Before the party was to begin, Kickback sat there with Lyra and Pinkie, the unicorn’s face still in shock as to the gesture the stallion made earlier.

“W-why do you have so much money?” Lyra managed. Kickback looked at her, his smirk dropping slightly.

“Uhhh…umm… sporting events…” he said quietly but just enough for them hear.

“Oh you good at sports are you?” Pinkie chimed in. Kickback nodded. “Well, you, Dashie and AJ are gonna get along just fine, then!” she said happily. Kickback smiled at the mare while recalling the two other ponies. He did seem to pick up a fair bit of their personality and Pinkie Pie just confirmed an aspect that he already had suspicions of.

“I already do, Kinda….” he said chuckling. Pinkie’s face ripped into another massive smile. “So, are they?” he added. Pinkie had a questioning look. “Vinyl, Dash and…Lyra?” he repeated, looking back over at the green unicorn who again wore red cheeks when he smiled at her.

“Dashie’s coming…Viiiiiinyyylll…Oh yeah, the DJ, I dunno but Lyra can stay, everypony’s invited!!” she said. Giving an idea of what the party would be like when it got into full swing.

“K…good” was all he said in response. Really a large party wasn’t his thing, over-crowded and noisy but maybe it won’t be so bad.

“Oh…uhhh…I dunno…” stuttered Lyra. Kickback looked at her confusedly.

“Don’t you wanna stay?” he asked, concerned that maybe she just didn’t want to be around him anymore being that this is the second time she thought that she had to leave. Lyra looked back at him, surprised.

“Uhh…well…umm, Yes, actually” she stuttered. This confused Kickback, he didn’t think of this mare as the shy type at all, almost like her character traits can never be the same with every meeting. Perhaps because her personality has never been written (metaphorically).

“Well, you can’t impose ‘cause it’s a party and you’re invited, so…yeah” he said, chuckling upon the last word. Lyra smiled and nodded her head. Before she could give a verbal answer or for Pinkie to burst in with an incredibly random statement. Two mares walked in, one that the stallion recognised easily and one he did not.

A few minutes ago.

“Fluttershy, c’mon, let’s go!” Rainbow said angrily towards the front door that led into the home and animal day care centre of one particular yellow pegasus.

“I don’t I wanna go…” A voice whispered from behind the door, Dash rolled her eyes.

“C’mon…why don’t you wanna go!?” she asked, in an irritated tone.

“I don’t like meeting new ponies…and this, Kickback? Doesn’t sound very friendly” Fluttershy said, poking out her head slightly so her even quieter speech was auditable. Rainbow Dash looked down at her, her face turning into a small smile when she came up with the words to get her shy friend to attend the new stallion’s welcome party.

“Fluttershy…Believe me when I say…This guy’s alright!” she said, apparently having a much better effect than she expected. What Fluttershy did in response was remain silent as she opened the door fully to present herself, standing up straight in front of her athletic friend. Dash grinned.

“Are you sure…?” Fluttershy asked, hesitantly

“Yep!! Now C’mon!” Dash exclaimed. Before her friend could protest, Dash had violently ripped Fluttershy off the ground with her hooves grasping onto her own. Fluttershy let out a scream at the sheer suddenness of the action then continued to shiver slightly at the high velocity her cyan companion was flying at. Dash landed with the yellow pegasus in front of Sugarcube corner and trotted inside.

Present

Kickback glanced at Dash before she knew he was there.

“Pinkie!!!??” She asked loudly for the pink mare. She looked to her left, nopony. “Pinkie!?” she asked again.

“Here I am!!” Pinkie called out from beside Kickback and Lyra, the two looked at her then turned back to Dash.

“Oh, there you are P-” was all she managed before she looked at the red stallion who was casually sitting down with a grin on his face, focused on the cyan mare. “Hi, Kickback…” she said with a nervous smile but she said it excitedly.

“Howdy, Dash” he replied calmly, still keeping his signature smirk. He then noticed the pony behind her as well as Dash found that the red stallion was hanging out with two other mares before her arrival. “Hello..” Kickback said, addressing the yellow pegasus of whom he could tell that this one was a shy one, definitely. Over the years, the stallion has developed a knack for depicting what a pony’s personality is like before even speaking to them, perhaps this has something to do with that one night, so long ago.

“ummm…Hi,…” the pegasus said. To Rainbow Dash’s, Lyra’s, Pinkie’s and even Fluttershy’s surprise, he had heard her perfectly clear. It wasn’t so surprising apparently fore they all held their tongue about his apparent super-pony hearing. Kickback didn’t notice the reactions and simply replied with.

“Hi, Fluttershy, I’m Kickback…” he said, charmingly. Fluttershy’s expression loosened a bit at the sound of his friendly voice. Dash and her yellow friend sat down at the table to join the group. The four mares began chatting, the most silent of which being Kickback and Fluttershy, the both them only speaking when spoken to.

“So, Kickback…do you have a very special somepony?” a voice called out for the stallion, causing him to shoot up from his relaxed stance and glance around for the mare that said that phrase. To his surprise it was Rainbow Dash, with all the other ponies looking at him with anticipation, most of which was in the eyes of Dash herself and the only unicorn present: Lyra. Kickback chuckled and sat back down.

“If you mean a wife or mare-friend…Nah” he said. Causing Fluttershy and Pinkie to react rather un-impressively by the pink mare sipping on her drink and Fluttershy remaining silent, sitting back down more comfortably while wearing a smile. Lyra looked amazed for a moment, staring at him for some time before turning away and blushing for whatever reason that was obviously unclear to the stallion…or so one might think. Rainbow Dash grinned maliciously at the stallion, when he turned to her, her smile went from devilishly evil to warm and friendly, resting her head on her hooves, letting her knees or “elbows” to rest on the table, her wings spread wide.

“Ohh, really?” Dash cooed slyly.

“Yeah…” he retorted calmly.

“That’s surprising!” said Lyra in a shocked tone. “I thought that you did! Why don’t you?” she asked, adding to her sentence, still in a surprised tone.

“My last…betrayed me, she…framed me for a crime, I didn’t commit” he said sadly, it wasn’t the full truth but his last mare-friend did betray him but to a more serious matter. All mares stared at him with wide eyes and gaping mouths “And I haven’t dated since…” he added.

“Uhhh okay, she sounds like a bit of a bitch, then” Dash said, catching the shocked glances of all other ponies except Kickback who just chuckled at the sentence. “What? She does, right Kickback?” she said, gesturing towards the stallion with a hoof. All mares’ eyes fixed on him.

“Yeah…she was, not at first but…she really was” he said calmly, making Dash herself chuckle with a smug look on her face.

“Why haven’t you dated since? I mean, how long ago did you break up?” Lyra chimed in. Kickback cringed a bit before answering, for some reason he didn’t feel so pliable with this question, he felt that he had to tell the whole truth with this one.

“Two and a half years ago…” he said sadly, repeating in his head “Two and a half goddamn years…it‘s been that long since…everything…”. Lyra, Pinkie and Dashie all stared in disbelief while Fluttershy looked as calm as ever, probably comparing her own love life history or something of the sort, regardless she apparently was un-moved by his statement.

“TWO AND A HALF YEARS!!!” Dash exclaimed in pure shock, Lyra and Pinkie remained speechless for the time being and simply stared at him. “How long has it been since- uhhh, you know…ummm” Dash continued however not finishing her sentence due to obvious reasons. Kickback stared at her, wide eyes, mouth closed. He was about to answer but was stopped, thankfully by three other mares walking in. The bell atop the door to Sugarcube corner rang as it opened, it revealed a white unicorn, that depicted a purple, wavey mane walking in, eyes of blue glistening. The next was one Kickback could recognise, an orange coated earth-pony, presented with a flowing blonde mane, tied at the end, wearing an iconic Stetson upon her head, her green eyes brighter than his own and a cutie mark that depicted three red apples. The last was a unicorn, a lavender one at that, her mane presented a three toned style in a straight fashion, that typical student aura was radiating off of her. Her tail in the same fashion as her mane, her cutie mark depicted a magenta star within a silver star and other stars scattered around her flank. two out of three mares were completely unknown to the red stallion but to everypony else, these looked to be good friends, so that meant he was going to meet them quickly.

Previously

“Big Mac, I’m going to the party! Ah’ll see ya’ll later!” Applejack said as she waved a hoof behind her and began to walk off into town. Big Macintosh nodded at his sister and walked back into the farm house. Applejack didn’t bother asking for Big Mac to join her at the party fore she knew his answer would his default “Nope”. She walked past the trees, out the orchard and made her way into town, more specifically Sugarcube corner.

“Sweetie Belle!!” Rarity called, realising that her sister was actually NOT here, she was staying at their parents this week. “Oh, right…well best be off then, don’t want to be late for Mr. Generosity’s party…” that last statement caused Rarity to blush slightly as she thought about the name she just chose the stallion that she hadn’t met yet. Soon she was out of her home and business and pressing forth towards Sugarcube corner.

“Spike, are you coming?” Twilight asked her faithful, if not self-conscious little, scaly assistant.

“Nah…I’m beat, catcha later, Twi…” he said with a yawn before abruptly falling back and falling to sleep.

“Okay, Spike…I’ll see you once I get back…” she said quietly while trotting towards the door, opening it ever so slightly as to not wake him from his nap and closing it just the same with her outside and beginning to walk towards the bakery of which there should be a very interesting party being held. Along the way, Applejack, Rarity and Twilight met at the front of Sugarcube corner and trotted inside one by one.

“Pinkie Pie…?” Applejack asked, wondering where the pink mare was, she knew now. All the mares looked towards a table surrounded by ponies, four out of five were recognised by Rarity and Twilight but AJ knew all. Kickback looked at her and smiled warmly, Applejack smiled shyly and her cheeks depicted a slight red tint.

“So…you must be the stallion in town, then?” the white unicorn asked towards the colt himself.

“Yep…name’s Kickback, what’s your’s miss…?” he said.

“I am Rarity or Miss. Rarity…which ever you prefer” she answered  kindly.

“ ‘Tis a pleasure…” he said, reforming his signature smirk. This was different to the unicorn, normally a smirk indicated cockiness and smug, not un-like her athletic, cyan friend. His smirk was more of a “relaxed at all times” as if he wears it just because all is well but that was just a theory the unicorn had.

“Pleasure’s all mine…” she said happily. “Hey, Applejack…” the stallion said, reverting his attention from the unicorn to the earth-pony.

“Howdy there, Kickback, did ya like ‘em apples?” she asked, once again remembering his actions previously in the day.

“Yeah…Lyra, did ya enjoy those apples?” he asked, switching his attention from one mare to the next. Lyra paused but then remembered that he had shared a few apples with her earlier on. She nodded happily with an ‘mhm’ sound emitting from her closed lips. Kickback chuckled and turned back to the orange mare.

“Not only did you buy all o’ mah apples and leave with only a dozen…but you shared ‘em with Lyra?” she asked in disbelief, his generosity levels pushing from where she had placed his. She under- estimated him a little.

“I guess…but I have the coin to spend, so it’s no problem” he said calmly. Suddenly Rarity’s eyes lit up along with Rainbow Dash’s and Lyra’s.

“He bought me a muffin and paid Pinkie a ninety dollar tip!” the green unicorn said, catching the attention of all mares around the table. Pinkie Pie nodded quickly, really quickly while the others just stared.

“I said I have the coin to spare, plus I don’t spend much on myself…’ he said.

“My, my, you really are quite generous…you’ve been here a day and you’ve already thrown away six hundred bits?” Rarity stated happily.

“Whoa, you must be rich!” shouted an excited Rainbow Dash. This caught Kickback’s attention, technically he was rich…just he didn’t get his fortune in a way that he was proud of, he may have been for a time but it’s all bad memories now. “If you’re rich, do you know the Wonderbolts?” Dash added. Kickback could not reply as he noticed that Dash was now sitting next to him, her face leaning in with eyes wide and a large smile being worn. He chuckled a bit before reverting his attention towards another mare, one he hadn’t met yet.

“Hey, what’s your name?” he asked towards the purple unicorn who hadn’t yet spoken a word. Dash looked at her and quickly looked back at Kickback with wide eyes. He saw at the corner of his vision that Lyra who was always sitting next to him was doing the same, staring at him with what could be called anticipation, for what though? He had no idea.

“Oh, sorry, My name is Twilight Sparkle…” she replied friendly back at the stallion.

“Name’s Kickback, Twilight…” he said calmly, not paying the now three mares any mind, at the other end of the table, Applejack was staring at him with just as much focus as the two beside him…make that four, beside her was Rarity doing the same thing.

“Yeah, Yeah, okay, now tell me, Have you met the Wonderbolts?” repeated Dash, sounding a little annoyed at the stallion not paying attention to her.

“Uh…yeah, once, good ponies…” he replied calmly. Dash looked a little confused for a moment before her eyes lit up again.

“YOU’RE FRIENDS WITH THE WONDERBOLTS?!?!” exclaimed Dash questioningly. Kickback chuckled at her fangirl-like attitude before letting her jealousy reach new heights with a false nod. Dash squealed uncharacteristically and beamed at the stallion before giggling uncontrollably under her breath. “WHERE DO THEY LI-” was all Dash could manage before they noticed that several ponies of all kinds, old ones, tall ones, fat ones, young ones, skinny ones were around either talking or going to one of the several food tables that were also scattered around and Pinkie was nowhere to be seen. Kickback checked the time to find it was ten past four, the party had started. Suddenly the lights went dim, a stage appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the bakery, ponies crowded around “Great a crowd…” Kickback let out to himself, apparently not catching anypony’s ear. A spotlight shone on the red curtain, it pulled back to either side to reveal a pink mare, her curly mane and tail still present, her smile wide and white and her eyes glistening with excitement.

“Welcome, welcome, everypony. Tonight we celebrate our newest friend, C’mon Kickback, get on up here!” she shouted happily, gesturing to Kickback with a swinging hoof for him to come up on stage. Kickback got to his hooves and proceeded to walk to the stage, all the while Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Lyra, Fluttershy and Lyra were clapping their hooves together, soon everypony joined in as they saw who they were clapping for. Dash and AJ let out excited whistles as he got to the stage, climbed up the stairs to the side and walked up next to Pinkie Pie, the mare beamed at him and gestured for him to walk up to the microphone she had presented for him. He trotted up to it and leaned in so his mouth was closer to mic.

“Hey, everypony, it’s great to be here, my name’s Kickback and I hope you all enjoy yourselves…” he said, everypony listening in, he ended his speech with a nod and smile then he looked over at Pinkie who was smiling widely at him. He stepped back as Pinkie zoomed to the centre of the stage, he and everypony else watched as she…multiplied? Pinkie shook uncontrollably before a pale pink mare with a red mane and tail spawned from her, jumping out of Pinkie as her figure became opaque. She looked just like Pinkie but…recoloured. Another with an orange mane and a lighter orange coat emitted then a yellow one with a darker yellow mane spawned. Kickback, simply walked back down and found his spot, getting a pat on the shoulder and warm smiles from everypony around, the four Pinkies stood in a row and before anypony knew what the hell was happening, music began to play.

After the round of applause from everypony, the false Pinkies jumped back into the original like it was the most normal thing on the planet, she bowed, just like any other performer would before disappearing and coming back with what looked like a karaoke machine.

“Ohhh, really?” Kickback said out loud, chuckling.

“Yep, she’s been dying to get ponies to sing at her parties…and when she found that thing, she couldn’t wait to bust it out” Applejack explained. Kickback nodded.

“Y-you any good at singing, Kickback?” Lyra asked, catching the stallion’s attention.

“Uhhh…I really wouldn’t know…” he lied, he did know, he did know how good he was…but it really wasn’t HIM that was good, it’s what he did so long ago that made him so good.

“Aww c’mon, Ah’ bet ya got a great singing voice” Applejack said, a slight blush crossing her face.

“Yeah, show us whatcha got!” Dash said smugly.

“Uhhh…” was all he could manage before the sheer death stares of the three mares…make that four Pinkie Pie had just popped out from hammer space to the table and was now staring at the stallion with just as much anticipation as the now five mares, Kickback noticed Rarity staring in anticipation aswell from across the table while Fluttershy and Twilight looked at each other with nervous grins.

“Uhhh…alright…But I’m not doing Karaoke!” he said, trying to get that idea out of the way of him. Due to past events, he picked up guitarist skills rather quickly, instantly actually after one particular night. Pinkie’s expression faltered but quickly restored as he asked “Does anypony have a guitar?”. Pinkie ran up stairs, through the crowd and back down with an electric guitar, she beamed at him while he looked at her with a blank face “An Acoustic guitar, Pinkie…” Kickback said flatly. Without a word she zoomed back upstairs and returned with just that: an acoustic guitar. Kickback smiled at her, Pinkie lifted the instrument off her back and handed it towards the stallion, he grasped the neck and placed it upon his own. Pinkie raced him towards the stage sort of speak, she came to a stop at the microphone before looking back at the machine and bucking it with one leg to the side with a nervous grin. She practically screamed into the microphone.

“MARES AND GENTLE-COLTS!!!! PREEESEENTIIINNNG…This guy ahaha”  she said jokingly causing someponies to laugh, others to grumble in irritated tones. Kickback stepped up to centre stage with the guitar on his back, Pinkie then set down a chair of which Kickback sat on and a stepping stool for Kickback to tap on with his left back hoof. She set the microphone in front of him and adjusted it ‘till it was level with his muzzle.

“Thankyou…” he said calmly “Anypony got a best friend out there?!” he asked the crowd, sever ponies nodded and some shouted out positively which made the stallion chuckle a little bit. “Alright, then…this one’s for you, this is a song a wrote with my best friend three years ago, I hope you enjoy…” he said quietly into the mic before strumming a single chord on the guitar then breaking into a full sequence of chords.

“I like it simple and

I’m not a superman

I never said that I was more than that…” ...

Kickback played, singing his heart out as he noticed the cheerful faces of everypony, some even caught the chorus enough to start singing along. When the final chord was struck, everypony leapt up and clapped for the red stallion, he smirked at the crowd and placed the guitar to the side before walking casually off stage towards his table. There, all seven mares looked at him directly with large smiles on their faces, he got several pats on back as he sat down. Pinkie got on stage.

“Alright, Everypony, Let’s all have some fun!!” Pinkie bellowed into the mic. In a quick transition, the stage was gone and ponies all around began to spread into their own little groups in the bakery. Kickback caught a few words about how awesome he was and the occasional hater saying it just OK. He got several compliments from the seven mares at the table as well as some walking up to the table to quickly meet him.

“So, did you really write that?” Lyra asked towards the stallion.

“Uhhh…yeah…” he said, not entirely sure if HE technically did, given the circumstances. “I need a drink..” he said with a sigh as he got to his hooves. He proceeded past the crowd to the food table where what looked to be several cans of soda were placed together. He grasped one in his hooves, cracked it open and took and experimental drink. To his surprise, it was brilliant,  he took a longer drink before parting it from his lips with an audible gasp.

“Hey there, sexy…” a familiar voice called from his right. There she was, the unicorn from before, Vinyl Scratch, leaning up against the table with her right foreleg resting on the table cloth. She gave him a warm yet cocky smile when he laid eyes on her. She removed her goggles to reveal light red eyes, unlike Dash’s magenta eyes, her’s were quite red. She looked at him, never letting her smile drop, Kickback smiled back, remembering the mare from earlier in the day.

“Hey, Vinyl…” he said friendly.

“Hey, Kickback…wassup?” she replied just as friendly.

“I’m at a party…what about you?” he asked calmly.

“Same…you did good up there” Vinyl complimented.

“Thanks…” he replied as best to his ability to sound modest. They began to chat up a storm at the table, before he knew it, Kickback had gone through three sodas without realising. He looked over at the table he was at previously to find that all mares were casually talking away. Then he glanced at Lyra who was looking at him but quickly turned away when their gazes met. Kickback shrugged it off and returned his attention back to the white unicorn.

“Pinkie tells me you’re a DJ…” Kickback informed. Vinyl had a smug smile facing towards the stallion when she heard his voice speak those words.

“Uh huh, best darn one ever!” she said smugly. Kickback chuckled and took another drink as Vinyl focused her eyes on his face as he did so.

“Applejack…?” Rarity asked, back at the table towards the orange mare herself.

“Yeah..?” she replied questioningly.

“Did you get a look at Kickback’s cutie mark?” Rarity added. Applejack paused while the sentence caught Dash’s attention.

“Don’t bother…” Dash chimed in. Both the unicorn and earth-pony were now looking at the pegasus. “You won’t know what it is…trust me” she added cryptically. Both mares looked at their cyan friend in confusion.

“What do ya mean..?” Applejack asked.

“Go see…” Dash said. Applejack glanced about for the stallion, eventually spotting him over at the snack table, talking to a ‘pretty’ white mare. Dash watched her orange friend as she looked around for their red friend, once she spotted him, Dash could’ve sworn she spotted a slight glimspe of anger in the farmer’s eyes when she saw Vinyl Scratch from afar talking to Kickback ‘all casual like‘. Dash noticed the two at the table aswell before turning back to AJ.

“See it?” Dash asked.

“Nope…wait, yeah, there it is” Applejack said, squinting her eyes for a focused look. Rainbow Dash was right, she had no clue what the buck the marking was on his right flank was, at first it looked like a bird but she shook that off when the pattern emerged in her vision. Applejack had seen his cutie mark now…but that didn’t make her stop looking at him, her emerald green eyes dragged away from his flank up to his torso, to his broad shoulders that based strong legs. Up to his neck, to his head, there she stared for a moment, watching his face move with the action of talking, she ignored the unicorn for now as she stared into his eyes from across the room.

“Hey, what kind of music do ya like?” Vinyl Scratch asked the red stallion. He and the unicorn had been talking for sometime, the occasional random pony stepping up, meeting him then complimenting him as with the many of the DJ‘s fans asking for autographs, a grey coated pegasus with a yellow mane also offered him a muffin once, Kickback accepted in confusion, as to why this mare seemed to be obsessed with muffins when she walked over to him. He could only smile at the mare though, her personality could be referred to as ‘bubbly’.

“Uhhh, nu-metal mostly…” Kickback replied, causing the unicorn’s expression to falter somewhat. She was a DJ after all, maybe his answer wasn’t one she had hoped for, maybe she wanted him to say something like electronic or dubstep just so she could have another admiring fan…or just so they could have something in common. Vinyl took another drink, while her head was faced towards the ceiling, Kickback looked to his right to see two mares staring at him, he smirked at them and waved. Applejack was snapped back to awareness along with Rainbow Dash, she hadn’t noticed the cyan pegasus staring at the stallion aswell, she chose to ignore it…for now. Kickback chuckled to himself and glanced around the table to find that everypony except the green unicorn, was now chatting friendly with one another then it him. ‘Where’s Lyra?’ he thought, he looked around for the mare but to no avail. He started to glance around frantically, he didn’t want her to leave, she was actually pretty good company. He felt relieved when the mare had approached him from his right to apparently grad a snack, she looked towards him with a slight hint of red, glazed over on her cheeks, he remained silent and smiled at the mare who smiled, looked away and took a drink never letting her smile falter.

Kickback turned back to the unicorn who had apparently been staring for a few moments while he wasn’t paying attention. When he looked at her, she shot back in surprise and a noticeable red was stood out on her white face.

“So, what does everypony think about the guest of honour, then?” Rarity asked. All mares paused for a moment before it was Fluttershy who broke the silence.

“He…he still scares me a little…” the timid pegasus said, catching the group’s attention.

“I told you, he’s fine, Fluttershy…I reckon he’s pretty cool” Rainbow added.

“He sure is friendly” said Applejack. When the words left the mare’s lips, Dash shot her a sly look and nudged her with her left ‘knee’. Giggles could be heard from all around as Dash’s gesture got the wanted message across…and everypony caught it. Applejack blushed hard and broke into a rage at her friends for implying such a thing across the room from where the red stallion had glanced over towards. Without a word he looked back between the two unicorns on each side, smiled at both before trotting through the crowd and out the door of the bakery. Vinyl and Lyra looked to one another in questioning looks before glancing back at the door then returning to the snack table and starting up their own conversation.

“Cool guy, eh?” asked the white unicorn.

“Y-yeah…” Lyra replied.

“Pretty hot too…” Vinyl said, chuckling as she took another drink. Lyra looked at her, wide eyed with a blush and had a drink of her own.

Kickback walked outside, to his surprise it was already dark, he looked around to see nopony around. He leaned back on the bakery and smiled as he let out a deep breath before it was replaced with a thoughtful frown, he wasn’t upset or mad at anything, he just stood there on his back legs, leaning up against the building with his forelegs crossed as he thought deeply about today, his history and the ponies he had met during his short time here.

“….wait…” he said to himself. He stood back on all fours as he heard something. He listened carefully as he took a step forward and looked around. A thud… the beat of large wings…then a growl. Kickback’s eyes widened as it dawned on him but he was too late to react. He took a step forward and out from the blackness a large beast, the body of a lion, the wings of a bat and the tail of a scorpion lunged at him.

“Oh shi-” was all he could manage as he was cut off by the Manticore gripping around his torso and flying high into the sky in the direction of the Everfree forest.

“HEY, I ALREADY KILLED ONE OF YOU BUCKERS, DON’T THINK I WON’T AGAIN!!!!” He screamed as he thrashed about in the beast’s paws. Eventually he broke his right, front leg out, he twisted so he was facing the Manticore and punched the monster square in the mouth. The beast’s chin went skyward, Kickback was released as the monster flipped backwards in mid-air. Kickback spazzed around in the sky before regaining control somewhat and positioning himself for a safe landing. He plummeted towards the ground, luckily he had cut the Manticore off his path towards the forest, he had managed to land at the edge of the jungle. As he hit the dirt, a loud crash, a large crater and a storm of dust were emitted by the stallion. The Manticore, who had regained composure followed, it landed with a thud a let out a loud roar. Kickback turned to the monster, an angry and frightening look on his face.

“C’MON!!! I’M HERE, COME GET ME!!!” he bellowed at the monster, it let out another growl, the two began to step to the side in synchronisation, making a circle. Kickback stopped, as did the Manticore. The beast had ignored his roar, this angered the stallion. Suddenly a barrage of black and red tendrils emitted from his shoulders. They wrapped around his forelegs as he stood on his back legs. Kickback raised both appendages above his head, with a war cry, he threw them down to his sides. No longer were they legs…they were claws, massive, sharp claws, spikes protruded from both limbs, both appendages glowed an eerie orange-red. Kickback’s eyes quickly shot from green to orange-red before switching back to his natural dark green, he grinned at the Manticore who remained far from the stallion, with still his angered, animalistic glare. The beast then charged at the new monster that had presented itself. Kickback never hated this while it was going on and this was just a Manticore, the world could do better without it, this comforted Kickback in knowing…that tonight, this beast dies. The beast suddenly shot at the stallion, it leapt up and slashed it’s claws at it’s opponent. Kickback smirked as he jumped up, easily clearing the monster’s full height. He landed behind it, the Manticore swung it’s tail to attack but failed again. Kickback had dodged the poisonous appendage and was now on the offence. Kickback shouted angrily as he lunged his own claws and violently slashed the creature across the face, the beast whimpered and growled in both pain and anger. He monster looked back at the stallion, it’s left eye closed and the entire left side of it’s face was scarred with claw marks. The Manticore growled again…in defeat as it flapped it’s wings and took to the sky…for about five seconds.

Kickback wasn’t finished with the thing, the Manticore looked down to see something had wrapped around it’s left back paw. Kickback smirked as he saw the Manticore take off, suddenly another barrage of tendrils lashed about around him. When the transformation had subsided, his left foreleg was back to normal…but his right was different. The same black with the red-orange glow and spikes still present but the end was divied into a large clamp-shaped-like blade. He pulled back and lunged the limb at the ascending monster, the appendage extended into a whip-like harpoon, it wrapped around the Manticore’s back leg. He violently brought his ‘arm’ down, with it the Manticore. It fell to the ground with a loud thud on it’s back before the ruthless stallion brought his limb upwards, the Manticore, still  tied at the leg by the unnatural weapon rose up with it. Kickback stood back on his hind legs as he rotated his limb back behind. The Manticore hit the ground, hard, cracking a few teeth as it’s chin hit the dirt. Kickback swung the beast back in front of him, it laid there, motionless. Kickback knew it wasn’t dead…his body transformed again, this time his forelegs turning into large stone-like fists. He smirked and leapt onto the monster’s belly. Without a word he violently punched the Manticore, in the chest, in the neck, in the face. Punch after punch of his hammer-fists left the Manticore broken and bloody. Kickback’s body emitted four large tentacles from his back, they made contact with the monster. Suddenly the beast’s physical form was converted into the stallion’s own bio-mass. The monster’s entire being was enveloped into the stallion, leaving nothing but a few bloody ‘greasy spots’ on the grass and dirt. Kickback grabbed his head as he endured ‘the part after the kill’: the Manticore’s memories and strengths. Nothing important due to the near to no clarity when it came to an animal’s memory.

Kickback transformed back into his ‘normal’ self, took a deep breath and jumped into the air about twenty metres up. Not his highest but height wasn’t what he wanted, when he landed he was already in the centre of town, he had leapt fifty metres across from his last standing point. He trotted back towards the bakery to find that the party had somewhat died down, many guests were now not present but all he knew better were still inside, all of which were at the same table. When he walked through the door to Sugarcube corner. All mares looked up to see him, they wore glad faces: warm smiles, excited smiles, sly grins and smug grins were all focused on the stallion. Despite everything he smirked back at what somepony would say ‘his friends’. Applejack and Rainbow Dash scooted over so the stallion could a spot at the table…between them.

“So, where’d ya go?” a familiar voice called form his left, it was Vinyl Scratch.

“Around…” he replied nonchalantly.

“For fifteen minutes?” another voice added form his right, it was another unicorn, a green one to be specific.

“Apparently…” he said in the same tone.

“Fair enough” Applejack added, trying to get the two mares to back off and leave him be…for which reason she didn’t quite know. Was it she respected his privacy…or was it she didn’t want two other mares speaking to him so curiously specifically.

“Did you hear that noise earlier?” Dash asked. Kickback pieced together that she must have been talking about that Manticore.

“Yeah…I did…but it didn’t last too long” he said, a slight cryptic tone accompanying his voice, of which nopony noticed. The evening drug on with eight ponies plus Kickback just hanging out around the bakery, the occasional pony saying goodbye to the group, specifically to Pinkie and the stallion himself. Eventually the entire room was vacated of all other guests besides the nine equines. The party had gone for six hours now, when Rainbow Dash noticed the time, she thought for a second.

“Hey Kickback, where are you sleeping tonight?” she said, a hint of curiosity, embarrassment, concern and joking in her tone. Kickback paused and pondered a moment. Each mare was now focused on the stallion.

“Guess the tree again, Dash…” he said calmly. Each mare paused as the words left his lips, Dash looked surprised but not as much as the others.

“What tree?” Applejack asked in confusion. Kickback looked at her blankly and began to recount the day’s beginning.

“Well, Dash was the first of you I met…reason why is because I slept under a tree last night…I looked up and there she was” he said, not very well explaining why he was under the tree but that was sought to.

“Good heavens, why were you sleeping under a tree?” asked Rarity.

“Today’s my first day…I didn’t have a house and I was up late…I’m a bit of a traveller” Kickback replied calmly. Each mare looked at him in surprise and curiosity but most seemed to be in deep thought.

“Darling…I simply cannot have a handsome stallion as yourself resting so…inadequately, you’re staying at my house tonight” Rarity said. For the first time in a while, Kickback was surprised by words. He stared at the unicorn, with wide eyes as did everypony else. She just sat there with a friendly smile.

“What about Sweetie Belle? She probably won’t be so easy to deal with…You could stay with me” Lyra said. Everypony turned to her now.

“What about Bon-Bon, Lyra? You know how she gets…you could sleep at my place, Kickback” Vinyl added. Now the stallion was getting annoyed but he didn’t show it, all these mares fighting over him was uncomfortable to say the least.

“What about Octavia, Vinyl? I know for a fact she doesn’t like unexpected guests…Hey you could chill at my house!” Dash added.

“You live in a cloud home, Dash…” Vinyl said flatly. While the crazy fillies bickered with one another, Applejack scooted over to the stallion.

“Hey, ya can sleep at the farm, there’s a nice place in the barn with your name on it… if ya want it, that is” Applejack said towards the stallion privately. Kickback looked at the orange earth-pony with a friendly smile, a secluded barn sounded alright to the colt’s ear.

“Ladies!…I’m staying at AJ’s farm” Kickback said, making sure he caught all of their attention before telling them where he was staying the night. “…But it’s not a permanent situation though” he said, looking back at the orange mare who looked at him with surprise before understanding crossed her expression. All mares looked at him with reluctant accepting faces.

The evening drew to a close, the time being spent with several happy and awkward moments being that Kickback was the ONLY male present for the rest of the party so when it came to some subjects and games that they participated in, it got odd at times. Pinkie Pie looked out from her second story bedroom’s window as she waved goodbye to all her old and new friends alike. The group stopped and turned to one another.

“Well, goodnight everypony” Twilight said as she started to trot tiredly towards her home, of which the red stallion had no idea where it was nor did he know of anypony’s home.

“G-goodnight” said a quiet Fluttershy who began to walk to the outskirts of town, at least the direction of their path gave a slight clue to the stallion.

“Yeah…I’m beat, see ya in the morning” Dash added before speeding off into the sky, which made sense given that it was obvious she enjoyed the area at cloud level rather than the ground.

“You can still chill with me ya know…” Vinyl said towards the only male present. Kickback looked at her and nodded with a smile.

“Maybe tomorrow night, Vinyl…buono notte” he said, Vinyl looked confused for a moment at his last words, Kickback noticed.

“It means goodnight, Vinyl…” he said flatly, informing her that apparently he spoke Italian. The stallion regretted speaking a different language as it reminded him of another event from his past.

“Cool, I’ll see ya later then, sexy” she replied with a sly tone. Kickback smirked as the white unicorn trotted off to where her home must be. Lyra, Applejack and Rarity stared at Kickback for a moment, pondering as to why she had called him that…although all three mares didn’t think that Vinyl had bad taste though.

“Sexy? Why that little floozy…Uh, not that…uhh, you’re not, ah just-” Applejack stuttered, a blush glazing over her face. Rarity giggled.

“What she’s trying to say is: You are quite…cute but Vinyl Scratch should not go throwing herself about like that” she said quite formerly but still friendly as her own cheeks depicted a hint of red. Kickback merely glanced at both mares, a blank look on his face before chuckling and spreading his signature smirk on his muzzle.

“Well everypony, this was fun but Rarity needs her beauty sleep, goodnight” the second white unicorn said as she began to walk off towards her own home.

“Um…alright, goodnight Applejack…Goodnight Kickback” the final unicorn said as she turned away and began her own walk. One by one they had left, each time the remaining equines would return the salutations to their friends. Now it was just the red stallion and the orange mare, that thought crossed AJ’s mind a few times as she lead him to the farm, he walked by her side with a blissful look on his face, perhaps he didn’t like being around too many ponies for too long was what she thought, that thought saddened her a little bit. Kickback noticed the orange mare, who seemed to be a tad nervous for Celestia knows why, she would look back at him, he would look at her and she would quickly avert her gaze to the front. Kickback shrug off the mare’s actions and continued to walk along side her through an apple orchard of some kind, it made sense to the stallion as he remembered what she said about somewhere called ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ this must be it, he thought. The two were now in a clearing, of which stood a farm house and a large barn that looked like it was recently raised. Kickback smiled as Applejack lead him to the large, red building, she opened the door and when inside.

“Well, here we are…” she said happily. Kickback glanced about and saw a particularly comfortable looking bed of hay.

“This’ll work…Thanks AJ” the stallion said warmly. Applejack looked at him with a smile.

“Y-ya know…ya can come into the house…I know where ya could sleep” the orange mare said, catching the stallion’s full attention.

“Where…?” he asked, stretching the word.

“C’mon, I’ll show ya” she said excitedly. Kickback paused for a moment and without a word he walked in front of the mare and opened the large door. Applejack saw him gesture with his head to lead the way, she did and the two exited the barn and proceeded to enter the farm house. Kickback glanced around at the lounge room, the kitchen, the hallway the to the stairs that Applejack was ascending, she looked down at him with a smile, Kickback continued to follow her up through the stairs, down the hallway to a room. She opened it and walked in with Kickback closely following.

“This is mah room” she said, causing the stallion to get confused.

“Okay…so…is there a guest room or something?” he asked, the mare blushed as she thought about what was her idea.

“Uhhh…no, ah thought you might wanna…ah dunno uhhh” Applejack stuttered, truth be told there was one. Kickback looked at her with a surprised look, it wasn’t an over-exaggerated look but he was still surprised that the mare he had met and known for only a day would want him to sleep in the same room as her…least he thought it was just the ROOM that they’d be sharing.

“Ok…sure, I can sleep here…is there an extra mattress…cause I really don’t care too much, I slept on a tree last night, so I’m not picky” he said. Applejack blushed even harder as she realised that there were no other mattress being that they were all already borrowed by several friends and family members. The silence caused the stallion to think. “You…wanna sleep in the same bed?” he asked, the mare blushed even harder but didn’t speak or shake her head, eventually she spoke up.

“Ah don’t see any other way…I don’t want ya sleeping in the barn…and if ya don’t mind that is-” she said nervously. Kickback softened his expression from surprise to his calm smirk.

“Well okay, ya sure?” he asked, still wondering why she wanted him to sleep in the same bed as herself.

“Uhh, it’s alright” she said in a nervous but assuring tone with the same kind of smile. Suddenly Kickback, with a smile, pulled the covers back and gestured for the mare to hop in with left hoof. She looked at him with a smile, she removed her hat and set it on the nightstand, she placed her forelegs on the bed, laid down on her side and scooted over to the opposite side of the bed so Kickback could snuggle in aswell. That is just what happened.

“G’dnight, AJ” the stallion said as he turned away from her. Applejack looked at him to find that he was not facing her.

“G’dnight, Kickback…what if ah call ya KB?” she asked randomly. Suddenly the thought of such an abbreviation nickname crossed the stallion’s mind. He smiled whilst still facing away.

“I dunno, sweet dreams, Applejack…” he said calmly with a sigh as he closed his eyes. AJ looked at him with a smile then turned to face her own side.

“Sweet Dreams…Kickback” she said, not to him but more to herself. Moments drug on as the two remained awake and silent. Kickback simply had insomnia, a common problem for him lately but Applejack was in hesitation as to why she was awake. She kept glancing at the stallion as she was now lying on her back facing the ceiling, he was still facing away from her. Inside Applejack’s mind a lone orange mare stood in black void, it was AJ herself. Suddenly the figure split into three, two mares broke off from the original, leaving said pony a light grey colour. To the left was a yellow mare with a red mane and blue eyes stood to the side of red mare with a green main and yellow eyes. The two ‘Applejacks’ turned to one another.

“Just do it!” the yellow one said.

“No, he doesn’t like us that way” the red one retorted. As the fight in AJ’s mind raged on, her eyes shifted back and forth behind her eye lids, Kickback turned on his back to find that she was doing so.

“How do ya know, he paid for ‘em apples!” the yellow AJ shouted.

“So, if he’s so generous, maybe Rarity will do better for ‘em” said the red one. Kickback, in the physical world, nudged AJ, no response.

“Ya know ya want to…for Celestia’s sake you’ll be just cuddling him, it’s fine!” replied the yellow AJ. Suddenly a voice echoed through the void in AJ’s mind, a familiar, male, accented voice rang through the blackness. Both mares phased back into the grey one, the blue and yellow creating green eyes, the yellow and red creating an orange coat, the red and green making a yellow mane. It was the original Applejack. She opened her eyes to find a concerned looking stallion to the side of her, she smiled as he smiled back.

“Hey…uhhh, do ya mind if we-uhhh…” she said nervously. Kickback shot her a calm look as he rolled over on his back and placed his right foreleg under the mare’s shoulder. He brought her closer, she smiled as she laid her right foreleg over his chest and her left under his neck. Applejack closed her eyes blissfully as she hugged the stallion, Kickback looked down once more at the mare before stroking her blonde mane with his free hoof, she smiled warmly at his touch. He looked back up and slowly closed his eyes and for the first time in a while fell asleep easily.

Lyra shut the door as quietly as she could, she trotted through the lounge room and was startled by her cream-coloured roommate sitting on her recliner, looking intent fully at the minty unicorn.

“Where’d ya go?” Bon-Bon asked in a creepy yet friendly tone.

“I went to the party, ya know Kickba-” was all she managed before Bon-Bon cut her off.

“I know, I know, it’s just late is all” she said, this time not as creepy but Lyra did feel as if her roommate was cross with her.

“Bon-Bon, I’m sorry but he’s really nice…I think-’ she cut herself off before continuing. Bon-Bon gaped in surprise.

“You like him, don’t you?” she questioned. Lyra’s face turned from mint green a light red. “Oh my Celestia, you do!” she exclaimed happily. Without a word, Lyra trotted to her room “Oh wait, Lyra, I’m sorry, hey c’mon!”

Rainbow Dash had entered her home a few minutes ago, she sat on her clouded couch, reading the seventh instalment of Daring Do. She had told herself after the fifth chapter she would stop and hit the hay. She set the book down and flew upstairs to her bedroom, she laid down and closed her eyes, her final thoughts directing to the guest of honour at the party. She found comfort as she thought the stallion cuddling her at the top of the clock tower, she smiled happily. “He’s kinda cute…” she said finally before letting out a sigh and going to sleep.

Vinyl Scratch knew that Octavia wouldn’t be up this late and she definitely didn’t wait up for her. She closed the door behind her and trotted upstairs to her room, of which was messy as hell but she didn’t care. She jumped onto her mattress, removed her goggles from her head and rolled over. She closed her eyes and began think blissful thoughts…ironically they drew towards the red stallion at AJ’s farm. Her final words before falling asleep were “He sure is hot…”.

By now everypony was asleep in Ponyville, Luna’s moon shone brightly in the sky, round and proud. In the short time the stallion had been in the town, he had unintentionally made eight friends, killed two Manticores and was now sleeping in a mare’s bed. This is how we continue. Next Chapter: Nightmarish Memory Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 16 Minutes