Kickback took notice of something odd to him, Ponyville liked singing. He wasn’t given a job as of yet fore it seemed like he didn’t need to do anything, everything was exceptionally organised due to a particular lavender unicorn taking charge. Kickback could either take this as a time for himself or a day of sheer boredom due to loneliness, his time alone was never preferable to when around other ponies, it left him always thinking. Suddenly he spotted Rainbow Dash hovering above while looking down at him with a grin, she began the sheer happy-go-lucky ‘bazzaarity’ that is this time of year.

“Three months of winter coolness and awesome holidays” she sang, hovering closer to the scarlet stallion, another voice chimed in.

“We’ve kept our hoofsies warm and home, time off from work to play” Pinkie sang, Kickback turned his head to see her then he glanced back further to see another mare.

“But the food we’ve stored is runnin’ out and we can’t grow in this cold” Applejack added.

“And even though I love my boots, this fashion’s getting old” finally, Rarity sang. The surrounding mares looked at his confused yet smirking face. Before he knew it, a freaking chorus broke in, it was undeniably the most catchiest thing he ever heard, so much so that he found himself going along with it, running through town, watching ponies do their own given tasks as they sang. Pegasi pushed snow off tree branches and rooftops. Ponies of all kind were in the outskirts of town, one could be noted as Fluttershy, Kickback also spotted Colgate and Cheerilee doing the same….whatever it was what they were doing, it seemed like animals don’t instinctively wake up after the winter’s past in the town, oddly enough. Kickback felt himself being pulled towards parts of town, as if simple transitions were teleporting him to locations. He found that Rarity and a few others were making bird’s nest, of all things, with bow ties. So far, Kickback found that this was just odd, Pinkie’s song a while ago was different but the things they were doing on this day were not as interesting. Nevertheless, the red colt found himself being dragged by this song, Rainbow Dash had the nerve to cause a slight avalanche upon him, he poked his head out to see a smug looking cyan pegasus. He smirked before ducking his head back in the snow as he quickly prepared, he lunged out of the snow towards the short tree branch that she upon. Dash was unprepared for what he did, he pushed Dash off the branch and stood on it as he looked down at her now shocked face. That immediately turned to face that said ‘well played’, Kickback smiled down at her.

He then found a job that made more sense than the bird’s nest, farming. He found a clearing that presented many stallions ploughing a large field. Applejack was at the top of a hill, he trotted up to her side, thankfully the song had ended a slight bit earlier than he expected, perhaps it was due to a certain element or aspect of the song that was removed thanks to the previous one. Just the sound of busy ponies could be heard, perhaps it would’ve different if he had sung along. Applejack was focused on the working stallions as she stood upon the hill, she turned to her right and saw a familiar red stallion beside her, staring at the scenery thanks to the altitude, with a smile on his face. She continued to look at him, Kickback turned his head to see the apple farmer staring at him intently, he smirked at her as he chuckled threw a closed mouth.

“Do ya wanna help?” she asked.

“Do ya need it?”

“Nut really but if you’re bored, ah never say ‘no’ to a hard worker with fast legs and a strong back” she said, remembering the words of a particular cherry farmer, she cringed at the thought of that day. Kickback didn’t take notice though.

“I’m alright” he replied calmly. Out in the distance he spotted Pinkie and a few others ice skating, he felt confused as to why they weren’t working “Hey, AJ, what are they doing?”

“Oh there cutting the ice so it melts” she explained.

“Ahhh, I…think I get that”

About an hour passed and it dawned on Kickback that there was nothing for him in Ponyville right now, no jobs, no company, his thoughts processed, trying to think of something to do or maybe somepony that wouldn’t be busy.

“Vinyl Scratch?…nah, she’s doing a gig in…Manehatten, of all damn places…Octavia’s in Canterlot, so no goes there…Lyra? She’s wrapping up winter…along with everypony else” he thought to himself as he walked through town. Before he knew it, he had reached the edge of the Everfree forest, he looked back at the town before sighing and continuing into the woods. Inside was still dark, not as cold as it could’ve been if he was without clothing. Kickback glanced around the forest as he walked, nothing in sight but the occasional bug that flew by. Spider webs could be seen strung up trees and where ever an arachnid of that sort could make it’s home.

Kickback was unaware of one thing, he treaded threw a blue flower patch, he paid it little mind as he wasn’t into plant life, so nothing really stood out to him. He continued to explore the forest, rustling in the bushes were ignored as he walked through the woods. Suddenly he felt at ease, he glanced around and immediately recognised this area. It was the small clearing of which he was introduced to princess Luna herself, like an idiot he looked around expectantly, there was nopony around, so he kept trotting on. He walked and walked and walked but stopped as he felt familiarity in the new area he was around. The thought clicked, this was where he had slain that Manticore, the body probably taken by the guards or eaten by something else. What was something else? That thought left him wondering what was in the forest that wouldn’t simply attack him. If something had been here all those months ago, then it probably came here a lot, hoping for the next meal to present itself. In the distance, he spotted three pairs of glowing yellow eyes, it dawned on him that he was being stalked, maybe for a while.

Anger grew inside Kickback, the eyes stared at him, toothy white mouths slowly became visible, the smell hit him, it was horrible but he looked past that. A claw made up of wood stepped out into the sun, Kickback was ready.

“That’s it…c’mon…C’MON!!!” the stallion roared. Just then three wolves made of timber, oak, red wood and cedar lunged at the stallion, he smiled maliciously as he dawned on his hood. His forelegs transformed into three-pronged limbs, he lashed them out at the timber wolves, his appendages grew out and struck one of the beasts. It was hoisted by stallion’s bio-mass, tendrils wrapped around it’s legs and torso and strung it up by tree branches, the ground and vines that surrounded them. The timber squirmed a moment before it was brutally torn apart. Another lunged at Kickback but it’s too quick, Kickback takes a little of his own medicine as his face was slashed by one of the monsters. He felt rage at this point, Kickback punched the wolf square in the snout, placed his transformed limbs to the ground, circle around and bucked the wolf, hard. It went flying into a tree before it broke apart. One left, Kickback jumped the wolf and landed on it’s back, the wolf, not able to hold itself up due to the stallion’s force of impact and the added weight. Kickback wrapped his legs around the timber wolf’s neck…and squeezed. It gnarled and cackled as the supply of oxygen was dangerously close to none at all, Kickback heard it’s wooden body crack and split as he crushed the monster’s neck. It let out a yelp as it’s head exploded with one final bit of pressure the stallion imbued. He looked at the split wood that was once his foes and sighed, the rush of combat leaving his nerves. He walked back into the woods, suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his back, his body felt numb, he staggered as blurry darkness clouded his vision, his breaths were shallow, consciousness fading, soon he fell to the ground with a thud and blacked out. When he came to, the pain was unbelievable, he glanced back to see black and red tendrils swarming around a spot on his shoulder.

“AHHH My back…Feels like it’s feeding on me!” he let out. He slowly got his hooves, stumbling a bit as he finally got what little balance he could manage. A faint glow emitted in the distance, he wandered over to it, as he drew closer, it became to be a clear image of a hut, the same hut that belonged to a particular zebra that the stallion knew. He staggered over to it and pried open the door. “Zecora…ZECORA!” he yelled threw the hut, praying for some help. He staggered threw the small home and clenched his back in pain, he coughed up a splatter of blood before he blacked out once more, his body laid there in the middle of the hut.

“Hey, Twilight, have you seen Kickback? Ah haven’t seen him in a couple of hours” Applejack asked Twilight who had trotted up to her side to see how preparations were coming along. Twilight looked to her orange friend.

“No, I haven’t seen him since the meeting this morning” she answered before pondering the thought. “I’m sure he’ll turn up somewhere” she said comfortingly. Applejack smiled at her unicorn friend as she smiled back.

Kickback opened one eye to find him staring up a ceiling, he opened his other and found that he wasn’t in pain anymore, he felt something soft under him, he glanced around to spot a zebra at what looked like a fireplace, she silently sat there. Kickback began to move as quietly as he could, surprising enough he felt better, the pain in his back was gone, feeling began come back in his legs then his torso finally up threw his neck and into his head. He was restored and this zebra had have had to have something to do with it. He groaned a bit which caught Zecora’s attention, she turned to find that the now conscious stallion had moved slightly from where she laid him, she trotted up to him slowly.

“I’m glad you are awake, it seemed your life was at stake” the zebra rhymed, Kickback always wondered how she could do that.

“Z…Zecora? Where am I? What happened? What did you do to me?” he questioned, he then recalled the agony and the memory of wandering into the zebra’s home, she smiled”

“A simple remedy for poison joke you see” she answered, Kickback thought for a moment.

“Poison Joke?”

“Tis much like poison oak but it’s results are like a joke…but for you I fear, the joke was quite severe” she said in concerned tone.

“That blue flower?” he asked, she nodded. “That blue flower…caused me that horrible agony?” he said, his anger rising.

“For reasons though, I do not know, poison joke should do so” she triple rhymed, Kickback got thinking about the plant and it’s late effects, he grasped his shoulder and felt a slight lump had emerged from his skin, twas nothing too noticeable if a pony were to see it but it was there, he then felt it slowly, very slowly descend, as if it was simply a bruise that was healing. His regeneration powers always came in handy when it came to injuries of any kind. He connected the dots in his mind, the pain of it all, everything pointed to one thing. The poison joke was an ingredient to something, something he hated more than anything, an airborne chemical called “BLOODTOX” the thought of the weapon that Karen had tried to kill him with made him cringed, Zecora noticed but held her tongue.

“Thanks, Zecora, I’ll…get out of your hair now, wait how long was out for?” he asked, wondering if today was the first day of spring.

“A few hours I track and your welcome, Kickback” she rhymed with a smile, he nodded at her before pressing on out of the hut and back into the forest twas sunset by now, he kicked into a gallop to make up for lost time. In no time at all, he had made it to a now less snowy version of Ponyville, it looked like the whole town had finished early for Spring. He smiled as he walked through the town, voices radiated from SugarCube corner, as he passed it, the sound of six laughing mares could be heard, he looked inside and saw them: Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy all gathered around a table idly enjoying one another’s company, He smiled happily as he stared at his friends.

“So then ah said-…Kickback?” Rainbow Dash cut her story off as she turned her head towards the entrance of the bakery to find the scarlet colt himself. Kickback walked through the door with a warm smile, one of which was returned by the six ponies. The rest of the evening was spent the same way, all seven equines casually hanging out after a long day’s work but eventually night fell upon the day.

“Well everypony *yawn* Ah’m gonna hit da hay, so see yah’ll later” Applejack saluted, the other six said their goodnights to the apple farmer and soon said their own. Kickback watched them all leave, Pinkie had walked back upstairs as the other six trotted outside.

“Coming darling?” Rarity asked, Kickback looked at her.

“Uuuh, sure” he responded. The two trotted to the home and business of the white unicorn and walked inside. Rarity made the two a cup of coffee each, one of which Kickback gladly accepted.

“Is Sweetie here?”

“No, she’s at my parent’s” Rarity answered happily.

“Alright, cool” he said, taking a swig of the hot drink.

“How is Lyra?”

“Fine” he answered, not quite understanding why she would ask that.

“What about Vinyl Scratch?”

“Alright I guess” he replied, still confused about the unicorn’s questioning “What’s up with you?” he asked.

“Oh, I’m great dear, just finished a large order yesterday on the finest Spring-wear attire” she answered, leaving Kickback in thought as to what exactly that was. He noticed something on the coffee table, a book, a manuscript, to be more précised.

“What’s this?” he said as he picked up the book, Rarity had a nervous look as she followed the stallion’s movements.

“That is ummm…kind of personal, actually” she said, unsure of herself, Kickback looked at her with an unidentifiable look, he looked to the cover page.

“Illusive” he read “…By Rarity” he said, turning his head to look at the mare with a smile, she kept a nervous look on her face.

“It’s…it’s just something I tend to do when I’m alone, surely you understand” she said, Kickback thought a moment as he stared at the gorgeous unicorn, he then began to read from the first page, surprisingly enough there were four of five pages written.

“…Chapter One: Celestia’s sun rose over the horizon, showering Ponyville in an exquisite beam of light. Every mare and colt began to wake, all except one, a stallion named RoundKick…” he read aloud, he paused a moment and glanced at Rarity, she grinned nervously and chuckled in the same matter. “…His black and red mane draped over his white coat as…” he paused again, connecting the colour scheme idea in his head, he stopped and stared at Rarity

“Rarity?”

“Yes?”

“Is this me?”

“…No, why?”

“Just asking” he said as he closed the set of pages and set them back down the table. An awkward silence filled the room, Kickback thankfully thought of something he could say to ease the tension.

“Oh yeah and thanks for the jacket again” he said with a smile which seemed to do just what he wanted, the mare smiled happily back at him.

“You’re quite welcome, darling” about an hour passed with the two equines enjoying one another’s company but alas time doesn’t stop for anypony.

“Well it’s awfully late, I will see you in the morning” Rarity saluted.

“G’dnight, Rarity” he replied in a friendly manner. Kickback sat there alone for a little while on the couch that they had shared, finishing off his latest cup of coffee, soon he felt the time’s effect aswell. Tired, he set the cup back down, got up and walked towards the stairs, turned into the hallway and stopped at a door. Why it was closed was a good question. Kickback slowly prodded open the door to Rarity sleeping in what was supposed to be his bed for the night, he felt confusion as to what she was doing. Being the ‘go with the flow’ kind of stallion, he paid it no mind as he slowly crept to the other, lifted the blankets up and eased himself into comfort beside the mare that looked so peaceful in the way she slept, he chuckled as he looked at before he turned on his side, ready to sleep. Just as he thought he could, something grabbed his shoulder and pulled him on his back, he glanced at the apparently awake white unicorn with a confused expression, she smiled at him. Kickback laid there in confusion as Rarity snuggled up beside him, his body heat warming her own, she let out noises from her closed mouth as she continued to rustle around, getting as close as she could to the stallion to get more comfortable. She eventually found a position she was happy with and let out a sigh as she closed her eyes. Kickback looked down at her and wrapped a hoof around her, he smiled before closing his own eyes and drifting off into sleep.

Next Chapter: Exposure Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 39 Minutes