Rainbow Dash, being the sheer definition of awesome itself, soared through the light blue void that hung over the entirety of Equestria. Her cyan coat almost blending with the atmospheres as her multi-hued trail formed and faded as she flew in the sky. Never one for full on emotion, Dash forgot about events rather quickly, especially if they were…what she thought was ‘sad’. Thinking on that, she shook her head before regaining her smirk and jolting forward with a sudden burst of energy. Rainbow didn’t even realise what she was doing until a few minutes into it, she was searching.

Sub-consciously, she gazed along the ground with her magenta rimmed eyes, looking for something, when she realised that her head was swivelling on it’s own command, she stopped dead in the sky.

Her wings keeping her airborne as they flapped up and down while the cyan mare herself stare into space with a blank look. Not knowing what she was doing, she descended, along looking for someplace to think, she spotted something, the clock tower. Dash landed upon it and circle around it’s roof to see a familiar sight, that elongated edge that stuck out from the side of the building. Silently, she perched herself on the edge before sitting down, she was happy before, wasn’t she? Now she just felt…incomplete and had no idea why.

Surprisingly, her mind was blank, she didn’t think or move very much, she just had something inside her that told her that something was missing and without it, she won’t be as happy.  New to this feeling, she had absolutely no idea how to deal with it, she just sat there and stared into empty space as she rested atop the high point. Wasn’t long until she found herself taking glances to her surroundings, mainly the ground, when she realised it this time, she knew what might be the problem.

Kickback

When the name was brought up in her head, suddenly clarity took effect, her thoughts became coherent and familiar once more but there was something else. A longing perhaps? Her mind, unbidden, made her quickly begin to recall the scarlet stallion. That day, the day they first met, the day they spent upon where Dash sits now. Feels like so long ago that she just woke up one morning and found a dark red colt sleeping peacefully under the tree she had rested in the night previously. On that day, she can barely recall a feeling, a strange and unfamiliar feeling. The moment he spoke to her, in his deep, slightly accented voice, the feeling got stronger, not even a minute had they even seen each other and she already was starting to enjoy his company. Not only that but when she found him upon this very clock tower, something began to brew inside Dash, her typical attitude started to conflict against it when she drew closer to discovering what it might be. On that thought, she tried to suppress it, the chain of images that were about to barrage her within her skull. She clenched her eyes shut, as to why this was affecting her so much, again she didn’t know. The thought hit her…she missed him, she misses him, even after seeing what horror he can dish out, Dash did know him before that. He was always that quiet, chuckling, calm stallion that grew on her and her friends quite quickly, perhaps a bit too quickly. On the thoughts of longing, Dash began to sob, as quietly as she could but she couldn’t deny that she was sad and about a stallion no less. Dash just sat there, her hooves covering her face and the weeping noises that might escape her. Under all of this, she formed a single sentence, a phrase that was the utmost truth to her.  

“I miss you, Kickback…please come home soon.”

Kick-…Silver sat up quickly as he heard the announcer finally proclaim those words. ‘Next stop, Hoofington’ he informed over the speaker, Silver smirked at that. He was another step closer to his revenge and inturn…Ponyville.

The train came to a stop, Ponies all around began to raise off their seats and grab their luggage. Silver was without any, the crowd of shoving and bustling ponies, trying to get out of the train was a nuisance Silver could do without. Eventually he stepped outside and looked around, assessing his surroundings with interest.

“Alright…gotta find somewhere to change” he whispered to himself as he began to trot into town. Hoofington was just like a smaller version of Manehatten, this made it easier for Kickback to traverse the area. Silver noticed a narrow alley between two business structures, he walked towards it, made sure nopony was looking before stepping inside. Silver took a deep breath as a slow swarm of black and red tendrils imbued his body from his legs up, wrapping around and relacing the white coat with a dark crimson one. The barrage lapped around Silver’s face and soon, no longer was the form of a white pegasus with magenta eyes and a blue mane but rather the scarlet colt that dwelled beneath: Kickback. His black and white mane, his lengthy tail and his dark green eyes had returned, he smirked at himself, feeling relieved to be in his own fur once more. He rolled his shoulders and a relaxed breath emitted from his lips.

“That’s better…” he said with a sigh. Kickback peered out into the light for a moment before returning to the darkness.

“Almost forgot…” at that, the stallion’s body was covered in another haze of viral bio-mass. Soon the smarm dissipated, leaving Kickback in his hooded outfit once more, he checked his pocket and found that the picture of him and his friends was still there, he smiled at it before shoving it back in his jacket. Kickback through his hood upon his head and stepped out into the street, little did he know what was to happen this day.

The hooded stallion tread the sunset lit town, it was late in the afternoon by the time the train had stopped, Celestia’s sun was about to give way to her sister’s own glowing orb. At that thought, Kickback stopped, did Luna know? She must’ve known but why didn’t she do anything, why didn’t she have him arrested or executed? This thought had crossed his mind before but never quite seeped in as much as the fact that some of the only ponies he’s ever cared for knew about him. He clenched his eyes shut as he tried to forget their faces, what their looks might be the next time he sees them, the fear of banishment crept in. Kickback furiously shook his head and regained a thought that was to be more focused on at this time: Revenge. Grimlock had to pay, he was going to make him suffer for his sister’s death, only one predator may hunt in this jungle, Grimlock was going to die. At those thoughts, the hooded colt gained a more concentrated feel and continued walking through town, hoping to find some trace of where he might be, Celestia be damned, he might not even be in Hoofington anymore but it was a start.

Later that night

Pinkie, not ever one to stop being happy and never stop trying to make everypony else smile, threw yet another one of her iconic parties. She was sure that her friends wouldn’t be too upset about who she referred to as ‘KB’ to enjoy what she had done. Thankfully the music, the games, the food, everything was enough to get him off their minds. The elements sat around the bubbly mare’s room, chatting idly, the occasional joke and funny comment making it just one heck of a night.

“So the I said ‘Oatmeal? Are you crazy?’” Pinkie finished her story, as she did, her five friends and herself broke into a large thunderous laugh.

“So that’s what you were talking about” Twilight commented through several contained giggles.

“Yep and he never saw it coming” Pinkie answered with her iconic massive grin.

“It hurts, IT HURTS!” Dash yelped as she tumbled around the floor, her hooves clenching her stomach, trying to sustain herself with what little oxygen she could get due to her mouth being a little too preoccupied. Eventually everypony calmed down, some began to wipe tears away form their eyes, content smiles on their muzzles.

“ahhhh, bless mah soul, that was one of the greatest stories ah heard, Pinkie Pie” Applejack complimented.

“So, Rarity how’s-” Twilight was cut off by something bursting into the room and yelling at them frantically.

“Spike?” they yelped in surprise of the dragon’s presence, he seemed frightened almost.

“Guys, guys…” he let out, apparently exhausted or speechless, one or the other.

“What is it, darling?” Rarity inquired.

“You guys gotta…gimme a minute” he was panting but he managed to get that out. Twilight got a concerned feeling and trotted up to her assistant.

“What is it, Spike?” she asked, the dragon looked up at her and met her gaze. He regained his composure, enough to form coherent words.

“You guys gotta see this” it was then, they noticed him wearing a satchel around his scales. He dug a claw into it and rummaged around, the elements waiting with anticipation. Spike’s face froze for a moment as he claw stopped, his forearm was tensed, he was holding something. He then turned to the six mares again with a look that could only be described as regretful.

“Look” with that, Spike pulled out a newspaper.

“What is it?” Dash asked. Twilight then levitated the script and began to read, her friends huddled up beside her as her darted across the page. It looked like she had finished, as her eyes shot wide open and she stared dead straight into space.

“What is it, Twi?” AJ asked, concerned for her easily shaken friend.

“I-…I don’t think you should know, AJ…nor you, Rainbow” the unicorn said, with a hint of sadness in her voice.

“C’mon Twilight, you can tell us” Dash said, making it clear that she could handle whatever it was on the paper.

“I don’t think-”

“Yeah Twi, c’mon, why can’t we see it…it’s not like it’s Ki-” AJ was cut off by the purple mare holding the page up to the two athletes, she hung head low and refused to make eye contact. Rainbow and Applejack’s gazes turned from Twilight to the newspaper. They began to read. When they did, both mares’ eyes widened in shock…and relief. Rarity took the page, curiosity getting the better of her, she began to read out loud.

“Have you seen this stallion?” the white mare read the headline before she looked down at the small sketch of the assailant.

“I-it-it’s…KICKBACK!?” she almost screamed out her sentence as she showed the entire group the drawing on the page before turning back to it and reading once more, quite quickly.

“Unidentified, mysterious colt, seen wearing a black jacket and hooded shirt bursts into local Manehatten police department. A brave officer tells his story of what happened that day, these are his words.

‘I didn’t see him walk in but I saw him barge into the chief’s office, he had a dark red fur coat and as wearing clothes, most of everypony inside shot straight up, my marefr-…officer Violet told him stand down and back away, when he didn’t I told him to…then, he looked at me, his hood covered most of his face but I could see that smirk…THAT DAMN SMIRK and those red eyes, they weren’t naturally red though but they still just staring at me, I’ve never been more afraid in my life than in that moment right there and then… then the chief told us to stand down, I stared right back at him then he turned into the office, locked the door and closed blinds, I don’t know what they talked about but a couple hours later, some of us checked in and found nopony inside, instead a huge hole was where the wall should’ve been and there was blood on the floor…I swear whatever that thing was, it’s not a pony, it’s something else’”

Once Rarity finished, everypony was visibly shaken by what they had just heard. Most of the attention of Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight’s were fixed on their two athletic friends. They looked like they had just seen the ghost of their grandfather, they seemed frightened to the point of terrified and saddened beyond measure. Dash’s gaze lifted slightly as she stood next to her orange friend, suddenly the cyan pegasus looked down at the purple dragon and got a furious look etched on her face. It was visible enough for everypony including Spike himself to notice, before anypony could do anything Dash lunged at the small dragon angrily.

“WHY!?!” she yelled at him as he laid on his back beneath the pegasus, he squirmed in fear and raised his claws defensively, Dash was outraged.

“W-why what?”

“WHY DID YOU SHOW US THIS!?!”

“I-I…”

“YOU JUST HAD TO GO AND BRING HIM UP, DIDN’T YOU?!?!” Spike fell silent, tears welling up in his eyes as he stared into the furious magenta eyes of Rainbow Dash, of whom looked like she herself was about to burst into tears.

“Rainbow-” Twilight tried.

“RIGHT WHEN EVERYTHING’S OKAY, YOU GO AHEAD AND REMIND US ABOUT HIM…AND LIKE THIS!!”

“Dash…” Rarity also tried, the cyan mare’s voice was faltering slightly into a quivering tone, indication of how gut-wrenchingly angry and sad she was.

“WHY DOES EVERYPONY THINK HE’S A MONSTER!?!? DOESN’T ANYPONY REMEMBER WHO WE’RE TALKING ABOUT HERE!?! WE’RE TALKING ABOUT KICKBACK, THE STALLION WE KNEW, HE WAS OUR FRIEND AND I-…” Dash had broken into tears by this point, too much was it to continue yelling. Rainbow quivered visibly and audibly as she backed away from the purple dragon and just sat down, letting the tears flow.

“I-…I miss him…Don’t you, AJ?…Doesn’t anypony?” Dash said, her gazes switching between her friends before her eyes clenched shut. At the sight of Dash visibly sobbing and at the thought of her own emotions, Applejack started to feel water seep into her own eyes at this point. The orange mare walked up to her winged companion and sat down with her as she placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“Ah do too, sugarcube” AJ said, her own voice quivering with sadness, her gaze then turned to the dragon.

“Spike…you really shouldn’t have shown us that…” her voice was stern but still incredibly saddened. At that everypony fell silent, the two opposite coloured mares wept together, they all knew that out of the six of them, Dash and AJ were closest to the scarlet colt in question. At that thought, Twilight became visibly upset herself, an idea had crossed her mind that she left alone for the time being but now it might have to be done.

“Why, Applejack? Why did he leave?”

“He said he had to go find his sister, Dash…but what is he doing? Why is he attacking police officers?”

“Everypony…” Twilight said with her head bowed, her mane concealing her eyes. Everypony and dragon turned to her in a state of confusion, she then raised her head to look at her friends. She knew that this was going to be difficult and she knew that she wouldn’t get full enthusiasm for this plan. Regardless of any of that, she spoke.

“Everypony…pack your bags… we’re going on a trip…and bring your Element of Harmony…” Next Chapter: Beauty And The Beast Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 18 Minutes