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…”