The Manticore laid there. It’s scorpion tail and left paw violently slashed off by apparently some kind of animal that possessed large, sharp claws or something of the sort. Medical ponies and guards surrounded the vicious yet poor creature, long ago, a pony named Fluttershy had tamed one of the wild beasts but the majority of the species were very animalistic, not many ponies were victims of the ravenous race of cross bred predators but then again not many have been found or heard of nor have many Manticore deaths been as brutal and unnatural as this one.

“My name is Kickback…and I have done terrible things…along with the occasional good deed but the horrible ones outweigh them… I've been called things…A killer, a monster and an abomination to Equestria…I may be all of these things at once and more…”

The earth pony, Kickback, thought of these words as he watched the 6 investigators induct searches for knowledge as to what happened to the Manticore from the tallest branch of a large tree. He knew.

“Whacha reckon happened, doc?” one of the guards asked towards a medical mare that had a face of sheer, deep thought.

“I’m…not too sure actually…from what we can tell, this was definitely a battle lost by the Manticore…” the doctor answered quite obviously.

“Well, what could have done it?” another, female guard asked.

“Again…we’re not very sure…” a male doctor answered in an irritated tone.

Kickback grew tired of watching the display of sheer ignorance and leapt from branch down towards a lower one. He then jumped to another branch until he was far enough to land on the ground without the team hearing the loud thud as he crashed on path that lead to scene deeper within the Everfree Forest. He left a small crater in dirt and sprinted into full gallop, faster than any earth pony should be…although he wasn’t completely a earth pony either. His acceleration wasn’t matched with anypony on the ground, his full speed was even more impressive, each hoof leaving small crater in the dirt as he went on.

Eventually he got to where he wanted, nowhere in particular but anywhere was better than the scene he had just left.

It was late therefore the small town that was presented before him was not as clear as day but he had already seen it today anyway before the events in the forest transpired. His colours allowed for partial camouflage in the dark, so even if anypony was around, they wouldn’t spot him easily. He walked through the town that depicted the name “Ponyville” rather redundant but nevertheless it fitted, being that most of the inhabitants were indeed ponies, mostly female ponies. He glanced at several buildings before looking back down, always walking towards the edge of town. When he reached it, he spotted a large tree that stood out from the rest, well there really wasn’t a “rest” because it just stood there on a hill top with nothing else around. He walked over to it and sat down, he wore a saddened, thoughtful face before laying down, closing his eyes and drifting off into uneasy sleep, he knew from his history that the team of investigators would not ever figure anything out their own if he wanted to keep it that way, which he did but not all plans go the way they’re supposed to.

Celestia’s sun rose slightly over Ponyville about four hours from when Kickback decided to rest. It’s shine left an orange glow on the entire scenery, casting elongated shadows of the buildings and trees. It wasn’t too late before ponies were awake and about to start their day.

“uhhh…” Kickback let out as the morning began to take effect.

He opened his eyes groggily, seeing his limp, dark mane getting in the way of his vision. He let it be and still laid there, under the tree, not moving more than a slight shift to get more comfortable.

Minutes flew by with him still opened eyed and just watching the small town from a distance. He was about to get up on his hooves when he said.

“Well, let’s see what we have…”

He got to his hooves and took a step forward only to be stopped by a voice above, a female, raspy voice that sounded as if it came from the tree.

“Hey!” was what he heard. He turned around to find a cyan coloured pegasus, just standing on one the high branches of the tree. Her eyes depicted the colour of magenta, her mane and tail were quite distinctive, striped of six colours, resembling the ones of a rainbow. Blue, purple, green, red, orange and yellow all were displayed. Her mouth was formed into a cheery smile and Kickback despite having a horrible night could only smile back as a reply and expected the pegasus to fly down to meet him up close. She did, landing in front of him with her wings tucked in, she began.

“Hey there, you look new, are you?” she asked, looking a little excited for Celestia knows why.

“Yeah, I’m not from around here…how long were…? He began but she cut him off.

“All night I was up there…but I don’t remember you there when I bunked down” She said questioningly.

“That’s because I got here about…hmmm, four or five hours ago *Yawn*…I was up late and…I didn’t see you up there either…” he said, switching the tracks on his train of thought. He spoke with a slight Aussie accent that made the pegasus think about it for a few seconds before speaking again.

“Well, I woke up about 5 minutes ago, when I looked down and I saw you, so…just wanted to say ‘Hi’…OH RIGHT, I haven’t told you my name, have I? I’m Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in Equestria, soon to be Wonderbolt and the most awesome and loyalist pony you’ll meet!” she said, enthusiastically.

Kickback added another adjective to her list…“egotistic” was what she seemed to be but nonetheless he really didn’t know this “Rainbow Dash’ too well to make judgement, so he kept to himself, also to him (and everypony else) the name fit, well half of it so far.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash, name’s Kickback” he said friendly towards the cyan mare before him, she grinned as she thought of how awesome his name was.

She then took notice of him, his coat a dark red but contrasted with the surroundings, his tail was longer than the average stallion but his build wasn’t feminine at all. He was just slightly taller than, judging on “fancy mathematics” Big Macintosh is Applejack’s OLDER brother, this colt looked to be only a few centimetres taller than Dash, so he was probably about the same age. His mane was black and depicted a large white stripe through it, same pattern going to his tail. She took a glance behind him, you can tell A LOT about somepony judging by their cutie mark. She saw it and felt a tad confused, his cutie mark didn’t depict anything in particular, unlike her’s or anypony she knew. It looked almost like a blue pair of wings but other than that nothing about it was distinctive. She smiled at him again.

“So, Kickback, what’s up?” she asked. He was not used to such a question especially during a first meeting.

“Well, things could be better but could be worse…but overall not a whole lot” he replied. Dash paused for a moment, thinking about what he said and how he said it. That voice was so cool to her.

“You staying in Ponyville?” Rainbow Dash asked, seeming to hope for a positive response.

“Hopefully, yeah…as long as I can anyway, I think I’ll like it here” he replied…positively. Dash beamed at him.

“Awesome, you seem cool, Kickback, I can’t wait to hang out some more!” she said enthusiastically. Kickback chuckled but part of him was very upset.

“You’re seem pretty cool too, Dash…” he replied but what he was thinking was entirely different. “If only you knew, Rainbow Dash…if only you knew who I am, what I can do and what I’ve done…”

Her smile grew wider at the compliment then she reverted into a smug look.

“I know but hey, maybe we can hang out today sometime, I’ll find you!” she said confidently. Before Kickback could protest, she was gone, she bolted straight in the air, leaving a rainbow trail then she was out of sight. Despite everything, it didn’t feel very good that somepony was faster than him but she was a pegasus so he could let it go.

“SEEEEYAAAAA!!!” was all he heard, he replied instinctively with another “SEEYA!!” then Kickback was left alone again. He turned towards the town and took a deep breath before walking to it.

Kickback walked into town, noticing several ponies working their fruit stands, shopping or just hanging out. One in particular caught his eye. A green unicorn mare, sitting on a park bench.

“How does she…?” he said out loud as he looked at her, like it was the most normal thing in the world, she sat on her haunches but left her legs dangling off the seat. Kickback stared a little while longer then shook his head and proceeded on. He walked continuously through the town, not really having a destination. He noticed other particular ponies hang about, one stallion with a grey coat, a blue mane and tail that depicted red tips and headphones. Another stallion with a dark blue coat and a yellow mane and tail, Kickback could only feel sorry for him fore part of his left ear looked to be clipped off. Most of the ponies were female in this town from he could tell.

Kickback noticed that not everypony was as observant as Rainbow Dash, barely any of them noticed a new pony in town. Although that thought was put aside as a pink, earth pony mare skipped up to him.

She let out a loud, breathless gasp before rapidly speaking incredibly quickly.

“Oh my gosh, I’ve never seen YOUUUU before and if I haven’t met you before that must mean you’re new and that means I’ve never thrown you one of my famous Pinkie pie parties, that also mean I don’t know you’re name and we’re not bestie, best, best friends forever and THAT MEANS…” the pink pony was cut off by hoof to her mouth. A dark red, contrasting hoof.

“Settle down, miss…Pinkie Pie, is it? My name is Kickback and yeah, I’m new here” he said as calmly as he could manage. This pony seemed to be insane but he wasn’t the most normal pony to begin with either but nopony could know that simply by meeting him, he had to show them what was different about him.

Pinkie smiled when he released her but what she did next was quite unexpected. She, silently just jumped up 2 metres straight in the air and zoomed off, leaving a pink blur as she left. Kickback was stunned, he stared for a  moment before shrugging and pressing one.

“Bazaar filly…” He said to himself as he continued down his path. Suddenly his hunger set in, he hadn't eaten in two days, due to his…new biological identity, he could go longer without sustenance than most creatures but still he needed to eat anyway. He spotted an orange mare that depicted a blonde mane and tail, each being braded at the end, she wore a large country girl’s hat which immediately told something about her. Kickback noticed her because she was selling the most delicious looking apples he had ever seen, big red or green apples were displayed proudly before him and the entire town.

Applejack sat behind the apple stand, watching everypony walking by not buying any of her produce, she felt bored and disappointed but kept her ambitions for a great sale day. She stood up when she noticed a dark red stallion walk directly up to her fruit stand with a smile towards her occasionally glance down and to the side to look at the produce kept in boxes.

“Hey…how much for…all of it?” the mysterious colt asked her. Applejack thought on his voice for a second, the slight hint of an accent caught her attention more than anything else about him…so far. She surveyed the stallion, noticing that she had never seen him before, he looked a lot like her older brother but his green eyes were darker and his tail was longer, most of all the colours or rather shades of his mane and tail were quite outstanding.

“Sorry, pard’ner?” she asked in disbelief when the words he spoke finally got to her.

“How much for all of your apples?” he replied. Kickback himself took notice of her voice, the heavy accent made him feel relatable to this mare.

“FOR ALL OF IT?!?!? Uhhh…” she said, she really didn’t know how much all of it was due to nopony ordering something so significant. Applejack then tried to use ‘fancy mathematics’ but failed in turn making her brain feel sore. Kickback took notice of this and chuckled before reaching into apparently hammer space and pulling out one of the largest money bags the orange mare had ever seen. He set it down on the counter with a grin on his face.

“This be enough?” he asked. Applejack only looked, jaw-dropped at the bag, wondering if it actually was but it looked like more than enough. She thought about what she could do with all the money, what the Apple family could do, how he had so much, how he pulled it out of nowhere. Her thoughts carried less from the bag but rather the stallion who stood before her. She just stared at him, her face hinting of extreme shock and gratitude, mostly shock.

“Thankya kindly, pard‘ner, name’s Applejack, proud member of the Apple family, the most of honest of friends and the most dependable of ponies, what’s yer name?” the orange mare said friendly towards the grinning stallion,

“Kickback, miss. Applejack and it’s not much, just about 500 bits…” he said in a calm tone.

“500!?!? That’s a lot more than enough for all o’ this” Applejack said enthusiastically.

“Awesome, bye” he replied happily, taking only a few apples in his hooves then balancing another few on his back before beginning to walk off.

“Wait! Aren’t ya gonna take the others?” Applejack said confusedly.

“I didn’t say I’d buy all of them, I just paid for all of ‘em” Kickback replied, stopping to turn and speak to the mare. Applejack only grinned and chuckled at the stallion, a gesture that he gladly returned.

“You’re not form around here, are ya?” she said, not so much in question form but more as a statement.

“No, not at all, already I’ve met a pegasus named Rainbow Dash that said she wanted to hang out some time today and a crazy mare called Pinkie Pie that implied throwing me a party or something, so not a bad first day” he replied somewhat jokingly. Applejack acknowledged the descriptions and smiled.

“Oh yeah, those two are ma’ friends and any friend of them is a friend of mine, ya seem alright, mr. Kickback, come see me down on the farm in case ya want any pre-paid apples” she said friendly.

“Thanks, Applejack, I’ll see ya later then, wait what farm?” he said as he started to walk off with several apples in a bag that Applejack provided being balanced on his back, he took one out before she could answer and chomped down on it. He stopped in his track, not too far away from where Applejack was.

“Damn, son, gotta be da best apple I ever did taste” he said to himself but just loud enough for her to hear. She smiled victoriously at his remark.

“It’s called Sweet Apple Acres, ask anypony they’ll lead ya to it!” Applejack answered watching him nod gratefully and continuing on his walk.

Rainbow Dash finally had finished clearing all the clouds that were due for clearing on today’s schedule. Maybe “finally” wasn’t a great word to use because she barley took more than a minute to finish up. She remembered that she did say she was going to find that new stallion to hang out with and if he was new then Pinkie has probably already got to him. Most likely there’d be a party today.

“Hehe, he seems like a cool guy…” she said to herself as she sat down on a cloud, watching Ponyville from above.

“TWILIGHT, TWILIGHT, TWILIGHT!! ARE YA COMING, ARE YA COMING!?!?!” Pinkie Pie shouted in anticipation as she bounced around the library of Ponyville and home of one particular purple unicorn.

“Coming to what, Pinkie?” Twilight Sparkle asked, trying to keep her annoyance in check.

“TO THE WELCOME PARTY!!!” the pink mare replied enthusiastically.

“What? Is there a new pony in town?” Twilight asked in confusion.

“YEAH, HIS NAME IS KICKBACK!!!” Pinkie answered happily.

“Odd name…but yes, Pinkie, I’ll come, where?” Twilight asked yet another question.

“SUGARCUBE CORNER AT FOUR O’CLOCK, DON’T BE LATE!!!” Pinkie pie said finally before bouncing out the door to Celestia knows where.

“Oh well, might as well see who this new pony is…” said Twilight walking back to a book she was reading previously before Pinkie barged in, bouncing around her library.

Applejack found little to no reason to work the stand any longer that day. She packed it all up leaving the rest of the apples divided into barrels in a large cart, which Big Macintosh who was apparently not on the farm doing his work for the day, pulled the cart back towards the farm. She explained to him why there wasn’t a real reason to keep it up today and about going to another of Pinkie’s parties tonight, he accepted the reason and trotted on towards Sweet Apple Acres with the cart being pulled behind him.

“Well, shoot, ah got notin’ to do for the next few hours or so, that was my main job for today” Applejack said to herself watching her brother walk away from a distance.  

“Maybe a oughta see Pinkie, see how she’s cooking up that party.

Or maybe ah’ll go to Rarity and mention how somepony looks to the NEW most generous pony in Equestria, hehehe” Applejack thought but then her thoughts drew towards the colt himself.

“He sure seems like a nice stallion…” She said quietly to herself. Walking along what looked to be a path to Carousel Boutique.

*Knock Knock*

“Rarity!? Ya home?!” Applejack asked after knocking the white door which led onto the home and business of the element of generosity.

“Comiiiiiinnnng!” Applejack heard a sing-song like voice ring from inside. The door swung open to reveal a particular white unicorn whom needs no introduction as of yet.

“Hello, Applejack, what can I do for you?” Rarity asked.

“Well, uhhh…notin’, just dat ah just ended my work day from a couple of hours to little more than 10 minutes…well, somepony else ended it actually” Applejack replied.

“What happened?” Rarity asked curiously.

“Well, ah’ll tell ya” Applejack answered, gesturing for her come inside with her hoof.

“FLUTTERSHY, FLUTTERSHY, FLUTTERSHY!!! ARE YA COMING? CAUSE YOU’RE INVITED!!!” Pinkie shouted questioningly while bouncing around the timid, yellow pegasus.

“Coming to what, Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked confusedly.

“KICKBACK’S WELCOME PARTY!!!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

“Wh-who?” asked Fluttershy in a very quiet and frightened tone.

“The new stallion in town” Pinkie Pie said, quieting down herself due to how Fluttershy was acting.

“oh, I-I don’t know then…” Fluttershy said, unsure of the new colt she was talking about.

“C’mon, Fluttershy, he’s alright” Pinkie said, trying to convince her shy friend to attend.

“um..uhhh..okay, I’ll come…” the pegasus said, still not completely convinced about the mysterious stallion. Pinkie accepted her answer and zoomed off to wherever she needed to be.

“He what?!?!?” Rarity asked in disbelief after Applejack had finished her short story.

“Ah told ya, he just paid the full amount and left with only about 10 or so apples” the orange mare answered, still feeling grateful of the stallion.

“Well, that was quite generous indeed, I simply must meet this pony, what did you say his name was again?” Rarity asked excitedly.

“Uhhhh, erm…uhhh, Ki…Kick…ummm Kickback, yeah that’s it, Kickback, he didn’t say much about himself but yeah, that’s his name…oh yeah, Pinkie got to ‘em before me, so I guess that means a party going down” Applejack said, trying not to sound too stupid.

“Kickback, Hmmm…it rhymes with your name, Applejack” Rarity said observantly.

“Ah noticed, Rarity” the apple farmer said flatly.

“Could you tell me what else you noticed, what did he look like, again?” asked the fashion designer. Applejack paused.

“Well, uhhh…he had a dark red coat, dark green eyes, he was a tad taller than me, his mane was black and white…and he had an accent, not like mine but it was noticeable and uhhh… that’s about it” Applejack explained as accurate as she could manage, she didn’t get a great look at him but she felt her description was acceptable.

“You didn’t see his cutie mark?” Rarity presumed questioningly. Applejack paused again.

“No, actually, ah didn’t” after saying that, she made a note to get a look at it at the party later on.

“Hmmmm…” Rarity hummed suspiciously.

“Well, I may as well meet this stallion for myself” the unicorn added. Applejack nodded and leaned up against a wall as Rarity began to work on another masterpiece.

While all 3 mares were being informed of his presence in Ponyville, Kickback sat down on a park bench and happily ate the several apples he had paid in advanced for.

“If only the ponies of this town knew about me…about my past…about my biology” Kickback said to himself quietly as he thought about his grim history, pushing those bad thoughts out of his head, he started to enjoy the shade of a tree that hung over the park bench.

“I really hope that pink one wasn’t being serious about that party, that’s something a really don’t wanna be apart of right now…or is it…maybe I can start again here…maybe I won’t be found out this time…maybe I can be normal again” He continued.

“Hey, there!!” a voice from beside him called out, apparently to him.

“Huh?!” was all he could respond with.

“Hi, I’m Lyra Heartstrings, what’s your name?” asked a mint green unicorn mare that looked somewhat familiar to him.

“uhhh, Kickback…how long have you been there…?” he stopped mid-question as he saw her stance, she sat on her haunches with her back legs dangling over the side. This confused and fascinated Kickback, he just had to ask about it but he decided to hold his tongue, feeling that it was a stupid and redundant question for the mare. She acknowledged his long pause and smirked before answering his question.

“Not long, about ten seconds now” Lyra said.

“Oh…okay” Kickback said, regaining focus and sitting back to his previous position.

“You we’re looking at me earlier, weren’t you?” the unicorn said, breaking the silence. The red, earth pony was shocked at her observation.

“I guess but I did see a lot of ponies walking through the town, maybe I might’ve given you a quick glance” he said to the now smiling unicorn.

“You were staring for a good twenty seconds…ya call that a quick glance?” she said through a sarcastic tone and a smirk. Kickback looked at her. His face cracked into a smirk before he turned away and chuckled.

“I guess so, Lyra” he said, facing in front of him, not looking at the unicorn. He relaxed himself while Lyra continued to stare at him with a smile.

“You’re new, aren’t you?” she asked. Kickback was beginning to loath this question but he had to answer her, she was being quite friendly.

“Yeah, I am” He said with a smile.

“I bet you’re from Australia” she said. This left Kickback confused.

“What’s Australia?” he asked in uncertainty.

“Oh, that’s right, never mind” she said nervously. Kickback shrugged it off and just thought that she was mistaken or something. He took out an apple and gestured towards the mare to have one. She gladly accepted, her horn glowed a light green, the apple levitated out of Kickback’s hoof and she took a bite of it. She hummed as she continued to eat the delicious fruit. Kickback had one himself, they continued to share his stock until she said she didn’t want anymore.

“Lyra!!… Lyra!!” called out a voice from somewhere. Lyra cringed.

“Oh, great…she found me” she said before sighing.

“Who?” he said before he saw the mare that was calling for his new friend. A cream coated mare with a two toned mane and tail, her cutie mark depicted three candies.

“Her?” he asked.

“Yeah” she answered in an irritated tone

“There you are!!’ the cream pony said after finally spotting where the unicorn was sitting. She trotted happily towards the park bench, not giving the red stallion on the side anymore than a glance of recognition.

“I’ve been looking for you, Lyra!” the earth-pony said, addressing the unicorn that wore an annoyed expression.

“Where have you been?” she added.

“I’ve been talking to my new friend, Bon-Bon…” the mint green mare said, gesturing to a dark red, earth pony colt with a hoof while smiling. Kickback waved at the new pony with a friendly smirk. Bon-Bon only looked at the stallion with no expression before glaring back at Lyra.

“And whose this?” the pony, apparently by the name of Bon-Bon said, suspiciously.

“His name’s Kickback, Bon-Bon” the unicorn said. “He’s my new friend” she added looking back at Kickback with a happily worn smile. Kickback only returned the look, feeling that same phrase creep into his mind.

“Ya know what, you two…” the stallion said, breaking his own silence. The two mares looked at him with surprised expressions.

“Imma take off…” he said, finishing his sentence. The two mares remained silent as he got up and began to walk off. “Nice to meet ya, ms. Heartstrings…you too, Bon-Bon…” he said, waving a hoof to them before turning and continuing down the road.

“Bye, Kickback!!” a single voice called him from behind. Kickback smirked and continued on his path.

The red stallion, now away from anypony talking to him again, he started to think deeply again.

“Everypony’s so much more friendly than any place I’ve been before, this probably won’t last forever but…. maybe I can hang here for a while…” he thought, tackling his past, his present, who he was and what he was. Kickback began to get feeling of welcomed loneliness as he walked alone, no destination, just walking around town, observing his surroundings.

“Hey there, sexy” a young, female voice called out from somewhere, catching Kickback’s ear. He looked to his right, the rest of Ponyville. He looked to his left, a white mare, wearing purple tinted goggles with a spiky, two toned blue mane was looking at him, leaning up on a building, with a grin.

“Yeah, you, what’s your name?” the mare asked. Kickback took a glance at her and realised she was a unicorn.

“Uhh…Imma answer your question with a question…who are you?” the colt asked. The mare’s face froze into a stunned look of sheer disbelief.

“You don’t know who I am?” she asked in horror.

“No…should I?” Kickback asked, calmly.

“Yes, I’m the world famous Vinyl Scratch!!” she exclaimed.

“Oh…Oh yeah, now I know why you look familiar” he lied, trying to preserve what appeared to be the only thing the mare had, her ego. He had never seen her before and that meant she wasn’t world famous but she was talking as if she was indeed quite well known.

“Yeah, took ya long enough” she said in a chuckle. “Now what’s your name?” she added, asking her previous question again.

“Kickback…” he said, formerly.

“Oh, that’s cool” she said, now seeming to admire the stallion.

“Well, seeya…” he said, waving a hoof and taking a step forward.

“Wait!!” the same voice called for him. Kickback turned around to see her.

“We’re friends now, ‘K?” she said, smiling. The red colt could only blink, mouth hanging open.

“Uhh, yeah, sure… Vinyl…we’re friends now, I guess” he said, in surprise. Vinyl beamed at him.

“K, bye!” she said beginning to trot off herself. Kickback only watched her leave and shrug, beginning his own walk aswell.

The red stallion continued to explore the town with nowhere to be right away. Only two hours had passed since meeting Applejack but it was still only one o’clock, Kickback had seen the entire exterior of the town by this point, alleyways, businesses, houses so when he spotted the nearby, tall clock tower, an idea popped in his head.

“RAINBOW DASH, RAINBOW DASH!!!” Pinkie pie yelled to the now very irritated cyan pegasus.

“What…?” she asked groggily.

“KICKBACK’S PARTY IS IN THREE HOURS!!!” the pink mare answered. Rainbow’s ears perked as she recalled the name.

“Oh yeah, that guy, yeah OK, Pinkie, I got it” she said. Without a word, just a simple large smile, Pinkie Pie zoomed back into town.

“Ya know what, Rarity…I think Imma gonna take off…” she said in a bored tone. She had been watching the unicorn design clothes for longer than she’d want to. Rarity turned to her friend who looked visibly un-interested.

“Aw well, I suppose I will see you at Pinkie’s party then…” she said happily, still sewing together fabrics of cyan and magenta. Just then the power of jinx kicked in. Pinkie bursted in from the hallway into Rarity’s work room, panting.

“RARITY, APPLEJACK!!” she exclaimed. Both ponies looked at their friend in confusion.

“What is it, darling?’ Rarity asked.

“Just…wanted to…to say…Come to Sugar…SugarCube Corner…at…four o’clock…for…welcome…party” she took her time saying, apparently exhausted from doing something very tiring. Rarity and Applejack paused as AJ had slightly better luck than her unicorn friend did recounting facts about the only new pony they could think of. That was all put aside as Rarity’s eyes lit up when she had figured it out. Applejack was the first to speak.

“T’at party ain't for somepony named ‘Kickback’ is it, Pinkie?” AJ asked.

“Yep, ya met him?” Pinkie asked excitedly.

“Uh huh, he told me he bumped into you when he bought all those apples…” Applejack answered, looking like she was in deep thought after finishing her sentence.

“Yes” Rarity interjected. “He accordingly bought her entire supply of apples and left with only a dozen, Pinkie Pie” she added, briefly thinking about the mysterious stallion’s apparent generosity, leaving a stunned and widely smiling pink mare before her.

“Omygosh, Really?!” she asked quickly, in disbelief. Applejack nodded which was all Pinkie needed to let her randomized if not psychotic mind to toss and turn in thought about the near and far future, each thought about happy times with their new friend…but then she caught a glimpse of something, her future fore-seeing powers kicking in, like her twitchy tail, this was not a good sign. This was much, much worse than a something falling on top of somepony’s head from what she could tell, this was a dark prediction, as if their new friend was to cause a horrible event. The image flew past her psychic vision in a split second but it was enough to make Pinkie physically drop her smile for an impressive time of 4 seconds. She stared at her friends, blankly, not speaking, as they were very much in the dark as to what was going on in the living bubble gum’s mind. Her smiled returned as she pushed the image out of her head as easily as one might expect, no that easy.

“Alright, so four o’clock?” Rarity asked.

“Four O’clock!” Pinkie answered positively before looking her left foreleg’s ankle or ‘wrist’ as a particular green unicorn like to say.

“Which is soon…” she said happily before waving and letting out a ‘Bye’ before speeding off in a pink blur out the boutique. Rarity and Applejack simply stared into the space of where their friend had been standing, the pink trail fading into nothing. They both glanced at the clock to their top right, Rarity let out a sigh.

“Well…better get these as much done as possible…” she said tiredly, looking over at a desk with several pieces of gold, red, silver and blue stacked next to a sewing machine and other fashion designing tools that Applejack didn’t even want to know what they were.

“Well…ah ‘oughta get back on the farm, still got stuff to do ya know…just not as much” she said, still on the thought of the new pony. “Cya, Rarity!” she added, waving and walking out into the hallway, into the main plaza then out the door. Rarity addressed another salutation towards the apple farmer and continued on her work.

While Rainbow Dash was getting herself checked out by Pinkie Pie, Kickback stood at the base of the clock tower, he looked around to make sure nopony was watching him. He grinned before looking back up, he took a step back and jumped about two metres in the air, nopony was watching. He caught on a ledge and pulled himself up, he jumped towards the other side of the building diagonally, gripping another ledge before spinning around on an axis to get on the south side of the clock tower. He jumped again, this time 3 metres high, he grabbed a protruding brick and climbed the tower more traditionally, then another and another ’till he was at clock itself. He gripped the long hand and shot himself up towards the top, hovering for a second before landing atop the side of the roof, he grasped the weather vein for support with his right hoof and dramatically gazed at the beautiful scenery that presented itself for anypony that was at this height. Kickback looked to his right and found the north side of the tower’s corner had a long extension to it, this was a much comfier spot to chillax. He jumped of the roof and landed on the extension before sitting down, still gazing at the gorgeous land before him.

“Nice place…” was all he said to himself before continuing his speech in his head, occasionally speaking out loud fore nopony was in the sky around him nor was anypony on the ground looking up at him and there definitely wasn’t somepony on the building with him. There was one pony would climb buildings for a hobby he knew, that he really didn’t take too much of a liking to and according to old pony tales, an entire ‘brotherhood’ of ponies climbed buildings like this about 500 years ago. Kickback knew though that he was the pony of his kind in history.

“What am I?…Something less than an earth pony…but also something more…” he said to himself, memories flowing in and out of his mind. He had already said this phrase several times since he was violently changed forever, nopony would find out if he could help it. He continued to ponder while Pinkie Pie was talking to Applejack and Rarity in the boutique, just sitting up there, alone.

That was changed when he saw an iconic rainbow blur pass his line of vision, he followed it into the distance until it pulled a U turn and was now heading for him. He could partially make out what was causing it, a cyan pegasus was at the front of trail. She came into view more clearly and Kickback could make out a smile on her face before she landed on the extension behind him.

“Hey, there!” she called out, Kickback immediately knew who it was now, the rainbow trail was a clue but that voice was a dead give away.

“G‘day, Rainbow Dash…” he greeted back, causing a more happy looking pegasus to stand before him.

“How’s it hanging?…And what are you doing up here?” she asked, now noticing that an apparent earth pony was so far off the ground.

“I’m good and just chillin’ ” he said calmly, making a quizzical Dash turn to a smirking Dash.

“Awesome…” was all she said while trotting up and sitting down next to the right side of the stallion. “So…what’s up?” she asked, apparently trying to start up a conversation with the colt.

“Notin’ much…what’s up with you?” he asked, once again calmly.

“I was actually just looking for you…” she answered, a slight blush glazing over her cheeks. “Cause ya know, I told you I’d find you…but I didn’t expect you to be up here” she said, once again noticing that he was on the top of the tall clock tower.

“Yeah, I know…” was he used to respond with, not giving the pegasus his full attention but enough to listen to her and answer when needed.

“Oh yeah, your party’s at four o’clock by the way” she said excitedly. Kickback looked at her with a face that said “I don’t know about that” of course that’s not what he said but it was what he was thinking.

“Oh, okay…I guess I’m compelled, aren’t I?” he asked unsurely, causing the cyan pony to frown with a questioning look.

“You…don’t want to go…to your own party?” she asked sadly.

“Ahhh, damn it, I’ll go” he said, giving in to the Pegasus’s apparent adorableness. When he thought about the word ‘adorable’ referencing to the pony beside him, it made him think about the fact that she indeed was kinda cute, ya know in her own way.

“Alright!’ she said excitedly before slugging Kickback in the shoulder. He smirked at the smiling pony then continued to stare out into the open, still with that smirk on his face. Rainbow Dash did the same, staring at the scene she would call ‘Awesome’.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked breaking the silence before looking back at the stallion who was still staring at the land, smiling. Kickback though to himself about the pegasus using such a word that did not sound like something she’d say but held his tongue on that note.

“Yeah, it is…one of the greatest sights I’ve seen…” he said serenely. Rainbow Dash stared not at the town but at the stallion. Her eyes locked on his face that looked unfocused on everything, he just sat there, facing away from her, smirking the occasional breeze brushing against his red coat and making his double-shaded mane blow in the wind slightly. Her gaze never faltered from the colt and he didn’t seem to notice, she leaned in sub-consciously and scooted over closer to the stallion, he glanced at her, never letting his expression drop, he was surprisingly at peace when he wasn’t alone, no time to think about his dark history. Dash had a slight red tint on her cheeks when he looked at her like that, he then placed a hoof on her right shoulder and patted her before looking back over at the scenery. She looked confused and at ease after his gesture, that was all the sign she needed to allow her actions to just happen without any fear of embarrassment or anything of the sort. She scooted closer to him ‘till their shoulder’s met, Kickback noticed and looked to see a rather cute, cyan pegasus looking out towards the town. Kickback relaxed a bit when he found her presence quite comforting. Rainbow Dash felt as she stay like this for hours on end, the way he kept his cool, no matter what happened or what she did was just…unnaturally awesome to her and probably to everypony else. They sat there, Rainbow enjoying his company a bit more eagerly than she would've thought while Kickback was not hating her company either, he just sat next to her, letting her (not necessarily) ‘cuddle’ up to him but it was pretty close to being called that. Kickback felt it to be appropriate to place a hoof on her opposite shoulder, letting his foreleg to rest on her lower neck. Dash blushed when she glance at her shoulder, realizing that the stallion was indeed holding the mare in a friendly and comforting semi-hug. She turned back to find the stallion looking more relaxed than ever, still gazing over the landscape that he apparently fell in love with.

“Hey…ya know…It’s better at sunset…or sunrise” Dash said, breaking the silence. Kickback looked at her with a knowing look.

“Yeah?” he asked calmly.

“Yeah…” Dash answered dreamily. Maybe it was the scenery or something else that caused her to speak in that tone but Kickback could probably care less. All he knew was that a down-to-earth, spunky, cute pegasus female was gladly enjoying his company and that was enough to relax and comfort him to the point of sheer bliss.

She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Before he knew she was asleep. Kickback took that and the time on the clock tower as a sign to hop down, literally. Kickback laid the cyan mare down before nudging her in order to get her to wake up shortly after he departed. She squirmed a bit and opened her eyes half way, Kickback walked towards the edge of the extension and blissfully leapt off causing him to fall. Of course he made sure nopony was around or watching while planning his descent. His body was plummeting towards the ground but he was used to this. He switched his position to let his back legs touch the ground first. When they did, it caused a slight tremor and a small crater to form around his legs, his forelegs matched the motion with a stomp. He was fine, he stood up straight and dusted himself off before trotting into town.

Rainbow Dash woke and glanced around to find nopony with her.

“Kickback!!” she called out, quickly looking around for any traces of a red stallion. Suddenly she saw one.

“Kickback!!!” she called out excitedly towards a more specific target. Then she noticed that the pony had a shorter orange tail and mane, was wearing a yoke, had an apple cutie mark and was bigger than who she was looking for. It was Big Mac, trotting off in the direction of his farm, with an amused look on his face. Rainbow groaned angrily and looked to her left, there she saw him.

The stallion she was looking for was trotting down the road before he looked back at the clock tower and locked eyes with Dash from thirty metres away, he waved with a smile that she returned eagerly, knowing that he was alright, not dead…or imaginary. Dash took the gesture as a “See you at the party” and took to the sky to practice in order to pass the time ‘till the party. Kickback decided to grab something to eat. He spotted a familiar face and trotted up to her.

“Lyra?” he asked.

“Hmm?” she responded, turning towards a familiar looking red stallion “Oh, Hi, Kickback!” she said “How can I help you?” the unicorn asked happily.

“Ya know a good place to eat?” he asked. Lyra blushed for a reason that the stallion was completely in the dark about.

“A-are you asking me out?” the unicorn asked hesitantly. Kickback smirked at the statement.

“Uhhh…No, just wanted to snack on something and I’m new here, as you know, so…what do recommend?” he said, causing the mare to have a face of that spoke of relief and…a small hint of disappointment.

“Oh, well…Sugarcube corner’s a great place to get baked stuff, muffins, cakes, cupcakes ya know” Lyra said happily.

“Okay, cool…ya wanna tag along?” he asked calmly. Lyra blushed at the words although keeping a grin on her face. She was about to respond cheekily but then she heard his voice again.

“C’mon it’ll be fun besides, ya gotta show me where it is” he added, causing Lyra to nod and walk in front of him to lead the way towards the bakery. They walked in silence, him smirking the entire way while her smile was rather nervous, Kickback didn’t seem to notice her attitude though. Eventually they reached the bakery which seemed to a sign to Lyra as to leave.

“Well, here we are…I guess I’ll see ya later, then” she said in a tone of slight disappointment. Kickback looked at her questioningly.

“What do ya mean? Don’t you want anything?” he asked, feeling that the unicorn wants to spend more time with him. Lyra blushed and smiled eagerly at her new friend.

“Yes, actually…” she said.

“Alright, my treat” Kickback said happily, causing Lyra to relax immensely at the thought of cutting their time short or paying for muffins fore those were pushed out of her head by now. The red stallion and green mare walked into the bakery to find a half decorated interior for what looked liked a welcome party.

“Oh…shi-” was all Kickback managed to get out before he saw pink mare jump into his vision with the largest smile he had ever seen, it was almost psychotic to him due to his own interior that was riddled with suppressed dark thoughts at the moment.

“Howdy there, your just in time for the party for the new pony in town, he has a red coat and some of my friend’s think he’s pretty cuuuuuuuu-….” she was cut off by Kickback tilting his head to the side with a small grin. Pinkie Pie shot back and gasped at her realisation, she looked back and forth for something but neither Kickback or Lyra knew what.

“Pinkie Pie? What are you doing here?” the stallion asked, catching the pink mare’s attention, she looked at him with a nervous smile.

“Ohmygosh, YOU’RE EARLY!!!… But that’s okay, the guest of honour should be here early but…NOT BEFORE EVERYPONY ELSE!!” she said, contemplating what to do about the situation. Kickback looked at her quizzically.

“Pinkie…do you work here?…and is this my welcome party?” he asked, causing Pinkie to look back at him with her iconic smile.

“Yep and double yep!” she replied happily. “Oh, Hi, Lyra!” she added, noticing for the first time the green unicorn besides the red stallion.

Lyra waved a hoof at the party extraordinaire.

“What can I get ya?” Pinkie asked Lyra.

“Uhhh, well, how much ya got, Kickback?” she asked a bit hesitantly due to the sheer pompous nature of the question. He smiled at her.

“ Doesn't matter, just go for your heart desires” he said, assuring the unicorn. She, again blushed at (the now founded by the mare) stallion’s generosity, she already knew he was kind but this just made him seem…better was all the unicorn could think to describe him as she browsed the cake displays for something good and not too expensive out of courtesy.

“Pinkie…is it okay if I just chill here ‘till the party…” Kickback asked, catching the pink mare’s attention. Pinkie Pie blinked.

“OK, SURE, I mean it’s a bit different but yeah, you can stay here ‘till YOUR PARTY STARTS!” she said enthusiastically. Kickback couldn't read the pink mare anymore, first she’s excited then irritated then…excited again.

“Thanks, Pinkie….Hey Lyra, ya made ya choice yet?” Kickback said, averting his attention towards the unicorn. Lyra’s head shot up at the call of her name, she turned to meet the stallion with a smile before turning to Pinkie.

“I’ll have a triple chocolate, supreme muffin thank you very much” she said to the pink mare that was now beaming with excitement.

“Okey Dokey Lokey, Lyra!” Pinkie said happily “…and you, Kickback?” she asked, adding to her sentence.

“What she’s having…” he said calmly. Lyra looked to him with a smile, probably thinking he has good taste…or that she can’t look at him without anything but a happy face.

“Alrighty then!” Pinkie exclaimed before rushing into the kitchen and singing a song that she must have made up on the fly fore it was about exactly what she was doing: Baking triple chocolate supreme muffins. Lyra and Kickback simply sat at table, waiting for the pink baker to complete their snack. Kickback well…kicked back on a chair while Lyra’s stance seemed a bit more focused. They sat there in silence before Pinkie jumped from somewhere and revealed two massive muffins, she beamed and set them on the table. Kickback reached behind him and pulled out a coin purse, he threw it Pinkie’s way and she caught it. She jiggled it a bit with a face that said “This isn't right” she put her ear to it and jiggled it some more. Suddenly her eyes lit up and a unsure grin crossed her face.

“ONE-HUNDRED BITS!?!?! These muffins are only fives each!” she exclaimed, confusedly.

“I have bits to get rid of…” he said calmly, taking an experimental bite into the muffin.

“Well, obviously, Applejack did tell me about what you did” she said happily. Kickback only smirked before taking another bite of the delicious treat. Lyra gaped at him, eyes wide.

“How is Applejack?…Is she coming?…oh yeah, who is coming to this party, Pinkie?” he asked. Pinkie smiled wide while Lyra continued to stare in shock.

“Every-pony!” she said, not really making Kickback feel great. He didn't want a massive party but maybe she meant it as a over estimation.

“Dash? Vinyl? How about Lyra?” he said turning to look at the unicorn with a smile. Lyra blushed with a shy smile.

“Yep!” Pinkie said excitedly. “…But, I can’t take this much mon-” was all she got out before she looked at Kickback, really Looked at him. His dark greens eyes stared an assuring glare into the pink mare’s own, his face contorted into a small, friendly smile. Her speech was not needed as she thought about Applejack’s story and how his generosity matched the very pony that represents that personality aspect. She grinned and trotted upstairs. She returned back down and the three spent the next half hour together, Pinkie occasionally going off to work on the decorations or food assortment for Kickback’s upcoming, much anticipated welcome to Ponyville Party.

Next Chapter: Odyssey Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 52 Minutes