As the morning sun covered Ponyville in a comforting blanket of light, the gravel path to Applejack’s farm crunched under the hooves of a pink Earth Pony mare, as she trotted toward the farmhouse.

The mare panted exhaustedly, as her long strands of smooth red hair blocked one of her tired, crimson colored eyes.

“Come on… she’s got to be here…,” she croaked, as the sunlight heated the fur of her soft coat.

The mare was Rose Bud, a former-resident of a beautiful village located at the base of Neighagra Falls.

She was the daughter of the village chief, Aqua Flow. He was a kind, slender unicorn who had a reputation for uniting the minds of the village to work as a community.

His magic also contributed to his village’s health as well, as he would often create clouds of gentle rainfall to help with crops and produce.

Rose smiled as she remembered the past, and how kind everyone in her village was to her, despite her being born an Earth Pony.

She never knew who her mother was, but that never bothered her much.

And even though some members of her village were upset with her not having the same magic and grace as her father back when she was first born, they did end up warming up to her sweet, positive personality over the years.

He father told her not to worry about her physical strength, like magic, and to focus on her heart, but she needed to be reminded of that pretty often.

Honestly, one of her biggest downsides may have been her jealousy toward unicorns with actual magic, which bubbled to the surface some of the time.

But even with her rather jealous feelings, Rose was still almost as kind a soul as her father, but without magic, she was much more limited in what she could do.

Although, her father’s magic did become less of a spectacle over the last few years as he’d gotten older and weaker. But her village did still managed to take care of itself, regardless.

Rose’s smile then disappeared, as she remembered what happened about a year ago.

One quiet night, a wildfire suddenly struck their village, leaving so much destruction in its wake.

Rose’s father was unable to stop the fire with how strong it’d gotten, and all Rose could do was save a handful of her villagers.

Since the fire started in the middle of the night, more than half of her village ended up burning to death or trapped in their own houses, only to eventually lose their lives anyway.

The last pony Rose tried to rescue was her father, who was trapped under a burning chunk of their collapsed rooftop at the front porch of their home.

Rose couldn’t save him. She didn’t have the strength to lift the debris off of him.

But she did remember his last wish, which was to leave him and protect the rest of the village, no matter what.

Ever since then, Rose had formed a small campsite for her remaining people in a field to the north of Canterlot City, but it was no permanent solution.

Every day since then, Rose had to hold the weight of her people’s health and well-being on her shoulders, and had to be think carefully about how to protect them.

It was a lot to handle, but about a week back she had a plan to travel to Ponyville on hoof, to visit Applejack so she could teach her to be stronger.

She heard rumors that Applejack was one of the strongest Earth Ponies around, and that her hooves could smash through solid wood.

Rose needed to be stronger, no matter what, so she made the trek over here with that goal set firmly in her heart, leaving her protege, a young pegasus, in charge of the people’s well-being while she was gone.

The pegasus may have been young, but he was responsible, and cared for others. And that was exactly the kind of person her village needed.

Rose’s eyes looked forward, as she was approaching the barn.

“No matter what…” she told herself, as some determination flowed through her.

She was going to do this. She would honor her father, and never let another member of her village fall because of her own weakness again…

Her foreleg then tripped over something sticking out of the path, causing the side of her coat to become dirty with bits of gravel.

Whatever she tripped on actually caused a powerful surge of energy to flow through her whole body, which caused her body to flash cartoonishly like an X-Ray, showing her skeleton, before it stopped, leaving her hair frazzled.

She blinked twice, before she tried standing up.

Trying to stand, though, actually sent a terrible jolt of pain shooting from the hoof of her right foreleg to her brain.

She let out a small yelp and slumped back down, before she gritted her teeth and raised her foreleg to see what all of the fuss was about, before her eyes widened.

There was a deep, vertical cut on her lower foreleg, which was already bleeding, painting her pink fur a dark red.

“Aghh!!” She hissed in pain. “Celestia have mercy…”

Her face morphed into a pained grimace, as her eyes were stuck on her foreleg.

She then blinked, before she looked behind her to see what she tripped on.

When she turned to look, her head tilted to the side curiously.

Sticking out of the ground was a small object, unlike anything she’d ever seen.

It was some kind of tool… a machete? With some strange effects added to it, as it flickered with white, electrical sparks.

She stepped closer to it as she kept her wounded foreleg raised in the air.

She then bent down and bit into the leather handle of the weapon, before she plucked it out of the dirt and gravel.

Loose sparks flew from it again, almost hitting Rose in the face, which made her drop it to the ground as it fell with a metallic clack.

Rose looked down at the machete, and noticed the blade was coated with red blood, although, based on the different shades of red, Rose wasn’t sure if all of it was even her’s.

Who knows what other animals or creatures this blade had struck down before…

Rose cringed as she thought of that, before she continued down the path to Applejack’s farmhouse, but not before giving the machete a kick with her hind leg, sending it flying into a nearby patch of grass.

Her eyes looked forward at the approaching farmhouse, before they narrowed, her expression turning serious, even as she continued limping with her bleeding foreleg.

“I’m coming, Applejack... and you will teach me to get stronger…”

(One Hour Earlier)

As Kyle laid in bed, drooling from the mouth on his pillow, he was having a strange dream.

In his mind, he was back home, in The Tower, but it’s messy halls and bland, desaturated walls didn’t feel like the safe haven he’d once known.

These halls were once filled with the conversations of survivors going about their day and the occasional laughter of kids, but now it was silent. And Kyle hated it.

The lights were all off, and Kyle couldn’t find anyone, even after he called out.

After a moment, his heart rate picked up, his breathing growing intense, as terror formed in his eyes.

Before he could have a full blown panic attack, a glowing light slowly formed behind him, which was accompanied by a gentle twinkling.

Kyle swung his head around, not sure what he’d do, before he stopped, his breathing still unsteady.

After a minute or two, his breathing started calming down, as he stared into a strangely calming, floating orb of light.

That’s all it was, just a light, nothing more. But it felt sort of out of place here.

The orb then floated away from him and down the hall, illuminating the pitch black hallway with light.

As Kyle already felt his panic creeping back in, he chased the orb down the hall and up the concrete stairs, before they went all the way up to the roof.

When he stepped out of the exit and onto the roof, he saw that the sky was a frightening blood red, which sent chills down Kyle’s spine.

But despite the overwhelming feelings that the sky stirred up within Kyle, the orb’s hopeful light shined bright, as it stopped at the rooftop’s edge.

Kyle walked to the orb, stopping at the edge, too.

He looked down.

The city of Harran looked even more dark and deserted than usual, as a chilling breeze flew up in Kyle’s face.

Kyle raised a hand to scratch his neck out of nervousness, but his hand was stopped by a warm sensation.

He turned his head and saw that his hand was being gently, but firmly stopped in place, as the orb was changing shape into a glowing, shifting blob of light, as it enveloped his arm, extending all the way to his fingertips.

It didn’t hurt. It just felt tingly, and actually sort of relaxing.

Kyle smiled, before the glowing form moved behind his back, feeling like the softest, warmest of blankets on the coldest of winter nights.

The shape then completely enveloped Kyle’s back with gentle blue light, before it formed into large, pointed wings.

Even thought he only had the same small smile present on his face, Kyle felt nothing but glee in this moment, as his wings flapped once.

He looked back at his wings, before he looked up at the red sky.

He then braced himself, and flapped his wings once more, causing him to shoot off the roof like a rocket.

He flew up and up, high into the sky, before he pierced through a layer of black clouds.

The smoke-like layer of fluff was thick, but when Kyle made it through, he found himself soaring above a field of soft white clouds, surrounded by a sky of bright blue.

He smiled happily as he soaked in this feeling, doing a few spins.

He then looked forward at the sun, as his eyes twinkled.

He noticed the sun was getting bigger and brighter, as he reached a hand out toward it.

The sun then completely covered his vision in warm, peach light, causing him to shield his face with his hands, before he suddenly jerked awake.

His eyes flashed open, as he looked up at the ceiling of his room.

His widened eyes then narrowed, as he realized that it was just a dream. Probably the best one he’d had in months…

He raised his hand up toward the ceiling, trying to recall the feelings of freedom and comfort that were already slipping from his memory.

His arm then fell back to his chest, as the details were blurring.

“…Godda-“

The door to his room swung open abruptly, almost causing Kyle to jump out of his skin.

A bright blue figure, moving so fast that Kyle couldn’t make it out, dashed into his room, somehow stopping right at the side of his bed.

As she stopped, Kyle could finally tell that it was Rainbow Dash, who was sporting an excited look on her muzzle.

“Rainb-“ Kyle was going to ask, before a hoof was shoved in his mouth.

“Hang on!” She blurted, pulling her hoof back, before she pulled something out from under her wing and presented it to him.

In her hoof she held a small bottle with an off putting, murky liquid inside.

“Drink this!”

Kyle had to physically stop himself from laughing in her face.

“W-what?” was all he could manage.

Rainbow rolled her eyes, before she climbed onto his bed, and on top of him, causing a bit of pink to form in his cheeks.

Her warm chest was planted firmly over his, as she held the bottle out to him assertively.

“You’ll see for yourself, just know that you want to drink this!”

Kyle slowly raised his arm and plucked the small bottle from her hoof.

He looked into it, shaking it around a bit, before he looked back at Rainbow.

“What is this?” He sensibly asked.

Rainbow’s expression grew a bit less excited, before she huffed.

“It was meant to be a surprise…,” she said, a pout forming on her muzzle.

She sighed, before looking straight into his eyes.

“It’s a potion from Zecora, a friend of mine. It’ll speed up your leg’s healing… now drink it!!

Kyle was a bit skeptical, but he had a feeling that even if he objected, Rainbow Dash would probably just force feed it to him.

He let out a small sigh, before he pulled the cork out of the bottle with a ‘pop’.

He gave the liquid a quick whiff, and immediately regretted doing so.

Kyle’s face contorted in slight disgust, before he looked at Rainbow, who’s eyes were wide with anticipation.

He shut his eyes.

“Just do it… Choke it down…,” Kyle told himself.

Without hesitation, his lips then made contact with the bottle, and he tried his best to ignore the taste.

The only thing he could recognize in the taste was something sickeningly sour, but a lot of it was a displeasing mystery to his taste buds.

After swallowing the last of it, Kyle put a hand over his mouth, as he was worried that it might come back up.

He tried again to ignore the taste, as his eyes were squeezed shut, before Rainbow tapped his shoulder, making him look at her.

She held an apple out to him.

“Here. To wash out that taste.”

Kyle wasn’t sure if he could even stomach anything else right now, but he didn’t want to refuse the gesture, so he took his hand off his mouth and grabbed the apple.

After brief hesitation, he took a small bite and started chewing, as he relished in the sweet taste.

It was a good thing he liked apples. He would hate to throw up on one of the creatures who was helping him.

Once he swallowed the first bite, Kyle was glad to find that he didn’t feel any overwhelming urge to puke, as he took two more bites.

Rainbow smiled, before she used her wings to fly off of him and back to the side of his bed, the clop of her hooves being the only sound to fill the quiet room, except for Kyle’s chewing.

As Rainbow watched Kyle down a few more large bites, her hoof scraped at the floor.

“Hey… can I have the rest of that?” She asked. “I haven’t had breakfast yet…

Kyle looked between the apple and her, before he held the apple out to her, as she gave him small smile in return.

Rainbow wasted no time in devouring the apple, somehow managing to perfectly eat everything but the core and stem, despite only having hooves, before she looked toward a trash can in the corner of his room and threw the apple core to it, making a perfect shot.

Kyle briefly licked his lips, before wiping his mouth with a hand.

“That was good,” he complemented. “Was that apple grown here?”

“Sure was,” Rainbow said, as she looked out the window at the farm’s large field of apple trees.

Things were silent for a moment, as Kyle rustled the soft covers of his bed, feeling his blanket with his hands, before Rainbow looked back at him.

“Hey, is your leg doing any better?”

Kyle was surprised that she expected it to work so quickly.

But then again, Kyle didn’t live in this world like her, so he really didn’t understand much when it came to magic and potions.

Kyle flipped his blanket off of his right leg, and took a look at it.

It looked much less swollen than the day before, which was pretty surprising.

Kyle then tried moving it.

It took some effort, and it still hurt, but he could move his leg in a proper way.

“That’s crazy…,” he muttered to himself.

“Zecora said it should be fully healed by tonight or tomorrow morning,” Rainbow said. “Just try to stay off it for a bit longer.”

Kyle nodded, before he heard his stomach grumble.

Kyle opened his mouth to speak, but Rainbow stole his words right from his lips.

“Hungry?”

“…yeah,” he said simply.

Rainbow then turned herself, so her side was facing Kyle, before she looked back at him.

“Hop on. Let’s get some breakfast.”

Kyle blinked.

He was unsure if this was… normal, for this world’s inhabitants, but he figured he would just add it to his ever expanding list of things-to-not-question.

“Ok,” he said with uncertainty.

He then clambered over to her, mostly using his hands, as he tried to get on her back.

Rainbow made it easier by lowering herself to the ground, before Kyle eventually made it on.

He shifted around a bit, trying not to hurt her wings…

Wings…

A flash of his dream from last night came back to him, of him flying through a bright blue sky using a pair of wings, but it was slipping through his fingers just as quickly as it was presented to him.

Rainbow then trotted out of his room and down the hall of the second floor, barely seeming to struggle at all under Kyle’s weight.

Kyle sighed with content.

He was glad to be out of the confines of that bedroom, even if it would just be for a short time.

As Rainbow slowly went down the steps, minding Kyle’s weight, she looked back at him briefly.

“Nice to be out of that room?”

Kyle let out a short laugh.

“You have no idea…”

Rainbow smiled, before she face forward.

“Actually I do. There was this one time where I broke a bone in my wing, and I had to sit in a hospital for a few days.”

She let out a short laugh of her own.

“It may as well have been a few months, or years…”

She turned back to Kyle.

“But, Twilight showed me the Daring Doo books, and I pulled through.”

Kyle’s face was blank, before he smiled.

“These ponies must be damn good friends. For how different all of them are to be getting along…”

When they made it down the stairs, Rainbow was headed toward the kitchen, but she stopped as her and Kyle both heard a faint knock at the front door.

Rainbow looked back at Kyle briefly, before she looked to the door and walked to it.

When she was next to the door, Kyle grabbed the knob and twisted it, before he pulled it open, as the heat of the outside breached the inside of the house.

A pink mare with a long pink mane that Kyle hadn’t seen before was standing on the porch, and looked up at him with wide eyes.

As she looked at Kyle, seeming dumbfounded, all she managed was a confused “Uugghhhh…”.

“Who’re you?” Rainbow asked.

The mare blinked, before she looked at Rainbow Dash.

“…My name is Rose Bud, it’s nice to meet you,” she said with bit of a forced smile. “Do you know where I can find Applejack?”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at her.

Kyle could see that the mare’s eyes were tired, and she seemed to be panting a bit. Something was off.

“Applejack’s in the kitchen right now,” Rainbow said. “Why?”

The mare sighed, as she shut her eyes.

“Suffice to say, I need her help with something important... can I please see her?”

Rainbow and Kyle only just now noticed that the mare was wounded.

“Are you ok?” They asked simultaneously, as they looked at the cut on her foreleg, which was bleeding a lot.

Kyle looked behind the mare, and saw that she’d left a trail of blood droplets on the ground behind her, as his eyes widened.

“I-I’m… I….”

She was unable to finish her sentence, as her eyes rolled back into her skull, as she stumbled, losing her footing.

Rainbow threw herself forward, almost knocking Kyle off, as she used her body to support the mare before she could collapse.

“Come inside,” Rainbow said. “We’ll fix that wound of yours.”

The mare didn’t respond, but still seemed conscious, as Rainbow helped her to the living room, and had her lay down on the sofa, trying not to get blood everywhere.

Rainbow then stood at the foot of the sofa, and Kyle climbed off of her and sat on it, too.

“I’m gonna ask Applejack where the bandages are. Keep an eye on her, ok?”

Kyle nodded.

“Ok.”

Rainbow then left for the kitchen, and Kyle looked down at the mare, who had her eyes shut, breathing heavily.

Kyle felt her forehead with the back of his hand, and quickly pulled it back.

“She’s burning up…”

A short moment later, Rainbow then stood in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen, holding a basket of bandages and disinfectant in her muzzle.

“I’m back,” she said, only sort of coherently.

Kyle looked at her, and then back down at the mare, noticing that she was twitching a bit.

He was about to shake her to wake her up, before her eyes snapped open, and she looked at Kyle.

Her eyes weren’t like they were before.

The sparkle they once had was gone, and was replaced by empty, swirling orbs of black and blood red.

She lunged at Kyle, and he responded by swiftly grabbing her by the neck and pinning her down, grunting, as the mare was putting up a hell of a fight.

“What… the hell?”

Kyle noticed that her teeth were suddenly sharp and jagged, too, as she was making feral noises.

His eyes widened.

This couldn’t be… there was no way…

It was the Harran Virus. Here. In this world.

Author's Note

Holy moly, I’m still alive!! Sorry for the cliffhanger, and for the long time it’s been since I’ve updated this story, but I’m back for this chapter!
For those of you who are favoriting this story even now, it means a lot to me. Thank you all. Seeing how this is my most liked story has really helped aid my drive to continue, you guys are awesome!!
I might post the next chapter decently soon, since it was left off on a cliffhanger and all.