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…”