Spring was a novelty in Ponyville, after the winter, Ponies got straight back into their normal busy bustling ways. Kickback was still happy with his life lately, the strange equines rising up to being his closest friends despite the all horror that was the stallion himself. Today he had received a letter, never in his life did he wish to receive a letter again fore due to history. He had learnt that the mail-mare named Derpy had what somepony would call a ‘problem’ but her happy go lucky attitude was just adorable and it somehow wouldn’t make sense if her eyes weren’t crooked, it just wouldn’t, in the slightest, so she was perfect the way she was.

“Got a letter for ya…errr, Kickback” she said with a goofy smile.

“Gracie…” he said, taking the envelope. He opened it to find that there was no letter, not even a piece of paper, just…a photo. A photo of him and a mare…his sister, Dana. He stared at it in disbelief, he had done what he hadn’t done in a long, long time. He shed a single tear, it landed on the photo, staining it but somehow it just made it complete. Through pure emotion, Kickback had hugged the grey mare that stood before him, her eyes widened but then softened as she comforted the stallion, e pulled back to look at her.

“Thankyou…”

“No problem, hey ya wanna grab a muffin?” she asked in that childish voice of her’s.

“Yeah, yeah I do” he said with smile. Grey mare and red stallion alike walked to Sugarcube corner, they entered to find Pinkie at the counter, she greeted them with a large grin, apparently Pinkie knew the pegasus as she instantly brought them two large muffins. Kickback once again paid in advance, the two ponies sat down and ate the delicious baked goods, Kickback took out the photo from his pocket and stared intently at it again, he smiled as his mind continued to process.

“Is…Is she alive?…Or is this just another prick that thinks he can blackmail me?…maybe…she’s gone and this was a message to me, so I would never forget her?” he thought as he took another bite out of the muffin. Derpy had eaten her’s fast enough to gorge down Kickback’s unfinished muffin, lucky her.

“Thanks for the muffins, Kickback” she said, the two now outside of the bakery, Kickback nodded and soon the pegasus was as she took to the sky. He watched her go before he turned his head and was surprisingly greeted by none other than a familiar cyan pegasus, Rainbow Dash herself was earthbound with no pony with her. She stood there as she stared at the scarlet stallion, Kickback smiled.

“Hey, Dash”

“Hey”

“What’s up?”

“Not much”

“Alright, then…seeya” he said as he started to turn in the other direction.

“No, wait!” the same raspy voice called to him. He turned back.

“Yeah?”

“I was…uhhh wondering…if ya wanted to hang out?” she said, scratching the back of her mane, the scarlet colt smiled at her.

“Alright”

“Alright?…AWESOME!” she squealed uncharacteristically before coughing “Umm, cool” she said calmly but he could tell she was nervous, for reasons why, no clue.

“What do ya wanna do?”

“How’s about a little race?” she challenged, the stallion smirked at her.

“Ya really think ya can beat me in a race, don’t ya?”

“I could if ya had Wings!!” Kickback cringed at the words, if secrecy wasn’t a problem…he could remedy that factor. Griffins, Pegasi, Dragons all pointed to one thing: Wings and he had them. He regained his composure and continued to stare down the mare.

“Well I don’t so it wouldn’t be fair if I had to be on the ground…or are ya afraid, Dashie?” he teased. Rainbow felt an odd comfort as she heard him call her that, she was being challenged and she knew that but the stallion calling her that nickname felt…good. She brushed the thought aside.

“This time…this time I’m gonna win”

“Alright…where to?”

“Sweet Apple Acres, first one to touch the barn…wins” she smirked. Rainbow and Kickback lined themselves up symmetrically, suddenly Pinkie popped out of nowhere.

“Alright you two, I wanna good, clean race, no shoving, well maybe a little shoving, no wings” She ordered, Rainbow tucked her wings in. “No cursing, okay you can do a little of that but definitely NO CHEATING!” Pinkie finished, the two looked to one another with determined looks then Kickback’s face did something Rainbow did not expect, he smiled happily.

“On your marks!! Get set!! 3-2-1 GO!” Pinkie announced, in red and blue bolts, both equines were speeding, Pinkie was left spinning at there velocity as they zoomed passed her. Rainbow more annoyed than ever as she looked at the still smiling scarlet stallion ahead of her, almost as if he was holding back. She poured herself into her legs, trying gain on the stallion but he just remained ahead of her then he began to slow down to Dash’s level, he turned to her, still with a joyous smile on his face, Rainbow eyed him with an irritated stare. And they ran, they ran so far away, they just ran, they all night and day, couldn’t get away…wait no, scratch the last two parts. Kickback allowed himself to run at Dash’s speed as soon as the barn came into view he pulled back slightly, letting Dash take the lead. The turned then simultaneously touched the barn with their own hooves and began to pant due to the physical act.

“Looks like you won, Dash” he said calmly, not at all showing signs of him being tired which in turn caused more suspicion.

“Alright, I know you weren’t giving it your all!” she observed, Kickback looked at her in surprise.

“What are you talking about? I just got-”

“You could’ve gone a lot faster, couldn’t you?” Dash interrogated. Kickback was now extremely worried at this point.

“I got tired and-”

“I wanna see” she said, her voice lowering. Kickback stared at her, she was always stubborn and he knew that, there was backing out.

“Okay, okay, ya wanna see my full speed?…Fine!” he said, aggravated. Kickback took a few steps backwards and primed himself, Dash watched in curiosity and somewhat fear as she stared at the stallion. He glanced back Rainbow who was intently looking at him, he looked ahead once more. Before Dash knew it, Kickback had radically jumped a metre of the ground, flipped in the air once before landing on the ground, suddenly his back hooves caused a slight tremor in the ground as they pushed off the dirt and left a small crater. All she saw was a red blur cross her vision, she looked to where he was running and was astonished, she nopony run that fast before, she thought about the last “Running of the leaves”, he had been holding back then aswell, he probably could’ve finished it in ten seconds flat she thought. Kickback didn’t like this, Rainbow was shown a portion of his abilities, his thoughts were more clouded as he sprinted at his fullest, soon he saw Dash, wings open, flying beside him. She nodded and took to the sky, Dash hovered up there and watched the red blur from above, quickly lapping around Sweet Apple Acres, she flew back down to meet him and found that it really didn’t look like he was enjoying himself, Dash flew ahead of him, oddly it was harder than she thought to. She stopped a few metres ahead of him, wings open, face towards the red colt. Kickback saw her and slowed himself, he skidded a little ‘till he was face to face with Dash. Kickback had a look of sadness, regret and shame as he looked at the pegasus, she noticed slightly, tis why she stopped him.

“That. Was. Awesome!” she squealed, Kickback wore a weak smile to help liven himself up, her raspy voice and her fangirlish nature helped out aswell. “I’ve never seen anypony run that fast! How did you do that?” she asked.

“Ahh One day…I just woke up…A-and…I just could hehehe” he explained without specifics and a very nervous tone.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” she inquired.

“Uhh, nothing…nothing, Dashie”

“Oh c’mon!”

“I’m fine, really” he said, now retaining a fake level of calm with a smirk. Dash stared at him inquisitively.

“…Okay, fine…Ya know, there’s nothing wrong with a little showing off, just don’t over do it, that’s my job” She said, Kickback gave a slight chuckle at her attitude.

“Alright, Dash, whatever” he replied, the two shared a respective brohoof.

“Well, I gotta go, see ya around Kickback” and with that, she was gone, took to the sky in a rainbow blur. Kickback stood there for a moment and stared into space, in deep thought. He turned around and started to trot back into town, he got a couple metres in before he spotted Applejack bucking one of the many trees that were held in the orchard, he prayed to Celestia that she didn’t see anything.

“Howdy, pard’ner” she greeted, looks like his prayer worked.

“Hey, AJ, need a hoof?”

“No Ah-…yeah, sure, just buck a the ones with barrels underneath them” she instructed, remembering that one day where she turned down help when a pony was offering, the sooner she got done the better. Kickback nodded and proceeded to do so, keeping his dragon scale shattering strength in check, he turned around, positioned himself and kicked the tree with back legs. It splinted a bit but it did the job, it shook around and soon the delicious fruit fell, the occasional one missing the two barrels set aside the tree. Kickback proceeded to pick ‘em up and place them into them, he continued this pattern about six times before Applejack cut him off.

“That enough?” He asked.

“Yeah, that’s plenty, thank ya kindly” she said with a grateful smile, Kickback got thinking, he thought about this for a while but always thought it was a bit mean or unnecessary, he had learnt about the apple farmer a great deal since that fateful day in the latest days of last year. Apple cutie mark, Apple family, apple farm, apple name, he got thinking more on it as he looked at the beautiful orange mare.

“Hey, AJ…I’ve been wondering, what do you wanna do with your life?” he asked out of nowhere, AJ looked at him in surprise but soon understood his question.

“Well ah…ah’ve always been proud member of the apple family and that’s how Ah’m gonna keep it…” she said, she blushed slightly as she thought on her next sentence “Ah…ah’ve pondered the thought of a foal” she said, Kickback thought it was endearing to see that the mare wanted a small filly or colt.

“What about you?” she asked, Kickback thought on it.

“Well, I’m kinda happy with my life right now, great friends, great town, I guess what I’m looking for is right here” he said with a smile, he then thought about what he said, did he truly think that way? Was he happy? A silence fell upon the two, not so much awkward as it was just two friends quiet in companionship. AJ stared at the red stallion, he gazed over at the orchard as he wore a calm smile, suddenly he sat down, keeping his expression, AJ continued to stare as she sat down beside him.

“Apple?” she suggested, with a hoof that presented a large juicy red apple.

“Thanks” he said in a voice that was soothing to the apple farmer as he took it out of her hoof and took a bite. Applejack then did something the stallion never thought she would do, he felt something slam down on his head, when he turned to see her, she wore a happy grin, he glanced up to find that she had placed her hat upon his head, he grinned back.

“Looks good on ya” she complimented.

“Nah, it looks great on you” he replied in a humble manner as he smiled with his eyes closed at the orange mare. He could’ve said he regretted closing his eyes though fore as he was blinded he felt something, something warm on his muzzle, he opened his eyes to see Applejack pressing her snout against his own, locking lips with him. He was stunned, she pulled back after a few seconds and blushed furiously as she avoided eye contact.

“Uhhhh…A-Ah’m sorry, ah didn’t mean to-” she stuttered, looking away. Kickback stretched out a hoof to meet her face, he gently rotated it so she was looking at him again. What she saw surprised and comforted her, he smiled warmly, he kept that same look Applejack could not picture him without, that darn calm look on his face was all she needed to make herself reassured, she smiled weakly back.

“Don’t be”

“But ah-”

“It’s okay, AJ…but”

“But?”

“I can’t, not now”

“Ah…ah get it” she said in sad tone, Kickback lifting her chin back up and gave her a quick kiss on her cheek, he smiled again at her before getting to his hooves, waving and trotting out of apple orchard.

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