve been silent for weeks!”

“Listen, I was a bit busy in Old Town, but I did stop Rais. The fucker won’t be able to hurt us anymore.”

Kyle stuffed a crate of Antizin in his backpack, as he held the radio against his ear with his right shoulder.

“Wow… that’s great, Kyle! But where are you now? Our Runners are scouting for Antizin, and they need you.”

“It’s funny you mention that!” Kyle said happily, as he stuffed a second crate into his backpack.

“Cause I’m at Rais’ Garrison, and the whole place seems abandoned,” Kyle said, as he looked back at the empty lot around him.

“Including his supplies,” Kyle said, as his eyes moved back to the many large crates of supplies in front of him. “Lena, you need to send some Runners over here. There are several crates of food, Antizin, you name it!”

Lena’s voice grew with excitement as she continued talking, which made Kyle smile, before he noticed something strange laying on top of one of the crates.

Kyle unknowingly stopped paying attention to Lena’s voice, holding the radio in his lowered hand, as he stepped closer to the strange little object… some kind of device? and picked it up.

Kyle also picked up a small booklet that was under the device… almost like an instruction manual, which even had a printed picture of the device on the cover, which was named… the Micro-Dimensional Processor, made by Tolga and Fatin, and looked at it briefly, before he tucked it into his pocket.

“What is this?” He muttered to himself, before he clicked a button that was in the center of the lower half of the device, which caused the device, and four tall, slender poles around him, which Kyle didn’t even notice at first, to light up and shine four separate spotlights onto him, creating a circle of light at his feet, which began to crackle unnaturally with violent, yellow electricity.

The little screen on the top half of the small device Kyle was holding lit up and flipped through a bunch of random numbers and letters, before it settled on the combination 89W-2963, as it beeped twice.

“What’s what?” Lena asked over the radio.

Kyle didn’t respond, as the yellow lights glowed brighter and brighter, and the circle of electricity around him grew stronger and more chaotic.

Kyle then quickly stuffed the remote and booklet into his backpack and zipped it closed, before he threw it over his back, as he tried running out of the inner area of the circle.

“Lena, you need to send people here NOW! I don’t know what going o-OAUaUgGGHHHHH!!!”

In a brief, but very bright flash of electric, yellow light, Kyle was gone, without a trace, just as he had almost escaped the reach of the spotlights.

The devices that once surrounded him then powered down, as a few small flickers of electricity bounced off the ground and dissipated into nothing, and his radio clattered to the ground, as it was still picking up Lena’s voice.

“Kyle?! KYLE!!!”