Gleaming Light

by Golden Cake

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Fluttershy, Profanity, Slice of Life, Crossover, Human, Drama, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash
Length: 14111

Kyle Crane, a human survivor of the Harran quarantine zone, is thrust into Equestria, and is confused when he develops feelings for a certain rainbow pegasus.

After his final confrontation with Rais, Kyle Crane finds a strange device, and suddenly finds himself transported to the magical world of Equestria.
He sees it as his top priority to make it back to the Harran quarantine zone back on Earth, to continue looking for a cure for the virus.
But in his pursuits to make it back home, Kyle is confused when he begins to develop certain feelings for a brash, rainbow colored pegasus, of all things.

Published 2023-03-12 18:40:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-09-06 21:43:56 UTC

Expulsion(Prologue)

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!!!”

Transference

In the world of Equestria, in Ponyville, pegasi were flying in the air, and earth ponies and unicorns trotted happily through the streets, as the sun shined brightly with a comforting warmth.

On the edge of the humble little town, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were having a picnic of daisy sandwiches and apples for lunch, set up on a patterned blanket that was laid down on a lush, green hilltop.

Rainbow Dash was less involved in the relaxing nature of it, though, as she was using the neighboring obstacle course for some hardcore exercise, as the rest of them watched her.

As the wind rushed through Rainbow Dash’s mane, she licked her lips, as she was nearing the finish line.

Rainbow dashed through it, and came to a skidding halt, as she dug her hooves firmly into the ground.

“16.8 seconds!” Twilight Sparkle said, as she levitated a stopwatch in a sparkly, magenta colored, magic aura.

Rainbow smiled, as she beamed with pride.

“Aww, yeah!! A whole two seconds faster than yesterday!”

Pinkie Pie had built this obstacle course of elevated, circular hoops, sharp turns, and ground level hurdles, so Rainbow could test her speed, with her wings and her hooves, without even having to leave Ponyville.

But little did Pinkie know just how often Rainbow would actually use it.

“Yep!” Twilight said, laughing wholeheartedly. “You sure have made some improvements, thanks to your intense amount of practice!”

Just as she said that, as if to accentuate her point, Rainbow Dash started doing wing push up’s.

Twilight trotted in front of her, and lowered her head to meet Rainbow’s eyes directly.

“But maybe you should take a break!” She suggested softly, as she continued wearing her smile.

Rainbow looked at her for a brief moment, refusing to even pause her push up’s, before her eyes darted forward again, as they shined with determination.

“Sorry, Twilight,” She huffed. “But this pony needs to prove to the Wonderbolt’s that I’m the fastest pegasus in Ponyville! I don’t have time to take breaks!”

Twilight looked at Applejack and Fluttershy, as Applejack shrugged.

Twilight groaned, before she walked back to the picnic with them.

Fluttershy then looked over at Rainbow.

“Actually… I have to agree with Twilight, Rainbow Dash…” Fluttershy said softly.

Rainbow Dash briefly stopped her push up’s, as she looked over at Fluttershy.

“I-I’m not an athlete like you… but you should probably let your body rest!”

Rainbow looked at her for a second, as she blinked, before she faced forward, narrowing her eyes, as she continued her wing exercise.

Fluttershy looked down at the ground dejectedly, as she laid down on the picnic blanket, with her head rested on her forelegs.

As Rainbow continued pushing herself, and started to sweat, her face lit up, as she looked over at Fluttershy.

“Oh-wait! Fluttershy!” Rainbow said, smiling, as she finally stopped her wing push up’s, and let her chest fall onto the soft grass. “You should get in on this! It would be awesome if you could work on your speed!!”

Fluttershy wasn’t feeling sure about it, but smiled slightly, as she saw just how excited Rainbow was about the idea.

“O-ok! Sure!” She squeaked.

“ALRIGHT!!” Rainbow said, as she sprung up into the air, and did a fist pump with her hoof.

Before Fluttershy could even blink, Rainbow flew over to her, and pushed her away from the picnic area, as Fluttershy’s hooves dug through the dirt.

In Pinkie’s hoof-made obstacle course area, Rainbow tossed a headband to Fluttershy, and told her to get ready to warm up with some wing push up’s.

Fluttershy wrapped the headband around her forehead and positioned herself, bracing her wings, as her face grew serious.

Rainbow adjusted Fluttershy’s exercise position carefully, before she nodded.

“You’re good to go! Just be sure to keep your back straight!”

Rainbow then stood in front of an, actually quite determined looking Fluttershy, and smiled.

“Ready… set… GO!!”

And just like that, Fluttershy began her wing push up’s, and was doing pretty well.

Or, pretty well for the first seven or so, but after that, she was already straining herself.

Rainbow noticed this, and stepped closer to her.

“Come on!! You should get to at least fifteen! I know you can!!”

Fluttershy gritted her teeth, and squeezed her eyes shut, as she was shaking, trying to get to twelve.

“Come on! You can do it!!” Rainbow cheered.

Fluttershy tried, really tried, to push herself to thirteen, but her body wouldn’t let her, and she slumped face first into the ground.

Rainbow lifted her up a second later, before Fluttershy sat down on her rear, looking ashamed.

“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash,” she said sadly, in between gasping breaths. “But I really tried!!”

Rainbow placed her hooves on Fluttershy’s shoulders.

“Hey, it’s fine! You did good for your first time!!” She assured.

Fluttershy smiled.

“But let’s keep going. Let’s work on your true speed in the obstacle course!” Rainbow said exuberantly, as she moved to the side, so Fluttershy could get a view of it.

Fluttershy’s face turned pale, and she opened her mouth to interject.

But Rainbow was already pushing her into the obstacle course area, so it was a bit too late to oppose.

Fluttershy sighed, as she thought to herself.

“Ok, just keep it up a little longer. Rainbow Dash just wants me to be strong, so I’ll be strong!”

Fluttershy felt more determined as she thought of that, but still felt anxious upon actually being in front of the obstacle course.

Rainbow had her set up on the starting line, and held out a water bottle for Fluttershy.

Fluttershy smiled earnestly, before she took the water bottle, and practically chugged half of it down right then and there.

Rainbow then counted down from ten, giving Fluttershy extra time to prep herself.

Fluttershy then narrowed her eyes, as she scraped her hoof on the ground, and snorted, before she unfurled her wings as widely as she could.

“…three… Two… ONE!!”

Fluttershy then darted forward, and flew in the air, flying through the hoops with some actually decent speed.

Once she got through the hoops, she then ran through the ground level of the course, and had to crouch under, and jump over the multitude of hurdles that were in her way.

Although Fluttershy may have gently clipped her wing on a hoop or two, and could’ve been a bit more careful on the ground hurdle part, she was still pretty happy with herself as she crossed the finish line.

“25.6 seconds!” Twilight said, as she clicked her stopwatch.

Fluttershy smiled tiredly, but her brief moment of accomplishment was interrupted, as Rainbow Dash was pushing her back to the start line.

“Again, that was pretty good for your first time,” she started. “But you’ve got to push beyond your limits, girl!”

Fluttershy looked down, and merely nodded, as a small frown formed on her muzzle.

For the next ten minutes or so, Rainbow was pushing Fluttershy to surpass her limits in flight and running speed.

However, Fluttershy never beat her first record in any of her following attempts.

After her ninth failed attempt of beating her record, Fluttershy dragged herself back to the starting line, panting like a dog.

Rainbow patted her back, her eyes showing concern.

“Ok… one more round! I know you can do it!”

Fluttershy gritted her teeth in anger.

“Rainbow!” Applejack imposed, stepping up to her. “That’s enough, you’ve more than pushed her to her limit!”

Rainbow looked at Fluttershy, who was sweating bullets, as she stared at the floor blankly. She looked like she was having trouble standing.

Rainbow then stepped closer to Applejack, as a spark of anger flicked in her eyes.

“But she needs to be strong! What if there’s a time where she needs speed more than anything?”

“That hardly matters! Just look at her!” Applejack imposed.

Rainbow looked back at Fluttershy, as Fluttershy looked up at her, with tired eyes.

Rainbow’s eyes widened briefly, before she hung her head low, as she gritted her teeth.

She then unfurled her wings, and flapped them once as hard as she could, propelling herself off the ground in an instant, as she flew into the sky.

Fluttershy weakly called back for her, but Rainbow just tried to ignore it, as her eyes were shut tightly.

After flying a good distance up into the sky, where she couldn’t hear them anymore, Rainbow then laid herself down on a moderately large, cushiony cloud, as her head rested on her hooves.

“…I’m hurting her?-I’M hurting her?!…They just don’t get it…”

Rainbow felt a fiery tear stream down her face, before she quickly used a wing to wipe it away, and blinked away her watery eyes.

She groaned, as she laid the side of her head down on the fluffy cloud.

“Am I really too pushy?” She thought out loud.

She poked her hoof into a part of the cloud, and swirled it around in a circular motion, before she sighed.

“…Maybe I was a bit hard on her… it was her first time exercising in… who knows how long, anyways…”

Rainbow shut her eyes, as she tried to calm herself down.

Her attempt to calm herself, however, was interrupted, as the nearby sound of a crash caused her eyes snap open.

Rainbow poked her head out from the top of her cloud, and looked in the direction of the sound, toward Sweet Apple Acres.

Even from this far away, she could see that there was now a large hole in the top of the apple family’s barn.

“What the hay?”

(About Two Minutes Earlier)

Kyle Crane’s body shivered, as the wild jolts of electricity from the strange spotlights still flowed through him, before he opened his eyes and blinked a few times, as the outlines of the spotlights were still partially imprinted into his retinas.

After blinking a few times, as his vision cleared up, Kyle noticed that, against all logic, he was falling from the sky, and toward a rapidly approaching terrain, which almost looked like a rolling countryside, that was right below him.

The rushing wind was screaming into his ears, as his heart raced.

“Shit-Shit-SHIT!!” Kyle yelled, though he could only barely hear himself over the wind.

As multiple panicked thoughts flew through his head, he quickly tore his backpack off of his back and held it close to his chest, as he opened the zipper and desperately searched through it.

As he searched, a few packs of cigarettes flew out from his bag and into the air, but Kyle paid them no mind.

It was only when Dr. Zere’s research package began to float out and away from the safety of Kyle’s backpack, that Kyle quickly threw his arm out, and grabbed it with his fingertips, before he clutched it closely to his chest with one hand, and continued searching through his bag with his other, as he used his legs to keep the bag bound to him.

“Come on, come ON!!”

Kyle then finally found what he was looking for, at the cost of only most of his valuables flying out of his backpack, including one of his special, electricity modified machetes, as he pulled out his grappling hook.

Kyle held the grappling hook in his mouth, as he forcefully stuffed the research package back into the depths of his bag and zipped it closed securely, before he threw it over his back.

Kyle’s eyes then darted around at the… strangely unfamiliar land below him, which was growing larger and closer by the second, as he tried to spy a mountain, antenna, anything that he could grapple off of to break his deathly fall.

His frantic eyes then landed on what seemed like a barn, which seemed to be directly below him, along with an entire farm that was coming into his view, as he was flying closer toward the ground.

But aside from the barn, Kyle found nothing, and couldn’t spot any amortizers on the ground, or even just a body of water, both of which he could land in safely.

This was far from the first time that Kyle’d had a fall like this, but unlike those other times, this time, it didn’t look like there was hope for him.

Kyle gritted his teeth, as worry filled him.

He thought of everything he’d been through, the people he’d saved, the people he’d lost, and how things were for the people he loved now.

Essentially, his life flashed before his eyes.

As Kyle thought of the people of The Tower, and how much they needed him and every Runner they had to fight to survive, his mind began to cloud with anger and determination.

“N-No… The Tower needs me!! GODDAMN IT!!”

He bent his right leg and readily aimed it toward the barn beneath him, with no solid plan in mind, as his emotions began to form into a thunderous storm.

“This isn’t the end, it-it CAN’T BE!!!”

Kyle’s iris’s shrunk into small dot’s, as the ground was flying toward him at ludicrous speed.

“I can’t…-I’M NOT DYING HERE!!!!”

Kyle put all of his energy into his leg, gritting his teeth, as he kicked through the ceiling of the barn and crashed to the ground.

A few moments after Kyle felt the impact of crashing to the ground, his eyes were wide, and pointed forward blankly, without really looking at anything.

Kyle then gasped for air, once he finally realized that he was holding his breath.

It seemed that he was alive, somehow.

Kyle slowly looked up and saw a cloud of dust particles from his crash were floating in the air, quite visibly, because of the sunlight pouring in through the hole in the roof, before he blinked a few times.

Despite the natural spotlight he was under, the rest of the barn looked dim and eerie, as Kyle’s breathing had picked up speed without him realizing.

Kyle was almost certain that that fall would be the end of him, but he was mostly just confused now.

He slowly felt himself with his hands, and realized that the only pain he felt was in his right leg, but that’s not to say that the pain was slight.

Kyle looked down to his leg, and saw that it was bent the wrong way, and was almost entirely a swollen purple, and he couldn’t move it, not even a little.

Before Kyle could question the oddity of how he was even alive, the barn’s large doors creaked open, as the white light of the outside infiltrated the darkness of the barn, and Kyle swiftly moved out of view, as he dove into a corner of the barn, behind a pile of hay.

Kyle crouched over, using the darkness and the cover to his advantage, as he tried to slow his breathing.

Kyle stared blankly at the messy floor of the barn, and then looked at his leg, before he heard a voice, along with the clatter of multiple… hoofsteps?

Maybe there was a farmer here who could help Kyle, who was just herding animals into the barn right now.

“Yup…,” a southern, feminine voice from the other side of the barn said with a sigh. “That there is gonna need quite a bit of patchin up.”

Kyle was thinking about revealing himself, but before he thought deeper into it, he heard a second voice respond to the first.

“It’ll be ok, Applejack!” A sweet voice assured. “We can help you fix this! But first, we should probably figure out what caused it…”

Kyle still only heard heard animal hoofsteps, where he expected to hear human footsteps, moving in his direction, as his thoughts raced.

He was hesitating to reveal himself now, as he couldn’t even hear a single human footstep, but heard these voices echo in the inner walls of this barn as clear as day.

Something wasn’t right here.

As Kyle’s thoughts raced, he was still hunched over, with his back faced away from the pile of hay, as the hoofsteps of the second voice stopped right on the other side of his cover.

Kyle held his breath.

There was a moment of silence, where all Kyle could hear was the anxious thumping of his own heart.

Kyle started to worry that these creatures could hear his heartbeat, too, with just how loud it was in his ears, before the second voice spoke, completely breaking the silence of the barn and giving him a startled jolt.

“Well, it doesn’t seem like it was a meteorite… but it looks like something should’ve landed here, though…”

Kyle then heard a different set of hoofsteps moving closer to the second voice, before a soft, higher pitched voice spoke.

“Well… if it’s not a meteor, then… what could it be?”

There was more silence, as Kyle assumed that the second voice was thinking.

Kyle took this moment to think, too.

“What is this? Are these voices human? If I reveal myself, will they be hostile, or will I just end up scaring them?”

These thoughts flew through Kyle’s brain, before he made his decision.

He then looked down at his broken leg and grabbed it with his hands, and, with one swift motion, forcefully bent it the proper way with an audible click, as he bit his tongue to keep himself from screaming.

Small tears escaped from Kyle’s eyes, before he rubbed them away, and slowly stood himself up, using the barn wall to push himself to his feet, and took a few shambling steps out from behind his crude hiding place, as he hugged the wall.

Kyle looked in the direction of the voices and immediately regretted revealing himself, as his eyes widened.

These creatures were not human, at least not physically.

These creatures seemed to be horses… maybe ponies, who were a very odd range of colors, and had eyes that shined in a strangely human way, which was quite unsettling.

As Kyle looked at them, each of their gazes met his, starting with the purple creature right next to him, and then the yellow creature, and then the brown one in the back.

Their expressions were unreadable, as their eyes were almost as wide as his.

After some time of just… staring, Kyle blinked, before he scratched his neck nervously.

“Um…h-hi there… my name’s Crane…”

Tender Wounds

Kyle wobbled a bit, as he sat in an offset, hardwood chair in the kitchen of Applejack’s farmhouse, hissing in pain.

“S-Sorry!…” Fluttershy said quickly, as she continued wrapping the first layer of gauze bandages around his swollen leg.

“It’s… fine…” Kyle huffed, as he gave Fluttershy a forced smile.

Kyle had taken quite a few beatings in his days in the Harran quarantine zone, but he’d never broken his leg like this before.

He then looked out the kitchen’s window, trying to take his mind off the pain.

Bright afternoon sunlight poured in through it, feeling warm on Kyle’s skin as it fell on him and Fluttershy, before his eyes moved to the floor of the kitchen, his smile morphing into a frown.

“You know, I could’ve done this myself,” Kyle said. “I don’t want to trouble you guys.”

“It’s alright, Kyle,” Fluttershy quickly assured. ”I’m used to tending to the wounds of different creatures...”

“You are?” Kyle asked curiously.

Fluttershy started applying to second layer of bandages, as her ear flicked.

“Well… yeah!” She replied softly, as her eyes were fixated on his leg. “I love helping those adorable little woodland critters!”

Kyle looked at her, before his gaze focused back on the window of the kitchen, on the outside of this strange new world.

“You know, none of you ever actually told me about this world…,” Kyle began, before he looked down at her. “Where is this exactly?”

Fluttershy’s eyes looked around the floor awkwardly for a moment, as if she were confused by the question, before she refocused on Kyle’s leg.

“…Well… this is Sweet Apple Acres. It’s Applejack’s home...”

Fluttershy stopped wrapping the bandages for a second, as she looked up to briefly meet Kyle’s eyes.

“And this world is called Equestria! Everypony’s lovely home, run by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”

Her eyes moved back to his bandages, as she continued.

“They live on a mountain in Canterlot, the highest class city around!”

“…Canterlot?” Kyle muttered to himself.

Fluttershy nodded, giving a sound of confirmation.

“There’s also Cloudsdale, Appleloosa, and Phillydelphia, just to name a few…”

Kyle was about as stunned by all this information as he was intrigued.

“Wow… I really am far from home…”

He used a hand to nervously scratch his back, which Fluttershy quickly noticed.

She moved a bit closer to him and put a hoof to his chest, as she looked up at him, giving him a warm smile.

“We will get you home,” She said confidently. “That’s a promise not just from Twilight, but from all of us!”

Kyle just looked at her blankly.

When he first met these ponies in the barn, he was initially off put by their strange appearances.

He was grateful that they didn’t feel the same about him.

In fact, when they first met, they even exchanged names.

Giving names led to Kyle telling them the barebones of his situation, as a strange part of him felt that these creatures could be trusted… at least somewhat.

He said that he was taken from his friends, and that he needed to get back to them, no matter what.

In that moment, Kyle then scratched his head, feeling like he was forgetting something crucial.

Then it clicked. The device.

Kyle then frantically ripped off his backpack and searched through it.

The backpack was pretty torn up from the fall, but it was still intact, and still served its purpose.

But Kyle’s face went pale as he realized that the portal device was missing.

It must’ve fallen out of his bag during his fall.

As Kyle stood there, frozen and unsure of what to do next, Twilight was the first one to respond to his statement of needing to return home, as she stepped closer to him.

She promised him that she would do everything in her own power to bring him home, as she beamed with determination.

Kyle moved his eyes to look up at her, his shaken expression still stuck on his face.

Despite being a stranger, Twilight had no idea how much those words really meant to him in the moment, as Kyle clung to a string of hope, knowing that he might not be alone in this unsettling predicament.

Kyle also met another pegasus, Rainbow Dash, shortly after meeting Twilight, Fluttershy and Applejack, as she flew in through the hole in the ceiling and smoothly landed between Kyle and the other ponies defensively, with her back to them, as she narrowed her eyes at Kyle.

She snorted at him, like a bull about to charge a red flag, as she asked him who he was.

It was Fluttershy who moved closer to Rainbow Dash and stood next to her, which made Rainbow turn her gaze to her.

Fluttershy looked at her empathetically, and shook her head once, and that was all it took for Rainbow’s aggression to slowly morph into understanding, and what looked like sadness, as she stepped back, and let Fluttershy move closer to Kyle.

Fluttershy held a hoof out for him, but Kyle was hesitant to reach out for it.

Fluttershy was patient, though, and smiled at him with kind eyes, before Kyle slowly put his hand on her hoof after a few moments.

Applejack said that she had some supplies in her farmhouse that could help with his leg, and Fluttershy helped him walk there to patch him up, and that was what led to now, as he sat in a chair, letting her tend to his broken leg.

Kyle smiled at Fluttershy’s sheer kindness and compassion. It was something that he really needed right about now.

“Thank you,” he said simply.

Just then, the outside door to the kitchen opened suddenly, and a pair of hooves entered.

Rainbow Dash stood in the kitchen, as she looked at Kyle.

“Okay, Crane,” she said, as she moved closer to him. “I flew all around the farm like you said, but I didn’t find any ‘small gadget’.”

Rainbow held out a few packs of cigarettes and a jewelry box.

“But I did find this stuff.”

Kyle reached out and grabbed his personal valuables, before he quickly stuffed them into his backpack that was rested against his chair.

Rainbow then cleared her throat awkwardly.

“Anyways, I’m gonna help Applejack with the barn repairs now.”

Rainbow’s eyes drifted down to Kyle’s leg, as she stared at it for a moment, before she looked up at him.

“…But, you should rest up. I’ve never had a broken foreleg myself, but I imagine it wouldn’t be very fun…,” she said with a small smile, as her cheeks blushed a slight pink.

Fluttershy gave her a happy smile, which Rainbow noticed, and returned with her own smile.

Kyle looked at Rainbow, then down at his leg, before he groaned.

“Are you… are you sure that I can’t help with anything?”

Rainbow and Fluttershy looked at him, as his eyes were glued to the floor.

“It’s just… you guys actually agreed to help me get back home…”

Kyle looked up at Fluttershy’s concerned expression.

“And you’ve even helped me with… this,” he started, gesturing to his broken leg.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a small sigh.

His eyes then slowly opened, meeting their’s.

“I should return the favor…”

Fluttershy merely tilted her head at him.

Rainbow Dash was still for a moment, as her eyes looked down at the floor intently, as if she was processing what he’d said.

“…Look, Crane… I get you wanting to help, but you’re just in no condition to push yourself right now.”

Kyle’s eyes fell down to the floor gloomily, as he said nothing.

Rainbow sighed.

“But…,” she started.

Kyle looked up at her.

“You can help all you want, only when you’re done healing.”

Kyle just looked at her, before he nodded once.

Rainbow nodded back, before she turned around and made her way to the door.

She opened it, but stood in place, before she glanced back at Kyle.

“And… you shouldn’t worry. I’ll be sure to leave some leftover work for you, too!”

Kyle blinked once, before he spoke.

“Ok. Uhh… thanks, I guess,” Kyle said hesitantly, although he felt a small trace of a smile on his face.

Kyle briefly saw that Rainbow was wearing a grin in turn, before she faced forward and stepped outside, as the door shut behind her.

After Rainbow Dash left, Fluttershy helped Kyle upstairs to the guest room.

When Kyle opened the door, the two of them were greeted with a smell that was a mix of pine needles and cinnamon.

Granted, Kyle realized earlier that the rest of the house smelled about the same, but for some reason the scent was more potent here.

As Kyle hobbled to the bed, with Fluttershy keeping him as steady as she could, Kyle caught a glimpse of the barn from one of the room’s window’s.

Rainbow Dash was flying over to the barn, carrying a large stack of wood planks in her hooves, before she set them down on the ground in a jumbled pile.

Applejack was on the ceiling, with a hammer in her muzzle, nailing new wood planks over the barn’s crater, as Twilight was levitating new planks up to her from the pile with her horn’s magic.

Kyle frowned and gritted his teeth a bit.

“Don’t worry about them.”

Kyle turned to Fluttershy, as she gave him another comforting smile.

“They just want you to rest and heal, and so do I, so please… just relax...”

Kyle’s eyes drifted away from her face, as he looked out the window one last time, before he said ok, and got himself into bed.

As Kyle’s body shifted into the soft embrace of the bed’s mattress, he bent forward, and pulled the covers toward him, as Fluttershy was behind him, fluffing his pillow.

He then gently rested his head back on the pillow, before he turned his head to Fluttershy.

“If you need anything, just call,” she said.

Kyle thanked her, before he thought about asking her something, but was held back by hesitation.

Just as Fluttershy was nearing the door, Kyle quickly told her to wait, which caused her to halt immediately, before she turned to face him.

“Yes?”

“I hate to be a bother, but… could you get me a glass of water?” Kyle asked, as he mentally slapped himself for even asking.

They’d done enough already. He didn’t need to waste more of their time and energy just for this.

She smiled, giving him a nod.

“Of course, Kyle.”

As the sun was almost done setting outside, and the farm was being coated by the chilling darkness of the night, Kyle laid in bed, trying to sleep, before his eyes snapped open.

Kyle groaned frustratedly, as he sat himself up.

The moonlight gently landed on him from outside his window, as his hands pulled down at his face.

“I can’t sleep like this…”

His bed was comfortable, but the storm of emotions going on inside his head stopped him from truly relaxing, despite the kind accommodations of the creatures he’d met today.

It was nice of the ponies to bring him dinner from downstairs earlier, some kind of vegetable stew, which he was very careful to not make a mess with while he ate.

After Kyle’s meal, when he was alone, he searched through every part of his backpack thoroughly just to be certain that he didn’t put the device in another pocket or anything.

But it was still gone, and Kyle still had no idea where it could be.

Kyle looked down at his backpack, as the moonlight shined gently onto it and the floor around his bed, before he scratched his neck.

He then fell back down onto his bed and tried shifting positions, as he squeezed his eyes shut.

He then turned his head and reopened his eyes, and saw his empty water glass from earlier, stood on the nightstand next to him.

He let out another groan, this time with a bit more anger.

“I need to distract myself with something…”

Having the whole day alone in this room gave him lots of time to reflect on his situation. Too much time, in fact.

It did take him a while to mentally accept his predicament of being in another world, but he settled on just not questioning it too much.

To be fair, back home, when Kyle was younger, he never thought that a zombie outbreak would actually happen. But then the Harran Virus came around when he was adult, and he was hired by the Global Relief Effort to investigate it, which eventually led to his current situation.

A world of magic and talking animals? Would that really be so crazy in comparison to a Rabies-like virus that turns people into feral, flesh eating monsters?

He assumed that some things just couldn’t be explained. And once Kyle’s mind wasn’t too bothered by the implausibility of his situation anymore, other thoughts popped in his mind, causing his panic to set in again.

Kyle was really worried about getting home and saving his newfound friends, but alongside his worry and fear, he also felt that he had a flicker of hope.

Somehow, this was a world of magic, so maybe there was some kind of spell or something that could help. Plus, he had these kind ponies by his side, who would hopefully be willing to help him learn how this world functions.

It was that thought that made him feel all the more indebted to them…

…But aside from his worry of even being able to get back home, Kyle had a gut feeling that would have to keep Dr. Zere’s infected research package on him at all times.

He hadn’t told the other ponies, or Fluttershy… yet, but the package contained samples of infected tissue, and Kyle didn’t even want to think about what could happen if this world were contaminated by the virus…

He’d seen firsthand the kind of damage the infection could do, even just to a single city isolated from the rest of the world.

As Kyle took the research package out from under his pillow and clutched it to his chest, his thoughts drifted to The Tower, and his friends.

A part of him knew that The Tower’s other Runner’s were dependable, and they could probably cover Airdrops and supply recoveries for a good while, but he still wanted to get back to them as fast as he could.

Being stuck in bed, and being unable to do that, though, made him crave a distraction from his thoughts.

Kyle tucked the research package back under his pillow, and looked to his room’s door.

He hesitated for a second, but he called out for Fluttershy.

He expected to hear the clop of hoofsteps going up the stairs toward his room, but he heard nothing.

Kyle was unsettled for a moment, as he looked at the yellow hallway light poking through the bottom of the door, as there was still only silence.

But just then, the door to his room opened, giving Kyle a surprised jolt.

He looked to the door and saw Rainbow Dash looking at him, as she was using her wings to fly in the air.

“Sorry, Fluttershy had to go home to take care of her animal buddies,” she said, as she landed on her hooves and trotted towards him, leaving the door open, essentially creating a spotlight behind her. “She asked me to take care of you.”

Rainbow then stood at the side of his bed.

“What’s wrong?”

Kyle shook his head briefly, trying to shake away the lasting feelings of being startled, before he took a deep breath in through his mouth and nose, and sighed exhaustedly.

“I’ve tried, but I just can’t sleep. Do you have a book or anything I can read, Rainbow Dash? Please?”

Rainbow looked at him blankly, blinking twice.

She then quickly looked from side to side, and to the open doorway behind her, as if she were afraid of anyone nearby witnessing something she was about to do.

She then looked back at Kyle with a giddy expression, as she smiled.

“Yeah, I’ve got something,” she said, before she turned around and unfurled her wings. “I’ll be right back.”

She then flapped her wings once and dashed out of the room with unreal speed, as the whiplash of her flap sent a gust of wind in Kyle’s direction.

The wind sent the bottom of his bed’s blanket flying into his face, before he pulled it off unamusedly, and threw it back down to his feet.

After about ten short seconds, Rainbow flew back into Kyle’s room, nearly crashing into him, as she stopped herself right at the foot of his bed.

She was breathing out of her mouth, panting a bit, which Kyle quickly noticed.

“Jesus, are you ok?”

Rainbow took a few more mouth breaths, and raised a confused eyebrow at him.

“That’s not my name…,” she said between breaths.

Kyle opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing, before he shut it and shook away his confused thoughts.

He then asked Rainbow again if she was ok.

“Don’t worry about it…,” she said, as her breathing began to slow.

Kyle looked at her, as she was still panting a bit, as he felt anxiety creeping up within him.

He turned his head and looked out the window, toward the barn, which had significant repairs done to it, despite it only being a day since Kyle had wrecked it.

“…You guys… really worked hard on that barn today, didn’t you?” Kyle said, forcing a smile.

Rainbow’s breathing returned to normal, as her eyes glowed with sympathy.

She then briefly whispered something to herself, but it was too quiet for Kyle to make out.

Rainbow had a slight pink blush on her cheeks, before she cleared her throat, trying to refocus their attention on the book, as she showed Kyle the cover.

“…Daring Doo and The Quest for The Sapphire Stone?” Kyle asked.

“…Yup! It’s the first book in the series!” Rainbow said, as Kyle picked it up and held it in his hands. “I think you would like it! It’s about a heroic pony named Daring Doo, who saves priceless relics and artifacts from a nefarious villain!”

Kyle’s eyes focused on the cover, before he looked up at Rainbow Dash.

“You’re a reader?”

Rainbow blushed again.

“Umm, so what if I am?!” She asked defensively, as she looked at him directly.

Kyle raised his hands up.

“Woah, hey, I’m not judging!” He assured calmly, as he looked back at the book. “I’m just a bit surprised…”

He flipped through the first few pages, and was surprised to actually be feeling sort of excited, like a butterflies-in-your-stomach kind of excited.

He looked up at Rainbow and smiled.

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash. Really,” Kyle said kindly, before he stuck his nose in the book. “I think I’m going to enjoy this…”

Rainbow gave him a brief laugh, and told him it was no problem, before she turned around and made her way to his bedroom door.

When she stepped out and into the hallway, she looked back at him one more time.

“Good night, Kyle.”

Kyle looked up from his book.

“Good night, Rainbow Dash. Thanks again.”

She nodded, before she gently pulled the door closed, and shut it with an audible click.

After the door was shut, Kyle’s gaze moved to the empty water glass on his nightstand.

For a moment, he just looked at it, unsure of how to feel.

But then his mouth formed into a small smile as he let out a short laugh through his nostrils, before he looked back into the book and began silently reading the text of the first page.

“…As Daring Doo trekked through the tropical jungle, the wet heat sapped her energy, and slowed her every step…”

Author's Note

This chapter has had more remakes than I ever thought it would, but I’m quite glad to have found the next step of the story that feels right, and I hope y’all enjoyed it too!!
Have a swell day/night!! :rainbowwild:

Budding Roses

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.